The United Nations recently announced that they need “7 Years of Accelerated, Transformative Action to Achieve SDGs.” The SDGs are the 17 “Sustainable Development Goals” that the U.N. put in place eight years ago through which they intend to establish a one-world government.
Below is a quote from the U.N.’s website regarding the upcoming summit during which they hope the leaders of the world will commit to a seven-year initiative to achieve all their goals: “The SDG Summit, in September 2023, must signal a genuine turning point. It must mobilize the political commitment and breakthroughs our world desperately needs. It must deliver a rescue plan for people and planet.”
At the center of this rescue plan, heads of state and government must recommit to seven years of accelerated, sustained and transformative action, both nationally and internationally, to deliver on the promise of the SDGs. Leaders can show their resolve by adopting an ambitious and forward-looking political declaration at the SDG Summit and presenting global and national commitments for SDG transformation.
Is the fact that the globalists of our day are thinking in terms of “seven years” prophetically significant?
Those who believe that the 70 weeks of Daniel 9:24-27 remain relevant for our day would answer “yes.” They believe that the last week of seven years, as the prophet describes in 9:27, awaits a future fulfillment.
Those that deny the restoration of a kingdom for Israel won’t place any prophetic significance in the U.N.’s seven-year plan. They claim that Daniel’s prophecy of 70 weeks is no longer relevant because the church is now God’s kingdom on Earth and thus there’s no seven-year Tribulation followed by Jesus’ 1,000-year reign described in Revelation 20:1-10.
Which position aligns with the words of Scripture? Let’s examine the evidence …
Have God’s Purposes for the 70 Weeks of Daniel Been Fulfilled?
In Daniel 9:24, the Lord revealed all He intended to accomplish through His “people,” the Israelites, and His “holy city,” Jerusalem, during the 70 weeks:
“Seventy 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 prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.”
Has God achieved all His purposes for His people and city during this extended time? No. He has not. The Lord has not yet brought “everlasting righteousness” to the world. Yes. Jesus did atone for our sins upon the cross, making “reconciliation for iniquity.” However, His purposes for the 70 weeks remain incomplete. God has not accomplished all these things through Israel and, more specifically, through Jesus, His Son.
Because some would argue that the Lord has brought “everlasting righteousness” to the world in a spiritual sense through the church, we must continue to examine the words of Daniel’s prophecy.
What Will Happen During the 70th Week?
Daniel 9:27 tells us that at the midpoint of the last week, a future prince will desecrate a Jewish temple.
“And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he 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.”
Has this defilement already happened, or does it await a future fulfillment? Some say that a Greek ruler named Antiochus Epiphanes fulfilled this prophecy on Sept. 6, 171 BC when he offered a pig as a sacrifice on the altar of the temple. But was this a precursor to Daniel 9:27 or its fulfillment?
Those who have calculated the time of the first 69 weeks of Daniel’s prophecy discover that this time period ended on the exact same day that Jesus’ rode triumphantly into Jerusalem, one week before He was “cut off,” fulfilling the words of Daniel 9:26. It’s illogical to say that the 70th week occurred before the previous 69; that’s similar to saying the number 12 comes before the number five.
Secondly, and most importantly, the Lord Himself said that Daniel’s 70th week remained unfulfilled in His day, 200 years after Antiochus defiled the Jewish temple.
Jesus Talking About the End of the Age
Jesus, in Matthew 24:15, referred to the fulfillment of Daniel 9:27 as a future event:
“When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand).”
When asked about the end of the age and His return to the Earth, Jesus’ mentioned Daniel’s prophecy of the desecration of the temple as a sign of these things.
In AD 70, a Roman general named Titus destroyed the second Jewish temple along with much of Jerusalem. This set off a persecution of the Jewish populace that resulted in the deaths of a great many. A great many pastors and Christian teachers/writers today claim that Titus fulfilled Daniel’s 70th week as well as Jesus’ words in Matthew 24:15-20 at this time.
However, is it credible to say that Titus fulfilled Daniel’s prophecy of the 70th week? It’s not. It’s impossible that Titus could’ve been the desolator of the temple during the 70th week of Daniel because of what the Apostle Paul said about him.
Jesus Will Destroy the Desolator of the Temple at His Second Coming
In 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4, Paul identifies the one who will desecrate the temple as the “man of lawlessness,” the one we refer to today as the “antichrist.”
“Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.”
The apostle tells us that the future desolator will blaspheme the Lord, sit in the “temple of God,” and “proclaim himself to be God.” This has to be the guy that the prophet talked about in Daniel 9:27 and that Jesus referred to in Matthew 24:15. Who else could it be?
Paul then adds one detail about the one that will commit Daniel’s “abomination of desolation” at the halfway point of the 70th week:
“And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming” (2 Thessalonians 2:8).
Jesus Himself will kill the future prince that desecrates the temple at His Second Coming.
Unless one is prepared to argue that Jesus returned to the Earth in AD 70 and killed the Roman general at that time, one cannot say that Titus fulfilled Daniel’s prophecy.
If the words of Scripture matter, the events of Daniel 9:27 can’t reach fulfillment until the time just before the Second Coming because the Bible tells us that at His return, Jesus will kill the desolator of the temple.
The Apostle John Witnessed the Desolator’s Future Destruction
Writing in about AD 95, John tells us that the coming beast, whom we identify as the antichrist, will open its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling (Revelation 13:6). This is the guy of Daniel’s prophecy (9:27) as well as the one Jesus referred to Matthew 24:15. He also must be that wicked man of 2 Thessalonians 2.
In Revelation 19:19-20, John provides an eyewitness account of the destruction of this future beast, the very one who will desecrate the Jewish temple at the midpoint of Daniel’s 70th week:
“And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse and against his army. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast and them that worshiped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.”
Just as the Apostle Paul prophesied in 2 Thessalonians 2:8, Jesus will destroy the “desolator” of Daniel 9:27 at His Second Coming.
The 70th week can’t be fulfilled until there’s again a temple in Jerusalem, the antichrist defiles it and Jesus kills its desolator.
The future Desecration of the Temple
Irenaeus, an early church leader, bishop in Lyons, France, and prominent theologian, wrote Against Heresies in AD 180 to combat the spread of Gnosticism. He was born in Smyrna and received his training in the faith from Polycarp, whom the Apostle John discipled.
In Against Heresies, book 5, chapter 30, section 4, Irenaeus wrote:
“But when the antichrist shall have devastated all things in this world, he will reign for three years and six months, and sit in the temple in Jerusalem; and then the Lord will come from heaven in the clouds, in the glory of the Father, sending this man and those who follow him into the lake of fire; but bringing in for the righteous times of the kingdom…”
Although Irenaeus’ words are not Scripture, it’s highly significant that a respected second-century theologian believed there would be a third temple in Jerusalem in which the future antichrist would sit and defile.
What’s most relevant for our discussion is that Irenaeus wrote these things at a time when both Israel and a temple in Jerusalem didn’t exist.
A Future 70th Week of Daniel
Let’s put together the biblical evidence for placing the desecration of the third temple in the future:
- Daniel predicted that a coming prince would put an end to temple sacrifices and commit abominations at the temple at the halfway point of the 70th week of His prophecy (Daniel 9:26-27).
- Jesus referred to Daniel’s desecration of the temple and placed it at the end of the age, as a sign of His return to the Earth (Matthew 24:3, 15).
- The Apostle Paul said that the Lord Himself will kill the desecrator of the temple at His Second Coming (2 Thessalonians 2:3-8).
- Writing in AD 95, the Apostle John wrote about a future “beast” who would blaspheme God and His dwelling, the temple (Revelation 13:6).
- John witnessed the destruction of this beast, the antichrist, as the Lord allowed the apostle to see events related to His Second Coming (Rev. 19:20).
- Since a key event in Daniel’s 70th week of years has not yet occurred, the entire week must also await a future fulfillment.
- Since it’s true that the entire 70th week of Daniel awaits a future fulfillment, then God’s purposes for the nation of Israel and Jerusalem must also remain in effect.
So is the U.N.’s seven-year initiative prophetically significant? Yes! We can say that it’s relevant that the globalists of our day are thinking in terms of a seven-year commitment to their objectives because there’s an unfulfilled Bible prophecy of seven years during which time the Lord will complete His purposes for Daniel’s 70 weeks of years. We refer to this as the Tribulation during which time the Lord will turn His focus again to Israel and bring a remnant of its people to repentance at the end of this time.
The fact that the elite powerbrokers of our day are thinking in terms of a seven-year period is something we can’t ignore.
Please know that I’m not predicting the Lord will return for us this year with the antichrist using the September U.N. meeting to put in place the seven-year covenant of Daniel 9:27.
I realize we might not be that close to the Rapture, but what if we are? What if Jesus comes for us today, this week, this summer?
Are you ready?
