The 2030 Prophecy - Steve Hanks
As I went through the book, there was some really solid info mixed in with stuff that left me scratching my head.
Chapters 1-4
Chapters 1–4 were spot-on for me. Steve presented the evidence and conclusions well, and these are strong points I've agreed with for a long time.
Chapters 5-6
In chapters 5 & 6 Hanks covers the "punishment" of Israel and Judah. He uses some mathematical gymnastics to arrive at the year 2030 as a conclusion for the punishment of each.
He told him to lie on his left side for 390 days. One day for each year of Israel’s punishment. Then lie on his right side for 40 days. One day for each year of Judah’s punishment. Hanks, Steve. The 2030 Prophecy (p. 25). Granite Entertainment. Kindle Edition.
[Eze 4:5 LSB] “Now I have set a number of days for you corresponding to the years of their iniquity [H5771 - avon], 390 days; thus you shall bear the iniquity [H5771 - avon] of the house of Israel.
G93 adikia ad-ee-kee'-ah From G94; (legal) injustice (properly the quality, by implication the act); moral wrongfulness (of charater, life or act): - iniquity, unjust, unrighteousness, wrong. Total KJV occurrences: 25 When is it appropriate to translate the Hebrew word avon as punishment? When the context emphasizes the result, penalty, or consequence of sin rather than just the sin/guilt itself.
I'm not sure it matters... iniquity/punishment. Ezekial bearing the sin, or the punishment, is symbolic of what's coming.
The Iron Plate
[Eze 4:3 NAS95] "Then get yourself an iron plate and set it up as an iron wall between you and the city, and set your face toward it so that it is under siege, and besiege it. This is a sign to the house of Israel.
I think Hanks jumps to a conclusion with the iron plate representing "a failed siege" that is hard to qualify. On what, does he base this assumption?
More likely, the pan represented an impregnable barrier between God and Jerusalem because of her sin. As the siege progressed, Jerusalem would cry out for deliverance, but God would not answer her prayers.
It represents God's withdrawal of protection from Jerusalem—no help, deliverance, or mercy will come. The people are cut off from divine favor due to their persistent sin (idolatry, injustice, etc.), making the Babylonian siege inevitable and unstoppable. It doesn't represent "a failed siege". It represents a siege that is inevitable.
It signifies an impenetrable wall of God's resolve: The Chaldeans/Babylonians will succeed in their attack because God Himself has hardened the situation against the city.
Then Hanks jumps to:
Steve has no contextual evidence to just jump to any failed siege in Scripture, from Ezekiel 4, and claim that this points to a random point in Scriptural history.
Ezekiel's sign-acts (siege model, lying on his side, defiled rations) all preview the certain destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC under Nebuchadnezzar.
Chapter 7
Everything sails along fine, in this chapter, until:
The 70th week is a seven-year period. And according to Daniel 9:27, in the middle of that week, Messiah would bring an end to sacrifice and offering. Hanks, Steve. The 2030 Prophecy (p. 33). Granite Entertainment. Kindle Edition.
The "he" of Daniel 9:27 is not referring to Yeshua.
[Dan 9:27 LSB] “And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will make sacrifice and grain offering cease; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate.”
Through a combination of grammatical, contextual, thematic, and cross-scriptural evidence the "he" of Daniel 9:27 cannot be Yeshua.
In Hebrew (and reflected in English translations), pronouns like "he" (וְהִגְבִּיר, "and he shall confirm/strengthen") typically refer to the nearest masculine singular antecedent that fits contextually.
Daniel 9:26 ends with: "...the anointed one [Messiah] shall be cut off and shall have nothing. And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary..."
Steve's claim that the 70th week began when Yeshua began His ministry is off-base. The prince who is to come, is the "he" of Daniel 9:27, and it is "he" who will signal the beginning of the 70th week.
Based on this alone, the rest of his dates fall apart. Chapters 8-9
Steve claims that the clock restarts March 27-28, 2027 - The Feast of First Fruits of 2027.
The Feast of First Fruits (2027) begins the second half of Daniel's 70th week according to Steve. This, he claims, is when the abomination of desolation will be setup. I don't disagree with "what" begins the second half... the abomination of desolation does indeed mark the beginning of the second 3.5 year period of Daniel's 70th week. I disagree with the "when" and a lot needs to happen in Jerusalem between now and March of 2027.
The easiest to note is the sacrifices and offerings. Jerusalem needs to begin the sacrifices and offerings in order to be brought to a "ceasing". The abomination marks the ceasing of those sacrifices and offerings.
This implies that a Temple must exist. That doesn't necessarily mean that brick and mortar temple needs to be erected. Moses used a portable sanctuary (a tent) and there's this to consider:
[Amo 9:11 LSB] “In that day I will raise up the fallen booth [H5521 - sukkah - a hut or lair: - booth, cottage, covert, pavilion, tabernacle, tent] of David And wall up its breaches; I will also raise up its ruins And rebuild it as in the ancient days,
I won't belabor this any further. In conclusion, Steve gets a lot right but also gets much more wrong in this reader's opinion. You'll have to consider this review for yourself.
[Act 17:11 LSB] Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.
No comments:
Post a Comment