For other end-times blog posts, check out these articles.
The End Times Prophesies – Dan 9:24-27
End-time prophecies are confusing. When I started reading Revelations, there were constant references to other parts of the Bible that dealt with End-Times prophesies. I must admit, I found it very confusing, and to a degree I still do. So, for the beginner, I will post a few articles that will provide the lowdown of what I understand about End-Times Prophecy in the Bible. (As always, this is based on my gleanings from reading various authors, and the articles and books will be listed at the bottom of the blog.)
Where to start
From my perspective, all of the end-times prophesies begin with the events recorded (prophesied) in the Book of Daniel. Specifically, Daniel 9:24-27. These four verses are the backbone to all the other prophetic proclamations. Without understanding this, the rest is confusing. (1)
Daniel 9:24-27
“Seventy ‘sevens’ are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the Most Holy Place. “Know and understand this: From the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens.’ It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble. After the sixty-two ‘sevens,’ the Anointed One will be put to death and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed. He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’ In the middle of the ‘seven’ he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And at the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.” (NIV)
So, that means for one to understand the many prophetic messages in the Bible, one needs to understand this passage in Daniel. This revelation comes as the Israelite Babylonian captivity are over, at which time a remnant of Israel returned to rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple.
Of 490 prophesied years, only seven remain
God revealed this plan for Israel, delivered to Daniel by the angel Gabriel. This plan spans 490 years or seventy sevens and ends with the second coming of Christ, the Messiah. These 490 years are described in Daniel 9:24-27 as seven-sevens, sixty-two sevens and finally a one-seven. (7 + 62 + 1 = 70 weeks or sevens = 490 years). The first part of this plan was accomplished when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the back of a colt of a donkey, on Palm Sunday, 483 years later. So, the first 483 years (69 sevens) of the prophesied 490 years are done.
John 12:12-15
12 The next day the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. 13 They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting,
“Hosanna!”
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Blessed is the king of Israel!”
14 Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, as it is written: 15 “Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion;
see, your king is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt.” (NIV)
That means only one seven (7 years) of the prophecy is left. One seven-year period remains, with a very large span of time between Jesus’s entry into Jerusalem and now.
Things to come prior to the last seven years
In Daniel’s prophesy, three things had to happen after the 483 years before the last seven began:
- Jesus was crucified (Daniel 9:26a) – Scripture speaks to Jesus’s death: Isaiah 53:8 and Matt 16:21
- The Temple and the city of Jerusalem would be destroyed (Daniel 9:26b) – Romans destroyed Jerusalem and the temple in 70 AD.
- Wars will continue unabated until the last one of sevens begins. (Daniel 9:26c)
I would say, all three things have happened or are still happening. We still have wars and are awaiting Christ’s return.
A Pause – in God’s Timing
Then, once again, we see the pause in God’s timing. There is a span of time, and an unknown span of time, at the end of the 483 years (69 sevens), before the last one of the sevens will take place. We are living in that time of pause. Christian historians and theologians refer to this time as the Church Age. This is because the Church that Jesus Christ helped establish in Acts (Acts 2:4, Pentecost and grew thereafter) through the anointing of the Holy Spirit has the role of spreading the good news of the Bible. The Church has become the light; the beacon drawing people to Jesus Christ, as Saviour and Lord.(2)
Church is the Beacon
Initially, God had planned for Israel, his chosen people, to be the light to the world of darkness and sin, but they failed to recognize the Messiah, Jesus Christ. In fact, they rejected and crucified him. So, the Church has become that beacon.
(1) Barrier, Roger, Dr. Will Christians Witness the Second Coming? When is the Rapture? And More End Times Questions.
(2) Tsarfati, Amir. The Last Hour – An Israeli Insider Looks at the End times, 2018.