No problem at all Joe. Thanks for your comments.... Here is some of my thoughts....
CONTINUED FROM THE PREVIOUS POST...
THE 70TH WEEK
At the start of the 70th week (483 years), Christ started His ministry on earth to fulfill the covenant He made with Abraham:
Matt 3:13 Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him. 14 But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? And Jesus answering said unto him, 15 Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. Then he suffered him.
Gal 3:17 And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect. 18 For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise.
At this time, the final 7 year week of Daniel’s Seventy weeks of years commenced. When this last week of years is completed for the heirs, all the goals of Dan 9:24 will be fulfilled.
To complete this mission, Christ willingly went to the cross at the 3 ½ year mark and was cut off.
This event at the cross stopped the literal countdown of the last 7 years remaining of Daniel’s prophecy. The remaining 3 ½ years will be fulfilled spiritually under the New Covenant of Grace through Faith.
At the cross, Christ’s sacrifice provided the Pathway to Salvation for mankind. As a result of Christ’s death and resurrection, the Old Covenant of Law was fulfilled and the New Covenant of Grace through Faith began. This change is shown to us by verse 27:
Dan 9:27 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 until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
Christ’s death on the cross caused the
sacrifice and the oblation to cease. No longer can mankind approach God through the Old Covenant of Law (man’s works). Now the only approach to God is under the New Covenant of Grace through Faith in Jesus Christ who will perform all the necessary works for mankind’s salvation.
The New Covenant is also a spiritual covenant. In other words, all the works which Christ will perform are done
within mankind. To be saved, we all must be spiritually converted from being a child of the Devil to being a child of God.
With this change from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant, God will longer dwell in a physical temple.
His new temple will be made without hands. This new temple is mankind.
Mark 14:58 We heard him say, I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and within three days I will build another made without hands.
1Cor 3:16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
THE REMAINING 3 ½ YEARS
The last 3 ½ years of Daniel’s prophecy is also presented in scripture as
Time, Times and half a time,
1260 days, and
42 months. These terms are spiritual symbols and do not represent literal time.
At the beginning of the final age, the remaining 3 ½ years of Daniel’s prophecy will be fulfilled for both the OT Faithful and the Elect. Christ will accomplish this goal by causing them to fully travel the Pathway to Salvation which He established and taught in the vision presented to Daniel and in His other teachings in scripture.
At the core of this pathway is the
Early and Latter Rains.
THE EARLY AND LATTER RAIN
The remaining 3 ½ years
starts WITHIN a person when they receive the
Early Rain of the Spirit from Christ. The 3 1/2 years
ends when the believer receives the
Latter Rain of the Spirit.
For additional details on the Early and Latter Rain, please read the paper entitled “A. The Great Mystery of the Church”.
James also presents the Early and Latter Rain below:
Jam 5:7 Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the EARLY and LATTER rain. 8 Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.
James says a lot in these two verses and its meaning is hidden in spiritual language.
Christ is the Husbandman (farmer). The Precious Fruit of the Earth is the child of God who will be harvested from the Earth. The Earth represents the carnal & sinful world (mankind). The farmer “hath long patience for it” because birthing many new children of God is a long process which is just getting started in this age with the harvest of the First-Fruits.
At the end of verse 7, James says that the growing season for Christ’s harvest of mankind starts with the Early Rain. It is at this point in time that an unbeliever becomes a called out Christian. The Early Rain represents the receiving of a measured amount of the Holy Spirit. However, the Early Rain of the Spirit is not sufficient for them to grow to maturity and produce fruit. It leaves the new believer carnally minded and spiritually blind.
Because of these spiritual deficiencies, the called out believer needs Christ to return with Latter Rain of the Spirit. The Latter Rain is also known as the Baptism of the Spirit. However, this rain will not fall on the believer until the established time for their individual 3 ½ years period comes to an end.
Later in James, he mentions the drought that occurs between the Early and Latter Rains:
James 5:17 Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.
During this time of Elijah’s 3 ½ years of drought, a called out believer will attempt to combine their own works with Grace through Faith (can't serve two masters,
Mat 6:24). As a result, they will
fall away. Falling away happens when a believer turns to religion (own works) for salvation.
Religion is Satan’s prescribed way of approaching God. And since Satan masquerades as Christ, he will tempt the believer to approach God through religion. He does this by sending the spirit of anti-Christ to the believer. When Satan’s temptations are coupled with man’s carnal nature (which prefers works over faith), the believer easily and quickly falls away.
Luke 5:39 No man also having drunk old wine straightway desires the new: for he saith, The old is better.
When Satan’s deceptions run their full course within the believer, a worsened carnal state is developed.
Christ said it this way:
Mat 12:43 When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none. 44 Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. 45 Then goeth he, and taketh with himself SEVEN other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation.
The "
SEVEN other spirits" is a spiritual term that represents the
spirit of anti-Christ which will cause a worsened carnal state to develop within the believer. With this worsened carnal state, the believer is now given a new name called the
Man of Sin, the son of perdition:
2Thes 2:1 Now we beseech you, brethren, by the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, 2 That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the Day of Christ is at hand. 3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that MAN OF SIN be revealed, the son of perdition; 4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
Once this worsened carnal state occurs within a believer, it will cause the “overspreading of abominations” (
Dan 9:27) which makes the Lord’s temple (themselves) desolate.
In this age, if a believer has been chosen as one of Christ’s First Fruits, Christ will come to them a second time before they physically die. When Christ comes, He will bring the Latter Rain of the Spirit to them. With this outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the believer will be born again and converted. The 3 ½ years remaining of Daniel’s prophecy will be fulfilled for them and they will receive their inheritance.
If the believer has not been chosen, they will physically die in their worsened carnal state, leaving their 3 ½ years unfulfilled. Later, when the bodily resurrection occurs, they will enter into the final age still in their worsened carnal state. It is at this point that the Day of the Lord arrives for them. Their judgment will continue until they have paid the last penny. After their judgment is complete, Christ will pour out the Latter Rain of the Spirit upon them. At that time, the 3 ½ years will be fulfilled within them and they will receive their promised inheritance.
CONTINUED ON THE NEXT POST...