Tuesday, May 14, 2024

Daniel 9

Daniel 9:24 Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy. 25 Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. 26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. 27 And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate. When we are dealing with prophecies, we use the following verses to figure out the time of the prophecies. https://www.bible.com/bible/1/DAN.9.KJV Numbers 14:34 After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know my breach of promise.  https://www.bible.com/bible/1/NUM.14.KJV Ezekiel 4:6 And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: I have appointed thee each day for a year. https://www.bible.com/bible/1/EZK.4.KJV Therefore, 70 weeks becomes 490 years. (70x7) Who are Daniel’s people? When did this prophecy begin? In Ezra chapter 1 Cyrus king of Persia made an initial decree to rebuild Jerusalem. Then in chapter 6 Darius makes another one but then in Ezra 7 king Artaxerxes not only provides for the work to be done, but he also returns all of the articles taken from the temple that Babylon had stolen them many years before. The key for why this decree is the one that is used for this timeline is because king Artaxerxes is restoring all of what was taken into Babylon.  Ezra 7:11 Now this is the copy of the letter that the king Artaxerxes gave unto Ezra the priest, the scribe, even a scribe of the words of the commandments of the LORD, and of his statutes to Israel. 12 Artaxerxes, king of kings, unto Ezra the priest, a scribe of the law of the God of heaven, perfect peace, and at such a time. 13 I make a decree, that all they of the people of Israel, and of his priests and Levites, in my realm, which are minded of their own freewill to go up to Jerusalem, go with thee. 14 Forasmuch as thou art sent of the king, and of his seven counsellors, to enquire concerning Judah and Jerusalem, according to the law of thy God which is in thine hand; 15 and to carry the silver and gold, which the king and his counsellors have freely offered unto the God of Israel, whose habitation is in Jerusalem, 16 and all the silver and gold that thou canst find in all the province of Babylon, with the freewill offering of the people, and of the priests, offering willingly for the house of their God which is in Jerusalem: 17 that thou mayest buy speedily with this money bullocks, rams, lambs, with their meat offerings and their drink offerings, and offer them upon the altar of the house of your God which is in Jerusalem. 18 And whatsoever shall seem good to thee, and to thy brethren, to do with the rest of the silver and the gold, that do after the will of your God. 19 The vessels also that are given thee for the service of the house of thy God, those deliver thou before the God of Jerusalem. 20 And whatsoever more shall be needful for the house of thy God, which thou shalt have occasion to bestow, bestow it out of the king's treasure house. 21 And I, even I Artaxerxes the king, do make a decree to all the treasurers which are beyond the river, that whatsoever Ezra the priest, the scribe of the law of the God of heaven, shall require of you, it be done speedily, 22 unto an hundred talents of silver, and to an hundred measures of wheat, and to an hundred baths of wine, and to an hundred baths of oil, and salt without prescribing how much. 23 Whatsoever is commanded by the God of heaven, let it be diligently done for the house of the God of heaven: for why should there be wrath against the realm of the king and his sons? https://www.bible.com/bible/1/EZR.7.KJV (see chart) This decree was given according to history in 457 BC https://manna.amazingfacts.org/amazingfacts/website/medialibrary/images/studyguide/sg1-q7-2300day-Prophecy.jpg  ”The angel said that 69 prophetic weeks, or 483 literal years (69 x 7 = 483), added to 457 BC would reach to the Messiah (Daniel 9:25). Mathematical calculations show that moving ahead 483 years from the fall of 457 BC reaches the fall of ad 27. (Note: There is no year 0.) Jesus was anointed with the Holy Spirit (Acts 10:38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him. https://www.bible.com/bible/1/ACT.10.38 ) at His baptism (Luke 3:21 Now when all the people were baptized, it came to pass, that Jesus also being baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened, 22 and the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased.) His anointing took place in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar (Luke 3:1 Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Cæsar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judæa, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of Ituræa and of the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias the tetrarch of Abilene, https://www.bible.com/bible/1/LUK.3.KJV ), which was ad 27. And to think that the prediction was made more than 500 years before! Then Jesus began to preach that “the time is fulfilled.” He thus confirmed the prophecy (Mark 1:14 Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, 15 and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel. https://www.bible.com/bible/1/MRK.1.KJV ; Galatians 4:4 but when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, https://www.bible.com/bible/1/GAL.4.KJV ).  We have now considered 483 years of the 490-year prophecy. There is one prophetic week—seven literal years—left (Daniel 9:26, 27). What happens next and when? Answer:   Jesus was “cut off” or crucified “in the middle of the week,” which is three and a half years after His anointing—or the spring of ad 31. Since Jesus died after three and a half years, how could He “confirm the covenant with many” (KJV) for all of the final seven years, as the prophecy in Daniel 9:27 mandate? The covenant is His blessed agreement to save people from their sins (Hebrews 10:16 This is the covenant that I will make with them After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, And in their minds will I write them; 17 And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. https://www.bible.com/bible/1/HEB.10.KJV ). After His ministry of three and a half years ended, Jesus confirmed the covenant through His disciples (Hebrews 2:3 how shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him; https://www.bible.com/bible/1/HEB.2.KJV ). He sent them first to the Jewish nation (Matthew 10:5 These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: 6 but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. https://www.bible.com/bible/1/MAT.10.KJV ) because His chosen people still had three and a half years remaining of their 490-year opportunity to repent as a nation. 

When the 490-year period of final opportunity for the Jewish nation ended in the fall of ad 34, what did the disciples do? Answer:   They began preaching the gospel to other people and nations of the world (Acts 13:46 Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles. https://www.bible.com/bible/1/ACT.13.46 ) Stephen, a righteous deacon, was publicly stoned in AD 34. From that date onward, the Jews, because they collectively rejected Jesus and God’s plan, could no longer be God’s chosen people or nation. Instead, God now counts people of all nationalities who accept and serve Him as spiritual Jews. They have become His chosen people—“heirs according to the promise” (Galatians 3:26 For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.  https://www.bible.com/bible/1/GAL.3.KJV ). Spiritual Jews, of course, include Jewish people who individually accept and serve Jesus (Romans 2:28 For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: 29 but he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.” https://www.bible.com/bible/1/ROM.2.KJV ) (from the graph to here is quoted from here: https://www.amazingfacts.org/media-library/study-guide/e/4995/t/right-on-time--prophetic-appointments-revealed, except I added the actual written out texts and links) 

 ‭John 14:21, 23-24 KJV‬

[21] He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.

[23] Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. [24] He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me.

https://bible.com/bible/1/jhn.14.21-24.KJV ‭John 14:15 KJV‬

[15] If ye love me, keep my commandments.

https://bible.com/bible/1/jhn.14.15.KJV Romans 9:6(b) For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel: 7 (a) neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: https://www.bible.com/bible/1/ROM.9.KJV Romans 11:17 And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert grafted in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree; 18 boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. 19 Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in. 20 Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not high-minded, but fear: 21 for if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee. 22 Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off. 23 And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be grafted in: for God is able to graft them in again. 24 For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree? 25 For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. https://www.bible.com/bible/1/ROM.11.KJV 

The nation of Israel as a whole, ceased being God’s special people when they stoned Stephen in AD 34, because of their unbelief, until the fulness of the rest of the world, i.e. Gentiles, were grafted in. They had 2000 years to be God’s people and they failed to fulfill their mission. Now the rest of the world has nearly had another 2000 years. Will we fulfill the mission that God gave us to spread His gospel to all the world? Matthew 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen. https://www.bible.com/bible/1/MAT.28.KJV Jesus is soon to come; Won’t you get ready now?