Context – Daniel recognizes God’s just judgment for the exile, pleads for God’s forgiveness, and asks Him to restore the kingdom for His own glory. In response, God sends the angel Gabriel to give Daniel insight about the future of Jerusalem and the temple:

Daniel 9:24-25a,26b-27 – “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. 25 “Know and understand this: From the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens’… 26b the Anointed One will be put to death and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed. 27 He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’ In the middle of the ‘seven’ he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And at the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.”

Context – Jesus has just arrived at the outskirts of Jerusalem riding on a donkey in what is generally referred to as the Triumphal Entry:

Luke 19:41-44 –  As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it 42 and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. 43 The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. 44 They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.”

Context – In Jerusalem during the week leading up to the cross, Jesus has entered the temple, driven out the money changers, taught in parables, and rebuked the religious leaders for their hypocrisy:

Matthew 24:1a,2,6-8,13-15,42 – Jesus left the temple… 2 “Do you see all these things?” he asked. “Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another; everyone will be thrown down”… 6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of birth pains… 13 but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. 15 “So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand… 42 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.

• The 2nd Temple of Jesus’ time was destroyed in 70 AD by the Romans.

• Why was the temple destroyed?
• When will the end of this age come about?
• What are believers called to do concerning the end of the age?