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[Panda Bear]

Why did God choose the time he did to send Jesus?

It seems to me that when an all knowledgeable, all powerful god puts in place an ultimatum that concerns eternity. (eternity. Our minds cannot fathom eternity mind you.)

He/she/they would at least give EVERYONE the CHANCE to participate in said ultimatum.

What did God do with the millions of souls that simply never had the opportunity to be even informed there was an ultimatum?

I mean... what about the people of year 0 or whatever in the Americas? (Of which NOBODY knew of... debatably even Jesus... I.E. why wouldn't Jesus tell anyone there MILLIONS more people over there that needed the word spread to) God would have a better plan than "needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few"... this seems obvious.

[jimwalton]

All such dialogue about why Jesus came during the time He did is speculative at best, but it can still be fun. Let's try.

1. It was the only era (since 586 BC) that the Temple existed. It doesn't even exist now, in our modern era. The Temple played into various of Jesus's teachings, illustrations, and parables. It also played an important role in the crucifixion scene: the possible slaying of the Passover Lamb just at the point of his death (3 p.m), and the veil being torn. These are items of high symbolism for OT-NT correlation, and essential to the message of Jesus.

2. For that matter, it was an ideal time because of the existence of Jerusalem as the center of Judaistic practice. Dragged into exile in 586, partially restored (but weakly) in about 445 BC, smacked down by Antiochus Epiphanes and the Maccabean revolt, but finally gloriously rebuilt by Herod the Great. It was a golden era for Judaism, a ripe environment for a Messiah who would confront empty ritualistic practices with a new covenant written on the heart.

3. It was a prime time of the Roman Empire, allowing enhanced communication through common languages, free travel, and relative safety. It was a comfortable time for a message to spread freely in and between Asia, Africa, and Europe.

While other eras of the future offered far more historiographical tools, like video technology, the convergence of Temple, Judaism, and Rome were blockbusters that have even to this day not been repeated.

And while literacy rate was low (but distinctly higher in Palestine where the Jewish culture valued being able to read the Torah), and written works were limited, we still have enough written records to faithfully reconstruct the life and teaching of Jesus. Even in our era of sneaky and sometimes imperceptible digital editing, one can't necessarily trust the written or the video word.

What about people who came before Him, or those who came after, or who lived elsewhere in the world and couldn't know Him? No matter when He came, that would be the case. So does everyone have a chance to participate in His salvation? Not in the same way, of course. Some knew Him and some didn't; some get to read the accounts (like us), and some don't (like the Sentinelese). The Bible says that God knows how to be fair with everyone. That's what we hang out hats on.

> why wouldn't Jesus tell anyone there MILLIONS more people over there that needed the word spread to)

Even if they could understand what Jesus was saying, they didn't have the means to get there. The maritime development and technology didn't yet exist.