SEVENTY WEEKS Nowadays this prophecy is more and more discussed; nevertheless it does not show the time for the first arrival of Jesus but that of the second one. Be wise! What do prophets say? (Micah 7: 4b) No. 3 reviewed Time has come to rightly understand the Word of God, the Bible. We have to know that this Word of Jehovah God addresses to His people, always showing them the past, the present and the future and also showing the way they have to choose, guiding them, reprimanding them and punishing them when the situation calls for it. Misinterpretation and use of this “Word” by religious groups, international political organizations and certain military or financial forces, who don’t have anything to do with God’s people, are causing us to make a serious error by the wrong understanding of the “Day” that the prophets spoke about, of the way and time of Messiah’s arrival and also of other truths. This edition of “What the prophets say?” will help us understand the right completion of some biblical prophecies even while happening. The prophets we are talking about are no others that those whose testimonies are written in the Bible. If Jesus said in “The Story of the Shrewd Manager” that “Moses and the prophets have warned them. Your brothers can read their writings anytime they want to.” (Luke 16: 29), today we have Christ’s teachings and those of the prophets, too. Let’s pay attention to them! Let’s remove from us all that signifies an idol: human teaching, organizations, magazines because in most of the instances these are wrongly considered more important than the Bible. The booklet “What do prophets say?” (with its first appearance in October 2009) does not necessarily appear monthly, but when time comes for it to appear. The praise for the content of this edition is entirely dedicated to Jehovah. May He be praised and all-glorious for ever and ever! Seventy weeks (Daniel 9: 24 -27) Jehovah, the almighty God, may He be praised for the light that He sends to His people today showing them beforehand the time and the things decided to happen to this people. While the prophet Daniel was praying to this God for his people, an angel is sent to him and this one tells him that: “Daniel, I have come here to give you insight and understanding. The moment you began praying, a command was given. I am here to tell you what it was, for God loves you very much. Now listen, so you can understand the meaning of your vision.” Daniel 9: 22b, 23. It is just right that we turn our attention to this “Word” and to understand it. Searching for the moment in time when this vision showed to the prophet Daniel, we don’t want to dwell on the historical data leaving this to your appreciation, but we do know for sure that this vision is connected to the seventy weeks towards the end of the period of slavery. Realizing, with the help of the prophets, the number of years that had to pass over the ruins of Jerusalem and seeing that these years are almost gone, Daniel turns his face to the Lord God praying intensively. As an answer to this prayer, Jehovah God reveals the vision to Daniel. As it was already shown in other themes (see “What do prophets say?” no.1 and the booklet “The Reaper” no.18), today we find ourselves in the same time, that is towards the end of the period of slavery but this is a spiritual slavery of God’s people, the modern and up-to-date people. Do we really want to know what follows? Let’s address the same prayer to Jehovah, the same that Daniel addressed. Only by doing this, God will shed light onto us and we will be able to understand the prophecy of the seventy weeks. A close analysis of the verses 24 to 27 of chapter 9 helps us understand that Daniel’s other visions from chapters 7, 8, 11 and 12 are closely connected and there’s a continuity that links them. Thus, we can understand the time of fulfillment of this prophecy. All the religions and all the wise men who felt bound to explain this prophecy applied it, almost entirely to the first time Jesus has come. To prove their truthfulness, the explanations must correspond exactly with the Bible and the events that already took place. If we follow the prophet Daniel’s example joining him in his prayer, showing to Jehovah our honest and humble state, then it is certain that the truth will rise like dawn. The Watch Tower Bible and the Tract Society explains this prophecy in the year 1947 in their magazine “The Watch Tower”, no. 11 with the title “Seventy Weeks”. After that they bring this subject again in discussion in the book “Let’s pay attention to Daniel’s prophecy!”, which appears in the Romanian translation in 1999. The natural question is: Why do we need another explanation since we already have two given by those who allege that they are God’s people representing the spiritual Israel? We do not take into account many other explanations of Daniel’s book because they all bring the same reasons to our attention and the same happens to these two explanations given by the Watch Tower Society referring to the three periods of time shown in the prophecy and their identification, that is seven weeks, sixty two weeks and the seventieth week. But do the events mentioned in these explanations correspond entirely to the biblical prophecy? No, they don’t! They do not correspond and we can highlight at least four major mistakes from where we realize that the significance given to this prophecy in connection with those times is mistaken and thus, we understand the necessity of a new explanation which will correspond to the last detail. Jehovah, the eternal God who gives food to His people “at the right time” (Matthew 24: 45c), may He be praised and all-glorious we are thanking Him for this. Let’s point out the four mistakes that are being committed in the interpretation of this prophecy: 1. In the translations of the older Bibles (before 1900) it is not mentioned a period of seventy weeks of years, respectively four hundred and ninety years for this prophecy to come true. 2. The period of Jerusalem’s reconstruction is indicated to be sixty two weeks not seven weeks. 3. Messiah, the anointed appears after sixty two weeks and the anointed is destroyed again after sixty two weeks. No matter what the explanation would be we cannot admit that the “anointed” did nothing but appear and then disappear. Can we be talking about two anointed ones and one talking the other’s place? 4. The destruction of the anointed is not done in mid last week, that is the seventieth week but after sixty two weeks; in mid last week other events are being shown. The word for Jerusalem’s reconstruction being given, knowing the beginning of the count of the seventy weeks and the light of this prophecy being also given, we have the duty to let this light shine, we have the duty to spread the new explanation of this prophecy and the wise one will understand it (Daniel 12: 10c) and will start the work of reconstruction, the reconstruction of the spiritual Jerusalem! Does the prophecy of the seventy weeks bring good news or bad news? If we analyze the events presented in verse 24 we see that it is a good news, something that every just person would want. Here is the verse: “A period of seventy sets of seven has been decreed for your people and your holy city to put down rebellion, to bring an end to sin, to atone for guilt, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to confirm the prophetic vision and to anoint the Most Holy One.” The rebellion that Daniel’s angel is talking about has been there, in the middle of the people for almost seventy years and for this to come to an end seventy weeks were necessary, that is quite a short interval of time if we think about the seventy years of slavery. Logically, if the seventy years of slavery end with the seventy weeks it is possible that they equal four hundred and ninety years, that is seven times bigger than the entire period of slavery. Moreover, during this interval of seventy weeks they had to end sin and guilt. It is true that God’s spiritual people committed a lot of sin and bad things and that’s why God let him fall under this yoke of the modern Babylon. The prophets often speak about these bad things and sins. Here are some examples: Zephaniah 3: 11, 12; Isaiah 64: 9; Ezekiel 20: 4, 7, 8. If this is the amount of time that God’s people of today has in order to atone their trespasses and their sins, this means that very soon this people will be free, slavery will end. And thus, we have the urge: “Come away from her, my people. Do not take part in her sins, or you will be punished with her.” (Revelation 18: 4b). As soon as the people will be set free, “everlasting righteousness” will be cast upon them. About this everlasting righteousness the Lord speaks through the voice of the prophet Isaiah: “The Lord has sent this message to every land: “Tell the daughter of Zion: Look, your Saviour is coming. See, he brings his reward with him as he comes. They will be called the Holy People and the People Redeemed by the Lord. And Jerusalem will be known as the Desirable Place and the City No Longer Forsaken.” (Isaiah 62:11, 12). And in chapter 60, verse 21a it is said: “All your people will be righteous.” A lot of verses speak about this everlasting righteousness which will install during this period of seventy weeks such as: Isaiah 35: 8, 52: 1, Joel 3: 17, Revelation 21: 27 and others. Furthermore, verse 24 says: “until the sealing of the ghost and of the prophecy…”. Indeed, as this verse clearly shows, the prophet Daniel is told to seal the prophecy. We can read Daniel 12: 4, 9 and 8: 26. If verse 24 of chapter 9 indicates as the end for the sealing of the ghost and of the prophecy in the seventy weeks and afterwards they become unsealed, verses 4, 9 and 26 of chapters 8 and 12 indicate the end as being “ the end of the days”. If almost all the explanations of this prophecy indicate the beginning of the fulfillment as 455 BC – 36 AD, so does this mean that this period is the end of the days? No, not at all. Aren’t we living the end of the days? Yes, of course, we do. The proof added to what we already know by now is that the sealing of the ghost and of the prophecy ends, and this rather controversial prophecy can be well understood by matching the events with the prophecy itself even while it is happening. Why would God have ordered Daniel to seal the book (Daniel: 12: 4) if those seventy weeks had begun only in the year 455 BC? Usually, God tells the prophets: “Go and call…” One final thing that it is shown in the verse 24 as happening during those seventy weeks is “the anointment of the Most Holy One”. In some translations of the Bible these words are used in the masculine and in others they are used in the feminine. Therefore, this anointment can refer to a person called The Most Holy One or to a building or a place called The Most Holy Place. If the anointed is Jesus Christ, we can’t be sure because except for this verse we don’t have any other proof where he was called the Most Holy One, only The Holy One. We can also find Messiah, The Word, The King of Kings and others. If the angel who talked to Daniel, calls Him The Anointed before the beginning of the seventy weeks (taking into account the explanations that we’ve already given that is before 455 BC) that means that He didn’t need another anointment in the year 29 AD and neither it is shown that such an anointment would have taken place. That’s why the angel talks to Mary, Jesus’ mother: “So the baby born to you will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God.” (Luke 1: 35b) and the Samaritan answers to Jesus: “I know the Messiah will come.” (John 4: 25). If we refer to The Most Holy Place, we can find something like this in the Exodus when Moses builds the Tabernacle (Exodus 26: 33) or the Temple built by the emperor Solomon (1 Kings 6: 16). What anointment is the prophecy talking about: of the Tabernacle or of the Temple? These (Exodus 30: 26 and 2Chronicals 5: 2-14) happened long before the year 455 BC. The Temple rebuilt after the people of Israel was set free was destroyed definitively in the year 70 AD, but the prophecy speaks about the bringing of “everlasting righteousness” connected to this anointment of the Most Holy Place or One, so this will not be destroyed or tainted with anything unclean ever again. Yes, this anointment of the Most Holy One is about to happen, this will be the event that will signify the end of the seventy weeks. But for this anointment to happen The Most Holy Place must be rebuilt, as we’ve received the order from the Lord, Jehovah: “But now take courage, Zerubbabel, says the Lord. Take courage, Jeshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Take courage, all you people still left in the land, says the Lord. Take courage and work, for I am with you, says the Lord Almighty.” (Haggai 2: 4) Thus, the order was given and the word got out and that means that the reconstruction of the unspoiled worship must start immediately. Who doesn’t believe it or who wouldn’t want to see that: “The future glory of this Temple will be greater than its past glory…”? If this is the word that God tells to the army, this is definitely going to happen, but He also says that: “And in this place I will bring peace.” (Haggai 2: 9) This is the everlasting righteousness. We urge you and we appeal to all those who think that they are part of God’s people, the spiritual Israel, Judean in spirit not in words, if you’ve had enough with the injustice, with being slaves to other people or organizations while you think you are God’s slaves, we tell you: Come out to work! The liberation is near! It is clear that the events mentioned in verse 24 of Daniel’s prophecy are good things, things that good people should wish for and things that true worshipers of the true God are expecting. This verse points to a restoration that once fulfilled will last forever. The old explanations of this prophecy point contrary to this everlasting restoration, that the anointed (Jesus) will be cut killed, the holy city will be destroyed and that sacrifice and offerings will be ended. What is the truth? The one told in verse 24 which announces that everlasting restoration during those seventy weeks or the one told in verses 26 and 27, explained as being a disaster for the people who love justice? Let’s be sure that this prophecy does not contradict itself, not even for a moment, but being wrongly explained it may seem this way. Pay close attention to the following verses of this prophecy! The first part of verse 25 says: “Now listen and understand! Seven sets of seven plus sixty two sets of seven will pass from the time the command is given to rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One comes.” To be able to understand this part of verse 25 correctly, we must clarify something: What order has been given? About which Jerusalem are we talking about? About which coming of the Anointed are we talking about, because He is also called the Ruler? Regarding the giving of the order, different translations present this differently from “the giving of the order” to “the coming out of the order”, “the coming out of the word”, “settling again” and others. Concerning to the rebuilding of the temple an order was given (Ezra 6: 3) but concerning the rebuilding of Jerusalem no order of such kind was found, besides the one being discussed right now, only “letters” so that Nehemiah can pass and receive wood for the construction. (Nehemiah 2: 1-10) So, the right translation of this expression has to do with the coming out of the word. Here is what Jehovah tells the prophet Ezekiel referring to this: “Son of man, I have appointed you as a watchman for Israel. Whenever you receive a message from me, pass it on to the people immediately.” (Ezekiel 3: 17, see also Daniel 9: 23a) To which Jerusalem does the prophecy refer to? We ask this question because of the fact that the Bible uses the word Jerusalem both literary and spiritually. Do we separate these meanings? We can find two of these meanings in Abraham’s Two Children (Galatians 4: 25, 26).Hagar, the city of Jerusalem, which was literary under the yoke of the Roman Empire and the Jerusalem from above, which was free. Let us analyze some biblical verses: (Hosea 3: 5), “But afterward the people will return to the Lord their God and to David’s descendant their king. They will come trembling in awe to the Lord, and they will receive his good gifts in the last days.” (Micah 4: 1 and 3b): “In the last days, the Temple of the Lord in Jerusalem will become the most important place on earth. People from all over the world will go there to worship.”; “All the nations will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. All the wars will stop and military training will come to an end.” Both these verses match exactly with the restoration proclaimed in verse 24 (Daniel 9), but they don’t match to the literary Jerusalem because both verses have as their time of fulfillment “the last days”. From the last verse we understand that there will not be any wars and furthermore verse 4 says that there will be peace in our homes and that we won’t have anything to fear. These words don’t match with the literary meaning of Jerusalem either since it was rebuilt before Christ and in the year 70 AD was destroyed again. It can’t be about the above Jerusalem either because it is free, it cannot be a slave and it cannot be destroyed. About the above Jerusalem Jesus spoke at one time and said: “All who are victorious will become pillars in the Temple of my God and they will never have to leave it. And I will write my God’s name on them, and they will be citizens in the city of my God – the new Jerusalem that comes down from heaven from my God. And they will have my new name inscribed upon them.” (Revelation 3: 12) The apostle Paul describes a category of people that he calls Judeans or Jews: “For you are not a true Jew just because you were born of Jewish parents or because you have gone through the Jewish ceremony of circumcision. No, a true Jew is one whose heart is right with God. And true circumcision is not a cutting of the body but a change of heart produced by God’s Spirit. Whoever has that kind of change seeks praise from God, not from people.” (Romans 2: 28, 29) (also see Romans 9: 2 and Revelation 2: 9) These Judeans/Jews thus described are those who received Christ’s teachings and who have followed Him. This type of people forms a “Jerusalem”. This Jerusalem with Its Judeans circumcised at their hearts has fallen under the yoke of the modern Babylon and they have paid the price for the crimes with seventy years of slavery. This is the Jerusalem that we now have to rebuild and the Judeans who will overcome will become the new Jerusalem. After having discussed the first part of the verse 25 we realize that this prophecy does not refer to the first arrival of Jesus but to His second one, that’s why He is called the Ruler. This name appears differently in various translations of the Bible: Lord, Prince, Leader, The Glorious One. These names couldn’t have been given to Jesus while He was still living on earth because the prophet Isaiah describes Him: “He was oppressed and treated harshly, yet he never said a word. He was led as a lamb to the slaughter. And as a sheep is silent before the shearers, he did not open his mouth.” (Isaiah 53: 7) Only after resurrection, Jesus says: “I have been given complete authority in heaven and on earth.” (Matthew 28: 18b) The ancient prophets talked a lot about Jesus, about His life and His deeds on earth but they didn’t specify the time for His arrival. The only notification that “he would not die until he had seen the Lord’s Messiah” was made by Simeon (Luke 2: 25, 26) and there is a connection with this verse in Isaiah 40: 1 where it says: “Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem. Tell her that her sad days are gone and that her sins are pardoned. Yes, the Lord has punished her in full for all her sins.” (Isaiah 40: 1, 2) We can ask: Did the people of Israel get out of slavery at Jesus’ first arrival? No, not at all. They continued to be the slaves of the Roman Empire. But with the second arrival it is sure that the slavery of the people, the spiritual Israel will come to an end and the sins will be atoned. What does the Bible say about the second arrival and are we allowed to calculate this? Let us go back to verse 24 where it is said “until the sealing of the ghost and of the prophecy”. If we analyze these words well, we see that these do not mean that after the seventy weeks the ghost and the prophecy will be sealed, the words say that this is the time when they are still sealed; in fact they are sealed for ages. The most important thing discovered in this prophecy is the time of Messiah’s arrival and once the prophecy of the seventy weeks is rightly understood, the second coming of the King Jesus, the Ruler is not an unknown fact anymore! About that time and that day Jesus says: “ However, no one knows the day or the hour when these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven or the Son himself. Only the father knows.” (Matthew 24: 36) It is true that that day and that hour were a secret, sealed for a long period of time, about which the apostle Paul says: “But you aren’t in the dark about these things, dear brothers and sisters, and you won’t be surprised when the day of the Lord comes like a thief.” (1 Thessalonians 5: 4) About that secret John, the apostle says: “And he swore an oath in the name of the one who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and everything in it, the earth and everything in it, and the sea and everything in it. He said: God will wait no longer. But when the seventh angel blows his trumpet, God’s mysterious plan will be fulfilled. It will happen just as he announced it to his servants and prophets.”(Revelation 10: 6, 7) Knowing these things it is easy to find the secret. Here it is what we find out about the seventh angel: “Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices shouting in heaven: The whole world has now become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign forever and ever.” (Revelation 11: 15) When the kingdom of the world will pass into the hands of Jesus Christ that means that He is present, so His arrival is not a secret anymore! The ghost is no longer sealed. Beware! This seventh angel will blow his trumpet after the two witnesses “have completed their testimony”, but they did that already, they are now waiting for “the spirit of life from God” to enter them. Are you ready to hear the sound of the seventh trumpet? From verse 25 it is clearly understood what is the period of time for the reconstruction of Jerusalem, that is 62 weeks, while “the streets and strong defenses will be rebuilt.” If we analyze verse 8 from the Revelation, chapter 11, instead of the city market we find the city streets. We can be sure that in this period of time of 62 weeks those victorious ones that Jesus was talking in the Revelation 3: 12 and 15: 2 will come out on the streets of Jerusalem or in its market. If the bodies of the two witnesses overcome and killed by the beast are in the city market or on the streets of the city, this does not mean that while they were alive they were somewhere else; they were there to complete their confession. They were there even before they were killed, and there will also be “John” who will receive the open book from the hands of the angel with the order: “You must prophecy again about many peoples, nations, languages and kings.” (Revelation 10: 11) (Concerning the identity of the two witnesses, the work Elijah, this subject was debated broadly in the brochure “The Reaper”, no. 25, second part and also in the theme “What do prophets say?” The markets and the streets of Jerusalem will be rebuilt again by the fact that pure truth is found again, truth without any trace of compromise. The same happened with the wells in which there hadn’t been any water for a long time, only mud. (Jeremiah 38: 6) During the time the wells were torn down, there was a source of water in the Babylon Sea and the river Euphrates. As soon as the wells are rebuilt, the sea of Babylon and the river Euphrates will dry out. (Jeremiah 51: 36 and Revelation 16: 12) The truth that will gather in “Jerusalem” will form a wall, keeping at a distance the deceitful prophet, but all these things that will happen during the period of the 62 weeks will take place in a period of “perilous times”. The same happened with the work Elijah when the two witnesses prophesied dressed in sackcloth, that’s why we have Jehovah’s promise: “For I am with you”, “My spirit remains among you, just as I promised when you came out of Egypt. So do not be afraid.” (Haggai 2: 4, 5). Having this promise from Jehovah, these things will definitely fulfill. After the first seven weeks Jesus couldn’t come because He Himself gives the order before His arrival: “And he will send forth his angels with the sound of a mighty trumpet blast, and they will gather together his chosen ones from the farthest ends of the earth and heaven.” (Matthew 24: 31) We can understand that in the period of the 62 weeks the chosen ones will be gathered and afterwards the coming of the Anointed One, the Messiah will take place. Verse 26 starts like this: “After this period of sixty two sets of seven, the Anointed One will be killed, appearing to have accomplished nothing.” It seems unbelievable! We’ve just finished proving that the Anointed One, the Messiah appears after the sixty two weeks of reconstruction and verse 26 starts like this: after these sixty two weeks the Anointed One will be killed. If we refer to the same “Anointed One” in both verses, this is something that we cannot apply either for the first arrival or certainly not for the second one. The Bible shows a lot of events that Jesus, the Messiah, the Ruler does at His second arrival (Matthew 24: 36 – 46, 25: 31 – 46, Revelation 19: 11 – 21, 20: 1 – 3, and many others) and more than that the Bible does not mention anything about any retrieval or killing. Once He begins His reign He will reign forever. Therefore, it is certain that this prophecy speaks about two anointed ones. One that will appear after 62 weeks and the other one who will “position himself in the in the Temple of God, claiming that he himself is God” who will be actually killed “whom the Lord Jesus will consume with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming.” (2 Thessalonians 2: 4b and 8b) About this “anointed one” the prophecy says that he will have nothing and he will have no descendent. Being killed and having nothing is a failure, a total defeat. About Jesus we cannot say such a thing even about His first arrival; He overcame and the proof for this is His resurrection. When “the lawless man” will be destroyed together with the evil ones will have nothing as the prophet Malachi shows: “They will be consumed like a tree – roots and all.” (Malachi 4: 1c) Jesus didn’t have any actual descendants during His life on earth, Melchizedek says about Him in Hebrews 7: 3: “There is no record of any of his ancestors.” We cannot say the same about His spiritual descendants. Here is what the prophet Isaiah says about this: “Yet when his life is made an offering for sin, he will have a multitude of children, many heirs. He will enjoy a long life and the Lord’s plan will prosper in his hands.” (Isaiah 53: 10b) Be careful! That “anointed one” who is killed after 62 weeks is not Jesus Christ! Verse 26 continues “a ruler will arise whose armies will destroy the city and the Temple”. It is quite clear that this Lord who will come is Christ Himself. The people/armies of this Lord will destroy the city and the Temple. Let us analyze about what city we are talking about and which Temple are they going to destroy? The city of Jerusalem had just repaired its cracks in the walls. It cannot be about that city. Is this the bringing of “everlasting righteousness”? Is the city torn down as soon as it was rebuilt as a way of punishment? The “symbolic” Jerusalem paid for its sins and its crimes. Let us observe some quotations from the Bible which show about what city we are talking about here: “Do to her as she has done to your people. Give her a double penalty for all her evil deeds. She brewed a cup of terror for others, so give her twice as much as she gave out.” (Revelation 18: 6); “O, Babylon you will be destroyed. /Happy is the one who pays you back /For what you have done to us. /Happy is the one who takes your babies/ And smashes them against the rocks!” (Psalm 137: 8, 9); (also see Jeremiah 50: 15, 16). These verses clarify which city has to be destroyed, it has taken the spiritual Jerusalem to slavery and the people of the Lord will destroy it soon after the 62 weeks. This time is near, there are 62 weeks left, and the warning given above must be taken seriously. “Get out of its midst, my people!” In the vision with the ram and the he goat (chapter 8), Daniel sees a small horn which: “challenged the Commander of heaven’s armies by canceling the daily sacrifices offered to him and by destroying His Temple.” (verse 11) The religion of Jehovah’s Witnesses explains Daniel’s visions, including verse 14 which shows the time when the Temple stays in ruins and that is 2300 evenings and mornings by applying them to the 20th century, 1st or 15th June 1938 until 22nd October 1944. (see the book “Let’s pay attention to Daniel’s prophecy”, page 178)Yes, they are partially right here in the sense that the destruction of the holy Temple didn’t take place in ancient Jerusalem but in the midst of a people who carry the name of God, Jehovah. And the 2300 evenings and mornings are correctly calculated in the Brochure “The Reaper”, no.18. As we can see in the verse cited above, the sacrifice was not destroyed but taken by force and settled in another temple about it is said that “it has become the hideout for demons and evil spirits” (Revelation 18: 2b). This temple will soon be destroyed by God’s people who will come. This destruction will be like a flood, it will flow rapidly and unexpectedly as the apostle Paul shows us: “When people are saying : All is well; everything is peaceful and secure, than disaster will fall upon them as suddenly as a woman’s birth pains begin when her child is about to be born. And there will be no escape.” (1 Thessalonians 5: 3). Even if we show the completion of this prophecy in the future, after counting the weeks from the getting out of the word for the reconstruction of Jerusalem, this prophecy will definitely fulfill. And the war that will be led against this “anointed one” who is best represented by the “anointed ones” of the religious organization of the Jehovah’s witnesses will last until it is totally destroyed and there will be nothing left. Verse 27 starts like this: “He will make a treaty with the people for a period of one set of sevens…”. This treaty will be made by the Lord or the Anointed One who will come because the anointed one who was destroyed cannot do anything. What kind of treaty this Anointed One will make is clearly shown by the prophets: “Then the people of Israel and Judah will join together, says the Lord, weeping and seeking the Lord, their God. They will ask the way to Jerusalem and will start back home again. They will bind themselves to the Lord with an eternal covenant that will never again be broken.” (Jeremiah 50: 4, 5). Once returned from slavery, Jehovah speaks to this people, to the spiritual Israel: “They will be my people and I will be their God. And I will give them one heart and mind to worship me forever, for their own good and for the good of all their descendants. And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, promising not to stop doing good for them. I will put a desire in their hearts to worship me and they will never leave me.” (Jeremiah 32: 38 – 40) Moreover, this treaty is for all the peoples who are hungry and thirsty for truth because the Lord Jehovah said: “Come to me with your ears wide open. Listen, for the life of your soul is at stake. I am ready to make an everlasting covenant with you. I will give you all the mercies and unfailing love that I promised to David.” (Isaiah 55: 3). It is quite clear that it is not about keeping a treaty alive, but about making the treaty with a lot of people as many translations indicate. This treaty is not made only for a week, this is not what the verse shows. The verse shows the time when this is made and that is right after the arrival of the “Anointed” Jesus Christ and it also shows that this treaty will be everlasting as it was shown in verse 24 about “bringing everlasting righteousness”. Together with the second arrival of Jesus it is also shown in verse 27 of the prophecy that “he will put an end to the sacrifices and offerings” and that will happen after the first half of the last week. These sacrifices and offerings are not for the new temple or the new city of Jerusalem. They are brought in the city and in the temple that God’s people who is about to come will destroy, as a matter of fact they won’t even need them. These sacrifices and offerings which will end arte brought today in the city which is called “WATCH TOWER BIBLE AND THE TRACT SOCIETY” by thousands of reporters, special envoys and volunteers. About the end of these the apostle john broadly speaks in Revelation, chapter 18 from verse 8 to verse 24. The way John describes them does not need any commentaries. Once these sacrifices and offerings will end the muddy water of the great river, Euphrates will dry out. This will happen “so that the kings from the east could march their armies”. (Revelation 16: 12). Are you waiting for the arrival of these kings? Will you receive their teachings? The Lord, Jehovah has “stirred up a leader from the north and east. He will come against the nations and call on my name…” (Isaiah 41: 25). But the people did not receive this one “but he wasn’t recognized and he was badly mistreated” (Matthew 17: 12) even if he was calling the name of the Lord. It’s about the work Elijah but the consequences of its refusal and of the kings who are about to come are serious. Jesus will tell them: “Away with you, you cursed ones, into the eternal fire…” (Matthew 25: 41b) The prophecy ends like this: “Then as a climax to all his terrible deeds, he will set up a sacrilegious object that causes desecration, until the end that has been decreed is poured out on this defiler.” This does not mean to show that this ugliness will settle in the temple during the last week or at mid week, but it shows that during the ongoing of the prophecy it will be in the temple. Jesus talked about this as it happed before His arrival. “The time will come when you will see what Daniel the prophet spoke about: the sacrilegious object that causes desecration standing in the Holy Place – reader, pay attention!” (Matthew 24: 15). In the second letter to the Thessalonians, the apostle Paul talks about “a great rebellion against God” and about the “man of lawless” who will “position himself in the temple of God, claiming that he himself is God” before the Lord Jesus’ arrival. But Jesus will banish him with the image of His arrival as it was shown above. (2 Thessalonians 2: 1 – 9). We must be sure that as soon as Jesus arrived the disaster already decided will fall upon the desolated one. These are the seventy weeks. In conclusion, let us review what it was already said and calculate something. The people who are bearing the name of the Lord, Jehovah, the spiritual Israel must pass through seventy years of wealth and then through seventy years of spiritual hunger, approximately between 1872 – 1942 and 1942 – 2012. These seventy years of spiritual hunger are seventy years of spiritual slavery which is a time when Jehovah does not speak to His people. At the end of those seventy years of slavery it was decided a period of seventy weeks when the people must return to the state before the slavery, even a greater glory. These seventy weeks are divided into three periods: 7, 62 and 1 week. During the first seven weeks no event is shown to happen. During the 62 weeks Jerusalem will be built. After these 62 plus the other 7 from before, that is 69, Messiah, the Anointed One will come. In the same period the so-called anointed one is killed and his city and temple are destroyed. During the last week Christ, the Messiah makes an everlasting treaty with the believers who await His arrival, but after half of the last week has passed the sacrifices and the offerings brought to the city and to the anointed one that has been killed come to an end. Now, if the word for the reconstruction of Jerusalem came out around 9th November 2009, the first seven weeks end around 27th December 2009, a period of time when the prophecy is rightly understood. So, the 62 weeks will be reached around 24th April 2011. With the eyes of faith His presence will be seen and felt. The last week ends around 1st May 2011. At the beginning the prophet Samuel did not know the word of God when He was calling him, and the priest Eli teaches him (1 Samuel 3: 4 – 9), we are giving a margin of error of five days for this calculation. The prophet Daniel when interpreting the dream about the big tree to Nebuchadnezzar tells him: “Oh, how I wish the events foreshadowed in this dream would happen to your enemies, my lord, and not to you!” (Daniel 4: 19c). For the name that this people is bearing, the spiritual Israel, the name of Jehovah’s witnesses we could say the same about them: the seventy weeks prophesied by Daniel to be fulfilled for their enemies, but as Nebuchadnezzar has fulfilled the dream with the big tree accurately although it was not in his favour, this people will fulfill accurately the word that the Lord has given. Let us take a close look at this prophecy and as a last advice we say: “What harmony can there be between Christ and the Devil? How can a believer be a partner with an unbeliever? Therefore, come out from them and separate yourselves from them, says the Lord. Don’t touch their filthy things, and I will welcome you. And I will be your father, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.” (2 Corinthians 6: 15, 17, 18) Jehovah, God of the armies who helps us understand His word, may He be praised and honored for this foe ever and ever. Release date: December 2009 Reviewed: July 2010 for translation in other languages Translated from Romanian on September 2010