PROGRAM SUCCESS – JANUARY 2010
PAGE 19
400 Years of Silence
What Led to the Silence of God?
By Pastor Leon R. Bing
North Jacksonville Family Worship Center
We often speak of the 400 years of silence, but do we
know why there were 400 silent years, from Malachi to
Matthew, where God did not speak prophetically to his
people? Do we take this for granted the way we take
God for granted in many other areas of life? As we have
entered into a new decade, the 2010, it is time that the
people of God wake up to the fact that we have been our
own worst enemy. We are supposed to be the seed of
Abraham, engrafted into the family of God. We are
supposed to be the head not the tail, blessed in the city
and in the country. Many of God’s people seem to be
doing well, but too many of those are making things
happen on their own. They are working two or three
jobs, or sad to say, they are taking advantage of people
by lying or scamming people.
All of God’s people should see God performing
miracles in their daily lives. Most people are not seeing
it because they are suffering from the same things that
the people of Malachi’s day were going through, and
the consequences were that God stopped speaking to
man for 400 years. So we will take a look at what led to
the 400 years of silence of God and see the warnings
that we must learn so that we won’t suffer individually
the same sad event in our lives.
The prophet Malachi gave a prophetic word to the
Israelites where he ask no less than 23 non rhetorical
questions to God’s people after they had completed the
rebuilding of the Temple and the Wall around the city of
Jerusalem. The Books of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Malachi,
were written between 460 – 420 BC. Ezra & Nehemiah
were one book until the 3rd century. I only mention this
so that we can see that these events took place not long
after God’s people were released from bondage in
Babylon.
There were seven areas that did not please God in the
Book of Malachi. These same seven areas are what are
holding back God’s people today! The people had
gotten to the place that
they
no
longer
worshiped
God
in
several areas. The priests
were allowing the people
to turn away from all that
Ezra had taught them.
Argument
about
God’s love for Israel
Although God loved Israel, some of the Jews in
Jerusalem questioned whether He really loved them.
Malachi reminded these people that one day God will
be glorified around the world, thus encouraging there
recommitment to Him. (Read Malachi 1:1-5)
Today we have allowed the world system to cause many
to doubt God’s love for them. Because of the failure of
the financial system last year, many were led to
question if God still cared? Many began to seek the
world system for away out of this mess. God’s people
are still people of faith! As Paul said in Romans 8:35-
39
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or
famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the
day long; we are accounted as sheep for the
slaughter.
37 Nay, in all these things we are more than
conquerors through him that loved us.
38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life,
nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things
present, nor things to come,
39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature,
shall be able to separate us from the love of God,
which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
KJV
See Silence of God page 26