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.