Is God Arbitrary?

I do not believe that God makes arbitrary decisions. I believe that Christianity is a faith based on facts that are revealed throughout history. Therefore, I believe that God sent His one and only Son, Jesus Christ, at just the right time, and for a particular reason. Could he have come sooner? Could he have waited a little longer? The Bible tells us that, “With God all things are possible.” So, I am sure that He could send Jesus at any moment in history. Our salvation rests on what Jesus accomplished through His death, burial, and resurrection. Without the virgin birth salvation is impossible.

From a practical point of view it would seem that there would need to be some level of social order to insure that God’s created beings would be able to do their part to carry the gospel to all people. While I am not a Jewish scholar, I would posit that Jesus could have come at any point in Jewish history. Having said that, I would ask if Jesus came any earlier would it have been possible to carry the gospel to the gentile population in the time leading up to 5 B.C.? I believe that the spread of the gospel we read about in the book of Acts would have been, at best difficult, and at worst impossible without the pax romana. From a heavenly perspective we know that God planned the incarnation before the creation to the world as expressed in 1 Peter,

²⁰For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you. (NASB)

The incarnation of Jesus was predicted in the Old Testament in order that the Jews would have a clear picture of who He was when He came. The Jews, by and large, still missed it, but it was not for paucity of evidence. In Genesis chapter 3 we see the earliest prophecy concerning Jesus,

¹⁵ And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel." (NASB)

Isaiah and Micah give us some of the most compelling prophecies concerning Jesus coming. Isaiah writes in chapter 7,

¹⁴Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign: Behold, the young woman who is unmarried and a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. (AMP)

Mary was just the right person at just the right time. The prophet Micah gives the Jewish people what should have been a very clear prophecy, and somehow they missed it. Micah says,

²But you, Bethlehem Ephratah, you are little to be among the clans of Judah; [yet] out of you shall One come forth for Me Who is to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth have been from of old, from ancient days (eternity). (AMP)

All of these signs, and many others pointed clearly to the incarnation of Jesus. Many people of the first century missed the signs, but they did point to Jesus Christ our deliverer of salvation.

Central for me is the fact that the Word became flesh. If the incarnation had not occurred, there would have been no way for me to be reconciled with God, and I would have to spend eternity separated from Him. Through the incarnation God bridges the vast abyss between the Creator and the created. Jesus proves the way for us to become more and more transformed into the image of God as purposed before time.