Seventy weeks [of years, or 490 years] are decreed upon your people and upon your holy city [Jerusalem], to finish and put an end to transgression, to seal up and make full the measure of sin, to purge away and make expiation and reconciliation for sin, to bring in everlasting righteousness (permanent moral and spiritual rectitude in every area and relation) to seal up vision and prophecy and prophet, and to anoint a Holy of Holies. Daniel 9:24
And after the sixty-two weeks [of years] shall the Anointed One be cut off or killed and shall have nothing [and no one] belonging to [and defending] Him. And the people of the [other] prince who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary Its end shall come with a flood; and even to the end there shall be war, and desolations are decreed. And he shall enter into a strong and firm covenant with the many for one week [seven years]. And in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and offering to cease [for the remaining three and one-half years]; and upon the wing or pinnacle of abominations [shall come] one who makes desolate, until the full determined end is poured out on the desolator. Daniel 9:27
The way that these verses in Daniel 9 were always taught to me went something like this: there are seventy weeks determined for the Jewish people. The weeks are actually seven years each, so there are 490 years attributed to the people of Israel until their country and way of life is permanently destroyed. The seventy weeks begin after the Israelis are allowed to return from their exile in Babylon and restore Temple worship. It was taught that this time would have been when Nehemiah was permitted to rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple. There were 69 weeks, or 483 years, exactly from the time that the Temple worship was restored until the time that Jesus was crucified, leaving one week, or seven years, of the prophecy to be fulfilled after Jesus was crucified. There are several theories as to when these seventy weeks actually began, but they all fall along this general time line.
It was also taught that the one final week left, the seventieth week, is suppose to begin when the anti-christ enters into a covenant with Israel. For the first 3 ½ years of this treaty it is taught that there will be peace, but right in the middle of the covenant, the anti-christ will break the deal and there will be 3 ½ years of great tribulation, ending only when Jesus returns. It was preached that since this is a time of Daniel’s peoples trouble, that the prophecy only applies to the nation of Israel and that this is proof, in the Old Testament, that born again Christians will be raptured out of the world before all of the seventy weeks finally come to pass. It is preached that the rapture will leave only Israelites and the rest of the unsaved world to deal with the wrath of our Father and the Great Tribulation. That is the seventy weeks of Daniel’s prophecy to a Full Gospel believer in a nut shell. Now there may be nuances and specific dates that I have missed in this brief description, but this is the cliff notes version of the teaching. For this study of the Truth of what Daniel was shown, specific dates and times really don’t matter and as we go on with the study you will see why.
I am going to break this study into several postings, each will build on the other. I posted a smaller version earlier this year, but last night I was at a party and our Father had a lady bring the 70 weeks up and after hearing her I really felt led to share the whole study that our Father has given me on the subject.
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