An amazing truth in scripture about our God is His plan, design, order, and timing. Yes, there are other amazing things about God. But, as I look at the story of Christmas, I am awed by this about God. Matthew’s gospel begins with a genealogy that connects Jesus to the lineage of David. And then, in verse 17, he writes, “So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations, from David until the captivity in Babylon are fourteen generations, and from the captivity in Babylon until the Christ are fourteen generations.” There have been a few explanations as to why this symmetry was important to Matthew. One suggestion was that the numerical values of the Hebrew consonants in the word David add up to fourteen. Others have noted the importance of the number seven in the Bible suggests that three generations consisting of twice seven, totaling six sevens may mean something.
The one thing we can see in these numbers is symmetry, design, plan, order and timing. Our Bible, consisting of 66 books by various judges, prophets, kings, fishermen, and tax collectors, written through the ages, reveals a God with a plan and design involving timing and order. Life and our world is moving along a designated route toward the goal of God.
Before the birth of Jesus, there was a priest named Zacharias who became the father of John the Baptist, the forerunner of the Christ. As Zacharias began to witness the fulfillment of God’s plan to send the Messiah, filled with the Holy Spirit he spoke, “Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, for He has visited and redeemed His people, and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David, as He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets, who have been since the world began, that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us, to perform the mercy promised our fathers and to remember His holy covenant.” Luke 1:67-72)
Jesus coming into the world did not enter by accident, as a reaction to world events, or as a secondary plan of God. He comes to us by the plan, design order and timing of our amazing God. Paul speaks of the “the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began.” (2 Timothy 1:9). Before time began! Scripture declares, “But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.” (Galatians 4:4-5).
God has not brought us to this point in history only to abandon His work, plan, and timing. We have come this far by faith, and we will continue to trust in His work, plan, order, and timing. Christmas is a time to look back at what He has done, while looking at the present at what He is doing and anticipating what is coming. In God’s good timing, Jesus is coming again.