The Book of Revelation
Chapter Four
(Introduction - Daniel 9:24-27)

Before we explore the fourth chapter, it would be helpful for us to establish a prophetic time line of events. To do this we will look briefly at a specific passage in the book of Daniel in the Old Testament (old covenant), i.e., Daniel 9:24-27.

This exposure to Daniel will not be exhaustive, but it will establish a time line that precedes and includes some events within Revelation. Aside from the fact that Daniel is part of God’s Word, we should heed it because Jesus Christ referred to it as authoritative (Matthew 24:15). Furthermore and since much of it has been fulfilled and we can logically expect the remainder to come to pass, it gives us strong encouragement to study God’s prophetic Word. As Revelation is the apocalyptic (from the Greek word apocalypse, meaning “revelation or uncovering of something hidden”) book of the New Testament, Daniel is the apocalyptic book of the Old Testament. Keep in mind that the theme of Daniel is the “sovereignty of God,” and the main focus of the book is the Jews and not the Church (the body of Christ). Because there are many items and events in Daniel that are sealed (hidden), i.e., protected by God, to be understood fully at the “End of the Age” (Tribulation Period); confinement to more easily understood items and events, particularly as they relate to Revelation, will be primarily addressed.

Prophetically, Daniel provides us the following:

    1.    The revealing of the first coming of Christ.
    2.    The revealing of the death of Christ.
    3.    The destruction of Israel, Jerusalem and the Temple.
    4.    An outline of world history from King Nebuchadnezzar to the first coming of Christ, which is not found in Revelation. Revelation gives an outline of what will happen after the Rapture (identified by some prophecy experts as the “first phrase” of Christ’s Second Coming), which is not found in Daniel.
    5.    A clearer understanding of how God will protect the Jews.
    6.    The skeleton of the end-times, i.e., an outline of such; whereas, Revelation provides us much of the flesh (details) for this skeleton.

Revelation and Daniel enhance each other. Each book will help you understand the other, and you should know they are in agreement. Daniel utilizes many symbols, probably so that Nebuchadnezzer would have to rely upon Daniel for help, and to keep many future events sealed (Chapter 12) until the End of the Age. Many of these seals are now being opened. It is because of this that believers think more than ever that we are nearing the End of the Age. Even though we cannot know the specific time, we should be able to identify the “season.”

Having said all of this lets take a brief look at the passage in Daniel. As background for this passage we should remember the following:

    1.    God’s covenant (promise) to Abram (renamed Abraham by God), Isaac, and Jacob was that they would have many descendants, great prosperity and specific land.
    2.    Jacob’s name was changed to Israel after he had an encounter with God. His children were then known as “children of Israel,” and his country as the “land of Israel.”
    3.    The children of Israel migrated to Egypt during a great famine where they eventually became slaves.
    4.    Moses delivered them from this slavery some 430 years later.
    5.    God reestablished His covenant promises with the children of Israel provided they followed His instructions. If not, He informed them that they would be scattered among the nations.
    6.    Due to their rebellion, the children of Israel were initially split into two kingdoms, a Northern Kingdom called Israel and a Southern Kingdom called Judah.
    7.    After continued rebellion Israel was taken captive by the Assyrians and Judah was turned over to the Babylonians.
    8.    The Book of Daniel was written during this time and chapter 9 can be divided into 2 parts - (1) Daniel’s prayer and (2) God’s response. The passage under consideration is part of God’s response to Daniel’s prayer.

Daniel 9:24-27
"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. "Know and understand this: From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven sevens, and sixty-two sevens. It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble. After the sixty-two sevens, the Anointed One will be cut off and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed. He will confirm a covenant with many for one seven. In the middle of the seven he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on a wing of the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him. "

This decree from God was passed on to Daniel by the angel Gabriel. It provides further insight about the Antichrist of Chapter 8. Daniel has been praying about Jerusalem, the Temple and his people. Now he will be told what will happen to the them, starting during the time while Daniel was alive and up to the End of the Age, i.e., the age of Gentiles. We will see that at the end of this “Age,” God will then continue His rule over His chosen people of Israel during the Millennial Kingdom reign of Jesus Christ. [Side Note: Although God can at any time commission an angel to interpret God’s Word to us, during the Church Age He no longer operates in this manner. The believer now has the Holy Spirit resident in his soul, and one function of the Spirit is to interpret and make Bible doctrine meaningful and practical in his life. John 14:26; Romans 8:16]

Gabriel informed Daniel that “seventy sevens” (years of 360 days each) were decreed (established or would pass) for “your people” (children of Israel) and “your holy city” (Jerusalem) for the following purposes:

    1.    To finish transgression.
    2.    To put an end to sin.
    3.    To atone for wickedness.
    4.    To bring in everlasting righteousness.
    5.    To seal up vision and prophecy.
    6.    To anoint the Most Holy.


“Seventy sevens” (70 times 7) equals 490 years. It is talking about years because (1) Daniel was considering the time frame of years as he read Jeremiah’s prophecy about Judah when he started his prayer, (2) it has been verified by history and (3) it is interpreted by most prophecy “experts” as years. The Jewish year had only 360 days, an important point. “Your people” refers to Daniel’s people, who were the Jews; and “your holy city” can only refer to Jerusalem.

To “finish transgression” is to shut up, arrest or stop all rebellion against God. To “put an end to sin” is self-explanatory. To “atone for wickedness,” even though technically occurring on the cross, it does not become practical to the Jews as a nation until the 490 years are fulfilled. To “bring everlasting righteousness” is believed to refer to the ushering in of the Millennium Reign of Christ, i.e., the Kingdom of Everlasting Righteousness. To “seal up vision and prophecy” is believed to be God’s fulfillment of prophecy. To “anoint the Most Holy” is believed to be the crowning of the Messiah (Jesus Christ) during His Millennium Reign and/or the anointing of the Temple. Gabriel tells Daniel that God has a plan involving 490 years. When all 490 years has passed rebellion will cease, sin will stop, atonement will have been accomplished, righteousness will prevail, all visions and prophecies will be fulfilled and the Messiah will be anointed. [Side Note: What happens for the Jews will also happen for the Gentiles. Also, we’ll see that the Jews must experience the Tribulation Period, which is the last 7 years of the 490, before the Kingdom of Everlasting Righteousness can begin.

Gabriel next informs Daniel that God will start the clock of the “seventy sevens” (490 years) when the decree is issued to “restore and rebuild Jerusalem.” Artaxerxes issued this decree (actually his second decree) in 445 B.C., establishing the start of God’s 490-year clock in the “month of Nisan in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes.

Gabriel goes on to say that there will be two time periods involved regarding the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the coming of the Anointed One. It will take “Seven sevens” (49 years) to rebuild Jerusalem, and “sixty-two sevens” (434 years) more to the coming of the Anointed One, i.e., referring to the Triumphal Entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem and not His birth (notice His words as He approached Jerusalem in Luke 19:41-44). So we have the starting date when Artaxerxes issued his decree in 445 B.C. and the ending date when Jesus Christ made His Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem (Zechariah 9:9).

Sir Robert Anderson, a highly respected English lawyer and former head of Scotland Yard, established that exactly (to the day) 483 years passed between the decree and the first coming (Triumphal Entry) of Christ. He multiplied 483 years times the Jewish prophetic year of 360 days per year to arrive at 173,880 days. He then took the date of the decree (March 14, 445 B.C.) and calculated the number of days to the Triumphal Entry (April 6, 32 A.D.), taking into account leap year and the fact that there was only one year between 1 B.C. and 1 A.D. (no year numbered 0), and the total was 173,880 days.

Although God’s clock was started and He allowed two time periods to tick off, He stopped it for the remainder of the allotted time (7 years) when “the Anointed One” was cut off.” To be “cut off” in this context refers to the crucifixion. At the crucifixion Christ would “have nothing,” no earthly possessions, home, throne or kingdom. At this time He would not have put an end to sin, finished transgression or fulfilled all visions and prophecies. God’s plan for the Jewish nation was interrupted at the cross, when the Jews rejected the Messiah. Additionally and following the crucifixion of Christ, Jerusalem and the rebuilt Temple would be destroyed again. A Roman general named Titus in 70 A.D. sacked and burned Jerusalem, killed 5 million Jews and tore the Temple apart stone-by-stone.

Gabriel also mentions “a ruler who will come.” This is believed to be the Antichrist. If so, it identifies the group of nations from which he will come. Since it was the Romans who destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple, the Antichrist will come out of the nations that made up the Old Roman Empire during the life of Jesus. But when will this happen?

Since God’s clock stopped when the children of Israel rejected the Triumphal Entry of the Messiah into Jerusalem and He was “cut off,” i.e., crucified (Matthew 21:1-5; Zechariah 9:9; Luke 19:41-44), God has ushered in an interim period popularly known as the Church Age, which extends from Pentecost to the Rapture. It is never mentioned specifically in the Old Testament; it was a secret hidden in God from the foundation of the world but revealed by the apostles and prophets of the New Testament period. However, the principle of a gap is nicely illustrated by our Lord in the synagogue at Nazareth (Luke 4:18, 19). Jesus quoted Isaiah 61:1, 2a but cut it short at “the acceptable year of the Lord” (His First Advent), and left off the judgment of His Second Advent: “and the day of vengeance of our God” (Isaiah 61:2b). In between was to occur the whole Church Age.

In any case the failure to accomplish everything God wanted for the children of Israel was not on the part of Jesus but on the part of the Jews. If the Jews had accepted Him, Jesus would have fulfilled everything (established His Kingdom) at that time. Even so, Christ knew what would happen before the corridors of time. Knowing this the Triune God made provision for the salvation of all mankind. On the cross of Calvary the God-man Jesus Christ bore the sins (past, present and future) of every person who has or will ever live upon the face of this earth. In mankind’s place, that is, as mankind’s substitute, Christ not only bore man’s sins but He became that sin. In man’s place He suffered the penalty of sin (spiritual death) so that man need not do so. Upon paying this price, Christ gave up His spirit and died physically. He did not stay dead. In three days He arose physically from the grave to ascend into Heaven and now resides at the right hand of God the Father. If anyone will by faith alone accept Jesus Christ and His work on the cross for his personal salvation, he will instantly be saved and have eternal life.

Although God’s clock has been stopped for over 1,900 years, He will start it again to account for the remaining 7 years. Most prophetic experts think it will be soon because Jerusalem is no longer desolate. God’s Word tells us that the Jews would eventually reclaim their land, which occurred in 1948 when they again became the nation Israel; and that they would eventually reclaim their Holy City, which occurred in 1967 when they declared Jerusalem as their capitol. Many Jews are now attempting to rebuild the Temple. In fact, all materials and plans for this project already exist and have been accumulated by various Jewish organizations, all waiting to pounce on the project.

The 490 years (seventy sevens) will end with a flood of destruction. There will be wars and rumors of wars throughout history to eventually culminate in the great Battle of Armageddon. The Antichrist will come out of a group of nations called the “Revived Roman Empire” (many believe this is the European Union). He will be a popular leader who will arise unlike anyone the world has ever seen. He will gain strength in Europe and eventually take over the “world government.” It is not by chance that the European Union (EU) has gained such strength and influence over these recent years. It is not by chance that a “one world monetary system” is presently gaining foothold in Europe. It is not by chance that the situation between Israel and all the countries surrounding her and those of the EU is steadily disintegrating. The conflict between Israel and the rest of the world (other than “maybe” the United States) is increasing so rapidly that unless a true peace soon comes, the Jewish nation and people will be destroyed.

But God will not allow this to happen. He will in fact allow a peace, because it is predicted to come and will be authored by the Antichrist. The Antichrist will “confirm a covenant with many for one seven.” This will be the start of the last seven years of the “seventy sevens” (490) years. This final seven-year period did not occur before the Triumphal Entry in 32 A.D. because that ended the 434-year period. It did not take place between 32 A.D. and 70 A.D. because Jerusalem and the Temple had to be destroyed before it could begin. It hasn’t taken place since 70 A.D. because it cannot occur without the Temple. Therefore everything in verse 27, which speaks of the Antichrist confirming a covenant, is in the future. It is believed in the very near future.

Most prophecy experts call this time frame the “Tribulation Period.” The Antichrist will “confirm a covenant with many.” Today we don’t know who this person is, but this covenant will be a sure sign of his identity. Gabriel does not convey the details of the covenant, but other scriptures indicate that Israel will think it has “peace and safety.” The “many” probably refers to the United Nations, European Union, United States, Palestinian Liberation Organization and Israel.

The latter half of verse 27 tells us that in the middle of the Tribulation Period, the Antichrist will “put an end to sacrifice and offering.” This tells us that sometime between now and the middle of the Tribulation Period, the Temple will be rebuilt, since these offerings cannot begin again until the Temple is rebuilt. But at the middle of this period, the Antichrist will terminate such sacrifices and offerings, declare the covenant (treaty) he authored invalid and in addition, he will “set up an abomination that causes desolation.” This will be something that desecrates or contaminates the Temple. This will happen and more, until “the end that is decreed is poured out on him,” i.e., the Antichrist is captured and cast into the Lake of Fire.

It may be helpful to consider the following time line (not to scale) that is drawn from the “Introduction” above and the continued study of Revelation to follow:



From this point on we will continue with Chapter 4 of Revelation, where we will see that John who represents the Church (Body of Christ) will be gathered up to Heaven prior to the start of the last seven of the “seventy sevens” - The Tribulation Period.