POSTED 15 APRIL, 2002

The Seventieth Week of Whom?

by J.K. McKee
editor@tnnonline.net

As the world gets more and more uncertain with each passing day, we will hear increasingly about the Tribulation period, the Seventieth Week of Israel, and the Great Tribulation.[1] Unfortunately, using these terms in tandem with one another has caused much confusion. What is the difference between the Seventieth Week of Israel and the Great Tribulation? Are they the same? Are they different? What is the purpose of this future period of time?

Those of us who are watching and anticipating the end-time restoration of Israel must have an appropriate and Biblically accurate assessment of the last years prior to Yeshua’s Second Coming. Before the Kingdom of God can be fully established on Earth, between this present time and then, difficult times—regardless of how you refer to them—will come.

What is the “Tribulation”?

All too often when the Last Days are spoken of, it is a time period generally referred to as “the Tribulation.” For the most part, this term is used to refer to the entire Seventieth Week of Daniel 9:27, directed to the people of Israel. When I have made references to the Tribulation period in my various writings and teachings, it has almost always been in reference to this Seventieth Week. Concerning this, the Prophet Daniel was given the following words by the angel Gabriel while in Babylonian exile:

“Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy place. So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of distress. Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined. And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate” (Daniel 9:24-27).

Pre-millennial theologians commonly interpret these passages as meaning that from the time that the decree was issued to Nehemiah to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem in 445-444 B.C.E to the end of the First Coming of Yeshua the Messiah, sixty-nine “septets” (ATS), “sevens” (NIV), or “weeks”—seven-year periods—occurred. A shavua ([Wbv) has a variety of possible applications in the Biblical text, including “seven consecutive days, week” and “a week of years, a period of seven years” (HALOT).[2] Context determines that a week of seven years is the correct application for Daniel 9.

Looking at the sets of “weeks” as years, there are to be sixty-nine “sevens” (Daniel 9:25, NIV) or 483 years in total from the reconstruction of Jerusalem and its walls until the Anointed One or “Messiah the Prince” (NASU) arrives, who will be cut off. Beginning this count of years in 445-444 B.C.E., when Jerusalem was rebuilt during the time of Nehemiah, places one at 33 C.E., the approximate year of Yeshua’s crucifixion (9:26a).[3] It is concluded that with the cutting off of the Anointed One, the Messiah, which occurred at His crucifixion, that a period of sixty-nine weeks ended. The last seven-year period is to be initiated with an agreement made sometime in the future.[4]

The Seventieth Week of Judah and Ephraim

Who does the Seventieth Week of Israel fully apply to? Consider the exhortation that the Prophet Daniel gives in Daniel 9:7:

“Righteousness belongs to You, O Lord, but to us open shame, as it is this day—to the men of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, those who are nearby and those who are far away in all the countries to which You have driven them, because of their unfaithful deeds which they have committed against You.”

Although Daniel is a Jew, a member of the exiled Southern Kingdom of Judah, it is obvious in this text that he is referring to both the Houses of Israel, including those of scattered Israel/Ephraim. He specifically says l’ish Yehudah u’l’yoshvei Yerushalayim u’l’kol-Yisrael (larfy-lklW ~lvWry ybvAylW hdWhy vyal): “the men of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel.” This is describing three groups of people who were sent into exile, intensified by his description “those who are near and those who are far away, in all the lands [b’kol-ha’aratzot, tAcrah-lkB] to which you have driven them” (NJPS).

The Seventieth Week of Israel that is mentioned in Daniel 9:27 could, in the context of Israel’s end-time restoration, also be referred to as the Seventieth Week of Judah and Ephraim. It is important that we grasp this concept so we do not fall into the dispensationalist trap of believing that the “gap” time between the Sixty-Ninth Week, having ended by the Messiah’s being cut-off, and the start of the Seventieth Week, is the so-called “Church Age.” It was not the “Church Age,” but rather the fulfillment of Yeshua’s command for the Apostles to go out and make disciples among all the nations of the world. Yeshua Himself said in Matthew 16:18 that on Himself He would rebuild or restore His assembly, a reference back to Jeremiah 33:7, which informs us that in the Last Days the Lord will restore the Two Houses of Israel. But in order for this to happen, the world must know of the salvation available in Him.

Yeshua told His Disciples to go “to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matthew 10:6; cf. 15:24), who we believe to include many from the scattered Northern Kingdom. When they went out into the nations, their job was not to “identify” scattered Israelites, but simply recognize that they were “out there.” The Disciples’ job was to spread the salvation message available in Yeshua to as many as would receive it, and see that those converts to faith were properly trained in the truths of the Lord. He will sort out the details in the eschaton of “who was who,” as restoring Israel is the impetus that is to bring salvation to the whole world.

While many of the First Century Believers thought that they were living in the final parts of the Last Days, history has proven that they were not. But in our generation we are seeing many of the signs which may indicate that we could possibly see the return of Yeshua. The end-time prophecies of Israel’s restoration indicate that scattered Israel/Ephraim will be reunited with Judah prior to the Messiah’s return. The reunification of all Israel will enable the 144,000 sealed witnesses to come forth, who will be some of those responsible for proclaiming the good news of God’s coming Kingdom to the entire world. These things have not fully occurred and the Messiah presently cannot return.

The Disciples asked Yeshua prior to His ascension into Heaven, “Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?’ He said to them, ‘It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority; but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth’” (Acts 1:6, 8). During the time between the end of the Sixty-Ninth week of Daniel and today, this has been occurring. Finally in our day we are witnessing the genesis of Israel’s complete restoration via the rise of the Messianic movement. We know that eventually the Seventieth Week of Israel will be initiated. Its primary purpose is to see the ultimate fulfillment of the Disciples’ question in Acts 1:6.

How does the Seventieth Week begin?

There is substantial misunderstanding in mainstream Christianity today concerning the start of the Seventieth Week of Israel. The most common assertion by your average Christian layperson is that the last seven years begin with “the rapture of the Church.” Israel, it is asserted, is to be left on Planet Earth so the Jewish people can exclusively experience the horrors of this time and as a result receive Jesus as their Savior. Unfortunately for pre-tribulationists, this does not fit what Scripture tells us in Daniel 9:26-27:

“Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined. And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate.”

We are told, “The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary” (NIV). It is agreed by the majority of both pre- and post-tribulationists that these people are the Ancient Romans, as the Roman General Titus destroyed Jerusalem and Herod’s Temple in 70 C.E. Then, as v. 27 states, a future nagid (dygn), “chief, leader, sovereign” (CHALOT),[5] from this people “will make a firm covenant with the many for one week.” Following this, “in the middle of the week he will put a stop to the sacrifice and grain offering.” This occurs at the midpoint, as chatzi (ycx) means “half” or “half the height, middle” (HALOT).[6] Animal sacrifices that are to be reinitiated at a future point in time on the Temple Mount will be stopped. This is the Abomination of Desolation that Yeshua teaches His followers to look for in Matthew 24:15-21:

“Therefore when you see the abomination of desolation which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains. Whoever is on the housetop must not go down to get the things out that are in his house. Whoever is in the field must not turn back to get his cloak. But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! But pray that your flight will not be in the winter, or on a Sabbath. For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will.”

After the Abomination of Desolation takes place, the last half of the Seventieth Week, or what is generally called “the Great Tribulation” (cf. Daniel 12:7; Revelation 12:14), will occur, lasting three-and-a-half years. This term should not be confused with the terminology “the Tribulation period,” commonly used in reference to the entire Seventieth Week, lasting a full seven years.

It is quite clear from Daniel 9:27 that the Seventieth Week of Israel does not begin with the rapture. Rather, as post-tribulationists validly assert, it begins with the prince, or antimessiah/antichrist, making a “firm covenant with many.”

We should also point out that in recent years there has been a substantial amount of discussion of the premise that the antimessiah “signs a treaty with Israel” initiating the Seventieth Week, in light of some of the events that we have seen throughout the history of the Middle East peace process. As these are things that have yet to occur, we would like to present another plausible interpretation of how the Seventieth Week may begin from Daniel 9:27.

In the KJV, Daniel 9:27a is translated as “he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week.” Some have interpreted this as meaning that the antimessiah will not initiate a peace treaty or agreement, as is commonly interpreted, but rather give his assent to an already existing one. The interpretation of “confirm” is also resonated in the NIV translation of Daniel 9:27a: “He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’” The verb translated as either “forge a strong covenant” (ATS) or “make firm” (NASU) or “confirm” (KJV, NIV) in these passages is gavar (rbG), meaning, “be strong, mighty,” and appears in the Hifil stem (casual action, active voice), which BDB indicates means “confirm a covenant.”[7]

Considering the fact that we are dealing with future events in this text, we must consider several interpretational possibilities. It is clear that the Seventieth Week either begins when this leader makes an agreement with the government of Israel, or confirms and gives his support to an existing treaty and strengthens it. Either way, the overwhelming conclusion we must draw from this is that the Seventieth Week does not begin with the rapture as so many falsely believe.

Who is the restrainer?

Although many pre-tribulationists falsely believe that the Seventieth Week of Israel begins with the rapture, they do believe that the antimessiah/antichrist will be involved in making some kind of agreement with the secular government of Israel. But they also say that this agreement can only be made after a “restrainer,” or one who holds back, is removed, which according to their logic occurs at the rapture. Only at this time can the man of lawlessness be revealed. This is based on 2 Thessalonians 2:6-7:

“And you know what restrains him now, so that in his time he will be revealed. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way.”

This restrainer is commonly interpreted by pre-tribulationists to be the Holy Spirit. In fact, the NKJV actually capitalizes the “He” in 2 Thessalonians 2:7, implying that the “He” is Divine and is a part of the Godhead. It is only when the Holy Spirit, they say, is removed via the rapture of the Church it indwells, that the Tribulation period can begin and the antimessiah can be revealed—supposedly as it is the Holy Spirit resident in the saints that is restraining Satan from taking control of the world.

We find fault with this interpretation, primarily because the Book of Revelation speaks quite prominently of the Tribulation saints. These born again Believers without any doubt must have the Holy Spirit to have salvation! If the Holy Spirit is removed from Earth at this time, then there can be no Tribulation saints, for a true Believer must be regenerated by the Holy Spirit. Those who would say that the Holy Spirit is removed for a short time, and then “returns immediately,” have no Scriptural support for their opinion.

The problem here lies in what the restrainer is. Who or what is presently holding back the full force of evil from being unleashed upon this planet? The restraining influence by no means has to be the Holy Spirit. Douglas J. Moo summarizes, “whatever one’s view, it is improper to base very much on a text that is so notoriously obscure—the verb katecw [katechō] can be translated ‘hold back’ or ‘hold fast,’ ‘occupy,’ and has been understood as signifying Rome/the emperor, civil government, God and His power, Michael the archangel, the preaching of the Gospel/Paul, Satan, general evil forces, a combination of benevolent forces, the Jewish state, and James, or a mythic symbol with no particular content.”[8] We quote Moo here to indicate that there are alternative viewpoints to believing that the restraining influence is something other than the Holy Spirit. The able expositor should be able to decide which one is accurate, based on a comparison of parallel Scriptures.

Daniel 12:1 tells us, “Now at that time Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people, will arise. And there will be a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time; and at that time your people, everyone who is found written in the book, will be rescued.” This verse speaks of the Archangel Michael arising, and afterward a great time of “trouble” or “distress” taking place. The Hebrew noun is tzarah (hrc), rendered in the LXX as thlipsis (qliyiß), the same word generally rendered in the Apostolic Scriptures as “tribulation.” After Michael “arises,” a time of Great Tribulation will befall God’s people.

What is interesting about Daniel 12:1 is the context of this standing up by Michael. The verb amad (dm[), “take one’s stand, stand,” appears in the Qal stem (simple action, active voice), and can fully mean “stand, be in a standing attitude,” or possibly even, “take a stand against…in opposition to” (BDB).[9] If the context of this verse has military implications, or at least implications regarding spiritual warfare, then when we examine Revelation 12:7-9, we see the position of the Archangel Michael actually being the restrainer validated:

“And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war, and they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.”

The rising or standing up that occurs in Daniel 12:1 is the Archangel Michael making a military stand in Heaven against Satan and his forces. We are told that when Satan is cast out, “For this reason, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them. Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time” (Revelation 12:12). Both this, and the latter half of Daniel 12:1, are all too reminiscent of Yeshua’s words in Matthew 24:21: “For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again” (NIV).

Many Christian post-tribulationists have discussed the reality that Michael is the restrainer. Unfortunately they have had no way to counter the reality that he is “the great prince who champions your people” (Daniel 12:1, CJB), amekha (^M[) being Israel. Pre-tribulationists have said that Michael cannot be the restrainer because of the fact that he is not guarding “the Church,” but only the Jews, and post-tribulationists have had to resort to replacement theology to provide a counter-answer.

We have the only viable solution to this problem. The Archangel Michael is not the guardian of “the Church” because “the Church” as a group of elect separate from Israel does not exist. All Believers, be they Jewish or non-Jewish, are a part of the Commonwealth of Israel (Ephesians 2:11-12; 3:6). The Lord is in the process today of restoring all Israel. Presently, it is the Archangel Michael who is withholding Satan from unleashing the full force of evil upon us and upon this world—not the Holy Spirit.

The Seventieth Week of the Messiah?

There has been a particular interpretation of Daniel 9:25-27 circulating among many Christians, and to our deep concern, among some Messianic Believers as well. This interpretation claims that it is not the antimessiah/antichrist who makes or confirms the “covenant with many,” but rather that it is actually Yeshua the Messiah. A careful reading of the Biblical text will show this interpretation to be flawed and possibly supportive of antinomianism. Let us now carefully review these verses again.

To set the stage, Daniel 9:25-26 tells us “you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of distress. Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined.”

As we have already stated, the occurrence of the first seven weeks and then the sixty-two weeks took place from the decree issued to Nehemiah that the Temple in Jerusalem was to be rebuilt to the point of Yeshua’s “cutting off.” This cutting off (Heb. karat, trK) was His crucifixion and death. After this, we are told that “The people of a prince yet to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary” (Daniel 9:26, CJB).

Based on the Scriptures we have examined, it is important that we recognize that the prince who is to come in the future is not the Messiah. There is a difference in the text between Mashiach nagid (dygn xyvm) and am nagid ha’ba (aBh dygn ~[), the latter being of concern to the Last Days scenario. This second prince is a descendant of the Romans who destroyed Jerusalem in 70 C.E., a destruction that took place after the Messiah’s being “cut off.” It is not the Messiah that makes or confirms the covenant in Daniel 9:27, but it is this other leader, for “He will make a strong covenant with leaders for one week of years” (CJB).

The alternative view held by some today is that the Messiah confirmed “the covenant” through His ministry on Earth. Because Yeshua’s ministry lasted roughly three-and-a-half years, it is said that the first half of the Seventieth Week has already occurred. All that remains now is a three-and-a-half year Great Tribulation where the Holy Spirit will be poured out incredibly upon Believers so they can perform miracles, perhaps greater than He did.

Although we will not deny the admonitions in Scripture of the Holy Spirit being poured out on the saints in the Last Days (Joel 2:28-29; Acts 2:17-18), Yeshua warns us very strongly that “False messiahs and false prophets will appear and produce signs and omens, to lead astray, if possible, the elect” (Mark 13:22, NRSV; cf. Matthew 24:24). Adherents of this interpretation, some of whom are found in charismatic or Pentecostal-type arenas, are usually led more by their emotions of wanting to see “the Spirit poured out,” rather than rationally and realistically exegeting the Scriptural text. There can be a danger in wanting to see “the Spirit poured out” that can cause misinterpretations.

In addition to not accepting this interpretation because the “he” of Daniel 9:26-27 is the prince of the people who destroyed Jerusalem (the Romans), we as Messianics must not accept it even more so on the basis of what Yeshua’s “cutting off” is believed to involve beyond His atoning sacrifice. As it is commonly asserted that it is Yeshua who confirmed “the covenant,” likewise He is the One who will put “a stop to sacrifice and grain offering” (Daniel 9:27b). According to most adherents we have encountered, who are in mainstream Christianity, this means that He terminated all the functions of the Torah or the Law of Moses from the animal sacrifices to the Sabbath to the Biblical holidays to the dietary requirements. This, as should be obvious, is a position that we, as Torah obedient followers of the Lord, must take issue with.

If we accept the interpretation that Yeshua is the only prince spoken of in Daniel 9:26-27, then who are the people that destroyed Jerusalem in 70 C.E.? Adherents of this view can run into a serious problem here. The pagan people who destroyed Jerusalem were the Romans who had no regard for the God of Israel and who were not “Yeshua the Prince’s people.” More notably, the Messiah Himself tells us to look for the Abomination of Desolation in Matthew 24:15-21. If we follow through, are we to assume that He, Yeshua, is the One who commits it in Daniel 9:27? If there is only one prince spoken of in Daniel 9:25-27, then “on the wing of abominations” Yeshua could be “one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate” (Daniel 9:27c-d).

If we accept the belief that it was the Messiah who confirmed the covenant of Daniel 9:27, then the logical end is that we also dispense with the Torah, as have many proponents of this interpretation. Reading the verse, we could also conclude that it is Yeshua who commits the Abomination of Desolation, and not the antimessiah. I think we can agree that in order to give Daniel 9:25-27 its fair due, we have to recognize that both the Messiah and the coming antimessiah are spoken of.

The Messiah’s words in Matthew 5:17-19 are clear that the authority of the Torah stands until Heaven and Earth pass away. His sacrifice on the cross has atoned for the penalties of human sin (Colossians 2:14), but did not take away the high standard of God. We also need to recognize how animal sacrifices will, in fact, be occurring in the Millennial Kingdom (Ezekiel chs. 40-44), so it is impossible that He has terminated the significance of these ordinances. The sacrifice of Yeshua is certainly vastly superior to the animal sacrifices of the Temple (Hebrews 10:11-14), but the Book of Acts is clear that the Apostles continued to participate in the Temple service as long as the Temple stood. They would have understood the animal sacrifices as a memorial of the Messiah’s final sacrifice, just as the animal sacrifices occurring in the Millennial Temple will be under Yeshua’s own supervision.[10] It is obvious here that it is the antichrist who stops the sacrifices during the middle of the Seventieth Week, not the Messiah.

The assertion that there is a “Seventieth Week of Messiah” is misguided and as Messianic Believers we should not accept it—unless we are prepared to actually conclude that Yeshua the Messiah commits the Abomination of Desolation.

The Seventieth Week of the Antimessiah?

Among many who study prophecy is also the unfortunate assumption that the Seventieth Week of Israel is solely a time period where Satan can have his due persecuting the saints beyond end. Although we are certainly told in the Scriptures that there is a coming world leader, the antimessiah/antichrist, and that “It was also given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them, and authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation was given to him” (Revelation 13:7), it is not accurate to assume that the ultimate purpose of the Tribulation period is to see Satan’s kingdom established on Earth.

We are told by the Apostle Paul that at His appearing “the Lord will slay” the antichrist “with the breath of His mouth and bring [him] to an end by the appearance of His coming” (2 Thessalonians 2:8). We know the story all to well from Revelation 19:20: “And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone.”

We are warned by the Apostle John, “Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour” (1 John 2:18). We are to be aware of the coming man of lawlessness, but the ultimate purpose of the Seventieth Week of Israel is not to see Satan establish his kingdom on this Earth, as he only has “a short time[11]” (Revelation 12:12). While the beast will be able to function in a global reign of horror, it is not long at all. The assumption that the Tribulation period is “the Seventieth Week of the Antimessiah” is misguided, even though too many people accept it because they are influenced by tactics of fear (cf. 2 Timothy 1:7).

Judah and Ephraim and the Tribulation

The Seventieth Week of Israel is a time period for “the people of Judah and Jerusalem and all Israel, both near and far, in all the countries where you have scattered us because of our unfaithfulness to you” (Daniel 9:7, TNIV). It is the time when Judah and scattered Israel/Ephraim, and all members of the Commonwealth of Israel from the great masses of humanity, are to be restored together as one. Considering that both Houses of Israel are referred to by Daniel, it would not be far-fetched at all to refer to the Tribulation period as the Seventieth Week of Judah and Ephraim.

The restoration of the Kingdom to Israel is ultimately the purpose of the Seventieth Week of Israel. Daniel 9:24 tells us that the purpose of the seventy weeks is “to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy place.” These things will all be in place when it is all over. It speaks of the Kingdom being restored to Israel with Yeshua reigning as King of Kings.

In our day the Lord is restoring the whole House of Israel in Messiah Yeshua. When the Seventieth Week of Israel is concluded, we will see everlasting righteousness and everlasting peace. When the two sticks of Judah and Ephraim, and their companions, are united, we are told that “They will live on the land that I gave to Jacob My servant, in which your fathers lived; and they will live on it, they, and their sons and their sons' sons, forever; and David My servant will be their prince forever. I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant with them. And I will place them and multiply them, and will set My sanctuary in their midst forever” (Ezekiel 37:25-26). This is a clear reference to Yeshua’s Millennial Kingdom and the end-result of the Seventieth Week of Israel.

Although there are many horrors spoken of in Scripture concerning the Seventieth Week of Israel or Tribulation period, and they must occur for the world to see the true judgment of God, the Tribulation is not something that we as Believers must fear. The end result will be the restoration of the Kingdom to Israel as the Disciples asked Yeshua in Acts 1:6. Yeshua will return, He will defeat His enemies, and He will reign from Jerusalem. As Believers, we will receive glorified bodies like His, we will meet Him in the clouds, and we will rule with Him. This must be our eschatological hope. The events of the Seventieth Week of Israel pertaining to the antimessiah/antichrist and his temporary 42-month reign (Revelation 13:5) should not frighten us—but at the same time we should have genuine concern and not be expecting “easy times” ahead.

I am of the strong personal conviction that many of the commonly discussed and debated Tribulation events have not yet occurred, because the Two Houses of Israel have not yet fully come together in fulfillment of Biblical prophecy. Surely, as we see the events of Daniel 9:27 looming as things in the Middle East and Land of Israel become uncertain, we must begin to seriously speculate on the involvement of all Israel—Judah and scattered Israel/Ephraim and their companions—in prophecy.

Unlike the Ancient Israelites of the Exodus from Egypt, who only knew they were headed to the Promised Land, the Lord has seen fit to preserve the Holy Scriptures and important prophecies for us. This is because the Seventieth Week of Israel is not only about seeing the Kingdom restored—it is about His people accomplishing the objective of spreading the good news of salvation to the world. It is safe to say that we as Believers will not be able to act effectively without some knowledge of the time period ahead. We have the responsibility to examine some seriously overlooked phenomena in relation to the end-times that are being brought to the forefront through today’s Messianic movement.

J.K. McKee (B.A., University of Oklahoma; M.A., Asbury Theological Seminary) is the editor of TNN Online (www.tnnonline.net) and is a Messianic apologist. He is author of several books, including: The New Testament Validates Torah, Torah In the Balance, Volume I, and When Will the Messiah Return?. He has also written many articles on the Two Houses of Israel and Biblical theology, and is presently focusing on Messianic commentaries on various books of the Bible.

NOTES

edited for spelling/grammar; minor theological fine tuning
04 October, 2006

edited edition from paperback When Will the Messiah Return?
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