Daniel

[0:00] Well, gentlemen, gee, I want to return to the sheet that we were working from last week. And the reason I want to do that is because of its tremendous importance and also because of the fact that last week's session was not recorded.

[0:19] And the reason I did not record it was because I told you most of it was going to be visual and that those who were listening to the CDs would not have the advantage that you have with the sheet in front of you.

[0:32] And then I got the brilliant idea. I don't know where this came from. Well, when we send out these CDs, why not just send the sheet with it? That's going to solve some problems.

[0:43] So that's what we'll do. As well as for those at Grace and other places that pick up copies of the study, we'll just see to it that this sheet is included along with the CD of this particular session so they'll have the advantage and the benefit of the visual as well as the audio.

[1:02] And we are talking about Daniel chapter 9 and the famous subject of Daniel's 70 weeks. It is not an exaggeration to say that this particular passage is the most important linkage in all of the Bible to understanding what is going to transpire in the future.

[1:27] It is referred to as the 70th week of Daniel. And as you read the text, well, let's just go right ahead and look at the text if we may.

[1:38] And we'll begin with chapter 9. We'll begin with chapter 9 and verse 23, because Daniel has been greatly exercised and disturbed over the vision that he has seen, had no idea what it meant.

[1:55] And an angel is appearing to Daniel at the end of his confessing his sin and the sin of the nation of Israel.

[2:06] And he is going to give Daniel an explanation of the vision that he has had indicated in verse 12. Well, let's just start reading in verse 20, shall we?

[2:17] Daniel 9 and verse 20. Daniel says, Now while I was speaking and praying and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God in behalf of the holy mountain of my God, while I was still speaking in prayer, then the man, and it's curious that Scripture refers to him as a man, although he is more than a man, he is an angel.

[2:51] However, in most places in Scripture where an angel appears, he is referred to as a man. He is thought to be a man. He looks like a man, probably dressed like a man.

[3:04] But he is not a man. He is an angel. And we see that numerous places in Scripture, and I'm thinking right now of the resurrection account of our Lord, when the women got to the tomb, and the text tells us that there were two men there, and one of them had rolled away the stone and was sitting on top of the stone.

[3:23] They looked like men, but they were angels. And the text goes on to identify them as being angels, but they are usually mistaken by those who see them as men, because they certainly have a very human appearance.

[3:37] And bear in mind now, this vision, wherein Daniel is confessing his sin and the sin of his people, this is a confession for transgressions, idolatry, sin, on behalf of the nation Israel, that went back a long way.

[3:59] It went all the way back to the mid, what shall we say, the mid 500 B.C. Because in 586 B.C., Jerusalem is going to be destroyed, and Nebuchadnezzar is going to come in, and this is all going to be the result of the nation of Israel having fallen into corruption and spiritual idolatry and the worship of the gods of their neighbors around them and so on.

[4:32] And prophets were raised up like Jeremiah and Ezekiel, and they prophesied against the nation. They warned them that they were skating on thin ice and that God was going to bring judgment upon them if they did not turn and turn to him.

[4:53] And of course, they rebuked Daniel or they rebuked Jeremiah and they rebuked Ezekiel and they discounted their message. And what Jeremiah predicted in very plain language certainly came to pass.

[5:09] Now, what we are talking about here is after they have been carried into Babylonian captivity, been there for 70 years, and some of them are returning, but only about 20%, only about 20% of the Jews who were carried into Babylonian captivity returned to Jerusalem, returned to Israel when they were allowed to.

[5:34] And the rest of them stay there because they've been there for 70 years and they've had families, they've multiplied, they've got businesses, they've got everything going, and many of them in the new generation have never been in Israel.

[5:47] So it didn't hold that appeal for them. They stayed right there. And then, in time, what happened was the Medes and the Persians took over from the Babylonians.

[5:59] They overran Babylon and subjected them to defeat. And now they are, Daniel's people are a conquered people of a conquered people, if you see what I mean.

[6:14] So, this is the situation and Daniel is confessing the sins of the nation that go all the way back to that first captivity. And he is indicating that he knows exactly what has been responsible for the judgment of God, and that is the sins of the nation of Israel.

[6:32] So that's what Daniel has been confessing along with his own sin. And then we read in verse 21, While I was still speaking in prayer, then the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision previously, came to me in my extreme weariness about the time of the evening offering.

[6:55] Daniel had witnessed this in the vision, and it absolutely wore him out. I mean, he's just drained, completely exhausted. Has no idea what it means, but it doesn't look good.

[7:09] And we are told that in verse 22, he gave the instruction and talked with me and said, O Daniel, I have now come forth to give you insight with understanding.

[7:22] At the beginning of your supplications, when you started praying, the command was issued. And I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed, so give heed to the message and gain understanding of the vision.

[7:41] And here is the vision. Seventy weeks. We've already identified this as meaning seventy sevens. And the word in the Hebrew is Shabbat.

[7:54] It's the word from which the word Sabbath comes. And the word Sabbath got its name, Sabbath, from being the seventh day of the week.

[8:06] And it is established that way from Genesis chapter 1 all the way through the rest of the Bible. So here he is saying seventy sevens. And that's not what we would think of as seventy weeks, which is, what, 52 weeks in the year and then you've got another 18 on top of it.

[8:28] That's seventy weeks. That's just a little bit more than the year. No, no. That's not what he's talking about at all. He's talking about seventy years times seven. This is 490 years.

[8:42] Alright? Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city. And in both cases where this where this pronoun your is used, it is in reference exclusively to the Jewish people and exclusively to the city of Jerusalem.

[9:08] Your people, the Jewish people, and your city is Jerusalem. To finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, this laundry list of things here to be accomplished, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy place.

[9:32] Most holy place at the time this was given to Daniel didn't even exist. It's been destroyed. It doesn't exist now. It is still non-existent.

[9:44] And this, of course, indicates that the time is going to come when this Oedipus, referred to as the temple, is going to have to be rebuilt.

[9:56] And it will be rebuilt. But right now, it is not even in existence. When the holy place is anointed, that means that means when it is officially recognized and established, it will be consecrated in the same way that whenever some kind of important or public building is built and there is a celebration to acknowledge its building, they often have a dedication service.

[10:38] And dignitaries are brought in and speeches are made and so on and they talk about the building and the construction and everything. That's exactly what's going to take place here. The anointing of that holy place will be the consecration of this new temple when it is constructed.

[10:55] And he goes on to say, you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there will be seven weeks and 62 weeks.

[11:18] This is two elements of time. Each one is very, very important. The one you can arrive at by multiplying the seven times seven and that's 49.

[11:31] It's not 49 weeks, it's 49 years. that's how long it's going to be involved in rebuilding Jerusalem and reestablishing the wall and putting the city back in top condition like it's supposed to be.

[11:45] It's going to take them 49 years to do that. And when you realize that virtually everything was made out of stone, the stone basins and the walls and all the buildings and everything, that's not all that difficult to understand.

[11:59] From the time of issuing a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem, how is this decree going to come about? What's going to be the basis for that? So take a look at the sheet that you've got here and we will see in Nehemiah, look on their left hand side and follow the dotted line down to Nehemiah chapter 2 verses 1 through 8.

[12:24] We won't take time to look at the text but you can read it at your leisure and it is key. This is in connection with Nehemiah who remember now is a captive.

[12:37] He was a captive of the Babylonians but the Babylonians had been conquered by the Medes and the Persians and now he is captive of the Medes and the Persians and one of his responsibilities is to be the king's cupbearer and the king's cupbearer is like the official food taster because these people were always looking over their shoulder and the cupbearer had the responsibility when the king was served wine the cupbearer was obligated to take a sip of the wine first and if it didn't kill him then the king could drink the wine.

[13:14] So that's the cupbearer because this is a lot of palace intrigue and this kind of stuff went on you know back in these days. And Nehemiah was in the presence of the king Artaxerxes one day and it probably had developed some kind of a relationship and the servant and master kind of thing.

[13:31] And Artaxerxes looks at Nehemiah and by the way you can read this in Nehemiah chapter 2 and he looks at Nehemiah and says boy you look like you're most your best friend. Why are you so down today?

[13:43] What's wrong? He was reading Nehemiah's facial expressions, reading his body language and he thought boy this guy really looks down. He said what's the problem?

[13:53] You're dealing with something? What's going on? Nehemiah spilled his guts. He said I've received word from my homeland Jerusalem.

[14:07] The city is ravaged destroyed still in a state of disrepair. The walls all broken down and no defenses and your majesty it just really saddens me.

[14:21] Really really bothers me. This is my homeland you know. And Artaxerxes is very sympathetic. And you read the text and what he does is he issues a decree.

[14:35] It is a royal eject from the king that not only gives the Jews permission to return to Jerusalem and to Israel but underwrites the expense of their doing so and sends along a huge amount of building materials to use in the rebuilding.

[14:58] So obviously Nehemiah and the Jewish people had really made a positive impact on our desert seats. And that's the decree that Daniel chapter 9 is talking about that from the issuing of the decree and when the king signed that document that decree just like our president signing a bill into action it becomes law.

[15:26] And that's the point of reference that Daniel is referring to here when that decree is issued. And it's the 20th year of Artaxerxes in the 20th month 20th year of Artaxerxes the month Nisan that's Nisan is the name of the Jewish month.

[15:45] And it actually Nisan is we don't have an exact duplicate of the month Nisan for our calendar it's about the last half of March and the first half of April.

[16:03] It's that 30 days that constitutes the Jewish month of Nisan. And here it was in 445 B.C. And if you follow the dotted line up from Nehemiah you'll see the reference from the going forth of the commandment to restore and rebuild Jerusalem unto the time when the Messiah the Prince is going to come.

[16:29] And look at the seven weeks and three score and two weeks is broken down into 49. And if you multiply and I haven't done it but you can do the math you multiply seven times 62 and take that number and add it to the 49 and what you get is a grand total of 173,880 days.

[16:59] And if you do the math down below on the proof it spells it out for you and the leap years that have to be added because there are 119 minus three in 400 years of leap time and March 4 to April 6 24 days inclusive and the total gives you 173,880 days.

[17:23] and when you look at the math that is involved and calculate as best we can and Sir Robert Anderson did this I don't know if you're familiar with Sir Robert Anderson or not but he was the head of Scotland Yard in Great Britain for a number of years and he was a devout believer and he wrote an interesting book called The Coming Prince and The Coming Prince of course is the Antichrist not our Lord Jesus Christ he is the Antichrist and in that book The Coming Prince he outlines the role that the Antichrist is going to play and he is going to be the the Antichrist is going to be the major player during this 70th week of Daniel and the difficulty that arises in doing the math of this is that we come up to the fulfillment of 69 weeks that is 69 times 7 and when that comes to a halt the clock stops ticking according to

[18:44] Sir Robert Anderson's calculation which I'm not prepared to dispute it is the very day that Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the pole of an ass and it was the very day that he stopped and wept over the city of Jerusalem and you remember what he said oh Jerusalem Jerusalem how often would I have gathered you together as a hand of gather her chicks under her wing and you would not and he said if only if only you had known the time of your visitation but now these things are hidden from your eyes he was talking about his coming to Jerusalem to present himself as the king of Israel and we know how that turned out while there were multitudes who lined the pathway and shouted Hosanna

[19:44] Hosanna blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord Hosanna to the son of David they recognized his ancestry as being a direct descendant of David the king but these were the popular people and the scripture text says in different places that the common people heard Jesus gladly they followed him everywhere he went they were fascinated with what he had to say because it made so much sense and he could understand what he was talking about but he never garnered the allegiance of the ruling establishment the shakers and movers just a couple of exceptions Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus they were on board but they were kind of like closet believers and as a result the establishment wielded the power the influence and they manipulated they actually got Pontius

[20:47] Pilate to do their dirty work and Pilate knew there were no grounds against this man to justify his execution but he was manipulated and put in a position if you let this man go you are not a friend of Caesar well that would be like a kick in the gut because it was Caesar who put him in power there Pontius Pilate and he was subservient to him and he played all of these things Pontius Pilate was a political animal more than anything else and his bottom line was take him down and crucifixion I find no fault in him if you're determined to crucify take him in crucifixion get him out of here I washed my hands of the whole thing and that's exactly what he did so from that time the 69th week stopped the prophetic calendar that was ticking stopped with the cutting off of the

[21:55] Messiah this is exactly what the text is talking about if you will look in verse 29 then after the 62 weeks now you've got to add the previous 7 weeks on the back because that's the first increment the first 7 weeks or 49 years then in verse 26 after the 62 weeks and added to that the 7 before and you've got 69 weeks after the 62 weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing and what does that mean have nothing it means he has no descendants he has nothing to follow him after his death by way of the next generation this have nothing is probably not the best translation but it means he has no seed that follows him Jesus was never married and never had a child and this is exactly what is being expressed here he will be cut off and have nothing 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

[23:15] I don't believe that this is intended at all to be a flood of water that's not what he's talking about but he's talking about it will come with an overwhelming destruction kind of like that which a water flood leaves where it just destroys everything levels everything and its end will come with a flood even to the end there will be war desolations are determined and this prince who shall come will make a firm covenant with the many for one week now keep that motif in mind the number that we've been using for this one week not seven days it's seven years for one week seven years but in the middle of the week which is what three and one half years sometimes it is referred to as twelve hundred and sixty days same thing figure on the basis of sixty of thirty days to a month and twelve months to a year twelve hundred and sixty is three and a half years and sometimes it is called a time one times two plus the one is three and then half a time it's three and a half so whether you call it three and a half or twelve hundred and sixty it doesn't make any difference it is time times and a half a time they all mean the same thing and they are all referring to the same time frame and he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week but in the middle of the week three and one half years into it now bear in mind guys we are not in this week now this week has never begun what has been realized is the sixty nine weeks our history they've been fulfilled and the sixty nine weeks stopped the prophetic clock stopped ticking after sixty nine weeks and it has not ticked since and it will not tick what is going to kick off the seventieth week it will be the signing of the covenant no it is not the rapture it is not the rapture it is the signing of the covenant between antichrist and the nation of

[25:57] Israel and that covenant will obviously guarantee somehow the safety and security of Israel and you know from just reading the daily papers that that is something that Israel has been deeply concerned about since 1948 they have not been what you call safe and secure since 1948 when the nation was reborn but this decree this contract this covenant that will be entered into will be very appealing to the Jewish people and it will at least on the surface seem to guarantee their peace and stability for seven years and at the end of the seven years well we'll deal with that then when the time comes but it would be nice to have a breather for seven years where we don't have to worry about rockets or anybody invading or any kind of bombs or explosion or anything like that and these people we we cannot begin to imagine what kind of stress these people have been living under that has become almost a way of life to them

[27:05] I remember when we were in Israel about six weeks there we went to this one kibbutz and there was a children's playground and the women who were with us most of them were mothers they were just appalled at this playground for children because it had all kinds of dangerous objects on it it had sharp pieces of metal and rods and things like that sticking out of the ground and just I mean in places that looked like some kind of an obstacle course and the women the mothers were just aghast and they turned to the Jewish ladies that were showing us around and they said this is a children's playground what in the world is what is this all about you've got all of these dangerous looking things around here and this Jewish mother said yes we know she said this is by design we begin teaching our children at a very early age that

[28:16] Israel can be a very dangerous place you have to really be careful wherever you are and you know when we were I'm sure this is probably the case now they had they had they had a law at least in Jerusalem I don't know about the rest of the country but they had a law in Jerusalem that there were not to be any more than four children I think it was four no more than four children out in a public place without an adult who is armed with them what is that all about well that's all about the terrorism that was taking place then the bombings of the buses and things like that the stabbings of people in public places by terrorists that's the kind of thing that went on so Israel Israel is going to be a sucker for anything that really promises what looks like genuine peace even for just seven years and they say we'll take it we'll take it you've got a deal and they sign the contract and the text goes on to say he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week but in the middle of the week that's three and a half years into it he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering that indicates that

[29:47] Judaism with the animal sacrifice etc is going to be reinstated Jewish worship is going to be reinstituted in the Jewish temple and it's going to be business as usual they're going to have the morning and the evening sacrifices and everything that goes along with it and it's all running very smoothly for three and a half years everything is going just great and then this coming prince the antichrist struts in to the most holy place which is reserved for the presence of God and he orders the stopping of the sacrifice because the sacrifices that the Jews were offering or would be offering they would be offering to God to their God to the God of Israel he is going to put a stop to those sacrifices and announce that he is

[30:56] God and of course this is going to cause the Jews to go apoplectic they are going to rebel against that and the onslaught will be on and this is exactly what Jesus is talking about in Matthew 24 that we looked at before we'll not take time to go there again but it's in Matthew 24 and Jesus is warning the generation that will be alive at that time and he said when you see when you see the abomination of desolation that means the abominable one that defiles the holy place that desolates the holy place that corrupts the holy place when you see that happen when you see when you see the antichrist stand in the holy place then you know it is time to head for the hill because the onslaught of persecution is going to begin and actually it has been underway during the previous three and a half years

[32:04] Jews throughout the whole world are going to have been annihilated by that time many of them will and as I pointed out to you in the past Adolf Hitler succeeded in actually eliminating one third of the world's Jews in the Holocaust the Antichrist is going to eliminate two thirds now we're talking millions of people but in connection with the end time there are going to be billions that's with a B that's with a B who are going to suffer death as a result of this tribulation period and they of course will not be Jews this will be the general population so this is going to be an absolutely horrendous time little wonder that is called the time of tribulation so 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 and that will be when Christ returns because when he does the first casualty of the return of Christ will be the antichrist he will be the first one who will perish as a result of the sword that goes out of Christ's mouth and that's nothing but the spoken word so this has been a very rapid moving overview and we won't have time for

[33:34] Q&A but I'll tell you what if you have questions feel free to write them out bring them next week and we'll try to deal with any questions that you might have we see now happening in this world the idea that nations are bad for peace and for the country for this whole world we got a president of France who is advocating that the problem with all our problems in the world is nationality nationalism and so you can see the movement towards a one person leader of the whole world and not having individual nations out there you can see it happening right now in the very beginnings of it it's starting it is definitely taking place the seeds are being sown and the time is going to come when nationalism will be a dirty word and it is going to be presented and taken up worldwide it's going to become very popular you know just stop and think fellas just stop and think for a moment wouldn't it be wouldn't it be interesting to be able to travel to any country in the world with no borders and no visas and no passports say that'd be kind of liberating wouldn't it

[34:58] I mean you could go anywhere you want to go you wouldn't have to have permission to go to any country or to leave any country country or and the way this is going to be presented is the world through technology the world has become smaller and smaller and smaller and the time has come when we need to stop thinking about being a citizen of a nation and become a citizen of the world after all don't you care about the other nations of the world and this thing this equalization of wealth that is being propagated by some the redistribution of wealth is going to take hold not only here but all over the rest of the country because there are why should any country be rich when there are other countries that are poor what's wrong with you people share the wealth and you know this is going to sound so good and so reasonable that those who have the gall to oppose it are going to be looked upon as anti-human after all this is what is going to be needed to save humanity it is called globalism and it will rescue humanity from what would otherwise be extinction so it's going to sound good and it's going to come to pass just like now if you oppose homosexuality you are inhuman that's right you're a hater that's right you're a hater yep and tell us you know what all of this is a perfect example of a point I've been trying to emphasize that man in his thinking reasons with a warped intellect and it is a warped intellect that allows him to endorse things like same-sex marriage homosexuality and now if I become disenchanted with being a male

[37:16] I can decide to be a female and that's going to make me a woman and woe be unto anybody who criticizes me for it now is that an example of warped thinking skewed logic of course it is and where do you find the north star from which to gauge everything as logical or illogical it's right there in the scriptures in the beginning God made them male and female for the purpose of propagation and someone used to say God made Adam and Eve he didn't make Adam and Steve and it's the rest of the rest is yesterday okay guys thanks for being here enjoy your enjoy your breakfast and if you have questions I suggest you write them down because if your memory is no better than mine you may not be able to remember them next week so we'll try to deal with them next week thank you all