Artist rendering of the statue of Zeus one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. It was created in 430 B.C., stood over 40 feet high, and was located at the Greek site Olympia (Wikimedia Commons)
Although warned by Moses, the children of Israel would eventually fail to stay true to God. They would take possession of the promised land but over and over again fall into sin, taking on the wicked practices of the surrounding peoples. Eventually the kingdom would split into two parts – the northern and southern kingdoms – with judgement falling on both regions.
The southern kingdom was led into captivity by Babylon in 587/586 B.C. with the destruction of Jerusalem and Solomons Temple by King Nebuchadnezzar. This was the end of the southern kingdom, which comprised the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. The northern kingdom comprising the other ten tribes had already come to an end, when the Assyrians destroyed that region and deported the population. The end of this was marked by the fall of Samaria (the northern kingdom capital) to Sargon II in 722 B.C. after a three-year siege. This Assyrian campaign would result in the fabled ‘lost tribes of Israel’.
The northern kingdom was marked by unrelenting sin, initiated by the rebellion of Jeroboam the son of Nebat (1 Kings 12:25-32, 1 Kings 13:33-34). This sin was marked by the worship of (and sacrifice to) golden calves placed in the cities of Bethel and Dan; consecration of priests from every class of people (duties exclusively assigned to the tribe of Levi), putting shrines in high places, and altering the feast days. Each successive king after Jeroboam continued in these sins.
The southern kingdom went through cycles of kings staying true to God but then also subsequent kings pursuing the sins of the northern kingdom. The Assyrians under Sennacherib (son of Sargon II) invaded the Southern Kingdom and surrounded Jerusalem – but in this case God answered the prayers of King Hezekiah and in a single night 185,000 Assyrians were slain by an angel of the Lord (2 Kings 19:35). But the southern kingdom continued in their failure to obey God – and finally God would no longer relent from His judgement. In just the time from Hezekiah’s son Manasseh to grandson Amon, the southern kingdom had fallen so far back into sin that when Josiah, the great-grandson of Hezekiah, began to reign they actually were in shock to discover that a ‘book of law’ (Deuteronomy) was present in the Temple. Although God recognized the repentant heart of Josiah, he was now no longer going to relent (2 Kings 22:1-20). By the time of King Zedekiah, God finally reached this point, as told to the prophet Jeremiah:
Jeremiah 14:11-12: So the Lord said to me, “Do not pray for the welfare of this people. When they fast, I am not going to listen to their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and grain offering, I am not going to accept them. Rather I am going to make an end of them by the sword, famine and pestilence”.
During the reign of Zedekiah, God’s judgement would now fall, as Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, conquered Jerusalem fell and burned the Temple. A remnant of the population was carried captive to Babylon, and it was during this captivity that we now find the prophecies of Daniel.
Daniels’s prophecy of the 70 weeks occurred while he was held captive in Babylon. This prophecy detailed the rebuilding of Jerusalem and coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ. About 67 years into the Babylonian captivity, Daniel was reading Jeremiah and discovered the following:
Jeremiah 29:10: For thus says the Lord: After seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place.
Daniel recognized that he was near the end of the period foretold by Jeremiah. Daniel then begins intercessory prayers of repentance on behalf of his people to petition God to now turn from His anger regarding Jerusalem and His sanctuary. While he was praying the angel Gabriel came to him with the prophecy of the 70 weeks. Here is that prophecy:
Daniel 9:24-27: “Seventy weeks are determined for your people and for your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy.
“Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, there shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublesome times.
“And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself; and the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall be with a flood, and till the end of the war desolations are determined.
“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.”
Gabriel instructed Daniel that 70 weeks were required to finish the transgression. The interpretation of this uses weeks for years, so seventy weeks corresponds to 490 years. Gabriel states that from the issuing of the command to rebuild Jerusalem it will take seven weeks for the restoration, which equals 49 years (refer to the Books of Ezra & Nehemiah). From this point it will then be sixty-two weeks until Messiah arrives, meaning 434 years will pass (Haas). We see the revelation of the Messiah at the time of the baptism of Jesus, which occurs in 27 A.D., marking the end of the 434 years. Gabriel then tells us that one more year will occur – the 70th week. The generally accepted view is that the 70th week is reserved for the time of the antichrist – the ‘man of lawlessness’ (2 Thessalonians 2:9-12) to be revealed in the last days. In Daniel 9:27, we see that the End Times 70th week does not start until the signing of a covenant with the Antichrist, which is stated as a covenant for one week – meaning seven years. This final week is known as the tribulation period.
In the middle of the tribulation period, the antichrist ends Temple sacrifice and we then see the ‘abomination of desolation’. To understand this reference, we turn to the second century B.C. Seleucid King Antiochus Epiphanes IV, who ruled Israel 175 to 64 B.C. During a rebellion against his brutal reign, Antiochus entered the temple, put a stop to sacrifice, setup an idol of Zeus, and sacrificed a pig. This sacrifice of an unclean animal to a pagan god in the House of the Lord was known as an ‘abomination’ causing ‘desolation’ (Doriani).
The abomination of Antiochus Epiphanes is the forerunner of the abomination to occur in the End Times seven-year tribulation period. The last days abomination will see the antichrist break a treaty with Israel, enter the Temple of the Lord, end daily sacrifice, and declare himself to be God. As such he will demand the worship of the entire world (MacArthur).
In the Olivet Discourse, Jesus tells us that when we see the abomination of desolation standing in the Temple, that those in Judea should flee, because now will come ‘great tribulation’:
Matthew 24:21-22: For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened.
After Jesus death on the cross, the destruction of the Jewish Temple in A.D. 70, the scattering of the Jewish people in the Diaspora, and then the miraculous rebirth of Israel and retaking of Jerusalem in our time, Christians now look for the second coming of Christ, to occur during the period of the End Times and marked by the coming 70th week of Daniel – the period of the tribulation.
And this is where we find ourselves today.
Next – Chapter 5: The Great American Eclipse
