Read
When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God. (Gal. 4:4–7)
Reflect
I mark time in my life based on when I met my wife, Kira. The first 27 years are the “pre-Kira” years—many of which were years of longing and waiting and wondering about the wife I hoped I’d one day have. The last 11 years are the “post-Kira” years—in which my relationship with her has shaped me and altered my life’s trajectory in all sorts of wonderful ways.
What changed in that hinge point of my personal history? What signaled a dramatic shift in the two halves of my life? The arrival of love: the initiation of a new union, a new covenant, a new family.
The arrival of Jesus in history also marks a hinge point. We literally divide time according to his arrival: BC before Christ’s birth, AD (anno Domini) after. History shifted course in dramatic fashion “when the fullness of time had come” (v. 4) and God sent forth his Son.
I’ve always loved the mysterious, lyrical phrase from today’s reading: “When the fullness of time had come.” How intriguing. Something about this particular point in time—the geopolitical dynamics of the Roman empire, the technological advances, the placement in Israel’s history—made it the “fullness of time” moment when the temporal needed to be punctured by the eternal and forever changed. And, like the “fullness of time” moment in my life, the breaking and restarting of time had to do with the entrance of a love that changed everything.
The breaking and restarting of time had to do with the entrance of a love that changed everything.
Sometimes I stop to reflect with deep gratitude on the arrival of Kira into my life and how our love in marriage has produced new life (spiritually, in terms of our growth, and physically, in the form of children). How much more miraculous, then, is the arrival of Jesus into the world—the moment when humans were given hope for new life through covenant union with him. He came not only to free us from sin but to invite us into his family. His arrival made it possible for slaves to become sons, debtors to become heirs, the lonely to be placed in families. His birth, death, and resurrection showed the world a love it had never seen before and invited alienated sinners into a Spirit-formed community marked by a love that would never fail (1 Cor. 13:8).
Everything truly did change because of Jesus’s arrival on the scene of history. It’s no wonder time restarted. It’s no wonder Christmas is the world’s most festive holiday. Or maybe it is a wonder—a magnificent and miraculous true story we should never tire of telling.
Respond
Reflect on the time-shifting arrival of love in the form of Jesus. Think about what the BC world was like before him, and what we now have in the AD time after his appearing. Pray and give thanks to God for the love, freedom, and rest we can now experience because of his Son.
Rejoice
Come, thou long expected Jesus
Born to set thy people free
From our fears and sins release us
Let us find our rest in thee
– Charles Wesley, “Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus”
The Gospel Coalition