Understanding Prophecy Lesson 02-02 Messiah and Salvation ... · 6/2/2011 · Lesson 02-02 Messiah...

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Understanding ProphecyUnderstanding ProphecyLesson 02Lesson 02--0202

Messiah and SalvationMessiah and Salvation{The Ethiopian Eunuch}{The Ethiopian Eunuch}

Part 2Part 2 –– The SeventyThe SeventySevens and OtherSevens and Other

Messianic PropheciesMessianic Prophecies

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The EthiopianEunuch

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The Ethiopian EunuchAn angel of the Lord sent Philip unto Gaza:Acts 8:27 And he arose and went: and, behold, aman of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authorityunder Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who hadthe charge of all her treasure, and had come toJerusalem for to worship,28 Was returning, and sitting in his chariot readEsaias the prophet.29 Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, andjoin thyself to this chariot.30 And Philip ran thither to him, and heard himread the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandestthou what thou readest? (Continued)

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The Ethiopian Eunuch31 And he said, How can I, except some manshould guide me? And he desired Philip that hewould come up and sit with him.32 The place of the scripture which he read wasthis, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; andlike a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened henot his mouth:33 In his humiliation his judgment was taken away:and who shall declare his generation? for his life istaken from the earth.34 And the eunuch answered Philip, and said, Ipray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? ofhimself, or of some other man? (Continued)

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The Ethiopian Eunuch35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at thesame scripture, and preached unto him Jesus.36 And as they went on their way, they came untoa certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here iswater; what doth hinder me to be baptized?37 And Philip said, If thou believest with all thineheart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, Ibelieve that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.38 And he commanded the chariot to stand still:and they went down both into the water, bothPhilip and the eunuch; and he baptized him.

(Continued)

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The Ethiopian Eunuch39 And when they were come up out of the water,the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that theeunuch saw him no more: and he went on his wayrejoicing.

The Eunuch was saved by the reading andteaching of prophecy testifying of Jesus.

Let’s now look at more prophecy testifyingof Jesus to consider what the Ethiopianeunuch must have experienced.

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Born at the RightTime

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Born at the Right Time [125]

Messiah was to be born at a specific time.

Luke records the time of Jesus birth, inLuke chapter 2, as the time when CaesarAugustus was ruler of the Roman Empire,and Cyrenius was governor of Syria.

LUK 2:1 And it came to pass in thosedays, that there went out a decree fromCaesar Augustus, that all the worldshould be taxed.2 (And this taxing was first made whenCyrenius was governor of Syria.)

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Born at the Right Time [125]

Luke reported the fact of the birth of Jesus,and later would record His death, but themost astonishing thing though, is how itcorrelates exactly with one of the mostamazing prophecies in the Bible concerningthe time of the Messiah.

The prophet Daniel gave clues to the timeof the Messiah within the verses of Daniel9:24-27 as we shall see next.

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Daniel’s SeventyWeeks

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Daniel’s Seventy Weeks [40; 125]

No course on Messianic prophecy would becomplete without Daniel’s Seventy Weeks –The Most Amazing Prophecy.

In order to fully understand this prophecy, itmust take into account the full context ofDaniel chapter 9.

Daniel wrongly thought that the completionof the 70 years Babylonian captivity wouldbe followed by the prophesied MessianicKingdom, but the prophecy was to beinstead 70 sevens, not 70 years.

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This is the same thinking as when the discipleskept asking Jesus if he was now going toestablish that kingdom.Acts 1:6 When they therefore were come together,they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at thistime restore again the kingdom to Israel?7 And he said unto them, It is not for you to knowthe times or the seasons, which the Father hathput in his own power.

The angel then proceeded to correct Danielwith the description of the “seventy-sevens.”

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DAN 9:24 Seventy weeks are determined uponthy people [Israel] and upon thy holy city[Jerusalem], to finish the transgression[Israel’s rejection of Jesus as Messiah], and tomake an end of sins [holy living to be practiceddaily], and to make reconciliation for iniquity[atonement for rejection of Jesus], and to bringin everlasting righteousness [MessianicMillennium Kingdom; Literally = “an age ofrighteousness”], and to seal up the vision andprophecy, and to anoint the most Holy [place].

(Continued)

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Daniel’s Seventy Weeks [125]

25 Know therefore and understand, that fromthe going forth of the commandment to restoreand to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah thePrince shall be seven weeks, and threescoreand two weeks: the street shall be built again,and the wall, even in troublous times.

(Continued)

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26 And after threescore and two weeks shallMessiah be cut off, but not for himself: and thepeople [Romans] of the prince [antichrist] thatshall come shall destroy the city and thesanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with aflood, and unto the end of the war desolationsare determined.

(Continued)

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27 And he shall confirm the covenant withmany for one week [7 years Tribulation]: and inthe midst of the week he shall cause thesacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for theoverspreading of abominations he shall make itdesolate, even until the consummation, andthat determined shall be poured upon thedesolate.

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In the Hebrew, the meaning of the words inDaniel 9:24, “to anoint the most Holy,” refersto a place, “the most holy place.”

This is referring to the Fourth Temple tobe built in the Messianic Kingdom afterChrist’s Second Coming, not Herod’sTemple destroyed by the Romans in70AD, nor the Temple built during theTribulation desecrated by Antichrist.

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The “weeks” mentioned are weeks ofyears, so that seventy weeks is seventytimes seven, or four hundred ninety years.

This interpretation of “weeks” is wellsupported by other instances in theBible where weeks of years is clearlyevident.

This prophecy has an exact fulfillment tothe very day of Christ’s entry intoJerusalem on Palm Sunday, 6 April 32 AD.

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Let’s do the numbers of Daniel’s vision of theSeventy Weeks as seen in the previous chart.

The Biblical year is the lunar year of 360 days.

Biblical prophecy must be understood inlight of a Biblical year.

To see clearly that this is so, we refer tothe book of Revelation where 3-1/2 years isdescribed as 42 months and also 1260days.

1260 days divided by 360 days is 3-1/2years exactly. [59]

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The commandment to rebuild the walls ofJerusalem was issued by the Persian KingArtaxerxes Longimanus on the 1st of Nisanin the 20th year of his reign. [3; 59]

NEH 2:1 And it came to pass in the monthNisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxesthe king, that wine was before him: and Itook up the wine, and gave it unto theking. Now I had not been beforetime sadin his presence.

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Daniel’s Seventy Weeks [3; 4; 93; 125]

According to Daniel’s Seventy Weeksprophecy the time of the Messiah’s visitationis 483 Years after the decree.

DAN 9:25 …going forth of thecommandment to restore and to buildJerusalem unto the Messiah the Princeshall be seven weeks, and threescore andtwo weeks….26 And after threescore and two weeksshall Messiah be cut off… .

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Seven weeks plus threescore and two weeks= 69 weeks of years.

69 weeks of years X 7 = 483 years.Jesus was “cut off”, at the time of Hisvisitation, on the 10th day of Nisan, 6 April32 AD, Palm Sunday.

He entered Jerusalem as the JewishMessiah and was rejected.

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Luke reports that Jesus wept overJerusalem because He would be rejected:

LUK 19:41 And when he [Jesus] was comenear, he beheld the city [Jerusalem], andwept over it,42 Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou,at least in this thy day, the things whichbelong unto thy peace! but now they are hidfrom thine eyes.

(Continued)

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43 For the days shall come upon thee, thatthine enemies shall cast a trench about thee,and compass thee round, and keep thee in onevery side,44 And shall lay thee even with the ground, andthy children within thee; and they shall notleave in thee one stone upon another; becausethou knewest not the time of thy visitation.

Jesus was presented as Messiah to Jerusalemon Palm Sunday, 6 April 32AD as reported byJohn 12:13-15.

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This was the time of the “visitation.”

From 14 March 445 BC to 14 March 32 AD is476 years of 365 days, or 173,740 days.

If we then add the number of additionaldays from 14 March 32 AD until 6 April 32AD (Palm Sunday) we get 173,740 daysplus 24 days, or 173,764 days.

Next, when we correct this number byadding 116 leap days, we get 173,764days plus 116 days equals 173,880days.

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This calculation gives the total number ofdays from the decree to rebuild Jerusalemuntil the Messiah was rejected by Israel onPalm Sunday, 6 April 32 AD.

This is Daniel’s 69 “weeks” of years (483years) exactly.

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Some scholars believe that the decree ofArtaxerxes occurred in 444 BC rather than445 BC, and these same scholars believethat the crucifixion took place in 33 AD. [42,Prophecy as Proof of the Bible]

It may be that Nehemiah was visited byhis brother Hanani, with other men ofJudah, in November/December 445 BC(Nehemiah 1:1), and the decree was givenin March/April 444 BC (Nehemiah 2:1). [15,Jerusalem]

The calculation result is exactly the same.

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The calculation for either year range is thesame whether the Jewish calendar of 360days or the Gregorian calendar of 365 daysis used.

For example, the alternate range 4 March444 BC – 30 March 33 AD (crucified on 3April 33 AD) is illustrated by the followingchart:

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When Israel rejected her Messiah, God’sprophetic clock stopped.

One “week” or seven years remain.

The time in between is the “Church Age.”

The remaining seven years, Daniel’s seventiethweek awaits future fulfillment in the seven yearsof tribulation. [59]

With Daniel’s Seventy Weeks prophecy sospecific, you might well ask, “Why did the Jewsmiss it, and still fail to see it?”

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Blindness in part befell the nation of Israel sothat she cannot recognize her Messiah “untilthe fullness of the Gentiles be come in” asdescribed by Paul: [59]

ROM 11:25 … blindness in part is happenedto Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles become in.26 And so all Israel shall be saved: as it iswritten, There shall come out of Sion theDeliverer, and shall turn away ungodlinessfrom Jacob:

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Born of a Virgin

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Born of a Virgin [77]

Isaiah prophesied that the Messiah would be bornof a virgin and He would be called "God with us"(God in the flesh).

In Isaiah 7:14, the Hebrew word translated“virgin” is “almah”, meaning “young woman ofmarriageable age.”ISA 7:14 Therefore the Lord himself shall giveyou a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, andbear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel[God with us].

This combines the ideas of virgin andmarriageable age into one word.

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The Jewish translators of the Septuagint(the Greek translation of the Old Testament)translated this word as parthenos (virgin),indicating that the Jewish translatorsunderstood that the Messiah would be bornof a virgin.

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In Genesis 3:15 we find early evidence thatthe Messiah would be born of a virgin whenGod, addressing Satan, speaks of the"Seed" of the woman.

It should be noted that woman does nothave seed, man does.

GEN 3:15 And I will put enmity betweenthee and the woman, and between thy seedand her seed; it shall bruise thy head, andthou shalt bruise his heel.

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Born of a VirginThe New Testament shows the fulfillment of theseprophecies (Matthew 1:18-25; Luke 1:26-35).

MAT 1:18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was onthis wise: When as his mother Mary wasespoused to Joseph, before they came together,she was found with child of the Holy Ghost….22 Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilledwhich was spoken of the Lord by the prophet,saying,23 Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shallbring forth a son, and they shall call his nameEmmanuel, which being interpreted is, God withus.

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Born of a VirginLUK 1:26 And in the sixth month the angel Gabrielwas sent from God unto a city of Galilee, namedNazareth….30 And the angel said unto her [Mary]….31 And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb,and bring forth a son, and shalt call his nameJESUS….34 Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be,seeing I know not a man?35 And the angel answered and said unto her, TheHoly Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power ofthe Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore alsothat holy thing which shall be born of thee shall becalled the Son of God.

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Born of a VirginPaul, in Galatians confirms the belief of amiraculous birth expressed by Luke in theprevious verse (Luke 1:35).

GAL 4:4 But when the fulness of the timewas come, God sent forth his Son, madeof a woman, made under the law,

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The WayPrepared by a

Messenger

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The Way Prepared by a MessengerOld Testament Scriptures indicate that amessenger would precede and prepare theway of the Messiah.

ISA 40:3 The voice of him that crieth inthe wilderness, Prepare ye the way of theLORD, make straight in the desert ahighway for our God.

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The Way Prepared by a MessengerThe words of Isaiah the prophet were literallyfulfilled by John the Baptist, as reported byLuke and Matthew.

LUK 3:3 And he [John] came into all thecountry about Jordan, preaching thebaptism of repentance for the remission ofsins;4 As it is written in the book of the words ofEsaias the prophet, saying, The voice ofone crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye theway of the Lord, make his paths straight.

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The Way Prepared by a MessengerMalachi, only a few hundred years beforethe birth of Christ wrote these words:

MAL 3:1 Behold, I will send mymessenger, and he shall prepare the waybefore me: and the Lord, whom ye seek,shall suddenly come to his temple, eventhe messenger of the covenant, whom yedelight in: behold, he shall come, saiththe LORD of hosts.

(See also: Luke 1:17; Matthew 3:1-3, 11:10;John 1:23; Luke 7:24-27).

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The Passion andDeath of the

Messiah

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The Passion and Death of the MessiahThe recent Mel Gibson movie, The Passion of theChrist, may have had some non-scripturalembellishments, but the severity of Romancrucifixions was not one of them.

Crucifixion was the most brutal of deathsimaginable. [115]

The Old Testament has much to say concerningthe passion and death of the Messiah.

Old Testament prophecies indicate thatMessiah’s own people, the Jews, would rejectHim.

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The Passion and Death of the MessiahThe Jews may have rejected Him and soughtHis death, but the Gentiles put Him to death.

In this way all mankind sharedresponsibility.

ISA 53:3 He is despised and rejected ofmen; a man of sorrows, and acquaintedwith grief: and we hid as it were our facesfrom him; he was despised, and weesteemed him not.

JOH 1:11 He came unto his own, and hisown received him not.

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He Would Not BeBelieved

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He Would Not Be BelievedIt was prophesied that He would not bebelieved.

ISA 53:1 Who hath believed our report? andto whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?

JOH 12:37 But though he had done so manymiracles before them, yet they believed noton him:38 That the saying of Esaias the prophetmight be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord,who hath believed our report? and to whomhath the arm of the Lord been revealed?

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He Would BeBetrayed

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He Would Be BetrayedIn yet other prophecies, a friend wouldeventually betray the Messiah for money.

PSA 41:9 Yea, mine own familiar friend, inwhom I trusted, which did eat of mybread, hath lifted up his heel against me.ZEC 11:12 And I said unto them, If yethink good, give me my price; and if not,forbear. So they weighed for my pricethirty pieces of silver.

(Continued)

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He Would Be Betrayed

13 And the LORD said unto me, Cast itunto the potter: a goodly price that I wasprised at of them. And I took the thirtypieces of silver, and cast them to thepotter in the house of the LORD.

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He Would Be BetrayedWe see the fulfillment in the followingverses of the New Testament.

MAT 26:14 Then one of the twelve, calledJudas Iscariot, went unto the chiefpriests,15 And said unto them, What will ye giveme, and I will deliver him unto you? Andthey covenanted with him for thirtypieces of silver.

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He Would Be BetrayedThen in chapter 27 we see:

MAT 27:3 Then Judas, which hadbetrayed him, when he saw that he wascondemned, repented himself, andbrought again the thirty pieces of silverto the chief priests and elders,4 Saying, I have sinned in that I havebetrayed the innocent blood. And theysaid, What is that to us? see thou to that.

(Continued)

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He Would Be Betrayed5 And he cast down the pieces of silver inthe temple, and departed, and went andhanged himself.6 And the chief priests took the silverpieces, and said, It is not lawful for to putthem into the treasury, because it is theprice of blood.7 And they took counsel, and bought withthem the potter's field, to bury strangersin.

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The Resurrection

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The Resurrection [112]

Belief in the Resurrection was afundamental belief of the early Church.

This belief was in general circulation andgiven to the Apostle Paul as early as twoyears after the event.

Paul’s conversion was approximately twoyears after the crucifixion, at which time hewas received among Christians inDamascus.

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Within five years after the crucifixion Paul was inJerusalem.

Because of the wording in the opening verses,a good case can be made that during this timeperiod the following creed, already used by theChurch, was given to Paul:

1 CO 15:1 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto youthe gospel which I preached unto you, which alsoye have received, and wherein ye stand;2 By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memorywhat I preached unto you, unless ye have believedin vain.

(Continued)

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3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which Ialso received, how that Christ died for our sinsaccording to the scriptures;4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again thethird day according to the scriptures:5 And that he was seen of Cephas, then of thetwelve:6 After that, he was seen of above five hundredbrethren at once; of whom the greater part remainunto this present, but some are fallen asleep.7 After that, he was seen of James; then of all theapostles.8 And last of all he was seen of me also, as of oneborn out of due time.

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Our High PriestAnd His Sacrifice

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Our High Priest And His Sacrifice [124]

The entire Scripture, the Old Testament andNew Testament, points toward an ultimatevicarious sacrifice to be made for theredemption of mankind from the ancientcurse.

The way was prepare by the first slaying ofanimals by God as a covering for the shameof Adam and Eve.

Throughout the Old Testament we find thatsins were covered by the priest’s shedding ofthe blood of animals in the temple sacrifices.

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God was preparing mankind for the once-for-all sacrifice to be made on the same hillthat Abraham was willing to offer his onlyson of promise, Isaac.

We know that God prepared a way out formankind’s rebellion at Eden before thefoundations of the earth when we read inFirst Peter these words:

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1 PE 1:18 Forasmuch as ye know that ye werenot redeemed with corruptible things, as silverand gold, from your vain conversationreceived by tradition from your fathers;19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as ofa lamb without blemish and without spot:20 Who verily was foreordained before thefoundation of the world, but was manifest inthese last times for you,21 Who by him do believe in God, that raisedhim up from the dead, and gave him glory; thatyour faith and hope might be in God.

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In the preceding verse we are directed tounderstand the meaning of the bloodsacrifice (a lamb without blemish and spot)first instituted by God as a covering forAdam and Eve’s sin, which was theprecursor to the formal temple sacrificeoutlined by God in Leviticus, and fulfilledonce and for all by Christ’s atoning death.

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In Hebrews 7 and 8 we find that Jesus Christ isthe High Priest of the New Covenant after theorder of Melchizedek, and in Hebrews 9 wethen see that the Aaronic priesthood went intothe temple once each year with the blood ofanimals offered up for the errors of the people,but then we are told that:

HEB 9:11 But Christ being come an highpriest of good things to come, by a greaterand more perfect tabernacle, not made withhands, that is to say, not of this building;

(Continued)

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12 Neither by the blood of goats and calves,but by his own blood he entered in once intothe holy place, having obtained eternalredemption for us.13 For if the blood of bulls and of goats, andthe ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean,sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh:14 How much more shall the blood of Christ,who through the eternal Spirit offered himselfwithout spot to God, purge your consciencefrom dead works to serve the living God?

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More Than 300Prophecies

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More Than 300 PropheciesThese are a only a few of the more than 300prophecies specifically fulfilled in the life ofJesus of Nazareth.

With so many fulfilled prophecies isn’t itamazing that men willfully choose to rejectJesus as Lord.

Fulfilled prophecies are unique toJudeo/Christian Scriptures.

No other religion can make that claim.

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End of Understanding ProphecyEnd of Understanding Prophecy --Lesson 02Lesson 02

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Closing PrayerClosing Prayer

Creation Revelation

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Robert & Mary Tozier

WWW.CREATIONREVELATION.ORG

[email protected]

Tel/Fax 808-672-7229

92-222 Hoalii Place, Kapolei, HI 96707.

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