Christ in the Old Testament

Daniel 9:24

“Seventy ‘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 Place.” (NIV)

Today’s Reading: Daniel 9:24

The next event to take place in the decree of seventy “sevens” is that sin will end. Has this already happened or is it still yet to come?

There are two key Hebrew words in the phrase “put an end to sin”. The first Hebrew word is tāmam which consistently conveys the idea of bringing something to completion. It could be a period of time, an assignment or even a person’s life. It’s not merely that something ceases to occur anymore, it is actually finished.

The second Hebrew word is ḥaṭṭā’t which is the principal noun we translate as “sin”. It can describe the offense itself, its penalty or even the sacrifice required due to the offense. The first time this word was used is in Genesis 4:

“Then the Lord said to Cain, ‘Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin [ḥaṭṭā’t] is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it’” (Gen 4:6-7).

We can see from just this verse in Genesis that sin is more than an act. It’s a thing that must be dealt with. It’s more than just not acting right. It’s almost like a virus. If your immune system is weak, it penetrates your body and infects you. It won’t go away on its own. We have to fight it and kill it. Once sin gets us, it won’t go away on its own. And unlike the virus, we can’t get ride of it ourselves. It’s like a stain that only God can remove. So did Jesus already put an end to sin or is that still yet to be done?

There are two primary interpretations to this event. One is that Jesus has already accomplished this on the cross by ending sin’s dominion over man. The New Testament writings could support this view:

“Otherwise Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But he has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him” (Heb 9:26-28).

“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (Rom 8:1-4).

Hebrews says that Christ was sacrificed to take away the sins of many. Interestingly though that it says he only took away the sins of “many” and not “everyone”. So some people didn’t have their sin taken away. Hebrews also says that Jesus will come a second time. This next time he won’t “bear” sin but will bring salvation. The NLT says:

“He will come again, not to deal with our sins, but to bring salvation to all who are eagerly waiting for him.”

Paul says to the Romans that Jesus condemned sin on the cross and now the righteous requirement has been fully satisfied. Sin no longer has power over those who belong to him because we now live according to the Spirit. Again the NLT says:

“He [God] sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins.

I think both of these Scriptures leave the door open a bit. Sin has been dealt with and it no longer has control over those of us that believe in Jesus for our salvation. But it still has control over everyone else. So has sin been brought to completion? Has sin met its end? The other interpretation is that sin will end when Jesus returns again. Funny enough there are Scriptures to support this as well:

I will take the Israelites out of the nations where they have gone. I will gather them from all around and bring them back into their own land. I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. There will be one king over all of them and they will never again be two nations or be divided into two kingdoms. They will no longer defile themselves with their idols and vile images or with any of their offenses, for I will save them from all their sinful backsliding, and I will cleanse them. They will be my people, and I will be their God” (Ezek 37:21-23).

“On that day a fountain will be opened to the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and impurity” (Zech 13:1).

The final cleansing of sin, particularly for the Jews, doesn’t seem to have happened yet. If we are looking at Scripture with our focus on the Jews, for them sin has not ended. There is still a time to come when the Jewish people see Jesus as their Messiah and then they will be cleansed from their sin.

Regardless of which interpretation you subscribe to, the point of Daniel 9:24 is not to help us predict what will happen when Jesus returns again or even when Jesus would come the first time. The point is that there is a hope that all things will be made new. God sees us. Jesus is coming. When we die, it’s not the end. We have access to an everlasting righteousness and there is a time coming when we will no longer sin. All praise to Jesus that sin has been defeated and no longer has power over us if we live according to the Spirit!

Today’s Prayer: Thank you Jesus that I have a hope in you. Help me live today knowing that sin’s fate is sealed and no longer has power over me. Help me live according to the Spirit in everything that I do.