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Gabriel Comforts Daniel by the Prophecy of the Seventy Weeks
v. 20. And whiles I was speaking and praying and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel and presenting my supplication before the Lord, my God, piling up his petitions in seeking the mercy of God, for the holy mountain of my God, in the interest of, the Lord's Sanctuary and the true worship;
v. 21. yea, whiles I was speaking in prayer, making the concluding remarks of his prayer, even the man Gabriel, one of the angel-princes, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, 8:15-16, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation, rather, "the man Gabriel, whom I had formerly in a vision seen while in a state of great exhaustion,. . came to me about the time of the evening oblation," about three o'clock in the afternoon, for this was one of the hours of prayer observed by the Jews.
v. 22. And he informed me and talked with me and said, O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding, a skilful and correct insight into the problem perplexing him and an assurance for the future.
v. 23. At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth, namely, the decree, or oracle, which is presently stated, and I am come to show thee, to make it known, for thou art greatly beloved, this being the reason why the Lord was so ready to make known to him the solution of the problem of the seventy weeks; therefore understand the matter and consider the vision, observing the oracle as now to be set forth and explained.
v. 24. Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy Holy City, the capital which was so dear to the heart of Daniel, the determination of the time being purposely indefinite, to finish the transgression and to make an end, of sins, to restrain the rebellion and to seal up the sins, so that they would no longer find expression, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, to effect an expiation for guilt, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, the result of the expiation of sin, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, rather, "and the prophet," for there would be no further need of prophets when the chief and greatest prophecies would be fulfilled, and to anoint the Most Holy, the new, spiritual Temple spoken of by Ezekiel being meant, the establishment of the Church of the New Testament on earth, and especially its consummation in heaven, at the end of time.
v. 25. Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem, from the time that the decree of Cyrus concerning the rebuilding of Jerusalem went forth, Ezr_1:1; Isa_44:28, unto the Messiah, the Anointed One, the Prince, shall be seven weeks, that is, until the coming of Christ, the Savior, and threescore and two weeks, during which the great spiritual Temple of the Lord would be constructed. The street shall be built again and the wall, even in troublous times, while the Church of Christ would still properly be a Church Militant.
v. 26. And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, namely, at the time of the great denial, one of the signs preceding the end of the world, but not for Himself, literally, "and not is to Him anyone," that is, for the time being there seems to be no helper; and the people of the prince that shall come, a mighty opponent, Antichrist, shall destroy the city and the Sanctuary, so that everything, apparently, would be lost before his attack; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, so that the attacking prince himself would perish in the end, by a divine judgment, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined, or, "until the end there will be warfare," until the end of this world.
v. 27. And he, the hostile prince, shall confirm the covenant with many for one week, so that the great mass of people would be forced to accept this covenant, to acknowledge him as being in the place of God; and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, so that there would be a serious interference with the true worship of God, and for the over-spreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, literally, "on wings of abominations he comes destroying," namely, with his idolatrous customs, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate, literally, "until the perfected and fully determined" extirpation and judicial punishment, "shall be poured out upon the desolator," God Himself bringing destruction upon him. The prophecy thus sets forth the vicissitudes of the Church of God, which would be relieved by the coming of the promised Messiah. But even after His coming the congregation of saints would be in fact a Church Militant, the great Roman Antichrist making the first attack upon the Lord's forces and being supported in the last days of the world by other antichristian elements following his leadership, until the Lord will definitely and finally bring destruction upon him and them at the time of the Great Judgment.