Can We Really Trust God's Promises?

The following commentary is part of the ongoing series on the current Sabbath school quarterly on Daniel.  This week's topic: What is the significance of the 70 week prophecy and how is it relevant for us today?  The article presented here was originally provided as part of a series discussed at Adventist Today.

The prophecy of the 70 weeks was a direct answer to Daniel’s question about the vision of the 2300 days which promised the restoration of the temple.  “Restore your Temple, which has been destroyed; restore it so that everyone will know that you are God” was the reason that Daniel humbled himself and prayed to God (Dan 9:17).  Daniel hoped that the physical temple would be restored after 70 years of Babylonian captivity in fulfillment of Jeremiah’s prophecy.

But the physical temple in Jerusalem was a mere symbol of God’s presence among us humans.  God desires much more! The real temple that God wants to inhabit is the temple of the minds of his people, where proper understanding of his character gives rise to true trust and love for him and our neighbor.  “Surely you know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you.…For God’s temple is holy, and you yourselves are his temple.” (1. Cor 3:16,17).  And so God not only provided Daniel with reassurance that the physical temple would be restored, he also promised that the spiritual temple within the minds of his people would once again be a dwelling place for the living God.

Seven times seventy years is the length of time God has set for freeing your people and your holy city from sin and evil. Sin will be forgiven and eternal justice established, SO THAT the vision and the prophecy will come true, and the holy Temple will be rededicated.” (Dan 9:24) What was to happen after 490 years was something so radical and powerful, it would provide the solution to the sin problem that started in Eden.  Sin and rebellion were to be conquered, God and humans were to be at-one again, and the principles of God’s kingdom – everlasting righteousness (goodness) and other-centered love were to be introduced to this world. What was to happen after 490 years would become the very foundation that was necessary to permanently cleanse the temple of God – the true temple he has always longed to inhabit – us.  And it happened! God in the flesh was baptized and began his ministry of kindness, forgiveness, and of physical and spiritual healing.  He revealed that God is not an enemy to be feared, but a Friend of sinners who longingly seeks out what were considered the worthless of society.  God himself showed us the extent of his limitless love by forgiving those who did not even ask for it when they tortured him and nailed him to the cross: “Forgive them, Father!  They don’t know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34)

Unfortunately, the physical temple was to be destroyed in 70 AD.  But more importantly, the temple that was established by Jesus – his church – was soon to disintegrate into a pitiful state for almost two thousand years.  “The city and the Temple will be destroyed by the invading army of a powerful ruler.” (Dan 9:26)  Selfishness again, took the place of other-focused love, and the Awful Horror of Satan’s deception about God’s character ruled the minds of humanity during those very dark ages.  By creating a false picture of God in the minds of the people – a god of control and force who uses the methods of fear – Satan himself sat down in “God’s temple and claim[ed] to be God.” (2. Thess 2:4).  Satan successfully displaced God from the temple of our minds when Christianity used the very methods of Satan and proclaimed them to be of God.

But the prophecy ends with a hopeful message.  There is assurance that the “Awful Horror” which stood in the “holy place” (Matt 24:15) of our minds will “meet the end which God has prepared for him.” (Dan 9:27) This final promise was the response to the concern that caused Daniel to pray in the first place: “Restore your Temple which has been destroyed.” (Dan 9:17, TEV)  It is the same concern that Daniel raised in Chapter 8 when he prayed: “How long will the army of heaven and the Temple be trampled on?” (Dan 8:13).  “It will continue for 2,300 evenings and mornings….Then the temple will be restored.” (Dan 8:14, TEV)  The aftermath of 1844 marked the beginning of a new understanding about the character of God. The understanding of the cosmic battle over the truth about God’s character equipped us to grasp the importance of knowing God’s character as revealed by Jesus – God in the flesh.  This fundamental truth revealed 2000 years ago and rediscovered less than 200 years ago – that God is exactly as Jesus revealed him to be – has the power to tear down the veil of lies that obliterated the picture of God in the minds of humanity for so long.  The appreciation of the message about God’s character has the power to change the world once more as it did 2000 years ago.  It has the power to cleanse and restore the true temple of God – his people. And then it will happen:  “The Lord you are looking for will suddenly come to his Temple” (Mal 3:1).  God is waiting until his temple is restored through the intimate knowledge of Him and His principles of other-focused love.  Then he will appear “because we shall see him as he really is” (1. John 3:2).

All Bible quotations are from Today’s English Version.