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My Hour is NOT come – John 12
My Hour is NOT come – John 12
“And Jesus answered them, saying, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.” John 12:23
In the beginning of John's gospel, when they had run out of wine at a wedding feast, Jesus' mother came and told Him: "They have no wine." Jesus replied: "Woman, what does that have to do with us? My hour has not yet come" (2:3-4). Thus begins a thread concerning a particular time, 'an hour', for something to happen in the life of Jesus. Later, when His brothers challenged Him they said: "Leave here and go into Judea, so that your disciples also may see Your works which You are doing. "For no one does anything in secret when he himself seeks to be known publicly. If You do these things, show Yourself to the world." Jesus responded: "My time is not yet here, but your time is always opportune;" again indicating a particular time was coming (7:3-6).
When the Jewish leaders became angry at his teaching, "they were seeking to seize Him; and no man laid his hand on Him, because His hour had not yet come" (7:30). Yet again John informs us: "These words He spoke in the treasury, as He taught in the temple; and no one seized Him, because His hour had not yet come" (8:20).
As we begin what I see as the second half of this gospel, things change. Jesus states: "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified" (12:23). Then John writes: "Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He would depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end" (13:1). After the long evening of teaching the disciples during the last supper, Jesus "lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You" (17:1).
Jesus began his preaching by coming "into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”" (Mark 1:14-15). He began his preaching knowing that He would die. He was proclaimed from the beginning to be the Lamb of God - the one who would be sacrificed. He knew what things had to be accomplished before such could take place, and thus, he knew "his hour had not yet come". He also knew when his hour had come. We learn that the rejection and death of Jesus was NOT an 'unplanned event'. We see that through all of this, God was in control and would do things in HIS time and in His way.
Paul would later write: "But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law" (Gal. 4:4). Again he wrote: "For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly" (Rom. 5:6). And YET again: "who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time" (1Tim. 2:6).
God purposed, planned, and provided for Jesus to die. God used both the obedience and disobedience of men to bring this about. Jesus is the fulfillment of the eternal purpose of God. Now He is raised from the dead and sits at the right hand of the Father (Acts 5:31; Rom. 8:34, Eph. 1:20; Col. 3:1, etc.). He has been glorified with the glory that He had in the beginning (John 17:5). The Host of heaven perpetually worships Him saying: "To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!” (Rev. 5:13).
Let us not be discouraged by the events of this world, our God is in control.
Hugh DeLong
