The River

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ezekiel, flowing, living, river, Temple

Rev 22:1  And he showed me a river of water of life, bright as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb,

In the Old Testament this was seen.

Ezek 47:1-12

Eze 47:1  And he brought me back unto the door of the house; and, behold, waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward (for the forefront of the house was toward the east); and the waters came down from under, from the right side of the house, on the south of the altar.

Eze 47:2  Then he brought me out by the way of the gate northward, and led me round by the way without unto the outer gate, by the way of the gate that looketh toward the east; and, behold, there ran out waters on the right side. 

Eze 47:3  When the man went forth eastward with the line in his hand, he measured a thousand cubits, and he caused me to pass through the waters, waters that were to the ankles.

Eze 47:4  Again he measured a thousand, and caused me to pass through the waters, waters that were to the knees. Again he measured a thousand, and caused me to pass through the waters, waters that were to the loins.

Eze 47:5  Afterward he measured a thousand; and it was a river that I could not pass through; for the waters were risen, waters to swim in, a river that could not be passed through.

Eze 47:6  And he said unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen this? Then he brought me, and caused me to return to the bank of the river.

 

In the back of  the “house” is a issue of water from the right side at its gate. The waters head east.

These waters will run through the “Arabah” to the sea.  It is to “heal” the rivers and the sea…   Now if perchance this is the resting place for Jerusalem the Great City….  This rivulet that deepens ever thousand Reeds or 8000 Feet give or take, has trees….. on both sides of the bank…  the fruit is yielded every month the leaf is for healing… This is an irregularity for an interim Temple to the book of Revelation.  Is it possible that this Temple is a layout to the Great City itself?  It does talk about housing for the priests…

But our primary goal is to look at the river.  In Ezekiel’s passage it talks about Trees whereas in Revelation it mentions one tree of Life.  Both scenarios have leaves for healing.  But how is it that this healing leaf tree with its 12 kinds of fruits each bearing in its month so to speak is found there?  Moreover where is the Arabah today?  According to a bible map it lists the Arabah as being the Salt Sea.  So then this river of Ezekiel’s Temple flows from possibly Jerusalem to the east to the Salt Sea making it FRESH.  Now that sea connects to the  “sea of Chinnereth” or what looks suspiciously like the Galilee Sea of Jesus day.  It connects by way of the Jordan from the Salt Sea to Galilee to a little area called lake Huleh which might have been around in Jesus day or might have been dry bed.  On this map it then comes to a junction splitting five ways and all along the Jordan and after the split this waterway wends itself out eastward into the desert and westward to the Mediterranean sea.  Now if this is the same river and all the text implies that it is, the need for healing of the waters both fresh and salt is because of Wormwood.  It is also because the seas became blood.  Also the swarms of fish and teeming life will return as the waters “heal”.

Eze 47:7  Now when I had returned, behold, upon the bank of the river were very many trees on the one side and on the other.

Eze 47:8  Then said he unto me, These waters issue forth toward the eastern region, and shall go down into the Arabah; and they shall go toward the sea; into the sea shall the waters go which were made to issue forth; and the waters shall be healed.

Eze 47:9  And it shall come to pass, that every living creature which swarmeth, in every place whither the rivers come, shall live; and there shall be a very great multitude of fish; for these waters are come thither, and the waters of the sea shall be healed, and everything shall live whithersoever the river cometh.

Eze 47:10  And it shall come to pass, that fishers shall stand by it: from En-gedi even unto En-eglaim shall be a place for the spreading of nets; their fish shall be after their kinds, as the fish of the great sea, exceeding many.

Eze 47:11  But the miry places thereof, and the marshes thereof, shall not be healed; they shall be given up to salt.

Eze 47:12  And by the river upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that side, shall grow every tree for food, whose leaf shall not whither, neither shall the fruit thereof fail: it shall bring forth new fruit every month, because the waters thereof issue out of the sanctuary; and the fruit thereof shall be for food, and the leaf thereof for healing.

Rev 22:2  in the midst of the street thereof. And on this side of the river and on that was the tree of life, bearing twelve manner of fruits, yielding its fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

When we compare the texts Ezekiel’s text seems to go into greater detail.  But they talk about the same thing.  A River bright and clear as crystal…  Have you ever been to the Bahamas and seen the clear bright blue shoal inlet waters?  This is the idea.  You can see to the bottom of the river bed.  It is LIVING or FLOWING water.  It starts very small and gradually deepens to an un-fordable river. It is a place for catching fish of all kinds.

If this is the same River then the place in the back of the Temple where the Holy of Holies should be is where the Throne of God and of the Lamb will sit.

 

It might be a very interesting study to actually compare the two.

 

Rev 22:3  And there shall be no curse any more: and the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be therein: and his servants shall serve him;

 

No more curse…  When Adam fell the universe was condemned to be twisted as it were, because the Order was upset.  Even though it was destined to be that Christ might be the recipient of all the glory and eventually lay even all that He has at The Father’s feet.  Paul says this in Romans 8

Rom 8:19  For the earnest expectation of the creation waiteth for the revealing of the sons of God.

Rom 8:20  For the creation was subjected to vanity, not of its own will, but by reason of him who subjected it, in hope

Rom 8:21  that the creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God.

Rom 8:22  For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.

Rom 8:23  And not only so, but ourselves also, who have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for our adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.

This groaning of Creation and our groaning or straining at bonds as it were it the curse, but He creates again and in this the curse is NO MORE.

Rev 22:4  and they shall see his face; and his name shall be on their foreheads.

Rev 22:5  And there shall be night no more; and they need no light of lamp, neither light of sun; for the Lord God shall give them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.

This is the sketched out edges of the portrait painted in the book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ.  This is how we will spend eternity, and notice that there is a mark on the forehead.  The reason the enemy wants his mark on our foreheads is because then God wont place His mark on us, for we are His possession.  When He said He is the Light of the World, He may have spoken, in our understanding, as “spiritual” but He truly meant it because, He is the Source of Light to Illumine everything for us all. This shows us an aspect of the scope of His power.

 

So ends the vision.

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The Plagues Commence

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blood, frogs, God, heaven, LAMB, lice, locusts, pestilence, Temple, wrath

Rev 15:1  And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels having seven plagues, which are the last, for in them is finished the wrath of God.

Rev 15:2  And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire; and them that come off victorious from the beast, and from his image, and from the number of his name, standing by the sea of glass, having harps of God.

Go back to the first time you see this sea of glass.  Rev 4:6  and before the throne, as it were a sea of glass like a crystal; and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, four living creatures full of eyes before and behind. This is the floor of the “Throne Room” so… this is Heaven.  But now we have fire.  We have these who “came off victorious” from the “beast” AND from “his image”  and these have harps.  But let’s look at this fire for a moment.  The Greek indicates that it is literally or figuratively Fire or more specifically, LIGHTENING!  This sounds like energy, power or perhaps a manifestation of the Holy Spirit in the midst of these “victorious” ones?  This makes sense when we consider why they are Victorious.  The Beast and His Image refers to the Beast from the Sea, who is bent on the destruction of the “righteous”.  The image is what the second beast erected and did everything to get everyone to WORSHIP THE FIRST BEAST!  I am reminded of Nebuchadnezzar and his massive golden image and the result of the three Hebrews who would not kneel.  Given the result of the story would you say they “came off victorious” from that situation?  This is the same for how did these get that victory?  Rev 12:11  And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb, and because of the word of their testimony; and they loved not their life even unto death.

These are MARTYRS!  Yet and even now there is no catching away as of yet and now the last Trump has sounded.  But in 14 we did have the reaping of the Earth.  I am reminded of the parable of the wheat and the tares.  The owner of the farmed plot when asked by his servants if they should root up the tares told them to let it be, and that when all was ripe; instruction would be given the REAPERS as to the fact that there was tare in the field and to reap each separately, the tares to the fire and the wheat to the barn.  But it is obvious from the text that these are martyrs.

Rev 15:3  And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvelous are thy works, O Lord God, the Almighty; righteous and true are thy ways, thou King of the ages.

Rev 15:4  Who shall not fear, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy; for all the nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy righteous acts have been made manifest.

Here again is another New Song…  With each group there is a different song. A study to look into which songs each group sings might be fruitful.

It is interesting to note that God does use word play to “clue” the knowledgable reader into His works.  In Deuteronomy 33, Moses is given a song to teach to Israel.  This song is a witness against the nation who would in years to come follow after other gods.  This song like the book we are talking about, is a Suzerain Treaty in format. In it there are actually two names mentioned.  One is Moses and the other is Hoshea, son of Nun.  Now this man will layer turn out to be none other than Joshua, son of Nun.  Now both the names Hoshea and Joshua have a very significant meaning.  Of the names of Jesus we find an etymology.  One of the variants to this is Yaweh Hoshea, another is Yashua or Joshua.  Yeshua is a variant with Greek Iosus from which we finally have the English of Jesus.  Now it is in the Yaweh Hoshea that we really find a meaning. For the meaning of The Lamb’s name is ” Yaweh or Jehovah Saves”.  So then when the verse in Revelation 15 we read the words ” Song of Moses and of The Lamb” we needs to understand that Joshua who will lead the people into the Promise Land is a type of Jesus who leads us into the Eternal Promise of Life… Eternal Life by the Holy Spirit. Hence quite literally we have the actual song!

Rev 15:5  And after these things I saw, and the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened:

Rev 15:6  and there came out from the temple the seven angels that had the seven plagues, arrayed with precious stone, pure and bright, and girt about their breasts with golden girdles.

Now the above verse needs a little explaining.  The words ” precious stone” is translated in older texts as “in linen”.  Now when you consider that if indeed this linen with gold ties or girdling or sashes then the knowledgable will immediately see the priestly attire of angels.  Lest we forget that angels are His ministers too. If then these with containers of plague, are playing a priestly role on the heels of the song of indictment sung by the martyrs, there is only one ceremony that uses white linen.  Once per year a high priest dons white linen and enters into The Presence, with Blood and incense. This is Yom Kippur or the Day of Atonement.  Now in this ceremony, an annual covering is provided for sin iniquity defilement et al. But in Jesus, we have permanent covering as it were.  This would be considered a blood ritual.  What we have now is seven angels functioning in a priestly role. This is also a blood ritual.  But this is not a positive thing.  Because the song is testifying against the false church. So now we find the response.  In the Yom Kippur ceremony the priest is all in white.  These angels are sporting gold at the middriff. Gold here might represent The Glory of God.

Rev 15:7  And one of the four living creatures gave unto the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever.

Rev 15:8  And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and none was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels should be finished.

In chapter fourteen the grapes were reaped from the vineyard which we established to be the church.  We have seen in scripture that the “fruit of the vine” is also indicative of the Israel.  In a sense we are the continuation of that nation, spiritually.   Yet these grapes are trod out alone and fill seven cups or containers to be poured out. I had surmised that this was the apostate church.  Yet there is this in Isaiah.

“Isa 5:1  Let me sing for my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My wellbeloved had a vineyard in a very fruitful hill:

Isa 5:2  and he digged it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also hewed out a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.

Isa 5:3  And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard.

Isa 5:4  What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?

Isa 5:5  And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; I will break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down:

Isa 5:6  and I will lay it waste; it shall not be pruned nor hoed; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.

Isa 5:7  For the vineyard of Jehovah of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for justice, but, behold, oppression; for righteousness, but, behold, a cry. ”

Now the text does clearly mark the vineyard of this passage as Israel. But we also have Him saying this to us…

“Joh 15:1  I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.

Joh 15:2  Every branch in me that beareth not fruit, he taketh it away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he cleanseth it, that it may bear more fruit.

Joh 15:3  Already ye are clean because of the word which I have spoken unto you.

Joh 15:4  Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; so neither can ye, except ye abide in me.

Joh 15:5  I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit: for apart from me ye can do nothing.

Joh 15:6  If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.

Joh 15:7  If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatsoever ye will, and it shall be done unto you.

Joh 15:8  Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; and so shall ye be my disciples.”

Now this is admittedly written to Jewish Disciples who in turn form the proto-church.  Lest we forget that what we see today started out as a Jewish community of believers in Jesus and His Disciples.  Yet if we are to understand the pastoral prayer of John chapter seventeen, it tells us that the intercession is not only for His Disciples of the day but for those who would believe because of their word, or Gospel message, and those are us today.  Now Paul picks up this thread in extension in Galatians chapter five with the fruit of the Spirit.

“Gal 5:22  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

Gal 5:23  meekness, self-control; against such there is no law.

Gal 5:24  And they that are of Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with the passions and the lusts thereof.”  What does Jesus say? “ Joh 15:8  Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; and so shall ye be my disciples.”  That we bear much fruit.  The fruit of the VINE.  But just as in the Vineyard of Isaiah’s day there were “wild grapes” that had a bad taste so then there are those whose fruit is that of the Deeds of the Flesh.  A careful read of Paul’s letter to Corinth will tell of a church riddled with problems and deeds of the flesh.  If in that time there were so many problems of morality and ethic and the Apostles were in force in that day, how shall we today be surprised to find pockets of problematic believers in the midst.  Jesus Paul and even Jude spoke of those who would arise after their passing (Jude gives the description of such men) whose sole purpose was to lead astray.  Consider then the grape that is trod out as being that which is not indicative of the Fruit of the Spirit but rather false.  Consider also all these little celebrations and the SONGS being sung.  All that blood is spilled on the ground by those who serve the first beast.  This is what is in those containers.  This is not the Wrath of the Father but of THE LAMB.  You see the LAMB hung and took the wrath and curse of the Father, so that we might have fellowship with the Godhead, as we had once had in the beginning before Adam fell. (Only better)  But this is the wrath now poured out on those who REFUSE TO BELIEVE in the Jesus.  Interestingly enough we do have a list of plagues from Exodus.  Blood, Frogs, Lice, Flies or Gnats, Pestilence, Boils, Hail, Locusts, Darkness, Death of the First born.  Of these it is listed in the next several passages in Chapter sixteen which plagues are contained in the angelic containers.

Now in consideration of pure speculation here.  John sees the Temple and the skies were rolled up like a scroll or boiling clouds way back in the beginning when the seals were being opened. Is it possible that the people of the Earth are now seeing the Temple?  Remember that as far as Earth’s perspective is  it is dark the sun moon and stars are “not giving forth their light” meaning “Not visible” so there is for all parts and practical purposes a pall of cover over the Earth.  However what John sees Prophets in the Old Testament and men in the days of Solomon and Moses saw as well.  The glory of the Lord and the smoke of His presence or rather the Column of Smoke indicative of the very personal visible presence of God (YHVH) or the LAMB is filling the Temple and the doors are shut.  Noone is permitted entrance until the out pouring is complete.

Now there is only one other time when we ever see the Temple doors shut.  It is the Temple in Jerusalem and the time is Yom Kippur.  It is the DAY OF ATONEMENT when the Temple is shut while the High priest enters into the Holy of Holies, to MAKE ATONEMENT for the priesthood and the people.

This is the DAY OF RECKONING wherein recompensure is meted out to each as his deed warrant.  There is no sacrifice being offered for this, no atonement being made for this, but there is the built up iniquity and sin that must now be dealt with.  God measures out to all Creation the finality of judgment and punishment for all that has been done on the Earth and for all the unbelief therein.  Thus we do not get to see God’s reaction.  Also it occurs to include this characteristic of The Father. Hab 1:13  Thou that art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and that canst not look on perverseness, wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy peace when the wicked swalloweth up the man that is more righteous than he;

Hab 1:14  and makest men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping things, that have no ruler over them?

Now in that this is the LAMB’s wrath or so it would seem this could be the Father turning away while the wrath is being poured out.  Just as He turned away when He dealt with our sin in His Son on the Cross.

One last observation here:Rev 15:1  And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels having seven plagues, which are the last, for in them is finished the wrath of God.

Please note the end of the sentence.  …”for in them is FINISHED the wrath of God.”  God’s wrath has been poured out many times over all of history.  Israel was delivered in the WRATH of God on Egypt.  Israel was AFFLICTED by the very same wrath when she sinned.  Jesus took the wrath and curse of The Father for the sin and iniquity, et al, of The Elect of God, now it is being recompensed out on those who have rebelled or sided with the Rebel.  This is most likely that of which we have been told we would be spared.  It is most likely precisely this that Rapture Doctrine was conceived to explain.  So far I am not seeing a clear cut Rapture but a lot of Martyrdom.

Timing Part One

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Alexander, Christ, daniel, God, israel, Jeremiah, Jesus, Lord, Nebuchadnezzar, prophecy, Prophecy of Seventy Weeks, seventy, Temple

First off please understand this is not date setting, or my theories on the math of “well if you calculate from this date in antiquity…”, no this is exposing certain scriptures and looking at them. Are we in the last days, according to some, yes. You see when Jesus became flesh the last days began. One must always take into account the already- not yet dynamic. So in many noticeable ways the last days and the Kingdom are now upon us and yet there is the dynamic of the passage of linear time. Unlike the time travelers we can’t just flit through time and space even if Einstein’s theories and those of the men who have built upon him say that it can be done. Happily we don’t have the technology for it either. Add to this the fact that prophecy can repeat itself in pattern application time and again to certain points in history and still apply to the time of the “beasts”. Having said all this lets take another look at Daniel.
The weeks of prophecy:

Dan 9:24 Seventy weeks are decreed upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy.

To make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness… finish transgression and make an end of sins…. All of these have a peculiar familiarity don’t they? For instance the Hebrew word for reconciliation is Kaphar… one of its definitions is to expiate and another is to cover. That’s the Cross Work of Jesus Christ. This is Atonement for …. Iniquity and the Hebrew word here, Amon, has to do with perversion and that bent toward evil. Humanity can get really fascinated with the dark secretive world of occult. It can applaud the daring do of the really clever thief or even the murderer. But all this is an affront to a Holy God so we have this interior flaw. Iniquity because it is so ingrained in us from the Fall and the Curse, needs to worked out from within by the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, but it starts with a need to “cover over” the mess within until there is no more need to be “covered” for the Sanctification is complete. Bringing … Everlasting (Olam) or the vanishing point wherein time goes “out of memory” or is “incalculable”, in other words… Forever. Righteousness or tsedek meaning right, equity, prosperity, justice etc; which is the Crux of Salvation. This is the Plan of long ago which God the Son fulfills in human flesh for all time without end. To finish transgression and make an end of sins… this is further on then Salvation and yet Salvation does exactly this. Yet within the Church transgression still happens and so does sin and iniquity. Why? Because the work is both done and complete and still in progress, the point of the work is the cleansing of the Bride and the Land and God’s People Israel. When the Seventh Trump was sounded we heard a statement: “Rev 11:15 And the seventh angel sounded; and there followed great voices in heaven, and they said, The kingdom of the world is become the kingdom of our Lord, and of his Christ: and he shall reign forever and ever.” Actually it reads that the Kingdom of the world is become of our Lord and His Christ… this is a literal change of possession. What was done in a Spiritual sense from the Cross is completed in the Physical sense. We will see it with the Lady who give birth and the “baby” is caught up. Now after all the dust of the birth and the catching away of the Baby and the Dragon who she faced off with during her great Labor and Delivery not only losing the baby but being defeated in combat with Archangel Michael and his “warrior group” and the Dragon trying to kill the woman, which fails spectacularly, as the dust settles and a furious Dragon finds himself deposed as Prince of the Power of the Air…. There is another statement. It reads: “Rev 12:10 And I heard a great voice in heaven, saying, Now is come the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, who accuseth them before our God day and night.
Rev 12:11 And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb, and because of the word of their testimony; and they loved not their life even unto death.” Now while this is the beginning a massive campaign of persecution against the Believer’s which even makes the Holocaust, or anything more recent to now, pale in comparison, this one line “Now is come the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ” completely matches the function of the prophesy of Daniel: “To finish transgression and make an end of sins” because at this point the reality hits. You see the Kingdom of the world was owned by someone… and changed owners. But now the “Power” and the “Kingdom” of the Godhead is established. You see? Therefore in the first place of the seventy weeks, we find the historical data of the second Temple in the time of Zerubabel being built with Joshua as the new high priest. After that we have this countdown that matches the statue of Nebuchadnezzar in that it is a countdown of kingdoms until Christ. We also know it was a “week /year” ratio. Seventy years of time or Ten Sabbath years of fallow time was determined to let the land rest. That was the prophecy: “Jer 25:11 And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.
Jer 25:12 And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith Jehovah, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans; and I will make it desolate forever.” The Seventy Years unto the time when the Temple was complete did finally happen.

Dan 9:25 Know therefore and discern, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the anointed one, the prince, shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: it shall be built again, with street and moat, even in troublous times.
The Anointed one in this instance is Cyrus whose edict sent Israelis home. But we have this curious split of seven years and sixty two years.

Dan 9:26 And after the threescore and two weeks shall the anointed one be cut off, and shall have nothing: 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 even unto the end shall be war; desolations are determined.
Dan 9:27 And he shall make a firm covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease; and upon the wing of abominations shall come one that maketh desolate; and even unto the full end, and that determined, shall wrath be poured out upon the desolate.
Now what you need to understand is that there is a whole chapter dedicated to explaining these weeks. It has to do Alexander the Great and the rise of the Seleucid Ptolemy wars over Israel and the final person of Antiochus Epiphanies and the reaction of those Jews who felt the desolation of the pig’s blood and the idol that was stood up in the Temple and the Maccabean revolt that got the Temple back… even Channukah. But there is a wider circle here… the second Temple was rebuilt and we have Jesus who is “cut off” in the middle of things. We are finally left with three and a half years.
Some interpretations take this as a cycle of Sabbaths or 490 years.  Some say that from the time of the edict of Cyrus to the rise of one Alexander Yannai, the last Hasmonean high priest who in his brutal rule slaughtered some fifty thousand Pharisees, is the time of the last Anointed One or legal high priest. Others add that the finishing up of the iniquity is the rejection of Christ, to which Jesus does allude that there was to be a “filling up” of the sins of the people, Mat 23:32 “Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.”, though I find this to be quoted out of its context of a real punishing tirade against the leaders of the Temple of His day. Yet there is a sense that this rejection factors into this prophecy.

Assuming that nothing in Scripture is “up for grabs” then I have some grave misgivings about a lot of the interpretations of these texts. You see Scripture MUST be the Source of its own interpretation as wisdom is given by the Holy Spirit. In light of this I will confess to looking online in Wikipedia to find out just what was being said. Jewish thought regards the seventy years as seventy Sabbath cycles. Thus departing from the Seventy year/week idea we look at the possibility at of actual time lapse. First off one must understand that the Old and New Testament fit together as hand in glove or as a right and left glove (matched set). They must be regarded TOGETHER. So to understand the seventy week prophecy which in all fairness if you truly look at it, seventy years is NOT how long the Babylonian Diaspora was, one must look at the starting point and understand the Torah or Mosaic Law. This is the law of Sabbath (Shabbat) Lev 25:2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye come into the land which I give you, then shall the land keep a sabbath unto Jehovah.
Lev 25:3 Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and gather in the fruits thereof;
Lev 25:4 but in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a sabbath unto Jehovah: thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard.
Lev 25:5 That which groweth of itself of thy harvest thou shalt not reap, and the grapes of thy undressed vine thou shalt not gather: it shall be a year of solemn rest for the land.
The “bumper crop” of the previous year would last and the land would “go to seed” for one year. I won’t pretend to understand how the complexities of a farming system and cattle management if the land is to truly “lay fallow”, but the point is the observance of a marked out year. Now then, the math goes something like this: Seventy times seven equaling four hundred and ninety years, will be marked out and the land will enjoy its Shabbats.
However this is the prophecy as it is recorded in 2 Chronicles. 2Ch 36:21 to fulfil the word of Jehovah by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its sabbaths: for as long as it lay desolate it kept sabbath, to fulfil threescore and ten years. The words here are precise. Seventy literal years of fallow time for the land, not seventy cycles of years. But Daniel records….Dan 9:24 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.
Something has to give…   More in the next section.