The ‘end’ which Daniel foresaw was the end of “your people and your holy city,” (9:24).
At the time of the ‘end’ which Daniel saw, (11:40), there would be the “time of trouble” or the “great tribulation,” (12:1). Jesus related this “great tribulation” to the time of the destruction of Jerusalem, (Matt. 24, see especially verse 21), “since the beginning of the age” [world, i.e., the ‘age’ of Israel’s national existence]; “nor ever shall be,” [i.e., since the nation was ceasing to exist it would never again endure such a time]. Although this is apparent in Jesus’ words, we may also refer to the writings of Josephus regarding the Wars of the Jews:
“That neither did any other city ever suffer such miseries, nor did any age ever breed a generation more fruitful in wickedness than this was, from the beginning of the world,” (Wars 5.10.5).
The Book Sealed Until “The Time of the End”
Daniel shut up the words and sealed the book, “until the time of the end,” (12:4, 9).
That “time of the end” as seen by Daniel was fulfilled when Jerusalem was destroyed and the Jews dispersed in AD 70. Thus we find that in the Book of Revelation, chapter five, there is a scroll, (or book), “sealed with seven seals,” the ‘weeks’ or ‘sevens’ of Daniel. I submit that this is that same book which Daniel sealed “until the time of the end.” The “end of the age” had come upon the earthly city of Jerusalem and the earthly sanctuary. This destruction is described under the symbol of the Great Whore, Babylon the Great, after which the true Holy City, New Jerusalem appears coming down from God out of heaven.
The End Was Expected In The New Testament
The people of the New Testament believed Daniel’s chronology and therefore knew it was time for the Christ. The best evidence we have for the fact that Daniel’s ‘times’ were indeed fulfilled is the fact that the people in the New Testament believed they were. For example, Simeon and Anna knew it was time for the Christ to be born. Andrew was expecting the Christ (John 1:41). John the Baptist had to deny that he was the Christ for the people were expecting the Christ, John 1:20, 3:28. The woman of Samaria expected the Christ, John 4:25, 29, 42; the rulers expected the Christ, Luke 22:67, John 10:24.
Many other references in the New Testament show that the ‘end’ was expected in their lifetime. For example: “But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer,” (1 Pet. 4:7).
“For the time [is come] that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if [it] first [begin] at us, what shall the end [be] of them that obey not the gospel of God?” (1 Pet. 4:17).
“15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive [and] remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17 Then we which are alive [and] remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord,” (1 Thess. 4).
Zechariah 12:10 Was Also Fulfilled
Another popular teaching is that: “They shall look upon Him whom they pierced,” (Zech. 12:10), has never been fulfilled but is yet future. However, this phrase is also interpreted as having been fulfilled when the soldiers pierced the side of Christ, John 19:37. It does not, therefore, require another future, literal fulfillment.