Welcome to Sabbath School In Todays Lesson well

Welcome to Sabbath School! In Today’s Lesson we’ll consider:

“God’s Timetable”

Chapters 8 & 9 of Daniel Are really part of a whole and should be studied together. Original Bible manuscripts had NO chapter divisions. But one reason they’re split is the passage of about ten years between them.

The intriguing expression “the TIME of the END” is NOT to be confused with “the END of TIME. ”

“The END of TIME” is the end of the world as we know it. It arrives when Jesus returns to usher in Eternity.

“The TIME of the END” is a last-day period of unknown duration that began in 1844 (Daniel 8: 17) and lasts until Jesus comes.

That time prophecy truly shocked Daniel! “And I Daniel FAINTED, and was SICK certain days. . I was ASTONISHED at the vision, but none understood it. ”

Chapter 9 of Daniel opens with His beautiful prayer, a prayer that must be considered one of the most outstanding prayers in all the Bible.

In answer to Daniel’s prayer, God sends a heavenly visitor!

In answer to Daniel’s prayer, God sends the Angel Gabriel! Gabriel says, “I am come to show thee; for thou art greatly beloved: therefore understand the matter, and consider the VISION. ” What “vision”? Daniel had no vision in chapter 9.

Gabriel MUST mean the troubling vision given Daniel in Chapter 8, the one that made him SICK and caused him to FAINT!

Chapter 8 uses two different Hebrew words for “vision” chazon Refers to the vision as a WHOLE —the ram, goat, and little horn mareh Focuses on the 2300 -day time prophecy re: the Sanctuary

And in Daniel 9: 24, When Gabriel tells Daniel to “understand the matter, and consider the VISION, ” the Hebrew word used is mareh, Thus linking it directly and specifically to part about the 2300 -day prophecy!

The Angel Gabriel told Daniel: “Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city. . ” — Daniel 9: 24, KJV

Furthermore, Gabriel said God intended “to. . . 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. finish the transgression, make an end of sins, make reconciliation for iniquity, bring in everlasting righteousness, seal up the vision and prophecy, anoint the most Holy. ” — Daniel 9: 24, KJV

Gabriel continues: “Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks. ” — Daniel 9: 25, KJV

Actually, three Persian kings issued decrees about Jerusalem: Cyrus – Ezra 1: 1 -4 in 538 B. C. Darius – Ezra 6: 1 -12 in 519 B. C. Artaxerxes – Ezra 7: 1 -28 in 457 B. C.

But, as Daniel 9: 25 says, the builders faced “troublous times. ” The Divine Record tells us: “Adversaries of Judah. . . troubled them in building. . . to frustrate their purpose. . . and wrote a letter against Jerusalem. . . ‘the rebellious and evil city. ’ ” — Ezra 4

Nehemiah 4: 16 -18, NIV, says: “From that day on, half of my men did the work, while the other half were equipped with spears, shields, bows and armor. The officers posted themselves behind all the people of Judah who were building the wall. > > >

Nehemiah continued — “Those who carried materials did their work with one hand held a weapon in the other, and each of the builders wore his sword at his side as he worked. But the man who sounded the trumpet stayed with me. ”

As a result of all this turmoil, “Thus the work of the house of God which is at Jerusalem CEASED, and it was discontinued until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia. ” — Ezra 4: 24, NKJV

This is the reason that ALL THREE decrees were needed. In fact, God speaks of all three as if they were all ONE!

Please note the use of the singular in the word “decree” “The Jews. . . finished building according to the command of the God of Israel and the DECREE of Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia. ” — Ezra 6: 14, NASB

One more pertinent point is that The earlier decrees of both Cyrus and Darius refer only to the building of the Temple and not to the CITY of Jerusalem, as Daniel’s prophecy specifies. Artaxerxes’ decree, however, WAS effective in that way.

So. . . What IS the starting date for this time prophecy?

The Bible Record documents very specifically the fact that. . . “Artaxerxes king of Persia” made this decree “in the SEVENTH YEAR of the king. ” — Ezra 7: 1 & 7 Since he was crowned in the year 464 B. C. , his seventh year was 457 B. C. , a fact of history!

King Artaxerxes authorized the rebuilding in 457 B. C.

God’s Day-Year Principle: The KEY that UNLOCKS Time Prophecies!

God’s Day-Year Principle Is the Bible-approved way of interpreting symbolic time prophecies. It has been the time-honored method used by Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Wesley, and many others including King James of England the great scientist Sir Isaac Newton.

It applies the simple rule that One Prophetic DAY = EQUALS = One Actual YEAR

It should not surprise us that God would use symbolic time — a day for a year — In time prophecies that use symbolic BEASTS — a RAM, a GOAT, a little HORN, etc.

Furthermore, Empires that reigned for LONG periods in HISTORY must be represented by LONG periods in PROPHECY. SHORT periods like three and one-half LITERAL years are not adequate.

Jesus Himself used the Day-Year Principle in Luke 13: 31 -33 — “Some Pharisees said to Him, ‘Get out of here if You want to live, because Herod wants to kill You!’”

Note Christ’s reply: “Go tell that fox [Herod] that I will keep on casting out demons and doing miracles of healing today and tomorrow; and the third day I will accomplish My purpose. Yes, today, tomorrow, and the next day I must proceed on My way. For it wouldn’t do for a prophet of God to be killed except in Jerusalem!”

Jesus KNEW His earthly ministry would last NOT for merely three DAYS, but for three more YEARS!

Again, Christ used the Day-Year Principle in Revelation 2: 10. . . Speaking to the second of “the seven churches, ” the one at Smyrna, Jesus says: “Ye shall have tribulation TEN DAYS: Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. ”

Prior to the Smyrna period of church history, Persecution by Pagan Rome had been “intermittent. . . sporadic and localized. ” BUT — “Political oppression reached a bloody climax under Emperor Diocletian (284 to 305) and his immediate successors. ”

From A. D. 303 -313, a period of TEN literal YEARS, Imperial Rome applied ruthless persecution, conducting the most bitter campaign of annihilation. Diocletian’s first decree, banning the practice of Christianity throughout the empire, was issued in 303. It remained the law till Constantine issued his edict of toleration in 313.

The “TEN DAYS” predicted in Revelation 2: 10 were TEN YEARS in the real world of history, following the Day-Year Principle.

Perhaps the MAIN reason Bible scholars use the Day-Year Principle is that it WORKS! It passes the ACID TEST of harmonizing prophecy with history.

Well-established FACTS — from both Holy Scripture and secular history — tell us that Jesus was baptized and began His ministry, without a doubt, in A. D. 27.

Straight ARITHMETIC tells us: 483 years – 457 B. C. A. D. 26 , not 27!

But remember that. . . even though the year begins January 1 st on OUR calendar, ancient calendars in other cultures were quite different. For instance, the Egyptian New Year’s Day was the 1 st of Thoth, which is February 26 th on our calendar.

And the Jewish New Year’s Day, called Rosh Hashana, comes in the AUTUMN, falling on the 1 st of the Jewish month of Tishri, followed by Yom Kippur or Day of Atonement on the 10 th of that month.

Thus the Jewish calendar begins and ends in the AUTUMN, running FALL-to-FALL. We must take that calendar into account in dealing with this time prophecy, or we’ll be confused.

Jan. 1 st Consider this: We want to measure 483 years starting in 457 B. C.

To correct this error, we must place the beginning of our ruler in the FALL.

When we do it right, our calculations are 100% correct and check out perfectly!

And Galatians 4: 4 assures us: “When the FULLNESS of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman. ”

Incidentally, Some may puzzle as to how Christ could begin His work in A. D. 27 — since Luke 3: 23 says He was “about 30 years of age” when He was baptized and began His public ministry.

The reason for this discrepancy of between 3 & 4 years is that. . . In A. D. 532, a monk named Dionysius Exiguus developed the first calendar of the Christian Era. Though he used the best evidence at his command, he made a mistake of somewhat more than three years. By the time the mistake was discovered, his calendar was so well established that no change in the reckoning has been attempted.

To illustrate this mistake: We know that Christ was NOT born in A. D. 1. This is quite evident from the fact that when He was born, Herod the Great was still alive. (See Matthew 2: 13 -20. ) And Herod DIED in the year 4 B. C. (See any encyclopedia. )

But we should realize that this mistake makes NO real difference in the calculation of dates.

For if the Era began with the actual year of Christ’s birth, the number of years B. C. would be four years FEWER, the years A. D. four years MORE. And it would all “Come out in the wash, ” as they say.

But that year, A. D. 27, Was not the year He was BORN. Rather, it was the year He was BAPTIZED and ANOINTED to assume the office and work of the Messiah.

The date A. D. 27. . . is like the DATES of Presidential years. A note that says, “George Washington (1789 -1797)” doesn’t mean he was BORN in 1789 but that he served as President during those eight years.

Remember that. . . The word Christ in the Greek and Messiah in the Hebrew both mean “KING” or one specially “anointed” — as Kings, even today, are anointed with a few drops of oil at their coronation.

In Acts 10: 37 -38, Dr. Luke reminds us that. . . “after the BAPTISM which John preached. . . God ANOINTED Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power. ”