Surely God wanted to send a Savior at the
earliest possible time in our history,
so that we all my be cleansed of our sins
and permitted to join Him in paradise.
But why not 2000 years earlier?
Or 4,000 years?
Or more?
Why did the Messiah come at the time He did?
His timing is, of course, was perfect.
I believe He had to wait for the Roman Empire to be established.
The Roman Empire was expansive, sweeping from Europe to Asia.
No empire prior was so vast.
If there was not a vast empire,
the story of Jesus's ministry, death and resurrection
would remain local,
never to be spread "world wide".
God's word could not have gone "viral" in a smaller setting.
The Romans were masterful road builders.
No culture prior built the quality of roads as they did,
some of their roads are still seen today!
They maintained and protected their roads
to promote trade and travel.
One could safely traverse their Empire to share God's word,
which is exactly what Paul and many others did.
The Roman Empire valued education and philosophy.
They were open to knew ideas.
They assimilated other cultures and the tolerated religious differences.
Other empires strove to annihilate and replace cultures with their own.
If Romans conquered and annihilated peoples
then there would be no Hebrews to pass on their traditions
and prophecies of the Messiah.
There would no longer be a "House of David"
for the Messiah to be born in to.
Jesus had to fulfill these Jewish prophecies
so He would be recognized as God
and the people would understand
who He is
and why He was here.
The Romans may have allowed freedom of religion,
but they also did oppress people, terribly.
Because of suffering and oppression
Jews were looking for the coming of their Messiah
to liberate them.
Gentiles were looking for an end to their suffering.
Because of their suffering
they were open to the ideas and teachings of
a God who loved them and was personal to them,
unlike the Roman gods.
All these "ingredients" created the first opportunity
for God to complete His work in man,
by fulfilling the promise of a Savior and Messiah.
So truly, no earlier in history
could the Son of Man come to live among us
and then to later
die for us.
