In The Fullness Of Time

Galatians 4:1-7

One man sent his parents a microwave oven one Christmas. Here's how he recalls the experience: "They were excited that now they, too, could be a part of the instant generation. When Dad unpacked the microwave and plugged it in, literally within seconds, the microwave transformed two smiles into frown! Even after reading the directions, they couldn't make it work. "Two days later, my mother was playing bridge with a friend and confessed her inability to get hat microwave oven even to boil water.’To get this silly thing to work,' she exclaimed, 'I really don't need better directions; I just needed my son to come along with the gift!'" When God gave the gift of salvation, he didn't send a booklet of complicated instructions for us to figure out; he sent his Son.

Christmas means that:

He descended that we might ascend. He became poor that we might become rich. He was born that we might be born again. He became a servant that we might become sons. He had no home that we might have a home in heaven. He was hungry that we might be fed. He was thirsty that we might be satisfied. He was stripped that we might be clothed. He was forsaken that we might not be forsaken. He was sad that we might become glad. He was bound that we might go free. He was made sin that we might be made righteous. He died that we might live. He came down that we might be caught up.

God is never late. God is always on time. He never misses a deadline. He sent His Son into the world right on time. God's timetable is always correct. My timetable and God's timetable are not always the same. There are times when I want God to act right now. I might pray "God give me this patience right now... God get me out of this trouble right now... God make others change so my work will be better right now!" I understand that in His great wisdom, God chooses not to answer those prayers. He created everything from nothing and sees the end from the beginning, who represents all wisdom and knowledge has never been late. He's has always been on time. It may not be my time, but it is His time.

The question that comes to me is how do we know it was the fullness of time for Jesus to come when He did? The fact is that God sent His Son to the earth at just the right time.

"When the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman."

That's an amazing statement! There was one time, a right time in all of history when all things were perfectly right for Jesus to be born. Jesus came at exactly the right time. So Christmas should remind me of God's perfect timing. Just as God's timing was perfect in the coming of Jesus, His timing is perfect in your life. Just as the people of Jesus' day didn't understand God's timing then, you may not understand it now, however, it is perfect timing. Maybe today is the right time in your life for God to move in a special way. Today may be the perfect timing for you to let Christ come as Savior into your heart. We will learn today how He works His plans in our lives.

I. We see the Preparation For His Coming. Verses1-3 “Think of it this way. If a father dies and leaves great wealth for his young children, those children are not much better off than slaves until they grow up, even though they actually own everything their father had. They have to obey their guardians until they reach whatever age their father set. And that's the way it was with us before Christ came. We were slaves to the spiritual powers of this world.” The coming of Christ to earth happened in "the fullness of the time." In the Old Testament we find many prophecies telling us that the Messiah will come. There were prophecies concerning the manner of His birth that He would be born of a virgin, and he would be born in Bethlehem.

“One Solitary Life”

“He was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in another village, where He worked in a carpenter shop until He was thirty. Then for three years He was an itinerant preacher. He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never had a family or owned a home. He didn’t go to college. He never visited a big city. He never traveled two hundred miles from the place where he was born. He did none of the things that usually accompany greatness. He had no credentials but Himself. He was only thirty-three when the tide of public opinion turned against Him. His friends ran away. One of them denied Him. He was turned over to his enemies and went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed to a cross between two thieves. While He was dying, His executioners gambled for His garments, the only property He had on earth. When He was dead, He was laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend. Twenty centuries have come and gone, and today He is the central figure of the human race. All the armies that ever marched, all the navies that ever sailed, all the parliaments that have ever sat, all the kings that have ever reigned, put together, have not have not affected the life of man on this earth as much as that one solitary life.” [Attributed to James Allen Francis]