Mark 1:15 (N(V): "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent and believe the good news!"
The End of Exile and the Dawn of God’s Kingdom
When Daniel sat down with the ancient scrolls, reading Jeremiah’s prophecy about seventy years of exile, he must have felt a spark of hope. Seventy years, and then restoration? But when God answered through the angel Gabriel, the message was bigger than Daniel ever expected: not just seventy years, but seventy weeks of years—490 years—until the real fulfillment of Israel’s story. This wasn’t just about counting time; it was about something far greater unfolding.
People have puzzled over this passage for centuries. Is it a coded timeline for the end of the world? A cryptic puzzle predicting world events? Or is it something much more profound—a vision of God’s long-awaited kingdom finally breaking in?
A Cry for Restoration
Daniel’s prayer in chapter 9 is raw and heartfelt. He confesses Israel’s sins, pleading with God to bring an end to their exile. But exile wasn’t just about geography—it was about brokenness, disobedience, and separation from God. Israel had physically returned to the land, but their true spiritual exile wasn’t over.
To understand exile in biblical thought, we must recognize that it is not merely about foreign occupation. Throughout the Old Testament, exile represents a loss of God’s presence—a spiritual condition rather than just a national crisis. This sets the stage for how the seventy weeks unfold.¹
Dispensationalists argue that Daniel’s prophecy is primarily about Israel’s national and physical restoration in the future. They see the seventy weeks as a countdown to the return of a future political kingdom in which Israel will be fully restored in the land, with a rebuilt temple and resumed sacrifices.²
The problem with this view is that it misses the deeper reality of exile. The Israelites returned to the land after Babylon, but they still felt under occupation—first by Persia, then Greece, then Rome. The real exile wasn’t just about geography; it was about sin and separation from God. Jesus addressed this head-on, offering forgiveness of sins as the true return from exile (Mark 2:5-12).³ The restoration Daniel longed for was always about God’s presence with His people, not just a geopolitical event.
The Meaning of the Seventy Weeks
The prophecy lays out a timeline:
- Seven weeks (49 years) to rebuild the city.
- Sixty-two weeks (434 years) leading up to a major anointed figure.
- A final week (7 years) where an anointed one will be “cut off” and the temple will face destruction.
Jews in the first century were waiting for this moment. They had done the math. They knew the time was close. But when the Messiah arrived, he didn’t fit their expectations. He didn’t come as a warrior. He came as a servant.
Many dispensationalists insist that the final week—seven years—has not yet happened. They argue that there is a “gap” between the sixty-ninth and seventieth weeks, postponing the final seven years until the future Tribulation period, which will usher in the return of Christ.⁴
The idea of a gap is not found anywhere in the text. Gabriel speaks of seventy weeks as a single, continuous timeline. The idea of postponing the seventieth week contradicts the way prophecy works in Scripture. Jesus himself understood the prophecy as being fulfilled in his time, not in some distant era. He declared, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near” (Mark 1:15).⁵ The so-called “gap” is an artificial construct imposed on the text rather than drawn from it.
Jesus and the True End of Exile
If we want to understand this prophecy, we need to see how Jesus fulfills it in ways no one saw coming.
- He announced forgiveness of sins—the true return from exile (Mark 2:5-12).
- He warned of the coming destruction of Jerusalem, echoing Daniel’s prophecy (Matthew 24:15-21).
- He became the anointed one who was “cut off”, executed as a criminal but rising as the true King (Daniel 9:26).
- He established a new covenant, putting an end to the old system of sacrifice—not by rejecting it, but by fulfilling it in himself (Daniel 9:27).
Dispensationalists argue that Daniel’s prophecy is about a coming Antichrist, not Jesus. They interpret the “anointed one who is cut off” as a future political figure who will be killed before a final period of tribulation.⁶
The text never says anything about the Antichrist. The idea that Daniel 9 is about a future world leader is reading into the passage rather than reading from it. The “anointed one” (Messiah) is clearly identified in the New Testament as Jesus, who was “cut off” through crucifixion. His death was not a failure but the very means by which God ended exile and established His kingdom.⁷
The seventy weeks weren’t leading to a new temple made of stone. They were pointing to Jesus himself as the true Temple (John 2:19-21).
A Kingdom That Changes Everything
Too often, people take Daniel 9 and try to turn it into a prophetic puzzle about the end times. But if we do that, we miss the point. Daniel’s vision wasn’t about a timeline for a distant future—it was about God’s kingdom arriving in Jesus.
Yes, judgment did come. The destruction of the Temple in AD 70 was a seismic event, marking the definitive end of the old system. But the real fulfillment of Daniel’s prophecy wasn’t about destruction—it was about new creation breaking into the world through Jesus.
The exile is over. The kingdom has come. The real question is:
How will we respond?
Footnotes
- See Isaiah 40:1-5, which connects exile to the need for spiritual renewal.
- John F. Walvoord, Daniel: The Key to Prophetic Revelation (Chicago: Moody Press, 1971), 227-229.
- N.T. Wright, Jesus and the Victory of God (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1996), 268-272.
- Tim LaHaye and Thomas Ice, Charting the End Times (Eugene: Harvest House, 2001), 89-92.
- Mark 1:15, showing Jesus’ declaration that the prophetic time was fulfilled.
- John MacArthur, The Second Coming (Wheaton: Crossway, 1999), 13
- Matthew 26:28, where Jesus establishes the new covenant in his blood.
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