Hope Is Born in Silence
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Intro
Intro
After the exile to Babylon: Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel, Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, Zerubbabel the father of Abihud, Abihud the father of Eliakim, Eliakim the father of Azor, Azor the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Akim, Akim the father of Elihud, Elihud the father of Eleazar, Eleazar the father of Matthan, Matthan the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, and Mary was the mother of Jesus who is called the Messiah.
The Hope that we have in the Quiet places
The Hope that we have in the Quiet places
Is Immense. Why Because God works in the Quiet Place. He works in the hard times. That is when the forging of character takes place. The grinding of spiritual maturity. The Driving pursuit of deep faith!
400 years is a long time to hear nothing!
Persia, Greece, Rome, Your Up your Down, your briefly up again and then crushed!
Nehemiah and Ezra have restored worship of Jehovah. Things seem to be going well and then God stops talking. At least there are no recorded prophets, after Malachi that is. So from About 450BC to 30BC we have nothing.
Did God abandon Israel?
During this Period Isreal would be ruled by Persia, Greece, they would be independent a short time only to be crushed by the iron fist of Rome!
Doesn’t life this way some times? You are trying to serve God, but your not getting anywhere. God seems a million miles away. These are what we would call wilderness seasons. Times when we don’t see or hear God working in our lives. No we know God didn’t pack up and leave. He was speaking to people that were open to hearing him:
Simeon
Anna the Prophetess
God sees more than you and I can imagine!
Just because we cannot see or hear God working, does not mean He is Absent and or deaf to our pains
In Gods Timing, Silence is Shattered as Light Pierces the Darkness
In Gods Timing, Silence is Shattered as Light Pierces the Darkness
400 Years:
Then God Whispers to
But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John.
GOd Heard your Prayer!
You wife will become pregnant!
Now eliizabeth was between 60-70 years old. Zachariah older than that.
God remained silent and allowed elizebeth to remain barren for 40+ years. Not because he hated her or was mad, but because He was preparing a way.
God was not ignoring Elizebeths cry. He was setting John Up to prepare the way!
And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
400 Years and the Gabriel Speaks and Says: It’s time the Messiah is on the way!
Do not mistake Gods Silence for Gods Apathy! He is working Church!
Do not mistake Gods Silence for Gods Apathy! He is working Church!
Do not assume because His timing does not match your timing that He has forgotten your need.
God saw His people in Egypt and he prepared moses.
God sees your need and He is preparing you for His redemption.
So often we get impatient and delay Gods plan. If we would but learn to rest in His Silence we would oftentimes bring about an answer more quickly.
400 years, 10 generations. God had to line up ten generations before His chosen servant Mary would be born.
God was not neglecting His duty!
He was preparing His chosen ones for this great task!
He was engineering Hope!
He was diligently working to ready this lineage so that Christ could come!
this 400 year gap is not 400 years of aimless chaos.
Its was 400 years of God laying out a framework from which Jesus and His disciples would transform the world.
When Malachi stops speaking. Rome is nothing. God had to wait until rome laid out the roads the systems from which the Gospel would be carried through ther entire World!
Hope did not fade in 400BC. It was being prepared.
For those that remained faithful to God. Despite hardship and trial. Many rewards were given.
Simeon, Anna the prophet.
Zachariah and Elizabeth.
Mary and Joseph.
When you and I remain Steadfast and cling to the Hope that we have in Jesus! It does not matter how dark the days get. We can know that Our king is Alive and working. and his hope is ever present!