There is no doubt that the Book of Daniel is an essential pre-requisite to our study of the Book of Revelation. We’ve already looked at several key passages in Daniel, particularly the vision of King Nebuchadnezzar in chapter 2 and the corresponding visions of Daniel in chapters 7 and 8. This morning, as we come to Daniel chapter 9, we’ll be focusing on what is undoubtedly the most important of all Old Testament prophecies when it comes to establishing God’s time frame for carrying out His plan for His people and initiating His eternal kingdom. So turn in your Bibles to Daniel 9.
Although we’re primarily going to focus on the vision that is given to Daniel as recorded in verses 24-27, we must, as always, put that passage in its proper context.
Background
Let’s begin by reading the first two verses in the chapter:
1 In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, by descent a Mede, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans - 2 in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, perceived in the books the number of years that, according to the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet, must pass before the end of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years.
By this time, Daniel has been in Babylon for nearly 70 years, so he is probably in his mid to late 80’s. He has lived long enough to see the fulfillment of a portion of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream in chapter 2 and his vision in chapter 7 as control of Babylon has now passed to the Medes and Persians, under the leadership of Darius.
Daniel, who as we’ve seen frequently is devoted to God’s Word, is reading the words of Jeremiah the prophet that indicate that the Babylonian captivity is about to end. In particular there are two passages in Jeremiah that would have been relevant:
This whole land shall become a ruin and a waste, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. Then after seventy years are completed, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity, declares the Lord, making the land an everlasting waste.
Jeremiah 25:11, 12 (ESV)
“For thus says the Lord: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place.
Jeremiah 29:10 (ESV)
This period of seventy years of exile has great significance in helping Daniel and us to understand the vision that he will be given at the end of the chapter. In the book of 2 Chronicles, we are given some further insight into the significance of this period having a length of 70 years:
He took into exile in Babylon those who had escaped from the sword, and they became servants to him and to his sons until the establishment of the kingdom of Persia, to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its Sabbaths. All the days that it lay desolate it kept Sabbath, to fulfill seventy years.
2 Chronicles 36:20-21 (ESV)
In order for us to catch significance of this passage, we must understand the Jewish calendar system, which was based on cycles of seven, as established by God:
• Every seventh day was to be a day of rest – a Sabbath (Leviticus 23:3)
• Every seventh year was to be a year of rest for the land – a Sabbatical year (Leviticus 25:4)
• Every seven Sabbatical years was to be followed by a year of Jubilee (Leviticus 25:8-12)
But the problem is that people hadn’t always trusted God and observed the Sabbatical years and the years of Jubilee. And God had proclaimed to His people what the penalty would be if they failed to observe these years that he had prescribed for them:
Then the land shall enjoy its Sabbaths as long as it lies desolate, while you are in your enemies' land; then the land shall rest, and enjoy its Sabbaths As long as it lies desolate it shall have rest, the rest that it did not have on your Sabbaths when you were dwelling in it.
Leviticus 26:34, 35 (ESV)
When we put this together with the passage from 2 Chronicles, we find that while the Hebrews had lived in the land God had given them they had apparently violated the Sabbatical year provisions seventy different times and so in return, God caused them to be in exile for seventy years while the land rested to make up for their failure to honor God’s commands. So those seventy years in captivity actually represented 490 years (seventy periods of seven years) during the time God’s people had been in the Promised Land in which they violated God’s commands concerning the Sabbatical years.
There are two very significant observations that we can make about these 490 years that are represented by the seventy Sabbatical years and the seventy years in exile:
• These are literal years – not days, weeks or months, and certainly not indefinite periods of time.
• Since the Hebrews had been in the Promised Land for approximately 800 years before they were taken into captivity in Babylon, they had not been disobedient for the entire time. In fact we know they had only violated the Sabbatical year provisions for 490 of those 800 years. That means that their disobedience was not uninterrupted – there were gaps, or interludes, between the periods of disobedience.
Daniel’s Prayer (vv. 3-19)
Not surprisingly, Daniel’s response to what he finds in God’s Word is to go before God in prayer. In verses 3-19 we have one of the greatest examples of intercessory prayer in the entire Bible. Because of Daniel’s familiarity with Scripture, he is aware that the exile is a result of God’s people being disobedient to God, so Daniel takes on a priestly role and intercedes on behalf of his people. He confesses their sin and pleads for God’s mercy.
God sends an answer to Daniel’s prayer (vv. 20-23)
And in answer to that prayer, God once again sends the angel Gabriel to Daniel, this time bringing him the answer to his prayer. Because that answer to prayer provides us with the crucial timeline for the fulfillment of Biblical prophecy, we’re going to spend our time looking at that portion of chapter 9 this morning and we won’t have time to look at Daniel’s prayer in any detail. But I certainly encourage you to go back and read that section and use it as a model for intercessory prayer in your own life.
DANIEL’S SEVENTY SEVENS (vv. 24-27)
Let’s begin by reading God’s answer to Daniel’s prayer:
24 “Seventy weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place. 25 Know therefore and understand that from the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a prince, there shall be seven weeks. Then for sixty-two weeks it shall be built again with squares and moat, but in a troubled time. 26 And after the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing. And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed. 27 And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator.”
In order for us to gain a proper understanding of this passage, we need to set the stage by examining it methodically and indentifying key words and phrases. Only then can we make some accurate conclusions about the timeline that is given to Daniel here.
Setting the stage:
• “Seventy weeks” = seventy periods of seven years
In Hebrew, this is literally “seventy sevens”. So obviously it is crucial that we determine what these weeks or sevens are. Are they literal weeks of seven days or do they represent something else? Fortunately the context makes it rather easy to determine that these weeks are periods of seven years. As we’ve already seen, this is clearly pictured by the seventy years of captivity which are a result of seventy periods of seven years in which the people did not keep God’s commands concerning the Sabbatical years. We could diagram the relationships between these three time periods like this:
[Diagram]
• “decreed” = “cut off” or “determined”
The idea here is that God has cut off these 490 years from the rest of history in order to accomplish the purposes that we will look at in just a moment. In other words, God has determined the length of Israel’s history.
• “your people” = commonwealth of Israel
There are several things in this passage that confirm that “your people” refers to the entire commonwealth of Israel – both the northern 10 tribes of Israel and the southern tribes of Judah. First of all we have the entire context that indicates the time periods in view here deal with all of Israel. It was all of Israel that had violated the Sabbatical years that resulted in the 70 years of captivity.
Also if you look at verse 27, you’ll see the word “many”. In Hebrew, it is preceded by the definite article, so it is literally “the many”, which is a Hebrew idiom used to denote the commonwealth if Israel. We see it used that way elsewhere in the Book of Daniel.
Finally, you will remember that this section of Daniel is written in Hebrew because it pertains to the Hebrews.
• “your holy city” = Jerusalem
This is obviously a reference to the city of Jerusalem, the site of the Temple, which represented God’s dwelling place among His people.
Six purposes:
In verse 24, Gabriel identifies six purposes that God will accomplish during this 490 period. Let’s look at them briefly:
1. to finish the transgression
You will note that the definite article is present here – it is the transgression. That indicates that there is a particular transgression that is described here. Given the context, this seems to be referring to Israel’s national sin of rejecting the Messiah, Jesus, at his first coming. But, as we’ll see quite clearly when we get to the book of Zechariah in a few weeks, when Jesus returns, Israel will repent of that sin and recognize Jesus as the Messiah.
2. to put an end to sin
This is a direct response to Daniel’s prayer where he had confessed the sins of his people. The word for sin means to “miss the mark” or “be mistaken” and the phrase “put an end to” means to “close up” to “seal”. This purpose deals more with the general sins of the people of Israel. Although Jesus provided the means to deal with sin at His first coming, sin will not be closed or sealed up until His second coming.
3. to atone for iniquity
Again, this is a direct answer to Daniel’s prayer. Iniquity has the core idea of twisting or defacing something beyond its intended purpose. It deals with the underlying reason for our sin, which is our twisted sinful nature. At His first coming, Jesus provided the means to atone for our iniquity, but for Israel, the Day of Atonement won’t be completely fulfilled until His return.
4. to bring in everlasting righteousness
Again, this is a response to Daniels’ prayer, where in verse 7 he acknowledged that righteousness belongs to God alone. At His first coming, Jesus became sin for us so that in Him we might be reckoned to be righteous before God. But it is not until His return and the inauguration of His Millennial reign that there will be everlasting righteousness for Israel.
5. to seal both vision and prophet
When a scroll was completed, it was sealed up to indicate that it was complete. One of the purposes of the 490 year period will be to bring to completion all of the prophecies and visions concerning Israel. This will only occur at the second coming of Jesus when He sits on the throne of David to rule as king.
6. to anoint a most holy place
When we get to the second part of Ezekiel 37 in a couple of weeks, we will see a reference to a Millennial Temple, which is described in much more detail in Ezekiel 40-48. And that holy place will be anointed as the Anointed One, Jesus, takes His place there.
Although the fulfillment of several of these six purposes was initiated at the first coming of Jesus, none of them will be completely fulfilled until his second coming.
We are now ready to move on to verse 25 and the timeline that is given to Daniel.
The timeline:
Before we go any further, we need to deal with a translation issue in verse 25. The ESV text which we are using renders verse 25 as follows.
Know therefore and understand that from the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a prince, there shall be seven weeks. Then for sixty-two weeks it shall be built again with squares and moat, but in a troubled time. (ESV)
One of the difficulties in translating Hebrew into English is that there are no punctuation marks in Hebrew. The beginning and ending of sentences and major phrases has to be determined by the context. This is of particular importance in translating verse 25. The words “Then for” at the beginning of the second sentence in the verse are not in the original Hebrew. But because the translators of the ESV chose to begin a new sentence there, they had to add in those words in order to smooth out the translation and make it readable in English.
However, in almost all our other English translations, the new sentence or phrase actually begins with the verb “it shall be built” which is consistent with the way that the beginning of a new sentence is usually determined when translating Hebrew into English. So a more accurate translation would be something more like this:
Know therefore and understand that from the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a prince, there shall be seven weeks and sixty-two week; It shall be built again with squares and moat, but in a troubled time.
This is consistent with almost every other English translation, including the KJV, the NASB and the NIV. We’ll see in just a moment why we need to clarify the translation of that verse. We can now go on and lay out the timeline:
• The 490 years begins with the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem
Although there are at least four different decrees recorded in the Bible that might appear to fulfill this requirement, there is only one that meets the very specific wording here. Although there were some earlier decrees that dealt with rebuilding the Temple and restoring the Temple worship, only this decree specifically deals with the rebuilding of the city itself:
o Decree of King Artaxerxes (Nehemiah 2) – 445 or 444 BC
We are able to nail down the time frame for this decree because Nehemiah provides us with a date at the beginning of chapter 2:
In the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes…
Nehemiah 2:1 (ESV)
At that time Nehemiah went in to King Artaxerxes and received permission to return to Jerusalem to rebuild and the king gave him letters which documented the king’s decree. Although we have some pretty good historical records that help us to determine the date of this decree, there is enough ambiguity in the records so that we can’t be sure if the year was 445 or 444BC, although we do know that it was during the Jewish month of Nisan.
• Seven “sevens” = 49 years – rebuilding of Jerusalem
This 49 year period is described by the last phrase in verse 25:
It shall be built again with squares and moat, but in a troubled time.
If you read the account in Nehemiah, that is certainly an accurate description of the rebuilding of Jerusalem. It was indeed a troubled time, which is why Nehemiah had to provide armed guards to protect the workers who were rebuilding the walls. Although the walls were rebuilt rather quickly, it took a whole generation to remove all the debris from the city and to rebuild it inside and out.
• Sixty-two “sevens” – an additional 434 years
This is where the proper translation of verse 25 becomes so important because we must understand that this sixty-two sevens, or 434 years, must be added to the original seven sevens, or 49 years, to get us to the next significant event on our timeline. So we would now be a total of 483 years after the decree of Artaxerxes. And Gabriel tells Daniel exactly what event will occur at that time.
o The coming of an anointed one, a prince
There have been two major historical studies that have calculated the day of the coming of an anointed prince based on this prophecy.
The first was done by Sir Robert Anderson in 1895 and was documented in his Book, The Coming Prince. Using a starting date of the 1st of Nisan 445 BC – March 14, 445 on our Gregorian calendar, he calculates that the 483 year period would have ended on Sunday April 6, AD 32, which according to Anderson is the date of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem on what we know as Palm Sunday.
In 1976, Dr. Harold Hoehner, with the help of modern astronomical charts and computers, was able to further refine those calculations and deal with some of the potential problems with Anderson’s calculations. Using a starting date of the first of Nisan of 444 BC - March 5 on our Gregorian calendar, Hoehner calculates that the 483 period would have ended on Sunday, March 30, AD 33, which Hoehner claims to be the date of Jesus’ triumphal entry.
I’ve actually reviewed both of these calculations in quite some detail, and I tend to believe that Hoehner’s calculations are more accurate because he had access to more accurate data. The fact is that the historical information that we have about the life of Jesus just doesn’t allow us to determine with certainly any of these dates. But I am convinced beyond a doubt that the timeframe that God gave to Daniel did in fact predict exactly the day Jesus would ride into Jerusalem on a donkey and for the first time in his ministry allow Himself to be presented as the Messiah Prince to Israel in exactly the same manner predicted by the prophet Zechariah.
In fact Jesus even hints that the Jews should have recognized his entry into Jerusalem as the fulfillment of this prophecy:
And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. …you did not know the time of your visitation.”
Luke 19:41, 42, 44 (ESV)
• “After” the sixty-nine “sevens”
Gabriel now proceeds, beginning in verse 26 to reveal what will occur after the end of the seven sevens and the sixty-two sevens:
o Crucifixion of Jesus
This is described in the beginning of verse 26 and is so clear that it requires no additional explanation:
…an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing…
o Jerusalem and the Temple destroyed by the Romans
This is described in the last part of verse 26:
And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed.
As we’ll see more clearly in a moment, the “prince who is to come” can only refer to the Antichrist. But notice that it is not the Antichrist himself who carries out the destruction – it is his people. And as we’ve seen in our previous study of Daniel, that Antichrist is going to rise out of a revived Roman empire that will be in place at the return of Jesus. Therefore “his people” would be the Romans.
The destruction that is described here occurs after the anointed one is cut off, but before the events described in verse 27. So it seems certain that this is referring to the actions of Rome under Titus – destruction that could certainly be described as a flood. But that was not the end of war as is evident even to this day.
o The seventieth “seven”
We don’t get to the final seven year period until we get to verse 27, where there is a clear reference to “one week”.
The gap, or interlude between the 69th and 70th week is exactly what we would expect based on the historical context of the gaps in Israel’s disobedience regarding the Sabbatical years as well as what we’ve observed previously in the Book of Daniel where there are gaps between the historical Roman empire and the revived Roman empire in place at the return of Jesus. This is the time period that we have described as the “time of the Gentiles” or the “church age.” Daniel is not given any revelation about this period of time because it doesn’t deal specifically with the Jews.
Begins with a covenant between the Antichrist and Israel
This covenant is described in verse 27:
And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week…
The “he” here is the same person identified as the “prince who is to come” in verse 26. Using his tools of deceit and cunning, the Antichrist is going to gain the trust of Israel and make a covenant with them. Remember that earlier I said the word “many” is an idiom that describes the entire commonwealth of Israel.
Although most commentators seem to view this as some kind of peace treaty between the nation of Israel and its Arab neighbors, the context seems to indicate that it is merely a covenant between the Antichrist and Israel – perhaps an earthly attempt to do what God has already promised to do when He reunites Israel and Judah. We’ll talk about that in more detail in two weeks when we look at Ezekiel 37. But whatever form that covenant takes, we see that the next event in the sequence is…
After three and one-half years, the Antichrist will break the treaty
We don’t have much detail here, but it isn’t hard to imagine how the Antichrist might claim that Israel has broken the covenant and then use that as an excuse to compel Israel to pervert its worship in much the same way that is pictured earlier in Daniel by both the golden statue that Nebuchadnezzar erected and commanded people to worship and the actions of Antiochus Epiphanes. And for three and a half years, Israel will experience Satan’s wrath at the hand of the Antichrist. But just as we have seen time after time, God will eventually step in and bring this whole 490 year decreed time period to and end.
The Antichrist’s decreed end will come
Since God had decreed, or cut out this entire 490 year time period, He has also determined how it will end – with the Antichrist’s end being poured out on him.
Because we’ve covered so much material this morning and because this chapter is such a key framework for God’s prophetic dealings with Israel, I’m going to violate something that I hold very dear this morning. I’m going to end without spending any time discussing how to apply this passage in our lives. Hopefully all of you will spend some time this week thinking about how this passage ought to impact the way that you live your life. Perhaps you could even use this week to go back and look over some of the applications that we’ve developed over the last few weeks in our study of Daniel – maybe some that you haven’t had a chance to work on yet.
So let’s close this morning by seeing if we can’t draw all of the information together and develop a timeline that incorporates all these elements. We’ll be following up on this timeline further in the adult “Connections” class and see how this fits in with the other passages that we’ve looked at in Daniel.
