ANALYSIS OF DANIEL’S SEVENTY SEVENS
Daniel’s seventy sevens prophecy in Daniel 9:24-27 is an excellent place to begin our series of proofs since it gives us a prophetic outline of the history of Judah (Israel) and Jerusalem. This outline goes from about 444 BC, when the decree to rebuild Jerusalem was issued, until Jesus returns at the end to destroy sin and establish everlasting righteousness.
This outline is the key to understanding end time prophecy. Details of the end times are given throughout the rest of the Bible with a little given here, a little there, as Isaiah says (Isa 28:10-13). It remains for the prophecy scholars to fill these details into their proper places on Daniel’s time line. This is very difficult to do since the prophecies are so extensive, so spread out, and at times so cryptic. God did this on purpose so that there would be some mystery to it and to keep us interested and ready for his return. Another result is that not all scholars agree on the interpretation. We’ll concentrate on the interpretation that I consider most likely.
Let’s first look at the outline and then start filling in some of the details. The prophecy given by Daniel in Dan 9:24-27 follows.

24 "Seventy 'sevens' are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy.
From the following summary page we see that seventy sevens represented 490 years. It says that at the end of the 490 years several things would be different including (1) there would be no more transgression against God, (2) there would be no more sin, (3) the price for all past wickedness would already have been paid, (4) there would be eternal righteousness, (5) there would no longer be a need for visions and prophecies and (6) Jesus would be anointed King. This is a description of the beginning of the millennial kingdom, right after the Second Coming at the end of the seven year period of great tribulation. In summary, this verse says that the Jewish people would have seventy periods of seven years each, or 490 years total, to fellowship with God before the millennial kingdom begins.

25 "Know and understand this: From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven 'sevens,' and sixty-two 'sevens.' It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble.
This verse gives the prophesied date when the ruler, the messiah, would first come to earth. The date is described as being at the end of a time interval. The interval starts with the decree to rebuild Jerusalem and lasts for seven and sixty-two sevens, or 483 years. Let’s look back in history to see when this decree was issued. The issuing of the decree to rebuild Jerusalem is described in Neh 2:1-8, 17. Nehemiah tells us that the decree was issued in the month of Nisan in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxies, king of Persia. This would have been in March 444 BC.
Let’s look at a little more background to help put things in perspective. Babylon, which was then the dominant kingdom on earth, conquered Judah in 606 BC. The Babylonian’ conquest of Judah continued until Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed in 586 BC. The Jews were carried away to exile in Babylon in waves, with Daniel apparently being in the first wave in 606 BC. The exile would last for seventy years as prophesied by Jeremiah in Jer 25:11-12. Persia later conquered Babylon under Cyrus the Great in 539-538 BC, as prophesied by both Jeremiah and Daniel. Daniel was on the court of Cyrus and had his confidence. Cyrus decreed that the temple in Jerusalem be rebuilt as described in Ezra chapters 1-7. He also decreed that the seventy year Jewish captivity be ended (Ezra 1). Only about 50,000 Jews returned to their homes as many were very happy with the lives that they had developed in their seventy years in Babylon. In fact, Daniel stayed in Babylon and continued serving on the court of Cyrus. The Jewish exiles returned to their land in four waves: (1) In 537 BC under Sheshbazzar, who was made governor of Judah, when rebuilding of the temple began, (2) in 525 BC under Zerubbabel and Joshua, the high priest discussed in Zechariah, (3) in approximately 456 BC when Ezra returned with exiles and royal authority to renew religious practices in Jerusalem and (4) in 444 BC when Nehemiah returned with King Artaxerxes blessings and the means to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem and the city itself.[i] It’s obvious from a reading of Nehemiah and Ezra that the rebuilding was done in a “time of trouble” as they had much resistance and trouble during the work period.
The prophecy further says that the ruler would come in seven plus sixty-nine sevens or weeks of years after the decree to restore Jerusalem. We know from above that this decree was issued on 1 Nisan or 14 Mar 444 BC on our calendar. In those days important events were reckoned on the 1st of the month. In the accompanying definitions we see that sixty-nine sevens of years after the decree would end on 6 Apr 32 AD. This is the very day that Jesus was declared King of the Jews on Palm Sunday. This has to be one of the most amazing prophecies in the Bible.

26 After the sixty-two 'sevens,' the Anointed One will be cut off and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed.
Daniel goes on to prophecy that the Anointed One (Jesus the Messiah) would be cut off (killed) and would have nothing, possibly meaning that he would not have any of his legal rights and/or earthly possessions. We know that his legal rights were violated repeatedly during his trials and execution. In spite of the unfairness of this he did not defend himself. He was guilty in that he was standing in for us, paying the penalty for the sins of all mankind, past, present, and future. We also know that he had no earthly possessions in that his clothing was taken by casting lots (Ps 22:18, Matt 27:35). Phil 2:7 also says that Jesus made himself nothing, became a servant man for us.
Starting on this very Palm Sunday, the Jewish nation was put into time out again (Luke 19:42-44) as they had been a couple of times in the Old Testament. When this would happen, God seemed to ignore the Jews until they returned to him. He even quit counting these years when he made prophecies of coming events involving Israel. This happened again in Daniel’s prophecy of the future of Israel. God apparently quit counting them in his prophetic timetable and won’t start again until the beginning of the final seven years, during which Israel will finally accept Jesus as their Savior. Jesus and Paul spoke of the Jews being blinded during this time. Paul spends a lot of time on this subject, as does the author of Romans. This gap has now reached over 2000 years (360 day years) and we are still counting. The Jewish nation will not be back on God’s clock until the final seven years begins, at which time their blindness will be removed. We know this because if God is counting their time in his prophetic timetable, he has renewed his fellowship with them. Rev 7 and 14 speak of the 144,000 Jews who become believers in Jesus and have God’s seal placed on them during this period. These 144,000 may become soul winners for Jesus. In spite of the fact that their blindness has been removed, it still takes several years for many Jews to accept Jesus for whom he is. It is three days from the end before they finally call on Jesus to return and save them from their enemies (Hosea 5:14-6:2). Paul tells us that their blindness will be removed when God is satisfied with the number of Gentiles who have become believers (Rom 11:25).
However, Daniel makes one additional prophecy concerning Israel that would be fulfilled before the final seven years. This concerns the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple which occurred in 70 AD. This involved Titus and the Roman army completely destroying the city and temple as prophesied by Jesus in Luke 19:41-44. In fact, Jesus said that the reason for the destruction was because the Jews had not recognized Daniel’s prophecies and had not recognized who he was. Daniel even says who will do the destruction, “the people of the ruler to come.” The people were the Romans, which implies that the coming ruler or antichrist will come from the remains of the Roman Empire.
Daniel now jumps to the end times and says that the end will come like a flood. What do you suppose this means? How fast and completely can people be overcome by a flood? Jesus and Paul tell us repeatedly to stay ready because the end could come at any time. The end will involve wars and complete desolations as Daniel tells us. Many chapters and pages in the Old Testament books of prophecy detail these wars and who will be involved in them. Let’s move on to the end of Daniel’s prophecy.

27 He will confirm a covenant with many for one 'seven.' In the middle of the 'seven' he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on a wing he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him."
Daniel says that at the beginning of the final seven-year period before the millennium, the ruler, or antichrist as he is sometimes referred to, will establish a peace treaty with Israel and others. However, this will only last for three and one half years. At that time he will force the Jews to stop worshiping God in their temple and worship him there instead (2 Thess 2:3-4). This means that the temple in Jerusalem must be rebuilt before this can happen. My understanding is that plans are in place for this rebuilding and the implements of worship have largely been collected. We are awaiting arrival of this world ruler who will declare peace and provide means for the rebuilding of the temple. We know that the ruler will require that false gods be worshiped in the temple since that is the historical meaning of the term “an abomination that causes desolation.” This happened in 167 BC when Antiochus Epiphanes, the Greek ruler of Syria, sacrificed a pig on the alter of the temple in Jerusalem. This resulted in the Maccabean revolt when Judas Maccabeus and his brothers led a successful revolt against the Syrians and recaptured the city and temple. The temple was rededicated and the date is still celebrated today as Hanukkah. The Maccabees continued to rule in Judea from 163 to 37 AD, although the area came under Roman dominance in 63 BC. Another abomination of desolation occurred in 70 AD (Luke 21:5-7, 20-22) when the Romans under Titus destroyed the city and temple.

This is the basic outline of end time prophecy as provided by Daniel. Jesus himself gave this prophecy credibility in Matt 24:15. A time line of Daniel’s prophecy is given on the summary page that follows.

The one very major event that Daniel doesn’t discuss is the rapture. That’s because it involves the church, which was a hidden mystery in the Old Testament.

SUMMARY OF DANIEL’S SEVENTY WEEKS PROPHECY
(DANIEL 9:24-27)

BACKGROUND
Daniel was written near the end of Israel’s seventy year Babylonian captivity in the sixth century BC.
The angel Gabriel gave Daniel several prophecies which would not be fulfilled at the end of the seventy year captivity but after a future seventy weeks of years period.
The prophecies involved Daniel’s people and holy city, the Israelites and Jerusalem.

DEFINITIONS

A week was used to represent “seven years” by the Jews (Gen 29:26-30).
A “week of years” was used to represent seven years (Lev 25:1-9, 26:14-16, 32-35;
2 Chr 36:19-21).
The Bible used 360 day years as we’ll show: ½ week, 42 months. 1260 days, and (time, times, ½ time) are all used in the Bible to represent the same time period.
1260/42 = 30, thus there were 30 days in a month. 30 x 12 = 360, thus there are 360 days in a year. A “time” is a year, “times” is two years, and ½ time is a half year, thus (time, times, ½ time) is 3 ½ years or 42 months or ½ week.
(see Dan 7:25, 9:27, 12:7; Rev 11:2-3, 12:6, 12:14, 13:5).
Thus the Bible gave the Israelites the means to calculate the exact date of the first coming of the “anointed one.” God held the Jews responsible for doing this and recognizing the coming of Jesus (Luke 19:41-44). Let’s do the calculation:
69 weeks of years = 173,880 days (69x7x360). 173,880 days from 14 Mar, 444 BC would be 6 Apr, 32 AD. Thus Daniel was predicting that Jesus would come to be “cut off” on 6 Apr, 32 AD. Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, was proclaimed “King of the Jews” by the people, and was presenting himself to be “cut off” or killed, on this day. This prediction was made in the 6th century BC. Of course Daniel didn’t know this date since the prophecy didn’t take effect until 14 Mar, 444 BC, the date of Artaxerxes’ decree to rebuild the city of Jerusalem. This was about 100 years after Daniel was given the prophecy by God.