It is strange that so many prophetic teachers hold to the idea that when the Antichrist arises he will make a 7 year treaty with Israel. This assumption is based entirely on just one verse of the Bible, the unanimously quoted Daniel 9-27, despite that the scripture says “in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall be established” Deut.19-15, Matt.18-16, and 2 Cor.13-1;
In this study we shall see that rather than the antichrist it was actually our LORD who ”confirmed the Everlasting Covenant”,
and who by His sacrificial death on the Cross, put an end to all the Jewish blood sacrifices “caused them to cease” during His
3-1/2 year ministry on Earth, (the 1st half of Daniel’s 70th week), and will fulfil the the final 3-1/2 years from Heaven as “the Day of Vengeance of our GOD” ,before His visible and bodily return to Earth. (Isa.61-2 & Luke 4-16/20).
The True Facts. In Daniel 9, Daniel fasted and prayed, confessed sin, and asked for GOD’S mercy upon Jerusalem and
Israel and ended in verse 19, “O Lord hear; O Lord forgive; O Lord hearken and do; defer not, for thine own sake, O my God; for thy city and thy people are called by thy name.”
In response the angel Gabriel in v. 24-27 specified 6 things that would occur in the 70 weeks, viz.:-
To finish the transgression.
To make an end of sins
To make reconciliation for iniquity.
To bring in everlasting righteousness.
To seal up the vision and prophecy.
To anoint the Most Holy.
All these things depend entirely on the coming of Messiah the Prince and can only be accomplished by Him.
My purpose is not to give a full study on this prophecy but to concentrate on the fulfilment of the 70th week..
We all agree that the 70 weeks refer to 70 weeks of years, i.e. 490 years, and that it is 69 weeks, 483 years, to the coming of Messiah. Now when did Messiah come? Without entering into the controversy about when the 69 weeks started and ended, let us go to the Bible, which shows clearly that JESUS was first manifested as the Messiah, i.e.the “anointed” – (Gr, Christ, also meaning anointed) when He was baptized in the River Jordan by John the Baptist and the Holy Spirit (Who is the Anointing) descended upon Him like a Dove. There was also the FATHER’S voice from Heaven proclaiming “This is my Beloved SON”. (MESSIAH the PRINCE), and John the Baptist proclaimed him to be the Lamb of God. A 3 fold witness. Of necessity, therefore, this must be the beginning of the 70th week. It was then JESUS commenced the first half of His 7 year ministry, 3-1/2 years on earth which culminated in His death, burial and resurrection plus 40 days after, when He, as the Lamb of GOD, bore all our sins and diseases, “made full reconciliation for our iniquity”, and rose triumphant over Satan and all his hosts, and took the keys of death and hell and entitled us to a glorious place in His Kingdom and to victory over all the works of the enemy, and in so doing He put an end to all the Jewish sacrificial offerings for sin. Dan. 9-27 –“ In the midst of the week He caused the sacrifice and oblation to cease.” For anyone, after JESUS had paid the full price for our sins, to offer up a lamb or any other animal as a sacrifice for sins would be an abomination to GOD and would surely bring desolation upon them. (JESUS also proclaimed that He was a King, but said “now is My Kingdom not from hence”. John 18-36)
For the 2nd half of Daniel’s 70th week, let us look at Isa. 61-1/2 “The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me because the LORD hath anointed me —– To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, — and the day of vengeance of our GOD; to comfort all that mourn —.” JESUS read part of this scripture at Nazareth, Luke 4-16-20, but it is of great significance that He stopped in the middle of the verse and closed the book. This was because JESUS had not come to initiate “the day of vengeance of our GOD” at that time; this He will do from Heaven at the end of the age “When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven – in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not GOD.”
2 Thess. 1-7/8.
This will also be a period of 3-1/2 years, beginning at Rev.11, during which 4 significant events will take place, namely :-
1. Rev. 11-2 “The Temple is measured but the Outer Court is excluded and it and the Holy City are trodden under foot forty and two months”. (This speaks of 30 fold Christians who will not be ready – Luke 21-36)
2. Rev. 11-3 “And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand, two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth”.
3. Rev. 12-6 “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”. Rev. 12-14 is a similar verse except it says “for a time, and times, and half a time”.
4. Rev. 13-5 “And there was given unto him (the Beast, Antichrist) a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.”
To me these 4 are concurrent events, and inter-relate to the 4 gospel accounts of JESUS’ 3-1/2 year earthly ministry !
It is very significant that the book of Revelation, which is full of 7’s from beginning to end, never mentions a 7 year period of time, only 3-1/2 years, in 3 distinctive forms, (a 3 fold witness), one of which gives the time of Antichrist’s rule, Rev.13-5, (power was given unto him to continue 42 months) and the same 3-1/2 yr. period is quoted in Dan.7-25 & 12-7, again 3 witnesses!. Note that there is no mention whatever in Revelation of any league between Israel and the Antichrist !
After dealing with His own people, the Church, in Rev. 2 & 3, GOD turns to the nations on Earth, and between chaps. 4 and 9 we have a vision of the Heavenly Throne and of the four sore judgments poured out upon the nations that they (and Israel) might begin to “know that I AM the LORD” as Ezekiel proclaims some 63 times in his prophecy. How long this period is, the Bible does not declare, it depends upon the mercy of GOD, who would rather have all men come to the knowledge of Him, yet at the end of chap. 9 we find that, tho’ half of the population of the Earth has been destroyed, “the rest of the men that were not killed by these plagues repented not” – of their 5 fold sins of idolatry, murders, sorceries, fornication and thefts, Rev. 9-20/21. (Note the 5 fold rebellious “I will’s” of Lucifer Isa.14 12/14). (GOD’S remedy for our salvation was the five wounds on the Cross).
At this stage GOD’S patience is exhausted; JESUS descends from Heaven with a mighty shout, the roar of the Lion of Judah, proclaiming the 7 Thunders of Who GOD is and What HE is, each one of which means judgment on those who have rejected Him. JESUS swears by Heaven & Earth that “there will be no more delay”, the time has come to begin His 3-1/2 year heavenly ministry of vengeance on the wicked, (Isa. 61-2) the final stage immediately preceding His Glorious and Triumphant return as KING OF KINGS and LORD OF LORDS, as described in chaps. 11 to 19.
Let us look at the 7 Year Treaty – Tribulation Period Theory.
This occurs because of a wrong interpretation of Dan. 9-25 to 27. Let us see what it says.
1`……v.25 To the coming of Messiah the Prince was to be 69 weeks. (not to His departure)
2. After the 69 weeks (in the middle of the week!) shall Messiah be cut off, but not for Himself. (It was on our behalf) .
3……v.27 And He shall confirm the Covenant with many (Israel & the Gentiles, who are included in the Abrahamic Covenant) …… for one week; and in the midst of the week He shall cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease. (By His death on the Cross)
This is the crux of the problem. Notice (KJV) He is to confirm or ratify an existing Covenant (not make a new one) This Covenant goes right back to the Father’s promise that the seed of the woman would bruise the serpent’s head, and is repeated in various ways to Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses and David and the prophets. It is an Everlasting Covenant, and only JESUS could “confirm” it. Refer Strong’s ref.1396 Heb. Gabar “to be strong”, to be mighty, to prevail, be valiant”. In other words, by strong power to fulfil the Covenant, not inaugurate a “new” one. JESUS did all this when He fulfilled the Covenant as the LAMB of GOD, conquered sin, Satan, death and Hell on our behalf and rose triumphant o’er the grave, set free all those who had been confined in “Abraham’s bosom”-“led captivity captive”, and with them ascended to the Right Hand of the Father; and He is coming back again in power and glory. Hallelujah ! (To give all this glory to antichrist is quite blasphemous).
To suggest that the Antichrist would confirm an existing treaty such as the Oslo accord or Road Map is quite irrelevant .
Where the error occurs..
In Dan.9-26 it says, after Messiah has been cut off, “the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.” This of course refers to Titus and the Roman army who destroyed the Temple and ravaged the city of Jerusalem, killed 1 million Jews and sent the rest into exile. The problem with the 7 yr. treaty version is that in v.27 one has to take “He shall confirm the covenant” as referring to the Antichrist, (of whom there is no mention in the whole chapter, which has entirely to do with Israel and their Messiah,) and then change the scripture to “make a” covenant with the Jews for 7 years, rather than “confirm the” Covenant, thus changing two words in doing so. This is a serious error of interpretation; as is also the belief that JESUS only became “Messiah the Prince” at the end of His ministry, (when he was welcomed on his last entry into Jerusalem, Matt.21-1/11) thus making it 69-1/2 weeks to His Coming !
Whilst both teachings involve a gap of approx. 2000 years in the 70 weeks, the gap between the two halves of the 70th week confirms JESUS’ own teaching. Remember His lament when He cried, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets. and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, ye shall not see Me henceforth ’til ye shall say, Blessed is He that cometh in the Name of the LORD”. Matt. 23-37/39, When the people of Israel rejected their Messiah, called for Him to be crucified, and uttered those awful words “His blood be on us, and on our children”, they brought on themselves “the overspreading of abominations and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate”. For nigh on 2,000 years the Jews have been the offscouring of the world, have been driven out, killed and persecuted, but thanks be to our GOD, He is merciful, many Jews are back in their own land, and the time of the restoration of the Jews to favour is close at hand as prophesied in the 12th –14th chaps. of Zechariah..
The Bible is a book that we must prayerfully and diligently study, in fact Prov. 2-1/5 lists 8 things to do if we would “understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of GOD”. Too many people accept things taught without checking for themselves. If they did perhaps there wouldn’t be such a demand for all those fictional fairy stories as written in the “Left Behind” series. And perhaps we would have a better understanding of “end times” and be ready, as JESUS commanded, if we “Watch and pray always that we may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass and to stand before the Son of Man.” Amen.
. This is as learnt and taught by Bible Teachers in U.S.A., Australia, Indonesia, New Zealand & other countries.
Alfred Curtis, 27/2/2007 (Rev. 15/11/2011)
100 Bible Studies - Alfred Emmerson Curtis 