Daniel's 70 Weeks

“Seventy weeks are determined for your people and for your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make and end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity; to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy. Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem until the Messiah the Prince, there shall be seven weeks and sixty two weeks. The street shall be built again, and the wall even in troublesome times.

And after sixty two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself; and the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall be with a flood, and till the end of war desolations are determined. Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week. He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, even until the consummation which is determined is poured out on the desolate.”

-           Daniel 9:24-27

The prophet Daniel receives the answer to his prayer from the angel Gabriel. The following is what God will accomplish for Israel initially, and ultimately to all nations that believe in God.

1.       To finish the transgression – God will deal with Israel’s rebellion. He will in His timing put an end to the nation’s evil.

2.       Make and end of sins – Sin will be judged with finality by God

3.       Make reconciliation for iniquity – This is reference to Jesus dying on the cross as a perfect offering for mankind’s sins. By accomplishing this act, all those who believe in what Jesus accomplished will be forgiven of their sins forever.

4.       To bring in everlasting righteousness – Those whose sins Christ died for will receive righteousness on their accounts in this life, and will retain that righteousness for eternity.

5.       To seal up the vision and prophecy – Once the revelation of Israel’s future is complete along with the future of all mankind, there will be nothing left to disclose.

6.       To anoint the Most Holy – Some versions say the most Holy Place. Scholars have said the Most Holy makes reference to the future millennial temple described in Ezekiel chapters 40-48. Others are referencing the Messiah as the one being anointed.

The things that Gabriel is describing to Daniel are for him (i.e. Daniel) future and end time promises surrounding Israel. It was the nation Israel (his native people) Daniel was interceding for. Gabriel gives the prophet relief from his stress and anguish in prayer by answering his supplication (vs. 19-23).

Now, I want to break down the seventy weeks. They are in three intervals. Understand when the text says seventy weeks, these are seventy weeks of years; in other words seventy times seven (490 years). The word seven in the Greek is heptad. The first 7 weeks or 49 years were for the rebuilding of the walls which took only 52 days (Neh 6:15). During those 49 years the streets were repaired as well even in troublesome times (Dan 9:25). These 49 years also would have included the prophecies of the last O.T. prophet  Malachi. The sixty two weeks or 434 years are consecutive with the first 49 years or 7 weeks for a total of 483 years of 360 lunar[1] days per year equals 173,880 days. The same days compute when we use the following formula: 173,880 divide them by a solar year[2] – 365 days = 476.38356164 years. When multiplying 476.38356164 by 365 = 173,880 days. This discovery was first made by Sir Robert Anderson in his book entitled, “The Coming Prince” (1894). These 483 years began with the decree by the Persian king Artaxerxes Longimanus (465-424 B.C.) to Nehemiah to go and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince; that is when Jesus Christ rode on a donkey into Jerusalem fulfilling Zechariah 9:9. This decree occurred in Artaxerxes twentieth year of his reign (Neh 2:1-8). The Julian date was March 14, 445 B.C. The date given for Jesus triumphal entry into Jerusalem are 9 Nisan 32 A.D. or on our calendar April 6^th, 32 A.D. This occurred on Palm Sunday, five days before Jesus was crucified on Passover the 14^th of Nisan or April 11th (i.e. He was cut off, Dan 9:26). Nisan is the first month of the Hebrews' religious year. Nisan corresponds to our March/April months. The last week or seventieth week – that is the last seven years deals with the antichrist in the book of Revelation setting himself as the Messiah and making a false covenant of peace with Israel for seven years then breaking that covenant 3½ years into it. He then creates an image of himself and demands the world worship him or be killed. These horrific events occur in the last week of years – the Tribulation years yet future (Dan 7:25;9:26;2 Thess 2:4; Rev 13:5-7).

What is so amazing about these prophecies is the specificity of them. Daniel predicts to the very day from the decree to rebuild the walls and streets of Jerusalem until Jesus presenting Himself as the Messiah. Daniel also predicts Jesus death (Dan 9:26) and the coming of the antichrist. Contrary to the critics who claim Daniel recorded these events after they occurred, do not know their history very well. Daniel recorded his prophecies prior to the decree of King Cyrus allowing the Hebrews to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple (Ezra 1:1-10). The year was 538 B.C. Daniel was dead by the time Artaxerxes issued his decree to rebuild the walls which once again was March 14^th, 445 B.C. which proves Daniel predicted the events before they happened.

The dates above have been debated. For instance, other dates that have been used are:

538 B.C.; this date does not work for the rebuilding of the city of Jerusalem because it was the date when King Cyrus of Persia gave the declaration to the Hebrews to rebuild the temple led by Zerubbabel (Ezra 1:1-10). Another date given is 458 B.C.; this date marks the second return to Jerusalem under Ezra. To indicate the 458 B.C. date was given to rebuild the city and streets of Jerusalem would be too early of a date. The 458 B.C. was during King Artaxerxes 7^th year in the first month of Nisan to the fifth month (or March/April – July/Aug); the time Ezra returned to reinstate the law and religious reform in Jerusalem (Ezra 7). So the date that is left is the March 14^th, 445 B.C. when Nehemiah returned to rebuild the walls.

                           Why did the nation Israel have to go into captivity for seventy years?

In the book of Leviticus chapter 25 verses 1-7 God through Moses commanded the children of Israel not to till their land on the seventh year. They were to allow the land to have a Sabbath rest every seven years. For 490 years Israel failed to obey this command. Along with disobeying the Lord regarding the Sabbath rest of the land, the Hebrews refused to obey any other commands of the Lord resulting in their deportation (Jeremiah 25:11). First in 605 B.C., second in 597 B.C., and finally In 586 B.C. when  Jerusalem was sacked and the temple burned to the ground by Nebuchadnezzar (2 Chronicles 36:19;Jeremiah 52:12-15).

The seventy years of captivity beginning in 605 B.C. and ending in 536 B.C. when the returning Hebrews began to rebuild the temple allowed the land of Israel to have 70 years of Sabbath rest that it did not enjoy due to Israel’s disobedience. Simply put, Israel owed God 70 years which they served in exile in Babylon.

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[1] The days it takes for the moon to orbit the earth in a year

[2] A solar year is the amount of days it takes for the earth to orbit the Sun.

Paul's Struggle in Romans Chapter Seven

The apostle Paul is explaining to his readers in vivid detail his ongoing battle between his flesh, mind and spirit. This is a struggle we all must suffer as Christians and it is a most painful struggle!

In Romans 7:15-25 we read:

“For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. But now, no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. For I know that in me (that is in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.                                                                                                

I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.”

I want to focus on the bold texts for a moment. If one fails to read this in context, one could believe that Paul was absolving himself of personal responsibility for his sin when he says, “It is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me”

Sin as I have I mentioned before is rebelling against the commands of God; Sin is the total absence of good.  We sin by omission and commission. A sin of omission is not doing what God has commanded (e.g. forgive one another, pray, share the gospel, etc). A sin of commission is going beyond the boundaries of God’s commands (e.g. do not lie, commit adultery, worship other gods, etc). We sin by not doing what God commands as well by trespassing what He has prohibited.

The truth of the matter is sin by itself is a nameless cypher. Sin must have the opportunity to engage a willing host (i.e. our bodies) in order to bring ruin to our lives. In other words, sin has no power without humans. So no, Paul was by no means espousing dualism[1] which some may have accused him of. He was not saying that sin by itself was to blame for his sin. For if that were true, we could not be blamed for sin, for sin alone would be guilty and not the person whom sin indwelt. (I’m drawing this thought to its most logical conclusion). Paul, like us chose to sin because he wanted to even though he knew choice was wrong before he did it. We do the same thing.  Paul in these verses clearly decries his pain, and struggle to do right verses wrong. These verses are an incredible revelation of the pain of the human condition. Paul a redeemed man gives us by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit why we act the way we do – even as Christians. Because of our unredeemed flesh, we will continue to war within ourselves. Our spirit man is renewed and desires to obey God, whereas our flesh – the old man desires, and serves the law of sin. This will be our struggle until we are glorified in our bodies. This obviously has not occurred yet due to sin ever being present with us. As Paul cried out, “O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from this body of death?” We cry out to God for the same deliverance.      

If you are like me it seems sometimes I’m being torn apart inside. What do I mean? A similar passage that describes our struggle is in Galatians 5:16-17, “But I say walk and live habitually in the Holy Spirit (responsive to and controlled and guided by the Spirit) then you will certainly not gratify the cravings and desires of the flesh (of human nature without God). For the desires of the flesh are opposed to the Holy Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are opposed to the flesh (godless human nature); for these are antagonistic to each other (continually withstanding and in conflict with each other), so that you are not free but are prevented from doing what you desire to do” (Amplified Version).               

To put this in laymen’s terms, we are in a tug-of-war with ourselves due to the flesh and Spirit battle we are constantly engaged in. We must recognize and deal with this struggle. We must be determined to walk in victory by allowing the Spirit of God to rule our spirits. How? By learning, understanding, and applying the word of God.

Jesus said this about His words: It is the Spirit that gives life (i.e. regeneration)…The words that I have been speaking to you are spirit and life (John 6:63). The word of God has inherent power to continue to transform us on the inside so that we can behave holy on the outside. We as Christians have to trust God and His Word! We must for it is our “get-out-of-jail-free-card” constantly, and our lifeline.  

So, when Paul is talking about our flesh dwells no good thing, he is not talking about the human body per se. Our physical bodies are not evil for God made us, and all that God made was perfect in the beginning (Genesis 1:31). When Paul mentions the flesh in this context, he is referencing our fallen sinful nature-that is the flesh.  Sin operates and takes advantage our fallen evil nature to wreak havoc in our lives and tempts us to sin. If we are not filled with the Spirit on an ongoing basis (Eph 5:18), then we are sitting ducks for the devil and his tricks (Eph 6:11), and we will sin every time.

Concluding, we cannot use the old Flip Wilson phrase, “The devil made me do it!” Yes, sin is ever present with us because of our fallen sinful nature. Sin assaults our minds and our flesh to commit evil acts. Likewise, when we yield to the Spirit, He also operates through our flesh to commit godly acts (Gal 2:20). It all boils down to which one we want to serve the most at that precise time, the law of God, or the law of sin?             

The choice is always ours.                           

                                                                                                               

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[1] Dualism was a false Greek Philosophy that taught that the human body was evil

and the spirit is good so when someone sinned, they were not personally responsible

for it because it was their flesh alone that committed the sin; it did not involve their minds

or spirits when the sin was committed. This mindset in the Greeks mind absolved

them of personal responsibility for evil.

Justification by Faith manifested by Works

It was the German Protestant Reformer Martin Luther who said, “We are saved by faith alone, but the faith that saves is never alone.”

If one has been truly justified by his faith, that same saving faith is also a practical faith that manifests itself in good works. Ephesians 2:10 says, “We are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”

When we believed the gospel of truth, we were justified (i.e. declared righteous) by faith in the propitiating work of Jesus Christ sacrifice for sin on the cross. However, we are justified by our works also proving our faith is the real thing. As James said, “faith without works is dead” (James 2:26). So what that means is to declare that one who says they have true faith without any works has a dead faith, or no faith at all.

If we do not have works coupled with our faith, then we have proven that not only is our faith a sham, so is our justification.  This is what Martin Luther meant when he said, “We are saved by faith alone, but the faith that saves is never alone. Good works is a natural byproduct of saving faith. If our justification is the real thing, then our faith will be realized by the fruit we bear.

It’s important to realize that we do not perform good works to obtain salvation for salvation is a gift (Eph 2:8-9). We perform good works as a result of our salvation.

                                                             What did Abraham do?

Abram (his name at the time), demonstrated his faith by taking God at His word when God promised Abram that his descendants would be enumerable (Gen 15:1-6). It was at this point God justified, or declared Abram righteous; God credited or imputed, transferred righteousness to Abram’s account.

Later on in Genesis 22, Abraham’s faith was proven to him to be real when God tested his faith (or trust) in the Lord by commanding Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac.

So we see Abraham was justified by faith in the word of God. He was also justified by works in that he proved his faith was real because he was willing to kill his son Isaac as an offering to the God He loved more than his son. Abraham’s faith was real; It saved him from sin, and also it was practical, it was proven to be genuine through trial. If one’s faith is real, so is their justification. The two go hand in hand.

The faith we exhibit is the means or cause of our justification. Faith is what we do. Justification is what God does for us. Justification can never happen without first believing in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of our sins, and the salvation of our souls.

                                                How was the harlot Rahab justified?

In Joshua chapter two we read how Joshua judge and successor of Moses sent two men to spy out the land of Jericho. As they entered the city, they lodged with a woman named Rahab. The king of Jericho inquired of her where the men were. Rahab lied and said they came to her, but they had left the city, and she did not know where they went when in actuality, she hid them on her roof (Josh 2:6).

After the pursuers left her home, she declared to the two men she knew the Lord they served was the God of the heaven and earth. She knew the Lord had given Jericho into the hands of Israel before they had actually taken it. This was a testament to Rahab’s faith in a God she did not even know, but due God’s exploits, and delivering power of how He delivered Israel from the Egyptians, fear had fell on the entire city.

Rahab was justified by works in this sense, she showed the Israelite spies kindness by hiding them from their pursuers, and sent them out another way (James 2:25). Had Rahab not believed in God, she would not have received the men, or showed them kindness.

Although Rahab was a prostitute and she lied regarding the two men’s whereabouts, she was commended by James for her genuine faith. Rahab’s faith in God was proven to be real by what she did.

So we see that a genuine faith MUST always be tested to prove to the possessor of it that it is indeed the real thing; resulting in good works.

Unable To Harmonize It All

There are several commands in the Bible that on the surface that appear to contradict one another. For instance, there are verses where God makes a decree (i.e. that is something he declares that will take place whether man complies or not), and at the same time command us to do that very thing.                                                                                                                              

Let’s examine a couple.                                                                                             

In Isaiah 55:6 it says, “Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near.”     We read in John 6:44 that none can come to Jesus unless the Father God draws that person to Him. We also read in Romans 3:11 that no one seeks after God. Humanly speaking, these statements do not harmonize at all. Why would God demand we seek Him in the Isaiah passage, and then the apostles John and Paul tell us that we are unable to come to Jesus or seek after God?                                                                                                                                                  

What is going on here?                                                                                                          

Here is the clear implication. We are commanded to seek God because we are in need of forgiveness of sins and salvation, but we are unable to do this on our own. We must depend   upon the power of God to do for us what we can never accomplish on our own.       In order for us to seek God, we have to be changed from within. We have to be granted repentance, and faith to believe gospel message, then we will seek God and only then.                                                                         

We must seek God; that is a command, but we cannot do this in our own power. For we must remember, we are dead in trespasses and sins before we are made alive (regenerated) by the Holy Spirit (Eph 2:1; Col 2:13). So we see the importance of studying the scripture. If we look at a couple of passages that appear to contradict one another, we must examine the whole scripture to come to a correct conclusion.                                                                                                                       

                          

                         How do we harmonize God’s election and man’s responsibility to believe?

The concern for some who have a problem with the doctrine of sovereign election is that it somehow negates the personal responsibility of the sinner to believe in order to be saved. Their argument would be something like this, “If God is choosing in eternity past who He is going to save, what is the point of preaching the gospel? They are going to be saved anyway right?”               

It’s true God knows who He has chosen to be saved, but we do not know who will be saved until they actually believe. So preaching the gospel message is the means by which God has chosen to bring His elect to saving faith. The gospel is also the means that will condemn those who choose not to believe the truth. While it is true that God has chosen some to be saved from eternity past, they will not be saved until they receive the gospel message and believe it which will bring about their salvation. Here we see God’s sovereignty and human responsibility working in tandem to accomplish God’s purposes. God creates the means and the ends regarding salvation.                                                                                                                                                           

Admittedly God transcends the mind how he does certain things. For instance, God has chosen some for salvation, yet God’s choosing some does not negate human responsibility to believe. It was the predetermined plan of God to send Jesus to earth to die on a cross, yet men killed the son of God, and our culpable for His death. It was prophesied by God in Psalm 41:9 that Judas would betray Jesus, but that does not get Judas off the hook, because God wove Judas betrayal in His providential plan. Judas was not coerced into betraying Jesus. He acted as a free moral agent. Just because the Bible says those whom saves God will never perish does not mean we are not to persevere in faith unto the end. Just because we are sanctified positionally does not mean we are not to pursue holiness actively. Just because we have been forgiven of our sins judicially forever does not mean we are not to daily confess our sins for ongoing cleansing and removing of unrighteousness. And finally, just because a person is chosen (elect of God), does not mean we are not to pray that God grants men repentance and salvation.    All the aforementioned do not harmonize to the human mind. Here Is where we are rest our minds at:

            

Oh, the depth  of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and how inscrutable His ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been His counselor? Or who has given to Him that it might be repaid? For from Him, and through Him, and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever.                                                                          

Amen (Rom 11:33-36).