Jesus Anoints the Blind Man's Eyes with ClayBible World
9:4John 9:4
I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.
Jesus turned His disciples from blaming the man born blind to manifesting God's works in him, declaring He must faithfully carry out His Father's saving mission while opportunity remained. Those works mean finding what God says and doing it, glorifying God by uplifting humanity, relieving suffering, teaching righteousness and pointing sinners to eternal life. The day is the present open time of probation and life when doors stand open for truth and souls can be rescued, and the night is its fast-closing end when every case is decided, probation ends and no one can work. That night also comes as death when personal activity ceases, as a time of trouble when intercession ends in the heavenly sanctuary, and as the coming of the Lord when freedom to labor is taken away. Therefore all who follow Him must yoke with Him now, using every entrusted talent without delay to save souls and do good, for time is short and lost opportunity will soon be mourned too late.
Wording and Immediate Setting
The saying belongs to the answer given to the disciples' question about the man blind from birth, turning the inquiry away from assigning blame for his condition and toward the manifesting of God's works in him. It was spoken after leaving the temple, as Jesus passed by and saw the man who had been blind from birth. He healed him as the light of the world and the compassionate Shepherd who seeks to save, showing deep sympathy for human suffering even though the man did not yet know who He was. The miracle displayed saving compassion toward one despised by the self-righteous Pharisees as unworthy, and it stood as convincing evidence of the divine mission of the One sent by God to do God's work. The healing power lay in Christ Himself, not in the clay or the pool, and afterward He revealed Himself to the healed man as the Son of God, and the man worshiped Him.
The words mark Him as an earnest and constant worker throughout His earthly life, spoken after He had entered upon His ministry. They mean that He expected much and therefore attempted much, without shirking care and responsibility. They were uttered after a day of labor, while He was exhausted from extended teaching and warnings to the Pharisees, shortly before entering Gethsemane.
The works of Him that sent Him mean finding out what the Lord God of Israel says and then doing what He commands, proving Father and Son united. Believers are therefore to lay aside human sayings and make the Bible their food and meat and drink, making its principles the elements of character. By so doing they learn how to receive counsel from God, share the divine nature, find the Saviour as a present help in every need, exalt His Word, and consecrate themselves to God. They are to follow the principles God has laid down for dealing with one another, because they are the purchase of the blood of Christ who was crucified for them.
Those works were a life lived not to please self but to glorify God by uplifting humanity formed in the divine image and teaching righteousness by precept and example, as the authoritative pattern for every son and daughter of Adam. They brought relief and redemption to those bowed down by sin, sorrow, and pain, and Christ still lays that burden of helping the needy upon compassionate people, enabling even rough, unskilled laborers to serve with Him. He spoke no idle words but warned of danger and pointed out the sure and safe path to eternal life, leaving nothing relating to duty to God or to others in uncertainty.
The day holds twelve hours in which people ought to work, calling those connected with God's work to labor with speed, consecrated zeal, self-sacrifice, and their very best effort. The healing of the blind man illustrates this, for Christ's work of revealing God's power and relieving suffering was carried out even on the Sabbath, showing that doing God's relieving work is consistent with the Sabbath. In contrast, heavenly light continues to shine, yet those who reject it are left in darkness, unable to see where they are going and deceiving themselves about the safety of their course.
Christ's Diligent Example
Christ faithfully carried out the saving mission given Him by the Father while opportunity remained, even when weary, and the coming night marks the end of the time for work. He came to save the world by connecting it with the infinite God, understanding His life as a mission to be completed within its limited time. His willingness to accept sacrifice and hard labor makes Him the pattern for God's servants, who are to obey and carry out their appointed work without counting the cost too great. Bible religion encourages industry rather than idleness, calling all to use present opportunities for useful work and to rise to duty, using entrusted abilities in service to God since those opportunities may soon be gone and each must answer for stewardship. Those who have given themselves to the Lord are to follow His example, using their time to carry the light of God's Word and labor together with God as channels of light to the world. This means ceasing to dream about distant or greater work and cheerfully doing with whole heart and strength the duty Heaven places before them today.
Followers are to take part in His mission as laborers together with God, yoking with Him and letting Him work with them in whatever they are called to do. They are to devote their days to doing good to souls needing help, bringing joy to the sorrowful, light to the darkened, and life to the perishing, cheerfully accepting daily duties so that every word and act conduces to the happiness of others. Their chief duty is to reveal in words and deportment a life manifesting the attributes of heaven in strict conformity to the laws of the kingdom, and such obedience makes life like Christ's, brings happiness and heaven's approval, multiplies talents for greater usefulness, and lets the consecrated life shine amid moral darkness to guide perishing souls to the truth of the Word. Living in the last days with a large work before them, those made repositories of sacred truth full of eternal results must be bearers of sacred light to illuminate all nations as chosen vessels and the light of the world, giving self to the Lord daily, living in covenant relation to Him, converted to His service as missionaries doing His will and taking the Word as guide at every step. Though He was the Majesty of heaven and King of glory, He came in human flesh going about doing good as the greatest Teacher the world ever knew, tender, compassionate, ever considerate for others, representing the character of God and ever engaged in service for Him, and His followers are meant to be as He was, working the works of God and overcoming as He overcame. Jesus lived this urgency under the awful weight of responsibility for the salvation of the human family, knowing that without a decided change in human principles and purposes all would be irretrievably lost, carrying that burden alone with intense purpose to make His life a lamp in the world, which exposes how far below the privilege of usefulness many fall and how great the loss in shunning assigned work. Working in the day means faithfully carrying out the duty of serving others with constant watchfulness and hearts filled with Christ's love, which makes obedience possible and prepares for reaching out after others, so that when Christ lives within, the life reveals Him and draws those helped to Him. To work as Christ worked requires putting every muscle to the stretch and exercising every God-given qualification to resist temptation, wrestling day by day with hereditary and cultivated tendencies to wrong until they are crucified, advancing step by step, striving to gain entrance to the kingdom and earnestly learning its laws, unwearied in prayer with minds constantly turned heavenward for the Holy Spirit's help while using every means provided, for no one can be saved in indolence or drift into heaven as a sluggard, but only as a loyal and faithful servant going straight to Him for help to subdue the carnal mind, the passions of the natural heart, and every sinful indulgence and wrong desire, remembering that He is all and in all and able to do exceeding abundantly above all that is asked or thought.
The work to be done is with the talents God has entrusted to everyone, which are to be faithfully used, improved and multiplied rather than used for selfish pursuit of worldly riches and advantage over others, since idleness is rebuked and diligent industry is urged while opportunity lasts. Christ gives talents to all His followers and calls them all to work while the day lasts, with strict account required for everything received and faithful diligent use expected to increase what was given, God expecting return proportionate to the amount received so that five talents must gain five more, and this faithful use brings means into the treasury to supply the necessities of His ever-enlarging work. Every influence and the life purchased at infinite cost are to be used for God rather than selfish benefit, with life like a lamp continually supplied with the oil of grace and kept burning.
A person's own work is done during the lifetime given, for life is like a day and death like night when personal activity ceases, yet when a worker passes away Christ's work continues through others who take it up and serve as He did. While the day lasts, work for those entrusted is to be done diligently and perseveringly, and trust in God enables continuance and growth in strength and grace until the coming night when work can no longer be done.
Day and Coming Night
The day is the present open time while doors still stand open for truth to enter and the harvest must be sown and reaped, and the stealing, soon-coming night is when those doors will be closed and work will become impossible. The verse rebukes the indolent and indifferent for standing idle and commands work while the day lasts with willing, earnest service, including returning to God His own in gifts and offerings. Life itself is like such a day, and death is like night when personal activity in this life ceases until the resurrection, so God-given abilities must not be left unused. Each day is therefore an opportunity to keep watchful, prayerful and active, to do what is right with hand and talents, to teach children to do so, and to grow in sanctification by cultivating the fruits of Christ's Spirit in the character.
The day is the present probationary time to labor and rescue souls, and the night is its fast-closing end when every case is eternally decided, the door forever shut, probation ends and destiny is fixed. While the day lasts those who know present truth must quickly share it, seek and save the lost, and let no usable opportunity pass by, for delay may make the work forever too late. Because the crisis is stealing upon the world as a thief and the signs of Christ's coming are fast fulfilling, workers must be wide awake and move rapidly to do their Master's business now. Long, protracted courses of study that consume precious time, weaken the burden for souls and become a snare must not hold back students burdened to save people, who should use what they already know and go promptly.
The coming night is a time of trouble and anguish when it will be too late to work for God, and efforts to rescue souls must be made before Jesus leaves the Most Holy Place of the heavenly sanctuary. While He remains there He still accepts prayers, confessions and sacrifices and sins may be blotted out and pardoned, but afterward characters are fixed with no priestly ministry to plead for them. His work in the heavenly sanctuary is nearly finished and the time for work will not last, so nothing should be held too dear to sacrifice for the salvation of His scattered flock.
That night is near, as shown by fulfilling signs on every side: the Spirit of God being grieved away, conflict among nations and preparation for war, terrible wickedness in the cities, judgments hanging over cities, and the crisis stealing as a thief. The present respite is the time for every believer, educated or uneducated, learned or unlearned, to use every ability in God's service, to bear the message and proclaim the warning to those who are perishing nearby and then in towns and cities that have not heard. The church must therefore awaken, delay no longer, and do its appointed work at once in the present time of opportunity, doing the heavenly Father's will by establishing memorials of His mercy, benevolence and goodness, including a sanitarium conducted by those given the light of present truth. The growing terrible wickedness in the cities proves there is no time to lose, question, hold back, or divert means, so God's people must act at once with faith, give liberally, train laborers among Black people, support the training school at Huntsville as money well invested, secure places and use land for the cause, and build without delay a roomy, well-equipped sanitarium in connection with the school.
The night also means the coming of the Lord, with the end of all things at hand much nearer than many suppose, and a coming time when people will no longer be free to work with present freedom. Opportunities to labor will end when the Lord comes, so the work must be advanced quickly and carried forward earnestly while there is still time. This urgent duty is to proclaim the final warning message in the cities, especially the eastern cities, while present freedom lasts and before judgments fall, working in Christ's vineyard for the glory of His name by lifting up the Man of Calvary before those living in sin. It is done by pen and voice in sweeping back false ideas about higher education, representing the blessedness of true higher education before a world laden with corruption, letting light shine forth from every believer, and pointing the weary, heavy-laden, brokenhearted and perplexed to Christ as the source of all spiritual life and strength.
The day is the present earthly life of perpetual conflict between Christians and worldlings, requiring eternal vigilance and earnest labor for God despite human weakness and many infirmities which God knows. Each day may be someone's last chance to hear or respond, and soon the opportunity to reach them may be gone, so believers must use the present time to help others and bring them to Christ. Working while it is day means knowing the time and awaking out of sleep because salvation is nearer than when belief began, the night being far spent and the day at hand. It means casting off the works of darkness and putting on the armor of light, walking honestly as in the day without rioting and drunkenness, chambering and wantonness, strife and envying, and putting on the Lord Jesus Christ and making no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lusts, while heavenly agencies work to enlighten ignorance, overpower the sinfulness of the world, surround God's people with light and loveliness, and Christ's overcoming of the world and living presence give ground for triumphant courage in the invisible battle.
Urgency of Present Opportunity
The time to work is limited and must be used now without delay while opportunity and strength remain, because the night is coming when no one can work. Every church member is commanded to enter active service at once as a worker in the vineyard, laboring today while it is still day and the door of opportunity stands open. The work to be done with such diligence is the work Christ gave His life to accomplish, especially preparing people for His second coming as the end of all things approaches. Lost chances will be mourned too late once labor has become impossible.
Human probation stands on the borders of the eternal world, so sin must not be cherished but put away and the daylight must be used for labor, especially carrying truth into new places. While probationary time lasts, vigilant service must be joined with faithful waiting, watchfulness, prayer and rest in the Lord, for hurried activity and bustle alone do not meet the requirement. Active, fervent service in every line improves every opportunity, cultivates personal piety and Christlike character, and increases entrusted gifts by use with soul, body and spirit devoted to God. Responsibility rests on church members to do their own local work instead of keeping ministers occupied with the churches, so that ministers are freed for new fields, and neglect of work that could have been done in new fields will bring accountability.
Time is precious and calls for active, unselfish service that is not measured by an eight-hour workday, particularly as the coming crisis will end the opportunity to advance the work. The duty Heaven places before each one today is to be done cheerfully with whole heart and strength, instead of dreaming about distant or greater work, following the faithful example of working while opportunity remained. The present time of opportunity is to be seized just now without any delay, working and keeping on working while rising to a higher standard.
No minutes are to be lost by talking when one should be working, for no one has a right at such times to talk or to stand still. Chatting in work time wastes both one's own time and the time of others, and no one must make others idle by tempting them to listen to conversation. Lips are to be closed and tools used, with dispatch, care, diligence and faithfulness shown in whatever department or line of work one is in, becoming more efficient, all-round and helpful every day. Shiftlessness, indolence and sloth in temporal and spiritual matters must be overcome, loiterers doing only half what they might must be aroused to responsibility, and all earnestness with self-denial must be put into labor out of faith in God and love for souls, since failure to work diligently ruins others by unbelief and leads to departing from the faith.
Work to Be Done
The work to be done while daylight lasts is the saving of souls by proclaiming Christ and Him crucified, lifting up the Man of Calvary before those living in sin, pointing the weary, heavy-laden, poor, brokenhearted and perplexed to Jesus as the source of all spiritual life and strength, standing in the divine current to receive heavenly inspiration, telling by pen and voice that Jesus lives to make intercession, magnifying God's changeless law as Jesus magnified it by His life and exalted it by His death, sweeping back false ideas about higher education and representing the blessedness of true higher education before a world laden with corruption, letting light shine from every believer, and preparing people for Christ's second coming while mercy still pleads and the end of all things is at hand much nearer than supposed. Seed sowers and reapers are urgently needed because towns, villages and cities are ready for harvest, and labor must begin in nearby places and then extend to towns and cities that have not heard, including Newcastle, Maitland, Seymour and Sydney, and onward to all places near and far and regions beyond until the work belts the world and reaches every nation, tongue and people. That earnestness must match Satan's persistence, for as he works earnestly, zealously and perseveringly to deceive and ensnare souls to eternal loss, God's people must be aroused to understand the magnitude of the work for the little time left and labor with zeal, earnestness, perseverance and a spirit of sacrifice in union with Christ, using every means God provides to plant truth in hearts, win souls and lead them to obey God's law, knowing they will be held accountable for souls they could have helped and did not.
Truth must be carried into new places and newly opening fields while probation stands on the borders of the eternal world, which requires putting away cherished sin so present daylight is used for labor. Church members must do their own local work instead of keeping ministers occupied with the churches, so ministers are freed for new territory, churches will be held responsible for neglect of work that could have been done in new fields, and those entrusted with great light who will not go willingly into new places before the night comes will be scattered by God into many places amid increasing wickedness. In Ohio the entrusted gathering work must be advanced without delay rather than having effort and resources diverted elsewhere, and the same urgency applies to the neglected work in Cleveland of gathering people to the truth. In the eastern cities the final message must be proclaimed quickly while present freedom lasts, for the end is near and that freedom may soon be lost, and more broadly the last work in this earth's history, whose influence will be felt through eternity, must be done now with courage while opportunity lasts because God's judgments hang over the cities and the night when no one can work is coming.
In Australia the gospel work must be supported and the message carried there before opportunity passes, including advancing the work in Sydney by using available means to support laborers in the field, and supporting students, training workers and carrying truth by example. Every entrusted talent, capability, means, influence and resource must be put to active use for saving souls rather than tied up in worldly enterprises, earthly interests, selfish pleasure or self-gratification, for time is wasted while God's money is misapplied. Those who cannot give personal effort can still do missionary labor by living economically and putting every spare dollar into the bank of heaven to send papers and books to those without the light of truth and to help pay expenses of students preparing for missionary work. This calls for giving time and means wholeheartedly and cheerfully, working cheerfully at whatever task is one's own, accepting required sacrifice, faithfully giving tithes and offerings while there is light, doing the next duty, and turning houses, lands and earnings into the treasury to seek God's approval and reward before strength and opportunity end.
Immediate help must be given to the Madison school in its necessity and to needy missionary fields that have never heard present truth, praying for wisdom to place means where it builds up God's cause and not using means to help those who have gone out because they are not of the faith. The present time marked by fulfilling signs on every side is the time to do the Father's will by establishing memorials of His mercy, benevolence and goodness, including a sanitarium conducted by those given the light of present truth. Workers must also be prepared for home and foreign fields and their education supported through a fund for worthy students who lack means, with those later able repaying the support so the fund remains available for others.
The work among the afflicted, poor, neglected, oppressed, discouraged and perishing must be taken up diligently, perseveringly, patiently, humbly and self-sacrificingly without passing by, each doing his best in cooperation with Christ and the Holy Spirit while there is time. For Black brothers and sisters in the suffering southern field this means humbling themselves before God and using opportunities, advantages and knowledge He has given to open the Bible, teach truth, redeem the time, rouse with new purpose, understand the work the Lord gives, make every possible effort in Christ's lines in meekness and lowliness relying on Him for strength, and labor to save their perishing, oppressed and discouraged people rather than seeking pleasure or following their own way, for trusting God gives peace and progress from strength to strength and grace to grace while following self-will brings thorns, thistles and loss of reward. Such labor gains the rich reward of blessing hearers, bringing the blessing of those ready to perish and causing the widow's heart to sing for joy, leading to Christ acknowledged as Creator and Redeemer, and when the redeemed stand around the throne those saved from sin and degradation will greet their workers with thanks for coming in love and pity to feed, clothe and point them to the Lamb of God who takes away sin. Because time is short and growing terrible wickedness in the cities proves the night is near, laborers among the colored people must be trained at once in faith, the training school at Huntsville supported liberally as money well invested, a roomy well-equipped sanitarium built without delay in connection with the school, and places secured and land used for the cause.
Parents and teachers must work now to teach children at home, reform the household in love of God and His commandments, prepare children and youth for immortal life, educate them as missionaries and prepare them to bear responsibilities and become missionaries, for household work done in simplicity of godliness brings thousands converted where only a hundred are seen. This includes providing Christian education that aids conversion, establishing Christian schools, and preparing young men for ministry by following God's revealed will and helping students prepare to teach truth rather than diverting them into long plans that consume years and lead them to give up preaching. Missionaries must enter the field promptly and students and workers must use present knowledge in service rather than postpone saving others for years of successive study and prolonged preparation, for the night is coming when labor will end and treating time as plentiful becomes a snare. Such delay consumes precious time, weakens the burden for souls, and becomes a snare, while learning continues through life and eternity.
Those standing idle in the marketplace, wasting remaining time on food, recreation, distractions, dreaming, amusement or their own methods, are called to go at once into the vineyard to warn sinners, seek the lost with patient love, speak the truth in Jesus, gather fruit and win souls. Ministers must persist in preaching salvation through Christ, caring for and seeking the lost and working for conversion, laboring faithfully without neglect, for unfaithfulness and neglect can result in souls being lost. This work is to be done in humble dependence on God, going forward in faith nothing doubting, believing His word, committing without reserve to His guidance, relying on divine power rather than mere argument, living and praying in union with Christ, practicing continual self-denial, and leaving results to God, remembering that in every place there are souls whom the Lord needs and whom the devil seeks to bind in slavery to sin and disregard for God's law.
Manner of Faithful Labor
Labor is to be earnest, diligent and persevering with the strength of the whole being, not negligent, slothful or idle, for each person has work to do for the Master and must use every moment while the day lasts because opportunity to work will end. Present opportunities are to be made the most of and time redeemed, marking every path with usefulness, without letting side issues distract, without turning aside for diversion, and without letting worldly business crowd out devotion and the soul's highest interests or neglecting God's work for worldly gain. Hours spent in diversion could instead become someone's hour of repentance and salvation, and Christian character requires faithful effort continually with attention fixed on eternal rather than merely temporal things. Plans and expectations have no value without firm faith and trust in God, and life preserved by God's mercy is to be devoted to His service.
Service requires unwearied prayer with minds constantly turned heavenward for the assistance of the Holy Spirit, using every means God provides, going forward in humble dependence without doubting, believing His word and committing without reserve to His guidance. When Satan comes with oppressing power, faith in God must be held to beat him back, and where victory is not at first gained there must be fasting and prayer with certainty of triumph over him. Continual reliance on God and continual practice of self-denial keep workers from sinking into discouragement and worry, remembering that in every place there are souls whom the Lord needs and whom the devil seeks to bind in slavery to sin and disregard for God's law. Spiritual powers perish when unused, and no one can be saved in indolence and inactivity, drift into heaven, or enter as a sluggard, but only as loyal and faithful servants. The approaching end must not make past work a stopping point, but lives must remain under converting power, lamps continually supplied with the Holy Spirit, talents multiplied, idle speculations and day-dreaming put away, only revealed truths about salvation studied and made to feed the flock, and present duties met lest eternity carry a burden of responsibility for failure to work earnestly.
Workers must rouse with new purpose of heart, understand the work the Lord gives, and make every possible effort in Christ's lines in meekness and lowliness, relying on Him for strength. Trusting in God for strength gives peace and comfort and enables going on from strength to strength and from grace to grace, while following one's own way and will brings thorns and thistles and loss of reward, so God's people must seek His wisdom and guidance rather than follow their own course or pleasure. This means putting every muscle to the stretch and exercising every God-given qualification to resist temptation, wrestling day by day with hereditary and cultivated tendencies to wrong until they are crucified, subduing inclinations of the carnal mind and passions of the natural heart, resisting every sinful indulgence and wrong desire, advancing step by step and striving to gain entrance to the kingdom and earnestly learn its laws. For oppressed and discouraged colored brethren this means humbling themselves before God and using opportunities, advantages and knowledge given them to open the Bible, teach the truth, and labor to save their perishing people in the suffering southern field rather than passing them by or seeking their own pleasure.
Godliness and self-denial are to be shown in home life and relationships rather than levity and carelessness, for now is the time to serve before it is too late. Personal preparation to meet God's measurement requires careful self-control, patience, meekness and lowliness, cherishing a meek and quiet spirit of great price in God's sight, and standing in clear light oneself so that good works cause others to glorify the heavenly Father. The urgency of limited time calls for persistent effort to restore those whose unchristlike conduct hinders others and brings shame on the Saviour, so that they may reveal God's image and reflect His moral character instead of living and acting like the world.
Every entrusted talent and capability must be put to active use and improved through humble, careful, understanding work while the day lasts, with soul, body and spirit devoted to God to supply the enlarging work and increase gifts by use. Properly used time is enough to pursue an eternal inheritance and help save others through example and teaching, and in view of Christ's near coming people must be awakened and prepared to meet Him with joy. Years wasted on selfish pleasure or sin cannot be recovered when the time to work is gone, so there is no time to rest or yield to temptation.
Faithful labor is to be done earnestly, humbly and self-sacrificingly for those perishing in sin, with prayer and work for souls Christ values because He died for them, leaving results to God. Such work gains the rich reward of blessing those who hear, bringing the blessing of those ready to perish and causing the widow's heart to sing for joy, leading to Christ being acknowledged as Creator and Redeemer, and looking toward the happiness of entering God's city. When the redeemed stand around the throne, those saved from sin and degradation will greet those who worked for them, thanking them for coming in love and pity to feed and clothe them and point them to the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world, with recognition given to those who labor together with God without lessening gratitude and praise to God and to the Lamb. Therefore labor must continue with unflagging zeal while opportunity remains.
Jesus turned His disciples from blaming the man born blind to manifesting God's works in him, declaring He must faithfully carry out His Father's saving mission while opportunity remained. Those works mean finding what God says and doing it, glorifying God by uplifting humanity, relieving suffering, teaching righteousness and pointing sinners to eternal life. The day is the present open time of probation and life when doors stand open for truth and souls can be rescued, and the night is its fast-closing end when every case is decided, probation ends and no one can work. That night also comes as death when personal activity ceases, as a time of trouble when intercession ends in the heavenly sanctuary, and as the coming of the Lord when freedom to labor is taken away. Therefore all who follow Him must yoke with Him now, using every entrusted talent without delay to save souls and do good, for time is short and lost opportunity will soon be mourned too late.
Wording and Immediate Setting
The saying belongs to the answer given to the disciples' question about the man blind from birth, turning the inquiry away from assigning blame for his condition and toward the manifesting of God's works in him. It was spoken after leaving the temple, as Jesus passed by and saw the man who had been blind from birth. He healed him as the light of the world and the compassionate Shepherd who seeks to save, showing deep sympathy for human suffering even though the man did not yet know who He was. The miracle displayed saving compassion toward one despised by the self-righteous Pharisees as unworthy, and it stood as convincing evidence of the divine mission of the One sent by God to do God's work. The healing power lay in Christ Himself, not in the clay or the pool, and afterward He revealed Himself to the healed man as the Son of God, and the man worshiped Him.
The words mark Him as an earnest and constant worker throughout His earthly life, spoken after He had entered upon His ministry. They mean that He expected much and therefore attempted much, without shirking care and responsibility. They were uttered after a day of labor, while He was exhausted from extended teaching and warnings to the Pharisees, shortly before entering Gethsemane.
The works of Him that sent Him mean finding out what the Lord God of Israel says and then doing what He commands, proving Father and Son united. Believers are therefore to lay aside human sayings and make the Bible their food and meat and drink, making its principles the elements of character. By so doing they learn how to receive counsel from God, share the divine nature, find the Saviour as a present help in every need, exalt His Word, and consecrate themselves to God. They are to follow the principles God has laid down for dealing with one another, because they are the purchase of the blood of Christ who was crucified for them.
Those works were a life lived not to please self but to glorify God by uplifting humanity formed in the divine image and teaching righteousness by precept and example, as the authoritative pattern for every son and daughter of Adam. They brought relief and redemption to those bowed down by sin, sorrow, and pain, and Christ still lays that burden of helping the needy upon compassionate people, enabling even rough, unskilled laborers to serve with Him. He spoke no idle words but warned of danger and pointed out the sure and safe path to eternal life, leaving nothing relating to duty to God or to others in uncertainty.
The day holds twelve hours in which people ought to work, calling those connected with God's work to labor with speed, consecrated zeal, self-sacrifice, and their very best effort. The healing of the blind man illustrates this, for Christ's work of revealing God's power and relieving suffering was carried out even on the Sabbath, showing that doing God's relieving work is consistent with the Sabbath. In contrast, heavenly light continues to shine, yet those who reject it are left in darkness, unable to see where they are going and deceiving themselves about the safety of their course.
Christ's Diligent Example
Christ faithfully carried out the saving mission given Him by the Father while opportunity remained, even when weary, and the coming night marks the end of the time for work. He came to save the world by connecting it with the infinite God, understanding His life as a mission to be completed within its limited time. His willingness to accept sacrifice and hard labor makes Him the pattern for God's servants, who are to obey and carry out their appointed work without counting the cost too great. Bible religion encourages industry rather than idleness, calling all to use present opportunities for useful work and to rise to duty, using entrusted abilities in service to God since those opportunities may soon be gone and each must answer for stewardship. Those who have given themselves to the Lord are to follow His example, using their time to carry the light of God's Word and labor together with God as channels of light to the world. This means ceasing to dream about distant or greater work and cheerfully doing with whole heart and strength the duty Heaven places before them today.
Followers are to take part in His mission as laborers together with God, yoking with Him and letting Him work with them in whatever they are called to do. They are to devote their days to doing good to souls needing help, bringing joy to the sorrowful, light to the darkened, and life to the perishing, cheerfully accepting daily duties so that every word and act conduces to the happiness of others. Their chief duty is to reveal in words and deportment a life manifesting the attributes of heaven in strict conformity to the laws of the kingdom, and such obedience makes life like Christ's, brings happiness and heaven's approval, multiplies talents for greater usefulness, and lets the consecrated life shine amid moral darkness to guide perishing souls to the truth of the Word. Living in the last days with a large work before them, those made repositories of sacred truth full of eternal results must be bearers of sacred light to illuminate all nations as chosen vessels and the light of the world, giving self to the Lord daily, living in covenant relation to Him, converted to His service as missionaries doing His will and taking the Word as guide at every step. Though He was the Majesty of heaven and King of glory, He came in human flesh going about doing good as the greatest Teacher the world ever knew, tender, compassionate, ever considerate for others, representing the character of God and ever engaged in service for Him, and His followers are meant to be as He was, working the works of God and overcoming as He overcame. Jesus lived this urgency under the awful weight of responsibility for the salvation of the human family, knowing that without a decided change in human principles and purposes all would be irretrievably lost, carrying that burden alone with intense purpose to make His life a lamp in the world, which exposes how far below the privilege of usefulness many fall and how great the loss in shunning assigned work.
Working in the day means faithfully carrying out the duty of serving others with constant watchfulness and hearts filled with Christ's love, which makes obedience possible and prepares for reaching out after others, so that when Christ lives within, the life reveals Him and draws those helped to Him. To work as Christ worked requires putting every muscle to the stretch and exercising every God-given qualification to resist temptation, wrestling day by day with hereditary and cultivated tendencies to wrong until they are crucified, advancing step by step, striving to gain entrance to the kingdom and earnestly learning its laws, unwearied in prayer with minds constantly turned heavenward for the Holy Spirit's help while using every means provided, for no one can be saved in indolence or drift into heaven as a sluggard, but only as a loyal and faithful servant going straight to Him for help to subdue the carnal mind, the passions of the natural heart, and every sinful indulgence and wrong desire, remembering that He is all and in all and able to do exceeding abundantly above all that is asked or thought.
The work to be done is with the talents God has entrusted to everyone, which are to be faithfully used, improved and multiplied rather than used for selfish pursuit of worldly riches and advantage over others, since idleness is rebuked and diligent industry is urged while opportunity lasts. Christ gives talents to all His followers and calls them all to work while the day lasts, with strict account required for everything received and faithful diligent use expected to increase what was given, God expecting return proportionate to the amount received so that five talents must gain five more, and this faithful use brings means into the treasury to supply the necessities of His ever-enlarging work. Every influence and the life purchased at infinite cost are to be used for God rather than selfish benefit, with life like a lamp continually supplied with the oil of grace and kept burning.
A person's own work is done during the lifetime given, for life is like a day and death like night when personal activity ceases, yet when a worker passes away Christ's work continues through others who take it up and serve as He did. While the day lasts, work for those entrusted is to be done diligently and perseveringly, and trust in God enables continuance and growth in strength and grace until the coming night when work can no longer be done.
Day and Coming Night
The day is the present open time while doors still stand open for truth to enter and the harvest must be sown and reaped, and the stealing, soon-coming night is when those doors will be closed and work will become impossible. The verse rebukes the indolent and indifferent for standing idle and commands work while the day lasts with willing, earnest service, including returning to God His own in gifts and offerings. Life itself is like such a day, and death is like night when personal activity in this life ceases until the resurrection, so God-given abilities must not be left unused. Each day is therefore an opportunity to keep watchful, prayerful and active, to do what is right with hand and talents, to teach children to do so, and to grow in sanctification by cultivating the fruits of Christ's Spirit in the character.
The day is the present probationary time to labor and rescue souls, and the night is its fast-closing end when every case is eternally decided, the door forever shut, probation ends and destiny is fixed. While the day lasts those who know present truth must quickly share it, seek and save the lost, and let no usable opportunity pass by, for delay may make the work forever too late. Because the crisis is stealing upon the world as a thief and the signs of Christ's coming are fast fulfilling, workers must be wide awake and move rapidly to do their Master's business now. Long, protracted courses of study that consume precious time, weaken the burden for souls and become a snare must not hold back students burdened to save people, who should use what they already know and go promptly.
The coming night is a time of trouble and anguish when it will be too late to work for God, and efforts to rescue souls must be made before Jesus leaves the Most Holy Place of the heavenly sanctuary. While He remains there He still accepts prayers, confessions and sacrifices and sins may be blotted out and pardoned, but afterward characters are fixed with no priestly ministry to plead for them. His work in the heavenly sanctuary is nearly finished and the time for work will not last, so nothing should be held too dear to sacrifice for the salvation of His scattered flock.
That night is near, as shown by fulfilling signs on every side: the Spirit of God being grieved away, conflict among nations and preparation for war, terrible wickedness in the cities, judgments hanging over cities, and the crisis stealing as a thief. The present respite is the time for every believer, educated or uneducated, learned or unlearned, to use every ability in God's service, to bear the message and proclaim the warning to those who are perishing nearby and then in towns and cities that have not heard. The church must therefore awaken, delay no longer, and do its appointed work at once in the present time of opportunity, doing the heavenly Father's will by establishing memorials of His mercy, benevolence and goodness, including a sanitarium conducted by those given the light of present truth. The growing terrible wickedness in the cities proves there is no time to lose, question, hold back, or divert means, so God's people must act at once with faith, give liberally, train laborers among Black people, support the training school at Huntsville as money well invested, secure places and use land for the cause, and build without delay a roomy, well-equipped sanitarium in connection with the school.
The night also means the coming of the Lord, with the end of all things at hand much nearer than many suppose, and a coming time when people will no longer be free to work with present freedom. Opportunities to labor will end when the Lord comes, so the work must be advanced quickly and carried forward earnestly while there is still time. This urgent duty is to proclaim the final warning message in the cities, especially the eastern cities, while present freedom lasts and before judgments fall, working in Christ's vineyard for the glory of His name by lifting up the Man of Calvary before those living in sin. It is done by pen and voice in sweeping back false ideas about higher education, representing the blessedness of true higher education before a world laden with corruption, letting light shine forth from every believer, and pointing the weary, heavy-laden, brokenhearted and perplexed to Christ as the source of all spiritual life and strength.
The day is the present earthly life of perpetual conflict between Christians and worldlings, requiring eternal vigilance and earnest labor for God despite human weakness and many infirmities which God knows. Each day may be someone's last chance to hear or respond, and soon the opportunity to reach them may be gone, so believers must use the present time to help others and bring them to Christ. Working while it is day means knowing the time and awaking out of sleep because salvation is nearer than when belief began, the night being far spent and the day at hand. It means casting off the works of darkness and putting on the armor of light, walking honestly as in the day without rioting and drunkenness, chambering and wantonness, strife and envying, and putting on the Lord Jesus Christ and making no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lusts, while heavenly agencies work to enlighten ignorance, overpower the sinfulness of the world, surround God's people with light and loveliness, and Christ's overcoming of the world and living presence give ground for triumphant courage in the invisible battle.
Urgency of Present Opportunity
The time to work is limited and must be used now without delay while opportunity and strength remain, because the night is coming when no one can work. Every church member is commanded to enter active service at once as a worker in the vineyard, laboring today while it is still day and the door of opportunity stands open. The work to be done with such diligence is the work Christ gave His life to accomplish, especially preparing people for His second coming as the end of all things approaches. Lost chances will be mourned too late once labor has become impossible.
Human probation stands on the borders of the eternal world, so sin must not be cherished but put away and the daylight must be used for labor, especially carrying truth into new places. While probationary time lasts, vigilant service must be joined with faithful waiting, watchfulness, prayer and rest in the Lord, for hurried activity and bustle alone do not meet the requirement. Active, fervent service in every line improves every opportunity, cultivates personal piety and Christlike character, and increases entrusted gifts by use with soul, body and spirit devoted to God. Responsibility rests on church members to do their own local work instead of keeping ministers occupied with the churches, so that ministers are freed for new fields, and neglect of work that could have been done in new fields will bring accountability.
Time is precious and calls for active, unselfish service that is not measured by an eight-hour workday, particularly as the coming crisis will end the opportunity to advance the work. The duty Heaven places before each one today is to be done cheerfully with whole heart and strength, instead of dreaming about distant or greater work, following the faithful example of working while opportunity remained. The present time of opportunity is to be seized just now without any delay, working and keeping on working while rising to a higher standard.
No minutes are to be lost by talking when one should be working, for no one has a right at such times to talk or to stand still. Chatting in work time wastes both one's own time and the time of others, and no one must make others idle by tempting them to listen to conversation. Lips are to be closed and tools used, with dispatch, care, diligence and faithfulness shown in whatever department or line of work one is in, becoming more efficient, all-round and helpful every day. Shiftlessness, indolence and sloth in temporal and spiritual matters must be overcome, loiterers doing only half what they might must be aroused to responsibility, and all earnestness with self-denial must be put into labor out of faith in God and love for souls, since failure to work diligently ruins others by unbelief and leads to departing from the faith.
Work to Be Done
The work to be done while daylight lasts is the saving of souls by proclaiming Christ and Him crucified, lifting up the Man of Calvary before those living in sin, pointing the weary, heavy-laden, poor, brokenhearted and perplexed to Jesus as the source of all spiritual life and strength, standing in the divine current to receive heavenly inspiration, telling by pen and voice that Jesus lives to make intercession, magnifying God's changeless law as Jesus magnified it by His life and exalted it by His death, sweeping back false ideas about higher education and representing the blessedness of true higher education before a world laden with corruption, letting light shine from every believer, and preparing people for Christ's second coming while mercy still pleads and the end of all things is at hand much nearer than supposed. Seed sowers and reapers are urgently needed because towns, villages and cities are ready for harvest, and labor must begin in nearby places and then extend to towns and cities that have not heard, including Newcastle, Maitland, Seymour and Sydney, and onward to all places near and far and regions beyond until the work belts the world and reaches every nation, tongue and people. That earnestness must match Satan's persistence, for as he works earnestly, zealously and perseveringly to deceive and ensnare souls to eternal loss, God's people must be aroused to understand the magnitude of the work for the little time left and labor with zeal, earnestness, perseverance and a spirit of sacrifice in union with Christ, using every means God provides to plant truth in hearts, win souls and lead them to obey God's law, knowing they will be held accountable for souls they could have helped and did not.
Truth must be carried into new places and newly opening fields while probation stands on the borders of the eternal world, which requires putting away cherished sin so present daylight is used for labor. Church members must do their own local work instead of keeping ministers occupied with the churches, so ministers are freed for new territory, churches will be held responsible for neglect of work that could have been done in new fields, and those entrusted with great light who will not go willingly into new places before the night comes will be scattered by God into many places amid increasing wickedness. In Ohio the entrusted gathering work must be advanced without delay rather than having effort and resources diverted elsewhere, and the same urgency applies to the neglected work in Cleveland of gathering people to the truth. In the eastern cities the final message must be proclaimed quickly while present freedom lasts, for the end is near and that freedom may soon be lost, and more broadly the last work in this earth's history, whose influence will be felt through eternity, must be done now with courage while opportunity lasts because God's judgments hang over the cities and the night when no one can work is coming.
In Australia the gospel work must be supported and the message carried there before opportunity passes, including advancing the work in Sydney by using available means to support laborers in the field, and supporting students, training workers and carrying truth by example. Every entrusted talent, capability, means, influence and resource must be put to active use for saving souls rather than tied up in worldly enterprises, earthly interests, selfish pleasure or self-gratification, for time is wasted while God's money is misapplied. Those who cannot give personal effort can still do missionary labor by living economically and putting every spare dollar into the bank of heaven to send papers and books to those without the light of truth and to help pay expenses of students preparing for missionary work. This calls for giving time and means wholeheartedly and cheerfully, working cheerfully at whatever task is one's own, accepting required sacrifice, faithfully giving tithes and offerings while there is light, doing the next duty, and turning houses, lands and earnings into the treasury to seek God's approval and reward before strength and opportunity end.
Immediate help must be given to the Madison school in its necessity and to needy missionary fields that have never heard present truth, praying for wisdom to place means where it builds up God's cause and not using means to help those who have gone out because they are not of the faith. The present time marked by fulfilling signs on every side is the time to do the Father's will by establishing memorials of His mercy, benevolence and goodness, including a sanitarium conducted by those given the light of present truth. Workers must also be prepared for home and foreign fields and their education supported through a fund for worthy students who lack means, with those later able repaying the support so the fund remains available for others.
The work among the afflicted, poor, neglected, oppressed, discouraged and perishing must be taken up diligently, perseveringly, patiently, humbly and self-sacrificingly without passing by, each doing his best in cooperation with Christ and the Holy Spirit while there is time. For Black brothers and sisters in the suffering southern field this means humbling themselves before God and using opportunities, advantages and knowledge He has given to open the Bible, teach truth, redeem the time, rouse with new purpose, understand the work the Lord gives, make every possible effort in Christ's lines in meekness and lowliness relying on Him for strength, and labor to save their perishing, oppressed and discouraged people rather than seeking pleasure or following their own way, for trusting God gives peace and progress from strength to strength and grace to grace while following self-will brings thorns, thistles and loss of reward. Such labor gains the rich reward of blessing hearers, bringing the blessing of those ready to perish and causing the widow's heart to sing for joy, leading to Christ acknowledged as Creator and Redeemer, and when the redeemed stand around the throne those saved from sin and degradation will greet their workers with thanks for coming in love and pity to feed, clothe and point them to the Lamb of God who takes away sin. Because time is short and growing terrible wickedness in the cities proves the night is near, laborers among the colored people must be trained at once in faith, the training school at Huntsville supported liberally as money well invested, a roomy well-equipped sanitarium built without delay in connection with the school, and places secured and land used for the cause.
Parents and teachers must work now to teach children at home, reform the household in love of God and His commandments, prepare children and youth for immortal life, educate them as missionaries and prepare them to bear responsibilities and become missionaries, for household work done in simplicity of godliness brings thousands converted where only a hundred are seen. This includes providing Christian education that aids conversion, establishing Christian schools, and preparing young men for ministry by following God's revealed will and helping students prepare to teach truth rather than diverting them into long plans that consume years and lead them to give up preaching. Missionaries must enter the field promptly and students and workers must use present knowledge in service rather than postpone saving others for years of successive study and prolonged preparation, for the night is coming when labor will end and treating time as plentiful becomes a snare. Such delay consumes precious time, weakens the burden for souls, and becomes a snare, while learning continues through life and eternity.
Those standing idle in the marketplace, wasting remaining time on food, recreation, distractions, dreaming, amusement or their own methods, are called to go at once into the vineyard to warn sinners, seek the lost with patient love, speak the truth in Jesus, gather fruit and win souls. Ministers must persist in preaching salvation through Christ, caring for and seeking the lost and working for conversion, laboring faithfully without neglect, for unfaithfulness and neglect can result in souls being lost. This work is to be done in humble dependence on God, going forward in faith nothing doubting, believing His word, committing without reserve to His guidance, relying on divine power rather than mere argument, living and praying in union with Christ, practicing continual self-denial, and leaving results to God, remembering that in every place there are souls whom the Lord needs and whom the devil seeks to bind in slavery to sin and disregard for God's law.
Manner of Faithful Labor
Labor is to be earnest, diligent and persevering with the strength of the whole being, not negligent, slothful or idle, for each person has work to do for the Master and must use every moment while the day lasts because opportunity to work will end. Present opportunities are to be made the most of and time redeemed, marking every path with usefulness, without letting side issues distract, without turning aside for diversion, and without letting worldly business crowd out devotion and the soul's highest interests or neglecting God's work for worldly gain. Hours spent in diversion could instead become someone's hour of repentance and salvation, and Christian character requires faithful effort continually with attention fixed on eternal rather than merely temporal things. Plans and expectations have no value without firm faith and trust in God, and life preserved by God's mercy is to be devoted to His service.
Service requires unwearied prayer with minds constantly turned heavenward for the assistance of the Holy Spirit, using every means God provides, going forward in humble dependence without doubting, believing His word and committing without reserve to His guidance. When Satan comes with oppressing power, faith in God must be held to beat him back, and where victory is not at first gained there must be fasting and prayer with certainty of triumph over him. Continual reliance on God and continual practice of self-denial keep workers from sinking into discouragement and worry, remembering that in every place there are souls whom the Lord needs and whom the devil seeks to bind in slavery to sin and disregard for God's law. Spiritual powers perish when unused, and no one can be saved in indolence and inactivity, drift into heaven, or enter as a sluggard, but only as loyal and faithful servants. The approaching end must not make past work a stopping point, but lives must remain under converting power, lamps continually supplied with the Holy Spirit, talents multiplied, idle speculations and day-dreaming put away, only revealed truths about salvation studied and made to feed the flock, and present duties met lest eternity carry a burden of responsibility for failure to work earnestly.
Workers must rouse with new purpose of heart, understand the work the Lord gives, and make every possible effort in Christ's lines in meekness and lowliness, relying on Him for strength. Trusting in God for strength gives peace and comfort and enables going on from strength to strength and from grace to grace, while following one's own way and will brings thorns and thistles and loss of reward, so God's people must seek His wisdom and guidance rather than follow their own course or pleasure. This means putting every muscle to the stretch and exercising every God-given qualification to resist temptation, wrestling day by day with hereditary and cultivated tendencies to wrong until they are crucified, subduing inclinations of the carnal mind and passions of the natural heart, resisting every sinful indulgence and wrong desire, advancing step by step and striving to gain entrance to the kingdom and earnestly learn its laws. For oppressed and discouraged colored brethren this means humbling themselves before God and using opportunities, advantages and knowledge given them to open the Bible, teach the truth, and labor to save their perishing people in the suffering southern field rather than passing them by or seeking their own pleasure.
Godliness and self-denial are to be shown in home life and relationships rather than levity and carelessness, for now is the time to serve before it is too late. Personal preparation to meet God's measurement requires careful self-control, patience, meekness and lowliness, cherishing a meek and quiet spirit of great price in God's sight, and standing in clear light oneself so that good works cause others to glorify the heavenly Father. The urgency of limited time calls for persistent effort to restore those whose unchristlike conduct hinders others and brings shame on the Saviour, so that they may reveal God's image and reflect His moral character instead of living and acting like the world.
Every entrusted talent and capability must be put to active use and improved through humble, careful, understanding work while the day lasts, with soul, body and spirit devoted to God to supply the enlarging work and increase gifts by use. Properly used time is enough to pursue an eternal inheritance and help save others through example and teaching, and in view of Christ's near coming people must be awakened and prepared to meet Him with joy. Years wasted on selfish pleasure or sin cannot be recovered when the time to work is gone, so there is no time to rest or yield to temptation.
Faithful labor is to be done earnestly, humbly and self-sacrificingly for those perishing in sin, with prayer and work for souls Christ values because He died for them, leaving results to God. Such work gains the rich reward of blessing those who hear, bringing the blessing of those ready to perish and causing the widow's heart to sing for joy, leading to Christ being acknowledged as Creator and Redeemer, and looking toward the happiness of entering God's city. When the redeemed stand around the throne, those saved from sin and degradation will greet those who worked for them, thanking them for coming in love and pity to feed and clothe them and point them to the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world, with recognition given to those who labor together with God without lessening gratitude and praise to God and to the Lamb. Therefore labor must continue with unflagging zeal while opportunity remains.