Daniel 9: The 70 Weeks Prophecy

Brethren, we want to turn our attention again to the book of Daniel. We've not been there for a while. I want to get back there. Just a couple of comments about where we have been in the book. We've covered chapters 1 through 6, mostly in a verse-by-verse discussion. There have been a few places there in those first six chapters where we did a little more of a survey type of approach. But more or less, verse-by-verse. Chapter 7, I covered when we went through chapter 2. Chapter 2 of Daniel and chapter 7 of Daniel have very similar material. And so I covered those two together. So I will not be going through that today. Chapter 8 of the book of Daniel talks about the Persian and Greek empires. Again, once again, there was information in chapters 2 and 7 that we covered with that. So most of chapter 8 I didn't cover last time. But I did cover what was called the Little Horn there in chapter 8 of Daniel, which this individual is also known as the Man of Sin, the Antichrist as a religious leader that we will see at the end of the age. And we went through 2nd Thessalonians chapter 2 in fairly good detail. And that's all I wanted to cover with chapter 8. That brings us to chapter 9 of the book of Daniel, where we want to spend some time today. And again, on this particular chapter, it will be more of a survey with the exception of the last four verses. Daniel chapter 9, brethren, contains one of the most interesting, one of the most exciting, one of the most talked-about prophecies of the entire Bible. It's a prophecy that has a fixed beginning. It was given more than 500 years before Jesus Christ first coming. Now understand that. It had a fixed beginning, given more than 500 years before Christ first coming. And yet, in this short little prophecy, the last four verses of Daniel chapter 9, which is called the 70 weeks prophecy, this short prophecy will give the year Jesus Christ would be baptized. It will give the year he will begin his earthly ministry. It will inform us how long Christ's earthly ministry would last and when it would end. Even give us the day of the week Jesus Christ would be crucified. There's also some doctrinal ramifications for this prophecy. As we have come to understand this prophecy, it shows us that Jesus Christ will be crucified on a Wednesday, which totally knocks in the head this whole Good Friday, Easter Sunday tradition. In addition, in terms of doctrine, there are those people who think that we should be worshiping Christ on Sunday because Sunday was the day he was resurrected. Well, this prophecy will show that he was not resurrected on Sunday. Jesus Christ was resurrected on Sabbath, on a Saturday. So if people want to say, I go to church on Sunday because that's the day Christ was resurrected from dead, well, if that's the approach you're going to use, then you should be keeping the Sabbath. That's the argumentation. So this prophecy is very dynamic. It's very interesting. It's quite detailed, and it's all wrapped up in four little verses. Each section of each verse is really packed with meaning. Other notes for us to general things for us to know about the chapter, Daniel chapter 9. Christ is the central figure of the prophecy. Jerusalem is the location for the prophecy. And a very important principle we're going to look at right now is this idea of a day for a year. A day for a year. Let's turn in our Bibles to Numbers chapter 14.

Because the prophecy is called a 70 weeks prophecy. So it's important to us to realize that each day represents a year in this prophecy. And over here in Numbers chapter 14, we see the principle. Numbers 14 verse 34. According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, 40 days, for each day you shall bear your guilt one year, namely 40 years, and you shall know my rejection. So there we see the principle. Let's turn over to Ezekiel chapter 4, where the same principle is articulated there. Ezekiel chapter 4 verses 4 through 6. Ezekiel 4 for, Lie also on your left side and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it.

According to the number of the days that you lie on it, you shall bear their iniquity. For I have laid on you the years of their iniquity according to the number of the days. 390 days, so you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. And when you've completed them, lie again on your right side, and you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Judah 40 days. I have laid on you a day for each year. Okay? So very important. Now today, brethren, we are going to get somewhat into the weeds. If you're not familiar with that saying, that means we're going to get fairly detailed.

Now if you want to get even more detailed than what I'm going to give you, I will get into some detail today, but it's going to be more of the Reader's Digest version of the details. A little more of a summary of the details. But we do have on our website, our United Church of God members website, a detailed 18-page paper that goes through what I'm about to cover with you.

Now they will have all sorts of other suppositions, speculations. I don't want to go through that today, but that's in that paper for you to take a look at if you'd like to. Or if you want to go to our Bible reading program. You go to our Bible reading program, you go to Daniel chapter 9, and there's a more condensed discussion of what I'm gonna give you there.

More of our Reader's Digest type of a thing. So you've got plenty of backup. I don't want you to feel like as though you've got to get writer's cram trying to write everything down. This is all spelled out for you in other locations. I would like you to turn before we go back or go over to the book of Daniel. Let's go over to the book of Jeremiah, because Jeremiah talked about something that's germane to our discussion today.

Let's go to Jeremiah chapter 25. Jeremiah was writing the particular ideas we were about to read after the invasion of Judah. After Daniel and his associates were taken captive, Jeremiah has this prophecy. This is Jeremiah chapter 25. Jeremiah 25. So this is taking place roughly in September 605 BC. Jeremiah chapter 25 verse 11 and 12. And this whole land shall be desolation and an astonishment, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

Then it shall come to pass when seventy years are completed that I will punish the king of Babylon in that nation in the land of the Chaldeans for their iniquity, says the Lord, and I'll make it a perpetual desolation. So understand something. Daniel goes into captivity. He realizes he is probably heard, maybe even seen, at least he's heard of the Prophet Jeremiah's prophecy. He knows that God says that his people will be in captivity seventy years.

Then after that, Babylon itself will go into captivity. Now we're going to see in just a moment that when Daniel is writing Daniel chapter 9, almost seventy years have come and gone. So in Daniel's mind, much like you do today and I do today, just as you and I are wondering where are we in Bible prophecy, Daniel was thinking, well Jeremiah said we would be captives for seventy years.

And at the time he writes what he's going to write in chapter 9, it's like 67 years have come and gone. So he's thinking, man, in only a few more years, and Babylon's going to go down, and we're going to go back to the Holy Land. So he's wondering what's going on here. So in your notes, you might want to just jot down that Daniel chapter 9 takes place in 538 BC.

538 BC. Okay, so let's now turn over to the book of Daniel chapter 9. Daniel chapter 9, starting here in verse 1. In the first year of Darius, the son of Ahasuerus of the lineage of the Medes, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans. Now I want to pause here and give you, you know, I'm trying to give you just the most succinct information you need to understand the prophecy.

Verse 1 is very helpful in a sense. It tells us something about Darius. Darius was not the king over the whole Persian realm. The one who was in charge, the king over the whole realm, was a man by the name of Cyrus. Cyrus. We're going to read about him in a prophecy in just a few moments. Darius, as it says here, was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans. So Babylon was essentially a province of the Persian Empire. Cyrus was the king over the whole thing, and Darius was king, or the ruler, over the province of Babylon. Verse 2. In the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years specified by them, were to the Lord through Jeremiah the prophet. Now whether he saw the writing or just heard of it, we don't know. But he's obviously referencing what we just talked about in Jeremiah 25. By the Word of Lord through Jeremiah the prophet that he would accomplish 70 years in the desolations of Jerusalem. So here we see that Daniel understood that, wow, this is probably talking about my day today. Perhaps Daniel was trying to determine the starting and ending points of the 70 years. We're gonna see that today. We're going to document that today. The starting point of the 70 year prophecy. Daniel was trying to understand all these things. He realized he had been carried away captive the same time Jeremiah wrote what Jeremiah wrote there in chapter 25 of Jeremiah. He realized that was 67 years ago, so he realizes this prophecy is really coming due. Then he also realizes something else. Put a marker here in the book of Daniel. Let's go to the book of Isaiah. Isaiah chapter 44. Isaiah chapter 44 is a fascinating statement here. Right now my hands cannot open to the right page here because they're stuck together. You got two fat of fingers, I think. All right.

Okay, Isaiah here in chapter 44, he's writing this 150 years prior to Daniel.

Now what we're seeing here, brethren, today, a number of things we're saying, one of the other, one of the, in addition to what I've said earlier, we're saying how prophecy is a proof of the Bible. Bible is a proof of God. And here we're saying 150 years prior to these things taking place, Isaiah is going to make a very specific prophecy because God gave him the prophecy. Notice Isaiah chapter 44 and verse 28, who says of Cyrus. Now Cyrus wouldn't be born for many, many years, 150 years in that area. You know, obviously Cyrus was not a baby when he took care of, took all this down, but roughly God, you know, about over a hundred years. Let's put it that way. God mentioned, Isaiah mentions Cyrus by name, who says of Cyrus, he is my shepherd, he shall perform all my pleasure, saying to Jerusalem, you shall be built, and to the temple your foundation shall be laid. So Daniel also knows about this prophecy. He knows about Jeremiah, he's quoted Jeremiah, he knows about Isaiah here. He's thinking, wow, what's gonna happen in my day to day? Just like you and I are thinking what's gonna happen in our day to day. Let's go back to Daniel chapter 9. Daniel chapter 9 and verse 13.

Daniel 9 13, as it is written in the law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us. Daniel's talking to God here. He's saying, you know, we've gone into national captivity, yet we have not made our prayer before the Lord our God.

That way you might turn from our iniquities and understand your truth. So Daniel, one of the three most righteous men who's ever lived, is talking about the national sins of Judah, why Judah went into national captivity, why they've been in captivity these 67 years and are about to come out of it. Yet he says, and yet we really aren't a repentant people like we should be. And brother, I want you to notice something about Daniel here. He's not distancing as one of the three most righteous men who's ever lived. He's not saying, well, you know, my countrymen, they're really great sinners.

He's lumping himself in with the whole nation. He's lumping himself in the whole nation. He understands there's not going to be redemption. There's not going to be returning to the national heritage until the people are repentant. And so in verses 13 through 19, which I'm not going to cover with you, actually actually starting in verse 3 and going through verse 19, we have Daniel's prayer of repentance.

Daniel's prayer of repentance. It's a model prayer. It's much like David's prayer that we see in Psalm 51. If you want to, there are times in your life, in my life, and all of our lives when we just, you know, we repent hopefully on a daily basis. But there are some times in our life when we really come to see some things that maybe we've not seen before. We're really struck by our need to repent of those things as God reveals our secret sins to us.

Many times we'll turn to Psalm 51. But in addition to that, brethren, you can also study Daniel chapter 9 verses 3 through 19. A tremendous prayer of repentance. Okay, that lays the groundwork now for what I want to really cover in a little more detail with you. We drop down to verse 20.

Verse 20. Daniel's continuing to pray here. Now while I was still speaking, praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people, Israel, and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God, for the holy mountain of my God, yes, while I was speaking in prayer the man Gabriel looked like a man, but he was an archangel. We realize that Gabriel was one who would bring messages. He had brought messages to Daniel in the past.

He's doing so again. While I was speaking in prayer the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in visions at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, reached me about the time of the evening offering. And he informed me and talked to me and said, Oh Daniel, I have now come forth to give you skill and understanding. At the beginning of your supplications the command went out, and I have come to tell you, for you are greatly beloved.

Therefore, consider the matter and understand the vision. Now I want to pause here in verses 20 through 23 because we see here one of the most righteous men who ever lived. He's praying a prayer of repentance, and his mouth is still saying the words. As he's praying, God answers his prayer. I want to bring up something I remember many years ago, the first time I was reading through Mr.

Armstrong's autobiography. I remember reading the situation where people, you know, back in Mr. Armstrong's day, the early years, we didn't have much in the way of ministry. You know, you had the Sardis era ministry, you had Mr. Armstrong, but there just weren't that many of God's ministers available.

And the story is told by Mr. Armstrong how that, and somebody, this woman had to relate this to him, how that, you know, she had heard that he could send out anointed cloths. And so she put, you know, put together a letter, and she was feeling very poorly. This is all in the autobiography. She went out to her mailbox, you know, she put up the flag, she opened up the box, she's putting in the letter, and as she puts in the letter, she was healed of what she was asking to be anointed for.

Basically, it was a situation just like this with Daniel. As she was praying, God saw her heart, saw the need, and responded. The letter didn't have to get to Herbert W. Armstrong to be acted upon. As I made mention last week in Chicago, I don't know about you here, but where I live, I never rely upon the U.S. Postal Service. I've now found them to be reliable, and I hope we don't have any letter carriers here. But I remember several times when we were living in Michigan.

I used to subscribe to the USA Today newspaper, and you know, five days a week it would come. And then I started noticing that it was coming four days a week and three days a week. And so I call USA Today and say, where's my newspaper? We sent it! Our records... So I went to the post office. Oh, we, our letter carriers, they bring that every day. I said, well, how can I check on it? I said, well, you can audit your carrier. I said, I want to put an audit on my carrier. And every... and that happened to me several times over the course of a number of years.

Every time I put an audit on my carrier, I was getting my paper every day. Then after a while, we kind of eased back. So I don't know if my carrier was reading those things themselves, or selling them, or what was going on there. The point I'm making is, you asked for an anointed cloth. You've demonstrated your, your, your faith. Whether that cloth gets to you because the postal system doesn't get it to you, or gets lost, or what have you, when you make in your mind, in your heart, you ask for that anointed cloth, that's what you need to do.

You've done your part. Just like Daniel here was doing his part. He was coming before God as a faithful man, asking for forgiveness for his nation, for himself, what sins he had. Verse 20, notice his frame of mind. Why was speaking, when I was speaking, praying, and confessing my sins? You know, his prayer was answered. He, as it says here, later on in this section here, it says, he was a man greatly loved.

Why was he greatly loved? Because what he saw in the Bible he did. To use Mr. Bratton-Subbock's example today, Daniel owned his faith. He owned his faith. He didn't just talk about it. He owned it. He lived it. Everyone around him knew what he was, who he was, the God he worshiped. You had two world-ruling emperors put out an edict to the whole realm because of the example Daniel had set. You know something else here, verse 21. When is Daniel praying? This is being caused at the very end of verse 21.

Being caused to fly swiftly reached me about the time of the evening offering. The time of the evening offering. The temple in Jerusalem was in ruins. Regular and daily sacrifices were impossible. Yet Daniel took it upon himself to pray during a time you would have the morning and the evening sacrifices. He also prayed at midday. You remember what we discussed about the burnt offering.

How it showed that smoke ascending to God. Daniel's prayer was ascending up like that burnt offering before God. God heard and God answered. Now we get to the crux of the situation. Verses 24, 25, 26, and 27. This is the 70 weeks prophecy. These four verses. Again, it's such an encouraging section of Scripture because it gives Daniel, it gives him hope, it gives all the captives hope, and it certainly does so much for us in terms of helping us to appreciate that God does answer what he says he's going to do.

Bible prophecy is for sure. Let's get into it. Verse 24. 70 weeks are determined for your people, for your holy city, to finish a transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring an everlasting righteousness, to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy. Tremendous amount of information packed into verse 24. What we want to notice right out the beginning, very first phrase here, 70 weeks. 70 weeks. You may have a center reference in your Bible that shows this means 70 sevens. 70 sevens. The 70 weeks prophecy, brethren, is broken down into three unequal parts. You've got one week, you've got 62 weeks, you've got seven weeks.

70, 70, and all. I'd like to read you what Gleason Archer, he's the author, one of the authors of the Expositor's Bible commentary, I'd like to read you what he has to say about the 70 weeks prophecy.

And I quote, the prophecy of the 70 weeks in Daniel chapter 9 verses 24 through 27 is one of the most remarkable long-range predictions in the entire Bible. It is by all odds one of the most widely discussed by students and scholars of every persuasion within the spectrum of the Christian church. And yet, when it is carefully examined in light of all the relevant data of history and the information available from other parts of scripture, it is quite clearly an accurate prediction of the time of Christ's coming advent and a preview of the thrilling final act of the drama of human history before that advent. So here we see this prophecy, and we want to get into it. Now, we've got these 77s. We'll discuss this as we go along.

But verse 24 shows that six things, the Messiah is a central figure, and six results relate to Jesus Christ. Okay? All six of these things surely come to pass after His second coming.

Three of these six things, the first three, really are initiated at Christ's first coming and totally fulfilled at His second coming. So let's take a look at these six items here in verse 24. It says Christ is going to finish the transgression. Obviously, you can appreciate how this takes place in its fullness after Christ's second coming. But also, another way for us to look at this is that sin is dealt with at Christ's first coming. Through Christ's sacrifice, the process was begun with Christ's sacrifice, giving His life.

It's the beginning of the end of Satan, so to speak.

Number two is to make an end of sins. Obviously, that would take place after we're all spirit beings, for sure. But there's another way of looking at this that includes the first coming of Jesus Christ.

The word sin here means to miss the mark. To miss the mark. We know that when Christ came at His first coming, He was telling people how to properly hit the mark and not move.

And not miss the mark. So Christ was directing people how to live properly.

To be on in line with God the Father.

To make an end of sins in that regard. Thirdly, to make reconciliation for iniquity. Once again, we see how this takes place after Christ's second coming. But for those of us who live in this age, who have accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior, we have reconciliation now.

We have reconciliation now. Our sins have been forgiven. Our names have been written in the Lamb's Book of Life. And so we have reconciliation for iniquity today. And of course, billions more after the return of Jesus Christ. Number four. To bring in everlasting righteousness. Now this certainly is fulfilled after the second coming of Christ. We're not talking about a time here and a time there. We're either as individuals or people. We're doing what we need to be doing. This is talking about everlasting righteousness. This comes after the return of Jesus Christ. We're talking about a millennial setting and beyond here. Number five. To seal up vision and prophecy.

There's coming a time when all the prophecies will be done. All the prophecies will have come to fulfillment. Christ is enthroned. We are ruling with Him. And basically, there's no need for prophecies. They've all come to be. And then number six. To anoint the holy of holies. And this can relate to a couple of different things. It could relate to the temple that will exist after Christ's return as described in the book of Ezekiel. Or it could even refer to Jesus Christ Himself.

We allow for that possibility. And again, in our 18-page study paper, it goes into those thoughts in much greater detail. I'm just kind of giving you the summary version of all this.

So as you take a look, brethren, as we begin to take a look at the 70-weeks prophecy, we see a relatively detailed comprehensive plan leading from the time of Daniel going all the way to the time of Jesus Christ's Second Coming. Let's get into verse 25. And know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the command or the decree to restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there shall be seven weeks and 62 weeks. Okay? Seven weeks, 62 weeks. The street shall be built again and the wall even in troublesome times. So here we have two of these three portions of the 70-week prophecy. We've got the seven weeks and the 62 weeks. Those 69 weeks remember a day for a year principle. You take 69, you multiply it by seven. Take off your your shoes and we can all do that. But to give you the bottom line here, 69 times seven equals 483 from 538.

Well, I'll back up. We just want to look at here at the 483 consecutive years. Okay? 483 consecutive years. That last seven years is not consecutive with the others.

Okay? Now, where do we begin this process? Where do we begin this? This is where we get into the weeds. We're going to take a look at the seven years and the 42 years here, the whole thing. But where do we begin? There were four decrees. You know, verse 25 says, Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the command or the decree.

But there were four of them. We need to find out which one is the starting point.

So let's go look at the very first decree. We find that in 2 Chronicles chapter 36.

2 Chronicles chapter 36.

And verses 22 and 23. 2 Chronicles 36 verses 22 and 23.

Now, in the first year of Cyrus, this is why it was important for us to appreciate the difference between Cyrus' rule and Darius' rule. Now, in the first year of Cyrus, King of Persia, the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled. The Lord stood up the spirit of Cyrus, King of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all of his kingdom and put it in writing saying, Thus says Cyrus, King of Persia, all the kingdoms of the earth, the Lord God of heaven has given me, and he has commanded me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah, who is among you of all of his people. May the Lord his God be with him, and let him go up. So this first decree, the decree of Cyrus, took place in 538 BC.

Now, this is an important piece of information. Decree of Cyrus, decree number 1, 538 BC.

You're seeing there at the end of Chronicles, the book of Ezra. We want to turn to Ezra chapter 6.

Ezra chapter 6. We're going to see here the second decree. This is a decree by Darius.

Okay? Ezra chapter 6 verses 1, 2, and 3. Then King Darius issued a decree, and a search was made in the archives where the treasures were stored in Babylon. Remember, he was the provincial ruler.

In the province of Media, verse 2, a scroll was found, and a record was written, thus, verse 3. In the first year, King Cyrus issued a decree concerning the house of God at Jerusalem.

On it goes. So what you have here in Ezra chapter 6 is basically a restatement of that first decree.

Remember, these are government people. Government is not known for getting things done quickly or efficiently. 538 BC, the original decree, goes out. The second decree, this is now 520 BC. Again, an important piece of information. 520 BC, 18 years have come and gone. Things still aren't being done the way they should be done. So another decree went out. Now, I'm going to skip decree number 3 and go to decree number 4. Let's turn over to Nehemiah chapter 1. Got the book of Ezra. Then right after that, that's the book of Nehemiah chapter 1.

Verse 11, Nehemiah 1.11. O Lord, I pray, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant, Nehemiah here talking, and to the prayer of your servant who desires to fear your name and let your servant prosper this day. I pray and grant him mercy in your sight, for I was king. I was the king's cup bearer. So Nehemiah had an important position. He interfaced with the king on a great deal. Great many times. Chapter 2 verse 1. It came to pass in the month of Nisan in the 20th year of King Artaxerxes when wine was before him, that I took the wine and gave it to the king. Because that was Nehemiah's job. Now I had never been sad in his presence before. Therefore the king said to me, Why is your face sad? Since you are not sick, this is nothing but sorrow of heart. So I became dreadfully afraid. And he said, and I said, and said to the king, May the king live forever. You know, long live the king. Why should my face not be sad? When the city, the place of my father's tombs, lies waste, and its gates are burned with fire. And the king said to me, What do you request? And so I prayed to the God of heaven. Pause here for a moment. Remember when Jesus Christ said, when you were before authorities and magistrates, don't worry about what you're going to say, God's spirits. You know, as you are close to God, as you're doing the things that are pleasing in God's sight, you offer up a quick prayer. Here's a quick prayer. God will give you what you need to say. That's exactly what's happening here. Okay? So I prayed to the God of heaven. We don't see the prayer. Quick prayer. Verse 5. Now then he begins to talk. And I said to the king, If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, I ask that you send me to Judah to the city of my father's tombs, that I might rebuild it. And the king said to me, the queen sitting also beside him, How long will your journey be? And when will you return? So I pleased the king to send me, and I set a time. So this fourth decree, this is called the Decree of Artaxerxes, took place in 444 BC. Another important piece of information. 444 BC. Remember, the original decree went out in 538. So things still aren't where they should be. Again, we're talking government here. Government doesn't work too quickly. Now we turn our attention to the third decree.

And I think you can see why I'm going to be doing it this way, because this is the one that really is going to count. We go back to Ezra, chapter 7. Ezra, chapter 7. And we're going to start here in verse 11. This is a copy of the letter that King Artaxerxes gave Ezra the priest to scribe, expert in the words of the commandments of the Lord and of his statutes to Israel.

Of course, Ezra is one of the great canonizers of the Old Testament. Verse 12, Artaxerxes, king of kings, to Ezra the priest, ascribe to the law of the God of heaven, perfect peace, and so forth. I issue a decree that all those of the people of Israel and the priests of the Levites in my realm who volunteered to go up to Jerusalem may go with you. And of course, this goes down. I'm not going to read all this. This goes down to verse 26. So here you have the third decree in time order.

This decree was given in 457 BC. 457 BC. Now, one of those decrees is the starting point.

How do we know? How do we know? Well, we know 483 years consecutively have to start from the time of the decree. You go forward those 483 years and that lands to a place that Jesus Christ begins his ministry. Jesus Christ is baptized. Baptized first then begins his ministry. So let's take a look at this. Decree number one, 538 BC. You go forward in time 483 years.

You know, the seven weeks into 62 weeks is 69 weeks. You go forward 483 years. That brings you to 55 BC. What was Christ doing in 55 BC? Well, in 55 BC Christ was up in heaven, right? He hadn't started. He had not been born of Mary. He had not done any of the things he was about to do in terms of his physical ministry. So we throw out decree number one. Decree number two, 520. You go forward in time 483 years. You land there at 37 BC. Getting closer. But what was Christ doing at 37 BC? He was still up in heaven sitting on the right hand of God, right? Throw that one out. Drop down the decree number four. 444 BC. You go forward in time 483 years. You have to add one year when you're going from BC to AD. That brings you to 40 AD.

What was Christ doing at 40 AD? Well, again, he's still back up in heaven at this point as our high priest. Now we take decree number three. 457 BC. 457 BC. You go forward in time 483 years. You come and you again you add the one year from going from BC to AD and you come to 27 AD.

What was Christ doing? In 27 AD, Jesus Christ was baptized. In 27 AD, Jesus Christ began his earthly ministry. We know the church is taught. And this is again a historical thing. And this is part of the power of this whole prophecy. We have taught for generations from the time of Mr. Armstrong that the Church of God, the true Church of God, had its beginnings in 31 AD. Christ starts his ministry in 27. How long was his ministry? Three and a half years. Brings us to 31 AD.

When does the Great False Church say their church began? 33 AD, right? Okay. We're seeing something. We're not only seeing prophecy, we're seeing some history here. We're not only seeing prophecy in history, we're seeing some doctrine here. We're seeing the beginning of the true Church of God versus the beginning of the false Church of God. Okay. Let's take a look at Luke chapter three for a moment. An interesting side note. Luke chapter three.

Luke chapter three and on verse 15.

Now as the people were in expectation in all reason in their hearts about John, whether he was the Christ or not.

Brother, now you know a little bit of the backdrop as to why people are wondering if John the Baptist was the Christ. They knew about Jeremiah's prophecy. They knew about Isaiah's prophecy. They knew about Daniel's prophecy. They realized that right around 27 AD they could count that the Messiah was going to be there. Then they see this fellow in the wilderness, and he's really preaching some pretty strong stuff. And so they're wondering, is he the guy? So now we have an understanding as to where they were coming from. Okay, we go back now to the book of Daniel.

Go back to verse 25 again, Daniel 9.25. Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the command or the decree. So we've understood that now. To restore and build Jerusalem until the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks. So we've got a seven-week period. Now again, day for a year, 49 years. There's a 49-year period, and the 62 weeks. Okay, what happened during those 49 years? Those first 49 years. The first 49 years we have the reconstruction of the city. The walls, the interior appointments of the city, the moat, the defensive moat, the streets, the buildings. The great work on that was done in that first week of the 70 weeks prophecy.

Okay, the first seven years, I should say. Seven weeks. The 62 weeks. Now we go to verse 26. Daniel chapter 9 verse 26. After the 62 weeks Messiah shall be cut off but not for himself.

And the people of the Prince who was the come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall be with a flood. And until the end of the war desolations are determined. So we take not only the 62 weeks that's spoken of here in verse 26, but we also have to add the seven weeks spoken of in verse 25. So we've got, you know, after all this period of time, after 27 AD it says, the Messiah shall be cut off. Now does that mean that right after 27 AD the Messiah is going to be crucified? No. But does it mean that sometime after 27 AD the Messiah is going to be crucified? Yes, that's exactly what it's talking about there. So that we have to understand what the word after here is referring to. Not immediately after, but certainly after. And it says here in verse 26, the Messiah shall be cut off. A violence. A violently being cut off. Talking about His crucifixion. But not for Himself, it says here. No, for you and for me. Jesus Christ was cut off for our sins. Notice it also says in verse 26, and the people of the Prince, well we're referring to Christ just a moment ago, is this referring to Christ? And the people of Prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Well, that's not talking about Jesus Christ. Who is the Prince here? History would record that the Prince was a general by the name of Titus. Titus. He commanded the Roman troops in 70 AD that sacked Jerusalem. The end of it shall be with a flood.

In your notes, you might want to jot down Revelation chapter 12 in verse 15.

Revelation chapter 12 talks about the history of God's true church. And we see in Revelation 12, where a flood is sent, where Satan sends a flood after the church. And in that sense, we understand that a flood is an army. So here, the Prince is Titus. The flood is Titus' army.

And it's talking about a desolation there in verse 26. Now we understand that historically, there have been two different fulfillments of the abomination of desolation.

The first fulfillment of the abomination of desolation was by Antiochus Epiphanes, 168 BC. He was the first fulfillment of the abomination of desolation. The second fulfillment of the abomination is what we're seeing right here. Titus, the Roman general in 70 AD.

That's history. We know that prophecy says, and we talked about it when we went through the little horn of man of sin, prophecy shows there's going to be an end time abomination of desolation spoken of there here, but also spoken of in Matthew chapter 24.

Okay. Let's now turn our attention to verse 27 of Daniel chapter 9.

Then he, who, who's he? Christ, then Christ shall confirm a covenant, shall confirm the new covenant. Christ will confirm the new covenant with many for one week. So we're now past the 69 weeks. We're now into the 70th week of this prophecy. You know, there was one week, 49 years, where Jerusalem was being rebuilt. You add that to the 62 weeks. You have 483 years that brought us to 27 AD. Christ has now begun his ministry. We're now in that last week. Okay. We're now in that last week, that 70th week. He shall confirm a covenant for many for one week. Last week. Okay. But in the middle of the week, he shall bring to end the sacrifice and offering. In the middle of the week. If you've got a week that lasts by prophetic standards, seven years, that means that in the middle of that week, Christ will do his ministry for three and a half years. Right? In the middle of that week, he will confirm the covenant. But we also saw, when you add together what we see in verse 26, in the middle of a week, he had be cut off.

What day of the week is the middle of the week? You've got Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, three days. You've got Wednesday, middle of the week. You've got Thursday, Friday, and Saturday on the other side.

Daniel says Jesus Christ would be crucified on a Wednesday. The world says, good Friday.

Right? So this prophecy debunks the world's Christian religions. It's important for us to understand that very important point. We also see Christ's ministry would last three and a half years. Then he'd be crucified. Three and a half years from 27 AD does not bring you to 33 AD, which the universal church claims is its starting point. So there's a lot of ramifications for this prophecy. A lot of ramifications for this prophecy. Then he, Christ, shall confirm a new covenant with many for one week, but in the middle of the week he shall bring to an end a sacrifice and offerings.

Of course, Christ was our sacrifice. We no longer need animal sacrifices. He brought an end to that need. And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate. Okay. One who makes desolate.

Even until the consummation, which is determined, is poured out on the desolate. So here we see some very interesting things. End time abomination of desolation, which will be the man of sin, the antichrist, until the consummation. Consummation is talking about the return of Christ at his second coming. At his second coming. Now, let's turn over to John chapter 19 for a moment.

And again, I know that, as they say, we've been in the weeds today. It could have been much more technical than I'm making, as I'm trying to make it as easy to see as possible. John chapter 19.

And here's where the world simply misses the boat when it comes to understanding the last several days of Jesus Christ's life.

John chapter 19, verse 31. Therefore, because it was the preparation day.

Now, see, people of the world think we're talking about Friday.

Are we talking about Friday here? Therefore, because it was the preparation day that the body should not remain on the cross, on the Sabbath. For that Sabbath was a high day.

A piece of information people just don't seem to want to get. An annual Sabbath, an annual high day.

The Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, that they might be taken away.

So, how do we understand this section of Scripture? Well, we understand it this way.

Tuesday night, the Passover was instituted, the New Testament, New Covenant Passover was instituted by Jesus Christ with his men. Just like we keep Passover in the evening, right?

The symbols of the bread and wine were given. The next day, Wednesday, Jesus Christ is crucified.

He's not crucified on a Friday. He's crucified on a Wednesday. He dies around three o'clock in the afternoon. He's put into the tomb before sunset, but it's still Saturday. Okay. Thursday is the day spoken of here in John chapter 19 verse 31. Thursday was the Holy Day, which made Wednesday, the Preparation Day. Not Friday, Wednesday. Thursday was the High Day. It was the first day of Unleavened Bread. On Friday, so if everybody rested Friday, the women brought their spices to prepare Christ's body. Saturday, Christ rose near sunset, 72 hours like he said he would do.

Going from Wednesday just before sunset, three days, three nights. Saturday just before sunset, Christ was resurrected on Saturday. Sunday, the women come to the tomb. He's arisen, of course. Past tense. He's gone. He's gone. He rose from the dead on Sabbath.

Now, one final point here, and it's an interesting point.

70-week prophecy. We've gone through those first 69 weeks, and we've gone only halfway through that 70th week. We've only gone through three and a half years of that last week. There's three and a half years remaining. What do we do with that three and a half years that's remaining? This is where we will see in the rearview mirror. Two thoughts.

One thought is the last three and a half years. It's interesting that the last three and a half years before the return of Christ is called the time of the Gentiles. You've got the great tribulation day of the Lord three and a half years. Some have speculated that last three and a half years, that last half of the week, will be us in a place of safety where Jesus Christ is teaching us just like Jesus Christ taught the Apostle Paul. That's one thought. Valid thought could possibly take place. We don't know. A second thought, I think the first thought to me, the first thought is more probable. The second idea is that three and a half years takes place immediately after the return of Jesus Christ. And Christ gives us a three and a half year training period as spirit beings where we can absorb everything so readily. We don't know. That part, we don't know. Brethren, we don't know everything. You don't know everything. I don't know everything. The church doesn't know everything. But we still have three and a half years of that 70-week prophecy yet to be fulfilled.

How that's going to be done? We'll find that out as time goes along. So anyhow, brethren, we do have the 18-page study paper online. It's accessible to you. We've got the Bible reading program on Daniel chapter 9. You can access that. I know I've covered a lot believing when you study into this in more detail. You're going to find I really did give you the Reader's Digest version without all the assumptions and possibilities and speculations. I gave you pretty much the heart and core of the matter here.