400 Silent Years

Bible Study with Pastor Terry Gray


400 Silent Years


Malachi ends with a promise that a Messiah like Elijah would come. And then, 400 years of silence went by before the New Testament takes off, with Gabriel starting things off with the prophesy of John being born and in the spirit and power of Elijah (Luke 1:5-25). This prophesy also intimately links the Old Testament with the New Testament.


The 400 Silent Years are "silent" because God was silent during that time. There was no revelation during that entire period of time. There was no inspired book of the bible produced during that period. There was no prophet.


However, God was not inactive. In fact, He prepared for His final Word to come: Jesus.


400 BC
Malachi finished his book; he was the last prophet to write.


397 BC
The Medo-Persian Empire ruled the world. King Cyrus allowed the Israelites to go back to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple and the city.


Although the Israelites were under captivity, there was one good thing that came out of it: The captivity purged idolatry. When the Israelites went back to Jerusalem, they no longer worshiped false gods; they worshiped only God. They also adopted a greater respect for the Old Testament. The Scribes began to meticulously copy the Old Testament. How meticulous? Each word in Hebrew has a number. When the Scribes finish copying a page, they would add up the word values, which need to match the original. If the value does not add up perfectly, instead of finding the mistake, they burn the copy and start over.


Synagogues also were constructed during that tie to provide a place where the Israelites could gather during sabbath to study the Bible and worship.


336 BC
Alexander the Great came into power, establishing the Grecian Empire. One of his goal was the Hellenization of the world, to have the world follow Greek culture, philosophy, religion, and language. This Hellenization movement polarized the Israelites, splitting them into two camps: Those who supported the movement became known as the Hellenistic Jews and those who didn't became the Orthodox Jews.


323 BC
Alexander the Great died. The Grecian Empire split into 4 different regions.


323-198 BC
The Egyptian region, under Ptolemy's rule, gained the most power of the 4 regions, ruled and annexed Jerusalem.


During this period, Hellenism continued to spread. Seventy Hellenistic Jewish elders went to Alexandria to translate the Old Testament from Hebrew to Greek. This translation is known as the Septuagint.


The rivalry between the Hellenistic and Orthodox Jews continued.


198 BC
The northern region of Syria began to gain control and took over Jerusalem. This was the darkest period for the Israelites during these 400 years. The Syrians persecuted them.


167 BC
Antiochus Epiphanes desecrated the Temple in Jerusalem and slaughtered the Israelites, forbidding them to worship God and offer sacrifices in the Temple.


Dec. 16, 167 BC
Epiphanes slaughtered a pig on the altar of the Holy of Holies, one of the darkest moment of the Israelites' history. At this point, they began praying for their Messiah.


165 BC
Mattathias Maccabees refused to sacrifice to Epiphanes. He killed the Syrian servant who demanded it to be done, along with the Israelite who offered to perform the sacrifice in Mattathias' place. Mattathias then fled, and many Israelites followed him. They began to fight against their oppressors. The Maccabees ("hammers") took on the Syrians multiple times.


Dec 25, 165 BC
The Maccabees cleansed the Temple, took it out of hostile hands, and rededicated it. This feat is celebrated today as Hanukkah.


165-63 BC
The Israelites, because of the Macabeans, were able to gain some relieve. They lived in peace and independence. This was a great period of time for them. However, they continued to split within. The Hellenistic Jews became the ultra liberals, the Sadducees (They do not believe in the resurrection). The Orthodox Jews became the Pharisees. The Scribes also became its own sect. These were only a few of the many fractions of groups that formed.


63 BC
The rising Roman Empire invaded and conquered Israel. From 63 BC on, Israel would be under the yoke of Rome, suffering from heavy taxes and abuse. Worse, the Romans placed the Israelites under the rule of Edomites (Esau's descendants). Of course, the Israelites hated the taxes and the leaders, but nothing was worse than being put under the Edomites. The Israelites called the Edomites "half-Jews."


From the Edomites' line came the Harrods.


4 BC
The new Temple was built by Harrod the Great. Though the Israelites loved it, they were still distraught about not having control over their own land and continuously cried out for a deliverer.


And then, Gabriel announces John's arrival.


We see from God's timing that God may have been silent during those 400 years but He wasn't asleep. He's been working behind the scenes, setting the world up for Jesus' arrival.


Example 1: When Jesus was birthed, the world spoke Greek. The Greek language is vivid, detailed, and exact; a great language for documentation. Greek was the language of commerce, culture, etc. The New Testament would be written in Greek. At that time, the Old Testament had already been translated into Greek. Since everyone in the world spoke Greek, and the Bible was written in Greek, it allowed this explosive expansion of the Word.


Example 2: The world was living in unity under Rome when Jesus was born. The "Peace of Rome" was a forced peace, but as long as people paid the taxes, they were free to do whatever they wanted. So, it was peace nevertheless.


Example 3: The Romans also built roads linking the cities. Jesus walked those roads. This beautiful network of highways, the Apostles took those roads to spread the Gospel, from Jerusalem to Judea to Samaria and to the ends of the world.


Example 4: The synagogue network had greatly expanded. Jesus went from city to city speaking in synagogues. Paul looked for synagogues to speak in when he went on his missions. And when Paul was done speaking to the Israelites, he'd go to the marketplace to speak to the Gentiles.


Example 5: The Israelites were ready for a deliverer. They were tired of the bickering between the religious sects. Of the political instability. They looked for their Messiah. They had a hunger for spiritual truth, for spiritual substance. Jesus spoke on His own authority, not as the religious leaders. The plain Truth was very refreshing for the Israelites.


Example 6: The Israelites knew the only way to God was through the blood of an innocent animal, but they hungered for eternal atonement. Those who saw Jesus and heard Him knew Him to be their Messiah. The first Christians were Jews.


Example 7: There was also a spiritual thirst among the Gentiles. They didn't understand Judaism (which is not surprising since the covenant was between God and Israel). They instead filled the void with mysticism, spirituality, and Greek philosophy.


Inspirations


1. God is preparing just as hard for the second coming of Jesus as the first.


Example 1: In the end days, just before Jesus' 2nd coming, the Gospel would be spread across the world. It is already being spread around the world. It started with Paul and the Apostles, walking the Message from city to city. Today, technology has allowed the Gospel message be taken to any corner in the world.


Example 2: The world will become a cashless society where people trade with the mark of the beast. This has not happened yet, but the technology is in place to make that happen.


Example 3: There will be a one-world government, economy, and religion, all under a one-world leader--There is already a push for this, especially since no one has been able to solve the Middle East crisis (which, surprise, surprise, Israel is right smack center of the whole issue).


Example 4: There will be wars and rumors of wars (Check the news). Just follow the thread of Israel and match current events with prophecies foretold hundreds of years ago: The return of Israel to its land; problems in the Middle East, etc.


2. God is always working, always moving, always orchestrating. When we doubt that God hears us, remember to keep God's vision on the big, BIG picture.