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PRO:The seventy weeks of Daniel Chapter Nine  by Harold Camping

   Table of Contents

   Introduction

   Chapter 1

   Is Nehemiah a Candidate?

   Christ was Crucified in 33 A.D.

   King Cyrus a Possibility?

   Ezra Returns to Jerusalem

   The Body of Christ - A Temple and A City

   Ezra's Bringing the Law Equals Building the City

   An Exact Path is Found to Satisfy Daniel 9:24

   Ezra to the Cross Equals Seventy Weeks

   Chapter 2

   A Second Path to Christ

   First a Jubilee Period

   The Year Immediately Following Ezra's Return a Jubilee Year A Period
of 434 Years Follows a Jubilee Year

   Jesus was Baptized in 29 A.D.

   Christ Crucified

   Christ is The City and The Sanctuary

   Daniel 9:26 Predicts Christ's Death on our Behalf

   Chapter 3

   Christ Confirms His Covenant

   The Covenant of Salvation is in View

   Sacrifice and Offering has Ceased

   The End of the Seventieth Week

   The Prerogative of God to Use Numbers as He Desires Judgment Day is
the End of the Seventy Sevens

   Judgment Day Signifies that the Atonement has been Completed Further
Evidence

   The Church Brings the Gospel during the Last Half of the Seventieth
Week

   Revelation 12 also Relates to Daniel 9

   Conclusion

   251Copyright 1979 by

   Family Stations, Inc.

   290 Hegenberger Road

   Oakland, California 94621

   Scripture Texts are from the King James Version of the Bible

   Reprinted 1986

   Other books by Harold Camping

   Adam When?

   Feed My Sheep

   First Principles of Bible Study

   God's Magnificent Salvation Plan

   The Biblical Calendar of History

   When is the Rapture?

   Let the Oceans Speak

   Other Bible guides by Harold Camping are

   available in paper and cassette form.

   INTRODUCTION

   Every student of the Bible who has any interest at all in prophecy
has spent time trying to understand the 70 weeks of Daniel 9. Somehow
we all sense that these verses have great significance in regard to the
coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

   In understanding God's teachings in any part of the Bible, we know
we have not arrived at a satisfactory conclusion until every phrase of
the passage in question can be understood. In other words, while it may
be readily possible to find a solution that aligns with a few of the
key phrases in a passage, we can know that our conclusion is still
possibly unsatisfactory if it does not harmonize with all the phrases
of the passage.

   Moreover, a further test must be applied. Our conclusion must
harmonize with the other teachings of the Bible that relate in any way
to the passage in question.

   In this study we will suggest a solution to the 70 weeks which we
believe meets the above criteria. Every phrase in these verses finds
its logical place within this solution. The solution as a whole agrees
with anything else the Bible might offer insofar as the nature of God's
salvation program is concerned, including the coming of Christ.

   We trust that you will read this thoughtfully and prayerfully.
Because it is the work of man and therefore is not infallible, there
may be corrections which can still be made to make it a more accurate
study.

   CHAPTER 1

   One of the most intriguing passages in the Bible is that of Daniel
9:24-27. In this fascinating passage God presents to us a vision which
He gave to Daniel declaring that certain events would take place during
a period of 70 weeks. Scholars have worked long and hard to discover
the import of these verses because they seem to offer a timetable
concerning the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

   A most serious problem in interpreting this passage is to discover
the meaning of the words of Daniel 9:25:

   "Know therefore and understand that, from the going forth of the
commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the
Prince . . . ."

   This event of the setting forth of a commandment to build Jerusalem
appears to be the beginning point of the 70 weeks or sevens. (The
Hebrew word translated "week" can also be translated "seven.") In order
to obtain any light from the rest of the passage it does appear that we
must determine when this commandment was given.

   Most students of the Bible, theologians, and commentaries understand
the language of restoring and building Jerusalem to refer to a physical
rebuilding of the literal city of Jerusalem. However, as we shall see,
this kind of understanding is not required by the Bible, nor is it
possible to find a solution to the 70 weeks by this means. We shall
discover that the key to the 70 weeks is to understand that the Bible
frequently uses Jerusalem as a figure or type of Christ's body of
believers. The command to restore and to rebuild, therefore, will be
found to mean that the Word of God was proclaimed so that believers
could come into the Kingdom of God. We shall develop this as we work
out this study.

   Is Nehemiah a Candidate?

   One of the most commonly accepted beginning points for the 70 weeks
is the year 445 B.C., when Nehemiah, who was the cup bearer of the
Persian King, Artaxerxes, asked the king for permission to go to
Jerusalem to rebuild the walls; and in a period of 52 days he indeed
did rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.

   Nehemiah, however, is not a possible answer to our question as to
when the 70 sevens were to begin. First of all, while King Artaxerxes
gave Nehemiah permission to build the walls, he did not command the
rebuilding of the walls. Moreover, nowhere do we read that God gave
such a command either to the Persian king or to Nehemiah. Therefore,
Nehemiah cannot be related to Daniel 9:25, where God states that a
command was given. Furthermore, no matter how we try, we cannot go
through the 70 sevens from a time standpoint and arrive at anything
that properly relates to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

   There is one solution, beginning with Nehemiah, that has been
suggested; namely, that we take all the days between 445 B.C. and 32
A.D., assuming 365 1/4 days in a year, and then divide this product by
360 days. By following this computation, we get exactly 69 sevens, or
483 years of 360 days, from 445 B.C. to 32 A.D. One can read about this
in almost any study on the 70 weeks of Daniel 9.

   While this solution may seem interesting and intriguing, it does not
appear at all valid. There is no place in the Bible where this kind of
computation, wherein time is first calculated on the basis of 365 1/4
days in a year and then divided by 360 days, is utilized. Therefore, we
have no Biblical authority for it.

   Christ was Crucified in 33 A.D.

   Moreover, Christ was not crucified in 32 A.D. We know from the Bible
that He was crucified in 33 A.D. In Luke 3:1, as God describes the
preaching of John the Baptist, at the time Jesus was baptized, we read:

   "Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Ceasar, Pontius
Pilate being governor of Judea . . ."

   This piece of information gives us an historical time clue. We know
from very accurate secular records that Tiberius Ceasar began to reign
alone in the year 14 A.D. His fifteenth year was, therefore, 29 A.D. We
also know, as we go carefully through the Gospel of John, that Jesus
actually preached for about 3 1/2 years. Since He was crucified at the
Passover, which was observed in the spring of the year, His baptism
would have been in the fall of a previous year. Thus, 3 1/2 years
following 29 A.D. brings us to 33 A.D., when He was crucified.

   Furthermore, because of the moon phases which governed the timing of
the Jewish feasts, the year 32 A.D. could not possibly have been the
year He was crucified. The timing of the Passover Feast was related to
the full moon. Only 30 or 33 A.D. were possible years that would agree
with the timing of the Passover observed at the time Jesus was
crucified. (See paragraph 459, p. 296, "Handbook of Biblical
Chronology", by Jack Finegan, Princeton University Press, 1964.)
Therefore, the Biblical evidence appears to point to the year 33 A.D.
as the year that Christ was crucified. When we understand the 70 sevens
of Daniel 9, we will see that it also shows us that 33 A.D. was the
year of His crucifixion.

   For all of the foregoing reasons, therefore, we must reject
Nehemiah's activity in Jerusalem as being a solution to our problem.

   King Cyrus a Possibility?

   A second solution has been suggested by some. While it appears to be
attractive in some ways, it also will not meet all the criteria
demanded by Daniel 9. This solution involves a predecessor of
Artaxerxes, a king named Cyrus, who defeated Babylon in 559 B.C. We
read about him in II Chronicles 36:22, 23:

   "Now in the first year of Cyrus, King of Persia, that the word of
the Lord spoken by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, the
Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, King of Persia, that he made a
proclamation throughout all his kingdom and put it also in writing,
saying, "Thus saith Cyrus, King of Persia, All the kingdoms of the
earth hath the Lord God of heaven given me; and He hath charged me to
build Him an house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among
you of all His people? The Lord his God be with him and let him go up."

   Indeed, in 537 B.C. about 50,000 Israelites who had been captives in
the land of Persia, as a result of the command given by God to Cyrus to
rebuild His house in Jerusalem, did return to Jerusalem; and they did
lay the foundation of the temple.

   Significantly, this activity of Cyrus was predicted almost 200 years
earlier by Isaiah, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, as he
declared in Isaiah 44:28:

   "That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd and shall perform all my
pleasure, even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built, and to the
temple, Thy foundation shall be laid."

   Thus we see that Cyrus meets two qualifications demanded by Daniel
9:25; namely, that the command was of the Lord and that the command
concerned itself with the rebuilding of Jerusalem.

   Unfortunately, for his candidacy to be considered as the beginning
of the 70 weeks, there is one fatal flaw. There is no possible way to
relate the year 537 B.C., on a 70-week basis, with the Lord Jesus, who
was baptized in the year 29 A.D. and crucified in the year 33 A.D. Thus
Cyrus, as well as Nehemiah, must be reluctantly set aside as a solution
to Daniel 9:24-27.

   Ezra Returns to Jerusalem

   Now we must consider a third possibility, which we shall see meets
all the requirements of Daniel 9. This solution relates to the return
of Ezra to Jerusalem in the seventh year of King Artaxerxes. This was
the year 458 B.C., at which time Ezra returned to Jerusalem to
reestablish the law. While preaching the Word of God or teaching the
law of God seems quite unrelated to building a city, we will see that
the Bible does show us an intimate relationship between these two
activities.

   Therefore, we should first examine the scriptures to show that a
command to reestablish the law was indeed equivalent to a command to
build Jerusalem.

   Let us first look at Cyrus again. As we study the language
concerning him we will begin to see the close relationship that exists
between the physical building of Jerusalem and the sending forth of the
Gospel. While he was commanded to build Jerusalem and lay the
foundation of the temple, the prophecy of Isaiah 44:28 quoted above
speaks of Cyrus as God's shepherd. King Cyrus was not a shepherd. He
was a king. When the Bible speaks of a shepherd, we immediately think
of the Lord Jesus Christ, who was the Good Shepherd.

   The fact is, while God is using the name Cyrus in Isaiah 44 and 45,
and while in a physical sense the prophecy of Isaiah concerning Cyrus
was fulfilled when the foundation of the temple was laid about 537
B.C., in another sense the language is pointing altogether to the Lord
Jesus Christ. God is using Cyrus as a type or figure of Christ. Even as
Cyrus, the king of the Persians, destroyed Babylon in 559 B.C., so
Christ, typified by Cyrus, destroyed the kingdom of Satan by going to
the cross. We know, of course, from such passages as Revelation 18,
that the kingdom of Satan is typified by Babylon.

   As Cyrus was commanded by God to build a literal house of God, so
Christ was commanded by God to build a spiritual house. The temple and
the city that He came to build is His body. We already see this in
Isaiah 45:13 as God, in speaking of Cyrus declares:

   "He shall build my city, and he shall let go my captives, not for
price nor reward, saith the Lord of hosts."

   Then He goes on in verse 17:

   "Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation."

   Thus God is equating the building of a city with salvation, which is
everlasting. We see, therefore, that when God speaks in the Book of
Isaiah about Cyrus building a city and a temple, in its spiritual
fulfillment God has in mind the Lord Jesus Christ, who builds Christ's
body.

   The Body of Christ - A Temple and A City

   The concept that the temple of God and Jerusalem are figures of the
body of Christ is amply seen in the Bible. We read, for example, in
Isaiah 60:14, as God speaks of Israel and the fact that peoples from
the world will come to build its walls:

   ". . .and they shall call thee, The city of the Lord, The Zion of
the Holy One of Israel."

   In Isaiah 62:12 we read:

   And they shall call them the holy people, the redeemed of the Lord;
and thou shalt be called sought out, a city not forsaken.

   In both of these passages God is equating Israel with a city. In the
New Testament we see the same truth as God uses the word Jerusalem. In
Revelation 21 God presents the picture of the bride of Christ coming
down out of heaven. The bride is called the Holy City, the New
Jerusalem. The bride of Christ is a people - the people who are the
body of Christ. The bride cannot be a physical city. Yet it is
portrayed in Revelation 21 as a city with foundations, with gates and
with a wall.

   Moreover, in the New Testament God speaks about building walls and
building the ruins, and doing so in the context of sending forth the
Gospel. In Acts 15, for example, we have the account of the leaders of
the New Testament church puzzling and wondering about what to do with
the Gentiles who were coming into the body of Christ. Therefore, they
held a council in Jerusalem to discuss this problem. Finally, it was
James who stood up to speak on the phenomenon of the Gentiles coming
in. He said in verse 15:

   "And to this agree the words of the prophets; as it is written,
After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David,
which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I
will set it up: That the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and
all the Gentiles, upon whom My Name is called, saith the Lord, who
doeth all these things."

   You see, James rightly was seeing that inclusion of the Gentiles in
the body of Christ was a fulfillment of the Old Testament prophesies
that spoke about the rebuilding of the walls and the ruins of
Jerusalem. In other words, the bringing of the Gospel is an effort to
build the city of Jerusalem.

   We see the same figure in Ephesians Chapter 2 which speaks of the
believers as building blocks in the temple of God. We are not a
physical temple, of course, but in Ephesians 2:20, this is what we read
about the body of Christ:

   "And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets,
Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone: in whom all the
building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord:
in who ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through
the Spirit."

   See, too, I Peter 2:4, where God speaks of believers as lively
stones in the house of God.

   You see, in the Bible God very distinctly uses the figure of
Jerusalem, or of the temple, as a reference to the body of believers. I
believe this is the clue with which we can break open, under the
guidance of the Holy Spirit, the 70 sevens of Daniel 9. This is the key
to the correct solution to these 70 weeks.

   Unfortunately, most theologians get tangled up looking for a command
to rebuild a literal city. So often, in relationship to salvation and
in relationship to God's salvation program, we keep our eyes on this
sin-cursed world, and we never look beyond. We never look at the true
nature of salvation. Salvation is concerned with something far more
precious and exciting than this sin-cursed world. It has to do with a
people of God, a salvation that is eternal in character. We're going to
find that Daniel 9:25, in which God speaks about rebuilding Jerusalem,
relates to bringing the Gospel. Then the 70 sevens can be understood in
every detail.

   Ezra's Bringing The Law Equals Building The City

   Returning now to Ezra, you'll recall that Ezra was commanded by King
Artaxerxes, in the year 458 B.C., to reestablish the law in Jerusalem.
We read in Ezra 7:12, 13, 23 and 26, that King Artaxerxes declares:

   "Artaxerxes, king of kings, unto Ezra the priest, a

   scribe of the law of the God of heaven, perfect peace, and at such a
time. I make a decree that all they of the people of Israel, and of his
priests and Levites in my realm which are minded of their own freewill
to go up to Jerusalem, go with thee.

   Whatsoever is commanded by the God of heaven, let it be diligently
done for the house of the God of heaven; for why should there be wrath
against the realm of the king and his sons?

   And whosoever will not do the law of thy God and the law of the
king, let judgment be executed speedily upon him, whether it be unto
death or to banishment or to confiscation of goods or to imprisonment."

   Ezra 7:10 supplies the additional information:

   "For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord and to
do it and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments."

   To reestablish the law is the equivalent of bringing the Gospel, and
bringing the Gospel is the equivalent of building the city, as we have
just seen. Therefore God, through the king, had effectively given a
command to Ezra to rebuild the city. This command agrees with the
statement of Daniel 9:25, which places the beginning of the seventy
weeks as the time when the command was given to rebuild the city. We
therefore are on very safe Biblical ground to begin the seventy weeks
at the year 458 B.C., when Ezra was given the command to reestablish
the law in Jerusalem.

   The fact is, that even Ezra himself, under the inspiration of the
Holy Spirit, relates the teaching of the law to a literal building
activity. While the foregoing verses in Ezra 7 indicate that Ezra, the
priest of God, was first concerned to teach the law of God, we might
note that in Ezra 9:9, in his prayer concerning this command of God
through King Artaxerxes, Ezra uses language that relates to a normal
building activity:

   "For we were bondmen; yet our God hath not forsaken us in our
bondage, but hath extended mercy unto us in the sight of the kings of
Persia, to give us a reviving, to set up the house of our God, and to
repair the desolations thereof, and to give us a wall in Judah and in
Jerusalem.

   From the foregoing we see that the command of God to King
Artaxerxes, to send Ezra to reestablish the law in the year 458 B.C.,
meets all the requirements of Daniel 9:25, where it speaks about a
command going forth to restore and to build Jerusalem.

   Returning to Daniel 9, we read in verse 24:

   "Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy Holy
City, to finish the transgression, 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.

   We have learned thus far that the Holy City referred to is actually
the people of God, but to what do the other phrases in this verse
refer, and when do they find fulfillment?

   An Exact Path is Found to Satisfy Daniel 9:24

   By answering the question of when the phrases of Daniel 9:24 find
fulfillment, we will also discover to what they refer. When did God
finish the transgression on behalf of those who are being saved? When
did He make an end of our sins? When did He make reconciliation for
iniquity?

   Immediately you say, "Why, it was at the cross, of course. Christ
hung on the cross to pay for our sins. Anyone knows that. This verse is
speaking about the cross." Yes, indeed, this verse is pointing to the
cross. At the cross Christ did make reconciliation for iniquity. He did
make an end of our sins. He did undergo the judgment of God in order
that we might be saved.

   Does the timing of the crucifixion of Christ in 33 A.D. relate to
458 B.C.? Indeed it does! If we go from 458 B.C., when Ezra was
mandated by King Artaxerxes I to go to Jerusalem to reestablish the law
(that is, to bring the Gospel there or to build the spiritual city), to
33 A.D. when Christ hung on the cross to make atonement for sins, we
will find that precisely 490 years are required. Let us see how this
computation works out.

   In going from the Old Testament to the New Testament, we must add
the Old Testament years to the New Testament years. From this sum we
must subtract the number one to get the actual number of years between
the two events, one of which took place in the Old Testament and the
other in the New Testament. This is because there is no year Zero.

   Ezra to the Cross Equals Seventy Weeks

   Ezra went to Jerusalem to build a city, that is, to reestablish the
law, in the year 458 B.C. Christ hung on the cross in 33 A.D. If we add
458 to 33, the sum is 491. Subtracting one from 491, we end up with 490
actual years from the going forth of the command to rebuild the city to
the time of the cross when Christ brought in everlasting righteousness,
when He made reconciliation for iniquity, when He finished the
transgression. It was at the cross that God put His seal on the vision
and prophecy. And 490 years equal 70 weeks; that is, 70 times 7 = 490
years. Immediately we see the precise fulfillment of Daniel 9:24, 25.

   The phrase "sealed up (or sealed) the vision and prophecy" (or
prophet) can be understood to mean that when Christ hung on the cross,
God put His seal on the whole program of salvation and upon Christ as
the Savior. It was the official declaration that all God's salvation
program was absolutely certain. The phrase "anoint the most holy"
points to the cross, at which time Christ established His Kingship. The
"most holy" is a phrase identified with the "holy of holies." Inasmuch
as Christ is the sanctuary . . "Destroy this temple and in three days I
will rebuild it . . . " He is the One who is anointed in the sense of
officially being our King, as well as an everlasting Prophet and High
Priest.

   Four hundred and ninety years equal seventy sevens, as called for in
Daniel 9:24. Therefore, we see a direct path from 458 B.C., when Ezra
was commanded to reestablish the law, that is, to rebuild the city,
until Christ hung on the cross. Thus we have discovered one certain
solution to the 70 weeks of Daniel 9.

   That's only part of the prophecy, and in the next chapter we are
going to see that there is another path that God has laid out, that
also goes from the time of the command to Ezra to reestablish the law
to the time of the coming of Christ. In this study, we have seen a
direct path from the going forth of the law, or a command to
reestablish the law, to the cross, as being exactly 70 sevens. Next we
are going to see in Daniel 9 that there is another path to Christ, but
this path is going to bring us to the end of time, when Christ comes
again.

   I want to leave this thought with you as we talk about making
reconciliation for iniquity. What about your sins? Have your sins been
paid for? Have you repented of your sins and abandoned yourself to the
Lord Jesus Christ, so that you know that this Gospel which we are
talking about refers to you, too? This is a very important question,
and I trust that as we continue our study together, that you will be so
exercised that you, too, if you are not already saved, will truly place
your trust in Him.

   CHAPTER 2

   Thus far in our study of Daniel 9, as we have looked at the 70 weeks
referred to in verses 24-27, we have seen that the key that unlocks the
mystery of this period of time is to remember that the command to
restore and build Jerusalem signified the reestablishing of the law in
Jerusalem. To put it in New Testament language, it has to do with the
sending forth of the Gospel. Whenever we present the Gospel to anyone,
whenever we are witnessing of the Lord Jesus Christ, we are temple
builders. We are city builders, building the city of God. Therefore, we
should not be surprised to find in Revelation 21 that the whole body of
Christ is actually pictured as the Holy City, the New Jerusalem.

   When we studied Daniel 9:24 we saw that this verse can be understood
if we realize that the beginning of the time referred to here relates
to Ezra, a priest of God, who had been mandated by the Persian King
Artaxerxes I, in the year 458 B.C., to reestablish the law in
Jerusalem. Exactly 70 weeks of years later, that is, 70 times seven or
490 years later, in the year 33 A.D., Christ hung on the cross. There
He finished the transgressions, that is, He paid for the sins of all
who believe on Him. He made reconciliation for iniquity and He brought
in everlasting righteousness. Only because He went to the cross can we
know everlasting life. Only because Christ went to the cross can we be
covered by Christ's righteousness so that our sins no longer stand
against us. So, verse 24 has given us a very distinct path of 490
years, beginning in 458 B.C. to the time of the cross which was in 33
A.D.

   A Second Path to Christ

   Beginning in verse 25 and going through verse 27, we are going to
see that we have another path that leads to Christ. This time it does
not lead to Christ hanging on the cross, but it leads to Christ coming
in judgment at the end of time. This path begins at the same point as
the first path, that is, at 458 B.C., when the command was given to
reestablish the law. But this path is more complicated, because it is
impossible to chart two events separated by almost 2,000 years by
following a path that deals only with 70 sevens of years. There must be
something more mysterious about this second path. As we study Daniel
9:25-27 we shall discover this second path.

   Let us begin our study of these verses. In verse 25 of Daniel 9, we
read:

   "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 threescore and two weeks: the street
shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times."

   Immediately the question surfaces: Why does God divide this path
into two parts, into seven weeks, which would be 49 years, and into 62
sevens, which would be 434 years? Why doesn't He simply say 69 sevens?
God doesn't do anything accidentally. Everything in the Bible is
carefully put there by God and has a very definite purpose. So as we
puzzle about this initial seven sevens we wonder, what is significant
about it?

   First a Jubilee Period

   The thought came to me years ago that seven sevens signifies a
Jubilee period. In Leviticus 25 we read about the Jubilee year, which
was to occur every 50 years. Thus between successive Jubilee years
there existed a period of 49 years, which is equal to seven weeks of
years. The Jubilee year was the year when all of the debts were
cancelled. It was the time when the land went back to its proper
owners, and every Israelite who had been enslaved to another was set
free. Since a period of seven sevens or 49 years was the period between
two Jubilee years, immediately I began to wonder . . . Is God saying
that in this second path from 458 B.C. when Ezra went to Jerusalem to
reestablish the law, that is, to build the spiritual city, the first
period of time to be considered is a Jubilee period? Is He using the
phrase "seven weeks" to signify the period from one Jubilee year to the
next, so that we are to begin the next period of three score and two
weeks the year after a Jubilee year?

   Let us examine this possibility by first looking at the Biblical
timetable of the Jubilees. We shall see how this meshes with the
language of Daniel 9:25, which suggests a Jubilee period as the initial
part of the second path leading from 458 B.C. to the second coming of
Christ.

   Let us first determine which calendar years were Jubilee years. We
can then see how that relates to Ezra's return to Jerusalem. To
determine which years were Jubilee years, we must go back to the
initial Jubilee year. In Leviticus 25:2 God indicates that, at the time
the nation of Israel was to come into the land of Canaan, they were to
keep a Sabbath unto the Lord. He then continues in verse 8 that they
were to "number seven times seven years," for a total period of 49
years. In verse 10, God declares "ye shall hallow the fiftieth year. It
shall be a jubilee to you." Thus the 50th year after they entered
Canaan would have been a Jubilee year. With this knowledge, if we can
determine the calendar year Israel entered the land of Canaan, we would
know which calendar years were Jubilee years.

   Because so much work has been done in recent times, particularly in
relation to the dating of the kings of Israel, this can be done rather
readily. We are particularly indebted to the eminent scholar, Edwin R.
Thiele, whose book, "The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings" (p.
52), established the date of the death of Solomon and the division of
the kingdom as 931 B.C. (See, too, "Adam When?", by Harold Camping, pp.
137-153.) Since Solomon reigned 40 years (I Kings 11:42), he would have
begun to reign in the year 971 B.C. And since he began to build the
temple in the fourth year of his reign (I Kings 6:1), this building
would have begun in the year 967 B.C. (971 - 4 = 967). Thus we know
that the foundation of the temple was laid in 967 B.C.

   Very significantly God gives us the time bridge from the exodus to
the beginning of the building of the temple. This is recorded in I
Kings 6:1:

   "In the four hundred and eighteenth year after the people of Israel
came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign
over Israel, in the month of Ziv, which is the second month, he began
to build the house of the Lord.

   A time span of 480 years brings us to 1447 B.C. as the date of the
Exodus (967 + 480 = 1447). In view of the fact that Israel spent
exactly 40 years in the wilderness going from Egypt to Canaan, we know
that they entered the land of Canaan in the year 1407 B.C. (1447 - 40 =
1407).

   Remembering what we learned from Leviticus 25:2-10, we can therefore
ascertain the date of the first Jubilee year. Leviticus 25:2 declares
that the year of entrance into Canaan was to be a Sabbath year. We have
now determined that to be the year 1407 B.C. This was to be followed by
seven sevens of years, with the following year becoming the first
Jubilee year. That would have been the year 1357 B.C. (1407 - 50 =
1357). Thereafter, in every century, every year that ended in 07 or 57
was a Jubilee year. For example, Jubilee years would have been 1357,
1307, 1257, 1207, etc.

   The Year Immediately Following Ezra's Return a Jubilee Year

   Because we are interested in the period of time around 458 B.C. when
Ezra returned to Jerusalem, when did the closest Jubilee year occur? Of
course, it was the year 457 B.C. which immediately followed the year
458 B.C. This certainly is encouraging to our study, is it not?

   Since the last year of each seven of the seven sevens of years that
made up the 49 years between two Jubilee periods was a Sabbath year, we
know that the year before each Jubilee year was a Sabbath year. Thus
the year 458 B.C. would have been a Sabbath year, while the year 457,
which was a year ending in 57, would have been a Jubilee year.
Therefore, the concept that the initial period spoken of in Daniel 9:25
is to be considered a Jubilee period is greatly strengthened by the
discovery that Ezra returned to Jerusalem in a Sabbath year just before
a Jubilee period. Thus the seven weeks spoken of in Daniel 9:25 fits
very logically with the idea of an initial Jubilee period.

   Returning now to Daniel 9:25 we know that Ezra returned to Jerusalem
in the year 458 B.C. This, as we have seen, was a Sabbath year. The
next year, 457 B.C., was a Jubilee year.

   Going from the Jubilee year of 457 B.C. to the next Jubilee year,
which would have been seven sevens of years or 49 years later, we come
to 407 B.C. as the next Jubilee year. The next period of 62 weeks would
then have begun the next year after the Jubilee year of 407 B.C. That
would have been the year 406 B.C.

   A Period of 434 Years follows a Jubilee Period

   The Bible speaks of a period of three score and two sevens, or 62
times seven years. There is no suggestion of a break during this 62
sevens, which is a period of 434 years. Therefore, if we go in unbroken
fashion through history for 434 years from the next year, 406 B.C.,
which immediately followed the Jubilee period considered above, we come
to the year 29 A.D. This arithmetic can be checked. First add the 406
years of the Old Testament to the 29 years of the New Testament. This
sum equals 435. Then subtract one, because there is no year Zero, and
we arrive at 434 years, which is 62 times seven.

   Thus far we have seen that God is giving us a path which begins with
the command by King Artaxerxes to Ezra to reestablish the law in the
year 458 B.C. God is saying that until the coming of the Messiah the
Prince there should be seven sevens and 62 sevens. The seven sevens is
a Jubilee period which follows 458 B.C., a Sabbath year. The first
Jubilee period signified by seven sevens is therefore the period
beginning in the year 457 B.C. and ending in 407 B.C. Beginning then in
the next year, 406 B.C., and going for 434 years, that is, for 62
sevens, we arrive at 29 A.D. as the year which ended the 62 sevens and
begins the seventieth seven.

   Jesus was Baptized in 29 A.D.

   This is becoming increasingly interesting because 29 A.D. is the
year that Christ was baptized in the River Jordan. Thus we are already
beginning to see that the computation called for in Daniel 9 identifies
very clearly with the historical fact of the coming of the Lord Jesus
Christ. You will remember when we followed the first path (in verse
24), without a break for 70 sevens or 490 years, we arrived at the year
33 A.D. as the end of the 70 sevens. Christ was crucified in the
spring, that is, on Passover Day, in the year 33 A.D. He preached for
approximately 3 1/2 years, so it was 3 1/2 years earlier that He was
baptized in the River Jordan. At this time He officially began His role
as High Priest, to offer the sacrificial lamb, which He Himself was.
Going back 3 1/2 years from the spring of 33 A.D. will bring us to the
fall of 29 A.D. But this is the same year that ends the 62 sevens, in
accordance with the second path we have found in Daniel 9. You see how
it is all beginning to tie together now? Verse 25 of Daniel 9,
therefore, brings us to 29 A.D.

   Then verse 25 declares:

   "The streets shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous
times."

   In other words, God is indicating that there is going to be a
rebuilding of Jerusalem. The Gospel is going forth again. Remember in
this passage that the language referring to the building of Jerusalem
is not speaking of a physical building; it is talking about building
the body of Christ. It is concerned with building the spiritual temple
which is the body of Christ. Christ, of course, came not only as our
sin bearer but also as a preacher of the Gospel (Luke 4:43, 44).

   If we go now to verse 26, we read:

   "And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but
not for Himself . . . . "

   We know that 3 1/2 years after 29 A.D. was 33 A.D., when Christ was
crucified. Remember, 29 A.D. was the year which ended the 62 sevens.
Then it was indeed after the 62 sevens, or after 29 A.D., that the
Messiah was cut off. In the language of the Bible, being cut off refers
to being under God's judgment. Any time we read in the Bible the phrase
"cut off," we can be sure that it is speaking about being under the
judgment of God.

   Thus we see that phrase by phrase, verse by verse, this is all
beginning to identify precisely with the coming of the Lord Jesus
Christ. He was not cut off for Himself; He was cut off on behalf of you
and me. He came under judgment because of our sins. Christ was cut off,
that is, He experienced God's wrath for our sins, in the year 33 A.D.
This was after the year 29 A.D., which was the last year of the 62
weeks of Daniel 9:25.

   Christ Crucified

   Verse 26 goes on:

   " . . . And the people of the Prince that shall come shall destroy
the city and the sanctuary.''

   Immediately a lot of theologians think of the destruction of
Jerusalem in 70 A.D. because, as we saw before, they have in mind a
physical city, a literal city. But remember, the key to this whole
passage is that the city in view is not a literal city; it is the body
of Christ.

   This passage speaks of the people of the Prince. The Prince that is
referred to is the Messiah. He came as the Prince of Peace. He came as
the King to die for our sins. He had a sign over His head when He hung
on the cross, "This is Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews." Indeed He
was the King. He established His kingdom by going to the cross. The
people of the Prince, that is, the Jewish nation, are the ones who made
the decision to put Him to death. We might recall that it was the high
priest Caiaphas who made the decision that Jesus must be crucified. In
John 11:50, as he condemned Jesus to be crucified, he declared: "Better
that one die for the nation rather than the whole nation perish."

   Christ is the City and the Sanctuary

   What are the city and the sanctuary which were to be destroyed by
the people of the prince who was to come? Remember how beautifully
Christ related to this. Maybe you have never thought of this before,
but remember when Jesus was talking to the Pharisees, He said, "Destroy
this temple and in three days I will rebuild it." What was Jesus
speaking about when He said that? Did He have in view the physical
temple? That is what the Jews thought. They said, "This temple took 46
years to build, how can He destroy it and rebuild it in three days?"

   But Jesus was speaking of His body, wasn't He? He, Himself, was the
temple of God that was to be destroyed and rebuilt. We do not want to
fall into the same snare that the Jews fell into when Jesus talked
about Himself being the temple. We do not want to begin to look for a
physical temple here. It says in Daniel 9:26, "The people of the prince
that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary." Jesus said
that He was the sanctuary. He was the temple that was to be destroyed
and rebuilt in three days. Thus Daniel 9:26 is disclosing to us that
the Jews, who were the people of Christ, would destroy Christ. Christ
was the Prince that was to come. Christ was the Sanctuary which was to
be destroyed.

   Verse 26 also refers to the destruction of the city. To what or whom
does this refer? Is this also a reference to Jesus? Indeed it is, as we
shall see.

   Remember that even as Christ calls Himself the temple, He calls His
body, the believers, the temple. Our bodies are temples of the Holy
Spirit. We are built into a holy temple, as we read in Ephesians 2.
That is easy to see, is it not? He is the head of the church, or the
body of believers; and if He is the temple, we are the temple.

   By the same token, since He is the head of the body of believers, if
the believers are a city of God, He is the city of God. We have already
seen that the Bible speaks of believers as being the city of God. This
is shown dramatically in Revelation 21, where God speaks of the whole
body of believers, the bride of Christ, as the Holy City, the New
Jerusalem.

   If we are the city of God, then Christ as our head is the city. He
is the temple; we are the temple. He is the city; we are the city. If
we are a city and we are "in Christ" as we read so frequently in the
Bible, then Christ is also a city. Thus verse 26, which speaks of the
city being destroyed, is also pointing to the crucifixion of Jesus.

   Daniel 9:26 Predicts Christ's Death On Our Behalf

   We can see now how we are to understand Daniel 9:26. "After
threescore and two weeks . . . ," that is, after the 434 years that
ends in the year 29 A.D., " . . . Messiah shall be cut off." That is,
He was crucified after He was baptized in 29 A.D. It was 3 1/2 years
later, 3 1/2 years after the 434 years. He was cut off by "the people
of the prince," that is, the Pharisees, the Sanhedrin, and the high
priest, who headed up the nation of Israel. It was they who would "come
and destroy the city and the sanctuary." They are the ones who caused
Jesus to be crucified.

   Verse 26 of Daniel 9 also declares, " . . . but not for Himself."
Christ was not crucified for Himself, or because of His sins. He was
crucified on our behalf. He took upon Himself our sins. Therefore He
had to come under the wrath of God.

   Daniel 9:26 then declares:

   "And the end therof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the
war desolations are determined."

   When the Bible talks about a flood, it is talking about the wrath of
God being poured out. We see this figure in Genesis, Chapters 7 and 8,
where God details the flood of Noah's day. Then God's wrath was poured
out by the flood, through which He brought judgment against the wicked
of that day. Likewise, when Christ hung on the cross, God poured out
His wrath on Him, to pay for our sins. There was Judgment Day at the
cross. It was typified by the flood of Noah's day.

   The phrase, "unto the end of the war," of course has reference to
the warfare that exists between the Kingdom of Christ on the one hand
and the kingdom of Satan on the other. That warfare continues to the
end of time in one sense. Revelation 19, therefore, describes the
conclusion of that warfare as a great battle. That battle will be
Judgment Day itself, when all of Christ's enemies are judged and
removed into hell.

   But the end of the war also refers to the cross. For it was at the
cross that Christ defeated Satan. Hebrews 2:14 declares that Christ by
His death destroyed Satan. It is at the end of the world that we will
see Satan and all his kingdom completely destroyed.

   We have thus far looked at verses 24-26 of Daniel 9. We have seen
that there is one path of 490 years that goes directly from 458 B.C.,
when Ezra was commanded by King Artaxerxes to reestablish the law in
Jerusalem, that is, to build the spiritual city. In 33 A.D. Christ hung
on the cross to pay for our sins (vs. 24).

   We saw that there is another path that goes from 458 B.C. which also
brings us to Christ, but it is more complex. It began with a period of
50 years, or a Jubilee period called seven sevens of years. This was
followed by a period of 434 years, bringing us to 29 A.D. Thus we see
that the seventieth seven, the last seven of years, began in 29 A.D.,
when Christ was singled out as the Lamb of God that came to take away
the sins of the world. Next in our study, we are going to look at this
seventieth seven in greater detail. As we discover a solution to the
seventieth seven we will also find a solution to the 1,260 days, or the
42 months of Revelation 12, 13, and 14.

   It is imperative that we remember, as we make this study, that the
Bible is its own interpreter. We must let the Bible give us the clues
and the keys whereby we can understand difficult Scriptures. We cannot
just look at Scriptures and say, "Well, that looks like so and so. That
seems to make sense; let's go on from there." We have to make sure we
have scriptural justification for the conclusions we believe we receive
from the Bible. In this study we have seen that the Holy City is the
body of Christ, or the body of believers. We have also seen that the
sanctuary and the city are a picture or figure of Christ Himself. There
is ample scriptural justification for this. We have seen that, having
learned this, these verses of Daniel 9 begin to open up very
beautifully. We begin to find that every phrase fits into place.

   Now you are beginning to wonder, "What about the seventieth seven?"
Let us go on with the study and see how that period of seven years fits
into place.

   CHAPTER 3

   So far in our study of Daniel 9:24-27, we have seen that every
phrase in this intriguing passage is beginning to make sense, once we
have caught the key. Once we discovered the major clue, that the city
and the sanctuary discussed in these verses are not a literal city and
a literal temple, these verses began to open up for us. We discovered
that the city and the sanctuary refer to Christ Himself or to His body,
the believers in Him who will hear the Gospel or hear the law of God
and thus become saved. Once we discovered this we began to see that
every phrase in this passage began to fit into place.

   In our study of the seventy sevens, we determined that the time
period in view begins in 458 B.C., when King Artaxerxes I, the
Medo-Persian King, gave to Ezra the scribe the command that he was to
go to Jerusalem to reestablish the law, that is, to rebuild the
spiritual city. We have found that there was one path that went
directly from 458 B.C. to the cross 490 years later, in 33 A.D. (vs.
24).

   Then is verses 25 and 26 we saw a more difficult path that consisted
first of seven sevens or a Jubilee period. This was followed by an un
broken path of 62 sevens or 434 years, which brought us to the year 29
A.D., when Christ was baptized. It was at this time that He officially
began His work as Messiah.

   Christ Confirms His Covenant

   Let us begin to unravel verse 27 of Daniel 9. There God declares
that He shall confirm the covenant with many for one seven. How are we
to understand this phrase? Who is "he?" What covenant is it that He
will confirm? Who are the many with whom He will confirm this covenant?

   Many theologians stumble on this verse. They suggest that the "he"
is the antiChrist, who will make a covenant with the Jews. Moreover,
they insist that this verse is concerned with the tribulation period
that must come, as prophesied in Matthew 24:21. Is this what this
phrase is discussing?

   When we looked at verses 25 and 26, we saw that God was talking
about the Prince who was to come, who could be only the Messiah.
Therefore, the antecedent of the "he" that shall confirm the covenant
can only be the Messiah of verses 25 and 26. There is no suggestion in
these verses that the "he" of verse 27 could be antiChrist.

   Furthermore, we shall see that this verse cannot be discussing the
final tribulation period because shortly we will see that sacrifice and
offering ceased in the middle of the week, and that can refer only to
the time when Christ was hanging on the cross. It was at that time that
He completed the ceremonial laws and ended sacrifices and offerings.

   The Covenant of Salvation is in View

   Moreover, we find that ordinarily in the Bible when God is speaking
of a covenant, He has in view God's covenant of grace or redemption
that He has made with believers. This word "covenant" in the old
Testament is the Hebrew word "berith." It is found some 280 times in
the Old Testament. Sometimes it is translated "league," as for example
when one political nation had made a league with another. But in more
than 877 of the times that it is used in the Old Testament, it
definitely relates to the covenant of grace or the covenant of
salvation.

   In the New Testament the word "covenant," which is also translated
"testament," is the Greek word "diatheke." It is found 33 times in the
New Testament, and in every instance it relates to the covenant of
salvation.

   For example, when Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper, He declared,
"This is My blood of the new testament." In Romans 11:27 God quotes
from the Old Testament as He explains why a remnant chosen by grace was
coming into the body of Christ from national Israel. There He declared,
"This is My covenant unto them when I take away their sins." Hebrews
12:24 declares, "Jesus, the Mediator of the new covenant." Again,
Hebrews 13:20 speaks of the "blood of the everlasting covenant." These
references to the covenant can be speaking only of Christ, who went to
the cross that God's covenant of grace or salvation might become
effective for all who would believe on Him.

   When Jesus stood on the shore of the River Jordan, John the Baptist
looked at Him and said, "Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the
sin of the world." Christ came as the Lamb to confirm the covenant.

   Going back to Daniel 9:27, God indicates that He shall confirm the
covenant with many. The many for whom Christ came to confirm His
covenant of salvation are those He came to save: "Thou shalt call His
name Jesus for He shall save His people from their sins." "He gave His
life a ransom for many."

   From the above, then, we can see that the phrase we are studying
does not have any Biblical validation to suggest that it is antiChrist
who would make some kind of a covenant. Moreover, we see that
emphatically it relates to the covenant of grace, which is such a major
subject throughout the whole Bible.

   As we have seen, the end of the 62nd week of Daniel occurred in 29
A.D., when Jesus was baptized. It was at that time, as the Holy Spirit
came upon Him, that He was officially anointed as High Priest; He was
officially declared to be the Messiah. It was also that year that
became the beginning of the seventieth week. Therefore, we see that
everything is fitting into place exactly as it should.

   Thus we must come to the conclusion that when verse 27 declares, "He
shall confirm the covenant . . . ," the "he" is the Lord Jesus Himself.
The covenant is the covenant of grace, and of course, He came to give
His life a ransom for many (Matthew 20:28). Therefore He confirmed the
covenant for many.

   But what about the rest of the seventieth seven? If we go from 29
A.D. for seven years, we end up at approximately 36 or 37 A.D., but the
Bible tells of nothing significant happening in either of these years.
Maybe we are on the wrong path after all. Let us continue to study
verse 27 and see.

   Sacrifice and Offering has Ceased

   The Bible says, in the second phrase in verse 27, "And in the midst
of the week (that is, for half of the seven) He shall cause the
sacrifice and oblation to cease." This is a tremendous statement, which
offers a clue that we are on exactly the right path. God is declaring
by this language that in the midst, or in the middle, or for half of
the seventieth seven, sacrifice and offering will cease. This important
piece of information must be faced in any possible solution to the 70
sevens of Daniel 9.

   Consider! There is only one time in history when sacrifice and
offering ceased, and that was at the cross. When Jesus hung on the
cross the veil of the temple, that huge veil some 50 feet high and
several inches thick, which separated the holy of holies from the holy
place, was rent in two from top to bottom. That is, it was rent by God.
Never again would the holy of holies be a place where only the High
Priest could go to meet God. The whole business of sacrifices had
ended. The whole Old Testament priesthood had ended with Christ going
to the cross. Never again would there be blood sacrifices. Oh, it's
true that the Jews for a number of years after this continued to offer
blood sacrifices, but insofar as God's plan is concerned, these
sacrifices had no meaning whatsoever.

   Sacrifices had been instituted from the beginning of time. We see
this in the fact that Abel offered a blood sacrifice. We see this in
the fact that Noah offered a blood sacrifice. It was further
articulated on Mount Sinai when God gave all the commands about blood
sacrifices and burnt offerings. But all of these sacrifices were
pointing to "The Sacrifice," the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. By His
death He completed all of these burnt offerings, all of these blood
sacrifices. Never again would a sacrifice of an animal or any kind of a
burnt offering have any meaning whatsoever in God's timetable. Christ
completed all of this. Never again will we come under the ceremonial
law.

   Therefore, when Daniel 9:27 indicates that for half the week, or in
the midst of the week, sacrifice and offering will cease, we can know
that 33 A.D. was in view. But 33 A.D., the spring Passover Day when
Christ hung on the cross, at which time sacrifice and offering ceased,
was three and one-half years later than 29 A.D. when the 62 sevens
ended, when Christ was officially designated as the Messiah, as John
the Baptist declared, "Behold, the Lamb of God who taketh away the sins
of the world."

   Can you see, dear friend, that the seventieth seven began with
Christ's baptism in 29 A.D., and three and one-half years later, at the
end of the first half of the seventieth seven, sacrifice and offering
ceased because Christ hung on the cross? Therefore, we now have a very
clear path from the giving of the law in 458 B.C., when Ezra went to
reestablish the law, that is, to rebuild the spiritual city, right to
the cross, insofar as the first sixty-nine and one-half sevens are
concerned.

   The End of the Seventieth Week

   But now, what about the last half of the seventieth seven? Let us
read again Daniel 9:27:

   "And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in
the midst 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 (or upon the desolator)."

   Of what is this speaking? It is giving us information that after the
cessation of sacrifice and offering, which would have to be 33 A.D.,
there would be a time of the overspreading of abominations. But that
sounds like the events that will occur just before the end of time.
When we study the Bible we find that it is near the end of time that
Satan is loosed to deceive the nations (Revelation 20). It is at the
end of time that the rebellion comes. We read about this in II
Thessalonians 2, in relation to the man of sin, who takes his seat in
the temple. It is at the end of time that wickedness will multiply, as
Jesus tells us in Matthew 24. This is the time of the overspreading of
abominations.

   The overspreading of abominations is to be followed by the
consummation. It will be followed by the determined end, the determined
decree, that shall be poured upon the desolator. It is at the end of
time that Judgment Day will come, at which time God's judgments are
poured out upon the unsaved and upon Satan. This is the consummation,
the time of the decreed end. Therefore God is suggesting here that the
last half of the seventieth seven goes all the way from the cross, when
sacrifice and offering ceased, to Judgment Day itself, right to the end
of time.

   The Prerogative of God to Use Numbers as He Desires

   We might begin to argue right at this point, "Now wait a minute! You
just can't do that! It's one thing to try to see a Jubilee period as a
solution to the first seven weeks. And it is possible to see a
spiritual building as a solution to the language relating to the
building of Jerusalem. But to go from literal years to calling the
whole New Testament period, from the cross to Judgment Day, a period of
three and one- half years . . . that is asking too much. To go from
literal years to some kind of a symbolical use of numbers all in the
same passage . . . that does not seem believable."

   Indeed, our human logic may say all of this, but we must remember it
is God who wrote the Bible. I did not write the Bible, neither did any
other speaker or teacher or preacher write the Bible. It is God who
wrote the Bible, and we have to sit very humbly under the teaching of
the Bible and let God show us what He had in mind.

   As a matter of fact, you will notice in our study of Daniel 9:24-27
that God does not say there were 70 weeks of years. Rather, He says
there were 70 weeks. He is not indicating whether they are years or
some other unit of time. While it is true that in the first path we
followed in going from Ezra to the cross, 70 weeks was indeed a period
of 490 years; in the second path we followed the initial period was a
Jubilee period. This was so, as we have seen, inasmuch as a Jubilee
period comes after each and every seven weeks or 49 years. Thus God
points us to a Jubilee period by the reference to seven weeks.
Therefore, the actual transpired time before the 62 weeks began was the
period 458 B.C. to 407 B.C. which is a period slightly longer than that
which would result if we were to stay strictly with years.

   Likewise, as we look at the last half of the seventieth week, we are
under no stricture insofar as the language of Daniel 9:27 is concerned
to insist on literal years. Rather, we have to search the Bible to let
it tell us what this period is. As we have seen, verse 27 clearly shows
that it is the period from 33 A.D., when Christ hung on the cross, to
Judgment Day at the end of time. Later, in closing this study on Daniel
9:24-27, we will see that God reinforces the fact that the last half of
the seventieth week is indeed the New Testament period. This will be
seen by the language found in Revelation 11, 12, and 13.

   Judgment Day is the End of the Seventy Weeks

   Thus we have found in studying Daniel, Chapter 9, that God in a very
interesting and beautiful way is showing us two paths to Judgment Day
or the coming of Christ. One path was given in verse 24, which was a
direct path of 490 years, going from 458 B.C. to 33 A.D., when Christ
was here on earth paying for our sins as He was receiving the awful
judgment of God on behalf of our sins.

   The second dramatic path that God is opening up here also began in
458 B.C. It is a more complex path, however. It begins with a Jubilee
period, which in turn is followed by 434 years. Thus we arrive at 29
A.D., when Christ was baptized and officially began His work. This is
followed by the first half of the seventieth week, which is the period
of Christ's word from the time of His baptism until His crucifixion. It
was at that moment that sacrifice and offering ceased. We saw then that
the last half of the seventieth week included the whole period from the
cross to the end of time. Thus this second path also ends at Judgment
Day and the coming of Christ. It will be the second coming of Christ
when Christ returns on the clouds of glory to judge the living and the
dead.

   We see therefore a beautiful parallel, a beautiful cohesiveness in
these verses. There are two paths, both of which begin at the same
point in 458 B.C. and both of which end with the coming of Christ. Both
end with Judgment Day. One was the first coming of Christ and the
Judgment Day at the cross, when the believers' sins were paid for. The
second is the coming of Christ on the Last Day, when the unsaved and
Satan and all of his evil hosts will be judged for their sins.

   In order to arrive at the two ends of time under the figure of 70
weeks, one at the cross and one at Judgment Day, obviously God has to
do something special with the numbers. It is God's province, it is
God's prerogative, it is God's right to take the last half of the
seventieth seven and make it cover the whole New Testament period. We
know this last half of the seventieth seven must begin at the time of
the cross because that is when sacrifice and offering ceased. This path
must go from the cross all the way to the end of time because Daniel
9:27 declares that the seventieth seven ends with the time of the
overspreading of abomination and the determined end, or the decreed
end, being poured out upon the desolator or the desolate. That time is
Judgment Day and the end of time.

   Judgment Day Signifies that the Atonement has been Completed

   The end of time, when Judgment Day occurs, is also the time when our
salvation is completed. Remember, verse 24 speaks about 70 sevens that
begin with the building of Jerusalem and end with the finishing of
transgression, the ending of sins, the making of reconciliation and the
bringing in of everlasting righteousness. Christ completes our
salvation when He returns in judgment. The Bible says that we are
saved, but the Bible also says that we will be saved. We are saved in
the sense that our sins have all been paid for. We are saved in the
sense that we have received our resurrected souls. But we have not
received our resurrected bodies as yet. That will occur at the
completion of our salvation. Then He will have finished transgression
in a total way. Then He will have made an end of sins in a total way .
. . not only an end of our sins but also an end of the sins of the
unsaved, in that they will have been cast into hell. Then He will have
made reconciliation for iniquity . . . not in the sense that He went to
the cross, but in the sense that He will have given us our redeemed
bodies. He will have reconciled the rest of us to Himself. Our bodies,
as they go into the grave, are unsaved. But they will have been
resurrected perfect spiritual bodies. This is the ultimate completion
of what God has in view. Therefore, we see that both paths fit all the
language of Daniel 9:24-27.

   Further Evidence

   When we study Revelation 11 we find further evidence that shows us
that the period of time from the cross to Judgment Day is symbolized in
the Bible by the figure of three and a half years. We might recall that
in Daniel 9:27 God is saying that the last half of the seventieth seven
is the whole New Testament period, from the cross until Judgment Day,
or until the return of Christ on the Last Day. One-half of seven years
is three and one-half years. This equals 42 months or 1,260 days. That
is precisely the time period that Revelation 11:3 is talking about:

   "And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall
prophecy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in
sackcloth."

   A study of these two witnesses would show that they must be the New
Testament church because Revelation 11:4 speaks of them as olive trees,
a figure also found in Romans 11, where it is used in speaking of the
body of Christ. Revelation 11:4 also declares that they are the two
candlesticks standing before the God of the earth. In Revelation 1 and
2 God shows us that every congregation, every church, is represented in
heaven by a candlestick. God speaks of two witnesses because it is "out
of the mouths of two or three witnesses that God's Word is
established." Thus these two witnesses are a representation of the New
Testament church as it brings the gospel.

   The Church brings the Gospel during the Last Half of the Seventieth
Week

   Because the Bible is one cohesiveness whole, God reaches back to
Daniel 9:27 and picks up the time period that is the last half of the
seventieth seven, the time period from the cross until Judgment Day at
the end of time, and uses that figure here in Revelation 11:2, when He
declares, "The temple will be trodden under foot forty and two months."
He uses it again in verse 3 when He states, " . . . and they shall
prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in
sackcloth." This period of time as we saw from Daniel 9:27 is the whole
New Testament period. Do we see the beautiful symmetry, the marvelous
cohesive oneness of the Bible? It all begins to tie together, does it
not? Once we find the key, the clue phrases, we see how it ties
together.

   You will remember in Daniel 9 we saw that the city and the temple
was referring to Christ, or to His body, the church. That is the same
figure used in Revelation 11:1, where God speaks about measuring the
temple of God. The temple is the body of Christ that is being measured.
In verse 2, He speaks of the Holy City, which shall be trodden
underfoot forty and two months. The Holy City must also be the body of
Christ. We are the Holy City; we are the Jerusalem that God has in view
here. We are trodden underfoot by the Gentiles in the sense that we do
not rule on this earth. Oh, yes, we are kings, even as God declares
throughout the whole Bible and particularly in Revelation. We are
kings, but our kingdom is Heaven. Our homeland is Heaven; our throne is
in Heaven. We are on this earth as strangers and pilgrims even as
Abraham was, to represent Christ, to be His ambassadors, to share the
Gospel.

   Through us, Christ continues to confirm His covenant with the many
who are being saved, even as it was promised in Daniel 9:27. But we do
not rule over the nations of this earth. Now we are the ones who are
trodden underfoot. We are persecuted; we are afflicted. We are walking
in the shoes of Jesus, who stripped Himself of all of His glory as He
came to bring the Gospel and as He went to the cross to die for our
sins. He walked humbly, without any apparent glory whatsoever. This is
the way we are to bring the Gospel, even as verse 3 of Revelation 11
teaches. Remember, there God speaks of the witnesses being "clothed in
sackcloth."

   Revelation 12 also Relates to Daniel 9

   In Revelation 12 God again picks up the figure of a half week with
the language of verse 6:

   "And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place
prepared of God that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred
and threescore days."

   The woman in view in this verse can be shown to be the believers
from whom Christ was born. Christ is shown to be the man child in
Revelation 12:5. There the Bible speaks of the woman giving birth to a
child whom we know to be Christ. When He was caught up into God, that
is, He ascended into Heaven, the woman, whom we might also call the New
Testament Church, continues in the wilderness, where she is nourished
by God.

   The wilderness is a figure taken from the Old Testament. You will
recall that the Israelites left the land of Egypt and spent 40 years in
the wilderness before they entered the promised land, the land of
Canaan. That wilderness sojourn again would be the whole New Testament
period. We will have crossed the Jordan River and entered the land of
Canaan in the fullest sense of the word at the end of time when we
receive our resurrected bodies. The 1,260 days equals 42 months or 3
1/2 years. God has again reached back to Daniel 9:27 to show that this
is the New Testament period.

   In Revelation 13 God again uses the figure of 42 months. In verse 5
He speaks of the authority of the beast (Satan's kingdom) continuing
for this period of time. We know, therefore, that again in this verse
God is speaking of the whole New Testament period.

   We see, therefore, in these three chapters of Revelation, that God
has given us beautiful validation of the concept taught in Daniel 9:27
. . . that the last half of the seventieth week is the period from the
cross to Judgment Day.

   CONCLUSION

   We have looked very carefully at Daniel 9:24-27. When we discovered
the key to these verses, we were enabled to come up with a solution
that meets all the Biblical requirements. That key was the fact that
God did not have in view in these verses a literal, physical city or
temple that was to be built or destroyed. Rather, He had in view the
city and the temple which is the body of believers, which was to be
built by teaching the law of God. He also had in view the cutting off
of the Lord Jesus Christ, who was the spiritual city and sanctuary.

   With this knowledge we were enabled to find two paths to the coming
of the Lord Jesus Christ. The first path went directly from 458 B.C.,
at the time Ezra went to Jerusalem to reestablish the law, to 33 A.D.,
when Christ hung on the cross on behalf of those who were to be saved
as He experienced judgment for our sins.

   The second path went to the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ,
at which time He will complete the salvation of the believers and bring
the unsaved into judgment. That path consisted of an initial Jubilee
period signified by seven weeks followed by an unbroken period of 434
years, signified by 62 weeks, which brought us to 29 A.D., when Christ
was baptized. This was the beginning of the seventieth week, at which
time He officially began His program to confirm the covenant of
salvation with all who would believe on Him.

   The middle of the seventieth week, we saw very clearly, was 33 A.D.,
when Christ was crucified, because it was at this time that sacrifice
and offering ceased. We then saw that the last half of the seventieth
week embraced the whole time from the cross to the return of Christ at
the end of time.

   Finally, we briefly looked at Revelation 11, 12, and 13 and saw that
God used the figure of 3 1/2 years or 42 months or 1,260 days to
signify the New Testament period from the cross to Judgment Day. It
surely became obvious that this figure of time was taken from the last
half of the seventieth week of Daniel 9.

   Could it be that this study will encourage us all to continue our
search of the Scriptures, knowing that under God's gracious provision
slowly truth can develop for us.