As soon as you (Daniel) began to pray, an answer was given, which I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed. Therefore, consider the message and understand the vision: “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. Daniel 9:23-24
He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself. Luke 24:25-27
Dear Lord Jesus, every time I read certain prophetic sections of the Old Testament, like this one in Daniel, I get flashbacks of big charts, bombastic preachers, and a bevy of fears. As a young believer in the late 1960’s—early 70’s, we were convinced ours was the terminal generation. Surely, you were going to come back within a few years. The political climate was perfect for the last of the last antichrists to emerge. All things 666 were eschewed… credit cards, phone numbers, driver’s licenses…
The truth is, we gave the antichrist more credit than Satan himself. The egregious truth is, some of us spent more time fearing the antichrist than really getting to know you, THE Christ!
Jesus, if there’s one thing I grieve more than any other about my earliest Biblical and theological formation, it was how little I knew to look for you in all the Scriptures, and therefore, in all of history and life. You who’ve given me more than 70 times 7 worth of forgiveness (Matthew 18:22) are best qualified to help me understand Daniel’s 70 7’s, and every other prophecy, simple or complex.
Whatever else is going on in this portion of Daniel, this I know for sure. Jesus, only you will one Day put an end to all sin. Jesus, only in you can perfect and complete atonement for sin be found. Jesus, only you will one Day usher in a world of everlasting righteousness—the new heaven and new earth (Revelation 21:1-5). Only you could seal up vision and prophecy, because you’re the last Word from God the Father (Hebrews 1:1-2) and the Yes and Amen to all of God’s promises (2 Corinthians 1:20). Only you could fulfill every symbol and stick of furniture in the Holy of Holies, and make a way for us to enter there (Hebrews 10:19-22).
Only you, Jesus, are worthy of our adoration, affection, attention, and allegiance… only you! So very Amen, I pray, in your most glorious and gracious name.
