Sermons
In The Fullness of Time
IN THE FULLNESS OF TIME
Sermon Outline By Terry Siverd
Cortland Church of Christ / December 13, 2015
Over the last quarter our Sunday morning auditorium Bible class has been studying “Words of Life”.
Two words that we’ve explored most recently are prophesy and providence.
In my message this morning these two concepts are welded and wedded together.
In our studies in the early part of the new year (2016) we’re going to continue to development these two ideas.
Our Sunday morning Bible class will be studying, God’s Providence In The Life Of Joseph.
Our new sermon series will be focusing on, The Prophecy Of Jonah.
These are going to be two eye-opening series and we hope all of you will plan to take part.
For this morning - - please open your Bibles to Galatians chapter four.
Mk.1:14-15 states that Jesus came into Galilee saying,
The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.
In the Scripture reading that Joshua shared from 1Tim.2:3-6, Paul speaks of “the testimony”
(there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Jesus Christ).
Concerning that testimony, Paul notes that it was borne at the proper time.
This borne is not the “born” connected with the actual birth event of Jesus,
but rather borne as a past participle of “bear”, meaning “transmitted” - - as in “the bearing of glad tidings”.
Paul also addresses this idea in Titus 1:3, when he refers to that which
(God) promised long ages ago, but at the proper time manifested (displayed).
Now, let’s read Gal.4:1-5
Now I say, as long as the heir is a child, he does differ at all from a slave although he is owner of everything,
But he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father.
So also we, while we were children, were held in bondage under the elemental things of the world.
But when the fullness of time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law,
In order that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.
While this text does include the birth of Jesus, this is not my annual Christmas sermon.
That will be next Sunday, December 20th, and our text will be Lk.2:15, “Let us go straight to Bethlehem”.
All throughout the Old Testament, we witness God interacting with historical events and eras.
God sent Joseph to Egypt shortly before a great famine, resulting in the children of Israel going through
an “incubation period” that resulted in their growing into a somewhat mighty and populous nation.
In other historic eras, God arranged things so that the natural animosity and belligerence of foreign nations
corresponded to times that the Israelites needed to be judged and punished for their sinful behavior.
In yet another time period, God caused a Jewish girl named Esther to save the Jews from extinction.
In His wisdom and providence God saw time in one fell swoop and orchestrated events so as to
have the desired effect on His plan of redemption - - the spread of salvation to the world.
Nowhere is God’s providence more clearly seen that in the years that encompassed the
birth, life, death, burial & resurrection of Jesus and His establishment of the church of the New Covenant.
SURELY WE HAVE ALL WONDERED AT TIMES: “WHY DID JESUS COME PRECISELY WHEN HE DID?”.
Since the Scriptures affirm that God sent Jesus at the proper time - - in the fullness of time, we can’t help but ask, “WHAT WAS THERE ABOUT THE FIRST CENTURY THAT GOD DEEMED TO BE THE PERFECT TIME?”.
The world into which Jesus descended as an infant and as a man, had much to offer.
Under the governance of the Roman Empire there was considerable peace - - Pax Romana (the peace of Rome).
Much of the world was unified under Roman rule and the economy was thriving.
During this time period, the major powers of the world (Rome, Greece, Babylon/Persia and Egypt) were relatively peaceful, having come to a cessation of major hostilities that had plagued the world for centuries prior.
It was also a world where travel was accessible. The Romans had constructed five major highways.
“All Roads Lead To Rome” (55,000 miles): Via Appia…Via Aemilia…Via Flaminia…Via Popillia…Via Postumia
While Rome had conquered militarily, Greece had conquered culturally.
A common form of the Greek language (Koine - - different from classical Greek) was spoken throughout the empire.
Koine Greek had become the medium of commerce, culture, philosophy and religion - - the lingua franca.
It paved the way for wide discourse among the people and set the stage for the spread of the gospel of Christ.
The Roman army recruited soldiers from among its many provinces, introducing these men to Roman culture
and to a host of ideas (like the gospel) that would eventually work its way into the outlying regions as well.
The gospel was introduced to Britain as a result of soldiers who were stationed there.
The first-century was a time of soul-searching.
The fact that many false idols had failed to bring victories caused many to abandon their worship.
In the cities and culturally sophisticated enclaves, the philosophies and sciences of that time left many empty.
On Mars Hill in Athens, Paul used this condition to introduce others “to an unknown God” (Acts 17:23).
Many Gentiles were looking for something better, beyond the state-ordained religions of their day.
Furthermore, the mystery religions of that ancient era emphasized a Savior-God and required worshipers to offer
bloody sacrifices, thus “introducing” the gospel of Christ which involved ONE ULTIMATE sacrifice of blood.
To the church at Rome Paul wrote, “Having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved…” (Rom.5:9).
“In HIM we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses…” (Eph.1:7).
The Greeks also believed in the immortality of the soul which Jesus and His disciples also taught (Jn.11:26 & Heb.5:9).
From a Jewish standpoint, Roman rule made them hungry for the coming of The Messiah (cf. Jn.1:45 & Lk.24:21).
The first-century represented a heighten anticipation among the Jews for the coming of their long-awaited Messiah.
Even though there was relative peace, the claustrophobic Roman rule made the Jews eager for their Deliverer.
Throughout the first several decades of the church, persecutions caused many Christians to disperse (diaspora).
As a result, even the difficulties suffered by the Christians resulted in the spread of the gospel
because, as Acts 8:4 notes, “those who had been scattered went about preaching the word.”
The fall of Jerusalem in AD70, although tragic to the Jews, caused hundreds of thousands of followers of
Christ to escape to Asia, Africa and Europe and to bring about an even wider spreading of the gospel.
While each of these is impressive - - and combined they are even more so - - these explanations
alone cannot and do not account for the full meaning of “the fullness of time”.
There is something much DEEPER than just these on-the-surface observations.
To dig deeper we must turn back to the pages of the Old Testament scriptures.
There are many places in the OT where prophecy and providence are seen clearly to be joined together at the hip.
The coming of Jesus into the world and the introduction of the gospel of Christ did not come by chance.
The “fullness of time” was not something that the world fortuitously stumbled upon in the first century.
Fortune, luck and chance had nothing whatsoever to do with the arrival of “the fullness of time.
God had ordained it all. And it was planned well in advance.
The book of Daniel tells of the angel Gabriel being sent by God to reveal a prophesy to the nation of Israel.
While Daniel was praying, God sent Gabriel: “I have come to give you insight and understanding” (Dan.9:22).
Daniel’s prophecy of “the fullness of time” encompasses all of soteriology -- both incarnation and eschatology.
Biblical eschatology concerns God’s full establishment of His eternal kingdom in the last days of OT Israel.
(cf. Ro.11:25/fullness of the Gentiles and Mt.23:32 & 1Thess.2:16/fill up the measure of their sins)
Dan.9:24-27
Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression,
to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness,
to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy place.
So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem
until Messiah the Prince there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks;
It will be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of distress.
Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing,
And the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary.
And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined.
And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a
stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of admonitions will come who made desolate,
even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate.
While we may wonder “what in the world” Daniel (Gabriel) was talking about
(we’ll study this prophecy in more detail in our Sunday PM studies sometime in 2016),
Jesus Himself ties this prophecy to the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70 in Mt.24:15.
The decree to rebuild the temple is recorded in Neh.2:5 and it takes place in the year 445 BC.
These seventy weeks of Daniel represented 70 weeks of years.
70 X 7 = 490 years. Almost 500 years before it took place, God was already planning “the fullness of time”.
Actually, from the time of Adam & Eve’s sin in the garden God began to put things in motion to bring redemption.
But Daniel’s prophecy provides such specificity that one cannot help but be amazed at the intricacies of God’s plan.
One last note, which is very important if we are to understand why God took so long to bring Jesus to us.
From the context of Gal.3 & 4, it is evident that God sought to lay a foundation through the Jewish Law that
would prepare them for the coming of the Messiah. The Law was given so that people (the Jews specifically)
could understand the depth of their sinfulness (in that the were incapable of keeping the law) so that they
might more readily accept the cure for sin through Jesus the Messiah (cf. Gal.3:22-23 and Rom.3:19-20).
The Law was “put in charge” (Gal.3:24/became our tutor) to lead people to the Messiah.
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Next Sunday we will revisit this theme, in a story more familiar to us all, and perhaps much easier to understand.
We will rehearse the words spoken by the Shepherds when the said to each other (Lk.2:15),
“Let us go straight to Bethlehem then, and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us.”
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The text of Gal.4:4 causes us to stand in awe of God’s sovereignty - - His providence and wisdom astound us.
