Daniel 9:26 NASB
He was taken from prison and from judgement: and who shall declare his generation? For he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.
Isaiah 53:8 KJV
On what we now refer to as Palm Sunday, Jesus rode into Jerusalem, in fulfillment of Zechariah 9:9, on a donkey, to the shouts of Hosanna to the son of David, blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord (Matt 21:1-10). The crowds recognized Him as the Messiah. All of the miracles, the signs and wonders; His popularity had led them to wonder about Him. Now prophecy was being fulfilled before their eyes. Their king had come. They shouted "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord" in recognition of the arrival of Israel's Messiah. By sundown Friday He was dead, buried in a tomb. The same crowd that had just welcomed Him now cried out "Crucify Him."
Verse 26 mentions two things that happen after the completion of 483 years. The cutting off of the Messiah, and the destruction of the temple. The final week resumes with the confirming of a covenant by a "prince who is to come" (Daniel 9:27). So we see a gap in time here between the sixty-ninth week and the seventieth. Some theologians struggle with the idea of a gap and try to make the 70 weeks fit in one continuous sequence. There are many different theories out there, but none of them actually fit without placing a gap between week 69 and week 70. The text seems to agree with this as well.
Most people did not "see" the two comings of Jesus in the old testament prophecies. They were expecting their Messiah to come, deliver them from Roman occupation, and set up His kingdom. What we have here in Daniel's seventy weeks is the same thing. This prophecy points towards Christ's first coming, and then looks forward to His return to establish His kingdom at the end of the seventieth week, some time yet future.
So what about this gap? Why didn't Jesus restore the kingdom to Israel the first time He came ( Acts 1:6)? They weren't ready. Their hearts were far from God. The purpose statements must be fulfilled first.
1. Finish the transgression
2. Put an end to sin
3. Atone for wickedness
4. Bring in everlasting righteousness
5. Seal up vision and prophecy
6. Annoint the most holy place
These things obviously did not happen at Jesus' first coming. Israel as a nation was still turned away from God. They had a form of godliness without the reality. As I wrote in my first post in this series, the seventy weeks are meant to bring Israel as a nation back to God. When this occurs at Christ's second coming they will never turn away again.
You can read this post here.
For those who look carefully, the gap is foretold in old testament prophecy. We read this in Hosea,
4. For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim.
5. Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the LORD their God, and David their king; and shall fear the LORD and his goodness in the latter days.
Hosea 3:4-5 KJV
We have seen the fulfillment of this. In 70AD, just as Daniel predicted, the temple was destroyed, Jerusalem lay desolate, and the survivors of Israel were scattered throughout the world. Only in recent history have the Jews returned to the land as a nation. Yet, even now, they have no sacrifices, and no King ruling over them. They, as a nation, have yet to earnestly seek the LORD, and David their king (a term for the Messiah). This is what the final week will bring about.
Again we read,
I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offense, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early.
Hosea 5:15 KJV
This prophecy specifically refers to their rejection ofJesus. Almost two thousand years have passed since He uttered these words,
37. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!
38. Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.
39. For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord.
Matthew 37-39 KJV
This gap is what the apostle Paul refers to when he states,
25. For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part has happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in.
26. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:
27. For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.
Romans 11:25-27 KJV
Romans 11:1-36 deals with the issue of the breaking off of the natural branches (Israel) and the grafting in of the Gentiles. Some people call this time we live in as the church age. I'm ok with that if it is used with the understanding that the Church has not replaced Israel. Also, Israel and the Church are not two separate people of God with different callings and different destinations. God has one people. In His sovereignty He chose the nation of Israel through whom He brought salvation to the world. He made an irrevocable promise that they would never cease to be His people.
In Jeremiah 31:41-37 we read a passage that all of us who are Gentile believers hold dear to our hearts. It is the New Covenant. But do we realize that this covenant was promised to Israel first, and we have been grafted into this salvation? And if we keep reading from verses 35-37 we see that the LORD who has set the sun, moon and stars in the heavens as lights by day and night swears that only if these ordinances fail will Israel cease to be a nation before Him. Imagine the unsearchable heavens. We will never be able to search them out. For all of our science and technology, the depths of the earth are yet unknown to us. God says this,
If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith the LORD.
Jeremiah 31:37
7. For a small moment I have Forsaken thee; but with great mercies I will gather thee.
8. In a little wrath I his my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer.
9. For this is as the waters of Noah unto me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee.
10. For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the LORD that hath mercy on thee.
Isaiah 54:7-10 KJV
If God has cast off Israel and replaced them with the Church, then can we depend upon Him for our salvation? The above passages are plain. God, who cannot lie, has made some very serious promises here. To be sure, individuals who die in unbelief are lost. That is not in question. But the God who chose Israel, who swore by Himself to Abraham, must keep His word and bring the nation back into the bond of the covenant, or He is not faithful.
Because of unbelief they have been broken off, and the gospel has been opened up to the Gentiles. We are grafted into the promise of eternal life. We, who were once without Christ, aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel, strangers to the covenants of promise, without God, have now been brought near by the blood of Christ (Ephesians 2:11-13). As Paul puts it, we have been grafted into the root. The day is coming when God brings Israel, as a nation through the fire one last time. In their desperation they will look upon the one they have pierced (Zechariah 12:10), and be grafted back in again. This is the moment they say from the heart, "Blessed is He that comes in the name of the LORD!"
Next post, the final week of Daniel's prophecy.
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