The Purpose of Mankind Through the Christ: Pt. VII - The Defeat of Satan

Now, we return to the woman of Revelation 12. As she flees into the wilderness,[1] another sign takes place. War “immediately” breaks out in heaven. Immediately after what? Immediately after the 3½ years ending with the destruction of physical Israel as God’s chosen tool never to be raised up again! The resurrection of the Christ sets the stage for the war, and the conclusion of Daniel’s 70^th week in A.D. 70 triggers it. Here, we must take time to visit that prophecy of Daniel and correct the misinformation set forth. First, we will look at the passage in its entirety:

(24) 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. (25) Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. (26) And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. (27) 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.[2]

(24) Seventy weeks have been fixed for your people and your holy town, to let wrongdoing be complete and sin come to its full limit, and for the clearing away of evil-doing and the coming in of eternal righteousness: so that the vision and the word of the prophet may be stamped as true, and to put the holy oil on a most holy place. (25) Have then the certain knowledge that from the going out of the word for the building again of Jerusalem till the coming of a prince, on whom the holy oil has been put, will be seven weeks: in sixty-two weeks its building will be complete, with square and earthwork. (26) And at the end of the times, even after the sixty-two weeks, one on whom the holy oil has been put will be cut off and have no…;and the town and the holy place will be made waste together with a prince; and the end will come with an overflowing of waters, and even to the end there will be war; the making waste which has been fixed. (27) And a strong order will be sent out against the great number for one week; and so for half of the week the offering and the meal offering will come to an end; and in its place will be an unclean thing causing fear; till the destruction which has been fixed is let loose on him who has made waste.[3]

I have included the passage in both the AV (King James) and the Bible in Basic English, as certain verses must be examined according to a more literal interpretation of the original Hebrew scrolls of the Prophecy of Daniel. As the passage is explained, the versions will be noted when used.

First, we must establish that the determined time is specific and limited. “Seventy weeks have been fixed” (BBE, emphasis added) was the message sent from God. A fixed, pre-determined time period for certain things to take place. The prophecy is worded specifically for us to know that the Advent of the Messiah and the end of the old Hebrew traditions is the point of the completion. Observe that this “end” includes both the Hebrew people and the city of Jerusalem. Until that time the Atonement ritual each year did not cause the sins of the people to be forgiven, only set aside until the next year when that years sins were added to them.[4] It is fitting that the first indicator of the prophecy is the ending of the transgression and the establishment of righteousness, all of which took place with the life, death, and resurrection of the Christ.

This fixed, or defined, period of time was set apart as God’s final judgment of Israel as a nation. Remember, God had “divorced”[5] Israel for their harlotry in pursuing other gods. Some scholars contend that certain of the passages in this chapter of Jeremiah are heralds that God will take them back in the last days, but further review of this section reveals God’s rebuke upon them and expectation that they will not turn from their sins. This was fulfilled when even after the revival of Ezra and Nehemiah, they quickly turned away from righteousness and became the Pharisees of Jesus’ time; those who had lots of “talk,” but no “walk.”

This is a better understanding of the passage in Jeremiah, as God specifically stated that He had “put Israel away.” For Him to take Israel as a nation back as His chosen, He would have been in violation of His own law. In the Law as given to Moses, He said that a man who divorced his wife and she wed another (as Israel had to other gods) and then take her back, he would cause abomination before God.[6] Therefore, God cannot take the physical nation of Israel back without Himself causing the abomination. That effectively destroys the classical notion of a restored Israel. God is wedded to the Church, or spiritual Israel (Abraham’s seed by adoption) and will not become an adulterer.

So, how does the seventy weeks break down? First, we are given seven weeks, or 49 years, identified as beginning with the command to restore and rebuild Jerusalem.[7] This period is actually designed in two separate sections; three years to lay the foundations and forty-six years for the actual building of the Temple. The second period of sixty-two weeks, or 434 years, dates from the sixth year of the reign of Darius, the end of the first sixty-nine weeks, when all of the rebuilding was finished.[8] This spanned from that point until the baptism of Jesus by John and the beginning of His (the Christ) ministry in A.D. 29. So, we have 483 years, or sixty-nine weeks, accounted for. Now, we come to the last or “seventieth” week; the final, and most controversial, seven years of Daniel’s prophecy.

If one logically continues from the baptism and begins the final week, then the words of verse 26 are no longer confusing or seemingly contradictory as they must be to throw this whole week into some far distant future from the time of Daniel. We will take one step at a time. “After threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for Himself.”[9] After His baptism, Jesus began to preach and did so for three and one-half years, or half of the final week, a period of time that took place after the 483 years. Then, He was “cut off” but for our redemption, not for Himself. “…and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary…”[10] In 63 A. D., the Roman General Titus was sent to destroy Jerusalem and quell the rebellion in Judea led by Jonathan. He fought his way across the land, burning everything in his path, and set siege to Jerusalem in 67 A.D. The siege lasted three and one-half years and culminated with the destruction of the City and the Temple.

If this is not enough to validate the period as being Daniel’s final week, then look further into the passage. Not only was this a time of the worst destruction the Jews had ever seen as a nation, paralleling Matthew 24 and Daniel 9:27b, but it was a time when the Temple was desecrated to a degree worse than Antiochus.[11] Josephus relates in his Wars of the Jews, that Jonathan and his commanders were forced to fortify themselves in the Temple proper, effectively ending the daily sacrifices, and used the Brazen Altar for a cook-stove and slept in the Holy Places with the women, performing abominations that left Jerusalem desolate as a center for God’s people for all time.

Further, look at verse 27a, “…and He shall confirm the covenant with many for one week…” The word “confirmed” as used in this instance means “perfected.” Who perfected God’s covenant with “whosoever will” through His ministry and death? Of course, the Christ! When He was crucified and resurrected, the daily rituals of the Temple still carried on because the leaders of Israel had rejected Him as the Messiah. In the “middle of the week,” the start of the three and one-half year siege, Jonathan caused them to cease. With the destruction of the Temple, all vestiges of the old covenant passed away for good. Israel as a nation and Jerusalem as the Holy City had reached their end.

So Satan, already defeated at the cross, is thrown out of heaven for good (no longer any room for them in heaven). According to verse 9, this is when Satan was thrown down to the earth. Other interpretations are self-contradictory, as they contend in one breath that Satan was cast to the earth before Adam. Then they turn 180 degrees and say no, he was thrown down sometimes during a mythical seven-year period yet to come. It cannot be both ways, which denies either scenario to be utilized as doctrine. Yet, the interpretation just laid out for you from Daniel and Revelation was the accepted doctrine of the church until the early 14^th century. Why the change?

This is completely in line with the doctrine of propitiation and grace. Satan can no longer accuse as the blood covers all sin, “they have gained the victory over him because of the blood of the Lamb and of the testimony which they have borne.” When did the “salvation and the power of the Kingdom of our God” come about? That is correct, at the coming of the Christ and His resurrection. Was this not also when He was named “King?” Who are the ones that inhabit heaven? The Believers! Are we not “in the world but not of the world?” So we can rejoice because Satan has no power over us. We, the Believers, are the ones who dwell in the spiritual realms inhabited by God. This was reopened to us by the angel that rolled away the stone at the tomb. We are those that dwell under the glory of God, under the full protection of his anointing and can rejoice because the devil has been brought "down" to the level Adam descended “to” from the Garden.

If one continues to walk in the flesh, he or she is under the control of Satan and have no freedom or authority while the dwellers of the "heavens" can walk in dominion over creation. Those to whom he has come in “fierce anger” are those that have not the “seal,” or blood, of the Christ over their lives. He can only devour those who choose to allow it. Satan is defeated. He cannot accuse you if you are in the Christ. He cannot harm you except through the flesh, or “dust.” You have power over him. He has no power over you. But the “classical” doctrines of Adam, Satan, Daniel 9, and Revelation 12 deny the church the ability to walk in that dominion. This is exactly why the enemy propagated these doctrines. Do you intend to stay in that weakness now that you know the truth? I hope not.

[1] Cp. Matthew 24:16, Mark 13:14, & Josephus, Wars of the Jews 2:20 & 3:3

[2] Daniel 9:24-27

[3] Ibid. Bible in Basic English, (1965). Cambridge Press, London, England

[4] Leviticus 16 entire

[5] Jeremiah 3:8

[6] Deuteronomy 24:1-4

[7] Ezra 6:3

[8] Ibid. 6:15

[9] Daniel 9:26, emphasis added

[10] Ibid.

[11] Ginsberg, Louis (2010) Antiochus IV: Epiphanes. Jewish Encyclopedia