Philip Dampier's Blog

Dispensationalist and Daniel Chapter Nine

Four doctrines of the premillennialist are derived from the ninth chapter of Daniel. If they are wrong about Daniel nine then their entire doctrine is false.

1. A separate plan for Israel and the church derived from a gap formed by the intervention of the church age. The plan for Israel will start again after the church age.

2. A literal seven years of intense tribulation. During this time, the Israel plan will start again.

3. A temple will be built in Jerusalem when this seven year tribulation begins. The temple will be destroyed in the tribulation.

4. A literal person will arise as the Antichrist who will make a covenant with Israel. It will be a seven year covenant and the priesthood will begin to offer animal sacrifices. After three and one half years the Antichrist will break the covenant.

Task for Today: Study Daniel 9, verses 24 through 27 carefully. None of these four things are actually mentioned there and to arrive at the schedule one needs to make these verses literal rather than figurative. What are the ‘sevens’ of verse 24? Days? Weeks? Months? Years? What if sevens is used in the usual figurative way to indicate completeness, a complete period of time or events?