Atlantic Lyman conf.1972-02 Studies in Daniel 09 — Joseph Balsan

It's good to see you all here tonight. We have some very sad news that our brother Guy Briggs has had a stroke, and it doesn't look too good as far as any recovery is concerned, but we know he's in the hand of the Lord.

So, remember him in prayer, and the Lord's will might be done. Let us turn to Daniel chapter 9. Shall we? Daniel chapter 9, Daniel chapter 9 and verse 1. In the first year of Darius, the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, which was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans, in the first year of his reign I, Daniel, understood by books the number of the years whereof the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.

And I set my face unto the Lord God to seek by prayer and supplications with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. And I prayed unto the Lord my God and made my confession and said, O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him and to them that keep his commandments, we have sinned and have committed iniquity and have done wickedly and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments.

Now, we're going to skip the major part of this prayer. I am sure that if you read it in your leisure time, you'll find it a great blessing. The 18th verse. O my God, incline thine ear and hear, open thine eyes and behold our desolations and the city which is called by thy name.

For we do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousnesses, but for thy great mercies. O Lord, hear. O Lord, forgive. O Lord, hearken and do. Defer not for thine own sake, O my God, for thy city and thy people are called by thy name.

And whilst I was speaking and praying and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel and presenting my supplications before the Lord my God for the holy mountain of my God, yea, while I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation.

And he informed me and talked with me and said, O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding. At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth, and I am come to show thee.

For thou art greatly beloved, therefore understand the matter and consider the vision. Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city to finish the transgression and to make an end of sins and to make reconciliation for iniquity and to bring an everlasting rest in righteousness and to seal up the vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy.

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, and after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself.

And the people of the Prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary, and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week, and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease.

And for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate. May the Lord bless to us the reading of his word.

Shall we just look to the Lord in prayer? Our Father, we desire to thank Thee for Thy Word that has been read in our hearing tonight. We thank Thee that the entrance of Thy words giveth light, that giveth understanding to the simple.

And so we do pray that we may be like Daniel of old, helped to understand and to know what Thou dost purpose. We thank Thee for the revelation of Thy purposes, and we thank Thee for each one here tonight who knows the Lord Jesus as Savior, and shall share in the fulfillment and enjoyment of these purposes.

And so we pray that Thou wilt give help in speaking Thy Word, that it may be a blessing and a help to each one that is here, and to Thee we'll give thanks in the Savior's precious name. Amen. Now, I am sure that as we read our newspapers day by day, and as we listen to the news reports, while we are very much aware of the fact that the people of Israel have come very prominently into the news, we know that the statesmen of the world are very much concerned today about what to do with the nation of Israel.

It is a very ticklish problem. In fact, in the book of Zechariah we read that the city of Jerusalem is going to become a burdensome stone, and all those who handle it are going to be cut thereby. And so all through the history, you might say, of Israel, from the time that they were taken captive until the present time, why, these people have been a problem to the statesmen of the world, and they wonder what is going to happen or what to do with this people.

Now, in the portion that we have read tonight, we have brought before us perhaps the most important prophecy that we have in the whole Bible concerning the people of Israel. This portion that we have read from the 24th through the 27th verses of this ninth chapter of Daniel has been called the backbone of prophecy.

In other words, if we don't understand these four verses from verse 24 through verse 27, why, my friends, the Bible will be a mass of confusion to us. And what we see taking place in the world today will also be a mass of confusion to us, because the lack of understanding as to what God is doing in the world today has caused many people, because they don't do what they think God ought to do, they doubt whether there is a God, or they doubt whether God is at all interested in what is taking place in the world.

Well, my friends, it is not that God is not interested, and it is not that God is not working, but the fact of the matter is that altogether too many people, and even Christians so-called, and even so-called ecclesiastical leaders, are very ignorant of what God is doing and what God is going to do.

Now, in this ninth chapter of Daniel, we have brought before us a little outline, you might say, of the course of the Jewish people, the children of Israel, from the time that they were taken captive in the land of Babylon until the time that they are in their own land, and that the Lord Jesus Christ comes for their deliverance, their deliverance from the Gentile oppressors, as we have been noting in the nights that have been past, and the establishment of the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the establishment of this people of Israel concerning the people of Israel.

You know, some years ago, why an emperor in Europe, the emperor of Prussia, was talking to his chaplain about the Bible, and he said, can you give me, in a very brief account, a proof that the Bible is true?

And he said, your majesty, I can give it to you in two words. And so he asked, well, what are the two words? He said, those two words are the Jew. The Jew. If you and I look at the Jew and see how what God has foretold concerning him has been fulfilled and is being fulfilled, you and I can be sure that the Bible is true and that what God says concerning this people's future is to be fulfilled.

Now, my friends, you and I live in momentous times. In 1948, after 1900 years of being scattered abroad over all the world, hated as no people have been hated, decimated, persecuted, and yet never annihilated and never amalgamating with other nations to the extent that they lose their identity.

You can take 100 ,000 Swedes and dump them in the United States, and within 25 or 50 years, they'll be so intermarried that you can't tell who is a Swede and who is a German. And you can do that with any nationality that there is.

And my friends, you can take 100 ,000 Jews and you can dump them into a nation, and after 1900 years, they're still a distinct people. They're still a people that are separate. Why? Why is it? In 1948, after hundreds and over a thousand years, 1900 years to be exact, or about, why that people scattered, hated, persecuted, decimated, was put into the land of Palestine and the nation of Israel was born.

In 1967, in the Six Days War, they did something that no one has been able to do. The Christians had seven crusades which practically impoverished the papacy and practically impoverished the Western world, and their object was to regain the city of Jerusalem from the Turk, from the Saracens.

And my friends, they failed. Seven crusades, even richer the Lionhearted, and all of these famous knights, they all failed. Yet in 1967, in six days, the army of Israel not only put the Egyptian armies to rout, but my friends, they did something that has not been done for 1900 years, or more, rather more than 1900 years.

The city of Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 AD, as we're going to see, but in the time of Nebuchadnezzar was destroyed, and since the time of Nebuchadnezzar, over 2300 years, the city of Jerusalem has not been in the hands of the Jews.

But today, Israel has the city of Jerusalem, and they're not going to let it go. What does it tell us? It tells us, my friends, we are on the threshold of what we are going to speak about tonight, and all that is needed is for the Lord Jesus to take his church out of this world, as we're going to see, and this last week of Daniel's prophecy of 70 weeks is going to begin to be fulfilled, and it's going to be consummated and climaxed in the return of our Lord Jesus Christ to set up his kingdom.

Now, I want you to notice the first few verses of this chapter, because they're very interesting. We remember that Daniel was taken captive as a youth in the time of Nebuchadnezzar, and we see him now in this ninth chapter, and it says, "...in the first year of Darius, the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, which was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans, in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood by books the number of the years whereof the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.".

Now, Daniel was a man, at this time a very aged man, in the reign of Darius. He had lived through the reign of Nebuchadnezzar. He had lived through the reign of Nabonid, the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar, and also Belshazzar, and he had lived to see the Medo-Persian Empire, according to the prophecies of Daniel 2, and Daniel chapter 7, take over the empires of the world.

And so, in the reign of this Darius, the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, why it says, in the first year of the reign, I, Daniel, understood by books. Now, Daniel realized that the Lord, as he was reading the Scriptures, now he didn't have the Scriptures the way we have them in all their completeness, but undoubtedly was reading the prophecy of Jeremiah, and as he was reading the prophecy of Jeremiah, he saw from the 25th chapter of Jeremiah, and also from the 29th chapter of Jeremiah, that God said the people of Israel would be in bondage to Babylon for about 70 years, and as he sat down and counted, he realized that that prophecy was being fulfilled.

They were at the end of, or about the end of, those 70 years, and so the result was that he began to pray, and he prayed because he realized that the people of Israel, in the condition that they were in, were not in a condition to go back to the land of Palestine.

In fact, many of them were so settled down in the Babylonian and the Medo-Persian empires that they had no desire to go back, and here we find Daniel, as he reads in the books, that the time is at hand when the people are going to go back, it motivates and moves him to prayer.

Now, you know, friends, I wonder, what effect does prophecy have on us? What effect does the learning of prophecy have on us? We saw in the 8th chapter yesterday that the prophecies that the Lord revealed to Daniel concerning the enemy of Israel who is going to come in the last days, it left Daniel sick, and it left him, as it were, in a very weak physical condition because of the situation that he realized his people were going to be in when this evil little horn of Daniel 8 comes into power, and so he was fearful for his people.

The knowledge of what the future was going to bring moved Daniel to prayer, and you know it should move us to prayer, because if the Lord Jesus Christ is coming soon, what about our loved ones who are still unsaved?

If the Lord Jesus Christ should come and we were to be caught up to be with him, those who are unsaved would be left behind, and they'd be left behind for judgment. What about those that you and I come in contact with day by day?

If the Lord Jesus Christ should come and we were to be taken, they would be left behind for that awful judgment. And if the Lord Jesus Christ were to come, well, how ready am I as a Christian for his coming?

Would I want to be called into his presence today? Has my life and my behavior been such that if the Lord Jesus Christ was to call me into his presence at his coming today, that I would be so loose from the things of the world that I would be caught up and I would be so ready and joyful to meet him?

Or would it be, perhaps, that there are things that I need to straighten out in my life, or things, perhaps, that I wouldn't want to be found doing if the Lord Jesus Christ should come? Or, perhaps, intentions that I had and that I purposed that I was going to devote more of my time to the Lord, and I was going to devote more of my material things to the Lord, and instead of devoting more of my time and more of my energy and more of my material things for the Lord, I haven't been doing it.

And if he should come, well, I'd find out that I'd come into his presence, and then I would find out whether I would deign or whether I would suffer loss at his judgment feet. You know, this moved Daniel to prayer, and it would be beautiful to just study his prayer, to notice how Daniel, a godly man, confesses his sins with the sins of the people of Israel, and how he justifies God for all that God had done with the people of Israel, and that they were getting just what they deserved.

But still he brings before the Lord that he is merciful, and that the Lord has made great promises to the people of Israel, and he also brings before the Lord in his prayer that the name of the Lord is identified or associated with the city of Israel, Jerusalem, and also with his people.

And then notice what it tells us here in this ninth chapter. It says in the twentieth verse,. And you know, even while Daniel was praying, I suppose if you and I were to read this prayer word for word, and read it reverently, and read it audibly, well, I don't suppose it would take more than five minutes to read that prayer.

And even before Daniel had finished that prayer, why, here was a messenger from heaven, Gabriel. Now, Gabriel was an angel. As far as we know, there are only four mentions of Gabriel in the entire word of God.

Once in the eighth chapter of Daniel, once in the ninth chapter of Daniel, once in the first chapter of Luke, and once in the second chapter of Luke. And every time that you have Gabriel mentioned, why, he's bringing a very important message.

We know that in the gospel of Luke, for instance, he brought the message to Zacharias that his wife was going to have a baby, who was going to be the forerunner of the Messiah. And in the second chapter of Luke, why, he brought the wonderful message to Mary that she was going to be the mother of a child, who was, of course, none other than the Lord Jesus.

Every time that we see Luke, why, he's bringing a very important message. But the wonder of it is this, that before Daniel had even finished praying, why, an angel had come right from the presence of God, and he was standing right before Daniel.

You talk about the speed of light, 186 ,000 miles a second. They tell us that for man to get out into space, that if he was to travel 186 ,000 miles a second, it would take him millions of light years to get out of our solar system.

Millions of light years! That means millions of years traveling at the speed of 186 ,000 miles a second. And yet, my friends, here is an angel who has come from beyond the widest reaches of the universe, come right from the presence of God, and before Daniel had finished his prayer, why, there was the angel.

He had the answer. He was there with a message from God. And you know, it tells us here that this messenger informed him, O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee still an understanding. At the beginning of thy supplications, the commandment came forth, and I am come to show thee, for thou art greatly beloved, therefore consider the matter, understand the matter, and consider the vision.

Now, Daniel was very much concerned about his people, which were the people of Israel. He was very much concerned about the city, which was the city of Jerusalem, and he was very much concerned about the sanctuary, that is, the temple, which was the most important part of that city.

The temple was destroyed, the city was in the hands of the enemy, and not only so, in ruins, and the people were scared abroad. Now, what about your promise? Now, just as I told you just last evening, in speaking of Daniel chapter 8, the interpretation of the vision far exceeds the vision itself.

And so also in this ninth chapter of Daniel, Daniel was interested in what happened to his people in the immediate future. But the Lord is going to tell him not only what their immediate future is, but also what their ultimate future is.

He is going to unfold to Daniel the entire program of God with his people until that temple is set up, the kingdom is set up, they are delivered from their enemies, and they are free to enjoy all the beneficent reign and bounty of their Messiah and their Redeemer.

In other words, he carries them all the way from that captivity, and he carries them all the way until the time that the Lord Jesus Christ comes, sets up his kingdom, and he establishes the temple as we're going to see.

Now, this prophecy is really very simple to understand, I think, with the chart that we have before us here concerning Daniel chapter 9. Now, I want you to notice we're going to take it up bit by bit.

In the 24th verse he says, 70 weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city. Now, I want you to notice, first of all, who this prophecy is about. He says to Daniel, 70 weeks are determined upon thy people and thy holy city.

This is not talking about the people of Lime. This is not talking about the people of the United States. This is not talking about the people of Europe. This is talking about Daniel's people. Who were Daniel's people?

They were the people of Israel and thy city. And what city is that? There was only one city, which was the city prominent of the Israelites, and that was the city that was in ruins, the city of Jerusalem.

So, let's get this straight. Primarily, this prophecy is about Daniel's people, the people of Israel, not the church, as we're going to see in a little while. It's not about the church. You and I are never called Israel.

And I don't care what anybody says. Nobody can find in the Bible where a Gentile is ever called Israel. Even in Galatians chapter 6, where it says, Peace be on them that walk according to this rule of the new birth, and upon the Israel of God.

It is not the church. The Israel of God is exactly who it says. It is the Israel of God. And a believer in Christ who is a member of the church is never, never, never, never Israel. Israel is Israel. Judah is Judah.

The church is the church. Jerusalem is Jerusalem. And let's not try to make it mean something else. It means exactly what it says. It's like the little boy says, Well, daddy, if God didn't mean what he said, why didn't he say what he means?

Well, my friends, God does mean what he says, and God says what he means. And we get into trouble when we try to change things. Let's take things as God puts them. Thy people, Israel. Thy city, Daniel's city, which is Jerusalem.

Now, he says 70 weeks are determined upon thy people. 70 weeks. Now, Daniel had been thinking about 70 years. Now, we ask the question, well, what are these 70 weeks? You would say, well, 70 weeks? Well, that's 70 weeks of 7 days apiece, so that is 490 days.

Well, unfortunately, this word weeks here is a Hebrew word which simply means 7, or something having 7 parts. You notice here we have the word heptad. In other words, Daniel is told 77. In our English language, there is a word quite similar.

I could say I have 7 dozen. You say 7 dozen what? 7 dozen oranges? 7 dozen eggs? 7 dozen apples? 7 dozen chickens? But that word dozen simply means 12. This word weeks here, which has been translated weeks, simply means a 7.

77. Well, is it 77 of days, or what is it? Well, if you read the chapter, you will notice that Daniel is praying about 70 years. God is telling him about 70 years, or he is praying about 70 years. He knows that so many years have passed in captivity.

He is thinking in the terms of years. Now, let's just use it as a simple expression of days. Let's say it's 77 of days. Well, we know that doesn't stand, because that would mean that in 490 days, from the time that this prophecy began, which we're going to look at, the city of Jerusalem would be rebuilt, Messiah would come, and Messiah would be crucified.

So we know that the theory of 77 of days doesn't hold water, because it doesn't stand the test of this. But what he is really speaking about is 77 of years. And what he is saying to him is, 77 of years are going to come upon your people and upon your city.

And in those 77 of years, six things are going to be done. Now notice what they are. He says to finish the transgression. Now, the people of Israel were in captivity because of their transgression. They were a people that were characterized by transgression.

To finish the transgression and to make an end of sins. In other words, where God is going to make an end for your sins, God is going to make a provision for your sins whereby your sins can be taken away.

And to make reconciliation for iniquity. In other words, to reconcile the people of Israel unto himself. And to bring in everlasting righteousness. And bring in everlasting righteousness, of course, means to bring in the everlasting reign of Christ, which is going to be a reign of righteousness.

And to seal up the vision and prophecy. In other words, to complete all that the prophetic word speaks about. And lastly, to anoint the most holy. And to anoint the most holy here refers to the most holy place.

That is to reestablish the temple and to make it again the universal place of worship for the people of Israel. Now, have these things been done? Why, of course they haven't been done. Several of them have been done, but all of these things have not been done.

So these are the six things that have to be done within the compass of the 70 weeks, or 77's, or 490 years. Now, let's remember the people of Israel were still in captivity. They were in bondage. And so he goes on, and he says, 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 troubleless times.

And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself. Or as the margin says, and shall have nothing, and the people of the Prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary, and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.

And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week. Now, I want you to notice that here in this portion from verse 25 down through verse 27, we have three different divisions of the 70 weeks. He says, 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, or 62 weeks.

Now, there we have two of the divisions. In other words, those 70 weeks are going to be divided into three parts. The first part is seven weeks, or 49 years. The second part is 62 weeks, or 434 years.

And the third part is the last week of seven years. So there we have that those 70 weeks were going to be divided into three parts. Seven weeks, or 49 years. 62 weeks, or 434 years. And then one week.

And he tells us here what, or when, this is going to begin. When is going to be the starting point of these 70 weeks? Now notice what he tells us here. He tells us, 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.

Those of you who know a little bit about the Old Testament, you know that after Darius came as king, Cyrus followed him. And Cyrus, when he became king, he announced that the people of Israel, any of the people of Israel who were in his domain, they could go back to Jerusalem to reestablish the worship.

They could build the temple. And so there was a number of them who went back to Jerusalem and they started to build the temple. That was in the days of Ezra. You find that in the first book, first chapter of Ezra.

Ezra chapter 1. And then you'll find that when they began to build the temple, quite persecution arose. And so they sent false accusations back to the Medo-Persian king. And another king had come to the throne.

And so he ordered the work stopped until search was made into the archives or the library of the Medo-Persians. And there they found written that the king had decreed. And when the king decrees, according to the laws of the Medes and Persians, it couldn't be changed, that this temple was to be rebuilt.

And so he sent forth the commandment in the sixth chapter of Ezra that the temple should be continued to be built. And then a little later on in the book of Ezra, you find a third decree where another king sent forth help and encouraged them in the building of the temple.

But that wasn't when the 70 weeks was to begin. Because it was not until the second chapter of Nehemiah. If you'll turn for a moment to the second chapter of Nehemiah, and this was in the year, chronologists tell us, about 445 B .C.

In fact, my friends, they've got it down to the actual day. On March 14th, 445 B .C., Nehemiah 2, and verse 1, It came to pass in the month of Niceland, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, that wine was before him, and I took up the wine, and I gave it unto the king.

And then you remember how the king wondered why he was so sad, and he said that the wall was broke down, the city was broke down. And then notice what it tells us. It tells us in the sixth verse,. And the king said unto me, the queen also sitting by him, For how long shall thy journey be, and when wilt thou return?

So it pleased the king to set me, and I sent him a time. Moreover, I said unto the king, if it please the king, let letters be given to me to the governors beyond the river, that they may convey me over till I come unto Judah, and a letter unto Asaph, the keeper of the king's forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the palace which appertain to the house, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall enter into.

And the king granted me according to the good hand of my God upon me. And he comes with those letters. And so there we have the 70 weeks begins right there. When that king sent Nehemiah in 445 B .C., he sent that man back to Jerusalem to build the city, to build the wall.

Now notice here he tells us in Daniel chapter 7 and chapter 9, 70 weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city to finish. Note the 25th. 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 three and two weeks.

The streets shall be built again and the wall even in troublous times. And of course we know how actually that was fulfilled. If you read the book of Nehemiah, you'll find what troubles they had. How they had to as it were day and night work and fight.

They didn't so much as take off their clothes. They fought with they had a sword in one hand and a trowel in the other. And they were just yet busy. And it took them not 49 weeks of days, not seven weeks of days, 49 days.

They didn't build a city and build a wall in 49 days. But in 49 years they had the city built and the city was completed. And again they were settled in the city of Jerusalem. Now it says the second part, the 26th verse, and after three score and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself or shall have nothing.

Now in the next 62 weeks or in the next 434 years, it says unto the Messiah the prince. You know Sir Robert Anderson wrote a book entitled The Coming Prince in which he established that from March 14th, 445 B .C. to the day that the Lord Jesus Christ rode into Jerusalem was exactly 173 ,800 days and divided into prophetic years as the Jews did of 360 days a year with 144 days for leap years.

It came to the exact day after the 62 weeks, 483 years that the Lord Jesus actually rode into Jerusalem and presented himself as the Messiah, as the king. And of course they acclaimed him. The children says, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.

But we know how the chief priests and the others rose up against him and before the week was out they had denied him, they had condemned him, and they had crucified him. And it says in the 26th verse, it says, After three score and two weeks, after three score and two weeks, shall Messiah be cut off and shall have nothing.

And of course we know why he was cut off. We know he was cut off in order that he might provide salvation for you and for me. That he might provide salvation for that nation of Israel. He was cut off.

The Lord Jesus Christ was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes we are healed. We might hesitate here for a few moments and ask the question, Well what does the death of the Lord Jesus Christ mean to you?

My friends, this is the central point of all history and this is the central point of all eternity. All time past and all time future. It is this cross which divides humanity into two classes. Each one of us here in this meeting tonight are on one side of the cross or the other.

What do you mean? Well one side of the cross is the wages of sin is death. If we're unbelievers, if we don't know the Lord Jesus Christ is our Savior, we are under the penalty of death. The wages of sin is death.

But the gift of God is eternal life. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. And my friend, I ask you tonight, on which side of the cross are you? Are you still lost tonight? Are you still a rejecter of the Lord Jesus tonight?

Are you still thinking you can get along without him? That you can find some solution to the problem of your sin or of your soul's need apart from the Lord Jesus? My friend, there's no other way. If there had been another way that God could have saved men, Jesus would never have had to die on the cross.

In that Garden of Gethsemane he prayed and said, Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless not my will but thine be done. If there had been any other way, God would have found it.

My friend, there was no other way. There was no other way sin could be put away. There was no other way souls could be saved. Jesus had to die. He had to have nothing. He had to be left without anything.

He was stripped of everything and nailed to that cross. And there God himself forsook him as he was made sin for you and for me. What does he mean to you? Is he your Savior? Do you have a personal interest in what the Lord Jesus Christ has done?

He died for sinners. If you're a sinner, he died for you. He died for the lost. He died for the guilty. He died in the place of those who were without strength to save themselves. And if you're one of those, why you can come in on the benefits of what the Lord Jesus did until he spoke.

But you know friends, when they crucified the Lord Jesus, God's time clock stopped. The clock of prophecy stopped. At the end of those 69 weeks, which terminated with the crucifixion of Christ, something else happened.

What happened? God's dealings with Israel as a nation stopped. And you notice he tells us here, in this 26th verse, it says, The people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary, and the end thereof shall be with a flood.

But I don't want to go too fast. The people of the prince that shall come. Now I want you to notice, there is a prince in the 26th verse, and there is a prince in the 25th verse. In the 25th verse we have Messiah the prince.

In the 26th verse we have the prince that shall come, whose people destroy the city and the sanctuary. Now the Messiah the prince, of course, is the Lord Jesus Christ. Messiah at all. The prince that shall come, that we're going to read about a little while later, down in the chapter, is this little horn that we were speaking about.

The head of the western empire that is going to rise after the church is taken away. And this is the prince that shall come. Now I want you to notice another distinction here. We need to read Scripture very carefully.

In the 26th verse it says, the people of the prince that shall come. Now let's distinguish not only between the prince that shall come and the Messiah. One is the Lord Jesus. The Messiah is the Lord Jesus.

The prince that shall come is the beast. The beast of Revelation 13, 1 -10. The little horn of Daniel chapter 7, the beast of Revelation 19, who is cast into the lake of fire, that is the prince. So let's distinguish between the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, the prince, and the prince who is the beast, the political head, the leader of that ten confederated kingdom or empire that is going to come.