Jew Interrupted, The 70 weeks of Daniel

There is still some confusion as to dispensations, the rapture, the Tribulation Period, etc. If we look at the prophecy from the book of Daniel it should be crystal clear that the rapture will take place BEFORE the Tribulation period and it should also be crystal clear that God is not finished with the Jews as a nation. The scripture reference is Daniel 9:24-27

24 Seventy weeks (or 490 Years) are determined upon your people (the Jews) and upon your holy city (Jerusalem), to finish the transgression (the rejection of Christ), and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and 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, and sixty two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.
26 And after sixty 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 war and desolations are determined.
27 And he (antichrist) shall confirm the covenant with many for one week (7 years): and in the middle 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.

Let's breakdown this incredible passage of scripture so it will make sense. I'll let each topic start with the letter "P" for easier remembrance. The first P is the Period. Verse 24 says the Period is 490 years. God is going to deal with the Jewish nation for a period of 490 years. How do we get 490 years from 70 weeks? It literally means 70 7's or 70 times 7. Look at Genesis 29 verses 20 & 27 "And Jacob served seven years for Rachel; and they seemed unto him but a few days, for the love he had to her. Fulfill her week, and we will give thee this also for the service which you shall serve with me yet seven other years." You see how the Bible uses the term "week" to mean 7 years. We say a week is 7 days but in Bible times it can also mean 7 years.

When did the 490 years start? Verse 25 says it began at the command to restore and re-build the Jerusalem. When did that take place? Nehemiah 2:1 "In the month of Nisan in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes.." skipping down to verses 17 & 18:

Then I said to them, “You see the trouble we are in: Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned with fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, and we will no longer be in disgrace.” I also told them about the gracious hand of my God on me and what the king had said to me. They replied, “Let us start rebuilding.” So they began this good work.

Now what does this mean in simple terms? When was the decree to rebuild given in terms we can understand?

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.).

So, the Period began on March 14th, 445 B.C.

Not only the Period, but look at the People. Verse 24 says "Your People". Who were Daniel's people? The Jews. This prophecy and everything in it, is Jew only, us Gentiles are not involved.

Now, the Place... again verse 24 says "Your Holy city"... Jerusalem.

Next, the Purpose. What are the purposes? verse 24 says "to finish THE transgression". Not A transgression, but THE transgression. What is the Jews biggest transgression? Rejection of her Messiah. Not only the transgression, but to make and end of sin and to make reconciliation of iniquity. There can be no reconciliation until the sins are dealt with and the sins can't be dealt as long as Messiah is rejected.

The next purpose is to bring everlasting righteousness. Look at Romans 10:3 "For they (The Jews) being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God." In contrast, Jeremiah 23:5-6 states "Behold, the days come, says the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS."

The next purpose is to seal up the vision and prophecy. The Old Testament prophets had no clue about a church age that was to come, no mention of grace, etc. In several of his epistles, Paul uses the word "mystery" in reference to the Gospel and that is exactly what it was. It was hidden and unknown to the Jews. Romans 11:25
"For I would not, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in."


The final purpose is to Anoint the Most Holy. Some say the most Holy is the temple and some say it is Jesus Himself. When either is Anointed, what a glorious day that will be.

Ok, now lets move to the Program... back to our timeline and count. God's clock starts to count from March 14th 445 B.C. so let's see how the count goes.

The Commencement of the Count
Verse 25 says that the finished restoration of the city would take 7 weeks (49 years).

The Coming of The Christ
verse 26 says after 62 weeks (434 years) Christ will be cut off. If we take the 49 years for the city to be re-built and add in the 434 years for Christ to be cut off we get 483 years (or 173,880 days). Remember, in Bible prophecy a prophetic year is 360 days, not 365 like we have. That is why in the book of Revelation it talks about 1,260 days of great tribulation as being 3 1/2 years. When did Jesus start his public ministry. Luke 3:1 tells us it started in the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius Cesar. We have records of the reign of Tiberius Caesar and we know the 15th year of his reign was 29 A.D. Three Passovers later Jesus would make His triumphant entry into Jerusalem. It took place on April 6, 32 A.D. If we count 173,880 days from March 14th 445 B.C. we come to April 6, 32 A.D. Jesus came on the exact day that the prophet Daniel foretold in Daniel 9.

The Crucifixion of The Christ
Not only did Daniel foretell the coming of Jesus Christ but he foretold the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Look again at Daniel 9:26 "And after sixty two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself." To be cut off is to be crucified. However, He is not going to die for what He did. Isaiah 53:8 "He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken."

The Collapse of the City
Verse 26
"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 war and desolations are determined." Daniel prophesied the destruction of the city. It happened in 70 A.D. when the Roman general, Titus, and his armies layed siege to Jerusalem. He gave an order that the Temple was not to be destroyed but it inadvertently caught on fire and was destroyed. In fact, not 1 stone was left on top of another just as Jesus has said in Luke 21:6 "As for these things which you behold, the days will come, in the which there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down."

The Calling of The Church
Verse 26 "war and desolations". We are living in this time of war and desolations right now that Daniel spoke about. With the crucifixion of Christ, God has called "time out" on the Jews as a nation. Individual Jews can still be saved if they come to Christ, but God has changed from dealing with the Jews as a nation to now dealing with the Gentiles. It is the dispensation of Grace known as the Church Age. Now, when will the Church Age end? I don't know and you don't know. Only God knows the day and time. But one day, the last person will be saved in this Dispensation, the trumpet will sound, and Jesus will come for His bride, the church. We will be raptured out before the tribulation period is to begin. There are several examples in the Bible that show this. Enoch, was caught up or raptured as he was walking along just before the flood came. Lot, as backslidden as he was, was called out of Sodom. In fact, the angel told Lot that he could not take action against Sodom until Lot was out of there. (Genesis 19:21-22) "And [the angel] said to him, See, I have yielded to your entreaty concerning this thing also; I will not destroy this city of which you have spoken. Make haste and take refuge there, for I cannot do anything until you arrive there. Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar [little]."

1 Thessalonians 1:10 "And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come." The wrath to come is the Great Tribulation. We are told to wait for Jesus, not to brace ourselves for the Great Tribulation. Also, in the book of Revelation, after addressing the churches in chapter 3, John is "caught up" and the church is mentioned no more.

Also, the Great Tribulation is part of the 490 years determined upon the Jewish nation. We (as Gentiles) are not a part of this. Now the unsaved Gentiles will unfortunately have to go through it, but not those who have trusted Christ.

These examples (and others I could mention) are proof positive that the Rapture will take place "before" the Great Tribulation period.

Completion of the Count
Ok, the Church has been taken out and now God starts the clock ticking again on the Jewish people. Only 483 of the 490 years has been completed. The final 7 years or final "week" must now take place. This is when the anti christ will come on the scene. He will make a covenant with Israel for one week. The temple will be re-built so that the ceremonial sacrifices may start again.

Look at verse 27: And he (antichrist) shall confirm the covenant with many for one week (7 years): and in the middle 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.

Then, in the middle of that week, he (the anti christ) will break the covenant with Israel and cause the sacrifices to cease. He will then sit in the temple declaring himself to be God and the Jewish people will fall all over themselves to worship him. Jesus told of this in John 5:43 "I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him."

Also look in Matthew 24:4-5
"And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. And you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that you be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet."

Now look at verses 15-21
"When you therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoever reads, let him understand:) Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that nurse in those days! But pray that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be."

The most important thing though is that if you, as a Gentile, have not trusted Christ as your personal Savior, then you will not be in the Rapture when it occurs and if you are not already in the grave, you will go through this horrible tribulation period.