In chapter 9 of Daniel, Daniel is giving his third vision. Daniel was the only prophet that received a wide view of the future events that would take place for the both the people of Israel and the Gentiles. In order for one to understand the prophecies that take place in the book of Daniel, one must fully understand that prophecies that are given in chapter 9. Daniel was given the prophetic perspective on the fate of the Gentiles and the Jews.
At the beginning of chapter 9, the prophecy of Jeremiah is brought into the picture. Jeremiah prophesied that Jerusalem would suffer 70 years of desolation. “For thus says the Lord, ‘When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place. “ For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 1You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you,’ declares the Lord, ‘and I will restore your fortunes and will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you,’ declares the Lord, ‘and I will bring you back to the place from where I sent you into exile.’” (Jer. 29:10-14) Daniel gained access to the writing of the prophet Jeremiah. Daniel fully understood what the writing meant so when he read the prophecies of Jeremiah, he became encouraged to pray that Jerusalem be restored. Daniel believed that the seventy years mentioned in the writings of Jeremiah were literal and would be fulfilled. Although Daniel had much faith that the prophecies would take place, he also believed that much prayer would be needed to push things forward. Daniel would pray three times a day while look down at Jerusalem from his room.
Daniel also understood that in order for restoration to occur for Jerusalem, there must be confession of sins. Through his confessions and intercessory prayer, Jerusalem could begin the restoration process.
“So I gave my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes. I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed and said, “Alas, O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and loving-kindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments.” (Dan. 9:3-4)
In these to verses, Daniel is now fully preparing himself to go before God in prayer. Daniel has taking on the posture of praying without any distractions and full humility. Full concentration and focus were elements Daniel knew he needed in order to show God that this was something he took seriously. Daniel took every step possible to ensure that nothing would prevent his prayers to be effective on the behalf of Jerusalem. Daniel fasted as a sign of sacrifice and humility. Daniel wanted to show God that He was the ultimate source of his strength and survival. The sacrifices that Daniel made to God were an attempt to counter the sins of the children of Israel (through prayer).
“ We have sinned, committed iniquity, acted wickedly and rebelled, even turning aside from Your commandments and ordinances. Moreover, we have not listened to Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings, our princes, our fathers and all the people of the land. “Righteousness belongs to You, O Lord, but to us open shame, as it is this day—to the men of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, those who are nearby and those who are far away in all the countries to which You have driven them, because of their unfaithful deeds which they have committed against You. Open shame belongs to us, O Lord, to our kings, our princes and our fathers, because we have sinned against You. To the Lord our God belong compassion and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against Him; nor have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in His teachings which He set before us through His servants the prophets. Indeed all Israel has transgressed Your law and turned aside, not obeying Your voice; so the curse has been poured out on us, along with the oath which is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, for we have sinned against Him. Thus He has confirmed His words which He had spoken against us and against our rulers who ruled us, to bring on us great calamity; for under the whole heaven there has not been done anything like what was done to Jerusalem. As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this calamity has come on us; yet we have not sought the favor of the Lord our God by turning from our iniquity and giving attention to Your truth. Therefore the Lord has kept the calamity in store and brought it on us; for the Lord our God is righteous with respect to all His deeds which He has done, but we have not obeyed His voice.” (Dan. 9:5-14)
“Adding to all their earlier sins, Israel in their extremity did not turn to the Lord in prayer: “yet made we not our prayer before the Lord our God, that we might turn from our iniquities, and understand thy truth.” Even in the midst of the terrible manifestation of the righteous judgment of God, there was no revival; no turning to God; rulers and people alike persisted in their evil ways. What Daniel is saying is that God had no alternative, even though He was a God of mercy; for when mercy is spurned, judgment is inevitable. Daniel, accordingly, concludes in verse 14, “Therefore hath the Lord watched upon the evil, and brought it upon us: for the Lord our God is righteous in all his works which he doeth: for we obeyed not his voice.” Porteous says that the word watched, which can also be translated “keep ready” or “vigilant,” is the same word Jeremiah uses when he tells how God was watchful over His word to perform it (Jer 1:12; cf. 31:28; 44:27). Jehovah was being faithful in keeping His word both in blessings and in cursings, which must have encouraged Daniel in anticipating the end of the captivity.” (Porteous, p. 138)
Although God is a God of mercy, the people of Israel left Him no choice but to deliver His judgment. God sent faithful prophets and leaders to warn the people of Israel about repenting of their sins. People continued to live and act in a manner that differed from what was instructed by God. God’s hand was forced and Israel had to face the judgment that was promised.
“And now, O Lord our God, who have brought Your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand and have made a name for Yourself, as it is this day—we have sinned, we have been wicked. O Lord, in accordance with all Your righteous acts, let now Your anger and Your wrath turn away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain; for because of our sins and the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people have become a reproach to all those around us. So now, our God, listen to the prayer of Your servant and to his supplications, and for Your sake, O Lord, let Your face shine on Your desolate sanctuary. O my God, incline Your ear and hear! Open Your eyes and see our desolations and the city which is called by Your name; for we are not presenting our supplications before You on account of any merits of our own, but on account of Your great compassion. O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and take action! For Your own sake, O my God, do not delay, because Your city and Your people are called by Your name.” (Daniel 9:15-19)
Daniel knew of the character of God as being a God of mercy and compassion. God had already proven His mercies for His people and the ability to deliver His people in Egypt. Daniel’s knowledge of God and compassion for his people enable him to pray effectively. There previous prophecies that had gone forth declared both God’s judgment and His righteous. Being that it was stated by the prophet Jeremiah that God would free His people from Babylon after 70 years, Daniel had a basis on which he could make his appeal. Daniel appealed on the word of God.
“With his petition now grounded on the fact that an answer would be to the glory of God, Daniel now adds one further item, namely, that the sanctuary itself, the place where God met man in sacrifice, was in desolation and that the whole sacrificial system had fallen into disuse because of the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple. Accordingly, in verse 17, he beseeches God to “hear the prayer of thy servant, and his supplications” and, in answer to Daniel’s petition, to “cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord’s sake.” Ultimately, it was not simply the restoration of Israel which Daniel sought, nor the restoration of Jerusalem or even of the temple, but specifically the sanctuary with its altars of sacrifice and its holy of holies.” (Tatford pg. 155)
“Now while I was speaking and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God in behalf of the holy mountain of my God, while I was still speaking in prayer, then the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision previously, came to me in my extreme weariness about the time of the evening offering. He gave me instruction and talked with me and said, “O Daniel, I have now come forth to give you insight with understanding. At the beginning of your supplications the command was issued, and I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed; so give heed to the message and gain understanding of the vision.” (Daniel 9:20-23)
While Daniel was praying, his requests were noted and the answer was heading to him. Gabriel was a messenger of heaven that was in charge of getting the message to Daniel. Based on what Daniel says in this scripture, one can assume that God ordered Gabriel to deliver the message to Daniel at the beginning of his prayer. Although Daniel was not praying for himself but for his people, God wanted to send him a message that would affirm his (Daniel) actions. Gabriel needed to help Daniel understand that his payers were being heard by God. Daniel also needed to understand the full scope of the 70 week prophecy and the inevitability of Christ’s return.
“Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy place. So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of distress. Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined. And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate.” (Daniel 9:24-27)
There are many different views on how to interpret “70 weeks”. In reference to the prophet Jeremiah’s prophecy of the 70 years of desolation, one could assume that the “70 weeks” points back to those previous writings. The issue comes when trying to interpret the literal meaning of the word “weeks”. In the case of the prophecy, it is important to cross reference all scriptures and let scripture interpret scripture.
“Daniel the prophet receives an intriguing prophecy from the archangel Gabriel in this passage, known as the Seventy Weeks Prophecy, for Gabriel gives a seventy-week time frame for the coming of the Messiah. He divides the first sixty-nine weeks into two periods, the first of seven weeks and the second of sixty-two weeks.
The prophecy shows that the Messiah would die, "but not for Himself." That is in perfect agreement with the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ! He gave Himself to redeem us from our bondage to sinand death (Galatians 1:3-5; Ephesians 2:1).
Next, the prophecy says He would "confirm a covenant with many." Is this not what He did? Did He not become the Mediator of a new and better covenant (Hebrews 9:15)? When He instituted the new symbols for the Passover, Jesus says about the wine, "For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins" (Matthew 26:28; see Mark 14:24).
Then Gabriel prophesies that the Messiah would bring to an end to the need for ritual animal sacrifices and offerings. The writer of Hebrews plainly states, "For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins" (Hebrews 10:4). Christ's sacrifice was much more effective: "Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption" (Hebrews 9:12).
The angel says the Messiah would accomplish this "in the middle [midst, KJV] of the week." Obviously, its primary meaning refers to the middle of the seventieth week, or literally, three and a half years, the exact length of Christ's ministry. However, as we have seen, God fulfills His prophecies perfectly. Not only did Jesus' ministry last for three and a half years, but He also died on a Wednesday, the exact middle day of a week!” (Ritenbaugh)

I personally don’t believe that in Daniel 9:27 deals with Christ. If you take the approach or Ritenbaugh, what would the remaining three and a half years of the prophecy represent once Christ died? One must ask what type of calendar and timing does the scripture references when prophetic timing is given. I believe that the anti-Christ will make a treaty during the 7 years of tribulation and break it half way through. Jesus Christ speaks about this period of time and refers to it as the great tribulation. “Therefore when you see the abomination of desolation which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains. Whoever is on the housetop must not go down to get the things out that are in his house. Whoever is in the field must not turn back to get his cloak. But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! 20 But pray that your flight will not be in the winter, or on a Sabbath. For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will” (Matt. 24:15-21).
We see that the prophecy of the seventy weeks ends with the second coming of Jesus. The second coming of Christ will bring the seventieth seven to a close. Both Jews and Gentiles will reach a common ground and a common truth; there will be no salvation or deliverance from hell without accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

Bibliography
Miller, Stephen R. Daniel. Nashville: B&H Publishing, 1994.
NASB Bible . LaHabra: The Lockman Foundation, 960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995.
Porteous, Norman W. Daniel: A commentary. Westminister: Westminster John Knox, 1965.
Ritenbaugh, Richard T. "After Three Days." Bible Tool. 1995. http://www.bibletools.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/Library.sr/CT/CGGBOOKLETS/k/419/After-Three-Days.htm (accessed November 18, 2014).
Tatford, Frederick A. Climax of Ages. Oliphants Limited, 1964.