Daniel’s 70th Week – Revisited
Hi Steve,
You just wrote this to me: “To answer your question as to if the return is after the 69 weeks or the 70… I believe it will be after the 70. The 70 has to be completed …
Dan. 9:24 “Seventy ‘sevens’ are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy.”
I lean to seeing Yahshua showing up during or right at the end of the 70th week. If Yahshua returns during the 70th week, at any time during that 70th week, by our understanding of reckoning parts of time as a whole time, the whole 70th week will be fulfilled. My understanding is that Yahshua was crucified 14 days AFTER the end of the 69th week, or 483 years, thus leaving the last 7 years. Daniel 9:26 (NKJV) “And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself. . .” So, technically, that 14 days in the new year could be a reckoned part of the 70th week. We know the last 3 ½ years of the tribulation will be exactly numbered days, like 42 months, 1260 days, etc., but the first 3 ½ years may be an approximation, due simply to the month of the crucifixion!
You also wrote: “I also lean to Yeshua fulfilling the first half of the 7 years with His ministry. Thus we are only waiting for the last 3 1/2 years.”
Daniel 9:27 (NKJV) “Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week. . .” Daniel indicates that a full one week, or 7 years by most interpretations, is separated from the first 69 weeks. It may be a tough haul to place the first 3 ½ years of the 70th week 2,000 years ago as Yahshua’s ministry time. Also, Yahshua seems to show two levels of tribulation in Matthew 24:9 (NKJV) “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake.” and verse 21, “For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be.” By what Yahshua says about the abomination of desolation, in direct reference to Daniel’s prophecy, most believe the abomination of desolation by the Antichrist in the Temple is what kicks off the last half of tribulation, known as Great Tribulation. Daniel 9:27 (NKJV) “Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week; But in the middle of the week He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, Even until the consummation, which is determined, is poured out on the desolate.” A new temple is built, the Jews begin sacrificing again, the Antichrist stops the sacrifices and desolates/desecrates the Temple. I can’t wait for the consummation!!
What you do have in your favor for the 3 ½ years of Yahshua’s ministry being counted as the first 3 ½ years of the 70th week, is that many scholars believe the 483 years began with an effective decree made by Artaxerxes I Longimanus in 458 or 457 BCE (Ezra 7), which gives you about 487 years up to Yahshua’s crucifixion. The only problem, that wasn’t the effective decree by a Persian king. Most believe the effective decree was 13 years later, given to Nehemiah (Neh. 2), in 444 BCE. This is a huge can of worms in the sacred chronology sphere. I have yet to find one sacred chronologist who meets Daniel’s prophecy to my satisfaction. Some do believe the problem lies with Persian history, not Scripture, which is the way I lean. The effective decree may have been the one by King Cyrus II (Ezra 1; 6:3-5). If King Cyrus made his decree in 458/457 BCE, then we know for sure Persian history is messed up! Martin Anstey believed this. There were 4 decrees by Persian kings, the other one by Darius I, Hystaspes, about 520 BCE, Ezra 6:6-12. You just have to pick which decree you believe set off Daniel’s 490 year prophecy. I take holy Scripture history over profane Persian history any day.
Bless you all,
Gene Benjamin II
April 27, 2013 CE
Comments