The Ninth Hour

“… about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying,’ Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?’ That is to say, ‘ My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?’” - Matthew 27:46

At the apex of the sufferings of the Lamb of God for the sins of the world, it was fitting that He should utter this desolate cry at the ninth hour, for this was the time of the evening sacrifice, as well as the time of evening prayers among the people of ancient Israel.

It was at this hour that Elijah prayed to God against the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel, and God answered by fire from heaven (1 Kings 18:36-39). This was the hour of Ezra’s great prayer of confes-sion and intercession (Ezra 9:5), followed by a wonderful revival among the backslidden people of Israel. Daniel uttered his own prayer of confession and intercession “about the time of the evening oblation” (Daniel 9:21), and God sent the angel Gabriel to answer his prayer… “Peter and John - went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour” (Acts 3:1), and the result was the first apostolic miracle…Cornelius, was praying “about the ninth hour of the day” (Acts 10:3) when he received a visit from an angel of God to tell him to send for Peter, who would lead him to Christ.

In all recorded instances of prayer at the ninth hour, at the daily evening sacrifice, God answered the prayer in a marvelous way. But, when the Lord Jesus Christ prayed, God could not answer, for He had forsaken His own Son. “Why?” He cried, but He knew, and now we know that it was simply because He “loved me, and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). The measure of His love is the cross and separation from the Father, “that He by the grace of God should taste death for every man” (Hebrews 2:9). This is why He died!

H.M.M. (Days of Praise)

“The victor is he who refuses to believe that God has forgotten him, even when every fibre of his being feels that he is forsaken…who will never let go in faith, even when he feels that its last grounds are gone…who has been beaten to the depths and still holds on to God, for that is what Jesus did.”

Wm. Barclay