Certain groups have determined that the dating of the appearance of Messiah by the weeks foretold in Daniel begins with a calculation beginning from the year 457 B.C. This is the date of the decree to rebuild Jerusalem given in Ezra 7. At first glance, this makes sense as Daniel indicated that, from the time that a decree was made to restore and rebuild Jerusalem, there would be seven and sixty-two weeks. Unfortunately, this decree met with failure due to insurrection by the people occupying Jerusalem at the time and a messenger sent to Artaxerxes that the Jews might rebel against him if the walls of the city could be repaired. He sent word to halt the restoration. It did not get his authorization again until he spoke with Nehemiah thirteen years later. Nehemiah requested a letter from the king to the governors of the land for cooperation and for the keeper of the king’s forest to supply lumber. The king granted all this, and work began in 444 B.C. Therefore, the dating of the prophecy of the sixty-nine weeks until Messiah most logically begins at the date of letter sent by the king in 444 B.C.
Once the issue of the date of the decree to restore Jerusalem is solved, the problem with the dating of the coming of Messiah remains with the prophetic 360-day which is 5 days short of the solar year. After calculations, that equates to a loss of 7 actual years from Daniel’s prediction, or 476 actual years. If you are counting 69 weeks until Messiah, counting forward from the first decree to restore Jerusalem in 457 brings us to 19 A.D. If you count 70 weeks to Messiah, you have 26 A.D. On the other hand, if we count from the final decree to rebuild Jerusalem, the decree that finally got the job done, we calculate 69 weeks from 444 B.C the result is 32 A.D. which becomes 33 A.D. corrected for the missing year zero. What better accuracy could you expect?
Daniel gives us the point in
the prophecy where Messiah is crucified.
Daniel 9:25-26 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; it will be built again, with plaza and moat, even in
times of distress. 26 Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be
cut off…
The way this is read is that Messiah arrives and is cut off after 7+62, or 69 weeks, when He is crucified. Knowing the brief treatment of history in the following verses concerning the destruction of Jerusalem several decades after Messiah and other wars and desolations to follow gives us a perspective to deal with this very brief mention of the coming Messiah. Some interpret being cut off after the 69 weeks as meaning He came at the end of week 69 and was crucified in the middle of week 70. Others read this as the Messiah was present during week 69 and is cut of, crucified, right after, or at the end of the 69 weeks. “After” is somewhat of a relative term to be determined by the reader. Is “after” like the after-church potluck which happens at the end of the service, or is it a longer period of time? Further context of these 70 weeks can be gleaned in vs. 26-27.
Daniel 9:26-7 and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined. 27 And he will make a firm covenant with the many for ONE WEEK, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering;
With a nod to coming history after the fall of Jerusalem as “war and desolations are determined,” it reads as if there is one week left in the prophecy; which would be considered week 70. These verses describe, for the most part, the event described in 2 Thessalonians 2:4 when the antichrist takes his seat in the temple in Jerusalem. This event is further described as part of the end time scenario in Daniel 12:4-13. This week seems to coordinate with the 69 previous weeks. Further confirmation that the week 70 is included in the end time events after the time of Messiah is revealed in vs. 24.
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.
To “seal up” gives us time context for this prophecy. The word for “seal up” is
chatham in the Hebrew.
Strong’s #2856: chatham (pronounced khaw-tham’)
a primitive root; to close up; especially to seal:–make an end, mark, seal (up), stop.
To SEAL UP the prophecy of 70 weeks was to cover all prophecy up to the CLOSE OR END of all revelation. Therefore, even John’s book of prophecy is under its umbrella. The prophecy of Daniel leads us through the first 69 weeks up to Messiah and even reached beyond into history afterward. The time between Messiah and the week 70 is briefly mentioned in vs. 26. Week 70 takes up in the end time which is expanded on by John in the Revelation.
Jesus Himself refers to this event during the week 70 in Matthew:
Matthew 24:14-15 14 This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, AND THEN THE END will come 15 “Therefore when you see the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand).
Compare this to Daniel 12:
Daniel 12:11 From the time that the regular sacrifice is abolished, and the abomination of desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days.
Here we find Jesus relating the second half of the prophetic week of Daniel 12 to the end time after the gospel has been preached in the whole world. Daniel 12:4 also indicates his vision of the seventieth week was directed at the end times. Those who claim all seventy weeks were fulfilled by the time of Christ must deal with this statement by our Lord. Week seventy has clearly been reserved for the end time.