Elaborate Preparation

Behold, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple; . . . behold, He is coming.
–Malachi 3:1

What makes Jesus an indescribable gift to us? Let’s look at three characteristics of this gift of Jesus Christ. First of all, this indescribable gift of God was preceded by elaborate preparation. Several Christmases ago, there was a lot of excitement at my sister’s home in East Texas. My niece is an accomplished pianist, and more than anything she wanted a baby grand piano for Christmas. So my sister took her to music stores all over East Texas, and they finally found the perfect baby grand piano. But a few days before Christmas, my sister broke the news to my niece that they could not afford that piano. My sister said, “We can afford a used upright piano, and one day, honey, we’ll get you that piano you want so much.” My niece was terribly disappointed, but what she did not know is that several days earlier, her parents had actually purchased that baby grand piano. The delivery truck arrived on Christmas morning while the family was away at breakfast. When they came back in the house, my niece saw that beautiful baby grand piano in the living room with a red ribbon around it. It was a gift with elaborate preparation, and it made that Christmas one my niece will never forget. But despite all my sister’s preparation, it pales in comparison to the elaborate preparation God made to give us Jesus Christ.

In Galatians 4:4, Paul said, “When the right time came, God sent his Son” (NLT). What made it the right time to send Jesus? Think about all of the preparation God went through for this special moment in history. First of all, it was the right time culturally for the coming of Christ. Not since the Tower of Babel had most people spoken a common language–that is, until Alexander the Great fashioned Koine Greek, the Greek of the common person. During this time, people were able to understand one another, and that made the propagation of the gospel so much easier.

It was not only the right time culturally, but it was also the right time politically for the coming of Christ. The Pax Romana, the Roman Peace, ruled the world, and part of the outgrowth of that peace was the development of an elaborate road system, kind of like our interstate highway system. The roads made travel easy and therefore made the spread of the gospel easy as well.

It was also the right time spiritually for the coming of Christ. Polytheism, the worship of many gods, had subsided and given way to a fascination with philosophy. As people became enamored with philosophy, they began once again looking at the Old Testament Scriptures. They became open to the idea that perhaps instead of many gods, there was just one God. Spiritually, the time was right for the coming of Christ.

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Today’s devotion is excerpted from “A Gift Beyond Description” by Dr. Robert Jeffress, 2010.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.lockman.org; Scripture quotation marked NLT taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.