The Seventieth Week of Daniel

The historic events described in chapters 4 through 11 come after the rapture. The church, as with John, awaits the call “come up hither” (Rev. 4:1). In chapter 4, God’s judicial throne appears; all are His by right as Creator. In chapter 5 we see the Lamb as Redeemer; He alone is worthy to open the book with seven seals—the counsels of God concerning this earth. The twenty-four elders are the Old and New Testament saints; only they can sing the new song of the redeemed. Their presence in heaven is accounted for by the rapture.
The events that unfold with the opening of the seals (chapters 6 and 8) and the sounding of the first six trumpets (chapters 8 and 9) form the seventieth week of Daniel (Dan. 9:24-27). This final terrible week of seven years may be divided into two 3 ½-year periods.
The beginning of the week is marked by a covenant between Israel and the revived Roman Empire—a united Europe under 10 rulers, supported by the papacy, Babylon the Great (Dan. 7:7; Rev. 13:1; 17:3). This period is marked by political conquest, sword, famine, pestilence, and political chaos (Rev. 6). Many faithful to the Word of God will be martyred (Rev. 6:9-11; 17:6).
The rise to prominence of the little horn (the Beast) marks the middle of the week (Dan. 7:7-8, 19-25; Rev. 13:1-10). All remaining vestiges of apostate Christendom (Babylon the Great) will be thrown off and destroyed (Rev. 17:16-17). Jewish laws will be changed and the temple profaned (Dan. 7:25; 12:11). The Beast will be worshipped (Rev. 13:4), while the Antichrist “opposes and exalts himself on high against all called God, or object of veneration; so that he himself sits down in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God” (2 Thess. 2:4 JND). The giving over of man to satanic power marks the second half of the week. With the sixth trumpet, the king of the North will begin his mobilization with attacks against the kingdom of the Beast (Rev. 9:13-19). The seventh trumpet portends the time of God’s wrath against His enemies and the establishment of His eternal reign (Rev. 11:15-18).