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Daniel 9:24-27 The Seventy Weeks 70 weeks = 490 years

Messiah is born
1/2 1/2

BC 457BC 7 weeks = 49 years 408 BC

AD

week

week

62 weeks = 434 years

31 AD 27AD 34 AD 1 week = 7 years

Importance of the prophecy: To the prophet Daniel it was revealed, hundreds of years
before it happened, the baptism of Christ in the year 27 A.D. and His death in the year 31 A.D. It is one of the most amazing prophecies from the Bible, fulfilled with mathematical accuracy.

Dates in the prophecy:

457 B.C. - the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem, issued by the Persian king Artaxerxes 408 B.C. - Jerusalem is completely rebuilt 27 A.D. - Jesus Christ is baptised and begins His public ministry 31 A.D. - Jesus Christ is crucified, His ministry ending in the middle of the last prophetic week, meaning after 3 years and a half (3+1/2) 34 A.D. - the martyrdom of Stephen sealed the rejection of the Gospel by the Jewish nation, ending the 490 years especially allotted to the Jews Daniel 9:24 speaks about a period of 70 weeks until the coming of Messiah. In Ezekiel 4:6 and Numbers 14:34 we have similar examples of applying the principle one day for one year in the context of the prophecy. So the prophecy we have in Daniel 9 speaks not about seventy (70) literal weeks, which is 490 days, but about 490 years. Daniel 9:25 says that the seventy weeks were declared (by the angel sent to Daniel) to date from the going forth of the decree to restore and build Jerusalem. In Ezra 7:12-26 we find out that this decree, in its completest form was issued by Artaxerxes, king of Persia. This happened in the year 457 B.C. In this verse also we see that until Messiah begins His work it was a period of 7 weeks+62 weeks=483 days (483 years) King Artaxerxes commanded the rebuilding of Jerusalem in 457 B.C. Forty nine years later (7 x 7 = 49) in 408 B.C. it was completely rebuilt. Daniel 9:26 The coming of the Romans, under the leading of Titus, is predicted here. They destroyed the Temple (the sanctuary) and the city of Jerusalem. The verse mentions also the death of the Messiah but only in the next verse we see this moment exactly predicted: in the midst of the last week Daniel 9:27 There were seven years when the Gospel was preached mainly to the Jews: three years and a half (3+1/2) by Jesus himself, through His public ministry, and another three years and a half when the disciples of Jesus preached the Gospel mainly to the Jews. Messiah was cut off in the midst of the week: the Lamb of God was sacrificed for the sins of the world (1 John 2:2), making the sacrifice and the oblation to cease (all sacrifices brought in the Jewish Temple became meaningless after that moment). In 34 A.D. Stephen, because of his preaching, was stoned to death by the Jews, sealing this way their rejection of the Gospel. This episode is described in the Bible in the book of Acts, chapter 8. Immediately after this, in the same book of Acts, chapter 9, we see the conversion of Saul of Tarsus (later called Paul) and his call to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles (non Jews).
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