The Book of Daniel - part 11
Daniel 9:20-27 : Daniel and the 70 Weeks
As we begin today, I want to start with a confession. I do not fully understand this passage. I am always annoyed when I can’t figure out a particular problem, but it is passages like this that remind me that we aren’t meant to fully understand everything. Now, there is much about this passage that I do know for sure, so we will certainly not just throw our hands up and say “Whatever you think sounds good”, but as we move into the vision of the 70 weeks, just know that many theologians have spilled a lot of ink over this one passage. So, if at the end of today you aren’t sure what to think about all this, just know you are in good company.
But let’s begin with a Gabriel who will help us shed some light on things to come for Daniel.
Gabriel comes quickly : 9:20-23
20 While I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my plea before the Lord my God for the holy hill of my God, 21 while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the first, came to me in swift flight at the time of the evening sacrifice. 22 He made me understand, speaking with me and saying, “O Daniel, I have now come out to give you insight and understanding. 23 At the beginning of your pleas for mercy a word went out, and I have come to tell it to you, for you are greatly loved. Therefore consider the word and understand the vision.
During Daniel’s prayer, which we read last week, the angel Gabriel comes to deliver another message to Daniel. Before we go into the vision itself, notice some of the verbiage in these first verses.
“While I was speaking...came to me in swift flight” — Daniel’s prayer is answered quickly.
Though many times we do not hear or see the answer to our prayers as quickly as we would like, notice that even as Daniel began uttering his prayer, God had already sent His angel to respond. We know God always hears our prayers. The question is not whether God has heard our prayer, but whether we are listening for His response.
Why was it that Daniel’s prayer was answered in such a powerful way? I believe there are two reasons:
Daniel had already proven himself to be a faithful follower. Daniel’s relationship with God was one described by faithfulness on BOTH parties. God, of course, is always faithful to His people, but Daniel had also proven himself faithful. He was faithful in the king’s dining hall. He was faithful in the interpretations to Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar. He was faithful in the lion’s den. Some people claim to be a faithful friend with God, Daniel proved himself a faithful friend. Notice verse 23, “for you are greatly loved.”
Daniel’s prayer was a prayer of repentance demonstrating he was humble and ready to hear the truth. Notice in verse 20, Daniel is confessing his sin and the sin of his people. As we looked at last week, Daniel’s prayer is a petition based solely on the grace of God. He is not expecting to be rewarded for his work, he is begging for grace. James 4:6 in citing Proverbs 3:34 is very clear, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” The first step in getting an answer to prayer is to humble yourself and realize God is not mandated to give you anything.
“He made my understand...give you insight and understanding” — Daniel is only able to understand because God has granted him wisdom.
The reason we pray is so that we can gain understanding from God. But, the only way we understand anything is because God has granted us understanding. This is especially true of divine things, but even in the mundane, our ability to learn and understand the world around us comes from God. So, again looking at James, we read, “If anyone lacks wisdom, let him ask God who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him” (Jam. 1:5). Daniel had perceived the exile would last 70 years, but he was unsure of what the return of Israel would look like. God is giving Daniel more understanding regarding the nature of Israel’s return and the Coming of the Lord.
The 70 “Weeks” : 9:24-27
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.”
The word Gabriel brings is that 70 Sevens are carved out of time for the Jewish people. The ESV uses the word “weeks” as many translations do, but the Hebrew is literally “seventy sevens”. A ‘seven’ in Hebrew signifies a set of seven timespans, whether days, weeks, months or years. There is a longer argument for why this seven represents seven years, but the short version is, for the last 2000+ years, interpreters, both Jewish and Christian, have understood that Daniel means a set of 7 years. It would be much easier if the translations left the literal “seventy sevens”, but alas, they choose to translate the idiomatic ‘seven’ into a symbolic ‘week’.
Now, it is also significant that this period of 70 Sevens is divided into 3 sections—seven sevens, 62 sevens, and 1 seven. That tells us that these periods are not necessarily consecutive, and they have historical markers to tell us when they occur.
The first marker is given to us in Daniel 9:25, “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 sevens.” Scholars have three events in mind that coincide with the rebuilding of Jerusalem, but the one most explicit is found in Nehemiah 2, where Nehemiah requests permission from Artaxerxes to rebuild the city ruins. The ‘anointed one’ here refers to Zerubabbel in Zech 4:14.
The next marker comes 62 sevens later. During the time leading up to the third historical marker, Jerusalem will be built with “squares and moat, but in a troubled time.” The phrase ‘squares and moat’ have to do with the walls, streets, and defenses, but notice the building occurs during a troubled time. Remember, in Israel’s history following the Exile, it never found full freedom from foreign nations. After Persia, Greece took the land, then the Seleucids, and finally, Rome. It would not be until 1945, following World War II, that Israel became an independent nation.
After the first two periods, which equal 69 sevens, or 483 years, there will be a coming of a second ‘anointed one.’ In verse 26, we read this anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing. This anointed one, especially when taking verse 24 into account, sounds like Jesus the Messiah. And, for the last 2000 years, that is who Christians have seen in this verse.
Jesus is “cut off”—meaning he is struck down by Israel. He “shall have nothing”—meaning He will die as a pauper, which is how Jesus goes to the cross.
Now, if we take the date of Nehemiah as our starting point, and then use Jesus’ death as the finishing point, it just so happens that the time period lasts very close to 483 years. In fact, depending on which exact dates are chosen within the lifetimes of Nehemiah and Jesus, it is right at 483 years!
The precision of Old Testament prophecy, and its fulfillment in the life of Jesus Christ is unparalleled.
This part of the 70 Sevens we can understand fairly easily. Verses 26 & 27 are where it gets quite confusing. So, as I move further into our passage, just know a few things.
First, as I said before, many Jesus-loving, God-fearing theologians have interpreted, re-interpreted, and debated the nature of the passage and what is foretold. To walk away unsure of its full meaning is to be in good company.
Second, though we may not have the answers to all the questions we want answered, God has given us all the answers to questions we need answered.
Third, the prophecies of the Old Testament have been fulfilled and/or expanded in the New Testament.
This last point is important especially in passages like Daniel 9:26-27, because one possible interpretation is that a gap exists between the 69th week and the 70th. In this gap, the Gentiles are called to salvation, and one day there will be a prince who brings about the desolations decreed. However, we should note in the text itself, there is no mentioning of a gap. This interpretation has been around since 200s AD, but the textual evidence is scant.
What is very important in terms of interpreting this text in the light of the New Testament, is that the prophecies from Christ in the Gospels and John’s Revelation point to a time when a very similar event will occur in the future as what occurred under Antiochus in the time leading up to Christ’s First Coming. This phenomenon occurs among many of the Messianic prophecies in Daniel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and others. Theologians have dubbed this phenomenon “dual fulfillment”. It simply means that a type of fulfillment has already occurred in the past, but a fuller fulfillment will come later.
To better explain this point, let’s return to verse 24.
Gabriel lists 6 things that will be accomplished by these 70 Sevens.
1) finish the transgression
2) Put an end to sin
3) To atone for iniquity
Notice that each of these has been fulfilled in the life of Christ—at least partially. The ‘transgression’ refers to the rebellion of the people of God. The Jewish people are now on equal footing with Gentiles because of Christ. Their continued rebellion is no longer about God’s people in rebellion to Him, but those who have not followed the Messiah and are simply not apart of God’s people.
“Put an end to sin” could literally be “be complete, come to an end” or “seal up” which all essentially point to the same truth that sin will become a historical event instead of a current reality. Now, we know we still deal with the effects of sin today, but Jesus overcame the power of sin and death by dying and resurrecting.
1 Corinthians 15:56-57 states, “The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Likewise, 1 John 3:5, “You know that [Jesus] appeared in order to take away sins, and in Him there is no sin.”
Paul reminds us in Galatians 5:24, “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”
Also, in Colossians 2:13-14, Paul writes, “And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.”
Though we still feel the effects of a sinful world, Christians can live victorious over sin, because of the Atonement of Christ.
That is the “atoning for iniquity.”
4) To bring in everlasting righteousness
5) To seal both vision and prophet
These last three elements we look forward in the future for their fullest fulfillment. Jesus has already opened the door to everlasting righteousness. Each person who turns from their sin and receives eternal life also receives the righteousness of Christ and the Holy Spirit Who will transform the believer to conform to the righteousness of Christ.
The vision and the prophet have been sealed in that Christ has fulfilled the Old Prophets. They have been vindicated as truly sent by God, because all that they prophesied has been fulfilled. We now wait for the fulfillment of the prophecies of Christ recorded in the New Testament. Soon, when Christ returns, those too will be sealed and marked fulfilled.
6) To anoint a most holy place
The last point, I believe, is profound and yet neglected in this passage. The Holy Place for the Old Testament people of God was the Temple. Daniel, Jeremiah, and the other prophets looked forward to the rebuilding of the Temple. Ezra, Nehemiah, Habakkuk and others led the Israelites in rebuilding the Temple, but we know that it was eventually destroyed again in 70 AD. This phrase “most holy place” points us to a greater temple than a mere building. It is “most holy”.
Today, for all who call Christ King, for all who have repented of their sins and received eternal life through the grace and sacrifice of Jesus Christ, today, they are now that most holy place. God has chosen to dwell in the hearts of His people.
1 Corinthians 3:16, “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwell in you?”
The temple was the place for all people to draw closer to God, to receive forgiveness and to receive instruction in the ways of godly living. Today, each believer is called to be that place for those around us. We do not look to a building as the holy place. We look to the heart of those who are called by His Name and to His Glory.
Each believer is a piece of the spiritual temple that is being built, and will one day come to total fulfillment when Christ returns and ushers in the New Heaven and New Earth. Right now, we can see how these 70 Sevens have been fulfilled in the life and work of Jesus Christ, but we also know that He is not finished yet. Jesus is still building and gathering a people for Himself, and one day, when the time of sin is completed, He will return to gather all His people into a New Heaven and New Earth. Be ready by coming to Jesus today.