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 ~ Galatians 4:4, 5

God comes, neither too soon, nor too late; his time is always perfect, and so it was when the child born to Mary entered this world to lay his head on the straw of a tiny manger bed. The word here says he was born “under the law” meaning there was nothing immoral about his birth. His father was deemed to be Joseph, wed to Mary, as well his incarnate birth was in obedience to God the Father. Always, Jesus followed the law, even at the age of twelve when he stayed behind his parents to study with the Pharisees in Jerusalem. Obedience was also a necessary part of Christ’s work of redemption, for if he was not righteous in his obedience, how could he redeem us who are full of original disobedience and bring us into righteousness? Obedience is never separated from the name of Christ. Why then did God decide on this time to send Jesus? We look at our world and all the technology we have, the “smallness” of the world due to speed of travel and communication makes one think this would have been the best time for Christ to be born. Yet, God sent Christ into the world in the “fullness of time” in the first century so named due to his birth. At the time, the Roman empire had placed the world under one government, making communication, though much slower than what we know, free between all parts of the known world. There was no political interference because of this. Faith then could easily spread from one nation to another. The language spoken in all parts was one – Greek. Therefore, there was no barrier to language to stand in the way for the advent of Christ. As well, the chosen people were scattered throughout this known world, all as a “nursery for the tender plant of the Gospel”. So, though we think this might be the better time, the events of the world in which Christ was born into was the perfect time. The moment of time in which the Son of God would come to our aid, to stoop from his Divine home to die a humiliated death upon the cross, gives us cause to place our trust and confidence in him whom would bring us into sonship with him, and into adoption in the family of God. Absolutely Perfect.

Pastor Julia