Daniel 9:26-The Events Between the Sixty-Ninth and Seventieth Week (Doctrinal Bible Church in Huntsville, Alabama)

Doctrinal Bible Church

Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom

Wednesday January 24, 2024

Day of the Lord Series: The Events Between the Sixty-Ninth and Seventieth Week

Lesson # 7

Daniel 9:24 “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. 25 “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. 26 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. 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 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.” (NIV 84)

Daniel 9:26 “Then, after the sixty two-units of seven years, the Messiah will be executed so that He possesses nothing. Next, the people of the coming leader will destroy the city as well as the sanctuary. Indeed, its end will take place with a flood. Yes, there will be war up to the end. Desolations have been decreed.” (Pastor’s translation)

Gabriel now proceeds to inform Daniel of events which will transpire after the four hundred eighty-third prophetic year.

The first event that will take place is the execution of the Messiah so that He possesses nothing, which was fulfilled in history by Jesus of Nazareth when He was executed as a criminal by Rome through crucifixion.

The fact that the Messiah would possess nothing as a result of this execution was also fulfilled by Jesus of Nazareth since it denotes that He did not establish in bodily form His millennial kingdom on the earth.

The millennial reign of Christ did not take place as a result of Israel rejecting Jesus of Nazareth as their Messiah and King (John 1:11).

Thus, Gabriel’s statement here in Daniel 9:26 makes crystal clear there is a time gap between the sixty-ninth and seventieth week.

Remember the sixty-two weeks are sixty-two units of seven years or four hundred thirty-four prophetic years and they immediately follow the first seven weeks which are seven units of seven years or forty-nine prophetic years.

There is no time gap in between the seven units of seven years or first seven weeks and the sixty-two units of seven years or four hundred and thirty-four prophetic years.

They are to be added together in this prophecy and thus constitute sixty-nine weeks which are sixty-nine units of seven years or four hundred eighty-three prophetic years.

Here in Daniel 9:26, Gabriel informs Daniel that the execution of the Messiah will take place “after” the sixty-two weeks, i.e. the sixty-two units of seven years or four hundred thirty-four prophetic years.

Thus, the execution is “after” the sixty-nine weeks, i.e. the sixty-nine units of seven years which are four hundred eighty-three prophetic years.

The seventieth week does not begin until the treaty between the prince who is to come and Israel is established and the execution of the Messiah comes before this treaty.

Therefore, those interpreters who argue there is no time gap between the sixty-ninth and seventieth week are in error and so consequently, the seventieth week is still yet future.

There are several major factors which support the view that there is a time gap between the fulfillment of the sixty-ninth week and the seventieth.

First, the six divine objectives which appear in Daniel 9:24 must be fulfilled within the seventy weeks, however, these have emphatically not been fulfilled historically.

For instance, the objective of anointing the most holy place has not taken place within the 490 years.

The holy place was destroyed in Daniel 9:26 but then in Daniel 9:27 we see it rebuilt since sacrifices were allowed under the “firm covenant,” however, this temple does not presently exist.

Therefore, one must see a future fulfillment during the seventieth week in Daniel 9:27, which thus necessitates a time gap, which corresponds to the church age as we noted.

Another major factor supporting a time gap is that the “he” in Daniel 9:27 refers to “the prince who is to come” since in Daniel 9:26, if one follows the rules of grammar which would support the view that the nearest antecedent for, the “he” in verse 27 is “the prince who is to come” in Daniel 9:26.

Connected to this third point, is that if the “he” in Daniel 9:27 is the Messiah, then one cannot reconcile the fact that the temple sacrifices continued until 70 A.D. over thirty years after the crucifixion of Christ and furthermore, the “he” in Daniel 9:27 breaks the covenant.

At what point did Christ make a covenant with the Jews and then break it?

There is nothing in the New Testament which would even suggest this.

Another major factor which supports the time gap is that the events mentioned in the last three and a half years of Daniel 9:27 fit perfectly with the events described in the book of Revelation.

Furthermore, if the first sixty-nine weeks have been literally fulfilled in history, then we would expect the seventieth week to be as well and of course we have not seen a literal fulfillment in history of the seventieth week.

We have not seen a Roman dictator make a seven-year treaty with Israel and then break it in the middle of this seven-year period, nor, have we seen in history a Roman dictator put a stop to the sacrifices in the temple and in fact, no temple is standing in Israel today.

However, Christ’s first advent and presentation of Himself to the nation of Israel as her king has taken place literally in history as recorded in the gospels and thus fulfilling literally Daniel 9:25.

We have also seen the fulfillment of Daniel 9:26 and the cutting off of the Messiah after this presentation, which is recorded in the gospels.

Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed by the Romans as predicted in Daniel 9:26.

Thus, it follows that if Daniel 9:25-26 were fulfilled literally in history, then we can expect the same for Daniel 9:27.

Gabriel then proceeds to tell Daniel that there will also be a second event following the execution of the Messiah, namely the people of the coming leader will destroy the city as well as the sanctuary.

Gabriel then advances upon this statement by informing him that Jerusalem’s end will take place with a flood, which is a metaphor for sudden destruction by war.

Like the first event, this second and third events have been fulfilled in history as well because in 70 A.D. the Roman armies under Titus laid siege to Jerusalem and destroyed this city as well as Herod’s temple.

This destruction was not only in fulfillment of the prophecy here in Daniel 9:26 but fulfilled the Lord Jesus Christ’s prophecy of the destruction of this city (Luke 19:43-44) and temple (Matthew 24:2; Luke 21:6).

In A.D. 70 less than 40 years after Christ’s prophecy, the Roman legions of Titus besieged Jerusalem, killing more than one million of her inhabitants, and totally fulfilling Christ’s prophecy in Luke 19:44.

The bloodthirsty cry of the people in Matthew 27:23, “Let Him be crucified” and in Matthew 27:25, “let His blood be on us, and on our children” had its tragic fulfillment for 40 years later the Roman legions led by Titus sacked Jerusalem and destroyed the Herodian Temple and slaughtered the citizens of Jerusalem.

Notice, in Daniel 9:26 that Gabriel informs Daniel that it will be the people and not the coming leader who will destroy Jerusalem and the temple.

Remember Antichrist does not destroy Jerusalem or the Temple according to the book of Revelation.

Zechariah 12 and 14 teach that Jerusalem will be under attack but some Jews will continue to fight in the city until the Second Advent of Christ.

The coming leader is a reference to Antichrist and it is not a reference to Jesus Christ since He is not a Roman and furthermore, the Messiah is said to be executed in the first statement in verse 26.

So this coming leader comes after the execution of the Messiah.

The coming leader is also not a reference to the Roman general Titus who led the siege against Jerusalem in 70 A.D. since the emphasis in the passage is upon “the people.”

It is stated this way because this prophecy would link the Roman destruction with the event which took place in 70 A.D. while simultaneously setting up Antichrist to be linked to the first “he” in Daniel 9:27 and the seventieth week.

The coming leader also cannot be Antiochus Epiphanes IV since he did not destroy Jerusalem or the temple.

Therefore, this second event mentioned in Daniel 9:26 makes clear that the people and the coming leader will not appear on the pages of history at the same time.

Daniel 9:27 also make it crystal clear that the coming leader is the future persecutor of the nation of Israel during the seventieth week or seventieth unit of seven years.

So the phrase “the people of the coming leader” simply means that this coming leader will originate from the people who destroyed Jerusalem and the Herodian temple in 70 A.D.

Thus, history has made clear that the first two events which are prophesied to take place after the sixty-ninth week or four hundred eighty-third prophetic year have been fulfilled in history.

The last event is that there will be war up to the end of the seventieth week for the Jewish people and their capital city and desolations have been decreed by God for Jerusalem and this too has been fulfilled in history.