Daniel's Seventy Week Prophecy

 “ Seventy weeks are determined For your people and for your holy city, To finish the transgression, To make an end of sins, To make reconciliation for iniquity, To bring in everlasting righteousness, To seal up Know therefore and understand, That from the going forth of the command To restore and build Jerusalem Until Messiah the Prince, There shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; The street shall be built again,  Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself; And the people of the prince who is to come Shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall be with a flood, And till the end of the war desolations are determined. Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week;  But in the middle of the week He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, Even until the consummation, which is determined, Is poured out on the desolate.”--Daniel 9:24-27


Dear Suzanne, Rebecca, Anna, and Mikayla,


We are in the first chapter of Ezra and looking at prophecy.  Yes, I know the verses above are from Daniel 9. My previous study looked at two fulfilled within the first four verses of Ezra chapter 1. As I wrote that last study my mind went to Daniel's 70 week prophecy.  Why? Because Cyrus' decree given in 538 B.C. was the first of three and brought it to mind. The third decree by Artaxerxes to Nehemiah to allow the rebuilding of the walls of the City of Jerusalem is the one that Daniel spoke of, and is the one that begins the countdown to Messiah the Prince.  It is, in my opinion, one of the most amazing prophecies in Scripture because of its mathematical precision.

Artaxerxes decree was given on March 14, 445 B.C.and it ordered the restoration of the city of Jerusalem and its walls.  This decree is the starting point for Daniel's 70 week prophecy...it is where the mathematics begin and ends (for our purposes)  with Jesus' triumphant entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.  EXCITING STUFF!! (Go here for more info: http://endtimepilgrim.org/70wks3.htm)


Daniel was a prophecy buff...Yup...the prophet loved prophecy.  Okay, now that I am thinking about that I guess that is not much of a surprise. Anyway, Chapter 9 verses 1-19 find him praying. The first few verses tell us why.

In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the lineage of the Medes, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans— in the first year of his reign I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years specified by the word of the LORD through Jeremiah the prophet, that He would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.--Daniel 9:1-3

Daniel believed God...He knew what God had prophesied through Jeremiah and understood that the seventy years of captivity were nearing an end.  He knew His God was about to do something really great and it led him to prayer.  Daniel prayed for repentance on the people's behalf as well as for the promise God made to be fulfilled.  The prophet Daniel is one of the most outstanding examples of a life lived unto the Lord in the Bible. God answered Daniel's prayer immediately....

Now while I was speaking, praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the LORD my God for the holy mountain of my God,  yes, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, reached me about the time of the evening offering. And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, “O Daniel, I have now come forth to give you skill to understand.  At the beginning of your supplications the command went out, and I have come to tell you, for you are greatly beloved; therefore consider the matter, and understand the vision:--Daniel 9:20-23

Verse 24 of Daniel 9 begins the seventy week prophecy I have posted at the beginning of this study. 


Daniel outlined seventy weeks of years.  What is that you ask? Literally seventy sevens or 490 years that were coming prophetically. These begin with  Artaxerxes declaration to restore and rebuild Jerusalem which was occurred on March 14, 445 B.C.  After this he said there would be 69 weeks of years, which translates into 173,880 days to the coming of Messiah, the Prince.  There are six messianic tasks that need to be accomplished according to Daniel 9:24:


   1. to finish the transgression
   2. to make an end of sins
   3. to make reconciliation for iniquity
   4. to bring in everlasting righteousness
   5. to seal up vision and prophecy
   6. to anoint the most Holy

These were fulfilled in Jesus. This prophecy is perhaps the greatest proof for Jesus as the Messiah.


Let's look at the math in those verses, also. There are many who have done the calculations.  Sir Robert Anderson was one of them.  He took into account the different calendars and discovered that 173,880 brings you to April 6, 32 A.D...which you know is the first Palm Sunday!  This is the day that it is believed that Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey offering Himself as the long awaited Jewish Messiah. Wow! Wow! Wow!  After this, Daniel said the Messiah would be cut-off but not for Himself.  This was the crucifixion where He was cut-off for our sins. 

Daniel goes on from the middle of verse 26 to the end of the chapter and details the time of what is called Jacob's trouble. The Great Tribulation. He treated this as a separate time when God would judge the earth.  Right now we are in the church age...the age of grace.  The end is coming...the stage is already being set for the week that Daniel spoke of that would come upon the whole earth.  Are you ready?


There are many websites out there that delve into this in detail.  Here is one I like in addition to the one given above.

http://www.khouse.org/articles/2004/552/


Love 

Mom 

Fulfilled Prophecy - Ezra 1:1-4

Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and also put it in writing, saying, Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: All the kingdoms of the earth the LORD God of heaven has given me. And He has commanded me to build Him a house at Jerusalem which is in Judah.  Who is among you of all His people? May his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem which is in Judah, and build the house of the LORD God of Israel (He is God), which is in Jerusalem.  And whoever is left in any place where he dwells, let the men of his place help him with silver and gold, with goods and livestock, besides the freewill offerings for the house of God which is in Jerusalem.--Ezra 1:1-4

Dear Suzanne, Rebecca, Anna and Mikayla,

The Book of Ezra begins with fulfillment of prophecy.  The above verses are the proclamation by Cyrus to release the people of Israel from captivity. It gave the Jews permission to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple and the city walls. Jeremiah said that the Jews would be in captivity for 70 years. (See Jeremiah 25:12-14,  Jeremiah 29:10, Jeremiah 33:7-13)  This prophecy was fulfilled when the decree from Cyrus went out and ended seventy years of captivity for the Jews.

"The seventy-year period can be calculated in two ways: from 605 B.C., when Nebuchadnezzar attacked Jerusalem and led off the first deportation, to 535 B.C., when the foundation of the temple was laid; or from the fall of Jerusalem, in 586 B.C., to the completion of the temple, in 516 B.C."--Believer's Bible Commentary


Now maybe that is not enough for you...wait there's more.  Isaiah 44:24 begins:

Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, And He who formed you from the womb: “ I am the LORD, who makes all things, Who stretches out the heavens all alone, Who spreads abroad the earth by Myself;  Who frustrates the signs of the babblers, And drives diviners mad; Who turns wise men backward, And makes their knowledge foolishness; Who confirms the word of His servant,  And performs the counsel of His messengers; Who says to Jerusalem, ‘You shall be inhabited,’ To the cities of Judah, ‘You shall be built,’ And I will raise up her waste places;  Who says to the deep, ‘Be dry! And I will dry up your rivers’; Who says of Cyrus, ‘He is My shepherd, And he shall perform all My pleasure, Saying to Jerusalem, “You shall be built,” And to the temple, “Your foundation shall be laid.”’--Isaiah 44:24-28 (Emphasis mine)

The above was written 180 years before Cyrus' decree went forth...150 years before Cyrus was even born. And yet....and yet the prophet Isaiah by the word of the Lord calls this guy by name. He would not be born until 150 years in the future and yet the Lord named him. Isaiah 45 continues and it is so worth reading.

“Thus says the LORD to His anointed, To Cyrus, whose right hand I have held— To subdue nations before him  And loose the armor of kings, To open before him the double doors,  So that the gates will not be shut:    I will break in pieces the gates of bronze  And cut the bars of iron.  I will give you the treasures of darkness And hidden riches of secret places, That you may know that I, the LORD, Who call you by your name, Am the God of Israel.  For Jacob My servant’s sake, And Israel My elect,  I have even called you by your name; I have named you, though you have not known Me. I am the LORD, and there is no other; There is no God besides Me.  I will gird you, though you have not known Me, That they may know from the rising of the sun to its setting That there is none besides Me. I am the LORD, and there is no other;"

Amazing...supernatural.  Evidence of the inspiration of God!  Here the Lord, speaking through the prophet, spoke of future events with supernatural detail.  He names Cyrus and then in chapter 45 says "I have named you, though you have not known Me." The Lord knows each of us like that. Psalm 139 says this in verse 16:  "Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me,  When as yet there were none of them"  Fulfilled prophecy is not the reason I came to Christ but it is one of the very telling reasons I believe that the Bible is indeed the word of God.  Reading them are always an encouragement to my faith. And yes there is more in regard to this decree...next Daniel's seventy week prophecy that begins with Cyrus' decree and ends with Jesus' triumphant entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.


Love
Mom