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70 weeks - book of Daniel
Almost all eschatology teachers, both true and false teachers will refer to the 70 weeks as mentioned in the book of Daniel. Right and wrong interpretation arise from right and wrong understanding of the 70 weeks.
In Dan 9:24 The angel Gabriel approaches Daniel in the latter half of the 9th chapter after Daniel prays for Israel. Gabriel mentions “seventy sevens” or "seventy periods of seven" (in some translations) will take place before God will put an end to sin and bring everlasting righteousness.
Dan 9:24 "Seventy weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place."
The A-Day-For-A-Year Principle
In order to understand this prophecy one must recognize the day-for-a-year principle. Critical to this understanding are these two texts: Numbers 14:34; and Ezekiel 4:6.
Num 14:34 According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, forty days, a year for each day, you shall bear your iniquity forty years, and you shall know my displeasure.
Eze 4:6 And when you have completed these, you shall lie down a second time, but on your right side, and bear the punishment of the house of Judah. Forty days I assign you, a day for each year.
Scholars agree that the sevens appears to mean years. Therefore, 70 X 7 = 490 years. Although Christians typically refer to the period of God bringing everlasting righteousness as 70 weeks, they really mean 70 X 7 years.
The 3 Parts of 70 weeks
The book of Daniel breaks down the 70 weeks (or 490 years) into 3 parts from verse 25 to 27.
1st Part = 7 weeks or 49 years
- 49 years (7 X 7): The time it takes to rebuild Jerusalem since the time the Babylonians had destroyed it (Daniel 9:25), which occurs in the Book of Nehemiah.
Dan 9:25 Know therefore 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. Then for sixty-two weeks it shall be built again with squares and moat, but in a troubled time.
2nd Part = 62 weeks or 434 years
- 434 years (62 X 7): A time designated for waiting for the Anointed One to come (Daniel 9:26). The Anointed One mean Jesus, here.
Dan 9:26 And after the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing. And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed.
3rd Part = 1 week or 7 years
- 7 years (1 X 7): As recorded in Daniel 9:27. The 1st half of the 7 years i.e. the three and half years, deals with the ministry of Jesus until His death at the cross. After the death and sacrificial "Lamb of God" at the cross, the Temple sacrifices were no longer applicable. The 2nd half of the 7 years i.e. the second part of the three and half years, deals with the spreading of the kingdom of God to the whole inhabited world of the apostles.
Dan 9:27 And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator.
Matthew 24 in relation to Daniel 9
We shall look into these in more details. Looking at our key text again in Matthew 24.
Mat 24:15 Therefore when you see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place (whoever reads, let him understand).
Mat 24:16 Then let those in Judea flee into the mountains.
We have already seen what is the abomination of desolation. Jesus said, when you see this in the holy place,... then take action to flee.
Q: What is the holy place to the Jews?
To the Jews, the holy place refers to their Temple and the surroundings. In fact, Jerusalem has often been called the holy city. It was the place of worship and meeting with God, because God does not meet with the Jews anywhere else.
In the Jew's historical account in the Apocrypha:
2Ma 2:18 As he promised in the law, will shortly have mercy upon us, and gather us together out of every land under heaven into the holy place: for he hath delivered us out of great troubles, and hath purified the place.
The phrase holy place here refers to city of Jerusalem, because all the people from every land under heaven cannot go into the confined hall of the Temple. Physically, it is impossible, but they can assemble within the city walls because Jerusalem was their holy land or holy place.
According to Albert Barnes Commentary on Mat 24:15 on the holy place:
[ Standing in the holy place - Mark says, "standing where it ought not,” meaning the same thing. All Jerusalem was esteemed “holy,” Mat 4:5. The meaning of this is, when you see the Roman armies standing in the holy city or encamped around the temple, or the Roman ensigns or standards in the temple. Josephus relates that when the city was taken, the Romans brought their idols into the temple, and placed them over the eastern gate, and sacrificed to them there, “Jewish Wars,” b. 6 chapter 6, section 1. ]
Jesus is warning His disciples, when you see the Abomination of Desolation in the "holy place" just like in Daniel - referring to Jerusalem and its Temple, then make haste to flee. (Matthew 24:15-16)
The Timing
Q: What did Daniel tells us about the Timing of the Abomination of Desolation?
Dan 9:25 Know therefore and understand, that from the going out of the command to restore and to build Jerusalem, to Messiah the Prince, shall be seven weeks, and sixty-two weeks. The street shall be built again, and the wall, even in times of affliction.
Dan 9:26 And after sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself. And the people of the ruler who shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. And the end of it shall be with the flood, and ruins are determined, until the end shall be war.
Dan 9:27 And he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week. And in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the offering to cease, and on a corner of the altar desolating abominations, even until the end. And that which was decreed shall be poured on the desolator.
verse 25 tells us there will be 2 periods of time. 7 weeks and 62 weeks, up to the appearance of the Messiah. Or in the Jewish's interpretation it means 49 years and 434 years. Total = 483 years.
[Note: King Artaxerxes of Persia gave command to Ezra in Ezra 7:11-26, to rebuild Jerusalem in about 457BC. Some say it's around 458BC from what we know of Artaxerxes’ reign from outside historical sources. This decree actually resulted in the rebuilding of Jerusalem under Nehemiah.
Why is this command to rebuild Jerusalem significant? It is because the Timing of the 70 weeks STARTS to tick, with the command to rebuild Jerusalem (verse 25), and Ezra and Nehemiah were instrumental to the rebuilding according to biblical history.
See:
If we add 483 years to 457BC, it gives us = 27AD, since there is no 0AD.
verse 26 tells us that after the 483 years, the Messiah (meaning Jesus) will be cut off.
Around 27AD, Jesus has already revealed himself, and was moving around Israel, and subsequently was crucified.
verse 27 tells us that Jesus will confirm the covenant for the next 7 years. Within this 7 years, that is after the three and a half years, Jesus will cease the temple sacrifices. There is no more requirement for the sacrifices, since Jesus was the Lamb of God that was sacrificed for our sins once and for all for eternity.
The 1st Half of the 70th Week
Let us have some understanding of the first three and a half years.
Jesus began His ministry at the age 30 years:
Luk 3:23 And He, Jesus, when He began His ministry, was about thirty years old.
Jesus ministry was for three and a half years as what church historians have concluded. They used many writings and extra-biblical history to confirm this. But basically by counting the number of Passover celebration as recorded, we would come to a similar three and a half years ministry of Jesus.
Also, for centuries, historians and church leaders believed that their Messiah was coming at the end of three and a half years to put an END to the Temple offerings. They understood Daniel 9:27.
v27 tells us that "sacrifices and offerings will cease ... even until the end."
Temple Sacrifices and Offerings Ended
Heb 10:11-18 The book of Hebrews particularly written to the Jews, tells us that there were sacrifices and offerings by the priests, but now no more.
Heb 10:17 He adds, "AND THEIR SINS AND OFFENCES I WILL REMEMBER NO LONGER."
Heb 10:18 But where these have been forgiven NO further offering for sin is required.
Note: NO further offering for sin is required. Period. Any further Temple sacrifices and offerings are not acceptable anymore by God, whether there is a physical Temple building or not.
Jesus put an END to the sacrificial system (Old Covenant) at the Cross. Jesus successfully confirmed and enforced His covenant (New Covenant), and put an end to the sacrificial system in the middle of the 70th week.
Now, you can understand why Matthew 24 tells the audience at that generation to read and to understand Daniel regarding the Abomination of Desolation. It gives a clear timeline of events that must take place in Jerusalem in their generation, and spoken in the language and culture that they understood.
Listen to what a prominent theologian and bible scholar Ralph Woodrow wrote about this in his book "Great Prophecies of the Bible":
[ This great prophecy pertaining to Daniel's people and the city of Jerusalem is linked with a time period of seventy "weeks." Bible students recognize that these seventy weeks or 490 days are symbolic of years—each day representing a year—that is, 490 years.
It was this same year-for-a-day principle that was used in Numbers 14:34. Because of unbelief, the Israelites were to wander for 40 years in the wilderness, a year for each day that the spies were absent searching out the land. This same scale was used in Ezekiel 4:4-6: "I have appointed thee a day for a year, a day for a year."
...From the going forth of the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem unto Messiah was to be 483 years....
Daniel's prophecy revealed that the time period unto the Messiah would be 69 weeks (483 years). This measured to the time when Jesus was baptized and anointed to begin his ministry as the Messiah, the Christ, the "Anointed One".
...HE SHALL CONFIRM THE COVENANT." When Jesus instituted the Lord's supper, representative of his shed blood for the remission of sins, he said: 'This is my blood of the new testament [covenant], which is shed for many for the remission of sins" (Mt. 26:28). The word "testament" here and the word "covenant" are translated from exactly the same word in the New Testament. "How much more shall the blood of Christ...purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament [covenant]" (Heb.9:14,15).
Jesus is called the "mediator of the new covenant" (Heb. 8:6), the "messenger of the covenant" (Mal. 3:1), and his shed blood is called "the blood of the everlasting covenant" (Heb. 12:24). Our Lord Jesus is the one who confirmed the covenant through his redemptive sacrifice at Calvary. And how beautifully this harmonizes with what we have already seen.
...HE SHALL CAUSE THE SACRIFICE AND THE OBLATION TO CEASE." This too was fulfilled in the death of Jesus Christ. In the Old Testament, as we have mentioned, sacrifices were repeatedly made. Each of these was but a mere type looking forward to the time when the perfect sacrifice, the Lamb of God, would be offered. Once this would be accomplished, God would no longer require or accept any other sacrifice.
The perfect sacrifice was Jesus Christ. The old system of repeated sacrifices (types) could only end at Calvary—when Christ became the perfect, eternal, and final sacrifice (See Heb. 9 and 10). In addition to Calvary's sacrifice, "there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins" (Heb. 10: 18, 26).
Eusebius, a Christian writer of the fourth century, pointed these things out: "Now the whole period of our Saviour's teachings and working of miracles is said to have been three-and-a-half years, which is half a week. John the evangelist, in his Gospel makes this clear to the attentive."
...Understanding this, we can now see real significance in certain New Testament statements which also speak of a definite established time at which Jesus would die. For example, we read: "They sought to take him: but no man laid hands on him, because his hour was not yet come" (John 7:30). In John 2:4, Jesus said, "Mine hour is not yet come." On another occasion, he said, "My time is not yet come" (John 7:6). Then just prior to his betrayal and death, he said, "My time is at hand" (Mt. 26:18), and finally, '"the hour is come" (John 17:1; Mt. 26:45).
These and other verses clearly show that there was a definite time in the plan of God when Jesus would die. He came to fulfill the scriptures, and there is only one Old Testament scripture which predicted the time of his death—the prophecy which stated that Messiah would be cut off in the midst of the 70th week—at the close of three and a half years of ministry! How perfectly the prophecy was fulfilled in Christ! ]
The 2nd Half of the 70th Week
Q: What about the end of the 70th week? or the 2nd half of the 70th week? What does it tells us?
A: There are many interpretations of this, but I will show it from Jesus perspective with regard to the purpose and plan of God and the ushering of the New Covenant.
After the resurrection of Jesus, the disciples were told to take His kingdom from Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and unto the uttermost parts of the earth. This has always been the heart of God. He starts with Israel, but His plan is for the kingdom to the whole world, including our 21st Century world.
The book of Acts of the Apostles describes to us the adventures and history of what the apostles went through. It is a book on their "acts". We read in Acts chapter 1 - 7, that the gospel or good news of God's kingdom is mainly confined to Jerusalem and nearby region. Then the stoning of apostle Stephen happened in Acts 7.
Acts 7:51-56 tells us that Stephen preached to the religious Jews, and after that he literally saw Jesus standing in heaven.
After the stoning and death of Stephen by Saul (later called Paul), the persecution of the Christians continued and they had no choice but to go all over the world and scatter the seed of the Kingdom of God.
Act 8:1 And Saul fully approved of his murder. At this time a great persecution broke out against the Church in Jerusalem, and all except the Apostles were scattered throughout Judaea and Samaria.
[ The stoning of Stephen was a turning point in the history of the early church:
Prior to that, the church functioned as part of Judaism, Christians lived practically as Jews and the church was confined to Jerusalem.
Through the persecution, which followed after his death, God dispersed the believers. This reversed Jesus’s instruction to His followers to stay in Jerusalem (Acts 1:4). The church was expelled from Judaism and Jerusalem. The Christian message was taken to the Gentile world. As was their habit previously, the fleeing believers at first took the message only to Jews (Acts 11:19). But the Holy Spirit steered the gospel towards the non-Jews, particularly through the conversion of Paul; the apostle to the Gentiles.
The dating of Stephen’s death is entirely dependent on the date of Paul’s conversion. Merrill C. Tenney, in his book “New Testament Times” (Inter-Varsity Press, 1967, chapter 7), gives 30 AD at the most probable year for the crucifixion and 32/33AD as the most probable date for the stoning of Stephen and the conversion of Paul. R. Jewett (A Chronology of Paul’s Life (Philadelphia, 1979), pp. 1-2.) dates Paul’s conversion to 34AD. Since this should at the most months after the stoning of Stephen, the Stoning of Stephen could be as late as 34AD. Stephen therefore died about 2 to 4 years after the Cross.. ]
The persecution helped in the spreading of the gospel. Even Saul, the chief persecutor of the Christians, was converted and believed in Jesus Christ. Saul became Paul and took the gospel not just to the Jews but also to the Gentiles and the rest of the world.
Later on Paul wrote to the Galatians church that Jerusalem was in bondage with its children because they were acting like they were in bondage to the law under the Old Covenant.
Gal 4:25 This is Hagar; for the name Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, which is in bondage together with her children.
From the time of the resurrection of Jesus (the end of the sacrifices and offerings) to the time of the stoning of Stephen is about three and a half years. This was the end of the 70th week. From then onwards, the scattering of the gospel to all over the world would go out like a flood until today.
Bonus:
This brings us to a fascinating point from the Gospels. When Peter asked Jesus how many times he had to forgive his brother, suggesting that seven times might be forgiving enough, Jesus replied that he should forgive seventy times seven, which is 490 times. Jesus was alluding to this prophecy from Daniel, and He was telling Peter to be as forgiving as God had been towards His wicked people (see Matthew 18:21).
Let's recap: Daniel heard the prophecy of 490 years of mercy being extended. He heard that the 490 years would start when the edict to rebuild Jerusalem went forth. After the edict was released and the clock started ticking, 483 years would go by, and then the Messiah would appear, which happened in AD27, when Jesus began His ministry. Then during the last seven years of the 490 years of mercy, the Messiah would end animal sacrifice, and He would also be put to death. This happened in AD30. Out of the 490 years, this timeline still leaves us with three and a half years left on the clock.
Approximately three and a half years after Jesus death and resurrection, Stephen was stoned to death, which was approved of by the chief ruler of the synagogue (see Acts 7:1, 54-60). This was the end of God's mercy clock for Jerusalem. Not long after, God gave Peter the vision of the unclean animals and sent him to evangelize Cornelius' house (see Acts 10), as well as converting Paul and sending him to the Gentiles (see Acts 9:1-5). This completed the 490 years of mercy God extended to His people. (From Jonathan Weston)
UPDATED: 7 August 2021
