BOOK: EXCERPT: The Rapture will be canceled – Chapter Six
By Niklas Arthur © 2014
Daniel Seventy Weeks Challenge
There are two different interpretations of the Daniel Seventy Weeks Prophecy.
One is the Literal or Historical View which holds that the 70 weeks are contiguous and therefore completely fulfilled at the first century.
The more popular is the Futurist View of the Left Behind fiction fame, which holds that the 70 weeks are contiguous except for the last, or 70th week which is preceded by an
“interval or gap”
of an undetermined amount of time.
I used to believe in the Futurist Gap View, without really understanding it because I just accepted what I was taught by men who surely understood the bible better than any layman.
But then I started teaching the bible and have been since 1996.
And in my study, I came to understand that God would hold me to a very high standard, and I could even be punished for false teaching.
Suddenly my understanding became a very serious matter, and when I came to the prophetic parts of the scripture and started to search the scripture for the gap to uphold the view of Daniels 70 weeks that I believed.
Well, I absolutely don’t want to be a false teacher, so if the gap or interval was there, I certainly needed to find it, but I simply could not find it!
For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: Rev 22:18
So, I started to investigate the idea that the 70 weeks are contiguous and to my surprise I had to admit that the Literal View was absolutely viable and to this day I have not been able to exclude it by the Scripture alone.
I felt I still needed to look at the best Futurist teaching I could find – I certainly don’t want to be unpopular and wrong at the same time.
So, to unravel this mystery I went straight to Chuck Missler, who is supposed to be the best on these topics.
Charles W. Missler (May 28, 1934 – May 1, 2018) was an American author, evangelical Christian, Bible teacher, engineer, and businessman.
Even Chuck Missler admits that upon reading the text, and I quote,
“we would naturally think that the seventy weeks are contiguous, one right after the other, and they are,”
but then digresses,
“except for an interval between the sixty-ninth and the seventieth, that’s not a conjecture, it’s express in the text…”
he says.
So, I re-read the text but could find no gap or interval expressed in any of these verses.
Nowhere in any of his prophecy teachings could I find an explanation for this irreconcilable statement.
Nor has any other so-called prophecy teacher been able to Show Me the Gap!
Here is the entire text of the Seventy Weeks Prophecy:
Show me the GAP Chuck – Daniel 9:26 | Nicklas Arthur – Prophecy Reformation Now
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.
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.
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.
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. Daniel 9:24-27
I challenge any one to show me anything in this illustration that is inconsistent with the four verses which comprise the complete text of the Seventy Weeks Prophecy.
If you cannot exclude this view by the text, then it must be seriously considered.
Next, does history exclude it?
To the contrary, history confirms it.
The prophecy is completely fulfilled as it unfolded in history, this is one more example of the historical-grammatical interpretation demonstrated in the scripture itself.
That’s the evidence.
This interpretation is totally without conjecture, only what is explicit or expressed in the text is allowed, something that cannot be claimed for the renderings popularized by voluminous fictional books and feature length movie series such as Left Behind.
I have a standing challenge to anyone to show me a gap between the sixty-ninth and seventieth week explicitly stated anywhere in the scripture.
Just how important is this question?
It is the cornerstone of the entire Futurist scheme of eschatology, the Achilles Heel if you will.
Certainly, one can conjure a thousand supporting verses for every fallacy, but that makes them no less false.
Tens of thousands of “Christians” make decisions every day based on the Futurist/Left Behind Rapture scheme of things, because it puts things which they should be concerned with today off to a future which is primarily a fantasy.
At the same time confining eminent and future dangers to a false “seventieth week” period of time in the nether future which even when that comes, they will be pre- or mid tribulation raptured to safety.
Daniels Seventieth Week as History
He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ. John 1:41
Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write… John 1:45
Today people are interested in prophecy.
Two thousand years ago there were people like us:
- Andrew
- Simon
- Philip
and Nathanael, also interested in prophecy.
Now Imagine living in a time 483 years into Daniels seventy weeks prophecy.
You know the history of your people, how the temple and the city were restored exactly as Daniel the prophet foretold.
You recognize that it is the end of the sixty-ninth week and know the Messiah is about to step onto the scene! Like Andrew and Philip would you be actively seeking Him?
And once you found Him would it ever enter your mind that the seventieth week would not follow the sixty-ninth?
The gap theory would not be developed nor perfected for some fifteen to nineteen hundred years in the future.
- Andrew
- Simon
- Philip
and Nathaniel lived through what they would have no doubt believed was the seventieth week of Daniel.
Let’s see how their version of Daniels seventieth or the last “week” of years determined for Israel plays out.
Daniel prays for his people and for the temple.
Dan 9:16:
O Lord, according to all thy righteousness, I beseech thee, let thine anger and thy fury be turned away from thy city Jerusalem, thy holy mountain: because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and thy people [are become] a reproach to all [that are] about us.
Now therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of thy servant, and his supplications, and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord’s sake.
Suddenly the angel Gabriel appears to him:
…O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding.
At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth, and I am come to shew [thee]; for thou [art] greatly beloved: therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision.
Note that Daniel is told to understand the matter.
continue:
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.
The Six Purposes of the 70 Weeks
1. to finish the transgression:
The ultimate transgression of the Hebrew people is expressed by Peter:
But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you; And killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses. Acts 3:14-15
And then Stephen immediately before being martyred proclaims:
Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost:
as your fathers did, so do ye.
Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted?
and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers: Acts 7:51-52
Thus, we see that the “thy people” of Daniel 9:24 included the very ones who were responsible for the death of their Messiah.
The National transgression is complete.
2. and to make an end of sins:
This does not mean that men will never sin again as some of the futurist camp would argue, for the scripture confirms that men will even sin in the millennium after the “Great Tribulation” of the futurist interpretation, so this argument is against their own unscriptural view as well.
Our New Testament writers confirm the true meaning: …but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. (Heb 9:26)
Then again, For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust…(1Pe 3:18)
So, He did make an end of sin.
3. to make reconciliation for iniquity:
We find nothing so clear as the following:
For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life
And not only [so], but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement. Rom 5:10-11
A second witness; Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto [his] brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things [pertaining] to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. Heb 2:17
4. to bring in everlasting righteousness:
…but my righteousness shall be for ever, and my salvation from generation to generation. (Isiah 51:8)
And Peter confirms the Messiah; Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: 1Pe 2:24
Is there any doubt that He ushered in everlasting righteousness?
5. to seal up the vision and prophecy: …for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. (Rev 19:10)
Jesus was the Great Prophet of whom Moses and the Prophets foretold.
Jesus, His disciples and Paul all prophesied.
Since the days of these no new writings of the saints are considered the prophecy of God and added to The Bible.
It is sealed up in the works of Christ and the men He chose to complete the Holy Writ.
6. to anoint the most Holy:
Stephen calls Jesus:
“the Holy One and the Just” (Act 3:14)
and Peter testifies; How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power:
who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him. (Act 10:38)
In summary:
All six of these purposes were fulfilled during the period immediately following the appearance of the Messiah, the seventieth week of Daniel did immediately follow the sixty-ninth.
Should we be surprised?
NO – there is nothing in the text to move the final week off to some undetermined future fulfillment.
In the words of the Messiah,
“it is finished” (John 19:30)
continuing:
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. (Dan 9:25)
It is almost universally agreed that the time period of “weeks” in this passage, literally translated would be “sevens” and has nothing to do with the common use of the word today.
In much the same way we refer to “a decade” as ten years in our Roman calendar reckoning, so the ancient Hebrew would refer to what is translated “weeks” as a week of years.
So, we have the building of the temple and the city taking place in the first seven weeks (49 years), which is a fact of history not in dispute.
The following sixty-two weeks (434 years) are known as the silent years when Israel did not have a prophet, also not in dispute.
Adding these two time periods together we have a 483 year countdown:
“unto the Messiah the Prince”
and the beginning of the final and seventieth week during which He did confirm “the covenant” with many.
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. (Dan 9:26)
After the 69th week:
“shall Messiah be cut off”
there is no other time period given in the prophecy of the 70 weeks for this to take place.
That He was
“cut off, but not for himself”
in the middle of the seven year period immediately following the 69th week places it smack in the middle of the 70th week.
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.
Who is the “he” in verse 27?
Is he:
“the messenger of the covenant”
foretold of the prophet: … and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in:
behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts. Mal 3:1
Or is “he” the antichrist character depicted in the fictional Left Behind Series?
The answer is in the text itself.
Immediately antecedent we do have:
“the people of the prince that shall come”
but they do not qualify as a he.
The prince does not qualify as the term is only descriptive of the people who shall destroy the city and the sanctuary and is in no way a subject or focus of the text, therefore is not a proper noun and cannot qualify to be the antecedent required.
When the entire text of the four verses is considered, the rules of grammar only allow one conclusion:
It is the Messiah who is the only he that qualifies.
To confirm “the covenant” means that it must already exists- He was
“the messenger of the covenant”
the Messiah.
“…and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease”
Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.
And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; Mat 27:50-51
He, the Messiah did it, He caused the:
“sacrifice and the oblation to cease”
by the sacrifice of Himself.
And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins:
But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; Heb 10:11-12
Yes the priests may have replaced the torn veil and attempted to carry on as before, but God thereby declared an end to the priest, temple sacrifice system.
The overspreading of abominations?
…complete with the National rejection of God’s Messiah and any attempt to continue with the blood of calves and goats instead.
The desolation of the city and the temple were determined.
Forty years, and the consummation would come like a flood with the people of the prince to come, the Roman army.
Conclusion:
It is therefore well established that the prophecy is completely fulfilled within the 490 years allotted to it.
Daniels Seventy Weeks are History.
There is no gap, period.
CONTINUE
BOOK: EXCERPT: The Rapture will be canceled – Chapter Seven – Library of Rickandria
BOOK: The Rapture will be canceled – Library of Rickandria