The fullness of time…
the one perfect moment in history…
for Our Lord to fulfill prophecy…
to come to Israel to teach, and to save…
before it would have been too early…
after it, too late…
But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to ransom those under the law, so that we might receive adoption. (Gal 4:4-5)
And I’ve been contemplating this fullness of time. It began here, and over on the sidebar, and down a little, in the “Deep Subjects” section, is the short series of posts to this point.
And what is this point?
Israel was once a good-sized nation…
…wielding a certain amount of power on the world stage.
But first they split into two separate kingdoms …
Then Assyria took over the Northern Kingdom…
And Assyria was conquered by Babylon…
Babylon conquered the Southern Kingdom…
and there was Exile for Israel…
But Babylon gave way to Persia…
Persia returned the exiles to Israel…
the Greeks conquered the Persians…
the Greeks tried to make everybody Greek-ish…
The Israelites rebelled…
of course.
And how does this tie in with the fullness of time?
From the point the Greeks took over to 70 A.D. when Jerusalem was destroyed by Rome, this struggle to maintain the old ways and beliefs and customs, in their homeland, would define Israel. This resistance would ultimately lead to Rome’s destruction of Israel as a nation.
The time of Jesus coming to the Jews…
in their own country…
to a Jewish culture and Jewish faith…
to preach the gospel…
have a three year ministry…
and Crucifixion…
and Resurrection…
could not have happened 100 years after his birth.
And what of this prophecy of God written 400 years before Our Lord arrived?
“‘Look! I am sending my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. Then the Lord you are seeking will suddenly come to his Temple. The messenger of the covenant, whom you look for so eagerly, is surely coming,’ says the Lord Almighty.” Mal 3:1
No Temple would mean a failed prophecy.
A failed prophecy would mean an imperfect revelation of God.
An imperfect revelation of God means an imperfect God.
God is not, and cannot be imperfect, otherwise he is not God at all.
And I’m wondering about a personal “so what” to all of this.
And I think that maybe there are many fullnesses of time in our lives.
There are better times, worse times, and perfect times…
to move boldly…
to make changes..
to realize dreams.
As we get older we can see more and more of these “convergences” in our past.
But as we’re living we don’t have that advantage…
only God can see all the convergences of circumstance that lead to a fullness of time.
So I’m thinking…
isn’t it that much more important to stay in touch with him?
{ 18 comments… read them below or add one }
I really loved your “So what?” in all of this, Craig! I guess in my education years that it was this one question that was never answered for me, and that’s what made it boring. As a young person, with all this vast future ahead of me, who really cared about the past?! Times were new and exciting now and I wanted the future, not the past. I think I squandered a million “now’s” and sacrificed them on crazy dreams and ventures of tomorrows that never came. Your last question made me think of phone calls we make all the time and the first question we ask is, “So what’s happening?” It made me think —- Have I ever asked God that question???? I’m sitting here and even asking MYSELF the question: What IS happening in my life right now and what difference does it make? It makes a lot of difference if I pay no attention to it or miss it completely. Yes, I’m one of the older ones who can see lots of the convergences in my past and it has resulted in a firming of my faith, a redemption of what seemed wrong and bad, and a chance to see the “ripple effect” at work in others around me.
“The fullness of time” always sounds so far away. But when we practice living in the moment, it seems there is always a “fullness of time” happening in some area of life. Thanks, Craig. This has left me with a day of pondering. . . .
Cora, sorry I’m late responding to your comment – fighting sleep and sick – grrrrrrrr. Anyway… The phone call analogy – awesome. We don’t ever ask God what he’s up to. I’m warning you right now my friend – that is so good – that I copied and pasted it over into a Word document – and I’m going to use it later. So much good stuff gets said in my comment section – so much wisdom – I’m going to start stealing – but I promise – I PROMISE I’ll always let you knowツ and being one of the older ones – well – you and me both kid. It takes age to see all of that. Or at least it takes the wisdom of age to look – whatever it is it takes something that we don’t have in our 20s and 30s even, and even later. And we should all get it earlier. I might steal that too come to think of it ツ you are very steal-worthy today my friend! Bless and keep you Cora!
Yes, it’s all important to stay in touch and in tune with God! I see my life moving in ways I never could have dreamed just a few months ago, and I know His hand is fully in it. His fullness of time is always perfect!
Amen Martha – ALL IMPORTANT to stay :in touch and in tune with God” – 4 million different reasons – or more. This is just one that I don’t think I’ve paid enough attention to. And the way your life is moving – it sounds like you’re happy with it – that makes me smile. I heart when things go well for friends. Hope I’m guessing right. God bless and keep you Martha.
and Martha, sorry I’m late in responding – a little sick – and not very much sleep. (◠_◠)
ditto on the staying in touch with God. i don’t know how He manages to have a plan and allow for individual choice except that He knows in advance what our choices will be. He is absolutely the quintessential traffic controller in a sense!
I ditto you ditto A. I remember thinking once that it’s all well and good to have a God who can predestined everything – it’s so much better to have a God who can predestined everything – AND let us all choose independently. Now THAT’S a big God! And awesome – “the quintessential traffic controller”. funny – and true – and made me smile.and sorry I’m late responding – sleepless and a little under the weather – sorry. God bless!
here’s a present!
I have sent on the Versatile Blogger Award to you! I love your blog and follow all your posts. Here is the link to my post: http://herspaciousplace.blogspot.com/2011/08/woo-hoo-i-love-my-new-shiny-gift.html with the information about the Versatile Blogger Award, should you decide to pass it on.
Thanks for your blog, it really blesses me!!
:),
shannon
Shannon, thank you, I accept the heart behind the award – I thank you for your really nice words – once I was uber-quick to accept any award I could grab – I’m a little slower now – I think that’s growth. I’m not quite sure what to do with it – but I heart that you offered it to me. Thank you very much – God bless and keep you.
Oh yes! Such a good point.
ツ and sorry I’m late in responding – a little sick – a little sleepless – grumble grumble.
don’t respond… sleep and get well!
Thanks for a good word. I see fullness of time all around us in our present age, and I believe with all my heart that Jesus is coming again… very soon.
of course, you didn’t think there was really a chance that you would be so nice – and tell me I wouldn’t have to respond – because that’s the loving thing to do – and I would NOT respond did you? I have to at least say thank you for your being so kind. Sleep comes when it comes – and I will take as good a care of myself as I can. But you being so nice makes me feel better anyway. Big smile on my face as I type this ツand as far as Jesus coming again – and soon – I do know one thing for certain – we should all be ready. And none of us are ready without grace. God bless you, thank you for being so nice.
“But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to ransom those under the law, so that we might receive adoption. (Gal 4:4-5)”
Our sermon this morning started with these verses, but from the NLT in which v5 reads “God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children.” and we were told that if we were to remember anything from the sermon, it should be the word FREEDOM. The passage that was actually preached from was v10-14. Midway through the sermon our pastor stopped and prayed for the releasing from curses spoken over people in the congregation (you’re not good enough, you’ll never make it, etc). It was like hearing your two blogs in one place from someone who probably doesn’t know you exist – but God knows what He is doing. 😀
Michelle, back in the days when I wasn’t in my “your of connection” that kind of stuff probably went on all the time – God speaking the same thing in different ways to different people in different places – because I had my blinders on. This year I’ve noticed themes running. So apparently God has always done this – but you have to look and be involved with others to know. And Amen – God does know what he’s doing – that’s a good thing to know. And freedom is implied in the verses – although it’s not there in the Greek – and the ransom – I think it’s the only time it’s used in the New Testament – in a war if you had no money you would be killed – if you had some you could be saved by ransom. So I can see with a sense of freedom comes – even though it’s not there in the Greek. God bless you as always Michelle.
God bless you, Craig, and I’m praying for you, that some rest may come and a healing of the sickness, that you may be restored and renewed, to the extent that you can. To have the sleep thing and then to be sick too? And then still write like you do? More evidence of God and His grace.
The part that spoke to me was when you said that as we’re living we don’t have the advantage of seeing that convergence of time. That blessed and helped me, because I was thinking everyone else could see that and I just didn’t get it.
Thank you!
first Debbie, thank you for your prayers. It’s a connection thing – the sleep leads to lower immune system – that leads to getting sick – the not sleeping makes you feel bad – so when you’re getting sick you’re not sure if it’s the sleep or the sickness – then continued bad sleep makes it impossible to heal – and it’s a vicious little circle. It’s just my thorn. And sick or not – I have got a limited amount of time to make a dream happen – to make a way – and I’m working as hard as I possibly can – everything I have gets poured into these posts. Thank you for encouraging me. And you know what? Sometimes I think that only those who think they don’t get it – actually can. God bless you Debbie
Wow, that’s what I was exploring for, what a material!
existing here at this website, thanks admin of this website.
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