Daniel's 70th Week and the Mystery of Christ

By Jeffrey Horton

"Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me" (Rev. 3:20). Wouldn't it be great if you could open the door, invite Jesus into your home, and ask Him when He's coming back? All the confusion about the events surrounding Christ's return would vanish as He explains the Scriptures to you. You would have your own "Emmaus Road journey." Like the apostles and first-century disciples, you could say that He opened the eyes of your understanding. That's exactly what this series does by unfolding in an easy-to-follow manner what God's Word shows us and what Jesus taught. Each of the three books focuses on three critical end-time revelations that open the door of our understanding surrounding the events of Christ's return. The New Testament apostles received these keys from Jesus Himself. Over the centuries, these revelations were lost or watered down, leaving us flustered and even fearful. That's not God's will. It's time to let the Word speak for itself with a message of comfort, hope, and victory. This second book in the Emmaus Road journey walks you through one of the most significant end-time prophecies in the Bible. You may be surprised to find that it is all about Christ's first and second comings, not the future Antichrist. Step by step, you'll see how this prophecy: • accurately predicted when Jesus would first appear as the Messiah almost five hundred years in advance, • foreshadowed the restful end to the need for sacrificial offerings through the death and resurrection of Jesus, • and most importantly, predicts what Christ will accomplish when He comes again.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Jun 13, 2017
• ISBN: 9781635753882

Book preview

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Daniel’s

70th

Week

and the Mystery of Christ

Jeffrey R. Horton

ISBN 978-1-63575-387-5 (Paperback)

ISBN 978-1-63575-388-2 (Digital)

Copyright © 2017 by Jeffrey R. Horton

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.

296 Chestnut Street

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

All scripture references are taken from the New King James Version unless otherwise stated.

Printed in the United States of America

While I was praying,

Gabriel, whom I had seen in the earlier vision,

flew down to where I was.

It was the time for the evening sacrifice to be offered.

He explained, Daniel, I have come here to help you understand the prophecy.

Daniel 9:21–22

1

The Message from Gabriel

The hallmark prophecy known as Daniel’s Seventy Weeks is one of the most significant end-time prophecies in the Bible. For one thing, it accurately predicted when Jesus would first appear as the Messiah nearly five hundred years in advance.

But that’s not all. It also predicted how He would bring a restful end to the need for sacrificial offerings through His death and resurrection nearly two thousand years ago. Even more, it also predicts what He will accomplish when He comes again!

The prophecy, therefore, gives us an overview of what the Bible calls the end times. When we add other Bible prophecies into the mix, especially those that use the metaphor of Israel as a pregnant woman, her birthing pains, and the birth of her mystery Child, the end-time scenario of events becomes extraordinarily clear.

It tells us exactly where to place the rapture relative to other prophetic events. It assures us that watchful believers will not remain on the earth to endure the final years of the Antichrist, including the mark of the beast, the worship of his image, and the time of God’s wrath.

Background to the Prophecy

We refer to the prophecy as Daniel’s seventy weeks only because it appears in the book of Daniel, in the ninth chapter to be exact. The prophecy, however, was not given by Daniel but to him. It was delivered by the angel Gabriel while Daniel was praying for His people to return from their captivity in Babylon.

The prophet Jeremiah predicted that the Jewish people would return to their Promised Land and rebuild their Temple after suffering seventy years of captivity in the land of Babylon:

For thus says the Lord: After seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place.

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.¹

Daniel became aware of this chronos, or time-specific prophecy, just as the seventy years drew to a close. The ninth chapter begins, In the first year of Darius, I understood by the books the number of the years specified by the word of the Lord through Jeremiah the prophet, that He would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.

As Daniel prayed, the angel Gabriel appeared to him about the time of the evening offering. Daniel had been praying, Lord, listen and act! Do not delay . . . God responded by sending Gabriel to assure Daniel that his prayer had been answered. In fact, Gabriel arrived before Daniel could even say, Amen!

As God’s messenger, Gabriel informed Daniel that the command to return and rebuild was a done deal. At the beginning of your supplications the command went out, and I have come to tell you, for you are greatly beloved.

God kept His word just as He promised: After seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place.

But Gabriel was not finished. He had also been sent to deliver a new chronos-specific prophecy—one that spoke of a coming Messiah. Since God promised that He would give them a future and a hope once He visited them, the prophecy was framed around both the first and second coming of Christ. Both appearances would be required in order to establish them in a hope-filled future.

The Prophecy

The prophecy that God sent Gabriel to deliver appears as follows:

Seventy weeks are determined upon your people and upon your holy city [Jerusalem], to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to confirm the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy.

Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the command to restore and to rebuild Jerusalem, until the coming of Messiah the Prince, there shall be seven weeks, and sixty-two weeks; the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in the distress of the times.

But after the sixty-two weeks, Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself; and the people of the Prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; its end shall come overwhelmingly [as a flood], and till the end there shall be warfare; desolations are determined.

And He shall confirm the covenant with many—one week; [or, in a week He shall make the Covenant to prevail for many]; and in the middle of the week He shall cause sacrifice and oblation to cease [or, shall put an end to sacrifice and offering]; and for the overspreading of abominations He shall make it desolate, even until the consummation [end], and that which is fully determined is poured upon the desolate.²

As we’ll see, the prophecy not only predicted how Jesus would save us from our sins on the cross but how He will come again to end Israel’s transgressing ways of rebelling against God. Since they rejected and crucified their Messiah when He came the first time, their transgression will not end until they confess, Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. Since this will not happen until Jesus returns, the prophecy is not yet finished. This is important, because the Bible reveals that we are the generation destined to witness its conclusion.

The Code to the Prophecy

The word translated weeks is the Hebrew word shabua. The word can either mean a period of seven days or seven years, depending on the context. Here, it means seven years.

In English, we have names for certain periods of years, such as decade (ten years), century (one hundred years), and millennium (one thousand years); but we have no one word for seven years, so it is translated weeks, meaning weeks of years.

Therefore, each week in the prophecy designated a period of seven years, not seven days. The prophecy meant that the Messiah would appear after a combined period of seven weeks plus sixty-two weeks, or sixty-nine weeks. Daniel would have understood these sixty-nine prophetic weeks to equal 483 years (69 x 7).

The first seven weeks were allotted for the restoration and rebuilding of Jerusalem. Once Jerusalem and the Temple were rebuilt, the remaining sixty-two weeks were spent waiting for their Messiah. It was a classic rendition of If you build it, He will come!

Since the first sixty-nine weeks of the prophecy were spent in preparation for the coming Messiah, this left only one week (or seven years) for the Messiah to fulfill each of the objectives mentioned at the beginning of the prophecy.

But this seems to create a problem, for Jesus first appeared as the Messiah Prince nearly two thousand years ago. Since the prophecy will not be completely fulfilled until He returns, how do we reconcile what has been nearly two thousand years with the final week of the prophecy? This seventieth week spans no more than a mere seven years. How then are we supposed to understand Daniel’s seventieth week?

As you have probably guessed from the title, this is what this book is all about. At least in part, for the title also points to the Mystery of Christ. This great Mystery is indelibly connected to the seventieth week. You’ll see why by the end of the book.

Since the prophecy specifically pertains to the city of Jerusalem and Daniel’s people, their rejection of their timely Prince postponed the fulfillment of what now remains in the prophecy. During the delay, Jesus has been calling out those from every nation, tribe, people, and tongue to become part of His Church, His Body, and His Bride.

This heavenly calling will result in one new Man when He returns, with Jesus as the Head and the Church as His Body. And, as incredible as this may sound, this new Man will share God’s throne and form an eternal government of heavenly immortals, destined to reign over the earth and God’s kingdom forever.

---

¹ Jeremiah 29:10–12

² Daniel 9:24–27 (composite of YLT, KJV, NIV, and Berkeley), emphasis added.

2

When a Veil Fell Over the Prophecy

In the early days of the Church, the founding apostles understood the message from Gabriel. But a veil of darkness fell over the prophecy as the centuries rolled on. In time, two alternate interpretations were propagated, resulting in much of the confusion over end-time prophecy that exists today.

One view taught that even though the seventieth week was all about Christ, it only depicted His first coming. Therefore, it had nothing to do with His second coming. According to this view, the seventieth week was entirely fulfilled at the time of Christ’s first appearance. I call this the all is past view.

This view objected to there being any delay or pause in the prophecy. Therefore, those who hold to this view would contend that the seventieth week holds no relevance for us today.

Another view offered a radical reinterpretation of the seventieth week altogether. Rather than depicting Christ, it was believed that these last seven years of the prophecy would not be fulfilled until a future Antichrist comes on the scene near the end of this age. This meant that the events portrayed in the seventieth week were all about a future Antichrist, not Messiah the Prince. I call this the all is still future view.

Many today do not realize that a future seven-year period called the Tribulation was devised solely from this fateful twist to the prophecy. They are unaware that it is completely unscriptural. Yet many have built their end-time scenario of events, including the timing of the rapture, entirely on the foundation of this view.

Since this has become today’s dominant view, most believers are unaware that any other interpretation of the seventieth week even exists, let alone the fact that the one they now hold is in error.

Unfortunately, this view corrupted the true meaning of many key end-time terms such as the beginning of sorrows, the abomination of desolation, and the tribulation of those days, all to accommodate a seventieth week focused entirely on the Antichrist. This resulted in untold confusion for those seeking to understand end-time prophecy and the Lord’s return.

Just for the record—let me state that I also taught this view at one time. Therefore, it is not my intent to criticize the views of others or