My great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather, Robert Biddick, was born on July 15, 1609 in Cornwall, England.

I think.

Record keeping was sketchy back then.

I have no original documents, no photographs, no diaries handed down. Someone else’s genealogy research has supplied me with a name and a date, but I have no proof that Robert existed. Four hundred years is a long time.

Let’s put God’s four centuries of silence into perspective, shall we?
2022 – 400 = 1622

In 1622:

• the settlement at Jamestown was attacked and 347 English settlers were massacred.
• the Pope declared January 1 to be the first day in the new calendar.
• Robert Biddick, my 8x great-grandfather, was 13 years old.
• America wouldn’t become a country for another 246 years.

What would Captain John Smith or Miles Standish or Robert Biddick think if they were plopped down into 2022? It’s a very different world today, with cars and electricity and macaroni and cheese in a box.

Similarly, Micah, the last prophet to speak would have been completely perplexed by the newfangled Israel. There were things in existence that were unheard of four hundred years prior:

• Pharisees and Sadducees and their list of 613 new laws
• Synagogues in every town
• Roman roads, aqueducts, and military occupation
• Greek language (Just think! A whole new language!)

They waited eight generations for a word.
Then The Word was born.

“But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son.” Galatians 4:4

The fullness of time = 400 years.
We’ve been waiting over 2,000 years for His return.
Time must be almost full again.