Fully Devoted: Israel, Act 2Sample

The Set Time

The people of Israel are back in the land that was promised. God has rescued them from captivity, the walls have been rebuilt, the temple reconstructed, a ruler from the house of David reestablished. All the pieces are in place for a glorious redemption story … and yet, things still don’t seem right. The nation of Israel is still under the rule of the Persian Empire. The temple they’ve rebuilt is a shadow of its former self. The pattern of sinful rebellion has resurfaced. 

What’s going on here? Even though the people have returned to the land physically, they’re still in exile spiritually. 

The prophet Jeremiah spoke of the day when the exile would end, the people would be back in the land, and they would once again say, “The Lord bless you, you prosperous city, you sacred mountain” (Jeremiah 31:23 NIV).

But that’s not at all what people were saying now. Nehemiah finishes his book by listing all the ways the people have continued to sin against God. This spiritual leader challenges the Israelites, in no uncertain terms, not to blow their new beginning! Because that’s exactly where they were heading. In a moment of real transparency, Nehemiah ends his book with hands lifted in surrender, asking God to remember him for good. Because he recognized the trajectory that Israel was once again on was not the right one. Malachi the prophet also rebukes the Jewish people for returning to the practices of idolatry and injustice. What is happening?

Here’s the thing: The Hebrew Bible doesn’t end happily. It ends with the people of God occupied by another nation and oppressed by sin. 

But the promise of redemption was still present. Jeremiah spoke of the day when God would form a new covenant with His people. Ezekiel spoke of the day when God would give a new heart to His people. On that day, He would be our God and we would be His people. It was the day the faithful remnant of Israelites were longing for. 

And that day would be a long time coming. The last book of the Hebrew Bible, Malachi, is believed to have been written around the year 430 BC. That means there were more than 400 years of silence between the last Old Testament prophet and the arrival of Jesus! 

Which begs the question, why in the world would God wait that long? Well, if God is really as loving, wise, and patient, as we’ve seen Him be up to this point in the story, it seems wise to keep trusting that God had good reasons for sending Jesus when He did. 

At the very least, this was the Apostle Paul’s opinion. In his letter to the Galatian church he wrote: 

But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. Galatians 4:4-5 NIV 

Paul believed that at just the right time God sent Jesus to rescue us from sin and restore us to Him. 

Why was this the right time? While we can’t know for sure the exact reasons (because the Bible doesn’t tell us), we can look at what was taking place in history to help us come up with some possible explanations. 

For the first time in human history, the Mediterranean world was unified. The Roman Empire spanned the entirety of the known world with a network of roads that connected every part of that empire. In addition, all of the lands and peoples living within that empire now shared Greek as a common language. Lastly, Jesus’ arrival and the launch of the Church took place during the Pax Romana, an unprecedented 200-year period of peace and stability throughout that part of the planet. 

Put all of those pieces together and what we get is a moment in history when the message of the gospel could be spread more widely and effectively than at any previous time. 

What was God doing during those 400 years of silence? He was setting the stage for the arrival of Jesus and the announcement of the gospel. Even in the waiting, God was working. 

God’s plan to rescue us from sin and restore us to Him was still firmly in motion. God was preparing the people of Israel, the Empire of Rome, and all the world for the arrival of Jesus and the announcement of the gospel. 

The question that still remains though, is when the gospel was announced, how would the people respond? 

Journaling Questions 

• What verse or verses stuck out to you today? Take some time to write those down. Why did they stand out? 
• What do you think it would have been like during the time of silence? What would your response have been? 
• How would you define hope in your own words?

Memory Verse

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:9-11 NIV