Joseph-Fullness Of Time Series

Many years later, God would approach a Middle Eastern nomad named Abraham and his wife Sarah. They were an elderly couple that had struggled for decades with infertility, and God said, "You will miraculously conceive and through your seed will be a seed that will bless the nations of the world," and that seed would ultimately be fulfilled in Jesus Christ who would bless the whole world.

Later, God would approach one of Abraham's many times removed great grandsons, King David, and tell him that the king would have an offspring in the future who would sit on the throne forever and ever. His reign will know no end. God was referring to Jesus Christ of course, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

Throughout Scripture God promises a Savior, and Paul says in the fullness of time, in the perfect time, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman.

Christ's coming was at the right time for many evident reasons.

In hindsight, we can see what an opportune time it was when Jesus was born as the Savior. It was an ideal time politically for Jesus to be born. The Roman Empire had many faults.

When Jesus was born, the Roman Empire in many ways was at its peak, and one of its virtues was that it tended to be tolerant toward religions. Rome said, "You can exercise your religion with freedom as long as you proclaim that Caesar is god." That worked wonderfully for all groups except for one: the Hebrew people.

The Jews were adamant about not worshipping any god except Yahweh the living God. Because the Jews resisted the law, they were persecuted by the Romans and in some cases were even killed. But the Roman leaders were pragmatic and decided to bend the rule a little bit for the Jewish people.

The leaders said, "Let's change the law just a little bit; let's say that every people group under our empire must declare that Caesar is god." Then the leaders put a footnote saying, "Accept the Jewish people because they are so stubborn." The Jews were given the exemption, and when Christ was born and when Christianity was born the Roman leaders assumed that Christianity was part of Judaism. So they gave Christianity the same favor that they gave the Jews.

Up until the year 70 AD, those practicing Christianity had pretty much complete freedom to proclaim their message, and it was an ideal time for Christ's good news to be proclaimed.

It was the right time politically also because it was a time of relative peace. When Julius Caesar was assassinated, a civil war broke out in the Roman Empire, but in the year 25 BCE, when Caesar Augustus ascended to the throne, there was a time of relative peace for about 200 years. During the time of peace when Christ was born, roads would be built. On those roads travelled the good news about Jesus Christ, so it was the right time politically for Christ to be born.

It was also the right time culturally for Christ to be born. Alexander the Great had conquered the world into which Jesus had come, and with Alexander's victory spread Greek culture and Greek language. More people in Jesus' world had learned to read than ever before in history. Greek language was very precise and the New Testament, the Gospels, were eventually written in Greek. The gospel spread, and the good news of Jesus spread much more quickly than it would have otherwise.