A pause that gives the impression that it will be followed by something significant.

GOD hit the pause button on Israel’s history in a freeze-frame for 2,000 years. The book of Daniel tells us about this pregnant pause, one which God kept hidden from Israel and the world. Dr. David Jeremiah writes in his blog on the “Suspension of the Prophecy: Rejecting the Messiah”:

Israel’s rejection of Jesus as the Messiah marked the beginning of a gap in Daniel’s prophecy. Scholars refer to this indefinite period of time as “unreckoned time,” and it is an era we are still living in today. It is unreckoned because God only reckons time with the Jews when He is dealing with them as a nation. That has not occurred since the Triumphal Entry and will not occur again until the Tribulation.

In other words, when Israel rejected their Messiah, God hit the Pause button on Israel’s revealed history. Thus began the Church Age, a limited time of God’s undeserved favor to the gentiles. Israel had no idea God meant to hit pause after the sixty-ninth week of their prophesied history and resume it again after 2,000 years to complete the seventieth week referred to as The Tribulation, or Jacob’s Trouble. This “gap” or “unreckoned time,” became the mystery Paul talks about:

I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in (Rom 11:25).

Now to him who is able to establish you in accordance with my gospel, the message I proclaim about Jesus Christ, in keeping with the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past (Rom 16:25).

No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began (1Co 2:7).

The Spirit of God conceived the Son of God in Mary’s womb, and she gave birth to the Messiah. Israel aborted their Messiah on the cross. However, He rose from the dead on the third day and ripped open the Holy of Holies’ heavy curtain that separated Him from His people. Fifty days later, in celebration of Passover, the Holy Spirit conceived the Church within Israel’s belly. This pregnancy held the body of Christ, which includes both believing Jews and Gentiles. She will officially give birth at the end of the Church Age to those who receive God’s payment for their sins. The Son promised to one day snatch them up and away from this world to live with Him forever in heaven.

This miraculous delivery ends the Church Age under its divinely pregnant pause, and the freeze-shot on Israel suddenly melts. Once again, God turns His full attention to the nation of Israel, and for the next seven years, they enter into The Time of Jacob’s Trouble until Christ returns to begin a thousand years of His millennial reign. 

As believers, we wait for our official birth into heaven with excitement and longing while Israel and all creation experience excruciating labor pains. Romans 8:19-23 _^NASV says, 

I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God… For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.

Until Jesus sweeps us up and away, we look forward to His coming with great joy and anticipation, but we also must endure and persevere until then with continued faith and trust. Some months ago, our pastor, Steve Stager, spoke on the need to Pause and remember God’s Presence, rest in His Provision, and thereby gain greater Perspective on our circumstances. 

Hitting that pause button at any given moment freeze-frames the chaos and anxiety around me. No matter what I hear in the news, see in my life, or feel in my heart, the Holy Spirit challenges me to STOP whatever I’m thinking or doing and refocus on the reality of God’s presence and provision in each circumstance. 

Using the word ‘pregnant’ as ‘full of meaning’ goes back to the 15th Century. A pregnant pause is a silence full of potential in the way a pregnant body is full of a new human being. A pregnant pause leaves the listener full of anticipation, just like a pregnancy is full of excitement about the forthcoming baby _{(Google definition)}.

In a pregnant pause, the anticipation of something significant follows the silence. When I pause long enough, God reminds me of His presence and power in my life and in this world. My mind clears, and God fills it with His promises to care for His blood-bought children and fulfill His sovereign plan. 

Isaiah writes about Israel’s pregnancy: