The 70 Weeks Prophecy and How We Should Live: Understanding From God

Daniel 9

The prophet Daniel teaches serious followers of Jesus how to gain understanding of prophecy given through the prophets and the Holy Spirit. In Daniel 9, Daniel realizes that the prophecies of Jeremiah concerning Israel and the exile to Babylon are about to unfold.

The context of this discovery by Daniel is that the Medes have done the impossible. They have conquered Babylon. Now a new king reigns in the city and empire that stretches across the Middle East all the way into Egypt. In the sudden change of empires from Babylon to the Medo-Persian Empire, Daniel realizes God is at work to fulfill the prophecy of Jeremiah to end the exile of the Jews and return them to Jerusalem.

In comparison, we have world events happening for the last 70 years that tell us God is working to return the Jews from their exile in the nations of the earth to Jerusalem and Israel, which is called Aliyah. From the rebirth of Israel as a nation in 1948, to the reestablishment of Jerusalem as their capital in 1967 and to the recognition by the nations of the world that Jerusalem is Israel’s capital, as Trump and America moved our embassy to Jerusalem, other nations are following suit.

Jesus said that His return would be tied to the time when the Gentiles no longer trample Jerusalem. That has happened! How will that word affect your life; how you live today and for the rest of your life?

When Daniel discovered the prophecies of Jeremiah concerning the Jews and Jerusalem, he went into a time of prayer and fasting. His amazing prayer is recorded in Daniel 9. You cannot help but be impressed with the seriousness of Daniel in seeking God and the revelation knowledge he sought from God concerning the Jews and Jerusalem.

He fasts. He prays. He makes confession of his sins and his peoples’ sins. This confession is specific and detailed recounting the history of the Jews and their disobedience. All Israel has transgressed God’s law and departed from obeying God’s voice.

Then he petitions God to end His fury against Jerusalem and for His namesake to end the desolation of the temple, the city and the people. He closes by crying out to God for forgiveness and mercy. His prayers are not based on righteous deeds but because of God’s great mercy. Hear, forgive, listen and act: “Do not delay for Your own sake” (Dan. 9:19).

God answers by sending the archangel Gabriel to give Daniel skill to understand the time in which he lives concerning the people of Israel and Jerusalem. God through Gabriel gives Daniel the vision of the 70 weeks of prophecy that determines their future “for your people and your holy city” (Dan. 9:24).

This prophecy is so wonderful, so important, so accurate that it needs to be studied and then influence how we live concerning the return of Jesus.

Yet do not enter into this study lukewarm but be serious in prayer and fasting, seeking God as Daniel did concerning God’s people, Jerusalem and the return of Jesus in the season in which we live.

I wonder how many people listened to Daniel when he wrote this vision from God concerning his people and his holy city? How many are listening today to God’s prophets and voices concerning the return of Jesus, as we parallel all that has happened and is happening with the Jews, Jerusalem and Israel?

“Awaken us, O God, to know and to act on the season in which You are preparing the world for Jesus’ return to Jerusalem. Just as You prepared the way for Jesus to come the first time, You are doing this now for His Second Coming. Raise up Daniels to seek You and to hear from You, to have the skill to understand as Daniel received from You, to then tell us Your vision and understanding to the prophecies already given to us in Your Word. May the whole world be awakened beginning with Your people, the Jews and then the followers of Jesus!”

A Vision from God

Daniel 9

In Daniel 9, we get the impression Daniel has received a vision from God of the 70 weeks. It has so shaken him that he goes into a time of prayer, fasting and confession, crying out to God for His forgiveness and mercy to restore the Jewish people and to rebuild Jerusalem and the temple.

Remember, God has gifted Daniel in understanding visions. Yet initially he does not know what this 70 weeks vision means. He realizes its importance so his only response is to seek the face of God and receive from Him understanding.

God responds rather quickly by sending the mighty angel Gabriel to give him the skill and understanding to write out the vision, which implies to me Daniel comes to know its meaning but he really does not explain it to us. Instead he leaves us with the mystery that has had an almost infinite amount of explanations for the past 2,500 years.

The beginning seems straightforward, in that “70 weeks are determined for your people and for your holy city” (Dan. 24, NKJV). Gabriel is speaking these words to Daniel as he writes them down. Most agree that the 70 weeks are a sequence of seven-year periods divided into three eras. This prophecy is specific in its concern and application to the history of the Jews and Jerusalem. We will see that applies also to the Messiah.

The mystery is the division of the 70 weeks. When do they begin? How do they divide? What happens during their specific periods of time? How does this affect us in our lifestyles and how God wants to use us in the season in which we live?

Most of the weeks have passed, at least 69 of them, but the last week is either unfolding now or will come soon in our future. To understand it all, we need to start from the beginning of Gabriel’s words. Remember, this is a message from God to Daniel, to the Jews and to us. That tells us this is serious business and we need to value its importance.

Also, keep in mind you need to be led by the Spirit in all of this interpretation and question all I write because I am not infallible in this process.

Gabriel tells Daniel these 70 weeks are to:

To finish the transgression. What transgression? I would say what Daniel has prayed about in chapter 9. The Jews have disobeyed God and broken their covenant vows in such terrible sin, over a long period of time, and have never truly repented for their wickedness. Thus God sent them into exile and allowed their sacred city to be trampled by the Gentiles and their nation lost to foreign oppression.

Thus God brought the judgment He promised to bring as written into the covenant of Moses, that He would scatter them to the nations of the earth where they would be persecuted and suffer terribly at the hands of the Gentiles. Once God’s judgment upon them was completed, they would be brought back to Israel and Jerusalem, regain their nation and holy city and enjoy His love and protection, never to lose Jerusalem or their nation again.

No one dreamed it would be 2,500 years before the judgment for their transgressions would begin to end.

One of the important clues in all of this is desolation. In Daniel’s prayer, he says the people, the city and Israel have been left desolate. Gabriel refers three times to desolation in chapter 9: “and till the end of the war desolations are determined … and on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, Even until the consummation, which is determined, is poured out on desolate” (Dan. 9:26; 27).

Definition of desolate from the King James Dictionary of the Bible:

The act of desolating destruction or expulsion of inhabitants; destruction; ruin; waste. Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation (Matt.12). 2. A place deprived of inhabitants, or otherwise wasted, ravaged and ruined.

If you have ever driven from Jerusalem down to the Dead Sea, to me this is a perfect picture of desolation. The hills and mountains are barren and with little life. Few inhabitants live there; it is a scene where the land is almost lifeless and ravaged.

This is the Jews, Jerusalem and Israel in Daniel’s eyes and in God’s eyes. They have been laid waste and have no hope of life, both physical and spiritual. God will restore them and remove them from this desolation and raise them to life.

It appears this process would occur in three separate periods of weeks/years and last for at least 2,500 years from Daniel’s time to our day and perhaps beyond.

Read more in the coming weeks on this amazing study in the book of Daniel.

In Greater Love, author Blake Lorenz shares a captivating story of one man’s journey through time after God has chosen him to prepare Israel and the world for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. All the proceeds will go to our mission and evangelism work around the world and in Central Florida. For more information, visit blakelorenzministries.com. {eoa}

Read articles like this one and other Spirit-led content in our new platform, CHARISMA PLUS.