SEMESTER 6
192 – The Seventieth Week of Daniel
BIBLE INSTITUTE OF CORRESPONDENCE
COURSE: THEOLOGY VI LESSON # 92
ESCHATOLOGY – THE KINGDOM OF GOD – THE SEVENTIETH WEEK OF DANIEL
Read: Mat. 24:1-21
, Dan. 9:24-27
INTRODUCTION:
1. If there is a “Great Tribulation,” (and there is) Matthew 24 and Mark 13 address it.
2. If this is true, then we must understand the abomination of desolation.
3. We cannot do this without addressing this issue of the “70 weeks” revelation.
4. I cannot be as dogmatic as some, as to exact time placement, but some interpretation is mandatory.
III: How most of this is done to accommodate a firm theory, not to cast light on the subject.
I. A CONTEXTUAL OVERVIEW OF THE SEVENTY WEEKS
1. This time, according to Daniel 9:24, necessarily stretches all the way to the Second Advent. Notice what it does.
2. This beginning, it appears to me, refers to the ministry of Nehemiah, not Zerubbabel, and occurred in about 445 or 446 B.C., perhaps as early as 449 B.C.
3. I expect the seven weeks are from Nehemiah to Malachi, and the 62 from Malachi to the Cross. (49 and 434 equal 483)
4. The crucifixion of Christ definitely follows the 62 weeks, which follows the 7 weeks. (verse 26)
5. It is said there is a “great valley” Daniel did not see. He did! He describes it as “the war.” (verse 26)
6. This “war” is the basic theme of Daniel throughout, and is the precise thing spoken of by Christ in Matthew 24:6-14.
III: By the image, the beasts, the stone, the mountain, etc.
7. Daniel 9:24-27, along with Daniel 11 and 12, describes the abomination of desolation to which Christ refers us.
II. THE SEVENTIETH WEEK OF DANIEL
Only the presumptuous on either side of interpretation see no difficulties with their position, but I think these are indeed the basics.
1. The weeks of this passage are, in my opinion, unquestionably weeks of years.
2. One week, thus, seven years of it are after the cross. (Dan. 9:26-27)
3. The end of the 70 weeks, i.e., the last one fulfills the demands of Daniel 9:24.
4. Thus, there are some reasonable questions we should ask:
i. Did the first 7 years following the cross do this?
ii. Did the siege of Titus 70 A.D. do this?
iii. Has anything heretofore done this?
iv. Is “the war” of verse 26 behind us?
v. Is the “consummation” of the 70 and thus the 70th described in verse 27 yet fulfilled? And I can say, no, this is yet ahead of us.
III. THE CONCLUSIONS I DRAW FROM THIS
1. That, that 70th week (last 7 years) is the time of the abomination of desolation described in Daniel 9:24, and the short period described by Christ in Matthew 24:22.
2. Therefore, it is the period that shall immediately precede the return of Christ. (Mat. 24:29)
3. It is the period in which the prince (son of perdition) shall confirm the covenant, then break it.
4. I do not hold that Jewish sacrifices must, or will be literally restored to fulfill this. It speaks of the antitype of them.
5. This will be a time especially relevant to national Israel as were the first 69 weeks.
6. A time in which many Jews will be saved by grace. (Dan. 12:10)
7. At the end of those days Daniel shall stand in his lot, a resurrected and glorified child of the King. (Dan. 12:12)
8. I am sure this vision of Daniel’s carries us all the way to the completion of the first resurrection.