70 Weeks Of Daniel Series

End Times Doctrine

“70 Weeks”

*** Watch: https://youtu.be/8o_Wmca9b7M

Today’s study is going to center upon the prophecy given by the prophet Daniel. It is found in Daniel 9:24-27. Some refer to this prophecy as the “God’s Prophetic Clock.”

Literally, it is God’s time clock upon the nation of Israel that brings an end to the age of humanity’s rule over the earth, and the beginning of the rule of God, or the 1,000-year reign, or the millennial reign of Christ.

Further, it is the cornerstone of Messianic prophecy as it establishes the first and second coming of the Messiah. And so, my purpose today is to give you an overview and how this prophecy has been and will be fulfilled.

Why 70 Weeks?

It should be noted, that this prophecy was given as a result of God’s punishment for Israel’s continued disobedience to God and to His word. And because of this, He sent them into captivity in the land of Babylon for 70 years.

This is what God’s word confirms through the prophet Jeremiah in 2 Chronicles 36:21, where he said that it was “To fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her Sabbaths. As long as she lay desolate she kept Sabbath, to fulfill seventy years.” (2 Chronicles 36:21)

What is interesting is that while Israel had committed great sin in the worship of idols, during the reign the kings, it was the law of the Sabbath, or more specifically, the Sabbath rest for the land that they had continued to break.

The question was, why wait so long if they had been transgressing God’s holy laws throughout this time. I believe this was a foreshadow of a greater prophecy and what God desired to do. In other words, the Babylonian captivity was the turning point in the history of the kingdom of God.

And so God waited until the 70th Sabbatical year was over to pronounce judgment and bring the full force of Babylon upon the Jews and Jerusalem, culminating with the destruction of the Temple and the city.

And so, 70 years of captivity were determined upon the Jews for the 70 Sabbatical years they transgressed. This totaled 490 years in all, or 70 groups of 7 years, which was the time frame between each Sabbatical year.

What should also be noted is that after the Babylonian captivity, Israel never fully recovered as a nation, and its form of government set up by God through the rule of a king through the line of David never again materialized.

And what this prophecy points out is that Israel will be restored, and at its head will once again be a King from the line of David, the Messiah, the King of King and the Lord of Lords, Jesus Christ, and He will rule over the whole world from His throne in the New Temple in the Jerusalem for 1,000 years.

And this is what this prophecy is pointing to, and the events that will lead up to its fulfillment.

“Seventy weeks are determined for your people and for your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy.” (Daniel 9:24)

Verse 24 lays out the purpose of the prophecy, and therefore it is important to understand.

The angel Gabriel comes to Daniel after he had prayed for Israel. Gabriel said that “seventy groups of seven” will take place before God will put an end to sin and bring everlasting righteousness, which is actually a two part fulfillment.

But before we get there, it is said that 70 weeks are determined, that is, God had set them out specifically for this purpose. And so 70 weeks, or more literally, “seventy-sevens,” which according to the Hebrew text indicate 70 weeks of 7 years, or 490 years.

Further, this time period was not for humanity as a whole, but rather “for your people,” Daniel’s people, which would be the Jewish people and the nation of Israel, and “your holy city,” which is Jerusalem.

The purpose then of these years was two fold. The first three have to do with the problem of sin that infects the whole of humanity, and the last three have to do with God’s righteousness and the fulfillment of the prophecy.

Notice the first is to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, and to make reconciliation, or atonement for iniquity. This was accomplished through the coming of Jesus, whom the prophecy identifies and the Messiah the Prince. It was Jesus’s death upon the cross that made this part of the prophecy possible.

The prophet Isaiah of the coming Messiah, whom he called God’s righteous servant, foretold this saying, “But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:5-6)