24 Series Devotionals - Day 2
The Last 24 Hours Begin
In the first verse of John 13, John begins his account of the last 24 hours before Christ’s crucifixion with the words “Jesus, knowing that His hour had come . . .”
Over and over Jesus made it clear that He was in control of pace of events of His life. Some form of that phrase, ‘the hour has not yet come’ echoes throughout John’s gospel account.
- John 2:4 tells us about Jesus’ first miracle while attending a wedding in Cana. Mary, his mother, came to him, saying the host had run out of wine. “Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, what do I have to do with you? My hour has not yet come.’”
- John 4:23; “There is an hour coming when true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth.”
- John 5:25: Jesus says, “An hour is coming when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear it shall live.”
- John 7:30 and 8:20: “The leaders in the temple could not lay their hands on Him to kill Him because His hour had not yet come.”
- John 12:23 Jesus concluded his public ministry with the declaration that “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.”
- Finally, John tells us in Chapter 13, Verse 1, “Jesus, knowing His hour had come, that He should depart…..”
More than any of the other Gospel writers, John emphasized Jesus’ submission to the timetable of His Heavenly Father. From our point of view, it meant suffering and death; from Heaven’s perspective, it meant glory. Though His enemies would have loved to kill Jesus early in His ministry, they could not….for His hour had not yet come.
Now the time has arrived for Jesus to finish the work of forgiveness. He knew this would be His last night on earth before returning to the Father.
In a breath-taking 24 hours, He prepares his disciples for the unthinkable and secures for us what had been unimaginable:
None of us knows when our own hour will come. We need to examine our hearts and be sure….will we be ready? The scriptures tell us how we can be sure.