The WOFOYO Podcast
The WOFOYO Podcast
70 Weeks Part 1: From Daniel's Timeline to the Triumphal Entry
Our latest episode takes a deep dive into the prophetic significance of Daniel’s 70 weeks, exploring how these timelines reflect God’s faithfulness and sovereignty. Join us as we unpack historical decrees, scholarly insights, and their implications for our faith today.
• Examination of the creation timeline and its significance
• Exploration of chaos vs. order in God’s plan
• Insight into scholarly perspectives on the decrees for rebuilding Jerusalem
• Clarification on the different interpretations of the 70 weeks
• Importance of recognizing the cutting off of the Messiah
• Encouragement to engage with scripture for a deeper faith
Praise Fest 1995, featuring DC Talk Newsboys Carmen, with special message by Amy Grant and Kirk Cameron. Praise Fest 2005, featuring Mercy Me Casting Crowns, nicole C Mullins. A special message by Jensen Franklin. Praise Fest 2025. Featuring Kanye Gwen Stefani Creed. Kanye Gwen Stefani Creed and special message by Russell Brand Yo podcast.
Speaker 2:With CW Bones we're going to do a little teaching, but before we do, I'd like to hold up for display here Anybody that's ever you ain't from Southern Illinois if you ain't got one of these, Especially if you was a newlywed Guarantee you, every newlywed in Southern Illinois, had one of these things. If you're watching on video, if you're on the audio, it's a good old yellow Quattro's cup with a little bit of Pepsi in it, Right? So Bones is going to be taking the lead on this, but just to show you how intricate, how awesome our maker is, Bone's going to be talking about the 70 weeks of Daniel, and it just so happened that while I was listening to some stuff on the way home, I heard a rabbi all of a sudden got to talking about the six days of creation and how God has a sovereign timeline, because this and what he was talking about just blends in so well with the 70 weeks of Daniel, because that's the precursor to the whole thing coming, you know, basically coming around. And he said, according to Talmudic and other texts, rabbinical writings, he said you had basically two days of chaos. He said then you had.
Speaker 2:When he said a day, he was talking about a thousand years, Since the world was created in six days. In that account it represented 6,000 years and at the end, the Sabbath year. The Sabbath day would be a 1,000-year reign of Sabbath, and that's really everything that the 70 weeks. As Bone gets into it, you'll see how that fits. But there was 2,000 years of chaos, 2,000 years of Torah, and then they referred to it as somehow 2,000 years of Messiah and then the Sabbath year, but they didn't want to admit Jesus was the Messiah, but it was definitely a Christian period. So that being said, Bones, I thought you would appreciate just that aspect. Sometimes it's a little nuttiness like that. The Lord lets you know you're kind of going down the right path, especially when it comes to studying the Word.
Speaker 3:The Lord works mysterious ways. Seven is a big number in scripture. It's a number of completions, a number of perfection, so on and so forth. So it's not uncommon or unthinkable to hear things grouped in sevens. There's actually, as I was doing some study and doing some reading, there's actually four periods of 70 weeks in Scripture, but we're going to focus on the 70 weeks of Daniel and the reason is we talked a little bit about it in Nehemiah in our last episode and whatnot we talked about when Nehemiah talked about being in a 20th year of Artaxerxes and receiving the command or the decree to go and rebuild Jerusalem and the temple, so on. So that literally plays or takes some word right out of the book of Daniel, and I had to get it up in front of me here so I can read it, because in Daniel we're going to kind of go from chapter 9, verse 24 to 27. Daniel starts talking about 70 weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city to finish the transgression and to make an end of sins and to make reconciliation for iniquity and to bring in everlasting righteousness and to seal up the vision and the prophecy and to anoint the most holy. Know, therefore, and understand that's a very interesting phrase in scripture when God speaks like that. Know, therefore, and understand that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah, the Prince shall be seven weeks and three score. In two weeks the streets shall be built again and the wall even in troublous times, and after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary, and the end thereof shall be with the flood. And unto the end of the war, desolations are determined, and he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week and in the midst of the week shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate even until the consummation. And that determined shall be poured upon the desolate. So what I thought was interesting is what I thought was interesting is the book of Daniel was written sometime around 606 to 16 BC, to about 536 BC, and Nehemiah was written around 446 to 430 BC. Nehemiah and his contemporaries would have had Daniel's writings. This should have triggered someone. This should have reminded somebody when Nehemiah got the command or the okay to go and rebuild, then that should have reminded somebody, it should have triggered somebody's memory of what Daniel had said. So we're going to kind of take a look at it and see what Daniel said.
Speaker 3:Why is it important to us and why looking at prophecy is important to us? I think when we look back at prophecy it's very important to do so because we see God's faithfulness, we see as the prophets have spoken God's word, we see those prophecies come to pass, so on and so forth. We see God's faithfulness executed over and over again. So to me that helps me in the future as well. When I'm reading about prophecy that is still to be fulfilled whether it's the rapture of the church we call it the blessed hope or Christ's return, those things it's because I've seen God's faithfulness in the past. I still have that faith in him to know that he's going to be faithful in the future as well. Some folks might say, well, that's a little, that's a little, a little shorthanded to treat God that way. But I think God wants to look at scripture that way, to learn, to learn to see his faithfulness.
Speaker 2:One of the things you're talking about that I absolutely love and it just happened to bring it back to mind Cause you're talking about Nehemiah is aware of what Daniel would be writing, and when you look at it, part of the thing that kind of leads to this is Daniel is reminded of a prophecy by Jeremiah about the return in 70 years. So you see that number just popping up immediately. It just shows you how everything's connected. None of it's by accident.
Speaker 3:Exactly Exactly you, how everything's connected. None of it's by accident. Exactly exactly so, anyway. Um, daniel talks about 70 weeks. Um, so what are these 70 weeks? Are they 70 weeks of seven days? Uh, are the? What are they? So we have to kind of go into Scripture and kind of figure this stuff out. Literally, the words should read 77s. Okay, so the word week is retained because we have no other exact equivalent for the Hebrew original, but we treat it as 70 weeks. As we dig into it and we find out these are actually 70 weeks of years, or years of weeks, if you would. I don't know how you want to say it. That makes more sense to you, but it's 70 periods of years 490, for those of you that are good at math, Four hundred and ninety years.
Speaker 3:So we've got a four hundred and ninety year time span that we're looking at. As we start to look back at history, can we determine when this four hundred and ninety year period started? And I'm going to be honest, I'm leaning on a couple of my favorite scholars. I'm leaning on Clarence Larkin and Finnis Dake as I go through this and they actually have two different opinions here. They have two sets of dates and I did this for a reason and we'll show that here towards the end a little bit. So anyway, the starting point of the 70 weeks. We have to kind of nail that down because the starting point is kind of important. The first decree as we see there's three decrees. Well, Larkin's going to talk about four decrees, Okay, and Dake talks about three decrees and we'll get into that too.
Speaker 3:But the first decree was given by Cyrus in BC 536. And we see that in, I think, the book of Ezra, where we see there's a decree to go forward and build and build. There's also a second decree that was issued by Darius around BC 519. It's recorded in Ezra, chapter 6. And then the third decree was a decree by Artaxerxes in around BC 458. And then another one by Artaxerxes Longinus, and that was a new name for me, Longinus. I'd never heard the son of Xerxes called Artaxerxes Longinus. But anyway, this decree was given somewhere around BC 445. And this is the one from Nehemiah 1-8 in the 20th year. But it's important to go back and look through all those decrees because they're all very important. We see in the first decree that there was a mention of the house of the Lord or the temple, but not necessarily the city. Okay, so God is Go ahead.
Speaker 2:No, I was just thinking I had read that recently. One of the things that sticks out it doesn't really talk about Jerusalem as much as it references Judah.
Speaker 3:Exactly, exactly. So. Some would think that this is splitting hairs, but when it comes to prophecy, it's not. God is very specific in his prophecies and all of his words are very important. None of his words are void or have no meaning. So it's always very important to pay attention to what the wording is when you're going back into Scripture and trying to determine what prophecy is and what's being determined as a prophetic fulfillment and whatnot. Let's see the second decree. Let's see if we can do this one without getting too dry here. Let's see if we can do this one without getting too dry here, by that of Darius in 519,.
Speaker 3:It was recorded in Ezra, chapter 6, 1 through 12. Let's see here In that one they're trying to rebuild the temple. They were interfered with in their work and it says they had no authority to do so, and they said they had no authority to do so. But I think we can discern that this was probably not the best time to start the prophetic clock, because there were some things, I think, that were left out of this one as well. This decree was simply a reaffirmation of the decree of cyrus, was all it was. It wasn't this, it wasn't. There's nothing new to it. Uh, let's see then. What did old dake have to say?
Speaker 2:um, yeah, actually there was nothing unique about darius's decree other than it just reaffirmed the original decree by Cyrus. Because it's kind of like some of the stuff you see now not to go back to the days of rebuilding stuff, but you see, like I'm just saying it's a similar concept that you have somebody that's been basically appointed to a government position. It's not a cabinet level post, but you look like with the Doge thing Okay, here's the job, Go do it. Well, where's things at now? It's in court. They don't have the right to do this. Sometimes the courts are saying yes, they are. Sometimes they're saying no, they're not. And that's exactly what's going on with that stoppage, you know, between Cyrus and Darius, and that's what's getting worked out. Is that final decree? Are you going to be able to build or are you not going to be able to build Right? Which is why it's not a good point to start.
Speaker 3:If I were still in the Army, we a lot of times before we were given an operations order, which was our official order to march or our official order to conduct an operation. We were given a warning order first. The WARNO was an abbreviated operations order that basically said hey, this is what we're getting ready to do. Y'all start getting ready. I've got more instruction to receive. That's kind of what the warning order was about. I see that here where there's this kind of a partial decree but it's not the full meal deal here and let's see here the third decree. Let's see that was, uh, I put art of xerxes in my notes, but it's actually xerxes uh. Some uh historians will mix the two names together xerxes or art of xerxes, one, uh, whichever some of it will translate xerxes or Artaxerxes.
Speaker 2:I, whichever Some of it will translate Xerxes as Azarhaus, Azarhaus yep, but this would have been around BC 458.
Speaker 3:Let's see, dake puts this around 452. Around that time frame. This was now in this decree. According to Clarence Larkin, this was simply a letter giving Ezra permission to go up to Jerusalem and take with him some of the priests and Levites. It wasn't necessarily a full-blown decree to go and rebuild the temple and the city a full-blown decree to go and rebuild the temple and the city. So this one fits. We can see why this one doesn't really necessarily meet the entire prophetic fulfillment of the decree. Let's see here In the fourth decree which I found interesting because Dake doesn't talk about a fourth decree.
Speaker 3:I think Dake doesn't necessarily recognize this letter here that Larkin calls a third decree. He doesn't really recognize that letter. Dake is calling the third decree Clarence Larkin's fourth decree. I'm sorry. Anyway, their dates are a little bit off. Clarence Larkin puts this fourth decree of Artaxerxes Langeminus in 445. Dake puts it in 452. I'm sorry, but this is the full-blown decree to return to the city and build. He gives them permission to return to Jerusalem and start building. I think we even talked about this in the last episode. So this was a political and not a religious mission.
Speaker 2:Ezra's was a religious mission. That's like what one of them is calling that third decree. It's basically shoring up the workforce for temple service is what it's doing. It's basically a conscription of labor for worship, whereas Nehemiah is definitely the more political of the two accounts and there is that overlap.
Speaker 3:There's a little bit of overlap there. So if we can consider this decree by Artaxerxes Longaminus there, if we consider that one to be the start of the 490 years, the start of the 70 weeks, then I think we've got a good place to start from. So if we've got a starting point, we have to kind of figure out where's the ending point going to be. Starting point, we have to kind of figure out where's the ending point going to be. And so, as I was looking at my notes and looking back across some things, this is usually called the terminus or the end of the 69 weeks. Because what was important I found in this 70 weeks of Daniel is that there are some divisions of these weeks. There is 69 weeks that's going to be played out, and then there's going to be a halt or a stoppage in the prophetic timeline, and then that break there'll be a break in the prophetic timeline. That 70th week will start up a little bit later in history.
Speaker 2:That's interesting that you mention that, because this is hitting me just now as you're bringing this up. Just like there was that pause in the work in Ezra and the rebuilding of the temple, that's a fulfillment of what Jeremiah prophesied and there was a pause in that. And you're seeing the same thing with Daniel 70 weeks that there's going to be a pause in it before it resumes.
Speaker 3:But we're also going to see too that there is a pause or a time space between the seven weeks and 62 weeks, because the scripture says that there's seven weeks and then there's three score in two weeks to be played out before it goes into the 70th week. So it's actually two divisions or two breaks. There's a break after the seventh week. Uh, we don't know how that, how long that break was. It wasn't very long, it was a brief one.
Speaker 3:But the one at the between the 69th and 70th week is the one that's. That's, uh, probably, um, well, we'll see how long it is here with that, putting the cart before the horse. So if we look back to try to figure out where the end of the 69 weeks is going to be, um, there's a few things that we try to figure out what would be, because the scripture says that the end of the 69 weeks will be cut. You know, messiah would be cut off. So we're trying to figure out what would be the cutting off of Messiah and there's a few different things that uh, oh, clarence Larkin threw out there as different things that could be considered, uh, the cutting off of Messiah, and then he finally settles on one, um, it's not a circumcision.
Speaker 3:It's not. It's not um. I disagree with his, uh, with his assessment, um, but but I see where he, I see why he comes to that point.
Speaker 2:Um, but I see why he comes to that point, so we'll talk about it though. One of the things I like that you're doing, though, is you're bringing up two scholars that were definitely at the time that they were doing the best of what they had Both loved the Lord, and they're coming to some different conclusions, but at the same time, when you look at the dates and all that, they're not that different. They're not. You get what I'm saying. I mean, like you mentioned, one that Larkin's doing and one that Dake's doing, and it's still within like eight to ten years of each other. So that point right there is. To me, that's comforting. That's about like your uh, like your reportables that you would have to do in in military or law enforcement or correction whatever. If they're lining up exactly the same, something's probably fabricated. And the fact that there's those slight variations, but yet the concept is still there, Sure that that. I think that speaks to the but yet the concept is still there. Sure, I think that speaks to the authenticity of the accounts and the studies.
Speaker 3:And these were guys Clarence Larkin and Finnis Date. These were guys who were leading their field at the turn of the 20th century, early 1900s, late 1800s I do believe. So, considering the resources that they had available to them, they're doing pretty good. We've got the internet. We got all the information of the world at our fingertips right now. These guys were doing all this stuff with man going to the library. I guess I don't know how you research everything back then.
Speaker 2:And then you think about since they wrote this and actually when you start studying church history and especially Western church history these guys that late 1800s, early 1900s I call it the pre-Pentecostal period those are some of my favorite guys. Dl Moody you're talking about all the dude that was over in England and liked smoked cigars. Oh, spurgeon, charles Spurgeon you have all these folks. Ew, kenyon Watchman, a coming out of that time period. Yeah, oh, what was the other guy? It was over and around South Africa and stuff and was just basically tilting the windmill.
Speaker 2:John G Lakes you had all these guys that, yeah, they might not have been tongue talkers jumping over the pews. That, yeah, they might not have been tongue talkers jumping over the pews, but, man, they were operating in an element of supernatural gifting and insight. And they're doing all this. You know you mentioned libraries and all this and no Internet. But also think of how much of their work where people go ah, that's nothing, that's nothing, yeah. And work where people go ah, that's nothing, that's not, yeah. And then you find out, oh, wait a minute, there's some dead sea scrolls found in 48. You know, there's. There's these archeological finds that are all of a sudden Sure. They help us to research a little bit better than they did and get a little bit more accurate. But you look at what they were able to do with what they had and it is nothing short of amazing. It's miraculous, and the stuff we're doing, the stuff we find, is confirming what they wrote, and it's interesting too that this is pre-Israel.
Speaker 3:Yeah, too, that this is pre-israel. Uh yeah, this is you know, israel has not. You know, at the time of you know, larkin and spurgeon, moody all those guys um, it's still called palestine.
Speaker 2:It's under the ottoman empire at the time there's not.
Speaker 3:Israel had not come back as a nation, um, so there was a a lot, of, a lot of things that play into that, and I think we're going to try to talk about that a little bit too the importance of context and knowing what's going on at the time, simply because we have a bad habit of reading the Bible, doing our study, with the understanding that we have the entire Bible at our disposal. We have the entire works of Josephus at our disposal for historical reference. We have all of this information, but at the time when the Bible was being written, or when it was just being walked out, it was not the case. The information was not as readily available.
Speaker 2:The same rabbi that was breaking down the years and how that works out. He brought up something interesting, since you're talking about you know they're walking it out. He said the years of the Torah would have began actually with Abraham. He said why? Because Moses didn't receive it and he's breaking down the years, but Abraham, isaac and Jacob and Joseph were walking it out with the Torah in their heart. Right, it's there, before it's ever written down. Jacob and Joseph were walking it out with the Torah in their heart, right, right, it's there, before it's ever written down.
Speaker 3:Yeah, exactly, we want to talk about the Old Testament. The Old Testament started with Abraham on his walk from Ur of the Chaldees. You know when God says, pick up you and your family and let's go? You know when God says, pick up you and your family and let's go, that relationship with God, that's all the beginning of the Old Testament, right there?
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, I was looking back at a verse I'd read and was trying to memorize it for some other things. And I go looking at it and I'm just like you know this, this idea of the Torah being in your heart. When Jeremiah talks about the new covenant, he said this is a covenant I will make with the house of Israel. He, he, he says not going to be like the covenant I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand out of the land of Egypt, out of the land of bondage. Basically, he says this is a covenant I will put my teachings in their breasts and in their hearts. I will write it, which is exactly what he did with Abraham Exactly, Exactly.
Speaker 2:So we're also seeing this thing, which is interesting, as we progress, and I don't want to divert too far from the 70 weeks, but you see, this thing of just like there's this idea of what happens on the cross is a restoration to the garden. The culmination brings it back to the original intent. I think we're going to see a little bit of that also in the 70 weeks.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so, as we look to try to find an end or the terminus of the 69 weeks, there's a few things that folks have pointed at that might suggest you know this was the end of the 69 weeks. The birth of Christ, maybe his baptism, maybe the triumphal entry, those are some of the things that Clarence Larkin laid down which I thought was interesting. He really didn't get into the crucifixion being the, the cutting off of Messiah. Dake does, though. Anyway, as we go back in, we'll start looking at we've got. I love the way Larkin does this. It's very, very much like the Army's problem-solving guide, or eight steps to problem-solving. He lays out a couple probable courses of action and then he starts analyzing these courses of action to try to whittle them down. So he picks out a few things and he starts, you know, just kind of chopping away at them. So he looks at the few things and he starts you know it's kind of chopping away at him. So he looks at the birth of Christ and says is this, can we consider this as the end of the 69 weeks? You know which? I had a hard time getting through this part of it because I think Larkin is just a lot smarter than I am, but anyway. He mentions that if Gabriel was sent to Daniel to announce the 70 weeks, what more suitable person could there be than Gabriel to announce the expiration of the 69 weeks and the birth of Messiah the prince? Okay, I can understand that. So we find that the fullness of time is spoken of in Galatians 4.4, and the 70 weeks had come for the appearance of Messiah the Prince. Gabriel appeared to Mary and said Fear not, mary, for thou hast found favor with God and behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a son and shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great and shall be called the Son of the Highest and the Lord. God shall give unto him the throne of his father David, and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end. That's in Luke, chapter 1, 30 through 33. So we start whittling that down a little bit. We can see that Gabriel didn't announce to Mary or the angels that Jesus was the Messiah. He did announce that he was to have the throne of his father, david, and therefore he was to be a prince of the house of David, to have the throne of his father David, and therefore, he was to be a prince of the house of David, but the wise men called him a king and he was so crucified, still a prince. So Larkin starts running down this line of you know, was he announced as a prince? And because he wasn't announced a prince in this particular instance, he crosses him off the list there and says now this is probably not where the cutoff is going to be because he's not really announced as a prince. So I guess I can understand it.
Speaker 3:Clarence Larkin gets really, really meticulous as he starts going into some of this stuff. So then he turns his attention to his baptism. So this is probably the first public event in Jesus' life. It was his baptism at the age of 30. You got, you know the Holy Spirit and God the Father, the Father saying this is my beloved Son, in whom I'm well pleased. All these things going on, let's see here. But then, in the grand scheme of things, clarence Larkin crosses this one off the list as well. Clarence Larkin crosses this one off the list as well simply because after his baptism, basically, jesus starts avoiding all public recognition. He even tells his disciples that they should not make him known when he starts talking about being Messiah and whatnot, that they should not make him known when he starts talking about being Messiah and whatnot. So it seems that this would not be his coming as the prince, his public announcement and everything, if he's telling his disciples not to tell everybody about me. So I get that one.
Speaker 3:The triumphal entry. This is the one. I could see Clarence Larkin why he came to this assumption here, but I still don't. I didn't get it. Let's see here.
Speaker 3:The most probable event in Christ's life that Clarence Larkin could come up with was the triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. He was so meticulous as to give us the date April 2nd AD 30. So if you were able to follow the calendar back, you can go figure out April 2nd AD 30. And that was just a few days before its crucifixion. That was recorded in all four Gospels. He decided that this was the point that Jesus is announcing his quote-unquote Messiahship. I think some of the things that Larkin was able to come up with here was that he came in riding on the foal of an ass. He was very meticulous on which one to pick. Jesus had a strong hand on picking this particular day, how he came into the city, all these things. It's almost like he really tried to make sure that he was seen on this day. This was Larkin's train of thought on why the triumphal entry was his announcement as Messiah. So I get it announcement as Messiah.
Speaker 2:So I get it.
Speaker 3:I can definitely see where he got that, but I still go with Finnis Dake. Finnis Dake leads more towards the crucifixion and the crucifixion is only a few days afterwards. So you know he's not far off. But Dick points towards the crucifixion because not only is it an announcement, but it's also the point which he's cut off. It's the point where Jesus is, the Messiah is taken away from us as well on the cross there. So you know, I think, like I said, there's only a couple of days difference there. I don't think we're hurt at all by going with either one. I think we could probably go with either one and be just fine there.
Speaker 2:Well, the thing is, when you get to that, get to that splitting errors, because it's really the same event, you know, it's the thing that sets it in sequence. All right, yep that that. What that brings to mind is there's two things, and you already mentioned one of them. In matthew 21, 9. Matthew 21, 9, you're talking about a reference as a prince. It says the multitudes that went before him. This is during the triumphal entry, and that followed crying, saying Hosanna to the son of David, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest. Hosanna to the son of David is referring as a prince. He's a prince to be a king. And then you have what was already mentioned with Herod. Not with Herod, but with Pilate Are you a king?
Speaker 3:Exactly. So we put all that together and we can see where the triumphal entry could be his announcement, his announcement as Messiah hey everybody.
Speaker 2:Thanks for listening. We're going to continue this next week on 70 weeks, part 2. You can always check us out at wofoorg or subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Audible, or check out our videos on YouTube. Remember folks if you're going to grow, you've got to woefoyo. Get in the work for yourself.