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[Daniel Ch.9: The 70 Weeks Prophecy]

III. The 70 Weeks of Years (9:24-27)

     This very brief (four verses) portion of Scripture is one of the most pivotal and significant in Bible prophecy. It tells about what's ahead for the Jews, Europe, and even the present church age.

     Moreover, the actual and literal fulfillment of the 69-week portion in history convincingly proves the trustworthiness of Scriptures. It is a mathematical demonstration of the divine inspiration of the Bible.  It predicted to the very day of the Messiah's first offering of Himself as "Prince" to Israel.

A. God's Calendar for the Jews (9:24)  

DAN 9:24  Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city,

     While we use a 12-unit calendar, God used a 70-unit calendar for the Jews. The purpose of God's 70-week program for His people is sevenfold--

• 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

• [to seal up] prophecy, and

• to anoint the most Holy.  

     All the above descriptions are that of blessings and promises for the Nation Israel under the Messiah. Under God's plan, 70 weeks would transpire for the Jews to end their sins and apostasy, bring in everlasting righteousness, and perfectly fulfill all vision and prophecy.  Jerusalem would also be rebuilt, Israel restored, and  the Messiah reigns on earth.

     The entire time frame of 70 weeks is subdivided into three periods (1) 7 weeks (2) 62 weeks (3) 1 week.  

     First question, what is the meaning of "weeks"? The original Hebrew word is not week, in the sense of a 7-day period, but the word "shabua," which means literally a "seven."  And whether it is seven days or seven years must be determined from the context.

     Seven Days of Years--

     (1) Common usage of word "shabua" was for years. If days were meant, the appellate "of days" would be added (cf. Dan. 10:2-3).

     (2) The context deals with years, not days. Daniel had been thinking about the 70- year (10 x 7) Babylonian captivity in 9:1-2.

     (3) Such captivity had actually been based on Jewish violation of the Sabbatic year (cf. II Chron. 36:21).

     (4) The Sabbatic year had been violated for 490 years, or 70 x 7 years. Appropriately, God was starting another era of the same time frame for the Jews.

     (5) If it were "days," the entire period would be merely 490 days, or a little more 1 year. This would obviously not cover the rebuilding and then destruction of the city wall, and the events of verse 24!

     Second question, how many days are in the "shabua of years"? In prophecy, the last 3-1/2 years of the Great Tribulation is defined as 1260 days (Rev.12:6) or 42 months (Rev.11:2; 13:5). This is equivalent to 300 days/year or 30 days/month.

B. The 69 Weeks of Years (9:25)  

DAN 9:25  Know therefore and understand,

     The angels urges Daniel to take note and be aware of the exact calculations involved, for it proves that God's prophetic Word will be fulfilled to the day!          

DAN 9:25  ...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 beginning of the entire 70 weeks: "the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem."  The terminus of the first 69 weeks: "Messiah the Prince."

     "Messiah the Prince" is Jesus Christ; "The Prince That Shall Come" (v. 26) is the Antichrist.

     If we can calculate the exact date of the restoration of Jerusalem's wall, we would be able to figure the exact date of the Messiah's first coming as "Prince" to Israel. Note that the rebuilding of the wall--not the Temple--is meant.

     Old Testament history gives us only one decree to rebuild the Jerusalem walls--Nehemiah 2:1-8.  This happened "in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king" (Neh. 2:1).

     This date amazingly happens to be one of the best known dates in ancient history. The Encyclopedia Britannica set the date of Artaxerxes' accession at 465 B.C., or 445 B.C. The first of Nissan would be March 14, 445 B.C.  This is the starting point of Daniel's 70 week prophecy.

     To calculate the END of the 69-week prophecy, we should reduce the numbers to DAYS.  The formula is--

     69 "weeks" x 7 years x 360 days = 173,880 days

     Counting from March 14, 445 B.C., and continuing 173,880 days, brings us to April 6, 32 A.D.

     Another way of calculating the ending point is through the western calendar system. Here is a comparative chart between Jewish and Western Calendar Systems, which amazingly comes out with the same number of days—

     Sir Robert Anderson, in his classic The Coming Prince, made an intricate study of this subject and concluded that April 6, 32 A.D. was the exact date on which Christ--fulfilling Messianic prophecy--entered Jerusalem on the foal of an ass and offered Himself to the nation as their Messiah and King. Although Christ had, on several previous occasions, forbidden His disciples to thus acclaim Him, now He rebuked the Pharisees for protesting the acclaim of the people, saying that "if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out" (Luke 19:40).

     Thus, the 173,880 days of the 69-weeks prophecy actually ran their course to the very day!  

DAN 9:25  ...the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.

C. The Great Interval (9:26)

     Instead of continuing the descriptions to the final 70th week, the angel now interjects three major events that shall intervene--an interjection lasting some 2,000 years now! Historical events demands a "gap" between the 69 weeks and the 70th week.

          1. 1st Gap--Death of Christ

DAN 9:26  And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off

     Within a few days after the people had shouted "Hosanna," they shouted "Crucify Him!" Thus, the cutting off of the Messiah happened after the 69 weeks.

DAN 9:26  ...but not for himself:

     Christ died, "not for himself," but to be the propitiation for our sins (I John 4:10; John 3:16, 17).  As Peter wrote: "For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit" (I Pet. 3:18).

     Not for Himself...

          Born in another man's stable

               Cradled in another man's man

          Nowhere to lay his head on earth

               Dying on a cursed cross

          Buried in another man's tomb

               Emptied himself

          Indeed cut off and had nothing

               ...Jesus Christ, the Son of God

          2. 2nd Gap--Destruction of Jerusalem  

DAN 9:26  ...and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary;

     In the year 70 A.D., Titus the Roman general destroyed the city of Jerusalem and the temple. This occurred some 38 years after the end of the 69th week.

          3. 3rd Gap--Present Age  

DAN 9:26  ...and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.

     This is descriptive of end-time events, reflected in the hundreds of "signs of the times" occurring today. Obviously, the 70th week (with its Antichrist, Europe, Temple re-destruction, worldwide rulership, etc.) did not occur right after A.D.70! A gap must be posited.

D. The 70th Week of Years (9:27)  

     Here is the indispensable chronological KEY to all prophecy on the Great Tribulation. It tells about the division of the 7-year tribulation into two equal periods, each extending for 1260 days, or 42 months, or 3-1/2 years (Rev. 11:2-3; 12:6, 14; 13:5). It went on to describe the major events of each of these two periods.  

          1. First Half of the Tribulation (9:27a)  

DAN 9:27  And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week:

     The subject of "he" should be a Roman king, since the immediate context is the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans. This fits the description of the antichrist, who will rise out of the Roman Empire.  He is so well-known in Old Testament prophecy that Daniel simply referred to him as "the Prince that shall come" (v.26).

     The final 70th week begins with a "covenant" between the antichrist and the Jewish nation.  Among its features will be the reestablishment of temple sacrifices.  Under the auspices of the antichrist, the Arabs will allow the Jerusalem temple to be rebuilt and its sacrifices celebrated (see Chapter 12 "Will the Temple Be Rebuilt").

          2. Second Half of the Tribulation (9:27b)

DAN 9:27  ...and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease

     After only 3-1/2 years, when he has gained the acclaim and confidence of the world for engineering a Middle East peace, the antichrist repudiated the treaty, stops the Temple sacrifices, and declares himself "god."  He now rules the world.

     This period of "desolations" will last for 3-1/2 years. The Jewish people are under terrible persecution, variously described by the prophets as--

• "Wear out the saints of the Most High" (Dan. 7:25)

• "Make war with the saints...and overcome them" (Rev. 13:5-7)

• "Jerusalem shall be trodden down" (Rev. 11:2)

• "Woman [Israel] fly from the face of the serpent (Rev. 12:14)

• "Time of Jacob's trouble" (Jer. 30:7)

• "The Abomination of Desolation in the Temple" (Matt. 24:15)

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