The Seventy Sevens of Daniel
Calculating the exact arrival of the Messiah and Identifying the End Times
Arguably the most interesting prophecy ever recorded is found in the Bible in Daniel 9:24-27. It was given to Daniel by the Angel Gabriel around 538 BC while Daniel was a captive in Babylon. It outlines the precise future of Israel from about 444 BC to the arrival of the Messiah in AD 33 and then also the entire period of the end times much later. As we will see, it is a very exact mathematical calculation of the arrival of Jesus, followed by a description of the events that will follow and will identify when the end times begin and a high level view of what will happen. Depending on your translation, the prophecy begins with the words "Seventy sevens are decreed" which is the title of this newsletter because of its importance in the realm of Biblical Prophecy.
The word "shiva" in Hebrew can be translated "seven" or "week". If you are Jewish and are "sitting shiva", for example, you are “sitting seven” which in the context means that you are mourning the dead for a week or 7 days. The length of time is dependent on the context. When it says that "Seventy sevens have been decreed", scholars generally agree that this is talking about 70x7=490 units of time and almost certainly means 490 years (as opposed to 70 actual weeks or 490 days) since this is the only interpretation that is meaningful in the context. Thus, going forward, we will refer to each "week" as a period of seven years and then we will see how the math works perfectly. For clarity I will use the translation "seven" wherever this word occurs:
24 “Seventy sevens have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the wrongdoing, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for guilt, 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 understand that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem, until Messiah the Prince, there will be seven sevens and sixty-two sevens; it will be built again, with streets and moat, even in times of distress.
26 Then after the sixty-two sevens, 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 confirm a covenant with the many for one seven, but in the middle of the seven he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come the one who makes desolate, until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, gushes forth on the one who makes desolate.”
Verse 24 - The Summary
Verse 24 is a summary and the details are provided in the next 3 verses. Verse 24 says that this prophecy applies to "your people" which for Daniel this is the Jewish people. The next six things listed in this verse describe at a high level what will occur in this 490 year period of time:
"Finish the wrongdoing" is likely talking about the fact that they have been led into captivity because of idolatry.
"make an end of sin" is referring to how God will deal with sin, especially in Israel.
"to make atonement for guilt" is the fact that the Messiah will become the perfect and final atonement.
"to bring in everlasting righteousness" is likely the result of this atonement and the establishment of God's Millennial Kingdom on Earth.
"to seal up vision and prophecy" means that there will no longer be any unfulfilled prophecies because everything will be fulfilled.
"to anoint the Most Holy Place" refers to the fact that the final Millennial temple will be in place and operational.
Verse 25 - The Detailed Calculation of the Arrival of the Messiah
We now move into the specific details of the prophecy. Verse 25 describes the rebuilding of Jerusalem. Remember that in Daniel's time Jerusalem had been destroyed by the Babylonians. The verse lists 7 sevens and 62 sevens. The reason for the breakdown is that it took 49 years (7x7) for Jerusalem to be rebuilt and after that another 434 years (62x7) for the Messiah to arrive.
So the obvious question is when did this occur? Although there have been several dates proposed, the one historical event that fits best is recorded in the Bible in Nehemiah 2:1-8 where Nehemiah is given a decree from Artexerxes to rebuild Jerusalem including the city walls. It is known from history that this took place in the Jewish month of Nisan (March/April) 444 BC and more specifically March 5 in a Gregorian calendar.
There is an interesting calculation that was presented by Dr Harold Hoehner in 1975 (1) to calculate 69 x 7 years from this date to see when the Messiah arrived. Note that in the book of Daniel, the Jewish 360-day lunar year would be used in any calculations of this sort. So, there is some conversion required to go between a prophecy using the Jewish year and a Gregorian calendar which we use. Here is an excerpt from his book:
"Multiplying the sixty-nine weeks by 7 years for each week by 360 days gives a total of 173,880 days. The difference between 444 B.C. and A.D. 33, then is 476 solar years. By multiplying 476 by 365.24219879 or by 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, 45.975 seconds, one comes to 173,855.28662404 days, or 173,855 days, 6 hours, 52 minutes, 44 seconds. This leaves only 25 days to be accounted for between 444 B.C. and A.D. 33. By adding the 25 days to March 5 (of 444 B.C.), one comes to March 30 (of A.D. 33) which was Nisan 10 in AD 33. This is the triumphal entry of Jesus in Jerusalem."
Thus, 69 times 7 years into the prophecy takes us precisely to Palm Sunday when Jesus rode into Jerusalem. The first conclusion that we can draw from this prophecy is that Jesus is the Messiah that is referenced. So, things are beginning to get interesting.
Verse 26 - The time between the Messiah and the End Times (You Are Here Now)
The most important word in verse 26 is the word "after." In other words, what is about to be described occurs after the 69 sevens. If we look ahead for a moment to verse 27 we see the description of the 70th "week" or 7 year period. Good interpretation skills would indicate that verse 26 takes place after the 69th "week" and before the 70th, otherwise there would be no reason to word it like this. In theological terms, this is known as an intercalation (2). There are intervening events in the middle that separate the final "week" from the rest. So, what happens in this intervening time? It lists 5 things:
"the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing" is a strong indication that something very bad happens to the Messiah. We know historically that Jesus was crucified.
"people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary" happened in A.D. 70 when the Romans under Titus came and destroyed Jerusalem and the temple. More about "the prince who is to come" later.
"its end will come with a flood" is an idiom for a military invasion.
"even to the end there will be war" which has been the history of the land of Israel.
"desolations are determined" indicates the state of the land for centuries until 1948 when it became the State of Israel again (likely the subject of a newsletter in the future).
Verse 27 - The Final 7 Year Tribulation
We now pick up the 70 sevens chronology again now that we have the indication that we are discussing the final "seven". Note that the "he" is an unnamed person who causes an "abomination" that "makes desolate." We should note that these specific words are used elsewhere in the Bible by Jesus, and that Paul and John also prophesy about this same person.
Jesus refers directly to it centuries later in the Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24:15:
"Therefore when you see the abomination of desolation which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place—let the reader understand—"
The context here is Jesus talking about the future end times and refers specifically to this verse we are discussing in Daniel.
The Apostle Paul also talks about this same event in 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4:
"No one is to deceive you in any way! For it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God."
Putting these together it describes a man of lawlessness who will commit blaphemies against God in the temple after stopping the sacrifices. Note that this happens "in the middle of the seven" which in our chronology would be at the midpoint on the 7 years, after 3 1/2 years. We can now connect this with a passage in Revelation 13:4-6 where John writes:
"they worshiped the dragon because he gave his authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who is able to wage war with him?” A mouth was given to him speaking arrogant words and blasphemies, and authority to act for forty-two months was given to him. And he opened his mouth in blasphemies against God, to blaspheme His name and His tabernacle, that is, those who dwell in heaven."
As we know, 3 1/2 years is 42 months. These 3 passages are all describing the same event. We refer to this person as "the Antichrist" because his actions are those of one who opposes God in every way.
So, if there is a period of time between the events of the first 69 x seven years and the final seven years, how do we know when this final 7 years begins? The answer is in the beginning of this verse:
"he will confirm a covenant with the many for one seven"
When there is a covenant that is confirmed between this "Antichrist" and "the many", it will be the beginning of what we know to be the "7 year Tribulation" that demarks the end times. Although it is not stated explicitly, the context is Israel, so many believe that this covenant is an agreement between the Antichrist and the leadership in Israel.
Okay, we now need a graphic to show how all of this fits together in the big picture.
If this sounds frightening and maybe like we are not that far away from a man of lawlessness who confirms a covenant with Israel, we should be thinking about how we can avoid being here when it happens. In the same context that we quoted above where Jesus identified the Antichrist, He states this in Luke 21:34-36:
Be on guard, so that your hearts will not be weighted down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of life, and that day will not come on you suddenly like a trap; for it will come upon all those who dwell on the face of all the earth. But keep on the alert at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are about to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.
Notice that Jesus indicates that the way to escape is not to be on the Earth when it all goes down (since it will happen to "all those who dwell on the face of all the earth"). And if we escape where does it say that we will be? Answer: Standing before the Son of Man (Jesus). This is a vague reference to the rapture of all believers before this happens (the subject of another newsletter in the future). The time is near. The hourglass is nearly empty.
(1) Chronological Aspects of the Life of Christ, by Dr Harold W. Hoehner, 1977, Zondervan Publishing House.
(2) The Footsteps of the Messiah, by Dr Arnold Fruchtenbaum, 2003, Ariel Ministries.
All quotations are from the New American Standard Bible.