Day 1
Jesus, Lord of All Time
Luke 3:12
Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip was tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene, in the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John, the son of Zacharias, in the wilderness.
I began my life in the fifteenth year of Tiberius.
Luke begins his account of my life with what seems to be historical tedium. Does he seem too interested in who ruled what? The point is that God always acts to save in the ordinary moments of somebodys history. Every act of God occurred when someone was governor of something. More often than not these rulers were people of swaggering vanity. Their political sway, like their importance, was rarely as great as they imagined it to be. Still, they were each judged to be significant in their own time. I came at a definite moment in history to save human beings, and my coming was as real as the calendar itself. The dates of my life can be given the same kind of notations as the Punic Wars or the League of Nations.
I began my own preaching ministry when Herod was tetrarch of Galilee. Herod did the world little good. He was a tyrant whose father, Herod the Great, attempted to take my infant life by slaughtering all the babies in Bethlehem. Does it seem odd to you that Luke dated my own years in terms of such power-driven monsters? Should they not rather have dated their own tyrannical regimes in terms of my life? Of course, in time that would be the case.
The point to be made from all this is that I am just as historical as Herod Antipas ever was. Beware those errant scholars who teach that Tiberius was a real man, but I was not. Tiberius was neither great nor noble. He was not even a particularly good man. But do you not find it odd that no one ever says, "Tell me, do you believe in Tiberius?" Everyone believes in Tiberiusat least they believe there was a Tiberius.
But I didnt come merely to challenge Tiberius or Herod historically. I came to save all those who felt the crushing heel of their evil politics. I also came for people like youthe ageless millions throughout time whose mini-histories never made the books. I came so all who live unmarked lives and die in unmarked graves will be able to say, "I believed in Jesus in my own particular era of history and like him, behold I am alive for ever and ever" (Rev. 1:18). The life I came to give is yours to cherish. Receive and cherish this life, for if you do not it will be as though I never came at all. Come therefore and enjoy my time with you during your time on earth. I will make your life rich with my presence. Come daily and taste my everlasting love.
Prayer
Lord Jesus,
In these brief hurried days of my life, I recognize that
you are sovereign over all time. I received you in my own seemingly
unimportant time that I may be received into life eternal.
You came to us as Lord of history.
To wrap us in your saving mystery.
Amen.
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