The Seventy Weeks of Daniel 9

From: Bible Treasury: Volume 15

Daniel 9:27 • 3 min. read • grade level: 9

Q. Have we the last of Daniel's seventy weeks (Dan. 9:27²⁷And 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. (Daniel 9:27)) defined by its events in other parts of the word? Does Matt. 24:4-14⁴And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. ⁵For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. ⁶And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. ⁷For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. ⁸All these are the beginning of sorrows. ⁹Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. ¹⁰And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. ¹¹And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. ¹²And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. ¹³But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. ¹⁴And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. (Matthew 24:4‑14) speak of it in a general way? I have no doubt that verse 15 gives us the commencement of the last half of the week, going on to the coming of the Son of man; the setting up of the abomination of desolation (or, that maketh desolate) being the sign given for the last half-week.

This is clearly noted by our Lord's quotation from Dan. 12:11¹¹And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days. (Daniel 12:11); also in Dan. 7:25²⁵And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time. (Daniel 7:25), as “A time, times, and half a time.” In Rev. 11, 12 half-weeks are referred to, in the varying terms of “forty and two months;” of “twelve hundred and sixty days;” and of “time, times, and half a time.” Do these all refer to the last half? In Rev. 11:1, 2¹And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein. ²But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months. (Revelation 11:1‑2) the temple and altar are measured for protection; whilst the outer court is left out to be trodden down of the Gentiles. Do the measuring, and the leaving out to be trodden under foot, refer to the same period? The treading down evidently has reference to the last half of Daniel's last week. Does the measuring refer to the first half only, or to the whole week? for this figure seems to show the power and protection of God, in testimony for the first half-week, given in days. If at its termination the treading down commences, we should have the whole week: the first half closing when the witnesses were killed; at which period, the abomination being set up and the apostate Jews abandoned to idolatry, the treading down commences upon them, as God's judgment, this being the great tribulation spoken of by the Lord and by the prophets. If then the protection, shown by the measuring of the temple and altar to the worshippers therein, refers to the whole week; (as I should incline to think it does), the second half of the week is a protection, not by power given to the witnesses for killing their enemies, but by immediate flight from the scene of idolatry, and consequent desolation, to a place of safety prepared of God. This we have in Matt. 24:16-22¹⁶Then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains: ¹⁷Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: ¹⁸Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. ¹⁹And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! ²⁰But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: ²¹For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. ²²And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened. (Matthew 24:16‑22); and in Rev. 12:6⁶And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days. (Revelation 12:6), where the woman flees into the wilderness, having a place prepared of God, for “a thousand, two hundred and three-score days;” so also in verse 14, “she is nourished for a time, times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.” This last half is again referred to in Rev. 13:5⁵And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. (Revelation 13:5), as power given to the beast to “continue forty and two months.” This last is evidently the same as Dan. 7:25²⁵And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time. (Daniel 7:25), and the last half of the week.

Once again I hope these questions are not out of place. Whilst looking at Rev. 12 and the acting's of the first beast in persecuting the saints for the time mentioned, along with his “blasphemies against God, and them that dwell in heaven” (ver. 6), I would ask, Is the image, made to the first beast by the dwellers upon earth at the suggestion of the second beast (ver. 14), the “abomination” spoken of in Dan. 12 and referred to by our Lord in Matt. 24:15¹⁵When 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), “standing in the Holy Place” as the object of worship instead of God? And is this what the apostle refers to in 2 Thess. 2:4⁴Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. (2 Thessalonians 2:4), “sitting in the temple of God, sheaving himself that he is God.” G. R.

A. The readers are directed to the Bible Treasury (first edition i. 276, ii. 32, 63). If any one can furnish fresh help, it will be welcome. In the second edition the pages are i. 272-4, ii. 32, without the notice in 63.

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