70 WEEKS OF DANIEL’S 9:24-27 PROPHECY – Part 6
June 27, 2009
http://www.tribulationperiod.com/
Have We Taken the Wrong Path in Prophecy?
Have We “Bought the Farm” in Prophetic Teachings?
It is absolutely amazing how the great majority of our prophetic teaching on the antichrist,
and all the events associated with his arrival and departure during the last seven years of the Age of the Gentiles, is based on Daniel 9:27, and the understanding that the three “he’s” in it refer to the antichrist. All of the prevailing positions on the rapture, so widely differing among the brethren, the pre, mid, pre-wrath, post, split, and progressive positions are all based on the three “he’s” being the antichrist. All of our charts and diagrams are based on the antichrist being the three “he’s” in Daniel 9:27, showing two boxes, each one three and one half years in duration, which are supposed to be the final seven years of the Gentile Age. I seriously doubt if most of the men and women, who are teaching prophecy in 2009, realize how much of what they are teaching being correct is dependant on the first HE in Daniel 9:27 being the antichrist. Quite frankly, I am acutely aware of what they teach, and am prepared for it if it is correct, but some
of them have never looked at what was taught about the HE in Daniel before 1740 by all expositors, and are not prepared for what I believe about the HE.
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.
There are times a part of me wishes I had never gone back in time to see what was believed, and what was taught, about the three “he’s” in Daniel 9:27. In all my years of research on publications prior to 1740, I have yet to find anyone publishing what is routinely taught today. The first expositors of the Church Age on the Old Testament all held in their writings that the three “he’s” in Daniel 9:27 were Jesus Christ or Antiochus Epiphanes.
The idea that the “he’s” might represent a future antichrist failed to appear in any of their writings.
Among the best known writers of the first four centuries, who believed the “he’s” were Jesus Christ or Antiochus Epiphanes were: Hippolytus, Clement of Alexander, Julius Africanus, and Eusebius.
The Catholic writers of the Dark Ages continued to state this belief in the Sargis DOAberga document and, in this period, Theodore Beza, Arnold of Villanova, and Pseudo Aquinas all continued to proclaim that the “he’s” were indeed Jesus Christ or Antiochus Epiphanes. I could find no writer among them that identified the “he’s” as referring to a future antichrist. The vast majority believed it was Jesus Christ, and a minority believed it was Antiochus Epiphanes, but none believed it to the future antichrist.
In Protestant Reformation times both Martin Luther and Melanchthon firmly believed the “he’s” in Daniel 9:27 were the Christ, not antichrist. Melanchthon dated the 70 weeks of Daniel from the second year of the great Persian king Artaxerxes Longimanus, with 69 weeks to the baptism of Christ, and placed the crucifixion of Christ in the midst of the 70th week, three years after Christ’s baptism. This is the position I hold today. I believe Christ fulfilled the covenant during his ministry in the first part of the last seven years, and we are waiting for the second half to be fulfilled following the attack of antichrist against Israel. Other Reformation writers who held the three “he’s” were Jesus Christ or Antiochus Epiphanes were Georg Nigumus, Johann Funck, Jacques Cappel, John Tillinghast, Joseph Mede, and Heinrich Bullinger.
And, once again, I was unable to find a single writer during the Protestant Reformation that identified the “he’s” as the future antichrist. I am not saying one did not exist, but I could not find him.
In the Post Reformation period Isaac Newton, Cocceius, Johann Petri, William Wilson, Heinrich Horch, Jahann Bengal, and the Belenburg Bible, all identified the three “he’s” in Daniel 9:27 as being Jesus Christ or Antiochus Epiphanes. And, once again, I could find no writings in this period that stated the “he’s” were the future antichrist.
From the Post Reformation period to 1740, I could not find a writer that identified the three “he’s” as being the future antichrist. Among American expositors who identified the “he’s” as being Christ or Antiochus Epiphanes were Samuel Langdon, John Davenport, Ephraim Huit, and Samuel Osgood. Among the Old World expositors, during this period, who held the “he’s” were Christ or Antiochus Epiphanes, were Bishop William Winston, William Hales, Louis Gaussen, Archibald Mason, and Edward Bukersteth. Calvin, in his exposition of Daniel, clearly identifies Christ as the “HE” in Daniel 9:27.
So, the question I have been forced to address is a very simple one. Were they all wrong up to 1740? Should we have changed the teaching that the three “he’s” refer to Christ, and made them apply to the antichrist
? I have made my choice – the old fellows were right, it is Christ! This teaching lasted well into the 20th century, and is still held by a minority in this present century. I was exposed to it as a young man many years ago, and I now believe it. One of the greatest Baptists of history, B.H. Carroll, who was born in the 19th century, carried this teaching into the 20th century.
It began to decline in popularity after John Darby began to popularize the Pre-Trib Rapture position in 1827, but it was still the majority belief until the publication of the Scofield Reference Bible in 1909, after which it became more and more of a minority belief.
There was a very popular song in my youth titled “What a Difference a Day Makes!” I assure you, that the title I ascribe to Daniel 9:27 is a most profound one – “What a Difference a ‘HE’ Makes.” The Age of the Great Evangelical Prophecy Revisions involves the three “HE’s.”
As I mentioned in Part 2 of “The 70 Weeks of Daniel,” the time of the great evangelical age began in the 1730’s, and the conversion of John Wesley in 1738 is often said to be the beginning of it.
I have, for clarity of purpose, marked the Evangelical Movement as beginning in 1740. The minor changes in prophetic teachings began in 1760, but the major revisions began in 1827, and accelerated up until 1912, by which time most of the prophetic teachings of today had been established with all the associated charts, graphs, theology, and eschatology. The movement marked a gradual shift from the importance of the local church to huge masses of assemblies of believers and great camp meetings. It has now reached its zenith, with biblical teachers and teachings on many types of communication media being pictured and spoken to the invisible masses on
the receiving end of the high tech communication blitz. They send out their high tech transmissions to what they consider to be a universal church made up of all believers.
I have not been able to find a single commentary, published prior to 1740, that identified the three “HE’s” of Daniel 9:27 as the future antichrist, which the world is expecting soon to arise. So the question I poise is a simple one – Were all prophetic teachers wrong before 1740? And if they were right, how does that affect what is taught today
? Is there a radical difference?
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.
What are some of the ramifications to prophetic teaching today if the “HE’s” in Daniel 9:27 are not the future antichrist? Are the changes drastic? Yes, indeed they are! What are some of them?
1. We would not have to have a peace treaty signed between antichrist and Israel.
2. The antichrist would not have to be a Jew.
3. The antichrist would not have to be a Roman prince or come out of Europe.
4. We would not have seven full years left to be fulfilled in Daniel’s prophecy of 490 years.
5. There would not be TWO 1260 periods left to be fulfilled in the tribulation period.
6. The antichrist could strike suddenly without three and one half years of peace occurring, leaving only 1260 days before Armageddon would end the tribulation period.
7. The temple would not have to be rebuilt for the antichrist to occupy prior to Christ’s coming for his saints.
8. The “first of the week” rapture position, seven years before the 2nd Advent, would not be correct.
9. Is it possible that the following Scripture could be applicable to some aspects of today’s teachings based on Daniel 9:27?
II Timothy 4:3,4 – For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; [4] And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.
Could it be that the recent outpouring of fictional books advocating the whisking away of all believers before the tribulation period might be more fable than fact? Could it be that tickling the ears of the masses by telling them what they want to hear is much more acceptable to them, and much more profitable to the writers and teachers, both financially and in acceptance and popularity?
II Corinthians 5:10,11 – For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. [11] Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences.
Which position is correct? I could care less personally, because
I am prepared for something that might fool us all. How is that possible
? I just WATCH! I both practice, and advocate to the church I pastor, to do the following:
Mark 13:34-37 – For the Son of man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch. [35] Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning: [36] Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. [37] And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.