What I Believe About the End Times: Daniel Duval on Eschatology and the Last Days

The entire end times timeline revolves around Jerusalem. The prophetic clock is set by a single passage, Daniel 9:24-27, known as Daniel's seventy weeks prophecy. Here it is in full:

The word translated "weeks" comes from the Aramaic shabuwa, meaning "sevened." Every serious biblical scholar understands this as sets of seven years. Seventy sets of seven prophetic years. That is 490 prophetic years appointed specifically to Daniel's people (the Jewish people) and to the holy city of Jerusalem. Prophetic years run on a 360-day cycle, not our 365-day Gregorian calendar.

When those 490 years are complete, six qualifications will have been met:

1. The transgression is finished

2. There is an end of sins

3. Reconciliation for iniquity is made

4. Everlasting righteousness is brought in

5. Vision and prophecy are sealed up

6. The most Holy is anointed: the millennial rule begins

The prophetic clock started on the equivalent of March 14, 445 BC, the day King Artaxerxes reaffirmed the command to rebuild Jerusalem (Nehemiah 2:1-8). From that day, the first sixty-nine weeks (173,880 days) ran to a precise endpoint. Chuck Missler and Mark Eastman worked out the math:

• 445 BC to 32 AD (476 years x 365 days) = 173,740 days

• March 14 to April 6 = 24 days

• Leap years = +116 days

• Total: 173,880 days

That calculation ends on April 6, 32 AD. That is the exact day Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, openly acknowledged as the Messiah for the first time (Luke 19:40). To the day. Not to the year. To the day.

This is not a coincidence. This is the precision of God's prophetic Word. It demands that we take the rest of the prophecy just as seriously.

Some argue the seventieth week followed immediately after the sixty-ninth. I declare that argument collapses under its own logic. Here is why.

If the weeks were continuous with no gap, the antichrist would have been signing a covenant with Israel the day after Jesus rode into Jerusalem, before Jesus was even crucified. That did not happen. So there is a gap. The evidence is not ambiguous.

Daniel 9:26 uses the phrase "And after the sixty-two weeks" to describe events that happen after week sixty-nine ends and before week seventy begins. The crucifixion. The destruction of Jerusalem. These are gap events. And the gap is still open. We are living in it right now.

Some propose that the seventieth week was fulfilled when Rome destroyed Jerusalem in 70 AD. Let me be direct: this does not hold up.

If the seventieth week ended in 70 AD, that requires a 30-year gap, meaning the covenant with Israel would have been signed around 63 AD. There is no record of that. It also means the millennial rule began in 70 AD and ended around 1070 AD, right in the middle of the dark ages. Go study that era of history and tell me it resembles Revelation 20 and the thousand-year reign of Christ.

And what about the judgment seat of Christ? The Great White Throne Judgment? The new heaven and the new earth of Revelation 21-22? We cannot allegorize these away to fit a timeline that does not work. I wake up every morning in a world that looks nothing like Revelation 21. The gap is still open. The seventieth week has not yet begun.

Daniel's seventieth week begins when the final antichrist (the man of sin, the beast, the son of perdition) signs a covenant with "many" (Daniel 9:27). This figure is identified through cross-referencing: 1 John 2:18, Daniel 7:8, Daniel 8:9, Daniel 11:21-45, 2 Thessalonians 2:1-4, and Revelation 13:1-5. The language is consistent. The identity is unmistakable.

The covenant runs for one week (seven years). At the midpoint, three and a half years in, the antichrist breaks it.

At the midpoint of the seventieth week, the antichrist stops the sacrifices occurring in the rebuilt temple in Jerusalem. He sets up the abomination of desolation. He sits down in the temple of God and declares himself God (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4). Jesus called this the trigger point. He said when you see it, run:

From this point, the antichrist is given exactly 42 months (1,260 days) to make war on the saints of the Most High God (Revelation 13:4-7). He exercises global power the likes of which human history has never seen. Not Nimrod. Not Caesar. Not Hitler. Nothing compares.

This is the great tribulation. It runs for the entire second half of Daniel's seventieth week. The church is present. We are not removed. We are called to stand.

I want to be clear. I am not attacking people who hold this view. I am challenging the view itself, because preparation depends on what you believe is coming.

Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15:52 that Jesus returns "at the last trump." The book of Revelation gives us seven trumpets. The last one is trumpet seven. If Paul meant something else, he would not have said "the last trumpet." He would have said "a trumpet."

The seventh trumpet and the last trumpet are the same event. The return of Christ closes Daniel's seventieth week.

A secret rapture cannot coexist with Revelation 1:7:

Every eye. Not a few eyes. Not the eyes of believers only. If His return is secret, how does every person on earth see it? Some try to create a "third coming" (an unscriptural insertion) to reconcile this. The simpler answer is that He comes once, publicly, gloriously, at the seventh trumpet.

When Paul writes that we are "caught up... to meet the Lord in the air" (1 Thessalonians 4:17), the word air is the Greek word aer, the air we breathe. Not the third heaven. Not a distant heavenly realm. We rise to meet Him in the lower atmosphere. And then we return with Him as His immortal army to conquer the earth.

This is not an escape plan. This is a deployment.

Revelation 10:7 tells us that at the seventh trumpet, the mystery of God is finished. Paul defines that mystery precisely in 1 Corinthians 15:51: "Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed."

The mystery is the glorification of the church. It is finished at the seventh trumpet. The correlation could not be more direct. The last trumpet is the seventh trumpet. We are changed at the last trumpet. We are changed when the mystery is finished. They are the same moment.

For those who argue a pre-tribulation rapture is necessary to escape God's wrath (1 Thessalonians 1:10, 5:9): I agree we are delivered from wrath. But the wrath of God is not the trumpets. The wrath of God is the bowl judgments of Revelation 16. The bowls are poured out after the seventh trumpet sounds. The church is glorified before the bowls are released. The distinction between judgment and wrath is not a minor detail. It is the hinge on which this entire debate turns.

We were not put here to be bullied by a defeated kingdom. And we were not put here to be extracted before the battle. We were put here to stand.

Daniel 12:11 gives us a timeline of 1,290 days from the abomination of desolation. The tribulation runs 1,260 days. The extra 30 days matters.

The four spring feasts (Passover, Unleavened Bread, First Fruits, and Pentecost) were all fulfilled precisely at Jesus' first advent. The crucifixion, burial, resurrection, and the outpouring of the Spirit. God does not miss appointments.

The three fall feasts are yet to be fulfilled:

• Feast of Trumpets (1 Tishri): The last trumpet sounds. No man knows the day or the hour because this feast spans 48 hours, its start determined by the appearance of the new moon. Jesus referenced this idiom in Mark 13:32. It was not a declaration of unscheduled imminence. It was a prophetic reference to this feast.

• Day of Atonement (10 Tishri): Ten days later. Aligned with the deliverance of the Jewish remnant (Zechariah 14:4-8, 12:10) and the battle of Armageddon (Revelation 19:19).

• Feast of Tabernacles (15 Tishri, seven days): Begins five days after Atonement. This feast will continue to be celebrated throughout the millennial reign of Christ (Zechariah 14:16).

The 30-day window after the end of Daniel's seventieth week maps directly to these three fall feasts. God's prophetic calendar is not random. It is precise.

After the initial 30 days, Daniel 12:12 gives us another 45 days. Within this 75-day window we can expect:

• The judgment seat of Christ (Romans 14:10, 2 Corinthians 5:10), where the dead saints who have been raised are rewarded

• The wedding supper of the Lamb (Revelation 19:9, Isaiah 25:6)

• The organizing of the kingdom for the millennial rule

After Armageddon, Jesus is enthroned in Jerusalem. Every nation gathered. Every knee bent. Jeremiah 3:17 is fulfilled: "At that time Jerusalem shall be called The Throne of the LORD, and all the nations shall be gathered to it."

The millennial reign of Christ begins.

Here is the sequence, clearly stated:

1. The final antichrist signs a covenant with Israel. Daniel's 70th week begins.

2. At the 3.5-year midpoint: the abomination of desolation is set up and the great tribulation begins.

3. The antichrist wages war on the saints for 42 months (1,260 days).

4. The seven seals of Revelation are opened by Jesus in chronological order.

5. The seven trumpets sound in chronological order. The seals precede the trumpets because the seventh seal introduces them (Revelation 8:1-2).

6. At the seventh trumpet: the dead in Christ rise, the living saints are glorified, the mystery of God is finished.

7. The church deploys as the immortal army of God. The bowl judgments are poured out.

8. The battle of Armageddon. The beast and false prophet are cast into the lake of fire.

9. Within 75 days: judgment seat of Christ, wedding supper of the Lamb, the kingdom is organized.

10. The millennial reign of Christ begins.

What is Daniel's 70 weeks prophecy?

Daniel's 70 weeks prophecy (Daniel 9:24-27) is a prophetic timeline given to Daniel concerning the Jewish people and the city of Jerusalem. The "weeks" represent sets of seven years. 70 sets totaling 490 prophetic years. The first 69 weeks were fulfilled precisely on April 6, 32 AD, the day Jesus entered Jerusalem as Messiah. The 70th week (a final seven-year period) remains future, triggered when the antichrist signs a covenant with Israel.

What is the abomination of desolation?

The abomination of desolation is the event described in Daniel 9:27 and Matthew 24:15 where the final antichrist enters the rebuilt temple in Jerusalem, stops the sacrificial offerings, and declares himself to be God (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4). Jesus identified this as the starting point of the great tribulation. It occurs at the midpoint of Daniel's 70th week, 3.5 years into the seven-year period.

Does the Bible teach a pre-tribulation rapture?

No. The Bible teaches that Jesus returns once, publicly, visibly, with every eye seeing Him (Revelation 1:7). He returns at the last trumpet (1 Corinthians 15:52), which is the seventh trumpet of Revelation (Revelation 11:15). The church is present through the great tribulation. God's wrath (the bowl judgments) is not poured out until after the seventh trumpet, which is after the church is glorified. The distinction between the tribulation and the wrath of God is critical.

When does Jesus return?

Jesus returns at the seventh trumpet (Revelation 11:15), which is the last trumpet (1 Corinthians 15:52), at the close of Daniel's 70th week. At that moment, the dead in Christ are raised, the living saints are glorified, and the mystery of God is finished (Revelation 10:7, 1 Corinthians 15:51). Every eye on earth will see His return (Revelation 1:7). He descends with a shout, the voice of the archangel, and the trump of God (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).

What happens at the seventh trumpet?

At the seventh trumpet: the kingdoms of the world become the kingdom of Christ (Revelation 11:15), the dead in Christ are raised and judged at the judgment seat (Revelation 11:18), the living saints are glorified (1 Corinthians 15:52), the mystery of God is finished (Revelation 10:7), and the church is deployed as the immortal army of God to accompany Christ in the outpouring of the bowl judgments. The seventh trumpet closes Daniel's 70th week.

What is historic premillennialism?

Historic premillennialism is the position that Jesus returns bodily and visibly to earth before a literal 1,000-year reign described in Revelation 20. It holds that the church passes through the great tribulation rather than being raptured before it. This was the dominant view of the early church fathers. It differs from dispensational premillennialism primarily in its rejection of the pre-tribulation rapture and a two-stage return of Christ.

What is the gap in Daniel's 70 weeks?

The gap is the period of time between the end of the 69th week (April 6, 32 AD) and the beginning of the 70th week, which has not yet started. We are currently living in this gap. The gap is confirmed by Daniel 9:26, which describes events that occur after the 69th week but before the 70th: the crucifixion of Christ and the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. The 70th week begins only when the final antichrist signs a covenant with Israel.

The theology in this article is developed in full across two foundational books from Bride Ministries International. These are not surface-level reads. They are front-line ministry training resources for equipping the Body of Christ to understand the hour we are living in and stand without compromise.

Kingdom Government and the Promise of Sheep Nations

The complete biblical framework for the millennial rule, Daniel's 70th week, and what it means for nations to come under the government of Christ. This is where the end times timeline is unpacked in full: seals, trumpets, bowls, feasts, and the 75-day window following Christ's return.

Nearly 100 pages devoted to systematically dissecting end-time events in sequence. If you are new to this material, start here. By the time you finish, you will understand why the pre-tribulation rapture leaves the church unprepared. And what it means to be ready instead.

I declare that the children of the Most High God are not called to retreat. We are called to reign. Training for reigning begins with understanding the mandate. Pick up both books at and start preparing for what is coming.