In earlier blogs (prepare-bridgewell.com) concerning the prophecy of Daniel 9:24-27, we learned that Almighty God laid out the timeline of history beginning almost 500 years before Christ and running through the end of this present age.
This prophecy in Daniel concerned a period of 70 “weeks” or 70 “7’s” of years for a total of 490 years.
Wait a minute, you say. How could a prophecy of 490 years take us from the 5th century B.C. through end times?
The prophecy began to unfold in 454* B.C. with the decree of Artaxerxes Longimanus to restore and rebuild Jerusalem. This restoration took up seven “7’s” or 49 years of the prophecy and is documented in the book of Nehemiah.
Following that, there would be a period of 62 “7’s” or 434 years which went from the restoration until 30 A.D. when “Messiah would be cut off, but not for Himself,” an obvious reference to Christ’s crucifixion.
So, from the prophecy’s start in 454 B.C. until 30 A.D., a total of 483 years or 69 “7’s” of the prophecy were fulfilled:
454 B.C. + 30 A.D. – 1 (there is no year “zero” when going from B.C. to A.D.) = 483 years.
The original prophecy concerned 70 “7’s” of years. If 69 “7’s” had been fulfilled by Christ’s crucifixion, that leaves only one “7” or 7 years of the prophecy yet to be fulfilled. How does that take us from the time of Christ until the end times? The answer is:
THE PROPHECY PAUSED AT THE CRUCIFIXION OF CHRIST.
If we go back to the prophecy’s opening passage in Daniel 9:24, we see that the prophecy was determined upon “thy people and thy holy city”. When the Jews crucified Messiah, in effect they destroyed the true Temple of God. This caused the prophecy to stop, because Jerusalem had rejected and killed the very One who made her holy.
Then, in Daniel 9:26 it goes on to say that after Messiah was “cut off and have nothing, the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary.”
This was fulfilled to the letter some 40 years following the crucifixion of Christ when the temple building as well as Jerusalem itself were destroyed by the Roman army under General Titus in 70 A.D.
Also included in that scripture was a veiled reference to the future Antichrist, “the prince who is to come.” Antichrist will be connected to the same people who destroyed the city of Jerusalem and the temple in 70 A.D.
“The end will come like a flood. War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed,” (Daniel 9:26b). What followed after 70 A.D. was the great Jewish Diaspora. After Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed, wars and desolations would be the norm for the Jews. History has testified to this. The Jews for centuries wandered all over the world, seeking peace and a homeland, but finding themselves persecuted outcasts. Even today, after re-entering their land, they have been subjected to ongoing wars and terror attacks.
AS OF TODAY, THE PROPHECY HAS NOT FINISHED OUT. THE FINAL 70TH “7” HAS NOT YET BEEN FULFILLED. This final 70th “7” or 7-year period of time is what Christians refer to as the “end times.” What does Daniel’s prophecy tell us about this period?
(* All dates given are according to world-renown Bible chronologist, Dr. Floyd Nolen Jones, in his groundbreaking book, The Chronology of the Old Testament. Other readers may prefer the chronology of Sir Robert Anderson in his book, The Coming Prince. In either case, the time span is still reckoned according to the prophecy.)
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