BIBLE MYSTERIES REVEALED - SECTION FOURTEEN
By Yurell Green
BIBLE MYSTERIES REVEALED - SECTION FOURTEEN
Who lived in the Promise land and why did God command the
Israelites to kill everything that has breath after they entered
the promise land.
The promise land,By Yurell Green
BIBLE MYSTERIES REVEALED - SECTION FOURTEEN
Who lived in the Promise land and why did God command the
Israelites to kill everything that has breath after they entered
the promise land.
Promised land,
God,
Israel,
Babylon,
Arabs,
Arab countries,
Antichrist,
King Cyrus,
Gabriel,
Israel,
Seed of the Nephilim,
Nephilim,
Angels,
The exodus,
Red sea,
The red sea,
God parts red sea,
The promised and,
Moses,
Abraham,
Aaron,
Isaac,
Ten plagues,
The ten plagues,
Egypt,
Exodus,
Sons of Jacob,
Jacob,
Who are the jews,
Where do the jews come from,
The twelve tribes,
Names twelve tribes,
Name of the twelve tribes,
Israel,
Jews,
When did God give Israel to the Jews,
God gives Israel to the jews,
Did God appear to Abraham,
When did God appear to Abraham,
Sin,
Temptation,
Serpent,
The Nile River,
The daughter of the Pharaoh,
Moses died,
Did Moses see the promise land,
God burried Moses,
Why did Moses die without seeing the promise land,
Sons of God,
Fallen angels,
The land of Midian,
Dream dictionary,
The things I say, I do not say that you should believe me, but that you will
search the scriptures. That God might reveal to you, even greater mysteries.
search the scriptures. That God might reveal to you, even greater mysteries.
SECTION FOURTEEN
GOD COMMANDS THE JEWS TO KILL EVERYTHING THAT HAS BREATH IN ISRAEL
After entering into the Promise Land, the Israelites quickly discovered that the land was inhabited by many nations, the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites, the descendants of Ham, one of the sons of Noah, whose wife carried the seed of the Nephilim. To purify the land so that the Israelites would not take up their false gods, God commanded Joshua to kill every man, woman, child, and all of the animals belonging to the inhabitants of the land that is today Israel. The reason God commanded the Israelites to kill all the animals is because of the fact that demonic spirits can possess an animal, then transfer into a human. God wanted the evil spirits to have no place to rest or inhabit, when He cleansed the land of Israel of all that had breath.
BIBLE REFERENCE: This command is recorded in Deuteronomy 20:16-18 "However, in the
cities of the nations, the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, do not leave alive
anything that breathes. Completely destroy them -- the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites,
Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites--as the LORD your God has commanded you. Otherwise,
they will teach you to follow all the detestable things they do in worshiping their gods, and
you will sin against the LORD your God." NIV
NOTE: The command to kill everything that has breath in the Promise Land was given by God to purify the land of the seed of the Nephilim. In the same way, God destroyed the First Earth Age in order to purify the earth so that He could make man out of the clay of the earth.
Although Joshua did conquer all of the nations in the Promise Land the Lord had commanded him, he did not kill all of the inhabitants, but allowed many of the people in the nations he conquered to live and even enter into marriage with the Jews. In the eyes of God, it is a sin and forbidden for a Jew to marry outside their own race. Because Joshua disobeyed God, years later, the Phoenicians believed to have come from Greece would settle in the land and become the original Philistines, a hated enemy of the Jews. This is not to confuse the so-called Palestinians, who inhabit a part of the land of Israel today. The current Palestinians have nothing to do with the original Phoenicians, but are a hodgepodge group of nomad Arab migrant workers who first came to Israel to work for the Turks as sharecroppers about 1517 when the Ottoman Turks took over control of what is today Israel. After Israel was declared a nation in 1948, these same migrants who adopted the name Palestinians stayed on and worked for the Israelis.
WHERE DID THE NAME PALESTINE REALLY COME FROM
Years later after conquering Israel, the Jews finally did manage to destroy all of the Philistines left over in Israel. But when the Romans conquered Israel, starting around 68 B.C., the Romans changed the name of the part of the land of Israel that the Phoenicians had inhabited to Palestine, just to anger the Israelites. Oddly enough, the same areas the Romans changed the name from Israel to Palestine are the very same areas that the current-day Arabs who now call themselves Palestinians inhabit today, which is the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. God is not through yet!
Because Joshua did not obey God and kill all the peoples in the land infected by the seed of the Nephilim, the curse on the land still exists and has caused Israel unending problems and heartaches to this day.
No sooner had the Israelites taken the land, then many of the Jews starting with the tribe of Dan took the gods of the Canaanites and worshiped them. Just as God said they would. Try and figure that one out.
One last thought I would like to leave with you is before the crossing of the Jordan River by the Jews into the Promise Land is that when the Israelites crossed the Jordan River, God dried the river up until the last Jew had crossed over on dry land. Hundreds of years later, it is believed that Jesus Christ was baptized by John the Baptist at that very same spot. Coincidence, I do not think so.
THE THREE THINGS GOD REQUIRED THE JEWS TO DO IN ORDER TO KEEP THE LAND OF ISRAEL AND GOD'S PROTECTION
EXODUS 23:10-12
1. They must work the land six days, but on the seventh day, they must let the land rest.
2. They must work the land six years, but the seventh year, they must let the land rest.
3. They must keep God's commandments and laws and worship Him only.
GOD PUNISHES THE JEWS 70 YEARS FOR BREAKING THEIR COVENANT
To these demands, the nation of Israel gladly agreed. As for working the land six days and letting the land rest on the seventh day, they did gladly. But as for letting the land rest every seventh year and worshiping only the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, they failed miserably. From the first year they entered into the land, they worked the land continually, year-after-year, never letting the land rest. Plus, they continually worshiped other gods and married outside of their race. It would seem that with each nation they conquered, they could not wait to take up that nation's false gods and worship them, in conjunction with The Lord their God, the God who had delivered them, loved and protected them.
Finally when the Jews had completed four hundred and ninety (490) consecutive years of worshiping other gods without letting the land rest every seventh year, the wrath of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob fell upon them with a vengeance.
490 divided by 7 = 70 The Israelites had worked the land for 490 consecutive years, so God became so angry that He forced them to let the land rest for 70 consecutive years at one time.
Even though the Israelites deserved God's punishment, God loved them so much that before He punished them, He tried to bring them back to Him by sending prophet after prophet to warn them of His impending judgment in the hopes that they would come back to Him and be His people and He would be their GOD, and they would turn from their wicked ways and let the land rest. But each time they refused. Finally, God sent the prophet Jeremiah, a young man who lived in Jerusalem at the time Nebuchadnezzar the King of Babylon invaded Israel.
God sends Jeremiah to warn the Jews. Jeremiah 25:8-14 "Because you have not listened to
My words, I will summon all the peoples of the North and My servant Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon, declares the LORD, and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants and against all the surrounding nations. I will completely destroy them and make them an object of horror and scorn, and an everlasting ruin. I will banish from them the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of bride and bridegroom, the sound of millstones and the light of the lamp. This whole country will become a desolate wasteland, and this nation will serve the King of Babylon SEVENTY YEARS." NIV
God used the Babylonians to destroy Israel, and then He used the Medes and Persians to bring judgment on the Babylonians for being too harsh on the Jews; after which, He used the Greeks to punish the Medes and Persians. Then, He used the Romans to punish the Greeks. To fulfill end-time prophecy, instead of destroying Rome, God caused the Roman Empire to decay from within, so they could rise up again in the last days, so that He could destroy them. More on this in a later chapter.
"But when the Seventy Years are fulfilled, I will punish the King of Babylon and his nation, and the land of the Babylonians for their guilt, declares the LORD, and will make it desolate forever. I will bring upon that land all the things I have spoken against it. All that is written in this Book and prophesied by Jeremiah against all the nations. They, themselves, will be enslaved by many nations and great kings; I will repay them according to their deeds and the work of their hands." NIV
One hundred and fifty years earlier, God gave this prophecy to yet another prophet named Isaiah, describing the destruction of Babylon. In Isaiah 13:17-22, Isaiah describes what will happen in the prophecy. "See, God said, I will stir up against them the Medes, who do not care for silver and have no delight in gold. Their bows will strike down the young men; they will have no mercy on infants nor will they look with compassion on children. Babylon, the jewel of kingdoms, the glory of the Babylonians' pride, will be overthrown by God like Sodom and Gomorrah. She will never be inhabited or lived in through all generations; no Arab will pitch his tent there, no shepherd will rest his flocks there. But desert creatures will lie there, jackals will fill her houses; there, the owls will dwell; and there, the wild goats will leap about. Hyenas will howl in her strongholds, jackals in her luxurious palaces. Her time is at hand, and her days will not be prolonged." NIV
Although Babylon was conquered by the Medes and Persians, the following part of the prophecy is yet to be fulfilled. "She, referring to Babylon, will never be inhabited or lived in through all generations; no Arab will pitch his tent there, no shepherd will rest his flocks there. But desert creatures will lie there, jackals will fill her houses; there the owls will dwell; there, the wild goats will leap about. Hyenas will howl in her strongholds, jackals in her luxurious palaces. Her time is at hand, and her days will not be prolonged." Although these things have not occurred as of this writing, they are according to the signs of the times on the near horizon and will be fulfilled in this, our generation.
In Isaiah 44:28, the Holy Spirit instructs Cyrus the King who ruled the Medes and Persians when God brought them against Babylon. God speaking to Cyrus, "He, as My shepherd, will accomplish all that I please; he will say, 'Jerusalem, let it be rebuilt, and of the temple, let its foundations be laid.' " NIV
Cyrus would be the king over the Medes and Persians who after conquering Babylon would issue the decree after the Jews had been slaves for 70 years in Babylon, to return to Israel and complete the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem.
To make absolutely sure that no future generation could misunderstand what He was saying, God gave this same prophecy to yet another prophet named Ezra. Ezra 1:1-4 "In the first year of Cyrus King of Persia, in order to fulfill the Word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah, the LORD moved the heart of Cyrus King of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and to put it in writing: This is what Cyrus King of Persia says: 'The LORD, the God of Heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and He has appointed me to build a temple for Him at Jerusalem in Judah. Anyone of His people among you, may His God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem in Judah and build the temple of the LORD, the God of Israel, the God who is in Jerusalem. And the people of any place where survivors may now be living are to provide him with silver and gold, with goods and livestock, and with freewill offerings for the temple of God in Jerusalem.' " NIV
THE END OF THE SEVENTY YEARS CAPTIVITY OF THE JEWS IN BABYLON
About 606 B.C. Nebuchadnezzar the King of Babylon invaded Israel. In all, Nebuchadnezzar invaded Israel three times: In 606, 597 and 586. The war lasted about 19 years, finally culminating in 586 with the destruction of the City of Jerusalem, the temple and the death of most of the Israelites. Those Nebuchadnezzar did not kill or sell, he took back to Babylon as slaves. One of the young teenagers, he took back to Babylon was named Daniel. Daniel loved the LORD, and prayed three times a day and studied the scriptures continually. In Daniel's lifetime, he would rise to great authority under both the King of Babylon and the kings of the Medes and the Persians.
After Daniel had been in captivity in Babylon for about 68 years, he was studying the writings of the prophet Jeremiah. As he read the scriptures, the Holy Spirit gave him understanding, and he realized that the 70 years of captivity The Lord had decreed on Israel was about over.
SEVENTY YEARS TO THE DAY THE JEWS WERE RELEASED FROM BABYLON TO GO BACK TO ISRAEL
It is important to note that although the war between Babylon and Israel lingered for 19 years before Judah was finally destroyed, it was not because Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon could not have quickly overrun Israel, but rather that he kept hoping they would fall into line. But after giving them three chances, he finally gave up and completely destroyed both Israel and Jerusalem taking the survivors back to Babylon. During the years of Israel's captivity in Babylon, there were four different decrees issued for the Jews to go back to Israel, but for the most part, they refused. Exactly 70 years to the day, the Jews were taken captive to Babylon when the first decree was issued by Cyrus King of Persia in 536 B.C., the last decree was issued by Artaxerxes Longimanus King of Persia in 445 B.C.
In 606 B.C. Nebuchadnezzar the King of Babylon invaded Israel.
1. Cyrus 536 .............................................. Ezra …….. 1:2-4.............Decree to rebuild Temple.
2. Darius 1st yr. of King Cyrus 515-517 B.C...Ezra …….. 6:1-5, 8-12....Decree to rebuild Temple.
3. Artaxerxes 458 B.C. ...............................Ezra …….. 7:11-25..........Decree to rebuild Temple.
4. Artaxerxes Longimanus 445 B.C. .............Nehemiah 2:5-8,17-18....Decree to rebuild the City
... ....and the Walls of the City.
Exactly 70 years to the day the Jews were captive in Babylon, the first decree to free the Jews was issued by King Cyrus, in the month of Nisan in the year 536 B.C. This decree, along with the two following subsequent decrees issued by Darius and Artaxerxes only allowed the Jews to go back to Jerusalem and rebuild and beautify the temple.
606 - 70 = 536
The first decree issued by King Cyrus freeing the Jews to rebuild the temple was only 70 years the Jews were in captivity in Babylon to the first decree, to the very day. Israel attacked by Nebuchadnezzar the King of Babylon.
THE ANGEL GABRIEL PROPHESIED THE VERY DAY THE MESSIAH JESUS WOULD ENTER THE GATES OF JERUSALEM AS THE JEWISH MESSIAH
After understanding the scripture in Jeremiah that the 70 years of captivity was about to end, Daniel turned again and pleaded with the LORD in prayer, fasting in sackcloth and ashes. In his prayer, Daniel prayed to God to reveal to him the fate of his people and the Holy City Jerusalem.
For 21 days, Daniel prayed and fasted and at the end of 21 days, The Angel Gabriel came to him and revealed what the Lord had said. Daniel 9:24-27 "Seventy 'sevens' which are 490 years are decreed for your people and your Holy City to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy."
It was not until 445 B.C. that Artaxerxes Longimanus issued the final decree allowing the Jews to rebuild the City and the Walls of the City, but even then, out of the hundreds of thousands that were taken captive, only about 42,360 Jews actually went back to Israel.
"Know and understand: From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, Messiah, the ruler comes, there will be Seven 'sevens,' 49 years and Sixty-Two 'sevens' 483 years. It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench. But in times of trouble, after the Sixty-Two `Sevens,' 434 years, the Anointed One will be cut off, killed and will have nothing." NIV
It is important to understand the Jewish calendar was divided into:
Twelve (12) 30-day months, which equals a 360-day year.
In addition to counting in 30-day months, the Jews also counted in Weeks of Years.
A week represented and was equal to: 7 years.
Gabriel was laying out the exact mathematical timeline to the very day from the issuing of the decree by King Cyrus to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Jesus the Messiah would enter the City of Jerusalem to be crucified would be 173,880 days to the very day.
7 (sevens) and 62 (sevens) = equals 69 sevens.
7 weeks + 62 weeks = 69 weeks X 7 yrs. per wk = 483 yrs. X a 360-day yr. = 173,880 days.
Artaxerxes Longimanus issued the decree to rebuild the city and the Walls of the City in 445 B.C.
445 B.C. The 1st day of Nisan + 173,880 days = the 14th day of Nisan 32 A.D.
Gabriel predicted a total of 70 weeks of years. Sixty-nine of those weeks of years pertained to the day Jesus would enter through the gates of Jerusalem as the Messiah. After Jesus entered the gates of Jerusalem, God stopped his countdown clock. The last week of years or the last seven years will be fulfilled in our generation when the soon-coming Antichrist signs an agreement to enforce or police a peace treaty that will be signed between Israel and the surrounding Arab nations.
Daniel 9:27 "He the Antichrist will confirm a covenant with many who are Israel and the surrounding Arab nations for one 'seven, [1 week equals 7 years].' In the middle of the 'seven years,' he, the Antichrist, will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on a wing [of the temple] , he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him." NIV
The "abomination that causes desolation" referred to in Daniel 9:27 refers to a future day that will occur in our generation that the Antichrist will enter the rebuilt Temple in Jerusalem and proclaim himself "God." 2 Thessalonians 2:4 He the Antichrist will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called "God" or is worshiped as god, so that he sets himself up in God's Temple, proclaiming himself to be "God." NIV
This event will occur in our generation. More on the Antichrist in a later chapter
TOP: END OF SECTION FOURTEEN - CONTINUED IN SECTION FIFTEENTH - CLICK HERE
After entering into the Promise Land, the Israelites quickly discovered that the land was inhabited by many nations, the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites, the descendants of Ham, one of the sons of Noah, whose wife carried the seed of the Nephilim. To purify the land so that the Israelites would not take up their false gods, God commanded Joshua to kill every man, woman, child, and all of the animals belonging to the inhabitants of the land that is today Israel. The reason God commanded the Israelites to kill all the animals is because of the fact that demonic spirits can possess an animal, then transfer into a human. God wanted the evil spirits to have no place to rest or inhabit, when He cleansed the land of Israel of all that had breath.
BIBLE REFERENCE: This command is recorded in Deuteronomy 20:16-18 "However, in the
cities of the nations, the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, do not leave alive
anything that breathes. Completely destroy them -- the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites,
Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites--as the LORD your God has commanded you. Otherwise,
they will teach you to follow all the detestable things they do in worshiping their gods, and
you will sin against the LORD your God." NIV
NOTE: The command to kill everything that has breath in the Promise Land was given by God to purify the land of the seed of the Nephilim. In the same way, God destroyed the First Earth Age in order to purify the earth so that He could make man out of the clay of the earth.
Although Joshua did conquer all of the nations in the Promise Land the Lord had commanded him, he did not kill all of the inhabitants, but allowed many of the people in the nations he conquered to live and even enter into marriage with the Jews. In the eyes of God, it is a sin and forbidden for a Jew to marry outside their own race. Because Joshua disobeyed God, years later, the Phoenicians believed to have come from Greece would settle in the land and become the original Philistines, a hated enemy of the Jews. This is not to confuse the so-called Palestinians, who inhabit a part of the land of Israel today. The current Palestinians have nothing to do with the original Phoenicians, but are a hodgepodge group of nomad Arab migrant workers who first came to Israel to work for the Turks as sharecroppers about 1517 when the Ottoman Turks took over control of what is today Israel. After Israel was declared a nation in 1948, these same migrants who adopted the name Palestinians stayed on and worked for the Israelis.
WHERE DID THE NAME PALESTINE REALLY COME FROM
Years later after conquering Israel, the Jews finally did manage to destroy all of the Philistines left over in Israel. But when the Romans conquered Israel, starting around 68 B.C., the Romans changed the name of the part of the land of Israel that the Phoenicians had inhabited to Palestine, just to anger the Israelites. Oddly enough, the same areas the Romans changed the name from Israel to Palestine are the very same areas that the current-day Arabs who now call themselves Palestinians inhabit today, which is the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. God is not through yet!
Because Joshua did not obey God and kill all the peoples in the land infected by the seed of the Nephilim, the curse on the land still exists and has caused Israel unending problems and heartaches to this day.
No sooner had the Israelites taken the land, then many of the Jews starting with the tribe of Dan took the gods of the Canaanites and worshiped them. Just as God said they would. Try and figure that one out.
One last thought I would like to leave with you is before the crossing of the Jordan River by the Jews into the Promise Land is that when the Israelites crossed the Jordan River, God dried the river up until the last Jew had crossed over on dry land. Hundreds of years later, it is believed that Jesus Christ was baptized by John the Baptist at that very same spot. Coincidence, I do not think so.
THE THREE THINGS GOD REQUIRED THE JEWS TO DO IN ORDER TO KEEP THE LAND OF ISRAEL AND GOD'S PROTECTION
EXODUS 23:10-12
1. They must work the land six days, but on the seventh day, they must let the land rest.
2. They must work the land six years, but the seventh year, they must let the land rest.
3. They must keep God's commandments and laws and worship Him only.
GOD PUNISHES THE JEWS 70 YEARS FOR BREAKING THEIR COVENANT
To these demands, the nation of Israel gladly agreed. As for working the land six days and letting the land rest on the seventh day, they did gladly. But as for letting the land rest every seventh year and worshiping only the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, they failed miserably. From the first year they entered into the land, they worked the land continually, year-after-year, never letting the land rest. Plus, they continually worshiped other gods and married outside of their race. It would seem that with each nation they conquered, they could not wait to take up that nation's false gods and worship them, in conjunction with The Lord their God, the God who had delivered them, loved and protected them.
Finally when the Jews had completed four hundred and ninety (490) consecutive years of worshiping other gods without letting the land rest every seventh year, the wrath of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob fell upon them with a vengeance.
490 divided by 7 = 70 The Israelites had worked the land for 490 consecutive years, so God became so angry that He forced them to let the land rest for 70 consecutive years at one time.
Even though the Israelites deserved God's punishment, God loved them so much that before He punished them, He tried to bring them back to Him by sending prophet after prophet to warn them of His impending judgment in the hopes that they would come back to Him and be His people and He would be their GOD, and they would turn from their wicked ways and let the land rest. But each time they refused. Finally, God sent the prophet Jeremiah, a young man who lived in Jerusalem at the time Nebuchadnezzar the King of Babylon invaded Israel.
God sends Jeremiah to warn the Jews. Jeremiah 25:8-14 "Because you have not listened to
My words, I will summon all the peoples of the North and My servant Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon, declares the LORD, and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants and against all the surrounding nations. I will completely destroy them and make them an object of horror and scorn, and an everlasting ruin. I will banish from them the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of bride and bridegroom, the sound of millstones and the light of the lamp. This whole country will become a desolate wasteland, and this nation will serve the King of Babylon SEVENTY YEARS." NIV
God used the Babylonians to destroy Israel, and then He used the Medes and Persians to bring judgment on the Babylonians for being too harsh on the Jews; after which, He used the Greeks to punish the Medes and Persians. Then, He used the Romans to punish the Greeks. To fulfill end-time prophecy, instead of destroying Rome, God caused the Roman Empire to decay from within, so they could rise up again in the last days, so that He could destroy them. More on this in a later chapter.
"But when the Seventy Years are fulfilled, I will punish the King of Babylon and his nation, and the land of the Babylonians for their guilt, declares the LORD, and will make it desolate forever. I will bring upon that land all the things I have spoken against it. All that is written in this Book and prophesied by Jeremiah against all the nations. They, themselves, will be enslaved by many nations and great kings; I will repay them according to their deeds and the work of their hands." NIV
One hundred and fifty years earlier, God gave this prophecy to yet another prophet named Isaiah, describing the destruction of Babylon. In Isaiah 13:17-22, Isaiah describes what will happen in the prophecy. "See, God said, I will stir up against them the Medes, who do not care for silver and have no delight in gold. Their bows will strike down the young men; they will have no mercy on infants nor will they look with compassion on children. Babylon, the jewel of kingdoms, the glory of the Babylonians' pride, will be overthrown by God like Sodom and Gomorrah. She will never be inhabited or lived in through all generations; no Arab will pitch his tent there, no shepherd will rest his flocks there. But desert creatures will lie there, jackals will fill her houses; there, the owls will dwell; and there, the wild goats will leap about. Hyenas will howl in her strongholds, jackals in her luxurious palaces. Her time is at hand, and her days will not be prolonged." NIV
Although Babylon was conquered by the Medes and Persians, the following part of the prophecy is yet to be fulfilled. "She, referring to Babylon, will never be inhabited or lived in through all generations; no Arab will pitch his tent there, no shepherd will rest his flocks there. But desert creatures will lie there, jackals will fill her houses; there the owls will dwell; there, the wild goats will leap about. Hyenas will howl in her strongholds, jackals in her luxurious palaces. Her time is at hand, and her days will not be prolonged." Although these things have not occurred as of this writing, they are according to the signs of the times on the near horizon and will be fulfilled in this, our generation.
In Isaiah 44:28, the Holy Spirit instructs Cyrus the King who ruled the Medes and Persians when God brought them against Babylon. God speaking to Cyrus, "He, as My shepherd, will accomplish all that I please; he will say, 'Jerusalem, let it be rebuilt, and of the temple, let its foundations be laid.' " NIV
Cyrus would be the king over the Medes and Persians who after conquering Babylon would issue the decree after the Jews had been slaves for 70 years in Babylon, to return to Israel and complete the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem.
To make absolutely sure that no future generation could misunderstand what He was saying, God gave this same prophecy to yet another prophet named Ezra. Ezra 1:1-4 "In the first year of Cyrus King of Persia, in order to fulfill the Word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah, the LORD moved the heart of Cyrus King of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and to put it in writing: This is what Cyrus King of Persia says: 'The LORD, the God of Heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and He has appointed me to build a temple for Him at Jerusalem in Judah. Anyone of His people among you, may His God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem in Judah and build the temple of the LORD, the God of Israel, the God who is in Jerusalem. And the people of any place where survivors may now be living are to provide him with silver and gold, with goods and livestock, and with freewill offerings for the temple of God in Jerusalem.' " NIV
THE END OF THE SEVENTY YEARS CAPTIVITY OF THE JEWS IN BABYLON
About 606 B.C. Nebuchadnezzar the King of Babylon invaded Israel. In all, Nebuchadnezzar invaded Israel three times: In 606, 597 and 586. The war lasted about 19 years, finally culminating in 586 with the destruction of the City of Jerusalem, the temple and the death of most of the Israelites. Those Nebuchadnezzar did not kill or sell, he took back to Babylon as slaves. One of the young teenagers, he took back to Babylon was named Daniel. Daniel loved the LORD, and prayed three times a day and studied the scriptures continually. In Daniel's lifetime, he would rise to great authority under both the King of Babylon and the kings of the Medes and the Persians.
After Daniel had been in captivity in Babylon for about 68 years, he was studying the writings of the prophet Jeremiah. As he read the scriptures, the Holy Spirit gave him understanding, and he realized that the 70 years of captivity The Lord had decreed on Israel was about over.
SEVENTY YEARS TO THE DAY THE JEWS WERE RELEASED FROM BABYLON TO GO BACK TO ISRAEL
It is important to note that although the war between Babylon and Israel lingered for 19 years before Judah was finally destroyed, it was not because Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon could not have quickly overrun Israel, but rather that he kept hoping they would fall into line. But after giving them three chances, he finally gave up and completely destroyed both Israel and Jerusalem taking the survivors back to Babylon. During the years of Israel's captivity in Babylon, there were four different decrees issued for the Jews to go back to Israel, but for the most part, they refused. Exactly 70 years to the day, the Jews were taken captive to Babylon when the first decree was issued by Cyrus King of Persia in 536 B.C., the last decree was issued by Artaxerxes Longimanus King of Persia in 445 B.C.
In 606 B.C. Nebuchadnezzar the King of Babylon invaded Israel.
1. Cyrus 536 .............................................. Ezra …….. 1:2-4.............Decree to rebuild Temple.
2. Darius 1st yr. of King Cyrus 515-517 B.C...Ezra …….. 6:1-5, 8-12....Decree to rebuild Temple.
3. Artaxerxes 458 B.C. ...............................Ezra …….. 7:11-25..........Decree to rebuild Temple.
4. Artaxerxes Longimanus 445 B.C. .............Nehemiah 2:5-8,17-18....Decree to rebuild the City
... ....and the Walls of the City.
Exactly 70 years to the day the Jews were captive in Babylon, the first decree to free the Jews was issued by King Cyrus, in the month of Nisan in the year 536 B.C. This decree, along with the two following subsequent decrees issued by Darius and Artaxerxes only allowed the Jews to go back to Jerusalem and rebuild and beautify the temple.
606 - 70 = 536
The first decree issued by King Cyrus freeing the Jews to rebuild the temple was only 70 years the Jews were in captivity in Babylon to the first decree, to the very day. Israel attacked by Nebuchadnezzar the King of Babylon.
THE ANGEL GABRIEL PROPHESIED THE VERY DAY THE MESSIAH JESUS WOULD ENTER THE GATES OF JERUSALEM AS THE JEWISH MESSIAH
After understanding the scripture in Jeremiah that the 70 years of captivity was about to end, Daniel turned again and pleaded with the LORD in prayer, fasting in sackcloth and ashes. In his prayer, Daniel prayed to God to reveal to him the fate of his people and the Holy City Jerusalem.
For 21 days, Daniel prayed and fasted and at the end of 21 days, The Angel Gabriel came to him and revealed what the Lord had said. Daniel 9:24-27 "Seventy 'sevens' which are 490 years are decreed for your people and your Holy City to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy."
It was not until 445 B.C. that Artaxerxes Longimanus issued the final decree allowing the Jews to rebuild the City and the Walls of the City, but even then, out of the hundreds of thousands that were taken captive, only about 42,360 Jews actually went back to Israel.
"Know and understand: From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, Messiah, the ruler comes, there will be Seven 'sevens,' 49 years and Sixty-Two 'sevens' 483 years. It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench. But in times of trouble, after the Sixty-Two `Sevens,' 434 years, the Anointed One will be cut off, killed and will have nothing." NIV
It is important to understand the Jewish calendar was divided into:
Twelve (12) 30-day months, which equals a 360-day year.
In addition to counting in 30-day months, the Jews also counted in Weeks of Years.
A week represented and was equal to: 7 years.
Gabriel was laying out the exact mathematical timeline to the very day from the issuing of the decree by King Cyrus to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Jesus the Messiah would enter the City of Jerusalem to be crucified would be 173,880 days to the very day.
7 (sevens) and 62 (sevens) = equals 69 sevens.
7 weeks + 62 weeks = 69 weeks X 7 yrs. per wk = 483 yrs. X a 360-day yr. = 173,880 days.
Artaxerxes Longimanus issued the decree to rebuild the city and the Walls of the City in 445 B.C.
445 B.C. The 1st day of Nisan + 173,880 days = the 14th day of Nisan 32 A.D.
Gabriel predicted a total of 70 weeks of years. Sixty-nine of those weeks of years pertained to the day Jesus would enter through the gates of Jerusalem as the Messiah. After Jesus entered the gates of Jerusalem, God stopped his countdown clock. The last week of years or the last seven years will be fulfilled in our generation when the soon-coming Antichrist signs an agreement to enforce or police a peace treaty that will be signed between Israel and the surrounding Arab nations.
Daniel 9:27 "He the Antichrist will confirm a covenant with many who are Israel and the surrounding Arab nations for one 'seven, [1 week equals 7 years].' In the middle of the 'seven years,' he, the Antichrist, will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on a wing [of the temple] , he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him." NIV
The "abomination that causes desolation" referred to in Daniel 9:27 refers to a future day that will occur in our generation that the Antichrist will enter the rebuilt Temple in Jerusalem and proclaim himself "God." 2 Thessalonians 2:4 He the Antichrist will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called "God" or is worshiped as god, so that he sets himself up in God's Temple, proclaiming himself to be "God." NIV
This event will occur in our generation. More on the Antichrist in a later chapter
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