Daniel Bible Study Chapter 9 Daniel's 70 weeks part 3

Daniel Chapter 9 Part 3

Daniel’s 70 Weeks P2

By I Gordon

Introduction

We looked last time at Daniel’s 70 weeks – something that has been called the backbone of Bible prophecy. The angel Gabriel had been sent to Daniel to give him an exact timetable for when to expect the one that all of Israel for centuries had waited for… the Messiah! We saw that God had decreed or cut off 490 years to deal specifically with the nation of Israel to end their rebellion and sin and bring about everlasting righteousness. In the last study we saw the first 69 ‘sevens’ (or 483 years) ended to the day when Jesus rode into Jerusalem and for the first time allowed the masses to worship Him as the Messiah King.

This study will carry on and complete our look at Daniel chapter 9. We will look at the three events that are said to occur between the 69^th and 70^th seven and then examine what Daniel 9 teaches concerning the all important final 70^th week of Daniel. Lots to do… so little time. Let’s go!

A shocking announcement about the Messiah…

Daniel 9:26a ‘After the sixty-two ‘sevens,’ the Anointed One will be cut off and will have nothing.’

We saw in Daniel 9:25 that the exact timing for the coming of the Messiah was given. Now, imagine if you will if you were Daniel. Imagine the excitement mixed with sadness that would have come through hearing this. Firstly, the immense excitement and joy that the Messiah was coming at an exact time and that God had a plan to redeem Israel and bring in the everlasting righteousness that he had just been told about. But yet, there would have been sadness that Daniel himself would not live to see that day and that the coming was 483 years away.

Well, that statement by Gabriel would have knocked his socks off but nothing would have prepared Daniel for what Gabriel would now reveal – The Messiah would die! I don’t think that this would have entered into the heart of Daniel… that the one that Israel had waited centuries for would come and be executed? Cut off? Have nothing? Why? How? ‘The Messiah is to be our deliverer’ Daniel would have thought. ‘How can he be killed?’ ‘What does that mean for Israel?’

Three events between the 69^th and 70^th week of Daniel

Daniel 9:26 ‘After the sixty-two ‘sevens,’ the Anointed One will be cut off and will 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 until the end, and desolations have been decreed.’

As we can see from the above text, Daniel 9:26 gives us three specific events that have been decreed to occur between the end of the 69^th ‘seven’ (483 years) and the start of the final ‘seven’. That there is a time period gap[1] between these is quite evident in the text. Three events are said to occur AFTER the 69^th ‘seven’ but they are not included in the 70^th ‘seven’ which is the subject of the next verse. Let’s have a look at these three events.

The Messiah will be cut off.
‘The Anointed One will be cut off and will have nothing’
This is what we have briefly looked at above but note a couple of extra things – Firstly, the word for ‘cut off’ is ‘karath’. It means to cut down or kill and is the same word used in Lev 7:27 for the death penalty. There is no doubt that this prophecy tells us that the Messiah would be executed. Secondly, the Bible says that He ‘will have nothing’. The Hebrew can also mean ‘but not for Himself’ and that is how it is translated in many Bibles. The Messiah would die… but He wouldn’t die for Himself. He would die for others. Amazing prophecy!
The Destruction of Jerusalem
‘The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood’
The second event decreed is the destruction of Jerusalem[2]. Remember, this occurs after the end of the 69^th week yet before the start of the 70^th week. And yet this event occurred 40 years after Jesus was crucified. Again this shows that God ‘stopped the prophetic time clock’ with Israel’s rejection of their Messiah. The text says that the people of the coming ruler will destroy the city and the sanctuary. Note that it is the people not the ruler who do this. The ruler’s coming is said to be still future. We know from history that it was the Roman army that destroyed Jerusalem in 70 AD after a 4 year long siege on the city.[3] This ruler or ‘prince’ will be discussed later, but for now it is important to see that this coming ruler will be from the area held by the Roman Empire.[4]
Continued War
‘War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed.’
The third and final decree for after the 69^th ‘seven’ and before the start of the 70^th ‘seven’ is ongoing war and desolations for Jerusalem. Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem! The most fought over city. From the time that Babylonians destroyed it in 586 BC it has been held by Greeks, the Romans, the Moslems, the Crusaders… and the conflict goes on today. The decree given by Gabriel is that war would continue right to the time of the end and history has verified that to be true.[5]

The coming prince

Daniel 9:27 “He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’ In the middle of the ‘seven’ 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.”

We come now to the last verse in Daniel 9 and it thrusts into the future. Verse 26 spoke of three things that occurred leading up to this final seven years (known generally as Daniel’s 70^th week). Now we see from the text how this final seven years will begin… it says that ‘He will confirm a covenant with the many for one ‘seven’’. The ‘He’ takes us back to the last person mentioned which was the ‘ruler who shall come’ in verse 26. This is the coming ruler proceeding out of the area that was formally the Roman Empire. In Christian circles this coming one is generally called by a different title – the antichrist.

From verse 27 above, we learn the following points:

He shall make a covenant with the many – in the context of Daniel’s prophecy ‘the many’ are from the nation of Israel. Daniel’s 70^th week begins then when a coming ruler will make a covenant with the nation of Israel for 7 years. Not all will go along with this covenant but ‘the many’ will accept it. This coming ruler must then be in a position of high power at this time to be able to establish and guarantee this peace agreement.
He will break this covenant at the mid-point – in the middle of the seven years (or after 3 ½ years) the coming ruler (antichrist) will break this agreement and put a stop to the Jewish sacrifice and offerings.[6]
He will set up the ‘abomination of desolation’ – The Hebrew word for abomination refers to an image or idol that is setup to take the place of God. At the mid point of the 7 years the antichrist will setup such an abomination and desolate the coming Jewish temple. This image is mentioned in Rev 13:14. It is also this event that Jesus spoke about and said that when those in Judea see this they are to do one thing – run.[7]
The desolation lasts until the coming ruler is destroyed – This period of wrath will only last for a limited period of time. We know from Daniel that this ruler will have power only for the final 7 years – of which the last 3 ½ years is the period of intense persecution for the Jewish nation and all those that worship the true God. This period of time in which the antichrist is given power is confirmed in other scriptures such as Rev 11:2-3, 12:6, 13:5, Dan 7:25, 12:11. In all cases the scripture is clear that there are two 3 ½ years periods that comprise the final 7 years – Daniel’s 70^th week. But thank God that the antichrists time is limited and this one who will cause such desolation ‘the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendour of his coming.’

Conclusion

What amazing prophecy Daniel chapter 9 gives us! I haven’t been able to do it justice and entire books could (and have!) been written on it. Yet even in the last two short studies we have seen a prophecy that stretches from the time of Nehemiah and comprises the exact day of the coming and execution of the Messiah, the destruction of the second temple, the ongoing wars surrounding Jerusalem, and even includes events still future for us with the final coming world leader who will desecrate the third temple and proclaim himself to be God. No wonder Gabriel told Daniel to understand this prophecy. No wonder Jesus spoke about it. No wonder Mathew told his readers to understand it!

As I said, I haven’t done it justice here but I do hope that you will continue to study and understand this key portion of prophetic truth!

Bible Studies in the Daniel Series

[1] Ever watched the last part of a basketball game? I watched one the other day. I turned on the TV and saw that there was only 10 minutes to go in the game so I thought would sit down and watch the remaining 10 minutes. Well, 20 minutes later I was still watching that same game! How does that work? Well, as things get down to the nitty-gritty the coaches tend to use quite a few ‘timeouts’. This is especially true if the game is close. What that means is that even though there may be only 5 minutes left on the official clock the coach can call a time out and the time is stopped. They can then discuss the next play with the team and then the team will go back on the court and the time will be started again.

God’s prophetic time clock stopped after Jesus rode into Jerusalem. That was the end of the 69^th ‘seven’ and Jesus told them in Luke 19:39 that they had missed the time of their visitation and that judgment now lay ahead for that nation. God stopped Israel’s prophetic time clock. He introduced the church so that the gospel could go to all nations. But there is still time to be run on Israel’s clock! There is one ‘seven’ that still remains (7 years) in which God will again deal specifically with the nation of Israel to fulfill all that He has promised them in this Daniel 9 prophecy and in many other prophecies. But that time is going to be the most difficult time ever known to the Jewish nation (and they have known a lot of hard times!) Jeremiah called it ‘the day of Jacob’s trouble… but he will be saved out of it’ (Jer 30:7)

[2] Several amazing events are recorded in the Jewish Talmud that tell us that the Jewish leaders knew for 40 years before the destruction that the temple was going to be destroyed. Several supernatural events occurred that pointed and spelt out the coming doom for the city and the temple. One example concerning the temple doors opening of their own accord is recorded below:

“The next miracle, which the Jewish authorities acknowledged, was that the Temple doors swung open every night of their own accord. This too occurred for forty years, beginning in 30 CE. The leading Jewish authority of that time, Yohanan ben Zakkai, declared that this was a sign of impending doom, that the Temple itself would be destroyed. The Jerusalem Talmud states:

''Said Rabban Yohanan Ben Zakkai to the Temple, 'O Temple, why do you frighten us? We know that you will end up destroyed. For it has been said, 'Open your doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour your cedars' '' (Zechariah 11:1)' (Sota 6:3).

Please read the entire document here: http://www.windowview.org/hmny/pgs/talmuds.30ce.html

[3] In 66 AD the Jews revolted against the Roman reign and took Jerusalem. Titus then lay siege against the city to cut off all food and water. Josephus, the Jewish historian of the time, was used as a mediator. He records that 1,100,000 Jews died through starvation and war during this siege. The Roman army broke through in 70AD and burned the city and temple to the ground. It was reported that later Titus refused to accept a wreath of victory for his ‘achievement’ saying that ‘there is no merit in vanquishing a people forsaken by their God’.

[4] This ruler or prince is the coming antichrist. He will come from the area of the Roman Empire. We generally think of the Roman Empire as Western Europe today but it should be noted that historically the Roman Empire had both a western and eastern leg. The eastern leg comprised of countries now known as Iraq and Syria. Sorry to throw that extra spanner in the works!

[5] Of course, Jesus said the same thing. In Luke 19:20-22 He said “When you see Jerusalem being surrounded by armies, you will know that its desolation is near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those in the city get out, and let those in the country not enter the city. For this is the time of punishment in fulfillment of all that has been written. How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! There will be great distress in the land and wrath against this people. They will fall by the sword and will be taken as prisoners to all the nations. Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.”

[6] This event is recorded in more detail by the Apostle Paul who wrote exactly what will happen at this time: “Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.”(2 Thes 2:3-4)

This coming ruler, this man of sin, will no longer allow any worship of any God or person apart from himself! He will literally put himself in the temple and declare himself to be God. How deceived can one be? He will start off politically, then acquire military power but even this won’t satisfy him. His overall desire is that of Satan his master who desired to place himself above God’s throne and to be worshipped as God. (See Isaiah 14:12-15)

[7] And a place will be setup for the Jews to flee to. This is recorded in Rev 12:6 where it says ‘The woman (Israel) fled into the desert to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days (3 ½ years – the second half of Daniel’s 70^thweek).