DANIEL’S PROPHECY OF 70 WEEKS – PART 2
Daniel 9:24-27
December 22, 2008
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THE 70 WEEKS OF DANIEL’S 9:24-27 PROPHECY – Part 2
According to the Oxford Concise Dictionary of World Religions, the Evangelical Protestantism Movement emerged in Britain in the 1730s. The conversion of John Wesley in 1738 is often regarded as the start of the evangelical movement.
Wesley was forced to preach out of doors and to eventually develop an organization of his own. From 1740 to 1800 the evangelicals were drawn into the movement primarily from Wesleyan Methodists, Primitive Methodists, nonconformist Protestant bodies such as the Congregationalists, and from the Baptist groups.
And it shocked many when the Evangelical Movement had spread to the Church of England by 1800.
It was a movement of great emotional outbursts and feelings which affected virtually every corner of preaching and teaching.
Within the Evangelical Movement a different viewpoint arose in the teaching of prophecy, particularly in the interpretation of Daniel 9:27. I have diligently searched for any commentary published before 1740 that indicated the three “HE’S” in Daniel 9:27 were the antichrist, and have not found a single one. I am not saying one does not exist, but I have been looking for years, and have never found one. All publications before 1740 clearly identified the three “HE’S” as Jesus Christ, “the Messiah the Prince,” or as Antiochus Epiphanes. It has stunned me as to how much of our teaching today about the antichrist is all tied back to the belief that the antichrist is the one referred to in Daniel 9:27. I beg of you to take a good look at the series on the 70 Weeks of Daniel exposition I am now presenting in Parts.
Even if you think it is hogwash, please carefully read all the Parts . If it is correct, it will help you to understand what is going on when the antichrist does not follow the pattern currently taught in most religious circles. If it is wrong, it will have done you no harm, but please read it. I have no ulterior motive for gain in presenting it to you.
My motive is a very simple one. I am an old man who is six years past his allotted threescore and ten years, and is very concerned that many are going to be confused when prophetic events suddenly conclude in a manner quite different from what they expect. For better or for worse, I believe the religious world took a wrong turn in prophetic teaching in 1740, and that many believe what is erroneously tied back to the antichrist representing the three “HE’S” in Daniel 9:27. It makes a terrific difference in the way the end days in which we now live will come down.
Daniel 9:27 – And HE shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week HE shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations HE shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
I fully exposited on Daniel 9:24 in Part 1 of the previous Blog, establishing how Daniel had learned, from Jeremiah’s writings, that seventy weeks of years were determined upon the people of Israel and their holy city Jerusalem.
Under Daniel’s formula for the period, each one of Jeremiah’s seventy years was equal to seven years, and he identified each seven year period as one week of years (So 7 X 70 = 490 years or 70 weeks of years). In verse 25 he gives us a starting point for his prophetic clock to begin ticking toward a countdown of 490 years or 70 weeks of years.
Daniel 9:25 – Know therefore and understand, that FROM the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem UNTO the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.
The 490 year time clock was to start ticking when “the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem” was issued. However, there were four different proclamations issued by three Persian kings:
1. The Decree of Cyrus in 536 B.C.
2. The Decree of Darius Hystaspes in 519 B.C.
3. The first Decree of Artaxerxes Longimanus in 457 B.C.
4. The second Decree of Artaxerxes Longimanus in 445 B.C.
The Scripture indicated that FROM the time the commandment (decree) was issued UNTIL the Messiah the Prince arrived, would be 69 weeks of years or 483 years (7 weeks + 62 weeks = 69 weeks of years) ( 7 X 69 = 483 years)
Now, some problems arise in the establishment of historical dates that begin at “FROM” and end at “UNTIL” – Are these prophetic years or calendar years – How are they affected by corrections to the Gentile calendars by Rome – And how are they affected by the lunar calendar used by the Hebrews? All these things make it difficult to decide which one of the four decrees applies to Daniel 9:25. Was Daniel indicating solar years of 365.25 or prophetic lunar years of 360 days
? Most likely he meant years of 360 days.
Which one of the four decrees was the one that Daniel indicated in his prophecy? The decree of Cyrus in 536 B.C. was limited to the building of the Temple.
The decree of Darius Hystaspes was also limited to the building of the Temple.
The first decree of Artaxerxes Longimanus in 457 B.C. demonstrated a larger range of granting authority to carry out all that needed to be done, much more than the two decrees before it. His second decree in 445 B.C. is also very specific in its instruction and authority to rebuild Jerusalem. So, we are able, because of the lack of reference “to restore and to build Jerusalem” in the first two decrees, to say that it must be one of the two issued by Artaxerxes Longimanus in 457 B. C. and 445 B.C.
If Daniel’s prophecy is based on our present calendar year, which I doubt, then FROM the time Artaxerxes first decree was issued in 457 B.C. until the baptism of Jesus the Messiah in 27 A.D., would be 483 years or 69 weeks. This was the viewpoint held by the great Baptist Bible expositor B.H. Carroll in the late eighteen hundreds and early nineteen hundreds. But Dr. Carroll makes this statement in his writings on Daniel 9:25, when dealing with prophetic years of 360 days: “Hengstenberg, on the other hand, while agreeing with the second decree of 445 B.C., controverts the theory of a year of 360 days, and contests the date usually accepted (445 B.C.). By an elaborate historical argument of great plausibility he seeks to prove that the 20th year of Artaxerxes Longimanus falls on the date 455 B.C. and then, by adding 483 years, Hengstenberg puts Christ’s acknowledgment by His Father, at His baptism, as the true coming of Messiah the Prince.” Sir Robert Anderson has two books on Daniel, “The Coming Prince” and “Daniel in the Critic’s Den.” He uses the usually accepted debt of 445 B.C. and articulates a strong time sequence to prove his conclusions.
Now, please allow me to state my conclusions. I was taught certain things about Daniel 9:24-27 by many old preachers who are now at home with the Lord.
Many of them were born in the 19th century and lived into the thirties, forties, and fifties of the 20th. In northern Arkansas where I was raised, these old fellows read after the leading Baptist theologians of their day from books they had procured from old book stores or the libraries of older preachers when they died. Some of these books were written in the late 18th and early 19th century, and they finally just worn out and fell apart from constant use.
They didn’t have opportunity to attend a seminary, but they were diligent in reading the works of the Baptists who did. These are the men who first taught me prophecy many years before I graduated from seminaries, colleges, and universities. In the weeks to come, Lord willing, I am going to pass on to you what they taught me, and you may be surprised. Now, in all honesty, before God and man, I believe it was 483 years “FROM” the decree “UNTO” the baptism of Jesus, when he began His earthly ministry. I accept it by faith in God’s word. The problem is not with the Word of God, it is with the human setting of the time of the proper decree.
My main reason for writing such a lengthy discourse was to show how difficult it is to absolutely fix the precise date the proclamation was issued to which Daniel referred. BUT I AM DELIGHTED TO TELL YOU THAT WHAT IS REALLY IMPORTANT CAN BE PROVEN BY A SINGLE WORD, THE WORD “AFTER” IN DANIEL 9:26A.
Daniel 9:25,26A – Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. [26] And AFTER threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: (The 7 weeks is understood in Hebrew literary style to also be added to the 62 in verse 26 so as to avoid redundancy in a flowing chronological sequence of events, i.e. AFTER 69 weeks. Otherwise, Messiah would have been cut off before he was born.)
The Hebrew word used for “AFTER” is “ACHAR,” which means, in context, “AFTERWARD.” This same word “ACHAR” is used in the following Scriptures.
Jeremiah 31:33 – But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; AFTER those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Joel 2:28 – And it shall come to pass AFTERWARD, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:
Hosea 3:5 – AFTERWARD shall the children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their king; and shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days.
Hosea 6:2 – AFTER two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight.
The vast majority of prophetic expositors today claim that Messiah was cut off, crucified, to END the 69th week, bringing the hands of Daniel’s clock to a standstill, and that we have a full week of seven years waiting to be fulfilled when it begins to tick again, but that cannot be true since Christ was crucified AFTER the 69th week during the 70th week, leaving less than seven years to be fulfilled.
The significance of the placement of “AFTER” in Daniel 9:26A cannot be overemphasized.
Why? Because it definitely states that Messiah would not be cut off to END the 69th week, but would be crucified “AFTER” it, at some time in the 70th week. The clock of Daniel stopped ticking at some time in the final 70th week.
So when was Jesus cut off by crucifixion in the 70th week? The answer is of the utmost importance.
I know we have less than seven years once the clock starts to tick again, but how much less do we have? It has to be less than 2520 days, but more
than 1260 days
? We will proceed into verses 26 and 27 in a future update to find the answers to these questions, Lord willing.