Why Did God Wait 400 Years to Send Jesus?
Galatians 4:4 & the necessity of the intertestamental period
Introduction
Apostle Paul in Galatians 4:4 states, “when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son…” What did Paul mean when he wrote this? Were there certain things that had to occur before Jesus could be sent down by God to the earth? What were these things, and why couldn’t they have happened right after the Old Testament was finished? Why did God wait another 400 years after the last prophet of the Old Testament, Malachi, before He began the New Testament?
The answer: certain conditions had to be set in place before God could send down His son in order to ensure that once the atoning sacrifice had been made, the gospel could be spread. Those conditions were: (1) the world needed to be philosophically prepared to receive the truth, (2) the world needed to be linguistically unified, (3) the world needed to be infrastructurally connected, and (4) the Jews needed to be ready for a savior.
Conditions for the “Fullness of Time.”
In order to know what exactly Paul is alluding to in Galatians 4:4, it is important to first understand the context of surrounding verses. Paul’s main thought in Galatians 4:1–7 is the idea that God, in His providence, sent His son Jesus to redeem humanity from a state of slavery (to sin) to one of adoption (into God’s family). Paul develops this thought by first describing slavery. The second half of the paragraph has Paul contrasting slavery to the free state of adoption.
These two contrasting conditions are linked by verse 4, which states: “But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son…” This verse is making the point that all the proper conditions had to first be set in place before God could send down His son in order to bring people from a condition of slavery into that of adoption. Once the proper conditions were in place (that is, “when the fullness of time had come”), then Jesus came to earth.
The question then is: what were those conditions? The way to identify them is to examine developments that occurred during the intertestamental period that are unique to that time. God did not send Jesus as soon as the Old Testament ended — thus, the fullness of time had not yet come as soon as Malachi finished his ministry. Certain changes must have first occurred in those 400 years before the world was ready for Jesus. What are those changes?
1. The world became philosophically ready.
It is during the intertestamental period that philosophers like Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle began to diverge from pagan religion as a source for explaining why the world is the way it is. Instead, they began to seek truth beyond fable. The thinking of most people became shaped by these philosophical masters to one degree or another.
These philosophies acted as a prerequisite step for gentiles away from the falsehoods of paganism to the truth of the Gospel. Second century apologist Justin Martyr did much work to show this to be true. Historian Nick Needham writes of Martyr:
“Justin tried to show that all the truths which the Greek philosophers, particularly the Platonists, had been striving to understand were now perfectly revealed in Christianity… Christ had been at work not only among the Jews, but in the Pagan world too, instructing the minds of those philosophers who wanted to live in harmony with reason…”
Does this mean that all gentile philosophers accepted the gospel as soon as it was preached to them? Some certainly did, though not all. When Apostle Paul reasoned and debated against philosophers in Athens, some sneered, others were interested, yet still others accepted Christ. Nonetheless, the gentile philosophies of the time allowed for the asking of questions (not previously asked by paganism) which the Gospel was then able to answer.
2. The world became linguistically unified.
During the intertestamental period, Alexander the Great (who had been tutored by Aristotle) began to conquer various areas, spreading Greek culture throughout much of the world. The spread of Greek culture brought a common language to the Western world. Greek became the standard language of scholarship, commerce, and government.
By the first century, people spoke and understood Greek nearly everywhere in the empire. This means that Greek writing could be understood and read throughout the entire region. The spread of the Greek language paved the way for the gospel (written in Greek) to go to all of the world.
The Greek common language did not only benefit the spread of the gospel to Gentiles — it was also essential to preaching to Jews. About 250 years prior to Jesus’ birth, Jews translated their Scriptures into Greek — this translation came to be known as the Septuagint. The New Testament authors quote from the Greek Septuagint translation rather than quoting from the Hebrew Bible when they make certain references. The spread of the Greek language allowed for the gospel to be effectively communicated.
3. The world became infrastructurally connected.
Rome grew into a powerful empire during the intertestamental period. They essentially had the entire Mediterranean world conquered, connected, and controlled. Roman infrastructure allowed for the development of an expansive, well-connected system of well maintained roads that made travel and communication efficient.
It is these Roman roads that Christians were able to use to carry the gospel to many parts of the world. Paul, a Roman citizen, used these roads to travel thousands of miles in order to preach the gospel to various cities.
Under Roman occupation, Pax Romana allowed for a unified world in which trade flowed freely as well as travel and communication became relatively easy. One could send a letter and expect it to arrive at its destined location with fair certainty. This played an essential role in the spread of Christianity.
4. The Jews became ready for a savior.
The final major development during the intertestamental period is that the Jews became ready for a savior. The Jews, after returning from exile from Babylon, were once again conquered. They were ruled over by the Ptolemy dynasty, then by the Seleucids. The Jews managed to self-rule temporarily under the Hasmonean family, but civil war soon broke out, which gave the growing Roman empire the opportunity they needed to conquer Jerusalem.
Under Rome, citizens were highly taxed, oppressed, and impoverished. Between one-fourth and one-third of the population was enslaved. Although the Jews were legally allowed to practice their faith, it was very restricted.
All in all, Rome brought the Jews into a place of expectant waiting for a messiah. Although the Jews were awaiting a political messiah, not necessarily a spiritual one, they were still more so ready for a messiah after the 400 intertestamental years of political oppression than they would have been otherwise.
Why is it important that the Jews be ready for the Messiah? It is to the Jews that Jesus preached. It is in Jerusalem that Peter began the church. It is to the Jews first that Paul preached. Only after the Jews were given ample opportunity to accept the gospel did the gospel spread to other areas.
Conclusion
To summarize, those conditions that were set in place during the 400 year intertestamental period were: (1) the world became philosophically prepared to receive the truth, (2) the world became linguistically unified, (3) the world became infrastructurally connected, and (4) the Jews became ready for a savior. If these conditions had not first been set in place, then the gospel message which followed the death and resurrection of Christ would not have had the opportunity to spread beyond the Jews.
It is because God, in His providence, allowed for the development of various conditions during the intertestamental period that the saving gospel message was able to spread the way it did. Indeed, Jesus was born at the perfect point in history — the fullness of time had come.
