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THE K I N G ’ S BUS I NE S S three years and a half, is in accord with the Word of the Lord recorded in Mat thew 24:22, “ Except those days he shortened, there should no flesh he saved.” During these seventeen and a half days the vials are poured out in rapid succession on the Beast, i. e., the revived imperial power of Rome then apostate. Instead, therefore, of the great tribulation lasting 1277% days, exactly three years and a half, it is shortened to 1260 days. How exact is Scripture! How perfect is the Word of God! “ TELL Messiah the Prince.” The two first computations, i. e., 49 and 434 years added, make 482 years, or 69 weeks from the commandment to restore Jerusalem (Neh. 2) till “ Mes siah the Prince” (Matt. 21:1-10). What is meant by this latter expression has been a difficulty to some. The refer ence is undoubtedly to Christ; but is it to His birth, or His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, Or to His death? Ob serve the terms of the prophecy. It concerns “ thy city,” that is Jerusalem, the city of the great King; it cannot, therefore, apply to His birth in Bethle hem; neither does it speak of His death as a victim for sin, for that comes after the completion of the sixty-ninth week and before' the opening of the seven tieth (v. 26). The prophecy refers to “ the Prince”—His royalty, not suffer ing. We are convinced, therefore, that the sublime prophetic sight afforded us six days before the Lord suffered, when amid the acclaim of the multitude He was hailed as King on His way to the holy city and as Son of David in Jerusa lem, is the fulfilment of “ till Messiah the Prince.” Observe, very carefully, that after the building of the city and “ after” Messiah had come and presented Him self to Israel according to Zechariah 9:9, which compare with Matthew 21:5, a period of 483 years, certain events
come in before the seventieth week opens. What are these events? They are plainly noted in verse 26 (Dan. 9 ); Messiah cut off; Jerusalem destroyed by the Romans,.and a time of desola tion “ determined” upon the city and people. The course, then, of the seven ty weeks was interrupted by. certain events happening between the sixty- ninth and the seventieth weeks. The whole ran on consecutively till the six ty-ninth had run its course, then comes a break, in which, amongst other things, Christ is cut off, and a lengthened per iod of desolation determined upon Ju dea. During this long and present desolation upon God’s ancient people the Church is being called out. Israel has been judicially set aside as God’s witness on earth, and the Gentile pro fessing body, the olive tree (Rom. 11), is now called in to occupy Israel’s place of public testimony (Rom. 11). When the Church is gathered Christ comes from Heaven and takes her to Himself, then to the Father’s house, and on to His kingdom and glory. The Long Break. Thus the long break between these last weeks is doubly characterised: (1) by Jerusalem’s utter desolation still go ing on, the subject of prophetic testi mony; (2) by the calling out of the Church, also going on, the subject of apostolic ministry. The long interval of grace is closed by the translation of the heavenly saints to the air (1 Thess. 4:17). The history of Christiani ty amongst the Gentiles is the subject of the Epistles and the Acts, and has its place during the parenthesis. When the interval closes, the seventieth week, or closing seven years, will commence with the prince (whose people, the Ro mans, destroyed Jerusalem in the year 70), making an alliance with the apostate part of the nation then re stored to the land and owning the Anti christ as prophet and king. The rela-
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