THYE 70TH WEEK REVISITED

THE 70 WEEKS REVISITED

                There are no accidents in the Bible. There has to be a divine reason why God separated the 70 weeks into 3 sections. We tend to make up doctrines and then presume that we have them right even as we ignore important distinctions that God promised would come to light in the last days.

                Let me give you an example: Daniel chapter 8 gives us a prophecy about 2300 evenings and mornings. So early prophecy students, reading the King James but not understanding Hebrew presumed the evenings and mornings to be days and so they changed the days into prophetic years. They also presumed that these 2300 evenings and mornings started at the same time as the 70 weeks, but is that really the case?

                First of all, the evening and morning sacrifices are represented here and the Hebrew word “Yom” for day isn’t even used. Later translations of the Bible such as the New American Standard and many others have corrected that mistake, for there is no biblical basis upon which to turn 2300 evening and morning sacrifices into 2300 prophetic years.

                So then we must ask ourselves when these 2300 evening and morning sacrifices would be thrown down. For this we must back up to Daniel 8 verse 9. Here it tells us that the one who forces these evening and morning sacrifices to cease is the little horn, which we understand to be the antichrist. And in case we don’t know what time period is being spoken of here, the angel told Daniel in verse 17 saying: “Son of man, understand that the vision pertains to the time of the end.

                `Then down in verse 26, the angel says: “And the vision of the evenings and mornings is true. But keep the vision a secret. (Seal it) for it pertains to many days in the future. This prophecy then would be among those that would be sealed until the time of the end when knowledge and trave

                My grandfather grew up in the horse and buggy days and lived to see men fly to the moon in his lifetime and in my lifetime we have seen knowledge explode and travel explode and end time events explode. Especially in the last few years.

                Now back to the 70 weeks. Daniel 9: 26 clearly says that after 62 weeks the Messiah will be cut off. It did not say “In the 70^th week the Messiah would be cut off, rather it says “after the 62 weeks” and it also includes the destruction of Jerusalem after the 62 weeks which came 40 some years later.

                Then it says and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary.

Well, who are the people that destroyed the city and the sanctuary? They were the Romans right? And so the prince who is to come will be from the Roman Empire. We know him as the antichrist and he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week.  So we have to ask ourselves what week the angel is referring to. Is it not the missing 70^th week?

                It also goes on to say that he will commit the abomination that makes desolate and while Antiochus Epiphanes provides for us a perfect example of what the Abomination of Desolation is, Jesus pointed forward to the time just prior to His second coming (Mt. 24:15) when the true Abomination of Desolation will take place in the temple and this seven year period is known as the “time of Jacob’s trouble.”

                All of this of course can only be fulfilled if Israel is back in their own land and a third temple is built, because the Abomination of Desolation is a very specific thing.

                Well, at the time that most Protestants were formulating their understanding of Bible prophecy, there was absolutely no hope of Israel coming back into their own land, or a 3^rd temple being built and so they more or less allegorized these things making the temple the earth, or the temple in heaven, or the temple of our hearts all of which are true in a sense, but not specific to what is literally happening in our day.

                Israel is back as God promised and the situation is just as God said and Israel is surrounded by enemies that would just as soon see them dead, and in spite of it all, there are now political and spiritual preparations being negotiated for a third temple that will house the global religion of the beast and the antichrist waits in the wings to take his place on the world stage.

                This new understanding of the 70^th week has not been contrived. It has come about by the unsealing of the prophecies of Daniel and that unsealing has begun taking place primarily because Israel has come back into their own land and the desert has bloomed and every prophecy is taking on its final form and those who are honest must readjust their prior interpretations in the glaring face of reality.

                Some of these things are turned into arguments and mud- slinging, but they should not be. Prophecy is forever unfolding and the birth pangs are increasing in frequency and intensity and we who are God’s children, rather than sticking stubbornly to outdated interpretations that were made without the knowledge of what is now a glaring truth must watch and pray and seek understanding with humility and prayer.

                Most prophetic teachers worth their salt are no longer being dogmatic about their interpretations. Even the pre-trib rapture people, the good ones, are admitting that we don’t know for sure and that we may have to face persecution and tribulation in one form or another before we are taken out of here.

                Again this comes as a glaring reality because Christians in many lands are being persecuted, imprisoned, tortured, killed and even beheaded in our day. And as I look at scripture, especially 2 Thess. 2:3, 4, we see that we will at least be here to see the great falling away and the arrival of the man of sin (the antichrist) come to the stage… and there are certainly signs that Christians will have to say “no” to the Mark of the Beast, before it is all over.

                I sincerely believe that we are facing the 70^th week of Daniel in our day and that hundreds of prophecies in both old and new Testaments are taking shape precisely as predicted. Jerusalem is a cup of trembling as in Zech. 12:1-3 says. It also says that all of the nations of the world will be gathered against it, which we also see happening in our day and this sequence ends with the Jews looking upon Him whom they have pierced. (That is the return of Christ) And in chapter 14 we see Jesus descending upon the Mt. of Olives (the very spot from which He left the earth) and He will begin to rule the nations with a rod of iron.

                Notice if you will in Zechariah 14:5b that His saints will be with Him when He returns and also       1 Thess. 3:13 agrees with Zechariah, by saying that when Jesus comes, He comes with all of His saints, which means that we will have been caught up at some time prior to His second coming and that is why we are now studying to know when the first resurrection and catching away of the Bride will occur in all of this.

                In His parable of the ten virgins, we see a wedding feast about to occur in which 5 were ready to go in and 5 were not and it was determined (not by if they had the right interpretation of prophecy, but whether or not they had oil. (The Holy Spirit)

                Well, prophecy is still unfolding and reality itself will help to unseal that which we don’t yet understand. But for now, we who study these things must remain humble and teachable and pliable in the Lord’s hands, recognizing that even more important than getting our interpretations right, we must be in a right relationship with the Lord and that means bearing the fruit of the Spirit, loving one another, being obedient to all that we know and walking in the Word by faith and faithfulness.

                I don’t expect everyone to agree with me, but I must be honest about what I believe. I simply set these things up as food for thought. After all, our faith is not in our interpretations of scripture, it is in Jesus Christ. We are learning to live by His Holy Spirit and that means loving each other as the Holy Spirit produces that love in our hearts. Our doctrines will not save us unless our hearts are right.

                If our new understanding of the 70^th week of Daniel is a Jesuit Fabrication then they made a bad mistake, because it places the events of the second coming right before us and it makes the pope of Rome a prime candidate as either the antichrist or the false prophet. It also helps those of us who are watching events in Jerusalem to know that the Lord’s return is near and if preachers would start preaching it, it would bring revival and reformation to the church.

                What the Jesuits have done in our day is to get the church to stop studying prophecy altogether so that we would fall asleep, and that they have done well.

                The pre trib rapture has made many Christians careless, especially when mixed with false grace… and yet for those who belong to the Lord in intimate fellowship, even this will not hurt them for they know that we must be ready at all times, whether to meet the Lord or to face persecution and so the wheat and the tares are separating based upon our love for God and our love and care for each other, not on our doctrine. (See Mt. 25:31-46)

                So no matter what we may discuss in terms of current world events and what they might mean to us, it always boils down to our relationship with Jesus on a personal basis, our obedience to His Word and our love for one another as defined in the fruit of the Spirit and the Sermon on the Mount and such.

                It is important to note that Jesus didn’t teach doctrine at all. He spoke to men’s hearts and His words are living and active and sharper than any two edged sword, and piercing as far as the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12.

                When we argue and fight and call each other names, or condemn one another to hell for our differences of opinion, we truly reveal which spirit is at work in our lives. So even as the Lord opens up our understanding to His scriptures, He is also transforming us into His image. When all is said and done; those that belong to Him will be like Him and this must be our deepest desire.