Creator, Father, King #163

When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.

SILENCE.

Years and years of deafening silence.

The Jews already had been waiting a long time for God’s promised Messiah. Then the last of the great Old Testament prophecies had ceased and the final Old Testament authors had laid down their ink-stained quills. Now, it appeared, the seemingly endless wait would continue without the benefit of hearing God’s voice.

Today, we call this silent era the “intertestamental period”—a roughly four-hundred-year span between the Old and New Testaments. God had promised a great Deliverer as far back as the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:15). Moses predicted that God would “raise up for you a prophet like me” (Deuteronomy 18:15). Old Testament saints such as David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and many others proclaimed the same message: one day, God would send his Anointed One to save his people.

But when? Ever since the Assyrians and Babylonians had conquered the northern and southern kingdoms of Israel and Judah, respectively, in 722 and 586 BC, the Jews had been languishing under the rule of foreign empires—the Persians, Greeks, Syrians, and finally the Romans. If ever a people needed hope, it was the Jews.

So God’s people waited . . . and waited . . . and waited. They had to be wondering, Will God ever fulfill his promise? Will the Messiah ever come?

What’s It Mean?

Oh yes, the Savior was coming. The Lord God Almighty always keeps his promises. But he does not keep time like we do. He sees eternity all at once. “A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day. The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think” (2 Peter 3:8-9).

At just the right time, when the human stage was perfectly set according to God’s sovereign plan, the Messiah would come. He would be like nothing anyone expected and more than anyone could have hoped for. He would be God made flesh. And the silence of centuries would be shattered by the chorus of heavenly hosts.

Now What?

Find a study Bible with notes on the intertestamental period, and read more about this fascinating era of history that led up to Christ’s birth.

Did You Know?

Malachi is the last book of the Old Testament. But chronologically speaking, some biblical scholars believe that Nehemiah was the last Old Testament book written (no earlier than 423 BC.).