the seventy weeks of daniel - End Time Message

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The Seventy Weeks of DanielMessage Quick Reference GuideThe year that this visioncame to him wasapproximately in 538 BC.They went into captivity inthe year 606 B.C. Andcounting 538 from 606 is 68years.HISTORICALCONTEXTThe 70 year exile toBabylon was about completeas Daniel had discernedfrom reading Jeremiah’sprophecy (Dan. 9:2). Hewas in prayer about thefuture of his people becauseit was their sin andtransgression towards Godthat had sent them into exile.While in prayer, Daniel wasvisited by the angel Gabrielwho had been sent by Godto give him “insight andunderstanding” (Dan. 9:22)regarding a “70 week” program for his people and his holy city (Dan. 9:24-25). Gabrielrevealed the events to Daniel all the way until the Kingdom was completely restored and theMillennium set in upon the earth. Upon completion of the 70th week, Israel’s “transgression”would be finished, her “sin” ended and her “iniquity” would be atoned for.The law of Moses had commanded the Israelites to acknowledge every seventhyear as a sabbatical year. In the first year of Darius, who had been appointed king over therealm of the Chaldeans (c. 538 B.C.), Daniel, reflecting upon the time-span suggested byJeremiah’s prophecies, calculated that the captivity period almost was over (9:1-2). He thusapproached Jehovah in prayer. The prophet confessed his sins, and those of the nation aswell. He petitioned Jehovah to turn away His wrath from Jerusalem, and permit the temple tobe rebuilt (9:16-17).The Lord responded to Daniel’s prayer in a message delivered by the angel Gabriel(9:24-27) saying that the house of God would be rebuilt. A more significant blessing wouldcome, however, in the Person of the Anointed One (Christ), Who is greater than the temple(cf. Matthew 12:6).THE SUBJECTS OF THE PROPHECYThere can be no question about the identity of the subjects of Daniel’s prophecy:it concerns the nation of Israel, those for whom he had been praying in their captivity, andJerusalem, their capital city.Daniel had been pondering the future of his people, and in the writings of Jeremiahhe found a partial answer: they would soon be delivered. His subsequent prayer for theirdeliverance from captivity was interrupted by Gabriel who informed him of still more detailsof his nation’s future—specifically, a period of 490 years.In the introduction to the prophecy, Gabriel speaks of “your people and your holycity” and of “the holy of holies”, which is clearly and always in the Old Testament a referenceto Israel’s tabernacle or temple. The prophecy throughout employs such terms as “Jerusalem,”“the city,” and the “the sacrifice and the oblation.” The people and city under discussioncould not be made more obvious; namely, the nation Israel and her capital city, Jerusalem.THE OBJECTIVES OF THE SEVENTY WEEKSBy the use of a series of categorical phrases in verse 24, it states thesix-fold purpose of these seventy weeks: “(1) to bring transgression to an end,and (2) to make an end for sin, and (3) to make reconciliation for iniquity, and (4)to bring in everlasting righteousness, and (5) to seal up the vision and prophesy,and (6) to anoint the most Holy.”This context sets forth the primary purpose of Jesus Christ’s mission to Earth.First, the Messiah would come to deal with the problem of human sin. He would“finish transgression,” make an “end of sins,” and effect “reconciliation for iniquity.” Thattheme is developed gloriously throughout the New Testament (Read Matthew 1:21; 20:28;26:28; 1 Corinthians 15:3; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Galatians 1:4; Ephesians 1:7; Colossians 1:20;1 Peter 2:24; Revelation 1:5).DANIEL’S Seventy Weeks, which are equal to 490 years, are scripturally dividedinto three periods: first, into a period of “Seven Weeks; “secondly, of “ Sixty TwoWeeks; “and thirdly, of “One Week.”The commencement of the Seventy Weeks and of the Seven Weeks, are thesame. Both periods began at “the going forth of a commandment causing to return and tobuild Jerusalem,” eighty-three years after the end of the seventy years Babylonian captivity.This imperial decree of the Persian king was the official restoration of the Commonwealth ofIsrael, at present in continuity “until the times of the restitution of all things which the Deityhath spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets,” from the beginning of the MosaicEconomy (Acts 3:21) and until He shall send Jesus Christ to “raise up, or build again theTabernacle of David,” that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof: and to set it up as inthe days of old.(Acts 15:16 ; Amos 9:11).THE PROPHETIC CHRONOLOGYThe time element of this famous prophecy enabled the studious Hebrew to knowwhen the promised Messiah would die for the sins of humanity. The chronology of thisprophetic context involves three things: (a) a commencement point; (b) a durationperiod; and (c) a concluding event.The beginning point was to coincide with a command to “restore and rebuildJerusalem.” The time span between the starting point and the concluding event was specifiedas “seventy weeks.” This would be seventy weeks of seven days each — a total of 490days. Each day was to represent a year in prophetic history. It was a symbolismdenoting a period of approximately 490 years. Each week meant seven years. Oneweek is equal to seven years.415 416
The Seventy Weeks of DanielMessage Quick Reference GuideThe terminal event of this time frame would be the “cutting off,” (thedeath) of the Anointed One (9:26) in the midst of the seventieth week. Actually,the chronology is divided into three segments, the total of which represents 486½ years.This would be the span between the command to restore Jerusalem, and the Messiah’sdeath.If one is able to determine the date of the commencement point of this prophecy,it then becomes a relatively simple matter to add to that the time-duration specified in thetext, thus concluding the precise time when the Lord was to be slain.In computing the dates, it is important to base our computation uponthe original Hebrew calendar which has 30 days in every month. We have hadthree different calendars. In the old astronomy calendar, which is the Julian calendar,there are 365 1/4 day in a year. In the Roman calendar that we live under now, there are365 days in a year by our calendar. But in the Christian or prophetic calendar we findthat there is only 360 days in a year. The Bible said that they prophesied one thousandtwo hundred and threescore days. Now, if we take the astronomy calendar, it wouldsure miss it a long ways from being three and one-half years. The Roman calendar is alsoinconsistent because it has 30, 31 and even 29 days in some of its months and thereforecan not be relied upon. If we take the Roman calendar that we have today, it would miss ita long ways. But if you take the prophetic calendar, there’s exactly one thousandtwo hundred and threescore days in thirty days to the month.segments — (1)seven weeks, (2) 62 weeks, and (3) the “midst” of one week(70th).1. The first division of “seven weeks” (literally, forty-nine years) coversthat period of time during which the actual rebuilding of Jerusalem would be underway,following the Hebrews’ return to Palestine (9:25b). This was the answer to Daniel’s prayer(9:16). That reconstruction era was to be one of “troublous times.” The Jews’ enemies hadharassed them in earlier days (see Ezra 4:1-6), and they continued to do so in the time ofEzra and Nehemiah.2. The second segment of sixty-two weeks (434 years), when added tothe previous forty-nine, yields a total of 483 years. When this figure is computed from 457B.C., using the Hebrew Calendar, it terminates at A.D. 30. This was the year of Jesus’baptism and the beginning of His public ministry.THE COMING OF THE PRINCEThe going forth of the commandment to rebuild Jerusalem, according to BrotherBranham, was on the 14th day of March which in the Hebrew it is called Nisan, whichmeans “March.” The issue was given on the 14th day of March, B.C. 445. Here is what hetaught us in His sermon the SEVENTY.WEEKS.OF.DANIEL 08-06-1961:”Now, Jesus, the Messiah, rode into the city of Jerusalem, on the backof a white mule on Palm Sunday, April the 2nd, A.D. 30. And now, from B.C. 445 toA.D. 30 is exactly 475 years. But as we have already seen that the sixty-nine weeksmakes 483 years... Now, there’s where the trouble comes, right there. See? We’ve got onlywith the marking of the Bible here, time, only 475 years, and actually it’s 483 years, adifference of eight years… Now, the B.C. 475 to A.D. 30 are Julian or astronomy years,which are 365 1/4 day in each. But when we reduce them days to our prophetic calendar...Our prophetic calendar brings us to 360 days as we use now in the Scriptures.We have exactly 483 (There it is.)—483. Here we have exactly proof of the prophecy,exactly the truth. For from the time of the going forth to build the temple until the destroying...Or when they rejected Christ and killed Him in A.D. 33—when Christ was killed is exactly483 years. Now, from the going forth of the commandment to rebuild Jerusalem wasdetermined seven weeks, which meant forty-nine years, and forty-nine years hit it exactly.”It is in “the midst” of the seventieth week, after the fulfillment of the 486½ years,that the Anointed One was to be “cut off.” This is a clear reference to ACTUAL TIME of thedeath of our Lord Jesus Christ. Isaiah similarly foretold that Christ would be “cut off out ofthe land of the living” (Isaiah 53:8).THREE SEGMENTS3. Finally, the “midst of the week” (3½ years) reflects the time of theLord’s preaching ministry. This segment of the prophecy concludes in A.D. 33 — theyear of the Savior’s death.It is now clear that the First half of the SEVENTIETH WEEK of Daniel pertained tothe 3 ½ years ministry of Jesus Christ on earth from the day of His Water Baptism at theRiver Jordan till his death in 33 ½ A.D. This fulfilled the verses “And after threescore andtwo weeks shall Messiah be cut off”.The “seventy weeks” of Daniel’s prophecy are divided into three417 418
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