day? or shall a nation be bom at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children.” Righteous ness w ill come and make its abode with mankind for ever. As it is everlasting righteousness, it will never depart. The second is “ to seal up the vision and prophecy.” They will be sealed up and will be fulfilled, so will be no longer needed. God has told us what is to take place and a true fulfillment is sure. The third is “to anoint the most Holy.” The refer ence is either to the most holy One, Jesus Christ, or to the most holy place, the innermost sanctuary of the re built temple. In that day our Lord Jesus Christ will be anointed as the Messiah, King. The reason for the anoint ing is our Lord’s righteousness. “ Thou lovest righteous ness, and hatest iniquity (wickedness): therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows” (Pis. 45:7). Holiness will be the dominant characteristic in the day to come. “ In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses, HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD; and the pots in the Lord’s house shall be like the bowls before the altar. Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the Lord of hosts” (Zech. 14:20, 21). The starting time was “ the going forth of the com mandment to restore and to build Jerusalem.” There were three or four decrees within the next hundred years for the rebuilding of the Temple. But there was only one for the rebuilding of the city, that which was given in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes. Nehemiah asked him that he would send him to Judah to the city of his fathers’ sepulchres that he might build it. The king granted the request (Neh. 2:8). From this decree “unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and three score and two weeks.” Our Lord was the Messiah, the anointed One, a word which is the Hebrew equivalent to the Greek word Christ. Christ was the anointed one of God and a few days before His last Passover He came to Jerusalem as such. As Matthew (21:5, 9) puts it: “Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass.” “And the multitudes that went before and that followed, cried, saying, Hosan na to the Son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.” The period from the decree which was made in B.C. 445 to this manifestation was to be 483 years. Sir Robert Anderson has calculated with most meticulous care that this period ended on 6th April A.D. 32, the date when the Lord rode into Jerusalem. Then Messiah was to be “ cut off.” Isaiah (53:8) has put it: “ He was cut off out of the land of the living.” He was condemned to death by the Jewish rulers, and so was cut off from the congregation of Israel. By cruci fixion He was cut off from the living. This took place when He was less than 40 years of age and so in the full bloom of manhood. Yet such death was “not for himself’ or “He shall have nothing.” Everything that should have been His as Messiah was denied Him. He was not acknowledged by the people and they rejected Him in favor of Caesar. The sixty-ninth week has taken place, but nothing is said of the period which was to elapse before the seventieth week. It was the time of Israel’s rejection, and God does not count the time when this is taking place. As Israel has rejected her Messiah, a period of nearly 2,000 years has gone and still the seventieth week has not begun. Before that takes place serious events are to take place in Israel. “ The people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary.” Israel will meet the followers of Antichrist. JULY, 1962
The Antichrist “ shall confirm the covenant with many for one week.” That is the seventieth week. The covenant is made with the apostate Jews. Persecution will be at its height, and they will be prepared to do almost anything to escape its fury. They were confident that they had done well. “We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us” (Isa. 28:15), they affirm. God had foreseen this move and warned Israel of their folly. “Your covenant with death shall be dis annulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand” (Isa. 28:18). The reason is simple: Antichrist will break the cove nant. He will cause “ the sacrifice and the oblation to cease.” He will want to draw them away from Jehovah that they might worship him alone. He will desecrate the holy place and cause his own image to be placed crime AROUND THE CLOCK Four serious crimes ocaMtia each minute in 1960. One murder ocr.nrredÆvlfar 58 minutes. One forcible,.rape occurred every,34 minutes. One robbe^^oRurred every 6 rmftutes. One aggrariited assaijlt qçcurrécWeVefyji4cminutes. One burglary occurred.eisery 39 seconds. One serious lareéhj#($50 and over) occurred each minute. One; autcPmm occurred; every 2 minutes. One; crime of murder,»forcible rape, or assault ;to kill occurred every 3 npnptes. The tètal number of criminal acts wltTch occur is! unknown qnd unmeasurable; however, based on reports to law enforcement agencies in I960, the total figuré for the Uni fed States was 14 percent higher than in 1959, or ¿30,870 Afore serious crimes thari committed in: 1959. (fF.B.I. Records.} ~ Thé Billie Ksaÿs. that “the whole ;v\fojid lieth in the lap of the wicked one.” M ay we as Christians re deem the tirhe knowing that the days are exceedingly evil. there, what our Lord calls “ the abomination of desola tion” (Matt. 24:15), in order that it may be worshipped. This is the signal for the Jews that are in Judea to flee into the mountains. So sudden will be the crisis that anyone on the housetop must not go inside to get any thing. Instead of being a friend and ally to them, Anti christ will turn against them and will persecute them to the death. He will be allowed to tread on Israel for three and a half years. God has put a limit on its dura tion. This will continue until the reappearance of Him whom they pierced (Rev. 1:7). He will consume him “ with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy (him) with the brightness of his coming” (2 Thess. 2:8). As we see the power and plans of wicked men and understand the awful havoc they would work, we should be dismayed if it were not for one fact; the Lord is still on the Throne. As this prophecy of Daniel reveals, He has the whole matter in His hand. We believe that it will be as He has said, and that gives us confidence in the midst of fears. 15
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