Giving Context Part 2

A. Luke 17

²⁰Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation,²¹nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God iswithin you” (Gk. eimi entos humon; NIV/NKJV/KJV – “is within you”; NRSV/NLT – “is among you”; ESV – “in the midst of you”; NASB – “in your midst”; the “you” is plural).²²Then he said to his disciples, “The time is coming when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, but you will not see it.²³Men will tell you, ‘There he is!’ or ‘Here he is!’ Do not go running off after them.²⁴For the Son of Man in his day will be like the lightning, which flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the other.²⁵But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.²⁶“Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man…(^NIVLk. 17:20-26).

• But we know where this man is from (Gk. eimi, “comes from” ESV/NLT); when the Christ comes, no one will know where he is from (Gk. eimi, “comes from” ESV/NLT).”28 Then Jesus, still teaching in the temple courts, cried out, “Yes, you know me, and you know where I am from (Gk. eimi, “come from” ESV/NLT). I am not here on my own, but he who sent me is true. You do not know him, 29 but I know him because I am from (Gk. eimi, “come from” ESV/NLT) him and he sent me.” (^NIVJohn 7:27-29)
• The kingdom of God does not come with your observation, 21 nor will people say,’Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God comes into your midst.” (^Harrigan17:20-21[1])

B. Jesus contrasting His Second Coming at the end of the age with false Messianic movements of the first century

²⁶“So if anyone tells you, ‘There he is, out in thedesert,’ (NASB/ESV – “wilderness”)do not go out; or, ‘Here he is, in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it.²⁷For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. (^NIVMt. 24:26-27)

³⁷As the soldiers were about to take Paul into the barracks, he asked the commander, “May I say something to you?” “Do you speak Greek?” he replied.³⁸“Aren’t you the Egyptian who started a revolt and led four thousand terrorists out into the desert some time ago?”³⁹Paul answered, “I am a Jew, from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no ordinary city. Please let me speak to the people.” (^NIVAc. 21:37-39)

³⁵Then he addressed them: “Men of Israel, consider carefully what you intend to do to these men.³⁶Some time agoTheudas appeared,claiming to be somebody(a prophet, or the Messiah), andabout four hundred men rallied to him. He waskilled, all his followers were dispersed, and it all came to nothing.³⁷After him,Judas the Galilean appeared in the days of the census and led a band of people in revolt.He too was killed, and all his followers were scattered.³⁸Therefore, in the present case I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail.³⁹But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.” (^NIVAc. 5:35-39).

¹³Pilate called together the chief priests, the rulers and the people,¹⁴and said to them, “You brought me this manas one who was inciting the people to rebellion. I have examined him in your presence and have found no basis for your charges against him. (^NIVLk. 23:13-14)

¹⁸With one voice they cried out, “Away with this man! Release Barabbas to us!”¹⁹(Barabbas hadbeen thrown into prison for an insurrection in the city, and for murder.) (Lk. 23:18-19)

C. Examples from Josephus

• “(261) But there was an Egyptian false prophet that did the Jews more mischief than the former; for he was a cheat, and pretended to be a prophet also, and got together thirty thousand men that were deluded by him; (262) these he led round about from the wilderness to the mount which was called the Mount of Olives, and was ready to break into Jerusalem by force from that place; and if he could but once conquer the Roman garrison and the people, he intended to domineer over them by the assistance of those guards of his that were to break into the city with him, (263) but Felix prevented his attempt, and met him with his Roman soldiers, while all the people assisted him in his attack upon them, insomuch that, when it came to a battle, the Egyptian ran away, with a few others, while the greatest part of those that were with him were either destroyed or taken alive; but the rest of the multitude were dispersed every one to their own homes and there concealed themselves.”[2]
• “(97) Now it came to pass, while Fadus was procurator of Judea, that a certain magician, whose name was Theudas [different Theudas from the one in Acts 5:36-37], persuaded a great part of the people to take their effects with them, and follow him to the river Jordan; for he told them he was a prophet, and that he would, by his own command, divide the river, and afford them an easy passage over it; (98) and many were deluded by his words. However, Fadus did not permit them to make any advantage of his wild attempt, but sent a troop of horsemen out against them; who, falling upon them unexpectedly, slew many of them and took many of them alive. They also took Theudas alive, and cut off his head, and carried it to Jerusalem. (99) This was what befell the Jews in the time of Cuspius Fadus’s government.^[3]
• “5. (160) Now, as for the affairs of the Jews, they grew worse and worse continually; for the country was again filled with robbers and impostors, who deluded the multitude….6. (167) These works, that were done by the robbers, filled the city with all sorts of impiety. And now these impostors and deceivers persuaded the multitude to follow them into the wilderness, (168) and pretended that they would exhibit manifest wonders and signs, that should be performed by the providence of God. And many that were prevailed on by them suffered the punishments of their folly; for Felix brought them back, and then punished them. (169) Moreover, there came out of Egypt [cf. Ac. 21:38] about this time to Jerusalem, one that said he was a prophet, and advised the multitude of the common people to go along with him to the Mount of Olives, as it was called, which lay over against the city, and at the distance of five furlongs. (170) He said farther, that he would show them from hence, how, at his command, the walls of Jerusalem would fall down; and he promised that he would procure them an entrance into the city through those walls, when they were fallen down. (171) Now when Felix was informed of these things, he ordered his soldiers to take their weapons, and came against them with a great number of horsemen and footmen, from Jerusalem, and attacked the Egyptian and the people that were with him. He also slew four hundred of them, and took two hundred alive. (172) But the Egyptian himself escaped out of the fight, but did not appear any more. And again the robbers stirred up the people to make war with the Romans, and said they ought not to obey them at all; and when any persons would not comply with them, they set fire to their villages, and plundered them.^[4]
• “2. (281) And now the Romans, judging that it was in vain to spare what was round about the holy house, burnt all those places, as also the remains of the cloisters, and the gates, two excepted; the one on the east side, and the other on the south; both which, however, they burnt afterward. (282) They also burnt down the treasury chambers, in which was an immense quantity of money, and an immense number of garments, and other precious goods, there reposited; and to speak all in a few words, there it was that the entire riches of the Jews were heaped up together, while the rich people had there built themselves chambers [to contain such furniture]. (283) The soldiers also came to the rest of the cloisters that were in the outer [court of the] temple, whither the women and children, and a great mixed multitude of the people fed, in number about six thousand. (284) But before Caesar had determined anything about these people, or given the commanders any orders relating to them, the soldiers were in such a rage, that they set the cloister on fire; by which means it came to pass that some of these were destroyed by throwing themselves down headlong, and some were burnt in the cloisters themselves. Nor did any one of them escape with his life. (285) A false prophet was the occasion of these people’s destruction, who had made a public proclamation in the city that very day, that God commanded them to get up upon the temple, and that there they should receive miraculous signs of their deliverance. (286) Now, there was then a great number of false prophets suborned by the tyrants to impose upon the people, who denounced this to them, that they should wait for deliverance from God: and this was in order to keep them from deserting, and that they might be buoyed up above fear and care by such hopes. (287) Now, a man that is in adversity does easily comply with such promises; for when a such a seducer makes him believe that he shall be delivered from those miseries which oppress him, then it is that the patient is full of hopes of such deliverance.^[5]
• “3. (288) Thus were the miserable people persuaded by these deceivers, and such as belied God himself; while they did not attend, nor give credit, to the signs that were so evident and did so plainly foretell their future desolation; but, like men infatuated, without either eyes to see, or minds to consider, did not regard the denunciations that God made to them. (289) Thus there was a star resembling a sword, which stood over the city, and a comet, that continued a whole year. (290) Thus also, before the Jews’ rebellion, and before those commotions which preceded the war, when the people were come in great crowds to the feast of unleavened bread, on the eighth day of the month Xanthicus [Nisan], and at the ninth hour of the night, so great a light shone round the altar and the holy house, that it appeared to be bright day time; which light lasted for half an hour.”^[6]
• Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church – “Under the last governors, Felix, Festus, Albinus, and Florus, moral corruption and the dissolution of all social ties, but at the same time the oppressiveness of the Roman yoke, increased every year. After the accession of Felix, assassins, called “Sicarians” (from sica, a dagger), armed with daggers and purchasable for any crime, endangering safety in city and country, roamed over Palestine. Besides this, the party spirit among the Jews themselves, and their hatred of their heathen oppressors, rose to the most insolent political and religious fanaticism, and was continually inflamed by false prophets and Messiahs, one of whom, for example, according to Josephus, drew after him thirty thousand men. Thus came to pass what our Lord had predicted: ‘There shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall lead many astray.’”^[7]

D. The kingdom of God comes into the midst of Israel in power from the heavens above when the Messiah returns

²⁰Once, having been asked by the Phariseeswhen the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The kingdom of Goddoes not come with your careful observation(i.e. they were observing the sky for the Day of the Lord signs in their generation, but they awaited a future one, cf. vs. 25; also, they were observing the desert, keeping their eye out for the Messiah),²¹norwill people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ becausethe kingdom of God comes into your midst(from above, from the heavens, cf. vv. 23-24).²²Then he said to his disciples, “The time is coming when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man,but you will not see it.²³Men will tell you, ‘There he is!’ or ‘Here he is!’Do not go running off after them.²⁴For the Son of Manin his daywill belike the lightning, which flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the other.²⁵But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.

⁴This is what the Lord says to me: “As a lion growls, a great lion over his prey— and though a whole band of shepherds is called together against him, he is not frightened by their shouts or disturbed by their clamor—so the Lord Almighty will come downto do battle on Mount Zion and on its heights.⁵Like birds hovering overhead, the Lord Almighty will shield Jerusalem; he willshield itanddeliver it, he will ‘pass over’ it and will rescue it.”⁶Return to him you have so greatly revolted against, O Israelites.⁷For in that day every one of you will reject the idols of silver and gold your sinful hands have made.⁸“Assyria will fall by a sword that is not of man;a sword, not of mortals, will devour them(the Anti-Christ armies, cf. Mic. 5, Is. 10). They will flee before the sword and their young men will be put to forced labor. (^NIVIs. 31:4-8)

¹⁴Thenthe Lord will appear over them;his arrow will flash like lightning.The Sovereign Lord will sound the trumpet; he will march in the storms of the south,¹⁵and the Lord Almighty will shield them. They will destroy and overcome with slingstones. They will drink and roar as with wine; they will be full like a bowl used for sprinkling the corners of the altar.¹⁶The Lord their God will save them on that day as the flock of his people. They will sparkle in his land like jewels in a crown.¹⁷How attractive and beautiful they will be! Grain will make the young men thrive, and new wine the young women. (^NIVZech. 9:14-17)

A. Before working through the Olivet Discourse, it is also important to have a clear grasp of some key passages in the Book of Daniel related to something called “the abomination of desolation.”

B. Daniel 9 Context

¹In the first year of Darius son of Xerxes (a Mede by descent), who was made ruler over the Babylonian kingdom—²in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures, according to the word of the Lord given to Jeremiah the prophet,that the desolation(Zion “empty” of her sons)of Jerusalem would last seventy years.³So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes.⁴I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed: “O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with all who love him and obey his commands,⁵we have sinned and done wrong.We have been wicked and have rebelled; we have turned away from your commands and laws(in the Torah).⁶We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.⁷“Lord, you are righteous, but this day we are covered with shame—the men of Judah and people of Jerusalem and all Israel, both near and far, in all the countries where you have scattered us because of our unfaithfulness to you.⁸O Lord, we and our kings, our princes and our fathers are covered with shame because we have sinned against you.⁹The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him;¹⁰we have not obeyed the Lord our God or kept the laws he gave us through his servants the prophets.¹¹All Israel has transgressed your law and turned away, refusing to obey you.“Therefore the curses and sworn judgments written in the Law of Moses(e.g. Deut. 28:15-68), the servant of God, have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against you.¹²You have fulfilled the words spoken against us and against our rulers by bringing upon us great disaster.Under the whole heaven nothing has ever been done like what has been done to Jerusalem.¹³Just as it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us, yet we have not sought the favor of the Lord our God by turning from our sins and giving attention to your truth.¹⁴The Lord did not hesitate to bring the disaster upon us, for the Lord our God is righteous in everything he does; yet we have not obeyed him.¹⁵“Now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of Egypt with a mighty hand and who made for yourself a name that endures to this day, we have sinned, we have done wrong.¹⁶O Lord, in keeping with all your righteous acts,turn away your anger and your wrath from Jerusalem, your city, your holy hill.Our sins and the iniquities of our fathers have made Jerusalem and your people an object of scorn to all those around us.¹⁷“Now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of your servant. For your sake,O Lord, look with favor on your desolate sanctuary.¹⁸Give ear, O God, and hear; open your eyes and seethe desolation of the city that bears your Name(note that desolate primarily is referring to the fact that Zion is not inhabited by her children. This was initially caused by her destruction, but the lament is for the entire period where her children are absent). We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy.¹⁹O Lord, listen! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, hear and act! For your sake, O my God, do not delay, becauseyour city and your people bear your Name.” (^NIVDan. 9:1-16)

C. Daniel 9 Prophetic Timeline

²⁰While I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel and making my request to the Lord my God for his holy hill—²¹while I was still in prayer, Gabriel, the man I had seen in the earlier vision, came to me in swift flight about the time of the evening sacrifice.²²He instructed me and said to me, “Daniel, I have now come to give you insight and understanding.²³As soon as you began to pray, an answer was given, which I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed. Therefore, consider the message and understand the vision:²⁴“Seventy ‘sevens’(NIV note/most other translations – “weeks”; weeks of years[1]; 7 heptads of years=1 Jubilee Cycle) are decreed for your people and your holy cityto finish transgression, toput an end to sin,to atone for wickedness, tobring in everlasting righteousness,to seal up vision and prophecy(cf. 1 Cor. 13:8, 12) andto anoint the most holy.²⁵“Know and understand this: Fromthe issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem(under Cyrus[2]Is. 44:28) untilthe Anointed One,the ruler, comes, there will beseven ‘sevens,’ andsixty-two ‘sevens.’ It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble.

• ¹⁸“ ‘If after all this you will not listen to me,I will punish you for your sins seven times over.¹⁹I will break down your stubborn pride and make the sky above you like iron and the ground beneath you like bronze.²⁰Your strength will be spent in vain, because your soil will not yield its crops, nor will the trees of the land yield their fruit.²¹“ ‘If you remain hostile toward me and refuse to listen to me, I will multiply your afflictions seven times over, as your sins deserve.²²I will send wild animals against you, and they will rob you of your children, destroy your cattle and make you so few in number that your roads will be deserted.²³“ ‘If in spite of these things you do not accept my correction but continue to be hostile toward me,²⁴I myself will be hostile toward you and will afflict you for your sins seven times over.²⁵And I will bring the sword upon you to avenge the breaking of the covenant. When you withdraw into your cities, I will send a plague among you, and you will be given into enemy hands. (^NIVLev. 26:18-25)
• ⁸“ ‘Count off seven sabbaths of years—seven times seven years—so that the seven sabbaths of years amount to a period of forty-nine years.⁹Then have the trumpet sounded everywhere on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement sound the trumpet throughout your land.¹⁰Consecratethe fiftieth yearandproclaim libertythroughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you; each one of you is to return to his family property and each to his own clan.¹¹The fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you; do not sow and do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the untended vines. …¹³“ ‘In this Year of Jubilee everyone is to return to his own property. …³⁹“ ‘If one of your countrymen becomes poor among you and sells himself to you, do not make him work as a slave.⁴⁰He is to be treated as a hired worker or a temporary resident among you;he is to work for you until the Year of Jubilee.⁴¹Then he and his children are to be released, and he will go back to his own clan and to the property of his forefathers.⁴²Because the Israelites are my servants, whom I brought out of Egypt, they must not be sold as slaves. (^NIVLev. 25:8-11, 13, 39)

D. Daniel 9:26-27 Masoretic Text and the Septuagint (LXX)

“The Sopherim (from Hebrew meaning “scribes”) were the Jewish scholars and custodians of the Old Testament text between the fifth and the third centuries b.c. whose responsibility it was to standardize and preserve it. They were followed by the Zugoth (“pairs” of textual scholars) in the second and first centuries b.c. The third group were Tannaim (“repeaters” or “teachers”),whose work extended to a.d. 200. The work of Tannaim can be found in the Midrash (“textual interpretation”), Tosefta (“addition”), and Talmud (“instruction”), which latter is divided into Mishnah (“repetitions”) and Gemara (“the matter to be learned”). The Talmud gradually was written between a.d. 100 and 500. Between a.d. 500 and 950 the Masoretes added the vowel pointings and pronunciation marks to the consonantal Hebrew text received from the Sopherim, on the basis of the Masora (“tradition”) that had been handed down to them. The Masoretes were scribes who codified and wrote down the oral criticisms and remarks on the Hebrew text. There were two major schools or centers of Masoretic activity, each largely independent of the other, the Babylonian and the Palestinian. The most famous Masoretes were the Jewish scholars living in Tiberias in Galilee, Moses ben Asher (with his son Aaron) and Moses ben Naphtali, in the late ninth and tenth centuries a.d. The ben Asher text is the standard text for the Hebrew Bible today as best represented by Codex Leningradensis B 19A (L) and the Aleppo Codex.”[3]

E. Daniel 9:26-27 LXX (Theodotion and Old Greek)

“The lxx translations are valuable for four major reasons among others: (1) they are a witness to the influence of Hellenism on Judaism both in the Diaspora and in Palestine; (2) they form a linguistic bridgehead between the theological vocabulary of the OT and that of the NT; (3) they were the translations in which the church Fathers read their OT in the centuries when they were building their formal theologies; (4) they are an important part of the evidence for the reconstruction of the history of the text of the Heb. OT. The translators undoubtedly sometimes had before them a Heb. text superior to the MT; and the NT itself sometimes (e.g. in Heb. 11:21 follows the lxx rather than the MT. Moreover the Dead Sea Scrolls have shown us that the Lxx’s disagreements with the MT are more often based on non-MT-type Heb. Mss than some scholars had previously thought. On the other hand the fact that some ancient Heb. ms agrees with the lxx against the MT, does not necessarily mean that ms automatically represents the original better than the MT does. The matter still has to be decided by the ordinary canons of textual criticism.”[4]

“Theodotion (Θεοδοτίων, gen.: Θεοδοτίωνος; d. ca. AD 200) was aHellenistic Jewish scholar, perhaps working inEphesus, who in ca. AD 150 translated theHebrew BibleintoGreek. Whether he was revising theSeptuagint, or was working from Hebrew manuscripts that represented a parallel tradition that has not survived, is debated. In the 2nd century Theodotion’s text was quoted in theShepherd of Hermasand in the Christian apologistJustin Martyr‘s Trypho. His finished version, which filled somelacunaein the Septuagint version of theBook of JeremiahandBook of Job, formed one column inOrigen of Alexandria‘sHexapla, ca. AD 240. (The Hexapla, now only extant in fragments, presented six Hebrew and Greek texts side-by-side: two Greek versions, byAquilaandSymmachus, preceding the Septuagint, and Theodotion’s version following it, apparently reflecting a contemporary understanding of their historical sequence.) Theodotion’s translation was so widely copied in theEarly Christianchurch that its version of theBook of Danielvirtually superseded the Septuagint’s.Jerome(in his preface to Daniel, AD 407) records the rejection of the Septuagint’s version of that book in Christian usage. Jerome’s preface also mentions that the Hexapla had notations in it, indicating several major differences in content between the Theodotion Daniel and the earlier versions in Greek and Hebrew. However, Theodotion’s Daniel is closer to the modern HebrewMasoretic Textversion (the Hebrew text said to have been finalized ca. AD 130), that is the basis for most modern translations. Theodotion’s Daniel is also the one embodied in the authorised edition of the Septuagint published bySixtus Vin 1587.”[5]

F. Daniel 9:26 Hebrew Interlinear[6]

After the fall of Jerusalem (70), Tiberias became one of the chief residences of the Jews in Palestine. It was for more than three hundred years their metropolis. From about 150 the Sanhedrin settled here, and established rabbinical schools, which rose to great celebrity. Here the Jerusalem (or Palestinian) Talmud was compiled about the beginning of the fifth century. To this same rabbinical school also we are indebted for the Masora, a “body of traditions which transmitted the readings of the Hebrew text of the Old Testament, and preserved, by means of the vowel-system, the pronunciation of the Hebrew.” In its original form, and in all manuscripts, the Hebrew is written without vowels; hence, when it ceased to be a spoken language, the importance of knowing what vowels to insert between the consonants. This is supplied by the Masora, and hence these vowels are called the “Masoretic vowel-points.”[7]

²⁶And after the sixty-two ‘sevens,’ the Anointed One will be cut off and will have nothing . And the city and the holy place he will destroy with the ruler who will come. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed (^AuthorDan. 9:26, cf. LXX Brenton ,Thomson, NETS)

G. Daniel 9 LXX with commentary

And after the sixty-two weeks, the anointed one shall be destroyed, and there isno judgment(condemnation; Thomson “no crime”)in him: andhe(the anointed one or Messiah, sovereign over kingdoms) shall destroy the city and the sanctuarywith the prince(through the instrumentality of a Gentile army, cf. De 28:49-52; 2Ki 24:2;2Ch 36:6,17; Jer 1:15,16, 4:6,8 5:15, 6:22,23, 21:4, 25:9, Hab. 1)that is coming:they(the city and the temple) shall be cut off with a flood, and to the end ofthe warwhich israpidly completed(Gk. “soontemno” – 1 to cut in pieces. 2 to cut short[8]cf. NETS “to the finish of a shortened war”; cf. Mat. 24:22)he(the Messiah) shall appoint the city to desolations. Andone week(7 years)shall establish the covenant(the everlasting covenant; at end of first 3.5 betrothal, at end of second 3.5 consummation; or “he will establish”) withmany(nations, cf. Is. 53:, Rom. 5:12-20, Rom. 11:25-26): andin the midst of the week(first 3.5, Jesus’ ministry) my sacrifice and drink-offering shall be taken away (Messiah crucified, cf. Heb. 8-10): and on the temple (Gk. hieros – the holy; holy people? holy land? holy temple?) shall be the abomination of desolations (after the crucifixion, the armies of vs. 26 would surround Jerusalem, cf. Lk. 19:43, 21:20); and at the end of time (when the “times of the Gentiles” are complete and the fullness of the Gentile harvest has come in, cfl Lk. 21:24, Rom. 11:25-26) an end shall be put to the desolation (of Jerusalem, cf. Lk. 21:24) (^{Brenton LXX}Dan. 9:26-27, cf. NIV note, KJV, and Interlinear translation above).

• ³¹At that time some Pharisees came to Jesus and said to him, “Leave this place and go somewhere else. Herod wants to kill you.”³²He replied, “Go tell that fox, ‘I will drive out demons and heal people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.’³³In any case, I must keep going today and tomorrow and the next day—for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem!³⁴“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!³⁵Look, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’” (^NIVLk. 13:31-35)
• ⁴¹As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city,he wept over it⁴²and said, “If you, even you, had only knownon this day what would bring you peace(the death or “cutting off” of the Messiah)—butnow it is hidden from your eyes.⁴³The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side.⁴⁴They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls.They will not leave one stone on another,because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you(the cause of Jerusalem’s destruction in 70AD was their rejection of Jesus as Messiah).” (^NIVLk. 19:41-44).
• ¹Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying:²“The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son.³He sent his servantsto those who had been invited to the banquet(Israel) to tell them to come,but they refused to come.⁴“Then he sent some more servants and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’⁵“Butthey paid no attentionand went off—one to his field, another to his business.⁶The restseized his servants,mistreated them and killed them.⁷The king was enraged.Hesenthis armyanddestroyed those murderersandburned their city.⁸“Then he said tohis servants(the apostles and his other disciples in Israel),‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come.⁹Go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ (the Gentiles – the “covenant with many”)¹⁰So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, both good and bad, andthe wedding hall was filled with guests.¹¹“But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who wasnot wearing wedding clothes(i.e. robes not washed in the blood of the Lamb, cf. Rev. 7:14).¹²‘Friend,’ he asked, ‘how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ The man was speechless.¹³“Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’¹⁴“For many are invited, but few are chosen.” (^NIVMt. 22:1-14)
• ³⁰I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, andhe has nothing in Me(cf. Dan. 9;26 – “no judgment in him,” no condemnation, no crime; He was spotless).³¹But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave Me commandment, so I do. Arise, let us go from here. (^NKJVJn. 14:30-31)
• ³³“You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell?³⁴Therefore I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town.³⁵And soupon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.³⁶I tell you the truth, all this willcome upon this generation.³⁷“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.³⁸Look, your house is left to you desolate.³⁹For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’” (^NIVMt. 23:33-39)
• ²⁶As they led him away, they seized Simon from Cyrene, who was on his way in from the country, and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus.²⁷A large number of people followed him, including women who mourned and wailed for him.²⁸Jesus turned and said to them, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me;weep for yourselves and for your children.²⁹For the time will come when you will say, ‘Blessed are the barren women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’³⁰Then “ ‘they will say to the mountains,“Fall on us!” and to the hills, “Cover us!” ’ (Hos. 10:8)³¹Forif men do these things when the tree is green(time of abundance and fruitfulness, i.e. Jesus’ ministry), what will happenwhen it is dry?” (i.e. when the crisis comes) (^NIVLk. 23:26-31)
• ²⁵I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited:Israel has experienced a hardening in partuntil the full number of the Gentiles has come in.²⁶And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.²⁷And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins.” (^NIVRom. 11:25-27)
• ¹¹After the suffering of his soul, he will see thelight of life and be satisfied(NIV note – Or (with Masoretic Text) He will see the result of the suffering of his soul / and be satisfied); by his knowledge (NIV note – Or by knowledge of him) myrighteous servant will justify many(nations, cf. Rom. 5), and he will bear their iniquities.¹²Therefore I will give him a portion (portion=inheritance, cf. e.g. Deut. 32:9, Josh. 17:14, 19:9, 1 Chron. 16:18, Is. 61:7) among the great (NIV note – Or many; Heb. rab – many; i.e. I will give Him an inheritance among the many nations, cf. Eph. 1:18) and he willdivide(i.e. share) the spoils with the strong (NIV note – Or numerous),because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many (Heb. rab), and made intercession for the transgressors (^NIVIs. 53:11-12).
• ¹⁸I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you,the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints(^NIVEph. 1:18)
• ¹⁷Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory (^NIVRom. 8:16-17)
• ¹³And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you weremarked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit,¹⁴who is a depositguaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory. (^NIVEph. 1:13-14)
• ¹²Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way deathcame to all men(i.e. both Jew and Gentile), becauseall sinned—¹³forbefore the law was given, sin was in the world(sin a universal problem, so all nations need to be redeemed). Butsin is not taken into account when there is no law(therefore, God gave Israel the Law).¹⁴Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who was a pattern of the one to come.¹⁵But the gift is not like the trespass.For if the many(nations) died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflowto the many(nations)! (^NIVRom. 15:12-15)

H. What about the last 3.5 years? – Daniel 12

¹“At that time Michael, the great prince who protects your people, will arise (Heb. “amad (763c); aprim. root; to take one’s stand, stand”[9]). There will bea time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then. But (NKJV/NASB/KJV – “and”)at that time your people—everyone whose name is found written in the book—will be delivered(cf. Rev. 10, 12).²Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt.³Those who are wisewill shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever.⁴But you, Daniel, close up and seal the words of the scroll until the time of the end. Many will go here and there to increase knowledge.”⁵Then I, Daniel, looked, and there before me stood two others, one on this bank of the river and one on the opposite bank.⁶One of them said to the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, “How long will it be beforethese astonishing things(vv. 1-3) are fulfilled?”⁷The man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, lifted his right hand and his left hand toward heaven (cf. Rev. 10), and I heard him swear by him who lives forever, saying, “It will be for a time, times and half a time (NIV note – Or a year, two years, and half a year).When the power of the holy people has been finally broken, all these things will be completed.”⁸I heard, but I did not understand. So I asked, “My lord, what will the outcome of all this be?”⁹He replied, “Go your way, Daniel, because the words are closed up and sealed until the time of the end.¹⁰Many will be purified, made spotless and refined, but the wicked will continue to be wicked. None of the wicked will understand, but those who are wise will understand.¹¹“From the time that the daily sacrifice is abolished andthe abomination that causes desolationisset up(Heb. nawthan – alternate translations – “given,” “appointed,” “placed”[10]; YLT – “the giving out of the desolating abomination”), there will be 1,290 days.¹²Blessed is the one who waits for and reaches the end of the 1,335 days.¹³“As for you, go your way till the end. You will rest, and then at the end of the days you will rise to receive your allotted inheritance.” (^NIVDan. 12:1-13)

⁵And she gave birth to a male son, who is to “shepherd” all the nations “with a rod of iron.” And her child was taken up to God and His throne.⁶And the woman escaped into the wilderness where she has a place there, having been prepared from God, so thatthey(a – see Warner note a below) may be nourishing her there a thousand two hundred sixty days.⁷And there was war in heaven. Michael and his messengers fought the dragon, and the dragon fought and his messengers…(^{Tim Warner}Rev. 12:5-6).

Tim Warner commentary – (a) “The context seems to imply a connection to Michael and his angels in verse 7. Psalm 78:24-25 refers to the manna in the wilderness as “angel’s food.” Psalm 91, which is a prophecy about this event, says God will “give his angels charge over you.” Daniel 12:1 refers to the “time of trouble,” and says that Michael will “stand up” and God’s people will be “delivered.” Finally, Hebrews 1 refers to Christ’s Kingdom, and says the angels are “ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who are about to inherit salvation” (Heb.1:14). Therefore, the protection and provision of the redeemed during the 1260 days will be the responsibility of Michael and his angels.”[11]