Promises of a Messiah: Daniel 9

The prophet Daniel was probably in his 80s.  Darius the Mede was ruling Babylon, but Daniel had not yet been thrown into the famous lion’s den.

Searching the Scriptures, Daniel became convinced that the time of captivity for his people – 70 years – was coming to an end.  He spent time in prayer and confession for his people before God.

It was the time of the evening sacrifice, the Bible tells us, and Daniel was still praying – when he was interrupted by Gabriel.  Gabriel must just love announcing the coming of the Messiah – and that’s what he had been sent to do.

In fact, he had come to announce more than that – he gave a sweeping prophecy, around 538BC:

Seventy weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place.

And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering.  And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator.
(Dan 9:24-27)

There’s a lot here, so we’re just going to look at it quickly.  But it’s an incredible prophecy.

First, the word "weeks" means sevens – in this case, seven years.  Therefore, 70 weeks = 490 years.

First, what was the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem?

There have been several suggestions offered, but there seems to be only one decree that was given regarding the rebuilding of Jerusalem – by Artaxerxes (445-444BC) to Nehemiah (see Nehemiah 2:1-8).

First, there will be 7 weeks + 62 weeks = 69 weeks from the decree until the coming of the annointed one – that is, the Messiah.

The first 7 weeks is of course 49 years, which may refer to the building of Jerusalem (we know the wall took 52 days (Neh 6:15), no doubt the city took many years to complete with "squares and moat").

But after 62 more weeks of years, the annointed one would be cut off and have nothing.  In other words, the Messiah would be killed.  Afterwards, the city and temple would be destroyed.  So, we need a total of 69 weeks = 483 years after the decree.

How long exactly?

483 years.  Now, in ancient times, often a year was counted as 360 days.  We know this was done in the times of the Old Testament, because we see the use of 30 day months (30 x 12 = 360).

So then – 483 x 360 = 173,880 days.

Now for the purpose of this post, I won’t go through all the calculations that have been done to synchronize this with the calendar we commonly use.  Suffice to say, it brings us quite comfortably within the life of Christ, likely to the early 30s AD.  Though it’s tricky to know all the exact dates for sure, we do know that this is the time when Jesus was walking the streets of Palestine.  In fact, it has been suggested it was the exact time of the triumphal entry – the appearing of the Prince Himself in Jerusalem.

It was after this, of course, that the Messiah was cut off.  And after that that the city and temple were destroyed – 70AD, by the Romans under General Titus.

So what does this mean?  Quite simply, this remarkable Messiah would have to appear on the scene just at the right time.  Not only that, he would die.  Finally, this would have to happen before the temple and city were again destroyed.

Taken with the prophecies we’ve already looked at, and others we will look at, there can be little doubt who the Messiah was!

And remember, this prophecy came even before the decree went out – and long before Gabriel would again appear to bring good news to a young woman of Nazareth.

God had a plan, and it was carried out to perfection.  Why do we doubt that He still has a plan – for us, for the world, and for His glory?