The Finest Hour the World has Ever Known

Shortly after he took over as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Winston Churchill delivered the “This was their finest hour” speech. Though it may have been Great Britain’s finest hour, we can be certain it was not the finest hour the world has ever known. That honor belongs only to the Son of God.

Many times during his three-year ministry, Jesus said “My hour is not yet come” (John 2:4; 7:6, 8, 30; 8:20), revealing His life-long anticipation of that “hour.” When finally Jesus said the hour has come (John 17:1), He knew it was the HOUR that would change the world—the finest hour the world has ever known. Jesus’ finest hour was the polar opposite of the world’s idea of greatness. He suffered a cruel death as a common criminal at the age of 33, alone and deserted by all his followers. Yet this was His finest hour.

Today, Good Friday, Christians around the globe will remember the hour of Jesus’ death. But the meaning of the Cross remains incomprehensible to the natural man. Jesus achieved more in his darkest hour than all the world's heroes and benefactors put together. It was the hour when He died for all mankind to destroy the devil, the one who held the power of death, and to free those who all their lives were held in slavery (Heb. 2:14-15). Death was swallowed up in victory (1 Cor. 15:54), bringing infinite blessing to mankind, turning sorrow to joy, sickness to health, hatred to love, darkness to light and death to life. His final words “it is finished” reveal the purpose of His life—“accomplishing the work God sent Him to do” (John 17:4)—to set the captives free!

Is this not the finest hour the world has ever known! This Easter, let us determine to walk in the freedom He died to give us.