The Days Were Completed

Happy Sunday, and merry Christmas. If you are a gift giver, you know how shopping has changed in your lifetime. When I was a kid, the Sears wish book was a big deal. It is no more. Malls came into existence, and people flocked to those; they seem to be dying.

Son of you will remember shopping at Service Merchandise. Through the years, stores have come and they have gone. In today's world, many do a lot of their shopping online. Amazon and others deliver packages to our neighborhood every day of the week.

As I was preparing this message, I was waiting on a delivery sometimes between 2:00 and 5:30, the notification said. You always wonder, will they be there in that window? I've no idea. Are you good at waiting for a package, in line, maybe waiting for someone to change for an appointment, maybe waiting for God to answer a prayer?

If you know your Bible, you know that the last book of the Old Testament is Malachi and the first book of the New Testament is Matthew. Did you know that there were 400 years of silence between Malachi and Matthew? You can research this topic and see that most agree that God was silent for all of that time, largely. 400 years without a word. Not one prophet was sent that we know of.

Now, if you were alive during those days, would you have wondered if God had just given up on his creation? After all, the Old Testament is largely a story about God sending messengers, prophets, to this world to point them towards God. And what happened? They were mostly ignored, sometimes killed.

We find these words in Jeremiah 29:19: "For they refused to listen to me, though I have spoken to them repeatedly through the prophets I sent. And you who are in exile have not listened either, says the Lord." Another word from Jeremiah, this time chapter 35:1 15: "Time after time I sent you prophets who told you, turn from your wicked ways and start doing things right. Stop worshiping other gods so that you might live in peace here in the land I have given to you and to your ancestors. But you would not listen to me or obey me."

2 Chronicles 24: 19 puts it this way: "Yet the Lord sent prophets to bring them back to him. The prophets warned them, but still the people would not listen." So after the Old Testament closes, again, there's 400 years of nothing. Let me repeat the question I posed earlier. If you were alive during those days between Malachi and Matthew, would you have wondered if God had given up on his creation?

Now, this has been a somewhat long introduction to a verse that jumped out at me this week from the Christmas story. It's found in Luke chapter 2. In that chapter, Mary and Joseph left Nazareth and went to Bethlehem for the census, and verse six is the verse that jumped out: "So it was that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered." That's it, verse six: "So it was that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered."

Those words jumped out at me: the days were completed. What day? Days. The days of pregnancy, 9 months? The days of silence, 400 years? What days? Maybe we should look at another section of scripture to answer that question.

Later on, look at Galatians 4: 4 and 5. I'll read it to you now. It says, "But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children." The word there, the fullness of time, in Galatians 4 reminds me of the words the days were completed in Luke chapter 2.

The truth is, this day that Jesus came was planned from the beginning of time. And if you believe that, and I hope that you do, I pray that you believe that he came for you. I am so thankful that do God did not give up on his cre ation. I'm amazed that instead he chose to step down into his creation and dwell among us. Remember John 1: "And the word became flesh and lived among us."

Why did he come? We just read these words from Galatians 4. Let me do it again: "But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children." That's why it came: to redeem those, us, who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children.

Merry Christmas, children of God. Today, I hope that you stop and reflect on why you are so blessed to have been adopted by your heavenly father. Was it your parents that showed you the way? A family member, a neighbor, a friend who helped bring you to the truth? Never take for granted the fullness of time includes you. Be thankful.

Pray with me. God, it's my prayer that my friends who are watching or listening today, they all know you. The fullness of time has included them, and because of that, you filled our lives with the great joy of your coming. Help us not to miss that. Help us to be the most thankful of all people, not just during this holiday season, but every day. Thank you for coming for us. In Jesus' name, amen.

God bless. Have a great week. I want to thank so many of you. A couple of times a year I mentioned that this ministry is a 501c3, and you can give to it, and it's tax deductible. Many of you do that as a year-end gift in December, and it really helps, and I truly appreciate it.

God bless you for doing that. Thanks so much. Merry Christmas.