The Prophet Daniel's Seventy Weeks

 •  2 min. read  •  grade level: 12
 
The prophet Daniel announced his famous prophecy of seventy weeks. Between the building of the wall at Jerusalem (Neh. 2:11And it came to pass in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, that wine was before him: and I took up the wine, and gave it unto the king. Now I had not been beforetime sad in his presence. (Nehemiah 2:1)), and the crucifixion of our Lord, sixty-nine weeks were to elapse, counting each day as a year,* amounting to four hundred and eighty-three years. This has been fulfilled to the letter. Our Lord was "cut off, but not for Himself" (Dan. 9:2626And 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. (Daniel 9:26)), for He died an atoning death. Then we find the people of the Prince, that is to come (that is, the Head of the revived Roman Empire, who is yet future) would destroy the city and the sanctuary, that is, Jerusalem and the Temple, and this took place in A.D. 70, when Titus, the Roman general, at the head of a huge army, fulfilled unwittingly this prophecy (Dan. 9:2626And 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. (Daniel 9:26)).
There remains yet to be fulfilled Daniel's seventieth week. We find it in the interval between the rapture and the appearing. It is prophesied that the Head of the revived Roman Empire will make a covenant with the Jews in the land of Israel for one week, that is for seven years. All will go smoothly for the first half of the week, when the great act of sacrilege will take place, referred to by our Lord, "When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand): ... for then shall he Great Tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be." (Matt. 24:15, 2115When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) (Matthew 24:15)
21For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. (Matthew 24:21)).
Thus will burst forth the Great Tribulation in the middle of the broken covenant week, that is, it will last for three-and-a-half years, completing Daniel's prophecy of seventy weeks.
It is worthy of special note, that not till Israel became a recognized Republic with sovereign rights was it possible for the Jews to make a covenant or treaty. We see how things are gradually preparing for the last days.