As mentioned in the previous post we will now turn our attention toward the three couplets that contain the six items that must take place before the end of the 490 years. We discovered last time that the passage is Messianic, but that it’s focus surrounds the relationship with God and the Jews and their holy city Jerusalem.
Dan 9:24 ” 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
The first of the three couplets that contain the historical relationship of sin and repentance shown in the relationship between God and His Covenant people, Israel. This couplet also contains the promise of that type of back and forth relationship coming to an end.
One very quick side note…did you notice that no where is there any mention of the end of the world, apocalytic, horrific tribulation that’s supposed to rain down on the entire world?
Thought so! And remember the time constraints (490 years) limit these events to that which would take place during the first advent of Christ.
FINISH THE TRANSGRESSION
The most likely and best way to understand this prophecy is to understand the historical relationship the Jews had with God throughout time. the constant falling away and repentance. The shunning and persecution of those that he sent to them. As mentioned several post ago this should remind the reader of the story of the vineyard where after sending several people to warn the workers of the land, the owner sent Hi son stating that they surely would not kill His son. Which they did. This would be the ultimate and final transgression. Jesus makes this clear!
Matthew 21:37 But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son.
And as a result of this greatest of transgressions the relationship is severed and the vineyard is given to others who will work the land and bring the crop in it’s season. This leads Jesus to later comment referring to this horrific act and reminding the Jewish leaders of their history…
Matt 23:35 so that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth…36 Truly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.
This would truly be the last and final transgression.
The second half of this couplet is a bit more difficult and may mean one of two possible things but does have relation with the first half of the couplet
MAKE AN END OF SIN
The first option is this has to do with the finished work of Christ on the cross and in doing so, put away sin. This is possible, but the next couplet seems to deal more with those issues than this first one.
The other possibility, and the way to which I lean personally (but not a hill I’m willing to die on) is this is more about “holding up” the sin against the Jews for their actions. It would be like announcing the judging before delivering the sentence. The guilt of the Jews was made knows, but God will “hold up” and “make an end” to their sin through an act of judgment.
Where the first point addresses the fact that an act will be perpetrated that will be the greatest of all acts of rebellion, the second addresses how all of the sins of the forefathers and they themselves would be held up against them. This final proclamation would be found in jesus’ final words to the Jewish leaders in His day…
Matthew 23:38 See, your house is left to you desolate.
While the promised action of the first half of the couplet is stated, the second pronounces that judgment…
Matthew 21:43 Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits
Either way, these things clearly found fulfillment in the first century and during the first advent of Christ.
Dan 9:24 ” 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
RECONCILIATION FOR INIQUITY
This may be the easiest of any of the six items to understand and it also is the most obvious one to have been accomplished during the first advent of Christ. Despite the actions of the first couplet God still fulfills His word in His covenant with Jews and with all mankind through the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross.
1 John 4:10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins
BRING IN EVERLASTING RIGHTEOUSNESS
It is at this point in the class I teach that I will almost always state that anyone who really reads the book of Hebrews could never end up a Dispensationalist. That book alone shows the end of the first covenant and the rise of the new covenant in such a way that no one should be able to miss it. The greater over shadows the weaker in that book. The eternal sacrifice does away with the shadow in the Old Covenant sacrifices. It should not escape anyone who reads it!
But alas it does!
The work of Christ atoning (first part of this couplet) does something the old covenant sacrifices could never do…bring in everlasting righteousness. One is not just saved for a moment through the work of Christ, but saved for all eternity! Jesus dies once and for so that there is no longer a sacrifice for sin. That is why the continuation of sacrifices was such a symbol of the ultimate rejection of the finished work of Christ.
Hebrews 10:3 But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sin every year. [4]For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins…
The Old Covenant had sacrifices that were to remind us of our sin for they were never to take sin away like the sacrifice of Christ did.
12 But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God
One sacrifice…an everlasting sacrifice. He no longer is to be sacrificed. This is so much stated that He now resides “sitting” at the right hand of the father.
Hebrews 10:17 Then he adds: “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.” 18 And where these have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin.
This work was EVERLASTING!
The call of the Dispensationalist to return to the sacrificial system for the Jews is such an insult to the work of Christ. There need be no new temple, nor a return to the blood of bulls and goats that, according to the author of Hebrews, accomplished nothing!
Dan 9:24 ” 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
SEAL UP VISION AND PROPHECY
This I believe is best understood in how Christ “sealed up” or fulfilled the works of vision of prophecy. It can never be overstated that the entirety of the Bible is about Christ! It is not about the Jews, they are not central character. Jesus Christ is what it is all about!
Luke 18:31 Jesus took the Twelve aside and told them, “We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled.
Not only does Christ seal up or fulfill the prophecies about the Son of Man, but later even announces that the totality of the Scriptures was regarding Him.
Luke 24:27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.
From Moses to the Prophets…
ANOINT THE MOST HOLY
Here is one area in these couplets where the translation becomes an issue. About half of the translations lead one to believe this is in regards to a place (city or Temple) while the other half appear to be in regards to a person (Jesus Christ). Though the former does not matter in terms of timing since the city and the Temple were built well before the first advent of Christ, the latter seems more plausible since this entire prophecy is Messianic in nature and the lone character ever introduced is Messiah the Prince.
This fact leads me to argue for the idea this is best translated Holy One. Again, this is not a hill I would be willing to die on as either one clearly fits within the time frame of the 490 years. But Scripturally speaking I believe we can find more of an argument for this being Christ as we do not find a common practice of anointing buildings as we do people…especially the Herodian Temple which would be in question.
Also, since the couplets do work together as is the rule of language in their usage, it makes much more sense to see this being fulfilled in the life and work of Christ. His anointing may be reference to His beginning ministry at His baptism or may even be a picture of His being seated at the right hand of the father and being anointed ruler over all through His victory over sin and death.
Most likely this is a reference to the former as the below passages indicate. The first taking place at His baptism.
Mark 1:15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
Luke 4:17-21 The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: 18 ”The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor… 21 and he began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
Whatever the case or argument may be the most important thing to remember is that these six promises all find their fulfillment in the first advent of Christ. They are not postponed to some future time. The initial declaration of time of 490 rings true in that these events and actions find their fulfillment without need of pushing them off into a future time beyond an artificial gap.
Next we will deal with the central figure of this passage and look at the historical data for the timing of this passages fulfillment.
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