From the close of the Old Testament to the start of the New Testament, it is a VERY different world—so many things have changed.
There is an infographic that goes through the changes that go with the lesson. In this lesson, we’ll go over how the changes came to be.
We’ll also look at the various groups that emerged during this time, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and others we find in the New Testament.
The lesson ends with some thoughts on the description of this time as the “400 Silent Years” and some suggested applications for us when God seems silent and because we also live in an in-between time.
Below is a PDF of the handouts, plus links to the podcast and video of the lesson.
If you would like FREE, editable downloads of this material that you can modify and use to teach without attribution, go to the Bible805 Academy. Just click on the little search (magnifying glass icon) at the top of the page, type in the topic you want, hit enter, and it will bring up the various lessons and infographics on it.
We call the time in between the Old and New Testament the “400 Silent Years”
• But was God truly silent during that time?
• What was going on then?
• And what can we learn from that time when He seems silent in our lives?
• We’ll answer all these questions in our lesson today…..
The Time Between the Testaments
how to live when in the in-between times & when it seems God is silent
Yvon Prehn, Bible805
From the close of the Old Testament to the start of the New Testament
• It is a VERY different world—see the chart in your notes and in a minute, we’ll go over how the changes came to be.
• We’ll also look at the various groups that emerged during this time, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and others we find in the New Testament.
• End with some thoughts on the description of this time as the “400 Silent Years” and some suggested applications for us when God seems silent and because we also live in an in-between time.
Step-by-step on how the changes happened
• All this happened during over 500 years, as our chart begins before the last of the prophets.
• Though the actual time between the Testaments is about 400 years.
• The U.S. is 247 years old at the time of this lesson—so about double our remembered history and think of how our nation has changed—we tend to have relatively consistent view of the Bible times and that isn’t at all true.
• This chart is in your handouts, but let’s now look at each area in it.
• This is the final history after the Babylonian exile, told in Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther. The people are back in the land.
• Never again will they fall into idol worship or worship other gods.
• But that doesn’t mean they are whole-hearted in their worship of the true God.
• Sloppy worship, neglecting the Temple and support of the priests, and marrying pagan women all characterize this time as recorded by the last prophets Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi.
• And now the prophets will be silent for 400 years. But a lot is happening in Israel.
336-323 BC
• Alexander appears on the scene, gives those conquered relative freedom.
• Greek becomes their universal language, though Aramaic still spoken at home, little Hebrew spoken except by some priests.
• During this and previous time, the Synagogues were spreading and becoming the primary place where people could study God’s Word, learn, and interact about their faith.
• When Alexander dies, his kingdom is split into four parts and for a little over 100 years the one who rules Israel/Judea is Ptolemy who rules from Egypt.
323-198 BC
• Ptolemy is a benevolent ruler, admires the Jews, and encourages learning and scholarship in Egypt.
• He gathers scholars, books, and creates the great library of Alexandria.
• As already mentioned, Greek is the universal language and Ptolemy initiates the translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek—the Septuagint, which becomes the Scripture quoted in the New Testament by Jesus and other writers.
• The Apocrypha’s creation starts and this time and continues through early NT times. Never accepted as part of the Jewish canon—see lesson on Apocrypha for more.
• This time of peace and learning doesn’t last, as another of Alexander’s generals, from the Seleucid family, takes control of Israel.
198-110 BC
• In stark contrast to Ptolemy’s admiration of the Jews, Antiochus III and his son Antiochus IV Epiphanes, wanted to erase all things Jewish and replace them with all things Greek.
• They suppressed Jewish culture, customs, and worship, slaughtered those who did not comply and ultimately offered a pig on the altar of the Temple.
• Hellenization, the promotion of all things Greek was forced on the people, though it was a popular way of life to many.
• As happens with most tyrants, theirs did not last and a Jewish rebellion took place.
Approx 140-63/37 BC
• This rebellion was led by the Maccabean/Hasmonean family and after years of bloody battles they finally took over control of the nation.
• Their cleansing of the Temple is celebrated today as Hannukah.
• They established a short-lived dynasty known as the Hasmonean Dynasty.
• It was not universally popular as it tended towards Hellenization; the Sadducees favored and supported that; the Pharisees did not; the Essenes withdrew.
• But the people of Judea couldn’t stop fighting and finally…..
63 BC through New Testament Times
• The rising power of the world, Rome steps in and takes control over Jerusalem.
• They are relatively kind to the Jews for a period of time (until 70 AD), but care little for historical or religious sensibilities.
• They give the kingship to Herod, a descendent of Esau, and the priesthood becomes a political office primarily responsible for keeping the people in line.
• Who were the religious groups of the time when no overall priest or prophet spoke, and the synagogue had become of primary importance to many?
Pharisees “separated ones”
• Came into being after the Maccabean revolt as a group opposed to the Hellenizing influences (conforming to popular, primarily Greek, ways of thinking and worship).
• They accepted not only the written Torah, but the commentaries on it, the oral Torah, and LOVED to debate the content of it, as Jesus often did.
• They believed in angels, demons, the afterlife.
• They were the teachers, rabbis and though often strict, were popular with the people.
• Modern Judaism comes from them.
Despite their good intentions, Jesus challenged them
• Matthew 15 Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, 2 “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat!”
• 3 Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? 4 For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’ and ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’ 5 But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is ‘devoted to God,’ 6 they are not to ‘honor their father or mother’ with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition.
• In this instance and many others, Jesus answered them from the Scriptures—we always need to be sure we are living what we say we believe—and living it with kindness and compassion.
• Yet their biblical foundation produced early Christian leaders, including Nicodemus and the Apostle Paul.
Scribes
• Often linked to the Pharisees, but a distinctly different group.
• They were the writers, the experts in the law, literally the scribes for all the writing that needed to be done in a community, plus they were often equivalent to judges and lawyers.
• As such they became experts in what the law required and what they felt were the demands of tradition.
• Jesus disagreed with them when He talked about adding tradition to the Word of God.
Sadducees
• Arose around 200BC as a political party but claimed their descent from the priestly line of Zadok, an earlier high priest.
• They tended to be wealthy, landed aristocracy and embraced the Hellenistic life.
• They only accepted the first five books of the Old Testament and none of the oral tradition.
• Based on that they did not believe in angels, demons, or an afterlife. (“They were sad, you see.”)
• My comment on that—they had an incorrect view of the Torah—see previous lessons on Job & Genesis, answers to the Big Questions of Life for how these books cover these topics clearly.
Jesus’s confrontation with them
• Matthew 22: 23 That same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question. 24 “Teacher,” they said, “Moses told us that if a man dies without having children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for him. 25 Now there were seven brothers among us. The first one married and died, and since he had no children, he left his wife to his brother. 26 The same thing happened to the second and third brother, right on down to the seventh. 27 Finally, the woman died. 28 Now then, at the resurrection, whose wife will she be of the seven, since all of them were married to her?”
• 29 Jesus replied, “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. 30 At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. 31 But about the resurrection of the dead—have you not read what God said to you, 32 ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.”
• Extremely important warning for us today and the answer the problems of life….. “You are in error because you don’t know the Scriptures.”
Essenes
• They primarily simply wanted to retreat from the world.
• Arose around 100BC, literally died out 70AD.
• Most likely would know little to nothing about them except that they were most likely the ones who preserved the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Zealots
• A group, who varied in their beliefs, but overall who wanted to overthrow Rome.
• Some advocated more violence than others.
• Interesting how Jesus had both Simon the Zealot (who wanted to overthrow Rome) and Matthew the tax collector (who supported Rome) as His disciples.
• A reminder our primary loyalty and citizenship is the Kingdom of God.
This was not the first time in the history of God’s people that prophets were not speaking to them.
• There were numerous times that God did not send prophets to verbally share new messages with the people.
• We don’t have much recorded (except for the Flood and Noah) between the Fall and the call of Abraham.
• We don’t have any new prophets recorded while people were slaves in Egypt.
• And we don’t have the Scriptures in written form until after the Exodus from Egypt, 1446 BC.
• We don’t have any new messages to us in the 2,000 years since Jesus went back to heaven.
• But that doesn’t mean God is silent now or that He was at any time in world history.
God is never silent
• In THREE Ways He is always speaking-
• #1 The heavens & our world declare His glory and that never ceases. IMHO—how can someone look at succulents (little living sculptures) and not believe in a Creator?
• #2 His Word—the people at that time had the completed OLD Testament including prophecy in Daniel of all that would happen during this time.
• #3 His Spirit—convicting unbelievers, guiding, comforting believers.
God’s Word was His roadmap for the intertestamental times
• People at that time had the completed OLD Testament including prophecy in Daniel of all that would happen in the coming years.
• And it was now available in the Greek Septuagint which most people could understand.
• Daniel’s dream and image of a statue predicted the various world powers that would come between the close of the Old Testament until Jesus’ birth.
• A clear and comforting roadmap was in place for those willing to read it.
• As He has for us in His Word—perhaps not in the political detail, but we know this world system will end and Jesus’ eternal rule and reign will come, just as surely as these prophecies came true.
I think a much better term than “silent years” is ….
• That we are living in an in-between time.
• When Jesus went died on the cross and said, “It is finished.” He conquered sin and death.
• Our eternal outcome and that of our world is not in doubt—He is coming back, this world will be renewed, He will reign forever.
• And yet it is obvious our world is not under His control.
• We live in-between the incredible importance of what Jesus’ death accomplished on the cross and when He will wrap up human history.
As is often the case, C.S. Lewis described it well when he said
• Enemy-occupied territory—that is what this world is. Christianity is the story of how the rightful king has landed, you might say landed in disguise, and is calling us to take part in a great campaign of sabotage.
• To expand this idea, I think our life is very similar to that of the French Resistance between D-Day and the end of the war.
• The outcome of the war was not in doubt, but there were still many battles for them to fight until the Allies occupied Paris as there are for us.
How to fight them well
• MOST IMPORTANT—recognize you are in a war!
• Important because many Christians don’t, but Jesus is very blunt about our situation in Luke 11:23 and the Message translation makes His point clear: “This is war, and there is no neutral ground. If you’re not on my side, you’re the enemy; if you’re not helping, you’re making things worse.”
• Eph 6:12 also reminds us “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”
• If you realize you are in a war, you won’t be surprised when challenges come.
• For some tips how to fight well, let’s look briefly at the French Resistance….
A summary of some of the work of the Resistance
• Though their guerilla tactics and communications projects might appear small in the larger scheme of the war, they were vital to the overall victory. A rail line blown up, a road blocked, a bridge destroyed, a population encouraged to resist by wireless messages, a poster, or newsletter with a message to not give up, to hold on until victory arrived—each and every action made an immeasurable difference in the outcome of the war.
• They knew if they were caught, torture, imprisonment, and death awaited them. They were not given the honor of a captured soldier—when caught they were brutalized by the German Army that they successfully defeated again and again. A number of them committed suicide in prison rather than give up the names of their comrades under torture.
• This and many of my other thoughts on this topic, from my book in progress, Tetelestai, if the battle is over, why is life so hard?
They did whatever they could, wherever they were
• A challenge for us, is to think through and put into practice in every way we can, Matt. 6:33 But seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.
• Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met. Matt.6:33, MSG
• There are many things which SEEM important, seem essential, and which may be very good things, but that take away the limited time you have to get to know God and His Word better and to share His love with our world.
• Application: Pray for discernment in your life to choose the best over the not sinful and good.
As a warning consider, because instead of fighting
• Some chose to be collaborators—they sided with the Nazi’s.
• It may have started as simply not standing up for a Jewish neighbor. For some it progressed until they oppressed, betrayed, and sometimes killed friends and neighbors, now labeled enemies by Germany.
• Perhaps the money was too good, perhaps their fear too great. Collaboration seemed like the smart thing to do, until it was not.
• Collaborators do well when a war is raging. They are despised when it is over. (from Tetelestai)
• If people who don’t believe in Jesus or who aren’t living for Him seem to have an easier, more prosperous life, that may be entirely true—but it won’t last.
• YOU ALWAYS have a choice as to how to act.
To keep us from being a collaborator, you aren’t alone
• “When you go to church you are really listening-in to the secret wireless from our friends: that is why the enemy is so anxious to prevent us from going. He does it by playing on our conceit and laziness and intellectual snobbery.”― C.S. Lewis
• Getting together is so important, being around like-minded people, encouraging each other, learning together.
• And reminding each other that….
One day the battles will be over—as the silent years came to an end
• But perhaps today is not that day; and perhaps tomorrow is not that day.
• And for every day God keeps you in the battle, you will be faced with choices:
• To spend time in God’s Word or not.
• To obey a challenge from the Bible or tell yourself another time you’ll break that bad habit.
• To joyfully trust and be kind when you wanted to ignore a need or take a nap.
• Decide now, today you will make decisions …
And you never know how important they might be
• It might not seem like a big deal—years ago a Sunday School teacher decided to share with one of his students at the shoe store he worked in that Jesus loved Him and challenged him to become a Christian.
• The boy he shared with never completed 5th grade, couldn’t spell, had terrible grammar when he spoke and was known as a trouble-maker.
• But he believed his Sunday School teacher and wanted everyone to know the Jesus he had come to trust. It’s said he committed to not let a day go by he didn’t tell someone about Jesus.
• That trouble-maker was D.L. Moody who became one of the greatest evangelists of his day and the founder of the Moody Bible Institute. In his day without the internet or mass media (he died in 1899) it is estimated he led over 1 million people to Jesus.
Finally, God is never truly silent, and neither is what we do in our lives
• A friend reminded me of Russell Crowe’s statement in Gladiator, when he said, “What we do in life echoes through eternity.”
• How we conduct ourselves in the battles before our Rightful King makes his authority known is important to ourselves and to our world.
• What we say or do to create echoes through eternity matters—determine now to begin to do today—
• What you want to celebrate, what you want to be known for when our rightful King takes possession of His earth.
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We call the time in between the Old and New Testament the “400 Silent Years”
• But was God truly silent during that time?
• What was going on then?
• And what can we learn from that time when He seems silent in our lives?
• We’ll answer all these questions in our lesson today…..
The Time Between the Testaments
how to live when in the in-between times & when it seems God is silent
Yvon Prehn, Bible805
From the close of the Old Testament to the start of the New Testament
• It is a VERY different world—see the chart in your notes and in a minute, we’ll go over how the changes came to be.
• We’ll also look at the various groups that emerged during this time, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and others we find in the New Testament.
• End with some thoughts on the description of this time as the “400 Silent Years” and some suggested applications for us when God seems silent and because we also live in an in-between time.
Step-by-step on how the changes happened
• All this happened during over 500 years, as our chart begins before the last of the prophets.
• Though the actual time between the Testaments is about 400 years.
• The U.S. is 247 years old at the time of this lesson—so about double our remembered history and think of how our nation has changed—we tend to have relatively consistent view of the Bible times and that isn’t at all true.
• This chart is in your handouts, but let’s now look at each area in it.
• This is the final history after the Babylonian exile, told in Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther. The people are back in the land.
• Never again will they fall into idol worship or worship other gods.
• But that doesn’t mean they are whole-hearted in their worship of the true God.
• Sloppy worship, neglecting the Temple and support of the priests, and marrying pagan women all characterize this time as recorded by the last prophets Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi.
• And now the prophets will be silent for 400 years. But a lot is happening in Israel.
336-323 BC
• Alexander appears on the scene, gives those conquered relative freedom.
• Greek becomes their universal language, though Aramaic still spoken at home, little Hebrew spoken except by some priests.
• During this and previous time, the Synagogues were spreading and becoming the primary place where people could study God’s Word, learn, and interact about their faith.
• When Alexander dies, his kingdom is split into four parts and for a little over 100 years the one who rules Israel/Judea is Ptolemy who rules from Egypt.
323-198 BC
• Ptolemy is a benevolent ruler, admires the Jews, and encourages learning and scholarship in Egypt.
• He gathers scholars, books, and creates the great library of Alexandria.
• As already mentioned, Greek is the universal language and Ptolemy initiates the translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek—the Septuagint, which becomes the Scripture quoted in the New Testament by Jesus and other writers.
• The Apocrypha’s creation starts and this time and continues through early NT times. Never accepted as part of the Jewish canon—see lesson on Apocrypha for more.
• This time of peace and learning doesn’t last, as another of Alexander’s generals, from the Seleucid family, takes control of Israel.
198-110 BC
• In stark contrast to Ptolemy’s admiration of the Jews, Antiochus III and his son Antiochus IV Epiphanes, wanted to erase all things Jewish and replace them with all things Greek.
• They suppressed Jewish culture, customs, and worship, slaughtered those who did not comply and ultimately offered a pig on the altar of the Temple.
• Hellenization, the promotion of all things Greek was forced on the people, though it was a popular way of life to many.
• As happens with most tyrants, theirs did not last and a Jewish rebellion took place.
Approx 140-63/37 BC
• This rebellion was led by the Maccabean/Hasmonean family and after years of bloody battles they finally took over control of the nation.
• Their cleansing of the Temple is celebrated today as Hannukah.
• They established a short-lived dynasty known as the Hasmonean Dynasty.
• It was not universally popular as it tended towards Hellenization; the Sadducees favored and supported that; the Pharisees did not; the Essenes withdrew.
• But the people of Judea couldn’t stop fighting and finally…..
63 BC through New Testament Times
• The rising power of the world, Rome steps in and takes control over Jerusalem.
• They are relatively kind to the Jews for a period of time (until 70 AD), but care little for historical or religious sensibilities.
• They give the kingship to Herod, a descendent of Esau, and the priesthood becomes a political office primarily responsible for keeping the people in line.
• Who were the religious groups of the time when no overall priest or prophet spoke, and the synagogue had become of primary importance to many?
Pharisees “separated ones”
• Came into being after the Maccabean revolt as a group opposed to the Hellenizing influences (conforming to popular, primarily Greek, ways of thinking and worship).
• They accepted not only the written Torah, but the commentaries on it, the oral Torah, and LOVED to debate the content of it, as Jesus often did.
• They believed in angels, demons, the afterlife.
• They were the teachers, rabbis and though often strict, were popular with the people.
• Modern Judaism comes from them.
Despite their good intentions, Jesus challenged them
• Matthew 15 Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, 2 “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat!”
• 3 Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? 4 For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’ and ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’ 5 But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is ‘devoted to God,’ 6 they are not to ‘honor their father or mother’ with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition.
• In this instance and many others, Jesus answered them from the Scriptures—we always need to be sure we are living what we say we believe—and living it with kindness and compassion.
• Yet their biblical foundation produced early Christian leaders, including Nicodemus and the Apostle Paul.
Scribes
• Often linked to the Pharisees, but a distinctly different group.
• They were the writers, the experts in the law, literally the scribes for all the writing that needed to be done in a community, plus they were often equivalent to judges and lawyers.
• As such they became experts in what the law required and what they felt were the demands of tradition.
• Jesus disagreed with them when He talked about adding tradition to the Word of God.
Sadducees
• Arose around 200BC as a political party but claimed their descent from the priestly line of Zadok, an earlier high priest.
• They tended to be wealthy, landed aristocracy and embraced the Hellenistic life.
• They only accepted the first five books of the Old Testament and none of the oral tradition.
• Based on that they did not believe in angels, demons, or an afterlife. (“They were sad, you see.”)
• My comment on that—they had an incorrect view of the Torah—see previous lessons on Job & Genesis, answers to the Big Questions of Life for how these books cover these topics clearly.
Jesus’s confrontation with them
• Matthew 22: 23 That same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question. 24 “Teacher,” they said, “Moses told us that if a man dies without having children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for him. 25 Now there were seven brothers among us. The first one married and died, and since he had no children, he left his wife to his brother. 26 The same thing happened to the second and third brother, right on down to the seventh. 27 Finally, the woman died. 28 Now then, at the resurrection, whose wife will she be of the seven, since all of them were married to her?”
• 29 Jesus replied, “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. 30 At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. 31 But about the resurrection of the dead—have you not read what God said to you, 32 ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.”
• Extremely important warning for us today and the answer the problems of life….. “You are in error because you don’t know the Scriptures.”
Essenes
• They primarily simply wanted to retreat from the world.
• Arose around 100BC, literally died out 70AD.
• Most likely would know little to nothing about them except that they were most likely the ones who preserved the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Zealots
• A group, who varied in their beliefs, but overall who wanted to overthrow Rome.
• Some advocated more violence than others.
• Interesting how Jesus had both Simon the Zealot (who wanted to overthrow Rome) and Matthew the tax collector (who supported Rome) as His disciples.
• A reminder our primary loyalty and citizenship is the Kingdom of God.
This was not the first time in the history of God’s people that prophets were not speaking to them.
• There were numerous times that God did not send prophets to verbally share new messages with the people.
• We don’t have much recorded (except for the Flood and Noah) between the Fall and the call of Abraham.
• We don’t have any new prophets recorded while people were slaves in Egypt.
• And we don’t have the Scriptures in written form until after the Exodus from Egypt, 1446 BC.
• We don’t have any new messages to us in the 2,000 years since Jesus went back to heaven.
• But that doesn’t mean God is silent now or that He was at any time in world history.
God is never silent
• In THREE Ways He is always speaking-
• #1 The heavens & our world declare His glory and that never ceases. IMHO—how can someone look at succulents (little living sculptures) and not believe in a Creator?
• #2 His Word—the people at that time had the completed OLD Testament including prophecy in Daniel of all that would happen during this time.
• #3 His Spirit—convicting unbelievers, guiding, comforting believers.
God’s Word was His roadmap for the intertestamental times
• People at that time had the completed OLD Testament including prophecy in Daniel of all that would happen in the coming years.
• And it was now available in the Greek Septuagint which most people could understand.
• Daniel’s dream and image of a statue predicted the various world powers that would come between the close of the Old Testament until Jesus’ birth.
• A clear and comforting roadmap was in place for those willing to read it.
• As He has for us in His Word—perhaps not in the political detail, but we know this world system will end and Jesus’ eternal rule and reign will come, just as surely as these prophecies came true.
I think a much better term than “silent years” is ….
• That we are living in an in-between time.
• When Jesus went died on the cross and said, “It is finished.” He conquered sin and death.
• Our eternal outcome and that of our world is not in doubt—He is coming back, this world will be renewed, He will reign forever.
• And yet it is obvious our world is not under His control.
• We live in-between the incredible importance of what Jesus’ death accomplished on the cross and when He will wrap up human history.
As is often the case, C.S. Lewis described it well when he said
• Enemy-occupied territory—that is what this world is. Christianity is the story of how the rightful king has landed, you might say landed in disguise, and is calling us to take part in a great campaign of sabotage.
• To expand this idea, I think our life is very similar to that of the French Resistance between D-Day and the end of the war.
• The outcome of the war was not in doubt, but there were still many battles for them to fight until the Allies occupied Paris as there are for us.
How to fight them well
• MOST IMPORTANT—recognize you are in a war!
• Important because many Christians don’t, but Jesus is very blunt about our situation in Luke 11:23 and the Message translation makes His point clear: “This is war, and there is no neutral ground. If you’re not on my side, you’re the enemy; if you’re not helping, you’re making things worse.”
• Eph 6:12 also reminds us “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”
• If you realize you are in a war, you won’t be surprised when challenges come.
• For some tips how to fight well, let’s look briefly at the French Resistance….
A summary of some of the work of the Resistance
• Though their guerilla tactics and communications projects might appear small in the larger scheme of the war, they were vital to the overall victory. A rail line blown up, a road blocked, a bridge destroyed, a population encouraged to resist by wireless messages, a poster, or newsletter with a message to not give up, to hold on until victory arrived—each and every action made an immeasurable difference in the outcome of the war.
• They knew if they were caught, torture, imprisonment, and death awaited them. They were not given the honor of a captured soldier—when caught they were brutalized by the German Army that they successfully defeated again and again. A number of them committed suicide in prison rather than give up the names of their comrades under torture.
• This and many of my other thoughts on this topic, from my book in progress, Tetelestai, if the battle is over, why is life so hard?
They did whatever they could, wherever they were
• A challenge for us, is to think through and put into practice in every way we can, Matt. 6:33 But seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.
• Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met. Matt.6:33, MSG
• There are many things which SEEM important, seem essential, and which may be very good things, but that take away the limited time you have to get to know God and His Word better and to share His love with our world.
• Application: Pray for discernment in your life to choose the best over the not sinful and good.
As a warning consider, because instead of fighting
• Some chose to be collaborators—they sided with the Nazi’s.
• It may have started as simply not standing up for a Jewish neighbor. For some it progressed until they oppressed, betrayed, and sometimes killed friends and neighbors, now labeled enemies by Germany.
• Perhaps the money was too good, perhaps their fear too great. Collaboration seemed like the smart thing to do, until it was not.
• Collaborators do well when a war is raging. They are despised when it is over. (from Tetelestai)
• If people who don’t believe in Jesus or who aren’t living for Him seem to have an easier, more prosperous life, that may be entirely true—but it won’t last.
• YOU ALWAYS have a choice as to how to act.
To keep us from being a collaborator, you aren’t alone
• “When you go to church you are really listening-in to the secret wireless from our friends: that is why the enemy is so anxious to prevent us from going. He does it by playing on our conceit and laziness and intellectual snobbery.”― C.S. Lewis
• Getting together is so important, being around like-minded people, encouraging each other, learning together.
• And reminding each other that….
One day the battles will be over—as the silent years came to an end
• But perhaps today is not that day; and perhaps tomorrow is not that day.
• And for every day God keeps you in the battle, you will be faced with choices:
• To spend time in God’s Word or not.
• To obey a challenge from the Bible or tell yourself another time you’ll break that bad habit.
• To joyfully trust and be kind when you wanted to ignore a need or take a nap.
• Decide now, today you will make decisions …
And you never know how important they might be
• It might not seem like a big deal—years ago a Sunday School teacher decided to share with one of his students at the shoe store he worked in that Jesus loved Him and challenged him to become a Christian.
• The boy he shared with never completed 5th grade, couldn’t spell, had terrible grammar when he spoke and was known as a trouble-maker.
• But he believed his Sunday School teacher and wanted everyone to know the Jesus he had come to trust. It’s said he committed to not let a day go by he didn’t tell someone about Jesus.
• That trouble-maker was D.L. Moody who became one of the greatest evangelists of his day and the founder of the Moody Bible Institute. In his day without the internet or mass media (he died in 1899) it is estimated he led over 1 million people to Jesus.
Finally, God is never truly silent, and neither is what we do in our lives
• A friend reminded me of Russell Crowe’s statement in Gladiator, when he said, “What we do in life echoes through eternity.”
• How we conduct ourselves in the battles before our Rightful King makes his authority known is important to ourselves and to our world.
• What we say or do to create echoes through eternity matters—determine now to begin to do today—
• What you want to celebrate, what you want to be known for when our rightful King takes possession of His earth.
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