How God Prepared The World For His Son Geographicly And Historicaly Series

Christmas Messages 3

Bob Marcaurelle

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HOW GOD PREPARED THE WORLD FOR JESUS

HISTORICALLY

“In the fullness of time God sent His Son, born of woman, born under the Law.” (Galatians 4:4)

The drama of Christmas includes far more than the story of the birth at Bethlehem. It began back in the unending recesses of eternity past and It reaches forward into the unending recesses of eternity future when God and His redeemed people will live together in unbroken harmony and purity forever (Eph. 1:10).

In between these two eternities we have this little island we call time or history and from our test we shall look at the part it plays in the drama of Christmas. As parents make preparations for the birth of a child, so did God make preparations for the birth of His Son.

Paul says, When the time was right, Jesus came. The literal translation of the “fullness” is “when the full number of days had arrived.” The years were like drops falling in a cup and the moment of overflow was the birth of Jesus Christ.

History is not like some runaway locomotive which the engineer started and then left to itself; it is controlled by the hands of God.

PATIENCE

The remarkable thing about God is that He never hurries. Like a master craftsman He carefully places each piece in place at just the right time.

A few years ago I stood on the rim of the Grand Canyon and beheld the marvelous work of our God. In the gift shop I brought a little book, “The Bible Creation Story and the Grand Canyon.” In it the author said the Grand Canyon is the only place in the world where we can read in the rocks the five chapters in the history of the earth. Geologists estimate that it took 4-6 million years for the Colorado River to cut its way to the floor of that canyon. These years, if true, testify to the patience of God.

What patience there was for God to wait tens of thousands of years before calling Abraham from the land of Ur to make from him the Jewish nation.

And then for two thousand years, from Abraham to Christ, God patiently worked with the Jews until they were ready to deliver the Messiah to the world.

Charles Spurgeon says,

“If we were wise enough we should see that the church of God could not have endured gospel light earlier than the day of Christ’s coming; neither would it have been well to keep her in gloom beyond that time ... God alone knows the times and seasons for a church, and no doubt to Him the four thousand years of the Old Dispensation made up a fit period for the church to abide at school.”

PURPOSE

God is not just patiently working. He is purposefully working. He is carrying out in time that which He planned in eternity. He is not just driving the locomotive; He is driving it to the predetermined destination.

God can be patient because He is never worried. He is not searching the tracks ahead for unforeseen dangers. He knows the end from the beginning. He can see all the way to the end of the line. Adrian Rogers said, “Has it ever occurred to you that nothing ever occurred to God?

PREPARATION

1. Geographical Preparation

At creation, when God brought forth the mountains and the seas and places the land as He desired he put Palestine in the perfect place. One forth the size of Florida, it is a tiny spec on the map, a narrow strip of land 50 miles wide and 100 miles long.

This all seems insignificant on the grand scheme of things but if you look at a map and find this tiny spec your will see it is a little land bridge that connects three continents – Europe (NW), Asia (N) and Africa (S).

It sits on the Eastern shore of the Med. Sea; the Inter-State Highway of the ancient world, where at any time a hundred ships were carrying goods from Africa to Europe and Asia.

Down the shoreline on the West is the highway by the sea where Caravans traveled 2000 years before Christ. Down the Eastern border, in the Jordan valley is what some call the oldest road in the world, it too carrying merchants and soldiers for thousands of years before Christ.

And in the center from North to South are the central mountains with the little village of Nazareth in the north. From this vicinity Jesus could walk a few miles and look down on the two ancient highways of either side, and on the great Sea that tied the world together. Growing up, the world passed by at His feet.