Seventy Weeks of Literal Days: A Prophetic Timeline Foretelling the Calendars of the Gospel of Jesus Christ

Copyright © 2015 Carol Marie.

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WestBow Press rev. date: 02/09/2015

CONTENTS

Introduction

Part I The Assignments and Overall Goal of the Seventy Weeks

Chapter 1 Finish the Transgression, Make an End of Sins and Reconciliation for Iniquity

Chapter 2 Bring in Everlasting Righteousness

Chapter 3 Seal up the Vision and Prophecy and Anoint the Most Holy

Chapter 4 Restore and Build the Holy City, Jerusalem

Part II The Prophetic Chronology: Narrated Over Three Time-Periods

Chapter 5 First Seven Weeks

Chapter 6 The Next Sixty-Two Weeks

Chapter 7 The Seventieth Week

Chapter 8 Plotting the Prophetic Calendars of Seventy Weeks

PART III Know Therefore and Understand the Wisdom of God and his Fulfillment of the Prophecy

Chapter 9 The Wisdom of God in a Mystery, Revealed!

Chapter 10 Validating the Accuracy, Precision and Fulfillment of the Prophetic Seventy Weeks Calendars

Chapter 11 A Divine Warning Recounted in the Prophecy

Chapter 12 Sketching the True Gospel Chronicle and Biography of Jesus, Israel’s Messiah

Afterword

Bible Study Guide

References

About the Author

Also by Carol Marie

The Law Fulfilled: Why God’s Appointed Feasts Were Foreordained for the New Testament Church

To all my brothers and sisters in Christ who share with me a fervent desire for the sincere milk of the Word (1 Pet. 2:2) that we may know the Lord Jesus Christ and his Father with the same acuity as his first disciples.

INTRODUCTION

The analysis contained herein is a Bible study of the renowned prophecy of seventy shâbu‘îm; a prophecy given to Daniel (Dan. 9:24 – 27) via the angel Gabriel. Shâbu‘îm is the transliterated Hebrew word which means sevens and is interpreted in most Bible translations as the English word weeks. Despite centuries of attempts at deriving an irrefutable explanation for this biblical passage, there are still major inconsistencies and flaws with the various postulated interpretations of the seventy weeks prophecy. Almost all expositions of the prophecy are based on the injudicious principle that shâbu‘îm represent sevens of years or that a week-day should be counted as a year, giving the time unit count as sevens of weeks of years and the total timeline as (70 × 7) years.

The work of Sir Robert Anderson in The Coming Prince (1984, first printed in 1894)—which has been dubbed the standard for the interpretation of this prophecy—has been at the forefront in concretizing the understanding of shâbu‘îm as weeks of years. Both contemporary and liberal commentators have adopted this concept, that the time unit for the weeks is years rather than days. These commentators contend that the shorter time of 490 days will not constitute a comprehensive prophecy (Walvoord, 1990)—but this conclusion has been drawn exclusive of an evaluation of such an interpretation.

No explanation yet offered has been able to either truthfully harmonize the four verses of the prophecy without belying the prophetic text, or authoritatively verify the seventy shâbu‘îm timeline from the Holy Scriptures, science or history. Montgomery (1927) labeled the varied interpretations in his day as a "dismal swamp of Old Testament criticism". This categorization still applies to current interpretations as many negating issues are raised of them. Unfortunately, it has not yet been recognized that the major problems with these analyses arise from two erroneous assumptions—that the holy city which the Jews were commanded to rebuild refers to the corporeal, earthly city of Jerusalem and that the time unit for shâbu‘îm, measures weeks of years.

Dating the chronology over 490 years has proven to be problematic in validating the accuracy and precision of the prophetic timeline from a biblical, mathematical (calendrical) and even historical perspective. Most Messianic interpretations look into the historic record to find a date for the starting point of the prophecy. Once a date close to the traditional dates postulated in orthodox theology for Jesus’ birth, baptism or triumphant entry into Jerusalem is encountered in approximately sixty-nine weeks of years after the starting date in history, it is assumed that the timeline is authenticated, without due regard for the prophetic chronology. These expositors have not been able to corroborate the dates of the foretold events within each of the three time-periods as it is specified in the prophetic text. Some go even further, to show a chronicle up to the middle of the seventieth week then fail to prove a confirmed agenda for the conclusion of that week. But no lie is of the truth (1 John 2:21). Truth is accurate and precise, without any fabrications or errors.

All of these foretold events concerning Jesus of Nazareth took place on specific calendar days which are revealed in the Bible. Thus the conjectured dates of tradition in these timelines can be verified, but they do not coincide exactly with the corresponding biblical dates in which they were either prophesized to occur or revealed as fulfilled in the New Testament record of the Bible.

The prophecy of the seventy weeks clearly identifies the persons who were to accomplish the six assigned tasks for the seventy weeks timeline as Daniel’s people (Dan. 9:24) who were by heredity, the Jews (Dan. 1:6). Nevertheless, most of the assignments had to be spearheaded and managed by one of them.

Scripture prophesized of the man who would direct most of the tasks: turn God’s people away from iniquity (Mal. 2:4, 6) bring everlasting righteousness into their holy city (Psa. 72:1 – 2, 4; Isa. 11:1, 4 – 5; 45:24 – 25; Hos. 10:12; Mal. 4:2) make an end of sin by offering himself as the perfect atoning sacrifice for the remission of sins (Isa. 52:13 – 15) confirm the vision for many by ratifying a covenant for them (Isa. 49:7 – 10) and fulfilling prophecy (Zec. 8:3, 5 – 15) and anoint the most holy (Isa. 19:19 – 20; Exo. 29:36 – 37; 40:10) with the precious blood of his holy sacrifice (Lev. 8:15).

The Bible’s Old Testament reveals this man who would organize the rebuilding of the house and temple of God as the Branch and servant of God (Zec. 3:8; 6:12 – 13; Jer. 33:15 – 16) while the New Testament identifies Jesus of Nazareth as the man who accomplished these tasks (Acts 3:18 – 26; 13:22 – 31, 38 – 39; 15:16 – 17; Heb. 2:9; 3:1 – 6).

This Branch and servant was prophesized to be the holy arm of God (Psa. 98:1; Isa. 40:10 – 11; 59:16) the only ordained shepherd of the flock of Israel (Eze. 34:23 – 24; 37:24) as well as God’s anointed son, the Prince (Isa. 7:14; 9:6; 61:1) and right-hand man who was to revive the vine in his vineyard (Psa. 80: 8, 14 – 15, 17, 18)—the vineyard of the Lord being the house of Israel (Isa. 5:7). The Jews therefore knew that their Messiah would be the son of God (John 1:41, 49) because they understood what the law and the prophets spoke of him (John 1:45). He was born a prince, being the son of the great king of the universe, King Jehovah (Psa. 47:7) and all of Israel was awaiting the coming of this servant, savior and Prince who would be anointed (Isa. 61:1) to become the Anointed One or Messiah. The prophecy of seventy weeks is therefore Messianic—as most early church fathers have attested (Tanner, 2009, Part 1)—but most expositors have faltered in not acknowledging the similitudes employed in the prophetic text.

In seeking to unravel the mysteries of prophecy, it is important to remember that God used similitudes in the ministry of his prophets (Hos. 12:10). Therefore an examination of the analogies, signs, counterparts, shadows and parallels utilized in the prophetic text play an essential role in its understanding. This is especially so regarding those prophecies concerning Israel’s Messiah and his first advent. Similitudes were the means whereby the wisdom of God foretold prophecy in a mystery and were applied to hide the prophetic message from the princes of the world (1 Cor. 2:7) until after its fulfillment; "… for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory" (1 Cor. 2:8).

We are told that Daniel understood the prophecy of Jeremiah (Dan. 9:2) that the Lord would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem (Jer. 25:11 – 13; 29:10 – 13). As a prophet himself, Daniel would have known that God used similitudes in his prophecies and that Israel’s physical deliverance out of the land of Egypt was analogous to his salvation plan for redeeming the souls of mankind from bondage to sin.

Daniel understood from the books that God would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of earthly Jerusalem, when their time of exile would end (Jer. 25:12; 29:10). What he did not understand and what was not revealed in Jeremiah’s prophecy was God’s timetable for accomplishing the restoration of the heavenly Jerusalem. In other words, Daniel also wanted to know God’s plan for the redemption of his holy mountain and sanctuary or his holy city—the heavenly or New Jerusalem—which is described in the Bible by these same expressions (Jer. 31:23; Zec. 8:3; Rev. 21:3, 10). This in fact was the purpose of Daniel’s supplications to the Lord (Dan. 9:3, 16 – 20) and Gabriel’s commission was to give him the answer to his prayers (Dan. 9:21 – 23). Daniel’s prayer request pertained specifically to the city Jerusalem that was also called the holy mountain and sanctuary of God (Dan. 9:16, - 17, 20).

The prophetic text describes not only the advent of a Prince who was to be anointed but also dictates a chronology of events detailing how and when the assigned tasks of rebuilding the holy city would be implemented and accomplished during the seventy shâbu‘îm. Yet, previous interpretations neglect or fail to describe a chronology that exactly mirrors the timetable given to Daniel.

A chronological account is generally communicated by delineating each consecutive time-period either preceding or following a description of its corresponding event(s). This order of the narrative demonstrates that it is a chronology and therefore its time-periods must be contiguous and successive in character; once the time begins, it must continue to the end of the last time-period.

Among the myriad of Messianic interpretations, the interpretation of the prophetic seventy shâbu‘îm as seventy weeks of literal days is virtually absent. But the earliest known exposition (Tanner, 2009, Part 1) of the last prophetic time-period which is the seventieth week indicates that the prophecy demands the rebuilding of spiritual temples or tabernacles and that this goal was accomplished by the end of the seventieth week:

But let us enquire whether there be any temple of God. There is; in the place where he himself undertakes to make and finish it. For it is written And it shall come to pass, when the week is being accomplished, the temple of God shall be built gloriously in the name of the Lord. I find then that there is a temple, How then shall it be built in the name of the Lord? Understand ye. Before we believed on God, the abode of our heart was corrupt and weak, a temple truly built by hands; for it was full of idolatry and was a house of demons, because we did whatsoever was contrary to God. But it shall be built in the name of the Lord ... How? Understand ye. By receiving the remission of our sins and hoping on the Name we became new, created afresh from the beginning. Wherefore God dwelleth truly in our habitation within us. How? The word of his faith, the calling of his promise, the wisdom of the ordinances, the commandments of the teaching, He Himself prophesying in us, He Himself dwelling in us, opening for us who had been in bondage unto death the door of the temple, which is the mouth, and giving us repentance leadeth us to the incorruptible temple. For he that desireth to be saved looketh not to the man, but to Him that dwelleth and speaketh in him ... This is the spiritual temple built up to the Lord.

The Epistle of Barnabas 16:6 – 10, Translated by J.B. Lightfoot

While this citation referencing the last week of the prophecy does not give details on the prophetic time-plot, it signifies that the holy city or temple of God which was to be rebuilt was the abode of the human heart and that this purpose of the six assignments given to Daniel’s people was achieved at the completion of the seventy weeks timeframe.

The analysis of the prophetic text presented herein will therefore correct the deficiencies in contemporary interpretations and demonstrate with the aid of the biblical text that the prophecy of seventy shâbu‘îm is in actuality God’s foretold diary of the gospel of Jesus Christ. This study will be based on the principle that the seventy shâbu‘îm refer to seventy weeks of literal calendar days, each week beginning on the First day (Sunday) and ending with the Seventh day (Saturday) rather than the popular notion that the time unit of the prophecy is weeks of years or even Sabbatical years.

This hypothesis is postulated on the basis of the use of the word shâbu‘îm in Dan. 10:2 – 3, where the word is unanimously understood as weeks, each comprising of seven successive days. In this scripture the meaning of a week pertains to a full or whole week as is correctly rendered in the KJV Bible translation. The inclusion of the transliterated word yamim in the cited Hebrew text, which means day, denotes that each of the three full weeks is comprised of seven consecutive full days or twenty-four hour days.

Since a day is reckoned in the Bible in three ways—a daylight period (John 11:9) a twenty-four hour period (Lev. 23:24, 32) and a calendar day which is reckoned as the evening and the morning (Gen. 1:5)—the word week has two definitions. A week may be reckoned in two ways—as its seven successive named days, which is a calendar week, or a full week may be defined as seven successive twenty-four hour days beginning at a specific hour and day and counted over eight ensuing calendar days. Therefore if the former definition for week applies to this prophecy, reference to the middle of a week in the prophetic text of Dan. 9:27 is readily discerned as the Fourth day of a seven-day calendar week, which today is known as Wednesday.

There is only one true understanding or interpretation of the prophecy given to Daniel, for no prophecy in scripture is of private or individual interpretation, they are God’s messages spoken through his ordained prophets as they were moved to utter by the Holy Spirit (2 Pet. 1:20 – 21). Consequently, the true interpretation of the seventy weeks prophecy is attained when the similitudes contained in the four verses of the prophetic text are understood with unanimity and confirmed from the scriptures.

This Bible study will therefore examine first the prophetic assignments which had to be undertaken by the Jewish people, giving details afterward on when they were chronologically implemented. Subsequently, a plot of the prophetic seventy weeks calendars will be made from knowledge of a single data point which was foretold in other scriptural texts. The plot will then be validated from the Old Testament scriptures as well as on the basis of its fulfillment according to the eyewitnesses’ reports contained in the New Testament record. By demonstrating that the plotted calendars are accurate, precise and in total conformity with the biblical text, the unison of the four prophetic verses is revealed as God’s truth.

PART I

The Assignments and Overall Goal of the Seventy Weeks

In order to truthfully interpret the prophecy of seventy weeks, one must first attain an understanding of the assignments that were decreed upon Daniel’s people and their holy city. For it is only through such an insight could one grasp what was the overall goal of the seventy weeks.

It is significant to note that the entire seventy weeks timeline was set for the Jews to implement and complete six specific assignments. These tasks are identified in the twenty-fourth verse of Daniel chapter nine and dictate what had to be executed by them within the set seventy weeks timeframe:

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.

Dan. 9:24

An examination of these six tasks will demonstrate that they all concern one goal—the restoration of the spirits and tabernacles of mankind. This goal is given as a commandment to Daniel’s people from the start of the timeline and required that the holy city of the Jews, called Jerusalem, be restored and built. Given that none of these six assigned tasks relate to the erection of any physical structures, one can conclude that the seventy weeks timeline pertained exclusively to the rebuilding of the heavenly or New Jerusalem, which is God’s holy city. Thus the seventy weeks timeline does not concern the rebuilding of the earthly city of Jerusalem. The commandment gives the directive and states what the overall objective of the seventy weeks was to accomplish: restore and build the holy city of Jerusalem (Dan. 9:25).

It is recognized that an explanation of each of the six assignments was not given in the prophetic text and this leaves the obligation on the expositor to declare a plausible explanation (Walvoord, 1990) which should be established in scripture.

In this section we will first seek to explore a biblical understanding of the six assignments which the Jews had to implement. Then we will describe this spiritual, holy city of the Jews which was simultaneously fostered under the Old Covenant when the earthly nation of Israel was formed, exploring how the city became desolate and ruined and how the six prophesized tasks assigned for completion within the seventy weeks restores the holy city to its current acclaim.

CHAPTER 1

Finish the Transgression, Make an End of Sins and Reconciliation for Iniquity

Three of the six assignments given to the Israelites at the start of the prophetic text relate to the purging or remission of sin in their lives. The Jews were required to turn away from transgression, desist from sinning against their God and be reconciled to him. Daniel’s people had to get rid of sin from amongst them, because it separated them from their God (Isa. 59:2) and death followed closely behind it. We know from the Bible that these tasks are difficult for man to achieve alone, because time after time the longsuffering of God waited patiently and worked with the children of Israel in the wilderness, yet they were never able to effectively get rid of sin in their lives. But God was waiting for the opportune time to send his son to redeem his people from their sins. The tasks before the Jews were to voluntarily and sincerely repent and return to God by confessing, forsaking and washing away their sins through baptism, calling upon the name of the Lord that they may be saved.

In this chapter we will review biblical references to the sinful nature of mankind to demonstrate how this characteristic of man holds him captive and facilitates his wrongdoing. We will then evaluate from a scriptural perspective how iniquity can be purged from the lives of mankind and how men may depart from a life of sin to a restored relationship with God. Specifically, the three assigned tasks of finishing the transgression, making an end of sins and making reconciliation for iniquity will be examined in light of their comprehension and purpose in restoring the holy city, Jerusalem.

Man’s Sinful Nature

Sin is an enemy of God and Israel’s Messiah is destined to destroy his enemies. The Bible says that "The thought of foolishness is sin" (Pro. 24:9) but also defines sin as the conduct of any kind of unrighteousness (1 John 5:17) and disobedience to God’s law and commandments (1 John 3:4). Sin entered the world by the first humans and death came upon them as a result of their sin. Adam and Eve disobeyed God who commanded them not to eat the fruits from the two trees in the midst of the Garden of Eden. Eve being tempted when she spoke with Satan—who deceived her—was drawn away by her own lust and enticed. When her lust was conceived, she sinned (James 1:14 – 15) by conceding to her lust in eating the fruit, thus disobeying God’s commandment. She then gave the fruit to Adam who also did not refuse his lustful desires.

God made Adam’s body from the dust of the earth and he breathed life into his nostrils and Adam became a living soul (Gen. 2:7); existing in body, soul and spirit or breath (1 Thes. 5:23).

The Bible distinguishes between the spirit/soul of man within him (Dan. 7:15; Zec. 12:1; 1 Cor. 2:11) and this spirit/breath from God that gives him life (Job. 33:4). The conclusion then is that a living man is comprised of a body in which dwells his spirit/soul and the spirit/breath that gives his body life (James 2:26). This spirit/soul of man is likened to a candle or lamp (Pro. 20:27) that is lit by God’s breath or Light (Job 33:30; John 1:4, 9). At death, man’s body returns to dust (Ecc. 3:20) and his breath returns to God (Ecc. 12:7) but what about his soul, where goes it thence? The light of the righteous shall rejoice but the candle of the wicked will be snuffed out, for there is no reward for them (Pro. 13:9; 24:20).

Eve was created from Adam’s rib and although she was fashioned into a female body, she was of the same constitution as Adam. When God made Adam and Eve, they were made in the image of God (Gen. 1:27) and both walked naked in the garden and were not ashamed of their nakedness (Gen. 2:25). Nevertheless, after they ate of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, their perception of nudity was stimulated and experiencing its shame, sought to cover themselves with leaves and to hide from God. The eyes of their conscience were awakened to the knowledge of both good and evil doing and because they did not do what was right in the sight of God, sin began to crouch at the door of their hearts (Gen. 4:7) and to dwell within the members of their flesh (Rom. 7:23).

The consequences of Adam and Eve’s sin in disobeying the command of God were banishment from the garden and the curse of death (Gen. 3:19) upon their bodies which fell not only on them but also on all their offspring. Thus "by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men" (Rom. 5:12). We are all made sinners because of our heredity from our parents, Adam and Eve. God also cursed their food supply (Gen. 3:17) that man may continue to have dominion over the earthly creation which he had made (Gen. 1:28). Mankind was now corrupted from the womb in that all are born with lustful desires, cursed flesh that dies and a spirit that knows good and evil but chooses evil rather than good; all falls short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23). Sin separated mankind from God for his eyes cannot look upon iniquity (Hab. 1:13).

A new law was cultivated within them that when they wanted to do good according to the inward man, evil was also present within them. Although in their spirits or minds they delighted in doing God’s will, evil was now present because of sin dwelling in their members by the fleshly lusts thereof. The law of sin in their members began to war against the law of their minds, bringing them into captivity to the law of sin (Rom. 7:21–24); they were mostly incapable of resisting sin. God’s creation had become corrupted, sold or enslaved under sin (Rom. 7:14) and this carnal mind cannot please God for it is not subject to God’s law and shows enmity against him (Rom. 8:7 – 8).

Mankind now walked according to the course of this world, having their conversations with the prince of the power of the air who works disobedience in humans to the fulfilling of the lusts of the flesh (Eph. 2:2 – 3). Their understanding is darkened, their hearts hardened and from youth, every imagination of their hearts is to do evil (Gen. 8:21). Their sinful nature or old man gives them over to lasciviousness, uncleanness and greed as they walk in the vanity of their minds (Eph. 4:17 – 19) and in the concupiscence of their flesh.

When Adam and Eve bore seed they were born after their own image and likeness (Gen. 5:3) with sin crouching at every man’s door; for whatever is born of flesh is flesh and that which is born of spirit is spirit (John 3:6). While some of their seed resisted sin at times so that they were able to avoid committing grievous sin, most yielded themselves