The Reason for It All

Series on Daniel

III. The Consummation

B. Anointing of the Holiest

2. The Prophecy, Text: 9:20-27

Title: The Reason for It All

Introduction

Here is the most famous or most infamous passage of prophecy in the Old Testament depending on your perspective. The seventy weeks of Daniel. is one of the most remarkably precise, historically accurate and theologically significant passages in the Old Testament. It is also one of the most debated with some interpreters saying that it is not referring to Christ at all but only to Antiochus whom we have met before and others, while acknowledging that Christ is mentioned here, apply much of the prophecy to sometime in our future near the end of the age. With apologies and deference to those who might disagree I subscribe to neither of these positions. It is, in my view which is similar to that of Calvin and other Reformers, a great messianic prophecy which refers to the first advent of Christ and the subsequent judgment on the Jewish economy, predicted by Jesus, and which occurred in 70 AD. Here it is, While I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel and making my request to the Lord my God for his holy hill—while I was still in prayer, Gabriel, the man I had seen in the earlier vision, came to me in swift flight about the time of the evening sacrifice. He instructed me and said to me, “Daniel, I have now come to give you insight and understanding. As soon as you began to pray, an answer was given, which I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed. Therefore, consider the message and understand the vision: “Seventy ‘sevens’ are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy. “Know and understand this: From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens.’ It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble. After the sixty-two ‘sevens,’ the Anointed One will be cut off and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed. He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’ In the middle of the ‘seven’ he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on a wing of the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.” The crucial question, it seems to me, is posed by the context of Daniel’s prayer which precedes. Daniel is confessing his people’s sin and looking for the end of captivity and their restoration. The answer he receives here as we shall see is twofold. First the nation will be restored from Babylon to Israel and the city of Jerusalem and the temple will be rebuilt, but the real restoration is not physical but spiritual therefore the main point is that messiah will come and for those who do not receive him there will be judgment. It is appropriate therefore to consider this passage as God’s announcement to Daniel of his final fulfillment of the covenant of grace. Consider first then the promise of the covenant, and then the preservation, the perfection and the punishment of the covenant.

I The Promise of the Covenant

In verse 24 we see the 70 weeks, or literally seventy sevens As Israel’s physical captivity in Babylon will end in 70 years, so their spiritual slavery to sin will end with this seventy sevens. Because of the the time of the edict of Cyrus to rebuild Jerusalem and the time of Christ’s coming we know that the seventy weeks or literally seventy sevens are years not days, i.e. 490 years. The first covenantal promise of God to our lost race was made to Adam and Eve after they had sinned in Genesis 3, and God said the seed of the woman would bruise the serpent’s head. There must come a Redeemer, who will finish transgression, make an end of sins, and make reconciliation for iniquity. This Jesus did upon the cross. He also brought in everlasting righteousness seeing that all who believe in Him are made righteous in God’s sight. The last two clauses are a little more obscure but they refer to the same thing. He sealed up vision and prophecy because he was the perfect fulfillment of vision and prophecy as Paul writes, in Christ all the promises of God are yea and amen. He also anointed the holy of holies with his own precious blood. Where the blood of bulls and goats had been spilled for centuries now the blood of the Son of God was poured so that we might be redeemed. All of this was the prefect fulfillment of the covenant of grace. This brings us to Verse 25 and the preservation of the covenant.

II The Preservation of the Covenant

In verse 25 we read that in 69 sevens the Anointed One the Messiah the Savior will come, and these 69 are divided into 7 sevens and 62 sevens. The first smaller section begins with the edict of Cyrus allowing the Jews to return and rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple. This is the period of physical restoration. The second part 62 sevens is the time remaining until Messiah. All attempts to compute with perfect accuracy the exact dates are hindered by the inexactness of historical dates in secular history. The important point is that the whole idea of seventy sevens until Messiah is based on the seventy years in captivity ending. As the physical captivity ended in 70 so the spiritual captivity ends in 70. Thus the primary direction for Daniel here is to think not merely about physical deliverance but about spiritual deliverance as the true fulfillment of the covenant. This is the serious error attending Dispensationalism. People with that non-covenantal approach insist on what they call a literal fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies. What they mean by that is a physical fulfillment. Obviously, if what the prophet intended was a spiritual fulfillment then the literal interpretation should be spiritual and not physical. This is a lesson we all need to learn because in our daily lives we we are constantly preoccupied with the material and physical problems and do not look beyond them to the spiritual blessings. However, in this prophecy we have both the physical fulfillment of Israel’s restoration and the spiritual fulfillment of Israel’s restoration. The information about the physical restoration is important here because the promise is to Israel in the Old Testament and if the nation is not preserved and restored, then the events of the New Testament are incapable of occurring. The nation must be preserved so Messiah can come. So we have the assurance it will continue to exist until the Promised One arrives.

III The Perfection of the Covenant

Now verses 26 and 27 are saying the same thing with a different emphasis. Let us review those with the American Standard Version translation, And after the threescore and two weeks shall the anointed one be cut off, and shall have nothing: 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 even unto the end shall be war; desolations are determined. And he shall make a firm covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease; and upon the wing of abominations shall come one that makes desolate; and even unto the full end, and that determined, shall wrath be poured out upon the desolate. The first half of verse 26 corresponds to the first half of 27 and then the last part of each also corresponds. So 26a and 27a are talking about the same event, and 26b and 27b are both referring to a different but singular event. Thus we are told in 26 a and 27a about the work of the Messiah. Verse 26 refers to His work on the cross saying that the anointed one is cut off referring to his death on the cross and in verse 27 we are told that He shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease which is, of course, the direct effect of his once for all perfect sacrifice which ended the Old Testament sacrifices. We also read in verse 27 that he confirms the covenant which is what Jesus did when he died, fulfilling the covenant according to the ancient promise, and saving His people by his atoning death and resurrection. The Hebrew idiom is not the word for make a covenant but for causing a covenant to prevail. This again is to be Daniel’s focus and ours. Everything in history centers on the cross. Whatever Daniel’s problems and ours we are to focus on God’s answer which is Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Now as we said 26b and 27 b are referring to the same event, but something different. What they are referring to is the punishment of covenant breakers. We shall shortly examine that, but first we must consider the timeline. So far we understand that the first seven sevens are referring to the physical restoration of Israel to its land and the subsequent rebuilding. The 62 sevens bring us up to the New Testament fulfillment of the spiritual restoration of Israel in Christ. But Daniel is informed that there will be a significant event in the midst of the seventieth week, And he shall make a firm covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease. This brings us up to the death of Christ which is the event that caused the sacrifice and oblation to cease. However one half of the last week is left and we are told nothing about that period, which on our reckoning is three and one half years. in the midst of the seventieth week the whole cultic apparatus, the priests, the sacrifices,the temple all are finished. They become null and void and desolation follows. And so we read about the prince coming to destroy the temple and the city and upon the wing of abominations shall come one that makes desolate; and even unto the full end, and that determined, shall wrath be poured out upon the desolate. Now if the the destruction of the temple takes place in the midst of that last seventieth seven, then what happens to the last three and one half years? I believe it is an open ended prophecy with the last three and one half years representing an indefinite period fulfilled in the church age, in the interim between the first and second advents of Jesus. This number three and one half years may also be designated as a time, times and a half time, and as 42 months, and as 1260 days. It comes up again repeatedly in the book of Revelation as a symbol of the rest of the time from the destruction of the temple until Christ returns. Thus in Revelation 11 the holy city is trampled for 42 months, and two witnesses representing the church testify during the same period, 1260 days. Furthermore in Revelation 12 the dragon persecutes the woman which is the people of God, or the church and she fleas into the wilderness for protection for 1260 days, and is put out of the serpent’s reach for a time, times and a half time, and in Revelation 13 the beast, the antichrist, is given power to blaspheme and exercise his authority 42 months, and remember the apostle John talks about his time being the last hour and says, As you have heard that antichrist is coming even now there are many antichrists, this is how we know it is the last hour. It surely makes the book of Revelation relevant to us now to understand that it’s talking about us and our trials and not some distant future. In any case whether you agree or not, the important thing is that the covenant is made to prevail through Jesus’ finished work and everything that comes after that is secondary, which brings me to the last point, the punishment of covenant breakers.

IV The Punishment of the Covenant

We have read in verses 26b and 27b of the fate of the Old Testament economy, 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 even unto the end shall be war; desolations are determined…and upon the wing of abominations shall come one that makes desolate; and even unto the full end, and that determined, shall wrath be poured out upon the desolate. This disaster was threatened many times by the Old Testament Prophets and it is the principal feature of Jesus’ prophetic words as he often warned His own people of this impending doom. No place more expicitly than in Matthew 24: 15-28, “So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand— then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let no one on the housetop go down to take anything out of the house. Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak. How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again. “If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you ahead of time. “So if anyone tells you, ‘There he is, out in the wilderness,’ do not go out; or, ‘Here he is, in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather. Jesus had already indicated that not one stone of the temple would be left upon another in verse 2. The temple is destroyed with the whole sacrificial system of Israel because it has  been replaced by something better as the author of Hebrews tells us repeatedly. The one sacrifice has replaced the many. In our prophecy the prince who will come is Titus Vespasian, and the people are the Romans and they came in 70 AD. The desolation is God’s judgment upon his ancient people unless they accept and receive the Messiah who has caused the covenant to prevail, and that desolation lasts until the end of the age. The same fate is in store for all covenant breakers. In Christ, alone, is there salvation. Thus our faith in God’s Word of promise is confirmed and the true burden of prophecy and hope of the ages is made clear to us. Jesus is the answer.