The Seventy Weeks of Daniel
By Dr. Harold A. Sevener
Christmas, like Hanukkah, should always remind us that Israel is "God's Time Clock" for the nations. When the angel Gabriel told Mary she would conceive the Messiah Yeshua, it was no coincidence! Centuries earlier God sent Gabriel to Daniel.
Daniel was told "Seventy Weeks" (Hebrew "sevens" or 490 years) was the time God had placed upon Jerusalem before the Messiah would come (Daniel 9:24-27). The 490 years measures three periods of time on God's "Time Clock." Jerusalem is the "event hand" moving prophetic history to fulfill God's Word.
When Gabriel appeared to Mary, Jerusalem was in the second period of the seventy sevens. The first period of seven sevens lasted 49 years from Nisan 445 B.C. to Nisan 396 B.C. (see Daniel 9:24; Ezra 7:11-26; Nehemiah 2:1-6).
The second period of sixty-two "sevens" (434 years) began after Jerusalem was rebuilt. This period spanned the years from 396 B.C. to Nisan 33 C.E. During this period of "sevens" Hanukkah occurred on the 25th of Kislev, 164 B.C. to prepare Jerusalem for the coming of the Messiah Yeshua, His death, and His resurrection. So exacting is God's Divine Time Clock, the Scriptures declared, "But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law" (Galatians 4:4).
The "fullness of the time" corresponds to the seventy weeks of Daniel, also fulfilling Isaiah's prophecy, "Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel" (Isaiah 7:14; see also 9:6). Like Daniel, Isaiah knew the Messiah who came in "the fullness of time" would be killed and resurrected (Isaiah 53).
The "fullness of time" continues under the terms of the New Covenant that Yeshua inaugurated at His last Passover (Luke 22:14-20). It was confirmed in His death and resurrection, and then sealed by the Holy Spirit who dwells in the lives of believers.
In God's grace, the New Covenant caused the "event hand" on God's Time Clock to pause. It will resume when a world ruler confirms a peace treaty with Israel that guarantees their total control over the city of Jerusalem. The treaty will be broken.The last seven-year period ends with the return of the Messiah Yeshua to rule and reign as the Prince of Peace.
Until He returns, Hanukkah and Christmas are the reminders on God's Time Clock that we need to share the glorious news of "Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, good will toward men" until our Lord Yeshua returns.
