The Stage Is Set

The intertestamental period is not a usual topic of conversation. Generally considered to be from 300 or 400 BC to the birth of Jesus Christ, historians have called it the quiet years. You see, with the writing of Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament, God seemed not to have anything else to say to his people until Jesus was born.

But just because nothing of God’s words was being written down does not mean God was not working. Indeed, he was busy setting the stage for Messiah’s birth and subsequent ministry.

In Galatians 4:4 Paul wrote, In the fullness of time, God sent forth his son into the world. The question is, why was Jesus’ birth around 4 to 6 BC considered the fullness of time?

Scholars of this period of history point out some important characteristics.

• The Pax Romana, or peace of Rome, from around 30 BC to 200 AD. Rome’s army imposed the longest period in history of warlessness.

• Roman roads, well-engineered and paved with stone, made travel easier.

• Furthermore, the Roman navy had cleared the Mediterranean Sea of pirates.

• Trade was expanding at a brisk pace.

• There was a common language in Greek, a very expressive and precise form of writing.

• The old myths of the Greek and Roman religions were losing their grip on people. All the while there was a spiritual hunger for truth, for something more.

It is into this world that God gave Jesus Christ to be born. Arnold Toynbee, the historian, once wrote that there was no better time in history for a new religion to take root.

Humankind was hungry. And God had prepared the stage of history to showcase his son’s life, death, and resurrection by creating a lasting peace, safety in travel, trade, and a common language.

The Almighty went to all this trouble just so we could know he is there, he is not silent. And he can redeem every one of us, including you.

The Reverend Stephen Crotts is the director of the Carolina Study Center, Inc., a campus ministry, located in Chapel Hill, NC. Pastor Crotts may be reached at carolinastudycenter@msn.com.