And It Came To Pass

“And it came to pass in those days…” Had the Bible been written in Southern, this verse would read, “It just so happened that right about then…” But why and how? Did it just so happen by chance or did it happen just so by choice? And what was so “right” about “then”?

“When the time was right, God sent his son” into a world He had prepared politically, economically, socially, and spiritually to receive and spread His good news of salvation through Jesus(Gal 4:4). The Greeks contributed a common language. The Romans supplied an elaborate road system, reliable mail delivery, and two centuries of peace on three connected continents—Europe, Asia, and Africa. Jewish families migrating to these areas took with them their hope of a Messiah and their Hebrew scripture. And into centrally-located Palestine, who had the Roman leniency of self-rule and religious freedom, God shattered 400 years of silence with an angelic announcement to an unsuspecting priest(Luke 1). Had Jesus come earlier, things wouldn’t have been ready. Had He come later, they wouldn’t have been right--so He came right about then.

God had managed conflicts and conquerors to create the right set for the Savior, but He knew it would take an empirical order to move a very pregnant Mary the seventy miles from Nazareth to Bethlehem, so “it came to pass in those days that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed”(Luke 2:1). Returning to an ancestor’s birthplace to be counted (and to pay the census tax) was an imposition and an inconvenience, but God caused Caesar to give the order and millions to get a move on—all so one baby could be born in the little town of Bethlehem.

Nothing just so happens unless God allows it or arranges it, and since we know that He is in it, we can trust it happened just so we could know more of who He is and more of who we are in Him. Chance does not exist, only God’s choice.

This December, as you deal each day with the varied circumstances and situations of life, may the perfectly-prepared scenario of the first Christmas remind you that God “holds in his hand your life and all your ways”(Dan 5:23).

Things come to pass on purpose.