Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip was tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene, in the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John, the son of Zacharias, in the wilderness.

And he came into all the district around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins; as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet,

“The voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make ready the way of the Lord, Make His paths straight.

‘Every ravine shall be filled up, And every mountain and hill shall be brought low; And the crooked shall become straight, And the rough roads smooth;

‘And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’” (Luke 3:1-6 NAS)

The prophet Isaiah wrote these words about John the Baptist 700 years earlier (Isaiah 40). By the time John the Baptist began preaching, Israel had been in captivity under the rule of successive foreign tyrants—the Babylonians, the Persians, the Greeks, and the Romans—for six hundred years.

The Jews felt God had abandoned them.

The last Old Testament prophet was Malachi and the last thing he said was,

Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the LORD. (Mal. 4:5 NAS)

After Malachi prophesied God was silent for four hundred years. The Jews felt not only abandoned by God, but that He had stopped speaking to them.

That “Elijah” was John the Baptist and God’s 400-year silence ended when he opened his mouth. He was “the voice of one crying in the wilderness.”

And what did he say? God was coming to town! After six hundred years of foreign rule and four hundred years of silence.

God’s people did not have to go searching to find Him; He was coming to them. God always makes the first move in saving His people.

It is understandable that the Jews thought God had abandoned them and forgotten about them. But no! Through Isaiah the prophet God said this:

But Zion [God’s people] said, ‘The LORD has forsaken me, And the Lord has forgotten me.’ Can a woman forget her nursing child, and have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, but I will not forget you. Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands. (Isaiah 49:16)

In John the Baptist, a prophet once more spoke. God broke His long silence when John announced loudly that God, the King, was coming back to His people and they needed get ready for Him.

In the birth of Jesus, God came back to town. The long captivity was over and, once again, God was speaking.

Have you ever uttered David’s prayer?

And my soul is greatly dismayed; But Thou, O LORD—how long? Return, O LORD, rescue my soul; Save me because of Thy lovingkindness. (Psa 6:3-4 NAS)

God may seem distant. He may have been silent. But do not think God has forgotten you. To you he says, “I will never leave or forsake you.” If you belong to Jesus, no one can snatch you out of the Father’s hand.

James Tissot, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons