"HIS HOUR HAD NOT YET COME"

"THE Son of man came, not to be ministered to, but to minister and to give his oul a ransom in exchange for many,"  Jesus Christ told his apostles.  (Matthew  20:28)  "To the Roman governor Pontius Pilate, he said:  "For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth." (John 18:37)  Jesus knew exactly why he would die and what work he needed  to do before his death. He also knew how much time he had to fulfill his mission. His ministry on earth as the Messiah was to be only three and a half years long. It began with his water baptism in the Jordan River (in 29 C.E.  at the start of  the foretold 70th symbolic week and ended with his death on a (Daniel 9:24-27; Matthew 3:16, 17;  20:17-19) Hence, Jesus' entire course of action on earth was essentially governed  by two factors: The purpose of his coming and a keen sense of timing. 

The Gospel accounts portray Jesus Christ as a man of action who traveled the length and breadth of the land of Palestine, declaring the good news of God's Kingdom and performing many powerful works. During the earlier part of Jesus' dynamic  ministry, it is said of him:  "His hour had not yet come."  Jesus himself made the statement:  "My due time has not yet fully come." Near the end of his ministry, he used the expression  "The house has come."  (John 7:8, 30; 12:23)  Jesus' awareness of the hour, or the time for his assigned work, including his sacrificial death, must have affected  what he said and did. Understanding this can give us insight into his personality and the pattern of his thinking, helping us "to follow his steps" more closely. -1 Peter 2:21.

Next time: Determined to Do  God's Will

From the Watchtower magazine, 2000