"Fullness of Time"

May 10

Read: Ephesians 1, Mark 1:14,15

God and Time

“Fullness of Time”

“Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” (Mark 1:14,15)

“…according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.” (Eph. 1:9b,10)

God sent Jesus and his Kingdom into this world at just the right time… “when the time was full” … or “for the fullness of time”. There was no other better or more perfect time for Jesus to show up and for the Kingdom to burst forth into this world. Any earlier and the time would have been “empty”… but when Jesus shows up you know the time is full!

God understand what we need and WHEN we need it. His timing is perfect. This doesn’t seem like a God who is “outside of time” but rather one who is near and aware of what is happening here in his creation. It seems like God has a sense of time although- as we looked at yesterday - his experience of it is different than ours. It is an interesting idea to think of time being “full”. What is it “filled” with anyways? The same things hold true for us in our personal lives. There are all kinds of experiences, disappoints, successes and failures that our “filling up our time” until at JUST THE RIGHT MOMENT Jesus shows up and the Kingdom of God breaks into our personal lives… disrupting everything we thought we knew before! This is the “fullness of time” for each of us.

I believe God is paying attention to time and working all things out in his perfect timing. It seems as though there were things that needed to take place to “fill up” the time and make it the right moment for Jesus to come to earth. (cf. Eph. 1) Likewise, the Kingdom of God was not brought to this realm… there was no in-breaking of the Kingdom… until the time beforehand was “fulfilled”. (cf. Mark 1) There is breakthrough that God is planning to send to you at just the right time, but for now we wait until the time is “full”.

In the same fashion, God sent YOU into this world at just the right time. I have often wished I was born in a different era. (I think I would have loved being a cowboy… or a pirate… or an explorer with Lewis and Clark…lol) But I know that I was born EXACTLY when I was born, exactly where I was born, and into exactly the right family for God to work out his plan. The good and the bad… all of it… God factored in and he sent you when”the time was full”. Likewise, Jesus showed up for us each PERSONALLY at just the right time - a time when our hearts had been prepared our our spirit enabled to respond and receive the message of the gospel.

God’s experience of time may be different than ours, but he interacts with time atleast enough to identify and say when the time is “full” and right to send the Kingdom and the Son. You have been built “for such a time as this”. (cf. Esther 4:14) God is aware of what is going on. God is paying attention to what you need and when you need it. God makes no mistakes with his timing. Think back to the moment you first received Christ and the Holy Spirit. Reflect on all the work that God had done ahead of time to prepare you. He is working. He has been God for a long time… He knows what he is doing. He has not forgotten you. He has not given up. Sometimes the world is not ready for the blessing and rescue that he has sent… sometimes WE are not ready for the blessing, the rescue, the breakthrough. God waits until the time is “full”. God is “filling up our time” with those things which we need… which he desires for US… to make us into who we need to be… into who we are IN HIM. Love you guys! - JDP