Why was God silent for 400 years?

In this opening study of Matthew, Dr. Toby Holt explains the roughly 400 silent years between the Old and New Testaments — and why Matthew begins his Gospel with a long family tree (Matthew 1:1-17).

After the prophet Malachi, God sent no new word for about four centuries. Dr. Holt describes this silence as the calm before the storm — the stage going dark before the spotlight falls on Christ. During those years, empires rose and fell, from the Greeks under Alexander the Great to the Romans. Then Matthew, a former tax collector, opens his Gospel by tracing Jesus’ family line back through David and Abraham, proving Jesus is the promised King. Dr. Holt notes that Matthew even includes four Gentile women, a hint that this Savior is for all the nations.

Questions this study answers:

1. Why was God silent for over 400 years? After Malachi, God had said all that was needed until the coming of Christ. Dr. Holt describes the silence as the hush before God’s greatest act.

2. What makes Matthew’s Gospel different? Matthew wrote to a Jewish audience and opens with Jesus’ royal family tree, showing He is the promised son of David and Abraham. It roots Jesus firmly in real history.

3. Why are there two different genealogies in Matthew and Luke? The two accounts likely trace different lines — one royal and legal, the other more personal — and both affirm Jesus’ place in the family of David. They complement rather than contradict.

“So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations, from David until the captivity in Babylon are fourteen generations, and from the captivity in Babylon until the Christ are fourteen generations.” — Matthew 1:17 (NKJV)

Speaker: Dr. Toby Holt is the President of New Geneva Theological Seminary, a Reformed seminary in Colorado Springs. He is known for clear, down-to-earth Bible teaching, and his sermons have been downloaded more than 1.9 million times on SermonAudio.

Listen and go deeper: This sermon is part of the Matthew Explained study from New Geneva Theological Seminary. Find more verse-by-verse teaching across the Bible at newgeneva.org. To support this teaching ministry, visit newgeneva.org/give.