Daniel as Prophet
The Book of Daniel is probably my favorite Old Testament book. The book is divided into two parts, the historic part and the prophetic part. The stories in the historic part are well known to anyone who attended Sunday School as a child. Who among that group hasn’t heard about Daniel in the lion’s den or about Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and the fiery furnace?
Although these stories dramatically illustrate the remarkable faith of Daniel and his friends it is the prophetic parts that have captured my imagination as an adult. The prophecies revealed to Daniel are likely the most far-reaching prophecies given in the Old Testament about the “Times of the Gentiles.”
The Times of the Gentiles
As you may recall our Lord mentioned those times in Luke 21:24b where He says, “Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.” It is those times in which we are now living.
The Times of the Gentiles will come to an end at the Second Advent of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Church Age fits within the Times of the Gentiles and started at Pentecost and will end at the Rapture. The last seven years of the Times of the Gentiles are the same as the Tribulation, Israel’s last seven years of their third period of 490 years and will be a time of great judgment on the entire world.
Daniel in Babylon
A significant part of the story of Daniel is the reason for his living the majority of his life in Babylon. As hard as it may be to believe, his being in Babylon was Gods’ blessing on him and the other captives taken from Jerusalem in around 605 B.C. At that time Jerusalem was conquered by Nebuchadnezzar, an event which was the starting point for the Times of the Gentiles.
It was God’s plan to preserve His remnant by removing them from Israel and sheltering them in Babylon as His judgment fell on Israel. In Jeremiah 24:5-10 we are told of the Lord’s plan to preserve his chosen ones by removing them to Babylon for their own good and leaving the rejected ones to suffer in Israel.
What Happened to Israel?
The next reasonable question might well be why did God do this? We are told the reason in Leviticus 25:4, “But in the seventh year the land is to have a year of sabbath rest, a sabbath to the Lord. Do not sow your fields or prune your vineyards.” For the preceding 490 years Israel had failed to observe the seventh year sabbath and God was not going to overlook that mistake.
We find in 2 Chronicles 36:21 the following statement, “The land enjoyed its sabbath rests; all the time of its desolation it rested, until the seventy years were completed in fulfillment of the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah.” This is the referenced verse in Jeremiah 25:11, “This whole country will become a desolate wasteland, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years.”
It is estimated that Daniel was around 16 years old when he was taken to Babylon and lived there until he was somewhere between 90 and 100 years old.
A New Beginning
Daniel’s devotion to God and his faithfulness are well known to most of us who attend church regularly. What may not be so well known is the remarkable prophecy he was given when he was around 82 years old, the prophecy of the “seventy weeks.”
For the record, Israel’s next promise from God included the next 490 years that God would give Israel and this period of time would be known as the Seventy Weeks of Daniel. The purpose of that time period is specified in Daniel 9:24, “Seventy ‘sevens’ are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy.”
One of the interesting aspects of the revelation of the seventy weeks is the division of the weeks into two groups, one group of 483 years and one group of 7 years. We will start our study of the prophecy and its strange wording in the next blog.
davidbowerkingwood 
[…] God had a wondrous plan prepared; at a carefully predetermined time the Living Word would come and become the Kinsman Redeemer, the long promised Messiah who could and would provide the redemption which mankind could not secure for itself. The birth, life, death and resurrection of the Promised One had been carefully scripted from eternity past; I have written on this in a three-part series named, “The Seventy Weeks of Daniel.” […]
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By: The Battle for the Earth, It’s All True, All of it! Part 4 | davidbowerkingwood on January 9, 2018
at 7:45 am
[…] Four hundred and eighty three years had passed since the beginning of the third and final group of three 490 year periods that had been given to Israel by God. The second group had ended with the Babylonian captivity and now the third group of 490 years had been put on hold at year 483 as also foretold by Daniel; I have written on this in some detail in a three part series, The Seventy Weeks of Daniel. […]
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By: Palm Sunday 2018 and its Enormous Significance! | davidbowerkingwood on March 23, 2018
at 6:25 am
[…] Four hundred and eighty three years had passed since the beginning of the third and final group of three 490 year periods that had been given to Israel by God. The second group had ended with the Babylonian captivity and now the third group of 490 years had been put on hold at year 483 as also foretold by Daniel; I have written on this in some detail in a three part series, The Seventy Weeks of Daniel. […]
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By: Palm Sunday 2019 and its Enormous Significance! | davidbowerkingwood on April 11, 2019
at 8:54 am
[…] One of Daniel’s most amazing prophecies concerns the prophecy of the seventy weeks; it is in this prophecy the timing of the Lord’s First Advent is revealed. God revealed to Daniel there would be 70 weeks, or 490 prophetic years, divided into a span of 69 “weeks” which is a prophetic reference to 483 prophetic years and a period of 1 week or 7 years, which would come later. I have written more on this in a three-part series that starts with “The Seventy Weeks of Daniel.” […]
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By: The Original “Star” Trek | davidbowerkingwood on December 18, 2019
at 6:12 am
[…] Four hundred and eighty-three years had passed since the beginning of the third and final group of three 490-year periods that had been given to Israel by God. The second group had ended with the Babylonian captivity and now the third group of 490 years had been put on hold at year 483 as also foretold by Daniel; I have written on this in some detail in a three part series, The Seventy Weeks of Daniel. […]
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By: Palm Sunday 2020 and its Enormous Significance! | davidbowerkingwood on April 2, 2020
at 7:39 am
[…] One of Daniel’s most amazing prophecies concerns the prophecy of the seventy weeks; it is in this prophecy the timing of the Lord’s First Advent is revealed. God revealed to Daniel there would be 70 weeks, or 490 prophetic years, divided into a span of 69 “weeks” which is a prophetic reference to 483 prophetic years and a period of 1 week or 7 years, which would come later. I have written more on this in a three-part series that starts with “The Seventy Weeks of Daniel.” […]
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By: The Mysterious Magi and Daniel’s Amazing Prophecy! | davidbowerkingwood on December 21, 2020
at 7:51 am
[…] The Age of Israel was interrupted by Israel’s rejection of its Messiah; on March 30, AD 33, Israel was set aside seven years short of the final period of 490 years given to it by God. Those last seven years are still somewhere in the future and will be completed after the removal of the church; I have written more on this in a three-part series that begins with “The Seventy Weeks of Daniel“ […]
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By: Death and Resurrection, Part 2, the First Resurrection to God and Heaven | davidbowerkingwood on March 15, 2021
at 8:39 am
[…] Four hundred and eighty-three years had passed since the beginning of the third and final group of three 490-year periods that had been given to Israel by God. The second group had ended with the Babylonian captivity and now the third group of 490 years had been put on hold at year 483 as also foretold by Daniel; I have written on this in some detail in a three part series, The Seventy Weeks of Daniel. […]
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By: Palm Sunday 2021 and its Enormous Significance! | davidbowerkingwood on March 22, 2021
at 8:09 am
[…] have written more on this in the three-part series, “The Seventy Weeks of Daniel,” In this series, I discussed the final period of 490 years, given to Israel, cut short by seven […]
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By: Today’s Christianity, Heaven Bound! | davidbowerkingwood on August 9, 2021
at 7:11 am
[…] Scripture is clear, I’m convinced the church will not be on earth during the Tribulation. I will mention two sections of Scripture which come to mind first in support of this position: the first is in Daniel 9:24-27 where Daniel is given the prophecy of the seventy weeks to be given to Israel. I have written more on this in a three part series that starts with, “The Seventy Weeks of Daniel” […]
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By: What’s Going to Happen Next, 2021? Part 2 | davidbowerkingwood on September 27, 2021
at 5:01 am
[…] been promised to Israel and will last 1,000 years. I have written more on the seven year period in, “The Seventy Weeks of Daniel.” , a three-part […]
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By: Discovering the Truth About Reality in a World of Deception, Concluded | davidbowerkingwood on October 25, 2021
at 5:01 am
[…] One of Daniel’s most amazing prophecies concerns the prophecy of the seventy weeks; it is in this prophecy the timing of the Lord’s First Advent is revealed. God revealed to Daniel there would be 70 weeks, or 490 prophetic years, divided into a span of 69 “weeks” which is a prophetic reference to 483 prophetic years and a period of 1 week or 7 years, which would come later. I have written more on this in a three-part series that starts with “The Seventy Weeks of Daniel.” […]
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By: The Mysterious Magi and Daniel’s Amazing Prophecy! | davidbowerkingwood on December 27, 2021
at 5:06 am
[…] I have written a three-part series on this subject, I want to provide a short summary of that series for this review of the First […]
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By: God’s Timeline Revealed! | davidbowerkingwood on March 28, 2022
at 5:01 am
[…] Four hundred and eighty-three years had passed since the beginning of the third and final group of three 490-year periods that had been given to Israel by God. The second group had ended with the Babylonian captivity and now the third group of 490 years had been put on hold at year 483 as also foretold by Daniel; I have written on this in some detail in a three-part series, The Seventy Weeks of Daniel. […]
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By: Palm Sunday 2022 and its Enormous Significance! | davidbowerkingwood on April 4, 2022
at 5:05 am
[…] been promised to Israel and will last 1,000 years. I have written more on the seven year period in, “The Seventy Weeks of Daniel.” , a three-part […]
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By: Declaring the Truth in a World Going Crazy! | davidbowerkingwood on December 19, 2022
at 5:02 am
[…] This is where we find ourselves today, the church is almost 1,990 years old; having begun at Pentecost in 33 AD. At the First Advent, God had set Israel aside for an unrevealed number of years but had promised them an additional 7 years in the last days. I have written more on that in a three-part series that starts with; “The Seventy Weeks of Daniel” […]
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By: We, as Christians, Live Under God’s Shield of Protection! | davidbowerkingwood on March 6, 2023
at 5:01 am
[…] Four hundred and eighty-three years had passed since the beginning of the third and final group of three 490-year periods that had been given to Israel by God. The second group had ended with the Babylonian captivity and now the third group of 490 years had been put on hold at year 483 as also foretold by Daniel; I have written on this in some detail in a three-part series, The Seventy Weeks of Daniel. […]
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By: Palm Sunday, 2023 and its Enormous Significance! | davidbowerkingwood on March 30, 2023
at 5:01 am
[…] God had given Israel a third set of 490 years which was cut short at year 483 due to Israel’s rejection of it’s Messiah. The remaining 7 years is on hold until the Church is physically removed from the scene; I’ve written more on this in a series that starts with, “The Seventy Weeks of Daniel.” […]
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By: A Profoundly Shocking Change is Coming! | davidbowerkingwood on February 12, 2024
at 5:11 am
[…] Four hundred and eighty-three years had passed since the beginning of the third and final group of three 490-year periods that had been given to Israel by God. The second group had ended with the Babylonian captivity and now the third group of 490 years had been put on hold at year 483 as also foretold by Daniel; I have written on this in some detail in a three-part series, The Seventy Weeks of Daniel. […]
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By: Palm Sunday, 2024 and its Enormous Significance! | davidbowerkingwood on March 18, 2024
at 8:06 am