Daniel was truly a man of God. We first read about Daniel shortly after Judah was captured by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. Daniel, along with other young men, was taken from Judah to Babylon to be trained for the king’s service.
We are probably more familiar with the story of Daniel being thrown into the lion’s den, than we are of his prophecies, which predicted the future. Be that as it may, his predictions of the future are much more important to us. They were so accurate, that critics of the Bible claimed they had to be written after the fact. They claimed the book of Daniel was a book of history rather than prophecy. However, the discovery of ancient manuscripts, some dating back to 250 BC, have quieted those critics.
Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream
When God gave Nebuchadnezzar a dream of a large statue made of gold, silver, bronze, iron and clay; he summoned the magicians, enchanters, sorcerers, and astrologers to tell him his dream and it’s meaning. Because he didn’t trust them, he wanted them to tell him his dream and then interrupt it. Of course, even though it meant their death, they were unable to do so.
God revealed to Daniel, the dream and its meaning. At the time of the dream, Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon ruled most of the known world. This dream revealed that after Babylon; the next ruling empire would be Medo-Persia, then Greece, and finally Rome, exactly as history happened. God has no problem seeing into the future!
Through visions, God revealed to Daniel many things concerning the Antichrist and end times events that would take place.
Daniel’s Seventy ‘Seven’ weeks prophecy is one that every Christian should be familiar with because of what has taken place so far and what is predicted to come. Because this prophecy has been so precise so far, we must believe it when it predicts when the tribulation will begin and what will take place during the tribulation.
God gave this prophecy to Daniel in a dream and sent the angel Gabriel to interrupt it for him. This prophecy told when the walls of Jerusalem would be repaired and exactly how long it would take. It predicted the exact day of Jesus’s triumphant entry into Jerusalem prior to His crucifixion, nearly five hundred years before it took place.
This prophecy was for a period of seventy weeks. These are actually interpreted as weeks of years. It will be a period of seventy weeks of seven years each, for a total of four hundred and ninety years. Four hundred and eighty-three years of this prophecy have already taken place. The other seven years of prophecy will occur during the tribulation.
Daniel’s Prophecy:
20 While I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel and making my request to the Lord my God for his holy hill— 21 while I was still in prayer, Gabriel, the man I had seen in the earlier vision, came to me in swift flight about the time of the evening sacrifice. 22 He instructed me and said to me, “Daniel, I have now come to give you insight and understanding. 23 As soon as you began to pray, a word went out, which I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed. Therefore, consider the word and understand the vision:
24 “Seventy ‘sevens’ are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the Most Holy Place.
25 “Know and understand this: From the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One,the ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens.’ It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble. 26 After the sixty-two ‘sevens,’ the Anointed One will be put to death and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed. 27 He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’In the middle of the ‘seven’ he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And at the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him” (Daniel 9:20-27).
If we look at verse 24, we see this prophecy will continue all the way to the end time: “to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the Most Holy Place.”
Christ’s death did atone for our sins, but an end to prophecy will not occur until after the Great White Throne judgment and the New Heaven and New Earth are created.
In verse 25, we see two ‘time periods.’ One of seven “sevens” (49 years), and a second period of sixty-two “sevens” (434 years). In verse 27, we see the third and final time period of one “seven” (7 years).
It is important to note that the Jewish calendar of that time only had 360 days in a year.
The First Period (49 years):
The first time period will begin, verse 25, when the command goes out to repair the walls of Jerusalem. To understand this, we need to remember that the Jewish people, including Daniel, had been taken captive during a siege on Jerusalem and had been under captivity in Babylon. Jerusalem, their Holy City, and the temple had been left in ruin.
“In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. And the Lord delivered Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand” (Daniel 1:1).
After a period of seventy years many of the Jews had returned to Jerusalem, as promised by the Lord.
“This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place” (Jeremiah 29:10).
These Jews had reconstructed the temple, however the city and walls were still in ruins. Word of this came to the prophet Nehemiah.
“They said to me, “Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire.”
“When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven” (Nehemiah 1:3-4).
When Nehemiah came before the king, the king noticed Nehemiah’s distress.
“In the month of Nisan in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes……asked me, “Why does your face look so sad when you are not ill? This can be nothing but sadness of heart.”
I was very much afraid, but I said to the king, “May the king live forever! Why should my face not look sad when the city where my ancestors are buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?”
The king said to me, “What is it you want?”
Then I prayed to the God of heaven, and I answered the king, “If it pleases the king and if your servant has found favor in his sight, let him send me to the city in Judah where my ancestors are buried so that I can rebuild it” (Nehemiah 2:1-5).
“And because the gracious hand of my God was on me, the king granted my requests” (Nehemiah 2:8).
This was the command for Nehemiah to go and repair Jerusalem. This started the first period of 49 years (Daniel 9:25). The year was 445 B.C., in the twentieth year reign of King Artaxerxes. Nehemiah finished restoring Jerusalem in the year 396 B.C., exactly 49 years later.
In verse one above it is written: “In the month of Nisan in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes.” We know that Artaxerxes became king in 465 B.C., so the year was 445 B.C. Since no date was given, it means that it was the first day of the month, according to Jewish custom. The first day of Nisan 445 B.C, corresponds to our calendar date of March 14 of that year.
Robert Anderson in his book “The Coming Prince” explains: “there is neither doubt nor difficulty in fixing within narrow limits the Julian date of the 1st of Nisan in any year whatever. In B.C. 445 the new moon by which the passover was regulated was on the 13th of March at 7h. 9m. A.M. And accordingly, the 1st Nisan may be assigned to the 14th March.”
It took Nehemiah forty-nine years to repair Jerusalem, exactly as God had revealed to Daniel beforehand that it would.
The Second Period (434 years):
The second time period was from the time that Nehemiah finished restoring Jerusalem to the time of Christ’s crucifixion.
“After the sixty-two ‘sevens,’ the Anointed One will be put to death” (v. 27)
Christ made his entrance into Jerusalem on Sunday prior to His Crucifixion. Jesus was crucified at the end of that week. The Julian date was April sixth of 32 A.D., which is the tenth of Nisan on the Jewish Calendar.
Anderson wrote; “between the issuing of the decree to rebuild Jerusalem and the public advent of “Messiah the Prince” — between the 14th of March, B.C. 445, and the 6th April, A.D. 32. The interval contained exactly and to the very day 173,880 days, or seven times sixty-nine prophetic years of 360 days; the first sixty-nine weeks of Gabriel’s prophecy.”
This is an amazing prophecy that predicted the birth of Christ and the exact day of His crucifiction, Four hundred and eighty-three years before it took place. Because of the discovery of ancient manuscripts written hundreds of years before the event took place, critics of the Bible are unable to dispute the accuracy or truth of this prophecy.
The third period (7 years)
The third period is yet to be fulfilled. Looking at verse twenty-seven of Daniel, we see it speaks of the covenant the Antichrist makes with Israel, the breaking of the covenant after three and one half years, and the setting up of his abomination that causes desolation. There can be no doubt that this will be the tribulation period.
“He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’In the middle of the ‘seven’ he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And at the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him” (verse 27).
The third time period can not begin until after the Rapture when the Antichrist makes his appearance. According to verse twenty-seven, when the Antichrist makes a covenant with Israel, it will begin the last seven years of prophecy. Daniel’s prophecy for his people had stopped when the Jewish people rejected Jesus.
“You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this” (Acts 3:15).
“He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him” (John 1:11).
Although the gospel was preached to the Jews and many came to believe, it really became the time for the Gentiles. They were the ones that accepted the apostles teaching, and are still continuing to do so.
The seven years of tribulation will be the last opportunity for God’s chosen people to finally recognize Jesus as their Messiah and their God. We are told that in the later part of the tribulation, they will come as a nation to believe in the Lord.
Because of the accuracy of the first two periods of this prophecy, it would be foolish not to believe that the third period will take place exactly as God revealed to Daniel that it will. All of Daniel’s prophecies have happened exactly as Daniel predicted. The last of Daniel’s prophecies, the seven year tribulation will occur exactly as the Scriptures tell us it will. Be ready. Do not get left behind at the rapture.
Books by Jerry, many of which you may read for free on Prime: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jerry-Blount/author/B06XK4GJT1
- Things You Probably Didn’t Learn in Church
- Basic Christianity: Living a Joy-Filled Life and Making a Difference
- The End Times: Signs and Prophecy
- Noah and the Great Flood: Proof and Effects
- Following Jesus and Fishing Along the Way: Stories of God’s Great Outdoors
- The Rapture: Coming Soon
- Delighting in the Lord: Enjoying a Close Walk with Jesus
Sharing Jesus 