Daniel’s Vision
From the writings of Howard Rand and Brooks Alden.
The prophet Daniel was among the first captives taken to Babylon when Nebuchadnezzar conquered the Nation of Judah in 604 BC. It is through the prophecies that he was divinely inspired to record that we have gained so much insight into God’s Plan for the world in the last days of this age. One evening in prayer, Daniel received a visit from Gabriel through a vision and this most critical of all prophecies was given to him.
It is rather complicated but here is the vision: “Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end to sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophesy, and to anoint the most holy.” (Daniel 9: 24)
As Bible students and using our conversion tables, we know that seventy weeks is 490 days (70 X 7) and, using a day to a year changeover, this equals 490 years. This seventy weeks began when the remnant of the House (Nation) of Judah returned from Babylon captivity to rebuild the city of Jerusalem and the Temple. The seventy weeks ended when the Lord Jesus Christ died on the Cross taking the Kingdom of God from this remnant and gave it to the birthright tribe. Notice that the prophecy contains six items that would be accomplished, ie., a six point program that Jesus Christ the Messiah would achieve. Thus, it is important that we look at each part of the program briefly in order to understand later events.
These points in order are as follows:
1. To Finish the Transgression: Daniel’s prayer as recorded in chapter 9 clearly reflects the transgressions of his people. Yet, once they crucified Jesus, they had no one to save them. No greater condemnation could be showered upon them as when the apostle Peter said “But ye denied the Holy One and the just and desired a murderer to be granted unto you; And killed the Prince of Life, whom God hath raised from the dead whereof we are witnesses.” (Acts 3: 14-15) At the moment of the crucifixion, these people of Judah were no longer his people nor will they ever be. The margin notation concerning Daniel 9 in the King James Bible clearly states this, saying that they shall be no more his people nor the Prince’s future people.
2. To Make an End of Sins: The shedding of His Blood on the Cross fulfilled the Law of Ordinances and nailed this law to the Cross as stated in Colossians 2: 14. So as Hebrews 9:26 states “For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.”
3. To Make Reconciliation for Iniquity: Accomplished through His atonement (ie., repairing wrong-doing, restoring what was lost) as He was dying on the Cross, “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespass unto them.” (2 Corinthians 5: 19)
4. To Bring in Everlasting Righteousness: Even though this will not be fully accomplished until the Lord returns as King of kings, He died for us and, thus, “For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins.” (Hebrews 10: 26). Despite this, only by being firmly wedded to God’s laws will our places in the coming Kingdom be determined.
5. To Seal Up the Vision and Prophecy: “But those things which God before had shewed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled.” (Acts 3:18)However, the broader fulfillment will not happen until Jesus Christ returns at the end of the age.
6. To Anoint the Most Holy: This probably refers to His Sanctuary and the end of the abomination that maketh desolate as described in Daniel 12: 11 and will take place upon His return.
After this, where the timing of seventy weeks has been established and the six points of His program described, the rest of the prophecy is then given to Daniel as follows: “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, even in troublous times. And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week; in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.” (Daniel 9: 25-27)
Seventy weeks is then split into three time periods.
1. Seven weeks or 49 years would be spent rebuilding the city of Jerusalem, which Nebuchadnezzar totally destroyed along with the temple in his final assault against Jerusalem in 586 BC.
2. Then the Jews (a small percentage of Judahites, Benjaminites and Levites) would spend 62 weeks or 434 years awaiting the Messiah.
3. Finally, the Messiah would walk among them. His mandate would cover a period of one week or 7 years (known as Daniel’s seventieth week) and, in the middle of the week, a significant event would occur.
Thus, 49 years + 434 years = 483 years. Then add 7 years = 490 years ie., 70 weeks.
So it took 49 years for the remnant of Judah to rebuild the city and the temple. Then they waited 434 years for the Messiah. Then came the 7 years. Regarding this 7 year period, many Christians believe the crucifixion occurred mid-week (or after 3 ½ years) but they have differing views on what happens to the other 3 ½ years. The fundamentalists believe it is to be fulfilled at the end of the age, immediately before the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. The majority of Christians today probably hold this theory because they have bought into the “futurist theory”. Smaller groups believe that the 3 ½ years expired with the stoning of Stephen and the exodus of the Apostles from Palestine to teach the lost sheep of the House of Israel. However, in reality most Christians have never heard of, read or even attempted to understand this prophecy. Yet it is one of the most remarkable prophecies in the Bible and we should look closely at what the numerics given us by God really express.
To understand this prophecy we need to know two important dates 1) the date of the “going forth of the commandment to restore” referred to in Daniel 9 and 2) the year that Jesus Christ was born.
The Encyclopedia Britannica says that Artaxerxes I of Persia ruled from 465 BC to 425 BC. He is the king who gave the “going forth of the commandment to restore.” The Book of Ezra in Chapter 7: 6-7 tells us that Ezra received this commandment in the seventh year of this king’s reign, ie., 458 BC. Using this date we can determine the end of the 483 years (as explained in number 1 and 2 above).
458 BC – Artaxerxes 1st issues edict permitting Jews to return to Jerusalem to rebuild and await Messiah.
Add 483 years (69 weeks)- comes to 26 AD.
26 AD – End of the 69th week of the prophecy and the beginning of Daniel’s 70th week (the beginning of the going forth to rebuild).
The date of the birth of Jesus is revealed in studying Luke 1: 36, Luke 3: 1-3 and Luke 3:23, Also the Book of St. John demonstrates that the ministry of Jesus Christ covered a period of 3 ½ years, that He attended three Passover celebrations and at the 4th He was crucified.
Suffice it to say that Daniel’s 70 weeks came to an end at His crucifixion at age 33. When this happened, the Kingdom of God was given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.
