Daniel 9:20-27 (June 14, 2020, AM)
Notes
Transcript
Announce prayer list - starting from scratch.
Announce Sunday School thoughts - Tell me if you want literature by next Sunday.
Introduction
Introduction
Last week we looked at Daniel’s prayer.
Today we will look at God’s answer.
There is some good news and some bad news.
Good news - present Babylonian captivity is almost over.
Bad news - these 70 years are not the end of the punishment.
The Babylonian captivity did cure the Jews of their idolatry.
But 70 times 7 years would be needed to deal with their other sins.
20 While I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my plea before the Lord my God for the holy hill of my God,
21 while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the first, came to me in swift flight at the time of the evening sacrifice.
22 He made me understand, speaking with me and saying, “O Daniel, I have now come out to give you insight and understanding.
23 At the beginning of your pleas for mercy a word went out, and I have come to tell it to you, for you are greatly loved. Therefore consider the word and understand the vision.
24 “Seventy weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place.
25 Know therefore and understand that from the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a prince, there shall be seven weeks. Then for sixty-two weeks it shall be built again with squares and moat, but in a troubled time.
26 And after the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing. And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed.
27 And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator.”
God Is Ready, Even Eager, to Answer the Right Kind of Prayer from His Servant
God Is Ready, Even Eager, to Answer the Right Kind of Prayer from His Servant
What is the right kind of prayer?
We looked at that last week, but ...
Prayers of faith, humility, and confession that are centered around bringing glory to God.
((Just point out highlighted parts))
20 While I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my plea before the LORD my God for the holy hill of my God,
21 while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the first, came to me in swift flight at the time of the evening sacrifice.
22 He made me understand, speaking with me and saying, “O Daniel, I have now come out to give you insight and understanding.
23 At the beginning of your pleas for mercy a word went out, and I have come to tell it to you, for you are greatly loved. Therefore consider the word and understand the vision.
Do you see how it appears that God was eager to answer the prayer of this beloved servant?
The “his servant” part of the equation is important as well as the “right kind of prayer” part.
I said last week that lost people do a lot of praying.
God will answer the prayer of a lost person if he is seeking forgiveness and salvation.
If your enemy on the battlefield comes to unconditionally surrender then you will accept him, right?
That is what happens when a sinner repents and comes to faith.
What if that enemy comes with no intention to surrender, but wants more ammunition and equipment to fight you with?
That would be very different, wouldn’t it?
God is far too wise to give his power and authority to rebels.
If you want your prayers answered, be his servant, on his side, working for his glory.
(Be on his side, not try to get him on ours.)
(Joshua and the Angel of the Lord.)
In practical terms, how do we make sure we are on His side? - We follow His explicit commands!
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Daniel is told in v.23 that he is greatly loved.
What could be better than to be greatly loved by God?
Whose love and esteem are you working to secure?
You probably cannot be greatly loved by the world if you are greatly loved by God.
That needs to be okay with you.
The world crucified our master whom we seek to imitate.
Do you expect them to love you?
It is not likely.
In spite of that, we need to love them anyway.
That is why Franklin Graham and Samaritan’s Purse would go back to NY city if they were needed even though they were treated like garbage. (summarize the story)
Is that fair?
NO - it’s Grace
We do not want God to give us what we have coming - We do not want him to judge us fairly - We want grace
By the same token we are to show grace to the world when they are ungrateful and treat us poorly.
Showing grace to those who do not deserve it can make you bitter - Don’t let it.
Realize you are following Jesus and doing what he did and let that give you joy.
The First 69 Weeks
The First 69 Weeks
24 “Seventy weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place.
A week = 7 days
We learned that when we were little.
Week here would be less confusing if it said, “group of 7”
Kind of like dozen - group of 12 - group of twelve what?? donuts, eggs, cookies, days, what??
Here we are talking about years - so these are 70 groups of 7 years, or 490 years.
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Let’s look at the purposes of these 490 years.
1. to finish the transgression - The 70 years of the Babylonian captivity pretty much cured the Jews of their crass idolatry.
(The human heart is an idol factory - self, money, sex, power, etc.)
(But cured them of the idolatry where you actually make for yourself a carved image of wood or metal.)
Israel’s rebellion against God was not over.
It would reach its zenith in the rejection and crucifixion of His Son.
Jesus told a parable that sums this up.
33 “Hear another parable. There was a master of a house who planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a winepress in it and built a tower and leased it to tenants, and went into another country.
34 When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit.
35 And the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another.
36 Again he sent other servants, more than the first. And they did the same to them.
37 Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’
38 But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.’
39 And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.
40 When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?”
Eventually there will be an end to the rebellion of Israel.
25 Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.
26 And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written, “The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob”;
27 “and this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins.”
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The second goal we find in v. 24...
2. “to put an end to sin” - Has Jesus put an end to sin? - The victory over sin was won at Calvary, but the final end to sin will be when He returns.
Christ’s victory is won - the enemy’s back was broken at Calvary - but there are still battles going on.
All rebellion and lawlessness will be finally and permanently dealt with when Jesus returns.
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The third goal is
3. “to atone for iniquity”
At Calvary Jesus atoned for the sins of both Jews and Gentiles and bought for himself a people from every tongue, tribe, and nation.
He paid the debt for my sin.
He substituted himself for me.
He took my death, that I might partake in his life.
As the song, “All I Have Is Christ”...
He bore the wrath reserved for me now all I know is grace.
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The fourth goal is
4. “to bring in everlasting righteousness”
this is the fulfillment of the kingdom that we saw in Dan. 7.13-14
13 “I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him.
14 And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.
The depravity and injustice all around us makes us long more and more for that kingdom of righteousness!
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5. “to seal both vision and prophet”
When we want to preserve something we seal it up.
This prophecy is looking really long-term, but it is secure and sure to be fulfilled.
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6. “to anoint the most holy place”
“place is not actually in the Hebrew”
I do not know what this “most holy thing is.
?a temple that was future to the prophet?
?a reference to Jesus who spoke of his body as the temple that would be torn down and rebuilt in three days?
?the church?
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SO, these 6 goals - have they all been accomplished?
Not fully and finally.
That indicates to me that these 70 weeks must, in some way, extend all the way to the return of Christ to set up his eternal kingdom of righteousness.
25 Know therefore and understand that from the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a prince, there shall be seven weeks. Then for sixty-two weeks it shall be built again with squares and moat, but in a troubled time.
I like the ESV, but I think it is not the best translation here.
It looks clear from the English that there are 7 weeks, then the Messiah, or anointed one, then 62 weeks.
The NIV, the NASB, and the King James all say this better.
((Belabor the point))
25 “Know and understand this: From the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens.’ It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble.
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.
25 Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.
Why are the 7 weeks separated from the next 62 weeks?
Here comes a lot of educated conjecture...
I believe the word that went out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem was the authorization by Artaxerxes to Nehemiah in about 444 BC.
We can read about this in
1 In the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad in his presence.
2 And the king said to me, “Why is your face sad, seeing you are not sick? This is nothing but sadness of the heart.” Then I was very much afraid.
3 I said to the king, “Let the king live forever! Why should not my face be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ graves, lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?”
4 Then the king said to me, “What are you requesting?” So I prayed to the God of heaven.
5 And I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, that you send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ graves, that I may rebuild it.”
6 And the king said to me (the queen sitting beside him), “How long will you be gone, and when will you return?” So it pleased the king to send me when I had given him a time.
From the time of this authorization until the completion of the restoration of the city was the first 7 “weeks” - or 49 years.
This rebuilding was indeed done in “a troubled time” like Daniel prophesied.
Ezra 4.7-23 tells of some of those troubles if you want to look that up when you get home.
That is the first 7 weeks.
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What about the next 62 weeks?
That is the time between the rebuilding of the city after the first 7 “weeks” until the coming of the Messiah.
62 “weeks” is another 434 years.
Weird question - How long is a year?
Most likely the “year in view here to these ancient Hebrews was based on a lunar calendar that had 12 months of 30 days each.
That would make a year 360 days.
((Am I trying to make a square peg go in a round hole??))
No. The Julian calendar was not in effect until 45 BC and our current Gregorian calendar was not used until AD 1582.
But how does the Bible reckon years?
6 and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which she is to be nourished for 1,260 days.
14 But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle so that she might fly from the serpent into the wilderness, to the place where she is to be nourished for a time, and times, and half a time.
(Go slowly)
We can see that 3 1/2 years is 42 months of 30 days = 1260.
Have I lost you yet?
The total 69 “weeks” of years = 483 years of 360 days/year.
That is equal to 173,880 days.
If you want to put that in our modern years you divide by 365.24.
That gives you just over 476 solar years.
Why do we need to convert it?
Same reason we have to translate the language...
Because we do not use their reckoning anymore.
WHO IN THE WORLD CARES??
If you take the authorization by Artaxerxes to Nehemiah in the month of Nisan in 444 BC and go forward 476 years you arrive at the year 33 AD.
The most reasoned and best guess that I have read concerning the date of the crucifixion is April 3, AD 33, or the 14th day of the month of Nisan.
We do not know the day of Artaxerxes authorization, but I would guess that it corresponded to the day of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem but there is no way to calculate the precise day because we do not know what day of Nisan Artaxerxes gave Nehemiah that decree.
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26 And after the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing. And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed.
After these 62 weeks - remember the 62 weeks followed on the heels of the first 7 - so really after the first 69 weeks...
The anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing.
Who is the anointed one?
The Hebrew word is םַשִׁיחַ which we transliterate into Messiah.
The King James and the NASB just write Messiah.
His being “cut off” is a reference to his crucifixion and death.
That is not too hard to figure out is it?
What about “and shall have nothing”?
I believe this is a glimpse into the fact that the son of man who is to be given a glorious eternal kingdom will not immediately be reigning over that kingdom.
Most scholars believed that the eternal kingdom of righteousness would be ushered in upon the arrival of the Messiah, but this seems to indicate that would not be the case, as indeed, we know it was not.
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Following this ultimate act of betrayal against God, we read that “the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary”.
I believe this can only refer to the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple that took place in 70 AD which we see was to follow the first 69 weeks and the death, or “cutting off” of Messiah.
It is important for us to see that there is apparently a break between the 69th and 70th week.
We aren’t going back and reading it in.
It is already there.
We are told that after the 62 weeks, this other stuff is going to happen.
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The Final Week
The Final Week
The final verse of the chapter deals with the 70th and final week.
27 And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator.”
“strong covenant” - apparently the Antichrist will either convince or coerce Israel into some kind of treaty or alliance.
This is certainly speculation, but I wonder if the Antichrist will convince many that he is the Christ - the Greek word for Messiah.
Then we are told that he will put an end to sacrifice and offering - again this implies to me that he may be claiming to be the long awaited Messiah, and be messing with these Mosaic law elements of temple sacrifice.
The establishment of this covenant may be by his fooling many into following him as Messiah as he is able to reinstitute the temple sacrifice that has been missing in the Jewish faith since 70 AD.
If my speculation is correct that the Antichrist will be able to reinstitute temple sacrifice, then that would mean a rebuilt temple.
Halfway through this final week, 3 1/2 years after the institution of these sacrifices he will change course and put an end to them.
He will do something abominable at that point. The last half of this verse is very difficult to translate.
We do not know what he will do, but he will magnify himself above all.
We get a bit more insight from 2 Thess. 2.4
the man of lawlessness,
4 who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.
In Mt. 24 Jesus warns that this event marked the onset of the “great tribulation”
15 “So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand),
16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.
17 Let the one who is on the housetop not go down to take what is in his house,
18 and let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak.
19 And alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days!
20 Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a Sabbath.
21 For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be.
So the “great tribulation” will be as bad as it can be, but Jesus will put an end to this impersonator.
The end of v.27 says the Antichrist will reign until “the decreed end is poured out on the desolator.”
God will bring perfect and ultimate justice.
God will conquer evil once and for all.
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I think that I have taxed your brain enough for one day.
What do we need to learn??
God has a plan for the salvation of people.
He, through the work and sacrifice of His son has provided a solution for sin.
Rebellion against God is the highest offense there is.
We want to excuse sin, but it is Cosmic Treason against God.
God is not a kindly old grandpa - He is Incomprehensibly HOLY and majestic!
I beg you not to stand before him in judgment.
I heard a great analogy this week...
That would be like a piece of tissue paper touching the surface of the sun.
You need to be in Christ!
Do you see from this prophesy and fulfillment that God knows exactly what he is doing?
Has it occured to you that nothing ever occurs to God?
He knows the hour of your death.
He is graciously extending to you, right now, an invitation to be saved.
Saved from what?
The righteous judgment of God.
You can be credited with a foreign righteousness, the righteousness of Jesus.
Your sins can be transferred to Jesus’ account where they have been paid in full.
We are going to sing.
If I were you, and I were not certain that I was in Christ, I would run down here.
Coming to me will not save you, but I can tell you more about how you can come to Christ.