Recently, I taught a lesson during the Sunday School hour entitled “God’s Program for Israel.” The texts I utilized in the exposition of the topic of God’s plan for the future of His chosen people varied. But one, in particular, is most useful and central to understanding God’s program for the ethnic descendants of Abraham through Isaac and Jacob is Daniel 9:24-27. This passage assists the believer on several fronts regarding the study of Israel’s future.

Alva J. McClain writes in his book Daniel’s Prophecy of the 70 Weeks, “Proper understanding of the seventy weeks of Daniel not only safeguards the Christian against the elaborate guesswork of those who persist in setting dates for the Lord’s return but furnishes the infallible key to real chronology of all New Testament prophecy.” McClain is correct in his assessment of the indispensable role of Daniel’s seventy weeks (seventy sevens).

Our Lord Jesus Christ used the text in His Own prophetic teaching recorded in the Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24-25), specifically, Matthew 24:15. Also, the apostle Paul employed the teaching of Daniel in his explanation to the Thessalonians regarding the Day of the Lord and its timing. In the Apocalypse (Revelation), the Apostle John also showed the connection of the prophecy of the seventy sevens to the events prophesied in chapters 11-13. So Matthew, 2 Thessalonians, and Revelation all connect future prophetic events from our standpoint in the present to the ancient, exact, and complex prophecy of Daniel 9:24-27.

Therefore, Daniel’s prophecy in that passage and prophecies elsewhere in his book are critical to unlocking other prophetic truth in Scripture. Moreover, the prophecy of the seventy sevens is profoundly important with respect to the truthfulness of Scripture. It provides “evidential value” for the veracity of God’s Word. This is recognized by the fact that the first sixty-nine sevens (483 years) prophesied in the passage has already been fulfilled. Thus, they are a matter of history. This is another affirmation of the fact of the Divine inspiration of the Bible (2 Timothy 3:16). The prophecy, for example, foretold five centuries in advance the very day Messiah would ride into Jerusalem and present Himself to the Jews as Messiah (Daniel 9:25; Matthew 21:1-9).

With the current crisis, Hamas’ attack on Israel, underway, the question looms in the minds of many: What does Bible prophecy have to say about this turn of events in Israel’s experience?

First, the current conflict fulfills the prediction in Daniel 9:26, which, in part, states, “even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined.” Earlier in the verse, the prediction regarding the city and sanctuary that is Jerusalem and the temple is given. That part of the prophecy refers to A.D. 70 when the Roman general Titus destroyed both. Jesus also foretold this event in Matthew 24:1-2.

As bad as the current war is for Israel, it will be worse for that nation in the future. The coming tribulation period prophesied by John in the Book of Revelation (6-18) will be, as Jeremiah 30:7 predicts, “The time of Jacob’s distress.” Jeremiah additionally writes in that verse that it will be a unique time of trouble for Israel. This tribulation period is also known as Daniel’s seventieth seven, the final seven years or 490^th seven of his prophecy.

The antichrist will make a covenant with Israel and break in the middle of the seven-year period, 3 ½ years into the agreement (Daniel 9:27). The book of Revelation tells us that Jacob’s distress will be intense in those final years. They are called the Great Tribulation (Revelation 11:2; 12:6; 13:5). During the final half of the tribulation period, the whole world will give its allegiance to the antichrist or suffer persecution and death.

Significantly, the final event of the Great Tribulation is the campaign or war of Armageddon. In this war, all the armies of the earth will gather against Israel and, in one last and unsuccessful attempt, seek to eradicate the Jewish people (Revelation 14:19-20; 16:12-16; 19:19-21).

But at His second coming, the Lord Jesus Christ will fight for His people, Israel. He will destroy armies of the world arrayed against His people (Revelation 19:11-21). The Lord Jesus will establish His thousand-year reign (Revelation 20:1-7). Israel will have a central role in the millennial kingdom of Christ on the earth (Isaiah 2:2-4; 9:6-7; 11:1-10; 19:23-25; 45:22-25; 56:6-8; Zechariah 8:20-23; 14:16-19).

Israel’s future is secure as to its national existence and future blessing. This is so because it has been Divinely predetermined. No man, nation or nations, armies or Satan can alter what God has decreed, period!

*You may access the Sunday school lesson “God’s Program for Israel” by clicking here.

Additional resources for this subject matter can be found in the MacArthur Study Bible study notes on the Book of Daniel. For a chronology of Daniel 9:24-27, consult Harrold Hoehner’s Chronological Aspects of the Life of Christ.