There will be an end to life as we know it. It will usher in a new and beautiful, everlasting life to those who choose Jesus as their Lord and Savior!
Gabriel elaborates on the word and vision. He tells Daniel what God has decreed: a set time frame for judgment that will not be altered. Daniel learned about the rise and fall of four kingdoms and the little horn. The conflict between Persia and Greece was elaborated upon, as was the profaning activities of the little horn. Daniel gets a glimpse into the desolating actions of the one previously identified as the little horn.
This prophecy about the 70 sevens (or weeks) is notoriously difficult to understand. The main interpretive issue is identifying the time when the prophecy is to be fulfilled. The most common suggestions relate the fulfillment to the time of Antiochus, the time of Christ, the destruction of the second temple in ad 70, or some unspecified future eschatological event. Any attempt at interpretation must grapple with the text’s message for Daniel’s original audience—the Jews in exile. The book of Daniel—and the prophecies contained in it—is “hope literature,” meant to inspire a suffering people and instruct them about how to live righteously under oppressive foreign rule.
The six consecutive infinitives describe what will take place by the end of the 70 weeks. While some believe the events refer to Jesus and His first and second comings, others argue that these events took place before the time of Christ. Faithlife Bible.
Because the temple was in ruins, regular daily sacrifices were impossible. Nevertheless, Daniel observed the ritual of worship by praying at the hour of the evening sacrifice. Daniel’s prayer was his evening offering.
Second Chronicles 36:21 suggests that the captivity was to last long enough to make up for 70 omissions of the sabbatical year, which occurred every seven years. This would amount to 490 years before God’s people would experience perfect reconciliation with their God. There are many different interpretations of how these years account for the eras of world history before the Second Coming of the Messiah. Some interpreters have suggested that the use of the number seven in this verse is symbolic representing completeness—that is, the completion of all of human history.
The command to restore and build Jerusalem may be a reference to (1) the decree of Cyrus in Ezra 1, (2) the decree of Darius in Ezra 6, (3) the decree of Artaxerxes in Ezra 7, or (4) the decree of Artaxerxes in Neh. 2.
One commonly held interpretation maintains that the sixty-two weeks can be added to the seven weeks of v. 25, resulting in a total of 69 weeks, or 483 years. If these years are added to the date of the decree of Artaxerxes in Neh. 2, 445 b.c., with an adjustment to allow for the use of a 360-day year, the end of the 69 weeks coincides with the date of the crucifixion of Jesus.
Various other interpretations of the time periods indicated by the 62 weeks have been presented, including one that asserts that the Messiah in this verse refers to Cyrus, who was also called the Lord’s anointed. Messiah shall be cut off may be a reference to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. The phrase cut off means “to destroy, to kill.” The fact that Jesus Christ died not for Himself but for the sins of the world may support the view that the Messiah in this verse refers to Jesus Himself. The prince who is to come may be a reference to the Antichrist.
Daniel 9:20-27
20 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, 21 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. 22 And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, “O Daniel, I have now come forth to give you skill to understand. 23 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:
24 “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 vision and prophecy,
And to anoint the Most Holy.
25 “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, and the wall,
Even in troublesome times.
26 “And after the sixty-two weeks
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.
27 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.”
2 Chronicles 29:24 | And the priests killed them; and they presented their blood on the altar as a sin offering to make an atonement for all Israel, for the king commanded that the burnt offering and the sin offering be made for all Israel.
Nehemiah 4:8 | and all of them conspired together to come and attack Jerusalem and create confusion.
Matthew 24:2 | And Jesus said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down.”
Luke 19:44 | and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”
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