As proof that many (if not all) last days prophecies are fulfilled in multiple ways and times, I offer the following fulfillment of the prediction in Daniel 9:24-25.1 This particular fulfillment has many implications, some of which I have written about before (read here and here). The prophecy at hand reads thus in the KJV:
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.
As you can see, this prophecy is about “Jerusalem,” which is a term used in the scriptures to describe both a literal city and a people. To support this, verse 24 explicitly states that, at least in part, this passage is about the people. I believe that many of the British converts to the Mormon church in the 1800s were in fact a remnant of the dispersed of Judah (see Isaiah 11:12)–or in other words, the people that used to inhabit Jerusalem. Not only is this article going to prove that prophecies generally are fulfilled more than once, but it’s also an attempt to show that our Mormon pioneer ancestors who came from England were Jews (a 19th-century term for “Israelites”).2
THE COMMANDMENT GOES FORTH
The prophecy begins on Palm Sunday, March 27th, 1836. It’s the dedication of the Kirtland Temple, and Joseph Smith is offering the dedicatory prayer of that most important of buildings–a prayer which he claimed was given to him by the Spirit of revelation.3 He stands before a congregation of Gentiles, brought together by the Book of Mormon. Immediately after reinforcing that the church at the time is “identified with the Gentiles” (D&C 109:60), he prays the following to the Lord:
61 But thou knowest that thou hast a great love for the children of Jacob, who have been scattered upon the mountains for a long time, in a cloudy and dark day.
62 We therefore ask thee to have mercy upon the children of Jacob, that Jerusalem, from this hour, may begin to be redeemed;
63 And the yoke of bondage may begin to be broken off from the house of David;
64 And the children of Judah may begin to return to the lands which thou didst give to Abraham, their father.
65 And cause that the remnants of Jacob, who have been cursed and smitten because of their transgression, be converted from their wild and savage condition to the fulness of the everlasting gospel;
66 That they may lay down their weapons of bloodshed, and cease their rebellions.
67 And may all the scattered remnants of Israel, who have been driven to the ends of the earth, come to a knowledge of the truth, believe in the Messiah, and be redeemed from oppression, and rejoice before thee.
This part of Joseph’s prayer is, I believe, “the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem” as foretold in Daniel 9:25. If so, we should expect a significant 70-week period to follow. As you will see, this is exactly what happens.
But before moving on, allow me to stress again that the Church of Christ as organized by Joseph Smith up to this point in 1836 was a Gentile church. In the Book of Mormon, the Lord had declared that the fulness of the gospel would first be given to the Gentiles before going to the house of Israel (see 3 Nephi 16:8-11). I believe that 27 March 1836 marks an extremely significant point in the shift of the LDS Church from Gentile to Israelite.
SEVEN WEEKS AND SIXTY-TWO WEEKS
Daniel 9 states that after the commandment goes forth to restore and build Jerusalem, a 7-week and a 62-week period will occur. Why the prophecy didn’t just add those together and say a 69-week period from the get-go has always puzzled me; but I believe that Church history might contain a remarkable explanation for the odd break in the 69 weeks.
If you add 62 weeks (434 days) to 27 March 1836, you will be brought to Sunday, 4 June 1837.4 According to his biography, this was the very day that apostle Heber C. Kimball was called by the inspiration of heaven to serve a mission to England!
In his own words, Heber related the following about that event:
“On Sunday, the 4th day of June, 1837, the Prophet Joseph came to me, while I was seated in front of the stand, above the sacrament table, on the Melchisedek side of the Temple, in Kirtland, and whispering to me, said, ‘Brother Heber, the Spirit of the Lord has whispered to me: ‘Let my servant Heber go to England and proclaim my Gospel, and open the door of salvation to that nation.'”5
This might explain the strange wording of the Old Testament prophet. For at least this fulfillment of Daniel 9, sixty-two weeks from the commandment going forth was indeed a significant time frame:
- 1 week in, on 3 April 1836 (which was Easter Sunday and the 3rd day of Passover6), the Lord accepted the Kirtland Temple, Moses gave Joseph and Oliver Cowdery the keys to gather Israel, and Elias gave them the dispensation of the gospel of Abraham (see D&C 110); and
- 62 weeks in, on 4 June 1837, the Spirit called the apostle Heber to be the first to take the gospel to a foreign land
You can start to see that perhaps Daniel 9 was beginning to be fulfilled after all.
Following his mission call, Heber, and the others called to go with him, took the better part of 7 weeks to prepare for their departure and to travel to England. They left Kirtland on around the 13th of June and arrived on the island on 20 July 1837.
After a couple days of trying to figure out how and where to start, they ended up at the house of Reverend James Fielding in Preston England on the afternoon of July 22nd. The following day, 23 July 1837–which was a very important day in Mormon history–was exactly 7 weeks (49 days) after Heber was called on his mission on 4 June 1837.
THE ANOINTED ONE COMES
The NIV of Daniel 9:25 suggests that 69 weeks after the Jerusalem-restoration commandment goes forth, “the Anointed One, the ruler, comes.” Obviously, the Second Coming of Christ did not occur in 1837, but “the knowledge of the fulness of [His] gospel” did come to England that year (3 Nephi 16:12). At 3:00 PM on Sunday, July 23, 1837, Heber C. Kimball preached the first sermon in England to the congregation of Reverend Fielding. I believe that this was the “coming” of the Messiah to this remnant of Israel, as prophesied in Daniel 9:25.
Adding the 62 and 7-week periods discussed above, we see that 23 July 1837 was exactly 69 weeks (483 days) from the Palm Sunday dedication of the Kirtland Temple on 27 March 1836.
Amazingly, not only was 23 July 1837 significant because of the mission to England, but also because a revelation was received in Kirtland that day by Joseph Smith. That is the same day that he dictated D&C 112, which is all about the Quorum of the Twelve. This revelation includes a statement that the Twelve were given the keys to a dispensation, a commandment to preach the gospel to all the world, and a few warnings and prophecies about their future.
Further, the 23rd of July is the beginning of the sign of Leo (the lion) in the tropical Zodiac.7 You’ve likely heard of the Lion of the Tribe of Judah? That’s a title given to (likely) Jesus Christ in Revelation 5:5. Oh, and the lion is featured on the coat of arms for England…8 Interesting…
But back to our missionaries in England… Here’s what Heber C. Kimball wrote about that fateful first meeting in Preston:
“I declared that an angel had visited the earth, and committed the everlasting Gospel to man; called their attention to the first principles of the Gospel; and gave them a brief history of the nature of the work which the Lord had commenced on the earth ; after which Elder Hyde bore testimony to the same, which was received by many with whom I afterwards conversed ; they cried ‘glory to God,’ and rejoiced that the Lord had sent His servants unto them. Thus was the key turned and the Gospel dispensation opened9 on the first Sabbath after landing in England.”10
After this first Mormon sermon in England, the missionaries held another meeting later that afternoon, and then another one on Wednesday (26 July 1837). Then, on the following Sunday, 30 July 1837, the first British converts were baptized. Heber wrote the following about this:
“I had the pleasure, about 9 a.m. [on Sunday, July 30, 1837], of baptizing nine11 individuals and hailing them brethren and sisters in the kingdom of God. These were the first persons baptized into the Church in a foreign land, and only the eighth day after our arrival in Preston.”12
Of course, 30 July 1837 is exactly 70 weeks13 from the going forth of the commandment to restore Jerusalem on 27 March 1836–thus fulfilling the 70-weeks prophecy in Daniel 9:
How utterly crazy it is that the first British saints were baptized precisely 70 weeks after Joseph Smith prayed for the redemption of Jerusalem!14 Do things like this just randomly happen, or is there a divine hand behind it all? Did Joseph Smith expertly plan this out and then proceed to tell no one he was fulfilling the book of Daniel? What would you chalk it up as?
As for me, I think these alignments are highly significant. I think they point to the early British converts to Mormonism as being legitimate Israelites. If this is true, then we have to consider that the transition from Gentile to Israelite as prophesied in 3 Nephi 16:8-11 has already happened and that the LDS Church of today is in large part Israelite.15 If this is accepted, then we must study the prophecies in the Book of Mormon that pertain to the house of Israel and carefully consider their implications–specifically: What promises are made to the house of Israel? And to where will the house of Israel gather in the last days?
Here is a visual of the 70 weeks of Daniel 9 as applied to the first British Mission of the latter-day saints:
THE REST OF THE PROPHECY
As for the remainder of the prophecy in Daniel 9:24-27, see my previous post linking Sidney Rigdon to the same timeline (he might have fulfilled the next part which has to do with another group of 62 “sevens”):
Because prophecy (especially Daniel) is so vague and hard to understand, the possibility that many fulfillments occur in a plethora of ways is very likely. In contrast, if a prophecy is uber specific, then it can really only be fulfilled once, right? Daniel 9 is a perfect example to teach us to keep watching and expect the unexpected. Expect the ambiguity of prophecy to yield many outcomes. This, in my opinion, is one reason that God’s work is called “great and marvelous.”
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Sources and Notes
- See this interesting interpretation of Daniel 9: https://gatheredin.one/1109/the-times-of-the-gentiles-daniels-70-weeks-prophesy/, and this one: https://onewhoiswatching.wordpress.com/2008/11/29/9-when-those-tribulations-should-take-place-it-should-be-committed-to-a-man-who-should-be-a-witness-over-the-whole-world/. Check out this one about Christ’s first coming: https://studyandobey.com/inductive-bible-study/daniel-studies/daniel-9-20-27/. There are many others, I’m sure. ↩︎
- “JEW, noun [a contraction of Judas of Judah.] A Hebrew or Israelite.” (Webster’s 1828 Dictionary, https://webstersdictionary1828.com/Dictionary/jew) ↩︎
- https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/minutes-and-prayer-of-dedication-27-march-1836-dc-109/1#historical-intro ↩︎
- All date calculations were done at one of my favorite websites, here: https://www.timeanddate.com/date/duration.html ↩︎
- Life of Heber C. Kimball, by Orson F. Whitney, p. 116. https://archive.org/details/LifeOfHeberC.Kimball/page/n125/mode/2up; https://rsc.byu.edu/vol-3-no-2-2002/heber-c-kimball-man-faith-integrity. Watch the video made about this event here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvKME1sw5TU. The Life of Heber C. Kimball, by Orson F. Whitney records a letter of recommendation written for Heber by the First Presidency as follows: “At a conference of the Elders of the Church of Latter-day Saints, held in Kirtland, Geauga County, Ohio, on the fourth day of June, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty-seven, Elder Heber C. Kimball, the bearer of this, was unanimously appointed, set apart and ordained to go at the head of this mission to England, to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the people of that nation, as it is believed and practiced by us. From the long acquaintance which we have had with this our worthy brother, his integrity and zeal in the cause of truth, we do most cheerfully and confidently recommend him to all candid and upright people as a servant of God and faithful minister of Jesus Christ. We do furthermore beseech all people who have an opportunity of hearing this our brother declare the doctrine believed by us, to listen with attention to the words of his mouth. Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon, Hyrum Smith. Presiding Elders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.” (https://archive.org/details/LifeOfHeberC.Kimball/page/n129/mode/2up). Note that the Joseph Smith papers contains a copy of this letter of recommendation which dates his appointment to the mission as 2 June 1837 rather than 4 June (https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/recommendation-for-heber-c-kimball-between-2-and-13-june-1837/1). They also have Heber’s journal which has the 2 June date as well (https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/recommendation-for-heber-c-kimball-between-2-and-13-june-1837-as-recorded-in-kimball-journal/1). The footnotes in the first seem to express some doubt as to the date he was actually called. It is unclear why the date became 4 June 1837 in Heber’s biography. One possible reason is that the date June 4 was found out retroactively to be a Sunday, and therefore more likely to be the day of a conference, as opposed to the Friday that was June 2. ↩︎
- 3 Apr 1836 was 16 Nisan 5596: https://www.hebcal.com/converter?hd=16&hm=Nisan&hy=5596&h2g=1 ↩︎
- The tropical zodiac puts Leo as 23 July – 22 August, whereas the 17 August – 16 September: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidereal_and_tropical_astrology ↩︎
- https://www.theguardian.com/notesandqueries/query/0,5753,-17023,00.html ↩︎
- This might be evidence to support the theory that the dispensation given to the Twelve as mentioned in D&C 112 was the dispensation of the gospel of Abraham mysteriously handed over to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery in the Kirtland temple (see D&C 110:12). If not, what other “Gospel dispensation” was opened that day? The gospel had been preached since early 1830, so what was so different about this “Gospel dispensation?” ↩︎
- https://archive.org/details/LifeOfHeberC.Kimball/page/n145/mode/2up ↩︎
- I find it very interesting that the 9 baptisms took place at 9 AM on their 9th day in Preston (yes, I know Heber said “8th” but 30-22+1=9) in fulfillment of the prophecy in Daniel 9. ↩︎
- https://ensignpeakfoundation.org/river-ribble-baptismal-site/; https://archive.org/details/LifeOfHeberC.Kimball/page/n157/mode/2up ↩︎
- For events of the 70th week, see the following: https://archive.org/details/LifeOfHeberC.Kimball/page/n141/mode/2up;
https://archive.org/details/LifeOfHeberC.Kimball/page/n159/mode/2up ↩︎ - You may be wondering how this timeline fulfills all the things written in Daniel 9 verse 24:
“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.” An interesting study would be to see if this prophecy by Heber C. Kimball could qualify as the vision and prophecy being sealed up??: https://archive.org/details/LifeOfHeberC.Kimball/page/n143/mode/2up ↩︎ - See my interview on Zion Media about this here: https://youtu.be/gyOziu6oBnM?si=2Kt4yIpV8PcJUWhw ↩︎
Science Is True and the Church Is Too 