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Devotional by Dave Chaves.

Image: The gospel writers Matthew, Mark, and Luke all present Jesus as fulfilling Daniel’s prophecies, and John’s Revelation is filled with references to Daniel. Early Christians like Julius Africanus, Tertullian, Hippolytus, and Eusebius each saw the 70 weeks prophecies as providing a prediction of the coming of Christ and His passion.

Set during 70 years of Jewish captivity, the book of Daniel presents visions of God’s rule and redemptive plan for those in exile. The year is 538 BC (9:1), and Daniel, the prophet and former prime minister of Babylon, wears sackcloth and ashes. He cries out to God in prayer, fasting, and confession, asking God to look with mercy on His people and upon the city of Jerusalem which lies in ruins (9:18). As Daniel laments and calls upon God to act, the angel Gabriel appears in a vision. Daniel is told that the very moment he began praying a command was given to rebuild Jerusalem; and its timeline will be linked to the coming of a ruler—the Anointed One.

Daniel’s vision tells us when the Messiah will come, that He will suffer rejection, death and apparent failure, and that the destruction of a rebuilt city of Jerusalem and of the Temple will follow. The initial rebuilding of Jerusalem is the starting point for this prophetic clock. Daniel’s prophecies are multi-layered and include both typological and predictive fulfilments. Early pre-Christian commentators of the Maccabean literature saw precursors in the desecration of the Temple by Nebuchadnezzar and Antiochus IV. They also anticipated a later messianic fulfillment with the restoration of Davidic kingship, the end of sin, and the establishment of righteousness—God’s eternal kingdom which will smash all human kingdoms (2:44). Dating from the command to rebuild Jerusalem by Artexerxes in 445 BC (Nehemiah 2:1–8), the rebuilding of Jerusalem takes the first seven sevens (49 years) followed by another 62 sevens (434 years). Using the Hebrew lunar calendar, biblical scholars argue this puts the Messiah’s coming, rejection, and death in the years 30–33 AD.

When charged under oath by the High Priest to declare if He is the Messiah, Jesus responds by quoting Daniel. He identifies Himself as the “Son of Man” who will come on the clouds of heaven to establish God’s everlasting kingdom and receive worship from all peoples (Daniel 7:13–14). This is the claim that leads to Jesus’ crucifixion (Matthew 26:62-66).