"The Old Covenant Emphasis during the End of the Age"

The statements made by the angel Gabriel to Daniel the prophet over 2500 years ago are loaded with present-day significance:
“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.” (Daniel 9:24)

Sixty-nine of these seventy weeks have come to pass just as the next two verses indicates:
“Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment [445B.C.-Nehemiah 4:4-8] to restore and to build Jerusalem unto Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks [49years], and threescore and two weeks [434 years]: the street shall be built again, and the wall even in troublous times [49 years after the commandment]. And after threescore and two weeks [49 years (seven weeks) +434 years (62 weeks)=483 years (69 weeks) after the commandment] 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.” (Daniel 9:25,26)

Therefore, since the Messiah’s, the Lord Jesus Christ, last week on earth before the Cross, sixty-nine [483 years] of these seventy weeks [490 years] have come to pass under the Old Covenant. Today, in 2009, God has put in place the first three 70th Week necessities:

1. The Jews are in their land (Daniel 9:24)
2. They have become a people/nation (Deuteronomy 30:5; Daniel 9:24; Matthew 24:16)
3. They possess their holy city Jerusalem (Daniel 9:24)

1. The “ temple of God” will be rebuilt (Daniel 11:31; II Thessalonians 2:1-4; Revelation 11:1,2)
2. The “holy place” included (Matthew 24:15)
3. The “regular sacrifices” will be instituted (Daniel 8:11,12, 9:27, 11:31, 12:11)
4. The Jews will “worship” in the temple (Revelation 11:1.2)
5. The “sabbath” will be honored (Matthew 24:20)
6. The prophet “Elijah” will be sent to restore all things (Malachi 4:5,6; Matthew 17:11)
7. The “twelve tribes” of Israel will be recognized/sealed (Revelation 7:3-8)

That the Old Covenant will be in place during the 70th Week is supported by the following verses:
“Then shall he [Antichrist] return into his land with great riches; and his heart shall be against the holy covenant…therefore he [Antichrist] shall be grieved, and return, and have indignation against the holy covenant; so shall he do; he shall even return, and have intelligence with them [Jews] that forsake the holy covenant. And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that makes desolate. And such as do wickedly against the [holy] covenant [Jews] shall he [Antichrist] corrupt by flatteries” (Daniel 11:28-32)

The Antichrist’s activities in conjunction with the Jews who forsake the holy covenant are shown during the 70th Week of Daniel. The mention of the “abomination that makes desolate” is the only reference to this event in this lengthy passage (Daniel 11:5-45) which chronicles the activities of the kings of the north and the kings of the south.

Therefore, this must be the event indicated by the Lord Jesus when He said:
“When ye therefore see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet stand in the holy place” (Matthew 24:15) which occurs in the midst of his chronological explanation of the end times (Matthew 24:3-31).

During His detailed warning to believers (Matthew 24:15-28) He also indicates that the Temple will be rebuilt when he cites “the holy place”. Later in this passage He mentions “the sabbath day” (Matthew 24:20) giving credence to the idea that the Old Covenant will be in place and practiced by the Jews “in Judea” (Matthew 24:16) during the 70th Week of Daniel.