Daniel’s 70 Weeks Prophecy

Awhile back, I had made several references to the seventieth or final week of Daniel’s Seventy Weeks Prophecy (Daniel 9:24-27). I have, therefore, decided to explain what I believe occurred during this final week and why. Most Christians today believe the seventieth week was cut off from the previous 69 prophetic weeks of Daniels prophecy and represents the final 7 years at the end of this age, just prior to Jesus return. However, this is an impossible understanding, and I hope to explain why this is impossible and show a reasonable explanation of what Daniel really prophesied.

This study will take several posts to my blog and will deal with Daniel’s Seventy Weeks Prophecy, particularly the final week of years of that prophecy. It is comprised of the 1260 days, 1290 days and the 1335 days of Daniel chapter twelve, and these days begin and end on the annual Jewish Holy Days or upon days with peculiar meaning to those annual festivals. Taken together, these days comprise the week in which God confirmed the New Covenant with mankind and in particular with the Jews (see Daniel 9:27 and Jeremiah 31:31). These days comprise the culmination of Daniel’s Seventy Weeks Prophecy found in Daniel, chapter nine. It stands to reason that, if the Seventy Weeks Prophecy is fulfilled, there should be ample revelation of it throughout the word of God. The problem is that for at least nearly two hundred years Christians have believed this final week of years had to point to the future return of Christ, so we have produced a great many scenarios of the end times that have delighted, terrorized and amused many. It is difficult to think of the seventieth week without thinking of our favorite author’s or preacher’s postulations. Some believe Christ will return in the middle of the seven-year period and take his people home in what is called the Rapture. I had always wondered, if those left behind knew when this rapture occurred, wouldn’t they know the exact day of Christ’s second coming? For, if the prophecy refers to the second coming of Christ, and, if the faithful are removed in the middle of the final week of years, it must mean Jesus would return exactly three and one half years later.

If Daniel’s prophecies did refer to Jesus’ second coming, it would seem odd, knowing how detailed they are, that they did not reveal the exact moment of Jesus’ return. Yet, Jesus said that we would never know until the very day (Matthew 24:36-51). I used to think, if I only knew the exact date of this or that event in prophecy, I could mathematically come up with the chronology of the events before the return of Christ. But, as a wise brother once told me, “the angels of heaven have always known accurate chronology, and it doesn’t help them!”

I suppose it was knowing the incongruity of things like this that caused me to grow weary of this make-believe world drama that I had supposed was prophesied in Daniel. It was then that I began asking God to reveal to me what those days actually foretold. God answers prayer! I love his word, and I’m convinced we can know all that is found therein (Deuteronomy 29:29; cp. Acts 1:7). To begin with I need to say that understanding how the seventieth week figures out in history will involve some math and knowledge of the Jewish calendar.

The Hebrew calendar follows the moon rather than the sun, as our calendars do today. It contains 12 lunations of 29½ days each, giving us a year of 354 days of 30 and 29-day alternating months. The first month is called Nisan (or Abib), which has 30 days, the second has 29 etc. Seven times in a 19 year time cycle a 13th month having 29 or 30 days was added, making that particular year 383 (or 384) days long. The prophetic year, as implied in the Bible however, has 360 days and is composed of twelve 30-day months. Both the prophetic year and the actual Jewish calendar year are important to our study. With this groundwork laid, just click on any of the several studies on this prophecy. If you wish to begin “at the beginning” you can either start with The Significance of Stephen’s Death or The Seventy Weeks Prophecy and the 1260 Days. May God bless the understanding of all who read and consider the meaning of this important prophecy.