THE 70WEEKS OF DANIEL

It is written in 1 Corinth 2:9-10 “ But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. 10 But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God ”. From the scriptures quoted above, it is clear that there are things of God and there are also deep things of God. The deep things of God are concealed in the Word of God but they exist therein. As God is just in all His ways, it is not his intent to hide these things perpetually but to reveal them in the fullness of time, when the time appointed for them to be fully fulfilled is at hand. Daniel 70 weeks of years is of such a kind. Daniel 70 weeks is extremely important in understanding the plan of God for mankind and the whole earth. And he has given us the grace to make this thing known to his children. It explains what has been, what is, and what shall be of all men, nations, and kingdoms of the earth in the days to come. This is God’s plan for the ages and that which is determined shall be done. The zeal of the Lord of Hosts shall bring it to pass.

It is written in Dan 9:24-27 “ 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. 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. 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. 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 scriptures above were written by Daniel from Babylon (now Iraq) between 606-535 B.C. Israel had gone into captivity in Babylon because of their rife sins against God. Daniel the prophet was also taken with them. After spending years upon years in Babylon, Daniel began to study the scrolls of Jeremiah the prophet written between 685-616 B.C. (Dan 9:2) and he understood that Israel was to accomplish 70 years of captivity in Babylon and no more. At the time Daniel discovered this revelation, the 70 years were soon to be over. So he began to intercede for the people of Israel so that God would let them go back to Israel after the 70 years. The scriptures quoted above were God’s answers to his prayers. Here, God revealed to Daniel His whole plan concerning Israel from the time they leave Babylon (at the end of 70 years) to the time Christ will return to set up His kingdom on the earth. The rapture of the church is hidden in this plan and it is for the wise to search it out. Therefore, Israel is God’s prophetic clock. So what does this all mean?

The phrase 70 weeks literally means 70 sevens (Hebrew word for week is shabua, meaning seven). It does not mean 70 literal weeks on our calendar. These 70 sevens are of years so that each week is 7 literal years in duration by our calendar. How do we know this? Because the scriptures revealed the duration of the last week of the 70 (the 70 th week) to be 7 literal years. Dan 8:11-14, 12:7 and Rev 13:5 teach plainly that the last half of the 70 th week is 31/2 years. Therefore, if the last half of the 70 th week is 31/2 years, then the first half is also 31/2 years because half and half make a whole. So then, if the 70 th week is 7 literal years in duration, then the remaining 69 weeks are each 7 years in duration also so that the whole period of Daniel 70 weeks is a total of 70x7 = 490 literal years on our calendar.

From Dan 9:24-27 quoted above, the 70 weeks are divided into 3 main periods. The first 7 weeks which is 7x7 = 49 years for the rebuilding of Jerusalem (Dan 9:25), the next 62 weeks which is 62x7 = 434 years beginning immediately after the 49 years mentioned above was completed (after literal Jerusalem in Israel was completely rebuilt) to the time Messiah (Jesus Christ) was cut off (crucified), and the last 1 week which is 1x7 = 7 years, also known as the last 7 years of this age.The millennial reign of Christ and His saints on the whole earth begins immediately after this last 7 years. Since the 69 th week ended when Christ was crucified proving that the first 69 weeks have already been literally fulfilled, and the 70 th week is yet future, then there is a gap between the 69 th and 70 th week. This is the dispensation of the church and it is this time period that we are currently in today. God’s original plan was for the Jews first (Rom 1:16, John 4:22) but they rejected him, killed some of the prophets he sent them, and eventually stumbled at the stumbling stone, the Messiah. God, having known this aforehand decided to make a name for Himself among the gentiles whom we are (Acts 15:14-18, John 10:16, Amos 9:9-11). This is the reason the church was birthed on Pentecost. After His works in the church are complete (at the rapture), God will again focus on the Jews to finish His works in them, and fulfill the promises he made to Abraham concerning them (Hos 3:4-5, Isa 9:6-7). This dispensation of the church is about to come to an end. This will usher in the 70 th week of Daniel which is the last 7 years of this age before the millennial reign of Christ and His saints on the earth.

Whom do the 70 weeks of Daniel concern? From Dan 9:24 quoted above, the whole 70 weeks (490 literal years) of Daniel are determined (Hebrew word is chathak meaning decreed) to be fulfilled concerning thy people (Daniel’s people) and thy holy city (Daniel’s native city, Jerusalem). This is literal Israel in Jerusalem. The church is not Israel and Israel is not the church. They are two separate entities before God. True messianic Jews and born again Gentiles make up the church (1 Corinth 1:24, 12:13, Eph 2:14) while the remaining Jews are still entangled with Judaism which is the yoke of bondage Apostle Paul warned them about in Gal 5:1-2. The 70 weeks of Daniel do not concern the church. It is the overall plan of God for the Jews. In fact the church was not begun until after the 69 th week (after Christ has been crucified and raised to glory), and it will be raptured before the 70 th week begins (2 Thess 2:7-8, Rev 4:1). God intentionally left a wide gap between the 69 th and 70 th week. He did this so that the church could be birthed within this period, nurtured, and then caught up to be gathered together unto him in Heaven. Was it not just for a righteous God to save the Gentiles if the Jews would not accept him? This is one of many reasons for the time gap between the 69 th and 70 th week.

When do the 70 weeks concern Israel and Jerusalem? They concern Israel when Israel would exist as a single nation at Jerusalem, not when they are divided into Ephraim and Judah as in the days of old. Israel exists as this single nation today with the whole of Jerusalem as her capital. Though Israel became a nation again in 1948 after the land had been trampled upon for centuries since 70 A.D. by the gentiles, and the people scattered, and her temple destroyed, she did not get the whole of Jerusalem back as her capital until 1967, over 1,900 years after. Prior to 1967, this was not so, for Jerusalem was then divided into east and west Jerusalem, with a huge defenced wall separating them. The Arabs (the country of Jordan) controlled the east and Israel controlled the west. This changed in 1967 during the six-day war between Israel and the Arabs. Israel recaptured east Jerusalem and unified the whole city to become Israel’s undivided capital. Since then, Israel has become a nation with Jerusalem as capital (Dan 9:24). According to the scriptures (Dan 9:24), all the 70 weeks of Daniel are fulfilled on Israel as a nation. Only the 70 th week is yet to be fulfilled and the time of its fulfillment is at hand. Just as the name Me-thu-se-lah in Hebrew means ‘after his death it shall come’, so also after the rapture, the 70 th week shall come. We shall write unto you in the weeks to come concerning what shall be in the 70 th week for you must all know and purpose in your heart not to partake of these terrible evil that shall befall the whole earth in those days. The only hope of escape as written in Luke 21:36 is the rapture. It is called the blessed hope (Titus 2:13). To partake, you must be pure hearted, holy, and fully obedient to the Lord. You must be a doer of His Words everyday and always. You must live by His words and please Him in all things. You must hate the ways of the world and embrace the ways of God in absoluteness. But you can only do all these things by the help of the Holy Spirit. So then, you must be filled with the Holy Spirit. This is only possible through knowledge of the Word of God, doing of the Word of God, and fervent prayer.

Brethren, keep these words in your hearts and let them produce the good fruit in you. Know that if God has said it, He will bring it to pass. Now he has commanded us to tell all people to prepare and make haste, for His coming is at hand. It is even at the doors. To them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God by our Lord and savior Jesus Christ, grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.