When The Fullness Of Time Came

The birth of Jesus was not something that just happened without planning. Not long after the fall of Adam and Eve into sin, God made the plan to save humans. He said in Genesis 3:15 that he would send Jesus Christ to crush the power of the devil one day. When God created the earth, everything was good, even very good: there was no conflict, everything was in harmony, no violence, no sickness, no natural disasters, and problems. But after sin entered the world, all these things started happening.

So, what is happening in the world today is not new! When we talk about conflicts in the family or workplace, for example, these things were already happening when the world's population was only two people. Violence was already committed by the first man who was born on earth. He even murdered his brother. How can we expect global and total peace when the world's population is more than 7.7 billion people today? How about terrorism? Look what king Herod did? He gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity, two years old and under. How about mental illness such as depression, which globally affects about 350 million people of all ages? It's not new either. The Bible talks about King David and the prophet Elijah, who showed the symptoms of depression.

Ecclesiastes 1:9 says, "there is nothing new under the sun." Basically, all problems that humans have faced worldwide since the beginning of the world till now fall into at least one of 5 groups: health (physical, emotional, and mental problems), financial, relationship, safety, and spiritual problems. So, God is NOT surprised with what is happening in the world today! But He is very sad to see that so many of us are suffering and in pain. Sin has caused damages to humans physically, emotionally, mentally, socially, intellectually, and spiritually. Sin breaks humans' relationship with God, others, and themselves! The only One who can solve humanity's problems is God because He created humans. and it's only Him who can transform their lives. God loves us. He cares for us and wants to help us. Throughout the centuries, God told us through His prophets that He would send Messiah to save humans from the bondage of sin. And two thousand years ago, God thought it was the right time to send His Son, Jesus Christ, to come to the earth. Let’s read Galatians 4:4-5, "But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship."

Let’s dig more into what Paul said in Gal 4:4-5 word by word.

"But when the set time had fully come. ' There are two words for time in the Greek language: "Kairos," which means "opportune time,"; you seize an opportunity that comes your way, maybe quite by accident. Then there's "Kronos," from which comes our word "chronology," the orderly progression of events when everything follows its proper sequence and is exactly right. The term used in Galatians 4:4 is "Kronos," indicating that God didn't decide on the spur of the moment to take advantage of an opportune time. But instead, God planned and orchestrated the sequence of events, and when the time was just right, He sent His only begotten Son into the world.

Illustration: Responsible parents will prepare and provide everything their babies need before birth, and they won't wait until the last minute or after they see their babies are born and then start to find clothes, pampers, and beds for them. The birth of Jesus has been planned and prepared by God. And "when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son," or Jesus was born on earth.

What does "when the set time had fully come" mean? There are at least four possible meanings of it:

1. Culturally. In 334 BC, Alexander the Great broke the power of Persia and overthrew the Persian King Darius III. By the age of thirty, he had created one of the ancient world's largest empires, stretching from Greece to Egypt into northwest India and modern-day Pakistan. God knew the need for a UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE so that when Jesus was born, everybody would be able to hear about His birth and mission on earth. When the Greeks conquered the world, the Greek language became the universal language. Everybody knew a little Greek. They read and wrote Greek. All legal documents were in Greek. I studied Greek in Seminary. Why? Because the New Testament was written in Greek. Pilate wrote an inscription over the cross of Jesus: "This is Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews" was written in GREEK, Hebrew & Latin. Everybody knew a little Greek (like English today). After Jesus ascended to heaven, the Disciples could take the message of Jesus to the whole world because there was a UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE. I believe history is His story, God's story. God is in control of what happens in this world! He set the right time for Jesus to come.