Another reason why Christ did not come soon after the flood probably was that the earth might be full of people, that Christ might have the more extensive kingdom, and that the effects of His light and power and grace might be glorified, and that His victory over Satan might be attended with the more glory in the multitude of His conquests. It was also needful that the coming of Christ should be many ages after Moses, that the church might be prepared which was formed, by Moses, for His coming, by the Messiah’s being long prefigured, and by His being many ways foretold, and by His being long expected. It was not proper that Christ should come before the Babylonish captivity because Satan’s kingdom was not then come to the height. The heathen world, before that, consisted of lesser kingdoms. But, God saw meet that the Messiah should come in the time of one of the four great monarchies of the world. Nor was it proper that He should come in the time of the Babylonish monarchy, for it was God’s will that several general monarchies should follow one another, and that the coming of the Messiah should be in the time of the last, which appeared above them all. The Persian monarchy, by overcoming the Babylonian, appeared above it. And so, the Grecian, by overcoming the Persian, appeared above that. And, for the same reason, the Roman above the Grecian. Now, it was the will of God that His Son should make His appearance in the world in the time of this greatest and strongest monarchy, which was Satan’s visible kingdom in the world that, by overcoming this, He might visibly overcome Satan’s kingdom in its greatest strength and glory, and so obtain the more complete triumph over Satan himself.
From: A History of the Work of Redemption, Containing the Outlines of a Body of Divinity in an Entirely New Method by Jonathan Edwards (Philadelphia: Presbyterian Board of Publication, 1774), p. 173.
