Restored!

When we read Old Testament prophecies regarding the Messiah, the most common message is of an Anointed One (Priest or King) who will restore Jerusalem to glory, and will have an everlasting kingdom of peace. 

Reflect on the prophecies found in Daniel 7:13-14, 9:20-27.

Let’s interpret this message together:

While I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel and making my request to the Lord my God for his holy hill

Daniel was in exile. He had been taken from Jerusalem (God’s “holy hill”) when Judah was conquered by the Babylonians. He had studied prophecy himself and he was praying and claiming the promise given to Jeremiah:

¹⁰ This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. ¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. ¹² Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. ¹³ You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. ¹⁴ I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.” Jeremiah 29:10-14 NIV

 “Seventy ‘sevens’ are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the Most Holy Place.

The Angel Gabriel came to Daniel to give further explanation of what was to come in the future. As historians count the “seventy sevens” or 490 years we come to the time of Jesus’ ministry.

²⁵ “Know and understand this: From the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens.’ It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble. ²⁶ After the sixty-two ‘sevens,’ the Anointed One will be put to death and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed. 

More specifically, the sixty-two sevens are the period of time from the rebuilding of the temple to the coming of the Messiah. But also, the time he will be put to death. A second destruction of the temple is predicted and then war.

Reflect

How are these prophecies similar to the prophecies Jesus gave in Matthew 24?

Is Israel still at war?

Has the everlasting kingdom been established? Why or Why not? (add your answers to the comments).

Could the “war” referred to in these prophecies be a spiritual war?