Timing Part Two

Tags

Babylon, Cambyses II, daniel, Ezra, God, israel, Jeremiah, Jerusalem, Ken Raggio, Nehemiah

Let’s look at Jeremiah then.
 Jer 25:11 And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.
Jer 25:12 And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith Jehovah, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans; and I will make it desolate forever. 

This is a key: “seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon” The timing of this prophecy should be from the move of Nebuchadnezzar on Israel and its captivity date to the fall of Babylon under Belshazzar the son of Nabonidus a soldier under Nebuchadnezzar. Or it could also be the time of the madness of Nebuchadnezzar which was a direct punishment from God. So let’s look at this math. Scholars date the sacking of Israel for this Diaspora anywhere from 597 to 587 to 582 BC. Nebuchadnezzar rules from 605 – 562 BC But there is a window of time where he went insane and was not on the throne. Now Wikipedia reports that in 597 Jerusalem’s king was deposed by Babylon for revolting and non-payment of “tribute” But the date set for the burning of the first Temple and deportation of the inhabitants of Judea is 587 BC, it is possible that it took five years to go through all this procedure to the King’s satisfaction. (Possibly with 582 as a completion date) In the first year of Cyrus’s rule in 538 BC Ezra was sent with Jews to begin to re-establish Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple. But Ezra was tasked by God to get the protective walls up. 522 BC is when Cambyses II, the son of Cyrus died and Darius one of his officers took over quelling various revolts that had arisen at the time of Cambyses II death. It will be in the second year of this reign that Darius sends word to confirm Royal decree to stop those petty officials that were hampering the progress of Ezra’s work. I can’t find an exact date for this edict but in a time of revolutions the successor had to be quick to establish himself. So it is likely 520 BC before Darius makes this confirmation. Apparently the Temple was done in anywhere from 518 to 517 BC. If you take the date of the actual destruction of Temple at 587 BC until its dedication using the 517 BC date you have an exact 70 year lapse. THAT is Jeremiah’s prophesy but NOT Daniel’s. We know this because of the language. Jeremiah and 2 Chronicles use the word shanneh which is the feminine form of shannah as is Rosh Ha Shannah or Head of (the) Year. Jeremiah is referring to actual years. And it was so. (Selah)

Daniel is not speaking about the rebuild of the Temple but the coming of a time when a savior will come or when the iniquity and such will be finished. That language can only be fulfilled in Messiah. So now we are back to the seventy sevens or Sabbaths. In Dan 9:25-26 we see the word week. This is Shabua or Seventh. Strongs indicates that it pertains to a Seventh portion of time, in this case of years. Thus we have a seventh(ing) of years. It isn’t too difficult to see now why so many books are written on the subject. (OY VAY!)
Once again with understanding, I hope, Daniel “Dan 9:25 Know therefore and discern, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the anointed one, the prince, shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: it shall be built again, with street and moat, even in troublous times.
Dan 9:26 And after the threescore and two weeks shall the anointed one be cut off, and shall have nothing: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and even unto the end shall be war; desolations are determined.
Here is the key: the time the clock starts counting… from the going forth of the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem…. NOT the Temple! That’s the key! Jeremiah spoke of a Sabbatical land rest from the time of captivity to the dedication of the Temple but Daniel is not talking about the Temple. Cyrus issues his edict in 538 which punches the timer. Now we will have seven weeks of years or forty nine years… but this is sevenths so they are sabbatical years… that’s seven times seventy or four hundred and ninety years. Ok that’s not to bad certainly there will be this whole time passing till…the Temple is rebuilt with a moat in troublous times… (????) Now here is where things get confusing. We have already established that it was an actual 70 years to the rebuild of Temple number two. So what Temple is this? Some say, it is number three. They were not in captivity for 490 years… only 70. So what happens in 490 years after the edict of Cyrus? Some say the Crucifixion. Does that work? First off, scholars conclude for the most part that there is a four year lapse in the Hebrew and Roman calendars for the BC/AD year one. This apparently puts the Nativity at 4 BC. Ok, it says that Jesus was around 30 years of age when the famous baptism of the Jordan took place so we will do a simple 30 year march forward from 4 BC. The year is 26 AD and a nondescript Jewish male approaches a prophet on the Jordan river in the Judean area and is baptized. Forty days and much business later he is beginning that all famous public ministry by gathering disciples in Capernaum. I will punch in for a simple 3 years. Now the date is 29 AD and this same no descript Rabbi is hanging on a cross amid much controversy. A sign reads “King of the Jews”. The Jews don’t like the sign. Too bad they don’t understand who it is that is taking the wrath and curse for their sins and iniquities thus ending them, in that sense. Now let’s go back 490 years from 29 AD. (if I do this on a calculator I get an -461) Here’s an oddity, as I fully expect to have some error in my simple calculations I find this date falls in another edict.
Neh 2:1 And it came to pass in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, when wine was before him, that I took up the wine, and gave it unto the king. Now I had not been beforetime sad in his presence.
Neh 2:2 And the king said unto me, Why is thy countenance sad, seeing thou art not sick? this is nothing else but sorrow of heart. Then I was very sore afraid.
Neh 2:3 And I said unto the king, Let the king live for ever: why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ sepulchres, lieth waste, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire?
Neh 2:4 Then the king said unto me, For what dost thou make request? So I prayed to the God of heaven.
Neh 2:5 And I said unto the king, If it please the king, and if thy servant have found favor in thy sight, that thou wouldest send me unto Judah, unto the city of my fathers’ sepulchres, that I may build it.
Neh 2:6 And the king said unto me (the queen also sitting by him,) For how long shall thy journey be? and when wilt thou return? So it pleased the king to send me; and I set him a time.
But we have a major discrepancy don’t we? This edict has passed as it was issued in 445-444 BC. But I did my simple math based on 490 years, seventy sevens of time. There’s an addition here. 62 weeks or Sabbaths of time will have passed until the Prince is “cut off”. Those in the know say this refers to the crucifixion. So now let’s adjust the time line here… I am overshot to 461 BC. This is a combination of weeks here. One set is 62 weeks and added to it is seven weeks for a total of 69. 69 times 7 is 483. Four hundred and eighty three years is the new target time. Going from 29 AD and subtracting 468 we arrive at 439 BC.

Now I expected there to be some error but this is very close indeed to Nehemiah. What we have is a five year offset from my arrival to the earliest sending at 444 BC. You see Jeremiah’s prophecy is NOT Daniel’s. They hinge off each other because they involve the Kings past Babylon but they are not one and the same. So with wiggle room the math does work. I am also using a simple math here not a actual calendar thing. Here is someone who did. http://kenraggio.com/KRPN-Daniels-Seventy-Weeks.html‘
Daniel Foresaw And Accurately
Pre-Dated Jesus’ Crucifixion
Knowing that I may be accused of error, I nevertheless take the simplest argument, that in seeing Messiah “cut off,” the prophet Daniel foresaw the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

By holding to that definition, I know that I am in conflict with the teachings of “Jehovah’s Witnesses,” “Seventh-Day Adventists,” historicists, preterists, amillenialists, Jewish Orthodoxy, and other interpretations.

That Messiah being “cut off” infers the crucifixion of Jesus is obviated by the simple fact that there is a reliably calculated span of 483 years between the story of Nehemiah in Artexerxes’ court (found in Nehemiah 2) and the actual death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. That perfectly fulfills Daniel’s prophecy of the first 69 weeks.

I am also aware that there are countless other arguments pertaining to the reliability of ancient calendars: irregularities in profane history, discrepancies between Roman and Jewish calendars, solar-cycle versus lunar-cycle calculations, ad infinitum. All too often, the seeker of truth is left paralyzed by the flood of arguments from contentious “scholars.”

Still, we must refuse to be bamboozled by the multitude of opinions. I believe that Daniel foresaw the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, and I believe the calculations pertaining to that fulfillment are just as reliable and believable as any other argument that has been set forth.

We cannot afford to overlook the glorious reality of fulfilled prophecies because of some who are “ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith,” 2 Timothy 3:7-8.

According to Daniel’s statement, the entire 69 weeks ENDS with the CRUCIFIXION of Jesus Christ. Therefore, we can BACK-DATE the prophecy from CALVARY.

We can calculate backwards from the generally accepted date of Jesus’ death – in approximately 30-32 AD. (Most scholars believe the Roman calendar has a four-year error, placing the birth of Jesus Christ in 4BC.) Again, we must not be put off by endless disputes over so-called inaccuracies in calendars.

SIXTY NINE WEEKS (483 Years) had to be fulfilled before Jesus’ crucifixion to fulfill this prophecy.

If we BACK-DATE the calendar 483 years from 30 AD, we arrive at 453 BC.

However, THAT DATE (453 BC) would be calculated on Solar-based Julian calendar years, consisting of 365.3 days, as given to us by the Roman Catholic Church.

If, on another hand, we calculated BACKWARD from Jesus’ death, using a Lunar-based Hebrew Calendar (360 days per year), such as was used throughout the Bible, we would arrive in about 445 BC.

The Commandment To Build
445 BC – “The Going Forth Of the Commandment …To Build Jerusalem.”

Nehemiah the Jew was serving as the king’s cupbearer, in the household of Artaxerxes (465 BC to 424 BC), king of Persia, in the palace at Shushan.

“And it came to pass in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, that wine was before him: and I took up the wine, and gave it unto the king. Now I had not been beforetime sad in his presence,” Nehemiah 2:1.
For more on this man’s work go to the link above and enjoy. You can see that with even my offset calculations I also arrived in the ball park of time referring to Nehemiah. But here is our conundrum. We only have sixty nine of seventy. So we have one more week and this is what gives us that all important seven years. But they don’t show up in Revelation. The only things are time, times and half a time… or 1260 days.

Now I want to throw in a monkey wrench into this.

Dan 12:11 And from the time that the continual burnt-offering shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand and two hundred and ninety days.
Dan 12:12 Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days.

Is this dealing with the Maccabean revolt or something else? I ask because there is a time, times and half a time in here which is 1260 and this will refer to Revelation after the last trump.

Dan 12:7 And I heard the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever that it shall be for a time, times, and a half; and when they have made an end of breaking in pieces the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished.
Dan 12:8 And I heard, but I understood not: then said I, O my lord, what shall be the issue of these things?
Dan 12:9 And he said, Go thy way, Daniel; for the words are shut up and sealed till the time of the end.

1290 days is 30 days more. But 1335 days? That’s a difference of 75 days which is slightly more than three months.
A little about Daniel’s book. Daniel records three sets of events. One set is the things that happen in Babylon while he is there, so in that sense it is a historical book. Then he has these visions and God sends this angel to talk with him, perhaps more than one even. One set of visions has to do with the events leading up to the time of Christ. The great statue of Nebuchadnezzar plays an important role in that is serves as an archetype of kingdoms that countdown to Christ. Then there is another set of statements almost purposefully woven into the first. They tell of a ruler who is not like the preceding kingdoms in the countdown to Christ, and they mention the Ancient of Days and Thrones of Judgment. One could theorize that perhaps Christ’s coming which is to like the Refiner’s Fire and Fuller’s Soap is that image of the Thrones judging but that fails to wash as He came not to judge but to seek and save. Then as the book is closing there is a command to seal up the prophecy. Now the detail of events that Daniel records involves and validates the books of the Maccabees as historical record of what God is up to during the 490 year or so gap of silence and its archaeological corroboration makes for an impressively well recorded piece of work. But these little statements like the last beast in the pantheon of beasts or the Thrones being set up and the horn that became a man and blasphemed God and then the dating of a set period of time. Revelation unlocks the “time, times, and half a time” to 1260 days. We have reference to a covenant made and broken, which some see as Christ making the covenant with Israel and the in death breaking it. Jesus made no such covenant to rule so, that understanding can’t be correct.

Looking back at Revelation 11-14 which seems to be a major focal point for so many things that are occurring on Earth; the witnesses, the woman facing off with the Dragon and giving birth to the man-child and then successfully fleeing to “the place prepared” which is spiritual, the beast rising from the “sea” and the beast rising from the “earth” and the things the “Earthbeast” does to point the world’s affection and cooperation to the “Seabeast” (yes that’s what I am calling them here). All these things happen after the last recorded Trump in Scripture and as I have been saying the last trump is… the last trump. There is also John’s Temple which is later mentioned as demolished and the city of Jerusalem itself pretty much trashed by a massive quake. Jesus does enter into the picture in chapter 14 to pick up 144000 sealed people, from Olivet. They are virgins and they follow the Lamb wherever He goes… but are they Jewish? I don’t know but they are called up to represent twelve tribes so they might be. Considering that the witnesses of Chapter 11 have the power to defend themselves from any form of onslaught and can cause the plagues to Egypt to come upon the planet as often as they choose, (as often as God dictates and to whom and to where He sends them…) perhaps Israel doesn’t need to be secure but to build a Temple there, now that has to be in some sort of armistice truce. Is it possible that a truce happens while the Witnesses are prophesying? It is apparent that multiple things happen during this “time, times and half a time, period. However those things are best reserved for another part.

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Timing Part One

Tags

Alexander, Christ, daniel, God, israel, Jeremiah, Jesus, Lord, Nebuchadnezzar, prophecy, Prophecy of Seventy Weeks, seventy, Temple

First off please understand this is not date setting, or my theories on the math of “well if you calculate from this date in antiquity…”, no this is exposing certain scriptures and looking at them. Are we in the last days, according to some, yes. You see when Jesus became flesh the last days began. One must always take into account the already- not yet dynamic. So in many noticeable ways the last days and the Kingdom are now upon us and yet there is the dynamic of the passage of linear time. Unlike the time travelers we can’t just flit through time and space even if Einstein’s theories and those of the men who have built upon him say that it can be done. Happily we don’t have the technology for it either. Add to this the fact that prophecy can repeat itself in pattern application time and again to certain points in history and still apply to the time of the “beasts”. Having said all this lets take another look at Daniel.
The weeks of prophecy:

Dan 9:24 Seventy weeks are decreed upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy.

To make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness… finish transgression and make an end of sins…. All of these have a peculiar familiarity don’t they? For instance the Hebrew word for reconciliation is Kaphar… one of its definitions is to expiate and another is to cover. That’s the Cross Work of Jesus Christ. This is Atonement for …. Iniquity and the Hebrew word here, Amon, has to do with perversion and that bent toward evil. Humanity can get really fascinated with the dark secretive world of occult. It can applaud the daring do of the really clever thief or even the murderer. But all this is an affront to a Holy God so we have this interior flaw. Iniquity because it is so ingrained in us from the Fall and the Curse, needs to worked out from within by the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, but it starts with a need to “cover over” the mess within until there is no more need to be “covered” for the Sanctification is complete. Bringing … Everlasting (Olam) or the vanishing point wherein time goes “out of memory” or is “incalculable”, in other words… Forever. Righteousness or tsedek meaning right, equity, prosperity, justice etc; which is the Crux of Salvation. This is the Plan of long ago which God the Son fulfills in human flesh for all time without end. To finish transgression and make an end of sins… this is further on then Salvation and yet Salvation does exactly this. Yet within the Church transgression still happens and so does sin and iniquity. Why? Because the work is both done and complete and still in progress, the point of the work is the cleansing of the Bride and the Land and God’s People Israel. When the Seventh Trump was sounded we heard a statement: “Rev 11:15 And the seventh angel sounded; and there followed great voices in heaven, and they said, The kingdom of the world is become the kingdom of our Lord, and of his Christ: and he shall reign forever and ever.” Actually it reads that the Kingdom of the world is become of our Lord and His Christ… this is a literal change of possession. What was done in a Spiritual sense from the Cross is completed in the Physical sense. We will see it with the Lady who give birth and the “baby” is caught up. Now after all the dust of the birth and the catching away of the Baby and the Dragon who she faced off with during her great Labor and Delivery not only losing the baby but being defeated in combat with Archangel Michael and his “warrior group” and the Dragon trying to kill the woman, which fails spectacularly, as the dust settles and a furious Dragon finds himself deposed as Prince of the Power of the Air…. There is another statement. It reads: “Rev 12:10 And I heard a great voice in heaven, saying, Now is come the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, who accuseth them before our God day and night.
Rev 12:11 And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb, and because of the word of their testimony; and they loved not their life even unto death.” Now while this is the beginning a massive campaign of persecution against the Believer’s which even makes the Holocaust, or anything more recent to now, pale in comparison, this one line “Now is come the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ” completely matches the function of the prophesy of Daniel: “To finish transgression and make an end of sins” because at this point the reality hits. You see the Kingdom of the world was owned by someone… and changed owners. But now the “Power” and the “Kingdom” of the Godhead is established. You see? Therefore in the first place of the seventy weeks, we find the historical data of the second Temple in the time of Zerubabel being built with Joshua as the new high priest. After that we have this countdown that matches the statue of Nebuchadnezzar in that it is a countdown of kingdoms until Christ. We also know it was a “week /year” ratio. Seventy years of time or Ten Sabbath years of fallow time was determined to let the land rest. That was the prophecy: “Jer 25:11 And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.
Jer 25:12 And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith Jehovah, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans; and I will make it desolate forever.” The Seventy Years unto the time when the Temple was complete did finally happen.

Dan 9:25 Know therefore and discern, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the anointed one, the prince, shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: it shall be built again, with street and moat, even in troublous times.
The Anointed one in this instance is Cyrus whose edict sent Israelis home. But we have this curious split of seven years and sixty two years.

Dan 9:26 And after the threescore and two weeks shall the anointed one be cut off, and shall have nothing: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and even unto the end shall be war; desolations are determined.
Dan 9:27 And he shall make a firm covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease; and upon the wing of abominations shall come one that maketh desolate; and even unto the full end, and that determined, shall wrath be poured out upon the desolate.
Now what you need to understand is that there is a whole chapter dedicated to explaining these weeks. It has to do Alexander the Great and the rise of the Seleucid Ptolemy wars over Israel and the final person of Antiochus Epiphanies and the reaction of those Jews who felt the desolation of the pig’s blood and the idol that was stood up in the Temple and the Maccabean revolt that got the Temple back… even Channukah. But there is a wider circle here… the second Temple was rebuilt and we have Jesus who is “cut off” in the middle of things. We are finally left with three and a half years.
Some interpretations take this as a cycle of Sabbaths or 490 years.  Some say that from the time of the edict of Cyrus to the rise of one Alexander Yannai, the last Hasmonean high priest who in his brutal rule slaughtered some fifty thousand Pharisees, is the time of the last Anointed One or legal high priest. Others add that the finishing up of the iniquity is the rejection of Christ, to which Jesus does allude that there was to be a “filling up” of the sins of the people, Mat 23:32 “Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.”, though I find this to be quoted out of its context of a real punishing tirade against the leaders of the Temple of His day. Yet there is a sense that this rejection factors into this prophecy.

Assuming that nothing in Scripture is “up for grabs” then I have some grave misgivings about a lot of the interpretations of these texts. You see Scripture MUST be the Source of its own interpretation as wisdom is given by the Holy Spirit. In light of this I will confess to looking online in Wikipedia to find out just what was being said. Jewish thought regards the seventy years as seventy Sabbath cycles. Thus departing from the Seventy year/week idea we look at the possibility at of actual time lapse. First off one must understand that the Old and New Testament fit together as hand in glove or as a right and left glove (matched set). They must be regarded TOGETHER. So to understand the seventy week prophecy which in all fairness if you truly look at it, seventy years is NOT how long the Babylonian Diaspora was, one must look at the starting point and understand the Torah or Mosaic Law. This is the law of Sabbath (Shabbat) Lev 25:2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye come into the land which I give you, then shall the land keep a sabbath unto Jehovah.
Lev 25:3 Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and gather in the fruits thereof;
Lev 25:4 but in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a sabbath unto Jehovah: thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard.
Lev 25:5 That which groweth of itself of thy harvest thou shalt not reap, and the grapes of thy undressed vine thou shalt not gather: it shall be a year of solemn rest for the land.
The “bumper crop” of the previous year would last and the land would “go to seed” for one year. I won’t pretend to understand how the complexities of a farming system and cattle management if the land is to truly “lay fallow”, but the point is the observance of a marked out year. Now then, the math goes something like this: Seventy times seven equaling four hundred and ninety years, will be marked out and the land will enjoy its Shabbats.
However this is the prophecy as it is recorded in 2 Chronicles. 2Ch 36:21 to fulfil the word of Jehovah by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its sabbaths: for as long as it lay desolate it kept sabbath, to fulfil threescore and ten years. The words here are precise. Seventy literal years of fallow time for the land, not seventy cycles of years. But Daniel records….Dan 9:24 Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, 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.
Something has to give…   More in the next section.