Daniel’s Predictions Of End Times, Part 1

Edited 12/12/23.

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 from its beginning to end, a period of 490 literal years. 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, (note the comma) and threescore and two weeks (total, 483 years): and street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.”

Verse 26, “And after threescore and two week (434 years) shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and sanctuary;” 

The first issue we must deal with is, who is the prince of the people spoken of in Verse 26? We have three possibilities,

1.     Vespasian, Caesar of Rome who ruled between 69 and 79 A.D.

2.     Titus, the general (not prince) of the Roman armies.

3.     Or the (he) is the Lord Jesus who sent the armies of Rome in to fulfill his prediction found in Matthew 23″38, just as he had sent Shalmaneser, Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus, Alexander and Titus.

Let’s leave this question open for now.

In Daniel 9:25, the LORD breaks down the 490 years into three distinct periods of time. The first period consists of 49 Years, one week of years; followed by 434 Years, or 62 weeks of years, leaving seven years. The time began when king Artaxerxes Longimanus in the year 457 B.C. gave the Jews permission to return to Israel. 

Note, 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 434 years, giving us a total of 483 years. Also note, the last seven years of the 490 years is not mentioned in the verse.

Were told that in this period of 483 Years, the street, (meaning the open square) shall be built again, and the wall (speaking of 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 made known as the Messiah, the Prince to the people and priests of Israel?

In John 1:20, in the month of October of 27 A.D., John confessed at Jordon to the Levites and priests, “I am not the Christ.” But, Isaiah 61:1 does shed 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 first by John the Baptist, then again by Andrew. The baptism took place sometime in middle to the end of October of 27 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 is 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 made evident.

So, the law and temple sacrifices were nothing but a shadow of reality, meaning, 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 or the gentiles. Leviticus 16:20-22 calls for a confession of sins, rather than the new covenant of 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 name and title 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 is to confirm the covenant for one week. The first half of the covenant was beginning to be fulfilled between October of 27 A.D. and ended at the cross in April 31 A.D., exactly 3 ½ years. At Jesus death, “He caused the (ritual) sacrifice and the oblation to cease” for all time. 

The next question is, “Who then is going to confirm the last three-and-a-half years of this new covenant?

It will be the two witnesses of Revelation 11 who are sent to confirm the last half of the new covenant. The word “witness” also means Martyrs. The shed blood of Christ and of the two witnesses of God seals forever the new covenant of God. Upon the death and resurrection of the two, the ‘Great tribulation begins, and will last for three-and-a-half years.” It will end with the return of Jesus Christ.  

Two more questions, ‘How long will the two witness? Revelation 11:3, “They shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days (3 1/2 years) clothed in sackcloth.” 

And ‘Are they truly martyrs who give their lives in order to confirm God’s new covenant? 

Answer, yes! Revelation 11:7, “When they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.” 

Phillip LaSpino  www.seekfirstwisdom.com