When Perfect Timing makes a Difference

As I was studying Romans this past weekend, I bumped into a passage in chapter 5 that talks about perfect timing. It got me thinking about an intriguing question on Facebook the other day, which asked: if you could go back in time and tell our 18 year old self three words, what would you say? Several of the answers were funny. It is clear that timing in what we do can make all the difference. I could have profited from buying Netflix stock for about a dollar a share (it is now around $500/share). The difference of a few years can make a huge difference.

⁶ You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷ Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. ⁸ But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. ⁹ Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! ¹⁰ For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! ¹¹ Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation  (Romans 5:6-11).

Regarding timing, rather than reinvent the wheel, I found a sermon by Dr. John Barnett (Discover the Book Ministries)  that beautifully explained why the placement of Jesus’ life and death in time was so perfect.  The timing made all the difference. The main points below are a rehash of his message, and his points are worth repeating.

Reason 1: Global citizenship

When we look back over history, the period that encompassed the Roman Empire was the most consolidated time for getting a message out. Alexander the Great had carved out a path and laid out a vast empire. The Roman Empire followed established order and understanding for most of the known western world.

Reason 2: global language

Timing with the available languages was critical also.  If we look at language differences in Europe today, we can easily list more than a dozen languages: English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Italian, Swiss, Swedish, Norwegian, German, Hungarian, Austrian, Czechoslovakian, Armenian, Greek, Serbian, Croatian and more. In the days of the early church, the universal language was Greek and Roman (Latin). Over the course of a few centuries, language diversified, and sharing the gospel would have been difficult to allow for rapid disbursement.

 

Reason 3:  Global Access

It is quite true that the world is more accessible today than it was in the first couple of centuries. We have radio, television, internet, and print to allow us to get the word out.  It is a two-way process- we have to be able to give it, and we have to be able to receive it. In the Roman empire, people could transmit information over a large area. It was the first time that was really possible, since writing, language, and roadways were available to make it happen.

 

Reason 4: Global Peace

Certainly, individuals can come to know Christ in the middle of a war. Nevertheless, it is easier to share the gospel when our first order of business is not our own survival. When the land is not interrupted by war, the gospel can go forth more easily. In the United States over the last couple of years, we have had an issue with survival – to live through Covid, and to muddle through the constant political bickering. Statistics from the Southern Baptist Convention suggest they lost more than 400,000 members. The Presbyterians lost more than 50,000. Survival and bickering is not an easy time to spread the gospel. During the time of the Roman Empire, the ‘Pax Romana’ (Roman Peace) made sharing the gospel a well-timed event.

 

 

According to the descriptions of Tacitus, Suetonius, and Juvenal, we cannot portray with adequate blackness the low moral state to which the aristocracy and highest State officials had sunk...Debauchery and gluttony, subornation and poisoning, vulgarity and immorality, unchastity and licentiousness were the order of the day, especially in the middle of the first century.  ... In the large Hellenistic cities... lack of work ruined the masses..."