1.Daniel is ready to read the
scroll--Jeremiah 28, 29, 70 years.
2.Daniel prays in sackcloth,
intently at time of evening oblation.
3.Gabriel said with a message:
70 heptads of judgment are upon Israel until the consummation of the
age, until the millennial kingdom comes.
4.A given time set for
commencing.A date, a terminus a quo.A given time set for terminus ad quod,
which means closing.The commencement
to restore, rebuild Jerusalem in 9:25.The consummation, the millennial age in 9:24.
I.The 70 Heptads
1.The commencing date and the
edict to rebuild Jerusalem.
1)Edict of Cyrus 536 B.C.,
Ezra 1:1-3.The exiles attempted
nothing more but to rebuild temple, nothing more.
2)Edict of Darius of Ecbatana
to confirm the decree of Cyrus, Ezra 6.But only building of sanctuary.
3)Edict of Longimanus,
Artaxerxes I in 7th year, Ezra 7:1-29, 19, 27.Nothing but the temple service.
4)Edict of Artaxerxes
Longimanus in his 20th year, Nehemiah 2:5.They were given at beginning of Jewish year, 1st of Nisan.Before the Feast of Tabernacles, on the 7th
day of the month.Jerusalem once more
was a city, with gates and ramparts.The date is expressly recorded in Nehemiah.
2. The
division of the 70 heptads, 490 years.
1.7=49 years.445 and 396 B.C.Interestingly enough the 49 years cover the time between the
decree of Artaxerxes and the closing of prophecy with Malachi.The closing of the Old Testament canon.
2.Now 62=434 years.395-30 A.D.Terminally cut off at death of the Lord.Therefore, the destruction of the city and
the sanctuary, which is a type of Antichrist.
3.1=7 years.The Great Tribulation that proceeds the
consummation of the age.The climax of
Jewish kingdom.
II.The Great Parenthesis
No consummation, no Millennial
Kingdom, 7 years after the 69 heptads.What is the meaning?The
explanation?
1.The parenthesis the age of
grace, and the age of church are hidden from the prophets.Ezekiel 3:3,6,9.Daniel is a Jew.Nor was
it revealed to him.His prophecy is
like all others in Old Testament, referred to the Jew and to the revelation and
to the world of Heptads.
2.We are always to distinguish
between Israel and the church, I Cor. 10:32 and in II Tim. 2:15.Scripture is not always addressed to the
saved people.Not always, 1 Cor.
10:2.Same to the Jew, Same to the
Gentile, same to the Church.We are not
to assign to the church what God meant for the Jew.Compare my Bible:Isaiah
43:1, 44:1.
3. Three
ways of looking at the promises ofGod
to the Jews.
1.Their restoratives, their
prospects, and their dream.Is it
poetry?Is it prophecy?Is it fictitious, wishful thinking?
2.You can take the promises of
Israel, apply them to the church.And
then if you try to turn them around, God was talking only to the church.
3.God will make good every
promise, every prophecy in scripture to the chosen family.The realization of the promises is postponed
to the close of the Gentile dispensation.Will the time of the Gentiles be fulfilled?
III. The Purpose of God for the Jew
1.He has not cast any of His
people out.Romans 11:1,2.
2.Their remembrance before God
forever.John 30:11; 31:33-37;
33:20,21,23,26.Isaiah 60:11-15
Exiled in body but not in
spirit.Held together--2 to 3
generations that yearn for the city, the temple.The temple hearts of the Jews.Finally they're scattered among the nations, many times.They are hated and despised and
persecuted.They are without a leader,
they have the King only.They are
assimilated and He is the God of the age.A thousand promises. Why so pressured?Because the proof of a thousand promises is rooted in their continual
exhalation.They are dashed upon the
ground, they are rested in their continual existence.And thus continues the exhalations, They are dashed upon the
ground,they are in quicksilver and
they are dashed again.But God will
collect all the bright drops that form as droplets of this nation of the earth,
regathered, restored, the Holy City in the Holy land, the Jewish Nation.
3.When the church age is past,
then God will deal divinely.He will
then again look upon us, judge us and carry us to the end of the world.This is the last week of duty.
The convanent with the Jews.This convanent included the restoration of
the land, and to rebuild the temple, and there would be peace and
prosperity.Broken in the middle of
evil.Three and a half years, 62
months, 1260 days.The end comes with a
flood and then Armageddon.
2.The Millennial Heptad
1.Daniel 9:24--The seal, the
week of prophecy.
2.Messiah is received in
Zechariah. 12:13, 14 and Romans 11:26 and soall.
3.His mercy to His
brothers.His appearance to Saul of
Taursus.His appearance to them.His seeing to us and His mercy to us.
