End Time Prophecy

The time allotted to end-time events is limited to seven years.
Daniel foretold a 490-year timeline; 483 years occurred just as predicted.
Based on that track record, the remaining end-time seven years are inevitable.

God limited the time allotted to end-time events to seven years. These seven years are part of a larger 490-year timeline that the prophet Daniel described—in just four verses. Realize that 483 of the 490 years have already occurred, exactly as predicted. In the following graph, events (1) and (2) occurred exactly as Daniel predicted in 530 BC. Historical validation of this scriptural material as legitimate prophecy, capable of flawlessly predicting future events, is critical. It demonstrates the ability of these same scriptures to foretell the still-future end-time events.

At first these verses appear exceptionally difficult. Start with the summary below.

Daniel 9:24-27	Paraphrase of Main Points
“Seventy ‘sevens’ are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy. (Daniel 9:24)	There is a 490-year period for Israel and the city of Jerusalem, during which time God’s will for our Age will be completed. 70 x 7 years = 490 years
“Know and understand this: From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens.’ It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble. (Daniel 9:25)	It is important to understand how these 490 years are distributed. From the issuing of King Artaxerxes’ (then future) decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem (resulting from the Babylon captivity), until the Christ comes to Jerusalem, the week of Jesus’ execution, will be 483 years. (7 x 7 years) + (62 x 7 years) = 483 years
After the sixty-two ‘sevens,’ the Anointed One will be cut off and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary.The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed. (Daniel 9:26)	Christ will be stripped of everything and be executed. Then the people of the future Antichrist, the Romans, will destroy Jerusalem and the Second Temple, which occurred in 70 AD. The end-times will come upon the world like a flood. It will not be pleasant—wars will continue until the end.
He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’ In the middle of the ‘seven’ he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on a wing of the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him. (Daniel 9:27)	Antichrist will confirm a peace treaty with many nations for a ‘seven’-year period. In the middle of the seven years, he will put an end to the Jewish Old Testament sacrifice and offering (yet to be reestablished) at the (yet to be rebuilt) Temple, violating the treaty. Inside the temple, he will set up an altar to himself. Antichrist is destined for a horrific demise. (7 x 7 years) + (62 x 7 years) + (1 x 7 years) = 490 years

 

Daniel Wrote	Interpretation
decree to restore and re-build Jerusalem	Persian King Artaxerxes decree, 445 BC
seven ‘sevens’	49 years    = 7 x 7years
sixty-two ‘sevens’	434 years  = 62 x 7 years
the people of the ruler	Roman/European people
the ruler who will come	Antichrist
Anointed One	Christ
cut off	Executed (Crucified)
the city and the sanctuary	Jerusalem and its Temple; (Rome destroyed in 70 AD)
He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven’	Antichrist’s peace treaty for a seven-year time period.
in the middle of the ‘seven’	At the 3 ½ year point (42 months)
he will put an end to sacrifice and offering	Antichrist will stop the sacrifice of animals at the re-built Temple
wing of the temple he will set up…	Antichrist will make an altar to himself
end that is decreed	Antichrist thrown into the Lake of Fire

The Overview

“Seventy ‘sevens’ are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy. (Daniel 9:24)

There is a 490-year timeline for Israel and the city of Jerusalem, to complete God’s purposes (70 x 7 years = 490 years). The counting of the 490 years began in 445 BC when King Artaxerxes wrote the foretold decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem (Ezra 7:11-28). God halted the counting of these years only seven years before the 490 years were completed—at 483 years. This interruption coincided with the crucifixion of Jesus and the establishment of the New Testament covenant. Accordingly there remains one final seven-year period for Israel, which will occur during the end-times.

Israel

Know and understand this: From the issuing of the decree to restore and re-build Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens.’ It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble. (Daniel 9:25)

Daniel wrote prophecy that established a 490-year timeline for Israel in 530 BC. He foretold that the Anointed One (Christ) would come to Jerusalem 483 years after the issuing of the decree to restore and re-build Jerusalem. King Artaxerxes issued that decree in 445 BC. Then as predicted, 483 years (of 360 days) later Jesus entered Jerusalem the week of the crucifixion. The math is (7 x 7) + (62 x 7) = 483 years. Sir Robert Anderson calculated the dates as being from March 14, 445 BC (1 Nisan in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes) to April 6, 32 AD (10 Nisan the year Jesus enters Jerusalem).

Some historians dispute these dates. Jewish years were shorter than 365 days; accordingly, current calendars do not depict the elapsed time as 483 years. Other variables such as leap years make conversion to ancient calendars difficult. To resolve controversy set aside calculations of exact dates. Only one person claimed to be the Messiah at the time the 483 years expired — Jesus of Nazareth.

The 483 years in the past are one ‘seven’ year period short of the 490 years. This final seven-year period is reserved for the end-times. The initial 483 years ended at the time of Jesus’ crucifixion, when the “Time of the Jews” gave way to the “Time of the Gentiles.”

THE 490-YEAR TIMELINE

	Prediction	Event	Total
Start Period #1	There will be a decree to restore and re-build Jerusalem.	Decree Artaxerxes issued in 445 BC that started Daniel’s 490 years.	0 Years
Start Period #2	Jerusalem will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble.	The rebuilding of Jerusalem. (Ezra; Nehemiah)	49 Years
End Period #2	Jesus, the Anointed One, the ruler, will come to Jerusalem.	Jesus enters Jerusalem to be executed in 32 AD.	483 Years
Time of the Gentiles (Today)
Start Period #3	He (Antichrist) will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’ In the middle of the ‘seven’ he will put an end to sacrifice and offering.	Antichrist forges a seven-year treaty. He turns against Israel in the middle of the seven years, and stops their religious sacrifice and offering.	490 Years

TIME OF THE JEWS

Time of Jews (initial)		Time of the Gentiles	Time of Jews (end-time)
49 years (7 x 7 years)	434 years (62 x 7 years)	Total Years: Unknown	7 years (1 x 7 years)
Total: 483 years			Total: 490 years

Crucifixion to the End Times

After the sixty-two ‘sevens,’ the Anointed One will be cut off and will have nothing. (Daniel 9:26a)

Daniel foretold that the Anointed One (Messiah) would be cut off (executed). Events the week of the crucifixion signified an end to the initial time of the Jews. Jesus cursed a fig tree, a symbol for the nation of Israel. The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. Then he said to the tree, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard him say it. (Mark 11:12-14) The next day as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. (Mark 11:20)

This same week Jesus also rejected the Israeli religious system. On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple area and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves, and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. And as he taught them, he said, “Is it not written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’” (Mark 11:15-17)

The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. (Daniel 9:26b)

Daniel is referring to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. This destruction occurred because Israel had rejected its Messiah. The people (Romans) who destroyed the city (Jerusalem) and the sanctuary (Temple) were to be the people of the ruler who will come. In other words, the invading (Roman) army was to come from the (people of the) future Antichrist’s kingdom. Therefore, the kingdom of the Antichrist is a Roman Empire.

Jesus also foretold the destruction of the Temple. Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. “Do you see all these things?” he asked. “I tell you the truth, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.” (Matthew 24:1-2) The Roman army ensured that not one stone was left standing on top of another to ensure that all gold and other treasures were plundered from the Temple.

Because these stones were scattered, when Islamic people came to Jerusalem to build on the site of the first two Israeli Temples, they built on a different location. Accordingly, the Islamic shrines are on the wrong location. This error will allow the third Israeli temple to be built, exactly as prophecy foretold, without destroying the politically sensitive Islamic shrines. This rebuilt Temple is mentioned in Bible prophecy; it is certain to exist during the end-times (Revelation 11:1-2).

The Final Seven Years

The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed. (Daniel 9:26c)

The end-times are to come without warning, similar to an unexpected flood.

He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’ In the middle of the ‘seven’ he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on a wing of the temple, he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him. (Daniel 9:27)

The end-times start with a seven-year agreement, which Antichrist will break after three and a half years. He will travel to the Temple Mount, where the rebuilt Temple will have reinstated the Old Testament practice of blood sacrifice and offering. Antichrist will stop blood sacrifice, and announce that he is God. Paul said concerning Antichrist that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God. (2 Thessalonians 2:4)

God will respond to Antichrist. He will lift the veil that has blinded Israel for two millenniums, and all Israel will see Jesus as its Messiah. The entire nation of Israel will turn to Jesus. The Old Testament described the moment Israel will accept its crucified Messiah—the one pierced on the cross: And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a first-born son. On that day the weeping in Jerusalem will be great  …” (Zechariah 12:10-11).

Paul also wrote with certainty of Israel’s accepting Jesus. I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved (Romans 11:25-26). At the time all Israel is saved, unsaved Gentiles’ hearts will be hardened, similar to how God hardened Pharaoh’s heart in Egypt (Exodus 10:27). Gentiles will have accepted the mark of the beast.

“TIME OF THE JEWS” and “TIME OF THE GENTILES”

Time of the Jews	Time of the Gentiles	Time of the Jews (end-time)
ISRAEL: BELIEF (Old Testament)	ISRAEL: UNBELIEF (New Testament)	UNBELIEF (3 ½ Years)	BELIEF IN CHRIST (3 ½ Years)
		Two witnesses testify in Jerusalem; Israel does not respond.	Worldwide persecution of Israel.
		Last chance for Gentiles to be saved	Israel is saved