Seventy Weeks Prophecy

Fred Coulter—September 26, 2010

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Let's stop and think about what God has done with the Sabbath and the Holy Days. There was an independent church that we send videos to and they show them there. They put an ad in the paper, anyone interested in Sabbath services, come on. So they came. And here was a family in Tennessee that got so sick and tired of churches that they decided to stay home—a little church at home. And remember, there are reported to be 76-million like that, that have quit going to church. So they spent two years studying their Bibles. And guess what they were doing at home? Keeping the Sabbath and keeping the Feasts! What they did, they put up little booths out in the backyard, kept the Feast of Tabernacles there. In the long run, that's maybe one way to do it.

So anyway, let's review the Holy Days here just a minute. Let's start out with the Passover, because it's a very interesting thing. Let me tell you a little bit about the seven-day week, the calendar, and also the harmonics of the scale.

Now we have a book that is The Dark Sayings on My Harp that Dwight Blevins wrote and he tied all the numbers together, the hertz numbers of 'do-re-me-fa-so-la-te-do.' So the scale and the week and the Holy Days and the mathematics of the whole thing are all tied together in a tremendous way. God had everything planned before He created the earth; Christ was 'slain from the foundation of the earth.'

Let's start with the Passover. The Passover is not a Holy Day, but then we have seven Holy Days. Now let's examine the Passover here for just a minute. The first part of the Passover that we find in the Bible was actually when God gave the promises to Abraham in Gen. 15, and that compassed the two days: 14th Passover with the sacrifices and then the 15th leaving Egypt.

We have the Passover, sparing the firstborn of the children of Israel in Egypt. Then we have the first Holy Day which is the Feast of Unleavened Bread beginning with the Night Much to Be Observed to the Lord and that's when they began their exodus to go out of the land of Egypt and they completed it by going through the Red Sea. Mike is going to have a real good presentation that he's going to do down in Arcadia in October with maps and everything and show how they left the land of Goshen, assembled at Rameses, came over, came across the part of the Red Sea. He's going to answer some of the questions, the heresies that different ones have that, 'Well, you know, they really didn't do it that way,' but they really did. He's going to show out of the book of Numbers where week by week by week for seven weeks—so keep the seven weeks in mind we'll talk about a little later—they came to Mount Sinai and on the 50th day, Pentecost, they received the law.

Now, let's come forward to the New Testament Church, on the Passover day in 30A.D. In the back of The Holy Bible in Its Original Order we have When Did Jesus Die?; shows about the Passover, three days and three nights, and we have seven historical chronological witnesses that coincide with 30A.D.

One little sidebar to that, that all those who are interested in the calendar need to know—because there a lot of people who say, 'Well, you need to watch the observable new moon and you can't have any postponements.'—in the year that Jesus died there were two postponements. The postponements are necessary to coordinate the movements of the sun, the earth, and the moon, and the rest of the things that God has created.

So Jesus died on that day, was in the grave three days and three nights, then we have another day which was not a Holy Day, but it is during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The fifteenth day is a Holy Day. That pictures the children of Israel beginning to leave Egypt, the last day is when they left Egypt after they got through the Red Sea. For us, Christ is our Passover for forgiveness of sin, and then we walk in the way of the Lord and come out of sin, beginning with the fifteenth day of the first month. The seventh day shows God's power of fighting Satan for us, just like He did with the children of Israel when they crossed the Red Sea.

Then the children of Israel got to Mount Sinai and they received the Law on the Day of Pentecost. For the Church on the Day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit was given. Now, let's think about those four days. Who do those four days apply to today? Though Christ's sacrifice will eventually cover all the sins of all people of all time, eventually, but the Passover applies to whom today in God's plan? The firstfruits—correct? Doesn't apply to the world; they're blinded, they don't know.

• Passover's for the Church
• the first and last day of the Feast of Unleavened are for the Church
• come out of sin
• overcome Satan the devil.
• Pentecost, receiving the Holy Spirit, and then the resurrection on the Day of Pentecost.

That all applies to the Church. Now let's look at the fall Holy Days:

• Trumpets
• Atonement
• Tabernacles
• the Last Great Day.

Trumpets pictures when Jesus was born. We can pretty well pinpoint that to within a two-week period. The middle day of that two-week period, was the Feast of Trumpets. That was on a Sabbath.

Let me mention something that is interesting in how God has worked these things. In the year that the children of Israel came out of Egypt in the exodus, the Passover was in the middle of the week. When the Passover's in the middle of the week, then you have Trumpets on a Sabbath, the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles on the Sabbath and the Last Great Day on the Sabbath. Now that becomes significant, because in 30A.D. that's exactly the sequence that happened when Christ was crucified. Isn't that something?

In the year that Jesus was born, it was also the same sequence. Now let me add a little bit more about the birth of Christ. While I'm talking about this, just think about this proverb: 'It is the glory of God to hide a matter, but the honor of the king to discover it.' So God has to reveal these things. They're in the Bible and there are a lot of things in the Bible, but many people misinterpret it and use it wrong and they don't obey God and keep His commandments and Holy Days and things.

The year of Jesus' birth is 5B.C. In that year, not only was Trumpets on a Sabbath, you count eight days later, what is the eighth day after the birth of a boy? Circumcision! Jesus had to then be circumcised on the next Sabbath, because that's eight days. These things, once you grasp it, will just kind of blow you away how much God has done and it's hidden. We have to get in there and dig it out.

In the year that Jesus was born, who was born six months before Him? John the Baptist! Let me tell you what happened in that year. The fifteenth day of the first month is what? First day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread—correct? Fifteenth day of the seventh month is what? First day of the Feast of Tabernacles. If you're a real computer geek and you want to get on it, you use our calculated Hebrew calendar—it'll work—you go to NASA and you open up the astronomical tables and you can go backward and forward in the eclipses and things and they will be there. So unusual is the event of an eclipse on the fifteenth day of the first month combined with the eclipse on the fifteenth day of the seventh month—guess how often that occurs? Once in 2,717 years! Now remember, that He set the stars and the sun and the moon for 'appointed seasons and signs.' What do you think the wise men saw first? They saw the eclipse on the fifteenth day of the first month! They saw other things in the heavens and that's why they were coming to Jerusalem. An angel of God, called a star, led them there, though they saw a star in the astronomical things of a sign that God put there. You can find out some of that in E. W. Bullinger's Witness of the Stars. I'm not acquainted with any of the things that he has there.

Let's go back and cover the use of trumpets again. When the temple was dedicated during the days of Solomon, they started the Feast of Dedication of the temple—the first day—on the Feast of Trumpets. God came and put His presence, called the Shekinah, in the temple at that time. So God used that Holy Day.

We know from the type that we have in following the outline of the Holy Days that the resurrection takes place on Pentecost and then on Trumpets, after the resurrection, we come back to the earth—Christ comes back to the earth and 'the saints with Him.' That's when the Kingdom of God is set up and established as pictured by the Day of Atonement.

But the Millennium has not yet begun, because what? There's something else that needs to be done. What is the next Holy Day? Atonement! Do we know how Atonement fits in to the coming and ministry of Christ? It does, but we haven't understood it. Now what is the ceremony in Lev. 16 for the Day of Atonement? The two goats! Why two goats? One for the Lord, symbolizing God manifested in the flesh Who would give His life for the sins of Israel and also later the world. But why have that sacrifice symbolizing the sacrifice of Christ when He died on the Passover? Because the sacrifice of Christ will not be open to the world for forgiveness of sin until Satan, the god of this world, has been bound!

So what are we looking at with the last four Holy Days? In the end-time, the last four Holy Days apply to God dealing with the world!

• Trumpets: Christ coming back, the saints with Him
• Day of Atonement: Satan bound
• First day of the Feast of Tabernacles: the millennial reign officially begins

In the sequence of years when Trumpets is on a Sabbath, then you have something very unique. The first day of the Feast of Tabernacles is on a Sabbath and you go a complete week and the last day is on a Sabbath. Both of those days picture what God is going to do in dealing with the world, bringing many to the knowledge of Christ and salvation, Satan is bound, conversion is going to take place with a lot of people, and then the Last Great Day is a day that every atheist needs to understand. That's the day when God brings back to a second physical life every human being who has died that He never gave an opportunity for salvation for.

They can't figure out what the Scriptures say, when God says that He blinded them, because they didn't obey. The Baptists say all them are going to 'burn in hell.' Well, there are going to be a few Baptists raised on the Last Great Day, too. That's why that day has to be there. Look at all the innocent people that die. Look at the accidents that happen and the terrible things that take place. Look at the problems with abortion. We'll cover that on the Last Great Day. That's all covered by that day.

So, let's ask the question now: How is the Day of Atonement and Jesus' ministry intertwined? Let's first of all come back here to Leviticus 25. Because there's something else of a very important nature that takes place on the Day of Atonement having to do with land Sabbaths and having to do with the jubilee.

We know how to count Pentecost, but Pentecost is a mini-jubilee, because it's counted seven weeks plus one day. Then on that day picturing the resurrection. Now we'll see what a jubilee means, which we will here, it means

• freedom
• release
• let out of bondage

—and the mini-jubilee on Pentecost pictures

• release
• freedom from flesh
• perfection as the sons and daughters of God

Let's see how the land Sabbaths and the jubilee and the seventy-weeks prophecy all fit together and have to do with the beginning of the ministry of Jesus Christ.

Leviticus 25:1: "And the LORD spoke to Moses in Mount Sinai, saying, 'Speak to the children of Israel and say to them, "When you come into the land which I give you, then shall the land keep a Sabbath to the LORD. You shall sow your field six years, and you shall prune your vineyard six years, and gather in the fruit of it. But the seventh year shall be a Sabbath of rest to the land, a Sabbath for the LORD. You shall neither sow your field, nor prune your vineyard. You shall not reap that which grows of its own accord for your harvest... [In other words, this was the commercial part. You couldn't reap that to sell it. You could harvest whatever you needed to eat, you and your family and all of those that were with you.] ...neither gather the grapes of your undressed vine as a harvest. It is a year of rest to the land"'" (vs 1-5).

Now notice, these are 'to the Lord.' These are special! Then it shows you can use it for food (v 6); you can use it for your livestock (v 7).

Verse 8:"'"And you shall number... [Which means to count.] ...seven Sabbaths of years... [Now we will see when we come to Dan. 9 when it talks about weeks, it means each week is a seven-year Sabbatical. Here you were to count 7x7 years.] ...And the time of the seven Sabbaths of years shall be forty-nine years to you."'" God has it there very simple; you can count it, multiply it and so forth.

Now notice what happens and notice that this begins on what? The Day of Atonement! "'"Then you shall cause the trumpet of the jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month... [That is after 49 years. When that forty-ninth year ended on Atonement they were to blow the trumpet.] ...on the tenth day of the seventh month; in the Day of Atonement, the trumpet shall sound throughout all your land. And you shall make the fiftieth year holy, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee to you, and you shall return each man to his possession, and you shall return each man to his family. That fiftieth year shall be a jubilee to you. You shall not sow, neither reap that which grows of itself in it, nor gather the grapes of your undressed vine in it, For it is a jubilee. It shall be Holy to you.... [also Holy to God] ...You shall eat the increase of it out of the field. In the year of this jubilee you shall return each man to his possession"'" (vs 9-13).

If we followed God's laws concerning the land Sabbath and the jubilee, we would have no debts longer than six years. Think what that would do to people and for people. Today you can get a 40-year mortgage. You can buy a $200,000 house and by the time you pay it off in 40-years, you've had to return back $600,000. That's not God's way. They also did this. All farmland that was production land for crops to sell, the one who used the land leased it according to the jubilee. He would have to pay so much if he began in the first year and so much less if it was in the twentieth year, or whatever, because that could change. God promised that He would provide for them in year six, seven, and eight. Those three years. Then they could plant and then reap the harvest in the ninth year.

Let's see the Scripture that was to be read on the Day of Atonement. Notice, this is the message of the jubilee on the Day of Atonement. Isaiah 61:1: "The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me because the LORD has anointed Me to preach the Gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound.... [you can tie that in spiritually with Jesus' ministry] ...To preach the acceptable year of the LORD... [we will see later when Jesus read this He left off the last part of v 2]: ...and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn'" (vs 1-2). What is the final act of vengeance of God on the Day of Atonement? Let's also maybe say that the year in which Jesus returns will be a jubilee. The jubilee would begin on the Atonement in the year that He returned. Perfect—right? Perfect pattern to save the world!

We'll leave this sit right here for the time being, we'll come back to this when we get into Luke 4. Let's come forward and let's talk about John the Baptist. Now John the Baptist becomes very, very important for us to understand.

Luke 1—here is where we can get an accurate chronology if we use the calculated Hebrew calendar. It's in the appendices in the back of the Bible, When Was Jesus Born? Luke 1:5: "There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest of the course of Abijah..."

People who don't know about the Hebrew calendar and don't know about the courses of the priests, as David laid them out—there were twenty-four courses of priests—here's how the priests served. Each course would begin on the Sabbath, beginning with the first week of the first month. They would start at noon on Sabbath and operate through to noon the next Sabbath. That way the priests on the Sabbath would only have to serve a half a day. You go back to 1-Chron. 24, and you find that course of Abijah was the eighth course. That was the eighth week, which was the week just before Pentecost. In each week that they had the three seasons—Passover, Unleavened Bread and Pentecost, and Tabernacles, all twenty-four courses would work that week, so they could handle all the sacrifices of all the pilgrims coming in. When you read Num. 28 and 29 about all the sacrifices that had to be given during the Holy Days and especially the Feast of Tabernacles, you will understand why. So this tells us, if we can follow the calculated Hebrew calendar, that we have a specific two-week period that Zacharias worked—right?

Verse 8: "And it came to pass that in the fulfilling his priestly service before God in the order of his course, according to the custom of the priestly service, it fell to him by lot to burn incense when he entered into the temple of the Lord. And all the multitude of the people outside were praying at the hour of the burning of incense. Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. And when he saw the angel, Zacharias was troubled, and fear fell upon him. But the angel said to him, 'Fear not, Zacharias, because your supplication has been heard; and your wife Elizabeth shall bear a son to you, and you shall call his name John'" (vs 8-13).

It said that they were advanced in years, so that means they were seventy or above. The King James says 'well stricken' in years and that's what's said of David when he was seventy years. So they had to be about seventy years old. We also know that Elizabeth and Mary were related. Elizabeth was old; Mary was young. The sister of Elizabeth was the mother of Mary, so Elizabeth was her aunt, not her cousin. Now we'll see how this fits in, in just a minute.

Verse 14: "And he shall be a joy and exultation to you; and many shall rejoice at his birth. For he shall be great before the Lord. And he shall never drink wine or strong drink in any form, but he shall be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother's womb. And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. And he shall go before Him... ['before Him' refers back to the Lord their God] ...in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord'" (vs 14-17).

You know the rest of the account: Zacharias, instead of saying, 'Yes, Lord, thank you, Gabriel. God's will be done'; he said, 'How's this going to be, I'm old. My wife is old.' The angel said, 'Because you asked the question, you're going to be unable to speak until after the child is born.' So mark this: 'spirit and power of Elijah.'

Eight days after John was born there was the day of circumcision when they named the child and he was named John. The relatives didn't want that, but then as soon as they handed him a tablet and something to write with, his tongue was loosed.

Here's what he did, filled with the Holy Spirit, v 68: "Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, because He has visited and has worked redemption for His people." These are big-time prophecies here. Because remember, they had not even had any kind of vision or anything, as Josephus records, from the Lord for over 200-years. They knew the prophecies in Malachi and they knew the prophecies of Daniel counting the days, and so forth. We'll get back and count it in just a little bit, but we want to focus first on John the Baptist. Then it shows what he was going to do and prepare the way.

Now let's come back here to Malachi; let's look at a prophecy that we can apply in type to John the Baptist's father, because it says that he and his wife were righteous. And we can also apply part of it to John the Baptist.

Malachi 2:5, concerning Levi. "My covenant with him was one of life and peace... [Isn't it interesting? He did not say Aaron. Why? What did Aaron do? Yes, build the golden calf!] ...and I gave them to him for fear; that he might fear Me, and he was in awe before My name. The law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found in his lips... [Could that not apply directly to John the Baptist's father and mother? They were blameless in the commandments of the Lord—right? Yes!] ...He walked with Me in peace and uprightness... [we can blend this also into John the Baptist.] ...and turned away many from iniquity. For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and the people should seek the law at his mouth; for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts'" (vs 5-7).

John the Baptist was a priest, but he never learned the priestly trade of the temple because he went into the wilderness and remained there until the day of his appearing. I picture him, since he had a Nazarite vow, I picture him as a redhead, very fierce looking, long flowing hair, long beard; the way he was dressed with camel's hair and a leather girdle and he ate honey and locusts, and so forth. That's how I picture him. And when he said, 'Repent! For the Kingdom of God is hand!'

Let's ask a couple of questions concerning John the Baptist before we move on so we can understand what went on during his ministry. Did all the priests and the Levites know about John the Baptist when he was born? Yes, indeed! They knew that it had to have something to do with the coming of the Messiah, because they understood the next prophecy that we're going to read here in chapter three.

So when John the Baptist began his ministry as far away from the temple as he could get in Judea by going down to the river Jordan, and there the people were repenting and they were being purified by baptism for forgiveness of sin in the running waters of the river Jordan. Whereas, up at the temple the priests would offer the sacrifice and then have people go bathe in the various bathing pools that they had up there.

So knowing that he was a priest—not knowing what happened to him, because he wasn't presented publicly until he began his ministry—they sent different ones down to find out, 'Who are you?' That means that they were expecting something big. Now we'll get into the flow of the timing of this in just a little bit.

Malachi 3:1: "'Behold, I will send My messenger, and he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, Whom you seek, shall suddenly come to His temple... [We'll see that in a little bit.] ...even the Messenger of the covenant in Whom you delight. Behold, He comes,' says the LORD of hosts." Then it blends into His second coming.

Come over here to Malachi 4:5: "'Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD.'" There were two comings of Christ:

• one in peace
• other one in vengeance

So we have a two-fold meaning here. Put in your notes there Matt. 17, after the vision of the transfiguration, the disciples said to Jesus that isn't Elijah to come first? And He explained to them that Elijah had come and they understood that it was John the Baptist. This tells us what? Since there was Elijah for the first coming of Christ, there will be another one who will come in the spirit and power of Elijah before the second coming. I think he will do the same thing that John the Baptist did, prepare a people from the Jews in the area of Palestine for God.

Let's look at some timing of things here concerning the 70-weeks prophecy—Daniel 9—let's look at this. Let's examine it carefully. Carl Franklin, though he retired five years ago, has been working on the 70-weeks prophecy and the intricate chronology of the kings of Media and Persia and Assyria and Babylon. A lot of that material was not available until here recently when they digitized all of these books in these special world-class libraries where you had to be an eminent scholar with permission to go in to even look at the books. Now it's all digitized and online. So he was able to figure out and coordinate the reign of the kings of Media and Persia—Cyrus, Ahasuerus and the ones that all applied to it—and coordinate that with the true chronology of Ezra and Nehemiah.

The angel Gabriel finally came and told him about this. Isn't it interesting, you go through and study about the angel Gabriel in the few places where his name is mentioned and what do you find him associated with? You find him associated with carrying out the prophecies concerning Jesus Christ!

Daniel 9:23: "At the beginning of your supplications the word went forth, and I have come to declare it, for you are greatly beloved; therefore consider the word, and understand the vision." And this is when it was the first year of Darius (v 1), the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes. Now Carl has got that all worked out. We know exactly when that is. This becomes important.

"Seventy weeks are decreed upon your people and upon your holy city to finish the transgression... [That's interesting—isn't it? To finish the transgression. Now what was the original transgression that has caused all the problems in the heavens and on the earth and with men and with angels? Satan's rebellion! So to finish it! But what we find is, Jesus' ministry began the process, but it won't be completed until the other prophecies take care of that. So this is talking about the beginning of when this will be. The other prophecies show when the ending of it will be.] ...and to make an end of sin... [Did Jesus make an end of sin for all people when He came the first time? No!] ...and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy…. [That is the Messiah.] …Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem, to Messiah the Prince, shall be seven weeks, and sixty-two weeks." (vs 24-25).

Why was it put that way? The seven weeks with the seven Sabbatical years was a separate means of calculating. It shows that it was not continuous, but there was a break after the 49-years of completing the building of Jerusalem and building its walls, before the beginning of the 62-weeks. The mystery has always been—because too many take it as one in line fulfillment—when did the 62-weeks begin? We know the decree of Cyrus began the 49-years, the seven weeks. But there is no clear definition in the Bible or in history that has been known when the 62-weeks would begin.

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Now remember, seven weeks in this prophecy equals 49 years; 62 weeks—a separate segment calculated differently—is 434 years. There appears to be no definitive place to start the 62-week calculation coming forward. So how do we solve the enigma?

Notice how it's broken down, v 25: "Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem, to Messiah the Prince, shall be seven weeks... [to build the city] ...and sixty-two weeks. It shall be built again with streets and the wall, even in troublous times." That goes back to what? The 7-weeks or the 49 years.

Verse 25, let's read that again. "Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem, toMessiah the Prince... [That's important to understand. We come to the end of 434 years and Jesus was to begin His ministry. This also has to be at the end of sixty-two Sabbatical sequences—right? And we'll see how that falls.] ...And after sixty-two weeks..." (vs 25-26). It doesn't say how long after, so we have two things concerning the Messiah:

• to the Messiah—62 weeks
• But then again, "...after sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off but not for Himself" (v 26).

We're not going to deal with the last sequence there of the one week or seven years. We'll deal with that later. Let's come forward here to the book of Luke 4. We can know, because of when John the Baptist was born, when Jesus was born, and He was about 30-years-old when He began His ministry. Why did He say 'about 30-years-old'? Because birthdays did not run on the same day, because of the difference in leap years and things like this, though He was born on the Feast of Trumpets.

Let's look at this very carefully and here's where the problem is: Jesus began His ministry in the fall of 26A.D. We have in the book that we're going to produce on the seventy-weeks prophecy, based on the evidence that Josephus gave us concerning jubilee years, that the year in which Jesus began His ministry was a jubilee year. The Atonement of that year ended the 62-weeks and His ministry began in a jubilee year which ran through the Roman calendar of 26-27A.D. So the whole year from Atonement to Atonement was a jubilee year!

Don't you think that a jubilee year was the appropriate year for Jesus to begin His ministry? Yes! Most of the scholars understand that, but they don't understand Luke 4:16. The scholars assume that Luke 4:16 is a Day of Atonement, but that cannot be correct. Now we will understand why it was written in the Greek the way that it was written, and we will see that this ties together the jubilee year as well as the mini-jubilee of Pentecost.

Luke 4:13—I start there because when you read this and you read Matthew, it looks like it flows sequentially in a chronological way, but it doesn't. That's the key and I'll show you the true chronology. "Now when the devil had completed every temptation." We're going to back and look at this temptation in the book of Matthew. Remember, the 62-weeks was to end on the Day of Atonement, ending the 49th-year of that cycle. Also that Day of Atonement began the jubilee year, which would run for one year. We have the historical chronology taking it year-by-year-by-year from the year that Josephus wrote that this year was a jubilee year down to the ministry of Christ. So we have absolute chronological proof that the year of Jesus' ministry was a jubilee year.

But here is the conundrum, v 14: "Then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee; and word about Him went out into the entire country around. And He taught in their synagogues, and was glorified by all. And He came to Nazareth... [It sounds like this was just right afterwards—right? Things flow right along—right? Is there other evidence in the Bible to show the true chronology of what happened? We'll find that, yes it does, in the book of John.] ...And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and according to His custom, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up to read" (vs 14-16).

You will note in the Original Order Bible that there is an asterisk there and a footnote explaining what that Sabbath day was. This also becomes important in understanding about the first year of the ministry of Jesus Christ in a jubilee year. The Greek there means, 'Now on the day of the Sabbaths,' or 'Now on the day of the weeks.' What Sabbath does that refer to? Has to be Pentecost—right? Why did Jesus read the prophecy of Himself on the Day of Pentecost, instead of Atonement, and yet, He read the section out of Isaiah that was to be read on Atonement.

Verse 17: "And there was given Him the book of the prophet Isaiah; and when He had unrolled the scroll... [Normally they had certain set Scriptures that they were to read and the governor of the synagogue would pass that to the one who was going to read. But here at this point He got the scroll and He unrolled it.] ...He found the place where it was written, 'The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me; for this reason. He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal those who are brokenhearted, to proclaim pardon to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to send forth in deliverance those who have been crushed, To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord'" (vs 17-19).

Come back to v 18: "'...He has anointed Me..." That is the proclamation of the Messiah. What did Jesus say after He was done reading it, gave the scroll back to the attendant?

Verse 21: "...Then He began to say to them, 'Today, this Scripture is beingfulfilled in your ears.'" Isn't that interesting? Present tense passive; not 'was fulfilled,' but 'is being fulfilled.'

Why did Jesus not do this on Atonement? Could He have done it on Atonement, because that was the day that it was to be done at the beginning of the jubilee year? But here He used Pentecost, the mini-jubilee, during the jubilee year to make the announcement. Why did He wait till then?

Let's come to Matthew 3 and we will see. What had to happen before His ministry could begin? He had to be baptized!—before His ministry could begin, just prior. Matthew 3:13: "Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. But John tried to prevent Him, saying, 'I have need to be baptized by You, and You come to me?'…. [We will see that John said, 'I did not know Him until I saw the Holy Spirit come down upon Him.'] …Then Jesus answered and said to him, 'You must permit it at this time; for in this manner it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness'" (vs 13-15).

What was the prophecy of the coming of the Messiah? To bring in everlasting righteousness! Did He at the beginning of His ministry start the process of bringing in everlasting righteousness? Yes, indeed! Later, all the saints who had the Spirit of God and died in the faith, they're part of that everlasting righteousness at the resurrection—correct?

"…Then he permitted Him to be baptized. And after He was baptized, Jesus came up immediately out of the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, and coming upon Him. And lo, a voice from heaven said, 'This is My Son, the Beloved, in Whom I have great delight'" (vs 15-17).

Now He was ready. What happens right after that? And how many times have we read Matt. 4 on the Day of Atonement and didn't associate it directly with the Day of Atonement and the beginning of the ministry. It was to be 62 weeks ending at the end of 434 years, on Atonement. That Atonement in Jesus' ministry was the fall of 26A.D.

Now how do we get to the beginning of the 434-years? By counting back from this point! And what do we come to? We come to the time when the book of Malachi was written. And in the book of Malachi was the decree that the messenger was going to come and that there would be a messenger who would prepare the way for the Lord. Here it is right here. Would it be unrealistic, which we mention in the coming book, The Seventy-Week Prophecy Understood, would it be unrealistic to estimate that either the writing or the canonization of the book of Malachi would fall in the year 409B.C. and thus give us a beginning point for the 62-weeks. Here we can see the ending point of it, the beginning of Jesus' ministry, the beginning of a jubilee year. Of course, it would be fitting that the Messiah would come in a jubilee year—correct? Isn't that the whole purpose of His ministry? Yes!

So we can answer the question as to why Jesus could not announce that He was the Anointed One on the Day of Atonement, because He had something else to do to fulfill the Day of Atonement before He could announce it—which was what? Remember the ceremony of the goat for the Lord and one for Azazel. And Azazel was sent into the wilderness. Azazel is a type of Satan the devil and that Lev. 16 ritual ceremony that was there could not be understood until Rev. 20, where Satan is put away.

What is the first thing that has to happen to start the process to bring everlasting righteousness, to make an end to the sin? Jesus had to overcome Satan while He was in the flesh! We could say, maybe His baptism occurred on the day before Atonement. Don't know; we don't know exactly, but the parallel would fit.
Matthew 4:1 would have to start then on the Day of Atonement. "Then Jesus was led up into the wilderness... [That's the abode of Azazel—correct?] ...by the Spirit in order to be tempted by the devil. And when He had fasted for forty days and forty nights, afterwards He was famished" (vs 1-2). Let's look at another parallel here in the ministry of Christ. It starts out with 40-days temptation by Satan the devil—right? How does His ministry end? Forty days in teaching the apostles and disciples after He was resurrected—correct? Yes! So the ministry of Jesus Christ has the bookends of 40-days and 40-days.All of these are the basic things concerning our relationship with God.

Verse 3: "And when the tempter came to Him, he said, 'If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread'.... [He could do that—right? But if He did that, who would He be obeying? The god of this world, Satan the devil!] ...But He answered and said, 'It is written... [So He quotes the Scripture. He didn't say, 'Hey, don't you know who I am?'] (He said): …'It is written, "Man... [This is for all human beings; since He was God in the flesh, this also applied to Him—right?] ...shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God"'" (vs 3-4). Let's add a little bit more to this verse in understanding.

• Who taught Jesus? God the Father!
• Did He always do the things that pleased the Father? Yes!
• Did He keep the commandments that God told Him? Yes!

So that also applies directly to Jesus and His ministry as God manifested in the flesh. The first IF sermon that I gave was this. Where do you find the first IF?

Genesis. 4:7 where God talked to Cain, because God didn't accept his offering. And God said, "IFyou do well, shall you not be accepted? But IF you do not well, sin lies at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it." Is that not also a summary of the whole Bible? Yes! So here we just had one here with Jesus.

Now let's look and see what happened. Satan answered back by quoting Scripture. Do Satan's ministers quote Scripture? Yes! Do they misapply and misinterpret? Yes!

Matthew 4:5: "Then the devil took Him to the holy city and set Him upon the edge of the temple, And said to Him, 'If You are the Son of God, cast Yourself down; for it is written, "He shall give His angels charge concerning You, and they shall bear You up in their hands, lest You strike Your foot against a stone."' [How about that?] …Jesus said to him, 'Again, it is written, "You shall not tempt the Lord your God."'" (vs 5-7). Some people have said, okay, they look back there and read that in Psa. 91. There have even been some that stand out in front of speeding train. Nothing left of them, because you're tempting God. If there's something where God's angels need to intervene, they will; they will intervene.

And I know that when I rolled my Isuzu without my seatbelt on, going at 75 miles an hour on Hwy 5, I know that an angel had to spare me and save me, because as the car was rolling over I said, 'Oh no!' And I didn't budge out of the seat. It rolled over once, landed on all four wheels upright. I opened up the car door and the first thing I said, 'God, thank you for saving me from my stupidity.' Now all of us can know that God has intervened for us with his angels at different times, different ways.

Let's see what the devil was going to do. Here's Jesus weak, famished, the lowest He could be in the flesh. Jesus knew He was the coming King. Satan knew that He was the coming King. Satan also knew that God had delivered all these kingdoms to him because men have disobeyed God. So here, notice what the devil said.

Verse 8: "After that, the devil took Him to an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.... [And Luke adds 'in a moment of time.'] ...And said to Him, 'All these things will I give You, if You will fall down and worship me'" (vs 8-9). He's always wanted to be God! And what a defeat of God's plan it would be if he could entice Jesus to worship him, destroy the whole plan of God—correct?

"Then Jesus said to him, 'Be gone, Satan! For it is written, "You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him alone shall you serve"'" (v 10). Now the 'you' is not talking to Satan because he's never going to worship God. This means 'you' as an individual shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve.

"Then the devil left Him; and behold, angels came and ministered to Him. Now when Jesus had heard that John was put in prison, He went into Galilee" (vs 11-12). When did Jesus hear that John was put in prison? How do we find the chronology, which we do, of the events that took place after the temptation had been completed?

Let's come to John 1 and we find it right here; we have the beginning of it. After explaining to the scribes and Pharisees who came down to find out who He was, notice what happened, John 1:28: "These things took place in Bethabara across the Jordan, where John was baptizing. On the next day, John sees Jesus coming to him, and he says, 'Behold the Lamb of God... [He did not say that when Jesus came to be baptized—did he? This has to be after His baptism and after His temptation, because in completing successfully overcoming Satan the devil, He now was the Lamb of God—right?] ...Who takes away the sin of the world" (vs 28-29). That ties right in with Dan. 9—doesn't it? Yes, indeed!

Verse 31: "'And I did not know Him; but that He might be manifested to Israel, therefore I came baptizing with water'.... [The reason he came baptizing with water, because he was sent as a voice in the wilderness to prepare the way of the Lord.] ...And John testified, saying, 'I myself beheld the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and it remained upon Him. And I did not know Him before, but He Who sent me to baptize with water said to me, "Upon Whom you shall see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, He is the one Who baptizes with the Holy Spirit." And I have seen, and have borne witness that this is the Son of God'" (vs 31-34). The Messiah. That had to be after His temptation and recovery.

If you don't eat and drink for 40 days and you're in the flesh, you're going to be very weak. Remember it said angels came and ministered to Him? Yes, indeed! How long was His recovery period? Don't know! What could we say, a week, ten days, but the timing is not essential so we go along with the events.

Verse 35: "On the next day, John was again standing there, and two of his disciples with him... [John's disciples.] ...And as he gazed upon Jesus walking, he said, 'Behold the Lamb of God!' And the two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus" (vs 35-37). What was John saying? 'Here's the one that was to come after me whom you are to follow.' So they did.

Then we find that we have Andrew and Peter and Nathaniel and Philip, they were all with Him and they spent a couple of days with Him.

Let's see the chronology. John 2:1: "Now on the third day, there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee... [Cana is not up to Nazareth. And you know what happened there. His mother came to him and said they ran out of wine. So He made 180-gallons of wine and they had a real good whoopee of a time, made it out of water. The Baptists like to take their penknife and take that out of the Bible, but you can't get rid of that. What did He do next?

Verse 12: "After this He went down to Capernaum, He and His mother and His brothers and His disciples; and they remained there not many days." Capernaum is away from Nazareth. The key is He came to Nazareth where He had been born. He's not there yet.] (Now then, He leaves that area of Galilee and goes up to): …Now the Passover of the Jews... [Passover including the Days of Unleavened Bread] ...was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And He found in the temple those who were selling oxen and sheep and doves, and the money exchangers sitting there; and after making a scourge of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with both the sheep and the oxen; and He poured out the coins of the money exchangers, and overturned the tables…. [Boy, I'll bet there was a scramble for coins there then—right? 'That's mine.' No, it's mine. 'I can tell this is mine.'] …And to those who were selling the doves..." (vs 13-16).

The reason that they sold doves and sold the offerings and there was money exchanged was because the pilgrims would come out of the Diaspora from the other countries, and they had the currency of the country that they were in. So here was a currency exchange. Those who were exchanging the currency for the temple money were short-changing them. That's why Jesus said, v 16: "…Do not make My Father's house a house of merchandise." You can read the rest of it. The Jews came and said, 'Who are You to do this?' He didn't answer them.

Verse 19: "Jesus answered and said, 'Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.'" Now why did Jesus not at this point say, 'The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, has anointed Me'? Why did He not give the Messiah proclamation at the temple? Don't you think that would have been an appropriate place to do so? But He didn't—did He? No!

What do we have then? After the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the encounter with Nicodemus! Then we also have some other instruction. Then we come down to John 3:23. Notice, this is a key important thing. What was the thing that Jesus heard before He went into Galilee to Nazareth? That John the Baptist was in prison!

John 3:23: "And John was also baptizing in Aenon, near Salim because there was much water there; and the people were coming and were being baptized." Then he gave a testimony to the scribes and Pharisees.

John 4:3: "He left Judea and departed again into Galilee... [That means He was on His way to Galilee.] ...Now it was necessary for Him to pass through Samaria" (vs 3-4). Not quite yet in Galilee. Then we have the encounter of the woman at the well—right? Yes! And after that was over, they left them, they came on in toward Galilee.

Verse 45: "Therefore, when He came into Galilee, the Galileans received Him, having seen all the things that He did in Jerusalem during the Feast, for they also had gone to the Feast. Then Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee, where He had made the water become wine. And there was a certain royal official in Capernaum whose son was sick. When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and asked Him if He would come down and heal his son..." (vs 45-47)—and so forth.

Now then, the Apostle John doesn't tell us when John the Baptist was put into prison, but we have that in Mark 1. So we're just about done here, so everybody just be a little more patient. We'll get there. That is a dividing point. Mark 1:14: "Now after the imprisonment of John, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of the Kingdom of God, and saying, 'The time has been fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is near at hand; repent, and believe in the Gospel'" (vs 14-15).

Now, let's go to Luke 4. Since Jesus was being tempted by Satan the devil, beginning on the Day of Atonement, which began the jubilee year, which was the first year of His ministry—because remember it said, 62 weeks to the Messiah. So as soon as those 62-weeks or 434-years ended, the Messiah had to begin His ministry. But He had to begin it by confronting Satan the devil first. So He couldn't make a public proclamation of that.

When He came to Nazareth on the Day of Pentecost which was a mini-jubilee within the jubilee year, that's when He made the proclamation; that's when He came. And He came to Nazareth. Luke 4:16: "And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and according to His custom, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day... [Or we could read it just like the Greek has it, 'on the day of the weeks'—Day of Pentecost.] ...and stood up to read. And there was given Him the book of the prophet Isaiah; and when He had unrolled the scroll, He found the place where it was written... [That which was to be read on the Day of Atonement, but that which was the proclamation that He was the Messiah.] ...'The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me; for this reason, He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal those who are brokenhearted, to proclaim pardon to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to send forth in deliverance those who have been crushed, To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord'" (vs 16-19)—which was a jubilee year and announced it on the Day of Pentecost, the mini-jubilee within the jubilee year.

So that's the best we can understand the 62-week prophecy. When we get the booklet out, which will be coming probably sometime in November, first part of December at the latest, we will also send this with it. I think that that will really be a key thing for us to understand.

Scriptural References:

• Leviticus 25:1-5, 8-13
• Isaiah 61:1-2
• Luke 1:5, 8-17, 68
• Malachi 2:5-7
• Malachi 3:1
• Malachi 4:5
• Daniel 9:23-26
• Luke 4:13-19, 21
• Matthew 3:13-17
• Matthew 4:1-4
• Genesis 4:7
• Matthew 4: 5-12
• John 1:28-29, 31-37
• John 2:1, 12-16, 19
• John 3:23
• John 4:3-4, 45-47
• Mark 1:14-15
• Luke 4:16-19

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

• Genesis 15
• Leviticus 16
• Leviticus 25:6-7
• 1-Chronicles 24
• Numbers 28, 29
• Matthew 17
• Daniel 9:1
• Leviticus 16
• Revelation 20
• Psalm 91

Also referenced:

Books:

• Dark Sayings on My Harp by Dwight Blevins
• Josephus
• The Witness of the Stars by E.W. Bullinger
• Seventy Weeks ProphesyUnderstood (coming soon)

Sermon Series: IF Statements of the Bible

FRC:lp
Transcribed: 12-02-10
Formatted: bo—12-4-10