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Good morning. Welcome to the gathering of Eureka Baptist Church. It's great to have you joining me once again through the web. And just like I said last week, it's a real bummer that we can't meet in person today, but what a gift it is from the Lord that we have technology where we can come together and we can worship the Lord together as we meditate on his word.
And my prayer is that the Lord would speak to you today as we look at his word and that he would meet each one of you right where you are at this morning. Last week, we began a new sermon series in light of the recent coronavirus crisis that has hit our world.
The name of the sermon series is End of Life, End of Times. What I mentioned a week ago is that this virus has caused our thinking to shift. Many are thinking about what happens when one dies and how the world will end.
It is not as if people never think of these realities. They certainly do, but the coronavirus epidemic has brought these realities to the forefront of our minds. Last week, we looked at what happens when one dies.
What we saw is that when a believer dies, that person immediately enters the presence of God. On the flip side, what we saw is that when an unbeliever dies, something horrible happens. That person is sent to hell, forever separated from the goodness of God.
Now, over the next nine Sundays, including today, we are going to look at the end of the world. What you heard me say last week is that I don't think this virus is the very end. However, I do believe it is a significant birth pain that God has sent upon us, reminding us that the end is not far off.
If you remember, Jesus said in Matthew 24, 8, that we would have birth pains before his coming. Now, this morning, as we begin our discussion on the end of the world, we are going to begin by looking at an ancient prophet from the Old Testament, the prophet Daniel.
Daniel foretold a loaded prophecy that would be fulfilled at different times through world history. There was one fulfillment that we are going to see that was fulfilled not that long after his death.
Then there was another one that was fulfilled about 500 years after his death, and there was one prophecy in there that still has yet to be fulfilled. This is very fascinating, and I look forward to showing you that this morning.
This prophecy is found in Daniel chapter 9, verses 24 through 27, so I encourage you from home to turn there with me. What we're going to do is we're going to begin by reading this passage, and then we're going to dig into it together.
This passage is known as Daniel's 70 weeks. Whole books have been written about these verses, so let's begin by reading our text, Daniel chapter 9, verses 24 through 27. 70 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.
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 62 weeks it shall be built again with squares and moat, but in a troubled time.
And after the 62 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, 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 abomination shall come one who makes desolate until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator.
Our big idea in the sermon is this. Be amazed that Daniel's prophecy came to pass precisely as it was told with more to come. Be amazed that Daniel's prophecy came to pass precisely as it was told with more to come.
What is helpful to know right from the beginning is that the book of Daniel was written in 537 BC. As I mentioned, this prophecy would begin to be fulfilled almost 100 years after Daniel's life, and it would be fulfilled in stages all throughout world history.
In order to understand this predictive prophecy from scripture, we need to understand the meaning of the numbers. You will notice that the number 7 is referred to as 70 weeks. We know that the prophecy is 70 weeks from the beginning of verse 24.
What we know from Genesis chapter 1 and our own experience is that there are seven days in a week. The Lord created the universe in six days, and he rested on the seventh, and our week runs from Sunday to Saturday.
Today is the first day of the week. As we look at this passage, what we will see is that this cannot be a literal 70 weeks, which is about a period of 16 months, since the events described in this passage take place over a very long period of time, as I told you.
What we will see unfold is that one week is seven years. Now, I'm not a math guy. My mom majored in math in college, but those abilities were not passed down to me, and she can tell you that. By the way, I think my mom is watching, so hi mom from home.
The math we are about to do today I can handle, and if I can handle it, then you can handle it as well. If you do a little math here, seven times seven is 49. Now, there are 70 weeks, and each week represents seven years.
If you do 70 times seven, that equals 490 years. So, this is simple math. In this prophecy are contained events that cover that span, over 490 years. Verse 24 gives us an overview of the prophecy and the glories that will come about through it.
Then, starting in verse 25, we begin the details of this prophecy that will take place over that long period of time. In order to figure out the timing of when specific events occur, we need to figure out when the prophecy started in history.
The beginning of verse 25 says, know therefore and understand that from the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem. The start to this prophecy took place in the year 445 BC, as we will see during the reign of the Persian king Artaxerxes.
In that year, Artaxerxes gave Nehemiah the freedom to rebuild Jerusalem. This is the conversation Nehemiah had with this king in Nehemiah chapter 2 verses 3 through 8. I said to the king, this is Nehemiah, I said to the king, let the king live forever.
Why should not my face be sad when the city, the place of my father's graves, lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire? Then the king said to me, what are you requesting? So I prayed to the God of heaven 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 father's graves, that I may rebuild it.
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. And I said to the king, if it pleases the king, let letters be given me to the governors of the province beyond the river, that they may let me pass through until I come to Judah.
And the letter to Asaph, the keeper of the king's forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the fortress of the temple and for the wall of the city and for the house that I shall occupy.
And the king granted me what I asked for the good hand of my God was upon me. So we see the beginning of this passage in Daniel 9 is fulfilled right there. The Lord uses a pagan king, the Persian king Cyrus, to let Nehemiah and the Israelites go back to Jerusalem to rebuild the city, as we see in verse 25.
So to remind you of the events from world history, and specifically Old Testament history, the Lord used the Babylonians to destroy Jerusalem and to bring down the temple beginning in 605 BC. Israel was taken into exile and the temple sat in ruins for over a century and a half.
So we can see from the passage above Nehemiah's great desire to rebuild Jerusalem. And the main focus of the rebuilding from our prophecy is the city and not the temple. The temple was rebuilt under the command of a different king, King Cyrus of Persia.
Sorry, I mentioned Cyrus earlier, that was Artaxerxes. Artaxerxes is the one who gave Nehemiah the right to rebuild the city, where Cyrus is the one who gave Ezra and the people of Israel in 538 BC the freedom to rebuild the temple.
So these are prophecies that are foretold. And as I mentioned a little bit ago, Artaxerxes giving the okay to Nehemiah to go to Jerusalem and rebuild it is a fulfillment of the beginning of verse 25 that kicks off the 70 weeks.
So at this time, let's now read the rest of verse 25 in the beginning of verse 26 as we see this prophecy begin to unfold. 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 62 weeks it shall be built again with square and moat, but in a troubled time. And after 62 weeks an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing. Now the prophecy started in 445 BC and it says seven weeks in the first half of verse 25.
If we do the math, seven weeks is seven times seven. That is 49 years. In that period of 49 years, the city will be rebuilt. And we have different versions of the Bible. Of course, some of you might have a King James Bible or a New King James Bible.
We use the ESV at this church. Another good version of the Bible is the NASV version, which stands for the New American Standard Bible. And I like their translation of the Hebrew text better than the ESV text.
The NASV indicates better that the rebuilding of Jerusalem is for seven weeks, the 49 years, and not for a much longer period like the ESV opens up the door for. The Old Testament is very clear that the city Jerusalem was rebuilt over a matter of decades.
And this text tells us specifically 49 years it took to rebuild the city of Jerusalem from the time that Artaxerxes told Nehemiah to do so in 5 BC. This prophecy, like all prophecies in scripture, are very precise and chronological.
Then we read in verse 26 that after 62 weeks, an anointed one will be cut off. The NASV version of the Bible says the Messiah. That's what the Hebrew literally says, a word we are all familiar with. In the New Testament, the word is the Greek translation from the Hebrew word Messiah.
That's why we call Jesus, Jesus Christ. And I'll explain this more in a little bit, but when it says the Messiah is cut off, as you may have guessed, it's referring to the crucifixion of Jesus. So we see crucifixion predicted right here in verse 26.
But before we get to that, we need to do a little math here again. We have seen a period of seven weeks, which is 49 years, when the city of Jerusalem was rebuilt. Then what the text tells us is that an anointed one, the Messiah, is cut off after 62 weeks.
So what we have seen in verse 25 in the beginning of verse 26 is a period of 483 years. Now to remind you, the amount of years covered in this prophecy is 490 years. So we've seen to this point 483 years.
After 69 weeks, or 483 years from the decree of the Messiah, who the New Testament reveals as Jesus Christ was crucified, we see this length of 483 years. The Jewish calendar is 360 days a year, and all the prophecies of the Old and New Testament follow this calendar.
If you use this calendar, 483 years from 445 BC brings us to the year 33 AD. Many scholars believe that Christ was crucified in 33 AD. In fact, a New Testament scholar calculated all the big events of Christ's life using all the details that he gathered from history, and he concluded that Christ died in 33 AD.
And this prophecy, if we do the math, tells us that this was the year this anointed one was going to be cut off, as the beginning of verse 26 tells us. The numbers and calculations fit, and we should not be surprised, since the Bible is always precise.
I've said this numerous times from this pulpit, that the precision of prophecies fulfilled brings more glory to God. That's why he does it. He wants to show us, look what I can do. He is outside of time, he knows the future exhaustively, and he's able to tell us that this is what is going to happen in history.
All prophecy is, is it's history told beforehand. And when we look on and we see it fulfilled, we are amazed. So we just covered 69 of the 70 weeks. We still have one more week to go. And the big question is, when is this event fulfilled in history?
This is what our whole sermon is building up to. And this will lead us into future sermons. But before we get there, something happens before the last week. The second half of verse 26 says this, 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. This is referring historically to the destruction of the temple in 70 AD, the temple in Jerusalem, which was the central place of worship for the Jews for a thousand years.
The people of the prince who is to come are the ones who destroy the temple. So who are these people? Let me give you a little history to explain this. So we're getting history today, we're getting math today, we're getting a little bit of everything.
There are five kingdoms described in Daniel. They show up in Daniel chapter two and Daniel chapter seven. What's so fascinating about the book of Daniel, as I mentioned, is that it tells you history beforehand.
And some unbelievers come along and they say, well, this book must have been written much later than people have previously thought. But the only reason they're saying that is because they don't believe that anybody can tell the future.
But of course, we know that the word of God is a supernatural book, and God tells the future. He tells the future through his prophets. And so Daniel chapter two and Daniel chapter seven tell us world history.
These five kingdoms that are predicted would rise to dominance throughout hundreds of years. In this chronological order, these kingdoms rose to power. The first was the Babylonian Empire, then the Medo-Persia, then Greco-Macedonia.
In fact, Alexander the Great is specifically mentioned. Then we have the Roman Empire that rose up. And then there's a kingdom that destroys all earthly kingdoms, and that kingdom is the kingdom of God.
But what this text is referring to in Daniel 9, 27, is the fourth kingdom, the Roman Empire. Verse 26 mentions that the people of the prince destroyed the temple in 70 AD. And what this tells us is that a future prince comes from this people.
This prince will be active in the 70th week that is still yet future. And that is truly remarkable. We live in 2020, and this is pointing ahead to a prophecy that has yet to be fulfilled. This prince goes by another name that you may be familiar with, the name most people know him by is the Antichrist.
Now verse 27 tells us about the activity of this prince during this last week, the last seven years of this prophecy. What we see here is that on the wing of abomination shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator.
Jesus describes him in Matthew 24, 15 as the abomination that causes desolation. And all Jesus is doing is he's quoting this verse, Daniel 9, 27. So the he in verse 27 is referring to the person just described, the prince.
The text is very clear that the event described in the 70th week has not yet occurred in world history. When can we find a time when this has ever happened? The answer is it hasn't. What the text tells us is this future prince known in scripture by many names.
In Daniel, in a different place, he's referred to as the little horn. In Revelation, he's referred to as the beast. In 2 Thessalonians, he's referred to as the man of lawlessness. In 1 John, he's referred to as the Antichrist.
What this man is going to do is he's going to make a treaty with the people of Israel. The people of Israel is the focus of this prophecy, and they are referred to as the many in the beginning of verse 27.
And he will let them worship by rebuilding a temple. What's interesting is that if you go to Jerusalem today, there are Jews who are wanting the temple to be rebuilt. In fact, there are plans to build a temple.
And so you can see how this is going to play out. There's going to be this world ruler who's going to make everybody happy. And we can see this, by the way, with the coronavirus, how a ruler could step in and try to make everybody feel better.
And he's even going to make the Jewish people feel better. And he's going to do that by letting them build a temple. And then what's going to happen is that he will break that treaty with them halfway through the seven years.
And what the New Testament tells us in 2 Thessalonians 2 is that he is going to stand in the temple and declare himself as God, showing his true colors. And what the text tells us here in verse 27 is that he puts an end to their sacrifices at this new temple.
And the beast will persecute God's people with a persecution this world has never seen. It's going to be so bad. In Revelation 13, 7 says that the beast was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them.
And I think what this is primarily referring to is the people of Israel that he's going to make war on. But the good news is the end of verse 27 says that he's not going to last long. It says the decreed end will be poured out on the desolator.
So the end will come upon the desolator, the Antichrist. 2 Thessalonians 2, 8 says that the Lord Jesus will kill him with the breath of his mouth. It's going to be a piece of cake, just like that. Then he'll be gone, off the scene.
Now, as we have seen, much of this prophecy, Daniel's 70 weeks, has already been fulfilled. But there are seven years that we are still waiting to happen. These seven years we are waiting for are known as the final seven-year tribulation.
The years that immediately precede the return of Christ to this earth. Matthew 24 details these years and describe that once they are over, Christ will come back. We have a gap between 69 weeks and the final week, and this gap has stretched almost 2 ,000 years.
Do you think anybody saw that coming? This is a big gap. Now, we do not know the exact time these seven years will come upon the earth. Jesus said that no one knows the day or hour in Matthew 24, 36, but we know how the timing played out in history.
With 483 consecutive years from Artaxerxes' decree, where he gave Nehemiah the ability to rebuild the city of Jerusalem to the crucifixion of Christ, where it says that one would be cut off, which happened in 3 AD.
And we do not know when the final seven years will be, but what we do know is that it will happen. It's a guarantee. These things happened historically. This is going to happen someday as well. And the question that you might be asking from home is, how close are we?
My answer to that is the table has been set for this to take place. Look at recent world history. The nation of Israel established its own nation in 1948, which many people thought was impossible. This happened after World War II.
The Jewish people returning to their homeland needed to happen before the end would come, and it's happened. It is interesting that even now the world's eyes are so often on this tiny nation in the Middle East, the size of New Jersey.
This is not by accident. Israel is the epicenter of world activity. Israel is a big focus now, and that's where the main focus will be when the end comes. In fact, when Jesus returns to the earth, that's the precise location where he's going to return to.
Once the tribulation is over, he's going to return to the Mount of Olives, as Zechariah tells us. So if you're listening to this and watching this, and you're not paying attention to Israel, my encouragement is pay attention to Israel, because the Bible is pointing you in that direction when you look at all these prophecies.
The world ruler, the prince who is to come, as I mentioned, will make a treaty with Israel at some unknown time in the future, and that will be the beginning of the final seven years. The thought of the end might frighten you, but if you have a relationship with Christ, your future could not be brighter in him, and the end coming means that your bright future is close.
It's on the horizon. Do not put your hope in the future of America, and by the way, why would you? As we watch the news, it looks like things are just going out of control with an election coming up. Do not put your hope in a future candidate, or even a present candidate.
Anticipate the end. Anticipate that these final seven years will come, and know that Christ's second coming follows it. Something else we must observe with close attention about this prophecy is this, the mention of Calvary, as I already alluded to.
In verse 24, it says the 70 weeks are decreed to finish transgression, put an end to sin and atone for iniquity. Verse 26 says that he would be cut off. What we know from the New Testament is that Jesus accomplished all of this as it was foretold that he would in our text.
Jesus is atoned for sin by the sacrifice of himself, and to atone means to put you at peace with God through his sacrifice. Through his death at the cross, Jesus brought you an opportunity to forever have peace with God.
So as you think about these end times events, make sure that this atonement belongs to you. And I know many of you watching, it does belong to you, but if it doesn't, I plead with you that it would. Romans 3 verses 23 through 25 tell us this, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood to be received by faith.
So the opportunity is to believe in the Lord Jesus. Daniel's 70 weeks, as we have seen, is so fascinating since it encompasses so much of world history. We should look at this and just be blown away. What we've seen is the rebuilding of Jerusalem, the crucifixion of the Messiah, and what it would accomplish, the destruction of the temple in 70 AD.
And Daniel also describes the period when a one world ruler would come to the earth in opposition to God, and God would defeat him, and specifically the Messiah will come and defeat him, defeat this prince who is to come.
So be amazed that Daniel's prophecy came to pass precisely as it was told, with more to come. Now as we close, I want to explain the good news for those of us who are listening. And I've already mentioned this a little bit.
I want to explain the good news for those who have a relationship with Christ. This text describes that Jesus atones for iniquity, so him coming is good news for you. I mentioned earlier that Israel will be the focus of the 70th week, the final seven years of the tribulation.
In Jeremiah 30 verse 7, it's known as the time of Jacob's trouble, Jacob meaning Israel. But we are not Israel. We are New Testament saints, a people known as the church. Next week, what I'm going to do is show you that as members of the universal church, you will not be on earth during the tribulation when many, many difficulties will come, as we have even seen in this text.
And that is very good news. Okay, so it's the fact that you're saved in Christ and you're delivered from the wrath of God in hell, and you're delivered from the wrath that's going to come on this earth during the seven-year tribulation.
That's good news. Next week, the focus of our sermon will be the event where Jesus takes his church to heaven with him to be spared from this time of trouble. And this could happen at any time. It could happen today.
But if it doesn't happen today, we'll talk about what's going to happen next week. Once again, I tell you what I told you last week and what I alluded to a little bit ago. If you are a believer in Christ, this should not frighten you, but encourage you.
It should give you joy. It should motivate you to follow the Lord all the more closely. The thought of the end should give you a spring in your step. Your redemption is drawing near. And this is why so much of the New Testament is devoted to the end, referencing the return of Christ.
He is coming, and we need to live in light of that. But as I mentioned, and I mention to you again, if you do not know Christ, the end will be horrible for you. And so my prayer is that you would find your refuge in Him.
You would find your refuge in the One who has brought everlasting righteousness, and this will come upon the earth, the One who atones for iniquity, if you put your trust in Him. And you can do that right now.
He died so that you might live forever, and that you might be spared from the wrath that is to come. Now, we don't know when the end will be, but we may not be far off. Christ's delay to this earth will not be much longer.
And I think this significant birth pain that we are seeing with the coronavirus is a reminder of that. And so may we set our minds well. May we use this time well. May we not distract ourselves. May we think, okay, Lord, what do you want me to see in this?
And what I'm pleading with you through the video here is that we need to think about the end, whether it be the end of your life or the end of the world. He will come soon, and we should pray for that.
Now, next Sunday, I look forward to showing you why I believe we will be gone before the Prince who is to come, the Antichrist, comes on the scene. And I look forward to showing you that, and may all of us be filled with hope and joy as we anticipate that day.
This will be very interesting, so I look forward to spending that time with you next Sunday. Let's pray at this time. Father in heaven, Lord, as we ponder what we just looked at, Lord, this is truly, truly amazing.
What a wonderful prophecy that is so precise. It truly is history told beforehand. And who has the ability to do that other than you, the all-knowing God, the all-powerful God who has the ability to make all of these events happen precisely as you said.
So the appropriate response from us right now, Lord, is worship. May we worship you and say, Lord, how wonderful you are. And my prayer, Lord, is that this would impact each one who's listening, the believer, Lord, that it would lead to encouragement and hope and joy as this anticipation takes place in their hearts.
And my prayer for the unbeliever, Lord, that they would believe in the Lord Jesus and be saved and be spared from the wrath that is to come and experience the full and everlasting joy that is found in you.
This is my prayer. And I pray this in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.