Daniel, a prophet during the 70 year-long Babylonian captivity, was given a powerful vision of the "seventy weeks." In Daniel 9, the word "weeks" is translated as a unit of seven years, so 70 of them would represent 490 years. God revealed to Daniel that 69 of these 70 periods, ie. 483 years, would occur between the time of the commandment by Artaxerxes to rebuild Jerusalem and the coming of the Messiah, the Anointed One. Sir Robert Prince, in his book "The Coming Prince," presents a very detailed calculation of this time period. Allowing for leap years, 360 day "Biblical" years, and no "Year Zero" between BC and AD, he shows the 69 weeks ending the very year Jesus was crucified and resurrected. Can you hear God's telephoto time lens just whirring?
But it's not done yet—Prince's calculations bring it up even closer than that. This 173,880 day time period concludes on the Sunday before the crucifixion—the very day Jesus rode into Jerusalem and was publicly proclaimed to be Messiah and King! What an amazing thing! Before we see what else this telephoto lens can do, let's dwell on this setting for a time. When Jesus came close to Bethphage and Bethany, He sent two of His followers to retrieve a colt, the foal of a donkey. The gospel writer Matthew makes it clear that the mother of the donkey was also brought. But even if he hadn't mentioned that, you could have known it. Way back in Zechariah 9:9, God had declared, "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: He is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass." Hundreds of years before this scene is actually lived out in life of Jesus, it was prophesied that it would happen. As God's telephoto time zooms in, He is seen as the only one who can bring all of eternity to bear on our individual lives.
But it goes even further back—way back in 1 Kings 1:33, we find King David arranging for the succession to the throne by his son Solomon as the latter rides on the back of the king's own mule—a symbol of the humility that both Solomon and Jesus would need on the road ahead. Now, before Jesus mounted the young donkey, some in the crowd laid their garments on the animal as a saddle, of sorts, while others laid theirs on the road ahead—a laying out of the red carpet, if you will. Once again, this is not new—way back in 2 Kings 9:13, we find that when Jehu was declared to be king, a similar honor was bestowed—and God's telephoto lens whirs right along! Other gospel accounts tell of branches being cut down and spread in the way, with John's gospel making it obvious that they were palm branches—a word, in the Greek, that speaks forth of the "uprightness" of the One who was passing over them. As Jesus rode, the multitude shouted, "…Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord: peace in heaven, and glory in the highest." (Luke 19:38) They were quoting Psalm 118, adding their own recognition of Him being "King." And at the birth of Jesus, the shepherds heard a similar praise from the angels, but now the peace is not just for the earth; it is for all of heaven! Praise God—all through the centuries, His telephoto time focuses right in!
Remember—we had started with a vision in Daniel 9:24, and now we can see the underlying problem in Deuteronomy 9:24—"Ye have been rebellious against the Lord from the day that I knew you." Originally, it spoke of Moses bemoaning the golden calf, but now the Pharisees set up their own idol— "Master, rebuke thy disciples." (vs. 39b) "Censure them, Jesus—we don't like what they are saying! It's true, but we don't like it!" Simply put, it's rebellion! What is Jesus' response to it?— "I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out." (vs. 40) Even nature and all of God's creation knows who He is—King of kings and Lord of lords—and even if no one else will give Him the glory, the earth itself will! What a grievous thing it is when God's beloved human creation won't take the time to focus on Him or His glory!
As Jesus approached Jerusalem, He wept over it. Why? Well, W.H. Griffith once wrote, "Let us sit at Christ's feet until we learn the secret of His tears, and beholding the sins and sorrows…weep over them, too.” Oh, how grievous—they should have known Him, and so should we—"If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace!" (vs. 42b) They could have, you know, but their eyes were focused on their own "stuff," and the truth was hidden. In 40 years, their beloved temple, which had virtually become an idol to them, would be destroyed by the Romans, not even leaving one stone upon another—"because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation." (vs. 44b) Every stone would proclaim the judgment of God against rebellion. That would be in their future, but what about ours? Well, amazingly, that is where God's telephoto lens comes in again! Daniel's vision of the 70 weeks didn't just zoom in on Palm Sunday and the Cross of Calvary—that was only 69 of them. Revelation declares that the 70th week—the last 7 years—will play out, encompassing the Rapture of the overcoming Body of Christ (1 Thess. 4:13-18), the rule and deception of the Antichrist (Daniel 9:27), and the ultimate triumph of Jesus Christ (Rev. 19-21).
Oh, yes! It is true! All of it! And it's all coming very soon! Jesus had always said, that in the very last of days, the earth itself would proclaim His Kingship, even if people wouldn’t. For example, in Matthew 24, we are told that the closeness of His Second Coming would be marked by an amazing increase of earthquakes. Lo, and behold, before 1900, there was only one 7.2 or greater quake per decade. From 1900 until 1949, there were 3 per decade. In the 1950's, there were 9; the 60's saw 13; the 70's were rocked by 56; the 80's recorded 74; and, if that rate continued, the 1990's would have seen an amazing 125 major earthquakes! I never heard the exact tally, but it is clear that the world is being shaken. And it was only a small one that brought on that horrific Tsunami! Don't forget—when Jesus died on the Cross, the earth shook, rocks were split, and the dead were raised; when the stone from His tomb was rolled away, the earth shook again! And He is not done—"Whose voice then shook the earth: but now He hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven…that those things which cannot be shaken may remain." (Heb. 12:26)
It has been God's focus from waaaay back. Psalm 114:5-6 declares, "What ailed thee…ye mountains, that ye skipped like rams; and ye little hills, like lambs? Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the Lord." If a mountain actually "skipped," would not some of it fall off—you know, kind of like all of the mud and rock slides lately—faaaar more than usual? Focus and see His signs! Micah 1:3-4, Nahum 1:5, Psalm 97, 2 Peter 3:10-11, and hundreds of other Scriptures speak the same truth—God's telephoto time lens has had all of this in focus all along. Truly, He alone is the epitome of planning ahead—from before Daniel's day, to the Cross and the Resurrection, to our day and beyond, His telephoto time reveals Him to be in control of all things, and therefore, triumphant! A.W. Tozer once wrote, "Let no one apologize for the powerful emphasis Christianity lays upon the basic doctrine of the world to come. When Christ arose from death and ascended into heaven, He established forever three important facts—that this world has been condemned to ultimate dissolution; that the human spirit persists beyond the grave; and that there is indeed a world to come!" Praise God—Jesus Christ is risen; may His resurrected life triumph in our hearts and lives right now, and throughout all eternity!
