 Seminar 1: "Between the Testaments"
Introduction The Intertestmental Period was a strange time. It was a time when it seemed that God had forgotten His people Israel. It was a time when the prophets were silent. It was a long time of 400 years of silence. But in that silence God was at work like a master craftsman slowly, carefully, expertly carving out the events of history to prepare the way for the coming of Jesus, the Messiah. The Apostle Paul put it this way in Galatians 4:4-5 "But when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons." Galatians 4:4-5 The Intertestamental Period was a dark time in Israel's history. But God was at work moving the pieces of the chess board in place to accomplish His greatest work for mankind, the salvation of souls through the death of His Son on the cross. God's people, the Jews, had rebelled against the Lord's commands after He had led them from Egypt into the promised land, then guided them to the conquest of all the land he had promised. He even provided them a king, David, whose heart was after God. God blessed the land under David's son Solomon to the extent of building a glorious temple according to God's instruction, and conquest of all the land ever promised to Abraham. Yet the people still went out seeking other gods to worship. In stubbornness they refused to keep His laws, so God sent them into captivity. First the northern kingdom of 10 tribes called Israel was taken captive by the Assyrians 722 B.C., then a hundred and thirty-two years later the southern kingdom fell to the Babylonians in 587 B.C. This was known as the Babylonian Captivity. It was during this captivity that God sent promises to His people that they would again return to the land of their forefathers. One of the key prophets of this period was Daniel. God revealed to Daniel a vision of history never before given to a man. Much of Daniel contains visions and dreams of the future history to come prior to the coming of the Messiah, Jesus. The greatest of these prophecies is known as the 70 Weeks of Daniel. ======================================================================== Part 1: SEVENTY WEEKS OF DANIEL (or the 70 Sevens of Daniel) ======================================================================== The Seventy Weeks of Daniel can be very confusing! Yet it is worth the effort to understand it. It stands as a key to understanding what Paul called, "The mystery of God." That mystery is the mystery of God's plan to send His one and only Son to die for man's sin, and to redeem not only Jews but Gentiles to Himself. So strap on your thinking caps and get ready to rumble through the ages on this bumpy ride of mathematical possibilities and God's miraculous interventions in the affairs of men. * * * * * * * * * * In Daniel 9:24-27 we find Daniel the prophet among the exiles in Babylon. He had received some information from God concerning the end times and the kingdoms that would follow. In his anxiety to know and understand God's plan for the ages he fasted and prayed 24 days and was visited by the angel Gabriel who brought to him the inspired details concerning the end times, which includes the Coming of the Messiah. Like putting the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle together, prophecy is often cloaked in symbols and numbers. Daniel saw 70 weeks of years (or it would be less confusing to call it seventy sets of seven) as a key to unlocking the mystery of God's work in Israel. Daniel already knew that the Babylonian captivity was a direct result of Israel's disobedience to God's Law of the Sabbatical Year. Israel was commanded by God to allow the land to rest every seventh year. They did not do it. According to II Chronicles 36:21 the Jews had been removed from the land in order that it might rest 70 years. It should be evident that the Sabbath year had been violated for 490 years, or exactly the seventy "seven-year-periods." (Dwight Pentecost, Things to Come. p. 242 ) As he comes to this next prophecy the same mysterious number 70 appears in this prediction as well. Here is the prophecy: The Prophecy of DANIEL 9:25-27 "Know and understand this: From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler comes there will be seven 'sevens', and sixty-two 'sevens.' It will be rebuilt with streets and with a trench but in times of trouble. After the sixty-two 'sevens,' the Anointed One will be cut off and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed. He will confirm a covenant with many for one 'seven.' In the middle of the 'seven' he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on a wing of the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him." Let's examine the prophecy in detail. 1. God says there will be a starting point for God's time clock. That starting date is the "command to rebuild Jerusalem. We know from the Scriptures that that occurred in Nehemiah 2:1-8. We know from history that Artaxerxes gave that command to Nehemiah on March 14, 445 B.C. (Dwight Pentecost, Things to Come p 246) 2. God said the first set of seven-year periods would be for the rebuilding of Jerusalem. 7 x 7 is 49 years. It took exactly 49 years to rebuild Jerusalem under Nehemiah and Ezra's direction. (See chart) 3. Next God says that that period would be followed by 62 seven-year periods. 62 x 7 is another 434 years. Putting it all together we would have to add the first set of sevens and the second set of sixty-two sevens making a total of 69 seven-year periods, for a total of 483 years. 7 sevens = 49 years to rebuild Jerusalem 62 sevens = 434 years to coming of Messiah ----- ------ 69 sevens = 483 years until Messiah comes dated from the command to rebuild Jerusalem. 4. At that point in the prophecy God says that the Messiah would come and present himself as the Prince to Israel, but that as he does he would be "cut off." In other words, the Messiah would be killed. 5. The last seven-year period, making a total of 70 sevens, appears to be separated by this traumatic event of Messiah being cut off. It deals with the end of the age and the coming of Antichrist. So here we have a Hebrew document that outlines the events of history in numbers of years until the coming of the Messiah. This is one of the reasons that the Jewish people were expecting the Messiah to appear about the time of the birth of Christ. The Messiah was due to arrive exactly 483 years after the command to rebuild Jerusalem. It must be noted here that the Jews certainly did not understand the mathematics of this prophecy. Even Daniel may not have been fully aware of the exactness of God's utterances. Someone has observed that hindsight is always 20/20. That is true with prophecies as well. It is only after the event is fulfilled that we can go back and stand amazed at how God did what he promised. ======================================================================== Interpreting the Prophecy ======================================================================== Now lets figure out the dates for the coming of Messiah based on this prophecy. We must first understand that years in biblical times they used the Hebrew calendar which was composed of 360 days. So the length of the Scriptural "year" of Daniel's prophecy was to be composed of just 360 days. Let's do the math. There are 69 weeks, (or sixty-nine seven-year periods) times 360 days per year. This gives us exactly 173,880 days until the coming of Messiah. 360 days per year x 69 seven year periods ------- 173,880 days total Here is where it gets complicated, so hang on. The 70 sevens on the Hebrew calendar started exactly on the 1st of Nisan 445 B.C. which corresponds to the Roman Julian calendar (used in A.D. 32 by the Romans) to March 14, 445 B.C. We will need to add 173,880 days to measure March 14, 445 B.C. and see what we come up with. Using the Hebrew calendar and the Roman Julian side by side we come up with the 10th of Nisan, and April 6, A.D. 32 respectively. (See Part 3 on biblical calendars) ======================================================================== WHAT HAPPENED ON THAT DAY? ======================================================================== It was on Sunday, the 10th of Nisan, four days before the Passover Supper, which coincidentally fell on a Thursday that year, that Jesus rode a donkey into Jerusalem and stated to the people in Luke 19:42, "If you had known, even ON THIS DAY, the things which belong to your peace, but now they are hidden from you eyes." What an exciting prophecy and fulfillment. The Messiah was presented to Jerusalem as her Prince, riding on a young donkey, exactly the day prophesied by Daniel. How many days are there between Artaxerxes command on the 14th of March in 445 B.C., and 6th of April, A.D. 32? (Multiply 483 years times 360 days per year.) THE INTERVAL CONTAINED EXACTLY, AND TO THE VERY DAY, 173,880 DAYS, OR SEVEN TIMES SIXTY-NINE PROPHETIC YEARS OF 360 DAYS!" (Dwight Pentecost, Things to Come p 246) --------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE HERE: The prophecy "until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes..." does not refer to the birth of the prince, but to his presentation to Israel as their prince. --------------------------------------------------------------------- This prophecy is significant for our study of the intertestamental period because it predicts the exact time of the coming of Messiah for the first time, and that he would be "cut off," or killed. Paul says in Galatians 4:4-5 "WHEN THE FULNESS OF THE TIME WAS COME God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons." In the coming lessons we will see how God's sovereignty moves each cultural, political, linguistic, religious, and geographic piece into place for the coming of Jesus the Messiah. ================================================================ Part 2: A CHART OF DANIEL'S PROPHECY OF 70 WEEKS ================================================================ Decree of Presentation Covenant of Artaxerxes to of Messiah as Antichrist Nehemiah "Prince" with Israel March 14, BC 445 April 6, AD 32 | (Nisan 1, BC 445) (Nisan 10, AD 32) | | |<------ 173,880 days---->|<------??? years--->|<-- Seven Years --> | | | | (v 25) | (v 26) | (v 27) | 69 Weeks (483 yrs) | Gap of Time | 70th Week |-------------------------|--------------------|------------------- | 7 Wks | 62 Weeks | AD 33 Messiah is | 3.5 wk | 3.5 wk | | | "cut off" | | | 49 yrs | | |Treaty | Broken | to | | |of Peace| Treaty | rebuild | | AD 70 Temple and | | | Jerusalem | Jerusalem | | Desolation | | | Destroyed | | Idolatry | | | by Titus | | Trouble | | | Tribulation ================================================================ Part 3: UNDERSTANDING BIBLICAL CALENDARS ================================================================ It is important to note here that we do not use the Jewish calendar. There have been many kinds of calendars over the centuries, each a little different than the others reflecting the culture and preferences of the people for which it was designed. (Such as Babylonian, Egyptian, Hebrew, Greek, Roman, Chinese, Islamic calendars etc.) The Romans borrowed their calendar from the Greeks. The Roman calendar had only 304 days per year. As time went on corrections and adaptations were made. The most significant being the JULIAN CALENDAR in B.C. 46 when Julius Caesar ordered to ignore the moon in creating the calendar and to go by the sun. Hence the year was divided into 12 months and 30-31 days per month. This gave 364 1/4 days, but in fact was short by 11 minutes and 14 seconds per year, so that by 1580 the spring equinox fell on March 11, ten days earlier than it should. The Julian calendar was used for more than 1500 years. The GREGORIAN CALENDAR was designed in 1582 to correct the flaws of the Julian calendar. Pope Gregory XIII, on advice of his astronomers, ordered the correction of the calendar by adding an extra day to February every fourth year, thus we have leap year. We continue to use a Gregorian calendar. Please understand that people in bible times used the Jewish calendar which was composed of 360 days. So the length of the biblical "year" of Daniel's time was composed of just 360 days. Therefore all of Daniel's prophecies must be viewed from the biblical 360 day years. ====================================================================== Part 4: APPLICATION: ====================================================================== 1. God is sovereign and in control of mice and men. He who upholds all things by the word of his power is able. He who created the immense universe with a whisper, and attends to the lowly invisible dust mites cares about you. (Why not read A.W. Pink's "The Sovereignty of God.") 2. God is never late! He has never missed an appointment, never failed even in one word of his promises. He is trustworthy. It looks like Jesus missed the boat when the disciples encountered a huge storm. He didn't. He had a plan. It looked like Jesus lollygagged and missed his appointment for Lazarus. He didn't. He had a plan. GOD'S TIMING ALWAYS INCLUDES GOD'S PLAN! 3. Give God some time and space. He is working! Don't put him into your time restraints. He who began a good work in you (or your family) will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. 4. God does love you and has a wonderful plan unfolding for your life. Be patient. God is not finished with you yet. Jeremiah 29:11 |