The Seventieth and Final Week of Daniel’s “Seventy Weeks” Prophecy

As famed philosopher-catcher Yogi Berra once quipped, “when you come to a fork in the road, take it!” When we come to Daniel 9:27 and read of one who makes a strong covenant with the many for one week (the seventieth), we have come to such an interpretive fork in the road. Is Daniel speaking about a future antichrist making a seven-year peace treaty with Israel which marks the beginning of the tribulation? Or is Daniel instead speaking of the coming of the Messiah, who makes a strong covenant on behalf of those whom he is about to redeem at the climax of his messianic mission? The choice is fundamental as to how we understand this prophecy. Christ or the Antichrist?

The Context for Daniel’s Messianic Prophecy

In the previous expositions of Daniel 9, we have been working our way through a passage which includes the famous prophecy of the “seventy weeks” (vv. 24-27). As we noted throughout our time in this chapter, this is one of the most disputed and difficult prophecies in all the Old Testament. But everyone does agree that it is also one of the most important Old Testament prophecies. Although those influenced by dispensationalism see this prophecy as predicting a future seven-year tribulation period and a peace treaty between the Antichrist and Israel, the prophecy makes much better sense when seen as a messianic prophecy, predicting the coming of Jesus (Israel’s Messiah) with great accuracy and specificity–the so-called “messianic interpretation.”

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