KJV John 7:30 “… no man laid hands on Him, because His hour was not yet come.”
NASB John 7:30 “…no man laid his hand on Him, because His hour had not yet come.
KJV John 17:1 “Father, the hour is come…”
NASB John 17:1 “Father, the hour has come…”
KJV Luke 22:53 “This is your hour, and the power of darkness.”
NASB Luke 22:53 “This hour and the power of darkness are yours.”
Mine Hour — His Devotion
There are three different views of that “hour” that merit our consideration. The Lord Jesus spoke of His hour in John 7:30. He spoke of “the hour” (John 17:1), and He spoke of “your hour and the power of darkness” (Luke 22:53).
Though in one sense, they all refer to that same monumental time when He gave Himself to the cross and its suffering, there are nuances of differences that should be appreciated and valued.
“His hour” expresses His devotion to the Father’s will. From eternity past, that “hour” was before Him. He came to accomplish all that the hour entailed. Elsewhere, He referred to “Mine hour,” a time uniquely His to fulfill the Father’s will and work.
This was a moment defined in a past eternity. It was known to the Lord when He created the worlds — when He formed man of the dust of the ground. He knew full well the consequences of His Creatorial work. As the clock of time was set in motion on that creation morn, the progress to “His hour” had begun.
The Hour — Destiny
John 17, the prayer of the Lord Jesus before exiting the Garden (John 18:1), begins with the solemn declaration, “Father, the hour is come.” Here is the hour planned before the divine fiat called a universe into being. Here was an hour like none other. It eclipses creation in its might and power; it dwarfs the thundering that marked Sinai and the power that parted the Red Sea. Here was the hour that all creation depended upon, an hour that all divine purposes rested upon for their righteous completion.
From eternal times, there was a Lamb foreordained, a mystery to be revealed, and a people to be blessed. The events of “the hour” were destined to accomplish all this and far more. There is no eternal purpose of God that is not dependent on that “hour.”
Can we begin to imagine the pathos, the burden of heart with which those words were uttered? Here was the goal of His cosmic rescue mission, His purpose in taking blood and flesh (Heb 2). Soon, the storm of divine judgment would break on His righteous soul. “The hour had come.” It is “the hour” that transcends every other in the history of our world.
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Your Hour — Diabolic
In Luke 22, we read of the encounter in the Garden. The armed guards and leaders of the nation came to apprehend the Lord Jesus. As He addressed them, the Lord spoke of this being “your hour and the power of darkness (v 53).” It is solemn and dreadful to contemplate what that hour entailed for Him.
I would suggest that God removed the hedge (Job 1:10), and men and Satan were allowed to do their worst to the Son of God. The evil hearts of men, fueled by Satanic hatred toward God, rose like a tidal wave of hostility against the Saviour. Here was the first time in all of his dark history that the lord of darkness, Satan, could actually physically and emotionally attack one of the Godhead. Satan held nothing back. We do not know in what form or manner the attack came, but we can be sure that all his diabolical wisdom and strategy were unleashed on the Lord.