“For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly” (Romans 5:6).
Bills have due dates. Work projects, school assignments, library materials on loan, and babies have due dates.
Jesus had a due date in human history.
When the fullness of time had come God sent forth His Son—born of a virgin, born under Moses’ Law (Galatians 4:4)–so He could gather together into one all things in Christ (Ephesians 1:10) through the preaching of His word (Titus 1:3).
When the time drew near for humanity’s Day of Atonement the Lamb of God “steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem” (Luke 9:51). At all previous feast days—when His time had not yet come—He had steadfastly refused to be forced or cajoled into varying from God’s foreordained timetable (John 6:4-15; 7:2-8). When He knew that His hour had come, it troubled His soul, but He did not pray for God’s deliverance from it (John 12:27).
On His due date as the Son of Man, Mary brought forth her firstborn son, wrapped Him in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in a manger (Luke 2:7). On His due date as the Lamb of God, Christ died for the ungodly—the just for the unjust, the mighty for the impotent, the godly for the ungodly, the holy for the profane, the sinless for the sinful, the pristine for the polluted.
What a due date!
