4 But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born
under law, 5 to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights
of sons.
- Galations 4:4-5, The New International Version, (Grand Rapids, MI:
Zondervan Publishing House) 1984.
Dear Friends in Christ,
In a couple of the sermons preached this Advent season we were asked to reflect on our idea of “the perfect Christmas.” This, of course, is a very subjective exercise. Each one of us has our own ideas about “the perfect Christmas,” and we tend to orchestrate our celebration accordingly. As a result, what may be the “perfect Christmas” for one may not necessarily be the “perfect Christmas” for another.
Whereas a perfect Christmas celebration that matches everybody’s expectations may be unattainable, today the Apostle Paul reminds us that the holy event we base our celebration upon was indeed perfect in every way. With that in mind, let’s turn to his inspired words and reverently reflect on
THE
PERFECT CHRISTMAS
“But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.” Let’s begin by talking about the timing of that first Christmas. We are told it unfolded “when the time had fully come.” This little phrase can be understood in a couple of ways, both extremely meaningful...
First, it simply means that approximately 2000 years ago, according to the time He had Himself appointed, God put His plan into action. In other words, Jesus Christ arrived on the scene at a particular place and time on purpose. For hundreds and even thousands of years faithful and devout Old Testament believers had been watching and waiting for the Messiah to come for the first time (just as watch and wait for Him to come the second time). They didn’t know when He was going to come, but they knew that He was going to come. They didn’t know the precise moment, but they knew the Promise...
This watching and waiting went all the way back to Adam and Eve. As soon as Adam and Eve brought sin into the world (this is Genesis chapter three) – and even before God told them what consequences their actions would bring – God was there with a promise of a Savior, a Savior who would undo the eternal death they had brought upon themselves by their disobedience.
In a statement theologians sometimes refer to as the protevangelium (which means the first Gospel promise), God told of how the Offspring of a woman (the Savior) would defeat sin and Satan’s power to damn... “I will put enmity between you (Satan) and the woman, and between your offspring (Satan) and hers; He (one particular offspring of the woman) will crush your head (Satan’s power to damn because we are sinners), and you will strike his heel” (in other words, it will not be a victory without cost – the crucifixion).
Although these words may seem somewhat veiled to us, Adam
and Eve understood this promise and looked forward to this Savior. How do we know this? At the beginning of the next chapter of
Genesis (chapter four) we are told how Adam and Eve had a child whom they named
Cain. Upon his birth the Bible says Eve
remarked: “With the help of the
Lord I have brought forth a man.” Another way – and perhaps a better way – to
translate this remark from the original Hebrew of the Old Testament is: “I have brought forth a man, the Lord.” This would indicate that Eve thought
she had given birth to the promised Savior.
We know that this was not the case; Cain went on to be the first
murderer. But it does show that Eve knew
the Savior was coming. God had just not
revealed to her when.
And so it goes throughout the Old Testament. Prophecy after prophecy about the Savior who
was to come – each one revealing a little more information than the last – kept
believers strong in their faith. They
longed for the coming of the One to be born of a virgin and who would be
“Immanuel,” “God with us.” Now – on that
first perfect Christmas – “the time had fully come.”
The other way in which we can view this little phrase has to do with the ripeness of the time for Jesus to enter the world. From a purely historical standpoint, this particular era of time was very accommodating to the task for which God sent His Son into the world. In the familiar words of Luke 2 we are told it was in the days of Caesar Augustus...
At about this time last year the magazine U.S. News and World Report published as its cover story, “The Year One A.D.” In smaller print it says: “2,000 years ago, life under Roman rule was bleak and brutal, setting the stage for Christianity.” And on the cover of the magazine is a picture of a granite bust of the Emperor Augustus. To put the words of our text in historical context, allow me to read a couple of paragraphs to you...
In the Year One, the world’s
most powerful politician – a man who unintentionally paved the way for
Christianity’s rise – was a 63 year-old, 5-foot-five hypochondriac with
gallstones, dirty teeth, and a knack for climbing to the top and staying
there. The emperor Augustus, grandnephew
and adopted son of the murdered Julius Caesar, was in the 27th year
of his 41-year reign as the unquestioned leader of the world’s biggest empire.
Those years found Augustus pondering
very modern issues: law and order, welfare, family values, and moral decay...
Augustus would boast that he found Rome brick and made it marble, but more
lasting by far than his monuments was the influence of his reign, which helped
shape life and thought in much of the world for the next 2,000 years...
Without the good roads and
widespread order of the Pax Romana – the two centuries of peace that Augustus
introduced – the “good news” of Christ might never have spread...
The article indicates that a number of things (e.g. good roads, safe travel, the common language of Greek spoken throughout the Empire) conveniently merged to make it advantageous for the rise of Christianity. And the author of the article is right. But all this coming together was not an accident. It wasn’t the random convergence of a number of unrelated chance happenings. This was designed. History is His story. The timing was perfect. Because “the time had fully come” to put the perfect plan into effect...
And this was the plan:
“But when the time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a
woman, born under law, to redeem those under law.” We all know the story. We heard it again just a few days ago. There lying in the manger on that first
Christmas was our Savior from sin, both true God and true man. He doesn’t come to us busting out of heaven
in a show of strength and glory. He
doesn’t come to us as a full-grown prince in shining armor. He comes to us as a baby, “born of a
woman.”
He also comes to us “born under law.” By this we mean Jesus made Himself subject to all those commands and demands that God makes of us in His Word; all those commands and demands summarized for us in the Ten Commandments. Since God gave them to the world not as the Ten Suggestions or the Ten Guidelines, but the Ten Commandments, He expects that we will keep them. Perfectly. And just like the laws of this or any land, failure to do so brings consequences. The punishment for transgression is steep, but it is just. Death. And not just temporal death. Eternal death in a very real hell.
If the story stops here, we are doomed. But it doesn’t. Although God hates sin, He loves the sinner. And so He came up with the perfect plan. On that first Christmas God becomes a man, and as a man He does as man’s substitute what we cannot do – be perfectly holy and sinless. Then He bears the punishment we deserve by dying on the cross.
Paul tells us He came to “redeem those under the law.” That’s us. To redeem means to buy back. That’s what Jesus did. He is our Redeemer. He bought us back from the damning consequences which our sins deserve. In essence He goes to the gallows, takes the rope off our neck, puts it on His, grants us a full pardon and pulls the lever. It is the great exchange. This is redemption. He takes our punishment, we receive His glory.
Paul speaks to this point as he outlines the perfect result behind the perfect plan. All this He did “that we might receive the full rights of sons.” Through the work of His Son – a plan of action that took place in real time and real history – God makes us His children. And as His children He graciously bestows upon us all the rights that go along with being members of the family of God.
What are these full rights? We have the full right to approach our Heavenly Father as His beloved children. We can talk with Him in prayer with the confidence that He cares for us, and the assurance that He will answer our prayers according to His Fatherly wisdom.
We have the certainty and assurance that a loving and protecting Heavenly Father will guide our paths so we can face the future with confidence.
And just as children eventually inherit the possessions of their fathers, we also have become full heirs of eternal glory in heaven. The perfect result of a perfect plan carried out at the perfect time...
In the days ahead the memory of how we celebrated this past Christmas will begin to fade. Soon our focus will shift to other things, such as the New Year with all its possibilities. But as the Christmas season starts drawing to a close and life begins its relentless march onward, let us not forget about the Baby of Bethlehem.
Throughout the new year about to come as well as throughout
our lifetime, perhaps we ought to make a conscious effort to return to the
stable where, in the year One A.D., the time had fully come, and God
sent His Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that
we might receive the full rights of sons.
And as we reflect on that first perfect Christmas, we will enjoy the profound peace and true tranquility and the silent serenity that comes in knowing that the very same God of history and perfect timing and perfect planning is in control of our lives.
So how did you celebrate Christmas? Was it perfect? The good news is that it really isn’t that
important. Because the first one
was. And that’s all that really
matters. Amen.