The seventy weeks were revealed to Daniel in the following words: “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.” (Daniel 9:24)
First, we need to understand that, although most of our English translations say seventy weeks, the Hebrew word translated weeks was shabuwa’, H7620 in Strong’s. This word was used in the Old Testament for both a period of seven days and a period of seven years. Only the context could show whether days of years was meant. And in this case, the context clearly shows that the meaning could not even possibly been days. So it is not simply interpretation to take seventy weeks as meaning 490 years. This is a fully legitimate meaning of the Hebrew words used here.
Daniel 9:25 was told: Know therefore and understand, That 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 street shall be built again, and the wall, Even in troublesome times.
Here we have sixty-nine
weeks, or 483 years, from the going forth of the command until Messiah the
Prince. Some claim that there is historical evidence that the triumphal entry
occurred exactly 483 years, to the day, after the signing of this order; we
cannot be certain as to the accuracy of this claim. But history indeed confirms
that it occurred at approximately that time.
But now the Divinely inspired account contains a break. We read: And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall
be cut off, but not for Himself; And the people of the prince who is to come shall
destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall be with a flood, And until
the end of the war, desolations are determined. Daniel
9:26
Two things were to happen after the sixty-two week second part of this account.
And we know that both of them indeed happened exactly as explicitly stated.
“Messiah” would “be cut off,” and “the people of the prince who is to come shall
destroy the city and the sanctuary.” Messiah was indeed cut off, and the city
and the sanctuary were indeed destroyed, in 70 – 135 AD.
From history we absolutely know that “the city and the sanctuary” were not destroyed in the same week (seven year period) that our Lord was crucified.
Note; that both of these events are presented before the last week is even mentioned. So here we see an absolutely undeniable break in the scriptural account of the seventy weeks.
The last week is treated differently. It does not even say that this is the
seventieth week. The only reason we know that it is the seventieth week is
because all the rest of the weeks have already passed. So this week has to be
the seventieth one.
We read: 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. And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate,
Even until the consummation, which is determined, Iis poured out on the
desolate. Daniel
9:27
Now many imagine that this verse speaks of the cross. They want to interpret
the word “for” in this verse as “in,” and claim that this was speaking of Jesus
confirming God’s covenant with us “in” the seventieth week, and claim that
Jesus was crucified at the middle of the seventieth week. But even if history
were wrong by so many years, this interpretation does violence to the structure
of the prophecy. For the last week is not even mentioned until after the two
events that were to take place after the sixty-ninth week.
But an end time covenant that will not be fulfilled is clearly mentioned in
other Old Testament prophecies. One of these is Isaiah
28:14-18, where we
read: Therefore hear the word of the LORD, you scornful men, who rule this
people who are in Jerusalem, Because you have said: ‘We have made a covenant with death, And with Sheol we are in agreement.
When the overflowing scourge passes through, It will not come to us, For we
have made lies our refuge, And under falsehood we have hidden ourselves.’
Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: “Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a
foundation, A tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; Whoever
believes will not act hastily. Also I will make justice the measuring line, And
righteousness the plummet; The hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, And the
waters will overflow the hiding place. Your covenant with death will be
annulled, And your agreement with Sheol will not stand; When the overflowing
scourge passes through, Then you will be trampled down by it.
Again, in Isaiah
57:7-9 we read: On a lofty and high mountain You have set your
bed; even there you went up to offer sacrifice. Also behind the doors and their
posts You have set up your remembrance; For you have uncovered yourself to
those other than Me, And have gone up to them; You have enlarged your bed and
made a covenant with them; You have loved their bed, Where you saw their
nudity. You went to the king with ointment, and increased your perfumes; You
sent your messengers far off, and even descended to Sheol.”
So we see that the scriptures indeed clearly foretell a future covenant that
God will not allow to be fulfilled. And Daniel
9:27 is only one of
several places where this covenant is mentioned.
Ref; James Morris Christian Forums n��k
The Prophetic Word 