JUL 30

Daniel 9:27
Memorise Matthew 24:15
“whoso readeth, let him understand”

WHAT WILL HAPPEN IN DANIEL’S 70^th WEEK?

With the cutting off of the Messiah the “prophetic clock” seemed to have stopped ticking. In Daniel’s “prophescope” what is in the distant future is brought into focus, viz the last or 70th week. With reference to that prince mentioned in Daniel 9:26 (different from Messiah the Prince in verse 25 who is Christ), he would be the Antichrist, the last World Dictator: “He shall confirm the covenant with many for one week”. Commentators generally say this covenant is with the Jews, but we view that it is with Gentile powers too, as many as come within his orbit. In this covenant he brings Jews and Arabs together. This event would thus signal the beginning of the 7 year period of the Great Tribulation, which as we have seen earlier, is divided into two 3½ year periods. This first 3½ year period would be a time of relative peace, as the world comes unto the global rule of the Antichrist, and a diplomatic solution is sought in the Middle East.

But after 3½ years, in the middle of the week, he shall cause “the sacrifice and the oblation to cease and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate.” Bible students generally conclude that since there would be the Old Testament sacrifices revived, the Temple by this time would be rebuilt. There are others who do not necessarily see it as a prediction of an actual Temple that is rebuilt, but that a compromise will somehow be sought and that offerings will be allowed to be made in accordance to the Jewish law. Whatever the case may be, what we do know is that this breaking of the covenant and the abomination that the Antichrist will commit will certainly shatter the fragile peace that would be established in the Middle East.

What would then follow would be a redoubling of Satan’s efforts against the Jews, which results in an intensifying of the persecution against them. This second half of the tribulation will thus really be a time where Israel is troubled, as was prophesised by Jeremiah whereby he called it the time of “Jacob’s Trouble” (Jeremiah 30:7). Yet it will end with victory for Christ, for at the end of this seven years (the consummation), a determined judgment will be poured down upon the Antichrist (the desolate) – referring to the final battle of the Armageddon that we shall read about later.

Thought: Follow Christ not Antichrist.
Prayer: Lord, Thou art my Shepherd, and as a faithful sheep I want to follow Thee always.