In Search of...Daniel's 70th Week ONLY-Part 1
A logical approach using our brains and our bibles.
Greetings prophecy lovers! Grab your favorite beverage and maybe a little nosh and join me in this discussion of that last, elusive week in Daniel. I’m not going to focus on the first 69 weeks too much because that’s not a hot point of contention for most people. Besides, it’s just the pointer to the good stuff. The real battlefield (and mystery) is that last week. So much hangs off of it. I have the simplest and most basic of timelines consisting of a few cells that’s guaranteed not to make your hair hurt.
I’ve got my coffee and I’m ready to go!
Here’s how the story goes…
After the believers are raptured, then the tribulation begins. The antichrist comes on the scene claiming to be Messiah, builds a temple, makes a peace deal with Israel for 7 years, but then halfway through he breaks this deal and reveals his evil self. This is a time of “great tribulation” or “Jacob’s Trouble” for Israel. This is what most believe will happen during that last 70th week. That’s the story and most everyone is sticking with it! I’m going to examine this claim logically so come and join me… 🕵️♀️
Dan 9:24
70 weeks are the total time allotted for all of these things to come to pass. The word “determine” means to “cut off” or “divide” meaning that a portion of those 70 Weeks have been ‘cut off’ or set aside in order to fulfill this prophecy. In other words, everything written in this list must happen WITHIN that 70-week period from start to finish. This alone tells us that we cannot remove this chunk of time and place it into the future. This is weeks of years (70 x 7) which totals 490 years. I will expand on each of these using bible verses in Part 4.
Dan 9:25 Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, there shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks;
The command is what kicks off the beginning of this prophecy. (Most agree it’s Artaxerxes in 457BC or thereabouts) I don’t know why 7 and 62 weeks are split. Someone smarter than me might know and if you do, please post a comment below. But added together, it equals 69 weeks. And converting weeks to years, you get 49 +434 = 483 years. This portion of the prophecy is to tell us where to begin counting which points us to the focus - the main event, which is Messiah’s arrival.
Here’s a visual of what we have so far…from the command until Messiah, we have 69 weeks.
We’ll address that missing 70th week but for now, when does Messiah enter the scene? From the command UNTIL the Messiah means that the 69 weeks have already passed. So, Messiah enters in AFTER the 69th week.
Daniel 9:26 And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off,…
Or
So, the entire prophecy is for 70 weeks. Messiah enters AFTER 69 weeks which automatically starts the 70th week because this is a counting and numbers are sequential. You must understand this first because this is where this future 70th week teaching breaks away from scripture and destroys the built-in characteristic of a sequenced order of numbers. To do this is to change the number itself and its placement in the timeline rendering the counting & timeline meaningless and nonsensical. This also means 70 ceases to be 70. It also gets you looking in the wrong place for Messiah and this case, missing completely when these things were fulfilled. Please don’t be deceived regarding this false teaching of a gap between the 69th & 70th weeks. Many well-meaning people have fallen for this lie and are teaching others. Please don’t be numbered among them. Moving on…
This narrows the search because we know His arrival is after the 69 weeks. So, sometime during that last week is when Messiah will be ‘cut off,’ as indicated by the red star.
So, Messiah enters at the end of the 69th week which is the beginning of the 70th week.
Thanks for stopping by. Feel free to comment. Stay tuned for Part 2 coming shortly.
If you enjoyed this article, then please share or subscribe. It would really make my day!
or
Thanks a latte.