The Story
Between the last page of Malachi and the first page of Matthew, there is no page. There is only white space. But under that white space are four hundred years.
For four centuries, no prophet stands in the gate. No burning bush, no parted sea, no still small voice on the mountain. The temple is rebuilt — smaller than Solomon's, and the old men weep when they see how small — but the glory does not return to fill it. The Persians come, and go. The Greeks come, and stay long enough to scatter their language and their gods across the Mediterranean. Alexander the Great dies in a fever in Babylon at the age of thirty-two, and his four generals carve his empire among themselves with their swords.
The land of Israel passes from hand to hand. Antiochus Epiphanes erects a statue of Zeus in the temple courts and orders a pig sacrificed on the altar, and the Maccabees rise to clean it; Judah Maccabee dies in battle, and a single jar of oil burns for eight nights, and Hanukkah enters the Jewish calendar. Then the Romans arrive, and one general — Pompey — walks into the Holy of Holies, where only the high priest is meant to set foot, and finds it empty. Empty. The Romans cannot understand a religion without an image; they leave the temple intact only because they cannot imagine it matters.
Through all of it: silence from heaven. The synagogues open. The rabbis copy the scrolls. The psalms are sung. Mothers tell their children about the Servant in Isaiah 53, and about the One who will come from Bethlehem in Micah 5. Old men in the temple — men named Simeon and Anna — wait, year after year, with diminishing eyes, for the consolation of Israel. And nothing happens. The sky stays closed.
It is one of the strange dignities of God that He keeps His most extravagant promises through His longest silences. Four hundred years is roughly the time from the King James Bible to now. It is enough time for languages to drift, empires to rise, prophets to be forgotten. But the people of God keep telling their children the story, and a young woman in a forgotten village called Nazareth grows up with the songs, and a tradesman called Joseph builds doors for his neighbours, and the Roman emperor — without knowing it — schedules a census that will move the world.
And then, at last, the sky tears.
Scripture
Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple.
Malachi 3:1 (ESV)
But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.
Micah 5:2 (ESV)
Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.
Luke 2:25 (ESV)
In the fullness of time, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law.
Galatians 4:4 (ESV)
Lyrics
[Intro]
Four hundred years…
No prophet spoke…
No dream was given…
No fire fell on any altar…
Only the sky… only the sky…
[Verse 1]
I watched the empires come and go,
The Persian and the Greek,
I watched a stubborn lamp still burn
Where the faithful used to speak.
The Maccabees rose and fell like waves,
The Roman eagle flew,
And Zion wore a foreign chain
Where once the glory grew.
[Pre-Chorus]
And the old men read the scrolls…
And the women lit the flame…
And the children asked their fathers
If God still knew their name —
[Chorus]
WHERE ARE YOU, GOD?
Through the centuries of sleep —
WHERE ARE YOU, GOD?
In the silence dark and deep —
Oh, the heavens held their breath,
And the promises were kept
In the shadow of an altar where the faithful ones had wept —
How long? How long? How long?
[Verse 2]
I saw the legions march the road,
The crosses line the hill,
The temple built of Herod's stone,
But the Holy Place was still.
No cloud came down, no glory rose,
No ark behind the veil —
Just a people holding to a promise
Like a candle in a gale.
[Pre-Chorus 2]
But an old man prayed in the temple court…
"Just one glimpse — just one…"
And a widow fasted through the night —
"Let me see Your Son —"
[Chorus]
WHERE ARE YOU, GOD?
In the silence of the stars —
WHERE ARE YOU, GOD?
Through the shadow of the scars —
Oh, the prophets all are gone,
But the promise travels on,
Through the darkness toward a coming dawn —
How long? How long? How long?
[Bridge]
In a quiet town called Nazareth…
A young girl knelt to pray…
She did not know her womb would hold
The answer to the way…
(soft, hope rising like the first light)
"Rejoice, highly favored one…
The Lord is with thee…
Blessed art thou among women…
And blessed is the fruit…"
For the sky has been waiting…
And the sky has been watching…
And the sky is about to split wide open —
[Final Chorus]
WHERE ARE YOU, GOD?
(right here! right here!)
WHERE ARE YOU, GOD?
(drawing near! drawing near!)
In a manger, in a womb,
In a carpenter's small room,
Heaven's answer to the human tomb —
He is coming. He is coming. He is coming.
[Outro]
And the waiting sky…
Grew bright…
Over Bethlehem…
About the song
"The Waiting Sky" is the album's quietest track on purpose. There has to be a moment, before the Incarnation, when the listener can feel how long the wait actually was — four centuries of nothing, with the promises whispered around campfires by people who would die before they saw any of them. The bridge belongs to the old men and women in the temple who waited until they couldn't see anymore, and then waited some more.