Philip Mauro;
http://www.revearljackson.com/uploads/3/2/2/5/322557/daniel_seventy_weeks_-_phillip_mauro.pdf
These are the six predicted items:
1. To finish the transgression. The “transgression” of Israel had long been the burden of the messages of God’s prophets. It was for their “transgression” that they had been sent into captivity, and that their land and city had been made a “desolation” for seventy years. Daniel himself had confessed this, saying, “Yea, all Israel have transgressed Thy law. even by departing that they might not obey Thy voice. Therefore the curse is poured upon us” (verse 11). But the angel revealed to him the distressing news that the full measure of Israel’s “transgression” was yet to be completed; that the children were yet to fill up the iniquity of their fathers; and that, as a consequence, God would bring upon them a far greater “desolation” than that which had been wrought by Nebuchadnezzar. For “to finish the transgression” could mean nothing less or other than the betrayal and crucifixion of their promised and expected Messiah. We would call particular attention at this point to the words of the Lord Jesus spoken to the leaders of the 14 people shortly before His betrayal; for there is in them a striking similarity to the words of the prophecy of Gabriel. He said: “Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers…that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth” (Matthew 23:32). In these words of Christ we find first, a declaration that the hour had come for them “to finish the transgression”; and second, a strong intimation that the predicted desolations were to come, as a judgment, upon that generation, as appears by the words “that upon you may come.” Our Lord’s concluding words at that time have great significance when considered in the light of this prophecy. He said, “Verily I say unto you, all these things shall come upon this generation”; and then, as the awful doom of the beloved city pressed upon His heart, He burst into the lamentation, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem,” ending with the significant words, “Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.” The terrible and unparalleled character of the judgments which were poured out upon Jerusalem at the time of its destruction in AD 70 has been lost sight of in our day. But if we would learn how great an event it was in the eyes of God, we have only to consider our Lord’s anguish of soul as He thought upon it. Even when on the way to the Cross it was more to Him than His own approaching sufferings (Luke 21:28–30). The apostle Paul also speaks in similar terms of the transgressions of that generation of Jews, who not only crucified the Lord Jesus, and then rejected the gospel preached to them in His Name, but also forbade that He be preached to the Gentiles. Wherefore the apostle said that they “fill up their sins always; for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost” (1 Thessalonians 2:15–16). For they were indeed about to undergo God’s wrath “to the uttermost” in the approaching destruction of Jerusalem, and in the scattering of the people among all the nations of the world, to suffer extreme miseries at their hands. These Scriptures are of much importance in connection with our present study, and we shall have occasion to refer to them again. It is not difficult to discern why the list of the six great things comprised in this prophecy was headed by the finishing of the transgression; for the same act, which constituted the crowning sin of Israel, also served for the putting away of sin (Hebrews 9:26), and the accomplishing of eternal redemption (Hebrews 9:12). They did indeed take Him, and with wicked hands crucified and slew Him; but it was done “by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God” (Acts 2:23). The powers and authorities of Judea and of Rome, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were indeed gathered together against Him; but it was to do what God’s own hand and counsel had determined before to be done (Acts 4:26–28). There is nothing more wonderful in all that has been made known to us, than that the people and their rulers, because they knew Him not, nor the voices of their own prophets which were read every Sabbath day, should have fulfilled them in condemning Him (Acts 13:27). Therefore, among the many prophecies that were then “fulfilled,” a promise be given to that which forms the subject of our present study.
2. To make an end of sins. On this item we need not dwell at length; for we have already called attention to the marvellous workings of God’s wisdom in causing that the extreme sin of man should serve to accomplish eternal redemption, and so provide a complete remedy for sin for the crucifixion of Christ, though it was truly a deed of diabolical wickedness on the part of man, was on His own part the offering of Himself without spot to God as a sacrifice for sins (Hebrews 9:14). It was thus that He “offered the one Sacrifice for sins forever” (Hebrews 10:12). We understand that the sense in which the death of Christ made “an end of sins” was that thereby He made a perfect atonement for sins, as written in Hebrews 1:3, “when He had by Himself purged our sins’” and in many like passages. It is to be noted however, that the Hebrew word for “sins” in this passage means not only the sin itself, but also the sacrifice therefore. Hence it is thought by some that what the angel here foretold was the making an end of the sin offering required by the law. That was, indeed, an incidental result, and it is mentioned expressly in verse 27. But the word used in that verse is not the word found in verse 24, which means sin or sin offering It is a different word, meaning sacrifice. We conclude, therefore, that the words, “to make an end of sins”, should be taken in their most obvious sense.
3. To make reconciliation for iniquity. The word here translated “reconciliation” is usually rendered “atone”, but according to Strong’s Concordance it expresses also the thought of appeasing or reconciling. We shall, therefore, assume that our translators had good reason for using the word “reconciliation.” If, however, it be taken that “atonement” is the better rendering, the conclusion would not be affected; for both atonement and reconciliation were made by the death of Christ upon the cross. 15 The need of reconciliation arises from the fact that man is by nature not only a sinner, but also an enemy of God (Romans 5:8, 10). Moreover, it is because he is a sinner that he is also an enemy. As a sinner he needs to be justified; and as an enemy he needs to be reconciled. The death of Christ as an atoning sacrifice accomplishes both in the case of all who believe in Him. In Romans 5:8–10 these two distinct, but closely related, things are clearly set forth. For we there read, first, that “while we were yet sinners Christ died for us”, and second, that “when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son”. Reconciliation has to do directly with the kingdom of God, in that it signifies the bringing back of those who were rebels and enemies into willing and loyal submission to God. In this connection attention should be given to the great passage in Colossians 1:12–22, which shows that, as the result of the death of Christ, those who have “redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins” (verse 14), are also translated into the kingdom of God’s dear Son (verse 13), Christ “having made peace for them through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself”; and the apostle adds, “And you, who were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind, yet now hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh, through death” (verses 20–22). It is certain, therefore, that, when Christ Jesus died and rose again, atonement for sin and reconciliation for the enemies of God were fully and finally accomplished as a matter of historic fact. It is important, and indeed essential, to a right interpretation of this prophecy, to keep in mind that atonement and reconciliation were to be accomplished, and actually were accomplished, within the measure of seventy weeks from the going forth of the decree of King Cyrus. It is thus seen that the prophecy has to do with the great and eternal purpose of God to establish His kingdom — and to bring pardoned and reconciled sinners into it as willing and loyal subjects of Christ, the King. And when the time drew near the kingdom was proclaimed by the Lord and by His forerunner as “at hand.” The Lord’s own words, when taken in connection with the prophecy of Gabriel, are very significant. He said: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand” (Mark 1:15). The time whereof He spoke was that declared in this great prophecy; which is the only prophecy which gives the time of His coming. Hence His words were really the announcement of His approaching death, resurrection and enthronement in heaven, as the heavenly King of God’s heavenly kingdom.