Question:  Greg,

            Can you please explain the prophetic importance of Daniel 9:24-27?  How does the prophetic timetable break down, and when events are involved in say the 70 weeks, the 62 weeks, as well as the 7 weeks of verse 27?

            Thanks,

            Larry

Answer:  Dear Larry,

            The passage about which you ask concerns the restoration of the sanctuary (see early verses of Daniel chapter nine).  Jerusalem , at that time, was desolate, and the prophecy was about restoration.  Interpreters since the days of Jesus have differed about what restoration of the sanctuary includes.

            How much, if not all, of this prophecy was fulfilled in Jesus’ first coming?  Some have calculated, using every day of the 70 weeks as equivalent to a year, that Jesus’ life and ministry would have fulfilled this prophecy.  Daniel 9:24 can be seen as including six items that were accomplished in his life, death and resurrection.  Some believe that the exact time periods mentioned in Daniel provide a date for the crucifixion.  Also, many go beyond such interpretations, adding future interpretations—suggesting that if these periods of time in Daniel 9 were fulfilled by Jesus, then they were only partially fulfilled, or that there will be a latter day fulfillment.  Many go on to construct vast timelines with predictions about world events, etc.

            Virtually all of the timelines/deadlines/exact dates constructed within the last 200 years have come and gone, but this fact has not stopped the zealous from simply moving the goal post, using the same ideas and methodology to come up with another new set of predictions.  I have studied this subject extensively, and one conclusion that is clear is this: most of those who predict specific dates predict fulfillments that will occur a few decades or a generation or more after they have died.  That is, they will not be alive to account for failed prophecies.  That would seem to be part of a fail-safe technique used to construct such timetables of prophecy.  Whether it is a deliberately manipulative technique, God has not asked me to judge, but he has given all of us insight and expects us to be discerning.  Therefore, I reject the broken-beyond-repair track records of prophecy teachers who provide future dates and events to “match up” with biblical prophecy.

            In our zeal to predict the future we can lose the main purpose of passages like these.  God did not inspire these passages so that we would rush off to the nearest prophecy-teaching fortuneteller who will gaze into his or her crystal ball and give us breathtaking predictions.  God, specifically in this passage, is saying that no matter how desolate our lives might be, whether individually or nationally, he will restore us.  The essential truth behind these numbers is God will always be faithful to us, even though we are flesh and we fall short of his glory.  His grace will always be enough and sufficient for us.  It is for that reason that I am comfortable with a Chriso-centric interpretation of this passage.  That is, I believe this passage points to Jesus, who did for us what we cannot do for ourselves.  God, in the person of Jesus, offers us restoration by the cross of Christ.  Our hope is secure because of the victory of Jesus’ resurrection from the grave.

            In Christ,

            Greg Albrecht