Do you like to wait for things to happen? I am not always very patient. If we have been promised something, we don’t want to wait years and years for the promise to be kept. We want them to keep the promise right now, today! How about a promise that has been made, that took multiple centuries to be kept? We might give up hope that this promise would ever be kept. Today’s Scripture from the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Galatians speaks about the promise God made, and when it was fulfilled. Let’s look at this passage.
Throughout the Old Testament, we read of the promise of the coming Messiah. The very first prophecy of the Messiah was given to Eve at the time when she and Adam were cast out of the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:15). The promise continued to be given all throughout the Old Testament, to Abraham, Moses, David, etc. The promise was not fulfilled until the birth of Jesus, which happened in approximately 4 BC., which would have been about a thousand years after King David, and about two thousand years after Abraham. We might wonder why God didn’t send the Messiah back in their day? Why not at the time of David or Abraham? Why not even earlier, perhaps shortly after Noah disembarked from the ark? The world sure could have used a Messiah at any of those times. And why necessarily in Israel? Why not in any other location on the earth?
As our Scripture passage opens, we read God’s Word through the Apostle Paul, and he begins with the words “the fullness of the time had come”. God sent Jesus in the fullness of time, at just the right time. Not too early, nor too late, but just at the right time. What made approximately 4 BC the right time? To give an answer, we need to look back into our history books. Throughout ancient history we see various civilizations come and go all throughout the world. Most of these civilizations were localized, and remained isolated from the rest of the world. There were hundreds of different languages and even more dialects spoken all around the world. There was no “lingua franca” or language that could be understood by many people, across many countries. That is, not until the days of Alexander the Great (356-323 BC). As he conquered land from the Balkan peninsula and southeastern Europe, northern Africa, and to the borders of the Himalayan mountains, he brought Greek culture, and more importantly, the Greek language to everyone there. By the time of Jesus’s birth, just about everyone could speak Greek, in addition to their own native language.
When Jesus was born, the world was right in the middle of the reign of the powerful and mighty Caesar Augustus, the first Roman Emperor, and the beginning of the Roman Empire. The Romans considerably expanded upon Alexander’s empire. Latin quickly became a second common language, along with Greek. The Romans brought stability to the land with their laws and government, and importantly, brought paved roads throughout the empire, some of which can still be seen today. Travel was now swift and safe. Add these together, two common languages, swift and safe travel, and the Gospel message of Jesus could easily be spread all around the world.
Had Jesus been born at the time of Abraham, or even David, His message of salvation would not have been able to be spread to the rest of the world. However, when He was born, at the “fullness of time”, within a few short years after the Resurrection, His message was spread all throughout the Mediterranean world, and by a few more years, it had gone to the farthest reaches of the Roman Empire, into Britain, throughout the Middle East, Armenia, down into parts of Africa, India, etc. That could not have happened earlier.
If Jesus had been born outside of the Roman Empire, or what once was the Greek Empire, in any other location, His message of salvation would not have been able to be spread throughout the world, either. Think of any other location on the globe, and at the time of 4 BC, would His message have been able to be spread throughout the world like it was from Jerusalem at that time?
In God’s timetable, when the exact religious, cultural, and political conditions of His perfect will were in place, Jesus came into the world. He came when the message of the Gospel could be effectively carried to the ends of the earth. God knew when just the right time was, and where the best place was. We can trust His timetable.
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