Hello,
Our understanding of Daniel is a man-made construct that satisfies our desire to know what God meant in all of the prophecies given to Daniel, particularly the five independent prophecies in Daniel 9:24-27.
The answer as to the overarching time period of the Book of Daniel can be found in Daniel 12 in these verses: -
Daniel 12:5-9: - 5 Then I, Daniel, looked; and there stood two others, one on this riverbank and the other on that riverbank.
6 And
one said to the man clothed in linen, who
was above the waters of the river, “
How long shall the fulfillment of these wonders be?”
7 Then I heard the man clothed in linen, who
was above the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand to heaven, and swore by Him who lives forever,
that it shall be for a time, times, and half a time; and when the power of the holy people has been completely shattered, all these things shall be finished.
8 Although I heard, I did not understand. Then I said, “
My lord, what shall be the end of these things?”
9 And he said, “
Go your way, Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. 10 Many shall be purified, made white, and refined, but the wicked shall do wickedly; and none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand.
When is the Time of the End? The Book of Revelation answers this question. The time of the end of this present world is the Great White Throne Room Judgement.
H:4150 has been given the following meaning by Strong: -
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance
appointed sign, time, place of, solemn assembly, congregation, set, solemn feast
This solemn assembly can only be pointing to the GWTHJ of all of the peoples of the earth.
Now since Satan has not yet been imprisoned in the Bottomless pit yet for 1,000 years and the prophecies were given to Daniel around 2,500 years ago, the time span of the "time, times and half a time," must be around 3,500 years or a little longer. I would equate this time period in Daniel 12:7 to be three and a half ages when the word "times" represents an "age."
Now the Daniel 9:26b prophecy spans a time period of two ages, which is the time when the Armageddon Judgement of the Heavenly hosts and the kings of the earth are judged for their respective parts in the trampling of God's sanctuary and His Earthly Hosts over a period of 2,300 years from just after the time that Alexandra's Empire was divided into four parts between the four generals over Alexandra's army.
Shortly after this, the 2,300 years of the Little Horn's influence over armies given to him during this time period, began and has continued right up and until this present time. The 2,300 years will end with the observable sign of the kings of the earth assembling at the place called Armageddon in our near future, after which all of Israel will be saved.
Now if the Daniel 9:27 solemn covenant is not entered by the people of the earth until the Bottomless pit is unlocked so that those imprisoned in it can rise up out of the earth, then we have the dilemma of justifying the stretching of the 70 weeks of years over a time period of three and a half ages.
In my previous posts I have suggested that the Daniel 9:24a portion of the full verse 24 prophecy occurred over a period of 490 years, i.e., solar years, and that this 490-year period ended just prior to when Christ was Born in Bethlehem. I have also suggested that the verse 25 prophecy's time constraints, is not as important as some make out them to be, as verse 26a tells us that at some time after the conclusion of the verse 25 prophecy, that Christ died on the cross to achieve the outcome of the second half of the verse 24 prophecy.
The only constraint on the Daniel 9:26b prophecy is when it is completed. I would suggest that it ends when the Daniel 8 prophecy of the 2,300 years of the trampling of God's sanctuary and His earthly hosts comes to its prescribed end. This prophecy is the fulfilment of God's warning found in 2 Chron 7 in these verses: -
2 Chronicles 7:19-20: - 19 “But
if you turn away and forsake My statutes and My commandments which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods, and worship them,
20 then
I will uproot them from My land which I have given them; and
this house which I have sanctified for My name I will cast out of My sight, and will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples.
This warning is a repeating of the warning given in Exodus 20:4-6: -
Exodus 20:4-6: -
4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness
of anything that
is in heaven above, or that
is in the earth beneath, or that
is in the water under the earth;
5 you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God,
am a jealous God,
visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth {ages of their existence} of those who hate Me,
6 but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.
We cannot ring fence Daniel 9:24-27 to come to an understanding of what these five independent prophecies tell us.
It is a mistake to believe that we can come to an understanding of what is being said in these prophecies unless we read widely within the scriptures themselves.
Shalom
