Good News About the Coming of Messiah
From the very
inception of sorrow into this world, from the very conception of sin on our
planet, a Remedy was provided. A Saviour was promised.
This
"Messiah" or "Anointed One" [Greek christos, Christ] has been awaited by mankind and specifically by
the Jews for millennia. From that first
promise in Eden all the way down through the Scriptures, God gave details of
his coming and promises of how he would remedy the effects of sin and heal and
restore everything to the way it once was.
He would secure the universe from apostasy and defection for the rest of
eternity.
In order to do
this, the Messiah would have to clearly answer and forever settle 3 pressing
questions in the Great Controversy:
1. Had God
told the truth when He said sin results in death?
2. Is God the One
who does the killing?
3. What happens if
we misunderstand God's role in the death of the sinner, and obey from fear?
Who could possibly
accomplish such a monumental task? How
would He do it? Did God fulfill His
promise by sending Him at the right time and place foretold?
UNTO YOU A SAVIOUR
1. What did God do when
mankind chose to believe the enemy's lies and rebel?
Genesis 3:15
Note: God could have let Adam
and Eve suffer the natural consequences of their act, and they would
have died. Instead, he promised that he
would send someone to save them.
2. Was this coming Saviour
going to be an ordinary baby?
Isaiah 9:6
Note: Try to imagine it: the infinite Creator of the universe decided
to leave Heaven and become a helpless baby!
3. Why didn't God use force
or a show of power to win the war?
Zechariah 4:6
Note: The flood was an act of great power—how long did the
effect last? God is infinite in might
and power. Even the Devil acknowledges
that (James
But that which
God wants most—love and respect, freely given, cannot be achieved by
force or fear. This is why he has told
us that he will not win the war with might or power, but with the gentle way
his Spirit of love and truth works.
In the flood,
God showed that the use of force would not work to restore peace to the
universe—the obedience that results from fear produces the character of a
rebel.
4. What was God's purpose in sending Jesus?
Ephesians 2:11-16
Luke 19:10
5. How did Jesus accomplish this work?
John 17:4,6
2 Corinthians 5:19-21
Note: Only by revealing the truth about God—demonstrating that God was
an altogether different Person than Satan had made him out to be—could Jesus
set us right and keep us right for eternity.
6. How far was Jesus willing to go in saving us?
Philippians 2:8
Isaiah 53:2-13
2 Corinthians 5:21
Note: He was willing to live a life of hardship and be rejected; not
only did he consent to die, but to die a cruel and unique death. The Sinless One was willing to suffer the
consequences for our sins.
8. God had warned Adam and Eve that if they ate of the tree of Knowledge
of Good and Evil, they would die (Genesis
Revelation 13:8
Romans
Hebrews 2:9
Note: In outward appearance, it seemed as though God had not told the
truth, when sinners did not die as he had warned. Christians have tried to explain that Adam and
Eve did die that day, "spiritually," or that they "began
to die." But the Hebrew idiom
"dying you will die" does not imply a process,
but a certainty. They should
have died immediately when they separated themselves from God, the
Source of all life.
The death with which we are all so
familiar with, the "first death," is not the death God
was speaking of in the Garden of Eden.
This death is called only a "sleep" by God, an interruption of
life. Good men and even innocent babies
die this death. Only One has ever died
the awful death that results from separation from God—Jesus Christ. Jesus is called "the Lamb slain from
the foundation of the world" because he immediately stepped in and
interrupted the death of Adam and Eve, giving them "artificial life
support." Had God let Adam and Eve
die, it would have proven Satan a liar.
But God did not ask any of us to prove the truthfulness of his words
that sin results in death (even though we deserved it!); he himself suffered
the consequences of our sins. Jesus
proved that yes, sin does result in death.
9. Why didn't he just let Satan die the death that results from sin?
John 3:16
I Timothy 6:15-16
(John 10:17-18)
Note: The deaths of Satan or Adam and Eve would have answered question
#1. But how could the observing universe
know that God was not the One who had taken their lives?
No one can
take God's life from him. When Jesus
died, it was clear to the onlooking universe that he was laying down his life
of himself. Thus he answered question
#2—the death that results from sin in not at the hands of our loving
heavenly Father.
Jesus came to
show us what God is like; he spent most of his time healing, not
preaching. Good doctors do not kill
their dying patients; neither does our Father/Physician kill his sick
children.
10. In the
Luke 22:43
Note: Galatians 4:4 says Jesus came at the right time. Why would God choose this particular
time? Many would answer that it was
because of the wickedness of the world at the time. If God wanted to choose a time for its
wickedness, he could have come thousands of years before—during the time of
Noah (Genesis 6:5).
The people of
They obeyed
everything God said because they were afraid of him. But they didn't really know God or even like
him, because when he came, they said he was demon-possessed, and they killed
him.
If Jesus had
died in the Garden, question #2 would have been clearly answered before the
universe. But God strengthened his Son
to go to the cross and, yes, be tortured and killed, but not by God—but by
people who obeyed God not because they knew and loved him, but because they
feared him.
Jesus secured
the universe for eternity by answering question #3—if you obey God for the
wrong reason, you will end up hating him and rebel.
IT TOOK THEM 70 WEEKS
At the beginning of his
ministry, Jesus publicly announced to the people, "The time is fulfilled." (Mark
We will now
study a remarkable time-prophecy given to Daniel. Written over 600 years before Jesus' birth,
it foretells the time of his baptism, crucifixion, and the time when the gospel
would go out to the gentile world. "When the fullness of time was come,
God sent forth His Son." Galatians 4:4
11. What happened when Daniel was praying?
Daniel 9:20,21
12. What did the angel tell Daniel to consider and understand?
Daniel 9:22-27
13. What does a "day" represent in prophecy?
Ezekiel 4:6
Numbers
Note: If we follow the rule of making Scripture its own interpreter, a
day in symbolic prophecy represents one literal year.
14. How many years
specially pertained to the Jewish people?
Verse 24
Note: The Hebrew word translated, "determined" (KJV)
literally means "cut-off" or "set aside." 70 years were "set
aside" as the time it would take the Jewish people as a nation to decide
whether or not to be a part of God's plans to save the world.
God did not arbitrarily set up a
"deadline." Looking into the
future, he announced that within 70 years the Jewish nation would reject the
Messiah.
15. When did the angel say that the 70 weeks were to begin?
Daniel 9:25
Note: There were 3 historic decrees issued by Persian kings for the
restoration of the Jews to their homeland (Ezra
16. What time period is
mentioned in re-building the wall and restoring the city?
verse 25
17. What was to happen at the end of the remaining sixty-two weeks? (7+62=69 weeks/years)
Verse 25
Note: 69 weeks is 483 years.
From the decree of Artaxerxes, 483 years extend to the Autumn of AD
27. At that time, this prophecy was
fulfilled. According to verse 24, the "Most Holy" would be anointed
within the 70 week prophecy. (Anointing
was part of the inauguration ceremony of priests and kings in Bible times, and
marked the official commencement of their work.)
"Messiah" is the Hebrew word which means "Anointed
one". This word is translated
into the Greek word from which we get the word "Christ" (John
18. At the end of the 69
weeks, one week yet remained. What was
to be done in that week?
Daniel 9:26,27
a) He shall confirm the covenant with many for one week
b) Messiah will
be cut off
c) He shall cause
the sacrifices to cease
Let's analyze how these three things were fulfilled:
a) "He
shall confirm the covenant with many for one week"
Jewish National Exclusivity Ends—A.D. 34
This
week is the last one of the seventy; it was the last seven years of the period
allotted especially to the Jewish nation.
During this time, extending from A.D. 27 to A.D. 34, Christ, at first in
person and afterward by his disciples, extended the gospel invitation
especially to the Jews. As the apostles
went forth with the good news about the kingdom, the Saviour's direction was, "Go not into the way of the Gentiles,
and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not; but go rather to the lost
sheep of the house of
b) "Messiah
cut off in the midst of the week"- A.D.31
In A.D. 31, 3½ years after his baptism, our
Lord was "cut off; but
not for himself", in the
middle of the 70th week.
c) "He
shall cause the sacrifice and oblation (offering) to cease"
The
sacrificial services were only for the purpose of representing the future
sacrifice of Christ. When the fulfillment
of the symbols came, there was no longer any purpose for the sacrifices
or the
Acts
A far deeper significance is attached
to the stoning of Stephen than may appear to a casual reading of the
story. While multitudes of the Jewish people
(including many of the priests) had accepted Christ and believers were almost all Jewish at that time, by the actions
of the Jewish Sanhedrin (the responsible Jewish religious leaders) the nation
sealed its formal rejection of the gospel by the martyrdom of Stephen and the
persecution of the followers of Christ.
This precipitated
an expansion in the proclamation of the Gospel.
Up till that time, the Gospel labour was almost exclusively for Jewish
people. At that time, this abruptly ceased,
and Jewish Christian witnesses, forced to flee from
Samaritans
and the Ethiopian eunuch were the first-fruits from among non-Jews (Acts
8:1,4,5,27,29) Paul, the future
apostle of the gentiles, was converted one year later, and was commissioned by
Christ to carry the glad tidings "far hence unto the gentiles."
(Acts
CONCLUSION
"Phillip findeth Nathanael, and saith
unto him, 'We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did
write: Jesus of
Notice in verse
26 of Daniel 9, it is stated that Jesus was cut off, but NOT FOR
HIMSELF. He did it for you and for
me, that we might have eternal life.
In light of Jesus' matchless love for you,
do you want to accept his free gift of life to you, and follow him?
My response to Christ is:______________________________
The Origins of Futurism
In 1233 AD
Pope Gregory IX formally entrusted to the recently formed Dominican Order a
systematic and ubiquitous enquiry (inquisito) into the beliefs of the
flocks, for the detection and punishment of those whose opinions differed from
the doctrines of the church. Thus was
born the Inquisition of Heretics (Inquisito haeriticae pravitatis), later changed to the "Holy
Office" (Sanctum Officium).
Every man was
compelled to spy on his neighbours.
Neglect of talebearing was in itself constructive heresy. The "faithful" were to report any
suspect, even though it were his own parent or child. If a man was branded as suspect, the
authorities would bring him in to "court"—dungeons equipped with
instruments of torture. Commoners,
Cardinals, and royalty alike were subject to the court of inquisitors.
The smallest
non-conformity could be magnified into a crime punishable by death. Possessing a Bible in a mother tongue or even
the wearing of garments disapproved by the authorities were crimes punishable
by burning at the stake.
Guilt was
assumed unless he could prove his innocence.
The names of hostile witnesses were concealed, and advocates were
forbidden to aid accused heretics. Thus
acquittals were almost unknown; the most that an accused could hope for was a
verdict of "not proven."
The judges
were purely ecclesiastical—the civil powers dared not even assert the right to
consult the documents. The procedure was
secret, the records guarded jealously from all outsiders.
During this time,
laymen were forbidden to own Bibles—only the clergy could interpret the
Scripture. Church attendance was
mandatory, but sermons were held exclusively in Latin, and dogma was decreed by
the church.
Bible-believing
Christians were "underground" for this reign of terror, hiding in
mountains and in the wilderness, fleeing the persecution of the state church.
In the 16th century, men the likes of Martin Luther, Ulric Zwingli
and John Calvin championed the search for Bible truth. They protested Papal authority in doctrine,
holding that the Bible alone was to be the ultimate standard of faith. Thus was born the Protestant Reformation.
At first,
these men tried to reform within the church.
Men like John Huss remained loyal to the church, even as they were
condemned to burn at the stake. The
reformers soon found out that reforming the church was impossible. Study of Bible prophecy led each of these men
to identify the mystic
Many of the
great Christians of the reformation and post-reformation times shared this view
of prophetic truth and identified the papacy as antichrist. Among adherents of this interpretation were
the Waldenses, the Hussites, Wyclif, Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, Melancthon, the
Baptist theologian John Gill, John Wesley, and the martyrs Cramer, Tyndale,
Calimer and Ridley.
JESUIT GENIUS
Needless to
say, the Papacy was not content to have the whole Protestant world, which was
growing out of their control, pointing the finger at
To counter the
Reformer's interpretation of Daniel and Revelation, two Jesuit priests, Ribera
and Alcazar, taught and expounded two opposing schools of interpretation, to
nullify the Protestant belief—Futurism and Preterism.
In 1590,
Ribera published a commentary as a counter-interpretation to the prevailing
view among Protestants. The prophecies
were all applied to the end of time, rather than to the history of the
Church. Antichrist would be a single
evil person who would be received by the Jews and rebuild Jerusalem, abolish
Christianity, deny Christ, persecute the church and rule the world for three-and-one-half
years (the "secret rapture" teaching came much later—around 1830).
In the early 17th century, Alcazar attempted to show that
Revelation had no application to the future, but had its fulfillment way in the
past. Alcazar thus cleverly nullified
the attacks upon the Roman Church which reformers had made so successfully by
using the language of Revelation.
So successful
was the Jesuit agenda that the majority of the Protestant world today
espouses not only facets of preterism, but a strict futurist
interpretation. They more than succeeded
in their goal of diverting attention from
DANIEL'S SEVENTIETH WEEK
It is a
strictly futurist belief that there is a seven-year long tribulation. They lift the seventieth week of Daniel's
prophecy completely out of its context and shove it far into the future. There is absolutely no Scriptural support for
this; there is not even a hint in the text to indicate the separation of the
seventieth week from the previous sixty-nine.
They agree that
the sixty-nine weeks of Daniel 9:25 refers to the period before Christ's first
advent, but then they insert a 2,000 year gap before the 70th week is
fulfilled. They allot 69 weeks plus
2,000 years plus 1 week, or a total of 2,490 years.
By this devious
manipulation of God's word, they believe they have extended the Jewish
probation. Based upon this, they teach
that all fleshly Jews will be saved in a great second chance after the
"secret rapture" of all Christians takes place.
The tragedy of
this theory is that it takes the beautiful prophecy of Daniel 9:24-27 that
predicts the coming of Jesus, His baptism and crucifixion, and apply them to
Antichrist! They do this by stating that
it is Antichrist that causes the sacrifices and oblation to cease, thus
breaking his 7 year treaty ("covenant") with the Jews after only 3½
years. This misinterpretation confuses
something that Christ has done and applies it to the devil.
CONFUSING TWO PRINCES
It is greatly
due to not learning about the literary structure of Daniel 9:24-27 that
futurists today can teach that something very important will be done against
God's saints in the future by Antichrist, that was actually
done for them nineteen-hundred years ago by Jesus Christ.
The Hebrew
people loved their language. Their
greatest prophets were great poets. Even
when not strictly writing poetry, they often used five basic aspects of Hebrew
literary style: 1) Synonymous parallels, 2) antithetical parallels, 3)
synthetic parallels, 4) alternating parallels and 5) "chiasms", a
very complex structuring of the text (for a description and examples of these,
see God Cares pp. 211-219 by C. Mervyn Maxwell).
The theme of Daniel (and
the whole of Scripture, for that matter) is the Great Controversy between Christ
and Satan over the character and government of God. Thus, the seventieth week contrasts the two
princes in the conflict: "Messiah the Prince" (v 25), and the
"prince" whose people would destroy the city and the sanctuary (v
26). Ignorant of Hebrew style, it is not
surprising that even honest Bible students have confused the two princes and
assumed that they were one and the same.
But when we lay out the passage according to the laws of Hebrew literary
style, we can instantly differentiate two separate princes. The two princes and their work are contrasted
with an "A-B, A-B" manner. The
"A" sections of verses 25-27 promise a Messiah Prince, and the "B"
sections warn of a desolator prince.
The
Amazing Seventy Week Prophecy
|
“From
the going forth of the command to restore and re-build |
“The
street shall be built... and the wall” finished “in troubleous times” (408
BC), 62 weeks (434 years) before the coming of the Messiah, who would then be
“cut off” |
|
“Messiah”
means “anointed.” Jesus was anointed in 27 AD by the Holy Spirit at his baptism,
69 weeks after the decree was issued |
“In
the middle of the week” the Messiah was “cut off,” puttin an end to animal
sacrifices |
“70
weeks are deter- mined for your people and for your holy city.” The gospel
began to go to the Gentiles in 34 AD after the stoning of Stephen |
|