Prophecy
"Know
therefore and understand, that from the going
forth of the commandment to restore and to build
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." Daniel
9:25
Fulfillment
"Now after that John was put in prison,
Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of
the kingdom of God,
And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent
ye, and believe the gospel." Mark
1:14-15
"Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius
Pilate being governor of Judaea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his
brother Philip tetrarch of Ituraea and of the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias
the tetrarch of Abilene,
Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests, the word of God came unto John
the son of Zacharias in the wilderness.
And he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance
for the remission of sins;"
Luke 3:1-3 |
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Anointed on Time - Daniel
9:25
No truth is more clearly taught in the Bible than that God by His Holy Spirit
especially directs His servants on earth in the great movements for the carrying
forward of the work of salvation. Men are instruments in the hand of God, employed
by Him to accomplish His purposes of grace and mercy. Each has his part to act;
to each is granted a measure of light, adapted to the necessities of his time,
and sufficient to enable him to perform the work which God has given him to do.
But no man, however honored of Heaven, has ever attained to a full understanding
of the great plan of redemption, or even to a perfect appreciation of the divine
purpose in the work for his own time. Men do not fully understand what God would
accomplish by the work which He gives them to do; they do not comprehend, in
all its bearings, the message which they utter in His name.
"Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty
unto perfection?" "My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your
ways My ways, saith the
Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than
your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts." "I am God, and there
is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times
the things that are not yet done." Job 11:7; Isaiah 55:8, 9; 46:9, 10.
Even the prophets who were favored with the special illumination of the Spirit
did not fully comprehend the import of the revelations committed to them. The
meaning was to be unfolded from age to age, as the people of God should need
the instruction therein contained.
Peter, writing of the salvation brought to light through the gospel, says: Of
this salvation "the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who
prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: searching what, or what manner
of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified
beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. Unto whom
it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister." 1
Peter 1:10-12.
Yet while it was not given to the prophets to understand fully the things revealed
to them, they earnestly sought to obtain all the light which God had been pleased
to make manifest. They "inquired and searched diligently," "searching
what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify." What
a lesson to the people of God in the Christian age, for whose benefit these prophecies
were given to His servants! "Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves,
but unto us they did minister." Witness those holy men of God as they "inquired
and searched diligently" concerning revelations given them for generations
that were yet unborn. Contrast their holy zeal with the listless unconcern with
which the favored ones of later ages treat this gift of Heaven. What a rebuke
to the ease-loving, world-loving indifference which is content to declare that
the prophecies cannot be understood!
Though the finite minds of men are inadequate to enter
into the counsels of the Infinite One, or to understand fully the working out
of His purposes, yet often it is because of some error or neglect on their own
part that they so dimly comprehend the messages of Heaven. Not infrequently the
minds of the people, and even of God's servants, are so blinded by human opinions,
the traditions and false teaching of men, that they are able only partially to
grasp the great things which He has revealed in His word. Thus it was with the
disciples of Christ, even when the Saviour was with them in person. Their minds
had become imbued with the popular conception of the Messiah as a temporal prince,
who was to exalt Israel to the throne of the universal empire, and they could
not understand the meaning of His words foretelling His sufferings and death.
Christ Himself had sent them forth with the message: "The time is fulfilled,
and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel." Mark
1:15. That message was based on the prophecy of Daniel 9. The sixty-nine weeks
were declared by the angel to extend to "the Messiah the Prince," and
with high hopes and joyful anticipations the disciples looked forward to the
establishment of Messiah's kingdom at Jerusalem to rule over the whole earth.
They preached the message which Christ had committed to them, though they themselves
misapprehended its meaning. While their announcement was founded on Daniel 9:25,
they did not see, in the next verse of the same chapter, that Messiah was to
be cut off. From their very birth their hearts had been set upon the anticipated
glory of an earthly empire, and this blinded their understanding alike to the
specifications of the prophecy and to the words of Christ.
They performed their duty in presenting to the Jewish nation the invitation of
mercy, and then, at the very time when they expected to see their Lord ascend
the throne of David, they beheld Him seized as a malefactor, scourged, derided,
and condemned, and lifted up on the cross of
Calvary. What despair and anguish wrung the hearts of those disciples during
the days while their Lord was sleeping in the tomb!
Christ had come at the exact time and in the manner foretold by prophecy. The
testimony of Scripture had been fulfilled in every detail of His ministry. He
had preached the message of salvation, and "His word was with power." The
hearts of His hearers had witnessed that it was of Heaven. The word and the Spirit
of God attested the divine commission of His Son.
After His resurrection Jesus appeared to His disciples on the way to Emmaus,
and, "beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in
all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself." Luke 24:27. The hearts
of the disciples were stirred. Faith was kindled. They were "begotten again
into a lively hope" even before Jesus revealed Himself to them. It was His
purpose to enlighten their understanding and to fasten their faith upon the "sure
word of prophecy." He wished the truth to take firm root in their minds,
not merely because it was supported by His personal testimony, but because of
the unquestionable evidence presented by the symbols and shadows of the typical
law, and by the prophecies of the Old Testament. It was needful for the followers
of Christ to have an intelligent faith, not only in their own behalf, but that
they might carry the knowledge of Christ to the world. And as the very first
step in imparting this knowledge, Jesus directed the disciples to "Moses
and all the prophets." Such was the testimony given by the risen Saviour
to the value and importance of the Old Testament Scriptures.
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