puritan lad wrote:
Daniel 9 makes no mention of antichrist or a millennial kingdom. And if it hasn't been completed yet, then Daniel was a false prophet, since the 490 years have already passed. It was Christ who comfirmed the covenant with many (Matthew 26:28), identified the Abomination of Desolation as the Destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans (Compare Matthew 24:15-21 with Luke 21:20-24), and is the prince who "came shall destroy the city and the sanctuary". Therefore, since Daniel 9 has been fulfilled, then vision and prophecy has been sealed up.
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1harpazo,
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As for Daniel 9, Christ did decree the end of sacrifice near the very end of His earthly ministry, until the destruction was complete.
"I believe that we've drifted off the original topic-that of avoiding division in the body of Christ concerning the gifts of Holy Spirit and I'd kinda like to get back to that."
True, but they are related. Even you agreed that:
Prophecy will cease at the end of the seventy weeks of years, but has the seventy weeks been completed?
Therefore, the completeness of Daniel's 70 week prophecy is an important issue in dealing with the question of prophecy today.
You're right-the completeness of Daniel's 70th week is an important issue. So I'd like to address it here.
The antichrist is mentioned in Daniel 9 and it absolutely cannot be Jesus Christ who made "a firm covenant with the many for one week...".
First about Jesus Christ...Dan 9:25-26 "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. 26 "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."NASU
The prophecy is a total of 70 weeks (of years) decreed for Israel, but at the end of the 69th week (7 weeks + 62 weeks) the Messiah
the Prince will be (was) cut off and have (has) nothing. "The Prince" is from the Hebrew "nagid" (Strong's OT:5055: KJV - captain, chief, excellent thing, (chief) governor, leader, noble, prince, (chief) ruler.
(Biblesoft's New Exhaustive Strong's Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary). It implies a king. Israel rejected their kingly Messiah when He rode into Jerusalem on the donkey (Luke 19:41,42). He was cut off and had no kingdom. In the prophecy, there is no institution of His kingdom. His kingdom is still yet future. You said that there is no millennial kingdom in Daniel 9 and that I agree with.
You said,"Christ...is the prince who "came shall destroy the city and the sanctuary". Actually that is not correct. The prophecy states, "...and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary." Really, it is
the people of the prince who is to come
will destroy the city and the sanctuary. If Jesus is that "prince" then the Jews destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple mount?
Jesus put an end to sacrifice when He gave Himself up to be the ultimate sacrifice on the cross and the veil covering the Holy of Holies was rent top to bottom. If the covenant in Daniel 9:27 is the same covenant as in Matt 26:28, then Jesus would have had to end the sacrifice exactly 1260 days after He made the covenant-not on the day of His crucifixion or in 70 AD.
If the The Destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 AD is the Abomination of Desolation as spoken of by Daniel, the prophet (Matt 24:15), then the holy place (that was destroyed in 70 AD) should have been properly restored exactly 2300 days later.(Dan 8:13-14).
The 70-week prophecy is the explanation of the vision Daniel had in Daniel 8. Gabriel comes to give Daniel understanding of the vision that was before his supplications in Daniel 8 (Dan 9:22-23). In that vision, the little horn rises up out of the Grecian empire (the goat) (Dan 8:9, 21-22). The horn will exalt himself to be equal to the Commander of the host and oppose the Prince of princes(Dan 8:11, 26, 2Thes 2:3-4) and he will remove the regular sacrifice (Dan 8:11, 9:27). He will destroy the place of the Commander's sanctuary (Dan 8:11, 9:27). He will commit the "transgression that causes horror", the Abomination of Desolation (Dan 8:13, 9:27, Matt 24:15). He will be broken without human agency (Dan 8:25, 9:27, 11:45, 2Thes 2:8). He will be extremely shrewd and deceptive (Dan 8:25, 2Thes 2:9-10).
Remember, we are to accept what the prophet says as literal and every part of the prophecy must come to pass just as in Acts 2:17-21. So if the 490 years are now history, Jesus abolished the sacrifice exactly 1260 days after the Last Supper and the Jews destroyed their beloved city of Jerusalem and the House of G-d in 70 AD and transgression is finished, sin is ended, iniquity has been atoned for, everlasting righteousness is here, vision and prophecy are sealed up and the most holy place was properly restored and anointed exactly 2300 days after it was destroyed by the Jews in 70 AD. None of these events have happened.
The alternative is the 70th week of Daniel is yet future, the antichrist who is yet to come will confirm a treaty with the many (nations and Israel) for one week (7 years or 2520 days) and 1260 days into that week, he will cause the Abomination of Desolation that Jesus referred to in Matt 24:15. He will deceive many with destructive, heretical doctrines, but he cannot deceive us (the Christians, the elect) (Matt 24:24) because we have the love of the truth so as to be saved (2Thes 2:10) and our names are written in the Lamb's book of life (Rev 13:8). The AC will be slain by the breath of the Lord when He comes back the first and only time to earth and every eye will see Him at his great and glorious coming. The most holy place is still in ruins and has yet to be properly restored and anointed.
Unfortunately, I for one can attest that transgression, sin and iniquity are still here because I haven't been perfected yet, and everlasting righteousness is still seated in heaven. Vision and prophecy are not sealed up. This allows that the prophecy quoted by Peter in Acts 2:17-21 still has future fulfillment-"And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men (me-semi) shall dream dreams; even upon My bondslaves, both men and women, I will in those days (still happening) pour forth of My Spirit and they shall prophesy." (vs. 17,18).
Even so come Lord Jesus!