Hello everyone. 🙂
Today’s blog post is about the 70-week prophecy. It is my prayer that the knowledge contained in this blog post will bring joy to those who read it. God loves us all so much.
“Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.
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: 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 9:24-27 (KJV)
To start off, I would like to talk about how to understand the measures of time mentioned in these verses. In Bible prophecy, one day= one year. Ezekiel 4:6; Numbers 14:34 Please keep this in mind as we continue on in this study.
Having shared this, let’s go into the study for today.
“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.” Daniel 9:25 (KJV)
Three different kings gave decrees for the rebuilding of Jerusalem: King Cyrus, King Darius and King Artaxerxes. King Cyrus issued the first command to rebuild Jerusalem. God had foretold before Cyrus was born, that the king would issue this command. Isaiah 44:26-28 You can read the proclamation that King Cyrus himself gave here in Ezra 1:1-7. After enemies of the Jews halted their work in rebuilding the temple in Jerusalem, the Jews petitioned King Darius to issue another decree that would allow them to continue (Ezra 4:1,4-6,11-23; 5:1-17; 6:1-15) In 457 B.C., King Artaxerxes issued the third and final decree which allowed the Jews to rebuild the temple Jerusalem. Ezra 7:11-26 (KJV)
7 weeks+ 60 weeks+ 2 weeks=69 weeks. There are 483 days in 69 weeks (69 times 7=483). Since a day = one year in Bible prophecy, we can see that there are 483 years between the time of King Artaxerxes’ decree and the coming of “Messiah the Prince”.
Daniel 9:25 tells us that there would be “…seven weeks and three score and two weeks from the time of the rebuilding of Jerusalem unto Messiah the Prince…” We have already established that a day= one year in Bible prophecy. Now we need to find out what “threescore” is. According to Merriam Webster’s Dictionary, three score means “being three times twenty: SIXTY”. Now that we know this, let us apply the day for a year principle and calculate the number of years between the time of King Artaxerxes decree to rebuild Jerusalem and the coming of “Messiah the Prince” Daniel 9:25.
Now, let us find out who “Messiah the Prince” is.
“The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things.
Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he.” John 4: 25-26 (KJV)
Jesus is the Messiah! According to the Strong’s Concordance, the word Messiah means “anointed; usually a consecrated person (as a king, priest or saint); spec. the Messiah; anointed, Messiah”. (4899 in the Strong’s Concordance)
Note: “Messias” is the Greek version of “Messiah”. (3323 in the Strong’s Concordance)
When Jesus gave His first recorded sermon, He quoted a Messianic prophecy about Himself from Isaiah 61. This prophecy stated that the Spirit of the Lord had anointed Him to do a special work. (Luke 4:18-19; Isaiah 61:1-2) Jesus was also anointed by the Holy Spirit at His baptism. (Luke 3:21-22)
Now that we have established that Jesus is the Messiah, the anointed One, let us proceed with our study of this prophecy.
The next question that we need to answer is the following: when exactly did Jesus come?
“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.” Daniel 9:25 (KJV)
We have determined that the final decree for the rebuilding of Jerusalem was decreed by Artaxerxes in 457 B.C. Daniel 9:25 tells us that there would be “seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks” between the time of this decree and the coming of the Messiah. Once again, 7 weeks+ 60 weeks+ 2 weeks=69 weeks. There are 483 days in 69 weeks (69 times 7=483). Since a day = one year in Bible prophecy, we can see that there are 483 years between the time of King Artaxerxes’ decree and the coming of “Messiah the Prince”.
So, now we must do our calculation. 483-457=26. Since there is no 0 year when moving from B.C to A.D., we must add one year to this calculation, which takes us at 27 AD. Well, what happened in 27 A.D.?
Luke 3 discusses the ministry of John the Baptist, and it gives the account of John baptizing Jesus (verses 21-22).In this same chapter (Luke 3), we see that John was preaching and baptizing “in the fifteenth year of Tiberias Caesar”, which was 27 AD.
Note: To prove that it was indeed John the Baptist who baptized Jesus, please visit Matthew 3:13-17 )
Now, what is the rest of this amazing Messianic prophecy?
“And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself…
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 9:26-27 (KJV)
Since there are a total of 70 weeks in the prophecy, we must now calculate how many of these weeks have passed by the time that the Messiah is to be “cut off”. Daniel 9:26 (KJV) If we look back at Daniel 9:25, which mentions “seven weeks and threescore and two weeks, we must understand that seven weeks (seven weeks=49 years) must have already passed. In addition to these seven weeks “threescore and two weeks” (62 weeks=483 years), mentioned in Daniel 9:26 have also passed. 7 weeks + 62 weeks equals 69 weeks. 69 weeks=483 days, which = 483 years in Bible prophecy. Now, we only have 1 week left in order to total the 70 weeks in this prophecy.
1 week is, of course, 7 days. In Bible prophecy, 7 days=7 years. Knowing this, let us continue on with this study.
“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 (KJV)
“In the midst” of 1 week (7 days=7 years in Bible prophecy) would take us to 3 1/2 years. If we count 3 1/2 years from 27 A.D, the year when Jesus was baptized, we come to 31 A.D, the year of Jesus’ death. When Jesus died for our sins, He was “cut off, but not for himself…” Daniel 9:26 (KJV)
Indeed, the book of Isaiah uses this same language when prophesying Jesus’ death.
“…for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.” Isaiah 53:8 (KJV)
Jesus’ sacrifice for us was a momentous occasion. Jesus “confirmed the covenant” (Daniel 9:27) that He had made with humanity. In Genesis 3:15, God promised the first human beings, Adam and Eve, that He would come and bruise the serpent’s (Satan’s) head. Jesus did this when He declared God’s official victory over Satan and sin by His death on the cross.
When Jesus’ died, He also literally fulfilled what the ceremonies in the Old Testament sanctuary erected under Moses’ leadership, and the Jewish temples constructed thereafter had pointed to.
“Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.
And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent…” Matthew 27:50-51 (KJV)
The veil was ripped in order to signify that the temple services were no longer needed. The sacrifices had pointed to Jesus, the priests, and especially the High Priests, had pointed to Jesus, and every ceremony in the sacrificial system had pointed to God’s plan to save humanity from sin. Hebrews 10:1-20 (KJV)
Note: If you would like to learn more about the sanctuary and the sacrificial system, here are some resources that you can check out. The first two are free resources and the last one is a study that you can purchase. I will not gain anything financially if you choose to do so.
- God Drew the Plans
- Secrets of the Sanctuary
- A Divine Design: The Jewish Temple in History, Prophecy, and Your Life by Amazing Facts (copied and pasted from this blog-post)
Now, let us move on and discuss what happened during the remaining 3 1/2 days (3 1/2 years) of this prophecy. Besides Jesus’ death confirming the covenant that He had made with us, He gave the nation of Israel (corporately), a final chance to accept Him as Messiah. In 34 A.D., 3 1/2 years after Jesus’ death, a godly man named Stephen was moved by the Holy Spirit to bring to the attention of the Jewish leaders what they had done to Jesus. The response was anger, hatred, and murder, instead of guilt, sorrow, and repentance (This story is found in Acts 6:8– Acts 7:30). The stoning of Stephen marked the end of the time when the literal nation of Israel was God’s chosen group of people on earth. However, God still gives salvation to everyone-Jews included. He is no respecter of persons. (Romans 2:11)
“For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” Galations 3:27-29 (KJV)
God’s Word is true. What He says will happen happens. I hope that this blog post has been a blessing to you, and I hope that you will stay tuned for upcoming blog posts on Bible prophecy. Next week’s blog post will not be about Bible prophecy, but the following week’s blog post will be.
Blessings. 🙂
Learn and Grow 4ever 