Episode 36 explores Daniel Chapter 9 and the famous prophecy of the seventy weeks. It is more difficult to follow and understand than Daniel’s other prophecies and requires close attention and study.

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Transcript
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Transcript of Episode 36

25. Daniel Chapter 9–The Seventh Week

The Antichrist Breaks His Covenant and Is Destroyed (Ep. 36)

Daniel’s prayer. Daniel Chapter 9 occurs in the first year of the reign of Darius the Mede over the realm of Babylon; this would be around 539 BC. The first part of the chapter is occupied by a long prayer of Daniel. (Dan 9:3-19) He confesses that his people, the Jews, have forsaken their covenant to trust in God and obey his commandments, and that because of this they have suffered great calamity. Jerusalem and its temple lie in ruins and the Jews have lived in captivity in Babylon for almost 70 years. Daniel prays for mercy and the forgiveness of his people, and for the restoration of Jerusalem and its temple.

The future. While Daniel is praying Gabriel appears to him and tells him what the future holds for his people. Gabriel tells Daniel:

         Seventy weeks of years are decreed concerning 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. (Dan 9:24)

This prophecy of the seventy-weeks is for the end times. The phrase “to bring in everlasting righteous” tells us that this prophecy refers to the end times, the time when the superhuman kingdom of God will come to the earth and replace the secular, imperial, and unjust kingdoms of men. Gabriel is telling Daniel that after seventy weeks of years the new age of “everlasting righteous” will begin. This end of the seventy weeks is the same concluding event that is revealed in Daniel Chapters 2, 7, and 8–the defeat of the antichrist by Jesus’ vice-regent, Melchizedek, and Melchizedek’s future planetary rule “in everlasting righteousness.”

The starting point and the appearance of the Messiah. In the next verse Gabriel dates the starting point of the seventy weeks and reveals that after sixty-nine weeks “the Messiah the Prince” will appear. Gabriel tells Daniel:

         Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, with squares and moat, even in troublous times. (Dan 9:25)

The start of the seventy weeks. Gabriel tells Daniel that the seventy weeks will begin at the time of “the going forth of the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem.” If we take the decree issued by Artaxerxes (465-424 BC) to Ezra, which is described in Ezra 7:11-28, to be the command referred to by Gabriel, we may date the beginning of the seventy weeks at 457 BC. We learn in Ezra 6:14,15 that the temple had been rebuilt and this important decree restored Jerusalem’s legal status. Artaxerxes decreed that Ezra “appoint magistrates and judges who may judge all the people in the province …. Whoever will not obey the law of your God and the law of the king, let judgment be strictly executed upon him….” (Ezra 8:25,26) This decree was followed some twelve years later (in 445 BC) by Artaxerxes sending letters to allow Nehemiah passage to Jerusalem and granting him timber from the King’s forest for rebuilding the walls and gates of Jerusalem.

The time of the coming of Jesus. Daniel 9:25 reveals not only the start date of the seventy weeks, but also the time of the coming of “the Messiah the Prince,” that is Jesus. Gabriel states that it will be “seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks” “unto the Messiah the Prince.” The first seven weeks refers to the time of the rebuilding of Jerusalem and its wall; this took forty-nine years because it was built in “troublous times;” it was opposed by those living in the area, including the Samaritans, Ammonites, and Moabites. The “seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks” equals sixty-nine weeks of years (7+3×20+2) which is 483 years. 483 years from the starting date of 457 BC gives us 27 AD as the date of the appearance of Jesus. This date is in close harmony with the historical record. By modern reckoning Jesus lived on earth from 7 BC until 30 AD and proclaimed his gospel of the kingdom from 26 to 30 AD.

Next Gabriel states:

         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. (Dan 9:26)

The concealed meaning of “after the sixty-two weeks.” To properly calculate the time signified by the phrase “after the sixty-two weeks” we must understand that it refers to the previous verse (Dan 9:25), and in that verse the sixty-two weeks comes after an initial seven weeks. So, when Daniel states that “after the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off,” (Dan 9:26) it really means that after seven weeks and sixty-two weeks, which is sixty-nine weeks, “an anointed one shall be cut off.” This sixty-nine-week period ended in 27 AD, and in accordance with the prophecy Jesus was crucified after this sixty-nine-week period in 30 AD.

The sixty-nine-week period dates both the coming of Jesus and his crucifixion. Thus, we see that Daniel 9:25 predicts the coming of the Messiah in sixty-nine weeks, and Daniel 9:26 foretells that he will also be cut off,” (crucified) after this same sixty-nine-week period.

The people of the prince who is to come. Daniel 9:26 continues, “the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary.” “The people of the prince who is to come” are the people of the Roman empire who destroyed Jerusalem and its temple in 70 AD.

The prince who is to come. “The prince who is to come” is confusing because it seems to refer to Titus, the Roman general who led the Roman armies in overcoming Jerusalem in 70 AD. However, “the prince who is to come” actually refers the modern European leader of the revived Roman empire, the antichrist. This interpretation becomes more obvious when we read the next verse which refers to this “prince who is to come” as the end times ruler, the antichrist.

Daniel 9:27 states:

         And he [that is, “the prince who is to come”] shall make a strong covenant with many for one week; and in the midst of the week he shall cause sacrifice and offering to cease; and upon the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator.” (Dan 9:27; my bold)

In this verse, Daniel 9:27, the prophecy skips forward to the end times, the seventieth week. In moving from the twenty-sixth verse of Daniel Chapter 9 to this twenty-seventh verse the prophecy skips forward. It moves from the time of “Messiah the prince,” and the sixty-ninth week, to modern times and the time of the end of the present world order, the seventieth week. In other words, after the major event of the coming of Jesus and his crucifixion at the time of the sixty-ninth week there is a long gap in the prophecy; it skips the intervening years and moves directly to the seventieth week, which is the future time of the antichrist and the one-week covenant which he makes.

In the seventieth week the antichrist will rule, make a covenant with many, and then be destroyed. Gabriel prophesies that at the beginning of the seventieth week “one who makes desolate” will come and make a “strong covenant with many for one week,” that is seven years. “In the midst of the week,” that is after 3 1/2 years, the antichrist will break this covenant and cause the sacrifice and offering to cease; he will commit abominations, and make desolate. However, after this desolation takes place the rule of the antichrist will be brought to an end. As Gabriel foretells, he will rule “until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator.” (Dan 9:27)

Daniel Chapters 2, 7, 8, and 9 tell the same story. Here it is evident that just as in Daniel Chapters 2, 7, and 8 the end times antichrist, after bringing much tribulation and destruction to the Jews and to our world, will be destroyed. From previous chapters in Daniel, we know that Melchizedek, the material Messiah, will conquer the antichrist and rule the nations in Jesus’ name forever. This completion of the seventieth week is the time predicted by Gabriel that is required, “to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, …atone for iniquity, [and] to bring in everlasting righteousness….” (Dan 9:24)

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