DRAMA OF THE AGES !
17. DANIEL'S MYSTERIOUS TIMELINE
The years had rolled by; years filled mostly with a sad tale of apostasy and rebellion against God. Israel was now in captivity this time in the kingdom of Babylon. We may well ask, why does God allow His people to be oppressed by heathen nations when they have themselves turned from God and followed heathen ways? It served two main purposes, it showed Israel the vanity of the heathen worship and it brought the heathen in contact with at least some who knew God's truth and could share it. God always has a few who do not follow popular ways and forsake Him.
One of these was Daniel, taken at a young age to the Great city of Babylon, he served in the court of the king. Because of his faithfulness, God chose to use him as a prophet even there in Babylon. God sent a dream to the King and no one could interpret it but Daniel, later God gave many prophetic dreams to Daniel himself. Many of the prophets were primarily concerned with pleading with the people of the time to return to God, but Daniel was give long range prophecies, leading to our time and beyond.
One of the prophecies is called 'The Mystery of God'. Finally after eons had past with people looking by faith to the future Savior, it pinpointed when the work of the Messiah and the Great Sacrifice was going to be made.
We will put a chart here of this prophecy
18. IN THE FULLNESS OF TIME
We find the Savior's ministry pinpointed in this amazing prophecy of Daniel 8-10. This serves to show it is indeed a true prophecy. But there is more to it- It extends down to modern time and ends in the year of 1844.
In the time before the coming of Jesus, Satan worked very hard to make sure that the people of Judah would not recognize their Savior when he came. But here was this clear prophecy- what was he to do? He got the Jews interested in Greek philosophy and urged them to combine the 'better parts' of this spiritualistic stuff with their own religion. In addition to this, he got many to prize and cling to the pagan numerology and the Babylonian mysteries brought back from Babylon. By mixing this together and calling it 'higher education' soon the Jews did not even understand their own scriptures!
Those in Judah at the time of Jesus who were considered the best educated, had studied in Alexandria, the capital of Greek philosophy. They thought they were wise but became fools- The same thing has happened today!
At the very time foretold, AD 27, Jesus was baptized of John in the river Jordan. The Holy Spirit descended on Him and thus he became the 'Messiah' which is the 'Anointed One'.
19. THE PRICE PAID
The final week of years, of the time allotted to the Jews began in AD 70 and ended in AD 34 with the Gospel going out to the Gentiles. But exactly in the middle of the week 3 1/2 days/years Jesus died on the cross.
Right when the time to slay the Passover Lamb came about, Jesus cried "It is finished" and died. The lamb that was about to be killed escaped and ran from the temple. The curtain that hid the Most Holy Place from view was torn from top to bottom! The shadow pictures had come true- no more would the ceremonial law have any use except to study and see how prophecy was fulfilled.
It was God's signal to the Jews that the Messiah had fulfilled the ceremonies and no more would they be of any use to practice. But the Jews did not head, they refused as a body, their Messiah, however many individuals accepted and became the foundation of the Christian Church.
The rejection of the Messiah brought on the events foretold by Jesus in the 24th of Matthew, the temple was destroyed in AD 70 and Jerusalem was under foreign control and still is.
John was the disciple that lived longest, he died in his late nineties. In his old age, Rome tried to boil him in oil but God protected him and they could not. So they exiled him to the penal colony on Patmos. There the Lord appeared to him in a vision and gave him the amazing prophecies of the Revelation.
This book is the companion book of Daniel and the prophesies parallel each other. Revelation carries on where Daniel leaves off. Revelation can be understood by those who study Daniel and also the old Sanctuary services. There again we see the prophecy that for 1260 prophetic years, the true faith would suffer terrible persecution at the hands of an apostate church. The events of history are spelled out in Revelation from John's time to the end, just as the events of history from Daniel's time were spelt out in Daniel. The overlap enough to fit them together.
Truly, God is wonderful to spell out the future so clearly for us! This is one of the ways He encourages us to have faith and believe Him.
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