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Transcript 548A — Daniel's Seventieth Week
HC: Good evening. Welcome to Open Forum.
CALLER: Yes. You were speaking earlier on Daniel's Seventy Weeks. And I have a question. In verse 26 it says that the Messiah shall be cut off, and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city. Is it talking about Jesus there?
HC: Yes. The Messiah was the one who was cut off. To cut off means to come under the judgment of God. And He actually is the city that was destroyed. Remember that He called Himself a sanctuary? "Destroy this sanctuary . . ." Jerusalem is a figure for the body of Christ, and Christ is the head of the body. And so in a real sense He is the city, and the people of the prince that destroyed Him of course was the nation of Israel. They are the ones who plotted His crucifixion.
CALLER: Now you were saying that the last half of the seventieth week was at the cross. Now Matthew 24:15 also refers to the abomination of desolation. Is that the same thing? That's the end of time - right?
HC: Yes, that's right near the end of time, the abomination of desolation.
CALLER: Is that making the last half of that week 1900 years or more?
HC: No. You see, in Daniel 9:27 it indicates that in the middle of the seven years sacrifice and offering ceases. That's the cross. That we can't get away from. That's the only point that could be. And we know that the end of the seventieth week is at the consummation and the decreed end being poured out upon the desolater or the desolate. And that's Judgment Day.
And then in addition, it talks about the overspreading of abomination, and that of course, we know from Revelation 20, would identify with the loosing of Satan right before Judgment Day, or Matthew 24:15, where it talks about the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place. That again is right before Judgment Day.
CALLER: But I still don't understand. When does the seventieth week end then?
HC: At Judgment Day.
CALLER: That's what I mean. Then that means the last half.
HC: Oh, I see. That makes the last half of the seventy sevens the whole New Testament period. Absolutely.
CALLER: The first half was dealing in sevens of years.
HC: The first half was actually three and a half years. It went from the baptism of Christ in AD 29 until the crucifixion of Christ in the spring of AD 33. And as a matter of fact, the 483 years before that, the 62 sevens, were actually literal years that did pass by.
But you see, God in these seventy sevens has two paths that lead to the Messiah. They both begin in 458 BC, when Ezra went to Jerusalem to reestablish the Law there. Now to reestablish the Law spiritually is speaking about building the house, or building the city. We are temple builders, or city builders, as we share the Gospel.
Now the first path goes from 458 BC right to the cross, in verse 24. "Seventh weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression and to make end of sins," and so on. From 458 BC to AD 33 is exactly 490 actual years. And that's seventy times seven, 490 years.
But then beginning in verse 25, God gives us a second path to Christ. Only this time it goes to Christ's coming in judgment. The first path was the first coming of Christ, which was exactly 490 years. The second path also ends up with Christ, but it's not quite as simple a path. First of all, it begins with seven sevens of years, or forty-nine years.
Now forty-nine years in the Bible is a Jubilee period. It's the period between two Jubilee years. It happens that 458 was the last Sabbath year of the last Jubilee period. 457 was a Jubilee year, and that means that the first seven sevens of the second path (beginning in verse 25) go from one Jubilee period to the next, which would bring us from 458 BC (the Jubilee year was 457, and the next Jubilee year was 407 BC. All right. Now we're up to 407 BC.
Then it says that there were sixty-two sevens, and these come in unbroken fashion, which is a period of 434 years. The first seven of seven ended with the Jubilee year of 407, so the next year, which would begin the 434 years, would be 406. And going from 406 to AD 29 is exactly 434 years. And then beginning with AD 29 and going for half of a seven brings us to the spring of AD 33, when Christ was crucified.
But now God in this second path is going to take us all the way to the second coming of Christ, and so He indicates that the last half of the seventieth seven is the whole New Testament period. It ends with Judgment Day. And God picks up that figure of three and a half years in Revelation 10, in Revelation 11 and in Revelation 12, as He talks there about 1,260 days or 42 months or three and a half years, or a time, times and a half a time, which again would speak of the last half of the seventieth seven.
CALLER: And what does it mean, "the end therefore shall be with a flood"?
HC: Well, a flood, I'm not sure of the exact language of this, except that it would indicate the total destruction of that which is in view. When Christ died on the cross, He endured hell for our sins. It was not just a partial destruction of the city and the sanctuary. But it's like Jesus said, "Destroy this sanctuary." And he meant destroy it. He was killed. He endured hell for our sins. And then He said that in three days He would rebuild it.
CALLER: Okay. Very good. Thank you.
HC: Thank you for calling. Good night.