Previously I mentioned that ‘fulfilments of times, as set by God in His eternal plan, are of utmost importance. We find that times, hours, events planned by God had a great importance in the life of Christ. It was in eternity, before the world of time was ever created, long before Jesus ever came to earth, that the plan of salvation was decided upon by God alone, and the role that each member of the Holy Trinity would have, in the fulfilment of that plan; His aim was the restoration of God’s creation and free it from the awfulness of sin and the chaos that was upon it, due to the fall of Lucifer, now known, as Satan. Let me remind you that the subject before us is: 1. ‘Who is a Christian’. 2. What is a Christian? The answer to these questions is only found in the Holy Bible, you can ignore it but you cannot delete it. Mem will not find the great answers they are looking for anywhere else! The salvation of man is a decision made by God the Father; Jesus, His Son, having done what was essential to apply it, returned to heaven from where He sent the Holy Spirit, to bring into being the Church, which He will present perfect to Christ on the day set by the Father. The reason that there is such a thing as a Christian, is because God alone willed him into being. The Church is a body of Christians, of which Jesus Christ is the Head, men that have been chosen set aside, separate from the rest of humanity, ‘Saints’, before the world was created, the biblical term being: ‘Before the foundation of the world.’ 

I have already quoted the following: “When the time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. So, you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son; God has made you also an heir.” (Galatians 4: 4-7) In relation to this we have the astonishing account of the exceptional timing of the birth of Jesus and how the divine plan affected his earthly parents, as eternity and time came together. The greatest miracles recorded in the Bible happened during the life time of Jesus-Christ The Son of God. If you look for excitement, read in the Bible all that concerns Him; many, like me, regard the incarnation of God the Son as the greatest miracle that ever happened! Yet it happened so naturally, it is written thus: “In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to his own town to register. Such a very natural decision sparked off the greatest event that ever happened. 

Can you imagine what went on in the entire Roman Empire? All the citizens, by every means possible, mainly on foot, had to go to the town of their origin, in the case of Joseph it had to be Bethlehem, as prophesied by the prophet Micah, who prophesied from 738 to 698 BC during the life time of the prophet Isaiah, He writes the following: “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will rule over Israel, whose origin are from old, from ancient times. (from days of eternity).” (Micah 5:2) God likes poor people, small people, Micah was a peasant of no renown, yet he was important to God who chose him to be a prophet. Jesus too, was born in a poor family, and earned his crust at the sweat of His brow! If you know God you will be able to answer the following question correctly: ‘Did God foreknew that Caesar Augustus would call a census and decided that Jesus-Christ would be born during that time, or did He put it into the mind of this mighty Caesar to make this census? It happened just as Mary was ready to deliver Jesus, His son? In any case Jesus had to be born in Bethlehem to fulfil the prophesy, as spoken by Micah the prophet. “Yes: ‘Times, and fulfilments of times, are in the hands of God.’ God rules every event on earth! Men can believe in Him, or be foolish enough not to, but every man will have to face Him; that is what He has decided and it will happen.