AND THE DEVIL SAID…THUS SAITH THE LORD…
DANIEL AND THE SEVENTY WEEKS
A floating week in cyber space waiting to land at the end of the ages….is one of the false legs holding up the false body of work taught by many pastors is the false interpretation of Daniel Chapter 9.
Over the years we have watched and listened to well- meaning pastors unknowingly teach twisted interpretations of many passages in the Bible. I say unknowingly, because this is what many were taught by Theology Schools and Universities in order to become a Pastor.
Where did they go wrong?
The Holy Word of God has been attacked from the very beginning in the Garden of Eden. Even the Serpent said to Eve…you will not surely die and from that moment on, the propaganda war for our souls began. Fast forward to the days of Jesus and we see even at his death and after his resurrection, the High Priests bribed the soldiers guarding the grave with money to bear false witness and blame the followers for taking the body away. Matthew 28:12-13 “12 And when they were assembled with the elders, and had taken counsel, they gave large money unto the soldiers, 13 Saying, Say ye, His disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept.”
After the resurrection, the plots to destroy the message of the Lord and the followers of the way of Jesus grew worse and worse, just as Jesus had foretold it would. Burnings of books, followers and writings began, and killing those who taught by word of mouth. History is filled with these horrible events onward into the age where a handful of those appointed by Constantine gathered to determine what was orthodox to read and what was unorthodox. The censoring began and anyone found going against their mandates was punished, and tortured and killed. It was no different than the days of Nero except now it was in the name of God. So we will fast forward to the final days of the age of the gentiles.
Beginning with the teachings of Darby and dispensations of time in the 1830’s and 1840’s, the Bible took on a contorted realm. This realm could be twisted and imagined to be placed wherever convenient to prove a new point.
I often wondered how long it took Darby or whoever it was, to figure out the proper dissecting and splicing. For the dispensation (repositioning of real time) had everything to do with adding a different intention with the Revelation of Jesus and the end of days.
It was artfully achieved by nullifying real events that have historically already taken place. To achieve this, they had to make sure any books that said otherwise were taken away. One such collection of books were the Books of Maccabees which were in our King James Cannon up until the time Darby began teaching dispensations. It was at the same time those books were declared historical but not prophetic and thereby removed. Yet, few knew that those very books hold the missing years from the time of Daniel that lead up to the birth of our Lord Jesus and important historic records of the Jews, leading up to the time of Jesus that also fulfilled prophecy.
Those books explain the politics of the day and show how far south Jerusalem had fallen away from God and the troublesome times of the fall of the second temple, the first abomination of desolation, and the most horrific war in the history of the Jews. Yes they took that all out. Why? Perhaps because they filled in the missing years of Jewish history from the time of Daniel up to the birth of Jesus with a new fabricated story. In short, the Books of Maccabee set the stage of why it was time for God to send his son and they couldn’t have that and do their dispensation dance, so, it had to go by the wayside. It became unorthodox. Today, we would just call it what it is, it was censored.
Without the Books of Maccabee, the Bible jumps from the time of Daniel right into the birth of Jesus. It picks up after Herod was appointed King by Julius Caesar to reign over Jerusalem and after Herod had built a Coliseum grander than the one in Rome in honor of Caesar, and leaves out the rebuilt Temple, dedicated to Mark Antony by King Herod. It does not mention that the area that housed the Temple priests with a colonnade leading to the Temple was named Antonio Fortress in honor of Mark Antony. These books record important detailed facts that set the stage for the arrival of our savior and fulfill the words of the prophets. By, taking them out of the Bible, alas it opens up an opportunity to make prophesied events magically appear in another dispensation or realm of time in our new testament. Quite frankly, they can now be dispensed into the Book of Revelation.
One very important event prophesied in Daniel was the ministry of Jesus. It began when Daniel understood the Word of the Lord concerning the 70 weeks written of in Jeremiah concerning the desolations of Jerusalem.
Daniel 9:2
2 In the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, whereof the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.
Daniel chapter 9:3-19 tells us that Daniel was confessing the sins of Israel and asking for mercy and as he was well into supplications and prayer, God sent the angel Gabriel to appear before him.
Daniel 9:20-23
20 And while 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.
So Gabriel explained to Daniel the vision he was given, for there were things in it he did NOT understand. There were details and the details were about the Messiah their Prince, Jesus the Son of God.
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.
To understand what Daniel understood about the 70 weeks we need to know how those weeks are determined. We go to the book of Numbers in chapter 14:34 and we see that because of their unbelief and sins (same as Jerusalem that brought them destruction and captivity) the Israelites were to wander for 40 years in the wilderness, a year for each day that the spies were searching out the land.
The same scale of a day for a year was used in Ezekiel 4:4-6, “I have appointed thee a day for a year, a day for a year.”
In Daniel’s prophecy he saw seventy weeks pertaining to Israelites and the city of Jerusalem. These seventy weeks are to be scaled as each day for a year. 70 weeks is 490 days which are symbolic for 490 years. A day for each year.
So now let’s do the math. In verse 25 and 26 it was 69 weeks “unto Messiah”; that in the midst of the 70th week after three and a half years of ministry, he was cut off in death; that this sacrifice, being the perfect sacrifice, caused other sacrifices to cease in God’ s plan.
From the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem to the Messiah shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: which is 69 weeks.
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. They crucified Jesus three and a half years into his ministry (middle of the week) and he gave his life as the last and final sacrifice for all sin. The veil in the Holy of Holies was torn from the top to the bottom all sacrifice and oblation ceased. It never was performed in the Holy of Holies again. Remember, the Ark of the Covenant had been hidden by Jeremiah at the dispersement of Israel to Babylon. The Ark had not been in the Temple ever since that time.
Remember also, the last of the Levitical priesthood was John The Baptist and he prepared the way for the coming Messiah. The people knew the specific time prophecied for the Messiah to come for they knew it from the 70 weeks prophecy of Daniel. They were looking for him to come any day now. From the going forth of the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem unto Messiah was to be 483 years. This was the time frame they were in. Those who knew this prophecy were expecting the appearance of the Messiah. They asked John The Baptist if he was the Messiah, he told them no. He was one crying in the wilderness.
John 1:23, 23 He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias.
Isaiah 40:3-5
3The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the Lord; Make straight in the desert A highway for our God.
4Every valley shall be exalted And every mountain and hill brought low; The crooked places shall be made straight And the rough places smooth;
5The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, And all flesh shall see it together; For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
IN THE MIDDLE OF THE WEEK
So in the middle of the week he was cut off, but not for himself. The Lord rose from the dead on the third day this began the second half of the first week. Jesus testified to others for 40 days then ascended into the heavens. Much was yet to be accomplished in Jerusalem to complete and seal up the vision, such as receiving the Holy Spirit. Ezekiel 36:26 26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.
After the Lord ascended into heaven, the disciples went a sabbath days journey into the upper room as Jesus instructed them and they received the Holy Spirit.(TO CONFIRM THE COVENANT FOR ONE WEEK) to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy). The Apostles and followers of the way watched the Lord ascend into heaven and then they returned to Jerusalem as they were instructed by Jesus, to receive the Holy Spirit in the upper room. Upon receiving the Holy Spirit, the Lord now dwelled inside them as he had promised. They were now the new Temple which is governed by the heart as the Lord promised to now dwell inside all who believe upon Him.
The followers taught the multitudes and prophesied in Jerusalem and throughout all Judea, until the stoning of Stephen which marked the end of the 7th week, (3.5 years after Jesus was crucified), thus marking the end of the week and the beginning of great persecutions and the age of the gentiles. The disciples who followed the way of the Lord fled Jerusalem and went into the nations as the Lord had foretold them to do when they saw Jerusalem surrounded with armies. Thus, the covenant of the Jews in Jerusalem was fulfilled.
Luke 21:20-22 “20And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. 21Then let them which are in Judaea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter there into. 22For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled.”
And the Devil Said, Give Them My Dispensed Viewpoint…
The other viewpoint pastors have taught is that the last week in the 70 weeks is cut away from the 69 and sent off to the future 2,000 years later at the end of the age of the gentiles and refers to the rising of the antichrist who will make a covenant with the Jews. This covenant will allow them to offer sacrifices in a “rebuilt” temple at Jerusalem for seven years, but after three and a half years he will break this covenant and cause the sacrifices to cease. This totally takes all the glory away from the new covenant and our Lord and Savior Jesus! As well as makes NO LOGICAL SENSE when you actually reason it and don’t just memorize it as so! Scripture does not support it.
The fulfilled interpretation has a fantasy span of time of what I call a floating 7 years to be dispensed somewhere in time after 2,000 years to create a false flag event by deceivers. It is more than clear that the 70th week refers to Christ and that the causing of the sacrifices to cease was accomplished at Calvary when Jesus the Son of God, became the final and perfect blood offering sacrificed for all sin.
THE ANTICHRIST STORY STEALS THE GLORY OF OUR LORD!
The most egregious part of this false interpretation is – it takes all the Glory of Our Lord’s sacrifice away and turns it into an Antichrist story with all sorts of added nonsense. It leaves no new covenant fulfillment until after an Antichrist arises and a temple is built for him to reign tyranny over the people. Trust me, Satan is not, nor has not waited for a floating last week to land in time, nor a Temple to be built for him to begin his tyrannical slaughter of God’s people. It began with the Lord and has continued ever since.
It conjures up two witnesses that die in the streets and their dead bodies lay there for 3 days and gives the witnesses power to make miracles and the guessing as to whom these are is endless. Some say Moses and Elijah, some say Enoch and Moses, Enoch and Elijah, and other guesses. While it totally ignores the joining of the stick of Joseph with the stick of Judah to be one in God’s hand in Ezekiel 37:19. And trust me this is confusion for it is not written it is fabricated through false interpretations based on the deception of dispensationalism; magically taking an age of time and putting it where you want to put it. And the devil and his cohorts laugh at all who spend hours and hours, days, months, and years to figure it out while the true Word of God lays closed to their eyes and dull to their ears. It is a shame so many have been deceived.
THE TRUTH IS FOUND IN SCRIPTURES THAT CROSS REFERENCE WITHOUT TAKING THINGS OUT OF CONTEXT. LET US EXPLORE THIS FURTHER.
JERUSALEM WAS TO BE RESTORED
And even in troublesome times. We see in the book of Ezra that King Cyrus let the Israelites return to Jerusalem and even gave them all they needed to rebuild their Temple. Ezra Chapter 1 Then in the first year that Cyrus was king of Persia, he read the prophecy and allowed the Israelites to return to Jerusalem and gave them supplies so that they could rebuild their city and their Temple. This is when the second Temple was built. And the Temple that Herod restored and added the Antonia Fortress Name to. This is the Temple the scripture is talking about.
Ezra 1:1-3
“1 Then in the first year that Cyrus was king of Persia, the Lord kept his promise by having Cyrus send this official message to all parts of his kingdom: I am King Cyrus of Persia. The Lord God of heaven, who is also the God of Israel, has made me the ruler of all nations on earth. And he has chosen me to build a temple for him in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. The Lord God will watch over and encourage any of his people who want to go back to Jerusalem and help build the temple.“
THE STREET AND WALL WERE TO BE REBUILT IN TROUBLOUS TIMES.
We have seen in the book of Ezra some of the troubles that confronted the people in those years of rebuilding. And we see in the book of Maccabees the troublesome times continued up to Herod as Jerusalem was under Roman Government.
THE MOST HOLY WAS TO BE ANOINTED
There is only one Most Holy One whom is Jesus Christ. Luke 1:35 “And the angel (Gabriel) answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that Holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.” Peter referred to him as “the HOLY ONE” (Acts 3:14). John referred to him as “the HOLY ONE” (1 John 2:20). Even demons had to recognize him as “The HOLY ONE of God” (Mark 1:24). David spoke concerning Christ: neither wilt thou suffer thine HOLY ONE to see corruption” (Acts 2:27). In Revelation 3:7 he is called “HOLY” and the heavenly creatures rest not from saying: “HOLY, HOLY, HOLY” before this one “which was, and is, and is to come” (Revelations 4:8).
So let’s look at time frames…
From the going forth of the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem unto Messiah was to be 483 years. When this time was fulfilled, those who knew this prophecy were expecting the appearance of the Messiah. Thus when John came baptizing, the people asked him if he was the Messiah. John told them he was not the Messiah, he was one crying in the wilderness to prepare ye the way of the Lord.
When Jesus appeared to be baptized, John said, ”Behold the Lamb of God”.
Luke 3:15 “The people were in EXPECTATION, and all men mused in their hearts of John, whether he were the Messiah or not”. John plainly told them that he was not the one, he was only the forerunner. When Jesus approached John to be baptized he proclaimed him as the Lamb of God, “The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” John 1:29
He was then baptized and when he had prayed, “the heaven was opened. And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased” (Luke 3:21,22).
In Mark 1:15 Jesus proclaimed, “And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.” This was in reference to all who were looking for their Messiah to fulfill the prophecy of the prophet Daniel as to the timing of his coming.
Daniel’s prophecy revealed that the time period unto the Messiah would be 69 weeks (483 years) which timed with the baptism of Jesus and his anointing with the Holy Spirit to begin his ministry as the Messiah, the Christ, the “Anointed One.
Jesus spoke in the Temple from the Book of Isaiah, announcing he was the anointed one to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
Luke 4:18-22
18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
20 And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.
21 And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.
He had appeared to Israel right on time
MESSIAH WAS TO BE CUT OFF
It was to be 69 weeks (7 plus 62) unto the Messiah and after the 69 weeks in the middle of the week “shall Messiah be cut off.” Now “AFTER” 69 weeks does not mean we go back and make it in the middle of the 69 weeks. It means after the 69 weeks. So in the 70th week in the midst of it he shall be cut off but not for himself.
The term “cut off” implies that Messiah would die and he did on Calvary. Isaiah prophesied the same of the Lord using the same term “cut off”, Showing he was killed.
Isaiah 53:8
8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.
The details about the crucifixion “cut off” are given in the gospels and the gospels coincide with Isaiah Chapter 53.
TO FINISH THE TRANSGRESSION
Or literally, “to finish transgression.” As Jesus was dying, he cried: “It is FINISHED.” At Calvary, Jesus finished transgression by giving his life as the ultimate sacrifice for our sins, once and for all.
Hebrews 9:12 “Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.”
TO MAKE AN END OF SINS
Here again, our Lord Jesus offered up his life as a sacrifice for our sins so that we might have eternal life. To take this scripture and tack it somewhere in the future that hasn’t even taken place yet, is the worst abomination Satan could have ever done to our Lord and to his sheep! Then add to that how they turn it into an arrival of an Antichrist is the most blasphemous twisting of doctrine that can be done and it sadly it has been done. Satan is laughing at every Christian who says these things and especially at the folly of those who preach such things.
What this has done and yet does as so many still preach it, they will argue over the particulars of what is done first and last and all in between. This is garbage and blasphemous to our Lord and Savior. It strips away the Glory of both our Almighty God who sacrificed his only begotten Son and to our Lord who gave his life willingly so we might live. It is a shameful mocking of the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus and the new covenant made for our transgressions. It leaves out the entire plan of salvation that our Father God has given to all who believe on his Son. This is the true LEFT BEHIND!
Hebrews 10:4-11
3 But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year.
4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.
5 Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me:
6 In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure.
7 Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God.
8 Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law;
9 Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.
10 By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
The old system of sacrifices could never make an end of sins, but Christ by the sacrifice of himself did make an end of sins, even as the prophecy had said!
TO MAKE RECONCILIATION FOR INIQUITY
The word reconciliation is the same word used frequently in the book of Leviticus where it is said “to make atonement.” The only way this was done was at Calvary. This our Lord’s redemptive work. This is not a part of a fiction story some 2,000 years off in the future!
Jesus, in Hebrews 2:17 “our merciful and faithful high priest” made “RECONCILIATION for the sins of the people”
Colossians 1: 20 “And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven”. Ephesians. 2:16).
2 Corinthians 5:19 “God was in Christ, RECONCILING the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of RECONCILIATION”
Titus 2:14 “14Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works”
TO BRING IN EVER LASTING RIGHTEOUSNESS
Open your Bible and read all the great redemption passages in Romans, Corinthians, Colossians, Peter, Ephesians, and Hebrews to see how an “end” of transgressions and sins, “reconciliation for iniquity”, and “everlasting righteousness” were all accomplished at Calvary by our Lord Jesus Christ!
1 John 2:29 “Everyone that doeth RIGHTEOUSNESS is born of him”
Romans 3:21-26 “Even the RIGHTEOUSNESS of God…through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his RIGHTEOUSNESS for the remission of sins”
Scriptures proclaiming the Lord’s righteousness are throughout the scriptures!
Hebrews 9:12 “By his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained ETERNAL REDEMPTION everlasting righteousness for us”.
To teach interpretations that rob our Lord of his Glory is to seal your fate in a false vision and brings dishonor to our Lord. It is what it is and there is no way to say it nicely, it is wrong and it is blasphemy.
TO SEAL UP VISION AND PROPHECY
The term. “to seal” is derived from the ancient custom of attaching a seal to a document to show that it was genuine.
1 Kings 21:8 8 So she wrote letters in Ahab’s name, and sealed them with his seal, and sent the letters unto the elders and to the nobles that were in his city, dwelling with Naboth.
Jeremiah. 32:10 10 And I subscribed the evidence, and sealed it, and took witnesses, and weighed him the money in the balances.
John 6:27 27 Labor not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.
In this use of the term the way it is used in Daniel, “to seal up vision and prophecy” it is used to show that our Lord fulfilled the prophets visions and the prophecies written of him.
Repeatedly we read concerning him: “…that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets.”
Matthew 11:13 “For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.”
Acts 3:18-25 18 But those things, which God before had shewed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled.
19 Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;
20 And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you:
21 Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.
22 For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you.
23 And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people.
24 Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days.
25 Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed.
HE SHALL CONFIRM THE COVENANT
In the upper room at the Lord’ s supper, Jesus made his covenant with the disciples offering his blood for the remission of sins, he said in Matthew 26:28 “This is my blood of the new testament [covenant], which is shed for many for the remission of sins”. The book of Hebrews explains a testament needs a testator and the new covenant made through Jesus. The word “testament” here and the word “covenant” are translated from exactly the same word in the New Testament.
Hebrews 9:14- 18 18“How much more shall the blood of Christ…purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for this cause, he is the mediator of the new testament [covenant]”
15 And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.
16For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator.
17For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth.
18Whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated without blood.
Jesus is called the “mediator of the new covenant” (Hebrews. 8:6), the “messenger of the covenant” (Malachi. 3:1), and his shed blood is called “the blood of the everlasting covenant” (Hebrews. 12:24). Our Lord Jesus is the one who confirmed the covenant through his redemptive sacrifice at Calvary. And how beautifully this harmonizes with what we have already seen.
HE SHALL CAUSE THE SACRIFICE AND THE OBLATION TO CEASE
This too was fulfilled in the death of Jesus Christ. In the Old Testament, as it was mentioned previously, sacrifices were repeatedly made. Each of these was a shadow offering looking forward to the time when the perfect sacrifice, the Lamb of God, would be offered. Once this was to be accomplished, God would no longer require or accept any other sacrifice.
The perfect sacrifice was Jesus Christ. The old system of repeated sacrifices was ended when Christ became the perfect, eternal, and final sacrifice.
Hebrews. 9: 8-10
8 Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law;
9 Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.
10 By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Hebrews 9:16-21
16 This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;
17 And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.
18 Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.
19Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,
20 By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;
21 And having an high priest over the house of God;
This is also verified as timely, for when our Lord Jesus’s ministry was recorded as three and a half years up to the time he died. This brings the end of sacrifice at 3 and a half years into the middle of the 70th week.
That this was the length of our Lord’s ministry may be seen by a study of the gospel according to John in which mention is made of four Passovers that occurred during our Lord’s ministry: John 2:13, 5:1 Also Eusebius, a Christian writer of the fourth century, pointed these things out: “Now the whole period of our Saviour’s teaching and working of miracles is said to have been three-and-a-half years, which is half a week. John the evangelist, in his Gospel, makes this clear to the attentive.”
And so, after three and a half years of ministry as the Christ the anointed one Jesus was cut off in death, in the middle of the 70th week of seven years. As Augustine said: “Daniel even defined the time when Christ was to come and suffer by the exact date.”
Understanding this, we can now see the real intended significance in certain New Testament statements which also speak as a witness to the words of prophets as testament to a definite established time at which Jesus would die. For example, in John 7:30 it states, “They sought to take him: but no man laid hands on him, because his hour was not yet come”. In John 2:4, Jesus said, “Mine hour is not yet come.” On another occasion, he said, “My time is not yet come” (John 7:6). Then just prior to his betrayal and death, he said, “My time is at hand” (Matthew 26:18), and finally, ‘”the hour is come” (John 17:1; and Matthew 26:45).
There are many other verses that show Jesus came to fulfill the scriptures and there is only one scripture that predicted the time of Jesus’s death and that is the prophecy of Daniel 9:26 that states, “And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself”.
Those who say that the confirming of the covenant and causing sacrifices to cease in the midst of the 70th week refers to a future Antichrist, somewhere off in time at the end of a string of other events, completely destroy this beautiful fulfillment of our Lord’s covenant and sacrifice for our sins. By twisting this scripture, the same people destroy the prophetic foretelling of God’s new covenant and are at a complete loss to show the time of our Lord’s death as it was predicted/prophecied by Daniel through the Angel Gabriel.
The prophecy of Daniel 9 stated that Messiah would confirm the covenant (or would cause the covenant to prevail) with many of Daniel’s people for the “week” or seven years. We ask then, when Christ came, was his ministry directed in a special way to Daniel’s people to “Israel ” (Daniel. 9:20)? Yes!
In John 1:31 John the Baptist introduced Jesus as he “that should be made manifest to ISRAEL”. In Matthew 15:24 he said,“I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of ISRAEL” And when he first sent out his apostles, he said in Matthew 10:5-6 “5 These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: 6 But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
So what about the last three and a half years?
The 490 years, promised to Israel, ended at the stoning of Stephen
In the first few years after Jesus died, the gospel was preached only to Jews. The Christian Jews continued to live like Jews. Christianity was a sect of Judaism with headquarters in Jerusalem. Although there was upheaval and hatred for the followers, deadly persecution began between three to four years after the crucifixion (three and a half years). Historically, the Jewish persecution of the Jewish Christians, began with the stoning of Stephen. This was the end of God’s first covenant with Israel, and also the end of the 490 years promised by Daniel 9.
There were many important events that transpired during the last three and a half years.
The Lord rose from the dead and the graves were opened and many of the dead went about the city testifying to the people of the Lord tearing down the gates of hell. Matthew 27:52.
Jesus walked the earth for 40 days testifying to others. He commissioned the Disciples to feed his sheep and ascended to the Father and imparted upon them the Holy Spirit to dwell within them and all who believe. He established the promise of his new covenant to dwell in the hearts of men, returned to His Father and sent a comforter – His Holy Spirit to dwell in all the hearts of those who believe, completing the new covenant.
Saul was slain in the spirit on the road to Damascas and became Paul and gathered disciples to preach to the gentiles. The followers of the way were growing in numbers and many were baptised and received the Holy Spirit.
It was during this time, after Christ’s death, that God offered Israel a last opportunity. But they failed (Acts 7:53). The seventy weeks which God decreed for Israel came to an end. They were no longer the people of the covenant. The change in Stephen’s speech of the pronoun from “our” (Acts 7:11, 19, 38, 44 and 45) to “your fathers” (Acts 7:51) means more than a simple breakage in Stephen’s solidarity with the Jewish crowd ready to stone him. It also marks the definitive end of the covenant God made with Israel. They no longer had a covenant in common.
The last half of the seven years was marked by many supernatural events. Cornelius received a heavenly visitation. An angel appeared to him and told him to call for Peter “who shall tell thee words whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved”. God showed Peter a vision which caused him to know that the gospel was now to go to the Gentiles and not to Israelites only.
Acts 11:9-18 9But the voice answered me again from heaven, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common. 10And this was done three times: and all were drawn up again into heaven. 11And, behold, immediately there were three men already come unto the house where I was, sent from Caesarea unto me. 12And the spirit bade me go with them, nothing doubting. Moreover these six brethren accompanied me, and we entered into the man’s house: 13And he shewed us how he had seen an angel in his house, which stood and said unto him, Send men to Joppa, and call for Simon, whose surname is Peter; 14Who shall tell thee words, whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved. 15And as I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on them, as on us at the beginning. 16Then remembered I the word of the Lord, how that he said, John indeed baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost. 17Forasmuch then as God gave them the like gift as he did unto us, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ; what was I, that I could withstand God? 18When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.
All of these things and more were timed perfectly showing that God’s hand was accomplishing a definite purpose.
THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM AND THE TEMPLE
This event was not part of the prophecy within the framework of the 70 weeks. This was however, foretold by Jesus to come. Matthew 24:2 2“Do you see all these things, he asked? Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.” This was most sucinctly fulfilled for after the temple was burnt, Titus, the Roman general, ordered the very foundations of it to be dug up from the ground on which it stood. It was ploughed up by Turnus Rufus. Gone and brought to desolation. As it still is to this day.
Conclusion: The entire prophecy of Daniel 9 was fulfilled exactly as it was told to him by the Angel Gabriel! The beauty and timing of these events glorify the promise of the new covenant and its’ fufillment. To make it anything other is a shame and disgrace for it dishonors both our Savior Jesus and our Father God. That is just how it is.
Dianne
