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.

Are You Waiting for Something?

It seems everyone I know is waiting for some major change in their lives—waiting to sell a house; waiting to buy a house; waiting for retirement; waiting for a job; waiting to get married; waiting for a baby; waiting for the stock market to go up; or just waiting for an answer to some very important prayer.

Isn’t it good to know that, as the Psalmist says, “My times are in Your hands”? No one but God knows the proper timing of all things.

In pride and ignorance, Moses breached God’s timing. Knowing that he was called to be the deliverer of the Hebrews, he rushed ahead of divine timing. Killing an Egyptian soldier and incurring the wrath of the Pharaoh, his Hebrew brothers rejected his help; he had only made things worse. Exiled to the desert for the next 40 years, while God was working on Moses (humbling him), He was also working with the Jews. As the abuse and dominance of the Pharaoh increased (not giving them any straw to make bricks), they were compelled to cry out to God for help. Now they were ready to leave Egypt. And now they were ready for Moses.

While you and I are waiting for God to move on our behalf, we must never forget that it is not only about us—He is working in others as well. All things are moving in His time.

Remember: “God acts in behalf of the one who waits for Him” (Is. 64:4). And if you don't wait, He can't act!