DANIEL 9: EXACT PROPHECY
Daniel gave one of the most amazing time prophecies in the whole Bible in Daniel 9, in which the very year of Christ’s crucifixion and when He became Messiah were prophesied. He didn’t actually become Messiah until He was crucified; technically He was not Savior of the world until He died. He died in 30 AD, according to our calendar. It’s important to remember the dates and years, because as you’ll see, it works out exactly as the Lord prophesied through Daniel, to the very year of His death.
But first of all, the Lord said that there were going to be 70 sevens of years (Daniel 9:24). The Bible translates it “weeks” because they use the same word for “seven” as for “week.” But in this case it should have been translated “sevens”—70 sevens, not 70 weeks. The Bible says: “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.”
Seventy sevens of years, 490 years, “are determined upon thy people and thy holy city.” In other words, He’s talking about the Jews, and their holy city, Jerusalem. He said they’re going to have 70 sevens or 490 years of history to finish the transgression, make an end of sins, and make reconciliation for iniquity. Jesus did that when He died on the cross.
“And to bring in everlasting righteousness.” Now you can say that started with Jesus’ death on the cross, but it goes quite a bit beyond that. We don’t really enjoy worldwide righteousness today, do we? Only Christians, only those who love Jesus have inherited His righteousness, and there’s still plenty of iniquity in the world. Everlasting righteousness is only going to come into the world in full, completely, as far as Christ’s kingdom is concerned, when Jesus comes back.
He says, “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” (v. 25). Threescore and two is 62.
From the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince, or Jesus, shall be first of all seven sevens, or 49. And threescore and two is 62 sevens. Why did he divide it up like that? Because the seven sevens or the 49 years are talking about “The street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.”
It took them 49 years to rebuild Jerusalem and the wall, seven sevens. Then after that, it will be 62 sevens, or 434. That’s a total of 483 years. First of all, there would be seven sevens, 49 years, which was the time it took to rebuild the city and the wall. Then there would be 62 more: “And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself” (v. 26). The Messiah is Jesus, and He was going to be cut off, “but not for Himself.” He died on the cross, but not for Himself. For us!
From the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince would be first of all seven sevens, that was to build the city and the wall, and then 62 more sevens. First we have to find out when the commandment was issued and by whom, that the Jews should go home and rebuild the city and the wall. Not the temple—that was given earlier—but the city and the wall. The commandment to rebuild the temple was under Ezra, but the commandment to go home and build the city and the wall was under Nehemiah. The king who sent Nehemiah home to rebuild the city was Artaxerxes. He was still powerful and ruling and reigning, and he sent Nehemiah to rebuild Jerusalem and the wall. It took him exactly 49 years to do it.
Then after that, it was to be 62 sevens, 434 years, or a total of 483 years until Jesus was to be crucified. A total of 483 years from the time this king issued a proclamation to rebuild the city of Jerusalem. The date when he made that proclamation was 453 BC. From 454 BC to AD 30 is 483 years, and that’s a prophecy giving the exact length of time from the issuing of the edict to go and rebuild the city to the time of Christ, when He was crucified.
Jesus said, “It’s not for you to know the times or the seasons, and of that hour knows no man but My Father” (Acts 1:7; Matthew 24:36). But if He didn’t want us to know something about the times and seasons, why did He give us so many signs of the times? We may not know the day or the hour when Jesus is coming, but if we know exactly when the Antichrist takes over, then we will know the week or month when Jesus is coming.
What happened to the 70th week of Daniel, or the 70th seven years? I know the Lord told Daniel to close up the book and seal up the prophecy until the end, but now we’re supposed to open the book, break the seals, and read it and understand it. It’s been almost 2,500 years that the book of Daniel has been virtually a sealed book, Revelation virtually a sealed book, until just within about the past 150 years. Since about the middle of the 19th century, men have begun to open the book, break the seals, and understand the prophecies—what Daniel was saying and what John was saying in Revelation, and what Ezekiel, Jeremiah, and Isaiah were saying.
We’re in the 26th verse, continuing after Jesus’ death, “the Messiah cut off, but not for Himself.” That was obviously the crucifixion of Jesus. “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.”
He says, “the people of the prince that shall come.” That’s not Prince Jesus, because Jesus has already been crucified—this is talking about another prince that shall come and “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.”
You can consider that the Roman general Titus in a way was a forerunner, a prototype, but the final fulfillment is going to come in the 27th verse. Who is this prince that shall come? The Antichrist. “He shall confirm the covenant with many for one week” (v. 27). One seven, which means seven years. We find out later that he makes this covenant between himself and not only the Jews but also other religions that have to do with Jerusalem. It would have to be a covenant with three religions, with the Christians, the Muslims, and the Jews.
It has to be a covenant to restore worship, the rebuilding of the Jewish temple, and the restoration of sacrificial worship on the altar in front of the temple. He is going to allow the Jews to rebuild the temple, to restore the sacrificial worship, and to seem to have religious freedom again for 3½ years.
The 70th week begins with the covenant with the Jews and Christians and Muslims, that Jerusalem shall be a holy city and they can restore their sanctuaries and their worship. He’s going to give everybody religious freedom, and he brags about all he’s going to do for them. He does this to get their cooperation to make him the world dictator. So when he confirms the covenant, that starts the Antichrist kingdom.
Now whether it will be public when he does this, we don’t know. There have been lots of secret treaties in history. In fact, we didn’t find out until after World War II when the winners began to divvy up the spoils and the countries what secret promises and treaties had been made with Russia. First by Roosevelt at Yalta with Stalin, then by Truman at Potsdam also with Stalin. They divided up the world between the Allies and Russia should they win the war.
It may be a secret treaty or agreement by the Antichrist, and if so, it’ll be the smartest piece of politicking and diplomacy ever engineered! Anybody that settles the fights between the Israelis and the Arabs and the Christians and the Muslims and makes them come to an agreement is a genius, a superman, and that’s who it’ll be, the Antichrist. It’s called a holy covenant because it has to do with religion.
He internationalizes the city of Jerusalem. He makes that his capital. He sets his palace in it, and it becomes his city, the head of his world government. In order to get in firm control and power, he promises to internationalize the city of Jerusalem so that they will have religious freedom there and religious rights of worship and be able to restore their various temples and sanctuaries and churches, and all be able to have free access to Jerusalem. Like Rome in the time of the Roman Empire, of which he’s a fulfillment in a way, in which every Roman citizen throughout the empire, regardless of his nationality or his country, could travel freely from country to country and come to Rome as his capital city.
But in the middle of the seven years, he causes the sacrifice and the oblation to cease. At the end of 3½ years he breaks the covenant: “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.” There’s going to be nothing but trouble from then on; it’s going to be an “overspreading of abominations.” That’s virtually the same term used in the “abomination of desolation” (Matthew 24:15).
After the Antichrist breaks the covenant, there are going to be 3½ years of Great Tribulation: desolations and wars and overspreading of abominations. He puts an image of himself in the holy place, in the temple, and from what we read in Revelation, it will have the power to speak (Revelation 13:15).
This last half of the seven years is the Great Tribulation; the first half is world peace. He makes the covenant as a world peace treaty, and everything is going fine; he’s restoring the world and he’s bringing world peace, until he’s finally got everything firmly in his grip. At the end of 3½ years he breaks the covenant, and Jesus said that he would then place the Abomination of Desolation in the holy place (Matthew 24:15). We find out that that’s an image of himself in Revelation 13.
In Matthew 24, Jesus says he’ll place it in the holy place, and Jesus predicts that will begin the Great Tribulation, and that it will last until He comes (Matthew 24:15, 21, 29–31). During this time, people are going to be branded with the Mark of the Beast. They’re not going to be allowed to worship God or worship anybody but the Antichrist. The Antichrist won’t want anybody to worship anybody but himself; he wants to be God! He’s going to be the Antichrist. This word does not mean just against Christ, but in place of Christ. He wants himself to be the Messiah and be worshipped like Jesus and be the world king like Jesus is going to be.
There’s the whole outline of history from the time of Daniel through the time of Christ, down to the very end. Verse 27: “Even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.” The Antichrist is going to be desolate; he’s been the desolator, and the Wrath of God is going to be poured out. The angel stands with one foot on the land and one foot on the sea and says, “Time shall be no more” (Revelation 10:5–6). Hallelujah!
I can promise you we’re going to know when Jesus is coming just as much as they should have known exactly when Jesus was going to come and be crucified 483 years before it happened. We’re going to at least know the year. Here’s a definite year, date, time prophecy with a specific length of time. The whole seven years is the reign of the Antichrist, starting at the signing of the covenant, when they internationalize Jerusalem. But in the middle of the week, the covenant is broken, the Abomination of Desolation is set up, and the Great Tribulation begins.
You may not know exactly when this covenant is made, because that would be big news when they finally settle this fracas between the Israelis and the Arabs and the dispute over Jerusalem. But when this Abomination of Desolation is set up, you’re going to know not only the exact length of the Tribulation, but the date of the coming of Jesus Christ! You are going to know at least 3½ years ahead of time.
Jesus said, “Of that day and that hour knows no man, only My Father in heaven.” He didn’t say we wouldn’t know the week, month, or certainly the year! But I believe we’re going to know the week, almost the day and the hour, figuring exactly 3½ years from when Jesus said “when ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation stand in the holy place, flee to the mountains” (Matthew 24:15–16).
Here are two of the most exact time prophecies in the Bible, one about the First Coming of Christ and one about the Second Coming of Christ. The two most specific prophecies in the Bible are about Jesus’ First and Second Coming. Isn’t that wonderful? Maybe that’s why the old woman Anna and the old prophet Simeon were in the temple, because they knew it was getting to be near the time of the Messiah. He’d have to be born pretty soon if He was going to be crucified in 30 AD. The old woman prophesied when she saw Him and dear old Simeon took Him in his arms and said, “Let now Thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation” (Luke 2:28–30).
When you see Jesus coming down from the sky, you’re going to either be still alive and pop up from where you are or pop out of your grave—and you’re going to say, “Let thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes are beholding the glory of God!” Hallelujah!
Copyright © January 1981 by the Family International
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