Chart Notes

Lesson II

Daniel’s Seventy Weeks

Daniel 9:24-27

September 21, 2008

Introduction

How we interpret all Bible prophecy will be determined by how we interpret these verses.

How we interpret these verses will influence how we interpret the words ‘Israel’ and ‘Jerusalem’, elsewhere in the Bible.

How we interpret these verse will determine what we believe about the time of the Rapture and the Return of Christ, as related to the Tribulation.

How we interpret these verses will determine how we will understand Scriptures about the antichrist and a future tribulation.

How we interpret these verses will help determine the hope of the Church

1 John 3:3 the more real this hope becomes the more spiritually minded we will be

Romans 8:6 to be spiritually minded brings life and peace

I Daniel 9:1-19 Daniel’s great prayer.

Verses 1-2 The 70 years in Babylon are fulfilled

Verses 16,19 Daniel prays: What are your plans : for ‘thy city’ and ‘thy people’?

Verses 20-23 The Angel Gabriel is sent with the answer

II Daniel 9:24-27 seventy weeks are determined (weeks of years)

When this revelation was given, all of the events in these verses were future events.

Exodus 23:10,11 Israel was to rest the land every seventh year (Sabbatical)

2 Chronicles 36:20-21 to rest the land, God allowed Babylon to take Israel captive for 70 years as a judgment upon them.

Now, they are being told they will suffer retribution for seventy-sevens, or 490 years

III Daniel 9:24 –two important facts

These years are upon thy people- that is, Israel. They have no more to do with the Church than the 400 years in Egypt, the 40 years in the wilderness and 70 years in Babylon. “Thy people” in this text, can only mean the same people that came out of Babylon and Egypt.

These years are upon thy city. Thy holy city. The only city on earth called ‘holy’ in the Bible is the city of Jerusalem, Israel

Take note also that the remainder of the prophecies in verse 24 have not to do with the weeks, but after the seventy weeks

IV Daniel 9:25-27 have to do with the time of the weeks

Here the key events are named.

A first step is to note that the weeks are divided: into 7 – 62 - 1. ( It helps to put these in boxes of a chart.)

V..Daniel 9:25 seven weeks or 49 years

This period began with the command to restore and rebuild Jerusalem by Cyrus (Isaiah 44:28) given to Nehemiah (Nehemiah 2:8).

Daniel was told “the street shall be built again and the wall in troublous times (Daniel 9:25)

Nehemiah tells how they built with one hand and with the other held a sword (4:17)

V..Daniel 9:26 after threescore and two weeks- or 62 weeks or 434 years.

Daniel tells us nothing about this period, but says after it ‘Messiah will be cut off’.

Isaiah 53:8 teaches us that this ‘cutting off’ is talking about the Cross of Christ. So we learn that 7 plus 62 of Daniel’s weeks were fulfilled before Christ died. Therefore there is but one week left to be fulfilled after Christ’s death.

VI Daniel 9:27 has to do with this last, or 70^th week of Daniel, a period of seven years

During this period, a Roman prince will appear ( the antichrist)

Matthew 24:15 Jesus referred to this period of time

Matthew 24:21 Jesus said then would be “great Tribulation”

Matthew 24:29-30 Jesus said ‘immediately after’ the Son of Man would come

So this 70^th week must be future, which means there is a long space of time between the Cross and the Second Coming ( we are now in that period)

VII Conclude

Revelation 16:1 During this 70^th week God pours out His wrath on the earth

1 Thessalonians 5:9 We, the Church, are not appointed to wrath, but to obtain salvation from it. How ? By Rapture. 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

If the Tribulation is the time of God’s wrath

If we, the Church, are not appointed to wrath

Then the Rapture of the Church must be before the Tribulation

And the Return of Christ to earth immediately after the Tribulation