Various — but the Watchtower's eschatology depends on pushing messianic fulfilment away from its natural timeline. The Watchtower applies the 70 weeks to its own chronological system rather than letting Daniel's text speak on its own terms.
gives a 490-year countdown from a decree to restore Jerusalem until the Messiah comes and is 'cut off' (violently killed), after which the city and sanctuary will be destroyed. The countdown begins with Artaxerxes' decree to restore Jerusalem (445/444 BC, Nehemiah 2). The Messiah had to come before the second temple was destroyed in AD 70 — that is a hard deadline built into the prophecy itself. This positively identifies Jesus based on Daniel's timeline. Critically, lists six purposes for the 70 weeks: (1) finish the transgression, (2) put an end to sin, (3) atone for iniquity, (4) bring in everlasting righteousness, (5) seal up vision and prophecy, and (6) anoint the most holy place. All six are explicitly Messianic and all six are fulfilled in Christ's life, death, and resurrection. Ask the JW: when did any of these six things happen through the Watchtower? This argument is also the strongest tool for reaching Jewish people — it proves from their own Scriptures that the Messiah had to arrive and die before AD 70. Once the temple was destroyed, the timeline expired. If the Messiah has not yet come, He has missed Daniel's deadline. The Messiah must have already come — and the only candidate who fits the timeline is Jesus of Nazareth.
This argument doesn't just refute 1914 — it positively identifies Jesus as the Messiah based on Daniel's timeline. The six purposes of are unmistakably Christological: atoning for iniquity, bringing in everlasting righteousness, sealing up prophecy. No organisation accomplished these — only the Messiah could.
The gap theory — God's clock paused after the 69th week.
No gap is mentioned in the text. No pause is indicated. The 490 years run consecutively. The gap theory is a modern invention required to preserve a futurist eschatological system. Daniel presents the 70 weeks as a single continuous period with a definite purpose and endpoint.
The 70th week ended in 36 CE when the gospel went to the Gentiles through Cornelius.
The text says the Messiah is 'cut off' after the 69th week (), not at the end of the 70th. The destruction of the city and sanctuary follows the cutting off — the sequence is Messiah comes, Messiah dies, then Jerusalem is destroyed. The Watchtower's attempt to extend the 70th week to 36 CE is driven by their chronological system, not by the text. And even on their timeline, the six purposes of verse 24 remain Christological — none of them describe organisational events.
Daniel 9 supports our chronology — we just calculate the starting point differently.
The six purposes listed in are not about chronological calculation — they are about what the Messiah would accomplish: finish transgression, put an end to sin, atone for iniquity, bring in everlasting righteousness, seal up vision and prophecy, anoint the most holy place. These are fulfilled in Christ's death, resurrection, and ascension. No starting-point debate changes the fact that these purposes are Christological. The question is not when the countdown begins — it is who fulfils the six purposes. And the answer is Jesus.
Don't get bogged down in the precise starting date — the Watchtower will want to debate 455 BCE vs 445 BCE vs other options. Keep it at bird's-eye level: the six purposes of verse 24, the sequence (Messiah comes, Messiah is cut off, city destroyed), and the hard deadline of AD 70. The sequence and the purposes are what matter most at the doorstep.
Read carefully. List the six purposes in verse 24 and ask yourself: who fulfilled these? Then note the sequence in verses 25–26 — the Messiah comes, the Messiah is 'cut off,' and then the city and sanctuary are destroyed. The second temple was destroyed in AD 70. Work backward: if the Messiah had to come before AD 70, and Jesus was crucified around AD 30–33, the timeline fits perfectly. This prophecy is also powerful in conversations with Jewish friends — it proves from the Tanakh that the Messiah had to arrive before the temple's destruction. If He hasn't come yet, He has missed Daniel's deadline. Watch Jeff Durbin's sermon "Why We Believe — Jesus is the Messiah, Pt. 2" on the Apologia Studios YouTube channel for a powerful telling of this argument, including his encounter with a rabbi who had no answer for Daniel 9.