Year of
Christ’s death
"Does
not the apostolic today derive its mystery, power and dignity wholly and
utterly from this yesterday of the underground waters of Jesus’ past being
which come to the surface in the Passover time as a spring which swells to a great
river in their time? In this Yesterday it takes place first and properly that
the
“…
wenn wir (den Menschen Jesu) … so sehen, wie er in der neutestamentlichen
Erinnerung tatsächlich gelebt hat und wie er uns in der evangelischer
Überlieferung tatsächlich gezeigt ist – dann springt uns unwiederstehlich die
Fülle gerade dieses Gestern, gerade dieser gewesenen Zeit ins Auge. Wie sollte
sie (diese gewesene Zeit der Osteroffenbarung) geringer sein als die (Zeit) der
apostolischen Gegenwart? Was hat diese (Gegenwart) vor jener (Osteroffenbarung)
voraus als dies, das in ihr die Offenbarung dessen bezeugt und geglaubt und
durch den Heiligen Geist vergegenwärtig wird, was in jener noch verborgen ist?
Aber hat nicht jene vor ihr dies voraus, dass eben in jener das unterirdische
Wasser strömt, daß dann in der Osterzeit als Quelle ans Tageslicht tritt, um in
der Apostolzeit zum Fluß und Strom zu werden? Hat das apostolische Heute sein
Geheimnis, seine Kraft, seine Würde nicht ganz und gar von jenem Gestern her?
Hier, in diesem Gestern, geschieht es doch zuerst und eigentlich, daß das Reich
Gottes kommt und im Geheimniswort, aber auch durch Zeichen und Wunder
verkündigt wird, daß die Versöhnung der Welt mit Gott am Kreuz zur
Vollstreckung kommt. Hier wird doch der Grund der Gemeinde gelegt. Hier fällt
doch – höchst verborgen, aber höchst real – die grosse, das Vorher vom Nachher
trennende Entscheidung. Hier atmet und lebt, hier handelt und leidet doch der
Herr, der sich zu Ostern als solcher offenbart hat, um nachher in der Kraft
dieser seiner Offenbarung seine Gemeinde zu erbauen, zu erhalten, zu regieren,
bis auch dieses Nachher zu seinem Ziel gekommen sein wird. …” Karl Barth, Kirchliche Dogmatik, Die Lehre von der Schöpfung, Dritter Band,
Zweiter Teil, § 47, Theologischer Verlag, Zürich, 1974, p. 570,
Creation……
Seventh Day :
Passover . . . . . Atonement . . . . .Tabernacles
Sabbath Sabbath
Shewbread Lamb Goat
Fullness of Time The Coming God
in the flesh
The Kingdom has
come
The Thousand Years and
End Time have begun
33 Years
The Coming God in
Crucifixion Resurrection Third Day
Exaltation
Enters Rest
Sabbath
Witness of the World
Forty Days
Taken up
Wait in Jerusalem
. Pentecost .
Witness to the World Sabbath
Times of Gentiles Pisidia Sabbaths’
Sabbath Feast
Apostolic Church
Church of the Synagogue 100
AD
. .
G e
n t i l
e C h
u r c h
L
A S T D
A Y S
C
H R I
S T ’S
R E T
U R N
New Resurrection and Resurrection and
New
Feast of
Booths – Birth of Jesus and the Sabbath
All Old-Testament Feasts were prophetic of Jesus the
Christ and all were fulfilled in Him once for all, we have said in The Lord’s Day in the Covenant of Grace 1
/ 1, p. 197, Paragraph 5.1.1.6.4.0.1. The death of Jesus brought the end of all
sacrifice in that all sacrifices are as it were contained in the Sacrifice of
Him. All these Old-Testament Feasts were also prophetically fulfilled on the
Sabbath Day – by no means accidentally but predetermined and by no means
incidentally but significantly because they all are eschatology and therefore
Christian Faith – see Paragraph 7.7, Part 3 / 4. All these Feasts are
celebrated in remembrance of Christ and his finishing of all God’s works – all
these Feasts are celebrated in
Christian observance of the Sabbath!
We have also referred to Isaiah 66 and the prophetic
word on the Sabbath there, that it in the
In the same strain as Isaiah,
Zechariah reads, “And it shall come to pass that everyone that is left of all
the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to
worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles … In
that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses, HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD
…”. (14:16) This prophecy speaks of Christ, and of the Christian era. It speaks
of Christians as celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles.
What does the Feast of Tabernacles
symbolise? Of course the Incarnation
of Jesus Christ, His birth as a Child of man. Says
John, “The Word
was made flesh and tabernacled
among us, and we beheld His glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full
of grace and truth. … And of His fullness have all we received, and grace for
grace. For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth
came by Jesus Christ. No man has seen God at any time. The only begotten
Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him.” 1:14-18.
Notice the thought of fullness and
fulfillment, of the finishing and perfection of the revelation of God and His
work in the event of Jesus’ incarnation through birth in the flesh. Notice the
aura of God’s Rejoicing and Rest – the spirit of his
Sabbath!
But we have seen this very truth
even stronger and clearer indicated in Jesus’ eternal tabernacling in the flesh through
resurrection from the dead! Even Jesus’ nativity was the
beginning and foreshadowing of His sorrows and death … and through His sorrows
and death of His eternal incarnation in glory of victory over sorrow and
death. We have seen how Jesus – through
and in the event of His resurrection from the dead “entered into His Own
Rest as did God from His”. We have heard the Scriptures proclaim this event
and this day “In the Sabbath”! So that the Feast of Tabernacles is
fulfilled in Jesus Christ, in Resurrection from the
dead, “in the Sabbath”, and
God’s “Rest” of “Sabbath” in this event and in this day came true. For being
this Christian Faith, the Feast of Tabernacles is truly first celebrated by Christians
who have “received” “the Word” “among us”. Zechariah’s prophecy has been
fulfilled in Jesus Christ – not only in His birth, but in resurrection from the
dead, bodily, incorruptable and glorified – not only in the
Feast of Tabernacles – but in it as essentially of the very essence of the
Passover Feast – which, above all, is the Resurrection Sabbath Feast!
This Promise is thus celebrated a Christian Feast in the Church’s keeping of
the Sabbath!
These thoughts awaken the expectancy
that Jesus was also born on a Sabbath Day. And indeed we
find such indications in the story of the Nativity. Jesus’ parents took abode
in a “resting place” – there where even the animals were rested during night
and cold. But this time the shepherds rested their animals under the benevolent
skies, outside! Jesus’ star – at this point in time – “came to rest” over the
place reserved for Him. Everybody and the whole world seemed to
have found some place and way for reposing the day.
Even the angelic hosts broke out in great rejoicing in the Lord in this day, “Today is born for
the People a Redeemer” – the Bringer of peace and rest! This was the day, God …
as on creation Sabbath, visited man and conversed with him in Mercy. The Great Day of Yahweh was entered upon, this
day in the life of His Son and of the People. The
Nativity was God’s first glorious “Yes!” to man. Was it not in the Sabbath Day,
Day of God’s, and man’s, Rest …?
Now,
that is God’s first, “Yes!” to man in Christ. But, “From the Resurrection: Life! – that, surely
is Passover? … The Risen Christ carries the new humanity within Him: God’s last
glorious “Yes!” to the new man.” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer,
Meditations) Was it not in the
Sabbath Day, Day of God’s Rest …? “Then suddenly indeed!”
(kai idou). “From the Resurrection:
Life!”
God in Jesus Christ “tabernacled
among us” “to reign for ever and ever”. From the Resurrection:
Life! – that, is Feast of Tabernacles indeed! (But
this time in the heart of Springtime and the new birth
of Life!)
In
Jesus Christ all Feasts are become one – all Feasts in God’s Sabbath Day, “the
Lord’s Day” in the covenant of grace!
Borrowed
from Johan Malan
of the University of the North,
“… the feasts of
An
important indication is the time when Zacharias, a
member of the priestly family of Abijah, conducted
his duties in the temple. 1 Chronicles 24 contains an account of the allotment
of two weeks of temple service to each of 24 families in a fixed schedule:
"This was the
schedule of their service for coming into the house of the Lord" (1 Chr.
24:19). The eighth family in the group of 24 was that of the priest Abijah (1 Chron. 24:10).
The
first month in the cycle was Nisan, which is the first month in the religious
calendar (Ex. 12:2, Lev. 23:5). According to this schedule the family of Abijah was the eighth group, and was therefore due for
service in the second half of the fourth month in the Jewish calendar. It was
to this family that priest Zacharias, the father of
John the Baptist, belonged:
"There was in the days of Herod, the king of
" (Lk. 1:5, 8-9).While he was busy with his task, an angel
appeared to him and said:"Do not be afraid, Zacharias,
for your prayer is heard; and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you
shall call his name John" (Lk. 1:13).
The
rest of the events are closely associated with this announcement:
"Now after those days
his wife
Zacharias' encounter with the angel, and his wife's conception shortly
afterwards, occurred in the second half of the fourth month in the religious calendar. Six months
later, in the second half of the tenth month (about the time of the present
Christmas celebrations), Mary conceived. Nine months later, in the second half
of September, Jesus was born.
Since Zacharias' turn of service in the temple, 15 months (6+9)
elapsed until the birth of Jesus – that is one year and three months. Within the
framework of the religious calendar of the Jews, this period expired between
the second half of the fourth month and the second half of the seventh month in
the following year. The birth of Jesus therefore coincided with the Feast of
Tabernacles: "The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the
Feast of Tabernacles for seven days to the Lord" (Lev. 23). …”
(Emphasis CGE)
Appendix
P. 94,
Letter 11 May 2002, p. 273. Where and how do we differ? I count from 457 BC to
33 AD to complete or “fill up” 490 years – not to 34 AD? 457 plus 33 = 490.
In the first place: There is no such
thing as a year “zero” just as in graphics there is no 0-value greater or
smaller than 0. The 0-space actually is a point only where the horisontal and vertical lines cut or cross. Any way away
from point 0 no longer is 0 but adds up to fractions
of either 1 or of –1. The year in process is reckoned and dated prospectively.
September of 1 AD or B.C. still falls within the first year after or before
Christ. Therefore: The unfinished
27th year in process is the
27th calendar year, i.e.,
“in the year of 27 AD”. Likewise the first century
was in process, i.e. “in the year of 27 AD”, “of the first century”,
after Christ. (E.g., Justin Martyr
wrote “in the second century”, that is, “in the in process
second century”, i.e., in about 157
AD.)
Jesus was baptised
and anointed by the Holy Spirit “in the year of 27 AD” – say you (the Seventh
Day Adventists’ interpretation), taking the year 457 B.C. as starting point. I
go along with this date, as David Hill – against his own pick – affirms it, “Why then did Esra
credit the temple construction in part to the command of Artaxerxes?
(Esra 6:14) Artaxerxes the gandson of Darius 1 and great granson
of Cyrus, began his reign upon the death of his father Xerxes in 465 B.C. about
50 years after the completion of the temple, and his reign continued until 425 B.C.. It was not until the seventh year of Artaxerxes’ reign in
457 B.C. that
he sent Ezra the priest to
Dn.9:25
states, “Know therefore and understand (No “closing up” here!) that from the going forth (commissioning) of the command
(contract) to restore and build
the beginning … ...
…”. (See end-phrase further on.)
In
the engineering business a project is “commissioned” the day it is put into
operation. The “commission” doesn’t mean the “command” or “contract” to begin
and build the project. It means to end this and to start with full scale
production.
Compare
Is. 44:24-28. Cyrus would start the process of putting
into movement what would end in the “going forth of the
command” – he would not effectively finish it or “deliver” the
“turnkey-operation”.
A
new Republic only when having been recognised by neighbouring powers can legitamately claim its “going forth” in independency and
sovereignty. Artaxerxes’ command of 457 B.C., with gifts
of acknowledgement, implies the accomplishment of just that – the final
commissioning or “going forth” of Cyrus’ original command to re-instate
the Judean state and sovereignty.
Then
consider the word for “going forth” – motsa, used, e.g.,
for working
“horses brought from
Conclusion:
motsa –
“going forth”, means resultant and effected beginning
– not:
ab urbe condita – “since the city had been founded”, or since
the initial getting together of agreement, tools, materials and labour.
Mrs.
White’s phraseology, “required by the
prophecy”, is most significant. The prophecy of the 490 years or 70
weeks indeed is determined from the point of view of its fulfillment and of its
own strength so that it should be reckoned from its end to its beginning. Christ
determines times and prophecies – they don’t determine Him. So this dating is
confirmed both from the marking of its start as from the marking of its
completion. I am convinced one does not have to fear contradiction or ridicule
for one’s premise and premiss of taking 457 B.C. for
the beginning of the 70 weeks prophecy.
That then inevitably requires Jesus
Christ for being its fulfillment and confirmation. That then inevitably
requires the Passover as prophetic type of the seventy weeks. The prophecy never
and not by the farthest stretch of the imagination could answer this
requirement in Antiochus Epiphanus (as Hill thinks).
But just as emphatically and surely
does that separate this prophecy from the “vision” of the “2300 ereb and boqer
(offerings)”. Mrs. White though is mistaken as can
be where she draws from the dating of this prophecy of the 70 weeks,
also the
starting
point – and end – “of the 2300 morning and evening
offerings”.
Taking as basic date then the year
457 B.C., it was about the month of “Tishri” or “Ethanim”
– Autumn round about September and the time of the Day
of Atonement. Jesus’ end-time ministry of 3 ½ years started. Three and half
years after his baptism, Springtime, round about March
/ April, Jesus was crucified “in the middle of the week”.
According to the Adventists’ count
then:
From
Sept. 27 AD to Sept 28 AD = 1 year;
From
Sept. 28 AD to Sept 29 AD = 2 years;
From
Sept. 29 AD to Sept 30 AD = 3 years;
From
Sept. 30 AD to April 31 AD = 3 ½ years;
From
April 31 AD to Sept 32 AD = 4 years;
From
Sept. 32 AD to Sept 33 AD = 5 years;
From
Sept. 33 AD to Sept 34 AD = 6 years;
From
Sept. 34 AD to Sept 35 AD = 7
full years.
The
year in process is the calendar year – and the Seventh Day Adventists’ dating
of 34 AD should be 35 AD. On the other hand, had 34 AD been correct, the
“seventieth week” lasted only 6 years. In any case, 457 BC to 34 AD gives 491
years and not 490 years. And 457 years before Christ deducted from 490 years
stretching from before to after Christ, brings one to 33 AD and not to 34 AD.
And should one deduct 490 years from 2300 years reckoned from 457 BC, one would
reach 1843 AD, and not 1844 (“22
October”) as they presume. (Remember the “disappointment of 1843”? “William Miller admitted his mistake”,
Hill tells us, and concludes, “The
Scriptures clearly disprove the 1844 doctrine.”) Although I agree with
Hill on our mutual disagreement with the Adventists, I still disagree with him,
in that he persists in finding some “way"
outside
of Jesus Messiah “to link”
the two prophecies.
The
“seventy weeks”, which Dn.9:24 with as many words
confirms, end with the end of the “seventieth week” or 490th year.
Several Reformers and scholars agree that neither the destruction of the temple
nor the destruction of
Seventh
Day Adventists consider the 70 weeks or 490 years as being “cutt
off” (Dn.9:24) off 2300 “years” which they get from the prophecy of “two thousand and
three hundred evening and morning oblations” (Dn
8:14). They explain the days of the “weeks” as well as the “evening and morning
oblations” as each unit comprising one year. Asks Hill, “Can the ‘2300 evening mornings’ of Dn.8:14
be linked in any way with the 490 years of the prophecy of chapter 9 which was
delivered to Daniel several years (9 years) later?” To find an answer, Hill refers to the context, to
Daniel’s prayer, wherein Daniel is thinking of “the curse and the oath written
in the Law of Moses the servant of God (that) have
been poured out on us (the Jews in exile)”. This Law assures the People that
“if ye do not obey Me, but walk contrary to Me, then I
also will walk contrary to you in fury, and I, even I, will chastise you seven times
for your sins.” (Lv.26:25-28) Daniel fears his People
are still such great sinners that God would consider keeping them another seven
times as long in exile! (“Do not delay, my God!”,
9:19) And in some measure God does exactly that. He allows the People to return
to
But
Antiochus Epiphanius historically very significantly
did play a part in the fulfillment of certain aspects of the 2300 ereb and boqer. (Refer to
Josephus, Antiquities and the books
of the Maccabaeans.) The Feast of the Dedication of
the temple was instituted (164 B.C.) to commemorate the ending of the
“desolation” of the Jewish religion caused by Antiochus – and Jesus gave
recognition to it, John 10:22. But so did also the armies of imperial
Precisely
herein the Adventists are confused. Because they cannot find physical political
fulfilling events of the ending or “cutt-off” date of
the seventy weeks period in that prophecy, they go look for it in the vision of
the 2300 ereb boqer. There
they find the “desolation” cause to God’s temple, in order to apply it to the
Jewish nation. That is how they then see the end of the Jews’ “propbationary time” in the events of the
destruction of the temple and the city – and blend or intertwine the two
prophecies.
But
notice! The angel – in the prophecy of the seventy weeks – supposes God Himself
as the Determinator of the “determinating”
or “cutt-off” point “upon thy people” the Jews. It
would be a prophetic eschatological historic event to do just that – not a
political and physical. And it would be a Paschal (Passover) event! In the
night of Israel’s exodus God’s “passing over” was one of judgement
upon the Egyptians – one of their being “passed by” so that they won’t be
included under God’s provision for mercy, and would be “cutt
off” and cast out of God’s redeeming “passing over”! Exactly
such a “passing by” finally occurrred upon the Jews
according to Acts 13 in exact fulfilment of the
Passover’s prophetic Gospel-meaning.
The
2300 ereb
and boqer,
Hill thinks, were “The
number of sacrifices that would be omitted during the time that sacrifices
would be prevented under the reign of the “little horn”. These are 2300 literal
evening and morning sacrifices”. (See Matthew Henry.) It should not be
insisted on so literally though – we in any case are not allowed
to reach full meaning of the vision.
But the important reason is that the vision of the 2300 evening and morning
offerings has its bearing on the Messiah as its
Real fulfillment and Fulfiller, and on “the time of the end”, “the latter time
of the indignation” – “for at the appointed time the end shall be”.
Jesus
refers to the vision of the 2300 ereb and boqer, saying, “When ye therefore shall see the abomination
of desolation – spoken of by Daniel the prophet – stand in the holy place …”. (Mt.24:14) Jesus seems here to
unlock what in the book of Daniel had been sealed close (8:26), for He says,
“Whoso readeth, let him understand!” THIS PROVES THE
VISION HAD END-TIME APPLICATION – IT DID NOT END WITH ANTIOCHUS EPIPHANIUS. BUT IT ALSO PROVES IT NEITHER ENDS NOR BEGINS
WHERE THE SEVENTY WEEKS END … OR BEGIN!
However,
Jesus is it, and not Antiochus Epiphanus. Without a
single date of either of these prophecies established one hundred percent, they
still are Messianic – that is, they still find their sense and essence in Jesus
for being the Passover Lamb of God! Both prophetic revelations are Messianic.
And that does not depend on dating. The Protestant Reformers perceived the
prophecies’ true significance and yet didn’t try to fix them to definite datings. They saw Christ in them and the Pope His
adversary.
The
scope of the vision of the 2300 ereb boqer extends from the Medes and Persians (20) to the
Prince of princes. (25) “In the latter time of their kingdom when the
transgressors are come to the full” (23) “he (the “king understanding dark
sentence” – Imperial Rome) “stood up against”, (and so would again papal
Simple
is the “truth” of this vision! It no longer is something future
– that future had been brought into the present by the principality and
revelation of Christ’s rule and the Kingdom of heaven! “The sanctuary” – since
– HAD BEEN “cleansed” (verse 14), and all of the many
and mystic years of evening and morning oblations had been ended in Jesus
Christ crucified and resurrected from the dead. (Compare 9:24) Therefore: “Shut
up the vision!” Till the end of the end-time and the second Advent of Christ when,
again, “The sanctuary SHALL be cleansed” through resurrection from
the dead of the saints!
The
Seventh Day Adventists’ most serious mistake is that they completely disregard verse
26 of Daniel chapter 8 – and in regard to both aspects of the
verse. “And the vision of the evening and the morning which was told had been
true. Therefore you must shut the vision up because
it (then was) for many days (but now had been fulfilled).” The verbs “is” and
“shall be” are supplied and so create the idea of future fulfillment from
Daniel’s point in time. From our point in time of course it’s all past tense.
The express command is to “shut up the vision” – first part of the verse. But
temporarily – that is also expressly reserved: second
part of the verse.
Hill
in saying, “The indignation
(of the 2300 ereb boqer) refers to the 490 years of God’s
punishing of Israel”, practices exactly what he accuses the Adventists
of doing, namely to force these two prophecies into one.
Hill
thereby is forced to dare further unwarranted conclusion, that the 70 weeks are
not
continuous or consecutive,
He has no reason to so infer but his stance of some simultaneous
development of the 2300 ereb boqer and the
70 weeks. He has to stretch the weeks by dividing
them in order to coincide and correlate with the 2300 ereb boqer. His apologies despite his
dividing of the 70 weeks into
“Three separate periods of hardship
(that) need not be consecutive”,
because
“They are only a fulfillment of the
sevenfold curse of the law, and” because
“The turbulent years of the Jews since
their return from exile allows ample room for the fulfillment of the 490 years
of punishment”, and that
“Any attempt to calculate dates rests on
the assumption that the KJV interprests
the verse correctly and that the anointed one referred to is Jesus Christ”,
simply
doesn’t convince, is superficial and groundless, cannot prove the KJV’s
interpretation wrong, and offers no alternative.
Hill
also does not take into consideration the Paschal-character of the seventy Paschal
or Messianic “weeks”.
Most
damaging to his own theory, Hill with his division of the 70 weeks forces the
prophecy to fit Antiochus Epiphanus
instead of to allow the prophecy to determine who
would fit its fulfillment. With God as the Ruler over time and history, it is
not even the prophecy that could determine who fits its completion – it is the
Fulfiller Himself Who would determine the prophecy and its fulfillment.
The
angel already explains the “evening and morning”-units represent “days”,
8:26. Any further conversion into years no longer is the Scripture’s
explanation, but must be arbitrary. The “many days” are any length of time in a double way:
First in reaching the beginning of the end-time as inaugurated and represented
by Christ. (It also accommodates
Antiochus Epiphanus shortly before the birth of
Christ.) Then again the “many days” are any length of time in the sense of
reaching far into the future of the end time in fact right up to its end. The
“2300 evening and morning sacrifices” don’t literally indicate as many years or
as many literal sacrifices!
Quite
differently though, 9:2 introduces the “vision” of the seventy weeks in the
context of Daniel’s searching for the meaning of Jeremiah’s prophecy of seventy
“years”.
It suggests the “seventy weeks” would also refer to “years”. Then fulfillment
through Jesus Christ – and to the year – confirms “years” are supposed. In fact
through Jesus Christ the fulfillment
and Fulfiller of the prophecy, its “days” would each, retrospectively, be
confirmed as having been “years”. The 70 weeks prophecy finds its definite
ending point in history – in Jesus Christ – after which
a further
indeterminate stretch of time of this prophecy – one of
“desolations” –
reaches up to the end of the consummation of all things with the
coming of Christ and judgement day.
For
the Daniel 8 prophecy the word hazah is used. In 9:23, mareh is used. Compare 8:15 for
the use of both words, hazah – “vision”; mareh – “appearance”. The first
is mystical; the second real.
The
Adventists consider the verb “cutt off”
(Or is it an adjectival – I don’t know Hebrew or Aramaic?) as not applying to
the Jewish nation – “thy people” – but to the 2300 evening and
morning oblations. So Mrs. White in the last phrase of our above quotation from
her, “… the decree
.. required by the prophecy to mark the
beginning of the 2300 years”!
(Like Hill I also haste to add: UNQUOTE!) This
the Adventists do in direct contradiction of the plain statement and context of
the text, “Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy
holy city to finish transgression …”.
The 2300 evening and morning oblations are NOT regarded as representing as many
years, NOR as representing “transgression”. The term “cut off” is NOT a matter
of “deduction from”, another period of time, but it is a matter of
“determination” or “testing” for the Jewish people and city.
A
further neglect concerns the times and circumstances under
which Daniel received the different visions. He received the vision of the
evening and morning oblations, “In the third year of the reign of king Belshazzar” – 548 B.C. (8:1); The vision of the seventy
weeks, long after, “In the first year of Darius” –
539 B.C.. (As Hills says, it didn’t take the angel 9
years to respond to Daniel’s plea.) Political turmoil
ruled the day “in the reign of king Belshazzar”. In contrast, Daniel received his second
prophetic revelation “In the first year of Darius … king over the (settled)
realm of the Chaldeans” – 539 B.C..
(9:1) Daniel received this “revelation” or “explanation” while he studied and
prayed to understand “the number of years whereof the word
of the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy
years in the desolation of
In
Daniel’s time the vision had been future; in our day it had been fulfilled – in
Christ it found its full fulfillment.
Daniel
9
– the vision of the seventy weeks – is explained by the angel in specific
detail. Its whole tenor suits an interpretation in terms of historic time. And
no doubt it is Messianic – it is an eschatological Scripture that applies to
Jesus Christ and would be fulfilled by events of His life and Power to reign
over death and its warmongers themselves.
The
vision of the 2300 evening and morning oblations is in fact explained to some
extent in the eighth chapter – “make this man to understand the vision”! (16)
“This man” was Daniel. He was privileged with a full(er)
understanding of the vision – nobody else … until Jesus.
We
believe in Christ who is the end of the vision. He has cleansed the “sanctuary”
of his “People and holy City” the Church – “
Appendix continued. With reference to Sdaily of 29 and
31 July 2002 whether quoted or adapted : –
Day for
Year
According to Ted Noel,
Sdaily, 27
Jul 2002, Jews used the “year-day
principle” “in their thinking
and writing”.
The book of Jubilees gives Noah’s age at death as “19
jubilees, 2 weeks and 5 years,” which only equals 930 years (Gen 9:29) if a
“week” (shabuwa) is seven years. (This is a typical
Hebrew sequence in descending order: Weeks of weeks [Jubilees], weeks, and
years.)
Ex 13:10 commands that the Passover be kept “from days to
days” (lit. Hebrew). The same word for “days”,
yom is used repeatedly in a similar annual context. 1Sam 2:19 tells of how Samuel’s mother brought him a coat
each year. The literal Hebrew says that she came “from days to days”. This
usage is repeated in Judges 11:40. 1 Sam 1:21 refers to a yearly sacrifice with
yom, literally calling it a “daily” sacrifice. This
same form is used to specify duration. 1 Sam 27:7 uses “days and four months” (lit.) to specify a year and four months. Num 9:22 uses “two days, or a month, or days” to mean “two days, or a month, or
a year”.
Prophecy and Literal
Fulfilment
Ted Noel further argues that,
In Mark 1:15 our Lord states that "the time is
fulfilled." This specifically identifies the fulfilment of prophetic time.
Thus also Daniel 9:25. Jesus specifically identified himself as the Messiah. 1
Peter 1:20 and Hebrews 1:2 similarly identify Jesus' arrival on the scene as
being "at the end of the times" (lit Greek). This use of a phrase
identifying the end of time echoes Daniel's use of the phrase "at the end
of the days". (He used it 4 times.) Hebrews 9:26 makes it more dramatic by
saying that it was "at the consummation of the ages." Paul confirms
the point in Gal.4:4 by saying that Jesus came
"at the proper time."
These texts
speak to fulfilment of prophecy – like that of Daniel 9:25. The decree found in
Ezra 7, fits the "to restore and to build up" (lit. Hebrew)
specification of Dan 9:25.
Since the
testimony of Scripture is so affirmative (says Ted Noel, in Sdaily
of 27 Jul 2002) of both the year-day nature
of the prophecy and the exactness of both the beginning and ending of
the 69 weeks, why is there any need for approximation?
A Connection Between
Daniel 9:24-27 and 8:14?
Argues Ted Noel, Sdaily, 27 Jul
2002,
“A biblical basis is of crucial importance, since if we do not have
any biblical criteria, any convenient set of dates that coincidentally match
the duration can be applied. And when applied to Daniel 8:14, unless Daniel
9:24-27 is an explanation of it, there is no biblical data whatever that will
allow it to be understood. Not one text anywhere else in either Old or New
Testaments even remotely brings any comment to bear on this question.”
Were my thoughts: The supposition that unless Daniel
9:24-27 is an explanation of Daniel 8:14 there is no biblical data whatever
that will allow Daniel 8:14 to be
understood is quite true. Not one text anywhere else in either Old or New
Testaments even remotely brings any comment to bear on the question of the
interpretation of Daniel 8:14. Is it not exactly what the prophecy intended?
“Shut thou up the vision!” says verse 26; “For its fulfilment is meant for after
many days.”
A biblical basis is of
crucial importance. If we do not have biblical criteria, any convenient set of
dates that supposedly might match the duration can be applied. Since that
biblical basis is wanting, no set of dates should be tried to be applied to the
“locked up” meaning of Daniel 8:14.
Here is George Desnoyers’
(“a member or regular communicant at
several evangelical churches”) comment – almost word for word:
“A biblical
basis is of crucial importance, since if we do not have any biblical criteria,
any convenient set of dates that coincidentally match the duration can be
applied. And when applied to Daniel 8:14, unless Daniel 9:24-27 is an
explanation of it, there is no biblical data whatever that will allow it to be
understood.”
“Unless”!
“Explicit Linkage”?
Ted
Noel,
“This
brings us to the explicit linkage in the Hebrew, defined by Gabriel, that the
prophecy of 9:24-27 was an explanation of the previously not understood
audition (mar'eh) of 8:13-14.”
George
Desnoyers,
“What
mystical thing is there about the word "mar'eh"
that only allows it to be used with regard to one prophetic vision in
Daniel? The visions of chapters 8 and 9
were given at different times and dealt with different subjects. Daniel's
concern at the beginning of chapter 9 is explicitly stated. It was the prophecies of Jeremiah concerning
the Babylonian captivity and restoration of
“Cut Off”
Ted
Noel,
“The next
issue is the htk root in Dan 9:24. This means to
amputate. It does not mean to decree. That root is hrs. And Daniel uses hrs in
verses 25, 26, and 27 to mean "decree." There is a specific contrast
drawn by the Hebrew. Further, htk requires something
from which to cut. This brings us to the explicit linkage in the Hebrew,
defined by Gabriel, that the prophecy of 9:24-27 was an explanation of the
previously not understood audition (mar'eh) of
8:13-14. The reason that non-SDA interpreters deny
this conclusion is that they refuse to accept what the Hebrew says. You may not
like the 9-10 year gap between the revelations, but the link is EXPLICIT in the
Hebrew. If you wish to disregard the Hebrew, then you cannot call your studies
biblical.”
Since the
70 weeks are year-day in fulfilment, this REQUIRES that the 2,300
evenings/mornings also be year-day.”
I’m
totally unable to grasp the logic or necessity.
George
Desnoyers,
“That would
only be necessary if you believe that the seventy weeks of years (490 years)
are "cut off" of the 2300 evenings and mornings. They are not. As I explained above, the vast
majority of translators reject your idea that the word of interest in Daniel
9:24 should be translated "cut off."
Show me the versions of the Bible that say "cut off."
As I've
shown two or three times, chapters 8 and 9 are different visions and
prophecies. Chapter 8 has nothing to do with Jeremiah's prophecies concerning
the seventy years of exile, and subsequent restoration of Jewish
“The SDA insistence that the word should be translated "cut
off" is
self-serving to the peculiar
SDA interpretation of the 2300 evenings and
mornings as 2300 years. The vast majority of scholars reject that
interpretation. Just check out the modern English versions of
the Bible,
such as the NIV. Most of the
modern versions are very carefully translated from the original languages by
committees of scholars. Most modern
versions I've seen translate the word as "determined" or
"decreed." The NIV protocols, carried out over several years, required at
least six reviews by committees of translators or editors, all of whom worked
from the original languages. Several
other modern translations have been produced using similar protocols. If any translates the word used in Daniel
9:24 as "cut off," you'll have to tell me which one it is.”
Neither of the gentlemen seem to
notice that to “cut off” in whatever sense, applies to the Jewish People – not to a time period.
George Desnoyers also
should have pointed out how the “cut off”-argument is counter-productive for
the assumed connection between Daniel 9:24-27 and Dn.8:14.
Ted
Noel,
“As for
cutting from one end, as I said previously, consider a 10 foot rope. You are to
cut off 3 feet. That will leave you with a 3 foot and a 7 foot length. If you
cut from the middle, you will have a 3 foot and two undefined lengths. You will
similarly leave the 2,300 days dangling if you cut from the middle. You must
cut from the beginning, since
that is the only way that the 2,300 days will have any biblical definition.”
(Emphasis CGE.)
Who says one should “cut off” while the meaning is
to “determine”? And who – a priori –
says one should “cut off” from the 2300 ereb boqer?
“Sacrifices”
Ted
Noel,
“You
correctly note that Dan 8:14 answers a question in 8:13, which is about the
suspension of the daily services (not sacrifices, the word is not in the
Hebrew) in the temple.”
Neither is the word “services”, “in the
Hebrew”. Even might “services”
be meant, it would involve “sacrifices”.
But more important, neither is “the
word … the temple … in the Hebrew”. “The sanctuary” can and does have
much wider meaning than “the temple”. “The sanctuary” can mean God’s People.
"What temple?"
Ted
Noel,
“But the
question at hand is "What temple?"
Psalm 11:4 identifies God's temple as being in heaven.”
Psalm 11:4 identifies “heaven” with “the children of
men”. God dwells among men of the earth as Judge. The “temple” represents God’s judgement by presence.
“His countenance doth behold the upright.”
“It is not
necessary to arbitrarily require an earthly temple to be defiled.”
If “the Lord is in his holy temple, the Lord’s
throne in heaven”, as Psalm 11 sings, the presence of whom or of what else can
“defile” his temple?
“And, as I
have posted in another context, the defilement required a cleansing in 1844
(not the Day of Atonement, however).”
What “defilement”
“require(s) a cleansing” once
for all? The perpetual defilement by sin. When was this once for all cleansing
done? In 1844? I thought in the year of our Lord’s crucifixion!
George
Desnoyers,
“Why would
the Holy Spirit be prophesying about an invisible
“… I don't
think my proposed basis for the weeks-of-years interpretation of the seventy
weeks vanishes. An exact parallel
between Lev. 26 and the situation addressed in Daniel 9:24-27 is not
required. You are right that the
seventy-year exile was the punishment. But the period of interest to Daniel,
the seventy years, WAS multiplied by seven.
And the Jews were familiar with the idea of an original period of time
being multiplied by seven (see Lev. 26:17-18, where a threat is made of
multiplying a length of time
- a period of foreign reign - by seven). What is important for the proper
interpretation of the seventy weeks is that the Jews would be familiar with the
three ideas I listed when I wrote:
"The unique interpretation involving weeks of
years in the prophecy of Daniel 9:24-27 is NOT based on any year-day principle,
but is based on the following three ideas with which Daniel would be very
familiar: first, the idea that seventy-year Babylonian captivity was a
punishment (Jeremiah 25:4-11); second, the concept of an original punishment
being multiplied by seven (Leviticus 26:14-39, especially verses 18, 21, 23-24,
and 27-28); and third, the concept of weeks of years, i.e. years in groups of
seven (Leviticus 25:1-8)." ”
In my opinion the superficially
different theories – in the case of the “70 weeks” – contribute and confirm the
‘principle’ that a prophetic ‘day’
stands for a solar ‘year’ whether it
is an unique instance or not.
Ted
Noel,
“Since
there is now no basis for a figurative interpretation of the time prophecies in
Daniel …”.
Almost all of Daniel is symbol and
figure that supply absolute “basis for
a figurative interpretation of the time prophecies”.
“Further,
since scripture confirms the exactness of the fulfilment of the 70 weeks, we
should regard that as the final word.”
Where prophetic time
– in the case of “the 70 weeks”
– in fact is “…speaking of defined,
not fuzzy, periods” we should regard as indicative its fulfilment confirms the exactness.
George Desnoyers,
I feel, is not as ‘exact’ when he
protests,
“Scripture
confirms no such thing. You have
assumed, for example, that the exact year of Jesus' baptism can be known,
completely ignoring contradictory Scriptures relating to the time of Jesus'
birth and his age when he began his public ministry.”
George Desnoyers more than
once resorts to the apology of, “contradictory
Scriptures relating to the time of Jesus' birth and his age when he began his
public ministry.” George Desnoyers not what I
know of supplies his alleged “contradictory
Scriptures”. I could not find any.
Both gentlemen, again, fail to
recognise the Paschal nature of the
70 weeks prophecy, and therefore fail to realise just how exactly Jesus
fulfils the Scriptures – so exactly that the New Testament vigorously protests
Jesus’ fulfilling of prophecy to the
day, “the third day according to the Scriptures” (of Passover … like in
Daniel).
Appendix–
Year of birth of
Jesus. Jesus was
born “in the days of king Herod” (Mt.2:1,
Lk.1:5) who was the father of Archelaus
(Mt.2:22) and who reigned 37 B.C. until his death 4
B.C. He died at the time of an exceptional lunar eclipse, according to Flavius
Josephus. 4 B.C. is the terminus ante quem for the birth of Jesus. Herod was of the opinion
that the Child could have been anything to two years old. Jesus by 4 B.C. could
have been just recently born.
“Taxing
was first made when Cyrenius was governor of
Clement
Alexandrinus (who died in 216 AD) made the statement
(for which reason we don’t know) that Jesus was born in the 28th
year of Caesar Augustus. In the sixth century AD Dionysius Exiguus – who wrongly assumed that Augustus became ruler in
726 a.u.c. – in
order to establish the Christian year count deduced that Jesus must have been
born in the year 754 a.u.c. (726 + 28 = 754)
But
this very Caesar Augustus under the name of Octavianus
had been monarch since 722 a.u.c..
The senate in 726 a.u.c. only
made him Caesar.
Dionysius Exiguus
should have started the Christian year count from 750 a.u.c.. The Christian calendar
consequently began to be applied with four years unaccounted for.
Jesus
died when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judeah. He
officiated from 26 to 36 AD., the terminus
post quem of Jesus’ death. The first time Pontius
Pilate is made mention of was with the crucifixion of Jesus, and it could be
inferred that it must have been soon after he had been instated as governor.
Herod
the Great came to power in 37 B.C.. He started
rebuilding the temple in his eighteenth regnal year –
20 / 19 B.C.. “This temple took fourty
six years to complete” the Jews reminded Jesus at the beginning of his public
ministry (John 2:20) as if the temple (or the main part of it) had been
completed at that point in time. That indicates the year 26 / 27 AD. If Jesus
then had been 30 years old, the Christian year reckoning is four years behind.
Much
more historic data about the times of Jesus’ birth and death may be scrutinised – but like the information about Pontius
Pilate, nothing can pin point the dates of either.
Luke
(3:23) says Jesus “was beginning about thirty years of age” – ehn archomenos hohsei etohn
triakonta,
when He started his ministry. In the Old Testament 30 years old was deemed the
age of adulthood and maturity for public ministry. No reason exists why Luke’s
relative restriction, “about” - hohsei, should mean more than just months, but years, past
or before the age of thirty. The very clause requires exactness: ‘Jesus’ thirtieth year had just begun …’. See Lk.9:28 where “about eight
days” means “exactly eight days”. In 22:44 – “like drops of blood” = “just like
drops of blood”. “Like idle tales” = “Nothing but idle tales!” – 24:11. More
than once in the Gospels it says Jesus’ “time was not yet”. The idiomatic
expression which Luke uses and is translated as were Jesus “about” 30 years old
when He started his public ministry therefore must be interpreted as stressing
preciseness, “Then in fact when He was thirty years of age”. The time for it
had now come.
Why
mention Jesus’ age at all if it wasn’t of importance? And if of importance, it
should have been correct.
If
counted from the year 457 B.C., this Scripture – if exact – unequivocally
implies the Christian calendar is behind with 4 years.
The
date of 457 B.C. as the first year of the 490 years of the seventy prophetic
weeks of years of Dn.9:24 perfectly suits the date of 26 AD being the beginning of “the
seventieth week”.
If
Lk.3:23 could be taken for precise – and there is no
reason why not – then Jesus’ “had just begun” – ehn hohsei archomenos, his thirtieth year
of age during Autumn of 26 AD. Autumn in the northern
hemisphere indicates the time of year of Jesus’ birth – round about September
October. Which is the time of year of the Feast of
Tabernacles! (See Table on p. 284.)
Now
again have a look at the Appendix on the Feast of Booths from p. 272 above. I
can assure the reader I never in my life have given thought to these
correlations before this very time of writing these lines. The
relation between and mutual confirmation of the two originally rather
speculative approaches seem now very confirming of the correctness of both.
It
comes as a great and splendid surprise that these three Appendixes fall in
place so graciously! (View
Chronological Correlation, p. 292-3.)
Birth of Yeshua
Author
unknown!
“Most
Gentile Christians wouldn't bother to speculate about the time when Jesus was
born. They celebrate it on December 25th even though they know there is no
Biblical basis for choosing that date. However, there are some Messianic Jews who
believe that they know, with a reasonable degree of certainty, the time of year
when Yeshua (Jesus) was born. Taking into account
certain Jewish customs and traditions, it's not difficult to calculate it.
There is quite a wide consensus of opinion that Yeshua
was born at some time during the High Holy Days of Rosh Hashana
(New Year) and Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement), or at Succot
(Tabernacles) which follows soon afterwards. These festivals normally occur in
the Autumn, about September or October, but it varies from year to year because
the Jewish calendar is based on the cycles of the moon and doesn't fit in with
the Gregorian calendar.
The calculation of the time of Yeshua's
birth begins with Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist. According to Luke
1:5 he was a priest of the order of Abijah. He was
performing his duties, burning incense in the
The order in which the priestly families performed their duties is
given in 1 Chronicles 24:7-18. According to the Mishnah,
the cycle begins on the first Shabbat (Sabbath) of Nisan, and each family of
priests would minister in turn for one week. Since there are 24 families, each
family would minister about twice a year. The cycle would be delayed slightly
because all priests, regardless of their families, were required to be at the
The family of Abijah was eighth in line, so
Zechariah would have had his first period of duty during Sivan (about June) and
his second period during Kislev about six months later. There is no way of
knowing for sure which period of duty is referred to in Luke's Gospel, but if
we suppose it is the first period we get some very interesting results.
Zechariah finished his first period of duty about the middle of Sivan.
Because of his unbelief, God struck him dumb, but his reproductive system was
still working. He went home to his wife and she became pregnant. Count off 40
weeks, the usual period of gestation, and we get to the month of Nisan the
following year. Beginning on the 14th of Nisan, and lasting for eight days, we
have the festival of Pesach (Passover), which roughly coincides with Easter on
the Christian calendar. This raises the distinct possibility that John the
Baptist was born at Pesach, which coincides with the Jewish expectation that
Elijah would come at Pesach. The Jews always put an extra cup of wine on the
table at Pesach, in the hope that Elijah will come and drink it.
If John the Baptist was born at Pesach, Yeshua
(Jesus) must have been born during the High Holy Days or at Succoth. In Luke
1:26 and 36 we are told that Yeshua was six months
younger than John. When the decree went out for everyone to go to their home
town to be registered, Joseph and Mary set off for
We are given a clue about the time of the birth by the angel who
appeared to the shepherds and said "Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good
tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people". (Luke 2:10). There
are actually two clues here. Succot is a festival of
joy, and it is also known as the "Festival of the Nations". The angel
was actually giving them a greeting for the Festival of Succot.
This is the only festival
where the nations are positively encouraged to participate. (Zechariah
14:16-19).
During Succot, the Jews contruct
flimsy shelters called "Succah", using wood
and leaves, and eat or sleep in them. This is to remember how they were
completely dependent on God as they wandered around for forty years in the
desert when they came out of
The birth of Yeshua at Succot
fulfils another prophecy: "Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall
bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being
interpreted is, God with us". (Matt. 1:23, a quotation from Isaiah 7:14).
If this is not enough, we also have to consider the type of dwelling
in which Yeshua was born. Had it not been for the
inconvenience caused by the census, he would have been born in a house like all
other children. But he wasn't, he was born in a stable, a flimsy dwelling where
they kept sheep and cattle. So he was born in a Succah,
to indicate that God had come to earth to dwell with humanity.
Eight days later, according to Luke 2:21, he was circumcised. NOT in
the
If the day of his birth was the first
day of Succot, the day of his circumcision would be
the eighth day of Succot which, like the first day,
is a day of sacred assembly. (Leviticus 23:39). On this day, or traditionally
the day after, the Jews complete their annual cycle of Torah readings and start
again from Bereshit (Genesis). It is called Simchat Torah (Rejoicing of the Law), and is considered to
be a time of "fulfilment" of the Torah. The circumcision of Yeshua at this time indicates how he had come to fulfil the
Law and the Prophets (Matt. 5:17-18). Also in John 1:14 we read about how
"The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us" - another obvious
reference to Succot.
When the days of Mary's purification
were over (33 days after the circumcision), they would have made their way to
Chronological
Of
the Christian calendar taking as the year of Christ’s birth
according to Dionysius,
who in fact under the name of Octavianus
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a.u.c. |
7 49 |
7 50 |
7 51 |
7 52 |
7 53 |
7 54 |
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Correlation
the 28th year of reign of Caesar Augustus who,
ruled from 726 a.u.c.,
but,
had been ruling since 722 a.u.c..
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