"Fullness of Time" Galatians 4:4 on this week's Word of Grace Devotion with Pastor Joe Marquez.

The Word of Grace Devotion for the Week of November 28, 2016
Fullness of Time
Galatians 4:4, “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law.”
Beloved, Galatians 4:4 declares that God the Father sent His Son when “the fullness of time had come.” There were mainly four things occurring at the time of the first century that, at least by human reasoning, seem to make it ideal for Christ to come.

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.

Beloved, the timing of Christ’s incarnation was such that the people of that time were prepared for His coming. 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.
What is the application of all this for us? God is always on time! When we are in the midst of trials and tribulations, we must remember that God is working on our behalf. His primary work is to conform us more and more into the image of His Son- so God may not immediately remove the trial or persecution from our life because He has a higher purpose for us, higher than our comfort or ease. Beloved, we need to trust that God is always on time and that in the fullness of time He will send Jesus to our rescue because God is always on time.
I pray that you will have a blessed week! I love you and I will be praying for you!
 

In Him,
Pastor Joe