Daniel 9:24-27: The 70 Weeks

Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy place.

25 “So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of distress.

26 “Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined.

27 “And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate.”

Intro

Daniel’s 70 weeks.

If you are familiar with the book of Daniel at all or the study of Eschatology, the study of the End Times, in general, then you have probably heard about Daniel’s 70 weeks.

And because this passage is so difficult to understand, it is a hotbed for theological disagreement and controversy.

Even from the earliest days of the church there has not been consensus on how we should interpret all the particulars of this passage.

Writing in 400 AD, the church father Jerome said: “Because it is unsafe to pass judgment on the opinions of the great teachers of the church and to set one above another, I shall simply repeat the view of each and leave it to the reader’s judgment as to whose explanation ought to be followed.”

Duguid, Daniel, Reformed Expository Commentary (P&R Publishing, 2008), 162.

And then he listed 9 different interpretations of the passage and at the end of it all he said he was unable to decide which one, if any, were right.

So we have our work cut out for us today, and we need to approach this passage with a great measure of humility.

Daniel 9:24-27 is a difficult passage. In fact, commentators agree that it is one of the most difficult passages not only in Daniel but the entire Old Testament.

And that is the only thing they agree on.

So what does all that mean for us today?

I’ll be honest with you I have changed my mind on certain particulars of this passage back and forth and back again.

There are still other particulars of this passage that I think there is a good argument for another interpretation and if I changed my mind tomorrow, next week, or even after the end of this sermon I wouldn’t be surprised.

And I’ll tell you this. I reserve the right to change my opinion on some of these particulars if God were so gracious to lead me into a greater understanding of the truth of the passages through further study.

You might not agree with me on every particular point of this sermon. That’s ok. I don’t even know if I agree with me on every point. And I’ll try to make those spots clear.

But what you should be taking away from this is that this passage is hard. Its hard.

And because of that, it would be foolish to write off a fellow member or even other Bible teachers just because they hold to a different interpretation of the passage.

We need to have charity with fellow believers and remember we are not the standard of truth Christians need to follow. Jesus is.

Now, that makes it sound like I don’t know what I’m talking about and you should just ignore everything I’m about to say.

I wouldn’t do that.

Because even though we might disagree on the exact particulars and every minute detail of this passage, the overall point of the passage is unequivocally clear.

This passage is about the good news of Jesus Christ.

Here’s what Calvin said: No other interpretation can possibly be received than that which refers it to the advent of Christ, and the entire restoration of the Church of God.

Calvin, Commentary on the Book of the Prophet Daniel, vol. 2, 203.

The sad thing about this passage is that we get so whipped up in eschatological debates that we miss the good news of it all.

The Christ of it all.

Listen. You know me. We are going to hit the hard parts of this passage head on. But no matter where you land on the particulars of this passage, even if you disagree with me, I want you walking away with this Big Idea in your mind.

God sent Christ to give us the fullness of salvation from all of our sins.

That is what the 70 weeks is all about.

So with all that said, let’s get into it.

Let’s start with point number 1...

I. The Purpose of the 70 Weeks

Daniel 9:24 Seventy weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place.

Remember where we are.

Daniel was reading the book of Jeremiah and saw that the 70 years of exile were almost over.

Because they broke the covenant, God ripped Israel out of the Promise Land, and now, Daniel was praying that God would bring them back.

That He would restore Israel and the Temple, and bring Israel back into life with God and all the covenant blessings that flow from Him.

And from Daniel’s prayer, God sent the angel, Gabriel, to give Daniel an answer.

Verse 22: O Daniel, I have now come out to give you insight and understanding. At the beginning of your pleas for mercy a word went out, and I have come to tell it to you, for you are greatly loved. Therefore consider the word and understand the vision.

This should give us some encouragement.

God wants us to understand the vision.

So Gabriel says, Seventy weeks (literally that’s 70 sevens. We’ll come back to that) are decreed about your people and your holy city.

And then Gabriel gives six promises that will be fulfilled with the 70 weeks.

He says 70 weeks are decreed to:

Finish the transgression.

Put an end to sin.

Atone for iniquity.

Bring in everlasting righteousness.

Seal both vision and prophet.

To anoint the most holy.

Let’s walk through each of them individually, and then put it all together at the end.

First...

Finish the Transgression

The word finish can mean to restrain, overcome, or put to an end.

Spurgeon described it has taking transgression prisoner and stripping it of all power.

Spurgeon, “Shutting, Sealing, and Covering; or Messiah’s Glorious Work,” in The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, vol. 28 (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1882), 531.

And so with forgiveness, our transgression which carries the idea of turning away from God and hard-heartedly rebelling against him, our transgression is put away. Overcome. And defeated.

Next...

Put an End to Sin.

Put an end is the same word used for seal up vision and prophet, so this is a promise to seal up our sin and put them away once and for all.

It is sealed up, taken away, removed out of sight.

God pours out all the wrath and judgment He has against our sin on Christ, and we are so forgiven that sin truly is put to an end because who can bring a charge against God’s elect? (Rom. 8:33).

Again Spurgeon said, If Christ has made an end of sin there is an end of it: the matter is ended, and no more is to be said.

Spurgeon, “Shutting, Sealing, and Covering; or Messiah’s Glorious Work,” 534.

Third...

Atone for Iniquity.

The Hebrew root word for atone means to cover.

So not only is our sin put to an end, removed, taken away, it is covered and hidden from God’s sight.

Micah 7:19 He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.

Hebrews 8:12 I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.

The promise is that God would cover Israel’s sins and reconcile them to himself.

Summary

So when you put these three together, God is promising Daniel that at the end of the 70 weeks He will finish and overcome their sin.

He will put an end to it. So utterly destroy it that it is completely taken away from His sight.

And that He will cover it. He will throw it into the depths of the sea and remove it as far from us as east is from the west (Ps. 103:12).

So the first three promises have to do with forgiving and overcoming our sin.

The second three deal with Christ establishing an everlasting salvation.

Gabriel says...

Bring in Everlasting Righteousness.

Don’t rip this out of the context of Daniel’s prayer.

Time and again he said To you, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us open shame (Dan. 9:7).

And we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness but because of your great mercy (Dan. 9:18).

In other words, the reason Israel was in exile under God’s judgment is because they were not righteous.

They had broken and fallen short of God’s Law.

And here God is promising to bring in everlasting righteousness.

To make them righteous once and for all, and by doing so, save them forever from God’s judgment and wrath and instead guarantee everlasting blessing and favor for God’s people.

Number 5...

Seal Both Vision and Prophet

In other words, God will fulfill all of His New Covenant promises of salvation.

Everything God had promised through visions and prophets about Christ and Salvation would be fulfilled and come to pass.

And finally...

To Anoint the Most Holy

Literally the Hebrew says anoint the most holy.

It gets translated place because it Daniel’s context it seems most likely that it is talking about the restoration and anointing of the Holy of Holies in the Temple to which I say yes and no.

We will look at it at the end of the sermon, but the Holy of Holies was where God dwelt in the midst of His people.

And where the High Priest would make atonement for sins.

That has all been fulfilled in Christ. He is the anointed most holy where our sins are forgiven and we dwell with God.

Summary

So we have 6 promises that can be divided into two groups of three.

And you’ll want to remember these promises because we are going to come back to them at the end of the sermon.

In the first 3 promises, God promises to forgive and overcome His people’s sins.

To do away with sin.

To abolish the curse of sin once and for all.

And in the second 3 promises, God promises to establish an eternal, everlasting salvation for all of His people.

This is what the 70 weeks is all about. This is what the 70 weeks are all building towards.

The fulfillment of all these promises with the promised Messiah.

Look at verse 25.

Daniel 9:25 CSB Know and understand this: From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until an Anointed One, the ruler, will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks. It will be rebuilt with a plaza and a moat, but in difficult times.

After saying 70 weeks are decreed about you and your people, Gabriel from the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until an Anointed One, the ruler.

The word Anointed One is the Hebrew word for Messiah. For Christ.

So at the end of the day, whatever this passage is, we know its ultimately about the Messiah and our salvation in Him.

That is the only interpretation that fits with context of Daniel’s prayer.

Daniel was praying covenantally. That God would forgive His people’s sins, change their heart, and bring them back into life and covenant blessing with Him.

That’s what Daniel’s whole prayer was all about.

And when God came to answer Daniel, He didn’t just ignore Daniel’s prayer and go off to start talking about the end times.

He answered Daniel.

He answered His prayer for forgiveness and restoration by saying Messiah is coming. Salvation is almost here.

I’m going to bring in all the promises of the New Covenant and answer the fault of the Old.

I’m going to forgive your sins, change your hearts, and bring in everlasting righteousness.

Everlasting life, salvation, favor and blessing.

Well how long? How long until God brings all the glorious promises of the New Covenant?

70 weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city.

And that takes us to point number two...

II. 70 Weeks: Theological or Chronological?

What are the 70 weeks?

This is where this passage starts getting hard.

Literally, in Hebrew of this verse reads “70 sevens.”

And the way God answers Daniel, 70 sevens, as opposed to just saying 490 years, begs the question.

Is this number meant to be interpreted theologically or chronologically?

Is 70 sevens a symbolic number weighted with theological significance or is it just a number that is describing hard and fast, black and white, defined period of time?

Theological

Let’s start with the theological option.

Now inevitably when you start talking about symbolic or theological numbers, some people are going to immediately going to say, “Symbolic numbers?! You aren’t taking the Bible literally!”

But as I’ve said before: reading the Bible literally means you read what the author intended to say.

For example when Jesus says if your eye causes you to sin tear it out and if your hand causes you to sin cut it off, the literal interpretation is not to have a church full of maimed people who have cut off their own body parts.

The literal interpretation says deal with your sin seriously. Cut it out of your life not matter the cost.

And to be sure. There are some numbers, I would say most all numbers in the Bible, that are unequivocally, without a doubt literal.

God created the earth in 6 literal days and rested on the 7th.

Israel wandered in the wilderness for 40 years.

Jonah was in the belly of a fish and Christ was in the grave 3 days.

So how you determine if a number is to be taken theologically comes down to context, in this case prophecy, as opposed to narrative or history, and the number itself.

God’s Word is perfect down to the finest detail, the exact words He chose to use are the exact words the Holy Spirit inspired the Biblical authors to write.

And so if God had said, like we are going to see, 490 years are decreed about your people and your holy city, that’s a pretty precise number and there’s not a lot of wiggle room to say 490 years doesn’t mean 490 years.

The more specific the number is in prophesy, the more likely that the number is meant to be taken as chronological and not theological.

But as it is, Gabriel says 70 sevens.

Sevens of what?

Typically the word sevens is used for seven continuous days or a week which is why its translated 70 weeks here.

But basically no one says this is meant to be taken as 70 literal weeks.

Daniel receives this prophesy in 539 BC and nothing close to what is promised in this passage happens within 70 literal weeks, which is why people take the 70 sevens as 70 weeks of years.

Meaning 1 day, 1 seven equals 1 year so 1 week equals 7 years. Which gets you to 490 total years because 7 times 7 is 490.

Which let’s pause right there just for a second.

Let’s get all the cards out on the table?

Listen. Me personally, I’m torn between a theological interpretation and a chronological interpretation.

Here in just a minute I’m going to cop out and say it might be both.

But what makes talking about eschatology so hard is that typically the very same people who accuse others of not taking the Bible literally, are the same people who say that this passage has to be taken as a literal 490 years.

No question about it. That’s that.

And listen. I’m good with that. I think it could be.

But like I said, all cards on the table, that isn’t taking the Bible literally either. It literally says 70 sevens. Not seventy weeks of years.

Unless you’re saying Daniel is prophesying about 70 literal weeks, even the most, quote-unquote, “literal” of us takes this passage at least somewhat symbolically.

And if 70 sevens can be symbolic for 490 years, why can it be symbolic for an indefinite amount of time?

Let’s use equal weights and measures.

Everyone, I don’t care who you are, to some extent or another, takes this passage symbolically.

The only question is how symbolic is it?

The number 70, in itself, can be a theologically significant number.

In the Bible, 7 is a number that represents perfection or completion in quality.

The world was created in 7 days and God said it was very good.

I will punish you sevenfold for your sins (Lev. 26).

10 is a number for perfection or completion in quantity. So a number for overflowing fullness.

When you put it together 70, seven times 10, theologically equals perfect fullness, and times 7 again would be an overflowing perfect fullness.

Jesus Example

Jesus himself even seems to use the number, 70 times 7, this way.

Remember when Peter asked, “Lord, how many times do I have to forgive my brother? 7 times?

And what Jesus say? Now translations vary. Some say 77 times and others say 70 times 7 as it does in the NASB in Matthew 18:22.

I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven times. Or 70 sevens.

Now obviously Jesus is not saying you have to forgive your brother 490 times but the 491st time you can be done with them.

No. He was saying you always forgive. You forgive with perfect and complete fullness. You forgive as many times as it takes just as God does with us.

So even from our Lord Himself, there seems to be some precedent that this number 70 times 7 might not be a strictly literal number as we normally think of the word, but a theological number for perfect and complete fullness.

Jubilee

There also may be a theological significance to 70 sevens or 490 years total as well.

For a Jew like Daniel, when you hear 490 years phrased as 70 sevens, alarm bells would probably start going off in your mind.

Look at...

Leviticus 25:8 You shall count seven weeks of years, seven times seven years, so that the time of the seven weeks of years shall give you forty-nine years.

Do you see the similar language to Daniel 9. And this passage is actually one of the main reasons people take the 70 weeks of Daniel as 70 weeks of chronological years.

This passage is all about the year of Jubilee.

Every 49 years for Israel, marked the year of Jubilee. And in the year of Jubilee:

1. All debts were be forgiven.

2. Every Jewish slave would go freed.

3. Everyone would receive back the property of their family’s inheritance.

And 4. the Land itself would enjoy a Sabbath rest from planting and harvest.

And the year of Jubilee itself was connected to the Sabbath and God’s covenant with His people, and Hebrews 4 even tells us that the Sabbath, rest from every day work, ultimately pointed to God’s true Sabbath rest from all of our works in Jesus Christ.

So right off the bat, 70 sevens, 490 years, and start thinking along the lines of Sabbath, covenant, salvation, rest blessing, the year of Jubilee.

And Given all that, its easy to see why the prophets took the year of Jubilee and saw it as a foreshadowing all the blessings and salvation that the Messiah would eventually bring.

Jesus Himself even quoted Isaiah in Luke 4 and said The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.

The year of the Lord’s favor is the year of Jubilee, and Christ is saying the Messianic year of Jubilee, the fullness of Jubilee had come in Him just as Daniel said it would.

So what does that have to do with 70 sevens?

Well, if 10 is the theological number for perfect fullness or completion, and 49 is number of years before the Year of Jubilee, then theologically 490 years equals the fullness of God’s Jubilee Salvation in Christ the Messiah!

That the end of the 70 weeks, 490 years, God is going to bring all the fullness of the promises we talked about earlier and with them will come the full and complete Jubilee Salvation for the people of God once and for all!

And going back to Jeremiah’s prophecy that Israel would be in exile for 70 years that started this whole prophecy back in verse 2...

Israel was literally in exile for 70 years.

But it was also theologically significant because God put them in exile for 70 years to pour out the perfect fullness of His judgment for all of Israel’s sins.

And now, God is promising Daniel that as full and complete as His judgment was on Israel in the 70 years of the Babylonian exile, His once for all Jubilee Salvation will be that much more full and complete when the Messiah finally comes.

So if 70 sevens is symbolic that would be the theological significance of the number.

But that doesn’t mean it can also be a literal or chronological number at the same time.

The debate around whether this is a theological or chronological number of years really centers around wherever you think the 70 weeks of years begins which the passage clearly says from the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a prince.

So the clock for when Messiah comes starts with the word going out to restore and build Jerusalem.

What is that? There are several options.

Chronological

The reason why some believers don’t take this as a literal 490 years is because they believe the word to restore and rebuild Jerusalem is the word of Cyrus in 538 BC.

In Isaiah 44:28 God says Cyrus is my shepherd, and he shall fulfill all my purpose’; saying of Jerusalem, “She shall be built,” and of the temple, "Your foundation shall be laid.”

And Ezra 1:1-4 explicitly quotes Cyrus’ own decree saying Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: The Lord, the God of heaven...has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever is among you of all his people, may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and rebuild the house of the Lord.

The issue is that the timeline of the passage, 7 weeks and 62 weeks before the Messiah comes, only gets you to 55 BC around 50 years before Christ, the Anointed One, came to fulfill all of God’s promises from verse 24, so the argument goes, the 70 sevens has to be symbolic.

Personally, this is where I lean today. The Cyrus prophecies just get me because it seems like the Bible is pretty clear that Cyrus would be the one to rebuild Jerusalem.

But there are still other decrees to rebuild and restore Jerusalem that would fit a chronological 483 years.

In Nehemiah 2:5-6 Artaxerxes gave one in 445 BC which MacArthur notes, takes you to Jesus’ Triumphal Entry (MacArthur, Matthew 24-28, 35).

If you take that same date and use a lunar calendar of 360 days like the Jews used instead of a solar calendar of 365 days you get to Jesus’ crucifixion.

If you go back a little further, Ezra 7:12-26 has another decree from Artaxerxes in 457 that takes you to Jesus’ baptism and the beginning of His ministry.

And if I were going to take a chronological position, this is where I would put it leading up to Christ’s baptism.

But like I said. It doesn’t really matter how you take.

I’m honestly torn, and don’t really know where I land.

I lean toward a theological interpretation, but I’ll leave it up to you whatever you think is most convincing.

Because either way, theological or chronological, it doesn’t really matter. Both interpretations are ultimately going to get you to Messiah, the Anointed One.

And that’s where we get into the actual prophecy of the 70 weeks.

III. The Prophecy of the 70 Weeks

We are going to use the NASB translation for this part because I think its a better translation of what the text actually says.

Daniel 9:25 NASB So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of distress.

So from the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem there will be 7 weeks and 62 weeks. 69 weeks total.

And it will be rebuild with plaza and moat.

The word plaza can be translated streets and the word moat is difficult but probably means some time of water system so Jerusalem is restored to a living city.

Its rebuilt from ruins into a city where people actually live.

But all of this is described as a time of distress or what the ESV calls, a troubled time.

And then after the 69th week, with the beginning of the 70th week, Messiah would come.

All good so far?

Now what’s the first 7 weeks? Why is it divided out?

I think this refers to the rebuilding and restoration of the Temple itself.

This was a theologically significant event in history because it fulfilled God’s promises and ultimately pointed to Jesus Christ, the True Temple and the True Sacrifice.

So its marked off with 7 weeks or 49 years as a Jubilee, pointing of course to the greater Jubilee that was coming.

But it was a troubled time because the books of Ezra and Nehemiah make it clear that as they tried to rebuild the city, that faced resistance and opposition from every side trying to get Israel to stop the work.

Then 62 weeks is also a time of distress because after the Babylonian exile, Israel never became a sovereign nation again.

They were occupied and oppressed by foreign powers all the way up to the time of Christ.

After the Persians there was the Greeks. Then the Seleucids with that tyrant, Antiochus Epiphanes, and eventually the Romans.

The Kingdom that Daniel 2 and 7 promised would be the one in power when Christ came to establish His Kingdom and overthrow the kingdoms of men.

And that takes us to the beginning of the 70th week with verses 26 and 27.

70th Week

Now the last 2 verses of Daniel 9 are the verses that cause all the confusion and debate surrounding this passage.

But from what I can tell, all that can be really boiled down to two things, that when we put them in place, really simplify the passage.

The first are those that put an indefinite gap of time between the 69th and 70th years of the prophecy.

And the second is not understanding Hebrew Parallelism and how it shapes the interpretation of this passage.

Let’s talk about the gap.

Gap Theory

The most popular eschatology today is Dispensationalism.

And if you’ve ever heard of the rapture and a literal 7 year Tribulation, that’s Dispensationalism, and Daniel 9 is where they get their theology of a literal 7 year Tribulation one day in the future right before Christ returns.

The argument goes that Christ came to establish His Kingdom. That’s what the 70 weeks are all about.

But the Jews rejected Christ and crucified him and so that put a pause on “the prophecy clock.”

That the 70th week, the 7 year Tribulation after which Christ will establish His Kingdom on earth, is still waiting for sometime in the future and has been waiting for around 2000 years.

And right now we are in what they call a parenthesis.

That the church age was completely unforeseen in the Old Testament and one day God will rapture the Church, start the prophecy clock of the 70th week and deal with Israel again.

But here’s the problem with that. There is no gap in the text. There is no indication that there is a gap in the text.

The 70 sevens are presented as a unit, a unit within which all 6 of the promises from verse 24 would be fulfilled.

Everywhere the Bible gives us a period of Time it is always a continuous or consecutive period of time.

Even in the immediate context. Daniel is told the exile would last for 70 years.

If there was a gap in Jeremiah’s prophecy, Daniel would not have been able to make sense of it and worse, the prophecy given by God would have deceived Him.

Ok Jeremiah. You are going to be in exile for 70 years but between the 69th and 70th year, there’s going to be a 280 year gap that’s not going to count.

That’s the equivalent of what we are talking about it here.

If there was an untold gap it would make Jeremiah’s prophecy of 70 years meaningless and it would make Gabriel’s prophecy of 70 weeks meaningless.

Exegetically and in context, there is absolutely no reason to suggest a gap.

Also, think of it like this.

The entire prophecy refers to 70 weeks or 490 years. If there is a gap, then that gap has lasted 4 times longer than the prophecy itself.

That would be disproportionate and again contradicts the plain reading of the text.

Plus, we are about to see it, but the parallelism of verses 26 and 27 links together the Messiah being cut off and Him making a strong covenant and putting an end to sacrifices referring to Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross and verse 27 clearly says this happens in the middle of the 70th week.

If there is a gap and we were still waiting on the 70th week to be fulfilled, then that would mean the Messiah has not been cut off on our behalf, all the promises of verse 24 are in limbo, and we are still dead in our sins!

There is no indication exegetically or theologically that there is a gap between the 69th and 70th week.

The 70th week follows immediately after the 69th and is the week that Messiah fulfills all the promises from verse 24.

Parallelism

Now number two, what makes this passage really click into place is understanding Hebrew Parallelism.

Verse 26 and 27 follow and A B A B pattern.

The first part of verse 26 is A and goes with the first part of verse 27.

The second part of verse 26 is B and goes with the second part of verse 27.

So verse 27 almost repeats, expands, and clarifies what is said in verse 26

Given that, let’s go through these two verses using its parallel structure to see what it says.

Daniel 9:26-27 A Then after the sixty-two weeks [that is in the 70th week because the 70th week follows after the 7 and 62] the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing...And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering.

Contrary to the interpretation this is referring to a future AntiChrist who will make a political agreement with Israel and put an end to sacrifices one day in the future, this is actually about Christ and His death on the cross in our place for our sins.

This is how all the promises of the 70 weeks were going to be fulfilled. In the death and resurrection of Christ.

The word cut off is the word used for the death penalty in Leviticus 7:20 and refers to a violent death.

Its also the same word used in the Old Testament for cutting, or establishing, a covenant with the death of a sacrifice (Gen. 15:10,18).

Calvin said this can mean nothing else than the death of Christ.

Isaiah 53:8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people?

And when Christ died that vicious and violent death on the cross. He really did have nothing. He was deserted by his disciples, rejected by his own people, and forsaken by God as he bore the sins of many.

The firm covenant than is the New Covenant.

When He gave the Lord’s Supper Jesus said This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins (Matthew 26:27-29).

And with His death in the middle of the week, he put an end to sacrifices and grain offerings.

When Christ died the veil between the Temple and Holy of Holies was ripped in two.

Christ made a full atonement for our sins so that we could draw near to God and from the crucifixion on God did not accept one more animal sacrifice offered in the Temple.

Hebrews 9:12 He entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.

And Hebrews 10 But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God…Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin (Hebrews 10:12, 18).

Christ is the Messiah who was cut off in our place for our sins.

He put an end to sacrifice once and for all because His precious blood forgives our all of our sins forever and ever and ever.

Then part B...

Daniel 9:26-27 B And the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined....And on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate.

Listen to what Calvin said about this prophecy.

Without the slightest doubt, this prophecy was fulfilled when [Jerusalem] was captured and overthrown, and the temple utterly destroyed by Titus the son of Vespasian (Calvin, 229).

This is the abomination of desolation Jesus mentions in Matthew 24, and all this is the consequence of the Messiah being cut off and rejected by His people.

When Luke talks about the abomination of desolation he talks about Jerusalem being surrounded by armies, talking about the Roman armies (Luke 21:20).

So Whether you take the prince to be the the Messiah-Prince from verse 25, Jesus Himself, leading the Roman armies as God led Assyria against Israel and Babylon to destroy Jerusalem in Daniel’s day...

Or you take the prince who will come to be another prince, the Roman General Titus, who led the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD...

This passage is clearly prophesying that because the Jews rejected Christ, crucified Him, and then persisted to reject the gospel and persecute the Church after Jesus rose again from the dead, God was going to utterly destroy Jerusalem.

Its end would come with a flood of God’s judgment and wrath on the wing of abominations.

A word that typically has some association with idolatry because every time Israel held to Old Covenant worship and sacrifices instead of the True Temple Jesus Christ, they were saying We have no king but Caesar.

All their worship became idolatry that reached its height with the crucifixion of Christ.

And all of this came to pass.

We went into in detail when we spent 8 weeks on Matthew 24 and Revelation a few months back

But Christ judged the covenant breakers and poured out on them a complete destruction and in doing so established His Kingdom once and for all over every other Kingdom that ever was or ever will be saying this is what will happen to every nation that rejects Christ.

Now finally, by way of conclusion, we would be foolish to just talk about prophecy and completely miss the point of the prophecy.

And that’s point number 4...

IV. Christ: The True and Ultimate Fulfillment

This will be short, but...

God sent Christ to give us the fullness of salvation from all of our sins.

That’s what Daniel 9:24-27 is all about.

In Christ, God has finished our transgression, put an end to sin, and atoned for iniquity.

Isaiah 53:5-6 He was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

And in Christ, God has brought in the everlasting righteousness of the New Covenant through His once and for all sacrifice.

He has sealed up vision and prophet. He fulfilled every promise about the Messiah and our salvation.

And He anointed the Most Holy.

He is the true Temple where we worship God.

The true place God dwells with us and we are reconciled to HIm.

In Christ, and in Christ alone is the fullness of God’s Jubilee salvation.

The fullness of forgiveness of sins.

The only question is has Christ been cut off for you? Has He become your substitutionary sacrifice?

Believe in Him and He will save you from all your sins.

And for us, we can celebrate the fullness of God’s salvation. We are forgiven once for all in Jesus Christ because God has fulfilled all of His promises and every promise finds its yes and amen in Him (2 Cor 1:20).

And For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Let’s Pray

Scripture Reading

Romans 3:21-26 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.