The Divisions of the 70 Weeks
In verse 24, Gabriel says, “Seventy ‘sevens’ are decreed for your people and your holy city.” Almost all commentators agree that the seventy “sevens” should be understood as seventy “weeks” of years, in other words, a period of 490 years. These verses provide a sort of “clock” that gives an idea of when the Messiah would come and some of the events that would accompany His appearance.
Yes, with the only problem with this being "decreed" - the word is "cut off" or "amputated". The 70 Weeks were given not only to pinpoint Messiah's arrival, but to CLEAR UP DANIEL'S CONFUSION about the 2,300 days, as indicated "understand the matter and consider the "mareh" which refers to the "2,300 days" vision of the previous chapter. Therefore, the 70 Weeks is "cut off" from the larger 2,300 days in order to explain them.
The Purpose of the 70 Weeks
The prophecy contains a statement concerning God’s six-fold purpose in bringing these events to pass. Verse 24 says this purpose is 1) “to finish transgression,” 2) “to put an end to sin,” 3) “to atone for wickedness,” 4) “to bring in everlasting righteousness,” 5) “to seal up vision and prophecy,” and 6) “to anoint the most holy.”
At the end of the 70 Weeks, all was fulfilled: In the Christian's life Jesus has
finished the transgression and made an
end of sins, made
reconciliation for iniquity and has brought in
everlasting righteousness. Also, it "
sealed up the vision and the prophecy" which means the fulfillment of the 70 Weeks was a "seal of assurance" that the 2,300 would also come to pass. Finally, Jesus "
anointed the Most Holy when He commenced His High Priestly ministry in the Heavenly Sanctuary.
The Fulfillment of the 70 Weeks
Gabriel said the prophetic clock would start at the time that a decree was issued to rebuild Jerusalem. From the date of that decree to the time of the Messiah would be 483 years.
True
We know from history that the command to “restore and rebuild Jerusalem” was given by King Artaxerxes of Persia c. 444 B.C. (see
Nehemiah 2:1-8).
Wrong, this 444 decree was merely a
reinstatement of the same decree Artaxerxes issued in 457 B.C. which is found in Ezra 7, but was suspended due to local trouble with Tobias and company, so it's eschatological skulduggery to claim 444 B.C. as the starting date.
The Final Week of the 70 Weeks
Of the 70 “sevens,” 69 have been fulfilled in history. This leaves one more “seven” yet to be fulfilled. Most scholars believe that we are now living in a huge gap between the 69th week and the 70th week. The prophetic clock has been paused, as it were. The final “seven” of Daniel is what we usually call the
tribulation period.
Yes, most JESUIT scholars believe this nonsense of a pending week. The thing is called "70 Weeks" which means it is to last 70 weeks, not 70 Weeks+.
Try going to work and telling your boss at 12 noon you'll be back after your lunch hour but don't come back until 2:00, and when he wants to know why you're late, tell him, "Boss, didn't you know? There's an hour "gap" between 12:59 and 1:00, so I've only been gone an hour" and see how far that gets you.
What do you believe about what is called the Tribulation, or Jacob's Trouble?[/QUOTE] Since the Bible teaches a post trib "gathering together" of the saints to meet Jesus in the air,
the "tribulation" spoken of refers to the "reign of papal terror" in which millions and millions and millions of Christians were slaughtered, after which the earthquake, the dark day and blood red moon night, and the fantastic meteor shower which signs signal the time of the end has arrived and Jesus is coming soon. These events already occured in history and set in motion the great end times evangelistic movement that has been rolling ever since: the soon return of Jesus.
The Time of Jacob's trouble refers to the end time period when the Mark of the Beast goes forth with its initial boycott followed by the death decree. However, when the 7 Last Plagues start falling, and God's faithful are as protected as Noah and company in the Ark, Israel in Egypt, Daniel in the Lion's den, the Three Hebrew Worthies in the furnace, etc., the faithful will gaze upward at the "cloud about the size of a man's fist" which is the approaching army of Jesus, no longer our High Priest Intercessor, but our Savior and Redeemer King.
