THE BOOK OF DANIEL
A Sermon Series by Pastor Rod Meyers
BEYOND THE SERMON
Message Five — God’s Timepiece (Daniel 9)
1. How to Use This Guide
Daniel 9 holds one of the most-debated and most load-bearing prophecies in the entire Bible. This guide goes past Sunday's message into the math, the history, and the theology of the seventy sevens. All Scripture is quoted from the New International Version (NIV) unless otherwise noted.
2. The Sermon in Brief
Reading Jeremiah's scroll, Daniel realizes the seventy years of exile Jeremiah promised (Jeremiah 25:11-12; 29:10) are nearly complete — and rather than simply waiting it out, he responds with one of Scripture's great prayers: fasting, sackcloth, and an extended confession of Israel's sin on behalf of the whole nation (9:3-19), pleading for God's mercy purely “not because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy” (9:18).
While he is still praying, Gabriel arrives with an answer that reaches far beyond Daniel's question. The seventy years of exile become “seventy sevens” — 490 years — decreed for Daniel's people and holy city to finish transgression, atone for wickedness, and bring in everlasting righteousness (9:24). The timeline breaks into three segments: seven sevens and sixty-two sevens (69 sevens, 483 years) from a decree to rebuild Jerusalem until “the Anointed One” is “cut off,” and then a future final seven (the seventieth) in which “the ruler who will come” confirms a covenant for one seven and breaks it at the midpoint, setting up an abomination that causes desolation.
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“Seventy ‘sevens’ are decreed for your people and your holy city.” — Daniel 9:24 |
3. Word Studies
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seventy sevens shivim shavuim (Hebrew, שִׁבְעִים שָׁבֻעִים) lit. “seventy weeks [of years]” The Hebrew shavua (“seven”) is the same word used for a seven-day week, but the context — replacing Jeremiah's seventy years — makes clear these are units of seven years each: 490 years total, decreed specifically “for your people and your holy city” (9:24), i.e., Israel and Jerusalem. |
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Anointed One mashiach (Hebrew, מָשִׁיחַ) “messiah” This is the Old Testament's most technical, specific use of the term — pointing to a particular figure who will appear at a calculable point in the timeline and then be “cut off and will have nothing” (9:26), language of premature, unjust death rather than a natural end. |
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cut off yikkaret (Hebrew, יִכ ָּרֵת) removed, excised The same verb family used for covenant violators being “cut off from the people” in the Torah — here applied to the Messiah himself, who dies bearing the penalty rather than incurring it for his own sin. The phrase “will have nothing” underlines that, at his death, he possesses none of the kingdom promised him. |
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the ruler who will come nagid ha-ba (Hebrew, נָגִיד הַבָּא) a distinct future prince Not the Messiah, but “the people of the ruler who will come” who “destroy the city and the sanctuary” (9:26) — widely understood as the Roman armies under Titus in AD 70, whose ruler (this coming prince) is then read as the same end-times figure who confirms and breaks the covenant of the seventieth seven. |
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he will confirm a covenant higbir berit (Hebrew, יַגְבִּיר בְּרִית) “he will make a firm covenant” The final seven-year period turns on this act — a covenant made and then broken “in the middle of the seven” (9:27), when sacrifice and offering are again halted and “on a wing of the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation,” directly echoing Daniel 8:13 and anticipated by Jesus in Matthew 24:15. |
4. Historical Background — Counting the Sevens
The starting point for the sixty-nine sevens is a decree to “restore and rebuild Jerusalem” (9:25). Several royal decrees in the biblical record are candidates, but the most commonly cited by dispensational interpreters is Artaxerxes' commission to Nehemiah in 445 BC (Nehemiah 2:1-8), which specifically authorizes rebuilding the city itself, not just the temple.
In the late 1800s, British scholar Sir Robert Anderson, in his book The Coming Prince, attempted to calculate this timeline using 360-day “prophetic years” (a calendar convention found elsewhere in apocalyptic literature) and arrived at a total remarkably close to the traditional date of Christ's Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem. Anderson's calculation has been enormously influential in dispensational teaching, though it isn't without critics — some scholars propose different starting decrees (Ezra 7:11-26, or Cyrus's original decree in 538 BC) or dispute the 360-day convention, which shifts the ending date. The underlying claim the sermon rests on — that a specific, countable span of years connects a Persian-era decree to the appearance and death of the Messiah — doesn't depend on any one calculation being exact to the day.
5. The Seventy Sevens Timeline
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Segment |
Length |
Marks |
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7 sevens |
49 years |
Rebuilding of Jerusalem's walls and streets, “in times of trouble” (9:25) — the Ezra-Nehemiah era |
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62 sevens |
434 years |
From the end of the rebuilding period to the appearance/death of “the Anointed One” |
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— the gap — |
undetermined |
Between the 69th and 70th seven: the church age, not numbered in Daniel's timeline |
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1 seven (the 70th) |
7 years |
The future ruler's covenant, broken at the 3½-year midpoint by the abomination of desolation |
The “gap” between the 69th and 70th sevens is one of the more debated features of this reading — Daniel's text moves directly from the Messiah's being “cut off” (end of the 69th seven) to the future ruler's covenant (the 70th seven) with no explicit interval mentioned. Dispensational premillennial teaching identifies that silent gap as the current church age, tying the 70th seven directly to the future seven-year tribulation described in Revelation 11-13.
6. Reflection Questions
Daniel didn't just wait passively for the exile to end — he prayed urgently and confessed sin he personally hadn't committed, on behalf of his whole nation (9:3-19). What would it look like for you to intercede that way for your own community?
Daniel's prayer rests entirely on God's mercy, not Israel's record (9:18). Where do you find yourself quietly appealing to your own record instead of God's mercy?
Gabriel's answer came “as soon as you began to pray” (9:23), even though the answer wouldn't fully unfold for centuries. What does that teach you about the relationship between prayer and timing?
The seventy sevens cover an enormous span most of history has already lived through. What does it do for your faith to know God works on a scale of centuries, not just your own lifetime?
7. Further Study
Passages that widen the picture beyond Daniel 9, for study on your own this week:
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Passage |
Connection |
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The original seventy-year exile prophecy Daniel is reading when he prays |
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The decree of Artaxerxes commonly identified as the starting point of the sixty-nine sevens |
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Jesus cites Daniel's “abomination that causes desolation” as a still-future sign |
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Paul's description of the future “man of lawlessness” matches the ruler of the 70th seven |
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The 1,260-day / 42-month periods that match half of the seven-year 70th seven |
