Advent 2019 – At Just The Right Time
Please stand as we read our newest memory Scripture together …
Jude 1:24-25
“To Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before His glorious presence without fault and with great joy –
“To the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.”
And our memory refresher verse(s) for today is(are) …
1 Timothy 2:5-6
“For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all people - this has now been witnessed to at the proper time.”
Please open your Bibles to Daniel 2:31-45
In 2001 a pro golfer named Andrew Magee was teeing off on a par four hole. There was still a golfer on the green who had just completed his final putt. Andrew Magee teed off and the ball ended up rolling onto the green. The ball hit the putter of the other golfer who was walking along not paying attention to what was happening. His putter redirected the ball into the hole for a hole in one. It took them hours to figure out if it was a true hole in one or not!
Just try to imagine how many factors had to be in place for that to happen.
Just trying to list all of the variables in the timing and physics would be incredible, but, it did happen.
Imagine trying to make that happen on purpose; impossible!
What did it take to put everything in place so that the Son of God would arrive at just the precise moment in history so that the plan of salvation would be successful and the kingdom of God brought to life?
Romans 5:6 NLT tells us that,
“(While) we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners.”
And, in order for Him to die for us sinners He had to first be born so that He COULD die for us sinners, right???
We know that six hundred years prior to the birth of Jesus a pagan king named Nebuchadnezzar had a bad dream.
(Tell in your own words the happenings of the first 28 verses of Daniel 2.)
So, let’s see what the interpretation of the dream is and what it has to do with Advent, the coming of Jesus, the Messiah, the Son of God into the world for our salvation …
Daniel 2:31-45 (prayer asking the Lord for help)
Here on the screen you see an artist’s concept of what the statue might have looked like.
We know that the head represents Babylonian empire and most theologians believe the torso is the Medo-Persian empire. The mid section represents the Greek empire and the legs of iron represent the Roman empire. That is where Jesus was born, lived, died and was resurrected back to life.
We know from Jeremiah 18 that the Yahweh, the God of Israel builds up and plants nations according to His purposes and He also tears down and destroys nations according to His purposes.
We see this happening throughout history and we see it specifically being planned out and executed in this prophecy.
So, when the Bible says, “at just the right time” or “in the fullness of time” it is talking about the Roman Empire which was in power 600 years after Nebuchadnezzar’s dream!
What was it that made the time of the Roman Empire “just right” for Yahweh the Father to send Yahweh the Son for our salvation?
1) The Empire was awash in spiritual hopelessness.
Not only was Israel filled with hopelessness but the entire Roman world was filled with spiritual hopelessness because of their gods. The Roman pantheon was filled with gods who were absolutely insensitive toward the human race. Their gods could not transform your life of offer forgiveness or the assurance of everlasting life. There was no promise of heaven for the faithful and certainly no resurrection. There was no spiritual hope for the slave or the centurion, the rich or the poor. In spite of the great power of the Roman Empire, this life was all there would ever be.
Imagine how hungry they would be for a God who not only loved and cared for them but was willing to give His own Son so that they could have eternal life.
What else was in place that would make it just the right time for the Incarnation?
1) The fertile ground of spiritual hopelessness
2) There was a unifying language; Greek.
When we look at all of the civilizations leading up to the Greek Empire there was no unifying language. Even the preceding Babylonian and Medo-Persian empires did not have a unifying language. Although Latin was the official Roman language used in the government, Koine Greek became a “shared language” throughout the Roman empire and even beyond its borders.
Everywhere Christians would go after the time of Christ they could tell the Good News of Jesus in a common language. They did not need to learn the language of the area in which they traveled in order to tell the story of Jesus and the people of the area did not need to learn Hebrew or even Aramaic.
This greatly accelerated the spread of the Gospel!
Why else was this specific time in history ideal for the incarnation?
1) There was a fertile ground of spiritual hopelessness
2) Greek was a unifying language across the empire
3) The “Pax Romana” (Roman Peace)
This 200 year period of relative uninterrupted peace across the Roman empire made travel mostly safe from war and rebellion. So the early Christian faith was born in a time of peace, and had time to expand across the empire without fear of invading armies. (Of course, there were periodic persecutions, both local and empire-wide from time to time.)
1) The fertile ground of spiritual hopelessness
2) Greek was a unifying language across the empire
3) The “Pax Romana” (Roman Peace)
4) A Unifying Law and Government
The Greco-Roman world had a unifying law and government. The civil law of Rome extended from what is now Britain to Egypt and over into India.
Of course there were special protections for Roman citizens as accorded to the Apostle Paul. But for non-citizens there was also the protection of the law and government throughout the empire. This greatly aided in the dispersion of the Gospel.
This unifying law and government also played a part in the end of Jesus’ life as well. It was prophesied that Jesus the Messiah would be pierced in His hands and His feet (Psalm 22) and that He would be pierced for our transgressions; for our sins (Isaiah 53).
This of course happened when Jesus was put to death. The Jews had claimed that they had no law to put a man to death but they had no problem with stoning Stephen to death (Acts 7). However, stoning would not have fulfilled the prophecies regarding the piercing of Jesus.
Why was this important to the timing of Jesus coming to earth during the time of the Roman empire? It is important because the Romans had a unifying law and government and part of that law included death by crucifixion.
Now, there are many more reasons why the time and place of the Roman Empire was the best time for God to send His one and only Son to be the perfect Sacrifice for our sin.
For instance there was a mechanism was in place that could get Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem in order to fulfill the prophecy found in
Micah 5:2 where it says:
“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for Me One who will be ruler over Israel,
whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.”
What was that mechanism that would get Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem?
Did they just decide to have a reunion of everyone whose family historically originated in Bethlehem? Who would bring the deviled eggs???
No, the mechanism that got Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem for the birth of Jesus was a Roman census!
What else made this a perfect time for Jesus to come to earth?
The Pax Romana made it relatively easy and safe for Joseph, Jesus and Mary to flee to Egypt in order to escape Herod’s murderous hand.
Egypt was part of the Roman empire so there was no war with Egypt, they used the Greek language as well for commerce.
But, really, when you look at it, for all intents and purposes the mission of Jesus should have failed miserably!
- Jesus was supposedly born as the product of an unwed union between Joseph and Mary; this was greatly despised in that day
- Jesus was born in the disreputable town of Nazareth; “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” (John 1:46)
- Jesus was not born into the home of a prominent Jew but in the home of a carpenter and according to the common knowledge of the day Mary might have been just one of the hundreds obscure of Jewish maidens that could be found in any village
- Jesus was despised by the religious authorities of the day and they were constantly attempting to trip Him up
- Jesus was accused of being in league with the devil himself
- Jesus sometimes taught things that drove people away; His teachings were too hard / John 6:66 says, “From this time many of His disciples turned back and no longer followed Him.”
- When Jesus was crucified all of His disciples abandoned Him.
End of the story, right? Maybe the Roman Empire was NOT such a good time and place for Jesus birth! But, that’s not the end of the story!
- After His resurrection there were 120 disciples in the upper room waiting for the promised Holy Spirit. (Acts 1:15)
- After the promised Holy Spirit arrived over 3,000 men were saved (Acts 2:41)
- After the Holy Spirit performed a healing miracle through Peter and John and the gospel was preached the number of believing men grew to over 5,000 (Acts 4:4)
- This 5,000 men were most likely the heads of households so the number of believers could have been 10,000, 20,000 or even more!
Not a bad start, right?
And many of those who came to Christ for salvation were in Jerusalem for various religious festivals and, of course, they went home carrying the gospel within their hearts.
This of course, was aided by the comparative ease of travel afforded by the Pax Romana of the Roman Empire.
And, when Stephen is stoned and a great persecution breaks out in Jerusalem the disciples are dispersed into various areas.
Acts 8:1
“On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria.”
And Acts 8:4
“Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.”
Why should we think about this when we are entering a time that is leading up to the celebration of Jesus’ birth?
We know that God had a plan for when Jesus would be born.
What we do not know is exactly how the Lord moves in and through time in order to bring about the perfect execution of His plan of redemption.
Jesus the Son of God did not become a Man just so he could show off how great He is at predicting the future or how good He is at raising up and tearing down nations; He came to bring salvation to people; one person at a time.
2 Corinthians 6:1-2
“As God’s co-workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain. For He says, ‘In the time of My favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.’ I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.”
Everyone who has found favor with God has done so by placing their faith and trust in Jesus.
When this verse says, “we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain.”
It means, “Don’t just hear the good news, do something about it!”
Repent! Confess your sins! Turn to God! Live a life pleasing to God in the power of His Holy Spirit!
Christ was born into this world so that you could be born again into His kingdom!
Jesus came at the optimal time. The optimal time for you to be born again is now if you have not already done so.
Final comments
Communion
Prayer and dismissal
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Possible resources …
https://www.cbn.com/special/TheNativityMovie/articles/DavidJeremiah.aspx
https://www.christianity.com/jesus/birth-of-jesus/roman-world/an-empire-ready-for-a-savior.html
https://truthinscripture.net/2017/01/05/jesus-birth-roman-history/ <<<<<
https://pjmedia.com/faith/7-reasons-why-jesus-came-at-just-the-right-time/
