October 31, 2010
Scripture:
Could we go back for a moment to that passage in John 3.The end of verse sixteen and verse fifteen are almost the same. Now, we know that nothing in the Bible is unnecessary; so when we see two passages that say the same thing, we ask, “why?”. Verse sixteen follows the fact that God gave His Son out of love for us.
With verse fifteen it’s a bit different. It follows verse fourteen, which talks about the Moses’ serpent of brass. It was made of brass, in the form of the creatures that did the damage. Our Lord was made like men, who caused the damage of sin. Vv.14 & 15. Our Lord was made in our likeness to bear our sins, so that we could believe and be saved.
But it wasn’t just our need; God wanted a people of faith. And it’s through that same saving faith that we can be blessed by calling Him Father, while He calls us sons.
Hymn 358 - Tell me the story of Jesus
Prayer
It’s not my usual week, so we won’t go on with Samuel. Instead we’ll look at a story that the Lord Jesus told about two men.
Matthew 7:24-27
The first man was wise because he built his house on the rock. The second man was foolish because he built his house upon the sand. Jesus had just finished teaching the people and He told them, “If you follow what I say, you are like the wise man; if you don’t you are like the foolish man.”
Why was the first man wise and the second man foolish? It was because when the rains and floods came, the second man’s house fell. It was just built on sand, not something strong. The first man’s house didn’t fall; it was on the solid rock.
The rock is like the Lord Jesus, and the sand is like ourselves. It is the most important thing to know Him as your Lord and Saviour. A time of judgement will come on the world, but those who are saved will be safe with Jesus. Also if we do what Jesus said - to be kind to those that hurt us, and to trust in Him - He will be with us when troubles come into our lives. Proverbs also tells us to heed wise counsel. When we have meetings or read the Bible at home, we should listen and see what the Lord has to say to us. Then we should do as He says.
Maybe we could sing, “The Wise Man Built His House Upon a Rock”:
The Wise Man Built His House
The wise man built his house upon the rock
The wise man built his house upon the rock
The wise man built his house upon the rock
And the rain came tumbling down
The rain came down and the floods came up
The rain came down and the floods came up
The rain came down and the floods came up
And the house on the rock stood firm.
The foolish man built his house upon the sand
The foolish man built his house upon the sand
The foolish man built his house upon the sand
And the rain came tumbling down
The rain came down and the floods came up
The rain came down and the floods came up
The rain came down and the floods came up
And the house on the sand fell flat.
So, build your life on the Lord Jesus Christ
Build your life on the Lord Jesus Christ
Build your life on the Lord Jesus Christ
And the blessings will come down
The blessings will come down as the prayers go up
The blessings will come down as the prayers go up
The blessings will come down as the prayers go up
So build your life on the Lord.
So let’s be like the wise man and follow the Lord.
There are about 400 years between the Old Testament and the New Testament. There’s nothing in the Bible about this time—well, that’s not exactly true. There’s much history written about this period of time. H. A. Ironside has written a pamphlet on this time, entitled “The 400 Silent Years.” This is a bit of a misnomer, because—while there were no inspired writings during this time—God was certainly still talking to individuals of His people.
605 BC Babylonian Captivity of Judah
536 BC Ezra
445 BC Nehemiah
424 BC Malachi
336 – 332 BC Alexander the Great
204 – 198 BC The Syrians – The Ptolmies
198 – 165 BC The Egyptians – The Selucids
165 – 63 BC The Maccabean Revolt
63 BC Pompey brought Palestine under Roman control
40 – 37 BC The Parthians over Palestine
37 – 4 BC Herod the Great (An Edomite) over Palestine
5 BC Birth of John the Baptist
Birth of Jesus
In Daniel 2:31 - 33, the idol in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream was made of four parts, representing four different empires:
We can read the accounts of how the Babylonian empire took the Jews captive, and how the Medo-Persians took over Babylon. We’ve seen how Ezra and Nehemiah went back to restore Jerusalem during this time; and we’ve just finished the prophecies of Malachi, which took place at the same time.
After Malachi’s time, the Grecian Empire began. As before, The Jews were under the power of Gentiles. In Daniel, this is called the “times of the Gentiles.”
Why should we talk about the times between the Testaments? What happened in those 400 years changed the world. The world we see as Malachi closes is very different from the world that opens in Matthew.
Palestine is between Syria (to the north) and Egypt (to the south). As chart 1 shows, both these countries effected the Jews during this time. When Alexander the great came, he taught the Jews the Greek language and many Greek traditions—a process called Hellenization. Many of the Jews then went to Egypt and created colonies. This is probably where Joseph and Mary took the Lord when they went to Egypt to escape Herod.
King Artaxerxes Herod the Great
Ruling Power Persia (East) Rome (West)
Leaders Priests, Prophets Scribes, Elders, Lawyers, Sanhedrin
Guiding Principles The Law of God The Traditions of the Elders
Religious Groups No Major Groups The Pharisees, Sadducees, Herodians
**400**
**Year**
**Gap** Language Hebrew Aramaic, Greek
Place of Worship The Temple The Temple, Synagogues
Our second chart shows us the many ways that Israel changed between the Old and New Testaments. You might liken this history to a play: the Old Testament was the first act. Last week, the curtains were lowered as we finished Malachi; that was the end of the scene. When the curtains open again for the Gospels, we see a very different stage. God was not silent during that gap; He was orchestrating all the changes; His will was still going on. Read Galatians 4:4. In Galatians we read “when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth His Son” God was preparing that fullness.
But there’s one more step: after we read through the New Testament, the curtain falls again after Revelation 22, doesn’t it? And aren’t we in another gap? We have prophesies to show us what’s going to happen in the next scene. When the curtain rises again, things will have changed very much from this scene, once again. The major world power will go back to the East; the Roman Empire will be revived. When we see the events going on in the world, we know that it is all a part of the changing scene.
It’s interesting to notice on this chart that most of the changes were political and religious. If we look back 400 years from where we are today, what has changed? Four hundred years ago, there was barely a Canada; think of all that has changed in technology and communication. However, much has changed in spirituality. We can see what John prophesied in the letters to the churches coming to pass: degeneration and revival. And just as Malachi ended with a very small remnant going on for the Lord, that is what we have today. We are in the same position; may we desire to press on.
Hymn 186 - One day when Heaven was filled with His praises
Prayer