The Jewish Final Solution to the World's Problem - Daniel's Prophecy of 70 Weeks, Part 1

[0:00] Turn in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 24. And this morning, we'll be looking at Matthew chapter 24, verses 1 through 22.

[0:21] Matthew chapter 24.

[0:51] As he was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?

[1:14] And Jesus answered and said to them, See to it that no one misleads you. For many will come in my name, saying, I am the Christ, and will mislead many.

[1:31] You will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not frightened, for those things must take place.

[1:43] But that is not yet the end. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And in various places there will be famines and earthquakes.

[1:59] But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs. Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you.

[2:14] And you will be hated by all nations because of my name. At that time many will fall away, and will betray one another, and hate one another.

[2:29] Many false prophets will arise, and will mislead many. Because lawlessness is increased, most people's love will grow cold.

[2:44] But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved. This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations.

[2:59] And then the end will come. Therefore, when you see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place, then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains.

[3:23] Whoever is on the housetop must not go down to get the things out that are in his house. Whoever is in the field must not turn back to get his cloak.

[3:38] But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babes in those days. But pray that your flight will not be in the winter or on a Sabbath.

[3:54] For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will.

[4:06] Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved. But for the sake of the elect, those days will be cut short.

[4:20] We want to focus on verse 15, which our Lord referred to as actually coming from Daniel chapter 9.

[4:37] And if you have marginal notes in your Bible, like a lot of people do, you'll see that they immediately refer you to Daniel's prophecy in chapter 9, beginning with verse 27.

[4:47] This constitutes the final leg or the realization of what we have labeled the Jewish final solution to the world's problems.

[4:58] It is going to begin with this time that Christ is referring to as the time of Jacob's trouble. And it will be called that in other passages we'll be consulting later.

[5:11] It is a very strategic time. It is a time that will occur after the church has been translated. The body of Christ has been removed in accordance with 1 Corinthians 15 and 1 Thessalonians 4, as we've studied in previous passages, commonly known as the rapture of the church.

[5:31] And once the church is off the scene, then God's program will call the nation of Israel front and center, because he has unfinished business with the seed of Abraham.

[5:48] And this is all spelled out, if you will turn to that portion in Daniel chapter 9, and we are able to just give you the bare bones outline of it, then we will have succeeded for this initial session.

[6:03] It is a very kind of complex thing. It is full of some rather intriguing mathematics that I think will become apparent to you as we move along.

[6:16] It is intriguing because this prophecy is given by Daniel hundreds of years earlier. And for a number of years, in fact, all of Daniel for a number of years was held in great suspicion by the liberal element of the religious community because they were convinced the prophecies were too detailed to actually be prophecies.

[6:42] And the liberal community of scholarship was pretty much committed to the idea that what Daniel was actually writing was history, not prophecy, and that the book was written much later than what was ordinarily believed.

[6:59] But archaeology has since given the lie to that, and Daniel stands in good stead, and it is prophecy that was given hundreds of years in advance. And let me give you just a very little bit of background regarding what we're going to be looking at.

[7:15] Daniel was a lad probably no older than 12 or 14 years of age when the Babylonians came against Jerusalem, destroyed the city, broke down the wall, carried the people off into captivity under the leadership of Nebuchadnezzar.

[7:31] Daniel was one of a number of young men who were chosen for a special status because they were recognized as being particularly capable and promising young men.

[7:43] And they were put in a special training school of the Babylonians to educate them and teach them in the ways of the Babylonians so that they could be of service to the king.

[7:57] And you know the story about Daniel and his friends refusing to eat the king's meat and all the rest of it and how they stood in good stead, and God honored that. And eventually he was raised to a position of significant prominence in the land.

[8:13] And this happened, well, the destruction of Jerusalem was 586 B.C., and that's when they were carried into Babylonian captivity.

[8:23] So when we come to Daniel chapter 9 that we'll be looking at in a moment, it is many, many years later, and Daniel is an older man probably in his 70s or 80s.

[8:38] He has been living in Babylon for this whole period of time. And Jeremiah the prophet that Daniel consults with, and we saw in our earlier passage here, Daniel consulted with Jeremiah, and Jeremiah revealed that when God brought this neighboring enemy against Jerusalem, he was going to deliver them over to the Babylonians, and they would be in captivity for 70 years.

[9:10] And Daniel has been there for this entire length of time. Now he is serving no longer the Babylonians because the Babylonians were overrun by the Medes and the Persians.

[9:26] And this is the burden of Daniel chapter 5 and the writing that appeared on the wall, many, many, tekel, lu, farsen, you've been weighed in the balances and found wanting. Then the Medes and the Persians were at the gate.

[9:37] And while the Babylonians were continuing in this drunken party, the Medes and the Persians breached the gate and took over the city, and a lot of the people were put to death.

[9:51] And now Daniel is the prisoner of prisoners, if you will. But it isn't long until he is elevated, his talents are recognized, and he becomes very valuable to this new king.

[10:05] And his name is Cyrus, or later will be known as Artaxerxes. And Daniel is going to flourish under that regime as well.

[10:16] So he is God's man of the hour, and he is occupying a very, very strategic place in the whole history of the nation of Israel. And by the way, I don't know if you're aware of it or not, but to the best of my knowledge, Daniel and Joseph are the only two individuals in the Bible, of course, accepting our Lord Jesus, but he's in an entirely different category.

[10:40] They are the only two men in all of the Bible of whom nothing negative is ever said. Everybody else, and of course they had flaws too, but they just are not revealed. They were two of the purest spirits, perhaps, who have walked upon the earth, Daniel and Joseph.

[10:55] And both of them made enormous contributions to all of humanity. So by the time we get to Daniel chapter 9, and we've already studied Daniel's prayer of penance in the early chapters, in the early verses of Daniel chapter 9, when he lays out this prayer and beseeches God on behalf of the nation of Israel, and Daniel is just heart sick.

[11:22] He's just really broken up. He's in an emotional basket case, and he's praying and beseeching God for direction. And he knows that this time, because he's consulted with Jeremiah, that this time is coming to an end.

[11:37] And he is begging God in verse 18 of chapter 9, He says, Daniel says,

[13:11] You find that in a number of cases in the Old and in the New Testament. So he certainly has the appearance of a man, even though it is Gabriel. And by the way, this is the same angels, one of the archangels.

[13:24] An archangel means one of the first angels, one of the chief angels. Not just an ordinary angel. This is an angel with rank. Michael is another archangel.

[13:34] Gabriel, and this is the same angel that appeared to Joseph and that appeared to Mary and announced the coming of the Messiah. Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision previously, came to me in my extreme weariness about the time of the evening offering.

[14:02] I take it that Daniel is simply drained. He's just wiped out emotionally, physically, psychologically.

[14:12] He's a basket case. And he's pleading with God on behalf of his people. And in my extreme weariness about the time of the evening offering. And he gave me instruction and talked with me and said, O Daniel, I have now come forth to give you insight with understanding.

[14:36] At the beginning of your supplications, the command was issued. And we can guess who issued the command. And I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed.

[14:50] So give heed to the message and gain understanding of the vision. And here it is. He's going to lay it out for him. Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city to accomplish six things in particular.

[15:15] The first is to finish the transgression. Second, to make an end of sin. Third, to make atonement for iniquity. Four, to bring in everlasting righteousness.

[15:29] Five, to seal up vision and prophecy. And six, and to anoint the most holy. Secondly, some translations have inserted the most holy place.

[15:42] And it does definitely refer to the temple. Now, when the angel Gabriel tells Daniel this, where is the temple? Well, it's still in Jerusalem.

[15:53] What's left of it? But it's a mess. It's in ruins. It's all been torn down, burned, charred, overrun, overgrowth, everything.

[16:03] It's just been in complete disrepair for the last 70 years. The place is a wreck. And now he says, So you are now to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem, and who's going to do that?

[16:25] Well, that'll be Artaxerxes. This is the same one who is going to cooperate and actually fund, if you will, from the treasury of the Medes and the Persians for the rebuilding of Jerusalem.

[16:44] And this is nation building in an old-timey style. And the rebuilding of the wall. And they are going to fund that. And Nehemiah is going to head up that effort. This is also during about the time of Esther and all of that that's going on.

[16:57] So these Medes and Persians are friendly to the Jews because they were captives of the Babylonians. And the Babylonians have since been dispensed with. So there's going to be this decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem.

[17:13] This simply means that the king, and we'll see this later when it develops, the king Artaxerxes is going to issue a decree that will authorize the expenditure of funds for the rebuilding.

[17:24] This is going to be an actual edict that will be issued by the king. And that is being used as the date for this culmination, or not the culmination, but the origination of this whole affair that is now being explained to Daniel.

[17:42] Now, when this decree is issued, you can begin counting. It will be from the issuing of decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince.

[17:59] There will be seven weeks and 62 weeks. Now, where this gets difficult is that we tend to think of these seven weeks as being 49 days and the 62 weeks as being whatever that would be multiplied by seven.

[18:20] And this is where we immediately go astray because actually this is 70 sevens have been decreed. And you'll see how clear this becomes when we do the math in our next session because what we're talking about here is a total of 490 years.

[18:41] It is 70 sevens, 70 units of seven, a total of 493 years. And he is here going to account for the first 483 of those years.

[18:59] And then something really significant is going to happen. At the end of the 483 years, everything stops.

[19:15] The calendar of calculations stops. And at the end of those 483 years is precisely when Jesus Christ will die in Jerusalem.

[19:31] And we've got seven years left that are just dangling. Where do they belong? Because there are 490 years to be accounted for.

[19:45] And let's go and read the text. From Messiah the Prince, there will be seven weeks and 62 weeks. It will be built again with plaza and moot even in times of distress.

[19:58] In other words, it's going to be built, rebuilt under times of turmoil and sand ballot and the Tobiah and different ones are going to oppose them.

[20:10] So it will be a lot of opposition. Then after the 62 weeks, the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing.

[20:22] And the people of the Prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary and its end will come with a flood.

[20:33] And even to the end, there will be war, desolations are determined. And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week.

[20:47] And here is where I have to insert something because this is where the plot thickens and things really start getting complicated. This one week to which he is referring in verse 27 is the final seven years.

[21:07] But between the 483 years and the beginning of that last year, there is what we call an interregnum, an intermediate period you are living at.

[21:27] We are now in that period of time. It is not a subject of prophecy. It's a subject of mystery. That means the period of time in which we are living right now is not a subject of Old Testament prophecy.

[21:44] It never was. We are not there. So what we are going to have is 483 years. And the time is going to come at the end of that 483 years when the Messiah, the Prince, is cut off and has nothing.

[22:01] That ends that particular dispensation. That's like the age of Israel, if you will. And the times of the Gentiles take over. We are now living in the times of the Gentiles.

[22:14] The Jews are people in suppression and oppression worldwide, have been for thousands of years, and it continues to be that way.

[22:25] And it's going to intensify as time goes on. So what is going to occur is this present time in which we now live is this unspoken of age of grace that does not belong to and is not a part of prophecy.

[22:48] This is the church age. We've got a line, if you will. A line is moving time-wise, and all of a sudden it stops.

[22:58] And inserted after that line is something that ordinarily we would think doesn't even belong. And that's us. And we are here for this period of time called the church age.

[23:12] And when the church is removed, the rapture occurs, the church is removed, then the parenthesis on the other end takes up again, and the line continues.

[23:23] And what that line will continue to fulfill is that missing 70th week. It's also referred to as the tribulation period.

[23:36] It is broken down into two segments, three and a half years each. And our Lord talks about the covenant that is going to be signed by the Antichrist, which will guarantee the peace and security of the nation of Israel.

[23:53] And if Israel is ever longed for anything, since their founding as a nation in 1948, if they've ever longed for anything, it's peace and security.

[24:04] And they've never had it. They still don't. The Antichrist is going to guarantee them peace and security. They will sign a seven-year pact. And this is exactly what he is talking about here.

[24:18] In verse 27, he will make a firm covenant with the many. That's the Jewish people. For one week. It's a period of seven years. You have to dismiss from your thinking the idea that this one week is seven days.

[24:32] It isn't seven days. It's seven years. And it will become apparent as we move on through the study that years is the only solution that fits the math. And he will make this firm covenant for many for one week, but in the middle of the week.

[24:47] That is three and a half years. He will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering. And on the wing of abominations will become one who makes desolate.

[25:02] This is what Jesus was talking about in Matthew 24. And he's telling the Jewish audience, when you see the abomination that desolates stand in the holy place, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, then you will know everything is about to break loose.

[25:23] Then you head for the hills. What's going to happen three and a half years into this time is the Antichrist is going to break his covenant.

[25:35] He is going to withdraw his permission for the Jews to worship at the temple as they had been. And by the way, I take it that animal sacrifice is going to be reinstituted because the Jews have been without a prince, without an epod, without a sacrifice.

[25:54] Since 70 A.D. when the temple was destroyed, the Jews have never had a temple and never had a place to worship. If you know anything about Judaism, sacrifice is at the very core of it.

[26:06] The Jewish people were taught the principle of sacrifice early on, as far back as Abraham. And the reason they were was to condition the whole nation as to the principle and the need for sacrifice.

[26:18] And that was to set the stage for that one ultimate sacrifice that would be made and create a reference point for the Jewish people to be able to understand Christ as the final ultimate sacrifice.

[26:30] They never have gotten that, by the way. They will. They will. They will. When according to Zechariah 1210, Christ returns and the Jewish nation looks upon him whom they pierced and they will mourn and they will understand that they have rejected their Messiah.

[26:49] Then, then all Israel will be saved and all Israel will become believers at that time. So, this Antichrist is going to actually invade the Jewish assembly and the Jewish holy place.

[27:07] The temple, of course, will have been rebuilt. He is going to install himself as deity and demand worship. And if you know anything about the Jewish people and their having been cured of idolatry, that, of course, is something that will not be forthcoming from them.

[27:25] And it will result in an enormous bloodbath. And it's a little bit reminiscent of the Greek Antiochus Epiphanes when the Greeks invaded and he went into the most holy place and sacrificed a pig on the altar of Israel, which, of course, was just the ultimate insult for the whole nation of Israel.

[27:50] This is the abomination that desolates. And when Christ calls him the abomination that desolates, he means this is the one who defiles and contaminates the most holy place.

[28:04] And that is precisely what the Antichrist will do. And that will trigger the second half of the tribulation period, which will be an international bloodbath.

[28:18] You cannot imagine the carnage that is going to take place during that three and a half years. In fact, it is going to be so intense that Jesus said it's going to be cut short.

[28:35] And if it were not cut short, there wouldn't be any survivors. It's going to be that bad. The body count is going to be unimaginable.

[28:46] Now, earlier on, even before we get to the Armageddon scenario, there's going to be a depopulation of the earth that is going to number in the billions.

[28:57] Not millions, but in the billions. And this is going to be the culmination of it. It's going to start. This will be what Christ referred to as tribulation, the great one.

[29:10] And the Greek uses the word mega. And we're familiar with the term mega, such as a mega church and a mega this and a mega that. This is going to be the tribulation that will exceed and excel anything that anybody has ever imagined.

[29:26] The Holocaust that took place with the destruction of the Jews during World War II will be considered minor compared to this. And it will be an open season on Jews worldwide.

[29:38] This will provide the basis for nations gathering. God is going to bring all the nations of the earth together there in the plains of Ezra, which is referred to as Megiddo.

[29:51] And that will be the launching or the staging area for the armies of the world to mass there. They will be marching south. And Christ will be coming from Basra and Petra, where Jews will have been holed up during this time for their very survival.

[30:08] And there is going to be the clash that will be in the valley of Jehoshaphat. I trust this is figuratively speaking, that blood will flow to the horse's bridles.

[30:19] It will be a time unprecedented, unimagined by anyone. That's what's coming. And what we are reading here in Daniel chapter 9, these 70 weeks that are going to transpire, is what this is all about.

[30:36] That's why we say this passage is the linchpin. This is that which pulls everything together regarding the end time. And this angel Gabriel is revealing this scenario to Daniel.

[30:50] Christ is referring to it back in Matthew chapter 24. And, of course, when we engage it in more detail, we'll see in the book of Revelation how it all comes together. It just fits like a hand in a glove.

[31:02] It's a beautiful thing, and it's a terrible thing. And all of this, all of this, all of this carnage, all of this international holocaust will be realized just because of one thing.

[31:23] And that is the horror and the enormity of human sin that has been perpetrated against a holy, righteous God.

[31:37] The string of his long suffering has come to an end. And this is the showdown. This is the way it's going to play out.

[31:49] We are not going to be here. Israel is going to be here. This is why it is referred to as the time of Jacob's trouble. And Jerusalem will be regarded as a burdensome stone.

[32:04] You know now, not only now, but from their inception in 1948, the world community has never really known just exactly what to do with Israel.

[32:17] The United States is virtually the only friend they have in the world. And if we didn't have a significant Jewish population that was influential somewhat here in the United States, it's questionable whether we would be their friend either.

[32:29] But we are. And all of this is going to come together during this time. So the world is in for something that is what Armageddon is all about.

[32:44] This is, well, you'll see when we get there.

[32:55] Let me just run through these very quickly, these six things. The finished transgression means to rout. It actually comes from the word rebel.

[33:06] And when Daniel talks about to finish the transgression, it is articulated. And this is the transgression of Israel. Their principal transgression is and always has been the rejection and the crucifixion of their Messiah.

[33:23] And second, to make an end of sin. This is the words in the plural. This is the actual sins of daily living that stem from the above transgressions.

[33:36] It is a root and a fruit type thing. And to make atonement for iniquity. The process has been completed but not yet applied to for Israel.

[33:49] And it will be at the second coming. Jesus Christ has made the payment that is necessary for Israel's sins to be forgiven. But it's never been applied.

[33:59] And the payment for sin is never applied unless repentance is in order. And repentance means that one has to come to the reality of their own condition of lostness.

[34:13] Israel, of course, never has. And individuals have not, too, for the most part. And that's the first step that leads to the application, the benefits of atonement.

[34:24] And then to bring in everlasting righteousness that will be realized with a wholesale national repentance of Israel. The time is coming when all of Israel nationally, corporately, is going to embrace Christ as their Messiah.

[34:43] And they will mourn, Zechariah says, they will mourn for him whom they have pierced as one mourns for an only son. And to seal up vision and prophecy is the same word that is used for making an end of sin.

[34:56] And it has to do with all revelation that came with this vision and prophecy will be sealed up or completed. It will be finalized. All foretold chastening will have been completed.

[35:10] And the prophecies regarding it are concluded. And then, sixth, to anoint the most holy place. And that, of course, will be done in a way of purity and honor that will be completely contrary to what the Antichrist did.

[35:27] So this is a very fast-moving and brief. And I know I've left you with a lot of questions. But we'll get them answered as time goes on. And we start developing these things one by one. You're going to see some very fascinating things unfold.

[35:40] And it is all here in the book and has been for a long time. And all we're going to do is connect the dots and enable you, I trust, to connect them as well.

[35:53] In your bulletin for today, you have a sheet that gives you a brief description of what this time period is going to be like.

[36:03] And you might want to just keep that in your Bible and hang on to it because we'll be making reference to it from time to time. I think you'll find it very helpful. And, again, I'm sorry that I do not leave enough time for Q&A.

[36:16] And you've probably got a dozen questions or so. But just if you're like me, you tend to forget them. So you might want to write them down and put a note in your Bible with what those questions are.

[36:27] And we'll get to them eventually. Actually, I anticipate having some rather lengthy Q&A sessions on Sunday morning here so we can address these things more fully and get a lot more questions answered.

[36:39] So thank you for your kind attention. And I recognize that we have covered a whole lot of material in a short period of time. And ordinarily, I don't like to do that. But I thought if we could get as much of this as possible into one sitting, even though it is abbreviated, that it might be helpful.

[36:55] And if you get the wheels turning up there and start turning up some things, that will be helpful too. Would you stand with me, please? Father, we bless you for the morning and all of the things that we have heard and enjoyed and the way in which you have worked in the lives of those who've spoken.

[37:14] And we are so grateful that you are God who does all things well and that you respond to the wills and to the hearts of those who are earnestly seeking truth.

[37:25] We recognize that we have nothing to fear from the truth and that anything that is believed that is true should be able to stand the most severe test and scrutiny that can be applied to it.

[37:46] And we are so grateful that our biblical Christianity, as it is revealed here in the word of God, has withstood the onslaughts of opposition and ridicule and denial for century upon century and still comes out as the pure, unmitigated, unalterable truth.

[38:11] And we are so grateful. Thank you for the truth.

[38:42] Thank you for what we enjoy in the Lord Jesus Christ and for what we have to look forward to as believers, members of the body of Christ. In his name we pray. Amen.