Post by DrGadget on Jan 14, 2014 1:57:03 GMT -5
Millennial Remnant 3: 70 weeks of Daniel
Although the Book of Nehemiah comes before the Book of Daniel in the Bible, it was written after. The Book of Daniel describes events during the Captivity years. Nehemiah describes events at the end of the Captivity, when the people of Israel were ready to return to Jerusalem. The people of Israel had completely forsaken idol worship during the Captivity, never to return to them. But they still had not made the progress God had planned for them. Therefore, God had declared seventy “weeks” of judgment against Israel, with each “Week” being seven years.
www.greatcom.org/resources/areadydefense/ch06/default.htm
Daniel 9:24-27
[24] Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.
[25] Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.
[26] And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
[27] And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
So there are a total of seventy weeks. They are split into 3 parts. Seven weeks, threescore and two (62) weeks, and one week. The last week is separate. After the initial seven weeks and another 62 weeks (69 weeks or 483 years) Messiah will be cut off (killed). This is a contiguous 69 weeks.
When did the 69 weeks start? According to Daniel 9:25, it started with “the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem.” When did this happen? It happened in the Book of Nehemiah chapter 2. King Artaxerxes wrote official papers for Nehemiah to rebuild Jerusalem, which Nehemiah carried to Jerusalem.
Nehemiah 2:1, 7-9
[1] And it came to pass in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, that wine was before him: and I took up the wine, and gave it unto the king. Now I had not been beforetime sad in his presence.
[7] Moreover I said unto the king, If it please the king, let letters be given me to the governors beyond the river, that they may convey me over till I come into Judah;
[8] And a letter unto Asaph the keeper of the king's forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the palace which appertained to the house, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall enter into. And the king granted me, according to the good hand of my God upon me.
[9] Then I came to the governors beyond the river, and gave them the king's letters. Now the king had sent captains of the army and horsemen with me.
The month of Nisan is the old equivalent to our modern March and April, falling about halfway in-between. The twentieth year of Artexerxes was in the year 444 B.C. And if you read the Book of Nehemiah, you will see that the city was indeed rebuilt in troublous times, as per Daniel 9:25. The workers were under attack during construction. They had building tools in one hand and swords in the other.
Adding up the years
When was Christ crucified?
According to Hoehner, it was Nisan 14, A.D. 33 (or April 3, AD33). Reference Hoehner’s Chronological Aspects of the Life of Christ. If this is true, then Christ rose from the grave on Sunday, April 5, 33 A.D.
Let’s Calculate the 69 Weeks
The Jewish calendar is distinct from other calendars, in that it tracks the moon rather than the sun. The Jewish year is 360 days long, comprised of 12 months of 30 days each.
(convert to days)
69 “weeks” of 7 years is 483 (Jewish) years
483 times 360 is 173,880 days
(convert back to modern years)
173880 days divided by 365.25 days per year is 476 years and change.
This equates to 476 years and 25 days.
So we start at 444 B.C. and go forward 476 years. Negative 444 plus 476 equals 32. But there was no year 0. So instead of going to 32 A.D. we end up with 33 A.D. And because the old Jewish calendar used 30 day months, they didn’t always line up with our modern months. In 33 A.D., Nisan had shifted forward along the modern calendar from where it was in 444 B.C. Those extra 25 days made the 69 “weeks” end again in Nisan.
So we have the prophet Daniel, predicting Christ’s death on the Cross (Messiah cut off) almost 500 years earlier. According to Daniel, Christ was crucified in March/April of 33 A.D. This is exactly when the Roman records show Jesus being crucified. Seeing how perfectly God’s math worked out, I have no doubt he made it come out to the correct day as well. After all, God could have allowed His Son to die on any day He wanted (or have Nehemiah go forth on any day), so why not make it come out exactly?
In Jewish Rabbi school, Rabbis are forbidden to calculate the years of the 70 weeks of Daniel. Either the Messiah died in 33 A.D., or scripture is wrong and God is a liar. The Jews don’t accept Jesus Christ as the Messiah, and at best call Him a “prophet” or “holy man”. They are still waiting for the real Messiah to show up (for the first time) as King of Israel. This is completely incompatible with the idea that the Messiah has already come to earth the first time and died (in 33 A.D.) and will soon return. There is no way for a Rabbi to believe in another coming Messiah and still take Daniel’s prophecy literally. One must assume that at one time, several Rabbis added up the years and decided Jesus was the real Messiah, and converted to Christianity. Obviously, the schools adopted strict policies thereafter to forbid them from adding the numbers.
The 70th Week
This week is separate from the others. It is the seven years of the Great Tribulation. According to Daniel 9:27, we have “desolation” because of their “abomination”. These two words appear together elsewhere in the Bible.
Daniel 10:31
[31] And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate.
Daniel 12:11
[11] And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days.
Matthew 24:3, 15-21
[3] And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?
[15] When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)
[16] Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:
[17] Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house:
[18] Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes.
[19] And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!
[20] But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day:
[21] For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
According to Jesus, this is the time of Great Tribulation described in detail in the Book of Revelation. Jesus even references the Book of Daniel in his remark! It is clearly the same prophecy, repeated by Jesus with more clarity. So why is the 70th week separate? To allow room for the Church Age.
69 weeks of Judgment (483 years) Church Age (1970+ years) 70th week - Great Tribulation (7 years)
Christ’s Resurrection ^ Rapture ^ Armageddon ^
The 70 weeks are a judgment against the nation of Israel. It is not a judgment against the Christians. They were judged on the Cross. The ruling was “guilty”, and Christ paid for our guilt with His own blood and His own life.
The Great Tribulation is part of the 70 weeks. But it is also a judgment against the rest of the world. Again, the judgment is “guilty”. Without Christ paying for your sins, you would certainly be sentenced to Hell if you had not believed in Christ as your Savior during this time.
At the end of the Church Age (the Rapture), Christ will collect His people unto Himself, living and dead. This takes place in Revelation 4:1 with the command “Come up hither.” Just before then, Christ tells John to write letters to various churches. But after this point, there is no more mention of the Church anywhere on earth. Hearing these words in a vision, John experienced the Rapture and his spirit was taken up into Heaven.
Revelation 4:1
[1] After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter.
[2] And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne.
Meanwhile back on earth (start of the Great Tribulation), the nation of Israel has been left behind. Only Christians are taken up into heaven. The Jews have seven years of judgment (the 70th week of Daniel), where they become reunited with God through the grace of Christ. Almost all of the Jews are slain, who accept Christ as their savior during these seven years. But there is a small remnant still alive, who survive the attacks of the beast and the Battle of Armageddon. After the Battle of Armageddon, which is also the end of the 70 weeks of judgment against Israel, there will be a thousand year period where Christ reigns as King on earth. All who had part in the first resurrection will reign with Christ, in their final, perfect, resurrected bodies. The judgments against Israel are finally over.
Authority
Here is the authority of this prophecy. The prophet Daniel wrote the prophecy of the 70 weeks. He was told the prophecy by the archangel Gabriel, who is one of the two top angels in Heaven. Gabriel was told directly by God and in turn told Daniel.
Daniel 9:
[20] And whiles I was speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the LORD my God for the holy mountain of my God;
[21] Yea, whiles I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation.
[22] And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding.
[23] At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth, and I am come to shew thee; for thou art greatly beloved: therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision.
[24] Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.
As he said in verse 21, Daniel had met Gabriel before. At that time, Gabriel made him understand a different vision of the End Times.
Daniel 8:
[15] And it came to pass, when I, even I Daniel, had seen the vision, and sought for the meaning, then, behold, there stood before me as the appearance of a man.
[16] And I heard a man's voice between the banks of Ulai, which called, and said, Gabriel, make this man to understand the vision.
This is also the same Gabriel who told Zacharias about John the Baptist (his son), and Mary about the coming Messiah. Gabriel stands in the presence of God.
Luke 1:13, 18-19
[13] But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John.
[18] And Zacharias said unto the angel, Whereby shall I know this? for I am an old man, and my wife well stricken in years.
[19] And the angel answering said unto him, I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God; and am sent to speak unto thee, and to shew thee these glad tidings.
Luke 26-28, 31
[26] And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth,
[27] To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.
[28] And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.
[31] And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.
Although the Book of Nehemiah comes before the Book of Daniel in the Bible, it was written after. The Book of Daniel describes events during the Captivity years. Nehemiah describes events at the end of the Captivity, when the people of Israel were ready to return to Jerusalem. The people of Israel had completely forsaken idol worship during the Captivity, never to return to them. But they still had not made the progress God had planned for them. Therefore, God had declared seventy “weeks” of judgment against Israel, with each “Week” being seven years.
www.greatcom.org/resources/areadydefense/ch06/default.htm
Daniel 9:24-27
[24] Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.
[25] Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.
[26] And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
[27] And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
So there are a total of seventy weeks. They are split into 3 parts. Seven weeks, threescore and two (62) weeks, and one week. The last week is separate. After the initial seven weeks and another 62 weeks (69 weeks or 483 years) Messiah will be cut off (killed). This is a contiguous 69 weeks.
When did the 69 weeks start? According to Daniel 9:25, it started with “the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem.” When did this happen? It happened in the Book of Nehemiah chapter 2. King Artaxerxes wrote official papers for Nehemiah to rebuild Jerusalem, which Nehemiah carried to Jerusalem.
Nehemiah 2:1, 7-9
[1] And it came to pass in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, that wine was before him: and I took up the wine, and gave it unto the king. Now I had not been beforetime sad in his presence.
[7] Moreover I said unto the king, If it please the king, let letters be given me to the governors beyond the river, that they may convey me over till I come into Judah;
[8] And a letter unto Asaph the keeper of the king's forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the palace which appertained to the house, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall enter into. And the king granted me, according to the good hand of my God upon me.
[9] Then I came to the governors beyond the river, and gave them the king's letters. Now the king had sent captains of the army and horsemen with me.
The month of Nisan is the old equivalent to our modern March and April, falling about halfway in-between. The twentieth year of Artexerxes was in the year 444 B.C. And if you read the Book of Nehemiah, you will see that the city was indeed rebuilt in troublous times, as per Daniel 9:25. The workers were under attack during construction. They had building tools in one hand and swords in the other.
Adding up the years
When was Christ crucified?
According to Hoehner, it was Nisan 14, A.D. 33 (or April 3, AD33). Reference Hoehner’s Chronological Aspects of the Life of Christ. If this is true, then Christ rose from the grave on Sunday, April 5, 33 A.D.
Let’s Calculate the 69 Weeks
The Jewish calendar is distinct from other calendars, in that it tracks the moon rather than the sun. The Jewish year is 360 days long, comprised of 12 months of 30 days each.
(convert to days)
69 “weeks” of 7 years is 483 (Jewish) years
483 times 360 is 173,880 days
(convert back to modern years)
173880 days divided by 365.25 days per year is 476 years and change.
This equates to 476 years and 25 days.
So we start at 444 B.C. and go forward 476 years. Negative 444 plus 476 equals 32. But there was no year 0. So instead of going to 32 A.D. we end up with 33 A.D. And because the old Jewish calendar used 30 day months, they didn’t always line up with our modern months. In 33 A.D., Nisan had shifted forward along the modern calendar from where it was in 444 B.C. Those extra 25 days made the 69 “weeks” end again in Nisan.
So we have the prophet Daniel, predicting Christ’s death on the Cross (Messiah cut off) almost 500 years earlier. According to Daniel, Christ was crucified in March/April of 33 A.D. This is exactly when the Roman records show Jesus being crucified. Seeing how perfectly God’s math worked out, I have no doubt he made it come out to the correct day as well. After all, God could have allowed His Son to die on any day He wanted (or have Nehemiah go forth on any day), so why not make it come out exactly?
In Jewish Rabbi school, Rabbis are forbidden to calculate the years of the 70 weeks of Daniel. Either the Messiah died in 33 A.D., or scripture is wrong and God is a liar. The Jews don’t accept Jesus Christ as the Messiah, and at best call Him a “prophet” or “holy man”. They are still waiting for the real Messiah to show up (for the first time) as King of Israel. This is completely incompatible with the idea that the Messiah has already come to earth the first time and died (in 33 A.D.) and will soon return. There is no way for a Rabbi to believe in another coming Messiah and still take Daniel’s prophecy literally. One must assume that at one time, several Rabbis added up the years and decided Jesus was the real Messiah, and converted to Christianity. Obviously, the schools adopted strict policies thereafter to forbid them from adding the numbers.
The 70th Week
This week is separate from the others. It is the seven years of the Great Tribulation. According to Daniel 9:27, we have “desolation” because of their “abomination”. These two words appear together elsewhere in the Bible.
Daniel 10:31
[31] And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate.
Daniel 12:11
[11] And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days.
Matthew 24:3, 15-21
[3] And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?
[15] When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)
[16] Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:
[17] Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house:
[18] Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes.
[19] And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!
[20] But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day:
[21] For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
According to Jesus, this is the time of Great Tribulation described in detail in the Book of Revelation. Jesus even references the Book of Daniel in his remark! It is clearly the same prophecy, repeated by Jesus with more clarity. So why is the 70th week separate? To allow room for the Church Age.
69 weeks of Judgment (483 years) Church Age (1970+ years) 70th week - Great Tribulation (7 years)
Christ’s Resurrection ^ Rapture ^ Armageddon ^
The 70 weeks are a judgment against the nation of Israel. It is not a judgment against the Christians. They were judged on the Cross. The ruling was “guilty”, and Christ paid for our guilt with His own blood and His own life.
The Great Tribulation is part of the 70 weeks. But it is also a judgment against the rest of the world. Again, the judgment is “guilty”. Without Christ paying for your sins, you would certainly be sentenced to Hell if you had not believed in Christ as your Savior during this time.
At the end of the Church Age (the Rapture), Christ will collect His people unto Himself, living and dead. This takes place in Revelation 4:1 with the command “Come up hither.” Just before then, Christ tells John to write letters to various churches. But after this point, there is no more mention of the Church anywhere on earth. Hearing these words in a vision, John experienced the Rapture and his spirit was taken up into Heaven.
Revelation 4:1
[1] After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter.
[2] And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne.
Meanwhile back on earth (start of the Great Tribulation), the nation of Israel has been left behind. Only Christians are taken up into heaven. The Jews have seven years of judgment (the 70th week of Daniel), where they become reunited with God through the grace of Christ. Almost all of the Jews are slain, who accept Christ as their savior during these seven years. But there is a small remnant still alive, who survive the attacks of the beast and the Battle of Armageddon. After the Battle of Armageddon, which is also the end of the 70 weeks of judgment against Israel, there will be a thousand year period where Christ reigns as King on earth. All who had part in the first resurrection will reign with Christ, in their final, perfect, resurrected bodies. The judgments against Israel are finally over.
Authority
Here is the authority of this prophecy. The prophet Daniel wrote the prophecy of the 70 weeks. He was told the prophecy by the archangel Gabriel, who is one of the two top angels in Heaven. Gabriel was told directly by God and in turn told Daniel.
Daniel 9:
[20] And whiles I was speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the LORD my God for the holy mountain of my God;
[21] Yea, whiles I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation.
[22] And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding.
[23] At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth, and I am come to shew thee; for thou art greatly beloved: therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision.
[24] Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.
As he said in verse 21, Daniel had met Gabriel before. At that time, Gabriel made him understand a different vision of the End Times.
Daniel 8:
[15] And it came to pass, when I, even I Daniel, had seen the vision, and sought for the meaning, then, behold, there stood before me as the appearance of a man.
[16] And I heard a man's voice between the banks of Ulai, which called, and said, Gabriel, make this man to understand the vision.
This is also the same Gabriel who told Zacharias about John the Baptist (his son), and Mary about the coming Messiah. Gabriel stands in the presence of God.
Luke 1:13, 18-19
[13] But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John.
[18] And Zacharias said unto the angel, Whereby shall I know this? for I am an old man, and my wife well stricken in years.
[19] And the angel answering said unto him, I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God; and am sent to speak unto thee, and to shew thee these glad tidings.
Luke 26-28, 31
[26] And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth,
[27] To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.
[28] And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.
[31] And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.
