70 Weeks Prophecy (Part 11) - Dan 9:27 (Part B)

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B. "...and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,..." i. Oblation n. - The action of offering; an offering. 1. The action of solemnly offering or presenting something to God or to a deity; the offering of a sacrifice, of thanksgiving, or of religious devotion. a. The sacrifice and the oblation (offering) were ordinances of the law of Moses called the First or Old Testament/Covenant (Heb 9:1-10). b. Christ by His death on the cross took the ordinances of Moses’ law out of the way thus putting an end to the sacrifice and the oblation (Eph 2:14-16; Col 2:14). ii. After 3.5 years of ministry, Jesus Christ offered Himself as the sin offering to God for His people (Isa 53:10; Heb 9:14; Heb 10:10). a. The offerings that were made year by year continually could never take away sins (Heb 10:1-4). b. God was not satisfied with those sacrifices and offerings which is why He send Christ to offer Himself for the final and all sufficient sacrifice for sin (Heb 10:5-10). c. When Christ offered Himself once (Heb 9:28), He purged our sins (Heb 1:3) and took away the need for the sacrifices in the temple (Heb 9:26). d. Christ made "one sacrifice for sins for ever" (Heb 10:12), and "by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified" (Heb 10:14) which means that after His all sufficient sacrifice was made, the sacrifices and oblations (offerings) of the law of Moses ceased. e. Christ’s one sufficient sacrifice has secured the eternal remission of all the sins of God’s elect thereby rendering all Mosaic sacrifices for sin no longer necessary (Heb 10:9-18). f. The veil of the temple was rent in twain from top to bottom signifying that the temple sacrifices were finished (Mat 27:51 c/w Heb 9:7). g. Although the temple with its sacrifice and oblation continued for some 40 more years, the sacrifice and oblation ceased as far as being a service to God. iii. Christ’s death by which the sacrifice and oblation ceased took place in the midst of the week. a. As has been established, Christ’s baptism marks the beginning of the 70th week. b. From the baptism of Christ to His crucifixion was a period of 3½ years (see previous notes) so that Christ was crucified in the midst of the 70th week. iv. The dispensationalists claim that this clause teaches that the antichrist will break the covenant that he made with Israel after 3.5 years which they say is the abomination of desolation. a. This is false for several reasons which have previously been proven. (i) Firstly, v.27 is referring to the Messiah, not the antichrist. (ii) Secondly, it was Christ through His ultimate sacrifice for sins that caused the Jewish sacrifices and oblations to cease. (iii) Thirdly, it is absurd to separate the 69th and 70th weeks by thousands of years. (iv) Fourthly, there is no mention in the Bible of the antichrist making a covenant with Israel, let alone breaking one. (v) Fifthly, the abomination of desolation was identified by Jesus Christ as Jerusalem being surrounded by the Roman armies in 66-70AD, not some future antichrist breaking a nonexistent covenant with Israel. C. "... and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate,..." i. Jesus referred to this as the "abomination of desolation" (Mat 24:15). ii. The "abomination of desolation" was the Roman armies surrounding and destroying Jerusalem in 66-70 AD (Mat 24:15-16 c/w Luk 21:20-21). iii. The pronoun he in this verse is the same he that confirmed the covenant with many, even the Lord Jesus Christ. a. Abominations were spread over Jerusalem and for this cause the Lord made it desolate. (i) Abominations result in desolation (Eze 33:28-29). (ii) Jesus condemned the Pharisees for their abominations (Luk 16:14-15; Mat 23). (iii) Abomination n. - 1. The feeling or state of mind of combined disgust and hatred; abhorrence, detestation, loathing. 3. An action, or custom, abominable, detestable, odious, shamefully wicked or vile; a degrading vice. (iv) Overspread v. - 1. trans. To spread (something) over or upon something else; to diffuse over a place or region. iv. Jerusalem was full of wickedness (overspreading of abominations) by 66 AD when the Romans arrived to besiege the city. a. The Jewish historian Josephus who lived in the 1st century AD and was a witness of the destruction of Jerusalem said the following concerning the Jews who inhabited it. b. "Josephus summed it up in these words: “I shall therefore speak my mind here at once briefly: — that neither did any other city suffer such miseries, nor did any age ever breed a generation more fruitful in wickedness than this was, from the beginning of the world.” (V, 10:5)." (Ralph Woodrow, Great Prophecies of the Bible, 5th printing 1984, pages 75-76) v. Because of the overspreading of abominations Jesus made it desolate using the Romans. a. Desolate ppl. - A. as pa. pple. Brought to desolation, laid waste: see desolate v. b. Desolate v. - 1. trans. To deprive of inhabitants, depopulate. (This sense and 2 are often combined in use.) 2. To devastate, lay waste; to make bare, barren, or unfit for habitation. c. Jesus destroyed Jerusalem (Act 6:14). (i) He is King of kings (1Ti 6:15) and head of principalities and powers (Col 2:10). (ii) The Roman armies were the sword in His hand which He used to destroy the Jews and Jerusalem (Psa 17:13-14). (iii) God sent in His armies and destroyed the Jews and burned up Jerusalem (Mat 22:7). d. Jesus said to the Jews that their house was left unto them desolate (Mat 23:38). e. Jesus described the destruction of Jerusalem as desolation (Luk 21:20). D. "...even until the consummation,..." i. Consummation n. - 1. The action of completing, accomplishing, fulfilling, finishing, or ending. ii. The final overthrow and destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD was the end of the war and the end thereof, that is, the end of the city (verse 26). Hence it was the consummation. a. The war leading up to the consummation lasted 3½ years (66-70 A.D.) thus corresponding to the second half of the 70th week of Daniel’s vision. b. This compares with Dan 12:6-7 which teaches that it would be "a time, times, and an half" when these things would be finished. (i) A time (1 year), times (2 years), and an half (½ year) total 3½ years. (ii) At the end of the war of 3½ years the Jews were scattered and all the preceding things prophesied of Jerusalem were finished, which was the consummation. iii. The desolation of Jerusalem was complete. a. All of the inhabitants were either killed or carried away captive into all nations (Luk 21:24). b. Josephus recorded that the destruction of Jerusalem in 70AD was indeed complete. c. "There were 97,000 that were sold as slaves and 1,100,000 people that perished during the fierce tribulation of those days. “Now the number of those that were carried captive during the whole war was collected to be ninety-seven thousand; as was the number of those that perished in the whole siege, eleven hundred thousand, the greater part of whom were indeed of the same nation, but not belonging to the city itself; for they were come up from all the country to the feast of unleavened bread, and were on a sudden shut up by an army . . . the multitude of those that therein perished exceeded all the destruction that either men or God ever brought upon the world.” (VI, 9:3, 4)." (Ralph Woodrow, Great Prophecies of the Bible, 5th printing 1984, pages 75) E. "...and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate." i. God's wrath against Israel that had been determined hundreds of years prior in Daniel's prophecy was poured upon the desolate people and city. ii. Desolate pa. pple. A. Brought to desolation, laid waste iii. Christ had pronounced Jerusalem desolate in Mat 23:38. iv. Jerusalem was the desolate in that it was brought to desolations by the war with the Romans. v. God's wrath is often described in the Bible as being "poured" upon people and places (2Ch 34:21, 25; Psa 79:6; Jer 7:20; Hos 5:10; Rev 16:1). vi. God poured out his fury and anger against Jerusalem when He sent the Babylonians to destroy it and make it desolate because of the abominable things they did (Jer 44:2-6). a. God did a similar thing in 70AD but only more severely "even until the consummation." b. The wrath poured upon that desolate place was determined 490 years in advance.