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Today's Little Lift
by Jim Bullington
Some things just take time! No one can argue with this statement. Also it seems like the things we want most take an abundance of time to come to pass. At times we may have exclaimed while waiting for a long anticipated event, “It seems like time is standing still!” Today's Little Lift takes a brief look at one such event. It was a long time coming and its effects will be a long time lasting. Consider this truly one-of-a-kind event!
Paul wrote about it when he penned, “But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.” (Galatians 4.4-5). Of course the event of which he was speaking was the birth of Jesus Christ. We will focus on this event as it relates to the expression the fullness of time.
God is the creator of time. He existed before time and He will exist after time ceases. When He spoke light into existence and divided light from darkness (see Genesis 1.3), evening and morning were then said to be the first day. On the fourth day, God appointed the sun, moon, and other heavenly bodies as a means to define days, weeks, months, and years. Surely if we recognize the fact that God is the creator and “owner” of time, it also follows that everything He did in regards to earth was in the fullness of time. As Creator, He started time and He will stop time permanently at some point in the future.
Along the way, God stopped time once so that Israel could conquer one of their enemies, the Amorites (see Joshua 10). On another occasion, he performed a feat that was absolutely impossible for any mere human to do. King Hezekiah was sick and was near death. Isaiah, the prophet, received a message from God saying that Hezekiah would not die and would be on his feet again in three days. Isaiah delivered this message to Hezekiah, but to the king, these were just words. In order to know whether or not to believe Isaiah's message of healing, Hezekiah asked for a sign. Isaiah said that the LORD would either make the shadow of the sundial advance ten degrees or make it go backward ten degrees; it was Hezekiah's call as to which it would be. The king reasoned that it was a totally normal thing for the dial to go forward, but never had the shadow gone backward. Having made this request, the king then saw God's miraculous hand reverse the normal order of the universe and turn the shadow back ten degrees! God was not only Creator of time, He was and is Master of time!
Thousands of years literally passed under the various governments and systems of governments that are spoken of in the Old Testament. Godly men and women longed to see the day of the LORD but they did not even when the Old Testament ended at Malachi. Some four centuries passed without the voice of a prophet among God's people. By point of reference, the United States has not yet turned four hundred. For as long as we have existed as a country, God's prophetic voice was silent in Israel! How deafening that silence must have been for those who longed for Messiah and sweet redemption at His appearing!
Finally, the silence was broken. First, a man dressed in camel's hair and eating a diet of locusts and wild honey came on the scene. His voice was silenced when King Herod had him beheaded. Then came a smoother voice, but one which also cried out for repentance just as John had done. After three years, that voice was also silenced but only for three days. Why didn't God send Messiah earlier? Why did He have to be silenced for three days? And a thousand other whys! I don't know, these answers, but I do know that “...when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son.” And that is enough!
Questions:
1. How did time come to exist?
2. In the Old Testament, in what ways did God demonstrate that He was Master of time?
3. About how long was the silence between the two Testaments? How do you think that those who loved God felt during this prophetic drought?
4. How do you think godly people felt when the voice of a prophet was once again heard in Israel? How about when they realized that the promised Messiah had come? Is that why Paul called it the fullness of time?
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