The 70th week of Daniel, also known as the Time of Jacob’s Trouble and the Great Tribulation, is one of, if not the most, decisive arguments for the pre-tribulation Rapture of the church.
Daniel 9:24 KJV – “Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.”
There are six things that are prophesied to happen during the seventy seven-year-periods spoken of here that are in relation to Daniel’s people, the Jews, and the holy city, Jerusalem.
To finish the transgression means to bring Israel’s apostasy to an end. To make an end of sins means to bring sin under final judgment. To make reconciliation for iniquity is a reference to the means by which sins will come under final judgment, which is through the cross of Christ. It is this same means that will usher in everlasting righteousness and vision. It is also through this reconciliation that prophecies concerning the Jews and Jerusalem will be fulfilled, and through which the Most Holy will be anointed as King to sit on David’s throne and rule from Jerusalem over the whole of the world.
Hosea 5:15 KJV – “I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early.”
The seventieth week of Daniel is a time when God is dealing with the nation of Israel, Daniel’s people, and the city of Jerusalem. It is specific to them as a time of affliction that will cause the earnest seeking of the One they have long rejected. Yes, millions of others will be saved during this time of affliction, but there is no mention of the presence of the church during the seventieth week of Daniel.
If the church has replaced Israel then to whom is Hosea referring? What offense has the church committed, and how can they be the church and not seek His face? If they have not earnestly sought Him and only affliction can make them do so, then the sufferings of Christ did not create a glorious church without spot or wrinkle washed in the blood of the Lamb.
The only possible answer to these questions is that God is not finished with the nation of Israel! It is only through this amazing truth that remedy can be made for the damage done to the integrity of Scripture and the holes left in the prophetic narrative that are caused by believing the church has replaced Israel.
Zechariah 12:10 KJV – “And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.”
The church is not the house of David nor is the church the inhabitants of Jerusalem nor did the church pierce the Lord at His crucifixion. There was no church when Jesus died and rose again. The church was born after He ascended and the Holy Spirit came.
God is not done with the nation of Israel and that is something to rejoice in. God does not choose people, giving them unconditional and everlasting promises, only to later cast them off forever or replace them with another group.
Israel is back in their national homeland and that means the time of their affliction is near. The Bride will be in the Father’s house during that time for the church does not have an appointment with God’s wrath and her reconciliation to the Father has already come to pass.
