THE TIME OF THE END

Finally we come to the end of Daniel’s last vision – chapter 12.

Notice that Chapters 10, 11 & 12 are all about one vision which, with incredible detail, walks him thru the future Persian and Greek empires. Daniel seems to understand the vision (10:1) but struggles at the end (12:8) as the vision merges almost seamlessly into End Times. (So do I!)

Let’s at least list what we can learn here...

• Michael the archangel stands for Daniel’s people - Israel
• A time of trouble is in store for them, like never before
• Those in God’s book will be delivered – a remnant survive
• It will be very decisive, even for the dead – raised to everlasting life or everlasting contempt. Take careful note, nothing here indicates resurrection of any other dead – ‘many will rise’
• 
  Many will travel extensively. (Approximately 500,000 people are airborne right now; approximately 12 million people go on a cruise each year; approximately 1.4 billion cars fill Earth’s roads – at least pre-COVID!)
• Knowledge will increase. (Heard of the internet?)
• The wise will shine, turning many to righteousness
• Things will run their course for 3 ½ years until this king (11:36) has managed to scatter ‘the power of the holy people’
• The wise will be purified, while the wicked won’t have a clue

Does that sound like God has given up on the nation of Israel, as many claim?

Finally we come to that mysterious Abomination of Desolation that will be set up (12:11) which we learn from the Olivet Discourse, will be ‘in the holy place’ (Matt 24:15) – 1,290 days after the daily sacrifice is taken away (9:27)

How long for? It looks like only for 45 days!                              

Maybe the ‘Great Tribulation’ (mega thlipsis – Matt 224:21) lasts for only 45 days, not 3 ½ years as many claim?

What will the Abomination of Desolation be?  Daniel doesn’t know, neither does Matthew and nor do I. Maybe it will depict sexual depravity based on Revelation 11:8.

What do you think?  

STUNNING HEADS-UP

Two years have passed since king Cyrus II of Persia proclaimed under God’s command that the temple must be rebuilt in Jerusalem – yes, a Gentile king proclaims this! (Ezra 1:1)                                        

A small percentage of Jews, mostly poorer folk, have gone back to Jerusalem but as for that replacement temple, it’s going to have to wait 15 years, while everyone gets comfortable. (Ezra 4 & Haggai 1:4)            

No wonder old Daniel mourns and fasts for 3 weeks! (Dan 10)  

Suddenly... a divine appearing so magnificent it sends him crashing on his face!                 

Like the previous vision (ch9) the decision was made to reveal more to ‘greatly beloved’ Daniel but this was delayed by spiritual battles. He now gets a stunning heads-up on the Persian & Greek Empires during the next 350+ years...so accurate that critics claim it was written after the fact. However Daniel assures us this is the truth: where and when it happened, even with witnesses. He learns more about that ‘little horn’ in the vision of Dan 8:9-14,  Antiochus Epiphanes IV (nicknamed ‘Epimanes’ or madman) in ch11:21-35, until suddenly there’s a break...

“...even to the time of the end: because it is yet for a time appointed.” (10:35)

We know Antiochus ‘Epiphanes’ (‘God Manifest’) defiled the temple, but not for all 2300 days (8:14) there’s more to come – someone else!              Now old Daniel gets more clues on that obscure Desolator in the last future 70^th Week...

• A king who magnifies himself above every god
  
• Speaks marvellous things AGAINST the God of gods
• Prospers until the indignation is accomplished
• He WILL get his just desserts – it’s already determined
• He will not regard the God of his fathers (a Jew!)
• He will not be interested in the desire of women. Gay?
• He will honour ‘the god of forces’, a strange god
• His military forces will rule ‘the many’ - Israel
• He will divide up the Land for gain
• He will clash with the king of the north (Russia?) and the king of the south (Egypt), even get to control Egypt , Libya and Ethiopia
• After devastating ‘many’ he will come to his end – helpless.

This hardly sounds like some Catholic pope.

More like a profane, blasphemous, militant, gay, greedy apostate messiah - possible from Syria/Iraq?

NEXT UP... What about that Abomination of Desolation?

THE DESOLATOR

DANIEL 9:27b – this is where it gets tricky!...                               

We must put aside our Christian pre-conceptions and read this with Daniel, a Jewish prince recording divine prophecy for his people and their holy city Jerusalem...

“On the wing of detestable things the desolator (shamem) will come and continue until the already decreed destruction is poured out on the desolator (shamem).”          (Jewish Publication Service version of the TANAKH (OT)

Mmm...very strange !        

What does ‘greatly beloved’ Daniel, elder statesman of Persia, know so far?                           

• The 2^nd temple must soon be built, only to be defiled by some tyrant (Antiochus Epiphanes) during the coming Greek Empire.
• This time-line from reconstruction of Jerusalem leaves Messiah ‘cut off’ after 483 years!
• The city and temple will be destroyed for a SECOND time!... probably by that 4^th dreadful empire (Rome)
• To cap it off, THIS SAME EMPIRE will sometime in the distant future make a 7 year pact with Daniel’s people but break it halfway thru, stopping the sacrifices i.e. there must be a THIRD TEMPLE built!... and be in place during the days when they make a pact with the Gentiles!

This unholy ‘covenant’ must be appalling to a godly Jew like Daniel, and here it is in Isaiah 28:18... “We have made a covenant with death, and with hell we are in agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass thru, it shall not come unto us, for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves.”

Now he learns that... in place of sacrifices there comes a DESOLATOR (shamem)  introducing what is overwhelming (kanaph) and detestable (shiqquts) – until he gets his just desserts.

Yes, Messiah has been violently done away with, in favour of what is utterly disgusting – only briefly though! Everlasting righteousness must come next!

There are 3 persons here, in fact 4!...

• Messiah is the star player
• ‘the prince that shall come’ (Vespasian)...and TWO OTHERS, unnamed and obscure:
• the ‘he’- another Gentile leader confirming a covenant, and...
• this DESOLATOR.

No wonder Daniel says nothing - he must be absolutely gobsmacked.

 

at last....THAT 70TH WEEK!

 

At last we come to that hot topic: the 70^th Week in Daniel 9:27...       

Surely we can all agree that 69 of the 70 Weeks (i.e. 483 years) are now history – leaving Messiah cut off, the last Israel saw of Him. 

Watch carefully – there is no mention of the Church, no mention of dispensations – this is all about the nation of Israel.                        

Notice that the last person spoken of in v26 is ‘the prince that shall come’ but he is not identified (and certainly is NOT called antichrist). We know from history this was ‘Imperator Titus Flavius Caesar Vespasianus Augustus’ aka Vespasian, but there were many other Roman emperors called Caesar and his identity is not needed for this Jewish prince, Daniel.                                          

You will also notice that this 70^th Week has been kept discreet from the 69 Weeks prior, by none other than God’s angel Gabriel. There is a gap of AT LEAST 40 years because it must allow for time between Messiah being cut off and the destruction of Jerusalem in 70AD.                            

How many years in total? We are not told: the ‘desolations determined’ are not specified. All we know is that the Jewish temple sanctuary has NOT existed since 70AD - even to today! Remember this is Jewish prophecy so we must read it as a Jew like Daniel would.

When we open at v27 for the 70^th Week we find this ‘prince’ back on the scene!  It CANNOT be Messiah because He has been CUT OFF after 69 Weeks (no mention of resurrection) and this would defy standard English grammar anyway.  This is just like saying the U.S. President authorised the bombing of Hiroshima, and later...the U.S. President authorised the embassy to be move to Jerusalem: more than 70 years apart.

Not only is the ‘Roman prince’ back on the scene but there MUST BE a new sanctuary in Jerusalem for ‘the sacrifice and oblation to cease’ halfway thru a 7 year covenant – never occurred before in history.            

(No, this cannot refer to Jesus Christ’s crucifixion bringing an end to sacrifices – they continued business as usual until 70AD.)  

Keep in mind – time is very short!                          

IN JUST SEVEN (7) YEARS, Israel must go from rejecting Messiah (v26) just as it is today..... to ALL 6 CONDITIONS (v24) met, including EVERLASTING RIGHTEOUSNESS! 

NEXT UP: Abominations that make desolate??

IS MESSIAH A PROPHET?

Digging further into that back-bone of prophecy: the '70 Weeks', nice and slowly. Half a verse this time: Daniel 9:26b after 69 Weeks (483 years)...  

Israel has been expecting their Messiah for centuries. They obviously missed the meaning of Abraham having to offer Isaac as a sacrifice (Heb 11) in the same land of Moriah as Jerusalem (Gen 22), but they knew...

• ‘the sceptre shall not depart from Judah’ - Gen 49:10
• ‘a Star shall arise out of Jacob’ - Nu 24:17
• ‘the throne of David shall be established forever’ - 2 Sam 7:16
• ‘a virgin shall conceive and bear a Son...Immanuel’ – Is 7:14
• ‘I will send my messenger and he shall prepare the way before Me’ – Mal 3:1
• ‘out of thee (Bethelehem) shall he come forth unto Me that is to be ruler in Israel’ – Mic 5:2

A King that would deliver them from the Romans ? Yes we’ll have that saviour! (No wonder the Roman army was on high alert and Pontius Pilate acted so desperately!)

A Prophet who tells us God’s mind? Maybe we’ll listen... (Matt 21:11)

A High Priest who reminds us of our sinfulness?  (Heb 3:1...)                    No thanks, we have our own priests to handle that business.

Messiah is ‘cut off’ suddenly, EXACTLY when Gabriel predicted 483 years after the rebuilding order was given.                                                       What did He prophecy only 3 days earlier?...

“See these great buildings? There shall not be left one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down”  Mk 13:2

Gabriel got it right: “the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary”. Roman general Titus did this under orders from his father Caesar Vespasian in 70AD, as recorded by historian Flavius Josephus.

How long for are ‘desolations determined’? It is NOT specified.               

The Western Wall stands as mute witness and...                                   
there has been NO JEWISH SANCTUARY on TEMPLE MOUNT ever since 70AD!

NEXT UP: That very sticky ‘70^th Week’

MESSIAH CUT OFF ??

At last, we come to the ‘70 Weeks’ time-line: worth taking step by little step.                                              

Why?  This is the back-bone of Jewish prophecy giving us the all-important both advents of Messiah - in just 3 verses!                            

Only here do we find ‘Mashiyach’ named (Messiah) – the star of this production. (antichrist is NOT named here so let’s not pencil him in!)

Are we wiser than God’s prophet Daniel?... greatly beloved in heaven, and prime minister of the greatest empire in its day: Medio-Persia.

From Nebuchadnezzar’s image dream, Daniel has known for 70 years that his people, the Jews, would be subjugated to 4 world empires beginning with Babylon (ch2). During the 3^rd year of Belshazzar’s reign Daniel learned that the subsequent empires would be Medio-Persia, as of now, then Greece yet in the future. (He still does not know who that fearsome 4^th empire will be – Rome!)

Daniel knows the temple has been destroyed by Babylonians, that it must be rebuilt soon, only to be defiled during the coming Greek Empire (ch8)   In other words, these world empires are those that impact on God’s holy mountain, especially on the perpetual daily sacrifice at the temple.

Now, watch as the focus shifts from the temple to the coming Messiah...in Daniel 9:25-26a

The time-line begins with Persian king Artaxerxes Longimanus giving cup-bearer Nehemiah written authority to rebuild Jerusalem. (Neh 2)  By this time the Jews will have returned to Judaea 100 years earlier, 91 years after the temple replacement has been already built.  Rebuilding of the city will take 7x7=49 years and then a further 62x7=434 years will elapse before suddenly.... Messiah appears on the scene!   

Can you see any reference to Christ’s birth? or His baptism? or His ministry? No, but that's what so many love to pencil in.                      

What is this time-line giving us here?                                               Messiah’s first public advent                                                     

After those 69x7=483 years Messiah is CUT-OFF, with nothing! (Not 69 ½ years) 
No throne, no jewelled crown, no earthly kingdom, no honour...not even His own clothes. 

NOTHING.

NEXT UP: MESSIAH was rejected as King, but was He at least a prophet?

THE BACKBONE OF PROPHECY: '70 WEEKS'

At last we come to the ’70 WEEKS’ prophecy!

Why are they called ‘Weeks’ of years, as proven by the unfolding of history?  It goes right back to father Jacob - Mr. Israel - serving 7 more years for his sweet-heart Rachel, as if they were just days. (Gen 29:20)    She must have been a stunner!...or perhaps Jacob needed an optician? He was after all... in his 70’s!                                           

Why is this referred to as the ‘back-bone of prophecy’? In just 3 verses we get a time-line for the coming of Messiah, in fact...
for both advents of Messiah!                                    

Make no mistake... This is what it is all about – NOT ANTICHRIST the false messiah, but the REAL MESSIAH. (Luke 24:44)

Here are the 6 conditions that must be met WITHIN these 70 Weeks of years (v24)...

• Finish the transgression
• Make an end of sins
• Make reconciliation for iniquity
• Bring in everlasting righteousness
• Seal up the vision & prophecy
• Anoint ‘the most holy’

What this all means exactly, especially who or what ‘the most holy’ refers to, I don’t know and neither does anyone else, so it seems. What we CAN be sure of is that this prophecy applies to God’s people ISRAEL and God’s HOLY CITY, even God’s HOLY MOUNTAIN.

Don’t miss how God and Daniel are on the same page about this.

There is plenty of eye-witness to Israel’s last view of Messiah nailed up naked to die drenched in His own blood outside ‘the city of the Great King’, and there is plenty of eye-witness to what is celebrated in the streets of Jerusalem today.

I leave it to you to decide whether ALL 6 conditions of this ‘70 Week’ prophecy have ever been fulfilled in Israel’s history. I vote a resounding ‘NO!’.   

NEXT UP: that 70 Week time-line...