The Theophilus,
Daniel 9:24 states:
“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.”
I believe that the implied remaining “seven” of Daniel 9:24 is not the same “seven” as that of Daniel 9:27.
Specifically, I believe that the “seven” of Daniel 9:24 is a Sabbatical seven that started on June 7, 1967 when the Israelis captured Jerusalem. Note that Daniel 9:24 states “...and your holy city...” The clock on the Sabbatical seven runs 7 x 7 years x 360 days/year and terminates on September 23, 2015. The clock on the Sabbatical seven could not have started any earlier. The Israelis did not have Jerusalem until June 7, 1967.
It cannot be any other kind of “seven.” If it were any shorter, such as say, seven years, it would have finished long ago. It could not be any longer. If it were, then the prophecy that says “...this generation shall not pass away...” could not possibly be fulfilled. People usually die at an age of about 70.
Now, for the “seven” of Daniel 9:27. I believe the following:
The seven (7) years of the European Neighbourhood Policy Instrument (ENPI) are the seven (7) years of Daniel 9:27. The ENPI marks the timeframe within which the daily sacrifice will be stopped.
Going back to Daniel 9:24, the understanding that the implied “seven” in this verse is a Sabbatical seven gives us an understanding that life goes on until at least September 23, 2015.
By the way, September 23, 2015 is a Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. Read Daniel 9:24 again and see how the significance of that date fits the prophecy.
Blessings.
I believe that the implied remaining “seven” of Daniel 9:24 is not the same “seven” as that of Daniel 9:27.
I do not doubt that you wish to gratuitously separate those sevens and an enormous gap between the feet and toes of the colossus (Dan 2), but I submit that there is no valid reason, actually there are very compelling reasons why you should not separate them here in this chapter.
First of all, there is nothing in Scripture that should lead a person to insert a gap of thousands of years between the Epiphany of Jesus Christ and "June 7, 1967". Simply not wanting to profane Scripture should tell you that an arbitrary date in the mid twentieth century is no where as significant as the Epiphany of the Almighty Creator, and to place them side-by-side as bookends on a completely fictitious "gap" should cause one to pause and do a sanity check.
The clock on the Sabbatical seven runs 7 x 7 years x 360 days/year and terminates on September 23, 2015.
One would think that after Harold Camping epically failed twice using "Jesus Math" to ascertain a date, people would give up on inventing strange formulas from out of no where to divine a date on which we bind God to act.
It cannot be any other kind of “seven.” If it were any shorter, such as say, seven years, it would have finished long ago
And what is wrong with that? What good is prophecy if no one is around to confirm it? One of the many major failings of Futurists is trying to explain why all of Bible's prophecies will be completely unverifiable. By Futurists' own itinerary for those "Left Behind", these dates mean nothing and have zero respect or honor. It is the tree that falls in the witnessless forest.
The seven (7) years of the European Neighbourhood Policy Instrument (ENPI) are the seven (7) years of Daniel 9:27.
I'm looking for a </sarc> tag.
That is an interesting theory, and I'm grateful for you sharing it. Let me return the favor with one that has been around for thousands of years and accepted by most believers through the ages.
Verse 24 says "Seventy weeks" and then says these seventy weeks are "determined" which means that God has ordained it to be this way. Note the text does not say "sixty-nine weeks, a gap of indeterminate length and then another week is determined" Rather seventy consecutive weeks to: (1)"To make end of sins" - accomplished at the Cross. (2)To make reconciliation for for iniquity - dittos. (3) To bring in everlasting righteousness - also accomplished and acknowledged by our LORD's parting words "It is finished". (4) To seal up vision and prophecy - which should clue us in that the Revelation to John is nothing new since the Death and Resurrection. There is no need nor recommendation for a gap.
Furthermore, we begin Chapter 9 of Daniel with the prophet remembering the promise that God said that the Captivity would last 70 years. The first few paragraphs are where Daniel acknowledges that Israel has been even more corrupt and perverse during this time and that God has no responsibility to reward such sin with their release at the time He had declared - yet Daniel pleaded with God to honor the 70 years and no more..
God answers Daniel by sending an angel to tell of another Seventy - and that is the seventy weeks we are discussing. Note here, that Israel was indeed released after seventy years, not sixty-nine years and a gap of indeterminate length. It would be entirely inconsistent of God to answer Daniel with an example that God Himself wouldn't honor. Think about it if you were sentenced to seventy weeks in prison, but somewhere at the sixty-ninth week a "gap" was inserted of indeterminate length. Would your sentence still be seventy weeks or possibly hundreds? Inserting a gap makes the whole "seventy weeks" paradigm a complete joke.
So since the sixty-ninth week leads us up to our LORD's Epiphany and we have another seven years to go, what do we do with the remaining week? Simple. Our LORD's ministry is three and one half years where He "confirms the Covenant" made since the Expulsion from the Garden and reiterated through Abraham, Moses, David et al. At the mid point He is "cut off" as we read in Daniel. The Jews shortly kill Stephen who was murdered the same year as Paul's conversion. Paul met the other disciples in Jerusalem three years later(Gal 1:18), or at the end of the last "week" where Peter is instructed that the Gospel goes out to the Gentiles (Acts 10-11) and the beginning of the Church Age.
I understand the usual criticisms from the Futurists who complain that one has to insert a forty year "gap" (which is an odd complaint considerting Futurists have no problems inserting gaps of thousands of years) to make it to 70AD and the destruction of Jerusalem, but that is not necessary since Daniel says that the destruction "is determined" not fully effected.