When the time was right

509 when the time was upPeople like to claim that God always chooses the right time and I am sure that it is true. One of my memories of the Bible Beginners Course is an “aha” experience when I learned that Jesus came to earth at exactly the right time. A teacher explained how everything in the universe had to come into proper alignment in order for all prophecies about Jesus to be fully fulfilled.

Paul spoke to the church in Galatia about the sonship of God and being in bondage to the powers of the world. “Now when the time had fully come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman and placed under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption (the full rights of adoption)” (Galatians 4,4-5). Jesus was born when the time was fully fulfilled. In the Elberfeld Bible it says: "when the fullness of the time had come".

The constellation of the planets and stars fit. The culture and the education system had to be prepared. The technology or its nonexistence was right. The Earth governments, especially the Romans, were on duty at the right time.

A commentary on the Bible explains: “It was a time when the 'Pax Romana' (Roman peace) extended over much of the civilized world, making travel and trade possible as never before. Great roads connected the empire of the emperors, and its diverse regions were linked in an even more significant way by the pervasive language of the Greeks. Add to this the fact that the world had fallen into a moral abyss, so deep that even the pagans cried out and spiritual hunger was present everywhere. The perfect timing has been witnessed for the coming of Christ and for the early spread of the Christian gospel” (The Expositor's Bible Commentary).

All of these elements played a role when God chose this very moment to begin his stay as man and God in Jesus and his way to the cross. What an incredible coincidence of events. One might think of the members of an orchestra practicing the individual parts of a symphony. On the evening of the concert, all parts, clever and beautifully played, come together in brilliant harmony. The conductor raises his hands to signal the final screschendo. The timpani sound and the built-up tension is dissolved in a triumphant climax.

Jesus is that culminating point, the pinnacle, the pinnacle, the pinnacle of God's wisdom, power and love! "For in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily" (Colossians 2,9).

But when the time was fulfilled, Christ came, who is all the fullness of the Godhead. "That their hearts may be comforted, united in love, and with all riches of assurance of understanding, unto the knowledge of the mystery of God, this is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Colossians 2,2-3 Eberfeld Bible). Hallelujah and Merry Christmas!

by Tammy Tkach


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