April 13, 2008
“Daniel’s 70th Week”
Revelation 11:1-3; Daniel 9:20-27

In the verses I have read this morning and in the slightly broader context you may notice a certain time period is referenced repeatedly and yet in different ways. Here it is mentioned twice in the forms of forty-two months and one thousand two hundred and sixty days. Elsewhere it is mentioned as a time, times and half a time. All of these using a 30 day Hebrew month are equivalent to three and one half years. Some commentators have thought of this as a symbolic number. I do not, I think it is literal and think it is meant to reference half or halves of the final seven years when this world will both reach its pinnacle of sin and lastly be judged.

Let us consider first, Daniel’s 70th week –
I. 70 (490 years) weeks their purpose – Daniel 9:24
1. Finish transgression
2. To make an end of sins
3. Make reconciliation for iniquity
4. To bring in everlasting righteousness
5. To seal up vision and prophecy
6. To anoint the Most Holy

II. The seventy sevens of Daniels prophecy unfold as follows:
First Portion 49 years - 587 B.C. ("Issuing the Word to restore & rebuild Jerusalem") Jeremiah 32:13-15 -49 years ("seven sevens") 538 B.C. ("an anointed one, a prince"; Cyrus) – Isaiah 44:28-45:1; 2 Chronicles 36:22- Ezra 1:1-2
(gap of unspecified duration)
Second Portion 434 Years - 440 B.C. ("street and moat return in time of distress")
-434 years ("sixty-two sevens") 6 B.C. (birth of "Messiah," Jesus Christ)

(connected to this section but shortly after) Events specified ("after the sixty-two sevens"):
1) Crucifixion of Messiah
2) Destruction of Jerusalem 70AD "until the end"

This (gap of unspecified duration) is where I believe we are now, characterized by “wars and rumors of war” etc… Matthew 24:3-8; Revelation 6:1-8 (the first four seals describe this period.) This is still a time of God’s patience.

III. Events of the 70th week (the last seven years of our world) – Revelation 10:5-7 “delay no longer” this is the time of God’s wrath and judgment:
?? A.D. ("confirm a covenant" with many – Daniel 9:27) this is a reference to the AntiChrist
+3½ years ("the half of the seven")
MIDDLE - ?? A.D. ("abomination of desolation") Matthew 24:15; Daniel 7:21-28; Revelation 13:5-7
+3½ years ?? A.D. ("the end"; return of Christ; judgment upon "the coming prince") – Revelation 6:12-17; the extra 30 years of Daniel 12:11 may fit here!
How are the last 7 years divided? I am unsure but ….
First 3 ½ years: The Antichrist confirms a covenant with many – Daniel 9:27; The two witness preach against this, some believers use this as a time to escape, run to the wilderness, the building of another Temple in Jerusalem MAY happen during this time (does not have to in my opinion.)

In the middle: the Antichrist will end sacrifice and offering (true religious worship) and set up an abomination – Daniel 9:27b

Last 3 ½ years: The Beast has power to make war with the saints and overcome them – Revelation 13:5-10; At this point the Beast rules the entire world, this is where 666 comes in, etc …

Pastor Arnold Brevick