The Night Cometh...By Andrew Abah

"I must work the works of Him that sent Me, while it is day; the night cometh, when no man can work" (John 9:4).

In March 2015, God summoned over 200 mission leaders from several African nations for the 20th African Missions Summit(AMS 2015) to consider this verse of the Scripture. First, we saw the night personified as a man moving. The night is not static. It is moving and getting closer than when it began to move. This called for us to take a closer look at the divine agenda and to study God's timetable for the now like the Men of Issachar. We focused on Jesus and saw how He appropriated His time in the light of these reality.

 

To get a clearer picture of what Jesus may be saying in this verse, we need to imagine  a hard working farmer in days before modern farm machinery. He rose up early each day in order to be in the field before "first light" to take productive advantage of every minute of daylight in cultivating his crops in view of harvest. He knew that night would come, so he worked hard all day and when the night came he "rested hard"...well deserved rest for his diligence in the daylight. He knew that if he was going to have a crop to harvest, he must work diligently every waking minute because the time was short.

Jesus lived his whole life with a sense of the fierce urgency of now. He knew that his time on earth was limited, and his days here were numbered. In a short time he would have to return to the Father (John 12:8, 16:17, 28). Whatever he had to do or whatever was to be done for him had to be

done while the opportunity presented itself. It must be done immediately.

That’s why he said, “We must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work” (John 9:4).

He was about to cure a blind man on the Sabbath day, and he knew it would incur the wrath of the rigid, Sabbath-keeping Pharisees. But that didn’t matter. He had to break protocol and get the job done while the opportunity was there, for it might not come again.

In the King James Version, Jesus says, “I must do the works of him that sent me...”. However, all other translations say, “We must work the works of him that sent me...”. His sense of urgency must also be our sense of urgency.His earlier followers expressed that same urgency when they wrote, ““Behold, today is the day of salvation” (II Corinthians 6:2). And, Wherefore the Holy Ghost saith, today if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts...” (Hebrews 3:7-8).

The call of scripture is ever and always one of urgency. Every page of the Bible says “today.” Every tick of the clock says “today.” Every beat of your heart says “today.” Every obituary column in the newspaper says “today.” All of God’s creation seems to cry out, “Behold, today is the day of salvation.”

We too need to live and labor and love with that sense of urgency. Life is short. Death is sure and time is passing. The lost are perishing. To presume on the future is dangerous (James 4:13-17). We must act now. We must work the works of him that sent Jesus while it is day - we must, for the night cometh when no man can work. This word from our Lord reminds us of the urgency of acting by God’s timing. Time will pass, we will die, and opportunities will disappear. If we delay, if we postpone, then we may just never get around to it.

In his famous article, “Come Before Winter,” Clarence McCartney highlights on things that must be done when the opportunity arises. He cited 2 Timothy 4:21 from the Message Bible: 'Try hard to get here before winter...' as his text. According to him, there are doors of opportunity that swing open for us, and if we do not enter, they close and will stay closed forever. There are tides in our lives, and if we do not ride them, the window of opportunity will soon ebb. There are voices speaking that a year from now, a season from now, will be silent, and they will speak no more. If we are going to do some things, then we must do them while the opportunity is with us, for it will soon be gone. We must not wait for a more convenient season. There is, then, a note of urgency in all aspects of life. We must do what needs to be done while we can, while there is an opportunity, for the privilege will soon pass away.

Jesus lived his whole life with a sense of the fierce urgency of now. He knew that his time on earth was limited, and his days here were numbered. In a short time he would have to return to the Father (John 12:8, 16:17, 28). Whatever he was to do or whatever was to be done for him had to be done while the opportunity presented itself. It must be done immediately. That’s why he said, “We must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work” (John 9:4).

In the King James Version, Jesus says, “I must do the works of him that sent me...”. However, all other translations say,“We must work the works of him that sent me...”. His sense of urgency must also be our sense of urgency. His earlier followers expressed that same urgency when they wrote, “Behold, today is the day of salvation” (II Corinthians 6:2). And, “Wherefore the Holy Ghost saith, to day if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts...” (Hebrews 3:7-8).

Specifically, I think of the emerging trends in missions as I write this charge. Many nations that we could easily gain access into are getting closed. Mauritania, a country in the West African region used to be part of the Economic Community of West Africa States(ECOWAS). As Christians in ECOWAS countries, we didn't need a visa to enter Mauritania with the gospel. They have pulled out of ECOWAS to join the Arab League, making it absolutely difficult if not almost impossible to enter Mauritania not to talk of preaching the gospel.

This North East of Nigeria which is today ravaged by the Muslim Fundamentalist  was once open and friendly but the church did not take advantage of it to impact the region sufficiently with the gospel. We had the wrong impression that the door will remain open for ever. To access very good portion of the territory now is like the head of the camel going through the eyes of the needle.

Fred Markert once recalled the tragedy of missing the harvest time as he shared the story of Kublai Khan, the great Mongol leader. Khan  ruled the largest Empire the world has ever seen. It extended from the Pacific Ocean on the East to Poland on the West and from Russia on the North to India on the South. Mongol warriors were so fierce and determined that they even conquered China in spite of its Great Wall. In 1266 A.D, Marco Polo, the great explorer and adventurer went to Kublai Khan in his capital city. This fierce warrior’s heart was touched by the news of Christ’s death for the sins of the world. He sent Marco Polo back to Europe with a request to the leaders of Christianity: “Send me 100 men skilled in your religion….. And so I shall be baptized, and then all my barons and great men and their subjects. And so there will be more Christians here than they are in your parts”.

God has prepared one of the extraordinary moments of harvest for the largest empire the world had ever known, and then had delivered it to the Church! How could the Church help but jump at this incredible chance? After many years, only two missionaries came forward who were willing to endure the hardships necessary to bring the good news of Christ to the Mongolian empire and even they turned back half way into their appointment with destiny before reaching Mongolia. They left behind  the legacy of the greatest missed opportunity in church history. How did Kublai Khan respond to this silence from the west? He turned to Tibetan Buddhist, inviting them to spread their religion throughout his empire.

Dr. David Barrett’s work captioned: Chaos, Cosmos and Gospel revealed that because of the failure of the church to take advantage of the harvest while it was day time,  at one point more than half of the men in the nation were Buddhist Monks. What a tragedy!

Many seasoned missionaries whom the church heavily depended on for the great commission are gone to be with the Lord. Many labourers have fallen sick and can no longer contribute much to taking the light of the gospel to the dark places of the earth. Many souls waiting for the manifestations of the Sons of God have gone to Christless eternity. If help come when it is no longer needed, it is no longer helpful. We were told that an average of 85,000,000 people, on average, die every year. If we divide 85,000,000 by 365 days in a year, that means an average of 232,876 people are dying every day in this world.

This number would have increased with the increasing rate of terrorism, earthquake, etc. The rich man who died and went to hell desperately wanted his brothers to repent so they will not come to hell. He persuaded Father Abraham to deploy Lazarus to go reach out to them but it was too late. The Night for Lazarus to do mission had come. He cannot go back to the world any more. Do not forget the words of David to his friend Jonathan, “There is but a step between me and death.” So it is with all of us — just a step — a short step. And the uncertainty of life means that there is urgency in the call of Christ.

Every day, we pray to God for more labourers to deploy to where they are most need. We meet with thousands who are persuaded that God is beckoning on them to come over but they have reasons why they should continue to procrastinate, while the unreached people continue to cry: 'The harvest is past, the summer is ended, but we are not saved'. (Jeremiah 8:20). The church in Nigeria/Africa have enough financial resources to make meaningful impact in global missions but many missionaries have quit the mission field because of epileptic and sometimes complete lack of financial support.

Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy to make effort to come over before winter because he really needed him and some key material support. If help does not come before the winter, the help will no longer be helpful. Will you rise up now to do what you can do now before the night come?