Daniel, page 7

                         CHAPTER NINE

     Daniel understood, with the fall of Babylon and the rule of
Darius, the seventy years of captivity as foretold by Jeremiah was
coming to a close (verse 1, 2). Thus, Daniel prays, acknowledging the
sins and guilt of God's people. The people had violated the covenant
of God and they had suffered the curse pronounced by Moses (Deut. 29;
Lev. 26).

     Six statement in verse 24 point to Christ, the Messiah:

        (1) "to finish (restrain) transgression"
        (2) "to make an end of sins"
        (3) "to make reconciliation for iniquity" -- Only Christ
                could do this.
        (4) "everlasting righteousness"  (2 Cor. 5:21).
        (5) "to seal up the prophecy" -- No more prophets to appear,
                Christ finished the work of God, salvation offered to
                mankind.
        (6) "anoint the most holy" -- Dwelling place of God, Heb. 12:
                19-22.

        THUS, it seems clear that the 70 weeks had to do with the
            coming of Christ and the end of the Jewish age.

(vs 27) "even unto the full end, and that determined, shall wrath be
            poured out upon the desolate." The subject is "thy people
            .....and the holy city: (verse 24), hence, a full end
            upon these two. This agrees with Matt. 23:38, where
            Christ said, "Behold, your house is left unto you
            desolate." In Matt. 24:15, Jesus, in discussing the
            destruction of Jerusalem, refers to the prophecy of
            Daniel, and the abomination of desolation.
               There is little doubt that Daniel is writing about the
            destruction of Jerusalem, the same even which our Lord is
            predicting in Matthew 24.

(vs 24) "Seventy weeks" -- There have been many guesses as to the
            meaning of this time element in this verse. The number
            "70" appears often in Divine Writ. The sacred number
            "seven" (7) when multiplied by the complete number "ten"
            (10) gave the very sacred number "seventy" (70).
               The fact that Jesus applied this passage to the
            destruction of Jerusalem makes it clear that this period
            of time involves the period from the destruction of
            Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar and the return under
            Zerubbabel, until the coming of the Messiah, His death,
            and the end of the Jewish sacrifices and covenant --- THE
            END OF THE JEWISH ECONOMY in the destruction of Jerusalem
            at the hand of the Romans.

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