Author: Rene Fretz

The 70 weeks of Daniel 9  and the Acceptable Year of the Lord

This month’s blog post has multiple purposes. Firstly, I want to acknowledge and thank Rev. Jon Nessle who is a respected Christian minister and leader, and someone whom I have considered a mentor for over 20 years. The header for this blog post pertains to Bible Research Principles because Rev. Nessle has probably taught me more about true Biblical Research than just about anyone else in my life. This is the reason I’m so excited, honored and humbled to be invited by Jon to serve on the Board of Trustees of his new Christian Ministry called the Next Reformation Church.

Rev. Jon Nessle

Our Mission Statement is: To Research the Bible in order to discover the beliefs and practices of the Original First Century Christian Church and Teach those findings to individuals and other Churches in order that they may be put into Practice among Christian Believers world-wide so that their Fellowship with God, His Son Jesus Christ and fellow Christians be optimal.

More information will be forthcoming as our efforts coalesce, but until then we have a wealth of Biblical scholarship to draw upon to bless God’s people. Over the years Jon has published a number of books, articles and other research works, and has actively taught numerous Bible Research Seminars that he continues today. In one of his classes on Biblical Chronology he charted a timeline for the entire Old Testament, but as he relates; “he still had a problem with one passage in Daniel 9 pertaining to the 70 weeks.”1 In Vol. IV of his series on the Gospel Sermons of Jesus Christ, “The Path into Eternity,” he relates how chronologists like himself, could not fit Daniel’s 70 weeks with history or Scripture. Herein we find another purpose of this blog post, to show how Jon discovered and solved this ancient riddle, and the impact of its understanding for all Christianity. I will not presume to tell the story of how all this came about, as that is a story that only he can tell, which is found in the aforementioned Volume IV. A focus of this blog is to relate the Bible research keys he employed to unlock these fascinating truths that have remained hidden for centuries, which verify many of the foundation truths of Biblical Astronomy on the Try-God website and blog. As Jon tells it in Vol. IV;

“the key to understand this prophecy is to realize that it is an Introversion.” This is a type of Biblical structure which orders Scripture like poetry, except that Hebrew Scripture rhymes in concept, not in sounds. “Daniel 9:24 contains six items which form a symmetric structure. Therefore, the opposite categories can be used to explain their counter-parts.“2

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.

Jon continues: “There are six infinitives and phrases which are separated by “and’s.” This Figure of Speech is a Polysyndeton telling us that each of these items is important and merits consideration. As the A’s, B’s and C’s correspond, we can compare and contrast them to gain further insight.”3 The following is the structure of Introversion as seen in Dan. 9:24:

A. to finish the transgression,
   B. and to make [seal] an end of sins,
     C. and to make reconciliation for iniquity,
     C. and to bring in everlasting righteousness,
   B. and to seal up the vision and prophecy,
A.  and to anoint the most Holy.4

“What does it mean to finish the Transgression? The answer is in the corresponding A.“5 One of the keys of Biblical research is to allow the Word of God to speak for itself. When we follow this principle, it removes the guess-work and private interpretation from the equation [2 Pet. 1:20-21]. “When was the most holy Messiah anointed? When he received the spirit when he was baptized. The Phenomenal voice from heaven indicated this was an Administration change.“6 John the Baptist was the last Prophet of the OT, and his baptism of Jesus anointed the key figure of the Christ Administration which ended the OT Law Administration. “So the Transgression that was finished was in the end of the Law Administration. The Baptism of Christ on Sunday, Shebat 20th, Feb. 16, 27 AD, was the beginning point of the 70 weeks. The “B” terms involve Jesus’ death and resurrection. God inserted a signal to make sure we saw the introversion with the repetition of the word seal, [chatham]. When Christ was raised from among the dead, that was the consummation of the ages as [Heb. 9:26] affirms.”7

“Once Jesus had arisen from among the dead, on May 1st, 28 AD, everything was sealed. The prophecies were fulfilled and all forthcoming spiritual events (the gathering together, resurrections, judgments, kingdom of heaven, New Heaven and Earth, and Eternity) would be a foregone conclusion. This constituted the end of the 70 weeks. Finally the “C” terms taken together must be the Day of Pentecost, June 20th, 28 AD when reconciliation became possible and everlasting righteousness for believers commenced.”8

Dan. 9:25 continues:

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 troubled times.

“The street and the wall is like the expression, Alpha and Omega, soup to nuts, from A to Z, that is its the entire thing. The two extremities represent the whole thing. All was rebuilt spiritually. Jesus definitely completed his work.”9  This has been area of confusion just as it was in Christ’s first Advent. People expected him to defeat the Romans and usher in the Kingdom of Heaven in short order, but due to the Jews rejection of Him as their Savior, it has been delayed, allowing the salvation for the Gentiles in the Age of Grace. As Jon states:”In context of the [70] weeks being enumerated, what was the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem? It would have been the voice from Heaven when Jesus was baptized.”10  This not only opened the 70 weeks of Christ’s ministry to Israel, but also marked the spiritual transition of administrations from the OT Law to the Christ Administration. Jesus came to restore and build Jerusalem, but he had to do it for Israel first spiritually, [Jn. 2:19-21].

“Daniel refers to two time periods 7 weeks and 62 weeks. Were they successive or concurrent? It could be taken two ways if we try to match them to events that year. In 28 AD, Holy week did indeed start after 62 weeks, if we count beginning with Jesus’ Baptism and ending on the day of the voice from Heaven, Nisan 10th when the Passover Lamb was chosen. Then after that, the one week and the midst of the week in Dan. 9:27 fit. If we count the seven weeks concurrently from the Baptism, it brings us to the 10th of Nisan in 27 AD in Passover week that year, the date Jesus arrived in Jerusalem the first time, and when he also cleansed the Temple. So we discover that Jesus cleansed the Temple on the exact same date one year apart! That is why this 7 week period could be significant concurrently, identified with the first fulfillment of that prophecy.”11

John 2:18-22 
18 Then answered the Jews and said unto him, What sign shewest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things? [19] Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. ²⁰ Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? ²¹ But he spake of the temple of his body. ²² When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them; and they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said.

Jesus’ use of “destroy this temple” in John 2:19, is worthy of a closer look. First, Jesus spoke the words of John 2:19 as he stood in the courts of the literal temple. The idea that Jesus made this statement in the temple, the center of spiritual and religious activity in Jerusalem, for the entire nation of Israel was not a coincidence, and contributed mightily to the impact of his words. Jesus did not refer alone to the literal temple, although it’s obvious reference to those present was at the top of their mind. This is evident in the Jew’s response to Jesus, of the 46 years it took to build the temple in verse 20. This is a temporal key that helps us to correlate the dates of these periods. According to research on the Try-God.com website and blog we have documented the birth of Christ on Sept. 11th, 3 BC. Since “Jesus was about 30 years old,” [Lk. 3:23] starting in 3 BC, 29 years hence from Tishri to Tishri brings us to the year 27.

As Jon reminds us: “Finally when we count the 46 years the Temple was under construction [John 2:20], we use Nisan to Nisan counting because this was a sacred matter. Herod started the construction between Nisan 1, 19 BC and Nisan 1, 18 BC. Counting inclusively to the 46th year gives the 46th year beginning Nisan 1, March 28th, 27 AD. This corresponds exactly to when Jesus visited Jerusalem.”12

The word ‘temple,’ by a figure of speech for implication, is used to represent the people or nation of Israel. The term ‘tabernacle‘ is often used of an individual’s (Jesus Christ’s) physical body (II Cor. 5:1,4, II Pet. 1:13-14). The word ‘temple‘ is also used to signify a group of people (I Cor. 3:16-17, 6:19, II Cor. 6:16, Eph. 2:21). When Jesus, referred to his body as the temple in John 2:19, he implied that his individual sacrifice for the nation of Israel, depicted his perfect sacrifice in their place, representing them as a group or body of people, the Church of the Bride. For the believing Jews his ministry embodied both the Passover Lamb and the High Priest, building his spiritual temple that he addressed that day in the Temple of stone. Also in cleansing the temple Jesus provided an essential service required for his perfect Passover sacrifice. 

In cleansing the temple, Jesus was replacing the old way of worshiping God with a new way of coming to God through him. The old sacrificial offerings in the temple were replaced, because Jesus’ sacrifice paid the price that Israel never could. This opened a new life in Christ and new fellowship with the Heavenly Father. The old stone temple was to be replaced by a new temple which was Christ himself. The way of access to God was now opened after the resurrection and Day of Pentecost in 28 AD to all in the spiritual body of Christ, where God in Christ dwells among His people. This New Covenant, between God and his people was made available by the shedding of Christ’s sinless blood, and the destruction of his fleshly body.

In effect Jesus’ contrasted the physical Temple wherein he stood, to his own physical body, the embodiment of the true temple. Jesus Christ, the second Adam, is the consummate archetype, the finished model, and “chief cornerstone” not only for the nation of Israel as the Passover lamb and High Priest, but also for the Church of his spiritual Body, that began at Pentecost after his resurrection and ascension. As the paragon of humanity, Jesus illustrated the highest standards of living spiritual principles in the prophetic illustrations of his life and ministry. Certainly, God did not record the symbolic dimensions of the design of the Tabernacle or the Jerusalem Temple, wherein Jesus stood when he spoke the words of John 2:19, without purpose. This perspective of John 2:19, depicts a view of Jesus Christ prophesying in the Jerusalem Temple, representing this temple of stone and the bride of Israel in his physical body, that he laid down for Israel and all mankind in his perfect sacrifice at Golgotha.

Jesus himself was not aware of the full details of his statement to “destroy this temple,” as the prophecy in John 2:19, was by revelation from God. We see this also in reference to Jesus’ official opening of his ministry as an Evangelist in Luke 4:18-19. In John 2:19 Jesus was aware of the ramifications of his death and sacrifice for Israel followed by his resurrection, but was not aware of the Great Mystery related to the New Testament Church of his spiritual body, which the Heavenly Father kept secret until it was revealed to the Apostle Paul, [I Cor. 2:4-10]. This aspect of Christ’s ministry was not revealed until the New Birth became available on the subsequent Day of Pentecost, [Acts 2:1ff].

Dan. 9:26
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.

Jon continues with his discourse on Dan. 9: “Verse 26 foretells that the Messiah will be cut off after the 62 weeks. Jesus died after the 62nd week. Then it says the people of a coming prince shall destroy the city and the sanctuary (Temple). That did happen in 70 AD and the prince was Titus who later became the Emperor of Rome. The end of the city did come with a flood, shahteph. It can mean a literal flood but it also is used figuratively of an invading army. After the siege of Jerusalem broke, the Romans rushed in destroyed the Temple and an abomination desolation did occur, the altar and temple were desecrated. Jesus predicted this in Matt. 24.”13

Matt. 24:1-2

And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple. ² And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.

This prophecy accurately applies to what Jesus predicted with the Roman’s destruction of the Jerusalem Temple in the year 70, which was still future when Jesus declared it here in Matthew 24. But this prophecy is not to be confused with Matt. 24:14-15 in reference to the future temple that the Anti-Christ will desecrate.

Dan. 9:27a
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,

“The one week was holy week from March 25th to May 1st in 28 AD. That was when the covenant was confirmed. The many is all of us that have been blessed thereby. Jesus was tortured, crucified, died and arose that week. In the middle of the week on a Wednesday, Jesus died at the same time the Passover Lamb was killed, and was the supreme sacrifice for sin as the book of Hebrews explained, and the daily sacrifices and the peoples offerings were no longer necessary.”14 Jon also notes that: “the 14th of Nisan fell on a Wednesday in the year that Jesus was crucified. That is the only way that the three days and three nights Jesus predicted he would be buried [Matt. 12:40], as well as other sequences involved will work out.”15

Dan. 9:27b
…and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

In Matt. 24:14-15 Jesus also prophesies about the future ‘abomination of desolation.’ “The Second Temple has never been rebuilt. Daniel predicted that this desolation would last even to the time of consummation. The Temple is supposed to exist again in the future. It shall be the same Temple that the Anti-Christ will occupy: [2 Thess. 2:4].” ¹⁶ 

The 70 weeks enumerated in Dan. 9 refer to the period from Jesus’ Baptism to Pentecost in the year 28. “But the Acceptable year of the Lord actually ran from Pentecost 27 to Pentecost 28 AD. We know this to be true because when Jesus read from the scrolls at his home synagogue in Nazareth, he read from Isa. 61. The Jews had set up a 3 year cycle to read from the OT, and Isa. 61 was read the Sabbath before Pentecost in the 2nd year of the cycle.”17

Understanding the relationship between the 70 weeks in Dan. 9 and the acceptable year of the Lord, with the six elements of Dan. 9:24 all concerning the Messiah is a central key in unlocking the truth of the length of the Lord’s ministry. As we allow the structural symmetry of the introversion in Dan. 9:26 to speak, the momentous truths of his Wednesday, mid-week crucifixion, and his Saturday-Sabbath Resurrection are established! These truths confirm the “Star of Bethlehem” research of his Sept. 11th 3, BC Birth, taking us to 27 AD when Jesus was about 30, [29] years old. The following timeline charts the majors events, many of which are covered in the study.

After Jesus’ temptation, in the 3 months following his anointing by John the Baptist who identified him as the Lamb of God, Jesus opened his ministry to Israel as an Apostle, by quoting [Isa. 61:1-2] as it is recorded in Luke 4 below.

Luke 4:16-21

¹⁶ And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up for to read. ¹⁷ And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, ¹⁸ The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, ¹⁹ To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. ²⁰ And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. ²¹ And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.

It is truly time to take Jesus at his Word! Are you in need of healing? Jesus has already made you whole. Are you depressed or blinded by the crushing oppression of this dark and perverse world? Are you a captive to the slavery of sin in any of its forms? Jesus has already set you free! He has thrown open the prison doors and released us from the mental and spiritual shackles of this world, by opening our eyes to the enlightened vision and power in his Name. As we turn our eyes upon Jesus and take unto us every aspect of his deliverance, we can stand in the true spiritual freedom that he brings, conquering the fearful snares of this world.

Footnotes

1. The Path into Eternity, p. 471 Jon O. Nessle
2. Ibid, p.475
3. Ibid. p. 476
4. ”
5. ”
6. ”
7. Ibid. p. 477
8. Ibid. p. 478
9. ”
10. Ibid. p. 479
11. Ibid. p. 481
12. Ibid. p. 494
13. Ibid. p. 483
14. Ibid. p. 484
15. Ibid. p. 489
16. Ibid. p. 484-485
17. Ibid. p. 485

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