There is no biblical authority or evidence for detaching the last
week, or seven years, of the 490 years allotted to the Jewish nation
and applying it to the work of Antichrist near the end of the
world's history. More serious, detaching the last seven years
from the 490-year prophecy so distorts the true meaning of many
prophecies in the books of Daniel and Revelation that people
simply cannot correctly understand them. This is why God condemns
private interpretation of prophecy, such as this seven-year gap
theory. Such interpretations always lead people astray.
QUESTION 96:
How do you interpret Daniel's Seventy Weeks?
ANSWER:
"Seventy weeks have been determined for
your people and your holy city, to shut up the transgression, to
seal up sin, to cover over iniquity, to bring in everlasting
righteousness, to seal up vision and prophet, and to anoint the
Most Holy Place. (Dan. 9:24)
So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a word
to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the
Prince, there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be
built again, with plaza and trench, even in times of distress.
(Dan. 9:25)
Then after the sixty-two weeks the Anointed One will be cut off
and nothing shall remain to Him [or, but not for Himself].
And the people of a coming prince [or, of [the]
coming Prince] will destroy the city and the sanctuary.
And its end will be with the flood; even to the end there will be
war; desolations are determined. (Dan. 9:26)
And He will confirm a covenant with the many for one week, and
in the middle of the week he will cause sacrifice and offering to
cease; and on a wing [or, overspreading] of
abominations will come a desolator, even until the end. And that
which was decreed shall pour out on the desolator." (Dan.
9:27)
Here is a short answer to your question (with
approximate dates):
The first seven "weeks"
began in 538 B.C. with the issuing of the word of Cyrus to rebuild
the temple and the city.
The first seven "weeks" ended and the sixty-two "weeks"
began in 445 B.C. when Nehemiah rebuilt Jerusalem.
The sixty-two "weeks" ended and the last "week"
began in A.D. 28, with the anointing of the Lord at His baptism.
During that "week," He confirmed the New Covenant with "the
many" (His disciples). Also in that week, in A.D. 30, He was "cut
off." (murdered)
The cessation of "sacrifice and offering" that took place "in
the middle of the week" might refer to the atoning death
(cutting off) of the Messiah. (I will discuss below other possible
meanings of the cessation of "sacrifice and offering.")
"The Desolator" was the body of Jewish reprobates who
captured and desecrated the temple, and who flooded the city with
war, abominations and desolations in A.D. 66-70.
The last "week" ended and the "seventy weeks" were
fulfilled in A.D. 70, when God poured out His wrath on "the
Desolator," when the people of a coming prince (or Prince)
destroyed the city and the sanctuary. The people of the coming
prince might refer to the Roman armies of Caesar. (I will discuss
below other possibilities as to who the "prince" and the "people"
might have been.)
Christ's "week"-long work of Covenant-confirmation then
came to an end. The old covenant disappeared and the New Covenant
was established. The reign of Sin and Death was abolished, and
everlasting righteousness was brought into Israel and Jerusalem. "Vision
and prophet" were sealed up (brought to an end / abolished),
and the Most Holy Place (the universal Church) was anointed.
The seventy weeks covered a period of roughly 600 years,
from about 538 B.C. to A.D 70, from the time of the fall of
Babylon to the fall of Babylon (Jerusalem).
(To see why I do not interpret the seventy weeks as
seventy weeks of years, (490 years) please see
Q&A
#97.)
Here is a more detailed exposition of Dan. 9:24-27:
When Daniel received the prophecy of the "seventy weeks," the
people of Israel including Daniel himself were in captivity in
Babylon. The City of Jerusalem and the temple had been destroyed by
the Babylonians, and they remained in ruins.
Jeremiah had prophesied that after seventy years of captivity were
completed, God would destroy Babylon and would restored the people
of Israel to Jerusalem. (Jer. 25:11,12; 29:10-14) Daniel understood
that he was living in the last hour of that seventy-year Babylonian
captivity, and this is what prompted him to pray (Dan. 9:2,3):
"O Lord, in accordance with all Your
righteous acts, let now Your anger and Your wrath turn away
from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain; for because of
our sins and the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your
people have become a reproach to all those around us. So now,
our God, listen to the prayer of Your servant and to his
supplications, and for Your sake, O Lord, let Your face shine
on Your desolate sanctuary. O my God, incline Your ear and
hear! Open Your eyes and see our desolations and the city which
is called by Your name; for we are not presenting our
supplications before You on account of any merits of our own, but
on account of Your great compassion. O Lord, hear! O Lord,
forgive! O Lord, listen and take action! For Your own sake, O my
God, do not delay, because Your city and Your people are called by
Your name." (Dan. 9:16-19)
VERSE 25: The first "seven weeks"
were God's answer to Daniel's prayer for his people and for his holy
city, and it was in less than a year after Daniel received the
prophecy of the "seventy weeks," in about 538 B.C., that the
first "seven weeks" began. After the Kingdom of Babylon fell
in 538 B.C., the Persian king Cyrus issued, "the word to restore
and rebuild Jerusalem." (II Chron. 36:22-23; Ezra 1:1-4; Isa.
44:24,26,28; 45:13; Dan. 9:25; Josephus, Antiquities, xi,
6,12) Thousands of Israelites immediately packed their belongings
and began the journey back to Judea.
The end of Israel's seventy-year Babylonian captivity was the
beginning of the "seventy weeks." The two periods of time
were consecutive.
The first "seven weeks" lasted about ninety years and ended
with the rebuilding of Jerusalem by Nehemiah in about 445 B.C. (Neh.
2:5; 6:15) The times of distress during which the city was
rebuilt are related in Neh. 1:3 - 6:13. Because the city had no
walls and no gates, the people were constantly being mocked,
demoralized, threatened, accused, deceived and terrorized by their
enemies. (Neh. 2:19; 4:1-3,7,8,11,12,14,16-23; 6:1-13) Because of
these things, the nation was in great distress and reproach.
(Neh. 1:2-4; 2:3,13,17) The times of anxiety ended with the
completion of Jerusalem's walls and gates in about 445 B.C.
The sixty-two weeks were from the completed rebuilding of
Jerusalem by Nehemiah until the first appearing of the Anointed
One, (Messiah) the Prince, (the Ruler,
the Leader). The sixty-two weeks ended at the
beginning of Christ's ministry, when God anointed Him with
the Holy Spirit and power in about A.D. 28. (Lk. 3:22-23; Acts
10:38) The sixty-two weeks covered the intertestimal
centuries from Nehemiah / Malachi to the anointing of Jesus. It was
a period of roughly 470 years.
VERSES 26 & 27: The last week was from Christ's
first appearing at His baptism to His Second Appearing at the
destruction of the city and the sanctuary in A.D. 70. It
was from the anointing of Messiah the Prince to the anointing of the
Most Holy Place. The last week lasted about 42 years. It
was the period of time in which Christ the Ruler, through His
earthly ministry and through the Holy Spirit, confirmed the New
Covenant with the many:
For I say that Christ has become a
servant to the circumcision on behalf of the truth of God to
confirm the promises given to the fathers. (Rom. 15:8)
Because the last week began with the
baptism of Christ, the covenant that was confirmed during
that week can be none other than the New Covenant. There was
no other covenant that began to be confirmed at the beginning of
Christ's ministry.
Within that week of Messianic Covenant-confirmation,
Messiah was cut off. He was rejected by the leaders of the
people and put to death outside the city in about A.D. 30.
"And in the middle of the week," He caused "sacrifice and
offering to cease." (Dan. 9:26) Here are three possible ways of
interpreting what this means:
1. For those who put their trust in the blood
of Christ, there was no longer any offering for sin.
(Heb. 10:18) For believers, Christ's sacrifice ended the need for
animal sacrifices. If this is the meaning, then the cutting off
of the Messiah and the cessation of sacrifice and offering
are virtually synonymous, and both took place in the middle
of the week.
2. The Messianic cessation of sacrifice and offering
could refer to God's giving up of fleshly Israel to reprobation.
After the nation had thoroughly rejected the blood of the New
Covenant, Israel became apostate, and there no longer remained a "sacrifice
for sins. (Heb. 10:26,27) In this interpretation, the
cessation of sacrifice and offering refers to a
spiritual, national catastrophe. This, I think, is in
harmony with the symbol of the middle of the week (a broken
time of tragedy). Also, if the cessation of sacrifice is God's
reprobation of the apostates, then the abominations in
the next phrase are the direct and immediate result of that
national reprobation. (This second interpretation is the one I
prefer.)
3. The Messianic cessation of sacrifice and offering
might be taken in a strictly literal sense. As a consequence of
the offering-ceasing sacrifice of the Messiah, (Heb. 10:18) and of
the national cessation of sacrifice for sins due to
Israel's apostasy, (Heb. 10:26) Jerusalem became flooded with
abominations and wars, until the daily animal sacrifices
literally ended in about August of A.D. 70, shortly before the
city and the sanctuary were destroyed. (Josephus, Wars, vi,
94)
In the time of Israel's apostasy, in about A.D.
66, a "Desolator" came on a wing of abominations.
The "Desolator" filled the Holy City with abominations and
desolated it with the flood of war, until the end.
The end was when God poured out His wrath on the the
Desolator, when the people of a coming prince (or of the
coming Prince) completely destroyed the city and the sanctuary,
along with the Desolator, in August-September A.D. 70.
On a wing of abominations: The word wing could be
a reference to the temple (a wing or pinnacle of the temple). If
this is the meaning, then the phrase could mean that the abomination
of desolations (Septuagint) issued forth from the temple of God
and filled the city. This agrees with the history of the times:
In about A.D. 67, the Zealots captured the temple and made it their
fortress and their shop of tyranny. (Josephus, Wars,
iv, 151) From God's house, they terrorized the people and spread
abominations and desolations throughout Jerusalem until the city was
utterly consumed in the flood of war in A.D. 70.
Or the word wing might instead be a metaphorical reference
to the overshadowing or overspreading (KJV) of
abominations throughout the city. In this interpretation the basic
meaning is the same, but there is no reference to the temple. In
either case, the entire city was going to be filled (covered,
overspread) with abominations.
Compare Isa. 8:7,8, which uses both the metaphors of a flood (Dan.
9:26) and of overshadowing wings (Dan. 9:27):
Now therefore, behold, the Lord brings up
upon them the waters of the river, strong and many, even the king
of Assyria, and all his glory; and he shall come up over all his
channels, and go over all his banks. And he shall pass through
Judah; he shall overflow and go over, he shall reach even to the
neck; and the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth
of Your land, O Immanuel. (Isa. 8:7,8)
The Desolator: The Desolator, as we
have said, filled the city with abominations, desolations and war
until the end, when God poured out His wrath on the Desolator in the
destruction of the city and the sanctuary. History tells us that the
Jewish reprobates in Jerusalem, from about A.D. 66 to 70, filled the
temple and the city with abominations and desolations during their
continual wars. Their beastly desecrations of the holy places and
their slaughters of the people did not cease until the end,
when Titus and his legions leveled the city, along with the
reprobates, in September of A.D. 70.
Let us look for a moment at the wording of Dan. 9:26:
"
The Messiah will be cut off and have
nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy
the city and the sanctuary
" (Dan. 9:26)
In this verse, the destruction of "the city
and the sanctuary" in A.D. 70 immediately followed the
cutting off of the Messiah in A.D. 30. We should infer from this
that the destruction of Jerusalem was the direct consequence of
the cutting off of Messiah the Prince.
This means that the desolators who were destroyed in the city were
themselves guilty of crucifying Christ. (See Rev. 1:7) Jesus
confirmed this teaching in Matt. 21:37-45; 22:7. The chief priests
and the Pharisees murdered ("cut off") the Messiah, and
because of that crime, God brought those murderers to a "wretched
end" when He sent "His armies" and destroyed the City and
the Sanctuary, in fulfillment of Daniel's "seventy weeks."
The people of a coming prince: Here are three ways of
interpreting what this might mean:
1. The Roman armies of Caesar (Vespasian
or Titus): If this is the meaning, then this reference to
Caesar the prince is a parenthetical statement between
two statements about Messiah the Prince. (This, incidentally, was
John Calvin's interpretation of the people of the coming
prince.)
2. The Roman armies of Christ: The Romans could have been
designated the people / armies of Messiah the Prince
because they were sent by His decree and for His purpose. (Compare
Matt. 22:7.)
3. The followers of Christ: Christians destroyed the city
and the sanctuary through their faith, (Matt. 21:21; Mk. 11:23;
Rev. 8:8) through their prayers (Lk. 18:7) and through their
God-given judgment on the Last Day. (Zech. 14:5; I Thess. 4:14;
Jude 1:14,15; Rev. 17:14; 18:20) Believers were the Lord's
invading army. (I Cor. 14:21-22) The angels (messengers) who
poured out the wrath of God upon apostate Israel in the book of
Revelation were Christians. (Compare Rev. 21:9 and 22:9;
KJV, NASB) The term coming Prince may be a reference to
Christ's Second Coming after His having been cut off.
(This third interpretation is the one I prefer.)
Some preterists have proposed that the Jews
were the people of the coming Prince, because the Jews were
Christ's people, and it was the Jews themselves who destroyed
Jerusalem. In my opinion, that interpretation conflicts with the
history of the event. Though the reprobate Jews did bring Jerusalem
to ruin and desolation, they did not destroy the city and
the sanctuary. It was the hands of the Romans that brought upon
the Jews that final stroke, against the will of the rebels within
the city. (Lk. 19:43,44)
VERSE 24: In the end of the "seventy
weeks, seven things were fulfilled concerning Daniel's
people and concerning his "holy city":
1. The destruction of
the city and the sanctuary
And then:
2. The shutting up of
the transgression
3. The sealing up of sin
4. The covering over of iniquity
5. The bringing in of everlasting righteousness
6. The sealing up of vision and prophet
7. The anointing of the Most Holy Place
These last six things
were all in process of being fulfilled during the last week,
the week of Messianic Covenant-confirmation. These
blessings were not fulfilled for Daniel's people and
for his holy city before A.D. 70. Daniel's people
(i.e., all Israel, the elect, the living and the dead,
including Daniel himself) were not freed from sin until the
Parousia:
And thus all Israel
will be saved; just as it is written, "The Deliverer will come
from Zion, He will remove ungodliness from Jacob." (Rom.
11:26)
Transgression /
sin was not finished for the holy city,
until after the abominations came to an end in the city in A.D. 70.
Only after Jerusalem was destroyed did God cleanse Jerusalem of all
her sins and make her new:
And I saw the holy
city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made
ready as a bride adorned for her husband . . . and nothing unclean
and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come
into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book
of life. (Rev. 21:2,7)
The wages of sin
is Death (condemnation and alienation with God). But when Death was
destroyed in the Kingdom of God in A.D. 70, sin was shut up
and forever sealed. Death no longer issues forth from the
sins of God's children, because the power of His Cross swept away
the Ministry of Condemnation and Death (the Law) in A.D. 70, robbing
sin of its power, and robbing Death of its sting. Through the work
of the Son, Death is nullified and Sin is defeated. In the New
Heavens and New Earth, the sins of all God's holy ones, living and
dead, are "covered over," buried in the depths of the sea
(Micah 7:19), forever forgotten, and hidden from the eyes of God:
The former
troubles are forgotten, and because they are hid from mine eyes.
For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former
shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. (Isa. 65:16,17;
cf. Deut. 32:43)
The Advent of the New
Heavens and the New Earth in A.D. 70 also marked the consummation of
the Advent of eternal righteousness:
"But according to
His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in
which righteousness dwells." (II Peter 3:13; cf. Rom. 4:23,24;
Gal. 5:5)
"For we through the Spirit, by faith, are waiting for the hope
of righteousness." (Gal. 5:5)
Also at that time (A.D.
70), vision and prophet were sealed up (brought to an end).
This is parallel to I Cor. 13:8-10, where God said that when "that
which is perfect" came, (i.e., the perfected Most Holy Place)
then prophecy, tongues and knowledge (i.e., revelatory gifts) would
be abolished. This happened when all things were fulfilled,
when the sinful city and the hand-made sanctuary fell, and when the
sinless City and the God-made Sanctuary came down from
out of Heaven in A.D. 70. (Lk. 21:22; I Peter 4:7)
Finally, it was through the anointing of the Holy Spirit that
the whole City of Jerusalem became the Tabernacle of God,
when the worldly Holy Place fell in 70. (Heb. 9:1,8) Under the old
covenant, every article of God's tabernacle was consecrated by the
anointing of oil. (Ex. 30:25-30; 40:9; Lev. 8:10,12) In the same
way, in the Last Days, God taught His elect ones the truth of His
Gospel through the anointing of the Holy Spirit, (II Cor. 1:21,22; I
Jn. 2:20,27) until all of them had come to know Him. (Jn. 6:39) Then
came "the end," (Dan. 9:26) when the whole Body of God's
holy ones, the living and the dead, was raised up to
become His anointed (Spirit-taught) "Most Holy Place"
in the New-Covenant world. (Jn. 6:44,45; Eph. 2:21,22; Heb.
8:11-13; Rev. 21:3)
One final thought: To the prophet Daniel, the prophecy of the "seventy
weeks" might have sounded contradictory. Gabriel first told him
(in verse 24) that at the end of "seventy weeks," the
transgression would be finished, an end would be made of sins,
atonement would be made for iniquity, everlasting righteousness
would be brought in and the Most Holy Place would be anointed. It is
safe to say that Daniel rejoiced when he heard these promises.
But then when Gabriel came to the end of the prophecy, he said that
the Messiah would be killed and that the city and the sanctuary
would be destroyed. Gabriel offered no further explanation.
How could the devastating ending of the "weeks" in verses 26
and 27 be compatible with the joyful ending of the "weeks" in
verse 24? How could the "seventy weeks" be consummated in
both the destruction of the temple (Dan. 9:26) and in the
anointing of the temple? (Dan. 9:24) Or how could the
resurrection of the dead and glorification of the saints be
fulfilled when the power of the holy people is shattered?
(Dan. 12:1-3,7)
This paradox is the heart of the preterist interpretation of
Bible prophecy. It is what the futurists and the "Jews" have
missed for centuries upon centuries: The destruction of (earthly)
Jerusalem meant the advent of (heavenly) Jerusalem, and the
destruction of the (earthly) Most Holy Place meant the consummated
anointing of the (heavenly) Most Holy Place. The (spiritual) sons of
the kingdom inherited the kingdom when the (fleshly, unbelieving)
sons of the kingdom were cast out of the kingdom. (Matt. 8:12;
13:38,43) This is the preterist key that unlocks the meaning of the
"seventy weeks."
QUESTION 97:
You said that the "seventy weeks" lasted about 600
years. But doesn't "seventy weeks" mean "seventy weeks of
years," that is, 490 years?
ANSWER:
Before I answer that question, let me first answer another question:
When did the seventy weeks end?
Perhaps the most common view among preteristic interpreters is that
the seventy weeks ended around A.D. 35, or so. Many say at
the martyrdom of Stephen. Here are four reasons why I disagree with
that view and hold to an A.D.-70 consummation of the "seventy
weeks":
1. If the
"seventy weeks" were fulfilled in about A.D. 35, then the Parousia
and the destruction of the city and the sanctuary are
reduced to a supplemental appendix or an addendum to
Gabriel's prophecy of the "seventy weeks." The Parousia
becomes a subordinate episode in the prophecy, an event
that took place some 35 years after the time that was determined
for Israel and the Holy City. It seems to me that to
relegate the Parousia to such secondary status is strangely
out of step with the spirit of the prophets.
2. Gabriel's prophecy begins with this statement: Seventy
weeks are determined for your people and for your holy city
(Dan. 9:24) Then the prophecy ends with the destruction of the
holy city. It is reasonable to infer from the words of the
prophecy that the shattering of the power of Daniel's "people"
(Dan. 9:24; 12:7) and the complete destruction of Daniel's "holy
city," (Dan. 9:24,25,26) were both included in the things that
were "determined" for Daniel's "people" and for his
"holy city."
3.
In the previous Q&A, we
saw that the six blessings of Dan. 9:24, which all took place in
the end of the "seventy weeks," were consummated in A.D.
70, in the destruction of "the city and the sanctuary."
4. If the destruction of Jerusalem falls outside of the seventy
weeks, then we are forced to hopscotch through verses 26 and 27.
The first part of verse 26 is within the "seventy weeks,"
but then the second part of verse 26 is some 35 years after the
fulfillment of the "seventy weeks." And then the first part
of verse 27 is within the "seventy weeks," and then the
second part of verse 27 is some 35 years after the "seventy
weeks."
Now to answer your question: Doesn't "seventy
weeks" mean "seventy weeks of years," that is, 490 years?
Because the seventy weeks were consummated in Christ's
Parousia in A.D. 70, they could not have been speaking of a literal
490 years, for two reasons:
1. There were more than 3 ½ years (or even 7
years) between the cutting off of the Messiah and the destruction
of the city and the sanctuary. That makes the last week at least
40 years long.
(Some preterists have proposed a "gap" in or before the last "week,"
between the cutting off of the Messiah and the Jewish Wars that
led to the destruction of Jerusalem. This was Max King's position
in his 1971 book The Spirit of Prophecy. In my opinion,
that "solution" is an attempt to force fit the "weeks" into
the mold of a literal 490 years.)
2. Because the seventy weeks were consummated in the
Parousia, the seventy weeks could not have been a
literal chronology. If they were, it would have become
possible to calculate the years to the Parousia. Since no man
could know the times or the seasons or the day or the hour, not
even the Son of Man, (Matt. 24:36; Acts 1:7) the seventy
weeks had to have been meant symbolically.
The seventy weeks were seventy
undefined periods of time that were to be consummated in the
fulfillment of all vision and prophecy. In using the
symbolic word weeks, the angel Gabriel was being
intentionally indefinite as to the time that would reach unto
the Parousia. Seventy weeks (or seventy sevens) is
no more literal than seventy times seven in Matt. 18:22. It
signified the completion or "fullness" of redemption
that would come at the Parousia, at the destruction of the earthly
city and sanctuary.
QUESTION 98:
Do you believe in "replacement theology?" Was Israel replaced by the
Church? Since the Jews are no longer God's chosen people, does that
indicate that Jews are an accursed race because of what they did to
Christ?
ANSWER:
Abraham's descendants were not cut off and "replaced" by a gentile
church. The Jews never became an accursed race.
Yes, there was a wicked and perverse generation of accursed Jews in
the Last Days. (Matt. 25:41; Mk. 11:21; Gal. 3:10) And yes, after
A.D. 70 Abraham's descendants were no longer in any sense
uniquely God's chosen people. But those facts in no way indicate
that the Abrahamic blood-line became accursed.
Israel was hardened "in part" in the Last Days. (Rom. 11:25)
It was through the world-changing, Last-Days work of the Holy Spirit
that the "firstfruit" remnant of Israel was saved, (Rom.
11:5,16) and that "the fulness of the gentiles" was brought
into Israel, (Rom. 11:25) and that the pre-Cross saints ("the
dead" / "all Israel") were resurrected. (Rom.
11:15,26,28) All were gathered together at the Parousia of
Christ and united into one eternal, spiritual, resurrected
Body. (Rom. 11:26)
In the ages before the Advent of the Son, God's people were not only
separated from Him (as the animal sacrifices testified) and
separated from each other (the divided kingdoms of Israel and Judah)
and separated from the unclean, gentile world, but wars with each
other and wars with gentiles, and ultimately Death itself, separated
every son of the kingdom from the worship of the Father.
Through the power of the Cross of Christ, those "old things"
of "tears," "death," "sorrow," "outcry"
and "pain" passed away in the end of the age. (Rev. 21:4) In
His Parousia, the historic kingdom was transformed. It was changed
from having been a worldly, hand-made kingdom that embodied
Condemnation (separation), Sin and Death (Heb. 9:1,11,24), to being
the God-made Kingdom "from out of Heaven" (II Cor. 5:2; Rev.
21:2,10) in which all the elect, the living and the dead,
Jew and gentile, were united and made alive in Christ, never
again to be separated from God or from each other.
Now all the saints are granted free and equal access to the
throne of grace, through faith in the Son. (Heb. 7:12) Now all
the saints are "priests of God." (I Peter 2:5,9; Rev. 1:6;
5:10) Now all the saints worship Him "face to Face."
(I Cor. 13:12; Rev. 22:4) Now all the saints are One
in Christ. (Jn. 17:11-23; I Thess. 5:10)
The Church, which Israel's Messiah bought with His own blood,
was not the replacement or condemnation of biblical Israel. (Jn.
3:17) It was its fulfillment. Christ's Kingdom today is the
full and perfect realization of the hope and goal of Old-Testament
Israel.
(
Please see Q&A #11.)
