Why did God Choose the Land of Canaan for the Location of the Birth of the Messiah?

If you look at a map of the world, Israel is positioned on an axis between Africa, the Middle East, Europe and Asia. God could have placed the nation of Israel anywhere on the planet for the arrival of the Messiah. According to the Book of Genesis, God directed Abraham to migrate from Ur in the Chaldees to his ultimate destination - the geographic position where Israel is located. Abraham’s journey covered thousands of miles and ended in a sparsely settled area of no seeming importance in 1700BC. The spot selected by God would eventually be centrally located among the civilized nations of the world. That spot would also be on the junction of two road and water transportation routes between two of the largest empires in the history of the world – the Roman Empire in the West and the Han Empire in the East.

For the message of the gospel to spread rapidly through the world, the followers of the Messiah would need access to rapid transit. Jesus was born just as the two largest road systems on the planet were completed and connected together. The Roman road system ringed the entire Mediterranean and reached the Euphrates River by the time of Augustus Caesar. At the same time, the Silk road system was being completed that reached from the Euphrates River to the East coast of China. A person could travel by road from the Atlantic coasts of Europe and Africa to the Pacific coast of China. The road system interlinked Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.

In addition to the world’s largest road system, there were two water routes that expanded the reach of travelers on the road system. The Roman water route extended from England to the Mediterranean Sea coast of Israel and the Black Sea coast of Ukraine. The Silk water route extended from southern Israel down the East coast of Africa then north around the Arabian Peninsula to India then Malaysia and finally China and Indonesia in the Far East.

The crucial time period for the spread of the gospel began at Jesus’ ascension and slowly ended as his followers who were eyewitnesses to the gospel events died one by one. From the birth of Jesus until 69 AD, the Roman empire was extremely peaceful. The Roman road and water routes were unusually safe since the the Mediterranean Sea had been completely cleared of pirates and the road system was clear of bandits due to the efforts of the Roman Empire. Since there were no active wars inside the borders of the Roman empire the roads were relatively free of military traffic and easily accessed by private citizens. During that time period, the apostle Paul travelled from Syria to Greece, Spain, and then Rome. Many of the other apostles travelled throughout the two transportation systems. Peter travelled to Egypt and then to Syria and eventually Rome. According to traditional sources, Matthew travelled to the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula and Thomas travelled to India.

The list of the seventy disciples provided by the second century church leader Hippolytus shows that the disciples became bishops of the major cities along the entire Roman road system. This road system was used to move mail throughout the empire. The letters of Paul travelled along these roads to their addressees. The Roman and Silk transportation routes enabled the early leaders of the Christian church to stay closely connected with each other while they spread the gospel and shared the texts of the New Testament. The Christian missionary effort was unprecedented in the ancient world for the amount of distance it covered in a single generation. In fact, no other religion has ever covered that amount of distance in that amount of time in history. God selected the perfect geographic spot for the rapid spread of the gospel through the civilized world - 1700 years before the birth of the Messiah.

Dr. J. Michael Clontz – Editor of The Comprehensive New Testament