The Tribulation of the Temple Sanctuary
Lutheran, Reformed, Catholic, Anglican, and a host of other Churches believe that all 70 weeks of Daniel 9:24-27 were fulfilled in the past, with little or no relevance to the future. This paper will show why these Churches are severely deceived[1] concerning God's Covenant and future plans. I have explained Daniel 9:24-27 extensively in The Scroll of Biblical Chronology and Prophecy: mapping the times and seasons of the Holy Scriptures. That discussion is a technical comprehensive approach geared to the chronological nature of the book. The following sections will take you straight to the chronological details. This essay, on the other hand, is more theological, and explores more contextual issues in the matter of interpretation.
I don't think deceived is too harsh of a word to use. The theological presuppositions that lie behind the misunderstanding of prophecy boil down very quickly to a rejection of the Covenant that God made with Israel and a rejection of the Gentile Christian's inheritance with Israel. The following points are at the foundation of the deception:
The Claim that the New Covenant replaces the Old Covenant, i.e. that the national institutions of Israel have ceased:
circumcision[2]
the Sabbath
the Sabbatical Years, including the Jubilee
the food laws
Rejection of the perpetuity of the Levitical Covenant (Jer. 33:17-22).
Rejection of the perpetuity of the Davidic Covenant (Jer. 33:17-22).
Rejection of national Israel as heir to the promises.
In support of these goals, many scriptures are subverted and misinterpreted. Even Jewish and Messianic teachers have fallen into these very same traps, because they have not questioned the propaganda they have been taught for fear of losing their salvation. Christians have been lied to and the seed of fear has been constantly been sowed in their hearts by preachers of the pulpit to fear and stay as far away from the Torah of Moses lest they loose their salvation. This fear, is not a fear to study it, but a fear to actually interpret it literally and to think that it would be good to practice it.
In order to come to a knowledge of the truth, Christians must set this fear aside, and realize that they have been deceived on the most important issues of divine revelation all around. The most important texts have been mistranslated, misinterpreted or ignored. The Church has been systematically deceived inside and out by the exploitation of weaknesses and faults.
In this paper we do not have space to cover all the errors in the presuppositions that lead to the need or desire to misinterpret texts. I have merely stated them. Also, I do not intend to defend the Biblical position based on dispensationalism. Dispensationalism, while it may be commended for better literal interpretation, is a weak defense. Dispensationalism is unable to complete an argument well started because it rejects the above points in its own way. They consider the prophecies valid for Israel. They just refuse to conclude that these prophecies apply to themselves. They have carved out a "dispensation" for themselves. So we will focus right in on the subject at hand.
I will use the term, "Reformed View" to describe the views of Luther and Calvin that Daniel 9:24-27 was completely fulfilled in history. I will avoid the Latin term Preterist. It must also be understood that I don't mean to exclude other like views. The Reformed View is just representative. And whether Calvin or Luther exposited on the logical deductions that one can make from the basic idea is not of concern here either. It is the ideas that cause a misunderstanding of prophecy. So we will focus on those. Here is an outline of the points:
Because the Levitical system is rejected it is concluded that:
Revelation was written before the Second Temple was Destroyed
That person who puts a stop to the sacrifices in Daniel 9:27 is Christ
That the 70th "seven" of Daniel 9:27 is completed.
The whole argument revolves around the Temple and the theology of the sacrifices. The Reformed view negates it and the dispensationalist avoids simply puts it in another time and another place and conveniently raptures himself out of the way before that time and place arrive. Both views reject the Torah, which says, "Ye shall keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I am the LORD" (KJV, Lev. 19:30). To understand Daniel 9:24-27 requires one to understand Sabbaths and the Sanctuary.
First, the Seventy Weeks are Sabbatical Years. Every seventh year was a year of rest to the LORD, a sabbath, in which no sowing or reaping was permitted. The prophecy follows the schedule of these Sabbatical Years. Second, the prophecy breaks down into three sections, all having to do with the Temple, seven sevens, sixty two sevens, and one seven at the end.
Building of Jerusalem until Ezra's Temple Reformation: 7 sabbatical years (vs. 25, 444 B.C. to 396 B.C.)
From there to the death of Messiah: 62 more sabbatical years (up to the sabbatical year of A.D. 32/33.
The destruction of the 2nd Temple in vs. 26 (A.D. 70).
The stopping of Sacrifices in the 3rd Temple in the middle of a sabbatical period in vs. 27 (which is still to come)
The cleansing and re-anointing of the holy place (vs. 24, still to come)
The restoration of Jerusalem and Israel to everlasting righteousness (vs. 24, still to come).
Let us look at what must happen in the time frame of the "Seventy Weeks". I will quote from the text in outline format:
I. Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and
upon thy holy city,a. to finish the transgression, and
b. to make an end of sins, and
c. to make reconciliation for iniquity, and
d. to bring in everlasting righteousness, and
e. to seal up the vision and prophecy, and
f. to anoint the most Holy.
All of these points concern "thy people" which is Israel and Judah, and "thy holy city" which is Jerusalem. "To finish the transgression" refers to the rebellion of Israel against God's covenant. This rebellion is still ongoing, so the seventy sevens can not be completed. In order to dodge this point, the Reformed view claims that the "transgression" is the rejection of Messiah Yeshua. While this is part of what "the transgression is", this transgression is not finished. It is still being committed. The text does not say till when Messiah dies to forgive transgressions. No. It sets the duration "to finish the transgression." So again the seventy sevens are not completed.
The text then says, "to make an end of sins". Again this cannot be interpreted in terms of Messiah's first coming. Yeshua only pardoned sins, but he did not "remove the iniquity of that land in one day" (Zech. 3:9). For Israel is still in sin to this very day. It has not been removed from the land. So the Seventy sevens cannot be finished.
It says "to make reconciliation for iniquity". The word used in the Hebrew text is "atonement" which literally means "wiping out", "wiping away". Atonement does not mean "forgive" in this case. Forgiveness is a wiping out of the penalty of sin in the first instance, however, it also can refer to the final cleansing of sin. In this sense, "wiping out" is the complete wiping away or removal of sin itself. First sin is forgiven and pardoned. Second it must be actually wiped away. Sin removal takes time, and in the grand scheme of divine providence, the pardon comes first in Messiah's first coming. But the final cleansing of sin to usher in the age to come only occurs at His Second Coming.
In this context "to effect wiping away for iniquity" refers to the removal of iniquity from Israel and Jerusalem, i.e. "that land" as prophesied in Zech. 3:9. It is the only sense that fits the literal context. There are many Christians who have been deceived on this point, thinking that they are cleansed of all sin and that they are pure. This is the Gnostic heresy eating away at the Church causing it to fall into apostasy and to splinter into many cults. There are charismatic Gnostics who believe in body, soul and spirit, and they will claim that their spirit is pure and free from sin. Naturally those who feel they are completely purified from the moment of conversion are going to believe that total cleansing was effected at the cross. Wrong! That's denial of reality. Blindness has seized them and they have fallen into a real heresy that should cause them to fear the loss of their salvation.
Total cleansing was not effected at the cross. Rather cleansing was provided for at the cross, and will not be effective until Israel repents and God chooses "one day" in the future to "remove the iniquity of that land" (Zech. 3:9). The Church should pay attention to the details of God's word. They didn't pay attention to "that land", which is the test to the fulfillment of the prophecy. Rather they choose to ignore it and to assume that iniquity was removed from the Church and "true" Christians at the cross. All they are is a bunch of Gnostics that have made up their own religion of perfectionism, more interested in their own pseudo-holiness and self righteousness than in the truth of their real condition. They are not even listening to the Holy Spirit, but have made up their own "holy spirit" which feeds them the mental lies they want to hear.
The next point is, "to bring in everlasting righteousness". When has "everlasting righteousness" been brought to Israel and Jerusalem? The Reformed View will reinterpret this to mean that Yeshua, who is the everlasting righteousness, came to Israel. While Yeshua is everlasting righteousness for himself, this is not what the text means! Nor does it mean "imputed righteousness". It means that Israel will actually be "made righteous" at the end of the "Seventy Sevens". It is "everlasting righteousness" concerning "thy people" and "thy holy city"! Only this view fits with "to make an end of sins", and "to finish the transgression". And the transgression is still increasing. Every day Christianity transforms itself more and more into the whore of Babylon.
Yes, Yeshua brought "everlasting righteousness", but he did not bring it to Israel or Jerusalem. He took it to heaven with him at his ascension, and he will not nationally bestow it until his return. Only then will the prophecy by fulfilled that Judah and Israel shall call him "YHWH our righteousness". For it will only be ours in the national sense, when the whole nation is righteous and just.
The next point "to seal up the vision and prophecy" is a bit obscure. It depends on the meaning of the verb "to seal". I believe it has two senses. The first is to "seal up" in the sense of to hide away. I do not believe Daniel 9:24-27 will be nationally understood by all Israel until the seventieth week begins, and only increasingly then. At the midpoint, full realization will dawn on the nation of what is about to happen and a clear understanding of the prophecy will come. Daniel was told to "seal the book until the time of the end" (Daniel 12:4). The second sense, is "to seal" in the sense of to attest, or to certify. This is the prophecy that certifies that Yeshua is the Messiah. It is "seal" the sense that a birth certificate bears the seal of the State in which a person is born. It certifies that they are a citizen of that country. The calculation of Daniel 9:24-27 will attest that Yeshua is the Messiah.
Finally, the last point is "to anoint the Most holy". The literal Hebrew reads "holy of holies", qodesh qadashim. This is the sanctuary in Exodus 40:9-15. When Moses is finished with the anointing, the altar becomes "qodesh qadashim" or "Most Holy" (Exodus 40:10). This is the nearest match to the words in Daniel 9:24. So the words must be referring to the re-anointing of the Temple after a period of defilement.
We now come to the chronology of the Seventy Sevens. There is only one chronology that actually works. One must start with the actual word "to restore and build Jerusalem" (Daniel 9:25), which was in the 20th year of Artaxerxes I, king of Persia (Nehemiah 1:1-2:1). This year translates into 445-444 B.C.
This in an extract of the full chart in the Scroll of Biblical Chronology and Prophecy. The extract image is hyperlinked to the full chart. There are several things to be noted. For the first time, as far as I know, the seven sevens are explained. After exactly 49 years (7x7 containing exactly 7 sabbatical years) Ezra came to Jerusalem in the 7th year of Artaxerxes II (396 B.C.). Immediately after Ezra delivers his decree from the King to the Temple officials and nations surrounding, the 62 Sabbatical Years begin to count, reaching the number 62 in the Julian years A.D. 32 to A.D. 33. Immediately after the expiry of the "seven sevens" and "sixty and two sevens" (a total of 69), in the next year at Passover, the Anointed Prince, Yeshua the Messiah, is "cut off," and dies for the transgressions of Israel.
This prophecy was fulfilled in perfect exactness using the actual Sabbatical Year institution of Israel. Both the "seven sevens" and "sixty two sevens" are exactly accounted for. The are all charted out in the book. Here is an example of the 52nd Sabbatical period, at the end of which Herod the Great overthrew the last King of the Jewish Hasmonean dynasty:
Notice the 6th column is counting Daniel's 'Sevens' (often called weeks). If you click on the link to the image, you will see that each chart has a "Scroll Legend" identifying the contents of each column. The first column is B.C. years in this chart. The Sabbatical year was B.C. 39 to B.C. 38. It was the 52nd Sabbath year.
So, what happens after the 69th Sabbatical year? The number 69 is the sum of the "seven sevens" and "sixty two sevens". Messiah Yeshua was cut off at the next Passover, right after the end of the 69th Sabbatical Year. Did Messiah stay around to make a covenant with Israel that lasted only seven years? Did he terminate the Temple offerings half way through it? Did he place abominations on a wing of the Temple? No, No! and No!! That Christians can even believe such an abominable lie is testimony to how far they have been deceived by the Prince of this Age. Christianity is no longer in the innocence of its infancy. It has apostatized from the truth.
The Temple was still the Temple of God. It was still the Temple of God when Peter and John went there to pray (Acts 3:1). It was still the Temple of God when Paul went there to complete the sacrifices for his nazarite vow (Acts 18:18, 21:23). It will still be the Temple of God when it is measured by the angel in Revelation 11, and it will still be the Temple of God when the nations trample upon the outer courts for 42 months. It will still be the Temple of God when the two witnesses prophesy, and they have not yet come! For they call fire down from heaven and turn the water into blood. All nations will see them dead and rejoice over their death, and all nations will witness their miraculous resurrection after 3 1/2 days and tremble in fear. It will still be the temple of God when the holy place is cleansed according to the prediction of Daniel 8:14 and 9:24. And it will still be the Temple of God when God installs his new and improved holy of holies, the New Jerusalem, when Yeshua moves the mountain and transforms the altar outside the camp into the Great Millennial Temple prophesied in Ezekiel 40-48.
What don't Christians understand Daniel 9? Because they refuse to keep God's Sabbaths, and honor his Sanctuary (Lev. 19:30; Lev 26:2; Ezek. 23:38). "Keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I am YHWH" he says. What can't they calculate the exact coming of Messiah? It is simple. They have disobeyed God and lost track of the seventh year. They have disobeyed God and lost respect for the Temple. Why have they lost the greatest and most exact proof of "the way, the truth and the life"? Because they were more interested in despising the Jewish people and the Temple than in teaching the truth to their children, and now their children are apostatizing.
Daniel 9:26 says, "and the people of a 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." This prophecy was also exactly fulfilled. Titus, the prince of Rome, destroyed the city and Sanctuary in A.D. 70. Later he became the Emperor of Rome. It was the first great war, in which the Temple was destroyed. The Roman removed every stone of every building after defiling the holy place. What is important to note, is that this destruction is well after the 69th sabbatical year, leaving a large gap between the 69th and 70th sevens. Now this gap has confused many, and has been seized upon by the enemies of literal interpretation. Even so the text did split off the 62 sevens from the last one, and it does insert the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple into the space. So either the gap has an explanation, or the prophecy was falsified after the 62 sevens! The gap has an explanation.
Gaps in divine counting and prophetical fulfillment are a regular feature of the biblical method. And I will give concrete examples. First there is a large gap between Messiah's first and second coming. This is why he read Isaiah 61:1-2a in the synagogue and stopped with the words, "To proclaim the acceptable year of YHWH". He did not read the words, "and the day of vengeance of our God", even though he is the one who will fulfill them. One who does not know the prophetic method would think that the "day of vengeance" was to follow immediately after the "acceptable year of YHWH" was "proclaimed".
What is the divine method? It is to give revelation in chronological order, but for various reasons each revelation omits events on the timeline, only hinting that something must be inserted. That's what Daniel 9:26 is. It is a hint of a gap that must be filled in. God does this so that Israel will read all of his prophecies. He wants people to search and seek and figure out what he is saying. That's because He does not want every pagan to understand. He only wants those willing to seek Him to understand. There is a bible code to be solved. There is a riddle to be figured out. Only with every code, and every riddle, when you finally get it, you have no doubt of the answer.
While Israel was busy sinning and profaning the Seventh years and Jubilee years, God was counting. He was counting every year that Israel and Judah rebelled against him. 390 years he counted for Israel, and 40 years he counted for Judah. He also counted seventy Sabbath years. Israel was not sinning the whole time —just most of the time. So there are gaps where Israel righteously obeyed God. These countings, and the gaps, are all charted out in The Scroll of Biblical Chronology and Prophecy. In fact, here is an extract of how to add them up:
There are corresponding gaps correlated with the 480 years of 1 Kings 6:1.
To understand the gap is to understand the mystery of the kingdom. To understand the gap is to understand the mystery of Babylon. It is a historical fact that Babylon only had hegemony over Judah for 66 years, between 605 B.C. and 539 B.C. Before 605, Judah was under the power of Egypt. Do not think otherwise. It was Pharaoh that defeated Josiah and killed him in 609 B.C., and Nebuchadnezzar did not move in on Judah until he had defeated Pharaoh Necho at Carchemish, "which was by the river Euphrates" (Jeremiah 46:2). This happened in the spring of 605 B.C. Toward the end of summer he laid siege to Jerusalem and took it in the fall of 605 B.C. From 605 to 539 B.C. when the Babylonians were defeated by the Persians was only 66 years.
At the beginning of this period, God says to Jeremiah, "And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years" (Jer. 25:11). Well these nations did not serve Babylon for 70 years yet. There are four missing years. Further, Babylon was supposed to become, "perpetual desolations" when the "seventy years are accomplished" (Jer. 25:12). Did Babylon become "perpetual desolations"? No. History will show that the Persians took over the city of Babylon entirely intact without a stone broken or a gate smashed. The Persians even left the Babylonian Priesthood in place. The only thing the Babylonians had to complain about was paying taxes to Persia. We must notice that God did not say that all nations would serve Babylon for 70 continuous years. He only said they would serve Babylon for 70 years. So where are the missing four years?
From the way that God counted the 390 years of Israel's sin and the 40 years of Judah's sin, one might begin to suspect that God counts a year here, and a year there? No? God's object is not to deceive, but to leave a mystery to be solved. It is a mystery to be solved only at the right time, and to be understood by the right people. Can you hear the derision of God's enemies? That's why he speaks to them in parables and riddles. But to us is given the solution. The missing 4 years are revealed in the Revelation of Yeshua. Babylon will yet rule for 4 more years, or 42 months, but we get 4 years by inclusive counting. In the book, the technical details are explained in "The Mystery of Babylon".
Here are the missing four years. Babylon rules for another 3 1/2 years, and then Babylon is destroyed. And then Babylon becomes "perpetual desolations". It does not just fade away into history to become dormant. No. It will be built again. It will rule over all nations for 42 months, but at the end of that time it will be burned with fire. It's destruction will come in "one hour" and "the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her" (Rev. 18:11).
"Then shalt thou say, YHWH, thou hast spoken against this place, to cut it off, that none shall remain in it, neither man nor beast, but that it shall be desolate for ever. 63 And it shall be, when thou hast made an end of reading this book, that thou shalt bind a stone to it, and cast it into the midst of Euphrates: 64 And thou shalt say, Thus shall Babylon sink, and shall not rise from the evil that I will bring upon her: and they shall be weary. Thus far are the words of Jeremiah" (Jer. 51:62-64).
"My people, go ye out of the midst of her, and deliver ye every man his soul from the fierce anger of YHWH" (Jer. 51:45). "And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues" (Rev. 18:4).
So there is a gap in the rule of Babylon. There is also a gap in the restoration of the kingdom of Israel between the 69th and 70th sevens. In between goes the times of the Gentiles. This is the time to complete Judah's sevenfold punishment, and Israel's sevenfold punishment. It is also time to fulfill Messiah's hint about how long it would take him to revive the nation, "After two days we he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up" (Hosea 6:2). Two days are two thousand years. The third day is the thousand year millennial kingdom. Here is how it works out:
The seven sevens and sixty two sevens end in A.D.
33. Messiah dies and rises again in A.D. 34. There are 2000
whole years from the fall of A.D. 34 to the fall of A.D. 2034. This
brings the prophecy to the point of the year of judgment. That year is the
70th Sabbatical year. I have modeled the gap to end in 2034, just
before the seventh year and the Jubilee year.
In Acts 1:6, the disciples ask Yeshua, "When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, 'Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?'" This is the question that the Prophet Daniel also sought the answer to:
"O Lord, according to all thy righteousness, I beseech thee, let thine anger and thy fury be turned away from thy city Jerusalem, thy holy mountain: because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and thy people are become a reproach to all that are about us. 17 Now therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of thy servant, and his supplications, and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord's sake. 18 O my God, incline thine ear, and hear; open thine eyes, and behold our desolations, and the city which is called by thy name: for we do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousnesses, but for thy great mercies. 19 O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, hearken and do; defer not, for thine own sake, O my God: for thy city and thy people are called by thy name" (Daniel 9:16-19).
Why was Daniel confessing the sin of Israel? He was confessing the sin of Israel because Deut. 30:1-16 says that when Israel repents and fully obeys God, He will restore the kingdom. Daniel's prayer is a prayer of confession just before the end of the 70 year exile in preparation for national repentance.
However, God must keep his word. Daniel's expectation for the restoration of the kingdom at the end of the 70 years was not God's plan. Yes, He did return Judah to the land, but it was not a restoration of the kingdom. They had no king and were under the sovereignty of Persia, Greece, and Rome. The divine answer sent by the angel is "Seventy sevens" which is 70 x 7. Why does the angel say this? He says this because God promised to punish Israel "seven times" (Lev. 26:18; Lev. 26:21; Lev. 26:24; Lev. 26:28) if they would not repent. Israel broke seventy sabbatical years. They must now be punished sevenfold for it. The kingdom is to be suspended until the whole of the seventy sevens is completed. Further, the kingdom cannot be restored because the time for Israel's sevenfold judgment (390x7 = 2730 years) must be completed. And the time for Judah's sevenfold judgment must be completed (1897 years).
Daniel wants to know when the kingdom will be restored. He wants God to "let thine anger and thy fury be turned away from thy city Jerusalem, thy holy mountain" and "cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate". The answer in vs. 24 is as straightforward an answer as can be given. At the end of the Seventy sevens, when it expires, the city will be restored, and the temple cleansed and anointed, and there will be "everlasting righteousness" for Israel. The king of kings who died in vs. 26 will return at the end of the 70th seven to pour out judgment on the false Messiah. For Daniel, "to finish the transgression" means that his people should stop their sinning, and "everlasting righteousness" means they should do what is right. To understand the passage any other way is asking us to believe that the angel deceived the prophet.
Institutional Churches have been deceived concerning the nature of the work of Messiah on the cross. This is why they reject God's covenant with Israel, and His Covenant with them. They have reinterpreted everything to do with Messiah's first coming and his sacrifice to oppose the Covenant. They have introduced a new definitions of righteousness, which is contrary to God's Law. Here are some of the variants:
Christ's death means they are immediately "made righteous"
Christ's death means that God sees them as perfectly righteous.
Christ's death means that their spirit is perfectly righteous.
Christ's death means a cancellation of law
Christ's death is an acquittal from sin
Christ's death replaces the Levitical offerings
NONE of these things are true, and none of these false doctrines are necessary for salvation. Yeshua did not promise immediate righteousness. Paul writes, "For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith" (Gal. 5:5). Only those with a mind warped by Gnostic heresy that has infiltrated the Church think their souls are perfected. Many come and pile on the misquotations, the misinterpretations, the mistranslations, and pseudo-canonical apocrypha thinking that they are proving a point. Did they ever test what they are quoting or assuming? Don't bore me with it. I've seen it all and can prove where 99% of it goes wrong—from the original Greek. I've already written about the corruption of major words like "faith", "justify" and "law". I've already written about the resurrection on the "first of the Sabbaths" (Matthew 28:1). The Church is poor, and the sheep drink muddy water, where the gospel barely shines through—and even here it is understood by most faithful saints through the actual gospel story, and not through their interpretations of Paul. The Church has been sliding into greater and greater darkness and apostasy since the first century.
Does God even see you as righteous? Wake up! It is not necessary for God to consider you righteous on His legal books when you are not. Only people who seek a legal acquittal with God want him to see them as righteous when they are not. An acquittal is when a judge discharges your case because you've done nothing wrong to begin with. God does not grant acquittals. He gives pardons on the basis that Yeshua has "done justice" for us, i.e. paid the penalty. That's what "justified" originally meant. It has nothing to do with acquittal or being "declared righteous" or "made righteous". Those doctrines slipped into the Church and corrupted the translations. Who then is pardoned and forgiven by God? "God be merciful to me a sinner" (Luke 18:13).
Do you think that translations are incorruptible? Why does Jeremiah say, "How can you say, `We are wise, and the law of the LORD is with us'? But, behold, the false pen of the scribes has made it into a lie" (Jer. 8:8). A few changes in the Greek, but recent MSS discoveries have disclosed these corruptions. A few more changes in Latin, and then a lot more in the first English translations. Then we get the first dynamic equivalent translations. The corruption increases. Then we get bolder errors in later dynamic equivalent translations, and then people think that paraphrases are the word of God. Now today we have the "Message" by Peterson, which is so bold as to put "soup of nothingness" into the first chapter of Genesis. There is a different "Bible" for every market niche you can imagine. Some are better. Some are worse. But since the scribes first started copying and then translating, in general, things have done nothing but get worse since the first century. You may have a bible, but much of the message is so clouded that no one can understand it the way it was meant to be.
In the midst of this mess, the truth exists, it can be put together, but only with divine guidance, and in the divine timing. 1900 years ago, God abandoned Israel and the Gentiles to the final exile, "For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim. Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the LORD their God, and David their king; and shall fear the LORD and his goodness in the latter days" Hosea 3:4-5). There has been no prophet since John. That's the longest time period without a true Biblical Prophet to correct God's people. For 1900 years there has been no prophet. At no period in the history of the world did so long a time pass without God sending a prophet—a prophet who proves his calling, a prophet about which there can be no controversy. Until Yeshua, barely 500 years could pass without God sending a prophet. And though the prophets were stoned, after their deaths their words came true, and Israel was compelled to confess there was a prophet.
Let's discuss the Levitical Covenant. Did you know that the Scripture says the Levitical Covenant is still in force:
For thus saith the LORD; David shall never want a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel; 18 Neither shall the priests the Levites want a man before me to offer burnt offerings, and to kindle meat offerings, and to do sacrifice continually. 19 And the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah, saying, 20 Thus saith the LORD; If ye can break my covenant of the day, and my covenant of the night, and that there should not be day and night in their season; 21Then may also my covenant be broken with David my servant, that he should not have a son to reign upon his throne; and with the Levites the priests, my ministers. 22 As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured: so will I multiply the seed of David my servant, and the Levites that minister unto me" (Jer. 33:17-22).
Have YOU broken God's covenant with "the day" and "the night" so that YOU can make it so that "day" and "night" do not come at their appointed time? No? Then behold, the Levitical Covenant is still a divine covenant, and it is still in force. You might as well chop this passage out of your Bible. Yet, it is in all the Hebrew manuscripts. How did second century Christians who decided to reject the Levitical Covenant deal with this passage? They chopped it out of their bibles, or rather those who copied the Greek Septuagint for the Church did it for them. Yes, this entire passage is missing from the Greek translation that the Church adopted after it lost its connection with Hebrew. This happened after the Second Jewish revolt against Rome. At that time anything written in Hebrew that was brought into public was burned, and those who had it put to death. After that Christians had to depend on a deficient translations. But they will say, "we put it back into the translations". Swell! The damage has already been done to thinking people. Now the Church is brain dead.
So it is no wonder that the Church pays less and less attention to Daniel 9:24-27. They have lost the keys to understanding. It is not hard to understand how Yeshua's atonement relates to the Levitical Covenant. The Levitical Covenant was only supposed to atone for sins of ignorance and cleanse the sanctuary from all sins. The Levitical Covenant did not provide a pardon for "transgressions" or "iniquities". Read through Leviticus 4-6, and you will see that every offering is for a sin of ignorance or an unwitting sin, with only a specific exception or two. Then read through Isaiah 53, and you will see that Yeshua is the guilt offering for "transgressions" and "iniquities". Were iniquities forgiven on the Day of Atonement? No. Yom Kippur was for cleansing the sanctuary from sin, and the promise in Leviticus 16:30, "For on this day shall atonement be made for you, to cleanse you; from all your sins you shall be clean before the LORD"? —that is only a promise of perfect cleansing to come at the End of Days, in the end time day of atonement. No Christian dare contradict me on this. To do so, is to admit that the Levitical system was sufficient for the forgiveness of all sin. But it was not. That's why Yeshua was sent to die for our transgressions and iniquities.
Here is what Paul had to say about Yeshua's atonement, "And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses" (KJV Acts 13:39). "Justified" means "to have justice done". The Torah of Moses satisfied the divine justice in the case of sins of ignorance. The penalty was paid, and the worshipper forgiven. And now Paul says, "from all things, from which ye could not be justified [have justice done] by the law of Moses" "by him all that believe are justified [have justice done]". Paul knew what could be forgiven under the Levitical Covenant. He took a Nazarite vow. Remember? And that vow involves a sin offering. Paul is saying that whatever the Levitical Covenant leaves undone and unpardoned and un-forgiven regarding transgressions and iniquities—that this is atoned for and forgiven by Messiah Yeshua. That was the divine plan, and the divine division for the economy of atonement.
Now you may say, what if there is no temple? Here is my answer to that. Before the Levitical system was established, there was no division of the types of sacrifices into the "peace offering", the "guilt offering", etc. In other words, God is at liberty to change around the application of different offerings, or combine them into one. Here is my conclusion: Messiah's offering covers all sin when there is no opportunity for the Levitical solution in the case of a sin of ignorance. However, when the Levitical Service is operating, it is God's intention for the sins of ignorance to be laid on the Levitical Sacrifice. Therefore, there is no conflict between the Torah and the grace of Messiah. And Messiah is YHWH in the flesh, and the Levitical Service is YHWH's provision, and Elohim is ONE. Therefore, there is no conflict.
Before that happens, God will send his prophets:
Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments. 5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD: 6 And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse (Mal. 4:4-6).
And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him. ... And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things (Mat. 17:3,11).
And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth. 4 These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth. 5 And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed. 6 These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will. 7 And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them (Rev. 11:3-7).
These two prophets will tell Israel what they must do, and what they ought to believe, and whosoever will not heed the words of the prophet, then God will require it of them (Deut. 18:19). Meanwhile, Christians ought to watch their words concerning the Levitical Covenant. For what was said to the religious leaders then, should also be said to the religious leaders of the Church now:
And now I say unto you, Refrain from these men, and let them alone: for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought: 39 But if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against God. (Acts 5:38-39, spoken by Paul's teacher Gamliel).
For it is written, "Ye shall keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I am the LORD" (Lev. 26:2).
1. It was pointed out to me that most of those who hold to the Reformed View (that Daniel 9:24-27 is totally fulfilled) probably do not realize the presuppositional foundation of that view. Or they do not realize that when the unnecessary presuppositions are removed that that the real support of the theory only comes from the anti-Temple, anti-Levitical part of the argument. The dispensational argument is weak precisely because it can only deal with the minor supports and not the main support.
2. Gentile Christians have an apostolic exemption from circumcision. I have written another paper on this showing that the exemption was permissible within the scope of Torah. This article explains why male Gentile adults are exempt from circumcision, and why this is in line with the Torah