Chapter 8 - The 7 Times Confirmed
In this book we have been presenting the 7 TIMES Prophecy and showing how it predicted that the Times of the Gentiles would end in 1948 and 1967. 7 TIMES are 7 x 360 = 2520 days or years. We have seen that starting from the starting points when Israel came under the dominion to Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and measuring forward 2520 years takes us to end-points of 1914 and 1933. While these were indeed significant years they were clearly not the final end of the Times of the Gentiles. However when we realise that the 33.5 years of the Life of the Lord Jesus Christ are not to be counted as being part of these Times of the Gentiles we get to end-dates in 1948 and 1967 (for the precise calculation see the Appendix) which is undeniably when the Times of the Gentiles actually ended. Having studied the chronology of the Tribulation in the last chapter we are now ready to see 2 amazing confirmations.
The Tribulation, as the rerun 70th Week of Daniel is a further 7 TIMES of Gentile Dominion. Just as God measured out 7 TIMES (2520 days) for Nebuchadnezzar, the first head of the Gentile Powers to rule as a beast over Israel, so likewise God measured out 7 TIMES (2520 days) for the Antichrist, the last head of the Gentile Powers to rule as a beast over Israel. The basic premise we started with was that the 7 TIMES (2520 days) of Nebuchadnezzar was a type or blueprint of the 7 TIMES (2520 years) of the historical TIMES of the Gentiles and this certainly yielded interesting results.
Now if Nebuchadnezzar’s 7 TIMES in days gives a blueprint, it follows that Antichrist’s 7 TIMES in the Tribulation should also provide a blueprint for the historical 7 TIMES of the Gentiles. It is in applying the blueprint of the Tribulation 7 TIMES that we discover some amazing confirmations of this line of interpretation.
Confirmation 1. We saw that there is an Interlude in the midst of the 7 Times of the Tribulation which lasted 33.5(30+3.5) days, so that the total span of the Tribulation is 2520 + 33.5 days. This is exactly like the Interlude of 33.5 (30+3.5) years that we deduced had to exist during the 7 Times of the Gentiles, which corresponded to the life of King Jesus who was under the dominion of no man! (Notice also that the 3.5 days and 3.5 years both end with the resurrection and ascension of God’s anointed witness).
This correspondence confirms our previous conclusion that the Life of Christ caused a 33.5 year interruption (interlude) to the 7-Times. As well as consisting of two halves of 1260 years, we saw that the 7 TIMES contain a 33.5 year Interlude, consisting of the Life of Jesus Christ (30+3.5 years). Then when we looked at the 7 TIMES of the Tribulation we saw exactly the same pattern!
Thus by taking Nebuchadnezzar’s 7 TIMES as the blueprint, as the 19th Century prophecy scholars did, we get a genuine initial fulfilment of the ending of the Times of the Gentiles from 1914 to 1933. These involved key events that laid the groundwork for the final and complete fulfilment that took place 33.5 years later. If we then go one step further and take Antichrist’s 7 TIMES in the Tribulation (with the 33.5 day interval) as the blueprint, we get a picture of the Times of the Gentiles again being 2520 years, but within that time there is an interval of 33.5 years (corresponding to the Life of Christ). This leads to ending dates 33.5 years later than the original calculation based on Nebuchadnezzar’s 7 Times: 1948 and 1967, the actual ending of the Times of the Gentiles.
Thus the chronology of the 7 TIMES of the Tribulation, which is a Type (blueprint) of the 7 TIMES of the Gentiles, perfectly confirms that the 7 TIMES (2520 years) also contain an Interlude of 33.5 years corresponding to the Life of Christ, which cause it to end 33.5 years later in 1948 and 1967. This demonstrates that the 7 TIMES Prophecy perfectly predicts the duration of the Times of the Gentiles and when they should end in the Rebirth of Israel in her Land and her regaining sovereign control over Jerusalem.
In fact it can be shown that the 7 TIMES Prophecy predicted the end of the Times of the Gentiles to the very day! Thus we can see that the Rebirth of Israel and her regaining of dominion over Jerusalem are fulfilments of prophecy of the highest order, marking the end of the Times of the Gentiles and the setting of the stage for the end of the Age. They constitute the major sign (the Fig-Tree) that we are living near the end of the age. These miraculous events (for it is unknown for a nation to be reborn again after 2000 years) which came to pass exactly when God predicted they would thousands of years ago prove that the Bible is God’s inspired Word and that God is sovereign over the affairs of the nations and that He has not finished with Israel but His purpose is to raise up Israel again. Therefore this is a warning to the nations that the blessing and curse of Genesis 12:3 is still in effect and that all who bless Israel will be blessed and all who curse her will be cursed.
Moreover since 1948 and 1967 the situation has changed in regard to the right of Gentiles to dominate Israel. Before they had a certain right because Israel under God’s discipline of the 7 Times had lost that right. Then Gentile nations were still judged if they mistreated the Jews under their authority, but they had the right to have dominion over them. But now the Times of the Gentiles are over God has removed that right and if they try to dominate, hurt or destroy Israel they will come under Divine Judgement ( Zechariah 12:2,3). Joel 3:2 warns that nations will be judged for trying to divide up the Land of Israel, which is called God’s own Land.
Confirmation 2.
We have seen that the fulfilment of the 7 TIMES of the Gentiles incorporates an Interval of 33.5 years corresponding to the Life of Christ. We then get a pattern that agrees with the 7 TIMES of the Tribulation which shows we are on the right track. Moreover now the prophecy gives the exact dates when the Times of the Gentiles actually ended. Now we will see another amazing confirmation by checking if another feature of the Tribulation 7 TIMES is repeated in the TIMES of the Gentiles. If we have understood this parallel patterning correctly we should expect to see more correspondences.
The Temple-site in Jerusalem is the most important, most holy, most fiercely contested piece of land and is the centre of a great spiritual warfare. Thus activity surrounding it is highly significant.
At the mid-point of the Tribulation ‘7 TIMES’ the Antichrist desecrates the Temple by erecting the Abomination of Desolation upon it, thus dedicating it to another god. Does something similar happen at the mid-point of the historical 7 TIMES? Amazingly the answer is yes, and it tells us something profound about Islam. Now this only works if there is an Interval of 33.5 years within the 7 TIMES (which is another confirmation of this interpretation).
At Mid-Tribulation (half way through the 2520 days) the Temple is desecrated with the Abomination of Desolation by antichrist, after he captures Jerusalem, after which the 2nd half of the Tribulation runs (for 1260 days).
Similarly, exactly halfway through the 2520 years from 607 BC brings us to 688 AD (jumping over the 33.5 years). then adding 1260 years to 688 AD takes us to 1948 AD.
*In 688 AD, Islam, having captured Jerusalem, built the Dome
of the Rock over the Holy of Holies (completed in 691)! This abomination to a false god (Allah) declares: ‘God has no Son.’
*Also, exactly halfway through the 2520 years from 588 BC brings us to 707 AD (jumping over the 33.5 years).
Then adding 1260 years to 707 AD takes us to 1967 AD.
In 707 AD, the Al-Aqsa Mosque was built on the Temple Mount (on the Court of the Gentiles), which turned the Temple Mount into a Mosque.
In this way, half-way through the 7-TIMES, the whole Temple area has been desecrated, by being dedicated to a false god.Therefore, this corresponds to the act of the Antichrist in desecrating the rebuilt Temple half-way through the Tribulation. The prophecy of the 7-Times shows that the Islamic structures built on God’s Temple Mount which claim it for Allah exactly half-way through the 7-Times, are a Type of Antichrist’s Abomination of Desolation. Therefore Islam is of the spirit of antichrist, for it denies the truth of Christ, that He is the Son of God, crucified for our sins and risen again as Lord of all.
Moreover understood in this way the 7 TIMES prophecy accurately predicts the end of the Times of the Gentiles in 1948 and 1967. All these confirmations prove the validity of this interpretation.
To aid your meditation on the 7 Times Prophecy bellow you will find a number of Charts.
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