So, then we have a 400-year period that sometimes is referenced as the silent years, where the Greeks come to power.

Then we start the New Testament where the Word became flesh, and we have a Savior. God surprises us of how he did it. He begins to tie all these things together, because this one whom we profess as the Son of God in full deity and perfect humanity, is the only one who could present Himself as the ultimate sacrifice once and for all. The amazing thing is while Israel, under the bondage of Rome, was thinking of a militaristic leader, God really came in lap number one Himself to deal with our real problem found in Genesis chapter three. As the angel said “She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, ^t because he will save his people from their sins.”^[1] And suddenly, Old Testament is being tied together, embodied in Jesus Christ, He is the fulfillment of all covenants, but Jesus has yet to fulfill all covenants.

Where there is sin there is death. He who was perfect became sin in death on the cross, so what we might become the righteousness of God. Entrance into the kingdom of God is faith in whom God has revealed Himself in and through. That is in Jesus Christ.

So, we have the four Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. They so tightly weave together what was prophesied about the Messiah. There’ll be a king that will serve. Man, who is God. The Gospels end with death being conquered through Jesus’ resurrection. Where there is sin, there is death. Death has been beaten. The risen Messiah ascends, and then we enter the book of Acts.

^[1] The Holy Bible: New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), Mt 1:21.