Daniel Unlocked #60

In 1585 A.D., Ribera was the first to introduce the idea of interrupting Daniel’s 70-week, Meesianic prophecy and inserting a “gap” between the 69th and 70th weeks. This was done to deflect apocalyptic heat from the Reformers who were fuelling reformation fervour by claiming the Pope was the Antichrist and the Catholic Church the beast of Revelation. Ribera correctly surmised that the first 69 weeks (483 years) concluded at the baptism of Jesus in 27 A.D. Then he adds a diabolical  and unfounded twist; God, supposedly, had extended the 70th week into the future. Therefore, the Pope and the Catholic Church could not be so accused.

John Nelson Darby grabbed hold of Ribera’s severance idea, connected his “Rapture” to the beginning of that final week, and changed that week from a 7-year period of covenantal confirmation to one of 7 years of end time tribulation – big difference! (Notably, the Bible never mentions a future 7-year period of tribulation.) He then introduced this now fully developed, pre-tribulation Rapture view (theory) in Europe and later in America. It was popularized in American by inclusion in the notes of the Scofield Reference Bible in 1917.

Consider this: The European cuckoo is known as a “brood parasite.” The females lay their eggs in the nests of smaller bird species—like the reed warbler. In turn, these unsuspecting mothers unwittingly incubate, feed, and raise the young impostors, typically at the expense of their very own offspring. One of the most sorrowful tragedies of nature is watching a reed warbler working herself to death to satisfy the voracious hunger of a greedy cuckoo chick while her own young, already weak with starvation, are pushed out of the nest.

The devil has successfully planted a dangerous lie in modern Christian theology, and it has been unwittingly hatched, adopted and nurtured by most evangelical churches—and now this parasite is pushing out Bible truth with a bigger-than-life-deception. Sadly, this adopted falsehood is growing fat with attention while true interpretations of prophecy are starving with neglect.

Today around the globe, millions interested in Bible prophecy have their eyes fixed on Jerusalem. To be fair, it is really not all that difficult with the legitimate news value that comes from that never-ending quagmire of strife and bloodshed between Palestinians and Israelites. Christians are constantly speculating about the modern state of Israel, a rebuilt Jewish temple, and a Middle East Armageddon. It’s a theological cuckoo, laid in the nest of protestant theology.