As you flip through your news feed, your thoughts race, “what is happening?” You may even agree with friends over coffee that no hope remains, based on current events in our country. Shock surges through you as you consider the decisions made in the state and federal government. The agenda of those in elected office terrifies. Your mind locks on your kids and grandkids, you shutter. “What good will be left for them?” This is when studying history comes in handy. If you have never ventured into the political and historical context of the New Testament as Christ entered the scene, you must give it a try! Why? It will give you so much hope.
We are mistaken in thinking that evil is worse today then it was then. We are in error if we tell ourselves that the world used to be good and now it’s gone mad. I have not always studied the scripture in the context with which it was written. There, I said it. I’m not perfect. Recently, I have been researching the time between the Old Testament writings and the New Testament account. This is often referred to as the Intertestamental Period, also called the Deuterocanonical Period. What you call this time in history is not as important as knowing what occurred. Why? It will give you so much hope.
During this 400 year gap (c. 420 BC to the early first century AD) in our biblical text, things were crazy. Rulers came and went but what remained was sin. Political dissension, war, murder for sport, you name it, it happened. Yet amidst the insanity and violence, emerged our Messiah. God was not deterred by our vile conditions on earth. In fact, God used the division and discord to ensure the spread of the Gospel in more than one language. Jesus had a price on His head from the moment of His birth, yet He still conquered death through the cross. The government (Herod) executed babies and toddlers to secure that there would be no threat to their power. Sound familiar? When you consider history, you gain perspective. My challenge to you: get into God’s Word and go one step further, study the historical and political context. Why? It will give you so much hope. If you focus on the world, you will find only despair. If you focus on God’s victory over the world, you will find peace.
- Mark 3:6 NKJV “Then the Pharisees went out and immediately plotted with the Herodians against Him, how they might destroy Him.”
- Matthew 1:16 NKJV “Then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived by the wise men, was exceedingly angry; and he sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the wise men.”
- John 18:36 NLT “Jesus answered, ‘My Kingdom is not an earthly kingdom. If it were, my followers would fight to keep me from being handed over to the Jewish leaders. But my Kingdom is not of this world.'”
- 1 Corinthians 2:6 NLT “Yet when I am among mature believers, I do speak with words of wisdom, but not the kind of wisdom that belongs to this world or to the rulers of this world, who are soon forgotten.”
- John 16:33 NLT “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”
