Introduction
One of the most amazing and misunderstood prophecies in the Bible is found in Daniel 9:24-27 which is known as the 70 weeks of Daniel. There are so many different interpretations of this prophecy that many have concluded that it cannot be understood. But that is just not true. There is no other prophecy of scripture that so perfectly foretells the first coming of Christ thus proving Jesus is the Messiah. It not only reveals the year of His baptism when He began His ministry but also the year He was crucified at Calvary. Non Messianic Jews would realize they missed the coming of the Messiah if they understood this prophecy but they refuse to read this passage believing it is cursed. It also very significantly verifies the starting date for Daniel's 2300 day prophecy which is the longest in the Bible. (Daniel 8:14)
This Bible prophecy is not only one of the most misunderstood but is also one of the most abused and no doubt because it is also one of the most important. For example: It either supposedly foretells the coming of antichrist and 7 years of tribulation or the coming of the Messiah and His 3.5 year ministry followed by another 3.5 years (7 years total) where the Gospel still went exclusively to the Jews and ended with the stoning of Stephen.
The origin of the first view was the Protestant Reformation where many began pointing the finger at the Catholic Church saying they were the Biblical antichrist. The Papal Church responded with what is known as the Counter Reformation where they commissioned two Spanish Jesuits in the Council of Trent (1545–1563) to come up with a solution to take the attention of them being labeled antichrist. One Jesuit named Luis De Alcazar stood up and said that he could write false doctrine stating that it was Nero and hence put antichrist in the past before the Catholic Church began its 1260 year reign as Church and State known as the dark ages.
This view never really took hold but another Spanish Jesuit named Francisco Ribera said that he could put antichrist into the future, and so began to consider how he could cleverly manipulate scripture to accomplish this task. He chose the 70 weeks of Daniel prophecy and wrote false doctrine that stated the seventieth and final week of this prophecy is cut off and placed at 
some unknown future time period before the second coming of Christ. When Bible prophecy is symbolic the well known day for a year rule applies so this final week is actually seven years and was claimed to be seven years of tribulation where the antichrist would rebuild the Jewish temple and sit in this temple claiming to be God. This also entailed abusing the true meaning of 2 Thessalonians 2:4. The Greek word used for temple in this verse is Nahos and Paul reveals in other verses he wrote that we are now the temple as in the Church and what he is referring to in this verse. How easy it is to manipulate scripture if one does not study the Bible.
So Daniel 9:27 is where the supposed seven years of tribulation originated from that so many have heard about and just blindly believe to be true. But this was manufactured prophecy written with the sole purpose of deceiving Christians to the real identity of antichrist. The abuse of scripture does not get much worse when you attribute the baptism and crucifixion of Christ and instead apply it to some fictional antichrist. This is where the preterism and futurism views originated from and are both manufactured and hence not true to history or the truth in the Bible. So why is Daniel's 70 week prophecy so misinterpreted? As you have probably already realized and as per most confusion that revolves around the Word of God, it can only be attributed to our adversary due to the importance and significance of this prophecy.
The writings of Ribera were not initially very effective as their origin and intent was known at the time. But the passing of 300 years eventually allowed Satan to start spreading these false doctrines. He began with a young Scottish Girl in 1830 called Margaret McDonald who claimed to have visions. Edward Irving (1792-1834) who was her Presbyterian pastor helped promote her vision and John Nelson Darby (1800-1882) modified her views and promoted them as his own. Darby greatly influenced Cyrus Ingerson Scofield (1843-1921) who incorporated his views into the notes of his Scofield Reference Bible. From there it spread to Hal Lindsey who favored the Scofield Bible and incorporated Scofield's notes into his own book “The Late Great Planet Earth.” It was then primarily Jerry Jenkins and Tim LaHaye who finished the job with their fictional “Left Behind” series. Christians today watch and read the Left Behind series as if it is Biblical truth instead of reading what the Bible says. As a result it has spread so pervasively that most of the world believes it is true. And all of this from the hand of a Spanish Jesuit writing false prophecy that has now spread worldwide with the aid of our adversary.
When it comes to the dates involved with this prophecy, I discovered that most people had incorrect and conflicting dates. Most had forgotten to count year zero or failed to allow for inclusive years when calculating the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar. (Luke 3:1) Many chose not to use this invaluable historical information because they could not reconcile the starting date with the fifteenth year. Others who did use this historical information apparently decided they must have had the wrong starting date and so adjusted it to make the other dates fit which is not sound exegesis by any means. And yet others claimed their dates were correct but could not reconcile their starting date with their end date. This is because they all overlooked an important fact in obtaining the correct starting date for the reign of Tiberius Caesar and hence came up with a date that was either more or less than 70 weeks.
This document was considered worthy for inclusion as a supplemental topic note file for a Bible software program called e-Sword. The following page is the original and unedited document as it was used in this software which provides very detailed and accurate information on Daniel's 70 weeks and reveals the truth on this prophecy while proving all dates.
Please continue with the 70 weeks of Daniel - Page 2
