God in Christmas: God & Time

Introduction

It is said, “Early is on time, on time is late, and late is unacceptable.” Have you ever heard that saying? Time can become an obsession. Time becomes almost tangible. We spend it in a similar way to spending money. And around Christmas time, there never seems to be enough time. The plan of God occurs in time and over time, even though God is outside of time. But, it can also feel as though he is not on time. Have you ever felt that way?

At one point in the Gospel of John, Jesus is told that his friend, Lazarus, is ill. Jesus arrives to see him several verses later. Lazarus’ sister, Mary, meets him when he arrives. She falls at her feet and sadly says,

John 11:32 ESV

Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

In other words, she says, Jesus, you were not in time. He died, and you were not here for it. Have you ever felt that way about Jesus? Have you felt that when it comes to time, Jesus was too late? Too late for what you were going through?

In Acts 1:7, Jesus says,

Acts 1:7 ESV

He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.

As we look today at Paul’s words to the Galatians, we see that God sent his son at the perfect time. While his timing at Christmas was perfect, God’s timing in our life is also, perfect. This Advent, we’re learning from a teaching by Dr. Jerry Sutton. We will learn about God’s Time, God’s Intention, God’s Capacity, and God’s Engagement. As we do, we will see God’s plan played out through history and manifested at Christmas. As God sends his son, Jesus Christ, as a baby at Christmas to rescue and redeem creation from sin and depravity.

Sutton reminds us that when Jesus says, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority,” “the two words depicting time are different. The first word, ‘times.’ refers to the unfolding of chronological time. The second word, “seasons,” refers to unique opportunities and unique moments in the unfolding of time. When Paul penned Galatians 4:4, he used the word for the unfolding of chronological time. ‘When the fullness or completion of time had fully arrived, God sent forth His Son.” In other words, Jesus came earth at just the right second in the span of history, and he came at just the right moment to rescue you and me from our sin. So, how is God’s timing perfect? I believe that Scripture provides three different points about how God’s timing is perfect.

Genesis 1:1-2 says,

Genesis 1:1–2 ESV

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

Before anything existed, God existed. One of the parts of creation that we might forget about or skip over is, God created time. The website, Gotquestions.com says, ““The bottom line is this: time began when God created the universe. Before that, God was simply existing.” Whereas before there was simply God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, suddenly there were days, hours, a progression from one point in Time to another point in Time.

God created time.

God’s timing can be difficult for us to understand. When my grandfather passed away, there was a race against time for my uncle to arrive. He lives a couple of hours away, and our family was concerned that my grandfather would pass away before he made it. Well, he made it, and then my grandfather lived another two weeks. During this time, several family members were scratching their heads. Why did it feel so pressing, why did he seem to be declining in a race against time, and then he rebounded to live on for several more weeks.

Timing can be a big factor throughout life. Why didn’t God move sooner, or later? Why didn’t he prevent this happening or that happening? Paul writes, in verse 4, “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law.” God doesn’t give us all the reasons for why he does what he does, nor does he give us all the reason why his timing is what it is. But this he does give us, his timing his perfect. And our time is really his time, as the Creator of time.

This also relates to how we use time, how we steward the time God has given us. Job 14:5 says,

Job 14:5 ESV

Since his days are determined, and the number of his months is with you, and you have appointed his limits that he cannot pass,

The Lord knows how long each of us will live as we bound by time. So the question is, how will we live, how will we steward, the finite amount of time? The first point scripture teaches about time is that God created time. It’s all his, and he has given us a certain amount of it.

God is not constrained by time.

One of the most well-known explanations of God and time comes from the author of the Chronicles of Narnia. C.S. Lewis writes, “There is therefore in reality no question of God’s at one point in time (the moment of creation) adapting the material history of this universe in advance to free acts which you or I are to perform at a later point in Time. To Him all the physical events and all the human acts are present in an eternal Now. The liberation of finite wills and the creation of the whole material history of the universe (related to the acts of those wills in all the necessary complexity) is to Him a single operation. In this sense God did not create the universe long ago but creates it at this minute—at every minute.” To say it more simply, God is outside of time. He sees the beginning, middle, and end without ever getting stuck in the middle of it. Isaiah 57:15 says,

Isaiah 57:15 ESV

For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.

God inhabits eternity. He reigns on his throne in heaven, above all creation. As God, he is not bound by time as we are.

In Psalm 90:2 Moses prays to God saying,

Psalm 90:2 ESV

Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

The second point that scripture teaches is that God is outside of time.

Do you ever finish a day feeling like you have a another day’s worth of work left to do? That feeling can transfer over to our faith. Is the Creator of the Universe too busy worrying about world hunger, adult trafficking, social justice, and world peace to worry about my needs? My concerns, my worries, my insecurities? Living outside of time means that God is not constrained by time as we are. Living outside of time means that God has plenty of time. Plenty of time to know our heart, to know our soul, to know exactly what we need, when we need it, for his honor and glory. The second point that scripture teaches us about God and time is that he is not constrained by time.

God’s timing is perfect.

Paul writes in Galatians 4:4-5,

Galatians 4:4–5 ESV

But 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.

What does this mean by, the fullness of time? Why did God choose this particular moment in time to send Jesus?

Phillip Ryken puts it like this, “Christ came when the world was ready for his coming...The Greeks had provided a common language and culture for sharing the gospel. Through the might of the Romans, there was safe transport for spreading the gospel. But most of all, sinners were ready to be released from their bondage. The Gentiles were tired of serving the old pagan gods. The Jews were weary of being held prisoner by the law they had tried (and failed) to keep for over a thousand years. So it was at just the right time—not a moment too soon, not a moment too late—that Christ came to make us God’s sons and daughters.” The Old Testament was completed. The roads of Rome could transport the message of Christ across the known world. The peace of Rome, called the Pax Romana, sped up communications as nations were not at war any longer. Well, not as much. The time has finally arrived. The fullness of time had come. But the arrival of Jesus, the arrival of the Messiah was not something that was unexpected. The Old Testament points toward a coming Messiah from its earliest portion.

Genesis 3:15 says,

Genesis 3:15 NIV

And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”

Since the fall of mankind, God planned to send his son who win victory over death and Satan. The son of woman who would die at the hands of men, but would ultimately defeat death and Satan to give life and hope for mankind.

H.H. Hobbs portrays it like this. “By the end of the final century B.C. a fog of spiritual despair had settled over the civilized world. Humankind had tried every means available for salvation, only to end in despair. When they had reached the end of their tether of self-efforts to find salvation, that was the fullness of the time.” And that was the time Christ would for an everlasting victory over the grave. Perhaps that is you today. You’ve reached the end of your tether in trying to do it yourself. Perhaps you’ve never placed your faith in Christ. Or you believe in him, but still look to your own ways of trying to get through life. God sent his son to die at the perfect moment, at the perfect place, with the perfect mission. Similarly, God works on time, in time, every time for our time, even though he is never constrained by time.

As Jerry Sutton says,

“Only in the present does time touch eternity, so let’s live in such a way that our lives make a difference.”

Conclusion

God’s created time. God is not constrained by time, and God’s timing is perfect.

Mary had met Jesus when he arrived and tearfully cried out, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” John 11:43-44 gives us the conclusion to the story. It says,

John 11:43–44 ESV

When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

If Jesus had arrived earlier, he would not have shown his full power as the divine man. The one with power over death. The one who would later die and rise again.

F.B. Meyer puts it like this. He says, “God has his set times. It is not for us to know them. Indeed, we cannot know them. We must wait for them. If God told Abraham in Haran that he must wait for all those years until he pressed the promised child to his bosom, his heart would have failed him. So in gracious love, the length of the weary years was hidden. And only as they were nearly spent and there were only a few more months to wait, God told him, according to the time of life, “Sarah shall have a son.” If God told you on the front end how long you would wait to find the fulfillment of your desire or pleasure or ream, you’d lose heart. You’d grow weary in doing well. So would I . But He doesn’t. He just says, “Wait. I keep My word. I’m in no hurry. In the process of time I’m developing you to be ready for the promise.” How about you? Do you believe that God will keep his promise? At Christmas, we celebrate God’s greatest gift arriving. God keeping his covenantal promise. And God coming to earth to walk among us. Living the life we could not live. The plan of God can feel insufficient or too late, but his ways are not our ways. Therefore, let us live as those who live in God’s time, stewarding his time, and using the time he created to do his work.

God works on time, in time, every time for our time, even though he is never constrained by time.