God's Final Week - 7

The Prophecies of Daniel Unsealed

CHAPTER 7

THE PROPHECIES OF DANIEL UNSEALED

It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter.

— Proverbs 25:2

Daniel’s prophecies regarding the time of the end are among the most well-known in all of Scripture. And in many ways, I believe they are also the simplest to understand.

In short, these 2,500-year-old prophecies are foundational to a proper understanding of the end times, and they must be found in close alignment with any paradigm looking to seriously discern the season of Christ’s return.

Sir Isaac Newton had this to say about the book of Daniel.

The predictions of things to come relate to the state of the Church in all ages: and amongst the old Prophets, Daniel is most distinct in order of time, and easiest to be understood: and therefore in those things which relate to the last times, he must be made the key to the rest.

— Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel and the Apocalypse of St. John

This leaves us with a rather simple question. Do the prophecies of Daniel also point to the year 6000?

As ever, the key to answering this question lies in shrewd interpretation.

Before diving in, I would like to highlight an unassuming verse in the book which vindicates my entire approach to the end times.

And some of the wise shall stumble, so that they may be refined, purified, and made white, until the time of the end, for it still awaits the appointed time.

— Daniel 11:35 (ESV)

While many in Christendom insist on claiming that the timing of the end is unknowable, Daniel asserts that it will come at the appointed time. No sooner, and no later. And if the time is appointed, might it not also be quietly declared within the ancient texts of Scripture? Surely the Lord will do nothing without revealing the secret to his servants, the prophets (Amos 3:7).

The seventy weeks prophecy, found in Daniel 9:24-27, has been widely understood throughout Church history to point to the Messiah’s first coming. Today, it is also commonly believed to point to a future seven-year tribulation.

And yet, is there perhaps more to this prophecy, too, than meets the eye?

Here are the verses from the trusty King James Version.

Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy 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. 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. And after threescore and two 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, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

— Daniel 9:24-27

To begin, we must understand the broader context. At this point in time, Daniel had just recently come to understand the words of Jeremiah the prophet to mean that the people of Israel would only be captive in Babylon for 70 years (Jeremiah 25:9-13). This seventieth year of captivity was fast approaching (probably less than 10 years remained at this point in Daniel’s life), and so he was praying to God for the restoration of Jerusalem, God’s Holy City, and for the reconciliation of the people of Israel. He confessed to God his own sins and the sins of the people of Israel as a whole. As he was praying, the angel Gabriel appeared to him with the seventy weeks prophecy.

This prophecy is all about the exact things which Daniel was even then praying about: the future restoration of Jerusalem and the forgiveness of sins. And the number 70.

The angel Gabriel declares that 70 weeks are determined upon the people of Israel and upon the city of Jerusalem to do six things: 1) to finish the transgression, 2) to make an end of sins, 3) to make reconciliation for iniquity, 4) to bring in everlasting righteousness, 5) to seal up the vision and prophecy, and 6) to anoint the most Holy. It’s plain to see that these are all Messianic things, which Jesus fulfilled in his first coming. I would argue that he will also fulfill some of them again, and more completely, at his Second Coming.

Notice that the destruction of Jerusalem, the desolation of the entire world, and the tribulation of the entire world are not listed as being part of the 70 weeks prophecy. On the contrary, Gabriel makes it clear up front what the 70 weeks are all about, and we would do well to remember his opening words.

Destruction and desolation are mentioned in the prophecy itself (verses 26 and 27), to the confusion of many. However, careful analysis allows us to understand that they take place outside of the strict 70 weeks.

One of the interesting aspects of the 70 weeks prophecy, which often does not get the attention it deserves, is how the first 69 weeks are divided into 7 and 62 in verse 25. The year-for-a-day principle (Numbers 14:34), in which a prophetic day is considered to be symbolic of a year, allows us to make sense of these weeks. Indeed, it has been widely known for much of Church history, and has been calculated many times over, that the 483 years – which equals 69 weeks of 7 years each – takes us from approximately 457 BC up to AD 27. This leads us up to the exact starting point of Yeshua’s ministry. (Remember, whenever you cross over from BC to AD, you must subtract a year, since there is no zero year.)

A great deal of scholarly work has gone into the identification of the 457 BC date for Artaxerxes’ decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem. For our purposes, the important point is that it can likely be trusted to be accurate within one year (quite a feat given that it took place nearly 2,500 years ago).

Is this why some astute Jews, including many of Yeshua’s disciples, were looking for the Messiah to appear right around the time when his earthly ministry began? Had they done the math based on the 70 weeks prophecy? It appears many had.

And as the people were in expectation, and all men mused in their hearts of John, whether he were the Christ, or not …

— Luke 3:15

Still, we have the question of why the 69 weeks were not listed plainly as such. Why 7 and 62? Clearly, the math from Artaxerxes’ decree to the beginning of Yeshua’s ministry is much too close to 483 years to be purely coincidental. Yet, as we know, prophecies in Scripture can sometimes point to more than one future fulfillment. Is there perhaps a double meaning to this prophecy?

Sir Isaac Newton, one of the greatest minds to be found in all of the sixth millennial day, certainly thought so. He believed that the 7 and the 62 somehow spoke both to the Messiah’s first appearance, and also to his second appearance at the end of the age. I am inclined to believe he was right.

I believe I have found, by God’s grace, the key which unlocks the meaning of this core prophecy. In the end, the solution is not nearly as complex as you might imagine. Simplicity is, after all, the ultimate sophistication. And yet, we must with humility realize that it is far easier for us to glimpse the beautifully simple truth from our vantage point here at the end of the age. These things were sealed up for many years, only for the scrolls to finally be unwound here in their proper time.

The seven weeks is indeed intended to be counted as years – 49 in all – and added to the 62 weeks of years to arrive at the Messiah’s first coming, as we have seen. These 483 years are precise and lead directly without a gap to the seventieth week, a seven-year window which has already occurred. More on that shortly.

However, the seven weeks has a double meaning and is also intended to be counted as 49 Jubilee years. This is the number of Jubilee years between the decree to rebuild Jerusalem and the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. I believe that the Messiah’s return will coincide with or slightly precede (by mere days) the announcement of the 50th Jubilee year, and so this last Jubilee is not counted with the others. Notice how these 49 Jubilee years are a mathematically beautiful reflection of the 490 years contained within the 70 weeks themselves.

Upon consideration, this is also simply a cleverly devised magnification of the Jubilee cycle itself. There are 49 “regular” Jubilees in the prophecy, followed by a fiftieth Super Jubilee, which I believe is only announced shortly after the Second Coming. This fiftieth Jubilee is the final Jubilee, the 120th Jubilee, the ultimate entry into the land of true freedom and the eternal state.

With this realization, we understand that there was only one 50-year period in all of history which the prophecy of Daniel could have pointed to so as to provide such a mathematically beautiful riddle. It had to point to a decree given after the 70th Jubilee from creation, but before the 71st.

The nearest Jubilee marker we have comes from Ezekiel Chapter 1.

Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the river of Chebar, that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God. In the fifth day of the month, which was the fifth year of king Jehoiachin’s captivity …

— Ezekiel 1:1-2

Historically speaking, we know that this fifth year of Jehoiachin’s captivity occurred in approximately 594 BC. Verse 1 tells us this year was the thirtieth year of the Jubilee cycle. Let us assume that the Jubilee cycle was faithfully observed – or at a minimum kept track of – as 50 years in length prior to Israel’s captivity; a safe assumption, in my view. This would place the next Jubilee at 574 BC. (I believe the true date to actually be 573 BC, but either year is close enough for our purposes at the moment.)

This Jubilee at 573 BC would have been the 68th from creation. The seventieth Jubilee would have fallen on 473 BC, and sixteen years later, in 457 BC, the decree to rebuild Jerusalem went out, starting the clock for the 490 years.

Incidentally, using this math gives us the 80th Jubilee staring on Tishri 10 of AD 28. And then the 120th Jubilee should follow on Tishri 10 of 2028.

Interestingly, the very language of Daniel 9 hints at this particular way of breaking up the 7 and the 69. We know that in the Tanakh there are two distinct versions of the Messiah prophesied. One is Messiah ben Joseph, the Suffering Servant. The other is Messiah ben David, the Prince, the Conquering King. As Christians, we understand that these two different roles represent the two comings of the Messiah.

In verse 25, the Messiah is called “the Prince” right before the mention of the seven weeks. This appears to hint that these weeks point to the Second Coming. In verse 26, then, we are told that after the 62 weeks Messiah is cut off, which refers directly to his role as Suffering Servant during his first coming. What’s more, Messiah itself means “anointed one,” pointing to Yeshua’s baptism which occurred at the start of the seventieth week. It seems that the key interpretative clues have been in the text for us all along, waiting to be comprehended.

Now we come to the most misunderstood week of all. The seventieth week.

As the modern dispensationalists would have it, this final week is yet to come, and it amounts to the fabled “time of Jacob’s trouble” or the tribulation. The problem with this popular theory, is that it entails a faulty interpretation of Daniel 9:27.

And after threescore and two 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, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

— Daniel 9:26-27

Most modern Christians, versed as they are in the end times lore of the day, attribute verse 27 to the Antichrist without batting an eye. I would argue that it instead speaks of the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth, and that this seventieth week has already been fulfilled.

Now, there is a grammatical argument for why the “he” in verse 27 is more likely to be “Messiah” from verse 26 than the “prince that shall come.” However, this on its own is not 100% conclusive, so I’d rather not waste time with that course of thought.

Rather, let us consider what verse 27 is actually saying. This is not speaking of a new covenant being set up for the first time. Instead, it is an existing covenant that is being confirmed. This is a reference not to some future peace accord between the Antichrist and Israel, but rather, quite simply, to the Abrahamic covenant.

The Apostle Paul puts it this way, “And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect” (Galatians 3:17).

And again, he picks up this theme elsewhere, “Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers” (Romans 15:8).

Jesus Christ, in both his arrival on earth and in his substitutionary sacrifice on the cross, was the ultimate fulfillment of the covenant God made with Abraham long ago.

In verse 26 of Daniel 9, we are told that Messiah is “cut off.” The Hebrew word is karath and means “to cut covenant.” This refers to the old practice of the blood covenant, the closest of all contracts, whereby the two parties would seal the pact with a bit of their own blood.

Understanding this, the flow from verse 26 to 27 is perfect. The Messiah is cut off, in fulfillment of the covenant. He shows up much like the ram sent to Abraham, in the midst of the thorns which symbolize the curse brought about by man’s fall. This is Christ’s confirmation of the covenant; he sheds his own blood for us. And in the midst of the seventieth week (notice it never says the exact midpoint) is when this ultimate sacrifice takes place, rendering any continuing sacrifice and oblation in the Jewish Temple utterly meaningless and void.

The ending of the verse hints at the rejection of the Messiah by his own people, and their eventual destruction in AD 70 at the hands of the Romans. The allusion to a “flood” is interesting, as biblically this word is often used, in a post-Noahic-Flood setting, to symbolize the most extreme of judgments. Notice, too, how for the overspreading of abominations “he” shall make it desolate. This makes perfect sense if he is the Messiah and zero sense if instead he is the liar Messiah, or the Antichrist. Think about it.

In my studied view, it is most likely that the seventieth week began in AD 27, with Yeshua’s baptism and the beginning of his public ministry. He died on the cross only two years later. I believe the week ended with the stoning of Stephen an additional five years afterward, in AD 34. This was God’s seven years of confirming the covenant with his chosen people, and he gave them every opportunity to embrace the salvation offered through his Son. We often forget that many of the Jews did in fact believe and were saved, providing a striking continuity of God’s people from Old Covenant to New for those with eyes to see. And yet, sadly, it was only a remnant of the nation that would choose the narrow way.

Consider this, why does the book of Acts (written by Luke, the same man who gave us the 15th year of Tiberius link to the beginning of the seventieth week) spend such a significant amount of time detailing Stephen’s final speech? He was the Church’s first martyr, no doubt, and yet there are many other important details of the early Church which are either barely mentioned or glossed over entirely in Acts and the rest of the New Testament. I believe the reason for the prominence of Stephen’s speech and stoning lies in the quiet, subtle fulfillment of Daniel’s seventieth week. These details had to be included in their fullness to bring the prophecy to its fitting end. And Yahweh, ever the Master Storyteller, knows just how to write an understated ending.

In the end, we find little merit in the belief that this seventieth week is sealed up for the end times and the final tribulation period, as popularly assumed. Instead, it was fulfilled nearly 2,000 years ago.

Does it make any sense to jump from the Messiah on the cross, as clearly prophesied in verse 26, to the Antichrist and Israel thousands of years later in verse 27, as imagined by many today? Or is not the confirmation of the covenant in verse 27 better understood as simply a recapitulation or restating of the Messiah’s being cut off from verse 26?

Does this wholly preclude a future fulfillment of this same week? Of course, we know that history works in cycles, and there are often multiple layers of meaning hidden within biblical prophecy. Thus, it is difficult to entirely rule the notion out.

However, it is my view that any future fulfillment will have more to do with the dragon’s attempts at copying God’s plan than with a straightforward fulfillment of these Scriptures. Ultimately, though, God is orchestrating all things, and is well aware of even the enemy’s countermoves, and so from this perspective it is all encompassed by and accounted for in his master plan. Nonetheless, it is perhaps simpler to consider the prophetic seventieth week fulfilled, though we must acknowledge that the dragon may yet still play at his own false fulfillment.

I have often found it interesting that the seventy weeks are determined upon Israel to make reconciliation for iniquity and the other four objectives we have discussed, but then also to “seal up the vision and prophecy.” What exactly does this mean, considering that the seventy weeks are already fulfilled?

In antiquity, Kings would seal royal documents with a bit of wax to safeguard the contents until they reached their intended recipient. It was the ancient equivalent of classified information. In the final chapter of the book of Daniel, we are given a bit more insight into what the sealing of biblical prophecy entails.

But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased … And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.

— Daniel 12:4 & 9-10

From this passage, we can safely conclude that the sealing of prophecy conveys much the same meaning as for the Kings of the day. Prophecy that is sealed is intended to be hidden, until the appointed recipients, in the appointed time, are given the means to decipher it.

In this context, we may understand that when the 70 weeks were fulfilled, the hidden aspect of the prophecy – namely, the seven weeks of Jubilees pointing to the Second Coming of the Messiah – was sealed up for many years. Until the time of the end.

Ironically, do you see how this reference to the sealing up of the prophecy makes the delayed seventieth week impossible? If 70 weeks are determined to seal up the prophecy, but the last week doesn’t happen until the final days of mankind, why exactly is the prophecy being sealed up? Sealed for eternity? This little detail only makes sense if the seventy weeks wrap up a good deal of time before the end, allowing for the sealing of the additional hidden meaning contained within the prophecy, which points to the ultimate ending.

As attached as many sincere Christians may be to it, the idea of the delayed seventieth week of Daniel becoming the end times tribulation period spoken of by Yeshua is a viewpoint which falls under the weight of its own incoherence. Nowhere else in Scripture do we find a time prophecy with a gap built in. Much less a gap itself amounting to thousands of years. The idea simply does not stand up to serious scrutiny.

We have made sense of the seventy weeks prophecy. But does Daniel have more to say about calculating the time of the end? I believe he does.

In Daniel Chapter 8, there is the famously misunderstood 2,300 days prophecy. This prophecy is often assumed by most of Christendom to point directly to Antiochus Epiphanes, a Greek king of the second century BC. Because of this, further meaning is often not looked for from the prophecy. However, I believe that several verses in the chapter contain clues pointing to the end times.

So he came near where I stood: and when he came, I was afraid, and fell upon my face: but he said unto me, Understand, O son of man: for at the time of the end shall be the vision … And he said, Behold, I will make thee know what shall be in the last end of the indignation: for at the time appointed the end shall be.

— Daniel 8:17 & 19

Does this sound like something that was fulfilled over two thousand years ago? Does it sound like something that was fulfilled in 1844? These sorts of interpretations do not agree with the plain language of the text.

Now, I do agree that the first 12 verses of the text do point to Antiochus Epiphanes. This much, in my view, is correct. However, the key distinction for this prophecy lies in a correct understanding of verse 14.

And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.

— Daniel 8:14

Interestingly, the Septuagint has the number 2,400 in this verse. Adding to the perplexity of this is the fact that many of the old Masoretic texts contain evidence of this number being edited or tampered with. This can be hard to reconcile until one considers the witnesses of ancient historians. Fortunately for us, both Jerome and Josephus have recorded that some copies of Daniel available in their day yet long since lost to us contained the number 2,200.

It seems most likely that one of the texts upon which the Septuagint was based had over the years developed a scribal error in this particular spot. The Hebrew words for two hundred were simply repeated twice, leading to a value of 2,400. This number then made its way into the Septuagint’s Greek translation. The scribes of the Masoretic scrolls, confronted with texts pointing both to 2,200 and 2,400, might have logically chosen to split the difference and go with 2,300. Hence, the evidence of editing in these scrolls.

Given the historical details we have, it seems that 2,200 was most likely the original number given to Daniel.

Our present histories tell us that in 170 BC, Antiochus – a prefiguring of the Antichrist – entered the Holy of Holies and plundered it, taking away its gold and silver vessels and the seven-branched golden menorah. This may be the starting point from which the “How long?” in Daniel 8:13 is meant to be reckoned, given the context.

Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that certain saint which spake, How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot?

— Daniel 8:13

Are we to accept it as mere coincidence that 170 BC is 2,197 years from the year AD 2028? Three years of uncertainty in the second century BC is actually quite accurate. Accordingly, I believe the correct starting year is most likely either 173 BC or the first part of 172 BC. And the last end of the indignation will come precisely 2,200 years later, in the year AD 2028.

Incidentally, I find it remarkable that the edited number of 2,300 also has a way of pointing to the Temple and its desolation. Specifically, it points to a New Testament verse linking the concept of a Temple with a physical body.

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 wilt thou rear it up in three days? But he spake of the temple of his body.

— John 2:19-21

When you multiply 46 by the Jubilee cycle of 50, you arrive at 2,300. Or, put another way, there are precisely 46 Jubilee years within a period of 2,300 regular years.

The final chapter of the book of Daniel contains one last cryptic prophecy.

And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book. And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever. But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.

— Daniel 12:1-4

The reference to the resurrection here is unmistakable. This prophecy is speaking of the very end.

And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand. And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days. Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days. But go thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days.

— Daniel 12:9-13

I have seen very few good explanations for the meaning of the 1,290 and the 1,335 days spoken of here, at the very last gasp of this prophetic book. However, I have found one particular interpretation which points to the same endpoint as the 49 Jubilees of the seventy weeks prophecy and the 2,200 years of Daniel 8. Now, I must acknowledge that I did not arrive at this interpretation of Daniel 12 on my own. Instead, finding one that fits well with the other prophecies, I have adopted it into my overall paradigm.

Before I share the interpretation, you must understand that Daniel Chapter 12 stands alone to a certain extent and is not directly linked to the other prophetic passages which precede it. I believe it is also crucial to realize that Daniel 12 is clearly focused on the end of days, the climactic ending of all human history. We can therefore safely rule out any interpretation of the 1,290 and 1,335 which points to an end date hundreds or even thousands of years in the past.

In the apocryphal book of 2 Maccabees, there is a passage describing the prophet Jeremiah’s taking away of the daily sacrifice in Jerusalem just prior to Nebuchadnezzar’s victory over the city.

It was also in the writing that the prophet, having received an oracle, ordered that the tent and the ark should follow with him and that he went out to the mountain where Moses had gone up and had seen the inheritance of God. And Jeremiah came and found a cave, and he brought there the tent and the ark and the altar of incense, and he sealed up the entrance. Some of those who followed him came up to mark the way, but could not find it. When Jeremiah learned of it, he rebuked them and declared: ‘The place shall be unknown until God gathers his people together again and shows his mercy.’

— 2 Maccabees 2:4-7 (ESV)

Now, I am by no means claiming that 2 Maccabees or the other books of the Apocrypha are inspired. However, many of these hidden books are valuable historical sources, though they admittedly do not belong in the Bible. First and Second Maccabees are among the most highly regarded for their historical account of the Intertestamental Period, also known as the Second Temple Period. Perhaps it is for this reason that they were a part of the Apocrypha section of the original 1611 King James Version and were printed between the Old and New Testaments until the mid 1800s. (Most present-day Protestant believers are unaware of this fact.)

The pertinent point is that, while they are uninspired, many of the Apocryphal books contain valuable history for our use.

Jeremiah’s taking of the altar of incense from Jerusalem has been dated to approximately 598 BC. This was the daily sacrifice being taken away.

In AD 692, which just so happens to be 1,289 years later, the Dome of the Rock – an Islamic shrine – was dedicated and built on the Temple Mount, the very ground where the Temple once stood. This, in my view, is an apt outward example of the abomination of desolation and the defilement of the Temple. (It is even more striking for those who grasp the occult symbolism of the dome and its links to the goddess Isis.) And the Daniel 12 prophecy appears to point directly to this particular example.

When you add 1,335 years to 692, you get 2027 to 2028, depending on the time of year when the reckoning began. This is the time period when those who wait will at last be blessed.

How unlikely is it to discover that Daniel’s three end times prophecies containing numeric details – Daniel 8, 9, and 12 – all point to this same exact window of time? And how strange that we find ourselves here at the end, living on the edge of this window. On the edge of eternity.