DANIEL’S PROPHECY OF 70 WEEKS – PART 7
Daniel 9:24-27
December 28, 2008
http://www.tribulationperiod.com/
THE 70 WEEKS OF DANIEL’S 9:24-27 PROPHECY – Part 7
Age of the Prophecy Revisionists
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.
The vast majority of biblical expositors today are certain the three “HE’s” in Daniel 9:27 represent the antichrist.
I have searched diligently in many ancient writings to see how many writers commenting on this verse before1740 believed this teaching. Up to this time I have only found two, who wrote in about 180 AD. I am not saying there are no others, but this seems like a mighty small number to be so certain the teaching is correct.
The vast majority of preachers today do not realize the major revisions to prophetic teachings that were brought in during the age of the great revisionists from 1760 to 1920. I do not accept the majority of the revisions that were made during this period.
The first book ever to be put into print via press rather than arduous hand copying was the Gutenberg Bible. The print run began on 23 February 1455 in Mainz, Germany and ended approximately three years later, with an estimated 180 copies of the Bible put into print.
The Gutenberg Bible was not entirely print – it was rubricated and illuminated by hand after it went through the press, but manufacture of the Bible took substantially less time than it would have in a conventional scriptorium.
It is said that Johannes Gutenberg, the Bible’s namesake, chose to print the Bible in Vulgate, or common Latin, because he felt it would be more accessible to the people.
The cost of the Bible, combined with literacy rates, make this claim somewhat dubious.
It is more likely that he chose to print a certain version of the Bible because he knew it would sell well, and th at m
any middle class Germans, his target market, would be more comfortable reading Vulgate than a more sophisticated version of Latin.
The Gutenberg Bible is remarkable for a number of reasons. It is quite clearly documented as the first book in the West to be put into print using a press and movable type, although there is some debate as to whether or not the Gutenberg was the first book ever printed globally, as some Eastern historians argue that the use of block print plates in China and Japan precedes the Gutenberg Bible. Since no strong evidence exists to support the use of movable type in China before the production of the Gutenberg Bible, it is generally accepted to be the first book ever printed.
The printing press technology shattered the content monopoly. In 45 years (1455-1500), the number of books in Europe swelled from a few thousand to more than 9 million. And, as McLuhan noted, it shifted the emphasis from the oral mode of content distribution (i.e., “communication”) to the visual mode.
I have never been able to find a published book, during the 300 year period from 1455 to 1755, which presented a diagram dividing the tribulation period into two sections, each one 3 and ½ years in length, with the first resurrection occurring at the beginning of the first three and ½ year period.
I challenge anyone reading this to produce a pre-1740 published book on prophecy, based on Biblical interpretation, that shows a diagram dividing the tribulation period into two sections, each one 3 and ½ years in length, with the first resurrection occurring at the beginning of the first 3 and ½ year period.
I would also like for someone to show me a published book before 1740, based on Bible interpretation, showing a diagram dividing the tribulation period into sections, each one 1260 days in length, with the first resurrection occurring at the beginning of the second period of 1260 days.
For that matter, I would also like to see a published book before 1740, based on Biblical interpretation, teaching that the rapture would occur at the middle or the beginning of the tribulation period.
It is possible that a pre-1740 published book does exist somewhere that shows the tribulation period divided into two sections, each one 3 and ½ years in length, but I have looked long and hard for it in many ancient, musty, religious book archives in the U.S. and abroad, and I have yet to find it.
So I am not saying such a book doesn’t exist, but the very fact I have tried diligently to find one with no results, does at least seem to infer the validity of the supposed rock foundation of the present day teachings could well be based on sinking sand.
Prophetic teachers of this generation have lived with the two division diagrams so long they think they came over on the Mayflower.
But basically these diagrams were a product of the first of the week rapture position, which is such an ingrained part of prophecy teaching today. The so-called “first of the week” position, as well as what is known as the “middle of the week” position, cannot be found in existence in any published book about the Bible before 1740. In fact, it is the term “week,” appropriated by the revisionists, that is largely responsible for the mass exodus from orthodox prophetic teaching, which occurred in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The bulk of all prophetic teaching of today is based, directly or indirectly, on the revisionist teaching on Daniel 9:27, which, to a large extent, was accelerated with the initial appearance of the “first of the week” position in the early 19th century. If the teaching on Daniel 9:27 by the revisionists is incorrect, then much of today’s prophetic teaching is in error. I believe this is the case, and I have been labeled as a revisionist myself because of it. I am certain that the great Bible expositor B.H. Carrol, who continued to believe the pre-1760 teachings until his death, was correct in what he taught concerning Daniel’s 70th week.
For you see, before 1827, the majority of orthodox prophetic teachers were convinced that the “he” in Daniel 9:27 was Jesus Christ, not the antichrist – THEY WERE RIGHT. We are not waiting for a “week of seven years” to be fulfilled! Why not? – Because Jesus has already fulfilled most of the first 3 and ½ years. We are facing a tribulation period of the last 3 and ½ years, preceded by a much briefer period of peace than many are expecting.
I did find references to two ancient scroll writings of historical believers who did have a belief the “he’s” in Daniel’s pictured antichrist – Irenaeus and Hippolytus in about 180 AD.
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.
According to the vast majority of popular Protestant prophecy teachers today, the first half of Daniel’s last “week” (the seventieth) will be 1260 days of peace following a peace treaty between Israel and the antichrist.
This teaching reared its head at some point in time between 1740 and 1830 when, for the first time since 180 AD, preachers began to teach that the three “HE’s” in Daniel 9:27 represented the end time antichrist. Prior to that time the vast majority of preachers taught the three “HE’s” represented Jesus Christ, and a minority believed it had already been fulfilled by Antiochus Epiphanes, but I have yet to find anyone from 180 to 1740 AD who said it was the end time antichrist, which is what most preachers are sure the “HE’s” represent today. In 168 BC Antiochus Epiphanes occupied the city of Jerusalem, entered the Holy of Holies, desecrated the sanctuary by offering unclean animals upon the altar of burnt-offerings, polluted the whole building by sprinkling it with water in which flesh had been boiled, dedicated the Temple itself to Jupiter Olympus, erected a statue of deity to Jupiter, and plundered the temple treasures. But Messiah of verse 26 was not cut off (crucified) before 168 BC, nor did Antiochus ever confirm a covenant with Israel. The three HE’s of Daniel do not represent Antiochus or the future antichrist – they represent Jesus.
This period of 1260 days of peace is adamantly taught as fact by many today.
Please look at the following Scriptures and see if they present three and one-half prophetic years of peace. In every case they represent a 1260 day period that will be fulfilled during the last 1260 days of antichrist prior to the Second Advent of Christ.
Revelation 11:2,3 – But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot FORTY AND TWO MONTHS. [3] And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy A THOUSAND TWO HUNDRED AND THREESCORE, clothed in sackcloth.
Revelation 12:6 – And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there A THOUSAND TWO HUNDRED AND THREESCORE DAYS..
Revelation 12:14 – And to the wom an were given two wings of
a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for A TIME, AND TIMES, AND HALF A TIME, from the face of the serpent.
Revelation 13:5 – And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue FORTY AND TWO MONTHS..
Daniel 7:25 – And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until A TIME AND TIMES AND THE DIVIDING OF TIME.
Every time the capitalized phrases in these verses are used, they always refer to the last 1260 days, never to the first 1260 days. I contend this is because Christ fulfilled the first half of the week before he was cut-off (crucified). We will not have the advantage of three and on-half years of peace to reveal the antichrist to us.
One of the most interesting facets found in interpreting Daniel 9:27 is that it is not directly quoted by specific content in the New Testament. And, equally interesting, is the fact that any inferred reference taken from it is by indirect inference to a period of time that happens to match the one-half of one of Daniel’s weeks of 2520 days, or three and one-half years of 360 days in length. Even more interesting, in all cases it refers strictly to the last half of the 2520 day period by expressions like “42 months,” “1260 days,” and “time, times, and half a time.” I do not believe the first half of the seven year period is specifically detailed for those of us living in the last days because it has already been fulfilled by the Messiah the Prince, and only the later portion has yet to come to pass before Armageddon.
I implore you to take a look at what was taught by most orthodox prophetic teachers before 1827 about Daniel’s 70th Week
I am not concerned about the position believers hold on the rapture unless it is taught to be as firm a doctrine as salvation by grace, but the recent massive publications of books that have come out of the “Left Behind” series is staggering, and some have come to believe it is one of the great doctrines of the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. I am only anxious that the massive numbers of believers on this planet realize the very distinct possibility that they may have to go through part of the tribulation period, which I believe is in the not too distant future. Many believers have never even heard any other position than the first of the week and, if they do hear there is, the one telling them usually tells them it is most certainly incorrect. The every day believer-on-the-street has no idea of what was believed before 1740, only what began to be taught after that, principally since 1827. I am not looking for a group of people to believe what I teach about the rapture and Daniel’s 70 weeks of year, I am simply trying to advise believers to be aware what many routinely teach today as fact was not taught before 1740.
I am certainly not looking for followers – for McElmurryites – I am looking for “considerers.”
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