The 70 Weeks Of Daniel

The 70 Weeks Of Daniel - A Bible Study by Jack Kelley –
www.gracethrufaith.com

Many believe that Daniel 9:24-27 is the most important
passage of prophecy in all of Scripture. Almost every
mistake I’ve run across in studying the various
interpretations of End Times Prophecy can be traced back to
a misunderstanding of this passage. Let’s begin the year
with an updated and expanded study of this important
prophecy.

Before plowing into it we’ll back up a little and review
the context. Daniel was an old man, probably in his
eighties. He’d been in Babylon for nearly 70 years and knew
from reading the recently completed scroll of Jeremiah’s
writings (specifically the part we know as Jeremiah
25:8-11) that the 70-year captivity God had ordained for
Israel was just about over (Daniel 9:2).

The reason for the captivity had been Israel’s insistence
upon worshiping the false gods of their pagan neighbors.
Its duration of 70 years came from the fact that for 490
years they had failed to let their farmland lie fallow one
year out of every seven as God had commanded in Leviticus
25:1-7. The Lord had been patient all that time but finally
had sent them to Babylon to give the land the 70 years of
rest that were due it. (2 Chron. 36:21)

The beginning of Daniel 9 documents Daniel’s prayer,
reminding the Lord that the 70 year time of punishment was
nearly over and asking for mercy on behalf of his people.
Before he could finish his prayer, the angel Gabriel
appeared to him and spoke the words that we know as Daniel
9:24-27. Let’s read the whole thing to get the overview and
then take it apart verse by verse.

Seventy weeks are determined upon your people and your Holy
City to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to
atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting
righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint
the most Holy. Know and understand this: From the issuing
of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until The
Anointed One the Ruler comes there will be seven weeks and
sixty two weeks. It will be rebuilt with streets and a
trench but in times of trouble. After the sixty two weeks
the Anointed One will be cut off and have nothing. The
people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and
the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will
continue till the end and desolations have been decreed. He
will confirm a covenant with many for one week. In the
middle of the week he will put an end to sacrifice and
offering. And on a wing of the Temple he will set up an
abomination that causes desolation until the end that is
decreed is poured out on him (Daniel 9:24-27).

No prophecy in all of Scripture is more critical to our
understanding of the end times than these four verses. A
few basic clarifications are in order first, then we’ll
interpret the passage verse by verse. The Hebrew word
translated weeks (or sevens) refers to a period of 7 years,
like the English word decade refers to a period of 10
years. It literally means “a week of years.” So 70 weeks is
70 X 7 years or 490 years. This period is divided into
three parts, 7 weeks or 49 years, 62 weeks or 434 years,
and 1 week or 7 years. Let’s begin.

Seventy weeks are determined upon your people and your Holy
City to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to
atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting
righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint
the most Holy (place) (Daniel 9:24).

Sitting upon His heavenly throne, God decreed that six
things would be accomplished for Daniel’s people (Israel)
and Daniel’s Holy City (Jerusalem) during a specified
period of 490 years. (I’ve inserted the word “place” after
Holy at the end of the verse to clarify the fact that it
refers to the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem.)

We should be aware that in Hebrew these things read a
little differently. Literally, God had determined to;

1. restrict or restrain the transgression (also translated
rebellion)

2. seal up their sins (as if putting them away in a sealed
container)

3. make atonement (restitution) for their iniquity

4. bring them into a state of everlasting righteousness

5. seal up (same word as #2) vision and prophecy

6. anoint (consecrate) the most Holy place (sanctuary)

In plain language, God would put an end to their rebellion
against Him, put away their sins and pay the penalties they
had accrued, bring the people into a state of perpetual
righteousness, fulfill the remaining prophecies, and anoint
the Temple. This was to be accomplished through their
Messiah (Jesus) because no one else could do it. Had they
accepted Him as their savior their rebellion against God
would have ended. Their sins would have all been forgiven,
and the full penalty paid for them. They would have entered
into a state of eternal righteousness, all their prophecies
would have been fulfilled and the rebuilt temple would have
been consecrated. It should be noted here that although it
appears to have been accepted by Him, God never dwelt in
the 2nd Temple, nor was the ark of the covenant and its
mercy seat ever present therein.

Know and understand this: From the issuing of the decree to
restore and rebuild Jerusalem until The Anointed One the
Ruler comes there will be seven weeks and sixty two weeks.
It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench but in times
of trouble (Daniel 9:25).

Here is a clear prophecy of the timing of the First Coming.
When this message was given to Daniel by the angel Gabriel,
Jerusalem had lain in ruin for nearly 70 years and the Jews
were captive in Babylon. Counting forward for 62 + 7
periods of 7 years each (a total of 483 years) from a
future decree giving the Jews permission to restore and
rebuild Jerusalem, they should expect the Messiah.

To avoid confusion, it’s important to distinguish the
decree that freed the Jews from their captivity from the
one that gave them permission to rebuild Jerusalem.

When he conquered Babylon in 535BC Cyrus the Persian
immediately freed the Jews. It had been prophesied 150
years earlier in Isaiah 44:24-45:6 and was fulfilled in
Ezra 1:1-4. But according to Nehemiah 2:1 the decree to
rebuild Jerusalem was given in the first month of the 20th
year of his reign by King Artaxerxes of Persia (March of
445 BC on our calendar, about 90 years later). Exactly 483
years after that decree the Lord Jesus rode in to Jerusalem
on a donkey to shouts of “Hosanna”! It was the only day in
His life that He permitted His followers to proclaim Him as
Israel’s King, fulfilling Daniel’s prophecy to the day! The
Hebrew in Daniel 9:25 calls Him Messiah the Prince,
denoting the fact that He was coming as the Anointed Son of
the King and was not yet crowned King Himself.

In Luke 19:41-45, Jesus reminded the people of the specific
nature of this prophecy. As he approached Jerusalem and saw
the city, he wept over it and said, “If you, even you, had
only known on this day what would bring you peace–but now
it is hidden from your eyes. The days will come upon you
when your enemies will build an embankment against you and
encircle you and hem you in on every side. They will dash
you to the ground, you and the children within your walls.
They will not leave one stone on another, because you did
not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.” He held
them accountable for knowing Daniel 9:24-27.

A few days later He extended that accountability to those
who would be alive in Israel during the End Times. “So when
you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that
causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet
Daniel–let the reader understand– then let those who are in
Judea flee to the mountains. (Matt 24:15-16) They will also
be required to understand Daniel 9.

After the sixty two weeks the Anointed One will be cut off
and have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come
will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come
like a flood: War will continue till the end and
desolations have been decreed (Daniel 9:26).

First came 7 sevens (49 years) and then 62 sevens (434
years) for a total of 69 sevens or 483 years. The Hebrew
word for Anointed One is Mashaich (Messiah in English). At
the end of this 2nd period their Messiah would be cut off,
which means to be executed or literally destroyed in the
making of a covenant, having received none of the honor,
glory and blessing the Scriptures promised Him.

Make no mistake about it. Jesus had to die so these 6
promises could come true. No one else in Heaven or on Earth
could accomplish this. We can only imagine how different
things would have been if they had accepted Him as their
Messiah and let Him die for their sins so He could bring
them into everlasting righteousness with His resurrection.
But of course God knew they wouldn’t, so He had to do
things the hard way.

Do you realize what that means? It wasn’t killing the
Messiah that put the Jews at odds with God. After all He
came to die for them. No. It’s that in killing Him, they
refused to let His death pay for their sins so He could
save them. This had the effect of making His death
meaningless to them. That’s what severed the relationship.

Because of that, we now get the first hint that all would
not go well. Following the crucifixion the people of a
ruler yet to come would destroy Jerusalem and the Temple,
the same Temple that God decreed would be consecrated. The
Israelites would be scattered abroad and peace would elude
the world.

We all know that Jesus was crucified and 38 years later the
Romans put the torch to the city and the Temple destroying
both. Surviving Jews were forced to flee for their lives
and in the ensuing 2000 years I don’t believe a single
generation has escaped involvement in a war of some kind.

After the crucifixion something strange happened: The
Heavenly clock stopped. 69 of the 70 weeks had passed and
all that was prophesied to happen during those 483 years
had come to pass but there was still one week (7 years)
left. There are hints in the Old Testament that the clock
had stopped several times before in Israel’s history when
for one reason or another they were either under
subjugation or out of the land. And in the New Testament
we’re also given hints that while God is dealing with the
Church, time ceases to exist for Israel (Acts 15:13-18).
But the clearest indication of the stopped clock is that
the events foretold in Daniel 9:27 simply haven’t happened
yet.

He will confirm a covenant with many for one week. In the
middle of the week he will put an end to sacrifice and
offering. And on a wing of the Temple he will set up an
abomination that causes desolation until the end that is
decreed is poured out on him(9:27).

It’s vital to our understanding of the End Times that we
realize two things here. First, the Age of Grace didn’t
follow the Age of Law, it merely interrupted the Age of Law
seven years short of its promised duration. These seven
years have to be completed for God to accomplish the six
things the angel listed in verse 24 for Israel.

And second, the Age of Grace was not the next step in the
progression of God’s overall plan, but was a deviation from
it. Once the rapture comes, nothing like the Age of Grace
will ever happen again (Ephes. 2:6-7). Even when Israel
accepts the New Covenant, as Jeremiah 31:31-34 promises,
they won’t enjoy the same benefits the Church has enjoyed.
The relationship the Church has with the Lord will never be
repeated with any other group. Ever.

But before we try to understand the 70th week let’s review
a rule of grammar that will help make our interpretation
correct. The rule is this: Pronouns refer us back to the
closest previous noun. “He”, being a personal pronoun,
refers to the closest previous personal noun, in this case
the “ruler who will come.” So a ruler who will come from
the territory of the old Roman Empire will confirm a 7 year
covenant with Israel that permits them to build a Temple
and re-instate their Old Covenant worship system. 3 1/2
years later he will violate the covenant by setting up an
abomination that causes the Temple to become desolate,
putting an end to their worship. This abomination brings
the wrath of God down upon him and he will be destroyed.

The most obvious way in which we know these things haven’t
happened is that the Jewish Old Covenant worship system
requires a Temple and there hasn’t been one since 70 AD
when the Romans destroyed it.

Some say this prophecy was fulfilled during the Roman
destruction but most believe it’s yet future, partly
because of the term Abomination that causes Desolation.
It’s a specific insult to God that has happened only once
previously. Antiochus Epiphanes, a powerful Syrian king,
had attacked Jerusalem and entered the Temple area in
168BC. There he had sacrificed a pig on the Temple altar
and erected a statue of the Greek god Zeus with his own
face on it. He then required everyone to worship it on pain
of death. This rendered the Temple unfit for worshiping God
and so incensed the Jews that they revolted and defeated
the Syrians. This is all recorded in Jewish history (1st
Maccabees) where it’s called the Abomination of Desolation.
The subsequent cleansing of the Temple is celebrated to
this day in the Feast of Hanukkah.

Paul warned us that in the latter days a world leader will
become so powerful that he will exalt himself above
everything that is called god or is worshiped and will
stand in the Temple proclaiming himself to be God (2 Thes
2:4). In Rev 13:14-15 we’re told that he’ll have a statue
of himself erected and require everyone to worship it on
pain of death. In Matt 24:15-21 Jesus said that the
Abomination that causes Desolation spoken of by Daniel will
kick off the Great Tribulation, a period of time 3 1/2
years long that coincides with the last half of Daniel’s
70th week. The similarities between this coming event and
the one from history being so obvious, most scholars are
persuaded that one points to the other since nothing in the
intervening years fits so completely.

Soon And Very Soon

A new leader will soon emerge on the scene, a man with
great personal charisma. Following a devastating war in the
Middle East he’ll present a plan to restore peace, by which
he will quickly captivate and control the world. Since all
true believers will have recently disappeared from Earth in
the rapture of the Church, he’ll have no trouble persuading
most remaining inhabitants that he is the promised Messiah,
the Prince of Peace. He will astound and amaze them all
with feats of diplomacy and conquest, even performing the
supernatural.

When he claims to be God, all hell will break loose on
Earth and 3 1/2 years of the most terrible times mankind
has ever known will threaten their very existence. But
before they’re all destroyed the real Prince of Peace will
return and overthrow this impostor. He will set up His
kingdom on earth, a kingdom that will never be destroyed or
left to another.

Having given His life to finish transgression, put an end
to sin, atone for wickedness and bring in everlasting
righteousness, and having fulfilled all Biblical vision and
prophecy, He will anoint the most Holy Place and receive
all the honor, glory and blessing the Scriptures promise
Him. Israel will finally have her Kingdom back and will
live in peace with God in her midst forever. You can almost
hear the footsteps of the Messiah.