Tag Archives: Appointed Time

Lesson 17 of Series – More About False Teachings

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More About False Teachings: Does God Break His Promises?

The Lord gave Daniel the prophecy of the end of his people, nation, and city, in Daniel 9:24-27 which was to happen at an “appointed time” of 490 years. After that would come another “time, times, and an half,” Daniel12:6-7,  which is also called “the time of the end,” during which time their Messiah Prince should come.  Some dispensationalists and pre-millennialists say that Daniel 9:24-27 “doesn’t tell us that the seventy weeks were fulfilled, because when the Jews refused their Messiah, God stopped the clock, breached his promise, …. ‘Time in’ hasn’t been called yet.”

Did God “Stop the Clock”?

The “last times” specified in Daniel had come in the New Testament era and the people knew it was the last times for their nation, city, and people.  Simeon and Anna knew it was time for the Messiah, (Luke 2:25-34). The Samaritans knew that it was time for the Messiah, (John 4:25, 29-30). Andrew knew it was time for the Messiah, (John 1:40-41), and Philip also knew, (John 1:45).

John 2:18: “Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now there are many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.”

Hebrews 9:24-26: “For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us. Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others; For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world [age] hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.”

The Book of Revelation states that “the (appointed) time is at hand, 1:3.”

Did God “Breach His Promise”?

To accuse God of “breach of promise,” (as translated in Numbers 14:33-34 KJV),  is to accuse Him of lying! This idea is totally foreign to the concept of the covenant-keeping God of the Bible.

Indeed, the passage in Numbers 14:33-34 shows clearly that when God states a time, He means just that. The word translated “breach of promise,” (KJV), is Hebrew tenuw’ah, from nuw’, meaning ‘my opposition,’ or, as translated in Job 33:10, ‘occasion for hostility,’ (BDB). The Lord was saying that they should bear their iniquity for forty years that they might know His “opposition to their rebellion,” the “occasion for His hostility,” not that He failed to keep His word or “breached His promise”!

Numbers 23:19 says:”God [is] not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do [it]? Or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?”

He is a God of faithfulness, (Deuteronomy 32:4). He does not change, (Malachi 3:6; James 1:17). He keeps His covenant to “all generations,” (Psalm 33:11; 45:17; 100:5; 119:90, and many other references).

Psalm 105:8: “He hath remembered his covenant for ever, the word [which] he commanded to a thousand generations.”

So when the Lord gave Daniel the prophecy that his nation, people, and city would end in 490 years and the “time of the end” would be an additional time, times and half a time, and that their Messiah would come in that time, those who believed in God and knew the covenant were expecting those things. They were fulfilled and the fleshly nation came to its final end in 70 AD with more than three million killed, almost another million taken and dispersed as slaves, Jerusalem burned to the ground, and the genealogies burned.

God Fulfilled His Promises Through Christ

But Christ was raised from the dead, established His Church and sat down at the right hand of God to reign forever and ever. “Of the increase of His Kingdom there shall be no end,” Isaiah 9:7, Luke 1:32.

Next Lesson: The End According To Daniel

Lesson 7 Of Series – To Vindicate Christ As A True Prophet

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Jesus had predicted the destruction of Jerusalem saying:

“…this generation will not pass away till all these things take place.” (See Matt. 24:34 and Luke 21:20-32, (RSV). This is construed by dispensationalists as having never yet been fulfilled, but awaits a yet future coming, appearing, or revelation. Rather, Christ’s promise of a contemporary fulfillment must be seen in the perspective of the tests commonly required of a prophet in that time to determine whether or not he was indeed a true prophet; tests advised by Scripture as well as good sense. (See Lesson 2 “Tests Of A Prophet.) Jesus fulfilled these requirements.

It was morally imperative in 68 AD that this event take place soon because Christ had predicted that the generation who heard Him pronounce the prophecy would live to see its fulfillment and that generation was fast passing away by this time.

The destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 was the vindication of Christ’s claim to the role of a true prophet and completed the proof of His identity as the Messiah.

When Christ was proven to be a true prophet, those who had rejected, and killed Him, were condemned and became guilty of innocent blood as well as blasphemy and deicide. Those who had charged Him with being a false prophet because He had foretold the destruction of the city and the temple were now themselves proven guilty.

CHRIST REVEALED AS A TRUE PROPHET

Jesus knew that the end of the appointed times prophesied by Daniel was near, (Matt. 24, etc.). Although neither the day nor hour was known, the prophet Daniel had predicted the year. If Daniel’s predictions of an “end” had not come to pass in the appointed time as specified, he would have been considered a false prophet and his words would not have found a place in the Biblical canon, and we would never have heard of him. Jesus declared that “the [appointed] time is fulfilled,” (Mark 1:15). He was speaking of an ‘appointed time’ that the people to whom He spoke were well aware, the time appointed by the prophet Daniel.

Likewise, if Jesus’ predictions of the “end” of Jerusalem and the nation had not come to pass in the specified time, that is, “this generation,” He would have been called a false prophet, His words would never have been considered sacred, and we would never have heard of Him. But both Daniel and Jesus were proven to be true prophets by the fulfillment at the ‘appointed time’ of their words, – not some imaginary or esoteric calculation of ‘time outs’ but by the exact science of time-telling known to the faithful priests of Israel, based upon the movements of the heavenly bodies, (Genesis 1:14).

Daniel’s Weeks of Years and Times Calculated

Many eminent scholars have attempted to calculate these times and coordinate them with recorded historical events. From their work there is every reason to believe that the predictions were accurate, although the historical records they have to work with are fragmentary and open to interpretation. However, it is enough to know that the New Testament saints believed both Daniel and Jesus and recorded their prophesies as the inspired Word of God. They had access to first-hand information and experienced, in their own lives, the fulfillment. (My calculation of Daniel’s Seventy Weeks according to Biblical and Historical records is in my book, Revelation In Context, at pp. 21-24.)

Furthermore, the New Testament has been proven and can yet be proven true by anyone who will believe, for Jesus Christ rose from the dead and is alive forevermore and is presently making intercession for us. If He had been a false prophet, God would not have so honored Him.

Did Christ Come In The Clouds As He Had Promised, Matthew 24:30?

The question, then, is whether or not Christ’s prophecy was actually fulfilled concerning His appearance in a cloud “with power and great glory.” The view popular with dispensationalists and pre-millennialists is that the events of Matthew 24:30 “did not take place after the fall of Jerusalem.” (See next lesson for the full account of His appearing in the clouds.)

Next Lesson: Signs In The Heavens