Seventy Weeks Prophecy of Daniel Nine
Central to the church’s awareness of their place in history, is the seventy weeks (490 year) prophecy of the biblical book of Daniel, chapter nine, and its intertwined relation to the ancient fifty-year cycle of the Hebrew jubilees. When these are joined to the seemingly enigmatic prophecies of certain Dead Sea Scroll parchments, a three-dimensional picture emerges, indicating a timeline convergence terminating on October 31, 2007.
In the year 1993, the church of The Lord Our Righteousness encountered a prophecy recorded in the Dead Sea Scrolls that is referred to as the Melchizedek Text. The heart and substance of this prophecy is focused on the jubilee cycle of the Hebrew economy.
In the antiquated seasons of Old Testament Israel’s religious celebrations there is a peculiar system of dividing and reckoning time periods, which upon close scrutiny seem to carry a much greater intent (and portent) than simply parceling out the times of sacred festivals.
The Jubilees were originally established in the biblical book of Leviticus, as seven blocks of time comprised of seven “weeks of years” each. For instance, seven years, times seven, or forty-nine years, with the fiftieth year being a jubilee—which also marks the first year of the next cycle, or “seven weeks of years” and so on. These in turn are incorporated into larger blocks of time constituting ten jubilee cycles, or 490 years. [See Lev. 25]
In and around each Jubilee year were several things that took place, and commandments to be adhered to. It was during this time that slaves—indentured servants—were to be released to return to their families, all debts were to be forgiven and property returned to original ownership and status. However there has always been, in Jewish antiquity, the belief that the Jubilee cycles carried with them much deeper and more profound meanings than merely theocratic ordinances governing social standards and behavior. This is especially true of the larger time periods of 490 years (a block of ten jubilees) set forth in Jewish Scripture.
During the time of the prophet Daniel, Israel was captive to the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar and his successors, having been uprooted from their homeland and forcibly relocated to Babylon (in modern-day Iraq). The ninth chapter of the Book of Daniel, even though the term “jubilee” is not mentioned there, presents a very long-range prophecy based on one of these 490-year blocks of ten jubilees. Following the outline of predicted events to take place in that timeline, which was given Daniel by the angel Gabriel, the time the prophecy was to begin is also revealed—that moment when the end-time prophetic clock starts to tick. [See Daniel 9:24]
Connected with Daniel’s prophecy, but not concurrent with it, the Melchizedek Text refers to a final jubilee that is to occur after nine preceding jubilees. At that time, the text states that the people who have cast their lot with the cause of righteousness were to achieve forgiveness for their sins, and return, by way of an everlasting covenant, to their patrimony, which is the Lord himself. However, the enigma presented by the Melchizedek Text is that there is no time marker delineating when it actually begins.
The “ticking” of Daniel’s prophetic clock began when the Persian King Artaxerxes Longiminus (Babylon having fallen to the Medo-Persian Empire) issued the command that certain Jews were to journey back to their homeland for the expressed purpose of rebuilding their holy city, Jerusalem. The prophecy’s termination was to result in the coming and “cutting off” of the Jews much-anticipated Messiah.
At the time that decree was pronounced, the prophecy determined that sixty-nine “weeks of years” later (483 of the 490 years), would find the coming of “Messiah the Prince.” Messiah in Hebrew means anointed and it became a patent fulfillment of that prophecy, when, by historical records, exactly 483 years after the Persian monarch issued that command, Jesus of Nazareth was anointed Messiah at his baptism in the Jordan River. At that time, according to all four Gospels of the New Testament, a shape or form “like a dove”—a universally accepted biblical symbol of the Holy Spirit—lighted upon him, indicating his mission—or Messiahship—had been anointed by that Spirit. It was at that time that Jesus proclaimed that ”The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand.” Mark 1:15
In succeeding verses of the Daniel prophecy it is revealed that in the middle (the end of the first three-and-a-half years) of that Messianic week of years, “shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself.” What then does “cut off” mean? Three-and-a-half years after he was anointed Messiah, Jesus, at the demand of the leading Jews of the nation and their mob, was executed on a Roman cross. One cannot, it seems, be much more effectively “cut off” than that. And he was cut off for the sake of others—“not for himself.”
The prophecy says:
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. 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. And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate. Daniel 9:24-27.
The definition of the Hebrew term shabua, that is translated “week(s)” in this prophecy, can refer to a seven-day period. However, according to Strong’s Hebrew lexicon, the word is specifically defined to mean a seven-year period. This application of the word can be seen in the interchange between the patriarch Jacob and Laban, over their agreement for Rachel, Laban’s daughter. “Fulfill her week, and we will give thee this also for the service which thou shalt serve with me yet seven other years.” Gen. 29:27.
Therefore, this time period of 70 weeks is clearly a total of 490 years, which is equal to 10 jubilees, precisely the same length of time mentioned in the Melchizedek Text. However, as has been presented, Daniel’s prophecy provides a definite starting time: The decree to restore and build Jerusalem. In the first application of this time period, the aforementioned decree is documented in the biblical book of Ezra chapter 7:11-28. According to our present day calendar, this would be comparable to the year 457 BC which was confirmed, archaeologically, in 1879 by the discovery of the Cyrus Cylinder.
This particular prophecy is the only one in the entire Bible that addresses the timing of Messiah’s advent. As became evident, it not only revealed the chronology leading to Messiah’s appearing in Jesus of Nazareth, but also Messiah’s appearing in this final generation. However, one very important bit of information is not included in the 490-year Melchizedek prophecy: A time delimiter as to when its particular cycle was to begin.
Dr. Martin Luther and the Reformation
Around AD 476, following the “apostolic age” just after the time of Christ’s first appearing in Jesus of Nazareth, Christianity slid into a deep theological and moral declension—a period called the Dark Ages. During this time the Roman Catholic Church, having co-opted—or perhaps more accurately, coerced—the secular authority of national rulers, killed hundreds of thousands of martyrs for refusing to bow to its religious dogma. During this period the spiritual Christian church went underground—quite literally in many instances—to escape persecution and martyrdom.
Though the end of the Dark Ages has been established historically at about AD 1000, the spiritual Dark Ages continued well into the 16th Century. Its end came when a thirty-four-year-old Augustinian monk named Martin Luther, disenchanted with the Roman Catholic Church and its immoral practices of selling indulgences, nailed a document to the church’s chapel door in Wittenburg, Germany. That treatise, known as the Ninety-five Theses, was the ensign that began a civil/religious upheaval, the magnitude of which has never since been witnessed, and has virtually no analog in historical record, save the first advent of Christ.
Thus, by one of the most observably punctiliar moments in human history, began the Protestant Reformation.
Following the established principle of multiple prophetic applications, Michael Travesser transplants the Daniel prophecy forward 1,483 years, in the same manner as were Hosea’s words by Matthew. [See Hosea 11:1, Matt 2:15] Travesser applies its 490 year time span to this present age, establishing both the beginning and ending of the period, with the apparent temporal accuracy of a Swiss watch.
This current prophetic application came to Michael one morning when he was strongly impressed by the words “Go look up the 95 Theses.”
The following is excerpted from one of Travesser’s early writings in November of 2000, shortly after he and his followers moved to New Mexico:
Here I sit at my writing at almost 1:00 A.M. It was suggested to my mind earlier in the day to go back to the command to restore modern-day Jerusalem. That is, the command to restore the modern-day message of the Lord to its proper place, after being broken down for so many centuries by the works-oriented Catholic religion—the command, or decree, that all things would be brought to their rightful place, and that the faith of Jesus would be restored. The Voice that came to me was strangely insistent that I should look more deeply into the timing of this event. It was suggested by the heavenly messenger that I should look at the 95 Theses that Martin Luther nailed up at Wittenberg. I felt that this would be interesting to read, so I thought I would study into it in the morning. I went to sleep with this on my mind.
At 11:00 P.M. I awakened and was strongly impressed to check this out then, and not wait till morning. I was forced out of bed, as it were, by the very strength of the Spirit upon my soul. I could not wait till later. As I looked at the information presented, I was greatly blessed and strengthened to read: “Dr. Martin Luther, October 31, 1517.”
What he discovered was that the period of time starting when Luther inaugurated the Reformation, October 31, 1517, (analogous, Travesser claims, to the command in Daniel Nine to restore and build spiritual Jerusalem), until God completed Michael’s anointing as Messiah, was, to the day, precisely 483 years. This marked the exact beginning of the last “week of years”—the same precise time reference correlating in a perfect historical parallel to when Jesus began his earthly ministry. This time frame accurately overlays the ten-jubilee cycle of Daniel, and thus, according to Travesser, began that last week of years encompassing Messiah’s second advent, and his closing work in the 21st Century. This 483 years pointed directly to the year 2000, when Michael Travesser heard the words, “You are Messiah.” Then began the last seven years—the last “week” of years—which will end in the Fall of 2007.
In its midst, the prophecy in Daniel nine makes a sudden shift from the appearing of Messiah the Prince, to the people of the prince that shall come. It has recently been revealed to the people of Travesser that the coming of this Prince is fulfilled in the standing up of Michael described in the twelfth chapter of Daniel, and that they, as well as any on earth who receive Him, are the people of this Prince.
As was the appearing of the first Prince, so the appearing of the second follows the same 490-year timeline, only brought forward 1,483 years, along with the events associated with that time.
Click to enlarge.
The days of Nehemiah were fraught with intrigue and attempts to sabotage and halt the work of rebuilding the holy city, and so also the days of the Reformation had its adversaries who sought to overthrow the movement. The most notable of these being the Council of Trent, that took place during the first 49 years (7 weeks) of the prophecy. This was followed by the establishment of the Roman Catholic Inquisition that was intended to counter the Reformation in Rome and France.
Just as Jesus was baptized into his work as Messiah at the end of the 69th week, Michael entered his work on October 31, 2000 as the Archangel—the Son of God—that was to bring deliverance to the people of God. That deliverance has caused them, as stated in Daniel nine, to “destroy the city and the sanctuary” (the obviated, corrupt religious structure of present-day Christianity, and the sanctuary of the heart) as the prophecy foretold.
Prophetic writ continues to describe Michael’s work in still more detail. He was to confirm the covenant with many for one week. This seven year confirmation began, by Jewish calendar reckoning, on Pentecost, June 10, 2000 with the covenant of the “Marriage of the Lamb,” ending this past Pentecost, May 23, 2007. However, by the Christian calendar, it ended a full seven years later on June 10, 2007. This same covenant is the one mentioned in the Melchizedek Text that was to cause the people to return to their patrimony — the inheritance of God, or, a perfect marriage with God.
In the midst of the week, the middle of the last seven years of the prophecy, April 19, 2004, the sacrifice and oblation ceased, meaning that intercession (the intervention of Christ in limiting the effects to themselves of their evil) ceased for the nations of the earth. They would now be allowed to carry out their plans to subjugate the peoples of the world.
And he shall enter into a strong and firm covenant with the many for one week [seven years]. And in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and offering [intercession] to cease ... and upon the wing or pinnacle of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the full determined end is poured out on the desolator. Daniel 9:27
The “end” for all this is not yet written or revealed, but if historical/prophetic parallels are of any value, it would be well to consider what took place following the termination of the first 490-year prophecy. That time period concluded just three-and-half-years after the crucifixion of Christ, with the stoning of the apostle Steven. This act, signifying the final rejection of the Messiah by the Jewish nation, and the close of their national probation, occurred precisely at the end of the last week of years.
Then, approximately thirty-seven years later, less than a generation, the prophecy Jesus spoke against Jerusalem and its temple was fulfilled. In Matthew 24:2, he said “There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down” which was brought about when the Roman general, Titus, besieged the city and ultimately razed it to the ground—literally leaving “not one stone upon another.”
Extending this analogue into the present prophetic timeline, and viewing the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD as a prophetic type of the final desolation of the entire earth, those of Travesser expect a similar apocalyptic expression for the present age, tailored and shaped to bring a just retribution to a wicked world. The historical precedents have been established, and although specific events in the future are not known, what is known, is that the prophecy ends on October 31, 2007, and beyond that the Scriptures are ominously silent.
Update March 2, 2008:
If one considers the Jewish feasts, however, and the meaning of the Biblical seasons, October 31, 2007 marked the beginning of the year of judgment and the Jubilee year when the people of God return to their inheritance, which is God Himself. It is the 50th year of the last Jubilee cycle. Our seven years here, the time of the seven year covenant of Daniel 9:24, was the literal and final fulfillment of the seven-day Feast of Tabernacles, the “feast of temporary dwellings.” This time was what that feast had foreshadowed. Now we are in the time of “the eighth day"—Shemini Atzaret—the day after the Feast of Tabernacles, when God said, “Stay with Me one more day.” Now we are in the time that Shemini Atzaret foreshadowed, and Father has been saying to us, “Stay with Me one more year,” for the final Jubilee on this earth. It is the time of the “last trump.” In the Scriptures, it is “that day” when the final judgment of man is carried out.
The 70 weeks of years established the Marriage of the Lamb. It was the decree that Messiah would appear during the last seven years of the prophecy, and this has occurred with the appearing of Michael. God’s purposes are now set to complete themselves. December 15, 2007 marked the 1335, the day of blessing, the day when the Witnesses would stand upon their feet. The year (day) we are now in, will show the continued ascension of the people of God, and set in stark relief the degradation of the world and its system. We are seeing now that the fires are increasing between peoples. The Middle East and South America are seeing their pressures increase now. A great war is threatening all peoples. Even at this writing, the countries of Venezuala and Equador are dispatching soldiers to their borders with Colombia, proclaiming that war is possible. The pot is boiling over. The economy is degrading, the dollar losing its value. This trouble is especially visible during this time of the “last trump;” It is the judgment when God sweeps away the refuge of lies. The seven last plagues are all falling now, and the end of all things is at hand. This is a process, and that process is well underway.
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