Daniel

[0:00] We're really concerning ourselves with Daniel chapter 9 and the prophecy of 70 weeks that has just arrived on the scene in that chapter. But before we go there, I would ask you to turn first to the New Testament and the Gospel according to Matthew in what is referred to as the Olivet Discourse.

[0:22] And it is the longest of any of the discourses that our Lord delivered with the exception of the Sermon on the Mount. It is also found in Matthew, and it's in chapters 5, 6, and 7.

[0:35] But for purposes of prophecy, we're asking you to turn to Matthew's Gospel, chapter 24. This is very close to the end of our Lord's earthly ministry.

[0:50] And as you move on in beyond Matthew 24 and 25, we are going to see, well, we won't see it this morning, but you will see it if you read where our Lord makes his entry into Jerusalem, and it will be his last time there.

[1:09] And this is in anticipation of the crucifixion that is going to follow. But immediately before that, it's almost like a farewell message that he is informing his apostles as to what is going to transpire in the end time.

[1:28] And the subject is broached as chapter 24 opens. We read that Jesus came out from the temple and was going away when his disciples came up to point out the temple buildings to him.

[1:44] And be reminded that the temple that they are speaking of here and where they are located, as he is giving this discourse, this site, this building site, is still under construction.

[1:59] It hasn't been finished yet. This is Herod's expansion of the temple mount and his expansion of the temple area, which, by the way, was quite remarkable and an enormous undertaking that employed literally thousands and thousands of workmen, most of whom were stonemasons.

[2:22] And they were working, of course, with limestone. And the apostles are just kind of awestruck by this whole thing that is underfoot.

[2:35] And they came to point out the temple buildings to him, the things that are under construction, what's being planned. And he answered and said to them, Do you not see all these things?

[2:50] Truly I say to you, Not one stone here shall be left upon another, which shall not be torn down. And that's a very puzzling thing, because it's still under construction.

[3:07] And, in fact, it will not be finished. It will not be finished for a few more years after this conversation took place.

[3:17] And then, when it is completed, it will stand for only about, let me see, do my math here. Memory serves me correctly.

[3:30] The finished product will only stand for perhaps 15 years. And then what Christ said here is going to come to pass, because it's all going to be destroyed.

[3:44] And this is what he's talking about in verse 2. There shall not... Pardon me? There's completed in the year 55? I think something like that.

[3:56] Close to that time period. Memory fails me right now. But... You don't remember when they cut the ribbon. Yeah. Yeah, right.

[4:07] But it will not have been completed for very long until the Romans come. In fact, when Paul is on his missionary journeys, and as far as we can determine, Paul was...

[4:23] Paul was executed probably somewhere around 68 A.D. approximately. and... while he is on his missionary journeys, one of his principal responsibilities is to collect funds for the poor saints in Jerusalem.

[4:49] And one of the main reasons that the poor saints in Jerusalem were poor was because there was an enormous recession, depression that was taking place, and what precipitated that was the temple building project was complete, and all these men, thousands of them, were laid off.

[5:10] There was no work for them. And they were just trying to eke out an existence, and... Thank you. And as a result, there was a lot of... a lot of want, a lot of poverty, and Paul was collecting, wherever he went, funds that the Gentiles wanted to contribute for the poor saints in Jerusalem because they were really struggling.

[5:33] And then we know Paul was executed in... around 68 A.D. And in 70 A.D., that's when Titus, the Roman general, came in, and they besieged the city and leveled it, and over a million Jews were put to death in.

[5:50] Yes, Joe? It's interesting here, not one stone laid upon another. They could destroy a place without doing that. True. And that was done because these soldiers had heard there was gold hidden in different facets of the temple and so forth.

[6:07] And so they took it away piece by piece looking for the... Well, there was gold. Gold overlaid a lot of things in the temple area. And when they burned all of this, and I don't know exactly the dynamics, but I do know that limestone will burn to temperatures hot enough.

[6:30] In fact, the Romans... I'm getting off track here, but just let me drop this in. The Romans later virtually deforested the whole area, cut down virtually all the trees, and they used the wood for fire to burn the limestone.

[6:51] And that made the limestone more like powder, malleable, and it was almost like concrete. They could use it like concrete then. So, they virtually deforested the whole place.

[7:03] And that's when Rome even changed the name of Jerusalem to Capilatina. Gave it an Italian name, and that survived for several years. But anyway, he's talking about what is going to be fulfilled in the future that, yes, these stones are magnificent, and they are very impressive, but you need to know the time is coming when they're all going to come tumbling down.

[7:26] And when the Roman soldiers will go in there with pry bars, prying all those stones loose because the heat, the heat from the fire melted so much of the gold that ran down between the cracks and everything, and that's what they were after, of course.

[7:39] As he was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, and he just dropped this bombshell on them, really. They were admiring the construction and the size of those building blocks.

[7:54] And when he said that, they were scratching their heads and saying, what is this? What's he talking about? Did you hear what he said? I mean, they haven't even finished building it yet, and he's talking about it's all going to be torn down.

[8:05] What's this all about anyway? And the text says in verse 3, that as he's sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, tell us, when will these things be?

[8:18] And what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age? And Jesus answered and said to them, see to it that no one misleads you. In other words, the temptation to be misled is going to be there.

[8:35] And he's saying, don't be misled. Many will come in my name, saying, I am the Christ, and will mislead many. You'll hear of wars and rumors of wars, so that you're not frightened.

[8:46] Those things must take place, but that is not yet the end. Nation will rise against nation, and so on. And all of these things, they will deliver you to tribulation in verse 9. Many will fall away in verse 10.

[8:57] False prophets will arise and mislead many. Lawlessness will increase. He who endures to the end shall be saved. And this is talking about he who is able to survive this onslaught will be a survivor, will be saved.

[9:14] He's not talking about salvation or the salvation of the soul. And this gospel of the kingdom, and that is very, very important to note, is the gospel of the kingdom, not the gospel of the grace of God.

[9:30] This is different. And in the passage that Paul wrote to Timothy about rightly dividing the word of truth, and the reason the word of truth needs to be divided is because there are things in the scriptures that must be kept separate one from another because there is no possible way of understanding them if you do not see that each thing has its own particular place.

[10:00] and some of the most outstanding divisions have to do with Jew and Gentile. Boy, there's a world of difference between Jews and Gentiles.

[10:13] So when you read in the scriptures, whether it's Old Testament or New, you've got to decide who are the people in question here, who's being talked about. Is it Jews or is it Gentiles?

[10:23] Because certain things apply to Jews that don't apply to Gentiles and vice versa. And then you've got to determine whether he's talking about the church, which is the body of Christ comprised of all believers who have faith in the Lord Jesus, as opposed to the nation of Israel.

[10:40] They are not the same. They are radically different. And if you try to make them the same, oh my. So then, in verse 15, this is what we're after. Jesus said, when you see the abomination of desolation, an abomination is a hateful, despiteful thing.

[11:00] It is an extreme contamination. And that which desolates means it desecrates or defiles or corrupts something.

[11:11] And when Jesus says, when you see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of by Daniel the prophet, when you see that, abomination that desolates, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place, and let the reader understand, verse 16, let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains and so on.

[11:37] Has that ever come to pass? No. Not really. Not really. But it is going to. And he is here giving them a warning sign.

[11:48] And he's saying the time is coming when there will be one who will stand in the holy place. And the holy place is the place that is reserved for deity.

[12:02] This is the place in the temple. And the one who will be standing there does not belong there at all. Has no right to be there. But that's where he's going to be. So now let's come back to Daniel chapter 9 and pick up on this and see exactly what he's talking about.

[12:17] This has to do with a famous prophecy of 70 weeks. And I've referred to this as the linchpin of Bible prophecy.

[12:31] And it certainly is that. It is so key and so very critical to the understanding of the whole prophetic program of God.

[12:43] And Daniel has just offered this tremendous prayer whereby he has acknowledged his sin and the sin of the nation.

[12:54] And Daniel admits that all of this adversity is that which we the people of God have brought upon ourselves.

[13:07] We have disobeyed the Lord. We've engaged in idolatry and all the rest of it. We have not been obedient to the Lord. And this is exactly what Jeremiah said was going to happen to us.

[13:18] And this is exactly what is happening. And it is God's judgment upon his people. And he's using a pagan people to do it. And the time is coming when this prophecy that Daniel gives here is going to be dramatically fulfilled in a very literal way.

[13:39] So as he sees this vision, he is faint, he is ill, it is so impacting upon this man's psyche that it just completely disarms him in every way.

[13:57] And he prays for an understanding of it. And in chapter 9 and verse 20, 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 Gabriel, and it's interesting that he is referred to as a man, although he is an angel, but he has the appearance of a man.

[14:30] Very often angels appear as human beings. They will at the resurrection of Christ. when the women come to the tomb, there will be angels there, and they look like men, and they are referred to as men, but they are angels.

[14:45] And that's true in other places as well. And we read that he gave me, verse 22, he gave me instruction, that is, Gabriel is going to tell him what this dream is about that he has seen.

[15:00] I have come forth to give you insight with understanding at the beginning of your supplications a command was issued, and I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed, so give heed to the message, Daniel, listen up, and gain understanding of the vision.

[15:17] Here it is, let me spell it out, 70 weeks have been decreed for your people. And right there in that first statement, we've got a problem.

[15:29] Because the natural thing to do is to impose our understanding of time upon the biblical concept. 70 weeks, well, there's 52 weeks in a year, right?

[15:43] So, he's talking about 52 weeks plus 18 weeks, that's 70 weeks. Well, it is 70 weeks, according to our calculation and our calendar.

[15:59] But what we've got to understand is that Daniel is speaking from a Hebrew position, not from a Western World USA position, or the way we look at calendars.

[16:13] He's talking about time as they envisioned it. And he says 70 weeks. This literally in the Hebrew is 70 sevens.

[16:26] 70 sevens. and each of those sevens is seven years, not weeks, seven years. And when you multiply 70 times seven years, you get 490 years.

[16:46] This is the key to understanding this prophecy. prophecy. And if you do not apply Hebrew math to this, there's no way in the world that you're going to understand this or make any sense of it.

[16:59] So he's talking about 490 years. And that is decreed for your people. And your people is exclusively limited to the nation of Israel.

[17:15] Daniel's people, the Jews, wasn't Gentiles, Jews, your people. And he says, and your holy city, that can only be one.

[17:29] Where was Daniel when this was written? It was in Babylon. Where was the holy city? Clear back in Jerusalem, hundreds of miles away.

[17:40] But it is the holy city and your people, the Jewish people. To make an end of sin.

[17:51] To finish the transgression. To make an end. What do those expressions mean? Well, I'm going to give you my understanding of this. And you'll have to take it or leave it.

[18:03] But in my estimation, it fits the overall scheme of things. And when he talks about to finish the transgression, this is emphasized in the Hebrew.

[18:14] And what could the transgression mean? If you were talking about the nation of Israel and the Jewish people, give some thought to these people being under divine discipline.

[18:35] They are being judged for their idolatry and their disobedience to the Lord. God's word. And Daniel is here looking into the future and he's saying that the time is going to come when the transgression will be complete.

[18:54] And I asked myself the question, what could the transgression be? I think there's only one thing that answers to that. and that is the Jewish people from the hierarchy down making the official position, we will not have this man to reign over us.

[19:17] That is Israel's primary transgression. It is the rejection of the one whom God sent. On the on the well it's actually it's current.

[19:33] I'm working on volume 45 of Christianity Clarified and I give people a little assignment on there. It's just a three four minute program and I encourage them and you want to a little spiritual exercise that is incredible.

[19:51] I would encourage you to do this. Get into the gospel of John and every time you come to the phrase that Jesus says him who sent me or I was sent or I came from the father and every time you see that phrase where Jesus is indicating his origin and who sent him draw a little line under it if you mark your Bible.

[20:19] If you don't want to mark your Bible then get a separate sheet of paper and write on it and I was astounded. Originally I said I think there are 20 sometimes in 21 chapters.

[20:33] That was wrong. That was wrong. There are 40 times 40 times in John's gospel where references made who sent to who sent him to who sent him and that's an average of about two times in every chapter.

[20:53] Now some chapters it isn't found at all but in others it may be found five or six times and it's just amazing and you get the impression that an impression is being made an emphasis is being made and that is who sent him and why he came.

[21:13] And that's everything. And that's what this is talking about I believe. To finish the transgression and this will have to do with the ultimate handing over of Jesus as the Messiah to Pilate for execution.

[21:27] That is the finish of the transgression. to make an end of sin to make atonement for iniquity and that will be wrapped up of course in the death of Christ to bring in everlasting righteousness to seal up vision and prophecy in other words that will be the conclusion of it and to anoint the most holy place.

[21:52] So 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.

[22:13] That's not a little less than two months. Seven weeks is seven years. That's how long it is going to take Nehemiah and Zerubbabel to rebuild the city of Jerusalem and rebuild the wall and restore things to their natural state and it's going to be a 49 year job.

[22:43] That's how long it's going to take them to restore what all the Babylonians have torn down. And that will begin when the decree is issued and you remember when Artaxerxes issues a decree they are the ones who defeated the Babylonians who carried the Jews into captivity and when Artaxerxes issues this decree it is remember when Nehemiah goes into the king's presence and he's got a glum face and the king Artaxerxes Nehemiah was the king's cupbearer and he was a Jew there in Babylon and Artaxerxes looks at Nehemiah and says boy you really look down today like you've lost your best friend what's going on and Nehemiah says well excuse me your majesty I just received word from my homeland in Jerusalem many miles away that the wall is all in disrepair and torn down the buildings are torn down everything is wreck and ruined and it's just really gotten to me

[23:54] I'm just deeply saddened by it and Artaxerxes ends up issuing a decree this is by the way in the book of Ezra and Nehemiah ends up issuing a decree gives a construction order if you will for building supplies and materials as well as money to be sent to Jerusalem to rebuild the city and rebuild the wall and it's kind of like a foreign aid program that Artaxerxes is initiating on behalf of the Jewish people and that's the issuing of the decree that he's talking about here when the king signed the work order that this work is to be done that's when this prophetic clock started ticking and it's going to tick for 49 years before they are able to stand back and say the job is done it's finished and let's go on from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild

[25:02] Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there will be seven weeks that's 49 years and 62 weeks and the 62 weeks and the seven weeks will equal of course 69 weeks and where is the 70th week the 70th week has never occurred 69 weeks have already passed they are history but the 70th week is held in abeyance because something happened to cut it off and what that was was the crucifixion of the Messiah that's when the prophetic clock stopped ticking and right now we are not part of the 69 weeks we are not part of the 70th week we are not part of either one we are in between them and historically we are not accounted for at all we are what is referred to as the parenthesis or as the mystery and we'll develop more of this later

[26:14] Joe right no way you can have a kingdom with the king dead no absolutely not absolutely not well we've just begun to scratch the surface of this I want you to hang on to this little brochure how long should you keep this the answer is forever just make it part of your permanent possessions if you don't already have one keep it in your Bible keep it in your treasure chest keep it somewhere because it's very very enlightening and we'll be referring to it later so thank you all for being here and enjoy your meal and we just got this thing underway so I look forward to what is coming because I know this is really exciting content we'll be getting into it thank you all