Unraveling the End
A Biblical Synthesis of Competing Views
The Historical Setting
and
Defining Characteristic
of the
Time of the End
(Daniel 12)
Divine Perfection
Proposition #3
• One and only End the Bible consistently
proclaims.
• Covenantal, not cosmic.
• Timely, and not delayed.
• Framing context for the time and nature of
eschatological fulfillment.
• Everything else was to happen “at just the
right time”—at this time.
Three Big Objections
1) ”The End of the World?”
2) God only promising never again to
destroy the world by water?
3) The “New Heaven and a New Earth?”
Objection #1
“The End of the World?”
#1 reason so many
have been hamstrung
in their understanding
of end-time prophecy.
Objection #1
“The End of the World?”
• What does the book of Revelation say?
Nothing!
• What does the Bible say?
Nothing!
• The historic creeds?
Nothing!
Objection #1
“The End of the World?”
• The world ending “as we know it?”
Nothing!
• Jesus say?
Nothing!
• An “end of time” or “end of human
history”?
Nothing!
Objection #1
“The End of the World?”
• The biblical truth about the proverbial “end
of the world”
• Is contained within the biblical phrase
“world without end, Amen.”
• The Bible says that the world had a
beginning, but is without end . . .
• “from the beginning of the world . . . .
throughout all ages, world without end.
A-men. (Ephesians 3:9, 21, KJV)
Objection #3
The “New Heaven and a New Earth?”
Three different entities in the Bible
termed “heaven and earth.”
1. Planet Earth and the cosmos creation
(Gen 1:1; also Acts 4:24; 14:15-17).
2. The Old Covenant creation.
(Deut. 32:1; Isa. 1:2-3; 51:13, 15-16).
3. The old world empire of Babylon (Isa.
13:13, 1, also 19-22).
Divine Perfection
&
•
•
•
•
•
The Appointed Time of the End
Applied his order, design, a plan, purpose, a
fixed and specified timeframe.
Into his plan of redemption.
Foretold it all hundreds of years in advance.
Fulfilled it all with timely and mathematical
precision.
Everything else happened “at just the right time”
(Rom. 5:6) and “in its proper time” (1 Tim. 2:6).
Divine Perfection
Proposition #2
How we humans can know Who the one
true God is:
Isaiah. 44:6-8
Also see
Isaiah 41:21-24; 42:8-9;
45:20-22; 46:9-11; 48:3-6
Divine Perfection
Proposition #2
• The God of the Bible foretold—many times
and in many ways—what was going to
happen in the future.
• All has happened.
• No other god, faith, religion, or ideology in
the world can claim this.
• Nor has anything to compare with the
validating evidence of fulfilled prophecy.
Divine Perfection
&
The Appointed Time of the End
“For the revelation awaits an appointed
time; it speaks of the end and will not
prove false. Though it linger, wait for it;
it will certainly come and will not delay.”
(Habakkuk
2:3)
Daniel’s Two Time Prophecies
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Daniel’s 70 Weeks (9:24-27)
Time of the End (12:1-13).
Like bookends . . .
Bracketed the exact time in history.
The “last days.”
Front bookend—the coming of the Messiah.
Back bookend—Habakkuk’s “appointed time...of
the end.”
Daniel’s Two Time Prophecies
• Much disagreement.
• A “contemporary” forgery.
• Most misunderstood and misapplied
passages of Scripture.
• Delayed, deferred, or put on hold,
somehow.
• In direct contradiction of Habakkuk’s text
of “will not delay” (Hab. 2:3).
Daniel—the Key to the End Times
• God doesn’t play word games.
• Daniel got it exactly right.
• Literal, exact, chronological, and
sequential fulfillment.
• Daniel’s two time prophecies.
• No interruptions, no gaps, no gimmicks!
• Perfectly!
Daniel’s Two Time Prophecies
•
•
•
•
Daniel’s 70 Weeks / Time of the End
Clearly understood.
Not confusing and divisive.
Most straightforward, historically
documentable, and inspirationally
impressive.
By its exactness.
Daniel’s 70 Weeks
Timeline
• The total elapsed time of 490 years.
• Decreed [determined] upon the Jews and
your holy city (Jerusalem).
• Achievement of the six purposes (vs. 24).
• Exact time and number of years until the
“Anointed One, the ruler,” the Messiah.
• Confirm a covenant for one week (7 years)
Daniel’s 70 Weeks
Timeline
• A specific starting and finishing point.
• Subdivided into three time segments:
1) Initial period of “seven sevens” (49 years)
2) Period of “sixty-two sevens” (434 years)
3) Final period of “one seven” (7 years)
Daniel’s 70 Weeks
Timeline
“One of the most puzzling
prophetic texts to decipher.”
Dictionary of Biblical Prophecy and End Times, 425.
Daniel’s Two Time Prophecies
“The historically defensible interpretation
has greatest authority.
That is, interpreters can have maximum
confidence in their understanding of a text
when they base that understanding on
historically defensible arguments.”
Klein, Blomberg & Hubbard, Jr.,
Introduction to Biblical Interpretation, 149.
Daniel’s 70 Weeks
Timeline
Starting Point
457 B.C. …from the issuing of the
decree to restore and rebuild
Jerusalem… (Dan. 9:25).
1.
2.
3.
Cyrus’ Decree in 538 B.C. (recorded in Ezra 1:2-4)
Darius’ Decree around 520 B.C. (Ezra 6:3-12)
Artaxerxes’ Decree at 457 B.C. (Ezra 7:11-26).
Daniel’s 70 Weeks
Timeline
First Segment: the Seven Sevens
(49 Years)
457 – 408 B.C. …It will be rebuilt with
streets and a trench, but in times of
trouble…(Dan. 9:25).
• Read about this Nehemiah 2-6.
• Finished settling Jerusalem in 49 years.
Daniel’s 70 Weeks
Timeline
Second Segment: Sixty-two Sevens
(434 More Consecutive Years)
408 B.C. – A.D. 27 . . . and sixty-two
‘sevens’… (Dan. 9:25).
• No gap suggested between segments.
• Messianic expectations began running
high.
• Jesus born in 4 B.C.
Daniel’s 70 Weeks
Timeline
Third Segment, One Seven
(First Half – 3 ½ Years)
A.D. 27-30. …until the Anointed One, the
ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens’
and sixty-two ‘sevens’… (Dan. 9:25).
• No gap suggested between segments.
• Jesus is publicly identified as the Messiah
with his baptism in the Jordan River.
• And anointed by the Holy Spirit.
Daniel’s 70 Weeks
Timeline
Third Segment, One Seven
(First Half – 3 ½ Years)
A.D. 27-30. …until the Anointed One, the
ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens’
and sixty-two ‘sevens’… (Dan. 9:25).
• Wilderness—forty days.
• Read from scroll (Isaiah 61:1-2)
• Stopped in mid-verse—why?
Daniel’s 70 Weeks
Timeline
Third Segment, One Seven
(First Half – 3 ½ Years)
A.D. 27-30. …until the Anointed One, the
ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens’
and sixty-two ‘sevens’… (Dan. 9:25).
• “The time is fulfilled” (Mark 1:15).
• The 70th week was upon them.
• Precisely, “at just the right time.”
Daniel’s 70 Weeks
Timeline
After 483 Years
A.D. 27 …After 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 [determined]
...And one who causes desolation will place
abominations on a wing of the temple until the
end that is decreed [determined] is poured out
on him. (Dan. 9:26 [KJV]).
Daniel’s 70 Weeks
Timeline
After 483 Years
• The same Hebrew word [charats], translated as
“decreed” or “determined” (Dan. 11:36).
• Used in a future fulfillment sense, “...for what
has been determined must take place.”
• Does not require that all events “happen” during
that same time frame, although some did.
• Integrity of Daniel’s two interrelated and
interconnected time frames without resorting to
interruptions, gaps, or gimmicks.
Daniel’s 70 Weeks
Timeline
The Middle of the Final Week
A.D. 30. …He will confirm a covenant with
many for one ‘seven,’ but in the middle of
that seven, he [Jesus, the Messiah] shall
put an end to sacrifice and offering…
(Dan. 9:27).
Daniel’s 70 Weeks
The Second Half of the Final Week
A.D. 30 – 34. (3 ½ Years)
• Stayed in Jerusalem awaiting and then
experiencing the events of Pentecost (Luke
24:49).
• But after Pentecost they did not yet disperse and
“Go…and teach all nations” or “make
disciples of all nations,” as Jesus had
commanded (Matt. 28:19 KJV - NIV).
• Why didn’t they?
Daniel’s 70 Weeks
Timeline
The Finishing Point
A.D. 34.
• When “Philip went down to a city in
Samaria, and proclaimed Christ there”
(Acts 8:5).
• The time restriction was now over.
• The Gospel was now free to go to the
Gentiles.
Daniel’s 70 Weeks
Timeline
• Commenced in 457 B.C. with the decree
of Artaxerxes.
• Determined in A.D. 30 at the Cross.
• Confirmed by the New Covenant for 3 ½
years before and 3 ½ years after the
Cross.
• Concluded in A.D. 34 when the Gospel
had been preached to the Jews and was
now freed to go to the Gentiles.
Daniel’s Time of the End
Timeline
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Starting Point
July A.D. 66. (Dan. 12:11) …from the time that the daily
sacrifice is abolished...
Jewish Zealots stormed Jerusalem.
Burned the palace of Agrippa and Bernice.
Burned the palace of the Jewish High Priest, Ananias.
Killed him.
Massacred a garrison of Roman soldiers.
Stopped performing the twice-daily Temple sacrifices for
Caesar and the Roman people.
This cessation of the daily sacrifice was the true
beginning of the Roman-Jewish War—Josephus.
Daniel’s Time of the End
Timeline
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
1,290 Days Later
(Dan. 12:11) ...and the abomination that causes
desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days.
A major abomination in the Temple.
Roman Army encamped in Caesarea.
Strife between rival Jewish factions reaches a climax.
Rival Zealot factions defiled the Temple with murders.
The Temple is defiled with carnage at every corner.
Even worshipers were killed while offering sacrifices.
The Jews burned down their own grain storehouses.
Daniel’s Time of the End
Timeline
•
•
•
•
•
Finishing Point
1335 Days Later
A.D. 70 (Dan. 12:12) Blessed is the one who waits for
and reaches the end of the 1,335 days.
Shortly before Passover in the Spring of A.D. 70.
45 days after the cited desecration of the Temple.
Titus’ Roman legions advanced toward Jerusalem.
They “set up” three encampments overlooking
Jerusalem.
Fourth and final encampment of armies surrounding
Jerusalem during the war.
Daniel’s Time of the End
Timeline
•
•
•
•
•
The “time of the end” was now at hand.
In April of A.D. 70, the Romans began their
fourth and final siege.
In September, it was over.
Not only the city and the Temple but the whole of
biblical Judaism was utterly destroyed and left
desolated.
Fulfillment of “the day of vengeance of God.”
The portion of Isaiah 61:1-2 which Jesus, 43
years earlier did not quote (Luke 4:13-21).
Daniel’s Time of the End
Timeline
•
•
•
•
A.D. 70
Within 3 years, “every stone” was dismantled in
fulfillment of Jesus’ most dramatic prophecy
(Matt. 24:2).
At just the right time, the “appointed time of the
end” had . . .
“certainly come,” “not prove false,” “not delay.”
Just as God’s prophet, Habakkuk, had perfectly
prophesied almost eight centuries earlier.
Daniel’s Two Time Prophecies
•
•
•
•
•
•
Daniel’s 70 Weeks / Time of the End
Literally, exactly, chronologically, and
sequentially.
Within their two respective time periods.
Precisely as foretold.
No gaps, no gimmicks, no delay.
The historical setting and defining characteristic
of Daniel’s “time of the end” achieved fulfillment.
When the “the power of the holy people” was
“finally broken” (Dan. 12:7).
Daniel’s Time of the End
Timeline
•
•
•
•
•
Thus
The end the Bible proclaims is past.
Habakkuk’s “appointed time...of the end”
certainly came and is over.
Not the end of human history, the end of
time, or the destruction of the physical
creation.
Behind us, not ahead of us.
Past, not in the future.
The End Times
Last Days
← Fullness of Time →
Daniel’s
70th Week
Daniel’s
Time of the End
A.D. 27-34
A.D. 66-70
FRONT
BOOKEND
BACK
BOOKEND
Next Week
The New Testament.
How does all this fulfillment
fit, match up, and/or dovetail with Jesus,
the early Church, and the NT writers?
Perfectly!
“Earnestly contend for the faith that was once for
all delivered to the saints.”
(Jude 3)
Next Week
The Second Coming / the Return of Christ?
Did this also happen in A.D. 70
at the “time of the end”?
Or, is it still future?
What does the Bible say and not say?