I was using a SIMPLE DEMONSTRATION. Anything you use has an END to the prophetic utterance, be it days, weeks, years or even minutes. When 69 weeks is up and Jesus dies that means after 483 years, not after 486 1/2 years. The Prophecies were not one Prophecy, GO READ THEM AGAIN !!
The prophecy says that 70 weeks are determined. We agree that prophecy has to have an end, but God is the one who set the prophecy at 70 weeks.
“
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"
This is not a list of conditional statements. It is what God said
will be accomplished in the 70 weeks. There are no "or else" statements anywhere in this prophecy. It's just a plain set of things that are said will happen in the time determined.
There was THREE MARKERS, 1.) The WALL, 2.) The Messiah 3.) The Agreement/Covenant.
And the covenant is said to come in the 70th week. AFTER the 69th week.
"Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week;
But in the middle of the week (that's three and a half years)
He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering."
That is Jesus. He comes, and in the middle of the week, he brings an end to sacrifice. This does not mean that the sacrifices stop being offered as we learn in Hebrews. Paul wrote that they were still being offered (which places the date of the letter prior to AD 70).
Hebrews 10:1-4
"For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect. 2 For then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers, once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins. 3 But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. 4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins."
Paul says that the sacrifices are no longer of any value. They have ceased to be effective for the remission of sins. Why?
Hebrews 9:11-15
"But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. 12 Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. 13 For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, 14 how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? 15 And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance."
It was Christ's sacrifice that put an end to sacrifice and offering. Wow. Isn't that weird? Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit confirms that the sacrifices were no longer effective for remission of sins since the perfect sacrifice had already been made. If there was still some future time when Christ was going to come back and finish what was prophesied in Daniel 9, why didn't he clear that up in any of his letters? In fact the one place where he talks about Jesus return, Jesus never sets a foot on earth.
1 Thessalonians 4:15-18
"For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord i
n the air. And
thus we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words."
We will always be with him, away from the earth, not on it. And Jesus says of the last day - judgement day - the day he returns - that it is the day he judges all men. He doesn't judge the church and then the sinners a thousand years later, all judgement of mankind happens on the "last day," the day of resurrection - the day Paul says is his return.
Its not all about the Messiah, its all About Israel REPENTING !!
But without the Messiah, that repentance has no effect. That was why he came and he accomplished exactly that. John came to prepare the people. His message? Repent and be baptized because the kingdom of God is at hand. It's about to be established.
Please do explain what possible value repentance and remission of sin would have in an earthly kingdom? What human king can provide remission? None. David couldn't do that. So the point was never to establish an earthly kingdom but a spiritual one. The kingdom of God is the church. Its realm is heavenly and its king was set on the heavenly throne as a result of his death and resurrection as Peter preached on the day of Pentecost.
And who's throne is it? David's and God's.
Acts: 2:30
"Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him (David) that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, He would raise up the Christ to sit on his (David's) throne."
Jesus holds David's throne - the man who prophesied that Jesus would take his throne. That throne of course is God's. The significance of the throne being David's has nothing to do with the earthly kingdom but of the spiritual one because David was the first and only King who lived by faith. Like Abraham he is one of the forefathers of Faith. He wasn't perfect, but he was faithful. He repented of his sin and God took it away. Jesus, on the other hand, was perfect. And so he reconciled the earthly throne to the heavenly throne as well as reconciling Jew and Gentile.
Question, until you or I repent, are we saved ? Have we REPENTED ? The answer of course is no, so just because Jesus' blood was shed for our sins doesn't mean were were saved/repented until we confessed Jesus as Lord of Lords with our mouth.
The purpose of repentance (ceasing from sin) is to show that you are serious in your belief. Baptism washes away your sin as Peter preached on the day of Pentecost. And of course, until you do what you are commanded, you aren't saved. In the first century, confession most often happened at the time of one's baptism though the text never states a set time when it must happen. It's part of the process of salvation but it obviously isn't the only thing. That confession was acknowledgement that the Messiah, the Christ, was the son of God and therefore God.
The Prophecy CLEARLY says the 70th week CAN NOT come to pass until all 6 of these things have happened !! The Jews HAVE TOP REPENT before the 70th Week judgment can be fulfilled.
The prophecy doesn't even contain the word repent in it. It also doesn't provide any condition other than that the things prophesied will happen within a 70 week time span. In the last week, the Messiah confirms a covenant and causes the sacrifices to cease. That has obviously happened. If it is so clear that there are things that can't come to pass unless some conditions are met, you should have no problem quoting that conditional language. "Until," "unless," "if," "else," "lest," - those are words which demonstrate the presence of conditions and yet I don't find any of them in the prophecy. Do you see those words anywhere in the prophecy?
The 70th week Judgment did not come from Daniel, read Daniel 9, the first part of the chapter says he was reading Jeremiah when Gabriel came unto him, he prayed for Israel and Gabriel told him that Israels sins meant the judgment was not 70 years but 70 x 7 because of their continued rebellion !! This law is in Leviticus, if you fail to repent your curse is timed by 7.
The entire prophecy came from God. And God determined 70 weeks for those things to be fulfilled and they were fulfilled exactly as God prophesied. There isn't any gap there. If there is, you can easily quote the text which contradicts Gods' determination that this was all going to happen in 70 weeks or 490 years.
The entire prophecy to verse 27 is what is going to take place in 70 weeks.
Israel has been as Dead Men's Bones unto God for nigh 2000 years until 1948, when God BREATHED LIFE back unto those bones. Now we are waiting for Israel to REPENT, but that happens only after the Rapture. Of Israel repented 2000 years ago, why did God not recognize them as His chosen ? I will tell you a mystery of sorts, IFFFFFFFFFF, the Jews had accepted Jesus, he would have saved them from the Fourth Beast 2000 years ago. But God foreknew of course they would reject him. That is why 70 AD looks just like the coming Armageddon event.
The modern day nation of Israel has nothing to do with this prophecy.
