Revelation 11:
John’s Revelation and Daniel’s 70th Week
Many people teach that there will be a “Seven Year Tribulation,” with the last three-and-a-half years being the “Great Tribulation.”
Where does the teaching of a seven-year tribulation come from?
Surprisingly,
nowhere in Revelation does it say that the time span from Rev. 4 through 19 is
seven years. However, since Revelation 11 - 13 mentions a three-and-a-half year time-frame of “one thousand two hundred and
sixty days” twice (See Revelation 11:3 & 12:6 below):
“And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.”
(Revelation 11:3)
Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days. (Revelation 12:6)
“But leave out the court which is outside the temple, and do not measure it, for it has been given to the Gentiles. And they will tread the holy city underfoot for forty-two months."
(Revelation 11:2)
And he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority to continue for forty-two months.
(Revelation 13:5)
this is a good time to discuss “Daniel’s 70th week.”
Daniel
9:24-27
24 “Seventy
weeks are determined for your people and for your holy city, to finish the
transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to
bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to
anoint the Most Holy. 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. 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. 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 desolate.”
In Daniel 9:24-27, the prophet wrote that
Most interpret this to mean 70 periods of seven prophetic years consisting of exactly 360-days[1]. A week of prophetic years is seven 360-day years (or 2,520 days), so
seventy weeks would be 490 “prophetic years,” or more exactly, 176,400 days. This
can be seen this way:
Daniel divides the first 69 “weeks” into two sections: seven and 62 “weeks” (or a little more than 476 years on our calendar). The first seven “weeks” was the time that it took for the city to be rebuilt and for the Old Testament to be completed in the year 396 BC.
Following that were 62 “weeks” to total exactly 69 “weeks” from the time that King Artaxerxes gave the “command to restore and build Jerusalem,” (Dan. 9:25a, fulfilled in Nehemiah 2:7-8) in the year 444 B.C. until Jesus rode into Jerusalem in what is known as the Triumphal Entry (Matt. 21, Mark 11, Luke 19:29) in the year 33 A.D.
Many have gone so far as to say that
the prophecy was fulfilled to the very day, that being
Because of His rejection, Jesus wept over
This is interpreted as when “Messiah shall be cut off,” (Dan. 9:26a), followed by a time when “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,” (Dan. 9:26b).
That destruction occurred by the Roman army
in 70 A.D.
On Palm Sunday when Jesus arrived at Jerusalem, the “prophetic clock” stopped, and the counting of the 69 weeks was completed.
[1] A
prophetic year=360 days; our calendar year=365.2485 days.
