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THE 70th WEEK OF DANIEL AND THE BLASPHEMY OF THE CHURCHES TODAY
Many churches today teach that the 70th week of Daniel is to be fulfilled
in the last days by an "end time antichrist." The 7 year tribulation teaching as well as other end time teachings from other churches have their foundation based upon the premise that Daniel's
70th week is a 7 year period in the last days. But we will show you in this study that this is not only error, but a gross blasphemy against the God of heaven!
This is an important truth and I pray you will study it with open eyes and let the Lord lead you away from the error of the various churches and into God's light.
Daniel 9:24 ...'Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.'
Let me share a plain truth with you straight away. God said to Daniel that 70 weeks were determined upon the Jews and their city (Jerusalem). Everyone accepts that this 70 weeks is not 70 literal weeks, but 490 years. And everyone accepts that the starting point for the 490 years is during the time of Persian rule in the 5th century B.C. when the command was given to restore Jerusalem (Daniel 9:25). Now if the 70th 'week' wasn't to be fulfilled until our day today, then that would make the prophecy over 2,400 years long, NOT 490 years.
Do you see the problem already? If the last week was to be fulfilled in the end times as many churches believe, then God should have said 340+ 'weeks' are determined upon the Jews, not 70.
Nowhere in the prophecy or anywhere else does God tell us to break off the last week, completely separate it from the other 69 weeks, having a gap in the prophecy of around 2000 years and then the last week would be fulfilled. This hasn't come from God. This has come from man, and it is a plain error that anyone with eyes to see can see. So let us look at the particulars of this prophecy and the truth will become very clear. We are told that 70 weeks are given to Israel to bring about the following:
"To finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy."
TO FINISH THE TRANSGRESSION:
Jesus said to the Jewish leaders - Matthew 23:32 ...'Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.'
Luke 23:20-21 ...'Pilate therefore, willing to release Jesus, spake again to them. But they cried, saying, Crucify him, crucify him.'
MAKE AN END OF SIN AND MAKE RECONCILIATION FOR INIQUITY:
As a result of the Jews crucifying the Son of God, sin was condemned and put away through Christ and reconciliation was made between God and man:
Romans 8:3 ...'For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh.'
Hebrews 9:26 ...'But now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.'
2 Corinthians 5:18-19 ...'And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation. To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself.'
Romans 5:10 ...'For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.'
TO BRING IN EVERLASTING RIGHTEOUSNESS:
And as a result of the perfect life of Christ in fallen human flesh and his sacrifice, God's perfect, everlasting righteousness was brought to man:
Isaiah 46:13 ...'I bring near my righteousness; it shall not be far off, and my salvation shall not tarry.'
Romans 1:16-17 ...'For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.'
Romans 5:17 ...'For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.'
Now we are clearly told in the prophecy that the above would be fulfilled DURING the 70 weeks (490 years) timeline, as the verse clearly said that 70 weeks was given TO fulfill these things. God didn't say that 69 weeks was given, plus a 2000 year gap and then the final week would fulfill these things. He gave 70 weeks (490 years) with NO gap! The Jews "finished the transgression," or as some render it "completed the apostasy" by rejecting God's Son and nailing Him to the cross. And Jesus was the one who "made an end of sin and made reconciliation and brought in everlasting righteousness" through His perfect life in human flesh and giving Himself as our sacrifice for sin on the cross. No one can dispute this. But what many people miss is that this includes the WHOLE 70 weeks timeline and that Jesus didn't fulfill the above particulars until DURING the 70th week! Meaning the WHOLE 70 weeks were fulfilled 2000 years ago. Let us confirm this even more from the prophecy:
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.'
So 69 weeks of this prophecy would bring us to "Messiah the Prince." This, as all agree, is pointing to the first coming of Jesus Christ to earth. Now the mistake that many churches make is that they leave it there at 69 weeks concerning the fulfillment of Christ in this prophecy. They believe that the part of this prophecy pointing to Christ was fulfilled in the 69th week. But what did we show above? That the WHOLE 70 weeks were given to "finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness." How did the Jews finish the transgression, or complete the apostasy? By crucifying God's Son. How was sin made an end of and righteousness brought in and reconciliation made? By the perfect life and sacrifice of Christ on the cross. Now let us go to verse 26 and see that Christ fulfilled these things ONLY DURING the 70th WEEK:
Daniel 9:26 ...'And AFTER threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.'
Isaiah 53:8 ...'He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.'
In verse 25 of Daniel 9 we learned that the first part of the prophecy was split into 'seven weeks' and then 'threescore and two weeks.' A total of 69 weeks. We are now told in verse 26 that Messiah (Christ) would be "cut off, but not for Himself," clearly pointing to His sacrifice on the cross, which He didn't do for Himself, but for us, when? AFTER the threescore and two period which ended the 69 weeks. So Jesus was to be 'cut off' (crucified) AFTER the 69th week, which means He was crucified DURING the 70th week. Do you see? 70 weeks were given to "finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness." This was fulfilled by Christ DURING the 70th week. Which means the 70th week CANNOT be placed in the last days. It was fulfilled 2000 years ago.
Now let us deal with the utter blasphemy of the churches today regarding verse 27.
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.'
Many churches teach that the 'he' in verse 27 is an end time antichrist. They detach (without any authority from God's Word) the last week of the 70 from the rest and place it in the very end times and believe that the work of the person in verse 27 is an end time antichrist person. The mistake many make today is by thinking that verse 27 is a continuation of the last part of verse 26, speaking of the 'prince' who would destroy the city. Now think about verse 26 carefully. It says that the "people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary." Do you remember what verse 24 said? How that the 70 weeks was for the Jews and for "their holy city"? Look at what Jesus said to the Jews regarding this:
Matthew 23:37-38 ...'O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.'
Matthew 24:1-2 ...'And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, there shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.'
Do you see what Jesus is saying above? He is foretelling the destruction of Jerusalem which was fulfilled by the Roman army under Titus in AD70. This was the fulfillment of the last part of verse 26 of Daniel 9. 70 weeks were given to the Jews and their city Jerusalem, and because the Jews rejected and crucified their Saviour, then the proclamation was given in that last week of the 70 weeks that the city would be completely destroyed. So verse 27 is not continuing to speak of the 'prince' who would destroy Jerusalem, it is going back to the first part of verse 26, speaking of Christ. And the language used is very clear that Christ is the one spoken of:
"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."
Notice that the verse says 'he' shall CONFIRM the covenant. It doesn't say that 'he' would MAKE a covenant. It says to 'confirm' THE covenant. Well, there is nothing in God's word that tells us that an antichrist has made any covenant that needs to be 'confirmed.' The word 'confirm' in the original means to 'prevail' or 'strengthen.' So this covenant in Daniel 9:27 was already in existence. This is key to understand the truth. Now what covenant was already in existence that needed to 'prevail' or be 'strengthened' or 'confirmed'?
Luke 1:68-69,72 ...'Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people, And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David ... To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant.'
Acts 3:25 ...'Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed.'
Hebrews 13:20-21 ...'Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.'
The covenant already in existence which was to be 'confirmed' or 'strengthened' and which was to 'prevail' was the covenant that God made with Abraham, that all nations would be blessed through the seed of Abraham, which wasn't Israel as some mistakenly believe, but was Christ (Galatians 3:16). Now do you remember we showed above that it was AFTER the 69th week, DURING the 70th week that Christ was to be 'cut off, but not for himself'? This pointed to Calvary and the sacrifice Jesus was to make for us. And this was PART of 'confirming the covenant with many for one week.' During the 70th week, Jesus 'confirmed' the covenant through His teaching ministry for 3 and a half years. Then Jesus died on the cross, which fulfills the verse that says "in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease." The sacrifice that Jesus made for us put an end to the types and shadows of the old covenant, which is what this verse is saying. Then to finish the 70th week, the final 3 and a half years, the apostles went out in the name of Jesus, 'confirming the covenant with many,' until the Jews also rejected and persecuted the apostles, thus completing the 70 weeks prophecy and the gospel then goes to the Gentiles:
Acts 13:46 ...'Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles.'
Jesus told the disciples to go first to the house of Israel because the 70 weeks prophecy was not yet fully complete. There were 3 and a half years of the last 'week' left. But once this time was complete and the Jews continued to reject the salvation of Christ, the gospel was taken to the Gentiles.
Romans 15:8 ...'Now I say that JESUS CHRIST was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, TO CONFIRM the promises made unto the fathers.'
It is clear Bible truth that the 'HE' in Daniel 9:27 who 'confirms the covenant' for the final week of the 70 weeks is none other than Jesus Christ. But the churches today attribute the work of God and of Christ in Daniel 9:27 to ANTICHRIST! Utter blasphemy!
Remember, Daniel 9:24 said that the 70 weeks was for the Jews AND their city. Read the parable of the wedding feast in Matthew 22. The king (God the Father) made a marriage for His Son (Jesus) and called those who were bidden (the Jews) to come. But they rejected the call and slew God's servants. So what was the response of the king (God)? "he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city" (Matthew 22:7). Just as was prophesied to happen in the last part of verse 26. And just as what happened in AD70. This is in FULFILLMENT of the 70 week prophecy, not 69 weeks, but ALL 70 weeks.
The teaching that Daniel 9:27 would be fulfilled by an end time antichrist was thought up by Roman Catholic Jesuits, to deceive the churches into thinking that the antichrist would not be revealed until the very last days, taking the focus off the Papal Church of Rome, which all the Protestant reformers correctly identified as antichrist. The world has been "made drunk with the wine" [FALSE DOCTRINES] of that Mother of Harlots [CHURCH OF ROME], and sadly, many Protestant churches have also been made drunk with the same wine! Which is why God is calling to His people ... "COME OUT OF HER MY PEOPLE" (Revelation 18:4).
The 70 weeks prophecy was completely fulfilled 2000 years ago through Christ. Any other teaching is a deception and blasphemy against God and His Son. So you have a choice to make. You can either accept and follow the clear truth of God's Word, or follow the blasphemous teachings of the fallen churches of Babylon (Roman Catholic and Protestant). But salvation is only found in the first option.
For more concerning this prophecy, please see the following studies: