I had a vivid dream a few nights ago.
This year has been hard. There have been many days where I felt God was silent. And because I couldn't hear his voice, because I wasn't receiving words of direction or comfort, my faith faltered and I struggled with some profound doubts.
Then I had this dream. In my dream I was outside of time, flying over events that happened in the Old Testament. And then I reached this point - this period - where there was just darkness, and silence. There was this period between the old and the new testament that lasted four-hundred years, and as far as we know, there were no judges, no prophets, no word from God during this period - there was just silence. And I thought, how the people who lived during this period must have wondered, and questioned, and cried, and prayed. It must have been so hard to have faith.
And then God broke his silence. He broke it by sending an angel to the unlikeliest of places, a little out-of-the-way settlement called Nazareth. He appeared there to a young virgin girl named Mary, with some astonishing news: she was going to be the vessel to help bring the son of God into the world in earthly form. In my dream, I saw people bustling all over the place, in Jerusalem and many of the bigger towns, hustling and bustling about their business, having no idea that something so amazing, so incredible, was happening in this small, town.
Nine months later, God broke his silence again, by sending an angel to some of the lowliest people on earth - shepherds - to announce the good news that God now dwelt with man. And then there was a multitude of angels. A multitude! What must that have been like? It's hard to imagine.
In my dream, I passed quickly over the years of Jesus growing up, starting his ministry, and then dying. I saw the torn curtain in the temple. The glorious resurrection. And then I zoomed out and came back to that curtain again. There may be moments when we feel like God is silent, but I realized, he never really is. It is nothing like those four-hundred years; it will never be like that for us. The curtain is torn, the gulf has been bridged, and the spirit of God dwells with men. God broke his silence for all time through the person and work of Jesus.
