God Moves in a Mysterious Way

Why did God wait thousands of years before sending His Son to earth to redeem sinful mankind? Using Bishop Usher’s chronology (which is not inspired Biblical truth) there were about 4,000 years for those of us on earth between the sinful downfall of Adam and Eve in the Garden and Jesus’ birth to Mary in Bethlehem.

We know that “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God,” Romans 3:23. We know that “[our] iniquities have separated [us] from [our] God; and [our] sins have hidden his face from [us],” Isaiah 59:2. We are also told, and therefore know that “we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son,” and that “we shall be saved by His life.” So man sinned in the Garden of Eden, thus ‘separating himself (us) from God,’ but God waited some 4,000 years before taking any measures to reunite his creation with Him.

God did not spell out for us exactly why He created us, but it seems that it must have been because He desired to love us. “God is love,” John 4:8. Love by its very nature must be shared to be of any use, and it travels on a two-way street. The Bible speaks of God’s love for His creation, and of His desire for that love to be returned (John 3:16, Mark 12:30.) The question returns: If God loves us and desires to be loved by us, why allow 4,000 years to pass with us alienated from Him?

The entire Old Testament history is the answer to the question. It’s important to note that during that 4,000 years of Old Testament history, God dealt with people in two different ways. What He was doing during these different time periods was preparing us for the time when He would send His Son to secure our salvation from the guilt of our sins. He was ready to save us before He even created us, see Ephesians 1:4-6, but we were not ready to receive His grace.

The first time period began with the creation of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and extended until the Israelites were encamped at Mt. Sinai in the wilderness and Moses delivered the Ten Commandments (and the rest of the law) to them. If you go by Bishop Usher’s chronology, this would be from about 4000 BC to about 1450 BC, or roughly 2,550 years. This era is almost entirely covered by the book of Genesis.

It is known as the Patriarchal Age because, during this time, God dealt with mankind through the patriarch of the clan. The patriarchal clan was the highest level of society during most of this period. With one book covering 2,550 years, it is obvious that a lot of detail will be omitted. But God tells us what He wants us to know.

Important figures from this time are Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph. There are many lesser figures that we find in the narrative. God sees fit to tell us very little beside the stories of the men listed above. The group above, except for Joseph, are significant because the bloodline of Christ runs through their families. Job, was a patriarch not mentioned in the book of Genesis, but who lived during that time period.

It appears that the preparation that God intends for the world during the Patriarchal Age is to understand that there is a God, a powerful creator. He knows you individually, and cares for you. He also has a will for you, and He expects obedience to it.

When society became organized beyond the level of clans, Moses led God’s chosen people out of Egypt, through the wilderness to the “promised land” of Canaan. At the foot of Mt. Sinai God delivered to Moses the Ten Commandments and other laws. The period of time from Mt. Sinai until Jesus’ death on the cross was the Mosaic age. The Law of Moses was the rule book for the people. To be holy meant to keep the law perfectly. The Israelites learned that they couldn’t meet that standard and that they needed help or they were doomed.

They needed the Son of God to take on Himself the burden of the guilt of their sins. “Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; . . . He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.” Isaiah 53:4-5.

Paul explains further in Romans 8:3-5, “For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.” Trying to save oneself by keeping the law would only condemn a person. Now we understand that we have got to have the help of the Son of God.

If we use the term “Christmas” to refer to a time of celebration of Christ’s birth, then Christ’s arrival in Bethlehem would be the first Christmas, 4,000 years after the first sin. This was God’s plan from the beginning. It’s how it was meant to be. It was not an afterthought.

In Ephesians 1:4-6, Paul explains that thanks to God’s grace, it was His plan from before the foundation of the world, that our path to reconciliation with Him would be through Jesus Christ, who would make us holy and blameless before God, and thus acceptable to God. Peter explains in 1 Peter 2:24 that Jesus would do this by bearing the guilt of our sin on the cross. Peter says, “He, himself, bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By His wounds you have been healed.”

Christ’s death on the cross marks the beginning of the Christian age, and thus the end of the law. “The law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.” Galatians 3:24-25. Christ came when the time was right. Paul calls it the “fullness” of time. “But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son . . . to redeem those who were under the law,”. Galatians 4:4-5.

God, in His wisdom saw fit not to reveal His total plan for the salvation of mankind during the Patriarchal and Mosaical Age. This revelation was reserved for the Christian age. Jesus told his followers in Matthew 13:17, “I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.” His followers were seeing and hearing Jesus.

Speaking of the salvation offered through Christ, Peter says in 1 Peter 1:10-12, “Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully . . .what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating . . . To them it was revealed that, not to themselves, but to us they were ministering the things which now have been reported to you . . .” Peter echoes the words of Christ. The salvation through Christ was at least a partial mystery to them. They knew of it, but not when nor how it would appear. They were given to understand that this salvation about which they prophesied was not pertinent to them, but people who would come long after them.

Paul says, “having made known to us the mystery of His will,” Ephesians 1:9. Then in Eph. 3:8-11, “to me . . .this grace was given . . . to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God . . . that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church . . . according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord . . .” Paul refers to God’s mysterious plan several times in Ephesians 3. Then he lays it bare. “This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.” Ephesians 3:6

God created man knowing that His Son would have to die on the cross to redeem sinful man from the guilt of his sins. He orchestrated history behind the scenes to bring this about in the most appropriate way. I don’t claim to totally understand the process, or the reason for the process. My thoughts are not His thoughts and my ways are not His ways, Isaiah 55:8-9.

It has become common to use the term Christmas to refer to the time and events surrounding the arrival of Jesus on this earth. Why did it take so long to get here? God had a plan. He had our backs. To many godly men throughout time God’s plan was a mystery, but He has explained to us what we need to know. As the old song says, “God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform.”