Commentary by Michael VandenBerg
3 Even so we, when we were children and were in bondage to the world:4 But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 To redeem all that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of children. (Galatians 4)
Time: we all have the same 24 hours each day, the same 365 days each year but what we make of it is entirely individual in nature. One thing that remains the same for all of us is that we are less than perfect, fallen creatures if you will, that often have a difficult time making the most of the time we have. In the end, all the empires we build, all the good works we do, all the wealth we accumulate brings us to nothing. When our time on earth ceases, so do all our achievements and successes.
But God gave us a much more complete end to time. He brought all things to their perfect moment and then opened the door to our eternal reign with him as sons and daughters of a perfect God. The entire world and all mankind had been laid waste to our own selfish natures and sinful ways, far from the created perfection we had enjoyed in the beginning. We, being the imperfect creatures that we had become, could not find our own way back to God and His perfection so God built a redeeming solution to our dilemma. God came to us Himself, born in our likeness of a woman and under the same divine laws that all of us live under, only free from sin.
With this miraculous gift of Himself, He came to pay the price that we could not pay, remove the sin that we could not cleanse ourselves of and take away the imperfection that we had wrapped ourselves in like a winter coat. Once sins price (death) had been paid, God’s justice had been satisfied and evil (our own waywardness) defeated, God declared that anyone coming under His rule, would be not only saved, but would become sons and daughters and thus heirs to the kingdom of God.
I hope your Christmas was filled with light, laughter, love and that you were surrounded by family and friends. Even more, I hope you came to realize the greatest time conquering gift you could receive, a Saviour, who is Christ, the Lord, Jesus. May your new year set your feet on a new path to discover the riches of God’s love.
