SON OF PERDITION - LOST

In the 17th chapter of John we find Jesus praying for all those that have been given to Him by the Father and He says, (verse 12) "While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled." Jesus prayed this prayer before Judas actually betrayed Him, but He knew that Judas would do what he did. By connecting the types as He did: God let us know that the Antichrist would not be a communist, neither an atheist, nor an evolutionist; he will be a religious man. Judas was a religious Jew that believed in God, and up to a certain point he went along with Jesus in whatever He did, until something happened to pervert his thinking. It was only after his thinking became perverted that Satan was able to inspire him to plot against Jesus. Before that, he went right out with the rest of the disciples of Jesus, casting out demons and healing sick folks along the way. Where did that spirit of Satan get on him, you may ask? He was actually anointed by Satan while he was sitting with Jesus and the rest of the disciples, eating the Passover supper. To show that religious spirit, or the identity with that religious spirit, he went right straight to the high priest, and sold his Lord and master for 30 pieces of silver. Then, later, when he realized what he had done, in betraying his Lord, he tried to repent, but the same spirit that led him to betray Jesus, also led him to hang himself. All that, just serves to show us that he became an instrument that Satan had taken over. That is exactly what many poor souls will witness in the last half of that week of Daniel. They will find themselves at the mercy of a man who has been taken over by Satan. It will not be Antiochus, resurrected from the dead, nor will it be Judas; it will be a man of our day, a religious man that has been taken over by the devil. People are very foolish, to believe that God will allow Satan to incarnate someone that will be resurrected from the dead, to fulfill all these scriptures concerning the Antichrist, the man of sin. Antiochus did not have to be resurrected in 69 & 70 A.D. to fulfill Daniel 9:26 and Matthew 24:15, concerning the abomination that maketh desolate. No! A Roman general by the name of Titus, fulfilled those scriptures. He was the 2nd instrument that God ordained to characterize this man of sin who is yet to come, this man who will be ruled by a spirit right out of hell. We will say more about Titus later in the message, and at that time we will read some actual history, right from the little Jewish history book I have here. It will allow you to see how this Jew hating spirit of Satan that was on Antiochus Epiphanes more than 100 years before, came right over and got on Titus, and caused him to be the instrument that would fulfill Daniel 9:26, which would further exemplify the most wicked one of them all, who is yet to come. That same spirit has been on many men through the centuries. It was on Pharaoh in Egypt when he fought against God's chosen people. It has been on Syrian kings, on Roman kings, and on Hitler in Europe, and it will soon be seen on the man who is to climax the history of all Jew haters down through the centuries. When his allotted time is fulfilled the Lord Jesus will come back and set up His Millennial kingdom, and there will never be another Jew hater turned loose on earth to slaughter God's chosen race of people. Brothers and sisters: that is the time we are looking forward to; and it will be wonderful. Will you agree? James referred to this present life as a vapor that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away, and we all realize, that is true. But let me ask you this, Have you ever tried to visualize just what it will be like, when we are all robed in immortality, living and reigning with Christ, and knowing that there is no more death present? Brother, that is something to shout about. Hallelujah! Praise God! In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump we will be change.

EXPLORING DANIEL'S 70 WEEKS

Brothers and Sisters: At this point in the message, I feel like we should really begin to explore the 70 weeks of Daniel. I realize we can never get all of this into one issue on the Contender, but it is an important subject for the true church of the living God; therefore we will take as many issues as we need to in order to deal with the subject thoroughly. If the message is worth printing, it is worth taking enough time to make it clear to those who read it. Too many people who are supposed to be filled with the Holy Ghost are just following flesh, without a revelation of the word of God that is before us. Brothers and Sisters: It ought not be like that. It is too late in the hour for bride people to be following some man's teaching just because they like the man. God will not accept that. Preachers all over this world have just taken the verbal statements that Bro. Branham made while preaching on the 7 seals, and they (WITHOUT REVELATION THEMSELVES) are teaching people that there are only 3½ years left of God's dealing with the Jewish nation. Don't you think I know Bro. Branham said that? I sat within 20 feet of him when he was making those statements, and I said within my heart at that time, Why did he say that? It had only been about 2 years since he taught on the 70 weeks of Daniel, where he explained how Israel still has one full week of time left to them, and dramatized it by using a chart. I remember how, at that time he would stop and ask the people, Are you getting it? Do you understand? Yet these preachers who try to hold to every word that he uttered as THUS SAITH THE LORD, will say, Bro. Jackson, people have just misunderstood Bro. Branham. No they haven't. That is just their excuse for not humbling themselves and admitting that God allowed those statements to be made like that to try them, as believers. When a man has already been anointed to prove something by the Bible, why would any Holy Ghost believers allow themselves to grab hold of contrary statements in other messages that the man preached? Let me remind you once again saints, when something is presented to you in two different ways, so that one says one thing, and the other says something different, even a small child that has just barely started to school knows that 3½ is not the same as 7, so what must you do? Get on your knees and ask God to show you from His written word which one lines up, to present a true revelation. That is not going against the prophet, when you do that, you are doing exactly what he told you to do, "Get back to the word." How many times have you heard him say that? If you really do want to do what the prophet said to do, then get back to the Bible and let the Holy Ghost give you a revelation, something that you can hold on to when the storms of life are raging. I never will forget how this subject of the 70 weeks of Daniel first became of interest to me. About a year and a half before Bro. Branham ever preached anything on this subject, we were rabbit hunting one day, and he brought the subject up, about prophecy. While we were talking, he said, Bro. Jackson: You know there is only 3½ years left, of the 70 weeks of Daniel. At that time, I have never made a study on it, and we were just new in this message, so it really did not interest me very much, then. I just accepted it like that at the time, but later on I began to get interested in this subject, and after a period of months, I felt urged to investigate it. I went to the 9th chapter of Daniel, and began to study. With the Bible and some history books that I had, I began to calculate time, and ask God to help me understand what I was reading. After some time I became convinced that mathematically you could not get more than 69 weeks of fulfilled time for the Jews as you calculate expired time right down to the crucifixion of Christ. Therefore I concluded that there should be one more full week left for the Jews. But I thought, Bro. Branham said there is only 3½ years left, and he is a prophet, so, who am I? I decided just to leave it alone, but it was only a short time until he preached that message, taking 2 particular Sundays to deal with it, and that is when he laid it right along with the Bible and showed that the Jews still have one full week of time left, (7 YEARS.) I said, Praise God! Now I know this is the truth; there is 7 full years left for the Jews. But then, when he preached on the 7 seals he reverted right back to 3½ years in various statements concerning that time. Now, wherever you go, you hear, But the prophet said 3½ years. Truly, the prophet did say that, but, my brother, my sister, lt me tell you something, God allowed that, to test you. Will you take something just because he said it, or will you go to the Bible to substantiate it? I have said over and over again. I do not baptize in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ just because Bro. Branham said to do it that way: I do it because the Bible says to. However it was through his ministry and teaching that the infallibility of the word of God in Acts 2:38, was impressed upon me, and I give honor where honor is due. I honor Bro. Branham for turning my attention back to the word of God, and away from manmade traditions. I baptize you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ because the Bible says to do that, and by revelation we know that JESUS is the redemption name of God, and is to be used instead of the titles in Matthew 28:19. When you know what God has said about things you do not need to constantly say, "Bro. Branham said this, or that, or something else;" If God's word says it, we can say, "The Bible says," and that is our authority. That is why we want to find out what the Bible says about various issues that are before us.

GABRIEL COMES TO DANIEL

Let us go to the 9th chapter of Daniel and read our text scriptures now. Remember Daniel was a Jew in Babylonian exile. He never did return back to the land of Israel, when the first exiles were allowed to go back. Let us begin reading with verse 20, so we will have the full picture, "And whiles I was speaking, and praying, and confessing my sins and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God for the holy mountain of my God; (22) Yea, whiles I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation. (That is when they would put incense upon the altar, and the smoke would go up, signifying the prayers of the people ascending up to the presence of God at the closing of the day.) (23) And he informed me, and talked with me and said, O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding. At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth, (meaning, the commandment to the angel, to come to Daniel and give him understanding of certain things) and I am come to shew thee; for thou art greatly beloved: therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision. (24) Seventy weeks are determined upon they people (JEWS) and upon the holy city, (JERUSALEM) to finish the transgression." The word TRANSGRESSION, pertains to their going against divine authority, and it pertains to the overall national transgression of the people of Israel. You would have to go back into Deuteronomy and the prophets to catch the full significance of what the word transgression pertains to, here. In Deuteronomy, while they were still out there in the wilderness journey, God had spoken to them something like this, it shall come to pass, that when you come into the land that I shall give you, if you turn your back to me and no longer keep my commandments, and the statutes that are set before thee, I will take great pleasure in cursing you, and I will drive you out of the land, and scatter you to the nations. Is that not what He did? That was God's way of chastening them for their disobedience in the land that He had given them. In this land, God had definitely determined to bless them if they would obey Him, and they would be a light to the Gentile people. But, you all know the story. They had not been in the land very long until they fell right into apostasy and began to transgress, transgress, transgress and in spite of the fact that God sent prophets to warn them, they continued to get worse, worse, worse, until finally God turned His back upon them and drove them out of the land. They had been in Babylonian exile, and their 70 years which Jeremiah wrote about, 29:10, were almost completed, so Daniel is seeking God in prayer and fasting, when the angel Gabriel, comes to him. Jeremiah had wrote, For thus saith the Lord, That after seventy years are accomplished at Babylonian I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place, and Daniel had been reading Jeremiah's prophecy and knew that those 70 years were almost completed. He sets his face toward God and begins to confess the sins of his people, and then asks God to let His anger be turned away from Jerusalem, the holy mountain, saying, that Jerusalem and God's people have become reproach to all that were around them. Then Gabriel comes to Daniel to give him understanding and begins to say, "Seventy weeks (not years) are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, (This has a two fold application. Not only does it apply to the sins of the individual people, it also has a universal application, for when these 70 weeks of years are finally completed, Jesus will have the devil in chains, and we will be in the Millennium with Him.) And to make reconciliation for iniquity, (To reconcile Israel back to Himself, back to the land, back to the city, and to restore to them, everything that He had taken from them, is definitely in the plan of God. It was God that had taken it from them, so it will have to be God that restores it to them) and to bring in everlasting righteousness, (the Millennium) and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy."When that last week of those 70 weeks is finally fulfilled it will have accomplished all that is written here. Israel will have been fully chastened for her transgression, and will have been restored, everlasting righteousness will have been ushered in, and sin will be out of the picture, and all of the visions and prophecy will have been fulfilled. Jesus (the King) will be sitting in the temple of Jerusalem, and for 1000 years all the world will go to Jerusalem once each year to worship the Lord of hosts. This will be a compulsory thing according to Zechariah 14:16-17, which says, "And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King. The Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles. And it shall be, that whoso will not come up from year to year to worship the King. The Lord of hosts, and to keep the feat of tabernacles. And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain." It goes on to say that the Lord will smite them with the plague who fail to keep the feast of tabernacles.

WEEKS EXPLAINED

Now we come to the question some people are prone to ask, How do we determine that this 70 weeks of verse 24, is weeks of 7 years each? Because of the Greeks and Romans we have grown accustomed to thinking of a week as a week of 7 days, each day having a name, but when you go back into the Bible, Genesis, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, Numbers, Judges, and so forth, all through there before the Babylonian exile, to the Jews the word week only meant 7. It could be 7 days, 7 weeks, or anything like that. They marked off their calendar by the new moon which would be full on the 15th of each month. They had 12 lunar months of 30 days each. When the new moon appeared that started their month, and they recorded events in this manner; Upon the 1st day of the month such and such, upon the 2nd day of the month, the 20th day of the month, and so on. But when they came back, out of Babylonian exile, they too, began to accept certain things of the Greeks, Persians, and Romans, and break their periods of time according to their methods, but that has no affect whatsoever on prophetic time that God caused to be recorded in the scriptures. When you go to Genesis 29:18, 20, 27, 28, 30, you will understand that, to them, 7 years was 1 week. Likewise, when you read the rest of this 9th chapter of Daniel, you have no trouble recognizing that the 70 weeks of verse 24, have to be weeks of years instead of weeks of days. There are 70 periods of 7, determined, to accomplish all that is written here, but I do not ask you to accept this just because I am saying it to you. It is the responsibility of every true child of God to dig in the scriptures until they get a revelation of what is said to them. What do you find in Matthew 24:15, where Jesus Himself is giving the signs that people are to watch for? Notice this now. "When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (WHOSO READETH, LET HIM UNDERSTAND.)" He did not say, Whoever hears something that is preached, let them understand; He said, Whosoever readeth, let him understand. Prophecy and history go together. History of what has happened already, enables us to put two and two together, concerning prophecy yet to be fulfilled. Therefore I beg you, study your Bibles, study your history books, and allow God to reveal to you just where we are, in time, and what is ahead. It is important that we understand. World conditions are leading us right into prophecy fulfillment, and we need not be caught unaware of what is happening. When I said, The oil crisis is just as important for our hour of time as the decree of Augustus was to the hour of time two thousand years ago, I trust that you will understand what I meant. It is shaping the world for the fulfillment of that last week of Daniel. It will take certain world conditions to usher in that peace agreement which will mark the beginning of that week. In other words, we are dealing with God's yardstick of time, that is important that we understand. Therefore by the grace of God, we intend to pull many scriptures into this message, to give every sincere child of God an opportunity to study and understand just what significance this yardstick has, to believers in this hour. This 70 week prophecy is the only thing in the Bible that God gave man to measure time by. If the Jews had studied it properly, they would have been able to predict (I believe it is safe to say) within a decade of the time when their Messiah would be on the scene. It is sad to say, (sad because of what they did through ignorance) but they missed it completely. Their failure to recognize their Messiah, eventually gave the gospel to us Gentiles, and for that we give thanks to God, but do not ever forget, this Bible we hold so dear is a Jewish book; we only have it borrowed. Let me say also, you do not have to be a doctor of divinity to understand it; all you need is the Holy Ghost teacher, inside, He will reveal it to you. The church world is full of theologians and Bible scholars of every kind, and every one of them seem to feel that it takes that sort of education to understand the scriptures. Many of them have written their versions of prophetic scriptures yet to be fulfilled, but God is bypassing all of that, and revealing Himself and His prophetic word to those whom He has called, regardless of their educational background. As we have said already, The book of Revelation is a letter of prophecy, written mostly about Jewish people and their land, but given to the Gentile church to guide them in this hour of time in which we are living. If we will allow the Holy Ghost to lead us in studying the book of Revelation, it will let us take Daniel, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Isaiah, and all the others, and put the final touches on prophecy that was given for this hour. We have the prophecy of Daniel because Daniel was concerned about the fate of his people, and he talked to God about it. Who were the people? Jews. Where is the holy city? Jerusalem. What is the subject that is being dealt with? God's chastening upon the Jewish nation because of their transgression against divine authority.

SEVENTY WEEKS - 490 YEARS

We have established what is to be accomplished during those 70 prophetic weeks of years, and why it was ordained to be so. Now we want to deal with the time itself. I will not use a chart just now, for I want to keep my remarks so they will be understood by those who hear the tapes later on, some of which would never have access to the charts. We want to look at the 3 divisions of this 70 week period of time which actually adds up to a total of 490 years. First we see a 49 year division, then a 434 year division which gives us a total of 483 years. Then we have 1 week left which is actually divided into two equal halves, but they are not separated. They run consecutively, but there will be a drastic change in world order in the middle of that last week. Let us go to verse 25, of the 9th chapter of Daniel, and begin to examine these three divisions of this 490 year yardstick. When we read this verse, please be aware that the commandment mentioned here is not the same commandment that was mentioned in verse 24. One is a commandment to speak to Daniel, and the other concerns a commandment to restore, and to build something. Verse 25, "Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah (the anointed one) the Prince (GET THIS MESSIAH, THE PRINCE IN YOUR MIND AS THE PRIMARY OBJECT, SO YOU WILL BE ABLE TO KEEP THE PRINCES SEPARATED LATER) shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks; the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times." This Prince is the Prince of princes that Daniel 8:25, refers to. You will remember how that little horn came forth and exalted himself, and caused desolations for a period of 2300 days. We read that in the early verses of the 8th chapter and explained how that was fulfilled by Antiochus Epiphanes of Syria. Then we read verse 24 & 25 of that same chapter and saw how a king of fierce countenance, and understand dark sentences, shall destroy many, and how he would stand up against the PRINCE of princes, and would be broken without hand. We talked about how that will be the Antichrist who will stand up against Jesus Christ at the end of this age, and even though it sounds like the same little horn of verse 9, it is actually referring to two different human beings who are led and motivated by the Jew hating spirit of Satan. That is why I said, When we get this whole prophetic thing put together; we either have to say the Antichrist will come out of Syria or Rome, one or the other. Antiochus who came out of Syria is dead; therefore verses 24 & 25 have to be dealing with something altogether different than the flesh of the man; it has to go to the spirit of Satan who made the man do what he did. I realize some will say, That does not run in harmony with the prophecy, but let me remind you that Ezekiel did the very same thing when he was prophesying to the king of ancient Tyre, then suddenly changed his scope, saying, "Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God." We all know the king of Tyre had not been in Eden, and had every precious stone for his covering, yet Ezekiel was instructed to take up a lamentation upon the king, so what is the answer? The answer is very simple; it was directed to the spirit that caused the man to exalt himself and think like that. These are the things you must keep in mind in order to keep these prophecies running consistent. If you will remember this, you will have no problem at all when we get to Revelation 17, and begin to see how the 8th head is of the 7th, and must come out of the bottomless pit, which is hell, and go into perdition. That is where you will see that this is a spirit of Satan in a form of governmental disguise, and how he uses earthen vessels to accomplish his purpose. If you can see the pattern over here in Daniel and Ezekiel, you will wind up over in Revelation right on target.

CYRUS - A SERVANT OF GOD

Now as we come back to chapter 9, verse 25, we should understand first of all, that this 490 year measurement of time is to start when a certain commandment comes forth. It does not apply to Jewish people while they are still in exile. It only becomes effective once some of them are back in their home land and certain things are set in motion that prove beyond a shadow of doubt, that this is the beginning place for that prophecy. Also, we have to keep our commands in their proper place. This commandment we are dealing with is a commandment to restore and build Jerusalem, the city, not the altar of worship, nor the temple. As you have opportunity, it would be to your benefit to read Ezra, Haggai, and Zechariah, for we do not have the time to read all of this now. The first 5 or 6 chapters of Ezra give you the chronology of what transpires when Cyrus took over the world government, and you will see how the writing of Isaiah, was fulfilled, concerning the anointed one who would perform all of the Lord's pleasure, (Isaiah 44:28, 45:1) and also Jeremiah 29:10 which we have read already. Cyrus made a proclamation stating that he had been commissioned by the Lord God of heaven to build Him an house of Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Then he commissioned the Jews to go up to Jerusalem and build house (meaning temple). But he said nothing about building back the city itself, just the house. More than 42 thousand souls went up to perform the task, and the first thing they did was clear off, and set up the altar where they immediately began to offer sacrifice to the Lord. But when they started to build the temple a bunch of Arabs rose up and sent a letter back demanding that the work be stopped. Their letter had its affect and the work was stopped for a period of time. But when Darius became king of Persia, letters were sent to him concerning the decree of Cyrus, and upon examination Darius found it to be even as the Jews had stated, and in the 2nd year of his reign he gave orders to allow the work to resume, and 4 years later the work was finished. This brings us to about 515 B.C., but the commandment concerning the 70 weeks of Daniel did not start with the building of the temple; it is confined strictly to the building of the city, to get it ready for the first advent, of the coming of their Messiah. We also find in Ezra, that a certain group of Jews, under the leadership of Ezra, returned to Jerusalem to restore religious order and worship unto their God. Still the city was not built. The commandment concerning the 70 weeks is yet for the time when the city would be built. Why put all this other in the message, some may say? It is for brothers and sisters in other lands who do not have history books and encyclopedias as handy to them as we do here in America. Every time I go into some foreign country, I receive ever so many requests for such books. Naturally we cannot supply these things to all who request them, so I have purposes to insert as much historical data into this article as I feel it will take to make the various points clear to those who have nothing else to check them by.

DANIEL'S PROPHECY GOES INTO EFFECT

Let us read Daniel 9:25, again, then I am going to take you to Nehemiah, where we ill see the staring point for this 490 year period of God's dealing with the Jews. "Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, (49 years) and threescore and two weeks: (434 YEARS) the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times." The reference to the street is symbolic of the cleaning up of the city proper. Just building up the walls would not be enough to cause new immigrants to come back and take an interest in dwelling there. It was not in the mind of God, just to have some walls built without having some people dwelling inside those walls. You can build walls ever so huge and beautiful, but if there are no people living within those walls: you do not have a city; you just have some walls. The walls were built for the protection of those who lived within those walls. God wanted the city built up, cleaned up, beautified and made ready for the coming of the Messiah, so it is the commandment to do this, that actually puts the 70 weeks prophecy into effect, and we pick that up in the book of Nehemiah. As I said already, Nehemiah served these Persian kings in the ancient territory called Shushan, in the very country which today is called Iran. That is where Nehemiah and many other Jews were living, when this decree to rebuild Jerusalem was made. I must read this, in order to get the setting, so let us go to the very first verse in the book of Nehemiah. The year is 446 B.C., and the month of Chisleu, which compares to the month of December according to our calendar. "The words of Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah. And it came to pass in the month Chisleu, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the palace, (2) That Hanani, one of my brethren, came, he and certain men of Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews that had escaped, which were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem." These were men who had already been living in Judaea, as a result of other migratory journeys. Thousands of them went back as a result of the Cyrus decree which went forth somewhere around 536 B.C., and then some more went with Ezra, and we find that some of them have come from Judaea back to Persia, and Nehemiah is inquiry about the welfare of the people, and the condition of Jerusalem, and here is what he heard, (3) "And they said unto me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire. (4) And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven." In other words, what these men told Nehemiah, was that Jerusalem was still nothing more than just a great big pile of rubble; and no one wants to live there, because there are no walls to protect them. Hearing this, about the beloved religious city, the capital of the Jewish nation, so touched Nehemiah's heart, that he sat down and wept and mourned. The he began to fast and pray to God about the situation, and here is how he prayed. Verse (5), "I beseech thee, O Lord God of heaven, the great and terrible God, that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love Him and observe His commandments: (6) Let thine ear now be attentive, and thine eyes open, that thou mayest hear the prayer of thy servant, which I pray before thee now, day and night, for the children of Israel thy servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against thee: both I and my father's house have sinned." He goes on confessing the sins of himself and his people, and making requests of God concerning the matter, and when we come to chapter 2, we find that many weeks have passed since he first began to seek the face of God, for now it is the month of Nisan, (corresponding to the last of March and the first part of April) in the year 445 B.C. (1) "And it came to pass in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, that wine was before him: and I took up the wine, and gave it unto the king. Now I had not been beforetime sad in his presence." This story that he had heard concerning the affliction of his people, and the condition of the city, had taken such a toll on him that he could no longer conceal his feelings. (2) "Wherefore the king said unto me, Why is thy countenance said, seeing thou art not sick? This is nothing else but sorrow of heart. Then I was very sore afraid, (3) And said unto the king, Let the king live for ever: Why should not my countenance be said, when the city, the place of my fathers' sepulchres, lieth waste, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire? (4) Then the king said unto me, For what does thou make request? So I prayed to the God of heaven. (5) And I said unto the king, If it please the king, and if thy servant have found favor in thy sight, and thou wouldest send me unto Judah, unto the city of my fathers' sepulchres, that I may build it, (JERUSALEM.) (6) And the king said unto me, (the queen also sitting by him,) For how long shall thy journey be? And when wilt thou return? So it pleased the king to send me; and I set him a time." Nehemiah gave the king an approximate length of time that he figured it would take to accomplish the task, and promised to return to the Persian domain when the job was completed. (7) "Moreover I said unto the king, It if please the king, let letters be given to me to the governors beyond the river, that they may convey me over till I come into Judah; (8) And a letter unto Asaph the keeper of the king's forest, the he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the palace which appertained to the house, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall enter into. And the king granted me, according to the good hand of my God upon me." This was the only decree that pertained to the building of the city itself, and it was given in the month Nisan, in the year 445 B.C.; therefore we must conclude that the 70 weeks of Daniel's prophecy had its beginning point right there. We will not take the time to read them, but you who are interested in this subject should go ahead and read the rest of Nehemiah, and chapters 8 & 9, of Ezra. As you read on through Nehemiah you will find that Ezra and Nehemiah worked together in building the city and setting everything in order. Upon receiving the decree from King Artaxerxes, king of Persia, along with all the necessary letters to those who must help him, Nehemiah goes to Jerusalem to view the ruins, and solicit help from the rulers and elders of the people. In chapter 2, he even tells about how he went up at night to view the city, without telling any of the rulers of the city what he had come to do, and how that things were in such a bad shape in one place, that the little beast he was riding, (probably a little donkey) could not even pass. Then after his inspection tour, he tells what his mission is, and how God has given him favor with the king of Persia who has made every necessary provision for him. When the men of the city heard these things they were stirred in their hearts to arise and begin the work. Their enemies immediately went to work trying to discourage them by laughing and making fun of them, but Nehemiah let them know that they were doing a good work, and that the God of heaven would prosper them, and that no Arab had any portion, nor right to take part in what was being done. Brothers and Sisters: There comes a time when we know assuredly that we are doing the work of God, and have no need for any kind of political maneuverings from the Methodists, the Baptists, nor the charismatics. As the true church of the living God begins to see a clear vision of what real unity is; I want you to know, there is not one thing under the sun that the charismatics can contribute to your fellowship. They have no part in it. Those Arabs did not know how to put those stones together, and neither do the denominational churches know how to put the word of God together. If they did, they would not be where they are. It just goes to show that any time a true child of God tries to do something worthwhile, there are always a bunch of trouble making skeptics around trying to hinder.

RECONSTRUCTION - REVIVAL APOSTASY

As you read on through Nehemiah, you will see how part of the men worked while others stood guard, and it even says that they worked with one hand, and kept the other on their sword. They were defending their cause. You will also see that a scroll was found, and Ezra the priest read to the people from morning until midday out of it, and a great revival swept through their ranks. They learned how their forefathers had sinned against God, and how God had allowed them to be carried away captive. They also learned that they were forbidden to inter-marry with the heathen round about them, and those who had done so, put away their strange wives. God said, these heathen would lead His people astray, and that is exactly why Paul wrote to the Corinthian church, "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers." Only God knows just how many Christian men and women are actually living in torment because of such marriages. Some of those marriages took place before either of them became a Christian; but there are others who have walked right into this unequally yoked situation with their eyes wide open, saying, I believe I can win him, or her to the Lord. It happens like that every now and then, but too many times, it turns out the other way. Nevertheless, those Jews put away their strange wives in obedience to the law of Moses, and they had a great revival, as the people repented. They began to keep certain feasts as set forth in the law, and so forth, but as that 49 year period of Daniel's 70 weeks came closer to the end, and Ezra and Nehemiah passed off the scene, things began to fall apart spiritually. It was almost like politics in American; priests began to assassinate other priests for political reasons, and a condition of decay and apostasy took hold of the people. You ask, Why? It was because the land was under Gentile lordship, and they could not govern the land according to the word of God. Jesus explained that in the book of Luke. He said, Jerusalem shall be trodden down by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled, (Luke 21:24.) The times of the Gentiles lasted from the time King Nebuchadnezzar's Babylonian army raised that Babylonian flag over the city of Jerusalem, almost 600 years B.C., until June 1967, when Israel regained control of it in the 6 day war. I read, in those Jewish history books, just how corrupt, and pathetic that priesthood became in those days. They each wanted to be high priest, just like politicians of our day want to be president. In South America, many times, you have heard how certain men had other men assassinated in order to gain political control. These priests were playing politics with their office in the closing years of that 49 year period of time. Be sure you understand that this 49 years covers the first division of Daniel's 70 weeks. This is the first 7 weeks, of those mentioned in Daniel 9:25, and as that period closes out it brings us to around 397 B.C., where we pick up Malachi the prophet. In other words, he came on the scene in 397, and began rebuking the children of Israel for offering polluted bread upon the altar of God, and for offering blind, lame and sick animals to God, contrary to what He required. He rebuked the priests for their inconsistency in the way they served in their particular office. God was speaking to Israel through the prophet Malachi, giving her a last opportunity to repent, warning her of her contemptible ways, and at the same time, telling her of the messenger that He would send to prepare the way before Him, and also of the coming of Elijah, but that 49 year period closed out with Israel in a pitiful state, spiritually. They had their revival and then returned back to that same old spirit they had before, and the 7 week period closed with them in that shape.

THE 62 WEEK PERIOD & 1 WEEK

Let us go back to Daniel 9:25 now, and pick up the next period of time that the 70 weeks are divided into. "From the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah, the Prince, shall be seven weeks, (from Nehemiah's decree down to Malachi) and THREE SCORE and TWO WEEKS: (62) the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times." The fact that the wall is mentioned like that just lets us know that the city would not be in its completed form until the completed wall fully surrounded it. In other words, the time given here runs from the giving forth of the decree right down to the time Jesus Christ the Messiah was crucified, (cut off) and God is very specific about this prophetic time table. When God says that certain things will be accomplished during a period of time which adds up to 69 weeks, He certainly means just that. You cannot stretch it far enough to get 69½ weeks out of it, no matter what someone may have said. You can confirm that by going over to Revelation 11:3, when God says, "And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand days, clothed in sackcloth." Saints! Believe me! Those two witnesses will not prophesy one week longer, nor one week less; they will prophesy exactly 1,260 days, just like the Bible says. Then when they are killed at the end of those days, that starts another 1,260 days, just like the Bible says. Then when they are killed at the end of those days, that starts another 1,260 day period of time, the time allotted to the Antichrist who has had them killed, and when you add 1,260 days to another 1,260 days, you have exactly 7 full prophetic years. Therefore when you read verse 26, of Daniel 9, be sure you understand that at the end of this seven week period of time, and this sixty two week period of time, (the two added together) Jesus Christ was cut off. That is an ending point, so let us read verse 26, now. "And after three score and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off." That 62 week period of time ran from the time of Malachi's prophecy, right down to the day Christ was crucified, and covered a period of 434 years. That is 62, multiplied by 7, and you add that to the 49 years which you had already, from the 7 weeks prior to it. Each week consists of 7 years, therefore we have 7x7 equals 49 years, then 62x7 equals 434 years, you come up with a total of 483 years that expired between the two points. This leaves 7 full years (1 week) yet to be fulfilled when God starts dealing with that Jewish nation again. The seventy week clock stopped at the end of the 69th week when Christ was crucified, and it will start again when those two witnesses arrive on the scene and start prophesying to their Jewish brethren. We know the Antichrist will not like what those two prophets are saying to those Jews who are there in the land, but he will allow it to continue for 1,260 days. Then, at the end of those days the Antichrist will have them killed, and that is woe No.1, of the three woes that are to come upon the inhabitors of the earth. This sets the great tribulation in motion, and Revelation 13:5, becomes effective, "And there was given unto him (the Antichrist) a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months." That 42 months covers the same span of time as Daniel 12:7, where a question was answered concerning the length of time that this time of trouble would continue. Notice, "And I heard the man clothes in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand his left hand unto heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever that it shall be for a time, (1 year) times, (2 years more) and a half; (½ year) and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished." Now, go to Daniel 7:25, where we will see a little different expression of this save 3½ year period of time. This is where the angel was explaining the fourth beast of Daniel's vision to him. This verse is tied to the little horn (the Antichrist). "And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until (HOW LONG?) A time and times and the diving of time." That was just another way of saying 3½ years, or one thousand two hundred and threescore days, as we see it again in Revelation 12:6, "And the woman (SPIRITUALLY AWAKENED ISRAEL) fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days." Those Jews are hiding from the wrath of the old Antichrist during the whole 3½ years of great tribulation while this man of sin, the son of perdition is reigning.

AFTER THE SEVENTIETH WEEK

Let us look at another specific time element that Jesus established in Matthew 24:29. This follows right behind the 42 month period of time that we have just been dealing with. "Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken." Now when He said, Immediately after the tribulation of those days; He did not mean 6 months later; He meant immediately, right then. That is what marks the end of that week of Daniel. This is what marks the end of the reign of the Antichrist. Notice that next verse, what follows that great power shaking event. Verse 30, "And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory." Saints! Pay attention to what I am going to say! This scripture WAS NOT fulfilled in 1963, when the cloud of angels appeared to Bro. Branham. Those who believe it was, are still looking for the rapture, and the resurrection, and they believe the tribulation is till ahead of us. Would you please tell me how they hope to make that line up with the scriptures? If this scripture (Matthew 24:29-30) was fulfilled in 1963; then let us face facts; the rapture, the resurrection, and the great tribulation is already in the past, Jesus is in the Millennium with His saints, and we missed it all. Is that what you want to believe? I just talk like this to get your attention; every revelated person knows better than to believe those preachers who preach that. It does not take much revelation to see where a thing like that would put you. But these characters have the nerve to stand up and say, That Jackson does not preach what the prophet said. Yes I do! The only difference is, I preach it from the Bible, and they just quote, quote, quote, use the quotes out of context, and add their own private interpretation as to what the quotes mean. That is why so many of them are in false doctrine, and have their minds so clogged up, they could not even receive a true revelation if it was slapping them in the face. Brothers and Sisters: Please do not think that I am boasting; if it was not for the grace of God: there is no telling what I might be preaching today, for I sat right among them, and heard the same verbal words from Bro. Branham, that they did. I will say this, though, I have never found any reason to take what he said and twist it around trying to make it say something else. Let us get back to Daniel 9:25 & 26, and talk about the 62 week period of time, that is mentioned there. We are looking at a 434 year period of time that picks up with the prophecy of Malachi. We take the 397 B.C. date as the starting point for those years, but remember, that is according to regular calculation which has 365¼ days in a solar year, but when you break that down into the Hebrew prophetic year which has only 360 days in it: that takes you back to where you have 400 years of prophetic time before the birth of Christ. Somewhere down through those years the city of Jerusalem was finally, completely built, but it was done in troublous times. That is no mystery though, for that same little Jewish history book that I read to you from, earlier, tells how Jerusalem was constantly overrun by invading armies on their great lustful campaigns to Egypt or Syria. Many times those armies would meet somewhere in, or around the land of Israel, to fight their terrible wars, and that would leave the land scarred, and marred with the dead bodies. Those were troublous times for sure. The story I read to you, about the man, Antiochus, the king of Syria, took place somewhere around between 175 & 162 B.C. Historical records vary somewhat on these dates, but we just put it in the message for the beauty of how it substantiates Daniel's prophecy, concerning troublous times. Here was this Maccabee son, Judah, with only 3000 men facing odds to about 15 times his number, just like Gideon with his 300 men, but God was with them. They drove out the Syrians, cleanse and Sanctified the temple, and ended that 2300 day period of desolation.

WHAT OTHERS BELIEVE

Let me read a little portion from this book I am holding, to let you see what the Advent people teach, concerning this 2300 days in chapter 8, and the 490 years we are looking at over in Daniel 9. They put the two periods together, and say that the two prophetic measurements started in the year 457 B.C. They take the decree which allowed Ezra to go to Jerusalem with a commission to restore civil and religious law, in connection with the temple that had been built, and use that as a starting point. That puts them 12 years ahead of the Nehemiah decree which most all historians agree on as the beginning point of Daniel's 70 weeks. Furthermore they say that the 2300 days of Daniel 8:14, is actually 2300 years. But may I say this, They have to make it read, years, because they are using the 490 years in the 9th chapter as the code to apply this back here in the 8th chapter. The truth is, The angel in chapter 8, had not yet given a code. He just said this little horn, (coming out of the breakup of the Grecian empire) would do this terrible thing, and that the duration of it would be 2300 days. This is why I read from the actual history, that this Judah Maccabee, conquered the Syrian army, gained control of Jerusalem, tore down those Greeks idols, cleansed and dedicated the temple, and restored true worship, ending that period of desolation, in which swine's flesh had been offered on the altar of God. When you check it through history; you find that this condition existed during a period of time that lasted from 6 to 7 years, and that lines up with the 2300 days of Daniel 8:14. Therefore let me say once again, the 2300 days of chapter 8, have nothing at all to do with the 490 years (70 WEEKS) of chapter 9. Now, these advent people start their time calculation with the year 457 B.C., and carry it straight through into the grace age, right to the year 1844. They say that the cleansing of the sanctuary was something that took place in heaven, and its earthly effect was their great revelation of Sabbath keeping, and so forth, claiming that this is the proper way for Christians to worship. They also begin the 490 years of chapter 9, at the very same place (457 B.C.) And run it down to 408, and without even mentioning anything that might have happened then, they go right into the next 434 years. They have Christ being baptized and starting His ministry in 27 A.D., and His crucifixion in A.D. 31, and they say, He fulfilled the first half of the 70th week of Daniel when He was cut off, and that the last half of it was fulfilled when Stephen was stoned to death, in A.D. 34. Brothers and Sisters: I just want you to see how far people can get, off of the true meaning of the scriptures. They do not even mention any decree given to Nehemiah, yet they make mention of him in connection with the decree that was given to Ezra, the decree that allowed him to go to Jerusalem for the purpose of restoring order.

CALCULATING TIME

Now I want to explain something, and I hope you will follow closely and get the picture. We want to fix the cut off point in this 490 year prophecy that went into effect in the year 445 B.C. We must all see the same thing eventually, if we be the bride of Jesus Christ. He will not rapture a bride that has a dozen different versions of something that only has one version to it. I am using Jewish history because this prophecy is regulated by God's dealing with the Jewish people, not Gentiles. Therefore let us settle our minds on the fact that somewhere before this whole 62 week period fo time would come to a close, the Messiah would be born, and right here is where the great mixup in dates really causes trouble. Prophetically, we must fix the time of Malachi's prophecy at around 400 B.C., for we have B.C. and A.D. time to deal with. All of us know that B.C. indicates time before the advent of Christ, and A.D. pertains to time, after the advent of Christ. Right? Therefore B.C. time stops where A.D. time begins, or vice versa, and the birth of Christ was the marker. Now the historians, the scholars who deal with such things, have tried to update the calendar so many times that they are all fouled up, and hardly any of them can agree as to when Jesus was born. They start with where we are presently and figure backward, and they come out with ever so many different years that Jesus was born in, some as far back as 7 B.C., others 4 B.C., 3 B.C. and 1 B.C. But I want you to consider this, Jesus was born in the fall of the year. He had to be, in order to be 33½ years old in the month of Nisan which compares to part of March and part of April on our calendar. Are you following me? We all know he was crucified in the month Nisan, and that figures out to have been about April 6th to 8th, give or take a day. Alright now, His ministry lasted for about 3½ years. Is that not right? Now take that 3½ years back from the time He was crucified, and you will wind up in the fall of the year. He was baptized by John to begin His ministry, and the Bible says He was about 30 years old at that time. When you subtract 30 years from that time you will not be in the month of December. Neither will you be in March, nor April; you will be in the fall of the year. Right? That is why I say Jesus was born somewhere between the year 1 and 0 B.C. Think for just a moment now. If the year 1 B.C., started January 1, you would not stop the year the moment Jesus was born. If (for example) Jesus was born in the month of October, in the year 1 B.C., that year would still have to finish out, all the way through December 31, before you could start this year, 1 A.D. Are you still with me? Therefore in the year 1 A.D., in the month of October, He would have been 1 year old. You just have to remember that historical records are kept by a 365¼ days to the year calendar, and prophecy is given according to a 360 days to the year calendar. This 490 years (70 weeks of years) that we are dealing with, is 490 prophetic years, consisting of 360 days each, not 365¼ like you have on your solar calendar. Most historians will agree, that in ancient times, even the Egyptians, for a period, used a 360 day calendar. Many of the nations did. But they knew that the sun and the moon was out of balance, therefore, every so often, in the various nations that used this means, to calculate a year, 360 days, they would insert another month, this would occur every so often, this is absolutely the type of calendar that God gave the Israelites coming out of that Egyptian bondage, and the calendar that he gave them, started in the spring of the year. You read this in Exodus, and the first month of that year was called Abib. But after they went into Babylonian captivity, then they dropped that word Abib, and it took on the title, Nisan. Now right over here, is where they pick it up, while in Babylonian captivity. Nisan occurs in the spring of the year, and is related with the last part of March, and through the first part of April; that is when their month begins. That is when their religious calendar starts. Because it always dates back to the time when God brought the Israelites out of Egyptian bondage. Now, with this type of calendar, with this type of calculation, prophetic years, keep in mind. 360 days to the prophetic year, we will balance as we go along, but I want you to keep in mind, you're dealing in the prophetic year, term, 360 days to that particular year. Therefore it lets me know, this is 490 prophetic years, not 490 solar years. Now how many in here know what solar years mean? It means 365¼ days for the earth to make its total traverse around the sun. This should tell a lot of people something. As I said before, evidently it happened in the flood, that the earth was pushed out of relationship to the sun, just far enough that it increased the rotation around the sun, this lengthened the whole journey, and this also brought the earth closer to the moon, which shortened the circumference of the moon's rotation around the earth, while the two are together, going around the sun, and this shortened the lunar month, from actually 30 full days, to actually about 29½. Now, the Jewish calendar begins each month with a new moon. In actuality, if the universe today was in perfect balance, here is what you would have. In every year you would have 12 new moons. What is it, the pagans, even the ancient Indians kept records by? The moon. That is why you have always heard the old saying, many moons ago. It came from the Indians. Because there was in the knowledge of man, to keep time by the moon. He watched it rise from a new one, he watched it grow, and everything like that. Even the Orients today hold the lunar year, which means their whole year is measured by the rise of the new moon, and so forth, and that is exactly the calendar that God gave to Israel, in its prophetic relationship. Now, if everything was in perfect balance, the earth was with the sun, exactly the way it should be, and the moon the earth, we would have 12 lunar months, full 30 days each, and this would absolutely take out all confusion of time, and it would put 360 days each, and this would absolutely take out all confusion of time, and it would put 360 days, it would take that for the earth to go around the sun. And you know and I know, when you go to school, they will ask you, How many degrees are there in a circle? 360. I believe that God is the perfect mathematician. Don't you? He has to be. He set the stars, now you could take all the other planetary bodies in space, they work perfect. Scientists can calculate exactly where Jupiter will be 100 years from now, because they know its route, its speed through space, and everything, and therefore, where it will be 100 years from now. Now that is the point we're looking at. You must understand that the calendar we will be exploring here, is the prophetic calendar, but in doing so, it is necessary to use dates that are recorded in history by the Julian calendar. The important thing for you to understand from this message is not the dates that various things occurred, but rather, you should understand from what we show you, that from the going forth of the Nehemiah decree to restore and to build Jerusalem, right down to the time Jesus Christ the Messiah, was crucified, was exactly 483 prophetic years, which is exactly 69 weeks of the 70 weeks of time that we are dealing with. If you can just understand that there is yet one full week of prophetic time (7 years) left to the Jews, you will not be misled by these preachers who run around all over the world saying, that Jesus was cut off in the middle of the seventieth week. It was not Jesus cut off in the middle of that week, that we see there in Daniel 9:27; it will be the Jewish sacrifice and evening oblation that will be cut off by the Antichrist in the middle of that week which is yet ahead of where we are, that will fulfill Daniel 9:27. They do not even have such a thing now, but when that week truly does start, they will set up their altar and begin offering sacrifice to god, even while they are building the temple, just like they did when they were rebuilding the temple the first time. You read in Ezra 3:6, "From the first day of the seventh month began they to offer burnt offerings unto the Lord. But the foundation of the temple of the Lord was not even yet laid." That is exactly what they will do when they gain control of the temple grounds somewhere just out in front of where we are in time. Remember, God is the one who is watching over the time, and He is not checking out calendar to keep up with it either; He is going by His calendar that has never changed. Praise His name!