Adult Sunday School - Daniel 9:24 to 27 Messiah

Let's pray. Well, Father, we do come before you thankful for today's arrangement.

We ask, Lord, that your favor, your blessing would be upon your people as we endeavor to open your word to learn more about your prophetic word.

And we pray, Father, that you'd grant us clarity and truth in all these things. In Jesus' name, amen.

Well, I decided I was, before we do our teaching on that, that are gonna be handed to you at the end of the class, we're gonna start this book, but it doesn't make sense to start it today because you guys don't have it yet.

So by the end of today, you'll have a copy. And then what we'll ask is that you read the first chapter.

And then next week, we will start delving into this book. But in the meantime, for today,

I decided I'm gonna teach you on one of the most important prophecies in the Bible. And the reason is because last week, we talked about the

Pope as the Antichrist. And that's a very prophetic subject. And it dealt a lot with the book of Daniel.

But there's another prophecy in Daniel that I wanna bring to light to you that I think would help you understand prophecy overall a lot better.

And this is a text which is often conflated within Christianity and Christian circles with the

Antichrist. And I'm actually gonna make the argument that it has nothing, it doesn't really have to do with the Antichrist, although it is very popular to say that this is a text concerning the

Antichrist. But I'm going to demonstrate to you from Scripture that that's not the case. And so the subject today is

Daniel chapter nine, starting verse 24. So let's go there to become acquainted with that particular prophecy.

So let's become acquainted with this prophecy in Daniel chapter nine, starting in verse 24.

And once we read this, I'm gonna give to you kind of the mainline denomination interpretation of this text, how most

Christians in America view this text. And then I'll propose to you a different interpretation.

Starting in verse 24, 70 weeks were decreed about your people in your holy city to finish transgressions, to put an end to sin, to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness to seal both vision and profit and to anoint a most holy place.

Know, therefore, and understand that from the going out of the word to restore and rebuild 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.

All right, that's kind of a interesting topic, interesting prophecy, and you might be wondering, okay, what the heck did

I just read? What is this all about? A lot of jargon there, a lot of dates, a lot of weeks. What does this all mean?

And I'm actually gonna propose to you, this is actually a really simple prophecy. Unfortunately, though, the reason why this is often complicated is because of what

I believe to be erroneous interpretations concerning this week, or this prophecy of how many weeks?

70. 70 weeks. Now, in the Bible, there is a prophetic rule that we get from the book of Numbers.

I think it's Numbers chapter 23, and I don't have the reference for you here. But, and everyone typically agrees with this interpretation that when the

Bible speaks prophetically of days, it usually means a day represents what?

One year, okay? And I would agree with that, and I would say that most prophecies use that prophetic scheme, a day for a year.

And so, 70 weeks means there's seven days in a week.

How many days does that bring us? Anyone can do math on their feet? 490 days.

Which would be 490 years. So when you hear 70 weeks, think 490 years.

Now, one week would equal how many years? Seven years. Most Christians would agree with that.

Now, where most Christians, and particularly within what's called premillennialism, which is an eschatological view of the future that says it'll be a literal thousand years, and within premillennialism, there is also dispensationalism, which is where this view is very prevalent.

Dispensationalism teaches that there's gonna be a seven -year tribulation period. Has anyone ever heard of that scheme before?

So most premillennialists say that the Bible says there's gonna be a seven -year end time period.

You know where they get that from? That's right.

They get it from this verse of Scripture, from this prophecy, because there's a particularly, the last week that's mentioned, the last verses of this prophecy, talks about one week in particular, and they say, well, that hasn't happened yet.

So what they do is they take the last, basically, they take the 69 weeks, and they say, oh, that all happens consecutively, one year after another, but the last week doesn't happen until the very end of human history.

So what they do, do we have more of those? Do I need to print more? Okay, that should be good.

So what they do is they say this last week, this last prophetic week is not consecutive with the rest of the

Scripture, rest of the prophecy, but rather it is for another time, somewhere off in the future.

That is the prevalent dominant view within American evangelicalism concerning this prophecy.

When you hear people say seven -year end time period, this is where they're getting it from.

You know that this doesn't show up anywhere else in Scripture in terms of an end time scheme.

You won't find it. This is the proof text for that view. I would submit to you that there isn't any reason to cut off the last week of Daniel 7 and push it off to the future.

I would say there's no biblical precedent for that. Anytime that the Bible mentions a prophecy like this, it is always consecutive.

It is not, there's no hermeneutical exegetical excuse for someone to look at this and cut off the last week of Daniel's prophecy and put it somewhere in the future.

So those of you who are just coming in, we're going through Daniel chapter nine, verses 24 and 27. We're talking about the 70 -week prophecy.

And next week we'll be going into our new book and our subject on baptism. But I decided to take a little detour this week to teach you on this issue of prophecy.

Yeah. Yeah, the

Schofield Study Bible. So the Schofield was a scholar, late 1800s, and he basically popularized the first major study

Bible. And it's called the Schofield Study Bible. It was with the King James. So he took the

King James Authorized Version and he added notes to that. It was basically the first, one of the first English study

Bibles that were popularized. Now the Geneva Bible, if you know anything about Bible translations, the

Geneva Bible actually had notes as well. So the English translators put notes into the

Geneva Bible as well. And so if you, I have an old leaflet of a Geneva Bible from 1599, okay?

And you'll see that there's notes on the side from the translators. So that was essentially a study

Bible. But the Schofield Study Bible really popularized the idea of study Bibles. And Schofield was a dispensationalist.

And so he believed in seven dispensations. And then he also taught that the 70 -week prophecy is cut at the week 69 and then you put it to the future.

But I would say, again, there's no reason to do that. There's no reason, there's no exegetical reason we should even consider that other than to appease a certain interpretation of this prophecy.

So are we all kind of following? I know it's a little bit complicated, but I'm gonna try to simplify it for us, okay?

Any thoughts or questions before we move on? Yes. Yes, so the last week would be seven years.

Remember, day signifies a year, okay? So you have seven days in a week.

One week equals seven years. 70 weeks, 490 years, okay? So we'll flesh this out.

But let's look particularly in verse 24 and 25 for a moment. So again, it says, 70 weeks are decreed about your people.

So this is the whole time frame here is 70 weeks. And the 70 weeks are decreed about your people in your holy city to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place, okay?

So I want you to write this in the first part of your notes. The 70 weeks center around what city? Jerusalem.

Now, how would we know this? So the holy city is usually a reference to what?

Jerusalem, Zion. Now, that's not enough for you. Look at verse 25. Know therefore and understand that from the going out of the world to restore and build what city?

Jerusalem. To the coming of anointed one, a prince, there shall be seven weeks, all right? So we know that the 70 weeks center around Jerusalem, and in particular, the

Jewish people, okay? Again, we see this in regard to the language that's used here, 70 weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city, okay?

Your people being the Jewish people coming back from exile out of Babylon. Remember the context.

Daniel's writing this in exile in Babylon, right? So he's writing this in Babylon.

They haven't yet gone back to the land, and so Daniel's receiving a prophecy concerning the future of Jerusalem, okay?

And so there you have, again, the 70 weeks will center around Jerusalem and the

Jewish people. Why don't you write that in the first part of the notes? Now, this prophecy has four major objectives, and we're gonna look at a lot of scriptures here, because my view on Daniel chapter nine, verse 24 to 27, is that this prophecy has actually been fulfilled totally, with one little caveat, okay?

That this prophecy, the 70 weeks have come. They've been concluded. So we're not waiting for a future one -week period of time in the future.

I would say that from the beginning of the 70 weeks all the way to the conclusion, it brings you to the fulfillment of the prophecy in the gospel going forth to the

Gentiles through Paul's ministry, which concludes, the prophecy would conclude if you just let it go from the beginning to the end, it actually concludes in the year 35

AD, which is the year that Paul became an apostle to the nations, and the gospel message began to go forward into the world, okay?

And so I will demonstrate to you that that's the case, and we're gonna examine the verses, because there's four major things or objectives that this prophecy concludes with, okay?

So the first one is in verse 24. 70 weeks are decreed about your people and your holy cities, so the subject is

Jerusalem, the Jewish people, to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and profit, and to anoint a most holy place, okay?

Focus real quick on that first part, to finish the transgression. This is a statement of judgment,

I don't have too much scripture notes to delve deeper into this aspect, because that's not the main objective, but in the

Bible, you'll see time and time again when God's bringing a judgment upon a people, whether it's Sodom, whether it's

Babylon, whether it's Persia, whether it's Jerusalem, he talks about the transgression of a people, particularly with the

Canaanites as well, which is why the Jews had to go, the Israelites had to go to Egypt, was because their transgression had not come to full fruition, right?

So God allows a people to build up transgression, and then he brings upon judgment, right?

So their transgressions have not been concluded yet, they have not come to full fruition where his judgment is now a necessary thing.

And so I would say that the first part of this, the finish of transgression is the transgression of the

Jewish people, okay? So the sins of the Jewish people were still culminating, they were still building up, so that God would then again bring judgment upon the people.

That's right, that's right, that's right. And what translation is that? The CSB?

Yeah, yeah, so that's a good translation as well. And so, you know, and it has the same connotation that we're talking about here in this context.

But the four main things that this, the objective of this prophecy is, the first is atonement for sin.

We see that when it says put an end to sin and to atone for iniquity, right? So the objective, what we see at the conclusion of the 70 weeks is an atonement for sin, okay?

Did an atonement for sin come already? How so? Through Jesus, through his cross, through his sacrificial work, through his ministry as our high priest, the atonement for sin has in fact been made.

It also says, ushering in of what? Everlasting righteousness.

I want you to put that in notes. So again, the first is atonement for sin. Second is the ushering in of righteous, of everlasting righteousness.

I want you to keep your finger in Daniel nine. I want you to toss to Romans chapter one.

Starting in verse 16, a very popular verse. The apostle

Paul says in Romans 116, he says, for I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the

Jew first and also to the Greek, for in it, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith.

As it is written, the righteous shall live by faith. So what is coming to the world?

Righteousness through what? Through the faith in what? In the gospel of Jesus, right?

And so has everlasting righteousness been brought forth? Paul says yes.

Paul says it's through the gospel and it's this righteousness that comes, that's revealed by faith.

So that certainly has come to fruition. The third is the conclusion of prophecy.

Back in Daniel nine, it says to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet.

To seal both vision and prophet. So what we see here in the text is that there is a conclusion, there's a sealing of vision and prophecy, which basically means that there will be no more new prophecy, there will be no more new things to talk about other than the ministry of this prince, this messiah who is to come.

And so this has to conclude with this sealing of vision and prophecy.

So does the Bible say that in the ministry of Jesus that's concluded, that that's what's happening?

I want you to turn to Matthew chapter 11. Matthew chapter 11.

And verse 13. It says, for all the prophets in the law prophesied until John, and if you are willing to accept it, he is

Elijah who is to come. So what does it say? All the prophets in the law prophesied until when? Until John.

Meaning that Jesus is the conclusion of prophecy. He is the seal of prophets.

One of the great titles of the so -called prophet of Muhammad of Islam is that he is the seal of the prophets, and they say that Jesus prophesied of the prophet

Muhammad in places like John 14, John 16, where it says the comforter will come, the helper will come, instead of that being the

Holy Spirit as the scripture teaches. Islam teaches that it is Muhammad that was being prophesied and that Muhammad is the seal of the prophets.

Yet that would contradict what is clearly in scripture that Jesus is actually the seal of the prophets, that he is the last prophet essentially of God's people, which is why

Hebrews chapter one could say that God spoke to us by various means in the Old Testament through prophets, but has spoken to us in these last days by means of his son, right?

So Jesus is the last prophet of God's people. We don't need any more prophets, which is also why we should reject modern -day prophets, whether it be from the

LDS church, whether it be from evangelicals or charismatics who say that they have the gift of prophecy and they're prophesying all these things.

Jesus is truly the last prophet of God's people, and so we need not look anywhere else for the spirit of prophecy, as Revelation 12 says, that Jesus is the one who inspires the spirit of prophecy.

And so we see from scripture that Jesus indeed does seal both vision and prophecy.

And so again, the conclusion of prophecy. Now, Daniel chapter nine also says there's one more thing that has to happen by these 70 weeks, and it says, and to anoint a most holy place, to anoint a most holy place.

Now again, dispensationalists and many premillennialists would say, well, this has to do with the future temple, that there's gonna be a third temple, and that Jesus is gonna come and he's gonna consecrate and he's gonna anoint this literal third temple.

But what does the Bible say about the future anointing of a holy place? I want you to turn to Hebrews chapter nine.

Hebrews chapter nine, starting in verse, I believe, eight. Actually, let's go to Hebrews chapter nine, verse 11.

Hebrews 9, 11 says, but when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent, not made of hands, that is not of this creation, he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and cows, but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.

Did Jesus enter the holy of holies? Did he enter the most holy place? Did he consecrate it?

By what? By his own blood. So is the holy place right now consecrated, set apart?

Yes, it is. And so again, the prophecy concludes with the anointing of a holy place.

Has that occurred? The Bible says yes. And there's so many other verses in the book of Hebrews that would indicate that as well.

But this is just a strong one. Pastor? Well, I think it's very pervasive in their thoughts and in their interpretations here.

Yeah. Oh yeah, yeah. There's so much. The language just hearkens back to that so strongly that it'd be amazing if they weren't keeping this text in mind from Daniel.

That's right. And that's why when Jesus died, he says it's finished, the veil in the curtain of the holies of holies is torn, signifying that there's now,

Hebrews says there's now a new and a better way, right? So the touring of the old tent, the old tabernacle, was a signifying of the new and better way that was through his body, his veil, the veil of his body, and entering through his shed blood into this new holies of holies.

It's that we now enter into these holies of holies by faith in Jesus Christ. And so this is, yeah, this is clearly fulfilled, isn't it?

Okay? So we don't have to look to some future third temple. We don't have to look to some future events.

We can actually look at Daniel's prophecy and say, wow, prophecy has been fulfilled.

And we can rejoice in this as evidence of biblical prophecy being fulfilled. Now let's go a little bit deeper, back in Daniel chapter nine.

Let's examine some of the timeline, the timeframe that is being spoken of and mentioned here. So in Daniel chapter nine, and in verse 25, it says, no, therefore understand that from the going out of the word to restore and build

Jerusalem, to the coming of anointed one, a prince, there shall be seven weeks. Then for 62 weeks, it shall be built again with squares and moats, but in a troubled time.

Okay, so let's break this down a little bit. The seven weeks, or 49 years,

I want you to write that in the notes. The seven weeks, or 49 years, the creed to rebuild

Jerusalem was from the year 457 BC. Now how do we know this?

We know this from Nehemiah and Ezra, that's right. So remember when

Daniel's writing this, he's writing this under the dominion of what kingdom? Nope, Babylon.

Babylon and Persia were both kind of rivaling powers at this time, right? And so it was the

Median Persian Empire that actually destroyed the 10 northern tribes of Israel.

But then it was Babylon that destroyed the Judah, you know, the temple, and exiled the

Jews, which is where we get the term Jews, because they are from Judah, or they're

Judean. And so the Jews went to exile in Babylon. The northern tribes were lost, dispersed, and they haven't been regathered.

Most people who are, people who would consider themselves

Jewish today consider themselves Judean, as people who descended from those in Babylonian captivity.

So we have this timeline that begins to emerge. There's 49 years, and that begins in 457.

We're not gonna, because of time, we're not gonna be able to read all the verses. But Daniel is pointing to a future edict that's gonna come from a future king, not from Babylon.

Isaiah 45 says that God has anointed his servant Cyrus to do this, to do about this work.

Now, this is fascinating, because Isaiah's writing far before Cyrus was even king, and before he was on this earth.

And this is of interest, because look at how specific bioprophecy is. You know, you guys ever heard of Nostradamus?

No? Nostradamus was supposedly a prophet from the Middle Ages, I think maybe the 1100s or 1200s, something around, somewhere around there.

And he has a whole bunch of books about the future, and people look at him and say, wow, this guy was truly a prophet.

You know why they say he was truly a prophet? Because they believe that he spoke concerning the rise of Nazi Germany.

He says that there'll be a man that will rise from Germany named Hister. And Hister sounds a lot like Hitler.

But that's not impressive at all. Look at bioprophecy, how specific Isaiah is when he says

God has anointed his servant Cyrus to bring about the end of the exile of the Jewish people.

And what happens in history is that you have Babylon, this great empire, falls suddenly to the hands of King Cyrus, who was the king of the

Middle Persian Empire. And so what happens is that, in the Bible prophecy, Daniel actually predicts this perfectly, like to a

T. Talks about how the rivers of the Euphrates would be dried because Babylon was centered around the

Euphrates River in modern -day Iraq. And it says that the waters would be diverted, the waters would, where the river would protect the city, those waters would be dried up, and that it would allow the city to be captured by the

Middle Persian Empire, which is exactly what happens in history. What happens, interestingly enough, in history is that the

Babylonians were celebrating one of their pagan festivals, and they all got drunk, even those who were in the, you know, protecting the city.

Everyone got so drunk. And what King Cyrus did is that he actually diverted the waters of the

Euphrates, so allowed the riverbed to become dry, and then they literally marched right over, and when they got to the city walls, because Babylon was a city -state, and it was protected by these huge walls, they literally went through the front door, and there was no one guarding it.

No one was guarding it. And they walked right in, and they just took over. And that's exactly what the book of Daniel prophesizes concerning those events.

And so again, we can look at the book of Daniel and say, wow, this is Bible prophecy fulfilled. And we can trust the validity of the

Bible because of such prophecies, because we can see what it prophesied, and then we can look at history and see what actually happened, and it's one and the same.

And so I would submit to that the 70 -week prophecy is the same deal. We're looking at, we can look at it, and look at history and say, wow,

Bible prophecy has been fulfilled. And what's neat about this is, again, Daniel's writing before the rise of the

Middle Persian Empire in destroying the kingdom of Babylon. He's writing before the

Messiah. He's writing before the first century. So we can look at this and trust in Bible prophecy.

So the seven weeks is 49 years. So the decree to rebuild

Jerusalem was from 457 B .C. to 408 B .C.,

which corresponds to the time in which King Cyrus, in Ezra chapter one, and in Ezra chapter four, decrees the

Jews to return back to the homeland and to rebuild the temple, okay?

And the scripture references are free, are there for you to read in your free time. And in Ezra chapter four, verses one to six in particular, says that there was much opposition to the rebuilding of the

Jewish temple, which is why it says in Daniel chapter nine that then for 62 weeks it shall be built again with squares and moat, but in a troubled time.

There was much opposition to the building of the temple, so much so that even by the time that you get to the time of Jesus in the

New Testament, the temple's still being constructed, okay? The temple's still under construction.

Matter of fact, it wasn't until around the year 65 or 67 that the temple,

Herod's temple, was actually completely renovated and built, and then it was destroyed three years later, okay?

And so even in the time of Jesus, when Jesus is walking around the temple complex, it's still under renovation, it's still being built, it's still being worked on.

And this is exactly the time frame that the Bible gives us. It is how many weeks?

So it's seven weeks plus 62 weeks. And this corresponds beautifully with what the

Bible gives us as a timeline. Now, the 62 weeks, so we all got the last part, 70 weeks, 49 years, and the

Creator who built Jerusalem was from 457 to 408 BC in troubled times. We all got that, right?

Any questions so far? The fourth objective is the anointing of a holy place.

Let's move on to the next part. The 62 weeks, or 434 years, so 62 weeks mean 434 years, reveals the coming of the anointed prince.

Okay, notice again what the prophecy says. In verse 25, know therefore and understand that from the growing out of the world to restore and build

Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one. In the Hebrew, the word anointed one, mashiach means

Messiah, or the literal translation is anointed one, one who is anointed.

And this is clearly pointing to the Messiah, the anointed one. And he's called not only the anointed one, but he's called a prince.

That's important for later on in the text. And so he is the anointed prince. He is the anointed

Messiah. And there should be seven weeks. Then for 62 weeks, it should be built again with squares and moat, but in a troubled time, okay?

So you have the seven weeks, and you have this 62 weeks bringing us to 69 weeks, okay?

And so the 62 weeks, 434 years, reveals the coming of the anointed prince.

And it actually brings us, the seven weeks plus to the 62 weeks, brings us to the year 27

AD, okay? Now most of you, some of you may know that Jesus was born not on 1

AD, but was likely born somewhere between four or two BC, okay?

And the reason is because when, you know, when we use the Gregorian calendar, you know, they didn't account for certain things.

And so the timing is off by like, you know, two to four years, okay? Yeah, well, yeah.

Well, he probably, I might teach on that because it's actually really interesting.

I, probably may be a good reason why Jesus maybe was born on December 25th, but that's a teaching for another day.

But I would say what's so fascinating about this, guys, is that it brings us right around the time of Jesus's baptism, 27

AD to 29 AD, okay? So give or take one or two years because of the calendar not adjusting for certain things when it was originally made.

So it brings us right to the beginning of Jesus's ministry when he was baptized by John the

Baptist. And when he was baptized by John the Baptist, what appeared? Spirit of God demonstrating the anointing of the prince, okay?

So King David was chosen as a little boy to become king. The prophet came to him, anointed him, and he was the promised king that was to rule over Israel.

The Bible prophesizes of a future David, and this future David also has to be baptized by a prophet, this prophet being

John the Baptist. John the Baptist comes, baptizes Christ, and this is a symbol of his anointing.

This is a symbol of him now being chosen as the king of Israel and as the king of the nations, right?

And so it corresponds beautifully with the narrative of the Gospels. So Jesus comes on the scene around 27

AD, baptized by John the Baptist. The anointed prince is now on the scene. That's right.

Yeah, and so Jesus is baptized likely around the age of 30, and so this corresponds with the duties of a little biblical priest and their intercessory work.

Any questions so far? Right, so we're getting this. We're on the same page so far.

So again, just in case you didn't get it already, the 62 weeks, or 434 years, reveals the coming of the anointed prince, which brings us to the year 27

AD. Okay, it's the 62 weeks plus the seven weeks that brings us to the conclusion of 69 weeks, and that's 27

AD. Now, this is where it gets interesting. Verse 26.

And after the 62 weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off and 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 be put to death.

He shall be put in end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abomination shall come the one who makes desolate until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator.

All right, very interesting. Most evangelicals say that verse 26 and 27 is concerning the

Antichrist. And the way they get there is because, again, one of the unfortunate things of interpretation is that oftentimes when we approach the

Bible, we approach it with our preconceived notions, right? So we approach it with kind of our mindset.

And we put our template over the Bible. That's called exegesis, okay? We like to read into instead of pulling out, exegesis.

And many folks have gone into the Bible, and they said, well, here's what I believe. Here's my conviction.

There's gonna be a third temple. There's gonna be a future Antichrist. And they lay that on top of this text, and they say, well, here it is.

Here's the proof. You've got this prince that's gonna come. He's gonna make a covenant with many. In the middle of that covenant, in the middle of that week, he's gonna break it.

And so you probably, if you read like Tim LaHaye, if you've read John Hagee, if you've read some other dispensationalist works, the way that they put it on is they say, well, there's gonna be this last prophetic week of Daniel is seven years, gonna be a seven -year tribulation, okay?

And the seven -year tribulation's gonna go out somewhere like this, depending on whether you're pre -trib, mid -trib, post -trib.

You're gonna have either the rapture at the beginning of the seven years, so the church is taken, or it's gonna be in the middle of the tribulation, mid -trib, the church will be taken, or it'll be at the end of the tribulation, church goes up with Christ.

But you have a rapture somewhere in there, and what you have is the rise of the

Antichrist in those seven years. So the seven year, there's gonna be an Antichrist who's gonna make peace in Jerusalem, he's going to make a covenant, an agreement with them for seven years, and he's gonna break it in the middle of the week, okay?

And that's when all hell breaks loose, okay? And that's when it gets really bad, and so some people think that at that point is when the rapture happens, it's called the mid -trib view.

And then you have basically hell on earth. That's the premise of the

Left Behind series, and they'd use this text as their proof text. What I just described to you is not in the text.

That view of dispensationalism, that view of a mid, is there a rapture mentioned here? Is there an

Antichrist mentioned here? Is there a sensational, obviously it says decrees desolation and wars, but is there hell on earth necessarily here?

No. That view is not biblical. I think that that view is erroneous for many reasons, but one, because it doesn't comport with the rest of this prophecy.

So in order to make that even viable, you gotta take that last week, cut it off, and say this hasn't happened yet.

Let's put it somewhere in the future. Why? What hermeneutic, what exegetical tool do you have that gives you the right to remove that prophecy and put it somewhere else other than where Scripture puts it, which is congruent with the rest of the prophetic weeks?

There's no principle in Scripture that I'm aware of that allows us to do that with any other

Scripture or with any other prophecy. I'm not aware of any. But it has to be that way for dispensationalists to make this work with their scheme, with their end time view.

And it's just foreign to the Scriptures. The hermeneutical principles that are implored to use to even make that possible, it's just totally foreign to the

Bible. And so there's no reason, exegetically, hermeneutically, to cut off this last week and put it somewhere else in the future other than to make it fit your theological view.

Any questions on that so far? Yes, Emmanuel? So at the 69 week, somewhere in there, the

Messiah's gonna be killed. Messiah will be cut off. And that's the crucifixion, right?

So you have the crucifixion in that period of time. Okay, so that's very important.

And again, what is the anointed one called? He's called, well, prince.

In this text, he's called the prince. And it says, and the people of the prince who is to come, that's what they, dispensationalists say, this is the

Antichrist. The prince who is to come is the Antichrist, according to their view.

And the reason they say that is because he shall come and destroy the city and the sanctuary. Well, that sounds like something the Antichrist would do. No, it's what

Jehovah said he would do. It's what Yahweh said he would do. It's what the God of Scripture said he would do.

He would destroy the city. When the city was destroyed by the Babylonians, who really destroyed the city?

God did. God, in Isaiah 13, prophesizes saying he's gonna use Babylon as his tool to destroy the covenant breakers.

So it was truly Yahweh who destroyed the city the first time and he'll be the one to destroy it the second time as well.

So the prince here who shall come and destroy the city and the sanctuary is the

Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus prophesizes that he would be the one to destroy the city, that he would be the one to destroy

Jerusalem. Matthew chapter 23, Matthew chapter 24, Luke chapter 21,

Jesus is the one who destroys the city by means of the Romans. And he certainly did.

He certainly did, yes. That is the

Gentiles. And so that is a picture of now, this is important because what you find at the conclusion of the 70 weeks, we get to the year 35.

And that's when Paul is chosen as an apostle to the nations and he brings the gospel to the

Gentiles. And so the people, the prince that is to come are the Gentile people,

Gentile believers. Now it doesn't mean necessarily, this could also just simply mean how

God has used the term other places like Isaiah 13, Isaiah 45 where he uses the

Babylon, the Babylonians and the Persians and he calls them my servant, my people as a means to demonstrate that he's the one behind the eventual destruction of the city.

And so this could be used in that colloquial term as well to be understood in the same way that the people, the prince to come, that is

God using the Romans as a means for the destruction of the Jewish people and of the temple.

So that would be probably the best interpretation of that text. But again, the dispensationalists would say that this is referring to, again, the

Antichrist and the people and this is the army of the Antichrist that's gonna come and try to destroy the city and the sanctuary.

So that begs the question though, in this end time framework of dispensationalism you have the rebuilding of a temple and they put a lot of emphasis on the third temple.

Well, if there is that third temple, then there's gonna have to be a fourth temple. Why? Because this temple is destroyed, right?

According to the prophecy, shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The city and the temple shall be destroyed.

Again, I would say this is fulfilled in the first century. Dispensationalists say, well no, we take that last week and we put it somewhere in the future, okay?

Because they have to have that third temple. They have to have that framework in order to make it fit their theological framework.

And what's interesting is it says, desolations are decreed. I want you to keep your finger, turn to Matthew 24, the

Olivet Discourse, starting in verse 14.

It says in Matthew 24, 14, in this gospel the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all the nations and then the end will come.

So again, we see that the gospel has to go forward to the nations, to the Gentiles, okay? And then it says, so when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet

Daniel standing in the holy place, let the reader understand. So he's quoting back from Daniel 9.

He's actually quoting from Daniel 10 and 11 as well where it talks more in depth about this issue of desolation.

But we see that language again in Daniel 9, verse 27.

Desolations are decreed. So he's talking about the same event here. The desolations that were decreed in Daniel, the desolations that Jesus is talking about now in Matthew 24.

He says, when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel standing in the holy place, let the reader discern.

Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let the one who is in the housetop now go down to take what is in his house.

Let the one who is in the field now turn back to take his cloak. And alas, for the women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days, pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a

Sabbath. For then there will be great tribulation. Such has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be.

And if those days would not be cut short, no human being would be saved. For the sake of the elect, those days will be cut short.

And so the desolation that Daniel speaks of is what we're reading of in Daniel 9. And so this is again pointing to the destruction of the temple, the destruction of the

Jewish people in that generation. And I think actually Luke's account of this is actually even clearer.

So I want you to turn to Luke chapter 21. You had a question, Emmanuel? My, I would say yes.

I would say yes. And I can go deeper into that later if we have the time.

But notice again how Luke's gospel accounts for this.

And again, this is all prefaced in both Matthew 24 and in Luke 21 with the destruction of the temple.

He says, you see this beautiful structure? Not one stone will be left on top of another, Jesus says. But he says in Luke 21, verse 20.

But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near. This is the desolation that's been decreed in Daniel.

Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let those who are inside the city depart. Let not those who are in the country enter it.

For these are the days of vengeance to fulfill all that is written. So when does

Jesus say this great tribulation event happens? Happens in the destruction of the Jewish temple.

This is what he is alluding to. This is what he's referring to. Alas for women who are pregnant and for those nursing infants in those days, for there will be great distress upon the earth and wrath against this people.

They will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive among all nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the

Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. What does Daniel say? The people, the prince to come will desolate the city.

Who are the people that Jesus is mentioning here? The Gentiles, okay? Pretty clear.

So again, my view would say that this great tribulation event is fulfilled in the 70 AD event, particularly in the beginning of the siege starting in the year 67

AD. The siege actually happens for three and a half years, which is exactly what

Revelation says would happen. And I would say Revelation is prophecy concerning that destruction of the

Jewish people in the state. And so I would put Revelation being written far before the year 70.

I would have it somewhere in the early to mid 60s as authorship, yeah.

Well, no, yes, but it's actually referring to also a particular event that happened that led to the siege of Jerusalem in the first place, which is,

I forget what it was. I think it was that the Romans came and during a high festival of the

Jewish people, they put, there was a lot of rebellion that was happening this time. And so the

Romans came as a sign of insult and they sacrificed a pig on the altar, which was, this is the worst thing you can do.

You are desecrating the temple. You are desecrating the holy place because a pig sacrifice is unclean.

Yes. Yes. That's right.

And actually, I think they actually put in a statue of Jupiter in the temple.

And so that too would have been considered probably the abomination of desolation. So it was a false god, a false worship, a false sacrifice that was being put in the temple.

This is a sure sign of desolation, a sure sign that its destruction was near. And so Jesus says, when you see these things happening, you gotta get out of town, okay?

Yeah. Now I would say it happens before the siege.

So I know that there's two events in the first century. One is the pig sacrifice and one is the putting, the erecting of Jupiter in the temple.

And I can't, I don't remember which one is which, but one of those two certainly are the prophecy is fulfilled in those events.

Yeah. And so before the siege is the revolt, right?

Because they see this and the Jewish people revolted and this was a huge deal. And so they revolted, which is exactly, again, what

Daniel starts off by saying, it'll be a time of rebellion. And so they revolt against the Romans and it comes to their destruction three and a half years later with the siege and destruction of Jerusalem in the year 70

AD. Yeah, Daniel? So that's a great question.

I would say based upon that last verse in Luke 21, verse 24 and also in Luke and Daniel chapter nine, desolations are decreed until the end.

It says in verse 24, they will fall, this is the Jewish people, Jerusalem, by the edge of the sword and be led captive among all nations and Jerusalem be trampled underfoot by the

Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. So this trampling, this desolation continues throughout history and every epoch and every king, under every kingdom, this trampling upon the

Jewish people, this trampling upon, you know, the beast is riding, okay? The Bible refers to nations as beasts.

So you're always gonna have these beasts, you're always gonna have this trampling. This is gonna reoccur until the end of the age and that's what

Daniel means by that when he says desolations are decreed until the end. So this event that is literally fulfilled in 70

AD, the spirit of this event continues on until Jesus comes back. And so I would say, yeah, there's no room for a more optimistic view such as in post -millennialism where they say, well, things are just gonna get better and better.

No, the Bible seems to be pretty clear that things are always gonna be bad to some degree until Christ returns.

Yeah. Go for it. Well, there's a literalness to that which

I think we're probably seeing today. You know, is Israel today as a state still being trampled on?

I would say yes. The conflicts that are happening there are very much indication of that. And this brings up a fair question.

To what degree does modern -day Israel play in prophecy? Most amillennialists would say zip, zero, none.

I don't agree with that. I think that Israel in its modern -day context does play a role prophetically in scripture but not to the degree in which most premillennialists would say.

Yeah, that's an interesting question.

I would say that there is, I think Israel is still a part of prophecy.

And I think that that's clear from the text here. There is a Gentile times that needs to be fulfilled. And it does seem to indicate in Romans 11 that there will be some sort of revival amongst the

Jewish people at the end of the age. And so I think that's maybe the only thing that we're awaiting to happen for the coming of Christ.

No, I think we're still in the Gentile times, yeah. And that's evident because Paul says in Romans 11 that the inclusion of the

Gentiles is to incite Israel to jealousy. And so it's in our salvation that it incites them so that it seems to indicate there'll be a time of revival within the

Jewish people, which is the view of many Puritans, Charles Spurgeon, others.

But I would also, I would not say that the Jewish people today are God's covenant people, but rather that he will turn, just as he's turned his attention to the

Gentiles, he's turning, since the time of Paul, even today, he's turned his attention towards Gentiles. He will then again turn his attention towards the

Jewish people and lead them to revival, hopefully, that's the way I understand it. That's the way

I understand it. And so I still think that Israel plays a role in the prophetic scheme of history, yeah.

That's right. You didn't mean the tree part of the temple? No. So that's why I said last week, the Temple Mount is not the

Temple Mount. It's, that's the ruins of the Fort of Antonio. If they were to build a third temple on it, it'd be a laughingstock to God because it's not even the spot of the original temple.

Yeah, Josephus writes pretty conclusively that there was not even a hint of the temple, which is why

Jesus is correct in his prophecy when he says not one stone be left on top of another. If you have a whole wailing western wall, then that makes no void the prophecies of Jesus.

So yeah, I don't believe in a third temple. I think that the temple, as we examined last week, is a reference to the church, the people of God, and the temple that was destroyed in Daniel 9 or that's prophesied is the temple that was destroyed in the year 70

AD. And so desolations are decreed until the end. So boy, we're running out of time here, but I wanna get this real quick.

So the last week, the seven years, the Messiah will be cut off, why don't you write down the notes, and a new covenant will be made.

Now notice the nature of this new covenant. It says in verse 27 of Daniel 9, he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week.

And for half of the week, he should put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abomination shall come the one who makes desolate until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator.

Again, a lot of people think this is the Antichrist. He makes a deal with Israel for a year, then he cuts that deal, he breaks that deal in the middle of the week.

Is that what this is saying? No, I don't think so, not at all.

It doesn't say that the covenant is even gonna be broken. It doesn't even say that, they're assuming that, because again, it works into their framework.

But it says that he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week, he should put an end to sacrifice.

So what does this mean? So there's seven years, okay? In the middle of it, it says of this week, he's cut off.

Okay, so that would be around the year 33, 31, 33, which is exactly when

Jesus dies, okay? Next three and a half years leads us to the year about 35

AD, 36 AD, which is when Paul is chosen as an apostle to the nations. Okay, all right?

And what has to happen here is that, again, the Messiah will be cut off.

There's gonna be a new covenant. What did Jesus establish before his death? A new covenant, okay?

And it's a strong covenant, it's not one to be broken. Not a weak covenant that's broken in the middle of it. There's no mention of a breaking of the covenant here.

But rather, it's a strong covenant. It's not one that's easily broken. And I think this is a reference to the new covenant that Jesus established in his blood.

And he will put an end to sacrifices. The new covenant puts an end to the sacrificial system.

How do we know this? Let's go to Hebrews chapter eight for a moment. Hebrews chapter eight, verse 13.

In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.

Now again, this is excellent proof as to why Hebrews was written before the destruction of the temple. Most people would say that Hebrews was written somewhere around post 70

AD. Impossible, the internal witness of the scripture cannot be broken. Paul wrote this and he wrote it before the destruction of the temple.

And Paul died before the destruction of the temple. Paul died around the year 64 AD. So, and then more evidence of that is in verse nine, or chapter nine, sorry, of Hebrews, verse eight through 10.

Where it says, by this the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the holy places is not yet open as long as the first section is still standing.

So what was still standing in the temple? Okay, so again, has to be written before the year 70.

Which is symbolic for the present age. According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered and cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper.

And again, notice the tense. Sacrifices are offered. Temple was still standing guys.

And it says in verse 10, but the deal, but deal only with food and drink and various washing regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation.

And then it says in verse 11, but when Christ appeared as a high priest of good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent, not made of hands, that is not of this creation, he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and cows, but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.

So the new covenant puts an end to the old covenant. It puts an end to the sacrificial system of the old covenant.

Why? Because the blood of Jesus is better than the blood of goats and bulls. Amen? And so this is very clear indication that Daniel chapter nine in 70 weeks is fulfilled in the first century, is fulfilled primarily in Christ's sacrificial work.

And so then the last part of this in Daniel chapter nine verse 27. Again, he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week and for half the week shall put an end to sacrifice and offering.

Jesus dies in the middle of that last week around the year 29 to 33. And he puts an end to the sacrificial system by his shed blood.

And it says, and on the wing of abomination shall come the one who makes desolate. So at the conclusion of this 70 week period, there's still a future desolation that's coming, which is pointing to 70

AD, okay? So the 70 AD event is still coming on the wing of abomination shall come the one who makes desolate until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator.

And so the 70 weeks conclude of a decree of desolation for Jerusalem, which you write this in the notes.

The 70 weeks conclude of a decree of desolation for Jerusalem and the ushering in of the gospel to the world.

Again, the ushering in everlasting righteousness. This means that this prophecy, the 70 weeks is concluded around the year 35

AD. And that's exactly the time when Paul is chosen as an apostle to the nations, thus ushering in everlasting righteousness for the nations through the gospel by which righteousness of God is revealed from heaven.

Amen? So any thoughts or questions? Yes, Emmanuel. Yes, I would say that this is a reference to the end of the nations that caused desolation because what's causing desolation?

It's the nations, conflict of the nations. Christ is gonna come, he's gonna usher in his kingdom, puts an end to all kingdoms, which is a fulfillment of Daniel 2, verse 44, that his kingdom will come and it'll supersede all other kingdoms.

It will put an end to every other kingdom, right? So Daniel 2, 44 is fulfilled in the conclusion of this as the

Lord puts an end to the desolators. Just as he did in Isaiah 13 when he uses

Babylon as a means of destruction, but then he says, Babylon itself will also be destroyed.

Same thing he does with the Persians. I use the Persians, Cyrus, as my servant, but I'm also gonna destroy them.

And it concludes with, of course, the coming of Christ and the establishment of his kingdom upon the earth.

His kingdom is established already in heaven and through the church, but it'll be fully consummated in the new heavens, new earth.

Yeah. Yes. Absolutely.

Absolutely. So I think it's been pretty easy, clear.

I don't think anything here is very out of this world. Everything I present to you has scriptural backing.

And I think it's consistent with the internal witness of scripture, letting scripture interpret scripture, and looking at scripture history, how it's fulfilled.

And so I hope that you benefited from this. Let me close in prayer. And then I want you to come and pick up a book.

If you're gonna be part of the Sunday school class, going forward, we're gonna be using this book on baptism going public,

Why Baptism is Required for Church Membership. It's by Bobby Jameson. So it's a great resource.

We ask that for now, because we run out of these books pretty quick.

One per household. If you're a couple, try to share the book, read it together, study it together, bring it together.

And that way we can have copies available in case someone loses one, or we get new people to come in as well.

So come get this book after I pray. Well, God, thank you for your prophetic word, which is sure, and it's able to make us strong in the salvation.

We thank you, Lord, for the witness of scripture, and how we know that the word of God is true, and we can trust it, and we can look at the fruit of prophecy being fulfilled.

And we ask, Lord, that you would encourage us, and Lord, that we would have this sure hope and foundation that Jesus has indeed sealed us for an eternal redemption that cannot be taken or destroyed, and that Jesus is coming again soon.

And so we pray this in Jesus' name, amen. All right. Good stuff, right?