The UN recently announced that they need “7 Years of Accelerated, Transformative Action to Achieve SDGs.” The SDGs are the seventeen “Sustainable Development Goals” that the UN put in place eight years ago through which they intend to establish a one-world government.
Below is a quote from the UN’s website regarding the upcoming summit during which they hope the leaders of the world will commit to a seven-year initiative to achieve all their SDGs:
The SDG Summit, in September 2023, must signal a genuine turning point. It must mobilize the political commitment and breakthroughs our world desperately needs. It must deliver a rescue plan for people and planet.
At the center of this rescue plan, Heads of State and Government must recommit to seven years of accelerated, sustained, and transformative action, both nationally and internationally, to deliver on the promise of the SDGs. Leaders can show their resolve by adopting an ambitious and forward-looking political declaration at the SDG Summit and presenting global and national commitments for SDG transformation.[i]
Is the fact that the globalists of our day are thinking in terms of “seven years” prophetically significant?
Those who believe that the seventy weeks of Daniel 9:24-27 remain relevant for our day would answer “yes.” They teach that the last week of seven years, as the prophet describes in 9:27, awaits a future fulfillment.
Those that deny the restoration of a kingdom for Israel won’t place any prophetic significance in the UN’s seven-year plan. That’s because they claim that Daniel’s prophecy of seventy weeks is no longer relevant because the church is now God’s kingdom on earth and thus there’s no seven-year Tribulation followed by Jesus’ thousand-year reign described in Revelation 20:1-10.
Which position aligns with the words of Scripture? Let’s examine the evidence.
Have all of God’s Purposes for the Seventy Weeks of Daniel 9:24-27 Been Fulfilled?
In Daniel 9:24, the Lord revealed all that He intended to accomplish through His “people,” the Israelites, and His “holy city,” Jerusalem, during the seventy weeks:
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.
Has God achieved all His purposes for His people and city during this extended time? No, He has not.
The Lord has not yet brought “everlasting righteousness” to the world. Yes, Jesus did atone for our sins upon the cross making “reconciliation for iniquity.” However, His purposes for the seventy weeks remain incomplete. God has not accomplished all these things through Israel and more specifically, through Jesus, His Son.
Because some would argue that the Lord has brought “everlasting righteousness” to the world in a spiritual sense through the church, we must continue to examine the words of Daniel’s prophecy.
What Does Daniel Say Will Happen to the Temple During the Seventieth Week?
Daniel 9:27 tells us that at the midpoint of the last week, a future prince will desecrate a Jewish temple.
“And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator.”
Has this defilement already happened, or does it await a future fulfillment? Some say that a Greek ruler named Antiochus Epiphanes fulfilled this prophecy on September 6, 171 BC when he offered a pig as a sacrifice on the altar of the Jewish temple. But was this a precursor to Daniel 9:27 or its fulfillment?
Those who have calculated the time of the first sixty-nine weeks of Daniel’s prophecy discover that this time period ended on the exact same day that Jesus’ rode triumphantly into Jerusalem, one week before He was “cutoff” fulfilling the words of Daniel 9:26. It’s illogical to say that the seventieth week occurred before the previous sixty-nine; that’s similar to saying the number twelve comes before the number five.
Secondly, and most importantly, the Lord Himself said that Daniel’s seventieth week remained unfulfilled in His day, two hundred years after Antiochus defiled the Jewish temple.
Jesus Referred to the Temple Desecration When Talking About the End of the Age
Jesus, in Matthew 24:15, referred to the fulfillment of Daniel 9:27 as a future event:
So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand).
When asked about the end of the age and His return to the earth, Jesus’ mentioned Daniel’s prophecy of the desecration of the temple as a sign of these things.
In AD 70, a Roman general named Titus destroyed the second Jewish Temple along with much of Jerusalem. This set off a persecution of the Jewish populace that resulted in the deaths of a great many. A great many pastors and Christians teachers/writers today claim that Titus fulfilled Daniel’s seventieth week as well as Jesus’ words in Matthew 24:15-20 at this time.
However, is it credible to say that Titus fulfilled Daniel’s prophecy of the seventieth week? No, it’s not. It’s impossible that Titus could’ve been the desolator of the temple during the seventieth week of Daniel because of what the Apostle Paul said about him.
Paul Prophesied that Jesus Will Destroy the Desolator of the Temple at His Second Coming
In 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4, the Paul identifies the one who will desecrate the temple as the “man of lawlessness,” the one we refer to today as the “antichrist.”
Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.
The apostle tells us that the future desolator will blaspheme the Lord, sit in the “temple of God,” and “proclaim himself to be God.” This has to be the guy that the prophet talked about in Daniel 9:27 and that Jesus referred to in Matthew 24:15. Who else could it be?
Paul then adds one detail about the one that will commit Daniel’s “abomination of desolation” at the halfway point of the seventieth week:
And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming. (2 Thessalonians 2:8)
Jesus Himself will kill the future prince that desecrates the temple at His Second Coming.
Unless one is prepared to argue that Jesus returned to the earth in AD 70 and killed the Roman general at that time, one cannot say that Titus fulfilled Daniel’s prophecy.
If the words of Scripture matter, the events of Daniel 9:27 can’t reach fulfillment until the time just before the Second Coming because the Bible tells us that Jesus will kill the desolator of the temple at His return to the earth.
The Apostle John Witnessed the Desolator’s Future Destruction
Writing in about AD 95, John tells us that the coming beast, whom we identify as the antichrist, will open “its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling” (Revelation 13:6). This is the guy of Daniel’s prophecy (9:27) as well as the one Jesus referred to Matthew 24:15. He’s also the “man of lawlessness” of 2 Thessalonians 2. Who else could it be?
In Revelation 19:19-20, John provides an eyewitness of the future destruction of this future beast, the very one who will desecrate the Jewish temple at the midpoint of Daniel’s seventieth week:
“And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against him who was sitting on the horse and against his army. And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who in its presence had done the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur.”
Just as the Apostle Paul prophesied in 2 Thessalonians 2:8, Jesus will destroy the “desolator” of Daniel 9:27 at His Second Coming.
The seventieth week can’t be fulfilled until there’s again a temple in Jerusalem, the antichrist defiles it, and Jesus kills its desolator at His Second Coming.
Irenaeus (AD 130-202) Regarded the Desecration of the Temple as a Future Event
Irenaeus, an early church leader, bishop in Lyons, France, and prominent theologian, wrote Against Heresies in AD 180 to combat the spread of Gnosticism. He was born in Smyrna and received his training in the faith from Polycarp, whom the Apostle John himself discipled.
In Against Heresies, book 5, chapter 30, section 4, Irenaeus wrote these words:
“But when the antichrist shall have devastated all things in this world, he will reign for three years and six months, and sit in the temple in Jerusalem; and then the Lord will come from heaven in the clouds, in the glory of the Father, sending this man and those who follow him into the lake of fire; but bringing in for the righteous times of the kingdom . . . .”[ii]
This quote is important for the following reasons:
Irenaeus, writing 110 years after Titus destroyed the second temple, believed there would be a future temple in Jerusalem that the future antichrist would defile.
Irenaeus said that the antichrist would “sit in the temple in Jerusalem” exactly as Paul said he would do in 2 Thessalonians 2:4.
Irenaeus also predicted that Jesus Himself would destroy the antichrist at His Second Coming, again just as Paul predicted.
Although Irenaeus’ words are not Scripture, it’s highly significant that a highly respected second century AD theologian believed there would be a third temple in Jerusalem in which the still future antichrist would sit and defile.
What’s most relevant for our discussion is that Irenaeus wrote these things at a time when both Israel and a temple in Jerusalem didn’t even exist.
There Must be a Future Seventieth Week of Daniel for Israel and Jerusalem
Let’s put together the biblical evidence for placing the desecration of the third temple in the future:
Daniel predicted that a coming prince would put an end to temple sacrifices and commit abominations at the temple at the halfway point of the seventieth week of His prophecy (Daniel 9:26-27).
Jesus referred to Daniel’s desecration of the temple and placed it at the end of the age, as a sign of His return to the earth (Matthew 24:3, 15).
The Apostle Paul said that the Lord Himself will kill the desecrator of the temple at His Second Coming (2 Thessalonians 2:3-8).
Writing in AD 95, the Apostle John wrote about a future “beast” who would blaspheme God and His dwelling, the temple (Revelation 13:6).
John witnessed the destruction of this beast, the antichrist, as the Lord allowed the apostle to see events related to His Second Coming (Revelation 19:20).
Since a key event in Daniel’s seventieth week of years has not yet occurred, the entire week must also await a future fulfillment.
Since it’s true that the entire seventieth week of Daniel awaits a future fulfillment, then God’s purposes for the nation of Israel and Jerusalem must also remain in effect.
So is the UN’s seven-year initiative prophetically significant? Yes, it is! We must not overlook the fact that the globalists of our day are thinking in terms of a seven-year commitment to their objectives. This is relevant not only because the seventieth week of Daniel’s prophecy remains unfulfilled, but also because of the convergence of a great many signs pointing to the nearness of the seven-year Tribulation. These things should heighten our curiosity.
Please know that I’m not predicting the Lord will return for us this year with the antichrist using the September UN meeting to put in place the seven-year covenant of Daniel 9:27.
I realize we might not be quite that close to the Rapture.
But what if we are? What if Jesus comes for us today, this week, this summer.
Are you ready?
My books:
My latest one is Cancel This! What Today’s Church Can Learn from the Bad Guys of the Bible. The book is all about growing to maturity in Christ. The bad examples of these characters reveal the mindset we need for living at a time when the cancel culture dominates our culture.
I provide a detailed defense of the Pretribulation viewpoint in: The Triumph of the Redeemed-An eternal Perspective that Calms Our Fears in Perilous Times.
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[i] https://www.un.org/en/desa/we-need-7-years-accelerated-transformative-action-achieve-sdgs
[ii] Irenaeus, “Against Heresies,” The Ante-Nicene Fathers, 10 vols., Vol. 1 (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1979), p. 560.