Birth Pangs
“Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains.” – Matthew 24:7,8 When the Jews were exiled to Babylon, they must have thought that the end had come for their people. After being conquered and led away from Israel, things looked bleak, and they had to make a huge adjustment to a new way of life in a strange city and culture. As they lived through it, most couldn’t see light at the end of the tunnel, but through the lens of history, it’s clear that the Lord was using that critical period to induce the birth pangs of something new. While those “on the ground” experienced disorientation and discomfort, God was commencing the next chapter in the story of His people. Because of the Jewish exile, the Rabbinic Age was ultimately ushered
