Re. Jesus’ PASSION WEEK, the NEW COVENANT, and Daniel’s 70th Week

In case it has not been noticed, when Jesus died during His Passion Week, to fulfil the six tasks required to confirm Jeremiah’s New Covenant, for the forgiveness of sin (cf. Heb. 9:11–17), this event occurred right in the middle of Daniel’s final 70^th Week (AD 27–34), exactly as Daniel said it would! Thus, Daniel puts the confirmation of the New Covenant, and the practical repercussions arising from it, all in one sentence:

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. (Dan. 9:27)

This historic and ‘world changing event’—i.e., the confirmation of Jeremiah’s New Covenant for the forgiveness of sin—is emphatically highlighted by its placement:

· at the end of a long period of Judah’s history of 490 years (called 70 weeks),

· by its central position in a long sabua (i.e., Daniel’70^th week/a seven year period),

· by its focal point in a short sabua (i.e., Christ’s Passion Week/seven days),

· and Jesus’ sacrificial death on the Cross to activate the New Covenant, which occurred in the middle of His Passion Week![1]

Note: So we have the Cross in the middle of a special seven day period (AD 30), in the middle of the last seven year period (AD 27–34), which ended Daniel’s seventy (times) seven year period (458 BC–AD 34), exactly as Gabriel promised in Daniel’s Prophecy of 70 Weeks (Dan. 9:24–27).

The New Covenant’s position, right there in the history of Israel, is no accidental coincidence! It has God’s ‘signature’ written all over it! The confirmation of the New Covenant is a ‘one off’ event, and it will not be repeated!

Jesus said he would no longer drink of the fruit of the vine [i.e., the third cup of the Passover Feast – being the Cup of Redemption] until that day when [He] drinks it new in the kingdom of God. (cf. Matt. 26:28–29; Mark 14:24–25) [2]

Logically, if the event that confirmed the New Covenant occurred in the middle of the seven day week, in the middle of the whole covenant period of 7 years, then there ought to be ‘some thing’ that happens after the middle of that period—to end the 7 years! [3]

Dispensationalist believers seem to think that special Covenant week was not completed? Instead, I see from scripture that the disciples preached to the ‘lost sheep of the House of Israel’ for the remaining 3.5 years, exactly as instructed by Jesus (Matt. 10:5–7, 15:24; cf. John 21:15b, 16b, 17b), which achieved God’s desired results:

Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever, Amen. (Heb. 13:20–21)

…when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. (1 Peter 2:23b–25)

The disciples attention during the remaining 3.5 years was devoted to returning the Jews who believed in Jesus Christ, to the Shepherd and Overseer of their souls (Yahweh, God)!

Years later, the destruction of Jerusalem and the routing of the Jews from its precincts, between AD 66–74, during the First Jewish-Roman war, brought a conclusive end to sacrifice and offering. (Dan. 9:27)

[1] The word Sabua (Strong’s Hebrew word No. 7620/Seba 7651) simply means a time period of seven; a unit of time used in the book of Daniel (Da. 9:25), but it carries special significance for The Feast of Weeks, a Festival celebrating the first produce of a harvest.

[2] https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/four-cups-of-wine-on-passover

“The reason for four cups is based by the rabbis upon the midrashic interpretation of Exodus 6:6–7, where four different terms of deliverance are employed: “I will bring you out… deliver you… redeem you…and will take you to Me for a people.” A fifth cup is sometimes left for Elijah!

Jesus will not drink the 3^rd Cup of Redemption again (Luke 22:17–18), which is memorialised in our Communion. He has already drunk that cup to its depths! The Cup of Redemption involved His sacrificial death, and that is the Cup that Jesus was praying to His Father about in the garden, on the night Judas betrayed Him! Matt. 26:36–39 says:

Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to the disciples, ‘Sit here while I go and pray over there.’ And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. Then He said to them ‘My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me.’ Then He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, ‘O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me, nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.’

Instead, when Jesus returns, He will drink the 4^th Cup of Praise, in His kingdom to come. (Luke 22:14–18) Concurrent, with drinking this 4^th cup (during the Jewish Passover celebration), there is a verbatim recitation by the Jews of Psalms 113–118, as an act of praise and thanksgiving.

[3] See my book, The Curse and the Covenant,