The Fullness of Time

Intro

Galatians 4:4 says, “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law” (ESV). In this first post of the Christmas season (I know, I know, Thanksgiving isn’t done yet), I want to focus on that phrase “fullness of time”. What exactly does that mean? The NIV Bible puts it this way “But when the set time had fully come”. You could also say “When the perfect time set by God had come” (CLV, Cory Lewis Version 😉). When I read that, I think to myself, “Why was this the right time? Why did God select that period of time?” If you ever asked those questions, you’re in the right place. Turns out there’s a lot of great reasons, both from a human perspective and Biblical.

The Roman Empire

You read that right. The Roman Empire turned out to be one of the best reasons for this time being the perfect time for Jesus to come. Here are some of the reasons why.

Peaceful Travel

The Roman Empire conquered so much of the world at that time, that within its borders there was a sense of peace. In addition, the ruthlessness of the Romans when it came to criminals helped keep that peace. Crucifixion was no joke. Furthermore, the Romans built an extensive network of roads and ports that allowed for great ease of travel across the Empire. This allowed the gospel to spread to places it otherwise couldn’t have.

Assimilation

The Roman Army was fairly unique in how it recruited soldiers from among the provinces that it conquered. The recruits were taught about Roman history and culture and a great number of people were effectively assimilated. This allowed for a greater understanding of cultures across the world which made communicating ideas much easier. In fact, the gospel came to Britain largely because of soldiers stationed there.

In addition, Rome allowed people of other nations to become Roman citizens. It wasn’t necessarily easy – or cheap (see Acts 22:28) – but it was possible. Paul benefitted from this multiple times. He avoided beatings, unfair trials, and could get into places he wouldn’t have been able to any other way. And lastly, he got the opportunity to speak before the emperor himself.

Jewish Oppression and Hopes

The Jews struggled under the Roman Empire. That created an intense longing and anticipation of the long-awaited Messiah prophesied hundreds of years beforehand. Many women of that day had high hopes of being the one to give birth to the Messiah. This hope and desire made Jesus more accepted and drew larger crowds than He otherwise might have.

The Greek Language

Perhaps one of the greatest reasons for this being the perfect time is the unified language that existed. The Greek language dominated the Roman Empire. Many people were bilingual at the very least (their own native language plus Greek). This allowed for a greater ease of communication than in times previous. Christians could travel from one place to another without having to wonder if they would find someone who could interpret for them. To be sure, not everyone spoke Greek, but there was a large enough number that finding an interpreter wasn’t difficult. It’s a lot easier to find someone to interpret from a common language to a local language than from one local language to another local language.

The Spiritual Culture

The Spiritual culture of the day provided yet another way that made people receptive to the gospel.

Idols and Cults

When the Romans came conquering, many people groups turned to their gods and idols for protection and salvation. However, when these gods failed to deliver, many people abandoned worship of them and began to seek alternatives. This created a greater spiritual hunger in people than if Rome had not touched their nations.

Furthermore, many cults and mystery religions of the day emphasized a savior-god and bloody sacrifices to worship them. This made a gospel that included one ultimate sacrifice much more believable to them. In addition, many of these cults required baptism of some sort – often in the blood of animals – so the early church emphasizing baptism after repentance didn’t sound unusual to them. A little bit cleaner perhaps, but not strange. Finally, the belief of an immortal soul was also prevalent in this time. This made the message of Christ even more understandable.

Greek Philosophy

On the flip side, the Greek philosophy/science of the time left a lot of people feeling spiritually empty and void. People wondered if there was anything more to life than just this natural world. This is much like how modern day atheistic communist governments did in the 20th century and continue to do today. And even how the prevalent atheistic and evolutionist thought leaves people searching for truth and fulfillment in America today.

Jewish System

God laid the Jewish religious system and Law as a foundation for the coming of Jesus. The entire system was designed to demonstrate to mankind their sinfulness and their inability to stop sinning in their own power. God set it up so that they would recognize the depth of their sin and wickedness and thus more readily accept the salvation that Jesus as their Messiah offered.

In addition, the Law and the prophets laid out many prophecies concerning the coming of Jesus and what He would do so that the Jews would recognize Him when He came. And the sacrificial system painted the picture of the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross – as well as just the necessity of a blood sacrifice to pay for sin.

Lastly, their feasts and festivals that God ordained in the Old Testament all point to Jesus in some form. Going through just a couple of them quick: Feast of Tabernacles points to the birth of Jesus because it recognizes God dwelling with man (one of Jesus’ names is Immanuel – God with us) and Passover points to the death of Christ (and not just because that’s when Jesus died) because the Passover lamb that each household had to slaughter had to be pure and without blemish and not one of its bones could be broken – Jesus became the ultimate Passover lamb, being pure and without blemish and not a single bone was broken.

There is so much more in the Jewish system that points to Jesus and the New Covenant. But that’ll have to wait for another day.

The Fullness of Sin

This might sound like an odd one but hear me out. Some scholars believe that part of the “Fullness of Time” means that sin reached its fruition under the law as well. Paul suggests such a thing in Romans.

The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase. Romans 5:20 (NIV)

I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. Romans 7:7 (NIV)

The introduction of the law allowed people to see how sinful they really were. And it demonstrated their need for a savior. Not just a savior from their natural enemies, but a savior from the sin within them. And when things had progressed to a certain point, it became time to send that savior because God will only tolerate so much sin before He acts.

This idea we can see all the way back in Genesis 15 when God told Abraham about his descendants’ captivity in Egypt.

In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure. Genesis 15:16 (NIV)

It took another 400+ years before the sin of the Amorites reached its full! And that’s on top of however many centuries they were already sinning. Makes sense it would take a few thousand years for things to build up before God chose to send Jesus.

Daniel’s Prophecy

The last thing I want to mention is that Jesus came at the time He did to fulfill the prophecy of Daniel. Which prophecy? The “Seventy weeks” or “Seventy sevens” found in Daniel 9:24-27. We know from studying history that 69 of these “weeks” have already been fulfilled with the last one still coming. The countdown of these started with the command to rebuild Jerusalem (verse 25). This occurred in 444 B.C. Verse 26 tells us that after 69 of these “weeks” “the Annointed One will be put to death”.

Many people have done the calendar math and used historical and astronomical clues to determine when the 69 weeks began and end. It’s largely agreed that they began at the end of February 444 B.C. (some say beginning of March) with the command to rebuild Jerusalem and ended in March A.D. 33 just days before Jesus’ death. (Even though I read a few different articles about this in my research, this one I believe to be the most accurate: Link).

So, Jesus came when He did in order to fulfill this very specific piece of prophecy from Daniel – and the religious leaders missed it.

Wrapping Up

From this, I hope you can see God’s guiding hand on the course of history. This should give you hope for your own life. No matter where you’re at, God can redeem what looks hopeless and can bring you back into His will for your life. With God there are no disqualifying paths, only detours.