Daniel 9:24

Gabriel was commissioned to reveal to Daniel the prophecy of the "seventy weeks"; the word week here indicating a period of seven, it may be of days, or as here it clearly is, of years. We have just seen Daniel stirred to confession and prayer by the discovery that the seventy years of the desolations had nearly run their course; he is now to learn that seventy years, multiplied by seven, were to pass before, according to the divine reckoning, full release and blessing would be reached.

First, notice that verse 24 gives you the whole period. "Seventy weeks are decreed" means that God chose to cut a certain portion out of the mass of time for one special purpose. But did the portions He cut out — the seventy weeks — all run in a row? Or was there a gap or break between them? That remains to be seen.

Daniel had been reading the books and praying about the seventy years of Babylonian captivity. Now Gabriel is going to show him something that will take place in "seventy sevens," which means seventy times seven years. Seventy sevens comes to 490 years.

So it is the Jews who are called, not "My people," but "your people" — Daniel's people. "Seventy weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city." Jerusalem is still called a holy city, true; but it is no longer God's own city. It is "your" — Daniel's — holy city. All this makes the aim of the seventy weeks plain. It is not Christianity or the Church that is in view, but Jerusalem — Daniel's holy city, and Daniel's people, the Jews.

All these expressions look forward to the full restoration of Daniel's people and city in blessing. The transgression will end — the transgression they were scattered for — now that Jerusalem has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins. God will pardon their iniquity (Isaiah 40:2). He will bring in everlasting righteousness, His own righteousness (Isaiah 51:4-8). Visions and prophecies will close for ever (see Zechariah 13). And the holy of holies will be set apart again, made holy to match the glory of Him who will dwell there once more (see Exodus 40:9).

For instance, "to finish the transgression" means, word for word, to restrain it. That phrase on its own might raise a small question. But he adds, "to put an end to sin" — word for word, to seal up sins — "and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness." These words make the sense plain… So we have both sides: with sins, to close them; with righteousness, to bring it in — and not only to bring it in, but to bring it in for ever. Righteousness is not only given but secured for ever.

I cannot find that any person in the Old Testament is called "holy of holies" (Daniel 9:24). Things are given that title. In Ezekiel 45:3 the sanctuary is called "holy of holies." So Ezekiel sets a precedent: Daniel is describing the sanctuary here. And since he prayed for the sanctuary (v. 17), the city and the people (vv. 18, 19), the angel's answer fits his prayer exactly.

In fact God has completed everything. He has sent the Messiah. He has presented Him to the people. The blood of the covenant has been shed, and propitiation made — the sacrifice that answers sin before God. But have these blessings taken effect for the Jews as a nation? The answer is that nothing has been done… We must not look at the satisfaction apart from its application. We must ask what it has done for the Jewish nation.

We do receive the blessing of the gospel now, while the Jews as a people are wrapped up in unbelief. We know that Christ suffered on the cross and has gone on high, so we do not wait until then for expiation… For them, everlasting righteousness will be brought in later, vision and prophet sealed up, and the holy of holies anointed. For us who walk by faith, not sight, God foresaw and gave "some better thing."