Knowing When Daniel’s 70th Week Has Started :: By John Chandler
Daniel 9:27 “Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week; but in the middle of the week he shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, even until the consummation, which is determined, is poured out on the desolate.” I […]
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Daniel 9:27 “Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week; but in the middle of the week he shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, even until the consummation, which is determined, is poured out on the desolate.”
I start this article with Daniel 9:27 as a means to refresh your thinking on what this verse reveals. However, I encourage you to further refresh yourself by also reading Daniel 9:24-27.
While this article’s primary focus is having confidence that the start of Daniel’s 70th week is knowable and observable, there are other elements of Daniel’s entire 70-Weeks prophecy that are also relevant to my position regarding the start of the 70th week.
So, What’s My Beef?
I recently heard a YouTube presentation by a fairly well-known prophecy teacher wherein he posited those living on the earth potentially may not know when Daniel’s 70th week officially begins. He is not the only one that thinks this is a possibility, as I have heard at least one other preacher take a similar position.
I wholeheartedly disagree with that prophecy teacher’s position. I believe those living in the world at the time of this 70th-week event will see and know this event is happening or is about to happen. If they are even paying half attention and hold the slightest clue of the importance of this event, they won’t get caught unawares.
Let me add a qualifier here: our Most High God, our Lord Jesus, always reigns sovereign and supreme. He will do whatever He has purposed and in the manner He has purposed. I am no one to counsel Him. I humbly yield to Him. Now on to what I think and why.
For our Most High God, the Lord Jesus, to remain true and consistent with His holy character, His unfailing inerrant word, and His established pattern and practice, He must publicly make known the start of Daniel’s 70th week.
Consider the entire 70-weeks prophecy found in Daniel 9:24-27. Of those elements that were fulfilled in the past, I believe every element was publicly fulfilled and publicly known. The fulfillment of each past element was knowable and observable. And we students of Bible prophecy may certainly look back to see how each element was made public.
Check out These Observations:
1. Nehemiah 2:1-8: The decree given by King Artaxerxes on March 5, 444 B.C. that officially launched the beginning of the 70-weeks prophecy countdown was public and openly known by others:
a) Nehemiah made his request to return to Jerusalem to build the wall and the city, publicly and openly in the king’s court; vs. 5
b) The queen (Esther?) was also present; vs. 6.
c) Nehemiah requested and the king granted at least three letters; vs. 7-8. It’s likely others of the king’s court wrote out these letters; the letters were then likely signed and sealed by the king, then delivered to Nehemiah; vs. 8b. No telling how many hands were involved in this open and public process.
i.The king granted multiple letters to the governors of the region beyond the river; vs.7.
ii.The king granted a letter to Asaph, the keeper of the king’s forest; vs.8.
2. Nehemiah preparing for his travel to Jerusalem was likely public and openly known as he gathered and assembled people and resources; vs.9.
3. Nehemiah’s many efforts to build the wall while enduring and overcoming much opposition and adversity were public and openly known; Nehemiah 3:7-8; 6:1-16.
4. The wall being completely rebuilt in a supernaturally amazing 52 days was public and openly known; vs. 6:15-16.
5. The remaining portions of Jerusalem being rebuilt over the course of the next 49 years were public and openly known (seven times seven weeks).
6. Our Messiah King Jesus entering Jerusalem riding a donkey on that faithful Palm Sunday, March 30, A.D. 33, was public and openly known (seven weeks + sixty-two weeks = 69 weeks); John 12:12-15; Matthew 21:1-11.
7. When our Messiah, King Jesus, was cut-off, but not for Himself, just a few days after Palm Sunday when He was crucified was public and openly known; multiple verses and passages.
8. When the people (Romans) of the prince prevailed in 70 A.D., destroying the temple and Jerusalem, it was public and openly known; Matthew 23:37-39; Matthew 24:1-2; Mark 13:1-2; Luke 21:5-6.
Jumping To Elements Awaiting Future Fulfillment:
1. He (the prince who is to come) will confirm a covenant with many for one week (Daniel’s 70th week). Likely a public and open event; Daniel 9:27.
a) The covenant likely authorizes resuming the sacrifice and offering and building the third temple; very public events and will also include a public but maybe a subdued Red Heifer sacrifice.
b) It’s tough enough for a handful of people to keep something secret but virtually impossible for many to keep a matter secret; someone will leak.
c) More likely, “the prince” will make this a very public and open event to serve his purposes and to show the world how “tolerant” he is toward Israel and the Jewish people. The prince will likely show himself as Israel’s “benefactor,” seducing the Jewish secular and religious leadership to enter an agreement with death and Sheol. See also Isaiah 28:14-19.
d) Ostensibly what this covenant authorizes Israel to do will enrage the Arabs and so-called Palestinians, and they will publicly spew out their rage and initiate public acts of violence.
2. The sacrifices and offerings in the third temple will have been rockin’ along for half the week; then, suddenly, in the middle of the week, the prince who is to come brings the sacrifices and offerings to an abrupt end. A very public and open event; vs. Daniel 9:27.
3. In the middle of the week, the prince who is the anti-christ, the son of perdition, the son of destruction, aka the beast, abominates and makes desolate the temple. A very public and open and shocking spectacle; vs. Daniel 9:27.
4. In the middle of the week, the prince who is the anti-christ, the son of perdition, the son of destruction, aka the beast, presents himself and sits in the temple and shows himself and exalts himself as God. A very public and open and shocking spectacle; vs. 2 Thessalonians 2:4.
5. The prince who is the anti-christ, the son of perdition, the son of destruction, aka the beast, is permitted to very publicly continue his abomination that makes the temple desolate for 42 months, 1,260 days, 3.5 years, for a time and times and half a time … a noteworthy length of time and a very public event and public spectacle; Daniel 9:27; Revelation 13:5.
6. The prince who is the anti-christ, the son of perdition, the son of destruction, aka the beast, is utterly consummated and cut off; he is totally destroyed and entirely annihilated at the battle of Jerusalem by our Warrior King Jesus “whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming.”
a) A very public and amazing and glorious event! See also: Daniel 9:27; 2 Thessalonians 2:8; Revelation 19:19-21; Matthew 24:30; Mark 13:26; Luke 21:27; and Revelation 1:7.
An Obvious Timeline with Obvious Milestones:
For 483 years, from the decree issued by king Artaxerxes to that faithful Palm Sunday, including the crucifixion, the timeline was clearly laid out. The timeline and each milestone were knowable and observable.
Have no doubt! Our Most High God, the Lord Jesus, has publicly shown us in history and plainly makes known what the people of Daniel’s 70th week, aka the seven-year tribulation period, may obviously expect.
Our Lord Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He has established a precedent-setting string of obvious events and milestones during the historical part of Daniel’s 70th week. He will not change His habit and pattern during the final yet future 70th week. He desires the world to know. He does not want anyone that is half-paying attention to miss what is unfolding since the prince entering into covenant with Israel and the Jewish people officially marks the beginning of the most horrific seven-year tribulation period in human history; a period of existential threat to humankind.
We church-age-of-grace believers and followers of the Lord Jesus will not experience these events firsthand as our Blessed Hope, our Most High God, our Lord Jesus, will have previously evacuated us at the Rapture.
However, those living in the world, those earth-dwellers, at the pre-determined time of these events, are destined to suffer horribly, and many … most … will die under the worst possible circumstances.
The good news is these events beginning with the signing of the covenant are yet future. You may escape these events and their associated horrors. All who call upon the Lord Jesus, who believe in Him and trust Him alone, will be saved.
Admit that you are a sinner and that you need a Savior. Believe in/upon the Lord Jesus that He is that Savior. Call upon the Lord Jesus to save you.
Today is the day of salvation. Right now is the time to believe on the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ and to trust Him and to follow Him, and to choose Him alone.
Maranatha!
John Chandler
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