Borrowed Breath

Throughout history, the oral and written traditions and scriptures of the Hebrew culture and of God’s dealings with His children were maintained. In spite of the fact that they were dispersed, the scriptures were preserved. Their dispersion, or “disapora,” is as varied as one could ever imagine. It starts with Adam and Eve’s banishment from the Garden of Eden, from their perpetual fellowship and communion with their Creator. Then the LORD calls Abram to take his family and to leave his father’s house in Ur of the Chaldeans to a land as yet unknown to him. A little farther along in history, we see the nation of Israel under harsh slavery conditions in Egypt. And yet the promises to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob are repeated and believed among the captive people of Israel. Their numbers grow exponentially.

The LORD sends Moses to be the humble vehicle for His deliverance of His chosen people. Mere moments before their escape, He institutes the Passover in an unforgettable fashion so that it would stick in the memories of the Israelites and their children and their children’s children, setting the stage for Christ, the true Passover. All through the wilderness, in spite of their unbelief and constant complaints, the LORD preserves and protects His people, giving them still more signs of His love and of His pending arrival as their Rock, as their Manna, as their Bronze Serpent, as their Scapegoat, as their Rest. In the Promised Land, during their seasons of battles and periods of peace, he preserves them, providing more types of His promised deliverance and true rest. His loving discipline ushers in periods of revival in which the faith of the people is renewed.

Then, through their various and sundry captivities, He shows His favor over them, protecting them, providing for them, revealing His plan for them through His prophets. Under Roman rule, just prior to the advent of Jesus Christ, He gives them an extraordinary opportunity to have religious freedom even though they are not free. And from this period of preparation, we find the birth of the synagogue, a community of faithful who could not regularly meet at the temple, but who gathered recurrently to worship and pray and lift each other up and remind each other that the Messiah was coming.

The universally used Greek language, along with its culture of attentiveness and sensitivity to other cultures, provides a stable platform for the advent of the Messiah. And the widely used Greek translation of the Old Testament, the Septuagint greatly aids the first Christian missionaries as they move to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the corners of civilization.