02 - The Seventy Sevens
The Seventy Sevens
105. We have already mentioned the Seventy Sevens; but there is much to be said respecting that famous prophecy which it seemed best to introduce separately. For a general outline must not be confused by too many details, nor in any way complicated more than is absolutely necessary. But a thorough insight into the facts connected with the revelation of the Seventy Sevens is essential to the comprehension of all prophetic utterances.
106. When the Jews were carried captive to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar, the prophet Jeremiah announced, that God would not permit them to return until Seventy Years had passed by. But, when this term was drawing towards its close, they were found to be still so unrepentant and hardened that they were condemned to a further discipline of Seven times Seventy, or Four Hundred and Ninety, Years - a period, however, which was not to commence immediately. This period was to be divided into three portions - the first being Seven Sevens, or Forty-nine Years: the second, Sixty-two Sevens, or Four Hundred and Thirty-four Years; and the third, One Seven, or Seven Years. Now, had the Jews repented during the original period of Seventy Years, their discipline would then have terminated. In the same way, had they repented during the first Sixty nine of the Seventy Sevens of Years, the Seventieth Seven would have followed on immediately after the Sixty-ninth; and then the glorious restoration would have taken place. Seeing, however, that they did not yet repent, but rejected the Christ, God, instead of sentencing them to a still longer stated period of captivity, introduced an interval (see paragraph 59) of indefinite duration, during which they were to experience the horrors of Deut. 38:64-67.
107. We are fully authorized to make this separation between the Sixty-ninth and Seventieth Seven, because the prophet himself separates them by placing events between them (Daniel 9:26). Also Our Lord gave us a very marked example of the same sort of thing, when He was reading from Isaiah 61:1, in the synagogue at Nazareth (Luke 4:16-20). For He closed the Book abruptly in the middle of a sentence, because the prophecy was at that moment in process of fulfilment so far as He had read it; whereas the remainder was then, and is, still in the future. Christ Himself, therefore, recognized that a great interval may, as in that case it does, occur in a single prophecy.
108. Similarly, in Isaiah 9:6, we read, "Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given, and the government shall be upon His shoulder." But, although the Child was born, and the Son given, some nineteen hundred years ago, the government is not yet upon His shoulder. Nay, even in the first eighteen chapters of the Apocalypse, the royal diadem is found only on the heads of the Dragon and the Beast; it is not until we come to Isaiah 19:12, that the Lord Jesus is described as wearing it.
109. Other instances might be quoted; and, moreover, we know as a matter of fact, that the predicted results of the discipline appointed for the Jews have never yet been effected. Therefore, unless the prophecy be a myth, the Seventieth Seven has not yet become history, although eighteen hundred and seventy-four years [and more] have elapsed since the last day of the Sixty-ninth Seven. And there is no possible way of accounting for this phenomenon, unless we understand, that a suspension of God’s dealings with the Jews followed immediately upon their rejection of their Messiah, and must continue until the Church-period [or Christian-period] is ended, and they [the Jews] are again owned as His people. The objects to be accomplished by the Four Hundred and Ninety Years of discipline are six in number, and are thus stated:- 1. To shut up transgression.
2.. To seal up sins.
3. To cover iniquity.
4. To bring in everlasting righteousness.
5. To seal up vision and prophet.
6. To anoint a Holy of Holies.
110. Now we know well, that none of these things has been hitherto effected. Transgression has not been shut up, neither that of the Jews nor that of any other nation. Sins are not sealed up, but are everywhere rampant; nor is iniquity covered. Everlasting righteousness has certainly not yet been brought in; the visions and utterances of the prophets are by no means all fulfilled, so that they may be sealed up and laid aside. And the glorious Temple, which the Messiah Himself will build, as described by Ezekiel, is not yet erected; much less is its Holy of Holies anointed. These facts show, that the Seventy Sevens have not yet come to their end; and, therefore, that an interval [now more than 2,008 years, according to our calendar*] must have occurred and be still continuing.
[* See Hosea 6:2: “After two days (two thousand years according to Peter’s reckoning, 2 Peter 3:8) – “he will revive us; on the third day” – (the millennial kingdom of Christ) – “he will restore us, that we may live in his presence.”]
111. But much additional light is thrown on this subject by an examination of the apparent discrepancy, in the numbers of years given for the same period, between 1 Kings 6:1, and Acts 13:17-22. For the true explanation of this difficulty is very instructive and suggestive.
112. The first of the two references makes the period between the day on which Israel went out of Egypt and the founding of the Temple of Solomon to be four hundred and eighty years. But Paul, in Acts 13:17-22, mentions several portions of this period as follows. Forty years, he says, were spent in the wilderness, four hundred and fifty under the judges, and forty under King Saul. Here the Apostle stops; but, in order to complete the period, mentioned in 1 Kings 6:1, we must add forty years for the reign of David, and the three years of Solomon’s reign which had passed before he began to build the Temple. Now, if we add all these years together, we shall find that they amount to five hundred and seventy-three. Hence, between this reckoning of Paul and the statement in 1 Kings 6:1, which declares the same period to have been only four hundred and eighty years, there is a discrepancy of no less than ninety-three years.
113. But, if we carefully study the Book of Judges, we shall find, that, during the four hundred and fifty years of which Paul speaks in Acts 13:1-52., the Israelites were sold by God into the hands of six different nations, and endured five periods of servitude, as punishments for their wickedness. And, while they were in servitude, God abandoned them for the time, and no longer recognized them as His chosen people. The various times of servitude were as follows:- For 8 years they served the Mesopotamians, Judges 1:3: Judges 1:8. For 18 years they served the Moabites, Judges 1:3: Judges 1:13. For 20 years they served the Canaanites, Judges 4:2-3. For 7 years they served the Midianites, Judges 1:6. For 40 years they served the Philistines, Judges 1:13. =93 So for ninety-three years out of the four hundred and fifty they were in servitude.
114. Now, if we deduct the ninety-three years of servitude from the five hundred and seventy three years obtained by Paul’s reckoning, we shall find the remainder to be exactly four hundred and eighty, which is the number given in the Book of Kings. And so, the discrepancy vanishes; for we can readily assume, that Paul uses the ordinary human chronology, which makes the period between the Exodus and the founding of the Temple to be five hundred and seventy-three years. But in 1 Kings 6:1, we have a reckoning according to the Divine chronology, which embraces only those periods that God employs for special dealings with the people in question, and omits any time, or times, during which He temporarily abandons them as a chastisement for their sins. We may, then, always assume, that, whenever God’s dealings with the Jews as His Own nation are suspended, He also suspends the fulfilment of His prophecies concerning them. And this is what He is now doing in the interval between the Sixty-ninth and the Seventieth Seven.
115. But we also know, that, as soon as the Jews are restored to their own Land and again recognized as a nation, God will once more resume His dealings with them, and the dread Seventieth Seven, with all its fearful terrors, will begin to become history. And, just before its commencement, the waiting saints connected with the Church will be caught away from the evil that is coming upon the earth.
116. How critical, then, are the times in which we live! For already we see the Jews gathering in their own Land, and beginning to feel, that, after eighteen weary centuries of dispersion and exile, they are still a nation. This is one of the most striking signs of the times; nor can anything more definitely prove the imminence of the great events which are foretold as preceding the end of the dispensation, and which we can see maturing under our very eyes. There are, also, many other indications of what is coming, which convey much confirmatory evidence to thinking minds, though, taken separately, they may be more or less open to argument. But, on this one point, there can be no difference of opinion. The great fact is, that the Jews are regathering; the great inference, if men will only open their eyes to realize it, is, that very soon the Lord Jesus must return for His ready, waiting, and watching people. "Prepare to meet thy God."
117. We have previously, in paragraphs 52 and 53, pointed out, that the Seventy Sevens were to commence on a certain specified day, and that the first Sixty-nine Sevens, or 483 years, were to terminate, also, on a certain specified day. We need not, then, repeat what has already been stated in those paragraphs, but will just explain how it is that we understand the 483 years to have been exactly fulfilled to a day.
118. We must, however, in making this or any other calculation as to prophetic periods, remember, that a prophetic year always contains 360 days, or twelve months of thirty days each. From remote antiquity this was the universally recognized length of a year. But we have Biblical proof, that, in the prophecy now before us, at least, the year is reckoned as of 360 days. The Sixty-nine Sevens have passed, the Seventieth is still in the future, and the events which are to occur during the latter are described, in considerable detail, in the Book of Revelation. Now, if we search the Book of Daniel and the Revelation to discover what is said of the final Seven of Years, we shall find a thrice repeated statement, that one half of the Seven consists of "a time times and the dividing, or half of, a time." Now, in the opinion of almost all scholars, the expression "a time," that is, a circle of time or a complete time, signifies a year; while "times" must be understood as "two times." Hence the phrase means a year, two years, and half a year, or three years and a half. In two passages the same period is described as forty-two months (Revelation 11:2; Revelation 13:5); and in two others as 1,260 days (Revelation 11:3; Revelation 12:6). It is thus easy to see, that, if forty-two months contain only I,260 days, there will be but thirty days for each month; and that a year made up of twelve such months will contain only 360 days. And this is what we may call a prophetic year.
119. The year now in use is called the "Julian" year, and contains, as we know, 365 and a quarter days, the quarter day being supplied by adding an extra day every fourth or "leap" year. When, therefore, we want to prove the accuracy of Daniel’s prophecy, we must recollect that he was referring to prophetic years.
120. The first of Nisan in the 20th. year of Artaxerxes (Nehemiah 2:1), the day on which the command went forth to rebuild the street and wall of Jerusalem, was the 14th. of March, B.C. 445. The tenth of Nisan, in Passion Week, the day on which Christ came to Jerusalem as an Anointed One and a Prince (Matthew 21:5; Luke 19:38; see paragraph 52), was the 6th. of April, A.D. 32. The intervening period between these two dates is 476 years and twenty-four days of ordinary reckoning. If we multiply 476 by 365, we get a total of 173,740 days. Add the twenty-four days from 14th. March to 6th. April, both inclusive 24 days. Add, also, one day for every leap year occurring during this time 116 days, and we get a total of 173,880 days. Now, the Sixty-nine Sevens were really 483 prophetic years; and, if we multiply 483 by 360 (the number of days in a prophetic year), the result is 173,880 days. Thus we see, that the prophecy was literally fulfilled to the day. The above calculation may be profitably studied in Sir Robert Anderson’s book, "The Coming Prince," in which it is fully discussed. (See especially chap. vi. and x.) The publishers are Messrs. Hodder and Stoughton.
121. It is, also, well to notice how entirely the Jews were without excuse in their rejection of the Christ; for, had they paid attention to the prophecies which they professed to hold in such veneration and respect, they could have calculated the exact day on which the prophecy of Daniel, and also that of Zechariah (9:9), were to have been fulfilled. Daniel’s prophecy was still further verified, because, within four days from the end of the Sixty-ninth Seven, "Messiah" was cut off, and there was nothing for Him.
112. Surely these details must greatly strengthen our faith in all utterances of God’s Holy Word. We may often fail to understand, as Daniel did (Daniel 12:8); but we can believe. God does not ask us, or permit us, to understand everything. He wishes us to believe what He says whether we understand it or not. Daniel believed and prophesied at God’s command that which he did not understand. We must believe in the same way; and, if we do not, we practically insist on walking by sight, and refuse to walk by faith. We can exercise faith only when we have not got sight. When we fully understand a thing, we virtually need no faith. But "without faith it is impossible to please God," and we should have no opportunity of exercising faith if we understood everything. Nothing can more surely tend to strengthen our faith than to see apparent discrepancies, and then, after having believed confidently that God is right, notwithstanding the evidence we seem to have that He is wrong, suddenly to find that it was only our own blindness and ignorance which made it, even for a moment, appear that He might be wrong. Such an experience vastly increases our confidence that other things, which we do not understand, may, also, be perfectly explicable when we get a little more knowledge.