We just spent about 16 weeks studying through the book of Galatians and I pretty much skipped over Galatians 4:4-5. It says, “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.” This is probably one of the best Christmas verses in the Bible. I remember when our sons were born. The first one took 14 hours! Kathy was in the hospital in Greenville, South Carolina on November 30th and stayed in labor most of the day. But he wasn’t born until after midnight on December 1st. The second one kept Mom in the hospital at Corpus Christi, TX for two days before he decided to come into the world. The time had to be just right! Isn’t it that way for all births? Regarding Christ it is even more so because the timing wasn’t just personal, it was global! It was on Christmas day, that all the things came together and the time was just right! It was personally global, and globally personal!
The impact of Christ’s birth on the earth was so profound that we decided to re-date everything by that event. The history of the world is so divided. We understand the problems and difficulties in the world before Christ came and we understand how different everything was after He came. It was a huge transition from relating to God by “law” to relating to God through His Son. It changed religion into a relationship. We now have no need to approach God through the legal regulations of blood, for the ultimate blood had been shed for our sins. Thus, we’ve been redeemed from slavery to the law. We’ve been set free to love God because He first loved us on the cross of Calvary. Since it’s globally personal, it’s efficient for each of us to institute a new day. Things change at Christmas time!
The Angel that announced that the time had come to the shepherds made it clear that things were about to change. It was time for something new. Luke 2:8-10 says, “An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone over them. They were terribly afraid, but the angel said to them, don’t be afraid!” It’s time to set aside our fears! There’s a new revelation from God of God. It’s not like the one on Mount Sinai where the “glory of the Lord” showed itself in lightning and thunder and thick smoke that aroused great fear among God’s people. It’s a revelation of the Glory of the Lord as it was about to be revealed on Calvary! It was the glory of God’s great love for each of us! God’s love for us even in our sin. It’s God’s call to all mankind hiding from fear in the garden. God is not coming to condemn us in our sin, but to redeem us from them. It’s time for a change!