Seven Times Seven Times Seventy

Daniel Chapter 9:20-27

Oh God, King of the Universe, thank you for sending your Son, my Messiah, to die on the cross for me. Your name is great amongst all nations, and I await for the day that you will establish your eternal kingdom here on Earth. May Your will be done always across the universe. Bless me with provision for a healthy body, and please forgive the wrongs I have committed against you or any person in my life. Keep me on the narrow path that leads straight to You. May Your Kingdom reign eternally. May you come quickly full of power and glory forever. Amen.

Have you ever learned or read something and it just caused lots of confusion?

The last half of Daniel is like the Song that Never Ends. So many theologians, doctorates, and historians ALL think they have the correct translation to these verses. Yet again, we are dealing with prophecy in which Gabriel, sent by God, is explaining something to Daniel. The best way to describe it is "Clear as Mud." The difficulty is in the details.

Chapter nine opens with a reminder that Daniel is still deep in prayer to the Lord for the sins of Israel and for himself. He is interceding fervently for His God to bring down His wrath upon their persecutors for they were all mocking the name of God. God did what He said He was going to do to bring punishment for Israel's disobedience, but now it is time for God's justice. The seventy prophesied exiled years were coming to an end. Come quickly Lord is the mantra of Daniel's prayer. Interestingly enough Daniel is doing what Solomon suggested to do from 1 Kings 8:22-53.

God Hears Our Prayers

Daniel 9:20-23

"James 4:3 has a stern warning when it comes to prayer. 'You ask and don't receive because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures-ESV.' Who we pray to, what we pray for, and how we pray are all important to God (Akin, pg 119)."

Verses 20-23

Daniel, as stated before, is in the midst of a fervent prayer to the Lord on behalf of himself and the Jewish people. The angel Gabriel appears before him, who also would appear later to Mary and Zechariah to announce the birth of their sons who would play an important role for the kingdom, Jesus and John the Baptizer. Daniel mentions in verse 21 that this happened about the time of the evening sacrifice. Why is this a little odd?

BECAUSE NO SACRIFICES HAD BEEN OFFERED AT THE TEMPLE SINCE IT WAS DESTROYED!

Daniel is still operating on Jewish time. He still acknowledges time according to the Jewish tradtion even though he has been living these past 60+ years in Babylonian exile. He has "not lost his spiritual identity. Yahweh's clock is his clock (Akin, pg. 120)." Gabriel proceeds to tell Daniel he was sent to give him understanding and/or insight. His prayers went out and God is sending him to speak with him because according to verse 23 "You are highly esteemed."

"As soon as you (Daniel) began to pray, a word went out, which I (Gabriel) have come to tell you, for you (Daniel) are highly esteemed." Daniel 9:23

How can this verse be taken out of context?

by someone who is suffering from cancer?
by someone who lost a husband or wife after a battle?
by someone who truly wants clarity on a situation?

We must be very careful in counseling others. To be honest when I read a few commentaries over this verse, I was annoyed. A particular favorite of mine stated the following:

"Those whom the Lord greatly loves, he hears. Those who are greatly loved, our God honors. Daniel is precious in the sight of God, and therefore so are his prayers. God values the prayers of his faithful and righteous saints. He treasures them (Akin, pg. 120)"

It is very easy to take this out of context. We can make this verse about OURSELVES instead of Daniel. Daniel has been faithful, obedient, and even sentenced to death over his devotion to the Lord. I do not believe 99% of us could make this claim. We have not been dragged out of our faith and forced to live in another to the point where we had a near death experience because of it. Nor are we God ordained prophets. DANIEL IS ALL OF THESE THINGS. Before we put our prideful selves in this verse, lets take the logs out of our eyes. God sent Gabriel to Daniel to reveal something to him about the future much like God does with John in Revelation. Do we really think we are on the same level as these disciples?

Does this mean that God does not speak to us through the Holy Spirit because we are not LOVED as much? No.

All the Sevens

Daniel 9:24-27

24 “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 Place.

25 “Know and understand this: From the time the word goes out 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.

26 After the sixty-two ‘sevens,’ the Anointed One will be put to death 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.

27 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 at the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.

CLEAR AS MUD, RIGHT?

As stated earlier, this particular text is one of great controversy because there is no clear answer. We are not Daniel. We do not understand the language as it was originally written. Scholars have spent years and years of study to come up with various timelines, events, etc that fit into the sevens prophecy.

(DISCLAIMER: What I am sharing below is one of the viewpoints from the expository books I prefer to read when studying scripture. It is the same one that I use for all of my bible studies, and a link can be found on my resources page if you wish to learn more.)

Scholars agree on the following:

"SEVENS" refer to years NOT weeks
"SEVEN" functions like our word DOZEN
- it refer to days, weeks, months or years

"God is telling Daniel that Israel's exile will not last seventy years. It will last seventy times seven years, or four hundred ninety years (Akin, pg. 120)."

What a bummer for Daniel! He thought that the exile was nearing it's end, and here comes Gabriel with some distressing news. It is not all bad though in this particular prophecy is the promise to end sin with Jesus!

Verse 24

The following things are going to happen during these "seventy 'sevens'"

Rebellion will be finished
An end to sin is to be made
Atonement for iniquity will take place
Everlasting righteousness to be brought in
Vision and prophecy will be sealed up
The most holy place or Holy One will be anointed

The is talking about OUR MESSIAH! JESUS CHRIST!

Verse 25-27

During this four hundred and ninety years three events will take place.

Rebuild Jerusalem (vs. 25) during first seven weeks or 49 years

- From the going out of the word to the coming of the annointed one would be seven weeks
  - Going out of the word-refers to the decree made by Artaxerxese 1 to Ezra in 458 BC
    - Building of the temple, city and walls would commence, but not without trouble as stated in Nehemiah

Coming and death of Messiah (vs. 26) during the seven + sixty two weeks or 483 years

After 62 weeks (plus the prior seven= 483 years) the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing
- if the word going out in 458 BC is correct then 483 years brings us to ca. AD 26-27 when Jesus was beginning His public ministry
- At the end of the 69th week the Messiah is cut off (put to death)

James Boice states this, " By whatever set of calculations one makes, the point is that by the end of the sixty-nine weeks of years [or shortly after] the great work of the atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ for sin should be completed (Daniel, 101)."

Persecution by the antichrist and his defeat (vs. 27) in the final or seventieth week

Messiah has been rejected and judgement comes "from what Gabriel calls 'the people of the coming ruler' (Akin, pg. 123)."
- This seventieth week is obviously a debate because this by definition should have happened a LONG TIME AGO!
  - We can easily assume; however, that this seventieth week will be the last seven years of earth.
The antichrist makes a promise with the peoples and then breaks it about midway through his reign
- Regulating and outlawing sacrifice and worship of God Almighty and only allowing worship of himself
This will continue until the prophesied destruction is completed

Does anyone else's brain hurt after that?

Regardless of timelines, scholars, historians, etc. We know that Christ came and died for our sins. We also know that the world will end under the corrupt rule of the antichrist. However, we also know that He Will NOT Win. God is victorious. He keeps His promises.

Let's go to the Father in prayer:

Father, Adonai, King of the Universe, thank you for your word. It is truly a blessing to have your word available to us so that we can seek a deeper relationship with you. The kingdom that you have promised is much desired, but I pray that you will help me to tell others about it. Please help me to go wherever you tell me to go. Thank you for you love, mercy and grace! Amen.

Resources:

Akin, Daniel L.. Exalting Jesus in Daniel. Christ Centered Exposition, edited by David Platt, Daniel L. Akin, and Tony Merida. Nashville. : B&H Publishing Group, 2017.

Boice, James Montgomery. Daniel: An Expositional Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2003.

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