Dear John and Doves,

In reply to Michael's excellent post, http://www.fivedoves.com/letters/march2012/michaelc327-1.htm it would seem to me that the "7" or 49 (360 day years) will be fulfilled by September 2015.

 

We understand that the "62" of the [7 plus 62 plus 1, in the midst of the 1] had to do with the first coming of Christ however the "1, in the midst of the 1" by it's context IS NOT PART of the 69 but was fulfilled during His Passion week (of days).

 

We therefore SHOULD NOT be disappointed when we find that the final 49 years has nothing whatsoever to do with October 2008 or April 11th, 2012 or even a final 42 months of figurative (day-year counts).

 

We are in the Great Tribulation now. It expires by September 2015.

 

Please read the entire reference article by Ray Schulz (a portion follows... )

 

The "One Week" of Daniel 9:27

Is Not One of the 70 Weeks

 

God's decree is specifically stated to apply to the Jewish people and Jerusalem for "seventy weeks."  However, the last three verses of this passage (9:25-27) only account for sixty-nine of the seventy weeks.   This leaves us with the problem  of  where  to  place  the  missing  70th week of God's decree.

 

Unfortunately some in the past have seized upon the "one week" mentioned in verse 9:27, called it Daniel's 70th  week, and forced it into the end time tribulation.   However, it has al- ready been shown that everything in the 9:25-

27 passage is associated with just one person,

our Lord Jesus Christ.   Therefore it is Christ who will "make a strong covenant with many for one week" and "put an end to sacrifice and offering" in verse 9:27.

 

The Strong Covenant (Daniel 9:27)

In order to fully understand the "strong covenant" noted in verse 9:27 we need to look into some of the details of the ancient Jewish marriage customs of the time.

 

Two important steps of these ancient Jewish marriage customs took place at the last supper in the upper room.   In the first of these two steps Jesus Christ proclaimed His intention to pay the price of the mohar for His bride, the Church.

 

The traditional mohar was a dowry, or some equivalent service, paid by the bridegroom to the bride's family.

 

Carefully following the  Jewish marriage customs of the time, Christ paid the mohar for His bride on the cross later that day.11    The price He paid was His body, "which is for you."  This price paid by Jesus Christ on the cross solved the sin problem of Adam and Eve and all their descendants.   All who choose to serve Jesus Christ, whether Jew or Gentile, will now live forever in His presence.

 

The next important step of the ancient Jewish marriage customs was the cup of wine shared by the prospective bride and bridegroom. If she consented  to  the  marriage,  the  prospective bride would acknowledge her acceptance of the marriage  covenant  relationship  by  drinking from  the  cup  of  wine.    We  know  that  the "strong covenant" of verse 9:27 is the New Covenant because Jesus Christ chose to say those very words in 1 Corinthians 11:25.

 

You and I recognize these two well-known pas- sages as "Communion," but Christ's disciples, who symbolize the bride of Christ, should have recognized it for what it was - a marriage covenant - the "strong covenant with many" of verse

9:27.  Consequently the marriage was finalized in  the  upper  room  that  evening, and Christ

would  fulfill  the  terms  of  the  mohar  on  the cross a few hours later.  Once the mohar had been paid, bride and groom were considered as man and wife.

 

See, http://ourpropheticbible.org/downloads/PRINCE.pdf

 

best regards,

 

Tom Tanner