Night is coming

“As long as it is day, we must do the work of Him who sent Me. Night is coming, when no-one can work.” John 9:4
The contrast and conflict between light and darkness, day and night, appears throughout the Scriptures. It is a concept we are familiar with in our day-to-day lives, and it is a spiritual truth too. “But you, brothers, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. You are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be alert and self-controlled. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be self- controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Thess. 5:4-9)
This time of darkness is referring to the Great Tribulation. Christians will not be subject to it, because we belong to the day, not the darkness. We are not ‘asleep’, or spiritually dead.
Therefore the work of the church will not continue in the Tribulation, because the church will be removed prior to it. We only have a limited time in which to preach the gospel and show the world the love of God.
In another sense, dark days of persecution are coming. While it may be mild in western countries, we should take note that it will increase as the time of the end draws closer. Let us work openly while we can.