Daniel Chapter 9c - The 70 Weeks Series

Daniel – Chapter 9c

Chapter 9 Outline

I. Historical 70 (9:1-19)

a. The Scripture (9:1-2)

1. Time (9:1)

2. Text (9:2)

b. The Supplication (9:3-19)

1. God’s Character (9:4-9)

2. God’s Command (9:10-14)

3. God’s Covenant (9:15-17)

4. God’s Compassion (9:18-19)

II. Prophetical 70 (9:20-27)

a. Gabriel’s Mission (9:20-23)

1. When he Came (9:20-21)

2. Why he Came (9:22-23)

b. Gabriel’s Message (9:24-27)

1. First Period (9:25)

2. Second Period (9:26)

3. Third Period (9:27)

Message

II. Prophetical 70 (9:20-27)

a. Gabriel’s Mission (9:20-23)

1. When he Came (9:20-21)

Daniel’s prayer was interrupted. He had said enough. God heard and answered. God sent Gabriel, whom Daniel had met before in Chapter 8:16. The phrase fly swiftly has given rise to the idea that angels have wings and fly from place to place, but arrows, bullets and missiles fly swiftly and don’t have wings.

Angels are spirits and don’t have bodies Hebrews 1:7 And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire. When they appear to humans, they take on a temporary human form – Genesis 18:2 three men appear to Abraham. The angelic creatures seen by Isaiah (6:2) and Ezekiel (1:6, 8, 11) did have wings, but they were special creatures performing special ministries.

We don’t know at what time of day Daniel started his prayer, but he was still praying at the time of the evening oblation. Daniel might have been living in Babylon but he was still measuring time by the Jewish religious practices. His body was in Babylon but his heart and mind were in Jerusalem. Had the temple still been standing and the priests still officiating, this would have been the “ninth hour” when the lamb was offered as a burnt offering.

The Law of Moses required an unblemished lamb to be offered morning and evening along with a meal offering and a drink offering Numbers 28:3-8. The time of the evening oblation was 3 o’clock in the afternoon, the same time when Christ died on the cross.

John Philips tells us how significant the ritual of the evening sacrifice was. “The lamb spoke of Christ’s being offered as a spotless burnt offering to God. The fine flour depicted His flawless life. The oil depicted the Holy Spirit, who filled and anointed Him. The frankincense spoke of the fragrance of His life; the salt, its freedom from corruption; and the outpoured wine, the joy that was set before Him as He endured the cross, despising the shame.”

2. Why he Came (9:22-23)

Verse 22

What Daniel was about to learn was not something that he could gain from study, but was something that had to be revealed to him. However, when it was revealed it still required something that only God could give and that was skill and understanding.

Gabriel didn’t give Daniel a vision that required interpretation; no animals, no statues, no trees, no beasts, instead he gave him a plain statement, in everyday language, of events that were to come. Gabriel demanded that Daniel employ the skill and understanding that God now gave him, so that he could put his mind to work and grasp the significance of the revelation.

Verse 23

The moment Daniel began to pray God gave the command for the angel to be sent to Daniel. How little we understand the significance of our prayers. Daniel was like David, a man after Gods own heart, he was like John, a beloved disciple, and like Joseph the Holy Spirit records only good.

Daniel was a man greatly beloved (meaning pleasant, precious). Luke 1:19 And the angel answering said unto him, I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God; and am sent to speak unto thee, and to shew thee these glad tidings. Gabriel was commissioned to leave the heights of heaven to tell this man that he was precious to God. Outwardly Daniel was just an old man, dressed in sackcloth, covered in ashes and worn out by the intensity of his prayer. But he was Gods, and precious at that.

Gabriel is about to tell Daniel what is to come…

b. Gabriel’s Message (9:24-27)

Verse 24 – Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city…

For 70 years Israel was punished in exile; now God reveals that for 70 weeks Israel would continue, until the golden age of Messianic rule. Notice that this time period of 70 weeks relate specifically to Daniel’s people, the Jews, and their holy city, Jerusalem.

So what are these 70 weeks? In the original language the word week is the word ‘seven’. The word week here is used like we use the word ‘dozen’ to describe a category of 12. As Western Europeans we are used to thinking of time in terms of tens, decades, but the Jews always worked in sevens: