Almost As If By Design...

 

A good engineer will tell you sound structure is crucial. Possibly because anything that withstands the ravages of time and nature has to have a firm foundation and solid design. Historically, I can see that as well.

When opening the New Testament, you find that a lot has changed since Malachi. One has to note that the split nation of Israel fought each other and they would often enlist neighbors in their infighting.  Those neighbors got used to the idea of attacking Israel (Judea and the Northern Kingdom.)

Syria would take over parts of the Northern Kingdom, Assyria would conquer Samaria and take them captive in 723, The Babylonians would destroy the Assyrians in 586, Persian ruler Cyrus would conquer the Babylonian empire (which included Jerusalem), in 332 Greek leader Alexander The Great would dominate Judea and Jerusalem and Romans would capture Jerusalem in 70.

Quick detour: For some reason, in my head, I hear the song "Istanbul" by They Might Be Giants...  "Istanbul was Constantinople. Now it's Istanbul, not Constantinople. Been a long time gone, Constantinople. Why did Constantinople get the works? That's nobodys business but the Turks.” Heck, they don't mention it in the song but at one time it was also called Byzantium. People come and people go but influence, culture and sometimes a crazy little song is what gets left behind. Just slap a new name on it and keep going.

Back to history, God's post-Solomon judgement on the Jewish people had already seen them beaten down by the Assyrians, the Babylonians and the Persians up until the book of Malachi. In the 400 years from there up to Matthew, the Greeks would come in and Hellenize the people. Their culture, religion, language and identity would be thrust upon them...and, yes, the Jews already had all of those and, if anything, the most fervent would hold onto their religion and history. The Romans taking over afterward would bring a better network of roads and a legal framework. But, much like the latter era of the Persians, they left the Jews to managing themselves (within some reason.)

When you plant certain grasses, specific levels of soil pH and nitrogen content are beneficial.  I and many believe that the cultural soil at this time was perfect for the rise Christianity.

Let's take the human body as an example. You have to start with a foundation and support system and we'd pretty much be blobs without our bones. That sound structure (I mentioned earlier) is what everything else hinges on and attaches to. I believe without the Jewish history and faith in a single God (monotheism) that Christians wouldn't and could'nt be. Also, imagine that the Lord would have to be born from a person, a people, a nation...someone had to be that favored nation as his son would have to come from some lineage somewhere, right?

I would then mention muscles. The tissue that pulls, pushes and keeps us upright. Many of them attach right to the bone and we have a heck of a time when it separates from it. I look at the muscular system as the Greeks that came into the picture. They brought physical entertainment in the area of sports like the Olympics (some of which gave us many metaphors that Paul would borrow in his writings.) And you really couldn't perform many of those sports without muscles, right? A popular myth is that the tongue in the strongest muscle. That, in fact, is a strong misnomer that stems from having an amazing amount of stamina. (Ever complain about a tired tongue before? Me either.) That is a type of strength...the strength to endure. People train for it. That tongue was so important as it would carry the Greek language as it crossed many barriers in the region allowing concepts and ideas to spread across that empire...like the good news.

Something also has to send a signal from the brain to the muscles and sometimes to tell the brain you damaged something. The nervous system governs the body's response to stimuli. The nerves are a vast network that runs all over the body that carries a message quickly. This is pretty similar to the roadwork the Romans set up to get horses, carts, chariots and wagons across their empire quickly. They also set up their legal system which while it was oppressive to many, gave a set of guidelines for the Jews, Greeks and others under their governance.

You'd think that a human body needs more, right? Well, you aren't mistaken. You need a pulse. I believe Jesus said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'” Ahhh, the Shema, so I would say you couldn't have a functioning body without a heart and that Christianity wouldn't be here without Jesus.

Each of these systems of the body are vitally important and I believe without either the foundation, the tongue and the network/framework our heart would have a different story in front of us. I would also say the order it happened was important as the Jewish culture were influenced by the Greeks and again with the Romans. It's almost like someone important planned it this way.