The fulness of time was come
“But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.” Galatians 4:4-5.
This is one of my favorite Christmas passages. Notice that Jesus came at just the right time, “when the fulness of time was come.” Some point to the Roman era and the commonality of crucifixion, but there is a deeper Biblical reason for Christ’s perfect timing. To see this, we can turn to prophecies that specifically address the timing of His coming.
To understand this, Daniel 9 provides the timeline for the remainder of history through the prophecy of the seventy weeks. I don’t want to make this a column about prophecy, so instead of going into Daniel nine in detail, here is a summary of the seventy-week prophecy.
The seventy weeks in Daniel are seventy sets of seven years. The period starts with the command to rebuild Jerusalem. Jerusalem would take 49 years, or 7 weeks, to be rebuilt. After an additional 62 weeks, the prophecy says, “shall Messiah be cut off,” referring to the Messiah’s death. At that point, the timeline pauses. The final, or seventieth, week will begin when the Antichrist makes a sevenyear agreement “with many” (Daniel 9:24-27).
The Messiah being cut off was the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. The events of the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the death of Christ are historical, and the timeline is accurate to the day. In light of this, those living in the days of Christ, if they had followed the prophecy, should have known when the Messiah would be killed, and therefore, known that a few decades before that would have been the birth of the Messiah by a virgin. Isaiah 7:14, “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”
Moving to the New Testament, a passage that informs us that Jesus fulfills the Daniel nine prophecy at just the right time is Mark 1:14-15, “Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.”
The time was fulfilled; it was time for Jesus to ramp up His ministry. His predecessor was done; the miracles, preaching, and confronting the religious elite surged, leading to why He came: His death on the cross. His days were numbered. Daniel had already numbered them.
According to our passage in Mark, Jesus’ message was to believe and repent. From our starting passage in Galatians, he came at the right time “to redeem” us. This connects directly to Matthew chapter one, where Joseph is contemplating what to do. His fiancée is pregnant, and he knows he is not the father. An angel comes to Joseph, explains that Mary is still a virgin and that she will give birth to the Son of God. During the angel’s explanation, he tells Joseph the reason Jesus is coming, “he shall save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21).
Bringing these threads together, Jesus came at the perfect moment to be “cut off” (killed), with a message of faith and repentance. His purpose was clear: to save us from our sins.
With this purpose in mind, Jesus died on the cross for our sins. The forgiveness of sins comes through faith in what Jesus has done for our sins. Saving faith changes the heart so much that repentance, a change, takes place. Saving faith will cause us to look at sin differently. God hates sin; in order for us to have a heart and mind like God’s, we must also hate sin. God loves the sinner, that’s why He came and died for us, but He hates the sin we do.
As a result, when salvation comes, the Holy Spirit moves into our hearts. Guilt now comes with every sin. To keep our relationship with God strong, we must confess our sins and develop a hatred for them. The reason for this is that people tend not to do what they hate. If you hate broccoli, you don’t eat it. If you hate to tell a lie, you will be honest far more often than not. A hatred for sin and a love for God are the key ingredients to repentance. “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15).
Use this Christmas season to share both Jesus’ motivation— His love for us— and the purpose of His birth: He came to die for our sins. Our respon se is to place our faith in His sacrifice that brings real repentance.
