|
|
Daniel
Chapter 9 Part 2
Daniel’s 70 Weeks
By I Gordon
Introduction
We saw in the last
study that Daniel had been reading the prophecies of Jeremiah and read that
Let the reader
understand…
Matt 24:15-16 “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.
When the disciples questioned Jesus about the signs of His return, one of the things He pointed to was something called the ‘abomination of desolation’. Whatever that is! What Jesus did tell us is that it is something significant that is spoken by the prophet Daniel. Well, as we shall soon see, the abomination of desolation that Jesus quoted is from the chapter we are looking at in this study – Daniel chapter 9. But before we begin I want to draw your attention to something else in the passage above. Four little words in fact that Mathew decided to put into the text as he wrote it – “Let the reader[2] understand”. So did you just read that? Well, you are now told, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, to understand this prophecy in Daniel! So with no less an authority that God Himself telling us to understand Daniel chapter 9, let’s have a look at this remarkable prophecy!
Ever had an angel answer your
prayer?
Daniel 9:20-23 While I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel and making my request to the LORD my God for his holy hill— while I was still in prayer, Gabriel, the man I had seen in the earlier vision, came to me in swift flight about the time of the evening sacrifice. He instructed me and said to me, “Daniel, I have now come to give you insight and understanding. As soon as you began to pray, an answer was given, which I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed. Therefore, consider the message and understand the vision:
So we see that while Daniel is still praying an answer arrives. Quite literally actually, as the angel Gabriel[3] turns up with an announcement for Daniel and his people. Note also that Gabriel tells Daniel that he is ‘highly esteemed’. For Heaven to feel that way about any man is pretty amazing. The word literally means ‘precious’ and just as Abraham is called the ‘friend of God’ and John ‘the beloved’ so Daniel is the one ‘highly esteemed’ or ‘precious’. Daniel is then told that he, like us, needs to understand this answer that Gabriel is about to declare.
An answer greater than the
prayer…
Daniel 9:24 “Seventy ‘sevens’ are decreed for 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.
Now, straight
away you kind of get the impression that God is thinking about much higher and
greater things than those that were in Daniel’s mind! Daniel had been concerned
with the sin of
So the message from God is given… “70
‘sevens’ are decreed for your people and your holy city…’ The word decreed
literally means determined or ‘cut off’. God is saying that He has assigned a
period of 70 X 7[5]
(or 490 years[6])
for Daniel’s people
The six accomplishments of
Daniel 9
Gabriel outlines 6 things that will have been fulfilled by the end of the 490 years.
The timeline until Messiah!
Daniel 9:25 “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 ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens.’ It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble.
Again Daniel,
(and you!) are told to ‘know and understand this’. Just as Gabriel has said
earlier and just as Mathew has instructed his readers, so the command goes out
again to understand this prophecy! And we see here a remarkable statement – an
exact time for when the Messiah (the Anointed one) will come! The 70 sevens of
the previous statement has now been divided into 7 sevens, 62 sevens and one
remaining sevens which will be discussed in the next study. We are told
explicitly that from the decree to restore and rebuild
The spotless lamb of God
Nisan 10? Is
that significant? Yeah, according to God’s decree in Exodus 12:1-3, it was on
the 10th Nisan that all of
Exodus 12:1-3 The LORD said to
Moses and Aaron in
The end point of this 483 year period is the very day that Jesus rode the donkey into Jerusalem (in fulfilment of Zech 9:9) and allowed the people to worship Him as the kings of the Jews – the Messiah! And yet knowing their heart and what would transpire in just four short days[10], Jesus said to them on that day:
“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.” (Luke 19:41-44)
Conclusion
This remarkable prophecy gives us an exact date that the nation of
[1] Chuck Missler
calls it ‘the most pivotal chapter in Bible prophecy’. Others have called it
‘the backbone of Bible prophecy’. It is certainly a remarkable prophecy.
[2] It is totally unique as far as I know for one of the gospel writers
to interject their own little instruction into the text. As Mathew wrote the
gospel he believed that this sign of the coming of Jesus was so important that
he should write something directly to the readers of his gospel and tell them
that they needed to understand this! Note also what Mathew wrote – He didn’t
write ‘Let the teacher understand’ or ‘Let the scholar understand’ or ‘Let the
end times prophecy buff understand’… No, the Bible says let the reader
understand. And that, my dear friend, means you!
[3] Gabriel is
not said to be an archangel but is one of the highest ranking in the angelic
realm. Michael, who is an archangel, is always seen in a warrior/protector role
in connection with the nation of
[4] This is obviously
an example of a couple of scriptures that we should remember when praying:
Isaiah 55:8-9 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my
ways,” declares the LORD. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my
ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
Eph 3:20-21 “Now to him who is
able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power
that is at work within us, to him be
glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever
and ever! Amen.”
[5] Daniel had seen
from the prophecies of Jeremiah that
‘If after all this you will not listen to
me, I will punish you for your sins
seven times over. I will break down your stubborn pride and make the sky
above you like iron and the ground beneath you like bronze. Your strength will
be spent in vain, because your soil will not yield its crops, nor will the
trees of the land yield their fruit. If you remain hostile toward me and refuse
to listen to me, I will multiply your afflictions seven times over, as your
sins deserve…”
So the question is,
did
It seems to me that Israel as a nation didn’t repent but actually got quite
comfortable living down in Babylon and while God would fulfil the prophecies of
Jeremiah to bring them back after the 70 years, the entire punishment and
restoration for that nation was not going to be 70 years but 70 X 7 years – 490
years!
[6] Some Bibles use the word ‘weeks’ instead of ‘sevens’ which is
unfortunate. The
Jewish believer and Hebrew Scholar Arnold Fructenbaum writes concerning Daniel
9:24:
"One of the greatest tragedies in
biblical interpretation is that the word has been translated here as 'weeks'.
This would require the Hebrew word shavuot. But the word used here is shavuim
which does not mean weeks, but simply means 'sevens'. As such it could refer to
seven of anything just as the English word "dozen" simply means
twelve and can be twelve of anything... In it's context it obviously must be
seven of years because Daniel has been dealing with years. He has been counting
up the seventy years of Babylonian captivity... Daniel is told that it is not
seventy years but that "seventy sevens of years" must pass before the
introduction of the Kingdom"
[7] Aggh, that’s Fructembaum, not Schwarzenegger. As mentioned above
the former is a Messianic Hebrew Scholar where as the later is a previous Mr
Universe, Hollywood action star and current “Govenator” for
[8] How many holy feasts did the nation of
[9] It is beyond the scope of this study to go into the specific
details like why the Neh 2 passage is the best starting point for the 490 year
prophecy, why use a 360 day year or how to calculate the exact end point. But I
would draw your attention to the following studies of Dr. Thomas Ice for more
information if you are interested:
On where to start the 490 years from:
http://www.raptureready.com/featured/ice/70-weeks-5.html
On where the 483 years ends:
http://www.raptureready.com/featured/ice/70-weeks-6.html
On the division of the 7 sevens and 62 sevens:
http://www.raptureready.com/featured/ice/70-weeks-7.html
[10] When Jesus rode
into