Now think about waiting that long for something… anything. You told your children, and they told their children, and so on and so forth, down through the years until 400 years had passed. Would anyone even really know what they were waiting for after that long? Even the "story" of what they were waiting for was bound to have changed in that long a time... in that many generations.
400 years was how long the Jews had waited for a new prophet. Malachi prophesied that a new “Elijah” would come. So the Jews waited… and waited… and waited. 400 years, they passed along the prophesies of Malachi, and they waited some more. Finally, John the Baptist came along, and paved the way for our Lord, Jesus Christ. You’d think that the Jews would have been celebrating and rejoicing that finally… FINALLY… the wait was over. 400 years of silence from God, from the prophets, and finally the wait was over.
I don’t know about you, but it wouldn’t have taken me 400 years to feel like I’d been forgotten by a god that had once spoken on a regular basis, then suddenly …. SILENCE…. for generations!
You can forgive the Jews, I think, for perhaps not knowing who Jesus was when He was born and was growing up, but why didn’t they recognize Him when He began His preaching and teaching? Who did they think their Messiah was going to be? He had been prophesied all throughout the Old Testament times and prophesies, so shouldn’t they have recognized Him when He began speaking to them? Well… here’s the thing….
Palestine in the first century AD was a diverse place, with Jews, Romans, Greeks, Persians, Arabs, Egyptians, Africans, and many others. Religions were numerous and diverse as well, especially in Galilee, Samaria, and Perea, and political intrigue and violence was the norm. The Jews longed for a return to the glorious days of King David, when Israel was the greatest power in the area. They were miserable under Roman rule, oppressive taxes, and the rule of an outsider, Herod. Spiritually, the Jews had been without a prophet (the voice of God) for 400 years, and they hoped for another prophet to show the way. All they had to go on was what they had been told through the prophets back through the ages. Given what they had been told, the Jews generally expected a conquering Messiah. Psalms and Prophets suggested a militaristic priest who would bring the Jews back into their former glory.
The Jews were looking for the type of Messiah who would come in and rescue them from earthly oppression, and place THEM back in power over the region. Instead came the type of Messiah who would rescue them from ALL earthly things, and provide a way that they could go TO where God was/is. For millennia, God had gone to His people, guiding them and protecting them. Now it was time for them to take the next step… they were to prepare themselves to GO TO HIM!! And the message that Jesus brought wasn’t JUST for the Jews. Jesus’ message of salvation and hope was for EVERYONE! No longer were the Jews the ONLY peoples that God wished to guide… EVERYONE was included.
And yes, that means… YOU!
The Way has been prepared… the instructions have been issued… all you have to do is follow the path that Jesus gave us.
John 14:1-6
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.”
Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
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Published Feb. 7, 2023
by Jackie Garrison
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