Thunder in the Holy Land

The Time Is At Hand

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Charles Byrd (Host), Andrea Endries, Levi Longoria, Stephen Fowler

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Series Code: THL

Program Code: THL000018


00:01 In the desolate waste land
00:02 on the north-west shore of the Dead Sea,
00:05 a group of aesthetics formed a community.
00:09 Between trying to survive and purifying their lives
00:12 in their ceremonial baths,
00:14 it appears they spent a great deal of time
00:17 copying scriptures at their stone tables.
00:22 For over 200 years before Christ was born,
00:24 this act of Judaism called "Essenes"
00:28 continuously to carefully copy scriptures
00:30 for future generations.
00:32 This community was most likely destroyed by the Romans,
00:36 some time between 68 A.D and 70 A.D.
00:40 But before this happened,
00:42 they took many of those precious scrolls,
00:44 wrapped them in linen,
00:46 place them inside fired earthen jars,
00:49 sealed them with clay,
00:51 and placed them for safe keeping in 11 caves,
00:54 both natural and man-made in the surrounding hills.
00:59 As these ancient documents were discovered
01:01 from 1947 to 1956,
01:05 we learned that at least a handful of those scrolls
01:08 were copies of the Book of Daniel.
01:12 This Book of Daniel has come under great critical scrutiny.
01:16 And some assume that it was not written by Daniel at all.
01:20 But even if as some suggest,
01:23 the book was not written until about 165 B.C.
01:26 still the pre-telling of history,
01:29 the incredible detail in these prophecies has been
01:33 so accurately fulfilled that, if this were a crime scene,
01:37 these prophecies would pass the equivalent of a DNA test.
01:41 History corroborates these prophecies.
01:44 The Book of Daniel clearly bears the hallmark of divinity.
01:49 As such the prophecies of Daniel 8, 9
01:52 are now the demarcation between uncontestable truth
01:56 and willful ignorance.
01:58 And this line is set to cause a great deal of thunder,
02:03 in more than just the holy land.
02:57 There are two conclusive proofs,
03:00 markers if you will of the divine nature of the God
03:03 found in the pages of sacred scriptures.
03:07 The first is his "matchless love,"
03:09 in that he would send his own Son to die
03:12 in place of simple humanity,
03:14 so that we could obtain eternal life.
03:18 The second is "Prophecy."
03:21 Every creature of earth is bound by time.
03:25 We cannot fly into the future or sail into the past.
03:29 We must plough through this life in a very linear fashion
03:33 but part of the DNA of deity is the fact
03:36 that time is no restraint.
03:39 The past, present, or future, it is all--
03:43 now as for as he has concerned.
03:46 That's why he can say
03:49 "Remember the former things of old,
03:51 for I am God, and there is none else,
03:54 I am God, there is none like me.
03:58 Declaring the end from the beginning
04:01 and from ancient times the things
04:04 that are not yet done."
04:06 This is an over the top amazing claim.
04:10 For if this claim is true,
04:12 it removes God from the pantheon of infant deities,
04:16 and sets them squarely
04:18 on the throne of an absolute divinity.
04:21 So does he know the future,
04:23 before it even happens, like he claims?
04:26 To answer that question,
04:28 we must compare prophecy with history.
04:32 This is where critical
04:34 and careful thought is welcomed and advised.
04:38 Because if the timing is off, if the prophecy fails,
04:41 then the whole Godhood thing is called into question
04:45 for the Jews, Muslims, and the Christians.
04:49 For all three of these faiths,
04:50 claim Daniel as a true prophet of God.
04:54 And should the prophecy fail,
04:56 the skeptic also has a reason to mark the believers.
05:00 Perhaps, that's why the enemy of our souls
05:03 has caused a storm of confusion regarding
05:06 this simple to understand
05:08 and powerfully revealing prophecy.
05:11 Because when we compare Daniel 8, 9 with history,
05:15 the revelation is as illuminating as
05:17 a bolt of lightning on a dark night.
05:21 Indeed it is, Charles.
05:23 Our topic today is critical for a whole litany of reasons.
05:26 But in this study we're gonna just focus on three.
05:29 First, this prophecy in Daniel 8, 9 will confirm that
05:32 God is God, because he knows the future,
05:35 the end from the beginning.
05:37 Second, this prophecy confirms unequivocally,
05:40 who the Messiah is with hard dates.
05:42 And it also reveals what God did his life,
05:44 while here on earth.
05:46 And last, the prophecies of Daniel 8, 9 opens
05:49 to us the very year, the judgment begins in heaven.
05:53 Now perhaps the close as we can get to Daniel
05:55 is right here in Qumran.
05:57 Since all this copies of Daniel that we possess
05:59 were found here in these caves.
06:02 So as you begin to unpack this prophecy,
06:05 the longest time prophecy in the entire bible,
06:08 let's put it in a historical context.
06:10 "Daniel" a young Hebrew captured from Jerusalem
06:13 is carried off to Babylon in 605 B.C.
06:16 With the direct intervention of God,
06:18 Nebuchadnezzar promotes Daniel to ruler
06:20 of the whole province of Babylon
06:22 and makes him chief wise man of the kingdom.
06:24 Over 58 years go by, and Daniel is now in his 70's.
06:28 To date, he's had three different dreams,
06:31 but they all met the same thing,
06:33 the image of different metals representing
06:35 four world kingdoms.
06:36 The four beasts that represented the same four kingdoms
06:39 and finally the ram,
06:41 the goat and the horn that also the parallels
06:43 the previous two.
06:45 And we know from inspiration in history
06:47 who those kingdoms were?
06:49 Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece,
06:53 and Rome, both Pagan and Papal.
06:55 But now in his vision of Chapter 8,
06:57 Daniel hears one angel asking another,
07:00 "How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice,
07:03 and the transgression of desolation,
07:05 to give both the sanctuary
07:07 and the host to be trodden under foot?"
07:09 For the Jews, life centered around the sanctuary of temple.
07:13 The sacrificial system was integral
07:15 to their faith and experience.
07:17 And now he hears the angel say it would be 2,300 days
07:21 till the sanctuary will be cleansed.
07:23 Daniel had no idea what this meant.
07:26 But it didn't sound good to him,
07:27 to have The Sanctuary and The Host Trodden Underfoot
07:30 for any length of time seemed insufferable.
07:32 I can hear Daniel wondering,
07:35 "How long till the sanctuary will be restored in Jerusalem?"
07:38 "How long will they be trampled and trodden
07:40 by the enemies of God?"
07:42 And then in verse 14,
07:44 comes an answer that shakes him up,
07:46 "And he said unto me,
07:47 unto two thousand and three hundred days,
07:50 then shall the sanctuary be cleansed."
07:53 This vision was too much for Daniel.
07:55 And he fainted and was sick.
07:58 Daniel was sick, for days he languished,
08:01 he's astonished by the vision he had seen.
08:03 Now what did that mean?
08:05 He read the words of Jeremiah the prophet.
08:07 His people, the Jews were supposed to be in captivity
08:11 for only 70 years.
08:13 Now would the children of Israel not be allowed
08:15 to go home after all?
08:16 Would the prophecy of Jeremiah fail?
08:20 So he sets himself to seek the Lord.
08:23 What did the vision mean, he wanted to know.
08:26 There were 2,300 days, were those literal days?
08:30 Now that could mean over six more years of further delay.
08:33 Or were those prophetic days,
08:36 then the delay would be 2,300 years.
08:39 And so in Daniel Chapter 9, he commends us to pray,
08:43 and for 15 verses he pleads with God for mercy.
08:46 Then in Daniel 9:20 Gabriel shows up
08:49 for the express purpose of giving Daniel
08:52 understanding of the vision of the 2,300 day prophecy.
08:56 Starting in Daniel 9:22, "And he informed me,
09:00 and talked with me, and said, O Daniel,
09:03 I am now come forth to give you skill and understanding.
09:07 And I am come to show you for your greatly beloved.
09:10 Therefore understand the matter and consider the vision."
09:16 Now the only vision Gabriel can be talking about
09:18 is the one in Chapter 8.
09:20 The one that made Daniel sick,
09:21 the one he couldn't understand.
09:24 It's amazing how many Christians are almost afraid
09:27 to study prophecy or they misinterpret it.
09:30 When we use the whole bible
09:31 to get our information and not tradition,
09:34 Jesus will send his Holy Spirit to guide us in the truth.
09:38 It's his desire for us to understand.
09:41 After all, we can't refuse the words
09:43 of the highest angel in heaven.
09:45 "O Daniel, I am now come forth
09:47 to give you skill and understanding."
09:51 Our Lord wants us to understand as well.
09:54 He wants us to have a solid foundation for our faith,
09:57 and he wants us to be ready for his judgment
10:00 and for his second coming.
10:01 So in the next four verses,
10:03 Gabriel outlines a time prophecy that will set up weigh points
10:07 or mile markers along the 2,300 day prophecy.
10:11 So we'll accurately know step by step
10:14 where we are in the prophetic walk through literal time.
10:19 We start then with Gabriel's
10:21 Revelation to Daniel in Chapter 9:24.
10:25 "Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people
10:27 and upon they holy city.
10:29 To finish the transgression. To make an end of sins.
10:33 To make reconciliation for iniquity.
10:35 To bring in everlasting righteousness.
10:38 To seal up the vision and prophecy.
10:40 And to anoint the most holy."
10:43 The first thing on this list says
10:45 "Seventy weeks are determined."
10:47 That word 'determined' means cutoff.
10:50 These 70 weeks is cutoff of or a section
10:53 of the 2300 day prophecy.
10:56 The 70-week portion of the longer 2300 day prophecy
11:00 is set aside for six things to take place.
11:03 For six tasks to be accomplished.
11:06 These six tasks could only be fulfilled in
11:09 and through the work of the Messiah.
11:12 Who else, for example could possibly make reconciliation
11:15 for iniquity or bring in everlasting righteousness.
11:20 Now there are two important keys
11:22 to understanding time prophecies in bible.
11:25 First, the bible prophecies,
11:27 literal time periods are often a symbol
11:29 of much longer time period.
11:32 A 24-hour day, for example stands for a year
11:35 so one prophetic day would equal one literal year.
11:40 A second key important to know is it that
11:43 while our years today have 365 days,
11:46 in Daniel's time, the Jewish year had only 360 days.
11:51 So applying these keys,
11:53 we realize that the 2,300 days of Daniel 8:14
11:58 are really 2,300 years.
12:01 In the same way the 70 weeks here in Daniel 9:24
12:05 are actually 490 years.
12:09 That's 70 weeks times seven days per week,
12:12 which equals 490 literal years.
12:17 This means that the first 490 years
12:20 of the longer 2,300 years are determined
12:23 or cut off or set aside for several important things
12:27 to be accomplished.
12:29 But none of this does any good
12:31 if we can't establish a starting point
12:33 for this prophecy.
12:34 So in verse 25, Gabriel gives Daniel
12:37 and us the beginning date,
12:39 the anchor point for not only the 70-week prophecy,
12:43 day prophecy.
12:46 Daniel 9:25 "Know therefore,
12:49 and understand that from going forth
12:51 of the commandment to restore
12:52 and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince
12:56 shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks."
12:59 History tells us exactly when this command was decreed.
13:03 Recorded in Azures 7:13-16,
13:06 this decree was sent out by the Persian king Artaxerxes,
13:10 in the year 457 B.C.
13:13 With this information now in hand,
13:15 we can begin to move through prophetic and literal time,
13:19 watching along the way from the mile post to see
13:21 if we're on track
13:23 for an accurate fulfillment of prophecy.
13:26 We now have the beginning date for that
13:29 "2,300 prophetic day" literal year prophecy.
13:33 This is important because this is leads us to one,
13:37 the real and long looked for Messiah.
13:40 And two, the day the judgment begins.
13:44 But how can we be sure if all this is true?
13:47 We simply look for the mile post along the way to see
13:50 if the prophecy is laid out
13:52 on the timeline happen as foretold.
13:55 Armed now with a starting date of 457 B.C.
13:59 let's look and see.
14:01 The most exciting part of this prophecy to me is Daniel 9:25.
14:07 "Know therefore and understand that
14:09 from the going forth of the commandment to restore
14:12 and to build Jerusalem unto Messiah the Prince
14:15 shall be seven weeks,
14:16 and the threescore and two weeks."
14:19 The word Messiah means anointed.
14:22 This prophecy tells us the very year Messiah
14:25 would be anointed.
14:27 It would be seven weeks plus threescore weeks,
14:31 a score is 20, and three 20s is 60,
14:34 plus another two weeks.
14:38 So 7 weeks plus 60 weeks,
14:41 plus another 2 weeks is 69 prophetic weeks.
14:45 69 weeks times 7 days a week equals 483 literal years.
14:53 So on the historical timeline,
14:56 we move forward from 457 B. C. to 483 years.
15:02 And it brings us to A.D. 27.
15:05 Did anything significant happen on this date?
15:09 Fortunately for us, we do have a keen advantage "History."
15:15 We find Jesus, the Messiah,
15:17 being anointed by the Holy Spirit
15:19 at his baptism in 27 A.D., a perfect fit.
15:25 But this is just 69 weeks of the 70 week prophecy,
15:30 what about the last week, or the last seven years.
15:34 So we look now at verse 26.
15:38 Sometime after the 62-week portion of the timeline,
15:42 it says the Messiah will be cut off.
15:46 And verse 27 tells us exactly when?
15:50 "And he shall confirm the covenant
15:52 with many for one week, and in the midst of the week
15:56 he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease."
16:01 In the midst or in the middle of the week.
16:05 And so it came to be that after 3 1/2 years of ministry,
16:10 right in the middle of the last prophetic week,
16:13 Jesus the Messiah, the anointed one,
16:16 was cut off or crucified bringing to an end,
16:20 the need for earthly sacrifices.
16:23 The type had met its anti-type in the person of Jesus.
16:28 The Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world.
16:33 God in His love and mercy had promised
16:37 the children of Israel, 490 years.
16:40 "A generous amount of time to set
16:42 their spiritual house in order."
16:45 And yet we find this chosen and blessed people,
16:48 rejecting the very Messiah,
16:51 they had longed and waited for.
16:54 The final appeal came 3 1/2 years later,
16:57 when Stephen, one of the first deacons
17:00 of the Christian faith rebuked the priest
17:03 for rejecting the prophets,
17:05 who foretold the coming of the "just one."
17:08 Of whom they were now the murderers.
17:12 The leaders of the Jewish people were determined
17:15 not to believe or obey the prophets like Daniel
17:18 who foretold the very year of the Messiah.
17:22 They stoned Stephen and started a prosecution
17:25 that drove the believers out in to the world.
17:28 This rejection in A.D. 34 fulfilled the prophecy of Christ
17:34 "Behold, your house is left unto you desolate."
17:40 You see, a saved relationship with God
17:43 was never based on a blood line.
17:46 This was the teaching and doctrine of Jesus
17:48 as well as the prophet John.
17:51 God's chosen people were no longer just Jews,
17:55 but anyone who accepts Jesus as the Messiah
17:59 and the Lord of their lives.
18:01 Now this has been a rather a abbreviated overview
18:04 of the 70-week prophecy
18:06 but to finish the larger picture,
18:08 that began in Daniel 8:14,
18:10 the 2,300 day prophecy about the cleansing
18:13 of the sanctuary in heaven,
18:14 we need to complete the prophecy timeline.
18:18 We started with a 2,300 day prophecy in Daniel 8.
18:23 And then the angel cut off 490 days
18:26 of that prophecy in Daniel 9.
18:29 This leaves us a balance of 1,810 prophetic days.
18:36 Add 1,810 prophetic days or literal years to 34 A. D.
18:42 And you come to the year 1844
18:46 then the sanctuary was to be cleansed.
18:50 But what does it mean to cleanse the sanctuary?
18:53 Because we are short on time,
18:55 we're going to unpack this in much greater detail
18:58 in our next study.
19:00 For now let me say the Day of Atonement
19:02 or Yom Kippur is symbolic for the Day of Judgment
19:07 when Jesus will judge the whole world.
19:11 True Christians are followers of Christ or the Messiah,
19:15 the anointed one.
19:17 And he certainly believed in the prophecies of Daniel.
19:20 More than once, Jesus' actions and activities
19:23 were guarded and timed by Daniel 8, 9.
19:27 I'm especially confident of this because of something
19:29 Jesus himself said in Mathew 26:18,
19:33 just before His crucifixion,
19:35 he greatly desired to spend the Passover celebration
19:38 with his disciples.
19:40 So we sent two of his disciples to arrange a room in Jerusalem,
19:43 where they could be together.
19:45 Listen to his cryptic instructions.
19:48 "And he said, Go into the city to such a man,
19:51 and say unto him.
19:53 The Master saith, My time is at hand,
19:58 I will keep the Passover at thy house with my disciples."
20:02 And what time he was talking about?
20:04 The time announced, in Daniel 9.
20:07 You see, Jesus knew the command to restore
20:11 and build Jerusalem in 457 B.C.
20:14 He knew that the holy spirit had anointed him,
20:17 right on time in 27 A.D. and he knew that
20:21 he was now in the midst or middle of the week.
20:26 That's how he knew the time was at hand
20:30 for the Messiah to be cut off.
20:32 The prophecies are not merely prophecies about time,
20:36 these two prophecies in Daniel 8, 9
20:39 are all about Jesus in our time.
20:42 So this date of 1844 is also about Jesus
20:46 because it's the date that the sanctuary
20:49 was to be cleansed.
20:51 And anyone who knows anything about the sanctuary knows that
20:54 it's all about Jesus, every step of the way.
20:58 According to Hebrews 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10,
21:03 and 13, Jesus is our high priest in the heavenly sanctuary,
21:08 reconciling the world to God.
21:11 And part of the priestly role was to officiate
21:14 once a year on the Day of Atonement.
21:17 Symbolic judgment.
21:19 Some people have a hard time thinking about the judgment,
21:22 but we need to point out two things here both
21:24 from the teachings of Jesus.
21:26 Jesus said, "For judgment I am come into this world."
21:31 The reason He came was to bring judgment.
21:33 You can't have salvation without it,
21:35 it's not optional.
21:36 The second reason we need judgment
21:38 is to get rid of Satan and sin.
21:41 Jesus said, "Now is the judgment of this world,
21:45 now shall the prince of this world be cast out."
21:48 You can't get rid of Satan without a judgment.
21:51 This is what the earthly sanctuary
21:52 was designed to teach.
21:54 You see all year day after day priest would offer,
21:57 sacrifices in the courtyard of tabernacle
21:59 on behalf of those who sinned.
22:01 After the burnt offering was made they moved
22:03 on to the laver and washed their hands and feet.
22:06 Then the priest would carry the blood into the sanctuary,
22:08 and place it upon the horns of the Altar of Incense
22:11 and sprinkle it before the veil,
22:13 between the holy and most holy place.
22:16 Symbolically those sins would be in transferred
22:18 to the sanctuary.
22:19 It was kept as a diary of sorts,
22:21 a book of remembrance written in blood,
22:23 until the last day of the year on the Day of Atonement,
22:26 the symbolic Day of Judgment took place.
22:28 These services of the sanctuary were symbolic foretelling
22:32 of the work of Christ in our behalf
22:34 in the heavenly sanctuary.
22:36 Did you know that Daniel saw this judgment
22:37 and prophetic vision?
22:39 Check it out in Daniel 7:9, 10.
22:42 "I beheld till the thrones were cast down
22:44 or put in place and the Ancient of days did sit,
22:47 whose garment white as snow,
22:49 and the hair of his head like the pure wool,
22:51 his throne was like a fiery flame
22:53 and his wheels as burning fire.
22:55 A fiery stream issued and came from before him,
22:58 thousand thousands ministered unto him,
23:01 and ten thousand times ten times stood before him,
23:04 the judgment was set, and the books were opened.
23:09 And in Daniel 8:14, God and his great love for us,
23:12 told us the very year the judgment would begin.
23:15 "Unto two thousand and three hundred days,
23:18 then shall the sanctuary be cleansed?"
23:20 Throughout the prophetic timelines
23:22 with precise mileposts,
23:24 we can absolutely confident when this judgment began.
23:28 You know, I would guess that almost every culture
23:31 that worships a deity incorporates
23:33 a judgment into its eschatology.
23:36 They envision the time when the important decisions
23:39 are made regarding those who are saved
23:40 and those who are lost.
23:42 This is true for the Muslim faith.
23:45 Here at the Dome of the Rock.
23:47 The third most holy site for Muslims are seven arches.
23:52 It is said that on the judgment day,
23:54 scales will be hung from each of the arches
23:57 on each set of steps surrounding the square.
24:00 And these will be used to weigh the souls of the dead.
24:04 Well, I have no way of confirming that claim.
24:07 But thanks to the accountability of prophecy in the bible,
24:10 I have confirmed my belief in Jesus.
24:13 Thanks to the inspired prophecies of Daniel,
24:16 I can be absolutely certain that
24:18 Daniel's prophecies are true and accurate.
24:22 Though I cannot see in the heaven
24:24 through the prophetic teachings of Daniel,
24:25 I can know where Jesus is and what He's doing.
24:29 He's working in the judgment that began in 1844.
24:33 This allows me to see the great significance of
24:36 Jesus' message through His angel in Revelation 14:6, 7.
24:41 "And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven,
24:44 having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them
24:47 that dwell on the earth, and to every nation,
24:49 and kindred, and tongue, and people.
24:53 Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him,
24:57 for the hour of his judgment is come,
24:59 and worship him that made heaven,
25:01 and earth and the sea, and the fountains of waters."
25:05 So if this prophecy can be trusted
25:07 and I'm certainly satisfied that it can.
25:10 Then we can also trust the rest of the book
25:12 that tells us about of a God
25:14 who loved us enough to die for us.
25:17 This is the creator God.
25:19 The one who formed the heaven and the earth
25:21 and created all of humanity.
25:24 Right now, the investigated judgment is going on.
25:27 Right now we have time to make our decision
25:31 to accept His love and live for Him.
25:35 Thanks, Andrea.
25:37 The fact that there is a judgment,
25:39 a day when all our actions, words and thoughts,
25:42 and motives will be examined
25:43 by God is made clear in the teachings of Jesus.
25:48 And this doctrine of Jesus,
25:50 certainly affirms the prophetic words
25:52 of the prophet Daniel who predicted it.
25:55 Now some might ask, "But how can I be sure,
25:58 the prophecies found in Daniel are genuine?"
26:01 "How can I be certain this book wasn't
26:03 ghost written in 165 B.C. like the critics suggest?
26:08 Well, consider this.
26:10 Among the scrolls found in Qumran,
26:12 no less than five were copies of the Book of Daniel.
26:16 One of the five manuscripts is dated
26:18 at or before 125 B.C.
26:23 165 to 125 is just 40 years,
26:27 that's 40 years for the book of Daniel to be
26:30 hand written enough times,
26:33 read and studied enough for this book,
26:35 these prophecies to gain wide spread acceptance
26:39 throughout the Jewish nation.
26:41 There just isn't enough time and besides
26:44 we have no historical examples of such an amazing feat.
26:49 These prophecies of Daniel,
26:51 once again proved to be a valuable tool
26:54 in anchoring our faith on a solid rational footing.
26:59 And remember these prophecies were embraced
27:02 and affirmed by Jesus Christ,
27:04 so we would be wise to take this knowledge to heart.
27:08 God clearly knows the future, the end from the beginning.
27:14 He knows your future and he offers you and I,
27:17 a way out, a way out of our present pain,
27:21 a way out of that certain guilty verdict,
27:24 we're sure to receive in the judgment.
27:26 God bless you as you consider these
27:29 important teachings of Jesus.
27:32 And I look forward to being with you again next time
27:35 as we visit the Tabernacle in the wilderness
27:38 or God revealed His solution to the sin problem
27:41 and foreshadowed His in time Judgment.


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Revised 2014-12-17