Silence

This semester I am taking a class on Old Testament history. We discussed Nehemiah, the last historical book in the Old Testament the other day. And one of the things my professor said fired my imagination. Though the beginning of Nehemiah is a well known place to find lessons on leadership, the last half of the book chronicles a major revival among the Jews, their return to the law, and then (yet another) period of all-out rebellion and rejection of Yahweh. The leadership that Nehemiah provides largely fails to accomplish the larger goal, which is to bring God's people back to worship and obedience. So the book closes with Nehemiah admonishing Jews who are not giving to support the Temple, not setting aside the Sabbath, and marrying those who worship foreign idols.

And after the last verse of Nehemiah, God is silent for four hundred years. SILENT.

From almost the beginning of time, God had spoken to His people either directly, through prophets like Moses, Joshua, Isaiah, and Jeremiah, or through the Holy Law. But the people rebelled and rejected God over and over and over . . . even though at times they could physically see God's presence in the cloud, fire, or tabernacle. And the God of long-suffering kept pursuing and redeeming His chosen people though each generation became more rebellious and evil.

And at the end of Nehemiah, after all of God's people have been taken into exile as punishment and returned by grace, they read the Law and then they reject God. Again.

Though this did not take God by surprise, I imagine that at this moment He looked back. He gave the Patriarchs in Genesis the opportunity to lead the people to worship Him and they FAILED. He gave the prophets Moses and Joshua the opportunity to lead the people to worship Him and they FAILED. He gave the Law as a signpost to lead the people to worship Him and it FAILED. He established Judges and Kings to lead the people to worship Him and they FAILED. He ordained priests to lead the people to worship Him and they FAILED. He sent prophets like Jeremiah and Isaiah to lead the people to worship Him and they FAILED.

So, God realized that He could not say anything else to convince His chosen people to worship Him.

So I imagine God looking around the room, looking for someone who could lead the people to worship God and relate to Him. No one God had ever sent had accomplished the mission.

And then God realized the only solution - instead of looking out to those He created, He looked within the Triune Godhead He has been with forever. And He looked at God the Son, Jesus Christ, and realized that only God made flesh can lead people to worship God.

No more talking, no more words, no more people. For 400 silent years.

And then an angel appeared to a man burning incense in the Temple to God gone silent. And the angel promised him a son named John, who would be full of the God's Spirit and would come before the One who would "turn the hearts of the Fathers back to the children, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous, so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord." (Luke 1:17) John the Baptist would prepare the way for Messiah, Jesus Christ.

Silence over. A new promise made. And the very beginning of a new story introducing "the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world." (Revelation 13:8)