Infants, not yet born, seem to have a mind of their own. Infants, not yet born, pay very little attention to the doctor’s predictions, the mother’s preferences, or the father’s fears. When they want to arrive, they arrive; and if they don’t want to emerge into this cold, cruel world, they don’t, not until they have to. Infants, not yet born, seem to have a mind of their own about when to come.
But the truth is that God has a time; God has a time for every purpose under heaven. The Bible says that there is a time to be born and a time to die, a time for every purpose. God has time; and God is on time.
Whenever any of you have shared with me the happy news that a little addition is on its way, I have invariably asked what the due date is. If you give me one, I jot it down on my calendar, so that I can watch, pray, and share the joy. A week or two before the zero hour, I am usually on the phone, asking how things are going. Typically the answer I get is that we’re still looking at that target date. We think we know when junior will stake out his claim to fame. I settle back and wait for a call.
A week later, I haven’t heard anything, so I call you again. And you say, I don’t know, but it better be soon. This is so uncomfortable. At that point I make comforting noises, but, being a mere male, I really don’t know what I’m talking about. And I hang up and think that in a couple or three days I’ll be smiling down on you and your pride and joy in a hospital room.
What happens next? What is the usual scenario? Silence. Nothing. No phone call, no breathless father, no beaming grandparents. Nothing. So I call and I say what the pastor is supposed to say, that it’s going to be fine, and I pray with you and then go out and make sure my car will start. Don’t want to miss out!
Two days later; three; four; a week. And you are fuming with impatience, dad is wearing a path in the carpet, your mother is ready to go back home, and everything is in chaos. Why? Because infants, not yet born, seem to have a mind of their own. Infants, not yet born, pay very little attention to what anybody else wants. When they want to arrive, they arrive; and if they don’t want to, they don’t.
But God has a time; and God is on time. The Scripture tells us that when the days were accomplished that Mary should be delivered, she brought forth her first-born son and laid him in a manger. When the days were accomplished .. when it was the right time. God had a time. I call it “the nick of time”. Just at the right moment -- at the countdown to the zero hour. At five minutes to midnight. At the intersection of never again and not yet. In the nick of time.
I
Think with me about the world into which Jesus was born.
a
It was a world of spiritual hungers, the like of which had never been seen before. All over the Mediterranean world, men and women were hungry for a new faith. The old religions of Greece and Rome were bankrupt. Few if any believed any longer in the old mythologies; few if any put any faith in the likes of Jupiter or Mars or Venus or Neptune. We’ve used the names of the old Romans gods to adorn the planets way out there in space, and that’s just about how the ancient world felt about its deities – way out there, nebulous, untouchable, remote, pointless and helpless. It was a world of spiritual hunger into which Jesus was born.
b
The world into which Jesus was born was also a world in of both political achievement and of social unrest. Rome had marched its way across a score of civilizations, defeating every enemy and taking every prize. But Rome had one unbeatable enemy. Rome had one adversary she could not conquer – and that was herself. The political institutions of Rome were no longer adequate for all she had to govern; a little Senate of learned men sitting in the Eternal City could no longer act decisively enough to govern so far-flung an empire. And so the republic gave way to a dictatorship under Julius Caesar, and the death of Julius Caesar made way for his nephew Octavian. Before long before they were calling Octavian “Augustus”, the Emperor Augustus. Into that time of political change came Jesus, at the right time, in the nick of time:
In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered … Joseph also went … to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child.
The days were accomplished that she should deliver .. while Augustus was Emperor. Political change, as people saw that a new world was being born. Something else was a-borning, too, but they didn’t know about it. It was a time of political accomplishment, for the new Emperor built roads and imposed a peace on his domains, and now we look back and see that these accomplishments made it possible for the story of Jesus to be told by missionaries .. never before could people have traveled on such a scale and with such ease. It was the right time. It was God’s time. In the nick of time.
c
But, oh, what a time of social unrest it was as well. A day in which human life was cheap. A day in which, if a Roman mother delivered an imperfect child, that child would simply be left unfed, unattended, exposed to die. Maybe that child’s only flaw was that she was a girl. Enough to make some parents abandon her.
It was a day in which slavery was growing in depth and intensity. Rome enslaved nearly every nation she conquered. For the galleys, for the army, for public works, or just for amusement in the arenas, men and women, old and young, of every race and people, were chained into slavery. It was a day of unspeakable tragedy for many families.
d
The time into which Jesus was born was not only a time of spiritual hunger, not only a time of political change, not only a time of social unrest, but also a time of moral decay. Few men were faithful to their wives; many a noble lady dallied with any young man who struck her fancy. Acts of perversion were common, often involving children. Nothing was scandalous any longer, for everything was allowed. A day of incredible moral decay. Something had to happen.
MANGER CHRISMON
The manger chrismon sums up God’s response. It wasn’t what anyone expected. The Jews thought of a warrior, come in a blaze of glory. The astrologers from the east thought of a young prince in a palace, richly clad and laid out among adoring servants. Who could have known that God’s plan included this peasant girl, this weary carpenter, this squalling infant in a stable? But God had a plan. And it was time. In the nick of time. God’s time. For our God is an on-time God.
And so, when the days were fulfilled, when the time was right, in the nick of time, when it would seem as though the world could not take any more, the word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, full of grace and truth.
God had a time. God always has a time. What time is it now?
II
Our time and our world -- what time is it? Here we are less than three weeks away from Y2K. Everyone is suddenly very interested in time. What time is it anyway?
a
First of all, it is a time when the ultimate questions are being asked as never before. The ultimate questions are being asked. I hear people asking the important questions – who am I and what am I here for? Where is my life going, and how shall I spend it? Not too long ago I had a conversation with a young man who has made the kind of money that would allow him never to work again if he wants it that way. But he is asking the ultimate questions – what do I do with my resources, and, if I quit my job, what do I do with my time, my knowledge, and my energies. It’s a crucial kind of question. Today’s young people are asking that sort of question.
And, on the other end of the spectrum, I spent time just this week with an elderly lady who is concerned about her own death –where she will spend eternity and whether salvation is really hers. She did something years ago for which she is not sure she can be forgiven. It’s an ultimate, eternity-driven question. The kind of thing I hear people asking today, far more than they did a few years ago, when it was all about earning daily bread and keeping up appearances. No, today people are talking about eternal things.
ALPHA-OMEGA CHRISMON
And so the chrismon which carries the letters Alpha and Omega reminds us that what God is offering in Jesus Christ is right on time. Alpha and Omega, the first and the last letters of the Greek alphabet – a symbol for the one who was before time began and who will be when time runs its course. A reminder that in Jesus Christ all things are coming together, that He is the first and the last, the beginning and the ending. A sign, this chrismon, that he knew us before we were born, and had a purpose for us; and also that he knows what he wants for us -- fellowship with Him for all eternity. He wants none of us to go gentle into that good night, but wants, out of love for us, that we should receive Him. If you’re asking ultimate questions, He is right on time to respond.
He is my Alpha, my beginning; because of Him my life began; in Him my life makes sense; through Him I have strength for my life; and with Him my life is headed toward Omega. Forget the little jingle about Santa Claus knowing when you’re sleeping and knowing when you’re awake; Jesus Christ is the one who knows all about us from first to last, and wants us in fellowship with Him.
What time is it? It’s a time when you and I are asking the ultimate questions, who am I and where is my life going. And so it’s on time to receive Jesus Christ. It’s the nick of time.
b
What time is it? It is a day of trial and temptation. It is a day when, unlike any before it, so much is bombarding us and sending out a siren song to seduce us. They said it was tempting when the automobile was invented, because it gave everybody mobility. They said it was tempting when television came along, and the sensuous ways of the world were made to look glamorous. Well, now we have the Internet, where anybody can post anything. Every day I get e-mails inviting me to turn to this web site or that where I would be, for a price, permitted to view just about any perversion you can name. I don’t go there. I don’t go there, because I know the real price. The real price of dabbling in pornography is not the charge on the credit card. The real price of pornography is a seared conscience and a hardened heart. A respected Bible scholar in a major seminary recently got caught up in that, and it cost him his job. Temptation is there. It’s available. For the first time, temptation is there for the taking in wholesale heaps.
That means that it’s time for Christ. In the nick of time He can come and pull us back from temptation. It’s time for Jesus Christ. As the hymn puts it, “Tempted and tried, I need a great Savior.”
THE SERPENT CHRISMON
The serpent chrismon reminds us that from time immemorial evil and temptation have been out to get us. In the garden the serpent spoke a syrupy sweet sentence, and we were hooked. The serpent knows no time boundaries. It can always be the serpent’s time – just when you least expect him.
But this is a serpent chrismon. This serpent is coiled around a cross – technically called the Tau cross, t-shaped, but a cross nonetheless. For this serpent chrismon reminds us of a startling thing – that the infant of Bethelem grew and lived, taught and healed, but one day they came for him. They worked their way with him. They took him to a cross and nailed him there, and evil seemed to have had its way. It was the end. It was his demise. It was time for the powers of sin and evil to win out – they thought they would have us forever in their grip.
c
But God had a plan. It was God’s time, not the serpent’s. It was God’s time. And God is an on-time God.
For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.
Weak? Oh yes, we were. We are. Weak unto death. Weak and vacillating and unable to do anything right. Just about to be wiped out. But at the right time .. at the right time.
CROSS CHRISMON
Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person--though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.
What time is it? It is “while we still are sinners.” It is while we are confused and unsure about how we are going to live this life. It is while we still think that we’d like to go our own way, manage our own affairs, give ourselves a good time. While we still are wading into the business of sinning, Christ died for us.
Oh, for the words to explain it to you! Oh, for the eloquence to persuade you and the power to draw you to it! All I can say is that over and over I have seen just how on time our God is. Over and over I have seen Him arrive in the nick of time.
I have seen Him enter a hospital room where a patient has just learned that she is to have serious and delicate surgery. It’s frightening. It’s not good news. But God’s timing brought a Christian friend right away, to interpret the Gospel and to bring comfort and joy. God, there in the nick of time. God is an on-time God.
I have heard, down within my own soul, a summons to go and see someone. No phone call, no human voice asking for anything. Just what I called an instinct. And more often than not, when I have followed that instinct, there I would find someone in extreme circumstances – life ebbing out, heart breaking, anger welling up. When we listen to the heart we hear the Christ of the cross, who proves His love for us. And we find out that it was on time because God has a plan. A plan for the nick of time. God is an on-time God.
d
I could tell you stories all day, but I will simply move to this.
CROWN CHRISMON
The crown chrismon, placed at the very top of the tree, is a sign of the day that is to come, when He shall be crowned King of Kings and Lord of Lords. It is a sign of the ultimate victory of the risen Christ.
But I tell you it is also a sign of your victory and mine too. It is a sign that we can live confidently and boldly. We don’t have to be afraid any more. Not of anything. Not of sin, nor of death. Not of political collapse, nor of economic turmoil. We don’t have to be afraid of failing, nor, for that matter of succeeding in all the wrong things. The crown chrismon tells us that we can do all things in the Christ who strengthens us. The crown chrismon says that we may feel the cross of shame and pain in our lives today, but God is on time. God has a plan. God proves His love for us, and some day, at the right time, we will exchange the old rugged cross for a crown.
Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.
In the nick of time, at the right time, Christ came, Christ lived, Christ died, and Christ rose again. And when He comes again, it will be at the right time. I just want to know that you and I will be ready at the right time.
e
My younger brother is doing a risky thing this month. His daughter is due to give birth to her first child a few days before Christmas. Only two days after Christmas this about-to-be grandfather is flying off to Switzerland to give some concerts. Isn’t he worried that he’ll miss his grandchild’s birth? Isn’t he concerned that something may delay and the due date will turn out to be wrong? I asked him about being half a world away when he really wants to be holding his daughter’s hand.
Do you know what he said? “I’ve put her in the hands of God. I can’t regulate when the baby will be born, so I just need to go and do what I was born to do.” What I was born to do.
What were you born to be and to do? What time is it in your life? In the sweep of the years, remember that Jesus Christ came, at exactly the right time. Is this the right time for you, now? Is this the nick of time for you?
FISH CHRISMON
The earliest Christians, knowing that their lives might be cut short by the marauding hosts of imperial Rome, worked out a code so that they could identify themselves secretly to one another. The code was the sign of a fish; easily made, just two curves overlapping at one end, it reminded them of the simple fishermen to whom the Lord first came. But there was more to it. For the Greek word for “fish”, IXTHUS, was an acronym. Take each of its five letters, and each one stands for a word in a pregnant phrase: Iesous Christos Theou Huios Soter, Jesus Christ Son of God Savior. In the hour of crisis, He was there for them. In the hour of decision, He was on time for them. In the moment when life and death hung in the balance, in the nick of time, He brought them out of death into life.
Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior. An on-time God. What time is it in your life?
