God has moved history toward the goal of his glorious kingdom in waves of act and word revelation. Although God providentially controls his world at all times, there are times in history when he acts and speaks more dramatically than at other times. And as a result, revelation in biblical history rises and falls, even as it moves forward toward its final destiny.

For this reason, it helps to think in terms of God’s act and word revelation in two ways: those times that may be characterized as low points of divine revelation; and those times that may be characterized as high points of revelation. On the one side, throughout the Bible, there are times of diminished divine act and word revelation, or what we might call low points in history. For example, listen to the way the writer of Samuel described the early days of Samuel’s life in 1 Samuel 3:1:

The boy Samuel ministered before the Lord under Eli. In those days the word of the Lord was rare; there were not many visions.

Revelation was scarce in the days of Samuel’s childhood. Because of the sins of his people, God withdrew from them for a period, doing relatively little on their behalf and seldom speaking to them. Perhaps the most dramatic example of a low point in biblical history is the time between the Old Testament and the New Testament, between Malachi and John the Baptist, when the land of Israel was under the rule of foreign powers. During this intertestamental period, Israel was under the severe curse of God, and he did not move dramatically on the behalf of his people; nor did he say much to them.

On the other side, there were also high points in biblical history when God’s act and word revelation dramatically surged forward. At these times, God did such spectacular things and revealed so much to his people that he actually brought his kingdom to new stages of development.

For example, although revelation was scarce in Samuel’s early years, as Samuel grew, God began to act dramatically and to reveal his will once again to his people. Through the ministry of Samuel, God increased his act and word revelation so that history moved into the period of Israel’s monarchy, into the days of David’s dynasty.

In much the same way, the low point between the Old and New Testaments was followed by the greatest revelation of God in the history of the world: John the Baptist and the first coming of Christ, and the grand word revelation that Christ and his apostles gave to us. These mighty acts of God brought biblical history to the stage that we now call the New Testament period.

Surges of divine actions and words in history are particularly important because these were times when God brought his kingdom to new stages or epochs. Major events like the flood, the call of Abraham, the deliverance of Israel from Egypt, the establishment of the monarchy, the exile of Israel and Judah, restoration from exile, the earthly ministry of Christ, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit — these events mark times when the kingdom of God on earth was brought to new stages of development.