Luke 1:5–17: the angel’s announcement of john the baptist

When Malachi, the last Old Testament prophet, completed his book in 400 BC, God did not send another prophet for the next 400 years. These centuries are often called “the silent years.” Yet even during that time God was at work. He shifted world power from Persia to Greece and then to Rome. By the time Jesus came, the world was experiencing the Pax Romana (the peace of Rome), shared a common Greek language, and was connected by Roman roads throughout the empire. So, when “the fullness of time had come” God sent Jesus, “born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons” (Gal. 4:4–5).