As we’ve seen this week with the distress in some quarters over the silencing of Big Ben, while it undergoes essential repairs, the loss of a reassuring and familiar sound is sometimes disconcerting.
For hundreds of years the people of God in the Old Testament were used to hearing His voice, as He spoke to them through numerous prophets to instruct, encourage, guide and chastise them. So, when that voice fell silent in about 400BC with the last of the prophets Malachi, it’s loss was keenly felt.
With rare exceptions, the chimes of Big Ben will not be heard again for four years. The Israelites had to wait a rather longer 400 years before they heard from God again. But it was worth the wait, because when He did speak it was to announce the coming of a Saviour, the birth of Jesus.
No doubt the resumption of the bongs of Big Ben in 2021 will be greeted with wild celebration. The familiar sound will once again be heard around the world. The announcement of the birth of Jesus was greeted with similar delight, and for the last 2,000 years this Good News has been regularly ringing out for all to hear.