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| Let's pray together, before beginning this lesson: |
| O Lord, The first long prophetic period that we will study is the seventy weeks, which You presented to Your prophet Daniel. Please guide us during this lesson, so that our understanding of this valuable prophecy may be appropriate, and that our confidence in Your Word may be strengthened. In Jesus Christ our Savior we pray. Amen. |
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Lesson 49 |
Screen 2 |
The 70 Weeks |
Daniel 9:1 |
Comments |
| In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the lineage of the Medes, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans (...). | The prophecy of the seventy weeks is found in chapter
9 of the book of Daniel. Before starting on the content of this prophecy, let's look at its historical context. The events described in chapter 9 took place in 538 B.C., shortly after the conquest of the kingdom of the Chaldeans (Babylon) by the Medes and the Persians. |
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Lesson 49 |
Screen 3 |
The 70 Weeks |
Daniel 9:1-3 |
Comments |
| In the first year of Darius
(...), in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of
the years specified by the word of the Lord, given through Jeremiah the prophet, that He
would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem. Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications. |
Studying Jeremiah's prophecy, Daniel saw that his
people would be slaves in Babylon for 70 years. These 70 years were now over, and Babylon had fallen, but the reconstruction of Jerusalem was still delayed. |
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Lesson 49 |
Screen 4 |
The 70 Weeks |
Daniel 9:4,5,18 |
Comments |
| And I prayed to the Lord my God,
and made confession, and said, «O Lord, great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and mercy with those who love Him, and with those who keep His commandments, we have sinned and committed iniquity, we have done wickedly and rebelled, even by departing from Your precepts and Your judgments. (...) O my God, incline Your ear and hear; open Your eyes and see our desolations, and the city which is called by Your name.» |
Daniel thought that the delay in beginning the
reconstruction of Jerusalem was caused by the wickedness of his people. So he prayed to obtain God's forgiveness. |
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Lesson 49 |
Screen 5 |
The 70 Weeks |
Daniel 9:20,21 |
Comments |
| Now while I was speaking, praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God for the holy mountain of my God, yes, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, reached me. | While Daniel was praying, Gabriel appeared. Thirteen years before, this angel of God had given him the vision of the 2300 days, which will be the subject of our next lesson, but this vision still remained unexplained. |
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Lesson 49 |
Screen 6 |
The 70 Weeks |
Daniel 9:22,23 |
Comments |
| And [Gabriel] said, «O Daniel, I have now come forth to give you skill to understand. At the beginning of your supplications the command went out, and I have come to tell you, for you are greatly beloved. Therefore consider the matter, and understand the vision.» |
The angel said he had come to explain the vision. But
which vision? The prophet Daniel had received no vision since the beginning of chapter 9, so we must conclude that the explanation referred to his last vision, that is, the 2300 days, which will be the subject of our next lesson. |
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Lesson 49 |
Screen 7 |
The 70 Weeks |
Daniel 9:24 |
Comments |
| «Seventy weeks are determined for your people and for your holy city.» | The Hebrew word «chathak», translated here by «determined», means literally «cut off». Thus Gabriel informed Daniel that a period of 70 weeks had been cut off for the people of Israel. Now, this period of 70 weeks (or 70 x 7 = 490 days) could only be cut off from a longer period, that is, the 2300 days. In this lesson, we will look specifically at this period of 70 weeks. |
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Lesson 49 |
Screen 8 |
The 70 Weeks |
Daniel 9:25 |
Comments |
| «Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem (...).» | The starting point of the prophetic period of 70 weeks
is «the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem». When was the command given to restore and build Jerusalem? |
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Lesson 49 |
Screen 9 |
The 70 Weeks |
Ezra 7:8,11,13,20 |
Comments |
| In the seventh year of the king,
(...) this is the copy of the letter that King Artaxerxes gave Ezra the priest, the scribe
(...): «I issue a decree that all those of the people of Israel and the priests and Levites in my realm, who volunteer to go up to Jerusalem, may go with you. (...) And whatever more may be needed for the house of your God, which you may have occasion to provide, pay for it from the king's treasury.» |
In the seventh year of his reign, Artaxerxes, the king
of Persia, issued the decree ordering the restoration of Jerusalem. It was in 457 B.C. |
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Lesson 49 |
Screen 10 |
The 70 Weeks |
Daniel 9:25 |
Comments |
| From the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, there shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks. | The prophecy tells us that there are 69 weeks (7 + 62
= 69) between the decree ordering the restoration of Jerusalem and the coming of the
Messiah. Let's try to understand what a period of 69 weeks means in Bible prophecy. |
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Lesson 49 |
Screen 11 |
The 70 Weeks |
Numbers 14:34 |
Comments |
| The number of the days in which you spied out the land, forty days, for each day you shall bear your guilt one year, namely forty years. | First, let's remember the principle of equivalence «1 day = 1 year», recognized and applied by most Bible prophecy students. |
Ezekiel 4:5,6 |
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| For I have laid on you the years
of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, (...) you shall bear the iniquity
of the house of Judah forty days. I have laid on you a day for each year. |
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Lesson 49 |
Screen 12 |
The 70 Weeks |
| So, we can place the following prophetic milestones: |
| «From the going | ° Starting point
of the 70 weeks prophecy: forth of the | Artaxerxes' decree. command to re- | Year: 457 B.C. store and build | Jerusalem un- | ° 7 weeks later, that is, 49 years (7 x 7 = 49 years): til Messiah the | Restoration of Jerusalem is completed. Prince, there | Year: 408 B.C. (-457 + 49 = -408) shall be seven | weeks and six- | ° 62 weeks later, that is, 434 years (62x7=434 years): ty-two weeks.» | The coming of Messiah the Prince (Daniel 9:25) | Year: A.D. 27 (-408 + 434 = 27) |
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Lesson 49 |
Screen 13 |
The 70 Weeks |
| Let's note the following point: |
| Some may point out that -408 + 434 = 26, not 27. But we must note that
there is no year 0 (zero). To illustrate this, let's look at the following example: ================================= You might think that between Year |-4 |-3 |-2 |-1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | -4 and 4, there are 8 years. ================================= But year 0 does not exist, Length |-1-|-2-|-3-|-4-|-5-|-6-|-7-| so there are only 7 years. So to the addition (-408 + 434 = 26), we must add a year since there is no year 0 (26 + 1 = 27). For the example above, we get: -4 + 7 = 3, and then 3 + 1 = 4. |
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Lesson 49 |
Screen 14 |
The 70 Weeks |
Daniel 9:25 |
Comments |
| From the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, there shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks. | Knowing that the first 69 weeks (7 + 62), or 483 years (49 + 434), lead to A.D. 27, we must find out what happened that year concerning «Messiah the Prince». |
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Lesson 49 |
Screen 15 |
The 70 Weeks |
John 4:25,26 |
Comments |
| The woman said to [Jesus], «I
know that Messiah is coming» (who is called Christ). «When He comes, He will tell us all
things.» Jesus said to her, «I who speak to you am He.» |
The word «Messiah»
comes from Hebrew «mashiach» (in Greek, «christos»), which means «the anointed one». The New Testament declares that Jesus is «the Messiah», «the Christ», «the anointed One». |
Acts 10:38 |
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| God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. |
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Lesson 49 |
Screen 16 |
The 70 Weeks |
Luke 3:21,23 |
Comments |
| When all the people were
baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also was baptized. (...) [He] began His ministry at about thirty years of age. |
Jesus was baptized at the age of 30. Then, why does prophecy tell us that this event would take place in A.D. 27? When the Christian Era was first calculated, an error of four years was made. It is obvious that Christ was not born in A.D. 1, since at His birth Herod the Great was still alive, and Herod died in 4 B.C. Therefore Jesus was born in 4 B.C., and baptized in A.D. 27, at the age of 30 (that is, since there is no year zero: -4 + 30 + 1= 27). |
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Lesson 49 |
Screen 17 |
The 70 Weeks |
Mark 1:9,14,15 |
Comments |
| It came to pass in those days
that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized by John in the Jordan. (...) Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, «The time is fulfilled.» |
Jesus was well acquainted with Bible prophecy, and
knew that the year of His baptism (autumn of the year 27) represented an important date. This is why He declared that the time was fulfilled, in accordance with His Father's calendar, which we studied in our previous lesson. |
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Lesson 49 |
Screen 18 |
The 70 Weeks |
Daniel 9:26,27 |
Comments |
| And after the sixty-two weeks
Messiah shall be cut off. (...) Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week; but in the middle of the week he shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. |
Now let's look at the seventieth week. Prophecy tells us that in the middle of this last week, «Messiah shall be cut off», bringing «an end to sacrifice and offering». The middle of the week means 3½ years (7 years ÷ 2). By adding these 3½ years to autumn 27, we get spring 31. What happened in the spring of A.D. 31? |
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Lesson 49 |
Screen 19 |
The 70 Weeks |
Daniel 9:27 |
Comments |
| Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week. | The «covenant with many», which Christ had to confirm, is the covenant He sealed with His own blood by His death on the cross, for the salvation of all those who would accept His sacrifice for the remission of their sins. |
Matthew 26:27,28 |
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| Then [Jesus] took the cup, and
gave thanks, and gave it to [the disciples], saying, «Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.» |
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Lesson 49 |
Screen 20 |
The 70 Weeks |
Daniel 9:26,27 |
Comments |
| And after the sixty-two weeks
Messiah shall be cut off. (...) In the middle of the week he shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. |
Exactly at the predicted time, in the
middle of the seventieth prophetic week, in the spring of 31, Jesus, the Messiah, died on
the cross, thus bringing to an end the temple's sacrificial system. This is why the veil of the temple was torn in two. |
Matthew 27:50,51 |
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| Jesus, when He had cried out
again with a loud voice, yielded up His spirit. And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. |
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Lesson 49 |
Screen 21 |
The 70 Weeks |
Daniel 9:24 |
Comments |
| Seventy weeks are determined for your people and for your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy. | After Jesus' death and resurrection, «making an end of sins and bringing in everlasting righteousness»,
half a week (3½ years) was still remaining before the end of the 490 years of probation
set aside exclusively for the people of Israel, who now had to accept Jesus as the
Messiah. Did they accept Him? |
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Lesson 49 |
Screen 22 |
The 70 Weeks |
Luke 24:46,47 |
Comments |
| Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. | During the 3½ years following the ascension of Jesus to heaven, the apostles, by preaching and working miracles, invited the people of Israel to accept Jesus as the Messiah. |
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Lesson 49 |
Screen 23 |
The 70 Weeks |
Acts 7:56-58 |
Comments |
| [Stephen] said, «Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!» Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord; and they cast him out of the city and stoned him. |
Unfortunately, the Jewish nation rejected the
apostles' call. The end of the 70 weeks (490 years) was marked, in autumn of the year 34, by the stoning of Stephen, approved by the religious leaders of Israel. Stephen was the first Christian martyr killed by the hand of the Jewish nation itself. |
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Lesson 49 |
Screen 24 |
The 70 Weeks |
Acts 13:45,46 |
Comments |
| But when the Jews saw the
multitudes, they were filled with envy; and contradicting and blaspheming, they opposed
the things spoken by Paul. Then Paul and Barnabas grew bold and said, «It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first; but since you reject it, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles.» |
With the stoning of Stephen in A.D 34, the Jewish nation conclusively rejected the gospel, putting an end to their 490 years of probation. |
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Lesson 49 |
Screen 25 |
The 70 Weeks |
Daniel 9:26,27 |
Comments |
| The people of the prince who is
to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. (...) And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, even until the consummation, which is determined, is poured out on the desolate. |
The prophecy of Daniel 9 ends tragically, with the
announcement of the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple. Again the prediction was rigorously accurate: in A.D. 70, the Roman army, led by Titus, destroyed the city of Jerusalem, and entirely demolished its temple. |
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Lesson 49 |
Screen 26 |
The 70 Weeks |
Matthew 23:37,38 |
Comments |
| O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one
who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! See! Your house is left to you desolate. |
In addition, Jesus had foretold, less than forty years before, that the rejection of the gospel by the Jewish nation would bring about the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple. |
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Lesson 49 |
Screen 27 |
The 70 Weeks |
| An interesting observation: the literary organization of Daniel 9:25-27 |
| The first part of each of the three verses speaks about the works of
the Messiah, and the second part speaks about the fate of Jerusalem. See: Verse 25, Part 1: Seven weeks and sixty-two weeks until the Messiah. Part 2: How Jerusalem will be rebuilt. Verse 26, Part 1: The Messiah shall be cut off. Part 2: Jerusalem and the sanctuary will be destroyed. Verse 27, Part 1: The covenant and the sacrifice of the Messiah. Part 2: The abomination of desolation in Jerusalem. |
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Lesson 49 |
Screen 28 |
The 70 Weeks |
Daniel 9:22,23 |
Comments |
| And [Gabriel] said, «O Daniel, I have now come forth to give you skill to understand. At the beginning of your supplications the command went out, and I have come to tell you, for you are greatly beloved; therefore consider the matter, and understand the vision.» |
As we have seen, the period of 70 weeks aimed, among
other things, to explain the vision Daniel had received before, that is, the 2300 days. Since these two visions are closely linked, and since we now understand the prophecy of the 70 weeks, we will be able to start on the 2300 days in the next lesson. |
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Lesson 49 |
Screen 29 |
The 70 Weeks |
| Summary of the 70 weeks prophecy: |
| +--- «70 weeks are determined
for your people.» (DANIEL 9:24) ---+ | | Decree Restoration Baptism Crucifixion Stoning of king of of of of Artaxerxes Jerusalem Jesus Jesus Stephen |----------------|-----------------|--------------|--------------| Autumn Autumn Autumn Spring Autumn 457 B.C. 408 B.C. A.D. 27 A.D. 31 A.D. 34 |---- 7 weeks ---|---- 62 weeks ---|--- ½ week ---|--- ½ week ---| |--- 49 years ---|--- 434 years ---|-- 3½ years --|-- 3½ years --| | | +------------ 70 prophetic weeks, that is, 490 years ------------+ |
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Lesson 49 |
Screen 30 |
The 70 Weeks |
| Let's thank God for His help: |
| Father, The prophecy of the 70 weeks didn't aim only at satisfying the curiosity of its students. Its main goal was to announce the coming of the Messiah, our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ. We want to take this moment to renew our covenant with Your Son and our commitment to Him, by the precious blood He shed on the cross for each one of us. Please continue to guide us, as we start on the prophecy of the 2300 days. In Jesus Christ we pray. Amen. |
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The 70 Weeks