Timing is everything.
If you are planning to fly to Mars, you want to be keenly aware of the timing. It would take you about nine months to reach Mars, but you will need to have the right timing. All the planets move around, which means that there is only one open window when you can launch your spaceship to Mars. The best time to do it is when Earth and Mars are correctly lined up, and this happens once every 26 months.
It you are going to do an Alley-oop in basketball the difficulty of the shot comes with the timing, as the passer must toss the ball so that it is right above or at the rim at the same moment as their jumping teammate. The other difficultly besides timing, is that your teammate must be able to jump above the rim.
In politics a well-timed speech can change the course of a government and impact history.
In business It’s all about being in the right place at the right time. It’s all about having a good intuition for when it’s right to make a move. It’s all about timing.
Timing is everything.
Nothing has been so beautifully timed than God sending forth his son Jesus Christ the first Christmas morning. The apostle Paul calls this the fullness of time. It is at the right time God brought forth his Son.
But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. 6 Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” (Galatians 4:4-6)
Nothing has ever been so perfectly timed; nothing has ever had such a profound impact on this world when God sent forth his Son Jesus. In his time, he makes all thing beautiful in his time. (Ecclesiastes 3:11)
Paul made a comment about God sending his son, in the fulness of time. The right time. I want to look at the Christmas story in Matthew and Luke and see how this bears out.
The Old Testament Anticipates the coming of Jesus. We find the Old Testament filled with prophecies concerning a coming Messiah, a savior. Ever since the fall of man we have lived in a state of brokenness which can never be fixed short of the intervention of God. That intervention is what the Old Testament anticipated.
Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care. (1 Peter 1:10)
The prophets predicted the coming of Jesus, but they did not know the time. In the early chapters of Genesis when sin broke the relationship between God and man the plan of Christ’s coming begins to unfold.
The prophets, the priests and even the kings longed for the day the coming messiah would come. After the many Old Testaments prophesies there was a period of four hundred years between the Old Testament and the New Testament known as the silent period. However, in the fullness of time God brought forth his son.
Luke 1:70 records the Old Testament anticipation of the coming salvation, (as he said through his holy prophets of long ago). There are predictions about the coming Messiah and the place, Bethlehem is foretold. “‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel. (Matthew 2:6 and Micah 5:2,4)
Even Herod, who wanted to kill Jesus (who was born king of the Jews), could discern the place of birth because of the Old Testament prophecies.
The prophets foretold of the virgin birth of Christ. All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”). (Matthew 1:22-23)
That Jesus was taken to Egypt during the time Herod was trying to kill him fulfilled prophecy. where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.” (Matthew 2:15, Hosea 11:1)
The Genealogy of Jesus as the descendent of King David is recorded in Detail by Luke. To a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. (Luke 1:27) Jesus was a descendent of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Judah.
All of the prophets wrote anticipating this birth to happen in the fullness of time. That is where the New Testament begins. Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Messiah. (Matthew 1:17)
This all happened in the fulness of time. No wonder we still celebrate this, still mark our calendars by this more than 2,000 years later. It was the most significant event in human history. When the time had fully come Immanuel which means God with us was born into this world. It was in God’s perfect time.
Because I have been overseas so much the last twenty-five years, I am only home with my parents about five percent of the time. I was at home when my dad passed away. My dad brought in the groceries and said all the groceries were in. He clutched his heart and died. Later after the funeral when my mom was reflecting on all the events, she said that because I was at home and all the groceries were in, not only does God have a calendar, but he has a stopwatch. He is able to orchestrate events to the second.
God took on humanity in his perfect time. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. (1 John 4:9-10)
It was God’s perfect time in the announcement to Mary. The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” (Luke 1:28) There were four hundred “silent years” and at the right time the silence was broken.
The prophets of the Old Testament longed to know when and how the awaited Messiah would come. But God did not tell them. Instead, God told Mary the specific details, because he had chosen her to give birth to Jesus.
In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” 29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. (Luke 1:26-30)
God’s ways are not man’s ways. God told Mary that the fulness of time was at hand. What history longed for the pinnacle of all expected events was about to take place.
You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.” (Luke 1:31-33)
Elizabeth was six months pregnant with the promised forerunner and this also is in God’s fullness of time.
God’s perfect time is seen in the announcement to Joseph. This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about[a]: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. 19 Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. (Matthew 18-19)
The announcement to Joseph was in a sense, just in the nick of time. There was a suspense here because Joseph was just about to call off the marriage to Mary. She was pregnant and he was already making plans to divorce her quietly (end the engagement).
God told Joseph that Mary conceived by the Holy Spirit. This happened in fulfillment of prophecy. Joseph is to get married to Mary and give the boy the name Jesus. The awaited Messiah and savior has come to save man. This was the hand of God working. All the events and timing were the result of the hand of God. All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: (Matthew 1:22)
Christ came in the fulness of time. It was God’s perfect time, but from a human perspective it was an unlikely time. It was the time when the jealous ruler Herod would readily kill any child who he viewed as a threat. The adoration that Jesus received was a threat for Herod.
It was an unlikely time because the Roman King Caesar Augustus was taking a census of the Roman world. In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (Luke 2:1)
The census created a time of confusion and chaos that made Jesus coming an unlikely time. It meant that the couple who was expecting the coming Messiah would have to travel a long difficult journey. From a human perspective it might seem like bad timing on God’s part. It meant that when the baby was born Joseph and Mary would find themselves with no lodging. However, it was God’s perfect time.
While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, (Luke 2:6) That is how Luke said it and Paul calls this the fullness of time. This was the defining moment of all human history.
This is what the world waited for yet overlooked by many, despised, and even hated. But that day, the first Christmas morning. In God’s perfect time Jesus was born. He has made an impact like none other.
This fullness of time is now your time. It was the fullness of time for the world when God sent forth his son Jesus, born of a woman, born under the law to redeem those under the law. There must come a time for you to receive Jesus.
Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” (Galatians 4:6)
There is a time when the Spirit of Christ comes into our hearts. Jesus is still greatly overlooked like he was the first Christmas morning. He is still despised by some like he was the first Christmas morning.
It all seems so unlikely, but for those with the eyes of faith we have the great opportunity to respond.
Jesus came for all, but you must receive him personally. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— (John 1:12) Now is the appointed time. Now is the day of opportunity.
Nothing is the same since Christ came into the world. Nothing will be the same for you when Christ comes into your life. This is your time to respond to Christ in faith.
