Daniel’s Seventy Weeks and the Glorious Work of Messiah Jesus

I find this view unconvincing as well.

View 4. The seventy sevens are literal years that end with Christ’s second coming but also include his first coming. And there is an important prophetic gap between the sixty-ninth and seventieth week. The first sixty-nine weeks are now past. The climactic seventieth week is still future. Stephen Miller lays this scenario out, and his view is the one I find the most convincing overall.

The first seven sevens (forty-nine years) commence with a command to rebuild Jerusalem (either the decree to Ezra in 458 B.C. or the decree to Nehemiah in 445 B.C.) and terminate with the completion of the work of Ezra and Nehemiah about forty-nine years later (either ca. 409 B.C. or ca. 396 B.C.). The next sixty-two sevens (434 years) extend from the end of the first group of sevens to Christ’s first coming (either his baptism in ca. A.D. 26 or Christ’s presentation of himself to the people as Messiah on Palm Sunday in A.D. 32/33). (Daniel, 257)

The seventieth week is separated in time from the sixty-nine. Daniel 9:26b-27 looks both to the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 and the coming of the antichrist at the end of the age. Titus, the Roman general, is a forerunner and type of the antichrist. The destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 foreshadows an end-time persecution that will exceed anything the world has ever known. I believe this is the understanding of Jesus according to his teaching in the Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24 (note especially vv. 15-28).

Let’s walk through these four verses humbly and carefully. I will note what we can be more sure of. And I will again remind us that we should tread softly where angels fear to go.

Gabriel tells Daniel, “Seventy sevens” (the literal rendering) “are decreed about your people [Israel] and your holy city [Jerusalem].” Robert Fyall notes,

Behind all biblical uses of seven lie the seven days of creation. Thus the return from Exile is not simply a new Exodus, but a new creation and thus foreshadows the end time. (Daniel, 142)

During the seventy sevens, six things will occur:

Anyone with even limited knowledge and understanding of the Bible and the Christian faith could read this and immediately respond, “This is talking about Jesus and what he did for us.” During the seventy weeks, sin is dealt with once and for all by means of atonement when “an Anointed One, the ruler” is cut off, crucified after sixty-nine weeks (vv. 25-26). His atoning sacrifice is God’s final word and will usher in everlasting righteousness through the anointing of the most holy place—perhaps a future temple like that described in Ezekiel 40–48, or possibly the Holy One Jesus who constitutes a new temple himself and in his body, the church (John 2:18-21; 1 Cor 3:16; Eph 2:19-21). Regardless, sin is coming to an end! The anointed ruler and his work of atonement will see to it.

Daniel 9:25-27 focuses on three events that take place during the 490 years: The first is the rebuilding of Jerusalem (v. 25) during the first seven weeks, or forty-nine years. The second is the coming and death of Messiah (v. 26) during the seven plus sixty-two weeks, or 483 years. And the third is the persecution by the antichrist (the coming ruler of the people) and his defeat (v. 27) in the final or seventieth week.

In verse 25 Daniel is told to know and understand that “from the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a prince, there shall be seven weeks” (ESV; i.e., forty-nine years).

This “going out of the word” or “issuing of the decree” is probably a reference to the decree of Artaxerxes I to Ezra in 458 BC or a second decree of Artaxerxes I to Nehemiah in 445/444 BC. Though dogmatism is unwarranted, I favor the 458 BC date as the correct beginning point for the seventy sevens. The temple, city, and walls would be rebuilt, but troubles would accompany the rebuilding every step of the way—especially during the first forty-nine years as the book of Nehemiah makes clear.

Verse 26 then informs us that after the sixty-two weeks (plus the prior seven, equaling sixty-nine weeks, or 483 years), the anointed ruler, the Messiah, “will be cut off and will have nothing.” If 458 BC is correct, 483 years brings us to ca. AD 26–27—the time of Christ and the beginning of his public ministry. This is a remarkable prediction and fulfillment. What amazing accuracy!

Then, sometime after the sixty-ninth week, probably a short time, Messiah is cut off and left with nothing (9:26a). He is put to death and appears to be “cut off from the land of the living” (Isa 53:8). James Boice summarizes well our text at this point:

By whatever set of calculations one makes, the point is that by the end of the sixty-nine weeks of years [or shortly after] the great work of the atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ for sin should be completed. (Daniel, 101)

Messiah has been rejected. Judgment follows from what Gabriel calls “the people of the coming ruler.” I believe the Romans and General Titus were typical of this prophecy in the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in AD 70. The end of Israel indeed was like a flood, and it was a tragic and horrible war. Indeed, “desolations are decreed” (9:26b). But this is not the end. There is a common prophetic gap between the sixty-ninth and seventieth week. Robert Gundry says it well:

The possibility of gap between the sixty-ninth and the seventieth weeks is established by the well accepted Old Testament phenomenon of prophetic perspective, in which gaps such as that between the first and second advents were not perceived. (The Church and the Tribulation, 190)

This fits with the biblical narrative, in which Messiah is cut off at or shortly after the end of the sixty-ninth week, and Jerusalem and the temple are destroyed after the sixty-ninth week but before the seventieth week.

Verse 27 deals with the seventieth week, the last seven years of history prior to the coming of God’s kingdom in its full and glorious manifestation. It begins when he, the ruler of Verse 26, makes “a firm covenant with many for one week” (v. 27). Typified by Titus, this is the antichrist, the little horn of Daniel 7:8. He is a deceiver and persecutor of God’s people. The antichrist, or the coming ruler, makes this “firm covenant” with many. This is probably a reference to the Jewish people (though some identify this group more specifically as either unbelieving Jews or even true believers). At the midpoint of the time period (three and a half years), he apparently breaks the covenant and puts an end to sacrifice and offering. Worship of the true God, or anyone other than him, is outlawed and forbidden (see Rev 13). The phrase “And the abomination of desolation will be on a wing of the temple” most likely speaks of the spreading of abominations in the context of idolatry. This will continue but not forever. It will continue “until the decreed destruction is poured out on the desolator”—until God stops it and in the process pours out his judgment and wrath on the antichrist. Stephen Miller, quoting from the NIV, handles these difficult verses as well as anyone:

Antichrist’s incredible atrocities against his fellow human beings and his attacks upon God himself (cf. 7:21-25) will include even the idolatrous claim that he is deity with an attempt at forced worship of himself (cf. 2 Thess. 2:4; Rev. 13:8, 14-17).

“One who causes desolation” (similar to NASB) refers to Antichrist, who will forbid worship and thereby make the temple area desolate (empty). Rather than being an object that desolates in this context, it appears to be the Antichrist himself who desolates. This person’s terrible atrocities (“abominations”) and the fact he causes the temple to be desolate (because of religious persecution) results in the judgment announced in the latter part of the verse.

This will be a terrible period in the world’s history, but the Lord has “decreed” that these atrocities will not continue forever. Antichrist’s wickedness will last only “until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.” “Poured out” picturesquely describes the flood of judgment that will overtake the Antichrist (cf. 7:9-11, 26; 2 Thess. 2:8; Rev. 19:19-21). “On him” is literally “on the desolating one” (“desolator,” NRSV; Heb. šo¯me¯n), a reference to Antichrist, which will cause the temple to become desolate. (Daniel, 273)

Dale Davis succinctly adds,

A final ruler then exalts himself, imposes his authority, forbids true worship, instigates idolatrous worship and runs into the meat-grinder of God’s decree. Predetermined. On target. Certain. (The Message of Daniel, 137–38)

Daniel sees from Jeremiah that exile will last seventy years. Therefore, he prays a prayer of repentance and confession to ready the people for a return home, and he pleads with God to act mercifully for his glory in rescuing his people from their sin and exile (9:1-19). God answers Daniel by sending Gabriel to give a prophetic revelation. Gabriel tells Daniel that exile will actually last seventy times seven years, or four hundred ninety years, and exile will not end until the Messiah comes and is crucified—that is when sin will finally be dealt with and righteousness will be brought in. After that, in the final “week” of human history, the antichrist will come, bringing in the great tribulation and desecrating the holy city. But he will be defeated as Daniel 7 and 9 prophesy. There is an already/not-yet reality in this prophecy. There is significant mystery, but there are also divine certainties we can all agree on.

H. C. Leupold calls Daniel 9 “the divine program for the ages” (Exposition of Daniel, 406). On that he is correct because it points to and revolves all around the anointed ruler, Messiah Jesus. The text predicts the coming of the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth, who will abolish sin and establish everlasting righteousness by being “cut off,” executed on a Roman cross. And he will come exactly when God promised he would in one of the most amazing prophecies in the whole Bible. Following his death, the city of Jerusalem and the temple will be destroyed, which it was in AD 70 under the Roman general Titus. As Jesus taught in the Olivet Discourse of Matthew 24, this tragic event anticipates and typifies the end of this present evil age and the arrival of a coming ruler, the antichrist. He will persecute God’s people and devastate God’s land, but his end will come like a flood when the anointed ruler returns and destroys him. All who long for and love the anointed ruler, King Jesus, will experience in all its fullness the salvation blessings of 9:24. Until then, we work and we wait. We serve and we hope. The plan is in place. The clock is ticking. The anointed ruler is on the way!