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Christianity Explained Information Find Christian Unity in Biblical Explanations of the Doctrines That Count! |
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You
have a choice to make: You can either believe the opinions of
theologians, atheists, or agnostics, or you can determine for yourself
what the Bible says by studying it. |
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Topics What Is Christianity Explained Information?What Is Religion and Where Did It Originate? What Is the Bible, and How Relative Is It to My Life? What Are Messianic Prophecies? Who Was Jesus of Nazareth, Really? Why Are There So Many World Religions? Why Are There So Many Christian Denominations? What Is the Law and How Does It Apply to Me? What's All This About the End of the World and End-time Prophecies? Isn't the Book of Daniel a Closed Book? Revelation: How can anyone understand all that symbolism? Who or What Was Jesus' Mother, Mary? Didn't Darwin Disprove Creation? What's the Truth About Faith and Works? Christian E-mails: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Complete Directory of Articles/Studies
Title Abbreviations for Books of the Bible Genesis
- Ge |
Daniel 70 Weeks Cause Great Confusion!The author of the book of Daniel and when it was written have been debated for some time by Jews and Christians. Traditionally (Jewish), during the sixth century B.C., a prophet named Daniel wrote it. Many modern Biblical scholars, however, say the book was written by several authors and compiled in the middle of the second century B.C. and that most of the predictions of the book refer to events that had already occurred. On the other hand, the final editorial work is believed to have been done in the fourth century B.C. by yet another group. Now I could stop right there and say that the book of Daniel causes great confusion, but that's not the point of this article. It is sufficient to say that the accuracy of one civilization in "interpreting" the languages and meanings of another civilization leaves a lot to be desired. Thus, I simply take the book, in any estimation written many, many years before Christ's ministry and the Book of Revelation, at face value because Christ referred to it. The prophecy of the 70 weeks in Daniel contains some language forms that different people interpret in different ways. As a language freak (my "real job" is copy editing), it is natural for me to use English grammar rules to interpret scripture, but I have found that the ancient Greeks and Hebrews didn't use English grammar rules while writing—they didn't even write their sentences from left to right—so I have had to temper my own understanding, and trust in God's truths while attempting to gain an understanding of the idiosyncracies of ancient languages and cultures.
What follows is the way that Daniel's 70-weeks prophecy makes the most sense to me based on the style in which it was written, God's truths revealed elsewhere in scripture, and the concept that a straightforward statement has only one interpretation. Let's see if you agree. Now many will give you convoluted reasons why they believe scripture means something, but I take my cues from Scripture and wherever possible, let it interpret itself:
God invites us to reason with him. He gave us brains and expects us to use them. So, let's determine what this 70-week prophecy actually says before we try to "interpret" it.
I see here a warning. God was good at giving warnings. He warned Nineva, through the prophet Jonah, that time had run out for them and they would be destroyed as a result of their sins. Do you remember why Jonah spent 3 days and 3 nights in the belly of the "great fish God had created for him"? Jonah knew that if God gave a warning and the people responded to it, God would not destroy the city. Then, Jonah would look like a false prophet because his "warning prophecy" had not come true.
And he was partially right (all error is partially right): God spared the city for a time because they took the warning seriously and repented and began following the Lord.
But isn't that what the warning is all about. Would God give warnings if he didn't want people to turn from their error and live?
Unfortunately for them, the Ninevites' deliverance turned out to be just a temporary reprieve, because they later disregarded the "fear of the Lord" that Jonah's prophecy had incited in them and returned to their evil ways, and God did destroy them. The point is, when God gives a warning, he means it. When he makes a promise or a covenant, he means it. There are conditional covenants and unconditional covenants, which I'll cover in another article, but for now, we will simply explore what God says in this prophecy. So, let's unpack Daniel 9:24-27: Verse 24 says, Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city . . . God was giving Daniel's people, the Jews, and their holy city, Jerusalem, 70 weeks to do something. You can't get much more straigtforward than this. Seventy weeks is seventy weeks, not two thousand and seventy, thirty-six hundred and seventy, or fifty-five hundred and seventy weeks. Now there is a scriptural definition of the interpretation of time in prophecy that makes this prophecy a little less straightforward than it appears. Most scholars agree that "weeks" means "weeks of years". One reason for this is that, as we will see, this prophecy appears to have been fulfilled by Jesus' anointing, death, and comission to his apostles to finish the work He began. A second reason is that nothing that could be construed as having fulfilled this prophecy happened in 70 literal weeks, which would mean the prophet was false or the prophecy not from God. But the main reason is this: There is evidence in scripture that when a time prophecy speaks of days or weeks (of days), it is really speaking of years.
In Ezekiel 4:4-6, the Lord tells the prophet he will "bear the iniquity" of Israel and Judah (the divided nation of Israel), as a sign to them. This was only one instance of the many times God used the life of a prophet to bring to his people's attention something he wanted them to understand about themselves. (See the book of Hosea for another instance.) God repeatedly indicates that the days of the prophet's activity will correspond to years of Israel's iniquity. Therefore, it is believed that the days of Daniel's vision refer to years of Israel's activities. So what are the Jews and Jerusalem given 70 weeks to do? The list of to's could mean that the Jews were to get their act together, to start living God's way and stop sinning, and to start living holy lives to show the real God to, and thereby bless, the rest of the world. It could also mean that, since they had shown that they were incapable of doing all these things, God was going to complete his plan to reconcile the entire human race to himself by taking the nation of Israel out of the equation and letting the Messiah and his followers do the work the Jews had refused to do: bless the rest of the world by sharing the true God with them. One way or the other, whether they liked it or not, the nation of Israel was going to present the Messiah to the world. In verse 25, the beginning of that 70-week period is identified (from the command to restore and build Jerusalem), and the meaning of "anoint the Most Holy" is given (Messiah the Prince). It further tells when the Messiah would appear on the scene (seven weeks and sixty-two weeks, or 69 weeks), and that the city would be rebuilt during this period "in troublesome times". This is all pretty straightforward stuff, and it can be followed through history in the decrees of the Medo-Persian kings and in the anointing of Jesus at his baptism by John the Baptist. "Messiah" means "the anointed one". There are many well-researched works on this topic that do all the math and prove conclusively that Jesus had to be the Messiah. No one really knows why this time period was divided into 7 weeks and 62 weeks, though several theories have been advanced. The reason, however, is considered to be unnecessary to understanding the prophecy. It is sufficient to note that the 7 weeks came first and the 62 weeks second. Therefore, when the scripture says "after the 62 weeks", it is referring to after the first 69 weeks of the prophecy, or during the 70th week. There is no dissention among Bible Scholars concerning this, and there was no gap between the first 7 weeks and the 62 weeks--a fact that will gain importance as we study. In verse 26, the death of the Messiah is announced as taking place "after the sixty-two weeks", and we're told his death will be on behalf of someone else. Also, a warning is given that the city and the sanctuary would be destroyed by the people of "the prince who shall come", and since that is future tense, it doesn't necessarily have to be within that 70th week. The end of the city and the sanctuary would be accompanied by a flood. This verse also indicates that desolations would occur till the end of the war. Obviously the time period of "the prince who shall come" would be a time of war, and the flood could therefore mean a flood of ungodly people overrunning the city and destroying the sanctuary.
We had to look a little harder for that interpretation, but you'll notice where we looked: not in the minds of men who feel warm and fuzzy about it or who have thought it through and concluded, or who have a gut instinct or cold chills, but in the scriptures. Now confusion arises in verse 27. Because it begins with "Then", it could have two meanings: "at that time" or "after that". But if you compare it carefully with verse 26, you find it seems to parallel it, giving further details while using similar terminology: The Messiah would confirm a covenant with many, bring an end to sacrifice and offering, one who makes desolate will appear on the wings of abominations, and continue the desolations until the "consummation", which has already been determined by God. If you're a language freak, like me, you assume that the "he" in verse 27 must refer to the last male mentioned, or "the prince who shall come" in verse 26. This is where the opinion is generated that the 70th week of Daniel hasn't happened yet and describes the end-time Antichrist.But there is something going on in the Book of Daniel that a lot of people don't take into consideration: the style in which it is written. If you look carefully, you will see in much of scripture the journalist writing style. Journalists, because of room constraints in Newspapers and Magazines, give a headline that gives a concept in a nutshell, followed by the overview of the story, followed by embellishing paragraphs giving the most immediately relevant information first and progressively less relevant or more obscure, but interesting, detailed information in succeeding paragraphs. The 70-week prophecy is the same: Headline: "Seventy weeks are determined For your people and for your holy city, To finish the transgression, To make an end of sins, To make reconciliation for iniquity, To bring in everlasting righteousness, To seal up vision and prophecy, And to anoint the Most Holy. Overview: "Know therefore and understand, That from the going forth of the command To restore and build Jerusalem Until Messiah the Prince, There shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; The street shall be built again, and the wall, Even in troublesome times. Most immediately relevant details: "And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself; And the people of the prince who is to come Shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall be with a flood, And till the end of the war desolations are determined.Notice that the most immediately relevant details are also an overview or outline of some period "after the 69th week". The cutting off of the Messiah, but not for himself" can be identified in the life of Christ in the 70th week, but "the people of the prince who shall come" cannot be identified in the 70th week. And they should not be identified with the 70th week, because the phrase "who is to come" indicates a future time not necessarily part of the 70 weeks but after the 69 weeks. There must be a reason the the prophecy does not say "In the 70th week" even though it starts out that 70 weeks are determined. Finally, Jesus, himself, confirmed this future event.
Continuing with the journalistic style in which this is written . . . Details that are less immediately relevant, but nevertheless are important to the whole prophecy: Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week; But in the middle of the week He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, Even until the consummation, which is determined, Is poured out on the desolate."Noticing that verse preceeding deals with two subjects, the Messiah and the prince who will come, we see two details here: He shall confirm a covenant with many for one week (the 70th week) but shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering (the great veil of the temple was rent at Jesus death, signifying that he was the final sacrifice), and the one who makes desolate shall be (again future tense) on the wing of abominations (with no mention of the week). When viewed in the style in which it was written instead of trying to use current grammatical rules that were developed millennia later so we could understand each other better, we have no trouble "interpreting" this scripture. And Daniel is not the only book in which this style is used. Careful reading of Scripture will reveal this Journalistic style repeatedly from the story of Creation in Genesis onward.So. the 70 weeks of Daniel began with the decree to restore AND rebuild Jerusalem (that is, to make it a functioning city as well as to rebuild the temple as its place of worship) and ends with the Messiah confirming a covenant with many for a week. Now if the Messiah was cut off, but not for himself, in the midst of the week, bringing to an end the need for sacrifices and offerings in the earthly temple because his sacrifice would be offered in the heavenly temple, how was the covenant to be comfirmed the rest of the week? By his apostles. He told his followers that they were to preach the Gospel in all the world, "beginning at Jerusalem".
The 70 weeks were expiring in 3 1/2 years, and the covenant must be confirmed with Daniel's people to the end of that period; then the Gospel would go to the rest of the world. Three and a half years after Christ's crucifixion, a young pharaisee named Saul of Tarsus held the coats of those who stoned Stephen for preaching the Gospel to the Jews. Later, on the Damascus road, Saul would encounter the Christ of Prophecy and become Paul, an Apostle of Christ to the Gentiles. Is salvation still open to the Jews? Absolutely! God wants all to come to him through his Messiah and be saved. Will the Jews need to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem for Jesus to return as some are "prophesying"? That's another study! |
Related Links Written in the HeartThe Truth About Mary Magdalene
Scriptures: Within Text: Proverbs 3:5 More Study: Ezekiel 4:4-6 |
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