“IN THE FULNESS OF THE TIME
Galatians 4:4-7
Introduction: I suppose all of us know what it’s like to be late. Being late doesn’t seem to bother some people, but I really hate being late for anything. I suppose it has to do with my rural upbringing. There are cultures, though, in which being late is the rule of the day. I’ve even heard that Baptists incorporate lateness as part of their theology. It has been said that Baptists believe in justification, regeneration and procrastination. I have certainly met some who are that way. Someone said that the reason the Lord hasn’t revealed the time of His Second Coming is that Baptists would be late.
Most of us know about working under the constraint of deadlines, especially when some import event is involved. We all have timetables. But did you know that God also has a timetable? Sometimes our timetables are the same as His and sometime as His, but often they are not. We want God to act right now; when, in His wisdom, He chooses to delay for our good. But, my friends, it is absolutely true that God is never early and He’s never late. He’s always right on time. It may not be “in our time,” but it is always “in His time,” which is the right time. Illustration: Atomic clock available for computers.
Christmas reminds us that Jesus came to this Earth at just the right time. In our text today, Galatians 4:4-7, we are told that “..when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son..” (v. 4). Isn’t that an amazing statement? Have you ever considered that there was a right time when Jesus should come? Does this mean that there was one time in all of history when all things were perfectly aligned for the coming of Jesus; and that there was no other time when He could have come? I believe that is precisely what our text for today teaches. Jesus came at just the right time.
Now, it should be important to us because just as Christ came at the perfect time, so God continues to work in our lives at the right time. In fact, perhaps today is the time in your life for God to move in a special way. Perhaps God wants to solve some problem in your life today. Perhaps Christ wants to give you today the answer you have been seeking. Perhaps God is telling you that today is the time for you to commit your life to Him. If so, let me encourage you to respond to Him today, and He will meet you..just in time!
Now, I would like for us to examine our text today in the light of God working out His plan in history...and in our lives...with: 1) Preparation; 2) Purpose; and 3) Privileges.
Scripture Reading: Galatians 4:4-7
I. PREPARATION (v. 4) - We are told that the first coming of Christ happened in the fullness of time. Throughout the Old Testament there were numerous prophecies given concerning the coming of the Messiah. There were prophecies concerning the manner of His birth, that He would be born of a virgin.
There were prophecies concerning the place of His birth, that He would be born in Bethlehem. And we see these prophecies being fulfilled as Jesus was born that glorious night. But just as there was a perfect time for His first coming, there will also be a perfect time for His second coming. And the two events are interrelated. God pulled all things together to prepare for the first coming of Christ, for the preaching of the Gospel, and for His second coming.
1. There was a religious preparation for His coming - Throughout the Old Testament, God had been dealing with His chosen people, Israel. It would be through them that the Messiah would come. But Israel was always straying from God. They refused to simply worship Him alone, and were always following after the gods of the peoples around them. Over and over, God judged Israel for this idolatry. Finally, we see the culmination of judgement in what is known as the Babylonian captivity. God finally allowed the entire nation to be conquered by Babylon and taken from their homeland into that country.
One of the interesting effects of the Babylonian captivity was that after that time, the Jewish people were always monotheistic, worshiping Jehovah only. During that captivity, the Jews came in contact with the Persians. Now, the Persians were Zoroastrians, or monotheists. As a matter of fact, some feel that the Magi were Zoroastrian priests, but we have no way to confirm this. In any event, the Jews were delivered from following after the idols of the pagan nations around them.
A second important effect of the captivity upon the Jewish nation was that the canon of Old Testament Scripture was gathered together under Ezra. So, for the first time, the body of Old Testament literature known now as the Jewish Bible and the Christian Old Testament, was pulled together in a single volume; thus paving the way for the preaching of the Gospel of Christ.
A third major effect of the Babylonian captivity was that the Jewish synagogue came into being. Until the time that the Jews were displaced from their homeland, they had worshiped exclusively at the Temple in Jerusalem. Now, there was no longer a temple, and so the Jews developed a method of assembly we now know as the synagogue. The synagogue, incidentally, is the pattern on which the Christian church is fashioned. So we can see from all of these things, the religious preparation for the coming of Christ.
2. There was also a cultural preparation for His coming. In 350 B.C., there arose a man by the name of Alexander. He was the son of the Macedonian King, Philip. We know him as Alexander the Great. He conquered the entire known world in twelve years. And because of Alexander’s influence, the world became Greek in culture, philosophy, institutions, art, drama, literature, architecture, thought and language. Greek was spread to such an extent that the ordinary people become very familiar with a style of Greek known as Koine, or common Greek. This, of course, is very important because in 280 B.C. the Hebrew Scriptures were translated into Greek. We call that volume the Septuagint. And so, we see that the stage was set for the preaching of the Gospel. Religiously , the Old Testament Scriptures were gathered, linguistically and culturally, the lines of communication were opened. The time was right!
3. Finally, there was a political preparation for His coming. In Italy there is a city called Rome. By the time Christ had come, the Romans had conquered all around them. In doing so, they built roads that would link the entire Roman empire. They suppressed open criminal acts, created a fine postal system, and instituted the “pax romana,” or universal Roman peace. God had a hand in those who would ascend to power in the Roman Empire. At the coming of Christ, Caesar Augustus was in the seat of power. Little did he know that when he called for a census, he was in fact doing God’s will. Because of his edict requiring all of the people to return to their place of origin and be counted, a pregnant woman and her husband made an historic journey to Bethlehem. Mary, the virgin mother of Jesus, was guided by the sovereignty of God to the place prophesied in the Old Testament where Christ would be born.
Our Scripture tells us that He came, born of a woman (the virgin Mary), at just the right time. If God would do that for the world, He would certainly do that for you. He will work in your life at just the right time. Trust Him in your situation, whatever it may be, and rest in His timing. Know that He does all things well.
II. PURPOSE - “To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons” (v. 5). There was more to that night in Bethlehem almost 2,000 years ago than merely a babe in a manger. Jesus had more in mind in His coming to this Earth than giving us a holiday. God had a great purpose for Christ’s coming. He had planned this even before the Earth was even formed. Now the time was right! And Christ came!
1. He came, first of all, to redeem us. We have heard it so much that we have lost the true power of hearing it. But the Bible clearly teaches it. We were under the Law. But we could not keep the Law. So we stood condemned by our own inadequacy. Our own works testify to the fact that we cannot be righteous in ourselves. So Jesus came.
He bore our humanity and our iniquity. He died on the Cross in our place. Because of that death, we were forgiven, cleansed, and set free from sin and the law of sin and death. Jesus came to redeem us, to buy us back, and to make us His own.
And the offer still stands. We have one of two choices: Either we can choose to live our lives in our own strength and power, taking our chances that we can live righteously enough to earn our way to heaven....Or we can accept God’s offer of salvation by faith in the finished work of His Son, Jesus Christ. But the problem is, the Scripture teaches that unless our righteousness is perfect, we have no hope of inheriting the Kingdom of God. If we keep the law and stumble on only one point, we become lawbreakers. It only takes one rotten egg to spoil the omelet! Any sin...all sin is abhorrent in the eyes of a completely holy God, and were it not for the inherited righteousness of Jesus Christ, which we receive when we accept Him as our Savior and Lord, we would all stand guilty and condemned before God. But, because of Christ, we stand in His perfect righteousness, and so are not condemned.
2. He also came to adopt us - The good news is we become sons of God. The word “adopt” in Greek (huiothesia) comes from two Greek words, “thesia,” which means “placing,” and “huios” which means “son.” By that we understand that when we come to Christ, we are placed into the family of God by Christ’s act. He came not only to forgive us of our sins, but to place us in His own family.
God’s plan for us all along has been to adopt us into His family. Now, we who have believed in Christ, have been made His children. And we can hold our heads high because of who our Father is. There is great dignity in being a child of God. We need to see the dignity of the believer in the doctrine of adoption.
III. PRIVILEGES - “And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore, thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ” (vv. 6-7). Christ came to fulfill His plan for the world and for us. That plan was to redeem us and to adopt us. And through that adoption we gain certain privileges - the privileges of sonship.
1. Our text says that we are no longer servants, but sons - We have been taken from this position of orphaned servitude and placed into His family. We no longer must serve the lusts of the flesh, the whims of the devil, or the pressure of our peers. We have been set free from slavery.
It is a terrible thing to be in bondage. But that is precisely the condition of all of us without Jesus Christ. We’re in bondage to our own desires, to the habit-patterns of the past, and we’re in bondage to the Devil himself. But the sovereign work of God has done away with all that. Now we are free because of the work of Christ on the Cross, and we have received the Holy Spirit into our hearts. And it is He who cries within us, “Abba! Father!” He communes with our spirit and testifies that we are God’s children.
2. We are not only sons, but also heirs of God - Through Christ we become heirs of the Kingdom. We have an inheritance. The riches of the Kingdom are ours through Christ. We are born again to reign and rule with Christ in His future Millenial Kingdom. We are heirs of a mansion in heaven, prepared for us personally by Jesus Christ. And, finally, we are heirs of the abundant life in Christ here and now.
These are wonderful privileges we have as children of God.
CONCLUSION: Almost 2,000 years ago, there came a night when the fulness of time had come. The plan of God through the ages was beginning to unfold. Angels would announce to some shepherds on a hillside, “For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you, ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger” (Lk. 2:11-12). Unable to contain heaven’s joy any longer, the angels would explode with a cry of jubilation, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace, good will toward men.” The fullness of time had come for His first coming. And the best part is yet to come. He will come again in the fullness of that time and receive us unto Himself, that where He is we may be also!
