12/25/05 - “The Longest Time Prophecy in the Bible – Part 3” 39L
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Hello!  This is Richard Vaughn

Today’s subject – “The Longest Time Prophecy in the Bible – Part 3”

Before we begin today’s program, shall we reverently seek God’s presence. Heavenly Father we ask for divine guidance as we open the word and continue to study the longest time prophecy in the Bible.  In Jesus name Amen.
I continue to keep my pledge to lift up my voice like a trumpet and to show God’s people where they are going against God’s Will.

Today, we're continuing to study the longest time prophecy in the Bible.  We will continue now where we left off.
So far we know that Jesus is our high priest, and that He's in the sanctuary in heaven. We realize there must be a cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary just like there was a cleansing of the earthly sanctuary.  
	Christ must cleanse the heavenly sanctuary of the record of sin, because there has to be a work of judgment in heaven just like there was a work of judgment here on earth. 
	The earthly sanctuary was destroyed in 70 A.D. So this sanctuary that we should be looking at, and that would affect us in the time of the end, would be the heavenly sanctuary.   
	The counterfeit antichrist system, that we know to be the Papal Church from our study, has a counterfeit religious system, an earthly priesthood, earthly vessels, earthly images, blasphemous claims of forgiveness, drawing people's attention to an earthly system of intercession for sin.  
 	Instead of looking by faith toward heaven to our great High Priest in the heavenly temple or sanctuary, people's attention is being misdirected from the all-important work of Christ.   Where are most Christians being told to look today?  They're being told to watch for the rebuilding of the earthly Jewish Temple in Jerusalem!  Totally looking at the wrong temple!
 	Questions today are: When did Jesus pass into the Most Holy Place, to begin that last day work of judgment?  When did Jesus begin to open those books of record?  When did the judgment begin, and when could it be said, that "the hour of his judgment is come"?  
	In God's great prophetic time clock, He ordained an hour in which He would begin to cleanse the heavenly sanctuary of sin and do the work of judgment, so He can "appear the second time, (at the second coming) without sin unto salvation."  
	And that brings us to the book of Daniel, into the Bible's longest time prophecy.  
Daniel is receiving another vision from the angel, Gabriel.  And as he's receiving this vision he's learning about what's going to happen in the future, and then Gabriel gives him the longest time prophecy in the Bible. 
	Daniel was shown troubling scenes, in a sweeping vision panorama. The prophet Daniel saw this counterfeit system corrupting God's people. Daniel saw that things would eventually turn around. God says the sanctuary is going to be cleansed, which is another way of saying that a work of judgment will begin! 
 	It would be wondered, "How long is the antichrist going to get away with this? How long is he going to have this power until he's going to be stopped and judged?  How long before things turn around and God’s truth triumphs?" 
	Daniel 8:14    
Then came the resounding but strange answer.  "And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed." 
	That's the longest time prophecy in the Bible and it's loaded with meaning.  Here we have the only prophecy in the entire Bible that will specifically give us a date that marks the beginning of the final judgment and the cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary of the record of sin.  It's 2300 days, 
	(and what is a day symbolic of in Bible prophecy?)  A year.  
	So the angel said after 2300 days or years that's when the sanctuary will be cleansed.   That's going to take you to the time of the end. Now the time of the end does not mean the "End of time". It is a starting point where the countdown begins until the probation of man will end. In Noah’s time, the time of the end began 120 years before the flood. But when the angel sealed the door on the ark, for those living on the outside, it was the end of time.
	We know that we're living in the time of the end today.   So we can expect this prophecy to be fulfilled sometime after the dark ages, in more modern times. Daniel goes on in the next verse and says more.  
	Verse 17-19, "So he came near where I stood: and when he came, I was afraid, and fell upon my face:  but he said unto me, Understand, O son of man: for at the time of the end  shall be the vision.  Now as he was speaking with me, I was in a deep sleep on my face toward the ground; but he touched me, and set me upright.  And he said, Behold, I will make thee know what shall be in the last end of the indignation:  for at the time appointed the end shall be." 
Again, the angel reaffirmed it.  He said there's going to be a specific appointed time that marks when the sanctuary is cleansed after 2300 years. 
	Daniel 8:26  "And the vision of the evening and the morning which was told is true: wherefore shut thou up the vision; for it shall be for many days."
In other words, a long time as the vision is going to stretch down to the time of the end.  (Not 2300 literal days which is only 6 years 140 days!)   
  	Daniel 8:27 "And I Daniel fainted, and was sick certain days; afterward I rose up, and did the king's business; and I was astonished at the vision, but none understood it." 
 Daniel couldn't comprehend it.  He said, "Lord what does this mean? Well when Daniel passed out and fainted, the angel Gabriel, left him.  
	As we begin in chapter 9, time has passed, and Daniel begins to pray. 
Daniel  9:4-6; 11-13
 	As he's praying, the angel Gabriel comes back, to pick up the interpretation of the vision where he left off.  
Daniel 9:21.  "Yea, whiles I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation."
	Vs.22 "And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding." 
What's Daniel been praying about? The condition of Israel. He's concerned because he's afraid they're going to receive all of Moses' curses. They've already received some and they've still not repented.
	Vs.23, "At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth, and I am come to shew thee; for thou art greatly beloved:  therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision."
	The angel says, "Consider the vision." The vision of the 2300 years that was given in Daniel 8, but he fainted. Gabriel comes back a number of years later, in answer to Daniel's prayer to help him understand that vision.  
	Today we're going to go through this prophecy of 2300 days until the sanctuary is cleansed, and to make it easier, the angel divides the prophecy in two parts for us. 
Daniel 9:24.
He says, "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." 
Let's read that verse slowly and understand what it means,
"Seventy weeks (prophetic weeks), are determined, (The Hebrew word determined literally means "cut off" like an amputation) . . . 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, (looking forward to Jesus' 1st coming), and to seal up the vision and prophecy…”
We need to remember that time in prophecy is not literal. A prophetic day equals a literal year. Numbers 14:34 and Ezekiel 4:6
So obviously this time period has to be symbolic. The angel deals with the first 70 weeks of the prophecy of 2300 days.  And so we'll deal with this first 70 weeks also. 
	Daniel 9:24, "Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city."  Here's the key question:  Who is "thy people" referring to? The Jewish nation.  Daniel was a captive Jew in Babylon, and so he says it's a specific prophecy for "thy people" or the Jewish nation. 
	God made a covenant with the Hebrew people, to make them His own.  The covenant was originally made to all of the Hebrews—all twelve tribes.  But as time went on, ten of the twelve tribes proved unfaithful and they were cut off even before this.  Then there were left two tribes, the tribe of Benjamin, and the tribe of Judah.  Benjamin became absorbed into Judah, and so all we had was the tribe of Judah. Daniel was of the tribe of Judah.   
	Then it says "thy holy city."  What city is the holy city?  Jerusalem.  This is a prophecy specifically for the Jews and for the city of Jerusalem.  
God had promised Israel blessings if they would obey and curses if they would not,  (Lev.26:31) God said He would scatter Israel and lay their cities waste.  Daniel in his prayer in chapter nine recognizes the fulfillment of those words, and yet in spite of their captivity, the Jews had not repented.  
	So God's promise was inherited by the tribe of Judah. God had promised to make them His witnesses on Earth. But a covenant is between two people, or two parties.  Whenever God makes a covenant with people, it is made on condition that we fulfill our part, so that He can fulfill His part. So God's covenant to bless His people is on condition.  When God calls to bless a nation or a people, such as Israel, that is always a conditional promise that those people fulfill their part of the bargain to be obedient.  (Just as his agreement with Adam and Eve was conditional)
So the first part of this prophecy, the 70 weeks or 490 years applied to the Jews.

Time is up for this week, so be tuned in next week as we present “The Longest Time Prophecy in the Bible – Part 4”

Until next week, Jesus said in John 5:39, “Search the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me”. Even so, Come Lord Jesus.