Smoking Guns that Refute Covenant Theology
Biblical texts that prove the falsehood of Covenantal Eschatologies
One small, certain fact is all that is necessary to disprove a whole theory. Presenting this fact (i.e., using the indirect approach) to combat falsehood is often more effective than a direct frontal assault which – although it presents the truth – can nevertheless sometimes be rejected by the dogmatic claims of the opposing theology. Internal inconsistencies of incorrect theologies/worldviews are exposed by providing intelligible reasons why the false presuppositions that undergird the systems should be abandoned. This, of course, does not prove the truth of the correct theology, but it does provide the first step for the listener to understand that truth.
The Seventy Weeks and the Resurrection of Daniel
An opportunity to apply this method occurred during a brief discussion with a covenantalist and is recounted below. The discussion also provided an example of the covenantalist’s all too-common unfamiliarity with the dispensational reasons for the discontinuity (gap) in the seventy weeks of Daniel.
In the discussion, the individual in question suggested that neither covenantalists nor dispensationalists have consistently defined the exact timeline of the Seventy Weeks of Daniel. His argument was that both eschatological views have a problem since they both extend the 70th week discontinuously – the covenantalists stretching the last seven years to 70 AD (some 30-plus years) while the dispensationalists, on the other hand, extend it to an arbitrary future date. This individual is to be commended for honestly admitting the problem of the Covenantal view. However, the suggestion of a symmetry between the two eschatological views – and the assertion that there is an "apologetic problem common to all Christianity" – is entirely false.
The Seventy Weeks of Daniel and the Advent of Christ
A fundamental problem for the Covenantalist is that he cannot argue that the first 483 years are precise, and a proof of Christianity because that predicts Christ's advent, and then turn around and arbitrarily insist that the last seven years are not precise (stretching the last seven years to 70 AD with the destruction of the Temple by Titus's legions). Such an arbitrary argument is ad hoc, i.e. an example of revisionary immunity. It is the same technique used by all false systems (dogmas) to salvage their views (such arguments make all religions "true" by manufacturing arbitrary and irrational reasons -- it is "truth by definition"). It is an abandonment of reason.
Attempted covenantalist solutions to the Seventy Weeks are based only on Daniel 9, and conveniently ignore the other passages in Daniel regarding the time periods in the last seven-year sabbatic interval and the Jewish intercalary months therein. We should point out that the Biblical testimony regarding the 70 weeks is not confined to Daniel 9, but also is discussed in Daniel chapters 7, 8, 9, 11 and 12, and mentioned also in Rev. 11:1-6. The Lord referred to the time period when He mentioned the abomination of desolation in Matt. 24:15.
Is this Covenantal position – i.e., that Daniel’s 70th week reached to 70 AD – at all viable? Is there any possibility that it is true? Does it have valid scriptural support of any kind? Based on Daniel chapter 12, the answer is a resounding NO.
The Resurrection of Daniel
In Daniel 12:1-3, 13, the reader learns that the periods of days that occur during the last of the "Seventy Weeks" include the resurrection of Daniel [1]. In verse 13, Gabriel’s words to Daniel are: "But go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot (Daniel’s portion/inheritance in the land promised to his father Abraham) at the end of the days. (The article modifying "days" is present in the Hebrew text and is the article of previous reference. The "days" of verse 13 refers to the days discussed in the prior verses.)Here is the inspired record, including the immediate context:
6 And one said to the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, How long shall it be to the end of these wonders?
7 And I heard the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever that it shall be for a time, times, and an half; and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished.
11 And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days.
12 Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days.
13 But go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days.
How does verse 13 show that the Covenantal view of the 70th week of Daniel is false? The answer is simple: the 70th week of Daniel cannot have been fulfilled because Daniel has not been resurrected. Daniel will be resurrected at the end of the still-future 70th week, the portion of the Jewish sabbatic calendar that concludes Daniel's prophecy. The information in Daniel 12 resolves the question of whether dispensationalists and covenantalists have an "apologetic problem common to all Christianity." And the answer is that the dispensationalists do not have a problem. In fact, their non-arbitrary, rational, and coherent explanation for the delay of the 70th week aligns itself perfectly with all pertinent scriptural data. And here’s the explanation – the seventy weeks are Jewish sabbatic years and the time interval pertains to the nation of Israel. When God temporarily set aside the nation of Israel, as recorded in the book of Acts, the sabbatical clock stopped. When God, in the future, resumes His dealing with Israel according to His faithful promises (Rom. 11:25-9; Rom. 15:8, etc.), the sabbatical clock will resume and the 70th week (sabbatic year) can resume. This is not an arbitrary reason. It is intelligible, it fits Scripture and logic -- it is the truth. On the other hand, the Covenantal system is arbitrary, is unintelligible and does not fit Scripture or logic. The Seventy Weeks of Daniel refutes the Covenantal sect of Christianity. Put quite simply, Covenantalism has no Christian apologetic and is false.
You can find more explanation of the above and details on the Seventy Weeks of Daniel here.
[1] The days of Dan. 12 were still future in Christ's day since he referred to the abomination of desolation as still future in Matt. 24:15, and the reader is referred specifically to Daniel. (The events were still future when Paul wrote 2 Thess. 2:3,4) The Greek phrase as recorded in Matt. 24:15 is:to. bde,lugma th/j evrhmw,sewj
(to bdélygma tes ér‘mÇseÇs)
The Greek of the Septuagint in Dan.11:31 and 12:11 is
bde,lugma evrhmw,sewj
(bdélygma ér‘mÇseÇs)
and
to. bde,lugmaa th/j evrhmw,sewj
(to bdélygma tes ér‘mÇseÇs)
respectively. The latter being precisely the phrase in Matt. 24:15 (and Mark 13:14).
The point is that the events of Dan. 12 concerning the abomination of desolation were still future when Christ spoke, and the specific days relating to the events were numbered. Daniel was promised to be resurrected at the end of those days in which the abomination of desolation is in place. return to discussion.