The Seventy Weeks II

Daniel 9

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.

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.

9:26 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.


From verse 24, there are six major events that

are identified over this prophetic period of

(seventy sevens) 490 years:
1. to finish transgression
2. to put an end to sin
3. to atone for wickedness
4. to bring in everlasting righteousness
5. to seal up vision and prophecy
6. to anoint the most holy

In order to interpret the final week of Daniel's

seventy weeks, that culminates in fulfillment of

the sixth event above, we have to go to the book

of the Revelation where a more complete

description of the end times is given. The book

of Daniel only provides an outline of prophetic

events leading up to the 'time of the end'. No

matter how you look at it, the seventy weeks

prophecy of Daniel has been, up to this point,

accurate. Who could have known the timeframe of

events related to the history of the nation of

Israel during the days of the Babylonian

captivity? Who could guess that after the

arrival of Jesus, the Messiah, that Daniel

foretold, the 483 year period would come to a

close, and the prophetic clock would pause in

anticipation of the time of the end? Now, we see

in modern times, the revival of the nation of

Israel, and await the completion of the final

'week' of Daniel's prophecy.


As I look at the book of Daniel, what I see is a

prototype or model that is symbolic of the events

yet to come. It is a literal prophecy, and a

literal history of events surrounding Daniel's

life, but it also carries a symbolic

representation of events. That's something not

unique to the book of Daniel. It's the same case

for all of the hebrew scripture. As one person

said, the Old Testament is Jesus concealed and

the New Testament is Jesus revealed. Throughout

the hebrew scriptures are symbolic or metaphoric

descriptions, and I suspect that Daniel provides

us with a symbolic model that dovetails the

events described in Revelation.


Right now, I'm looking at an outline of the book

of Daniel. It has only three major divisions; an

introduction, judgement of gentile nations and

ultimate restoration of Israel. Gentile nations

represent the kingdom's of this world, also known

as the kingdom of man. Israel represents the

kingdom of heaven. There are only two final

eternal destinations for every person -- heaven

or hell, the kingdom of man or the kingdom of

G-d. What Daniel shows us in symbolic form is

that the kingdom of man will continue along the

same idolatrous path that it has always trod.

And the kingdom of heaven will one day exert its

authority, ending the conflict between the two

kingdoms in a final and permanent restoration of

its eternal reign. Until then, we can only wait,

just as Daniel did, with the hope that these

events will come to pass in their alloted time.

If the other prophecies of Daniel provide any

indication of the likelihood of a final permanent

restoration, then we have good reason for our

faith. (As if the resurrection were not reason

enough.)


Another parallel that I draw from looking at the

book of Daniel is that there is, as there has

always been, a clearly defined distinction

between these two kingdoms. The kingdom of man

has always been characterized by hatred and

chaos. The kingdom of heaven has always been

characterized by love and peace. The hatred and

love that characterize these two are attitudes

directed toward G-d, and tangentially, toward

fellow man. I think that if we look at the world

around us we can see evidence of these two

kingdoms in conflict.