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At 10:37 PM 9/21/99 -0400, you wrote:
Are you familiar with the prophecy of the 70 weeks?


THE PROPHECY OF THE SEVENTY WEEKS
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Daniel 9:24-27 

24 "Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to
finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for
iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and
prophecy, and to anoint the most holy place. 
25 "So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to
restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there will be seven
weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be built again, with plaza and moat,
even in times of distress. 
26 "Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have
nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city
and the sanctuary. And its end will come with a flood; even to the end
there will be war; desolations are determined. 
27 "And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the
middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and
on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a
complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who
makes desolate." 

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This is one of the most pivotal passages in all of prophecy.  It was partially fulfilled 
with the triumphant entry of our Lord on "Palm Sunday".  It has been calculated to
THE DAY!  From the decree to go forth and rebuild, until the Lord came into Jerusalem
that day was exactly predicted!!!!   Jesus said himself:

Luke 19:37-42
37 And as He was now approaching, near the descent of the Mount of Olives,
the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a
loud voice for all the miracles which they had seen, 
38 saying, "Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord; Peace in
heaven and glory in the highest!" 
39 And some of the Pharisees in the multitude said to Him, "Teacher, rebuke
Your disciples." 
40 And He answered and said, "I tell you, if these become silent, the
stones will cry out!" 
41 And when He approached, He saw the city and wept over it, 
42 saying, "If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make
for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes. 

69 weeks were completed of this prophecy with the destruction of the temple in
AD 70 by Titus.   Messiah being cutoff by the prince who is to come refers to
the Roman empire.  In Daniel's interpretation of Nebuchanezzar's dream of the
image with the golden head (Daniel 2) we see the prophetic overview of the great
kingdoms of the world... Babylon, Medio-Persian, Greeks, and the Roman empire.

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Daniel 2:31-47 "You, O king, were looking and behold, there was a single
great statue; that statue, which was large and of extraordinary splendor,
was standing in front of you, and its appearance was awesome. 
32 "The head of that statue [was made] of fine gold, its breast and its
arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of bronze, 
33 its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. 
34 "You continued looking until a stone was cut out without hands, and it
struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay, and crushed them. 
35 "Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were
crushed all at the same time, and became like chaff from the summer
threshing floors; and the wind carried them away so that not a trace of
them was found. But the stone that struck the statue became a great
mountain and filled the whole earth. 
36 "This [was] the dream; now we shall tell its interpretation before the king. 
37 "You, O king, are the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given
the kingdom, the power, the strength, and the glory; 
38 and wherever the sons of men dwell, [or] the beasts of the field, or the
birds of the sky, He has given [them] into your hand and has caused you to
rule over them all. You are the head of gold. 
39 "And after you there will arise another kingdom inferior to you, then
another third kingdom of bronze, which will rule over all the earth. 
40 "Then there will be a fourth kingdom as strong as iron; inasmuch as iron
crushes and shatters all things, so, like iron that breaks in pieces, it
will crush and break all these in pieces. 
41 "And in that you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter's clay and
partly of iron, it will be a divided kingdom; but it will have in it the
toughness of iron, inasmuch as you saw the iron mixed with common clay. 
42 "And [as] the toes of the feet [were] partly of iron and partly of
pottery, [so] some of the kingdom will be strong and part of it will be
brittle. 
43 "And in that you saw the iron mixed with common clay, they will combine
with one another in the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one
another, even as iron does not combine with pottery. 
44 "And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom
which will never be destroyed, and [that] kingdom will not be left for
another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it
will itself endure forever. 
45 "Inasmuch as you saw that a stone was cut out of the mountain without
hands and that it crushed the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and
the gold, the great God has made known to the king what will take place in
the future; so the dream is true, and its interpretation is trustworthy." 
46 Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face and did homage to Daniel, and
gave orders to present to him an offering and fragrant incense. 
47 The king answered Daniel and said, "Surely your God is a God of gods and
a Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries, since you have been able to
reveal this mystery." 
(NASB)

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The prophecy relating to the the prince to come has great significance.
From it we know two things.  One, there is one week of years left of years for
Israel, and two, we know that there will be a revived Roman Empire in the last
days.  Although from the mixture of clay and iron we know it will be a weak coalition.

The last seven years of tribulation for the nation of Israel is expounded upon
in the book of Revelation.  Revelation is an expansion of that time period.  I
also believe that the Book of Ezekiel parallels both Daniel and Revelation in
many ways.  Chapters 1 through 33 of Ezekiel deal exculsively with the nation
of Israel.  33 through 37 deal with events prior to the tribulation period.
I believe that 37 is partially fulfilled at this point, the dry bones are the
gathering together of Israel in the land... we're waiting for the bones to "come
alive":

Ezekiel 37:5,6 NASB
Again He said to me, "Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, 'O dry
bones, hear the word of the LORD.' 
5 "Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones, 'Behold, I will cause breath to
enter you that you may come to life. 
6 'And I will put sinews on you, make flesh grow back on you, cover you
with skin, and put breath in you that you may come alive; and you will know
that I am the LORD.' " 

We will see the spiritual reawakening of the nation of Israel, perhaps before Christ
returns for the church, the body of believers, His bride.   I believe this spiritual
reawakening will occur after the church is raptured.  It will also see the reconstruction
of the temple in Jerusalem.  Remember, that the temple must be rebuilt prior to
the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel when the anti-christ turns on
the Jews.

Daniel 12: 9 - 13
9 And he said, "Go your way, Daniel, for these words are concealed and
sealed up until the end time. 
10 "Many will be purged, purified and refined; but the wicked will act
wickedly, and none of the wicked will understand, but those who have
insight will understand. 
11 "And from the time that the regular sacrifice is abolished, and the
abomination of desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days. 
12 "How blessed is he who keeps waiting and attains to the 1,335 days! 
13 "But as for you, go your way to the end; then you will enter into rest
and rise again for your allotted portion at the end of the age." 


Ezekiel 38 and 39 I believe contain a double fulfillment.  Meaning part of it
occurs at one time, the rest later.  I believe that the attack by Gog and Magog
(most likely modern day Russia and countries in that geographic area) will
occur at the beginning of the tribulation period.  I believe that one possibility
is that tactical nukes are used by Israel, or by a coalition with the anti-christ.
The anti-christ then establishes his rule in Jerusalem and establishes a peace in
the middle east.  For 3-1/2 years there is peace.  Then the abomination of desolation
that Daniel had prophesied happens, the jews realize they've been mislead and flee
into the wilderness.  

Basically, Ezekiel 38 the precursor to what Jesus 
warned of in the Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24 and Luke 31). Parts of the
book of Revelation and Daniel 11 and 12 fit in here...  The battle of
Armaggedon (in the valley of Megido) could
very well be described in Ezekiel 39 as well as Revelation 16 ff.

It's difficult to map this simply.  The issue of double fulfillment has complicated
this study and even confused the leaders in the time of Jesus.  Remember how Jesus
read for the scroll of Isaiah and stopped seemingly in mid verse?  The Jewish 
leaders could not comprehend how the Messiah could be both the Lamb and the Lion.
God confounded the wise.  It was the disciples and Paul who preached that the Messiah
must first suffer, die for our sins, be raised from the dead, and then return as
the conquering Messiah that the Jews had expected in the first place.  It is when they see
his scars upon his return that they will know Him whom they have pierced...

God's Word is awesome.  It has unfathomable depths and unobtainable heights
that exceed our finite mind's capabilities.  

The prophetic Word is the benchmark of it's astonishing accuracy, and the means
by which the Lord lead me to a knowledge of salvation.  Had it not been for
the book "the Late Great Planet Earth" by Hal Lindsey I may have missed the 
significance of what sin was and how all things fit together.  That book gave
me insight to why things were the way they were... it piqued my interest
in God's Word back in March 1975, the study of prophecy had continually been
the topic that drives me deeper into the Living Word.   

>From Genesis 3:15's promise of the Messiah to Eve, to the glorious return of
our Lord as he touches down on the Mount of Olives in Revelation to establish
his righteous kingdom for 1,000 years, to the new heaven and new earth
afterwards...

Perhaps Ezekiel 40 ff describes the millenial kingdom, or parts of the new heaven
and the new earth... I don't know.  Words seem to be in short supply when
describing what is to come. :)


>Would you say that he wrote that piece of Daniel, or would you say that
>Daniel quoted the king's letter?  It's an interesting question, but it
>doesn't really change how we interpret that piece of scripture.

I'd say that Daniel probably wrote it, but it was definetly narrated
by Nebuchadnezzar.  Based on my limited understanding of how things worked
in that age, the king would not have done the writing, but would speak and
have it written.   Even if Nebuchadnezzar had written it, it is still to be
included in God's Word. :)   Remember, the book of Daniel is in Aramaic
or Chaldean from 2:4 through 7:4.  This was the commercial and diplomatic
language of the day.  The remainder of the book is in Hebrew.  The book of
Daniel specifically states Daniel as the author (7:1, etc.)

Daniel 7:1 NASB
1 In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon Daniel saw a dream and
visions in his mind as he lay on his bed; then he wrote the dream down and
related the following summary of it. 

>I think I'll read the 70 week prophesy after I get off the computer.  It
>should be interesting.


Hebrews 4:12-16 NASB
12 For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged
sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both
joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 
13 And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open
and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. 
14 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the
heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 
15 For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our
weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet
without sin. 
16 Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that
we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need. 


When you hear "higher-order critics" critize the book of Daniel, now
you might have a better idea of why they need to attack it. :)  IF they
can discredit Daniel, which they can't, then they can discredit the entire
Word of God.  They tried, but they couldn't, and they never will.
Archeology,
history and the rest of scripture won't let them. :)  

later,
john

"...but the just shall live by his faith."

Der Gerechte wird aus Glauben leben.

Mas El Justo vivira Por Fe.

Le Juste Vivra Par la foi.

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