In the Fullness of Time - Part 1

Blessings to Israel presents Discerning the Times, a program committed to encouraging you to view current events through the lens of the Bible. Now, in honor of the one and only true God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, please join us for today's program.

Welcome to the program. I'm so glad to be with you once again this week. My name is Brian Thomas, and let me be the first to tell you today, if no one else has said it, before we get into our topic, I want to remind you that your eternal state is far more important than your current state. And I just want you to know that maybe your life has not turned out the way you would like for it to, maybe that dream home or that dream marriage or children or job or even ministry. Maybe things have not turned out the way you envisioned it or the way you dreamed of, but folks, eternity is still to come. And your eternity is going to be the best.

That is if you put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ, that is the only way by which you will have eternal life is through accepting him as Lord and savior. So if you've never received him, I encourage you to do so on today. So once again, it's good to be with you all.

I want to pull in now my cohost, Dr. Bruce Logan, doc. So glad to be with you as well. Amen. So glad to be here.

All right. So we're going to go today through, uh, we're going to look at a piece that you had written concerning in the fullness of time. So, so just, if you will get us started, walk us through in the fullness of time and what it is you would have our listeners to, to glean from, from what you've written. Well, uh, in a nutshell, um, oftentimes we'll ask the question, just, you know, when I'm teaching a new Testament, um, when I get to, you know, a lot of times I'll teach the Pauline epistles and when I'm teaching a book of Galatians, I'll oftentimes we'll start by asking the question, um, what would be one of the most, uh, important or key versions of scripture in the new Testament? And of course you'll get various answers. A lot of people would say, of course, John three 16.

And of course none of the answers would actually be wrong. But when I answered the question, I often point to Galatians four and four. Um, and this is what, this is what the word of the Lord says in Galatians four and four. But when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his son made of a woman made under the law to redeem them that were under the law that we might receive the adoption of son. And that's Galatians four, four through five.

And, uh, I often refer to this passage as one of the most important, one of the most all encompassing and theologically packed passages when you unpack it and when you break it all the way down in the new Testament, of course we won't have time to fully unpack it in the time that we have in this program. But in the simplest term, what Paul was saying to the believers in Galatia was that there is nothing that has happened in there. And of course we were referring to Israeli history at this particular point in time. Um, there was nothing that had happened in their history, um, that was coincidental or arbitrary, but everything that, um, they had experienced in their history was part of a preordained and providentially orchestrated, uh, plan. In other words, to put it even more simply, that when Jesus was born in that manger in Bethlehem, it was not some set or arbitrary, uh, point in time, uh, that God just decided randomly or arbitrarily that I think now would be a good time to send my son into the world. But instead that moment was a preordained, pre-orchestrated point in time that God had planned and ordained from the foundations of the world. Now, just to give a little bit of background, we can recall of the incident of the fall in Genesis chapter three where God, and I want to try to really summarize this as briefly as possible because you know, we can spend episodes on this, but in the, in the, um, the passage of the fall, the event of the fall, God could have made a decision after the fall that he could have decided to, um, just wipe mankind off of the earth and just start all over again from scratch. But instead of doing that, he made a decision to implement a plan of redemption that would take place down through the, uh, course of history of human history that would eventually redeem the human race back into that original perfect state that he had originally intended. And that process began, um, with the formation of, oh, I'm sorry, with the, uh, the call of Abraham and the Abrahamic covenant. And long story short, the culmination of that was Jesus being born in Bethlehem and that manger on that, uh, on that great day. And the point being is that God was providentially orchestrating human history in order to set the stage for the coming of his son who would be that promised Redeemer. And of course, uh, the, the, the heart of biblical prophecy and studying the old Testament and studying the prophecies of the Old Testament, especially the book of Daniel. Um, God laid out before the events ever, uh, took place. He prewrote history in order to point out exactly how history would unfold that would lead to the coming of his son. So that's just, uh, it's kind of a summation of what, uh, Paul was saying in, uh, in, uh, Galatians chapter four verse four, that God had reset or preordained a set point in time that he had set the stage for, uh, in order for his son to come into the world. Hmm.

Yeah. And you know, it's so reassuring to hear you state that it's a, it's a great reminder for us because sometimes when we look at all the chaos going on in the world today and I think sometimes you can ring your hands and start to really worry and start to think like the sky is falling kind of mentality and really worrying about how is everything going to play out. But as you said, God had had all of these things planned out from the beginning for redemption. And so he's not worried about what's taking place. And you know, we really put our faith and trust in him.

We should not be worried at all either be, yes, we continue to stand and to fight. That's what he expects us to do. And he asked us to discern the times that we're living in, but we don't need to be sitting around and worried about how this thing is going to come to an end because, well, God already knows he's already orchestrated things for his fulfillment. Right.

Exactly right. Um, and then with that, um, it's important that your listeners will keep our listeners for keep in mind that, uh, what exactly is prophecy because this is a prophecy century, uh, program. It's important that we always keep that theme going and it's important to keep in mind that, uh, in terms of studying prophecy, it's important to remember that what prophecy is in general or in a nutshell is basically prewritten history. In other words, because God, uh, we read a passage of scripture in Isaiah 46 and 10 and God says, I can see the end from the beginning and, and God has actually recorded events sometime hundreds of years in advance before the events ever took, uh, take place. And everything that he is orchestrating is for the purpose of setting the world stage or the coming of his son.

Or what I meant to say was everything that he's orchestrating historically is, uh, it's for the purpose of setting the world stage for the coming of his son. And of course, uh, most famously are the prophecies in the book of Daniel. For example, Daniel chapter seven and which, uh, Daniel sees the vision of four beasts rising out of the seat and each of those four beasts represented a different world empire that would commonly replace the previous empire, each of which would have an impact on the nation of Israel and each of which will have an impact on setting the timeframe or setting the stage or making the time when Jesus was born in Bethlehem the perfect time for him to come.

And just to add to that, that when you think in terms of, uh, God's setting the stage and how, and it's just a really interesting topic to really think about because how God works historically in order to set the stage of basically there are two, uh, there are two phases or two layers of prophetic fulfillment that, uh, and I just like, I like to use simplistic terms in order to explain things like this. And one is called a prophetic milestone. Now what is a prophetic milestone? A prophetic milestone is a major fulfillment of Bible prophecy. And of course the greatest prophetic milestone that we currently have in history was the birth of Christ, uh, in that manger, the coming of the Redeemer, uh, which was a major fulfillment of hundreds of Old Testament prophecies.

Um, they came into fruition on that famous day. Um, but then of course there is what we refer to as prophetic stepping stones. In other words, getting back to what I was stating before, how when Jesus was born in, uh, in that manger, it was not just some random or arbitrary point in time, but it was a, it was after a series of prophetic stepping stones. In other words, a series of prophetic or, or lesser, I should say prophetic fulfillment that set the stage for the major, uh, prophetic milestones. So that's kind of just a synopsis of what I'm saying. So in other words, those prophetic stepping stones, uh, were, uh, were necessary in order to set the stage.

Let me just give you an example of just a few examples. Uh, for an example, why was the, uh, government in place by the Romans in which it was necessary on that particular day for census to be ordered and for Joseph and his pregnant wife to have to make the journey, uh, to Bethlehem, the home of their, of their birth, uh, which would have been a fulfillment of Michael five and two. So the time was perfect for that to happen. Um, and, and of course, and of course, again, why was the whole entire Middle East at the time basically Hellenistic or Greek speaking? Well, that was because of the, the, um, rise of the Greeks under Alexander, the great Hellenized, uh, most of the known world at the Helen.

I just meet, make Greek speaking, Greek culture, Greek language, uh, Greek architecture, Greek art became the Greek philosophy became the dominant, uh, uh, point of the world at that particular time and which allowed of course, uh, uh, an easy access for the gospel to spread because all of the known world at the time understood what was known as the pointy Greek or basic common Greek and it made it, it made it much easier for the gospel to spread. And so in other words, God had orchestrated all of this during the 400 year period between the testaments, that period that many a historian and even many Bible scholars refer as to the 400 excuse me, the 400 silent years. But in reality I kind of get, I kind of feel some kind of way whenever I hear the term silent years because this period of time was, was anything but silent. God, you know, it certainly was not speaking to a prophet as he had done previously in the Old Testament, which is, you know, which I understand.

That's why, you know, where they get the term silent year. But God was absolutely not silent. God was maybe not speaking to a prophet or working through a prophet, but he was working through history. He was orchestrating a history in order to set the stage for the fullness of time to come or set the stage for the, for the world scene to be right for the coming of his son. And, and so he did that through a series of historical or prophetic stepping stones. And I, and I, and I use the term historical often do that. I use the term historical and prophetic kind of synonymously because basically prophecy is just simply hitting, I'm sorry, history written in advance or prewritten history.

So you can, you can see why I often use the term synonymously because God prophetically was working through history orchestrating the world stage in order to set the stage for the coming of his son. If you're just now joining us, we are talking today with my cohost, Dr. Bruce Logan concerning in the fullness of time, the key to understanding Bible prophecy. So we're going to pause for a brief announcement, but please don't go away. We'll be back with more on the other side of the break. Once again, joined by cohost, Dr. Bruce Logan, in the fullness of time, you are tuned into discerning the times.

You are tuned into discerning the times. If you believe in what we stand for, would you consider partnering with us? Our partners program is based on Genesis 12, three. I will bless those who bless you for a recurring donation of $12 and three cents per month. You can help us share the message of discerning the time as we await our Lord's return to Israel.

For more information, please visit our website, lessons to Israel.com or write to us at lessons to Israel, TO box 266, 9th Dale, North Carolina, two seven five four five. Now let's return to the conclusion of today's program. Welcome back to the program. My name is Brian Thomas being joined by my cohost today, Bruce Logan. We are discussing a recent article that he wrote in the fullness of time, the key to understanding Bible prophecy. And doc, before we pick back up, how can the listeners, if they want to read through this in its entirety, how can they find it on your, your website?

Yeah, they can just go to www dot Bruce Logan ministry.com and they should be able to read it there. All right. Okay. So before the break, you were talking about the prophetic stepping stones. Um, so now I guess we want to go into the period of preparation.

Right, exactly. In other words, what I meant by that, uh, when I, when I wrote that part about the article dealing with the period of preparation, I was referring to the fact that, um, given in my own personal title, as opposed to using the term, the 400 silent years, I prefer, which would be more, which would be historically and prophetically accurate to refer to this period as the period of preparation, because God was actually, uh, preparing the world stage. He was like, he was orchestrating human events or historical events, kind of like a conductor that's orchestrating an orchestra. God was literally orchestrating human history in order to set the stage for the coming of the sun. Now, just to kind of give you a little bit of background for the listeners, um, and it's just off the sink for a moment that the 400 year period that we're referring to is obviously of course the period between the end of the old Testament with the closing of the book of Malachi and the beginning of the new Testament with the opening of the book of Matthew. Now at the end of Malachi and I'm sorry, from the end of Malachi to the opening of the new Testament, there was some major radical changes that took place in the area of Israel. Uh, let's just say for an example, when Judah, uh, I mean when, when, uh, I'm sorry, when, when, uh, Malachi closed, Judah had returned back to their homeland after 70 year captivity in Babylon. Hebrew was once again, the common language. Solomon's temple had been rebuilt after being destroyed by the Babylonian and the Persian were the dominant world empire.

When, when the book, when the old Testament closes out at Malachi. But amazingly, when you fast forward 400 years to the beginning of the new Testament, there had been some radical changes in the religious social and political environment. Uh, in the nation of Israel, we see such sweeping changes like to say for an example, as I mentioned earlier, Greek was now the dominant language instead of Hebrew. There were these competing religious sects that we'd never heard of in the old Testament known as the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Um, the land of Israel had been divided up into provinces. Um, and the Jews were under the control of this new dominant world empire called Rome who had placed military governors over the provinces and were known and renowned for the roads that they built throughout their territory.

And of course we have, uh, examples like Herod was in control over the area of Palestine. So how, how did all this happen? How did all these radical changes take place in that 400 years between the time of the concluding time of the old Testament and the opening of the new Testament? And of course this is some phenomenal history that really won't have time to really unpack, but suffice it to say all of these historical events were a part of God orchestrating God working, showing that God was anything but valid during those 400 years. And so, uh, so basically that all goes into what, what Paul was saying to the Galatians when he pointed out that when the fullness of time had come, in other words, when all, when all of the prophetic eyes were dotted, all the prophetic keys were crossed as it pertains to the fulfillment of, of course this all ties back into Daniel's vision and Daniel chapter seven, uh, uh, the 70 weeks prophecy of Daniel chapter nine, the Ram and the Eagle, Daniel chapter eight, I mean Daniel chapter 11, all of these things occurred during that 400 year span. And then God had, had, had, um, predicted and prophesied hundreds of years before these events ever take, uh, took place, which, which all ultimately set the stage and laid the groundwork for and made the time right for God to extend his son, the Redeemer into the world. Awesome.

Awesome. And as far as prophetic stepping stones go, you, you write that it will lead to the next major milestone, which you say will be the rapture of the church. Can you speak to that?

Yes. Uh, well of course that's, uh, tied into another verse of scripture that Paul used and, and, uh, we can talk to talk about maybe in more detail in another episode, but, uh, it's Ephesians one and 10. Now keep in mind that when he used the term, the fullness of time in Galatians four and four, he was referring to Christ's first coming. But, um, again, in Ephesians verse one and I'm sorry, chapter one in verse 10, he uses that term again and notice what it says that in the dispensation of the fullness of time, see there's that term again, but only this time he's referring to the second coming and notice it, it continues to say in the, uh, in the dispensation of the fullness of time, he might gather together in one all things in Christ, Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on the earth, even in him. And of course that again, like I noted, uh, is, is, uh, pointing to Christ's second coming. However, when it came to his first coming, how God orchestrated events, for example, in that 400 year gap of time, God literally set the model or gave us the model or the template or the pattern, historically speaking, or precisely how, um, the events will unfold leading up to his second coming. In other words, God has been working through history since the dawn of the church age. God has been working through history over the past 2000 plus years, uh, arranging and orchestrating human events and fulfillment of prophecy, uh, and setting the world stage for the coming, uh, or the second coming of the Messiah.

Now the only difference being instead of 400 years, there's been 2000 years and still counting. And of course, I don't know, depending on the time, I can give like several examples, uh, you know, through history or, or we can, you know, discuss that as a, uh, you know, the next broadcast. But, um, there have been a number of examples of, uh, things that, uh, God or, or events or historical events that we, uh, some of us are quite familiar with.

And some of us may have never heard anything about, um, uh, but like, for example, many of us are familiar with the rise of Islam for an example. Well, Islam is going to play a role in, uh, uh, in the book of revelation events in the, in the, uh, in, in time events, because currently, just to give you an example, there is one, a matter of fact, I read an article just yesterday, as a matter of fact, in terms of the, the, the tension that's continuing to mount as a, as it pertains to the temple mount in Jerusalem, in Jerusalem. Um, because from what I understand, much of the, the, the artifacts have been remade, uh, or the, the, uh, worship items that they use in the temple, the menorah and so forth, the table has been reproduced, uh, in order to go in a future temple.

And, and right now that ground where the previous temple existed is now under the control of, of, uh, of Islam, of the Arabs. And of course now there's a lot of tension because I was reading an article yesterday in addition to the, the article of articles or items that they use to worship in the temple being reconstructed or had been reconstructed. I'm now hearing, um, that they're talking about, uh, breeding red heifers. And of course, uh, if you're not familiar with the story of the red heifers, you can read about that in Leviticus and the role that they played in terms of, uh, the day of atonement. Of course, that's another, another article, another topic we can unpack for another day.

But, but when you hear the term, uh, the, uh, red heifer, if you ever read that term in an article or hear about it on a new, that's great. The red flag, um, in terms of those of us who are interested in the study of Bible prophecy, because that's, that's a major event, uh, or a major significant part that, that was played in the old Testament book of Leviticus worship service. Uh, and the, of course, then at the time it was the tabernacle, but then later into, uh, Solomon's temple.

And then of course, uh, Herod's temple later on after that. All right, doc. Well, we're going to park it there for this week as we're almost out of time, but before we close, can you share with the listeners once again, how they can read this entire article on your website? Okay. You can go to my website at Bruce Logan ministry.com and you can read that entire article. Um, and, uh, I have another website, drbrucelogan.com. You can also go there. All right.

Either those websites, you'll be able to get that article. Okay. All right.

All right. Well, this is good stuff, folks. And I encourage you to, to go and read it. It, it really brings things home when you look at God's sovereignty, looking at his plan. And again, how we need not worry because God is in control. He's been orchestrating things and we, we just, we just sit back in amazement at the almighty power of God and just how he has things in control. And, and you know, from him being the Supreme being into how we are such such small, uh, finite creatures, and yet he still works through us, uh, to be a part of his plan.

And, and that's just the amazing and humbling thing about it. So we're going to come back next week and continue to discuss this topic though. The, again, the fullness of time, the key to understanding Bible prophecy. And we're going to pick back up with speaking about the rise of Islam.

And we're just going to walk through and look at what has already transpired and what is still yet to come. So doc, thanks again for, for being on with us this week and look forward to having you back again next week. Thank you. God bless you.

All right. And to our listeners once again, please come back and join us next week as we continue to encourage you to discern the times by viewing life through the lens of the Bible. Until then, remember to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Bless God's great nation of Israel to the only wise God be glory through Jesus Christ forever. Amen. Thank you for tuning into discerning the times. Please come back and join us next week as we continue to encourage you to view current events through the lens of the Bible until next time, remember to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Bless God's great nation of Israel and seek first the kingdom of God. Decorating the times is presented by blessings to Israel.