This video is the last little bit of a series of videos on the prophecies of Daniel
about the year when Jesus would die and about the exact day when he will return.
If you haven't done so already, please go through the first two videos, which are on your screen now.
Watch them through
and when you feel you understand them, come back here for a line-by-line interpretation of a chart
which appears in the second video, showing the exact number of days
between certain events that lead up to and immediately follow-on from the return of Jesus.
What you will have learned in the video on the last seven years
is that there is a final period of seven years before the return of Jesus
during which specific important events will take place
and these events will help us to count down to the day when Jesus will return.
In each video we try to remind people that the word for seven years in Hebrew is "week".
It's the same as the word we use for seven days.
So 70 weeks is actually seventy, seven year periods, or 490 years, just to clarify that.
Only the King James Version still uses the old word "week".
The part of the prophecy covered in the first video, that is, the first 69 of the 70 seven year weeks
is very clear and precise.
But as you move through the series, you'll notice that there's gradually
more room for error or disagreement about precisely what each verse is saying.
What makes Bible prophecy so complex
is that you have to build up various pieces into a coherent whole
and so a mistake in the first few steps would end up being miles off later on.
For that reason, we put a lot of effort into getting this core prophecy right, especially at the start of it.
By core prophecy, I mean the one this whole series is dealing with: "The 70 Weeks Prophecy", as it's called.
Here at the end of that prophecy, we start to see
how all of this fits together with many other prophecies that have not even been mentioned up to this point.
The encouraging thing is it does fit so neatly with so many other prophecies.
So I'm going to try to get this last little bit as clear as possible too
because it's something that interests a lot of people.
The fact that it can eventually be used to pinpoint the exact day when Jesus will return
makes it kind of a future version of the part that predicted his first coming
and which led to so many Jews expecting him at that time.
Okay, so let's go straight to the chart
the one which only appears momentarily in the second video.
I'm now gonna try to explain it line by line.
We started with seven years, that is, the last seven years of Daniels 490 year prophecy
about what was needed and what is still needed before the redemption of the human race will be finished.
But first, one little disclaimer: those last seven years are about a month short
of what we would call seven years by today's Gregorian calendars
and that's because the calendar used in Bible prophecies was based on the Babylonian year.
Babylonian calendars used 12 equal months of 30 days each, or a total of 360 days for one year.
Now, that's five and a quarter days short of a year within our Gregorian calendars.
There's a line in Matthew 24:22, which says
"Except those days should be shortened
(and it's talking about the terrible trouble that comes in the middle of the last seven years)
"Except those days should be shortened there should be no flesh saved
"but for the elects sake those days shall be shortened."
Now, this could be referring to the shortened year in Babylonian calendars
because Christians will literally be counting down every day at the end.
Because we'll be suffering more than any other time in history.
So shortening seven years by even one month could be a great relief
for those of us who are still alive at the end.
Anyway, the shorter Babylonian year is why we have the number of days shown here
in the first line on the chart, as 2520 days.
That's what you get by multiplying 84 months (that is 7 years X 12 months)
multiplying that 84 X 30 days, you get 2520 days.
This period of seven years is described in the 70 years prophecy in Daniel 9:27
where it says, "he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week (remember that's seven years)
"and in the midst of the week, he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease
"and for the overspreading of abominations he will make it desolate
"even until the consummation, and that determined, shall be poured upon the desolate."
There are three significant events referred to here, so let's look at them more closely.
These last seven years stretch from something called
"Confirming The Covenant" over here on the left.
Through some horrible abomination that results in the sacrifices ceasing
somewhere near the middle of the last seven years
and up to something called the "Consummation" being poured on the desolate, over here on the right.
The word consummation just means "the end".
It is significant that it is also used to refer to the start of a marriage.
It is significant because the other event linked to the return of Jesus
and the pouring out of God's wrath on the earth
is called "Marriage Supper Of The Lamb."
So it's the end of the old and the start of the new.
This marriage supper is something very spiritual that happens up in the sky, where Jesus is married
to his true followers, inside a structure referred to as the "New Jerusalem."
Do you see how all these other aspects of prophecy are popping up and coming together here?
"Pouring Consummation On The Desolate"
seems to be a phrase that refers to the end or (consummation) of God's patience.
When he literally pours out his wrath on all those people who have rejected him.
In the Revelation chapter 16
this is described as God pouring out seven bowls or seven vials of his fierce anger
on a disobedient and rebellious world.
In the middle of all this it says that "for the overspreading of abominations
"he (presumably the Antichrist) shall make it (presumably the temple) desolate."
Now, Jesus specifically urged his followers to understand
what this abomination of desolation was all about
because he said it was a very significant pointer to when he would return.
So, that's the sequence of events during the final seven years before Jesus returns.
The actual figure of 2520 days does not appear in the Bible.
But the figure for half of the last seven years is repeated in several places
and it is given as three and a half years, forty-two months, or 1260 days.
I've just doubled that here to give you the total number of days in all of the last seven years.
But there's another figure which pops up in the eighth chapter of Daniel verse 13
which is much closer to two thousand five hundred and twenty days.
This figure (2300 days) represents the amount of time between when animal sacrifices start in Jerusalem
through the abomination of desolation in the temple
until finally, this horribly desecrated temple is cleansed.
The key word "desolate" or "desolation" appears in both passages: Daniel 9:27 and Daniel 8:13.
What we're going to assume here is that when God's wrath is poured on the desolate people
and on the desolate temple, that is when the sanctuary is cleansed.
So, when you line up the two periods of time with both of them finishing at the same time
that is, when God starts to pour out his wrath on the desolate people
thus cleansing the temple, you get a discrepancy up two hundred and twenty days
or a bit over seven months over here at the start.
Now this may be the place to show how there's still some uncertainty with these figures.
If the period of 2300 days extends to the end of the wrath
it could shift over to the right here by some 45 days, which I'll explain in a moment.
But either way, the difference in the starting point is important.
It could be two hundred and twenty days or it could be two hundred and sixty-five days
depending on whether we're talking about the start or the finish of the wrath over here on the right.
S,o what is the difference between the two starting points?
One, for the seven-year timeline
and the other, which is two hundred and twenty or possibly two hundred and sixty-five days shorter.
Notice that the one timeline has to do with an agreement which confirms the covenant
while the other apparently has to do with the start of animal sacrifices.
The most popular theory is that "confirming the covenant"
has to do with some kind of agreement to rebuild the temple.
An agreement that makes the Jews think that the Old Covenant (or promise),
that they would become a great nation, has finally come to fruition
and the one with whom they make this agreement is more or less assumed to be their promised messiah.
Rebuilding the entire temple in just seven or eight months would be quite a feat
but there are Jewish zealots around today who are prepared to do just that
if they can just get approval to start construction.
Construction is hampered at the moment by the fact that the Muslim dome of the rock
stands on the site of the original temple
and Orthodox Jews believe that their temple must occupy that same site.
It may take some kind of radical international agreement
probably initiated and overseen by a world ruler, to get a temple up there without starting a huge war.
Now remember, we are guessing here
but it's a pretty educated guess, and it does bring together a lot of the other clues and pieces.
The theory is that point A on the chart is an agreement to rebuild the temple.
Point B is the resumption of animal sacrifices when the temple is completed and then opened to the public.
And Point C is the start or possibly the end of God's wrath being poured out on the earth's inhabitants
after the true followers of Christ have all been taken up to meet Jesus
in the New Jerusalem for forty-five days of celebrations.
Now we're going to move to the twelfth and final chapter of Daniel where he gives two other
unique periods of time, from which we get the period of 45 days that I just mentioned.
The Revelation makes numerous mentions of 1260 days
or three and a half years, for the second half of the last seven years.
However, in Daniel 12:11-12, at the very end of his prophecies
he says that there will be 1290 days remaining until the end, if you count
from the time that the sacrifices actually cease and the abomination is set up in the temple.
We've already been told that this abomination of desolation
happens in the midst of the last seven years, but not necessarily in the exact middle.
This period of 1290 days from the abomination until the end
suggests that the sacrifices cease 30 days before all those other 1260 day events begin...
kind of a one month warning before the start of the Great Tribulation.
This helps to make it clear why Jesus said for us to watch for that event.
We need to watch for it, because it gives us a 30-day warning to get out of there.
Daniel adds yet another figure here in these closing verses of his book
and this figure does not appear anywhere else in the Bible.
He says, "blessed is he that waits, and comes to the thousand, three hundred and thirty-five days."
So, here we have a further period of 45 days beyond the start of God's wrath
which I would assume represent just how long both the wrath and the marriage celebrations will take.
We have learned in other passages that the wrath of God only begins after the rapture
when all true believers are taken up to meet Jesus in the air...in the New Jerusalem.
It can be confusing at times when we hear about Jesus coming down and us going up.
But as I said earlier, that's because there is this huge celebration
which is called "The Marriage Supper Of the Lamb" up there in the sky, inside an incredibly huge structure
which is a thousand miles square and a thousand miles high, referred to as the "New Jerusalem."
It's during this marriage celebration between Jesus and his bride; well, the true church
that God sends his angels to pour out bowls of pure unadulterated wrath on the world below.
So it appears as this period of simultaneous celebration and suffering lasts for 45 days.
45 days of celebration for us and 45 days of the worst suffering possible for the people still left on Earth.
This is the only place in the Bible where we have such a figure: 1335 days.
It does seem to be the total length of 30 days before the Great Tribulation begins
1260 days of the tribulation itself, and the much worse pouring out of God's wrath after the tribulation
which appears to last for 45 days.
Now the period of time that is most emphasized in prophecy is this period of 1260 days
or 42 months, which is often described as the time of Great Tribulation.
During that time, a number of huge disasters strike the earth
and the antichrist makes war with all followers of Christ
possibly blaming us for having caused the disasters, since we will know ahead of time that they're coming.
Daniel refers to the antichrist making war with the Saints
in the seventh chapter of his prophecies (verses 21 to 22).
The antichrist is described as a horn on the head of a beast;
a horn that speaks great blasphemies against God.
So the Beast is the government and the horn is its leader.
He says, "I beheld, and the same horn made war with the Saints, and prevailed against them
"until the Ancient of Days (that's Jesus) came
"and the judgment was given to the Saints of the Most High.
(that's the battle of Armageddon which comes
at the very end of the wrath and at the very end of the wedding celebrations)
"And the time came that the Saints possessed the kingdom."
The same period of time (1260 days)
is used to describe how long the two witnesses prophesy to the world.
These are two men with incredible supernatural powers and protection from God
who repeatedly and dramatically warn the world of God's judgement
at the same time that the antichrist is slaughtering Christians.
This is mentioned in Revelation chapter 11:3
"I will give power unto my two witnesses and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days
"clothed in sackcloth."
Those Christians who've been listening to God and obeying Jesus up to this point
will be miraculously protected during that same period of time.
You can read about that in the twelfth chapter of the Revelation, where they're described as a woman:
"The woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared of God
"that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days."
Well, that's it!
We've drawn together passages from about ten different chapters in the Bible
to show how all of them fit together to give a fairly detailed picture of what to expect
leading up to the return of Jesus.
At this point in human history we can still pretty much say what Jesus said when he ascended to heaven:
"No man knows the day nor the hour when all this will happen."
So do not be easily fooled by all those con men
who come up with new predictions almost every month, here on YouTube
all saying Jesus is just about to return, or the rapture is just about to happen, or the tribulation is
just about to begin.
I'm not so sure that Jesus himself is still ignorant of when he'll return
considering that he's now resumed his full power as God.
But the bottom line for now is that we humans are still ignorant.
Yet Jesus and other New Testament writers repeatedly tell us
to study the signs of the times and especially to watch for this abomination of desolation.
Why?
Because as Paul said to the Thessalonians
"you are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief."
See, in the end every eye shall behold him
both the good guys and the bad guys will know the day and the hour at the very end.
So ignorance about when he will return is not absolute and eternal.
It's true that most of the world will be caught by surprise.
Caught because they did not listen to Jesus and because they did not study
the prophecy that Jesus told his followers to study.
But like Paul said to the Thessalonians
"We are children of the light, not children of darkness."
So we will be ready and waiting for Jesus when he returns.
So in conclusion, please study this chart.
Memorize it, copy it, and put it in your Bible and on your wall.
Stay open to the possibility that there may be some details that are still not crystal clear
but at the same time, observe things that are happening in the world and then line them up with this prophecy.
Just as the first 69 weeks of Daniels 70 week prophecy predicted when the Messiah would be crucified
so the final week tell us exactly when he will return.
"Lift up your heads, for the coming of your Lord draws nigh."
Amen.