Did A 2600 Year Old Prophecy of Daniel Come True?
It was a world center of occult power where Evil had a unique presence. The city was vast and at its heart rose the focal point of that power, a monstrous temple that stood 300 feet tall. It was a seven-level pyramid with stairs that led straight to heaven. Or so they believed. Why had they built it? To bring Heaven down and be a meeting place with the gods, especially the supreme god, Marduk. Nowhere else could it be built because this was the exact center of the universe. It was from here that he had created the world. A temple with heaven at its top.
The people who built the giant ziggurat of Babylon knew that their gods would come down in physical forms. So at the top they created lavish bedrooms furnished with every luxury. At the pinnacle of the temple was the most lavish room of all. In it was a bed of pure gold. The room was a deified brothel. The only one allowed to enter was a beautiful woman chosen by Marduk to be his human lover. When called by the priests, she would climb the stairs and lie down on the bed to wait for him. And a being came to her in physical form, otherwise the offering would not have continued year after year.
Ancient Babylon was the most powerful city of its day and its King was Nebuchadnezzar. It was to this great city of supernatural evil that the God of Israel chose to send some of the most important messages in all of history. The words came to a Jewish man who had been brought as a captive when his nation was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar. His name was Daniel. Late in his life, Daniel entered into agonizing prayer. He knew the prophecies. His people would be enslaved in Babylon for 70 years, then God would free them to go back to Jerusalem. The time was almost up. While he was praying, the messenger appeared. We need to understand his message because it is of world-shattering importance right now.
In 1894 an unusual man lived in England. His name was Sir Robert Anderson and he was a lead investigator with Scotland Yard. Anderson was knighted for his proficiency in criminal investigation and many people believe that he was the basis for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s character, Sherlock Holmes. But there was one major difference between Sir Robert and Sherlock. Sir Robert was a devout believer in Jesus Christ. At a certain point, he made an important decision. He focused his investigative skills on the prophecy we are going to look at right now. Imagine Sherlock Holmes doing Bible research. That prophecy is found in Daniel, chapter 9.
Daniel is speaking. “Now while I was praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, the messenger from heaven, Gabriel, reached me. He talked with me, and said…“Seventy weeks are determined for your people and for your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy. Understand that from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem until your Messiah comes, there shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks. The street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troubled times. And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself. The people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall be with a flood, and till the end of the war desolations are determined. Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week. But in the middle of the week he shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, even until the consummation, which is determined, is poured out.” Mysterious and frightening words. What could they mean?
Out of Anderson’s extensive research came a book entitled, The Coming Prince. In the years since it was published, other brilliant scholars have built on Anderson’s work, using materials and tools that were not available to him. I’m going to give you a shorthand version of what they discovered. The first thing to understand is that the prophecy covers the entire span of future history for the Jewish people. It presents a timetable that begins on a specific date. The span is 70 weeks. At the end of that period, everlasting righteousness would be established on Earth, which means that an eternal Kingdom would arrive that would last forever. The first thing to know is that these are not weeks of days. If it had been days that would calculate to only a year and a third. These are weeks of years. Each week stands for 7 years, so the total of the 70 weeks is 490 years. But the 70 is divided into three periods. The first is seven weeks or 49 years, the second is 62 weeks or 434 years and the last is a single week of seven years. The first two periods together add up to 69 weeks or 483 years.
Scholars have been unsure why the first two periods are separated, but it’s clear that there is a major break between the first two sets and the last week of seven years. Something of stunning importance happens at the end of the 69th week. At the end of that week the Messiah of the Jews would appear. Daniel is an old man when he receives these words. The city of Jerusalem and its Temple had been destroyed many years before. He knew that when the captivity of the Jews in Babylon was over Jerusalem would be rebuilt. So the “clock” of the 70 weeks would begin ticking when an official order to restore and rebuild the city of Jerusalem was given.
Sir Robert Anderson went back into Old Testament history, into the books of Ezra and Nehemiah and discovered that there were four commands given that related to rebuilding and restoring. But three of those commands were specifically about the rebuilding of the Jewish Temple. Only the last one commanded the rebuilding of the city. It was given by King Artaxerxes to his cupbearer, Nehemiah, who was charged with rebuilding Jerusalem and its walls. The rebuilding began when Nehemiah came with his decree. The date of that decree was Nisan one, 3317 in the Hebrew calendar which is February 27, 444 BC in our calendar. It was on that date that the clock of the 70 weeks began ticking.
Daniels is told that at the end of 69 weeks of years, the Messiah of Israel would appear. Because we know the beginning date, we know the end date of those 69 weeks. It was Nisan 6 in the Jewish year 3793 which is March 24 AD 33, one week before many scholars believe Jesus Christ made his triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Jesus never allowed Himself to be proclaimed King until the day He rode into the city. But the prophecy continues. Mysteriously, the Messiah will be “cut off”, but “not for himself”. The Hebrew word means executed. A few days after His entry into Jerusalem, Jesus was crucified, murdered, cut off from the land of the living. But not for himself. He died for the people of Israel and for the sins of the world. He died to save you and me from our sins and make it possible for us to enter God’s Eternal Kingdom that will come to Earth.
One of the saddest statements in the entire Bible are Jesus’ words in Luke 19. They were spoken just before He entered Jerusalem on that fateful day. “Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side,and level you, and your children within you to the ground. And they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”
The leaders who murdered Jesus were scholars of the Hebrew Bible. They knew Daniel’s prophecy. They knew Nehemiah’s start date. They could do the math, but they refused to see the truth because they had been corrupted by the Powers of Darkness. What follows in the prophecy is a strange sequence. Sometime after the Messiah is cut off, a “prince” is going to appear who will destroy Jerusalem and the Temple again just as Nebuchadnezzar did hundreds of years before. 38 years after Jesus spoke those words, in 70 AD the Roman general Titus Vespasian destroyed the city and the Temple. Titus was a prince because his father, Vespasian, was Emperor. During the long siege of Jerusalem, Jewish historian Josephus tells us that 1.1 million people died and rivers of blood ran through the streets.
But then there is an odd transition in Daniel’s prophecy. The end shall be with a flood and until the end, there will be desolations. “He”, whoever that is, shall confirm a covenant with many for a “week” or seven years. In the middle of those years, this “Prince” will bring an end to sacrifice and offering. But how could this be possible? The Temple and the city have been destroyed. Yet during this seven-year period sacrifices and offerings are taking place in a Jerusalem Temple. At some point, the Temple will be rebuilt. A time jump has taken place. The “prince” who destroyed the city in 70 AD is not the same one who will make a covenant with many for seven years. Titus Vespasian never made such a covenant. This prophecy is for the Jewish people, so the many who make a covenant with the new Prince are Jews. However, in the middle of the seven-year covenant, he will break the agreement and do abominable things that will bring desolation.
The sad history of the Jewish people over the past 1900 years has been well documented. Over all that time, there has been a desolating war against them. They have been hated, hunted and slaughtered. This war has ebbed and flowed, growing more hellish at certain times, but it has never stopped. The time clock of Daniel’s prophecy stopped at the end of the 69th week when their Messiah entered Jerusalem, was rejected and crucified. The last week of the prophecy, the last seven years has yet to begin. An evil leader with vast power is coming to rule. The New Testament calls him the “Anti-Christ” literally the Anti-Messiah.
The last seven years of the Daniel prophecy are called The Great Tribulation because of all the horror that is going to come upon the earth. And the Jewish people are going to be at the center of that suffering. But the God of Israel is going to save them because He has never stopped loving them. And finally, they will discover who Yeshua (Jesus) really is. About that coming moment, the Old Testament prophet Zechariah wrote these words: “And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.” (Zech. 12:10)
Needless to say, the entire Book of Daniel has been viciously attacked in an attempt to discredit its prophecy. People have claimed that it wasn’t really written by Daniel. Why? Because they don’t want to believe that anyone could be shown the future. But clearly, it was written long before the time of Jesus and clearly the Nehemiah date was known which establishes the entire 69 week span. So their arguments are ridiculous. I want to take you to one last passage in Daniel. It’s in chapter seven. In this chapter is the vision of a Heavenly court. Daniel writes: “I watched till thrones were put in place, and the Ancient of Days was seated. His garment was white as snow, and the hair of His head was like pure wool. His throne was a fiery flame, its wheels a burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before Him. A thousand thousands ministered to Him. Ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him. The court was seated, and the books were opened.“
As Daniel watched, ultimate judgment was passed on the leaders of great evil that had brought terrible agony on the earth. Then, Daniel continues. “I was watching in the night visions, and behold, One like the Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him. Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away and His kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed.” Over and over, what did Jesus call Himself? The Son of Man.
Where does this leave us? Facing death and life. When will the 70th week begin? I do not know, but with what has been happening in the world, I don’t believe it is far off. Time is running out, my friend. The Old Testament prophet, Isaiah, who died in the 7th century BC wrote these words found in Isaiah 53, “Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness and when we see Him, thereis no beauty that we should desire Him. He is despised andrejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him. He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was woundedfor our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripeswe are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned, everyone to his own way and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth. He was led as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment, and who will declare his generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living. For the transgressions of my people He was stricken. And they made His grave with the wicked, but with the rich at His death, because He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him. He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong, because He poured out His soul unto death, and He was numbered with the transgressors, and He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.”
Those words were written many centuries before Jesus appeared, but there is no clearer description of what happened to Him at the end of Daniel’s 69th week. He is coming again to establish His authority over the entire earth. Is Jesus your Messiah? Have you placed your faith in Him? Have you asked Him to forgive your sins? If so, the future is yours in His eternal Kingdom. Our King is coming. If you would like to do more study about the Daniel 9 prophecy, I recommend the book, Daniel’s 70 Weeks by Dr. Chuck Missler.
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