Daniel's 70 Weeks
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Revelation 7:14.
What is the Great Tribulation?
14 I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
Let’s take a look at the four most controversial verses in the Bible.
Daniel 9:24-27.
24 “Seventy weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place.
25 Know therefore and understand that from the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a prince, there shall be seven weeks. Then for sixty-two weeks it shall be built again with squares and moat, but in a troubled time.
26 And after the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing. And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed.
27 And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator.”
The goals of the 70 weeks:
To finish the transgression
To put an end to sin
To atone for iniquity
To bring in everlasting righteousness
To seal both vision and prophet
To anoint a most holy place
The goals of the 70 weeks should be used to measure fulfillment.
The four views of interpretation:
They are literal years extending through the reign of Antiochus IV Epiphanes. According to this view, the “sevens” or “weeks” are made up of seven years each, resulting in a total period of 490 years (seventy times seven). The challenge is there is much difficulty with the three groups of sevens matching the historical account, and fulfilling the goals of the 70 weeks.
The “seventy sevens” are symbolic periods of time ending in the first century A.D. The challenges of this view are: The context does not give permission to interpret the 70 weeks as symbolic periods of time. The symbology is not consistent within the periods of weeks. The periods of time have trouble fulfilling the goals of the 70 weeks.
They are symbolic periods of time ending at Christ’s second coming. The seventy sevens are a prophecy of church history (both the Old Testament and the New Testament church) from Cyrus’s decree in 538 B.C. until the return of Christ at the end of the age. This view does allow for the goals of the 70 weeks to be accomplished. The challenges to this view is the subjective nature of the symbolic periods of time when the biblical context does not give indication of that. The replacement theology of the church being back read into a text that is clearly talking about Daniels people which are Jews who make up Israel.
They are literal years ending with Christ’s second coming. This view agrees with the first that the sevens are literal seven-year periods totaling 490 years. The first seven sevens (forty-nine years) commence with a command to rebuild Jerusalem (either the decree to Ezra in 458 B.C. or the decree to Nehemiah in 445 B.C.) and terminate with the completion of the work of Ezra and Nehemiah about forty-nine years later (either ca. 409 B.C. or ca. 396 B.C.). The next sixty-two sevens (434 years) extend from the end of the first group of sevens to Christ’s first coming (either his baptism in A.D. 26 or Christ’s presentation of himself to the people as Messiah on Palm Sunday in A.D. 32/33). After the coming of the Messiah, he was rejected by Israel; and the time of the Gentiles began, which is not counted in the “seventy sevens.” During the last seven, which immediately precedes Christ’s second advent, there will be a terrible time of tribulation for Israel and the world. God will use this trial to bring Israel and countless others to saving faith. At that time the majority of the people in Israel will acknowledge Jesus as the promised Messiah, repent, and be saved (cf. Rom 11:25–29; Zech 12:10–13:1).
25 Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.
26 And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written, “The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob”;
27 “and this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins.”
28 As regards the gospel, they are enemies for your sake. But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers.
29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.
The final seven (seven years) will be terminated by Christ’s second coming and the establishment of his earthly kingdom, which will last a thousand years. Christ’s reign will, of course, continue beyond the millennium into the eternal state. This view does accomplish the goals of the 70 weeks. The challenges to this view are first deciding on what date to count from. Second the immediate context does not give any indication to a break between the 69 weeks and the 70th week and that break seems to have an indefinite period of time. (Stephen R. Miller, Daniel, vol. 18, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1994).
Where does the concept and meaning of 70 weeks come from?
Leviticus 25:8.
8 “You shall count seven weeks of years, seven times seven years, so that the time of the seven weeks of years shall give you forty-nine years.
2 Chronicles 36:20-21.
20 He took into exile in Babylon those who had escaped from the sword, and they became servants to him and to his sons until the establishment of the kingdom of Persia,
21 to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its Sabbaths. All the days that it lay desolate it kept Sabbath, to fulfill seventy years.
Jeremiah 25:11-12.
11 This whole land shall become a ruin and a waste, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.
12 Then after seventy years are completed, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity, declares the Lord, making the land an everlasting waste.
First, years fit the context well. Second, the Hebrews were familiar with the concept of sevens of years as well as of days because the Sabbatical Year was based on this premise. Every seventh year there was to be a sabbath of rest for the land (cf. Lev 25:1–7). God promised that if Israel did not keep these sabbath years, they would be driven from the land and scattered among the nations (cf. Lev 26:33–35; cf. Jer 34:12–22). According to 2 Chr 36:21, one result of the seventy-year Babylonian captivity was that the land was allowed to rest in order to make up for the sabbath years, which the Jews had failed to keep. Therefore in Scripture only two types of weeks or sevens are mentioned—sevens of days and sevens of years. All agree that days is not a valid option in this context; only sevens of years remain.
If the fourth view is applied to Revelation, it bears out that Revelation 4-22 covers the 70th week of Daniel, the Great Tribulation Revelation 7:14: Daniel 12. If this is the case, then references to this period of time will help us with understanding the timeline in which the Great Tribulation/Day of Yahweh unfolds, culminating in the Second Coming of Jesus.
The third part of the prophecy is the prediction of the final seven-year period, or the 70th week, which will begin when he (the coming prince or the antichrist) will make a firm covenant of peace with the many in the leadership of Israel. Although some consider this prince to be Christ, establishing the new covenant and ending the OT sacrificial system, it is inconceivable that Messiah would be the one who would commit the abomination of desolation. Therefore, he is more accurately identified as the antichrist, who will desecrate the future temple and stop worship in it. This covenant is yet future and will mark the beginning of a time of oppression of the Jewish people called “the time of Jacob’s distress” (Jr 30:7) or the tribulation period (Mt 24:29; Mk 13:24). In the middle of the week, or after the first three and one-half years, the antichrist will break his covenant with Israel, leading to a time of unprecedented persecution of the Jewish people (Mt 24:21; Mk 13:19) as well as followers of Jesus (Rv 7:14) that will last for another three and one-half years (Dn 7:25; Rv 11:2–3; 12:14; 13:5). Rydelnik, Michael A., and Michael Vanlaningham, editors. The Moody Bible Commentary. Moody Publishers, 2014.
7 Alas! That day is so great there is none like it; it is a time of distress for Jacob; yet he shall be saved out of it.
15 “So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand),
16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.
17 Let the one who is on the housetop not go down to take what is in his house,
18 and let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak.
19 And alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days!
20 Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a Sabbath.
21 For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be.
22 And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.
23 Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There he is!’ do not believe it.
24 For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.
25 See, I have told you beforehand.
26 So, if they say to you, ‘Look, he is in the wilderness,’ do not go out. If they say, ‘Look, he is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it.
27 For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
28 Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.
29 “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
25 He shall speak words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and shall think to change the times and the law; and they shall be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time.
2 but do not measure the court outside the temple; leave that out, for it is given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for forty-two months.
3 And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.”
14 But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle so that she might fly from the serpent into the wilderness, to the place where she is to be nourished for a time, and times, and half a time.
5 And the beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for forty-two months.
God has a plan. We can trust him in it, and perhaps understand tidbits of it.