Inspiration of the Scriptures: The Silent Interval of Four Hundred Years

From: Inspiration of the Scripture

• 4 min. read • grade level: 10

THE SILENT INTERVAL OF FOUR HUNDRED YEARS.

The silence of the prophetic testimony between the close of the Old Testament and the commencement of the New, which continued over four hundred years, is very significant. Before that, all through the course of God's ancient people, notwithstanding their many sins and departures from Jehovah, sacred history faithfully gave its inspired record of them, until Malachi closed it with the saddest denunciations of their ways. And what makes this long and silent gap so remarkable, is, that the final testimony of the prophet links itself with the beginning of Luke's gospel in foretelling the coming of John, the forerunner of our Lord. He said, "Behold, I will send My messenger, and he shall prepare the way before Me". (Mal. 3:1¹Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts. (Malachi 3:1); Luke 1:13-17¹³But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John. ¹⁴And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth. ¹⁵For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb. ¹⁶And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. ¹⁷And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. (Luke 1:13‑17); Mark 1:2-3²As it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. ³The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. (Mark 1:2‑3).) Our Lord also associated the prophets with the Baptist- "The law and the prophets were until John." These links certainly unite the Old and New Testaments in a very remarkable way. May we learn the lessons they are intended to teach us?

Very solemn indeed is Jehovah's silence for four centuries in the history of His favored people; especially when we consider the abounding evil which they so long pursued, as recorded by their inspired writers, notwithstanding the goodness and patience God had exercised toward them. Their sad state weighed heavily on the spirit of the prophet Malachi. He began his message to them by saying, "The burden of the word of Jehovah to Israel by Malachi," and ended it by alluding to "the great and dreadful day of Jehovah." True, he added, that Elijah would be sent before that, to "turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse." (Mal. 1:1; 4:5, 6¹The burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi. (Malachi 1:1)
⁵Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: ⁶And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse. (Malachi 4:5‑6).) In this solemn way the Old Testament writings were closed; and we have no divinely-given annals of the Hebrew people during the following four hundred years. May we ponder its grave significance! Was it because of their many sins that divine communications and miraculous intervention ceased? Was it on this account that prophetic inspiration was discontinued, and they were left to their own devices? Of one thing we may be well assured, that, under the circumstances, inspiration was suspended in God's wisdom and faithfulness.

On looking into Luke's gospel, which is so blessedly linked, as we have seen, with the last of Israel's prophets, we find toward the close of this gap, some turning to Jehovah and His Word. Zacharias and Elizabeth were spoken of as "both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless"(Luke 1:6⁶And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. (Luke 1:6)). Others, too, were, through grace, acted on by the Holy Spirit, and therefore turned to the Word of Jehovah; and were so bowed by it, that they "looked for redemption in Jerusalem," and served Him day and night with fastings and prayers.

In the Jewish people, and Zacharias, who was a true descendant of Aaron, and whose lot was to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord, we find a further recognition of Jehovah in turning to Him according to His Word. We are told, that "the whole multitude of the people were praying without at the time of incense". (Luke 1:9, 10⁹According to the custom of the priest's office, his lot was to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord. ¹⁰And the whole multitude of the people were praying without at the time of incense. (Luke 1:9‑10).) And there appeared unto Zacharias an angel of the Lord with cheering and encouraging words as to John, as afterward he came to Mary concerning the Messiah. These facts are very significant, and accordingly the forerunner was, ere long, to be born into the world- the prophet of the Highest, and to be soon followed by the birth of Messiah, the Son of the Highest. Jesus was the true Shepherd of the sheep, and to Him the porter opened; for holy men and women, taught by the Holy Spirit, and taken up with Jehovah and His interests, were, by their rejoicing and cordial welcome, like the porter opening the door. If angels heralded His coming into the world with, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men," Simeon could take the babe into his arms, and with a grateful and worshiping heart say, "Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, according to Thy word, for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation." Anna also found her way into the temple at that moment, and "gave thanks likewise unto the Lord, and spake of Him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem". (Luke 2:14, 29-30, 38¹⁴Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. (Luke 2:14)
²⁹Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: ³⁰For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, (Luke 2:29‑30)
³⁸And she coming in that instant gave thanks likewise unto the Lord, and spake of him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem. (Luke 2:38))

Divine communications which had been suspended for such a lengthened period as four hundred years, could now be resumed according to the wisdom, and power, and goodness of God; but, as we afterward find in the New Testament Scriptures, not according to the kind of ministry of olden prophets; though by the same Spirit, but according to the grace, and gifts, and qualifications they received of the Lord, who fitted and furnished them for the service to which they were called as His friends and servants.

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