God's Not Finished Yet!

This morning we find ourselves in Daniel 9…

if you are new with us, we’ve been walking through the book of Daniel and we’ve entitled this series…Staying Faithful in Chaotic Times

Daniel is a book filled with historical narratives that describe the sovereignty of God over the affairs of men in amazing detail…but it is also a book of prophecy.

From Dan 7-12 everything for Daniel and his people is in the future...for us, some is in the past, some is yet to come.

Time and time again God shows His ability to make predictions about the Gentile nations and their rise and fall. God was faithful to His Word in remarkable detail.

Daniel 9 reveals to us again how faithful God is to His word and in an answer to his prayer, provides Daniel with what is seen as one of the most important prophetical texts in all of Scripture.

Explain the different approach for this message...

Let’s observe the text and then we’ll draw some conclusions from the text.

Observation #1 — God Displays His Power to Carry Out What He Says (1-2).

READ Daniel 9:1-2

As we trace world history, the king mentioned here and the time mentioned here place this chapter in 539 BC…

Babylon is no longer the world empire…it had fallen just like God said it would…

and now the Medes and the Persians are the dominant world power…

God’s Word is Absolute Truth

It was obvious to Daniel that when he was reading what Jeremiah wrote, he was reading the Word of God…it was absolute truth to him.

Jeremiah predicted the fall of Babylon, so when Daniel read Jeremiah he knew he could trust what he was reading.

We can make a reasonable conclusion of what Daniel was reading.

Jeremiah 25:11 NASB95

‘This whole land will be a desolation and a horror, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

Jeremiah 25:12 NASB95

‘Then it will be when seventy years are completed I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation,’ declares the Lord, ‘for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans; and I will make it an everlasting desolation.

Jeremiah 29:10 NASB95

“For thus says the Lord, ‘When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place.

The point here is that Daniel recognized that what he read was absolute truth from God and that it deserved his attention…

God Can Be Trusted to Fulfill His Word

Daniel labeled Jeremiah’s writings as the Word of YAHWEH…LORD

It is Jehovah, the covenant making and covenant keeping name of God…

God made a covenant with them that as long as they obeyed, they would be blessed, but He also warned them that continual disobedience would bring judgment…

God is absolutely trustworthy to not only carry out the good of His covenant, but also to carry out the warnings of disobedience.

We can trust the fact that when God said there was going to be judgment, judgment comes.

In 2 Chronicles 36:21, we see that one of the reasons the nation was judged is because they had not kept the sabbath year…

that is critical to our understanding of Daniel 9…

2 Chronicles 36:21 NASB95

to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its sabbaths. All the days of its desolation it kept sabbath until seventy years were complete.

We need to know that the Sabbath wasn’t just a day of the week, it was also a year out of every seven years…

Every seventh year, they were supposed to let their land rest and they hadn’t been doing that for 490 years (remember that number), since the days of Eli the priest…

By letting the land rest they needed to trust God to feed them in those years of rest…

It wasn’t until the nation was taken captive by Babylon that the land would enjoy its sabbath rest.

God gave His word that there would be a coming judgment, but many of His people would not believe Him, and in turn mocked and ridiculed those who told them the truth of God’s Word.

Implications...1) absolute truth does exist; 2) if your searching for God’s plan for your life, you will find it in the Bible

Observation #2 — God’s Faithfulness to His Word Should Drive Us To Worship and Prayer (3-19).

Read Dan 9:3...turned his attention...a definitive act of focus...He came with fasting and in sackcloth and ashes.

Forget eating. Forget walking around in purple robes of high office. Forget rights and privileges.

This is the time to fall on my face before God

Daniel knew God wasn’t done yet and it drove him his knees to seek God’s face.

I have no doubt Daniel remembered Jer 29:11

Jeremiah 29:11 NASB95

‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.

As a result of his time in the Word, Daniel is driven to worship and prayer…

he was reminded of the wickedness within his own heart, the wickedness of his people and the need to seek God’s forgiveness…

True Worship Brings Confession

There is A Confession of Who God Is

Notice the way Daniel describes God

Daniel 9:4 - Great and awesome, who keeps his covenant and lovingkindness

Daniel 9:7- righteousness belongs to You

Daniel 9:9 to the Lord our God belong compassion and forgiveness

Daniel 9:12- He has confirmed His words

These words come from the heart of a person who gets it…

He knows and believes God is loving enough, wise enough, and powerful enough to make a covenant and keep that covenant…

both the good side of the covenant and the discipline side of the covenant...

Every time we read and study God’s Word we ought to always walk away with a greater appreciation for who God is.

There is A Confession Of Who We Are

Notice what Daniel says about himself and his people...

Daniel 9:5 - we have sinned, committed iniquity, acted wickedly, rebelled, turned aside from your ordinances

Daniel 9:6 - haven’t listened to your servants

Daniel 9:7- deserving of open shame because of our unfaithful deeds

Daniel 9:8 — we sinned against you

Daniel 9:9 - we rebelled against you

Daniel 9:10 - nor have we obeyed His voice

Daniel 9:11 - all Israel transgressed

When brought face to face with the Word of God it revealed who he was, who his people were and who God was and there was a distinct difference that moved Him to worship Yahweh.

True Worship Brings Repentance

Daniel recognized God had a plan that involved restoration and forgiveness...

He was convinced that God promised to forgive...

But Daniel was concerned for more than just his and the nations restoration...

Read Daniel 9:18–19

He calls on God to act because God’s reputation was at stake...

Israel was God’s people...Jerusalem was God’s city...yet the people were scattered and the city lay in ruins...

Daniel wanted God’s reputation to be known...

Daniel switches from YAHWEH

Lord — Adonai

God — Elohim

actually occur at verse 15

Daniel appeals to God’s total sovereignty over his people, his nation, and his world.

The Exodus displayed the greatness of who you are

Daniel pleads with God, based on God’s character, to make Himself known again in spite of Israel’s sin.

Implication…Our response to the Word should drive our prayers...“In Jesus name we pray, AMEN.” Let the world know you are God!

Observation #3 — God Reveals His Plan and Will Ensure It’s Completion (20-27).

As a result of Daniel’s faithfulness (Daniel still observed the time of evening sacrifices even though the sacrifices were gone) and repentance,

God was highly pleased with him and answered his prayer…before he even finished it!

God gives Daniel very important elements of His plan for Israel.

Read Daniel 9:20-23.

The next few verses are some of the most debated verses in all of Scripture, but if we walk through them carefully we can come away with a greater awe and appreciation of God.

Daniel 9:24 ““Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city...

What is meant by Seventy weeks?

NASB, ESV, NKJV = weeks; NIV = Seventy sevens

The word for week here, literally means “sevens”… set of sevens...

This word functions like our word “dozen” indicating 12 of something…

It can refer to seven days, weeks, months, or years...

Daniel is told that seventy sets of seven have been decreed… “cut out”

specific period of time has been cut out in human history.

Is it seventy sets of seven days, weeks, months, or years?

Always want to examine the context ...

when we go back to what Daniel was reading from Jeremiah he understood the captivity would last for a literal 70 what?...years.

Virtually all scholars agree this refers to years...

Seventy Sets of Seven Years = 490 years.

Gabriel is telling Daniel that God’s prophetic timetable for Israel is a total of 490 years.

Critical observation...

Gabriel specifically says to Daniel, “your people, and your holy city”...this is clearly a reference to Jews and Jerusalem.

this prophecy is an answer to Daniel’s prayer for national forgiveness and restoration

This prophecy concerns Israel, not the church, not the world...

God is specifically talking to Daniel and the Jews to encourage their faithfulness to the very, very end.

This is for Daniel’s generation of Jews and every generation of Jews after him...

Even though the captivity is ending, Israel is still going to experience some difficult times, but there is a purpose and plan, so stay faithful!

The specifics of the prophecy are meant for Israel, however, the impact of God’s plan for Israel affects all humanity!

What we see next is that by the time this period of 490 years is over God will have completed six goals for Israel.

God Reveals the Purpose of His Plan (24)

Daniel 9:24 ““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.”

to finish transgression

the idea here is restraint...God pledged to restrain sin

Ultimately human rebellion will end...The day is coming when all rebellion will cease.

to make an end of sin

Sin = missing the mark of God’s standards...

God will one day judge sin with finality.

The complete end of sin awaits the eternal state.

to make atonement for iniquity

The verb “to atone” means “to cover.”

Israel was very familiar with atonement...the Day of Atonement was once a year. When the blood was applied to the mercy seat, God could now dwell with them.

Daniel had been praying about how the nation could find forgiveness, and Gabriel’s answer speaks to that question.

At this point I think we can reasonably conclude this points to the crucifixion and the central message of the New Testament—that Jesus paid for our sins on Calvary.

These were partially fulfilled in at Jesus’ first coming, meaning the full realization of all this is yet to happen.

to bring in everlasting righteousness

after a long history of national apostasy God brings them eternal righteousness

God will transform his people and write his law on their hearts (Jer. 31:33–40).

Certainly righteousness results from the cross, but we do not see a national righteousness of Israel, so it would seem the fulfillment of this objective is yet to come.

to seal up vision and prophecy

The need for revelations will end...Jesus will be present.

Until then, we need to continually study and apply His Word because we accept the Bible as God communicating truth to us in written form.

to anoint the most holy place

God will consecrate the Holy Place in a temple of the future that will be the center of worship in the millennial kingdom of Messiah.

These all remind us of the truth we live in the realm of the already but not yet...EXPLAIN

God reveals the purpose of His plan first...by the end of this 490 year period of time these six purposes will be accomplished.

God Reveals Some Specifics of His Plan (25-27)

Gabriel told Daniel to pay special attention (“know” and “understand” are synonymous here) to the very important information that he was about to receive, partially because here was the answer to Daniel’s prayer for an end to Jerusalem’s desolation.

When we read any text of Scripture, we read it normally unless the text gives us reason not to!

Read Dan 9:25-27.

What specifics does a normal reading reveal?

Specific #1 - God Reveals A Timetable Broken into Three Phases.

We can’t read this without noticing the division of the time frames.

Phase 1 = 7 sets of 7 years = 49 years

Phase 2 = 62 sets of 7 years = 434 years

Phase 3 = 1 set of 7 years = 7 years

Total = 490 years

Specific #2 — God Reveals the Key Players in this Time Period.

We will examine these in just a moment...

Jews

The Messiah

People of the prince to come

prince to come

Specific #3 — God Breaks Down the Timetable with Significant Historical Events.

Event #1 — Rebuilding Jerusalem

Daniel 9:25 ““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.”

Gabriel says the timetable starts when the decree is issued to rebuild Jerusalem.

There were four decrees in total given by Persian kings allowing the Jews to return and rebuild.

1st was the original decree allowing passage back to Jerusalem (538 B.C...2 Chron 36:22-23; Ezra 1:1-4; 5:13)...rebuild the temple

2nd was a confirmation of the first (520 B.C...Ezra 6:1, 6-12).

3rd related to finances and sacrifices at the temple (457 B.C — Ezra 7:11-26)

4th was issued approximately 445 B.C to Nehemiah (Neh 2:1-8) to rebuild the city wall.

Though Nehemiah’s wall construction project took only 52 days, many years (49) were needed to completely rebuild the city and remove the city’s debris (after being desolate for many decades), to build adequate housing, and to rebuild the streets and a trench and it was definitely a time of trouble.

Event #2 — Presentation of the Messiah

Daniel 9:25 ““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.”

From the end of Phase 1 we see the addition of 62 sevens — 434 years extended up to the introduction of the Messiah to the nation of Israel.

Messiah = Anointed One (could be a king, a priest, or both) = Hebrew; Christ = Greek. Prince = leader, or ruler...the point here is that an anointed one would come who would lead Israel as her King.

Again, we can reasonably conclude that although he was unknown to them, we see the Messiah is Jesus.

The question arises is this referring to His birth or some other event?

There is much debate to pinpoint this exactly so none can be dogmatic.

Some say it refers to the day of His birth

Those who hold to the decree given to Ezra to rebuild say it was Jesus’ baptism...Jesus is Presented as God’s Son

Those who hold to the decree given to Nehemiah find fulfillment in the Triumphal Entry...Jesus Presents Himself as the Messiah fulfilling the prophecy of Zech 9:9.

While riding into Jerusalem, Jesus says in Luke 19:42 “saying, “If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes.”

The significance of Zechariah 9:9 and Luke 19:42 is this...

Zechariah 9:9 prophesies about the Messiah coming to Jerusalem as a humble king, riding on a donkey,

In Luke 19:42 Jesus laments over Jerusalem's failure to recognize the significance of this day.

The connection lies in the theme of peace:

Zechariah's prophecy speaks of the Messiah bringing peace, while in Luke, Jesus weeps over Jerusalem's inability to recognize "the things which make for peace"

Jesus makes reconciliation between God and humanity, achievable.

The failure of Jerusalem to recognize Jesus as the figure prophesied in Zechariah 9:9 feeds into their actions to crucify Him

Event #3 — Death of the Messiah

v 26. after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing.

Cut off = is used of executing the death penalty on a criminal.

Have nothing = Israel rejected Him and the kingdom could not be instituted at that time.

Thus, Jesus did not receive the royal glory as the King on David’s Throne.

Our natural reading of this text leads us to conclude a reference to the crucifixion.

Some time after the sixty-ninth week, the Messiah will die.

Daniel’s prophecy, then, anticipated Christ’s offer of Himself to the nation Israel as her Messiah, the nation’s rejection of Him as Messiah, and His crucifixion.

The prophecy continues with a description of the judgment that comes to those who rejected the Messiah.

Event #4 — A Second Destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple

the people of the ruler to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary...

Gabriel tells Daniel Jerusalem and the temple will be rebuilt (during the return) but it will be destroyed again in the future.

Please note carefully that the ruler who will come does not conduct the destruction of the city and the sanctuary, but rather the people of the ruler.

The ruler himself is described in verse 27 as the future persecutor of Israel during the 70th week.

Since Dn 7 clearly viewed this ruler as coming from the fourth major world power, or Rome, this prophecy predicts that the Romans would destroy Jerusalem, as they did in AD 70, 40 years after the crucifixion.

So historically, the death of Christ and the destruction of Jerusalem usher in the end with its wars and desolation.

Matt 24:7-22.

Notice the phrase its end will come...even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined

“Until the end”

We have to recognize the difference between the beginning of the end and the end of the end.

The destruction of Jerusalem the second time in AD 70 was not the end of difficulty for Israel...wars and desolations will continue to impact Israel until the VERY end of God’s prophetic timetable!

Israel’s sufferings span the entire period from the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 to Jerusalem’s deliverance from Gentile dominion at the Second Coming of Christ.

Verse 27 reveals what will occur in Phase 3 — the 70th seven year period.

Event #5 — 70th Week Marked by Persecution of Jews by the prince.

v 27 — Who is the “he” mentioned here?

...the closest antecedent for he is the lower case “prince” of the previous verse...the prince to come

Daniel 7 describes this ruler as the little horn, the future ruler of a great empire in the last days, the persecutor of the saints.

I think we can safely identify this person as the Antichrist.

The events of this time period begin with a covenant between the Antichrist and the many.

Again the context would indicate this is the Jews.

On behalf of his empire he makes a treaty with the nation of Israel.

Half way through this seven year period (three and a half years), he breaks that treaty and puts an end to the sacrifice and offerings.

Worship of God will cease.

New Testament truth adds clarity to this time period as the Tribulation...

Matt 24-25...Rev 4-19.

Event #6 — God Destroys His Enemies

The phrase “And on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate” most likely speaks of him setting himself up as a god to be worshipped.

This will continue but not forever...the Messiah comes a 2nd time and brings him down hard...complete desolation is decreed and poured out on the Antichrist.

Implications

The Messiah is not cut off in the 70th seven, he was cut off after the 7 and 62 had run their course.

So Phase 1 and Phase 2 end when the Messiah comes.

Phase 3 begins with a covenant between the Antichrist and the Jews and ends when the Messiah (Jesus) comes a 2nd time destroying the Antichrist.

All of that creates an interval between the 69th and 70th week.

We are living in that interval of time that only God knows when it will end!

Lesson for Life...Stay Faithful Knowing God Never Stops Fulfilling His Word!

Daniel 9 points to the greatness of God to make promises and keep them...

God told them they would be taken captive, and they were.

God told them how long the captivity would last...70 years.

God pulled back the curtain into His plan for Israel to remind them of His Sovereign control and to assure them His promises were still intact.

The future for Israel is secure, but it won’t be an easy one...so stay faithful to the very end...

For us...we long for, love, and await the arrival of our Savior when we will experience the fulness of our salvation...

Until then, we work and we wait. We serve and we hope.

The plan is in place. The clock is ticking. The anointed ruler is on the way!