A few years ago, Focus on the Family shared a story about God’s providence at work in both the painful and the beautiful events of life. We often celebrate the beautiful providences and miss God’s hand in the painful ones — but God is just as active in both.

This story took place on January 10, 1948. A Hungarian immigrant named Marcel Sternberger regularly commuted from the suburbs into New York City. But on this particular day, on a whim, he did something entirely out of character. He took the morning off and visited a friend in Brooklyn. Later that afternoon, he boarded the Manhattan-bound subway to his office. Here is the story in his own words:

The car was crowded, and there seemed to be no chance of a seat. But just as I entered, a man sitting by the door suddenly jumped up to leave, and I slipped into the empty place. I've been living in New York long enough not to start conversations with strangers. But being a photographer, I have the peculiar habit of analyzing people's faces, and I was struck by the features of the passenger on my left. He was probably in his late 30s, and when he glanced up, his eyes seemed to have a hurt expression in them. He was reading a Hungarian-language newspaper, and something prompted me to say in Hungarian, "I hope you don't mind if I glance at your paper."

The man seemed surprised to be addressed in his native language. But he answered politely, "You may read it now. I'll have time later on."

During the half-hour ride to town, we had quite a conversation. He said his name was Bela Paskin. A law student when World War II started, he had been put into a German labor battalion and sent to the Ukraine. Later he was captured by the Russians and put to work burying the German dead. After the war, he covered hundreds of miles on foot until he reached his home in Debrecen, a large city in eastern Hungary.

I myself knew Debrecen quite well, and we talked about it for a while. Then he told me the rest of his story. When he went to the apartment once occupied by his father, mother, brothers and sisters, he found strangers living there. Then he went upstairs to the apartment that he and his wife once had. It also was occupied by strangers. None of them had ever heard of his family.

As he was leaving, full of sadness, a boy ran after him, calling "Paskin bacsi! Paskin bacsi!" That means "Uncle Paskin." The child was the son of some old neighbors of his. He went to the boy's home and talked to his parents. "Your whole family is dead," they told him. "The Nazis took them and your wife to Auschwitz."

[With that news]…Paskin gave up all hope [of ever seeing his wife alive again]. A few days later, too heartsick to remain any longer in Hungary, he set out again on foot, stealing across border after border until he reached Paris. He managed to immigrate to the United States in October 1947, just three months before I met him.

All the time he had been talking, I kept thinking that somehow his story seemed familiar. A young woman whom I had met recently at the home of friends had also been from Debrecen; she had been sent to Auschwitz; from there she had been transferred to work in a German munitions factory. Her relatives had been killed... Later she was liberated by the Americans and was brought here in the first boatload of displaced persons in 1946.

Her story had moved me so much that I had written down her address and phone number, intending to invite her to meet my family and thus help relieve the terrible emptiness in her life.

It seemed impossible that there could be any connection between these two people, but as I neared my station, I fumbled anxiously in my address book. I asked in what I hoped was a casual voice, "Was your wife's name Marya?"

He turned pale. "Yes!" he answered. "How did you know?"

He looked as if he were about to faint.

I said, "Let's get off the train." I took him by the arm at the next station and led him to a phone booth. He stood there like a man in a trance while I dialed her phone number.

It seemed hours before Marya Paskin answered. (Later I learned her room was alongside the telephone, but she was in the habit of never answering it because she had so few friends and the calls were always for someone else. This time, however, there was no one else at home and, after letting it ring for a while, she responded.)

When I heard her voice at last, I told her who I was and asked her to describe her husband. She seemed surprised at the question, but gave me a description. Then I asked her where she had lived in Debrecen, and she told me the address.

Asking her to hold the line, I turned to Paskin and said, "Did you and your wife live on such-and-such a street?"

"Yes!" Bela exclaimed. He was white as a sheet and trembling.

"Try to be calm," I urged him. "Something miraculous is about to happen to you. Here, take this telephone and talk to your wife!"

He nodded his head in mute bewilderment, his eyes bright with tears. He took the receiver, listened a moment to his wife's voice, then suddenly cried, "This is Bela! This is Bela!" and he began to mumble hysterically. Seeing that the poor fellow was so excited he couldn't talk coherently, I took the receiver from his shaking hands.

"Stay where you are," I told Marya, who also sounded hysterical. "I am sending your husband to you. We will be there in a few minutes."

Bela was crying like a baby and saying over and over again. "It is my wife. I go to my wife!"

At first I thought I had better accompany Paskin, lest the man should faint from excitement, but I decided that this was a moment in which no strangers should intrude. Putting Paskin into a taxicab, I directed the driver to take him to Marya's address, paid the fare, and said goodbye…¹

And I won't read all of the background, but I do want to focus on the providences that have mentioned thus far. What led him to deviate from his normal schedule? What led him to visit his friend on a work day rather than on a day-off? He was apparently an incredibly scheduled man, and that was so out of character. What led him to slip into the seat beside Paskin, or to talk to him, when he never talked to strangers? And actually, if you had read the whole story, there are a lot of questions that could have been asked of both Bella and his wife Marya in the intervening years. What led them? They didn't hear any voices or get any strange feelings of guidance. It was simply Providence. And yet it was no less God’s leading.

From hindsight we can see God’s hand everywhere in that story. Painful providences that looked like setbacks were just as necessary as the joyful ones. And the same is true of the Advent story. We call it a sweet story — but it did not feel very sweet while Mary and Joseph were living it.

Joseph lived with false accusations for the rest of his life. And Jesus was accused by His enemies of being conceived out of wedlock. Shame was heaped on them. Joseph had to leave his carpentry business, losing income at the worst possible time. But it was necessary for Jesus to be born in Bethlehem. The census forced a seventy-mile journey during the ninth month of pregnancy - hardly a comfortable providence for Mary. It would have been a tough trip for her. And when they got there, every inn was full. They couldn't even get into a home, requiring that Jesus be born in a stable designed for animals. But we can look at that story from hindsight and see that what looked like divine mistiming was actually divine precision. It was necessary to fulfill prophecy that Jesus would be a Nazarene born in Bethlehem.

And there is more. Another prophecy required that Jesus come out of Egypt. How did God's providence orchestrate that? It was by having the prophesied Wise Men from the east end up talking to the wrong guy - Herod, who was so paranoid that he was determined to find the baby Jesus (the prophesied next king), and to kill Him. And when the wise men didn't return to him, he ordered the killing of all children under two years of age in that area - an event now known as the massacre of the innocents. But this too was a fulfillment of Jeremiah 31:15, which says, "A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted, because they are no more." God orchestrated the Messiah to receive opposition from the time of his birth, and the royal significance of Ramah was also important. This in turn resulted in Joseph, Mary, and Jesus having to flee into Egypt - a 110 mile trek. Those of you who have traveled with new babies know how inconvenient long trips like that can be. And that too was symbolic of the purposes of Christ's kingdom, because as the One who represents the new Israel, He had to symbolically live in Egypt and come up out of Egypt. And there were other types and prophecies that were one by one being fulfilled.

If you were in the shoes of Joseph and Mary, how would you have reacted? It would be easy for any of us to feel sorry for ourselves and to begin to question God's providence, wouldn't it? After all, they were homeless for quite some time. Those are the kinds of questions that can test our maturity a whole lot better than a theological exam can.

Now granted, there were beautiful providences mixed in with the uncomfortable ones. There was God's guidance. There were the angels. I'm sure they rejoiced at the perfect timing of the wise men bringing gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. That was probably a financial provision that came in the nick of time, and it would have tided them over during their exile from Israel. We tend to focus on the beautiful providences like those ones and ignore the providences that we cited earlier. But often it takes hindsight for tears of anguish to become tears of joy.

This is why Romans 8:28 and Ephesians 1 matter so much. God predestines not only the outcomes, but also the entire process that leads up to that outcome. This morning we will look at three simple points, with most of our time spent on the first one.

God's timetable for your life is perfect even when it doesn't seem like it ("when the fullness of the time had come")

Point I is that God has a perfect timetable, even if it doesn't look that way. You can see that in the phrase, "when the fullness of the time had come" in verse 4. There was a fullness of time for His birth, there was a fullness of time for His death. There is a fullness of time for everything that God does, including the sale of a home, losing a job, Nate's car window being bashed in, health issues that come up (like musicians being sick this morning), the breakdown of a car, etc.

Dr. Joel Hunter once said, “The Bible clearly teaches that one moment not only follows another, but one moment builds on another toward a planned purpose or end.”

There is nothing in history that does not contribute to God’s plan. Triumphs and disappointments alike shape us. When I did my personal timeline of key events in my life back in the year 2000, it blew me away to see the degree to which my character was shaped and my ministry was formed by earlier painful events and apparently meaningless events in my childhood and later years. Of course, there is no such thing as a meaningless event. But it sure sometimes seems meaningless, doesn't it? The sovereign foundations that you had no control over as a young child, the kind of home you were born into, etc. – they all have a purpose. And it does no good to get bitter over those events.

But this concept of a fullness of time for every event has been fascinating to me for a long time. One of my most exciting adventures in studying providence began when I read R.J. Rushdoony's World History Notes more than thirty years ago. That was the first time I had ever read broad expanses of history interpreted in a way that showed how events merged and dovetailed to promote God's purposes in history. I began to see how necessary it was for Barbarians to overrun the Roman empire, how necessary it was for the plowshare to be invented exactly when it was invented. Prior to reading those notes, history courses seemed to just be a long boring listing of one isolated event after another. I didn't see those events as part of a larger pattern. But from that point on I began asking historical facts, "Why did that happen? What purpose did that serve in God's plans?" Now I will admit that I still don't have an answer for most historical events. But asking those questions has often enabled me to recognize God's hand in places that I hadn't recognized it before. Steve Wilkins is another historian who does this, and his history lectures are spell-binding. I don't necessarily agree with everything that he says, but he has a wonderful way of weaving philosophy, practical ethics, economics, religion, and history together in a fascinating collage. Actually, Dr. Godfrey at Westminster Seminary did the same thing. I loved to listen to his lectures. Now, he is a two-kingdom guy, so that is a problem, but he is a fascinating historian to listen to. The more you do providential history, the more you agree with Solomon that there is a time and a purpose for everything under heaven.

That is what Paul was saying in our passage. There was a building up, moment upon moment of numerous historical events to prepare for the incarnation. That word "fullness" is the Greek word pleroma, which simply means to fill up. It is applied to simple things like baskets being filled up with bread (Mark 8:20). But here he applies it to time: time being filled up until it had reached its full capacity.

You see, God not only created things, He created capacities that would over time be filled. In Genesis 1 He created various things and commanded that they be filled. That means He created capacities. Created capacities—whether land, people, or time—are designed to be filled according to God’s pace, not ours. That requires patience.

Prophecy works the same way. Fulfillment is cumulative. Thousands of prior events fill up the moment when prophecy comes true.

And the same is true in your life. Preparatory stages are not wasted stages - no matter how painful they may be. Covenant succession itself requires patience beyond a single lifetime. What you do now matters — even when results seem delayed. Our labors in the Lord are not in vain. They all contribute to God's purposes in history.

Before Christ’s birth, God used even sinful tyrants to prepare the way. For example, Roman tyranny built roads for the Gospel to travel faster, and soldiers to guard those roads and seas from pirates. Rome did it for imperialistic purposes, but God used it to spread the Gospel faster. Greek dominance through their empire spread a common language. Jewish dispersion (which was initially painful) created synagogues across the empire that were easy launching pads for the Gospel. God did not waste any of it — and He does not waste what you are experiencing now.

I think of my Grandpa Kayser who was drafted into the German army and trained for the advance guard during World War I. During training he dislocated his shoulder so many times that he was eventually placed into the kitchen as a cook. But in the kitchen he couldn't even lift a bag of flour without dislocating his shoulder, so he was eventually discharged from the army altogether. Later he found out that he was the only one of his entire unit who survived. I wouldn’t be alive today if it wasn’t for his dislocated shoulder. That dislocated shoulder at the time seemed like such a bad thing to happen. Yet it was God's blessing as he was filling up event after event that would be needed for later events. Other bad things happened that forced him to emigrate to Canada. And looking back on it we can see God's hand all the way through – even in the tragedies. He would not have been motivated to emigrate apart from those tragedies, and may have gotten in trouble in Nazi Germany. Instead he came to Canada. And my parents have told me of time after time when little events in Grandpa and Grandma's life later became absolutely essential for my parents going to the missionfield.

When we are tempted to get upset with a traffic jam, we need to be convinced that even that traffic jam is part of the filling up of time for God's perfect purposes. That God is working all things together for my good. Let me read Ecclesiastes 3:1-8. Actually, before I read that, let me point out that earlier in the book Solomon had talked about how meaningless historical events seem to those who are not walking rightly with the Lord. To them it seems like vanity of vanities - all is vanity. But listen to Ecclesiastes 3:1-8. It gives an entirely different perspective for the person who walks by faith. It says,

To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die [think about that when you have trouble getting pregnant, or when a loved one dies. God's timing is perfect, even though it may not always seem so. Verse 2 continues:] a time to plant, and a time to pluck what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones; and a time to gather stones; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to gain, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to throw away; a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

If all things work together for your good, then it is impossible for God to make a mistake in timing. The events that you now view as frustrating may indeed be the proverbial Greece or Rome being (not good in themselves) used to prepare you (the outcome being good). Trust His timing. Learn to humble yourselves under God's sovereign hand. It doesn't mean that you should be passive. We must never be passive. We must take dominion. But trust His timing as you do your best to move forward.

God's sovereign initiative in your life is perfect even when it doesn't seem like it ("God sent forth")

The second point is that we need to trust God's sovereign initiative. God is not reacting to chaos, to bad people, or to things that have messed up His plans. He takes initiative. “God sent forth His Son.” This was planned, promised, timed, and empowered. Perfect timing requires perfect control. It was a planned act promised in Genesis 3:15 and timed to the very year in Daniel 9. Either history is governed by sovereignty or by chance. There is no third option. R. J. Rushdoony put it this way:

Because our age is so thoroughly humanistic, it is in rebellion against predestination, which is simply the assertion of God's sovereignty, government, and control. Humanism insists that man must be in control, and socialism and communism, as well as scientific planning, psychological controls, and other attempts of man to control man and nature, are simply assertions of predestination by man. The only alternative to the doctrine of predestination is the assertion of the reign of total chance, of meaninglessness and brute factuality. The real issue is what kind of predestination we shall have, predestination by God or predestination by man? Shall we accept God's eternal decree, His total planning, or will we submit to man's total planning, man's dream of playing god and planner over all creation." (The Biblical Philosophy of History, p. 6)

God's sovereignty is demonstrated over and over again through the Advent story. If this is a universe of meaning, then it can't be a universe of chance events. But those are your only alternatives. Either God is sovereign and every event has meaning and purpose or chance rules and no event can have historical meaning.

When God commands us to plan, He is not commanding us to invent the future, predestine the future, or control the future. We can't. Yes, we must plan, but Biblical planning involves a sensitivity to what God is doing and getting on board with His sovereign initiative, and submitting to Him when He changes our plans.

So we have already looked at two points: the Christmas story is a story of perfect timing (even though it didn't look like it) and the Christmas story is a story of perfect sovereign initiative on God's part (even though it didn't look like it).

God's plan for your future is perfect even when it doesn't look like it (vv. 4-5)

But the third point is that God's plan for your future is perfect even when it doesn't look like it. You might be thinking, "God has ruined my life. This doesn't look perfect at all!" But it is a perfect plan. It's not just an issue of timing and power. It is an issue of wisdom and goodness. The plan for Joseph, Mary, and many generations after them is stated succinctly in verses 4-5.

But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to [here is the purpose clause: "to"] redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, ‘Abba, Father!' Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

That is an incredible plan! He had to be a man to represent us to God, and so in some way He had to be related to the human race. So the text says that He was born of a woman. But He had to be God to represent God to us, so this Jesus had a prior existence as the Second Person of the Trinity. God sent forth His Son. The Son existed before He was made of the woman. He came down from heaven in the incarnation.

But how Jesus was born of the woman had land mines that needed to be avoided as well. If He inherited a sin nature from Adam, He could not be our Savior. Our Savior would have to be perfect. So how could He truly be a man without inheriting a sin nature? Well, you women will get a kick out of this, but in God's patriarchal economy, the sin nature is passed on to all of us from our human fathers, not from the mothers. So no male father was involved in this incarnation. If you look in the margin, you will see that the word for "born" is literally, "made." He was "made from a woman." God took her egg (so Jesus is flesh of her flesh, and through her Jesus became related to humanity), but God provided the missing genetic material by a creative act. Half of His DNA was created out of nothing. But if Jesus was to represent us, He had to be born under the law – both under its requirements and duties as well as under its curses, so that He could bear the curse for us. God had to walk a very fine line to make Jesus our Savior. Where you would expect a father to be mentioned as begetting, none is mentioned. Instead Paul says that He was sent forth by God the Father. Jesus had to be the God-man, and His humanity had to be undefiled. And the more you meditate on the incredible nature of the Incarnation (and there entire books that have been written on this) the more you realize that it was indeed a perfect plan.

Our whole future is tied up with Jesus being the culmination of a perfect plan. It is through His Sonship that we can be adopted as sons and daughters, and it is by our union with Him that we can receive the Spirit (verse 6) and be made heir of all things (verse 7). When you study all that was involved in our salvation – and these verses are just a tiny (though an incredible) summary – you begin to realize that God's plan is astounding, perfect, beautiful. It may not have seemed like it at the time, but it was good. So, God's timing was perfect, His sovereign initiative was perfect and His plan was perfect.

R.J. Rushdoony says,

Time and history therefore have meaning because they were created in terms of God's perfect and totally comprehensive plan. Every blade of grass, every sparrow's fall, the very hairs of our head, all are comprehended and governed by God's eternal decree, and all have meaning in terms of it. The humanist faces a meaningless world in which he must strive to create and establish meaning. The Christian accepts a world which is totally meaningful and in which every event moves in terms of God's predestined purpose, and, when man accepts God as his Lord and Christ as his Savior, every event works together for good to him because he is now in harmony with that meaning and destiny (Rom. 8:28).

And that quote was from page 8 of The Biblical Philosophy of History, which is probably my second favorite of all of Rushdoony's books.² It's one of his easier books to read.

But back to point III. Do you view everything in your life as meaningful? That perspective helps to fuel gratitude and joy - yes, joy even in the midst of suffering. It can enable you to fulfill Paul's admonition to be thankful in all things, and to fulfill another admonition that we are to rejoice in the Lord always. And by the way, it is possible to have an underlying joy of faith even while weeping. The two are compatible. Even the painful and sad events should be seen as part of 1) God's good timing, 2) His sovereign initiative, 3) and His perfect plan for you. Those are three ways in which God is for you. And if God is for you, who can be against you? Amen? Amen.