The Prophecy of Daniel’s 70 Weeks can be found in Daniel 9:24-27. It is one of the most important prophetic passages in the whole Bible. Jesus refers to it in the Olivet Discourse and warns His listeners to remember what Daniel said. With that in mind, let’s lay out a basic overview of this prophecy.

24 “Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy place. 25So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of distress. 26Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined. 27 And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate.” Daniel 9:24-27

In the Bible a “week” typically refers to a period of seven years. Just as in English we know a “decade” means ten years. Therefore, 70 periods of seven years (70 x 7) equals 490 years in total. Another Biblical term for these seven year periods is Shemitah. You know that there are 365.25 days in a year because of the earth’s revolution around the sun. You also know that there are approximately thirty days in a month because of the moon’s revolution around the earth. But have you considered that there is no reason for a seven day week, other than the fact that God decreed it and commanded the Israelites to observe it as a sign? God gave the Shabbat (Sabbath) as a sign. The seventh day was to be holy, a day of rest. The seventh month was also holy and the seventh year was set part by the Israelites as a year of rest for the land. These seven year periods were known as Shemitah periods, or cycles. When seven of those Shemitah periods had accumulated, the Israelites were to proclaim the year of Jubilee on the fiftieth year (Lev 25:1-12). So when the angel said “seventy sevens” to Daniel, it was not a mystery! Is was seventy of these Shemitah periods based on the sabbath of the land.

When do these 70 Weeks begin? 

  1. Daniel 9:25 tells us that the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild the city of Jerusalem is what kicks it off. Throughout history has there ever been such a decree? Yes! 
  2. Artexerxes Longimanus gave a command to restore and rebuild Jerusalem on March 14, 445 B.C. Notice, this is not a decree to rebuild the Temple but a decree to rebuild the city of Jerusalem, which is exactly what Daniel prophecies.
  3. Who was this decree given to? None other than Nehemiah, the cupbearer to king Artexerxes Longimanus. In Nehemiah 2 we see that the king gave Nehemiah a decree to go to Jerusalem and rebuild its walls and gates.

    How do these first 69 Weeks point us to the Messiah?

    1. After the first 69 weeks of this prophecy we are told that the Messiah will be rejected (cut off). These 69 weeks (or 483 years) must fit in between 445 B.C. and the cutting off of the Messiah. Does this work out mathematically? In 1894 Sir Robert Anderson identified these calculations and estimated the date of Jesus being rejected as April 6, 32 A.D. We have many historical and biblical confirmations that April 6, 32 A.D. is the date of the Triumphal Entry. This is the day that Jesus presented Himself as King, yet He was rejected by His people, Israel.
    2. We must first remember that a biblical calendar year has only 360 days. It follows the lunar calendar.
    3. 69 weeks of years (69 x 7) equals 483 years. If we use the biblical 360 day year, that gives us 173,880 days (483 years x 360 days per year = 173,880 days).
    4. If we convert the 173,880 days to our 365 day year, we end up with 476 years. (173,880 days / 365 = 476 years)
    5. In 476 years there are 173,740 days. (476 years x 365 days per year = 173,740 days) Then add 24 days from March 14 (decree) to April 6 (rejection). Next, account for the 116 leap days as computed by the Royal Observatory in Greenwich has having occurred during that time. 
    6. 173,740 days + 24 days + 116 days = 173,880 days! This is the same number of days that Daniel prophesied there would be from the decree to rebuild Jerusalem to the rejection of the Messiah!Daniel’s prophecy, given 500 years before the Messiah, accurately tells us the exact date that He would be cut off from His people.
    7. After the Messiah is rejected, the people of the “prince who is to come” (the Antichrist) will destroy the city (Jerusalem) and the sanctuary (the Temple). This of course was fulfilled by the Romans in 70 A.D. indicating a connection between Rome, the Roman Empire, and the Antichrist. 

    Why is there a gap in Daniel’s prophecy between the 69th Week and the 70th Week? 

    1. The 70th week stands alone in history because God has a very specific purpose for it. It is quite common for the prophetic Scriptures to allow for a large gap in time between the fulfillment of one verse and another. 
    2. We know from history that the period, referred to as “after the sixty two weeks” in Daniel 9:26, was about forty years long (from when Messiah was rejected until Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 A.D.) Then, since Israel was scattered and no longer in the land, the last seven years were suspended and the prophetic clock stopped until the time of regathering which the prophets foretold. 

    Why didn’t the prophetic clock start again when the State of Israel was born in 1948?

    1. The answer is found when we understand that the revelation given to Daniel has to do with the Temple and the Holy Place (Daniel 9:17 & 20). The Holy Place is in Jewish hands today but is not yet consecrated, and no Temple stands there. 
    2. The angel speaking with Daniel in Daniel 9:27 said the 70th Week would begin with the making of a covenant and that in it would be provision for worship in the Holy Place and the reinstitution of sacrifice.This covenant (or peace treaty) will be signed with the Antichrist and will resolve disputes on the Temple Mount and allow Israel to freely worship there again. Then the last seven years of the age will begin!

    What happens during the 70th Week?

    1. The covenant (or peace treaty) brings “peace” to the Middle East for the first three and a half years of this last Week. 
    2. The Antichrist is then revealed at the Abomination of Desolation in the middle of the 70th week (Daniel 9:27). This event commences the Tribulation, which lasts for the remaining three and a half years. Jesus and Paul confirm this fact in Matthew 24:15,21 and 1 Thessalonians 5:1-3.
    3. The Abomination of Desolation stops sacrifices and grain offerings in Jerusalem. The Temple will be completely desolated by the Antichrist.
    4. The bride of Christ is raptured shortly after the Abomination of Desolation occurs. (2 Thessalonians 2:1-3)
    5. The nation of Israel is attacked by the Antichrist, but a remnant that flees to the mountains is delivered and protected during the duration of the Tribulation. (Isaiah 10:20-22 & Matthew 24:15-21 & Revelation 12:5-6,13-17)
    6. The completion of these 70 weeks results in the full restoration of the nation of Israel, the destruction of the Antichrist, the millennial reign of the Messiah from Jerusalem, and the fulfillment of all of the words of the Biblical prophets.

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