Daniel's 70th Week
Daniel's
70th week is perhaps one of the most misunderstood prophecies in Scripture. Our
contention is that verses 24 - 27 of the 9th chapter have been fulfilled in
Jesus. These verses are in fact a specific Messianic prophecy given in person
by Gabriel to Daniel.
Dan. 9:24-27 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. (25) 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. (26) 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. (27) 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.
It
should be no problem to see that Jesus fulfilled each part of the prophecy in
verse 24. They can all be summed up in His words on the cross, "It is finished."
Verse
25 states when the 70 weeks shall begin. Verse 26 states that AFTER the full 69
weeks, "shall Messiah be cut
off." It does not say at the end of the 69 weeks but after.
"After" is somewhere during the 70th week. In verse 27 we are told it
is in the "midst of the week" for it is through His own sacrifice
that the daily sacrifice comes to an end.
Who
is it that "shall confirm the
covenant with many for one week?" This is the essential point of the
whole prophecy. Could it be the "prince" spoken of in verse 26?
Absolutely not! The major translations have essentially the same translation
for verses 26 and 27.
There
are three important tools to aid in the study of God's Word. They are a good
concordance, a dictionary and a basic understanding of the grammatical rules
governing the English language.
In Dan. 9:27 "He (Jesus) shall
confirm (strengthen) the covenant." "He (Jesus) shall cause the
sacrifice and oblation to cease." He (Jesus) shall make it desolate." It is the
He, the Messiah of verse 26 that shall do these things.
It
is a simple matter of grammar by which we can determine who the "he"
of verse 27 is. Verse 26 speaks of 1) the Messiah (singular) and 2) the people
(plural) of the prince. The "he" of verse 27 is not plural so cannot
be speaking of the "people of the prince." "Of the prince"
is a prepositional phrase of which the "prince" is the object. The
antecedent of the pronoun "he" in verse 27 cannot be the
"prince" for it is the object of the prepositional phrase which acts
as an adjective describing the "people."
Verse
26 has only two personal nouns to which the "he" of verse 27 can
reference. The "Messiah" and the "people". They are both
subjects within that lengthy sentence. The "prince" is the object in
the prepositional phrase which describes the people. The phrase acts as an
adjective. Nouns within the phrase cannot be the subject of a sentence. The
pronoun "he" in verse 27 can either be the "Messiah" or the
"people." Since it is singular it must be the "Messiah."
If
your understanding of end times includes a 7 year Tribulation, an anti-christ
who makes a covenant of peace for one week and a rebuilt Temple wherein the same anti-christ breaks
the covenant please study the previous explanation carefully.
We
would recommend reading the following article on how long the Great Tribulation
is going to be as found in Scripture, The 1260
Days of Great Tribulation, and the article, Nisan 10,
explaining the Scriptural patterns showing that indeed the Bride of Christ, the
Firstfruits, will be called on that special day.