Daniel 9:20-27
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
[READING - Daniel 9:20-27]
20 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, 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. 22 He gave me instruction and talked with me and said, “O Daniel, I have now come forth to give you insight with understanding. 23 “At the beginning of your supplications 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. 24 “Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy place. 25 “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 and sixty-two weeks; it will be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of distress. 26 “Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah 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; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined. 27 “And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week 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.”
[PRAYER]
[CONTEXT] Babylon has fallen, and Daniel has read in Jeremiah’s prophecies about the restoration of God’s people after the fall of Babylon. He knew the time, knew the Word of God, and knew it was time to pray.
He humbled himself before God. He confessed Israel’s persistent unfaithfulness and praised God for His perfect faithfulness. And then he asked God to restore Israel to the Promised Land for His own glory…
17 “So now, our God, listen to the prayer of Your servant and to his supplications, and for Your sake, O Lord, let Your face shine on Your desolate sanctuary. 18 “O my God, incline Your ear and hear! Open Your eyes and see our desolations and the city which is called by Your name; for we are not presenting our supplications before You on account of any merits of our own, but on account of Your great compassion. 19 “O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and take action! For Your own sake, O my God, do not delay, because Your city and Your people are called by Your name.”
[CIT] In our passage tonight, Daniel receives an answer to his prayer through the angel Gabriel, an answer that is far more than he asked or imagined.
[TURN] Ephesians 3:20 tells us that God is “able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think.”
Daniel asked for one thing, but God has bigger things in store for His people.
[PROP] As we study this passage, let us commit to trusting in YHWH—the God of bigger things, the God who does more than we ask or imagine, the God who gives all the blessings in His Son, Jesus, the Messiah.
[TS] We’ll divide this passage into two PARTS…
Major Ideas
Major Ideas
PART #1: Gabriel, the Messenger (Dan. 9:20-23)
PART #1: Gabriel, the Messenger (Dan. 9:20-23)
20 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, 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. 22 He gave me instruction and talked with me and said, “O Daniel, I have now come forth to give you insight with understanding. 23 “At the beginning of your supplications 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.
[EXP] Daniel was still praying, still confessing his sins and the sins of Israel, still asking God to restore Jerusalem and its temple when Gabriel came to him.
Daniel had seen Gabriel before in his vision of the ram and goat in Daniel 8. In that chapter, Gabriel was commanded by God to give Daniel understanding of that vision (Dan. 8:16).
Here again in Daniel 9 Gabriel came to give Daniel “insight with understanding” (v. 22).
But pay special attention to what Gabriel told Daniel in v. 23: as soon as Daniel started praying, the command was issued.
What command was issued? What other command could it be but the command that Daniel prayed for?
The command to restore God’s people to God’s land along with God’s city and God’s temple.
Whether the command was from God’s mouth to the heart of King Cyrus of the Medo-Persian or from King Cyrus’ mouth to those who would carry it out, we aren’t sure, but what Daniel prayed for was going to certainly come to pass because the command had been issued.
Gabriel had been sent to deliver this news to Daniel because Daniel was highly esteemed.
In Daniel 10, Daniel will be referred to as the “man of high esteem” (Dan. 10:11, 19). Almighty God thought highly of Daniel.
Why?
Was it not because Daniel thought much of God?
We’ve seen that Daniel thought much of God by the way he lived.
We’ve seen that Daniel thought much of God by the way he prayed.
We see both of these things again in v. 21 when Daniel says that Gabriel came to him in his extreme weariness “about the time of the evening offering.”
The temple had long since been destroyed.
No evening offering or any other offering had been offered on the temple altar in decades.
And yet Daniel, although he lived in the pagan city of Babylon, still thought of God; he still thought of the evening offering; he still determined the time of day by the timing of those past offerings in Jerusalem; he turned the time of the evening offering into a time to offer up prayer.
I think this says a lot about why God highly esteemed Daniel.
And because Daniel was highly esteemed, God sent Gabriel to give Daniel understanding of the vision.
[ILLUS/APP] Matthew Henry said, “…what greater token of God’s favor can there be of God’s favor to any man than for the secrets of the Lord to be with him?”
Henry pointed out that Abraham was the friend of God, and God asked, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?” (Gen. 18:17)
And, of course, God did not hide from Abraham the impending destruction of Sodom, Gomorrah, and the other cities.
God let Abraham in on the secret because Abraham too was highly esteemed.
Henry pointed out that Jesus had one Apostle that was called the beloved disciple, and it was that disciple that was given the prophetic visions of the New Testament.
He also pointed out that Gabriel also referred to Mary, the mother of Jesus, as highly favored (cf. Luke 1), and she was made privy to what God was doing through the Son she carried in her womb.
But then Matthew Henry said this, “Those may reckon themselves greatly beloved of God to whom, and in whom, he reveals his Son.”
In other words Christian, don’t be envious of Daniel being highly esteemed and receiving these visions from God when you’ve received a greater revelation in God’s Son, Jesus, the Messiah.
If God had revealed to you Jesus, then you are highly esteemed.
[TS]…
PART #2: Seventy Weeks of the Messiah (Dan. 9:24-27)
PART #2: Seventy Weeks of the Messiah (Dan. 9:24-27)
24 “Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy place. 25 “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 and sixty-two weeks; it will be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of distress. 26 “Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah 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; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined. 27 “And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week 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.”
[EXP] Daniel had asked for the restoration of Israel to the Promised Land, and the command went out as soon as Daniel started praying. That was going to happen.
In the days of Ezra and Nehemiah people would return and rebuild Jerusalem. Zerubbabel and Joshua the high priest would rebuild the altar and lay the foundation for the temple.
But now Gabriel tells Daniel about the time period from Cyrus’ command to restore Jerusalem to the destruction of Jerusalem once again seventy sevens in the future. This is Israel’s seventy sevens or seventy weeks of years.
Gabriel begins with a summary in v. 24 that covers the entire period.
In v. 25 he divides the first seven from the next 62 sevens.
Some interpreters project a gap between the first seven and the next 62 sevens.
Some other interpreters project a gap between the 62 sevens and the last seven.
When I read it, I don’t see a gap at all.
In v. 26 he describes the final week in general terms.
And then in v. 27 he describes that same final week in more specific detail.
Now from the beginning we will have to decide whether we take the numbers here in Daniel 9 to be literal or symbolic, and I believe they symbolically point to the year of jubilee.
In Leviticus 25:8-12 God said…
8 ‘You are also to count off seven sabbaths of years for yourself, seven times seven years, so that you have the time of the seven sabbaths of years, namely, forty-nine years. 9 ‘You shall then sound a ram’s horn abroad on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the day of atonement you shall sound a horn all through your land. 10 ‘You shall thus consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim a release through the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, and each of you shall return to his own property, and each of you shall return to his family. 11 ‘You shall have the fiftieth year as a jubilee; you shall not sow, nor reap its aftergrowth, nor gather in from its untrimmed vines. 12 ‘For it is a jubilee; it shall be holy to you. You shall eat its crops out of the field.
The year of jubilee was a year of freedom and restoration for God’s people, and it took place every seventh seven.
This is what Daniel asked for—freedom from Babylon and restoration to the Promised Land, and God said the year of jubilee was already on the way in that first 7 sevens.
Daniel and the rest of God’s people were about to celebrate.
Now what would follow would be 62 sevens (i.e., a long time) leading up to the time of the Messiah in the final seven. During that time God’s people would live in the Promised Land with the city of Jersualem and the temple rebuilt, but it would be a time of distress nonetheless.
Of course, God’s people rejoiced in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah when the city was being reconstructed, but it’s reconstruction met with opposition even at the start.
Later Antiochus Ephiphanes, king of the Seleucid kingdom, would cause severe times of distress for God’s people.
Even when Herod remodeled and expanded Zerubbabel’s temple from the days of Ezra and Nehemiah, God’s people were under the rule of the Romans.
Although they were in the Promised Land and had a nice temple, they still experienced times of distress.
But a greater jubilee was coming.
After the 62 sevens, the Messiah would appear. Gabriel calls Him “Messiah the Prince” in v. 25.
The beginning of v. 26 and the beginning of v. 27 talk about His work of redemption.
Verse 26a says that He will be cut off and have nothing.
This is talking about Jesus Christ, the Anointed One, the Messiah, who was cut off, who was crucified and abandoned to pay the price for our sins.
Verse 27a says that He will make a firm covenant with the many for one week.
This firm covenant is the New Covenant in Christ’s blood, which Jesus makes with all who trust in Him for salvation.
It is an eternal covenant, just as this seventieth week of Daniel goes on forever.
The second part of v. 26 and the second part of v. 27 talk about the Messiah’s work of judgment.
Verse 26b says that the people of the Prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary—i.e., the city of Jerusalem and the temple.
Some say this prince is the future antichrist, but I think it still refers to the Messiah who’s people—the Jewish people—rejected Him as brought judgment upon themselves.
In A.D. 70, the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and the temple just as Jesus said they would because the Jewish people rejected Him as Messiah.
Verse 27b says that the Messiah will put an end to sacrifice and grains offerings; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until complete destruction.
Because He is the once for all sacrifice, Jesus put an end to the sacrificial system.
Because the Jews rejected Him as Messiah, the Roman general Titus and his Roman soldiers desecrated and completely destroyed the temple in A.D. 70.
[APP] Jesus the Messiah has come. He has died. And He has been raised from the dead.
Transgression is finished.
Sins have been brought to an end.
Iniquity has been atoned for in His perfect life, sacrificial death, and resurrection from the dead.
Everlasting righteousness has come.
All vision and prophecy have their ‘yes’ and ‘amen’ in Him.
And He is the anointed place where we enter into God’s presence.
19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20 The Jews then said, “It took forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?” 21 But He was speaking of the temple of His body. 22 So when He was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered that He said this; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken.
19 Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh,
[TS] Jesus is the greater jubilee.
Conclusion
Conclusion
[PRAYER]