Along with chapters 2 and 7, chapter 9 is among the most important chapters of Daniel.  It contains what could be one of the most important prophecies in the Bible.  Commencing in verse 24 we find the prophecy commonly referred to as Daniel's 70 weeks.

Never was a prophecy more distorted or wrenched from its context and perverted by priests and preachers in order to deceive the people of God than these last few verses of Daniel 9.  These are the foundation verses of the Futurist school of prophecy.  At least 95% of churches today base their prophecy on the Futurist point of view. 

This doctrine has its origin in the writings of a Jesuit priest called Father Ribera and another Jesuit,  a Chilean priest,  Emmanuel Lacunza who came after him and wrote under the assumed name, of `Rabbi Ben Ezra'. 

By perverting these verses Ribera taught that the coming of Jesus would be in two stages.

FUTURIST TEACHING (as produced by the Jesuits)

For His church (The secret rapture)

After all Christians are taken away they begin what they call Daniel's 70th week - a seven year period known as the Great Tribulation during which there will come a man.  He will be a world dictator and they refer to him as 'the anti-Christ' who will rebuild a Jewish Temple in Jerusalem.  He will then make a covenant or treaty with the Jews and re-institute blood sacrifice in the old Jerusalem temple.  Then in the middle of the week,  three and a half years into it, this anti-Christ will break his treaty with the Jews.  He will start persecuting and murdering and doing all manner of evil.

To the World.

It's only at the end of all this that the Lord comes back to establish His Kingdom.  It's the next best thing to science fiction or fairy tales that you'll ever find.  You will find that it doesn't even follow the prophecy of Daniel.  We need to know this because if Futurism can be shown to be wrong right here at its foundation then it is wrong in everything else that it teaches.  The whole super-structure that has been raised up and taught on this separation of Daniel's 70th week would fall in a great heap.  Before we look at Daniel's 70 weeks we will begin in verse 1.

Daniel 9:1
In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the lineage of the Medes, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans;

It's the time of the Medo-Persian Empire and Daniel is living under the reign of Darius' son, Ahasuerus.

Daniel 9:2
in the first year of his reign I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years specified by the word of the LORD through Jeremiah the prophet, that He would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem. 

Daniel, now a very old man, is studying the books.  He has brought out the books of his long deceased contemporary Jeremiah who was alive at the time of the deportation of Daniel as a young man.  Daniel is studying the dates so that he can find out when the captivity of Judah will end so that they can go home and return to Jerusalem.  It is a good thing to study prophecy and it is a good thing to study dates, times and numbers, provided you don't exalt those things over everything else.  

Three times Jeremiah had predicted that the people of Judah would be in captivity for 70 years.  Jer. 25:11,12; 29:10;  Daniel knew that it was almost time for the captivity to end.  We too can calculate the numbers and see that it is almost time for Jesus to return and liberate His people, to bring in His own New World Order.

Daniel 9:3
Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.

He didn't just study, he also fasted and prayed.  He began to pray for further enlightenment. You too can pray for wisdom and enlightenment.

Daniel 9:4
And I prayed to the LORD my God, and made confession, and said, "O Lord, great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and mercy with those who love Him, and with those who keep His commandments,

Here is a good example of how to pray.  Daniel began by confessing his sins to God.  Also in this verse four, he hallowed God's Name.  As we go into prayer we should declare who He is.  Sometimes we can show too much familiarity when we pray to God.  Sure we can cry out 'Abba Father' but we should give Him the honour, glory and majesty that is due to His Name.  Daniel not only confessed his sin, he proclaimed God as the Keeper of the Covenant.

Daniel 9:5-17
 "We have sinned and committed iniquity, we have done wickedly and rebelled, even by departing from Your precepts and Your judgments.  Neither have we heeded Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings and our princes, to our fathers and all the people of the land.  O Lord, righteousness belongs to You, but to us shame of face, as it is this day; to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, those near and those far off in all the countries to which You have driven them, because of the unfaithfulness which they have committed against You.  "O Lord, to us belongs shame of face, to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, because we have sinned against You.  To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against Him.  "We have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God, to walk in His laws, which He set before us by His servants the prophets.  Yes, all Israel has transgressed Your law, and has departed so as not to obey Your voice; therefore the curse and the oath written in the Law of Moses the servant of God have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against Him.  And He has confirmed His words, which He spoke against us and against our judges who judged us, by bringing upon us a great disaster; for under the whole heaven such has never been done as what has been done to Jerusalem.  "As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us; yet we have not made our prayer before the LORD our God, that we might turn from our iniquities and understand Your truth.  Therefore the LORD has kept the disaster in mind, and brought it upon us; for the LORD our God is righteous in all the works which He does, though we have not obeyed His voice.  And now, O Lord our God, who brought Your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and made Yourself a name, as it is this day; we have sinned, we have done wickedly!  O Lord, according to all Your righteousness, I pray, let Your anger and Your fury be turned away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain; because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people are a reproach to all those around us.

 This is an excellent example for national prayer.

Daniel 9:17-19
"Now therefore, our God, hear the prayer of Your servant, and his supplications, and for the Lord's sake cause Your face to shine on Your sanctuary, which is desolate.  O my God, incline Your ear and hear; open Your eyes and see our desolations, and the city which is called by Your name; for we do not present our supplications before You because of our righteous deeds, but because of Your great mercies.  O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and act! Do not delay for Your own sake, my God, for Your city and Your people are called by Your name."

Daniel made a national confession of Israel's sins.  This is what we should be doing today, acknowledging before God why we are in the mess that we are.  Israel was in the position that they were because they had broken the Laws, Statutes and Judgements that God had put in place.  They had failed to heed the prophets and messengers of God.  This is why countries like Australia, the U.S. and the U.K. are in trouble today, judgement has come upon them.  In verse eleven Daniel says, "All Israel has transgressed Your Law, and has departed so as not to obey your voice; therefore the curse and the oath written in the Law of Moses the Servant of God has been poured out on us, because we have sinned against Him"  What curse?  the curses spoken of in Lev. 26 and Deut. 28.  God offered Israel life or death.  If they kept the law God would bless them.  Having said all this, Daniel in verse 17 begins to pray for forgiveness.  He appeals to God for national restoration.  God's hand was moved.

Daniel 9:20-22
Now while I was speaking, praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the LORD my God for the holy mountain of my God,  yes, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, reached me about the time of the evening offering.  And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, "O Daniel, I have now come forth to give you skill to understand.

While he was praying the answer was already on its way.  Isaiah 65:24 says, "Before you call, I will answer; and while you are still speaking, I will hear".

Daniel 9:23-27
"At the beginning of your supplications the command went out, and I have come to tell you, for you are greatly beloved; therefore consider the matter, and understand the vision:  {24) "Seventy weeks are determined for your people and for your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy. {25} "Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, there shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublesome times. {26} "And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself; And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall be with a flood, and till the end of the war desolations are determined. {27} Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week; but in the middle of the week He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, even until the consummation, which is determined, Is poured out on the desolate."

HOW LONG IS 70 WEEKS IN BIBLE PROPHECY?

The first thing we must do  is establish how long this 70 week period is in reality.  Knowing that we are dealing with Bible prophecy we must apply the usual rules to this prophecy as we have to others.  Seventy weeks, each week consisting of seven days, is a total of 490 days.  In Bible prophecy, as we have seen from previous chapters, one day is equal to one year.  Now the 70 weeks is seen literally as a 490 year period.  These 70 weeks could not have been literal because seventy weeks would have rolled by and nothing would have happened.   

WHY 70 WEEKS?

What was the purpose of these 70 weeks or 490 years?  They were to give the nation an opportunity to mend their ways and return to God.  They were being punished for their sin against God.  This punishment we looked at earlier in chapter four.  It was the seven times or 2520 years of punishment.  At the beginning of our last reading we read that 'Seventy weeks are determined for your people'.  This section could also be rendered 'cut off' or 'severed off'.  Four hundred and ninety years was taken away from the 2520 years of punishment.  We can understand that the 490 years was taken away from the 2520 years of  punishment but why was it 490 years?  Why didn't God just round it off to an even 500 years or down to 450 years?  The answer is in the numbers.  In Matthew 18:21,22 Jesus gives the command to forgive.  How many times?  Seven times seventy.  How many times is that?  490!  Four hundred and ninety is God's number for forgiveness.  If we look at this sum a little closer we can learn even more.  Seven is God's number for Divine perfection and seventy is God's number for the life of man (Psalm 90:10) and restoration.  Four hundred and ninety is God's number for the perfect restoration of the life of man.  At the end of the 490 year period Jesus died on the Cross to redeem us.

WHEN DID THIS PERIOD OF 490 YEARS BEGIN?

Verse 25 is the key to this question.  "Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem ...".   We have a choice of 4 possible dates when the command was given to restore and build Jerusalem.  Here are those 4 dates.

Command or decrees issued:-

536 B.C.          -Cyrus

520 B.C.          -Darius

457 B.C.          -Artaxerxes 

444 B.C.          -Artaxerxes

The most obvious of these dates would be 457 B.C.  This particular command by Artaxerxes is recorded in the book Ezra chapter 7 and verses 11 to 26.  Jesus confirmed this date in Mark 1:14,15 when He said, "The time is fulfilled".   The time Jesus was speaking about was the 483 years or 69 weeks from 457 B.C.  It was time for Him to begin His work.  

Now we will break down verse  26 and study it.  ''And the people ..." that is the Roman armies which destroyed the city of Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 A.D.  "...of the prince ..."  the prince is Titus, as the son of the Emperor Vespasian and heir to the Roman throne. " ...who is to come ..."  and he did in 70 A.D. ...  "  These fulfilled the prophecy.  When you read verses 23 to 27 as I have printed them here you will notice a section in verse 26 which I have put into italics.  The reason I have done this is to make clear up about whom the verse is referring.  Every part of those verses is referring to Jesus accept the section in italic which refers to Titus.

 Verse 27b -  This part of the verse predicts the judgement of God upon the Jews, Jerusalem, the temple and the land for their rejection of the New Covenant.  The personal pronoun `he' or  `one' still refers to the `Messiah' and prophecies that Jesus would make Jerusalem and the land desolate until the consummation or appointed time, at the end of the age (1917 or 1948).

 Jesus said -

Matt. 23:28 "Behold your house is left unto you desolate".

Matt. 24:2 "There shall not be left here one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down".

Luke 21:20-24 "And when you see Jerusalem encompassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh, ... there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon the people, ... and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled".

It was Jesus who gave the word of authority for the desolation to take place.  Without this authority, Titus and the armies of Rome would never have accomplished such a devastating victory.

Jerusalem was trodden down by the Romans, the Arabs and the Turks, until 1917 A.D. when it was liberated. On the following page I have made up a chart with an overall view of the 70 weeks prophecy. I hope that through reading it you will gain a greater understanding of what God is saying. 

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