Bible Study Seattle

Could another fulfillment of the 70 weeks of Daniel have started at the Balfour Declaration of November 1917?  49 years later was just before the Israeli recapture of Jerusalem in 1967.  This would put the seventieth week at 2407AD, just a pinch after the proportional date of 2401AD for the Day of Atonement in the Sabbath Millennium.

One of the problems with the last post is what to do at the seven weeks point.  It says:

“Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a prince, there shall be seven weeks. Then for sixty-two weeks it shall be built again with squares and moat, but in a troubled time.”  Daniel 9:25

If this prophecy started in modern times, a prince must come after 49 years.  Could this be the prime minister of Israel?  Who knows.  Then we need a longer period when Jerusalem needs squares and a moat. I’m not sure if it has that today, although a troubled time seems to fit.  Could then this prophecy start at some point even more future?  Could be.  It may be referencing 490 years prior to Satan’s release at the end of the millennium instead of a period at the beginning of the Millennium.

Many people explain that there is a gap between the 69th and 70th weeks of Daniel’s prophecy.  This allows for the Antichrist to cut off the offerings at the temple three and a half years into the 70th terrifying week.  It is most likely that this gap theory is wrong.  The 70 weeks were fulfilled literally contiguous the first time from 455 BC to Cornelius’s conversion in 36 AD.  Yahshua was ‘cut off’ three and a half years into the 70th seven years (dead).  There will very likely be a second contiguous fulfillment possibly starting in 1878 AD through 2368 AD or 1949 AD through 2439 AD or somewhere in between.  This allows the 70th week to be about the Messiah and another time when it’s about the Antichrist.  This author believes the Day of Atonement will be about the year 2401 AD, approximately 6500+ years from the fall of Adam.  The Day of Atonement is also the beginning of the Jubilee, which is slightly more than half way through the Sabbath year.  The Sabbath Millennium starts 6,000 years from the fall of Adam.  The Jubilee Millennium starts about 6527 years from the fall of Adam.

“Seventy weeks of years are decreed concerning your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place.  Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a prince, there shall be seven weeks. Then for sixty-two weeks it shall be built again with squares and moat, but in a troubled time.  And after the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off, and shall have nothing; and the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war; desolations are decreed.  And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week; and for half of the week he shall cause sacrifice and offering to cease; and upon the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator.”  Daniel 9:24-27

For a very thorough discussion of the current Jewish calendar, the church’s calculation of Easter, and the biblical calendar, see:   http://yaiy.org/literature/biblicalvsjewishcalendar.html

“One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind.”  Romans 14:5

At first glance, it appears Paul is saying any day to worship is fine.  The fourth commandment is no longer in force.  But Paul is talking about meat sacrificed to idols and days of fasting.  He’s talking about food.

“Each day you shall offer a bull as a sin offering for atonement, and you shall purify the altar when you make atonement for it, and you shall anoint it to consecrate it.”  Exodus 29:36

“He shall also bring his guilt offering to the Lord for his sin which he has committed, a female from the flock, a lamb or a goat as a sin offering.”  Leviticus 5:6

“But if he cannot afford a lamb, then he shall bring to the Lord his guilt offering for that in which he has sinned, two turtledoves or two young pigeons, one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering.”  Leviticus 5:7

Here we see that bulls, goats, lambs, turtledoves and pigeons were used for various sin offerings.

“For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh.”  Romans 8:3

Paul is saying Jesus was a sin offering.  “For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make perfect those who draw near. Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, because the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have had consciousness of sins?  But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year by year.  For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.  Therefore, when He comes into the world, He says,

After saying above, “Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You have not desired, nor have You taken pleasure in them” (which are offered according to the Law), then He said, “Behold, I have come to do Your will.” He takes away the first in order to establish the second.  By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”  Hebrews 10:1-10

Some assume that Paul is saying that the whole sacrificial system has been satisfied in Jesus’ sacrifice.  Yes and no.  Notice, “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions.”  Colossians 1:24

The church needed to sacrifice to fill up what was lacking in Christ’s afflictions.  In other words, Jesus satisfied some sacrifices, but it is up to us to complete the lesser sacrifices.  This is why Christians are urged to offer their bodies a living sacrifice.  This whole issue of Jesus eliminating the sacrificial system is used by some to trash Christianity.  They notice,

“It shall be the prince’s part to provide the burnt offerings, the grain offerings and the drink offerings, at the feasts, on the new moons and on the sabbaths, at all the appointed feasts of the house of Israel; he shall provide the sin offering, the grain offering, the burnt offering and the peace offerings, to make atonement for the house of Israel.”  Ezekiel 45:17

Why would a future sin offering be needed if Jesus was the ultimate sin offering?  Ah yes, the devil is in the details.  Perhaps the Jews have been resurrected and are performing these sacrifices in a rebuilt temple with David as their prince.  Later on, after the man of sin desecrates the temple, Jesus comes down from heaven, stands on the Mount of Olives, and fights for Israel.

“Two sons were born to Eber; the name of the one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided.”  Genesis 10:25

In the days of Peleg, the earth was divided.  This probably refers to the division of languages at the tower of Babel.  But it probably also refers to the land masses being divided.  Peleg was born 101 years after the Flood.  The fact that he was named Division shows that the lands were becoming very far apart by then.  This continental drift was probably started during the Flood.  Solomon’s ships apparently sailed around the world in three years.  “For the king had at sea the ships of Tarshish with the ships of Hiram; once every three years the ships of Tarshish came bringing gold and silver, ivory and apes and peacocks.”  1 Kings 10:22

This could mean that the land mass separated into roughly what we have now in about 1500 years.  This means that the motion must have been very fast during and just after the Flood.  Imagine moving five or ten miles in a year!  Or it’s possible that there was some major separation around the Tower of Babel event.

“Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord.”  Malachi 4:5

“And if you are willing to accept it, John himself is Elijah who was to come.  He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”  Matthew 11:14-15

“And He answered and said, “Elijah is coming and will restore all things.”  Matthew 17:11

“but I say to you that Elijah already came.”  Matthew 17:12

“They asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” And he said, “I am not.”  John 1:21

So which is it?!  These verses show us why context is so crucial.  John the Baptist was a sort of Elijah who came before the Messiah.  But he was not The Elijah, back from the dead, restoring the hearts of the children to the fathers before the Messiah comes on Yom Kippur.

“Now the whole world had one language and a common speech.”  Genesis 11:1

The bible claims that all people started with one language.  It was broken up at the tower of Babel a few generations after Noah.  Apparently, Nimrod was trying to rule the whole world, and God decided to put a stop to his plans.  There are some who try to trace current languages back to this original language.  One book about this is “The Origin of Speeches”.  The website is edenics.org.  There are seven fundamental sounds of language.  Bilabials, Gutturals, Dentals, Nasals, Liquids, Fricatives, and Vowels.  There are also seven colors and seven musical steps.  In the future, all people will return to one language.  “Then I will purify the speech of all people, so that everyone can worship the LORD together.”  Zephaniah 3:9

The other day, I came across a booklet called, “National Sunday Law”.  It said world is going bad fast and this is going to be the culmination of history.  Churches will unite to force Sunday worship and this will be the Beast and False Prophet reemerging.  This is the problem with Adventists.  They have been saying the END IS NEAR! for 170 years.  Obviously, they have interpreted certain prophecies incorrectly.  This is sad, because much of Adventist teaching is worthy of study.  They have many great insights.  But they have cried Wolf too many times.

The Adventists got started in the late 1830s and 1840s under William Miller and others.  They came to their conclusions based on biblical chronology.  Because of wrong interpretations, they gave a bad name to biblical chronology.  Today, most mainline Christians don’t bother with chronology.  What a shame!  But this is a way that God hides the truth in plain sight.  The origins of the many different Adventist groups:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adventism#/media/File:Adventism-en.svg