Originally published in "The Lord's Coming Herald & Wesleyan Bible Prophecy Advocate," Fall Edition 2005
The Last Half Of Daniel's 70th Week
Darbyite dispensational premillennialism has wrongly taught we modern masses to suppose that Daniel's 70th week refers to some future seven year great tribulation period that is supposed to happen after the church has gone up in the rapture.
The truth is, however, that Christ, not Antichrist, is the divinely-intended covenant-maker of the Daniel 9:27 text; thus, the 70th week refers to the new covenant dispensation that began with the preaching of Jesus Christ, and will continue until He comes again to resurrect the dead and judge the world at the last day (Jn. 6:39-40, 44, 54; Acts 17:31).
Now the resurrection of Jesus Christ in the midst of Daniel's 70th week brought the concept that we call "elongation" into play. This is an acknowledgement of what happened to Jesus by virtue of His bodily resurrection from the dead--His life thenceforth was to be endless, or "elongated" in its existence, from that resurrection moment forward. In other words, Jesus post-resurrection life was forever thereafter to be time-unbounded, or time-free extended, or, as we say, "elongated" endlessly. This make sense, and is simply an acknowledgement of what actually happened (Heb. 7:25).
Now apply this idea of elongation to the relationship of Christ as covenant-maker. He has never divorced Himself from the connection that He sustains to the new covenant as its messenger and mediator. His covenant-confirming work in its connection to the sustainability of the benefits and obligations of the new covenant of redemption are both integral and endless. His resurrection life, and His present availability in life, guarantees both the continuity and the continuousness of the plan of salvation. If He were not yet alive, salvation in the covenant would neither be universally applicable or on-goingly possible. It would not be the "eternal" salvation that the Bible promises, nor would believer now have the hope, therein, of eternal life.
The point of logic, reason, and common sense that we are making here is that the now living Jesus is still involved in the work of confirming the covenant, for its institution had both objective and subjective aspects. In the objective sense the new-covenant confirming work of Jesus was finished at Calvary, where He died as the substitutonary Sacrificial Lamb, once for all, to put away sin. But in the subjective sense of making the benefits of His atonement real to the on-flow of humanity, the covenant-confirming work of necessity continues. It continues in the application of salvation to every believer, through the agency known as assurance, or the witness of the Spirit. This is what makes Christianity an "experiential" religion, and not one merely of creed, or of ideological and intellectual import only.
Now when the broad strokes of this concept are applied to our understanding of the last half of Daniel's 70th week, we derive the idea that this entity, too, must experience a transformation into elongation. How so? Because it flows in the wake of its intricate connections to the One who has charge of it. It is Christ's covenant. It belongs to Him. He is the discharger of it. It follows Him whereever He goes. Thus, the covenant-confirming mission has gone into the time-unbounded, or time-free extension, of an endless duration, predicated on the principal of Christ own life elongated by virture of His literal bodily resurrection from the dead..
By the extension of this logic applied, so, too, does the second half of the 70th week follow the same pattern of duration into an equal orbit of elongation. Thus, the last half of the 70th week now applies to that whole period of time between Christ's resurrection in the first Christian century, and that day when time shall be no longer at the "last trump" judgment (Rev. 10:6).
In summary we affirm that the resurrection of Jesus Christ in the midst of Daniel's 70th week brought the concept of "elongation" both into Jesus own personal ministry of missiahship, and in the new covenant age that His messiahship establishes.
The new covenant Christian gospel of full salvation was confirmed through a Mediator and a process of on-going mediation--a mediation of grace that flows ever freely to all of lost humanity from the old rugged Cross.
In the Cross we find the meaning of Messiah's great redemption. Through the continuation of His now endless, changeless, mediating life above (by virtue of His resurrection and ascension on high) each passing generation gets to experience anew redemption's reach. It happens continually through the imparted Holy Spirit of the Living Christ who is the Transcendent Bridge of time and ages or the great Historical Reality Connector.
The above insight--the second half of Daniel's 70th week as "elongated," time-free extended, or indefinitely stretched out to embrace the entire period of time now lying between Christ's first and second advents--is the most distinguishing feature of what we teach. Please read our books for much more information.
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Christ the Covenantor
How Christ's Resurrection Changed The Nature Of Time
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