The Lightbulb Moment
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Survey
Survey
Introduction
Introduction
1895 - German physicist Willhelm Roentgen
Experimented with cathode-ray tube
Used for lights in TV’s, monitors, etc.
As he worked, it flashed on the wall
Fine, but he couldn’t understand… it was covered!
Every time he flashed, it went through the cover
He put his hand over the light, and it went through!
The stranger thing, he could see the bones in his hand!
Dr, Roentgen had just discovered x-rays
Lightbulb moment!
Last week = drink from firehose
This week = clarity
I am SO EXCITED for one of my favorite passages!
YouVersion: The Lightbulb Moment
Daniel 9 (Focused on 9:20-27)
Timeline
Timeline
Last week was confusing...
Show on screen
Top shows the different seasons
Some may say dispensations - for another day
Bottom shows the change markers
Jewish Exile > 4 kingdoms
Antichrist (Rapture) > Tribulation
Jesus’ 2nd coming > Millennial Kingdom
Judgement > Eternity (New Heaven and Earth)
Next slide
But what about that gap?
Today we will see one of the most incredible prophecies in all of Scripture
I’ll never forget when I learned this
Professor Dr. Ed Hindson at Liberty University
Undergrad Dan/Rev class
After I studied this portion, it hit me:
Wow, Scripture is real… there’s no way it’s not!
I hope the weight of this impacts you
Let’s pray for that now:
Prayer
Prayer
Daniel 9 starts with some bible study
Daniel opens the book of Jeremiah
10 “For thus says the Lord: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place.
Jews were to be exiled for 70 years!
There’s a problem: when to start counting!
First attack on Jerusalem was 605 BC
Probably when Daniel was taken
2 other sieges: 597 BC and 587 BC
Daniel starts praying to God as if He hadn’t made up His mind yet!
1st year of Darius: means the first date was a few years away!
Right now I’m in school working on doctoral thesis
I started college in 2006 - you must love school!
NO! I DON’T!
I’m at a phase: shouldn’t have started
Can still quit!
No! You can’t go this far...
I’m at the point I CAN’T QUIT!
For my thesis, I write it for 2 classes
Most people can’t finish each class in 1 try
You can extend each class 3 times
On one hand, you want to extend it and push it off
On the other, you want to just get it done!
Lesson about prayer in hardships:
Instead of praying that hardships be taken away
Pray that you learn your lesson faster!!
I can’t pray for school to end - I want to finish!
But I can pray I get my paper done faster!
Don’t pray that God stops refining you
Pray that you allow yourself to be refined faster!
For Daniel, he’s getting old
Exiled in 605 BC at 15 -ish
That means he’s in his 80’s
If 70 years doesn’t end now, he has to wait another 18 years
That’s how long until the next siege
Life expectancy was late 30’s (aristocrats lived longer…)
Either way he’s running out of time
3 Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. 4 I prayed to the Lord my God and made confession, saying, “O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, 5 we have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules.
Daniel recognizes the purposes here
He’s not mad at God - it’s Israel’s fault
I don’t want to spend too much time here
I want to get to the prophecy
But notice some things about Daniel’s prayer:
He is humble
Begs for mercy
He is fasting - removes distractions and focuses on God
Sackcloth and ashes - humiliation and mourning
He does everything he can to approach God well
2. He begins with adoration
You are great and awesome!
You keep your promises!
3. He then moves to confession
Every hear of praying the acronymn A.C.T.S.?
For people who don’t know what to pray
Also makes sure you don’t fixate
ADORATION, CONFESSION, THANKSGIVING, SUPPLICATION
Supplication: asking for supplies
Loosely based on Lord’s Prayer
We often want to pray S.C.A.T.
Supplication first, thanksgiving last
Daniel gets it right
Jump to v. 16: Daniel has supplication last
16 “O Lord, according to all your righteous acts, let your anger and your wrath turn away from your city Jerusalem, your holy hill, because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and your people have become a byword among all who are around us. 17 Now therefore, O our God, listen to the prayer of your servant and to his pleas for mercy, and for your own sake, O Lord, make your face to shine upon your sanctuary, which is desolate. 18 O my God, incline your ear and hear. Open your eyes and see our desolations, and the city that is called by your name. For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy. 19 O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive. O Lord, pay attention and act. Delay not, for your own sake, O my God, because your city and your people are called by your name.”
Daniel is an example of a great patriot
This is how our patriotism should look too
He’s proud to be a citizen of a kingdom
But for the kingdom of GOD, not ISRAEL
He wants his earthly nation to line up with the heavenly one
As Americans we should do the same!
Abraham Lincoln: “My concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side, for God is always right.”
It’s okay to pray for your needs
Jesus teaches to pray “give us this day our daily bread”
But our priority is to pray for God’s cause
This is my favorite line:
v. 18 “For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy.”
Summarize: God, we messed up, but please have mercy and let us rebuild the Holy city for your sake!
Then Daniel gets a response
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.
The angel Gabriel comes to Daniel
One of 4 angels with names
Gabriel, Michael, Lucifer/Satan, Apollyon/Abaddon
He says God started answering before Daniel even finished!
God does that sometimes
Acts before you finish, or before you even start!
24 Before they call I will answer;
while they are yet speaking I will hear.
Gabriel comes to Daniel to make him understand
God doesn’t want him in the dark!
Why? I love this part - for you are greatly loved (v.23)
Interesting to me: God loves Daniel, so He shows Him the future
What disciple did Jesus love? John - author of Revelation
I want to paint a picture of what happens here
What movie conveys this best?
Ever see Willy Wonka and Chocolate Factory?
Show clip
What just happened
Charlie does the right thing
Willy Wonka says, “You won the jackpot!”
Charlie says, “The lifetime supply of chocolate?”
Willy Wonka says, “No idiot! This is WAY bigger than that!”
“It’s the whole chocolate FACTORY!”
Here’s what happened in Daniel
He prays to God with a pure heart
Gabriel says, “You won the jackpot”
Daniel says, “The 70 years is over?”
Gabriel says, “No idiot! This is WAY bigger than that!”
It’s about 7 times 70 years!
We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams — JK
Here it is, you ready?!
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.
What is this prophecy about?
Holy city, finish transgression and anoint a most holy place
That sounds like rebuilding Jerusalem!
BUT put an end to sin, atone for iniquity, bring in everlasting righteousness, and seal both vision and prophet?
That’s something VERY different!
Then there’s some bad stuff at the end...
This is about 3 major events
Let’s look at these 70 weeks:
Let’s look at these 70 weeks:
Week in Hebrew is “shabu” - means a time period of 7!
Can be 7 days, or 7 years
27 Complete the week of this one, and we will give you the other also in return for serving me another seven years.”
70 groups (weeks) of 7 years = 490
We’re looking at 490 years...
Group of 7 weeks
7x7=49 years and Jerusalem will be rebuilt
Then group of 62 weeks
62x7=434 years after that
First group is 49 years, next group is 434 years = 483 years
Something big happens at the end of 483 years
If we only knew when it started!
WAIT! v. 25 tells us!
“...from the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem...”
When does that happen?
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.
That’s the decree to rebuild Jerusalem!!
If we only knew when that was...
WAIT! v.1 tells us!
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.
Some debate over the kings 20th year (444 or 445, but both work the same way…
For us, 3/14/445
Whoa, holy smokes! The bible gives an actual day?!
So what day is 483 days later?
First, Hebrew calendar is 360 days, not 365.24
We follow the sun, they followed the moon
Here we go math people...
69 x 7 x 360 = 173,880 days from the decree
We land on 4/6/32 A.D.
Lands the Sunday before Passover...
Hey, know what we would call that? PALM SUNDAY!
YOU MEAN DANIEL PREDICTED THE DAY OF JESUS OF NAZARETH’S TRIUMPHAL ENTRY INTO JERUSALEM TO BE TRIED, CRUCIFIED AND RESURRECTED TO THE DAY!!
This is so crazy scholars said, “This HAD to be added after Jesus was crucified!
They added it to trick everyone! No one is that good!
Until they found a copy of Daniel 9 in a cave in Qumran
Called Dead Sea Scrolls - from 200 years before Jesus
It’s a literary miracle!
If that doesn’t blow your mind...
You’re as blind as the Pharisees the day Jesus walked in...
41 And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, 42 saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.
As He’s walking in He’s like, “How do you not see what Daniel was talking about!
I’m right here, 173,880 days later - like I said I’d be
All I can do is worship… Wow God...
Guys, that’s our GOD! This is real!
Maybe you’ve noticed something here: what about the last week?
You said 70, this is 69...
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.
Who is the anointed one? Jesus. He will be cut off
Cut off in Scripture means to be killed
Then the city and sanctuary will be destroyed
Less than 40 years after Jesus, what happens to the Temple?
Set on fire by the Romans during a revolt
The gold melted into the cracks of the stone
Roman commander ordered a dismantling, brick by brick
Jesus predicted that alongside Daniel too:
2 But he answered them, “You see all these, do you not? Truly, I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.”
Here comes the last week:
7 year period called the Great Tribulation!
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.”
This is in the future! How do you know?
A desolator will come in for a week
How long is that? 7 years...
What’s he going to do for a week? Make a covenant with many...
What’s he going to do for a half week?
Put an end to sacrifice and offering...
How’s he gonna do that?! There’s NO TEMPLE!!
There will be a third Temple!
Remember a few weeks ago I mentioned the Temple Institute?
They are trying to get the Temple rebuilt
Until then, they are manufacturing the instruments of sacrifice
Why can’t they build it? Look at the Temple mount
That is the Al-Aqsa Mosque -
AKA Dome of the Rock
That is Islam’s 3rd most holy site
Where Muhammad supposedly went to heaven
It stands right on the Temple Mount
That’s why there’s so much fighting in Israel
Here’s what I think is going to happen:
Antichrist will negotiate a treaty to build the 3rd Temple
v.27 Strong covenant with many
1 Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff, and I was told, “Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there, 2 but do not measure the court outside the temple; leave that out, for it is given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for forty-two months.
The Antichrist will negotiate a Temple around the mosque
If the Jews can build, they won’t touch your mosque...
This will make him well liked
Sacrifices and offerings resume - until the tribulation starts
Then for half the week, the desolator does things
We’ll talk about that in chapter 12
But I can tell you, it’s bad!
Look at what Jesus says:
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.
You better run!
It will be the worst time in history
I know people are scared of COVID, but that’s nothing!
Christian scholar (alias “Zoe”) did the math in Revelation
She believes 98.3% of the world population will die
Leaving about 120 million people if it starts with 7 billion
The population of Japan will be left...
People try to figure out who the antichrist is:
It’s the Pope!
It’s Trump!
It’s Biden!
The big one now is Jared Kushner
He just negotiated a deal between Israel and UAE
I get messages every week about the world ending!
Antichrist, COVID,
Oh no! It’s almost here! What are we going to do!
3 As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” 4 And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray. 5 For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray. 6 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. 7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.
I’m going to tell you something Professor Hindson always says
Ed Hindson: “I’m not looking for the Antichrist; I’m looking for Jesus Christ.”
Things will change around us - expect it!
But we aren’t waiting for the end
We’re waiting for Jesus to come
17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.
Prayer
Prayer