Part III will serve as a summary, commentary, and conclusion to the material presented in Parts I and II. Reading Parts I and II will prove helpful if this is the reader’s first time to read any part of Countdown in Daniel.

Part I focused on God’s policy and purpose for Israel during the prophetic period of 70 weeks in Daniel 9:24-25. In Part II the 70th week–which pertains to events in the Tribulation period of the Book of Revelation–was discussed (Daniel 9:26-27).

God’s policy and purpose for Israel needs further comment as this is still a work in progress. One fact is clear as it is pervasive throughout the Bible–Israel and the Jewish people are God’s chosen people. All God’s dealings with humanity take shape in one way or another with His plans for Israel. God has established numerous covenants (binding agreements) with Israel, starting with the father of the Hebrew people, Abraham (Abram):

And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee: and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. (Genesis 12:2-3)

God promises the land of Israel to Abraham:

In the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram saying, unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates. (Genesis 15:18)

The land is an eternal promise to Abraham’s descendants through Isaac:

I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. The whole land of Canaan, where you reside as a foreigner, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God. (Genesis 17:7-8 NIV)

God’s blessings upon the land and the Jewish people were dependent upon Israel’s obedience to the Lord and His commandments: Disobedience resulted in punishment, judgment, and exile under Gentile rule:

Wherefore I poured out my fury upon them for the blood they had shed upon the land, and for their idols wherewith they had polluted it: And I scattered them among the heathen, and they were dispersed through the countries: according to their way and according to their doings I judged them. (Ezekiel 36:18-19)

In Ezekiel 36:20-24 God pronounced that His promise to return His people to the promised land had nothing to do with anything that they as a people had done. Rather, it was because He keeps His promises and protects His Holy name while doing it. Earlier in the Bible, in Leviticus 26:44, God promises that the Jewish people will never completely be destroyed. In Isaiah 49:13-17, He promises that He will never forget them.

The Old Testament has many instances of Israel’s disobedience to God, their resulting judgments, and God’s faithfulness to keep His covenants and promises with them. In Daniel, 9:24-25, as has been stated, 490 years were prophesized which encompassed a span of judgment of nearly 500 years, 483 which have been completed with the crucifixion of Jesus and the remaining 7 to be fulfilled when the Revelation comes to pass. This also encompasses 2,000 years to date of persecution of the Jews which is still ongoing and ever increasing.

Israel’s great transgression is the rejection of their Messiah, Jesus Christ. God will complete Israel’s punishment for their disobedience, rejection, and iniquity during the 70th week of Daniel, the Tribulation. One of the primary reasons for the Tribulation period, besides the final judgment of all mankind for their refusal to accept Jesus as Savior and for their never-ending iniquity, is to finally and fully drive the Jews to their Savior and to restore God’s people to Himself.

Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a new heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. Then you shall dwell in the land I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God. (Ezekiel 36:25-28)

“And it shall come to pass in all the land,” says the Lord, “that two-thirds in it shall be cut off and die, but one-third shall be left in it: I will bring the one-third through the fire, will refine them as a silver is refined, and test them as gold is tested. They will call on My name, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘This is my people’; and each one will say, ‘The Lord is my God.’” (Zechariah 13:8-9; see also Zechariah 8:7-8)

In Zechariah 12:10 it is prophesied that Israel will be saved. “And I will pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and of supplications: they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for his only son….”

And I will cleanse them of all their iniquity whereby they have sinned against Me; and I will pardon all their iniquities whereby they have sinned, and whereby they have transgressed against Me. (Jeremiah 33:8)

Thus saith the Lord God; I will even gather you from the people, and assemble you out of the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel. (Ezekiel 11:17)

That blindness in the part has happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written: There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: For this is my covenant unto them when I shall take away their sins. (Romans 11:25-27)

Thus, according to God’s word, Israel will be regathered, restored, regenerated, and redeemed. If we refer back to Daniel 9:24, the Bible reads, “Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and the prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.”

When Israel’s transgression is finally finished, and an end of sin is made and reconciliation for iniquity is completed, the stage is set to bring in everlasting righteousness. This is prophesied in Revelation with the second coming of Jesus. God will gather His chosen people and the redeemed Gentiles unto Himself when Jesus returns to establish His kingdom of everlasting righteousness, the New Jerusalem.

So the prophecy for Israel written in Daniel will be completed. The vision and the prophecy can be sealed and Jesus and the New Jerusalem will be anointed as the most Holy. (Rev. 19:11-16, Rev. 21:1-7)

The question may be asked, “How are we to live in the end times?” But since we do not know for certain when Jesus will come to rapture the saints, the question may be more accurately asked, “How are we to live at all times?” Chapter 21 of Revelation fairly sums up Jesus’s call to us–the reward and the warning:

And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him. And they shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads. There shall be no night there … for the Lord God giveth them light. And they shall reign forever and ever. (Revelation 22:3-5)

And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give every one according to his work. (Revelation 22:12)

Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may enter through the gates into the city. (Revelation 22:14)

As believers, we are called to be awake, vigilant, and watching in anticipation of Jesus’ coming:

Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. (Matthew 24:42)

And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep, for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. (Romans 13:11)

Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. (1 Thessalonians 5:6)

But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night. (2 Peter 3:10)

We are also reminded and charged to live soberly and righteously, denying worldly things so that we remain true to our salvation and inheritance as children of God:

For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. (Titus 2:11-13)

Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Therefore beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless. (2 Peter 3:13-14)

And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming. (1 John 2:28)

The return of Jesus is given to us as a motivation to action, not as reason to cease and bide our time until His return. “Go ye unto all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15).

As in the Parable of the Ten Virgins in Matthew 25, we are advised to be like the five wise virgins who were ready and prepared for their master’s coming. Concerning the Parable of the Talents in Luke 19, we are to use what God has given us and to multiply it for His glory and honor and to magnify His kingdom. As in the Parable of the Sower in Mark 4, we are to be diligent sowers of the seed (God’s word and the Good News of salvation). We are to spread the seed liberally, knowing that not all seed will fall on good ground, to take root and flourish, but we are to cast seed nonetheless for only by sowing the seed will a harvest be reaped. Jesus was only here on earth for a short time, but His message, and that of all Scripture, endures forever. As God desires that none should perish, but all should come to salvation in Jesus, so should we as His workers and missionaries to our Lord’s work here on earth to spread the gospel of repentance and salvation.

That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. (Romans 10:9-13)

Holding fast,

Mark

And this is the promise that He has promised us — eternal life. (I John 2:25)

All Scripture quotations are taken from the King James, King James 2000, and New King James, versions of the Bible unless otherwise noted.

 

^{Photography by Sven van der Pluijm}