Daniel chapter 9, contains the most famous of all prophecies, except perhaps the return of Christ and the rapture of the saints.
Daniel is given a prophecy that occurs in 4 parts. I have taken the prophecy and put pauses between verses to emphasise the 4 parts.
The Overview
Seventy weeks are decreed
about your people and your holy city—
to bring the rebellion to an end,
to put a stop to sin,
to atone for iniquity,
to bring in everlasting righteousness,
to seal up vision and prophecy,
and to anoint the most holy.
Literally 70 “sevens” (the Hebrew word for weeks). Each day represented 1 year, for a total of 490 years.
On the face of it, a lot has to happen, remember this list, as we will revisit it at the end of this page.
Weeks 1-69
Know and understand this:
From the issuing of the decree
to restore and rebuild Jerusalem
until an Anointed One, the ruler,
will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks.
It will be rebuilt with a plaza and a moat,
but in difficult times.
The first 69 weeks were broken into two sections, 7 weeks (49 years) and 62 weeks (the following 434 years), for a total of 69 weeks (483 years).
The first section was a period of restoration of the city, which would take 49 years. Many people have written of this time period and why it must be the command by Artaxerxes I, circa 457 BC, rather than Cyrus or Darius.1 Despite Ezra 6:14 stating that is it from the commands of Cyrus, and Artaxerxes.
The second section is slightly unclear. Does it refer to the time when the Messiah is cut off, or his birth, the start of his ministry? It cannot refer to the crucifixion, for the simple reason that the very next section explicitly says that the crucifixion occurs AFTER the 69th week. It refers to the commencement of Jesus’ anointing by the Holy Spirit after his baptism by John the Baptist as the writer of Acts is clear “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 10:38). One of the challenges, of course, is that there is disagreement over when Jesus was born, and when he died, and because the dates of decrees are also only “circa”.
Week 70
After those sixty-two weeks [69th week when including the first 49 years…ed]
the Anointed One will be cut off
and will have nothing.
Scripture is clear that sometime after the completion of the 69th week, the Messiah will be cut off. This is a euphemistic phrase of the old testament for an execution.
We look at the list again at the list of what is to be achieved in the 70 weeks.
- to bring the rebellion to an end, – Done (Luke 1:17)
- to put a stop to sin, – Done (2 Timothy 2:19; Hebrews 9:26; Romans 6:22)
- to atone for iniquity, – Done (John 1:29; 1 Corinthians 5:7; Acts 13:38; Galatians 1:4; Titus 2:14; Hebrews 9:15, 28; 1 Peter 2:24 3:18; 1 John 2:2 4:10; Revelation 5:9; Luke 24:26-27, 44-47)
- to bring in everlasting righteousness, – Done (Romans 10:4; 2 Corinthians 3:9; 9:9; Matthew 3:15; Romans 3:21-22,25-26; 1:17; 5:21; 8:10; 9:30; 2 Corinthians 5:21; etc)
- to seal up vision and prophecy, – Done (Matthew 11:13; Luke 24:25,27,44; Romans 3:21; Acts 3:24; Matthew 5:17; 13:35; Luke 10:24; 18:31; John 6:14; Acts 10:43; 26:22; Romans 16:26; Ephesians 2:20; Revelation 22:18)
- and to anoint the most holy. – Done (Luke 4:18; Acts 4:27; 10:38; Hebrews 1:9)
As we look at the ministry of Jesus, theologians of all stripes can say all of these are done and fulfilled in Jesus. There is nothing left to be completed for the 70 sevens.
Beyond Week 70
The people of the prince who is to come
will destroy the city and the sanctuary.
The end will come with a flood,
and until the end there will be war;
desolations are decreed.
27 He will make a firm covenant
with many for one week,
but in the middle of the week
he will put a stop to sacrifice and offering.
And the abomination of desolation
will be on a wing of the temple
until the decreed destruction
is poured out on the desolator.”
The city and the sanctuary were destroyed about 40 years after the crucifixion – just as Jesus had said, that these things would come upon this generation. We must realise here, and Daniel 11 is great aid here, that the various “he”‘s referred to can be different people and empires.
No matter which way we cut it, the destruction of the city and sanctuary is outside the 70 weeks when measured from its commencement. Even committed dispensationalists who believe in a future 70th week (which they call the Great Tribulation), acknowledge that the destruction of the temple in AD70 is not part of the 70 weeks period, even though it was described by Daniel in the same passage.
Dispensationalists obtain their 70th week from Daniel 9:27 where the events of another “week” are described. However, as we have seen, the list of events listed at the start of the prophecy of the 70 weeks (verse 24), does not include a desolation, and does not include the destruction of the city, or an abomination. And since Jesus was crucified in the 70th week, it stands to reason, since the destruction of the city and sanctuary are provably too long after the crucifixion of Christ to be part of the 70 weeks, that the remaining events are also not part of the 70 weeks.
The prophecy is very clear, that the people of the prince destroy the city and sanctuary before the arrival of “the prince”. You can read this in much more detail in the post on the Abomination of Desolation in AD 70.
The firm covenant of verse 27 is made by “the prince”, not of Christ. It is the people of the prince who destroy the city and sanctuary, which is not something that Christians did, nor something the Jews did, and therefore cannot refer to Jesus. It is the prince of the people that the “He” refers to. Jesus did not make a covenant “for one week”. It is in fact an everlasting covenant in his blood.
In short, Daniel’s 70 weeks are completed. We are given a separate timeframe for the ceasing of the sacrifice and set up of the Abomination of Desolation in Daniel 12, also indicating that this is not part of the 70 weeks.
Believers can rest assured that the scripture is not as complicated as many would have you believe. The 70 weeks are completed, and were completed by Christ through his death and resurrection. All of the events listed by the angel for Daniel of what was to be accomplished in the 70 weeks, were all accomplished by Christ. The destruction and abomination have no part of the 70 weeks.