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It Is Written Canada

All Eyes Looking in the Wrong Direction

Chris Holland

All Eyes Looking in the Wrong Direction- Part 1

God's book, the Bible, still relevant in today's complex world.

It is written sharing messages of hope around the world.

Is the city of Jerusalem the center of attention for the unfolding of events in the final crisis here on this earth?

Let's take a journey to the city of Jerusalem.

We will stand overlooking the city of Jerusalem and we will see some magnificent places, some ancient places.

But the centerpiece and most recognizable structure of modern day Jerusalem is the Temple Mount.

There on the Temple Mount stands the Dome of the Rock.

It was built at the end of the 7th century.

Now many of the conflicts that have occurred in Jerusalem over the years have occurred because of the Dome of the Rock.

It is 1 of the most holy places for Islam and is actually built on the site of Mount Moriah, which is where the ancient Jewish temple was.

This mixture of 2 religions has created considerable issues in the Middle East and in particular in Jerusalem.

In fact, there at the bottom of Mount Moriah, there is the wailing wall.

Up at the top, you have the dome of the rock.

It has led many, many Christians to ask the question, the same question that many people around the world are asking.

Will the Jewish temple, which was burned down and destroyed in 70 AD, will it be rebuilt?

And the question that we must ask is that is a temple, a rebuilt temple in Jerusalem, the focus of our attention in these last days?

Now, in order to answer these questions, along with the question of the mysterious 2300 days, we must step back further in time.

We must understand a little bit of the history of the temple in order to answer the questions properly.

We must go to the ancient ruins of Egypt.

Now, if you're familiar with biblical history, God's people, the Hebrew people, were taken captive into Egypt.

Now initially they were there by free choice, living in the land of Goshen.

The Egyptians provided a shelter in a time of famine.

Joseph, 1 of the sons of Jacob, became the chief of the commanders in Egypt, and then his brothers and father came to the land of Goshen to live and find refuge.

Now if you go to Egypt today, you will see many of these magnificent structures.

Some of these structures were likely built by the Hebrew people, but not the pyramids.

Other of those structures, but not the pyramids.

The Hebrew people, over time, they began to grow and multiply in population and they became a threat to the Egyptians.

So in order to control them, the Egyptians enslaved the Hebrew people.

Now the Hebrew people were enslaved there in Egypt for over 400 years.

Sometime around the 16th or 15th century B.C., God's people began to reconnect with him.

However, he was brought up in an Egyptian home.

He was trained in the royal courts of Egypt and in Egyptian schools.

He was being groomed to be a leader in that land.

Now later in life, he became reconnected with his Hebrew roots.

He became reconnected with God and God called Moses to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt.

That event is called the Exodus And it is recorded in the book of Exodus in the Bible.

Now through the Hebrew people's 400 year enslavement, they had grown disconnected with their God.

As they made their way out of Egypt, God wanted to reconnect with them.

And so God instructed them in the Sinai Peninsula, in Exodus chapter 25, that they would build a sanctuary.

Now the purpose of that sanctuary is stated plainly by the very words of God himself, that I may dwell among them.

Now the sanctuary was to be a reminder to God's people of the relationship that he desired to have with them.

This is why the sanctuary, when it was set up amongst the Israelite, amongst the 12 tribes, that the sanctuary was right at the very center of the camp.

And the physical location was indicative of what God desired for His people.

He was to be at the very center of their life.

And so, they would set it up there that He would be.

Now additionally, the Bible says that God would lead them by a pillar of fire at night and would protect them by a cloud during the day.

The Hebrew people became reconnected with their God.

God would set up the sanctuary system, a system of sacrifice that would point them forward to Jesus as the Messiah, the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world.

Now within the sanctuary there was a courtyard.

In that courtyard was the altar and the laver.

Then within the very structure, the structure called the tent of meeting was the holy place and the most holy place.

Now every day, sacrifices were made in the sanctuary.

Every day people would bring their sin offerings.

Every day they would make those sacrifices, lambs.

Then the priest would take the blood into the sanctuary.

He would take the blood into the holy place.

The sinner's guilt was symbolically transferred as he would lay his hands upon the perfect lamb.

Then don't miss this, The sin that was symbolically transferred to the lamb was then symbolically transferred into the sanctuary.

Now understanding that symbolism of the sanctuary as a demonstration of the physical manifestation of where God wants to dwell is vital to understanding the prophecies of Daniel.

Sin was transferred from the people into God's dwelling place.

That basin taken by the priest into the sanctuary, the most holy place.

All of that, symbolic of the sacrifice of Jesus.

And I want you to remember Now, that would happen daily.

Then once a year on a special festival or a special feast, something different would occur.

Now The definition of atonement is actually contained in the very word itself.

If you break that word apart, those separate parts, at-one-ment.

Atonement is bringing us back into 1 with God.

The Day of Atonement brought about a unique happening.

The blood would be again collected into a basin.

But there would be no sprinkling on the way into the sanctuary.

The priest would take that basin and go all the way in, and remember this was once a year, all the way into the Most Holy Place.

And there he would place the blood upon the altar.

And then he would place blood going out of the sanctuary.

Daily the blood goes in, then once a year it comes out.

You see, the Day of Atonement was a day of cleansing where the sanctuary would be figuratively and symbolically cleansed of all the sin that had been placed there throughout the year.

The wilderness sanctuary was a temporary structure.

It was a structure that was set up and then it would be taken down as the Israelites moved from place to place.

But as the Israelites eventually settled in Jerusalem, they built a permanent structure.

That permanent structure was Solomon's temple.

The Day of Atonement was at the end of the Jewish year, when the high priest would enter the most holy place of the sanctuary.

It was a day of repentance, a day of confession.

It was the most solemn day of the year because it was a day of judgment.

The Day of Atonement was a day of judgment and it was the cleansing of the sanctuary.

After Israel entered the Promised Land, the wilderness sanctuary was replaced by Solomon's magnificent temple.

And at Solomon's temple, these very same activities would continue throughout history.

Now there have been volumes written on this topic and what I have presented is a simplified version of a lot of history and theology.

The sanctuary system, though, would continue in Solomon's time.

All Eyes Looking in the Wrong Direction- Part 2

We left off last week wondering how the 2300 day prophecy would answer the challenge of the crises of the world today.

Now, if you missed last week's show, you can go to our website www.itiswrittencanada.ca or you can go to our YouTube channel youtube.com forward slash IIW Canada and you can view the previous week's programs.

But today we are going to pick up right where we left off.

Now you'll remember that as the angel Gabriel helps reveal the answer to the question of What does this mysterious 2300 days mean?

Daniel chapter 9 and verse 24 picks up where we left off last week and Gabriel says these words, 70 weeks are determined for your people and for your city.

Now, I want you to think about this, because hopefully it's starting to make sense.

Daniel was given a vision of 2300 days in Daniel chapter 8.

Now we need to do a little math and if you're not a mathematician just stay with me because it's actually all rather very simple.

Now, literally in the original Hebrew, this means that it is cut off from a larger piece.

70 weeks are cut off from a larger piece.

That 70 weeks is cut off from the 2, 300 days of Daniel chapter 8.

In fact, Gabriel says, I've come to help you understand.

What is he coming to help him understand?

And then he says to Daniel, Daniel, I'm going to give you a starting point for the time prophecy of the 2300 days.

Now something that we need to do to help ourselves.

So we need to keep it simple and make it all the same.

70 weeks, 7 days in a week, equals 490 days.

The angel Gabriel is making this all so simple for us.

The 2300 day prophecy has something to do with the time of the end and it has heavenly sanctuary language.

But we have no beginning point for the 2300 days.

Now Gabriel comes and says that 70 weeks or 490 days have been cut off from the 2300 days that are specific.

You know, I want you to remember this cannot be literal days because Daniel 8 says that it refers to the time of the end.

Now, to help us with our journey, we need to look at 1 of the most accepted biblical principles of interpretation of time prophecy.

It's found in Ezekiel 4, 6 and also in Numbers 14, 34.

For each prophetic day, I have laid upon you a year.

Now so, if we're talking about prophetic days, we're actually talking about literal years.

So the 490 days, the 2300 days are actually literal years.

So here's what the chart would look like.

490 of those 2300 have been dedicated or have been cut off specifically for the Jews and Jerusalem.

And so 2300 years and 490 years, it just don't help us very much because We don't have a starting point.

And so 2300 years and 490 years, it just don't help us very much because we don't have a starting point.

Praise the Lord that the Bible does give us a starting point.

Daniel chapter 9 and in verse 25 says these words, know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem.

Now the word here command is literally translated from the original Hebrew as decree.

Because in Ezra Chapter 7, verses 12 and 13, the Bible tells us about a decree.

Artaxerxes, king of kings, to Ezra the priest, a scribe of the law of the God of heaven, perfect peace and so forth, I issue a decree that all those of the people of Israel and the priests and the Levites in my realm who volunteer to go up into Jerusalem may go with him." Artaxerxes made a decree.

That decree allowed the Jewish people to go back to Jerusalem and begin to rebuild Jerusalem, thankfully from history.

A starting point that reveals some of the most exciting news that you could ever see and ever hear.

Now the verse of Daniel 9 continues on and it says this, Know therefore from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, there shall be 7 weeks and sixty-two weeks.

7 plus sixty-two gives us sixty-nine weeks.

The Bible says that after 69 weeks of the 70 weeks, the Messiah would come.

Literally in the Hebrew, this is the word, the anointed 1.

Now we just learned from Ezekiel 4, 6 and Numbers 14, 34 that a prophetic day equals a literal year.

So if we take 69 times 7, which is 483, 483 years from 457 BC takes us to what number?

Now, there's a little bit of a problem though.

You see on a calculator in our number system The calculator is zeroed.

We have a 0 But in history, there is no year 0.

See, in history, they would have gone from 1 BC to 1 AD.

Now, this is not some quick footed math here.

It's very simple and hopefully it makes sense.

Now did anything interesting happen in 27 AD?

Because remember the prophecy said that this is when the Messiah would show up.

Luke, when he was recording his gospel, he begins Luke chapter 3 with these words.

Now in the 15th year of Tiberius Caesar, Why do I emphasize that point?

The 15th year of Tiberius Caesar was exactly 27 AD.

Immediately following that, in Luke chapter 3, The Bible goes on to say this, when all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also was baptized.

This is fascinating because in Acts chapter 10 And in verse 38, the Bible reads, God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil.

Jesus was anointed as the Messiah when the Holy Spirit descended upon Him at His baptism.

Jesus was the Messiah when He was born, but He was anointed for His mission at His baptism when the Holy Spirit fell upon him.

The book of Daniel predicts with absolute reliability the year that Jesus would be baptized.

Furthermore, the prophecy goes on though to give us even more detail.

In Daniel chapter 9 and verse 26, it says this, after the 62 weeks Messiah shall be cut off, then he shall confirm a covenant with many for 1 week.

Now 69 weeks plus the 1 week gives us that 70 weeks or 490 years.

Series

All Eyes Looking in the Wrong Direction

All Eyes Looking in the Wrong Direction- Part 1

Transcript

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