Smoodock's Blog

We now come to the sixth and final work of God, as prophesied by the angel in Daniel 9:24, “Seventy Weeks are determined upon your people…to anoint the Most Holy.” The term most holy is used at least forty-three times in the Old Covenant text and is taken to mean various things. It is used to refer to the whole Temple (2Chronicles 3:8, 10) or to the most holy place within the Temple behind the veil, wherein the ark and the mercy seat were (Exodus 26:33-34). It can also be used to refer to those things within the Temple that were consecrated to God, and were considered most holy to him (Exodus 30:26-29). It is also used of the altar of sacrifice (Exodus 29:37) and the altar of incense (Exodus 30:9-10), and the portion of the meal offering that went to the high priest and his family. The sin offering and the trespass offering were also regarded as most holy (Leviticus 2:10; 6:14-17).

So, what could the angel have been referring to when he said it would take seventy weeks to anoint the most holy? Consider the wording of Daniel 9:24-25. There is a definite correlation between these two verses. Seventy weeks (of years) are determined upon the people and the holy city…to anoint the Most Holy. The text then tells us to “know therefore and understand…” What are we to know and understand? – That it will take 483 years until the coming of Messiah (the anointed one), who will confirm the covenant for one week or 7 years, thus completing the seventy weeks of years (Daniels 9:27). If it takes seventy weeks to anoint the Most Holy, and it takes 69 of those weeks to come to the Anointed One (the Messiah), who uses the 70^th week for his ministry, it stands to reason that the angel was calling the Messiah the Most Holy (One; cp. Luke 4:18; Isaiah 61:1).

At the end of the 70 Week’s Prophecy, Jesus is again referred to as the Anointed One, when Stephen said he saw the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God (Acts 7:56). This is the only time in scripture that anyone referred to Jesus by his title, Son of Man (cp. Daniel 7:13-14). Jesus used the phrase throughout his ministry to refer to himself, and it meant he was claiming to be the Messiah–the Anointed One, and Daniel 7:13-14 is the time when the Messiah received power over all nations. Immediately after the death of Stephen, the Gospel went out to non-Jewish communities (Acts 8:5, 26-38) and so to gentiles in response to the judgment of the Messiah. Jesus had warned his people that gentiles would be the heirs to the promises, if the Jews rejected him (cp. Luke 4:24-29).

The end of the Seventy Weeks prophecy marked the end of 10 jubilees (10 x49 years). A trumpet was blown on the Day of Atonement in the year of jubilee to announce “liberty” throughout the land. Since the Jews rejected Jesus for the second time by killing Stephen, this liberty went out from Jerusalem, via those who were persecuted in Jesus’ name, to the rest of the world by their preaching the Gospel, wherever they had gone (Acts 8:1; 11:19-21).

With the heavens opened an in the Presence of Jesus (Acts 7:56; cp. Psalm 110:1), Stephen was slain either at the command of or at least the approval of the high priest, Caiaphas, or more probably Annas (Acts 7:1, 57-60), which, itself, was the second open and national rejection of Jesus as Messiah. The first ended with the crucifixion, and the second ended with the slaying of Jesus’ disciple, Stephen, which occurred on the Day of Atonement AD 34.

This calls Psalm 109 to mind, as the high priest entered the veil (was in the presence of Jesus, according to Stephen) to make atonement for the nation. However, he opened his mouth and uttered lies against Jesus (Psalm 109:2), hating him without cause and fought against him in the person of Stephen and slew him (Acts 7:57-58; Psalm 109:3; cp. Psalm 2:1-3). “They have rewarded me evil for good and hatred for love” (Psalm 109:5). The Lord who loved the nation stood at the right hand of God on their behalf, but they rejected him without cause (Acts 7:56-60). Therefore, as the scripture says, “…let an enemy stand at his right hand” (Psalm 109:6), vis-à-vis at the right hand of Annas in Acts 7, and, when he (Annas) is judged, let his plea be in vain (Psalm 109:7). Let Another (Jesus–the Anointed One) take his office (high priest, cp. Psalm 109:8). Thus, the Seventy Weeks Prophecy stands fulfilled.