70 weeks, what does it mean? Let's talk about it on this edition of key life. Math was Steve Brown, and this is key life, a program designed to get you home with freedom, joy, and faithfulness to Christ. Now get your Bible, and let's study together. Thanks Mike, we're continuing with our study on the Book of Daniel, and we're looking at some of the purely prophetical passages in the Book of Daniel. Chapter 7 through 12, and we're going to look at that in some detail a little bit later on probably next week, but we're kind of centering in on some of the different views of the prophecy of Daniel, and centering particularly in on that to Daniel 9, 20 through 27. Now that passage is the passage that refers to 70 weeks, and if you've heard people talk about the Book of Daniel, they're always referring to these 70 weeks, what does that mean? Where does that come from? What in the world does that have to do with the future? Well, we're looking at some of the different views. We looked first at the historical interpretation that suggests it's already happened, and that it was given to those who were living in the middle of it so they would feel comfort. Now, we saw that some people who hold this view are liberal, some are not, but there is something to be said about prophecy being used by God to comfort His people. Secondly, there's the cumeron interpretation, and we looked at that yesterday, and I gave you a brief historical sketch of the discovery of the documents or the manuscripts at cumeron. That's down around the Dead Sea. I've walked down and walked amongst the ruins of the cumeron community, and I want you to know, it's kind of weird and a funny sort of way. This was a monastic community, and there are some who suggest, and I don't agree with this by the way, that Jesus came out of that community after He was in the wilderness. Others had suggested that John the Baptist came out of that community. I'm not going, I don't think either is true or either is true, but interesting surmise. At any rate, we saw that the cumeron community applied the prophecies of Daniel through themselves, and they thought that Jerusalem would be destroyed and they would emerge as the people of God. The ones who had the truth all the time, the ones who had been the most faithful, the most righteous, the most pure, those who had not sold out to Satan. I suggest you yesterday that we have to be careful about culting views. If you study the cults much, almost always they have a different, weird, skewed view about eschatology or about future things. Then third interpretation is a rabbinical interpretation, which interestingly enough, kind of parallels cumeron without the arrogance. The Jews have generally interpreted Daniel seventy weeks of years and prophecy in the Old Testament as an historical statement of God's dealing with His people. Now this view holds that the fall of Jerusalem in seventy A.D. is the end of the seventy weeks of Daniel. Then there's an early, this is fourth, the early Christian interpretation of prophecy in Daniel and the seventy weeks in particular. At the end of the second century, Christian scholars began to read the 69 weeks of Daniel as marking the time of the decree to rebuild Jerusalem to the time of the death and resurrection of Christ. Now we're not going to go into it while there's some variation in this view. It is basically one which says that the prophecy of the 69 weeks was fulfilled in the first advent of Christ. The great tribulation number seventy is largely symbolic. That would be if you were looking for a formal name for that particular view of the end times, it would be classical pre-mill. Fifth there's a dispensationalist interpretation and this would be the view of a great, great number of evangelicals in our own culture. It would probably be the view of the left behind series. How Lindsay's book is certainly holding to this view. This school of thought says that the prophecy of Daniel to the time of Christ is 69 weeks, not seventy weeks of years. In verse 25 the angel says that there will be seven weeks of years from the going forth of the decree to build Jerusalem to its completion. Then 62 weeks of the year that it will stand that 69 weeks and not 70 weeks, 483 years. Many dispensationalists again, this is a lot more complicated and I'm trying to simplify because I'm a simple guy and I'm trying to understand, says that right at the end of the 69th week there should be a parenthesis. And that parenthesis is called the church age and that's what we're living in right now. When the church age comes to an end and the time clock will start again and many believe that that started in the forties the last week of years will then take place. That time will be called the great tribulation and during that time the people of God will be raptured at the end of the last seven years Jesus will return with his raptured people to set up his millennial kingdom or a thousand year reign. Now, no semi letters, in fact no, anytime that you're trying to deal in a minute with a view about which books have been written you're going to find almost everybody that holds that view. And so I'm just kind of looking in a very superficial way at some of these views. Six, there is the reformed of the traditional interpretation, not all reformed people accept this. But these are people who hold the view, say that the week, seventy, seven years, is all that remains. And in fact only three and a half years remain. The seventy weeks they say, encompass the work of Christ, there is no more to be fulfilled in the prophecy of Daniel. The only thing less left is Jesus returned. Those who hold this view would say that Jesus saw himself as the replacement of the temple. That's the scheme which includes the tribulation and the millennium is not in accord with Scripture. Okay, those are some of the basic views of that particular passage, Daniel 9, 23, 27, and in general the views of prophecy in itself. Now, I wanted to say some more about the seventy weeks. I can't believe I'm doing this much. I probably just should have passed over it and said, get a good book and maybe you recommended a many bibliography and you could read yourself. But just giving you some very superficial handles. Not in order to see if we can get some sense in our understanding of these seventy weeks. Let me give you some factors. The seventy weeks of Daniel 9 can be divided as follows. From the going forth of the Word to restore and build Jerusalem to the commencement of that task, there will be seven weeks. And for those of you who don't do math in your mind, the way in our engineer and producer does, that's forty-nine years. I know, this is, stay with me. The temples shall be built in a troubled time. For sixty-two weeks of years, then the anointed one will appear. Many of the scriptures read that the anointed one will appear at the beginning of the sixty-two weeks. However, the better readings of verse 25 show that he comes at the end of this sixty-two week period. That's four hundred and thirty-four years, a total of four hundred and eighty-three years. Then the appointed one, our anointed one, is cut off. Sacrifices stopped in the temple for three and a half years. And then the final end will take place. Now there's six things that have to be accomplished by the seventy-week period. To finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for iniquity, to bring everlasting righteousness, to seal the vision of the prophet, to anoint the most holy place or thing or one. Now if you believe that the seventy weeks were finished at the death and resurrection of Christ, all six of those had been completed. If you believe that there is yet one week to be completed, you believe that there is more work on those six. That's the great conflict that takes place between Christians. Next week, I know some of you are saying, I don't believe Steve's doing this. What in the world is he doing? Well, it is getting kind of complicated. I mean to get into it this much. Next week, I'm going to, after having delineated all of these different views, after having told you what the scholars say, after having done a reasonably profound study of Daniel, I'm going to fix it. I'm going to tell you my view. And it will be the absolute truth spoken from Sinai. I don't have time to do that. But I do want, because I think I owe it to you to tell you what I think about the future prophecy of the book of Daniel. But let's stop right here and let me just say a couple of things in closing. And the first thing I want to say in closing is this. That this is about God. It's about his view of history and not our view of history. I think it is quite possible that when all of these things start taking place, that all of us are going to say, oh man, did I miss that? I've told some of you about the dream that I have often. When we all are at the end time, and God stands before all of His people for all time, and He says, I've got some good news, and I got some bad news for you. The bad news is you were all wrong, and the good news is, my son says you're okay, so I wanted to say to you, welcome home. And the second thing I want to say is that nobody knows for sure, and anybody who says they know for sure, is somebody you ought not buy a used car from, and maybe one other thing. And that is that in the end, God's going to wrap it up, and Jesus is going to be king, and every need will bow. You think about that. I mean, well, one more day that will be Monday on Daniel, and I'm not going to do this anymore, and I know you're as glad as I am. And anyway, if you don't have our catalog listing, I'd love to send it to you, and I'll send it to you free. You might want to be a part of key life tapes you might want to get the booklet that we're offering, get the magazine, or at the catalog listening to tell you what's in our warehouse so you can get a tape series, or a book, or whatever, and you know what we have. If you'll let us know, I'd be glad to send it to you. 1-800 key life, you can call 24 hours a day, or key life post office box 5,000, Mateland, Florida, 32794, key life Canada, post office box 32150, Cambridge, Ontario, in 3H5N3, or you can email us at Steve at keylife.org with your regular mailing address. Ask for the catalog listing, for the magazine, for the key life tapes, and we'll do it for you free. And if you can help us financially, I sure would appreciate it. When you do, you help so many of your brothers and sisters that aren't able to help us financially. And you can charge it on a Master Guard visa Discover Guard included in your envelope, and for any contribution of any size, when you requested, I'll send along because that teaching mercy is freedom. What you as a Christian no longer have to do because of God's mercy. Hey listen guys, I gotta get out of here. Key life is a listener supported production of key life network.