The Long Night of the Seventieth Week

February 19, 2005 ©Homer Kizer

The visions of the prophet Daniel fueled the imaginations of Qumran's sons of light even though the visions were sealed and secret until the time of the end. These 1st Century BCE and CE sons of light anticipated the eschatology of 19th-Century CE biblical pundits who would have Satan and the Messiah wrestling as two schoolboys for the souls of humanity. Although separated by two millennia, the sons of light and believers in the advent of Christ accepted the premise that they were living in the last days, with part of their belief based on the so-called seventy week prophecy given to Daniel by the angel Gabriel.

Debates over when the endtime period begins or began usually involve the explications of a particular prophecy teacher. Acceptance of this teacher's prophetic understanding will cause, even in the face of insurmountable evidence, those convinced by the teacher to conclude that the time of the end has begun, with this period usually restricted to being a generation in length (from Matt 24:34). Thus, when Messiah doesn't come when the prophecy pundit said, elaborate explanations are concocted, explanations that stretch credibility beyond its bands of elasticity, leaving a new generation to follow other pundits, most of whom find Rome, or the Rome Empire, or Roman Church concealed somewhere in the visions of Daniel. That is the tip-off concerning whether the pundit has been divinely sent, for Rome is nowhere mentioned in the visions of Daniel. For a pundit to find Rome in these visions, the pundit must add to Scripture, thereby adding curses onto him or herself.

The visions of Daniel couldn't be understood in the 1st-Century BCE or CE; they couldn't be understood in 1843, or in 1870, or in 1914, or in 1927, '37, '47, or '57. Every prophetic understanding or reading from any period earlier than the time of the end is not of God, and is without merit. Therefore, either humanity entered the time of the end when typology was first used to show that Daniel's visions were sealed with their physical shadows (January 2002), the premise of this essay, or these visions remained sealed and not understandable. And if humanity has entered the time of the end, even a vision that seems as straightforward as the seventy week prophecy needs to be reexamined.

Through typology and typological exegesis the visions of Daniel have been unsealed. These visions were sealed with their shadows; i.e., through physical phenomena seeming to fulfill the prophecies when the prophecies are about endtime phenomena that happen in the spiritual or heavenly realm. In all things, the physical precedes the spiritual (1 Cor 15:46), and the visible reveals the invisible (Rom 1:20). Thus, one visible, physical shadow, as spiritually lifeless as is a shadow of a breathing creature lifeless, reveals phenomenon that occur in the spiritual or heavenly realm, a realm or dimension that human beings cannot enter to make measurements or to take observations. But human beings can see darkly the events that happen in the heavenly realm through observing the shadows those events cast across the mental topography of humanity. These shadows cast from the heavenly realm activate or animate spiritually lifeless human beings, thereby causing these human beings to follow a course of action that has been historically preserved. Events that have been included in the Bible are those events that reveal what disciples need to know about phenomena in the spiritual realm. Events that have been excluded do not reveal heavenly phenomena that need to be known, or are not shadows of heavenly phenomena. Typology does not, however, teach that every activity of every human being results from an activity in the spiritual realm.

Because the shadows of heavenly phenomena cross from a timeless dimension onto the subconscious minds of human beings, the events are not time linked to their shadows as are shadows created within time. The exception is that when Satan is cast from heaven, he is linked to his shadow, the physical man of perdition who comes in the first half of seven endtime years of tribulation. This physical antichrist is time-linked to Satan coming as the true antiChrist in the second half of these seven endtime years through Satan being cast into time.

One physical shadow, such as Alexander defeating the Persian empire in a decade, reveals how the spiritual king of Greece will defeat the spiritual kings of Persia (these are the princes that withstood the angel bringing Daniel a word of knowledge for twenty-one days â€" Dan 10:13, 20) as rebellion occurs within the hierarchical structure of spiritual Babylon. However, one shadow reveals two realities when it is of the Son of Man, for the Son of Man has spiritual life in a physical body or tabernacle, then when glorified has this same life in a spiritual body. But these two realities are in essence the continuation of one event; one shadow. Thus, one physical shadow or antetype reveals a reality that is spirit in the physical realm, and the continuation of this reality as spirit in the spiritual or heavenly realm. The first man Adam was the spiritually lifeless shadow of Jesus as a physical human being, and of Jesus as a life-giving spirit, with the deep sleep coming over Adam the shadow of Jesus' three days in the heart of the earth. Therefore, the events recorded about the first Adam up to when Elohim caused a deep sleep to fall over Adam form the shadow of Jesus' earthly ministry, while the events beginning with the creation of Eve form the shadow the life-giving Jesus' ministry. Only the last Adam doesn't sin. Rather, He willingly takes the sin of a last Eve onto Himself so that she will not be cut off from God.

The physically circumcised nation of Israel, now, becomes the spiritually lifeless shadow or antetype of the spiritually circumcised nation of Israel when still dwelling in fleshly or physical tabernacles, and of the glorified nation of Israel that will have put on incorruptibility. Therefore, the booths or tabernacles in which the physically circumcised nation dwelt when in the Wilderness of Sin become the lifeless shadows of the physical bodies of every spiritually circumcised disciple, these bodies themselves spiritually lifeless, with their minds having been equally lifeless until the disciple was born-from-above through receipt of the Breath of God [Pneuma 'Agion] (2 Cor 5:1-4). This juxtaposition needs remembered. Tents that have no life, no breath form the shadows of the bodies of physically alive human beings. The physically circumcised Israelite that dwelt in one of these tents forms the shadow of the spiritually alive (i.e., born-from-above or spiritually circumcised) disciple, the Apostle Paul's new man that now dwells in the same tabernacle of flesh as did the spiritually lifeless old creature. Shadows by definition are lifeless and exist in one less dimension than the reality that creates the shadow.

The above visualization needs to be made to understand typology and typological exegesis. The houses of the physically circumcised nation in Egypt upon which the blood of the paschal lamb was smeared on doorposts and lintels were shadows of the fleshly bodies of born-from-above disciples. Likewise, the tents in which the physically circumcised nation dwelt in the Wilderness of Sin were shadows of the fleshly bodies of disciples. But after crossing the Jordan, the children of the nation that left Egypt acquired houses that they had not built. These uncircumcised childrenâ€"they were not circumcised until they crossed the Jordanâ€"form the shadow of the Apostle Paul's new man. And the houses that they had not built form the shadows of the born-from-above disciple putting on immortality, or incorruptible bodies, bodies that they have not built through eating milk and meat.

The physically circumcised nation that left Egypt is the shadow or representation of the self-aware mindset of the born-from-above person who lives in a body of flesh. The nation that left Egypt died in the wilderness because of unbelief. This nation represents both the self-aware mindset of the Apostle Paul's old man as well as the spiritually holy nation that will be liberated from bondage to sin. The uncircumcised children born in the wilderness and who dwelt in the tents of their parents now equates to the self-aware mindset of the Apostle Paul's new man, born of Spirit and holy through spiritual birth. Plus, these uncircumcised children represent the holy nation that will be born during the Tribulation when their figurative parents refuse to enter God's rest because of unbelief that becomes rebellion when they try to enter on the following day. So the physical body of every disciple serves as a tent for the child of God. And this tent isn't needed when a disciple finally enters God's rest, which is glorification. The disciple will receive a house he or she didn't build.

Therefore, the physically circumcised nation of Israel serves as the visible representation of invisible mindsets. A disciple can see how the Church appears to God through looking at the shadow cast by the collective of Believers that composes the Church. The visible apparition of these many invisible mindsets is the physically circumcised nation of Israel, and its history. Thus, the seventy weeks prophecy that begins with the decree to rebuild a house of God has an antetype fulfillment, which is reasonably well documented by many biblical scholars. It also has a type or spirit-in-flesh fulfillment that pertains to the spiritually circumcised nation rebuilding a house for God. And it will have a true or spirit-in-the-spiritual-realm fulfillment, with this fulfillment affecting human beings in a less structured way than casting a direct shadow.

Biblical prophecies are about physical nations within the boundaries of pre-Flood Edenâ€"Nebuchadnezzar's Babylon ruled the portion of the world bound by the geographical boundaries of pre-Flood Eden, and ruled all of the world (Dan 2:37-38). The spiritual king of Babylon (Isa 14:4-21), that old dragon that today still deceives the whole world (Rev 12:9), reigns over all sons of disobedience, among whom every disciple was once counted (Eph 2:2-3). Thus, the physical geography of Eden is the visible representation of the invisible mental topography of every son of Adam. And biblical prophecies about geographical nations and peoples apply to both the named lands and tribes, and also apply to portions of humanity's mental topography and to those spiritually circumcised descendants of Abraham who live in those mental landscapes.

Again, the visualization needs to be made: pre-Flood Eden, which stretched from Assyria in the northwest to beyond Egypt in the southeast, represents in a way that can be seen on a map the entirety of humanity's invisible mental topography. God planted a garden in the east of Edenâ€"in the area of Judeaâ€"and He planted the Tree of Life in the center of the garden. A person with a mindset visually represented by Egypt [sin] could not eat of the Tree of Life. Likewise, a person with a mindset visually represented by Assyria, or Babylon could not eat of this Tree. A person had to physically journey from the land of his or her nativity to the garden of God, and then journey to the center of this garden to eat of the Tree of Life. God created Adam outside this garden, then placed him in this garden. But merely being in the garden wasn't sufficient to obtain Life. Living is Judea isn't enough. A person still had to eat of this Tree, which Adam did not do before he and Eve were driven from the garden. And no person ate this fruit until the second Adam ate of the Tree of Life although a few individuals qualified to do so by journeying to the promised land and dwelling there as Abraham did. Thus, the journey from death to life is the journey from the land of a person's nativity to Judea, where the person will now live as a holy Judean and not as a Gentile. A Judean who does not keep the laws and commandments of God, and who profanes His Sabbaths will not eat of the Tree of Life, but will receive from God statutes by which he or she cannot live (Ezek 20:25-26). A Judean who does keep the laws and Sabbaths of God has only to profess the Jesus is Lord and believe that God raised Him from the dead to be saved (Rom 10:9), and this Judean will have eaten from the Tree.

In the first year of Darius the Mede, the man Daniel, reading the word of the Lord given to the prophet Jeremiah concerning the seventy years of Jerusalem's desolations, turned his face to God and sought him by prayer and in sackcloth, making confession to God about the sinfulness of Israel. While he was still praying, confessing his sin and the sins of Israel, the angel Gabriel, whom Daniel had previously seen in vision, came to Daniel at the time of the evening sacrifice. Gabriel came to give Daniel insight and understanding (Dan 9:22). He said, â€˜"Seventy weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place'" (v. 24). Gabriel said that seventy weeks were decreed to (1) finish the transgression, (2) put an end to sin, (3) atone for iniquity, (4) bring in everlasting righteousness, (5) seal both vision and prophet, and (6) anoint a most holy place. All of these six things pertain to Israel and Jerusalem, and they will occur by the end of the seventieth week. And one of the six things were, â€˜"Seventy weeks are decreedâ€to seal both vision and prophet.'" Thus, the vision, which seems straightforward, will not be unsealed until the seventieth week.

The unsealing of the vision begins with understanding that the evening sacrifice wasn't at the end of the day, but at the beginning. Darkness precedes light. Likewise, spiritual darkness precedes the revealing of the Son of Man. The toppling of spiritual Babylon, the kingdom of disobedience to which all humanity has been consigned (Rom 11:32), ends spiritual darkness. And all of Daniel's visions form one story or narrative, that of the hierarchical kingdom of spiritual Babylon, headed by that old dragon Satan himself, being replaced by the hierarchical kingdom of the Son of Man, headed by Christ Jesus. The reign of the Son of Man puts an end to sin and brings in everlasting righteousness. But the endtime transition period from Babylon to the Son of Man requires that the saints live seven years without sin, and without the covering of grace. For the first three and half years of these seven endtime years, the saints will be delivered into the hand of the man of perdition (Dan 7:25), the lawless one who comes by the working of Satan (2 Thess 2:3-10). And this man of perdition will wear out the saints. He will cause a great rebellion within the spiritually circumcised descendants of Abraham, and will cause many to attempt to enter God's rest on the following day. The shadow of this great rebellion is the physically circumcised nation of Israel believing the evil report of the ten spies, and not believing the two witnesses Joshua and Caleb, then transforming their unbelief into disobedience by trying to enter the promised land on the following day (Num 14:11, 35, 40-41 & Ps 95:10-11).

Even after the spiritually circumcised descendants of Abraham are liberated from sin, most of this holy nation returns to sin 2300 days before Christ returns, the meaning of the daily being taken away and a host being given over because of transgression. This return to sin will be the firstborn son of the last Eve trying to enter God's rest on the following day, Sunday rather than on the Sabbath. Thus, the seventieth week cannot end until the kingdom of the world becomes the kingdom of the Most High and of His Christ (Rev 11:15 & Dan 7:9-14), and until the sanctuary is restored to its rightful state (Dan 8:14). These two events are separated by a time, times and half a time (Rev 12:14).

The seventieth week cannot end earlier than when Israel is liberated from bondage to sin that today still dwells in the flesh of each disciple (Rom 7:25). This liberation from sin begins the seven, endtime years of tribulation. But liberation from sin and death for the majority of humanity doesn't come until halfway through these seven endtime years, doesn't come until the Holy Spirit is poured out on all flesh (Joel 2:28), thereby changing even the nature of the great predators (Isa 11:6-9). And the anointing of a holy place does not occur until Christ's actual return at the end of these seven endtime years.

The seventy weeks prophecy will have an antetype or shadow fulfillment that began with Artaxerxes' decree in 457 BCE to rebuild the temple. In this fulfillment, a day equals a year, so the sixty-ninth week ends after 483 years, ends in 27 CE, when Jesus began His physical ministry. During the seventieth week, a day also equals a year, but this week has the insertion of a long spiritual night, a night of watching, the night when the paschal lamb was roasted with fire and eaten while the physically circumcised nation awaited liberation from bondage to Pharaoh. In this case, the spiritual night began at Calvary and the darkness continues forward until the kingdom of the world becomes the kingdom of the Father and of the Son. One night! Not many nights, or days, or many years. And at the midnight hour of this long spiritual night, the firstborn of spiritual Babylon will be ransomed for the liberation of the spiritually circumcised nation that wasn't created until the glorified Jesus breathed on ten of His disciples and said, Receive the Holy Spirit (John 20:22). This liberation will be from sin or lawlessness, sin being defined as lawlessness (1 John 3:4). The visual representation of sin is Egypt, with Pharaoh being the antetype of the spiritual king of the South. So this long spiritual night doesn't end with the liberation of the spiritually circumcised nation, for this spiritually holy nation is the spirit-in-flesh reality foreshadowed by the physically holy nation that left Egypt. Except for Joshua and Caleb, the nation that left Egypt doesn't enter God's rest, but dies in the Wilderness of Sin. Likewise, except for a spiritual Joshua [the reality of seven named churches in Revelation, or seven pairs of clean animals that entered the Ark] and a spiritual Caleb [one pair of every ceremonially unclean species or denominations of Christendom], none of the greater Christian Church that begins the seven endtime years of tribulation will symbolically cross the Jordan to spiritually and physically live into the second half of the seven endtime years.

Three baptisms: by water [i.e., the Flood of Noah's day], by Spirit [the outpouring of the Holy Spirit prophesied by Joel], and by fire [the passing away of the first earth â€" Rev 21:1). These three baptisms are represented in every person's life; thus, every person becomes a representation of the overall plan that God has for humanity. Baptism by water is immersion into death, whether actual or symbolic depends upon when God the Father draws the person (John 6:44, 65). John's baptism by water is for repentance from sin, for paying the death penalty for past sins. Jesus at Calvary paid this death penalty for all of Israel, so for disciples, baptism is into judgment, which is today on the household of God (1 Pet 4:17). Judgment follows death (Heb 9:27). So for the born-from-above disciple, baptism is into the death of the old man, crucified with Christ Jesus. But crucifixion kills slowly, kills by suffocation, so the old man or self doesn't immediately die at baptism, but hangs around for a while to usually cause the new creature born-from-above considerable grief.

Jesus will baptize the world with Spirit and with fire (Matt 3:11). When the kingdom of the world becomes the kingdom of the Father and Son, Christ Jesus will immerse the world in Spirit in a manner foreshadowed by how the 120 gathered on Pentecost were visibly empowered or filled with the Breath of God [Pneuma 'Agion] (Acts chptr 2). However, Jesus' disciples didn't receive the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. Ten of His disciples had received the Breath of God when Jesus created the last Eve by breathing on these ten disciples. On the evening following His Ascension, Jesus gave birth to the last Eve at an hour representative of when Elohim presented the first Eve to the first Adam following Adam's deep sleep.

Until Jesus baptizes the world in Spirit, spiritual darkness remains, with individual disciples standing as candles against this thick darkness. The light cast by disciples cannot be hid, for night exists, the long night that began at Calvary (John 12:35-36). And disciples have not yet reached the midnight hour of this long night of watchingâ€the last Eve will give birth to the spiritual firstborn son when the lives of men are paid as ransom for the liberation from sin of the spiritually circumcised descendants of Abraham. The prophet Isaiah quotes God, â€˜"Before she was in labor she gave birth; before her pain came upon her she delivered a sonâ€[f]or as soon as Zion was in labor she brought forth her children'" (Isa 66:7-8). The passing of the death angels throughout all of spiritual Babylon at the midnight hour of the long spiritual night that began at Calvary is the hard labor pain of the last Eve bringing forth her spiritual firstborn son. This last Eve will say, â€˜"I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord'" (Gen 4:1). Then she will bear his Sabbath-observing brother Abel, who will be slain by the firstborn son in the darkness of the last hours of this long spiritual night.

The problem with prophecy is what is revealed. The great falling away of the Christian Church is the firstborn son of the last Eve succumbing to the sin crouching at his door (Gen 4:7). This spiritual Cain would have been accepted by God if he had done well, meaning if he had kept the laws of God written on his heart and mind. The sin that dwelt in his flesh and which he never mentally fought againstâ€"because he had been taught that the laws of God were done awayâ€"overpowers the new man, who when liberated from bondage to sin has the power to walk uprightly before God. But this spiritual Cain resents his righteous brother, who is accepted by God and who has practiced walking uprightly through keeping the commandments, all of them. And this spiritual Cain murders his brother.

The great falling away will have the firstborn son of the last Eve trying to enter God's rest on the following day, thereby spiritually slaying himself through God sending a great delusion over this son so that he cannot repent (2 Thess 2:11-12). This spiritual Cain then slays his righteous brother, leaving the first son spiritually dead and the second son physically dead. Thus, the last Eve will bear a third son, a spiritual Seth who, if he endures to the end, shall be saved (Matt 24:13). She will bear this third son when the Holy Spirit is poured out upon all flesh, when Satan is cast from heaven, when the kingdom of the world becomes the kingdom of the Father and of the Son. God has beforehand determined that He will accept this son if he merely endures to the endâ€"it is this born-from-above, spiritual Seth who will initially people Christ Jesus' millennial reign. And dawn will have come with the baptism of the world by Spirit. This spiritual twilight breaks the darkness of the long night.

The long spiritual night is over when the kingdom of the world becomes the kingdom of the Father and of the Son. This long night ends halfway through seven endtime years of tribulation. Thus, the seventieth week resumes its year for a day count halfway through the Tribulation. The seventieth week ends with the return of Christ Jesus. The second half of the seventieth week has Jesus ministering from the heavenly realm as He ministered in the physical realm for the first half of this seventieth week.

In the physical fulfillment of the seventy weeks prophecy, the prince that comes after seven weeks is not well addressed, for this prince would have come in 408 BCE. However, the spirit-in-flesh fulfillment does better at incorporating this prince as an integral aspect of the prophecy.

With very few exceptions, the physically circumcised nation that returned from Babylonian captivity was spiritually lifeless, especially beyond Ezra's generation. Under the second covenant mediated by Moses (Deu chptrs 29-31), spiritual circumcision was available to Israel if the nation (or person) turned to God while in a distant land, and began to keep God's laws and commandments with all of the nation's (or person's) heart and mind. God would bring the nation back to Judea. And Daniel's prayer recorded in chapter nine was such a turning to God, which God honored by bringing a remnant of Israel back to Judea.

Under the second covenant mediated by Moses, spiritual circumcision was available to Israel only after demonstrated obedience to God. But when the mediator of the second covenant changed, better promises were added, with one of those better promises being spiritual circumcision [i.e., receipt of the Holy Spirit] given prior to obedience. Thus, Grace was needed to cover this spiritually circumcised disciple's disobedience as he or she learned to walk uprightly before God. Literally, the disciple daily puts on Christ's righteousness as if this righteousness were a garment with the brilliance of the sun (Rev 12:1). And this putting on of Christ's righteousness is the reality of the morning and evening sacrifices of the physically circumcised nation.

Again, the spiritually circumcised holy nation of God began when the glorified Jesus breathed on ten of His disciples. Then, when filled, as a husband fills his wife, with the Holy Spirit, this nation brought forth children, three thousand on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:41), the event that anticipates both the empowerment of the spiritually circumcised nation when liberated from sin at the beginning of the seven endtime year of tribulation, and the pouring out of the Holy Spirit on all flesh at the middle of these seven endtime years. The history, now, of this spiritually circumcised nation is anticipated by the history of the physically circumcised nation in Judea. And this spiritual nation divided into a northern and a southern house just as the physical nation had following Solomon's reign. The northern house had its capital at Ephesus, while the southern house had its capital at Alexandria. From the northern house came Arian Christianity, while from the southern house came Trinitarian Christianity. And these two houses or schools fought as did Samaria [the house of Israel] and Judah, with the last Arian army to prevail over Trinitarian armies being when the Vandals sacked Rome.

Because both houses of spiritual Israel did not keep the laws of God and profaned His Sabbaths, God sent both houses into spiritual captivity, with the southern house going to spiritual Babylon and the northern house all but disappearing into the flotsam of history.

The seventy weeks prophecy has a spirit-in-flesh fulfillment in which a day is also a year. After a period of desolation anticipated by the seventy years that physical Jerusalem was desolate, prayers for forgiveness of many saints were heard. God through the spiritual king of Persia/Babylon sent out a spiritual decree to rebuild the house of God for the spiritually circumcised holy nation. Unfortunately, disciples do not have the year when this order was issued referenced in their study Bibles. If they did, they would know the year of Christ's return. But an approximate time for when this decree was confirmed a third time (Ezra 6:14) can be determined through the invention of the printing press, the translation of Erasmus' Greek New Testament (1516) into the vulgar tongue by Tynsdale (1526) and Luther (1534), the elevation of justification by faith, the acceptance of the Bible as the only valid text for Christianity, and the idea that all Believers are priests in Christ Jesus. Thus, the effect of the spiritual decree to rebuild the spiritual house of God can be seen in the success of the Reformation during the early 16th-Century, for this spiritual temple would be constructed on the mental topography of born-from-above disciples.

Because study Bibles do not come with a hard date for when the spiritual decree went forth to rebuild the spiritual house of God, the prince that was to come after seven weeks (49 years) cannot be positively identified although both Luther and Calvin might humanly qualify despite their early dates. Regardless, with a day equaling a year, the seventy weeks, if beginning in the early 16th-Century, will conclude in the first few years of the 21st-Century. But without a hard starting date, little more can be said about these 490 years than humanity is on a short clock, one that indeed suggests disciples have entered the time of the end.

The seventieth week of the spirit-in-flesh fulfillment will begin when the two witnesses, who are the two olive trees or anointed ones that stand by the Lord of the whole earth (Rev 11:4 & Zech 4:3, 13), begin their 1260 day ministry. The seventieth week begins when the firstborn of spiritual Babylon are ransomed for the liberation of the spiritually circumcised nation. This seventieth week consists of the seven endtime years of tribulation, with sacrifice and offering being cut off midweek through the kingdom of the world becoming the kingdom of the Father and of the Son. Offerings will not return until after Christ Jesus returns. And the sacrifice of the firstborn son of the last Eve is complete. The lives of men have been given for the ransom of the spiritual Seth, born-from-above when the Holy Spirit is poured out on all flesh.

The angel Gabriel tells Daniel,

Know therefore and understand that from the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a prince, there shall be seven weeks. Then for sixty-two weeks it shall be built again with squares and moat, but in a troubled time. And after the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing. And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its [His â€" alternate reading] end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed. And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator. (Dan 9:25-27)

There are not many princes whose end comes with a flood, nor do the people of this prince destroy the city [Jerusalem] and the sanctuary many times. There is one prince who "poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, to sweep her away with a flood. But the earth came to the help of the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river that the dragon had poured from his mouth" (Rev 12:15-16). This dragon, Satan himself, has just been cast from heaven (vv. 9-10), and he knows his time is short (v. 12). He no longer has any authority to rule. Dominion has been taken from the four beasts (Dan 7:11-2). Authority to reign over the kingdom of the world has been given to the Son of Man. So this prince's end comes with the flood he sends after the woman, who has fled through the split Mount of Olives (Zech 14:3-4). And this split mountain swallows the flood or armies just as the Red Sea swallowed the armies of Pharaoh (Exod 15:12).

The ambiguity of who is the anointed one, and who is the prince, and the prince to come allows multiple fulfillment of the same prophecy. Because the two anointed ones stand beside Christ, using spiritual power as physical human beings, Christ through the two witnesses (because He is with them, and they are with Him) can make a strong covenant with many for one week. But the man of perdition, who deceives the first born son of the last Eve and causes this spiritual Cain to rebel against God, can also make a strong covenant with many for one week. Now the anointed one who is cut off at the beginning of the seventieth week is the great horn of the spiritual king of Greece, who will be supernaturally broken when all firstborns, spiritual and physical, not covered by the blood of the Lamb of God are slain. This great horn, to Christendom's chagrin, has been the driving power behind the Christianity of the Cross, a Christianity that has appropriated the name of Christ Jesus but remains opposed to Him. This is the spiritual prince who rebuilt the house of God while retaining the lawless tradition of trying to enter God's rest on the following day. And this spiritual prince will soon be a dead demon as he currently makes war against the spiritual princes of Persia, who he will defeat. Today, this spiritual prince moves an Evangelical President about as if the President were a living chess piece.

The ministry of the two anointed ones, of the two witnesses ends half way through the seven, endtime years of tribulation. And with their public resurrection, Death, the fourth horseman of the Apocalypse, will be defeated, will be dealt a deathblow (Rev 13:3). Spiritual Babylon will have been toppled. The kingdom of the world will go to the saints, but these saints will still have another three and half years of enduring before Christ returns in power. They will, for these forty-two months, have to mentally battle Satan who has been cast to earth, and they will prevail just as the children of Israel under Joshua and Caleb prevailed against the Canaanites once they crossed the Jordan. For these last three and a half years of this age are, again, the dawning twilight hours of the day of the Lord, or the Lord's day.

The long period between when Jesus was crucified as the paschal Lamb of God, a Lamb appropriate to the size of God's household, thereby ending His physical ministry, and when the ministry of the two witnesses end encompasses one spiritual night, the dark portion of the first High Sabbath of Unleavened Bread. The Passover liberation of the physically circumcised nation of Israel from physical bondage to Pharaoh forms the spiritually lifeless shadow of a second Passover liberation of the spiritually circumcised nation of Israel from bondage to sin. For nearly two millennia, the spiritually circumcised nation has roasted the paschal Lamb of God with their sins, and they have eaten of this Lamb when taking the Bread and Wine sacraments. They have unwittingly eaten in haste, with their loins girdled, their feet shod, and their staffs in their hands, in that they have expected Christ to return at any moment. They have unknowingly been waiting for the death angels to pass over spiritual Egypt/Babylon at midnight of a second Passover night. And the seventieth week incorporates this long midweek night, or period of spiritual darkness that began with Jesus' crucifixion. Again, this night ends with the resurrection of the two witnesses, who are human beings wielding spiritual power. As Moses and Aaron were unable to physically cross the Jordan, these two witnesses will not physically enter God's rest. They only enter spiritually; they do not physically live into the Millennium as those who follow a spiritual Joshua and a spiritual Caleb do.

The endtime reality of the physical and spirit-in-flesh fulfillments of the seventy week prophecy will have a week equaling an actual week, and will have the prophecy begin during the second half of the seven endtime years of tribulation. Less can today be said about this fulfillment that is entirely within the spiritual realm than can be said about the antetype and type fulfillments.

The many prophecy pundits who are to come will inevitably identify the liberation of the spiritually circumcised nation from sin that occurs at the beginning of seven endtime years of tribulation as the sixth trumpet plague. Thus, they will be unable to locate themselves in the prophetic narrative. They will identify the Arian man of perdition as the antiChrist, so when this man is taken and destroyed, they will mistakenly believe that Satan, coming as the true antiChrist, is the Messiah. They will then take upon themselves the mark of Death. And they will use the seventy weeks prophecy to convince spiritual babes that the antiChrist is the returned Lord Jesus, but the seventieth week will not be completed for another three years. It will not be completed until all wars end.

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