Daniel 9: The 70 Weeks Prophecy

Okay, we do want to go back over to the book of Daniel. I'm bound to determine, God willing, that he gives me the health to be here the next two Sabbaths plus today. We are going to finish the book. In Daniel 9, we have one of the most exciting prophecies and one of the most talked-about prophecies in all of the Bible. It's a prophecy that takes us all the way through to the return of Jesus Christ and beyond. And this prophecy is only four verses long. It's called the 70 Weeks Prophecy. Now, for those of you who like to get into the details or into the weeds, as they say, we're going to get deep into the weeds today. For some of you, you may feel lost. I'm going to try to give you the Reader's Digest version of this. We're going to hit the highlights. For those of you who like more and more detail, we have an 18-page study paper online. If you go to members.ucg.org, you look under the Resources tab, you'll find Study Papers. Under Study Papers, you'll find the 70 Weeks Prophecy paper. Again, that goes 18 pages. I'm not going to strive to give you all the information that is in those 18 pages, but you can go and look at that if you'd like, or refresh yourself after you hear the sermon today. A little bit of background to Chapter 9 of Daniel. The year is 538 BC, and that is significant. We'll get to that a little bit later as to the significance of it. It's the first year of the reign of Darius the Mede, or Darius the Mede, depending on how you want to pronounce that, over Babylon. Want to make just a little bit of an explanation before we go even any further. The Medo-Persian Empire was ruled over by Cyrus. He ruled over everything. But Cyrus delegated rulership over the newly conquered territory of Babylon to Darius. So Darius is also considered a king, but he's not the king over the whole realm. He's a king over just the newly conquered territory of Babylon. Daniel was a man, much like us. He wondered about prophecy. He was reading the prophecies of Jeremiah. He saw a prophecy that Jeremiah wrote 150 years prior to when Daniel is now living. And he thought, I wonder if that's for our day today. Let's take a look at that prophecy over in Isaiah 44. Keep your marker there in Daniel 9. But go over to Isaiah 44.

Last verse of Isaiah 44 verse 28. Now remember, this is when Isaiah wrote this. This was about 150 years in the future. When Isaiah wrote it. Daniel was looking back in time 150 years and wondering, is this about my day today?

Chapter 44 of Isaiah 28. Who says of Cyrus? God is even naming the person by name. Who says of Cyrus, he is my shepherd. He shall perform all my pleasure. Whose pleasure? God's pleasure. Saint of Jerusalem, you shall be built. And to the temple, your foundation shall be laid. So here we've got Daniel thinking, is this going to happen in my day? Babylon is coming gone. He realizes, you know, maybe in my lifetime this is going to happen. So he was kind of speculating. Now remember, Daniel was taken into captivity in 605 BC. This is 67 years later. Daniel may have been a young man of 15. You add 67 to that, you get his present age. He's in his 80s. So here he's thinking about the prophecy of Isaiah. Now let's go back now to, or go over to, the book of Daniel, chapter 9. Verse 1, In the first year of Darius, the son of Hasawerus of the lineage of the Medes, remember we made mention in earlier studies that it was the Medo-Persian Empire, and that the Persians became the dominant force between those two entities. But Darius was of the Medes, who was to be king over the realm of the Chaldeans, just the Concord terrier Babylon, not the whole realm. In the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood by the books, he's thinking of Isaiah here, I understood by the books the number of the years specified by the word of the Lord through Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish 70 years in the desolations of Jerusalem. Now I don't have the time to turn to every citation, but you know what you might want to write down? Jeremiah 25, chapter 25 verses 1 through 12. This is what Daniel is referring to. Jeremiah the prophet is talking about 70 years of desolation. Now this has two meanings for us. We realize, Daniel realized, that there would be seven years of Babylonian rule. That has come and gone in Daniel's life. Also, that Judah and Jerusalem would suffer 70 years of desolation following the Babylonian forces. You know, I don't know, is this sounding a little too loud? I feel like I'm kind of reverbing and getting a lot of power here. I don't know.

But before any of this could take place, before any rebuilding, restructuring of Jerusalem was to take place, something else had to take place. Let's take a look at chapter 9 of Daniel verse 13. Daniel 9 13, As it is written in the law of Moses, So here in verse 13, Daniel, one of the most righteous men who ever lived, said, you know, we as a nation need to humble ourselves and prayer to God. And I think it's important to realize that Daniel didn't distance himself, even though he was one of the most righteous men who ever lived, according to the scriptures there in Ezekiel. Noah and Job being the other two, again, we're talking about apart from Jesus Christ, he didn't say, well, you know, these horrible Israelites, people from Jerusalem and Judah, these people are just stinkers. No, he put himself into the whole whole bunch. He considered himself a sinner. He was a sinner. He wasn't perfect by any stretch. You know, Romans chapter 3 related to him as well. And so what we have, and I'm not going to go into the last part of this, but I'm going to go into the last part of this chapter, related to him as well. And so what we have, and I'm not going to go through this with you today, a large portion of chapter 9, from verse 3 to verse 19. We're not going to cover today. We've got our hands full just covering the last four verses, but from verse 3 to verse 19 is a prayer of repentance. It's a very famous prayer. There are a number of prayers of repentance in the scriptures. Probably the most famous would be David's Prayer of Psalm 51. In addition to that, Psalm 51, you've got this section of Daniel chapter 9. It's a beautiful prayer of repentance. And when there are those times in your life when you feel a need to go before God deeply about that subject, this would be one that you would want to open up front, wherever you do your prayers, by your bedside, by a table, wherever you kneel down to pray. This would be a good place for you to open up to take a look at and to read along. Now, let's turn to our attention to verse 20. We do want to start reading in here. Verse 20 of Daniel chapter 9. Now, while I was speaking and praying and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God for the holy mountain of my God, yes, while I was speaking in prayer the man Gabriel, who I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, reached me about the time of the evening offering.

One of the things that we love about Daniel, and as I've said on a number of occasions, the Bible is a book that shows the shortcomings of its heroes. And yet, with Daniel, you don't see a single shortcoming mentioned in all of the scriptures about him. Doesn't mean he was perfect. Doesn't mean he was sinless because he wasn't perfect. He wasn't sinless. But he was a man greatly loved by God. And here we see where God sends Gabriel. He's in the appearance of a man, but Gabriel was an archangel. And one of Gabriel's jobs, one of his main tasks, is to bring messages. He brought messages to Daniel. He brought a message, as you recall, to Mary talking about the son she was going to bear by the name of Jesus. So here we see the archangel coming to him, verse 22, and he, Gabriel, informed me and talked with me and said, Oh, Daniel, I have now come forth to give you skill to understand. So, you know, here we are just prior to the day of Pentecost, the Feast of Pentecost, talking about God's Holy Spirit. And here we see where God's Spirit is moving Gabriel to bring a message to Daniel, verse 23, at the beginning of your supplications, at the beginning of your prayer, because God knows who you are and where your heart is at the beginning. You didn't have to do any talking, you know, talking God into anything at the beginning of your supplications. The command went out, and I've come to tell you, for you are greatly beloved. Therefore, consider the matter and understand the vision. Now, one of the reasons he was so greatly beloved, look at back at verse 21. I neglected to mention it. But in Jerusalem, the temple had been desecrated. But in Jerusalem, back in the good old days before Babylon took them over, there was a morning and an evening sacrifice. Well, that is no longer the case. But notice what Daniel had in his mind. Daniel had in his mind that every morning at the time of the morning sacrifice, and every evening at the time of the evening sacrifice, he was going to pray before God. And, of course, he also prayed at lunchtime, noontime, much like David did. And so we see something about this man, why God loved him so. If he saw something, a template in his scriptures, he applied that to his life.

So verse 23, it says here, at the beginning of your supplications, the command went out. The command went out. Other translations would say the decree went out. Now, it's very important for us to understand this decree, because it's central to our discussion about the 70-weeks prophecy. Let me give you a little bit of background about this prophecy in its verses 24, 25, 26, and 27. Those four verses. Where it's been the rest of the sermon and those four verses, we'll go, we'll turn to other areas. But the meat of the rest of the sermon is this 70-weeks prophecy, these four verses. Why are these so important? We are going to see today that these four verses will tell us the year Jesus Christ is going to be baptized, the year He's going to start His public ministry, how long His ministry is going to be, and even the day of the week when He's going to be crucified. Now, that's some pretty specific information. Hundreds of years prior to the coming of Jesus Christ. Now, in 70-weeks prophecy, again, a few other things for us to appreciate, the Messiah is the central figure. So, as we go through this prophecy, let's remember Jesus Christ is the central figure. Let's remember that Jerusalem is the location for this prophecy. And we also need to appreciate one other very important fact, that in this prophecy, we've got the day for a year principle, a day for a year. Now, let's, again, keep your marker here in Daniel 9. Let's turn to Numbers, chapter 14. We'll see what it's meant by a day for a year.

Numbers, chapter 14, verse 34.

Numbers 14, 34, According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, they spied out the land for 40 days. For each day you shall bear your guilt one year, namely 40 years, and you shall know my rejection. So there we see a day for a year principle. Let's go over to Ezekiel, chapter 4. We see this over here as well. Ezekiel, chapter 4, verses 4 through 6. Ezekiel 4, verse 4, Lie also on your left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it, according to the number of the days that you lie on it. You shall also bear their iniquity, for I have laid on you the years of their iniquity, according to the number of days, 390 days, so you shall also bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. And when you've completed them, you lie again on your right side, then you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Judah, 40 days. I have laid on you a day for each year. Now, that's important information in terms of understanding this 70 weeks prophecy. We go back now to Daniel, chapter 9, and let's take this apart bit by bit. Daniel, chapter 9, verse 24. This is 70 weeks are determined. Now, we'll pause right there. In your Bible, if you've got a center column reference, you might have what I have in my Bible. Right next to the word weeks is little number one. You go to the center reference for that, and it says literally sevens. And that's how the word weeks is translated throughout this prophecy. When it's talking about weeks, it's talking about sevens. In other words, verse 24, seventy sevens. There's bunches of sevens, and there's seventy of them. Seventy sevens are determined for your people and for your holy city to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring an everlasting righteousness, to seal a vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy. So here, and I want to quote something here. This is Gleason Archer, author of the expositors Bible commentary. He's made this comment. He says, the prophecy of the 70 weeks in Daniel, chapter 9, verses 24 through 27, is one of the most remarkable, long-range predictions in the entire Bible. It is by all odds one of the most widely discussed by students and scholars of every persuasion within the spectrum of the Christian Church. And yet what is carefully examined in light of all the relevant data of history and the information available from other parts of Scripture is quite clearly an accurate prediction of the time of Christ coming at Advent and a preview of the thrilling final act of the drama of human history before that Advent. So what we're looking at in this section of Scripture here is a discussion about not only Christ's first coming, but Christ's second coming, and even beyond that, all in these four verses. And we're going to go through that today. So in verse 24 here, there are six major things that are going to happen. All of these revolve around the Messiah. All of these revolve around the Messiah. In these 490... take seven, 70 times seven, you've got 490 years. What are these six things? Excuse me.

For your people and for your holy city, it says, to finish the transgression. To finish the transgression. Sin, in other words, is going to be dealt with by Jesus Christ's sacrifice. Now it says to finish the transgression. Did sin stop with the crucifixion of Jesus Christ?

Well, of course it didn't. But with the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, the path was now being laid, being set, where there would come a day in the future where sin is going to be no more. After the millennium, after the last great day, when we can get to the place where we're either fully spirit beings or we've gone into the lake of fire, there's going to be no more sin. That's all going to be dealt with.

The transgression will be finished. Again, that's through the work of Jesus Christ. So that's one thing. The second thing, to make an end of sins. The word sins there means, you know, missing the mark. With Jesus Christ's first coming, he was relating to people how to not miss the mark. And once again, we're looking also to a millennial fulfillment when there's also coming a time when sin just is not going to exist in the plan of God.

The third thing here, to make reconciliation for iniquity. To make reconciliation. Reconciliation is simply not possible without the Messiah. We've been called to the ministry of reconciliation. That's in 2 Corinthians 5.18. I'm not going to turn there. 2 Corinthians 5.18. We have been called to the reconciliation of the ministry of reconciliation. So that was made possible by the Messiah. Verse the next part, to bring in everlasting righteousness. When does that take place? When are we going to have everlasting righteousness? Well, we're talking about a millennial circumstance here. We're talking about when this sick sin-filled world comes to an end.

Then we're talking about how the Word of God will cover the world like the waters cover the seas. The next section where it says, to seal up vision and prophecy. The fifth thing here, to seal up vision and prophecy. There's coming a point where there's not going to be a need for prophecy. Because all the prophecy has come and gone. It's been fulfilled and we're moving on in the plan of God. And then lastly, it says, to anoint the most holy. A couple of thoughts there. Christ obviously was anointed.

He was baptized in 27 AD. This could be talking about His being made our Messiah, about through His crucifixion and all that. But I think also it's talking about a literal temple here. To anoint the most holy. That can refer to the temple. There will be a temple in the world tomorrow. We've read prophecies about how the waters will go forth from the temple.

And how those waters will be a water for healing, representing God's Holy Spirit. So in the course of these 77s, all these things are going to take place. Starting with the second coming of first coming of Jesus Christ, going through the second coming of Christ and beyond. Now let's even drill down further as we go into verse 25 here. Verse 25, Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the command. From the going forth of the command. Now the 70 weeks prophecy, brethren, is divided into three unequal portions. You've got seven weeks, you've got 62 weeks, you've got one week.

You add them up. Hopefully we don't want to take off our shoes for this. We would have enough toes. But seven, 62, and one, 70 weeks. And it says therefore that from the going forth of the command, or as it's translated in other translations, that from the going forth of the decree, these things are going to happen. Now here's where it gets juicy. Here's where we really get into the weeds.

Because there's not one decree that we're talking about here. There are four of them. Which one do we use? Which one does the Bible want us to use? And again, we do have this on a study paper. We will get in a little bit to the weeds here. I'm going to try to make this more of a Reader's Digest version here for you. Let's take a look at these decrees. Number one. Let's go to 2 Chronicles chapter 36.

2 Chronicles chapter 36.

End of the chapter, the last two verses, verses 22 and 23.

2 Chronicles chapter 36 verse 22. Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, he's the king over the whole realm. Darius or Darius is the only king over Babylon. Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled.

What we read about earlier, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia so that he made a proclamation throughout all of his kingdom and also put in writing saying, Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, all the kingdoms of the earth, and the Lord God of heaven has given me, and he has commanded me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah, who is among you of all of his people. May the Lord his God be with him, and let him go up.

Now it was important for you to understand, and perhaps you might want to write this down, this decree was given in 538 BC. This is a significant piece of information. You're going to need this information in about five minutes. This decree was given in 538 BC.

Decree number two. You've got the book of Ezra. If you're in 2 Chronicles 36, the next book over, the next page over in my Bible is Ezra. Go to Ezra chapter 6.

Here is a second decree. Ezra chapter 6 verse 1. Then King Darius issued a decree. Now this is more or less a restatement of what we just read in 2 Chronicles. Then King Darius issued a decree in a search which was made in the archives, where the treasures were stored in Babylon. Let's place here in verse 2.

The province of media scroll was found and a record was written, thus, in the first year of King Cyrus, King Cyrus issued a decree concerning the house of God of Jerusalem. Now, this second decree is in 520 BC. The first one was in 538. This one in 520 BC.

Again, that's a vital piece of information if you want to understand this prophecy.

We're going to skip the third decree for the moment and go to the fourth decree, which is found in Nehemiah chapter 1. The next book over is Nehemiah. Nehemiah chapter 1. In verse 11, O Lord, I pray, please let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant, and to the prayer of your servants who desire to fear your name. And let your servants prosper this day, I pray, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man. For I was the king's cup-earer. Chapter 2, verse 1. It came to pass in the month of Nisan in the twentieth year of King had Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, that I took the wine and gave it to the king.

Now I had never before been sad in his presence. Therefore the king said to me, Why is your face sad, since you are not sick? This is nothing but sorrow of heart. So I became dreadfully afraid. And said to the king, May the king live forever. Why should my face not be sad when the city, the place of my father's tombs, lies waste, and its gates are burned with fire?

So here you've got Nehemiah talking about why he's so sad. You know, there's already been three other decrees to go in and rebuild Jerusalem, and of course that would include the temple.

Well, being good government people, they weren't getting the job done. Verse 4, Then the king said to me, Do what you request. So I prayed to the God of heaven. Notice, he prays to the God of heaven. We're looking at some people who really knew how to pray here. He prays to the God of heaven. He's in front of the king. The king sees the name I was sad. And right there, God gives him an answer in front of the king. Which means, brethren, as you and I please God, and we find ourselves in situations where we are praying silently before God, you can answer those prayers. And he doesn't answer those prayers. Verse 5, And I said to the king, If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, I ask that you send me to Judah, to the city of my father's tombs, that I may rebuild it. And the king said to the queen, also sitting beside him, How long will your journey be, and when will you return? So it pleases the king to send me, and I send him a time. So the king valued Nehemiah's service to the crown. Now, that decree, which was the fourth one, was in 444 BC. Again, another vital piece of information. Let's go to the one that means the most. Decree number three, which we skipped a moment ago. This is in Ezra chapter 7. Go back a little bit, Ezra chapter 7.

Verse 1. Again, this is a decree of Artaxerxes. After these things, in the reign of Artaxerxes, king of Persia, Ezra the son of Ziraiya, the son of Azariah, the son of Okiah, so on and so forth. We drop down to verse 11. This is a copy of the letter that Artaxerxes gave that Ezra the priest described, expert in the words of the commandments of the Lord and the statutes to Israel. Artaxerxes, king of kings, to Ezra the priest, described by the law of God of heaven, perfect peace, and so forth. I issue a decree that all those of the people of Israel and the priests of the Levites in my realm who volunteer to go to Jerusalem may go with you. Now, I'm not going to read the rest of this because it goes down to verse 26. You know you're going to drop that down. Verses 11 through 26. Now, this decree took place in 457 BC. 457. So, one of the things we've seen is that there's four decrees. We go back to Daniel 9 and verse 25. There's a piece here I've not read to yet. Let's make sure we read this. Daniel 9 verse 25. Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the decree, we're going to talk about which one it is in a moment, to restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah the prince there shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks. So, here we've got two of those three portions, the seven weeks and the sixty-two weeks. That's sixty-nine weeks. Even I can add that up. Seven and sixty-two. Sixty-nine weeks. Sixty-nine times seven gives you 483 years. Again, a vital piece of information. We're getting into the weeds here, aren't we?

Okay, so with the information now at your disposal, let's take a look at what we've got. Decree number one, 538. You subtract 483. That's the sixty-nine times seven. You come up with 55 BC.

Did something of significance happen in 55 BC? Well, if it did, we don't know about it.

You take decree number two, 520 BC. Again, you go forward 483 years. That brings you up to 37 BC.

Something significant there. Answer is no. Yeah, we'll skip the third. We'll go to the fourth decree, 444 BC. You go forward 483 years. You come to 40 AD. Now, when you go from BC to AD, you've got to add a year. There's no year zero. Something happened in 40 AD? Nope. But if you take decree number three, 457 BC, you go forward to 69 weeks times seven. For 483 years, you add one for going from BC to AD. You come to 27 AD. What happened in 27 AD? In 27 AD, Jesus Christ was baptized. In 27 AD, Jesus Christ began his earthly ministry. So hundreds and hundreds of years before the birth of Jesus Christ, Daniel was talking about when the Messiah would come.

Now, why was it Herod wanted all the children killed? Why was it people kept on asking about the Messiah? We've all seen enough biblical movies that appeared that the children of Israel were always looking for a Messiah. But at the time that Jesus Christ actually came, let's take a look at Luke chapter 3 for a moment. Luke chapter 3.

Luke chapter 3 and verse 15.

Now, as the people were in expectation, they knew what Jeremiah had written. They knew what Daniel had written. They knew about the 70-weeks prophecy. They could add and subtract.

They knew where they were on man's calendar. And they were saying, you know what? This is just about the time, if we use that first decree of Arctic Circuses, this is just about the time our Messiah should be showing up. Now, as the people were in expectation and all reasoned in their hearts about John, whether he was the Christ or not. So just like our people today, just like you today, you're wondering, where are we in prophecy? These folks are wondering the same thing. Where are we in prophecy? Is the Messiah going to come? Now, in their minds, they thought when the Messiah came, he would throw off a Roman yoke that they had. They were thinking about more of the Second Coming than the First Coming of Christ. Okay, so let's go back now to understand some more details. Go back to Daniel chapter 9.

Daniel chapter 9 verse 25. Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the decree, so we understand now this decree is the first decree of Arctic Circuses in 457 BC, to restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there should be seven weeks.

So now we understand one portion of this prophecy, the seven weeks part, the 49 years part. Seven times seven is 49. That is a time period that was used to begin to rebuild Jerusalem.

Enough buildings to be built so that the workers could stay there. You would have a city that was on the mend. The defensive walls were put up. A moat was put up. The streets and various buildings were reestablished. That's a part of the seven of the 70 weeks prophecy.

Notice the very end of verse 25. The streets shall be built. Again, the wall even in trouble sometimes. And when you go back, and I don't have time to go through all this, but when you go back in the history and see all the troubles that the people had in rebuilding the walls and so forth, you know, read Ezra, read Nehemiah, you'll see that sort of thing. That's what the end of this verse is talking about. Okay, now we move on to the next portion. We understand the seven.

That's the building of Jerusalem back in the day. Now let's move on to the 62 thing. Sixty-two weeks. Verse 26, And after the sixty-two weeks, Messiah shall be cut off, but not for himself. And the people of the prince, who is the come, shall destroy the city, and the sanctuary, the end of it shall be with the flood, till the end of the war desolations are determined. So, a lot happening in this verse. In the word here, we're talking about, and after the sixty-two weeks. After 27 AD. Now we're not talking about the next day after, because obviously Christ wasn't crucified in 27 AD. So, anything after 27 is okay with this.

So, after the sixty-two weeks, Messiah shall be cut off. Messiah shall be cut off. Now, obviously, that's talking about Jesus Christ as talking about Jesus Christ being put to a violent death. He's cut off, but not for himself. No, Jesus Christ came to die for the entire world.

Notice how gripping this prophecy is when you have an understanding of the Bible, which you have.

And the people of the prince who is the come. Now, who is this prince? What does this prince do?

And the people of the prince who is the come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary.

We're not talking about the prince of peace here. Who are we talking about? This prince. Brethren, when you study the scriptures, we know that there is something called the abomination of desolation. As you've studied deeply into that subject, you know that there are actually three fulfillments of that. You have the first fulfillment with Antiochus Epiphanes in 168 BC. That's most common. That's what you tend to gravitate to. You think about that.

But there's a second partial fulfillment of the desolation. And that's what this is talking about.

Under General Titus, the Roman general who brought his forces in in 70 AD, and ramsacked the city of Jerusalem and destroyed large portions of the city and the sanctuary and so forth. So this is talking about the prince here is talking about Titus, the Roman general Titus and his army in 70 AD. And it says here, in the end of it shall be with a flood.

Again, I don't have the time to turn there. You know, time is almost up as it is.

We've got plenty of eating to do.

That food is calling to me.

In Revelation 12, verse 15, there's a discussion. Revelation 12 is about the Church.

And there's a portion of Revelation 12 where it talks about how a flood went after the Church of God. And we understand that flood to be an army that comes after God's people. And so the flood here is Titus' army that moves into the Holy Land and does all this destruction.

And the final part of verse 26, until the end of the war, desolations are determined. And so I may mention three different types of the abominations. Now, let's go to the very last verse, which is, again, all of us is very interesting and gripping. Verse 27.

Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week. So we saw the seven.

That's the number of years. That's the time it took to rebuild Jerusalem, at least a good portion of it. It's 49 years. Then to that seven you add 62 coming up with 69 weeks. That's 483 years.

We saw at the end of that 483 years, it's 27 AD. And after that point, you see Christ doing his ministry. Then he shall confirm a covenant. Who is the he in verse 27? He is Jesus Christ. Then Jesus Christ shall confirm a covenant. What covenant? The new covenant. The new covenant.

Hebrews 10, verses 14 through 18. Again, I won't turn there for lack of time, since we're almost out of time. But in the middle of the week, he shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. Now, we talked about the seven weeks. We talked about the 62 weeks, but we've got one week left. Seven years are left in this prophecy. And this is where it becomes interesting for you and I. Because in the middle of the week, after three and a half years, by the way, how long is Christ's ministry? Three and a half years. In the middle of the week, it shall be brought to an end the sacrifice of offerings. So Jesus Christ, after three and a half years of his ministry, is killed. He's cut off. Notice the second thing here in the middle of the week. What day of the week was Jesus Christ crucified? Wednesday. The middle of the week.

Let's take a look at John. Put a marker and scroll over to John chapter 19.

You know, the people of the world don't understand this and bless their hearts.

How could they? God's not opened their mind to see this. They will see it sometime in the future.

But you and I can understand this. John chapter 19, verse 31.

You know, people want to talk about thinking that you've got this Good Friday, Easter Sunday tradition.

Where did they get some of that? Well, here's where they get some of that, because they don't understand what they're reading. Verse 31, John 19. Therefore, because it was the preparation day that the body should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath. And so people are thinking, well, the preparation day was a Friday.

But was that the only holy day that week? The week of crucifixion? No, it wasn't.

Notice the rest of this verse here. For that Sabbath was a high day.

So there was an annual holy day plus the weekly Sabbath that week.

Now, you understand what takes place on crucifixion week. On Tuesday, you've got the Passover meal being eaten. You've got Jesus Christ instituting the new covenant symbols of the foot washing, the bread and the wine. You've got Jesus Christ being betrayed and arrested. That's on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, in the middle of the week, according to Daniel 9, verse 27, Christ is crucified and Christ dies around 3 p.m.

This was the preparation day for the annual Sabbath, which was the next day on Thursday.

So Thursday is the first day of Unleavened Bread. Friday, the women brought their spices to prepare Christ's body. Saturday, and here's what's interesting. People will say, well, we keep Sunday. Well, why do we keep Sunday? We keep Sunday because Christ was resurrected from the grave on Sunday.

Well, if you want to use that reasoning, then you should be keeping the Sabbath, because Jesus Christ was resurrected from the dead on the Sabbath.

When you go from sundown, near sundown, on Wednesday, you go three days and three nights, 72 hours, you're going to come up to a resurrection toward the close, but still on the weekly Sabbath.

Sunday, the women came with their prepared spices, but Christ was already resurrected.

Now, let's finish up what we have here in Daniel 9, verse 27.

But in the middle of the week, you should bring an end to a sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abomination, shall one who makes desolate.

The word wing here, and my new King James, can mean the edge or the corner.

There's going to be something that takes place, a very desperate thing that's going to take place at the end of the age, another desolation of abomination.

People say, Christ can come at any time. No, we can't. There are certain things in the Bible that have to be fulfilled. One of the things that have to be fulfilled is the Jews in the Holy Land have got to re-institute sacrifices. Are they doing that now? No.

For them to do the sacrifices at the bare minimum, people say, well, a temple has to be built. Well, not necessarily. But you at least have to have an altar. Maybe that's all there's going to be, is an altar. Then you're going to have a daily sacrifices re-instituted in the future. And then you're going to have somebody who's going to stop that. It's going to be another abomination of desolation. So that's what this is talking about here. Even until the consummation is talking about the return of Jesus Christ where all things are concluded. Now, I forgot to make mention. I was racing more with the clock, just as I am now, over in Ann Arbor. Jesus Christ, after three and a half years, we had that one last week, seven years. After three and a half years, He's cut off. There's still three and a half years to go. What do we do with that three and a half years?

This is where some people think, and there's an argument to be made, that prior to Christ's return, there's going to be a three and a half year period where God's people go to some sort of a place of safety. For three and a half years, just as Jesus Christ taught Paul and Petra for a number of years, Jesus Christ may teach us. We've got a pretty big job to do once the millennium starts.

That's one theory, that there will be a place of safety. For three and a half years, Christ teaches us, and then He makes His return. Another thought is that after Christ returns at a second coming, the first three and a half years of the millennium is the fulfillment of the rest of that 70 weeks prophecy, that last week that is left. So it could either be the last three and a half years, which is also called the times of the Gentiles, or the first three and a half years into the millennium. We don't know. We're going to look into the rearview mirror and find out which way it is.

So that brethren is the 70 weeks prophecy. You did good. None of you fell asleep on this.

As I said, if you want to look into this in more detail, there is a study paper, 18 pages worth, at the member website that you can go through and refresh your mind on this.