Let’s examine several verses in Daniel.
Daniel 9:25, “The going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks (49 Years) and threescore and two weeks (434 Years):” According to this prophesy, wh
“The street (means the open square)” shall be built again, and the wall even in troublous times.”
The word “wall” in Hebrew has several meanings: (1) A ditch or moat, (2) the wall surrounding Jerusalem. Obviously, after 70 years in captivity, the moat and the walls were in dire need of repair.
After the decree by King Artaxerxes of Persia in 457 B.C., as we go forward in time a full 483 years (69 weeks of Years), the first years completed in 482, we arrive in the year 27 A.D. at the river Jordon, when a thirty-year-old Jesus, (Luke 3:23) was baptism by the Holy Spirit and John. Jesus was now to be the High Priest of Israel after the order of Melchizedek. The people of Israel now had a mediator and bridge to the Father through the finished work of the cross.
“Seventy weeks of years,” point to a full 490 years. God determined this upon the Jews and their promised land. The 490 years were divided into three periods. The first is 49 years, the second is 434 years, and the last seven years.
If we closely examine King Artaxerxes’ decree of 457 B.C., we can determine the reason for these three essential periods.
The year of the decree, 457 B.C., less 49 years, takes us to the close of the Old Testament in 408 B.C. No more prophets were sent by God until John the Baptist some 400 years later in 4 B.C.
After the first 49 years concluded, 434 years remained. From 408 B.C., less than 434 Years (62 weeks), we arrive in the year 27 A.D., the year Jesus, who, after he turned 30, would be anointed by the Holy Spirit in the river Jordon.
The year 27 A.D. would conclude the 483 years, leaving seven years to confirm the covenant. These seven years were divided into two equal periods of 3 ½ years. Jesus’ earthly ministry began in 27 after his confrontation with the devil and ended with his death in April of 31 A.D., the day before Passover.
Many who study end-time prophecies attempt to put Daniel 9:25 in the same time frame as verse 26. These are different events taking place at different periods in time. Herod’s work on the Temple in the 18th year of his reign would take us to 20 B.C., the first full year ending in 19 B.C.
John wrote, John 2:20, “Then said the Jews (to Jesus), forty and six years was this temple in building,” this said in 27 A.D. So, when we subtract 46 years from 27, we arrive at 20 B.C.
Daniel 9:26 takes place after Jesus’ baptism in 27 A.D. The cutting off of the Lord began when the devil first tempted him in the wilderness and shortly after when the Pharisees and Sadducees sought Jesus. It was in 27 A.D. that God’s 30 Years of peace and goodwill for the Jews ended. After the temptation in the wilderness, Jesus departed to Galilee. Scripture tells us:
Matthew 4:16-17, At that time, “The people (the Jews) sat in darkness (they) saw great light (Jesus) and them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up.” From that time forward, Jesus began to teach, “Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
What was the goal for the final 3 ½ years of Jesus’ earthly ministry? It was to confirm His new covenant with the people of Israel. Through signs, wonders, miracles, and His fulfillment of prophecy, Jesus attempted to show the people that He was the promised Messiah, the Son of God, sent by the Father. Jeremiah tells us,
Jeremiah 31:31-32, “Behold — I (Jehovah) will make a new covenant with the house of Israel (10 tribes), and with the house of Judah (2 tribes), not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers (Moses) in the day that I took them (the Jews) by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they broke, although I was a husband unto them, saith the LORD.”
Matthew 4:17, Jesus’ sole purpose for the remaining 3 ½ years on earth with the Jews was to preach the good news, publish, and announce the truth of God’s new covenant.
Daniel 9:26, “And after (the conclusion of the 1st 49 years) threescore and two weeks (434 Years would pass) shall Messiah be CUT OFF, but not for himself: and (now we move forward into the future) the people of the prince (the people being the Roman’s.) The one who sent them was the Lord Jesus himself, just as he had sent Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus, Alexander, etc.) that (these Gentiles) shall come and destroy the city (Jerusalem) and the sanctuary (Temple in 70 A.D. and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end (termination) of the war. Now we move forward 1900 + years into the future) when “desolations (destructions) are determined.”
It’s the Lord who sends foreign armies to fulfill his will and to chasten the Jews; 2 Samuel 7:14 says, “If he (Israel) commit iniquity, I (the Lord) will chasten him with the rod of men (Gentile armies) and with the stripes (strokes) of the children of men (Gentiles).” Titus led the Roman armies, and then Jesus sent Titus.
Now, what does the phrase “cut off” mean in Daniel? Did God cut the Jews off, or did the Jews cut Jesus off? It was as it was in the Garden of Eden: God cut Adam off!
“Cut off has several meanings.” (1) To cut off as a rotten limb from a tree: (2), hewn down as expelled from a congregation: (3) or given a divorce that cuts a man off from his wife.
I understand it to be Jeremiah 3:8, Speaking of the children of Israel, “For all the causes whereby backsliding Israel (10 Northern tribes) committed adultery, I (God) had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce” also “treacherous sister Judah (2 southern tribes) has not turned unto me.”
Jesus has set aside the Jews for a short time to establish the church, beginning with Paul’s ministry. Acts 9:15, “The Lord said unto him (Ananias) Go thy way: for he (Paul) is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name (Jesus) before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel,” this happened about 37 A.D.
Under Jewish law, only a man could enact a divorce unless the woman showed the rabbis that she had sufficient grounds.
Jesus divorced the nation of Israel because of their unbelief and idol worship and because the Jews had “forsaken Him. But concerning the Jews, God has always saved a small remnant for His purposes, beginning with the 12 and then the 120 seen in Acts 1:15.
And, the old (the Jews) will again, one day, be grafted back into God’s plan of salvation.
Daniel 9:27, “And he (Jesus) shall confirm the (new) covenant with many for one week (7 years): and in the middle (3 ½ years) of the week (7 years) he (Jesus) shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease (the Temple would be destroyed in 70 A.D.) and for the overspreading of abominations (and because of their sins) he shall make it (Jerusalem) desolate, even until the consummation (until His return) and that determined (by God) shall be poured upon the desolate (the Jews.)”
Daniel 9:27 says nothing about the Lord being cut off, only that the blood and bloodless sacrifices would end.
This prophesied in Hosea 3:4, “For the children of Israel shall abide many days (1900 + years) without a king (Jesus Revelation 19:16), and without a prince (Revelation 1:5, Jesus is called “the prince of the kings of the earth), and without a sacrifice (Temple destroyed) and without an image (idols), and an ephod, and teraphim (household idols.)”
Jesus Christ, the Lamb sent by the Father, would be the last (acceptable) blood sacrifice made under the law; He was the last Passover Lamb. At Jesus’ death in April of 31 A.D., all (animal) sacrifices in the Temple would have been useless and valueless.
Concerning the Temple, its sacrifices, the city of Jerusalem, the priests, scribes, and the people, Jesus said,
Matthew 23:38, “Behold, your house (cities and country) is left unto you desolate (deserted and laid waste).”
Samuel Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, traveled in the ancient land of Israel around the time of our Civil War, 1865. He wrote a book called Innocence Abroad. In that book, he gave this graphic description of the land of Israel in 1865.
He said, “The land is a total desolation. Not even the weeds of the desert will grow here. We traveled mile after mile and never saw another human being. The further we went toward Jerusalem the hotter the sun got. By the time we got to Jerusalem,…” he wrote, “…I would not want to live here.” Israel was out in the dispersion for 1900 years, and the land lay wasted. Other travelers have used the term “Godforsaken” in their description of Israel under the Arabs; that is until the Jews became a nation in one day, May 13, 1948.
In John 1:29, we read, “Behold the Lamb of God (Jesus the last blood sacrifice) which takes away the sin of the world.” “God’s work was finished.”
Phillip LaSpino www.seekfirstwisdom.com