Church: Reformed Baptist Church of Franconia | Text: Daniel 9:24-27 | Date: June 9, 2019 | Speaker: Fred Zaspel

For those of you who are not on Facebook and didn’t see, yesterday was our 40th wedding anniversary. It was 40 years ago yesterday we said, “I do.” It’s been a wonderful, wonderful 40 years. We had 10 or more years of constant daily 24/7 stress while Gina was so ill and such, but it has been a wonderful marriage. God has been good to us, given us a good family. It was also Kim’s birthday yesterday. We got married on her 21st birthday. Miraculously, she’s only 39 now.

Daniel chapter 9. And you’ll want to have your bulletin with you. If you do not have a bulletin and the handout in the bulletin, please raise your hand and the ushers will make sure that you have it. You will need that this morning. There’s one up front here too. Daniel chapter 9. Today we look at the 70 weeks prophecy. Let’s read Daniel chapter 9, verses 24 through 27:

“Seventy weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place. Know therefore and understand that from the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a prince, there shall be seven weeks. Then for 62 weeks it shall be built again with squares and moat, but in a troubled time. And after the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing. And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed. And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator.”

Let’s bow together for prayer. Our Father, as we come to this most difficult, in some ways mysterious, passage of scripture, and yet such an important one, we ask that you would give our eyes to see, our ears to hear, our hearts to understand. We pray with the psalmist that the words of my mouth and the meditations of our heart will be acceptable in your sight. We ask in Jesus’ name, amen.

Well, you’ll recall last week we worked through verses one through 23 of Daniel chapter nine, which really are the background and the setup for the prophecy that comes in these last four verses, 24 to 27. In the first 23 verses, we have Daniel telling us the historical setting. He said that he was studying in the writings of Jeremiah, and I gather from that, when he says the “books,” other books of the Old Testament as well. But he saw specifically in Jeremiah that God had determined 70 years of captivity in Babylon. Daniel is encouraged by that; he’s doing the math, he recognizes that that time is about up, and so he goes to God to pray that God will bring an end and a deliverance from this time of captivity as the prophet had said.

When he goes to pray, the first item and the item of first attention for him is not, “Lord, bring us home.” His first item of attention is, “Lord, we have sinned. You have done what you said you would do if we violated the covenant. We had violated the covenant over and again and again and consistently throughout the years, and the promised judgment, the covenant curses, have come upon us. We’ve been taken to Babylon in an exile, and it’s entirely our fault. You have done what you said. We have sinned. We’ve deserved what we’ve gotten.”

But Lord—and there he turns the corner—he says, “Lord, you’re the one who brought us out of Egypt. And now we’ve become a byword among the nations. It is your reputation at stake.” And he begins to plead for mercy, not because we deserve it, but because you are a merciful God. And he tells us that he had not even finished praying. While he is still praying, the angel Gabriel shows up, as he did in chapter 8. And he says, “I’ve been sent to tell you what God is going to do, and I want you to understand it.” And then he gives this prophecy of verses 24 through 27, the famous 70 weeks prophecy.

I recall not too many weeks ago, Pastor Boyd happened to mention in a message that his father remarked one time about their pastor when Pastor Boyd was a boy still at home. His father happened to mention, going home from church one day, “Surely there’s more in the Bible than the 70 weeks prophecy of Daniel.” Evidently, his pastor spent a lot of time frequently referring to the 70 weeks of Daniel. Before I spend the next 70 weeks trying to explain the 70 weeks prophecy of Daniel, please understand that you have not heard it from me over the last 12 years, and you haven’t heard it much from others, so the time we put into it now is, I think, needed to investigate and understand it.

James Montgomery Boice, in his commentary on Daniel, says this 70 weeks prophecy is the backbone of biblical prophecy. Another writer says this 70 weeks prophecy is the crown jewel of Old Testament prophecy. Another writer says of all of the prophecies in the Bible, Daniel’s 70 weeks is the most wonderful and the most important. Well, it’s certainly one of the most famous prophecies of Scripture, and the anticipation in getting to it in Daniel has reflected that. I’ve heard a lot of remarks: “What are you going to do when you get to Daniel’s 70 weeks? Are you going to tell us what that means?” Many people are asking about it. So yes, this is a very important passage of Scripture.

But having read those quotes about the importance of the prophecy, the 70 weeks prophecy of Daniel here, I want you to understand some more things that people have said about this prophecy. The Christian Bishop Jerome in the 4th century, around 400 AD, wrote a commentary—a very important commentary on the book of Daniel—the first exposition of it that we have in the Christian era. And in his treatment of Daniel chapter 9 in the 70 weeks here, he lists all the various interpretations that have been given to this prophecy. He lists a couple of Jewish interpretations, but then he lists, “This Christian writer says this, and this Christian writer has said this, and this Christian writer has said that.” And each of those interpretations of Daniel’s 70 weeks are different from the others.

Another commentator more recently has written that these verses, verses 24 to 27, are four of the most controversial verses in the entire Bible. Another one has written, “The history of interpretations of this passage is a dismal swamp.” And another one writes, “Reading commentaries on the last four verses of Daniel 9 is akin to entering a bewildering maze. So many choices of ways to take, so many blind alleys and dead ends.” The point of all of that is to say there just is no consensus universally on how to understand these verses, which is particularly ironic given that other set of quotes that I gave you—that this is the most important, this is the crown jewel of prophecy—and all of these other quotes that say nobody knows what it means. I think there’s a way to bring those two sets of quotes together, but I think before I get into that, it would be warranted to give a brief explanation of what we mean then by the clarity of scripture.

The Clarity Of Scripture

This is one of the doctrines that Protestants have always held: that scripture is perspicuous, which is a great word for clarity. Perspicuity is a wonderful word because it means clarity and nobody knows what the word means itself. But the perspicuity of scripture, the clarity of scripture—let me read you a definition of it from the Westminster Confession of Faith. I think it’s the best statement of it:

“All things in scripture are not alike plain in themselves, nor alike clear unto all. Yet those things which are necessary to be known, believed, and observed for salvation are so clearly propounded and opened in some place of scripture or other that not only the learned but the unlearned in a due use of the ordinary means may attain unto a sufficient understanding them.”

Well, the gist of it is plain enough that the Bible was written to show the glory of God and human salvation, to reveal that way of salvation to us, and that is abundantly clear in the scriptures. The teaching of God and who he is, his triunity, his holiness, his righteousness, the need of salvation on our side of it, the way of salvation through Jesus Christ who’s making atonement for sin, the way to be united to Christ by faith and by faith alone—all of these things are abundantly clear in the scriptures, and anyone going to the scriptures can find this out. And so we believe in the clarity of scripture.

That is, God has achieved the purpose he intended to achieve in giving the scriptures. That does not mean that all things alike are equally understandable. And that’s what we have to account for. On the one hand, the psalmist can claim that the scriptures are so clear that it makes the simple people wise. It’s a lamp to our feet. It’s a light to our paths. It is abundantly clear what God would have for us. But there are places in the scripture that are not as clear as others, and this is one of them. So as important as this prophecy is, verses 24 to 27, it is evidently not in that category of “necessary to be known for salvation.” And it’s a good thing.

But in my view, the high praise given for this passage of scripture and stating the importance of it is still warranted. Because although many of the details are not clear, I think it is clear enough to say that this is the crown jewel of prophecy and it’s the backbone of subsequent biblical prophecy. And I say that because certain of the details or the structure here that Gabriel points out to Daniel in this prophecy are picked up later in subsequent prophecies. Daniel himself will be given another vision in Daniel 11 and 12 with reference to this time frame that we have in chapter 9. Jesus picks up on this in the Olivet Discourse in Matthew chapter 24, and makes explicit reference to this passage, particularly verse 27. Paul refers to this passage in some places. And in the book of Revelation, John picks it up in several different places in Revelation chapters 11 and following. So this is an extremely important passage of scripture, and it does give us the backbone of subsequent prophecy. And so I think it is worth our time to park here for a couple of weeks, a few weeks, and work our way through this prophecy.

The Six Purpose Clauses

Alright, verse 24. “Seventy weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city.” Seventy weeks or simply seventy sevens have been decreed. Seventy sevens of what? Seventy weeks of what? Seventy weeks of days? Not likely. Given the details of the prophecy, it’s pretty clear here that he is speaking of 70 weeks of years, so 70 periods of seven years. And the first period is a seven, so seven times seven years. The first period is 49 years that he’s working through here. No other time period would fit that, so it is pretty clear that it’s 70 sevens of years.

In fact, in Genesis chapter 29, remember when Jacob worked another seven years for Rachel, it is written there that he worked another “week”—another seven years, a week of years. So this expression is used elsewhere. And in fact, Daniel has been thinking in terms of years and periods of seven years. We saw that beginning in verses one and two, and in verse three, specifically speaking of 10 periods of seven years to get the 70 years captivity that we talked about last week. So Israel had, as we saw last week, neglected 70 Sabbath cycles. And so their disobedience was punished, and there were 70 years of Jubilee that were neglected. So they’ve had 70 years of captivity. But now, in all, there were 70 Sabbath cycles that were neglected. That adds up to 490 years. And so what we are seeing here then is that, yes, the 70 years of captivity are about up. And yes, Israel will return to her land. But now let’s talk about another 490 years and see what God has planned for Israel. So 490 years. But those 490 years are divided up, as we’ll see in a moment.

The subjects of the prophecy, obviously, is Israel itself. We find that in verse 24: “Seventy weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city.” Verse 25, it’s about Jerusalem. And 26, the city and the sanctuary. That is to say, God has a plan for Israel that will be unfolded within this time frame of 70 sevens—within this time frame of 490 years.

Verse 24, then. Now here you might want to use the handout that I’ve given to you. On the front side of the handout that I’ve given you, Daniel 9:24 to 27, where I have the verses written out for you from the ESV, notice in verse 24 you have six purpose clauses. What is the purpose of this time frame, these 70 weeks? What will it accomplish? Well, he says in verse 24, 70 weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place. A six-fold purpose that God has set out to accomplish in these 70 weeks.

So let’s look at them quickly, each of them. First, “to finish the transgression.” The idea there is to stop sin, to bring an end to Israel’s rebellion. Two, “to put an end to sin.” Again, the idea of ending their sin. Three, “to atone for iniquity.” Not just bringing an end to sin, but establishing forgiveness. That is, God will find a righteous way to atone and to forgive sin. Then we have the next three that take a more positive look. Number four, “to bring in everlasting righteousness.” Now that means either the removal of sin through atonement to bring in everlasting righteousness, or it means the complete transformation of the people themselves, or it’s both. And I expect that it is both: to bring in everlasting righteousness, a forgiven and a transformed people. Number five, “to seal both vision and prophet.” I think the idea there of sealing is to authenticate. The big idea there is that it’s going to finish up prophecy, that it’s going to fulfill all that has been prophesied, to bring to culmination all that God has promised. And number six, “to anoint a most holy place,” that is a reconsecration of the temple.

In context, that temple, of course, is the Jerusalem Temple. We saw the desecration of it prophesied in chapter 8. But this assumes, because there’s no temple in Daniel’s day—it’s been destroyed—this assumes the rebuilding of another temple. We have that referred to in verse 26. This was fulfilled likely in the Maccabean era. Remember the 2nd century BC that we’ve talked about in the prophecies when the Maccabean revolt was successful and they rededicated the temple. But I suspect that it’s looking forward to an eschatological temple as well. Some as early as the 4th century in the Christian era have interpreted this “to anoint a most holy place,” have translated this to “anoint a most holy one,” and so they’ve referred it to Jesus, interpreted it with regard to him. But the overwhelming consensus among interpreters for all of the Christian era has been to refer this to an eschatological temple, whether a literal one that will be rebuilt, as dispensationalism teaches, or the temple that is referred to in Revelation chapter 21, which I take as a fulfillment of—I suspect is a fulfillment of Ezekiel 40 to 48—that there was no temple there, but God and the Lamb are its temple, when finally the presence of God is fully realized.

Well, these are happy goals indeed, and I’m sure Daniel was encouraged to hear it. But how are we to understand how and when all of these will be fulfilled? And I’ll need you this morning to listen tightly because this is a very compressed and compact prophecy. So listen well, listen fast as we go through this. Well, you’ve probably already noticed with these purpose clauses in verse 24 that this has got something to do with Jesus—making atonement for iniquity, bringing in righteousness, fulfilling all prophecy. You’ve gone to church long enough to say, “This has got to be about Jesus somehow.” But then the question comes up, is it about Jesus’ first coming, or is it about his second coming, or is it about both? What is going on here?

Well, we have those purpose clauses again: to finish transgression, to put an end to sin. The fourth one, to bring in everlasting righteousness. All of that sounds like Jesus. The third one, number three, to atone for iniquity—that certainly sounds like an explicit reference to the cross. The others—to bring an end to the reign of sin, to establish permanently everlasting righteousness, to fulfill all prophecy? That sounds like the eschaton, doesn’t it? Sounds like we’re going all the way to the end now.

Well, all of that I think fits with Daniel’s parallels that he has been working through the book. We have his prophecy in chapter 2 that brings us all the way to the end with the culmination of the kingdom of God. We have the same in Daniel chapter 7 with his prophecy of the culmination of the kingdom of God when Christ returns in glory. We’ll see the same in chapters 11 and 12 where it’s not as explicit, but I’m certain it’s there. And I think this is meant to fit within that. And I think in light of the New Testament we can point to that as well. That here he’s speaking of God’s culminating purpose for history that is anchored in the first coming of Christ and brought to its climax at the second coming of Christ.

Now that may seem obvious enough and easy enough, but it’s exactly a big part of the point of dispute among interpreters of the passage. And in fact, there are three general categories of interpretation of these 70 weeks. When are they fulfilled?

There is the so-called Maccabean interpretation, the second century BC, the Maccabean Revolt, as we looked at when they came and they were finally successful in overthrowing Antiochus and rededicated the temple. And there’s some fascinating data to support that view. But to me, at least, it doesn’t seem—and that has never been a majority view among interpreters at all—it doesn’t seem to do justice with the ideas of atoning for iniquity, God’s culminating purpose in doing away with sin and establishing everlasting righteousness and fulfilling all prophecy. It seems to me that he is speaking here of his culminating purpose that will be achieved in the end. Also, as I mentioned, that view that it’s all fulfilled in the second century BC doesn’t fit, it seems to me, with the pattern of Daniel’s other prophecies, and in fact, as I say, the dominant Christian interpretation has referred this to Jesus. And I think the time frame involved demands that as well, but we’ll have to work our way through that.

So we’re left—there’s the Maccabean interpretation, then there’s the “Roman” interpretation, so-called. That is, this prophecy is fulfilled during the time of the first coming of Christ in his saving work and then in the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. And there’s plenty of reason to see why that interpretation has been strong. He refers to Jesus, I think, in this purpose to make atonement for iniquity. Verse 26 speaks of Messiah, the Anointed One, being cut off. Seems to be an explicit reference to Jesus and his crucifixion. The last half of verse 26 refers, I think, pretty explicitly to the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 by the Roman armies. And so there’s good reason, I think, to see that this is fulfilled, at least in part, in that period of Jesus’ first coming.

But there’s a third category of interpretations that I hold to. It’s not fulfilled in the Maccabean time fully. It is not fulfilled fully in the Roman period in Jesus’ first coming, but it is fulfilled both in the period of Jesus’ first coming and then climactically in his second coming. And so in other words, what we have in this prophecy, as far as I can see it, is what we find very often in Old Testament prophecy where the prophet telescopes and looks forward and sees the coming of Christ and sees what is going to be accomplished both in the first coming and in the second coming as well. I think there’s plenty of evidence for that. We’ll work our way through that as we go along.

All right. Now, notice on the backside of your handout. We have these 70 weeks. These 70 weeks are divided into three segments. Actually, on the first side, I think I have that spelled out for you. In verse 25, “seven weeks.” And then verse 25 later, “62 weeks.” And then verse 26, “after the 62 weeks.” And then verse 27, “one week.” Seven, 62, and one. Totals up to seventy weeks. Seven weeks, seven times seven, 49 years. It’s the first segment. The last half of verse 25, 62 weeks. That is 62 times seven, that’s 434 years. Another period of time. Verse 26 is some time after that. And then verse 27, one week, which is further divided into half, which he specifies the details there. So one week would be seven years. So you total up this two, which is 49 years, the 62 weeks—the seven weeks, which is 49 years, the 62 weeks, which is 434 years, the one week, which is seven years—and you have 490 years total.

But the big question is then how do all of these three segments relate to one another? And here I just have to have you look at the backside of your handout because there’s a translation difference in the translations that we use here. Notice first of all at the bottom of there on your handout you have the NIV, the New International Version translation: “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 62 sevens. It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench in times of trouble.” That’s the approach, basically, that is taken by the New American Standard Version and some others.

Now notice at the top, the English Standard Version, the ESV: “From the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a prince, there shall be seven weeks [period]. Then for 62 weeks, it shall be built again with squares and moat, but in troubled times.” Now you see why I had to point it out. These are very different approaches to these timeframes. And if I didn’t have it in front of you, I was afraid we would have total confusion trying to—maybe you’re still confused, I don’t know. But we have to see then, we have to decide how should these segments of weeks be segmented out.

Now the English Standard Version that we have, we have a period after weeks, after seven weeks. “There shall be seven weeks [period].” And then the 62 weeks refers to another time frame. In fact, the Hebrew text has a period here, just like the ESV has in its translation. Now, the Hebrew punctuation in the Hebrew Bible didn’t come along until later. It’s not part of the original, but it is something that is followed rather rigorously by translators, but not in this case. Now, the question is, why did the NIV join the 7 and the 62 weeks? Why does it have them together? “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 62 sevens.”

The driving motive behind the translation here is not the Hebrew text. The people who translated this in the NIV are far better in Hebrew than I am. I’m not arguing on a Hebrew or translation level. The driving motive to punctuate it the way they have is the assumption that the “ruler”—notice again in verse 25, “know and understand this from the time the word goes out and to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the anointed one, the ruler comes, there’ll be seven sevens and 62 sevens”—they are convinced that the “anointed one, the ruler” there, refers to Jesus. If it refers to Jesus, then you have to find somehow for this segment of weeks, seven and 62, to work all the way to Jesus. It’s obvious that seven sevens, 49 years, can’t get you that far. And so it must be that these seven and 62 go together to make 69 weeks, and that works all the way to Jesus. And various theories have been worked out and interpretations given as to how the 69 weeks then calculate to bring us to the time of Jesus.

The ESV, in turn, follows the punctuation of the Hebrew here. I think there are plenty of good reasons for that. It seems to be, first of all, the plain reading of the text. We don’t have 69 weeks here. We have 7 and 62. If the writer wanted to say 69 weeks, he might have said not 69, but he might have said 9 and 60, but he would never say seven and 62. That’s just unprecedented in the scriptures. And it’s clear on the face of it that we have three segments of time here: seven, 62, and one. Also notice verse 26—this is either in your Bible or on the other side of your handout, verse 26—it does not say, “after the 69 weeks.” It says, “after the 62 weeks,” again pointing that this is a separate period of time. Well, there are more reasons to go with that, but that’s enough of that kind of detail to go into.

The First Seven Weeks

Well, now notice back on the front side of your handout, or in your Bible, we have the time frames and the attending events. Verse 25a: “Know therefore and understand that from the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a prince, there shall be seven weeks.” Then the second part of the verse: “Then for 62 weeks, it shall be built again with squares and moat, but in a troubled time.” Then, verse 26: “After the 62 weeks, the anointed one shall be cut off and the people of the prince shall come, shall destroy the city and the sanctuary.” And then, verse 27: “He shall make a strong covenant with many for one week.”

So we have seven weeks. That is from the word to build in Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a prince, there’s seven weeks. And then you have 62 weeks in which the city is rebuilt in a troubled time. And then you have something going on after the 62 weeks. And then you have, verse 27, one more week and the details of that there. All right. I’m sorry we had to sort through those details so that we can look at the prophecy itself.

Today then, let’s just look at the first seven weeks. Again, verse 25: “Know therefore and understand that from the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a prince, there shall be seven weeks.” From the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem. Big question here is, what is that word to restore and rebuild Jerusalem? Some of the translations translate this as “the command.” It’s obviously an official word of some kind. And so the various interpretations here try to sort out when would this time frame work? Does it begin with the decree of Cyrus to go back to your land? Cyrus was the one who freed the people to go back and resettle in Jerusalem. Or is it Darius’ decree? Or is it the later decree of Artaxerxes? Or Artaxerxes II? Or the first and second decrees of these people? Which one works, calculating all the way to the time of Jesus?

Well, I think, as I say, I don’t think we should assume that the “anointed one, a ruler” that is referred to here is Jesus. But let’s stay here with the idea of the word to restore and build Jerusalem. In context, I think it makes a lot more sense to say that he is not speaking of a royal decree of some human king. In context, Daniel is referring to the word of God to Jeremiah. That’s verses one and two. So from the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet, until the coming of this anointed one, a ruler, will be seven weeks, or 49 years.

Well, the first question that comes up then is, when was this word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet? I’m not going to take time to turn to it, but you can—one of the interesting things about Jeremiah’s prophecies is that he often dates them. And in Jeremiah chapter 32, he tells us that he is writing in the 18th year of Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar begins his rule in 605 B.C. Go forward 18 years, you’ve got 587 B.C. or so. So we’ve got 587 B.C. when this word of the Lord to Jeremiah to rebuild Jerusalem came. We find that in several of his prophecies there.

All right, the next part of it: from the word, that is the word of God through Jeremiah to restore and build Jerusalem, to the coming of an anointed one, a prince, shall be seven years [weeks]. Now you’ll notice again a difference in the translation. The NIV has “the Anointed One,” so it sounds like the Messiah. But the word “a prince” is simply a word that means a ruler of any kind—a prince or a ruler, a general, anything like that. The “anointed one” is a term that’s a little more vague in the Old Testament than what we’re used to. When we hear the word “the Anointed One,” we think it must be Jesus, the Messiah. But in fact, of the 39 times in the Old Testament that this expression “anointed one” is used, only a couple of them refer to the Messiah. So it doesn’t have to refer to that at all.

So the question then is, from the time of God’s word to Jeremiah concerning the rebuilding of Jerusalem, moving forward seven weeks—49 years—is there an anointed one, a ruler, to fulfill this prophecy? And what’s interesting to me is that one possible fulfillment of this is Cyrus himself. And in fact, the interesting thing is—why don’t I take time to look back. Keep your hand here in Daniel; we’ll be back. Look at Isaiah chapter 44. Isaiah chapter 44. Isaiah 44. God is telling his purpose to redeem Israel, beginning in verse 21. “Remember these things, O Jacob and Israel, you are my servant, I formed you, I blotted out your transgressions,” but work down the passage. This is the God who does what he says he’ll do. Verse 28: “This is the God who says of Cyrus, ‘He is my shepherd. He shall fulfill all my purpose,’ saying of Jerusalem, ‘She shall be built,’ and of the temple, ‘Your foundation shall be laid.'”

Now what’s interesting here is that Isaiah the prophet mentions by name that Cyrus will be the one to serve his purpose and send his people home. What’s fascinating about that is this is 200 years before Cyrus lived. And so he identifies, not only will a ruler come, but his name will be Cyrus, and he will do my will. And then notice chapter 45, verse 1: “Thus says the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped, to subdue the nations before him, and to loosen the belts of kings, to open doors before him, that gates may not be closed.” Notice, Cyrus is “my anointed.” It’s God’s anointed one, God’s Messiah. Cyrus, a pagan king, an anointed one? Yeah, because he was chosen by God to fulfill his will.

Well, does the time frame fit? 587 BC plus 49 years brings us to 538 BC, which is exactly the time of Cyrus coming to Babylon. So I think it fits exactly with an exact fulfillment that this first section of the 70 weeks is seven weeks, that is 49 years, and it runs from the going of the word of God to Jeremiah in 587 BC to the arrival of Cyrus in 538 BC. I think it’s fascinating to see that kind of specific, even to the year, kind of fulfillment. Some approaches to these Daniel 70 weeks understand them not as 70 years, but 70 Sabbath cycles. And you might enter a Sabbath cycle then in the middle, like say year five or something like that. And so the years are not exact, but approximate. That’s possible, but it seems to me that this works out specifically and exactly to refer to the 49 years to Cyrus.

Now what’s interesting here is that in Isaiah 44 and 45, God names Cyrus, that he will be the one 200 years in advance. God will bring Cyrus to fulfill his purpose. And then in chapter 46, since you’re there, look at Isaiah 46. Let’s pick up with verse 9:

“Remember the former things of old, for I am God and there is no other. I am God and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying ‘My counsel shall stand and I will accomplish all my purpose,’ calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country. I have spoken and I will bring it to pass. I have purposed and I will do it.”

This is part of God’s ground for boasting. “You have your other so-called gods, let them do what I’ve done. I can tell you the end from the beginning. From way up front, I can tell you what’s going to happen. I’ve called a bird of prey, Cyrus, out of the east, and he’s going to perform my purpose. You let somebody else come and do that.” That’s pretty impressive.

This is, I think, a powerful apologetic to look in scriptures and to see how, in fact, God’s sometimes very complex prophecies and sometimes very specific prophecies like this have come to fulfillment exactly. One value of prophecy, of course, is to learn God’s purpose, have him reveal that to us, and to be able to be let in on what God is about to do. That is one of the values of biblical prophecy. Another value of biblical prophecy, of course, is that we’re encouraged by the fulfillment of prophecies that have already been fulfilled. We’re encouraged with regard to prophecies that have not yet been fulfilled. Another value of prophecy in scripture is we learn something about God himself. This is the God who can tell the future with exact precision, precisely because he’s the Lord over all of history, directing it according to his own will.

Next week, we’ll look at the 62 weeks to see how they are fulfilled. Let’s bow together for prayer. Our Father, we are grateful to see how you are Lord over history and accomplishing your purpose throughout every detail. We are struck and amazed when we see prophecy given years in advance with exact fulfillment. And we come away from it with a new appreciation of your greatness and your Lordship and we worship you for it. We thank you that you have let us in on your purpose, and as we work our way through the rest of this prophecy, as we come to see its focus in the Lord Jesus, we pray that you will give us an increasing appreciation of him in whom all prophecy finally finds its great end. We pray in his name, amen.