The prophecy is distinguished by several defined times, more marked than any other vision of scripture. There is no small variety in the character of the prophecies. God gives the very best of every kind; but here we have certain definite times. You may recall what the Lord said in the beginning of His ministry (Mark 1:15), “The time is fulfilled.” What time? Does He not allude to this vision of Daniel? Notoriously, as a matter of fact, “the people were in expectation,” and all men reasoned in their hearts concerning John, whether haply he were the Christ. The Magi in the East might not know the recent prophets; but they had preserved the remembrance of a vision seen of old by a Gentile seer, hired to curse Israel, yet compelled of God to bless. He had said, “I see Him, but not now, I behold Him, but not nigh. There shall come forth a star out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel,” &c. When God gave the star to these gazers, it was enough to send them to Jerusalem. Evidently they had conscience toward God, and when they saw the star they connected it with the ancient prophecy, and set out on their long and arduous journey to pay honor to the one born King of the Jews.
Certain it is that they were in earnest, and the Lord blessed them. Thus not only the Jews but also distant Gentiles were on the watch when the time arrived. It was more especially “fulfilled” when the Lord presented Himself to Israel as the Messiah and began to preach the kingdom of heaven as drawn nigh.
Here are the terms of this prophecy. “Seventy weeks are decreed (or apportioned) upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish transgression and to make an end of sins, ant to make expiation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up vision and prophet, and to anoint the holy of holies (ver. 24).
Here the scope is laid down with precision. The period as a whole regards, not the gospel or the church, or even Israel in general, but the Jews as such: “Seventy weeks are apportioned (or decreed) upon thy people and upon thy holy city.” Nor is this all, but we have this result— “to finish the transgression and to make an end of sins,” &c. This cannot be for the Jews distinctively till they shall say, Blessed be He that cometh in the name of Jehovah. Then will they see the Messiah with the eye of faith. It will only be when the last week has run its course; but this, as will appear shortly, supposes the condemnation of this age, and the beginning of the age to come. No doubt we receive the blessing of the gospel now, while the Jews as a people are wrapped up in unbelief. We who know Christ gone on high after suffering on the cross do not wait for expiation till then; whereas the Jews have it only when the Great Priest comes forth from the heavenly sanctuary by-and-by, as Lev. 16 shows. Then for them will everlasting righteousness be brought in, vision and prophet be sealed up, and the holy of holies anointed; for us who walk by faith, not sight, God foresaw and bestowed “some better thing.” But the Jews will surely have their good portion at the close of the age.
The Seventy Weeks are beyond just question four hundred and ninety years; but we are prepared, not only for sections, but also for an interruption of indefinite length between the last two. This seems clearly conveyed by the language of the prophecy itself in verse 26: “Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the word to restore and to build Jerusalem unto Messiah the Prince are seven weeks and sixty-two weeks. It shall be built again, street and moat, even in troublous times. And after the sixty-two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, and shall have nothing. And the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and its end shall be with an overflow, and unto the end war—the desolations determined” (vers. 25, 26).
The first section of seven weeks means a period of forty-nine years; and this was occupied with the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the temple as recorded in Ezra and Nehemiah. Then come the sixty-two weeks besides, which bring us down to Messiah expressly. Of course the starting-point from this period of sixty-nine weeks is itself important. It is the commandment to restore and rebuild Jerusalem, of which we have the inspired account in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. There are two commands of the same king. The one was in the seventh year, the other in the twentieth, of Artaxerxes Longimanus. The one more particularly referred to the temple, and the other to the city. Thus a question has arisen, as to which it is well not to speak too confidently. It is, after all, an interval of less than fourteen years. Between the two the epoch must fall. It may help to observe that the beginning of ver. 26 gives a little latitude, as the text says, not “at” but “after the sixty-two weeks” with the first seven. This appears to leave room for the margin; and such care seems to be consistent with God's wisdom. After the sixty-two weeks then, we are told that Messiah would be received? The saddest reverse: “Messiah shall be cut off, and shall have nothing.”
The prophecy, therefore, is remarkable, not only for giving the time with a noteworthy care, but also for that momentous truth: the actual downfall of Judaism in the rejection of Christ. The latter clause is wretchedly mistaken in the Authorized version. The Revised, on the contrary, gives it right. It should not be, “but not for himself,” but “and shall have nothing.” There is no question on the ground of Hebrew grammar. It can mean only “and shall have nothing.” “But not for himself” is wholly unfounded. Shall I tell you how it came in? Because the Authorized Version wanted to make it sound Christian doctrine. But what had this to do with Gabriel's communication to Daniel? The only legitimate sense is “He shall be cut off and shall have nothing.” With His cutting off went the loss of His Messianic rights, His glory as set king on the holy hill of Zion. All that was His in connection with the Jewish people and Jerusalem passed away entirely for the time. And how true is all this? “They shall smite the Judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek” (Mic. 5:1). Christ has none of the promised glory as Ruler in Israel, though “His goings forth are from of old, from the days of eternity.”
As far as the Jews are concerned in His blessings, He is as if He did not exist. It is blessedly true, as we Christians know, that God raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory of a new kind, altogether outside of prophecy, not David's throne in Zion, but God's throne in heaven. How absurd to confound with this the throne of David! David never reigned in heaven, and Christ does not reign on earth; and that theologians confound the two wholly different things is an error which not only makes their scheme fabulous, but lowers His glory and our hope from heaven to earth. The proper character of Christianity is lost, and Israel are naturally defrauded of their peculiar prospects.
It is not scripture that is wrong, but only men's version and interpretation, made to suit a Judaized Christianity. Our Lord being rejected by the people would and could not reign over a rebellious people. Even when they wanted to force on Him a kingdom on earth, the Lord withdrew to the mountain and would have none of it. He was not to reign over the wicked, the unclean, the unbelieving. Men thought it excellent to have a king that could give them bread without working for it. And such is the socialist craving in another form to-day. Man would provide for the needy out of the means of the thrifty and industrious. Certainly the Jews desired then to make Jesus their king who had proved His power and willingness to feed them freely. There was no repentance any more than faith in that. Why were Jews without bread? Why, servants of the Gentiles? Repentance owns our sins, and faith cannot stop short of remission of sins from the God Who has sent His Son to save. Miracles are a sign to sinners that God concerns Himself compassionately with those who have departed from Him. Only in the Son of God is life, eternal life; and God is giving it in Him to all that believe; and it is He Who bore our sins in His own body on the tree, so that the blessing is complete.