Dan. 9:20-27, What do ya’ know: Jesus is Coming Again! (1)

Doctrinal Statement: We believe in that “blessed Hope,” the personal, premillennial, and imminent return of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, in the rapture for His saints and in the revelation with His saints.

There are some “big words” in this statement.  Here is a quick introduction.  “Blessed Hope” refers to Christ and it comes from Scripture (Titus 2:13).  “Personal” means Jesus will actually come, in person.  “Premillennial” means He will return before His earthly kingdom is established (for 1000 years, a ‘millennium’).  “Imminent” means He could come at any time.  The “rapture” and “revelation” refer to two events: in one the Church is “caught up” to meet Jesus in the air; in the other Jesus comes to earth and He is revealed in such a way that everyone, friend or foe, realizes that He is the Lord of lords and King of kings.  To understand His return, we will have to start with the “tribulation” period.  This is a 7-year time of trouble on the earth that we believe separates the rapture from the revelation.

1)    What do we know about the tribulation?  Daniel 9:20-27 is one of the most amazing prophecies in all the Bible.  It gives the fullest and clearest picture of this period of trouble.  Sometimes the “Tribulation Period” is called “Daniel’s 70^th Week” (from this passage) but is also called “the time of Jacob’s trouble” (from Jer. 30:7).  With the Church removed from the earth, this future time focuses on Israel, including the completion of her chastisement by God and the time when “all Israel shall be saved” (Isa. 59:20-21; Rom. 11:26-27).

a)    The time of the tribulation.  It is Dan. 9 that first tells us this period lasts seven years.  As Daniel points out, from his time to the completion of all God’s plans that involve the exaltation of Christ, there are 490 years.  483 of those years came to a decisive moment when Israel rejected her Messiah.  There are still 7 years and when they end Christ will be exalted.  What Daniel did not tell us, and did not understand, was that there would be a lengthy “parenthesis” between years 483 and 484.  This was not unique to Daniel.  As Peter points out (1 Pt. 1:10-12), all the Old Testament prophets struggled with understanding the suffering (death) and glory (reign) of the Messiah. 

i)      Dan. 7:24-26 describe various political movements that are part of this time, which immediately precedes Christ’s reign on earth (7:27).  As both Dan. 9 and Jesus Himself (Mt. 24:15) indicated, the seven years would be divided in half by a momentous event called “the abomination of desolation.”   Thus, as you read Daniel, Zechariah and Revelation you will often see references to 3½ years, 42 months and 1,260 days, each being the same length of time.

ii)   Rev. 11:2-3 describe this time as one where the Gentiles (nations of the world other than Israel) are in control of Israel.  Rev. 13:1-8 speaks of a leader of the nations (the “antichrist”) who has great authority for 42 months.