FOR FAIR USE AND EDUCATION AND DISCUSSION PURPOSES



THE 70TH WEEK OF DANIEL LASTED FOR 7 YEARS. IT WAS BEGIN BY JESUS CHRIST...AND SUBSEQUENTLY, COMPLETED BY HIS APOSTLES....

In the following, I use the term "Israel" because it includes ALL THE TRIBES of Israel, and not just just the Tribe of Judah.

The 70th week of Daniel BEGAN when Jesus was baptised...this was when He fulfilled being the Sacrificial Goat of ATONEMENT...Leviticus 16:10:

"But the goat, on which the lot fell to be the SCAPEGOAT, shall be presented ALIVE before the Lord, to make an ATONEMENT with Him, and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness."

Jesus did this during his baptism. God showed this by saying at the time, "This is my beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased"...Matthew 3:17

God accepted this baptismal "sacrifice" (as it was a sacrifice in the OT), and then Jesus went into the "wilderness" for 40 days....Mark 1:13. Forty is the number of testing and trial, just as Israel was tested and tried in the wilderness for 40 years, led by Moses. But, Jesus succeeded where the others failed.

Then, His ministry was for 3 1/2 years...this is a message for those who "hear" it spiritually. It is a "type" of what is going to come in the future. It will be the "ministry" of the "two witnesses" (Rev.11) and the "wilderness experience (Rev. 12)" of the "body of Christ" (the "woman"). But the time will not necessarily be an exact 3 1/2 years (as signified by the ministry of Jesus). It is a time determined by God as a MINISTRY...that's what the number "3 1/2", or "1260" means. It's taken me almost 30 years of Bible study, and I just understood that one. The Holy Spirit has concealed this one very well...Prov.25:2.

However, His ministry did not END at His death. He had given instructions to the Apostles to finish spreading the Gospel to all of Israel. This was the time when the gospel DID NOT go out to the Gentiles (nations outside of Israel). Although Jesus' death on the Cross completed the final "sacrifice for sin" as the "Sacrificial Lamb" was sacrificed in the OT....the Gospel being sent to all of Israel was not yet complete.

This whole time of sending the Gospel to ISRAEL, FIRST, is what Daniel chapter 9 is all about (Daniel's people were Israel, and Daniel was from the royal line of JUDAH.) No Gentiles (nations outside of Israel) were to be included, at first, in spreading the new Gospel of Grace.

Jesus BEGIN doing this in His 3 1/2 years, from His baptism (Goat of God) to His death (Lamb of God). But UNTIL HE DIED, the New Testament of Grace was not in effect because the "Testator" had to DIE FIRST...see Hebrews 9:16:

"For where a testament is, (the New Testament) there must also OF NECESSITY be the DEATH OF THE TESTATOR" (Jesus Christ).

At the moment of death, the New Testament CAME INTO EFFECT, and the Old Testament was replaced by the New. Jesus' declaration of "It is finished! signified just this.

However, the rest of the Daniel prophecy about Israel DID NOT END until 3 1/2 years later when that whole "week" was COMPLETED, as per Jesus' instructions to the Apostles to NOT INCLUDE THE GENTILES IN THEIR MINISTRY.

The BEST verse that explains this is in Acts 28:28:

"BE IT KNOWN THEREFORE UNTO YOU, that the salvation of God is sent unto the GENTILES, and that they will hear it."

At this point, God, is causing the Gospel to be spread THROUGHOUT THE WORLD, AND NOT JUST TO ISRAEL.

From the Sacrificial Goat, through the Sacrificial Lamb, and on through the Book of Acts (3 1/2 years later) the Gospel went only to Israel. Any sacrifices made by ANYONE, including the Jews, were no longer acceptable to God, although the physical temple, where sacrifices continued until 70 AD, remained intact until the Roman armies destroyed it completely.

The 70th, and final, week of Daniel was completed about 2000 years ago. The Gospel has gone out to the WHOLE WORLD since then.

I hope this clarifies what that "week" means. There is no 3 1/2 years left because it has been completed by Jesus, and then the Apostles after Him. I apologize that I didn't make this more clear in my earlier post.

Arlene