400 years they waited.
400 years of nothing. Prophets
had come and gone. Malachi had left the
Israelites with a stern warning to remember the law and to remember that God
would be sending another prophet and ultimately sending the Messiah. But 400
years had come and gone and nothing. 400 years of silence from Heaven. The Israelites didn’t have the best track
record when it came to following God and He had given them chance after
chance. I’m sure some felt He had
finally given up on them. As generations
came and went I’m sure the faithful dwindled.
They probably questioned like many of us “If God loved us then why is He
not here?” I’m sure many doubted the
faithfulness of God. After all, He had
promised to send another prophet to prepare their hearts and it had been 400
years. Where was God? Had He finally given up on His beloved
people? Had He found another people that
would be faithful to Him? Was He going
to scratch the whole plan and start over?
The story of God comes to a despairing moment where you feel
that all hope is lost for this people.
They couldn’t be faithful, God had promised to send another prophet
after Malachi, and 400 years later still nothing. But then, Christ Jesus arrives.
God hadn’t changed. He was still
faithful and to restore His people it wouldn’t take just another prophet. He chose to clothe Himself in human flesh and
come down not just to break the silence but to be with His people. Because God
loved the World so much He GAVE, He came, He broke the silence. He stepped into the mess of humanity and
chose to dwell not in a temple and not in the words of an appointed prophet but
He chose to dwell in human flesh. The
creator became Emmanuel and dwelt with the created.
Ephesians 2:12-13: Remember that you were at that time
separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers
to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in this world, But
now in Christ Jesus you who
formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
Just when it looks like God’s plan is failing, whether there
is 400 years of silence or we are separated because of our sin and hopeless, Jesus
arrives on the scene. He saves
the day. We can rest easy because when life is falling to pieces and we can’t
make sense of God’s plan, He can.
Merry Christmas.
