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BETWEEN THE FIRST 69 WEEKS AND THE 70th WEEK.
THE FIRST
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69 WEEKS FROM THE EDICT OF ARTAXERXES/NEHEMIAH TO PALM SUNDAY.
The prophecy concerning the first 69 of the Seventy Weeks of Daniel was an electrifying Word from God. At the terminus of the 69 weeks a momentous day would dawn. It would be the occasion of a public spectacle of enormous import. This awesome day would bring nothing less than the coming of the Messiah into His holy city.
69 X 7 X 360 = 173,880 DAYS CONNECTS TWO AUSPICIOUS DATES.
THEN A LONG GAP - - - - -> TO THE OPENING OF THE 70TH WEEK.Just what were the political ramifications here? For His first prophesied entry into Jerusalem just how would He come? Would He enter in vengeance as the Deliverer, the Conquering King, riding upon a white horse with a sword to smite the nations? Apparently those were the expectations.
Of course in that eventful Passover back in 32 A.D. it did not turn out that way. No. Not this time. Those other prophecies (- Isa.63:1-6, Rev.19:11-21 etc.) would surely come. But they would have to wait for His later coming, - His Second Coming.
This was the stumbling block for the royal house of Israel. They expected their Messiah to come as the Conquering King expel the Romans from the land, and establish His Millennial Kingdom. They were not prepared for His appearance as the Suffering Servant. Their hearts were not yet ready for Him.
All this drama, and all this apparent tragedy.
But divine holy history was unfolding in the sovereign will of God.
Israel's Sacrifice Lamb would be slain.
And the gates to salvation would be opened wide for all mankind.For His first coming Jesus would make a humble entrance.
He would come to His people riding upon a donkey.
The Bridegroom was coming to woo His prospective Bride.
And He was coming in humility.The priesthood had valued Him cheaply.
They had paid out thirty pieces of silver to be done with Him.
But the Bridegroom was bringing Himself,
He was offering up His very Life, as the bridal price.That day was Palm Sunday. On this day Jesus made His only Messianic and therefore political appearance in all His life and ministry. He had taught and ministered among His people for three and a half years. He had retreated from the crowds on many occasions when they had sought to raise Him to prominence. But this day, this special day in holy history, was a day like no other. It was the only time Jesus was presented Himself to His people in a political way as their Messiah.
On that auspicious day Jesus/Yeshua made a grand entrance. Oh yes, He was rejected by the city of Jerusalem as a whole. And He was despised by the Sanhedrin. But on that day our Messiah made a very open and public political appearance. Israel's Messiah was coming into His City! But Messiah entered His Holy City in His priestly role as the 'The Suffering Servant', even Israel's Sacrifice Lamb. The ones who knew Him and loved Him received Him with adulation.
From the Mount of Olives our Savior came. He crossed the Kidron Valley and came through the Eastern Gate. Then He passed on up into the Holy City on His way to the Temple. He entered Jerusalem to the acclaim of crowds bearing palm branches. There were shouts of "Hosanna", which is an appeal from the heart meaning "Please save now!".
It was a joyful parade. Those who loved Him were there. They greeted Him with shouts of joy. The palm branches were waved and thrown before Him in the manner of a king returning to his city in triumph.
Alas this moment was short lived. His city was not ready for Him. And when He went on to cleanse the Temple for the second time and disrupt the lucrative religi-business of the religious leaders they were furious. In spite of it being close to the holy days of Passover they immediately plotted to kill Him. Four days later, just as Daniel's prophecy had predicted, our Messiah was "cut off" or executed.
The people of Israel were not yet ready to receive their Messiah in His role as High Priest. They wanted Him to come as their Conquering King. But the priestly role is one of the two offices of Melchizedek. And King David had heard YHVH-God proclaim to David's son, (and David's Lord), the Son of David,
"You are a Priest forever after the Order of Melchizedek."But the future Righteous Branch had not been received in the hearts of His people. (Jer.31:31-33)
(See Psalm 110:4)
And That Day of the coming of Israel's Great King was not to be at that time.
The High Priest of God Most High was cut off, .... executed.
And the Prince of Peace was put to death in His own City of Shalom.THE GAP BETWEEN THE FIRST 69 WEEKS AND THE 70TH WEEK.
Why is there a "gap" in the Seventy Weeks of Daniel? Why 69 weeks, ....a gap,
THESE TWO TIME PERIODS TERMINATE ON TWO SPECIAL DAYS.
THEY TERMINATE WITH THE TWO COMINGS OF MESSIAH.
and then the resumption of the 70 weeks with the final 70th week some 2,000+ years later?
As it turns out the terminus of the 69 weeks would mark the day in which Messiah presented Himself to His covenant people and the world for the first time. But there would be two comings. On this first occasion He would come into His city as the Suffering Servant.
The House of Judah, the royal tribe out of the 12 tribes of Israel, with contingents from Levi and Benjamin were their to meet Him. Many of them received Him with joy. But the lost ten tribes of Israel were not there. They had been taken captive by the Assyrians 753 years before this. They were out there lost. At the time of the passion of Messiah they were wandering in their families in amongst the heathen goyim nations.
Messiah made His appearance. But it was a sad day and Jesus wept over His city. The hearts were hard, and the City of the Great King would not come into His Shalom/peace. Just as Isaiah had prophesied Israel's Suffering Servant was rejected by His own. (See Isa.53) And as Daniel had prophesied, Messiah was "cut off", ... executed. (See Dan.9:26)
A 'gap' period of two millennia would then pass by. During this time the message of the Gospel would go out to the nations. At the close of the age a final 70th week would usher in the climactic final seven years of this present age. The terminus of that 70th week would mark the Day of the Lord and herald the Second Coming of Messiah.
WHY WAS IT NECESSARY FOR MESSIAH TO COME TWICE?
Why should our Messiah come twice? Why two comings, the first as a priestly Suffering Servant, lowly and riding on a donkey, and later as a deliverer and Conquering King riding upon a white horse and executing wrath on His enemies?
The rabbis as they read the scriptures in the Tenakh or Old Testament had pondered over this. They had even come to the point of speculating that there might be two messiahs. One would be a messiah of mercy and grace named "Mashiach ben Joseph". And the other would be a messiah of righteous rule of law named "Mashiach ben David".This is all very interesting. Joseph was a key patriarch of the 12 sons of Jacob. He was a "type" of Israel's ultimate Suffering Servant. Joseph was one of the 12 patriarchs and he served a ministerial role to his brothers. He also served as prime minister alongside the King or Pharaoh. Egypt was the world superpower at that time. Joseph too faced death at the hands of his brothers. He was sent off into exile in Egypt and forgotten. Joseph re-emerged when the house of Jacob had come to the end of their resources. And it was Joseph who set table for them and sent them portions from his table. Joseph ministered the 'bread of life', not only to his brothers but to the surrounding nations. In his office as the main minister Joseph provided bread and ministered salvation to the starving world during a 7 year famine even as Jesus/Yeshua as the Unleavened Bread of Heaven brought salvation to this world. This will be especially true of the ministry of the House of Joseph during the End-Time Revival during the final seven years of this age.
Meshiach ben David relates to the Kingdom authority over in the other office of the dual offices of the Order of Melchizedek. David was the royal family of the Jewish house of Judah. He carried the promised Seed of Abraham who would become the long expected King of Kings in a coming glorious Millennium of Messiah. -Isa.11:1-6, Isa.60, Hos.6:2
So why this split role for the coming Messiah? And must there be two messiahs? This would certainly be an ecclesiastically expedient resolution to the irksome theological and cultural question of "The Church and Israel". 'Who is Israel?'. And who is God's Elect? These may be two estranged companies right now. But has YHVH-God decreed an eternal separation of the two kingdoms? yes, his kingdom may be divided right now. But when Messiah comes will His Kingdom still be divided an apartheid of the Elect? How can there be if the Holy Spirit in the Holy Scriptures only speaks of One Single Elect? And did not Moses and our Apostle Peter both speak of a "royal priesthood and a holy nation"? Do we not see here the royalty and the holiness covering the nation and the priesthood in a marvelous unity?
Under heaven, and under YHVH-God there are separate priestly and kingdom roles. And down here on earth there are two witnesses to the God of Israel. And in a family with differences, unrefined in the graces and in the righteousness of law there is going to be problems. This is what has happened to the children of Israel. Herein lies the basis for the misunderstanding that ruptured Israel into two kingdoms way back at the breach of Jeroboam in 922 B.C..
OUR CURRENT DICHOTOMY AND CONFUSION OVER "LAW" AND "GRACE".
Our God is a God of "grace" and also a God of "righteous rule". Both of these are satisfied, fulfilled, and proclaimed at the cross of Calvary. As Christians we major on the ministry of grace and mercy demonstrated in the life of Jesus. But we are loathe to address the reason He had to die for us. We are told in Romans 6:23 that "the wages of sin is death". Someone had to die for the sins of men. He had to be perfect in every way. Yes, this was an act of Grace, wonderful Grace. But Messiah's death upon the cross also fulfilled this essential stipulation of the Law.
AND HOW THEY ARE RECONCILED IN THE NEW COVENANT BY THE ATONING SACRIFICE OF MESSIAH .Yes, at the cross the Law had its day. Righteousness was upheld. And when Messiah comes to dwell inside a human being when they are saved He brings His throne in with Him. He rules inside human hearts in the gentle bonds of love. Unfortunately the Church is loathe to spend much time surveying these weighty matters related to the "righteous rule" or 'law' of God. But this matter of the law and God's precepts clearly appears to be the burden of our yet to be saved Jewish brethren. God has entrained them that way. Entrained in the royal Jewish tribe of Judah they are drawn to the Godly virtue of "righteous judgment" or "Law". Decreeing things and declaring the things that should be is a big element of the Jewish character. God has made them this way for His divine purpose. They love God's Law. So much so that they have neglected the ministry of Messiah in His Grace, - up until recently. This is destined to change dramatically and climatically as we come to the end of the 70th Week of Daniel, the final 7 years of this age. For more on this read Zechariah chapter 12 and Joel chapter 2
As Christians we are partially blind and unbalanced in the opposite way. We champion God's Grace and neglect His Law. This prejudice may be hard for some of us as Christian believers to fathom. But God's law is an essential expression of His character. We see it showcased in the throne of David which is in the royal tribe of Judah. And God's righteous rule and His Judgment is in the heart of our returning Messiah as He comes the Second Time as the Lion of the Tribe of Judah.
Our Messiah is in the royal line of David. Jesus Christ/Yeshua Hamashiach is the Lion of the Jewish tribe of Judah. We as Christians of the West are in a blood feud with our Jewish brethren. This began 2900 years ago after the death of Solomon at the Breach of Jeroboam And so we must not forget this. But after Origen and Augustine and especially after the Council of Nicaea, the Church, under the dread of her princely heathen gentile lovers, decided to forget her Israel connection and the fellowship with the Jewish House of Judah was cut off. The "church" is still disconnected from her Hebrew roots. She is still out cavorting as wayward Gomer with her lovers. When the Church goes out and makes accommodations and covenants among raging nations who loathe the coming of a patriarchal Messiah it leads to tragedy. It is another step along the Hegelian dialectic towards the Great Apostasy spoken of by our Apostle Paul. (See 2Thes.2:2&3) So the modern popular Church tends to sideline these matters of God's legitimate royal righteous rule, even the righteousness that comes into saved human hearts by the indwelling Christ writing them off as "the law of the Jews". We are inclined to grab the Grace given to us in our 'ticket to heaven' as little more than a modern 'church indulgence'. Then forgetting that the King of Righteousness has come to rule in our hearts we dump any thought of God's Law into the general category of "Jewish Mosaic law". Then we say, "The law has been done away with". And we also hear, "We are in the Church! We are under grace!". Then we proceed on along a pathway of pagan antinomianism with our sanctification of gay and lesbian marriages, abortion, and acts of sexual immorality.
There is a great danger here. As we read in the book of Romans the letter of the law has never been a pathway to salvation. And God's law is indeed subject to God's grace for those who repent and come to God. The letter of the law is no longer the main issue to those who by the power of the indwelling Messiah are now dead to the flesh and alive to YHVH-God. These people justified by faith, (not perfect by any means, but consecrated and committed to Christ, are now being led and empowered for righteousness by His Holy Spirit. God's LAW is now at work but inside human hearts!
In the Book of Hebrews we read that the priestly office of Melchizedek, priest of YHVH-God Most High, (in the New Covenant), supersedes the governmental office of the Levitical priesthood, (in the Old Covenant). God made this earlier collective governmental covenant with the nation of Israel and He intends to keep it. Israel will not be dumped into a black hole by any world power or by any dominionist church. But the Holy One of Israel intends to re-establish the covenant with national Israel and restore the nation of Israel totally and completely as a Melchizedek.
Nevertheless we are told that the New Covenant would still involve 'law'. And we are going to have to deal with this. However that law would not be a system of legalisms written down on clay tablets or books to be memorized by rote. Nor would this law be policed externally by one's "higher self", altar ego, or the legalist with the wagging finger. Rather, in the New Covenant the law, God's righteousness, would become something we would come to love and desire. God's law and order would be written in our hearts. YHVH-God would come into a man's life and change him from the inside out. The Prince of Peace would establish His peace with us and with those we come in contact with. We become one with the rule of Christ, not by compulsion, but in the bonds of love. This marvelous work is being seen in the world today. Indeed God's covenant people by virtue of their witness are the main engine of history.
This is not a human work. Rather, it comes by the inner working of God's divine enabling empowering grace. This is nothing we can work up ourselves. His grace comes in to start work on the very day we repent of our self-love and receive Christ as Savior and Lord. He does the rest. Because this is not of ourselves. It is he gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. This amazing grace has always come to man the same way. It comes by faith in the atoning blood of Israel's promised Sacrifice Lamb.
Here is our scripture on the New Covenant.
Jeremiah 31This matter of the law being the inner righteous rule of Christ that comes by love is a stumbling block for many Christians who do not know and love Christ. Our life in nominal Christian religion is often cold and uninviting. Our minds have been Hellenized by our passage through the Greek culture. We try to reason our way to God. And so we handle abstract spiritual realities like we handle "things", that is in terms of Greek logic. For example, we say "if A then not B" and "if B then not A". We pigeon hole theological concepts as we do for mathematics and geometry. But this does not work well for spiritual realities. Oftentimes they are actually interconnected complementary truths and not totally independent as we think they are. Then we proceed to do violence to God's precepts by jamming them into lock-tight abstract ideological categories in our minds. This is the case for "law and grace", "Israel and the Church", and predestination and free will. In our Greek mindset we box them up and think of them as being mutually exclusive. To us they are "either-or" instead of "both-and". For evangelicals especially, grace is "in" and law is "out".
31. Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:32. Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day [that] I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD:
33. But this [shall be] the covenant that I will make with
the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD,
I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.Unfortunately this false dichotomy of "law and grace" is leading to a deadly spiritual poison called antinomianism. In divorcing God's law/righteous rule from the precincts of God's grace we end up twisting grace into something that it is not; i.e. a license to sin. This is a modern form of the "indulgences" that were sold in the church 500 years ago. And if the western church today is asleep like Sleeping Beauty, then this antinomian hostility to God's Law, even our self-centered hostility to His peaceful rule in our hearts, is the religious poison which has been injected into the apple. And as the church reclines in a toxic swoon pieces of that poisoned apple are still there within her mouth. And so the Church sleeps.
But the Old Testament is more than just a book of Mosaic legalism. All throughout the Old Testament God was calling Israel back to Him at a heart level. The covenant was always a personal matter even in the moral code of the ten commandments. The saints have always obeyed God because they love Him. This was especially apparent in the life and ministry of David. Salvation has always come by Grace through faith. No-one, whether they be an Old Testament saint or New Testament saint has ever been saved by the law. No one! And for us in the church/ekklesia today we also should realize that after we are born again and have invited Jesus into our hearts to rule that He is still drawing us into that love relationship. His righteous rule in our hearts will flow out of that heart devotion. This is not a grievous or legalistic thing. In our walk of faith with Him down the pilgrim pathway we find ourselves progressively surrendering more and more of our own inner self-rule over to Him. This is not primarily a matter of law but rather it is a work of grace in the New Covenant. Nevertheless the law and the righteous rule of Christ are established in the hearts. And graciously so.
As premillennialists this matter of "the law" should not be a problem for us. We know that at His second coming Jesus will bring His righteous rule, His imposed governmental law, if you will, to earth. This will only be appropriate after the outrageous and abominable rule of the Antichrist and the abuse of the Tribulation saints during the Great Tribulation. The fostering and nurturing of God's righteous rule is the God given burden of our Jewish brothers and sisters. They can't help being who they are. Judah is the royal tribe in which is found the Throne of David upon which Jesus, our coming Jewish Messiah will come to rule. The throne of David is occupied by the indwelling Christ/Messiah. within the heart of every righteous person. This was the way God intended from the beginning.
Unfortunately pagan gnosticism in human religion intervened. God's simple plan of salvation was
"To do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God".But this simple walk with God and delighting in His righteousness and law in harmony with grace in YHVH-God did not prevail in Israel. It was twisted by Judaic legalism into something far more complicated, conflicted and confusing. A gnostic partitioning of God and man came in and imposed itself on God's law. The simple pilgrim pathway of the patriarchs was suddenly blocked by a dark wood and a terrible drop-off into a gnostic chasm of legalism. And the priests were the only ones who knew how to please God and get you through to Him on the other side.
The faith of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was never meant to be that way. And the Jewish nation, until recently, has not found grace and not found peace in Holy City of Jerusalem. But that is destined to change, and gloriously so. All these wonders will occur at the end of the age. (See Zech.12:7-13:1) They will repent and be saved as a nation, entering the flows of salvation by grace through faith just like everyone else. They will be a great blessing to to us, especially in the royal Kingdom offices of Messiah during His coming Millennium. So much for law as legalism. It sounds good but it leads nowhere; except to bondage and defeat. We have had our share of it too in the western church.
Grace and the Gospel has been the main burden of the church (when it has been behaving itself). This complements the burden of the Jewish tribe of Judah, (Southern Kingdom), which is God's righteous rule, His precepts, yes, His law, if you will. This is the law/grace dichotomy that Francis Schaeffer spent a lot of time wrestling with. But this false dichotomy is destined to pass away with the coming of Christ. And why? Because our coming Messiah embraces both of these!
This is indeed wonderful news, not only for mankind but for this ruined cosmos as well. Jesus Christ/Yeshua Hamashiach is the Anointed One, the Holy One of Israel. He in Himself is the point of reconciliation between law and grace. In His first coming He brought His peace into the hearts of men by the Gospel. In His second coming He will bring peace in Jerusalem and peace on earth.
MESSIAH'S FIRST COMING.
Five centuries before that first coming, the prophet Zechariah, had seen the Messiah enter Jerusalem in this very humble way. He saw Him come to the City of Shalom/Peace in lowly manner, riding upon a donkey. In this first coming He was not pursuing earthly conquest. Rather, He was presenting an endowment to His covenant people, - His bride to be.
THE GAP, AND THE MINISTRY OF GOD'S GRACE.
He was bringing the gift of salvation.Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, your king is coming to you;
He is just and endowed with salvation,
Humble, and mounted on a donkey,
Even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
- Zechariah 9:9At Messiah's first coming He would bring His grace in the form of His payment to cover the Bridal price. The cost of this endowment was His very life. This was the Gospel, offered first in His city Jerusalem, then to Judea and Samaria, and then out amongst the gentiles to the uttermost parts of this world. The purpose of the gap between those two comings is to provide a grace period. His sacrificial death on the cross would usher in a period of time that would in fact come to be called the "Age of Grace". That grace period would extend right up to His second coming at the end of the 70th week. At the Battle of Armageddon Jerusalem is surrounded by the armies of the nations and even in this awful time "whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved". (See Joel 2:28-32)
We are yet to see Messiah come in the office of His kingdom authority. After the coming Great Tribulation all the inhabitants of this earth will witness His second coming. (See Mat.24:29-31) The Day of the Lord will see Him come with His angelic host. (See Jude 14-15)
He will execute vengeance on His enemies -Isa.34:8, Isa.63:1-6, Rev.19:11-21
and bring deliverance to His covenant people. -Mic.2:12-13, 1Thes.4:13-18 He will bring righteous judgment and rule to this uncared for, polluted and war ravaged earth with its poor, sin-sick and distressed people.So just as His first coming occurred right on schedule at the end of the 69th week.
His second coming will come right on time at the end of the 70th week.THE GAP, THE TWO COMINGS OF MESSIAH,
Our coming Messiah will rule for a literal thousand years upon this earth. He will officiate through His two offices by His dual anointing before God Most High. This will be according to the Order of Melchizedek He will minister as priest and rule as king. In His priestly role He will minister to bring God and man together. In His royal kingdom office as Messiah/King He will bring His righteous rule to His poorly husbanded sin damaged creation. Both of these two offices are part of who our Messiah is. They may be symbolized as well by the "two sticks" of Ezekiel 37 and the two olive trees of Zechariah 4. And on the sabbath the Hebrew ladies light two Sabbath candles.
AND THE DUAL OFFICES OF MELCHIZEDEK.The two offices of Messiah are a way to understand His two comings and also understand the necessity of the gap between His first and second comings. The 69 weeks would terminate with Messiah coming as the minister of grace, the Suffering Servant. And the future 70th Week will terminate with the Second Coming of Messiah. Upon His return our Messiah is to function as Messiah under the dual offices of the Order of Melchizedek. So the two comings are linked to the two offices of the Messiah. He is to be both priest and king. Jesus/Yeshua is to head up both the the priestly and the royal kingdom offices in the glorious Millennium to come. -Rev.20:1-9
Messiah will preside over both
the politics and religion of this earth.
He will rule and minister from His Holy City, Jerusalem, the city of shalom/peace, - just as the former priest-king Melchizedek did back in the days of Abraham.
"And Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought forth bread and wine.And speaking of the coming Messiah;
And He was the priest of God Most High."
-Gen. 14:18"The Lord has sworn, and will not change His mind:- Psalm 110:4 So Yeshua Hamashiach/Jesus Christ/Messiah, like Melchizedek, is both high priest and King of Salem or Prince of Peace. In His first coming He would declare His arrival in His High Priestly office and authority as the Suffering Servant, the promised Sacrifice Lamb of God. Later, at the end of this evil age, will He come back again in His Kingdom office and authority as the Conquering King.
You are a priest forever,
after the manner and Order of Melchizedek."THE GAP BETWEEN THE TWO COMINGS OF MESSIAH.
Dear saints, we are now in the 21st century. Nearly 2000 years have passed since Messiah made His first epic entry into His holy city on Palm Sunday back in 32 A.D. The prophet Hosea in his prophecy of the "two days" also speaks of a gap and a revival that would follow.
AND THE 'TWO DAYS' OF HOSEA LEADS UP TO AN EPIC END-TIME REVIVAL."He has cut us to pieces,This is very interesting. Hosea is alluding to a gap period of "two days" after the last prophetic "cutting" words are given into holy scripture. Could this "two days" be two millennia or 2000 years? And what can we say about God's mention of a revival? Well it seems that the 70th week, and the coming of those final 7 years of God's determined dealings with His Judeo-Christian covenant people may open up with a great revival. This is a bit different from what we have been told by our popular Bible prophecy preachers. They have painted the 70th week, the final 7 years of this age, as little more than a hellish wrath zone with no Holy Spirit, no heavenly grace extended and no elect people of God. Our prophecy teachers speak of the epic end-time witness as little more than a chamber of horrors. And yet the Holy Spirit here in scripture is speaking of glory, an End-Time Revival of all things! Indeed the prophet Joel saw the Holy Spirit outpouring at its peak which will be very late in the future 70th week. Joel saw the Holy Spirit being poured out in a climactic blaze of glory just before the second coming amidst the cosmic signs the 6th seal. (See Joel 2:28-32)
but after two days He will revive us,
and in the third day we shall live in His sight." -Hos 6:2The identification of these "two days" as two millennia is given further credence by Hosea's reference to the "third day" and His people "living in His sight". Surely this speaks of the 1000 year Millennium of Messiah. This would fit the outline seen by the ancient sages of Israel. They saw six millennia of man's rule followed by a glorious rest, a sabbatical 7th Millennium of Messiah. Not only that, Hosea may in fact be giving us an accurate measurement of the time-span that would connect the years from from Palm Sunday to the year of a great revival in the last days. Such a revival may open up in an impending year,
a difficult yet awesome year when all things would change. In what year might that revival come?In speaking of "two days" the prophet Hosea may actually be referring to this gap between the 69th and 70th week. Hosea actually said "two days". Elsewhere in scripture we read that
"a day with the Lord is as one thousand yearsThe phrase "on the third day we shall live in His sight" sounds distinctly like a millennial prophecy.
and a thousand years as one day......" -2Pet.3:8
AFTER THE GAP, THE 70TH WEEK
Awesome times may well lie ahead quite soon for the Judeo-Christian people and for the world at large. But we need not be concerned about the final outcome. Jesus/Yeshua is the One who opens the seals. (See Rev. ch.5) He alone is in control of holy history. And He has set its limits. Messiah will put a stop to the rampage of evil. It will be just in the nick of time. (See Mat.24:22). As the 70th week ends He will come a second time to Jerusalem.
AND THE SECOND COMING OF MESSIAH IN DELIVERANCE AND WRATH.This time He will not come quietly, riding a donkey. Nor will He be submissive to His enemies. His two witnesses will have finished their mission. He will be riding on a white horse as the promised Deliverer, Israel's Conquering King. The Lion of the Jewish house of Judah will be at the gate. He will bring His righteous rule to this earth as the long expected Son of David. Indeed He will rule this earth from the Throne of David. -Luke 1:30-33.
The crowds of this present evil age do not like His rule. That is why they have in most cases refused Him entry into their hearts. They shout, "away with Him!" just as the crowds shouted before Pilate 2,000 years ago. This rejection of the Gospel is just another part of the raging of nations against Israel and against the coming Millennial rule of Messiah.
The Amillennialist doctrine seen in state licensed Christianity also denies His future literal 1,000 year earthly Millennial rule. It also explains the awful Anti-Semitism (anti-Judah-ism) seen in modern history in the history of our western nations. Iran has pledged to destroy Israel and is developing nuclear weapons. The end-time drama may be closer than we first believed. Let us draw near to our God with all diligence and prepare the way for Him in the hearts of all who will hear.
As we have seen, the gap between the 69 weeks and the 70th Week is essentially a period of grace. God is giving us some time to get His Word out to the nations. And now, more than at any time in history, the Good News of God's great salvation is going out to the ends of the earth. Let us all respond to God's promptings and become a part of this great end-time harvest.
Grace and peace to all who love his appearing.
On to Section 8:
1. ASTRONOMICAL DATA on the SLOWING LUNAR ORBIT.
2. PLACING the PASSAGE of the NISAN MOONS:
for 445 B.C. and for 32 A.D.
3. TRACKING the 69 WEEKS, or 173,880 DAYS,
USING SOLAR/CALENDAR & LUNAR CYCLES.
Back to Section 6
UNTO MESSIAH the PRINCE:
THE 69 WEEKS = 173,880 DAYS
Some more devotional articles on apocalyptic Biblical themes for the enquiring Christian.
