THE GREATEST PROPHECY EVER GIVEN - PART TWO

Daniel 9:24-27 deals with God's special prophetic dealings with Israel/Jerusalem from the command to rebuild Jerusalem to the setting up of the kingdom. It predicts 70 units of 7 years (490 years) of these special dealings which will bring about the completion of six things as seen in Dan. 9:24. With absolute precision Dan. 9:25 prophecies that from the time of the commandment to rebuild Jerusalem "until Messiah the Prince" would be a consecutive period of exactly 69 weeks (483 years). To the very DAY, after 483 years, Jesus the Messiah was presented to Israel as her KING as prophesied in Zechariah 9:9 and as noted by Jesus in Luke 19:42-44. Only God could do this!

And the precision fulfillment continued...

Daniel 9:26 (NKJV)
26 “And AFTER the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself; And the people of the prince who is to come Shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall be with a flood, And till the end of the war desolations are determined. (emphasis mine)

Daniel 9:26 presents a GAP or an INTERLUDE between the past fulfillment of the 69 weeks and the future fulfillment of the final 70th week. Note the absolute precision here. “AFTER” the 7 plus 62 weeks – that is AFTER the 69 weeks Messiah would be cut off – which is to say He would die. He would die AFTER the fulfillment of the 69 weeks but BEFORE the beginning of the 70th week. And note the language: “but not for Himself”. Jesus died for OTHERS! He died for us! He died for our sins (see Isaiah 53).

But my point here is that in precise fulfillment of prophecy He died AFTER the fulfillment of the 69 weeks which were completed exactly at the time of His triumphal entry on Palm Sunday. On Palm Sunday Jesus was presented to Israel as Messiah the Prince completing the 69 weeks and then 5 days later, He was crucified. "AFTER" was only 5 days AFTER the fulfillment of the 69th week. But it had to happen AFTER. That is precision fulfillment.

AFTER the completion of the 69th week and BEFORE the start of the 70th week would be a GAP PERIOD of an unspecified amount of time.

69 Weeks--------Gap Period--------------70th Week

In this interim Gap Period 3 things would take place in relation to Israel as spelled out in Daniel 9:26.

1. Messiah would be cut off.
2. Jerusalem and the temple would be destroyed.
3. To the end of the Gap Period would be war and desolations.

Right now Israel is living in the GAP PERIOD between the fulfillment of the 69 weeks and in anticipation of the 70th week. Israel is living in "the in between time". The prophetic clock of the Seventy Weeks of Daniel for now has paused. It is on hold. In this gap period Messiah was crucified, Jerusalem and the Temple was destroyed in 70 A.D., and desolation and wars have defined the ongoing experience of Israel. This reality of desolation and war continues on to this very day. Israel has been in a perpetual state of war since the very day she once again became a nation in 1948. At each point we see the precise exact fulfillment of prophecy.

But why the gap? Why has God put His special program with Israel on hold? What is the hold all about? Well, Daniel didn’t know. It wasn’t revealed to him. But we know because of further NT revelation. What is the gap period all about? It’s about the CHURCH AGE! In the gap period God is doing something different – He is building a forever Church family that consists of both Jew and Gentile, but is predominantly Gentile (cf. Rom. 11:25). In this GAP period Israel as a nation is put on hold and God’s blessing for now is being poured out upon the Church which is largely Gentile in terms of background makeup.

But note the emphasis here in Daniel is totally on Israel. Daniel does not have the Church in view. For Israel the GAP period involves a period of ongoing desolations and war. For 1800 years the land lay desolate. In the latter days Israel would once again be brought back to the land in blindness (cf. Ezek. 38:8; Rom. 11:25). This is where she is at today. The phrase, “till the end of the war desolations are determined”, more literally reads “till the end shall be war; desolations are determined.” This my friend is exactly what Israel has experienced through the years. Israel is officially at war with many surrounding nations and is constantly under the threat of war. Rocket fire into Israel continues to the present! This will continue to the end of the GAP period.

As a footnote to verse 26, note that it is “the people of the prince who is to come” that would destroy the city and the temple sanctuary. The prince to come here is speaking of the Antichrist. It would be his people that would destroy Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 A.D. And that was the Romans. For this reason, we believe the Antichrist comes out of the Revived Roman Empire. He comes from the Gentile people of the Romans.

But what will finally bring this LONG GAP period of ongoing war desolations to an end? We find the answer to that question in verse 27.

Daniel 9:27 (NKJV)
27 Then he [Antichrist] shall confirm a covenant with many for one week...”.

Israel is weary of this ongoing continual state of war and being threatened continually. The greatest desire for Israel is to live in peace and security. But that has been elusive. Right now Israel is scrambling in looking for reliable allies that will secure their "peace" interests as a nation. At some point “the man with the 7-year plan” (the Antichrist) will emerge out of Europe (that is out of the Revived Roman Empire) and he will enter into a strong covenant with Israel. It will be a 7-year covenant which comprises the exact time of the 70th week of Daniel. This covenant will break the cycle of constant recurring war desolations that have been experienced by Israel in the Gap Period. Finally, they will have a STRONG negotiated peace settlement with a strong-man that will insure it. This 7-year covenant with Antichrist is what begins the final and 70th week of Daniel.

Note again that Daniel does not deal with the Church at all in the Gap Period. He is dealing strictly with Israel and what Israel is to experience. This is true of the 69 weeks, of the gap period, and also of the 70th week. Again, this strictly has Israel in view. Daniel did not see the Church or truth that relates directly to the Church at all. As I said earlier, we know from further revelation in the NT that the gap period essentially relates to the Church Age, and in my view the Rapture of the Church ends the Church Age which then gives way to the 70th week of Daniel and God’s resumption and completion of His program with Israel.

Just as sure as the past aspects of the 70th week of Daniel prophecies have literally been fulfilled to the letter, so also will the remaining aspects yet be fulfilled. The near partial fulfillments are a guarantee that the distant aspects will yet also be fulfilled. The 69 weeks were fulfilled to the LETTER. The GAP prophecies have been and are being fulfilled to the LETTER. And likewise the specific prophecies about the future 70th week will also be fulfilled to the LETTER. Absolute precision defines it through and through! No wonder Daniel 9:24-27 has been called THE GREATEST PROPHECY EVER GIVEN!