Sermon Tone Analysis

Wenstrom Bible Ministries

Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom

Wednesday January 8, 2014

www.wenstrom.org

Daniel: Daniel 9:24c-The Final Three Divine Objectives of the Seventy Sevens

Lesson # 285

Please turn in your Bibles to Daniel 9:24.

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.”

(NASB95)

“To bring in everlasting righteousness” is composed of the preposition lĕ (לְ) (leh) “to” and its object is the verb bôʾ (בּוֹא) (bow), “bring in” and then we have the noun ṣě·ḏěq (צֶדֶק) (tseh´-dek), “righteousness” which is modified by the noun ʿô·lām (עוֹלָם) (o-lawm´), “everlasting.”

This verb bôʾ is in the hiphil stem and means “to bring to pass, to cause to happen” indicating that God’s fourth purpose of the seventy sevens (490 prophetic years) is to bring about everlasting righteousness or cause everlasting righteousness to take place in Israel.

The preposition lĕ is prefixed to the infinitive construct form of bôʾ and governs it and is functioning as a marker of purpose indicating that the fourth purpose of the seventy sevens or weeks (490 prophetic years) is to bring about everlasting righteousness.

The noun ṣě·ḏěq means “righteousness” refers to the righteousness of God.

The construct state of the noun ṣě·ḏěq means that it is governing the noun which follows it and expresses a genitive relation with this noun, which is the noun ʿô·lām, which is in the plural and means “everlasting.”

It describes this righteousness as enduring for an unlimited duration of time with emphasis upon the future.

Thus it speaks of God’s righteousness which is eternal by nature since as to His nature, He is eternal.

The genitive relation between these two words is attributive meaning that ʿô·lām is ascribing to ṣě·ḏěq, “righteousness” the attribute of eternality or that this righteousness is perpetual in nature.

“To seal up vision and prophecy” is composed of the preposition lĕ (לְ) (leh) “to” and its object is the verb ḥā·ṯǎm (חָתַם) (khaw-tham´), “seal up” which is followed by the noun ḥā·zôn (חָזוֹן) (khaw-zone´), “vision” and then we have the conjunction wa (וְ) (waw), “and” which is followed by the noun nā·ḇî(ʾ) (נָבִיא) (naw-bee´), “prophecy.”

The verb ḥā·ṯǎm means “to seal” in the sense of ending prophetic vision or bringing it to a successful conclusion and is expressing the idea of sealing prophetic vision for the purpose of bringing it to an end implying the fulfillment of all prophecy relation to the nation of Israel.

The preposition lĕ is prefixed to the infinitive construct form of ḥā·ṯǎm and governs it and is functioning as a marker of purpose indicating that the fifth purpose of the seventy sevens or weeks (490 prophetic years) is to seal up prophetic vision.

The noun ḥā∙zôn refers to the revelation Israel received from God, which is recorded by the prophets of Israel and now appears in the Old Testament canon

The noun nā·ḇî(ʾ) is in the singular and should be rendered by the adjective “prophetic” since we have the figure of hendiadys.

The word is describing the visions which God gave to the prophets to communicate to Israel as being prophetic in nature or pertaining to prophecy.

“And to anoint the most holy place” is composed of the preposition lĕ (לְ) (leh) “to” and its object is the verb mā·šǎḥ (מָשַׁח) (maw-shakh´), “anoint” and then we have the noun qō·ḏěš (קֹדֶשׁ) (ko´-desh), which is modified by the masculine plural noun qō·ḏěš (קֹדֶשׁ) (ko´-desh), which together are translated “the holy place.”

The verb mā·šǎḥ means “to anoint” referring to the symbolic act of pouring oil on the various articles and furniture which reside in the most holy place or holy of holies in order to dedicate them for service in the worship of God.

This verb refers to smearing the Most Holy Place with oil representing that it was set apart to serve exclusively the Lord.

The preposition lĕ is prefixed to the infinitive construct form of mā·šǎḥ and governs it and is functioning as a marker of purpose indicating that the sixth and final purpose of the seventy sevens or weeks (490 prophetic years) is to anoint the most holy place.

The expression qōʹ·ḏěš qā·ḏā·šîmʹ means “Most Holy Place” or “Holy of Holies” referring to the room in the tabernacle and temple which contained only one piece of furniture, namely the Ark of the Covenant.

In the tabernacle this room was separated from the holy place by a veil whereas in the temple this room was separated from the other rooms in the temple by a veil.

Daniel 9:24 “Seventy units of seven years have been decreed for the benefit of your people as well as for the benefit of your holy city in order to put an end to the rebellion and in addition to bring sin to an end as well as to atone for iniquity likewise to bring about everlasting righteousness as well as to seal up prophetic vision and in addition to anoint the most holy place.”

(My translation)

“To bring in everlasting righteousness” refers to the righteousness which will be manifested by regenerate Israel during the millennial reign of Jesus Christ.

The millennial kingdom will be characterized by righteousness.

The key words of the Lord Jesus Christ’s millennial reign are righteousness and peace, the former being the root of which the latter is the fruit (Isaiah 32:17-18).

During the millennial reign of the King, the prophecy of Psalm 85:10 will be fulfilled.

The Messiah’s presence in Jerusalem shall be the source from which all millennial righteousness will emanate in spectacular glory (Isaiah 62:1-2).

Righteousness will be the descriptive term characterizing the rule of the Messiah as a whole.

Christ will be the King reigning in righteousness (Isaiah 32:1).

He will judge the poor in righteousness and in judging and seeking judgment He shall be quick to bring about righteousness (Isaiah 11:4-5; 16:5; Psalm 96:10).

Under the Lord Jesus, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness shall be filled (Matthew 5:6).

“To seal up prophetic vision” denotes that all that God communicated to Israel through the prophets regarding her future and the future of planet earth will come to pass or in others words, will be completely fulfilled.

This has not been fulfilled yet because much prophecy has yet to be fulfilled.

For example, the Seventieth Week, the Second Advent of Christ, the resurrection of Old Testament Israel, the national regeneration of Israel, and Christ’s millennial reign on earth have yet to be fulfilled.

We have yet to see fulfilled in history the Gog/Magog rebellion, the destruction of the present heavens and earth, the Great White Throne Judgment and the creation of the new heavens and earth have yet to come to pass.

Unger writes “How could it possibly be claimed that the vision and prophecy concerning Israel were completely fulfilled and attested if the prophecy of the seventy weeks has already been fulfilled for many centuries, as amillenialists must do, and Israel faces the hatred of her Gentile neighbors bent on her destruction?”

“To anoint the most holy place” refers to the millennial temple being anointed as a symbolic act of dedicating this temple to the worship of the Lord.

This is yet future since we have yet to see the millennial reign of Christ take place in history.

In fact, there is no temple standing in Israel today.

During the millennial reign of Jesus Christ, Jerusalem will become the center of the worship of the Lord (Jeremiah 30:16-21; 31:6, 23; Joel 3:17; Zechariah 8:8, 20-23).

There will be a temple in Jerusalem, which will be the center of this worship of Jesus Christ during His millennial reign (Ezekiel 40-48).

To summarize the first three divine objectives for the seventy sevens or weeks (490 prophetic years) deal with the Day of Atonement which will take place at the Second Advent of Christ.

The last three deal with our Lord’s literal one thousand year bodily reign as King over all the earth in which He will rule from Jerusalem over the nations.

Notice, the order.

The Second Advent precedes the millennial kingdom.

Thus, Daniel is premillennial.

Also, each of these objectives has yet to be fulfilled in history and is thus awaiting fulfillment in the future.

The Second Advent of Christ has not taken place and neither has His subsequent millennial reign on the earth which are being referred to by these six objectives.