INTRODUCTION: THE TIME DIDN'T GO. IT CAME!

INTRODUCTION: THE TIME DIDN'T GO. IT CAME!

Let’s go up to Jerusalem….

John 1:1-2, 14

Dwelling/Dwelt – God moved in the neighborhood. The word originally means that He came and pitched His tent among us. God proclaimed the “logos,” the “Living Word.” The Living Word followed 400 years (centuries) of complete silence from God.

Today’s focal passage: Amos 8:11-12.

God did not break covenant; He just hushed His voice for 4 centuries.

Two Scriptures imply probable reasons why the LORD God instituted this kind of “fast.”

Amos 2:11—God’s people commanded His prophets not to prophesy.

Zechariah 7:11-12—The hearts of God’s people became as hard as flint, and they would not listen. In essence, they stopped listening so God finally (though temporarily) stopped talking.

There have been times when God was saying something that we did not want to hear, and we just threw our hands over our ears.

A Few Historical Events Affecting Israel During the Inter-Testament Era

1. The conquest of Alexander the Great. In 336 B.C., Philip of Macedon’s son, Alexander the III, took the throne at 20 years of age and proceeded to conquer much of the civilized world.

Alexander was a student of the philosopher Aristotle, and in all of his heart he believed that the world could be unified through Hellenism.

According to tradition, he is the very one who introduced the cross (crucifixion) into this part of the world.

2. The Greek translation of the Old Testament Pentateuch. In 250 B.C. the Alexandrian Jews translated the Pentateuch into the Greek language. It was later called the Septuagint, Latin for seventy, traditionally believed to be the number of men who worked on the translation.

Alexander was a friend to the Jews and sympathetic to their needs. Around 331 BC, he built the city of Alexandria in Egypt, and invited as many of the Jews who would come and dwell, to inhabit that particular city. The Alexandrian Jews translated the Pentateuch into Greek language, later called the Septuagint.

3. The abomination of Antiochus IV. In 168 B.C. he stormed Jerusalem, entered the temple, and stole the treasures. A year later, he banned obedience to the Jewish law.

Antiochus IV took over the temple in Jerusalem, and dedicated it to the Olympian god, Zeus. He committed the ultimate blasphemy, by ordering swine to slaughtered on the altar. In the book of Daniel, it was a preview of what the Antichrist would do, which is yet to come.

4. The rise of Herod the Great. In 40 B.C. the senate in Rome appointed him “King of the Jews”.

Herod the Great took Palestine in a very bloody siege. In doing so, he pulled together some 10, 000 laborers and priests, and built the most unparalled structure known in the world at that time as “Herod’s Temple.”

Amos 8:11-12 – how precious are the words of the LORD; to come, to need, rely, abide, and live on them.

This was “not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord.”

The original Hebrew word for “hearing” in Amos 8:11 is “shama.”

Two Primary Ramifications of “a famine of hearing the words of the Lord”:

1. Unparalleled insecurity: Much of their identity was cast in hearing the words of the Lord (see Deuteronomy 6:4-9). The ability to hear the words of the Lord was a critical part of what set them apart.

Deuteronomy 6:4-9 – Deuteronomy 11:13-21 – Numbers 15:37-41 make up “The Shema.” The word “shema” is the noun form of the word “shama” which means “hear.” Their entire existence is based on what they heard from God –“Hear O Israel.”

We consider relationship to be wrapped up in communication. If you had no communication, you would consider you had no relationship. That is exactly how the Jews felt.

A real legalism developed during the time of silence. The less we feel the real presence of God; the less we feel a fresh word from Scripture, the more legalistic we become. They fell into the security of legalism.

2. Unprecedented hunger: At least part of the overall plan was to invoke “a famine of hearing the words of the Lord” in order to provoke a hunger for “hearing the words of the Lord” (Galatians 4:4). Note three components of this verse:

God so often uses a famine in our lives to work up an appetite of Him. We are an evidence of that.

• The time: The word “karos” inspired in Galatians 4:4 is the other word “chronos,” meaning “the actual passing of moments or a period of measured time.”

God used actual time; the resource of time, as His instrument during this 400 year period. The reason being a season, or period of opportunity (karos, Greek) had not worked. God used a very long time of silence, and they knew that God was not speaking.

• The fullness: The original Greek word for “fullness” is “pleroma,” the noun form of the verb “pleroo” meaning “make full” or “to fill up.” The time wasn’t full until their spiritual stomachs were empty.

God was filling up or making time full, itself; all the meanwhile, there was a famine in the land for the Word of God.

Psalm 81:6-16

Verse 10 – God says “I am anxious to feed you. How much do you want what I have to offer you?”

A verse 11-12 – To submit to God is to submit to His plan.

As God was using a famine in the land, in many ways, they were getting some of the things they wanted; yet, they had a famine in their soul. Only God can use two contrasting things, happening in your life at once, to accomplish one goal; things that seem like opposites (Genesis 15). He will do what He says, and He will accomplish His purpose. He can bring a famine in one way, and a fullness in another.

• The arrival: The time didn’t go. It came!

Time does not flee in the plan of God, it comes; it completes instead. There is so much mercy in that concept. God was waiting for the fullness of time so that He could come as the Word made flesh in their midst.

Luke 15:13-17

In this story, there is a famine in the land, and also a hunger, or famine in his own soul; in his integrity, character, of being his father’s son. All the while the famine was emptying out everything of self in him, time was fully coming; and when the time came, he went home to his father.

When we think God is inactive, He is not. He is filling the time. God is at work in your life and mine, even when He seems silent.

Running – the mercy of God to a prodigal. When we are famished, He has set time in motion, that when it has fully come, we will know the feast.

In conclusion, consider the awesome plan of God: He used a famine to serve His purposes until the fullness of time. He used the withholding of His words to prepare for the revealing of The Word (His Living Word, Jesus: the expression of the heart and mind of God in human flesh.)

We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only, Who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

(John 1:14, NIV).