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In The Fullness Of Time
What does it mean that God sent Jesus in the "fullness
of time"?
Why did God
send Jesus when He did? Why not earlier? Why not later?"
Got Questions Ministries
“But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of
a woman, born under law” (Galatians 4:4).
This verse declares that God the Father sent His Son when “the
time had fully come.”
There
were many things occurring at the time of the first century that, at least by
human reasoning, seem to make it ideal for Christ to come then.
1) There was a great anticipation among the Jews of that time that the
Messiah would come. The Roman rule over Israel made the Jews hungry for the
Messiah’s coming.
2) Rome had unified much of the world under its government, giving a
sense of unity to the various lands. Also, because the empire was relatively
peaceful, travel was possible, allowing the early Christians to spread the
gospel. Such freedom to travel would have been impossible in other eras.
3) While Rome had conquered militarily, Greece had conquered culturally.
A “common” form of the Greek language (different from classical Greek) was the
trade language and was spoken throughout the empire, making it possible to
communicate the gospel to many different people groups through one common language.
4) The fact that the many false idols had failed to give them victory
over the Roman conquerors caused many to abandon the worship of those idols. At
the same time, in the more “cultured” cities, the Greek philosophy and science
of the time left others spiritually empty in the same way that the atheism of
communist governments leaves a spiritual void today.
5) The mystery religions of the time emphasized a savior-god and required
worshipers to offer bloody sacrifices, thus making the gospel of Christ which
involved one ultimate sacrifice believable to them. The Greeks also believed in
the immortality of the soul (but not of the body).
6) The Roman army recruited soldiers from among the provinces,
introducing these men to Roman culture and to ideas (such as the gospel) that
had not reached those outlying provinces yet. The earliest introduction of the
gospel to Britain was the result of the efforts of Christian soldiers stationed
there
The above
statements are based on men looking at that time and speculating about why that
particular point in history was a good time for Christ to come.
But we
understand that God’s ways are not our ways (Isaiah 55:8), and
these may or may not have been some reasons for why He chose that particular
time to send His Son.
From the
context of Galatians 3 and 4, it is evident that God sought to lay a
foundation through the Jewish Law that would prepare for the coming of the
Messiah.
The Law
was meant to help people understand the depth of their sinfulness (in that they
were incapable of keeping the Law) so that they might more readily accept the
cure for that sin through Jesus the Messiah (Galatians 3:22-23; Romans 3:19-20).
It did
this through its many prophecies concerning the Messiah which Jesus fulfilled.
Add to
this the sacrificial system that pointed to the need for a sacrifice for sin as
well as its own inadequacy (with each sacrifice always requiring later
additional ones).
Old
Testament history also painted pictures of the person and work of Christ
through several events and religious feasts (such as the willingness of Abraham
to offer up Isaac, or the details of the Passover during the exodus from Egypt,
etc.).
Finally,
Christ came when He did in fulfillment of specific prophecy.
Daniel 9:24-27 speaks of the “seventy
weeks” or the seventy “sevens.”
From the
context, these “weeks” or “sevens” refer to
groups of seven years, not seven days.
We can
examine history and line up the details of the first sixty-nine weeks (the
seventieth week will take place at a future point).
The
countdown of the seventy weeks begins with “the going forth of the
command to restore and build Jerusalem” (verse
25).
After seven “sevens” plus 62 “sevens,” or
69 x 7 years, the prophecy states, “the Anointed One will be cut off
and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the
city and the sanctuary” and that the “end will come like a
flood” (meaning major destruction) (verse
26).
Here we
have an unmistakable reference to the Savior’s death on the cross.
A century
ago in his book The Coming Prince, Sir Robert Anderson gave
detailed calculations of the sixty-nine weeks, using ‘prophetic years,’
allowing for leap years, errors in the calendar, the change from B.C. to A.D.,
etc., and figured that the sixty-nine weeks ended on the very day of Jesus’
triumphal entry into Jerusalem, five days before His death.
Whether
one uses this timetable or not, the point is that the timing of Christ’s
incarnation ties in with this detailed prophecy recorded by Daniel over five
hundred years beforehand.
The
timing of Christ’s incarnation was such that the people of that time were
prepared for His coming.
The
people of every century since then have more than sufficient evidence that
Jesus was indeed the promised Messiah through His fulfillment of the Scriptures
that pictured and prophesied His coming in great detail.
Got Questions
Ministries seeks to glorify the
Lord Jesus Christ by providing biblical, applicable, and timely answers to
spiritually related questions through an internet presence."
GotQuestions.org is a ministry of dedicated
and trained servants who have a desire to assist others in their understanding
of God, Scripture, salvation, and other spiritual topics. We are Christian,
Protestant, evangelical, theologically conservative, and non-denominational. We
view ourselves as a para-church ministry, coming alongside the church to help
people find answers to their spiritually related questions.
We will do our best to prayerfully and
thoroughly research your question and answer it in a biblically based manner.
It is not our purpose to make you agree with us, but rather to point you to
what the Bible says concerning your question. You can be assured that your
question will be answered by a trained and dedicated Christian who loves the
Lord and desires to assist you in your walk with Him. Our writing staff
includes pastors, youth pastors, missionaries, biblical counselors,
Bible/Christian college students, seminary students, and lay students of God's
Word.
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