Predetermined Times to Reconciliation and Righteousness

Daniel 9:20-27

20 Now while I was speaking, 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, 21 yes, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, reached me about the time of the evening offering. 22 And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, "O Daniel, I have now come forth to give you skill to understand. 23 At the beginning of your supplications the command went out, and I have come to tell you, for you are greatly beloved; therefore consider the matter, and understand the vision:

24 "Seventy weeks 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 in everlasting righteousness,
To seal up vision and prophecy,
And to anoint the Most Holy.

25 "Know therefore and understand,
That from the going forth of the command
To restore and build Jerusalem
Until Messiah the Prince,
There shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks;
The street shall be built again, and the wall,
Even in troublesome times.

26 "And after the sixty-two weeks
Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself;
And the people of the prince who is to come
Shall destroy the city and the sanctuary.
The end of it shall be with a flood,
And till the end of the war desolations are determined.

27 Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week;
But in the middle of the week
He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering.
And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate,
Even until the consummation, which is determined,
Is poured out on the desolate."

This seventy-week prophecy has been used with various interpretations, but some things remain clearer than others.  First of all, Daniel had been praying for mercy and forgiveness in God’s good grace just before this.  He was “speaking, praying, and confessing” both his own  sin and the sin of his people who were of God.  This confession in humility led to intercession for Israel and Jerusalem to be reconciled with their LORD.  This is where God stepped in by sending Gabriel again (Daniel 8:16) to bring spiritual understanding to Daniel of the visions shown to him.  Gabriel swooped in to meet him at the evening sacrifice as Daniel’s prayer reached God.  He came to give the prophet “skill to understand,” insight to perceive what God was showing him in what was to come.  Because God loved him greatly for his faithfulness and dedication, he was given understanding to consider all he had been shown.  The vision counted our seventy weeks to allow certain things to happen for Israel and Jerusalem.  These were to: finish the transgressions of rebellion against Him, end sin (Acts 10:43), reconcile iniquity (Romans 5:10-11, Hebrews 1:3, 9:12), bring eternal righteousness (Romans 3:21-22), and to seal up visions and prophecy (Hebrews 1:1-2).  Though these sevens seem to be measurements of time in weeks, they also indicate events to come long after the immediate ones at had concerning Jerusalem and Israel.  There are mentions of the Messiah, Christ, to come and finality of sin being dealt with and ended as the people of God are all reconciled at last.  The times are given until Jerusalem is rebuilt, how the Messiah, the Anointed One, will be cut off and how war will bring desolation.  These also are a foreshadowing of the end with Christ’s death and the (Antichrist) working to make all desolate and destroy the sanctuary with finality.  A false covenant will be made in this time of abomination in the sacrifices until the desolate have complete destruction given them.  This seems to be a shadow of the end further described in Daniel 11:36 of the blasphemy against God until judgment falls with finality.  These things are not all clear as they refer to both historical events of old Jerusalem and ones fulfilled in Jesus Christ, as well as those to come before the final day of eternal judgment and reconciliation.  We do know that our righteousness is found in Christ alone, our reconciliation is only through Him, and our steadfast hope is in God’s sovereign working of events until He ends sin on earth and restores His kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.  This is the skill to understand, the insight to perceive God’s works of sovereign grace in the history of predetermined times working towards the final end and eternal beginning of as His people that we might worship and glorify Him forever before His face (Revelation 22:4)!