Answer
A theme of “light and darkness, day and night” runs throughout the apostle Paul’s writings. He fervently encourages believers to always live in the light of their salvation and behave as though Christ could return at any minute: “Now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy” (Romans 13:11–13, NKJV).
The night is “far spent” (KJV, NKJV) or “nearly over” (NIV) or “almost gone” (NLT), and the day is “at hand” (KJV, NKJV) or “almost here” (NIV)—these are Paul’s metaphorical ways of saying that the day when Jesus Christ returns for His church is imminent. Paul gave equivalent encouragement in 1 Thessalonians 5:4–8: “But you aren’t in the dark about these things, dear brothers and sisters, and you won’t be surprised when the day of the Lord comes like a thief. For you are all children of the light and of the day; we don’t belong to darkness and night. So be on your guard, not asleep like the others. Stay alert and be clearheaded. Night is the time when people sleep and drinkers get drunk. But let us who live in the light be clearheaded, protected by the armor of faith and love, and wearing as our helmet the confidence of our salvation” (NLT; cf. Ephesians 5:1–20).
As believers, we must recognize the times we live in. The Bible separates time into two periods or ages—this present (evil) age and the age to come (see Mark 10:30; Luke 20:34–36; 1 Corinthians 2:6–8; 10:11; 2 Corinthians 4:4; Titus 2:12; Ephesians 1:21; 2:7; Hebrews 6:5; 9:26). This present age is filled with darkness and evil, but a new day of righteousness is coming. The writers of the New Testament reveal that “the age to come” or “the kingdom of God” was introduced by Jesus, the King.
Christians live and wait in constant anticipation of that day “when Christ, who is [our] life, is revealed to the whole world,” and we “will share in all his glory” (Colossians 3:4, NLT). Paul describes us as having “the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us” (see Romans 8:21–23, NLT).
The believer’s salvation encompasses the past (justification), present (sanctification), and future (glorification). One day, when the night is over and the day dawns, the old, present evil age will finally end, and the new age of God’s glorious kingdom will be consummated. “Now,” in this present age, “we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then,” in the age to come, “we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that [we] know now is partial and incomplete, but then [we] will know everything completely, just as God now knows [us] completely” (1 Corinthians 13:12, NLT).
The night is far spent, and the day is at hand signifies that, every day, we are one step closer to our full inheritance as believers. Peter explained, “Now we live with great expectation, and we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay. And through your faith, God is protecting you by his power until you receive this salvation, which is ready to be revealed on the last day for all to see” (1 Peter 1:3–5, NLT). Armed with this knowledge, we cast off all traces of darkness and live in the light of holiness. We experience every moment with a keen awareness that we are on the threshold of the bright and glorious sunrise of our Savior’s return.
