DANIEL'S 69th WEEK

By Jerry Pourcy

In John chapter 12 verse 1, a passover is mentioned. This is the passover feast in which Jesus was to be crucified. In John chapter 6 another passover is mentioned, this is the one the year before. In John chapter 2 another passover is mentioned, this is the one the year before the one in John chapter 6. Now let's look at this chart to give us a better idea of what’s going on:

Daniel's 69th week1 chart

Now please remember that Jesus died on the passover which is the 14th day of the first month. The lines on the chart represent the end of the old year and the start of the new one, kind of like our New Year's Day. Now the book of John does not record the 40 days in the wilderness but it does record the first passover feast that Jesus went to after he started his ministry. Starting in John chapter 2, let's read verse 12 & 13.

"12 After this he went down to Capernaum, he, and his mother, and his brethren, and his disciples: and they continued there not many days.

13 And the Jews passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem,"


Notice before Jesus went up to Jerusalem for the passover feast he went to Capernaum. The book of Luke also records this event in chapter 4. Verse 31 says,

" 31 And came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and taught them on the sabbath days."

The last few words are sabbath days. The sabbath days are 7 days apart, so in order for him to teach on the sabbath days, he had to teach at least 2, so I know that Jesus had to be there at least about 2 weeks. But before this he was in Nazareth, according to Luke chapter 4 verse 16. And before this Jesus was in the wilderness for 40 days. And before he went into the wilderness he was in Cana 3 days after he was baptized. So what we have is Jesus being about 14 days in Capernaum, 40 days in the wilderness, 3 days between his baptism and Cana, not counting the time he was in Jerusalem before the passover, not counting the time he was in Nazareth, not counting his travel time between cities, not counting his time between Cana and when he went into the wilderness. There was a minimum of 57 days between the start of his ministry at his baptism and the first passover during his ministry.

Now Jesus started his ministry when he was about 30 years old. With this in mind I believe it would be safe to say that John the Baptist started his ministry when he was about 30 years of age, or about 6 months before Jesus started. As you can see, the passover is only 14 days into the new year, so this would put John the Baptist and Jesus Christ starting their ministries the year before the passover of John chapter 2, as the chart indicates. So what we have is God calling Israel 3 years before the cross. In Luke chapter 13 there is a parable that some of you might be familiar with. In verse 6 it says,

"6 He spake also this parable; A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none.

7 Then said he to the dresser of his vineyard. Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground?

8 And he answering said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it:

9 And if it bear fruit, well: and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down."


In verse 6 "A certain man" is God the Father, "A fig tree," the nation of Israel. In verse 7, the dresser of the vineyard would be the Lord Jesus Christ. The parable is referring to God dealing with Israel, and looking for fruit among the nation Israel. It says he found none. Jesus Christ said, "Let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it:" Now the digging and dunging is referring to the Holy Spirit given to purge the nation Israel that they may bring forth fruit. But notice how he said, "…let it alone this year also…," indicating that God would give them another year or finish out the year of the cross and if it didn't bear fruit then he would cut it down. Let's add this to our chart.

Daniel's 69th week2 chart

God is going to allow them the same year of the cross to bring forth fruit. One thing that I have learned since I have been saved is that God is very merciful. But notice that it did not say, "let it alone for 10 more years." He gave them 1 year, or this year also. Please understand, after the cross, the 12 are still going to only Israel. The scriptures show us that in Acts 5 that repentance and forgiveness of sins was offered to only the nation Israel. Thoughout the first part of the book of Acts there are a few that are saved, but Israel as a whole was rejecting Jesus Christ. About a year after the cross Stephen is stoned to death for his witness of Christ. As he was about to be stoned he looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw Jesus standing on the right hand of God. Now in the book of Isaiah in chapter 3 it says that the Lord stands to plead, and stands to judge. I know that throughout Jesus' earthly ministry he pleaded with Israel to come unto him. When he stands in Acts chapter 7, Jesus is judging the nation Israel in unbelief. In Romans chapter 11, Paul says in verse 32,

"32 For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all."

God did not conclude Israel in unbelief at the cross, because he said he would give them another year. After that year was over, God struck the nation Israel down and offered salvation unto the Gentiles. Jesus Christ stood up in Acts 7 and judged the nation Israel in unbelief and turned right back around in Acts 9 and gave the Church the Body of Christ, (the one new man) so that the uncircumcised Gentiles might be saved. From that point, God was not dealing with Israel as a nation, but he was dealing with the remnant, or the elect of Israel and the rest were blinded, according to Romans chapter 11. As you know God is still dealing with the remnant of Israel today, there are Jews that are still getting saved.

But when Stephen was stoned, it was at this time that Jesus Christ stood up to judge the nation Israel, and God concluded them all in unbelief that he might have mercy on all. At this point the door is opened and salvation is offered unto the Gentiles. The bible says, "…through their fall, salvation is come unto the Gentiles…"

Before I go on to my next point, I would like to tell you what happened at a bible conference I had attended. Many years ago, sometime after I had received Jesus as my Saviour, I was sitting in study, listening to the teaching, and God used a preacher to open my eyes to some truth. The verse of scripture was 2nd Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 7. It says,

"7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way."

Now as I was brought up I went to school like everyone else. I was taught the word, "let", meant to allow, of course this was our modern, up to date, mixed up language. But back in the old days this preacher said it meant something quite different. He gave an example of when he was a little boy he had to go to a well to draw water. He said that you could not drop the bucket into the well, because it would make the water muddy. He said you had to "let" it down. The word, "let", meant to restrain, hinder or hold back. What a wonderful feeling it was as my eyes were opened to this verse of scripture! It also made me realize how ignorant I was to the meaning of everyday words I took for granted. Somehow I have never forgotten this experience, but now, whenever I have trouble with a word, I look it up in a dictionary or a concordance to get the true meaning. I praise God for his teachers that he gives us.

Anyway, one day I was studying on the subject of the fall of Israel when I came across a problem. I was stopping the 483 years of Daniel chapter 9 at the cross. Then I started counting. I saw 483 years from the going forth of the commandment to the cross, 1 year from the cross to the fall, and 7 years of tribulation. I added them up and came up with 491 years. I said, "This can't be right, something is wrong." I ended up with something that looked like this.

Daniel's 69th week3 chart


Now I knew in Daniel chapter 9, God said seventy weeks were determined upon Israel, and I knew this was 490 years. But yet I kept coming up with 491 years. In Daniel chapter 9 verse 26 it says,

"26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself:..."

As far as I could see Jesus was going to die after 483 years were completed. I knew God gave Israel another year after the cross. And according to Daniel 9 and the Revelation the tribulation would last 7 years. I was puzzled. This didn't make sense. I dwelt on it for a while, then I remembered the Lord said, " if any lack wisdom let him ask of God." Boy, I felt if anyone lacked wisdom it was me. I prayed to my Father to give me wisdom on this thing and I waited. Sometime later, these thoughts of the 491 years were going through my head again and I was telling myself, "There is something I don't understand," and that's when the Lord opened my eyes. The Lord allowed me to remember the time when he used a preacher to open my eyes about the word, "let". Then I realized my ignorance of the meaning of words, and told myself, "There are some words here that I don't know the meaning of them." The Lord was showing me to find out the meaning of the words. Right away I gave God the glory and got back into the scriptures. And sure enough there was a word there that changes the whole situation. Please let's read Daniel chapter 9 verse 26 again,

"26 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 there shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.

The second word of the verse, the word "after" is what I want to talk to you about. As I was growing up I was taught the word "after" meant at the end of something. But I found out the word "after" has different meanings. First of all, I don't know anything about Hebrew, but I did notice that there are several Hebrew words translated "after". The one in Daniel 9:26 is the Hebrew word "ACHAR." There is another Hebrew word translated to "after" and it is the word "KEHTZ". Both the words "achar" and "kehtz" are translated to the word "after", but they have 2 different meanings. For instance the word "achar" in 2nd Samuel 2:23 is translated "the hinder end". Notice in the verse,

"23 Howbeit he refused to turn aside: wherefore Abner with the hinder end of the spear smote him under the fifth rib, that the spear came out behind him; and he fell down there,..."

As you can see Abner took the back end of the spear and smote the other man. It wasn't just the tip of the back end or the edge, but the hinder part or the back half of the spear.

Another example of the word "achar" is in 1st Kings 14:10, where it translated, "the remnant of." Notice it says,

"10 Therefore, behold, I will bring evil upon the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboam, him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel, and will take away the remnant of the house of Jeroboam, as a man taketh away dung, till it be all gone."

As you know, a remnant is the little bit left over as in a small piece of carpet that you may buy, or as in this case the few left over of the house of Jeroboam. "The remnant of," means a little bit left over. There are other verses we can go to explain what "achar" means, but I'm sure you are starting to get the picture.

The word "achar" means the back part of something, the hinder end, or the little bit left over. The word "kehtz" on the other hand, has a different meaning, it means the very edge of, very border of, or the utmost end. These 2 words have two different meanings even though they are both translated as the word "after" in various places.

Let me give you a couple examples of the word "kehtz". First of all, in Isaiah chapter 23 verse 15 & 17, it is translated into the words "after the end". Notice in verse 15,

"15 And it shall come to pass in that day, that Tyre shall be forgotten seventy years, according to the days of one king: after the end of seventy years shall Tyre sing as an harlot."

Now verse 17,

"17 And it shall come to pass after the end of seventy years, that the Lord will visit Tyre, and she shall turn to her hire,..."

These verses are telling us that the seventy years had to pass before the Lord would visit Tyre, It did not say that he would visit Tyre at the hinder part of the seventy years, but rather at the end.
Another real good verse to go to is in Exodus chapter 12. Here the word "kehtz" is translated to the words, "the end of." Notice in verse 41,

"41 And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt."

This verse shows a real good meaning of the word because it says, "even the selfsame day it came to pass." It says that the 430 years transpired, and the very day it ran out, they left Egypt.


Please don't get me wrong. I believe that the King James Bible is the word of God with all my heart. I believe it means what it says, and I don't believe in running to the Hebrew and Greek texts at every whim. I believe God had it written in English, perfect. My problem is that I don't understand the meaning of all the English words. This is not God's fault. It's mine. So God showed me that there is nothing wrong with looking up the meanings of words that he uses in his scripture.

Anyway, I gave you a few scriptures to show you that the words "achar" and "kehtz" have two different meanings, even though they are both translated as the word "after" in different places. There are other verses, but I feel that these were sufficient to show the difference. Another thing I have learned are the old terms used to describe the front and rear ends of a boat. The front is known as the "Fore" which came from the words “before or forward”, and the rear is known as the "Aft" which came from the word "after". You could be in the rear of a boat and be in the Aft. You did not necessarily have to be at the very edge, or the very end of the boat to be in the Aft, but just in the hinder part of the boat.

Now if we were to take the words "Achar" and "Kehtz" and apply them to a boat or a ship, it would be something like this.

Daniel's 69th week4 chart

The Achar would be the hinder part of the ship whereas the Kehtz would be the very edge or the very end. I hope that you are starting to see the difference. Now let's go back to Daniel chapter 9. In verse 26 again,

"26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself:..."

If the word "Kehtz" would have been used here, it would mean at the very end of the threescore and two weeks Jesus would have died. But the word used here is the word "Achar" which means that Jesus died at the hinder end, or the hinder part of the threescore and two weeks, not necessarily at the very end. So what we have here is a big difference. Most people that study their bibles put Christ dying for our sins at the “Kehtz”, or the very end of the 483 years. But the Hebrew words indicate that Jesus died at the “Achar” or the hinder part of the 483 years, not the very end. With these things in mind we can see that Christ died at the hinder end of the 483 years and God casting away Israel at the very end of the 483 years. We can now see that the 483 years ended with the fall of Israel when Jesus stood up and judged Israel in unbelief. This brings us to exactly 490 years that God has determined upon the nation of Israel, just as it says, in Daniel chapter 9, instead of the 491 that we previously counted.

In Daniel chapter 9, Gabriel told Daniel, “Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people…”. These seventy weeks are a total of 490 years, not 489, not 491, but 490. God is still dealing with Israel as a nation after the cross. He gave them a whole year to repent, and a few did, but the majority rejected Christ as their Saviour and the Lord cut them off.

Jesus, being the passover Lamb, died on the 14th day of the first month of the 483rd year. He said, “…let it alone THIS YEAR ALSO”. Notice that Christ did not say, give them another year, or give them next year also, but he said, “this year also”, indicating that it was the same year in which he died, and gave Israel the rest of the 483rd year. At the end of the 483rd year, Jesus Christ stood up and judged the nation of Israel in unbelief and gave the dispensation of grace to the Gentiles so that they could be saved. Israel became, “LOAMMI: not my people”, (Hosea 1:9)

Now lets look at this final chart and see how things are starting to shape up.

cross at Achar chart

We can now see how looking at Daniel’s 69th week this way can really start to open up the scripture and start to answer many questions that we might have.

And here is another little tidbit of information as we close this article. In Joel chapter 2, it says,

"28 And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:"

Did you see the word, "afterward"? Guess what the Hebrew word is? The root word comes from the word "achar", which we have discussed, that it means the hinder end. Peter, when he quotes this verse in Acts chapter 2, the word is translated from "afterward" into "the last days." The time period of Acts chapter 2 is definitely in the last days or the hinder end of the 490 years, even though the 490 years was separated by the Grace period.

Now all this having to look up of words for their meanings is not God’s fault. We start out as ignorant and we learn as we are taught. God’s word is holy and true, just because we lack the understanding of words does not mean the bible is at fault, we are. As our languages change in this ever changing world, God’s word will always be the same, holy and without blemish, as we see in Psalm 12,

“6 The words of the Lord are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.

7 Thou shalt keep them, O Lord, thou shalt preserve them from this generation forever.”

 

...Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved...