1In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the offspring of the Medes, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans— 2in the first year of his reign I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years about which Yahweh’s word came to Jeremiah the prophet for the accomplishing of the desolations of Jerusalem, even seventy years. 3I set my face to the Lord God, to seek by prayer and petitions, with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.
4I prayed to Yahweh my God, and made confession, and said,
“Oh, Lord, the great and dreadful God, who keeps covenant and loving kindness with those who love him and keep his commandments, 5we have sinned, and have dealt perversely, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even turning aside from your precepts and from your ordinances. 6We haven’t listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.
7“Lord, righteousness belongs to you, but to us confusion of face, as it is today; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, who are near and who are far off, through all the countries where you have driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against you. 8Lord, to us belongs confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against you. 9To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against him. 10We haven’t obeyed Yahweh our God’s voice, to walk in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets. 11Yes, all Israel have transgressed your law, turning aside, that they should not obey your voice.
“Therefore the curse and the oath written in the law of Moses the servant of God has been poured out on us, for we have sinned against him. 12He has confirmed his words, which he spoke against us and against our judges who judged us, by bringing on us a great evil; for under the whole sky, such has not been done as has been done to Jerusalem. 13As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil has come on us. Yet we have not entreated the favor of Yahweh our God, that we should turn from our iniquities and have discernment in your truth. 14Therefore Yahweh has watched over the evil, and brought it on us; for Yahweh our God is righteous in all his works which he does, and we have not obeyed his voice.
15“Now, Lord our God, who has brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and have gotten yourself renown, as it is today, we have sinned. We have done wickedly. 16Lord, according to all your righteousness, please let your anger and your wrath be turned away from your city Jerusalem, your holy mountain; because for our sins and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and your people have become a reproach to all who are around us.
17“Now therefore, our God, listen to the prayer of your servant and to his petitions, and cause your face to shine on your sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord’s sake. 18My God, turn your ear and hear. Open your eyes and see our desolations, and the city which is called by your name; for we do not present our petitions before you for our righteousness, but for your great mercies’ sake. 19Lord, hear. Lord, forgive. Lord, listen and do. Don’t defer, for your own sake, my God, because your city and your people are called by your name.”
20While I was speaking, praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before Yahweh my God for the holy mountain of my God— 21yes, while I was speaking in prayer—the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening offering. 22He instructed me and talked with me, and said, “Daniel, I have now come to give you wisdom and understanding. 23At the beginning of your petitions the commandment went out, and I have come to tell you, for you are greatly beloved. Therefore consider the matter and understand the vision.
24“Seventy weeks are decreed on your people and on your holy city, to finish disobedience, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy.
25“Know therefore and discern that from the going out of the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem to the Anointed One, the prince, will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks. It will be built again, with street and moat, even in troubled times. 26After the sixty-two weeks the Anointed One will be cut off, and will have nothing. The people of the prince who come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end will be with a flood, and war will be even to the end. Desolations are determined. 27He will make a firm covenant with many for one week. In the middle of the week he will cause the sacrifice and the offering to cease. On the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate; and even to the decreed full end, wrath will be poured out on the desolate.”
Daniel was a remarkable man who lived in a vortex of world conflict. He witnessed the fall of three great empires: Assyria, Egypt, and Babylon. He witnessed the rise of two superpowers: Babylon and Persia. He survived the destruction of his own nation, Judah, where he belonged to a noble or even a royal family. The Bible states that he was handsome and intelligent. Yet he suffered deeply and personally. His compassionate faith and uncompromising ethics were a beacon to his fellow exiles and a thorn to his rivals.
Captured by foreign enemies at about twelve years old, he survived brutal treatment and, over sixty-nine years, advised three great rulers: Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar of Babylon and Darius the Mede. He walked with kings but never lost the common touch. God loved him especially and gave him sweeping visions of generations yet unborn and understanding beyond the scope of ordinary men. His visions were so conceptually vast that they sometimes exhausted Daniel’s imagination and physical strength.
Daniel foretold the political events of the ancient Middle East across 542 years with pinpoint accuracy. His clairvoyance so astonishes that attributing it to human agency stretches credulity beyond the breaking point. Cold, logical analysis of Daniel’s prophecies points to an amazing conclusion: Daniel wrote through supernatural insight, or, simply put, God showed him the future.
The times in which Daniel lived and the events that unfolded in the years about which he prophesied are history worth knowing. They are a vivid drama of man’s failed attempts to rule the world and assume divine prerogatives. Repeatedly, God intervened, steering history on the path He plainly had foretold centuries before. Over the vast ambitions of men and empires He purposefully fashioned and founded the prophesied Messianic Kingdom not made by human hands.
The thesis of Daniel is consistent: God, not man, is sovereign over human events. All history points to a glorious apex: the advent of Messiah the Prince. Daniel’s prophecy pinpoints the Year of the Cross, in which Jesus was anointed, “cut off,” atoned for sin, ascended to the Father, and established His eternal kingdom.