Romans 10:1-4 “It All”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹Brothers, the pleasure of my heart and the prayer toward God of them are into salvation, ²for I testify to them that they have zeal of God, but not according to knowledge, ³for, being ignorant of the righteousness of God and seeking to establish their own, they were not submitted to the righteousness of God, ⁴for Christ [is the] end of law into righteousness to everyone believing.

Verse 4 is really the key to understanding all of this business about Legal vs. Grace righteousness: “For Christ is the end of law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” As John said, “For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (1:17). Truly knowing and understanding Jesus is the key to understanding it all.

As we noted in the last post, Legal righteousness makes perfect sense to our fallen minds: You have to do right to be right. On the other hand, anyone who is truly born-again understands we cannot be saved by our works. We all know that “the wages of sin is death,” and that “there is none righteous, no not one,” that salvation can only be through faith in Jesus, that it is, “by grace, through faith.” Paul already very clearly established all of this in the first three chapters of Romans.

Born-again people understand this, when it comes to their salvation itself. What I’m suggesting is that the problem comes when we are considering the whole business of living life. In other words, we understand grace and faith when it comes to our salvation, but what about our daily lives?  Now that we’ve been saved by grace, do we then return to law-keeping for our lives every day? Do we not see that “do right/be right” is the same Legal righteousness which the Israelites pursued – and got it wrong?

As we would think about this passage, right off the bat, I want to acknowledge again that Grace righteousness makes no sense to our fallen minds. “The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God. They are foolishness to him. Neither can he understand them, because they are spiritually discerned” (I Cor. 2:14). Only truly born-again, Spirit-indwelt people will understand Grace righteousness. The problem is – but do they? Do I? Do you? Have you ever stopped to seriously consider what is going on in your head all day every day? Is it Legal righteousness – the “Do right/be right,” or is it Grace righteousness – “Be right/Do right”?

“Christ is the end of the Law.” Scholars argue whether that means He brought an end to the Law, or if it means “end” in the sense of “goal” or “fulfillment.” Personally, I think the simple answer is that it means both. The Greek word for “end” means the same thing as our word “end.” It can either mean “end” in the sense of completion, like the end of the journey, or it can mean goal, as when we might say, “The end I’m shooting for is to…” So, in Greek or English, “end” means both.

Think about it: The whole universe is under God’s Law. He is the King and to displease Him is literally an act of cosmic treason against our King! Apart from Jesus, you and I are 100% under that Law and obligated to fulfill its every demand. Our natural minds grossly underestimate the enormity of our sins – not realizing they are offenses against the infinite, holy God! And what does that mean? It means that every sin is an infinite offense. It is God we have offended! He is the infinite King and we are rebels against His rightful rule. Again, every sin is literally an act of cosmic treason and therefore, it is punishable by an infinite death. That introduces a terrible consequence for each of us, as us finite creatures can never repay the price of an infinite punishment. That is precisely why hell is forever!

If Law-keeping is required, you and I are abjectly hopeless! Enter Jesus. “The Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all” and “by His stripes, we are healed” (Isa. 53). Jesus, by the Cross, brought an end to Law in exactly this sense. Without Him, there is only Law – and us cosmic rebels are doomed. However, as Paul already showed in Romans, “But now, a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known…this righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe…He did this to demonstrate His justice, because in His forbearance He had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished – He did it to demonstrate His justice at the present time, so as to be just and the One who justifies those who have faith in Jesus” (3:21-26).

For those who believe, Jesus is the end of Law as the standard by which we please the King. However, He was also, from the beginning, the “end” of Law, in the sense that He was the very goal to which Law was pointing us. Col. 2:17 says, speaking of Law, “These are a shadow of the things that were to come, the reality, however, is found in Christ.” Everything about the law of Moses was supposed to point people to Jesus. As Paul says in Gal. 3:24, “So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ…” 

When the Risen Jesus spoke to the two disciples on the Emmaus Road, it says “And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, He explained to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself” (Lk. 24:27). For the Jews to have not seen Jesus “in all the Scriptures” meant they’d missed the point of it all! And for you and me, even in our daily lives, what is “the point of it all?” What is the good for which all things “work together?” Is it not “that we should be conformed to the image of Christ?” The “end” we’re aiming for is Jesus!

Even Law itself points us to Jesus. Our hopelessness and guilt ought to point us to faith in Jesus. And having been born again by that faith, the whole point of it all is for us to become more and more like Jesus. “Beholding His image, we’re changed into that image, even from glory to glory” (II Cor. 4:18). He is the end of law as our schoolmaster and saves us by faith, then He Himself and His likeness become the end or goal of that faith. Christ truly is “the end of law.” To know Him is life itself! “For this is eternal life, that they might know You and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent” (Jn. 17:3).

I guess we’re back to “zeal without knowledge.” How sad that people can be “zealous for God” and yet miss Jesus – which means in reality they missed it all! The challenge comes back to you and me and I would suggest that is true particularly in our daily lives. “The just shall live by faith.” Christ is “the end of law for righteousness for everyone who believes.” Are we filling our hearts and minds with Him and sincerely seeking to let Him be the reason for all we do – Grace righteousness – or “seeking to establish our own” – Legal righteousness?

It doesn’t make sense, but then it does – in Jesus.

Romans 10:1-4 “Righteous”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹Brothers, the pleasure of my heart and the prayer toward God of them are into salvation, ²for I testify to them that they have zeal of God, but not according to knowledge, ³for, being ignorant of the righteousness of God and seeking to establish their own, they were not submitted to the righteousness of God, ⁴for Christ [is the] end of law into righteousness to everyone believing.

Righteousness. That’s not a word that people use today, except in jest, yet the truth is still everyone wants to be “right.” No one likes to be told or even think they’re “wrong.” Being right in the eyes of other people is one thing. Being right in the eyes of God is obviously something entirely different. People’s aversion to being considered “wrong” is reflected today in the very fact that they don’t want to hear about sin. If there even is such a thing as “sin,” they want to be the ones to say what it is – and isn’t.

Yet, for us born-again people, righteousness is still an important concept. For those of us who are older, we grew up in a world where the Bible was still respected and the Ten Commandments were a big deal. We simply knew there was right and wrong. I’m not so sure people were any more moral back then, but at least, when they did wrong, they knew it and it bothered them. For many, many people, it was that relentless, nagging conscience that drove them to Christ.

Regardless of what brought us to Him, as believers, we now think a lot about these issues of “right and wrong,” and that is precisely this matter of righteousness. The question then is, how can we be “righteous?” Before we jump to an answer, look again at our text. Somebody got it wrong! The people of Israel “did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own" and so “they did not submit to God’s righteousness.” Back in chapter 9, Paul had said “That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not obtained it. And why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works” (v30-32).

Notice there are clearly two kinds of righteousness. There is a righteousness “that is by faith,” and a righteousness “by works.” Anyone who’s been around church for any length of time is probably saying, “Well, of course. Everyone knows that.” However, we should all stop and notice, when it comes to Israel, we’re talking about people who had the Scriptures and who were even “zealous for God.” As those people thought about righteousness, what made sense to them? Well…if you want to be right, you have to do right. Basically, you need to keep the Ten Commandments. Right?

Somehow that makes perfect sense to our human minds. Yet what is that? It is the very righteousness the Israelites pursued and our text is telling us they got it wrong. Before we dismiss their failure, we need to pause and remember we’re no different than them. What made sense to them actually makes sense to us. You want to be right, you have to do right. Right? How can that not be right?

I would suggest even born-again people need to do some serious thinking about this whole business. The next verse in our text tells us “Christ is the end of the law,” and we all cheer and say, “Yes, He is my righteousness!” If that is your testimony, good for you. However, have you ever realized you still find yourself thinking about this matter of righteousness? Even counting on Christ for your salvation, are you not still having to address this issue of righteousness? Are you not still thinking a lot about right and wrong? And is it not still making sense to you, if you want to be right, you have to do right? Yes? So, how is your thinking any different than Israel’s?

If you are following me, I hope you are realizing we’ve got ourselves in a conundrum. We’re counting on Christ for our salvation, then promptly reverting right back to the very “righteousness” that made sense to the Israelites, and we’re being told they got it wrong!

Even if you are already born-again – saved by faith in Christ – we all still need to realize there are two kinds of righteousness. According to our text, there is “God’s righteousness,” which is a righteousness “of faith,’ and then there is a “law of righteousness,” a kind that is “by works,” a kind that we “seek to establish on our own.”

Which is yours? Even as you would trust Christ for your eternal salvation, as you go about your day, what sort of righteousness are you living? Is it “do right” and “be right?” If that is true, why did Paul assert in Romans 6:14, “For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace”? Why didn’t he say, “Sin shall not be your master. You must do right”? Why did suddenly grace take front stage?

Here is what is going on and how it makes sense to me: I call the two “ways” Legal righteousness and Grace righteousness. Legal righteousness is, it would seem, very simple. It’s “do right – be right.” The Ten Commandments say. “You shall not commit murder.” Cool. I haven’t murdered anyone (yet), so by that standard, I am righteous. They say, “You shall not steal.” I haven’t stolen anything (lately), so that makes me righteous. It says, “You shall not lie.” I haven’t lied (at least since yesterday – it’s currently 4:53 AM), so I’m righteous, right? Of course, the more we dig, the more we have to admit that, well, of course I have failed before, but I’m trying not to. As long as I’m successful, I’m righteous, right?

That’s all Legal righteousness. That’s the one that makes perfect sense to us, but it’s Israel’s righteousness and our text is telling us, they got it wrong! Then there is Grace righteousness. It is the “righteousness of faith.” It is “God’s righteousness.” It is the one “the Gentiles pursued,” and they got it right. Rather than “do right/be right,” Grace righteousness says “Be right and you will do right.” The Law says, “Do this and live.” Grace says, “Live! And do this.” The Law whips a dead horse and can’t get it to pull the wagon. Under grace, it is the Spirit that gives us life, and so we live. Instead of whipping the poor dead horse, grace brings him back from the dead, then offers him the chance to be and do exactly what he was created for – to pull the wagon.

Let’s be frank up front – Grace righteousness doesn’t make sense. That’s because it is spiritually discerned. It is simply beyond our fallen minds. Only those who have come to Christ for salvation to begin with – those who do understand what it means to be saved by faith – can understand how that same faith, that same grace, is actually the righteousness I live. This is exactly what Paul is talking about in I Cor. 2:9-16, “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard…” We’re talking about something that is “spiritually discerned.”

Jesus said, “Without Me, you can do nothing.” He said we must “abide in the vine.” Grace starts with Him. For me, all day every day, Grace righteousness is all about Him, not me. As I sincerely seek to know Him, to constantly know Him better, to let His Spirit by my spirit, to humbly acknowledge it’s true – without Him, I can do nothing – and prayerfully beg Him to help me live, then I find myself actually doing right. However, even if I do, I’m keenly aware it was Him, not me, that did it. It wasn’t my “trying” that gave me the wisdom or strength, it was Him. That’s Grace righteousness.

Grace first gives us life, then helps us to live. It is be right/do right. Then the wonderful thing about grace is that, when we fail (which is most of the time), it doesn’t reach for the whip, it stretches out its hand and says, “Hey, you who are highly favored, let me help you up. Let’s try this again (and again, and again, and again…). God’s grace in Christ means we are loved, so we can live loved. The same grace that saved us in Christ is the same grace that daily gives us life.

One more thought on this – the difference is that grace means we live a love relationship with God. The more I know Him, the more I keep before my mind His wonderful grace, the more I love Him – precisely because I realize how much He first loved me, the more I want to love Him. If I’m sitting in His big loving lap, wrapped in His big loving arms, how can I do and say and think things I know displease Him? In spite of my awful sin nature, I actually don’t want to sin. I don’t want to think those awful thoughts. I don’t want to be coarse. I don’t want to be unkind. I can actually honestly tell Him, I want to be confirmed in holiness, like the good angels. I want to be a person who doesn’t even want to sin.

When grace gets us there, can we all see we are but one step from heaven itself?

May grace help us all to “abide in the Vine.” May our righteousness be His, until the day He takes us home and truly makes us righteous!

Whether anything I’ve said makes any sense to you or not, I hope this text in Romans 10 has at least made you stop and ponder your own understanding of righteousness. Some people got it wrong. Some people got it right. I’m quite sure I know which you want to be!

 

Romans 10:1-4 “Zeal Without Knowledge”

 Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹Brothers, the pleasure of my heart and the prayer toward God of them are into salvation, ²for I testify to them that they have zeal of God, but not according to knowledge, ³for, being ignorant of the righteousness of God and seeking to establish their own, they were not submitted to the righteousness of God, ⁴for Christ [is the] end of law into righteousness to everyone believing.

I wish the whole world could read verse 2 and take it seriously. “For I can testify about them that the are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge.” Oh, wow. Prov. 19:2 says, “It is not good to have zeal without knowledge, nor to be hasty and miss the way.” Any older adult can see that young people are often filled with zeal for this or that, but so often simply foolish. A friend of mine once said, “Youth is wasted on the young.” I look back on my own life and can say I spent an enormous amount of time and energy on a lot of things which I now realize were a complete waste of time.

I used to puzzle over Jesus’ words, “For without Me, you can do nothing” (Jn. 15:5). At the time, I was rushing hither and yon doing this and that, thinking I was serving the Lord, yet I didn’t really take the time to be sure what I was doing was God’s will and not just my own. Now I can see how little was accomplished for all that effort. “Zeal without knowledge.” “It is not good to have zeal without knowledge.”

This first of all brings us back to where we ended the last post. What is knowledge? Where do we get truth? Christian people should answer quickly, “from the Bible.” That is true, of course, but look at the case in point. We’re looking in Romans 9 at the Jewish people. Did they have the Bible? Of course they did. Not only that, but they thought they were champions of Bible study. Jesus said of them, “You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life…” (Jn. 5:39). We have before us an entire people group who not only had the Scriptures, but also studied them, and, according to Paul, were even “zealous for God.” Yet he could say of them, their zeal was “not according to knowledge.”

“How can that be?” every Christian should ask themself. I would suggest we are back to our simple little adage, we have to “let it say what it says.” The Pharisees may have been diligent students of the Bible, but they went to that Bible with their minds already made up. The passages they did not like, they simply ignored or derived fanciful interpretations to explain away. And where did that get them? It made them “zealous for God,” but as Jesus warned His disciples, “A time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God” (Jn. 16:2). Not only did they kill the disciples, they even killed the Messiah Himself!

Wow, is it not good to have zeal without knowledge!

The challenge to us born-again believers is to be sincerely trying to go to the Bible prayerfully, to be humbly asking the Lord to give us light, seeking to understand what it says, then simply believing it, embracing it, and seeking to live it. And I want to assert here that this isn’t some daunting assignment. The Lord didn’t give us the Bible to confuse us. He didn’t make it hard to understand. I am personally amazed at how simple it is – if we simply let it “say what it says.” We may often run across passages where we can’t figure out what they mean, but I would suggest there will always be plenty that will be “all too clear,” and it’s on those things we should build our faith. God’s Holy Spirit is more than able to “lead me on level ground” (Ps. 143:10), to be that voice behind us saying, “Here is the way. Walk ye in it” (Isa. 30:21).

What a shame it is to see our whole world filled with zeal in so many ways, yet to see it so misplaced. The radical Muslims think they’re “zealous for God,” then reign in terror. Look at how horrifically the Taliban and the Iranian government treat their people. It would seem their favorite pastime is murder. Their hatred and cruelty may be obvious to the rest of the world, but they actually think they’re “zealous for God.” Then we can say, they may be one of the worst examples, yet the whole world is filled with people trying to be “religious” yet completely missing the way. Our world is full of “zeal without knowledge.”

We could multiply examples of people sitting on top of poles or cloistering themselves away. We could point out the Hasidic Jews or the Amish or Buddhist monks or whoever is the latest cult following. However, I fear we American Christians need to look much closer to home, if we would profit from reading Paul’s words here. We need to ask ourselves how much of what we call our “faith” is really based on the Bible and how much of it is just more of the “traditions of men?”

I suppose the real question comes down to, “Do I know God?” Jesus said, “For this is eternal life, that they might know You…” (Jn. 17:3). Do I truly know Him? Do I “practice His presence?” In my own heart and mind, is that really the measure of my “faith?” If I couldn’t do any the things we Christians would call our “religion,” would I still have the treasure of my relationship with Him? Is the essence of my faith a Martha or am I truly a Mary?

“It is not good to have zeal without knowledge.” We would learn from the Jews it is even possible to be “zealous for God,” and still to completely miss the way. Lord, may You truly be the very center and essence of my faith. May everything I think and do arise from that relationship. Then may people all around the world, especially born-again Christians, pause and consider their own hearts. May we all buy from Jesus “gold refined in the fire…and white clothes to wear…and salve for our eyes, so we can see!” (Rev. 3:18). May our “zeal” be based on knowledge we get directly from the Word of God and may it truly be a zeal that “brings forth much fruit” (Jn. 15:5).

 

Romans 10:1-4 “Truth”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹Brothers, the pleasure of my heart and the prayer toward God of them are into salvation, ²for I testify to them that they have zeal of God, but not according to knowledge, ³for, being ignorant of the righteousness of God and seeking to establish their own, they were not submitted to the righteousness of God, ⁴for Christ [is the] end of law into righteousness to everyone believing.

It’s interesting that Romans 10 immediately follows Romans 9. The whole point of Romans 9, it would seem, was to assert the Lord’s absolute sovereignty, particularly in relation to salvation. “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,” He said in v.14. To those who don’t like to hear that, He asks, “Who are you, O man, to talk back to God?” (v.20). That’s it. End of discussion. God’s sovereignty, His choosing, predestination are all simply Biblical facts revealed to us by the God who says, “For My ways are not your ways, nor My thoughts your thoughts…” (Isa. 55:8).

Now in Romans 10, right at the outset, we find Paul praying for people’s salvation! Reading ahead down to v.9, we read the familiar, “That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” Notice the “that if…” What this chapter will unequivocally assert is that your salvation is entirely up to you(!). Romans 9 taught us God’s absolute sovereignty. Romans 10 teaches us our absolute responsibility!

These two truths – sovereignty and responsibility – have been a theological battleground for centuries. Frankly, I think that has been only so much wasted ink. Romans 9 is very clear. Romans 10 is very clear. They’re both right there in the Bible and here they even each get an entire chapter and that right next to each other. What is there to argue about – unless someone simply doesn’t like what they’re reading? (Or doesn’t read it at all…) Once again, if we would study our Bible, let it say what it says, and only then ponder its meaning, personally I don’t see where there’s even any room for discussion. A believer’s place in this world is to realize we are the creation, He is the Creator. We are just people. He is God. We dwell in time and space. He inhabits eternity.

I would suggest that this subject of eternal salvation emerges from so deeply in the timeless, eternal, incomprehensible councils of the infinite God, it is simply beyond our understanding. We need to simply read and study our Bibles, see what God says, believe it, and go on to live our lives in light of those truths. Period.

Paul believed that and what do we find him doing even as the chapter opens? Praying for people’s salvation. Telling them, “If you…” Actually, he ended chapter 9 already acknowledging these truths when he quoted “and the one who trusts in Him will never be ashamed.” That said, let us rest in the security of our God’s absolute sovereignty, then never stop praying and longing for the salvation of our family and friends. As long as they still have breath in their lungs, it will remain true, “If you…”

Another thought arises for me from just verse 1 (which only reiterates 9:1-5). In general, I love reading anything the Reformers recorded. On the whole, they were champions of studying the Bible and letting it say what it says. On the other hand, one thing that is shocking is to read their vicious antipathy toward the Jewish people. It would seem they hated the Jewish people and couldn’t say enough bad about them. “Christ-killers” they called them. That antipathy was so bad and so prevalent that, to this day, I understand that, if you go to Israel and identify yourself as a Christian, they will assume you hate them. You have to tell them you are an Evangelical, then they are assured you are their friend.

It is true. They crucified the Messiah. Peter accosted them with that truth in Acts 3:11-26, when he said, “You killed the Author of life, but God raised Him from the dead…” However, notice he then urges them, “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be forgiven…” Peter didn’t hate them. Like Paul, the desire of his heart and his prayer for them was for their salvation. Once again, I don’t see how anyone can read the Bible, let it say what it says, and have anything but love in their heart for God’s chosen people, the Jews.

The wonderful thing about the Bible is that it is the Truth. The more we would read it, study it, understand it, and embrace its truths, the more we become the very people God’ created us to be. We don’t have to understand how it all fits together, just believe it and live it. Paul did. Peter did. Daniel did. You and I can too.

 

Daniel 9:24-27 “Short”

 Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

²⁴Seventy sevens are determined upon your people and upon your holy city to end the rebellion and to finish sins and to atone for perversion and to bring in righteousness of ages and to seal vision and prophecy and to anoint [the] Holy of Holies. ²⁵And know and have insight – from issuance of a word to restore and to rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah [the] Prince [shall be] seven sevens and sixty-two sevens, and again a plaza and a moat will be built even in times of trouble. ²⁶And after the sevens of sixty and two, Messiah will be cut off and nothing to Him and a people of a coming prince will spoil the city and the sanctuary and its end in the flood and until end war being determined desolations. ²⁷And he will confirm a covenant with the many [for] one seven and [in] the half of the seven, he will stop sacrifice and offering and upon a wing of abominations one making desolate, even until [the] end, and [the] one causing to be decreed will pour out upon [the] desolator.

Interesting to note, as we would listen in on v.27, we actually take a seat next to Daniel. What I mean is that, up to this point, we have been studying prophecies which, while yet future for Daniel, are past history for us. We have no problem understanding how the great Messiah could be cut off. We know about the Romans’ destruction of Jerusalem. That’s history for us. However, as we come to v.27, we’re reading about something yet future for us too. So, we pull up our chair next to our friend Daniel and ponder over Gabriel’s words much as he would have.

The one exception, however, is that we have the book of Revelation. Essentially, the book of Revelation is Daniel Vol. II. Nearly the entire book could have been entitled, “Daniel’s Seventieth Week.” In Daniel 9, we get one verse on it. John gives us an entire book. I say all of that because we have the wonderful gift of additional revelation beyond what Daniel apparently had, and, in order to understand v.27, we should give earnest heed to John’s writings. However, I also don’t want to lose sight, as we would study, that Daniel could not. On the other hand, it is also true, even with the book of Revelation, it is all still future for us.

Gabriel tells us that “the ruler to come” will “confirm a covenant with many for one seven.” Well, there it is. There is our final seven, our final “week” of Daniel’s Seventy Weeks. Gabriel then tells us that, in the middle of the seven, this ruler to come will “put an end to sacrifice and offering…and set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed for him is poured out on him.”

Before I say anything, I want to acknowledge that the Hebrew here is quite cryptic. I think the NIV (which I just quoted) does a good job of translating the verse, but much of that is actually based on the understanding that we get from the book of Revelation, not from the Hebrew itself. Without John’s writings, I would suggest that verse 27 is almost unintelligible. One could say that explains in part how this verse could have spawned the endless myriads of interpretations which have been offered all down through the centuries. For myself, however, I agree with the NIV translators that the book of Revelation is the key to understanding it, and so I proceed on that basis.

Several significant cross-references need to be recognized at this point. Beginning with Daniel himself, in 7:25, he foresaw that “the saints will be handed over to him (the little horn) for a time, times and half a time. Now Gabriel says the ruler to come will break his covenant in the middle of the seven, so we know the time, times, and half a time is 3 ½ years. Later, in 12:1, Daniel was told of “a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations…” When it is asked how long this will last, it is again revealed to be “a time, times, and half a time” (v.7).

Jeremiah had spoken of a horrible time in Israel’s future which he called “the time of Jacob’s trouble.” He said in 30:7, “How awful that day will be! None will be like it. It is even the time of Jacob’s trouble…” Notice in particular it is called the time of Jacob’s trouble. Gabriel had specifically said, “Seventy sevens are decreed for your people and your holy city…” (v.24). Once again, this future time of horrific distress specifically concerns the Jewish people, It is the time of Jacob’s trouble.

Jesus referred to Daniel when He was speaking of the last days and said it would be a time of “great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now – and never to be equaled again” (Matt. 24:21). He had just said a few verses before that, “So when you see standing in the holy place the abomination that causes desolation, spoken through the prophet Daniel…” (24:15). Jesus makes it clear that He is talking about the same events which Daniel (and Jeremiah) had addressed. Then, even when Jesus was here, it is clear that this Seventieth Week was still yet future.

Several verses in Revelation assure us John was prophesying about these same events and they were still yet future, even when he was an old man and exiled on the Isle of Patmos. Beginning in Revelation chapter 6, John prophesies about a world of horrible judgments and reading the rest of the book, we have come to call this time “the Great Tribulation.” This matches Daniel, Jeremiah, and Jesus’ predictions of this world of “great distress.”

Starting in Rev. 11:3, John begins making reference to a time of 1,260 days (3 ½ x 360) for the Two Witnesses to prophesy, then for another 1,260 days that “the woman” will be “taken care of” (12:6). Then too, tying back to Daniel, the beast of Revelation is said to be given “a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise his authority for forty-two months” (=1,260 days or 3 ½ 360-day years).

I point out all of this to establish that, as I said earlier, the book of Revelation is to a large extent simply a chapters-long explanation of what will happen in this “week” that gets summed up in Daniel in just a couple of verses. Revelation really is Daniel Vol. II, and, based on John’s writings (in addition to Jeremiah, Daniel, and Jesus), we have come to call this horrific period, this last “Seven,” the Great Tribulation and the “little horn” we know to be the man we’ve come to call the AntiChrist.  In chapters 7 and 11, Daniel gives us a little more information about these things, but, of course, his few short verses had to await John’s writings before we could have the exhaustive treatment of an entire book to describe this Seventieth Week.

I would suggest one implication of this entire prophecy in Daniel 9:24-27 is that the Lord apparently has a different plan for us His church. If we are careful with our exegesis, we cannot ignore the many very clear statements that these prophecies concern Israel, not the Church. It is the time of Jacob’s trouble and concerns Daniel’s people and his city. In Luke 21:24, Jesus referred to “the times of the Gentiles.” He said, “And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.” In Romans 11, Paul makes it clear that this “times of the Gentiles” is, in some way, an interruption of the Lord’s plans for the Jewish people. He says, “Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in” (v.25). Notice the “until.” The very word implies there is yet something in store specifically for the Jewish people.

I personally don’t see how, if we are careful with our exegesis, we can fail to see that, at the present time, their Seventieth Week is yet future for the Jewish people and that we are now in a parenthesis of sorts while the Lord draws in us Gentiles. All of that then fits logically into Paul’s prophecy of what we call the Rapture in I Thes. 4:13-18, “The Lord Himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. After that, we who are alive and remain will be caught up (Latin: rapturo) together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.”

When the parenthesis (the times of the Gentiles) ends, then the Lord resumes the Jewish people’s “Seventy Weeks.” Note too there is nothing in the Bible to say the end of that parenthesis equals the beginning of that Seventieth Week. Jesus’ return for His church has been imminent ever since He left and there is no prophecy that necessarily needs to be fulfilled before the Rapture happens. However, what we do see is a world today shaping up exactly as Daniel and John prophesied. Israel is in the Land. The European Union is a reality. It is at least the essence of what will become the Revived Roman Empire (the “ten toes” of Daniel chapter 2). Our world seems to be devolving rapidly into chaos and there really are people we call “Globalists,” who clamor for a one-world government. We now have the technology to create “chips” to identify (and locate) people – the “mark of the Beast.” The event which does mark the beginning of this Seventieth Week is the covenant between the AntiChrist and the Jewish people: “And he shall confirm a covenant with the many for one Seven…” (Dan. 9:27).

Given the horrific turmoil in the Middle East and the world-wide prevalence of antisemitism, it would certainly be no surprise to see the nation of Israel make a covenant with the European Union and its leader, the AntiChrist, to protect them, to give them peace. That would be the “covenant with the many” which sparks the beginning of the Seventieth Week. My point would be, if somehow the Rapture must precede that event, and if world events seem to be rapidly moving toward its fulfillment, then certainly “the time is short.” It could still be 500 years in the future, but I would guess it closer to 50. Given the world we’re seeing, it could be 5 – or less.

Surely the time really is short. Even if, somewhere along the line here, I have misunderstood the prophecies or suggested logical implications which turn out to be incorrect, no matter what, the time is short. The Lord will return. As Peter said, “The Day of the Lord will come” (II Pet. 3:10). Lord help us all to prayerfully do the best we can to live lives of loving God and people, to be the fragrance of Christ in a world of people who desperately need Him! Daniel was that kind of man in his day. May we be so in ours.

Daniel 9:24-27 “Cut Off”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

²⁴Seventy sevens are determined upon your people and upon your holy city to end the rebellion and to finish sins and to atone for perversion and to bring in righteousness of ages and to seal vision and prophecy and to anoint [the] Holy of Holies. ²⁵And know and have insight – from issuance of a word to restore and to rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah [the] Prince [shall be] seven sevens and sixty-two sevens, and again a plaza and a moat will be built even in times of trouble. ²⁶And after the sevens of sixty and two, Messiah will be cut off and nothing to Him and a people of a coming prince will spoil the city and the sanctuary and its end in the flood and until end war being determined desolations. ²⁷And he will confirm a covenant with the many [for] one seven and [in] the half of the seven, he will stop sacrifice and offering and upon a wing of abominations one making desolate, even until [the] end, and [the] one causing to be decreed will pour out upon [the] desolator.

In v.26, Daniel is told that, after the 62 sevens (after the 69^th Week), Messiah will be cut off. As discussed before, this must have been a shocking, perplexing, and cryptic prophecy. Messiah cut off and have nothing? How could that be? The serpent was only supposed to “strike His heel.” He was to “crush the serpent’s head!” (Gen. 3:15). The “Stone cut without hands” was supposed to “crush the kingdoms of this world and bring them to an end, but will itself endure forever” (Dan. 2:44). As I said earlier, I strongly suspect that our Daniel, being the diligent student that he was, would have immediately connected this “Messiah cut off” with the Suffering Servant prophecy of Isaiah 53. However, even to him, it probably would seem mysterious how all these things could be true at the same time.

For us now, looking back, it would be obvious that, before the Lord could “bring in everlasting righteousness,” the sin problem had to be dealt with (as Gabriel had just said in v. 24). Today, we can see clearly that “the blood of bulls and goats can never take away sin” (Heb. 10:4) and that something far greater was necessary to truly “atone for wickedness.” In fact, Isaiah had said, “He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him…and the Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all” (53:5,6). To us, that is obviously speaking of Jesus, but I’m suggesting that a very careful reading of the Old Testament could have understood, though perhaps darkly, that, somehow the Messiah must suffer, even be “cut off,” as part of this business of bringing an end to sin. Daniel would have been the kind of careful studier who might have put that together. He probably found it perplexing, however I can almost hear him telling us, “but it says what it says.”

I want to inject here the observation that the Jewish people, as a group, obviously ignored this prophecy. Certainly by Jesus’ time, it would seem all they could see was a glorious Messiah who would conquer the world and free them from Rome. One could ask, “How could that be?” The Pharisees in particular were supposed to be diligent studiers of the Scriptures. The first thing I would suggest is, even if they did study, I doubt they observed our simple rule of “Let it say what it says.” They had their popular interpretation of the glorious Messiah, so they either reasoned away this idea of “cut off,” or simply ignored it.

Again, how could that happen when it says it right there in the Bible? Frankly, I think we can answer that by observing our own generation. The simple truth is very few people today actually study the Bible. When I say that I am specifically referring to pastors, missionaries, seminary professors, and anyone else supposedly serving as teachers of the Word. Of those who do study at all, few of them “let it say what it says.” They all have their own popular hobby horses. However, for the vast majority, I believe the problem is that, in fact, they don’t study to start with. What they do is read each other’s books and write more books. They listen to each other’s sermons and preach more sermons. They all have their own group’s popular positions, but never have had to face the hard reality of passages in the Bible that would clearly refute their position, simply because they never studied them – perhaps never even read them.

I say that after nearly fifty years of listening to sermons and lessons and reading books and commentaries from a wide variety of positions. Even as a layman, when listening or reading from others, if you’ve carefully studied a particular passage, it is obvious whether a person has themselves actually studied or not. Way, way, way too often the obvious falls to “not.” I’d like to rail on how shameful that is, but we all need to turn that gun of conviction on our own hearts. The fact is, I can’t change the world. I can’t change what other people do or don’t do, but I can change me. This “famine of the Word of God” only makes it all the more important that you and I study as diligently and carefully as we are able.

Whatever abilities we may have, whatever tools are usable to us as we would study, we need to be putting them to work. I’ve had the wonderful opportunity to learn to work with the original languages and I do, but, if you have not, that need be no obstacle to you. The same Holy Spirit that gives insight, who promises us “Seek and you shall find,” will help you just as much as He helps me. He only expects us to do the best we can. May we all be like our friend Daniel, take the Word of God seriously, and be found diligent and careful students!

The next thing to note is that it clearly says Messiah will be cut off “after the sixty-two sevens.” Even as Daniel heard and later studied those words, he probably noticed the “after.” What is peculiar about that is that there was still one more seven to go. The Messiah would be cut off after the sixty-two sevens, yet with no mention yet of that last seven. A very careful student could have noticed that somehow the last seven did not immediately follow the sixty-two.

Interesting that on the day Jesus rode the donkey into Jerusalem and somehow knew they (probably the leaders) were rejecting Him as King, He said to them, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace – but now it is hidden from your eyes” (Luke 19:42). Their rejection ended the sixty-two sevens, so now 483 of the prophesied years had passed, leaving seven to go, but, in Matt. 23:28, He told them, “Your house is left to you desolate.” It sounds as if it is all over for the Jews, yet there were clearly seven more years to come, apparently at that point sometime in the undetermined future. So the time when Messiah was cut off occurred after the sixty-two sevens but not yet in the last seven, leaving a gap which we now know was to be our current Church Age, the “times of the Gentiles.” Paul explains in Romans 11:25. “Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in.” Yet he continues in v.26, “And so all Israel will be saved…” Though Messiah was cut off, the Jews’ house “was left to them desolate,” and the 69^th week had ended, yet there was even then still a future for the people of Israel – and specifically seven more years of something.

What we see in the passage is that, during this gap, “The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue to the end, and desolations have been decreed.” In the visions of both chapters 7 and 8, Daniel has seen and been very curious about the “little horn” that rises out of the fourth kingdom only to do great evil in this world and particularly against the Jewish people. This nefarious individual has been playing a prominent part in Daniel’s previous visions, and personally, I do not doubt that to Daniel, “the ruler who will come” would be a clear reference to that very individual, that “little horn.” The “people of the ruler to come” would then be the Romans and obviously they did exactly what Gabriel is prophesying here. In 70 AD, they did in fact destroy the city and the sanctuary” and it all lay desolate until 1947 when Israel once again became a nation and the Dry Bones began to rise.

Gabriel also describes the time of this gap as a period of war continuing to the end. The last 2,000 years have certainly been that, right up until the present. Just in Europe alone, it is shocking to study their history and see how they have spent the last two millennia butchering each other. If blood is good fertilizer, the continent of Europe ought to grow amazing crops! It has sure seen plenty.

If Gabriel would have stopped at this point, Daniel would have been left asking – but what about that last seven? Fortunately, Gabriel didn’t stop but went on to tell Daniel the message recorded in verse 27.

That is a study all in itself, so…

 

Daniel 9:24-27 “Unfolding”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

²⁴Seventy sevens are determined upon your people and upon your holy city to end the rebellion and to finish sins and to atone for perversion and to bring in righteousness of ages and to seal vision and prophecy and to anoint [the] Holy of Holies. ²⁵And know and have insight – from issuance of a word to restore and to rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah [the] Prince [shall be] seven sevens and sixty-two sevens, and again a plaza and a moat will be built even in times of trouble. ²⁶And after the sevens of sixty and two, Messiah will be cut off and nothing to Him and a people of a coming prince will spoil the city and the sanctuary and its end in the flood and until end war being determined desolations. ²⁷And he will confirm a covenant with the many [for] one seven and [in] the half of the seven, he will stop sacrifice and offering and upon a wing of abominations one making desolate, even until [the] end, and [the] one causing to be decreed will pour out upon [the] desolator.

One thing I’ve tried to do is to see this passage from Daniel’s perspective. We have the luxury to read it from this side of the Cross and after nearly 2,600 years have passed. Much of it might seem crystal clear to us, but probably not so much to Daniel. I wonder if, as Daniel pondered this prophecy that Messiah would be “cut off” and “have nothing,” if he connected it with Isaiah 53? I’ll bet he did. Interesting though that we have at least three prophecies in the Bible which predicted the Messiah’s suffering – Gen. 3:15 that the serpent would “strike His heel,” the “suffering servant” of Isa. 52:13-53:12, and here in v.26, that He will be “cut off,” and yet, by Jesus’ time, all the Jews seemed to have expected was a glorious conquering king!

I don’t doubt it was very perplexing to reconcile those “suffering” prophecies with prophecies like Isaiah 9:7, “Of the greatness of His government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.” We can acknowledge it would be difficult to see how their glorious King could also be “cut off” and “have nothing.” However, once again, that is what it says. If they would have minded this one simple rule: “Let it say what it says,” they could have been quick to realize that was exactly what the Crucifixion was about. We also see in v.24, as mentioned before, that clearly Messiah’s purpose in coming was first of all spiritual, that it was first of all a matter of dealing with the sin issue, and had they let that “say what it says,” they’d not have been so determined to see Him as a champion to free them from Rome.

What all of this tells us is that their ignorance was not only spiritually fatal, it was actually inexcusable – but then, has the Church been any different? As I lamented above, this passage has almost as many interpretations as people writing about it, yet I would suggest most of the time that is because they don’t just “let it say what it says.” There is no doubt in my mind that Daniel would have. He may not have understood it, but he would have let it “say what it says.” He would have been one of those of whom Peter spoke: “Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing…” (I Pet. 1:10). The Jews should have followed the prophets’ example, but then so should you and I!

I would start by suggesting we probably don’t know for sure exactly when the “decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem” was issued, or why there were “seven sevens and sixty-two sevens.” It would seem reasonable that the restoring and rebuilding of Jerusalem somehow took forty-nine years (seven sevens), but then I don’t think there is anything in the Bible to mark that endpoint. Surely at the time it was some very important and clear date, so that pious Jews could have recognized it as fulfilled prophecy, but, as far as I know, that information is lost to us.

We then make the assumption that there was no gap between the “seven sevens” and the “sixty sevens,” so that we only have to deal with the total of sixty-nine sevens equal to 490 years. As far as chronology, that appears to have been the case, based on our (not entirely reliable) understanding of the ancient timeline. I guess I’m suggesting, had we lived at those times, things could have been crystal clear as we observed them unfold, but the exact details are lost to us now.

Just think, though, what this would have meant to Daniel. Ever since the Garden of Eden, believers had lived hoping for the coming of the Messiah. I wonder sometimes if Adam and Eve would have thought perhaps He would be one of their sons? Yet here sits Daniel probably some three to four thousand years later and He hasn’t come yet. It was revealed He would come from Abraham’s family, then Isaac’s, Jacob’s, Judah’s, and finally David’s, but even David lived something like 500 years before Daniel. As Daniel receives this prophecy, for the first time ever, the actual timeline of Messiah’s coming is revealed. Here we sit as New Testament believers and “no man knows the day or the hour.” The Church has had to live just like the early believers, expecting the coming of the Lord but given no idea of the timeline. As of this prophecy, believing Jews could actually do the math, look ahead, and know when to expect Him!

On the other hand, he would have known it’s going to be the 490 years! If we were told today that Jesus would return for us in 490 years, wouldn’t that seem like a terribly long time? I wonder if it isn’t a blessing for us not to know, so we can get up every morning and say, “Maybe today…!” For whatever reason, the Lord saw fit to actually date the time of Messiah’s coming for the Jewish people. What a marvel that must have been for Daniel.

Then notice, as far as the rebuilding of Jerusalem, Gabriel said it would be “in times of trouble.” That has always perplexed me. It surprises me to see how much opposition Nehemiah had to deal with, trying to rebuild the wall. In my simple mind, I would have thought that was such a noble endeavor, it would have gone smoothly for him.

I suspect my problem is underestimating the enormity of the sin problem in our world. Everything we do, even the noblest of undertakings, has to be done facing two realities, the sin in our world, and the sin in us. As far as the sin of our world, the fact is that Satan in the “prince of the power of the air,” that we “wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against…spiritual wickedness in high places.” We should not be surprised if we find the demonic forces of this world opposing our every effort to pursue goodness. On the other hand, there is us. The Lord promises to make all things work together for good, but what is that good? “That we should be conformed to the image of Christ” (Rom. 8:29). We should never forget that, even as we would seek to do good, the Lord is working on us.

My sin problem is infinitely greater than I can possibly imagine and the Lord would use the troubles of this world as His chisel to sculpt away those sin issues and slowly, patiently, progressively form in me the image of His Son. Interesting that Daniel came into this exchange focused on an end to the seventy years of Captivity and finds out there are still 70x7 years left! Perhaps the Jewish people had thought the Messiah would return at the end of that first seventy years? What a great way for the Messiah to come – to conquer this Babylonian kingdom which had so wickedly defiled and destroyed the Temple and the city. Yet, no, that is not to be the case. There are still 490 years ahead. Only the coming of the Messiah can put “an end to sin.” In the meantime, it is a powerful enemy which the Lord allows in order to accomplish His great eternal purposes, and, for us, that often takes far longer than our feeble minds could have anticipated. Obviously, “we have need of patience!”

There is so much to consider in these few simple verses, I will stop here and ponder more later.

 

Daniel 9:25 “Thoughts”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

²⁵And know and have insight – from issuance of a word to restore and to rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah [the] Prince [shall be] seven sevens and sixty two sevens, and again a plaza and a moat will be built even in times of trouble.

Several thoughts I want to record before diving too hard into this passage. First of all, just so it’s said, this is a very difficult passage to translate. Several of the Hebrew words are very general and capable of various understandings. I personally have no doubt that is the nature of prophecy – to always have some element of a cryptic sense about it.

That thought leads me to the second which is this: When Jesus was giving prophecy to His disciples, He said to them, “I have told you now, so that when it does happen you will believe” (John 14:29). Notice the “when it does happen.” I would suggest it is generally always true of prophecy that it will contain two elements. First, there is much that is very clear and it seems to me those things are told us invariably to give us hope and an understanding of our times. The second element is this cryptic feature. Prophecies are just cryptic enough to frustrate our passion to “know it all” ahead of time. To some extent, it will only make sense at the time – when we actually need to know it. The “666” of Revelation is a good example. We’re told it will be the number of the Beast. As much as we ponder that, I doubt we can unravel its meaning – precisely because we don’t need to know (as much as it may fascinate us!). When the time comes and believers need to understand it, I am sure it will be patently clear. However, we don’t need to know it, and so we don’t. That’s the cryptic element that keeps us watching and waiting.

That cryptic element is precisely what ought to keep us all humble as we try to construct our understanding of prophecy. We should study prophecies. We should ponder them and do our best to understand “the things that are all too clear” as we would look ahead and look around. However, we should also do our best to acknowledge when we simply don’t know. The trick, I’m suggesting, is to know the difference. If everyone took that posture, you wouldn’t have people angrily defending their particular prophetic timelines. It would also have protected people down through the centuries from coming up with what are now laughable interpretations.

Once again, we should study and seek to know “the things that are all too clear.” However, and this is the bottom line in my heart – that it is far more important to know the prophecies themselves, to know the Scriptures which present them (even with those cryptic elements), and then to keep them as our “rock” of understanding. The Scriptures themselves need to be our rock – not our prophetical systems which we have devised. We need to know our Bibles!

Another thing I believe we should all acknowledge and keep in mind is that ancient timelines are dubious at best. I myself am very happy to accept that, for instance, the Persians conquered Babylon in 539 BC. However, I have no intention of “going to the mat” with anyone over that date. The secular world and (I think) too many “theologians” treat their ancient timelines as if they’re etched in stone. People are forever trying to align the Bible and its apparent timelines with those which have been constructed for the ancient world. They act like those ancient timelines are absolute truth and the Bible somehow has to be defended against them.

That is so ludicrous, it would be laughable if it wasn’t so ridiculously blasphemous. First of all, the ancient scribes were just as a big a liars as our media today. The government tells us what they want us to believe. They do not hesitate to rewrite history, to only tell half the story, to cherry-pick data in order to “prove” their case, and simply to tell us outright lies. The people doing the writing are and always have been very aware of what their bosses “want to hear.” They are courtesans in every sense of the word – journalistic prostitutes – and nothing they say (or said) should be taken as absolute truth. The other thing about ancient writings is that, usually, there are only scraps and pieces of documents, written in ancient languages, and even the ones that seem most well preserved invariably disagree.

I have expressed this from time to time, but I will not defend the Bible against those “ancient timelines,” regardless of how dearly they may be held by the “scholarly” community. The Bible itself is the only ancient document which is absolutely true and when it seems difficult to align it with those other ancient timelines, I’ll stick with the Bible.

One more thing I want to record concerns the length of the “years” we’re considering. I would suggest once again, if we let the Bible speak for itself, there is no question these are 360 day years or what some have called “prophetic years.” I don’t want to spend a lot of time on it, but it is clear in the account of Noah that time was being reckoned in 30-day months, then between Daniel 7:24,25, Rev. 12:6; 12:13,14; and 13:4-7, the Seventieth Week is variously designated as including 3 ½ years, 42 months, or 1260 days – all indicating a year based on twelve 30-day months or 360 days.

The only real argument against this understanding is the objection that nowhere in ancient history is there any record of anyone reckoning time using such a system. I’ve already addressed that argument above. Their assumption is that their “ancient” documents are an exhaustive, complete, and authoritative standard by which to judge all truth. Anyone with any understanding of “ancient” documents would (should) know such an argument is in itself ludicrous.

And then to use such an absurd standard to judge the Bible is not only logically fallacious, but in the end displays a complete misunderstanding of real Truth. The Bible is the Word of God and it is itself the standard of Truth. Someone may scoff at my faith in the Bible, but they ought to at least admit that their “faith” is being based on a ragged, very incomplete, and often very contradictory collection of those “ancient” documents. Such a person has every right to choose what to put their “faith” in, but then so do I, and so do you, and “as for me and my house,” we’ll choose the Bible. There is no question, if we let the Bible speak for itself, that the years in this prophecy consist of 360 days each.

Alva J. McClain uses the 360-day years, then presents the math that he could predict the exact date of Jesus’ Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem, starting with Nehemiah and the decree of Artaxerxes on an understood date of March 14, 1445 BC, and leading to a date of April 6, 32 AD. I’ve always found that intriguing and it may in fact be accurate, except for, once again, we’re basing that system on the scholarly world’s assumed timeline. At this point, I would still call McClain’s suggestions intriguing, but I wouldn’t go the mat over it with anyone. The Bible is true. There is no way to know for certain whether or not Artaxerxes’ decree was issued on March 14, 1445 BC. So I will leave it all as “intriguing.”

It may be that the Jews of Jesus’ day did or could have known those exact dates. Since they were living in that time and could have (or should have) realized the prophetic significance of the decree to rebuild Jerusalem, perhaps they could have done the math. Our problem now is the complete impossibility of pinning down those dates with infallible accuracy. The admonition from all of that to us is to be sure we’re aware as prophecies are being fulfilled around us.

Until the Seventieth Week starts, there is no timeline for us to observe, but still prophecy is being fulfilled even as I type. Israel is once again a nation. On May 14, 1948, in Tel Aviv, Jewish Agency Chairman David Ben-Gurion proclaimed the State of Israel, and for the first time in 2,000 years, the Jewish people were a nation. The whole world should have realized the “Dry Bones” prophecy of Ezekiel 37:1-14 was being fulfilled before their eyes. In fact, it has been being fulfilled ever since that day. The bones came together and the flesh of a true national people became reality until today we see them literally standing. All that is left now is for the breath of the Lord to enter and give them true spiritual life.

It will be interesting to watch and see, with all the military turmoil currently swirling around the nation of Israel (this is the year 2024), if we don’t see the prophecy of Gog and Magog (Ezek. 38 & 39) fulfilled before our eyes. In addition to those things, we see the Revived Roman Empire, the ten toes of Daniel apparently being fulfilled in the European Union.  On February 7, 1992, politicians from 12 European countries signed the Maastricht Treaty and the European Union was born. It still needs to align with its prophecies in a number of ways, but there is no question it is leading to the world of the AntiChrist.

My point in all of that is simply to say we need to have our eyes open, to know our Bibles, and to know the prophecies, so that we are aware as they are being fulfilled. Apparently at least most of the Jewish people paid little regard as their prophecies were being fulfilled. No doubt today, the vast majority of the human race doesn’t even realize prophecies continue to be fulfilled – but you and I don’t need to be so blind. We have every opportunity to actually “walk in the light” and “understand the times.”

To that end, I want to study Daniel 9:24-27, do my best to understand “the things that are all too clear,” to admit to the things that remain uncertain, then to be ready to grasp the significance of world events as they unfold around me.

History is, in fact, His story, and as we see it unfold, we can say once again,

“Hallelujah, for the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth!”