From February of 2014.
“…I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years specified by the word of the LORD through Jeremiah the prophet, that He would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem. Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes…’To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against Him. We have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God, to walk in His laws, which He set before us by His servants the prophets…As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us; yet we have not made our prayer before the LORD our God, that we may turn from our iniquities and understand Your truth.’…while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, reached me at about the time of the evening sacrifice. And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, ‘O Daniel, I have now come forth to give you skills to understand. At the beginning of your supplications the command went out, and I have come to tell you, for you are greatly beloved; therefore consider the matter, and understand the vision: Seventy weeks are determined for your people and for your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy. Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, there shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublesome times. And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself; And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall be with a flood, and till the end of the war desolations are determined. Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week; but in the middle of the week he shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, even until the consummation, which is determined, is poured out on the desolate.'” Daniel 9:2-3, 9-10, 13, 21-27
Daniel mourned at first, because he saw that the Babylonian Captivity was almost over but the faith of GOD’s people had not changed their ways. Because of this realization, like Moses before him, Daniel lifted up his voice to God on behalf of a people who seemed without hope.
In the midst of his prayers, Daniel is once again visited by the archangel Gabriel, who informs him that God knew of his distress before he even began to pray; he then goes on to explain to Daniel that God is not yet finished with Israel or humanity, and the future holds great things to come.
The “seventy weeks of Daniel” are a prophetic calendar, laying out the end of the Old Testament and time itself; it ties in with the Revelation granted to John (Daniel sees the beginning, John sees the end). Each “day” in the weeks actually represents a year; the first seven weeks, therefore, represent the years until the next Jubilee year (every 50 years, all debts are forgiven, every slave is set free, and all lands previously sold return to the families who originally owned them), which is a picture of God’s love and grace giving us a new beginning through Jesus Christ.
The next sixty-two weeks are combined with the first seven, making a total of 483 “days” or years from the end of the Babylonian Captivity to the time Jesus would enter Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. Jesus’s following death and resurrection would mark the end of the Law’s era and begin the Age of Grace, which continues today. Like the days of Noah, this time will not end until the last soul God has foreseen has been brought into the Church and judgment is ready to begin.
Daniel is given a brief overview of the Tribulation period and the Antichrist’s reign; there is great wickedness and judgment to come, but it is enough for him to know that God’s plans for Israel are not finished, and they still have time to be reconciled with God.