You may have heard mentioned of Daniel's 70 weeks, or even just his 70'th week, and wonder what on earth people are going on about. Well here at the end of Daniel 9 we find the 70 weeks they are talking about. In verses 20-27 we see Gabirel, bring God's answer to Daniel.

Seventy weeks have been planned by God to bring to an end the sin of God's Holy people, the Israelites. Now first thing to realise is that the word used here for week, actually in the Hebrew just means seven, and while it can mean seven days, it can also mean seven years as we shall see it does here. These seventy weeks are divided into two parts in verses 25-27.

In the first 69 weeks of years (483 years) we see that Jerusalam is to be rebuilt. It is important to note that these 483 years do not start until the street and walls are to be rebuilt, this was not to happen until Nehemiah went before the king in Nehemiah 2. Therefore we do not start our timeline until here, this taking place in 445 BC. These 483 years are to end when "the Messiah is cut off, but not for Himself", this surely points to our Saviour, Jesus Christ, dying for our sins on the cross. But hold on 445 BC plus 483 years equals 38 AD. Well for the answer of how the years and in fact the days fit together, I am indebted to Sir Robert Anderson, who was Head of Scotand Yard in the 19th century. He did some study on this, and worked out that Bible prophecy works in lunar years of 360 days not our 365 day year. The full proof is found in his book, Daniel in the critics' den, and can be read online here.. It proves that Daniel's 69 weeks end with the first Palm Sunday and Christ riding into Jerusalem.

So we know that Daniel's first 69 weeks of years end with Christ what about his final week, surely this takes place straight after the 69 weeks? Well no where in Scripture are we told that these final week finishes after Christ. Also after the 69 weeks of years, we read in verse 26 the city is destroyed, this did not happen until AD 70. When Christ died on the cross, God's dealings with the people of Israel paused, and we entered into the church age, the "mystery" of Ephesians 3v9. When the church age ends, that is when Christ comes to the air and calls His people to Himself 1 Thessalonians 4, God will yet again take up the people of Israel for a period of 7 years. We know this is 7 years from reading Revelation 6-19 which goes into more detail and clearly deals with the people of Israel in a future day. This time will start not only with the rapture of the church but also the signing of a peace deal between Israel, which is broken half way through by one who will set himself up as a god and desolate the temple which will have been rebuilt in a coming day.

If you have any comments or questions about this article then please e-mail me at a.wood@assemblyyouth.net

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All quotes are from the King James version of the Bible unless otherwise specified.