DANIEL'S INSIGHT
70 Weeks Prophecy
BACKGROUND ON DANIEL
A. A son of Israel probably of a royal or noble family (1:3)
B. A youth “in whom was no defect” who was “good-looking, showing intelligence in every branch of wisdom, endowed with understanding and discerning knowledge” (1:4)
C. Captured and enslaved by the “king of kings” at that time, Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon
D. Messenger of God came to him to give him “insight with understanding”
E. Daniel’s prayer was heard and a command given
1) Because he was “highly esteemed”
2) Because he was a student of the word (9:2)
3) Because he sought understanding (9:3)
F. He was told to give heed to the message and gain understanding of the vision. He had to engage and seek truth and understanding
G. The man of God seeks insight and understanding for these things come from God
1) Understanding comes from God (2 Tim. 2:7)
2) Jesus was noted for this as a youth (Luke 2:47)
3) The church seeks after understanding (Col. 1:9; 2:2)
4) Lack of understanding leads to ungodliness (Rom. 1:31; Eph. 4:18)
VERSE 24
A. Seventy Weeks for your people and your holy city
1) “Weeks” in Hebrew is shabua meaning a period of seven
2) Prophetic year in Ezekiel 4:5-6 says “days for years”
3) 70 X 7 = 490 years for your people (Jews) and your holy city (Jerusalem)
B. To Finish Transgression
1) No longer living in sin or slaves to sin
2) 2 Cor. 5:17; Ezek. 36:26; Heb. 8:10; Rom. 6:6; 1 John 3:8
C. To Make an End of Sin
1) Jesus came to put an end to sin
2) Rom. 6:6-11; 8:3; 1 John 3:5; Heb. 9:26
D. To Make Atonement for Iniquity
1) Reconciliation, atonement, propitiation
2) Rom. 3:25; 5:11; 2 Cor. 5:18-19, 21; Heb. 2:17; 1 Pet. 2:24; 1 John 2:2; 4:10
E. To Bring Everlasting Righteousness
1) Rom. 3:21-25, 5:21; 1 Cor. 1:30; Heb. 10:12-14; Jer. 23:5-6
F. To Seal Up Vision and Prophecy
1) Fulfilled all prophecy concerning Messiah
2) Heb. 1:1-2; Luke 24:25-27; 2 Pet. 1:19-21
G. To Anoint the Most Holy Place
1) Cleansed the Most Holy place so we have bold access
2) Hebrews 4:16; 6:19-20, 9:11-12, 22-24; 10:20
VERSE 25
A. The Decree to Restore and Rebuild Jerusalem
1) Decree of Cyrus to begin to rebuild the temple - 536 B.C. (Ezra 1:1-3)
2) Decree of Darius to resume work of Cyrus - 520 B.C. (Ezra 6:1-10)
3) Decree of Artaxerxes to return and restore - 457 B.C. (Ezra 7:11-13, 25)
4) Decree of Artaxerxes to Nehemiah to rebuild walls - 444 B.C. (Nehemiah 2:1-6)
B. Until Messiah the Prince
1) Messiah = Christ = Anointed one
2) Jesus was baptized by John (John 1:29-34; Luke 4:18)
3) This was when He began His ministry; when He was anointed (Acts 10:37-39)
4) This was AD 26
a. The first Passover Jesus celebrated was 46 years after the reconstruction of the temple (John 2:13-20)
b. Herod the Great began that constructed around 21-20 B.C. according to Josephus
C. It will be Seven Weeks and Sixty-Two Weeks
1) 7 X 7 = 49 and 62 X 7 = 434. 49 + 434 = 483 years (until Messiah comes)
2) 49 years after 457 B.C. puts us at 408 B.C. which is when Jerusalem commonwealth was restored
3) 483 years after 457 B.C. puts us at 26 AD with Jesus of Nazareth being baptized. He was about 30 years old at this time.
D. Jerusalem Rebuilt “in times of distress” see Nehemiah and Ezra
VERSE 26
A. The Messiah will be Cut Off and Have Nothing
1) Isa. 53:8; Matt. 26:56
B. The People of the Prince who is to come
1) This is not Messiah the Prince (he came in the first 62 weeks and he is cut off in the last). Also it would mean that the Jews would destroy Jerusalem.
2) This is the prince that comes to destroy the city and sanctuary i.e. Titus, king Vespasian’s son, prince of Rome who led an army to lay siege of Jerusalem in 70 A.D.
C. Will Destroy the City and Sanctuary and its End will come with a Flood, War, and Desolations
1) Josephus was an eye witness of the destruction
a. “Now as soon as the army had no more people to slay or to plunder, because there remained none to be objects of their fury... Caesar gave orders that they should now demolish the entire city and temple...” (Josephus The Wars of the Jews 7.1.1)
b. Of the Romans: “I shall therefore speak my mind here at once briefly: That neither did any other city ever suffer such miseries, nor did any age ever breed a generation more fruitful in wickedness that this was, from the beginning of the world.” (5.10.5)
c. “...so they were first whipped, and then tormented with all sorts of tortures before they died, and were then crucified before the wall of the city...so the soldiers out of the wrath and hatred they bore the Jews, nailed those they caught, one after one way, and another after another way of jest; when their multitude was so great, that room was wanting for the crosses, and crosses wanting for the bodies.” (5.11.1)
2) Jesus prophesied it in Matthew 23:29-38
a. Fill up the measure of the guilt of your fathers - 32
b. How will you escape the sentence of hell (Gehenna) - 33
c. These things will come upon this generation – 36
d. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem...Behold, your house is being left to you desolate! – 37,38 (Also Luke 19:43-44)
VERSE 27
A. Premillenialists teach that some or all of Daniel 9:24-27 is pertaining to events yet future.
1) Premillenialists put at least a 2000 year gap between Daniel 9:26 and Daniel 9:27
2) Hal Lindsey wrote in The Rapture: “God obviously stopped ‘the prophetic stopwatch’ after it had ticked off 483 years...Because Israel failed to accept her Messiah and instead ‘cut him off’ by crucifying Him, God stopped the countdown seven years short of completion. During the ensuing parenthesis in time, God turned His focus to the Gentiles and created the Church.”
B. He Will Make a Firm Covenant With Many for One Week: Hebrews 7:27-10:18
C. In the Middle of the Week he will put a stop to Sacrifice and Grain Offering
1) One week is 7 years so in the middle of the week would be about 3 ½ years
2) Therefore the Messiah would come after 69 weeks and would be cut off in the middle of the 70th week. Jesus was baptized at age 30 (26AD, 483 years after Artaxerxes’ decree) and was crucified at 33 ½ (29-30AD). He ministered for 3 ½ years. The temple veil being torn upon His death is symbolic of the end of sacrifice and grain offering i.e. temple centered worship.
3) This leaves 3 ½ years left to fulfill the 490 years. What would mark the end of the 70 weeks? Saul was converted 5 years after the ascension, 35AD (Turner) and Cornelius after him so they are too late. This points us to Stephen’s stoning as the end of the 490 years (Chuck Doughty, Prophecy in Scripture). When Jesus said “Father forgive them, they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34) He was right, they didn’t understand what they were doing though some were convinced when the veil tore saying “Truly this was the son of God.” There was a great deal of ignorance prevalent. But when Stephen was stoned to death he said the same thing “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” (Acts 7:60) But even Saul was in hearty agreement and a great persecution began in Jerusalem on that day (Acts 8:1). He preached and explained to them the truth of the crucifixion of Jesus and they did not care! Stephen’s death marked the end of the 70 weeks as at that point the Jews knew exactly what they were doing, they were persecuting the church. “...And on that day a great persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles” (Acts 8:1).
D. On the Wing of Abomination There Will Come One Who Makes Desolate
1) Speaking of the abomination of desolation as described by Josephus above and also in Matthew 24:15 and Mark 13:14-16