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   Daniel gets instructions...

There is an enormous delusion of prophetic interpretation that has taken the Christian world captive today-it's called "The Final Seven Years of Tribulation." And I would be surprised if you have never heard this phrase mentioned before. Because right now, all over the world, in books, magazines, videos, on television, radio, the internet, from pulpits across the land, and even in comic books, millions of people are talking about events that they firmly believe will come about during what they call "the final seven years of tribulation."

You are studying the longest and most significant time prophecy in the Bible. Given more than 500 years before the death of Christ, it accurately pinpoints the time of His sacrifice. And as the only place in the Old Testament that speaks of a coming "Messiah" by that term, it ranks at the top of all Messianic prophecies. Yet this prophecy, found in the eighth and ninth chapters of the book of Daniel, moves beyond the earthly ministry of Christ to provide a panorama of His present work for us in the courts of heaven.

Daniel 9:24 says, "Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, . . ."

The word determined is a very interesting word and key to an understanding of the 70-week prophecy. It means "to cut off" (Strong's #2852). This is the only time this word is used in the entire Bible. The word determined is used elsewhere, in fact we'll see it used at the end of this chapter, but it does not have the same meaning in the Hebrew.

"Seventy weeks are (cut off) upon thy people and upon thy holy city."

The word upon means "concerning" (Strong's #5921). In other words, "Seventy weeks are cut off concerning thy people and concerning thy holy city." From what is this 70-week prophecy cut off? from something longer than itself. It is cut off from a longer vision that Daniel received in chapter 8.

Daniel 8:1 "In the third year of the reign of king Belshazzar a vision appeared unto me, even unto me Daniel, after that which appeared unto me at the first." Daniel had several visions and he wrote them down in his book, but this vision in chapter 8 is the one which relates specifically to the 70-week prophecy of Daniel 9.

As we follow on through chapter 8, God gives the vision and then at the end of verse 14 a "certain saint" says, ". . . Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed."

We know from other verses in the Bible that when we are dealing with time prophecy, the principle is a day for a year. How we arrive at this is from a couple of scriptures in Ezekiel 4:6 and Numbers 14:34. Even those who believe in the popular interpretation of the 70-week prophecy and the final seven years of tribulation at the end of time understand this principle as well. In fact, up to a certain point they have it nearly correct.

From verse 15 of chapter 8 on down through the end of the chapter, Gabriel begins to explain the vision to Daniel. He explained portions of the vision, but he says nothing at all about the 2300 days and what that meant.

In verses 26 and 27 Gabriel concludes by saying, "And the vision of the evening and the morning which was told is true: wherefore shut thou up the vision; for it shall be for many days. And I Daniel fainted, and was sick certain days; afterward I rose up, and did the king's business; and I was astonished at the vision, but none understood it."

None understood what? They understood portions of what was explained, but they didn't understand the application of the 2300 days, of which the 70 weeks form a part.

Now, let's go back to Daniel 9 and start again with verse 24. Seventy weeks are determined . . ."

If we apply the day for a year principle, how many days would 70 weeks be? 70 x 7 = 490 years.

490 years "are determined (cut off) upon (concerning) thy people and (concerning) thy holy city, to finish the transgression, . . ."

God gave Israel a certain portion of time to stop their rebellion against Him. That's what transgression means.

". . . and to make an end of sins, . . ."

The word sins here is a little more mild of a word than transgression. It means "to miss the mark." The word sins in the Old Testament can be used two different ways-sins or sin offerings. It really doesn't matter which one is used here, because in the Old Testament, when they brought a lamb and confessed their sins on the head of that lamb, the priest sprinkled the blood in the sanctuary, representing that their sins were transferred from themselves to the sanctuary. That's why they had to have the Day of Atonement once a year, to cleanse the sanctuary of all the sin that had accumulated through the year. This has a direct application to the 2300-day prophecy of Daniel 8:14 which says, "Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed." We're not going to go into that part of it, but it relates specifically to the day of atonement that is brought out in Leviticus 16.

Again, Daniel 8:24 says, "Seventy weeks (490 days or years) are determined (cut off) upon (concerning) thy people and upon (concerning) thy holy city to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, . . ."

Reconciliation in simple language means to make friends out of enemies. Isn't that what Jesus did for us through His death upon the cross? We were alienated from God, but through faith in His shed blood we can become a son or daughter of God.

It goes on to say, ". . .and to bring in everlasting righteousness, . . ."

This righteousness that was brought in was the perfect life that Jesus lived right here on earth and made available to all people.

". . . and to seal up the vision and prophecy, . . ."

To seal up means "to close up or make an end" (Strong's #2856). In other words, God is telling us here that the fulfillment of this prophecy is going to happen-guaranteed! It will be brought to completion.

And the last phrase says, ". . . and to anoint the most Holy." Many people today believe that the phrase Most Holy refers to Jesus Christ and to His anointing. But I cannot come to that conclusion because nowhere in the Bible is the term most holy applied to a person. In Hebrew most holy means "a sacred place or thing" (Strong's #6944). Jesus was neither a place nor a thing. Rather, the anointing here is talking about the heavenly sanctuary that had to be anointed before Jesus our Great High Priest began His ministry in our behalf in the holy and most holy places.

How do I come to that conclusion? From Exodus 40:9, "And thou shalt take the anointing oil {anointing was always done with oil representing the Holy Spirit, see Zechariah 4}, and anoint the tabernacle, and all that is therein, and shalt hallow it, and all the vessels thereof: and it shall be holy." This was to be done before the earthly high priest officiated in the sanctuary that was built under the direction of Moses.

Within the framework of the 70-week prophecy the heavenly sanctuary was anointed when Jesus ascended to heaven during His inauguration as our high priest. The sanctuary had to be anointed by the Holy Spirit before Jesus began His work as our High Priest just as it was in the Old Testament.

Daniel 9:25: "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."

The date of the commandment or the decree that went forth to restore and to build Jerusalem was 457 BC. It's important that we are able to show from God's word that this is the date for the beginning of the 70 weeks, and also the beginning of the longer 2300-day prophecy-the 70 weeks being cut off from the beginning of that longer period. If we can't nail it down at the beginning, then we can't prove anything else afterward.

Ezra 6 and 7 holds the key to the starting point of this prophecy. The reference in Ezra 6:14 was after Solomon's temple was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar in 586 BC and Israel taken captive to Babylon. 70 years into their captivity, verse 14 tells what would happen. "And the elders of the Jews builded, and they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. And they builded, and finished it, according to the commandment of the God of Israel, and according to the commandment of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia." According to this verse there are four different individuals involved in the commandment to finish it-the commandment of #1 the God of Israel, #2 of Cyrus, #3 of Darius, and #4 of Artaxerxes king of Persia.

As we read verse 15 it seems to put a little glitch in this theory, but it really doesn't if you understand it. "And this house was finished on the third day of the month Adar, which was in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king." It has been understood for many years that it wasn't finished until Artaxerxes made the last decree in 457 BC, but here in verse 15 it says that this house was finished in the 6th year of the reign of Darius, long before Artaxerxes came on the scene. What is the answer to this seeming dilemma? At this point in the prophecy, Darius finished only his part! The temple wasn't finished, according to verse 14, until Artaxerxes, the last in line, issued his decree. Darius finished his part in 515 BC. But it was 58 years later, in 457 BC, when Artaxerxes made the final decree.

Ezra 7:7,8: "And there went up some of the children of Israel, and of the priests, and the Levites, and the singers, and the porters, and the Nethinims, unto Jerusalem, in the seventh year of Artaxerxes the king. And he came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was in the seventh year of the king." As we consult history we discover that the seventh year of Artaxerxes began in the fall of 458 and ended in the fall of 457 BC, and it was in the fall of the end of that year that Artaxerxes made his decree.

What was it that Artaxerxes accomplished with his decree? If you read the rest of Ezra 7 you'll find that Artaxerxes made a decree that those who wanted to go back to the temple and work on getting it all spiffed up were to be allowed to do so, and they were to take all the gold and the silver that they wanted to, to do whatever needed to be done to finish beautifying the temple. And not only that, they were also allowed to take the vessels that Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of Solomon's temple back to Jerusalem to use in the service of God there.

Ezra 7:27 sums up what Artaxerxes' decree was all about. "Blessed be the LORD God of our fathers, which hath put such a thing as this in the king's heart, to beautify the house of the LORD which is in Jerusalem:"

The finishing touch of beautifying the temple, which was decreed in 457 BC, is the beginning point of the 2300-day prophecy of Daniel 8:14, as well as the 70 weeks of Daniel 9:24. And not only that, the decree included something else. In verse 25 it says, "And thou, Ezra, after the wisdom of thy God, that is in thine hand, set magistrates and judges, which may judge all the people that are beyond the river, all such as know the laws of thy God; and teach ye them that know them not."

This was the decree that gave Jerusalem its legal rebirth. Israel was once again an autonomous nation. And that is another specification to the fulfillment "of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem."

Let's go back to Daniel 9 and we will continue to read and explain more of these verses beginning again with verse 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: . . ."

We know that a score is 20. Threescore would be 60 and 2 more would be 62. And so we have 7 weeks and 62 weeks for a total of 69 weeks. Here it is very plain that from the time the commandment went forth to restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah would come would be 69 weeks. The prophecy says that after 69 weeks, or 483 years after 457 BC, which would be 27 AD, Messiah the Prince would come. The word Messiah means "the anointed one." What happened in 27 AD? Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River by John the Baptist and the Holy Spirit descended in the form of a dove and they heard the voice of the Father saying, "This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased."

As mentioned before, anointing was always done with oil and oil represents the Holy Spirit. We see it all happening at the baptism of Jesus as the Holy Spirit descended. Jesus was "anointed" to begin His ministry here on earth at that very point in time.

Verse 26, ". . . and after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: . . ." If you just skip over the rest of that verse for now and go straight into verse 27 it flows very naturally when it says, "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, . . ."

Messiah the Prince-Jesus-was anointed at his baptism by the Holy Spirit in 27 AD. One week or seven years later would bring us to 34 AD, and the verse says that the Messiah would be cut off in the midst of that one week, which would be 31 AD (three and a half years after His baptism).

Before we go on to explain further, let's go back and look at the part of verse 26 we left out: ". . . 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."

Who is this prince and who are the people of the prince? It's not referring to Jesus anymore because He's not the one who came and destroyed the city and the sanctuary. This is referring to Titus. Do you realize that Titus the Roman was a prince? He was the son of the Roman Emperor whose name was Vespasian. Titus was the prince and "the people of the prince" would be the Roman soldiers who followed Titus and accomplished the work of destroying the city and the sanctuary.

". . . and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined."

If you read the history of the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD you would have to agree that they came in like a flood. And right up until the end it was war and desolation. The Jewish historian, Josephus, said that over a million Jews perished in the siege of Jerusalem and the rest were taken captive.

Now let's go back to verse 27, "And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: . . ."

What was the covenant that He would confirm for one week? It was the special time when the gospel was to be preached to the Jews before going to the Gentiles. That one week or seven years lasted from 27 AD to 34 AD.

Daniel said Messiah would "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, . . ."

At the very moment when Jesus died on the cross of Calvary, the inner veil of the temple was rent in twain from top to bottom (Matthew 27:51) signifying that animal sacrifices were of no more value, because the true sacrifice, Jesus, had been offered.

". . . he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for (or because of) the overspreading of abominations he shall make it (the city and the sanctuary) desolate, . . ."

The word desolate means "to devastate or to lay waste" (Strong's #8074).

After Jesus died, did the Jews stop their animal sacrifices or did they continue on? They continued on until the temple was destroyed. God used pagan Rome to punish the Jewish people and to devastate the sanctuary and the city of Jerusalem because they rejected the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. All sacrifices brought after that point were an abomination to God. That's why it's referred to as an "overspreading of abomination." Because of that, He made it desolate. It continues by saying, ". . . even until the consummation (or the completion of its ruin), and that determined (decided) shall be poured upon the desolate (or the desolator as it says in your margin)." In other words, the agency God used to punish His people by destroying Jerusalem and the temple would itself be devastated in the end, and pagan Rome did finally come to an end only to be taken over by something worse-papal Rome

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