Monday, April 28, 2008

The Temple: The Issue of the 70th Week

According to my understanding of end-times, there are two streams of redemptive history, dealing with two distinct groups of people, flowing toward a common end. In saying this, let me be clear: there is only one way to be saved, and only one name given under heaven by which men must be saved. Whether Jew or Gentile, apart from Christ, there is no hope-- not yesterday, not today, not forever. Yet, God is dealing with each of these groups distinctively in time. How? 

When the Jews rejected their own Messiah, Paul tells us that God shifted his redemptive focus from them to the Gentiles. Granted, there have been quite a number of Jews who have put faith in Jesus Christ through the ages since he was rejected by the bulk of them, but by and large, they are hardened to even the consideration of him. The banner over them as a people has been
Ichabod: the glory has departed.

Does that mean that God has washed his hands of them? No, God never fails to keep a promise and he won't fail to keep those made to Abraham and Daniel. So, there are seven years of redemptive work yet to unfold in which will bring God's work with the seed of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to a glorious end. Ever true to his word, God will not forget them nor stop short of his promise to them.

So when will the redemptive shift from Gentile stream to Jewish stream take place?

It will be marked by the full number of the Gentiles coming in (the Rapture) and will start Daniel's 70th week, but according to the scriptures, no one knows, and no one could ever know! There are no dependable, precise, biblically given signs that will clearly specify when this moment is about to occur, and so his return will always remain unexpected until it's upon us. We can gather that we are getting closer, but we will never be able to pinpoint it, not even in relation to other events.

Now Christians have thought that the end was at the door since Jesus ascended to heaven, yet here we still are. The bridegroom has stretched the concept of delay long past what anyone could have envisioned. It will occur when it occurs-- all the faithful can do is be ready at any moment. Trusting Jesus, obeying him, longing for his appearing is sufficient to accomplish that. 

There is one thing, however, that does mark the beginning of 70th week itself.

In putting forth the prophecy of the 70 weeks, the issuing of a decree to rebuild Jerusalem (ostensibly, to protect the Temple) was paramount. The Temple was front and center throughout the first 69 weeks, it will be central during the 70th week. This, despite its complete destruction in 70 AD. Since the Temple features so prominently in the prophecy of the 70 weeks, it seems to me, that in shifting the redemptive focus from the Gentiles back to the Jews, the Temple in Jerusalem will have to be the central issue again.

So, when the Antichrist signs the covenant that marks start of the 70th week, it will have a provision which allows the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem.


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

hi...
i've been trying to convince my friends that Creation is real. they believe that Evolution is true because it is backed up by science, and that Creation has no proof but the bible (which, of course, they don't believe in either). i said that things in history back up the bible, and when they asked to name some, i mentioned the possible Noah's ark boat being found in Turkey, that n event mentioned in Isaiah 20 about King Sargon capture of Ashdod was recorded on the palace walls, among other things. They responded with things such as "Ancient trivia and old boats do not a compelling argument for the supernatural make"...."and nothing you have said proves that the bible is 100% true.", etc.
Do you think you can help me? i don't want to use too much reference from the Bible, because they obviously do not believe in the Bible. I really don't know how to respond to it so...help please?

SLW said...

Anon,
I would ask them what exactly they mean by backed up by science. Evolutionary science has no answer for how life started, no answer for how it began replicating, no answers for how irreducibly complex systems developed, no answers for the development of symbiotic relationships between organisms or within ecosystems, no answers as to why life is not spontaneously developing in the environment it thrives in and reproduces in, and no explanation for the existence of the Christian church. The Bible has an explanation for all of it. Their faith in science is based on nothing, our faith in God is based on the historical fact, witnessed, of one rising from the dead. In the choice between their grasping at the wind and the ability of a sinner to grasp on to the hand of someone who beat death, I see no contest.