Daniel 9:24-27
What It Means
We continue to look at the Tribulation. I will be repeating a good
deal of what I said last week for several reasons:
1. Because the content is a very important and somewhat difficult.
2. From this section, we can create some rules to help us
interpret Scripture accurately.
a. The Bible is completely true and accurate.
b. We should accept the Bible literally unless doing so would
require God to do something He will not do.
(1) accepting the fact that God speaks in parables, with
symbols, and even sarcasm.
(2) God even tells us why He speaks this way.
Matt 13:11 He answered and said unto them,
Because it is given unto you to know the
mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them
it is not given.
12 For whosoever hath, to him shall be given,
and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever
hath not, from him shall be taken away even that
he hath.
13 Therefore speak I to them in parables:
because they seeing see not; and hearing they
hear not, neither do they understand.
3. When the only way to accept the Bible literally would require
God doing something that He won’t do, we will look for a non-
literal meaning.
4. Even then, we do not get to decide what the non-literal
meaning is. We must find it explained within the Bible.
5. If God does not explain the meaning, we will have to wait
until God fulfills the meaning.
I. A Great Promise
Dan 9:24 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.
A. God told Daniel that everything related to Israel would be
finished in just 70 weeks.
B. Everything that dealt with:
1. The holy city (Jerusalem),
2. Israel’s transgressions,
3. Israel’s sin in general,
4. Israel’s reconciliation,
5. to begin Israel’s everlasting righteousness
a. Notice that is to begin Israel’s everlasting
righteousness not throughout Israel’s everlasting
righteousness.
b. The term is "to bring in everlasting righteousness…."
c. Israel’s everlasting righteousness will begin when
the millennial reign of Jesus starts and will
continue forever.
d. From this I gather the 70 weeks actually stops when
the Tribulation is over and just after the Millennial
begins.
6. to seal up or finish all the visions and prophecies
relating to Israel
7. And to anoint the most Holy - That would be Jesus, the
Jewish Messiah and would happen at the end of the
Tribulation and the beginning of the Millennial.
II. Problem One
A. The 70 weeks from when that promise was given
to Daniel have long since come and gone.
1. After 70 literal weeks, Daniel and Israel were still
sitting in Babylon, captives.
2. The land belonging to Israel was in ruins.
3. And the Messiah had not come.
B. Does this mean God lied? that the Bible is a fraud? The
everything we have believed in is a sham? NO!
1. It means that this is one of the times when we will NOT
take the Bible literally.
2. The only way this could be fulfilled literally is if God
turns back time, and it does not appear He does that.
C. But we do NOT get to create our own meaning for this passage.
1. If God is giving a picture, God will help us understand
the picture with the Bible or we will simply have to wait
on God to fulfill the picture.
2. Too many people are taking too many liberties with the
Word of God, creating false doctrines from their own
imaginations.
3. We CANNOT DO THAT.
a. This is God’s Book.
b. If you want to study some possibilities, even
theorize some of them with the church, that is great
and wonderful. Most of them will get shot down.
c. But NO MAN has the authority to call his theories
doctrine or to teach this as the Word of God.
d. Every preacher is going to theorize somethings.
(a) That is one of the difference between teaching
the Bible and preaching it.
(b) Preaching is applying applications of the truths
within the Bible.
(c) I love teaching the Bible, but teaching is not
preaching.
(d) That is the reason I would not want a Bible
teacher for a pastor, but neither do I want a
pastor that does not teach the Bible while he
is preaching.
(e) Too many pastors read a text that has nothing to
do with his sermon and never anchor anything
they are preaching on the Bible.
(f) That is dangerous and somewhat cultic even if
what he is saying is true.
e. There is a very thin line to preaching, but men of
God must hold themselves accountable least they
build the bridge that leads their flock astray.
D. AND IN THIS TEXT, GOD DID.
1. God actually hide it from Daniel’s generation.
2. Until the first 69 weeks were completed, no one could have
know what God meant by the 70 weeks.
3. Part of this prophecy had to be fulfilled first.
Dan 9:25 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.
4. \\#25\\ Notice divided the 70 weeks into two sections:
a. "seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks" = 69.
b. And that leaves 1 weeks.
5. The angel told Daniel that the 69 weeks would equal a
specific time period:
a. \\#25\\ They would begin when the command to rebuild
the walls of Jerusalem was given.
(1) Israel was captive in Babylon at this time.
(2) Jerusalem was in ruins.
(3) The Bible and history record this command:
Ezra 1:1 Now in the first year of Cyrus king of
Persia, that the word of the LORD by the mouth
of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the LORD stirred
up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he
made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom,
and put it also in writing, saying,
2 Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, The LORD God
of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the
earth; and he hath charged me to build him an
house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah.
3 Who is there among you of all his people? his
God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem,
which is in Judah, and build the house of the
LORD God of Israel, (he is the God,) which is in
Jerusalem.
4 And whosoever remaineth in any place where he
sojourneth, let the men of his place help him
with silver, and with gold, and with goods, and
with beasts, beside the freewill offering for the
house of God that is in Jerusalem.
(4) History says the years was 444BC.
b. \\#26\\ The 69 weeks would when Messiah was cut off,
but not for Himself.
(1) The Bible and history record this event as well.
Joh 19:30 When Jesus therefore had received the
vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed
his head, and gave up the ghost.
(2) History tells us they year was 29 AD.
III. Problem Two
A. But this leads to another problem.
1. The numbers do not add up correctly.
a. 444 + 29 = 473 years, but that figure does not divide
evenly by 69. It equals 6.86 years.
b. We were looking for what a week might equal.
c. That is a strange figure.
2. But then we remember that a Jewish calendar year is
actually shorter than a Gregorian calendar year.
a. Jewish calendar has 360 days. (12 months @ 30 days
with a "leap month" every few years).
b. Gentile calendar as 365 days each year.
3. So if we convert the 473 Gregorian years to Jewish years,
we come up with 483 years.
a. Divide the 483 Jewish years by 69 and we get 7.
b. Each of Daniel’s weeks represent 7 Jewish years.
c. 69 have come and gone.
d. One Jewish week remains, that is 7 Jewish years
remain for God to finish His work with Israel and
to fulfill the promise He made to Daniel.
B. Thoughts:
1. I. The Tribulation will be Jewish years, not Gentile years.
a. The Tribulation is God’s final week to the Jew.
b. The calendar only works evenly with a Jewish calendar.
c. So the remaining one year, what we call the
Tribulation, will be seven years with 360 days in
them not 365 days.
2. The last week, like the first 69 weeks, are for the Jews
not the Gentiles.
Dan 9:24 Seventy weeks are determined upon thy
people….
a. There are many New Testament Bible reasons why I
believe the church will be removed before the
Tribulation begins, but none of them are as
persuasive as the fact that God told Daniel the 70
weeks were for Him to accomplish His work with the
Jews not the church.
(1) The church is not mentioned from Revelation 4 to
Revelation 21, the chapters discussing the
Tribulation.
(2) The church is promised a blessed hope, a new
hope, a comforting hope—all of which will be
somewhat diminished if they are delayed by
events that must happen first.
(3) Paul taught these events in a specific order
on purpose:
a. Rapture - 1 Thess 4
b. Day of the Lord - 1 Thess 5
(4) The only way the rapture could be unknown is
if it comes BEFORE the Tribulation.
(5) God has promised to spare the church from "the
wrath to come" \\#1Thess 1:10\\.
b. But the most persuasive reasons are from the Old
Testament.
(1) The seventieth week is for the Jews.
(2) The calendar God used to figure it was Jewish
not Gentile.
(3) The church was not here for the first 69 weeks,
and there is no reason to think it will be here
for the last week.
3. The seven Jewish years also rule out any possibility for
a mid-tribulation rapture as well.
4. Think what you will about the church and the Tribulation;
but in my opinion, the church will NOT be here.
IV. Problem Four - We still haven’t had the seventieth week!
A. It appears God stopped dealing with the Jews after they killed
Jesus.
1. Instead of it being 490 days to fulfill the prophecy, God
actually meant 490 years to fulfill the prophecy.
2. But just like the 490 days have past, so have the 490
years.
3. How do we explain that?
B. Actually, the text allows for God’s Jewish clock to stop.
1. God said the 69th week STOPPED when Messiah was cut off.
Dan 9:25 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…
2. And God said the last week would not start until a prince
of the people made a covenant or a treaty.
Dan 9:27 And he shall confirm the covenant with
many for one week….
3. That is God giving a STOP and ANOTHER STAET.
C. God is the One who divided the 70 weeks not us.
1. GOD counted the first 69 weeks as beginning with the
command to rebuild the walls UNTIL the Messiah was cut
off.
2. And GOD will count the last week as the time period of a
covenant.
D. God did not say there would be a prolonged time period between
the 69th and the 70th week, but He did tell us that the 69th
week would have an ending place and that the 70th week would
have a beginning place.
1. No one could have seen a prolonged pause between the 69
weeks and the 70th week, at least not with certainty.
a. It is another one of those things that God hid.
b. The fulfillment had to happen BEFORE you could clearly
see it.
2. But once it happened, you can see how God hinted it would
happen.
E. Now that the Jewish 70 weeks have paused, can we suppose a
reason why God stopped it.
1. Well, we can’t know what the Bible doesn’t say, right?
2. But we can theorize.
3. It might be because the church is NOT a part of the
seventy weeks that God has determined upon Israel.
Someone says, “You believe that because you are dispensationalists.”
No. I believe that because I am a Bible believer. If you think that
believing the Bible creates dispensations, then that is up to you;
but I am old enough to have earned the right to quit playing those
religious reindeer games.
So you and I are living outside the 70 weeks God promised to Daniel,
but God will complete His promise. There will be a seventieth week;
but that is not what I am looking to happen next. What I am looking
to happen next is the rapture of the church. Jesus will take His
bride off this planet so that the Father can bring His wife, Israel,
back home again.
I don’t just get that from the New Testament. I get it from the Old
Testament as well.
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