Topic: Daniel 9:27 – the 70th week (in response to Steve, Dave, Tom’s, and other’s posts)
Brothers and Sisters, greetings!
Been
a long time reader off and on over the years, yet am compelled to post
for the first time. First, blessings to all of you and may the Holy
Spirit manifest an overwhelming abundance of the fruits of the Spirit in
each of your lives. *Especially LOVE and PATIENCE! (Something God’s
been teaching me a lot about recently after a series of major setbacks
including losing my job in April.)
There
has been much discussion as of late on the timeframe remaining to be
fulfilled, especially the 7 year vs 3.5 year aspect to things.
The
following is similar to the followup comment I made a few weeks ago on
Steve C’s blogpost on “Daniel's 70th Half-week“ located here:
http://www.fivedoves.com/letters/may2014/steve511.htm
I wanted to share it with you all here as well, in light of Dave’s recent post here: http://www.fivedoves.com/letters/may2014/dave525.htm
I
also have come to favor the belief that the “He” of Daniel 9:27 refers
to Jesus. For those of you who are struggling to understand this
concept, I invite you to read Pastor Tom McElmurry’s series on the topic
here: http://tribulationperiod.com/blog/?p=2107
Pastor
Tom does a great job at pointing out the multitude of past commentators
leading up to the 1800s that believed Jesus was the “He” of Daniel 9:27
and there were only 3.5 years (or 1335 days thereabouts) remaining to
be fulfilled at a later date at the time of the end. It should be noted
that a handful of prominent bible commentators interpreted the 70th
week as at least partially complete, including Matthew Henry. The key is
interpreting the “he” in Daniel 9:27 as being the Messiah himself who
confirmed the covenant with many, who initiated the 70th week at his
baptism, and was cut off in the “midst of the week” after approximately
3.5 years of ministry. The bottom line is that we need to realize our
own blindspots and preconceived notions and understand that things may
play out in a way contrary to our own biases and “inside the box
thinking”. We need to be especially careful on letting scripture
interpret scripture: in this case there is nowhere in scripture that
spells out a 7 year tribulation although we hear it ad naseum/ad
infinitum from so-called prophetic teachers out there. There are other
issues with Sir Robert Anderson’s calcs/number gymnastics as well if you
look into them.
I
would highly recommend the following book by Jerome Gerbasi: “The
Prophetic Harmony of the Lamp of God” which discusses this at length and
also blends it with the past and future fulfillment of God’s feast
days, of which I know you’re aware. It is available in pdf format on his
webpage here and I promise you and your readers they will NOT be
disappointed.
WEBPAGE: http://sonshiny7.yolasite.com
EBOOK
LINK:
http://sonshiny7.yolasite.com/resources/The%20Prophetic%20Harmony%20of%20the%20Lamp%20of%20God…and%20the%2070th%20Week%20of%20Daniel%20(2nd%20Edition).pdf
A few ways that the above scenario differs from what Dave posted includes:
1. Rapture/Harpazo of the church at the probable 6th seal, which aligns with David Lowe’s book “Earthquake Ressurection, and rhymes with others as well
2. Potential Pentecost rapture (others and other fascinating dates have 2nd Passover, Ascension Day, Rosh Hoshannah, or “any normal day” that we “think not” penciled in)
Of
course, in reality when all is said and done, our speculation on these
matters will hardly compare to our other instructions to 1) Love God and
2) Love our neighbor as ourselves, and take the Gospel message to all
nations. Let us all run the race with perseverance, encouraging one
another to carry on regardless of setbacks, disappointments, our own
“blindspots” and struggles.
May
God our Father bless you richly now and hereafter, no matter how many
days each one of us have left. Best regards always to you all. Humbly
your fellow brother in Christ,
-Chris in the burbs of Chicagoland