201 - Just Another Man? / Total Onslaught - Walter Veith

Now, this question is going to become very
important. Jesus: imposter or Messiah?

It's a very important question, because this
Jesus lays claims to some astounding things.

He says, for example, "I am the Way, the Truth,
and the Life." How many come to the Father?

"No one comes to the Father except by Me."
That's what He says. And today this Jesus

is being marginalized, and the critics—and
especially what they call the "new Reformation

movement"—is disseminating the Bible and
ripping the heart out of the Messianic side

of the Bible. Jesus must, if we want to have
world unity of religions, become one on a

level with all the others.

Isn't that right? He cannot stand out above
anyone else; He has to come down to the level

of all the others. But if this Jesus Christ
is the Messiah of God, and is God, well then,

we're going to come up to an impasse. So let's
have a look what the Bible says, because I

don't want to influence you. Jesus: imposter
or Messiah?

Jesus says in John 6:38, "For I came down
from heaven." Well, that's not everyone who

can say that, right? That's not something
usual; I can't say that. So, either this is

presumption, or it is truth.

"Evidence that Demands a Verdict," a book
by Josh McDowell. He says, "Some skeptics

have suggested that these prophecies"—the
prophecies about Jesus and the Messianic prophecies—"were

accidentally or coincidentally fulfilled by
Jesus. According to the science of probability,

the chance of any one human being up until
the present fulfilling a selection of just

eight of these prophecies, including the one
on the crucifixion, is 1 in 10 to the power

of 17...And here we are considering only 8
prophecies. What if we were to consider 48

prophecies? The chance would then become virtually
zero: 10 to the power of 157." And you must

remember that the number of particles as defined
by science in the entire universe is only

10 to the power of 18. So this is the number
of particles in billions upon billions "ad

infinitum" universes. Wow.

"What about all 61 prophecies?" I believe
there are even more prophecies, and every

single one of them is fulfilled by Jesus Christ.

Numbers 24:17 says, "There shall come a star
out of Jacob." He would be preceded by a messenger.

I'm just going to run through a few of them,
I'm not going to make a big deal about them.

I'm just going to come to a specific prophecy
tonight. So we'll briefly run through some

of these ancient prophecies.

Isaiah 40:3: "The voice of him that crieth
in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the

Lord, make straight in the desert a highway
for our God."

So the Bible predicts that He will be preceded—the
Messiah—by a messenger. "In those days came

John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness
of Judaea saying, Repent, for the kingdom

of heaven is at hand" (Matthew 3:1-3). So
he was preaching this very message predicted

by the Messiah. In John 8:36 it says, "If
the son therefore shall make you free, you

shall be free indeed."

It's a very important prophecy. So according
to this statement by Jesus, freedom comes

through Christ and through no one else, because
He says, "no one comes to the Father except

by Me." The Jews answered, "we are Abraham's
seed, and were never in bondage to any man:

How sayest thou, ye shall be made free?" He
was talking of freedom from bondage, freedom

from sin.

"My kingdom is not of this world" (John 18:36).
I mean, these are astounding claims.

The miraculous birth: "Behold, a virgin shall
conceive and bear a Son, and shall call his

name Immanuel." God with us—not just anyone,
God with us—but you'll say He wasn't called

Immanuel, He was called Jesus. Well, you see,
in ancient times the name referred to something.

It had a meaning; it wasn't just an objective
name. It had a meaning. So Immanuel means

"God with us." Joshua—which is translated
in the Greek as Jesus—means Yahweh the Saviour,

God the Saviour. And Jesus laid claim to being
God; therefore, He is not on a par with anyone,

in any religious system. That's Isaiah 7:14.

And, "the angel said to her...you will be
with child and give birth to a son, and you

are to give him the name Jesus," which is
exactly the same as Immanuel. Yahweh the Saviour

is here—in other words, God with us (Luke
1:28-31). Then, the Old Testament says, "Bethlehem"—Beth-lehem—"out

of thee shall he come forth unto me that is
to be ruler in Israel" (Micah 5:2).

And this particular Bethlehem, Bethlehem—Bethlehem
Ephrata, which means the bread basket—the

bread of life would come down and be born
in Bethlehem. And of course, we know that

was also fulfilled. Jesus was born in Bethlehem
of Judaea in the time of Herod. And He was

given the name Joshua, Yahweh the Saviour.

Jesus said, "the Lord has anointed me to preach
good tidings unto the meek," but this is an

Old Testament prophecy as well, "bind up the
brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the

captives, and the opening of the prison to
them that are bound; To proclaim the acceptable

year of the Lord...to comfort all that mourn"
(Isaiah 61:1-2). So that's a prophecy that's

fulfilled.

Luke 4:18 and 19 tell us that that is exactly
what Jesus claimed for Himself. Isaiah proclaims

that the Messiah would work through miracles.
"Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,

and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.
Then shall the lame man leap as a hart, the

tongue of the dumb shall sing..." And the
New Testament—Matthew tells us, Luke tells

us—"He went about healing all manner of
diseases."

"... to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion
the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of

praise for the spirit of heaviness" (Isaiah
61:3).

In the Psalms we read that the Messiah would
open His mouth in parables, "I will open my

mouth in parables." "All these things Jesus
spoke in parables." The Bible predicts the

triumphant entry.

And we have it there in Zechariah: "thy king
cometh to thee and he is just, having salvation;

lowly and riding on an ass..." All these things
are predictions in the Old Testament. "My

close friend whom I trusted and shared my
bread with has lifted up his heal against

me that he would be betrayed" is fulfilled,
and we read it in Matthew that Judas Iscariot

did precisely that.

What about this one: Zechariah 11:12-13: "So
they weighed for my price thirty pieces of

silver." Even the price that was paid for
this deception is listed in the Old Testament.

And they "took thirty pieces of silver, and
cast them to the potter in the house of the

Lord." And that's exactly what they did. They
bought the potter's field because they wouldn't

take the money, which was death money. Judas
went to the chief priest and he said to them,

"what will you give me and I will give Him
unto you," and they gave him 30 pieces of

silver. And he cast down the pieces of silver
in the temple, and departed.

And what did they do? They bought the potter's
field. Every single little detail. "I offered

my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to
those who pulled out my beard." The sufferings

that Jesus went through—unbelievable. "I
did not hide my face from the mocking and

spitting." He was tried seven times, seven
times. Once by Annas, and He was struck in

the face right there. Caiphas, and Annas,
the night trial, the morning trial, then the

trials with the Roman officials, then He was
sent to Herod, back to Pilate. Seven times

He was tried.

"I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting"
(Isaiah 50:6). "They spit in my face." They

buffeted Him, smote Him with palms. The Bible
said they hit Him over the head again, and

again, and again. "They hate me without cause"
(Psalm 69). Then He would be rejected, predicted

in the Bible. "They hated me without cause"
(John). "He was oppressed and he was afflicted,

he opened not his mouth, he was brought like
a lamb to the slaughter." Everything there

in the Old Testament. The Old Testament is
a testimony to Jesus Christ.

"And when he was accused of the chief priests
and the elders, he answered nothing," just

like a lamb to the slaughter (Matthew 27:12).

And they wagged their heads—they shook their
heads and said, "Look at this guy, where does

he come from?" "He was numbered with the transgressors."
"They gave him vinegar to drink" (Psalm 69:21,

Matthew 27:34). "Crucified with thieves,"
you know that that was the case (Mark 15).

Zechariah, "they will look on me the one they
have pierced." Even the way of the crucifixion.

"...and he bare the sin of many and made intercession
for the transgressors" (Isaiah 53:12)—beautiful

prophecies in the Old Testament about Jesus.

Luke 23:34: "Father forgive them; for they
know not what they do." Every single aspect

about the Messiah was predicted, and is fulfilled
in Jesus Christ. "They divided my garments

amongst them, and for my clothing they cast
lots"

People say, "why did He say, 'My God my God
why did thou forsake me?'" Because it was

predicted in Psalm 22:1: Jesus died the death
of total separation for you and for me. "They

pierced my hands and my feet," (Psalm 22:16).
Even down to the detail, the predictions are

there. Psalm 31:5—the last words that He
would speak—"into thy hand I commit my spirit."

Father, into thine hand I commit my spirit.
Everything, there in the Old Testament.

"He keeps all of his bones, not one of them
is broken" (Psalm 34:20). That was already

a typology with the lamb, with the Passover
lamb. It was to be eaten, but not a bone was

to be broken. Why? Because the Messiah's bones
would not be broken. It was the Preparation,

and the Jews were afraid that they would come
down and run away. And they didn't want to

have to chase them on the Sabbath day because
they had hoards and hoards of rules written

in their Talmud. So they gave the order that
they should break the legs. That's what the

New Testament says. But when they came to
Jesus, He was already dead so they did not

break His legs, fulfilling the prophecy (John
19:32-33).

And they pierced His side. So the place of
His birth is predicted. The manner of His

birth is predicted. His betrayal is predicted,
and the manner of His death is predicted in

great detail. We've just flown over them,
we haven't even gone into the detail. The

nuances, the finer details—absolutely astounding.

Here's a beautiful statement: "Christ was
treated as we deserve, that we might be treated

as He deserves. He was condemned for our sins,
in which He had no share, that we might be

justified by His righteousness, in which we
had no share. He suffered the death, which

was ours, that we might receive the life,
which was His. 'With his stripes, we are healed.'"

Beautiful statement.

"God so loved the world that he gave his only
begotten son that whosoever believeth in him

should not perish, but have everlasting life."
Isaiah 53 again says, "His grave would be

with the wicked"—very interesting—"and
with the rich in his death." So he died with

the wicked and a rich man gave Him the grave,
and Matthew 27:57, 60 confirms that very statement.

So the manner of His death, the way He was
buried—everything there in the Old Testament.

Some of the critics said, "well hang on a
second, maybe He wasn't a historic figure

at all. Maybe the New Testament writers just
wrote all that stuff down to make it look

as if Jesus fulfilled the prophecies."

Now, I hope you realize that the scribes and
the Pharisees never understood the prophecies.

Because otherwise they would have accepted
the Messiah, right? So here we have a story

that all these things were changed, and they
said that individuals involved, like Pilate,

weren't historic figures. Well, I have news
for them, because here was a plaque that was

found. It is on display at a museum in Israel,
where the very names Tiberius and Pontius

Pilatus are there—historic figures.

Let's have a look at some of the historians.
Tacitus, the Roman historian who lived AD

115, speaks about Nero's persecution of the
Christians of the year AD 46. Then, he says,

"Christus, from whom their name is derived,
was executed at the hands of the procurator

Pontius Pilate in the reign of Tiberius."

So there's an extra-Biblical source, which
says when these things happened. Then you

have Suetonius the Roman Historian writing
about AD 120. And he says, "Since the Jews

were continually making disturbances"—remember
that the Christians were counted as a Jewish

sect, and so they were called Jews—"disturbances
at the instigation of Chrestus, he (Claudius)

expelled them from Rome."

And the Talmud, which is the Jewish traditions,
said, "on the eve of the Passover they hanged

Jeshu of Nazareth."

So there are sources outside the Scriptures,
which confirm the very issue. Jesus Christ

was always central; the Messiah was always
central to the religion of Israel. If you

look at the sanctuary that had to be built,
every single item, every single practice that

occurred within this sanctuary is a reference
to Christ. The most beautiful story of the

plan of salvation is enacted here in the sacrifice
of the lamb, which stood for the Lamb that

would take away sins of the world. If you
go on into this sanctuary there was the laver

of washing, where you are washed by the consequences
of your action, of confessing your sins.

Jesus Christ the Light of the world, Jesus
Christ the Bread of Life, Jesus Christ the

Intercessor, Jesus Christ the Mercy—everything
is there. It's a beautiful story. We haven't

got time to go into it.

Even in the typology of the high priest, the
high priest stood for Jesus Christ. It was

a type because Paul says, "we have such a
high priest." Jesus Christ was the one who

entered into the majesty of heaven. Hebrews
8:1-2: "We have such an high priest, who is

set on the right hand of the throne of the
Majesty in the heavens; A minister of the

sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which
the Lord pitched and not man"—very interesting

stuff.

"For Christ is not entered into the holy places
made with hands, which are the figures of

the true." So that was the figure of the real
thing, this was just a type, "now to appear

in the presence of God for us." He has entered
into heaven itself (Hebrews 9:24).

The whole Old Testament was a typology of
the very acts of Jesus. So now we are faced

with a problem: the world is going to expect
very soon that everybody acknowledges equality

of all. But the Bible says there's only 1
way to salvation, and that is through Jesus

Christ, and that Jesus was not 1 of many prophets
in this world, but that He was the predicted

Messiah, the God-Man, the One who would come
down from heaven to pay the price for sin

for your and my salvation. And we have to
know where we stand.

Well, there's a fantastic prophecy in Daniel,
which has put this issue beyond a shadow of

doubt—so much so that it is a nightmare
for those who want to reject Jesus Christ

as the Messiah. In Daniel chapter 8, we have
also a flow through history like we did in

Daniel chapter 2 now—where we did the head
and the arms of silver, and the bronze, and

the iron—but here the whole issue is repeated
in terms of animals. And you have here a particular

goat with 2 horns, 1 larger than the other.
And the Bible tells us who it is. We don't

have to guess. It's a reference to the Medes
and the Persians. And it tells us that while

these horns were there, another goat came
along with a prominent horn between his eyes,

and again we don't have to guess. In Daniel
chapter 8 it tells us who the horn is. A horn

is a king or a kingdom. It says the prominent
horn between its eyes is the first king of

Greece.

So who is it? Alexander the Great. We don't
have to guess, the Bible tells us exactly

what these symbols stand for. And it says
he approached, and he attacked the 2-horned

one and broke off the horns. Medo-Persia was
conquered. So then he comes flying, crashes

into the other one, breaks off his horn, and
Daniel 8:8 says, "Therefore the goat waxed

very great, and when he was strong the great
horn was broken." So Alexander the Great would

come to his end. And in his place four notable
ones would come up towards the winds of heaven.

And we know that Greece was divided into four
regions. Interesting there were 12 generals

fighting over it, but after those battles
there were just four regions.

"And out of one of them came forth a little
horn, which waxed exceeding great, towards

the south, and towards the east, and toward
the pleasant land. And it waxed great, even

to the host of heaven; and it cast down some
of the host and of the stars to the ground,

and stamped on it. Yea, it magnified himself
even to the prince of hosts, and by him the

daily..."—sacrifices there written cursively,
so it wasn't in the original text. That's

what it means in the King James Version when
they write it cursively. It means it's not

in the original. So, "...by him the daily
was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary

was cast down." Now this whole sanctuary stood
for the Messiah. And Rome came along and crucified

the Messiah.

"Then I heard one saint"—now he's in vision
and he's hearing an angel speak to another

one—"speaking, and another saint said unto
that certain saint which spake, How long shall

be the vision concerning the daily"...sacrifice
added by the way. The daily, which is the

"tameed." The "tameed" is the continual. That
was that fire that was burning. When they

looked at it the fire meant that it was the
sacrifice was always available, the atonement

of Christ. We can come to that in a later
lecture..."And the transgression of desolation,

to give both the sanctuary and the host to
be trodden under foot. And he said unto me"—and

now we have a time prophecy—"unto two thousand
and three hundred days, then shall the sanctuary

be cleansed" (Daniel 8:13-14).

We have a time prophecy. Now, we're not going
to deal with this prophecy tonight, this 2300-day

prophecy. We'll deal with it in another evening,
in detail. So I don't want to go into this

into detail, but he is discussing a particular
time prophecy. And I want to look at a portion

of this time prophecy. Daniel 8:23-26: "And
in the latter time of their kingdom...a king

of fierce countenance, and understanding dark
sentences, shall stand up...he shall also

stand up against the Prince of princes; but
he shall be broken without hand." There you

have the "without hand" again—thunderous
prophecy. We're going to deal with it, and

we're going to see who's going to be in control
just before Christ comes. "And the vision

of the evening and the morning which was told
is true: wherefore shut up the vision; and

it shall be for many days," for the future.

"He said unto me, Unto two thousand and three
hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be

cleansed." So here is a vision that Daniel
is given and he doesn't understand it, doesn't

understand it at all, and he's told, "Don't
worry. You don't have to understand it. It

concerns the distant future and it will be
unsealed at a later stage but not now." And

we're not going to deal with this in this
lecture. In another lecture, we'll come to

it.

So he's thinking about this vision. And he
doesn't understand it, so here he's standing.

Daniel 8:17: "So he came near where I stood:
and when he came, I was afraid, and I fell

on my face"—so he was in vision and he sees
this heavenly being, falls on his face—"Understand,

thou son of man: for at the time of the end
shall be the vision." So the vision concerns

the future; it concerns the time of the end.
And it has so many aspects to it that bother

Daniel. And then in Daniel chapter 9 from
verse 20 onwards we have an explanation of

part of the vision. So, "while I was speaking
in prayer, the man Gabriel"—this is now

the angel Gabriel—"came to me in swift flight,
and he said to me, O Daniel, I have now come

out to give you wisdom and understanding."
So now he's going to explain something to

him, and we want to know what it's about.
And here we go. Fasten your seatbelts.

"Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people
and upon thy holy city..." How many days in

a week? Seven. So 70 weeks would be 70 times
7. We'll come to that: days. So, "Seventy

weeks are determined upon thy people"—that's
the Jews—"and upon thy holy city"—which

one is that? Jerusalem—"to finish transgression,
to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation

for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness,
to seal up the vision and the prophecy, and

to anoint the most Holy" (Daniel 9:24).

Thunderous vision, thunderous prophecy. So
70 weeks are determined—cut off for this

particular time period—and all these things
must be accomplished. End of sins, reconciliation

for iniquity, bring in everlasting righteousness—now
who did all that? Who brings in everlasting

righteousness? Who can make an end to sin?
Only Jesus.

This is a Messianic prophecy. Now let me tell
you, the Jews are very upset about this prophecy.

Listen to this, this is the Rabbinic Curse,
and you will find it in Talmudic Law (page

978, section 2, line 28). Let me read it to
you.

"May the bones of the hands and the bones
of the fingers decay and decompose of him

who turns the pages of the book of Daniel,
to find out the time of Daniel 9:24-27. And

may his memory rot from off the face of the
earth forever." Wow, these guys mean business.

Would you agree? So now I have to ask you
something, or what do the Americans say? Ask

you something? Are you willing to go on in
spite of that curse? Because if you are going

to number with me Daniel 9:24--27, then this
curse should theoretically stick to us. But

let me tell you something, I serve someone
greater than this curse. I have no fear of

this curse. And I know why they've got this
curse, because if this curse were not there

somebody might number that prophecy and find
out whom they really should serve. Let's see.

Cut off. Determined. Separated from. Seventy
weeks cut off from the bigger prophecy for

the Jews.

Now let's take a look at it. In prophecy,
a day counts for a year. A week counts therefore

for 7 days. So a day for the year—the day-year
principle—means that it counts for 7 years.

Now can I say that just by myself? Nope, that
would be arrogance, so let's get some Biblical

support. Ezekiel 4:6: "I have appointed thee
each day for a year," talking about a prophetic

sense. Or Numbers 14:34: "After the number
of days in which you searched the land, even

forty days, each day for a year." So now,
the proof of the pudding is always in the

eating, so let's apply the day-year principle,
and number the 70 weeks and see where we get.

Seventy weeks are appointed on your people.
Seventy weeks—well, a week has 7 days. So

how many days is that? That's 490 days, and
that is therefore 490 prophetic years, which

are cut off.

Cut off from what? Obviously, the 2300-day
prophecy, which he was talking about. So that

would bring us to 2300 years—490 years cut
off for the Jews. That's what it means. All

right, let's have a look a little further.
Then the sanctuary would be cleansed at the

end of that period. Now I'm going to deal
with only this part of the prophecy, only

this 70 week. In order to find out what this
is about, we have to know when the prophecy

starts, right? So when do these 2300 years
begin? From when do we start counting the

70 weeks, which the Rabbinic code says we're
not allowed to study?

Well, Daniel 9:24 gives us the answer. There
is a curse upon this verse. Interesting that

Rabbis should curse a part of Daniel. Does
that puzzle you tonight? It would certainly

puzzle me if I were you, because it puzzled
me like crazy. "Seventy weeks are determined

upon thy people."

"Know therefore and understand, that from
the going forth of the commandment to restore

and rebuild Jerusalem"—unto what?—"Unto
the Messiah." So from the going forth of the

decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem—remember
Daniel is in captivity, Jerusalem is destroyed,

and now is told 70 weeks. And you start counting
when? From the time when the decree goes forth.

"From the going forth of (the decree) the
commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem

unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven
weeks and three score and two weeks." And,

"the streets shall be built again, and the
wall, even in troubles times" (9:25). Wow.

He just received a Messianic prophecy, telling
Daniel precisely when the Messiah would come.

Did you know that's in the Bible? Did you
know that? Well let's work it out.

7 weeks.
49 days.

49 years.
62 weeks.

434 days.
434 years.

Where does that bring us? The decree to rebuild
and to restore Jerusalem, and then there would

be 7 weeks—temple restored—and then Messiah
the Prince. So what do we need? We need a

date over here, and we can work it out. Is
that right? We need a date.

Artexerxes, king of Persia, issued the decree
in the year 457 BC. This decree was total

political freedom again for the Jews. There
was a Cyrus decree, previously, which pertained

only to the temple. But this decree—Artexerxes,
457 BC—pertains to the restoration of Jerusalem.

There we go. So we have a starting date.

So 457 plus 483, that's the 49. Plus the 434,
brings us to the year AD 27. Now what happened

in AD 27—69 weeks, 483, 1 day for a year.
"I have appointed you a day for a year"—remember?

Day for a year, and let's look at the decree.
Ezra 7:12-13: "Artaxerxes, king of kings,

unto Ezra the priest, a scribe of the law
of God of heaven...I make a decree, that all

they of the people of Israel...which are minded
of their own freewill to go up to Jerusalem,

go with thee." That was the decree. "And I...Artexerxes
the king, do make a decree to all the treasurers

that are beyond the river, that whatsoever
Ezra the priest...shall require of you, it

be done speedily" (Ezra 7:21). And by the
way, an archeological tablet has been found

confirming the date 457 BC. So it's beyond
the shadow of doubt. There can be no argument

about the date. It's found, written in stone.
Four-fifty-seven, 490 years: The total prophecy

is 2300 years. "Know therefore and understand,
that from the going forth of the commandment

to rebuild unto the Messiah the Prince there
shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks."

Now, 7 plus 62 is how much? That's 69 weeks.
The total prophecy concerns how many weeks?

Seventy, so there's another week to go. But
the prophecy says that Messiah, which means

"Anointed One," will come after the 69 weeks,
and that worked out to which year, do you

remember—27 AD. So the decree went out:
457, 69 times 7, 483 days. And total restoration,

that was only that particular decree, unto
the Messiah. So 27 AD unto the Messiah. Now

how old was Jesus when He started His Messianic
ministry? He was 30. Now why 27 AD? Here's

a problem. Thirty and 27 they don't add up.
But go to any little encyclopedia, even a

children's encyclopedia, and you will see
that our time has been shifted, and that the

whole period is really out by these 4 years.
You don't count the 0 year, and that Jesus

was actually 30 in the year 27 AD. The word
Messiah means "Anointed One," and when Jesus

was anointed, that happened at His baptism.
"Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of

Tiberius Caesar," this is quoting the Scriptures,
"when all the peoples were baptized, it came

to pass, that Jesus also being baptized, and
praying to heaven, praying, the heaven was

opened" (Luke 3:1,21).

Now that year of Tiberius was 27 AD. Now how
many Messiahs can there be? Only 1. Only 1

that fulfills every single prophecy. The 15th
year of Tiberius Caesar was 27 AD, and Jesus

was anointed with the Holy Spirit precisely
on time. Now can you imagine now why the Rabbinical

Talmud said, "cursed be the one who numbers
the 7 weeks," because Judaism would come to

an end. If they accepted what Daniel said,
Judaism would come to an end.

"And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily
shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came

from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved
Son; in thee I am well pleased." Now, listen

to what it says in Mark 1:15. Jesus was just
anointed, the year was 27 AD. And He says,

"And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the
kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye and believe

the gospel" (Mark 1:15). Which time is fulfilled?
John 1:29: "Behold the lamb of God, which

taketh away the sins of the world." The Anointed
One, the Messiah, was He there? "God anointed

Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and
with power" (Acts 10:38). That took place

at His baptism. So the going forth of the
Messiah who would take the sins of the world

upon Him was predicted precisely in the Bible.
The date, Galatians 4:4 says, "when the fulness

of time was come, God sent forth his Son."
Which fullness of time? There was a prophecy

that had to be fulfilled. And only Jesus fulfills
it, nobody else. And I'm going to put it straight

out to you: nobody else, no Shiva, no Brahma,
no Vishnu, no Buddha, no Muhammad, no nobody.

Jesus fulfilled it, no one else. So there
is only 1 Biblical Messiah. And no one comes

to the Father except through Him.

Now, I was giving a lecture in Germany, and
I said that, and somebody got up in the audience

and said to me, "but that's arrogance, how
can you say that 'nobody comes to the Father

except through Jesus Christ.' That's arrogance,
what about all the others?"

And I said, "yeah you're right. It sounds
arrogant to say nobody does it except through

this 1 particular individual. But if somebody
comes up to me and he says to me—and I'm

sitting there with my daughter—and he says
to me, 'are you the father of that child?'

And I say, 'yup, I'm the father of that child.'
And he says, 'hey, out of all the billions

of people on this planet, you say you're the
father? That's arrogance.'" Well, you know

folks that might be arrogance, but it could
also just be a fact. Right? Although my sister

does say that fatherhood is an opinion, and
motherhood is a fact. So we could perhaps

argue the issue, but the fact of the matter—the
point that I'm making—is if Jesus is the

Messiah, and if Jesus is Immanuel, and if
Jesus is the Joshua, the Yahweh, the Saviour,

then no one else qualifies. Right or wrong?

And if He is the Creator, there's no one else,
right? So can I accept the hodgepodge, or

must I make a choice? What if I'm told to
bow down to someone else? Well, I have interesting

news. In my country, in South Africa, they're
bringing out new laws and new curricula, and

these are going to be filtered throughout
the whole world. The whole world is going

to get them.

And in our school systems we have something
called Curriculum 2005. Which means that in

the future, our children must be trained in
all religions, say all the prayers of all

the other religions, and acknowledge the deities
of all the religions as well. I have a problem

with that.

So soon, I don't know, maybe there'll be this
image and I'll have to say, well, I'm sorry,

I'm sorry I can't go along with that. When
the fullness of time was come, God sent forth

His Son (Galatians 4:4). And what happens
in the 70th week? Did you know there are people

that now—there are many prophetic ways that
are out in the world—and some take this

70th week and they throw it into the future,
somewhere way out there, and they say that

pertains to the Antichrist. Now hang on a
second, the 70 weeks pertained to the Jews,

to end transgression, to bring in everlasting
righteousness. All of it was messianic. All

of it was messianic. "After three score and
two weeks shall Messiah be"—now what does

it say there?—"cut off, but not for himself."
What does that mean? He will die, but not

for Himself, for whom? For us. Now it gets
exciting, it gets thunderously exciting: "and

the people of the prince that shall come shall
destroy the city..." Now we have chiasm. A

beautiful chiasm, talking about 2 forces at
work: Messiah the Prince and another 1 that

comes and destroys the city. Now who is he?

It was Rome. Rome came and destroyed the city
AD 70. So Messiah will "be cut off but not

for himself: and the people of the prince
shall come and destroy the city and the sanctuary;

and the end thereof shall be with a flood,
and the end of the war desolations are determined"

(Daniel 9:26).

Then, "he shall confirm a covenant with many
for one week." This is now Messiah—the other

ruler, Messiah. That's how the chiasm works.
So the Messiah will confirm a covenant with

many for 1 week. But now note this: in the
middle of the week, He shall bring an end

to sacrifice and offering. Wow. How did the
Messiah bring an end to the sacrificial system?

He became the sacrifice. He became the sacrifice.
So now we have the 70th week. Now folks please

think about this: the 70th week pertains still
to the Messiah. It cannot be thrown into the

future, because in the middle of that week—by
the way, the middle of seven is how much?

And how long was Jesus active after his anointing?
Three and a half years—in the middle of

that week He was cut off, but not for you
and me. And He brought an end to the sacrificial

system because he became the Lamb of God to
take away the sins of this world. Is that

right? So only He can fulfill this part of
the prophecy. Therefore, can I throw it into

the future, or does it pertain to the time
of Christ? It pertains to the time of Christ.

He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering.

There is 1 prophetic week or 7 literal years
left in the prophecy. What is a half of 7?

3 1/2 —3 1/2 from the fall of 27 AD leads
us to the spring of 31 AD. So we have 27,

3 1/2 , and the sacrificial system of the
Jews—which the temple stood for—comes

to an end. Shall Messiah be cut off, but not
for Himself. It's phenomenal. This ancient

prophecy points to Jesus and to no one else,
much to the disgust of many religious leaders

in the world today.

Seventieth week—31 AD—Jesus died, but
there's still a 3.5 left: 70 weeks were determined

upon the Jews. What happened in 34 AD? Now
let me tell you something. Jesus said to the

Jews, to these disciples, "go ye first to
the lost children of"—what?— "Israel.:

"Go ye first to the lost children of Israel."
He didn't reject Him even at His death. He

said, "go ye first to the lost children of
Israel." And they worked amongst the Jews.

But then, in 34 AD something happened, something
happened. They stoned Steven, they stoned

Steven and the Christians fled, and who persecuted
them? Who was sent after them? Do you remember?

Paul. And Paul received a vision, and he was
made the apostle to whom? The Gentiles. Peter

received a vision of a sheet coming down filled
with unclean things, and he's sent to Cornelius

a Gentile, and he comes to Cornelius. He says,
"God has shown me in vision that I must not

call any man unclean or impure."

"You know," he says to him, "it is unlawful
for a Jew to associate with a Gentile, but

God has shown me in vision I can come to you."
So AD 34 Steven is stoned, the commission

that the Gospel would be carried forth by
the Jews comes to an end, and the Gentiles

take the message further. They preach the
risen Christ. Isn't that interesting? And

any Jew that wants to be grafted into the
vine can be grafted in, but he has to acknowledge

Jesus Christ as his personal Saviour, and
therefore become a Christian, and if you be

in Christ then you become Abraham's seed.
And that's how it works.

Christ was crucified exactly on time, according
to the prophecy. Exactly as the prophecy foretold

it would happen. And in the middle of the
week He was crucified, but still mercy lingered

until they totally rejected not only Christ,
but His followers as well.

According to the prophecy of Daniel, God's
covenant with the Jews would cease 34 AD,

and henceforth you have to be grafted into
the vine. They preached and they were rejected.

Here at the Sheep's Gate, this is where they
brought Him out, where they crucified the

Saviour. They wanted Him as their King of
kings and they wanted Him to destroy the Romans,

but He came to destroy sin.

"Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk,
I took them up in my arms but they did not

know that I had healed them" (Hosea 11:3).

"I let them with cords of compassion, with
the bands of love...And I bent down to them

and fed them."

"How can I give you up, O Ephraim? How can
I hand you over O Israel?"

"Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often I wanted
to gather you under my wings, like a mother

hen, her chicks, but you would not. Therefore
your house is left to you desolate."

The time when they would be the carriers of
the Gospel message would come to an end. As

He approached Jerusalem He saw the city and
He wept. He wept. "If you, even you had known

on this day what would bring you peace, but
now it is hidden from your eyes." Why? Because

of the hardness of their hearts.

"The days will come upon you when your enemies
will build an embankment against you and encircle

you and hem you in on every side. And they
will dash you to the ground, and your children

within the walls," and, "they will not leave
one stone upon another" (Luke 19).

Was it fulfilled? Yes, "look, your house is
left to you desolate." So the Gospel is carried

by the Gentiles. By the way, what does desolate
mean? Does it mean there's something left,

or there's no light? Nothing. Nothing at all,
nothing at all.

In the midst of the week, Christ the Messiah
would cause the sacrifice to cease. These

verses tell that the Messiah would die by
crucifixion on the 14th day of the first Jewish

month in the year AD 31. And every single
detail has been fulfilled by Jesus Christ.

Now note this, the Bible says in Mark 15:38,
"and the veil of the temple was rent in twain

from the top to the bottom." Not from the
bottom to the top. From the top to the bottom.

Who rent it? God, He tore it. Now when that
veil tore, then the way to the Most Holy was

open, which meant any Jew could look into
the Most Holy and live. Wow. Why? Because

the sacrificial system had come to an end.
Now think about this: Jesus fulfills the sacrificial

system, yes or no? Because by one sacrifice
He has forever made...? Perfect. One sacrifice.

What if I was to build a little temple and
start sacrificing again? What would I be saying

if I did that? That Christ was not sacrificed
and did not fulfill everything. So if they

want to build another temple, let them do
it, but it is not from God. Are you with me

on this or not? So the veil of the temple
was rent in twain from top to bottom.

"And behold, the curtain of the temple was
torn in two, from top to bottom" (Matthew

27:51). God saw to it that it is written down
for us. So according to the prophecies of

Daniel, God's covenant with the Jews would
cease AD 34—so, at the end of the 70 weeks.

And you cannot throw the 70th week into the
future, because the sacrificial system was

ended by Jesus himself. So it fits back into
the past.

AD 34, the stoning of Stephen, the Jewish
leaders reject the Gospel and it goes to the

Gentiles.

Galatians 3:29: "If you belong to Christ,
then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according

to the promise." So in other words, everyone
who accepts Jesus Christ is Abraham's seed,

yes or no? Because Paul says the seed refers
to the singular, which means it refers to

Jesus Christ and to nothing else.

"Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means
anything. What counts is a new creation. Peace

and mercy to all who follow this rule, even
the Israel of God." Who's that? The ones who

accept Christ, that's who it is.

So I love the Jews, and I have many Jewish
friends, and I really pray with all my heart

that they will accept the Gospel, and I hope
there are many Jews here tonight. I'm not

hammering the Jews here tonight, I'm discussing
the prophecy—a prophecy that points to Jesus.

"And he said unto them, unto 2300 days then
shall the sanctuary be cleansed." There's

more to this prophecy, more to it. The cleansing
of the sanctuary is a Jewish feast. And we'll

have to look at it, it was a day of judgment,
so it refers to judgment day at the end of

time.

End of the world—the prophecy will end 2300
days later, and then will come eternity. We

all know that this earth was judged once before
and destroyed by a Flood. And everybody that

wasn't in the ark drowned. And in the same
way, "search the scriptures, for in them you

think you have eternal life: but they are
they which testify of me" (John 5:39).

In Jesus we have life. In Jesus we are saved,
in Jesus we can go through to the Kingdom:

in no one else. And I want to warn the people
of this country and all the countries of the

world that this showdown is soon to take place.

Serve the Lord and nobody will be lost. Thank
you for coming.