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Bro. Bill Nichols
And them that worship therein. Let us pray. Most gracious Heavenly Father, thank you for this day. Thank you for giving us this place to come, that we might meet together and worship and study your Holy Word.
Thank you for giving us the Holy Spirit to guide us in our study. Thank you for giving us one another, that we may reinforce and guide each other with the guidance that you have provided us. Protect us and keep us and go through with us today.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. The church age, that is to say the time of the Gentiles, is over. The gap in Daniel's vision of 70 weeks is now completed. I thought I would start here with Daniel's vision of the 70 weeks and just kind of run through it quickly and lightly in case there's some discomfort about it.
Seventy weeks are determined upon by people and upon by Holy City. That's Daniel 9 verse 24. I forgot to tell you that. Daniel 9 verse 24. This is the vision of 70 weeks. Seventy weeks are determined upon by people and upon by Holy City.
Now that phrase answers three questions. How long? Now, not 490 days. Think like you think about a dozen. A dozen is a word representing a number. The number is 12. So if I said 70 dozen years, you would think, after a little arithmetic, 840 years.
In the Hebrew 70 is used as a number, not 70. Week is used as a number. And the number that it's used to represent is 7. So if you say a week, you may be talking about 7 days. You may be talking about 7 years.
You may be talking about 7 eggs. If you were talking about 7 eggs, you'd have 7 times 7 is 49. If you were talking about 70 days or 70 weeks, you'd be talking about 490 days. But you're not talking about that.
You're talking about weeks of years. And if a week is 7, then 70 sevenths is 490 years. So the time in this vision is 490 years. And that's from the starting until the end of the vision. Now, who is also answered in that phrase?
70 weeks, that's the number, 490 years, are determined upon thy people. Now that could be all of God's people or it could be just the Jewish people, just the people of Israel. I believe from the context it's just the people of Israel because they're not going to even view everybody else.
At the time of Daniel, in order to get footing with God, you had to first become a Jew. They had a method for doing that. You had to become a Jew and then you could become into the family. So at that time, the people that he's talking about are the Israelites.
And where is also answered? Israel, thy holy city. That would be, I'm sorry I put that down twice. Thy holy city would be Jerusalem. Now I'm going to go back and read that again and get to what I really wanted to get to.
70 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 in everlasting righteousness and to seal up the vision and the prophecy and anoint the most holy.
Now I'm going to read this list again. But as we go through it this time, I want you to think about whether this item that is mentioned has happened already or is it in fact still in the future. So let's get to the first one.
To finish transgression, is transgression done? Do we still have transgression in our presence now and we'll continue to have it in the future? So we haven't finished with our transgression. What about the end to sin?
Is sin over? What about reconciliation for the iniquity? When do you think that happened? I like that. I said I think it happened then, but I'm glad to say, I'm glad that you know, I'm glad that you are, I only wanted to say I think so that you could say I know.
It happened at the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Not at His crucifixion. Lots of men were crucified, but at the resurrection. Now I'm not sure what you said. I wasn't really listening. I was so excited about you saying I know that it happened.
And when He rose again, that's the reconciliation for iniquity is done. That was in Daniel's future, but it is in our past. What about to bring in everlasting righteousness? Is everybody righteous now?
What about to seal up the vision and the prophecy? What I said was a definite maybe. We know that nowadays people don't make prophecies. They don't see visions. But sometime in the future, the prophet said that that will happen again.
So I don't know about that one. What about to anoint the Most High, the Most Holy? Has that been done yet? Let me give you a clue. It was almost done, but instead they crucified Him. It was almost done, and yet they crucified Him.
We'll get to that in just a minute, but certainly the bulk of that list is still in our future as it is also in Daniel's future. So let's go back to verse 25. Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, threescore and two weeks, and the street shall be built again, and the wall even in troublous times.
And then He says, after threescore and two weeks. I thought I'd stop here and kind of tally it up and see where we are. That's after the seven. Remember He says, know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, threescore and two weeks, and the street shall be built again, even in troublous times.
Then He says, after threescore and two weeks, that is after the seven, and the sixty-two. How many is that? Sixty-nine. There's one remaining. After that, after the threescore and two weeks, shall Messiah be cut off.
What does that mean? That's His crucifixion. One thing that the Old Testament saints did not see was the Messiah being executed. And the second thing they didn't see was the gap between the crucifixion and the final week.
They didn't know about the church. They didn't know about the gap that existed and has now existed for almost two thousand years. Paul deals with that gap in Romans 11, verse 25. If you'll go there. He doesn't identify it as the gap.
He identifies it as a mystery. For I would not, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery. The mystery is the gap. Lest you should be wise in your own conceits that blindness in part has happened to Israel.
Why? We'll see that in just a minute. Why they have blindness in part. You can say it now. Because they rejected Him after they had proclaimed Him. It is really weird. We'll do that in Luke in just a minute, but it will really be weird.
That's why. Until when? Until the fullness of the Gentiles become in. That's the church age. That's the gap. That's what they didn't see. That's the mystery of which they were not aware. They didn't see the church age, but they did see the remaining seven years.
Verse 26 says,. And so all Israel shall be saved. As it is written, There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob. Anybody got a comment or a question? Or anything to add?
I thought I saw someone trying to say something. I didn't want to shut them off or shut them out, because I think you guys are at least as well versed as I am in Scripture. Probably more so. Verse 26, back to Daniel.
I actually go back a little bit earlier. After three score 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. That's the last week. That's not the 69th week. That's the 70th week. The remaining week.
The final seven years. But I didn't recognize this until maybe this time through or maybe last time through. Those who experience that final week, if you're there to experience the final week, you won't recognize that you're in it until it's half over.
The reason you won't recognize that you're in it is because nothing really out of the ordinary, nothing specific will have taken place. There will be many bad things, but bad things happen all the time.
But the one thing that Daniel is going to say to look at and Matthew is going to say to look at is one particular event. What's that going to be? What's the particular event that will...no. The abomination of desolation.
The abomination of desolation. And what is that? That is Antichrist setting himself up in the temple as God, to be God, and to be worshiped as God. When we see that, we will know not that that seven year period has begun, but that the seven year period is half over.
We get that in the last half of this verse. I kind of cheated and stopped. And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week. And in the midst of the week, at the three and a half year mark of the seventieth week, he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease.
And for the over spreading of abomination, he shall make it desolate. That's the abomination of desolation that Miriam was talking about. Even until the consummation. And that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
And now we know for sure. Matthew said it this way in chapter 24. Chapter 24 verse 15. Let me change color. I got that in green instead of white and I didn't see it. If I ever do this again. When you therefore shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet stand in the holy place.
So what's standing in the holy place? The desolation, the abomination of desolation. Whosoever readeth let him understand. Understand what? That the seventieth week is here. And in fact it's half over.
Now in this same passage, there's another time spoken of. At the end of the 69th week. Let's go back to Daniel 9 .25 and re-read that. Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks and three score and two weeks.
That's the 69 weeks. We're going to go to the New Testament for an event that confirms that prophecy. We're going to go all the way back to Luke chapter 19 verse 29. And I'm going to read more than I probably should.
Luke 19 verse 29. This is going to be so familiar that you almost can all recite it. And if you can't recite it you can at least tell the story without leaving anything important out. And it came to pass that when he was come nigh unto Bethpage and unto Bethany at the mount called the Mount of Olives he sent two of his disciples saying go ye into the village over against you in which at your entering you shall find a colt tied whereon yet never a man sat.
Loose him and bring him hither. Let me stop here a second. All the times up before when people would tell Jesus to proclaim himself as the Messiah his answer would be no it is not yet my time. My time has not yet come.
Remember that? Many times they imposed upon him proclaim that you're the Messiah. Who could do these magical supernatural, miraculous is the word I was trying to think of. These miraculous deeds. Who could do them other than the Messiah?
Proclaim yourself the Messiah and he would say my time is not yet come. And so now 69 weeks later, 69 weeks after the beginning of Daniel's prophecy he arranges it. He sends his disciples to get the donkey.
And if any man asks you why do you loose him you say thus shall you say unto him because the Lord hath need of him. Why did the Lord need him? Because he was prophesied to ride into Jerusalem on a donkey.
A horse wouldn't do. A camel wouldn't do. A flying saucer wouldn't do. It had to be a donkey. Why did he need it? I thought about saying this because he read Daniel. And then I said no he didn't read Daniel.
He wrote Daniel. He sent the angel to Daniel to tell Daniel what to write so that the Pharisees would see it. He wrote it. He knew because it was his time. His time is now come. And so what did they do?
Because the Lord hath need of him. And they that were sent went their way and they found even as he had said unto them and as they were loosing the coat the owner thereof said unto them why loose you this coat?
And they said the Lord hath need for him. He didn't protest. He didn't say then give me my $47 or whatever the donkey is worth. They said I guess take the donkey and go. Why? They had no choice. It was destined to happen.
It was predestined to happen. It was predestined from before the time that the Lord sent the angel to Daniel to write the message about the time. It was already done. Even the donkey was predestined. And they brought him to Jesus and they cast their garments upon the coat.
And they set Jesus thereon. And as he went they spread their clothes in his way. And when he was come nigh even now at the descent of the Mount of Olives the whole multitude of the disciples, that's not just the twelve, that's everybody that's following him, began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen.
They've seen Jesus do a lot of stuff. Saying, Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest. And some of the Pharisees among the multitude said unto him, Master, rebuke thy disciples.
My question, why did they say that? Well they were. Oh, pardon me. You are totally right. The disciples were not following man's traditions and the Pharisees wanted to. I had the object misplaced. They were proclaiming him to be the Messiah.
That's what they were doing. And it was blasphemy to proclaim someone the Messiah who was not. And even though these Pharisees had seen great and wonderful things, and even though they had read Daniel, and if they had thought clearly they would know that today the Lord was coming on a donkey into Jerusalem and the people would proclaim that he was the Messiah.
They didn't see any of that. Now what did Jesus say? I thought this is so funny. And you kind of wish that they'd all shut up. And he answered and said unto them, I tell you that if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out.
Because now is the day that Jesus is proclaimed to be the Messiah. It wouldn't matter if they proclaimed him or not. He was going to be proclaimed that day. And when he had come near, I'm sorry, and when he was come near, he beheld the city and he wept over it, saying, if thou had known, if who had known, if the leaders of the church, if the Pharisees had known, even thou in this thy day, the day when the stones would have sang out if the people didn't, the things which belong to thy peace, but now they are hid from thine eyes.
What's hid from his eyes? The Messiah is hid from their eyes. From all of them? No, there's going to be some exceptions. There's a lot of Jewish people that recognize that Jesus is the Messiah. It's not hid from their eyes, but it is hid from the bulk of the church.
If thou had known, even thou, at least in this thy day, that the things which belong unto thy peace, but now they are hid from thine eyes. For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, and shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children with thee, and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another, because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.
They were supposed to know. They were given all the information to know, and they didn't know. Yes? Blinded to the Antichrist? There will be some. In fact, most of the people will follow him. I don't know that there's any Jews that will.
I kind of think that the ones that will be fooled by the Antichrist setting up himself in the temple, I think they will be Gentiles. But there will be plenty of them. I wouldn't make too much of what I think.
Okay? Yes. The only way they couldn't see it is if they were blinded to it. Yes. I think the more miraculous thing is that we do see what we see. It doesn't surprise me, all the things that we do believe.
Matthew chapter 24 verse 15 deals with this same passage, and I'm going to go back and read a little bit of that. Starting at verse 15. When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet stand in the holy place.
Whosoever readeth, let him understand. And again, we already talked about what it is they understand. Then let them which be in Judea flee unto the mountains. And let him which is on the housetop not come down to take anything out of the house.
Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. And woe be to them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days. But pray ye that your flight be not in winter, neither on the Sabbath day.
For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, nor ever shall be. And except those days be shortened, there should be no flesh saved. But for the elect's sake, those days shall be shortened.
Shortened are the how much? Shortened to three and a half years. The pre-tribulation rapture. The pre-tribulation rapture folk all think that everything happened prior to the 70 years. I just shouldn't say everything.
That the rapture happened prior to the seven years. If you believe that the great tribulation began at the three and a half year mark, you could still believe and have a pre-tribulation rapture position and have it happen three and a half years into the seven year period.
Anyone that believes has security. They don't use this verse for that. I don't believe. I don't think this is a real big pre-trib rapture belief. The one they go to most often is the one in Thessalonians.
And in Revelation in the church at Philadelphia. They think that because Philadelphia was kept from the... that they don't go through any of it. Now, frankly, I think we go through a lot of it. The mystery of the church age to which Israel was blinded is now over.
Revelation 10 .7, you don't have to go there, said, But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God shall be finished. That's the church age. As he has declared to his servants, the prophets.
What we're going to do now is go back to the beginning of the 70th week. Back to the very beginning of the 70th week. It will be a period that we will not recognize we're in until it's half over. The Antichrist will have been revealed by the midpoint.
At the midpoint, the church age will have ended. The blindness of Israel is now over. The Deliverer will soon come. God has shifted His focus back to Israel at this point. And we're going to, too. We shall return to the beginning of the 70th week.
We'll go back to the temple and we'll go on to Revelation 11, verse 1. I'm going to read it again. But before I read it, let's say this. Is there anybody that has anything to add? Okay, or questions? I can let you add, but I can answer some questions.
I think there will be. And maybe I didn't say it correctly. There is a gap about which the Israelites are blinded. They are no longer blinded. Well, that's because of my inability to explain what I'm trying to explain.
There is never a time when there's not a pathway for the elect to get to God. There's never a time when there's not Gentiles who are elect. There's never a time when there are not Jews that are elect.
But there is a time when the Gentiles are elect. That's the time I'm talking about. I'm not talking about time where you can be saved. Because we're all saved. That's right. But that's all I'm trying to say.
If I said that poorly, I apologize. Not that there is any different way of saving people. We're all saved the same way we always are. We are elect. And God tells us that we're His. And then we do as we are ordained to do.
That has never changed. It was true for Adam. It was true for Moses. It was true for Jesus, I guess. It was true for Mark, Matthew. It was true for John. It is true for me. And it's true for anybody that has ever lived that is elect.
And that church, those are all of God's people. That's why in the beginning I said, Thy people, in the context of what this passage is talking about, the people that He's talking about are the Israelites, not everybody that can be saved.
I don't know whether I got that cleaned up or not. I think that there's Gentiles after this point. And this is just me. I think there's Gentiles after this point. But I don't think there's a separate unidentifiable group.
I don't think, I think now the Israelites will be saved. The Jews will be able to see. The period of their blindness is over. If I had said that, we would have avoided all of this. If the period of their blindness, the period of their blindness is over.
That's right. That's it. That's kind of where I am. I don't think so. But it does say at the beginning, when it begins to sound. And that's the only issue that I would have. And I'm not clear on that.
And I didn't want to bring that up. We're beginning chapter 11 and we're going to see Gentiles being saved just in a couple more verses. Yeah. We go forward, but we go forward looking at it from the perspective of the temple and the Jews and things that happen with regard to them.
Daniel told us that clearly way back in the time, didn't he? We'll learn more and more and we'll see more and more clear. Closer and closer to it. Well, he was offered. Yeah, he was offered. And you can see that it's inside of one of the passages.
Yeah, but you know, there's an interesting passage that's going to come up like in about two verses that will address that. Most of us, most of us and all of us should know, all of us should know at the beginning of the seven years that now it is because the temple is being built.
But many of us won't. But we will all know for sure when he sets himself up. Okay, I want to go just a couple more verses because this is really. And there was given to me a reed like unto a rod. And the angel stood saying, Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and them that worship therein.
Now, usually, to measure something is a precursor to judgment. I'm going to skip on down because of time. And we'll come back to this. Look at verse two. But the court, which is without the temple, leave out.
What it says, cast it out, don't measure it. Don't measure the court, which is outside the temple. There are many ways of determining. People used to determine where the temple was. One of the most usual methods shows the temple of the rock, the one that Brother David is talking about, to be in the courtyard.
Now, that the when you look at the different ways, passages in the scripture where you talk about like what David was looking out, I think, or Solomon. I guess it was Solomon looking out and he could see things that you couldn't see from where the temple of the rock is, but you could see further back and that the temple of the rock was in what was the courtyard of the temple.
Now, I'm going to have to go back and. Well, not necessarily because it's in the courtyard. Yeah, it says don't measure, but the court, which is without the temple, outside of the temple. That's where Jesus came in and Luke, just right after the passage we read and cast out the money changers.
That's where they were. They were in the courtyard. That was reserved for the Gentiles. They didn't have any use for the Gentiles. They just used up their worship space to raise money, and Jesus was not at all happy with that.
This is the space reserved for the Gentiles. It says measure it not, and it tells you why not to measure it, for it's given to the Gentiles. And the holy city they shall tread underfoot for forty and two months.
That's three and a half years. They will tread the holy city underfoot for three and a half years. They will go through the temple, but they will reserve the temple because of the covenant made by the Antichrist.
They will reserve the temple itself for the Jews. The temple will have been rebuilt. I think the temple of the rock will still be there, but I may be wrong about that. But the temple will be there. The Jews will be worshiping in the temple, and the Gentiles will have control over everything.
But according to covenant, they will be allowed use of the temple to worship Jesus. No, that just means they are walking over it, walking through it. They just are. So with the first three and a half years, the temple and the altar are protected from desecration from the Gentiles.
Even though the city of Jerusalem and the outer court of the temple will be under control of the Gentiles, the Jews will control the temple. Yes. Well, His judgment is not going to come on that part. His judgment is going to come on the Jewish part.
Yes, I think so. No, to measure it means to take it. Yes, I was going to say God is focusing on what He is going to judge. And He is saying, I am going to judge the temple. Now, who is worshipping there?
The Jews. How are they worshipping? With the permission of the Antichrist, but they are worshipping the way they always worshipped. They are giving sacrifices. They are giving oblations. They are doing all the things that they used to do in the temple that they are not doing now because they don't have a temple.
They go back to doing it. And they are going to be judged for that. They still haven't had their blindness removed, but they soon will. And it says after that they will come and deliver out of Zion that will make them all to believe.
Say that again. Absolutely, because He doesn't care what religion you believe in as long as you don't believe in the true God until He gets to the point where He says, oh, I am now God. You have to believe in me.
Right now He is happy. Right now I believe Satan is happy with us believing anything we want to believe as long as it is not Jesus. But later the Antichrist is going to say, oh, I am Jesus. I am the Messiah.
You have to believe in me. And He will change the worship. And now He will make them worship in the temple, but not worship God. And not even worship the Old Testament God. Not even worship the way the Jews did, but worship Him.
That is amazing. So, actually this is not where I wanted to finish today, but this is where we will. For the first three and a half years the temple and the altar are protected from desecration from the Gentiles, even though the city of Jerusalem as well as the outer court of the temple will be under control of the Gentiles.
Within the temple, worship by Israelites will be tolerated. However, during the second three and a half years, the entire temple will be desecrated. And the only worship that will be allowed will be the worship of the Antichrist.
And in fact, that worship will be required at the penalty of death. Now, not everybody that refuses to worship Him will be killed, but most of them will be. And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand, two hundred, and three-square day clothed in sackcloth.
That's also three and a half years. That's the two that can't be killed until the three and a half years is over. He only gives them that invincibility for three and a half years. He gives them that power for three and a half years, for one thousand, two hundred, and sixty days.
That's three and a half years. Well, I don't want to go any further, but I'm going to come back and pick this up at this point, and we'll go forth from here. Most gracious Heavenly Father, I thank You for this day, and thank You for all of our many blessings.
Bless us and keep us and protect us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.