2. 2
The Seventy-Sevens Prophecy
The “middle of the seven” or week found in
the “seventy sevens” prophecy (Dan 9:24-27), quoted
below:
“27 He will confirm a covenant with many for
one `seven.' In the middle of the `seven' he will
put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on a
wing [of the temple] he will set up an
abomination that causes desolation, until the end
that is decreed is poured out on him."(Dan 9:27
NIV)
is also synonymous with “three and a half days”. It
also has a double meaning. There are two persons
referred to here which is much clearer and precise in
the New King James version. First it is the Messiah,
the prince of host. Second is another prince, son of
Emperor Vespacian of the Roman empire, General
Titus, commander of the Roman army tasked with
putting down the revolt of the Zealots. Verses 24 and
25 refer to the Messiah who is the Word of G-d made
flesh and is the Most Holy anointed at his death
beginning the new covenant in 33 AD, seventy
“sevens” or “weeks” of 490 years from the giving of
3. 3
the decree to rebuild the temple and Jerusalem in 457
BC by Artaxerxes Longimanus. The first 7 weeks,
quoting Fausset, refers to the last 49 years of
prophecy, also called the restoration prophecies
which ends with the prophet Malachi of the old
covenant. The 62 weeks are 434 years without
prophecy from Malachi until the Messiah who “is cut
off”. Another prince, Titus, commander of the Roman
army, son of Emperor Vespacian, comes to destroy
the temple in 66 AD. On June 28, 70 AD, the daily
sacrifice ended for want of a priest and on July 15, 70
AD it was set on fire until destroyed, the very same
month and day Nebuchadnezzar burnt the first
temple. Then “the end came like a flood” (Noah’s
cleansing flood of thousands of soldiers). The
desolations (wars) shall continue until the end time
(Dan 9:27). In contemporary times, it is known as the
Middle East Conflict which is also prophesied to
culminate in Armageddon at the end time. He
(Messiah) will confirm the old covenant for one week
of two three-and-a-half days with many (both Jews
and Gentiles). Three and a half days being 1260 years,
we now know that the covenant was given to Moses
in 1190 BC. A total of 2520 years spans the one week
to confirm the old covenant. In the middle of the
week or after three-and-a-half days (of 1260 years)
4. 4
He (Messiah) who is also representative of G-d gives
authority to the Roman prince (Titus) to put an end
to the daily sacrifice beginning the authority given to
Satan for 42 months. The middle of the week, we
already know to begin in 70 AD, the year of the
destruction of the temple. Jesus came to fulfill the
law and the prophets (old covenant) for another 1260
years until the fullness of the Gentiles in 1330 AD,
the period covering the second half of the week of
the church in the wilderness. It is the “time, times
and half a time,” the end of which ends the power of
the holy people (Dan 12:7) and the new covenant is
now firmly established, which also means the old is
now obsolete1
. The 70th “seven” or last week was
completed in 1330 AD which also abolishes the first
covenant, after Jesus “fulfilled the law and the
prophets.” (Matt 5:17)
The Roman prince as representative of the
emperor of the Roman empire (first beast), who in
turn is the representative of the dragon, Satan,
confirms a covenant of disobedience or rebellion to
G-d’s will, that was given at the same time the
covenant or law was given at Sinai to Moses, who
came down from the mountain and found the people
worshiping the image of a golden calf while he was
5. 5
gone (Ex 32:1). For as Jesus confirmed the covenant
with G-d at his death in 33 AD, Titus also confirmed
their covenant of disobedience with Satan by
destroying the temple of Solomon in Jerusalem in 70
AD.
The New King James version of Daniel’s
seventy-weeks prophecy is clearer on the identities
of the two princes.
"24 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. 25 "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. 26
"And after the sixty-two weeks
Messiah shall be cut off, but not
6. 6
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. 27 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." (Dan 9:24-27 NKJV)
Furthermore, of the seventy-weeks of
Daniel, Fausset has this to say:
“The 70th one week, the period of
New Testament revelation in Messiah,
consummates the preceding ones, as the
Sabbath succeeds and crowns the work
days. The Messianic time (seven years) is
the Sabbath of Israel's history, in which it
had the offer of all God's mercies, but was
cut off temporarily for rejecting them. The
seven weeks or sevens in the beginning, i.e.
49 years, answer to the period closing Old
7. 7
Testament revelation, namely, that of Ezra,
Nehemiah, and Malachi. The 62 are the
intermediate period of 434 years between
the seven and the one, and in them was no
revelation; in all 490 years.”2
I reserve my opinion to Fausset’s
interpretation of the last or 70th
week based on the
arguments I have presented earlier above.
Jesus death at 33 is also believed to be
referred to in the apocalyptic scriptures found in
Matthew 24:15-25 cf: Mark 13:14-23 concerning the
days that are “cut short,” thus:
“15 "So when you see standing in
the holy place `the abomination
that causes desolation,' spoken of
through the prophet Daniel-let the
reader understand- 16 then let
those who are in Judea flee to the
mountains. 17 Let no one on the
roof of his house go down to take
anything out of the house. 18 Let
no one in the field go back to get
his cloak. 19 How dreadful it will
be in those days for pregnant
women and nursing mothers! 20
8. 8
Pray that your flight will not take
place in winter or on the Sabbath.
21 For then there will be great
distress, unequaled from the
beginning of the world until now-
and never to be equaled again. 22
If those days had not been cut
short, no one would survive, but
for the sake of the elect those days
will be shortened. 23 At that time
if anyone says to you, `Look, here
is the Christ!' or, `There he is!' do
not believe it. 24 For false Christs
and false prophets will appear and
perform great signs and miracles
to deceive even the elect-if that
were possible. 25 See, I have told
you ahead of time.” (Matt 24:15-
25 NIV)
So Christ was no longer, at the time of the temple’s
destruction, yet false Christs and false prophets
appeared to deceive the elect – as if it were possible.
Because the temple was the parallel of Jesus, in that
Jesus was the spiritual equivalent of the physical
temple, the date of the destruction of the temple
would have coincided with the death of Jesus. It is
the death of Jesus that the effectivity of the covenant
9. 9
is reckoned with because it is by blood that the
parties are bound by the covenant (Ex 24:8). Without
the shedding of blood, there is no covenant. The date
for Jesus death was shortened or halved to 33 AD for
if it had been allowed to its consummation to
coincide with its parallel, the temple’s destruction,
G-d’s wrath upon the Jews and mankind would be so
great, there would be no remnant saved by grace.
Mankind would not be saved, much less survived. 66
AD was the beginning of the siege of Jerusalem and
lasted until 70 AD with the defeat of the remaining
Jews who held out in the temple. The “abomination”
referred to by Matthew, which started the days
Jerusalem came under siege, which days were
shortened was by virtue of the shortened days of
Jesus on earth at 33 years which was also 33 years
before or halfway to the start of the siege of
Jerusalem in 66 AD. However, as the Father cannot
bear his son suffer like a human being, Jesus was
taken up at an earlier date, “for the sake of the elect,
those days will be shortened” (Matt 24:22).
Nevertheless, the warning did guide the elect and the
early Christians of this date when the Roman general
Titus came to destroy Jerusalem and the temple, by
fleeing to the mountains. The Jews who stayed in
Jerusalem were annihilated. Of this event Fausset has
an account:
10. 10
“Gessius Florus (A.D. 65)
tested the Jews' endurance [...],
desolating [...] cities and [...]
allowing robbers [...]. He tried
to get the treasure from the
temple, but [...] failed. Young
Eleazar, son of Ananias, [...]
withheld the regular offerings
from the Roman emperor, [...]
renouncing allegiance. So the
[...] war began, [...]. The
insurgents [...], reinforced by
the Sicarii, [...] set on fire the
Asmonaean palace, the high
priest's house, and the archives’
repository, [...] (B.J., 2:17,
section 6); next they slew the
Roman garrison, burnt Antonia;
[...] murdered [...] the soldiers
[...]. Next the high priest and
his brother were [...] slain.
Cestius Gallus [...] was [...]
defeated in November, A.D. 66.
C. Gallus' [...] retreat gave the
11. 11
Christians the opportunity of
fleeing as Christ counselled
them, "when ye see Jerusalem
compassed with armies, then let
them which are in Judea flee to
the mountains" (Matt 24:16).
Vespasian, [...], in October or
November, A.D. 67, was
subduing the northern country.
[…], and in two years and a
half (A.D. 70) Titus began the
siege, the Zealots [...] were in
two parties: one under John of
Giscala and Eleazar, [...], 8,400
men; the other under Simon
Burgioras, [...] 10,000 men and
5,000 Idumeans. Strangers and
pilgrims swelled the number to
600,000 (Tacitus). Josephus
says a million perished in the
siege, and 40,000 were allowed
to depart [...], an immense
number sold to the army, part of
the "97,000 carried captive
during the whole war" (B.J.,
6:9, section 3).
12. 12
Our Lord's prophecy (Luke
19:41-44) was literally fulfilled:
"thine enemies shall cast a
trench about thee, and compass
thee round, and keep thee in on
every side." Out of 27 sieges
this was the only one in which
Jerusalem was surrounded by a
wall. Titus, with 30,000 men,
including four legions and
auxiliaries (the 12th and 15th
on Scopus far to the N., the 5th
a little behind, and the 10th on
Olivet), forced an entrance
through the first wall [...]," then
[...] the second. Then,
withdrawing the 10th from
Olivet, he gave the Jews time
for [...] terms of peace, but in
vain. Next he attacked the
temple at Antonia and the city
[...].
[...]. The wall was
completed in three days. Then
13. 13
Antonia was taken on June 11.
[…] The period of bombarding
the temple is named by the
Jews "the days of
wretchedness." On the 28th of
June the daily "sacrifice (Daniel
9:27) ceased" from want of an
officiating priest, and Titus
again in vain invited to a
surrender. On July 15th a
soldier, contrary to Titus'
intention, fired the temple, and
all Titus' efforts to stop the fire
were unavailing, the very same
month and day that
Nebuchadnezzar burnt the first
temple, God marking the
judgment plainly as from Him.
The infatuation and
divisions of the Jews
"shortened those days" in order
that "the elect," the seed of
future Israel "might be saved"
(Matt 24:22). On September
11th [...] the Romans gained the
14. 14
upper city; […]. The city and
temple were wholly burnt and
destroyed, excepting the W.
wall of the upper city and
Herod's three great towers, […]
left as memorials of the
strength of the defenses. The
old and weak were killed, the
children under 17 sold as
slaves, the rest were sent to the
Egyptian mines, the
amphitheatres, and Rome,
where they formed part of Titus'
triumphal train. The 10th legion
under Terentius Rufus "so
thoroughly leveled and dug up,
that no one visiting Jerusalem
would believe it had ever been
inhabited" (Josephus B.J. 7:1,
section 1), fulfilling Christ's
words, "they shall lay thee even
with the ground and thy
children within thee; and they
shall not leave in thee one stone
upon another, because thou
knewest not the time of thy
15. 15
visitation" […].”3
Jesus’ sacrifice put an end to sacrifice and
offering in the temple and as representative of G-d
and as His son or prince, gave authority by this one
time acceptable sacrifice, to lay the basis to abolish
the old covenant by destroying the temple ending the
daily sacrifice forever. The end decreed is the
temple’s destruction.
![2
The Seventy-Sevens Prophecy
The “middle of the seven” or week found in
the “seventy sevens” prophecy (Dan 9:24-27), quoted
below:
“27 He will confirm a covenant with many for
one `seven.' In the middle of the `seven' he will
put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on a
wing [of the temple] he will set up an
abomination that causes desolation, until the end
that is decreed is poured out on him."(Dan 9:27
NIV)
is also synonymous with “three and a half days”. It
also has a double meaning. There are two persons
referred to here which is much clearer and precise in
the New King James version. First it is the Messiah,
the prince of host. Second is another prince, son of
Emperor Vespacian of the Roman empire, General
Titus, commander of the Roman army tasked with
putting down the revolt of the Zealots. Verses 24 and
25 refer to the Messiah who is the Word of G-d made
flesh and is the Most Holy anointed at his death
beginning the new covenant in 33 AD, seventy
“sevens” or “weeks” of 490 years from the giving of](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)