Christmas: The Timing

But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, Galatians 4:4 (KJV)

This tells us that Jesus was sent to earth at a specific time that the Apostle Paul calls the fullness of time. There was a special time for Jesus to be born. Why was He born when He was born? What was so special about the specific timing of His incarnation?

In Genesis, we see that God used spoken words to create everything. That is how God’s plans are accomplished in the earth- by words. As you’ve probably read in many of our other posts, words have creative power. The birth of Jesus as a man also came about through spoken words. The first words spoken to prophesy Jesus coming in the flesh were spoken by God Himself in Genesis 3.

And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Genesis 3:14-15 (KJV)

Jesus was the seed of the woman mentioned in that passage because, naturally speaking, women don’t have seed. Men are the ones who produce the seed for a baby to be conceived. This prophecy was speaking of Jesus and the fact that He would be born to a virgin by the divine seed of God’s Word.

Throughout the 4,000 years that followed, prophets and others were used by God to speak forth the details of the birth and life of Jesus Christ. And when the needed words were all spoken, the fullness of time had come. It took many years because the devil had control of the earth, and God had to use the few people who would work with Him to speak what He told them to.

Also involved was the timing of the rise of the Roman Empire. Before the Roman Empire, travel was difficult. The Romans built roads and infrastructure that made it possible for Jesus to travel throughout Israel, and eventually for His followers to travel throughout the entire civilized world spreading the Good News. Had Jesus arrived earlier, Christianity would not have been able to spread so far so quickly. Additionally, the Roman empire united everyone under a common language, which also facilitated Jesus’ ability to minister and the early Apostles’ ability to minister as well.

God knew the perfect time for Jesus to arrive on the scene, and He knew who He would be able to count on to speak forth the prophecies needed to make it happen. Our God is an all-wise, strategic God!