Daily Devotion 19 June 2024 Daniel 9 Gabriel’s Prophecy of the Seventy Weeks

Good morning,

Daniel 9 serves as a powerful testament to the potency of prayer, God’s faithfulness, and the unfolding of His divine plans. Despite Israel’s repeated sins, God’s enduring love and willingness to forgive offer hope for restoration. The prophecy of Seventy ‘sevens’ reminds us of God’s sovereignty over time and history, and His ultimate plan for redemption.

Daniel 9

Gabriel’s Prophecy of the Seventy Weeks

Prayer and Repentance (Daniel 9:1-6)

In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, which was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans;2 In the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, whereof the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.3 And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes:4 And I prayed unto the Lord my God, and made my confession, and said, O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments;5 We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments:6 Neither have we hearkened unto thy servants the prophets, which spake in thy name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.

In the first year of Darius, Daniel understood from the Scriptures that Jerusalem’s desolation, prophesied by Jeremiah, would last seventy years. Daniel then confesses his sins and the sins of his people, acknowledging God’s righteousness in His judgments. (Bible Hub Chapter Summaries-Daniel 9)

Plea for Mercy (Daniel 9:7-19)

7 O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us confusion of faces, as at this day; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto all Israel, that are near, and that are far off, through all the countries whither thou hast driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against thee.8 O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against thee.9 To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against him;10 Neither have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets.11 Yea, all Israel have transgressed thy law, even by departing, that they might not obey thy voice; therefore the curse is poured upon us, and the oath that is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, because we have sinned against him.12 And he hath confirmed his words, which he spake against us, and against our judges that judged us, by bringing upon us a great evil: for under the whole heaven hath not been done as hath been done upon Jerusalem.13 As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us: yet made we not our prayer before the Lord our God, that we might turn from our iniquities, and understand thy truth.14 Therefore hath the Lord watched upon the evil, and brought it upon us: for the Lord our God is righteous in all his works which he doeth: for we obeyed not his voice.15 And now, O Lord our God, that hast brought thy people forth out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and hast gotten thee renown, as at this day; we have sinned, we have done wickedly.16 O Lord, according to all thy righteousness, I beseech thee, let thine anger and thy fury be turned away from thy city Jerusalem, thy holy mountain: because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and thy people are become a reproach to all that are about us.17 Now therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of thy servant, and his supplications, and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord’s sake.18 O my God, incline thine ear, and hear; open thine eyes, and behold our desolations, and the city which is called by thy name: for we do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousnesses, but for thy great mercies.19 O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, hearken and do; defer not, for thine own sake, O my God: for thy city and thy people are called by thy name.   

Daniel fervently continues his prayer, pleading God’s mercy on His city Jerusalem and His people, admitting their rebellion against Him, and confessing God’s righteousness in bringing judgment upon them. (Bible Hub Chapter Summaries-Daniel 9)

Divine Response and Prophecy (Daniel 9:20-23)        

 20 And whiles I was speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God for the holy mountain of my God;21 Yea, whiles I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation.22 And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding.23 At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth, and I am come to shew thee; for thou art greatly beloved: therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision.

While Daniel was still praying, Gabriel, who he had seen in an earlier vision, came swiftly to him. Gabriel explains that he has come to give Daniel insight and understanding, as his prayers were heard as soon as he began to pray.  (Bible Hub Chapter Summaries-Daniel 9)

The Seventy ‘Sevens’ (Daniel 9:24-27)

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.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.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.27 And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

Gabriel delivers the prophecy of Seventy ‘sevens’, explaining that 70 weeks are decreed for Daniel’s people and the holy city. This prophecy encompasses the coming of an anointed one, a period of distress and desolation, and the ultimate establishment of everlasting righteousness.(Bible Hub Chapter Summaries-Daniel 9)

 V. 24 “Seventy weeks” represents seventy sevens of years. The term set the time of the end of Israel’s punishment. The seven weeks of years (49 years) in v.25 may refer to the time of building the Temple  walls at Jerusalem and to the reestablishing  of the nation after the captivity. There were to be sixty-two (434 years) plus seven (49 years), or sixty-nine weeks of years, 483 years until the time of the Savior.

V. 26 After the mentioned “threescore and two weeks” in verse 24 (following the seven weeks)-thus, after the 483 years preceding the time of the Messiah-the Messiah will be cut off. 

The sixty-ninth week is reckoned to have ended at the death of Christ. God left the Temple: “Behold your house is left unto you desolate” (Matt. 23:38). Israel had killed her Messiah and with her empty forms of worship, could not represent God on earth. Soon Titus would destroy the Temple, and Israel would be scattered all over the world. 

Rome destroyed Jerusalem under Titus in A.D. 70. Titus later became emperor of Rome (A.D. 79-81), so Romans are “the people of the prince that shall come” (the Antichrist) in the restored Roman Empire.

V. 27  The dictator-to-be of the restored Roman Empire in the tribulation time will make a covenant with Israel for seven years that they may restore the O.T. worship with priests, sacrifices, and Temple. This great gap for Israel as a nation will exist from the death of Christ until the Antichrist’s decree. Today God has no nation Israel, no Temple, no priests, no sacrifices, serving the true God. The little nation Israel, formed in 1948, is not counted here as Israel and will not be counted  until the Antichrist appears and agrees to the O.T. worship–sacrifices, and priesthood again.

After three and one-half years, the Man of Sin, or Antichrist, will stop Israel’s sacrifices and commit the “abomination of desolation” (Matt. 24:15). Second Thessalonians 2:3 mentions the Antichrist, “man of sin…the son of perdition”; and verse 4 records, “Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.” 

This coming ruler of the revised Roman Empire–the Antichrist or Man of sin–is the same as the horn rising among the ten horns in Daniel 7:24. His persecution of the saints and Jews after he stops the sacrifices will continue for “a time and times and dividing of time” (7:25). That is the last three and one-half years, the forty-two months, or, 1,260 days, of the Great Tribulation (Rev. 11:2, 3, 12:6, 14; Dan. 8:14; 12:7)

From many Scriptures we know that Christ’s coming for His saints is imminent. He may come at any moment before these revealed matters about the Antichrist, but the Bible gives no hint as to an exact date. We only know that Christ is bound to come before those other prophesied events occur. (The Rice Reference Bible,1981, pg.925-926)

Daniel 9 unfolds as a heartfelt episode in the life of Daniel, the prophet in Babylonian exile. It is marked by his fervent prayer for his people, Israel, pleading for God’s mercy and forgiveness. Through divine revelation, this chapter unveils God’s future plan for the redemption of His people and the prophecy of Seventy ‘sevens’ shared by the angel Gabriel, making it a significant chapter in biblical prophecy. (Bible Hub Chapter Summaries-Daniel 9)

Themes

The prophecy of Seventy ‘sevens’

God’s Righteous Judgment

The role of angels in communication with humanity

People

Daniel

Gabriel – the angel

Darius – the king of Persia

Jeremiah – the prophet (mentioned)

God

Locations

Babylon (where Daniel was exiled)

Jerusalem (mentioned in the context of restoration)

Tom Stearns, WASI Chaplain, 907 715-4001 chaplain@alaskaseniors.com

Tom Stearns, WASI Chaplain, 907 715-4001 chaplain@alaskaseniors.com