We worked through the end of chapter 9 which deals with the 70 weeks for which Daniel is prophetically famous. It is an interesting chapter with a lot of mystery surrounding the exact meaning of the text. By the time Jerome was creating commentaries around 400 AD there were already 9 different understandings about what Daniel was pointing to with his 70 weeks. There are however several things in the text which clearly point to the person and work of Jesus. These are the things which we focused on as being really relevant for our study. There are 6 things listed as being fulfilled in the 70 weeks vision.
• To finish the transgression
• To put an end to sin
• To atone for iniquity
• To bring in everlasting righteousness
• To seal both vision and prophet
• To anoint a most holy place
Jesus is the only clear answer to the fulfillment of all these things. He brought an end to transgression and sin for many. He atoned for their iniquity. He brought in the dawn of everlasting righteousness. He is the culmination of the prophets and their visions. Through His death He established a new way to enter into God’s presence through the work He did on the cross. These things clearly find their fulfillment in Jesus. This is also clearly the most important thing about this chapter. If God had wanted us to be unified in our understanding of the 70 weeks He would have given us a clear interpretation like He did in the previous chapter by telling us the ram was the kings of Media and Persia and the goat was the future king of Greece. But God did not do that and because of the various understandings we should be careful about being dogmatic where we don’t have a solid foundation for doing so. Jesus fulfills the 6 items listed and that should be enough for us to be looking at the work Jesus has done and how that changes everything for us.