Prayer Meeting                                     Notes 2000

Text: John 17                                                                             24 January 2000

“Father, THE HOUR HAS COME...”  John 17:1

         What Is This "HOUR?"

1.   "My HOUR has not yet come..."   John 2:4

2.   "Woman, the HOUR is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem worship the Father... The HOUR is coming, and now is, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father is seeking such to worship Him..."   John 4:22, 23

3.   "Then he inquired of them the HOUR when he got better... and they said to him, 'Yesterday, at the seventh HOUR the fever left him...' so the father knew that it was the same HOUR in which Jesus said to him, 'Your son lives...'  And he himself believed and his whole household."   John 4:52-53

4.   "Most assuredly, I say to you, the HOUR is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear Him will live... Do not marvel at this: for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice, and come forth - those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation"   John 5:29

5.   "The HOUR has come that the Son of Man should be glorified..."   John 12:23

6.   "Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? 'Father, save me from this HOUR?  But for this purpose I came to this HOUR'"   John 12:27

7.   "Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His HOUR had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end"   John 13:1

8.   "But these things I have told you, that when the time (lit. 'HOUR') comes you may remember that I told you of them..."   John 16:4

9.   "The time (lit. 'HOUR') is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language, but I will tell you plainly about the Father"   John 16:25

10. "Indeed the HOUR is coming, yes, has now come, that you will be scattered, each to His own, and will leave Me alone.  And yet, I am not alone because the Father is with Me"   John 16:32

11. "Father, the HOUR has come.  Glorify Your Son, that your Son also may glorify You"   John 17:1 

VARIOUS USES OF THE WORD "HOUR"

A.  General Use

1.   Another word for "time"

2.   An unspecified time period

B.  Special Use

1.   A specific reference to the Death of the Lord Jesus Christ

2.   However, the Death of the Lord Jesus is also seen as a special time of glorifying the Father 

3.   As a significant, pivotal point of time   John 4

CONSCIOUSNESS OF TIME

1.   The Lord Jesus was most conscious of His brief time on earth

2.   The "HOUR" of His death was indelibly etched on His mind

3.   It affected Him much; He thus made sure that His time on earth was well utilised

USE OF TIME

1.   He made sure that He would always glorify His Father, especially in that Hour of Death

2.   God intimated to Jesus when His hour had come, and death held no fear of Him, because of His close relationship with the Father

CHALLENGES TO USE OUR TIME WISELY AND WELL

1.   "A time for every purpose under heaven..."   Eccle 3:1

2.   "Do you not say, 'There are still four months and then comes the harvest?'  Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest"   John 4:35

3.   "Redeeming the time, because the days are evil"   Eph 5:16