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DANIEL'S 70 WEEKS 

   "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."

(Daniel 9:24)

IN THE NINTH CHAPTER OF THE AMAZING BOOK THAT BEARS HIS NAME, THE "GREATLY BELOVED" PROPHET DANIEL RECOUNTS HOW HE WAS VISITED BY THE ARCHANGEL GABRIEL, AND GIVEN A TRULY REMARKABLE TIMETABLE OF DEFINITIVE EVENTS TO OCCUR OVER A PERIOD OF "SEVENTY WEEKS."

THE FIRST IMPORTANT THING TO UNDERSTAND IS THAT THESE ARE WEEKS OF YEARS, GIVING A TOTAL OF 490 YEARS, AND THESE IN TURN ARE SPLIT INTO THREE DISTINCT EPOCHS:

THE FIRST EPOCH - "7 WEEKS"

 49 YEARS, COMMENCING WITH "THE COMMANDMENT TO RESTORE AND TO BUILD JERUSALEM" (DANIEL 9:25), AND CONCLUDING WITH THAT ORDER HAVING BEEN PUT INTO EFFECT.  

THE SECOND EPOCH - "62 WEEKS"

434 YEARS, COMMENCING WITH JERUSALEM'S RESTORATION AND CONCLUDING WITH THE "CUTTING OFF" (DEATH) OF THE MESSIAH, AN UNBROKEN SPAN OF 483 YEARS FROM THE START OF THE TIME-LINE.

THE THIRD EPOCH - "1 WEEK" 

7 YEARS, COMMENCING AFTER AN UNSPECIFIED INTERVAL WITH THE "CONFIRMATION" OF A CERTAIN "COVENANT," AND CONCLUDING WITH "THE CONSUMMATION", A CONCEPT WHICH WILL BE EXAMINED LATER.

WE WILL NOW EXLORE THIS VERY REVEALING TIME-LINE IN SOME DETAIL!

THE FIRST 49 YEARS

CRUCIALLY, WHEN WAS THE COMMANDMENT TO RESTORE JERUSALEM GIVEN? IT IS RECORDED IN THE BOOK OF NEHEMIAH THAT IT WAS "IN THE MONTH NISAN, IN THE TWENTIETH YEAR OF ARTAXERXES THE KING." (NEHEMIAH 2:1). THE 2OTH. YEAR OF ARTAXERXES' REIGN COMMENCED IN 445 B.C. AND OVERLAPPED INTO 444 B.C., THE MONTH OF NISAN FALLING IN THE LATTER. (Source: The Ryrie Study Bible). JEWISH CUSTOM TAKES THE DAY OF THE MONTH, IF NOT OVERTLY STATED, TO BE THE FIRST. THIS GIVES US THE START DATE OF DANIEL'S 70 WEEKS AS:

1 NISAN, 444 B.C.

THE REBUILDING OF THE TEMPLE HAD ALREADY BEEN AUTHORISED BY CYRUS MANY YEARS BEFORE; HAVING OBTAINED THE ARTAXERXES DECREE, NEHEMIAH RETURNED TO JERUSALEM TO PERSONALLY SUPERVISE THE REBUILDING OF THE CITY WALLS. THE TOWN SQUARE WAS REBUILT BY THE END OF THE 49-YEAR PERIOD; JERUSALEM WAS ONCE AGAIN A FULLY-FUNCTIONAL, CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS METROPOLIS!

THE NEXT 434 YEARS

"After threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself."

(Daniel 9:26)

GABRIEL REVEALED TO DANIEL THE SOBERING FACT THAT THE PROMISED MESSIAH WOULD ACTUALLY HAVE BEEN "CUT OFF" - A EUPHEMISM FOR HIS BEING KILLED - BY THE END OF THE SECOND EPOCH, 483 YEARS FROM THE DATE WE HAVE NOW ESTABLISHED AS BEING 1 NISAN 444 B.C.

TIME TO REACH FOR THE CALCULATOR! BUT... BEFORE WE START TAPPING BUTTONS, WE FIRST NEED TO CONSIDER THE CONTEXT WITHIN WHICH THIS PROPHECY WAS GIVEN AND RECEIVED!

DANIEL WAS AN EXILE IN BABYLON, ONE OF THE CREME DE LA CREME OF THE JEWISH CHILDREN WHO WERE HAND-PICKED TO BE TAUGHT "THE LEARNING AND THE TONGUE OF THE CHALDEANS." (DANIEL 1:4). AS SUCH HE WOULD HAVE BEEN FULLY CONVERSANT WITH BABYLONIAN MATHEMATICS, WHICH WERE THE MOST ADVANCED IN THE ANCIENT WORLD. WORKING TO THE SEXAGESIMAL (BASE 60) SYSTEM, THE PASSAGE OF TIME WAS MEASURED IN TERMS OF 12 MONTHS OF 30 DAYS EACH, BASED ON THE LUNAR CYCLE.

WE CONSEQUENTLY NEED TO CALCULATE THESE "PROPHETIC YEARS" AS EACH BEING OF 360 DAYS DURATION, AND THEN TO CONVERT THE TOTAL INTO CONTEMPORARY "GREGORIAN CALENDAR YEARS" OF 365 DAYS APIECE, ALLOWING FOR AN EXTRA DAY EVERY FOURTH (LEAP) YEAR! NOW FOR THAT CALCULATOR...! 

483 X 360 = 173,880 DAYS

DULY ALLOWING FOR THERE BEING 1,461 DAYS PER 4 "GREGORIAN CALENDAR YEARS," THE 173,880 DAYS TRANSLATES INTO A GRAND TOTAL OF:

476 YEARS AND 21 DAYS IN OUR CONTEMPORARY RECKONING OF TIME. 

BEARING IN MIND THAT THERE IS NO "YEAR ZERO" - 1 B.C. IS IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWED BY 1 A.D. - 476 YEARS AND 21 DAYS AFTER 1 NISAN, 444 B.C. IS:

22 NISAN, 33 A.D. 

THE JEWISH FEAST OF PASSOVER COMMENCES ON 14 NISAN, AND CONCLUDES ON 21 NISAN, WHEN AT SUNDOWN 22 NISAN BEGINS!

OVER 500 YEARS BEFORE CHRIST'S BIRTH, DANIEL WAS ABLE TO CONFIRM WITH PINPOINT ACCURACY THAT BY THE CONCLUSION OF PASSOVER, BY 22 NISAN IN HIS 33RD. YEAR, HE WOULD HAVE BEEN KILLED! HOW STUPENDOUS IS THAT! TRULY GOD'S HAND IS ON THE HELM OF HISTORY!

AND IF DANIEL HAS BEEN SO RIGHT THIS FAR, CAN WE ALSO NOT TRUST HIM TO BE SIMILARLY CORRECT IN THE REMAINDER OF HIS PROPHECY? 

BETWEEN THE SECOND AND THIRD EPOCHS

FOLLOWING MESSIAH'S DEATH - FOR THE SAKE OF OTHERS, "NOT HIMSELF" AS DANIEL EMPHASISES -

" the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary."

(Daniel 9:26)

AS HISTORY RECORDS, THE CITY (JERUSALEM) AND THE SANCTUARY (THE TEMPLE) WERE DESTROYED BY THE ROMANS UNDER TITUS IN 70 A.D. IN A FINAL RUTHLESS SUPPRESSION OF JEWISH NATIONALISM. JESUS HIMSELF WARNED:

"They shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation." (Luke 19:44)

THE MENORAH WAS CARRIED OFF TO ROME IN TRIUMPH, AND THE ARCH OF TITUS (DETAIL OPPOSITE), ERECTED TO CELEBRATE THE VICTORY, CAN BE SEEN IN THE ITALIAN CAPITAL TO THIS DAY! 

IT WAS THE END OF JEWISH STATEHOOD, AND THE BEGINNING OF THE WORLD-WIDE DISPERSION KNOWN AS THE DIASPORA.

IF THE "PEOPLE" ARE CLEARLY THE ROMANS, WHO IS THE "PRINCE" REFERRED TO... AND WHAT EXACTLY IS THE "COVENANT" HE CONFIRMS? LET US FIRST LOOK MORE CLOSELY AT THE UNSPECIFIED TIME PERIOD BETWEEN THE 69TH. AND THE 70TH. OF DANIEL'S PROPHESIED WEEKS.

THE LINE AND THE LOOP

IF WE PERCEIVE THE 70 WEEKS AS BEING A STRAIGHT TIME-LINE, THEN A KIND OF "LOOP" OCCURS BETWEEN THE END OF THE 69TH. WEEK AND THE BEGINNING OF THE 70TH.

THE JEWS WERE ALWAYS SET APART TO BE BOTH THE EVIDENCE AND THE WITNESS OF THE ONE TRUE GOD; THEIR TRAGIC MAJORITY REJECTION OF MESSIAH MEANT THAT THE SPIRITUAL INITIATIVE TRANSFERRED TO GENTILE BELIEVERS, WHO WOULD EFFECTIVELY RUN WITH THE BATON "UNTIL THE FULNESS OF THE GENTILES BE COME IN." (ROMANS 11:25). THIS WOULD NOT BE SO MUCH FULNESS OF NUMBERS, AS MANY SCHOLARS HAVE ASSERTED, AS FULNESS OF SPIRITUAL POTENTIAL.

THE INITIATIVE WOULD THEN REVERT TO THE JEWS; THE IMPORTANCE OF THIS OBSERVATION CANNOT BE EMPHASISED ENOUGH! "REPLACEMENT THEOLOGY" TEACHES THAT GOD'S PROMISES TO ISRAEL HAVE DEVOLVED TO THE CHURCH INSTEAD; SADLY THIS GREAT DECEIT HAS BEEN EMBRACED BY MANY UNDISCERNING CHRISTIANS. MAKE NO MISTAKE: IT IS A LYING DOCTRINE OF DEMONS!

WE ARE CURRENTLY LIVING IN THE "CHURCH AGE," WHICH WILL END WITH THE COMMENCEMENT OF DANIEL'S 70TH. WEEK, WHEN THE JEWS WILL SEIZE THE BATON AND RUN WITH IT LIKE NO-ONE HAS EVER RUN BEFORE, WHEN THEY WILL AT LAST BECOME THE PEOPLE THEY WERE ALWAYS MEANT TO BE: A FIRE BLAZING WITH ZEAL FOR THE LORD GOD OF ISRAEL!

LIGHTING THE BLUE TOUCH PAPER

WHAT IS THE CATALYST FOR THIS UNPRECEDENTED JEWISH REVIVAL? IRONICALLY, IT WILL BE THE BETRAYAL OF ITS OWN PEOPLE BY THE ISRAELI GOVERNMENT - THE KNESSET -  WHO WILL OPT FOR PEACE AT ANY PRICE, EVEN IF IT MEANS RENEGING ON THE ABRAHAMIC COVENANT BY COLLUDING WITH THE DEVIL HIMSELF AND AGREEING A "COVENANT OF CONVENIENCE" WITH A CERTAIN "PRINCE"... THE SUPREMO OF THE NEW ROME (A.K.A. THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY): THE ANTICHRIST!

"He shall confirm the covenant with many for one week."

(Daniel 9:27)

THE SIGNING (CONFIRMATION) OF THIS PEACE TREATY SIGNALS THE START OF DANIEL'S 70TH. WEEK, THE THIRD EPOCH COMMONLY CALLED THE TRIBULATION; TO THE JEWS, "THE TIME OF JACOB'S TROUBLE." THE GREAT PROPHET ISAIAH ALSO FORESAW THIS LAMENTABLE AND SHAMEFUL ENTENTE:

"Hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem. Because ye have said,

We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:

Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD...

Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place. And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it."

(Isaiah 28:14-18)

THE PEACE PROCESS IN THE MIDDLE EAST, A PRODUCT OF MAN'S WISDOM AND SATANIC DECEPTION, WILL ULTIMATELY CONCLUDE WITH THIS CHAMBERLAIN-LIKE PIECE OF PAPER PROMISING A FALSE PEACE. THE APOSTLE PAUL ECHOED ISAIAH'S OMINOUS WARNING:

"For when they shall say,

"Peace and safety!"

then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape." 

(1 Thessalonians 5:3)

THE MID-POINT OF THE MAELSTROM

EXACTLY HALFWAY THROUGH THIS THIRD FATEFUL EPOCH AN EVENT OF MONUMENTAL SIGNIFICANCE OCCURS:

"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."

(Daniel 9:27)

PROBABLY UNDER A SPECIFIC CLAUSE OF THE PEACE TREATY, THE TEMPLE WILL HAVE BEEN RE-BUILT ON MOUNT MORIAH, AND THE ANCIENT PRACTISES OF TEMPLE WORSHIP RESTORED.

COULD SUCH AN ENORMOUS VENTURE BE REALISED WITHIN THIS 42-MONTH TIME-SCALE? EMPHATICALLY, YES! THE TEMPLE INSTITUTE IN JERUSALEM HAS ALREADY AMASSED AN IMPRESSIVE COLLECTION OF HOLY VESSELS AND VESTMENTS TO REPLACE THOSE WHICH WERE DESTROYED OR LOOTED BY THE ROMANS TWO MILLENNIA AGO.

THE TEMPLE ITSELF WILL ALMOST CERTAINLY BE A PRE-FABRICATED STRUCTURE, WITH ALL THE CONSTITUENT STONEWORK CRAFTED ELSEWHERE AND MERELY ASSEMBLED ON SITE! CONSTRUCTION COULD THEREFORE COMMENCE LONG BEFORE ITS OFFICIAL AUTHORISATION!

"It is obvious that we are rapidly approaching climactic times, in which the Holy Temple will once again become the focal point for mankind's spiritual focus."

(from: The Temple Institute's "Statement of Principles").

BUT THE DREAM OF DEVOUT JEWS WILL BECOME A NIGHTMARE: THE NEW TEMPLE WILL BE DESECRATED!

"THE ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION"

JESUS HIMSELF REFERRED FORCIBLY TO THIS ASPECT OF DANIEL'S PROPHECY, THIS PIVOTAL POINT OF NO RETURN:

"When ye shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not, (let him that readeth understand,) then let them that be in Judaea flee to the mountains."

(Mark 13:14)

IN DUE COURSE, HIS ADVICE WILL INDEED BE HEEDED; AS JOHN WRITES IN THE APOCALYPSE:

"The woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days."

(Revelation 12:6)

AND AGAIN:

"To the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time (1 YEAR), and times (2 YEARS), and half a time (1/2 YEAR, MAKING 3 1/2 YEARS IN TOTAL), from the face of the serpent."

(Revelation 12:14)

NOTE THAT THE PERIOD OF 1,260 DAYS EXACTLY CORRESPONDS TO THREE AND A HALF YEARS IN DANIEL'S BABYLONIAN MEASUREMENT OF TIME!

WITNESSING THE "ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION" MANY GOD-FEARING ISRAELIS WILL SEEK REFUGE IN THE WILDERNESS; THIS PLACE OF SAFETY HAS LONG BEEN UNDERSTOOD TO BE PETRA, THE INCREDIBLE ANCIENT CITY HEWN OUT OF THE ROCKS OF THE JORDANIAN DESERT.

"I will bring the third part through the fire, and... I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God."

(Zechariah 13:9)

THESE "RIGHTEOUS REFUGEES" WILL CONSTITUTE THE ONE-THIRD WHO WILL SURVIVE THE GREAT TRIBULATION, TO BECOME THE "ALL ISRAEL (WHO) SHALL BE SAVED" (ROMANS 11:26); THE OTHER TWO-THIRDS WILL PERISH, HAVING RECEIVED THE IRREVERSIBLE "MARK OF THE BEAST." (SEE REVELATION 13:16-18). INTERESTINGLY,

TWO-THIRDS = 66.6%

BUT WHAT OF THE SO-CALLED "ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION" THAT DIRECTLY TRIGGERS THIS PERILOUS FLIGHT? SUCH A PROFANITY HAS HAPPENED BEFORE, WHEN THE FIERCELY ANTI-SEMITIC GREEK TYRANT ANTIOCHUS EPIPHANES DESECRATED THE SANCTUARY, BY ERECTING AN IMAGE OF ZEUS, THE GREEK "KING OF THE GODS." 

THE ANTICHRIST, MASQUERADING AS MESSIAH, WILL COMMIT AN ATROCITY OF SIMILAR MEASURE. BUT HE WILL GO FURTHER, MUCH FURTHER THAN THAT. AFTER HIS SUPPRESSION OF THE EXISTING TEMPLE WORSHIP,

"he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God."

(2 Thessalonians 2:4) 

AFTER THIS ACT OF ULTIMATE BLASPHEMY, THERE ARE ONLY TWO AVAILABLE OPTIONS: TO BOW THE KNEE OR TO FLEE!

"For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be."

(The words of Jesus Christ, as recorded in Matthew 24:21) 

THE CONSUMMATION

THE TEMPLE REMAINS DESECRATED...

"even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate."

(Daniel 9:27)

WHAT IS THE "CONSUMMATION" THAT DANIEL REFERS TO, A WORD THAT APPEARS ONLY ONCE IN THE ENTIRE BIBLE? TAKING IT BACK TO SOURCE, "CONSUMMATION" DERIVES FROM THE LATIN VERB "CONSUMMO", MEANING "SUM UP; COMPLETE, PERFECT." (Reference: Collins Latin Gem Dictionary).

IT IS A DIRECT REFERENCE TO THE SECOND COMING OF MESSIAH, WHO WILL RETURN TO OVERTHROW ANTICHRIST AND COMPLETE GOD'S REDEMPTIVE PLAN FOR MANKIND WITH THE ESTABLISHMENT OF HIS MILLENNIAL KINGDOM ON EARTH. NOT ONLY IS THAT PLAN THEN COMPLETE: IT IS PERFECT!

"He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he."

(Deuteronomy 32:4)

ONE FINAL THOUGHT TO COMPLETE THIS STUDY. VISUALIZE A ROCK IN THE SEA, WITH A FEROCIOUS STORM BLOWING IN! IF WE ARE IN A BOAT ON THAT WATER, IT IS OF VITAL IMPORTANCE WHICH SIDE OF THE ROCK WE ARE ON; ON THE ONE SIDE WE RISK BEING DASHED TO PIECES, ON THE OTHER SIDE IT IS OUR SHELTER AND OUR SAFETY. JESUS CHRIST IS THE ROCK!

WHICH SIDE OF THE ROCK ARE YOU ON?

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