Daniel 9:2-27 | Daniel's Seventy Weeks

The Sovereignty of God in World Turmoil

We are in some very exciting times, frightening, because from a world viewpoint we are seeing evil manifesting in a way that is just undefendable. We're seeing not only Hamas doing what they're doing, perhaps Iran behind it, perhaps Hezbollah right on the heels of it, but then just go north a little bit and you've got Russia and Ukraine going at it.

And it's from a worldly standpoint, from a human standpoint, I feel like Jeremiah, I feel like Habakkuk, Lord, why are you letting this happen? And then you look at what's going on in academia, you look at what's going on even in one side of the aisle in the halls of Congress, and a hospital being hit by rockets and accusations going on.

You see rallies of celebration happening in Australia, even in New York City, and you ask yourself, Lord, isn't it time for you to put an end to this? And so then we get into this amazing chapter of Daniel 9, and because as we've been studying and we've been proving without a doubt that God is sovereign, this is His will, it's His desire, nothing is happening outside of the...

What is Proverbs 16, whatever, 19, what does that say? Even the casting of the law?

Yeah, Proverbs 16, 33. 33. The casting of the law is in the lap, but every decision is from the Lord.

We have, we hold a very high perception of God and His sovereignty, but we know in this glory story, the end of it all is that God will prevail. There are 70 weeks that we're going to talk about here as we conclude in chapter 9, and there are some gaps that we have to understand, and then eventually the end of it all, while we look here, we just shake our head and we don't understand.

This is still a cause for celebration, because if it isn't for God, well, this is a really sad, sad place. So we're going to get into the end of chapter 9, beginning of verse 20, while I was speaking and praying, and as we got into the beginning of chapter 9, we saw how Daniel was motivated to say, the prophecies of Jeremiah said there was supposed to be 70 years, and we're getting right there, and so he turns into prayer, and almost the pattern of my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and turn from their wicked ways.

This prayer is so rich in all of that, and then we get into the last part of it, while I was speaking and praying, and let's see what God has to reveal to us. Would you open this, please?

Prayer, Confession, and the Coming of Gabriel

Father, thank you so much for your word, and what a fortress, what a rock for us to run into, Lord. You are the God of our salvation, so in the midst of this crazy world, Lord, we thank you that we can turn to you, and we pray now that as we look in your word, you would help us to be taught, and to see these incredible truths, Lord, even the prophecy of Messiah cut off, Lord, we look to the Messiah, so thank you so much for what we're about to read and study, in Jesus' name, amen.

I'm going to ask Greg if he would start us out by reading verses 20 -23, please, in Daniel chapter 9. Yep.

While I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin, and the sin of my people of Israel, and presenting my plea before the Lord, my God, for the holy hill of my God. While I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in a vision at the first, came to me in swift flight at the time of the evening sacrifice.

He made me understand, speaking with me and saying, O Daniel, I have now come out to give you insight and understanding. Thank you, Daniel. At the beginning of your pleas for mercy, a word went out, and I have come to tell to you who you are greatly loved, therefore consider the word, and understand the vision.

He's about to have a big old bomb dropped on top of him of truth. The fullness of his prayer, we just really need to get it, because there is going to be a time when God is going to be sending a messenger and just unfolding what his plan, what his ultimate plan is.

While I was speaking and praying, I'm just going to take this a little bit of time, because I want us to be encouraged by the fullness of prayer, and how Daniel has just laid himself in front of the Lord.

By doing that, he leaves himself open to actually receiving the messages that God has to give. It starts out, it says, while I was speaking, and what I want to highlight there is, in prayer, it becomes so significant when it becomes specific, and when you actually express a thought, specificity to that thought, and even an awareness of what it is my thought is, when you actually take the time to say it and to pray it.

I have, in my journal, in the back of it, are my pages of prayer requests, and as they get answered, I cross them off, and the danger of this is just to be going down this and saying, Bruce MacDonald's health, Harold Undersall's health, to his disciple ministry at the church, without stopping to think about it, without stopping to think, what is it about Bruce MacDonald's health that is driving me to want to pray for him?

Here's a man who spent his whole life ministering God's Word as a missionary to professional athletes and in other venues, and his ability to discern Scripture and to study Scripture and to speak truth, God used him so amazingly, but God has allowed him to have an issue that happened within his brain that he can't really talk anymore.

And that's within God's will, but to be able to pray for him specifically. Daniel, it says, as he was in prayer, and we looked at this in the beginning of this chapter, he was very specific in what he had to say.

And in your time of prayer, don't allow your prayer list just to walk down the list. One of the dangers, our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, not even thinking about what you're saying, but being, by the way, I like, you just said something, that's not the Lord's prayer, that's the Lord's pattern for us to pray.

That's really cool. While I was speaking, that means taking these thoughts and actually putting my mind to them and praying, and that's saying that I am taking these thoughts that are important to me, and I'm not just looking at them because I want to remember them.

I'm looking at them and I'm speaking at them because by the grace of God and by the power of the Holy Spirit, by the salvation that is won to me, I get to go before the very throne and speak to God. If I am going to spend time in the morning in my devotional and first of all go through some scripture and meditate on that scripture and then go to prayer, if I'm not recognizing that I am praying to God, to Yahweh, to the creator of all, again, it can become almost routine, rote, mechanical, but his prayer includes confessing my sin, acknowledging my faults, and to say that I know I'm unworthy.

This is his prayer, confessing my sin and the sin of my people, and he's interceding for all of his brothers and sisters in the Lord, just having this vision of what it is for all of us. I think of Job, who every day would make prayer for perhaps my children have sinned.

And what a beautiful, beautiful picture. And then I present my pleas before the throne of God. And that just, it allows you to be surrendering to Yahweh, surrendering to who he is, surrendering my agenda, seeking after him.

We are told that if we pray, he will. Well, what that really means is on the basis of my prayer being lined up with the will of God, I will see those prayers answered because they're the will of God being prayed.

Having this so transformational approach to who we are, and even to that, and it's at the holy hill, for the holy hill of my God. What is on Daniel's mind is God's chosen people, it's God's place, it's God's holy hill, it's all about God.

He is praying, he is praying that this glory story be given the glory that it deserves. There's a fullness of prayer. That's an attitude of prayer that puts you and prepares you now to hear. And so then it says in the end of, in verse 21 at the beginning, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen at first, came to me.

Why does God send messengers? John, I'm gonna have you get Revelation 1, and Rich, I'm gonna have you get Daniel 8, 15 to 7, forget that, I'll talk to that one, but have Revelation 1, 1. Why does God send messengers?

To deliver a message. Deep thoughts. To give us a heads up. That's what a messenger does, delivers a message. To give us a heads up, because we don't know. Because there are things, the deep things of God, we don't know, the truths of God, God's mind, we don't know, and so he allows us to be given that kind of an insight.

In Daniel 8, it says that Gabriel gave Daniel understanding. The things that are gonna be done could be confusing and could be without, we don't even get it. But when the messenger of God comes, and there's a message that he, when a messenger of God comes and you've spent time in the Bible, and the messenger of God, it opens it up, it opens up the deep things of God, it opens up application.

Revelation 1, 1.

Can I first ask, is there any thought that those messages, or those types of messages are more significant in any way?

You don't have a red letter Bible, do you? There are those who will take scripture, and in fact, I think, isn't there even like a sect of a denomination, the red letter Christians, if you would, that's where we think we get the most significant teaching, is in the red letters.

And I think that we will stand by 2 Timothy 3, 16, and 17, where it says, all scripture is given by inspiration of God, for doctrine, for improvement, for correction, for instruction, for righteousness.

All scripture. Because we believe that everything in this Bible is God-breathed. And it's original is without error, which is to say we've translated from Hebrew and Aramaic and Greek into what we now have as an English Bible.

In fact, some of them went through, from the Hebrew to the Septuagint, some of them went from the New Testament to Latin. So there are translations, and translations have introduced word differences. Vulgate.

The Vulgate. But we firmly believe that God is protected so that what is in here is without error. Is it without editorial issues? Yeah, there are. But it is without error, which is to say, if we believe that, when an angel speaks and it's recorded in scripture, that is no more important than the book of Numbers.

It's all equally. Would you agree with that? Yeah, 100%.

Revelation 1 .1, the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John.

The word atau in Greek shows up so many times in that passage. Him, his, ownership, God. He sends his angels. He sends his word. And he's going to give us his understanding as we then see in Daniel 8.

What the messenger is about to give is truth, but it is truth that has its source, its origin, in God the Father. And it's coming to us so that we can have it. And so God sends a messenger because sometimes we need that help to perceive and understand.

I can only believe that in the church age, in our current age, every believer has the Holy Spirit. And so every believer has this messenger from God. That is one of the ministries of the Holy Spirit, is to give us understanding.

And we get that. Now Daniel gets this in an amazing way. There have been times where I've wondered, what would it feel like to have an angel of God? What would it feel like to have the Son of God come before me?

And then I get totally freaked out and scared. Are we going to actually see him at the parousia? I believe we are. I can't explain it. The world's a big place. But I believe at the parousia, the second coming, we are going to actually see him.

What Daniel is doing at this time is also interesting. If you continue in verse 21, at the time of the evening sacrifice. So Rich, I'm going to ask you to go to Exodus 29.

Exodus 29? I thought you went to Daniel 18. I know, I told you to forget that one.

Exodus 29 verses 38 and 39. What is being described here by this account, is that he is praying, but he is praying at the time of the evening sacrifice. There is no temple anymore. And what Rich is going to pull out, is an instruction to the people, to the Israelites.

They are in the wilderness. Of the different times that they are to come before the Lord. And if you've got Exodus 29. 38 to 39.

Now, this is what you shall offer on the altar. Two lambs of the first year. Staying like that continually. One lamb you shall offer in the morning. And the other lamb you shall offer at twilight.

Did you know that every day, the priests offer two lambs? Every day. One in the morning and one in the evening. Now, we don't have the temple. We don't have the priests. We don't have all that going on.

But I just find it so beautiful that Daniel, is apparently, because it says, while I was in prayer at the time of the evening sacrifice, he is carrying on the exhortation from God, to make sacrifice to Him.

And by the way, there's a strong implication in Daniel 6 .10. Daniel prayed three times a day. That was his practice. They were told you will not. And he stood in front of the window and prayed to the Lord.

Daniel took these opportunities, these callings from God, just to come in front of Him very, very seriously. This is the man, Daniel, that's about to get some amazing stuff. Verses 22 and 23. Give me that again, if you would.

I understand, speaking with me and saying, O Daniel, I have now come out to give you insight and understanding. At the beginning of your release from 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.

God's desire is to help us to understand and to accept and to grow in what He has to say to us. But what He is doing now is He has sent this messenger so that there would be understanding. This understanding is given by God.

A couple of things I want to highlight about this. The messenger says, I came at the beginning of your pleas. Proverbs 15, 29 is going to say, God hears the prayers of the righteous. And what is being taught here is the impact of prayer.

By turning himself, the way he does in the beginning of this chapter, in prayer, humbling himself, confessing his sin, seeking God, as soon as you started that prayer, I was on my journey to come to you.

God hears your prayers. And He does choose to answer them. And then He says, I have come because you are what? Greatly loved. What a, again, what a sense of assurance we get. I'm coming because you are greatly loved.

Psalm 145, 18 and 19 is going to teach us that God is near to all who call on Him, whatever they have to say. That's not what it says. God is near to them who call on Him in truth. We don't call on God seeking our own desires, seeking our own agenda, looking at our own observations, opinions of what thing is.

We call on God in truth, which is what He wants us to do. He loves us when we do that. And as we do that, He responds and He comes. And then it says, I have come to give you God's word. Daniel's been in captivity, about how long do we think?

Going on 70 years. Because it's just about that 70 year mark. And during that time, there is no temple. During that time, how did Babylon treat their captives? What was their desire? To keep order within their realm.

To assimilate a child in. Yeah, absolutely, assimilate. That's why they took Daniel Shadrach, no, Daniel Shadrach. I can remember those names. They took Daniel. They said no when the opportunity was there to have a soft, easy, comfortable, privileged life.

They said no. But for these 70 years, there has not been. There has not been a temple. There has not been. I don't know if there's even been priests and rabbis and teachers and whatever else. But Daniel has remained true.

Daniel has continued to seek after God. And so now it says, I have come to give you God's word. What does God give? He gives truth. He gives truth. And at the beginning of the prayer, he confesses all of their sins and everything that the people have done.

And now God has got some truth to give. As we look in what's going on in Israel, in the Middle East, in our own country today, the tendency can be to hear this stuff and let it impact your life. I want to encourage you that there's something better to impact your life.

God's very word. We are blessed to have a pastor, to have elders, to have a church where God's word is honored. He gives it to us. And then he says, I'm going to give you understanding. Psalm 119. The unfolding of your word gives light.

Open up this story, this glory story. As you read it, you're going to be given light. In a major part because 2 Corinthians 2 tells us that he gives us the spirit of God so that we may know.

Yeah, Rick. It's interesting that Jesus is the fulfillment of so much of this because he is the word. He is the light. And he's the lamb who has sacrificed all of us. Absolutely.

Absolutely. I wasn't saying that. I've not come to abolish the law of the prophets. I've not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. That is our Jesus. He is the word. And then he gives us the Holy Spirit.

It's good that I go because if I go, I will send another and that other will teach you in all things. And he's the one. Daniel is given this very special moment where a messenger is going to be sent from God to give him the word and the understanding.

A very, very special moment in time. Verse 23, at the end of it, it says, Therefore consider the word and understand the vision. We need to stop at that for just a minute because the rest of this chapter, the next four verses are going to give a lot of information.

And how do we perceive? How do we digest? How do we absorb? How do we apply the information that is here? Because he's going to tell them that this is in the command. This is an imperative. Consider the word and understand the vision.

What is going to come in the next four verses is going to be a lot of information. We call it eschatology, end times, the day of the Lord. There's a lot of words we put onto it. Daniel is told, and we are told, to consider these words and to understand the vision.

And so as we go into this passage, which is very rich, very deep in eschatology, we have to have a filter of understanding. What we are going to use, what we use, what Jeff uses, what our church uses, could be called dispensational theology, and it'd be considered a futuristic application of the words of Revelation.

What do I mean by that? Very simply because it can be very complex. There's a difference between dispensational theology and covenantal theology. And then there are softenings of it, there's midpoints and stuff like that.

The intent today is to go into all of it. But there are two main points that I want to make. If we're talking dispensational theology, we're saying Revelation applies to Israel, not the church. If we're talking about Revelation, covenantal theology would say that the church has replaced Israel.

And so they will find ways to understand and to interpret Revelation as a church-centric teaching. We believe that Revelation is an Israel-centric teaching.

You mean Revelation, the concept, or the book of Revelation? The book of Revelation. The book of Revelation is resuming the program with Israel. Yes.

So then we get into, yeah, go ahead. I was just going to say that the first three chapters, the Lord himself, deals with the churches specifically. And then from 4 to 18, the church is never mentioned.

Correct. Only a history of 144 ,000. That leads us into understanding, how do we consider all of this? And there are four main views of it. One is called the Futurist, another is called the Preterist, Historicist, and Idealist.

Those are the four main views of what's going on with eschatology, Revelation, and times. Preterist says that everything that is taught in the book of Revelation having to do with Daniel 9 was completed in AD 90.

That's the Preterist view. AD 70. That too, yeah. That's her job. Yeah. Somewhere in there. Kid's wrong anyway, so whatever. Am I allowed to say that? Yes, you are. Absolutely, you are. The Historicist view of it applies the end times description through Revelation, through Daniel, to be applicable to the various phases of church history.

Okay. And they take the first three chapters of Revelation as saying the seven churches, the seven phases of the church, and it's a description of how the church unfolds throughout history, even into the future.

The Idealist says it's all allegorical anyway. It's just a description of the battle between God and Satan, of the battle between good and evil. It's all allegorical and it's really good teaching that we should have.

It will help us to lead better godly lives if we understand this battle. It's all allegorical. Then you have the Futurist application. And the Futurist application says that once we get into Revelation 4 and beyond, this is yet to unfold.

That there will be a time of rapture. There will be a literal seven year tribulation. There will be a second coming of the Lord. There will be a millennial reign. There will be a new Jerusalem. Correct me if I'm wrong.

That's helpful. But we are dispensational Futurists. Okay.

I checked with you before I said that. And I wouldn't be in the camp of a classic dispensationalist, but definitely still within the Idealist. So you're a dispensationalist if you believe God still has a program for ethnic Israel.

That this is not replaced or fulfilled in the church, but that there is still a program in the future for Israel. We're seeing it happen now.

And that's why I'm not getting into the midpoints and stuff like that. As we look into Daniel 9, as we look into Revelation, read Israel. Specifically, read the 70th week. Okay, we'll get into that in just a minute.

The Seventy Weeks Decree and the Messiah Cut Off

Future applications, Daniel 24. Give me 24, please.

Go ahead, Greg's got it. 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.

From the writing of Daniel, this is all future. This is all future prophecy.

To eliminate, you know, any confusion from the start, we have to distinguish between weeks, weeks, as weeks of years.

I will get to that. That's one of my points in this paragraph. I will get to that. From the time of the writing of Daniel, 70 weeks are decreed. Now, the word weeks, it's not uncommon in the Old Testament weeks to describe sevens, if you would.

If you go to Leviticus 25, it says seven Sabbaths of years. It actually says that is 49 years. So, we're talking about 70 weeks are decreed. We're talking about 490 years, 70 times seven, 70 weeks. And it is a literal time frame.

It is not an allegorical time frame. One of the debates, if you go into Genesis, are they seven literal 24-hour days? Are they seven aged days? Okay, that's another debate for another time. We believe this is literally 70 times seven years.

We'll get to that. It says that it is about your people and your holy city. The prophecy of 70 weeks is not the entire creation, mankind, all nations. These 70 weeks apply to God's people and his holy city.

That includes the 70th week. We are dispensational futurists, okay? Now, God's plan is to finish the transgression, put an end to sin, atone for iniquity. When did that happen? When did that happen? At the cross.

It is finished. Isn't that what Jesus said? Tetelestai. The sacrifice has been paid. Now, then it says bring in everlasting righteousness, seal the vision, atone. That is yet to happen. There has not yet been the fullness of righteousness brought on to humanity because humanity is still in the flesh.

Paul's writings in the book of Romans. Now, to get to where Rick was going, we need to understand weeks of years. Phase one is a seven-week period, 49 years. Phase two is a 62-week period, 424 years.

If you add that together, it's 483 years. But, however, come, the ancient Jewish calendar used 360 days. Our solar calendar is 365 .25 years. Because every now and then we throw in a leap year, add an extra day.

If you use the math, converting 360 days to our solar calendar, 483 years becomes 476 years. From the decree to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem by Artaxerxes, 476 years falls at 33. Surprise, surprise.

That is what happened in 30 AD. Jesus was crucified. That's the end of the 69th week, Messiah is cut off. There is one more week yet to go, a final seven weeks. So we're going to get into that to go. Weeks one to seven.

Give me 25 again, if you would.

Know, therefore, and understand that from the going out of the Word to restore and build Jerusalem to becoming an anointed one, a prince there shall be seven weeks.

Okay, stop there. That is the first phase. And Artaxerxes gives the decree, that's in Nehemiah 2, verses 7 to 8. If you remember the story, Nehemiah is distressed. He hears about the conditions of the walls under Ezra.

They were given permission to go back and rebuild the temple, but the walls were in ruins. And Nehemiah prays and prays and prays and seeks out God. He is then summoned into the king's chambers. He's the cupbearer.

And as he's going in and says, I pray, he didn't stop and get down on his knees. He's on his way to see the king. I call it a Nehemiah dart. He says, God, I need you. I need you right now. And he goes in with a sad face.

Don't do that to the king. The king says, why is your face sad? Because the walls, Artaxerxes is motivated by God at that point in time to issue the decree that the walls will be rebuilt. And surprise, surprise, 49 years later, the walls are completed.

Much work and stuff that goes on, but it took exactly those first seven weeks. Give me the rest of 25, please.

Then for 62 weeks, it shall be built again with squares and no, but any troubled time.

There is going to be, the temple is going to be rebuilt. There's going to be troubled times. We are going to have, who was the guy that just created the temple? Help me. Antiochus Epiphanes. That guy too, Antiochus Epiphanes.

Then we have Josephus Maccabees. We have all of this. We have Rome. We have everything that goes on. But for the next 69 weeks, the temple is still there. The anointed is going to come and he is going to be cut off.

And John 13 starts the beginning of that week in AD 33 when he says, my hour has come. Those are the words in John 13. Jesus knew his hour had come. The end of that prophecy of that 69th week was complete.

He has the entry into Jerusalem. We have the casting of the temple. We have eventually the meal in the upper room. We have the garden. We have the arrest. We have the crucifixion and the completion of the 69th week of prophecy.

Give me, start in verse 26, please.

Yeah. And after the 62 weeks, the anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing. Okay, we'll stop there.

That's pretty obvious what's going to happen at the end of that 63rd week. 62 weeks 1 plus 62, 63rd weeks. The anointed one is cut off. Christ is crucified and there is nothing. The story of Israel ends at that point in time.

There is a parenthesis. There is a pause button on your Apple pad, whatever that's called.

And just to clarify, the 69th week, you've got the 7 weeks plus 62. Yes, thank you.

The story becomes now the age of the Gentiles. The story becomes the time of the church age. This is what we are in right now. And Christ has equipped the church. Matthew 16, on this rock I will build my church.

That's not Peter the Pope. That is the profession, thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. Acts 2, 5. Oh, we've got to read those verses. Rick, if you would get Acts 2, verses 5 and 6 and then at the end of verse 11.

The church is going to grow in ways that cannot be explained except for God's sovereignty. Because as the apostles, as the disciples, knowing that their Messiah is not only been crucified, but he's gone up into heaven, he's not with them anymore.

They go into a room and they're not sure what's going to happen next. But the Holy Spirit comes on, clove and tongues of fire. And what goes on in Jerusalem around there can only be explained because God created this particular scene.

Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language.

Give me verse 11. Both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians, we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.

The total inclusiveness of everybody, Jews, proselytes, Cretans, everybody hears the message in their own tongues as it's spoken. And as you go through the rest of the story and acts, the church just miraculously grows and grows.

And then we have Paul going out, we have the word being spread out through the known world. Galatians 3 is going to say all are sons of God, neither Jew nor Greek, nor male nor female. We're all sons of God.

And Ephesians 2 is going to say that two have become one flesh. This is the age of the church where God is now dealing in a different way. He is not uniquely dealing with his chosen people, Israel. He is dealing through the church.

But there is going to be a time when that's going to change. It's going to be the 70th week. This gap, this church age. We pray, what does Maranatha mean? Come out quickly Lord Jesus. We pray, please come.

Yeah, it is hard to see. We don't know, this may be the time, this may not be the time. But we are told to be like the wise virgins who have oil in their lamp and are always prepared, always looking, always seeking after the bridegroom who is going to come.

But then we're going to have the end. Give me the rest of 26 and 27, please.