Handout - Western Christadelphian Bible School

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(c) It is certainly hard (though it’s not impossible!) for us to see how the first 69 weeks of the prophecy could be fulfilled other than in the death of Jesus (for who, apart from the Lord, is an “anointed one” who might be “cut off, but not for himself” and under what circumstances might we expect a commandment to go forth to “restore and to build Jerusalem”?; is Jerusalem yet to be destroyed and rebuilt before the final invasion that brings the Lord?). But our inability to see how it might work out is no reason to impose a meaning upon the prophecy - especially if our guesses clash with the facts. However we view these things it is clear that the prophecy was not fulfilled in the events of AD 70. (d) Even if the first 69 weeks of the prophecy had been fulfilled in the death of Christ, invoking AD 70 as a fulfilment of the final week requires a gap of either 33 or 36 years between the end of the 69 th week and the beginning of the 70 th . There is nothing in the prophecy to suggest that this is justifiable. (e) Applying the first 69 weeks to the death of Christ and bringing the 70 th week to the time of the end seems worse: it requires a gap of nearly 2000 years between the end of the 69 th week and the beginning of the 70 th . (f) If we suppose that the fall of the temple in AD 70 is a fulfilment of the 70 th “week” of Daniel 9:27, then we must take account of, and explain, the fact that there was no covenant between any of the parties to the siege of Jerusalem. Israel’s leaders were at war with each other as well as with the Romans, but were agreed that none should treat with the Romans - any attempt to do so was met with summary execution. This important aspect of Daniel 9:27 - a covenant between “the prince that shall come” and some of the people of Israel - was entirely absent from the events of AD 70. 10 Jesus said of Herod’s temple that “there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down”. In fact, of course, the stones of the western wall, retaining the site upon which the temple was built, are still standing today. This implies that the Olivet prophecy is yet to be fulfilled. Some object that the Lord’s comments did not include this wall. However, without this great wall, Herod’s temple would not have been possible. In a sense it was an essential part of the structure, put in place to support the temple. There is a similar prophecy in Luke 19, this time directed against the whole city of Jerusalem: “For the days shall come upon you, when your enemies will cast up a bank about you and surround you, and hem you in on every side, and dash you to the ground, you and your children within you, and they will not leave one stone upon another in you; because you did not know the time of your visitation” (Luke 19:43, 44, RSV). This certainly includes the western wall of the temple site. So there is yet to be an invasion of Jerusalem and it will finish what the Romans left undone. It is not unreasonable to expect that since this is to be a more thorough sacking than that of the Romans, then the Lord had this (greater) time of trouble in mind when he gave his disciples the Olivet prophecy. 11 It is usually asserted that prophecy must relate to events that are close to the time of the prophet, and be relevant to the problems of the prophet’s times. Therefore, it is suggested, we should expect the Olivet prophecy to relate to the nearest “obvious” historic incident: AD 70. But these assertions are by no means always justified: (a) Some prophecies are specifically aimed at far-off times and do not relate to the times of the prophet. For example, 1 Peter 1:10-12; Ezek 38:8, 16, Joel 1 etc. Page 34
(b) While, of course, we would not say this of the Lord Jesus, the prophets did not always fully understand the messages they were conveying. 9 For example, 1 Peter 1:12; Daniel 12:4, 8, 9, 13 (in spite of Dan 10:1, 14); Zechariah 4:4, 5; 12 - 14. So it is not absolutely required that we must find a fulfilment of any prophecy in events close to the time when the prophecy was given. Instead we ought to look at the content of the prophecy, and use non-speculative methods to arrive at its real meaning. … … … … … … … 9 Although, be it noted, that at the time of the Olivet prophecy, the Lord was not privy to some of his father’s counsels: “But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father” (Mark 13:32, KJV). Page 35
Page 1 and 2: Notes on Systematic Prophecy Mauric
Page 3 and 4: OHP 1: The Structure of The Prophet
Page 5 and 6: What is Truth? As a first step it i
Page 7 and 8: Session 1: Learning From The Word D
Page 9 and 10: 2 Inference Moses did not teach res
Page 11 and 12: afraid” - clearly a description o
Page 13 and 14: This passage is interesting because
Page 15 and 16: Much of the spiritual teaching of t
Page 17 and 18: Australia won the first match, New
Page 19 and 20: (iii) I shall point out that prophe
Page 21 and 22: (d) The idea of the tribulation, li
Page 23 and 24: (d) Followed Daniel 7 into Revelati
Page 25 and 26: (d) (i) Alexander’s four generals
Page 27 and 28: OHP 5: Titus Did Not Entirely Fulfi
Page 29 and 30: (vii) These kinds of statements are
Page 31 and 32: as representative of such arguments
Page 33: temple as had Antiochus Epiphanes:
Page 37 and 38: 3. Jewish days begin at sunset and
Page 39 and 40: the tower of Antonia and that night
Page 41 and 42: OHP 3: Examples of Structure in Pro
Page 43 and 44: OHP 6: Structure in the Book of Rev
Page 45 and 46: 2 Daniel 7:25 Moving anticlockwise
Page 47 and 48: 4 Revelation 11:2 The 42 months dur
Page 49 and 50: But it may also be that the two wit
Page 51 and 52: The woman certainly seems to be Isr
Page 53 and 54: These 1260 days, 42 months or 3 1 /
Page 55 and 56: (d) Evil will fall on Israel for tu
Page 57 and 58: sacrifice. The time-periods form a
Page 59 and 60: 1 Jesus’ comments to the effect t
Page 61 and 62: events that are happening under the

Handout - Western Christadelphian Bible School

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