Daniel 9:24-27 “Short”

 Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

²⁴Seventy sevens are determined upon your people and upon your holy city to end the rebellion and to finish sins and to atone for perversion and to bring in righteousness of ages and to seal vision and prophecy and to anoint [the] Holy of Holies. ²⁵And know and have insight – from issuance of a word to restore and to rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah [the] Prince [shall be] seven sevens and sixty-two sevens, and again a plaza and a moat will be built even in times of trouble. ²⁶And after the sevens of sixty and two, Messiah will be cut off and nothing to Him and a people of a coming prince will spoil the city and the sanctuary and its end in the flood and until end war being determined desolations. ²⁷And he will confirm a covenant with the many [for] one seven and [in] the half of the seven, he will stop sacrifice and offering and upon a wing of abominations one making desolate, even until [the] end, and [the] one causing to be decreed will pour out upon [the] desolator.

Interesting to note, as we would listen in on v.27, we actually take a seat next to Daniel. What I mean is that, up to this point, we have been studying prophecies which, while yet future for Daniel, are past history for us. We have no problem understanding how the great Messiah could be cut off. We know about the Romans’ destruction of Jerusalem. That’s history for us. However, as we come to v.27, we’re reading about something yet future for us too. So, we pull up our chair next to our friend Daniel and ponder over Gabriel’s words much as he would have.

The one exception, however, is that we have the book of Revelation. Essentially, the book of Revelation is Daniel Vol. II. Nearly the entire book could have been entitled, “Daniel’s Seventieth Week.” In Daniel 9, we get one verse on it. John gives us an entire book. I say all of that because we have the wonderful gift of additional revelation beyond what Daniel apparently had, and, in order to understand v.27, we should give earnest heed to John’s writings. However, I also don’t want to lose sight, as we would study, that Daniel could not. On the other hand, it is also true, even with the book of Revelation, it is all still future for us.

Gabriel tells us that “the ruler to come” will “confirm a covenant with many for one seven.” Well, there it is. There is our final seven, our final “week” of Daniel’s Seventy Weeks. Gabriel then tells us that, in the middle of the seven, this ruler to come will “put an end to sacrifice and offering…and set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed for him is poured out on him.”

Before I say anything, I want to acknowledge that the Hebrew here is quite cryptic. I think the NIV (which I just quoted) does a good job of translating the verse, but much of that is actually based on the understanding that we get from the book of Revelation, not from the Hebrew itself. Without John’s writings, I would suggest that verse 27 is almost unintelligible. One could say that explains in part how this verse could have spawned the endless myriads of interpretations which have been offered all down through the centuries. For myself, however, I agree with the NIV translators that the book of Revelation is the key to understanding it, and so I proceed on that basis.

Several significant cross-references need to be recognized at this point. Beginning with Daniel himself, in 7:25, he foresaw that “the saints will be handed over to him (the little horn) for a time, times and half a time. Now Gabriel says the ruler to come will break his covenant in the middle of the seven, so we know the time, times, and half a time is 3 ½ years. Later, in 12:1, Daniel was told of “a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations…” When it is asked how long this will last, it is again revealed to be “a time, times, and half a time” (v.7).

Jeremiah had spoken of a horrible time in Israel’s future which he called “the time of Jacob’s trouble.” He said in 30:7, “How awful that day will be! None will be like it. It is even the time of Jacob’s trouble…” Notice in particular it is called the time of Jacob’s trouble. Gabriel had specifically said, “Seventy sevens are decreed for your people and your holy city…” (v.24). Once again, this future time of horrific distress specifically concerns the Jewish people, It is the time of Jacob’s trouble.

Jesus referred to Daniel when He was speaking of the last days and said it would be a time of “great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now – and never to be equaled again” (Matt. 24:21). He had just said a few verses before that, “So when you see standing in the holy place the abomination that causes desolation, spoken through the prophet Daniel…” (24:15). Jesus makes it clear that He is talking about the same events which Daniel (and Jeremiah) had addressed. Then, even when Jesus was here, it is clear that this Seventieth Week was still yet future.

Several verses in Revelation assure us John was prophesying about these same events and they were still yet future, even when he was an old man and exiled on the Isle of Patmos. Beginning in Revelation chapter 6, John prophesies about a world of horrible judgments and reading the rest of the book, we have come to call this time “the Great Tribulation.” This matches Daniel, Jeremiah, and Jesus’ predictions of this world of “great distress.”

Starting in Rev. 11:3, John begins making reference to a time of 1,260 days (3 ½ x 360) for the Two Witnesses to prophesy, then for another 1,260 days that “the woman” will be “taken care of” (12:6). Then too, tying back to Daniel, the beast of Revelation is said to be given “a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise his authority for forty-two months” (=1,260 days or 3 ½ 360-day years).

I point out all of this to establish that, as I said earlier, the book of Revelation is to a large extent simply a chapters-long explanation of what will happen in this “week” that gets summed up in Daniel in just a couple of verses. Revelation really is Daniel Vol. II, and, based on John’s writings (in addition to Jeremiah, Daniel, and Jesus), we have come to call this horrific period, this last “Seven,” the Great Tribulation and the “little horn” we know to be the man we’ve come to call the AntiChrist.  In chapters 7 and 11, Daniel gives us a little more information about these things, but, of course, his few short verses had to await John’s writings before we could have the exhaustive treatment of an entire book to describe this Seventieth Week.

I would suggest one implication of this entire prophecy in Daniel 9:24-27 is that the Lord apparently has a different plan for us His church. If we are careful with our exegesis, we cannot ignore the many very clear statements that these prophecies concern Israel, not the Church. It is the time of Jacob’s trouble and concerns Daniel’s people and his city. In Luke 21:24, Jesus referred to “the times of the Gentiles.” He said, “And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.” In Romans 11, Paul makes it clear that this “times of the Gentiles” is, in some way, an interruption of the Lord’s plans for the Jewish people. He says, “Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in” (v.25). Notice the “until.” The very word implies there is yet something in store specifically for the Jewish people.

I personally don’t see how, if we are careful with our exegesis, we can fail to see that, at the present time, their Seventieth Week is yet future for the Jewish people and that we are now in a parenthesis of sorts while the Lord draws in us Gentiles. All of that then fits logically into Paul’s prophecy of what we call the Rapture in I Thes. 4:13-18, “The Lord Himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. After that, we who are alive and remain will be caught up (Latin: rapturo) together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.”

When the parenthesis (the times of the Gentiles) ends, then the Lord resumes the Jewish people’s “Seventy Weeks.” Note too there is nothing in the Bible to say the end of that parenthesis equals the beginning of that Seventieth Week. Jesus’ return for His church has been imminent ever since He left and there is no prophecy that necessarily needs to be fulfilled before the Rapture happens. However, what we do see is a world today shaping up exactly as Daniel and John prophesied. Israel is in the Land. The European Union is a reality. It is at least the essence of what will become the Revived Roman Empire (the “ten toes” of Daniel chapter 2). Our world seems to be devolving rapidly into chaos and there really are people we call “Globalists,” who clamor for a one-world government. We now have the technology to create “chips” to identify (and locate) people – the “mark of the Beast.” The event which does mark the beginning of this Seventieth Week is the covenant between the AntiChrist and the Jewish people: “And he shall confirm a covenant with the many for one Seven…” (Dan. 9:27).

Given the horrific turmoil in the Middle East and the world-wide prevalence of antisemitism, it would certainly be no surprise to see the nation of Israel make a covenant with the European Union and its leader, the AntiChrist, to protect them, to give them peace. That would be the “covenant with the many” which sparks the beginning of the Seventieth Week. My point would be, if somehow the Rapture must precede that event, and if world events seem to be rapidly moving toward its fulfillment, then certainly “the time is short.” It could still be 500 years in the future, but I would guess it closer to 50. Given the world we’re seeing, it could be 5 – or less.

Surely the time really is short. Even if, somewhere along the line here, I have misunderstood the prophecies or suggested logical implications which turn out to be incorrect, no matter what, the time is short. The Lord will return. As Peter said, “The Day of the Lord will come” (II Pet. 3:10). Lord help us all to prayerfully do the best we can to live lives of loving God and people, to be the fragrance of Christ in a world of people who desperately need Him! Daniel was that kind of man in his day. May we be so in ours.

Daniel 9:24-27 “Cut Off”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

²⁴Seventy sevens are determined upon your people and upon your holy city to end the rebellion and to finish sins and to atone for perversion and to bring in righteousness of ages and to seal vision and prophecy and to anoint [the] Holy of Holies. ²⁵And know and have insight – from issuance of a word to restore and to rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah [the] Prince [shall be] seven sevens and sixty-two sevens, and again a plaza and a moat will be built even in times of trouble. ²⁶And after the sevens of sixty and two, Messiah will be cut off and nothing to Him and a people of a coming prince will spoil the city and the sanctuary and its end in the flood and until end war being determined desolations. ²⁷And he will confirm a covenant with the many [for] one seven and [in] the half of the seven, he will stop sacrifice and offering and upon a wing of abominations one making desolate, even until [the] end, and [the] one causing to be decreed will pour out upon [the] desolator.

In v.26, Daniel is told that, after the 62 sevens (after the 69^th Week), Messiah will be cut off. As discussed before, this must have been a shocking, perplexing, and cryptic prophecy. Messiah cut off and have nothing? How could that be? The serpent was only supposed to “strike His heel.” He was to “crush the serpent’s head!” (Gen. 3:15). The “Stone cut without hands” was supposed to “crush the kingdoms of this world and bring them to an end, but will itself endure forever” (Dan. 2:44). As I said earlier, I strongly suspect that our Daniel, being the diligent student that he was, would have immediately connected this “Messiah cut off” with the Suffering Servant prophecy of Isaiah 53. However, even to him, it probably would seem mysterious how all these things could be true at the same time.

For us now, looking back, it would be obvious that, before the Lord could “bring in everlasting righteousness,” the sin problem had to be dealt with (as Gabriel had just said in v. 24). Today, we can see clearly that “the blood of bulls and goats can never take away sin” (Heb. 10:4) and that something far greater was necessary to truly “atone for wickedness.” In fact, Isaiah had said, “He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him…and the Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all” (53:5,6). To us, that is obviously speaking of Jesus, but I’m suggesting that a very careful reading of the Old Testament could have understood, though perhaps darkly, that, somehow the Messiah must suffer, even be “cut off,” as part of this business of bringing an end to sin. Daniel would have been the kind of careful studier who might have put that together. He probably found it perplexing, however I can almost hear him telling us, “but it says what it says.”

I want to inject here the observation that the Jewish people, as a group, obviously ignored this prophecy. Certainly by Jesus’ time, it would seem all they could see was a glorious Messiah who would conquer the world and free them from Rome. One could ask, “How could that be?” The Pharisees in particular were supposed to be diligent studiers of the Scriptures. The first thing I would suggest is, even if they did study, I doubt they observed our simple rule of “Let it say what it says.” They had their popular interpretation of the glorious Messiah, so they either reasoned away this idea of “cut off,” or simply ignored it.

Again, how could that happen when it says it right there in the Bible? Frankly, I think we can answer that by observing our own generation. The simple truth is very few people today actually study the Bible. When I say that I am specifically referring to pastors, missionaries, seminary professors, and anyone else supposedly serving as teachers of the Word. Of those who do study at all, few of them “let it say what it says.” They all have their own popular hobby horses. However, for the vast majority, I believe the problem is that, in fact, they don’t study to start with. What they do is read each other’s books and write more books. They listen to each other’s sermons and preach more sermons. They all have their own group’s popular positions, but never have had to face the hard reality of passages in the Bible that would clearly refute their position, simply because they never studied them – perhaps never even read them.

I say that after nearly fifty years of listening to sermons and lessons and reading books and commentaries from a wide variety of positions. Even as a layman, when listening or reading from others, if you’ve carefully studied a particular passage, it is obvious whether a person has themselves actually studied or not. Way, way, way too often the obvious falls to “not.” I’d like to rail on how shameful that is, but we all need to turn that gun of conviction on our own hearts. The fact is, I can’t change the world. I can’t change what other people do or don’t do, but I can change me. This “famine of the Word of God” only makes it all the more important that you and I study as diligently and carefully as we are able.

Whatever abilities we may have, whatever tools are usable to us as we would study, we need to be putting them to work. I’ve had the wonderful opportunity to learn to work with the original languages and I do, but, if you have not, that need be no obstacle to you. The same Holy Spirit that gives insight, who promises us “Seek and you shall find,” will help you just as much as He helps me. He only expects us to do the best we can. May we all be like our friend Daniel, take the Word of God seriously, and be found diligent and careful students!

The next thing to note is that it clearly says Messiah will be cut off “after the sixty-two sevens.” Even as Daniel heard and later studied those words, he probably noticed the “after.” What is peculiar about that is that there was still one more seven to go. The Messiah would be cut off after the sixty-two sevens, yet with no mention yet of that last seven. A very careful student could have noticed that somehow the last seven did not immediately follow the sixty-two.

Interesting that on the day Jesus rode the donkey into Jerusalem and somehow knew they (probably the leaders) were rejecting Him as King, He said to them, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace – but now it is hidden from your eyes” (Luke 19:42). Their rejection ended the sixty-two sevens, so now 483 of the prophesied years had passed, leaving seven to go, but, in Matt. 23:28, He told them, “Your house is left to you desolate.” It sounds as if it is all over for the Jews, yet there were clearly seven more years to come, apparently at that point sometime in the undetermined future. So the time when Messiah was cut off occurred after the sixty-two sevens but not yet in the last seven, leaving a gap which we now know was to be our current Church Age, the “times of the Gentiles.” Paul explains in Romans 11:25. “Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in.” Yet he continues in v.26, “And so all Israel will be saved…” Though Messiah was cut off, the Jews’ house “was left to them desolate,” and the 69^th week had ended, yet there was even then still a future for the people of Israel – and specifically seven more years of something.

What we see in the passage is that, during this gap, “The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue to the end, and desolations have been decreed.” In the visions of both chapters 7 and 8, Daniel has seen and been very curious about the “little horn” that rises out of the fourth kingdom only to do great evil in this world and particularly against the Jewish people. This nefarious individual has been playing a prominent part in Daniel’s previous visions, and personally, I do not doubt that to Daniel, “the ruler who will come” would be a clear reference to that very individual, that “little horn.” The “people of the ruler to come” would then be the Romans and obviously they did exactly what Gabriel is prophesying here. In 70 AD, they did in fact destroy the city and the sanctuary” and it all lay desolate until 1947 when Israel once again became a nation and the Dry Bones began to rise.

Gabriel also describes the time of this gap as a period of war continuing to the end. The last 2,000 years have certainly been that, right up until the present. Just in Europe alone, it is shocking to study their history and see how they have spent the last two millennia butchering each other. If blood is good fertilizer, the continent of Europe ought to grow amazing crops! It has sure seen plenty.

If Gabriel would have stopped at this point, Daniel would have been left asking – but what about that last seven? Fortunately, Gabriel didn’t stop but went on to tell Daniel the message recorded in verse 27.

That is a study all in itself, so…

 

Daniel 9:24-27 “Unfolding”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

²⁴Seventy sevens are determined upon your people and upon your holy city to end the rebellion and to finish sins and to atone for perversion and to bring in righteousness of ages and to seal vision and prophecy and to anoint [the] Holy of Holies. ²⁵And know and have insight – from issuance of a word to restore and to rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah [the] Prince [shall be] seven sevens and sixty-two sevens, and again a plaza and a moat will be built even in times of trouble. ²⁶And after the sevens of sixty and two, Messiah will be cut off and nothing to Him and a people of a coming prince will spoil the city and the sanctuary and its end in the flood and until end war being determined desolations. ²⁷And he will confirm a covenant with the many [for] one seven and [in] the half of the seven, he will stop sacrifice and offering and upon a wing of abominations one making desolate, even until [the] end, and [the] one causing to be decreed will pour out upon [the] desolator.

One thing I’ve tried to do is to see this passage from Daniel’s perspective. We have the luxury to read it from this side of the Cross and after nearly 2,600 years have passed. Much of it might seem crystal clear to us, but probably not so much to Daniel. I wonder if, as Daniel pondered this prophecy that Messiah would be “cut off” and “have nothing,” if he connected it with Isaiah 53? I’ll bet he did. Interesting though that we have at least three prophecies in the Bible which predicted the Messiah’s suffering – Gen. 3:15 that the serpent would “strike His heel,” the “suffering servant” of Isa. 52:13-53:12, and here in v.26, that He will be “cut off,” and yet, by Jesus’ time, all the Jews seemed to have expected was a glorious conquering king!

I don’t doubt it was very perplexing to reconcile those “suffering” prophecies with prophecies like Isaiah 9:7, “Of the greatness of His government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.” We can acknowledge it would be difficult to see how their glorious King could also be “cut off” and “have nothing.” However, once again, that is what it says. If they would have minded this one simple rule: “Let it say what it says,” they could have been quick to realize that was exactly what the Crucifixion was about. We also see in v.24, as mentioned before, that clearly Messiah’s purpose in coming was first of all spiritual, that it was first of all a matter of dealing with the sin issue, and had they let that “say what it says,” they’d not have been so determined to see Him as a champion to free them from Rome.

What all of this tells us is that their ignorance was not only spiritually fatal, it was actually inexcusable – but then, has the Church been any different? As I lamented above, this passage has almost as many interpretations as people writing about it, yet I would suggest most of the time that is because they don’t just “let it say what it says.” There is no doubt in my mind that Daniel would have. He may not have understood it, but he would have let it “say what it says.” He would have been one of those of whom Peter spoke: “Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing…” (I Pet. 1:10). The Jews should have followed the prophets’ example, but then so should you and I!

I would start by suggesting we probably don’t know for sure exactly when the “decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem” was issued, or why there were “seven sevens and sixty-two sevens.” It would seem reasonable that the restoring and rebuilding of Jerusalem somehow took forty-nine years (seven sevens), but then I don’t think there is anything in the Bible to mark that endpoint. Surely at the time it was some very important and clear date, so that pious Jews could have recognized it as fulfilled prophecy, but, as far as I know, that information is lost to us.

We then make the assumption that there was no gap between the “seven sevens” and the “sixty sevens,” so that we only have to deal with the total of sixty-nine sevens equal to 490 years. As far as chronology, that appears to have been the case, based on our (not entirely reliable) understanding of the ancient timeline. I guess I’m suggesting, had we lived at those times, things could have been crystal clear as we observed them unfold, but the exact details are lost to us now.

Just think, though, what this would have meant to Daniel. Ever since the Garden of Eden, believers had lived hoping for the coming of the Messiah. I wonder sometimes if Adam and Eve would have thought perhaps He would be one of their sons? Yet here sits Daniel probably some three to four thousand years later and He hasn’t come yet. It was revealed He would come from Abraham’s family, then Isaac’s, Jacob’s, Judah’s, and finally David’s, but even David lived something like 500 years before Daniel. As Daniel receives this prophecy, for the first time ever, the actual timeline of Messiah’s coming is revealed. Here we sit as New Testament believers and “no man knows the day or the hour.” The Church has had to live just like the early believers, expecting the coming of the Lord but given no idea of the timeline. As of this prophecy, believing Jews could actually do the math, look ahead, and know when to expect Him!

On the other hand, he would have known it’s going to be the 490 years! If we were told today that Jesus would return for us in 490 years, wouldn’t that seem like a terribly long time? I wonder if it isn’t a blessing for us not to know, so we can get up every morning and say, “Maybe today…!” For whatever reason, the Lord saw fit to actually date the time of Messiah’s coming for the Jewish people. What a marvel that must have been for Daniel.

Then notice, as far as the rebuilding of Jerusalem, Gabriel said it would be “in times of trouble.” That has always perplexed me. It surprises me to see how much opposition Nehemiah had to deal with, trying to rebuild the wall. In my simple mind, I would have thought that was such a noble endeavor, it would have gone smoothly for him.

I suspect my problem is underestimating the enormity of the sin problem in our world. Everything we do, even the noblest of undertakings, has to be done facing two realities, the sin in our world, and the sin in us. As far as the sin of our world, the fact is that Satan in the “prince of the power of the air,” that we “wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against…spiritual wickedness in high places.” We should not be surprised if we find the demonic forces of this world opposing our every effort to pursue goodness. On the other hand, there is us. The Lord promises to make all things work together for good, but what is that good? “That we should be conformed to the image of Christ” (Rom. 8:29). We should never forget that, even as we would seek to do good, the Lord is working on us.

My sin problem is infinitely greater than I can possibly imagine and the Lord would use the troubles of this world as His chisel to sculpt away those sin issues and slowly, patiently, progressively form in me the image of His Son. Interesting that Daniel came into this exchange focused on an end to the seventy years of Captivity and finds out there are still 70x7 years left! Perhaps the Jewish people had thought the Messiah would return at the end of that first seventy years? What a great way for the Messiah to come – to conquer this Babylonian kingdom which had so wickedly defiled and destroyed the Temple and the city. Yet, no, that is not to be the case. There are still 490 years ahead. Only the coming of the Messiah can put “an end to sin.” In the meantime, it is a powerful enemy which the Lord allows in order to accomplish His great eternal purposes, and, for us, that often takes far longer than our feeble minds could have anticipated. Obviously, “we have need of patience!”

There is so much to consider in these few simple verses, I will stop here and ponder more later.

 

Daniel 9:25 “Thoughts”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

²⁵And know and have insight – from issuance of a word to restore and to rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah [the] Prince [shall be] seven sevens and sixty two sevens, and again a plaza and a moat will be built even in times of trouble.

Several thoughts I want to record before diving too hard into this passage. First of all, just so it’s said, this is a very difficult passage to translate. Several of the Hebrew words are very general and capable of various understandings. I personally have no doubt that is the nature of prophecy – to always have some element of a cryptic sense about it.

That thought leads me to the second which is this: When Jesus was giving prophecy to His disciples, He said to them, “I have told you now, so that when it does happen you will believe” (John 14:29). Notice the “when it does happen.” I would suggest it is generally always true of prophecy that it will contain two elements. First, there is much that is very clear and it seems to me those things are told us invariably to give us hope and an understanding of our times. The second element is this cryptic feature. Prophecies are just cryptic enough to frustrate our passion to “know it all” ahead of time. To some extent, it will only make sense at the time – when we actually need to know it. The “666” of Revelation is a good example. We’re told it will be the number of the Beast. As much as we ponder that, I doubt we can unravel its meaning – precisely because we don’t need to know (as much as it may fascinate us!). When the time comes and believers need to understand it, I am sure it will be patently clear. However, we don’t need to know it, and so we don’t. That’s the cryptic element that keeps us watching and waiting.

That cryptic element is precisely what ought to keep us all humble as we try to construct our understanding of prophecy. We should study prophecies. We should ponder them and do our best to understand “the things that are all too clear” as we would look ahead and look around. However, we should also do our best to acknowledge when we simply don’t know. The trick, I’m suggesting, is to know the difference. If everyone took that posture, you wouldn’t have people angrily defending their particular prophetic timelines. It would also have protected people down through the centuries from coming up with what are now laughable interpretations.

Once again, we should study and seek to know “the things that are all too clear.” However, and this is the bottom line in my heart – that it is far more important to know the prophecies themselves, to know the Scriptures which present them (even with those cryptic elements), and then to keep them as our “rock” of understanding. The Scriptures themselves need to be our rock – not our prophetical systems which we have devised. We need to know our Bibles!

Another thing I believe we should all acknowledge and keep in mind is that ancient timelines are dubious at best. I myself am very happy to accept that, for instance, the Persians conquered Babylon in 539 BC. However, I have no intention of “going to the mat” with anyone over that date. The secular world and (I think) too many “theologians” treat their ancient timelines as if they’re etched in stone. People are forever trying to align the Bible and its apparent timelines with those which have been constructed for the ancient world. They act like those ancient timelines are absolute truth and the Bible somehow has to be defended against them.

That is so ludicrous, it would be laughable if it wasn’t so ridiculously blasphemous. First of all, the ancient scribes were just as a big a liars as our media today. The government tells us what they want us to believe. They do not hesitate to rewrite history, to only tell half the story, to cherry-pick data in order to “prove” their case, and simply to tell us outright lies. The people doing the writing are and always have been very aware of what their bosses “want to hear.” They are courtesans in every sense of the word – journalistic prostitutes – and nothing they say (or said) should be taken as absolute truth. The other thing about ancient writings is that, usually, there are only scraps and pieces of documents, written in ancient languages, and even the ones that seem most well preserved invariably disagree.

I have expressed this from time to time, but I will not defend the Bible against those “ancient timelines,” regardless of how dearly they may be held by the “scholarly” community. The Bible itself is the only ancient document which is absolutely true and when it seems difficult to align it with those other ancient timelines, I’ll stick with the Bible.

One more thing I want to record concerns the length of the “years” we’re considering. I would suggest once again, if we let the Bible speak for itself, there is no question these are 360 day years or what some have called “prophetic years.” I don’t want to spend a lot of time on it, but it is clear in the account of Noah that time was being reckoned in 30-day months, then between Daniel 7:24,25, Rev. 12:6; 12:13,14; and 13:4-7, the Seventieth Week is variously designated as including 3 ½ years, 42 months, or 1260 days – all indicating a year based on twelve 30-day months or 360 days.

The only real argument against this understanding is the objection that nowhere in ancient history is there any record of anyone reckoning time using such a system. I’ve already addressed that argument above. Their assumption is that their “ancient” documents are an exhaustive, complete, and authoritative standard by which to judge all truth. Anyone with any understanding of “ancient” documents would (should) know such an argument is in itself ludicrous.

And then to use such an absurd standard to judge the Bible is not only logically fallacious, but in the end displays a complete misunderstanding of real Truth. The Bible is the Word of God and it is itself the standard of Truth. Someone may scoff at my faith in the Bible, but they ought to at least admit that their “faith” is being based on a ragged, very incomplete, and often very contradictory collection of those “ancient” documents. Such a person has every right to choose what to put their “faith” in, but then so do I, and so do you, and “as for me and my house,” we’ll choose the Bible. There is no question, if we let the Bible speak for itself, that the years in this prophecy consist of 360 days each.

Alva J. McClain uses the 360-day years, then presents the math that he could predict the exact date of Jesus’ Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem, starting with Nehemiah and the decree of Artaxerxes on an understood date of March 14, 1445 BC, and leading to a date of April 6, 32 AD. I’ve always found that intriguing and it may in fact be accurate, except for, once again, we’re basing that system on the scholarly world’s assumed timeline. At this point, I would still call McClain’s suggestions intriguing, but I wouldn’t go the mat over it with anyone. The Bible is true. There is no way to know for certain whether or not Artaxerxes’ decree was issued on March 14, 1445 BC. So I will leave it all as “intriguing.”

It may be that the Jews of Jesus’ day did or could have known those exact dates. Since they were living in that time and could have (or should have) realized the prophetic significance of the decree to rebuild Jerusalem, perhaps they could have done the math. Our problem now is the complete impossibility of pinning down those dates with infallible accuracy. The admonition from all of that to us is to be sure we’re aware as prophecies are being fulfilled around us.

Until the Seventieth Week starts, there is no timeline for us to observe, but still prophecy is being fulfilled even as I type. Israel is once again a nation. On May 14, 1948, in Tel Aviv, Jewish Agency Chairman David Ben-Gurion proclaimed the State of Israel, and for the first time in 2,000 years, the Jewish people were a nation. The whole world should have realized the “Dry Bones” prophecy of Ezekiel 37:1-14 was being fulfilled before their eyes. In fact, it has been being fulfilled ever since that day. The bones came together and the flesh of a true national people became reality until today we see them literally standing. All that is left now is for the breath of the Lord to enter and give them true spiritual life.

It will be interesting to watch and see, with all the military turmoil currently swirling around the nation of Israel (this is the year 2024), if we don’t see the prophecy of Gog and Magog (Ezek. 38 & 39) fulfilled before our eyes. In addition to those things, we see the Revived Roman Empire, the ten toes of Daniel apparently being fulfilled in the European Union.  On February 7, 1992, politicians from 12 European countries signed the Maastricht Treaty and the European Union was born. It still needs to align with its prophecies in a number of ways, but there is no question it is leading to the world of the AntiChrist.

My point in all of that is simply to say we need to have our eyes open, to know our Bibles, and to know the prophecies, so that we are aware as they are being fulfilled. Apparently at least most of the Jewish people paid little regard as their prophecies were being fulfilled. No doubt today, the vast majority of the human race doesn’t even realize prophecies continue to be fulfilled – but you and I don’t need to be so blind. We have every opportunity to actually “walk in the light” and “understand the times.”

To that end, I want to study Daniel 9:24-27, do my best to understand “the things that are all too clear,” to admit to the things that remain uncertain, then to be ready to grasp the significance of world events as they unfold around me.

History is, in fact, His story, and as we see it unfold, we can say once again,

“Hallelujah, for the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth!”

 

Daniel 9:24 “Kindness”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

²⁴Seventy sevens are determined upon your people and upon your holy city to end the rebellion and to finish sins and to atone for perversion and to bring in righteousness of ages and to seal vision and prophecy and to anoint [the] Holy of Holies.

My very first thought reading these verses is to just stop and sit in wonder and praise at the blessing of prophecy. I suppose we believers are so accustomed to prophecy in the Bible that perhaps we take for granted what a kindness it is to us. What a kindness that the Lord tells us beforehand the entire course of human history! Without even realizing it, I wonder how much strength we draw just from the hope we have of knowing “how it will go,” and knowing for certain that the Lord wins in the end? Clear back to the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve heard the Lord tell Satan that one day He would raise up the “Seed of the Woman” who would “crush the head of the serpent” – the promise of the Messiah. That said, believers have, from the very beginning, had prophecy to assure them that this awful fallen world will end!

As we sit here close to 6,000 years later, we not only have the Lord’s prophecies to read in our Bible, but we have the glorious luxury to see an enormous amount of them fulfilled, and then to see them literally being fulfilled right before our eyes! It’s kind of like when your team won the National Championship but you didn’t get to watch it – then later you sit through the video. How different it is to watch it knowing your team wins in the end!

I would even suggest that is a key to benefiting from the study of this passage – to never lose sight of the simple praise it ought to raise from our hearts. Regardless of exactly what it all means, in the end it is an enormous kindness of our God. Here, as in so many prophecies, we are assured “our team wins!”

What we also see is how, once again, our God is the God of the “full measure, pressed down and running over,” the God who does “immeasurably more than we ask or think.” Daniel has been focused entirely on the imminent end of the Babylonian Captivity. He found written in Jeremiah that the captivity would only last seventy years, realizes that time is at hand, and so prays that, in fact, it might come to an end. The Lord sends none other than Gabriel himself to personally answer Daniel’s prayer, but what does he tell him? Not just that this captivity will end, but that ultimately all captivity will end! Daniel was concerned about seventy years, but Gabriel would tell him of seven times that – 490 years! May we read and study this prophecy in the same spirit I believe Daniel would have received it – thinking in his heart the whole time something like “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me bless His holy name!” The prophecy itself is an enormous kindness from God!

I don’t think there is anyone today who would understand the “seventy sevens” as anything but 70 x 7 = 490 years. As Daniel is living in the late 500’s BC, obviously Christ’s coming was in fact somewhere close to that 490 years, pretty much no matter how anyone figures it. The Lord could have just called it “490 years,” but I suppose that is just the nature of prophecy to always contain a sort of cryptic element. Interesting that, just a few verses later, in 10:2, in our English Bibles, Daniel tells us that he mourned for “three weeks.” In Hebrew it is literally three “sevens of days.” Note that, when he wanted to express his “sevens” as simple “weeks,” he specifically calls them sevens “of days.” So while our English Bibles may translate the verse before us as “seventy weeks,” in Hebrew it is literally “seventy sevens,” leaving us to ask “sevens of what?” but certainly implying it is not days.

Next, I notice those seventy sevens are determined “upon your people and upon your holy city.” Clearly, these seventy sevens are specifically targeting the Jewish people. This prophecy is about the future of the people of Israel. I would emphasize this because so much of what has been written morphs it all into the Church. However, that is not what it says. If we would be careful with our understanding of these verses, we must understand what it says as applying primarily to Israel. We must not allow ourselves to be sloppy and let our understanding morph into something it does not say. This prophecy concerns 490 years of Jewish history.

What Gabriel tells Daniel is that this “seventy sevens” will include six elements. The first three have to do with sin. Included are what I would say are the three most common Hebrew words for sin. The first is literally “rebellion,” The second is perhaps the most general word, the idea of trespassing or missing the mark, while the third is literally “perversion” with the idea of somehow twisting the standard. People understand the three phrases differently, but I would suggest the most direct understanding would be as I’ve translated them above as “to end the rebellion and to finish sins and to atone for perversion.”

To me, “to end the rebellion” makes perfect sense. Adam & Eve’s taking of the fruit was first of all an act of rebellion, a violation of their relationship with the Lord as God of the universe. Our basic problem ever since has been exactly that – rebellion. In a sense, that was Israel’s problem too – always rebelling against the Lord. Jesus came very specifically to end that rebellion – the rebellion of Israel and in fact the rebellion of the entire human race. Speaking specifically of the Jewish people, and getting ahead of myself, I believe their rebellion culminates prophetically in their covenant with the AntiChrist and, in a fractal sense, that is the very specific rebellion Jesus’ coming will end.

Then it says that sin will be finished and perversion will be atoned. Jesus’ final words were “It is finished,” and indeed it was. The price of sin was paid and the power of sin forever broken. On this side of the Cross, of course we know that what He provided was the ultimate atonement or covering of our twistedness. One of the things we should note is that, based on this prophecy, and even this specific verse, the Jewish people should have known the purpose of the Messiah’s coming would be first and foremost spiritual. In a large part,, they did not recognize Him precisely because they were looking for a military leader to free them from Rome, rather than a Savior to free them from sin.

This is just one more place where we see the importance of studying our Bibles and then simply letting it say what it says. In nearly fifty years of studying, I have found the Bible remarkably simple and straightforward to understand – if we simply let it say what it says. This particular passage of Daniel 9:24-27 has been subjected to the most awful hermeneutical gymnastics of perhaps any passage in the Bible. There are almost as many opinions of what it means as there are people writing about it. Yet it says what it says.

To me, the variety of interpretations arise primarily because people do the things like allowing it all to morph into something to do with the Church, when it specifically says it concerns the Jewish people. Just to make that one simple error then spawns an incredible array of opinions. Had the Jews been careful to simply “let it say what it says,” they would have been forced to acknowledge they ought to be looking for a Messiah who would first of all somehow deal with the sin issue itself. If you and I would benefit from prophecy, we should be determined to do the same – whether we understand it or not. It says what it says.

Of course, having dealt decisively with the sin problem, what Jesus does is to “bring in everlasting righteousness.” Hallelujah! No more sin! No more curse. No more death or pain or sorrow! Like probably everyone else, my own life is practically tormented by all the deadlines and projects and phone calls I need to return and saving for retirement and schedules for this and for that and on and on and on and on, but the real truth is the most important thing that needs to happen is to bring in everlasting righteousness. Daniel was told exactly that will happen.

He is then told that the Seventy Weeks will “seal up vision and prophecy.” He is a prophet. What he’s dealing with is prophecy. Yet the day will come, he is assured, when it will all be fulfilled! Here we are living in a world where we have good reason to fear the future. We have the Lord’s promises and prophecies to assure us, in the end, that all will be well. However, the day will come when there is no more prophecy. There is no need for prophecy. We will have nothing to fear and only the wonderful prospect of forever in a world of perfect peace!

The last thing it says the Weeks will serve to do is to “anoint the Holy of Holies.” Once again, people come up with seemingly a million different understandings of exactly what this is referring to. One of the most common is to make it refer to Jesus Himself, that He is the Holy of Holies. However, once again, what it says is simply “holy of holies.” I would note that nowhere in the entire Bible is Jesus ever called the “Holy of Holies.” He certainly is that, but would anyone disagree that the most obvious, straightforward understanding (and most common reference in the Bible) would be to the central portion of the Temple, the home of the Ark of the Covenant and the overshadowing Cherubim?

Ezekiel prophesies (chapters 40-44) that somehow there will be a final Temple built and I would see no reason not to apply our verse to that “Holy of Holies.” As far as what the Bible itself says, that would be the most obvious implication of the words before us. I will admit I totally do not understand why there would need to be a new Temple or priests or a sacrificial system, but, once again, it says what it says. There will be. Ezekiel says so and here I believe Gabriel is referring to it. I am personally content to leave it at that.

Obviously, when Daniel was given this prophecy, he didn’t enjoy the advantage we have. We look back on Jesus and the Cross and so much of what this verse means would seem obvious to us. Yet much of it is still future for us too, so what we can share with Daniel is back to our praise. Our good God would have us assured that our biggest problem – sin – will in fact finally be dealt with. In spite of the incredible wickedness we seem to swim in here, our world will not always be this awful ball of lies and oppression and injustice. We will see the day when none other than Jesus Himself will “bring in everlasting righteousness.” Our good God sent His angel to tell us so!