The Significance of the Prophecies of the Seventy Weeks of Daniel - Research Paper Example

? Daniel 9:24-27 Of Your School Within By (Month, Year) DANIEL 9:24-27 The four discussed verses of the Book of Daniel, chapter nine, hold within it the most powerful prophecies of the Bible (The Seventy weeks). Verses 24-27 of chapter nine document the most remarkable prophecies regarding the coming of Christ and his salvation. It also indicates the fact that the Jews are considered guilty because they do not believe in Christ and accepted some other Messiah. Verse 24 is the summary of the following three verses which further illustrate its detailed meaning. One cannot overemphasize the significance of the prophecies of the seventy weeks of Daniel. This scripture of Daniel is the layout of much of the history of Israel, which extends from the time of Daniel to the coming of Jesus. The prophecies presented in Daniel chapter nine cover the death of Jesus, devastation of Jerusalem afterwards, brief information about Anti-Christ, sacrifices, oblation, the initiation of tribulation, return of Jesus on earth, the end of Antichrist and much more. Verse 24th The first section of the prophecy holds several significant facts. Some of the critics argue that the scriptures of Daniel do not talk about years but they actually mentioned weeks or months in the context. However the word Shabuim, and several other pointers indicate that these are not the weeks or months but years, what Daniel is talking about. Harold Hoehner also agrees to the fact that the word Shabium used in Daniel’s context refers to the time span of seven years and therefore considering this as weeks or months is senseless. The 70 years that Daniel emphasized on begins in the era of the banishment of Jews to Babylon. Another section of the Daniel chapter nine points that there were 490 years engraved from the era of the Gentiles. Arnold Fruchtenbaum effectively summarized this portion as a period of around 500 years which was affirmed post success of the restitution of Israel and for the establishment of “Kingdom of Messiah”. The seventy weeks is used as a symbol for seven years in Daniel’s context. The scripture states that at the end of the period a sacrifice will be offered for the penance of sins of others and bringing in the righteousness that is everlasting for the purpose of justification of every believer. The prophecies of Daniel also illustrate that the Jews would commit crimes related to the crucifixion of Jesus that will fill the measure of their guilt and will be the source of trouble upon this nation as there is no escape for the ones who neglected such great salvation. Seventy week as described in this scripture was the day of Judgments for Daniel’s people. Depending on Daniel’s context, especially in its prophecies, a day can be a year; therefore a week here means seven years and hence seventy days is equivalent to seventy years. This is because Daniel emphasized on the 70 years of captivity. If the timing is 490 days this means almost 16 months and 490 weeks will be around nine and a half years, which is quite a short time span to accommodate the events of prophecy. This section of Daniel chapter nine lists down six important things that are essential for Israel, half of which are pessimistic and half optimistic. However it is only necessary to discuss the things that are significant. The context “to finish/bring transgression/the sin of rebellion to an end” refers to the pinnacle, rather than commenting about the end of sins. A similar passage present in Isaiah also indicates that the disbelief of Israel can be seen from the renunciation of the Messiah. The text of Daniel chapter nine also states “to make an end of sin” or “to finish/seal up sins”. This context presented in Daniel also has its implication in many other books of the Old Testaments such as Isaiah, Ezekiel and Jeremiah. The text in this part of Daniel chapter nine also says “seal up vision and prophecy”. The literal meaning of “seal up” used in the context means to end the prophecies. The usage of this phrase indicates that the prophecies are now fulfilled. Further on, “Anoint the most holy place or the holies of holies” in the context refers to the anointing of the temple. However some people argues that it refers to the Messiah. Verse 25th In this verse of chapter nine, Gabriel tells Daniel that he will be able to understand the word of God only if he will listen to it attentively. The seventy years mentioned in the context start with the judgment to reconstruct Jerusalem. The argument that arises here is that to which Daniel is referring. There are few verdicts present that Daniel may refer to, and the include the verdict of Cyrus, verdict of Darius Hystapses, verdict of Artaxerxes to Azra or the verdict of Artaxerxes. Arnold Fruchtenbaum argues that there is a possibility that the verdict of Nehemiah is not the one that Daniel emphasized on because it expresses disappointment on the reconstruction of Jerusalem. However the argument among various scholars still continues as to which decree Daniel actually refers to. There is no easy solution to make a single decision. He further adds that it is essential to discuss the argument of either options, but one thing is confirmed that the countdown for the mentioned seventy years has already started (Benware 2006)1. There are several significant considerations present in this part of the prophecy. First thing in the section is that the 70 sevens are segregated into 7 sevens, 62 sevens and 1 seven. At the time of the first 7 sevens, the important incident that would happen is that Jerusalem will be rebuilt with moats and courts even at the time of sorrow. Sixty- two is the second set of sevens that is equivalent to four hundred and thirty-four years. Archer states that there is no inference of the gap that is between the first and the second time partition of the 70 sevens2. The second division i.e. the 69 sevens indicates “until Messiah the Prince”. It also gives the prediction of the period when the Messiah will appear. Daniel clearly states that 483 years following to the judgment of rebuilding Jerusalem, Messiah would appear on Earth. Another agreement that rises here is that if the Christ/Messiah would not appear anywhere during these 69 weeks, so does this means that the prophecies of Daniel are false? A clear argument suggests that since Daniel discusses the events prior to the demolition of the second temple, therefore if Jesus will not fulfill the prophecies mention in Daniel 9:24 then neither of the other prophecies present in Daniel’s scriptures are to be trusted. Verse 26th The words “but not of himself” and “have nothing” are interpreted by Archer, a religious scholar, as not having any guilt of the crime committed. “There was nothing to Him” in the scripture of Daniel means that the Prince ceased to have authority or any power, whereas “cutting off” of a Prince indicates that his power will come to an end. We all know that the crucifixion of Messiah did not cease his authority, however it has been going since then as the number of His believers are rising day by day. However the people of that time considered the Messiah dead before His resurrection3. It has been stated that several important events will take place after the sixty second week such as the cutting down of Messiah which points towards the crucifixion of Jesus, destroying and killing. The time mentioned for the killing of Messiah is the end of sixty nine weeks. The scripture also states that prince “shall come” and after that the desolation of Jerusalem shall take place. The original words as stated in the scriptures mean that the destruction of Jerusalem will be “subsequent” or “after”. This indicates that it is not necessary that the destruction of Jerusalem will take place after the crucifixion of Messiah. It was in 70 A.D. that Jerusalem was destroyed by Romans who considered themselves as the people of the prince. The person behind this destruction was Titus, the son of Emperor Vespasian. One can see that there is gap between the crucifixion of Messiah and the destruction of Temple and as it was indicated, these events took place between the end of the 69th and the beginning of 70th week. The words that refer to the flood in the scriptures are descriptive words which mean that the destruction of Jerusalem will be the same as the destruction that is caused by flood. All those who believe in the flood of Noah are aware of the terrible damage that the flood brought, and how all the environmental damage another flood may cause in the future. Verse 27th Brown wisely examined the scriptures of Daniel and states that it is because of the Yeshua (Messiah) that the prophecies make sense. He further mentions that if Yeshua (Messiah) is taken out of these prophecies than it would become obscure and completely unintelligent. According to Fruchtenbaum, it would appear as negation unless Daniel was emphasizing on the two coming of Christ4. The 70th week here is a significant subject of discussion. The discussed verses give a brief view of what happened after the sixty ninth and before the seventieth week. The events which occurred in the last week are related to the end of times. It has been stated that the covenant will be made by many. However, it is unclear that who are “many” here. This one week discusses the events that are classically considered as Tribulation that lasts about seven years. The scriptures also indicate that the covenant made by Antichrist with Israel will also break in the middle of the week, and therefore destroy Jerusalem, damage the temple and will demand the Israelites to worship them. The time span between the end of 69th week and 70th week has not been revealed to Daniel or any other prophet. Even Jesus said that he is not aware of the exact time but only the Almighty Father knows it. This times span incorporates several thing such as the age of the church and the time in which we now live and work. The events of the 69th week such as the cutting of Messiah have now passed and the events of the 70th century will soon occur in coming times. These events are predicted to occur during the age of Tribulation, whereas the major horrors will occur in the time of the Great Tribulation. This will take place just before the bringing in of the “everlasting righteousness”. The word “abomination” is used by Jesus in the New Testament (Matthew 24:15) where he refers to the insinuation of Antiochus, whereas in the book of Daniel it signifies the ultimate halt of the sacrifices performed before the second advent of the Messiah. We may link Revelation 13 to the scriptures of Daniel as it is stated that the future ruler of world at the time of Tribulation will take the absolute authority to himself and will force people to worship him. Also, they will prosecute the saints and will blaspheme the true and only God (Revelation 13)5. Conclusion In summary one can conclude that Daniel’s great prophecy of the seventy seven discussed the history of Israel, right from the time of Nehemiah to the second arrival of Jesus. In the initial phase of the seventy seven, the city as well as the streets have been are rebuilt. In the second phase of this prophecy the Messiah appears and lives till the end of the period. In the time span between the sixty ninth and the seventieth year two major events take place i.e. the cutting of the Messiah and the destruction of Jerusalem that took place in the 70 A.D. The seventh period initiates with a brief introduction about the covenant relationship between the “future Prince (Christ)” and many “Israelites”. The covenant that is observed in the first half of the seven years period will take the liberties and protection granted to the Israelites and then they will be persecuted in the time of great Tribulation. The starting of the last three years of the seventy sevens are marked for events such as the destruction of future Temple, stopping people from performing sacrifices and misery of the Jewish religion. This period is referred by Jesus as the Great Tribulation in the Gospel of Matthew 24:15-26. The conclusion that can be extracted from the entire prophecy of Daniel i.e., the seventy seventh is that it points towards the second advent of the Messiah and the times of Gentiles that pictured the four great world Empires. For most of the period the two lines of the prophecy related to Israel and Gentiles run synchronized pointing towards the same major event that is the second advent of the Messiah when the dominated Israel will be delivered and Gentiles (its oppressor) will be judged for their acts. When we scrutinize Israel in today’s modern circumstances, one may observe that the fulfillment of these prophecies may not take long. Bibliography Archer, Dr. Gleason L. "Dr. Gleason L. Archer on Armageddon and the Future of Israel." Gleason Archer on Daniel’s Seventy Weeks, September 12, 2012: 1-2. Benware, Paul N. Understanding End Times Prophecy: A Comprehensive Approach. Moody Publishers, 2006. Brown, Michael L. Answering Jewish Objections to Jesus: General and Historical Objections. Bakers Book, 2000. Evans, John S. The Prophecies of Daniel 2. Xulon Press, 2008. Ludlow, Daniel H. "Prophecy and revelation." Latter-day prophets speak, 2001: 289-299. Read More