"Who is this Jesus?"- God sent Son to redeem those/His people under the law
“Who is this Jesus” - God sent Son to redeem those/His people under the law
Until the age of twelve, a Jewish boy was under the direct and absolute control of his father. But at the bar mitzvah, observed on the first Sabbath after his twelfth birthday, the boy’s father would pray, “Blessed be thou O God who hath taken from me the responsibility of this boy,” and the boy would pray, “O my God and God of my father, on this solemn and sacred day which marks my passage from boyhood to manhood, I humbly raise my eyes unto Thee and declare with sincerity and truth that henceforth I will keep Thy commandments and undertake to bear the responsibility of my actions toward Thee.”
The fulness of time refers to the completion of the period of preparation in God’s sovereign timetable of redemption. When the law had fully accomplished its purpose of showing man his utter sinfulness and inability to live up to God’s perfect standard of righteousness, God ushered in a new era of redemption
The birth of Jesus is the grandest light of history, the sun in the heavens of all time. It is the polestar of human destiny, the hinge of chronology, the meeting place of the waters of the past and the future. Why did it happen just at that moment? Assuredly it was so predicted. There were prophecies, many which pointed exactly to that hour. He came at the hour that God had determined. The infinite Lord appoints the date of every event; all times are in His hand. There are no loose threads in the providence of God. No stitches are dropped; no events are left to chance. The great clock of the universe keeps good time, and the whole machinery of providence moves with unerring punctuality. It was to be expected that the greatest of all events should be most accurately and wisely timed, and so it was. God willed it to be when and where it was, and that will is to us the ultimate reason.
He had to be fully God in order for His sacrifice to have the infinite worth necessary to atone for the sin of mankind. He also had to be fully man in order to represent mankind and take the penalty of sin upon Himself in man’s behalf
Christ entered a world into which God had placed the law in preparation for that very “fullness of time” that was realized by his birth. The fullness of his coming awaited the cross, however, so Jesus too was under the law and its regulations. Yet though he was under the law and the finite elements of the world, he was the lone human being not enslaved by sin. He was the true seed of Abraham, fulfilling the Abrahamic promises and providing redemption, the subject of verse 5.
A born of a woman
B born under the law
B′ to redeem those under the law
A′ that we might receive adoption to sonship
God confirms believers as His adopted sons through the gift of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of His Son. They not only have the knowledge of sonship through the truth of God’s Word in their minds but the very essence of sonship through His indwelling Spirit in their hearts. A human father cannot give his own nature to an adopted child, but God can and does by sending His Holy Spirit to dwell within the hearts of believers.
Some of you spend Christmas day surrounded by your families. Possibly you have a large family—ten or twelve are at home on that day, with a grandchild or two. I will tell you what your greatest joy is on that day: it is to see the happiness of your children and to mark how they enjoy what you provide for them. They are only little children, some of them, creeping about on the floor, but they please you because they are so pleased themselves. The crow of a little child delights your heart, for it gives us joy to behold joy in those we love.
Suppose your sons and daughters all come marching in on Christmas day in a very gloomy state of mind—cold, loveless, joyless. Suppose they do not enjoy anything, but grumble at you and at one another. You would be quite sad and wish the day to be soon over and never come again for the next seven years. Thus, in an illustration, we see that our heavenly Father delights in the delight of His children and is glad to see them grateful and happy, and acting as children should do toward such a Parent.
All God’s sons are, in a certain sense, His servants, but there is a sense in which servants are not sons. We, therefore, are not like those servants who have no relationship to their master and no share in his possessions; we are sons. Whatever service we render, we are still sons, and we have a share in all that our Father has. We are heirs, “heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ” (Rom 8:17). Are you living up to your privileges? Are any of us fully realizing what this heirship means? Do we not often live as if we were only servants toiling for hire? Do we not tremble at God as if we were His slaves rather than His sons? Let us remember that we are God’s sons, His heirs. Let us come close to Him. Let us take possession of the blessed inheritance that He has provided for us.