Daniel
Daniel is the book of prophecy that captures most of the attention of Bible prophecy students. And for very good reasons.
Daniel 9 is a critical part of the Bible prophecy puzzle.
Some people would argue that Daniel 9 is the holy grail of prophecy. The chapter stands apart from almost every other Bible prophecy passage for one reason. There is a timeline near the end of the chapter that allows the careful student to test the validity of the prophecies. That’s both fascinating and exciting, but there’s a problem. And it’s a huge problem. There are still many controversies and variant views regarding how to interpret the words. And as you can guess, there is still no consensus about the timeline or its fulfillment.
It’s as if someone discovered a map of a vast treasure, but no one can decode the meaning of the map. So, the treasure remains hidden. However many scholars have come to partially satisfactory solutions to the puzzle of chapter nine. Even so, challenges remain.
Some parts of Daniel Nine’s prophecy are without dispute. One in particular points to a coming Messiah. The prophecy points to the arrival of the Jewish Messiah. But it shockingly also predicts the Messiah’s death. So, there remain difficulties in determining how to decode the meaning. But the biggest clue allows us to “backtrack” from the arrival and then the death of the Messiah figure.
This prophecy points to Jesus, the Messiah of the Jews. Of course, the Jews disagree with this but I won’t argue that point here. Jesus’ crucifixion on the cross is the key point along the timeline of human history. It is the key timing issue of Daniel’s prophecies found in this chapter.
Many prophecies before the cross pointed to that event. And oddly, there was a mysterious pause after the Messiah’s death. We’ll explore that pause in another article.
Important related Content for the Book of Daniel
The ram and goat vision given to Daniel
Daniel’s Four Beasts with Joel Richardson.
Daniel’s 70 Weeks, is this the Holy Grail of prophecy?
Legs of Iron and Feet of Clay: Daniel’s Statue Part 4
Daniel 9:24