Daniel: Chapter 9 Timeline
This series of timelines are views of all the prophesies revealed to Daniel through Daniel 9. The background for these prophecies is that Israel was exiled from their land by the Lord. There were two primary reasons for Israel being taken captive and removed from their land of promise. First was due to the sins of King Manasseh, who institutionalized innocent blood being shed in Jerusalem. The Lord said that He would not pardon this gross sin, 2Kings 24:1-4. Our society suffers the same sin of shedding innocent blood through allowing and promoting abortion. Second, to fulfill the word of the Lord through Jeremiah the prophet, the duration of their absence would be for 70 years to let the land rest for the Sabbaths missed, 2Chronicles 36:20-21, Jeremiah 25:8-11. The Lord also said through Jeremiah that sending away the captives from Judah into Babylon was for their own good, Jeremiah 24:5-7.
This timeline is repeated from the introduction to Daniel on this website. It provides dates critical to Israel’s history, and begins when King Nebuchadnezzar took some of the best talent from Judah, including Daniel, along with some of its riches back to Babylon. This date was 605 B.C.. This chart illustrates the Gentile age, beginning with King Nebuchadnezzar as the head of gold, Daniel 2:37-38, to the end of the Gentile age, Daniel 2:43-45. Afterwards, the kingdom age begins with the Lord Jesus Christ ruling over the world, sitting on the King David’s throne in Israel, Daniel 2:35.
The image of the Gentile ages King Nebuchadnezzar dreamed, defined the four major kingdoms who would rule and have influence over Israel and Jerusalem, Daniel 2. See the discussion on Daniel chapter 2 on this website for further information. The next chart builds upon the chart above, and is a summary of the prophetic events for Daniel 7 and Daniel 8. This summation can also be read on this site within the pages on Daniel chapter 7 and Daniel chapter 8 respectively. In addition, the date for the final invasion and destruction of Jerusalem and the temple is given in the timeline as 586 B.C..
The following timeline adds the information for Daniel 9, onto the previous timeline. There are additional dates shown placed onto the timeline. First, below the box for Daniel 8, is a star symbol next to the approximate date in green font, that the first wave of Jews returned into their land with Zerubbabel and Joshua, Ezra 2:1-2. The approximate date of 536 BC is given, but it is 70 years from the date that some of Israel were first taken back to Babylon in captivity. Other dates in red text relate to the 70 weeks as revealed to Daniel. The first is 444 B.C., which is when the temple built under the governorship of Zerubbabel was completed. Those were troublous times for the Jews in rebuilding the temple. The second date of 33 A.D. is when, according to the 70 weeks that were revealed to Daniel, the Messiah would be cutoff, or be rejected by Israel and be killed. Soon afterward the people of the prince (Rome) would come, and destroy the temple and Jerusalem. This would all be accomplished in the 69th week. This leaves the final 70th week, which is the seven years of tribulation. At the beginning of the seven years, Israel will enter into a seven-year covenant with the government that the Antichrist represents. However, in the midst of that period, or after 3 1/2 years, the Antichrist will break the covenant, and seek to be worshiped as God. He will war against all who believe and call upon the name of the Lord, Revelation 12:17. Those who suffer at the brutal hands of Satan are the tribulation saints, who maintain their testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ despite the horrific persecution. The three segments of the 70 weeks are shown in the yellow-filled box near the bottom of the timeline. There are also notes on the left side and bottom of the timeline, providing insight as to the content of all the declarations of the kings, including the final decree by Artaxerxes, king over the Medes and Persians.
The importance of these 70 weeks of years are the three segments, all pointing to Christ Jesus, as illustrated in the following graphic. At the end of the first 7 weeks of years, or 49 years, the temple would be rebuilt. The Lord would meet with His people in the temple. It would be a house of prayer, but become a den of thieves prior to the Lord's first physical appearance, Matthew 21:13. At the end of the next 62 weeks of years, or in the 69th week of years, Jesus would be crucified, shedding His blood for the remission of our sins, be buried, but on the third day be resurrected from the dead for our justification, 1Corinthians 15:1-4, Romans 4:25. Afterward, the Romans would descend upon Israel, destroy the land, the temple, and push the Jews into worldwide dispersion, Daniel 9:26. Because the 69th week ends with the Messiah being cut off, there appears to be a break in time before the beginning of the 70th week. This is inferred since there is a span of time, about 40 years, when the last part of the verse is fulfilled with the Roman invasion of Israel. In particular is the last statement "... till the end of the war desolations are determined," Daniel 9:26. A more complete description of God’s prophetic timeline for Israel in this website is at Israel’s Prophetic Timeline. The page on this website, the mystery program, explores this gap in time between the 69th and 70th weeks of years. The start of this time gap is when the Jewish church in Jerusalem began to grow immensely, Acts 2:40-47, but faded because of the rejection of the Holy Spirit by the religious leaders in Israel, Acts 7, Romans 11:11-12. This is when the Body-of-Christ emerged, and grew ever since, see the page on this website, the mystery program. The apostle Paul is the apostle to the Gentiles, Romans 11:13, and is the first to be in Body-of-Christ, and the pattern for those who would thereafter believe in Christ Jesus, 1Timothy 1:15-16. Now the Body-of-Christ looks forward to the blessed hope, Titus 2:12-14, when the Lord returns in the clouds to call up His church to Himself, 1Thessalonians 4:13-18, which is the snatching away or rapture, then will be the end of the dispensation of grace, and God’s prophetic plan for Israel will soon resume, as shown on the right side of the graphic below.
To elaborate on God’s prophetic plan for Israel, the following simple timeline of the Gentile age.
Next is the same timeline with several passages overlaid on it; Psalm 2 and Psalm 110 at the bottom. These passages in Psalms show God’s plan for Israel. What is evident is that the Lord did not reveal His plan for the church and the Body-of-Christ to Israel, Deuteronomy 29:29. That was kept secret until God revealed the mysteries to Paul, for him to forward the mysteries on to the Gentiles, Ephesians 3:1-12.
Building upon the previous Daniel timeline, this one illustrates the passage in Hosea concerning the future worldwide dispersion of the Jews, and the endless grace of the Lord to return His people to the land that He promised to Abraham. Then, during the millennial reign of Christ, the land and its people will be tremendously blessed.
The final graphic below shows the church age, which was never revealed to the Old Testament saints. The church age is shown as that period of time that begins with the resurrection of Christ Jesus, because that is when He was raised because of our justification, Romans 4:25. It was that first evening the day Jesus rose from the dead, that He breathed the Holy Spirit upon the apostles who were present in the upper room. This time period ends with the rapture of the church. From the Old Testament point of view, the Jews were looking for their Messiah, who they do not believe came in the person of Jesus Christ. They are still looking for Him today, Romans 11:7-10, Romans 9:30-33. Since the Lord's death, resurrection and ascension, many still reject Him as their fathers did in the first century. However, despite all this, the Lord is still faithful to His people and to His name. The Lord continues to gather all of the children of Israel from all the nations that they were dispersed, into the land they were promised, in Israel. It is there He will cleanse them from all their filthiness and from their idols, God's name will be glorified, and He will put a new spirit in them to keep and to follow His judgments, Ezekiel 36:16-28.
