📖 Utangulizi wa Agano la Kale — Sehemu ya 13: Kipindi Kati ya Maagano📖 Old Testament Survey — Unit 13: The Intertestamental Period

I. Miongo IliyofichikaI. The Hidden Decades

Fungua Biblia yako na uangalie kwa makini 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 na mwanzo wa Mathayo kuna takriban miaka mia nne — muda mrefu kuliko tangu kuanzishwa kwa makoloni ya Marekani hadi leo. Manabii wamenyamaza. Hakuna Maandiko mapya yanayoandikwa. Hakuna neno jipya la kinabii linalopambazuka asubuhi. Hata hivyo, pazia linapoinuka tena mwishoni mwa karne hizo nne, ulimwengu haufahamiki tena. Hekalu limejengwa upya. Sinagogi lipo katika kila kijiji. Maandiko ya Kiebrania yametafsiriwa kwa Kigiriki na kupelekwa Iskanderia. Barabara za Kirumi zinaunganisha Hispania na Shamu. Mfalme wa Kiyahudi amekufa na liwali wa Kirumi ameketi katika jumba lake la kifalme. Na katika kijiji kidogo cha makuhani milimani nje ya Yerusalemu, mzee mmoja aitwaye Zekaria anajiandaa kuingia katika patakatifu ili kufukiza uvumba.Open your Bible and look carefully at 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 and Matthew's opening lie about four hundred years — more time than from the founding of the American colonies to today. The prophets are silent. No new Scripture is written. No fresh oracle breaks the morning. And yet, when the curtain rises again at the end of those four centuries, the world is unrecognizable. The temple is rebuilt. The synagogue exists in every village. The Hebrew Scriptures have been translated into Greek and shipped to Alexandria. 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.

Hiki ndicho Kipindi Kati ya Maagano. Kwa wanafunzi wengi wa Biblia, ni sura kuu isiyosomwa. Tunamaliza Malaki, tunavuta pumzi, tunageukia Mathayo, na tunapoteza miaka mia nne kwa kugeuza ukurasa mmoja tu. Sehemu hii ni jaribio letu la kuiheshimu miaka hiyo. Kwa sababu kile ambacho Mungu alikuwa akifanya katika ukimya ni sehemu ya hadithi sawa kabisa na kile ambacho Mungu alikuwa akisema kupitia manabii. Wakati wa Kipindi Kati ya Maagano, Mungu hakunyamaza kwa sababu hakuwa na la kusema; alinyamaza kwa sababu alikuwa akijiandaa kulinena Neno lake muhimu kuliko yote. "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.This is the Intertestamental Period. For most students of the Bible, it is the great unread chapter. We finish Malachi, take a breath, and turn to Matthew, and we lose four hundred years in the space of a single page-turn. This unit is our attempt to honor those years. Because what God was doing in the silence is just as much a part of the story as what God was saying through the prophets. During the Intertestamental Period, God was not silent because He had nothing to say; He was silent because He was preparing to speak His most important Word. "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.

II. Utawala wa Waajemi (takriban 430–330 K.K.)II. The Persian Settlement (about 430–330 BC)

Malaki alipoweka chini kalamu yake, jumuiya ya Wayahudi ilikuwa jimbo dogo lenye kutaabika ndani ya Milki kubwa ya Uajemi. Koreshi alikuwa amewaruhusu kurudi nyumbani mwaka 538 K.K.; Zerubabeli alikuwa amejenga upya hekalu kufikia 516; Ezra alikuwa amerejesha sheria mwaka 458; Nehemia alikuwa amemaliza kuta mwaka 445. Sasa Malaki amemaliza mahubiri yake, makuhani wanafanya kazi zao, na mzunguko wa kila siku wa dhabihu unaendelea katika hekalu la pili. Wayahudi wengi waliokuwa wamechukuliwa mateka Babeli hawakurudi kamwe. Walikaa katika miji ya Mashariki, ambako walianza kile tunachokiita Diaspora — mtawanyiko. Jumuiya za Kiyahudi zilichipuka huko Babeli, Uajemi, Misri, Afrika Kaskazini, na hatimaye kuzunguka Bahari ya Mediterania yote.When Malachi laid down his pen, the Jewish community was a small, struggling province inside the vast Persian Empire. Cyrus had let them go home in 538 BC; Zerubbabel had rebuilt the temple by 516; Ezra had restored the law in 458; Nehemiah had finished the walls in 445. Now Malachi has finished his sermons, the priests are functioning, and the daily round of sacrifice is going on in the second temple. Most of the Jews who had been carried into Babylon never came back. They settled in the cities of the East, where they began what we call the Diaspora — the dispersion. Jewish communities sprang up in Babylon, Persia, Egypt, North Africa, and eventually all around the Mediterranean.

Mambo mawili makubwa sana yalitokea wakati wa kipindi cha Waajemi. Kwanza, sinagogi lilizaliwa. Mbali na hekalu la Yerusalemu, wahamishwa walihitaji njia ya kukusanyika, kusoma Maandiko, kuwafundisha watoto, na kuomba. Sinagogi (kwa maana halisi "kukusanyika pamoja") lilikuwa jibu. Kufikia mwisho wa kipindi cha Waajemi, kila kijiji cha Kiyahudi katika ulimwengu uliojulikana kilikuwa na sinagogi. Kufikia wakati wa Kristo, kila mji katika Milki ya Kirumi uliokuwa na Wayahudi ulikuwa na sinagogi. Mtume Paulo alipokwenda katika safari zake za kimisheni miaka mia tano baadaye, sinagogi lilikuwa kituo chake cha kwanza kila mara, kwa sababu sinagogi lilikuwa tayari limepeleka Agano la Kale hadi miisho ya dunia. Roho Mtakatifu alikuwa akitumia mfumo aliokuwa ameujenga wakati wa ukimya.Two enormous things happened during the Persian phase. First, the synagogue was born. Far from the temple in Jerusalem, the exiles needed a way to gather, to read the Scriptures, to teach the children, and to pray. The synagogue (literally "a gathering together") was the answer. By the end of the Persian period, every Jewish village in the known world had one. By the time of Christ, every city in the Roman Empire that had a Jewish population had a synagogue. When the apostle Paul went on his missionary journeys five hundred years later, the synagogue was 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 He had built during the silence.

Pili, orodha rasmi (kanoni) ya vitabu vya Biblia ya Kiebrania ilikamilika na kutambuliwa. Ezra yule yule aliyewafundisha watu Sheria pia aliongoza kazi ya kukusanya na kupanga vitabu ambavyo sasa tunaviita Agano la Kale. Mapokeo yanasema aliongoza kundi lililoitwa Sinagogi Kuu, lililokusanya na kunakili miswada. Kufikia mwisho wa kipindi cha Waajemi, Wayahudi walikuwa na mikononi mwao vitabu vile vile thelathini na tisa tulivyo navyo sisi. Walijua kwamba pamoja na Malaki sauti ya kinabii ilikuwa imekoma, nao walilihifadhi Neno mpaka litakaponena tena.Second, the canon of the Hebrew Bible was finished and recognized. The same Ezra who taught the people the Law also presided over the gathering and arranging of the books we now call the Old Testament. Tradition says he led a group called the Great Synagogue, who collected and copied the manuscripts. By the end of the Persian period, the Jewish people had in their hands the same thirty-nine books we have. They knew that with Malachi the prophetic voice had ceased, and they preserved the Word until it would speak again.

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

Mwaka 333 K.K. jemadari kijana wa Kimakedonia aitwaye Iskanda (Aleksanda) aliingia Asia kwa kishindo na kuubadilisha ulimwengu katika muongo mmoja. Alikuwa na umri wa miaka ishirini na mitatu alipoivunja Milki ya Uajemi katika vita vya Isso. Alikuwa na miaka thelathini na mitatu 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 aliyekuja akikimbia juu ya uso wa dunia yote, akampiga kondoo dume (Uajemi), akazivunja pembe zake mbili (Danieli 8:5–8). Iskanda hakuushinda ulimwengu tu; aliufanya wa Kigiriki. Aliacha nyuma yake miji ya Kigiriki, askari wa Kigiriki, mahekalu ya Kigiriki, maktaba za Kigiriki, na zaidi ya yote lugha ya Kigiriki katika kila nchi aliyoigusa. Kufikia wakati wa kifo chake, 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 years old when he broke the Persian Empire at the battle of 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 that came running across the surface of the whole earth, struck the ram (Persia), and broke its two horns (Daniel 8:5–8). Alexander did not just conquer the world; he Hellenized it. He left Greek cities, Greek soldiers, Greek temples, 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.

Maamuzi yake mawili yalikuwa na matokeo ya milele kwa Biblia. Kwanza, 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 wa Kiyahudi sabini au sabini na wawili (kama mapokeo yanavyosema) walitafsiri Maandiko ya Kiebrania kwa Kigiriki. Matokeo yake yalikuwa Septuaginta (kwa Kilatini "sabini"), kwa kifupi LXX. Hii ilikuwa mara ya kwanza katika historia kwa Agano la Kale kutafsiriwa katika lugha nyingine, na ilikuwa tafsiri ambayo Mungu angeitumia kwa nguvu. Mitume walipomhubiri Kristo katika ulimwengu wa Kirumi, Biblia waliyoifungua kwa kawaida ilikuwa LXX. Mathayo alipomnukuu Isaya, alinukuu LXX. Paulo alipojenga hoja kutoka Agano la Kale katika sinagogi la watu wanaozungumza Kigiriki, alijenga hoja kutoka LXX. Septuaginta iliwatoa manabii wa Kiebrania kutoka katika taifa moja na kuwapa ulimwengu.Two of his decisions had eternal consequences for the Bible. First, when he 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 of 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 that the Old Testament had been translated into another language, and it was a translation God was going to use mightily. When the apostles preached Christ in the Roman world, the Bible they opened was usually the LXX. When Matthew quoted Isaiah, he quoted the LXX. When Paul argued from the Old Testament in a Greek-speaking synagogue, he argued from the LXX. The Septuagint took the Hebrew prophets out of one nation and gave them to the world.

Hadithi ya tafsiri ya Kigiriki, kama kila tendo la kuwapa watu Maandiko, ililipiwa kwa damu. Miaka elfu moja na mia sita baadaye Mwingereza mmoja aitwaye William Tyndale alinyongwa na kuchomwa motoni mtini mwaka 1536 kwa kutafsiri Agano Jipya kwa Kiingereza. Maneno yake ya mwisho yaliyoandikwa yalikuwa sala: "Bwana, fungua macho ya Mfalme wa Uingereza." Miaka mitatu baadaye Mfalme Henry aliidhinisha Biblia Kuu (Great Bible) katika kila kanisa la parokia la Uingereza. Septuaginta na Biblia ya Kiingereza ni mawe katika barabara ile ile ndefu — barabara ya azimio la Mungu la kuliweka neno lake mikononi mwa kila mke wa mkulima na kila mwanafunzi wa mwenye duka. Miaka mia nne ya ukimya haikuwa ya bure. Mungu alikuwa akijenga barabara.The story of the Greek translation, like every act of giving Scripture to the people, was paid for in blood. Sixteen hundred years later an Englishman named William Tyndale was strangled and burned at the stake in 1536 for translating the New Testament into English. His last recorded words were a prayer: "Lord, open the King of England's eyes." Three years later King Henry authorized the Great Bible in every English parish church. The Septuagint and the English Bible are stones in the same long road — the road of God's determination to put His word into the hands of every farmer's wife and every shopkeeper's apprentice. The four hundred years of silence were not idle. God was building the road.

Matokeo ya pili ya Iskanda hayakuwa ya furaha sana. Baada ya kifo chake mwaka 323 K.K., milki yake iligawanyika kati ya majemadari wake. Yudea ilijikuta imebanwa kati ya wawili wao — Waptolemi wa Misri upande wa kusini, na Waseleuko wa Shamu upande wa kaskazini — na ikapigwa huku na huko kama mpira unaogombaniwa kwa miaka mia moja na hamsini. Shinikizo la kuiacha Sheria na kufuata desturi za Kigiriki liliongezeka siku hadi siku. Baadhi ya Wayahudi walikaribisha utamaduni wa Kigiriki; wengi walipinga. Mgogoro ulifika kilele mwaka 167 K.K.The second consequence of Alexander was less happy. After his death in 323 BC, his empire splintered among his generals. Judea ended up squeezed between two of them — the Ptolemies of Egypt to the south, and the Seleucids of Syria to the north — and was 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. Some Jews welcomed Hellenization; many resisted. The crisis came in 167 BC.

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

Mfalme wa Waseleuko Antioko IV — aliyejipa jina la Epifane, likimaanisha "mungu aliyedhihirika" — aliamua kuifuta kabisa dini ya Kiyahudi. Aliikataza Sabato. Alikataza tohara, kwa adhabu ya kifo. Aliteketeza kila nakala ya Sheria aliyoweza kuipata. Na mwezi Desemba 167 K.K. aliingia katika hekalu la Yerusalemu, akasimamisha madhabahu ya Zeu juu ya madhabahu ya sadaka ya kuteketezwa, akachinja nguruwe juu yake. Hili lilikuwa lile "chukizo la uharibifu" ambalo Danieli alikuwa ameliona katika maono zaidi ya karne tatu kabla (Danieli 11:31; 8:13). Mahali Patakatifu palitiwa unajisi. Taa zilizimika. Mikate ya Wonyesho ilitupwa barabarani.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 Holy Place was defiled. The lamps went out. The bread of the Presence was thrown into the street.

Kuhani mzee wa kijijini aitwaye Matathia, katika mji wa milimani wa Modini, alikataa kutoa dhabihu maafisa wa mfalme walipokuja kulazimisha dini hiyo mpya. Alimuua afisa huyo, akamuua Myahudi muasi aliyejitokeza kutoa sadaka hiyo, 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 wameiteka tena Yerusalemu. Waliibomoa madhabahu iliyotiwa unajisi, wakajenga mpya, na kuziwasha taa tena. Sikukuu ya Hanuka — Sikukuu ya Kuitakasa Nyumba — inaadhimisha kuwashwa huko upya kila majira ya baridi hadi leo. Bwana Yesu Mwenyewe alitembea katika ukumbi wa Sulemani wakati wa Hanuka (Yohana 10:22). Hakuilaani sikukuu hiyo. Aliuadhimisha uaminifu wa watu waliokataa kuinama.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. They tore down the desecrated altar, built a new one, 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 did not condemn the festival. He celebrated the faithfulness of a people who had refused to bow.

Kwa takriban miaka mia moja ukoo wa Wamakabayo ulitawala dola huru ya Kiyahudi. Walikuwa mashujaa hodari wa vita na, hatimaye, wafalme wa kawaida tu. Nasaba hiyo ilimalizika kwa vita vya wenyewe kwa wenyewe kati ya wajukuu wawili mwaka 63 K.K. Ugomvi wao ulimfikia masikioni jemadari mmoja wa Kirumi aliyekuwa akipita Shamu pamoja na jeshi. Jina lake lilikuwa Pompei. Aliiteka Yerusalemu, na kivuli kirefu cha Rumi kikaangukia nchi hiyo kwa mara ya kwanza. Kisingeondoka katika maisha ya mtu yeyote aliyekuwa amesimama pale siku hiyo.For about a hundred years the Maccabean line ruled an independent Jewish state. They were brave warriors and, eventually, mediocre kings. The dynasty ended in civil war between two grandsons in 63 BC. Their quarrel reached the ears of a Roman general who happened to be passing through Syria with an army. His name was Pompey. He took Jerusalem, and the long Roman shadow fell across the land for the first time. It would not lift in the lifetime of any person who stood there that day.

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 pia walifanya mambo matatu ambayo, karibu bila wao kukusudia, yaliuandaa ulimwengu kwa ajili ya injili. Walijenga barabara. Kufikia wakati mtume 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, akipata vituo vya kupumzikia kila maili kumi na tano na doria za kijeshi zikilinda mizigo. Walidumisha amani. Pax Romana, ile Amani Kuu ya Kirumi iliyoanzishwa na Augusto mwaka 27 K.K., ilidumu kwa miaka mia mbili na ikawezesha mmisionari Myahudi asiye na silaha kusafiri kutoka Yerusalemu hadi Rumi akiwa na joho tu, magombo machache, na injili ya Kristo. Na walisimamia sheria moja katika kila jimbo. Paulo alipokata rufaa kwa Kaisari katika Matendo 25, alikuwa akitumia utaratibu wa kisheria uliofanya kazi kwa namna ile ile huko Kaisaria kama huko Athene kama huko Rumi. Milki iliyomsulubisha Yesu juu ya msalaba wa Kirumi ndiyo milki ile ile ambayo barabara zake zilibeba habari za ufufuo wake hadi miisho ya dunia.The Romans were not delicate. They taxed mercilessly, garrisoned heavily, and crucified anyone they suspected of rebellion. But they also did three things that, almost in spite of themselves, prepared the world for the gospel. They built roads. By the time the apostle 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 River, with way-stations every fifteen miles and military patrols guarding the cargo. They kept the peace. The Pax Romana, the great Roman Peace inaugurated by Augustus in 27 BC, lasted for 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.

Katika Yudea yenyewe, Warumi walimweka mtawala mwenye mabavu, nusu Myahudi na nusu Mwedomu (Mwidumea), aitwaye Herode Mkuu. Alikuwa mfalme mwenye wasiwasi wa kupindukia, wivu na tamaa, 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 hodari kuliko wote ambao Nchi Takatifu iliwahi kuwaona. Aliongeza maradufu ukubwa wa jukwaa la hekalu; mawe yale makubwa ya ajabu ambayo watalii bado wanayagusa kwenye Ukuta wa Magharibi leo yaliwekwa na waashi wa Herode. Hekalu ambalo Yesu alitembea ndani yake lilikuwa hekalu la Herode. Alikufa mwaka 4 K.K., miezi michache tu baada ya nyota kusafiri katika anga la usiku na kusimama juu ya zizi nyuma ya nyumba ya wageni huko Bethlehemu.In Judea itself, the Romans installed a half-Jewish, half-Idumean strongman named Herod the Great. He was a paranoid, jealous, ambitious 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. He died in 4 BC, just months after a star had moved across the night sky and stopped over a stable behind a Bethlehem inn.

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

Wakati milki zikija na kuondoka juu ya vichwa vyao, Wayahudi wenyewe walikuwa wakigawanyika kimya kimya katika makundi manne yaliyotofautiana sana. Kila kundi lilikuwa jibu kwa swali lile lile: Tunamtumikiaje Mungu chini ya utawala wa watu wa Mataifa?While the empires came and went over their heads, the Jewish people themselves were quietly fragmenting into four very different 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 zaidi kuliko wakati wowote." Wao walikuwa wanatheolojia wasio makuhani, walimu wa sinagogi, warithi wa kiroho wa Ezra. Waliamini malaika, roho, ufufuo wa wafu, na mamlaka kamili ya Maandiko. Pia ndio kundi lililojenga kile walichokiita "uzio kuzunguka Torati" — mamia ya kanuni za ziada, zilizokusudiwa kumzuia mtu asikaribie hata kidogo kuvunja amri halisi. Kwa karne nyingi, uzio huo ukawa mrefu kuliko jengo lenyewe. Mabishano makali kuliko yote ya Yesu yalikuwa na kundi hili, si kwa sababu theolojia yao ilikuwa na makosa (kwa kawaida ilikuwa sahihi) bali kwa sababu mioyo yao ilikuwa na kiburi. Baadhi yao, kama Nikodemo na Yusufu wa Arimathaya, wakawa wanafunzi wake. Sauli wa Tarso, mtu aliyekuja kuwa mtume Paulo, alikuwa Farisayo.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 spirits, 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, designed to keep a person from coming anywhere near the breaking of an actual commandment. 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. Some of them, like Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, became His disciples. Saul of Tarsus, the man who became the apostle Paul, was a Pharisee.

Masadukayo walijibu swali hilo hilo kwa namna tofauti kabisa: "Kwa kushirikiana na Warumi na kuliendesha hekalu." Wao walikuwa watu wa tabaka la juu wenye mali, familia za makuhani, watu waliodhibiti mapato ya hekalu na cheo cha kuhani mkuu. Walikubali vitabu vitano vya Musa peke yake kuwa na mamlaka; walikataa ufufuo, malaika, na mambo ya miujiza kwa jumla. Wao ndio waliokuwa uongozi wa dini uliomkamata Yesu huko Gethsemane. Kundi lao lilikufa pamoja na hekalu mwaka 70 B.K., na hakuna hata mmoja wao anayesikika tena baada ya hapo.The Sadducees answered the same question very differently: "By cooperating with the Romans and keeping the temple running." They were the wealthy aristocracy, the priestly families, the men who controlled the temple revenue and the high-priestly office. They accepted only the five books of Moses as authoritative; they rejected the resurrection, the angels, and the supernatural in general. They were the religious establishment that arrested Jesus in Gethsemane. Their party died with the temple in AD 70, and not one of them is heard of after.

Waeseni walijibu, "Kwa kujitenga kabisa na taifa lililoharibika." Walikimbilia katika jumuiya za kitawa jangwani; iliyo maarufu zaidi ilikuwa Qumran kwenye ufuo wa magharibi wa Bahari ya Chumvi. Huko walinakili magombo, walioga kwa taratibu za utakaso, walikula milo ya pamoja, na kumngoja Masihi. Maktaba yao, iliyofichwa mapangoni wakati wa kuzingirwa na Warumi mwaka 68 B.K. na kugunduliwa tena na mchungaji Mbedui mwaka 1947, imetupa miswada ya zamani kuliko yote iliyopo ya Agano la Kale la Kiebrania. Kama Yohana Mbatizaji aliwahi kuwasiliana nao ni jambo linalojadiliwa; mfanano kati yao unashangaza.The Essenes answered, "By withdrawing from a corrupt nation altogether." They retreated to monastic communities in the desert; the most famous was at Qumran on the western shore of the Dead Sea. There they copied scrolls, kept ritual baths, ate communal meals, and waited for the Messiah. 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. Whether John the Baptist had any contact with them is debated; the parallels are striking.

Wazeloti walijibu, "Kwa kuokota upanga na kuwafukuza Warumi hadi baharini." Wao walikuwa wazalendo wanamapinduzi, vuguvugu la upinzani wa siri. Mmoja wa wanafunzi kumi na wawili wa Yesu, Simoni, anaitwa "Simoni aliyeitwa Zelote" (Luka 6:15). Vuguvugu la Wazeloti lilifikia kilele chake katika uasi mkubwa wa mwaka 66–70 B.K. ulioishia kwa kuharibiwa kwa Yerusalemu na kuchomwa kwa hekalu — tukio la maafa makubwa kuliko yote katika historia ya Kiyahudi kati ya uhamisho na mauaji ya Holocaust.The Zealots answered, "By picking up a sword and driving the Romans into the sea." They were the revolutionary nationalists, the underground resistance. 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 in the destruction of Jerusalem and the burning of the temple — the most catastrophic event in Jewish history between the exile and the Holocaust.

Makundi manne, majibu manne — Mafarisayo walitoa ushikaji-sheria, Masadukayo maridhiano, Waeseni kujitenga, Wazeloti vurugu. Nchi ilihitaji kile ambacho hakuna kundi lolote kati yao lilikuwa nacho: Mwokozi.Four parties, four answers — the Pharisees offered legalism, the Sadducees compromise, the Essenes withdrawal, the Zealots violence. The country needed what none of them had: a Savior.

VII. Utimilifu wa WakatiVII. The Fullness of Time

Sasa rudi nyuma kutoka katika hayo yote na 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, amekuwa mtu kwa kuzaliwa na mwanamke, amezaliwa chini ya sheria, ili awakomboe hao waliokuwa chini ya sheria" (Wagalatia 4:4–5). Ni utimilifu gani Paulo anaouzungumzia? Angalia kile kilichokuwa tayari mahali pake kufikia 5 K.K.Step back from all of it now 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? Look at what was in place by 5 BC.

Kulikuwa na lugha moja ya pamoja. Kigiriki cha Koine kilieleweka 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 — na wote watatu wangemwelewa. Kulikuwa na mfumo mmoja wa barabara. Barabara kuu za Kirumi zilimaanisha kwamba ujumbe ungeweza kusafiri kwa kasi ya farasi mwepesi kutoka Yerusalemu hadi kiini cha kila milki duniani. Kulikuwa na amani ya pamoja. Pax Romana ilimaanisha kwamba mtume asiye na silaha angeweza kubeba gombo akivuka maili elfu mbili za nchi za kigeni bila kuuawa kwa ajili ya safari yake. Kulikuwa na Biblia moja ya pamoja. Septuaginta ilikuwa imeweka manabii, Zaburi, na Torati ya Musa mikononi mwa kila mtu anayejua kusoma katika milki hiyo, tayari kunukuliwa. Kulikuwa na shauku ya pamoja. Kuanzia masinagogi ya Kiyahudi yaliyosoma majuma sabini ya Danieli kila Sabato, hadi wanafalsafa wa Kigiriki waliochoshwa na sanamu zilizokufa, hadi akina mama wa nyumbani wa Kirumi waliolia juu ya kifo cha mtoto mchanga mwingine tena, moyo wa mwanadamu ulikuwa ukimtafuta Mwokozi. Na kulikuwa na hitaji la pamoja. Wastoiki hawakuwa wametatua tatizo la dhambi. Dini za mafumbo hazikuwa zimetatua tatizo la kifo. Ushikaji-sheria wa Mafarisayo haukuwa umemfanya mtu yeyote kuwa mtakatifu. Ulimwengu ulikuwa tayari.There was a common language. Koine Greek was 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 — and all three could understand him. There was a common road system. The Roman highways meant that 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 that an unarmed apostle could carry a scroll across two thousand miles of foreign country and not be murdered for his trouble. There was a common Bible. The Septuagint had put the prophets, the Psalms, and the Law of Moses into the hands of every literate person in the empire, ready to be quoted. There was a common longing. From Jewish synagogues that read Daniel's seventy weeks every Sabbath, to Greek philosophers tired of dead idols, to Roman housewives weeping over the death of yet another infant, the human heart was reaching for a Savior. 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. Kila orodha ya msamiati wa Kigiriki, kila jiwe la alama ya maili la Kirumi, kila gombo la sinagogi, kila mvulana Myahudi aliyekariri Isaya huko Iskanderia, kila Farisayo aliyempa mwanawe nakala ya Sheria siku ya kuzaliwa kwake ya kumi na tatu — yote hayo yalikuwa mawe ya ujenzi katika barabara kuu ile ile. "Angalieni, namtuma mjumbe wangu, naye ataitengeneza njia mbele yangu" (Malaki 3:1) lilikuwa likitimizwa muda wote huo. Miaka mia nne ya ukimya ilikuwa miaka mia nne ya kujenga barabara.God had been building the road for four hundred years. Every Greek vocabulary list, every Roman milestone, every synagogue scroll, every Jewish boy who memorized Isaiah in Alexandria, every Pharisee who handed his son a copy of the Law on his thirteenth birthday — all of it was masonry in the same highway. "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.

VIII. Pazia LinainukaVIII. The Curtain Rises

Na kisha, asubuhi moja ya kawaida mwaka 5 K.K. au karibu na wakati huo, katika zamu ya kikuhani iliyoitwa Abiya, kuhani mzee wa kijijini aitwaye Zekaria alichaguliwa kwa kura kuingia Patakatifu pa hekalu ili kufukiza uvumba wa asubuhi. Huenda alikuwa amengojea nafasi hiyo maisha yake yote; kura hiyo ilimwangukia kuhani mara moja tu katika huduma yake yote, ikiwa iliwahi kumwangukia kabisa. Aliingia kupita 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, kwa sentensi moja: "Usiogope, Zekaria, kwa kuwa dua yako imesikiwa, na mkeo Elisabeti atakuzalia mwana, na jina lake utamwita Yohana" (Luka 1:13). Huyo alikuwa mjumbe wa Malaki 3:1 — na mwana wa Zekaria angekuwa mjumbe atakayemtangulia Mjumbe. Jua la haki lilikuwa likichomoza.And then, one ordinary morning in or about 5 BC, in the second course of the priestly rotation called Abijah, 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; the lot fell only once in a priest's career, if it ever fell at all. 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. Simeoni mzee, aliyekuwa ameahidiwa na Roho Mtakatifu kwamba hataona mauti kabla hajamwona Kristo wa Bwana, alisimama katika nyua za hekalu akamtambua 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, uliouweka tayari machoni pa watu wote; nuru ya kuwa mwangaza wa Mataifa, na kuwa utukufu wa watu wako Israeli" (Luka 2:29–32). Ana mzee, mwenye umri wa miaka themanini na minne, mjane ambaye kwa miongo mingi hakuwa ameziacha nyua za hekalu, alikuja saa ile ile akamshukuru Mungu. Wao walikuwa Mabaki. Walikuwa wameushinda ukimya kwa kuvumilia.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, which You have prepared before the face of all peoples, a light to bring revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of Your people Israel" (Luke 2:29–32). 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. They were the Remnant. They had outlasted the silence.

Huko Luco di Mugello, Italia, mbwa mmoja aitwaye Fido aliendelea kurudi kwenye kituo cha basi baada ya bwana wake kufa katika shambulio la mabomu kiwandani mwaka 1943. Mwongozo wa utalii wa eneo hilo unaeleza takriban miaka kumi na minne ya kungoja na mnara wa ukumbusho huko Borgo San Lorenzo. Ana wa hekaluni ni mojawapo ya vibao hivyo vya ukumbusho katika jumba la picha la Mfalme. Vivyo hivyo Simeoni. Vivyo hivyo maelfu wasiotajwa majina wa waamini Wayahudi — na watu wachache wa Mataifa waliomcha Mungu — waliowasha taa za maombi yao na kukataa kuziacha zizimike katika karne nne za giza, waliowafundisha watoto wao Isaya 53 hata wakati ambapo hakuna nabii aliyekuwa amesema katika maisha ya babu wa babu yao, waliofika Yerusalemu wakati wa Pasaka mwaka baada ya mwaka kwa sababu Bwana alikuwa amesema njooni, nao wangeendelea kuja mpaka Bwana atakapowaambia waache. Wao walikuwa Mabaki. Bwana waliyemngoja hatimaye aliingia.In Luco di Mugello, Italy, a dog named Fido kept returning to a bus stop after his master died in a factory bombing in 1943. The local tourism guide describes about fourteen years of waiting and a monument in Borgo San Lorenzo. Anna of the temple is one of those tablets in the picture gallery of the King. So is Simeon. So are the unnamed thousands of Jewish believers — and a few Gentile God-fearers — who lit the lamps of their prayer and refused to let them go out through four centuries of darkness, who taught their children Isaiah 53 even when no prophet had spoken in their grandfather's grandfather's lifetime, who showed up in Jerusalem at Passover year after year because the Lord had said come and they were going to keep coming until the Lord told them to stop. They were the Remnant. The Lord they waited for finally walked in.

Uzi Mwekundu Wafikia Kituo Chake cha Kumi na Tatu na cha MwishoThe Scarlet Thread Reaches Its Thirteenth and Last Station

Sasa rudi nyuma uitazame nguo nzima iliyofumwa. Kozi hii ilianzia Edeni, ambapo Mungu alimuua mnyama ili kuwavika Adamu na Hawa na Uzi Mwekundu wa ukombozi ulifungwa kwenye majani ya kwanza kabisa ya mtini. Uzi huo ulipita katika mwana-kondoo wa Habili, katika madhabahu ya Nuhu baada ya Gharika, katika kondoo dume aliyenaswa kichakani juu ya Moria, katika damu iliyopakwa kwenye kila mwimo wa mlango wa Waebrania usiku wa Pasaka, katika mbuzi wawili wa Siku ya Upatanisho, katika nyoka wa shaba aliyeinuliwa jangwani, katika kamba nyekundu iliyoning'inia dirishani mwa Rahabu, katika mito ya damu iliyotiririka chini ya madhabahu za hekalu la Sulemani kwa karibu miaka mia nne, katika Mtumishi Anayeteswa wa Isaya ambaye alijeruhiwa kwa makosa yetu, na katika Yule aliyechomwa wa Zekaria na chemchemi iliyofunguliwa kwa ajili ya dhambi na unajisi. Vituo kumi na viwili. Kila mnyama ni hati ya ahadi. Kila madhabahu ni postikadi kutoka siku zijazo. Kila nabii anaongeza ubeti mwingine kwa wimbo ule ule. Na sasa uzi huo unafika kwenye kituo chake cha kumi na tatu na cha mwisho ukingoni mwa mto uitwao Yordani.Now stand back and look at the whole tapestry. This course began in Eden, where God killed an animal to clothe Adam and Eve and a Scarlet Thread of redemption was tied to the very first fig leaves. The thread ran through Abel's lamb, through Noah's altar after the flood, through the ram caught in the thicket on Moriah, through the blood smeared on every Hebrew doorpost the night of the Passover, through the two goats of the Day of Atonement, through the bronze serpent lifted in the wilderness, through the scarlet cord hanging in Rahab's window, through the rivers of blood that flowed under the altars of Solomon's temple for almost four hundred years, through Isaiah's Suffering Servant who was wounded for our transgressions, and through Zechariah's pierced One and the fountain opened for sin and uncleanness. Twelve stations. Every animal a promissory note. Every altar a postcard from the future. Every prophet adding another verse to the same song. And now the thread comes to its thirteenth and last station on the bank of a river called Jordan.

Mtu mwenye sura ya porini aliyevaa singa za ngamia, mwana wa Zekaria mzee na Elisabeti, amesimama ndani ya maji ya matope yaliyofika magotini. Makutano wamekuwa wakija kwa miezi — askari, watoza ushuru, makahaba, waandishi — wakiziungama dhambi zao na kubatizwa. Kisha Yohana anainua macho. Mtu mmoja anatembea kumwelekea kando ya ukingo wa mto. Yohana amemjua tangu walipokuwa watoto; wao ni ndugu wa ukoo. Lakini asubuhi hii Yohana anamwona kama ambavyo hakuna jicho la mwanadamu lililowahi kumwona kabla. Yohana anainua mkono wake, ananyoosha kidole kimoja kuvuka maji, na kusema sentensi inayoufunga Uzi Mwekundu mara moja tu na kwa wakati wote: "Tazama, Mwana-Kondoo wa Mungu, aichukuaye dhambi ya ulimwengu!" (Yohana 1:29). Hapo ndipo. Mwana-Kondoo wa kila kituo kilichotangulia sasa ana jina. Kituo cha kumi na tatu si madhabahu; ni Mtu. Mtazame Yeye. Miaka elfu moja na mia mbili ya madhabahu imekunjwa ndani ya Mtu mmoja anayeteremka kwenda mtoni. Tazama. Tazama! Mwana-Kondoo ambaye Agano la Kale lote limekuwa likimwelekea ametoka sasa hivi nyuma ya pazia. Yuko hapa.A wild-looking man in camel's hair, the son of old Zechariah and Elizabeth, stands knee-deep in muddy water. The crowds have been coming for months — soldiers, tax collectors, prostitutes, scribes — confessing their sins and being baptized. Then John looks up. A man is walking toward him along the riverbank. John has known Him since they were children; they are cousins. But this morning John sees Him as no human eye has ever seen Him before. John raises his arm, points one finger across the water, and speaks the sentence that ties off the Scarlet Thread once for all: "Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!" (John 1:29). There it is. The Lamb of every prior station has a name now. The thirteenth station is not an altar; it is a Person. Behold Him. Twelve hundred years of altars are folded into one Man walking down to a river. Look. Look! The Lamb the whole Old Testament has been pointing to has just stepped out from behind the curtain. He is here.

Na kesho yake asubuhi, Yohana anainua mkono wake na kusema tena: "Tazama, Mwana-Kondoo wa Mungu!" (Yohana 1:36). Na wanafunzi wake wawili wanageuka, wanamfuata Yesu, na kuwa wa kwanza kuambiwa sehemu iliyobaki ya Maktaba hii itahusu nini. Agano la Kale limefanya kazi yake. Uzi umefungwa. Mwana-Kondoo ametajwa kwa jina. Kuanzia hapa, kila hadithi katika Agano Jipya itakuwa hadithi ya Mwana-Kondoo huyu — aliyezaliwa, aliyebatizwa, aliyejaribiwa, akifundisha, akiponya, akichukiwa, aliyesulubiwa, aliyezikwa, aliyefufuliwa, aliyepaa, aliyeketi, anayerudi. "Kwa maana ahadi zote za Mungu zilizo nyingi, katika yeye ni Ndiyo; tena katika yeye ni Amina" (2 Wakorintho 1:20). Mwana-Kondoo ndiye Ndiyo.And the next morning, John lifts his arm and says it again: "Behold the Lamb of God!" (John 1:36). And two of his disciples turn, follow Jesus, and become the first to be told what the rest of this Library is going to be about. The Old Testament has done its work. The thread is tied. The Lamb is named. From here on, every story in the New Testament will be the story of this Lamb — born, baptized, tempted, teaching, healing, hated, crucified, buried, raised, ascended, seated, returning. "For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen" (2 Corinthians 1:20). The Lamb is the Yes.

IX. Mwisho wa MwanzoIX. The End of the Beginning

Tumefika mwisho wa Utangulizi wa Agano la Kale. Sehemu kumi na tatu; vitabu thelathini na tisa; takriban miaka elfu nne ya historia ya wanadamu; na Hadithi moja. Kuanzia pumzi ya Mungu iliyotanda juu ya vilindi vya maji katika Mwanzo 1:2 hadi pumzi ya Roho ikishuka juu ya seremala aliyebatizwa pale Yordani, ni Hadithi moja. Kuanzia uzao wa mwanamke katika Mwanzo 3:15 hadi maneno ya Mariamu, "Na iwe kwangu kama ulivyonena", katika chumba huko Nazareti (Luka 1:38), ni Hadithi moja. Kuanzia Ibrahimu akitazama juu nyotani na kuambiwa kwamba mmoja wa wazao wake angebariki kila taifa duniani, hadi nyota ikisafiri angani na kusimama juu ya zizi katika mji wa nyumbani wa mzao wake wa mbali Daudi, ni Hadithi moja. Kuanzia Musa akimwinua nyoka wa shaba ili wanaokufa watazame na kuishi, hadi Yohana 3:14 na akida akiutazama msalaba na kusema, "Hakika mtu huyu alikuwa Mwana wa Mungu" (Marko 15:39), ni Hadithi moja.We have come to the end of the Old Testament Survey. Thirteen units; thirty-nine books; about four thousand years of human history; and one Story. From the breath of God hovering over the deep waters of Genesis 1:2 to the breath of the Spirit descending on a baptized carpenter at the Jordan, it is one Story. From the seed of the woman in Genesis 3:15 to Mary's "Let it be to me according to your word" in a Nazareth bedroom (Luke 1:38), it is one Story. From Abraham looking up at the stars and being told that one of his descendants would bless every nation on earth, to a star moving across the sky and stopping over a stable in the hometown of his distant descendant David, it is one Story. From Moses lifting up the bronze serpent so that the dying might look and live, to John 3:14 and a centurion looking at a cross and saying, "Truly this Man was the Son of God" (Mark 15:39), it is one Story.

Agano la Kale haliishii na Malaki. Linaishia na Wimbo wa Mariamu (Magnificat). Linaishia na wachungaji wakikimbia kutoka mashambani huku wakitweta. Linaishia na Ana mzee hekaluni, akimtambua Bwana wake hatimaye. Kwa kweli, linaishia pale tu tunaposoma Injili nne pamoja na Mwanzo na Kutoka na Isaya na kuona kwamba maktaba nzima inasimulia hadithi ile ile. "Kwa maana ahadi zote za Mungu zilizo nyingi, katika yeye ni Ndiyo; tena katika yeye ni Amina; Mungu apate utukufu kwa sisi" (2 Wakorintho 1:20). Kila ahadi ya Agano la Kale inapata Ndiyo yake katika Yesu.The Old Testament does not end with Malachi. It ends with the Magnificat. It ends with shepherds running breathlessly from the fields. It ends with old Anna in the temple, recognizing her Lord at last. It ends, in fact, only when we have read the four Gospels back to back with Genesis and Exodus and Isaiah and seen that the whole library tells the same story. "For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us" (2 Corinthians 1:20). Every promise of the Old Testament finds its yes in Jesus.

Basi, tunamalizia pale ambapo Malaki alimalizia, tukitazama mashariki. Nyuma yetu kuna torati na manabii, wafalme na makuhani, utumwa na kurudi, ukimya na sinagogi, barabara na Mjenzi wa barabara. Mbele yetu kuna Jua la haki, likizuka hatimaye lenye kuponya katika mbawa zake. Barabara imekamilika. Mtumishi ameruhusiwa kwenda kwa amani. Na Mfalme, rafiki yangu, yuko kitini mwa enzi milele. Endelea mbele katika Injili pamoja na Bwana yule yule aliyemwongoza Ibrahimu nyumbani kutoka Uru, aliyekuwa pamoja na Yakobo alipolala juu ya mto wa mawe huko Betheli, aliyesimama pamoja na wale watatu katika tanuru, aliyenong'ona na Eliya mlimani, na aliyeimba pamoja na nyota za asubuhi misingi ya ulimwengu ilipowekwa. Yeye ni Bwana wako, naye ni yeye yule jana na leo na hata milele. Amina.We close, then, where Malachi closed, looking east. 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 is the Sun of Righteousness, rising at last with healing in His wings. The road is done. The Servant has departed in peace. And the King, my friend, is on the throne forever. Press on into the Gospels with the same Lord who walked Abraham home from Ur, who slept in Jacob's pillow of stones at Bethel, who stood with the three in the furnace, who whispered with Elijah on the mountain, and who sang with the morning stars when the foundations of the world were laid. He is your Lord, and He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Amen.

Wasilisha MtihaniSubmit Exam Anza UpyaReset