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Daniel – The Key Timing Prophecy

I’d like to take a break and talk about Daniel, a key timing book in the Old Testament. So many get Daniel wrong, yet it is so simple. Think about Daniel 2 and the simplicity of the history predicted: There will be 4 kingdoms, Babylon through Rome, and then the kingdom of God shall replace all of them and grow to fill the earth. So simple. Yet, the so-called literalists do all they can to obscure the meaning by claiming its fulfillment is yet future. So futile, so overly complicated, so un-literal, so unfaithful, so perverse. Yet they claim to be the ones faithful to scripture. Yet, they deny Daniel his due. Nay, more importantly, they deny Christ, the stone the builders rejected, the stone cut out without hands, the stone that is the foundation, the cornerstone of God’s kingdom, His due. They deny Him His great work on the cross. They deny its full efficacy, they deny Him the full honor of His first coming and what He accomplished.

Notice the timing so clearly stated, yet overlooked by the interpreters:

“And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever. Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure.” Daniel 2:44-5. “In the days of those kings” not in days thousands of years later.

Have you ever wondered why there were people expecting the Messiah at the time Jesus showed up? Remember Simeon and Anna in Luke 2. Have you ever wondered why wise men came from Persia to find Him? Why were they looking for a star? Were they diviners? Or were they heirs of Daniel, who spent part of his senior years in Persia? Remember the Lions’ Den; that was in Persia. Have you ever wondered why so many false Christs/Messiahs were wondering around Judea? They had read Daniel.

“At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth, and I am come to shew thee; for thou art greatly beloved: therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision. Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy. Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.” Daniel 9:23-7.

Interesting that the greatly beloved prophet is the one who receives the most explicit timing of the coming of the Messiah. The weeks in Daniel 9 are commonly interpreted by most bibilical scholars as weeks of years. At least, I’ve never read anyone say otherwise, and I understand that is how the Jews of that time interpreted the words also. 70 weeks would therefore equal 490 years. When did Daniel prophecy this? That’s subject to historical debate. The possibilities range from 537 BC to 444 BC. But no matter how you slice it, figure it, calculate it, estimate it, it all comes down to the first century in which Christ the apostles lived and ministered. Isn’t that a funny coincidence. The twisters of scripture who want some of the prophecy to apply to our future, then break off a portion of the years – the last week. They say those seven years didn’t happen in the first century. So, I have to ask, What part of the prophecy do they not think, or not want, to have already been fulfilled?

“Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy. Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.” Daniel 9:24-7.

Which parts did Christ not accomplish with His death, resurrection, and ascension to the most powerful position of rulership – the right hand of God? Did he fail to make an end of sins? Did he fail to make reconciliation for iniquity? Did he fail to bring in everlasting righteousness? Did he, as the final prophet and God’s final Word to man, fail to seal up vision and prophecy? Did he fail to anoint the most Holy? Was he not cut off? Did the city and sanctuary not get destroyed? Did he not cause sacrifice and the oblation to cease? Did he not make Jerusalem and its temple desolate? These types of questions are answered elsewhere quite clearly in the scripture, particularly in the book of Hebrews.