The Seventieth Week of Daniel: Eschatological Timeline and Prophetic Fulfillment
The seventieth week of Daniel is divided into two periods of three and one-half years.[i] We can associate eschatological prophecies from this mid-point with explicit signs of the seven-year tribulation called out in Revelation. We read, “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. And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, Even until the consummation, which is determined, Is poured out on the desolate” (Daniel 9:27, NKJV).[ii]
Jesus reaffirmed the words of Daniel, saying, “Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand)” (Matthew 24:15). He referred to several prophetic events (inferential and explicit signs) that would occur during the tribulation, calling the first period “the beginning of sorrows” and the latter half as “the time of Jacob’s trouble,” also called” the Great Tribulation.”[iii]
In Daniel and Revelation, scriptural references of specific days and months correlate to these prophetic events that unfold during the seven-year tribulation, mainly the latter half. These pre-ordained calculated periods cannot be overstated in their importance in chronologically aligning Old Testament Biblical prophecy. The verses in Daniel and Revelation and their corresponding timeframes are highlighted below:
Comparing the number of days and months in Daniel and Revelation reveals a contradiction; the values do not equate to three and one-half years. For example, forty-two months adds up to three and one-half years. However, if we use a Gregorian calendar with a 365-day solar year, three and one-half years is 1,277 ½ days rather than the 1,260 shown in Revelation. If we use the Hebrew lunisolar calendar, it also does not equate to 1,260 days. It ranges from 353 to 355 days a year, or 1,235 ½ to 1,242 ½ days.
However, if we average the solar and lunar calendars and use a 30-day per month calendar, we get 359.8 days. Rounding to 360 gives us 1,260 days, 42 months, and three and one-half years.[iv] Rather than presuming scripture is flawed, finding numerical consistency is essential, highlighting that God’s calendar is precise and correlates with Old and New Testament prophecy and God’s holy convocations prescribed in the Old Testament.[v] God explicitly declared Israel’s holy convocations (Moadim) to be His feasts and preordained these times of prophetic fulfillment.[vi] Establishing the numerical framework for the seven-year tribulation enables us to link prophetic events in scripture chronologically. However, this is not an easy task. Every prophecy must correlate with the First and Second Advents and the proper timing of Christ’s Kingdom, placing Israel squarely at the center of these end-time events.
God gave Israel seven annual holy days and festivals, four in the spring and three in the fall. The traditional observance of Passover (Pesach) is scripturally comprised of three separate but overlapping convocations: the Sacrifice of the Paschal Lamb (Korban Pesach), the festival of Unleavened Bread (Hag Ha’matzot), and the offering of Firstfruits (Reisheet Katzir). The Feast of Firstfruits falls on the day after the Sabbath, Sunday, and fifty days from the offering of Firstfruits, called the counting of the Omer, is the Feast of Weeks (Shavuot, also known as the Day of Pentecost), which also falls on a Sunday.[vii]
In scripture, Jesus fulfilled these four festivals precisely on their dates according to God’s Hebrew calendar—Christ’s First Advent. He was scourged and crucified on the day of the Passover sacrifice (Korban Pesach) and was buried on Thursday before the minor Sabbath on this first day. He lay in the tomb on the second and third days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Hag Ha’matzot), the first day, Friday, being a minor Sabbath rest (Shabbaton or Shabbat Katan) and the second day in the year of our Lord’s crucifixion being a weekly Sabbath rest. Jesus rose from the tomb early on the morning of the third day, the first day of the week, and the Feast of First Fruits, Resurrection Sunday.[viii] Forty days after the resurrection, Jesus ascended to the right hand of the Father, and fifty days after this Sunday came the Feast of Weeks (Shavuot), the Day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit fell in Jerusalem, and the church was born in the Power of the Holy Spirit to go forth and preach the gospel.[ix] Everything was perfectly fulfilled precisely according to God’s Holy calendar.
The Passover also points to a future time of redemption for the Jewish people. Therefore, we surmise that Israel’s national redemption is a future promise. If Christ fulfilled the first four convocations according to the Hebrew calendar, we are confident He will precisely fulfill the three remaining fall convocations at His Second Advent.
We have already established that the imminent coming of the Day of the Lord coincides with seven years of tribulation for Israel and the nations. However, the physical arrival of Christ is fulfilled on a literal day at the end of the seven years, when Jesus stands on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem (called Mount Zion). Yet, even the announcement of His return is marked by a distinguished holy convocation called the Feast of Trumpets, more accurately translated as the Day of Blowing (Yom Ha’teruah), as in the blowing of the wind, symbolically representing the wind of the Holy Spirit.
The Feast of Trumpets aligns with the seventh seal in the book of Revelation where it says, “Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, ‘The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!’” (Revelation 11:15). This day of blowing Shofars symbolizes the great end-times outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The Prophet Joel declared, “And it shall come to pass afterward That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your old men shall dream dreams, Your young men shall see visions” (Joel 2:28). In Zechariah, we read, “And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn” (Zechariah 12:10).
The rabbis teach that Rosh Hashanah is “the holiday when the new moon is covered” and not seen. In a spiritual context, this implies that the source of the light is withdrawn and concealed.[x] They consider the moon's light to animate the world and its created beings. We know this light to be the prince of this world, who is Satan. But after the Shofars are blown, the rabbis say that a new and superior light is elicited. This light is none other than the light of the world, Jesus-Yeshua, the Son of God. This day, therefore, prophetically represents the coronation of our King Jesus, Yeshua, and the day Jesus takes possession of every kingdom.
For the ten days between the Feast of Trumpets and the Day of Atonement, God will pour His final judgments on the nations. But he will also pour out His Spirit upon all flesh, revealing His presence and announcing the return of Jesus on the Day of Atonement to establish His eternal Kingdom. At this time, the heavens will open, and all the nations, including Israel, will see Jesus coming in the clouds with power and great glory. We read, “Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen” (Revelation 1:7). Every eye will see Him coming. There is no imminence here. The arrival of Jesus, riding on a white horse, wearing a crown and a robe dipped in blood, is revealed to all humanity; “And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses.”[xi]
We have come full circle; the end fulfills the beginning. In Genesis, we read, “Darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters” (Genesis 1:2). Oceans, in scripture, symbolically represent nations.[xii] In the last days, it says, “For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, And deep darkness the people” (Isaiah 60:2). And yet, God has promised that in these last days, He will also pour out His Spirit upon all flesh, “For the earth will be filled With the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, As the waters cover the sea” (Habakkuk 2:14).
Ten days after the Feast of Trumpets, Jesus will return to Jerusalem and stand on the Mount of Olives on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur). We read, “For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be” (Matthew 24:27). The Prophet Malachi declared, “And the Lord, whom you seek, Will suddenly come to His temple…” (Malachi 3:1). When His feet touch the Mount of Olives, it says, “And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two, From east to west, Making a very large valley; Half of the mountain shall move toward the north And half of it toward the south.” (Zechariah 14:4).
Figure 1 - Golden Gate, Old City Jerusalem, Israel
Jesus will enter His Temple in Jerusalem through the Eastern Gate. It is situated on the east side of the Temple Mount (Figure 1). It is also known as the Golden Gate and in Hebrew, Sha’ar Harachamim (the Gate of Mercy).
The Shechinah Glory came through and departed from the Temple’s Eastern Gate.[xiii] The Ottoman ruler, Sultan Suleiman, sealed off the Golden Gate in A.D. 1541 to prevent the Messiah’s entrance. The Muslims also built a cemetery below the gate, believing that Elijah, the precursor to the Messiah, could not come near the dead. This belief was based on the Islamic teaching that Elijah, a descendant of Aaron, the High Priest of Israel, would be prohibited from entering a cemetery for fear of death.[xiv] However, the Ottoman was only fulfilling the Word of God, as it says, “Then He brought me back to the outer gate of the sanctuary which faces toward the east, but it was shut. And the LORD said to me, This gate shall be shut; it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter by it, because the LORD God of Israel has entered by it; therefore it shall be shut” (Ezekiel 44:1-3).
The Day of Atonement is Israel’s holiest day of the year. It is a solemn day where the Jewish people afflict their souls, but it is also a joyful day in knowing that God will forgive their sins. It commemorates the day when God forgave the Jewish people for the sin of the Golden Calf. But it also represents the day Jesus physically returns to the earth; as it says, “In that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east…” (Zechariah 14:4). The Temple was oriented from east to west, with the entrance at the east. This was to signify the direction from which the Prince, the Messiah, would come. The east-west orientation is also an allegory to demonstrate how complete Israel’s redemption will be in Christ. We read: “As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:12).
On this unique day, the Lord will make final atonement for His land and His people, Israel. We read, “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with His people; For He will avenge the blood of His servants, And render vengeance to His adversaries; He will provide atonement for His land and His people” (Deuteronomy 32:43). Paul, therefore, declared: “And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: ‘The Deliverer will come out of Zion, and He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; for this is My covenant with them, when I take away their sins’” (Romans 11:26-27).
Five days after the Day of Atonement, Jesus will usher in a seven-day celebration of His arrival, called the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot), also called “the festival of ingathering.” This last and final holy assembly represents the return of the remnant of the Jewish people to the land of their inheritance. This festival also symbolizes the “Marriage Supper of the Lamb,” where all the nations will come up to Jerusalem to worship the King and celebrate God’s marriage to Israel and His church. It is a seven-day wedding feast celebrating God’s marriage to His church and Israel. We read, “In this mountain The LORD of hosts will make for all people a feast of choice pieces, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of well-refined wines on the lees. And He will destroy on this mountain the surface of the covering cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death forever, and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces; The rebuke of His people He will take away from all the earth; For the LORD has spoken” (Isaiah 25:6-8).
These three fall gatherings come during the Hebrew month of Tishrei (September and October). Thirty days leading up to the Feast of Trumpets is the observance of the month of Elul—a time of introspection and preparation for the upcoming “Days of Awe” and repentance required on the Feast of Trumpets and Day of Atonement. During these thirty days, the Shofar (ram’s horn) is blown once during the traditional morning prayer services. On the Feast of Trumpets, the Shofar is sounded one hundred times, and per scripture, it is also blown one last time on the Day of Atonement in a Jubilee year (Yovel).
This final trumpet blast is significant because it announces the definitive and complete liberation of Israel and all who dwell with her in the land and the time when the Jewish people will finally receive their inheritance of the land of Israel. We read, “And you shall count seven sabbaths of years for yourself, seven times seven years; and the time of the seven sabbaths of years shall be to you forty-nine years. Then you shall cause the trumpet [Shofar] of the Jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement you shall make the trumpet [Shofar] to sound throughout all your land. And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a Jubilee for you; and each of you shall return to his possession, and each of you shall return to his family” (Leviticus 25:8-10).
We infer that Jesus will physically return in a Jubilee year. However, today, the counting of the Jubilee is lost. Accounts of the Jubilee vary, but some estimates place the last observed Jubilee somewhere around one hundred fifty years before the destruction of the First Temple. Further complications arise from the misunderstanding about the Hebrew calendar. The rabbis acknowledge several calendars for Israel, including the biblical or religious calendar God initiated during the Exodus, which starts in the spring, March, or April; a civil calendar that mirrors several agricultural calendars that begin around September; and a calendar for the kings of Israel that followed a slightly different cycle.[xv]
A Jewish parable in the Talmud and another ancient Rabbinic commentary on the Bible show differing opinions about when they believe God created the universe. They also contain varying opinions about which month is the beginning of the Hebrew calendar. [xvi] This debate and a harvest cycle ending in the fall provided rabbinical justification to roll the Jewish calendar back during the first or second century, establishing the Feast of Trumpets as the civil Jewish New Year.[xvii] To ensure the proper cycle of the Shemitah was observed, the rabbis would require its observance six months prior and six months after the fall date to safeguard the appropriate time was not missed according to the Mosaic Law. Therefore, the exact timing of the Jubilee today is unknown.
However, the church is not looking for any specific day for Jesus to return; it is imminent. These three fall convocations, called “the high holy days,” point to Christ’s Second Advent and are correlated with His fulfilling all Biblical prophecy. Therefore, understanding God’s Hebrew calendar is essential for national Israel as it shows explicit signs of her coming Messiah.
In Revelation, we see an innumerable great multitude standing before the throne of God. We read, “After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” (Revelation 7:9-10). This great multitude is also referred to as “the assembly.”
All the men of Israel were required to come up to the Temple in Jerusalem three times per year and assemble before the Lord (Aliyat Ha’regel). These assemblies were commanded for the Passover (Pesach), Pentecost (Shavuot), and the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot). It is interesting to see how the Lord assembled His people to witness the first two significant events—Christ's crucifixion, burial, and resurrection during the Passover and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost.
The Hebrew word for assembly is Kahal, and in Greek, it is Ecclesia; the same word translated into English as “church.” The Lord has promised to gather the remnant of the Jewish people from the ends of the earth on this festive celebration of Tabernacles (Sukkot), uniting the Jewish people with Himself and His church in His Kingdom forever.[xviii] Collectively, we are the great assembly, the ecclesia of all who are in Christ. Jesus said, “Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!” (Revelation 19:9).
This celebration of Tabernacles, God’s marriage to Israel, and His church is for everyone of all nations who survive the tribulation. It is an eternal statute, even for the Gentiles, as Zechariah declared, “And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles” (Zechariah 14:16). Jesus said, “Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!” (Revelation 19:9). This feast, therefore, initiates the Messianic age and the Millennial Kingdom (Figure 5). As the disciples asked Jesus, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6). Jesus will, at that time, answer, “My Kingdom has now come.”
[i] Revelation 11:2-3, 12:14. Daniel 9:27, 12:11.
[ii] All Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Bible (NKJV) unless otherwise noted, Thomas Nelson Inc., 1982.
[iii] Matthew 24:4-8, 21.
[iv] Jacobs, Joseph and Alder, Cyrus. Calendar, History Of. Jewish Encyclopedia. Wikipedia. 360-day calendar.
[v] Leviticus 23.
[vi] Ibid.
[vii] Leviticus 23:11-16. “On this point there is a connection between the Karaites and the Sadducees (a fairly rare occurrence), since the Karaites also interpreted "the day of the Shabbat" as a reference to Sunday (Corinaldi, column 45). Rav Bazak, Amnon. The Date of Shavuot. Shiur #10e: Peshat and Midrash Halakha.
[viii] Matthew 28:1.
[ix] Acts 2:1-4.
[x] The Tanya of Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, elucidated by Rabbi Yosef Wineberg. Translated from Yiddish by Rabbi Levy Wineberg and Rabbi Sholom B. Wineberg. Edited by Uri Kaploun. Published and copyrighted by Kehot Publication Society. Chabad. Org.
[xi] Revelation 19:11-16.
[xii] Revelation 13:1.
[xiii] Ezekiel 43:1-2.
[xiv] Wikipedia.
[xv] Exodus 12:2.
[xvi] Rabbi Reiss, Yona, and Grill Dean, Max and Marion. When Was the Universe Created?
[xvii] Alperin, Michele. How Rosh Hashanah Became New Year’s Day.
[xviii] Jeremiah 23:3.