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. (Dan 9:24)

When the angel Gabriel brings his message of "seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and holy city" (Dan 9:24), the time was allotted for six specific purposes.

1. To finish the transgression

Transgression describes the action of intentionally overstepping the boundary of God's word. "To finish the transgression" suggests the allowance of this willful act of disobedience of God's moral law and behaving in a profane manner to a certain extent before bringing it to end. It is reminiscent of God speaking to Abram:

Then in the fourth generation they will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete. (Gen 15:16)

2. To make an end of sin

Sin, desiring anything apart from the love for God, will come to an end. Combined with "to finish the transgression," this suggests that sin will cease to exist. The complete removal of all sin seems only possible when all mortal human beings no longer exist.

For Old Testament Believers like Daniel, who were living under the Law of Moses, this was likely an inconceivable thought. As New Testament Believers, living under the New Covenant, continue to sin, this thought comes within the realm of possibility.

5) For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6) knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; 7) for he who has died has been justified from sin. (Rom 6:5-7)

3. To make atonement for iniquity

People have until the end of the 70th week to atone for their iniquity; in other words, come to faith in Jesus Christ's sacrificial death of atonement. Thereafter, people are judged for their iniquity.

4. To bring an everlasting righteousness

With the elimination of iniquity, transgression and sin, an everlasting righteousness is the result. This seems possible only when human beings are no longer present. For righteousness to be everlasting, it seems possible when only glorified human beings are present.

14) But this I confess to you, that according to the Way, which they call a sect, I do serve the God of our fathers, believing everything that is in accordance with the Law and that is written in the Prophets; 15) having a hope in God, for which these men are waiting, that there shall certainly be a resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous. (Acts 24:14-15)

5. To seal up vision and prophecy

The Hebrew behind "to seal up" can be better understood as "to make an end." The sealing up of Daniel's vision and prophecy meant that they would come to an end by the 70th week. In reference to God's response to Daniel's appeal to His lovingkindness, the end of the 70th week would usher in God's Divine Kingdom.

This does not appear to include the fulfillment of God's Abrahamic Covenant, which occurs after the Millennial Kingdom.

6. To anoint the most holy place

This is difficult to understand. Anointing the Most Holy Place has its basis in Exodus 29:44-45 where God consecrates the Tabernacle; it is the space that is sanctified, set apart, and devoted to God.

But with Jesus Christ’s death and atonement, there seems little reason for anointing the Holy of Holies.

11) But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation, 12) and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy places once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. (Heb 9:11-12)

Yet Daniel's prophecy seems to indicate that the Temple exists during this 70th week:

And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will make sacrifice and grain offering cease;... (Dan 9:27)

It appears that this anointing of the Holy of Holies occurs in the last week. However, it is difficult to understand this interpretation.

Since the Jesus' triumphant arrival into Jerusalem on the last day of the 69th week (Dan 9:24-25), there is no historical evidence that all of the above purposes (particularly the complete cessation of transgression, sin, and iniquity), were achieved in the following 7 years. Thus, most scholars believe that there is a gap of time between the 69th and 70th week.

It is important to note that Daniel's prophecy indicates that the crucifixion of Jesus Christ took place after the 69th week (Dan 9:26). However, this reference does not prove that the 70th week was continuous, because Daniel refers to a person who "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" (Dan 9:27).

The book of Revelation offers a possible explanation for this gap between the 69th and 70th week of Daniel's prophecy. Midway through the book of Revelation and after the sixth trumpet, there is a break involving a strong angel with a little scroll / book. Observing a "strong" angel coming down from heaven and standing on earth holding a small scroll / book up towards heaven, the apostle John is instructed to take the book and eat it (Rev 10:1-11). By eating the scroll, the apostle John receives prophetic material in addition to what he sees (Rev 1:19).

Among the many things reported, the apostle John writes that the resurrection of Jesus (Rev 12:5) heralds the heavenly arrival of Jesus Christ the King and His authority to remove Satan and his angelic followers from the heavenly kingdom of God (Rev 12:7-11).

Now confined to earth, Satan was determined to persecute Believers (Rev 12:13), and in his narrative, the apostle John introduced the Antichrist (Rev 13:1 - Beast from the Sea). Of particular interest was that Satan gave the Antichrist his power, throne and great authority (Rev 13:2). This is remarkable, because nowhere else in the Bible is Satan portrayed as the one who gives "power (including supernatural – Rev 13:3-4), a throne, and great authority!"

As the Daniel's prophecy clearly demonstrated to Nebuchadnezzar, only God, the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind, bestows authority and dominion on whomever He wishes (Dan 4:19-37).

Thus, God allowed Satan to empower the Antichrist.

Although in reality God indirectly controlled the Antichrist, the apostle Paul speaks of Satan's direct "restraint" of the Antichrist to the Thessalonians.

Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God. Do you not remember that while I was still with you, I was telling you these things? And you know what restrains him now, so that in his time he will be revealed. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming; that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. (2 Thess 2:3-10)

Because Daniel's prophecy of the 70th week begins with the emergence of the "one who makes desolate," the period between the 69th and 70th week is the time that elapses until Satan empowers the Antichrist (the Beast from the Sea).

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." (Dan 9:27)