Our next history books are the Gospels. The events they document happened 400 years after Ezra, Nehemiah and Malachi. In those 400 years God inspired neither prophets nor historians to write, that we know of. However, that doesn’t mean that God wasn’t at work. He did some amazing works in that time that we know little about because we don’t study history. I want to fill you in on some of those things briefly.
When we leave God’s Old Testament people at the end of Ezra, Nehemiah and Malachi, they were restored to their Promised Land by the Persians, who were ruling much of the known world in the period of history we call the Persian Empire. By this time they were called Jews and their land was called Judea, because they were mostly descendants of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin who had returned from exile imposed by the Babylonians on the Southern nation of Judah. Most of the northern nation of Israel had been dispersed by the Assyrians earlier, and had assimilated into the peoples with whom they lived. The Persians ruling at that time were ancestors of modern-day Iran, which gives us a vague idea of their very Middle Eastern values and culture.
About 100 years after Ezra, Nehemiah, and Malachi, an abrupt change came about that only God could orchestrate. Alexander the Great, a young Macedonian educated in Greece, conquered the Persian Empire and beyond in very short order. As he conquered, he spread the Greek culture to the areas and people under his authority. In his realm business was conducted in the Greek language, and so everyone learned Greek and spoke Greek. People of the East were exposed to the ideas, values, knowledge and cultural practices of the West through his “Hellenization” (a reference to the name the Greeks called their mainland, Hellas) of all the lands he conquered. This was key preparation for the coming of Messiah. I’m not a linguist, but I am told that the Greek language is the language most expressive of the concepts key to man’s understanding of the work of Messiah and what a difference His coming makes. For example, Greek has four words for expressing the idea of love. In addition to the language, the Greeks’ love of philosophy, of exploring thoughts new to man in new ways, opened men’s minds to new ideas and so to the idea of Messiah and all He brings. Spreading the Gospel was so much easier when so many people spoke the same language and were interested in hearing new ideas.
Alexander died unexpectedly at the end of his campaigns, leaving no clear heir to his empire, which was taken over by four of his generals. Hellenization continued throughout much of the known world under their leadership, even as they contended against each other for a greater share of land and power. Judea was located strategically between two of the four kingdoms into which Alexander’s empire was split, so they were constantly fought over like dogs fight over a bone. In the midst of this frequently chaotic time they witnessed some amazing acts of God in their midst. One of the most notable events is celebrated every year by the Jews when they celebrate Hanukkah. You can read about this history by checking out the writings of Josephus, the Jewish historian.
Before Jesus entered the scene, the Romans grew powerful enough to conquer and take over Alexander’s empire. Much of the world was already well-“Hellenized,” a cultural foundation on which the Romans built. Their major contribution to the spread of the Gospel, however, was a long-lasting peace throughout the Roman Empire that made travel relatively easy. Those famous Roman roads helped as well.
These next history books tell of the most pivotal event in the entire history of man. Four thousand years after God promised, the Son of Eve who would crush Satan’s head was born. In those 4000 years there were a lot of deaths, a lot of disappointing choices and behaviors resulting in crushed hopes and God’s judgment, which is always painful and devastating. Sin results in destruction. We can’t really appreciate how momentous Messiah’s advent is, until we understand how awful the sin problem and Satan’s products are.
At the point in man’s history where the Old Testament ends, it’s evident that the Old Covenant has failed to take care of man’s sin problem. Based on the performance of God’s Old Covenant people, we see that man is hopeless in his sin. God does have a plan to take care of the problem, through this Son of Eve who He promised would crush Satan’s head. But no one has the power to take on Satan except God Himself. The crushing of Satan’s head would not be literal, but figurative. So how would God accomplish that? By providing the ultimate sacrifice to pay for man’s sin once and for all, with His own death. By raising to life again to defeat death, the consequence of sin. By transforming man with that same power, so that he could overcome the curse of sin which had bound him since Adam and Eve sinned. But a mere man couldn’t accomplish this; only God Himself has such power. So God Himself came to earth covered in human flesh, becoming Jesus. Jesus was a son of Eve, but He was not a son of Adam; rather, He was the son of God Himself. This is a great mystery to us, one of those mysteries we could refuse to believe because we simply can’t wrap our heads around it, or one we can choose to believe even though it is too great for our understanding. If we choose not to believe it, we will not know God.