"Why should I be interested in prophecy?" we might ask ourselves. "Is not prophecy just one of those things for theologians to discuss or debate? something that only super saints can understand?" Well, this book about prophecy is being written from the perspective that this assumption is not valid--that the prophetic Word was actually written for the Church universal and not for a select few.

In the prophetic passage of Mark 13:34-37 (a passage riddled with prophecies for the end of our age), Jesus expresses His desire, His concern, that all His servants be alert to the end-time signs of prophecy and watching for His prophesied return to the earth. The following verses contain our Lord's charge concerning the prophecy of Scripture.

So, we're to watch; but, how are we to watch and what are we to watch for? This is where prophecy comes to bear; for this matter of "watching" is entwined in the prophetic Word. The only way we can know what to "watch for" is to study prophecy and to understand the prophetic portions of the Word.

As to how we are to watch, Jesus left us some insight into our prophetic watching by comparing it to the keeping of an eye on the weather (Mt. 16:2-3; Lk. 12:54-55). If we are mentally alert and keeping an eye on the sky, knowing the signs that precede bad weather, we can be prepared for an impending storm. Similarly, if we know the end-time signs of prophecy and we are mindful of them, we can be prepared for the apocalyptic storms of the prophesied end time. And by the way, the only way that the understanding of this prophetic Word can be imparted to those who study prophecy is by the quickening of the
Spirit of Prophecy. Consequently, as a person studies prophecy, he or she must be aware of their dependence upon the Holy Spirit and be sure that there are no unconfessed sins between themselves and the Giver of prophecy--that all known sins have been duly confessed and put under the blood of Christ.

Also, from the prophet Daniel we learn that as we approach prophecy, our attitude is important (see Daniel chapter 9). Oh, that because of our unselfish prayers and repentant heart, God might send the angel Gabriel to each of us with understanding of things to come!

And then let's not forget that, as the ol' country preacher put it, "There's uh payday uh coming!" Although rather crudely put, still, the essence is there; for Jesus told us that when He returns, He will reckon with His servants as well as with those who had no place for Him. True, rewards are not to be the primary reason that we serve Christ. Hopefully, we can serve Him out of love. Nevertheless, Christ saw fit to let us know that there will be a day when the believer must give account of what he or she has done in this flesh. Actually, there will be three such prophesied reckoning when Adam's offspring will be rewarded and/or judged.

[1] The first reckoning yet to come will be the Judgment Seat of Christ which will take place some time after the Rapture of the Church (I Cor. 3:7-15). This time of judgment will be exclusively for the Church and it will have to do with rewards for obedience to Christ and His Word. For the believers who have walked so as not to quench or to grieve the Holy Spirit, there will be bulging pay envelopes, while for the carnal Christians there will be only the stench of the smoke from their hay and stubble [works] going up in flames.

[2] The second reckoning will be associated with the Second Event of the Lord's Second Coming when He returns from heaven with His Bride (the Church) at the end of the first 1/2 of Daniel's 70th Week to set up His earthly Kingdom for its prophesied 1,000 year reign [Mt. 25:31-46].

[3] The third reckonings will take place near the end of the Kingdom Age when those living at the time will receive the rewards due them, and the unbelieving of all the ages will receive what's due them.(For more on these prophesied times of rewards and judgments, see booklet 8).

So, for those of our age who have understanding of prophecy and have been watching for His return, and who have been working for the kingdom while watching, there will be rewards; but this will not be the case for the uncaring, slothful servants who must enter into heaven empty handed. And by the way, this reward system will be as shown in Matthew 25. It will not be a system that lines up with man's way of thinking, but one that will be utterly fair and just according to the dictates of a perfect, gracious, and just God.

The salvation that Christ wrought for us at Calvary is good, for it is great to experience the lifting of guilt in our lives, the deliverance from the power of canceled sin, and the joy and leadership of the Holy Ghost in our day to day existence. And there is immeasurable comfort in knowing that the second death no longer has any hold over us who are in Christ Jesus. But it is also good that through the eyes of the prophets, we can see glimpses of the glorious future that awaits the believer in Christ—a future that holds much more that just a mansion in the sky. And by the way, though it is rarely considered, we have this hope of a mansion and all the other glories that await us in heaven only because of the prophecy of the Scriptures. Selah.

True, the Bible tells us that the work of Christ was "finished" on Calvary, but the death without the resurrection would have been a vain thing. We who now face physical death can do so with hope only because He who died for us now lives again in us and through us by His Spirit. However, if our hope in Christ is for this life only, we of all men are most wretched (I Cor. 15:19). But this is not the case, however, and among other things, this book will deal with God's prophetic promises and plans for the future of the Church, and with how they fit onto His prophetic Clock of the Ages.

Thus, we are to be alert and to "watch", and the only way that we can know what to watch for is to study the prophetic Word. A logical place to begin any study is at the beginning; so, prophecy being no exception, let's begin with the "Beginning. "In the beginning was the Word," we're told of Jesus at the time of the creation (Jn. 1:1). And again we read in John, "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,)…" (Jn. 1:14). In actuality, Jesus is the beginning and the ending of all things ordained and approved of God, Alpha and Omega being one of His titles; so, to zero in on His prophetic words is to study prophecy in its purest form. After all, Who has a better understanding of the mind of God and of His prophetic plans for man than His Only Begotten Son, Jesus, Who lived and died just to bring those plans to pass?

Because of its authority, its length, and its content, we've chosen our Lord's prophetic teaching on the Mount of Olives as the text for our prophetic study. Also, because Matthew's account of the Olivett discourse is the most thorough in all the Gospel's and because in Matthew's account we get the best feel for the chronological order of things to come, we've chosen to start with his version recorded in chapters 24 and 25. And an important version it is, for it is filled with apocalyptic (prophetic) keys that the Church must have to unlock the prophetic portions of the Word. In fact, this prophetic Olivett discourse can be thought of as the bridge between the Old and the New Testament prophets—the prophetic glue that holds together the old and new prophecies of God's Clock of the Ages.

Moreover, as we approach Matthew 24 and 25, we should be aware that there are many concepts and keys from other passages in the Bible that deal with prophecy; and these concepts and keys must be fitted into place with the things taught in the Olivett discourse if we are to lay a solid foundation on which to build our prophetic understanding.

Furthermore, as we begin laying our prophetic foundation, we need to keep in mind the Scripture's claim of inspiration and inerrancy. We are writing this book with the assurance that the Holy Spirit, when He was writing the Scriptures, used men that were sensitive to Him, who would record the Word of God just as He wanted it (II Pet. 1:21; Ps. 119:89; Mt. 5:18; II Tim. 3:16). Also, because the Bible is filled with apocalyptical passages that will not be understood until it is time for the Spirit to give understanding, it is critical to these prophetic passages that the Word be accurately preserved. It is the position of this book that the older manuscripts have been so preserved and that their accuracy was faithfully translated into English in the original King James Version. True, there are many good translations of the Bible on the market that add to our enjoyment of the Word of God. Nevertheless, as we approach prophecy, we should be aware that the King James Version, because it is free of man's attempts to clarify or to simplify, is the Bible to use. And this is true not just for prophecy, but for all things critical to our spiritual life.

Also, there is a myth that we need to address before we get into our study of prophecy. Prevalent in all churches today is the belief that because God's thoughts are as far above ours as the heavens are above the earth, so is God's Word too deep to be understood by man. In fact, many believe that we can understand little of it and that not too clearly. This belief is contrary to both Scripture and to logic. As to the Scriptures, they, themselves, command us to study the Word to show ourselves approved unto God. In fact, those who are not intimately acquainted with the Scriptures are reprimanded many places in the Bible for their slothfulness in the matter. And as to logic, well, what person would spend his time writing a large letter to another in some mysterious language that he knew the person he was writing could not understand? It would be a waste of his time and of the time of the person who would try to read it. Now, if man is smart enough not to enter into such a futile exercise, how much wiser is our God? Therefore, this book is being written on the premise that every word of God, prophecy included, is to be understood by those to whom it is written as per the following conditions:

• The reader must obey God and read it.

• His heart be right toward God and his neighbor.

• He must rely upon the Holy Spirit and not the wisdom of man to give understanding.

• He must not read it with preconceived ideas--denominational or otherwise.

• His understanding will increase proportionally to his spiritual growth; and it will be revealed to him in due time as it is needed in his own particular spiritual walk.

So then, in summation, before Christ left the earth, He commanded all believers to "watch" for His return; and so that they might know what to look for as they watch, he left an understandable word of prophecy for His Church. Because His prophetic discourse in Matthew 24 and 25 pulls all the prophecies of the Bible together, we have chosen to use this passage as the text for our study of prophecy. In addition, we will go to other prophetic passages in the Bible for the concepts and keys needful to lay a good foundation for our study.

As we begin our study of the prophecies of Matthew 24 and 25, we'll immediately see the need for a Scriptural base for our study. For example, we'll see the need for understanding the importance of the temples in the Jewish culture so that we can see how they fit into the prophetic scheme of things. Also, as we get on into our study, we'll see the need for some comprehension of just what is involved in the dispensations or ages of prophecy—the increments on the face of the prophetic Clock of the Ages. Hopefully, as we begin to lay more and more "stones of revelations" into a foundation for our study, a logical pattern for our prophetic excursions will emerge.

Let's go now to Matthew 24, verses 1 and 2:

In addition to its stand on the accuracy of the Scriptures, this book also approaches the Word from the perspective that each word has been chosen and arranged so as to help convey exactly what God intends to impart to the reader. For example, Jesus went out.... One doesn't leave a building unless he's planning to go somewhere and do something, right? Well, the Holy Spirit had a reason to record our Lord's leaving the temple; for the temple was at the heart of the Jew's religion, being the place for sacrifice and worship as per the Law of Moses. And Jesus is leaving this temple and prophesying about its bleak future just before going to the Mount of Olives where He will teach His disciple about things yet to come—things that would include the end of their Age of the Law as well as the end of the Age of Grace they would soon be instrumental in installing. According to John the Baptist, the law came by Moses but grace and truth by Jesus Christ (Jn. 1:17); and truly Jesus was just before "leaving" the dispensation of the law and installing the dispensation or age of grace in which we now live. So, Jesus went out of the temple—an action full of prophetic symbolism, for He not only left the temple, but He prophesied its utter destruction saying not one stone would be left standing upon another.

And let's consider the prophetic ramifications of the scene. Here we have the disciples wanting to show Jesus the buildings of the temple. This was a temple of which there is no record of its construction being ordered by God. It was commonly known as Herod's temple for he either had it constructed on the site of Zerubbabel's temple or else he had the old temple reconstructed, but with a new splendor. But be that as it may, why would the disciples want to show Jesus the already familiar buildings of the temple? unless it was to open the door to the prophetic teachings of Matthew 24 & 25? After all, the fulfilling of these prophecies would begin with its destruction.

Because of the importance of the temple in the life of the Jews, a brief look at the temples in the Bible should be a part of the foundation of our prophetic studies. As we've said, the temples were always at the center of the relationship between Jehovah God and His people. In fact, a good part of the prophecies of Scripture were spoken in these temples; and as we've said, the temples themselves were often the object of these prophecies. In these temples, special prayers and prescribed offerings were made. In the holy of holies in the center of the temple, the sacred Ark of the Covenant was kept. It was in the holy of holies that the high priest had to go once a year and stand in the presence of God Almighty with the sin offering for the people. This was first done in the wilderness in the tabernacle—a tent designed by God and built by Moses for use as a portable temple.

Later on, the tabernacle was replaced by a stationary temple built by King Solomon—a temple that was held in awe by all because of its wealth and splendor. (Although King David wanted to build the temple, he couldn't because he had been a man of war. Instead, the task of building the temple was mandated to his son Solomon who was a type of the prophesied Christ in that he had been promised a reign of peace.) The temple stood for some four hundred years. As prophesied, it was destroyed by the Babylonian Empire around 586 B.C.

Israel's next temple was Zerubbabel's temple--built at the time of the nation's return from their 70-year captivity. It stood some five hundred years. Its fate during the 400 years of silence between the Old and New Testaments is rather vague; but we do know that, at the least, it suffered severe vandalism.

In addition to these actual temples of the Old Testament, in Ezekiel 40:1-47:12, Ezekiel records for Israel a lengthy and complicated vision of a temple. The account of the vision is full of numerology and symbolism, concepts associated mainly with prophecy, and the vision seems to cover the whole panorama of those things associated with all of Israel's temples. For example, the different degrees of the presence of the Holy Spirit in their midst per each succeeding age is represented by the river of the sanctuary with its different depths. Ankle high represents the Age of Promise, knee high the Age of the Law, up to the loins the Kingdom Age, and over the head the new heaven and the new earth (Ez. 47:5). Also, Ezekiel's use of numerology is apparent. We see this in the seven steps and the eight steps leading upward to the outward court. Symbolically, the seventh age or Kingdom Age wherein the prophesied Christ, the living Temple of God, will be ruling the world from Jerusalem is suggested by the seven steps of Ezekiel 40:22. Likewise, the eight steps of Ezekiel 40:31 allude to the eighth age (world without end—Eph. 3:21) with its new heaven and new earth. During this time of the new heaven and the new earth, the glorified saints of all the ages will be fulfilling prophecy by collectively forming a living Temple that will be filled with the presence of the Eternal God!

At the time of the prophetic discourse on the Mount of Olives, the Church had not been birthed, the Grace Age was yet to be installed; and the spiritual significance of the temple as per Ezekiel's prophetic vision seemed to be far removed from the disciples' minds. We can deduce this from Matthew 24:1b where we are told that the disciples came to Jesus "…for to shew him the buildings of the temple" (Mt. 24:1b). As we've noted, King Herod was responsible for the splendor of the temple of their day; and the disciples' behavior in verse one of our text seems to reflect the nation's inordinate pride in that temple. Jesus had tried to teach the Jews that their worship of the temple was misplaced—that they were not revering the temple because of the significance of its sacrifices or the presence of God, but for cultural and social reasons. But in spite of three years of such teaching, the majority of the Jews continued to glory in the temple because it traditionally tied them to Father Abraham and they felt that this relationship elevated them above the rest of mankind. They also continued to honor it because they felt that it honored them—linking them to the Law of Moses in which they made their boast. It didn't matter that their hearts were far from God or that they didn't bother to keep the law. They had the law and were thereby better than their neighbors, or so they thought. Therefore, the throwing down of the temple not only signified a change of dispensations from law to grace, but as we can see from our Lord's dire prophecy, it also brought with it a severe judgment upon the hypocritical Israelites and the total destruction of the object of their misplaced affections.

In our study of the temples of Israel and their role in prophecy, we mentioned that Jesus was bringing one age to an end just before installing another; so, while we're laying the groundwork for our teaching, there is another term that we need to examine: namely, the prophetic ages/dispensations of the Bible. (See the prophetic study chart of the Ages at the end of this chapter.) There will be seven such dispensations before time runs out.

The first age on the prophetic time line is known as the Age of Innocence. This was the time of Adam and Eve in the garden before the fall. As with all the ages, it was assigned a test that could bring blessings or judgment; and as with all ages, we're told of the failure and the consequential judgment. The test in the garden was "…of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it" (Gen. 2:17). They ate of it! The resultant judgment was a curse on the earth and death to all the seed of Adam. This death is two-fold: the death of the spirit in man which took place the day they ate of the tree and the death of the body which took place in Adam's life some nine hundred and thirty years later. Both aspects of this death are now the lot of mankind.

The second age on the prophetic time line is named after a very important ingredient in God's plan of redemption for fallen man; i.e., the Age of Conscience. The conscience was put in fallen man to work in conjunction with the Ten Commandments written in his heart. It was given to man to help bring him back to his Maker. The conscience agrees with God's law and convicts man when he falls short of its just demands. (This work of conviction is the first step in genuine conversion.) Under the Age of Conscience, man who now knew both good and evil, was expected to do the good and to shun the evil. (Also, from Cain and Abel we're given to understand that they were also to offer the blood sacrifices: a ritual prevalent in all ages up to Christ.) Man failed in this age as well and the resulting judgment was the Flood.

The third dispensation of the prophetic time line is the Age of Human Government. After the flood, God commanded man through Noah to scatter and replenish the population of the earth. They disobeyed. The tower of Babel was the fruit of their rebellion, and their judgment was the confusion of tongues and a distrust of one another. It is also possible that the races of mankind were a part of this judgment.

The fourth age included on the time line of prophecy is labeled as the Age of Promise—the dispensation given to Abraham. History tell us that the patriarchs, Abraham's sons and grandsons, failed this age with the most gracious of all the covenants between God and the seed of Adam. All they had to do was stay in the land, trust God, and receive His blessings. Instead, as prophesied, they became ungodly in their ways. As a result, they brought upon themselves an awful drought that drove them into Egypt where they eventually went into the bondage of slavery at the hands of the Egyptians. This bondage was their judgment.

Moses was then raised to bring the Jews out of Egypt and to deliver to them the law. Because of their failure to spiritually discern the law, it put them under bondage to the flesh—the state they were in when their Messiah came. Under the dispensation of the law, the fifth of the prophetic ages, the Jews were given a list of sacrifices for righteousness and the law to help them conduct their lives. Because of the hardness of their hearts, they failed to perceive the meanings of the sacrifices or the purpose of the law; and as prophesied, they ended up playing the part of the hypocrite. Because their hearts were far from God, they didn't understand that the blood sacrifices given to Adam pointed forward to the sacrificial death of Christ whereby God could declare the faithful of all ages to be righteous. Instead, they felt that their blood lineage to Abraham established their righteousness; and because they were smug in their own self-righteousness, they died in their sin and plunged their descendants into the "outer darkness" in which they flounder today.

Then, in the fullness of time, as prophesied, Christ came to die a substitutionary death on the cross (Gal. 4:4-5). By His life and death, He fulfilled all the requirements of the law and the types of its sacrifices on man's behalf—thereby establishing the sixth dispensation on the prophetic time line: the Age of Grace in which we are currently living. In this age we are commanded to repent and believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. We, too, will fail; we are told! We'll end up with a form of religion that will deny the faith and the power once delivered to the Church. Our judgment will be two-fold. First, a period of tribulation that will try the whole world; and then, after the Church is raptured, the first half of the time of God's wrath will be poured out upon the remaining inhabitants of the earth. For three and one-half years the world will be in the prophesied winepress of God's wrath.

All of this brings us to the seventh and final age of prophecy. We're told that at the end of the 3 1/2 years of God's wrath at the end of our age, Christ will return from heaven with His Church and His holy angels for a great battle against satanic forces, the Beast, and mankind here on earth. After the battle, He'll set up His kingdom and the Kingdom Age. This Kingdom Age will last for a millennium or a thousand years. Strangely enough, mankind will also fail in this dispensation—even when he has the opportunity to walk with his God. At the end of the thousand years, it is prophesied that Satan, who will have been bound and confined in hell for the duration of the Millennium, will be loosed. Once more, he'll gather man around him and at the end of another three and one-half year period of God's wrath (the last half of Daniel's prophesied seventieth week—see next chapter for the Scriptural study) he will again do battle with Christ. The final judgments prophesied for mankind will take place at the end of the Kingdom Age. This will be the time that Satan and his fallen angels and all who have been deceived by him—all whose names are not written in the Lamb's Book of Life—will hear their final decree and will be cast into the Lake of Fire to burn for ever and ever. (See the study chart on the ages and their covenants.)

If we'll consider the lot of the born-again believer, we'll observe that all seven prophetic dispensations on the Clock of the Ages are manifested. The age of innocence in the little child holds sway until his conscience kicks in, and at that time human government comes into play and he finds authority figures all around him. Then one day, he hears the good news that Jesus could and would save him from the sin and guilt that the law has been making manifest in his life. Upon receiving Jesus as his Savior, he is born again into the kingdom of God and becomes a joint-heir with Christ, capable of walking in the grace and goodness of God in this life and having the promise of eternal blessing in the life to come.

But not so the unbelievers, for they will be under the prophesied judgments of all the ages. In the last day they will hear their Maker say, "Depart from me, ye that worketh iniquity, I never knew you." We're told that the angels will take all such unbelievers and cast them into the Lake of Fire where they will burn forever and ever. This is why Jesus spent so much of His time here on earth warning men to flee from that dreadful place to come.

So then, in the first two verses of Matthew 24, we see Jesus leaving the temple—the heart of the Jewish religion during the Age of the Law—and going out to establish the sixth of the seven ages of prophecy determined upon mankind; i.e., the Age of Grace. Now that we've familiarized ourselves with the ages/dispensations of the Scriptures, let's go to the book of Daniel and pick up a key that is critical to any study of the prophetic Word; i.e., Daniel's seventy weeks.

In any study of prophecy, the difference between God's foreknowledge and His predestination should be noted. His foreknowledge lies in His ability to see the end from the beginning: it is simply His ability to know beforehand what is going to happen. His predestination, though, is His bringing to pass those things that must be for His ultimate will to be accomplished. Sometimes it is possible for His ultimate will to be brought to pass with the cooperation of man; but often it is accomplished in spite of man's efforts, and many of the things that God has predestined for the nation of Israel fall into this last category. God has called Israel to do certain things that must be done; but because of her predisposition to be unwilling, many of those things have been "determined" upon her—Daniel's seventy prophetic weeks being an example of such. "Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end to sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy" (Daniel 9:24).

Daniel's seventy weeks is a critical key to the unlocking of the mysteries of prophecy, but the term itself lends more to questions than it does to answers. For example, just what did Daniel mean by "weeks"? Why did he use that particular term to describe Israel's "determined" time in the prophetic scheme of things? To gain an understanding, we need to go back to the creation account in Genesis. In six days God created the heavens and the earth, we're told; and on the seventh day He rested. God brought forth this concept of resting or putting aside our labors on the seventh day by making it one of the Ten Commandments. Jesus added to our understanding of this commandment, explaining that it was intended as a blessing for man. In fact, for Israel, the Sabbath was extended to the years and every seventh year was to be set aside to be a time of blessings—a time of generosity and reprieve. The particulars of the sabbatical years are included in the giving of the law in Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy.

In Exodus 21:2, for example, Moses wrote: "If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and in the seventh year he shall go out free for nothing." Again in Exodus, this time chapter 23, verses 10 and 11, we read: "And six years thou shalt sow thy land, and shalt gather in the fruit thereof. But the seventh year thou shalt let it rest and lie still, that the poor of thy people may eat: and what they leave, the beasts of the field shall eat. In like manner thou shalt deal with thy vineyard, and with thy olive yard." Also, in Deuteronomy, the fifteenth chapter, we learn that all debts between the Hebrew brethren were to be released every seventh year. So then, the seventh year was set aside by God to be a time of abundant blessings from Him, a time of testing to see if the Israelites would by faith accept the ordinance, and a time for the Israelites to exercise their generosity and concern one for another.

In Leviticus 25:20-22b, God anticipated the grumbling of the Jew. Let's read. "And if ye shall say, what shall we eat the seventh year? behold we shall not sow, nor gather in our increase. Then I will command my blessing upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for three years. And ye shall sow the eighth year, and eat yet of old fruit until the ninth year...." God promised the Hebrew children that if they would obey Him in the matters of the Sabbath year, He would bless them exceedingly. These commands were given around 1450 B.C.; and about 600 B.C., God brought them to task for their refusal to honor the sabbatical years and for their greed and cruelty one to another.

The prophet Daniel was probably referring to Jeremiah 25:11 when he wrote: "I Daniel understood by books the number of the years whereof the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the Prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem" (Daniel 9:2).

Daniel was praying; he was grieving for the sins of his people Israel. He was seeking the mind of the Lord; and as he was reading the book of Jeremiah, the Spirit of revelation of prophecy came upon him. It's true we don't know how many of the sabbatical years the Jews refused to honor in the some 850 years between Moses and Jeremiah—but God knew; and His just law required that He deal with the matter.

At this point, we need to go to the New Testament and pick up on the words of Jesus so that we might tune in on the prophetic understanding that settled into Daniel's heart as he meditated on the matter.

But God has set before us two ways. Choose one and choose His blessings and grace. Choose the other and choose His cursings and wrath. Daniel, here, is being given to understand that the Jews have chosen God's wrath and that as His grace is boundless, contrariwise, so is His wrath.

Perhaps as Daniel was reading Jeremiah concerning the seventy-years of captivity prophesied for Israel, the seventy years of captivity she was experiencing at the time because of her backsliding and her idol worship (Dan. 9:2), the Spirit of God dropped into his heart the judgment that would be Israel's because of their refusal to keep the Sabbath years and to be gracious one to another. At any rate, Daniel understood that Israel had brought upon herself a fullness of cursing—a seventy times seven situation (490 years)—and the angel Gabriel had come to him to give him the particulars of how this judgment would come to pass. [He was not the only prophet to understand the relation of days to years in judgment. (See Ezekiel 4:6.)]

Before we read what the angel had to say, let's consider some questions about the passage. First, what was the purpose for the strange numbering system? We've already touched on the why of the seventy "sevens"; but why the strange divisions of seven weeks (49 years), sixty-two weeks (434 years), and one week (7 years)? Then, considering that there's already been some two thousand years between the sixty-ninth and seventieth weeks, what's unique about the seventy weeks that will let us know when they are in effect? Also, can we deduce the whole length of time from the decree to rebuild Jerusalem to the end—intervals included? And again, can we determine what major prophetic events are included in the intervals between the divisions of the seventy weeks?

With these questions in mind, let's go now to Daniel 9:24-27.

Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.

Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.

And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for Himself: and 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.

And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the over spreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate."

Our first question had to do with the strange numbering system given Daniel. Let's look at it. "From the going forth of the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem " (This commandment, by the way, is found in Ezra 1:1.), "unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks." Why not just sixty-nine weeks? Well, the seventieth week is our key, for we know that the whole interlude of the Church Age will be between the sixty-ninth and the seventieth weeks. In like manner, the first sixty-nine weeks (483 years) are divided into seven weeks (49 years) and sixty-two weeks (434 years). Because there is an interlude between the two time spans which, even in retrospect, defies pinpointing, this ambiguous time between the seven weeks and the sixty-two weeks of years has always been a problem for the students of prophecy as it has for those who calculate the Bible's chronological time line. Darius' decree to rebuild came around 519 B.C. which leaves 519 years to the birth of Christ if the chronologists are correct. (Remember that they had to deal with this foggy period between the two periods of weeks.) Nevertheless, 7 "sevens" and 62 "sevens" make 69 "sevens" or 483 years. Subtracting 483 years from the 519 years to the birth of Christ leaves us an interlude of 36 years. So, from Darius' aforementioned decree we have 7 "sevens," a dubious 36 year interlude, and 62 "sevens" up to the birth of Christ–and we haven't even considered the whole of the Church Age and the last or seventieth week of years. (All of the segments of Daniel's prophetic Seventy Weeks will be depicted in illustration #1.)

The divisions of Daniel's prophetic seventy weeks were destined to play a very important role in the history of the nation of Israel. From the four Gospels we can deduce that the Israelites were expecting the birth of their Messiah at the time of their Visitation, and we can assume that the first two divisions of Daniel's seventy weeks (the 7 and the 62) had much to do with their expectations.

Because speculation is an integral part of learning and because the visit of the wise men, as recorded in Matthew 2:1-12, took place around the time of the birth of Jesus, let's speculate a little on what might have happened when the wise men came to Jerusalem looking for the prophesied new-born King of Israel.

Matthew identified the visitors as Magis, which was translated into the English as wise men. (The Magis were influential men of Old Testament times that sought for truth, especially in the spiritual realm; they were considered by most to have wisdom.) His reasoning in calling them Magis was probably two-fold, for they were not only of the Magiam order, but they feared the God of Abraham and knew the Old Testament prophecies—at least well enough to be familiar with Daniel's "weeks of years" and Balaam's "Star out of Jacob." Knowing the time was near from Daniel's prophecy and seeing the star appear over Jerusalem, they became quite excited and went to find the newborn Baby and to worship Him.

Now King Herod, Rome's puppet ruler over Israel at the time, was not only an astute statesman, but a crafty ruler as well. Because he understood the importance that the Jews placed on religion, he would often play the part of their benefactor, hoping, thereby, to defuse his volatile subjects. For example, he erected a temple for their religious exercises, putting much of his treasury into the forty-six year project. Also, because Jewry made up a large part of his rule, he had men under him who were familiar with the law of Moses and the "goings-on" in Israel. When word came to him through his sources that dignitaries from the east were in Jerusalem looking for an infant king born of the Jews, Herod became very troubled. Knowing that their prophecies spoke of a soon-coming Messiah (Is. 9:6-7; Num. 24:17; etc.), he gathered all the chief priests and the scribes of the people and demanded where their Christ was to be born. They showed him from the prophets of Scripture that little Bethlehem would receive the honor (Mt. 2:5 cf. Micah 5:2).

The next logical question from Herod was probably: "When will the Messiah be born?" (We should note that Daniel's seventy weeks was the key given to Israel concerning the when of their Messiah. Nevertheless, as we will discuss later in this chapter, the seventy weeks can also function to foil any attempts at exact date setting.) Apparently the priests and scribes could not answer his question to his satisfaction; therefore, he had a private meeting with the visiting wise men and inquired of them diligently what time the star appeared (Mt. 2:7).

According to Matthew, it was Herod's intent to find the baby and kill him to protect his throne. With this in mind, he asked the wise men, when they found the baby, to let him know where it was so he could also worship it. God, though, warned them in a dream and they left another way. In addition, an angel had come to Joseph in a dream warning him of Herod's intentions; so Joseph took the Baby to Egypt out of harm's way. In the meantime, realizing that the wise men were not going to return, Herod, with the calculations at hand, made his plans. He decreed that all of the male Hebrew children in and around Bethlehem, two years old and younger, were to be slain; and thus, he unknowingly fulfilled key prophecies of the Scriptures (Mt. 2:16-17 cf. Jer. 31: 15).

It would be interesting to know just how Herod and his staff came up with the two-year figure. We do know that they had the sixty-nine of Daniel's seventy weeks. ("Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks..." [Dan. 9:25a].) Nevertheless, as we have mentioned, the prophetic seventy weeks could only serve for approximation. Also, the scribes and priests had probably clued Herod and his crew in on most of the prophecies for that time—some of which had already come to pass. (For example, there had been much talk on the street about angels appearing to the shepherds, heralding the birth of Israel's Messiah [Luke 2:8-18].) Then, of course, there was the very disconcerting visit of the wise men. But whatever their reasoning, we know that Herod and his men could not pinpoint the time of our Lord's birth from the facts on hand. However, we should note that they were able to determine the time span in which He could have been born; and history bears out the accuracy of their estimation. After all, if Joseph had not been warned in a dream, Herod's dragnet of slaughter would have included Israel's Messiah (Mt. 2:13-18).

So then, in the scheme of time, Daniel's "seven weeks and three-score and two weeks" with the unknown interval between were given so that Israel could know approximately when to expect the birth of its Messiah. (We'll soon see that this system of timing the spans between major prophetic events by including an immeasurable interval is a pattern used throughout all the ages from the time of Daniel forward—a system which serves to frustrate all attempts at date setting while still spelling out the "watch" in which various events are to take place.)

Up to this point, we have looked at the seven weeks, the sixty-two weeks and the one week of Daniel's seventy weeks. But the division of the last week into two equal periods of three and one-half years each is the main key for understanding the order of all the final prophetic events. In Daniel 7:25 the three and one-half year division is labeled as a time, times and a half (cf. Dan. 4:l6). In Revelation 11:2 it's spoken of as forty and two months while in Revelation 11:3 it's a thousand, two hundred and threescore days as it is in Revelation 12:6. Many of the problems that Bible students in the past have had with synchronizing the events of prophecy have come about because they did not utilize the whole key of Daniel's seventy weeks. When this key is properly applied, the order of the prophetic events is as follows:

Due to the interludes of unspecified times between the divisions, the seventy weeks determined upon Israel cover a very large number of years. This being so, is there anyway that we can determine when the seventy weeks are in effect? Well, there are at least three things that we can look for. First, there must be a remnant of Israel in her homeland. Second, her will must be in accordance with God's as to His prophetic goals. Finally, Israel must embrace the covenants given to her during the Age of the Law and they must be the only Biblical covenants being observed by man at the time. These three conditions were in effect during the first sixty-nine "weeks" up to the Messiah—so it only stands to reason that they will hold sway in the final or seventieth "week."

It's also noteworthy that because these things have been "determined" upon Israel, her heart being right with God is not a condition. For example, let's consider the generation that brought forth the "male-child" Jesus. Prior to His birth, the nation's prophetic will was in agreement with God's—they wanted their Messiah, their Deliverer, to be born. After He was born, it was a different story. The Jews wanted a king who would act like the kings of the earth. They expected a king who would set up an earthly kingdom there and then, a kingdom wherein they could rule with Him in their unregenerated state. It was God's will, though, for Jesus to be born in a stable, to be born to die for the sins of His people that they might one day rule with Him in sinless perfection in His future kingdom.

In summation, Daniel prophesied of a unique seventy-week period of troublous times for Israel—yet a time during which God would intervene on their behalf. As we've mentioned, certain things must be in place for the seventy weeks to be in effect; and the seventy weeks, intervals included, will include all the remaining time of the planet from Daniel's time forward. The seventy prophetic weeks (each week is 7 years) were divided into intervals of seven weeks, sixty-two weeks, and one week. The one week was further divided into two periods of three and one-half years each. Between each of these divisions can be seen an indeterminate interval of time. The first interval was between the seven weeks and the sixty-two weeks before the birth of Christ, and it had to do with the timing of His birth. We're living in the second interval, the time of Israel's dispersion among the nations and her mistreatment at the hands of the Gentiles. The third and final interval will be the time of the Kingdom Age, which will take place between the two halves of Daniel's seventieth week. Daniel's seventy weeks are not only to be seen as three times of trouble for Israel, but also as three times of judgment for the sins of the world. The first period, the seven weeks and sixty-two weeks, were troublous times for Israel and they saw the birth of Israel's Messiah who was born to bear the judgment for the sins of mankind in His substitutionary death on the cross. The second time of judgment for sin will be the first 1/2 of Daniel's seventieth week—the first 3 1/2 years of the day of God's wrath at the end of our age and the subsequent judgment of the nations. The third and final time of judgment for sin will come at the end of the Kingdom Age during the last 1/2 of Daniel's seventieth week. It will be the final 3 1/2 years of the day of God's wrath. It will be followed by the Great White Throne Judgment of the lost of all the ages.

As we can see, Daniel's seventy weeks is a very powerful, condensed prophetic key and a major tool for understanding prophecy. For Israel it is a brief overview of those things that have been determined upon her to finish the transgression and to make an end of sins. For the Church it is an outline that will permit all the "meat of the prophets" to fall into place on the prophetic bones. For the world its events are the key increments on the Clock of the Ages. Consequently, we've included the concept in our prophetic foundation and placed it at the beginning of our study; and what a fantastic concept it is! Only God could devise and use such a key to "close the book" for some twenty centuries; and then, in the fullness of time, use the same key to open the understanding of His Church. This being so, with key in hand, let's go on into our study of Matthew, chapters 24 and 25, and continue our examination of the Clock of the Ages as we do.

RETURN TO BOOK OF CONTENTS