The 3rd, The 6th, The 9th Hours - Hours That Changed Time Forever

JESUS DIED

AT THE RIGHT TIME - FOR EVERYONE - FOR ALL TIME

A TRUE STORY

Good Friday, A Day To Remember, A Day To Reflect

   By James Eugene Barbush   

   April 6, 2015   

Every year during Holy Week, I reflect on what happened to Jesus during His Holy Week. This year, 2015, was no different . . . except for one very significant event that happened on this particula Good Friday, April 3, 2015.

Our Holy Week in April of 2015 was occurring with the knowledge that after Holy Week, members of my family and myself were scheduled to attend and testify at the trial of a man who had committed atrocities over a period of time. In 2013, in the middle of a night in June, the man murdered a grandmother in her bed in Hershey, PA. After committing that horrific act, the man came to our home in Linglestown, PA and started a fire in our garage. These 2 horrific acts were the culmination of many other destructive acts that were committed by this man against numerous victims over a period of years until 2013. The man was arrested in June 2013, charged, and after a long process, was scheduled for a trial to commence on April 7, 2015. Given the severity of this man’s crimes, the District Attorney’s Office was prepared to have this man convicted and sentenced to death. The victims who came forth in this multi-count case, including members of my family, were prepared, not eagerly but dauntingly, to testify at the trial. Though the trial was awaiting us after Our Holy Week, we were still walking through our reflections of events that happened during His Holy Week, over 2,000 years ago.

The morning of Good Friday, April 3, 2015, except for the pending trial, was a reflective one as it has been every year. I attended a Psalm Sunday Service that spoke of His triumphal entry into Jerusalem. I watched the depictions of His Holy Week and His Crucifixion on televised movies. I read accounts of events in the New Testament. I considered the conditions of our world as I reflected on His Holy Week, and what they should mean to us in Our Holy Week.

Even though the events of His Holy Week were being remembered by many, the current events of our world, horrific as they are, were still happening, as usual, and being reported constantly – wars, killings, tragedies; nations rising against nations, wars and rumors of wars, corruption openly displayed, arrogance greater than I have ever seen; our world in turmoil locally, nationally, and internationally.

Then suddenly, during Our Holy Week, on Our Good Friday, our reflections took a unique turn quite differently than ever before for us. At 11:10 am, we received a phone call from the District Attorney’s Office that the man who was going to be tried within days had agreed to plead his case and take an agreed to sentence, rather than put himself, his family, the victims, and victims' families through the stresses of a trial. This was quite an unexpected turn in the case. The man agreed to plead “no contest” and agreed to accept a life sentence with no parole, plus two consecutive sentences of 10 to 20 years each. These sentences were to assure that the man would never leave prison until he died.

With this sudden and unexpected change from a trial to a plea, the DA’s Office said that we needed to be in court on this same day, Our Good Friday, at 1:00 pm. That was less than 2 hours from receiving the phone call, right in the middle of Our Good Friday. Still, we went to the courthouse as requested. After a period of waiting in a private room in the courthouse, the hearing where the man’s case would be heard was scheduled for 3:00 pm on this same day, Our Good Friday. Did you get that? – 3:00 pm on this same day, Our Good Friday.  I wondered what was really happening.

Now, consider this. It’s Holy Week, Our Holy Week. It’s Good Friday, Our Good Friday. Christians are remembering the death of Jesus who was executed on Passover. Jesus was arrested, tried, and sentenced on that day, His Good Friday. Jesus died a horrible death on that day in a horrific process that lasted for hours. A process that started with His arrest during the night after The Last Supper, in the early morning hours of His Good Friday. A process where He faced Pontius Pilate at 6 am, then went before Herod, and then was returned to Pontius Pilate around 8 am. A process where he was sentenced to death which led to His path of carrying a cross to His crucifixion starting around 9 am (the 3rd hour as stated in the Bible). The nailing to His cross, the raising of His cross for all to see, the agony on His cross that lasted for hours, through the 6th hour (noon) and to the 9th hour (3 pm). All culminating in His death on His Good Friday.

Now, further consider this. We have Jesus, a sinless man, who was tried, sentenced, crucified, and killed on His Good Friday over 2,000 years ago. In contrast, we have a man, a sinner, to be tried, convicted, and sentenced on Our Good Friday in 2015. That seems to be a unique parallel, does it not? Why? Why has this happened? I know that alignments of occurrences like this happen for a reason, a divine appointed reason. I know from past experiences that God has a message in this for me and for others. What is that message? Could it be . . . .

We are all sinners. No matter what we do wrong, no matter what the sin, we are all sinners. The worldly courts judge the acts of criminals. Others judge our offenses towards them. We judge ourselves for the sins we commit, and we judge others for their offenses against us and others. Sins, sins of every type. Sins, some more grievous than others. Sins, that often seem small. No matter “the size of our sin”, they are all sins, offenses to God.

If we stand before the courts of earth, we are judged for the severity of our wrongdoing.

If we stand before the courts of Heaven, we can be judged for our sin.

If we stand before the courts of earth, the victims and their families want justice.

If we stand before the courts of Heaven, we have access to an Advocate who was judged for us.

This man who was in court on this Our Good Friday in April of 2015 received an earthly sentence that the courts and the victims believed he deserved. Even the man who committed the acts accepted to receive the sentence imposed upon him.

The Man who was in court on His Good Friday in the first century A. D. received an earthly sentence that the religious rulers believed He deserved. The Man, though He did not deserve the sentence, fully accepted the sentence for those whom He loves.

The Man died for that man who was sentenced to life without parole.

The Man died for all men and accepted the sentence that cost Him His life on this earth.

Everyone has access to The Man who accepted the diverted judgment that was deserved by each of us.

Our Good Friday on April 3, 2015 was a most unusual Good Friday for us.

His Good Friday over 2,000 years ago was a most unusual day for Him and for all of us.

As horrific as his crimes are, is the man excused for his crimes against people and society? No. He has received his sentence and begun his life in prison, and is expected to pay for those crimes until he departs from this earth.

As horrific as his crimes are, is the man excused from the judgment of his sins against God? Our prayer is that during his life in prison, he will find his salvation in Christ, such that Christ will be his advocate before the Father in Heaven on his day of judgment. We pray that His Good Friday will become his Good Friday. We pray that the 3 pm hearing (The 6th hour) conducted on Our Good Friday on which that the man was sentenced will be a turning point in the man’s life, such that when his heart is repentant, he will forever know the forgiveness of the Father.

So, on Our Good Friday, April 3, 2015. we looked back at His Good Friday in the first century A.D. On Our Good Friday, a man was judged and sentenced to life in prison on this earth,  On His Good Friday, a Man who is More Than A Man was judged and sentenced to give His life on this earth.  Because HE gave His life, we can have life here and for eternity, and not be sentenced to death for eternity.  We, each an every one of us sinners, can be "sentenced" to eternal life.

The 3rd hour, the 6th hour, and the 9th hour are hours when a Man sacrificed for all men and He changed time for all eternity.  Jesus died at the right time, for everyone, for all time.  His Good Friday is a day to remember, a day to reflect on what He did for ALL of us.

Mark 15: 25 

And it was the 3rd hour when they crucified Him.

Mark 15:33

At the 6th hour darkness came over the whole land until the 9th hour.

Matthew 27:35 

Now from the 6th hour there was darkness over all the land unto the 9th hour.

Matthew 27:46 

And about the 9th hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, 

“Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, 

“My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”