No Accident

It’s that time of year. You know, when sitting down for a minute brings a feeling of immediate guilt, because there is just so much to do. Shopping and social events loom ahead. Presents need wrapping and the house needs decorating. So much to do. So little time.

Yet it all miraculously gets done year after year. As I fall into bed the night before Christmas, I marvel at the fact every gift is wrapped and under the tree. Food is ready to be put in the oven. The house is aglow with white lights and greenery. After weeks of rushing and sweating the details, all preparations are finally complete. A well-appointed Christmas is no accident. (And on the day after Christmas, my sister and I call each other to express our relief and sing to each other, “It’s the most wonderful day of the year!”)

We aren’t the only ones who put thought into Christmas details. A myriad of things had been prepared and were just right for the Savior’s birth.

The world was ready. Until the Roman Empire, international travel had been difficult if not nearly impossible by land. Now a system of roads, guarded and maintained by the Roman army, existed to make travel safer and easier than ever before. This highway system would make it possible for a quick spread of the gospel in the years following the resurrection. In addition, a language barrier no longer existed in the Middle East. More than 300 years before the birth of Christ, Alexander the Great worked to establish Greek as a common tongue. Koine Greek had become the world’s common marketplace language. It would be in this language that the early church would be able to communicate its verbal and written message, able to be understood by both Jews and Gentiles in the surrounding nations. Finally, the political atmosphere was now stable. Augustus brought in a time of peace and prosperity, called “Pax Romana.”

The nation was ready. Israel detested Rome’s control over them. Ever anxious for self-rule once again, the Jews began to look intently for the Messiah to come and bring freedom at last. Furthermore, the Jewish people, chosen thousands of years earlier as God’s treasured possession and witness to the nations, served as custodians of God’s Word. The Old Testament they preserved revealed the coming Messiah in several hundred prophecies. The precise details of the Messiah’s lineage, place of birth, life, death, and even resurrection would ensure an easy identification by those who would witness His coming.

The people were ready. Four hundred years earlier, a remnant returned to Israel from Babylon to rebuild the Temple and re-inhabit the land. In the ensuing years, the people had gotten bogged down in Pharisaical Laws and tradition which stressed outward actions and neglected an emphasis on the heart. Faith was no longer the issue. Outward compliance with the Law was revered. People strained under the burden placed upon them by legalistic religious leadership. Those without hope of gaining God’s favor waited for the arrival of the Messiah with a sense of anticipation unprecedented in the history of the nation.

Everything was ready. Galatians 4 tells us “But when the proper time had fully come, God sent His Son…” Every detail was planned and executed perfectly according to God’s purposes. As Daniel wrote, “It is He who changes the times and the epochs; He removes kings and establishes kings.”

God, who moves world leaders like pawns in a chess game, is certainly powerful enough to care for the little things in our lives as well. The One who calls the stars by name, who knows when a sparrow falls, and who has numbered the hairs on our heads, is a God who pays attention to details. Our difficulties may not be of cosmic significance, but they are important to us, and therefore matter to Him. And just as He perfectly orchestrated His plan to bring salvation to the last detail, He will perfectly orchestrate His plans for us as well.

“You hem me in behind and before, you have laid you hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain… all the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be.” Psalm 139: 5, 16