c
What is the
“Seventy Weeks”
Prophecy?
hristians are admonished
to “Prove all things” (I Thes.
5:21)—yet few have pondered how we could prove, from
Bible prophecy, that Christ was the
Messiah. Of course, the sign of the
prophet Jonah—that Christ would
be in the tomb three days and three
nights—is one definite proof.
But there is a particular prophecy
that specifically designates the precise
time that Christ would begin His
ministry. Other scriptures and history,
proving that this prophecy applies to
Christ, thus further confirming His
Messiah-ship.
True Christians are already convinced
of Christ’s authenticity, but should still
be aware of the prophecies that prove
this, such as the “seventy weeks prophecy.” Many fail to understand that this
prophecy pertains not only to Christ’s
first coming—but also to His Return.
While somewhat technical, this series
of events, when studied carefully, can be
understood for the inspiring—and fascinating—fulfillment of prophecy that
it is!
The Setting
Daniel 9 begins, “In the first year of
Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed
of the Medes, which was made king
over the realm of the Chaldeans; In the
first year of his reign I Daniel understood by books the number of the years,
whereof the word of the Lord came to
Jeremiah the prophet, that He would
The amazing prophecy of Daniel 9 reveals the exact
year that the Messiah would begin His ministry, and
how long it would last. It points to one major event
He would fulfill, as the beginning step in God’s Plan
of Salvation. It further shows that the final segment of
this prophecy is yet to be fulfilled!
accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem” (vs. 1-2).
From studying the book of Jeremiah,
Daniel knew that Judah and Jerusalem
would be desolate for seventy years.
He also knew that, with the defeat of
the Babylonians by the Medo-Persian
Empire, something favorable was due to
happen for the Jews.
Before continuing, we should understand exactly what Daniel read pertaining to those seventy years of desolation:
“And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these
nations shall serve the king of Babylon
seventy years. And it shall come to pass,
when seventy years are accomplished,
that I will punish the king of Babylon,
and that nation, says the Lord, for their
iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans,
and will make it perpetual desolations”
(Jer. 25:11-12).
One final verse in Jeremiah sums
this up: “For thus says the Lord, That
after seventy years be accomplished at
Babylon I will visit you, and perform
My good word toward you, in causing
you to return to this place” (29:10).
Daniel saw that the Jews had almost
fulfilled seventy years of servitude to the
king of Babylon. When the Babylonians
were defeated and in desolation, he saw
that the Jews were to return to Jerusalem,
as promised in Jeremiah 29:10.
Daniel’s approach to this issue was
not to question whether God was fulfilling His promises on schedule. He
humbled himself instead: “And I set
my face unto the Lord God, to seek by
prayer and supplications, with fasting,
and sackcloth, and ashes: And I prayed
unto the Lord my God, and made my
confession, and said, O Lord, the great
and dreadful God, keeping the covenant
and mercy to them that love Him, and
to them that keep His commandments;
We have sinned, and have committed
iniquity, and have done wickedly, and
have rebelled, even by departing from
Your precepts and from Your judgments:
Neither have we hearkened unto Your
servants the prophets, which spoke in
Your name to our kings, our princes, and
our fathers, and to all the people of the
land” (Dan. 9:3-6).
Daniel was close enough to God to
realize that He deserved fear and awe.
Daniel went to great lengths to acknowledge the sins of Israel and Judah, and
God’s mercy and justice in dealing with
His people. After they had “served their
sentence,” Daniel felt it was appropriate
to ask God’s mercy and forgiveness for
the sins that had brought them into captivity: “Now therefore, O our God, hear
the prayer of Your servant, and his supplications, and cause Your face to shine
upon Your sanctuary that is desolate,
for the Lord’s sake. O my God, incline
Your ear, and hear; open Your eyes, and
behold our desolations, and the city
which is called by Your name: for we do
not present our supplications before you
for our righteousness, but for Your great
mercies. O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive;
O Lord, hearken and do; defer not, for
Your own sake, O my God: for Your
city and Your people are called by Your
name” (vs. 17-19).
God heard Daniel’s plea. He sent the
archangel Gabriel to reassure Daniel
and inform him about Judah’s inevitable
return to their homeland and another,
even more important future event.
The very scriptures defining the seventy weeks prophecy are referred to by
Gabriel as “skill and understanding.”
Although the Jews would be restored
to their homeland, fulfilling the seventy
years prophecy, Gabriel presented to
Daniel a prophecy that went far beyond
the seventy-year issue. This prophecy
pertained to seventy weeks of years, or
490 years (70 x 7 = 490)—and beyond.
The Prophecy in Closer Detail
Before turning to this prophecy, notice
Gabriel’s greeting to Daniel. It is incredible that such a powerful archangel
could speak so highly of a human being.
This gives us some insight into how
God views those who humble themselves before Him in sincere fasting
and supplication: “At the beginning of
your supplications the commandment
came forth, and I am come to show you;
for you are greatly beloved: therefore
understand the matter, and consider the
vision” (vs. 23).
We begin examining the seventy
weeks prophecy in verse 24: “Seventy
weeks are determined upon your people
and upon your holy city, to finish the
transgression, and to make an end of
sins, and to make reconciliation for
iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and
prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.”
First, we need to understand why
the seventy-weeks timeframe is actually
seventy weeks of years. The “day-fora-year” principle in Bible prophecy is
generally understood by most Bible students. This principle is acknowledged in
Halley’s Bible Handbook (p. 349).
The day-for-a-year principle is first
found in Numbers 14:34. This clearly
shows that God punished Israel by withholding or delaying their inheritance
of the Promised Land. This happened
because they refused to believe God,
choosing instead to believe the evil
report of the ten spies who focused on
their own doubts: “After the number of
the days in which you searched the land,
even forty days, each day for a year,
shall you bear your iniquities, even forty
years, and you shall know My breach of
promise.”
The next example of this principle
is found in Ezekiel 4:6: “And when
you have accomplished them, lie again
on your right side, and you shall bear
the iniquity of the house of Judah forty
days: I have appointed you each day
for a year.” Ezekiel was required to lie
on his left side for 390 days (to represent a siege against Israel) and forty
days on his right side (to represent a
siege against Judah). As verse 6 plainly
shows, each day represented a year.
Since seventy weeks equals 490 days,
applying the day-for-a-year principle,
we arrive at 490 years.
With this backdrop, we move on to
the next crucial verse: “Know therefore
and understand, that from the going forth
of the commandment to restore and to
build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the
Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be
built again, and the wall, even in troublous times” (Dan. 9:25). Here, we need
to understand exactly which commandment or decree this verse refers to.
Ezra was a dedicated scribe and
priest who returned from Babylon to
Jerusalem. The Persian King Artaxerxes
granted Ezra permission to return and
to bring a whole company of Jews with
him. He had made a decree pertaining
to the rebuilding of Jerusalem and had
given a copy of it to Ezra. This decree
and Ezra’s return to Jerusalem occurred
in the seventh year of Artaxerxes’ reign
(Ezra 7:7).
Notice: “Now this is the copy of the
letter that the king Artaxerxes gave unto
Ezra the priest, the scribe, even a scribe
of the words of the commandments of
the Lord, and of His statutes to Israel.
“Artaxerxes, king of kings, unto Ezra
the priest, a scribe of the law of the God
of heaven, perfect peace, and at such a
time. I make a decree, that all they of
the people of Israel, and of his priests
and Levites, in my realm, which are
minded of their own freewill to go up to
Jerusalem, go with you” (vs. 11-13).
Later in the decree, we read, “And
I, even I Artaxerxes the king, do make
a decree to all the treasurers which are
beyond the river, that whatsoever Ezra
the priest, the scribe of the law of the
God of heaven, shall require of you,
[let] it be done speedily…Whatsoever is
commanded by the God of heaven, let it
be diligently done for the house of the
God of heaven: for why should there be
wrath against the realm of the king and
his sons?” (vs. 21, 23).
This decree in the seventh year of
Artaxerxes was to restore and rebuild
Jerusalem. The former decree from Cyrus
(Ezra 1:1-4) pertained primarily to the
rebuilding of the temple at Jerusalem,
rather than the overall city. Thus, the
decree of the seventh year of Artaxerxes
is the one that fits Daniel 9:25, in that it
was “the commandment to restore and to
build Jerusalem.”
The year of this decree can easily be
established.
Artaxerxes’ father, King Xerxes,
died in December of 465 B.C. At that
time, Artaxerxes came to the throne.
Persians determined the year of their
kings’ reign from spring to spring. The
months preceding the first spring of
their reign were considered to be the
ascension year.
In contrast, the Jews of Judea most
always determined kingly reigns according to the civil year—from fall to fall.
They effectively postdated the reigns
of kings from the benchmark in the fall
(first day of Tishri) after the first year
officially began.
Thus, according to the Jews, the
first year of Artaxerxes’ reign was from
September, 464 B.C., to the following
September, 463 B.C. Yet, Artaxerxes
actually ascended to the throne in late
December, 465 B.C.
This means that the seventh year
of Artaxerxes’ reign would have taken
place from about September, 458 until
September, 457 B.C. Since the trip
of Ezra and his company took five
months to complete and they arrived at
Jerusalem during the fifth month (Ezra
7:8), this would still have fallen within
the seventh year of Artaxerxes’ reign.
Thus, 457 B.C. was the official year
of the decree to rebuild Jerusalem.
The Year of the Messiah
Again notice Daniel 9:25: “Know therefore and understand, that from the going
forth of the commandment to restore
and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah
the Prince shall be seven weeks, and
threescore and two weeks: the street
shall be built again, and the wall, even
in troublous times.”
The sum of seven weeks and sixtytwo weeks equals a total of sixty-nine
weeks, from the time of the decree until
the time of the Messiah. Applying the
day-for-a-year principle, we find that
sixty-nine weeks equals 483 days (69 X
7 = 483), which equates to 483 years.
If we count forward 483 years from
the year 457 B.C. (the year of Artaxerxes’
decree), we arrive at the year A.D.
26. When counting from B.C to A.D.,
since there is no year “0,” astronomers
correctly add one year. Historians and
chronologists, on the other hand, generally neglect to do this. Adding one year
brings us to A.D. 27—the prophesied
year of the beginning of the Messiah’s
ministry.
Another Confirmation
Bible chronology and history prove that
Christ began His ministry in A.D. 27.
Luke 3:23 reveals that Christ was thirty
years old when He began His ministry
in A.D. 27.
As a case in point, let’s employ a
separate timeframe to reconfirm this
date. This involves the chronology of
the temple’s reconstruction, begun by
Herod the Great.
This begins with an interesting scripture in which Christ gave a parallel
account of the sign of the prophet Jonah.
We find this in John 2:18-21: “Then
answered the Jews and said unto Him,
What sign show You unto us, seeing that
You do these things? Jesus answered
and said unto them, Destroy this temple,
and in three days I will raise it up. Then
said the Jews, Forty and six years was
this temple in building, and will You
rear it up in three days? But He spoke of
the temple of His body.”
This occurred at the first Passover
during Christ’s ministry, which would
have been in A.D. 28. The Jews recorded that the temple had been under construction for forty-six years. This would
put the beginning of the construction
of Herod’s temple at the year of 19
B.C., by adding one year to compensate
for no year “zero.” The year 19 B.C.
would have been the eighteenth year of
Herod’s reign.
The Jewish historian Josephus wrote,
“And now Herod, in the eighteenth year
of his reign…undertook a very great
work, that is, to build of himself the
temple of God…” (Antiquities, Bk. XV,
ch. xi, sec. 1). This further confirms the
chronology we are establishing. From
19 B.C., we advance forty-six years
since the beginning of the reconstruction
of the temple (originally built during the
time of Ezra), arriving at A.D. 28—at
the first Passover during Christ’s ministry. This Passover occurred about six
months after Christ began His ministry
in the fall of A.D. 27.
Cut Off From “the Land of the Living”
Daniel 9:26-27 continues this crucial
prophecy: “And after threescore and
two [62] weeks shall Messiah be cut off,
but not for Himself: and the people of
the prince that shall come shall destroy
the city and the sanctuary; and the end
thereof shall be with a flood, and unto
the end of the war desolations are determined. And He shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in
the midst of the week he shall cause the
sacrifice and the oblation to cease…”
The term for sixty-two weeks presupposes that this timeframe was preceded by the seven weeks period as
presented in verse 25. Here the reference
means 483 years, just as established in
verse 25.
Verse 27 speaks of one additional
week in which the Messiah would confirm the covenant. It further shows that
the Messiah would cause the sacrifice
and oblations to cease in the midst of the
week—after three and one-half years.
Some of the issues presented in
Daniel 9:26-27 are answered in Isaiah
53:4-5: “Surely He has borne our griefs,
and carried our sorrows: yet we did
esteem Him stricken, smitten of God,
and afflicted. But He was wounded for
our transgressions, He was bruised for
our iniquities…” Isaiah 53:8 clinches
the point: “He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall
declare His generation? For He was
cut off out of the land of the living: for
the transgression of My people was He
stricken.”
How clear! The Messiah was cut off
from the “land of the living” by being
crucified. His death was not for Himself,
but for “the transgressions of My people.”
This establishes Christ as the Messiah.
Before elaborating on the details of
that final week, we need to complete a
thought presented in verse 26: “…and the
people of the prince that shall come shall
destroy the city and the sanctuary…”
This was to occur after the Messiah had
been cut off—after the time of the crucifixion. The “people of the prince” (the
prince of this world, Satan – John 12:31
and Ephesians 2:2) is a reference to the
Roman armies under Vespasion, and later
under his son, Titus. These Roman armies
under Titus finally managed to destroy
not only the city, but also the Temple and
the people during and after the siege of
A.D. 70.
Now notice the last part of verse 26:
“…and the end thereof shall be with a
flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.” The last part of
this verse looks well beyond the time
of Jerusalem’s destruction in A.D. 70.
The “flood” pertains to armies that will
surround Jerusalem at the outset of the
Great Tribulation and again upon Christ’s
Return. The “end” pertains to the many
turbulent events that will occur during the
Tribulation and the Day of the Lord.
The Seventieth Week
We have already established that the
Messiah did not appear until the completion of the first sixty-nine weeks or 483
years. Christ’s ministry began in the fall
of A.D. 27, exactly on time according to
the seventy weeks prophecy.
But what was to happen during the
seventieth week?
We must again examine the first part
of Daniel 9:27: “And He shall confirm
the covenant with many for one week:
and in the midst of the week He shall
cause the sacrifice and the oblation to
cease…” This week that the Messiah
was to confirm the covenant was the
final (seventieth) week. This week was
the equivalent of seven years. We have
already covered how the Messiah was
cut off in the midst of the week.
Another interesting aspect of “the
midst of the week” is covered in our
booklet Christ’s Resurrection Was
Not on Sunday: “In this prophecy, the
Messiah was foretold to be cut off ‘in
the midst of the week.’ Wednesday is
literally the fourth, or middle day, of a
seven-day week. So then, it was in the
‘midst of the week’ that Christ was ‘cut
off.’” In A.D. 31, Passover occurred on
a Wednesday—the very day Christ was
crucified—in the midst of the week.
Hebrews 10:12 adds to the overall
picture: “But this Man, after He had
offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat
down on the right hand of God.”
Thus, the Messiah caused the sacrifices to cease by offering Himself. This
was fulfilled in the midst of that final
week, after confirming the covenant for
three and one-half years. This first half
of the prophetic week was completed in
A.D. 31, thus ending Christ’s three-andone-half-year ministry. The date of A.D.
31 is now well established.
The Abomination of Desolation
Daniel 9:27 reads, “And He shall confirm the covenant with many for one
week: and in the midst of the week He
shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation
to cease, and for the overspreading of
abominations he shall make it desolate,
even until the consummation, and that
determined shall be poured upon the
desolate.”
The latter part of verse 27 closely
resembles the later part of verse 26. Verse
26 ended with the words (in context to the
prophetic events pertaining to Jerusalem),
“desolations are determined.” Then we
read, in verse 27, “the overspreading of
abominations he shall make it desolate.”
This is one of the three references in
Daniel explicitly relating to the abomination of desolation. Daniel 12:11 and
11:31 are the other main references.
Daniel 11:31 reads, “And arms shall
stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall
take away the daily sacrifice, and they
shall place the abomination that makes
desolate.” This verse, taken out of context, does not give the full picture of
the event described. After the death of
Alexander the Great, in 331 B.C., the
Grecian empire was divided into four
regions, each ruled by one of his four
generals.
One region, the Seleucid empire to the
north of Judea (including Syria), eventually assimilated much additional territory.
It was constantly in conflict with another
of these regions, the Ptolemaic empire to
the south (based in Egypt). The boundaries between these adversarial empires
were originally in Syria, but moved continually during the ongoing confrontations for over two and a half centuries.
This placed the region of Judea in
the middle of the disputed territories
between the king of the north and the
king of the south.
In about 176 B.C., Antiochus
IV (king of the north) had acquired
the kingdom from his older brother
by flattery and deceit (A Manual of
Ancient History, Rawlinson). After this,
Antiochus Epiphanes removed the high
priest in Jerusalem and installed someone who was loyal to him. Antiochus
Epiphanes grew in power and influence.
Although his father and grandfather had
shown favor to the Jews, he took steps to
alienate them at every opportunity.
Upon a triumphant return from Egypt,
in 168 B.C., he sacked the temple at
Jerusalem and took its golden vessels.
Shortly thereafter, following a less
successful confrontation with Egypt,
which had enlisted the help of Rome,
Antiochus returned to vent his anger
against the Jews as he was returning to
his capitol at Antioch. He offered favor
to any of the Jews who would renounce
their beliefs and practices.
Then Antiochus dispatched troops
to Judea in 167 B.C., destroying the
temple and its sanctuary. (However, the
basic structure of the temple remained
intact and was later restored.) This
act did away with the daily sacrifice.
Antiochus then set up an image directly
on the alter of the temple—thus defiling
and making it desolate.
The image he set up was that of
Jupiter Olympus (Rawlinson, p. 255).
This is the same image that the historic
counterfeit church has pawned off to the
world as the image of Jesus Christ. As if
this were not enough, Antiochus further
alienated the Jews by offering swine’s
blood upon the alter.
These historical events constituted an
unmistakable fulfillment of the prophecy in Daniel 11:31. This was one of the
former fulfillments or types of the endtime “abomination of desolation.”
Remember that, in Matthew 24:16,
Christ cited the event of the abomination of desolation, in which Jerusalem
will be besieged by armies as a prelude
to the setting up of an image in a future
Temple or tabernacle in Jerusalem. This
event will constitute a signal for the
flight of His people.
This understanding is reinforced
and confirmed by Luke 21:20-22: “And
when you shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the
DESOLATION thereof is near. Then
let them which are in Judea flee to the
mountains; and let them which are in the
midst of it depart out; and let not them
that are in the countries enter therein.
For these are the days of vengeance, that
all things which are written may be fulfilled.” Besides the fulfillment of other
aspects of prophecy, the abomination of
desolation also marks the beginning of
the Great Tribulation.
The end of Daniel 9:27 reads, “…and
for the overspreading of abominations he
shall make it desolate even until the consummation, and that determined shall be
poured upon the desolate.” The context
of the final word “desolate” refers to the
one who perpetrated or the “causer of
desolation” (JFB Commentary), hence,
the “Desolator”—Satan. Thus, to paraphrase: “the abomination shall defile
the sanctuary until the end when the
appointed doom or judgment falls upon
Satan.”
Final Fulfillment of
the Seventieth Week
Thus far, in the seventieth and final
week, we only covered up to the point
where the Messiah was to be cut off in
the midst of the week. Yet, it is clear that
the final three and one-half years remain
to be fulfilled.
When does this occur? The scriptures
reveal such a time when Christ confirms
the covenant after His Return.
Romans 15:8 states, “Now I say that
Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises [covenant] made unto
the fathers.” This pertains to the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and the
covenant passed down through them.
Tremendous promises to Abraham and
other faithful servants will be fulfilled
in the kingdom of God. At His Return,
Christ also will make a new covenant
with Israel, writing the laws of God in
their hearts and minds.
Hebrews 8:6-10 recounts this landmark event: “But now has He obtained
a more excellent ministry, by how much
also He is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises. For if that first covenant
had been faultless, then should no place
have been sought for the second.
“For finding fault with them [Israel,
not the covenant], He says, Behold, the
days come, says the Lord, when I will
make a new covenant with the house of
Israel and with the house of Judah: Not
according to the covenant that I made
with their fathers in the day when I took
them by the hand to lead them out of the
land of Egypt; because they continued
not in My covenant, and I regarded them
not, says the Lord.
“For this is the covenant that I will
make with the house of Israel after those
days, says the Lord; I will put My laws
into their mind, and write them in their
hearts: and I will be to them a God, and
they shall be to Me a people.”
It will be during the time of God’s
kingdom that Daniel 9:24 is fully realized: “Seventy weeks are determined
upon your people and upon your holy
city, to finish the transgression, and to
make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in
everlasting righteousness, and to seal up
the vision and prophecy, and to anoint
the most Holy.”
The overall “seventy weeks prophecy” in Daniel 9:24-27 is one of the
Bible’s most astonishing. It precisely
foretold the time of Christ’s first coming
and the exact year that He was to begin
His ministry. It then shows the length of
that ministry—three and one-half years.
It shows that He was cut off in “the
midst of the week” after causing sacrifices to cease, as His shed blood was to
apply to all humanity: “…for He was
cut off out of the land of the living: for
the transgression of My people was He
stricken” (Isa. 53:8).
Christ will soon return and complete
this amazing prophecy by confirming
the covenant for three and one-half
years.
Because of such powerful, convincing evidence, we should be more greatly
resolved to fear and serve God with
renewed dedication. True Christians
never serve God based on empty superstition. Rather, they serve a God who
tells His servants to “prove all things”
(II Thes. 5:21) and then expects them to
obey Him—the real, living God, whom
His faithful followers reverence and fear
because He will deliver every promise
and fulfill every prophecy. 
R048
081218
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