Until He Came - Howard Thompson

For generations, Israel has waited for the promised Messiah. In the quiet Galilean village of Nain, one family lives and dies believing that God will keep His promises.

Jonathan grows up among vineyards, sheep, stone terraces, and the ancient words of Scripture. Under the patient guidance of his father, Barak, and the old teacher Azariah, he learns that faithfulness to God is not reserved for extraordinary moments. It is formed in the ordinary ones-in honest work, compassion for the widow and fatherless, obedience when no one is watching, and trust when God’s purposes cannot yet be understood.

His mother, Zila, carries a testimony of her own. Descended from a family whose story reaches back to the days of Elijah, she came to Israel seeking the God her grandmother had taught her to believe. Her faith becomes part of the inheritance she and Barak pass to their son.

Years pass. Jonathan becomes a man, assumes his father’s responsibilities, and begins teaching another generation the lessons once entrusted to him.

Then something changes in Israel.

A voice cries in the wilderness.

John calls the people to repentance and declares that the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Jonathan searches the Scriptures, comparing the prophet’s words with the promises of Moses, Isaiah, and Malachi. Could the generations of waiting finally be nearing their end?

Soon John points beyond himself to another.

Jesus of Nazareth.

Reports spread throughout Galilee. A Teacher is proclaiming the kingdom of God. The sick are healed. Unclean spirits obey Him. The burdened leave with hope. And John declares Him to be the One who will baptize with the Holy Ghost-the Lamb of God.

Jonathan determines to find Him.

But ordinary responsibilities keep delaying the journey. There are vines to tend, sheep to protect, walls to repair, and people depending upon him. Then storms sweep across Galilee. And when Jonathan is finally prepared to leave Nain, a recurring fever takes his strength.

The Man he has spent so long hoping to find seems farther away than ever.

Yet Jonathan has spent a lifetime learning a truth he will now need more than ever:

Faith does not require knowing what God will do. It requires knowing the God in whose hands we rest.

Until He Came: At the Gate of Nain is a biblical historical novel of faith, family, loss, hope, and the faithfulness of God, set against the world of first-century Galilee as centuries of prophecy begin unfolding before an ordinary Jewish family.

t is the story of people who waited for God’s promise without knowing whether they would live to see its fulfillment.

And of one man who spent his life waiting for the Messiah-

never imagining that the Messiah was coming for him.