Traditional dispensationalism rests heavily on a specific interpretation of the seventy weeks prophecy of Daniel nine. We agree with traditional dispensationalists regarding the interpretation of this passage, including:
1. the gap between the 69th and 70th weeks
2. the fulfillment of the 70th week at the end of the present age
3. the identification of the "prince that shall come" with the Antichrist
4. the future rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem, and its defilement in the middle of the 70th week

However, we would disagree that the gap between the 69th and 70th weeks constitutes the 'Church age.'

If there is one concept and verse on which traditional dispensationalism hinges, it would have to be the following:

Dan 9:24
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.
(KJV)

Dispensationalists emphasize that the focus of this prophecy is Israel - "thy people" (Daniel's people, the Jews). They believe the entire 70 weeks are said to concern Israel and Jerusalem. Dispensationalists infer from this that the gap between the 69th and 70th weeks does not concern Israel, and the goals forseen by this prophecy. They believe this prophecy justifies the idea that God's dealings with Israel ended with the 69th week (immediately prior to the crucifixion), and will commence again at the beginning of the 70th week. In their thinking, the Church fills this gap. Since God is presently dealing with the Church and not Israel, a change of dispensation is implied at the beginning of the 70th week. If this is true, it implies a pre-trib rapture.

While we agree that the focus of the prophecy is the Jewish people and Jerusalem, we do not agree that it in any way indicates God would stop dealing with Israel during the gap between the 69th and 70th weeks, or a change of program has occurred. The evidence that God continues to deal with Israel throughout the present age (within the gap) is actually found in this very passage. There are two prophesied events in verse 26 that occurred after the 69th week, within the gap.
1. The crucifixion of Christ 5 days after the end of the 69th week
2. The destruction of Jerusalem 37 years after the end of the 69th week

Dispensationalists can hardly deny that the destruction of Jerusalem concerns the fulfillment of prophecy related to Israel. Remember, Daniel was told that the prophecy was about "his people" and the city of Jerusalem. Certainly, the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in AD70 concerns Jerusalem and Daniel's people! Not only was it prophesied in this passage, but Jesus specifically said that its fulfillment was God's judgment on Israel for not accepting Jesus as Messiah (Luke 19:41-44). Most dispensationalists would also agree that the return of the Jews to Israel, and the nation's rebirth in 1948, is the fulfillment of prophecy. Likewise, Paul speaks of God's dealing with Israel in this age, provoking the nation to jealousy through the Gospel going to the Gentiles (Rom. 11:11). How then can it be said that God is not dealing with Israel during this gap? Besides, God did not begin dealing with Israel in 445BC, when the first week began with the command of Artaxerxes to rebuild Jerusalem.

The prophecy in Daniel 9:25 is not intended to indicate that God's dealing with Israel is limited to the 70 weeks. The key word here is 'determined.'

Dan 9:24 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.
(KJV)

The word 'determined' is the Hebrew word 'chathak' (Strong's #2852). According to Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew lexicon, it means: "to divide, to determine; to be determined, to be decreed, to be settled, to be marked out." The idea is a definate predetermined period of time, marked out to accomplish some purpose. The purpose is clearly stated in the prophecy. It concerns the accomplishments of Christ at both His first and second comings.

If these 'weeks' of years are fixed periods of time, that would indicate they cannot be changed. Once the trigger for the first 69 weeks occurs, the prophecied period of time MUST count down, and cannot be changed, stoped, or altered in any way. In short, God has decreed blocks of time that cannot be altered, and the prophesied events are locked to those periods of time. This implies that any time outside of the prophesied 'weeks' are not necessarily determined or fixed by God. That is, there is some flexibility (or at least ambiguity) both before the first week began, and within the gap between the 69th and 70th weeks. The importance of this fact becomes obvious when we examine the New Testament, particularly the Olivet Discourse.

What sparked the Olivet Discourse was Jesus' comments on the Temple Mount about the destruction of the Temple, prophesied in this very passage.

Matt 24:1-2
1 And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple.
2 And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.
(KJV)

Dan 9:26
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.
(KJV)

Luke 21 records Jesus' Temple Discourse, where He dealt with the events of AD70 in detail (Luke 21:12-24). After ascending the Mount of Olives that evening, the Disciples asked Jesus about the signs of His coming, briefly mentioned in His Temple discourse. In Jesus' reply, He referred the disciples to the book of Daniel at least 3 times, and to the 70 weeks prophecy once in particular.

Matt 24:15 15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)
(KJV)

Dan 9:27
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.
(KJV)

When Jesus said, "whoso readeth let him understand," He was referring to those who would read Daniel's 70 weeks prophecy. This prophecy can only be properly understood based on Jesus' teaching in the Olivet Discourse. Believers in the tribulation, who observe the 'abomination of desolation,' can then determine when the second coming will occur by viewing Daniel's prophecy in light of Jesus' teaching in the Olivet Discourse. This is because the duration of the 70th week is 'determined' or fixed. Once it begins, the prophesied events will occur exactly as predicted by Daniel, down to the exact numbers of days. One can predict the day of Christ's second coming once the exact day of the beginning of the 70th week has been determined.

However, the time between the 69th and 70th weeks is not fixed or determined by God. Why? Jesus explained that in the previous verse.

Matt 24:14
14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
(KJV)

In Matt. 28:18-20, Jesus sent His disciples to preach the Gospel to all the nations, and to teach the new converts to "observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you." In the above verse, Jesus said that the 'end' will not come until after this task is completed. Unfinished world evangelization is therefore hindering the coming of Christ. God has not fixed the time of the 'end' because the delay in Christ's coming is determined by US, and not by God. This is why there is no prophecy in Scripture of the length of this dispensation. It is also the reason the New Testament was written in such a way that every generation of Christians COULD be the generation that sees Christ's return to earth. This is because each generation of Christians has in its power the potential to complete the Great Comission. Yes, even the first century Church had that potential. One man, Paul, evangelized nations from Israel to Spain in less than 40 years! And the early Church had the benefit of 'tongues' and other supernatural manifestations of the Spirit to aid in this task. The Great Comission COULD potentially been completed within the first century. Every generation of Christians could potentially be the last IF they threw everything into world evangelism, and the Church surrendered herself to the task.

Just before the ascension, the disciples asked Jesus if He was then going to restore the Kingdom to Israel, that is, assume the Throne of David. Jesus' answer was to remind them of something that must occur first.

Acts 1:6-8
6 When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?
7 And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.
8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
(KJV)

Of course, God's foreknowledge demands that He know the exact time. He has placed this knowledge in His own jurisdiction, and has NOT revealed this knowledge, not even to Jesus while He was here on earth (Mark 13:32). This is why the New Testament speaks of Jesus' coming as 'quickly,' and why the early Church expected Jesus' coming within their lifetime. 'Preterists' fail to see this simple truth, and imagining that Jesus must have come in the first century because of similar statements. What both preterists and dispensationalists fail to see is that every generation has the potential to be the last. Based on the rapid spread of the Gospel in the first few decades of the Church, the potential for the completion of the Great Comission was really not very far off, even for the first century Church. The New Testament was written with this fact in mind. Hence, the eager expectancy of the early Christians.

Several decades after Jesus ascended to heaven, Peter addressed the seeming long delay in Jesus' return in his second Epistle.

2 Pet 3:1-9
1 This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance:
2 That ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour:

Peter intended to remind them of the Old Testament prophecies about the 'Day of the Lord' (referenced in verse 10) and also the commandment of Jesus' Apostles. Notice the 'commandment' is singular. Peter was referring to the Great Comission. This is THE 'commandment' of Jesus to the Apostles.

3 Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,
4 And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.
5 For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:
6 Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:
7 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

Notice that Peter's use of the term 'last days' seems to imply a long delay before Christ would come.

8 But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

In Peter's thinking, only a few moments had passed since Jesus comissioned His Apostles to preach the Gospel to all the nations. Even now, two-thousand years later, only two days have passed using Peter's reckoning.

9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
(KJV)

According to Peter, the cause of the delay in Christ's return is God's longsuffering. He is not necessarily longsuffering to the lost. That is not what Peter said. God is longsuffering to US-WARD because He wants none to perish and all to come to repentance. We are the ones who were asigned the task of world evangelism. It is up to US to complete the task. It will go as slowly or as quickly as the Church motivates herself to finish it! After 2000 years, it is obvious that God's "longsuffering to usward" is quite enduring.

The gap in the 70 weeks prophecy is filled by the task of world evangelism. The majority of the nation of Israel was blinded so we could accomplish this task. A remnant of Israel was trained and sent to the nations, to make converts, and train them to continue and finish the task. The 70th week and the second coming of Christ has been postponed so that we have time to do what Jesus has asigned His people to complete. We have in our power the ability to hasten the coming of Christ. This period of time in which we live has not been 'determined' or fixed by God (although it is known to the Father). We are the ones who will eventually 'determine' the duration of the gap in Daniel's 70 weeks prophecy. Once we have finished our job, the 70th week will commence, and nothing will be able to stop the coming of Christ 7 years later. Until then, His coming is on hold.

That we as Christians have the ability to hasten the coming of Christ is clear later in this chapter. After describing the Day of the Lord, Peter said that we as Christians are "looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God" (v. 12).

Some might object that the 70 weeks prophecy was made regarding Daniel's people the Jews, and the city of Jerusalem. Yes, that is true. But, it is not that the duration of the weeks themselves concern Israel. It is that these predetermined blocks of time must elapse BEFORE the major events concerning Israel would be fulfilled. Remember, 6 things are said to be fulfilled.

Dan 9:24 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.

The first three occured in conjunction with Jesus' crucifixion, which was AFTER the 69th week according to verse 26. So, it cannot be said that the prophesied events would occur WITHIN the 70 weeks themselves. Likewise, the remaining three things will occur in Christ's Millennial Kingdom, AFTER the 70th week (not during the 70th week). Therefore, the prophesied events all occur after the blocks of time represented by the weeks, and not within the weeks themselves. The weeks are simply blocks of determined time that precede the fulfillment of these events that concern Jerusalem and Daniel's people. All six of these things concern Jerusalem and the Jewish people. Jesus was crucified by the Jews right outside Jerusalem. And Jesus will return to Jerusalem to set up His Kingdom. Before each of these major events, a fixed period of time must elapse, 69 weeks before Jesus' first coming, and one week before His second coming.

Traditional dispensationalists are mistaken in assuming that God's dealings with Israel are limited to the 70 weeks. They are also mistaken in assuming that God does not deal with the Church at the same time He is dealing with Israel. Furthermore, they take a giant leap of logic by inferring that the Church must be removed before God resumes His dealings with Israel as a national entity. We have already proven that Old Testament prophecy regarding Israel has been fulfilled within the gap between the 69th and 70th weeks. Therefore, it is obvious that God can deal with a nation and with the Church at the same time, since this is what He has been doing all along.

The 70 weeks prophecy actually fits progressive dispensationalism better, particularly in connection with a post-trib rapture.

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