Introduction
Galatians 4:4 says that Jesus came
"in the fullness of the time." All the plans of God through the ages now were revealed and fulfilled. It was the right time and place in the world, just as God foretold in details in the Old Testament.God established a physical lineage in the children of Abraham through Isaac and Jacob that would produce the promised one. That lineage was nurtured and developed through the Old Testament period with a law and prophets. This not only gave them unity as a nation, a means of worship toward God, identity as a people, but also taught them many things about the coming Christ and the new covenant.
Passages such as Daniel 2, speaking of the dream that Daniel interpreted, tell us the time when these things would occur.
"The days of these kings" evidently refers to the time of the Roman Empire. This would be the best time in history to accomplish what God wanted to happen with Jesus and the gospel Yet, there were other factors that made it prime time.1. Fleeing to Egypt at the close of the Roman civil war in late 48 B.C., Pompey was killed by assassins of thirteen year old Ptolemy XIII, brother of Cleopatra. Julius Caesar rushed to Egypt early in e7 B.C. to gain control and quickly found himself besieged by Egyptian forces fired by nationalism Caesar sent word to the Syrian commander to send reinforcements. Antipater, father of Herod the Great, was the Roman Procurator of Judea. He dispatched Jewish forces to rescue Caesar. In gratitude, Caesar instituted a favored status for the Jews that, with a few localized exceptions, continued well into the first century A.D. This allowed the Jews to build their synagogues, openly worship as they pleased, engage in business throughout the empire, and even hold government offices and have favored status in Rome. This contributed greatly to conditions in Palestine and to the free travel and work of the apostles and evangelists in the middle of the century.
2. Octavian (Augustus), the eventual successor to Caesar, established a golden age for the empire. He swept the seas of pirates, the lands from brigands and built an extensive road system. Travel was comparatively safe and simple, understanding their modes of transportation. The empire was prosperous, commerce was free and open, arts, music and poetry flourished along with an openness to ideas. The policies of Augustus were continued by Tiberius, who was the emperor during the personal ministry of Jesus and the early days of gospel preaching. With minor disruptions, the favorable conditions continued to the first part of the reign of Nero.
3. Though each nation had its own language, Greek was international, common throughout the empire. This made the spread of the gospel much simpler.
4. Conditions among the Jews were right for the coming of Jesus, though not because of a superior spirituality among the Jews. Out of a wicked heart, the Jews reacted in such a way as to carry out God's wishes. Though great multitudes listened to Jesus through much of his public ministry, most of them "went back and walked with him no more" as implied in no more than "above" 500 of I Corinthians 15:6 and the 120 of Acts 1:15 just before Pentecost. The number of disciples had dropped considerably, especially because of the crucifixion. Leaders among the politicians and priests who crucified Jesus were wicked and self-serving. Their actions were expected and predicted in scripture.
Conditions and the time were right for the message of the gospel.
