Luke 1:1-25
God is a
great communicator – but He hasn’t spoken to His people for 400 years.
For 400
years, God has been mute. Silent. Quiet.
Imagine
living 400 years with hearing from God, without knowing His will for the
nation, or for your life. 400 years would be at least 40 generations, (and
that’s assuming 100 years as a generation.) (Gen 15:13-16.)
The reason
God has been silent is because Israel has been ignorant. God will not continue
to speak to a people that ignores what He has to say. During the last 400
years, since the rebuilding of the Temple at Jerusalem under Zerubbabel, God
has let the people speak to themselves rather than Himself.
And they
have. They have become VERY wise in their own eyes. Having FINALLY left
idolatry behind, they have embarked on a new path of priestly direction which
has seen the emergence of a ruling class of Sadducees and Pharisees and
Scribes. By their accumulated ‘wisdom’ from their study of the oral traditions
the people have been ruled. They have seen themselves conquered and ruled by
the Greeks, under Alexander and through Antiochus Epiphanes, and they have
successfully revolted, led by a passionate band of rabbis known of as the
Maccabeans from 167 – 160BC, which was followed by the Hasmonean and then the
Herodian dynasties under Rome. During this last century AD came the rise of the
Sanhedrin, the supreme court of the Jews, the repository of all knowledge.
Through all of this God remained silent. The High Priest of the Jews was now
appointed by Rome, not God.
(It is
interesting to remember Israel had been in exile in Egypt 400 years, isn’t it?)
Now God
speaks. Who does He speak through, and who does He speak to?
God speaks
through an angel, (Gabriel,) to a humble priest experiencing the greatest day
of his life – having been selected by lot to burn incense in the Holy Place in
the Temple. All his life Zacharias had waited for a moment like this. It was a
once-in-a-lifetime opportunity most priests never experienced. Then God made
the opportunity even greater by breaking His silence.
-Pastor Bill
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