“The Fullness of the Time”
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the language of literature. From all lands the Jews of the dispersion
gathered to Jerusalem to the annual feasts. As these returned to the
places of their sojourn, they could spread throughout the world the
tidings of the Messiah’s coming.
At this time the systems of heathenism were losing their hold upon
the people. Men were weary of pageant and fable. They longed for a
religion that could satisfy the heart. While the light of truth seemed to
have departed from among men, there were souls who were looking
for light, and who were filled with perplexity and sorrow. They were
thirsting for a knowledge of the living God, for some assurance of a
life beyond the grave.
As the Jews had departed from God, faith had grown dim, and
hope had well-nigh ceased to illuminate the future. The words of
the prophets were uncomprehended. To the masses of the people,
death was a dread mystery; beyond was uncertainty and gloom. It was
not alone the wailing of the mothers of Bethlehem, but the cry from
the great heart of humanity, that was borne to the prophet across the
centuries,—the voice heard in Ramah, “lamentation, and weeping, and
great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be
comforted, because they are not.”
Matthew 2:18
. In “the region and
shadow of death,” men sat unsolaced. With longing eyes they looked
for the coming of the Deliverer, when the darkness should be dispelled,
[33]
and the mystery of the future should be made plain.
Outside of the Jewish nation there were men who foretold the
appearance of a divine instructor. These men were seeking for truth,
and to them the Spirit of Inspiration was imparted. One after another,
like stars in the darkened heavens, such teachers had arisen. Their
words of prophecy had kindled hope in the hearts of thousands of the
Gentile world.
For hundreds of years the Scriptures had been translated into the
Greek language, then widely spoken throughout the Roman Empire.
The Jews were scattered everywhere, and their expectation of the Mes-
siah’s coming was to some extent shared by the Gentiles. Among those
whom the Jews styled heathen were men who had a better understand-
ing of the Scripture prophecies concerning the Messiah than had the
teachers in Israel. There were some who hoped for His coming as a de-
liverer from sin. Philosophers endeavored to study into the mystery of
the Hebrew economy. But the bigotry of the Jews hindered the spread