Plucking the Eagle's Wings

Israel's Kings and America's Presidents

Rachel's last son was Benjamin, whose name means son of my right hand . Christ, the Son of God who is seated at the Father's right hand, ratified the new covenant (Hebrews 8:1 and 10:12). After fourteen years, Jacob married Rachel and she gave birth to two sons, Joseph and Benjamin. Strangely, America's fourteenth president, Franklin Pierce, had a son named Benjamin, who died at age twelve shortly after his father was inaugurated. God counts time as it relates to His covenants. The prophet Daniel received a revelation that confirms how God's prophetic timekeeping is connected to His covenants. Daniel's Prophecy Concerning Prophetic Time In Daniel 9:24-27, the prophet Daniel received a revelation that concerned prophetic timing. This revelation, known as "Daniel's seventy weeks," is divided into three distinct, consecutive time periods. After Israel's Babylonian captivity, God's prophetic time clock began ticking with the decree to rebuild Jerusalem. The time period was to conclude with the onset of everlasting righteousness on earth. The prophecy delineates a period of 490 years from beginning to end. To simplify it, I will identify the blocks of time in actual years during which specific events would transpire. • Daniel refers to seven periods of seven years. This total of 49 years begins with the decree to rebuild Jerusalem until its completion. Nehemiah and Ezra led the building program that took 49 years to finish. The 49 years represented Daniel's first prophetic time cycle (Daniel 9:25). • Daniel's second block of time begins with the decree to rebuild the city until the time that the Messiah was cut off. This was a period of 483 years (Daniel 9:25). The Messiah being cut off referred to the crucifixion of Christ (Daniel 9:25-26). • Daniel's third time period is 7 years. At the conclusion of the final 7-year period, everlasting righteousness would begin, as the Messiah returned to earth (Daniel 9:27). When the Jewish leaders rejected Christ as Messiah, many scholars believe the prophetic clock stopped ticking with regard to Israel. At Pentecost, the Christian church was born and weeks later, the

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