Dear Doves,
Before
I even get started on this, let me confirm that I believe with all of
my heart that we will be Raptured prior to the start of the Tribulation
Period, no matter
its length. However, I am having an extraordinarily difficult time
simply accepting the norm that the Tribulation Period has to be 7 years
in length.
Indeed,
it is my mathematical conclusion that the Tribulation Period could be
of any undetermined length in excess of 3.5 years (with 7 years being
just one of many
possibilities). In essence, it boils down to one major question. Why
are we so stuck on the Tribulation Period being kicked off by a
“peaceful” Anti-Christ making a peace pact with the world / Israel for a
seven year period?
I
understand which passage this interpretation was taken from and
understand the basis for this possible misinterpretation. Regardless, I
do not see any harm in
taking a fresh look at the current interpretation and the logic behind
it.
Allow
me to elaborate. The whole 7-year peace treaty theory revolves around
the interpretation of the following passages from 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”
According
to the rules of interpreting Scripture, a pronoun, such as “he”, refers
to the last person specifically referenced. So then, which person does
the word
“he” in Verse 27 refer to?
The
most knowledgeable minds in prophecy have all seemed to agree that the
“he” is the Anti-Christ. This includes Jack Kelley, someone who I
greatly admire for
his immense knowledge, along with the vast majority of members and
contributing writers to this website.
This
interpretation of “he” is derived from Verse 26. Specifically, “he” is
interpreted from the part in Verse 26 that says “the prince that shall
come”. In turn,
“the prince that shall come” has been commonly interpreted as being the
Anti-Christ. The Anti-Christ, in turn, is subsequently applied to the
“he” in Verse 27.
But
does this really make sense? There are three reasons why I believe
that this current interpretation does not make sense, outlined as
follows:
Reason 1 – “the prince that shall come” is General Titus not the Anti-Christ
The
mid-part of Verse 26 specifically says “and the people of the prince
that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary”. You will
note that the noun
in this passage is the “people”, while “the prince that shall come” is
the adjective used to describe the noun. This portion of the passage is
therefore describing a “people”, not a person. On top of this, the
prince that ordered his soldiers to destroy
the city and the sanctuary was Roman General Titus, which we all know
was not the Anti-Christ. If this sentence is looked at in detail and
analyzed carefully, the more natural interpretation is as follows:
-
This
passage clearly indicates that, at some future date, the city and the
sanctuary shall be destroyed (with the benefit of hindsight, we now know
such
date of destruction to have been 70 AD)
-
This
passage clearly indicates that the person who shall order this
destruction, while not on the scene at the time of Daniel, “shall come”
in the future
(again, with the benefit of hindsight, we now know such person to have
been Roman General Titus)
-
This
passage clearly indicates that the people of this prince shall be the
ones to carry out this destruction (again, with the benefit of
hindsight, we
now know these people were the soldiers acting under the brutal orders
of General Titus)
If
the rule of interpretation is to always use the most obvious choice in
the Bible for interpretation, then “the prince that shall come” must
refer to General Titus.
If God wanted us to interpret this as the Anti-Christ, why wouldn’t He
have instead said “the prince that shall come at the end of times” (or
something similar)? IMO, it has been man’s interpretation and his alone
to decide to put words in God’s mouth by
applying this verse as if the words “at the end of times” (or something
similar) was contained in this passage.
As
a result, the next logical step would be to institute the requirement
to exclude from contention that the “people” or “the prince that shall
come” could be the
most recent “he” prior to Verse 27. As such, we instead land directly
and firmly on the “he” being the Great Messiah, Jesus Christ, who is
specifically referred to in the first part of Verse 26.
Reason
2 – It is a fantastic stretch to interpret “confirm the covenant with
many for one week” to be a seven year peace-treaty between Israel and
the World:
The
definition of “confirm” means that a covenant would have already had to
have been put into place and is now being verified. In order to make
this work, we have
to assume that a peace treaty would have already been in place. Then,
and only then, can the Anti-Christ come and “confirm” this already
established peace-treaty. This is not logical.
Instead,
I use the rule that has been drilled into me from the moment I joined
this site. The Bible must be used to interpret the Bible. If we do so,
the above
interpretation blatantly fails this rule.
Therefore,
where do we find God’s interpretation of “covenant” in the Bible, as
opposed to our commonly used interpretation? We find it in the same
Person as established
in the conclusion of Reason 1 – the very same Lord Jesus Christ. It
was Jesus who was predicted to be the future sacrificial Lamb to be
provided by God to confirm His covenant with Abraham and his seed as
outlined in Genesis 22:8-14.
The fact that it was Jesus who was to confirm this sacred covenant is contained in John 1:29, which reads
“The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world”, the very same lamb foretold in Genesis 22:8-14. Once one sees who this covenant should be assigned to (Jesus), would it
not be an error, though an exceedingly common one among Christians, to instead assign this covenant to the Anti-Christ.
To
put it another way, the “70th Week” is the pinnacle of Daniel 9 and God
has given it special emphasis. It has many purposes, but the primary
one God lists is
that it is to “confirm a covenant”, which is the Lord Jesus sacrificed
on the cross. To put it into perspective, look at the following two
potential covenants for Daniel 9 and ask yourself which is the one
important enough for God to make it the whole focus
of the 70th Week:
-
A 7 year peace treaty between Israel and the World as established by the Anti-Christ
-
To
confirm a covenant between God and the World that He would send His
only begotten Son so that all who believes in Him should not perish, but
have everlasting
life
I, for one, shall choose the latter one. How about you?
Reason 3 – where does the Bible confirm that the Tribulation will last 7 years?
When
something is REALLY important in the Bible, it is always established
more than once. For example, in establishing the Anti-Christ’s reign of
terror as 1260
days, the Bible verifies this period several times, both in the Old
Testament and the New Testament. God wanted us to know the length of
the Anti-Christ’s reign without any doubts.
However,
where is the confirmation in the Bible that the Tribulation is to last
for exactly 7 years (or 2520 days to be more specific)? Go ahead and
look! You
won’t find it. IMO, if God wanted us to know that the Tribulation
Period was to last 2520 days, why is it not mentioned two or more times
in the Bible? Why is this length of time not outlined in Revelation?
I’ll tell you why – because, IMO, it’s not true!!
I
know what you may be asking yourself – “but if this guy doesn’t believe
the “he” in Verse 27 refers to the Anti-Christ formalizing a 7-year
peace treaty with Israel
and the World, then what exactly does he think Verse 27 means?”
THE ALTERNATIVE
Excellent question! But first, let me reiterate Verse 27 as follows:
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”
As
mentioned above, the more logical interpretation of “he” in Verse 27
above is that of Jesus. To reiterate, the purpose of the “70th week” is
to confirm the covenant.
That is, the covenant established by God with Abraham that He would
send Messiah in order to reconcile the lost with Him. However, this
verse also describes the future rejection of Jesus by both the Jews and
Gentiles alike, with the Anti-Christ being their
ultimate and final punishment for doing so.
Let
me elaborate. Have you ever wondered why Jesus’ ministry only lasted
3.5 years, the very same 3.5 years that the Anti-Christ will reign?
Wonder no longer.
Each are the two halves that make up the “70th week”, combining to form
the perfect 2520 day plan of God. Half of the “70th week” has been
completed in our Savior Jesus Christ, the other half of which is still
to come in the form of punishment brought upon
the world through the Anti-Christ.
In
the perfection that is God, let’s look at it another way. Jesus
ministry lasted 3.5 years and ended with Him being the “Ultimate
Sacrifice”, which in turn was
to “cause (the need for) the sacrifice and the oblation to cease”
(even though the Jews didn’t realize it and continued to perform
sacrifices until the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD – however, they
failed to realize the significance of the
ribbon never turning white again once Jesus died).
In
direct contrast, the Anti-Christ’s “ministry” from Hell will last the
same 3.5 years and will begin with him being the “Ultimate Abomination”,
again in order
to “cause (by force) the sacrifice and the oblation to cease”.
However, as you all know, this won’t happen because of the
Anti-Christ’s powers. It will be fully allowed by God as decreed by Him
in order to administer His punishment to the World
for rejecting His Son!
I
am not trying to be divisive. Feel free to disagree – I know many
will. However, at least give what I wrote a chance and really read the
above carefully before
coming to a conclusion that I am out to lunch on this. After all,
something repeated often enough and believed by the majority, whether
for the worst or best of intentions, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the
“Gospel Truth”. Otherwise, we would still think
we were living on a “flat” earth.
In
conclusion, while it is possible that the Tribulation Period will be 7
years in length and be kicked off by a 7 year peace treaty that is
broken half way through,
this is only one of MANY Tribulation Period scenarios that must be 3.5
years in length or more. Again, if the “7 year Tribulation Period” or
the “7 year Peace Treaty” or the “3.5 years of peace Post-Rapture lead
up to the Great Tribulation” is ANYWHERE else
in Scripture as a “Second Witness”, please point out my error and I’ll
be the first to retract this article…
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Brothers
and sisters, are you ready to meet the Lord in the sky? Repent and
believe that grace is by faith alone and can ONLY be attained through
Jesus Christ.
Get ready and leave the temptations of this world behind and ready
yourself as a Bride.
Surely, time is almost up.
YbiC, MathMan