Daniel’s Seventy Weeks prophesied the destruction of the second temple: “The people (Romans) of the prince (antichrist) who is to come shall destroy the city (Jerusalem) and the sanctuary (temple)” (Daniel 9:26). At the Triumphal Entry Jesus prophesied through tears that Jerusalem would be destroyed, but the disciples thought the temple would never be destroyed (again). Then, Jesus began the Olivet Discourse with this astounding statement: “As for these things that you see, the days will come when there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down” (Luke 21:6).

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Table of contentsDaniel Prophesied the Messiah Would Die as a CriminalDaniel Prophesied the Messiah Would Lose EverythingThe People of the Prince Who Is to ComeDaniel Prophesied the Destruction of the Second TempleThe Two DecreesJeremiah’s Weeping for the Jews Prefigured Jesus’s Weeping for the JewsJesus's Response After the Triumphal EntryJesus Prophesied that the Romans Would Destroy JerusalemThe Context for the Olivet DiscourseJesus Prophesied the Destruction of the Second Temple

I read an article from Popular Mechanics titled, The World's 10 Toughest Buildings. I’ll share the top three with you.

Number three is One World Trade Center in New York, the main building of the rebuilt World Trade Center complex. At 1,776 feet, it is the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere and can withstand powerful winds.

Number two is Torre Mayor in Mexico City, a 738-foot-tall office tower that can withstand an earthquake of 8.5 on the Richter Scale. In 2003, when a 7.6 earthquake hit, the workers inside didn’t feel the tremors.

Number one is Taipei 101 in Taipei, Taiwan, a 1,667-foot tower 660 feet from a major fault line. The design incorporates many features that enable the structure to withstand the Pacific Ring of Fire's earthquakes and tropical storms.

If the Jews in the Old Testament wrote this Popular Mechanics article, Solomon’s Temple might have topped the list of the world’s toughest buildings. If the Jews in the New Testament wrote this Popular Mechanics article, Herod’s Temple might have topped the list. But both of these temples were destroyed. The destruction of the second temple was prophesied in Daniel 9:26 and Luke 21:6.

Daniel Prophesied the Messiah Would Die as a Criminal

Daniel 9:26a And after the sixty-two weeks, an Anointed One shall be cut off

After 62 weeks, Jesus made His Triumphal Entry, and five days later, He was crucified ("cut off"). It unfolded precisely as Daniel prophesied. The words “cut off” mean more than just that Jesus would die. The Hebrew word for killed or died, mûṯ, occurs 835 times in the Old Testament. But the Hebrew word for "cut off" is kāraṯ, and it refers to a guilty person being cut off or killed because of his sin:

Genesis 9:11 [God said], “I establish My covenant with you: Never again shall all flesh be cut off (kāraṯ) by the waters of the flood.”

Proverbs 2:22 the wicked will be cut off (kāraṯ) from the earth.

Psalm 37:9 evildoers shall be cut off (kāraṯ).

The word for “cut off” is used 20 times in Leviticus to describe people who have to be executed or cut off because of their sin. Daniel didn’t prophesy that Jesus would die a natural death. Instead, he prophesied that He would die as a guilty criminal. And this wasn’t the only Old Testament verse making this prophecy. Isaiah 53:12 says, "He was numbered with the transgressors."

Daniel prophesied that Jesus would die for His sin. You might cringe when I say that because we know Jesus was sinless, but when our sins were imputed to Christ, they became His sins: "For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Corinthians 5:21). When our sins were put to Jesus’ account, He became the guiltiest Person in history. And Daniel prophesied He would die a guilty criminal’s death.

Daniel Prophesied the Messiah Would Lose Everything

Daniel 9:26c and shall have nothing.

We know Jesus had little during His earthly life. He said, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head” (Luke 9:58). Daniel looked beyond this to all Jesus would lose at His death. He lost all His friends, followers, and disciples (except John). Even His clothes were gambled away. Crucifixion was the most shameful, humiliating death imaginable, so He also lost all human dignity and honor. He cried, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?” showing He even briefly lost His relationship with the Father. Finally, He lost His life.

Think about the reciprocation. Jesus came to this world and gave the world everything He could give, including His own life. He gave until He had nothing left. In return, He received nothing: "He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him" (John 1:10-11). He gave love to the world He created but received hatred in return.

The People of the Prince Who Is to Come

Daniel 9:25 Know therefore and understand that from the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of an Anointed One, a prince, there shall be seven weeks...26d And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary.

Daniel 9:25 prophesies Christ’s triumphal entry, and He’s called “a prince.” Daniel 9:26 introduces another prince. In most Bibles, such as the New King James, NASB, and Amplified, the prince in verse 25 is capitalized because it refers to Jesus. The prince in verse 26 is not capitalized because it refers to the antichrist. We have moved from the uppercase Prince to the lowercase prince.

The verse prophesies the destruction of the second temple by the prince’s people. This prince is often discussed in Daniel. In chapter 11, he’s called the willful king or vile person. In chapters 7-8, he’s called the little horn. Daniel 7 contains Daniel’s dream of the four beasts. Each beast represents a different kingdom:

Verse 4 says the first beast was like a lion, and it pictures Babylon.

Verse 5 says the second beast was like a bear, and it pictures Medo-Persia.

Verse 6 says the third beast was like a leopard, and it pictures Greece.

The fourth beast is in Daniel 7:7, and it represents Rome:

Daniel 7:7 After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, terrifying and dreadful and exceedingly strong. It had great iron teeth; it devoured and broke in pieces and stamped what was left with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns. 8 I considered the horns, and behold, there came up among them another horn, a little one, before which three of the first horns were plucked up by the roots. And behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things.

The beast, or Rome, has ten horns, and one of the horns, the little horn, comes up from among all the others. Even though the beasts represent kingdoms, the little horn is identified with a man because he’s the antichrist. He emerges from the fourth beast, Rome, because that’s the prince's people.

Daniel Prophesied the Destruction of the Second Temple

Daniel 9:26e Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed.

Using Daniel 9:25-26 the timeline looks like this: From the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem in Nehemiah 2 in 445 BC, there will be seven weeks, or 49 years, until 396 BC, when Jerusalem and the temple were rebuilt, and it says in a troubled time, which is precisely what Nehemiah describes. Sixty-two weeks, or 434 years later, or sixty-nine weeks, or 483 years after 445 BC, is 38 A.D., when the Anointed One, Jesus, makes His triumphal entry. Then, He is cut off or crucified. Finally, the people of the prince who is to come, the Romans, and the destruction of the second temple.

Daniel 9:26 does not describe a flood of water. It is a flood of soldiers, so it mentions war and desolations. The Romans made war with the Jews and desolated Jerusalem and the temple.

The Two Decrees

Daniel 9:25 contains the decree to restore and build Jerusalem. Daniel 9:26 contains the decree to destroy and desolate Jerusalem…after it was rebuilt…after being destroyed the first time. Isn’t that incredibly sad? Daniel 9:26 is simply an undoing of Daniel 9:25.

And isn’t this a microcosm of the Jews’ entire history: defeat, then restoration, then defeat, then restoration? To the Jews, destruction of the second temple seemed unimaginable, but it was precisely what God decreed would happen way back here in Daniel. And why did God decree it? The answer is in the same verse: the Jews cut off the Anointed One. They treated Him like a criminal and left Him with nothing. Ironically, if you talk to Orthodox Jews today, they will say Jesus can’t be their Messiah because He was rejected and crucified, but that’s what their Scriptures prophesied would happen!

Jeremiah’s Weeping for the Jews Prefigured Jesus’s Weeping for the Jews

Matthew 16:13 Jesus…asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 14 And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 

We are going to focus on why people would say Jesus is Jeremiah. We know Jeremiah is a picture or type of Jesus because of the rejection, betrayal, and suffering he experienced. But the problem is that when Jesus asked the disciples this question, Jesus had not experienced much rejection, betrayal, and suffering. All of that is still in the future.

So why did some people think Jesus was Jeremiah? I think it was because of their sorrow. Jeremiah is the author of Lamentations, and Jesus is "[The] man of sorrows and acquainted with grief" (Isaiah 53:3). Like Jeremiah,