The 70th Week — Daniel 9:24-27

May 22, 2025/BCL/
Photo by Alex Siale on Unsplash

Photo by Alex Siale on Unsplash

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Many Christians have been taught the dispensationalist view of the end times, which claims that all the seventy weeks mentioned in Daniel 9:24 have already occurred except for the last “week” (a period of seven years), which is yet to come. Dispensationalism asserts that “he [who] shall put an end to sacrifice and offering” in Daniel 9:27 is referring to the antichrist to come:

“Seventy weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place….And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator.” (Dan. 9:24, 27)

Yet, there is no legitimate basis for placing a gap between the first sixty-nine weeks and the last week of the seventy weeks in Daniel 9:24-27, with the last week supposedly occurring at some unknown time in the future. In fact, the “anointed one” to whom Daniel refers in verses 25 and 26 is the same “he” in verse 27—namely, Jesus Christ.

Jesus is the “anointed one” of Daniel 9:24-27.

It is Jesus who confirmed the covenant of grace that God formally ratified with Abraham in Genesis 15, and it is Jesus who “put an end to sacrifice and offering” on the cross. God promised Abraham that in him “all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Gen. 12:3), and God always keeps his promises. The apostle Paul declares, “if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise” (Gal. 3:29). According to theologian Kim Riddlebarger,

In other words, the covenant being confirmed in the middle of the seventieth week by the Anointed One was a covenant which already existed. This is a reference to the covenant of grace that God previously made with Abraham and now was confirmed by the Messiah on behalf of many (those redeemed by the suffering servant in Isa. 53:12). This would entail all the blessings promised in verse 24, blessings ultimately secured by the shed blood and perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ. It also meant there was no gap between the sixty-ninth and seventieth week as dispensationalists argue. (Riddlebarger, A Case for Amillennialism: Understanding the End Times, p. 155)

Jesus is the one who “put an end to sacrifice and offering” on the cross (Dan. 9:27).

As Riddlebarger points out, the seventy weeks are not meant to be taken literally but are instead symbolic, “reflect[ing] important biblical theological elements of Israel’s prior history.” The church is now in the period of the remaining “time, and times, and half a time” (Rev. 12:14). Riddlebarger writes,

Even though Daniel never explains the remaining three and a half years of verse 27, the apostle John indicates that this three and one half year period is actually the time of exile of God’s people between Jesus’ first and second advents–the age of the church militant. According to John, what remains from Daniel’s seventy weeks is the time Christ’s church remains in its wilderness exile, until Jesus returns to usher in the ultimate jubilee and the everlasting Sabbath.

The Kingdom of God has been inaugurated but is still waiting for its consummation. Christians don’t need to fear in this time of tribulation because Christ has already won the victory, and he will return in the clouds on the last day to gather his people according to God’s perfect timing.

Digging Deeper: To learn more about the meaning of Daniel’s prophecy and its relationship to the book of Revelation, be sure to check out A Case for Amillennialism: Understanding the End Times by Kim Riddlebarger.

A Case for Amillennialism: Understanding the End Times by Kim Riddlebarger.