Seventy Weeks Prophecy

Daniel’s Seventy Weeks prophecy

As we have discussed in the Foundations pages, prophecy is revealed progressively through the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. We don’t need to depend on any single verse of the Bible for any major doctrine of the Bible. However, there are some key verses that add details, or specific prophecies that are not found as clearly in other places. This is true with Daniel chapter 9. We will refer to this prophecy many times on Endtimes.org as it contains the most amazing timeline prophecies in the Bible, and for our purposes it offers some wonderful Endtimes detail.

In one short paragraph in Daniel 9:24-27, written around 539 BC God responds to Daniel’s prayer by sending the Angel Gabriel, who reveals the following:

  1. The timeline of Israel’s restoration, the final end of sin and their atonement would be Seventy Weeks of Years, contrasted with Daniel’s 70 year exile. So the whole package is 70 weeks of years. (490 years)
  2. The exact date of the Coronation of Messiah the Prince
  3. After 69 Weeks (483 years), the Death of the Messiah (Isaiah 53:8)
  4. The Destruction of Jerusalem by the people (The Romans in AD 70) of the prince to come – the future world empire of Antichrist
  5. A Gap is now implied by the division and actions between the 69th and 70th weeks. Now we know this is the Church Age, an unknown period of time
  6. The 70th Week (The Tribulation) begins with the Antichrist making a covenant with Israel.
  7. Half way through the week, the Antichrist sits in the Temple as God (The Abomination of Desolations spoken of by Jesus)
  8. The Antichrist is destroyed

 

Scholarly works that help with the historical dates

Not being professional historians, these two books are helpful in dating the historical references in the prophecy.

Sir Robert Anderson (The Coming Prince)

Harold W. Hoehner (Chronological Aspects of the Life of Christ)

 

What are these Weeks?

Daniel 9:24

“Seventy (weeks) have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy place.”

The Hebrew word translated Weeks in Daniel can mean a unit of seven as opposed to a more specific unit of seven days. In this case, as Daniel’s prayer is in the context of his 70 year exile, it is clear that the prophecy is referring to units of seven years.

Seventy Weeks (Units of Seven Years) = 70 * 7 Years, or 490 years.

Later in the prophecy we see a division at 69 weeks, or 69 * 7 years (483 years.) From here on we will call them Weeks.

 

The Timing of the Tribulation

Using the Biblical 30-day month, (Genesis 7:11-2, Genesis 8:3-4) as a reference, here is a cheat-sheet for the number of months and days that are referred to in Daniel and Revelation.

Years Months Days
1 12 360
3.5 42 1260
7 84 2520

 

The book of Revelation uses three different ways of referring to the same time period of the second half of the Tribulation. Not sure why, but possibly it is to make it clear that this is a literal time-period. It can not be spiritualized or misunderstood. 

 

Time, Times and Half a Time

Revelation 12:14 – But the two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman, so that she could fly into the wilderness to her place, where she *was nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent.

This is: 1 Year, 2 Years, and half a Year, or 3.5 years, half of the 7-years of the seventieth week.

1260 Days

Revelation 12:6 – And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up to God and to His throne. 6Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she *had a place prepared by God, so that there she would be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days.

42 Months

Revelation 13:5 – There was given to him a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies, and authority to act for forty-two months was given to him.

 

The problem with using our 365 day calendar year is that the Old Testament didn’t use it. The Jews used a 30 day month, and therefore a 360 day year, so we’ll need to do some date conversions. (They added some days every x years to keep the calendar in line with the seasons)

 

The Messianic Prophecy

Daniel 9:25

“So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there will be Seven Weeks and Sixty Two Weeks; (69 weeks) it will be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of distress.”

The first prophecy predicts the arrival of Messiah the Prince in 69 weeks. In order to put a date to that statement, we need to know the date of the decree to rebuild Jerusalem (after Daniel’s 70-year exile) and the Coronation date of Messiah. Why the Coronation? When Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey he was being presenting as the King of Israel – the Triumphal Entry. The people said: “BLESSED IS THE KING WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD”

Zechariah 9:9 – Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, Humble, and mounted on a donkey, Even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

 

Different decrees to rebuild Jerusalem:

  1. Cyrus in 536 B.C. (Ezra 1) (only rebuilt the temple)
  2. Artaxerces first decree in 458 B.C. (only the temple)
  3. Darius
  4. Artexerxes second decree in 445 B.C. (Nehemiah 1-2) Month: Nissan, 20th year of reign (Started reign in 465 B.C. – 20 = 445 B.C.) On our calendar: March 14, 445 B.C.

The forth decree must be the one the Bible is referring to, since it was the only one that allowed for the rebuilding of the city, plaza and moat. (Interior and Exterior) So, the starting date for the prophecy is March 14, 445 B.C. (On our calendar)

 

The Math – Convert 69 Weeks to Days for our comparison

69 weeks = (69 * 7) or 483 years from the decree to rebuild, to the revealing of Messiah the Prince

483 years * 12 months * 30-days in a month

The Targeted number of days for the 69 weeks = 173880 days

 

The Historical Dates

The Decree to Rebuild Jerusalem 

March 14, 445 B.C. – The Decree from Artexerxes to rebuild Jerusalem with Plaza and Moat

 
The Triumphal Entry

Based on charts, new moons, solar historical information worked out by Sir Robert Anderson, he concludes that the date of Jesus Triumphal Entry was on April 6th, AD 32

 

The Final Calculation

Based on this prophecy, if our math is correct, there must be 173,880 days between the Decree and the Triumphal Entry. Lets do the date conversions:

  • March 14, 445 BC to April 6, AD 32 = 477 years and 24 days
  • Subtract one year since 1BC-1AD are the same year
  • = 476 years and 24 days between two dates
  • Again convert the years to days: (476 yrs * 365 days) + 24 days
  • = 173764 days
  • Add days for leap years (476 years/4 =119 days)
  • 173764 days + 119 leap year days
  • =173883

Why isn’t this 173800 days?

An inaccuracy in our Julian/Gregorian calendar shows our year to be 1/128th of a day too long.

1/128=0.0078125

0.0078125 * 476 years = 3 extra days in our calendar between the two dates

173883 days minus the 3 extra days

= 173880 days

 

This prophecy was fulfilled to the day, predicted 483 years before it happened. Why don’t they show this on TV instead of Nostradamus? Possibly “the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving.” (2 Cor 4:4, Luke 16:30-31)

 

The 69 Weeks are divided

The prophecy further breaks up the 69 weeks to: 62 (weeks) and 7 (weeks)

It seems that the 7 Weeks or 49 years is what it took Nehemiah to rebuild the city. As the prophecy says, it was done in troubled times. Nehemiah 1-2

 

The Gap in Daniel’s prophecy

  • After 69 weeks, Messiah will be cut off. 
  • Jerusalem will be destroyed.

Both of these events have happened. The crucifixion of Jesus and the destruction of Jerusalem by Roman Emperor Titus in AD 70 happened in the gap between the 69th and 70th weeks. After the rejection of the Messiah, at Pentecost the Church Age began.

 

The 70th Week – Tribulation

This seventieth week of the prophecy is still future.

Sometime in the future, when the Church Age is complete, at The Rapture, the Antichrist will make a covenant with Israel for 1 Week (7-years) In the middle of the week (3.5-years) he will put a stop to the sacrifice. This hasn’t happened. Since the dispersion of Israel in AD 70, there has been no temple for sacrifices. The Temple must be rebuilt, and in the midpoint of the tribulation, 3.5 years, the Antichrist will desecrate the Temple as his forerunner did. (Antiochus IV Epiphanes)

 

Conclusion

The prophecies given to Daniel are purposefully focussed on God’s Sovereignty, his utter rule over all, and his absolute knowledge and control over the present and the future. – That the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind (Daniel 4:17)

The sub-story beneath that truth is the story of Israel, his chosen people and his vessel for the Word of God. It is easy to miss that point. As we learned from the pages on the Abrahamic and Davidic covenants, the Seventy Weeks prophecy describes how God will fulfill his promises and plans for Israel and the world. (Matthew 21:33-44, Romans 11:25)