Daniel 9: His Prophecy of Christ's Kingdom Is Fulfilled
Daniel's life was a pattern of what would occur to Israel in the future, especially in the Last Days. He was taken captive in Babylon, He longed for the restoration of Israel as a free people and as God's people. He discovered Jeremiah's prophecy that Israel's captivity in Babylon would last 70 years (Jeremiah 25:12). He knew that period was nearly over and prayed that God would bring about the restoration of His people as promised.
As a result, Gabriel came to him and confirmed that Israel would be freed at the appointed time of 70 years. But he showed this time period also had meaning for Israel's future. That future would come in two parts. (1) Christ would come and offer a greater freedom! Freedom from the bondage of sin and death. But because many in Israel would refuse Him they would again go into captivity until the Last Days. (2) Then God would restore His Kingdom among them.
Gabriel showed that the time of these future events would occur on multiples of Israel's first 70 year captivity (Daniel 9:24-27).
The Time of Christ's First Coming
Israel's deliverance from Babylon at seventy years was a pattern for future times. To begin with, Seventy, multipled by seven, would be the time of Israel's greater deliverance from the bondage of sin by Jesus the Christ.
Gabriel prophesied Christ would come in "seventy-weeks." That figure actually meant seventy times seven years, or 490 years. Gabriel showed this time would lead to Christ's atoning works: "to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness.... and to anoint the most Holy" (Daniel 9:24).
Many Christian scholars have shown how Gabriel's prophecies were in fact fulfilled by Christ's coming. Sir Isaac Newton was the most respected among them. He had a remarkable knowledge of the scriptures, and was a genius in mathematics. He wrote:
"Now the dispersed Jews became a people and city when they first returned into a polity or body politick: and this was in the seventh year of Artaxerxes Longimus, when Ezra returned with a body of Jews from captivity, and revived the Jewish worship; and by the King's commission created Magistrates in all the land, to judge and govern the people according to the laws of God and the King, Ezra vii. 25.... Now the years of Artaxerxes began about two or three months after the summer solstice, and his seventh year fell in with the third year of the eightieth Olympiad; and the latter part thereof, wherein Ezra went up to Jerusalem, was in the year of the Julian Period 4257. Count the time from thence to the death of Christ,... It [is] just 490 years. (emphasis added) (1)
After Gabriel revealed the time of Christ's first coming, he also revealed events following Christ's life, such as the destruction of Jerusalem, its temple, and the scattering of the rest of Israel --- its ultimate desolation (Daniel 9:26-7).
Gabriel gives in several visions a coded formula for how long this final desolation of Israel will last (Daniel 7:19-25; 8:10-14; 12:7,11). Later, John gives the same formula for the same reality --- the time when the Gentiles, who will eventually fall into apostasy too, will possess Israel's spiritual inheritance (see Revelation 11:2; 13:5). So both Gabriel and John reveal the precise time when Israel's Kingdom will finally be restored.
The Time of the Restoration of God's Kingdom in the Last Days
Such prophecies about the restoration have caused amazingly intense study and a great diversity of opinion as to their exact meaning, because they are in coded form. Nevertheless, centuries of study have produced some agreement on three main points. When all three points are taken together, they actually show when Israel's Restoration, like Christ's first coming, would begin.
And Israel's Restoration began exactly when it had been prophesied!
When the codes Gabriel used are understood, the explanation of how Gabriel's prophecy foretold the precise time of the Restoration is simple. (Although, there are many details, clarification, and verification which is much more complex, but highly supportive.)
The simple explanation.
1. Many scholars through the centuries agree Gabriel's prophecy of the seventy-weeks which led to Christ's first coming would also lead in some way to the Last Days and the Messiah's Coming Kingdom (Daniel 9:24). So we begin again with the figure of 490 years.
2. Many scholars through the centuries also agree that Gabriel and John gave another set of time codes signifying Israel's last time of bondage. These codes all equal 3 1/2. One of the chief forms of this code is "time, times, and half a time." This is now understood by most scholars as simply a formula for a basic time period (time), a doubling of the period (times); and one-half the period) or half-a-time, which equals 3 1/2. The New English Bible uses this understanding as did Sir Isaac Newton. Other time periods these scriptures give can all be shown to equal 3 1/2.
Most scholars make a major mistake in not relating the two sets of time periods given by Daniel and John, using one or the other. But a few have felt that the "seventy-week" period is to be multiplied by 3 1/2 --- and that will bring in the Messiah's Last Days Kingdom.
So we now have 490 years multiplied by 3 1/2.
3. Very recent research, however, caused by findings in the Dead Sea Scrolls, which shed great light on the writings of Daniel, show that a missing part of the puzzle is Jubilee. Jubilee was a 50th year Holy Observance the Lord commanded Israel to observe after each 49 year period. (2)
What the Lord said about Jubilee shows it had significance for the return of Israel from captivity:
"And thou shalt number seven... times seven years;... [until] forty and nine years. Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubilee to sound... And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof; it shall be a Jubilee unto you, and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family" (Leviticus 25:1-4, 8-10; emphasis added).
So we see that Jubilee was a time for Israel to receive and celebrate Liberty, and "Restoration." It signified a time when Israel's inheritance would be restored. They were to be reconnected to their lost family. This means persons once "lost" from their Israelite roots, would be restored again!
This new informatioin shows Daniel's seventy-week period in regard to the Restoring of the Kingdom should not be considered without its Jubilee years*. That is, a jubilee year should be added for every 49 years in the 490 year pattern.
When the above three points, each supported by a significant number of scholars, are all brought together, they do indeed lead to the beginning of Israel's Restoration.
For when the ten corresponding Jubilee years are added to the 490 years, the actual figure would be 500 years. If 500 years are multiplied by the 3 1/2 formula given by Daniel and John, the toal is 1,750 years (500 x 3 1/2 = 1,750).
Israel's final captivity began in 70 A.D. This date is well known, for it is when the Roman armies captured Jerusalem, destroyed the city and the temple, and began exporting its residents to other parts of the world. Thus began that final Israelite bondage spoken of by both Daniel and John. In the distant future, Israel would be re-gathered, according to the time periods they both gave.
70 A.D.
+1750 years
=1820 A.D. 1820 A.D. was the year God the Father and His son, Jesus the Christ appeared to Joseph Smith, the Latter-day prophet, in a Sacred Grove and thus began to restore Israel and His Latter-day Kingdom among them.
The Significance of the Number Seventy
A final point we should make is why the the Lord based these prophecies and His works upon the number seventy (70).
The number seventy is consistently used in the scriptures to symbolize the Gentile nations or all the nations of the world. Both the Jews themselves and Early Christians understood this. "Seventy" was also used to represent the Gentile nations in "Jubilees" a Hebrew writing not contained in the Bible.
In John's "Revelation" the beast of unrighteous dominion, called Babylon, has seven heads with ten horns bearing a crown, signifying the government of all the earth's kingdoms, and obviously bearing significance for the number "seventy."
"Seventies" were called by Christ, and in the Latter-days to take the word of the Lord to all of the nations of the world.
From all these references we see the figure "seventy," and its multiples, represent the Gentile kingdoms, the time of the power of the Gentile Kingdoms, or the dominion and time of all those kingdoms which are not "God's Kingdom." They would have dominion for a time, but after their time, Christ would eventually re-establish His Kingdom.
Why God Multiplied 70
"Seventy -weeks [of years] are determined upon thy people and upon they holy city, to finish the transgression..." The Lord uses each time period to teach Israel the need for obedience. For it was their disobedience which resulted in their captivity among the Gentilies. Seventy years was assigned to this time due to its symbolism for the Gentile nations. But after seventy years Israel was to be restored as a people. Their past transgressions were forgiven and new hope offered. Israel was released form exile in Babylon after seventy years.
That time period was then multipled to seventy sevens of years, or 490 years. This would be the time when Christ would come and offer them freedom from spiritual bondage.
Because Israel rejected Christ, they followed their northern sister Kingdom into bondage, and all Israel was in bondage for a higher multiple of seventy years.
Why the multiplication? Likely, as in our own laws, the degree of consequence for disobedience was multipled with each time of transgression.
Nebuchadnezzar's Dream is a Final Key
Many scholars have understood Daniel's 70 x 7 pattern is to extend to the End of Times, their efforts to make it reach have failed. They have mostly failed for the following reason:
A great error arises from believing the time formula leads directly to Christ's Second Coming. Such efforts failed to connect Nebuchadnezzar's Dream and its prophecies that God's Kingdom would begin with the pre-establishment of a physical church and kingdom, over which Christ would take rule when He comes. (Thus the propecy of the kingdom beginning "small" and "without hands)."
This and other of Gabriel's prophecies repeatedly show the four kingdoms which would conquer and rule over Israel are Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome. It is after this last kingdom, during the time of ten new nations which arise out of it, (the time when all the modern nations has arisen), that the kingdom of God would be finally set up --- but only as a small stone, without hands. It would slowly roll forward, gathering into that Kingdom descendants of Israel and any who would covenant with Christ.
This would be the kingdom over which the returning Christ will take control at His coming.
The Time of the beginning of this Restoration of Israel and of Christ's new Kingdom among them was clearly revealed by the prophets to begin in 1820. And it did!
(1) S.J. Barnett, ed., Isaac Newton's Observations Upon the Prophecies of Daniel and the Apocalypse of John (Lewiston, NY: The Edwin Mellen Press, 1999 Reprint), p. 173.
(2) These findings about Jubilee is discussed most particularly in Devorah Dimant, "The Seventy Week Chronology (Daniel 9:24-27) in the Light of New Qumranic Texts," in A.S. Van Der Woude, ed., The Book of Daniel in the Light of New Findings (Leuven, Belgium: Leuven University Press, 1993).
As a result, Gabriel came to him and confirmed that Israel would be freed at the appointed time of 70 years. But he showed this time period also had meaning for Israel's future. That future would come in two parts. (1) Christ would come and offer a greater freedom! Freedom from the bondage of sin and death. But because many in Israel would refuse Him they would again go into captivity until the Last Days. (2) Then God would restore His Kingdom among them.
Gabriel showed that the time of these future events would occur on multiples of Israel's first 70 year captivity (Daniel 9:24-27).
The Time of Christ's First Coming
Israel's deliverance from Babylon at seventy years was a pattern for future times. To begin with, Seventy, multipled by seven, would be the time of Israel's greater deliverance from the bondage of sin by Jesus the Christ.
Gabriel prophesied Christ would come in "seventy-weeks." That figure actually meant seventy times seven years, or 490 years. Gabriel showed this time would lead to Christ's atoning works: "to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness.... and to anoint the most Holy" (Daniel 9:24).
Many Christian scholars have shown how Gabriel's prophecies were in fact fulfilled by Christ's coming. Sir Isaac Newton was the most respected among them. He had a remarkable knowledge of the scriptures, and was a genius in mathematics. He wrote:
"Now the dispersed Jews became a people and city when they first returned into a polity or body politick: and this was in the seventh year of Artaxerxes Longimus, when Ezra returned with a body of Jews from captivity, and revived the Jewish worship; and by the King's commission created Magistrates in all the land, to judge and govern the people according to the laws of God and the King, Ezra vii. 25.... Now the years of Artaxerxes began about two or three months after the summer solstice, and his seventh year fell in with the third year of the eightieth Olympiad; and the latter part thereof, wherein Ezra went up to Jerusalem, was in the year of the Julian Period 4257. Count the time from thence to the death of Christ,... It [is] just 490 years. (emphasis added) (1)
After Gabriel revealed the time of Christ's first coming, he also revealed events following Christ's life, such as the destruction of Jerusalem, its temple, and the scattering of the rest of Israel --- its ultimate desolation (Daniel 9:26-7).
Gabriel gives in several visions a coded formula for how long this final desolation of Israel will last (Daniel 7:19-25; 8:10-14; 12:7,11). Later, John gives the same formula for the same reality --- the time when the Gentiles, who will eventually fall into apostasy too, will possess Israel's spiritual inheritance (see Revelation 11:2; 13:5). So both Gabriel and John reveal the precise time when Israel's Kingdom will finally be restored.
The Time of the Restoration of God's Kingdom in the Last Days
Such prophecies about the restoration have caused amazingly intense study and a great diversity of opinion as to their exact meaning, because they are in coded form. Nevertheless, centuries of study have produced some agreement on three main points. When all three points are taken together, they actually show when Israel's Restoration, like Christ's first coming, would begin.
And Israel's Restoration began exactly when it had been prophesied!
When the codes Gabriel used are understood, the explanation of how Gabriel's prophecy foretold the precise time of the Restoration is simple. (Although, there are many details, clarification, and verification which is much more complex, but highly supportive.)
The simple explanation.
1. Many scholars through the centuries agree Gabriel's prophecy of the seventy-weeks which led to Christ's first coming would also lead in some way to the Last Days and the Messiah's Coming Kingdom (Daniel 9:24). So we begin again with the figure of 490 years.
2. Many scholars through the centuries also agree that Gabriel and John gave another set of time codes signifying Israel's last time of bondage. These codes all equal 3 1/2. One of the chief forms of this code is "time, times, and half a time." This is now understood by most scholars as simply a formula for a basic time period (time), a doubling of the period (times); and one-half the period) or half-a-time, which equals 3 1/2. The New English Bible uses this understanding as did Sir Isaac Newton. Other time periods these scriptures give can all be shown to equal 3 1/2.
Most scholars make a major mistake in not relating the two sets of time periods given by Daniel and John, using one or the other. But a few have felt that the "seventy-week" period is to be multiplied by 3 1/2 --- and that will bring in the Messiah's Last Days Kingdom.
So we now have 490 years multiplied by 3 1/2.
3. Very recent research, however, caused by findings in the Dead Sea Scrolls, which shed great light on the writings of Daniel, show that a missing part of the puzzle is Jubilee. Jubilee was a 50th year Holy Observance the Lord commanded Israel to observe after each 49 year period. (2)
What the Lord said about Jubilee shows it had significance for the return of Israel from captivity:
"And thou shalt number seven... times seven years;... [until] forty and nine years. Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubilee to sound... And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof; it shall be a Jubilee unto you, and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family" (Leviticus 25:1-4, 8-10; emphasis added).
So we see that Jubilee was a time for Israel to receive and celebrate Liberty, and "Restoration." It signified a time when Israel's inheritance would be restored. They were to be reconnected to their lost family. This means persons once "lost" from their Israelite roots, would be restored again!
This new informatioin shows Daniel's seventy-week period in regard to the Restoring of the Kingdom should not be considered without its Jubilee years*. That is, a jubilee year should be added for every 49 years in the 490 year pattern.
When the above three points, each supported by a significant number of scholars, are all brought together, they do indeed lead to the beginning of Israel's Restoration.
For when the ten corresponding Jubilee years are added to the 490 years, the actual figure would be 500 years. If 500 years are multiplied by the 3 1/2 formula given by Daniel and John, the toal is 1,750 years (500 x 3 1/2 = 1,750).
Israel's final captivity began in 70 A.D. This date is well known, for it is when the Roman armies captured Jerusalem, destroyed the city and the temple, and began exporting its residents to other parts of the world. Thus began that final Israelite bondage spoken of by both Daniel and John. In the distant future, Israel would be re-gathered, according to the time periods they both gave.
70 A.D.
+1750 years
=1820 A.D. 1820 A.D. was the year God the Father and His son, Jesus the Christ appeared to Joseph Smith, the Latter-day prophet, in a Sacred Grove and thus began to restore Israel and His Latter-day Kingdom among them.
The Significance of the Number Seventy
A final point we should make is why the the Lord based these prophecies and His works upon the number seventy (70).
The number seventy is consistently used in the scriptures to symbolize the Gentile nations or all the nations of the world. Both the Jews themselves and Early Christians understood this. "Seventy" was also used to represent the Gentile nations in "Jubilees" a Hebrew writing not contained in the Bible.
In John's "Revelation" the beast of unrighteous dominion, called Babylon, has seven heads with ten horns bearing a crown, signifying the government of all the earth's kingdoms, and obviously bearing significance for the number "seventy."
"Seventies" were called by Christ, and in the Latter-days to take the word of the Lord to all of the nations of the world.
From all these references we see the figure "seventy," and its multiples, represent the Gentile kingdoms, the time of the power of the Gentile Kingdoms, or the dominion and time of all those kingdoms which are not "God's Kingdom." They would have dominion for a time, but after their time, Christ would eventually re-establish His Kingdom.
Why God Multiplied 70
"Seventy -weeks [of years] are determined upon thy people and upon they holy city, to finish the transgression..." The Lord uses each time period to teach Israel the need for obedience. For it was their disobedience which resulted in their captivity among the Gentilies. Seventy years was assigned to this time due to its symbolism for the Gentile nations. But after seventy years Israel was to be restored as a people. Their past transgressions were forgiven and new hope offered. Israel was released form exile in Babylon after seventy years.
That time period was then multipled to seventy sevens of years, or 490 years. This would be the time when Christ would come and offer them freedom from spiritual bondage.
Because Israel rejected Christ, they followed their northern sister Kingdom into bondage, and all Israel was in bondage for a higher multiple of seventy years.
Why the multiplication? Likely, as in our own laws, the degree of consequence for disobedience was multipled with each time of transgression.
Nebuchadnezzar's Dream is a Final Key
Many scholars have understood Daniel's 70 x 7 pattern is to extend to the End of Times, their efforts to make it reach have failed. They have mostly failed for the following reason:
A great error arises from believing the time formula leads directly to Christ's Second Coming. Such efforts failed to connect Nebuchadnezzar's Dream and its prophecies that God's Kingdom would begin with the pre-establishment of a physical church and kingdom, over which Christ would take rule when He comes. (Thus the propecy of the kingdom beginning "small" and "without hands)."
This and other of Gabriel's prophecies repeatedly show the four kingdoms which would conquer and rule over Israel are Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome. It is after this last kingdom, during the time of ten new nations which arise out of it, (the time when all the modern nations has arisen), that the kingdom of God would be finally set up --- but only as a small stone, without hands. It would slowly roll forward, gathering into that Kingdom descendants of Israel and any who would covenant with Christ.
This would be the kingdom over which the returning Christ will take control at His coming.
The Time of the beginning of this Restoration of Israel and of Christ's new Kingdom among them was clearly revealed by the prophets to begin in 1820. And it did!
(1) S.J. Barnett, ed., Isaac Newton's Observations Upon the Prophecies of Daniel and the Apocalypse of John (Lewiston, NY: The Edwin Mellen Press, 1999 Reprint), p. 173.
(2) These findings about Jubilee is discussed most particularly in Devorah Dimant, "The Seventy Week Chronology (Daniel 9:24-27) in the Light of New Qumranic Texts," in A.S. Van Der Woude, ed., The Book of Daniel in the Light of New Findings (Leuven, Belgium: Leuven University Press, 1993).