The Silence Between the Testaments (4)
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So again 400 years of silence.
no prophet, no visions, no angelic visitiations. Hearts are growing cold, people are wondering away, life is just going on.
Children are born, grow up, and die without hearing a single fresh word from the Lord. Generations come and go, God still doesn’t speak.
The temple is there, but the glory is gone, The priests are offering sacrifices, but the fire of God doesn’t fall, the scrolls are read, but the voice that wrote them seems so far away.
ANd somewhere in the silence people get comfortable.
The Pharseees build religion, Sadducees take away miracles. Rome builds roads and politcal power, and hell build strongholds.
But the silence was never empty, because while man forgot who God really was,
God was planning a Grand entrance.
11 “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord God, “when I will send a famine on the land— not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord.
12 They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, to seek the word of the Lord, but they shall not find it.
The Silence Was the Strategy
God stopped spreaking because he was working. He was putting the pieces in place and sometimes a good strategy needs to be layed out through silence.
Roman roads were being built—made it easier and faster to carry the Gospel.
The Greek language grew and amde it easier for the first time for the Gospel to be understood in multiple nations
Religion began coming up short—people’ were hungry and desperate for something new.
When it feels like God is doing nothing, He’s often doing more than you can imagine—you just can’t hear it yet.
But God had warned them. He told them this time was coming. The plan of Jesus wasn’t sporadic, it was specific and it was planned.
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 He was in the beginning with God.
Jesus is all through out the bible. God never leaves you without words. Sometimes you just have to be willing to look for them. The Old Testament is full of hints to what God was going to do. Wednesday nights, as they go through Genesis and now exodus we can see the thread of salvation. From the first animal sacrifice for sin that made Adam and Eve clothes to the red blood in the river—the first of 10 plagues, Jesus was everywhere. Isaiah is full of prophesies concerning Jesus and there were over 300 prophesies fulfilled by Jesus.
In fact scouring these words it’s how the wise men knew where to find Jesus.God even laid hints to his silence.
And if you are faithful to his written word, it’ll carry you through until you get back his spoken word.
5 They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet:
And here’s the kicker—
It wasn’t the religious elite who scoured the Scriptures to find Jesus. It wasn’t even a Jewish person who scoured the Scriptures. The location of Jesus was found by the “outsider” gentiles.
You don’t need a pulpit to read the words and be obedient to God. You don’t need to wait for the Popular Pastor’s to uncover some great mystery and guide you in your life. When the religous people are busy arguing over vain theology you can walk out a real and powerful relationship.
We know these men read the scriptures because they were able to recite it, but they weren’t Pharasees, they weren’t Sadduccees, and they wren’t even Jewish.
They may have been scholars or astrologists, but it isn’t your birthright that determines if you find Jesus, it’s your desire to find Him even when he isn’t speaking.
Everything you need to know is written; God’s spoken word will only confirm what he already wrote. Often times when we are looking for God to speak
We aren’t waiting on God to come up with something; we’re waiting on God to reveal the next step in the finished work.
We aren’t waiting for God to figure out how to build the church— we’re waiting for the next step.
You aren’t trying tog et God to find a way out of your problem, your just waiting for the next step.
You’re loved on that you’re praying for isn’t lost—God’s just waiting to reveal the next step.
20 He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you
You aren’t waiting for it’s creation—you’re waiting for it’s manifestation.
This is when God’s breaks the silence.
When all the pieces of the puzzle are in place. He doesn’t come down with abooming voice, another hand writting on the wall, a well known speaker or evangelist. He doesn’t even use a prophet.
An angel appears to a young girl, in a humble house, and then a baby cries in a lowly manger.
God’s biggest reveals often comes to humble people who are just willing to obey God’s word.
Because if you don’t learn to obey God’s word you’ll never obey God’s voice.
12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
You can’t overlook the small moments because the whisper you hear today may be the Word that changes history tomorrow.
YOu can’t downplay your usability. YOu may not come from the right side of the tracks, have the right name, have the right amount of money. You may have struggled to even get to church tomorrow, but God doens’t see as huamns see. He saw an obedient girl who wanted to His will and that’s who he used.
The Pharasees had the scritpure and the political power, but they weren’t open to God’s Spirit.
The Sadduccees had influence, but no hope
Rome had the finances, without the power of God.
And into this mess-The Word was born flesh-a Cry in the loudness of the night and only those who were tuned in would truly hear.
17 These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.
Hope is built in the Word of God.
When the Word Himself speaks, every counterfeit must be silent
The fountain didn’t just start flwoing it became flesh
37 On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.
38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ ”
39 Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
You may feel dry. You may feel like giving up. Yopu may feel hopeless, but
The Fountain himself stepped down and the silence ends with the splash of living water that refreshes your soul so that you’ll never thirst again.
Like the women at the well—dry, empty, and dying-He gave a fresh new drink, a new outlook, healing, and revival. She sprang to life and the result was an entire town coming to Jesus. You aren’t done you just need a new anointing. God isn’t finished he’s just getting started.
The silence broke, but only to those who were searching and waiting. When God goes silent in your life don’t let Satan fill you with discouragement, Go back to His word. Look for that fountain.
7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.
The guarentee just waits for those willing to work.
