Even though God, Himself, does not change, the method by which He has dealt with mankind has changed. In each dispensation, God has dealt with mankind in a variety of ways.
We are living in the dispensation of “grace” which we also refer to as “the church age”. This time is also known as “the last days” and God is dealing with us in a totally different way than He has ever dealt with mankind before. Hebrews points this out to us.
Heb 1:1 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spoke in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,
2 Has in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he has appointed heir of all things,
There are three “comings” of Jesus mentioned in the Bible. The first “coming” was the advent of Jesus being born into the earth through a virgin. This event was prophesied in the Old Testament and has already taken place almost 2,000 years ago.
The next “coming” will be when Jesus comes for his church, which is his body. This event is the next “big event” on God’s calendar and in the Bible it is called “our gathering together unto him”. This event is referred to, in modern terminology, as “the rapture” of the church, which is a good word. Although the word “rapture” is not in the Bible, we use if because of its familiarity in the church! The rapture is not prophesied in the Old Testament. The body of Christ, which is the church and Jesus coming for his church, are both mysteries and therefore not revealed in the Old Testament.
The third “coming”, which is called the Second Advent, is when Jesus will come back to earth with his church. This event is prophesied in the Old Testament. The Second Advent will take place at the end of the tribulation period. At this time Jesus will set up his millennium reign in Jerusalem on the throne of David and the government will be upon his shoulders and we will rule and reign with him.
In Daniel chapter 9, Daniel is given a prophecy and this prophecy is the hub of all end time events. Many people do not understand end times, because they have not studied Daniel’s prophecy, and they do not understand the term “mystery” in the New Testament. Jesus himself referred to Daniel’s prophecy. Also, the book of Revelation builds on this prophecy. It is necessary to understand the prophecy of Daniel, in order to understand end time events.
Without a clear understanding of Daniel’s prophecy, end time events and the book of Revelations are just open for guesswork or speculation; however, if we will just let the Bible say what it says, we will understand end times more clearly. So let’s look at Daniel’s prophecy.
Dan 9:1 In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, which was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans;
2 In the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by books [underline books] the number of the years, [underline years] whereof the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.
Notice the two words that are underlined are the word “books” and the word “years”. The word “books” refer to Jeremiah’s writings and the word “years” refer to seventy years of captivity. At the time of this writing Daniel was in captivity in Babylon.
The Chaldeans had come in and destroyed the city and had killed masses of people, but they had taken a remnant into Babylon. While they were in captivity there was much concern as to what would happen to the Jewish Nation.
While they were there Daniel came across the scrolls of Jeremiah. As he studied the books of Jeremiah, Daniel understood not only why they were in captivity but also the number of the years that they would be in captivity.
Daniel knew the date when they went into captivity and by understanding the years Daniel knew the time when they would come out of captivity. When we study Lev. 26 and start with verse 27 we will see why the Nation of Israel was in captivity.
From the time the reign of King David for 490 years the children of Israel had backslid into an apostate state. It started gradually, but by the end of the 490 years Israel had entered into Paganism and had gone a whoring after other gods, to the point that God had reached his limit with them and it cost them their Nation, their place of worship, and many of their countrymen.
For 490 year God’s long suffering and grace had been extended to them, but they refused his grace and disobeyed his word. God sent them Prophets with Truth to try to teach them, that if you do not turn from your wicked ways you will be taken into captivity. As we know from scripture, they killed the Prophets; they would cast them into prison to keep from hearing the message of God. The children of Israel continued to practice Paganism to the point that God’s grace ran out. By reading the prophecies of Jeremiah, Daniel came to understood all of these things.
One of the first areas of offense to the Law of Moses was the land Sabbath. They were supposed to plant for 6 years and on the 7th year they were supposed to let the land rest. God would give them a bumper crop in the 6th year and then the land was to rest the 7th year. After the 7th year they would again replant the land. Israel had violated the law of the land Sabbath for 490 years.
Now do a little math and you will see how much time they owed the land. If they were to let the land rest every 7th year and they had gone for 490 years without letting the land rest, how much time did they owe to the land? 490 divided by 7 = 70 years!!
God’s grace and mercy went to the limit with them, but finally God’s grace came to an end and the Jews were removed from the land and taken away captive and the land rested.
Lev 26:27 And if ye will not for all this hearken unto me, but walk contrary unto me;
28 Then I will walk contrary unto you also in fury; and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for
your sins.
29 And ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat.
30 And I will destroy your high places, and cut down your images, and cast your carcasses upon the carcasses of your idols, and my soul shall abhor you.
31 And I will make your cities waste, and bring your sanctuaries unto desolation, and I will not smell the savour of your sweet odours.
32 And I will bring the land into desolation: and your enemies, which dwell therein shall be astonished at it.
33 And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you: and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste.
34 Then shall the land enjoy her sabbaths, as long as it lieth desolate, and ye be in your enemies' land; even then shall the land rest, and enjoy her sabbaths.
35 As long as it lieth desolate it shall rest; because it did not rest in your sabbaths, when ye dwelt upon it.
Let’s look at 2nd Chronicles 36:14. Sin had taken over the Nation of Israel. The pollution of idols had filled the land of Israel. The practice of Paganism had gone to the top. The Kings, the Levites, the Priest and all of the people were worshiping false gods. When we look at the extent to which God punished these people, it is extreme.
It is important that we understanding this severity! God had extended his grace and mercy to the Nation of Israel for 490 years before his judgment came on them. They ignored God’s Word of the Law. They ignored the Prophets warnings to repent. They ignored every effort of God and did not repent. They ended up loosing their Nation and found them self in captivity.
2 Chr 36:14 Moreover all the chief of the priests, and the people, transgressed very much after
all the abominations of the heathen; and polluted the house of the LORD which he had
hallowed in Jerusalem.
15 And the LORD God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up betimes, and sending; because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling place:
16 But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against his people, till there was no remedy.
17 Therefore he brought upon them the king of the Chaldees, who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion upon young man or maiden, old man, or him that stooped for age: he gave them all into his hand.
18 And all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king, and of his princes; all these he brought to Babylon.
19 And they burnt the house of God, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem, and burnt all the palaces thereof with fire, and destroyed all the goodly vessels thereof.
20 And them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon; where they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia:
21 To fulfil the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: for as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfil threescore and ten years.
Daniel was one of those who were carried away captive. He was young when he was taken captive but while in captivity, Daniel remembered the Lord. He continued to worship the Lord. The importance of God’s Word never departed from Daniel. He continued to study the scrolls and through the writing of Jeremiah he learned of the 70 years of captivity. He learned why they were in captivity and how long they were going to be in captivity. Daniel knew they were very close to the end of the captivity.
What Daniel began to do then was to fast and pray and to repent over his Nation and repent for the sins of the people. Daniel then asked God a question! He said God I know why we are in captivity and I know how long we are going to be in captivity, but what is going to happen to the Jewish people when we get out of captivity?
Daniel must have prayed the prayer of faith, because he got an Ephesians 3 answer of abundantly above all that he could ask or think. In fact the Lord gave him a prophecy and a vision that ran all the way to the Second Advent of the Lord, which will happen at the end of the tribulation period.
Dan 9:3 And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes:
4 And I prayed unto the LORD my God, and made my confession, and said, O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments;
5 We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments:
6 Neither have we hearkened unto thy servants the prophets, which spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.
7 O Lord, righteousness belongs unto you, but unto us confusion of faces, as at this day; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto all Israel, that are near, and that are far off, through all the countries whither you hast driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against you.
8 O Lord, to us belongs confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against thee.
9 To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against him;
10 Neither have we obeyed the voice of the LORD our God, to walk in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets.
11 Yea, all Israel have transgressed thy law, even by departing, that they might not obey thy voice; therefore the curse is poured upon us, and the oath that is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, because we have sinned against him.
12 And he has confirmed his words, which he spoke against us, and against our judges that judged us, by bringing upon us a great evil: for under the whole heaven hath not been done as hath been done upon Jerusalem.
13 As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us: yet made we not our prayer before the LORD our God, that we might turn from our iniquities, and understand thy truth.
14 Therefore hath the LORD watched upon the evil, and brought it upon us: for the LORD our God is righteous in all his works which he does: for we obeyed not his voice.
15 And now, O Lord our God, that hast brought thy people forth out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and hast gotten thee renown, as at this day; we have sinned, we have done wickedly.
16 O Lord, according to all thy righteousness, I beseech thee, let thine anger and thy fury be turned away from thy city Jerusalem, thy holy mountain: because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and thy people are become a reproach to all that are about us.
17 Now therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of thy servant, and his supplications, and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord's sake.
18 O my God, incline thine ear, and hear; open thine eyes, and behold our desolations, and the city which is called by thy name: for we do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousness, but for thy great mercies.
19 O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, hearken and do; defer not, for thine own sake, O my God: for thy city and thy people are called by thy name.
Daniel knew how to intercede for his nation. Daniel knew the Law of Moses and he began doing according to the Law of Leviticus.
Lev 26:40 If they shall confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers, with their trespass which they trespassed against me, and that also they have walked contrary unto me;
41 And that I also have walked contrary unto them, and have brought them into the land of their enemies; if then their uncircumcised hearts be humbled, and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity:
42 Then will I remember my covenant with Jacob, and also my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham will I remember; and I will remember the land.
Even while Daniel was fasting and praying and repenting over the sins of his people, an instructing angel showed up and interrupted his prayer and began to instruct Daniel.
Dan 9:20 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, while 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 show thee; for thou art greatly beloved: therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision.
Again, one of the things that Daniel was concerned about was what was going to happen when they got out of captivity. This prophecy is given in Daniel chapter 9 verses 24 through 27. A statement was made by the Angel to Daniel, of “know and understand”. If Daniel could “know and understand” then we can know and understand. Knowing and understanding these four verses will keep you in focus with end time prophecy. These four verses are the hub of all end time prophecies.
Dan 9:24 Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city,
Notice who Gabriel is talking about here! The Jewish people and their holy city of Jerusalem! These verses are not talking to the Church in America. Daniel did not even know what the Church was! Why? Because the Church is a mystery! What is a mystery? The mysteries are the things hidden in God before the foundations of the world, but are now being revealed to the Saints during this dispensation of grace.
Again, who are we talking about here? Jews and Jerusalem! We must turn off our church mind and turn on our Jewish mind for a few minutes here. We are talking about Jewish time here!
Let’s look at this term “seventy weeks”. The word weeks in the Hebrew literally means “sevens” they just translated it “weeks”. #7620 shabuwa` (shaw-boo'-ah); literal, sevened, i.e. a week (specifically, of years): This could have been translated as “ seventy sevens” and the context of why they were in captivity was seventy groups of sevens or seventy land Sabbaths over a 490 year span. So the length of time of this “seventy sevens” is 490 years.
God had showed Daniel that before captivity there were seventy sevens, or 490 years, of rebellion, which led to their captivity. Now the Angel was telling Daniel that after captivity there would be a second period of “seventy sevens”, or 490 years. The angel said this period of seventy sevens shall be determined on thy people and thy holy city.
Make sure that you understand this time frame here! God was saying to Daniel that just as there were seventy Sabbaths before captivity, there will be seventy more Sabbaths after captivity, or 490 more years of Jewish time will be lived out upon the earth after captivity.
The Angel said that these seventy weeks are “determined” on thy people and thy holy city. Let’s look at the word “determined” in the Hebrew.
Determined is #2852 chathak (khaw-thak'); a primitive root; properly, to cut off, i.e. (figuratively) to decree:
God is telling Daniel that he is going to cut off from time or we would say cut out a section of time and make some decrees as to what would happen in this period of time. God is telling Daniel that he is going to ignore the rest of time, but that he is going to cut out this one stretch of time of 490 years just for Daniel to examine. God is telling Daniel that I am getting ready to show what will happen during this group of “seventy sevens”, which is 490 years. God is cutting out this section of the timetable, so Daniel will know and understand what will happen after the captivity ends.
The rest of verse 24 tells Daniel what will take place during these 490 years.
Dan 9:24b: 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.
Look again at what is going to happen during these 490 years. Let’s list them!
#1 To Finish the transgression.
#2 To make an end to sins.
#3 To make reconciliation for iniquity.
#4 To bring in everlasting righteousness.
#5 To seal up the vision and prophecy.
#6 To anoint the most Holy.
Now you tell me, when will all 6 of these things be completed? When will the Jews anoint the Most Holy?
As pertaining to these 6 items, when will they take place? When Jesus comes back!!! Is that the “the rapture” or “the Second Advent”? The Second Advent!!! Why do we know and understand that it is the “Second Advent”? Because the church is a “mystery”! Daniel did not know about the church or the rapture of the church!
When does the Second Advent occur? At the end of the tribulation period! What is God telling Daniel here? The end of these 490 years is the end of the tribulation period! What does the end of the tribulation period give way to? The Millennium! God is telling Daniel that after these 490 years of Jewish time the millennium will begin. The angel said there would be 490 more years of Jewish time until the millennium.
Now don’t get all locked up in your mind because it has been thousands of years since God told Daniel this bit of news! This is very easy to understand!
Now verse 25- 27 tells us when the last 490 years of Jewish time will begin and how it will be divided.
Here is how it will be divided up. Seven Weeks. Sixty-two weeks. And One week. There are three divisions of the 70 weeks and something big will happen at the end of each of the three groups.
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.
Let’s particularly notice that the 490 year period did not begin the minute when they get out of captivity.
Verse 25 tells us exactly when the last 490 years of Jewish time begins to tick off of God’s Jewish stopwatch. The Angel is telling Daniel that when the commandment goes forth to rebuild and restore Jerusalem will signal the beginning of the last 490 years of Jewish time. Now when did that happen?
Neh 2:5 And I said unto the king, If it please the king, and if thy servant have found favour in thy sight, that thou would send me unto Judah, unto the city of my fathers' sepulchers, that I may build it.
When King Artaxerses granted that desire of Nehemiah and made the decree to rebuild the city of Jerusalem, God started his Jewish stopwatch, which was set to expire in 490 years. That decree, or commandment, began the countdown of the last 490 years of Jewish time.
Again notice the instruction of the Angel and the division of the weeks! 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. Again from the commandment by King Artaxerses until Messiah the Prince shall be 69 weeks.
How long is 69 weeks? 483 years! 69 x 7 = 483 years, however the 69 weeks is broken down into two time periods of 7 weeks and 62 weeks. How long is 7 weeks? 7 x 7 = 49 years! At the end of 7 weeks the walls and the city was rebuilt. Then after 62 more weeks Messiah the Prince was presented to the nation of Israel when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the donkey.
As prophesied by Zechariah, Messiah the Prince was presented to the Nation of Israel in the form of Jesus riding on a donkey. The following is first the prophecy then the fulfillment.
Zech 9:9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.
Matt 21:1 And when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and were come to Bethphage, unto the mount of Olives, then sent Jesus two disciples,
2 Saying unto them, Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her: loose them, and bring them unto me.
3 And if any man say ought unto you, ye shall say, The Lord hath need of them; and straightway he will send them.
4 All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying,
5 Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass.
6 And the disciples went, and did as Jesus commanded them,
7 And brought the ass, and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and they set him thereon.
8 And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strawed them in the way.
9 And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.
This act of prophecy, spoken by Zechariah, and fulfilled by Jesus ended the 69th week of Daniel’s prophecy. However there is “one week” of Jewish time yet to be lived out. Notice what Daniel recorded next.
Dan 9:26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself:
Notice the word “after”. Notice that it was after the end of the 69th week that Messiah was cut off. Jesus rode into town on the donkey and about three days later he went to the cross. Three days later at the cross is the time that Jesus, the Messiah, was cut off! Notice that Jesus was not cut of for his own benefit. Oh praise God! He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquity, and his visage was marred more than any man and his form more than the sons of man. This is part of the redemptive exchange that Jesus made on behalf of the people of the world.
Now if we back up to verse 25 again and we can see that Messiah the Prince has a capital “P” and when we continue with verse 26 you will notice that there is a prince mentioned there also, but it does not have a capital “P”! That prince has a small “p”. Meaning that they are not the same prince! There are two princes mentioned here. One is Messiah the Prince and the other prince with the small “p” refers to the man we call the Antichrist.
26b 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.
A little English protocol here! What is the subject of the sentence? ___ The People!
Who is the “prince” that shall come? ____ The Antichrist!
Where does the Antichrist arise from? ____ The revised Roman Empire!
So who are the “people”? ___ The Romans!
This is a prophecy of what would happen to Jerusalem and the Temple after Messiah was cut off. What happened some 40 years after Jesus was crucified? Titus and the Roman legion came in and destroyed the city and the Temple in 70 AD.
One might ask, why didn’t Daniel just say the Romans shall destroy the city and the sanctuary? Well, there were no Romans at that time. The Roman Empire came along later in history.
Now go to the next verse and notice what the prince with a small “p” will do.
Dan 9:27a And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week:
The “he” that shall confirm this covenant with many for one week (or seven years) is the agent of Satan, who we know as the Antichrist. Antichrist will arise out of the revised Roman Empire and he will try to control the world through the one world government and will even try to defeat God and his Christ with the combined military strength of the nations.
Notice that Daniel states that in the middle of the week (or 3 and 1/2 years into the 70th week) is when Antichrist steps up his attempt to control and he stops the worship of God. Here is government controlling religion.
Dan 9:27b 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.
This verse is describing the last “week” of Daniel’s prophecy, which is the 70th week and this week is yet to come. Daniel’s 70th week has not been lived out yet on the earth. There is one more week or seven more years of Jewish time to be lived out upon the earth. Remember now what the angel said to Daniel, seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and thy holy city.
This is highly important that we know and understand this fact, in order to rightly divide other passages of scriptures.
A correct name for the tribulation period is the second half of “Daniel’s 70th week”. Again going back up to verse 24, who did the Angel say the seventy weeks were determined upon? Thy people and thy holy city!
While instructing his disciples, Jesus referred to the 70th week of Daniel’s prophecy.
Matt 24:15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso reads, let him understand:)
Jesus commands us to understand this prophecy and Paul gives some expanded teaching on the 70th week in 2nd Thes 2nd chapter.
II Th 2:3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.
Daniel said that “he” that confirmed the covenant for one week would stop the sacrifice and oblation in the middle of the week, or 3 and 1/2 years into the week. Paul gives further information of this act by Antichrist. Not only will he stop the worship of God, he will set himself up in the Temple as God and will demand to be worshiped as God.
II Th 2:5 Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
6 And now ye know what withholds that he [Antichrist] might be revealed in his time.
Do you know what the “what” is, which is holding back the revealing of Antichrist? Let’s not answer yet. Let’s get a bit more information.
II Th 2:7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth [to hold down] will let, until he be taken out of the way.
8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
What is holding back the revealing of Antichrist? The church is the restraining force holding back the man of sin!!! Most people say that it is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit was on the earth before we were and the Holy Spirit will be here after the church has been removed from the earth during the tribulation period.
The coming in verse 8 is the Second Advent when Antichrist will be destroyed. The coming in verse 1 is our gathering together unto the Lord, which we call the rapture.
So we can see that the Jewish age has never been completed. The Jewish age has only been stopped and it will begin again. That will take place after the church is removed. When the prince with the small ”p” confirms the covenant with the many, then the last week or the last seven years of Jewish time will begin and be completed.
The church age, which is the dispensation of grace, has been inserted in between the 69th and the 70th week of Daniel’s prophecy and is called the last days. The end of the church age will be our gathering together unto the Lord and we are told that we will meet the Lord in the air. We refer to that as the “rapture” of the church. Even though the word “rapture” is not in the bible, is a perfect word to describe that event in the English language.
rap·ture 1. The state of being transported by a lofty emotion; ecstasy. 2. An expression of ecstatic feeling. 3. The transporting of a person from one place to another, especially to heaven.
We hold the view that church age believers will not be part of the 70th week of Daniel’s timeline or go through the tribulation period. We do not see in scripture how the church age and the Jewish age can coexist on the earth. Just as God stopped the Jewish age in order to start the church age, we understand that God, in the same manner, must stop the church age in order to restart the last 7 years of Jewish time, which includes the tribulation period. Of course we know that there are many well known scholars and teachers out there writing books and teaching on TV and from the pulpits that the rapture is a lie. We do not hold that view.
Some people ask this question; how can there be a gap between the 69th and the 70th week without Daniel being able to see that time period? Because that time period is the church age and the church was a mystery. The church age was not revealed to the Old Testament prophets.
There are those who will say, well we cannot just can’t go around sticking big gaps of time in the scriptures between verses. You just cannot say that Daniel saw Messiah cut off in verse 26 and then say that there is some 2000 years between his next sentences in verse 27. Well let’s look at some scriptures in which that practice is clearly takes place.
Isa 9:6 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, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
The child that was born was Jesus and the son that was given is the spirit of Christ. Is the government upon his shoulders now? No, mankind still has dominion on the earth as per Genesis 1:26. Mankind is the author of all this wickedness we are experiencing on the earth by earthly man made governments.
However, during the millennium the government will be upon the shoulders of Jesus as He sits upon the throne of David in Jerusalem. The millennium will not start until after the Second Advent, which will happen at the end of the tribulation. Huge time gap there in the middle of a sentence!
Look at the time when Jesus announced his public ministry. He used scripture to announce his ministry, but also stopped in the middle of a sentence.
Luke 4:16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.
17 And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,
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.
Now when we examine the prophecy that Jesus was reading we can see that he stopped before the prophecy being read was finished.
Isa 61:1 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;
2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;
Jesus stopped before the day of vengeance of our God. When is the day of vengeance of our God? At the end of the tribulation period! The tribulation period is the end of the 70th week of Daniel’s prophecy. There is a huge gap of time in this verse, between the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God.
Ps 118:26 Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the LORD: we have blessed you out of the house of the LORD.
This is the verse, which the people were familiar with and were shouting when Jesus came into town on the donkey. Did they bless him out of the house of the Lord? NO! Three days later they cried crucified him! However, in the millennium the Temple will be rebuilt and the last part of this verse will then be fulfilled. There is another huge gap of time here in this verse between the donkey ride and the Temple blessings.
Understanding that the Bible is not written in chronological order will be very helpful when we get over to Revelation. If fact it is helpful to know that about all scripture. When something is written in chronological order, it is usually denoted with terms like; “immediately after”, or “and when”, or “and then”, or “following”.
Let’s go back to the Daniel 9 and look at the war in verse 26 and the war in verse 27. Those are not the same war, although the terminology is similar in both wars.
The war in verse 26 was the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 AD by the Romans. The war in verse 27 will be a future war, which will take place at the end of the tribulation period. In fact we often refer to the 70th week of Daniel’s prophecy as the tribulation period but Jesus describes the great tribulation as being with the last 3 ½ years of the 70th week.
Matt 24:15 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:)
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.
We also should also keep in mind that the Bible terms “the last days” and “the end times” are not two terms or phrases that refer to the same time period.
Grace and Peace multiplied in the name of Jesus.
Compiled by Jerry Thomas 10/15/18
All scripture references are (KJV) unless otherwise denoted.
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