The Seventieth Week of Daniel Explained
Few prophecies in the Bible are as important and as misunderstood as Daniel's prophecy of the Seventy Weeks. Hidden within those verses is a prophetic timetable that reaches from the rebuilding of Jerusalem all the way to the coming Kingdom of God.
The prophecy is found in Daniel 9. Daniel had been praying and seeking understanding concerning Israel's captivity when the angel Gabriel appeared and began revealing the future.
Daniel 9:24 says:
> "Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city."
Notice carefully who the prophecy concerns: "thy people" and "thy holy city." The prophecy was specifically given concerning Israel and Jerusalem. That is important because many interpretations remove Israel from the center of the prophecy, yet Gabriel plainly identified the Jewish people as God's prophetic timepiece.
The word "weeks" in this prophecy refers to prophetic weeks of years. Seventy weeks therefore equals 490 years.
Gabriel then outlined six great purposes that would be accomplished through these prophetic periods:
> "To finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness…" — Daniel 9:24
The prophecy was divided into distinct sections:
* seven weeks * sixty-two weeks * one final week
Together the first sixty-nine weeks pointed directly toward the coming of the Messiah.
## The Coming of Messiah Exactly on Time
Daniel was told:
> "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." — Daniel 9:25
The astonishing thing about this prophecy is its precision. From the decree to rebuild Jerusalem until the appearance of Messiah would be sixty-nine prophetic weeks.
History confirms that Jesus Christ came exactly according to the prophetic timetable.
When Christ entered Jerusalem, He was not arriving randomly in history. He came precisely on God's prophetic schedule.
Yet Daniel was also shown something tragic.
Daniel 9:26 says:
> "And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself."
The Messiah would be rejected and killed, not for His own sins, but for the redemption of others.
This points directly to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
## The Beginning of the Seventieth Week
Many people assume the entire Seventieth Week remains future, but Scripture itself shows that Christ already fulfilled the first half of that final week during His earthly ministry.
Daniel 9:27 says:
> "And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease."
Notice carefully what happens "in the midst of the week." The covenant is confirmed, and sacrifice ceases.
Jesus began His ministry after His baptism and ministered for approximately three and a half years. Then, in the middle of the seventieth week, He was crucified.
At Calvary, the entire sacrificial system lost its meaning because the true sacrifice had arrived.
Hebrews 10:12 says:
> "But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God."
When Christ died, the veil of the temple was torn from top to bottom.
> "And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain." — Matthew 27:51
That veil represented separation between God and man. The old order of animal sacrifices had reached its fulfillment in Christ.
So the first half of the Seventieth Week was fulfilled by Jesus Himself through His ministry, death, and covenant confirmation.
That leaves only three and a half prophetic years remaining.
## The Gap Between the Halves
After Israel rejected Messiah, the Gospel turned outward to the Gentiles.
This present Church Age was not clearly revealed in Daniel's prophecy because the Seventy Weeks specifically concern Israel.
Paul later explained this mystery:
> "Blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in." — Romans 11:25
Right now the world is living in that Gentile period while Israel remains partially blinded concerning Christ.
But Scripture shows that God will once again turn His attention directly back to Israel after the Gentile dispensation reaches its completion.
The final half of Daniel's Seventieth Week — three and a half years — still remains ahead.
## The Final Three and a Half Years
The remaining half of the week is the period commonly called the Great Tribulation.
Jesus referred to it in Matthew 24:
> "For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world." — Matthew 24:21
Revelation repeatedly identifies this period as lasting:
* 42 months * 1260 days * time, times, and half a time
All of those expressions point to the same period: three and a half years.
This is why the idea of an entire future seven-year tribulation creates confusion. Christ already fulfilled the first half. Only the remaining half awaits fulfillment.
## The Two Prophets — Moses and Elijah
During this final period, God sends two prophets to Israel.
Revelation 11 says:
> "And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days." — Revelation 11:3
Again, that equals 1260 days — three and a half years.
These two witnesses are identified by their ministries.
Revelation says:
> "These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not." — Revelation 11:6
That points directly to Elijah, who prayed and stopped the rain in the days of Ahab.
James 5:17 says:
> "Elias… prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not."
Revelation also says:
> "And have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues." — Revelation 11:6
That points directly to Moses.
Moses turned water into blood in Egypt and brought plagues upon Pharaoh through divine judgment.
These two prophets appeared with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration.
Matthew 17:3 says:
> "And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him."
Together they represent the Law and the Prophets bearing witness to Christ.
Their ministry during the final half of Daniel's Seventieth Week will call Israel back to the true Messiah.
## The 144,000 Sealed Jews
Revelation 7 introduces another remarkable group:
> "And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel." — Revelation 7:4
These are literal Jews from the twelve tribes of Israel.
God seals them during the tribulation period for divine protection and purpose.
They are not the Gentile Church. Scripture plainly identifies them as Israelites.
These Jews receive revelation concerning Jesus Christ during the tribulation period through the ministry of the two prophets.
Zechariah foresaw this national awakening:
> "They shall look upon me whom they have pierced." — Zechariah 12:10
Israel will finally recognize that the One rejected at Calvary was their Messiah.
Yet persecution follows this awakening.
## The Beast and the Final Persecution
Revelation describes a final religious-political system rising to power — a system symbolized by the beast.
This power persecutes the saints and dominates the earth through religious influence and political authority.
Revelation 13:7 says:
> "And it was given unto him to make war with the saints."
The final tribulation becomes especially directed against the Jewish remnant who receive the testimony of Christ.
The 144,000 and many other Jews suffer persecution and death because they refuse to submit to the beast system.
Revelation 20:4 speaks of those:
> "Which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image."
The tribulation therefore becomes both a time of judgment upon the world and a refining period for Israel.
## Why Israel Remains God's Timepiece
One of the clearest signs of the approaching fulfillment of prophecy is the restoration of Israel as a nation.
For centuries the Jewish people were scattered among the nations exactly as Scripture foretold. Yet against all human odds, Israel returned to nationhood.
Jesus said:
> "Now learn a parable of the fig tree." — Matthew 24:32
The fig tree is repeatedly used in Scripture as a symbol of Israel.
The rebirth of Israel stands as one of the greatest prophetic signs that the world is approaching the closing moments before the fulfillment of the remaining half of Daniel's Seventieth Week.
## The Purpose of the Final Week
The final half of Daniel's Seventieth Week is not primarily about the Gentile Church. It is about God finishing His dealings with Israel.
Daniel 9:24 already declared the purpose:
* to finish transgression * to make reconciliation * to bring everlasting righteousness
The tribulation period brings both judgment and restoration.
Through suffering and prophetic witness, a remnant of Israel comes to recognize Jesus Christ as Messiah.
Paul ultimately declares:
> "And so all Israel shall be saved." — Romans 11:26
Not every individual Jew, but the believing remnant who receive the Messiah.
## The Coming Kingdom
The Seventieth Week does not end in chaos. It ends with the coming of the King.
The same Jesus who was cut off in the middle of the week will return in power and glory.
Revelation 19 describes Him coming upon a white horse:
> "And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS."
The kingdoms of this world will not continue forever. Human systems, political powers, and false religious structures will all collapse before the appearing of Christ.
Daniel saw this long ago when he interpreted Nebuchadnezzar's dream.
A stone cut without hands struck the kingdoms of the world and became a mountain filling the whole earth.
That stone is Christ.
The Seventieth Week of Daniel therefore stands as one of the greatest prophetic revelations in Scripture. It reveals the precision of God's timetable, the fulfillment of prophecy through Christ, the future restoration of Israel, and the certainty that history is moving toward the visible return of Jesus Christ and the establishment of His Kingdom upon the earth.