The Second Coming will take place at a fixed time that will not change for any reason.¹ No one knows the precise time of Christ's coming.² The timing will surprise many people and for them the Second Coming shall be as a thief in the night.³ However, the increasing signs of the times⁴ reveal that Christ will come again very soon.⁵ Righteous and spiritually attentive people are able to recognize these signs for what they are.⁶

Daniel's visions from the Old Testament identify a number of important signs that are certain to occur before the Second Coming.⁷ For example, his remarkable Seventy Weeks Prophecy⁸ sets forth in detail the precise sequence and timing of events related to Christ's First and Second Coming.⁹ This complex prophecy is difficult to interpret¹⁰ and conflicting interpretations abound.¹¹ This section provides an overview of the Seventy Weeks Prophecy with details provided in the sections that follow.

The angel Gabriel revealed the Seventy Weeks Prophecy to Daniel as recorded in Daniel 9:24-27.¹² These four verses are quoted here for ease of reference, as follows:

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.
25. Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.
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.
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.

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.

Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.

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.

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.

The Seventy Weeks Prophecy begins in Daniel 9:24, with an overview of the seventy weeks,¹³ which are prophetic years. This means they are seventy weeks of years based on the 70 years of Jewish captivity in Babylon from 606 to 536 BC.¹⁴ After Gabriel informed Daniel that the Jewish captivity would be seventy weeks of years (70 years), Gabriel then made six statements¹⁵ in the same verse that determined the period of prophetic time¹⁶ after the 70-year captivity until the coming of Christ.¹⁷ Gabriel's six statements are set forth in two groups of three (i.e., 2x3=6), which determine or fix the prophetic time for certain events to occur until both the First and Second Coming of Jesus Christ.¹⁸

GROUP 1: The first group of three statements describe Christ's first advent on earth when he performed the atonement.¹⁹ Christ was crucified at the time foreseen by Daniel (1) to finish the transgression,²⁰ (2) to make an end of sins,²¹ and (3) to make reconciliation for iniquity.²²

GROUP 2: The second group of three statements describe Christ's Second Coming²³ when he will (4) bring in everlasting righteousness²⁴ in his millennial kingdom,²⁵ (5) seal up the vision and prophecy by their complete fulfillment,²⁶ and (6) anoint the most Holy. This last event describes the dedication of the Fourth (millennial) Temple in Jerusalem soon after the millennium begins.²⁷ It may also dualistically describe Christ's anointing as King of kings during the gathering of saints at Adam-ondi-Ahman, although this latter interpretation is far from certain.²⁸

The seventy weeks in Daniel's vision are Sabbatical years,²⁹ which means they are weeks of years.³⁰ Therefore, the seventy weeks of seven years are equal to 490 years (i.e., 7x70=490).³¹ The 490 years end at the time of the Second Coming.³² However, Daniel identifies three time periods within those 490 years,³³ and the 490 years are not continuous. A gap of about 2000 years exists between the 69th and 70th weeks of years. In other words, there is a 2000-year gap between GROUP 1 (the First Coming) and GROUP 2 (the Second Coming).³⁴ The four (4) time periods within the Seventy Weeks Prophecy are broken down and summarized in the following table:

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Period	1	7 weeks	49 years	Jerusalem walls rebuilt.35
Period	2	62 weeks	434 years	Intertestamental period.36
		69 weeks	483 years	Ends with Christ’s crucifixion.
The Gap	3			Lasts about 2000 years.37
Period	4	1 week	7 years	Period of Armageddon.38
		70 weeks	490 years	Ends with the Second Coming.

The 2000-year gap between the 69th and 70th weeks of years began after the Messiah was crucified or "cut off"³⁹ as stated in Daniel 9:26.⁴⁰ The gap includes a flood of worldwide apostasy for 1290 years (based on Daniel's reckoning)⁴¹ and other events that will continue among the Jews until the last week of seven years begins before the Second Coming.⁴²

The last and 70th week of years will begin seven (7) years before the Second Coming as described in Daniel 9:27.⁴³ All the events of the 70th week, including Physical Armageddon, will occur during the last seven years before the Second Coming.⁴⁴