In response to the query earlier, here is an explanation of the passage of scripture that is twisted by so many to fit pre-conceived 'futurist' interpretations.
(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.
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.
(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.
Verse 27 is the main issue at hand. The previous verses without any shadow of doubt all refer to Messiah. When, in verse 27 the word 'he' is mantioned, why should there be any doubt that the 'he' referred to is also Messiah?
Based on the day-year principle (which is valid), the “one week†remaining in this prophecy must refer to a period of seven years. Pro-rapture promoters claim this is the seven-year period of tribulation. Their idea is that while the first 69 weeks (or 483 years) did reach to the first coming of Jesus Christ, the prophetic clock has stopped because the Jewish people largely rejected Him. Then they slide the 70th week (the last seven years) all the way down to the end times, call it the tribulation, and say it applies to the Jewish people after we’re gone.
Rapture teachers interpret Daniel 9:27 as follows:
(1) “He shall confirm the covenant with many for one week.†“He†is the antichrist who will make a covenant (or peace treaty) with the Jews during the seven years of tribulation.
(2) “In the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease…†In the middle of the seven-year tribulation, the antichrist will break his covenant, turn against Israel, and stop their animal sacrifices.
(3) The phrase, “he shall cause the sacrifice…to cease†is viewed as irrefutable proof that a Jewish temple (which includes sacrifices) must be rebuilt on the Temple Mount inside Jerusalem.
Bestselling author Hal Lindsey in his The Late Great Planet Earth reflects this current view when he writes about “God’s last seven years of dealing with the Jewish people before the long awaited setting up of the kingdom of God (Daniel 9:27).†(The Late Great Planet Earth, p. 46) According to Mr. Lindsey, during those seven years “ ‘the Antichrist,’ breaks his covenant with the Jewish people and causes the Jewish temple worship, according to the Law of Moses, to cease (Daniel 9:27)…We must conclude that a third Temple will be rebuilt upon its ancient site in old Jerusalem.†(Ibid.)
Therefore, according to countless modern interpreters, Daniel 9:27 is applied to a future antichrist, a future peace treaty made with Israel, a future seven-year tribulation, and a future rebuilt Jewish temple inside Jerusalem. And all of this will supposedly start with the rapture. Honestly, that’s a lot to interpret from that single verse, especially when Daniel 9:27 says absolutely nothing about any seven-year tribulation, antichrist, or rebuilt Jewish temple!
Notice what the world-famous Bible commentary written by Matthew Henry says about Daniel 9:27: “By offering himself a sacrifice once and for all he [Jesus] shall put an end to all the Levitical sacrifices.â€Â(1)
The following ten points provide logical and convincing evidence that Daniel’s famous 70th week has no application to any future seven-year tribulation at all. Rather, this great prophetic period was definitely fulfilled nearly two thousand years ago.
1. The entire prophecy of Daniel 9:24-27 covers a period of “seventy weeks,†or 490 years. Logic requires that “seventy weeks†refers to one consecutive block of time, in other words, to seventy straight sequential weeks. There is no example in Scripture (or anywhere else!) of a stated time period starting, stopping, and then starting again. All biblical references to time are consecutive: 40 days and 40 nights (see Genesis 7:4), 400 years in Egypt (see Genesis 15:13), 70 years of captivity (see Daniel 9:2), etc. In Daniel’s prophecy, the “seventy weeks†were to begin during the reign of Persia and continue to the time of the Messiah.
2. Logic also requires that the 70th week follow immediately after the 69th week. If it doesn’t, then it cannot properly be called the 70th week!
3. It is illogical to insert a 2,000-year gap between the 69th and 70th week. No hint of a gap is found in the prophecy itself. There is no gap between the first seven weeks and the following sixty-two weeks, so why insert one between the 69th and 70th week?
Note: If you told your child to be in bed in 70 minutes, you obviously would mean 70 consecutive minutes. What if five hours later your fully awake son said, “But dad, I know 69 minutes have passed, but the 70th minute hasn’t started yet!� After receiving an appropriate punishment, he would be swiftly sent to bed.
4. Daniel 9:27 says nothing about a seven-year period of “tribulation,†a “rebuilt†Jewish temple, or any “antichrist.â€Â
5. The stated focus of this prophecy is the Messiah, not the antichrist. After the Messiah is “cut off†(referring to Christ’s death), the text says, “And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary.†I n the past, this has been consistently applied to the destruction of Jerusalem and the second temple by Roman armies led by Prince Titus in A.D. 70. 11
6. “He shall confirm the covenant.†Paul said “the covenant†was “confirmed before by God in Christ†(Galatians 3:17). Jesus Christ came “to confirm the promises made to the fathers†(Romans 15:8, emphasis added). In the King James Version, Daniel 9:27 doesn’t say “ a covenant†or peace treaty, but “ the covenant,†which applies to the New Covenant. Nowhere in the Bible does the antichrist make, confirm, or break a covenant with anyone. The word “covenant†is Messianic, and always applies to the Messiah, not the antichrist.
7. “He shall confirm the covenant with many. †Jesus Christ said, “This is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many… †(Matthew 26:28). Behold a perfect fit! Jesus was quoting Daniel 9:27 specifically.
8. “In the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease.†After exactly three and a half years of holy ministry, Jesus Christ died on the cross, “in the midst of the week [in the middle of the seven years].†At the exact moment of His death, “the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom…†(Matthew 27:51). This act of God signified that all animal sacrifices at that moment ceased to be of value. Why? Because the Perfect Sacrifice had been offered!
9. “For the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate.†“The abomination of desolation†(see Matthew 24:15) is not a simple subject, yet we know that Jesus clearly applied this event to the time when His followers were to flee from Jerusalem before the destruction of the second temple in A.D. 70. In a parallel text to Matthew 24:15, Jesus told His disciples, “When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies [Roman armies led by Prince Titus], then know that its desolation is near †(Luke 21:20, emphasis added). The disciples did “see†those very events. Because of the “abominations†of the Pharisees, Jesus told them, “See! Your house is left to you desolate†(Matthew 23:38). Thus Gabriel’s statement in Daniel 9:27 about Jerusalem becoming “desolate†was perfectly fulfilled in A.D. 70.
10. Gabriel said that the 70-week prophecy specifically applied to the Jewish people (see Daniel 9:24). During the period of Christ’s public ministry of 3 1 / 2 years, the Master’s focus was largely upon “the lost sheep of the house of Israel†(Matthew 10:6). After His resurrection and then for another 3 1/2 years, His disciples preached mostly to Jews (see Acts 1-6). After that second 3 1/2 -year period, in 34 A.D., the bold Stephen was stoned by the Jewish Sanhin (see Acts 7). This infamous deed marked the then-ruling Jewish leaders’ final, official rejection of the gospel of our Savior. Then the gospel went to the Gentiles. In Acts 9, Saul became Paul, the “apostle to the Gentiles†(Romans 11:13). In Acts 10, God gave Peter a vision revealing it was now time to preach to the Gentiles (see Acts 10:1-28). Read also Acts 13:46. Thus approximately 3 1/2 years after the crucifixion and at the end of the 70-week prophecy given f or the Jewish peopleâ€â€the gospel shifted to the Gentiles exactly as predicted in Bible prophecy.
Much of the above I copied from another website. Far be it from me to claim responsibility. :D
: bonnie
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