“I went on praying and confessing my sin and the sin of the people, pleading with the Lord my God for Jerusalem, his holy mountain. As I was praying, Gabriel, whom I had seen in the earlier vision, came swiftly to me at the time of the evening sacrifice. He explained to me, ‘Daniel, I have come here to give you insight and understanding. The moment you began praying, a command was given. And now here I am to tell you what it was, for you are very precious to God. Listen carefully so that you can understand the meaning of your vision.” Daniel 9: 20-23
Just as God answered Daniel’s prayers, so can we have confidence He answers ours…
I think the best way for all of us to understand the things Gabriel tells Daniel, is to write what scripture says first, and then use the Bible Commentary to try and give the best interpretation.
“A period of seventy sets of seven has been decreed for your people and your holy city to finish their rebellion, to put an end to their sin, to atone for their guilt, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to confirm the prophetic vision, and to anoint the Most Holy Place. Now listen and understand! Seven sets of seven plus sixty-two sets of seven will pass from the time the command is given to rebuild Jerusalem until a ruler—the Annointed One—comes. Jerusalem will be rebuilt with streets and strong defenses, despite the perilous times.
After this period of sixty-two sets of seven, the Annointed One will be killed, appearing to have accomplished nothing, and a ruler will arise whose armies will destroy the city and the Temple. The end will come with a flood, and war and its miseries are decreed from that time to the very end. The ruler will make a treaty with the people for a period of one set of seven, but after half this time, he will put an end to the sacrifices and offerings. And as a climax to all his terrible deeds, he will set up a sacrilegious object that causes desecration, until the fate decreed for this defiler is finally poured out on him.” Daniel 9: 24-27
Wow…tryin’ my best to interpret. Here goes… Each day of these 70 weeks (“seventy sets of seven”) may represent one year. The Bible often uses round numbers to make a point, not to give an exact account. For example, Jesus said we are to forgive others “seventy times seven (Matthew 18:22). He did not mean a literal 490 times, but that we should be abundantly forgiving. Similarly, some scholars see this figure as a figurative time period. Others, however, interpret this time period as a literal 70 weeks or 490 years, observing that Christ’s death came at the end of the 69 weeks (i.e., 483 years later). One interpretation places the 70th week as the seven years of the great tribulation, still in the future. Consequently the number would symbolize both the first and second comings of Christ.
There has been much discussion on the numbers, times, and events in these verses, and there are three basic views: (1) the prophecy was fulfilled in the past at the desecration of the Temple by Antiochus IV Epiphanes from 168 to 167 B.C. (2) it was fulfilled in the past at the destruction of the Temple by the Roman general Titus in A.D. 70 when one million Jews were killed, or (3) it is still to be fulfilled in the future under the Antichrist (“The day is coming when you will see what Daniel the prophet spoke about—the sacrilegious object that causes desecration standing in the Holy place” Matthew 24: 15). In the end times the Antichrist will set up an image of himself and order everyone to worship it…
“He will exalt himself and defy everything that people call God and every object of worship. He will even sit in the temple of God, claiming that he himself is God.” 2 Thessalonians 2: 4
“And with all the miracles he was allowed to perform on behalf of the first beast, he deceived all the people who belong to this world. He ordered the people to make a great statue of the first beast, who was fatally wounded, and came back to life. He was then permitted to give life to this statue so that it could speak. Then the statue of the beast commanded that anyone refusing to worship it must die.” Revelation 13: 14-15
I don’t know about you, but I love doing studies on prophecy…Reading one scripture verse always leads to another. It really doesn’t matter if you agree or disagree with this post. I am proclaiming the uncompromised Word of God. This comes directly from the NLT Holy Bible. I know that when we allow the Bible to guide our faith, it will keep us from being deceived by false teaching, however convincing it appears to be. Any teaching that contradicts God’s Word is false.
Love you.