Collision With Prophecy

Collision With Prophecy #6:
The Longest Time Prophecy in the Bible

We promised in our last meeting, Yom Kippur and End-Time Prophecy, to share with you the longest time prophecy in the Bible. But let me point out again that the reason why we are sharing this explanation with you, is that understanding the longest time prophecy in the Bible helps us to understand the mark of the beast. Tonight's meeting gives critical information helping to rightly divide the Word in regard to the mark of the beast.

The "end" cannot come until this longest time prophecy has come to fruition. Also, this time prophecy has to do with the final and ultimate removal of sin from God's people--an event that only becomes complete when the sanctuary has been cleansed. Tonight we'll see just when this is.

Open your Bibles to the book of Daniel, and turn to chapter eight. Here is where we find the longest time prophecy in the Bible. Consider Daniel 8:13-14:

Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that certain saint which spake, How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot? And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.

Now what context do these verses appear in? The book of Daniel itself covers the sweep of time from his day to the close of the conflict between good and evil. But of special interest to us, the experience of the Hebrew people in captivity functions as a foil paralleling the experience of God's people in the end of time. Daniel's chapter eight breaks down into three sections: a description of the ram vision and progression of earthly powers (vv. 1-12); then an on-purpose listen-in to the conversation of two angels in heaven (vv. 13-14); Gabriel interpreting the vision next (15-26); and finally, Daniel's weakness and failure to understand it (v. 27).

Don't forget what we learned when we studied God's Day Planner in our second message. We found that the rock hits the statue in the spiritual phase of Rome. Daniel 8:1-10 have dealt with the sequential rise of Medo-Persia after Babylon, and then Greece. But these powers are superceded by the rise of pagan Rome to world empire. From Rome issues a spiritual power that attacks the "Prince of the host" and takes away the "daily," casting truth down to the ground (Daniel 8:12). The vision makes a transition from a merely horizontal and earthly perspective, nationalistic in nature, to a vertical and spiritual perspective, an attack upon "the Prince of princes" (Daniel 8:25), by a religio-political system speaking "great words against the Most High" (Daniel 7:25). Clearly, we here have a power rising from the earth and exalting itself to heaven; a power with such impact that it attempts to take away "the daily."

Now think back to our last meeting . . . what was "the daily?" Remember, the daily was the special sacrifice offered for all Israel by the priests, first in the morning and then in the evening. That sacrifice was burned on a slow fire, continually kept aflame. Together, these offerings represented the continued application of Christ's sacrifice to those receiving Him as their personal Savior. They assured that a temporary sacrifice always remained, protecting the sinner while he ventured to bring his sacrificial animal to the sanctuary. At the morning and evening sacrifices the officiating priest laid his hands on the animal, laying the sins of the nation upon it. The daily was always burning, every day of the year, even upon the Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. It was a most important sacrifice.

To take away the daily is to endeavor to break the plan of salvation—to remove the benefits of the sacrifice of Christ from His needy and spiritually bankrupt people. It is to attempt to intervene with a counterfeit salvation scheme. It is to seek the eternal genocide of God's people.

We need to understand one last concept before we interpret the two key prophecies we are dealing with today: an important principle of prophetic interpretation. In the apocalyptic Bible prophecies, a day equals a year. Seventy-weeks becomes 490 years; 2300 days becomes 2300 years. Turn to Ezekiel 4:4-6 with me and let's watch this principle in action.

Lie thou also upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it: according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon it thou shalt bear their iniquity. For I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days: so shalt thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: I have appointed thee each day for a year.

Now we don't have time here to go into the particular prophetic occasion that God has involved Ezekiel in, but we ought to notice that there is a linkage here between the days that he is commanded to lie on his side and the number of years allotted. God said "I have appointed thee each day for a year." A day stood for a year of prophetic judgment.

Look also at Numbers 14:33-34. The spies Moses had sent to scout-out the promised land returned and all but two of them gave a cowardly and faithless report. The whole camp turned against the two loyal spies, Caleb and Joshua. In judgment for their faithlessness, consider what God decreed:

And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcasses be wasted in the wilderness. After the number of the days in which ye searched out the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know My breach of promise.

Here, God told Israel that they would be punished—forced to wander in the wilderness for forty years, a year for every day of the spies' mission and their faithless reaction to Him. The prophet Moses writes the same formula we saw in Ezekiel: "a day for a year."

Now we want to apply this principle in harmony with the Bible, rightly dividing the Word. We need to realize that the day-for-a-year principle isn't meant to be used everywhere in the Bible. There are two main types of prophecy in Scripture. They've been called "classical" prophecy, and "apocalyptic" prophecy. Classic prophecy includes many of the Messianic prophecies, such as that of Jesus' birth in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2), His living a "suffering servant" role (Isaiah 53), etc. Classic prophecy includes the 120 years preceding the Noachin flood, and so on. Classic prophesies occur in literal settings and are meant to be understood literally. So the 120 years before the flood is not 120 x 365, which would have meant that God promised to send a flood in 43,800 years! No. It was a literal 120 years.

In Daniel, Revelation, and portions of a few other Bible books, we find apocalyptic prophecies. Such prophecy appears in highly figurative settings, rich with symbols. This category of prophecy tends also to deal with the long-term resolution of the controversy between good and evil.

The prophetic time periods given in apocalyptic tend to be short ones, like three and a half years, 70 weeks, 2300 days, 10 days, etc. When such time periods are given in richly figurative apocalyptic sections, they are meant to be interpreted by means of the day-for-a-year principle. The day-for-a-year equation is evident in classic prophecy (such as the two samples we've given, Ezekiel 4:6; Numbers 14:34), but is used in apocalyptic prophecy for the expression of longer time-frames.

We'll spend most of our remaining time coming to grips with the 70 week prophecy and the 2300 day prophecy, which are linked together. Turn first with me to Daniel 9:24-27.

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. Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the Prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. And He shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations He shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

Seventy weeks is how many days? It is 70 x 7, and that means 490 days. Using a day-for-a-year, 490 days becomes 490 prophetic years. History shows that we are, in fact, looking at a period of 490 years for this prophecy (as we'll see when we examine its start and waymark points). But notice something else: this period is "determined upon thy people . . . " Remember, this prophecy was given through Daniel, who had been praying in the first part of chapter nine about the Jerusalem sanctuary/temple then in ruins, pleading for its restoration. Daniel's people were the Jews. Four-hundred and ninety years had been determined for them to accomplish certain things on heaven's agenda.

But notice this other point: "determined" here, in the original language literally means "cut-off" (Hebrew: cha-thak). Daniel 9:24 is the only occurrence of this word in the Bible. In post-biblical Hebrew it carries the meaning "to cut," "to cut off," "to determine," "to decree." Thus, context—the impact of the relationship of the adjacent text on the meaning of the word—is important to us in making a sound interpretation. Daniel chapter nine fills in the unexplained portion of the prophecy in Daniel chapter eight: the 2300 day prophecy. The 70 weeks/490 years then, are "cut-off" from the longer 2300 year period of Daniel 8:14. This time segment was singled-out as a decisive period of probation for the Jews, in order to accomplish heaven's will in the six points given in Daniel 9:24 . . .

1. To finish the transgression, and
2. To make an end of sins, and
3. To make reconciliation for iniquity, and
4. To bring in everlasting righteousness, and
5. To seal up vision and prophecy, and
6. To anoint the Most Holy.

God insisted that Israel "finish the transgression," that is, to cease its rebellion against God. It was for this reason that the sanctuary in Jerusalem stood in ruins and that so many Hebrews had been carried off into captivity; it was God's punishment for a persistently rebellious people. Heaven was almost through with Israel as a nation; if she persisted in filling up the cup of her rebellion to fullness, her period of opportunity as a nation would be closed.

He insisted that she "make an end of sins," that is, beyond her attitude and action of rebellion toward God, she must cease from sin altogether. Of course, this is impossible unless she takes hold of God's power to live in obedience. heaven called God's people to come much closer to Him than they ever before had.

The third specification was that she "make reconciliation for iniquity," literally, "make kaphar for sin," (make atonement). When the Lamb of God, the Messiah would come to offer His life in sacrifice; when He would offer Himself up as the ultimate sacrifice, Israel must stand ready to accept Him. Because God never asks us to do what He will not help us to do, we know that it was entirely possible for Jesus to give His life without the Jewish nation having to be guilty. Had the Jews chosen to receive Jesus, He instead would have died at the hands of the Roman government. But it didn't work out that way.

She must "bring in everlasting righteousness." Accepting the Savior and all that He brought to humankind would have empowered the peoples' living righteous lives. Through Christ we are "more than conquerors" (Romans 8:37), He is able to keep us "from falling" (Jude 24), and we can "do all things" through His strengthening (Philippians 4:13). God didn't plan on giving a free-pass for sin, but to save His people from sin altogether.

They must "seal up vision and prophecy." Actually, in Hebrew this reads "vision and prophet." When Jesus came, He explained His mission to the disciples on the Emmaus road. How? "Beginning with Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself" (Luke 24:27). He was the fulfillment of prophecy; His coming was the grand center and the only hope of His people from Genesis 3:15 on out. Jesus' coming sealed up the prophecy—affirmed its validity and accuracy to heaven's waiting ones. Their acceptance or nonacceptance of Jesus would be decisive. He must be accepted as what He was or they could never continue to be who they claimed to be: His people.

Finally, "the Most Holy" must be anointed. Some have thought this had reference to the Messiah, Jesus, anointed in A. D. 27 when the Spirit in the form of a dove descended upon Him at the formal opening of His earthly ministry. But in Scripture, unless this is the one exception, such language always had reference to the sanctuary or articles involved in the sanctuary. The heavenly sanctuary itself must be anointed in the closing week (last seven years) of the 490 year prophecy.

All these specifications must be fulfilled by the close of the 490 years. God's people thus were placed in a most critical position. Their fate as a nation hung in the balance. And there is something here that we mustn't miss.

Something we don't dare miss.

God has a plan for His people. He wishes to restore them, to make them holy—morally improved—different than they are. Recall His words after delivering them from Egypt: "Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto Myself. Now therefore, if ye will obey My voice indeed, and keep My covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto Me above all people: for all the earth is mine: And ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation" (exodus 19:4-6). Think about that!

Sounds quite a bit like what He calls for from us on a personal basis too, doesn't it? There were conditions for Israel ("obey My voice . . . keep My covenant." Exodus 19:5). There were blessings ("ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto Me . . . a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation." Exodus 19:6). Nor is His desire forgotten in the New Testament. Peter repeats it again in 1 Peter 2:9. And in Revelation 14 a people appear on Mount Zion with the Lamb; a people following Jesus whithersoever He goes; a people faultless before His throne (Jude 24); a people who keep His commandments (Revelation 14:12), and in whose mouth is no guile (Revelation 14:5). All the way through the Bible, the goals are the same: to restore the communion between a holy God and a fallen people. And so He asked them, just as we may be sure today He is asking us,

1. To finish our transgression--to stop our rebellion against Him.
2. To make an end of sins—all our sins altogether.
3. To make reconciliation for iniquity, to let Jesus finish making the a tonement for us--to let Jesus inwardly remake us.
4. To bring in everlasting righteousness—into all of our lives, into all of our dreams.
5. To seal up vision and prophecy—to let God finish His work in the world and in us, and bring closure to the sin problem forever. To come to a time when "prophecies shall cease" (1 Corinthians 13:8).
6. To anoint the most Holy—that we would keep our faith centered upon His work for us in the heavenly sanctuary as He transforms us and makes us new creatures.

Let us consider the 490 year prophecy then. Did you notice that in Daniel 9:25 the starting point of the prophecy is given? "Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem, unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks . . ." Here we are given something very important—something that we must have if the prophecies of Daniel eight and nine are to be of any real use to us: a plain means of determining when these periods of prophecy begin.

The 490 years and the 2300 years from which it is cut off begin at "the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem." This fits with the decree of Artaxerxes I found in Ezra 7:1-26, dating to 457 B. C. You may have heard of Sir Isaac Newton. He's known for his contributions to science, but he was also an interested student of Bible prophecy, and considered that 457 B. C. was the correct date for the going forth of this decree. Actually, it has to be 457 B. C. because that's the only way the various decrees fit.

We know that Ezra arrived in Jerusalem in answer to Artaxerxes' decree at a certain time. Consider Ezra 7:1, 6-9:

Now after these things, in the reign of Artaxerxes, King of Persia, Ezra the son of Seraiah, the son of Azariah, the son of Hilkiah . . . This Ezra went up from Babylon . . . and the King granted him all his request, according to the hand of the Lord his God upon him . . . and there went up of the children of Israel . . . unto Jerusalem, in the seventh year of Artaxerxes the king. And he came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was in the seventh year of the king. For upon the first day of the first month began he to go up from Babylon, and on the first day of the fifth month came he to Jerusalem, according to the good hand of his God upon him.

The question is, when was the seventh year of the reign of Artaxerxes I? This is in reference to his seventh regnal (reigning) year. Ancient peoples had different ways of dating the regnal years of their kings. The Egyptian calendar's civil dating system was based on a solar year of 365 days marked by the first morning rising of the star Sothis (known today as Sirius). In contrast, the Babylonian calendar was a lunar-solar calendar. Added to the differences brought about by the variations, there were two ways of dating a king's accession year: either by counting the events before the new year in the first year he reigned as his "first year," or as his "accession" year. This meant that according to one system, what we would count as the first year was counted as his second year. While according to the other system, his second year was counted as his second year.

Besides this, the Jewish system was different from either the Egyptian or the Persian. The book of Nehemiah agrees, but some had thought it contained a scribal error. However, independent extra-biblical confirmation of the accuracy of both Ezra and Nehemiah's chronological passages came in 1956 with the discovery of the Kraeling 6 manuscript. This document (Kraeling 6) demonstrates quite plainly that when all the reckoning is said and done, fall of 457 B. C. was when Ezra's decree went into effect. If anyone would like to discuss the matter of dating 457 B. C., see me after and I'll share some photocopies with you from the definitive work in this area: Sigfried Horn and Linn Woods,' The Chronology of Ezra Seven.

The bottom line is, we know that the first year of Artaxerxes reign aligns with fall of 465 B. C., which the Jewish reckoning counted as 464 B. C. (Since their calendar was offset by approximately six months overlap where they counted the last portion of 465 as 464.) The year 464 minus seven years takes us to 457 B. C. Thus we can firmly date "the going forth of the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem" to the fall of 457 B. C.

From 457 B. C. then, the first period given is one of 49 years (7 x 7 = 49 years), and threescore and two weeks (62 x 7 = 434 years). The Scripture next states that "The street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times." Thus the 490 years begins with a period of 49 years, and then a longer period of 434 years follows. Thus, 457 B. C. to 408 B. C. is the period covered by the 49 year segment. From 408 B. C. down to A. D. 27 covers the 434 year segment (since there is no year "zero" between 1 B. C. and A. D. 1, we must add one, so A. D. 26 becomes A. D. 27). According to the Scripture in Daniel, "the Messiah the prince" would come in at the close of the 434 years segment, which comes in A. D. 27. It was in A. D. 27 that Jesus was baptized by John at the Jordan, and the Holy Spirit descended in the form of a dove anointing Him. While there are various opinions among the scholars, there is very strong support for A . D. 27 as the date for Jesus' baptism.

Look at Daniel 9:26 now: "And after the three score and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for Himself: and the people of the Prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined." The period of Jesus' death cannot come before A. D. 27. That period is located "after" the 434 years segment that begins in A. D. 27. But we can be even more precise by looking at Daniel 9:27: "And He shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week He shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease . . ."

So we see that 69 of the 70 weeks of the prophecy of Daniel 9:24-27 takes us from 457 B. C. out to A. D. 27. From A. D. 27 to A. D. 34 is the time-frame of the last week (483 to 490 years). "In the midst of the week He shall cause sacrifice and oblation to cease," carries us to the spring of A. D. 30, a period of 3.5 years from the fall of A. D. 27. What is this causing of sacrifice and oblation to cease? It can be nothing less than Jesus dying upon the cross. All the sacrifices in the Jewish system were figurative representations ultimately of Christ's death. The period of Jesus' ministry is commonly accepted to have been three or three and a half years. That matches perfectly with this prophecy.

Where does that put us? It shows us that through Bible prophecy, God foretold the exact time that the coming of the Messiah (the "anointed One"), Jesus, would occur! Now we understand much better what Jesus was saying when, in speaking of His ministry, He stated, "the time is at hand" (Mark 1:14, 15; 9:15)!

Jesus came at the last week of the 490 year period to be received by the Jewish nation. But they refused to accept Him as the Messiah. While we can't pin it down definitely, we understand that the stoning of Stephen occurred in A. D. 34, marking the close of the 70 weeks--the 490 years—of probation granted at last to the Jewish nation. The stoning of Stephen marked a decisive rejection of God's covenant with the Hebrew nation, after which He shifted His work to include the gentiles.

What we have in this prophecy then are a series of waymarks in time. Many of the waymarks we can pin down with little difficulty. However, what about the A. D. 34 date? The 457 B. C., A. D. 27, and A. D. 30 dates have clear fulfillments. But when we come to A. D. 34 there is only a likely connection between the stoning of Stephen and the final turning to the gentiles at the close of the 490 years.

Some might say we have "hard" dates for prophetic fulfillment, and "soft" dates. But they are not hard and soft; all the dates are "hard" dates. The solution to this is to realize that many have operated under a misconception about how prophecy works. We've understood that prophecy is to reveal what God will do on earth. But that's where we've been mistaken. Amos 3:7 says, "Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but He revealeth His secret unto His servants the prophets." It doesn't say "Surely the Lord God will do nothing on earth but He revealeth His secret unto His servants the prophets."

We do not see all that is. Earth is not all that is; on the contrary, the Bible-believing person affirms that there is much more than meets the eye--a spiritual realm veiled to the material world. Events happen not only on earth, but also in other domains; even in heaven. The purpose of prophecy is to reveal what God will do, not necessarily what He will do only on earth. Prophetic events are not limited to occurrence in the fallen world that we see, but the movements of heaven also occur in the unfallen and veiled realm hidden from us (which our degenerated faculties cannot sense).

Nor is God obligated by Amos 3:7 to reveal everything that He does. Much of what He does would be incomprehensible to us, or at the least, extraordinarily confusing. He, after all, runs all of infinity. If He showed us everything that He did, we'd be hopelessly swamped by an overwhelming ocean of data. No. God will do nothing that directly has to do with advancing the plan of salvation without revealing it through His prophets. Events take place in heaven as well as on earth. The shift in A. D. 34 from the Hebrews' to the gentile world after over 1000 years of working through the Jewish nation was decisive. They had rejected His son. They had failed as a nation. Now heaven's orientation toward them completely changed. The 490 years was cut-off for them, but they hadn't brought in everlasting righteousness nor fulfilled any of the other conditions that would have sealed up the vision and prophecy. Heaven pointed it out through His prophet in Daniel 9:24-27.

But did He mark this transition by a definite sign in the physical realm of our planet? He didn't. Jesus said, "a wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign," (Matthew 16:4). God gives signs to those receptive to Him. But to the wicked He is often silent, that seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not hear (Matthew 13:13-15. Don't forget, when wicked Herod asked Jesus do to magical parlor tricks, Christ remained silent (Luke 23:8-9). Prophesying is for those who believe (1 Corinthians 14:22).

But you might say, "That's sure an easy way out. Just declare that you don't have to demonstrate complete fulfillment." But don't you forget that determining prophetic fulfillment is quite possible. False fulfillments can be falsified by showing that the asserted fulfillment simply doesn't fit.

As we have seen, every portion of the prophecy of Daniel 9:24-27, as we have seen, was strikingly fulfilled. The beginning of the 70 weeks is quite plainly marked to 457 B. C., expiring in A. D. 34. From this data then, there is no difficulty in finding the close of the 2300 years. Since the 490 years were cut off from the 2300 years, that means that 1810 days/years still remained until the closing of the longest time prophecy in the Bible. So, 1810 years added to A. D. 34 takes us out to the fall of A. D. 1844. And so we recognize that the statement, "then shall the sanctuary be cleansed," in Daniel 8:14, refers to A. D. 1844, just about a century and a half ago!

And so, after all that, the question we must ask as we close, is, what does it all mean? Or more specifically, what does it all mean to us today, who according to Bible prophecy, are living during the time when the sanctuary in heaven is being cleansed?

What happened in the original Yom Kippur, the symbolic Day of Atonement? All sins were cleared between man and fellow-man, and between God and man. This was a necessity, since anyone not dealing with their sin problem was "cut off" from Israel—removed from connection with God and with His people. All the sin that had been transferred out of God's people and into the sanctuary structure was removed from the camp once a year in the Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. And you'll recall that, as we already saw, all of this was a figure or a symbol of God's ultimate, final removal of all sin from His people and the close of the problem of evil. God has always planned to end sin once and for all. Turn with me to Hebrews 9:23-28:

It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us: Nor yet that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others; For then must He often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation.

"It was necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens be purified with these ["the blood of calves and of goats," Hebrews 9:19]; but the heavenly things themselves [the original sanctuary structure in heaven, which "the Lord pitched, and not man," Hebrews 8:2] [be purified] with better sacrifices than these [the better sacrifices being the body and blood of Christ offered up at the cross]."

"For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true [Christ has not gone into the earthly sanctuary which was just a representation of the heavenly sanctuary]; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us [Jesus is now interceding for us as our "merciful and faithful high Priest," (Hebrews 2:17) in the heavenly sanctuary].

"Nor yet that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with the blood of others; for then must He often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself [Jesus, unlike the high priests that preceded Him, only came to make one all-sufficient offering]."

"And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation." Notice: Christ was offered once "to bear the sins of many," and that when He finishes making the atonement—when He finishes His "cleansing of the sanctuary," He returns to earth, appearing to those who are earnestly waiting for Him, "without sin unto salvation." When He returns, He comes back, "without sin." He bore our sins on the cross. He was "wounded for our transgressions" (Isaiah 53:5). But remember, the high Priest makes atonement in the most Holy Place, and then lays his hands upon the live goat. He thus causes him to bear away the accumulated guilt of God's people to a land not inhabited. Leviticus 16:22. The camp is cleansed. The high priest thus ended his service clean from sin, as was the entire camp of Israel. And when Jesus finishes His high priestly intercession for us in heaven, He will come back to the earth in glory, without sin unto salvation.

Jesus is coming back for a cleansed people who have stopped sinning.

Right now Jesus is cleansing the heavenly sanctuary from the accumulated sin of the ages there recorded. When you and I sin, our sins go straight to the sanctuary in heaven and defile it. Right now we are covered by the sacrifice of Jesus' death on the Cross. But He is cleansing His people through and through. His Spirit must be allowed to live inside of us if we would ever cease from sin. Jesus came "to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself," Hebrews 9:26. He is on the verge--the very verge--of returning to earth "In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ," (2 Thessalonians 1:9).

So the question is, will we let Jesus remove sin from our life? Will we daily receive the Holy Spirit and His power to cease from sin? Will we permit Jesus to finish cleansing the sanctuary? Is there enough power in His gospel to keep us from sinning? Are we both, willing and ready, for Jesus to come? If not, then are we ready to be made willing and to be made ready for this blessed event? This planet has waited—nay, this universe has waited—6000 years for the "revealing of the sons of God," (Romans 8:19). Satan has pranced and plotted and insisted that God couldn't produce a people who would cease from sin. And the contest is on. It's been on. It is near it's finish. And we are standing here now on the closing edge of God's work in this world.

Will we let Him do in us what He longs to do in us? Will you? Will I? If this is your earnest desire—if you long to see Jesus come, apart from sin and with salvation, and if you desire to be one of His Lamb-followers, will you just raise your hand right now, and affirm it in the presence of angels and men? Amen!

The longest time prophecy in the Bible tells us that Jesus is working right now to heal us from sin, to remove us from sin, and to clean up the issueof sin, once and for all. He stands ready. Where do we stand? Our next meeting, "A Mark for God's People? directly applies our insights from tonight. What will God's people be like in the end-time? How will their character be different from the devil's people inthe end-time? And what will the marks mean? See you at our next meeting. Let's pray . . .