Kingdom Eschatology

PART 2


I guess one of the first considerations for Kingdom Eschatology's validity is the proposal that the entire 70 weeks of Daniel has all been fulfilled. That places no tribulation period, as such, in the future. There will be tribulation in general, but there will be no specific period of 7 or 3.5 years of it.

Daniel 9:24-27 speaks of a 70 week period of time during which specific purposes of God's dealings with Israel will be fulfilled. Verse 24 lists these purposes:

1) To finish the transgression.
2) To Make An End of Sins
3) To Make Reconciliation for Iniquity
4) To Bring in Everlasting righteousness
5) To seal up the Vision and Prophecy
6) To Anoint the Most Holy

All of these were fulfilled by the cross of Jesus Christ.

Let me show how each purpose has been fulfilled.

1) The Israelites were held in captivity in Babylon, where Daniel received this prophecy, due to not honouring the sabbaths. That was their transgression. God said the land would rest for 70 years since Israel did not allow it to rest.

Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye come into the land which I give you, then shall the land keep a sabbath unto the LORD. Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and gather in the fruit thereof; But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest unto the land, a sabbath for the LORD: thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard. That which groweth of its own accord of thy harvest thou shalt not reap, neither gather the grapes of thy vine undressed: for it is a year of rest unto the land. And the sabbath of the land shall be meat for you; for thee, and for thy servant, and for thy maid, and for thy hired servant, and for thy stranger that sojourneth with thee, And for thy cattle, and for the beast that are in thy land, shall all the increase thereof be meat. (Lev 25:2-7)

God warned Israel of breaking the sabbaths for the land as follows:

And if ye will not for all this hearken unto me, but walk contrary unto me; Then I will walk contrary unto you also in fury; and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins. And ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat. And I will destroy your high places, and cut down your images, and cast your carcasses upon the carcasses of your idols, and my soul shall abhor you. And I will make your cities waste, and bring your sanctuaries unto desolation, and I will not smell the savor of your sweet odors. And I will bring the land into desolation: and your enemies which dwell therein shall be astonished at it. And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you: and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste. Then shall the land enjoy her sabbaths, as long as it lieth desolate, and ye be in your enemies' land; even then shall the land rest, and enjoy her sabbaths. As long as it lieth desolate it shall rest; because it did not rest in your sabbaths, when ye dwelt upon it. (Lev 26:27-35)

2 Chronicles notes that breaking this law was cause for God to send the King of Chaldee to Jerusalem and devestate it and take Judah .

Therefore he brought upon them the king of the Chaldees, who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion upon young man or maiden, old man, or him that stooped for age: he gave them all into his hand. And all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king, and of his princes; all these he brought to Babylon. And they burnt the house of God, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem, and burnt all the palaces thereof with fire, and destroyed all the goodly vessels thereof. And them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon; where they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia: To fulfill the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: for as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfill threescore and ten years. (2Ch 36:17-21)

Jeremiah noted this would occur in his prophecy.

Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, saith the LORD, and Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round about, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and a hissing, and perpetual desolations. Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the candle. And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished , that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith the LORD, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations. (Jer 25:9-12)

Daniel noted this as the reason for his prayer to the Lord which prompted God to give him the prophecy of the 70 weeks.

In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, which was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans; In the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, whereof the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem . And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes: (Dan 9:1-3)

490 more years are given to Jerusalem again after this captivity.

And what is so interesting is that according to Leviticus 26, we read that the people would experience four sets of sevenfold judgments from God. In Lev 26, we read the mention of the land resting for her sabbaths that would not be honoured through disobedience to Law. It is a fact that the Book of Revelation notes four sevenfold judgments in fulfillment of Leviticus 26. (1) Seven seals, (2) Seven trumpets, (3) Seven thunders, (4) Seven vials. And these words of Revelation refer to Jerusalems destruction in 70 AD. So we learn that Israel was given a second chance at not transgressing the law concerning the sabbaths of rest for the lan, itself, after they were released from Babylon. However, the rejection of Jesus brought on the four sets of sevenfold judgments of Leviticus 26 as witnessed in the book of Revelation. Very interesting connection!

2) The thoughts of finishing transgression is repeated by the mention of "to make an end of sins." What was the purpose of the cross? We read that Jesus came "to save his people from their sins", and "put away sin by the sacrifice of himself" (Mt 1:21 Heb 9:26). "It is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins... But this man after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever... hath perfected forever them that are sanctified... And their sins... remember no more" (Heb. 10:4-17). Animal sacrifices were insufficient to remove sins, but Jesus did take them away when He was sacrificed, as Daniel foretold!

Jesus was "the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world" (John 1:29). Christ died for our sins (1 Cor 15:3). He "bare our sins in his own body on the tree" (1 Peter 2:24) and "hath once suffered for *sins*" (3:18). "He was manifested to take away our sins" (1 John 3:5).

3) The Hebrew term for "reconciliation," which is "KAPHAR", is also translated as "ATONEMENT" in the Bible . And this is available right now, and has been ever since Christ died on the cross. It was part of the work of Christ to finish transgression and make an end of sins. This is not yet unfulfilled, but has been fulfilled for two thousands years.

Hebrews 2:17; Colo. 1:20-22; Eph. 2:16; 2 Cor. 5:19; Titus 2:14; Isaiah 53:6

4) Isaiah said "My righteous servant shall make many RIGHTEOUS." Does this righteousness pass or fade away as man's righteousness does? Isaiah said that our righteousnesses fade away as a leaf (Isa. 64:6). But Jesus told us we can seek God's righteousness, and that never fades (Matt 6:33). It is everlasting. Paul said, "By the righteousness of one... shall many be made RIGHTEOUS... unto eternal life by Jesus Christ" (Romans 5:17-21). Jesus came "to fulfill all righteousness" (Mt 3:15) and "loved righteousness, and hated iniquity", was "anointed" of God (Heb 1:9) and "made unto us wisdom, and RIGHTEOUSNESS, and sanctification, and redemption" (1 Cor 1:30). "Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we being dead to sins, should live unto RIGHTEOUSNESS" (1 Peter 2:24). "Even the RIGHTEOUSNESS of God... through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his RIGHTEOUSNESS for the remission of sins" Rom 3:21-26. "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him" (2 Cor 5:21). "Everyone that does RIGHTEOUSNESS is born of him" (1 John 2:29).

5) In Hebrew, this literally reads, "to seal up vision and prophet." In Old Testament times, "to seal" meant to authenticate a thing to be genuine and real. (see 1 Kings 21:8; Jer 32:10,11; cf. John 6:27; 1 Cor 9:2). Jesus Christ "sealed" all Old Testament prophecy concerning Himself by fulfilling what was written of him. The work is finished. The mystery hidden from ages is fulfilled and made known. All the purpose of the Old Testament was to prepare us for the great deliverance that Gabriel made known to Daniel. Throughout the Gospels we read "...that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets."

6) Jesus Christ is the Most Holy. In Revelation we read that the New City has no temple, for God and the Lamb are the temple of it. The Greek term here for temple is actually best translated MOST HOLY PLACE. Therefore, it should be read as the Lamb and God are the most holy place. Jesus is the Most Holy. Gabriel announced to Mary: "The HOLY thing that shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God" (Lk 1:35). Peter refereed to him as "the HOLY ONE" (Acts 3:14). John refereed to him as "the HOLY ONE" (1 John 2:20). Even demons had to recognize him as "the HOLY ONE of God" (Mk 1:24).

WE READ:

Neither wilt thou suffer thine HOLY ONE to see corruption (Acts 2:27).

Jesus came 483 years after the temple was initiated under Cyrus' rule. He was anointed as the most holy when the Spirit descended upon Him during His baptism.

Jesus said:

The TIME is fulfilled (Mk 1:15).

Anointed by the Spirit he began preaching deliverance -- the greatest deliverance that would ever be made known to mankind. Little did Daniel realize the deliverance Gabriel would show him.

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath ANOINTED me (Lk 4:18-22).

Act 4:27 mentioned Jesus as the "holy" one that the Lord "ANOINTED."

And Peter mentioned that

God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost... who went about doing good, healing all who were oppressed by the devil (Acts 10:38).

Christ, or Messiah, means ANOINTED ONE. Therefore, He is the Most Holy that was anointed.

This will be the first of a few posts showing that there will be no future 70th week of Daniel. The entire thought of pre-, mid- or post-tribulation rapture depends upon there being a future 70th week of Daniel, for all or part of that week is considered to be the tribulation they situate the rapture around.


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