We can shorten the text by just
reading this. This is our subject. But when
the fullness of 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. I think you might agree that
some of the greatest passages anywhere in the New Testament
have to do with the actual coming of Christ into the world. Texts
like 1 Timothy 3 and verse 16, God was manifest in the flesh. That great text in John's Gospel
1 and verse 14, and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among
us, we beheld His glory as of the glory of the Only Begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth. And so this evening
we come to consider the actual fullness of time when Messiah
made His appearance. when that One promised in Genesis
3.15, and prophesied by the prophets over the ages, actually made
His appearance. We are learning such things as
Galatians 4 and verse 4, and Galatians 4 and verse 2, the
time appointed of the Father. in Ephesians 1, verse 10, the
fullness of time that we read about. Again, in Hebrews 9 and
verse 26, that He appeared once in the end of the world or the
age to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. The wise man said,
there is to everything under heaven a season and a time and
a purpose to everything under heaven, Ecclesiastes chapter
3 and verse 1. Even so, there was a fullness
of time that was to be admit that the Lord God Messiah would
appear among men. A fullness of time when He that
is promised of old would actually make His appearance. Now, that
time was not the time when men fell. We might have expected
that God then would send a Redeemer to work among men and to save
them. It was not in the day of the
flood when times were bad and violence was great. It was not
when the Jews groaned under the rod of Pharaoh. Neither was it
when they languished in their awful, miserable Babylonian captivity. For there was a due time." I
Timothy chapter 2 and verse 6. It was not the time when Aaron
as a man failed miserably to faithfully adhere to the priesthood
and to perform it. It was not when Moses died or
when Aaron, or Joshua rather, died or passed off of the scene. It was not when they entered
into the land of Prometh. Nor in the first building of
the Jewish temple, though, is lost prophesied that he would
appear in the temple. not even in those short and infrequent
occasions when there was what we might call a revival among
the Jew. For these were not the times
that the Lord had set for sending Messiah into the world. Now before
we go any further, we can see statements in the Scripture again
and again, clearly showing that God does all things according
to his own time, and by his own purpose, the times that he has
appointed, the times that he has set. Ecclesiastes chapter
3 we refer to, a time to be born, a time to plant, a time to pluck,
and so forth. In Acts 17 and verse 26, "...and
hath made of one blood all nations of men to dwell upon the face
of the earth, and hath appointed the times before appointed for
them." And then in Luke 1 and verse 20, "...Zechariah was dumb
for a time, because I believe not my words which shall be fulfilled
in their season. In Mark 1 and verse 15, the time
is fulfilled, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Luke 21 and
verse 24, and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentile
until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. Now even though eternal
life was promised before the world ever began, Titus chapter
1 and verse 3, yet God had in due time manifested His Word. We read in John 7 and verse 6,
Jesus said, My time is not yet come. And He's referring to to
show Himself unto the world, to make Himself known back in
verse 4. John 8 and verse 20, No man laid
hold on Him. for His hour was not yet come."
That is, they could not take Christ, as we said this morning,
could not put Him to death until the appointed hour of His death
had come. In Acts 1 and verse 7. The Lord sort of rebukes His
disciples saying, it is not for you to know the times or the
seasons which the Father has put in His power. So we conclude
from that, that the times and the seasons are appointed by
God out of His good pleasure and sovereign will. All things
are done all things are brought to pass, all things are accomplished
and come to fruition by the time that God has set. Thus our text
says to us, when the fullness of time was come. God acted. And He acted, He sent forth His
Son. And it was not until the fullness
of time was come. Which means that God had fixed
an appointed time for the Savior to appear. And that that time
now had been fulfilled or filled up. when that time was come,
when that time had fully arrived and there was nothing left to
be done as to time or space, for God set a certain time for
this to come to pass, for His blessed Son to put on our flesh. The expression, the fullness
of time, as the expositor John Brown said, is a Hebraism. That is, it is a Hebrew way of
saying this or that. And it denotes the full, and
it denotes the perfect, or, as we say, the fullness of the time. The perfect time, because it
is the time appointed by the Father. Again, if you compare
the second verse of our chapter and the thing Paul discusses
is likening their past to a minor child or a child who is under
tutors and such like. and his non-age ends at the time
that has been appointed by the Father. The young child of a
rich man might be put under a tutor, and he would stay there until
the Father determined that he come out, so that God, who is
the Father, had a set time to send forth His Son. John Eady,
a writer that I like, likened the exact moment of its existence
when the time was fulfilled like a reservoir is full with its
very last drop of water, absolutely full. And when the very last
moment of time has passed or elapsed that God has set. In Paul's example, In Galatians
3, chapter 3, and chapter 4, he shows that it applies two
ways, as J. B. Lightfoot pointed out in his
commentary. Number one, it is in reference
to the giver. the moment had arrived that God
had ordained from the very beginning when he would make this gracious
act. And number two, in reference
to the recipient, the gospel had been withheld from the world,
had arrived now at a mature age and time until the law had worked
out its preparatory work and the world, by God's design, was
ripe, if I may use that expression, for the coming of Christ. Compare,
for example, the parable of the vineyard and the wicked husbandman. It says there, when the time
of the fruit drew near, he then sent forth his son expecting
of that fruit. So as to why Christ did not come
earlier, The fullness of time, which God has said was the fittest
time in the world's history for the God-man to make His appearance. And only then, when all things
were ready, did God send His Son and did Christ come into
the world. Let's say it this way, that everything
that God had purpose-designed our will was in place at the
time that God sent forth His Son into the world. Never before,
not again have all things been perfect for the appearance of
Messiah as they were then. Now how this is true, I hope
to be able to demonstrate in the course of our brief study
this afternoon of the appearing of Christ among mankind. We consider a few things quickly
in our last study, which we consider again very quickly in passing. Number one, the completion of
the Scripture canon of the Old Testament and the translating
of it into the Greek. because the common language of
the world of that day, the Scriptures were in. No longer was the Word
of God in the Hebrew language only or exclusively or just for
them, that is, the Hebrew. God caused the Jewish Scripture
to be translated into the language of the despised Gentile. This was the first step, maybe,
in breaking down the middle wall partition between the Jew and
the Gentile, or at least it was one step, and a necessary thing
to be part of the time of the fullness of the coming of our
Lord Jesus Christ. Now, not only is the Old Testament
canon complete, but now it is translated into the language
of the Gentiles, and this must occur if Christ is to be Savior
and the gospel is to go out unto the Gentiles, unto their salvation. Now, from this version of the
Scripture, the apostles and ministers preached the Gospel unto the
Gentiles. It was this translation that
was used for centuries then after Christ by the people of God. Thus, because the world had a
Scripture in the common tongue It could be shown from them that
Christ was indeed the true Messiah promised of old. Now another
point is worth making in connection, I think, with this Greek translation
of the Scripture, and that is that the Grecian world had preserved
and propagated the Greek and the Hellenic language in order
that both the Old and the New Testament appear in this language
in the time that our Savior came into the world. Secondly, I think
we mentioned briefly the declining of the Jewish nation and of the
Jewish religion that God had set up and had established, and
their dispersion. And this is important. There
was dispersion everywhere among the Gentiles. In every nation
they had been spread. God took away their indigenous
existence that they once had enjoyed. Their former glory departed
from them. Revelation then ceased as it
had before, and prophets appeared not. And the Spirit, or light
of the Word of God, dimmed during a certain period. In fact, it
became a period of great apostasy as our Lord was appearing in
the world. The institutions of Judaism were
corrupted in every part. and through and through. And
from Malachi's letter or prophecy, we see that it had commenced
already in his day. Many were full of hypocrisy when
our Lord came. It was one of the worst times
in Judaism. Could this possibly be the fullness
of time when Messiah would appear in such dull and dreary days
religiously? The answer It was both a preparation
and a part. of the season for God, sending
forth His Son into the world in flesh. Because, as we mentioned
in our second study, God intended to tear down the house of Judaism. The Jews must give up Moses in
order that they might have Christ. Everything, everything, including
their temple, must come down and must fall. Now, it is a marvel
how God ushered in the fullness of time, that exact time, yea,
in even the year, the month, the week, the day, and the hour. when His Son made an appearance
in the world. By His sovereign power and wisdom,
He made all things to meet together exactly as He had decreed, that
it might be the fullness of time when Christ would make His appearance. Let's say it this way, that when
He came, the fullness of time, All things ecclesiastical, scientific,
and political were in their place. First let me make a confession
for the point to be made in the next few minutes here. I'm indebted
not to my own thinking but to those deeply taught men of God
in time past who by His providence have left us their writing. I
found these thoughts. God used three great nations
to bring the fullness of time about for the appearance of Christ. Number one, of course, was the
Hebrew nation prepared the way for Messiah from the religious
standpoint, keeping alive the prophecy, the Scripture, and
such like. And secondly, the Greeks prepared
the way for Messiah in giving the world of that time a common
language in which to communicate the gospel of our Lord and Savior
to men far and wide. And thirdly, the Romans developed
the political climate that formed the fullness of time for Christ
to appear in the world. Because sum up these aspects
thusly, and I quote, the Jews provided the religious element,
the Gentiles extended the Hellenistic tongue to the arts and the sciences,
and Roman ambition molded the civilized world into a kingdom
of that day and that time." We know the development of religion
among the Jew, but we consider the formation of the political
climate that formed the fullness of the time for our blessed Savior
to appear. God raised up the Grecian Empire,
which gave most people common language, plus the Scripture. Then God allowed it to be overthrown,
and the Roman Empire then came to dominion and to power. This had the strongest influence
upon the fullness of time for the coming of Messiah. this political
climate was the most suitable for Christ to come, and I think
that for the following reason. Number one, if the Jews had been
yet at that time a sovereign or an independent nation, that
is with power and authority, of execution and such like, if
left to themselves, it would have been their desire to have
crucified Christ early in His ministry, and would have, according
from the human standpoint only, greatly hindered and restricted
the ministry of Christ. Of course, the hand of God cannot
be stayed. But then secondly, the Roman
Empire extended to the known world And it brought for that
time and that age a time of peace which was during the period of
the incarnation of our Lord coming in the flesh. Augustus Caesar
subdued his enemies round about and formed an empire. And the
climate of that Roman Empire was the fullness of time politically
for Christ to appear in the world. For example, it was a decree
from Caesar Augustus that sent Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem,
where Christ was born, fulfilling the prophecy of the Old Testament. It is neither fate nor accident,
nor is it luck nor coincidence, that there came peace among the
nations when Christ made His appearance in the world. And
this owing to the rise and the prominence of the glory or the
power of that Roman Empire, instead of making his appearance in Israel's
glory, he came in the glory of the Roman Empire. Now, let's
think of the peace of that time. A time of peace not known for
hundreds of years, when there was freedom from wars. It was a fit prelude for the
ushering in of the Prince of Peace into the world. I read
Jonathan Edwards who said, quote, this remarkable peace after so
many years of tumult and war was a fit prelude for ushering
in the glorious Prince of Peace into the world, end quote. proving
the political state of the world was peculiarly suitable to the
appearing of Messiah. And we say in our mind, how so?
This is amazing. A pagan government, a wicked
kingdom, Israel scattered and downtrodden, scattered out yonder
here and there among the Gentiles. How is this a suitable time for
the appearing of Messiah? And again, the reason If Israel
was a settled nation and a sovereign nation, as it had been in times
that have gone by Christ's ministry, that of the apostles then would
have been more largely confined to the people or the land or
the nation of Israel. But having all under a sovereign
monarch under the preaching of the gospel to all people then
was a relatively easy matter. Well, they had free access and
travel to go from one place or one country or one providence
unto another. had a wider tolerance for something
new in religion that the Jews did not have. There was no jealous
rivalry between one state and another. to build one up and
to tear the other down. But let's consider the fullness
of time in relationship to Bible prophecy in a few things. Genesis
chapter 49, verse 10 and 11. I mentioned it this morning.
The prophecy of Jacob just as he was dying. That the coming
of the Glorious One was to occur when the glory of God was about,
seemingly, to depart from Israel. And then B, Malachi 3 and 1,
Haggai 2 and 9, the messenger of the covenant would come to
the second temple and fill it with a glory superior to that
which filled the Old Testament temple. See Daniel 9, 24 through
verse 26. Messiah was to be cut off in
connection with the 70 weeks of Daniel. It was the fullness
of time, however, in another aspect, and that is Sin had flooded
the world. Spirituality was at its perhaps
lowest ebb when Christ would come into the world. Man, as
a righteous being, was a demonstrated failure. He could not hold up
in a righteous way. He had 4,000 years to prove himself,
and yet he demonstrated himself to be an utter failure on account
of depravity. It only proved God right in saying,
there is none good, none righteous, no, not one. It was in accordance
with the purpose of God. to let the world go on long in
sin. And as Thomas Goodwin had put
it in his writing, he said, suffer mankind. In other words, permit
or allow mankind to prove or try all of the ways that they
might imagine or conceive by which they might save themselves
from ruin and destruction. One after another came along
with this remedy and with that. But all of them an utter complete
failure. And when all this was in place
and all their efforts had failed to bring man to any kind of righteousness
and therefore prove that man cannot lift himself up out of
the mire. So he left the Jews. long in
Egypt before He delivered them. He left the world long in its
darkness and blindness before He sent the Savior into the world. Secondly, it was the fullness
of time in another way. And that is that God suffered,
permitted, or allowed human wisdom to flourish in the heathen world
of that day. Philosophy. Learning greatly
increased among them its greatest glory just before the appearance
of Messiah. It is amazing that so many philosophers
came before Christ's coming. They had the stage first. They
had the remedy set forth first. Philosophy took its wings in
the period after the Babylonian captivity of the Jew and the
incarnation of Christ. Wise men stood forward to answer
in their mind the issues of life. Wherein lies true happiness?
What is the purpose of man? What is our end? What is the
way unto happiness? In short, what is the meaning
of life? Those questions have been pondered
over and over. How can one find peace with God
and victory over sin? In other words, as one said,
the world was allowed full time to discover by prolonged experiment
the insufficiency of its own wisdom to instruct and to save
it, unquote. And this is and utter failure. As it were, God gave it free
reign. Lay the reins upon the neck,
as it were, and let them run. And its learning and philosophy
was not making the world a better place, not making the world a
happier place, but it grew more wicked and more wicked and further
from God and more ignorant of God until Christ came and He
made the wisdom of this world to be foolishness in the sight
of God. And he destroyed the wisdom of
the wise in that it is unable to save. And he saved his elect
in a way that the wise, the learned, and the philosopher consider
a foolish manner. The death of Christ upon a cross,
even worldly, to save men They tried and make him happy. They have tried. But happiness,
but all of that was a demonstrated failure. And Christ only is the
answer. Now concerning the fullness of
time, God sending Christ at the time that He did, did not like
a fast-moving merry-go-round and trying to jump on it as it
goes by. But God perfectly timed all things
for the coming of His Son. He made all history to serve
that purpose, to send Christ into the world. Now all things
are ready. The fullness of time has come. The events and circumstances
ordained by God have wonderfully fallen into their place. It was
God's time, the God of all human history, guiding the appearing
of Messiah. He waited the time. He came exactly
at that time, fixed by God's purpose and by God's divine sovereignty. The Messiah came. The new economy
commenced with the appearing and the death of the Savior at
such a time as was ordained by God. when all of this that had
gone before was in its place and the time was right. The Father
to bring them out of their youthful servitude, that is, Israel. Bring
them out from under their tutors and governors, which is reflective
of the law. And bring them into the fullness
and the liberty of the glorious Gospel of our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ. It was not God jumping into a
period of history, but it was causing history to actually ripen
for the fixed and set time of the coming of Messiah, even as
the Lord had ordained. And when the fullness of time
was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, and made
under the law. It was said, all things are now
ready and are directed by God, the proper time for sending the
Savior, the Messiah, into the world. Now, let's close with
a couple of applications that we might think about in thinking
about the fullness of time. Number one, does not God fix
the day, the time, the hour? of our regeneration. Does He
not do that? Fixing the exact time and the
hours, then sending forth His Spirit into our heart, whereby
we cry, Abba, Father. Hath not God fixed the time of
our birth? Also fixed the time of our conversion? He hath made all things serve
that end in our life. Is there not a fullness of time
to save us? He does not save all people when
they're young. He doesn't save all people when
they're middle-aged. Why not? Why not save them early
in life? He saves them at His appointed
time. And that is a wonderful thing.
And then we say... The fullness of time. The fullness
of time. Do you believe there was a fullness
of time for Christ to come? Do you believe there was the
time for our life to commence? Do you believe there was that
time appointed by God for our souls to be saved? For God to
work in us that marvelous work that He had purposed from before
the foundation of the world. the fullness of time. When the
fullness of time was come, God sent forth His Son made of a
woman and made under the law.