📖 Utangulizi wa Agano Jipya — Sehemu ya 1: Utimilifu wa Wakati📖 New Testament Survey — Unit 1: The Fullness of Time

I. Ukurasa Mwembamba Kuliko Yote Katika Biblia YakoI. The Thinnest Page in Your Bible

Fungua Biblia yako na utafute ukurasa unaotenganisha Malaki na Mathayo. Ndio ukurasa mwembamba kuliko yote katika Biblia yako. Pia ndio ukurasa mrefu kuliko yote katika Biblia yako. Kati ya mstari wa mwisho wa Malaki kuhusu Eliya atakayekuja na mstari wa kwanza wa Mathayo kuhusu kitabu cha ukoo wa Yesu Kristo, kuna takriban miaka mia nne ya historia ya wanadamu — muda mrefu kuliko ule tangu kuanzishwa kwa makoloni ya Amerika hadi leo. Manabii wamenyamaza. Hakuna Maandiko mapya yanayoandikwa. Hata hivyo, pazia linapofunguka tena, ulimwengu haujulikani tena. Hekalu limejengwa upya. Masinagogi yamejaa katika kila kijiji. Maandiko ya Kiebrania yametafsiriwa kwa Kigiriki. Barabara za Kirumi zinaunganisha Hispania na Shamu. Mfalme Myahudi amekufa na liwali wa Kirumi anakaa katika jumba lake la kifalme. Na katika kijiji kidogo cha makuhani milimani nje ya Yerusalemu, mzee mmoja aitwaye Zakaria anajiandaa kuingia patakatifu ili kufukiza uvumba.Open your Bible and find the page that separates Malachi from Matthew. It is the thinnest page in your Bible. It is also the longest page in your Bible. Between Malachi's closing line about a coming Elijah and Matthew's opening line about the genealogy of Jesus Christ, there lie about four hundred years of human history — more time than from the founding of the American colonies to today. The prophets are silent. No new Scripture is written. And yet, when the curtain rises again, the world is unrecognizable. The temple is rebuilt. Synagogues fill every village. The Hebrew Scriptures have been translated into Greek. Roman roads connect Spain to Syria. A Jewish king has died and a Roman governor sits in his palace. And in a small priest's village in the hills outside Jerusalem, an old man named Zechariah is preparing to walk into the holy place to burn incense.

Hapa ndipo Agano Jipya linapoanzia — si katika Mathayo 1:1, bali miaka mia nne kabla, katika ukimya ambao haukuwa mtupu kamwe. Katika Kipindi cha Kati ya Maagano Mungu hakunyamaza kwa sababu hakuwa na la kusema; alinyamaza kwa sababu alikuwa anajiandaa kusema Neno muhimu kuliko yote aliyowahi kusema. "Mungu, ambaye alisema zamani na baba zetu katika manabii kwa sehemu nyingi na kwa njia nyingi, mwisho wa siku hizi amesema na sisi katika Mwana" (Waebrania 1:1–2). Miaka mia nne ya maandalizi kwa ajili ya Hotuba moja, Msalaba mmoja, Kaburi moja tupu. Ukiruka sehemu hii, rafiki yangu, utaingia katika Mathayo bila viatu miguuni. Kwa hiyo tunapunguza mwendo. Tunauheshimu ukimya. Tunasikiliza barabara inayojengwa chini ya miguu yetu.This is where the New Testament begins — not at Matthew 1:1, but four hundred years earlier, in a silence that was never empty. During the Intertestamental Period God was not silent because He had nothing to say; He was silent because He was preparing to speak the most important Word He had ever spoken. "God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son" (Hebrews 1:1–2). Four hundred years of preparation for one Sermon, one Cross, one empty Tomb. If you skip this unit, my friend, you walk into Matthew without your shoes on. So we slow down. We honor the silence. We listen for the road being built underneath our feet.

II. Makazi Chini ya Uajemi (takriban 430–330 K.K.)II. The Persian Settlement (about 430–330 BC)

Malaki alipoweka chini kalamu yake, jumuiya ya Wayahudi ilikuwa jimbo dogo ndani ya Milki kubwa ya Uajemi. Koreshi alikuwa amewaruhusu kurudi nyumbani mwaka 538 K.K.; hekalu lilikuwa limejengwa upya kufikia 516; Ezra alikuwa amerejesha sheria mwaka 458; Nehemia alikuwa amemaliza kujenga kuta mwaka 445. Wengi wa Wayahudi waliochukuliwa mateka Babeli hawakurudi kamwe. Walikaa katika miji ya Mashariki na kuanzisha hali ile ndefu tunayoiita Diaspora — yaani utawanyiko. Jumuiya za Wayahudi zilizuka Babeli, Uajemi, Misri, Afrika ya Kaskazini, na hatimaye kuzunguka Bahari ya Mediterania yote.When Malachi laid down his pen, the Jewish community was a small province inside the vast Persian Empire. Cyrus had let them go home in 538 BC; the temple had been rebuilt by 516; Ezra had restored the law in 458; Nehemiah had finished the walls in 445. Most of the Jews who had been carried into Babylon never came back. They settled in the cities of the East and began the long phenomenon we call the Diaspora — the dispersion. Jewish communities sprang up in Babylon, Persia, Egypt, North Africa, and eventually all around the Mediterranean.

Jambo moja muhimu sana lilichukua sura katika kipindi hiki: sinagogi. Chimbuko lake halisi linajadiliwa miongoni mwa wanahistoria, ingawa uhamisho wa Babeli mara nyingi hupendekezwa kuwa mazingira muhimu ya kukua kwake, kwa kuwa mateka waliokuwa mbali na hekalu la Yerusalemu walihitaji njia ya kukusanyika, kusoma Maandiko, kuwafundisha watoto, na kuomba. Sinagogi (kwa maana halisi "kukusanyika pamoja") lilitimiza hitaji hilo. Kufikia wakati wa Kristo, kila mji katika Milki ya Rumi uliokuwa na Wayahudi ulikuwa na sinagogi. Mtume Paulo alipokwenda katika safari zake za kimisionari, sinagogi karibu kila mara lilikuwa kituo chake cha kwanza, kwa sababu sinagogi lilikuwa tayari limeyafikisha Maandiko ya Agano la Kale hadi miisho ya dunia. Roho Mtakatifu alikuwa akitumia mfumo uliokua wakati wa ukimya.One enormously important thing took shape during this period: the synagogue. Its precise origins are debated among historians, though the Babylonian exile is frequently proposed as an important setting in its development, since exiles far from the temple in Jerusalem needed a way to gather, to read the Scriptures, to teach the children, and to pray. The synagogue (literally "a gathering together") met that need. By the time of Christ, every city in the Roman Empire with a Jewish population had one. When the apostle Paul went on his missionary journeys, the synagogue was almost always his first stop, because the synagogue had already taken the Old Testament to the ends of the earth. The Holy Spirit was using a system that had grown up during the silence.

Pili, vitabu vya Biblia ya Kiebrania viliendelea kukusanywa, kunakiliwa, na kuthaminiwa kama Maandiko. Ezra, kuhani na mwandishi aliyewafundisha watu Sheria na kuongoza matengenezo makubwa ya jumuiya iliyorudi, anasimama kama mmoja wa watu mashuhuri nyuma ya kipindi hiki cha kuhifadhi kwa uaminifu, ingawa njia halisi ambayo Agano la Kale lilifikia umbo lake la mwisho na kutambuliwa haijaelezwa kwetu kwa undani. Simama na uhisi jambo hilo kwa muda. Kiti ulichokalia kanisani asubuhi hii kina Biblia kwa sababu waandishi waaminifu wakati wa uhamisho wa Babeli na baada yake walikataa kulipoteza Neno. Walikuwa wakikimbia mbio za kupokezana katikati ya ukimya. Walimkabidhi Kristo kijiti.Second, the books of the Hebrew Bible continued to be gathered, copied, and treasured as Scripture. Ezra, the priest and scribe who taught the people the Law and led the great reforms of the restoration community, stands as one of the towering figures behind this era of faithful preservation, even though the exact process by which the Old Testament reached its final, recognized form is not spelled out for us in detail. Stop and feel that for a moment. The pew you sat in this morning has a Bible in it because faithful scribes in and after the Babylonian exile refused to lose the Word. They were running the relay through the silence. They handed the baton to Christ.

III. Kimbunga cha Kigiriki (330–167 K.K.)III. The Greek Whirlwind (330–167 BC)

Mwaka 333 K.K. jemadari kijana wa Makedonia aitwaye Iskanda (Aleksanda) aliingia Asia kwa kasi kubwa na kuubadilisha ulimwengu katika miaka kumi. Alikuwa na umri wa miaka ishirini na tatu alipoivunja Milki ya Uajemi huko Isso. Alikuwa na miaka thelathini na tatu alipokufa kwa homa huko Babeli, akiwa ameshinda kila kitu kuanzia Ugiriki hadi India. Danieli alikuwa amemwona akija karne tatu kabla — beberu mwenye pembe mashuhuri kati ya macho yake (Danieli 8:5–8). Iskanda hakuushinda ulimwengu tu; aliufanya kuwa wa Kigiriki. Aliacha nyuma yake miji ya Kigiriki, askari wa Kigiriki, maktaba za Kigiriki, na zaidi ya yote lugha ya Kigiriki katika kila nchi aliyoigusa. Alipokufa, watu walioelimika wa ulimwengu wa Mediterania walizungumza Koine — Kigiriki cha kawaida cha sokoni.In 333 BC a young Macedonian general named Alexander stormed into Asia and changed the world in a decade. He was twenty-three when he broke the Persian Empire at Issus. He was thirty-three when he died of fever in Babylon, having conquered everything from Greece to India. Daniel had seen him coming three centuries earlier — the male goat with the conspicuous horn between its eyes (Daniel 8:5–8). Alexander did not just conquer the world; he Hellenized it. He left Greek cities, Greek soldiers, Greek libraries, and above all the Greek language behind him in every land he touched. By the time he died, the educated Mediterranean world spoke Koine — the common Greek of the marketplace.

Iskanda alipoanzisha mji wa Iskanderia huko Misri mwaka 331 K.K., aliwaalika Wayahudi kukaa huko kama raia kamili. Walikuja kwa maelfu. Ndani ya kizazi kimoja, Iskanderia ilikuwa na idadi kubwa zaidi ya Wayahudi duniani nje ya Yudea, na wengi wa Wayahudi hao hawakuweza tena kusoma Kiebrania. Takriban mwaka 250 K.K., chini ya Ptolemi II, wasomi sabini au sabini na wawili wa Kiyahudi (kwa mujibu wa mapokeo) walitafsiri Maandiko ya Kiebrania kwa Kigiriki. Matokeo yake yalikuwa Septuajinti (Kilatini kwa maana ya "sabini"), kwa kifupi LXX. Hii ilikuwa mara ya kwanza katika historia Agano la Kale kutafsiriwa kwa lugha nyingine, nayo ilikuwa tafsiri ambayo Mungu angeitumia kwa nguvu. Yule towashi Mkushi aliposoma Isaya 53 garini mwake katika Matendo 8 na Filipo akakimbia kumkaribia ili kumweleza, towashi huyo alikuwa akisoma LXX. Waandishi wa Agano Jipya mara nyingi hunukuu Agano la Kale kwa namna zinazokaribiana na Septuajinti ya Kigiriki, ingawa nukuu zao zinaonyesha picha tata zaidi ya maandishi na hazitokani zote moja kwa moja na umbo moja la Septuajinti.When Alexander founded the city of Alexandria in Egypt in 331 BC, he invited Jews to settle there as full citizens. They came by the thousands. Within a generation, Alexandria had the largest Jewish population in the world outside Judea, and most of those Jews could no longer read Hebrew. About 250 BC, under Ptolemy II, seventy or seventy-two Jewish scholars (so the tradition runs) translated the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek. The result was the Septuagint (Latin for "seventy"), abbreviated LXX. This was the first time in history the Old Testament had been translated into another language, and it was a translation God was going to use mightily. When the Ethiopian eunuch read Isaiah 53 in his chariot in Acts 8 and Philip ran up to explain it, the eunuch was reading the LXX. The New Testament writers frequently quote the Old Testament in forms close to the Greek Septuagint, though their quotations reflect a more complex textual picture and do not all derive directly from one form of the Septuagint.

Baada ya kifo cha Iskanda mwaka 323 K.K., milki yake iligawanyika kati ya majemadari wake. Yudea ilijikuta imebanwa kati ya Waptolemi wa Misri na Waseleuko wa Shamu, ikipigwa huku na huko kama mpira unaogombaniwa kwa miaka mia moja na hamsini. Shinikizo la kuiacha Sheria na kufuata desturi za Kigiriki liliongezeka polepole. Mgogoro ulifika mwaka 167 K.K.After Alexander's death in 323 BC, his empire splintered among his generals. Judea ended up squeezed between the Ptolemies of Egypt and the Seleucids of Syria, passed back and forth like a contested football for a hundred and fifty years. Pressure to abandon the Law and adopt Greek customs grew steadily. The crisis came in 167 BC.

IV. Msimamo wa Wamakabayo (167–63 K.K.)IV. The Maccabean Stand (167–63 BC)

Mfalme wa Kiseleuko Antioko IV — aliyejipa jina la cheo Epiphanes, lenye maana ya "mungu aliyedhihirika" — aliamua kuifuta kabisa dini ya Wayahudi. Aliikataza Sabato. Aliikataza tohara, kwa adhabu ya kifo. Aliteketeza kila nakala ya Sheria aliyoweza kuipata. Na mnamo Desemba 167 K.K. aliingia katika hekalu la Yerusalemu, akajenga madhabahu ya Zeu juu ya madhabahu ya sadaka ya kuteketezwa, na kuchinja nguruwe juu yake. Hili ndilo lile "chukizo la uharibifu" alilokuwa ameliona Danieli katika maono zaidi ya karne tatu kabla (Danieli 11:31; 8:13). Taa zilizimika.The Seleucid king Antiochus IV — who took the title Epiphanes, meaning "god manifest" — decided to wipe out the Jewish religion altogether. He outlawed the Sabbath. He outlawed circumcision, on pain of death. He burned every copy of the Law he could find. And in December 167 BC he marched into the temple in Jerusalem, set up an altar to Zeus on top of the altar of burnt offering, and slaughtered a pig on it. This was the "abomination of desolation" Daniel had seen in vision more than three centuries earlier (Daniel 11:31; 8:13). The lamps went out.

Kuhani mzee wa kijijini aitwaye Matathia, katika mji wa milimani wa Modein, alikataa kutoa sadaka wakati maafisa wa mfalme walipokuja kulazimisha dini mpya. Alimuua afisa huyo, akamuua Myahudi mwasi aliyejitokeza kutoa sadaka hiyo, kisha akakimbilia milimani pamoja na wanawe watano. Mwana wa tatu aliitwa Yuda, lakini anajulikana zaidi kwa jina lake la utani — Makabayo, "Nyundo." Kwa miaka mitatu Wamakabayo walipigana vita vya msituni dhidi ya milki nzima. Kufikia Desemba 164 K.K. walikuwa wameuteka tena Yerusalemu, wakabomoa madhabahu iliyonajisiwa, na kuziwasha tena taa. Sikukuu ya Hanukka — Sikukuu ya Kutabaruku — huadhimisha kuwashwa huko kwa taa kila majira ya baridi hadi leo. Bwana Yesu Mwenyewe alitembea katika ukumbi wa Sulemani wakati wa Hanukka (Yohana 10:22). Aliadhimisha uaminifu wa watu waliokuwa wamekataa kusujudu.An old village priest named Mattathias, in the hill town of Modein, refused to offer the sacrifice when the king's officers came to enforce the new religion. He killed the officer, killed the apostate Jew who had stepped forward to make the offering, and fled to the hills with his five sons. The third son was named Judah, but he is better known by his nickname — Maccabeus, "the Hammer." For three years the Maccabees waged guerrilla war against an empire. By December 164 BC they had recaptured Jerusalem, torn down the desecrated altar, and rekindled the lamps. The festival of Hanukkah — the Feast of Dedication — celebrates that rekindling every winter to this day. The Lord Jesus Himself walked in Solomon's Colonnade during Hanukkah (John 10:22). He celebrated the faithfulness of a people who had refused to bow.

Chukua somo la Wamakabayo uende nalo nyumbani. Huja wakati katika kila maisha ya uaminifu ambapo afisa wa mfalme anafika kijijini na nguruwe yuko juu ya madhabahu. Atakuwa na adabu. Atakupa njia ya kutokea. Maafikiano yataonekana kuwa jambo dogo. Matathia aliuchukua upanga, na miaka mitatu baadaye taa zilikuwa zinawaka tena. Hakuna Krismasi, hakuna Hanukka, hakuna taa inayoendelea kuwaka popote duniani ambayo haijawahi wakati fulani kulindwa iendelee kuwaka na kuhani mzee wa kijijini aliyesema hapana.Take the Maccabean lesson home with you. There comes a moment in every faithful life when the king's officer arrives in the village and the pig is on the altar. He will be polite. He will offer you a way out. The compromise will look small. Mattathias picked up the sword, and three years later the lamps were burning again. There is no Christmas, no Hanukkah, no kept-burning lamp anywhere in the world that has not at some point been kept lit by an old village priest who said no.

Nasaba ya Wamakabayo ilitawala dola huru ya Kiyahudi kwa takriban miaka mia moja kabla ya kuishia katika vita vya wenyewe kwa wenyewe kati ya wajukuu wawili mwaka 63 K.K. Ugomvi wao ulifika masikioni mwa jemadari wa Kirumi aliyekuwa akipita Shamu pamoja na jeshi. Jina lake lilikuwa Pompei. Aliuteka Yerusalemu, na kivuli kirefu cha Rumi kikaangukia nchi hiyo.The Maccabean dynasty ruled an independent Jewish state for about a hundred years before ending in civil war between two grandsons in 63 BC. Their quarrel reached the ears of a Roman general passing through Syria with an army. His name was Pompey. He took Jerusalem, and the long Roman shadow fell across the land.

V. Mapambazuko ya Kirumi (63 K.K. na baadaye)V. The Roman Dawn (63 BC and after)

Warumi hawakuwa wapole. Walitoza kodi bila huruma, waliweka majeshi mengi, na walimsulubisha yeyote waliyemshuku kuwa mwasi. Lakini walifanya mambo matatu ambayo, karibu bila wao kukusudia, yaliuandaa ulimwengu kwa ajili ya injili. Walijenga barabara. Kufikia wakati Paulo alipokanyaga Njia ya Egnatia huko Filipi mwaka 50 B.K., raia wa Kirumi angeweza kutembea kwenye barabara kuu iliyojengwa kwa mawe kuanzia pwani ya Atlantiki ya Hispania hadi mto Frati. Walidumisha amani. Pax Romana (Amani ya Kirumi), iliyoanzishwa na Augusto mwaka 27 K.K., ilidumu miaka mia mbili na kuwezesha mmisionari Myahudi asiye na silaha kusafiri kutoka Yerusalemu hadi Rumi bila kitu chochote isipokuwa joho, magombo machache, na injili ya Kristo. Na walitekeleza sheria moja katika kila jimbo. Paulo alipomwomba Kaisari aamue shauri lake katika Matendo 25, alikuwa akitumia utaratibu wa kisheria uliofanya kazi kwa njia ileile huko Kaisaria kama huko Athene na huko Rumi. Milki iliyomsulubisha Yesu juu ya msalaba wa Kirumi ndiyo milki ileile ambayo barabara zake zilibeba habari za ufufuo wake hadi miisho ya dunia. Mungu hutumia miundombinu ya adui zake.The Romans were not delicate. They taxed mercilessly, garrisoned heavily, and crucified anyone they suspected of rebellion. But they did three things that, almost in spite of themselves, prepared the world for the gospel. They built roads. By the time Paul stepped onto the Egnatian Way at Philippi in AD 50, a Roman citizen could walk on paved highway from the Atlantic coast of Spain to the Euphrates. They kept the peace. The Pax Romana, inaugurated by Augustus in 27 BC, lasted two hundred years and made it possible for an unarmed Jewish missionary to travel from Jerusalem to Rome with nothing but a cloak, a few scrolls, and the gospel of Christ. And they enforced one law in every province. When Paul appealed to Caesar in Acts 25, he was using a legal mechanism that worked the same way in Caesarea as in Athens as in Rome. The empire that crucified Jesus on a Roman cross was the same empire whose roads carried His resurrection news to the ends of the earth. God uses His enemies' infrastructure.

Katika Yudea yenyewe, Warumi walimweka mtawala mwenye mabavu, nusu Myahudi na nusu Mwedomu (Mwidumea), aitwaye Herode Mkuu. Alikuwa mfalme mwenye wasiwasi wa kupindukia aliyemuua mke wake, wana wake watatu, na (kwa mujibu wa Mathayo) watoto wote wa kiume wa Bethlehemu wenye umri wa chini ya miaka miwili. Pia alikuwa mjenzi mkubwa kuliko wote ambao Nchi Takatifu iliwahi kuwaona. Aliongeza ukubwa wa jukwaa la hekalu mara mbili; mawe makubwa ya ajabu ambayo watalii bado huyagusa kwenye Ukuta wa Magharibi leo yaliwekwa na waashi wa Herode. Hekalu ambalo Yesu alipita ndani yake lilikuwa hekalu la Herode. Herode alikufa mwaka 4 K.K., miezi michache tu baada ya nyota kupita katika anga la usiku na kusimama juu ya zizi nyuma ya nyumba ya wageni ya Bethlehemu. Utawala wa kwanza ambao Yesu aliunusurika ulikuwa ule wa Herode.In Judea itself, the Romans installed a half-Jewish, half-Idumean strongman named Herod the Great. He was a paranoid king who murdered his wife, three of his sons, and (according to Matthew) all the boy babies of Bethlehem under the age of two. He was also the most prolific builder the Holy Land had ever seen. He doubled the size of the temple platform; the magnificent stones tourists still touch at the Western Wall today were laid by Herod's masons. The temple Jesus walked through was Herod's temple. Herod died in 4 BC, just months after a star had moved across the night sky and stopped over a stable behind a Bethlehem inn. The first reign Jesus ever survived was Herod's.

VI. Sauti Nne za Uyahudi wa Karne ya KwanzaVI. The Four Voices of First-Century Judaism

Wakati milki zilipokuja na kwenda juu ya vichwa vyao, Wayahudi walikuwa wakigawanyika kimya kimya katika makundi manne. Kila kundi lilikuwa jibu la swali lilelile: Tunawezaje kumtumikia Mungu chini ya utawala wa Mataifa?While the empires came and went over their heads, the Jewish people were quietly fragmenting into four parties. Each one was an answer to the same question: How do we serve God under Gentile rule?

Mafarisayo walijibu, "Kwa kuishika Sheria kwa ukali kuliko wakati wowote." Wao walikuwa wanatheolojia wasio makuhani, walimu wa sinagogi, warithi wa kiroho wa Ezra. Waliamini malaika, ufufuo wa wafu, na mamlaka kamili ya Maandiko. Wao pia ndio kundi lililojenga kile walichokiita "uzio kuzunguka Torati" — mamia ya kanuni za ziada. Kwa karne nyingi, uzio ulikuwa mrefu kuliko jengo lenyewe. Mabishano makali zaidi ya Yesu yalikuwa na kundi hili, si kwa sababu theolojia yao ilikuwa na makosa (mara nyingi ilikuwa sahihi) bali kwa sababu mioyo yao ilikuwa na kiburi. Sauli wa Tarso, mtu aliyekuja kuwa mtume Paulo, alikuwa Farisayo — na Farisayo aliyefaa kuliko wote waliowahi kuishi alikuwa yule aliyeweka chini uzio wake hatimaye huko Dameski.The Pharisees answered, "By keeping the Law more strictly than ever." They were the lay theologians, the schoolmasters of the synagogue, the spiritual heirs of Ezra. They believed in angels, in the resurrection of the dead, and in the absolute authority of Scripture. They are also the group that built what they called "a fence around the Torah" — hundreds of additional rules. Over the centuries, the fence got higher than the building. Jesus' bitterest controversies were with this group, not because their theology was wrong (it was usually right) but because their hearts were proud. Saul of Tarsus, the man who became the apostle Paul, was a Pharisee — and the most useful Pharisee who ever lived was the one who finally laid his fence down at Damascus.

Masadukayo walijibu, "Kwa kushirikiana na Warumi na kuhakikisha hekalu linaendelea kufanya kazi." Wao walikuwa matajiri wa tabaka la juu, familia za makuhani. Walikubali vitabu vitano vya Musa peke yake; waliukataa ufufuo, malaika, na mambo ya kimiujiza. Wao ndio uongozi wa kidini uliomkamata Yesu huko Gethsemane. Chama chao kilikufa pamoja na hekalu mwaka 70 B.K. Theolojia isiyo na ufufuo ndani yake haina wakati ujao ndani yake.The Sadducees answered, "By cooperating with the Romans and keeping the temple running." They were the wealthy aristocracy, the priestly families. They accepted only the five books of Moses; they rejected the resurrection, angels, and the supernatural. They were the religious establishment that arrested Jesus in Gethsemane. Their party died with the temple in AD 70. A theology that has no resurrection in it has no future in it.

Waeseni walijibu, "Kwa kujitenga kabisa na taifa lililoharibika." Walikimbilia jumuiya za kitawa jangwani; iliyojulikana zaidi ilikuwa Qumran karibu na Bahari ya Chumvi. Maktaba yao, iliyofichwa mapangoni wakati wa kuzingirwa na Warumi mwaka 68 B.K. na kugunduliwa tena na mchungaji Mbedui mwaka 1947, imetupa nakala za maandishi za zamani zaidi za Agano la Kale la Kiebrania zilizopo. Kristo hatuombi kamwe kuuacha ulimwengu; anatuomba kuwa chumvi ndani yake.The Essenes answered, "By withdrawing from a corrupt nation altogether." They retreated to monastic communities in the desert; the most famous was at Qumran by the Dead Sea. Their library, hidden in caves at the time of the Roman siege in AD 68 and rediscovered by a Bedouin shepherd in 1947, has given us the oldest manuscripts of the Hebrew Old Testament in existence. Christ never asks us to leave the world; He asks us to be salt in it.

Wazelote walijibu, "Kwa kuchukua upanga na kuwasukuma Warumi baharini." Mmoja wa wanafunzi kumi na wawili wa Yesu, Simoni, anaitwa "Simoni aitwaye Zelote" (Luka 6:15). Vuguvugu la Wazelote lilifikia kilele chake katika uasi mkubwa wa mwaka 66–70 B.K. ulioishia kwa kuchomwa kwa hekalu. Imani ya upanga ndiyo bandia ya zamani zaidi ya imani ya injili. Daima hushindwa, kwa sababu ufalme ambao Yesu alikuja kuupanda haumei kutoka katika mfereji uliochimbwa na upanga.The Zealots answered, "By picking up a sword and driving the Romans into the sea." One of Jesus' twelve disciples, Simon, is called "Simon the Zealot" (Luke 6:15). The Zealot movement reached its climax in the great revolt of AD 66–70 that ended with the burning of the temple. Sword-faith is the oldest counterfeit of gospel-faith. It always loses, because the kingdom Jesus came to plant does not grow out of the sword's furrow.

Makundi manne. Majibu manne. Hakuna hata moja lililokuwa jibu sahihi. Mafarisayo walitoa ushikaji wa sheria, Masadukayo maafikiano, Waeseni kujitenga, Wazelote vurugu — na nchi ilihitaji kitu ambacho hakuna hata mmoja wao alikuwa nacho. Nchi ilihitaji Mwokozi. Vivyo hivyo mimi na wewe, asubuhi hii. Kristo peke yake ndiye mlango ambao hakuna hata mmoja wao aliyeweza kuuona.Four parties. Four answers. None was the right answer. The Pharisees offered legalism, the Sadducees compromise, the Essenes withdrawal, the Zealots violence — and the country needed something none of them had. The country needed a Savior. So do you and I, this morning. Christ alone is the door none of them could find.

VII. Utimilifu wa WakatiVII. The Fullness of Time

Rudi nyuma kidogo uitazame picha nzima. Kufikia mwaka 5 K.K. ulimwengu ulikuwa umeletwa, kwa maongozi ya Mungu ya kimya yasiyoonekana, kwenye wakati ambao haukuwahi kuwepo kabla na usingerudiwa tena. "Hata ulipowadia utimilifu wa wakati, Mungu alimtuma Mwanawe, ambaye amezaliwa na mwanamke, amezaliwa chini ya sheria, ili awakomboe hao waliokuwa chini ya sheria" (Wagalatia 4:4–5). Ni utimilifu gani anaouzungumzia Paulo?Step back and look at the picture. By the year 5 BC the world had been brought, by silent and invisible providence, to a moment that had never existed before and would never be repeated. "But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law" (Galatians 4:4–5). What is the fullness Paul is talking about?

Kulikuwa na lugha moja ya pamoja — Kigiriki cha Koine, kilichoeleweka kuanzia Hispania hadi Shamu. Kwa mara ya kwanza katika historia ya wanadamu, mmisionari angeweza kuhubiri kwa lugha moja kwa liwali wa Kirumi, rabi wa Kiyahudi, na mwanafalsafa wa Kigiriki katika chumba kimoja. Kulikuwa na mfumo mmoja wa barabara — barabara kuu za Kirumi zilimaanisha ujumbe ungeweza kusafiri kwa kasi ya farasi mwepesi kutoka Yerusalemu hadi kiini cha kila milki duniani. Kulikuwa na amani moja ya pamoja — Pax Romana ilimaanisha mtume asiye na silaha angeweza kubeba gombo umbali wa maili elfu mbili bila kuuawa kwa ajili ya kazi yake. Na kulikuwa na hitaji moja la pamoja. Wastoiko hawakuwa wametatua tatizo la dhambi. Dini za siri hazikuwa zimetatua tatizo la kifo. Ushikaji wa sheria wa Mafarisayo haukuwa umemfanya mtu yeyote kuwa mtakatifu. Ulimwengu ulikuwa tayari.There was a common language — Koine Greek, understood from Spain to Syria. For the first time in human history, a missionary could preach in one language to a Roman governor, a Jewish rabbi, and a Greek philosopher in the same room. There was a common road system — Roman highways meant the message could move at the speed of a fast horse from Jerusalem to the heart of every empire on earth. There was a common peace — the Pax Romana meant an unarmed apostle could carry a scroll across two thousand miles and not be murdered for his trouble. And there was a common need. The Stoics had not solved sin. The mystery religions had not solved death. The legalism of the Pharisees had not made anyone holy. The world was ready.

Mungu alikuwa akijenga barabara kwa miaka mia nne. "Angalieni, namtuma mjumbe wangu, naye ataitengeneza njia mbele yangu" (Malaki 3:1) lilikuwa likitimizwa wakati wote huo. Miaka mia nne ya ukimya ilikuwa miaka mia nne ya kujenga barabara. Na niruhusu nikusisitizie jambo hili, rafiki yangu: Mungu anafanya jambo lilelile maishani mwako sasa hivi. Majira yanayoonekana kama ukimya kwa kawaida ni majira ya kujenga barabara. Uamini ukimya. Mjenzi anafanya kazi.God had been building the road for four hundred years. "Behold, I send My messenger, and he will prepare the way before Me" (Malachi 3:1) had been being fulfilled the whole time. The four hundred years of silence were the four hundred years of road-building. And let me press this on you, my friend: God is doing the same thing in your life right now. The seasons that feel like silence are usually the seasons of road-building. Trust the silence. The Builder is working.

VIII. Pazia LinafungukaVIII. The Curtain Rises

Na kisha, asubuhi moja ya kawaida mnamo au karibu na mwaka 5 K.K., kuhani mzee wa kijijini aitwaye Zakaria aliangukiwa na kura ya kuingia Patakatifu pa hekalu ili kufukiza uvumba wa asubuhi. Huenda alikuwa ameisubiri nafasi hiyo maisha yake yote. Alipita ndani ya pazia. Moshi wa uvumba ulipanda juu. Na upande wa kuume wa madhabahu ya kufukizia uvumba alisimama malaika. Ukimya wa miaka mia nne ulivunjika asubuhi ile, katika sentensi moja: "Usiogope, Zakaria, kwa maana dua yako imesikiwa, na mkeo Elisabeti atakuzalia mwana, na jina lake utamwita Yohana" (Luka 1:13). Huyu ndiye mjumbe wa Malaki 3:1 — na mwana wa Zakaria angekuwa mjumbe aliyetangulia mbele ya Mjumbe. Jua la haki lilikuwa likichomoza.And then, one ordinary morning in or about 5 BC, an old village priest named Zechariah drew the lot to enter the Holy Place of the temple and burn the morning incense. He had probably waited his whole life for the chance. He stepped through the curtain. The smoke of the incense rose. And to the right of the altar of incense stood an angel. The four-hundred-year silence broke that morning, in a single sentence: "Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer is heard; and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John" (Luke 1:13). It was the messenger of Malachi 3:1 — and Zechariah's son would be the messenger before the Messenger. The Sun of Righteousness was rising.

Na Mabaki walikuwa wakingoja. Mzee Simeoni, aliyekuwa ameahidiwa na Roho Mtakatifu kwamba hataona mauti kabla hajamwona Kristo wa Bwana, alisimama katika nyua za hekalu na kumtambua mtoto mchanga wa kiume wa siku arobaini wa wanandoa maskini wa kijijini: "Sasa, Bwana, wamruhusu mtumishi wako, kwa amani, kama ulivyosema; kwa kuwa macho yangu yameuona wokovu wako" (Luka 2:29–30). Mzee Ana, mwenye umri wa miaka themanini na minne, mjane ambaye hakuwa ameziacha nyua za hekalu kwa miongo mingi, alikuja saa ileile na kumshukuru Mungu.And the Remnant were waiting. Old Simeon, who had been promised by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death until he had seen the Lord's Christ, stood in the temple courts and recognized a poor village couple's forty-day-old baby boy: "Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, according to Your word; for my eyes have seen Your salvation" (Luke 2:29–30). Old Anna, eighty-four years old, a widow who had not left the temple courts in decades, came at that very moment and gave thanks to God.

Usikose kuona walikuwa akina nani. Hawakuwa uongozi wa kidini. Hawakuwa matajiri. Walikuwa kuhani mzee asiyeweza kusema, askari mzee wa Roho asiyekubali kufa, na mjane mzee asiyekubali kuondoka hekaluni. Walikuwa aina ya watu ambao ulimwengu huwapuuza lakini mbingu huweka kumbukumbu zao. Kila uamsho katika historia ya kanisa umeendeshwa na maombi ya akina Ana wasiojulikana majina. Roho Mtakatifu anajua mahali unapoketi usiku huu. Iweke taa iendelee kuwaka. Endelea kuja hekaluni. Bwana unayemngoja ataingia, nawe utamtambua.Do not miss who they were. They were not the religious establishment. They were not the wealthy. They were an old priest who could not speak, an old soldier of the Spirit who would not die, and an old widow who would not leave the temple. They were the kind of people the world overlooks and heaven keeps records on. Every revival in church history has run on the prayers of unnamed Annas. The Holy Spirit knows where you are sitting tonight. Keep the lamp lit. Keep coming to the temple. The Lord you are waiting for will walk in, and you will recognize Him.

IX. Hadi Kizingitini mwa MathayoIX. To the Threshold of Matthew

Tumefika kizingitini mwa Agano Jipya. Nyuma yetu kuna torati na manabii, wafalme na makuhani, utumwa na kurudi, ukimya na sinagogi, barabara na mjenzi wa barabara. Mbele yetu kuna Injili nne — Mathayo, Marko, Luka, Yohana — kila moja ikimtazama Bwana yuleyule kwa pembe tofauti. Mathayo atatuonyesha Mfalme. Marko atatuonyesha Mtumishi. Luka atatuonyesha Mwana wa Adamu. Yohana atatuonyesha Mwana wa Mungu. Kisha yanakuja Matendo, ambapo barabara ambayo Rumi iliijenga inatembelewa na mitume. Kisha zinakuja Nyaraka. Kisha unakuja Ufunuo, ambapo barabara inaishia si Rumi bali katika Yerusalemu Mpya.We have come to the threshold of the New Testament. Behind us are the law and the prophets, the kings and the priests, the captivity and the return, the silence and the synagogue, the road and the road-builder. In front of us are four Gospels — Matthew, Mark, Luke, John — each one a different angle on the same Lord. Matthew will show us the King. Mark will show us the Servant. Luke will show us the Son of Man. John will show us the Son of God. Then comes Acts, where the road that Rome paved gets walked by the apostles. Then come the Epistles. Then comes the Revelation, where the road ends not at Rome but at the New Jerusalem.

Sehemu kumi na moja zaidi ziko mbele yako. Vitabu ishirini na saba. Hadithi Moja — Hadithi ileile tuliyokuwa tukiisoma tangu Mwanzo 1, sasa imefika kwenye sura yake kuu ya katikati. "Kwa maana ahadi zote za Mungu zilizo katika yeye ni Ndiyo; tena kwa hiyo katika yeye ni Amina" (2 Wakorintho 1:20). Kila ahadi ya Agano la Kale inapata ndiyo yake katika Yesu.Eleven more units lie ahead of you. Twenty-seven books. One Story — the same Story we have been reading since Genesis 1, now arrived at its great central chapter. "For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen" (2 Corinthians 1:20). Every promise of the Old Testament finds its yes in Jesus.

Basi vuta pumzi, rafiki yangu. Ukurasa mwembamba kuliko yote katika Biblia yako sasa uko nyuma yako. Barabara imejengwa. Mtumishi ameruhusiwa kwenda kwa amani. Mabaki wamemtambua Bwana wao. Na Mfalme anatoka horini akielekea kwenye kiti chake cha enzi. Fungua Biblia yako. Geuza ukurasa. Tazama, Mfalme wako. Amina.So take a breath, my friend. The thinnest page in your Bible is now behind you. The road has been built. The Servant has departed in peace. The Remnant has recognized her Lord. And the King is walking out of the manger toward His throne. Open your Bible. Turn the page. Behold your King. Amen.

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