Understanding Christ's Return: Fulfillment and Interpretations

because there is a well-known teaching which deals with most of these sections of scripture with which many people not to say most Christians especially Evangelical Christians are familiar and in order to try to be helpful we are giving our Exposition in the light of that other teach, in other words as I'm repeating here Friday after Friday my object is that we should become aware all of us that there are many views with regard to this subject [00:02:09]

believing as we do that nothing is more fatal in the Christian life than to have a shut and a closed mind and to be governed by a Prejudice to such an extent that one is even afraid to consider any other point of view that must of necessity be bad it's based upon a spirit of fear which is denounced more than once in the pages of the scripture may God Deliver Us from the spirit of fear and of bondage and of prejudice [00:03:11]

and the one we are looking at at the moment is the statement in the prophecy of Daniel in the 9th chapter and especially verses 24 to the end of the chapter namely vers vers 27 now I was indicating last week that uh this chapter and certain other statements such as those which you have in 1 Thessalonians 4 and 5 and in The Second Epistle to the Thessalonians the 2 chapter and indeed the whole book of Revelation all these have a very direct bearing upon and reference to this question of the time of our Lord's return [00:01:16]

now according to that teaching you remember I read out to you a summary of the teaching at the end last week and unfortunately I to leave you at that point but let me remind you of it in its Essence it is this that the statement in verse 24 that comprehensive statement which tells us about these things that are going to happen during the 70 weeks it tells us that those things have not yet taken place [00:05:30]

and that there has been a great Gap from the end of the 69th week to the beginning of the 70th they say the 70th week is not yet started the 69 weeks are completed but this whole church ERA this whole church age has got to finish before the 70th week will begin it's the so-called Gap Theory between weeks 69 and 70 that's the second thing that is emphasized [00:07:01]

and he shall confirm the Covenant with one for many week uh for one week and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice in the oblation to cease and for the overspreading of Abominations he shall make it desolate even until the consummation now who is this he well according to these friends the he is a reference to the people to the prince described in the previous verse [00:07:34]

and because of that vision and prophecy are sealed up Christ is the Fulfillment of all these prophecies think not th that I am come to destroy the law and the prophets I am come not to destroy but to be fulfilled but to fulfill so the prophecy and the vision are sealed up naturally because our Lord is the one to whom they were all pointed and to anoint the most holy [00:18:00]

and he was anointed he was anointed for his work by the Holy Spirit and he gives the same anointing by The Same Spirit to all who belong to him to anoint the most holy he is the propitiation he has become the propitiatory as it were the place of propitiation he himself the most holy has been anointed he is the place of propitiation now and he was anointed as the New Testament scriptures the gospels tell us specifically that God anointed him he is the anointed one he is the Messiah [00:18:25]

now this is a matter that concerns not only the time of is coming but also the mode of his coming I am referring to what is commonly called the preliminary Rapture of the Saints now this is a teaching which came in again in 1830 and I want to underline and to emphasize what I'm now going to say it was a teaching that was was not known before 1830 [00:27:12]

and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary and it literally actually happened Titus was the name of The Prince and he and his Roman legion legionaries came and in a most terrible and almost diabolical manner they did destroy the city of Jerusalem and the temple and sacked it and made an awful Havoc Josephus describes what happened there never has been such a Havoc upon Earth as there was then the suffering the tribulation the cruelty of that war still stands out in the whole of History [00:19:50]

and the removal of the church out of the world now that's the teaching you may well be interested to know the origin of this teaching I told you that it started in 1830 but we have a very definite and author authoritative statement as to how we did begin I'm going to quote you some words written by a very great New Testament scholar of the name of Telus who belonged to the Brethren the so-called Plymouth Brethren and let me say this he was certainly one of the greatest New Testament Scholars of textual criticism particularly of the last century a great scholar and in addition a great and saintly man of God [00:34:12]

let us do all this not in some excitable carnal Spirit but let us do it on our knees as it were praying for the guidance and the unction and the leading and the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit and let us make sure that we are interested because we are looking for his appearing because it is our blessed hope the thing to which we look forward with longing and because of which we are purifying ourselves now and living as children of the light and Children of the day and obviously different from the children of Night and the children of the darkness [00:44:27]