- Goal: Understanding the timeline for the End of Days
- Focal Books & Chapters of the Bible: Daniel 8 & Daniel 9
- Other Verses/Helpful Books: Mark 13:32-37, Numbers 14:33-34, Ezekiel 4:6, Nehemiah
If you order a package online and the estimated delivery date is 2 weeks away, you won't begin looking for it until the 2 weeks is almost over. When the two weeks are almost over, you will likely check daily for your package, and once you receive you package you have no need to continue looking for it. There are three phases in this process: the phase in which you expect the package in the future, the phase in which you expect the package at any moment, and the phase in which the package has already been delivered. Now imagine that the package is not something you ordered online, but the second coming of Christ. Jesus already told us that only God knows the hour that this will occur but we are instructed to keep watch (
Mark 13:32-37). There are still three phases, and thus there are three notions on the interpretation of Christ's second coming.
Preterists believe that the book of Revelation (and all prophecy in the Bible) refers to the past. Essentially, they believe the end times have already happened. Preterists believe they've already gotten their package, so they aren't standing watch because there's nothing to watch for.
Futurists believe the opposite, that everything is going to be fulfilled in the future (in the hour that only God knows). In our analogy, they ordered their package yesterday. They don't expect it to come tomorrow, but they expect it sometime in the future.
Historicists believe that the events and prophecies concerning the end of days began during John's (the writer of Revelation) era and continue on into the present. Historicists are always watching for their package; they believe it may arrive at any moment. Outside of these three phases, there exists a fourth idea—the
Idealistic interpretation of Revelation. Subscribers of this belief do not take Revelation literally, but view it as a continuing allegory for good and evil.
So which concept is right (if any)? To answer this question, we need to nail down all that we can about the timeline of the End of Days.
Resources & Study Materials
One of my favorite sites for information on the end times is
Presents of God Ministries—they have tons of current events and documentation about the end times. I haven't read every article on the site (there's ALOT of text there) so I can't attest to the validity of the whole site, but it was definitely a great starting place for me. A lot of the information is presented with the inference that you already know and accept where they're going with it, which means the reader has to just go along with it until they agree or quit because they don't agree. I prefer a concrete starting place that leads to a conclusion rather than throwing everything out there at one time. I also like to research the information presented. So throughout this series, you may find similarities to Presents of God Ministries, but you'll see references to several sites. You should always look for confirmation that the information presented to you and the interpretation given is accurate. That may mean double checking historical facts, or reading biblical passages from the beginning of a chapter as opposed to drawing from just one verse.
The Prophecy
There are two major prophetic vision given concerning the timeline of the end of days: Daniel's 2300 days prophecy and Daniel's 70 week prophecy. These two prophecies are found in Daniel 8 and 9 respectively.
2300 Days Prophecy
In
Daniel 8, Daniel is given a vision involving a ram, goat, and horns, and within the vision he is told there will 2300 days until the sanctuary will be cleansed. The angel Gabriel, comes to Daniel and begins to explain the vision. We are told that the ram's two horns represent the kings of Media and Persia (you'll notice that horns always represent power/kingdoms), the goat represents the king of Grecia, and that four kingdoms will come out of this kingdom. The final kingdom will have a king that "stands against the Prince of princes" and will destroy many. We are told that this king comes in the latter times (i.e. the end of days) and that he will destroy holy people. This is obviously a reference to the antichrist, with the Prince of princes being a reference to Jesus. Daniel faints before he is able to understand the vision. We will come back to this visions, just as Daniel had to, as we learn more about the end times prophecy.
70 Weeks Prophecy
Now in Daniel 9, the 70 week prophecy gives us a better sense of how biblical prophecy and history line up. Before we start digging into Daniel's prophecy, trying to match up dates, remember that in
Numbers 14:33-34 and
Ezekiel 4:6 God defines one day as one year. More information on the "day for a year" principle can be found
here. Ok, back to the point, Daniel 9:21-27 outlines the 70 week prophecy as follows:
21 Yea, whiles I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation.
22 And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding.
23 At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth, and I am come to shew thee; for thou art greatly beloved: therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision.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. (Daniel 9:21-27 KJV)
We know that 1 week = 7 days, thus 70 weeks = 70 * 7 days = 490 days. Using what we know about the day for a year principle (compounded with the obvious fact that this cannot and did not occur over 70 literal weeks), we understand that the seventy weeks Daniel is discussing covers 490 years. Furthermore, notice that in Daniel 9:25, Gabriel tells Daniel exactly when the prophecy begins so that we can match it with the historical timeline. From this verse we see that from the time the Jews are commanded to rebuild Jerusalem until the time of the actual rebuilding is to make up 7 of the 70 weeks (remember 7 weeks = 49 days = 49 years). Now we add the threescore and two weeks (62 weeks = 434 days = 434 years), this should bring us to the time of Jesus. This is a total of 69 weeks which is actually 483 years. The final week defines Jesus' crucifixion and the confirmation of the covenant. There are
several decrees in history for the rebuilding of Jerusalem (4 to be exact), but the one issued by King Araxerxes in 457
bc is the only one that matches the prophecy. The timeline looks like this:
| Historical Year | Prophetic Time | | Action/Event |
|---|
| 457 BC | (the beginning) | | King Artaxerxes commands Jerusalem to be rebuilt |
| 408 BC | (7 weeks) | | Jerusalem to be rebuilt |
| 27 AD | (62 weeks) | | The Messiah comes |
| 31 AD | (Midst of the Week) | | Ending of the Sacrifice |
| 34 AD | (1 week) | | Confirmation of the Covenant |
Ok, so we've already confirmed the date that the command was given to rebuild Jerusalem. Was it completed in 408
bc? The book of Nehemiah is concerned with the rebuilding of Jerusalem. We see in
Nehemiah 2:1 that Nehemiah goes to take to Artaxerxes in the 20th year of his reign—a simple Google search will confirm this to be 445
bc—where he actually begins the process of rebuilding the city. Nehemiah tells us when the wall was built (remember Daniel 9:25 mentions the wall specifically) in
Nehemiah 6:15 (it's remarkable how they provided us with exact dates for the things that are important). Nehemiah goes on to say that the city was finished except the homes weren't completed yet in
Nehemiah 7:4. According to
history the last act of Nehemiah in restoring the city occurred in the 15th year of Darius Nothus's regin, which would be 408
bc.
Next, we want to confirm the beginning of the ministry of Jesus (the Messiah). We are told in
Luke 3:23 that Jesus is 30 years old when at the time of baptism and the beginning of His ministry. Historian conclude that Jesus was not born in year 0, as there were mistakes in calculating the calendar, but that Jesus was born in 4
bc (also verifiable via Google search). This would make him 30 is the year 27
ad.
The prophecy tells us that in the "midst of" the final week "he shall cause the obligation and sacrifice to cease." The he referred to in this verse is Jesus, who replaced the Passover Lamb as a sacrifice during is death and resurrection—this ended the Jews obligation to sacrifice a lamb for God each year. It is common knowledge that the date of Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection are placed in 31
ad, perfectly aligning with the prophecy. (*EDIT: There is actually a debate as to whether Jesus died in 31
ad [
source] or 33
ad [
source]—after some more digging I'll get back to you. Based on the prophecy and the generally assumed idea that His ministry lasted 3 1/2 years I'm inclined to go with 31
ad, but I'll do some research and get back to you on concrete evidence.)
That brings us to the end of the vision and the end of the week, in 34
ad. Remember Jesus created the new covenant and taught the disciples who then continued to teach this covenant after Jesus's crucifixion and resurrection. Stephan was the last of the prophets to speak directly to the Jews (once Paul began his ministry, he spoke to the Gentiles). His death (by stoning at the hands of the Jews) occurs in
Acts 7. Note the prophecy is stating that the Jews had this time "to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy." The stoning of Stephan is the official rejection by the Jewish population (of the time) of Jesus' message and the end of the their time as God's chosen people. From his death on, Jesus' message is preached to all people. The accepted date of this occurrence is 34
ad.
More on the 70 Week Timeline
Putting it Together
Everything in the 70 weeks prophecy has already happened (which leans towards the Preterist view and contradicts the Futurist belief that we're suspended between the 69th and 70th week), but what exactly does the 70 weeks prophecy have to do with the end times, what does the 2300 days prophecy mean at all, and why are they told to us in succession? All of these questions have to be answered before we can accurately determine which school of thought is pointing us to the right timeline. For fear of making this post too long, I'll save this discussion for the next post. In that post I'll discuss how and why the 70 weeks make up part of the 2300 days and how it sets up our timeline.
Goal: Understanding the timeline for the End of Days Focal Books & Chapters of the Bible: Daniel 8 & Daniel 9 Other Verses/Hel...
Alright, now lets do some math! 2300 prophetic days is 2300 years. We've already established that the 70 weeks equals 490 prophetic days, or 490 literal years. Therefore we know what happened in 490 of the 2300 years. The question is what happened in the other 2300 years and where do those 490 years fit in the timeline. The earliest the 490 years could have occurred is at the onset of the 2300 years, which means the prophecy would take place from the beginning of the 70 weeks (in 457bc) to the 2300th year (in 1844ad). The latest the 490 years could have occurred in the timeline is at the end of the 2300 years, which would mean the prophecy ended in 34ad. and began in 2267bc. The last option makes no sense because it is estimated that the book of Daniel was written in the 6th century bc (i.e. sometime between 600bc and 500bc). If that the prophecy began in 2267bc, most of the events would have already occurred by the time Gabriel told Daniel and thus it wouldn't be a prophecy. We have to assume the 2300 years either started at the onset of the 70 weeks in 457bc or that the it started sometime between Daniel's vision and 457bc... However, we have to keep in mind that the prophecy is quite useless if we don't have a starting point. Let's look at the order of events so that we can figure this out.
