I strongly believe you cannot understand Revelation without an understanding of Daniel 9 and Matthew 24. Therefore, we need to study Daniel chapter 9, we will be covering in detail the last three verses, 24-27, focusing particularly on verse 27.

(v1) In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of Median descent, who was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans,

(v2) in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel observed in the books the number of the years which was revealed as the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet for the completion of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years.

(v3) So I gave my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.

(v4) And I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed and said, "Alas, O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments,

What was it that Daniel was concerned about...what was he praying for? He is confessing the sins of Israel. What had he been doing? He had been studying the Word. In particular, he had been reading the prophet Jeremiah. He discovered that God had said He would desolate Jerusalem for 70 years, then He would rebuild Jerusalem. Daniel understood that and also knew that God is truthful. Daniel then realized the 70 years were almost up and that it was time to start praying. So he prayed, "God you promised, now fulfill the promise."

(v20) Now while 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 in behalf of the holy mountain of my God,

(21) while I was still speaking in prayer, then the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision previously, came to me in my extreme weariness about the time of the evening offering.

(v22) And he gave me instruction and talked with me, and said, "O Daniel, I have now come forth to give you insight with understanding."

Notice that God does not give Daniel a vision he can not understand. He sends the angel Gabriel to give Daniel insight and understanding, to make him know what God was going to do. God doesn't give us mysteries. When people are totally committed to God and pray "God give me understanding of your word.", He is faithful to do that.

Gabriel says...

(v23) At the beginning of your supplications the command was issued, and I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed; so give heed to the message and gain understanding of the vision.

(v24) Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy of Holies.

Here begins the part where people have so much trouble. The Hebrews did not have a word for weeks, their word is literally, "seven." What Gabriel said to Daniel is seventy sevens have been decreed. Theologians have tried to figure out what Gabriel meant by this. Most believe he is speaking of a time period of 70 weeks of years. However, if you say 70 weeks, it becomes difficult to pin down the dates involved. But, Gabriel says seventy sevens to do several things; 6 or 7 things depending on how you break them up.

When we look at the things mentioned, it is obvious to most people that Gabriel is talking about Jesus Christ. He is the One who came to finish rebellion, to seal up sin, to make atonement for iniquities, to make an everlasting righteousness, the One who came to seal up vision and prophecy. "To seal up" as it is used here does not mean in the sense of closing off, but to fulfill. Gabriel is saying the Old Testament prophecies were about Jesus and they were going to be fulfilled in Him.

Jesus was constantly teaching the Pharisees the truth of Scripture. Remember, they were Bible scholars who could quote large portions of the Old Testament scriptures from memory. For example, a story is told of a Rabbi who went to a small synagogue which did not have a scroll of the book of Esther from which he was going to speak, so he sat down and wrote the whole book from memory. Jesus said to these Pharisees, "You search the scriptures to learn of eternal life, but they testify of Me." Remember that all they had was the Old Testament, not the New Testament, and Jesus is saying that everything in the Old Testament testifies of him. So when you read the Old Testament, ask yourself, "What does this tell me about Jesus?"

When Bible translators translate "to anoint the most holy place", the italicized word indicates that word is not in the original language. The word has been inserted by the translators to make the wording flow more smoothly. The original at this point is literally, "to anoint the holy of Holies…" That was the name of the inner sanctum of the temple of God. The temple and the tabernacle used by Israel in the wilderness were both built the same way.

Around the tabernacle there was a curtain which had a gate that always faced east. When you entered the tabernacle area, the first object you encountered was the bronze altar of sacrifice. There had to be a sacrifice before you could proceed to a closer communion with God.

Behind the altar of sacrifice was the laver or basin, the baptismal font. The priests were required to cleanse themselves before proceeding toward God. In the center was the actual tabernacle, which had two compartments. The outer compartment, the Holy Place was entered from the east through a curtain. Inside the Holy Place were several articles of furniture. The first, on the right side, (North) was a golden table. This was the Table of the Presence. On the table were 12 loaves of unleavened bread, (one for each of the tribes of Israel) and wine. Every week the priests would eat the bread and drink the wine, then they would put out new loaves. One needed sacrifice, baptism, and communion to get into the house of God. On the other side of the room was a golden lampstand "to show the way." There was also an incense altar that was always burning. (We will learn from Revelation that the smoke of the incense or golden altar represents the prayers of the saints and are always before God.)

There was another curtain that separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies. Behind that curtain, in the Holy of Holies, was the Ark of the Covenant, which was completely covered in gold. The top of the Ark was covered by the "Mercy Seat" and above it were the outstretched wings of the cherubim. Between the wings of the cherubim dwelled God Himself.

Gabriel tells Daniel that seventy sevens have been decreed for these things and to anoint the most holy place. I believe Daniel and everyone living then understood this symbolism. They understood that the Holy of Holies represented the Messiah, Jesus Himself. Messiah in Hebrew means the same as Christos in Greek, the words both mean anointed. Christ is the anointed one, the Coming One, promised by the prophets.

(v25) So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of distress.

The decree Gabriel speaks of took place in Ezra, Chapter 1:1-3, in the first year of King Cyrus. He issued a decree that all the Jews who wanted to could go back to Jerusalem and that all of his people must help them rebuild the temple and help to restore and rebuild Jerusalem. It is also obvious that Gabriel is referring here to Jesus. Virtually no one questions that Christ is the one referred to in the phrase "…until Messiah the Prince."

Gabriel tells Daniel, "There will be 7 sevens and 62 sevens, it will be built again… even in times of distress." There were all kinds of distress going on during the rebuilding of Jerusalem. Read the book of Nehemiah and you can see all the deceit and harassment and difficulties surrounding the Jews as they were trying to rebuild the temple.

(v26) Then after the sixty-two weeks the… people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined.

Here is where the difficulty begins. Very clearly, Messiah the Prince mentioned earlier is Jesus Christ. The question is, "Who are the people of the Prince who is to come — (who will destroy the city and the sanctuary)?" Who is this Prince who is to come? In Hebrew, it's "the Prince, the Coming One." I believe this is also referring to Jesus.

When Jesus first started his ministry, John the Baptist was preaching that God, "the Coming One" was coming. The disciples of John asked Jesus, "Are you the Coming One?" In the Greek translation of the Hebrew version of Daniel 9, you'll find that "the Prince" is translated "the one who is to come" or "the Coming One." So I believe the passage is talking about Jesus.

If this true, then whose people came to destroy the temple? The people of Christ. But who actually destroyed the temple? The Romans! Does this mean the Romans are Jesus' people? Yes, because everybody is under God's control. God was in charge and God destroyed the temple because he had prophesied in the Old Testament over and over again that if you don't obey me, if you don't completely surrender to me, I will destroy you.

(v27) And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering;

Again we need to ask: "Who is the ‘he’ referred to?" He is "the Coming One," "the Prince who is to come."

"...and he will make a firm covenant" implies he will do something that has not yet been done. But in Hebrew the text literally is, "he will confirm the covenant." This is a totally different meaning. Likewise, in the Greek Old Testament, the text reads, "…he will confirm the covenant." And in Romans 15:8, Paul says, (speaking of Jesus Christ), "He will come to confirm."

Now you will find different translations because even theologians have let slip in the idea that "the prince who is to come" ("prince" is in small letters) is the sinful one, the minion of Satan. This is because they have accepted the Premillennial interpretation, rather than looking at what God's word actually says.

"...but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering." What did Jesus Christ come to do? He came to fulfill the law; to fulfill the sacrificial system. Everything in that sacrificial system pointed to Jesus Christ. Jesus said that. Hebrews tells us He was the fulfillment. He was the ultimate sacrifice. He was the one that the whole of the sacrificial system pointed to. Jesus Christ came and was sacrificed for your sin and for my sin, and yet the unbelievers among the Jews not only murdered the Messiah, but continued the sacrificial system that was a shadow pointing to him. Now do you think God might have been a little bit upset? I do. He was so upset that he destroyed the temple system.

For those who hold to the Premillennial point of view and who read Ezekiel and the marvelous prophecy of the rebuilding of the temple, who are working so hard to keep Israel from the Arabs because one day they intend to tear down that Mosque on the Dome of the Rock and rebuild the temple, and rebuild the sacrificial system… how do you think God feels about that?

If you look at the Hebrew version of the end of Dan 9:27 (Hebrew reads from right to left); it reads "He shall cause to cease the sacrifice and the oblation and for overspreading of abomination he shall make it desolate."

"even until the complete destruction is poured out on the one who makes desolate."

If you look at the Hebrew version, the text actually uses the same root word (for desolate), but this time it is not a participle. It is in a different form that means "the desolate thing." Now it begins to make perfect sense. The one who is to come will make desolate and will pour out destruction upon the desolate thing.

In conclusion, Daniel 9 is a prophecy of the destruction of the temple in 70 AD because the Jews continued the sacrificial system after Jesus had fulfilled it and had born our sins upon the cross.