To All Biblical Prophecy:

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. KJV

Peter tells us that …prophecy came not in old time by the will of man; but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost [1 Peter 1:21]. From this we know that the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, penned the Words of the second person of the Trinity, Jesus, through holy men chosen of God as instruments through whom He would make known His will and plans for His creation. Given this, the opening text reveals through the prophet Daniel the extent and scope of God’s determined time for the last days of the earth lease Adam lost to satan in the Garden of Eden. According to Daniel, its extent is 70 weeks (of years) [Daniel 9:24], and its scope encompasses the times of the Gentiles [Luke 21:24]. 1

Daniel is a book of dreams, visions, and prophecies. Can we be sure Daniel’s prophecies are true? Absolutely, because archaeology has revealed the book’s divine seal. It is one of the most authenticated books in the Bible. It’s precise prediction of many historical events that have already occurred way in advance of their happening has legitimized its accuracy and even caused some Biblicists to accuse Daniel of not being its author. Recent research has disproved this accusation. Because so much of it is unquestionably truthful, we can confidently rest and trust that what has not yet been fulfilled will undoubtedly be proven correct as well.

From the very last chapter in the book of Daniel we learn that His book was going to be sealed and without understanding …till the time of the end [12:9]. Why? It is because this book deals with the times of the Gentiles, i.e., their control of the world prior to the setting up of God’s Kingdom on earth. The book reveals how much time for ruling that the Gentiles have before God strips satan of his power and restores the rule of earth to earthlings through the Jews’ King Messiah. That Jewish King who is prophesied to rule earth in righteousness and peace [Daniel 9:6,7] for one thousand years [Revelation 20:4,6] is Jesus Christ of Nazareth, the lion of the tribe of Judah [Revelation 5:7].

44 …(T)he God of heaven (shall) set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms (all Gentile kingdoms), and it shall stand for ever.

 

6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a SON is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The (E)verlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and PEACE there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice (translates RIGHTEOUSNESS) from henceforth even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.

The above Scriptures are just two of many explaining that a time is coming when the Kingdom of Heaven will not just be in the hearts of believers as it is today, but it will be a reality manifested everywhere. For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea [Habakkuk 2:14]. We are on the threshold of the manifestation of the glory of God’s Holy Kingdom.

Since Daniel’s book begins with the first Gentile despotic ruler, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, who controlled most of the known civilized world in his era, and ends with the last Gentile tyrant, the Antichrist who is about to be exposed, the greater part of the book of Daniel has transpired. The quest and mystery surrounding the manifestation of God’s holy mountain is when will it happen?

Is Predictive and Descriptive

Because prophecy is predictive as well as descriptive, no one can know if what is predicted is true until after the fact. Most of Daniel’s book is predictive history written in advance, therefore its understanding was sealed up until the time of the end [Daniel 12:9]. We now know from historical accounts that the reported visions and dreams have been uncannily accurate and trustworthy. In fact, as I mentioned before, it is so accurate that many unbelieving Bible teachers promote the idea that Daniel really didn’t write the events in his book. They say someone wrote the prophecies after the fact just before the appearance of Christ and stuck Daniel’s name on it.

Notwithstanding these critics, Jesus attributes Daniel as its author during His teaching ministry [Matthew 24:15; Mark 13:14], and we tread on dangerous ground if we say that Jesus lied. So don’t listen to people who say the Bible is in error. Hang on Jesus’ words since He wrote the Bible through the instrumentality of godly men inspired by the Holy Spirit. If there is any error, it is in the minds of the people trying to interpret it. Many interpreters are unable to rightly divide the Bible because they are lost and without the revelatory assistance of Holy Spirit light. Without light, they stumble.

Shortly before Jesus went to the cross, He gave to His disciples some very important but shocking information. He told them, to their astonishment, that their magnificent costly Temple although not yet finished after forty-six years under construction would soon be destroyed. He said that not one stone of the luxuriously imposing Herodian Temple would be left standing [Luke 21:5,6]. This prophecy was given two days before His crucifixion while teaching in the Temple. Thirty-seven years later in 70 C.E. only three years after its completion, the Temple was indeed destroyed when Titus and his Roman army demolished Jerusalem.

Later in the evening of the day of His remark, Jesus’ inner circle of followers asked Him when it would happen and what would be the sign that this mystifying announcement would be fulfilled. Jesus gave them a detailed answer in Matthew chapters 24 and 25, Mark chapter 13, and Luke chapter 21. These chapters contain what is known as the Olivet Discourse.

The key to the entire Olivet Discourse is found in verse 15 of Matthew chapter 24:

15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, … 21 …then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.

Jesus pins down the time of great tribulation for the whole world, and it is in accordance with Daniel’s prophecy that the angel Gabriel brought him, which prophecy we are in the process of analyzing. The abomination of desolation reference that Jesus mentioned pinpoints much if not most of what He was talking about in the Olivet briefing to His disciples because we know from comparing Scriptures that this occurs mid-way through the tribulation period [Daniel 9:27].

Preterists and amillennialists believe that all of what Jesus prophesied would happen occurred by the time Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 C.E. by the Romans. There is a major problem with this interpretation. One of the prophesied events could not have occurred prior to 70 C.E. when the Temple was destroyed because after the Roman General Titus destroyed Jerusalem, his army completely tore down the Temple along with the city leaving no Holy Place for the evil desecrator to pollute as Jesus declared someone would do by setting up an image of himself and demanding worship as god [2 Thessalonians 2:4; Revelation 13:12]. Jesus foretold it as a future certainty from His time so He could not have been referring to the already historical reality of Antiochus Epiphany’s blasphemous sacrilege 200 years earlier. Since there is no record this abominable thing happened before 70 C.E., it therefore must be a future event and yet to come.

The reason the three Olivet Discourse passages in the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke are not easy to understand is because two questions were asked of the Lord. His disciples wanted to know when the Temple would be destroyed and what would be the signs of the end of their servitude under Gentile dominion. Many people lump these two questions together as asked of one event when in fact they are questions requiring two events to answer.

The two events happen with a time span of about 2,000 years between them, the Church Age being sandwiched in between. I’ll come back to that. Therefore, the discourse must be understood as answering both questions in typical Jewish style – in one long explanation without benefit of syntactical separation covering the Temple’s destruction 40 years later in 70 C.E. and the end of the times of the Gentiles which would not come for some 2,000 years.

The Temple was destroyed in 70 C.E. when Jerusalem was encompassed by General Titus’s Roman army. Christians who heeded Jesus’ warning got out of Jerusalem as per His instructions. Those who did not were either killed or enslaved. This same scenario will be repeated in the tribulation. This is an instance where the law of double reference applies because there will be another siege of Jerusalem during the tribulation and those who know the Scriptures will heed the Words of Jesus spoken from Mt. Olive and run for their lives to the hills.

The bulk of the discourse tells about this second siege of Jerusalem and speaks at length about the signs for the end of the times of the Gentiles. Many Bible scholars believe the signs given in the discourse are easily seen today indicating that the last days are upon us. As we watch current events transpiring in the Middle East, it appears like Jerusalem is again being encompassed by armies but this time the massive army will be composed of radical Islamics and anti-Semitic peoples from all parts of the globe. Again, the Jews better heed Jesus’ warning to flee to the mountains when they see the abomination of desolation set up in the holy place.

As you read the gospels’ narratives on the discourse, notice carefully the little words ‘then’, ‘but’, ‘when’, ‘after’, and ‘before all these’. These words are significant pointers to when things occur. All of Matthew’s account in chapters 24 and 25 refers to the period of tribulation known as the time of Jacob’s trouble in Scripture [Jeremiah 30:7] just before the times of the Gentiles is over. Their times will be over when Jesus comes from heaven and ends the Battle of Armageddon. For that reason, it correlates closely with the book of Revelation which is primarily about the tribulation period also called the last week of Daniel’s seventy weeks prophecy.

The central point of all Biblical prophecy is that Israel will be the nation from which King Jesus will rule the world. His Kingdom of Heaven will cover the entire earth but He will rule from Jerusalem when the times of the Gentiles are over.

When Israel came back from captivity in Babylon, God gave her a specified number of days in which to repent of her backsliding, which she did not do. Not having done so, she was disciplined seven times more for her sins according to God’s warning in Leviticus 26:18. Space does not permit calculation of this intervening period before God would end her disciplinary phase, but a detailed analysis of the Ezekiel Scriptures [4:1ff] relating to this time period brings one to two key dates in modern Israel’s existence.

The first date spans the time from when Cyrus gave the order to release Israel to build the Temple to May 14, 1948, the day Israel became a nation. And the second interlude of time spans from when Darius gave the okay to rebuild the city of Jerusalem to June 7, 1967, the day Jerusalem was captured by the Israelis during the 1967 war with Jordan and her allies. No one but God could prophecy in advance the exact time period to the day that would intervene in these two momentous occurrences in Israel’s history.

Israel’s King Messiah

As astonishing as the foregoing prophesied disciplinary spans of time are, Daniel’s 70 week prophecy is the key to all Biblical prophecy because it covers the entire era between Israel’s release from Babylonian captivity and the restoration of her kingdom that is to be ruled by her King Messiah. Her King did come at the exact time Daniel foretold in the person of Jesus, but He was rejected by the leaders of Israel, which started another elongation of time to be chastised for her rebellious attitude in not hearkening to her beloved Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. This interlude, however, is unspecified in duration as we shall see.

The prophecy of Daniel’s seventy weeks predicted that she would indeed refuse her promised Messiah King [9:26], and to the bewilderment of hindsight His Kingdom subjects cut Him off by killing Him. True to the prophecy, He was killed, thus ending God’s patience with them as His chosen vessel through whom He would manifest Himself to a lost world. Israel was set aside temporarily [Romans 11:1ff] as God’s agent through whom to evangelize peoples.

Not only was Israel guilty of cutting off her Messiah, but she hardened herself against the Holy Spirit in the opening days of the church, God’s new client agent who would represent Him on earth, refusing to allow the gospel to be preached in the synagogues [1 Thessalonians 2:15,16]. This sealed her doom. Her defiance and insubordination to her God catapulted covert Kingdom development in the hearts of men into the hands of the Gentiles until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in [Romans 11:25; Luke 21:24]. When the body of Christ made up mostly of Gentiles is completed and full, it will be raptured, 3 and then God will once again work through Israel and will restore her Kingdom to fulfill His promises to David regarding the Davidic Covenant [Acts 1:6,7].

Note the difference between the fullness of the Gentiles, which is the period of time during which the body of Christ is formed – from the Feast of Pentecost in 32 C.E. to the rapture of the church soon to come – and the times of the Gentiles, which is the 2,520 years epoch from the Babylonian captivity in 586 B.C.E. to the end of the tribulation.

Daniel’s book opens with King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream in which he was shown an image that depicted four Gentile empires ruling men until King Jesus establishes His Kingdom. Even though men have lusted to rule the world since the Roman Empire, such as Napoleon and Hitler, none have been able to pull it off because civilization has spread too fast and the world has become too big. Hence, Daniel’s prophecy that there would be only four empires holds true. However, since the Roman Empire fell in 476 C.E. – by disintegration and not from being conquered by another empire – it must needs be restored or Daniel’s prophecy is false.

Because technology has made it possible to control things by telecommunications and remote commands through satellites, it will be restored, and the Antichrist, that man of sin in Second Thessalonians chapter two, will become the last ruler to control the world before Jesus takes over. We are sitting on the cutting edge of this happening at this very moment. The European Union is coming together big time and people are ready for the Revived Roman Empire to emerge as the last bastion of satan’s power.

Daniel was given the historical chronology of Gentile control of the world as it involves and relates to God’s chosen people, the Israelites. God permits Gentile groups to rule according to their treatment of the Hebrews [Deuteronomy 32:8]. It’s an historical fact that any nation that has persecuted the Jews has been accursed exactly as God promised Abraham [Genesis 12:3]. Those nations that have cursed Israel have fallen from fame never to rise again to the heights they once enjoyed.

When God gave Daniel the interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, he saw a strange image that depicted exactly the empires that would come forward over time, dominate and often oppress Israel, and in what order they would appear. Nebuchadnezzar himself as king of Babylon started the series of Gentile empires that have had control of the world that has overshadowed the Hebrews for some 2,520 years.

As can be noted, the composition of the metal image progressed from the most precious of metals to the least. Chemistry’s Table of Elements portrays this trend beautifully. The iron and clay pottery mixture representing the toes of the image denotes a very fragile world made up of peoples who are diverse from one another with different value systems yet struggling to adhere together such as we see in the United Nations today. It won’t work because iron and clay do not mix. Therefore, this last empire will not last long. Its beastly character will cause the world to self-destruct forcing God to cut a stone out of the mountain, namely Jesus, who will come rescue the shattering earth. 4 He will destroy the wicked forces driving the earth to destruction.

Daniel’s prophecy begins with Israel losing her political sovereignty after God disciplined her with captivity because of her refusal to repent of spiritual adultery. She was continually unfaithful to her covenant that God had made with her father Abraham. He warned her of coming judgment through the pre-exile prophets of Obadiah, Jonah, Joel, Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, Micah, Nahum, Zephaniah, Jeremiah, and Habakkuk all of whom rebuked Israel and Judah for their sins and idolatry. They refused to repent. So the Northern Kingdom was taken into captivity by the Assyrians in 721 B.C.E., and the Southern Kingdom followed suit 135 years later in 586 B.C.E when Babylon emerged as the super power of nations.

Click next below for Daniel's 70 Week Prophecy Part 1: Continued

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Friday, May 9, 2008 8:55 PM