Sept 98
70 Weeks
#18 The worst moment for the atheist is when he is really thankful and has nobody to thank. Only a fool would say to himself, “There is no God.” Psalm 53:1a
We have discovered that there is a great amount of prophecy in the Bible. So much of that prophecy has come true. What do we look at when it names an end time? We need to ask; if the rest is true in history, are the end times true as well? How much longer do we have on earth until God stops it with His return? But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the father alone. Mathew 24:36
So God has His appointed time, and in Scripture it even says we shall not even understand the prophecy until the last days. Let us go over just one of many end time prophecies and see if we can understand it.
One of the most well known prophecies in the Bible is the seventy weeks of Daniel. It is short yet very detailed and most of it has come true already. Let me describe what is going on at this time of the prophecy:
When Israel became a nation, God gave a law to the people. One of the laws was that there was to be a Jubilee every seven years for the farmers. On the sixth year God would give them a bumper crop, enough for two years, so they could let the land rest. It also gave them a break from work every seven years. Wouldn’t that be great today?
Well, as typical humans, the Israelites decided to plant that seventh year and what do you know, they got another crop. So every year they planted, and as God is always faithful, they still got a bumper crop on the sixth year. This makes great economical sense, but you are still breaking the law.
After four hundred and ninety years of this, God had had enough. He had sent prophets to warn Israel to no avail. So He decided the only way to allow the land to rest for the seventy years that were stolen from it was to remove His people. Granted, they were breaking every other law in the book and in great rebellion to God.
So Babylon came and first swept Israel, then nineteen years later took the nation of Judah and Jerusalem (Israel had broken into two parts many years before). So fulfilling a great many prophecies, Israel went into captivity for seventy years (one for every Jubilee missed so far). These were not easy times for the people of Israel but I won’t get into that here.
Jeremiah (25:11) prophesied Seventy years in captivity for Israel. When Daniel looked at that (when he was very old and the 70 years was almost up) he knew that his people still were not taking God seriously (times sure change now that we have the facts today, don’t they ) then he started fasting and praying to God about delivering His people Israel. Daniel also desired to know what was to come for his nation. So God sent a messenger Angel to reveal a vision to Daniel.
Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make and end of sin, to make an atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy place. (Daniel 9:24)
This is the promise, and it contains a number of things that God will purge from the earth. An end of sin, of slighting the Lord, yet He is the one who provides the ultimate sacrifice (Jesus) for us. That sacrifice grants us righteousness and so much more
So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there will be seven weeks and sixty – two weeks; it will be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of distress.
We know from history that the date of the decree was March 14, 445 BC and that the Jewish calendar was a 360 day year, but is a week really a week? We know from the law that God called the seven years a week and as there is a Sabbath day in each week there also was to be one in each week of years. It fits that God would use these weeks as a week of years. So we would have another 490 years to go wouldn’t we?
Wait, seven and sixty–two weeks makes 69 weeks. That makes 483 years. Put that in 360 day years and you come up with 173,880 days. When you add the days from March 14, 445 BC you come to the date April 6, 32 AD. Now the big question: What happened on April 6, 32 AD? The fulfillment of this and another prophecy of the Messiah came to pass.
Behold your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, humble and mounted on a donkey. (Zechariah 9:9) Let the Bible describe what happened on that day. And they brought it to Jesus, and they threw their garments on the colt, and put Jesus on it. And as He was going, they were spreading their garments in the road. And as He was approaching, near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the miracles which they had seen. (Luke 19:35 – 37)
Awesome, the King had come just as it was foretold. Jesus presented himself as the King. But he knew what would come once He reached Jerusalem. He was a sacrifice that God provided and God used to make those who stand for His namesake as righteous for all time. But there is something missing isn’t there. Not only is there sin still in the world but there is still that last week. What happened to that last week?
We need to look at the next verse. Then after the sixty – two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end will come with a flood even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined.
Of the first seven weeks, we are not quite sure what happened, most likely the finishing of the Temple. Then just after the 69th week, about a week (of days) Jesus Christ had died, atoned, resurrected and soon after rose to the Father in heaven. There was a gap between the sixty-nine and the seventieth week. It is this gap, sometimes known as the age of the gentiles (that means most likely you and me) that the Messiah will be cut off.
The 'people of the prince' is speaking about the Romans. In AD 70 the Roman army under Titus lay siege then took Jerusalem and burnt it to the ground. Fulfilling many of Jesus’ prophecies making Him a prophet in the least.
At the fall of Jerusalem many of the Jews were scattered about the earth like a flood. There can be no doubt that there has been war ever since.
So this seventieth week is still to come. When? And how will we know the signs? Let us consider the parable of the fig tree, it was often associated with Israel. In one day of Jesus’ ministry He passed by a fig tree. He desired of the fruit but it did not yield any. It was just as Israel was not yielding any Godly fruit. Jesus cursed it saying, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again!” (Mark 11:14) The very next day they went right passed the fig tree and it had withered from the roots up. Yes, Israel would dry up.
When Jesus was speaking of end times events, He said, “Now learn from the parable of the fig tree: when it’s branch has already become tender, and puts forth it’s leaves, you know that summer is near; even so you too, when you see all these things, recognize that He is near, right at the door. Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. (Matthew 24:32-34)
He foretold Israel coming into existence again and being ready for bearing fruit. Israel came back into existence (unlike any other nation ever) in 1948 claiming independence and self-rule. What is scary to me is that this generation will not pass away until everything (all the end time events) take place. If that perhaps means everyone born that year (1948) then fifty years have gone by. The end times are right before us. He is at the door.
These end times are going to last for one week, the last (or 70th week) prophetic seven year period. The end of which: God is going to unleash His wrath upon mankind, Jesus will be returning to the earth, all Christian will be raptured (mysteriously disappear to heaven), a new temple will be resurrected in Jerusalem then get desecrated, and a final war will be fought and end up in the valley of Megiddo. It will be called the battle of Armageddon. Nothing will necessarily be in that order. We won’t have to worry about drilling into a comet.
But most people will have to worry about where they are going. When Jesus comes He will destroy life and society as we know it. It will not matter how much money you have, what good deeds you have done, or what you have done with your life. The only question will be, “What have you done with Jesus?” Have you rejected or embraced Him? There will be no middle line or close enough with God. He won’t be grading on a curve, only absolute righteousness.
Now I want to tie it all in scientifically/mathmatically, for all the skeptics. In 1988 a calculation was found to accurately foretell the date of Israel’s rebirth. Jeremiah prophesied that the Jews would turn to idol worship and practice lawless deeds. For this He would punish them for 70 years. Ezekiel, another prophet then, further prophesied (4:3-6) that God knew His people still would turn away from Him, and that this punishment would truly last 430 years. There were 360 more years after the initial 70 for punishment. In the book of Law (Leviticus 26:18) it states, “and after all this, if you do not obey me (God), then I will punish you seven times more for your sins.” 360 (years of further punishment) x 7 = 2520 years of punishment. At 360-day years this is 907,200 days.
Working backwards from Israel’s Independence; 14 May 1948 AD and subtracting 907,200 days gets us to 15 July 537 BC. This is the date the Jews were released from captivity and only a few of them went home. When we go back 70 more years we get 17 July 606 BC. The year 606 is historically the date Israel lost its independence.
In Daniel’s prophecy it says, “Seventy weeks are determined for your people (Israel) and for your holy city (Jerusalem) … Two different prophecies.
Israel was taken over in 606, but Judah wasn’t taken over for another 19 years. Israel became a nation in 1948 and recaptured Jerusalem in 1967 in the six-day war. There is exactly 19 years difference.
Fabricated? That is an awful lot of years to hope someone gets it right on the other end, unless there is a sovereign God involved.
Don’t tell the Jews as the Daniel prophesy, though it does predict exactly the year of both Israel’s and Jerusalem’s rebirth, it also proclaims the Messiah that they have rejected for two thousand years. It would be confusing to them.
May God draw you to the appropriate knowledge and faith.
Scott Coombe