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

The scope of divine sovereignty
At Christmas we rightly celebrate the coming of the Lord into human history for the salvation of the world. The Babe in the manger of Bethlehem was God-become-flesh, the Word and Son of God incarnate for the redemption of God’s people and the restoration of all things. All our Christmas carols and celebrations rightly focus on Jesus and the wonder, mystery, grace, and glory of the Incarnation of Christ.

But in the radiant glow of that magnificent birth it can be easy to lose sight of the larger picture of God’s sovereignty. The sovereign power and goodness of God are not limited merely to the work Jesus came to do of saving our souls. God is sovereign not only in our redemption, as the events of Christmas make clear, but also in everything else. All the affairs of men and nations, creation and culture, the cosmos and world outside our front doors – everythingis subject to and dependent on the sovereign wisdom, grace, goodness, and power of God.

And Christmas provides an opportunity to survey the field of divine sovereignty and thus, hopefully, to appreciate with even greater wonder and conviction the miracle of the Incarnation and its implications for the world.

In what sense “full”?
Paul wrote that Jesus was born in “the fullness of the time.” We do well to ponder the meaning of that phrase. In what sense had “time” arrived at its “fullness” in that Bethlehem manger? In answering this question we can gain a better understanding of the sovereignty of God over time and history.

Let’s note, first of all, the “fullness” of divine revelation. It had been 400 years since God last spoke to His people through the mouth of a prophet. The words of Malachi end with the promise of Elijah’s coming to herald “the great and awesome day of the LORD” (Mal. 4.5). After that, silence. The revelation of God was complete, as far as God determined to bring it to that point. The prophecies of Christ and His Kingdom – scores of them – were in place. Now all that was necessary was to wait.

But why 400 years? We recall that Israel was captive in Egypt for 400 years before God sent His redeemer, Moses, to deliver them from captivity into the freedom of His promises (Gen. 15.13). In the same way, the coming of Jesus at the end of 400 years of silence filled up the timing of God, and signaled the resumption of His work of redemption on behalf of His people. Those like Zechariah, Simeon, and others who were waiting for the redemption of Israel (Lk. 2.25) would not have failed to note the significance of God’s timing.

Lord over history
But God was not inactive during this period of silence. Indeed, He was preparing the world in significant ways for the coming of Christ and His Kingdom. The Roman Empire, as it turned out, was the perfect political institution for God’s purposes. As the Lord used John the Baptist to prepare the way for the coming of Christ, so He used the Roman Empire to prepare the world for the arrival and rapid expansion of the Kingdom of our Lord.

Consider: Roman roads were a protected transportation network from Egypt to France, allowing ease of movement the world had never known before – perfect for itinerating evangelists to travel quickly and safely from place to place. In addition, since the days of Alexander the Great, one could travel from Persia to Britain and, if he spoke Greek, he could be understood and his written words quickly copied and shared. The Jewish diaspora, accomplished some 60 years before the birth of Christ, established Jewish communities throughout the Empire, and with them, the idea of one God Who speaks through prophets and encodes His Word in books. The centurions we meet in Luke 7 and Acts 10 were representative of many who had become “friends of God” by their association with Jewish synagogues throughout the Empire.

Add to all this the Roman Peace, which sustained a settled political environment, Roman law and order throughout the Empire, relative freedom of religion everywhere within Rome’s jurisdiction, and the fact that the vast majority of the population of the Roman world were either poor or slaves – thus, a people eager for some hope of a better life – and you have just the right conditions for the coming of Christ and His Kingdom. You have, indeed, the “fullness of time.”

The God Who became a Man in human history is also the Lord Who rules all of history according to His good, wise, and sovereign purposes. As Jesus slept in heavenly peace in that manger in Bethlehem, safe in the sovereign care of His Father, so we may rest in the sovereignty of God, Who works all things in His way and time, according to the counsel of His will, and for the good of those Christ came to save (Eph. 1.11; Rom. 8.28).

Next Steps: What would you point to in our world as evidence of the sovereignty of God? Talk with some Christian friends about this question.

T. M. Moore

We’re taking a 3-week intermission from our series on The Disciplined Life to review three archive series on the meaning of Christmas. This week’s study, The Sovereignty of God in Christmas, is part 3 of a 3-part series on Christmas, As Advertised, and is available as a free download.

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.