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Cephyr13 -> RE: Daniel's 70 Weeks: Part 1 (3/20/2008 10:16:26 AM)
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Here's my view of the 70 weeks.
First of all, we're told in Numbers 14:34 & Ezekiel 4:5,6 that a day equals a year in prophecy. So we know these are days that equal years, obviously. That's not mystery. But Hebrew years are only 360 days long. So we must convert to 365.24 day solar years in which history is recorded in, and by which we live today. That's the only way to track these prophecies throughout history correctly.
360 divided by 365.24 = .9857 (this is our conversion factor)
Daniel says that there are 7 weeks, 62 weeks and a final week. Let's take the first 7 weeks.
7 weeks X 7 days per week = 49 days (or Hebrew years)
49 x .9857 = 48.3 solar years
Daniel tells us to start counting time after a decree is sent out to restore Jerusalem, and that it will be a time of trouble. There were four restoration decrees granted by the Medo-Persian Empire. But almost 100 years after Gabriel spoke to Daniel, a special decree was granted by Artaxerxes I to Nehemiah (444-445BC). This is the ONLY decree recorded in the Bible that gave the Jews permission to restore Jerusalem and rebuild its walls, and since Scripture relates to Scripture, we should start counting time from that biblical decree.
444 BC - 48.3 years = 395.7 BC (the year the last book of the Bible, Malachi, was written, and the old testament canon finished)
This fulfills one of the prophecies of the 70 weeks, which said all vision and prophecy will be sealed up. God even tells Daniel that these prophecies will be sealed up till the time of the end. Now let's see about the other prophecies in the 70 weeks.
Let's take the first 7 weeks and add them to the 62 weeks to get 69 weeks. We'll start counting from 444 BC again, and add 69 weeks of years this time.
69 weeks x 7 days per week equals = 483 days (Hebrew years)
483 x .9857 = 476 solar years
-444 BC + 476 = 32 AD (the year historians believe Jesus was crucified)
This fulfilled the rest of the prophecies which would be:
1. “Finish transgression.”
2. “Make an end of sin.”
3. “Make reconciliation for iniquity.”
4. “Bring in everlasting righteousness.”
5. “To anoint the most Holy.
Now, to the 70th week.
This one's more tricky. If we can prove that the time periods given about the 70th week are actually long periods of time, we can prove the 70th week is actually a long period of time. Let's do that real quick.
583 BC: The Jews are led away captive to Babylon so that they can no longer give daily sacrifices on the temple mount.
Daniel 12:10 says there will be 1,290 days between the abolition of the daily sacrifice and the abomination of desolation being "set up".
1,290 Hebrew years X .9857 = 1,271.553 solar years
-583 BC + 1,271.553 yrs = 688.553 AD, the year the Dome of the Rock starts construction on the temple mount, and a million Jews are slaughtered, but the Christians escape due to Jesus prophecy in Matthew 24 where He tells us to flee Judea (Jerusalem) when we see the Abomination of Desolation standing in the holy place (on the temple mount).
This started the great tribulation, and for the next 1,260 years, it was the worst time in history for Jews and Christians. A million Jews were slaughtered initially, and in WWII, Hitler slaughtered 6 million, and throughout those years, the Jews were hunted down and killed. Catholics would tell the Jews to bring their belongings to them for safe keeping and that they would hide the Jews and tell the persuers they did not know where the Jews were. The Catholics would then give up the Jews' location so they would be killed so that the Catholics got to keep the Jews' wealth. Christians were hunted down for a few hundred years and killed during the Spanish Inqusition, and the dark ages were definitely a bad time for us too. It has been said that the Catholic church has killed more Christians than any other one entity. This was the Great Tribulation. Since 1948, the Jews and Christians haven't been dispersed into the rest of the world nor killed in massive numbers like they used to be. That was the end of the Great Tribulation, and now we are in the time of the end. If you look at the prophecy about the temple mount and the two witnesses, it says they'll prophecy for 1,260 days (day = year).
688 AD + 1,260 years = 1948 AD (Israel becomes a nation again and is no longer prophesying in sacloth and ashes, which symbolize mourning... most likely mourning of the loss of their temple mount and homeland)
Also, 42 months is prophesied for the Gentiles to trodden down the outer court (court of the Gentiles) of the temple mount. That's where the Dome of the Rock is built, in the outer court.
365.24 days per year divided by 12 months = 30.44 days in a year
42 months X 30.44 days per month = 1278.48 days (day = year) or solar years
688.553 AD + 1278.48 years = 1967 AD (the year the Jews took back Jerusalem and the temple mount)
As you can see, the time of the end is clearly a long time, and since the 1,290 days and 1,260 days are known to be included in the 70th week, then we have now seen that the 70th week is actually a long period of time, not a short period of time.
Daniel's 70 weeks prophecy was given in 536 BC according to historians. Let's play with the numbers since this 70th week is a long time and different from the others.
7 days in a week. Each day for a year, so 7 years. How many days are in 7 years?
7 x 360 days per year in a Hebrew year = 2520 days/Hebrew years
2520 x .9857 = 2484 solar years
-536 BC + 2484 yrs = 1948 AD (Israel becomes a nation and the Great Tribulation ends)
Now, one thing that is NOT stated in Revelation is that the 7 seals, 7 trumpets and 7 vials must happen during the great tribulation. We are simply told about all of these things at the same time, so we have assumed for years that they must all happen during that tribulation period, but that is not specified in prophecy. I believe they've been happening for around 1700 years or so now, and we're not waiting on the 6th & 7th seals, trumpets and still waiting on all of the vials. We're never told the seals must all happen before the trumpets and before the vials. They just have to happen in order from 1 to 7 is all. The seals are the long story. Trumpets are a shorter story, and the vials all happen in the last few days or on the very last day. And the 6th & 7th seals, 7th trumpet and 7th vail are all describing one single event from three different perspectives. Lay out the 6th & 7th seals next to the 7th trumpet and 7th vial. Write down all the events side-by-side and compare. They're all the same events, more-or-less, and at least one of them cannot happen more than once. The islands and mountains cannot disappear more than once. Check out the Creation model/theory in order to see how you'd get rid of the mountains and oceans (which would eliminate the islands) by increasing the circumfrence of the earth's crust by putting the water underneith it as the Bible seems to suggest during the creation story.
The 70th week is over now, and we're in the time of the end, according to Daniel 12, and all we're waiting for now is for the 7 vials, armageddon and the 6th & 7th seals and 7th trumpet that happens at that time, and the rapture which happens between the 6th & 7th vials (read it in Revelation 16... you'll see the rapture there).
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