The Fullness of the Time - Part Two Dec 13, 2020 by: John Herbert | Series: The Fullness of the Time Audio Study Notes PDF https://s3.amazonaws.com/cornerstonejax/sermonfiles/T037_20201213.mp3 Refresh A Recap from the Sermon Isa 9:6 For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given……… We will continue to look at events surrounding the Lord's first advent. The full text of this message can be found by clicking the PDF button. Sunday December 13th 2020 The Fullness of the Time Part Two 1). Ga 4:4 But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law……… Isa 9:6 For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given……… Paul in his letter to the ‘church’ in Galatia, made a distinction between that which is of the law and that which is of promise though faith – Ga 3:22 But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. 23 But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. 24 Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25 But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. 26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. And we can also see from Galatians that the law was instituted for a specific purpose, within a specific timeframe – Ga 3:19 ¶ What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator. And we see from Galatians 3:22, that ‘the promise by faith in Jesus Christ’ is for ‘those who believe’, those who would have faith. And clearly ‘those who believe’, who would have faith, in this context is not referencing believing on the Lord Jesus Christ for eternal salvation but is speaking of those who have faith to the saving of the soul; those who would be recipients of the promise, made manifest in Christ, the ‘Seed’. a). And with regards to the promise and the law this is what we see a few verses earlier in Chapter 3 – Ga 3:17 And this I say, that the law, which was four hundred and thirty years later, cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ, that it should make the promise of no effect.18 For if the inheritance is of the law, it is no longer of promise; but God gave it to Abraham by promise. The promise that was given to Abraham can only be realized through faith – and this promise existed 430 years before the law. A promise that has to do with rulership in both realms of God’s Kingdom, the heavens and the earth. A promise given exclusively to Abraham and his descendants – Ge 22:15 ¶ Then the Angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, 16 and said: "By Myself I have sworn, says the LORD, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son - 17 "blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. 18 "In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice." And we can find commentary on this promise in - Ro 4:13 For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. 14 For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect, 15 because the law brings about wrath; for where there is no law there is no transgression.16 Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all………. And there is more commentary still, recorded in - Heb 6:13 For when God made a promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, 14 saying, "Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you." 15 And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. 16 For men indeed swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation is for them an end of all dispute. 17 Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath, 18 that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us. So then, the promise is to the seed of Abraham alone, and the seed of Abraham is recognized in 2 distinct groups – firstly the seed are the physical descendants of Abraham through Isaac and Jacob and Jacob’s 12 sons, the nation of Israel. And then there is Abraham’s spiritual seed through faith – those who believe God’s promise just as believing Abraham did, and have consequently fled to lay hold of the hope set before them - Ga 3:8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, "In you all the nations shall be blessed." 9 So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham. Now we also know this from Galatians Chapter 3 - Ga 3:16 Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, "And to seeds," as of many, but as of one, "And to your Seed," who is Christ. Christ is THE Seed of Abraham. He is the physical descendant of Abraham through Isaac and Jacob by birth and the spiritual descendant of Abraham through the promise. Now, the fact that Christ is described here as Abraham’s Seed in the singular does not negate that which we just read concerning Abraham’s seed in the plural, rather we realize from this that the promise given to Abraham was always to be manifested in and through the Christ and the coming of His Kingdom - 29 And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. And it is the promise fulfilled in Christ as the heir of all things, which is at the heart of that which we see recorded in - Ps 2:5 Then He shall speak to them in His wrath, And distress them in His deep displeasure: 6 "Yet I have set My King On My holy hill of Zion." 7 ¶ "I will declare the decree: The LORD has said to Me, 'You are My Son, Today [for this day] I have begotten You. 8 Ask of Me, and I will give You The nations for Your inheritance, And the ends of the earth for Your possession. 9 You shall break them with a rod of iron; You shall dash them to pieces like a potter's vessel.'" As we see in Psalm 2, rulership is given to the Son in the 7th Day. And we also see that it was for this Day, the 7th Day, that the Christ was begotten. The birth of Jesus cannot be separated from its purpose. b). And we have seen the importance God attaches to the 7th Day in our previous studies – Ge 2:1 ¶ Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. 2 And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made. And with rulership in the 7th Day in view, we also have, in foundation, the promise of the coming of Christ, the Seed in whom the promise to Abraham would be fulfilled – Ge 3:15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel." Christ is both the Seed of the Woman and the Seed of Abraham. And Christ is the embodiment of the promise – and the promise embodied in Christ can only be realized by the physical and spiritual seed of Abraham through Christ, by faith. c). Simply put then the Seed of the Woman who would bruise the head of the serpent, as we saw last time, could only come through the lineage of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, being the Seed to whom the promise was given. d). As both the Seed of the Woman and the Seed of Abraham, the Lord Jesus Christ is the heir of the world, looking to that Day when the present system of rulership in the heavens and Gentile world power on the earth will be overthrown. And in that Day, Jesus, with His brethren according to the flesh, the physical descendants of Abraham on the earth, and His Wife, the spiritual descendants of Abraham, through faith, in the heavens, will rule the nations with a rod of iron. e). The Lord Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the Law, the manifestation of the promise and the living hope guaranteeing the redemption of the inheritance and rulership in that future Day – 1Pe 1:3 ¶ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, 5 who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 2). Ga 3:29 And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. 4:1 ¶ Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is master of all, 2 but is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father. 3 Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. 4 But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under law, 5 to redeem those who were under law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, "Abba, Father!" 7 Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. So, according to the last verse of Galatians Chapter 3, those who are Christ’s through faith are Abraham’s seed, and as Abraham’s seed they are heirs with him, heirs of the world, according to the same promise. a). The beginning of Chapter 4 continues to deal with the heirs from Chapter 3 – v1 tells us that the one who is an heir, although he will inherit all things, does not differ in legal standing from a slave all the while the heir is a child – the Greek word translated ‘child’ here is a compound word that literally means one who is unable to speak, in other words a child in its immaturity. b). Such a child even though an heir, because of his immaturity, must be placed under guardians and stewards, one of whom looks after the child’s personal growth and the other the child’s property – and this is done until a specific time set by the child’s father, when the child will make the transition from his minority to his majority. c). And this role as guardian/steward, as we have seen, was the function of the Law given through Moses with respect to the physical descendants of Abraham through Isaac and Jacob, who we would have to see in spiritual immaturity – 24 Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25 But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. 26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. At the Lord’s first advent, the specific time set by the Father, the physical descendants of Abraham, should through faith, have moved from immaturity to maturity having received their King and the Kingdom He offered. This, as we know, was not the case. d). However, that accomplished through Christ’s first advent moved beyond just Abraham’s physical descendants, to those who would be his spiritual descendants - 3 Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. The word ‘we’ is an inclusive personal pronoun that encompasses Paul, eternally saved Jews following the close of the reoffer of the Kingdom and eternally saved Gentiles. Beyond the end of the reoffer, both Jew and Gentile all would become one in Christ Jesus through the free gift and would be sons of God through creation - 2Co 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. And those having become sons through creation, would then be subject to the child training of the Lord to bring them from spiritual immaturity to spiritual maturity, thereby enabling them to receive the inheritance held ‘in trust’ for them. e). And this process, foreshadowed in Genesis Chapter 1, began to be fulfilled at the precise time determined by the Father - 4 But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under law, 5 to redeem those who were under law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. ‘When the fullness of the time had come’ – At the precise moment that God the Father had determined, to the very second, He sent forth His Son that law should give way to faith and those in their immaturity could be received as sons and then grow up to spiritual maturity with a view to their future adoption, literally ‘son placing’, as a firstborn son in that coming Day. f). And we see that God’s Son was ‘born of a woman’ – He experienced the process of childbirth to be born as a Jewish Man, being in His incarnation the Son of man and at the same time the Son of God. g). And all that He did at His first advent He did as the Son of man, through the power of the Holy Spirit, not as the Son of God; being subject to the Law of Moses and being ‘a little lower than the angels’ in order to accomplish His purpose. h). And all that was accomplished by the Lord at His first advent in these circumstances was for that purpose, rulership in the 7th Day. i). Rulership with His brothers according to the flesh, the physical descendants of Abraham, redeemed and restored on the earth, having been redeemed from the law. And rulership with His coheirs, the spiritual descendants of Abraham through faith, in the image and likeness of God in the heavens, having been redeemed from the bondage of the elements of the world. All in fulfillment of the promise given to Abraham. j). And the sending forth of God’s Son when the fullness of the time had come for the purpose of redemption leading to rulership in the 7th Day, is exactly what we had seen earlier in Psalm 2. A coming Day that fits into a specific timeframe - 2Pe 3:8 ¶ But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. A coming Day confirmed by he Lord on the day of His resurrection – Lu 24:25 Then He said to them, "O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! 26 "Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?" 27 And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. 3). ‘When the fullness of the time had come God sent forth His Son’ - This was not a random event but a specific and exact moment within the course of human history that had been predetermined in the eternal council chambers of God before time began and recorded in the Scriptures for all to see - Da 9:24 "Seventy weeks are determined For your people and for your holy city, To finish the transgression, To make an end of sins, To make reconciliation for iniquity, To bring in everlasting righteousness, To seal up vision and prophecy, And to anoint the Most Holy. 25 "Know therefore and understand, That from the going forth of the command To restore and build Jerusalem Until Messiah the Prince, There shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; The street shall be built again, and the wall, Even in troublesome times. 26 "And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself; And the people of the prince who is to come Shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall be with a flood, And till the end of the war desolations are determined. From the beginning God had promised the coming of the Seed of the Woman and then in Daniel the precise time of His coming is given. a). And the focus for this event, before the Lord ever inhabited the womb of the virgin, is the 7th Day, the Millennial Kingdom. ‘God sent forth His Son….that we might receive the adoption as sons’ – a clear reference to events at and beyond the Judgment Seat. b). We see then once again, a direct connection between the birth of God’s Son and our own future adoption as firstborn sons – Christ’s birth, as part of the plans and purposes of God with regards to rulership over the earth, made our adoption as firstborn sons, and all that goes along with that, an attainable goal through faith. c). The scripture is unequivocal – Christ was ‘begotten’, He went through the process of a natural birth, for the purpose of realizing His inheritance in the age to come – He was born for that very purpose – Jn 18:36 Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here."37 Pilate therefore said to Him, "Are You a king then?" Jesus answered, "You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice." His life, His death, His resurrection and His ascension, thereby becoming our High Priest, are all with a view to the 7th Day, and it is only in the realization of the 7th Day that these events find their full significance. 4). We find this recorded in the Book of - De 18:18 'I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him. 19 'And it shall be that whoever will not hear My words, which He speaks in My name, I will require it of him. Keeping this in mind let’s remember the last words recorded in the Book of Malachi and the first words spoken prior to the birth of Messiah, the first words spoken when the fullness of the time had come – Mal 4:4 ¶ "Remember the Law of Moses, My servant, Which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel, With the statutes and judgments. 5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet Before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD. 6 And he will turn The hearts of the fathers to the children, And the hearts of the children to their fathers, Lest I come and strike the earth with a curse." Lu 1:13 But the angel said to him, "Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard; and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. 14 "And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth.15 "For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb. 16 "And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. 17 "He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, 'to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,' and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord." That which Malachi had prophesied began to be fulfilled when the fullness of the time had come. And it began to be spoken to Zacharias whose name means ‘God remembers’ and would be proclaimed through a child born to Elizabeth whose name means ‘God of the oath’. a). And so, before Messiah is born it is already implicit that the events about to transpire over the approximate 33 years that would follow, were to declare and make possible the fulfillment of the promise to the Seed of Abraham in the coming 7th Day – Christ Himself being the promised Prophet like Moses who is to be heard with respect to this - Heb 1:1 ¶ God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, 2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, Mt 17:5 While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud, saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!" But we will need to pick this up again next time – if the Lord is willing. The Fullness of the Time - Part Two Dec 13, 2020 Speaker: John Herbert Series: The Fullness of the Time Category: Sunday Morning https://s3.amazonaws.com/cornerstonejax/sermonfiles/T037_20201213.mp3 Download Audio x
Refresh A Recap from the Sermon Isa 9:6 For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given……… We will continue to look at events surrounding the Lord's first advent. The full text of this message can be found by clicking the PDF button. Sunday December 13th 2020 The Fullness of the Time Part Two 1). Ga 4:4 But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law……… Isa 9:6 For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given……… Paul in his letter to the ‘church’ in Galatia, made a distinction between that which is of the law and that which is of promise though faith – Ga 3:22 But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. 23 But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. 24 Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25 But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. 26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. And we can also see from Galatians that the law was instituted for a specific purpose, within a specific timeframe – Ga 3:19 ¶ What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator. And we see from Galatians 3:22, that ‘the promise by faith in Jesus Christ’ is for ‘those who believe’, those who would have faith. And clearly ‘those who believe’, who would have faith, in this context is not referencing believing on the Lord Jesus Christ for eternal salvation but is speaking of those who have faith to the saving of the soul; those who would be recipients of the promise, made manifest in Christ, the ‘Seed’. a). And with regards to the promise and the law this is what we see a few verses earlier in Chapter 3 – Ga 3:17 And this I say, that the law, which was four hundred and thirty years later, cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ, that it should make the promise of no effect.18 For if the inheritance is of the law, it is no longer of promise; but God gave it to Abraham by promise. The promise that was given to Abraham can only be realized through faith – and this promise existed 430 years before the law. A promise that has to do with rulership in both realms of God’s Kingdom, the heavens and the earth. A promise given exclusively to Abraham and his descendants – Ge 22:15 ¶ Then the Angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, 16 and said: "By Myself I have sworn, says the LORD, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son - 17 "blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. 18 "In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice." And we can find commentary on this promise in - Ro 4:13 For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. 14 For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect, 15 because the law brings about wrath; for where there is no law there is no transgression.16 Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all………. And there is more commentary still, recorded in - Heb 6:13 For when God made a promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, 14 saying, "Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you." 15 And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. 16 For men indeed swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation is for them an end of all dispute. 17 Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath, 18 that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us. So then, the promise is to the seed of Abraham alone, and the seed of Abraham is recognized in 2 distinct groups – firstly the seed are the physical descendants of Abraham through Isaac and Jacob and Jacob’s 12 sons, the nation of Israel. And then there is Abraham’s spiritual seed through faith – those who believe God’s promise just as believing Abraham did, and have consequently fled to lay hold of the hope set before them - Ga 3:8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, "In you all the nations shall be blessed." 9 So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham. Now we also know this from Galatians Chapter 3 - Ga 3:16 Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, "And to seeds," as of many, but as of one, "And to your Seed," who is Christ. Christ is THE Seed of Abraham. He is the physical descendant of Abraham through Isaac and Jacob by birth and the spiritual descendant of Abraham through the promise. Now, the fact that Christ is described here as Abraham’s Seed in the singular does not negate that which we just read concerning Abraham’s seed in the plural, rather we realize from this that the promise given to Abraham was always to be manifested in and through the Christ and the coming of His Kingdom - 29 And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. And it is the promise fulfilled in Christ as the heir of all things, which is at the heart of that which we see recorded in - Ps 2:5 Then He shall speak to them in His wrath, And distress them in His deep displeasure: 6 "Yet I have set My King On My holy hill of Zion." 7 ¶ "I will declare the decree: The LORD has said to Me, 'You are My Son, Today [for this day] I have begotten You. 8 Ask of Me, and I will give You The nations for Your inheritance, And the ends of the earth for Your possession. 9 You shall break them with a rod of iron; You shall dash them to pieces like a potter's vessel.'" As we see in Psalm 2, rulership is given to the Son in the 7th Day. And we also see that it was for this Day, the 7th Day, that the Christ was begotten. The birth of Jesus cannot be separated from its purpose. b). And we have seen the importance God attaches to the 7th Day in our previous studies – Ge 2:1 ¶ Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. 2 And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made. And with rulership in the 7th Day in view, we also have, in foundation, the promise of the coming of Christ, the Seed in whom the promise to Abraham would be fulfilled – Ge 3:15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel." Christ is both the Seed of the Woman and the Seed of Abraham. And Christ is the embodiment of the promise – and the promise embodied in Christ can only be realized by the physical and spiritual seed of Abraham through Christ, by faith. c). Simply put then the Seed of the Woman who would bruise the head of the serpent, as we saw last time, could only come through the lineage of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, being the Seed to whom the promise was given. d). As both the Seed of the Woman and the Seed of Abraham, the Lord Jesus Christ is the heir of the world, looking to that Day when the present system of rulership in the heavens and Gentile world power on the earth will be overthrown. And in that Day, Jesus, with His brethren according to the flesh, the physical descendants of Abraham on the earth, and His Wife, the spiritual descendants of Abraham, through faith, in the heavens, will rule the nations with a rod of iron. e). The Lord Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the Law, the manifestation of the promise and the living hope guaranteeing the redemption of the inheritance and rulership in that future Day – 1Pe 1:3 ¶ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, 5 who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 2). Ga 3:29 And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. 4:1 ¶ Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is master of all, 2 but is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father. 3 Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. 4 But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under law, 5 to redeem those who were under law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, "Abba, Father!" 7 Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. So, according to the last verse of Galatians Chapter 3, those who are Christ’s through faith are Abraham’s seed, and as Abraham’s seed they are heirs with him, heirs of the world, according to the same promise. a). The beginning of Chapter 4 continues to deal with the heirs from Chapter 3 – v1 tells us that the one who is an heir, although he will inherit all things, does not differ in legal standing from a slave all the while the heir is a child – the Greek word translated ‘child’ here is a compound word that literally means one who is unable to speak, in other words a child in its immaturity. b). Such a child even though an heir, because of his immaturity, must be placed under guardians and stewards, one of whom looks after the child’s personal growth and the other the child’s property – and this is done until a specific time set by the child’s father, when the child will make the transition from his minority to his majority. c). And this role as guardian/steward, as we have seen, was the function of the Law given through Moses with respect to the physical descendants of Abraham through Isaac and Jacob, who we would have to see in spiritual immaturity – 24 Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25 But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. 26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. At the Lord’s first advent, the specific time set by the Father, the physical descendants of Abraham, should through faith, have moved from immaturity to maturity having received their King and the Kingdom He offered. This, as we know, was not the case. d). However, that accomplished through Christ’s first advent moved beyond just Abraham’s physical descendants, to those who would be his spiritual descendants - 3 Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. The word ‘we’ is an inclusive personal pronoun that encompasses Paul, eternally saved Jews following the close of the reoffer of the Kingdom and eternally saved Gentiles. Beyond the end of the reoffer, both Jew and Gentile all would become one in Christ Jesus through the free gift and would be sons of God through creation - 2Co 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. And those having become sons through creation, would then be subject to the child training of the Lord to bring them from spiritual immaturity to spiritual maturity, thereby enabling them to receive the inheritance held ‘in trust’ for them. e). And this process, foreshadowed in Genesis Chapter 1, began to be fulfilled at the precise time determined by the Father - 4 But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under law, 5 to redeem those who were under law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. ‘When the fullness of the time had come’ – At the precise moment that God the Father had determined, to the very second, He sent forth His Son that law should give way to faith and those in their immaturity could be received as sons and then grow up to spiritual maturity with a view to their future adoption, literally ‘son placing’, as a firstborn son in that coming Day. f). And we see that God’s Son was ‘born of a woman’ – He experienced the process of childbirth to be born as a Jewish Man, being in His incarnation the Son of man and at the same time the Son of God. g). And all that He did at His first advent He did as the Son of man, through the power of the Holy Spirit, not as the Son of God; being subject to the Law of Moses and being ‘a little lower than the angels’ in order to accomplish His purpose. h). And all that was accomplished by the Lord at His first advent in these circumstances was for that purpose, rulership in the 7th Day. i). Rulership with His brothers according to the flesh, the physical descendants of Abraham, redeemed and restored on the earth, having been redeemed from the law. And rulership with His coheirs, the spiritual descendants of Abraham through faith, in the image and likeness of God in the heavens, having been redeemed from the bondage of the elements of the world. All in fulfillment of the promise given to Abraham. j). And the sending forth of God’s Son when the fullness of the time had come for the purpose of redemption leading to rulership in the 7th Day, is exactly what we had seen earlier in Psalm 2. A coming Day that fits into a specific timeframe - 2Pe 3:8 ¶ But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. A coming Day confirmed by he Lord on the day of His resurrection – Lu 24:25 Then He said to them, "O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! 26 "Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?" 27 And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. 3). ‘When the fullness of the time had come God sent forth His Son’ - This was not a random event but a specific and exact moment within the course of human history that had been predetermined in the eternal council chambers of God before time began and recorded in the Scriptures for all to see - Da 9:24 "Seventy weeks are determined For your people and for your holy city, To finish the transgression, To make an end of sins, To make reconciliation for iniquity, To bring in everlasting righteousness, To seal up vision and prophecy, And to anoint the Most Holy. 25 "Know therefore and understand, That from the going forth of the command To restore and build Jerusalem Until Messiah the Prince, There shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; The street shall be built again, and the wall, Even in troublesome times. 26 "And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself; And the people of the prince who is to come Shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall be with a flood, And till the end of the war desolations are determined. From the beginning God had promised the coming of the Seed of the Woman and then in Daniel the precise time of His coming is given. a). And the focus for this event, before the Lord ever inhabited the womb of the virgin, is the 7th Day, the Millennial Kingdom. ‘God sent forth His Son….that we might receive the adoption as sons’ – a clear reference to events at and beyond the Judgment Seat. b). We see then once again, a direct connection between the birth of God’s Son and our own future adoption as firstborn sons – Christ’s birth, as part of the plans and purposes of God with regards to rulership over the earth, made our adoption as firstborn sons, and all that goes along with that, an attainable goal through faith. c). The scripture is unequivocal – Christ was ‘begotten’, He went through the process of a natural birth, for the purpose of realizing His inheritance in the age to come – He was born for that very purpose – Jn 18:36 Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here."37 Pilate therefore said to Him, "Are You a king then?" Jesus answered, "You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice." His life, His death, His resurrection and His ascension, thereby becoming our High Priest, are all with a view to the 7th Day, and it is only in the realization of the 7th Day that these events find their full significance. 4). We find this recorded in the Book of - De 18:18 'I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him. 19 'And it shall be that whoever will not hear My words, which He speaks in My name, I will require it of him. Keeping this in mind let’s remember the last words recorded in the Book of Malachi and the first words spoken prior to the birth of Messiah, the first words spoken when the fullness of the time had come – Mal 4:4 ¶ "Remember the Law of Moses, My servant, Which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel, With the statutes and judgments. 5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet Before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD. 6 And he will turn The hearts of the fathers to the children, And the hearts of the children to their fathers, Lest I come and strike the earth with a curse." Lu 1:13 But the angel said to him, "Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard; and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. 14 "And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth.15 "For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb. 16 "And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. 17 "He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, 'to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,' and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord." That which Malachi had prophesied began to be fulfilled when the fullness of the time had come. And it began to be spoken to Zacharias whose name means ‘God remembers’ and would be proclaimed through a child born to Elizabeth whose name means ‘God of the oath’. a). And so, before Messiah is born it is already implicit that the events about to transpire over the approximate 33 years that would follow, were to declare and make possible the fulfillment of the promise to the Seed of Abraham in the coming 7th Day – Christ Himself being the promised Prophet like Moses who is to be heard with respect to this - Heb 1:1 ¶ God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, 2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, Mt 17:5 While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud, saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!" But we will need to pick this up again next time – if the Lord is willing.