“Wow, the timing of that could not have been more perfect!” I’m sure you have had your fair share of moments where this thought or a similar one came to mind.

You run into someone; you receive a note of encouragement; you’re at the right place at the right time to help someone. Recently I had this thought and afterward it got me thinking about the perfect timing of Christmas.

In the book of Galatians, Paul writes about the perfect timing of Christmas. He writes, “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons” (Galatians 4:4-5).

Consider for a moment the beginning of those two verses. “When the fullness of time had come...” It’s not exactly the words you and I would use when recounting something that had happened earlier in our day, but it is the same as when we say, “that was perfect timing!”

We find in Scripture that nothing happens outside of God’s plan and purpose. God works all things according to the counsel of his will and there is nothing that can prevent him from accomplishing his purposes (Ephesians 1:11, Isaiah 46:10, Job 42:2).

This is what Paul has in mind in these two verses when writing that God sent forth his Son when the fullness of time had come. God had purposed and planned in eternity past when his Son would come to redeem. The timing would be perfect and according to plan, and there was nothing that could stop it.

The arrival of Jesus had been promised long before his birth. In fact, the Old Testament is filled with promises of the coming Messiah, the one who would rescue his people. From the first promise of Jesus’ coming given to Adam and Eve to the message of John the Baptist, we read of the plan of God to send a Savior.

This was not something that just so happened to occur. No, this was the perfect plan of the Father and it was going to happen exactly at the perfect time.

Not only did Jesus come at the perfect time, but he came to fulfill God’s perfect plan to save. Notice that Paul says that Jesus was “born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law.” When Jesus came, he took on flesh so that he might represent man before God.

He represents us as the perfect law keeper, perfectly obeying God’s righteous requirement that we fail to uphold. His obedience took him to the cross where he would atone for the sins of those who believe.

This he does, redeeming us from the curse of the law, and reconciling us to God. The perfect Savior, fulfilling the perfect plan, at the perfect time.

Of all the perfect timing in all the world, I think we can easily say of the coming of Christ, “the timing could not have been more perfect.”