Hello John and Doves,
I don't recall now who
posted this letter.
I would like to
acknowledge them, but can't find the letter...so sorry.
Origen (3rd Century) and
Eusebius (4th Century) were a lot closer to that time period
then us.
The author of this
article noted that "the notion of a 3 1/2 year ministry
stems from an early Chirstological interpretation of Daniel
9:26 - 27....This "being cut off" and putting an end to
sacrifice and offering were identified as the crucifixion,
which would have happened in the middle of the final (70th)
"seven" or three and a half years after an "anointed one"
shows up at the end of the 69th seven. Thus,
reasoned Origen and Eusebius, Jesus' ministry must have
commenced at the beginning of the 70th "seven" and the
crucifixion must have been 3.5 years into that ministry."
"It is also worth
pointing out that the somewhat amusing reversal
this terse passage in Daniel 9 has undergone in popular
theology over the last century. These verses
went from being understood as a prophecy of the ministry
of Jesus (as in Origen and Eusebius) to
being interpreted as the prophecies of the antichrist
in modern dispensational theology. In that theological
scheme, the "70th seven" is still to be fulfilled in the
future by the antichrist, who will be the one to "put an end
to sacrifice and offering", etc. during the "Great
Tribulation (i.e. the -"70th seven"....all of which rests on
this understanding of the "70th seven" as a future
seven-year "Great Tribulation."
I have two new 'heroes'
- Origen and Eusebius! I will have to follow up with
their work.
Thank you (whomever) for
posting this. I did not know that way back Jesus'
ministry was considered the first 3.5 years of the "70th
seven" of Daniel by some of HIs followers.
Pray for the peace of
Jerusalem!
Maranatha!
Chance