The Word of God - A Survey of the Bible - Part Six - F Feb 18, 2018 by: John Herbert | Series: The Word of God - A Survey of the Bible Audio Study Notes PDF https://s3.amazonaws.com/cornerstonejax/sermonfiles/020818_Pt-6F.mp3 Refresh A Recap from the Sermon Ex 3:9 "Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to Me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. Moses' encounter with the Lord at the burning bush comes at the appointed time of which God had spoken to Abraham. God's timing will be the subject of our study today. The full text of todat's message can be found by clicking the PDF button. Sunday February 18th 2018 The Word of God A Survey of the Bible – Part 6F ‘Your Descendants After You’ 1). Acts 7:35 “This Moses whom they rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’ is the one God sent to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the Angel who appeared to him in the bush. 36 He brought them out, after he had shown wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness forty years. We have seen in previous weeks how the life of Moses has been recorded in the scriptures to present a series of types which provide information on the Lord’s first advent – from the time of the Lord’s birth to His ascension into heaven – types that take us to the purpose for Christ’s present ministry as High Priest in the heavens, to the events at the Judgment Seat following the resurrection/rapture of the Church and beyond, to the Lord’s return to deliver Israel at the end of the Tribulation. a). And then in addition to the typology concerning the Christ we also find typical pictures concerning the nation of Israel throughout the time of the events covered through the typology of Christ. b). We have seen Israel at the Lord’s birth under Gentile dominion through the Roman Empire, just as we had seen Israel under Gentile dominion in Egypt through the Assyrian Pharaoh, in the Book of the Exodus. c). We had seen the attempt by Satan through the Pharaoh who did not know Joseph to destroy the one God had sent to deliver His people – Ex.1:22 So Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, “Every son who is born you shall cast into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive.” An event that foreshadowed Satan’s attempt to destroy Israel’s Messiah at the time of His birth – Matt. 2:16 Then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived by the wise men, was exceedingly angry; and he sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the wise men. d). And both these attempts to prevent the fulfillment of God’s purpose for Israel foreshadow a time that remains yet future when the Antichrist will attempt to destroy the ‘male child’, the first fruit of the nation – Rev. 12:1 Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars. 2 Then being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth. 3 And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. 4 His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born. 5 She bore a male Child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her Child was caught up to God and His throne. And all these attempts to destroy God’s purpose through trying to destroy an individual, portend Satan’s attempt to eradicate the Jewish people, which has been at the heart of all he has done – Lu 21:23 "But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! For there will be great distress in the land and wrath upon this people. 24 "And they will fall by the edge of the sword, and be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. And in relation to the attempted destruction of the Jewish people seen in Revelation 12 and Luke 21, it is also in Exodus that we find the burning bush, with God in its midst, that is not consumed, teaching us of the certainty that Israel can never be destroyed, therefore confirming that God’s purpose for His people will be brought to pass exactly as He has said despite Satan’s attempts to stop it. Power Point – Slides 1-2 e). We have also seen the Children of Israel’s rejection of Moses as their deliverer when he went to them after 40 years, picturing Israel’s rejection of their King, who appeared to them, for the purpose of deliverance, when the fullness of the time had come. f). And we have seen Moses’ escape to the land of Midian as Pharaoh sought his life foreshadowing the Lord’s ascension into heaven following His death and resurrection. g). And it was while in Midian that Moses took Zipporah to be his wife, foreshadowing the Bride of Christ being revealed at the Judgment Seat during the time the Lord waits in heaven before His return to the earth. 2). With all this in mind we might remember what the Lord had told Abraham in - Ge 15:13 Then He said to Abram: "Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years. 14 "And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions. God had given Abraham a specific period of time, 400 years, when his descendants would be strangers in a land not theirs and God had told him of the affliction these descendants would experience during the latter part of that 400-year period. a). And so, as Moses encountered the Lord at the burning bush we will realize that this 400 years, of which God spoke to Abraham, was almost at its conclusion. And with this conclusion came the certainty of deliverance, the certainty of judgment upon Egypt and the promise of ‘great possessions’. b). And we might also remember that which Joseph had said to the Children of Israel as his death approached - Ge 50:24 And Joseph said to his brethren, "I am dying; but God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land to the land of which He swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob." 25 Then Joseph took an oath from the children of Israel, saying, "God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here." 26 So Joseph died, being one hundred and ten years old; and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt. Joseph knew about the 400 years Abraham had been told of and as one of Abraham’s descendants he had spent his entire life as a stranger in a land not his. And he also knew that God would surely visit His people at a time beyond his death, to take them to the land promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And with this certainty he instructed that his bones were placed in an unburied coffin in Egypt in anticipation of that day. c). And so, as Moses encountered the Lord at the burning bush we will realize that the day for the removal of Joseph’s bones from Egypt was almost at hand as well. d). And for the Children of Israel themselves, the promised 400 years and the presence of Joseph’s coffin in their midst should have been a constant reminder that God would visit them and at the appointed time, which He had already specified, would do all that He had said. e). And so, as Moses encountered the Lord at the burning bush, that which God had said to Abraham, recorded in Genesis Chapter 15 was about to be brought to pass at exactly the time He had decreed – Ex 12:40 Now the sojourn of the children of Israel who lived in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years. 41 And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years-on that very same day-it came to pass that all the armies of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt. And in this whole picture is not only the affliction that yet awaits the nation at the hands of the Assyrian Antichrist, but also the certainty of the nation’s protection, the certainty of their deliverance and the certainty of the wealth of the Gentiles coming into their hands – in other words, the certainty that God will fulfill His purpose for the creation of Man with respect to the entire Jewish nation. f). God has always, and is still, working within a very specific timeframe, which we can see from the beginning of scripture with the setting out of 6 days of work followed by a seventh day of rest – God never added additional days to this – it took exactly 6 days to accomplish the restoration of the ruined creation and then He rested from His restorative work on the 7th Day as His work of the previous 6 days had been completed. g). And it will be exactly the same with the time that God has allotted for the restoration of fallen Man – this restoration will take 6000 years, no more and no less and will be followed by a 7th 1000 years during which God will rest from His restorative work of the previous 6000 years – the pattern has been set and nothing can change it. h). And within this overall framework God has divided this 6000 years of restorative work into three 2000-year periods and during each period He works with different groups of His household servants, giving us dispensations. And without doubt each of these 2000 years has been and will be precisely kept. i). Now we also see in the scriptures that these dispensations do not necessarily begin immediately the previous dispensation is ended. We can see through the prophecy of Daniel’s 70 weeks that God’s dealings with Israel stop at a precise moment in time before the completion of the full 70 weeks – Da 9:24 "Seventy weeks are determined For your people and for your holy city, To finish the transgression, To make an end of sins, To make reconciliation for iniquity, To bring in everlasting righteousness, To seal up vision and prophecy, And to anoint the Most Holy. 25 "Know therefore and understand, That from the going forth of the command To restore and build Jerusalem Until 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. 26 "And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, The 2000 years allotted to the dispensation for the Jewish people began with Abraham and Daniel’s prophecy, written during the Babylonian captivity, deals with a specific period of time that will bring the full 2000 years of the dispensation to its close. j). The prophecy we have just read had been preceded by the Lord revealing to Daniel another of His specific time periods - Da 9:1 ¶ In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the lineage of the Medes, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans- 2 in the first year of his reign I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years specified by the word of the LORD through Jeremiah the prophet, that He would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem. 3 Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. God had spoken to Jeremiah and Jeremiah had recorded that the captivity in which Daniel found himself would last for 70 years, and after this time the Jews would begin to return to Jerusalem. Daniel, having read the Book of Jeremiah, and having done the math had realized that the 70 years that God had assigned to the captivity was nearly up. k). Daniel presumably thought that this would be the time when God would restore the Theocracy to Israel and so began to pray in accordance with- 2Ch 7:14 "if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. In response to Daniel’s prayer God sent the angel Gabriel to Daniel to tell him, and therefore the Jewish people, and by extension, us, that God would keep to the 70 years for the return to Jerusalem, but for the Theocracy to be restored to Israel, as Daniel had looked for, He had allotted not 70 years, but 7 X 70 years – a total of 490 years, that would be counted from a predetermined event. l). And as with the 6 days in Genesis and the 400/430 years for the sojourn of the Children of Israel, God has kept and will keep to His timetable exactly. m). Now, we read in Daniel’s 70-week prophecy - 25 "Know therefore and understand, That from the going forth of the command To restore and build Jerusalem Until 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. 26 "And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, And here our attention is drawn to 2 specific times – there are 7 weeks [49 years] and 62 weeks [434 years], giving us a total of 69 weeks [483 years]. n). It is exactly at the 483-year mark that Messiah is ‘cut off’ – this is the Lord’s crucifixion, the event that seals the setting aside of Israel, leaving 1 week [7 years] of Daniel’s prophecy still to be completed. o). And we know by comparing scripture with scripture that between Daniel’s 69th and 70th weeks there is a 2000-year dispensation during which God is calling out of the Gentiles a people for His name. And this dispensation began on the Day of Pentecost, following the Lord’s crucifixion. p). So, here is the thing for us to note – between the Lord’s crucifixion and Pentecost there were 50 days. 50 days that could not be part of the previous 483 years nor part of the present dispensation. q). And this is not the only place we see such a gap - Re 1:10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, as of a trumpet, 11 saying, "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last," and, "What you see, write in a book and send it to the seven churches which are in Asia: to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamos, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea." At the beginning of the Book of the Revelation we see the 7 churches in the Lord’s presence in the Lord’s Day. That which we see here immediately follows the resurrection/rapture of the Church, which shows that the 2000 years of this dispensation has run its course - 2Co 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. r). But, the beginning of Daniel’s 70th week, the Tribulation, does not begin with the resurrection/rapture of the Church, but with the opening of the first seal on the 7 sealed scroll - Re 6:1 ¶ Now I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals; and I heard one of the four living creatures saying with a voice like thunder, "Come and see." 2 And I looked, and behold, a white horse. He who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer. Once the complete Church is seen in Christ’s presence in Chapter 1, Chapters 2 and 3 deal with the Judgment of the Church, Chapter 4 presents the 24 elders casting down their crowns and Chapter 5 the search for the One worthy to open the 7-sealed scroll – and so there is an unspecified period of time between the end of this dispensation and the beginning of the completion of the previous dispensation. s). In the same way there are 75 days seen following the conclusion of Daniel’s 70th week before the Millennial Kingdom begins - Da 12:11 "And from the time that the daily sacrifice is taken away, and the abomination of desolation is set up, there shall be one thousand two hundred and ninety days. 12 "Blessed is he who waits, and comes to the one thousand three hundred and thirty-five days. Now the point would be this, although we see God’s timings interspersed with additional days, as we have just seen, God’s timing for each of the 2000-year dispensations has and will be absolutely precise. Power Point – Slides 3-7 t). The Lord has allotted exactly 2000, 360 day years for this dispensation, for the Holy Spirit to search out the Bride for God’s Son, and it will run neither a day nor a minute beyond the time that God has set – it cannot or else the Lord would violate the very foundation on which the whole of His purpose is built - Hab 2:2 Then the LORD answered me and said: "Write the vision And make it plain on tablets, That he may run who reads it. 3 For the vision is yet for an appointed time; But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; Because it will surely come, It will not tarry. Heb 10:37 "For yet a little while, And He who is coming will come and will not tarry. 3). And right here is where an apparent problem should provide us with the loudest of all wake-up calls. a). If we take AD 33 as the date for the Lord’s crucifixion and therefore the date for Pentecost, then we can work out that we are approaching 2024 years for this dispensation and that cannot be correct. b). So, what is going on? There is no other explanation than the Gregorian calendar which we use to determine time has been corrupted during the past 2000 years and the corruption of this calendar can only be by Divine design. c). At the conclusion of the parable of the wise and foolish virgins the Lord says this - Mt 25:13 "Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming. The Lord has said that we are to know ‘neither the day nor the hour’ when He will come to call His Church into the heavens to Judgment and as the integrity of the scriptures is always maintained we cannot be allowed to have an accurate counting of years. d). Also, think of the hoopla that Man has created around an arbitrary date for the Lord’s birth – think how much worse it would be if the real date were known – now transfer this thought over to knowing the precise time of the Lord’s return. I’m sure we can imagine the picture. e). The key to this is found in the verse that follows Hebrews 10:37 – Heb 10:38 Now the just shall live by faith…………. Within the context of the Book of Hebrews, the faith spoken of here is faith to the saving of the soul and the foundation upon which our faith to the saving of the soul is built, which itself becomes an integral part of that faith, is the first 34 verses of Genesis – 6 days of work, no more, no less to be followed by a 7th Day. God has set out this time for us, we know it’s there - 2Pe 3:8 ¶ But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. And in this respect, we are much like Moses at the burning bush. f). It is not to the world around us that we look to govern our lives and determine God’s calendar, but to the truth of scripture and as we look to the scriptures there are only 2 possibilities, either all we have believed has been a lie or the return of our Lord is imminent, to the point where we can no longer reckon it in tens of years. It is exactly as James wrote - Jas 5:9 Do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned. Behold, the Judge is standing at the door! g). We will continue with this next time – if we are all still here, and if the Lord is willing. The Word of God - A Survey of the Bible - Part Six - F Feb 18, 2018 Speaker: John Herbert Series: The Word of God - A Survey of the Bible Category: Sunday Morning https://s3.amazonaws.com/cornerstonejax/sermonfiles/020818_Pt-6F.mp3 Download Audio x
Refresh A Recap from the Sermon Ex 3:9 "Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to Me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. Moses' encounter with the Lord at the burning bush comes at the appointed time of which God had spoken to Abraham. God's timing will be the subject of our study today. The full text of todat's message can be found by clicking the PDF button. Sunday February 18th 2018 The Word of God A Survey of the Bible – Part 6F ‘Your Descendants After You’ 1). Acts 7:35 “This Moses whom they rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’ is the one God sent to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the Angel who appeared to him in the bush. 36 He brought them out, after he had shown wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness forty years. We have seen in previous weeks how the life of Moses has been recorded in the scriptures to present a series of types which provide information on the Lord’s first advent – from the time of the Lord’s birth to His ascension into heaven – types that take us to the purpose for Christ’s present ministry as High Priest in the heavens, to the events at the Judgment Seat following the resurrection/rapture of the Church and beyond, to the Lord’s return to deliver Israel at the end of the Tribulation. a). And then in addition to the typology concerning the Christ we also find typical pictures concerning the nation of Israel throughout the time of the events covered through the typology of Christ. b). We have seen Israel at the Lord’s birth under Gentile dominion through the Roman Empire, just as we had seen Israel under Gentile dominion in Egypt through the Assyrian Pharaoh, in the Book of the Exodus. c). We had seen the attempt by Satan through the Pharaoh who did not know Joseph to destroy the one God had sent to deliver His people – Ex.1:22 So Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, “Every son who is born you shall cast into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive.” An event that foreshadowed Satan’s attempt to destroy Israel’s Messiah at the time of His birth – Matt. 2:16 Then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived by the wise men, was exceedingly angry; and he sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the wise men. d). And both these attempts to prevent the fulfillment of God’s purpose for Israel foreshadow a time that remains yet future when the Antichrist will attempt to destroy the ‘male child’, the first fruit of the nation – Rev. 12:1 Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars. 2 Then being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth. 3 And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. 4 His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born. 5 She bore a male Child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her Child was caught up to God and His throne. And all these attempts to destroy God’s purpose through trying to destroy an individual, portend Satan’s attempt to eradicate the Jewish people, which has been at the heart of all he has done – Lu 21:23 "But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! For there will be great distress in the land and wrath upon this people. 24 "And they will fall by the edge of the sword, and be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. And in relation to the attempted destruction of the Jewish people seen in Revelation 12 and Luke 21, it is also in Exodus that we find the burning bush, with God in its midst, that is not consumed, teaching us of the certainty that Israel can never be destroyed, therefore confirming that God’s purpose for His people will be brought to pass exactly as He has said despite Satan’s attempts to stop it. Power Point – Slides 1-2 e). We have also seen the Children of Israel’s rejection of Moses as their deliverer when he went to them after 40 years, picturing Israel’s rejection of their King, who appeared to them, for the purpose of deliverance, when the fullness of the time had come. f). And we have seen Moses’ escape to the land of Midian as Pharaoh sought his life foreshadowing the Lord’s ascension into heaven following His death and resurrection. g). And it was while in Midian that Moses took Zipporah to be his wife, foreshadowing the Bride of Christ being revealed at the Judgment Seat during the time the Lord waits in heaven before His return to the earth. 2). With all this in mind we might remember what the Lord had told Abraham in - Ge 15:13 Then He said to Abram: "Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years. 14 "And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions. God had given Abraham a specific period of time, 400 years, when his descendants would be strangers in a land not theirs and God had told him of the affliction these descendants would experience during the latter part of that 400-year period. a). And so, as Moses encountered the Lord at the burning bush we will realize that this 400 years, of which God spoke to Abraham, was almost at its conclusion. And with this conclusion came the certainty of deliverance, the certainty of judgment upon Egypt and the promise of ‘great possessions’. b). And we might also remember that which Joseph had said to the Children of Israel as his death approached - Ge 50:24 And Joseph said to his brethren, "I am dying; but God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land to the land of which He swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob." 25 Then Joseph took an oath from the children of Israel, saying, "God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here." 26 So Joseph died, being one hundred and ten years old; and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt. Joseph knew about the 400 years Abraham had been told of and as one of Abraham’s descendants he had spent his entire life as a stranger in a land not his. And he also knew that God would surely visit His people at a time beyond his death, to take them to the land promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And with this certainty he instructed that his bones were placed in an unburied coffin in Egypt in anticipation of that day. c). And so, as Moses encountered the Lord at the burning bush we will realize that the day for the removal of Joseph’s bones from Egypt was almost at hand as well. d). And for the Children of Israel themselves, the promised 400 years and the presence of Joseph’s coffin in their midst should have been a constant reminder that God would visit them and at the appointed time, which He had already specified, would do all that He had said. e). And so, as Moses encountered the Lord at the burning bush, that which God had said to Abraham, recorded in Genesis Chapter 15 was about to be brought to pass at exactly the time He had decreed – Ex 12:40 Now the sojourn of the children of Israel who lived in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years. 41 And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years-on that very same day-it came to pass that all the armies of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt. And in this whole picture is not only the affliction that yet awaits the nation at the hands of the Assyrian Antichrist, but also the certainty of the nation’s protection, the certainty of their deliverance and the certainty of the wealth of the Gentiles coming into their hands – in other words, the certainty that God will fulfill His purpose for the creation of Man with respect to the entire Jewish nation. f). God has always, and is still, working within a very specific timeframe, which we can see from the beginning of scripture with the setting out of 6 days of work followed by a seventh day of rest – God never added additional days to this – it took exactly 6 days to accomplish the restoration of the ruined creation and then He rested from His restorative work on the 7th Day as His work of the previous 6 days had been completed. g). And it will be exactly the same with the time that God has allotted for the restoration of fallen Man – this restoration will take 6000 years, no more and no less and will be followed by a 7th 1000 years during which God will rest from His restorative work of the previous 6000 years – the pattern has been set and nothing can change it. h). And within this overall framework God has divided this 6000 years of restorative work into three 2000-year periods and during each period He works with different groups of His household servants, giving us dispensations. And without doubt each of these 2000 years has been and will be precisely kept. i). Now we also see in the scriptures that these dispensations do not necessarily begin immediately the previous dispensation is ended. We can see through the prophecy of Daniel’s 70 weeks that God’s dealings with Israel stop at a precise moment in time before the completion of the full 70 weeks – Da 9:24 "Seventy weeks are determined For your people and for your holy city, To finish the transgression, To make an end of sins, To make reconciliation for iniquity, To bring in everlasting righteousness, To seal up vision and prophecy, And to anoint the Most Holy. 25 "Know therefore and understand, That from the going forth of the command To restore and build Jerusalem Until 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. 26 "And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, The 2000 years allotted to the dispensation for the Jewish people began with Abraham and Daniel’s prophecy, written during the Babylonian captivity, deals with a specific period of time that will bring the full 2000 years of the dispensation to its close. j). The prophecy we have just read had been preceded by the Lord revealing to Daniel another of His specific time periods - Da 9:1 ¶ In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the lineage of the Medes, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans- 2 in the first year of his reign I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years specified by the word of the LORD through Jeremiah the prophet, that He would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem. 3 Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. God had spoken to Jeremiah and Jeremiah had recorded that the captivity in which Daniel found himself would last for 70 years, and after this time the Jews would begin to return to Jerusalem. Daniel, having read the Book of Jeremiah, and having done the math had realized that the 70 years that God had assigned to the captivity was nearly up. k). Daniel presumably thought that this would be the time when God would restore the Theocracy to Israel and so began to pray in accordance with- 2Ch 7:14 "if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. In response to Daniel’s prayer God sent the angel Gabriel to Daniel to tell him, and therefore the Jewish people, and by extension, us, that God would keep to the 70 years for the return to Jerusalem, but for the Theocracy to be restored to Israel, as Daniel had looked for, He had allotted not 70 years, but 7 X 70 years – a total of 490 years, that would be counted from a predetermined event. l). And as with the 6 days in Genesis and the 400/430 years for the sojourn of the Children of Israel, God has kept and will keep to His timetable exactly. m). Now, we read in Daniel’s 70-week prophecy - 25 "Know therefore and understand, That from the going forth of the command To restore and build Jerusalem Until 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. 26 "And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, And here our attention is drawn to 2 specific times – there are 7 weeks [49 years] and 62 weeks [434 years], giving us a total of 69 weeks [483 years]. n). It is exactly at the 483-year mark that Messiah is ‘cut off’ – this is the Lord’s crucifixion, the event that seals the setting aside of Israel, leaving 1 week [7 years] of Daniel’s prophecy still to be completed. o). And we know by comparing scripture with scripture that between Daniel’s 69th and 70th weeks there is a 2000-year dispensation during which God is calling out of the Gentiles a people for His name. And this dispensation began on the Day of Pentecost, following the Lord’s crucifixion. p). So, here is the thing for us to note – between the Lord’s crucifixion and Pentecost there were 50 days. 50 days that could not be part of the previous 483 years nor part of the present dispensation. q). And this is not the only place we see such a gap - Re 1:10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, as of a trumpet, 11 saying, "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last," and, "What you see, write in a book and send it to the seven churches which are in Asia: to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamos, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea." At the beginning of the Book of the Revelation we see the 7 churches in the Lord’s presence in the Lord’s Day. That which we see here immediately follows the resurrection/rapture of the Church, which shows that the 2000 years of this dispensation has run its course - 2Co 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. r). But, the beginning of Daniel’s 70th week, the Tribulation, does not begin with the resurrection/rapture of the Church, but with the opening of the first seal on the 7 sealed scroll - Re 6:1 ¶ Now I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals; and I heard one of the four living creatures saying with a voice like thunder, "Come and see." 2 And I looked, and behold, a white horse. He who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer. Once the complete Church is seen in Christ’s presence in Chapter 1, Chapters 2 and 3 deal with the Judgment of the Church, Chapter 4 presents the 24 elders casting down their crowns and Chapter 5 the search for the One worthy to open the 7-sealed scroll – and so there is an unspecified period of time between the end of this dispensation and the beginning of the completion of the previous dispensation. s). In the same way there are 75 days seen following the conclusion of Daniel’s 70th week before the Millennial Kingdom begins - Da 12:11 "And from the time that the daily sacrifice is taken away, and the abomination of desolation is set up, there shall be one thousand two hundred and ninety days. 12 "Blessed is he who waits, and comes to the one thousand three hundred and thirty-five days. Now the point would be this, although we see God’s timings interspersed with additional days, as we have just seen, God’s timing for each of the 2000-year dispensations has and will be absolutely precise. Power Point – Slides 3-7 t). The Lord has allotted exactly 2000, 360 day years for this dispensation, for the Holy Spirit to search out the Bride for God’s Son, and it will run neither a day nor a minute beyond the time that God has set – it cannot or else the Lord would violate the very foundation on which the whole of His purpose is built - Hab 2:2 Then the LORD answered me and said: "Write the vision And make it plain on tablets, That he may run who reads it. 3 For the vision is yet for an appointed time; But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; Because it will surely come, It will not tarry. Heb 10:37 "For yet a little while, And He who is coming will come and will not tarry. 3). And right here is where an apparent problem should provide us with the loudest of all wake-up calls. a). If we take AD 33 as the date for the Lord’s crucifixion and therefore the date for Pentecost, then we can work out that we are approaching 2024 years for this dispensation and that cannot be correct. b). So, what is going on? There is no other explanation than the Gregorian calendar which we use to determine time has been corrupted during the past 2000 years and the corruption of this calendar can only be by Divine design. c). At the conclusion of the parable of the wise and foolish virgins the Lord says this - Mt 25:13 "Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming. The Lord has said that we are to know ‘neither the day nor the hour’ when He will come to call His Church into the heavens to Judgment and as the integrity of the scriptures is always maintained we cannot be allowed to have an accurate counting of years. d). Also, think of the hoopla that Man has created around an arbitrary date for the Lord’s birth – think how much worse it would be if the real date were known – now transfer this thought over to knowing the precise time of the Lord’s return. I’m sure we can imagine the picture. e). The key to this is found in the verse that follows Hebrews 10:37 – Heb 10:38 Now the just shall live by faith…………. Within the context of the Book of Hebrews, the faith spoken of here is faith to the saving of the soul and the foundation upon which our faith to the saving of the soul is built, which itself becomes an integral part of that faith, is the first 34 verses of Genesis – 6 days of work, no more, no less to be followed by a 7th Day. God has set out this time for us, we know it’s there - 2Pe 3:8 ¶ But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. And in this respect, we are much like Moses at the burning bush. f). It is not to the world around us that we look to govern our lives and determine God’s calendar, but to the truth of scripture and as we look to the scriptures there are only 2 possibilities, either all we have believed has been a lie or the return of our Lord is imminent, to the point where we can no longer reckon it in tens of years. It is exactly as James wrote - Jas 5:9 Do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned. Behold, the Judge is standing at the door! g). We will continue with this next time – if we are all still here, and if the Lord is willing.