Progressive Revelation - Part 6: The Fulfillment of Time: How God Prepared the World During 400 Years of Silence

The Time Between Covenants: History is "His Story"

Read part 5 here.

In this post we will try to see a few things about the time period between the Old Testament and New Testament. That period is called the Intertestamental Period, a time of approximately 400 years where there was no prophetic word from God.

Sometimes we may think why should we worry about this historical period? Answer is history is simply "his story". In other words, history is nothing but the designed, plotted story by God Himself. Even though God was not directly speaking in those days, He was working behind the curtains. 

God’s Control Over Earthly Superpowers

Throughout ancient history, there were always superpowers in the world. We know that Egypt was a power; in the earlier days, they kept the Israelites under slavery, and God, with His might, gave freedom to them. After a few years, Assyria became a superpower and took the upper part of the Israelites (the 10 tribes) into exile. Then Babylon became a superpower and took the remaining two tribes, Judah and Benjamin, into exile.

After Babylon, the Medo-Persian power came into prominence. When they came to power, they gave freedom to the Jews to go back to their nation, allowing them to rebuild the temple and Jerusalem walls.

One observation we must make here is that in all these periods, God's people were not the superpowers. But God used these superpowers to fulfill His will in and on God's people. This is true in our days also, but we do not need to worry because those super powers are all in the control of God. God will use them to fulfill His will, His plans and purposes.

The Greek Influence: Prophecy Fulfilled and the Spread of Language

After Medo-Persia, the Greeks came into power. One famous person from the Greeks, Alexander (the Great), conquered almost all the known world in those days,.

Alexander also did another good thing: he spread the Greek language throughout the world. Greek became the main language for trade, diplomacy, and all official purposes, a process called Hellenization. Alexander was a disciple of Aristotle, who was a disciple of Plato, who in turn was a disciple of Socrates. With all this influence of philosophy, Alexander brought the world into unity in some aspects, and during those days, art, culture, and science developed very well and spread widely.

We can see the foreshadowing of these empires in the Book of Daniel.

• Daniel Chapter 2: Nebuchadnezzar had a dream of a big statue, which Daniel interpreted as depicting subsequent kingdoms starting from Babylon. The kingdom of silver (the two shoulders) depicted the Medo-Persian kingdom, and the bronze part depicted the Greek kingdom.
• Daniel Chapter 8: Daniel was given another vision which depicts the kingdoms that were to come, specifically reading from verses 20-22: "As for the ram that you saw with the two horns, these are the kings of Media and Persia; and the goat is the king of Greece, and the great horn between his eyes is the first king. As for the horn that was broken, in place of which four others arose, four kingdoms shall arise from his nation, but not with his power".

Alexander was the great horn, and the prophecies were fulfilled around 200 years after Daniel spoke them. According to some sources, when Alexander came to capture Jerusalem, the high priest of Jerusalem went to meet him, showed him all these prophecies about himself, and Alexander was mesmerized. He gave freedom to Jerusalem and did not attack them.

What we see here is that even though God is silent and not directly speaking, God is still fulfilling His promises. The prophecies are being fulfilled. God is still working on behalf of His people; He is still protecting them. Sometimes we may see in our lives also we have many promises but things that are happening right now may look very dry. But be assured that God never sleeps nor slumbers. He is still working on our behalf.

The Aftermath of Alexander: Translation and Persecution

After Alexander died, exactly as predicted in Daniel 8:22, four army generals under him took four parts of his kingdom. Only two were very powerful: Ptolemy and Seleucus. Ptolemy reigned from Egypt (Alexandria), and Seleucus reigned from Antiochus in Syria.

For a few years, Jerusalem was under the control of Ptolemy, and they enjoyed peace. Because of this peace, one important incident took place: 72 scholars (six people from each of the 12 tribes) were called from Jerusalem to Egypt and given the task of translating the entire Old Testament into Greek. This translation is important because the Septuagint (the Greek Old Testament) was the main Old Testament available in the New Testament period. 

When Seleucus and his descendants tried to take control of Jerusalem, Antiochus III captured the city. After him came Antiochus IV, who forced Greek culture upon Jerusalem and the Jewish people.

His persecutions were severe:

1. Sabbath was banned. Honoring or implementing the Sabbath became a criminal offense.
2. Circumcision was prohibited. Mothers who took responsibility to circumcise their children were executed openly.
3. Possessing Old Testament Scriptures was a criminal offense. He captured many Scriptures and destroyed them. We should be thankful that we still have God's word in our hands because God protected His word in those days.

Antiochus IV did not stop there. He entered the temple and started idolatry and prostitution in the temple premises itself. Above all, he offered an unclean animal—a pig—on the altar of the temple. All these things were prophesied already in the book of Daniel and were taking place now.

The Jewish Response and the Rise of Sects

In those days, a group called the Maccabees rose up. They fought against Antiochus IV, and their leader, Judas Maccabeus, captured Jerusalem again. They rededicated the temple, and that rededication is celebrated even today by Jewish people; it is called Hanukkah.

Unfortunately, something that started with a good intention was diluted because of their selfishness. There were infightings for power among these people called Maccabees. This period gave rise to the major Jewish sects present in the first century:

1. Pharisees: They chose to follow God's word literally, exactly as it is written. This was another good initiative. But, they are an example for how well they started and how they declined when they came to the first century time.
2. Sadducees: Originally belonging to the Maccabees, they continued in the high priestly job. They went into ties with the Roman government, and with the support of the Roman government, they continued to be high priests. That is why in John's gospel, we see that Annas was a high priest for that year. According to God's word, a high priest should be a high priest throughout their life, but they were paying something to the Roman government, and every year they had to renew their position.
3. Qumran Community: These people produced the Dead Sea Scrolls or Qumran scrolls.
4. Scribes and Teachers of the Law: They were trying to teach and spread God's word by copying the Old Testament from one generation to the other.

This is how the Jewish background was being set in those days (before the arrival of Jesus Christ).

The World Prepared: Pax Romana and Road Transport

After the Greeks, the Romans came into power. Greek continued to be the common language. Julius Augustus was the first Roman emperor.

The Roman government implemented two key things that helped prepare the world for the spreading of the Gospel:

1. Good road transport throughout the world.
2. Pax Romana (Peace of Rome): This peace given by Rome was enforced by military might.

These two policies—good road transport and the peace (whether by force or other means)—helped the New Testament people spread the Gospel very easily in those days.

The Fulfilment of Time

As we see in Galatians 4:4 (ESV): "when the fullness of time had come", the time was coming to its fulfillment. As the time was coming to the end, the world itself had become a stage prepared to receive the Messiah who was to come.

The people of God were waiting for that Messiah because all human offices failed to keep God's people faithful to God.

• They were looking for a Prophet predicted by Moses, as the human prophets had failed.
• They were looking for a King according to the descendancy of David, as the human kings had failed.
• They were also looking for a High Priest who would be there forever to intercede on their behalf before God, as the human high priests had failed.

Human offices failed in these three aspects, but God was going to send His Son to fulfill all these three things in the Messiah.

Luke's Gospel chapter 3 says that Adam was the son of God. In Genesis chapter 1, we see that before God sent Adam into the world, He prepared the whole creation for him. Similarly, when His own Son, the Lord Jesus, was coming into the world, God prepared the whole world, and now the whole world was ready to receive Him.

One thing I want to mention here is that if things that God had promised in our lives are getting delayed, please be reminded that God is still working on our behalf. In the fulfillment of time, He will fulfill those things.

Prophecy Resumes: The Word Came to John

After 400 years of silence of the prophetic word, God resumed speaking.

• Luke 3:2 (ESV): "During the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness."

This phrase, "the word of God came," is very important. This phrase was last mentioned 400 years before in the book of Malachi, as every prophetic book starts like this: "The word of God came to so and so". John the Baptist belonged to the Old Covenant, because even Jesus said the least in the Kingdom of God is higher than John the Baptist. What this tells us is that God is now resuming His work. God’s revelation started in the Book of Genesis, and even though it had taken a halt in the Book of Malachi for 400 years, God has now started speaking to His people.

Even though human beings fail, God will continue to be faithful. He continued in faithfulness about revealing Himself. It is our responsibility to receive the revelation and respond to it appropriately. We cannot take it for granted. God is taking it so serious to reveal about Himself to us. If we take it lightly, we will be held accountable before Him because He has given all this revelation and resources to us. May God help us to understand.

Progressive Revelation - Part 10: The Cost of the Word: Sweat, Blood, and the Journey of the Bible into Our Hands

Psalms 119:89 (ESV): "Forever, O Lord, your word is firmly fixed in the heavens."

We have seen throughout the ages how God through his word continued to reveal himself unto us. That word that he kept speaking is firmly fixed in heavens as it is written in the words that we have read. This also means that in spite of all the attempts to destroy God's word, God faithfully brought this into our hands. Until few years back, even having a glimpse of God's word was so rare; to procure few pages of God's word was so costly a fire. It's not only costly in terms of the money but also in terms of lives together.

As we have attempted to understand the progressive revelation of God's word, as the second part, we will try to understand how God's word is brought into our hands, or the logistics that were used to bring this into our hands.

If we try to understand the logistics of God's word, two things are most important for us to understand: first, materials used and secondly, languages that were used. If we have a Bible in our hands, it is in the form of a book which is a material. And the words that are written in it are in a language that we can understand. That is why we try to understand these two things: materials and languages. In both these things, sweat and blood of saints of God was much involved. That is why dear ones, God's word in our hands is very, very precious. Let us not be so careless in handling it.

Section 1: The Materials Used to Preserve the Word

We can see the various materials used to write God's word mentioned throughout Scripture.

1. Stone Tablets: In the days of Moses, stone tablets were used to write God's word, as books like those we have today were not available. This is evidenced in Exodus 34:1 (ESV): "The Lord said to Moses, 'Cut for yourself two tablets of stone like the first. And I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets which you broke.'" Even archaeology confirms that in those days, many legal and historical things were engraved on stone tablets.
2. Clay Tablets: The second type of material used were clay tablets, as mentioned in Ezekiel 4:1 (ESV): "And you, son of man, take a brick and lay it before you and engrave a city even Jerusalem.", When the clay tablet was still wet, they would write on it with something like a pencil, and when it dried, the words were engraved.
3. Leather Scrolls: The third type were leather scrolls, made out of animal skins which required the animals to be killed, making this a costly endeavor.
4. Papyrus and Codex: Almost toward the end of the Old Testament time, papyrus material came into existence, similar to our paper today. Initially, these were scrolls, with each scroll containing one book of the Bible, sometimes measuring 30 to 40 feet long for a single New Testament book. By the end of the 1st century AD, this papyrus material was developed into a book form called the papyrus codex.

These materials were all prone to decay very soon. To pass the writings from one generation to the other, copies were meticulously made by hand by people called scribes. Scribes would work in halls called scriptoriums, where one chief scribe would dictate, and the rest would write down the text.

This was hard work, requiring extreme care not to miss even one letter or stroke. These copies are called manuscripts, which is why our Bibles often have footnotes referencing old manuscripts. Over time, the originals were lost, and only the manuscripts and their subsequent copies continued to be passed down through generations.

Section 2: The Languages of the Word

The Bible was originally written in three main languages:

1. Hebrew: Most of the Old Testament was written in Hebrew.
2. Aramaic: A few portions of the Old Testament were written in Aramaic, a dialect of the Jews toward the end of Old Testament times, which should not be confused with modern Arabic.
3. Greek: The complete New Testament was written in Greek language.

Within Greek, two types existed: Official Greek (used in royal courts and legal documents) and Koine Greek (the language used by common people). God's word, the New Testament, was completely written in Koine Greek so that it was accessible to common people.

Section 3: Key Figures in Translation and Preservation

By the end of the 1st century AD, the Old Testament was available in Hebrew, Aramaic, and the Greek Septuagint. The Septuagint was the translation of the entire Old Testament into Greek, completed in Alexandria, Egypt, by 70 scholars (six from each of the 12 tribes) in the 3rd century BC.

We must remember three pivotal people who ensured God's word came into the hands of the common man:

1. Jerome (4th Century AD)

In the 4th century AD, Jerome desired to bring the full Bible into the common man's hands, as Latin had become the common language across the world. Jerome dedicated 25 years of his life, traveling to Jerusalem to learn the original Bible languages (Hebrew and Greek) and translated both the Old and New Testaments into common people's Latin language., This version was called the Latin Vulgate. For the next thousand years, the Bible remained primarily in Latin, which became the official language of the church, even in places like England where people spoke English. If anyone wanted to understand the Bible, they were required to learn Latin.

2. John Wycliffe (14th Century AD)

In the 14th century AD, John Wycliffe, a scholar from Oxford University, had a great desire to bring God's word back to the common people in England in their own language., He dedicated his life to translating the Bible from the Latin Vulgate into English, creating the first English version of the Bible. However, since the printing machine was not yet invented, each copy was still made by hand, making the material costly and rare. Wycliffe sent his followers to streets, corners, fields, and churches to stand and read God's word aloud, which people flocked around to hear. Despite the hunger for the word—with people working hard at night just to buy a few pages—the official church banned the English Bible, leading to persecution and martyrdom.

3. William Tyndale (16th Century AD)

In the 15th century, the great miracle of the invention of the printing machine by Johann Gutenberg took place in Germany, with the Latin Vulgate Bible being the first book printed. This stopped the need for costly handwritten copies.

Following this, William Tyndale had a great desire not only to make the Bible accessible but to bring its depth to the common people. He was not satisfied with the Latin translation and sought to translate God's word directly from the original Hebrew and Greek so that people could understand its true meaning.,

Facing opposition from the church, Tyndale famously told one elder, "if God spares me few more years, I will make a farmer's son know God's word better than you do." Tyndale fled to Germany, learned Greek, and translated the whole New Testament into English, which he printed. Despite the official ban in England, he smuggled the English New Testaments into the country and began working on the Old Testament by learning Hebrew and Aramaic.

Tragically, he was betrayed, imprisoned, condemned of treason, and sentenced to be burnt alive at the stake. Before his execution, it is recorded that he prayed, "Lord, open the eyes of the king of England.",

God's word in our hands came at the cost of lives of God's people. Let us not play with it and interpret it as we want.

Conclusion: The Triumph of the Word

Tyndale's work was completed by Miles Coverdale, who produced the complete English Bible in 1535. Later, King James I commissioned the printing of the complete English Bible to be kept in churches, leading to the King James Version (KJV) in 1611. Though the KJV was translated using Hebrew and Greek manuscripts available from the 10th century AD, later discoveries of earlier manuscripts led to the creation of new English versions.

We must remember that God's word came at the cost, the sweat, and the blood of God's people. We must honor His word.

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Short Summary (5–7 bullet points)

• The transmission of the Bible involved immense cost, both in terms of money and the lives of saints, emphasizing that the word is precious and should not be handled carelessly.
• The materials used evolved from stone tablets (Exodus 34:1) and clay tablets (Ezekiel 4:1) to leather scrolls and, finally, papyrus material, which by the 1st century AD was formed into the book-like codex.,
• The original languages were mostly Hebrew and Aramaic (Old Testament) and Koine Greek (common people's language for the New Testament)., The Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, was completed in the 3rd century BC.
• Jerome dedicated 25 years to translating the entire Bible from original languages into Latin Vulgate (common Latin) in the 4th century AD, making it accessible for a time.,
• John Wycliffe produced the first English Bible in the 14th century, translating from Latin, and his followers risked their lives reading it aloud to the people, despite the official church ban.,
• The invention of the printing press by Johann Gutenberg in the 15th century began the mass production of the Bible, with the Latin Vulgate being the first book printed.
• William Tyndale fled to Germany to translate the New Testament directly from the original Greek and Hebrew into English, believing that "a farmer's son" should know God's word better than the religious leaders; he was ultimately martyred, praying that the King of England's eyes would be opened.,

Progressive Revelation - Part 5: A Kingdom of Priests: Claiming Our New Covenant Privilege as Kings and Priests

Introduction: God’s Original Intention

Read part 4 here.

When God delivered the Israelites from Egypt, leading them to Mount Sinai (Exodus 19), He immediately revealed His extraordinary purpose for them. After approximately one and a half months since leaving Egypt, and before giving them the Law, God spoke to the people of Israel through Moses, declaring His vision:

• Exodus 19:6 (ESV): "and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. ...".

We need to focus on the phrase "kingdom of priests". This phrase should be understood as "kings and priests," which is supported by the original words used. God’s initial intention was that all of them would be kings and priests. He did not originally choose Judah to be the king’s tribe nor the Levites to be the tribe of priests.

This original intention is fulfilled in the New Testament church. The phrase "kingdom of priests" is mirrored in the New Testament as "a royal priesthood, a holy nation" (1 Peter 2:9). The Greek words used in 1 Peter 2:9 are exactly the same as those used in the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament) for Exodus 19:6. What the Apostle Peter, by the Holy Spirit, is saying is that while God chose the complete nation of Israelites to be His kings and priests, they failed. Now, we, as believers in the New Testament, are kings and priests.

The First Failure and the Second Chance

God's intention was for the whole nation of Israel to be mediators—middle people between God and the rest of the nations. Unfortunately, they failed in this calling.

Soon after God chose the whole nation to be priests and gave them the Law (calling Moses to the mount to receive the written commandments), the whole nation fell into idolatry. This was a great problem because this nation, which was supposed to be a priest to the Lord, was now worshipping something other than the Lord God, becoming priests to something else.

However, God is a God of second chance. In His mercy, God offered them another opportunity, though this second chance was not without cost.

In response to the idolatry, Moses stood at the gate of the camp and gave this call:

• Exodus 32:26 (ESV): "Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, 'Who is on the Lord's side? Come to me.' And all the sons of Levi gathered around him".

The whole nation failed, but only one tribe, the sons of Levi, gathered to Moses.

The Cost of Priesthood

The commandment given to the Levites was severe:

• Exodus 32:27 (ESV): "And he said to them, 'Thus says the Lord God of Israel, "Put your sword on your side, each of you, and go to and fro from gate to gate throughout the camp, and each of you kill his brother and his companion and his neighbor" '".

The Levites did according to the word of Moses, resulting in about 3,000 men falling that day (Exodus 32:28). They had to kill whoever they found in idolatry, be it son, brother, neighbor, or a very close friend.

• Exodus 32:29 (ESV): "And Moses said, 'Today you have been ordained for the service of the Lord, each one at the cost of his son and of his brother, so that he might bestow a blessing upon you this day'".

By paying that cost—eliminating anyone, even close relatives, involved in idolatry—they ordained themselves to serve God as priests.

The Principle of Discipleship and Worthiness

This costly ordination established a crucial principle, not just for the Levites, but for discipleship under Christ: unreserved love for God.

• Matthew 10:37 (ESV): "Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me".

The phrase "worthy of me" means to become eligible to get God in our lives. This teaching is a principle for discipleship, not about getting saved or forgiven. To become a priest unto God, we should not love anybody in our lives more than we love the Lord Jesus. If anybody (father, mother, son, daughter, friend, neighbor) is more important than the Lord in our lives, we are disqualified to be His priests.

This requirement emphasizes holding loosely to earthly ties. The saying of the Jewish woman, Corrie Ten Boom, who suffered under Hitler and later performed a great ministry, summarizes this principle: "It is better to hold loosely to the things of this earth so that you can easily leave them when God requires you of them". This is the qualification to be a priest unto God, just as God required Abraham to offer his only son Isaac in his heart, even though God knew Abraham loved him.

The Failed Priestly and Kingly Offices

The priests chosen from the Levite tribe had two main responsibilities:

1. Representing the People before God: They had to offer sacrifices unto the Lord, as the people could not bring their own sacrifices directly to the altar; only priests could.
2. Representing God before the People: They had to teach the law to the people. They were required to distinguish between the holy and the common, and the unclean and the clean, and teach all the statutes God had spoken through Moses (Leviticus 10:10-11).

However, by the end of the Old Testament, these priests also failed in both responsibilities.

Similarly, the office of kingship, initially intended for the entire nation, failed. God wanted the whole nation to be royal, with no distinction between the royal and the common. The other nations often saw their kings claiming themselves to be gods. So, probably what God wanted to say is this - "There will not be any king among you. You all will be kings".

The kingship failed for two reasons: 1) The people could not trust God completely to be their king. 2) Samuel made a mistake by choosing his own ungodly sons to be judges which he did without consulting God. 

When the people came to Samuel asking for a king, God confirmed their rejection of Him:

• 1 Samuel 8:7 (ESV): "And the Lord said to Samuel, 'Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them'".

Though God granted their desire, the first king, Saul, failed. David, the man after God’s own heart, was then appointed. David had immense love and zeal for God, evident in his dancing before the Lord when bringing the ark (Psalm reference implied). God made a covenant with David that a descendant would reign forever. Yet, Solomon failed, and most descendants failed, leading to the complete disappearance of ruling kings by the end of the Old Testament.

The Fulfillment in Christ and Our Privilege

In both the kingly and priestly offices, the Israelites utterly failed.

But the Lord Jesus, the Son of God, came in the fullness of time, fulfilling both roles successfully and forever. He came as the descendant of David (from Mary's side, as recorded in Luke 3), fulfilling the kingly promise. He is also our High Priest, as seen in the Book of Hebrews.

God was faithful, even though the people failed. To prepare the way for this King and Priest, God raised John the Baptist, a Levite from the priestly family.

Now, as born-again believers, God gives this privilege to us (1 Peter 2:9). We are called to be priests and kings. In the Old Testament, kings claimed to be "sons of gods," but through faith, we are now called the sons of God. Because we are sons, we are heirs of our Father King (Romans 8:17).

We prove ourselves to be sons of God when we are led by the Spirit of God:

• Romans 8:14 (ESV): "For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God".

We are also called to be priests unto God to offer prayers and supplications—to represent God before others and to represent people before God.

(To be continued...)