The Greatest Prophecy Ever Fulfilled

The Greatest Prophecy Ever Fulfilled.

The 70th Week of Daniel.

By L.R. Shelton.

Message #1;

I have been impressed by the Holy Spirit to begin a series of messages today on the subject, THE GREATEST PROPHECY EVER FULFILLED, based on DANIEL, 9,20 thru 27.

My prayer is that our gracious Lord by His Spirit will open the eyes of our understanding to give us light and knowledge upon this blessed portion of His Word which speaks both of the .'goodness and the severity of God" (Romans, 11,22). It speaks of God's GOODNESS because in it we have the great prophecy concerning the work of our Lord Jesus Christ in bringing the grace and mercy of God to His people by His substitutionary work on the cross. And it sets forth the SEVERITY of God against the sins of the Jewish nation in rejecting and crucifying the Lord of glory.

The Scripture containing this GREATEST PROPHECY EVER FULFILLED is one of the most marvelous and most important in the Word of God. That which is of most supreme interest in this portion is the divinely recorded TIME MEASURE, starting from the return of the Israelites out of Babylonian Captivity down to the culminating event of all prophecy and all history, even unto "Messiah," and to His being cut off and having nothing.

In the first part of Daniel 9, Daniel has been praying and confessing both his sins and the sins of his people Israel; because he had understood by books the number of years, whereof the Word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, the Prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolation of Jerusalem, (chapter 9 verse 2). In answer to Daniel's prayer came this great prophecy that we desire to look into. With your Bible in hand, let us read together the account of the answer to Daniel's prayer beginning at verse 20,

"And whiles I was speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God for the holy mountain of my God; yea, whiles I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision from the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation. And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding. At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth, and I am come to show thee; for thou art greatly beloved, therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision. Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon the holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy. Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks, the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself, and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week, and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of the abomination he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate."

Before we go any further, let me state my reason for bringing this series of messages. First, that I might GLORIFY my Living, Triune God in Christ who has Himself set before us this GREATEST PROPHECY EVER FULFILLED that He might be glorified both in His GOODNESS in sending Christ to die for His people, and in His SEVERITY in bringing the Jewish nation to a state of desolation and wrath because of their rejection and crucifixion of the Lord of Glory.

Second, that we might set before you the CENTRAL THEME of God's Word THE CROSS OF CHRIST that God came down to reconcile us unto Himself by the sacrifice of His only Begotten Son at Calvary. This prophecy sets this forth; it presents our Savior and Mt. Calvary. It gives us in detail, that in His being cut off for His people He would make an end of sins by Himself becoming the sin offering for His people, that He would make reconciliation for iniquity so that poor sinners could be reconciled to the Holy God; and that He would bring in everlasting righteousness so that His people for whom He died would have a right standing before God in Him.

The third reason for bringing this series of messages is to show that THESE SCRIPTURES HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH AN ANTICHRIST who is supposed to come in the future, which from that time till now would have been about 2500 years. Neither does it set before us a TRIBULATION period at some future date wherein the Jewish nation will play an important role. No, these things are based upon a wrong interpretation of the 26th and 27th verses of Daniel 9. What these verses refer to is the desolation brought on the Jewish nation by Titus, the Roman General, in A.D. 70, and is confirmed by our Lord Himself in the Olivet Discourse as recorded in Matthew, 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21. All of this we will refer to again and look into in detail in later messages.

Let us now set before you briefly the things contained in this GREATEST PROPHECY that we will be studying in the weeks to come. This greatest prophecy pertaining to Daniel's people, their sanctuary and the city of Jerusalem is linked with a time period of seventy weeks. Bible students recognize that these seventy weeks or 490 days are symbolic of years each day representing a year, that is 490 years.

It was this same year for a day principle that was used in Numbers 14,34. Because of unbelief, the Israelites were to wander for 40 years in the wilderness, a year for each day that the spies were absent searching out the land. This same scale was used in Ezekiel 4,4 thru 6, "I have appointed thee each day for a year."

Now we know that this interpretation is true because it has already been fulfilled. From the going forth of the Commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince (verse, 25.) was 69 weeks or 483 years. I said this was fulfilled because it was 483 years from the time that King Cyrus gave this decree for the Jews to go out of Babylonian Captivity to the baptism of the Messiah, our Lord Jesus Christ, by John the Baptist in the river Jordan,

Now while Christendom is generally united in the belief that the seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks (that is 69 weeks or 483 years), measured unto Messiah; concerning the final week of the Prophecy, the 70th week, there are two entirely different interpretations that are held today, the FUTURIST interpretation and the FULFILLED interpretation.

The FUTURIST interpretation is that a gap of 2000 years or so separate the 70th week from the other 69 weeks that measure unto the Messiah. The FULFILLED interpretation is that no gap is to be placed between the 69th and the 70th week, for the 70th week followed the 69th in logical sequence.

The FUTURIST interpretation is that the 70th week refers to the antichrist who will make a covenant with the Jews. This covenant, they say, will allow the Jews to offer sacrifices in a "rebuilt" temple at Jerusalem for seven years, but after three and a half years the antichrist will break this covenant and cause the sacrifice to cease and then will come the great tribulation period, and the Jews will suffer greatly under the antichrist.

The FULFILLED interpretation, on the other hand, is that the 70th week refers to the time when Christ would make and open the covenant to many, make an end of sins, make reconciliation for iniquity, bring in everlasting righteousness, and cause the Jewish sacrifices commanded of God in the Old Testament to cease; by Himself becoming the final and perfect sacrifice for sins.

The FUTURIST interpretation causes us to look for an antichrist, and gives him honor and glory; while the FULFILLED interpretation causes us to look back to a crucified, risen, exalted Lord, who accomplished the Father's will in bringing in everlasting salvation and gives Him all the honor and glory.

The FUTURIST interpretation holds out a false hope to Israel after the flesh and to the Jewish nation in telling them that they are still God's chosen nation, and that in spite of their continued unbelief they will be brought back into the land, build the temple, and be accepted of God and protected by Him in a so called tribulation period of seven years. The FULFILLED interpretation shows that there is no respect of persons before God, that the only hope for the Jews as well the Gentiles today or in any other day, is the hope of the Gospel of the grace of God. The only hope held out to anyone is in the laying down of arms of rebellion against God in repentance, and turning from sin to a holy God by faith in Jesus Christ who gave Himself as the sacrifice for sinners at Calvary.

The reason Satan has beclouded these verses to the minds of so many is because they spell the doom of the Jewish nation nearly 2000 years ago. These verses teach us that God prophesied to Daniel that the Jewish nation would finish the transgressions during these 70 weeks (or 490 years) and that they would be cut off from God as a nation because of their sin. Our Lord confirmed this in Matthew,23,32,35,36,38, saying, "Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. . . that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth. . . and all these things shall come upon this generation. . . for behold, your house is left unto you desolate."

This is the reason our Lord gave such a detailed warning in Matthew, Mark 13 and Luke 21 to His disciples and followers; so that they would be warned and therefore flee from the city of Jerusalem before His judgments fell in A.D. 70. He said, "When you shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. Then let them which are in Judea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter there into. For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled" (Luke 21, 20 thru 22).

What were these things that were written? They were the prophecies given to Daniel about the destruction of his people, the Jews, their city and their temple, which took place in A.D. 70. Matthew, 24,15 thru16 also reads, "When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand,) then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains."

Our Lord saw this judgment coming for He knew the true word of prophecy, "For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy" (Revelation, 19,10). This is what made Him weep over the city of Jerusalem as He went into it the last time before His crucifixion, "If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace' but now they are hid from thine eyes. For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee in on every side, and shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation" (Luke 19,41 thru 44).

Again when He went out of the city of Jerusalem the last time, He cried, "Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate" (Matthew, 23,37 thru 38).

These then are the main things we will be looking into in this series of messages on the GREATEST PROPHECY EVER FULFILLED, the coming and cutting off of the Messiah, and the destruction and desolation of the Jewish nation, her city and temple, which is the GOODNESS and the SEVERITY of God.