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The
Greatest Prophecy Ever Fulfilled. |
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The 70th Week of Daniel. |
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By L.R. Shelton. |
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The
Greatest Prophecy Ever Fulfilled. |
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The 70th Week of Daniel. |
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By L.R. Shelton. |
Message #5
He determined that there should be 70 weeks, 490 years, or a year for a day, in which certain things would happen, and they did happen. This period of time would stretch from the going forth of the Jews out of Babylonian captivity, because of the decree of King Cyrus, to the cutting off of Messiah upon the cross in the 70th week, or in the last seven years. Having determined to do these things in a framework of 490 years, God did it. Therefore the 70th week of Daniel is something that has already been fulfilled, and not something yet in the future.
The importance of all of this is that God set upon the pages of Holy Writ a certain time in which He would give the nation of Israel the opportunity to turn to Him in true repentance. He sent the holy prophets, year after year, down to John the Baptist, calling upon them to repent and turn to God in mercy. He even sent His only Begotten Son to offer them mercy and grace, but they would not hear the prophets nor God's Son, but sent Him back to heaven saying, 'We will not have this man to rule over us." Therefore God poured out His wrath upon the Jewish nation in A.D. 70 and no longer deals with them as a nation, but sends forth His gospel of grace into all the world unto His elect, called out from among both Jews and Gentiles, and is making for Himself a bride, His church, who shall dwell with Him for eternity.
Let us today for our study look at the last of the six things which the angel Gabriel told Daniel would come to pass in the 70 weeks of years which were determined "upon Daniel's people, the Jews, and upon the holy city, Jerusalem." This sixth thing spoken of in Daniel, 9,24 was, "TO ANOINT THE MOST HOLY."
Dear friend, in this expression, "to anoint the most Holy," we see again why this is the GREATEST PROPHECY EVER FULFILLED. It is because we have set before us the Holy One of God, the Messiah, the Anointed of God, the Christ who was appointed and anointed to accomplish the great work of redemption. This He did by the sacrifice of Himself. "For by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us" (Hebrews, 9,12).
But this was not all that He was anointed to do. He tells us Himself in Luke "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord" (Luke 4,18 thru 19). This He did in His 3 one half years of earthly ministry before He was "cut off for His people" according to Daniel 9,26. All of the four Gospels set this forth in detail—"How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him" (Acts 10,38)?
But this is not all this expression "to anoint the most Holy" means. It means also that by virtue of His resurrection, He was to be "anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows" (Hebrews, 1,9). That is, "God hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Phil. 2,9 thru 11,
It means that when "God raised him from the dead, he set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come, and hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fulness of him that fIlleth all in all" (Ephesians, 1,20 thru 23).
This expression also means that by virtue of the shedding of His blood and His resurrection, by virtue of His glorification at the right hand of the Father in heaven; He was to anoint the most holy place in heaven with His precious blood and turn the throne of judgment into a throne of grace for His people according to Hebrews, 9,22 thru 28.
But this is not all this expression "to anoint the most Holy" means. It means also that by virtue of His resurrection, ascension and glorification at the right hand of God the Father, He has also been anointed to send the gift of the Holy Spirit, in anointing the "Holy Place" which is ALL of His blood bought and blood washed children. This is so clearly brought out in many Scriptures. In John 14,16 thru 17 our Lord gave His disciples and us this promise, "I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever, even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him, but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you."
Peter in his message on the day of Pentecost said that this promise of Christ to His people was fulfilled and that He had sent the Holy Spirit in His anointing presence and power to fill His church. Listen to Acts 2,32 thru 33, "This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear."
You may ask the question, "What does this mean for the children of God?" Dear fellow believer, it means this, not only did Christ die for our sins and pay our sin debt in full, not only did He arise from the grave as our Justifier and Righteousness, not only did He ascend to the right hand of the Father as our interceding High Priest; but by virtue of all of this, He has given us of His Holy Spirit and we have been anointed as the holy temple of God by His Spirit. This right to bestow upon His people the Holy Spirit, and to anoint them with His own anointing, was His right by virtue of His condescension to become our Divine Substitute for sin.
I ask what greater blessing can God bestow upon us than this, that we as believers have an "anointing from the Holy One" indicating that this anointing renders us holy, separating us unto God as His very own? Listen to 2nd Corinthians, 6,16, "For ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people."
What greater words could be spoken than these in 1st John 2,27, "But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you, but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him."
To the believer, all of this means that we have the Holy Spirit Himself who is our anointing, indwelling us and teaching us the things of Christ. Our Lord said in John 16,13 thru 15 that this would be the work which He would perform in us as we trust Him and look to Him to teach us of Christ. He will take the things of Christ and reveal them unto us; He will take of the riches of Christ and make them our's; He will show us the deep things of God. Listen to 1st Corinthians, 2,9 thru 10, "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit, for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God."
The question is asked, "What are some of these riches of Christ and deep things of God which are revealed unto us by the Holy Spirit who is our anointing?" Let us pray that the Holy Spirit will open to us these precious things. In 1st Thessalonians, 1,4, we read of one of these precious things, "Knowing, brethren, beloved, your election of God." Knowing our election of God! Is this not precious? Elected, chosen by the Father is Christ to salvation, to deliverance from all our sins, and this before the very foundation of the world! (2nd Thessalonians, 2,13 thru 14 and Ephesians, 1,4). Another precious thing revealed to us is that we were "predestinated to be conformed to the image of God's dear Son" (Romans, 8,29). And this was done for us before we were ever born. Also we know that this work shall be perfected in us because we have received of His Spirit who indwells us and changes us from glory to glory into His likeness in sanctification (2nd Corinthians, 3,18). We also have the precious knowledge that we have been adopted into the family of God, and have therefore become heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ (Romans, 8,16 thru 17). Yes, 'We have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father." Is not all of this precious to our hearts?
Again the Scriptures speak of the blessed work of the Holy Spirit in effectually calling us to Christ with that Holy calling of grace (2nd Timothy. 1,9), in convicting us of our need of Christ under Holy Spirit conviction (John 16,7 thru 11), in His granting us repentance to the acknowledging of the truth (2nd Timothy. 2,25, Acts 11 ,18), in His giving us and working in us the faith of God's elect (Titus 1,1, Ephesians, 2,8 thru 9, Acts 18 ,27), in revealing to our hearts the suitableness of Christ for our sinful soul (Galatians, 1, 15 thru 16), and daily working in us "Both to will and to do of his good pleasure" (Philippians, 2,13).
Again, we have received of His divine nature (2nd Peter 1,4), of His divine love (Romans, 5 ,5), of His divine grace (Romans, 5 ,2), of His divine mercy (Titus 3,5), of His divine presence (Hebrews, 13,5), of His divine unchangableness (Hebrews, 6,17thru19), of His divine holiness (1st Corinthians, 1,2, Ephesians, 1,4), of His divine faithfulness (1st Thessalonians, 5 ,24), and even of His place of acceptance with the Father, because we read in Ephesians, 2,6thru7 that God by His Spirit "hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus."
The Holy Spirit also as our anointing reveals unto us the glorious things of Christ in that in the resurrection we shall be changed in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump, and we shall be given a new body for this vile body of our humiliation, a body fashioned like unto Christ's glorious body and we shall forever be with the Lord in the endless eternity of praise, love and holiness (Philippians, 3,20 thru 21; 1st Corinthians, 15,52 thru 53).
But the greatest thing revealed unto us is the exalting of our Blessed Lord now and forever. In the Book of Revelation He is revealed as the Lamb of God whom we shall praise throughout eternity for His great work of redemption. Listen to Revelation, 7,9 thru 12! "I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; and cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb. And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God, saying, Amen, Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen."
So we see then that the crowning thing spoken of in Daniel, 9,24 that the Prince, the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, would accomplish in the 70th week of Daniel, was that He would "ANOINT THE MOST HOLY." He Himself was the anointed of God, and by virtue of His work He has anointed His people with His Spirit.
I say again, no wonder Satan has deceived the minds of so many today in causing them to believe that the 70th week of Daniel is yet in the future, because this portion of Daniel 9 so glorifies and magnifies our Blessed Lord Jesus Christ in the work which He accomplished nearly 2000 years ago.
