Appreciate it if you stay on subject:
Daniel 9 is a portion of Scripture that is almost impossible to exhaust, and in order to study end time prophesy you have to start here. The book of Daniel is the foundation stone for all the rest of end-time events.
This prophecy is written for the Jews and covers a period of 490 literal Years, a period of time in which God begins his plan to return the Jews into his fold. The journey begins with the captivity of Judea by king Nebuchadnezzar in 606 B.C., the year Daniel was taken captive. Now the timeline moves through the centuries and ends with the Lords destroying his enemies at His second coming.
Let's begin with,
Daniel 9:24-25, "Seventy weeks are determined upon thy (Daniel's) people (the Jews) and upon the holy city (Jerusalem), 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 prophesy 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: and street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times."
The first issue we must deal with is, who is the prince of the people spoken of in Verse 26? We have 3 possibilities,
1. Vespasian, Caesar of Rome who ruled between 69 and 79 A.D.
2. Titus, the general of the Roman armies.
3. Or it was the Lord Jesus who sent the armies of Rome to fulfill the prophesy, just as he had sent Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus and Alexander.
Let's leave this question open for now.
In Daniel 9:25, the LORD breaks down the time of 490 Years into three distinct periods of time. The first period consists of 49 Years, one week; followed by 434 Years, or 62 weeks of years, leaving 7 Years.
Note also in verse 25, between the words seven weeks and sixty-two weeks is a comma. This would imply that the first 49 Years would immediately be followed by the next 434 Years, giving us a total of 483 Years. Also note, the last 7 Years of the 490 years are not mentioned in this verse.
Were told that in this period of 483 Years, the street, (meaning the open square) shall be built again, and the wall (meaning the moat around the city), even in troublous times."
Also note the verse reads, "to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince---." The verse does not say, "unto" Jesus birth or "unto" his death; the word "unto" meaning "to, or until" Messiah the Prince. So, the question is, when was Jesus revealed as Messiah the Prince to the Jews?
In John 1:20, in October of 26 A.D., John confessed at Jordon to the Levites and priests, "I am not the Christ." But now,
Isaiah 61:1 sheds a great deal of light on the question, "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me (speaking of the Lord Jesus), because the LORD (Father) hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek;" with
Matthew 3:16-17, "And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: And lo a voice from heaven, saying, this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."
John 1:41 supports the above concerning the revealing of the Messiah to the Jews. John 1:41, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother follows Jesus, then he goes to find Simon Peter and tells him, "We have found the Messiah, which is, being interpreted, the Christ."
So, the 483 years was fulfilled at the river Jordon, and confirmed by his first disciple Andrew some 40 + days after the wilderness experience. The baptism took place sometime in middle to late October of 26 A.D. when the Lord was 30 years of age, see Luke 3:23.
Now we move on to verse 27. Here, Daniel begins to reveal the last 7 years, it obviously broken down into two segments of 3 ½ Years. It is written,
"He (the prince of verse 26) shall confirm the covenant with many for one week (7 years): (the colon makes us aware of a time gap between the two periods of 3 ½ Years): and in the midst of the week (3 ½) years) he (the prince) shall cause the sacrifice (ritual animal sacrifices) and oblation (ritual offerings) to cease (meaning, put an end to) and for the overspreading of abominations he (the prince) shall make it (sacrificial rites) desolate, even until the consummation, and the determined shall be poured upon the desolate." There's a great deal here because it covers some 2000 Years.
First let's examine "he (the prince) shall cause the sacrifice and oblation (offerings) to cease (meaning, put an end to)."
The verse mentions nothing about the Temple being destroyed as the reason for the "sacrifice and oblation to cease," so it has to point to something else.
"The sacrifice" does not appear to point to the animal sacrifices, but to the sacrificial rites themselves. Since the sacrifices had to be repeated year after year, they could never make perfect because they could never bring God's plan to a completion. But since the sacrifices were prescribed by the law, this indictment on the sacrifices is also a charge against the law itself, therefore, the weakness of the whole system was evident.
So, the law and its sacrifices were nothing but an empty shadow of reality, therefore, the futility of the old system had to be put to an end.
The sacrifices were a "reminder of sin" to the Jews only, surely not for God. Leviticus 16:20-22 calls for a confession of sins, rather than the new covenant hope found in,
Jeremiah 31:34 "And they (the Jews) shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, --- for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more."
Christ's willing obedience to go to the cross and to the will of His Father is clearly emphasized throughout scripture, His death showing the inadequacies of the old sacrifices.
Hebrews 10:10, "By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all."
Verse 10 is the first place in the book of Hebrews that the full name and title of "Jesus Christ" appears. The use of Jesus full name shifts from third person to first person, and the final occurrence of "once for all" contributes to a forceful feel of the verse.
Question, "how could the sacrifices of the law be set aside when it was God's will?"
Psalm 40:6, answers the question, "Sacrifice and offering thou (God) didst not desire; mine ears have thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required."
God was not for animal sacrifices, but for the sacrifice of the body of his beloved Son, Revelation 13:8, "a Lamb slain from the foundation of the earth." Jesus truly fulfilled the Father's will by making the correct sacrifice: not the sacrifices of the law, but the one sacrifice that conformed to the will of His Father.
So, the "he" of Daniel 9:26-27 is Jesus Christ who was "cut off" and who would confirm the covenant for one week. The first half of the covenant was fulfilled between October of 26 A.D. to the cross on April 5th of 30 A.D., exactly 3 ½ years. At his death, "he caused the (ritual) sacrifice and the oblation to cease."
I'll take up with the rest of the verse in my next post.
Laspino3