The Good News of the Judgment
| Daniel 9 and the Judgment Hour William Diehl The correct interpretation of Daniel's prophecies is vital to help us to understand the identity of the Antichrist. I would like us to consider carefully Daniel 9:27. This verse takes the reader to the final "consummation", not just to the stoning of Steven and the rejection of the gospel by the Sanhedrin. In the final 3 and 1/2 years of the seven years, the "sanctuary" is made desolate by the one who comes on the "wing of abomination" even unto the consummation that is determined. Daniel 9 tells us that the Messiah would be "cut off" in the midst of the final seven years of the 490 years. Then there would come the abomination of desolation that would last "1260 days" or "3 and 1/2 years" or "42 months" of time of desolation of the "temple". This final half of the seven years represents time from the rejection of the Jewish nation unto the fall of Jerusalem and also the allegorical era of the Christian gospel proclamation from the ascension of Christ unto His second coming. In Matthew 24 our Lord refers to these verses allegorically or symbolically to refer to two events in the future— the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70 and also the end of the world. This symbolic Christian era of "forty two months" is also described in Revelation 11 as the two witnesses prophesying in sack cloth for the "3 and 1/2 years" until they are finally "slain", which is symbolic language meaning that the testimony of the Gospel by the persecuted Christian church of God will be to proclaim the gospel until the very end of the age at the Second Coming. Finally after the "1260 days" end, the proclamation will be silenced for a very brief time (3 and 1/2 days their bodies lie in the street) but then at the coming of the Lord the church will be fully vindicated before the eyes of all the unbelieving world which worships the Beast and his Image. It is very clear that the apostles believed that the hour of God's judgment and the time of the end had begun with the proclamation of the Gospel of Christ at Pentecost. To the apostles, the Day of Atonement had begun and the sealing of the servants of God in the Book of Life was taking place. Revelation 5 is a dramatic description of the Judgment of the world. Christ, the Lamb of God, as the King of Kings and the Judge of the world is seated upon the throne of God deciding the fate of all the world for life or for death. The Beast and the Dragon are being judged (see the corollary to Rev 5 in Dan 7). This judgment of the antichrist will be consummated at the end of the "1260 days" when the sealing of God's people is completed. Those who reject the blood of the everlasting covenant and refuse to repent of their dead works religion receive the "mark of the Beast" and the full wrath of God. The final "3 and 1/2 years" of the "abomination of desolation" motif are allegorized by our Lord in Matthew 24 as applying to the destruction of Jerusalem and also as applying to the end of the world. Paul the apostle picks up this allegorical "abomination of desolation" in 2 Thessalonians 2 and applies it to the soon-to-take-place fall of the Roman empire and the rise of the Papacy as the "man of sin" who takes over the Christian church and paganizes and deceives all who reject the clear Gospel of Christ until the end. Daniel 8:14 describes however the "restoration of the sanctuary" to take place before the final consummation of the "1260 days" after ''2300 evening and morning" sacrifices or 1150 days. This "restoration" represents the fact that the Protestant Reformation will restore the fullness of the true evangelical Christian gospel before the end of the world takes place. The Protestant Reformation was raised up to finish the gospel proclamation to all the world and be the final Elijah message to declare the complete fall of spiritual Babylon and thus the final defeat of the Image to the Beast and his lies. The Image to the Beast is Paganized Christianity which has blasphemously paganized the gospel message and those false "works" religions of the world which all have their Babylonish origin in the worship of Nimrod and his Virgin Mother, Semaramis. Regarding the prophecy of Daniel 9:24-27 and the "day for a year" principle which some are rejecting as the key to unlocking the interpretation of this prophecy. Briefly we must understand that Daniel is very concerned that the 70 years of Babylonish captivity is coming to an end and how will God restore the nation, the city, and the sanctuary. With this in mind as the background of Daniel 9, God tells Daniel that even though He is about to restore all that the Babylonish captivity has taken away, there will yet be "seventy sevens" before the complete "end of sin" and the establishment of "everlasting righteousness" takes place with the coming of the Messiah and His being cut off in the middle of the final "seven" not for Himself but for His people. The fact that the 70 years of the Babylonish captivity are the backdrop for the "seventy sevens" should indicate to anyone seeking the meaning of this passage that they represent 490 real years of time before the coming of the Messiah just as the 70 years of the Babylonish captivity are real years. The beginning of this time period we are clearly told would be "from the going forth of the command to restore and rebuild Jerusalem". Some foolishly reject the decrees which are found in Ezra, especially the third decree of Artexeres, as the starting point for the "seventy sevens" of Daniel 9. But this decree was a necessary part of the complete restoration of the city of Jerusalem. The fact is that the date 457/458 BC. is the date of Artexerxe's decree and this decree can in fact be considered as the fulfillment of the "decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem". Also it is obvious to most reasonable scholars that our Lord was in fact baptized as the "Anointed One" in the river Jordan in approximately AD. 27 and that his ministry did in fact last 3 and 1/2 years when He was cut off in the middle of the final "week" of the prophecy. This "coincidence" of these dates being 490 years from 457 BC to AD 34 is, in my opinion and I believe to any reasonable scholar, a clear fulfillment of the prophecy of Daniel 9. There is absolutely no room in the prophecies of Daniel to attempt to prove that the Maccabean Revolt and the events surrounding Antiochas Epiphanes are the meaning of Daniel's prophecies. The book of Daniel was written in the sixth century BC and NOT in the 2d century BC as some scholars erroneously believe who wish to see Antiochas as the fulfillment of the "little horn". The final 3 and 1/2 years of the final week of Daniel 9 become the allegorical "3 and 1/2 years" symbol for the entire Christian era when the "Abomination of Desolation" takes place and the Antichrist makes war with the remnant of God. In the final "judgment hour" God punishes the "Little Horn" which desecrates the "temple" and casts the truth of the Gospel to the ground as the judgment sits and his dominion is taken away. The judgment of course began at the ascension of our Lord and His enthronement as the King and Judge of all the earth and terminates at the coming of the Lord. The final "restoration of the sanctuary" (Daniel 8:14) is taking place in the restoration of the Gospel to its rightful place in the church as she "prophesies in sackcloth" (Rev. 11) There is much more that could be said regarding how Paul understood Daniel's prophecy by his remarks in 2 Thessalonians 2 and also John's understanding of Daniel 9 as reflected in Revelation 13 and 17, but I will stop here.
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