(For the audio version of this blog, go to this link for FAB’s Podcast.)
But the angel said, “I am Gabriel, the sentinel of God, sent especially to bring you this glad news. But because you won’t believe me, you’ll be unable to say a word until the day of your son’s birth. Every word I’ve spoken to you will come true on time—God’s time.” (Luke 1:19-20)
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In a sense, God lives above and beyond time. God is not like we are, bounded by time, with an existence dotted by questions like, “What are you doing tomorrow?” or, “Where did the day go? The hours flew by! I meant to…” That’s not how it works with God. Christian philosopher C.S. Lewis made the point that God doesn’t have a history, because to have a history means to lose part of your reality. The things you enjoyed last year on that special occasion or trip? Their reality fades with the passage of time. The moment is over. But that is not true for God. In a sense, as Lewis described, God is present at the same time throughout all history. The eternal God is not affected by time. See Mere Christianity for more of Lewis’s reasonings on this.
Now in my sixties, and facing yet another birthday this week, another turning of the calendar, another adding of one more to the years’ column, I am confronted with my aging. My own progression towards older age is a reality that I am becoming too familiar with.
But God is not like that. The Scriptures teach that God is eternal. Our Father God has no beginning and no end. The jingle, “You aren’t getting older, you’re getting better” does not apply to Him. God has never been younger; he has never been “less-better.” God hasn’t grown up and matured and learned to see things differently, and we can be comforted that the God we serve is now, really, finally in position to help us because he has learned, over time, how to handle this situation. That might be said of you; it’s never said of God.
So, when we come to this point in the Advent story of Gabriel announcing that he guarantees that “Every word I’ve spoken to you will come true on time—God’s time”, we need to consider what this combination of God plus time means. Basically, God is not bounded by time, but God knows that we live in a world that is marked by time. Even though God is above and beyond time and is not affected by its effects, God knows that we are. And He directs and intervenes in our situations which are bounded by time.
When the text says that the words will “come true on time—God’s time”, it means that He will use the time factor in our lives to demonstrate his power. It’s not a matter of him sitting by the clock and making a decision about going ahead with a plan because one time or another is more convenient for him; or, God has something else to do right now, so when he gets that wrapped up and off his to-do list (which is no doubt growing!) then he will get around to our intervention; or, God has been eyeing the calendar for the big day ahead, as an anxious bride or groom marks an upcoming wedding day. I don’t believe it’s any of that. In a very real sense, the One who is above time, is already there in that Big Day. When that day crosses our calendar, it becomes real to us; but not for God. His reality is not marked by the arrival or dismissal of any particular day. He was and is already present in that day that we woke up to.
Instead, acting on God’s time means that God is intervening in our lives at just the time that we need Him to do so. God chooses the time, and that is God’s time. And when I say God intervenes in our lives, I mean that both personally and globally. He knows our specific, individual situations and takes action accordingly; and God is quite aware of the situations outside of us, in the lives and circumstances of millions and He directs traffic and intervenes as needed.
And that’s what God did for Zachariah. Zach was flabbergasted; the old man couldn’t get his head around the news of a newborn baby coming his way. I’m quick to sympathize. I don’t think I could either! But the point is that God made something remarkable happen regarding Zach’s speech. We think of Zach being unable to speak. It helps me to understand the story better, and the big picture of God’s purposes, to realize who made Zachariah unable to speak. It wasn’t a physical or bodily phenomenon that just happened to kick in and activate at that time, like some big coincidence. God did it. And just as he closed Zach’s mouth, he would once again open it. On time. That would be God’s time, the time of God’s choosing. The time when this “dumbness” (the old English word for being unable to speak) had run its course, and the news had gotten around that priest Zachariah had come out from the altar area after his once-in-a-lifetime service opportunity and couldn’t say a word. Why?! Had that ever happened to a priest before? Was that normal? No. But it certainly left an impression on those who saw him. How long would he be in this condition?
He would be in this condition as long as God chose for him to do so. Until the time had run its course. God wouldn’t delay the start or the end. As the preacher said, “God may not always be on time, but He’s never late.” That is, he may not be on time—as we consider the right time for Him to take action or do something!—but we can be assured that whenever it is that he works, that’s when the right time is. And if it’s God time, then it cannot be classified as ‘late.’
This story is another example of the element of God intervening at specific times throughout the narrative surrounding the Advent of Jesus. From the timing of the census, to the time of the appearance of the birth-announcement star, to the timing of the birth of John Baptist, and so on, “God’s time” runs throughout the story. We should expect nothing less when we read it.
Galatians 4:4 says, “But when the right time came, God sent His Son.” All of these events worked together to show that God intervened in a particular segment of the timeline of history. Control over Zachariah’s speech, in the way and time of God’s choosing, was yet another demonstration of God’s perfect plan for the presentation of his Son to the world.
It happened on time, God’s time.
“Father, thank you that you work within our lives, in the way and time of your choosing. Thank you for accepting our limitations, and we are aware that there is a very long list of those! Today, we especially thank you once again for the marvelous and miraculous way you knit together the wonderful threads of this Advent story to present Jesus to the world. And you did so, at just the right time!”
Freddy Boswell 