Posted on 01/19/2009 8:16:57 PM PST by WhatNot
Daniel 9:2
In the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures, according to the word of the Lord given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years.
When you enter a legal contract, it binds the two parties to fulfill the terms of that contract. In Heaven there are legal contracts that, when fulfilled, allow the spiritual to impact the physical.
Israel had been in captivity to Babylon for 70 years. Daniel, when he investigated the history of his nation, found the prophecy of Jeremiah that revealed there would be 70 years of captivity. He recognized that in order to release his nation from this captivity, there had to be a confession of sin on the part of the nation. Daniel took that responsibility. Although he could not personally repent for his nation, he could acknowledge their sin and repent himself. When Daniel acknowledged this sin before God, something took place in Heaven. God heard this prayer and responded by sending His angel Gabriel to Daniel's side.
We know from history that this was the time when Judah's return from exile began. Daniel's prayer of confession was the spiritual key to the physical manifestation of releasing the nation from captivity to Babylon.
Whenever you want to confront spiritual forces that have dominion over a situation, you must find the source of the problem. Once you find the source of the problem, you must take the necessary steps in the spiritual realm to release God's power into that situation. For Daniel, it meant taking responsibility for the sin of the nation by confessing its sins and asking forgiveness on behalf of the entire nation. This allowed God to begin the process of releasing the nation.
Ask God to show you the source of the problems that may exist in your city, your business, or people you want to see freed to fulfill God's purposes for their lives.
I love the passage in Daniel - indicating that he understood the scriptures containing prophesy. We can too....He has not left us in the dark.
Amen, He has sent us the light!
The proposition of a “spiritual contract” is an interesting notion, but I am not sure that it is supported by this scripture. Daniel references:
<< Jeremiah 25 >>
New American Standard Bible ©
Babylon Will Be Judged
12 ‘Then it will be when seventy years are completed I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation,’ declares the LORD, ‘for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans; and I will make it an everlasting desolation. 13 ‘I will bring upon that land all My words which I have pronounced against it, all that is written in this book which Jeremiah has prophesied against all the nations.
The first thing I see here is that our soveriegn God is unilaterally telling the people of Israel what is going to happen, not the formation of a contract. In this case He gives them an option out if they repent, which they did not. While Daniel repented for them, no where do I see that this was a condition of what God said He would do after 70 years. Perhaps we are to infer that, had Daniel not been spiritually perceptive and known to repent, as this contract theory suggests, that God’s prophetic word would have failed?
mms://media.winworld.com/voe/mannafest432.wmv
Is a Manna Fest 1/2 preaching on America and its Fullness of Time, “Has America Entered the Fullness of Time? - Part 2.” Very worth the watching.
Home URL=voe.org.
Links to this and other videos= http://voe.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=39&Itemid=52
Most interesting interpretation.
I watched part 2; it is food for thought.
Interesting, but my guess is that Daniel was also considering Jeremiah 29:10. And it was this verse that prompted his repentance.
Jeremiah 29:10 For thus says the LORD: After seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place. 11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13 And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you, says the LORD, and I will bring you back from your captivity; I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the LORD, and I will bring you to the place from which I cause you to be carried away captive.
Jeremiah 29:10 wouldn’t indicate that but maybe 12-14. Many theologians see those verses applying to yet another period in time, when the UN re-established the nation of Israel in 1947. Otherwise, if it referred to the return from Babylon, the fulfillment would not be exact due to the plural of “nations”. The other tribes were taken captive by Assyria and were not returned from captivity. Only the re-establishment of Israel as a nation fits this prophecy.
I believe that the number seventy symbolizes completion and fulfillment of God’s sovereign plans for creation and all of human history. The completion of the years of the kingdom of Babylon would also be the completion of Judah’s exile.
So, if 70 symbolizes completion rather than a specific number of years, how did Daniel recognize it was time for the fulfillment of the prophecy?
Zechariah refers to the seventy year period as begining with the destruction of the temple,which took place in 586 B.C (Zech 7:5). The temple was rebuilt in 515 B.C (Ezra 6:15).
This is why I believe the seventy years has several beginings and endings.
Yes, but here you are speaking in literal terms, not symbolic.
If the 70 years is symbolic, not literal years, then there would be a symbolic, not literal, fulfillment.
The “roaming time frames” of Hebrew prophecies are well known. Joel 2:28 was fulfilled in Joel’s lifetime, in Acts 2nd chapter according to Peter, and yet remains to be fulfilled in the endtimes.
That is a very different concept of symbolic! Congratulations upon some original thought, a hybrid symbolic/literal interpretation. I’ll have to give that some thought. Most advocates of a symbolic interpretation of numbers do not allow for literal numbers.
The concept of several fulfillments of prophesies is not original, i.e., several beginnings and endings as you suggest. That hermaneutic has been applied for centuries to many prophesies.
Also, the book of Rev makes use of the number seven to signify completeness. There are the seven churches of the Apocalypse (these were real Churches), seven spirits, there are even seven beatitudes in the book of Rev.
this might sound a weird question but i’m sure you could answer and what is iorthodox jewish tradition? please let me know
Thank!
MDGVT
this might sound a weird question but i’m sure you could answer and what is iorthodox jewish tradition? please let me know
Thank!
MDGVT
And when they heard it, they glorified God. And they said to him, “You see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed. They are all zealous for the law,
Short answer, Orthodox Jews hold to strict interpretation of Talmudic laws. But, for more on their beliefs, political leanings, etc.This site has some good information
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