Christ's Urgent Work: The Daylight of Divine Mission

"I must work the works of Him that sent Me while it is day" (John 9:4). Jesus spoke these words as He contemplated His earthly ministry with the urgency of one watching the sun descend toward the horizon. Frederic Godet observed that our Lord declared: "When night comes, the workman's labour ceases. My work is to enlighten the world as the sun does; but in a short time I, like him, shall disappear, and my work will cease. Hence I have not a moment to lose."

Christ's constraint—"I must"—flowed not from divine necessity but from His mediatorial work as Man. His time was limited (Acts 2:23), yet within that appointed season He finished the work the Father entrusted to Him (John 17:4). Nothing discouraged Him from obedience, not even Sabbath tradition, because He recognized the Father's signal to act.

This urgency extends to believers. We must work the works of God—piety toward Elohim through love, trust, submission, and fear; equity toward our neighbours, wronging none and helping all; charity toward the poor, proportional to our means; and sobriety through mortifying sin. The "day" means our lifetime of grace, the present moment of opportunity (Psalm 95:7; Hebrews 3:7). Night approaches when opportunity expires. Therefore, procrastination dishonors the One who sent us.