Daniel 9:25

From a message by a Curious Questioner--
>CQ> Futurism takes the 70th week, separates it from the other 69 weeks, and places it in the future.

The word of God separates the 70th week from the other 69 weeks, and also divides the 69 weeks into 7 and 62. (49yrs and 434yrs and 7 years = total 490yrs) In Genesis 29:27, with Jacob (Israel) we find that the word "week" can mean "seven years". Also in the case of the children of Israel wandering 40 years because of the 40 days that they spied the land, we see that a "day" can mean a "year". A "day" on the north pole lasts for a year from one sunset to the next, due to the tilt of the earth, and the Lord dwells in the sides of the north and sits upon the circle of the earth, so it is understood that his viewpoint being different, a larger measure of time is indicated in Daniel 9:25-27.

>CQ> This time prophesy commences with the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem - given by Artaxerses during the seventh year of his reign in 457 B.C.

NOPE. The decree was given in the TWENTIETH YEAR of his reign. The prophecy of Daniel 9:25 says--

"Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times."

In Nehemiah 2, Nehemiah makes request that he should be sent "unto the city of my fathers' sepulchres, that I may build it." The king Artaxerxes gave him the decree in the month Nisan(Mar/Apr), in the TWENTIETH year of his reign. After arriving in Jerusalem, he "viewed the walls of Jerusalem, which were broken down" and in Neh.2:17--

"Then said I unto them, Ye see the distress that we are in, how that Jerusalem lieth waste, and the gates thereof are burned with fire: come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more a reproach."

The decree of Ezra 7 is NOT to build Jerusalem, but rather, pertains to the restoration of the temple, the house of God and its furnishings and offerings of the Gentiles. And the other decrees in Ezra (of Cyrus and Darius) pertain to the same. The decree of Nehemiah 2 is indicated by Daniel 9:25.

>CQ> Thus the 70-week (490 year) probationary period...

Is NOT a probationary period, but times of "desolation", and the 70th week especially pertains to the "times of Jacob's trouble" and what Jesus called "great tribulation".

Remember that Jesus is the Lord and that it is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man: LET NO MAN DECEIVE YOU! Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Grace be with you for the Lord Jesus' sake. Amen. --Richard