promise, awaiting divine intervention. Of these things, however, they saw no outward sign. Heaven above was as silent as earth around was threatening. And before we allow the thought to arise that all this happened long ago, we need to ask why Paul thought it necessary to teach the disciples of Lystra, Iconium and Antioch that ‘We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God’ (Acts 14:22), or why Peter addressed the church as ‘God’s elect, strangers in the world’ (1 Pet. 1:1). Experience