Note: J. Preston Eby, in order to continue to devote his full energy to writing no longer works in the office and does not receive this email. He does, however, respond to any urgent correspondence via snailmail.

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THE SEVENTY WEEKS OF DANIEL

Part 5

SEALING UP THE VISION AND THE PROPHECY

“Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city… to seal up the vision and prophecy,” meaning to complete and finalize it. Thus the 490 years bring us to the end of the prophecy, to the end of the physical kingdom of the house of Judah, to the end of the old covenant, to the end of the temple and its service, to the end of the priesthood of Levi, to the end of the sacrifices and oblations, to the end of all the prophecies of the book of Daniel, and unto the new and higher and spiritual order brought by the Messiah, our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ. At the conclusion of the seventieth week all this is “sealed up,” completed, finished. The old order has forever passed away. It no longer has any meaning, any spiritual significance, any power or authority, or any validity or relevance at all. As Jesus cried out upon the cross, “It is finished!”

ANOINTING THE MOST HOLY

“Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city… to anoint the Most Holy” (Dan. 9:24). The Amplified Bible renders this, “…and to anoint a Holy of Holies.” Moffatt’s translation reads, “…and to consecrate a most sacred Place.” The reference is without any doubt to the Most Holy place of the temple. And since the temple in Jerusalem was destined to be destroyed, as alluded to in this same prophecy of Gabriel, and as Jesus Himself pronounced that it would be, with not one stone left upon another, it is obvious that this Most Holy Place is that of the New Testament temple built up of living stones. At Christ’s crucifixion, in the midst of this last week (A.D. 31), He became the supreme and Perfect sacrifice for all mankind. And, at the precise moment of His death, in the middle of this week, the veil in the temple of Jerusalem which represents His body (Heb. 10:20), was torn from the top to the bottom, signifying that the way into the Holy of Holies of God’s presence, glory, and power is now open to all. Previously the High Priest alone could enter, and that but once a year, with blood, to make atonement for the sins of the people. But now we are assured that “…it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. Wherefore when He cometh into the world, He saith, Sacrifice and offering Thou wouldest not, but a body hast Thou prepared me… then said He, Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God. He taketh away the first (sacrificial order of animals), that He may establish the second. By the which will (of God) we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all. And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: but this man, after He had offered one sacrifice for the sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; from henceforth expecting till His enemies be made His footstool. For by one offering He hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. Wherefore the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that He had said before, This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them: and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest (Holy of Holies) by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which He consecrated (anointed) for us, through the veil, that is to say, His flesh: and having an high priest over the house of God; let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith” (Heb. 10:4-5, 9-22).

One of the greatest truths in God’s glorious depository of truth is this: The Lord dwells not in temples made with hands! They are but shadowy figures of the true. “What temple will ye build me?” saith the Lord. So wherever we see a reference to a temple of the present or the future, it must refer to “the true sanctuary, and the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man” (Heb. 8:2). Furthermore, there is only one such tabernacle, or temple. The scripture nowhere tells of two, or three, or one hundred; one away off somewhere in space where Jesus is ministering, another in Jerusalem built by the Jews, and another spiritual one composed of living stones. Oh, no! There is but ONE temple, ONE great High Priest, and ONE royal priesthood. So when the priests of old served “unto the example and shadow of heavenly (spiritual) things,” those heavenly things were the same that Moses saw in the mount, and the same heavenly and spiritual things to which we, God’s spiritual and heavenly people, have now come, for, we “are come unto mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem” (Heb. 12:22). None of these are a future reality to be entered into after we die, or after Jesus returns. We ARE COME! Let us never forget that fact!

Would God that all the saints might see that God’s purpose from the foundation of the world has been the building of a spiritual house, a holy temple, an eternal abiding place in which He can be at home, and in which place He and His creation can meet. As Ray Prinzing has pointed out, “The ultimate goal of God’s purpose being wrought out through the ages, is to have a people with whom, in whom to dwell, a place where He can PRESENCE HIMSELF without controversy, and say, ‘This is my rest forever: here will I dwell; for I have desired it’ (Ps. 132:14). So He is preparing man, both individually and corporately, to be partakers of His divine nature, to be IN HIS OWN IMAGE, so that He might have communion with them.

“God said to Moses, ‘Let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them’ (Ex. 25:8). Sanctuary – literally, a place set apart. It was necessary for them to set apart a little area of earth with a tent on it, for His place of dwelling. But this was only an interim thing, for He yet planned to SET APART A PEOPLE for Himself. But for the time being, Israel had too much of Egypt’s god in them, along with all their own self-will and rebellion, so God said, ‘I will not go up in the midst of thee; for thou art a stiff-necked people: lest I consume thee in the way. So Moses took the tabernacle, and pitched it without the camp, afar off from the camp, and called it the Tabernacle of the congregation. And it came to pass, that everyone that sought the Lord went out unto the Tabernacle of the congregation, which was without the camp’ (Ex. 33:3, 7).

“What a commentary on the state of the people, that even though God had brought them up out of Egypt, so ‘that I might dwell among them,’ yet there was so much controversy in them, they had to set apart a place outside the camp for Him, where they might go and find Him. Had He stayed in the camp He would have consumed them, for, ‘our God is a consuming fire,’ consuming all that is not one in His holiness. And so we read, ‘Wherefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered without the gate. Let us go forth therefore unto Him without the camp…’ (Heb. 13:12-13). And so there has been a going without the camp – beyond the forms of religion, beyond symbol and ceremony, to be joined with Him in one spirit. We leave all else behind, that He might become First and Foremost in our life. And in this union with Him, we find that we are BECOMING HIS TEMPLE, ‘Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone. In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit’” (Eph. 2:20, 22).

The tabernacle of Moses in the wilderness and the temples of Solomon and Herod upon mount Moriah, were merely shadows of better things to come; merely the natural type of the spiritual reality which Moses saw by the Spirit in the mount. These never did constitute the TRUE TEMPLE of God! How absolutely clear are the inspired words of the apostle, “Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: we have such an High Priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; a minister of the sanctuary and of the TRUE TABERNACLE, which the Lord pitched, and not man.” Jesus is now a minister in the true tabernacle or temple! Concerning the old tabernacle and temple with its priestly ministry the writer to the Hebrews continues, “Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith He, that thou make all things according to the pattern showed thee in the mount.” The tabernacle of old was made as a physical, material copy or representation of the true heavenly and spiritual tabernacle which Moses beheld in the spiritual realm of the heavens of God’s Spirit. What Moses saw in the mount was not physical, material, or earthly; it was heavenly and spiritual! And that which is heavenly and spiritual is the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched, and not man!

We are now come to the true! The true temple is the body of Christ! The temple of the Lord is that vast company of God’s sons who are coming to maturity in the image of Christ. It distresses me to hear preachers constantly proclaiming as fact the old wives’ fable that the temple of God must be rebuilt by the Jews in Israel! May I say in the strongest terms possible that I do not hold any such view! My conviction is the exact opposite – that there never again will be a Jewish temple upon mount Moriah, and never again will men sacrifice the blood of animals either in an effort to cover their sins or as a commemoration. All of the sacrifices of animals in the Old Testament dispensation were to cover the sins of the penitent until such time as the true and eternal Lamb of God should come and once for all manifest God’s forgiveness for every sin of every man and once for all make an end of sin.

I fail to see how anybody could have even a rudimentary understanding of the epistle to the Hebrews and the high-priestly ministry of Jesus Christ, and still believe that animal sacrifice will again be enacted upon the face of the earth! I know that some teachers have said that animal sacrifices will be reinstituted in the land of Israel during the “millennium” as a commemoration of Calvary, but Calvary needs no old covenant commemoration, as the apostle makes plain: “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 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 (commemoration) again made of sins every year. Wherefore when HE cometh into the world, He saith, Sacrifice and offering Thou wouldest not, but a body Thou hast prepared me: in burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin Thou hast had no pleasure. Wherefore the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that He had said before, Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now where remission of these is, THERE IS NO MORE OFFERING FOR SIN” (Heb. 10:1-3, 5-6, 15, 17-18).

In the light of those plain statements, and many more throughout the book of Hebrews, how could anyone even imagine that God would re-establish animal sacrifices to “remember” or “commemorate” the sacrifice that ENDS ALL SACRIFICES! What a contradiction! Perish the thought! It is abomination of the worst sort! It is my conviction that it was the continuation of the animal sacrifices in the old temple, which continued on for many years after the one, true sacrifice had been made, that brought about the desolation of the temple by the Romans in A.D. 70 – as foretold by Daniel, and later by Jesus. The ninth chapter of Hebrews especially deals with the work of Jesus Christ as our great High Priest, and the eleventh verse says that “Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands… 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.” Then the argument is developed that if the blood of sacrificial animals could sanctify to the purifying of the flesh, how much more should the blood of Christ purge our conscience from dead works – external works of the law, sacrifices, offerings, rituals, feast days, and ceremonies. The blood of Christ purges our conscience from these dead works; that is, we no longer sense that they are necessary to please God or to receive anything from Him – our conscience does not condemn us for never doing any of those things! God no longer desires it or requires it! Christ has established a New Covenant built upon better promises and the old is forever abolished! Aren’t you glad!

Listen to the words of Peter as he presses this golden truth home to the understanding hearts of the saints. “If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious. To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, ye also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he that believeth in Him shall not be confounded” (I Pet. 2:3-6).

Our Lord Jesus Christ is remarkable as that cornerstone of this human heavenly temple because not only is Christ the sure foundation in the midst of a world where the pillars are trembling and the foundations are shaken, but He remains ever sure and ever stable and gives His stability to the entire structure. More than that, He is the living stone that communicates that stability to all the other stones that are joined to Him. Praise God that in the midst of all the pressures and testings there is that INNER STABILITY of the Christ! So, we see painted before our eyes a magnificent structure, the living cathedral of Christ rising into the sky, made of living stones. This is the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man! Not a temple of dead stones, but of living stones, each stone a spiritually living person indwelt by the glory of God, whose temple we are. Not covered by glittering gold, but overshadowed by divinity. Not adorned with silver, but displaying the beauty of redemption. Not fashioned with glittering, precious stones, but with the eternal jewels of His own nature, glory, and power! Can we not see that this is the true and eternal “most Holy Place” which was inaugurated and anointed in those heaven-blest days at the end of Daniel’s 70^th week! Oh, the wonder of it!

God will never vacate this heavenly, spiritual temple to return to a temple made with hands! No temple of God, formed from stones and ornamented with cedar and silver and gold, will ever be rebuilt in Jerusalem! The notion of a rebuilt temple is a lie that would be humorous, were it not so ridiculous and absurd. The very thought is a horrible blasphemy! God never goes backward in His purposes, nor does He reinstate the type once the reality has come! The temple that God builds is the temple of which Jesus spoke to the poor, sinful woman at the well of Sychar. She was quibbling about the place to worship God, and He said, “Neither in this mountain, NOR IN JERUSALEM, shall ye worship the Father… the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit (in their own spirits) and in truth (spiritual reality)” (Jn. 4:21-24). And our brother Paul adds this testimony, “Now therefore… ye are built upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone; in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an HOLY TEMPLE in the Lord: in whom ye also are builded together for an HABITATION OF GOD through the Spirit” (Eph. 2:19-22).

Almost two thousand years ago the Lord Jesus spoke to the house of Judah, saying, “Behold, your house is left unto you desolate” (Mat. 23:38). This was a pronouncement of doom upon a city and a nation that had not received its King. He is saying that the presence and the glory and the purpose of God had departed from Judah. God took His presence from the Holy of holies in the temple, leaving their house desolate unto them. Finally, in A.D. 70, He came and destroyed that vacant shell of a building so that not one stone of it was left upon another. He scattered the people of Judah throughout all the earth, abolished their law and their priesthood, ended their sacrifices and offerings, which to this day have never been restored, nor can they be. It seems to me that when the firstborn Son of God was anointed with the fullness of the Holy Spirit the presence and glory of God left the dwelling place in the Holy of holies and came into the firstborn Son of God, taking up His abiding place in human flesh, the first stone of God’s new and eternal temple. All of those years the priests had been offering sacrifices to God who was not in His accustomed dwelling place, though they did not know it. He had left His centuries-old habitation and had moved into a body of flesh, the body of His Son, the true temple of God! All of the world was ignorant of this for we read, “He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not” (Jn. 1:10). And again, standing before Herod’s temple, beholding the stones and the glory thereof, He said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews were furious, demanding, “Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days?” But the record states, “They wist not that He spake of the temple of His body” (Jn. 2:19-21).

At the crucifying of Jesus, God drew a curtain of darkness over the earth and blotted out everything from sight. Beneath the cover of that dense darkness God tore the temple veil from top to bottom so that any carnal, earthly priest of Aaron’s passing order could peer into the Holy of holies, the former abode of God, and plainly see and know that God was not there! This Holy of holies was empty! Ah, what must have been the thoughts of the priesthood as they returned to the temple! What must have been the feelings of the priests who had remained in the temple! When the darkness was lifted and the desolation seen and they discovered that they could come into the Holy of holies and not suffer death! Then they must have known that something catastrophic had taken place. They would not dare breathe a hint of this to the people! They must hide the facts and continue on with the form of the sacrifices as though nothing had happened. And yet, in spite of this, only shortly thereafter we read, “And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith” (Acts 6:7).

God was establishing something entirely new and different! Beneath the cover of darkness God ripped open that veil and let the whole world see that He had departed, leaving that room empty. It was desolate, and now this was the beginning of the end for Jerusalem, the temple, and its priesthood. And I want to say again, in spite of what many tell us, WE WILL NEVER SEE ANOTHER TEMPLE IN JERUSALEM! Are we so foolish even to entertain the impious thought that God would allow the still unbelieving Jews to construct in Jerusalem another desolate temple? To again institute a priesthood offering the blood of goats and calves after Christ has been offered once for all? The very idea is ludicrous!

As we pursue these thoughts concerning the Most Holy Place that has now been anointed and set apart for God’s habitation in us and our habitation in Him, we are brought to that most glorious Psalm that has been such an inspiration to so many all through the years – the ninety-first Psalm. Truly it is a Psalm for those who, while physically on earth, consciously dwell in the heavens of the Spirit! “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in Him will I trust. Surely He shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. He shall cover thee with His feathers, and under His wings shalt thou trust: His truth shall be thy shield and buckler. Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habilitation; there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling…” (Ps. 91:1-11).

The Levitical priesthood in the Old Testament was connected with the secret place of the tabernacle or the temple, the most holy place made with hands, where dwelt the ark of the covenant, the ark of the Lord’s manifest presence, glory, and power. This was the secret place for the Aaronic order of priests, and it was so sacred and so secret that no one dare look upon this place unprepared, uninvited, or unfit lest he die. Only the high priest, and that once each year, was permitted to enter that most secret and sacred spot. The physical and earthly “secret place” of the Aaronic priesthood points forward to the true and spiritual SECRET PLACE OF THE MOST HIGH where again, only those apprehended ones who receive the call, quickened by His Spirit, have boldness to enter in by the blood of Jesus! This is but a parable of the fact that deep within the heart of each of us there is a spiritual temple, a spiritual most holy place, in which the divine presence shines, and where our Father is worshipped with humility and awe and reverence by all who enter there.

The Hebrew word for “secret” means hidden, concealed, protected, disguised. The Hebrew word for “place” indicates standing, spot, locality, condition. Thus this secret place of the most High is a hidden, concealed, protected, and disguised location, condition, and standing. It is not open before the eyes of all men, but is reserved for those prepared for it. It is that deeper spiritual realm “within the veil” whither our Forerunner is for us entered, where the most High may be seen, known, touched, and experienced in all the glorious fullness of Himself!

There is a most holy place within us, in our spirit, where our Lord ever dwells beyond the passions of the soul and the lusts of the flesh; it is there we must enter! No enemy can reach you in this precious retreat: neither can any enemy get you out of it if by faith you abide in HIM. Is the adversary tormenting you with fears and forebodings? Hide away in the secret place where you know the truth as it is in Him! Is there something that is disturbing and distressing you? Hide away in God in the inner sanctum of your spirit; be still before Him there, commit your way unto Him and He will bring it to pass. Are you misunderstood and unjustly accused and maligned? Find the rent place in the veil, Christ, and hide away; for this veil was rent for you and me and for every son of God that our lives might be hid with Christ in God. People who see us in our outer form do not know that we are hiding away in the secret place of the most High! They see only a heavenly, spiritual calm, which abides through every storm and pressure; but God knows we are hiding away in the secret place, and He communes with us there. When we abide in the secret place of His spirit and life, we are as much hidden away as God can hide us. Walking in the conscious awareness of His indwelling presence and His overshadowing power is a secret realm the world cannot see nor comprehend. Those about is see our bodies walking around on earth, just as the ancient Israelites could gaze upon the outward form of the temple; but they do not know that we, who live in these frail tents, are hidden away so that neither man nor devil can find or touch us!

When we take this place and abide there, at every step we prove that Yahweh, the authority of God’s life, the most High, is a wall of fire round us and that He is the glory within. Dear sons of the most High, ABIDE IN HIM! It is alone with our Lord; it is when the strife and opinions of the human have ceased; it is when earth has receded and heaven and eternity have drawn near enough for us to begin to see the unseen, that the voice of our Lord is heard in our hearts, and His beauty appears in His temple! It is in such separation and communion, that His image begins to be manifested. God would have us dwell in His presence until it is the atmosphere we breathe, the breath and source of our life; until it is so our identity and our reality that we are hardly conscious of this holy relation with God as anything distinct from our outer world. O precious Secret Place, O wondrous Habitation, which can only be found when new vision is given to the sons of the most High! O blessed hiding-place where no one but God is with us, and no eye but His beholds us as we perfectly abide there! What strength and power, what refreshing and holy swiftness to those who make the most High their habitation, who dwell in the secret place of the most High!

God is not looking for a temple of stone in which to dwell. GOD HAS A TEMPLE! A temple that the hands of men did not build or plan. He not only will dwell in this temple, but HE IS NOW IN IT! Every stone of this temple is living. Every stone is speaking. Every stone is breathing the breath of eternal, incorruptible life. The living stones in this temple are the members of the body of Christ! They are sons of God and members of HIS CELESTIAL FAMILY. By adding them to Himself God is increasing and expanding Himself, as a man by fathering many sons expands his family and himself. By God’s family of sons the holy temple of the Lord will fill the universe with HIMSELF, for the saints are the fullness of Him who filleth all in all. From this temple of sons God will bless all the peoples and nations of the earth, reconcile all things everywhere to Himself, and rule the unbounded universe in righteousness for evermore. Isn’t it wonderful!

For two thousand years it has been rising on the foundation of the apostles and prophets and the flaming words of the prophet Malachi are even now being fulfilled: “THE LORD, WHOM YE SEEK, SHALL SUDDENLY COME TO HIS TEMPLE. Behold, He shall come, saith the Lord of hosts. But who may abide the day of His coming? and who shall stand when He appeareth? for He is like a refiner’s fire, and like fuller’s soap: and He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and He shall purify the sons of Levi (the spiritual priesthood), and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness” (Mal. 3:1-3). Praise God! He is reigning within His own, to dethrone the man of sin (self-ego, Adamic mind, carnal nature) which sits in the very temple of God, proclaiming himself as god (the ruler), and striving for his own will and way in all things, even the things of God. That self is being dethroned is evident as more and more of God’s elect come to that place where we pray, in spirit and in truth, “not my will, but Thine be done.”

Last night I lay a-sleeping

There came a dream so fair,

I stood in old Jerusalem

Beside the temple there.

I heard the children singing,

And ever as they sang

Methought the voice of angels

From heaven in answer rang,

Methought the voice of angels

From heaven in answer rang.

Jerusalem! Jerusalem!

Lift up your gates and sing,

Hosanna in the highest!

Hosanna to your King!

And then methought my dream was changed,

The streets no longer rang.

Hushed were the glad Hosannas

The little children sang.

The sun grew dark with mystery,

The morn was cold and chill,

As the shadow of a cross arose

Upon a lonely hill,

As the shadow of a cross arose

Upon a lonely hill.

Jerusalem! Jerusalem!

Hark! How the angels sing,

Hosanna in the highest!

Hosanna to your King!

And once again the scene was changed,

New earth there seemed to be,

I saw the Holy City

Beside the tideless sea.

The light of God was on its streets,

The gates were open wide,

And all who would might enter,

And no one was denied.

No need of moon or stars by night,

Or sun to shine by day;

It was the new Jerusalem

That would not pass away.

It was the new Jerusalem

That would not pass away.

Jerusalem! Jerusalem!

Sing for the night is o’er!

Hosanna in the highest!

Hosanna forevermore!

-Fredrick E. Weatherly

To be continued… J. PRESTON EBY

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