VAYIGASH (ויגש)- Draw Near- Audio Podcast Jan 7, 2023

Before we get to the scriptures, we must explain the context. We find ourselves in the middle of a conflict which was initiated in the previous chapters.

Joseph asks his servant to hid his silver “cup” in Benjamin’s sack, as his brothers had come up to buy grain due to the famine

This cup represents JUDGMENT, as Joseph needs to rule at this point if there has been any changes in his brothers lives

The brothers get caught with the stolen cup, and it is done as directed by Joseph

Genesis 44:3–6 NKJV

As soon as the morning dawned, the men were sent away, they and their donkeys. When they had gone out of the city, and were not yet far off, Joseph said to his steward, “Get up, follow the men; and when you overtake them, say to them, ‘Why have you repaid evil for good? Is not this the one from which my lord drinks, and with which he indeed practices divination? You have done evil in so doing.’ ” So he overtook them, and he spoke to them these same words.

The silver cup is serving as a test to determine if his brothers continue to repay evil for good.

He pairs the practice of paying evil for goodness as divination

They are searched, and the cup is found in Benjamin

Genesis 44:12 NKJV

So he searched. He began with the oldest and left off with the youngest; and the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack.

So they all come to Joseph’s house

Genesis 44:14–17 NKJV

So Judah and his brothers came to Joseph’s house, and he was still there; and they fell before him on the ground. And Joseph said to them, “What deed is this you have done? Did you not know that such a man as I can certainly practice divination?” Then Judah said, “What shall we say to my lord? What shall we speak? Or how shall we clear ourselves? God has found out the iniquity of your servants; here we are, my lord’s slaves, both we and he also with whom the cup was found.” But he said, “Far be it from me that I should do so; the man in whose hand the cup was found, he shall be my slave. And as for you, go up in peace to your father.”

This is exactly where we pick it up with our Torah portion today.

Genesis 44:18 NKJV

Then Judah came near to him and said: “O my lord, please let your servant speak a word in my lord’s hearing, and do not let your anger burn against your servant; for you are even like Pharaoh.

נָגַשׁ

come near, approach, present

5602 נָגַשׁ (nā·ḡǎš): v.; ≡ Str 5066; TWOT 1297—1. LN 15.75–15.80 (qal) come near, approach, present, i.e., make linear movement to the presence of another, often implying engagement by offering or confronting (1Sa 17:16), note: this can refer to giving a gift to deity; (nif) come near, approach (Ge 19:22), note: 1Sa 14:24, some parse as 5601; 2. LN 15.165–15.186 (hif) bring forth, present, i.e., take an object near another, implying a presentation to, or engagement with the person (Ge 27:25); (hof) be brought, be presented (Mal 1:11+); 3. LN 15.123–15.134 (hitp) gather together (Isa 45:20+); 4. LN 18.12–18.23 unit: (hof) נָגַשׁ לְ־ נְחֹסֶת (nā·ḡǎš l- neḥō·sěṯ)1 chained, fettered, formally, presented in bronze, i.e., pertaining to being bound in chains (2Sa 3:34)

James Swanson, Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains : Hebrew (Old Testament) (Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997).

“Yehudah approached him;” seeing that he could not remove every official surrounding Joseph, as Joseph did later on, he had no choice but to approach him face to face.

Judah is the brother who suggested not to kill Joseph in CH 37, but to put him in the pit and to sell him

Genesis 37:26–27 NKJV

So Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is there if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? Come and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother and our flesh.” And his brothers listened.

the reason why Yehudah was the one carrying on this dialogue was that it was he who had guaranteed Binyamin’s safe return to their father.

Genesis 43:8–9 NKJV

Then Judah said to Israel his father, “Send the lad with me, and we will arise and go, that we may live and not die, both we and you and also our little ones. I myself will be surety for him; from my hand you shall require him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him before you, then let me bear the blame forever.

Judah begs Joseph to let him speak a word

Genesis 44:18 NKJV

Then Judah came near to him and said: “O my lord, please let your servant speak a word in my lord’s hearing, and do not let your anger burn against your servant; for you are even like Pharaoh.

What is the word he wants to say?

Genesis 44:19–20 NKJV

My lord asked his servants, saying, ‘Have you a father or a brother?’ And we said to my lord, ‘We have a father, an old man, and a child of his old age, who is young; his brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother’s children, and his father loves him.’

Israel was 130 years old

Genesis 47:9 NKJV

And Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The days of the years of my pilgrimage are one hundred and thirty years; few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.”

Joseph would like to see his brother

Genesis 44:21–22 NKJV

Then you said to your servants, ‘Bring him down to me, that I may set my eyes on him.’ And we said to my lord, ‘The lad cannot leave his father, for if he should leave his father, his father would die.’

Benjamin is called a lad, when he is 30 years old with 10 children

If you would like to know how to calculate Benjamin age see me at Midrash

Genesis 46:21 NKJV

The sons of Benjamin were Belah, Becher, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, Ehi, Rosh, Muppim, Huppim, and Ard.

Joseph says call the lad that I can put my eyes on him

Remember that when Joseph was born, he was named Joseph for a reason

Genesis 30:22–24 NKJV

Then God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and opened her womb. And she conceived and bore a son, and said, “God has taken away my reproach.” So she called his name Joseph, and said, “The Lord shall add to me another son.”

Not only does Joseph want to put his eyes on him, but also Joseph means “God has taken away my reproach” and there is a promise of another son to be added

Reproach

3075 חֶרְפָּה (ḥěr·pā(h)): n.fem.; ≡ Str 2781; TWOT 749a—1. LN 87.58–87.75 disgrace, contempt, i.e., the state of dishonor and low status (1Sa 11:2); 2. LN 33.387–33.403 scorn, insult, taunt, slur, i.e., the act. of speaking words which harm and insult another (Ps 69:10[EB 9]); 3. LN 87.58–87.75 a reproach, i.e., an object which has low status and dishonor (Ps 79:4[EB 3])

James Swanson, Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains : Hebrew (Old Testament) (Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997).

Disgrace means to be out of His grace - self-contempt is a sin

Romans 3:23 NKJV

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Judah continues with his plea

Genesis 44:30–32 NKJV

“Now therefore, when I come to your servant my father, and the lad is not with us, since his life is bound up in the lad’s life, it will happen, when he sees that the lad is not with us, that he will die. So your servants will bring down the gray hair of your servant our father with sorrow to the grave. For your servant became surety for the lad to my father, saying, ‘If I do not bring him back to you, then I shall bear the blame before my father forever.’

Judah is willing to take the place for others

He is not longer thinking of his own profit

Benjamin means the son of the Right Hand

Joseph is a type of Messiah

When we face trails and tribulations

When we are in the pit and come to self-contempt and reproach ourselves

Remember, we have a father that keeps His eyes on us

We are the children of the Right Hand of God- Yeshua

Our Lord Jesus took the fall for us

Let us Draw Near to Him, and plea for Mercy and Grace with a contrite heart as Judah did, having repented from his sin and making amends for his mistake

James 4:8 CJB

Come close to God, and he will come close to you. Clean your hands, sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded people!

We cannot draw near to God with pride and unrighteousness and double minded-ness

There is a cleansing that needs to happen.

Psalm 69:18 NKJV

Draw near to my soul, and redeem it; Deliver me because of my enemies.

Ecclesiastes 12:1 NKJV

Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth, Before the difficult days come, And the years draw near when you say, “I have no pleasure in them”:

We must draw near to Him with authenticity

Isaiah 29:13 NKJV

Therefore the Lord said: “Inasmuch as these people draw near with their mouths And honor Me with their lips, But have removed their hearts far from Me, And their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men,

Hebrews 10:22 NKJV

let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

Genesis 45:1 NKJV

Then Joseph could not restrain himself before all those who stood by him, and he cried out, “Make everyone go out from me!” So no one stood with him while Joseph made himself known to his brothers.

It is Messiah who needs to reveal Himself to us, and especially to Israel

His covenant is with His people - the remnant

But how can Israel identify Messiah when we have made of Messiah, nothing but a Jewish Messiah

Have we compromised the identity of Yeshua the Messiah for the benefit of culturalizing the Gospel?

Are we showing we worship a Jewish Messiah?

Genesis 45:2–3 NKJV

And he wept aloud, and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard it. Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph; does my father still live?” But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed in his presence.

Genesis 45:4 (NKJV)

And Joseph said to his brothers, “Please come near to me.” So they came near. Then he said: “I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold into Egypt.

This Draw Near is not just to get close, or to approach. This means, really get close - an embrace of Love- negash

To be completely embraced and covered

Genesis 45:5 (NKJV)

But now, do not therefore be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life.

Self-contempt - reproach

Forgiveness - first time ever recorded somebody forgives

FORGIVENESS

Genesis 50:17 NKJV

‘Thus you shall say to Joseph: “I beg you, please forgive the trespass of your brothers and their sin; for they did evil to you.” ’ Now, please, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of your father.” And Joseph wept when they spoke to him.

Numbers 14:18 NKJV

‘The Lord is longsuffering and abundant in mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression; but He by no means clears the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation.’

Psalm 85:2 NKJV

You have forgiven the iniquity of Your people; You have covered all their sin. Selah

Hebrews 9:22 NKJV

And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission.

Forgiveness = Remission

912 ἄφεσις (aphesis), έσεως (eseōs), ἡ (hē): n.fem.; ≡ DBLHebr 2002, 3413, 9023; Str 859; TDNT 1.509—1. LN 40.8 pardon, forgiveness of sins (Mt 26:28; Ac 2:38; 10:43; Col 1:14; Heb 9:22; 10:18); 2. LN 37.132 liberty, release (Lk 4:18+(2×))

James Swanson, Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains: Greek (New Testament) (Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997).

Matthew 26:28 NKJV

For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.

Acts 2:38 NKJV

Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Colossians 1:14 NKJV

in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.

Forgiveness = Remission

Acts 10:43 NKJV

To Him all the prophets witness that, through His name, whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins.”

Aphesis

The Year of Jubilee

3413 יוֹבֵל (yô·ḇēl): n.masc.; ≡ Str 3104; TWOT 835e—1. LN 4.1–4.37 ram, i.e., a mature male sheep old enough to have a sizable horn (Jos 6:5); 2. LN 8.17 ram’s horn, i.e., bony outgrowth of certain animals, when hollowed out can be a calling instrument (Ex 19:13); 3. LN 67.163–67.200 jubilee year, i.e., a beginning year of a 50 years cycle, releasing temporary obligations to their permanent, original owners, as a definite unit of time (Lev 25:10–27:24 passim)

James Swanson, Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains : Hebrew (Old Testament) (Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997).

Leviticus 25:10 NKJV

And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a Jubilee for you; and each of you shall return to his possession, and each of you shall return to his family.

All debt cancelled - Hallelujah

And we return to our family - our Father in Heaven

Luke 4:18 NKJV

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed;

The Torah has principles like forgiveness, repentance in Genesis before there was a law given

Yom Kippur is for the people of Israel - Israel draws near in atonement of sin- reconciliation with God / 10 days of repentance - starts with Rosh Hashana

We have the Passover

Exodus 12:12 NKJV

‘For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the Lord.

Matthew 23:37 NKJV

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!

Psalm 91:4 NKJV

He shall cover you with His feathers, And under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler.

Genesis 15:1 NKJV

After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.”

Back to the Torah Portion

Genesis 45:7 NKJV

And God sent me before you to preserve a posterity for you in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.

8642 שְׁאֵרִית (šeʾē·rîṯ): n.fem.; ≡ Str 7611; TWOT 2307b—1. LN 63.21–63.22 remainder, remnant, the rest, i.e., the part of a whole (mass, collection, or series) that remains or continues (2Ki 19:4); 2. LN 10.14–10.48 descendant, formally, remnant, i.e., those of a successive generation as a figurative extension of a what is left over from a whole (Ge 45:7; 2Sa 14:7+)

James Swanson, Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains : Hebrew (Old Testament) (Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997).

Only the remnant- posterity - only the ones to draw near to God

Isaiah 10:20–22 NKJV

And it shall come to pass in that day That the remnant of Israel, And such as have escaped of the house of Jacob, Will never again depend on him who defeated them, But will depend on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. The remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, To the Mighty God. For though your people, O Israel, be as the sand of the sea, A remnant of them will return; The destruction decreed shall overflow with righteousness.

Jeremiah 50:20 NKJV

In those days and in that time,” says the Lord, “The iniquity of Israel shall be sought, but there shall be none; And the sins of Judah, but they shall not be found; For I will pardon those whom I preserve.

Genesis 45:9 NKJV

“Hurry and go up to my father, and say to him, ‘Thus says your son Joseph: “God has made me lord of all Egypt; come down to me, do not tarry.

Lord of all Egypt

Genesis 45:13 NKJV

So you shall tell my father of all my glory in Egypt, and of all that you have seen; and you shall hurry and bring my father down here.”

Genesis 45:22 NKJV

He gave to all of them, to each man, changes of garments; but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver and five changes of garments.

changes = change clothes

Exodus 19:10 NKJV

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes.

Revelation 19:8 NKJV

And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.

Removing the garments of flesh for the Spirit

Genesis 47:11–21 NKJV

And Joseph situated his father and his brothers, and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded. Then Joseph provided his father, his brothers, and all his father’s household with bread, according to the number in their families. Now there was no bread in all the land; for the famine was very severe, so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan languished because of the famine. And Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, for the grain which they bought; and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh’s house. So when the money failed in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph and said, “Give us bread, for why should we die in your presence? For the money has failed.” Then Joseph said, “Give your livestock, and I will give you bread for your livestock, if the money is gone.” So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave them bread in exchange for the horses, the flocks, the cattle of the herds, and for the donkeys. Thus he fed them with bread in exchange for all their livestock that year. When that year had ended, they came to him the next year and said to him, “We will not hide from my lord that our money is gone; my lord also has our herds of livestock. There is nothing left in the sight of my lord but our bodies and our lands. Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be servants of Pharaoh; give us seed, that we may live and not die, that the land may not be desolate.” Then Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh; for every man of the Egyptians sold his field, because the famine was severe upon them. So the land became Pharaoh’s. And as for the people, he moved them into the cities, from one end of the borders of Egypt to the other end.

Control of Food

Failure of Monetary System

People given their lives to survive- starvation

Only the people at Goshen are taken care of

GOSHEN

Genesis 46:27–28 NKJV

And the sons of Joseph who were born to him in Egypt were two persons. All the persons of the house of Jacob who went to Egypt were seventy. Then he sent Judah before him to Joseph, to point out before him the way to Goshen. And they came to the land of Goshen.

Goshen

Genesis 47:27 NKJV

So Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt, in the country of Goshen; and they had possessions there and grew and multiplied exceedingly.

Goshen

גֹּֽשֶׁן

גֹּֽ = gimo

שֶׁ = shin

ן = nun

But there is another way to spell Goshen

Goshen ah

גֹּ֑שְׁנָה

Goshen 15 גֹּ֑שְׁנָה goshen 1657

The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982),

Genesis 46:28 NKJV

Then he sent Judah before him to Joseph, to point out before him the way to Goshen. And they came to the land of Goshen.

Goshen ah

גֹּ֑שְׁנָה

Genesis 46:29 NKJV

So Joseph made ready his chariot and went up to Goshen to meet his father Israel; and he presented himself to him, and fell on his neck and wept on his neck a good while.

There was a change

Goshen 15 גֹּ֑שְׁנָה goshen 1657

The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Ge 46:28.

What it is interesting is that we just celebrated Hanukkah and the tops used for the children to play can spell Goshen:

gimmo is for the word: Gadol: big

Hey for the word Hayah: happened

Nun for the word Nes : Miracle

Shim for the word Sham: there

A big miracle happened there

At Goshen

No plagues

Exodus 8:22 NKJV

And in that day I will set apart the land of Goshen, in which My people dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be there, in order that you may know that I am the Lord in the midst of the land.

No hail

Exodus 9:26 NKJV

Only in the land of Goshen, where the children of Israel were, there was no hail.

No darkness

Exodus 10:22–23 NKJV

So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and there was thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days. They did not see one another; nor did anyone rise from his place for three days. But all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings.

Numerical value is 358 the same as Messiah

Closing

The Prophetic

Genesis 46:27 NKJV

And the sons of Joseph who were born to him in Egypt were two persons. All the persons of the house of Jacob who went to Egypt were seventy.

The use of 70 in the Bible is Relevant

Seventy (שִׁבְעִים‎)

As a multiple of the most important number—seven—and a product of the sacred numbers “seven” and “10,” “70” (shivim) is a common round number.

Terach was 70 years old when he sired Abraham (Gen. 11:26)

Abraham was 70 years old when God made a covenant with him (Gen. R. 39:7)

there were 70 members of Jacob’s family who went down to Egypt to join Joseph (Exod. 1:5).

The 70 elders that Moses appointed to assist him in leading the Israelites through the wilderness Exodus 24:9 with Moses at their head, became the prototype of the Great Sanhedrin—a panel of 71 judges (70 plus a chief judge) who acted as the supreme court of ancient Israel.

The 70 vessels in the Tabernacle, which measured 70 cubits, corresponded to the 70 holy days celebrated in the Jewish year: 52 Sabbaths (Christian calendar); seven days of Passover; seven days of Sukkot; and one day each of Shavuot, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Shemini Atzeret.

The first Temple in Jerusalem was rebuilt 70 years after it was destroyed.

Jesus sends 70 disciples ahead of Him in Luke 10:1 alluding to the number of Israelites the came to Egypt in Joseph’s time.

According to the Talmud

the 70 bulls sacrificed as offerings during Sukkot were offered to make atonement for the 70 nations, the traditional number of gentile peoples, based on the genealogical listing in Genesis 10 (Suk. 55a). Starting at 13 bulls on the first day, the number decreased by one on each of the succeeding six days. Similarly, there will be a progressive decline in those who resist the divine teachings, until in the Messianic Age all nations will accept God’s law under the spiritual guidance of Israel.

On Shemini Atzeret (the day following Sukkot), only a single bull was sacrificed—for the nation of Israel. As the Talmud explains, “This may be compared to a mortal king who said to his servants, ‘Prepare for me a great banquet’; but on the last day he said to his beloved friend, ‘Prepare for me a simple meal that I may derive benefit from you.’ ”

Seventy years is described as “the span of our life” (Ps. 90:10).

A midrash indicates that Adam was originally supposed to live for 1,000 years but he donated 70 of them to David when he discovered that this future king of Israel had been fated to live only three hours (PdRE 10).1

1 Ronald L. Eisenberg, The JPS Guide to Jewish Traditions, 1st ed. (Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society, 2004), 644–645.

SEVENTY YEARS Prophetic and apocalyptic figure pointing to time of Israel’s exile in Babylon and to the end of tribulation in Daniel’s vision. Seventy years represented an even number of the normal human life span (Ps. 90:10). Isaiah 23:15 and the Babylonian Black Stone of Esarhaddon may indicate that 70 years was an expected time of punishment and desolation for a defeated city. Jeremiah predicted that Judah would serve Babylon 70 years (Jer. 25:11; cp. 29:10). Second Chronicles 36:21 saw the completion of the 70 years in the coming of Cyrus (538 b.c.). This apparently sees the years as from the first deporting of Judeans into Babylon (about 605 b.c.) until Cyrus came.

Zechariah seems to have seen the 70 years ending in his own day with the rebuilding of the temple (Zech. 1:12).

Zechariah 1:12 NKJV

Then the Angel of the Lord answered and said, “O Lord of hosts, how long will You not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which You were angry these seventy years?”

This would span the period from the destruction of the temple (586 b.c.) to the dedication in 516 b.c.

Some interpreters see in the Chronicler’s references to Sabbaths an indication of a second meaning for 70 years, that is, 70 Sabbatical Years (Lev. 25:1–7; 26:34–35) or 490 years.

Leviticus 25:1–7 NKJV

And the Lord spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, saying, “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When you come into the land which I give you, then the land shall keep a sabbath to the Lord. Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard, and gather its fruit; but in the seventh year there shall be a sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a sabbath to the Lord. You shall neither sow your field nor prune your vineyard. What grows of its own accord of your harvest you shall not reap, nor gather the grapes of your untended vine, for it is a year of rest for the land. And the sabbath produce of the land shall be food for you: for you, your male and female servants, your hired man, and the stranger who dwells with you, for your livestock and the beasts that are in your land—all its produce shall be for food.

Leviticus 26:34–35 NKJV

Then the land shall enjoy its sabbaths as long as it lies desolate and you are in your enemies’ land; then the land shall rest and enjoy its sabbaths. As long as it lies desolate it shall rest— for the time it did not rest on your sabbaths when you dwelt in it.

This is again 490 years

By this reckoning Israel had not kept the Sabbatical Year commandment since the period of the Judges, so God gave the land 70 consecutive Sabbatical Years during the exile. Daniel meditated on Jeremiah’s prophecy (Dan. 9:2) and learned that 70 weeks of years were intended (v. 24). See Sabbatical Year; Seventy Weeks.

Chad Brand et al., eds., “Seventy Years,” Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2003), 1469.

70 End of the Age

The End of the Age needs to end with exile from this world and the forgiveness of sin.

Yesua said: Forgive 7x70

Matthew 18:21–22 NKJV

Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.

Forgiveness must be at the forefront of what we do

The end of the Age according to Daniel 70 weeks, or 490 years

When Messiah revealed Himself to Israel in the Gospels, they wanted the return of a Messiah and the freedom from pagan nations

But John the Baptist in the Spirit of Elijah told them:

Matthew 3:2 NKJV

and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”

Jesus said Elijah has already come

Matthew 17:12 NKJV

But I say to you that Elijah has come already, and they did not know him but did to him whatever they wished. Likewise the Son of Man is also about to suffer at their hands.”

Mark 1:15 NKJV

and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”

They were waiting for Messiah because the time had been fulfilled: 490 years

God is taking back authority over this world - we are experiencing the world to come but not in its fulness.

Isaiah 40:1–3 NKJV

“Comfort, yes, comfort My people!” Says your God. “Speak comfort to Jerusalem, and cry out to her, That her warfare is ended, That her iniquity is pardoned; For she has received from the Lord’s hand Double for all her sins.” The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the Lord; Make straight in the desert A highway for our God.

the 490 years of exile (warfare ended)

The exile is about to end

Israel will have to do works of repentance

Isaiah 40:4–5 NKJV

Every valley shall be exalted And every mountain and hill brought low; The crooked places shall be made straight And the rough places smooth; The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, And all flesh shall see it together; For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

They were looking for His return

Isaiah 52:8 NKJV

Your watchmen shall lift up their voices, With their voices they shall sing together; For they shall see eye to eye When the Lord brings back Zion.

Luke 19:14 NKJV

But his citizens hated him, and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We will not have this man to reign over us.’

Because they were afraid of a possible revolt and the Romans killing everyone

John 1:14 NKJV

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

Yeshua did not come to rebuild the physical temple but to be in the temple

When Yeshua dies on the cross He is initiating the exodus.

Romans 4:7 NKJV

“Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, And whose sins are covered;

1 Corinthians 15

Luke 9:30–31 NKJV

And behold, two men talked with Him, who were Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of His decease which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.

Moses: the prophet who lead the first exodus

Elijah ; Passover Cedar - extra seat - Elijah is the jerald of the next exodus

Speaking of His decease = exodus in Greek

They were talking about His exodus which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem

Find your place of safety when the end comes - your Goshen

Forgive

Draw Near to God

Hebrews 7:19 NKJV

for the law made nothing perfect; on the other hand, there is the bringing in of a better hope, through which we draw near to God.

Look up

Luke 21:28 NKJV

Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.”

Philippians 1:6 NKJV

being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;