Daniel 9:24-26a, Part 1

"24 Seventy weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place. 25 Know therefore and understand that from the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a prince, there shall be seven weeks. Then for sixty-two weeks it shall be built again, with squares and a moat, but in a troubled time. 26 And after the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing."

There probably are not many scripture passages more argued about within Christianity than this one. The timing of end time events is always a much talked about topic. What I want to do here is offer some of my own thoughts that have come about as I have studied and read about this passage. There is an obvious timing element to this prophecy, and that is the real center of the debate about it. To what or whom does the timing refer? When does the clock start? When did it end? How do we compare calendars to figure out exact dates for what we may think it means? All these questions and more matter. Let's get started.
First things first. Daniel has recognized that Jeremiah's seventy years of desolation's (Jer 25:11; 29:10) of Jerusalem are nearly passed (9:1, 2) and that God's mercy will soon be realized among the Jews. Realizing this, Daniel prays (9:3-19). Mainly, he repents for Israel of all the evil that they have done against God and begs for His mercy. As a result, Gabriel comes to give Daniel (and us!) insight into what the future holds (9:20-23). That is where we will pick up the interpretation.

Verse 24: The seventy weeks can also be translated seventy sevens (also in verses 25, 26). Most commentators think this means that the overall time period being discussed is 70 weeks of years or 490 years (70 weeks x 7 years/week=490years). The weeks are for "your people" and "your holy city". I think we can agree that this is the Jews and Jerusalem. Gabriel is relating this prophecy to Daniel, so this seems to be straightforward. Daniel's people are the Jews and his holy city would be Jerusalem, where the temple mount is (the temple is no longer there and the 2nd temple is yet to be rebuilt). After that, there are 6 items listed that will happen in the seventy weeks: finish transgression, end sin, atone for iniquity, start righteousness forever, seal vision and prophet, and anoint a holy place. The early Church fathers who commented on this passage all thought that these things had to do with Christ (for example Theodotion 150 AD and Jerome 400 AD).

1. "to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin": The only thing that put an end to sin is Christ's sacrifice. It is through His blood that we can be free of the evil influence of sin that enslaves us (Rom 6:16). This was a common understanding of other passages of prophecy. Take a look at Isa 40:1-3. Notice that God tells Isaiah to tell "her", i.e. Israel, that her sins are paid for (v. 2). That is followed by a verse you probably know. It is a prophecy used in the Gospels for John the Baptist (Matt 3:3; Mark 1:3; John 1:23). These things to be done in the seventy weeks clearly seem to be Messianic as well.

2. "to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness": Following on the end of sin, iniquity will be atoned for as well and the resulting righteousness will be everlasting. Christ atoned for our sins (1 John 2:2) and ushered in the Kingdom of God, which will be everlasting, though it is not yet fully here until Christ returns.

3. "to seal both vision and prophet": This line concerns a ratification of God's visions and prophecies that we can find throughout the rest of the Old Testament. The idea here is that when Christ's work is complete (the cross and resurrection) it will be a Divine confirmation of everything that God has said would happen.

4. "to anoint a most holy place": There are some good exegetical arguments that show that this could be rendered "to anoint a most holy (thing) or (one)" instead of "place". This would fit with the idea that we are talking about Christ's sacrifice and that he is being anointed as the one who would fulfill the obligation to the law and the head of the new covenant. This also fits well with verse 25 that speaks of a coming "anointed one", as it discusses the timing of the prophecy in detail.

This is the end of part 1. The emphasis here is that this prophecy is Messianic. It concerns Jesus Christ. Specifically, it concerns his sacrifice on the cross that covered our sin and has inaugurated the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth. Next time, we'll cover verse 25. In this verse we will get into all the timing issues concerning the prophecy.

Thursday is Link Around the Internet Day

1. Worship music

2. On progressivism in light of Christian morality

3. On misconceptions about the New Testament Canon (a 10-part series)

4. On King James onlyism

5. On Peter Enns

How much do you read the Bible?

Probably the most commonly talked about spiritual discipline in the Church is Bible reading. Every Christian realizes that they should be reading the Bible every day and, in my experience, most Christians don't believe they are reading the Bible enough, even if they are reading every day. So, what should be done about it?
For starters, we have to connect the idea that Bible reading should be done, to the results promised in the word of God. Why should we read the Bible? Let's take a look.

2 Timothy 3:16, 17
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

John 17:17
Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.

Psalm 1:1, 2
Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.

So we see that the word of God is useful for training in righteousness and enables us to be complete, that it sanctifies us when we read it and that it is a blessing when we delight in it. Many other scriptures could be offered, but they all pretty much fall in the categories presented in the above verses. I think most people reading this are on board so far. They see the need to read the Bible and read it more. They see the truth in the verses presented about how the word can shape our life. How do we turn that knowledge into action so that we can actually reap the benefits of consistently reading God's word?
I think the answer is screen time. This used to be just TV time, but now with the advances in technology and the pervasiveness of the use of Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and other social media as well as just plain old surfing the Internet, researchers call this screen time. When considering the time we spend in front of screens, there is ample time to read more of the Bible daily. Tape recorded versions of the Bible have proven that you can read through the Bible in 71 hours, so strap in and get busy. Just kidding. That is a stark number though; what does it mean? "The average person in the United States watches that much television [71 hours] in less than two weeks." (Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life by Donald S. Whitney, page 29) That is about 5 hours a day for two weeks on average. The book I am quoting from was written in 1991. How much has that increased since then? The Nielsen report from the 4th quarter of 2014 reports that electronic media time per day for the average US citizen was 11 hours. When you remove the radio time, that's about 8 hours a day in front of screens. (2) That would be 112 hours in two weeks. You could read the Bible 1.5 times through in that period.
Now, I am not suggesting that anyone give up TV (and their entire life!) to sit around and read the Bible cover to cover every two weeks. But, if we crunch some of these numbers we can turn this into useful data. Let's start big.

1. If, instead of 8 hours screen time, you spent the 8 hours reading the Bible, what would you end up with? You could read through the Bible every 9 days. That would be 40 times through in 1 year.

2. How about 7 hours reading the Bible? Completed every 10 days. 36 times per year.

3. 6 hours? Every 12 days. 30 times per year.

4. 5 hours? Every 14 days. 26 times per year.

5. 4 hours? Every 18 days. 20 times per year.

6. 3 hours? Every 24 days. 15 times per year.

7. 2 hours? Every 36 days. 11 times per year.

8. 1 hour? Every 71 days. 5 times per year.

Most of these numbers seem pretty ridiculous. I doubt many people could truly read for 4-8 hours a day. But, I bet there are some people that could read for 2-3 hours and I would guarantee that almost everyone in the Church could read for 1 hour a day. How would you like to read through the Bible 5 times per year? How do you think that would change you over the course of a year if you were constantly allowing God's word to wash over you intellectually and spiritually day in and day out like the ebb and flow of the ocean tides? I dare say you would be a radically different person that looked and thought more like Jesus Christ. If you are a disciple of the Lord, don't you want that?
I want to finish by offering you more practical information. Below is a list of times for reading each book of the Bible. These are averages, so you may be a little faster or slower, but it will give you a general idea. This can help you to plan your reading time. For instance, it takes 3.5 hours to read Genesis. There are 50 chapters in the book. You could split that into 4, hour-long sessions (4 days). That means you should read 13, 13, 12, and 12 chapters on those days. Using numbers like this may seem to take all the emotional spontaneity out of reading the Bible, but, it allows you to stay on track and be disciplined in your spiritual life which the apostle Paul compares to running a race in order to win. 1 Corinthians 9:24-27:

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it.  Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.  So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air.  But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

Just as Paul says he does not run aimlessly, neither do professional runners. They plan their training and race strategy and they execute it to the best of their ability. You can do the same with reading the Bible if you will commit to a disciplined life of daily Bible intake.

Book	Time		Book	Time
Genesis	3.5h		Matthew	2.5h
Exodus	3h		Mark	1.5h
Leviticus	2h		Luke	1.5h
Numbers	3h		John	2h
Deuteronomy	2.5h		Acts	2.25h
Joshua	1.75h		Romans	1h
Judges	1.75h		1 Corinthians	1h
Ruth	15m		2 Corinthians	40m
1-2 Samuel	4h		Galatians	20m
1-2 Kings	4.25h		Ephesians	20m
1-2 Chronicles	4.5h		Philippians	14m
Ezra	40m		Colossians	13m
Nehemiah	1h		1 Thessalonians	12m
Esther	30m		2 Thessalonians	7m
Job	1.75h		1 Timothy	16m
Psalms	5h		2 Timothy	11m
Proverbs	1.75h		Titus	7m
Ecclesiastes	30m		Philemon	3m
Song of Songs	20m		Hebrews	45m
Isaiah	3.75h		James	16m
Jeremiah	4h		1 Peter	16m
Lamentations	20m		2 Peter	10m
Ezekiel	3.75h		1 John	16m
Daniel	1.25h		2 John	2m
Hosea	30m		3 John	2m
Joel	12m		Jude	4m
Amos	25m		Revelation	1.25h
Obadiah	4m
Jonah	8m
Micah	20m
Nahum	8m
Habakkuk	9m
Zephaniah	10m
Haggai	7m
Zechariah	40m
Malachi	11m

Thursday is Link Around the Internet Day

People know that I read a lot and they ask me what I am reading sometimes. Many times I read things and think; "I should really share this with people, it would be beneficial." So, henceforth on Thursdays, I am going to link around the internet to things that I have read throughout the week that I think you might get some useful information from. I will give the topic of the link only. You will have to click and do some reading if you want the full info.

Disclaimer: I do not necessarily endorse everything I will post here. It is up to you to read and evaluate the information and arguments. However, I will let you know if I post something I explicitly disagree with so you can have your radar up if you choose to read it.

1. On Biblical sexuality

2. On disease in the new world

3. On the virgin birth

4. On not voting

5. On love separated by civil war 

The Bible is an Idol

"The Bible is an idol, Jesus Christ is the real word. You don't need the Bible." I have read this objection from some fringe Christian groups who declare that the "word", when used in the Bible, isn't actually referring to the Bible but to the Gospel as the apostles delivered it. While technically correct, the idea, ironically turned into an idol by these groups constantly badgering other Christians on the Internet, does not capture the nuance of the organic growth of what came to be the Biblical text as we have it today. If we simply follow out the chain of events logically to our time, we can see that what was called the word in the Bible, the Gospel, came to be the Bible itself over time. This didn't happen because of any church councils or ideological crusades among a certain school of thought within Christendom, it just happened because everyone recognized what words were authoritative.
Jesus Christ, in his incarnation, was the full revelation of God. He is the real, living "word". Colossians 1:19 says: "For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell..." When he was here, he spent most of his time talking and teaching people about the Kingdom of God. Eventually, when the time drew near, he told his disciples the ultimate reason he was on Earth; to die for mankind so we could be reconciled to the Father. After his resurrection, he spent 40 days appearing to the apostles and teaching them, I assume more fully, about the Kingdom of God and then he ascended to heaven (Acts 1:3-11). This is the original "word" that is spoken of most often in the New Testament (see Romans 10:17). When Jesus was gone, what happened to it? He left it with the apostles, with a promise that the Holy Spirit would bring it to their remembrance (John 14:26) and a command to tell everyone (Matthew 28:18-20).
The apostles did just that. In the process they turned the world upside down (Acts 17:6). What were they telling people? The word that Jesus had told them. They were sharing the Gospel with anyone and everyone who would listen. As the Gospel expanded, they taught the disciple community in Jerusalem, the Samaritans, Jews and Gentiles in Syrian Antioch, Galatia, Phrygia, Asia, Macedonia, Greece, and Rome. At first, as they evangelized, they did this in person. As they planted churches, they also wrote letters with more instruction about God's kingdom that was recognized as being more than just human writing. One example would be 2 Peter 3:15-16:

And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.

Notice how Peter referred to Paul's writings; as scripture. Other examples would be 1 Thess. 2:9-13; Gal. 1:11, 12; and 1 Cor. 14:36, 37. This was recognized all over the Christian world, so these letters, and the Gospels/Acts being written at the same time, were copied, preserved, disseminated, and very widely read by the entire Church (with a big "C"!). So, Christ, the original word, taught the word to the apostles, who taught the word to the disciple community in the 1st century by mouth and letter. What happened when the apostles died off? As you have probably already figured out, the Church was already copying, preserving, disseminating, and reading the "word" in the form of letters and Gospels/Acts.
When we look just past the time of the apostles, circa 100 AD, we see that the early church fathers clearly distinguished between their words and the apostles preserved words in the copied letters, Gospels, and Acts. For example, here is Ignatius from about 110 AD:

I do not order you as Peter and Paul; they were apostles, I am a convict; they were free, I am even until now, a slave. (To the Romans 4:3)

By 170-180 AD, the Muratorian fragment counts 22 of 27 New Testament books as canon; leaving out only Hebrews, James, 1&2 Peter, and 3 John. By 250 AD, Origen lists every book we would call the New Testament in his Homilies on Joshua 7.1. This list is debated, but admirably defended by Michael J. Kruger here and by Edmon L. Gallagher here.
This history shows us that the Bible grew out of the authority of Jesus Christ (God!) himself. The apostles preached his word being commanded by him to do such; the disciples treasured the apostles teachings because they had immediately recognizable authority from Jesus via the witness of the Holy Spirit. These writings were preserved and organically came to be the standard of practice for Christian life by the second to third century AD. This is well before the official canonical list was "approved" in 393 AD. So to say that the word that Jesus taught back then is the standard and the word that we have today in the Bible is an idol, is extremely misleading. To say that we don't need the Bible is to ignore the providential organizing of the written word into the canon by God himself. Finally, Christ's authority followed his words all the way into the modern translations of the Bible. It is from Jesus' authority that we can have confidence in the Bible as "profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work." (2 Timothy 3:16, 17)

What do you believe?

Belief can be a tricky thing. As humans, we are very good at rationalizing away something we know to be wrong and believe it anyway. One of the hallmarks of a faulty belief system is that it fails tests of internal consistency. This means you hold two beliefs that when put side by side can't both be right. A survey was done by Ligonier Ministries and Lifeway Research this year concerning the beliefs of evangelicals. Most of the statements deal directly with weighty theological issues. The obvious concern when looking at the data is that self-identified evangelicals don't believe foundational tenets of the Christian faith. But, when thinking about the statements and responses a little more deeply, there appear cracks in the internal consistency of people's beliefs. I think this would be a great way to test yourself. So, rather than give you a summary, I am going to reproduce the statements in this post and then link to the website with the breakdown of responses. Write down your own answers and see where you fall. You may answer: agree strongly, agree somewhat, disagree somewhat, disagree strongly, or not sure.

1. God is a perfect being and cannot make a mistake.

2. God knows everything that occurs in the world but does not determine all that happens.

3. God continues to answer specific prayers.

4. God is the author of Scripture.

5. There is one true God in three persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

6. God accepts the worship of all religions, including Christianity, Judaism and Islam.

7. God created male and female.

8. Biblical accounts of the physical (bodily) resurrection of Jesus are completely accurate. This event actually occurred.

9. Jesus is the first and greatest being created by God.

10. Jesus is truly God and has a divine nature, and Jesus is truly man and has a human nature.

11. The Holy Spirit is a force but is not a personal being.

12. The Holy Spirit gives a spiritual new birth or new life before a person has faith.

13. The Holy Spirit is a divine being but is not equal with God the Father and Jesus.

14. Modern science discredits the claims of Christianity.

15. Everyone sins a little, but most people are good by nature.

16. People have the ability to turn to God on their own initiative.

17. Even the smallest sin deserves eternal damnation.

18. By the good deeds that I do, I partly contribute to earning my place in heaven.

19. The Bible, like all sacred writings, contains helpful accounts of ancient myths but is not literally true.

20. The Bible was written for each person to interpret as he or she chooses.

21. The Bible alone is the written word of God.

22. The Bible is 100% accurate in all that it teaches.

23. A person obtains peace with God by first taking the initiative to seek God and then God responds with grace.

24. An individual must contribute his or her own effort for personal salvation.

25. Salvation always begins with God changing a person so they will turn to Him in faith.

26. Heaven is a place where all people will ultimately be reunited with their loved ones.

27. Hell is an eternal place of judgment where God sends all people who do not personally trust in Jesus Christ.

28. God would be fair to show His wrath against sin.

29. There will be a time when Jesus Christ returns to judge all the people who have lived.

30. Worshiping alone or with one’s family is a valid replacement for regularly attending church.

31. Churches that do not preach from the Bible should not be considered a Christian church.

32. My local church has the authority to withhold the Lord’s Supper from me and exclude me from the fellowship of the church.

33. The church should be silent on issues of politics.

34. There is little value in studying or reciting historical Christian creeds and confessions.

35. God is unconcerned with my day-to-day decisions.

36. God has authority over all people because He created human beings.

37. The Bible has the authority to tell us what we must do.

38. Humans exist to bring God glory and to enjoy Him.

39. Sex outside of traditional marriage is a sin.

40. Abortion is a sin.

41. Gender identity is a matter of choice.

42. God will always reward true faith with material blessings.

43. The Bible’s condemnation of homosexual behavior doesn’t apply today.

44. The Bible is the highest authority for what I believe.

45. It is very important for me personally to encourage non-Christians to trust Jesus Christ as their Savior.

46. Jesus Christ’s death on the cross is the only sacrifice that could remove the penalty of my sin.

47. Only those who trust in Jesus Christ alone as their Savior receive God’s free gift of eternal salvation.




Here is the link: http://thestateoftheology.com/. You can use the data explorer at the top right to view each question and you can see data from the 2014 survey to see how the answers changed on the questions that were asked in both years.

Faith in the History of the Church

I have recently finished reading a book about heresy throughout the history of the Church. It is aptly named Heresies: The Image of Christ in the Mirror of Heresy and Orthodoxy from the Apostles to the Present by Harold O. J. Brown. I am currently reading Evangelism in the Early Church by Michael Green. Both of these are excellent books about the Church in history. One thing they have in common is their assessment of the Church's view of faith during all of its varied phases: its birth in the Apostolic era, the subapostolic era of the great apologists, the ecumenical council era dealing with Christology, and so on. Their assessment is very pertinent to the state of the Church in America in our time.
The American Church tends to be split into distinct camps where one camp does not interact with the other. One camp is interested in the intellectual aspects of the faith: serious study of the Bible, seminary education is held in high esteem, apologetics are a mainstay of evangelistic efforts. Another camp is interested in the spiritual aspects of the faith: Holy Spirit led everything, emotion driven worship and devotion, experience is the hallmark of evangelistic efforts. The issue with these camps is that they are both right. They just ignore the opposite end of the spectrum to their detriment.
There needs to be a blending of these two aspects for the Church to be healthy and engaging in evangelism effectively. The intellectual church needs to open their heart to the influence of the Holy Spirit (in full measure, I am not saying they are not led by the Holy Spirit now) and remember that we are a new creation in Christ; including our emotions (2 Cor. 5:17). The spiritual church needs to open their mind to the influence of sound scholarship and Biblical interpretation principles and realize that virtually every New Testament epistle was written to correct false or misguided teaching and doctrine that had found its way into local congregations. I once heard a great quote from Ravi Zacharias: "Spirituality must always be objectively bounded by the limitations of truth." Ravi was addressing people who say they are spiritual, but not religious, but I think we could tweak this for the spiritual church. Emotions must always be objectively bounded by the limitations of truth. Of course, that objective truth is the Word of God.
I say all that to now return to the two books I referenced above. The assessment of faith that both of these authors offer is this: faith is a twofold action of belief. It is both intellectual assent and active personal trust. Its object is Jesus Christ. We must trust the person and work of Jesus Christ in order to be saved, not just pieces of information about him. While we all believed when we were saved, this is also an ongoing process that God uses to prepare us for the glory to come. Sanctification, among other things, is this process of communing in prayer with God, serving Him by serving others, and so on. This is the active personal trust in Jesus Christ as the Son of God and Savior that makes up part of the equation that equals faith. However, the other side of the equation has an equally important and logically primary role in this active trust. Intellectual assent to propositions about Jesus Christ serve to inform our active trust. An easy way to look at this is to ask the 5 W's and 1 H of journalism with regard to Jesus.

1. Who was Jesus Christ?
2. What is the significance of Jesus Christ?
3. When did Jesus Christ do his significant acts?
4. Why did Jesus Christ do his significant acts?
5. Where did Jesus Christ do his significant acts?
6. How did Jesus Christ do his significant acts?

If we answer these real quickly in the way the early church did, we can get an orthodox picture of Jesus Christ. This is the picture that we should be assenting to intellectually.

1. Jesus is Lord or He is the Son of God. (both of these mean Jesus is God; Acts 2:36; 9:20)
2. He died for your sins and was raised from the dead, so that you might be reconciled to God through his blood if you believe in faith. (Acts 3:26; 4:12)
3. 1st century AD after John the Baptist's ministry. (Acts 10:37)
4. So we could repent and be forgiven of our sins. (Acts 5:31; 10:43)
5. Judea, Galilee, and Jerusalem. (Acts 10:37)
6. He died on the cross as our passover lamb, thereby giving us a way to be cleansed from sin (1 Cor. 5:7). This transaction (our belief in his sacrifice) is called forensic justification. He took our sins and we took his righteousness. Typically called imputation. (2 Cor. 5:21)

You can see that by answering those simple questions we have a clear picture of Christ's person and work. This gives us a solid foundation on which to stand and place our trust. Without that foundation, something is wrong. If I believe Christ was a good moral teacher who was significant for bringing Indian guru teaching to Israel, is that OK? If I believe that Christ was a prophet that didn't really die on the cross is that OK? If I believe that Christ is not really God, but a spirit child of God, just like I am, is that OK? If I believe that Christ is not actually real, but a myth that I can lean on for moral guidance in my life, is that OK? If I believe that Christ did not literally and historically rise from the dead, but he rose "in my heart" (i.e. it's just a metaphor), is that OK?
I think you get the point. Active personal trust is what we do after intellectual assent to the appropriate, factually correct propositions about Jesus Christ. The knowledge must precede the worship, if you will. This doesn't mean you have to answer the 5 W's and an H the way I did. I did that off the top of my head. You may be able to answer them a lot more simply (or more complicated), but still be correct. The point is that you have to answer them correctly before you can have faith that moves you into the business of active personal trust that is part of the ongoing sanctification process that God is leading us through. Since the American Church seems to split down these intellectual and spiritual lines, each side is missing a key component of what makes for a robust faith. We must strive to walk the line between these two worlds so that our faith is not easily shaken. That means having a sound theological understanding of Christ's person and work as well as a thriving personal relationship with the creator and sustainer of the universe.