Daniel's 70 Weeks, 3

The heart of the Daniel's prophecy is given in the very first verse: "70 '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." (Daniel 9:24) Of the six things mentioned in Daniel 9:24, the first three have to do with the problem of sin: "to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness." This problem was effectively dealt with, once and for all, by our Lord when he died on the cross: "But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself" (Hebrews 9:26).

Jesus came into this world to do more than remove the guilt of our sins: He perfectly obeyed the law of God that his righteousness might be credited to our account. He came that "God's righteousness" might be given "to all who believe" (Romans 3:22; cf. 2 Corinthians 5:21). This, too, had been revealed to Daniel: The Messiah would come in the seventieth seven "to bring in everlasting righteousness" (Daniel 9:24). Our Lord finished the work his Father gave him, "having obtained eternal redemption" (Hebrews 9:12).