Trouble in the Middle East

Old Testament Prophets are a mixture of coming  judgment and coming hope.

• Sin identified, Isaiah 1:2-4.

• God never “consumed” His people, Isaiah 1:9.

• Sin, but not without hope, Isaiah 1:18,19.

• Something special about Jerusalem, Isaiah 2:1-5.

• It is always well with the righteous, the “faithful remnant”,  Isaiah 3:1,10.

• Something good is coming out of Galilee, Isaiah 9:1-3.

• The root of Jesse will aid the faithful remnant, Isaiah 11:1-4, 16.

• A new kingdom is coming of a different kind and quality,  Daniel 2:31-35.

• God is faithful, Israel is not, Hosea 1:1-11.

The Intertestamental period.

1. 400 years of silence, but great  preparation for Messiah.

2. Jews in the land, but under “civil  governments”.

3. Mixed Jewish bloodlines,  Jerusalem traumatized, and evolving Jewish practice.

Key Historical Happenings.

1. Persian era until 332 BC.

2. Greek/Hellenistic era until  167 BC.

3. The Maccabean Revolt, 167  BC forward.

4. The Roman era, 63 BC.

Jewish social and religious developments  during the Inner testament times.

• Synagogues.

• The Pharisees.

• The Sadducees.

• The Essenes.   

God’s train runs on time!

Galatians 4:1-5,  “…………………. vs4 But when the set  time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a  woman, born under the law, vs5 to redeem those  under the law, that we might receive adoption to  sonship.” 

Benefits of Christ coming in the 1st Century:

• Koine

• Greek Roman roads & “Pax Romana”

• Messianic expectation