J-29. The SEVENTIETH WEEK of DANIEL EXPLAINED!

        J-29. The SEVENTIETH WEEK of Daniel EXPLAINED!

Please understand that I am not going to even try to cover ALL the different interpretations, but rather focus on what I myself have concluded. But in order to do this, it is needed that I discuss at least SOME of what others are teaching.

In other words, when I read the works of others I KEEP whatever AGREES with the word of God and then I THROW ASIDE any teaching or any part of a teaching that does NOT AGREE with the whole word of God.

With that being said let us begin this study in God's word by reading Daniel 9:27 to consider the meaning of the phrase “In the MIDST of the WEEK”.

Daniel 9:27.

“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.”

So then, does the phrase “in the MIDST of the WEEK” mean, without fail, the EXACT middle of the week, which would be THREE and ONE-HALF days EXACTLY? Or in Biblical prophecy does the term “midst” of the seven mean exactly 3 1/2 years, forty-two months, or 1260 days to the exact day?

Now for many of you who have read other studies that I have written know that I like to keep what I teach as SIMPLE and uncomplicated as possible. I like using the CLEAR, PLAIN, and SIMPLE word of Almighty God that needs absolutely NO interpretation to understand what a verse is saying. And then, I interpret the unclear verses in the light of the clear, plain, and simple verses. So to try and say that the MIDST of the week means anything other than the exact middle of the week would be to COMPLICATE the matter.

Please understand that I am not dogmatically demanding that the MIDST of the week must without fail mean EXACTLY 3 1/2 days, or prophetically 3 1/2 years, but rather that this is the SIMPLE meaning of the phrase. So let us assume for NOW that the MIDST of the week is EXACTLY 3 1/2 days or 3 1/2 prophetic years in this study in God's word seeing that the book of Revelation speaks of an EXACT 3 1/2 year period of time also shown as forty-two months which is exactly 1260 days. 

I say prophetic years because 1260 DAYS does not add up to a full 365-day solar year, but rather it computes to a 360-day Biblical year. Now the Bible, at times, when referring to prophetic verses or verses speaking of judgment, defines the use of a single day to represent a full YEAR.

Please read Numbers 14:34.

“After the number of the DAYS in which you searched the land, even forty DAYS, EACH DAY for a YEAR, shall ye bear your iniquities, ever forty YEARS, and you shall know my breach of promise.”

Also, please read Ezekiel 4:4-6.

“Lie you also upon your left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it: according to the number of the DAYS that you shalt lie upon it you shalt bear their iniquity.

5. For I have laid upon you the YEARS of their iniquity, ACCORDING to the number of the DAYS, three hundred and ninety days: so shall you bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.

6. And when you have accomplished them, lie again on your right side, and you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty DAYS: I have appointed you each DAY FOR for a YEAR.”

Then we read Genesis where Jacob agreed to work one WEEK for the hand of Rachel in marriage, but Laban tricked Jacob and gave him his other daughter so Jacob had to work another WEEK for Rachel. And each WEEK was actually SEVEN YEARS, but it was still yet called a WEEK or a SEVEN.

So then, 3 1/2 DAYS, according to a single DAY being likened to a full YEAR, would be 3 1/2 YEARS. Thus, a WEEK would be 3 1/2 YEARS plus another 3 1/2 YEARS to make a full SEVEN YEARS or ONE WEEK. And the MIDST of the WEEK would be a full 3 1/2 years, as in, a Biblical year of 360 days. So then, 1260 days plus another 1260 days equals one Biblical week.

Now, with the MIDST of the week being established as being right exactly in the MIDDLE of the seventieth week of Daniel right after the FIRST 3 1/2 Biblical YEARS, let us now look at the whole prophecy of Daniel chapter 9. For now, we will start with verse 24 and read to the end of the chapter at verse 27. I will number them for ease of understanding the midst of the week.

Daniel 9:24-27.

“SEVENTY WEEKS (Or actually seventy SEVENS, but for now we are going to use the interpretation of seventy WEEKS or seventy times seven YEARS, which is 490 YEARS) are determined upon your people AND upon your holy city, (#1.) to finish the transgression, and (#2.) to make an end of sins, and (#3.) to make reconciliation for iniquity, and (#4. )to bring in everlasting righteousness, and (#5.) to seal up the vision and (#6. To seal up or complete or fulfill) prophecy, and (#7.) to anoint the most Holy.

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, (Or seven times seven YEARS or 49 YEARS) AND threescore and two weeks (Or PLUS sixty-two WEEKS, which is 62 X 7 or 434 YEARS): the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troubled times. (Speaking of rebuilding Jerusalem)

26. And AFTER threescore and two weeks (Or AFTER 434 YEARS) 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 (Or AFTER a full 3 1/2 YEARS have been fulfilled) 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.”

Before we begin dissecting this passage of Scripture I want to let my readers know that there are two main interpretations of this prophecy.

Interpretation #1.

Some Christians believe that the complete seven years has ALREADY been fulfilled during the first century. This belief is primarily held by the Seventh Day Adventist Church. And further on in this study, we will take a look at how they arrived at this interpretation.

Interpretation #2.

Other Christians believe that NONE of the seventieth or the last week of Daniel has been fulfilled. And thus ALL seven years will be fulfilled in the future which is called the seven years of the GREAT tribulation. This is the most popular interpretation of this passage of Scripture. BUT being the most popular teaching does NOT make interpretation #2 to be sound Biblical teaching.

Interpretation #3.

As far as I know, I am the only Christian, at this present time or initially writing this study in God’s word, who holds to interpretation #3. So while it is not yet one of the two main views right now I believe that it soon will become the soundest Biblical interpretation of all three views. I was studying the pre-tribulation chart and the midst of the week ON the pre-trib chart jumped out at me so to speak. I saw something that I never saw before. I saw a DOT right in the middle with EXACTLY 1260 days on each side of the dot and I realized that there was NO TIME for anything to happen in the midst of the week. In other words, the midst of the week was simple a DOT on the pre-tribulation rapture chart. Remember that, according to the pre-tribulation teaching, the period of the great tribulation is EXACTLY seven BIBLICAL years divided into EXACTLY two 1260 day periods with the MIDST of the week in the exact middle of each 1260 day periods of time. To say this another way. 1260 days of the time of sorrows comes first. And then we come to the MIDST of the week represented by a DOT having NO days. And then comes the GREAT tribulation of the final 1260 days. Now, according to the Bible, there will be a LOT of things that will happen DURING the MIDST of the week. But that is impossible with the pre-tribulation chart. Houston, we have a problem!

I then studied Interpretation #1 and decided that it does make sense that the FIRST half of the week could have been fulfilled by Jesus and his Apostles but it was NOT possible, in my own opinion, for the LAST 3 1/2 years to have already been fulfilled in the first century.

And then, the truth of the midst of the week came to me. The FIRST 3 1/2 years have already been fulfilled by Jesus AND his Apostles. The MIDST of the week is right IN BETWEEN the first and the last half of the week. So then, the middle of the week BEGAN when God turned to the GENTILES. And the LAST 3 1/2 years will be fulfilled in the FUTURE. And the yet future fulfillment of the LAST HALF of the seventieth week of Daniel is called the 3 1/2 years of the GREAT tribulation.

Now, that you know the three views of the seventieth week of Daniel let us begin dissecting Daniel 9:24-27. We are going to work backward from verse 27 but first, we will take a CLOSE look at WHO the MESSIAH is referring to in verse 26.

Daniel 9:26.

           “ And AFTER threescore and two weeks (Or AFTER 434 BIBLICAL YEARS) 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.”

          Now, almost all Bible scholars AGREE that the MESSIAH in verse 26 is a PROPHECY of Jesus being CUT OFF, or CRUCIFIED, but NOT crucified for HIMSELF. In other words AFTER 69 weeks or 434 years Jesus the MESSIAH would be CRUCIFIED for the sins of the people and NOT for his own sins seeing that Jesus lived without sin.

          Then the “PEOPLE”  OF the “prince” in the remaining part of this verse is speaking of yet ANOTHER prince that is yet to come or a PROPHECY of another prince that should come AFTER the MESSIAH.

          Daniel 9:26 b

       “...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.”

          Now some have INTERPRETED the “prince” in this verse as being Jesus ALSO at his SECOND coming where the PEOPLE OF the prince are the saints, who help execute the wrath of God upon Israel and the disobedient of the nations. 

         But I myself am seeing this “prince” as being a DIFFERENT prince other than Jesus and the PEOPLE OF this prince as the followers of this different prince. I will explain why a little further on in this study, but for now, I want you to notice that it is the PEOPLE OF that prince, who are the ones who shall destroy the city of Jerusalem and the sanctuary, as in, the temple. In other words, the “prince” that shall come after Jesus will be leading many people to destroy the city of Jerusalem.

          Now we all know that the “prince” of darkness is Satan the god of the present world system. We know that Satan gives power to the beast. And we know that the PEOPLE OF the beast system is who Jesus will fight against when he returns. Please see the study “COULD ISLAM BE THE MARK OF THE BEAST?” for all the verses that point to Islamic Muslims who are making war against Israel as the PEOPLE OF the prince.

So then, if you AGREE that the MESSIAH in the first half Daniel 9:26 or Daniel 9:26a is speaking of Jesus being CRUCIFIED, then you should not have too much trouble seeing that the FIRST half of Daniel 9:27, or Daniel 9:27a is ALSO speaking of Jesus the MESSIAH putting an END to the daily animal sacrifices by his ONE OBLATE perfect sacrifice that Jesus made ONCE and for all time. The word “oblate” means ONE offering HIMSELF to God, which is what Jesus did for us.

Daniel 9:27a&b.

“27a. And HE (Speaking of Jesus the MESSIAH) shall confirm the (Or establish a FIRM) covenant with many for ONE week: and in the MIDST of the week (Or AFTER a full 3 1/2 Biblical YEARS have been fulfilled) HE (The pronoun HE here is referring back to Jesus the MESSIAH being CRUCIFIED in the previous verse) shall CAUSE (By his ONCE and for all Sacrifice of himself or by his own OBLATION Jesus, the messiah shall cause) the sacrifice and the oblation to CEASE (There are TWO meanings of this verse that I myself find BOTH to be correct. #1. Jesus caused to END as a valid sacrifice for the covering of sin ALL the OLD Testament sacrifices as no longer being accepted in the eyes of Almighty God because the NEW FIRM better covenant has ALREADY been established in the shed blood of Jesus the Son of God. And #2. In the midst of the week, God would cause BLINDNESS in part to happen to ISRAEL and then God would turn to a people who once were not his people. In other words, during the age or times of the GENTILES, the OBLATION of Jesus sacrificing himself would cease or END the Jewish sacrifices in ISRAEL. And God did this in order to provoke Israel to jealousy. 

Now in all fairness, there is a third interpretation that the HE here is NOT Jesus but rather the antichrist who will cause the RESTORED sacrifice in a third REBUILT temple to cease in the last days in the middle of the seventieth week or in the middle of what has come to be called the SEVEN years of great tribulation. This third interpretation will be explained further on in this study, but for now, I want you to at least try and see that the HE in Daniel 27a refers back to Jesus the Messiah and NOT the prince of darkness)

Daniel 9:27b AND for the overspreading of abominations he (Now this second he referring back to the yet coming prince of darkness over many people who) shall make it (Jerusalem and Israel) desolate, even until the consummation and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.”

          Now please notice that the SECOND HALF of this verse is ALSO speaking of ANOTHER HE other than Jesus the MESSIAH. Let us rearrange verse 26 and verse 27 so you can see this much clearer when Daniel 26 “a” is put with Daniel 27 “a”, and Daniel 26 “b” is put with Daniel 27 “b” just for teaching purposes only in order to show TWO DIFFERENT people being spoken of in BOTH verses.

         The lower case “a” stands for the FIRST half of the verse and the lower case “b” represents the SECOND half of the verse. It is normally written without the quotation marks, but I want to make sure my readers know what I am doing and understand that it is for clarification only. It appears that these verses in Daniel are written as a “chiasm”, which is a poetic style of writing. Below is an example of this poetic style of writing that begins at one point and goes to the middle and then from the middle to the end by mirroring the first half.

Now, this chiasm was written by another and if I was to write it myself, then “D” the middle section would only have verse 27 “a” and 27 “b” would go with the lower “C” section for a true mirror image of the first half. To say this another way all I am doing is putting the two parts of the “mirror” together for you for clarification so you can clearly see TWO different people in these verses and NOT just one prince. And also so that you can see more clearly who the pronouns "he" refer back to.

Here is Daniel 26a plus Daniel 27a written together without the last part of these two verses so you can see more clearly that the first half of verse 26 goes with the HE is verse 27, which most Christians do not have any problems seeing without doing this, but do have trouble seeing the last part of these two verses going together.

Daniel 9:26a PLUS Daniel 9:27a

26a. “ And AFTER threescore and two weeks (Or AFTER 434 YEARS) shall Messiah be cut off, but NOT for himself:..

...27a. And HE (Speaking of Jesus the MESSIAH) shall confirm the covenant with many for ONE week: and in the MIDST of the week (Or AFTER a full 3 ½ YEARS have been fulfilled) HE (The pronoun HE here is referring back to Jesus the MESSIAH being CRUCIFIED or CUT OFF in the previous verse 26a, which) shall CAUSE (By his ONCE and for all Sacrifice of himself) the sacrifice and the oblation to CEASE,”

In other words, Jesus having been cut off or crucified was the cause that ENDED the sacrifice for the covering of sin under the OLD Testament sacrifices as being a VALID or accepted sacrifice in the eyes of Almighty God.

Now, as I said before, most Christians are able to see that the Messiah being cut off, but NOT for HIMSELF is Jesus sacrificing HIMSELF for the people or the entire world and that the many are those who BELIEVE and so they can see that the HE in 27a can easily refer back to Messiah the Prince in 26a.

But some Christians have a little trouble seeing interpretation #2. of 27a being that God himself THROUGH Messiah the Prince confirmed a covenant with ISRAEL for seven years. Please understand that the gospel of Jesus Christ was FIRST preached ONLY to Israel for the FIRST half of the week or for 3 1/2 years. And then, because Israel as a whole REJECTED God's so great a gift of his SON offering himself as the one sacrifice for their sins, then God turned to the GENTILES to provoke Israel to jealousy. And during the time of the GENTILES God caused BLINDNESS in part to all of Israel UNTIL the time that he will turn again a SECOND time at the second coming of Jesus. But I believe that MANY of Israel will be ministered to during the last half of the week or the last 3 1/2 years which is the time of GREAT tribulation. I believe that the time of JACOB'S trouble is actually the WRATH of God and NOT the 3 1/2 years of the great tribulation.

To say this another way Jesus was cut off AFTER the 69th week, which is the very first day of the SEVENTIETH week where HE speaking of Jesus CONFIRMED a covenant with MANY. The many here since these verses in Daniel are speaking of God dealing with ISRAEL are speaking of the MANY of Israel who BELIEVED on the OBLATION of Jesus.

Remember that the word “oblate” is a noun meaning one who offers his life to God and “oblation” in this context means the one sacrifice of Jesus offering himself to God for the sins of the people. Also, remember that the church was given instructions by Jesus to ONLY preach the gospel of salvation to the JEWS. In fact, it came as a surprise to the Jews that God filled the Gentiles with the Holy Spirit.

In other words, the FIRST half of the SEVENTIETH week has ALREADY been fulfilled by the church preaching the gospel to the Jews ONLY for 3 1/2 years and THEN God caused BLINDNESS in part UNTIL the end of days where the LAST 3 1/2 years is described in detail in the book of Revelation which we ALL agree is speaking of the GREAT tribulation.

I myself have seen for a long time that the NEW Testament itself only speaks of a 3 1/2 year period of time that Jesus calls the time of the GREAT tribulation in Matthew 24.

But for some reason most every pre-trib prophecy teacher has interpreted the WHOLE seventieth week of Daniel as the time of the great tribulation. BUT to be fair they do divide the seventieth week in half where they call the first 3 1/2 years as the beginning of sorrows and the last 3 1/2 years as the time of the great tribulation or Jacob's time of trouble. Again, I believe that while the 3 1/2 years may BEGIN Jacob's time of trouble, the real trouble for Israel is their suffering the WRATH of Almighty God at the second coming of Jesus. I believe that many Jews will be saved during the 3 1/2 years of the great tribulation but the REMNANT of the Jews left alive after the great tribulation will not recognize Jesus as their Messiah until AFTER the WRATH of God.

To ME, there is just one verse that even hints that the first half of the seventieth week of Daniel could be called the beginning of sorrows. And that one verse of Scripture is Matthew 24:8. However, when I read this verse in context I myself see that the beginning of sorrows actually BEGAN with the FIRST persecuted Jewish disciple of Jesus and has continued all through the history of the church. I mean I myself find it very difficult to dogmatically demand that the beginning of sorrows is ONLY reserved for the 3 1/2 years immediately before the abomination of desolation which begins the final HALF of the SEVENTIETH week of Daniel. I believe that God will turn his attention to Israel a SECOND time right before the SECOND coming of Jesus by using the Islamic Muslim armies to make war will Israel.

So to ME, I do NOT see the pronoun “he” confirming a covenant with many as referring to the prince of darkness making a so-called “peace” treaty with Israel for seven years. And then he breaks that peace treaty in the middle of those seven years. For this INTERPRETATION to take place, Israel must rebuild the temple AND restore the animal sacrifice on the temple mount. And at this present time, the temple mount is basically shared with the Muslims which is an abomination seeing that Allah is NOT the one true God of the Bible.

First of all, Jesus is prophesied to build the temple of God which I believe is the temple NOT made with HANDS.

Secondly, I find it hard to accept that God would even allow a temple made with hands to be built in his name where animal sacrifices are made seeing that this would be a slap in the face of HIS one sacrifice of giving us his SON as the once and for all time sacrifice for sins.

And thirdly, the time element along with where is the prophecy for a third temple let alone a FULL SEVEN years at the end of the age? I mean search the entire NEW Testament and see if you can find SEVEN years of the great tribulation. This is one of the reasons why I myself have taken a CLOSER look at the seventieth week of Daniel. I can only find a 3 1/2 year period. So, for this reason, I have looked to see if the FIRST 3 1/2 years have already been fulfilled.

Now let us do the same thing with that LAST HALF of these two verses as we have done with the first half of Daniel 9:26b and 27b.

Daniel 26b PLUS Daniel 27b.

“26b. ...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 (PLURAL) are determined.

27b. and for the overspreading of abominations, he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.”

The reason that the “prince” and the pronoun “he” here that is in the LAST part of both of these verses are not referring to Jesus is that the last phrase in verse 27 “shall be poured out on the DESOLATE” also reads in other translations as desolator.

“shall be poured out on the DESOLATOR”

In other words, DESOLATION is determined to be poured out on the ONE who is making Jerusalem DESOLATE. You can COMPARE the different translations yourself. Also, we KNOW that Jesus the MESSIAH is not going to be made desolate. So then, the DESOLATOR who is prophesied yet to come is the coming prince of DARKNESS, the ANTICHRIST that is given his power by Satan.

Also, please know and understand the PLURAL of more than just one desolation of the city of Jerusalem is determined, which consequently means more than just one antichrist being led by the prince of darkness. What I mean by this is that according to some Christians, who wrongly teach that this prophecy of the seventieth week of Daniel has been completely fulfilled in 70 AD with the destruction of Jerusalem cannot be true, because of the PLURAL of more than one desolation on the city of Jerusalem. Thus, according to the Preterist interpretation, there is no yet future antichrist prince who will AGAIN make Jerusalem desolate. Please see the studies I have on “WHY PRETERISM IS A FALSE TEACHING!”          

So then, in order to be in agreement with what the word of God is actually saying we should be seeing no less than TWO times that Jerusalem is destroyed, which would then, in turn, mean TWO groups of people OF the prince. Now the “prince” is singular, so to ME this speaks of the prince of darkness, which is Satan, the Devil, the god of this present world, who gave power to the first group of people, who destroyed Jerusalem in 70 AD and who will yet give power to the group of people that will follow a man we as Christians call the antichrist in the not too distant future.

To me, I myself see this “end of days” antichrist being of Syrian descent and his religion will be Islam. The PEOPLE OF this prince yet to come will be Muslim Islamic extremists, who will make all-out war against Israel during the final 3 1/2 years of this present world right before Jesus returns. He may or may not be a literal prince, but he will be a man, who is given his power from the prince of darkness, that old dragon called Satan and the Devil.                 

You see a human prince could not still be alive from 70 AD to the time yet still in the future nearly 2000 years later. So to ME, the prince is the prince of darkness or Satan, and the people OF the prince are the wicked people who hate Israel and seek to destroy God's people both the Christians and the Jews.

Now those who teach the pre-tribulation and mid-tribulation rapture of the church INTERPRET the “he” in verse 27a as being the “antichrist”, who is supposedly going to make a “peace treaty” or covenant agreement of peace with Israel for seven years and then in the middle of that yet future seven years he will break that covenant or peace treaty and make all-out war with Israel, which will BEGIN the final 3 1/2 years called the GREAT tribulation.

This MAY or may NOT happen the way many pre and mid-tribulation prophecy teachers are claiming, so this is why I teach my readers to be OPEN to other interpretations. I mean if you are only looking for a PEACE treaty then you may miss the WAR as being a SIGN that the coming of Jesus is drawing near.

I myself have difficulty seeing a NEW Temple being built in Jerusalem and the animal sacrifices being restored, which is a must according to those who teach any kind of PRE or MID tribulation rapture of the church. 

Now, I myself am seeing that Jesus and the church have fulfilled the FIRST HALF of the seventieth week of Daniel or the first 3 1/2 years of the seventieth week of Daniel.

You may not see this yet and that is alright with me, but many other Christians such as myself see only a 3 1/2 year great tribulation spoken of in the book of Revelation. And to us, it does not make sense for God to leave OUT the first 3 1/2 weeks of this seventieth week of Daniel from the book of Revelation if it were not already fulfilled. To say this another way, why would God NOT included anything about the first three and one-half years IN the Book of Revelation if so be that it has not already been fulfilled and the whole seven years or the whole seventieth week of Daniel is yet to be fulfilled in the future? 

In other words, why did Almighty God give us so much detail about the final 3 1/2 years of this seventieth week IN the book of Revelation and NOT a single word about the FIRST 3 1/2 years? This is why I myself and many other Christians are taking a CLOSER look at Daniel 27 for ourselves seeing that what we have been taught by many prophecy teachers does not line up completely with what God is showing us.

Also, when we read OTHER translations of Daniel 9:27 we see the first half of the seventieth week being fulfilled by Jesus and the early church preaching the gospel of salvation to ONLY Israel at first and then God causes blindness in part to come upon Israel only while God turned to the GENTILES. Here are some of those translations, which makes it clearer that Jesus is the one who CONFIRMS the covenant with MANY, where again the many here is speaking of the Jews who BELIEVED the preaching of the early church before God turned to the Gentiles.

Here is Daniel 9:27 from the Common English Translation.

“For one week, he will make a strong covenant with many people. For a half-week, he will stop both sacrifices and offerings. In their place will be the desolating monstrosities until the decreed destruction sweeps over the DEVASTATOR.”

And here is Daniel 9:27 from the American Standard Translation.

“And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; AND on the WING of abominations WILL COME ONE, who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the ONE who MAKES DESOLATE.”

Now, most every Bible scholar does, indeed, agree that there are TWO DIFFERENT people being spoken of in these two verses, Daniel 9:26, and Daniel 9:27, but in all the studies that I myself have researched seem to have gone too far either one way or the other in their deciding what ACTIONS go with which person.

So let us put it all together with the way that I myself am seeing it in order to see if you see the same thing. Remember to hear the WHOLE matter before you make a judgment. Christians tend to just throw anything new and different right out the window as false teaching simply because their particular DENOMINATION does not teach it that way. This is NOT a matter of salvation on HOW you believe the seventy weeks of Daniel are interpreted, but rather we are doing our best to truly understand how ALL the scriptures fit together WITHOUT having any CONTRADICTIONS.

Here is Daniel 9:26,27 from “MARK'S” Version, or my own version where I put the first half of each of these two verses together as ONE verse and then I put the LAST half of each verse together as ONE verse. In other words, it makes more sense that the ACTIONS in the first half of verse 27 are the actions of the “he” in the first half of verse 26, AND that the ACTIONS in the last half of verse 27 go with the different “he” in the last half of verse 26. 

Please remember that the writers of the books of the Bible often wrote in the “poetic” style of writing so my justification for doing this in the “chiasm” poetic style of writing used elsewhere in the Bible. And please remember that this is JUST for TEACHING purposes so that you can see easier what I myself am seeing. Also, please understand that I am NOT changing what the Bible itself is saying and that this is an INTERPRETATION. Again, I am NOT dogmatic about the first half of the seventieth week as being already fulfilled by Jesus and the church, but rather it makes more sense to ME seeing that I myself cannot find a FULL seven years of great tribulation IN the book of REVELATION.

My OWN paraphrased version of Daniel 9:26a PLUS 27a.

“26a.  And AFTER threescore and two weeks (or AFTER 434 YEARS) shall Messiah be cut off, but NOT for himself:...

...27a. And HE (Speaking of Jesus the MESSIAH who was cut off or crucified for us and not for his own self) shall confirm the covenant with many for ONE week: (We all agree that it was Jesus who ESTABLISH the NEW COVENANT in his shed blood making a FIRM unbreakable covenant with ONLY those who BELIEVE. And we all agree that this covenant was made ONLY to the Jews at FIRST where the gospel was preached ONLY to Israel at first until Israel as a whole rejected the gospel and began killing the disciples of Jesus, which is when God turned to the GENTILES and placed a blindness in part on Israel until the time of the Gentiles be fulfilled) and in the MIDST of the week (Or AFTER a full 3 1/2 YEARS have been fulfilled by the preaching of the gospel to the Jews only) HE (The pronoun HE here is referring back to Jesus the MESSIAH being CRUCIFIED in the previous verse 26 and thus confirm a FIRM covenant) shall CAUSE (By his ONCE and for all sacrifice of himself) the sacrifice and the oblation to CEASE (Or Jesus will cause to END during the time of the GENTILES his OBLATION of giving himself as a sacrifice for sins for ISRAEL to CEASE during the time of the Gentiles),...

 ...26b. and the people of the prince that shall come (Speaking of the ANTICHRIST who shall come AFTER the first coming of Jesus) shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the END thereof (Speaking of the destruction of Israel and the city of Jerusalem) shall be with a flood (The term flood in Bible prophecy means a great ARMY making WAR), and unto the end of the WAR desolations are determined. (In truth, there is only ONE war which is between God and his adversary Satan, but there are many wars against God's people Israel. Again, COMPARE for yourself other translations of Daniel 9:26. We know by history that Jerusalem has already been destroyed once in 70 AD where Israel was scattered all over the world and has become once again the inhabited city of Israel. So we have two choices which are ALL of Daniel 9:24-27 has already been fulfilled as Preterist teach, or there is yet ANOTHER destruction of Jerusalem yet to be fulfilled.)

27b. and for the overspreading of abominations (Speaking of Jerusalem being surrounded by ARMIES being in the holy place where they ought NOT to be), he (the ANTICHRIST and his ARMIES) shall make it desolate, even until the consummation and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.”

Or literally, the ONE who MAKES desolate, as in, the DESOLATOR. And we know that Jesus will destroy the son of perdition, the Wicked one, or the antichrist at his coming according to what 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 teaches us. Now the reason that I have taken a CLOSER look at the many different interpretations of the seventy weeks of Daniel and more particularly to the SEVENTIETH week is that many of these INTERPRETATIONS are saying that there is going to be a SEVEN YEAR great tribulation at the end of days.

However, everywhere that I read in the book of REVELATION, I can only see THREE and ONE-HALF years of great tribulation at the end of days and NOT a FULL SEVEN years as many prophecy teachers seem to dogmatically demand. And when I ask questions they simply say that I am the one who does NOT UNDERSTAND the prophecy of Daniel's seventy weeks and how the SEVENTIETH WEEK or the last 7 years has not yet been fulfilled.

So I decided it was finally time to do my OWN research to see if anyone else was seeing what I was seeing about the great tribulation being 3 1/2 years as opposed to a full 7 years. In my research, I came across an INTERPRETATION by the 7th Day Adventist, which again I do NOT AGREE with their WHOLE interpretation, but I did find it very interesting that they as well see that Jesus himself fulfilled the FIRST 3 1/2 years of the ONE week in Daniel 9:27 when Jesus was cut off or CRUCIFIED in the MIDST of the week.

However, they go on to INTERPRET that the early church FULFILLED the REMAINING half of this ONE week ALSO and therefore ACCORDING to the 7th Day Adventist interpretation then ALL has already been fulfilled so there is not going to be any yet future period of the great tribulation. This is called full preterism, which I myself do NOT find to be SOUND Biblical teaching because it goes TOO FAR to the extreme trying to make everything Jesus said in Matthew 24 as ALREADY being fulfilled in 70 AD.          

          Let me give you a quote from a 7th Day Adventist website and their timeline first and then we will go to the word of TRUTH, the Holy Bible, to show you the ERRORS in PART of what they teach on the seventy weeks of Daniel. The emphasis and comment are my own.

"As we see in Daniel 9:24, two events are predicted here for the 70 weeks. “Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, #1. to finish the transgression, and #2. to make an end of sins, and #3. to make reconciliation for iniquity, and #4. to bring in everlasting righteousness, and #5. to seal up the vision and #6. prophecy, and #7. to anoint the most Holy.”

Yes, three things are listed,(Actually I myself count SEVEN things) but when Christ arrives and is “anointed” that coincides with Him becoming Messiah to “make an end of sins.” So, we are to focus on two things. That being the “holy city” and “Messiah who makes an end of sin.” Daniel then goes into detail outlining these two factors.

Daniel 9:25-26 “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 (or 7 X 7 years or 49 years), and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. (or and another 62 weeks or 62X7 tears or after another 434 years UNTO the MESSIAH)

          26. And AFTER threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself(or AFTER the whole 69 weeks of 484 years from the issuing of the commandment to restore Jerusalem UNTO the MESSIAH he shall be cut off or CRUCIFIED for the sins of the people and NOT for himself. But only 62 weeks or 434 years after the rebuilding of Jerusalem shall the Messiah be cut off or crucified.): 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.”

The command to rebuild Jerusalem was in 457BC. Daniel 9:25 says it took 7 weeks (49 years) to rebuild. This brings us to 408BC.

Then Daniel says 62 weeks later (434 years) Messiah will arrive. This brings us to 27AD which is the end of week 69 and the start of week 70. (408 – 434 = -26. Add 1 year for the year “0” and you come to 27AD)

Then Daniel 9:26 says Messiah is cut off in the midst of week 70. (31AD)

In short.. at the end of 69 weeks, Messiah arrives. During the 70th week, Messiah is “cut off.”

Now, with this much, I do agree. Except, I myself, see SEVEN things rather than just THREE things as this particular 7th Day Adventist writes, but which I edited using the number symbol “#”. In all fairness, I have read from other 7th Day Adventist websites and many of them are teaching about SIX things as well and some do indeed teach SEVEN things. I believe that it is important to see SEVEN things because ALL seven must be fulfilled and if some only see three things, then wrong assumptions may be concluded resulting in false teaching.

Anyway, I fully agree that the FIRST 3 1/2 years of Daniel's seventieth week has, indeed, been fulfilled. BUT I do NOT believe that Jesus ALONE FULFILLED the FIRST 3 1/2 years of this ONE week or this ONE seven-year period. Rather, I believe that Jesus CONFIRMED the COVENANT and the CHURCH fulfilled the first 3 1/2 years of Daniel's seventieth week by the preaching of the gospel to the JEWS ONLY. And this is when God caused the OBLATION of the SACRIFICE of Jesus and for the Jews to be temporarily BLINDED in PART during the time of the GENTILES.

In other words, the middle to the seventieth week of Daniel BEGAN when God turned the gospel of salvation to the Gentiles and partially blinding the eyes of Israel from being able to see the oblation and sacrifice of Jesus. To say this another way, the oblation and sacrifice of Jesus has CEASED or has ENDED the VALIDITY for the Old Testament sacrifices for Israel. But the Jews did not fully become blinded in part until the time of the Gentiles actually began. Further on in this study, you will see that the gospel was first preached to ONLY the Jews for 3 1/2 years which ended the sins for MANY of the Jews. And then God turned the gospel to the Gentiles right AFTER the FIRST HALF of the seventieth week of Daniel. And God will not continue the last 3 1/2 years of this seventieth week until the abomination of desolation takes place at the end of days when the Islamic Muslim armies surround Jerusalem seeking to kill every last Jew on the earth.

Again, I do NOT AGREE with the chart or timeline below from this 7th Day Adventist website. According to interpretation #1, the LAST 3 1/2 years of this SEVENTIETH week of Daniel is ALSO fulfilled with absolutely NO future fulfillment of any kind concerning the seventy weeks of Daniel.

So once again, just to make sure, this last PART of the last half of the seventieth week also being fulfilled, I myself, do NOT AGREE with interpretation #1. I do not agree that the LAST half of the SEVENTIETH week of Daniel as being already FULFILLED, as in, there is NO yet FUTURE fulfilling of the last 3 1/2 years at the END of days right before Jesus comes again at his SECOND coming. And I also do NOT agree that Jesus fulfilled the first 3 1/2 years but rather the church fulfilled the first 3 1/2 years of the seventieth week of Daniel by the preaching of the gospel to the Jews ONLY for 3 1/2 years.

In other words, the 7th Day Adventist and some other church denominations, as well, claim that the ENTIRE seventieth week of Daniel has ALREADY been FULFILLED and that there is NOT going to be ANY great tribulation in the future, because according to THEM, Matthew 24 and the seventieth week of Daniel have ALREADY been FULFILLED. This is called “PRETERISM” where all of Matthew 24 and the seventy weeks of Daniel have already been fulfilled.

So, therefore, to me or the way I understand the “preterist” view of the 7th Day Adventist is that they are saying that there will be absolutely NO period of GREAT tribulation right before the SECOND coming of Jesus. But yet, they themselves teach that the second coming of Jesus has not been fulfilled. And Jesus himself clearly teaches us that there will be a time of tribulation like never before.

In other words, the Bible ITSELF in Matthew 24 clearly and plainly teaches us that the second coming occurs IMMEDIATELY after the time of great tribulation which supposedly has already been fulfilled according to the 7th Day Adventist and other preterists and yet the second coming is still yet FUTURE even to full preterism?

You see dear children of God, according to the 7th Day Adventist and other church denominations as well claiming that the STONING of Stephen marks the END of the seventieth week of Daniel. BUT, consequently, according to Jesus, the END of the time of great tribulation is yet FUTURE which they do not address. Anyway, they go on to say that the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem that Jesus himself prophesied in Matthew 24 was fulfilled in 70 AD. So, therefore, the time of GREAT tribulation has ALREADY been FULFILLED, according to their interpretation of the seventieth week of Daniel being COMPLETELY fulfilled.

But again, this CONTRADICTS the words of Jesus himself clearly written in simplicity in Matthew 24:29-31 where Jesus plainly states as fact with absolutely NO interpretation needed to understand the very simple words IMMEDIATELY AFTER the tribulation of those days, which Jesus describes in verse 21 as being such as never before nor ever shall be again.

So how can the word IMMEDIATELY mean 2000 years later that the SECOND coming of Jesus would occur when Jesus himself said IMMEDIATELY after the great tribulation? Now some teach that Jesus has already come INVISIBLY and that there is no LITERAL 1000 year reign of Jesus, but those false teachings I cover in other studies.

So then, it is the last PART of their INTERPRETATION of the last half of the seventieth week or the last half of the 3 1/2 years of great tribulation being already fulfilled with which I strongly DISAGREE. And here is again WHY their interpretation of the last 3 1/2 years already being fulfilled is NOT sound Biblical teaching!

Please read Matthew 24: 29-31, which CLEARLY and PLAINLY in SIMPLICITY STATES that IMMEDIATELY AFTER this time of great tribulation when we shall SEE the ABOMINATION of DESOLATION spoken of BY Daniel the prophet, then those who are in Judea are to flee to the mountains.

Matthew 24:29-31.

“IMMEDIATELY AFTER the tribulation of those days shall the SUN be darkened, and the MOON shall not give her light, and the STARS shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:

30. And then shall appear the SIGN of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall SEE the of man Son COMING in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

31. And he (Jesus at his SECOND COMING were EVERY EYE shall SEE Jesus COMING in clouds of great glory, then Jesus) shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”

So CLEARLY, the word of TRUTH plainly teaches us in SIMPLICITY that IMMEDIATELY AFTER this last 3 ½ years of the seventieth week of Daniel that EVERY EYE shall SEE Jesus COMING in great clouds of glory, so to ME the LAST three and one-half years of the SEVENTIETH week of Daniel has NOT already been FULFILLED as the 7th Day Adventist and some other church denominations FALSELY teach. What the “PRETERIST” Christians do not realize is that at times some verses and passages of scripture have a DUAL fulfillment, one fulfillment in HISTORY and one fulfillment yet in the FUTURE. Again, a “preterist” is one who believes and teaches that ALL of the prophecies of Daniel and Jesus have ALREADY been FULFILLED.

Now to be fair to both sides of the argument, the “FUTURIST” seems to say that NONE of the seventieth week of Daniel has been fulfilled and therefore they falsely teach that the time of great tribulation is a full SEVEN years as opposed to 3 1/2 years as outlined in the book of Revelation. 

But you see dear children of God, to ME, I myself, cannot find a full seven years of great tribulation being described IN the book of Revelation. 

Now actually the “futurist” or many of the “pre-millennium” teachers say that the seventieth week is DIVIDED into TWO 3 1/2 year periods where the FIRST 3 1/2 years is called “Jacob's time of trouble” and the last 3 1/2 years is called the great tribulation. Some say that the first 3 1/2 years is the beginning of sorrows and the last 3 1/2 years are the great tribulation. But no matter how they label the first and last half of the seventieth week of Daniel most all futurist hold fast to their interpretation that the FULL SEVEN years remains to be fulfilled. 

 But WHERE is the FIRST half IN the book of REVELATION?

Let us take a moment and look at some verses in Revelation that teach us of a 3 ½ year period of tribulation rather than a full seven years divided into two three and a half year periods. Please read Revelation 11:2,3 which gives us TWO measurements of time that are the same length of time being a 3 1/2 year period of time.

Revelation 11:2,3.

“But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the HOLY CITY shall THEY tread under foot (Or make DESOLATE for) FORTY and TWO months.

3. And I will give power unto my two witnesses (The Christians and the Jews. Specifically of the 144,000 sealed Jews), and THEY shall prophesy a THOUSAND TWO HUNDRED and THREESCORE DAYS, clothed in sackcloth.”

Meaning that both the Christians and the Jews will be morning and praying for God people because of all the abominations. I believe this prophecy is at the threshold of the door on being fulfilled. I say this because of all the abominations of radical Islam slaughtering the Christians and the Jews the ONLY true witnesses who are standing for the one TRUE and only Almighty God. Please read the study “THE TWO WITNESSES WHO ARE THEY?” for all the Scriptures showing that the two witnesses are not just two individual people, but rather the two witnesses are two GROUPS of people, the Christians, and the Jews. Also, read “WHO ARE THE TWO WITNESS?- PART 2” for and ALTERNATE and DEEPER meaning of the two witnesses. In other words, the Holy Spirit revealed to me after I wrote the first study on the two witnesses that there will be a DUAL fulfillment of many of the prophecies in the book of Revelation.

Now FORTY-TWO months is 3 1/2 years no matter how many days in a MONTH. And the1260 days is also 3 1/2 years based on the 30 days per month prophetic calendar. If you divide 1260 days by 30 days you will get the SAME FORTY TWO months that the Gentile MUSLIM ISLAMIC ARMIES will make Jerusalem desolate during a WAR with Israel and all NON-Muslim people, for that matter, over in the Middle East. In other words, the Muslims will start by killing Christians and Jews, but toward the end, the Muslims will SEEK to kill ALL non-Muslims in that area of the world because this is what the Quran teaches them. So it will not be safe for any non-Muslim in the area of Judea and this is why Jesus teaches us to FLEE Judea when we see Jerusalem surrounded by armies seeking to make her desolate. See Luke 21:20 or read the study “WHAT IS THE ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION?”

The Bible also speaks of a TIME, TIMES and a HALF of TIME, which can be interpreted as 3 1/2 years as well, but NOT as a full SEVEN years as some falsely teach.

So then, getting back to the SEVENTIETH week of Daniel I myself see the FIRST 3 1/2 years of this seventieth week being already fulfilled by Jesus the Messiah, who was cut off or crucified in 31 AD for the sins of the people and not for himself, and who then taught his disciples the church to preach the gospel to the JEWS first. Thus Jesus confirmed the covenant and the church preached the NEW covenant to the Jews ONLY for the first half of the seventieth week of Daniel.

But the LAST half of the seventieth week of Daniel I do NOT see as being fulfilled already, IN THAT, there is no FUTURE fulfillment that is yet to be fulfilled as claimed by those who teach preterism. 

In other words, I myself lean toward there being a DUAL fulfillment of the LAST half of the seventieth week of Daniel or the last 3 1/2 years, which will be the time of great tribulation spoken of by Jesus in Matthew 24 and the book of Revelation. The destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD was the first fulfillment in history and yet another fulfillment of the destruction of Jerusalem remains in the future.

Let us now take a look at the 7th Day Adventist interpretation of the last half of the seventieth week of Daniel having ALREADY been fulfilled. Here is a quote for a 7th Day Adventist website. Again the emphasis and comments are my own.

Mark 1:9,14,15 "And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan. Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel." (For one thing, blindness in PART has happened to Israel. You see Jews were and still are being saved and in the last days, God will once again turn to his people Israel one last time after the fullness of the Gentiles is completed. So to interpret the time is fulfilled to mean that this is the complete fulfillment of the seventieth week of Daniel is NOT rightly dividing the word of God and therefore it is an INCORRECT interpretation.)

          Jesus understood Bible prophecy! He knew that the Autumn of the year 27AD was a fulfillment of the prophecy of Daniel. (speaking of the ANOINTING of the most Holy referring to the ANOINTING of Jesus as the CHRIST or the Messiah.)

          Daniel 9:26-27, "And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off... 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." (You see dear child of God to INTERPRET the seventieth week of Daniel as being COMPLETELY fulfilled is to also say that God is THROUGH with Israel and not one more Jew can be saved. The time for the Jews has ENDED in 34 AD according to the 7th Day Adventist and other churches who teach NO FUTURE fulfillment of the seventieth week of Daniel)

          Getting back to the 70 weeks. Here we see that in the middle of the 70th week something is to occur. Prophecy is stating that the Messiah shall be "cut off." It also states that when this occurs, it will, "cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease."

          The middle of the week means 3.5 years. (7 years divided by 2) By adding 3.5 years to the autumn of 27 AD, we come to the Spring of 31AD. What happened in the Spring of 31AD?

          Prophecy says...

          Daniel 9:27, "And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week:"

          Matthew 26:27-28, "And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins."(Hebrews 8:8-13 calls this NEW Testament a NEW COVENANT with his people Israel)

          The "covenant with many" is what actually happened when Jesus Christ sealed the covenant when He shed His blood on that cross and died. He died for all those that sinned even though He Himself knew no sin. He did this for the salvation of all those that would ACCEPT His sacrifice for the remission of sins.

Acts 7:56-58, "And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul."

In the Autumn of the year 34AD, the Jewish people openly rejected the Gospel message. They made an open declaration of that rejection by the stoning of Stephen. A stoning that was wholly approved by the leaders of Israel. Sad historic fact is, Stephan is the first Christian martyr killed by the hands of the Jewish nation itself.

          A further biblical fact can be found in a prophetic utterance, and then a prophetic confirmation...

Daniel 9:26-27, "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."

Was Jerusalem destroyed after the Jewish nation rejected the Gospel message?

In A.D.66 when Cestius came against the city, but unaccountably withdrew, the Christians discerned in this the sign foretold by Christ, and fled while 1,100,000 Jews are said to have been killed in the terrible siege in A.D. 70. -Eusebius, Church History, book 3, chap. 5”

First of all, I would like to point out that the destruction of Jerusalem, in from 66 AD to 70 AD, is OUTSIDE or PAST the seventy weeks of Daniel.               So then, IF SO BE, that the year 34 AD supposedly ENDED the seventy weeks of Daniel as taught by the 7th Day Adventist and other church denominations like the reformed church of God how do they make this work to AGREE with scripture? In other words, the destruction of Jerusalem was INCLUDED WITHIN The SEVENTY WEEKS prophesied to FULFILL SEVEN things concerning the people of Israel AND the holy CITY or Jerusalem, BUT 66 AD to 70 AD is NOT within the last half of the seventieth week seeing that they claim the seventieth week ENDED in 34 AD with the stoning of Stephen. 

This is why I myself do NOT teach that Jesus fulfilled the first 3 1/2 years of the seventieth week of Daniel, but rather teach that the CHURCH fulfilled the first half of the seventieth week by the preaching of the gospel to Israel ONLY for the first 3 1/2 years of the seventieth week of Daniel. And THEN when the Jews openly reject the gospel NOT believing in the OBLATION of Jesus offering himself as the ONE sacrifice to end the animal sacrifices is when God caused blindness in part to be upon ISRAEL during the time of the Gentiles.        

So then to me, the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD itself is indeed yet the first fulfillment of a DUAL fulfillment of Matthew 24. Thus or in a like manner, the city of Jerusalem will once again be destroyed by armies yet in the future and IMMEDIATELY AFTER the tribulation of those days EVERY EYE shall SEE Jesus coming in great clouds of glory to DESTROY those MUSLIM ARMIES that are killing God's people the Christians and the Jews. The Abomination of desolation is when we shall SEE ARMIES surrounding Jerusalem to wipe Israel off the face of the earth. Please read the study “WHAT IS THE ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION?”

Remember when I pointed out that the word translated as “desolate” in the King James Bible actually means the ONE who MAKES desolate or the DESOLATOR, which is the antichrist, who has NOT been destroyed as yet. You see my dear brothers and sisters in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Bible teaches us that Jesus HIMSELF will destroy that wicked one when Jesus comes again at his SECOND coming. And to ME there is absolutely no doubt whatsoever that Jesus has NOT ALREADY come again to destroy the wicked and to begin his 1000 year reign where the instruments of war will be turned into farm equipment and Jesus will teach all nations to NOT learn WAR any more. Has this happened yet? Of course, it has not happened yet. So, therefore, there is still yet future the fulfillment of the LAST half of the seventieth week of Daniel.

Now I know that the Jehovah's Witnesses falsely teach that Jesus has already returned INVISIBLY in 1874 AD and the 7th Day Adventist falsely teach that the END of the 2300 day prophecy of Daniel ended in 1844 AD. Only a 30-year difference, but Russel Taze the founder of the Jehovah's Witnesses made several predictions, which all turned out to be false prophecies. 

Once again, in my mind, there is still yet WAR and rumors or even more WARS. So, therefore, it is IMPOSSIBLE for Jesus to have ALREADY returned invisibly, as some FALSELY teach, because the word of TRUTH, the Holy Bible, teaches us that Jesus will destroy the weapons of war turning them into farm implements and he will teach the people to NOT learn war any more. And CLEARLY this has NOT happened as YET and therefore the second half of the seventieth week of Daniel or the last 3 1/3 years is yet FUTURE. With that being said let us now go back to the beginning of this prophecy in Daniel describing the SEVENTY WEEKS.

Please read Daniel 9:24-27 where I put my understanding of verse 26 and verse 27 in place of the way that these two verses normally read.

Daniel 9:24-27.

“Seventy weeks (Or 490 total years) are determined upon your people AND upon your holy CITY,(Speaking of Jerusalem) #1. to FINISH the transgression, and #2. to make an END of sins, and #3. to make reconciliation for iniquity, and #4. to bring in EVERLASTING righteousness, and #5. to seal up (Or to END or COMPLETE) the vision and #6. prophecy, and #7. to ANOINT the most Holy.

25. Know therefore and understand, that FROM the GOING FORTH of the commandment to RESTORE and to build JERUSALEM (And NOT restore and rebuild the TEMPLE) UNTO the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks (Or UNTO the MESSIAH the Prince shall be a full 69 weeks or 483 years, but the first seven weeks or 49 years are for the restoring of Jerusalem to be rebuilt): the STREET shall be built again, and the wall, even in troubled times.(Or in times of WAR)

26a. “ And AFTER threescore and two weeks (Or AFTER 434 YEARS) shall Messiah be cut off, but NOT for himself:..

...27a. And HE (Speaking of Jesus the MESSIAH who was cut off or crucified for US and not for his own self) shall confirm the covenant with many for ONE week: and in the MIDST of the week (Or AFTER a full 3 ½ YEARS have been fulfilled) HE (The pronoun HE here is referring back to Jesus the MESSIAH being CRUCIFIED in the previous verse) shall CAUSE (By his ONCE and for all Sacrifice of himself Jesus has already caused) the sacrifice and the oblation to CEASE, (Speaking of the animal sacrifices. And because of Jesus, God has caused Israel to CEASE from seeing the truth of the gospel in part during the time of the Gentiles. So again, I myself, do NOT see the need for the rebuilding of the TEMPLE and thus I do not dogmatically teach that a new temple must be built in Jerusalem. All I am saying is that in God's eyes HE will no longer ACCEPT an animal sacrifice and the building of a new temple to offer animal sacrifices would be an abomination itself in the eyes of God)...

...26b. “...and the PEOPLE OF the prince that shall come (Speaking of the prince of darkness who is Satan. And the PEOPLE OF the prince are many ANTICHRISTS who shall come AFTER the first coming of Jesus. Now, I myself believe that the people OF the prince BEGAN with the Roman army to destroy the Jewish Temple. I also see Muhammad as being another antichrist figure of Satan who began ISLAM that received a wound unto death and now has revived in these last days to have a sole agenda to conquer the entire world. And then the PEOPLE of the prince PLACED an ABOMINATION on the temple mount called the Dome of the Rock. And I believe that the SAME Islamic Muslim PEOPLE of the prince) shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof (Speaking of the destruction of Israel and the city of Jerusalem BY the ISLAMIC MUSLIM ARMIES) shall be with a flood (The term flood in Bible prophecy means a great ARMY making WAR), and unto the end of the WAR desolations are determined...

...27b. and for the overspreading (Strong's #3671) of abominations (Speaking of Jerusalem being surrounded by ARMIES being in a sacred holy place where they ought NOT to be. One translation says “on the WING of abomination one makes desolate.” Like for example on the WING of a modern-day jet or bomber shooting a NUCLEAR missile or dropping an ATOMIC bomb on Jerusalem to make her DESOLATE.) he (The FINALE ANTICHRIST and his ARMIES) shall make it (Jerusalem and Israel) desolate, even until the consummation and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.”

Verse 27 literally reads as the ONE who MAKES desolate, as in, the DESOLATOR. In other words, there is something that God has determined or decreed to be poured upon the desolator or the one who makes Jerusalem desolate.

You see, I myself, never really could see how a supposed “PIG” being placed in the temple could cause the desolation of the city and temple of Jerusalem.

Anyway, my main point is that we have SEVEN things that MUST be COMPLETELY fulfilled DURING or WITHIN the SEVENTY WEEKS of 490 years. And remember according to their OWN teaching the 7th Day Adventist point out that HISTORY clearly shows the destruction of Jerusalem in 66 AD through 70 AD which is well AFTER or completely OUTSIDE their own ENDING of the seventy weeks having ENDED in 34 AD. So let us KEEP what is good sound Biblical teaching and throw out the rest. And I believe that Jesus AND his disciples fulfilling the FIRST 3 1/2 years of the seventieth week of Daniel is good SOUND Biblical teaching.

Let us take a close look at the seven things that MUST be fulfilled WITHIN the seventy weeks of Daniel.

#1. to FINISH the transgression, and

#2. to make an END of sins, and

#3. to make reconciliation for iniquity, and

#4. to bring in EVERLASTING righteousness, and

#5. to seal up (Or to END or COMPLETE) the vision

#6. and (To seal up or complete all the) prophecy, and

#7. to ANOINT the most Holy.

So then, with the exception of number 3, all the other six things have only been PARTIALLY fulfilled. And, therefore, there is still yet need of a FUTURE fulfillment of the LAST 3  1/2 years of the SEVENTIETH week of Daniel. 

I say “partially” fulfilled because TRUE everlasting righteousness has not been fulfilled. Jesus was anointed King from the foundation of the world but his TRUE FULL anointing as King will not be fulfilled until his second coming which will END the last half of the seventieth week of Daniel. Now, I say that the second coming of Jesus will END the last 3 1/2 years of the seventieth week of Daniel but we have to remember the DUAL fulfillment of Scripture. This is far too deep a subject to get into in this particular study in God’s word so please read the studies “THE TWO WITNESSES-WHO ARE THEY?” and “WHO ARE THE TWO WITNESSES” PART 2”. And if you already know that the two witnesses are the Christians and the Jews then you can skip part 1 which shows why I believe that the two witnesses are the Christians and the Jews. And in part 2, I show all the Scriptures of the DUAL fulfillment of the prophecies in the book of Revelation. But for now, let us continue with this study.

Now, while it is true that Jesus finished the transgression and made an end to the sins of his people Israel, it is also true that NOT ALL Israel has accepted Jesus as their MESSIAH. Jesus confirmed the covenant with many of Israel and many of Israel did indeed accept the covenant during the FIRST half of the seventieth week. And I believe a great many will accept Jesus as their Messiah DURING the time of great tribulation, the last half of the seventieth week of Daniel.

You see, my dear brothers and sisters in our Lord Jesus Christ, God is going to turn BACK to Israel at the SECOND COMING of Jesus. And a REMNANT of Israel shall call upon the Lord to be saved alive to go into the Millennium in their mortal bodies to be taught of the Lord along with those who will be LEFT of the nations who call upon the name of the Lord in that day. It will be ONLY the faithful Christians, who are found to be a good and faithful servant, who will inherit eternal life at the SECOND coming of Jesus. 

But before the second coming of Jesus, I believe the eyes of understanding of many Jews will be OPENED to see the oblation of Jesus sacrificing himself for their sins and they will be saved and go into the 1000 year reign of Jesus in new IMMORTAL bodies like all the Gentile Christians and the all the other Jewish Christians throughout the church age in this present world.

Also, everlasting righteousness has not yet been brought in to full. This shall be fulfilled during the 1000 year reign of Jesus and completely fulfilled after the final Day of Judgment after the 1000 years. For you see there shall be SOME at the end of the 1000 year reign of Righteousness, who will be DECEIVED by the enemy Satan when he is loosed for a little season to deceive the nations to once again make WAR with God and his people. So the actual COMPLETE fulfillment will not be until ALL wickedness is destroyed in the lake of fire on the final Day of Judgment at the END of the 1000 year reign of Jesus when the final part of God's wrath shall be poured out. Please read the studies that I have on the second coming of Jesus. 

Jesus was indeed ANOINTED to preach the gospel and the acceptable year of the Lord, but Jesus has not received his Father's kingdom to rule and reign for 1000 years. NOR has Jesus poured out the WRATH of Almighty God the Father as yet. Also once again please know and understand that yet another WAR will take place at the END of this 1000 year reign of Jesus, which will be the FINAL war because ALL the wicked shall be destroyed never to rise again and ONLY RIGHTEOUSNESS shall remain.

So then, NOT ALL PROPHECY has been fulfilled. Remember that Daniel had more than this one vision and that he gave several prophecies some of which that tie into the seventy weeks of Daniel have not been completely fulfilled as yet.

With that being said let us now take a look at WHEN the going forth of the commandment was given so that we can COUNT the YEARS to see if they agree with the year 27 AD being the year that Jesus was ANOINTED and 31 AD as the year Jesus the Messiah was CUT OFF or crucified for the sins of the people and not for himself.

There are actually FOUR dates in history that a decree went forth, but for now, we will just look at ONE and then further on in this study we will look at a SECOND date that some have chosen over the date of 457 BC.

Now depending on which source you research the date, 457 BC is established as the year that king Artaxerxes gave the command or the decree to restore or rebuild the house or temple of God in Jerusalem.

Here is the way that the 7thday Adventist explain the 69 weeks or the 483 years from the commandment or the decree to the ANOINTING of the Messiah based upon the year 457 BC as being the EXACT year of the decree that they have concluded. I say the exact year that THEY have concluded because others have concluded the year 456 BC as being the EXACT year of the decree. More on this matter of difference of opinion or interpretation further on in this study in God's word. For now, we are focusing on what the 7th Day Adventist church teaches.

“Daniel 9:25, "Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem..."

The angel also tells Daniel WHEN to start the prophetic period of time. Daniel will know that it will begin the very moment a king declares it is time for the people of Israel to go forth to build Jerusalem. When was this command given?

Ezra 7:8,11,13,20 "...in the SEVENTH year of the king. ...this is the copy of the letter that the king Artaxerxes gave unto Ezra the priest, the scribe... I make a decree, that all they of the people of Israel, and of his priests and Levites, in my realm, which is minded of their own free will to go up to Jerusalem, go with thee. And whatsoever more shall be needful for the house of thy God, which thou shalt have occasion to bestow, bestow it out of the king's treasure house."

In the SEVENTH year of king Artaxerxes' reign, he made a decree unto the people of Israel to go forth and rebuild the temple. The SEVENTH year of this king was in FACT 457 BC. (Well that depends on how one INTERPRETS the SEVENTH year REIGN of king Artaxerxes. Again more on this later.)

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."

Now if you subtract 457 years from 483 you get 26 years, but we need to add 1 year because there is no year ZERO. The calendar goes from 1 BC to 1 AD and thus loses a year. So then, 26 years plus 1 year comes to the year 27 AD the year that Jesus was ANOINTED as the CHRIST by Almighty God the Father at the baptism of Jesus. Again please read the study “WHAT YEAR WAS JESUS CRUCIFIED?” for all the sound Biblical evidence that supports the year 27 AD for the baptism of Jesus.

If you remember early on in this study I said that there were FOUR decrees given, but we will only look at TWO of these dates?

Well, I thought I would go ahead and give you the scriptures for all FOUR decrees so you can follow up and do a deeper study if you so desire. In the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, we find FOUR royal commands issued by the Median and Persian kings that could possibly qualify as the "commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem. The first command, decree, or proclamation was by Cyrus in Ezra 1:1-11.

Ezra 1:1-11.

“Now 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, that he made a PROCLAMATION throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in WRITING, saying,

2. Thus said Cyrus king of Persia, The LORD 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.

3. Who is there among you of all his people? his God is with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the HOUSE of the LORD God of Israel, (he is the God,) which is in Jerusalem.

4. And whosoever remains in any place where he sojourns, let the men of his place help him with silver, and with gold, and with goods, and with beasts, beside the freewill offering for the HOUSE of God that is in Jerusalem.

5. Then rose up the chief of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests, and the Levites, with all them whose spirit God had raised, to go up to build the HOUSE of the LORD which is in Jerusalem.

6. And all they that were about them strengthened their hands with vessels of silver, with gold, with goods, and with beasts, and with precious things, beside all that was willingly offered.

7. Also, Cyrus, the king brought forth the vessels of the house of the LORD, which Nebuchadnezzar had brought forth out of Jerusalem, and had put them in the house of his gods,

8. Even those did Cyrus king of Persia bring forth by the hand of Mithredath the treasurer and numbered them unto Sheshbazzar, the prince of Judah.

9. And this is the number of them: thirty chargers of gold, a thousand chargers of silver, nine and twenty knives,

10. Thirty basons of gold, silver basons of a second sort four hundred and ten, and other vessels a thousand.

11. All the vessels of gold and of silver were five thousand and four hundred. All these did Sheshbazzar bring up with them of the captivity that was brought up from Babylon unto Jerusalem.”

So then the first decree was to rebuild the HOUSE of God or the TEMPLE of God in Jerusalem and NOT the decree to rebuild the CITY of Jerusalem. The second decree was by Darius in Ezra 4:21-24, and Ezra 6:1-12.

Ezra 4:21-24.

“Give you now commandment to cause these men to CEASE, AND that this CITY be not built, UNTIL ANOTHER commandment shall be given from ME. (Speaking of King Artaxerxes)

22. Take heed now that ye fail not to do this: why should damage grow to the hurt of the kings?

23. Now when the copy of king Artaxerxes' letter was read before Rehum, and Shimshai the scribe, and their companions, they went up in haste to Jerusalem unto the Jews, and made them cease by force and power.

24. Then ceased the work of the HOUSE of God which is at Jerusalem. So it CEASED unto the SECOND year of the reign of Darius king of Persia.”

Now let us see what Ezra 6:1-12 has to say.

“Then Darius the king made a DECREE, and a search was made in the house of the rolls, where the treasures were laid up in Babylon.

2. And there was found at Achmetha, in the palace that is in the province of the Medes, a roll, and therein was a record thus written:

3. In the FIRST year of Cyrus the king the same Cyrus the king made a DECREE concerning the HOUSE of God at Jerusalem, Let the HOUSE be built, the place where they offered sacrifices, and let the FOUNDATIONS thereof be strongly laid; the height thereof threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof threescore cubits;

4. With three rows of great stones and a row of new timber: and let the expenses be given out of the king's house:

5. And also let the golden and silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took forth out of the temple which is at Jerusalem, and brought unto Babylon, be restored, and brought again unto the TEMPLE which is at Jerusalem, everyone to his place, and place them in the HOUSE of God.

6. Now therefore, Tatnai, governor beyond the river, Shetharboznai, and your companions the Apharsachites, which are beyond the river, be you far from thence:

7. Let the work of this HOUSE of God alone; let the governor of the Jews and the elders of the Jews build this house of God in his place.

8. Moreover, I make a decree what you shall do to the elders of these Jews for the building of this house of God: that of the king's goods, even of the tribute beyond the river, forthwith expenses be given unto these men, that they be not hindered.

9. And that which they have need of, both young bullocks, and rams, and lambs, for the burnt offerings of the God of heaven, wheat, salt, wine, and oil, according to the appointment of the priests which are at Jerusalem, let it be given them day by day without fail:

10. That they may offer sacrifices of sweet savors unto the God of heaven, and pray for the life of the king, and of his sons.

11. Also, I have made a decree, that whosoever shall alter this word, let timber be pulled down from his house, and being set up, let him be hanged thereon; and let his house be made a dunghill for this.

12. And the God that has caused his name to dwell there destroy all kings and people, that shall put to their hand to alter and to destroy this HOUSE of God which is at Jerusalem. I Darius have made a decree; let it be done with speed.”

So then, this second decree was also to rebuild the TEMPLE and NOT the CITY of Jerusalem.

The third decree was given by Artaxerxes in his 7th year or reign found in Ezra 7:7-27.

Ezra 7:7-27.

“And there went up some of the children of Israel, and of the priests, and the Levites, and the singers, and the porters, and the Nethinims, unto Jerusalem, in the SEVENTH year of Artaxerxes the king.

8. And he came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was in the seventh year of the king.

9. For upon the first day of the first month began he to go up from Babylon, and on the first day of the fifth month came he to Jerusalem, according to the good hand of his God upon him.

10. For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the LORD, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments.

11. Now, this is the copy of the letter that the king Artaxerxes gave unto Ezra the priest, the scribe, even a scribe of the words of the commandments of the LORD, and of his statutes to Israel.

12. Artaxerxes, king of kings, unto Ezra the priest, a scribe of the law of the God of heaven, perfect peace, and at such a time.

13.  I make a DECREE, that all they of the people of Israel, and of his priests and Levites, in my realm, which is minded of their own free will to go up to Jerusalem, go with you.

14. For as much as you are sent of the king, and of his seven counselors, to inquire concerning Judah and Jerusalem, according to the law of your God which is in your hand;

15. And to carry the silver and gold, which the king and his counselors have freely offered unto the God of Israel, whose habitation is in Jerusalem,

16. And all the silver and gold that you can find in all the province of Babylon, with the freewill offering of the people, and of the priests, offering willingly for the HOUSE of their God which is in Jerusalem:

17. That you may buy speedily with this money bullocks, rams, lambs, with their meat offerings and their drink offerings, and offer them upon the altar of the HOUSE of your God which is in Jerusalem.

18. And whatsoever shall seem good to you, and to your brethren, to do with the rest of the silver and the gold, that do after the will of your God.

19. The vessels also that are given you for the service of the house of your God, those deliver you before the God of Jerusalem.

20. And whatsoever more shall be needful for the house of your God, which you shall have occasion to bestow, bestow it out of the king's treasure house.

21. And I, even I Artaxerxes the king, do make a decree to all the treasurers which are beyond the river, that whatsoever Ezra the priest, the scribe of the law of the God of heaven, shall require of you, it be done speedily,

22. Unto a hundred talents of silver, and to a hundred measures of wheat, and to a hundred baths of wine, and to a hundred baths of oil, and salt without prescribing how much.

23. Whatsoever is commanded by the God of heaven, let it be diligently done for the HOUSE of the God of heaven: for why should there be wrath against the realm of the king and his sons?

24. Also, we certify you, that touching any of the priests and Levites, singers, porters, Nethinims, or ministers of this house of God, it shall not be lawful to impose toll, tribute, or custom, upon them.

25. And you, Ezra, after the wisdom of your God, that is in your hand, set magistrates and judges, which may judge all the people that are beyond the river, all such as know the laws of your God; and teach you them that know them not.

26. And whosoever will not do the law of your God, and the law of the king, let judgment be executed speedily upon him, whether it be unto death, or to banishment, or to confiscation of goods, or to imprisonment.

27. Blessed be the LORD God of our fathers, which has put such a thing as this in the king's heart, to beautify the HOUSE of the LORD which is in Jerusalem:”

And the third decree, as well, was also to rebuild the TEMPLE and NOT the city of Jerusalem.

The fourth decree was also by Artaxerxes in his 20th year and this decree is found in Nehemiah 2:1-8.

Nehemiah 2:1-8.

“And it came to pass in the month Nisan, in the TWENTIETH year of Artaxerxes the king, that wine was before him: and I took up the wine, and gave it unto the king. Now I had not been before time sad in his presence.

2. Wherefore the king said unto me, Why is your countenance sad, seeing you are not sick? This is nothing else but sorrow of heart. Then I was very sore afraid,

3. And said unto the king, Let the king live forever: why should not my countenance be sad, when the CITY, the PLACE of my fathers' sepulchers, lay waste, and the GATES thereof are consumed with fire?

4. Then the king said unto me, For what do you make request? So I prayed to the God of heaven.

5. And I said unto the king, If it please the king, and if your servant have found favor in your sight, that you would send me unto Judah, unto the CITY of my fathers' sepulchers, that I may BUILD IT. (Speaking of rebuilding the CITY of JERUSALEM)

6. And the king said unto me, (the queen also sitting by him,) For how long shall your journey be? And when will you return? So it pleased the king to send me; and I set him a time.

7. Moreover, I said unto the king, If it please the king, let letters be given me to the governors beyond the river, that they may convey me over till I come into Judah;

8. And a letter unto Asaph the keeper of the king's forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the GATES of the palace which appertained to the HOUSE, and for the WALL of the CITY, and for the house that I shall enter into. And the king granted me, according to the good hand of my God upon me.”

We have already taken a look at the year 457 BC to rebuild the HOUSE of God or the TEMPLE of God, and where Jesus the Messiah was CUT OFF or crucified in the MIDST of the week in 31 AD, but we will look at another possible year for the crucifixion of Jesus being the year 32 AD at the end of this study as well, in order to agree with the INTERPRETATION of other Christians concerning the SEVENTIETH week of Daniel.

In other words, other Bible prophecy teachers DISAGREE with the starting date of 457 BC because that decree was to restore the TEMPLE and NOT the CITY like Daniel 9:24-27 plainly teaches. So these prophecy teachers use the year 445 BC as their starting date.

So then, now let us take a look at the evidence used to try and support this SECOND date given here in the book of Nehemiah which some calculate to be 445 BC.

Now again, some prophecy teachers say NO to the FIRST date of 457 BC, because the verses in Daniel 9:24-27 says the decree to restore and rebuild the CITY of Jerusalem and NOT the decree to restore the TEMPLE or the HOUSE of God.

So now we will look at the second date, which most Bible scholars have established as being 445 BC that a decree was given to rebuild the CITY of Jerusalem. I say most because some have concluded the years 444 BC and 446 BC are also given as possible starting dates depending on what historical source one uses. We may get into their arguments further on in this study.

Here is a quote from a prophecy teacher, who uses this date of 445 BC to calculate the day in which Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey to be hailed as the King. Again, any emphasis or comments are my own.

In the fifth century B.C. a Hebrew named Nehemiah, then cup bearer to the Medo-Persian king Artaxerxes, wrote of the command to restore and rebuild Jerusalem.

“And it came to pass in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of the reign of Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, I took wine and gave it to the king. Now I had never been sad in his presence before. Therefore, the king said to me 'why is your face sad, since you are not sick.'" Nehemiah 2:1-2 (NKJ)

Nehemiah went on to explain that he was sad because he had heard reports that the city of his people, Jerusalem, was still desolate. Nehemiah, requested that he be allowed to go back to Jerusalem and rebuild the CITY. King Artaxerxes granted his wish on the spot and gave him official "letters" or documents for easy passage. This occurred, we are told in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes Longimanus' reign.

Artaxerxes Longimanus ascended to the throne of the Medo-Persian empire in July 465 B.C. (Encyclopedia Britannica, 1990 ed.). The TWENTIETH year of his REIGN would have BEGUN in July 446 B.C. The decree occurred approximately nine months later in the month of Nisan (March/April on our calendar). By Hebrew tradition when the day of the month is not specifically stated (as in Artaxerxes decree, it is given to be the first day of that month. Consequently, the very day of Artaxerxes' decree was the FIRST day of the Hebrew month Nisan in 445 B.C. The FIRST day of Nisan in 445 B.C. corresponds to the 14th day of March.

These dates were confirmed through astronomical calculations at the British Royal Observatory and reported by Sir Robert Anderson (Robert Anderson, "The Coming Prince", Kregel. Reprinted in 1984.).

The prophecy states that 69 weeks of years (173,880 days using the 360-day prophetic year) after the command goes forth to restore and rebuild the city of Jerusalem the Messiah will come.

If we count forward 173,880 days from March 14th 445 B.C. we arrive at April 6th 32 A.D.”

Some may argue the question of WHY the use of the 476 LUNAR prophetic years and opposed to using the 483 SOLAR years? Well one obvious answer to me that makes sense is that the LAST 3 ½ years according to the book of Revelation are given in the LUNAR prophetic years having 30 days per month or 360 days per prophetic year thus the 1260 days that coincide with the 42 months or 3 1/2 years of 360 days per year. In other words, 360 days + 360 days + 360 days for the three full years equal 1080 days. Now add the ½ year of the remaining 180 days and you come up with 1260 days.

So then, ACCORDING to some prophecy teachers they take 483 SOLAR years and multiply by 360 days in a LUNAR prophetic year this equals 173,880 total prophetic days. This I understand and agree is fine to do. But then, according to some of these prophetic teachers, they say that all you need to do is to divide 173,880 by 365.25 days in a solar year, which equals 476.05749 years, which they then round off to be 476 SOLAR years.

Here is where I thought to myself, wait a minute! Did they not just convert 483 SOLAR years INTO LUNAR years that numbered to 173,880 DAYS? Yes, they did! And this is what I THOUGHT at first but LATER I saw that what I thought was WRONG. But I want you to read what I THOUGHT at first. I want my readers to know that if I make a mistake and one of my readers can show me where and why what I teach is wrong that I will change what I teach. I have been wrong more than once and I changed those errors as well. 

“Therefore, the 173,880 LUNAR DAYS already is 483 SOLAR years. I mean THINK this through for yourself. If A=B, then obviously B will = A as well. Just read the equation backward. If A=B, then B=A. So then, if you convert 483 SOLAR YEARS to LUNAR YEARS, and you arrive at 173,880 lunar DAYS, then that 173,880 lunar days are EQUAL to 483 SOLAR years. In other words, it is a MAJOR ERROR to divide 173,880 days, which is ALREADY 483 SOLAR years, by 365.25 solar days to arrive at a SHORTER time period of SOLAR years, which is already EQUAL to the 173,880 lunar days. Can you not see that if you START with 483 SOLAR years and you CONVERT these solar years to LUNAR years that is NUMBERED in DAYS, then all you need to do is to DIVIDE the number of LUNAR days in one year BACK into 173,880 LUNAR years that was numbered in DAYS in order to convert BACK to the ORIGINAL SOLAR years you STARTED with, which is 483 SOLAR years. You see, 173,880 LUNAR days divided by 360 DAYS in a LUNAR year equals 483 SOLAR years, which was CONVERTED to LUNAR years NUMBERED in DAYS by MULTIPLYING the number of DAYS in ONE LUNAR year, which is 360 days. So 483 solar years X 360 lunar days equals 173,880 lunar DAYS the number of LUNAR days already contained in the 483 SOLAR years.”

But then I saw their line of REASONING that the LUNAR years were SHORTER than the SOLAR years.

So then, I had to CHANGE what I had written before because I was WRONG. And here is what I believe now. If you take 360 DAYS per LUNAR year and multiply the 360 DAYS by 476 LUNAR years, which is the number of years NEEDED to MAKE this particular decree work out, then you end up with 171,360 LUNAR days. Now divide 171,360 LUNAR days by 365.25 SOLAR days per year to CONVERT these 171,360 LUNAR days to SOLAR years and you end up with 469.15811 SOLAR years. BUT to ME, at first, this still seemed a little like total manipulation of numbers to try to FORCE the 445 BC decree to FIT as the correct date.

My point is there is absolutely NO way to get 476 LUNAR years to EQUAL 483 SOLAR years, as in, being the SAME exact number of DAYS because a Lunar year is SHORTER than a Solar year in the number of days.

But that is the whole point they are making which at first I missed. So I do not want you to miss this truth. You see, prophetic Biblical year is 360 days which is SHORTER than our Solar year and this is WHY our Solar years needs to be converted to a Lunar prophetic Biblical year of 360 days.

I found some other prophecy teachers that explained that you are to count the DAYS of the LUNAR years forward from Nissan 1 of the year 445 BC and you will arrive at the month of Nissan in the year 32 AD the year Jesus was crucified. So then if you take 69 weeks, which is 483 years and multiply 483 times 360 days in a Biblical prophetic year you get 173,880 days. And some say you arrive at the very day Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey to be hailed as King of the Jews, which according to their calculations, was on Palm Sunday Nissan 10 in 32 AD. But as you will see, THEIR calculations are wrong in that they CONTRADICT the Scriptures. The NUMBER of days is correct but their YEAR is wrong. You will see what I mean in a moment.

Please read Zechariah 9:9 and Matthew 12:2. Zechariah 9:9 is a prophecy of Jesus saying behold the King coming riding on a donkey and in Matthew 21:5 we read where Jesus FULFILLS this prophecy.

Zechariah 9:9,

“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, your King COMES unto you: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.”

Matthew 21:5.

“Tell you the daughter of Sion (or Zion), Behold, (Or Look and SEE) your King comes unto you, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass.”

Then in the next few chapters of Matthew Jesus teaches several parables and the scribes and Pharisees try and trap Jesus in his words on this SAME day that Jew rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. Then in Matthew 26:2 we find that after two more days is the PASSOVER feast that is kept on Nissan 14 the day that Jesus was crucified.

Matthew 26:2.

“You know that AFTER TWO DAYS is the feast of the PASSOVER, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified.”

In other words, Jesus is crucified on the THIRD day just TWO days AFTER he rode into Jerusalem on a donkey symbolizing his anointing as the coming King. To say this another way, according to their calculations, Jesus rode into Jerusalem on Palm SUNDAY on Nissan 10. Then TWO days AFTER Sunday would be on a WEDNESDAY Nissan 13 the day of preparation. Then Jesus would have been crucified on Nissan 14 would be THURSDAY the high Sabbath day of PASSOVER which contradicts the Scriptures.

Please consider their calculations Sunday Nissan 10, Monday Nissan 11, Tuesday Nissan 12, Wednesday Nissan 13, Thursday Nissan 14, Friday Nissan 15, Saturday Nissan 16, and Sunday Nisan 17th the day the Jesus was raised from the dead in 32 AD.

Now, I already saw quite easily how a LUNAR year is SHORTER than a SOLAR year by 5.25 days. So I did my own math and came up with the same figures. I did the math in several different ways and came up with the same answer of 476.0575 LUNAR years.

So then, when we subtract the starting date of 445 BC from 476.0575 lunar years this brings us to 31.0575 BC and then we add 1 year for the crossing of year zero, which is not on the calendar but still needs to be counted when arriving at 32 BC PLUS .0575 years. I know this may seem like a small fraction but if you are going to stress the EXACT DAY that Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey then you cannot just throw these EXTRA days to the side and say “CLOSE ENOUGH”. In other words, just rounding off 31.0575 to 31 AD is NOT calculating the EXACT day from Nissan 1 of 445 BC to the very day that Jesus was crucified.

So again, I began to think to myself that this is just a bunch of manipulation of numbers to try and MAKE this starting date of 445 BC to fit their particular agenda. Then I remembered reading about the Hebrew calendar needing to ADD a month now and then to keep it in agreement with the SOLAR calendar so I did some more digging and here is what I found.

 “32 A.D., AN EMBOLISMAL YEAR, IS THE ONLY YEAR THAT HAS A LATE NISAN MOON TO ALLOW THE 173,880 DAYS TO CONNECT THE NISAN MOON OF NEHEMIAH WITH THE NISAN MOON OF THE CRUCIFIXION YEAR.”

I thought to myself what is an “EMBOLISMAL” year? I had never heard this word before so I looked it up in the dictionary. The word “embolism” has two meanings; the first meaning is an obstruction in a blood vessel and the second meaning is an insertion of a period of time in a calendar year, an intercalation. The word “intercalation” means in insert a period of time into a calendar, a day, a month added to a calendar.

For example, we add 1 day into our calendar every four years called a LEAP year to keep the SOLAR year as close as possible to the cycle of the SUN. The adding of that 1 day every four years is called an intercalation.

The Hebrew calendar is a lunisolar calendar, meaning that the MONTHS are based on LUNAR MONTHS, but the YEARS are based on SOLAR YEARS.

So instead of ADDING an extra single DAY every four years like the solar calendar, the Hebrew calendar adds an extra MONTH called a LEAP MONTH or an intercalary month every so many of years and that year is called a LEAP year in the Hebrew calendar.

So then, in leap years, such as 5774, which coincides to our year 2014, an additional month of 30 days called “Adar I” is added after Shevat the eleventh Hebrew month, while the regular month of Adar is referred to as “Adar II.” The month of Adar is the twelfth Hebrew month and the month of Abid sometimes written as Aviv, but was changed to be called Nissan is the FIRST month of the year, which occurs in the SPRING of the year and is set by the cycle of the MOON.

The insertion of the leap month is therefore based on the requirement that PASSOVER is to be kept in the spring of the year according to the cycle of the MOON so that there is ALWAYS a FULL moon on the day of Nissan 14 the feast of PASSOVER.

You see, when the world decided to use a fixed calendar, then intercalations or the adding of a LEAP month in the Hebrew calendar needed to be assigned to fixed points in the cycle of the moon to stay as close as possible to the solar calendar. Now in ancient times before computers, this intercalation of added days or an entire month was determined empirically, which is to determine by hands-on observation and experience. Here is a quote from another website showing the old way of when months were to be added.

The year may be intercalated on three grounds: 'aviv [i.e.the ripeness of barley], fruits of trees, and the equinox. On two of these grounds it should be intercalated, but not on one of them alone.

So then, to determine if a lunar month needed to be added by hands-on observation is something that cannot be DOGMATICALLY determined solely by a computer program using only the cycle of the moon. In other words, the ripeness of the harvest AND the equinox must be used to determine when this extra month was to be added. Thus the reason why year 32 AD cannot be eliminated is based upon the sole reason that Nissan 14 did not fall on a Wednesday, a Thursday or a Friday, according to a computer-generated calendar, as some have dogmatically demanded.

With this new information I was impressed to dig even deeper and I found another website that had some charts where it can clearly be seen in simplicity that the year 32 AD is the only year that will allow for the insertion of an added LEAP month of Adar or Nissan in the spring of the year and still have the LUNAR cycle of the moon fit the PASSOVER day that year.

So, according to the charts and research of others, I myself have reconsidered my own previous conclusions on the year that Jesus was crucified on 31 AD as being the best possible year to now allow 32 AD as a possible year.

In fact, in some respects, I thought to myself how awesome it would be that if BOTH dates 457 BC AND 445 BC placed the crucifixion of Jesus in the year 32 AD? Seeing that this is the only year that allows for BOTH starting dates of the decree to rebuild the TEMPLE AND the decree to rebuild the CITY of Jerusalem to meet all the requirements of the seventy weeks of Daniel's prophecy.

So with this THOUGHT in my mind, I started to look to see if my original date of the crucifixion could be moved from 31 AD to 32 AD and still yet have all the Biblical AND the historical evidence agree?

You see the crucifixion of Jesus in 31 AD that we previously discussed in the first part of this study in God's word and the study “WHAT YEAR WAS JESUS CRUCIFIED?” can easily be bumped to 32 AD by simply having the ministry of Jesus as being a full 3 1/2 years as opposed to my earliest study where the ministry of Jesus was only 2 1/2 years. 

If you remember, I said the BEST possible year for the ANOINTING of Jesus at his baptism was 28 AD and I only allowed this date to be moved to 27 AD to show you the POSSIBILITY of the 7th Day Adventist teaching on the SEVENTIETH week of Daniel. So the BIRTH of Jesus will remain the same on 3 BC using 28 AD as the year Jesus was baptized. But if 27 AD is used for the baptism of Jesus then Jesus would need to be born in 4 BC which to me is not the BEST year but none the less it is a POSSIBLE year. Let us get back to the year 32 AD being a possible year that Jesus was crucified.

Here are the charts that clearly show that the month of ADAR extending far enough into the spring of the year to ADD the extra LEAP MONTH of ADAR ll in ONLY the year 32 AD.

Thus the TWENTIETH year would be from the fall of 445 BC to the fall of 444 BC. And when we apply the first day of Nissan we arrive at the SPRING of 444 BC being the time that the decree went forth to restore the CITY of Jerusalem.

Again, I believe that the FIRST 3 1/2 years have already been fulfilled by Jesus himself CONFIRMING the covenant being the OBLATE of the one sacrifice for the sins of the people on the third day of the seventieth week. Remember the word “oblate” means one who offers himself to God. So Jesus was the OBLATION and SACRIFICE which was CAUSED to cease for the Jews as a nation during the time of the Gentiles. And this is why I believe that the CHURCH fulfilled the first HALF or the first 3 1/2 years of the seventieth week of Daniel by the preaching of the gospel to the JEWS ONLY for 3 1/2 years and when THEY rejected the gospel as a nation or as a whole in general by starting to kill the disciples of Jesus, then God CAUSE BLINDNESS in part to Israel so that they word not come to the knowledge of the truth of the oblation and sacrifice of Jesus being their Messiah.

Their blindness will FULLY end at the second coming of Jesus. But I believe that during the last half of the seventieth week of Daniel, speaking of the 3 1/2 years of the great tribulation right before Jesus returns that many Jews will come to Jesus just like they did during the FIRST half of the seventieth week of Daniel during the first 3 1/2 years of the church. However, UNLIKE the FIRST half of the seventieth week of Daniel where the gospel was preached ONLY to the Jews, I believe that during the last half of the seventieth week of Daniel that the gospel will be preached to BOTH the Jews AND the Gentiles.

And I believe that the REST of God's word in the New Testament, particularly, in the book of Revelation clearly shows us that there will ONLY be a 3 1/2 year period of great tribulation and NOT a full seven-year period of time of the great tribulation.

Please remember the words of Jesus in Matthew 24:29-31.

“IMMEDIATELY AFTER the tribulation of those days shall the SUN be darkened, and the MOON shall not give her light, and the STARS shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:

30. And then shall appear the SIGN of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall SEE the Son of man COMING in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

31. And he ( Speaking of Jesus at his SECOND COMING were EVERY EYE shall SEE Jesus COMING in clouds of great glory, then Jesus) shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”

This is the RAPTURE of the CHURCH taking place AT the SECOND coming of Jesus IMMEDIATELY AFTER the 3 1/2 years of great tribulation and right BEFORE the WRATH of Almighty God that is going to be poured out by Jesus the SON of the living God AT his SECOND coming.

In other words, BOTH events, the RAPTURE of the Church AND the WRATH of God being poured out happen AT the ONE and ONLY SECOND coming of Jesus. 

The RAPTURE takes place FIRST IMMEDIATELY AFTER the 3 1/2 year period of the great tribulation right at the BEGINNING of the SIGNS or shortly after the SIGNS in the SUN, MOON, and STARS that usher in the SECOND coming of Jesus BEGIN to be seen. Then after we are CAUGHT UP in the chariots of God to be SAFE we will be taken to MEET Jesus in the AIR, or the sky over Armageddon, where the WRATH of God will be poured out on those making WAR with Israel.

Now, while I am seeing that the ISLAMIC MUSLIMS, radical or otherwise, who will be making WAR with Israel and killing the Christians and the Jews the ONLY TWO witnesses that stand for the ONE TRUE God in all the earth, I ALSO see that there may be a possibility of other NATIONS like China and Russia, who may JOIN in to wipe Israel off the face of the earth.

So in conclusion, I am seeing that ONLY those nations who side WITH Israel that will be spared from the WRATH of Almighty God at the SECOND coming of Jesus.

Are YOU a true born again Christian? Are you READY for the coming of Jesus? Are YOU prepared for the days ahead? First and foremost, make absolutely sure that you are indeed saved. And I implore you dear children of God, do NOT under ANY circumstance deny that Jesus is the SON OF Almighty God who died for YOUR sins in order to become a MUSLIM to save your mortal physical life. For you see, with FLATTERY the antichrist system will deceive many. And if it were possible even the very elect might be deceived.

But Jesus WARNED us NOT to fear those that can destroy only the body, but rather we are to fear and reverence Almighty God who is able to destroy BOTH the body and the SOUL on judgment day in the lake of fire. Jesus is the ONLY way to ETERNAL LIFE in the world to come.

Islam is a LIE and a doctrine of the devil. Muslims do NOT inherit eternal life in the world to come because of their DENYING that Jesus is the SON of Almighty God. Muslims DENY that Jesus died on the cross for their sins. Muslims DENY that Jesus IS the MESSIAH.

The Jews deny that Jesus is the Messiah NOW, but on that DAY when Jesus comes again a remnant of Jews will repent and call upon Yashua as being the MESSIAH. The Christians and the Jews are the only TWO witnesses of the one true God.

Below I have some dates given to me by one of my readers. Now while I agree that it is not wise to SET dates for the second coming of Jesus, I do believe that as the time draws closer that we are living in that time who are WATCHING will perhaps know the time of our Lord's return. From what I have studied the SEASON of our Lord's return appears to be in the FALL of the year, but WHAT year? No one knows for sure, but below are some interesting points! For NOW, I sincerely believe in the 7000-year plan of God for salvation. Please read the study “DOES GOD HAVE A 7000 YEAR PLAN OF SALVATION?”\

Here are some quotes from one of my readers that I thought may be of interest to my readers.

"In the Bible book of Daniel chapter 12 verses 10 through 13 speaks of the disgusting ( the dome of the rock) thing that causes desolation standing in the Holy place (Jerusalem). This disgusting thing stands for a total of 1335 days. When in the form of punishment in the bible the days are turned into years (the Israelites complained for 40 days in the wilderness so God made them spend 40 years as punishment). If you research the year the dome of the rock was built you will see it is 689 AD. If you add the 1335 days (years) to it you get the year 2024 AD. If you take the 1290 days (years) and add it to the year 689 AD you get the year 1979. This is the year Iran took the American hostages and that put Islam on the map as a force to be reckoned with and the false prophet awoke. If you research the year Adam was created you will find it is the year 4026 BC. He named the animals and then God created Eve in 4024 BC. Then the Bible says God's day of rest began in 4024 AD. If you add 6000 years to this year you get the year 2024 AD."

"The Scriptures state that one day to God is a 1000 years to man. When Jesus told the Jewish religious leaders 'tear down this temple and I will rebuild it in three days' He was speaking of Himself and not the actual temple. Jesus was born in 02 BC and began His ministry in 27 AD. Now since Jesus was in Heaven for billions of years He was most probably speaking of the 1000 years as a day. I say this because if you take the year He began His ministry 27 AD and add the 1000 years days to it (2 days, almost 2000 years) so far you get the 3rd day beginning 2027 the year Armageddon ends and Christ Jesus reigns for the final and third day until He returns the keys to the Kingdom back to our Heavenly Father."

Thanks for reading, and may God bless you richly as you continue to seek the TRUTH of the WHOLE word of Almighty God. 

And to me, the truth concerning who Jesus TRULY is, according to the Bible ITSELF, is the Biblical Unitarian view of Jesus. 

Once Christians, Jews, Muslims, and even atheists understand the REASON that Yahweh CREATED the Son of MAN, Jesus, was to have DOMINION over the work of Yahweh’s hands. 

And after you understand that the REASON that Yahweh did that is to STILL His ENEMIES, Satan and the fallen angels. 

Then you can understand that God made His human Son to become “a” Lord, “a” King, and “a” God, under and subject to his God and Father in order to JUDGE Satan and the fallen angels. 

For a deeper understanding of this WAR that Lucifer and one third of the angels waged against the throne of Almighty God, please read the studies under the subject category called ** Q-0 Why Are We Here?  Is God at WAR? **.

More studies are coming in this SHORTER Biblical Unitarian view of who Jesus is according to the WHOLE word of God. 

If you have a PARTICULAR verse of Scripture that you would like to know the sound Biblical Unitarian meaning, then please email me at MarkatAMatterOfTruth@Gmail.com and let me know.

For further and more in-depth studies on this subject of Jesus being created to STILL the enemies of Yahweh, please read the studies called D-25. A NEW LOOK at JOHN 1:1, In the BEGINNING! 

And also read the study called D-28. The PRE-ADAMIC LUCIFERIAN FLOOD! 

At the top of my homepage, there are subjects or categories which contain compiled lists of ** ALL Studies! ** I have written on that particular subject. So, if a link within a study is broken, then click on ** ALL Studies! ** to find the suggested study.

Or you can scroll down to the MORE dropdown menu list to find those studies as well. 

Thanks again for reading, and may God bless you richly as you continue to seek the TRUTH of the WHOLE word of Almighty God. 

And to me, the truth concerning who Jesus TRULY is, according to the Bible ITSELF, is the Biblical Unitarian view of Jesus. 

And again, for ALL of the studies on the Biblical Unitarian view of Jesus, please click on the subject heading ** D-0 The BIBLICAL UNITARIAN VIEW of Jesus! **

And for the SUBJECT on the true foundation of the church, please click on the subject heading ** C-0 The TRUE FOUNDATION of the Church! ** 

This way you can just send ONE link to those who you want to share the TRUE sound Biblical FOUNDATIONAL teachings of the church that Jesus and his Apostles taught in the first century church.

Your brother in our Lord Jesus Christ,

Brother Mark.

My heartfelt prayer is that all Christians RETURN to the TRUE FOUNDATION of the church that is taught by the very Apostles of Jesus in the first century. 

So let us all come into the UNITY of the faith and return to what Jesus and his Apostles taught us in SIMPLICITY in the New Testament. 

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Always be faithful to share, to preach, and to teach the whole gospel of Jesus Christ!