Written by: Gail Green
Everything God does he does it with a pattern: He gave King
David a pattern to go by to build the temple and all the things that were to go
therein (Exd 25:9). The human body is made from a pattern: two hands, two legs,
two eyes, and one head. Trees are made from a pattern they all have trunks,
limbs, and leaves; flowers have stems and petals. God follows patterns and He gave the Christians
a pattern to follow: the pattern of Jesus: 1 Ti. 1:16—Howbeit for this cause I
obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all
longsuffering, FOR A PATTERN to them which should hereafter believe on him to
life everlasting; 2 Tts. 2:7—In all things SHOWING THY SELF A PATTERN OF GOOD
WORKS: in doctrine showing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity.
There are even patterns in the way God keeps time. He counts
time the same way the Jews do; that is the only way of keeping time in the
Bible, there is no month of July in God’s word only names for Jewish months
(each month being a 29 or 30 day period). God gave the Israelites His calendar
to keep up with the feasts so that they would fall at the very same time of
year. One very significant thing about the feasts was that there was to be a
pattern of seven weeks (49 days) and on the fiftieth day it was to be the feast
of first fruits (Lev. 23:16: today it is called Shavuot and/or Pentecost). Another
pattern God set forth was when He told the Israelites to work the land six
years and in the seventh year it was to be a Sabbath year and they were to let
the land rest: they were to do this seven times seven years and on the fiftieth
year it was to be Jubilee (Lev.25:8; 11): Feast of Weeks 50 days and working
the land 50 years: two more patterns set by God and they concern a particular
keeping of time.
Another thing we must understand about the way God keeps
time is that He uses what is called inclusion time keeping. Here is an example
of what I mean: Jer. 34:14—AT THE END OF SEVEN YEARS LET YE GO EVERY MAN his
brother an Hebrew which hath been sold unto thee; and WHEN HE HATH SERVED THEE
SIX YEARS, THOU SHALT LET HIM GO FREE. Notice God says AT THE END of seven
years let every man go free but then He says, after he hath served thee six
years let him go free; this is inclusion time keeping. God calls it seven years
but it is at the end of the sixth year the Hebrew is set free leaving the whole
seventh year to be a Sabbath where no work of any sort should be done not even
the work of setting a slave free. If you investigate the history of the
Babylonian captivity you will find that God used inclusion time keeping for
that too. He said it would be a period of seventy years and yet the Israelites
were back in Jerusalem at the very beginning of the seventieth year: the tenth
Sabbath year since the beginning of the exile. The exiles returned home at the
end of the sixty ninth year. Am I making
sense?
God used a pattern when He accomplished three very important
things in the history of the Bible: the life of King David, the Babylonian
captivity, and the life of Jesus; all three are listed in one verse: Matthew
1:17: they are all labeled generations
and they are all a period of seventy years. We discussed that God used inclusion
time keeping with the Babylonian captivity now let’s look at the generation of
Jesus. Jesus died at a young age but His generation lasted until the
destruction of the temple in 70 AD. Although the year is called 70 AD there was
no year zero, if there had been a year zero it would have been year 69 AD
(coincidence?). Which by the way did you know there is no ancient Hebrew word
for coincidence? That is because with God there is no such thing.
In Daniel chapter nine you notice Gabriel describes to
Daniel that there will be seven weeks and sixty two weeks a total of sixty nine
weeks. Considering what I said previously is it possible this is a case of
inclusive time keeping? I know that most people adhere to the interpretation that
Daniel’s seventy weeks are a period of four hundred and ninety years but (I ask
these questions with respect to this conclusion): If Gabriel meant for the
seven weeks to be counted before the sixty two weeks then why wouldn’t he say:
and after sixty nine weeks the Messiah is cut off? Wouldn’t you think Gabriel
knows how to count (not meant to sound sarcastic really)? Why would Gabriel
tell Daniel about the seven weeks and then neglect to count them or explain
them? Does it make sense he would do that? Wasn’t he there to give Daniel
understanding?
Something else we must consider when thinking about Daniel’s
seventy weeks. Unlike the word “week” the word “weeks” is never and I repeat
never used as a period of years like the word week is in Genesis 29: 27-28. Eight
out of fifteen times the word weeks is used it is used in the context of the “Feasts
of Weeks” three times it is used is concerning a regular week. The other four
times it is used is in Daniel chapter nine and man says it means years. If God intended
for us to use the word weeks as a period of time that means years then doesn’t
it seem logical that He would have used it as such somewhere else in His word
as he did the word week? For example when He was talking about working the land
for forty nine years why didn’t He say you will keep seven weeks of years
instead of seven times seven years?
More patterns of God include the way He has done and will do
things and they are all according to His feasts days. The Israelites were kept
safe (delivered) from the hand of God by sacrificing a lamb and painting the
blood over the doorway when He killed the first born of Egypt.; this is called
Passover (the first of the feasts): Christ the Lamb was sacrificed on Passover
for our sins so that we may be delivered from the wrath of God at judgment.
Fifty days after the Israelites left Egypt they were given the Torah (law:
second feast): fifty days after Christ crucifixion we were given the Holy
Spirit. This is a clear case of God following a pattern and using His feasts
days as the appointed times to do so. When the Israelites were freed from
Babylon the first sacred occasion observed in Jerusalem was the feast of
Tabernacles (Ezra 3:2-4: third feast): when we are freed from Mystery Babylon
by Jesus, we to shall observe the feast of Tabernacles (Zech. 14:16-19).
Clearly from scripture the coming of Jesus is like unto a
harvest: we can see that in Matthew 13:30 and Revelation 14:15. Jeremiah made
this statement when considering his time as a captive in Babylon. Jer.5:24—Neither
say they in their heart, let us now fear the LORD our God, that giveth rain,
both the former and the latter, in his season: he reserveth unto us the
appointed weeks of the harvest. Wouldn’t it be logical to think that when
Gabriel said weeks in Daniel nine he was referring to the “feasts of weeks”?
The whole point of what I have said is to say that God has a
particular time frame in mind for the last generation and it is a pattern of
the way he has done things before. And according to the way he has done things
before His time frame is seventy years. If that is true then the covenant has to
have already been confirmed and we are now waiting on the abomination of desolation. The covenant would have been confirmed in the sixty third
year since Israel was born and started the generation of the return of
Christ. We are that generation!
Many Blessings to all!
All Rights Reserved
Many Blessings to all!
All Rights Reserved
