Daniel and the Boys in the Band by Brian E. R. Limmer - HTML preview
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The First Period (49 Years)
7 weeks | 49 years | Rebuilding Jerusalem | 445–396 BC. |
62 weeks | 434 years | Leads to Messiah’s coming | 396 BC – 30 AD. |
Total: 69 weeks | 483 years | Messiah the Prince appears and is cut off | 30 – 33 AD. |
Table 2: Time plan for Daniels Prophecy
We start by recalling that this book was predicted some five hundred years, before it began to come to pass on the earth. In short, it a spiritual revelation, shown by dreams and visions, revealed and interpreted by the messenger named Gabriel, who was commissioned to unlock the mysteries.109
While I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation. 110
His message was:
“Seventy weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place.”111
When will This Period Begin?
From the command to rebuild Jerusalem until the coming of the Chosen Leader, it will be seven weeks followed by another sixty-two weeks. During the first seven weeks, Streets will be built in Jerusalem, and a trench will be dug around the city for protection, but these will be difficult times.112
Who issued the command? King Artaxerxes I of Persia in 445BC 113. This authorised the rebuilding of Jerusalem’s walls and city, and that command triggers the start of the prophetic clock. The temple was rebuilt during troubled times covered in the first 49 years. (445–396BC). This period covers the reconstruction led by Nehemiah and Ezra who built with trowel in one hand and sword in the other. First the Temple was rebuilt against the opposition of the local leaders and surrounding tribes, they managed to delay the completion until the king confirmed he had written a decree saying that his people should go back and build their temple to pray to their God for him and his wellbeing.
“In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing: ‘Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever is among you of all his people, may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and rebuild the house of the Lord, the God of Israel—he is the God who is in Jerusalem. And let each survivor, in whatever place he sojourns, be assisted by the men of his place with silver and gold, with goods and with beasts, besides freewill offerings for the house of God that is in Jerusalem.114
The second period (434 years)
…then for sixty-two weeks troubled time will remain while the city is built up with squares and moats115
The next period, 434 years, (396BC – 32AD.), sees the expansion of the project to restore the whole of Jerusalem. This period is mainly covered in the books of Nehemiah and Ezra. But it extends beyond their time in history, through the time of the Maccabees and into the life and time of Jesus. This period sees the rise of the four successive kingdoms. The forth, (the Roman empire), demolished Nehemiah’s temple, and rebuilt a modern temple complex, which included a palace for their Herods. This period continues on, until it ends with the destruction of the temple so lavishly built by the Romans. The Romans destroyed their own handiwork in seventyAD. Daniel, also interprets passages from the book of Isaiah chapter fifty-three, with which he was very conversant.
“At the end of the sixty-two weeks, the Chosen Leader will be killed and left with nothing. A foreign ruler and his army will sweep down like a mighty flood, leaving both the city and the temple in ruins, but, war and destruction will continue until the end, just as God has decided.”116
What Happens At The End Of This Period?
Luke records Jesus, commenting on the typical ‘media question’ of the day. ‘How can the suffering messiah also be the conquering king?’ That same question was still being asked when the Ethiopian Eunuch asked Philip117 ‘Is he speaking of himself or another’? Jesus, using Daniel nine and other verses, sought to clarify this Jewish theological confusion from Isaiah’s passage. Jesus, in Luke twenty-one, begins his discourse saying they are one and the same person. His answer distinguishes between the life mission of the Messiah, (to save his people), and the destiny of Messiah once he has fulfilled his mission. Remember, Jesus is talking to people who held David as the greatest king ever. David himself was anointed king by Samuel but did not take the throne until he had first delivered Israel from the Philistines, starting with Goliath. It is at the conclusion of this process, when the suffering servant becomes the conquering King. While Jesus is teaching, he digresses to point out that Daniel’s prophecy concludes with the cutting off of the Messiah and the destruction of Jerusalem, which some of those present would see happen. This occurred in 70AD. Daniel’s prophecy had been directed primarily at Israel and focuses mainly on events concluding with the destruction of the land and temple and the scattering of refugees.
Returning to the original question based on end times, Jesus explains that the destruction of the temple will usher in a pause-time in Daniel’s prophecy for Israel. Jesus himself will usher in a time for gentiles to be grafted into the plan and become part of the kingdom. Then both Jew and Gentile together will see the Messiah King enthroned.
“They [Israel] will fall by the edge of the sword and be led away captive into all the nations. Jerusalem will be trampled by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.”118
Toward the end of this pause-time, which Jesus has for the first time called, ‘the time of the Gentiles’, many strange things will happen to the universe that are not explainable to this generation.
Strange things will happen during this period. The sun, moon, and stars will behave strangely. The nations on earth will become afraid of the roaring sea and tides, and they won’t know what to do. People will be so frightened that they will faint because of what is happening to the world. Every power in the sky will be shaken.119
Only when this period of time has reached its fullness, will the prophetic time start again from where it left off, Daniel’s seventieth week will begin.120
It is then the Son of Man will come in a cloud with great power and glory.121
Jesus declares: This gap is not arbitrary but reflects God’s revealed plan. During this period, salvation goes out to all nations, the church is formed and includes Jews and Gentiles122. Paul calls this the “mystery” of the Gospel age:
“A partial hardening has come upon Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.”123
‘Why does this need to happen at all?'.
The Purpose Of This Period According to Daniel
Jesus gave this teaching to all Israel in a general discourse on the Mount of Olives124. After this he took Peter, James, John, and Andrew aside to the Temple Mount, for a further seminar where he explained events in greater detail125. In this second seminar, based on Daniel’s prophecy, he explains the logical progression of events and the reason behind them.
God has decided that for a period of 490 years, Israel and the Holy City must suffer as the price of their sins. By the end of this time, God will have made reprobation for those sins and justice will be satisfied. Daniel’s prayer is interrupted by a messenger who tells him the 70th week will not begin until the people of Israel:
Deal with their transgression,
Make an end to sin,
Reconcile themselves to God.
Come into righteousness,
Finalise the last seal,
Anoint the most Holy place.
Seventy weeks are allocated for you the people of God and the holy city, to close the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make expiation for iniquity, and to bring in the righteousness of the ages, and to seal the vision and prophet, and to anoint the holy of holies. From the issuing of the command to restore and to build Jerusalem until Messiah, until the Prince comes, will be 434 years. While the streets and the moat are being rebuilt, it will be troubled times. At the end of the 434th year, Messiah will be cut off from the land of the living, and you shall have nothing; the enemy of the prince shall proceed to destroy the city and the sanctuary. And war and destruction will continue [for an unknown time] until the end, just as God has decided.126
Finally the enemy will confirm a seven-year covenant between Israel and the many; But in the midst of the covenant he shall cause sacrifices and oblation to cease, while under the protection of the enemy, will erect an abomination that will stand until the determined final consumption is poured out upon them.127
Six Purposes For This Time.
1st: Bring repentance for transgression and idolatry
Moses, Solomon and the prophets all said that would happen. This suggests at some time they will recognise Jesus and turn to him as a nation.
And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn. On that day the mourning in Jerusalem will be as great as the mourning for Hadad-rimmon in the plain of Megiddo. The land shall mourn, each family by itself: the family of the house of David by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of Nathan by itself, and their wives by themselves 128;
2nd: Finalise the judgment on sin.
“On that day there shall be a fountain opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness. ”And on that day, declares the LORD of hosts, I will cut off the names of the idols from the land, so that they shall be remembered no more. And also will remove from the land the prophets and the spirit of uncleanness.129
3rd: Make reconciliation for iniquity.
The cross will be applied to the Jewish nation! As gentiles we often overlook that. The cross applied to the Jews also. Through the ages, the organized church has at various times used that as a reason to persecute the nation of Israel, blaming them for killing Jesus. When we are talking of reconciliation for iniquity, The Church needs to confess and repent also for its past hostility to the people of Israel.
4th: Bring in everlasting righteousness.
“Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The LORD is our righteousness’. 130
Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when they shall no longer say, ‘As the LORD lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt,’ but ‘As the LORD lives who brought up and led the offspring of the house of Israel out of the north country and out of all the countries where he had driven them’. Then they shall dwell in their own land.
5th: Seal both vision and prophet.
The period is also necessary because prophecy is not instant. Humans would like it to be, but this time period will last as long as it takes to complete everything the prophets have declared.
6th: Anoint a most holy place.
Quadesh, (holy of holies). What are the definitive signs to start recounting week 70 of Daniel.131 That is an important and sobering question, and prophecy deserves careful, biblical handling. The “seventieth week” of Daniel132 refers to a final seven‑year period decreed for Israel and Jerusalem. It is the same seven‑year tribulation described in Revelation chapters six to nineteen, the climactic period before Christ’s Second Coming.
Let us first recall the groundwork the angel Gabriel gave Daniel:
“Seventy weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city… Know therefore and understand that from the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one… shall be seven weeks. Then for sixty‑two weeks it shall be built again… And after the sixty‑two weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off” 133.
What remains for the future is the final, 70th week, which will be triggered by the signing of a covenant involving Israel and a world ruler (commonly called the Antichrist).
