MESSIAH CUT OFF ??

At last, we come to the ‘70 Weeks’ time-line: worth taking step by little step.                                              

Why?  This is the back-bone of Jewish prophecy giving us the all-important both advents of Messiah - in just 3 verses!                            

Only here do we find ‘Mashiyach’ named (Messiah) – the star of this production. (antichrist is NOT named here so let’s not pencil him in!)

Are we wiser than God’s prophet Daniel?... greatly beloved in heaven, and prime minister of the greatest empire in its day: Medio-Persia.

From Nebuchadnezzar’s image dream, Daniel has known for 70 years that his people, the Jews, would be subjugated to 4 world empires beginning with Babylon (ch2). During the 3^rd year of Belshazzar’s reign Daniel learned that the subsequent empires would be Medio-Persia, as of now, then Greece yet in the future. (He still does not know who that fearsome 4^th empire will be – Rome!)

Daniel knows the temple has been destroyed by Babylonians, that it must be rebuilt soon, only to be defiled during the coming Greek Empire (ch8)   In other words, these world empires are those that impact on God’s holy mountain, especially on the perpetual daily sacrifice at the temple.

Now, watch as the focus shifts from the temple to the coming Messiah...in Daniel 9:25-26a

The time-line begins with Persian king Artaxerxes Longimanus giving cup-bearer Nehemiah written authority to rebuild Jerusalem. (Neh 2)  By this time the Jews will have returned to Judaea 100 years earlier, 91 years after the temple replacement has been already built.  Rebuilding of the city will take 7x7=49 years and then a further 62x7=434 years will elapse before suddenly.... Messiah appears on the scene!   

Can you see any reference to Christ’s birth? or His baptism? or His ministry? No, but that's what so many love to pencil in.                      

What is this time-line giving us here?                                               Messiah’s first public advent                                                     

After those 69x7=483 years Messiah is CUT-OFF, with nothing! (Not 69 ½ years) 
No throne, no jewelled crown, no earthly kingdom, no honour...not even His own clothes. 

NOTHING.

NEXT UP: MESSIAH was rejected as King, but was He at least a prophet?

THE BACKBONE OF PROPHECY: '70 WEEKS'

At last we come to the ’70 WEEKS’ prophecy!

Why are they called ‘Weeks’ of years, as proven by the unfolding of history?  It goes right back to father Jacob - Mr. Israel - serving 7 more years for his sweet-heart Rachel, as if they were just days. (Gen 29:20)    She must have been a stunner!...or perhaps Jacob needed an optician? He was after all... in his 70’s!                                           

Why is this referred to as the ‘back-bone of prophecy’? In just 3 verses we get a time-line for the coming of Messiah, in fact...
for both advents of Messiah!                                    

Make no mistake... This is what it is all about – NOT ANTICHRIST the false messiah, but the REAL MESSIAH. (Luke 24:44)

Here are the 6 conditions that must be met WITHIN these 70 Weeks of years (v24)...

• Finish the transgression
• Make an end of sins
• Make reconciliation for iniquity
• Bring in everlasting righteousness
• Seal up the vision & prophecy
• Anoint ‘the most holy’

What this all means exactly, especially who or what ‘the most holy’ refers to, I don’t know and neither does anyone else, so it seems. What we CAN be sure of is that this prophecy applies to God’s people ISRAEL and God’s HOLY CITY, even God’s HOLY MOUNTAIN.

Don’t miss how God and Daniel are on the same page about this.

There is plenty of eye-witness to Israel’s last view of Messiah nailed up naked to die drenched in His own blood outside ‘the city of the Great King’, and there is plenty of eye-witness to what is celebrated in the streets of Jerusalem today.

I leave it to you to decide whether ALL 6 conditions of this ‘70 Week’ prophecy have ever been fulfilled in Israel’s history. I vote a resounding ‘NO!’.   

NEXT UP: that 70 Week time-line...

TAP ON THE SHOULDER

We couldn’t interrupt Daniel praying but guess what....God’s angel Gabriel does. In fact – notice this – the command from headquarters to give old Daniel more insight into the future was given AS SOON AS HE BEGAN TO PRAY! v23                                                                                                 

This dear old man of prayer is regarded in heaven as ‘greatly beloved’ from Heb: chamad – delightful! What encouragement and illustrious commendation after more than 70 years of faithfulness to God.

Before we open up the 70 Weeks prophecy, notice also how much it is the BIG PICTURE that occupies Daniel...He is interrupted praying on behalf of ‘MY PEOPLE ISRAEL’ (not just the nation of Judah)                        

What is his main concern?                                               

‘THE HOLY MOUNTAIN OF MY GOD’                               

Notice this detail too... Gabriel gets Daniel’s attention at ‘THE TIME OF THE EVENING OBLATION’.   v20      What is this all about?                    

Every morning and every evening a lamb was sacrificed in a burnt offering at the temple – the fire was NEVER to go out – a perpetual witness to the whole world that only by way of sacrifice can we meet our holy God’s righteousness. (Ex 29:38-42 ; Lev 6:13 ; Nu 28:3-8)                

There has been NO SACRIFICE on God’s holy mountain for over 50 years and Daniel has not forgotten after 70 years of captivity!

Keep this in mind when we start on the 70 Weeks – the BIG PICTURE: God’s witness to the world from His holy mountain in Jerusalem.

 

  

DANIEL STILL PRAYS

Everyone loves getting into Daniel’s 70 Weeks - in fact the back-bone of prophecy! But... we must wait.                                                 Why??  Daniel is praying and we dare not rush him. In fact, we’d better pay attention to what old Daniel is saying and why now...

Daniel is no longer that young Jewish prince before Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, he is now an old man in his 80’s still serving a Gentile king – Cyaxares II of Media (Darius) - and still praying!

70 years have passed since he was captured in 606BC and he learns that Jeremiah prophesied (25:11)  the Captivity must last 70 years. It’s getting close!                                                                              

Notice he feels utterly shame-faced over their failures as God’s chosen people but it is not about him so much but about...

“thy city Jerusalem, thy holy mountain.... thy sanctuary that is desolate.....for thy city and thy people are called by thy name”.

Notice also he has not forgotten ‘ALL ISRAEL’ – near and far.  (The northern nation of Israel has been off the map for nearly 200 years!)             

Now then...   Why were the Jews taken captive and their city and temple destroyed?                 

Yes there was idolatry, yes there was child sacrifice, yes there was much injustice, yes there was disobedience and mistreatment of God’s prophets, however...  the prime reason for this Captivity of 70 years is their abuse of the Promised Land. It is God’s Land (Lev 25:23 ; Deut 11:12) and it was to be fallowed every 7 years and enjoy jubilee every 50 years . See Lev 25 & 26:34.            

It is all about reproach of God’s name and His Land.                               The kingdom was 70x7=490 years old by 606BC!                              

Is there any overlap of the 70 year captivity and the 70 Week prophecy coming? No. The overlap is that holy city Jerusalem and especially the sanctuary. It has been destroyed once – the final siege in 586BC – and Daniel has been given a clue in 8:11 that it will be soon built again.                              

What is fascinating is that the 70 years of Captivity are about the Land; the 70 Week prophecy is about Messiah; in the middle of it all – the sanctuary.

What will happen to that 2^nd temple? Daniel is about to find out!          

ANTIOCHUS IV EPIPHANES

 More on the 'little horn' of this goat (Greece) in Daniel 8... 

How long was the daily sacrifice taken away for, with the sanctuary cast down? (v14)        

2300 days.                             

Finally Antiochus Epiphanes would be ‘broken without hand’: he died of disease.                                  

The point in all this is that Daniel now knows that somehow there must be another temple built among those ruins of Jerusalem, possibly during the coming Persian Empire and then, the daily sacrifice will be stopped - for the SECOND TIME!  No wonder poor Daniel faints with astonishment and takes sick leave.  Nevertheless he will soon be confident enough to warn drunken king Belshazzar... "Peres: Thy kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians” 5:28 

Keep your eye on this religious Antiochus guy and the daily sacrifice - we must see this as a Jew would see it.                                                                                                      

This Syrian dictator Antiochus IV Epiphanes (‘God Manifest’) was foretold to Daniel very accurately in chapter 11:21-35 but vv36-45 has not been fulfilled yet: not all of those 2300 days have been fulfilled yet in history!                                                    

This guy tried to obliterate Jewish faith by interfering with the priesthood, peacefully entering Jerusalem on the Sabbath to stop temple worship, sacrifice a pig on the altar, erect a statue of Zeus/Jupiter Olympus in the temple (‘abomination that maketh desolate’, v31), pouring pig broth on the Scriptures, looting the temple, banning circumcision, killing and enslaving thousands.

What was he like?  ...vile, cruel, ambitious, deceitful, flattering, profane, murderous…and from historic records we learn he was depraved, dancing naked with entertainers. His coinage proves he was religious, claiming to be ‘Antiochus God Manifest’.                                                                                     

No wonder they called him ‘Epimanes’ the madman!                                                                      

GREECE STAMPS ON MEDIO-PERSIA

Two years after Daniel’s first troubling vision (ch7), he is surprised to be given another heads-up (ch8) on the threat to the Babylonian Empire.  Notice he’s right in the hot spot!...  in the province Elam, between Babylon and Media.

Daniel now learns the lop-sided empire to follow Babylon is none other than neighbouring Media allied to Persia, represented now by a ram with horns that grow out of sync, one larger than the other.                                   

History proves the Persian Empire expanded and prospered exactly as predicted....but soon enough it’s all over for Persia!

                                                                                            

Next comes Greece - the goat from the west led by the ‘notable horn between his eyes’: Alexander the Great. After stamping on Medio-Persia the great horn breaks - Alexander dies at only 32 years old - and his empire splits between 4 ‘notable horns’: his generals Cassander, Lysimachus, Ptolemy I and Seleucus.                                                                                   

Out of one of these kingdoms (Seleucus of Syria) comes a ‘little horn’ who becomes exceeding great – even towards the ‘pleasant land’, taking on the host of heaven, even standing up against the Prince of princes, taking away the daily sacrifice and casting down the sanctuary. 

Who is this little horn?

Antiochus Epiphanes IV......who meet next.                                                                                           

THOSE FOUR BEASTS in DANIEL 7

Let’s take a closer look at those beasts that Daniel sees in a dream shared with us in chapter 7...

No prizes for guessing which current empire was represented by the 1st beast - a lion with eagle's wings. Nebuchadnezzar II dominated the New Babylonian Empire by reigning for 43 years, during which he had his 'wings clipped' for 7 years when he suffered probably lycanthropy.

Daniel doesn't know this yet but the next empire will be a lop-side Medio-Persian empire, the Persians being stronger, and it will chew those 3 ribs: Egypt, Babylon and Lydia.

Daniel has no clue yet that a Greek Empire will conquer with unbelievable swiftness - until Alexander the Great dies in Babylon, leaving the empire to fragment between his 4 generals: Cassander, Lysimachus, Ptolemy I & Seleucus - the 4 heads.

Daniel was especially troubled about this 4th beast and had a problem even believing this was true - 'devouring the whole earth...breaking it in pieces...stamping it down', 'making war with the saints and prevailing against them'. How could anything be worse than Babylon's recent treatment of the Jews? Well they sure found out in 70AD... and guess what! The Roman Empire was never conquered - it fragmented in 476AD and survives fractured to this day.

Notice how we are taking care to not jump to conclusions but always viewing this as Daniel saw and understood it. He knows the first empire must be Babylon that he finds himself in – that’s all!                                  
He does not yet know which empires will follow.

FOUR EMPIRES AS BEASTS

 We explored the personal experiences of Daniel and his friends in Babylon (ch1 thru 6) and now we turn to the prophecies (ch7 thru 12)....

“Daniel 7??  Oh we know all about those 4 beasts, representing: Babylon, Medio-Persia, Greece & Rome.                    

The little horn in verse 8??  Oh yeah that’s the antichrist - he’s got to be the pope!”

WHOA!!...not so fast. Let’s not kid ourselves we’re wiser than the governor-general of the greatest empire of the day (2:48) -  a man ‘greatly beloved’ in heaven! (9:23) 

Rather, let’s look at Daniel’s dream... AS HE WOULD HAVE SEEN IT...   Life has had its moments for these Jews in Babylon but hey, it’s not too bad considering. He knows from Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of the image, that 4 empires beginning with Babylon must come and go before God’s Kingdom is finally established on Earth (ch2). He would have noticed that the empires diminished in greatness with time: gold down to iron/clay.                                                                                                            

So how long will Jews have to submit to Gentile rule? Daniel doesn’t know. Nor does he know the identities of those 3 subsequent empires in the future.  What he does know is that here are 4 great beasts – lion, bear, leopard and something ‘dreadful and terrible’ - emerging from the sea, which empires must all lose their dominion for the Son of Man to be given everlasting dominion.

So why the dream? It would seem that those 4 empires are not so magnificent after all - heaven sees them as beasts – the last beast being the worst, devouring the whole earth and wearing out the saints of the Most High.                                                  

No wonder Daniel was troubled!                                                                                          

Who wins in the end? The saints of the Most High shall take the Kingdom for ever and ever. v18

Okay, so who is that little horn?...I hear you ask.  We’re just not told. 

We can be sure he must be a Gentile prince in the 4^th empire, who will finally be given to the burning flame by the Ancient of days.  That’s all we need to know, so far.

Meanwhile let's explore those 4 beasts...NEXT

TIMES of the GENTILES

When we open Matthew 24 at the Olivet Discourse we soon find ‘the ABOMINATION of DESOLATION (AoD) spoken of by Daniel the prophet’ in v15.

Before we look for this AoD - who was Daniel?...a young Jewish prince taken captive by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon in the first of 3 sieges of Jerusalem.

After Daniel and his 3 friends prove worthy of Nebuchadnezzar’s trust (ch1) he is given divine revelation on the king’s dream of a great image. It depicts 4 empires, ultimately destroyed by God’s kingdom which will fill the whole EARTH! (2:35) Nebuchadnezzar is given authority to rule over ALL MEN and all animals (2:38) – the Times of the Gentiles begin!

#1: IDOLATRY                                                                         

The king decides this is his excuse to enforce worship of a magnificent image but God personally protects the faithful three who refuse. (ch3)  

#2: BEASTLINESS                                                             

The king dreams of a tree then gets reminded by 7 years surviving like a beast, that it is the Most High in ultimate control over mankind. (ch4)

#3: PROFANITY                                                 

Grandson Belshazzar thinks he can use God’s holy vessels for debauchery, only to lose the kingdom to Medio-Persia that very night. (ch5)

#4: ‘I AM GOD’                                                                          

Finally we see Daniel in the lion’s den: God will even defend the faithful individual in the Persian Empire. (ch6)

Why do we need to look at Daniel ch1 thru 6?                              

Many people dive into Daniel 9 with no apparent appreciation of what the whole Book is about! Daniel’s long life of experiences as a Jewish prince subject to 2 Gentile empires demonstrate that the Jews & their holy city must resign to being subjugated to Gentiles, as history undeniably proves.                                                                           

How long for? We are all going to find out!

NEXT: we will look at heaven’s viewpoint in prophecies to see the implication for the Jews...Will heaven see these empires as magnificent?... or as beastly?

Back-to-Basics: MATTHEW'S EVIDENCE

 Notice just how Jewish this gospel account of Matthew’s is, from the  evidence...

Jesus Christ – Messiah

·        is the hero, from Gk: Christos, Heb: Mashiyach – the Messiah!         1:1

He is son of Abraham, son of David – real Jewish royalty!

·        is “born KING of the JEWS” (unlike Herod)          2:2

·        is born in Bethlehem to be ruler of Israel (2:5) fulfilling Micah 5:2 – the home town of king David too!

·        escaped from where Rachel died in childbirth.  Jer 31:15

·        was a refugee in Egypt (2:14) just like His Hebrew ancestors, until it was time for Hosea 11:1 to be fulfilled.

·        came to fulfil the Law & the Prophets        5:17

·        is heading for Jerusalem - the City of the Great King     5:35

·        is the Man of Isaiah 53 – taboo for Jews to read!           8:17

·        ministry was to the lost sheep of the House of Israel - not Gentiles                                                                    10:6   15:24

·        works as Messiah were heard of by John in prison        11:2

·        was recognised even by the blind as ‘Son of David’      20:31

·        was seen by Jews as the prophet from Nazareth (21:11) but...

·        he rode into Jerusalem as the King             21:5  

·        was welcomed by children with “Hosanna to the Son of David”   21:15

·        claimed: “One is your Master, even Christ (Messiah)    23:10

·        gave the Olivet Discourse to 4 Jewish disciples while seated where He will one day stand as victor – Zech 14:4

·        warned those IN JUDAEA who live to see the Abomination of Desolation set up in ‘the holy place’          24:15-16

·        cursed ‘the fig-tree’ that morning (21:19) which would one day revive 24:32

·        agreed He is the Christ (Messiah) the Son of God           26:63

·        agreed He was ‘King of the Jews’    27:11

·        was mocked as ‘King of the Jews’   27:29

·        waits in Galilee as rejected                28:16-20

Jesus the Messiah has come in peace as King to His city Jerusalem but been rejected by His people, been led out to be crucified by Gentiles, and stripped of everything including clothes - even His blood – just as angel Gabriel predicted to Daniel: “cut off, with nothing”.

This is not Mark’s presentation of the lowly Servant, nor of Luke’s Son of Man, or John’s Son of God ascended to heaven.                      

This is the rejected King of the Jews, waiting among the Gentiles of Galilee.