What Will Become Of This Child?
Four hundred years is a long time to wait, don't you think? There had been no prophetic word from the Lord to Israel for over 400 years. The last prophet to leave a written word was Malachi. He wrote of the Lord coming to visit his temple in person. He also wrote of Elijah coming to set the people straight, to prepare the way for the Messiah. He spoke those words, then there was nothing. Yes, there were the Maccabees, and the Essenes, and other splinter groups who claimed to speak for God, but their prophecies did not endure. They were not widely accepted. They were not considered Scripture.
