The Word of God - A Survey of the Bible - Part Twenty-One - D Aug 02, 2020 by: John Herbert | Series: The Word of God - A Survey of the Bible Audio Study Notes PDF https://s3.amazonaws.com/cornerstonejax/sermonfiles/T027_20200802.mp3 Refresh A Recap from the Sermon Da 9:26 “And after the 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. Today we will begin tp look at events that begin Daniel's 70th seven. The full text of this message can be found by clicking the PDF button. Sunday August 2nd 2020 The Word of God A Survey of the Bible – Lesson 21D The Remains of the Day 1). Jn 19:14 Now it was the Preparation Day of the Passover, and about the sixth hour. And he said to the Jews, “Behold your King!” 15 But they cried out, “Away with Him, away with Him! Crucify Him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King? ”The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar!” 16 Then he delivered Him to them to be crucified. Then they took Jesus and led Him away………. 19 Now Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross. And the writing was: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS. Exactly 483 years after the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem Messiah was ‘cut off’, exactly as Gabriel had revealed to Daniel in the prophecy of the seventy sevens – Da 9:26 “And after the 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 nation of Israel, under the direction and influence of its religious leaders, particularly the Pharisees and the scribes the largest of the religious groups in Israel, had killed their King, just as Jesus had told them they would in the parable of the vinedressers in Matthew Chapter 21 – Mt 21:37 Then last of all he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 38 But when the vinedressers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.’ 39 So they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him. And then 2 chapters later Jesus made clear to the same religious leaders that their ‘house’, the house of Israel, the inheritance they would kill Him for, would be left to them ‘desolate’. And they would not see Him again until they acknowledged and recognized who He is. This is how Chapter 23 ends, and Chapter 24 begins with Jesus telling His disciples about the destruction of the Temple - Mt 23:37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! 38 See! Your house is left to you desolate; 39 for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’ ” 24:1 Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the temple. 2 And Jesus said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down.” So then, the Jewish people had killed the One born the King of the Jews, the One who came to offer them the Kingdom of the heavens contingent upon the nation repenting, contingent upon changing their minds about the centuries of disobedience and unfaithfulness they had walked in, in order to turn back and embrace God’s purpose for them, as He had promised Abraham – Ge 22:16 and said: “By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son— 17 blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. 18 In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.” And according to Daniel’s prophecy, this would happen following the nation’s action of killing their King – Da 9:26 “And after the 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. A ‘prince’, a ruler is to come, and this ruler will destroy the city and the sanctuary, being the final ‘rod’, God will use to correct His wayward son – Isa 10:5 “Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger And the staff in whose hand is My indignation. 6 I will send him against an ungodly nation, And against the people of My wrath I will give him charge, To seize the spoil, to take the prey, And to tread them down like the mire of the streets. Now, because we see the end of the 69th seven marked by the Lord’s crucifixion, the coming prince and his destruction of the city and the sanctuary, when he is sent against ‘an ungodly nation’, must take place in the 70th seven, the final 7 years that will complete the 490 years that God has allotted to the Jewish people to bring them to repentance – Da 9:24 “Seventy sevens 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………….. And we have seen that at the end of the 490 years, Israel’s centuries of transgression will be finished, an end will have been made of their sins and their iniquity will have been reconciled. a). And as a result of this concluding Divine work being brought to its conclusion by the hand of the prince who is to come, the Millennial Kingdom must then come into view – ……………To bring in everlasting righteousness, To seal up vision and prophecy, And to anoint the Most Holy. And it is not difficult for us to see that the events of these last 7 years of the 490 years have not yet come to pass and nor has Christ’s Kingdom yet been established in the earth, therefore all still remains yet future. b). And it is equally easy to see that Israel being Divinely brought to repentance by the hand of the Gentile nations, resulting in reconciliation and restoration, as prophesied in Daniel, is inextricably linked to the ‘prince who is to come’ and to his actions seen in the destruction of the city and the sanctuary. All is to take place within these last 7 years. c). And with this in mind we will remember that God had determined early on in Israel’s history that He would use the Gentile nations to bring about Israel’s national repentance – Eze 22:15 I will scatter you among the nations, disperse you throughout the countries, and remove your filthiness completely from you. The prince who is to come is the final form of this, bringing an end to the repetitive cycle of disobedience and repentance we had seen in the Book of Judges that eventually led to the Assyrian and Babylonian captivities. 2). Now, if we go back to where we began today with Messiah being ‘cut off’ and follow the events given to us in the Scriptures, from the Gospels, to the Book of Acts and to the Epistles, we will see that the Kingdom of the heavens had been taken from the nation of Israel to be given to a new nation, the new creation in Christ - Mt 21:43 “Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it. Acts 28:28 “Therefore let it be known to you that the salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will hear it!” 29 And when he had said these words, the Jews departed and had a great dispute among themselves. Ga 3:26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. It is not the prince who is to come and his persecution of the Jewish people who is seen in the Scriptural record following the Lord’s crucifixion and resurrection, but the Church. a). God has placed a comma, so to speak, at the end of Daniel’s 69th seven while He turns His attention to those who are to be the recipients of that which national Israel had rejected, the Kingdom of the heavens. Those who are the seed of Abraham, by faith. b). Those who will be called out from Christ’s body to be His Bride and ultimately His Wife, just as we have seen through the types of the Woman, Asenath, Zipporah, Rebekah and Ruth. c). And we had seen last time how this gap of 2000 years between Daniel’s 69th and 70th seven, is seen particularly in the sequence of events presented through the types of Enoch and Noah in the genealogy of Adam in Genesis Chapter 5 and the panoramic type seen in Genesis Chapters 21-25. d). All of which has made clear to us that the events of Daniel’s 70th seven remain as yet unfulfilled. Power Point – Slides 1-12 e). Now, it is true that Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed in 70AD by the Romans, and the Jewish people were scattered among the nations, but national repentance did not follow this and, in terms of the passage of time, we have moved on a good way beyond 7 years after this took place. Combining this with the other reasons we have looked at, the destruction of the city and the sanctuary by the Romans in 70AD cannot possibly be the subject of Daniel’s prophecy. f). Rather, we would see this particular destruction and diaspora as the continued outworking of that which God had laid out for His people in Leviticus Chapter 26 and Deuteronomy Chapter 28 – Le 26:33 I will scatter you among the nations and draw out a sword after you; your land shall be desolate and your cities waste. 34 Then the land shall enjoy its sabbaths as long as it lies desolate and you are in your enemies’ land; then the land shall rest and enjoy its sabbaths. God will always remain true to His Word, and since 70AD, in fact as has been the case for the last 2600 years, Israel has been cast out among the nations to be persecuted at the hands of those nations with a view to national repentance being forthcoming – Le 26:40 ‘But if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers, with their unfaithfulness in which they were unfaithful to Me, and that they also have walked contrary to Me, 41 and that I also have walked contrary to them and have brought them into the land of their enemies; if their uncircumcised hearts are humbled, and they accept their guilt— 42 then I will remember My covenant with Jacob, and My covenant with Isaac and My covenant with Abraham I will remember; I will remember the land. Israel’s national repentance with respect to the Kingdom transcends dispensational boundaries. If national repentance had been forthcoming at any time following the beginning of the Babylonian captivity the Kingdom could have been taken from Satan and given to those for whom it was intended. But repentance has never yet been forthcoming. g). From the Day of Pentecost, following the Lord’s resurrection, the Kingdom of the heavens that had previously been offered to Israel by John, Jesus, the 12 and the 70, was now in the possession of the Church, and could then be re-offered by the Church to that same eternally saved generation of national Israel who had been present before the crucifixion, still contingent upon national repentance, which was the focus of Peter’s message that day in Jerusalem to those same eternally saved Jews – Acts 2:36 “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”37 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” 38 Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. At the close of the Book of Acts, around 62AD, that eternally saved generation of Jews, saved before the cross through the death and shed blood of the Passover lambs, still rejecting the offer of the Kingdom of the heavens, was rapidly disappearing from the scene and consequently there would no longer be an eternally saved Jewish nation to whom the Kingdom of the heavens could continue to be re-offered, and so Paul went to the Gentiles with the salvation of God, as we had seen in Acts 28:28. h). The return of national Israel to the land within a Theocracy though, presents a different picture as it has been unconditionally covenanted to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and David, and cannot be given to anyone else. i). Even though, during the course of this dispensation, God is dealing exclusively with the Church with respect to the Kingdom of the heavens and the salvation of the soul, the reason for Israel being scattered among the Gentile nations from the time of the Babylonian captivity onwards remains the same and therefore even today, the door for national repentance must remain open. This is why anti-Semitism has continued unabated throughout all this time in all its forms and intensities, from the Jewish joke to the holocaust. j). But then, despite Israel’s national repentance always remaining open to them, we also know from the Scriptures, that this will not be seen until the events of Daniel’s 70th seven are completed. k). And it really would not have been possible for these events to even begin to be completed any time prior to May 14th, 1948. 3). Da 9:26 “And after the 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 the war desolations are determined. 27 Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one seven; But in the middle of the seven [3 ½ years] 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.” We have already seen that there is a prince, a ruler, who is to come. And that this ruler will destroy the city, Jerusalem, and the sanctuary, the Temple. And we see at the beginning of v27 that this ruler will confirm a covenant ‘with many’ in Israel for one seven. a). Here then is the event, clearly given, that marks the beginning of Daniel’s 70th seven. The prince who is to come will enter into a covenant with the Jewish people. A covenant it seems made with the majority, but not all Jews present in the land. b). And as we continue in v27, we see that it is in the middle of the seven, after 3 ½ years, that he will bring and end to sacrifice and offering. And sacrifice and offering will be brought to an end because at this time he will destroy the city and the sanctuary having committed an abomination that will make Jerusalem and indeed the whole of Israel desolate – Lk 21:20 “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near. 21 Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those who are in the midst of her depart, and let not those who are in the country enter her. 22 For these are the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. 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 here is something we will also want to consider. For sacrifice and offering to be brought to an end they must first begin again. And for sacrifice and offering to begin again, there must be a Temple, and since 70AD there hasn’t been one. In fact, the Al Aqsa Mosque occupies the Temple Mount in the present day. c). For this to change, for a Jewish Temple to be built on the Temple Mount, something extraordinary will need to take place. And something that extraordinary is impossible in our present day. But not it seems for the prince who is to come – 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. The rider on the white horse and the prince who is to come are one and the same person. In Daniel we see him making a covenant with many in Israel and in Revelation Chapter 6 he is seen going out on a white horse as the first seal on the 7-sealed scroll is opened. These are 2 ways of describing the same event – the beginning of Daniels 70th seven, the final 7 years of the 490. d). The white horse suggests purity and peace and we see its rider has a bow but no arrows and at this time he is given a stephanos crown as he goes out conquering and to conquer. e). The scene portrayed here is of a man of peace who is to hold a regal position and his political ambition in this direction is seen through his going out conquering and to conquer. But that which the rider on the white horse appears to be is counterfeit. He looks like ‘the prince of peace’, but he is far from it. f). It would appear that he has established peace for Israel in the midst of her Moslem neighbors through his covenant, even making possible the rebuilding of the Temple. g). But the true nature of this covenant and Israel’s involvement in it has been prophetically revealed in Isaiah – Isa 28:15 Because you have said, “We have made a covenant with death, And with Sheol we are in agreement. When the overflowing scourge passes through, It will not come to us, For we have made lies our refuge, And under falsehood we have hidden ourselves.” The true nature and purpose of the prince who is to come is then revealed with the opening of the second seal on the 7-sealed scroll, when the same rider from the white horse is then seen riding on a red horse – Re 6:3 When He opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, “Come and see.” 4 Another horse, fiery red, went out. And it was granted to the one who sat on it to take peace from the earth, and that people should kill one another; and there was given to him a great sword. The opening of the second seal takes us back to Daniel Chapter 9 and that which was prophesied following Messiah being ‘cut off’ – Da 9:26……………..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 the war desolations are determined. 27 Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week; But in the middle of the 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.” Da 11:31 And forces shall be mustered by him, and they shall defile the sanctuary fortress; then they shall take away the daily sacrifices, and place there the abomination of desolation. 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. [3 ½ years] Mt 24:15 “Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand), 16 “then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17 Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house. 18 And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes. 19 But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! 20 And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath. 21 For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. 22 And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect's sake those days will be shortened. We will continue with this next time though – if the Lord is willing. The Word of God - A Survey of the Bible - Part Twenty-One - D Aug 02, 2020 Speaker: John Herbert Series: The Word of God - A Survey of the Bible Category: Sunday Morning https://s3.amazonaws.com/cornerstonejax/sermonfiles/T027_20200802.mp3 Download Audio x
Refresh A Recap from the Sermon Da 9:26 “And after the 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. Today we will begin tp look at events that begin Daniel's 70th seven. The full text of this message can be found by clicking the PDF button. Sunday August 2nd 2020 The Word of God A Survey of the Bible – Lesson 21D The Remains of the Day 1). Jn 19:14 Now it was the Preparation Day of the Passover, and about the sixth hour. And he said to the Jews, “Behold your King!” 15 But they cried out, “Away with Him, away with Him! Crucify Him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King? ”The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar!” 16 Then he delivered Him to them to be crucified. Then they took Jesus and led Him away………. 19 Now Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross. And the writing was: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS. Exactly 483 years after the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem Messiah was ‘cut off’, exactly as Gabriel had revealed to Daniel in the prophecy of the seventy sevens – Da 9:26 “And after the 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 nation of Israel, under the direction and influence of its religious leaders, particularly the Pharisees and the scribes the largest of the religious groups in Israel, had killed their King, just as Jesus had told them they would in the parable of the vinedressers in Matthew Chapter 21 – Mt 21:37 Then last of all he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 38 But when the vinedressers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.’ 39 So they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him. And then 2 chapters later Jesus made clear to the same religious leaders that their ‘house’, the house of Israel, the inheritance they would kill Him for, would be left to them ‘desolate’. And they would not see Him again until they acknowledged and recognized who He is. This is how Chapter 23 ends, and Chapter 24 begins with Jesus telling His disciples about the destruction of the Temple - Mt 23:37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! 38 See! Your house is left to you desolate; 39 for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’ ” 24:1 Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the temple. 2 And Jesus said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down.” So then, the Jewish people had killed the One born the King of the Jews, the One who came to offer them the Kingdom of the heavens contingent upon the nation repenting, contingent upon changing their minds about the centuries of disobedience and unfaithfulness they had walked in, in order to turn back and embrace God’s purpose for them, as He had promised Abraham – Ge 22:16 and said: “By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son— 17 blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. 18 In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.” And according to Daniel’s prophecy, this would happen following the nation’s action of killing their King – Da 9:26 “And after the 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. A ‘prince’, a ruler is to come, and this ruler will destroy the city and the sanctuary, being the final ‘rod’, God will use to correct His wayward son – Isa 10:5 “Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger And the staff in whose hand is My indignation. 6 I will send him against an ungodly nation, And against the people of My wrath I will give him charge, To seize the spoil, to take the prey, And to tread them down like the mire of the streets. Now, because we see the end of the 69th seven marked by the Lord’s crucifixion, the coming prince and his destruction of the city and the sanctuary, when he is sent against ‘an ungodly nation’, must take place in the 70th seven, the final 7 years that will complete the 490 years that God has allotted to the Jewish people to bring them to repentance – Da 9:24 “Seventy sevens 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………….. And we have seen that at the end of the 490 years, Israel’s centuries of transgression will be finished, an end will have been made of their sins and their iniquity will have been reconciled. a). And as a result of this concluding Divine work being brought to its conclusion by the hand of the prince who is to come, the Millennial Kingdom must then come into view – ……………To bring in everlasting righteousness, To seal up vision and prophecy, And to anoint the Most Holy. And it is not difficult for us to see that the events of these last 7 years of the 490 years have not yet come to pass and nor has Christ’s Kingdom yet been established in the earth, therefore all still remains yet future. b). And it is equally easy to see that Israel being Divinely brought to repentance by the hand of the Gentile nations, resulting in reconciliation and restoration, as prophesied in Daniel, is inextricably linked to the ‘prince who is to come’ and to his actions seen in the destruction of the city and the sanctuary. All is to take place within these last 7 years. c). And with this in mind we will remember that God had determined early on in Israel’s history that He would use the Gentile nations to bring about Israel’s national repentance – Eze 22:15 I will scatter you among the nations, disperse you throughout the countries, and remove your filthiness completely from you. The prince who is to come is the final form of this, bringing an end to the repetitive cycle of disobedience and repentance we had seen in the Book of Judges that eventually led to the Assyrian and Babylonian captivities. 2). Now, if we go back to where we began today with Messiah being ‘cut off’ and follow the events given to us in the Scriptures, from the Gospels, to the Book of Acts and to the Epistles, we will see that the Kingdom of the heavens had been taken from the nation of Israel to be given to a new nation, the new creation in Christ - Mt 21:43 “Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it. Acts 28:28 “Therefore let it be known to you that the salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will hear it!” 29 And when he had said these words, the Jews departed and had a great dispute among themselves. Ga 3:26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. It is not the prince who is to come and his persecution of the Jewish people who is seen in the Scriptural record following the Lord’s crucifixion and resurrection, but the Church. a). God has placed a comma, so to speak, at the end of Daniel’s 69th seven while He turns His attention to those who are to be the recipients of that which national Israel had rejected, the Kingdom of the heavens. Those who are the seed of Abraham, by faith. b). Those who will be called out from Christ’s body to be His Bride and ultimately His Wife, just as we have seen through the types of the Woman, Asenath, Zipporah, Rebekah and Ruth. c). And we had seen last time how this gap of 2000 years between Daniel’s 69th and 70th seven, is seen particularly in the sequence of events presented through the types of Enoch and Noah in the genealogy of Adam in Genesis Chapter 5 and the panoramic type seen in Genesis Chapters 21-25. d). All of which has made clear to us that the events of Daniel’s 70th seven remain as yet unfulfilled. Power Point – Slides 1-12 e). Now, it is true that Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed in 70AD by the Romans, and the Jewish people were scattered among the nations, but national repentance did not follow this and, in terms of the passage of time, we have moved on a good way beyond 7 years after this took place. Combining this with the other reasons we have looked at, the destruction of the city and the sanctuary by the Romans in 70AD cannot possibly be the subject of Daniel’s prophecy. f). Rather, we would see this particular destruction and diaspora as the continued outworking of that which God had laid out for His people in Leviticus Chapter 26 and Deuteronomy Chapter 28 – Le 26:33 I will scatter you among the nations and draw out a sword after you; your land shall be desolate and your cities waste. 34 Then the land shall enjoy its sabbaths as long as it lies desolate and you are in your enemies’ land; then the land shall rest and enjoy its sabbaths. God will always remain true to His Word, and since 70AD, in fact as has been the case for the last 2600 years, Israel has been cast out among the nations to be persecuted at the hands of those nations with a view to national repentance being forthcoming – Le 26:40 ‘But if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers, with their unfaithfulness in which they were unfaithful to Me, and that they also have walked contrary to Me, 41 and that I also have walked contrary to them and have brought them into the land of their enemies; if their uncircumcised hearts are humbled, and they accept their guilt— 42 then I will remember My covenant with Jacob, and My covenant with Isaac and My covenant with Abraham I will remember; I will remember the land. Israel’s national repentance with respect to the Kingdom transcends dispensational boundaries. If national repentance had been forthcoming at any time following the beginning of the Babylonian captivity the Kingdom could have been taken from Satan and given to those for whom it was intended. But repentance has never yet been forthcoming. g). From the Day of Pentecost, following the Lord’s resurrection, the Kingdom of the heavens that had previously been offered to Israel by John, Jesus, the 12 and the 70, was now in the possession of the Church, and could then be re-offered by the Church to that same eternally saved generation of national Israel who had been present before the crucifixion, still contingent upon national repentance, which was the focus of Peter’s message that day in Jerusalem to those same eternally saved Jews – Acts 2:36 “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”37 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” 38 Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. At the close of the Book of Acts, around 62AD, that eternally saved generation of Jews, saved before the cross through the death and shed blood of the Passover lambs, still rejecting the offer of the Kingdom of the heavens, was rapidly disappearing from the scene and consequently there would no longer be an eternally saved Jewish nation to whom the Kingdom of the heavens could continue to be re-offered, and so Paul went to the Gentiles with the salvation of God, as we had seen in Acts 28:28. h). The return of national Israel to the land within a Theocracy though, presents a different picture as it has been unconditionally covenanted to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and David, and cannot be given to anyone else. i). Even though, during the course of this dispensation, God is dealing exclusively with the Church with respect to the Kingdom of the heavens and the salvation of the soul, the reason for Israel being scattered among the Gentile nations from the time of the Babylonian captivity onwards remains the same and therefore even today, the door for national repentance must remain open. This is why anti-Semitism has continued unabated throughout all this time in all its forms and intensities, from the Jewish joke to the holocaust. j). But then, despite Israel’s national repentance always remaining open to them, we also know from the Scriptures, that this will not be seen until the events of Daniel’s 70th seven are completed. k). And it really would not have been possible for these events to even begin to be completed any time prior to May 14th, 1948. 3). Da 9:26 “And after the 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 the war desolations are determined. 27 Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one seven; But in the middle of the seven [3 ½ years] 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.” We have already seen that there is a prince, a ruler, who is to come. And that this ruler will destroy the city, Jerusalem, and the sanctuary, the Temple. And we see at the beginning of v27 that this ruler will confirm a covenant ‘with many’ in Israel for one seven. a). Here then is the event, clearly given, that marks the beginning of Daniel’s 70th seven. The prince who is to come will enter into a covenant with the Jewish people. A covenant it seems made with the majority, but not all Jews present in the land. b). And as we continue in v27, we see that it is in the middle of the seven, after 3 ½ years, that he will bring and end to sacrifice and offering. And sacrifice and offering will be brought to an end because at this time he will destroy the city and the sanctuary having committed an abomination that will make Jerusalem and indeed the whole of Israel desolate – Lk 21:20 “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near. 21 Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those who are in the midst of her depart, and let not those who are in the country enter her. 22 For these are the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. 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 here is something we will also want to consider. For sacrifice and offering to be brought to an end they must first begin again. And for sacrifice and offering to begin again, there must be a Temple, and since 70AD there hasn’t been one. In fact, the Al Aqsa Mosque occupies the Temple Mount in the present day. c). For this to change, for a Jewish Temple to be built on the Temple Mount, something extraordinary will need to take place. And something that extraordinary is impossible in our present day. But not it seems for the prince who is to come – 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. The rider on the white horse and the prince who is to come are one and the same person. In Daniel we see him making a covenant with many in Israel and in Revelation Chapter 6 he is seen going out on a white horse as the first seal on the 7-sealed scroll is opened. These are 2 ways of describing the same event – the beginning of Daniels 70th seven, the final 7 years of the 490. d). The white horse suggests purity and peace and we see its rider has a bow but no arrows and at this time he is given a stephanos crown as he goes out conquering and to conquer. e). The scene portrayed here is of a man of peace who is to hold a regal position and his political ambition in this direction is seen through his going out conquering and to conquer. But that which the rider on the white horse appears to be is counterfeit. He looks like ‘the prince of peace’, but he is far from it. f). It would appear that he has established peace for Israel in the midst of her Moslem neighbors through his covenant, even making possible the rebuilding of the Temple. g). But the true nature of this covenant and Israel’s involvement in it has been prophetically revealed in Isaiah – Isa 28:15 Because you have said, “We have made a covenant with death, And with Sheol we are in agreement. When the overflowing scourge passes through, It will not come to us, For we have made lies our refuge, And under falsehood we have hidden ourselves.” The true nature and purpose of the prince who is to come is then revealed with the opening of the second seal on the 7-sealed scroll, when the same rider from the white horse is then seen riding on a red horse – Re 6:3 When He opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, “Come and see.” 4 Another horse, fiery red, went out. And it was granted to the one who sat on it to take peace from the earth, and that people should kill one another; and there was given to him a great sword. The opening of the second seal takes us back to Daniel Chapter 9 and that which was prophesied following Messiah being ‘cut off’ – Da 9:26……………..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 the war desolations are determined. 27 Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week; But in the middle of the 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.” Da 11:31 And forces shall be mustered by him, and they shall defile the sanctuary fortress; then they shall take away the daily sacrifices, and place there the abomination of desolation. 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. [3 ½ years] Mt 24:15 “Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand), 16 “then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17 Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house. 18 And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes. 19 But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! 20 And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath. 21 For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. 22 And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect's sake those days will be shortened. We will continue with this next time though – if the Lord is willing.