Seventy Weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to...“atone for sin (purpose #3).”
The term “make reconciliation [or
atone]” for “sin” may not be the best translations. Didn’t Jesus make
reconciliation and atone for sin when he died on the cross and rose from the
dead in the 69th week? Yet virtually every translation
suggests that the purposes of the 70-weeks are for simple atonement.
This cannot be the case.
Jesus said the atonement was finished, the price for sin was totally paid while
he hung on the cross. He said so when he cried out, tetelestai! So, the atonement
Jesus made on the cross, cannot be what purpose number three is about.
The editors of the Hebrew Interlinear
(Scripture for All) included an optional literal translation for purpose number
three, that of making a proprietary shelter for depravity. Our Creator
holds an exclusive right [a proprietary claim] to the physical descendants of Abraham
through Isaac and Jacob. Israel is the only physical people and
geographical nation ever created and claimed by God as his own proprietary
possession.
“But now thus saith the LORD that
created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have
redeemed thee. I have called thee by thy name; thou art MINE.” In this
verse, God makes no distinction between the divided kingdoms of Judah and
Israel. He calls them both as one nation, the nation of Israel [Jacob], Isaiah
43:1.
It did not take Christ 490
years to make reconciliation for iniquity. He did that in a matter of hours
when he died on the cross. The reconciliation brought about by the death of
Jesus on the cross is available right now, to all (both Jew and Gentile) and
has been ever since his resurrection (John 19:30, Colossians 1:20-22). Yet, in
Daniel 9:24, the prophet is told it would take 490 years [70 weeks of
years] to complete the six purposes listed in that verse—one of which was to
make a proprietary shelter for the depravity of Daniel’s people, the Jews, and
Daniel’s city, Jerusalem.
What depravity?
The proprietary shelter referred
to in this passage is a uniquely Jewish sheltering from utter racial
annihilation. Humanity in general (Jew and gentile alike) has been given the
privilege of being able to draw near to God, through Christ, at any time. No
individual needs to wait until Daniel’s Seventy Weeks are completed before that
can happen (Colossians 1:20-22).
But God has a special purpose for
reconciling Jacob to himself, as a nation, in the latter time.
God, the nation of Israel’s maker
and husband, will prohibit and bring to a permanent end, the consequences of
Israel’s rejection of his Christ. He will open the eyes of his adulterous wife
(see purpose one). She will never again be unfaithful, and he will disannul her
Covenant with Death and Agreement with Sheol (Isaiah 28:18, 43:15,
54:5-7, 62:4).
Talk about a thriller/suspense
story! God predetermined that the existence of planet earth hinges on the
survival of a single nation, the nation of Israel. And then he allows Israel to
apparently seal her doom [along with that of the entire planet] by denouncing
him through rejection of his only begotten Son, Jesus. But his plan didn’t stop
there. Knowing his own power, and knowing everything in advance, Israel’s Maker,
inserted a loophole into the Law of Moses that would make it possible to save
the planet by rescuing his wayward wife (Isaiah 54:5, Numbers 30:8-9), because
God has a proprietary claim on this nation.
The Bible paints a beautiful
picture of Israel’s national reconciliation with her national Creator
in Zechariah 3:1-5 (we must remember that the purposes of the 70-weeks have to
do only with Daniel’s people and Daniel’s city). In the book of
Zechariah, Joshua, who was a high priest of Israel during the Prophet
Zechariah’s life, is pictured standing before the angel of the Lord clothed
with filthy garments. In this passage, Joshua symbolically represents the
nation he is high priest of at the time—Israel. This scene is prophetic and is
still future.
The Lord said, “Take away the
filthy garments...I have caused your depravity to pass from you (refer to the
rebellion of purpose one) and to clothe you with a robe of state.” God gives
the nation of Israel a robe of state indicating Israel’s authority as head nation during
the millennium (Isaiah 2:3, Deut 28:13).
…for out of Zion shall go forth the
law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
And the LORD shall make thee the head
and not the tail and thou shalt be above only and thou shalt not be beneath…
In Zechariah, this prophetic scene
with Joshua, happens after the Resurrection and Harpazo (see
studies of purposes one and two). This is a national reconciliation for
reasons of state, not a personal/individual one (although many Israelis will be
personally converted during the 70th week). Israel is the only
nation ever personally created by God. He will see that nation reconciled to
him as a political theocracy during the earthly reign of the Prince of Peace. As of this writing, Israel’s national reconciliation
back to her Messiah, who is the True God, is still future (Ezekiel 37:16-19,
Zechariah 3:1, Haggai 2:2, John 5:43, Isaiah 28:14-18, 43:15, Daniel 9:24, 1 John
5:20).
Summary
All six purposes of the 70
weeks will conclude and be fulfilled during the 70th week.
Purpose One: The number
one purpose of the seventy weeks has to do with prohibiting and bringing to an
end the process of annihilating the entire race of Israel and all humanity.
This process began when the nation rebelled against their God by
rejecting his Messiah, Jesus, at his crucifixion. The process will be greatly
accelerated when the rebellion is taken to the next level, when Israel accepts
an imposter as Messiah. This will happen when Israel signs the seven-year
Covenant with Death and Agreement with Sheol. Jesus said unless the progression
of that rebellion is restricted and prohibited, there would be no fulfillment
of the prophecies God made for his people Israel, his Kingdom, and the New
Heavens and the New Earth.
Purpose Two: Brings to a
permanent end ignorant denial of the true Messiah by the practice of
sacrifice and sin offerings [denying the Lamb of God who died once
for all] during the first half of the Antichrist’s reign.
Father forgive them; they know
not what they do….
Purpose Three: “…make a proprietary
shelter for depravity.”
Israel will be sheltered during
the horrific time of Jacob’s trouble by God’s proprietary claim on the nation.
This is a geo-political proprietary claim. A seal of protection will be placed
on members of ten of the tribes, but on the two without it, there will still be
survivors (more on that when we get to the study of the 70th week).
The enemy of our souls will not be permitted to annihilate all humanity by
wiping out God’s proprietary possession, the physical nation of Israel. They
will be sheltered when God stakes his proprietary claim on them, and at the end
given robes of state identifying them as his own and becoming the head nation
during the reign of the Prince of Peace.
Proceed to Purposes FOUR & FIVE Jocelyn Andersen: The Six Purposes of Daniel's 70 Weeks: Purposes 4-5
Watch the Six Purposes of Daniel's 70-weeks video series.
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