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KINGDOM
BIBLE STUDIES
"Teaching the
things concerning the kingdom of God..."
THE SEVENTY
WEEKS OF DANIEL
Part 2
THE
SIXTY-NINE WEEKS AND THE SEVENTIETH WEEK
“And whiles I (Daniel) was speaking,
and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel,
and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God for the holy
mountain of my God; yea, whiles I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel,
whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly,
touched me about the time of the evening oblation. And he informed me, and
talked with me, and said, O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and
understanding. At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth
and I am come to show thee; for thou art greatly beloved: therefore understand
the matter, and consider the vision. 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 rebuild 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 unto the
consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate” (Dan.
9:21-27).
In this prophecy of the “seventy
weeks” we come face to face with Old Testaments prophetic time in which a day
stands for a literal year. The 70 weeks are, of course, as in other time
prophecies, seventy weeks of years, which is 70 x 7 days, or 490 prophetic
days, or 490 world years. Moreover, this period is then separated into three
parts. For clarity concerning these divisions I now quote that portion from the
Amplified Bible. “Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of
the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem until the coming of the
Anointed One, a Prince, shall be seven weeks (of years) and sixty-two weeks (of
years); it shall be built again with city square and moat, but in troublous
times. And after the sixty-two weeks (of years) shall the Anointed One be cut
off or killed and shall have nothing (and no one) belonging to (and defending)
Him. And the people of the (other) prince who will come will destroy the city
and the sanctuary. The end shall come with a flood; and even to the end there
shall be war, and desolations are decreed. And he
shall enter into a strong and firm covenant with the
many for one week (seven years). And in the midst of
the week he shall cause the sacrifice and offering to cease.”
The first time
period is seven prophetic weeks which translates to 49 world years, this
time allotted to the rebuilding of the city of
THE GAP THEORY
Before going further, let us pause to
consider a grievous error which is made by many individuals concerning these
490 years of Daniel’s prophecy. These 490 years were decreed upon the people of
Daniel, the house of
We cannot be too explicit and strong
in our exhortation regarding the fact that nowhere in scripture is there even
one time prophecy given which does not run its course year after year
consecutively for the allotted years of its entire term, and then end. That is,
there is not one time prophecy of the Bible which is
partially fulfilled, then suspended until a later date, when the count is once
more resumed. And yet, many Bible teachers, in an effort to
uphold their delusions, attempt to represent this prophecy as being fulfilled
in this way. They say the count ran for 69 weeks, or up until our Lord’s
anointing at
Let us look at this ridiculous
scheme from another angle. In Psalm 90:10 we find the following: “The days of
our years are threescore and ten, yet is there strength, labor, and sorrow.”
God’s Word here says that the days of man upon earth are 70 years. And now, let
us just suppose that I were to begin teaching that when God says man is to live
70 years, He really means that man is to live 69 years and then stop counting
time until two thousand years have elapsed when, at the end of the two thousand
years, the last and final year of the 70 is to be lived, followed by death. I
am sure that, if I were to begin teaching such fantasy, my readers would very
soon conclude that I needed to take a vacation in a mental institution. That
scheme would be giving to man two thousand and seventy years to live, instead
of seventy. And I really marvel that someone is not teaching such a delusion;
for, even though Christians, and particularly spirit-filled Christians, are
supposedly to be endued with sound minds (2 Tim. 1:7), yet the great majority
are following just such an absurdity in regard to the
70 weeks of Daniel’s vision. There is not a particle of difference.
Here is what God told Daniel:
“Seventy weeks are decreed upon thy people and upon thy holy city… to fulfill
the vision and the prophecy” (Dan. 9:24). But ignorant men, in their
waywardness, tell us that the 69 weeks were fulfilled, and then the count was
stopped, and has remained stopped for some two thousand years. And they say
that finally, most any day now, the count will again be resumed, and then the
last of the 70 weeks will be fulfilled, and the prophecy ended. Shame… shame…
shame! God says it takes ONLY 70 WEEKS TO “FULFILL THE VISION.” Man says it
takes 69 weeks plus 2000 years, plus seven more years;
which would be, up to the present time, 355 weeks plus!
To compound the error of this
ridiculous theory, men then reach out into other portions of scripture and
borrow the supposed scenes of a “seven year great tribulation,” a “rebuilt
temple” in Jerusalem, an “Antichrist” tyrant who makes and breaks a covenant
with the Jews, the “battle of Armageddon,” and a whole host of other things
which when you read the passages of scripture they use, have absolutely no
connection whatever with Daniel’s vision of the 70 weeks. There is nothing, not
one word, in all of Daniel’s prophecy about any of those things. There are no
grounds whatever for taking such events and transposing them upon the “70th
week” of Daniel’s wonderful prophecy. None! It is all unfounded speculation,
wild – eyed imagination, and carnal-minded delusions! One of the problems today
is that men read too much trash. The church today is full of energetic and
sincere preachers and teachers who are just full and bubbling over concerning
things that are going to happen during this “70th week” of Daniel.
My prayer is that God will deliver His people, especially those who have caught
a vision of sonship and God’s great kingdom purposes, from all this carnal and
soulish sensationalism. I fear that many of God’s precious people haven’t
progressed far beyond Dr. Scofield’s footnotes when it comes to their system of
“end-time” events as regards the Antichrist, the beast, the tribulation, and
the anticipated one-world-government with its imposed mark of 666.
The prophecy commenced with the
decree of Artaxerxes in 457 B.C., which decree empowered Ezra to go to
Jerusalem carrying gold and silver to the end that the city and temple might be
repaired and the priesthood and temple worship re-established (Ezra 7:11- 26).
And adding to this date (457 B.C.) the 70 weeks of years (490 years) brings us
to A.D. 34, when the time element of the prophecy was completely fulfilled in
every detail. But ignorant and unbelieving men, as usual, fail to harmonize
history and the Word of God; and therefore, in an attempt to
uphold their own misinterpretations concerning coming plagues and tribulation
and such, totally disregard the inspired Record where it conflicts with their
imaginings. Of course the translation in our English Bible (King James) is at
times faulty and obscures the meaning of some statements, yet it is plain
enough that anyone who possesses a sincere and prayerful desire to understand
should be able to correctly identify most of the predictions.
UNTO THE MESSIAH
The following rendering may help
toward a cleaner understanding of the prophecy.
“Seventy weeks are decreed upon thy people
and upon thy holy city, to blot out
transgression, and to take away sins,
and to make atonement for iniquities,
and to bring in everlasting righteousness,
and to fulfill the vision and the
prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy
One. Know then and understand that from the issuing of the order to restore
and to build
We have previously noted that all of
Daniel’s prophecies were to have their fulfillment during the
course of four specific world empires. These empires spanned several
centuries from the empire of
Now note Gabriel’s message to
Daniel: “Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people” (Dan. 9:24). The word determined (chathak in Hebrew) has been
variously translated as “decreed,” “divided,” “shortened,” “fixed,” “cut off,”
“apportioned,” and “allotted.” Those variations are significant and each
bespeaks a shade of meaning in the Word. Seventy prophetic weeks were allotted
to the people of
Seeing then, that these things are
so, I would draw your attention to the supreme purpose of these seventy weeks
of years which is 490 world years. Gabriel informs Daniel of the beginning and
the end of this period in two remarkable verses. “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
The prophecy is clear and
unmistakable – six important predictions were all fulfilled after “sixty nine weeks,” that is, during the seventieth week! These six
points establish beyond question or doubt the relationship of this marvelous
prophecy to our Lord Jesus Christ, for not one of these occurred during the
previous sixty-nine weeks of years or at any time in previous history since the
beginning of time. They all had to do with the redemptive and restorative work
of the Christ by which the new covenant was established and the body of Christ
raised up in the earth. The first three works dealt with the issue of sin,
stating that the Anointed One would (1) “finish the transgression,” (2) “make
an end of sins (sin offerings with their continual remembrance of sins – Heb.
10:1-10)” through His perfect atonement, and (3) “make reconciliation for
iniquity” bringing men into harmony and oneness with God. The last three dealt
with the establishment of the new order of the
FINISHING THE TRANSGRESSION
Let us now investigate more fully
the significant events that mark the seventieth week of Daniel. Our Lord Jesus
Christ began His public ministry in Cana of Galilee in A.D. 27, at the
conclusion of the sixty-nine prophetic weeks, or 483 world years. Gabriel had
informed Daniel that seventy weeks or 490 years, were allotted specifically to
the ancient city of
Since then we have been given such
marvelous understanding of this most remarkable prophecy I would point out one
further gem of truth contained therein. “And in the midst of the week HE
(Christ) shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease…” (Dan. 9:27).
While nearly all the old-order Bible teachers claim that a new temple will one
day be rebuilt in Jerusalem by the “antichrist” who makes a covenant with the
Jews for one week, and in the midst of the week will break his covenant and
cause the temple worship to cease – I now declare without the slightest
hesitation and without fear of any successful contradiction that all such
fanciful interpretations are not to be found anywhere in the book of Daniel and
have absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with Daniel’s prophecy of the seventy
weeks – they are one and all merely the carnal prattings
of wild imaginations and distorted minds. How much grander is the truth as
revealed by the Spirit of God! There is no doubt about it, my beloved, it was
our Lord Himself who confirmed the covenant with many for one week, it was our
Lord Himself who in the midst of the week caused the
sacrifice and the oblation to cease. This took place when the great
sin-offering was slain upon the cross and by His death, burial, and
resurrection, Jesus fulfilled within
Himself all the types and shadows of the old covenant. HE HIMSELF BECAME THE SACRIFICE
AND OBLATION! As the writer to the Hebrews so eloquently explains: “For
such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from
sinners, and made higher than the heavens; who needeth not daily, as those (previous) high priests, to offer up sacrifice,
first for his own sins, and then for the people’s: for this he did once, when he offered up himself (as the perfect sacrifice)” (Heb.
7:26-27). And again, “But Christ being come an high
priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not
made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation; neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having
obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and goats, and
the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: how much more shall the blood of Christ,
who through the eternal Spirit offered
himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve
the living God? And for this cause he is the mediator of the new covenant, that
by means of death, for the redemption of
the transgressions that were under the first covenant, they which are
called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. And almost all things
are by the law purged with blood; and without the
shedding of blood there is no remission (of sins). 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 (old) age (of the law) hath he appeared to put
away sin by the sacrifice of himself. For the law having a shadow of good
things to come and not the very image (reality) of the things, can never with
those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers
thereunto perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? Because
that the worshippers once purged should have no more conscience of sins. But in
those sacrifices there is a remembrance made again of sins every year. For it
is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins. But
this man (Christ), after he offered one
sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God… for by one offering he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified” (Heb. 9:11-15, 22-26; 10:1-4, 12, 14).
The prophecy of Daniel, as we have
already noted, covers seventy weeks of years which is 490 world years. And
these 490 years, Daniel 9:24 tells us, are to see TRANSGRESSIONS FINISHED. What
a word that is! The word “finished” translates the Hebrew word kala meaning to prohibit, finish,
forbid, keep back, restrain, retain, shut up, be stayed, withhold – in other
words terminate. The prophet Isaiah
makes it plain that it was the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ which
dealt the death-blow to transgression. “He was
oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he was brought as
a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before his shearers is dumb, so he
opened not his mouth. For he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the
TRANSGRESSION OF MY PEOPLE was he stricken. And he made his grave with the
wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence,
neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him…
when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed (the
redeemed saints), he shall prolong his days (by resurrection), and the pleasure
of the Lord shall prosper in his hand” (Isa. 53:7-10). The Psalmist by the
spirit of prophecy confidently intoned, “Iniquities prevail against me: as for
our transgressions, thou shalt purge them
away” (Ps. 65:3). And then he counts it as done
when he says, “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us” (Ps. 103:12). We will
leave it there at the moment but will consider this
thought further when we deal with the establishment of everlasting
righteousness.
MAKE AN END OF SINS
“Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city… to
make an end of sins…” (Dan. 9:24).
How remarkable that, right on schedule, at the end of the decreed sixty
nine weeks of years reaching “unto Messiah the Prince,” in the year A.D. 27
Jesus of Nazareth came to the Jordan river to be baptized by John the Baptist
who, seeing His approach through the vast throngs of people assembled there,
cried out announcing, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world!” (Jn. 1:29).
It was only a few years after this dazzling event that the apostles of
Jesus recorded the fact of the mighty saving and redeeming work of the Christ
who changed the course of history and impacted the entire world and all nations
by transforming grace and power. The writer to the Hebrews states it so simply
and yet so powerfully when he writes, “… now once in the end of the age hath He
appeared to put away sin by the
sacrifice of Himself” (Heb. 9:26).
The apostle Paul adds this testimony: “And so all Israel shall be saved;
as it is written, There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: for
this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take
away their sins. O the depth of the riches both of the
wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and His
ways past finding out!” (
The apostle Peter has told us of the Christ’s work of “making an end of
sins”: “Who His own self bare our sins in
His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto
righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed (from the power of sin)…” (I Pet. 2:24).
This brings us to a most important point. There is a beautiful statement
in II Corinthians 5:21 wherein Paul states, “For He hath made Him to be SIN for
us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.”
The popular, but careless, understanding of this passage is that the Christ was
somehow “made sin” or actually “became sin” or “sinful,” the sins of the whole
world being imputed or imparted to Him as He hung and died upon the cross. For
long centuries Christians have accepted this crude notion that makes Christ A
SINNER IN OUR PLACE. I must speak a word against that. Nothing could be farther
from the truth! If Christ was indeed “made sin” for us, then pray tell me HOW
SIN CAN ATONE FOR SIN? How could He die FOR US if WHAT WE DO and WHAT WE ARE
were imputed or imparted unto Him? The very idea is a
contradiction – an unmitigated absurdity. It simply cannot be done. SIN ATONES
FOR NOTHING. There is no way under heaven that you can do away with sin by
offering up sin! The primary requirement for the sin-offering was that it be
“without spot” and “without blemish” in every respect.
The words “to be” are not in the original. Literally it is, “He has made
Him sin for us…” But what is meant by this? What is the exact idea that the
Holy Spirit intended to convey? It cannot be that He was literally sin in the
abstract, or sin as such. Nor can it mean that He was a sinner, for it is said
in the same statement that “He knew no sin,” and it is everywhere said that He
was holy, harmless, undefiled and separate from
sinners. Nor can it mean in any proper sense of the word that He was guilty, or
even accounted as guilty, for then He deserved to die, and His death could have
no more merit than that of any other guilty being; and if He were properly
guilty, it would make no difference in this respect whether it was by His own
fault or by imputation: a guilty being deserves to be punished; and where there
is desert of punishment there can be no merit in sufferings. All theories that
try to make our pure, holy, spotless Redeemer to BE SIN, or sinful, or guilty,
border on blasphemy and are abhorrent to all who know and love the truth. It is
the cornerstone of the whole economy of redemption that the sin-offering MUST
BE PURE and therefore acceptable to God and efficacious for man. “Forasmuch as
ye know that ye were not redeemed by such corruptible things as silver and
gold… but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb WITHOUT BLEMISH AND
WITHOUT SPOT” (I Pet. 1:18-19). Not, my friend, a lamb MADE SIN, BUT A LAMB
without blemish. “How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the
eternal Spirit offered Himself WITHOUT SPOT to God, purge your conscience from
dead works to serve the living God?” (Heb. 9:14). Ah, He did not offer Himself
AS SIN, but WITHOUT SPOT!
But if the declaration that He was made “sin” does not mean that He
became the embodiment of imputed sin or the personification of sin itself, or
sinful, or guilty, then what can it mean? The answer is simple – once the Old
Testament terminology relating to the sin-offering is understood. There are
many passages in the Old Testament where the word “sin” is used in the sense of
the “sin-offering”, or a sacrifice for sin. Hosea 4:8 says, “They eat up the
sin of my people,” a reference to the apostate priests who ate the sin offering
of the people, an act prohibited by law, for the flesh of the sin-offering was
to be wholly burned by fire without the camp. These priests did not eat SIN –
they ate the SIN OFFERING. Often in the Hebrew language a noun may be omitted
and the adjective used as the noun. For example, in the tabernacle there was
the
The same principle is used with the terms “sin” and “sin-offering”. In numerous places
in the Old Testament the single Hebrew word GHATTAHTH is used for either SIN or
SIN-OFFERING. In such cases the word for “offering” is not in the original at
all, although it appears in the English versions. A careful study will show conclusively
that in the Hebrew language the single word “sin” was frequently used for
“sin-offering” and the context alone determines whether sin as a trespass is
meant, or an offering for sin. With the foregoing facts in mind it should be
obvious to every reverent heart that Paul is not by any means trying to tell us
that the pure, spotless, holy, unblemished and
undefiled Lamb of God was MADE IMPURE, UNHOLY, DEFILED AND BLEMISHED – SIN for
us! The moment He became sin He would have been disqualified for being our
sin-offering! Ah, the wonderful truth is that He who knew no sin thereby became
the perfect, spotless, unblemished SIN-OFFERING for us, that we might be MADE
THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD IN HIM – that altogether Holy One! I must insist most
emphatically that the Christ was never “made sin”. He was a sin-offering. What
a difference! What a wonder! How much more logical! And how much more beautiful
and blessed!
Sin is from the Greek word HAMARTIA meaning “to miss the mark”, as
though you were running a race and came in second. You missed the mark, you fell short of your goal so that you do not share
in the prize. That’s the original term. As for missing the mark, a baseball
manager once resigned with the comment, “I have not done what I set out to do,”
thus speaking for every man. We have all missed the mark in life because of
sin. It’s a nature. You can’t get rid of it. The whole
human race is infected. Sin is often symbolized in scripture by leprosy –
because leprosy is an incurable condition. It begins small and insignificant
and it spreads and grows bigger and bigger until it completely rots the flesh
of the whole body. That’s what sin is. Leprosy is no major problem in our
modern society, but the disease of our generation that serves the same example
would be AIDS.
It is like the mother that contracts AIDS and then passes it on to her
baby. The baby can’t help it, the baby did nothing wrong, the baby is the
victim – the mother is responsible. There is a world of difference between
premeditation and spontaneous action – this difference is acknowledged by our
laws and taken into consideration in our courts. Because of Adam’s reckless
exposure to the virus of sin and death we were born sinners. Do you wonder why
people are on drugs, why women are in prostitution, why men are out here
robbing and murdering, why people are carnal, selfish, and spiritually blind?
Do you wonder why even you sometimes have the thoughts and desires that run
through your mind and stir your emotions and you act in ways that disturb you?
That’s the nature of old Adam! That’s the sickness of sin! “For that which I do
I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that I do. Now
then it is no more I that do it, but
sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth
no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is
good I find not. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: but I
see another law in my members, warring against the law of my (spiritual) mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which
is in my members” (Rom. 5:15-23).
All mankind is victim of the disease passed on to them from Adam. They
have not personally or maliciously “chosen” to rebel against God or disobey His
commandments. That child that is born in the slums; the child of a harlot and a
whoremonger; a child without a name, who grows up with the brand of shame upon
his brow from the beginning; who grows up amidst vice, and never knows virtue
until it is steeped in vice – is such a child in personal, deliberate
and intentional disobedience and hostility toward God? That child that grows up
amidst falsehood, and never knows what truth is until it is steeped in lies;
that never knows what honesty is until it is steeped in crime – has such a
child personally, deliberately and intentionally
chosen to be the enemy of God? That child born in a communist land and in a
godless home; who is told by its government and taught by its teachers that
there is no God in heaven, and never knows even a verse of scripture until it
is steeped in unbelief and infidelity – is that child purposely, deliberately and maliciously hostile toward God? That child
born in a religious home, never knowing the transforming grace of God until it
is steeped in false religion, superstitions, folklore, traditions, powerless
rituals, empty ceremonies and static creeds – is that
child intentionally denying the truth about God? Are not one and all victims of
ignorance, darkness, blindness, confusion and
helplessness? “This I say therefore, that ye henceforth walk not as other
Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, having the understanding darkened,
being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them,
because of the blindness of their heart” (Eph. 4:17-18). “Wherefore gird up the
loins of your mind as obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to
the former lusts in you ignorance” (I Pet. 1:13-14).
How can a man who is a slave and a captive of the devil be perpetrating
deliberate rebellion against God? Impossible! Adam sold us out. Adam gave us no
choice in bringing his progeny under the workings of iniquity. When Adam entered into sin, he did not consult with any one of us as
to our desire concerning anything he did. None of us had any power or any
choice in the condition in which we entered this world. WE WERE NOT SINNERS BY
CHOICE, as we have erroneously been told. We are “born in sin, and sharpened in
iniquity,” with the carnal nature in us from the moment we leave the womb.
Being “dead in trespasses and sins,” dead to God, dead to truth, dead to
purity, dead to reality, the Adamic race was no longer capable of making a
choice or decision for salvation. How truly the apostle articulated our true
state: “And you… were dead in trespasses and sins: wherein in time past ye
walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the
power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience;
among whom also we all had our conversation in time past in the lusts of our
flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and WERE BY NATURE
THE CHILDREN OF WRATH, even as others” (Eph. 2:2-3). And again, “If our gospel
be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: in whom the
god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the
light of the glorious gospel of Christ should shine unto them” (II Cor. 4:3-4).
The great apostle Paul said this about himself: “Who was before a blasphemer,
and persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, BECAUSE I DID IT
IGNORANTLY IN UNBELIEF” (I Tim. 1:13).
Even the murderers of the Lord Jesus did not commit their heinous sin
maliciously, deliberately, or knowingly. The scriptures boldly acknowledge the
fact. “The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers,
hath glorified His Son Jesus; whom ye delivered up, and denied Him in the
presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let Him go. But ye denied the
Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be
granted unto you; and killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the
dead; whereof we are witnesses. And now, brethren, I wot that through ignorance
ye did it, as did also your rulers” (Acts 3:13-17).
Notice the term “through ignorance” – the very same expression used in
Leviticus chapter four of the class of sins forgiven through the sin-offering!
And again, “But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden
wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: which none of the
princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would NOT HAVE
CRUCIFIED THE LORD OF GLORY” (I Cor. 2:7-8). Then of the High Priesthood of our
Lord Jesus Christ it is written, “For every high priest taken from among men is
ordained for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and
sacrifices for sins: who can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that
are out of the way…” (Heb. 5:1-2).
The testimony of God standeth sure –
unregenerate men are the victims of Adam’s transgression. Just as the mother
who passes AIDS to her child, Adam is responsible. The children are victims.
They sin through ignorance, they fall short by nature, they cannot help
themselves. And that is just the glory of the sin-offering. It was ordained
specifically and exclusively for unintentional sins! And Jesus became the
sin-offering for the whole world! Therefore, the whole race of men is forgiven,
their sin covered. Jesus Himself confirmed the unspeakable wonder of this at
the very moment He became the world’s sin-offering. He was surrounded by sinful
and wicked men who were involved in His death, as the scripture says, “For of a
truth against Thy holy child Jesus, whom Thou hast anointed, both Herod, and
Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered
together, for to do whatsoever Thy hand and Thy counsel determined before to be
done” (Acts 4:27-28).
And right in the midst of all these planned
events, when Jesus was on the cross, there arose above all the cries of the
multitude those wonderful words of Jesus, “FATHER, FORGIVE THEM!” Some of the
Jews were ridiculing. The soldiers were gambling over His garments. The priests
and Pharisees were gloating in their triumph over the Nazarene. The disciples,
family and friends of Jesus were all mourning in despair and fleeing in
desperation. There is no doubt that Jesus was suffering excruciating pain. But
up and out of all that turmoil, hatred, and despair, those wonderful and
compelling words ascended, “FATHER, FORGIVE THEM!” Why? Why forgive them?
Because He loved them? That is not what He said. Because it was the Father’s will? He didn’t say that. Because of His great
compassionate heart and holy nature? Not at all. He called upon the Father to
forgive them “for THEY KNOW NOT WHAT THEY DO!” “Father, forgive them because
they don’t know their right hand from their left; they sin in ignorance; they
don’t mean it against you; their sin is unintentional!”
That’s what Jesus said. That is the Voice from the cross. That is the
assessment by Jesus of Nazareth of the wickedness of men of all generations,
for we all nailed Him to the tree. How many ministers say that there is no
forgiveness until you recite the sinner’s prayer? Nearly all of them. But God
is asked, by His Son, Jesus, to forgive His persecutors. They were people who
had not recited the sinner’s prayer. There is no repentance at all. Can God
forgive without repentance? I’ve heard people say, “There’s no chance of a
beautiful person who’s born and raised in a country, that’s never heard about
God or Jesus or the Bible, to go to heaven because they’ve never met Jesus as
their Saviour. They’ve never repented of their sins.”
Ah, but there’s another reason for God to forgive people. I find it quite easy
to forgive someone who shows repentance. I find it easy also to forgive them if
I really know that they didn’t know that they were doing something wrong.
“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” It is possible for God
to forgive those who really don’t know what they have done. And that’s the
WHOLE WORLD! That is why Jesus said to the woman taken in adultery, “Neither do
I condemn thee.” It wasn’t that she hadn’t sinned. And there is no record of
her repentance. Jesus knew what was in man. He understood the condition of man
more perfectly than any that ever lived. He perceived the true nature of all
things. And He was the most merciful and gracious and forgiving of all men.
Certainly He was! And He became the sin-offering for the entire race, blessed
be His wonderful name. Oh, the mystery of it! Oh, the wonder of it!
I recently read a beautiful and redemptive story about Abraham Lincoln.
Abe Lincoln passed a slave market in
It has been said that if the average Christian knew what his Bible is
talking about, he would burn it as a dangerous and heretic writing. There is
much more truth to this statement than most of us like to admit. Religion is
founded on error. While professing to believe and teach the Word of God, yet it
can do nothing but contradict it. Most of its efforts are therefore an attempt
to make the Word conform to its own ignorant imaginings. While it loudly
proclaims the Bible to be true and professes to believe it, yet it must
continually change and explain its truths in such a way as to make them uphold
its own reasonings. The church systems cannot face the full revelation of fact.
They cannot take the Bible as it actually is. That
would destroy their own man-made doctrines. In order to
continue to exist they must teach that “this” means “that.” Hence their
converts are made into unbelievers through their system of “interpreting” the
scriptures according to their own delusions, instead of believing them as the
Holy Spirit of Truth means them.
The whole system is very sly and sinister and deceptive. Under the guise
of holding to and contending for the faith, it destroys faith completely, in
that it completely destroys one’s trust in the
infinite love and omnipotent power of the almighty Father and supplants that
trust with a total dependence upon what some ignorant man says “about” God and
His great plan. It confuses men so completely that the ministers in the churches
are made mere parrots, to repeat over and over again
what someone else taught them to say. That is what their schools are for. God’s
ministers are those who have come to the place where they dare to believe God,
though it makes all men liars. And anyone who will serve the Lord faithfully by
declaring His truth is bound to be unpopular with all the ministers in
apostasy, because he must then continually expose their shame.
Now here is the wonderful truth about the sin-offering – Christ on
But He did not die in vain! He was not a failure! Hallelujah!
Jesus gave His life for the life of
the world. That ends the matter for all time and eternity. Thank God, the good
old Book is true! Thank God, John 4:42 is actually true
after all! “This is indeed the Christ, the Saviour OF
THE WORLD.” Thank God, Romans 3:23 is really true!
“For A-L-L have sinned, and come short of the glory of
God; BEING JUSTIFIED FREELY BY HIS GRACE.” Thank God, Romans 5:18 is actually the fully inspired Word of God, “Wherefore as by
the offense of one judgment came upon ALL MEN to condemnation, even so by the
righteousness of One THE FREE GIFT CAME UPON A-L-L MEN UNTO JUSTIFICATION OF
LIFE!” Thank God, I John 2:2 is not an infamous fairy tale! “And He is the
propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also FOR THE SINS OF THE
W-H-O-L-E W-O-R-L-D.” Thank God, I Timothy 4:10 is actually
true, “God, who is the Saviour of A-L-L MEN,
SPECIFICALLY OF THOSE THAT BELIEVE!”
All men have life because of
It is so very essential in our walk
with God that we clearly understand that when the Christ came into the world He
knew precisely why He had come and
exactly when each step of His
world-changing work would be accomplished. He knew not only the day and the
hour when He would die, bearing the sins of all mankind, but also the very
moment of time. While hanging on the cross that Passover day, He was aware that
the hour of the slaying of the Paschal Lamb, which under the law prefigured and
typified HIM, the true Lamb of God which takes away the sin of the world, had
arrived, and that the high priest of Israel with knife upraised was about to
take the life of the little lamb. At that moment the crucial cry echoed and
re-echoed from the cross, “It is finished!” He paid the debt of all our
transgressions bearing the whole world’s sin, even the awful sin of His
betrayal and rejection. Our Lord’s ministry lasted just three and a half years,
and on that Passover day in A.D. 31, Jesus fulfilled all the elaborate ritual
of the law of Moses. His sacrifice did indeed “make an end of sins” and it was
at the exact time “in the middle of the (70th) week.” Ah, yes, it is accomplished!
Can you not see what vast and
glorious riches are now given to us in redemption! Here man is restored to the
inheritance forfeited by Adam. Jesus Christ came to bring to man again the
richness and transcendence of God’s eternal purpose. Never has the earth been
shaken with such a ministry as that of the first begotten Son of God. Never did
mortal eyes behold such power. Never had ears heard such words of wisdom. Never
had the oppressed found such judgment or sinners such mercy and grace. Never
was nature moved by such authority. And then He died and arose amidst the
rending of rocks, the darkening of skies, and the appearance of angels. He rose
from the grave and walked again the lowly realms of earth in the sight of His
disciples and before many witnesses who watched in awe as the glory of God
enfolded His being and lifted Him to heaven in their sight. Then came the
transforming glory of Pentecost as the Holy Spirit with the sound
as of a mighty rushing wind fell upon the waiting company as they sat in
holy expectation. Tongues of fire sat upon them all. It was not for show or
excitement that the fire was manifested, but to transform men of weakness to
men of power and change sons of men into sons of God.
To be
continued… J.
PRESTON EBY
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