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The book of Daniel contains two passages about the Messiah, and Jimmy Akin walks through both of them. In Daniel 7, a figure like a son of man comes with the clouds of heaven and receives a kingdom that will never be destroyed. Jimmy explains why that image points to a second divine figure, and why Jesus’ use of it at his trial led the high priest to cry blasphemy. Then he turns to Daniel 9, where the Messiah is cut off and Jerusalem and the temple are destroyed. The result is a clear look at how these texts shaped Jesus’ own claims.
TRANSCRIPT:
Coming Up
The book of Daniel is one of the most important prophetic books in the Old Testament.
Jesus quotes from it more than once, and that’s not surprising because it contains 2 passages that discuss the Messiah.
One describes a heavenly figure who receives a kingdom that will never be destroyed.
The other predicts that something devastating will happen to the Messiah . . . and to Jerusalem.
Let’s get into it!
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Howdy, folks!
We’re in our third year of the podcast now, and you can help me keep making this podcast for years to come—and get early access to new episodes—by going to Patreon.com/JimmyAkinPodcast
The Book of Daniel
The history of the book of Daniel is somewhat controversial among biblical scholars.
Some hold that it was written early and is based directly on the experiences of the prophet Daniel, who lived during the Babylonian exile, while others hold that it was written during a later period.
Whichever view is correct, the book contains passages that discuss the Messiah, and we’ll take up 2 of them.
One Like a Son of Man
The first is in Daniel 7, where Daniel has a vision of several monstrous animals that represent a series of pagan empires.
But the heavenly court sits in judgment, and God—the Ancient of Days—passes judgment on the final beast in the series.
Then, in Daniel 7:13 and 14, the prophet writes:
Daniel 7:13–14
I saw in the night visions,
and behold, with the clouds of heaven
there came one like a son of man,
and he came to the Ancient of Days [that is, God]
and was presented before him.
And to him was given dominion
and glory and kingdom,
that all peoples, nations, and languages
should serve him;
his dominion is an everlasting dominion,
which shall not pass away,
and his kingdom one
that shall not be destroyed.
Here we have a mysterious figure described as “one like a son of man.”
I talked about this figure back in Episode 83, on Christ’s ascension.
In the Bible, the phrase “son of man” can simply mean a human being.
For example, in the book of Ezekiel, God regularly addresses the prophet Ezekiel as “son of man,” because Ezekiel is a human.
But here in Daniel 7, the figure is said to be like a son of man, which raises the question of whether he is actually human.
He also comes “with the clouds of heaven,” and he was presented before God’s court in heaven.
He doesn’t originate on earth in the passage.
Instead, he is presented as coming from heaven, which suggests that he is a heavenly figure.
But he receives a universal kingdom, so that “all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him.”
And his kingdom “shall not pass away” and “shall not be destroyed.”
So he is a ruler with a universal and eternal reign, but he seems to have a heavenly origin.
The text doesn’t explicitly link him to the Davidic monarchy, so it doesn’t clearly present him as the Messiah.
But this passage is important.
Two Powers in Heaven
Readers of the Gospels will know that one of Jesus’ preferred titles for himself was “the Son of Man.”
He uses this title over and over, and it does not mean just a human being like it did in Ezekiel.
Instead, the Son of Man was a heavenly figure who played a special role in God’s plan in the literature of this period, and that title is based on the passage we just read from Daniel.
So Jesus identifies himself as the Son of Man that Daniel was talking about, and that figure was much more than a mere human.
This becomes clear from other passages in the Old Testament.
In Psalm 68:5, we read:
Psalm 68:5, NABRE
Sing to God, praise his name;
exalt the rider of the clouds.
Rejoice before him
whose name is the Lord.
So riding the clouds is a divine attribute, and this is one of multiple passages that depict God as riding on the clouds, and in Daniel 7, God shares that status with another figure.
That figure is the one like a son of man, who comes “with the clouds of heaven.”
This triggered a lot of speculation about the Son of Man figure in Second Temple Jewish literature.
Since he rides a cloud like God, is presented to God, and is given a universal kingdom like God, the Son of Man came to be regarded as a second divine figure.
This second figure came to be known as the “Lesser Yahweh” or the “Visible Yahweh,” and this complex of ideas became known as the “Two Powers in Heaven Doctrine”—which is something we can talk about more in the future.
This is also the background to Jesus’ interaction with the Jewish high priest at his trial.
In Mark 14, we read:
Mark 14:61–64
Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?”
And Jesus said, “I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.”
And the high priest tore his garments and said, “What further witnesses do we need? You have heard his blasphemy. What is your decision?”
Now claiming to be the Christ was not a blasphemy.
God was expected to send the Christ or Messiah, so claiming to be that figure was not blasphemy or speaking against God.
Neither was claiming to be the Son of the Blessed—that is, the Son of God.
The Jewish kings had long been regarded as adopted sons of God, as Psalm 2—one of the psalms about the Jewish king—says:
Psalm 2:7
The Lord said to me, “You are my Son;
today I have begotten you.”
As a Jewish king, the Messiah would also be an adopted son of God.
So claiming to be a son of God would not be blasphemy, either.
Then why does the high priest accuse Jesus of blasphemy?
It’s because Jesus invokes the Two Powers in Heaven doctrine, saying, “You will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming with the clouds of heaven.”
Jesus is saying, “You know the Lesser Yahweh figure? The Visible Yahweh? That’s who I am. I’m that guy.”
In other words, Jesus is claiming not just to be the Messiah and not just an adopted son of God.
He’s claiming to be divine himself, and that’s why the high priest regards what he’s saying as blasphemy.
So Jesus identifies himself as the one like a son of man in Daniel 7—the second power in heaven.
70 Weeks
The second passage in Daniel that discusses the Messiah refers specifically to an anointed one, or messiah.
It’s in Daniel 9.
In this chapter, Daniel has been reflecting on the prophecy of Jeremiah that the Babylonian exile would last for 70 years.
Daniel is near the end of that time, so he prays to God about the rebuilding of Jerusalem and its temple.
The angel Gabriel is sent to answer his prayer and deliver a message to Daniel.
The Hebrew of Daniel 9 is somewhat tricky to translate, so here is Gabriel’s message as translated by Andrew Steinmann from his commentary on the book:
Daniel 9:24–27
Seventy weeks are determined concerning your people and your holy city
to end transgression,
to finish sin,
and to atone for iniquity;
to bring everlasting righteousness,
to seal up vision and prophet,
and to anoint a Most Holy One.
You should know and have insight:
from the going forth of a word to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah, a Leader,
seven weeks, and sixty-two weeks when it again will have been built [with] plaza and moat,
but during the troubled times.
Then after the sixty-two weeks, Messiah will be cut off and have nothing.
Both the city and the holy place will be destroyed with a leader who is coming, and its end will be with a flood.
Until the end will be war, and desolations have been determined.
He will confirm a covenant for the many [during] one week. In the middle of the week, he will cause sacrifice and offering to cease.
On the wing of detested things (is) a desolator, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator.
Daniel is living at the end of the 70 years of the Babylonian exile, word is about to go out for Jerusalem to be rebuilt, and Gabriel tells him what will happen after this.
He refers to a mysterious period of “seventy weeks.”
Some hold that this means 70 weeks of years—or 490 years—but that isn’t what the text says.
The Hebrew term translated “weeks”—Shavu`im—can just mean Sevens, Heptads, Weeks.
So how long these sevens are supposed to be is debatable. It’s commonly translated weeks—meaning periods of seven days—because that’s one of the word’s common meanings.
However, it’s clear that a much longer period of time than just seventy weeks is envisioned.
That has led some to interpret the seventy sevens as a reference to that many years, but that’s not certain, either.
The text just refers to seventy sevens, and the sevens may just be a symbolic period of time rather than one of a specific, determinable length.
But—by the end of the 70 sevens—the Jewish people are said “to end transgression,” “to finish sin,” and “to atone for iniquity.”
They are also said “to bring everlasting righteousness,” “to seal up vision and prophet,” and “to anoint a Most Holy One.”
So the 70 sevens involve both a redemption from sin and the coming of a messiah—the anointed Most Holy One.
Gabriel then divides the 70 sevens into 3 periods.
- An initial period lasts 7 sevens.
- A longer period lasts 62 sevens.
- A final period lasts a single seven.
That makes 70 sevens in all.
The passage can be understood in different ways, but on one reading, Jerusalem will be rebuilt during the first period, the 7 sevens.
Then, during the 62 sevens, the rebuilt Jerusalem will stand, but the times will be troubled, so the future isn’t all rosy.
The most interesting period comes after the 62 sevens.
By the end of that period, “Messiah, a Leader” will have arrived.
This is presumably the “Most Holy One” who will be anointed.
But something will happen to the Messiah, because “after the sixty-two weeks, Messiah will be cut off and have nothing.”
Also, “both the city and the holy place”—meaning the rebuilt Jerusalem and its temple—will be destroyed.
This will happen in a war led by a leader who is coming.
During the final week, “he” will confirm a covenant, though it isn’t clear whether “he” is the Messiah or the coming, destructive leader.
Sacrifice and offering will then cease—a reference to the destruction of the rebuilt temple in the coming war.
But the ones causing the desolation in the war will eventually get what’s coming to them.
On this reading, the passage lays out a sequence of events.
- Jerusalem will be rebuilt and will stand for a long time, though the times will be troubled.
- The Messiah will arrive, but he will be cut off and have nothing.
- There will be a new covenant of some kind.
- A war will come, and the rebuilt Jerusalem and its temple will be destroyed.
All of this figured heavily in the apocalyptic thought of the first century—and in the teaching of Jesus, who both instituted a new covenant and predicted that the temple would be destroyed within his generation.
And that happened in A.D. 70, less than 40 years later.
Conclusion
So, to sum up, the book of Daniel gives us 2 passages that bear on the Messiah.
In Daniel 7, a heavenly figure—one like a son of man—receives a universal kingdom that shall not be destroyed, though the text doesn’t tie him to David.
In Mark 14, Jesus identifies himself as that figure—the second power in heaven.
In Daniel 9, the Messiah arrives after a long and troubled period, only to be cut off, and then Jerusalem and its temple are destroyed in a war.
In a future episode, we’ll take up what the prophets say about the age the Messiah would bring.
Incidentally, I write about this in my book Evidence for Christ: How We Know That Jesus Is the Messiah.
If you want the full case that Jesus is the Messiah, I hope you’ll get a copy, and be sure and let me know in the comments what you think.
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God bless you always!