Prophecy of the 70 weeks explained (Daniel 9)

Matthew’s Genealogy and the Significance of the Captivity

Matthew seems to see the captivity as sort of the hinge point for this genealogy that people were either before so many generations. Before or after. Look at verse 11. Josiah begot Jeconiah and his brothers about the time they were carried away to where Babylon.

And after they were brought to Babylon Jeconiah begot Shittael and Shittael begot Zerubbabel. And of course Zerubbabel is one of the main figures of the return from Babylon where they rebuild the city the wall and the second temple.

Look at verse 17. So all the generations from Abraham to David are how many. 14 from David until the captivity in Babylon are 14 and from the captivity in Babylon until the Christ are 14 generations. So the Babylonian captivity Matthew seems to think that this is a kind of a big deal.

Right. And it was it was a big deal. So this is how he lays it out. David was the great king. So 14 generations from Abraham to David. David was kind of the original God's anointed he's that picture of Christ and he was literally anointed with oil by Samuel if you remember.

So 14 generations from Abraham to David. Then from David to the captivity was 14 generations. And all that time one of David's descendants was on the throne. Right. But when Babylon came in and destroyed Jerusalem in the temple then what did did David have a king on the throne.

There really wasn't a nation. They were in exile. So that kind of messes messes things up a little bit for a lack of a better turn. Let's turn to Daniel chapter 9. This is going a little longer than I thought.

But hey we're already committed so so from the captivity to Christ is 14 generations. So while they were in captivity things if I can put it this way things were kind of put on hold. And speaking of being put on hold Daniel 9 this is the prophecy of 70 weeks Daniel is writing.

From where. Yeah. Because Daniel is one of those two prophets that wrote while in Babylon. And what Daniel does he actually gives the prophecy. He's given a prophecy that gives you a timeline of exactly when the Messiah would come.

So the Jews in Jesus day theoretically they could have known exactly when Jesus would show up and present himself now. Did they know. No they're most of them were totally blind to it. And just like today there's plenty of things the scripture tells us that most people are oblivious to.

But if you study the scripture there's more answers in here than most people think. All right. Yeah. Well all the answers God has given are in there. Yes. So Matthew is recording the genealogy and then the birth of Jesus.

They could have known. They could have known when all. Right. So if you thought the thing with Luke 3 was confusing this might be even more confusing. So I hopefully you won't go home with a headache.

But if you've heard this before if you hear it several times you kind of get it after a while. So if you've heard this before you should be okay. Daniel 9 verse 24 70 weeks are determined for your people and for your holy city to finish the transgression to make an end of sins.

Because Judah the children of Israel I mean they have gotten into massive amounts of wickedness and God judged them for it to make a reconciliation for iniquity to bring in everlasting righteousness and to seal up vision and prophecy into anoint who the most holy.

The Seventy Weeks and the Coming of Messiah

Okay. So this is this is a reference to Christ. Nearly every commentator that I know agrees that these 70 weeks are what there are 70 weeks of years. So 70 times 7. If these are years it's 490 years until everlasting righteousness is brought in.

Well wasn't this longer than 490 years ago. And everlasting righteousness has not been brought in. So what gives. Okay you following me so far. Okay look at verse 25. Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the command to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there shall be seven weeks and 62 weeks and the street shall be built again and the wall even in troublesome time.

So what's the book of the Bible that talks about the rebuilding of the wall is Nehemiah. Right. Okay so Daniel is in Babylon given this prophecy 490 years. From the time the decree goes out to rebuild everlasting righteousness will be ushered in.

Okay so this is where we have to put our thinking cap on in order to figure this out you have to figure out the date the decree went out. There's this is a bigger issue. We don't have time to get into it.

There's a few different dates people propose. But if you get the right date and it's 7 plus 62 so that's not 490. It falls short by 7 years. This is 69. 62 plus 7 is 69 not 70. So 490 minus 7 is what 483 years.

Right. Okay so from the time the decree went out fast forward 483 years. If you do the math which we did in Sunday school one time years ago some of you remember it. It brings you to the very day Palm Sunday when Jesus rode in to Jerusalem on a donkey.

So the Jews could have known the exact time when the Messiah would present himself. You just got to do the math 483 years. But wait a minute. What about this last seven. What about the everlasting righteousness.

Well I remember it said a pause button was pressed. Look at verse 26. And after the 62 weeks that's the 7 plus 62. After the 483 years Messiah shall be what cut off. So he wrote into Jerusalem Palm Sunday he was dead.

By the end of the week Messiah shall be cut off. And then it goes on to talk about what we believe talks about the Antichrist in the tribulation which that's the explanation for the last seven years. So if you ever wondered where does the idea of a seven-year tribulation come from.

Well there's still seven years and God's prophetic timeline. But it was all stopped short when they crucified their King. Remember when Jesus and John go back to Matthew 1. If you're not there but you remember when Jesus began his ministry what did he start.

What did he start with. What was he preaching. Repent for the kingdom of heaven or the kingdom of God is at hand. That's what John the Baptist was preaching. Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand. The kingdom was at hand because the king was present.

So Jesus what he did. He was born as the king. Matthew's establishing this with the genealogy. He's born as the king. But when he presents himself as the king the nation rejects him. The kingdom was offered.

They say no they kill him. And everything comes to a screeching halt. But there's seven years left. So things have been you know put on hold. The pause button has been pressed and now we're just waiting for the seven years.

And when that picks up nobody knows. Nobody knows we believe. That happens at the end of the church age at the rapture.