Daniel's 70 Weeks
Daniel’s 70th Week
We left off our study of Daniel’s 70 Weeks last month, after
calculating that the time period between Artaxerxes’s commandment to rebuild
Jerusalem on March 14, 445 BC, to Jesus’s Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem as
“King of the Jews” on April 6, 32 AD, is exactly 483 years (69 weeks of years)
to the exact date! Therefore, we can see that 69 “weeks” have already been
fulfilled, just as the archangel Gabriel described them to Daniel, and there
remains one more “week” (7 years) to Daniel’s “70 Weeks” prophecy.
It is
interesting to note that Gabriel described to Daniel the first 69 weeks of the
prophecy in Daniel 9:25, then he summarized that the Messiah will be “cut off”
in verse 26, leaving a gap between his explanation of the first 69 weeks and
the last 70th week described in verse 27. There is, in fact, a
timeline gap between the 69th week, when Jesus enters Jerusalem as
King of the Jews, and the 70th week, the seven-year tribulation
period (also known as “Jacob’s Trouble” in Jeremiah 30:7), when the antichrist
will make a covenant with Israel, but he will break that covenant in the “midst
of the week” (three and a-half years), verse 27. Gabriel told Daniel,
“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” Daniel 9:26.
The crucifixion of Jesus is summarized
after Gabriel’s explanation of the first 69 weeks, which did occur after
Jesus’s Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem. Then Gabriel goes on to describe the 70th
and final week,
“And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week and
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 until the consummation and that determined shall be poured upon the
desolate” Daniel 9:27.
Here, Gabriel describes how the antichrist will “confirm
the covenant with many for one week,” seven years. This could have been
a vague prophecy, but we are not left bewildered, for Gabriel appeared to
Daniel again, and throughout the remaining chapters of the Book of Daniel, he
went on to describe in greater detail the revelations given to him,
“Now I am
come to make you understand what shall befall thy people in the latter days;
for yet the vision is for many days” Daniel 10:14.
Gabriel is about to
explain to Daniel things that would occur in the latter days, which describe our
generation, as they are lined up with other prophecies concerning the last
days. At the beginning of Daniel chapter 10, we see Daniel mourning before the
Lord,
“In those days, I Daniel was mourning three full weeks. I ate no pleasant
bread, neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth, neither did I anoint myself at
all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled. And in the four and twentieth day
of the first month, as I was by the side of the great river, which is Hiddekel,
then I lifted up my eyes and looked and, behold, a certain man clothed in
linen, whose loins were girded with fine gold of Uphaz” Daniel 10:2-5.
I must
pause here briefly to relish what is happening in Daniel and what tremendous
blessings are being poured out on him at the time of this visitation. Daniel
has already been visited by the archangel Gabriel and a prophetic mystery has
been revealed to him, which is profound, because during that visit, Gabriel
revealed to Daniel, in summary, everything that would happen from Artaxerxes’s
decree, which would happen shortly, all the way through history to the seven-year
tribulation - the end of time. Daniel received revelation from his day, to the
end of time, but he didn’t stop seeking God.
Daniel was given a profound
prophecy by the archangel Gabriel, yet he humbled himself further and mourned
for three weeks. In our day, the prophet might contact the nearest scribe and
set up a contract to write a book and sell recordings of the event, so on and
so forth. The prophet would, no doubt, become very rich.
Yet, here is Daniel,
having received so much, but he is back before God mourning for three
weeks, mourning for three weeks and fasting.
Where are our hearts
today, friends? Are our hearts for seeking God, or are they pondering the next
big purchase, etc.
Space has run out, so more on the 70th and final
week next month. Until then, let’s seek God with our whole hearts, because when
we do, God will begin to do great and mighty things in us.
May the Lord bless you and yours at Christmas and throughout the New Year.
In : Prophecy
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