Jesus Came to Redeem and Adopt (Friday, Week 1 of Advent 2011)

What did Jesus Do?

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son,
to redeem…so that we might receive adoption as sons.
Galatians 4:4-5

You’ve seen those police cars with the slogans written on them, “To Serve and Protect” haven’t you? I have to confess I have thought it kind of silly, or perhaps sad. I mean, the slogans are there either because someone thinks we have no idea what the police department’s mission is, which is silly. Or, because a police department has been so corrupt and scandal riven that someone believes the public needs to be reassured that the police actually know their mission, which is sad (Don’t get me wrong, I have a great appreciation and respect for the men and women who work in law enforcement, I’m just commenting on the slogans which seem to me totally unnecessary.). But I will concede that promoting and publicizing one’s mission might not be a bad idea, especially if the public doesn’t get it. Jesus had a definite mission, a purpose for which he came. And, if he had had a patrol car to drive around in during the time of his earthly ministry I think he might have had “To REDEEM and ADOPT” written on it, for that was his mission, that is why he came.

Now, the Lord’s mission was not initiated at some random time in history. Jesus came at the time chosen by the Father, by divine appointment we might say, the very moment, and not a minute sooner or a minute later, but when the fullness of time had come. It was the supreme Kairos moment. Kairos is one of two words the ancient Greeks had for time, the other being chronos. Chronos is time in its common, quantitative sense of seconds, minutes, days, weeks, and so on. Kairos, on the other hand, considered time in a qualitative sense. A kairos moment represents a unique and special opportunity, the propitious occasion when everything is just right.

So, at the precise moment in the course of time, and of humanity’s progress, or lack thereof, the Father sent the Son to redeem us and to secure our adoption as his daughters and sons. Not the sort of thing we would expect to happen at just any old time. Christ’s coming deserves, demands, to be understood in the qualitative sense of time, because what he accomplished, what he came to do, totally changed the quality of our life and our relationship with God. It is a transformation from a condition of slavery to the status of children. From being under the law and bound to obey the law (God’s law expressed in the Old Testament, a law of “sin and death,” see Romans 8:2 ), to being set free to obey the law (God’s law expressed in the New Testament, a law of “the Spirit of life,” see again Romans 8:2).

The coming of the Son was inarguably the supreme kairos moment, and we still look back and celebrate it every Christmas. But there are other kairos moments, and I believe these are worthy of some of our time and reflection during Advent. Even as Jesus came in the fullness of time to complete the work of redemption and adoption for all the elect, there is a special, personal, kairos moment, when, in the fullness of time in the life of every believer, we are set free by the Spirit to call God “Abba! Father!”

There is also another huge kairos moment in all our futures. For the Lord, who first came in the fullness of time, is coming back. No one but the Father knows when the time will be filled up, and this second, supreme kairos moment will come (Matthew 24:36). But we do know that it is coming, and Advent is as good a time as any for us to be reminded of this truth, and to prepare for this second coming of the Son. For, as surely as Jesus came to redeem and adopt, he is coming back to gather and bring home the ones he redeemed.

S.D.G.

Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4