There is no Seven Year Tribulation

[Hobie]

This is a misunderstanding of the Prophecy of Seventy Weeks in Daniel chapter 9, in which the 490 years is an uninterrupted period starting from "the time the word goes out to rebuild and restore Jerusalem," of Daniel 9:25 and ending 3½ years after Jesus' death. In the prophecy, the starting point identified with a decree by Artaxerxes I in 458/7 BCE to provide money to rebuild Jerusalem and its temple. Now there where two earlier decrees by Cyrus and Darius’. So why don't these two decrees qualify to start the prophecy of Daniel 9:25? Well lets take a look at these two decrees. The first is the decree of Cyrus, given in his first year (probably 537/536 B.C.) which is recorded in Ezra 1:1-4. An undated decree of Darius (but falling about his second year, 520/519 B.C.) which is found in Ezra 6:1-12 merely reconfirms the decree of Cyrus. however, the first two decrees are about the temple, and its reconstruction, whereas the statement in Daniel 9:25 is concerned with the decree that resulted in the rebuilding of the city of Jerusalem. The first two decrees can be omitted from consideration, because they deal only with the building of the temple, and not the rebuilding of the city and restoration, "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." So we can see that the third decree of Artaxerxes is the one that started the prophecy of Daniel 9 and was implemented in September/October 457 B.C

Lets read through the entire prophecy and then break it down...

Daniel 9:24-27
24 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.
25 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.
26 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.
27 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 overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

One thing that must be understood first is the 'a day for a year' rule established in Ezekiel 4:6.
Ezekiel 4:6
And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: I have appointed thee each day for a year.

For every day that is mentioned in this and all other biblical prophecies they are equal to a prophetic year. There is virtually no debate about this point in Christian circles and we'll find that the rule holds true in this prophecy.

The Timeframe:
The angel Gabriel starts the prophecy by giving a block of time in verse 24, seventy weeks. Seventy weeks is equal to 490 days, or 490 prophetic years. That is our timeframe for this prophecy from beginning to end.

Verse 25 tells us when this timeframe begins, 'from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem'. When did this occur? See Ezra 7; for this is the command where the rebuilding of Jerusalem was actually accomplished and that command was given by Artaxerxes, king of Persia; which occurred in 457 BC. There were two other kings that made similar commands to rebuild Jerusalem but those proved to not be fruitful.


This is the total 70-week block given by Gabriel in verses 25 & 27:
Block 1: 7 Weeks - (49 years) - Starts in 457 BC

Block 2: 62 Weeks - (434 years) - Starts in 408 BC

Block 3: 1 week - (7 years) - Starts in 27 AD


Let's look closely at the last week/ 7-year block (Block 3); for this is the period of time that many think will be the famous 'Seven-year Tribulation' of the future:

3 ½ Years + 3 ½ Years = 7 years (one week)
This block starts in 27 AD. What happened in this year? Christ was baptized, anointed, and started His public ministry.
The "midst of the week" started in 31 AD (3 ½ years later). What happened in this year? Christ was killed on the cross. (New Covenant confirmed.)
This block ends in 34 AD. What happened in this year? Stephen, the last disciple to the Jews, was stoned by the Sanhedrin and the Gospel went out to the Gentiles.

So we see that this breakdown perfectly follows the prophecy of Daniel 9 and we find that this prophecy was about the coming Messiah (Jesus Christ); history and later books of the Bible verify this.

Why do people want to put this last week of the 70 at the end times? There is no biblical reason to do so and it breaks the block of time Gabriel started the prophecy with. Let's ask some further important questions;
Is the antichrist mentioned anywhere in Daniel 9:24-27? No. The "he" mentioned in verse 27 is Christ, not Antichrist, for Christ is the focus of the whole prophecy. Also, we find that only Christ makes convenants in the Bible. Is there any mention of a rebuilding of the Jewish temple? No. Any mention of sacrifices being restarted? No. Any mention of a covenant being broken? No. In fact verse 27 says the opposite, that the covenant would be confirmed. So why do people believe this ridiculous theory that there will be a 7-year tribulation at the end of the world?

Here is a good study on this...

....Daniel 9:25-27 What is so amazing about the often neglected Seventy Weeks Prophecy is that, not only does it give us a clue to the day of Christ's death, it indicates the year of His death as well! Of course, it is not as simple as looking up a fact in an almanac, but enough information is available to discover the year very accurately. From what Gabriel says in verse 25, the ending point is fairly plain: the revealing of the Messiah. But what is the starting point? Historians know of at least four decrees made by the Persian emperors "to restore and build Jerusalem." Cyrus made one in 538 BC, Darius I made one in 520 BC and Artaxerxes I made two, one in 457 BC and one in 444 BC. Which one is the correct command? All of them could fit the description in verse 25. All of them are concerned with restoring Jerusalem to its former function as the Jewish religious capital and trade center. But only one of them fits the time constraints, and this becomes clear when we work out the puzzle of the seventy weeks. We have to do a little arithmetic to find the terminus for each of these decrees. The expression "seventy weeks" literally means "seventy sevens," and the year-for-a-day principle applies here (Numbers 14:34; Ezekiel 4:4-6). We must multiply seventy weeks times the seven years in a week of years, which equals 490 years. Gabriel, however, says it is only sixty-nine sevens "until Messiah the Prince." Thus, 69 x 7 = 483 years. If we add 483 years to each of the dates of the decrees, what do we find? (Remember to add one year for crossing the non-existent year 0.) 538 BC + 483 years = 55 BC. No significant biblical event. 520 BC + 483 years = 37 BC. No significant biblical event. 457 BC + 483 years = AD 27. Jesus is baptized and begins His ministry. 444 BC + 483 years = AD 40. No significant biblical event. God made it easy! We have only one choice! Verses 26-27 are very specific that the Messiah would work for three and a half years, half of a week, before being "cut off." When we add three and a half years to AD 27, we find that Christ's ministry ended in AD 31, the year of His crucifixion and resurrection."

 

[Windmill Charge]

Basically Jesus is coming again.
All else is speculation.

 

[Jay Ross]

This is a misunderstanding of the Prophecy of Seventy Weeks in Daniel chapter 9, in which the 490 years is an uninterrupted period starting from "the time the word goes out to rebuild and restore Jerusalem," of Daniel 9:25 and ending 3½ years after Jesus' death. In the prophecy, the starting point identified with a decree by Artaxerxes I in 458/7 BCE to provide money to rebuild Jerusalem and its temple. Now there where two earlier decrees by Cyrus and Darius’. So why don't these two decrees qualify to start the prophecy of Daniel 9:25? Well lets take a look at these two decrees. The first is the decree of Cyrus, given in his first year (probably 537/536 B.C.) which is recorded in Ezra 1:1-4. An undated decree of Darius (but falling about his second year, 520/519 B.C.) which is found in Ezra 6:1-12 merely reconfirms the decree of Cyrus. however, the first two decrees are about the temple, and its reconstruction, whereas the statement in Daniel 9:25 is concerned with the decree that resulted in the rebuilding of the city of Jerusalem. The first two decrees can be omitted from consideration, because they deal only with the building of the temple, and not the rebuilding of the city and restoration, "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 tubulous times." So, we can see that the third decree of Artaxerxes is the one that started the prophecy of Daniel 9 and was implemented in September/October 457 B.C

This is weird, Hobbie, as you have shown that you have not used your laughing matter to put the respective independent prophecies into a sequenced order that makes sense. But you have plagiarised Elener White's writing as if they were your own.

In applying my laughing matter, I have discerned that there are six independent prophecies given. In the quoted passage from Daniel 9 I have labelled each of the six prophecies: -

Prophecy 1: -​

24 "Seventy weeks are determined
For your people and for your holy city,
To finish the transgression,
To make an end of sins.

{And then after the 70 weeks of years}

Prophecy 2​

To make reconciliation for iniquity,
To bring in everlasting righteousness,
To seal up vision and prophecy,
And to anoint a scared place {as being} Holy.

Prophecy 3​

25 "Know therefore and understand,
That from the going forth of the command
To restore and build Jerusalem
Until Messiah the Prince,
There shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks;
The street shall be built again, and the wall,
Even in troublesome times.

Prophecy 4​

26 "And after the sixty-two weeks
Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself;

Prophecy 5​

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.

Prophecy 6​

27 Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week;
But in the middle of the week
He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering.
And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate,
Even until the consummation, which is determined,
Is poured out on the desolator."

Prophecy 1: - The Israelites are given 490 calendar years to repent of their continual idolatrous worship such that there would be no visitation of the fathers' iniquities upon their children and the children's children during the third and the fourth ages of Israel's existence. God had forewarned the nation of Israel in 2 Chron 7:12ff that they would be scattered because of their idolatrous worship.

Prophecy 2: - That they process by which they could gain redemption for their iniquities would be changed from the process centred around the Temple.

Prophecy 3: - That the temple would be rebuilt over a period of some 483 years when their Messiah would be revealed to them.

Prophecy 4: - That after the completion of the 434 years of the Temple being rebuilt, that the Messiah would be cut off but not for Himself.

Prophecy 5: - That the Little Horn, labelled as a prince, with the army that he had been given at this time, would come to destroy God's sanctuary and to desolate the land of Canaan where the Israelites lived until the battle in heaven between God and Satan ends after around 2,000 years.

Prophecy 6: - Then around 1,000 years after the war in heaven ends, that the prince, i.e. the Little Horn/False Prophet would establish a covenant with many for seven years, but halfway through that 7-year period he will make an end to sacrifice and offering and the one who makes desolate would come on the wings of abominations until the determined punishment is poured out on the one who make desolate, i.e. Satan.

As Garbiel told Daniel in Daniel 12, that all of the above prophecies would occur over a period which would be around three and a half ages long.

The six prophecies recorded in Daniel 9:24-27 cannot be mathematically linked as has been suggested to fit within a 490-year period.

Shalom

 

[Simonides]

.

 

[Hobie]

This is weird, Hobbie, as you have shown that you have not used your laughing matter to put the respective independent prophecies into a sequenced order that makes sense. But you have plagiarised Elener White's writing as if they were your own.

In applying my laughing matter, I have discerned that there are six independent prophecies given. In the quoted passage from Daniel 9 I have labelled each of the six prophecies: -

Prophecy 1: -​

24 "Seventy weeks are determined
For your people and for your holy city,
To finish the transgression,
To make an end of sins.

{And then after the 70 weeks of years}

Prophecy 2​

To make reconciliation for iniquity,
To bring in everlasting righteousness,
To seal up vision and prophecy,
And to anoint a scared place {as being} Holy.

Prophecy 3​

25 "Know therefore and understand,
That from the going forth of the command
To restore and build Jerusalem
Until Messiah the Prince,
There shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks;
The street shall be built again, and the wall,
Even in troublesome times.

Prophecy 4​

26 "And after the sixty-two weeks
Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself;

Prophecy 5​

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.

Prophecy 6​

27 Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week;
But in the middle of the week
He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering.
And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate,
Even until the consummation, which is determined,
Is poured out on the desolator."

Prophecy 1: - The Israelites are given 490 calendar years to repent of their continual idolatrous worship such that there would be no visitation of the fathers' iniquities upon their children and the children's children during the third and the fourth ages of Israel's existence. God had forewarned the nation of Israel in 2 Chron 7:12ff that they would be scattered because of their idolatrous worship.

Prophecy 2: - That they process by which they could gain redemption for their iniquities would be changed from the process centred around the Temple.

Prophecy 3: - That the temple would be rebuilt over a period of some 483 years when their Messiah would be revealed to them.

Prophecy 4: - That after the completion of the 434 years of the Temple being rebuilt, that the Messiah would be cut off but not for Himself.

Prophecy 5: - That the Little Horn, labelled as a prince, with the army that he had been given at this time, would come to destroy God's sanctuary and to desolate the land of Canaan where the Israelites lived until the battle in heaven between God and Satan ends after around 2,000 years.

Prophecy 6: - Then around 1,000 years after the war in heaven ends, that the prince, i.e. the Little Horn/False Prophet would establish a covenant with many for seven years, but halfway through that 7-year period he will make an end to sacrifice and offering and the one who makes desolate would come on the wings of abominations until the determined punishment is poured out on the one who make desolate, i.e. Satan.

As Garbiel told Daniel in Daniel 12, that all of the above prophecies would occur over a period which would be around three and a half ages long.

The six prophecies recorded in Daniel 9:24-27 cannot be mathematically linked as has been suggested to fit within a 490-year period.

Shalom

Let him who hath eyes see, need to discern my brother, or you have nothing.

 

[Jay Ross]

Let him who hath eyes see, need to discern my brother, or you have nothing.

Oh, my poor Hobie, your rebuttal tells us all that you have nothing with which to respond to my post.

It is my understanding that the 490 years allocated for the nation of Israel, in the first prophecy in Daniel 9:24-27, to repent of their idolatrous worship ended around the year 4 BC at the end of their second age of existence after which the iniquities of the father has been visited upon their children and the children's children and still has around 20 more years to run before the Exodus 20:4-6 prophecy comes to its completion.

The second prophecy occurred around the year 29 AD when Christ was crucified on the cross.

As to the dates when the third prophecy began and came to its completion is not critical to our understanding of how all of the six prophecies contained in the Daniel 9:24-27 have played out except the construction of the rebuilding of the Temple was completed, sometime before the year 29 AD.

The fourth prophecy as to when the Messiah was cut off, but not for Himself, did occur after the completion of the reconstruction of the temple when Christ was crucified in 29 AD.

The dates as to when the prince, i.e. the Little Horn, was given an army to trample God's sanctuary and His earthly hosts, i.e. the nation of Israel, began around the year 250 BC and was to span 2,300 years which will end at the end of this present age in around 20 years' time in 2044 AD. The fifth Prophecy in Daniel 9:24-27, which began around the year 44 AD and over a number of years come to a definable event around the year 70 AD when the Temple was destroyed and the ground ploughed years later, with the nation of Israel, i.e. the people that primarily consisted of the tribes of Judah and Benjamim from the nation of Israel, being scattered to the four corners of the earth at that time to join the other tribes of Israel who had also previously been scattered. In this prophecy we are told that the Land of Israel would remain desolated until the war in Heaven end with the removal of Satan and the other angels who had rebelled along with Satan were judged in heaven and kicked out. The judging of the heavenly hosts in heaven and the kings of the earth of the earth will both happen at the same time and together they imprisoned in the Bottomless pit for many days to await the time of their punishment. (Isaiah 24:21-22)

The Six prophecy in Daniel 9:24-27, i.e. verse 27, is still a distant future event and will not happen until the Bottomless pit is unlocked after 1,000 years and Satan and the other entities, who were imprisoned with Satan, are then able to roam the face of the earth once more during the Little While Period before the final judgement. It is during this time, of around 24 years of the Little While Period, that a solemn covenant with an insolent entity. i.e. Satan will be established for seven years with the peoples of the earth. This sixth prophecy ends with
the consummation, which is determined, is poured out on the one who makes everything desolate.

In Daniel 12 he recorded that all of the wonders that had been revealed to him would occur over a time period of three and a half ages, i.e. just over three and a half thousand years.

Hobie, I once believed like you did, but my eyes were able to perceive the above understanding, and now it has moved well away from the reformation fathers' understanding that they held to.

Shalom

 

[Hobie]

The prophecy points like many of the ones in the Bible to when Christ came in His first coming but it shows much more. Here is a good explanation..

"The decree to rebuild Jerusalem​

The first seven weeks, Daniel says, were allotted for the building of Jerusalem:

“Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, there shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublesome times” (Daniel 9:25, NKJV).

The Israelites, or Jews, had been in captivity in Babylon for years. Finally, Cyrus, the king of Persia, made the decree in 538 or 537 B.C. for the temple to be rebuilt, meaning the Jews were freed and allowed to return to their homeland (Ezra 1).3

Then, Darius I, a king after Cyrus, made a second decree that ensured the temple was finished. His decree was longer than Cyrus’s initial decree and included far more detail (Ezra 6).

The temple was finished in 516 B.C.

But Jerusalem was still in ruins; the prophecy could not yet begin.

Years passed, and another Persian king ascended the throne: Artaxerxes. He commanded Ezra, a Jewish priest, to reinstate the local Jewish government. This decree was much longer than any of the previous decrees and contained even more detail (Ezra 7:12–26).

The date for this decree was 457 B.C., and it brought about the full restoration of Jerusalem. According to Ezra 7, this decree took place in the seventh year of Artaxerxes’ reign.

But how do we know the seventh year of his reign was 457 B.C.?

Some scholars debate this date because different nations had their own calendars—all of them different from the calendar we use today. However, four different documents help prove the validity of this date.

An Adventist scholar and archeologist, Siegfried H. Horn, notes how these documents do just that:4

• Ptolemy’s canon. This is a list of kings stretching from the 8th century B.C. to the second century A.D. In it, we can find the dates of Artaxerxes’ reign.
• The Jewish calendar. Depending on where the Jews lived, they used different methods for dating their calendars. Ezra and Nehemiah used the fall-to-fall calendar.
• Aramaic papyrus from Elephantine. This papyrus included a date in the Egyptian calendar that corresponded with the Jewish calendar—something that was only possible if the Jewish calendar was a fall-to-fall calendar. This showed that Ezra and Nehemiah used the fall-to-fall calendar, helping to further establish the date of 457 B.C.
• The tablet from Ur. This tablet clearly shows the year of King Xerxes’ death, which is necessary to know when King Artaxerxes came to the throne.

Following the start of Daniel’s prophecy, the first seven weeks—49 literal years—were allotted for the rebuilding of Jerusalem. And 49 years later, in 408 B.C., the city was finished (Nehemiah 1–5).

Jesus’ baptism​

The next 62 weeks represent the period of time between the Old Testament and the New Testament. The end of the 69th week (seven weeks for the rebuilding of Jerusalem and 62 after) brings us to A.D. 27. At this point, Daniel said the Messiah would come (Daniel 9:25).

Naturally, the Messiah was on the tongue of every Jew who hoped He would come and save them from their oppressors. Throughout the Old Testament Scriptures,5 God had indeed promised a Messiah, and Daniel 9 reiterates that promise.

Daniel 9:24 states that one of the purposes of the 70 weeks was “to anoint the Most Holy” (NKJV).

The next verse says that the 69 weeks would stretch from the decree to rebuild Jerusalem to “Messiah the Prince” (Daniel 9:25, NKJV).

Interestingly, both the Hebrew and Greek words for Messiah mean “the anointed one.”

When was Jesus anointed?

At His baptism in A.D. 27 (Luke 3:22). This event, at which the Holy Spirit came upon Jesus in the form of a dove, marked the beginning of His ministry.

The apostle Paul also recognized this event as Jesus’ anointing when he said in Acts 10:38:

“How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him” (NKJV).

Jesus was about 30 at His baptism in A.D. 27 (Luke 3:23). Thus, His birth would have been in 4 B.C. (remember, there is no year 0). This date lines up with the reign of Herod the Great (37–4 B.C.), who was the king at the time of Jesus’ birth (Matthew 2).6

Jesus’ crucifixion​

The next event in the 70-week prophecy is Jesus’ crucifixion, which took place after His three-and-a-half-year ministry in the spring of A.D. 31.

This coincides exactly with what the prophecy foretold. Daniel 9:26 (NKJV) says, “And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself.”

Verse 27 adds, “Then He [the Messiah] shall confirm a covenant with many for one week; but in the middle of the week He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering” (NKJV)....

 

[Hobie]

"...During the last seven years of the 70-week prophecy, Jesus was confirming the covenant—the faithful promise God had made repeatedly throughout the Old Testament that He would provide salvation for His people (Genesis 3:15; 15:1–18; Isaiah 54:10).

And as Daniel 9:26–27 points out, Jesus was to be “cut off,” and “in the middle of the week He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering.”

The middle of the week of seven years was three and a half years—precisely when Jesus died. His crucifixion was His cutting off.....

Jesus’ death fulfilled other elements of it as well. Daniel 9:24 says the 70 weeks would:

• Make an end of sins. Jesus didn’t die to pardon Himself; He died for us and our countless sins. Daniel 9:26 alludes to this when it says Jesus was “cut off, but not for Himself.” And the even greater news is that His death has provided for the ultimate triumph over sin so that someday it will be completely eradicated from our world (John 1:29).
• Bring an end to sacrifice and offering. The moment Jesus died, the curtain in the Jewish temple was torn from top to bottom (Matthew 27:51). This was overwhelmingly significant because, for centuries, the Jews had sacrificed animals to God in the temple as a symbol of receiving pardon for their sins. It was a physical reminder of what Jesus would do on the cross. He was the ultimate sacrifice for every person’s sin, putting an end to the sacrificial system of the temple (Hebrews 9:11–15; 10:12).
• Seal up vision and prophecy. The 70 weeks are a continuation of a prophecy that an angel presented to Daniel in chapter 8: the 2300 days. Just like a seal guarantees the authenticity of a document, the 70-week prophecy helps guarantee the authenticity of the 2300-day prophecy and establish its timeline and later fulfillment.7 ...

The stoning of Stephen and the gospel going more fully to the world​

Daniel doesn’t mention anything specific happening at the end of the 70-week prophecy, but from historical evidence, we can gather that after three and a half years, two things occurred: a Christian leader by the name of Stephen was martyred, and the gospel went more fully to the non-Jewish world.

Stephen was an early Christian and a powerful speaker who garnered attention because he was preaching about Jesus Christ and performing miracles. The Jewish leaders wanted to stop his work, so they falsely accused him and stoned him to death (Acts 6–7).

Christians often refer to him as the first Christian martyr.

With Stephen’s death, persecution against the early Christians increased, and many of them fled Jerusalem. In doing so, they carried the gospel farther, especially to non-Jews (Acts 8:1–4).

All throughout the Old Testament, the Jewish nation had been God’s special people (Deuteronomy 14:2), but they had struggled to remain faithful to Him. The purpose of the 490 years of the 70-week prophecy was to give them an opportunity to return to God (“seventy weeks are determined for your people”) and receive the Messiah. Instead, the leaders of the Jewish nation rejected Jesus and gave up their special position. They confirmed this decision in their stoning of Stephen...."

So as you can see it was about Jesus coming the first time, as there is no mention anywhere in the Bible of a seven year tribulation, this was made up to hide the truth of the prophecy pointing to Jesus as the Messiah.