There are many important HOURS mentioned in the Bible. However, there are none more important than the NINTH HOUR. It became possible at this time for us to have our sins forgiven and to be reconciled to God. No other point in history has ever produced such a possibility. At this hour, Jesus cried from the cross, ‘My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me?’, Matthew chapter 27 verse 46. He was crucified at the third hour and at the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land. At this point, alone and in the darkness, He took the judgment of God for our sin upon Himself. Paul puts it this way: ‘For He (God) made Him, who knew no sin, to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him’, 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 21. This does not mean that He became a sinner. It means that He was treated as sin as sinners deserved to be treated and bore the judgement of God against sin on our behalf. He had, therefore, to be forsaken by a holy God, who cannot look on sin.

We praise God that Christ died for our sins but we also rejoice in the fact that He rose from the dead! Shortly after His resurrection, the importance of the NINTH HOUR is presented to us, yet again. A man born lame, Acts chapter 3 verse 1, and a Gentile centurion, Acts chapter 10 verse 1-3, have their lives changed through faith in Christ, both at the NINTH HOUR! Repentance towards God and faith in Christ can change our lives too and set us on the pathway to heaven!