The Greatest Prophecy Ever Fulfilled

The Greatest Prophecy Ever Fulfilled.

The 70th Week of Daniel.

By L.R. Shelton.

Message #7.

In our last message, the Lord was pleased to open up to our hearts the definite time in our Lord's earthly ministry when the 69th week or 483 years of the prophecy given in Daniel 9,24thru27 was fulfilled. We saw from the Word of God that it was at His baptism by John the Baptist in the river Jordan that he was anointed and presented to Israel as their Messiah, the Prince of God.

This brings us now in our studies to the SEVENTIETH WEEK of Daniel 9, which was set off by itself, wherein the six things that were determined by God upon the Jews and their city, Jerusalem, would be performed. The 24th verse tells us that these six things were, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy. We are told also in verse, 27 that it was during this 70th week, or last seven years, by the cutting off of the Messiah, that the covenant with many was to be confirmed and the sacrifice and oblation caused to cease; and that it was because of the cutting off of the Messiah that the devastating judgments foretold in this prophecy were to fall upon the city, the temple and the people.

Let us keep in mind that it was only during this 70th week, or the last seven years, that these things could be performed; and there was only One who could perform them—the Messiah, God's Anointed, the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, to teach, as many do today, that all of this is to be fulfilled by some future prince, the antichrist, and to separate the 70th week from the 69th week by a period of 2000 years is to do violence to this prophecy and to lead us astray in all other prophecies. As I have stated before, this corrupted interpretation seeks to rob God of his glory, the glory of His GOODNESS and SEVERITY; it robs Christ of His glory as the Messiah, the Prince, who came to perform the Father's will; it robs Christ of the glory of His cross, because it was by His being cut off at the cross that all of this was performed; and it robs the Holy Spirit of His glory for He is the author of this prophecy—it makes Him say what He did not say. Remember the words of Isaiah 42,8, "I am the Lord, that is my name, and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images."

Also, let us keep in mind that this prophecy, understood in its true light, sets aside the error that is taught today. The error that teaches that when Christ came the first time, His purpose was to set up an earthly kingdom among the Jews, yet they would not allow Him to set it up by their rejection of Him. Therefore, He turned to the cross as his alternate purpose. Dear friend, this is a lie out of hell! Why do I say that? Because this prophecy teaches, as well as the whole Bible, and especially the New Testament, that the purpose of Christ's coming into this world was to PUT AWAY OUR SINS BY THE SACRIFICE OF HIMSELF (1st John 3,5; Hebrews, 9,26; John 12,27).

In Acts 2,23, we read, "Him [Christ], being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain." And why was "he crucified and slain"? Hebrews, 2,9,and 14thru15 tells us, "We see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour, that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man...that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage."

We repeat it again, the purpose of our Lord's coming into this world the first time was not to set up an earthly kingdom, but to be God's Substitute for sinners, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness and to anoint the most Holy. And all of this was done in His earthly ministry of 3 and one half years during the 70th week of Daniel 9.

Now the next thing we need to look at in verse, 26 of Daniel 9 is to identify "THE PEOPLE OF THE PRINCE" that should come to destroy the city and the sanctuary. If we would keep in mind, this prophecy has to do not only with the GOODNESS of God in sending His only begotten Son to die for the sins of His people, but also with his SEVERITY in bringing judgment upon the Jews for their crowning sin of crucifying the Lord of Glory; then we would understand that this prince and his people came shortly after our Lord pronounced the woe in Matthew,23. Listen to His words as he spoke to the rulers of the Jews! "Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. . .that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth. . . all these things shall come upon this generation. . . behold your house is left unto you desolate" (verses, 32,35,36,38).

Follow me now as we read verse, 26 of Daniel 9 and see what was to take place under the prince and his people. "After. . . shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself," then, "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." If we would compare these words with our Lord's words in Luke 21, we would have before us a complete fulfillment of this prophecy; that the prince was a commander or leader of an army that brought utter desolation to Jerusalem, the temple and the Jews in A.D. 70. Listen to Luke 21 ,21thru24, "And when ye 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 . But woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck, in those days! for there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people. And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations, and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled ."

Notice verse, 22, "For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled." This is that which was foretold in Daniel, 9,26.

All of these Scriptures also correspond with our Lord's words of Luke 19 where we read; "And when Christ was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, saying, 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, and compass thee round, and keep 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 44).

This destruction foretold by our Lord came upon the city of Jerusalem, the temple, and the people, in A.D. 70, when Titus, the roman general, the prince, mentioned in Daniel, 9,26, led his people, the Romans, to lay siege to the city and conquer it. All of this also corresponds to Matthew, 23,32 thru 36, already referred to in our message.

Now, if you will compare Matthew, 24,15 with Luke 21 ,20, you will note that "the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet," in Daniel, 9,26 thru 27, is nothing more than the Roman prince, Titus, and his armies that brought desolation to the city and people as set forth in Daniel, 9,26.

Please let me go over this again so as to impress this upon our minds. Daniel 9,26 foretells the exterminating judgment of God which was executed by the Roman armies under Titus, the prince, the leader by whom the city of Jerusalem, in A.D. 70, was overwhelmed as "with a flood"—a figure often used for an invading army (Isaiah, 59, 19; and the city and the land were given over to the age long "desolations" which had been "determined" in the counsels of God.

Listen now, to make the prince of Daniel, 9,26 to mean an antichrist who is to come; something yet in the future; would be going against the complete fulfillment of this prophecy which took place over 1900 years ago. This is confirmed both by Scripture and history. Also, to try and read into these verses, as many do, of a rebuilt temple in Jerusalem, sacrifices, an antichrist making a league with the Jewish nation in a so called tribulation period, is to read into it something that is not there and something which cannot be proved by any passage of Scripture in the New Testament.

No, we cannot break up this prophecy by applying part of it to the 483 years before Christ, and then skip over 2000 years and apply the last part of it, seven years, to another period of time. You see, this prophecy is a unit; it rises or falls as one. It is a prophecy of the second period of the national existence of the Jewish people, reaching from the Babylonian captivity to the death of Messiah upon the cross, and then to the utter destruction of the Jewish nation in A.D.70. You see, the Jewish nation was to last as a nation only long enough to fulfill Scripture, and to accomplish the supreme purpose of God in bringing forth the Messiah, and putting Him to death. The time allotted for this, as we have stated throughout these messages was 490 years. When this had been accomplished God had no further use for Israel as a nation because their transgressions were finished. His dealings since then have been with another people, that "Holy nation" of 1st Peter 2,9, composed of all who believe the gospel, whether they be Jew or Gentile, who only make up the true Israel of God.

Let me add this in closing our message today and let us rejoice and praise the Lord for His longsuffering. The predicted judgment did NOT immediately follow, for Christ prayed for His murderers in His dying hour, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what | they do" (Luke 23,34). In answer to that prayer, the full time of probation, forty years, A.D. 30thru70, was added to their national existence, during which time repentance and remission of sins was preached to them in the name of the crucified and risen Lord, and tens of thousands, yea, hundreds of thousands of Jews were saved. Oh how precious is all of this to my soul, "that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation" (2nd Peter, 3, 15).