A PREGNANT SILENCE

A PREGNANT SILENCE
Many times, God has spoken after long periods of silence. There were 400 years of silence after the prophet Malachi spoke in the last book of the Old Testament, and then John the Baptist and Jesus were supernaturally born into the earth. there were also 400 years of silence during the time of Israel’s slavery in Egypt under Pharoah until God spoke to Moses to set his people free and prepare to journey into the promised land. The number 400 in the Bible speaks of these seasons of Pregnant Silence, which can be described as a time of silence when all communication is suspended and that time feels both empty and yet strangely full, filled with anticipation that something important is about to be spoken or revealed.

For about four thousand years after Adam when Jesus was born the earth had suffered under the weight of its brokenness. Humanity was lost, unable to heal itself. Suspicion and hostility toward Father God, sown by Lucifer, had led to a distorted view of God in the earth, and many saw Him as distant and judgmental, and even Judaism opposed itself from within through doctrines of legalism and hypocrisy and pride. This distancing of Israel from the love and grace of God caused Jesus to tell them at that time that they had ‘missed their day of visitation’ (Luk 19:44). 
Galilee of the Gentiles was the battlefield of good against evil and of light against darkness, as Isaiah had prophesied concerning the birth of Jesus as the light out of darkness and the new birth of life out of death.
In Galilee of the Gentiles the people who walked in darkness Have seen a great light.
Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light has shined. (Isaiah 9:1-2. 
God had a greater answer—not a set of rituals or rules, but Himself. Jesus, as God and man, would bridge the gap between heaven and earth. He would step out of eternity and into time, exchanging pure Spirit existence for divine/human existence as the first New Creation Being in the earth. In this great mission, the Holy Spirit played an essential role. The Holy Spirit partnered with Jesus, sharing every moment of His earthly life. This partnership ensured that the Holy Spirit too would intimately experience human existence. After Jesus completed His mission, the Holy Spirit would continue the work of revealing God’s love - and drawing humanity into communion with the Divine so that we too could become a New Creation in Christ.

To begin this new chapter, God sent a divine Spiritual seed into the earth, choosing Mary, a young and humble woman, to receive it. The angel Gabriel appeared to her, announcing that she had been chosen to become pregnant and bear the God-child Jesus, and he reassured her that this was God’s will. Although Mary was initially confused, having never been with a man, Gabriel explained that the Holy Spirit would overshadow her, and she would conceive a child by divine power, and Mary, in faith and humility, responded, “Let it be done unto me according to your word” (Luke 1:38).

Mary was betrothed to a man called Joseph and in the cultural context of Mary and Joseph, betrothal was a formal, legal agreement between families, often formalized with a written contract (ketubah) and the couple was considered legally married, but if there was a breach of honour to that contract, either party could initiate divorce proceedings. 

When Joseph discovered that Mary was pregnant with child, he was deeply troubled, but he resolved to act with compassion, planning to quietly divorce her (Matthew 1:19). However, the angel Gabrielle also appeared to him in a dream, telling him that Mary’s child was conceived by the Holy Spirit and would save His people from their sins. Joseph obeyed the angel’s command, and he took Mary as his wife.

Six months earlier a priestly prophet named Zechariah was told by the same angel Gabrielle that his wife Elizabeth who was beyond the age of childbearing, would also supernaturally give birth to a child and the child would be called John. 
Luke 1:17-20 … a child who would go before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, and to make ready for the Lord a people prepared. 
However, Zechariah could not believe this, so the angel said I am Gabriel, I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time. 
This was another supernatural pregnancy and from this moment a supernatural pregnant silence occurred as the priestly prophet was struck dumb until the pregnancy was over and the baby John was born. Zecharia the priestly prophet being struck mute for a season of time was symbolic of Israel, who had not heard a prophetic voice since the prophecy of Malachi, the last prophet to speak until both John the Baptist and Jesus came to proclaim the supernatural birth of the Kingdom of God in the earth. 

Following Gabriel’s announcement to Zechariah and Mary and Joseph, Mary journeyed to visit her cousin Elizabeth, who had been with child for six months, the baby John, who would prepare the way for Jesus. And the baby leaped in Elizabeth’s womb as the two sisters shared the wonder of their supernatural pregnancies. Elizabeth finally gave birth to her son, and it was assumed the child would be named Zechariah, after his father. However, Elizabeth insisted he be named John, and when questioned, Zechariah, who had been struck mute for doubting Gabriel’s prophecy, wrote the name John on a clay tablet and immediately, his voice returned, and he praised God. The silence was broken for all the world to hear God and have his presence amongst them. When John the Baptist began his ministry of preparing the way for Jesus, many in Israel believed that he was Elijah whom Malachi had prophesied about.
The final words of Malachi’s prophesy came from the last verse of the last chapter of the last book of the Old Testament, and they declared that God would send the prophet Elijah before the coming of the Messiah and that he would turn the hearts of the children to their fathers and the hearts of the fathers to their children. 
 and even Jesus said that John had come in the spirit of Elijah - This is the one about whom it is written: “I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you. (Matthew 11)

And today, we find ourselves in a similar season of pregnant silence from Heaven upon a world that is rife with uncertainty, division, and spiritual disconnection. Many voices in this global culture clamour for attention yet rarely do they bring clarity or wisdom. But in the midst of this time of empty-but-full silence, God’s people wait with expectant hope as God is stirring the hearts of His people to hear his voice and to awaken others and turn their hearts back to him. Just as John’s mission was to prepare the way for Jesus, the Holy Spirit is working in us who believe, to bring light and hope to the world. 

This preparation doesn’t rely on loud proclamations or dramatic gestures but on God’s people hearing his voice and responding with consistent acts of love and faith as he moves through our everyday lives inspiring us to reflect God’s mercy and truth in our daily interactions.
Zechariah’s regained voice reminds us that God’s word always comes at the appointed time. As we await a fresh movement of the Spirit, we can take comfort in knowing that God is never silent without purpose. Our silence can also be purposeful, and our waiting can be with hope and faith that God is at work in the world of the unseen on our behalf. The Bible says
Whatsoever is born of God overcomes the world and this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. (1John 5:4)
We wait in silence, but that silence is pregnant with the faith of bringing to birth God’s will in our lives and in the Church. When His voice breaks through, it will be with clarity, cutting through the confusion of the world. We wait to hear and God waits to speak.
Isaiah 30:18 Therefore the LORD will wait, that He may be gracious to you;
                                                                                                                                                                                                              
Malachi prophesied before the 400 years of silence that God would turn the hearts of the children to their fathers and the hearts of the fathers to their children before his return – in the days his first coming to Israel - and in the days of his second coming into the world. Today this means that there will be a grace upon families that will become reunited in the love of God and one another. This promise remains true for us today. In the midst of the darkness of today’s world of chaos, the light of God’s love is beginning to shine. As we choose to live in that love and its light, we will witness the hand of God bringing order out of chaos and bringing unity, hope, and peace to people in our own personal world. Amen

Paul O’Sullivan – pauloss@me.com