Devotional by Pastor Greg Laurie: 
At the Appointed Time

"Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father." (John 10:17-18)

At one point in Jesus' ministry, the people in His own hometown of Nazareth tried to kill Him. They had taken Him to the edge of a cliff to push Him off, but the Bible tells us that Jesus passed through their midst and went on His way (see Luke 4:30). This just goes to show that no one ever took the life of Jesus.

It is almost laughable to read the biblical account of soldiers—led by Judas Iscariot through the Garden of Gethsemane—coming to arrest God with their swords and spears, coming to supposedly take "against His will" the one who holds the solar system in the span of His hand. Jesus said, "No one takes [my life] from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again" (John 10:18).

The reason the people of Nazareth couldn't kill Jesus was because His hour had not yet come. He often used that phrase throughout His ministry. But His hour finally did come when He willingly went to the cross of Calvary.

Jesus said that He came to give His life as a ransom for many (see Matthew 10:28; Mark 10:45). He came to lay His life down on the cross of Calvary. And at the appointed time, that is exactly what He did. At the appointed time, He was born in the manger in Bethlehem. At the appointed time, He was crucified on the cross of Calvary. At the appointed time, He rose again from the dead. At the appointed time, He will come again to this earth. God keeps His appointments. And He is always right on time.

By Greg Laurie, Senior Pastor, Harvest Christian Fellowship, Riverside, Ca. Copyright © 2007 by Harvest Ministries. All rights reserved.