The Fullness of Time

J Charles Sisti

Description

It is hard to believe that a Nazarite couple would change the course of history, but they did. Their part to play in the large scheme of things, placed together by an omnipotent God, was only one in a myriad of events that came together to form what the Apostle Paul called the "Fullness of Time".From Caesar's census to Herod's obsession and pride, to the visitation of an angelic host to some shepherds in Bethlehem all the way to assisting some Travelers from the East to find the new born King of the Jews, come read how Yahweh controled every detail for His Son to come to our world; to do one thing, seek and save that which is lost!
The Fullness of Time is a Christian fiction based on the scripture Galatians 4:4-5. Walk along side key individuals as they discover how God brought all things together at the perfect time for Christ to be born. The Romans, the Magi, Herod, the shepherds, even Mary and Joseph all had important parts to play as God revealed the fullness of time.

Sujets

• Religious
• Jesús de Nazaret
• Nativity
• Jesus
• Pleroma
• Magi
• Star
• Mary
• Fiction
• Joseph
• Jésus de Nazareth

Informations

• Publié par: WestBow Press
• Date de parution: 07 décembre 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781664285125
• Langue: English

Extrait

THE FULLNESS OF TIME
 
God Sent Forth His Son
 
 
 
 
J Charles Sisti
 
 
 

 
Copyright © 2022 J Charles Sisti.
 
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
 
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
 
 
WestBow Press
A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan
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Bloomington, IN 47403
www.westbowpress.com
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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
 
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
 
Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
 
ISBN: 978-1-6642-8513-2 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-6642-8511-8 (hc)
ISBN: 978-1-6642-8512-5 (e)
 
 
WestBow Press rev. date: 11/25/2022
CONTENTS
Prelude
Chapter 1       The Magi And The Proposal
Chapter 2       All Things are Possible
Chapter 3       Good News?
Chapter 4       A Journey of The Heart
Chapter 5       Preparing for the Newborn King
Chapter 6       Silent Night, Holy Night
Chapter 7       Finding the Christ
Chapter 8       An Old Man, An Old Woman, And A Temple
Chapter 9       Unexpected Guests
Chapter 10     The Escape to Egypt
Index
PRELUDE
Joseph began to twitch, jerking lightly, and then, mumbled some words that were inaudible to the ear, but it did awaken Mary. As before, an Angel of the Lord came to Joseph and He said, “Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be you there until I bring you the word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.”, and as quickly as the Angel appeared in Joseph’s dream, He was gone.
Before Mary had a chance to call out to Joseph, he sat up, and with his eyes as wide as he could get them, he said, “Mary, we must get up and go, NOW!”
“Why, Joseph?”, Mary asked.
“God just told me in a dream that wicked King Herod is going to try to kill our son, Jesus, tonight. We need to pack as quickly as we can and leave!”, said Joseph.
“Where are we going?” asked Mary.
“God said”, was here that Joseph stared at Mary blankly, for just a heartbeat, and then finished, “Egypt. We are to stay there until God tells us to come home!”
“Then there is nothing left to do but obey. God has not led us astray and He will not now”, said Mary as she and Joseph began to dress.
Joseph gathered things needed for the trip and this gave Mary ample time to get the goods together, clothing and food, and dress Jesus, who was still half asleep.
By the time Joseph and his family were dressed and ready to leave, Joseph could make out the sounds of the soldiers running here and there, and the screams of women wailing in the streets. Joseph’s heart swelled with fear and he became scared for his family, especially Jesus, so he was determined to escape before anything did.
When they were dressed and ready to leave, Joseph packed up the gifts left by the Magi, stuffed them into a sack, and was ready to leave. They were blessed indeed that God had warned them that the soldiers were coming, so out the door, they went.
Quickly down the street and alleyways this couple ran, running to save their lives, but to be truthful, it was not their life they feared would be taken, but the very life of their two-year-old. They had moved down two streets by way of alley passages, making their way to a friend’s door.
They soon arrived to which Joseph began to beat upon the door, causing his friend to arrive and say, “Joseph, have you seen what is going on?’ ‘we were on the rooftop watching all the soldiers running here and there looking for God only knows.’ ‘There is screaming going on’, but before he could finish Joseph blurted out. “Eli, where is my cart, I need to use it to escape?”
“Why Joseph are the soldiers after you?’, at that moment Joseph nodded his son’s way causing Eli to say, ‘Oh, I see, go and may the God of Abraham guard you!”
Joseph turned toward Mary and said, “You and Jesus stay here I will come with the cart!”
Joseph cautiously, disappeared around the corner of the house, as Mary held Jesus very close. Eli looked at Mary and said, “What on earth is happening?’ ‘There are cries and shouts everywhere?”
“Eli, if I understand what I heard with my ears, I believe they are, for some reason, killing children!” said Mary.
It was not long before Joseph returned with the wagon. He jumped off the wagon, like a well-trained soldier, and landing close to Mary he said, “Get on board, NOW!”
Jesus sat down beside Mary as Joseph made sure the belts were tight and secure upon the horse. Jesus looked up at Mary and said with an assuring smile, “Ima”. Mary stared down at Him as He continued, “Not be sad, God with us.”
Mary smiled and said, “That is for certain my son. Now hold on to Ima and close your eyes if you want.” Jesus snuggled as close to Mary as He could and shut His eyes tight.
Joseph raised the reins high, snapped them downward, and yelled for the horse to gallop. The horse, pulling the wagon, went as fast as he could down the road south upon the highway leading to the city of Ascalon on the coastline. From there, they would travel to the great city of Gaza which would give them a coastline shot to Egypt and any number of cities found there to hide within.
Chapter One
THE MAGI AND THE PROPOSAL
A ncient Rome was a thriving civilization that began growing on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8 th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the Peninsula was the city of Rome; it expanded to become the largest empire at the time of Mary and Joseph.
Down the great hallway of the Roman capital building walked an accomplished emperor named, Caesar Augustus. Born into an old, wealthy branch of the Plebeian Octavian family, Augustus was adopted after the death of his immediate mother and father by his maternal great-uncle Gaius Julius Caesar. His real name was Gaius Octavius and he lived from 63 BCE. to 14 A.D. Because Julius Caesar had legally adopted Octavius as his son, Octavius took the name Caesar from Julius, which in later years became a name almost equivalent to the emperor. Together with Mark Antony and Marcus Lepidus, he formed the Second Triumvirate to defeat the assassins of Caesar. His Triumvirate was a group of three men who worked together with their forces and were responsible for public administration or civil authority in the government system of Rome.
After a heavy season of fighting and following their victory at Philippi, the Triumvirate divided the Roman Republic between them and ruled as military dictators. The Triumvirate was eventually torn apart, as most divisions do, due mainly to internal strife and squabbling and competing ambitions of its members with Lepidus being driven into exile and stripped of his position. Mark Antony committed suicide following his defeat at the Battle of Actium by Augustus in 31 BCE. and so began the reign of Rome’s first official Caesar. After the demise of the Second Triumvirate, Augustus restored the outward facade of the Free Republic with governmental power vested in the Roman Senate, the executive magistrates, and the legislative assemblies. It was a glorious rebuilding of a legislative body that would rule for an exceptionally long time.
In reality, however, he retained his autocratic power over the Republic as a military dictator and he could overrule the Senate at any time if he so chose. By law, Augustus held a collection of powers granted to him for life by the Senate including supreme military command and those of tribune and censor.
As Augustus strolled down the great hall leading to the Senate chamber, he contemplated to himself the need for a worldwide census so that he could collectively collect and retain some much-needed taxes when a Senator, Achilles approached him in the hall.
“Caesar, the Senate has recessed for the morning and will reconvene in the afternoon, possibly, after they end their meal.”
“That will be fine, Achilles, I have to work out some details of this new census that I will be presenting to them.’ ‘It will assist us in gathering taxes and at the same time look just and fair-minded to the populous.”
“Really Caesar, and what will be the cycle of such a census”, asked Achilles.
“Every fourteen years we will conduct such a census and gather much-needed taxes to keep our coffers filled so that I may fulfill my building projects.’ I plan on rebuilding the temples of the old gods and encouraging art, literature, and philosophy within our educational system”, replied Augustus as he eyed his scroll.
“That would be fantastic, Caesar, how soon would we begin such a census”, asked Achilles.
“Why this year of course’, Augustus unrolled his scroll to another section and then continued, ‘now what to do with the execution of this census is to begin here at home and work our way to the four corners o