Look at Galatians 4:1-5 as a whole. It was at the time appointed of the Father.
Galatians 1:4-5
Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all;
but is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father.
Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world:
but when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
(emphasis mine)
Yes, I agree that was the big picture.
I don't see any borders between my free will and your election in the explanations of this study.
I think we will agree for the most part, Ken. Maybe?
I think the Silent Years had much to do with the preparation of the 1st advent, in several ways.
Malachi closed out the OT with the Holy Land in control of the Persians, and the Gospels opened up under control of the Roman Empire.
In those approximate 400 years the Greek Empire under Alexander the Great came and went leaving a huge impact of Greek culture.
The language barrier was for the most part broken with Greek being a common language, a necessity for the spreading of the Gospel.
The Sanhedrin although formed over a thousand years or so before Christ, left the meaning of the Sacrifice in the Law that represented Christ and began perverting the Law in that 400 years to the point of not even recognizing their Messiah when He came.
Lots of other points to take in but God could have sent Christ at a time when He would have been accepted, but He didn't. Christ was sent in the fulness of time when He knew Christ would be rejected by Israel. Not that He determined it to happen, but knew it would happen at this time.
Christ was determined by God before the foundation of the world to die for the sins of man, so it seems the actual calling of Christ to be the light to the Gentiles through Israel will be fulfilled at a later date in time. Paul said God has not changed His mind concerning Israel's calling.
God used the apostles to take the Gospel to the Gentiles to build the Church and evangelize the world in Israel's place. But only until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled, and then Israel will have another chance at fulfilling their calling during the 1000 year reign of Christ on earth, and they won't fail this time.
