1. The interval between the " acceptable year of the Lord " and the " day of vengeance of our God" (Isa. 61:2) A parenthesis (or gap in time) already extending more than nineteen hundred years.

2. The interval between the Roman empire as symbolized by the legs of iron of the great image of Daniel 2 and the feet of ten toes. See also Dan. 7:23-27; 8:24,25..

3. The same interval is found between Dan. 11:35 and Dan. 11:36.

4. A great parenthesis occurs also between Psalm 22:22 and 22:23 and between Psalm 110:1 and 110:2.

5. A great parenthesis occurs between Hosea 3:4 and ver. 5 and again between Hosea 5:15 and 6:1.

6. Peter in quoting Psalm 34:12-16 stops in the middle of a verse to distinguish God’s present work and His future dealing with sin (I Pet. 3:10-12).

7. The great prophecy of Matthew 24 becomes intelligible only if the present age be considered a parenthesis between Daniel 9:26 and 9:27.

8. Acts 15:13-21 indicates that the apostles fully understood that during the present age the Old Testament prophecies would not be fulfilled, but would have fulfillment "after this" when God "will build again the tabernacle of David" (Acts 15:13).

9. Israel’s yearly schedule of feasts showed a wide separation between the feasts prefiguring the death and resurrection of Christ and Pentecost, and the feasts speaking of Israel’s re gathering and blessing.

10. Romans 9-11 definitely provide for the parenthesis, particularly the future of the olive trees in ch. 11.

11. The revelation of the Church as one body requires a parenthesis between God’s past dealings and His future dealings with the nation of Israel.

12. The consummation of the present parenthesis is of such a nature that it resumes the interrupted events of Daniel’s last week.

If there can be no gaps in any revealed prophetic program, prophecy can not have a literal fulfillment, for in many major prophecies the events were not consecutive.

The gap in Daniel’s prophecy is in accord with an established principle in the Word of God.

The futurist believes that the 70th week is yet to come, and will be fulfilled during the reign of Antichrist, and their main scripture reference is Revelation chapter 13.

HOWEVER

1. The cutting off of the Messiah.
2. The destruction of the city and the temple in Jerusalem.

These two events did not take place in the seventieth week, for that is not introduced to us until verse twenty-seven,  but in an interval between the sixty-ninth and seventieth week. It will be observed that the cutting off of the Messiah took place only a few days after the sixty-ninth week was terminated, but the destruction of the city and temple did not take place until 70 A.D., or about forty years after the termination of the sixty-ninth week. If a few days gap be admitted, it is not difficult to concede the possibility of a gap of forty years. If one of forty years is admitted, it is not difficult to see that the gap may extend over the present age.

It is seen, then, that there must be a gap between their rejection and the consummation of these promises.

At no time in the book of Revelation is a "seven-year" period mentioned. There are, however, three (3) "three and a half year" periods:

It is evident from Daniel 9:27 that the seventieth week begins with a covenant that is made with "many" for one week, or the seven years. This "one week," following the method of interpretation established for the sixty-nine weeks, demonstrates the fact that the period in question will be of seven year’s duration. The question that must be faced is the identity of the one who makes the covenant that marks the inception of this seven year period. Daniel identifies him as "he" in Dan. 9:27. This must refer back to the "prince that shall come" in the previous verse.

    There are two different princes mentioned:

1.    Messiah the Prince
2.    The Prince that shall come

The expression "Prince that shall come" cannot possibly refer to "Messiah, the Prince" for the simple reason that it is "The people of the prince that shall come" who are to destroy Jerusalem after the death of Messiah. And since it is now a matter of history that Jerusalem was destroyed in A.D. 70 by the Roman people, not by the Jewish people, it follows that "the prince that shall come" cannot be the Jewish Messiah but is some great prince who will arise out of the Roman Empire.

Concerning this individual, "Out of the Roman empire there shall arise in the future a prince. This prince or chief of the fourth empire is identical with the little horn of Daniel 7.

He is further to be identified with the "king of fierce countenance" of Daniel 8:23, with the "willful king" of Daniel 11:36, with the "man of sin" of 2 Thess. 2, and with the "beast out of the sea" of Revelation 13:1-10. Inasmuch as all the covenants made by Messiah with Israel are eternal covenants, Messiah can not be the one making the covenant, inasmuch as it will be Temporary. This covenant, which will guarantee Israel the possession of their land and the restoration of their religious and political autonomy, is to be viewed as a false fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant.  This covenant deceives many in Israel into believing that this "man of sin" is God (2 Thess. 2:3). It is the proclamation of this false covenant that marks the beginning of the seventieth week.

THE PROGRAM OF THE SEVENTIETH WEEK

1. This seventieth week is a period of seven years which lies prophetically between the translation of the church and the return of Christ in glory.

2. This seventieth week also provises the exact chronological framework for the great events recorded in Revelation 6-19.

THE PRINCE THAT SHALL COME (Antichrist) "will make a (no definite article in the Hebrew) covenant with many for one week " (i.e. for seven years) Dan. 9:27.

After three and a half years, on grounds not stated, he breaks his covenant (or "league" of Dan. 11:23), the daily sacrifice is "taken away," the "abomination" set up, and "Jacob’s trouble" (Jeremiah 30:7) commences and continues for the remainder of the "seven": or for the 1,260 days or 3 and a half years.

It is this "midst of the week" that determines both the start and the finish of these Numbered days.

In Daniel 8:14 it is stated, "then shall the Sanctuary be cleansed" (Hebrew Zadak = justified or made righteous.)  Not the word used of ceremonial or moral cleansing which would be Tah-heer); and it may be noted that the word is here employed in the Niphal-Praeterite form- and is therefore equal to - The Sanctuary Was Justified or Made, or Appointed Righteous.

In Daniel 12:11 & 12, note that these periods are extended and prolonged beyond the close of the 1,260 days by two significant periods of days, or 30 days and 75 days, respectively.

1. The first of these, 1,290 days is 1,260 (three and a half years) + 30 days here may be taken as a "Ve-Adar" or intercalary month of 30 days of "Cleansing" following directly after the destruction of the false Messiah, and the break up of his confederacy. These Thirty days may possibly be the period allotted for the construction of the new and glorious "Sanctuary" of Ezekiel chapters 40-43, which is to be erected After the destruction and removal of the Jewish temple which will have been built by the sons of Israel some time previously to its profanation by the Antichrist-as the anti type of Antiochus Epiphanes.

2. With regard to the 1,335 days of Daniel 12:12: This is 1,260 days with an excess of 75 days. This again being an excess of 45 days beyond the 1,290 days of Daniel 12:11. 1,335 is, therefore 1,260 + 30 + 45 days.

If the 30 days are occupied with the "cleansing," that is with the justifying or "making righteous" a new and glorious "Sanctuary", then it may be that the additional 45 days, over and above the 1,290, will cover thepreparation time for the fulfillment of the forty-fifth Psalm (such preparation including, the resurrection of life of those concerned in Daniel 12:2), in order that the nuptials of the king may be celebrated as described in such wonderful and minute detail in that Psalm. (Further, it is interesting to note in connection with the numbers 30 and 45, that Psalm 30 was sung "at the dedication of the house of David" - its subject being praise for deliverance in "The Day of (the) Trouble" (Psalm 20:1) - which is prophetically the very 1,260 days of "Jacob’s Trouble" in both Daniel and in Revelation . And 45 is the Number of the Psalm which, as the Great King’s Nuptial Ode, sets before us the glory and triumph of the Messiah’s marriage with the elect remnant of Israel (Revelation 7:14) - the "wife" of such passages as Isaiah 54:5-8; 62:4,5; Jer. 3:14; Moreover, the #75 is that of the Psalm which sets before us "God’s anointed" in the Sanctuary, and emphatically declares (v. 7) "GOD IS JUDGE" (or ruler).

In connection with this period (1,335 days) we have the only Beatitude in the book! "Blessed (Ashrey) is he that  waiteth (is steadfast) and cometh to the THOUSAND THREE HUNDRED AND FIVE AND THIRTY DAYS" (Daniel 12:12). A blessed "lot" indeed for those who will have passed Through "the Trouble" and are counted worthy to be participators in the scenes of glory and triumph of the King when he is united to restored Israel in that Day, as portrayed in the forty-fifth Psalm!

Lets look at the 2,300 days of Daniel 8:14. That its point of origin is the same as the others, or the end of the seventieth Seven is clear from Dan. 8:14, which gives it as being marked by the "Cleansing of the Sanctuary".   Reckoning backwards, therefore, the point of origin of this period is seen to be 220 days short of the commencement of the seventieth "Seven".

It is not clearly revealed what event or events will mark the Commencement of these 2,300 days, but it will be probably some political crisis connected with the confederated kingdoms under the sway of the Antichrist.

Forward to the Next Section:  Daniel's Final Great Vision

Bibliography