The climatic highlight of most great stories is the appearance of the hero, along with his exploits that bring a resolution to the tension created by the storyline.
How do heroes make their appearance in most stories? The stereotypical method is seen by warriors like Napolean and Robert E. Lee, or the handsome prince from a far land – who show up on a white horse. Most heroes arrive at their zenith by virtue of political or military position, physical stature, wealthy breeding, or inherited titles of authority.
The manner and timing by which Jesus, The Hero of The Story, is brought into the drama is fascinating in scope, complexity and detail. The Old Testament hints of it as early as Genesis 3:15 … “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.”
Admittedly, that is pretty subtle! But there is nothing subtle about Isaiah 7:14… “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel” … or Micah 5:2… “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.”
It is not too much to say that the whole story of the Bible is about Jesus Christ and his accomplishments. I am sure many of you have heard the listing of the books of the Bible, wherein each is subtitled by the manner in which Jesus Christ is connected to the theme of that book. Jesus is the certainly the central character and the central unifying theme of the Scriptures and God’s Story. Any timeline of Biblical history invariably begins by drawing a line and putting a cross on the center of it.
If we consider the progressive revelation of God’s story from that timeline – moving forward from creation through Noah, Abraham, Genesis, and the national history of Israel – thousands of years pass, and it would seem that sin, darkness, death and ultimate despair will win in the end. But, as some translations write, Galatians 4:4 says, “In the fullness of time, God sent forth His Son.” The NIV says…
GAL 4:4 But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, 5 to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. 6 Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.
God’s timing is always perfect; and in the case of the coming of Christ is truly amazing. It was the perfect time, and God orchestrated various world events to stage the work of Jesus Christ and thereby facilitate the worldwide spread of the Gospel. There was the pax Romana – the Roman Peace… meaning that one empire ruled the entire civilized world in relative peace. There was a common trade language – Greek. The Romans had a system of roads and travel that facilitated the easy and rapid spread of the Gospel. The system of Jewish synagogues throughout the empire worked for the good of the dissemination of the message of Jesus’ work. All of this is what constitutes “the fullness of time.”
Yet in it all, the wonder of the incarnation is especially revealed in the picture we see of the humiliation of Jesus – to give up the glory of heaven, to step into human form, to submit to death, and therefore carry the sins of the world. Amazing! What a hero indeed!
Thank God for His intervention onto the stage of human history, for His supply, for His grace in allowing us to have the privileged position of knowing these things from our place – late on the timeline.
PHP 2:5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.:8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death–even death on a cross!