End Times According to Daniel

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Hey everybody, I'm Pastor Jeff Durbin with Apologia Church. I want to thank you all so much for watching the content right here on Apologia Studios channel.

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What you're about to watch is a sermon, a message from Apologia Church's worship service. And again, I want to thank you all so much for watching, for liking, for commenting, for sharing the sermon itself.

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So thank you again so much for watching these and sharing them. God bless you. All right, you can open your Bibles to the

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Gospel according to Matthew 24. Gospel according to Matthew 24 is where we've been.

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And we are actually in the last couple of messages.

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The aspects of the prophecy about signs and what to look for, evidence of the prophetic ministry of the

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Lord Jesus in terms of telling us history before it happens and getting it right every single time. This is an essential part of Scripture in terms of tying this whole story together in so many ways.

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And so while Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21, those are the synoptic

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Gospels versions of the Olivet Discourse. While it may be difficult in terms of the many different interpretations that have been placed over this text,

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I think it's vital for us as a church to actually unpack the text word for word, verse by verse, to say, what is this text actually teaching?

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To see how Matthew 24, the Olivet Discourse, ties so much the Old Testament prophecy about Messiah's coming together.

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And what I mean by that, as you guys get to Matthew 24, is there were two aspects of Old Testament prophecy concerning the coming of Jesus that I'm constantly pointing us to.

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And that is, one, at the coming of the Messiah, there would be salvation, one.

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And at the coming of the Messiah, there would be what, according to the Old Testament? Judgment.

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Salvation and judgment. Salvation and judgment. In Matthew 24, Mark 13,

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Luke 21, the Olivet Discourse, when the Lord Jesus departs from Jerusalem and is on the Mount of Olives, the same course that Yahweh took in the

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Old Testament before the destruction of the first temple, while he's giving the Olivet Discourse, we see these aspects coming together.

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Jesus is bringing salvation, eternal life, everlasting life, but he's also promising judgment upon the covenant breakers, which is precisely what you see in the

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Old Testament predictions of the coming of the kingdom of the Messiah, is salvation and judgment.

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Isaiah 65, you see the promise of salvation for God's people, judgment upon the covenant breakers.

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Malachi chapter 3, you see exactly that pattern of salvation and judgment.

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And in Matthew 24, as Jesus now has departed from the temple and promises upon that generation judgment, you have the

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Olivet Discourse where Jesus talks about the end of the age, not the end of the cosmos, not the end of the actual physical earth, but the end of the old covenant age.

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Remember this? And we're going to get through this just fine, right? The Old Testament predicts two ages, right?

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Talks about two ages. We have old covenant and what? New covenant.

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Old covenant and new covenant. And so as we move into Matthew 24,

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I think what's vital for us to get is this. We don't have a right as 21st century, mostly

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Gentile Christians, to impose upon the text a context that doesn't fit the narrative of the

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Bible itself. In other words, here's the deal. God's the storyteller. It's our job to listen to the story and to see that story play out in history, not impose upon the story our own personal stories.

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So as we get to the text, I'm going to read it, but I want to just sort of illustrate this in one point. We shared a teaching moment by Uncle Gary, Gary DeMar, for American Vision, and it was actually about this text.

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And I want to just illustrate how important this is in terms of coming to the text, letting the text talk to us, letting it be the one that speaks, not us imposing our story onto his story.

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So we shared about a seven or eight minute video on this text, and it was a verse by verse, sort of, this is this word.

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Here's what this word means. Here's how it's used in Matthew. Here's how it's used in scripture. Here's the context.

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Here's who it's promised to. So we're going, sort of, let the text speak. What does it say? What does it say? What does it say? So this goes up in a context of 21st century modern evangelicalism, and I wanted to share with you some of the comments that came in as this was playing out.

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As Gary was sort of going, this word means this. Here's how it's being used. Here's how Jesus is applying it.

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Here's the context. Here's how it's used throughout Matthew. Here's how it's used in scripture. People were coming on as they were watching the video, and rather than responding to the text, what does it say?

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They were saying, no, couldn't be. All those things are happening right now. It has to be our generation, and it came just a flood of comments and texts.

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As people are hearing a text being unpacked, they can't help themselves, but by putting themselves into the text itself, saying, no, this must be my story.

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I've got to be in this. I have to be a central figure here. It has to be about my time, my experience, and I'm going to say, if we actually approach the word of God in that way, constantly trying to squeeze ourselves into the text and the story, we are going to do damage to his story.

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We're going to do damage to the text itself. Why? What are we bringing to the text? We're bringing our emotions.

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What do we bring into the text? We're bringing our experience. What do we bring into the text? We're bringing foreign concepts and ideas to the text that don't fit there, that end up actually creating so many different schools of thought on the text itself, rather than saying the text has to be the objective identifier.

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What is it saying? What's it about? What's the context? Who's in the story? And we need to make sure that as Christians, when we're reading the word of God, we're not trying to squeeze our own little stories into the story itself.

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Now, don't get me wrong. This is God's marvelous story.

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And when he makes promises, they connect to us. Those promises are true. Amen? Yes? It's not to say that the word of God has nothing to say to us.

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It's to say that we need to make sure we're going to the word of God and letting it speak, so that we can understand what

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God's promises are and what his grand story is. So Matthew chapter 24, verse 1, hear now the words of the living and the true

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God. Jesus left the temple and was going away when his disciples came to point out to him the buildings of the temple.

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But he answered them, you see all these things, do you not? Truly I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.

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As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately saying, tell us when will these things be? What will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?

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And Jesus answered them, see that no one leads you astray, for many will come in my name saying, I am

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Messiah. And they will lead many astray. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars.

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See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place. But the end is not yet, for nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom.

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And there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginnings, the beginning of the birth pains.

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Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death. And you will be hated by all nations for my namesake.

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And then many will fall away and betray one another, hate and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray.

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And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold, but the one who endures to the end will be saved.

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And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations.

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And then the end will come. So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet

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Daniel, standing in the holy place, let the reader understand. Then let those who were in Judea flee to the mountains.

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Let the one who is on the housetop not go down to take what is in his house. And let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak.

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And alas for 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

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Sabbath for then there will be a great tribulation, be great tribulation such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now.

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No, and never will be. And in those days, if those days had not been cut short, no human being will be saved.

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But for the sake of the elect, those days will be cut short. Thus far is the reading of God's holy word.

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Let's pray. Father, bless us as we look at this incredible section of scripture.

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Bless us with understanding. Guard me from error. Teach your people. Bless us with understanding.

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Help us, Lord, to see what are you saying here. Help us, God, to allow our traditions to yield to your word.

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Help us to understand how this ties your story together.

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Help me to be a faithful shepherd to your people. Lord, I pray that I would decrease Christ, but increase in Jesus' name.

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Amen. So this, again, is a vital, important section of scripture.

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Let me just do a quick thing for those of you guys that haven't been here. I am not reviewing all of this. Go back and listen to all the sermons, especially the recent ones in Apologia Studios.

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You guys can watch those, go through those sermons, and review where we were at thus far to see that we did demonstrate, using scripture and history, that all of these things took place as Jesus promised in that generation, exactly as he promised, on time, as planned.

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But here's what we need to get. Two points here. One is the Old Testament predicts that the coming of the

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Messiah's kingdom is going to bring salvation and what? Judgment. Salvation and judgment.

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You see it throughout the Old Testament passages. You see, actually, kind of a mixed bag. And this,

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I believe, is where Jews, before the time of Christ, actually had a lot of confusion about the

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Messiah. I want you just to consider this for a moment, in terms of pretend for a second that you don't know about Jesus, his crucifixion, his resurrection.

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You've never read the Gospels. You are sitting in the time before Christ, in this silent period, where you're getting no more special revelation from God, but you've got the

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Tanakh, you've got the Torah, you've got the Old Testament. It's there. You're reading it in synagogue. You're kissing it in synagogue, right?

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Reading the pages, revering it. What do you know about Mashiach? What do you know about him? Think about it.

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Well, from Genesis chapter 3, it's going to be the seed of the woman who crushes the head of the serpent.

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The Gospel picture is right there in the first couple chapters. Genesis 49 .10,

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Shiloh is coming, and to him shall be the obedience of the nations. Wow, that's a big deal.

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A messianic figure that's going to have the nations obeying him. So that's pretty victorious.

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What do you got? You've got a serpent with his head crushed. You've got the seed of the woman coming. You've got the promise to Abraham.

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In you, Abraham, shall all the nations be blessed. Your descendants, Abraham, are going to be as numerous as the stars.

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Go and look up. Look at those stars. That's what your descendants are going to be like. That sounds like a victorious plan in history, doesn't it?

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It's victory. The nations obeying Messiah, descendants like the stars. And then as time is moving forth, as you're going through the scriptures, you start to get even more.

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Isaiah starts to tell us about a virgin who will conceive. Emmanuel, God with us.

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There's this dual fulfillment happening in history. You've got some pretty amazing promises taking place in Isaiah chapter 2.

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What is that? That the nations are going to be drawn up to God's mountain, right? And the law will go forth from Zion.

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The Torah, the law of God is going to go forth from the place of the people of God while the nations are drawn up to God's mountain.

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That sounds pretty victorious. Isaiah chapter 9, 6 through 7 says a son is coming, a child, and he will be

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El Gabor, the mighty God, the father of eternity. Watch this. Of the increase of his government and of peace, there will be no end.

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The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this. That sounds like what? Victory, by the way.

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It also sounds like the incarnation. El Gabor, the father of eternity coming among us as a son and as a child.

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You see, you have these moments in the Old Testament where the prophecy is victory, victory, victory, and you get in Isaiah 42, and it says this one who's coming is going to actually establish justice in the earth and that the coastlands are waiting for his

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Torah, his law. That sounds victorious. This is why the Jews are like, look, this messianic figure is a big deal.

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He gets the nations to come to God. They're coming up God's mountain. God's going to do this.

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The Messiah is going to accomplish salvation and justice in the world.

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It wasn't just salvation. It was justice. It was a focus on God's law as the standard.

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The Messiah is going to do this. But you also have aspects of it that are confusing.

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Aspects of the whole story that, honestly, let's be honest, in our minds as fallible human beings, we couldn't put it together.

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How do you get the story of victory and descendants like stars and nations obeying

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Yahweh and God's law as the center and justice and all that? And then also have

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Isaiah 53, a suffering servant who's going to be cut off. He's going to be cut off out of the land of the living.

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He's going to die a violent death, but he'll see his offspring. He'll prolong his days. And they're like, wait, okay, wait.

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He's cut off, but then he sees his offspring. He prolongs his days.

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And the Jews are going, how exactly do you pull together these portraits of Messiah, the

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Mashiach and his kingdom? We've got victory and kingdom and rule and justice and law. You've got descendants and nations.

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And then you've got justifies the many as he bears their iniquity. The Lord lays on him the iniquity of us all.

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And then you've got other ones that we don't often talk about because honestly, our eschatologies get in the way.

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And what are those? Well, when Messiah comes, he's going to bring salvation to God's people and he's going to destroy the covenant breakers.

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No one likes to talk about that, especially Jewish people, right? Because if you're the covenant people of God, you don't want to actually come to terms with the fact that God actually promises to the covenant people of God, the nation of Israel, that when

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Messiah comes, he is bringing purification for sins, Malachi chapter three, and he is bringing judgment, a swift witness against those who swear falsely.

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You start having these elements of the story of Messiah, the kingdom of the Messiah that honestly work as very seemingly opposing portraits of Messiah.

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It looks like, can we, I'll use the word, but I'm gonna be cautious. I'm gonna be cautious with this. Just bear with me.

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It looks kind of schizophrenic. Do you know what I mean? Schizophrenic in terms of you see, like in one aspect, victory, victory, victory, victory, crushing, crushing, crushing, crushing salvation, salvation, salvation, judgment, judgment, judgment.

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And you're like, this is very complicated and hard to pull together. And then how does it actually come together to where you go?

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Oh, I see. It comes together in the incarnation of Jesus.

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It comes together in the Messiah's ministry, God among us,

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Jesus coming and proclaiming the good news of his kingdom, Jesus coming and actually telling the covenant breakers salvation in me, but judgment upon this generation, repent in a hurry, telling them that before they all die, judgment's going to be upon that generation.

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And yet Jesus is the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

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He does away with sacrifice and offering all these complexities of the old

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Testament promises of Messiah only can be fulfilled in Jesus Christ to the degree that it's astonishing and in many ways incomprehensible.

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It is powerful. It is the greatest story ever told. And in Matthew 24, we have this moment where you see those two things come together, salvation and judgment, salvation and judgment, salvation and judgment.

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Can I just say this as complicated as people have made the Olivet discourse, Matthew 24,

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Mark 13, Luke 21. I think it's one of the most glorious passages in scripture that identifies without a doubt that Jesus is in fact the promised

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Mashiach. Everything that you would have anticipated from the old is tied together in the new.

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And here is one of these golden moments. It's shining. Jesus is the

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Messiah. Those confusing aspects of salvation and judgment, Isaiah 65, salvation and judgment, covenant breakers,

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Malachi 3, salvation and judgment come together right here in this moment. And this is where I think it's important for us to talk for just a second here.

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I'm not going to spend a lot of time on it, but I just want to mention this. This is so important. I was sitting at the front row of the right where you guys are right where the debate was, where pastor

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James was debating Lee Baker, who was saying the Bible has been corrupted. He didn't understand history or the transmission of the text.

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I mean, the man lost the debate badly and it needed to take place for the vindication of God's people.

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So many people needed to have that take place because of Lee Baker's attacks on the word of God.

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But one of the things that was so stunningly clear in that debate is it is so important for us to know as Christians, why do you believe what you believe?

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Why? And then not just why, but what do you believe as a Christian? Here is a man that's going around publicly saying things like this.

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How come if you believe Daniel chapter nine, the passage that contains the abomination of desolation that Jesus refers to, he says, how come

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Christians believe that Daniel nine refers to Jesus, but the New Testament nowhere mentions, nowhere mentions that this

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Daniel nine or Isaiah 53. And the amazing thing there is you sit there in the audience and you think as a

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Christian, is this man serious? He's actually going on a speaking tour and a teaching tour in many respects around the world, trying to teach people how

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Jesus now is not Messiah. And he's willing to make a wild public claim like the

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New Testament writers don't mention Daniel chapter nine. When the Lord Jesus mentions

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Daniel chapter nine, watch this explicitly by saying, when you see the abomination of desolation, now watch, where's that from Daniel chapter nine, which by the way, lo and behold, listen, is the same passage that promises.

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This is powerful that the Messiah is coming. He'll be cut off.

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And then the second temple will be destroyed. What is Jesus predicting in these chapters that he is going to Jerusalem.

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They're going to kill him. He'll rise again. And that the Jewish temple is going to be taken apart stone off of stone.

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What do you mean? The New Testament doesn't mention Daniel chapter nine. It is right there in the text.

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But my question to you as my brothers and sisters is this, can you respond to an apostate who makes these claims publicly and begins to attack our

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Lord? Can you respond to pithy arguments like those?

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It's important for us to know why do we believe Jesus is the Messiah? Because as I said in the beginning, he is either lunatic liar or Lord.

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And if you confess him as Lord, the question is, do you know why you do? Okay. So let's go to Daniel nine.

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Now I'm going to just say, um, there is a fantastic study on Daniel chapter nine from Dr.

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Gentry. I pointed many of you guys to, I believe I did. I share that in the church members page. If, if I didn't,

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I'll try and do that. I'll try to share it later. A very important study on Daniel chapter nine. I am not going to give you every single detail of Daniel nine today, but some critical details.

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It's important for us to know because what does Jesus do? He tells him what to expect. He tells him about the persecution.

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He talks about the destruction of the temple. He talks about wars and rumors of wars, all these different things.

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And then he says to his people, when you see the abomination of desolation, he says, spoken up by the prophet

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Daniel, let the reader understand. He says, flee, flee. He tells his people, this is when it's time to run.

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So if you're in Jerusalem at this time, and you see the abomination of desolation, he says, I want you to flee and don't go back and grab anything.

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That's always been, watch, a challenge to people who were like 21st century Christians wondering how this passage applies to them.

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And you're going now, honestly, why does it matter in the 21st century if it's on the

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Sabbath? Are any of you guys worried about the Sabbath in the 21st century?

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That's a very local Jewish context. Also, it's in Jerusalem, clearly, because you're told to flee

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Jerusalem, flee the city. It's clearly local. Also, what's this about cloak?

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Don't go back to your rooftop. Any of you guys hanging out on your rooftops? Not in Arizona. You're not.

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You get cooked up there, right? And you'll slide off, slide right off. Cause we don't do a lot of hanging out on our rooftops, but they were in the first century.

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They certainly were. And you're wondering, why is Jesus warning his people that when you see this flee? Well, if you compare, this is a quick look at this.

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If you compare Luke's gospel account of the Olivet discourse, when he gets to this section, he does not say when you see the abomination of desolation, you know what he says?

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He says, when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, flee. When you see

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Jerusalem surrounded by armies, flee. Now the point here is the

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Lord Jesus references Daniel chapter nine. So I want you to go there and let's do a quick look at Daniel chapter nine, but let's start in Daniel chapter two, just to give you two spaces to touch on, to know what's coming.

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Go to Daniel two. And as you get there, I want to just point you to this very important fact. Is there a temple in Daniel's experience here?

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Is there a temple standing? This is important for you to understand in terms of why this prophecy is so amazing.

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Is there a temple? No, the temple was destroyed. What did we get from Ezekiel in our last study?

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We looked at Ezekiel. What happened? Where did God go when he departed from the temple? Where did he actually depart to?

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His glory left the temple and rested where in the Old Testament? The Mount of Olives.

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That's exactly the direction Jesus goes. And he rests on the Mount of Olives to give the Olivet discourse.

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Yahweh in the Old Testament leaves the temple, promises his destruction. Yahweh in the New Testament leaves the temple, promises its destruction from the

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Mount of Olives. It's a glorious thing to see that pattern. But Jesus is departing the second temple.

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When Daniel is writing this, there is no temple.

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The Jews are in exile to Babylon. Daniel in Daniel nine is pleading before God.

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And by the way, in Daniel chapter nine, it's the only place in Daniel that Daniel uses the covenant name of God and calls him

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Yahweh. That's God's covenant name. And he only uses it in Daniel chapter nine, or this section of scripture where he's pleading before God, repentance.

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Why? The covenant people of God have sinned against God. He knows why they're in exile.

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He knows why there's no temple. And he's pleading and confessing the sins of Israel to God. And he's asking

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God for forgiveness. Remember your covenant God. That's in Daniel nine.

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That's the context. But remember now, no temple is standing. They're in Babylon.

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They're in exile. They want to return to the land. They want to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple.

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They want it back again. And they know they've sinned. That's the context. But I wanted to show you this in terms of how the story ties together with Jesus.

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I think it's amazing. I'm not going to spend a lot of time here, but I want you to. So go to Daniel two.

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So you can see it with your own eyes. Daniel chapter two is the section of scripture where you have this dream, you know, about the dream, the interpretation of the dream.

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I just want to point you to the text so that you see it. And Daniel chapter two,

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Daniel interprets the dream of the king. He sees, of course, this amazing structure and statue, and he sees a stone coming and destroying these kingdoms.

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But here's the point. As Daniel gives this interpretation of the dream, he gives this in verse forty four, chapter two, verse forty four.

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And in the days of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people.

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It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end.

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And it shall stand forever. Just as you saw that a stone was cut from a mountain by no human hand and that it broke in pieces, the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold, a great

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God has made known to the king what shall be after this. The dream is certain and interpretation is sure.

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Here's what happens in the dream. Again, just a touch on it. Four kingdoms are promised, four kingdoms.

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And it says during the time of the fourth kingdom, God himself is going to establish a kingdom that will never be destroyed.

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It'll be like a stone cut out of a mountain that eventually fills the entire earth.

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It starts small, a stone that becomes a ginormous mountain that fills the entire earth.

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Now, this is key. You might be saying, why talk about that right now? Here's the point. Daniel's focus and theme is messianic.

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It's about the kingdom of the Messiah. That's the theme of Daniel. How is God going to wrap this whole story up?

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And what do you see is in the time of the fourth kingdom, God's going to bring his kingdom. And again, you might be saying, pastor

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Jeff, why are you harping on this? And the answer is premillennialism. The answer is dispensational premillennialism.

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The answer is there have been Christian theologies and views in the kingdom historically that have gotten off in the area of Christ's kingdom being established.

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John the Baptist comes and says, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. When Jesus leaves the wilderness, he's out proclaiming the good news of the kingdom.

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He says to people, Jesus says, if I cast out demons by the spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

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Question. Did Jesus cast out demons by the spirit of God? Yes. Then the rule of God had arrived among them.

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Question is Jesus ruling over the messianic kingdom now? Yes. Is he on his throne now?

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Yes. Which throne is that? The throne promised to Messiah. He is seated at the right hand of the father.

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Jesus established his kingdom watch on time and as planned, because which kingdom was it when

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Jesus arrived? It was the fourth kingdom, the kingdom of Rome from Daniel's day.

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You can count down the kingdoms one, two, three, four. It lands on Rome and lo and behold,

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Jesus and Paul and John and the rest of the apostles break into history and say, he is reigning now.

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He is Lord of Lords. He is king of kings. He has all authority in heaven and on earth.

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The kingdom has arrived in history, just like Daniel predicted. It is a kingdom that will never be destroyed ever.

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It is the rule of God in history. And you might be saying right now, watch, where is it?

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Where is his rule? Where is his kingdom? I would tell you, look to your left and look to your right from where you sit all over the world.

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Every tribe, people, tongue, and nation coming to Jesus. That's the kingdom of God, the rule of God in history.

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That's Daniel two, Daniel seven, move over quickly. Daniel seven. This is a powerful section of scripture, the vision where the son of man is given dominion and it's in verse 13 of Daniel seven.

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I saw in the visions and behold, with the clouds of heaven, there came one like a son of man.

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And he came up to the ancient of days and was presented before him. Pause market markets, whatever.

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If you don't like writing your Bibles, just look at it and memorize. Okay. But if you don't have a problem marking your

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Bibles, do something, put a star by this text, put a circle around this text. And you're going to see why later in Matthew 24,

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Jesus quotes this in Matthew 24, Jesus refers back to this right here.

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It's in the Olivet discourse. And to him was given dominion and glory in the kingdom that all people's nations and languages should serve him.

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His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which will not, shall not pass away. And his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.

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So there's Daniel two. What do you get from that? Victory, victory, victory, kingdom that'll never be destroyed.

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Puts to it ends all those other kingdoms. This one lasts forever. God himself sets it up.

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And then you've got Messiah coming on the clouds and he's given dominion authority in the kingdom. All people's nations and men of every language are to serve him.

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It'll be a king that's never destroyed. Same theme, same understanding. This is the Messiah's kingdom.

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Now, Daniel nine, Daniel nine. And let's start in verse 10, just so you can get the context of Daniel's prayer.

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Daniel is pleading. He is petitioning. He is praying. He is asking

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God for help, for forgiveness. And here's what it says in verse 10 of nine.

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And as he's let's start in verse nine to the Lord, our God belong mercy and forgiveness for we have rebelled against him and have not obeyed the voice of Yahweh, our

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God, by walking in his laws, which he has set before us by his servants, the prophets, all

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Israel has transgressed your law and turned aside, refusing to obey your voice and the curse and oath that are written in the law of Moses.

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The servant of God have been poured out upon us because we have sinned against him.

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So context of the prayer is a plea before God. Forgive us the covenant, faithful God.

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God promised what in his law to the people of God, the covenant people of God, he says,

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I'll bless you. If you do this, I'll curse you. If you do this blessings curses and Daniel right now is acknowledging to the covenant

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God, the covenantally faithfully God Yahweh. He's saying we've sinned against your holy law.

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And now we're receiving the punishments that you promised because you are covenantally faithful.

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We're getting everything that was due to us, but you are also the merciful God. You're the forgiving

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God. That's the God that you are. So he's asking God for mercy in the midst of the fact that they deserve their punishments.

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He's saying we were reaping the whirlwinds. We're getting what we deserved. You said you'd give it to us and you did.

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And he's saying, but God, I'm pleading with you to remember your promises because God doesn't just have promises of judgment.

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He has promises of Messiah and mercy. And he's saying, God, remember your promises, forgiveness and mercy.

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That's what I'm asking for. And then in the midst of this prayer in verse 20, here's what happens while I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people,

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Israel, and presenting my plea before the Lord, my God, for the holy hill of my God.

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While I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision of the first came to me in swift flight at the time of the evening sacrifice.

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I love this. I love, love, love, love, love this. He made me understand speaking with me and saying, oh

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Daniel, I have now come out to give you insight and understanding at the beginning of your pleas for mercy.

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A word went out and I have come to tell it to you for you are greatly loved, loved.

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Therefore consider the word and understand the vision. Here is watch Daniel agonizing, agonizing, agonizing.

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God, please forgive me. God, please forgive our people. Please God, remember your covenant faith in us. God, I know we deserve it.

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Please forgive me. Please forgive me. And while he's in agony and he's begging God for mercy, all of us, and it's happening for a long time,

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Gabriel comes and shows up and says what to Daniel at the very beginning of your plea.

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A word was sent out for me to come to you. So all the agony afterwards, like all the agonizing and the tears and the brokenness and the hurt and the pleas and the beg and help

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God help all this is going on for like an extended period of time. And Gabriel goes, yeah, when you started,

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I was told to come. Sometimes that's what prayer is, right?

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God's already sent the answer. He's already sent his promise. He's already going to answer you, but there's an agonizing that takes place there, right?

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That's this intimacy before God, this plea before God, but God's already determined to send the rescue.

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He's already determined to send your answer and your mercy, but anyone, okay.

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Bible trivia time, Bible trivia. Are you ready? So who shows up to Daniel here?

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The angel Gabriel. So Gabriel shows up here. Can anybody tell me who shows up to Mary to tell her she is going to bear the

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Messiah? Gabriel. Now you want me to think, okay, is he the only one?

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No, he's not the only one. But this is why it's, I think, important and cool about Mary's the one that receives this message from Gabriel is this is why, because Gabriel here in this text is going to tell

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Daniel when Messiah is coming. So he gives a timeline in the text.

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You can start counting down from this time and it's going to land on Messiah and here's everything that's going to happen with Messiah.

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It's Gabriel that's sent to Daniel to tell him the when. And I love that in Luke, we have the account of Mary where it's the angel

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Gabriel that shows up to Mary to tell her it's time. Do you think that Gabriel, like,

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I don't know what kind of emotions angels have, but do you think that he was giddy, like, for a long time, like, this is going to be awesome.

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Like, and God's like, go get her. He's like, yeah, see, finally, like, it's been a long time. Like, he's just waiting and waiting and waiting.

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I don't know what it looks like, but it must have been awesome. These are the things that I think about,

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I wonder about. Here's the point. Listen, again, today, I'm sorry, Daniel 9 is a hefty section of Scripture.

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I can't take us verse by verse through Daniel. We would literally be here for two months.

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You know the problems that I have. But I do want to bring you to it because, listen, like I said, this isn't a matter of just conjecture and theory and all these things.

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It becomes a source of attack on our faith, on our Lord. There are people running around today lying about our

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Savior and our Messiah regarding this text. And the amazing thing is, just read the text.

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It's Jesus up and down and sideways all over it. It's inescapable that it's

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Jesus. You can't get away from the fact that it's Jesus. If it's not Jesus, there are no Messiahs.

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This word is a lie. It is false. This prophecy is false. If it's not Jesus, it is

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Jesus. So we need to understand what's promised. Here's what we need to go to. Daniel 9, 24, 70 weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city.

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Two, here are the promises. If you're writing down, circle, write down, here is the purpose of the of the prophecy.

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So here's the deal. No matter what other complications there are in the text, as difficult as it may be at times to understand, what exactly does he mean?

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What decree is he referring to? Is it Cyrus? Is it middle of the fourth century? Where is this decree?

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What exactly is it? When do we start counting? Here's the deal. The prophecy is about this.

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To finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, or to make an end of sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, or prophecy, and to anoint the most holy.

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Some of you guys have the most holy place. It actually, I think, was better translated the most holy.

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Know therefore and understand that from the going out of the word to restore and build

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Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, Messiah, a prince, there shall be seven weeks.

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Then for 62 weeks it should be built again with squares and moats, but in trouble, in a troubled time.

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And after the 62 weeks, an anointed one, that's Messiah, shall be cut off and shall have nothing.

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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.

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Its end shall be with a flood, and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed.

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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.

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And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate. Did you get it?

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On the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator.

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That's Daniel 9. And so when Jesus says in Matthew 24, when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet, let the reader understand, flee to the mountains.

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What is Jesus connecting all of us to? Daniel chapter 9. Now here's some epic stuff about Daniel chapter 9.

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So just a couple things to think about. First is 70 weeks are for the accomplishing of these things.

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Now I do have a study, I think on Apology of Church app, where I talk about the weeks and weeks of years.

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Here's the point. 70 weeks equals 70 sevens.

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God is huge on symbolism. Some people are like, I read the Bible literally.

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The Bible's literal. I read it literally. Well, I'm like, okay, you're going to have a hard time reading the Bible literally with swords coming out of mouths and all the other things like Jesus is the door.

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Jesus is the good shepherd. Jesus is the sheep who lays his life down.

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That's all symbolism. Also, in terms of symbolism, what was the temple? A massive symbol.

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What was the priest doing going into the Holy of Holies? It was a symbol. What was the animal dying for?

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It was a symbol. What was circumcision? A symbol. What is happening here after the message today?

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What is this? God is big into symbolism. He likes to attach our thinking to the symbol so we have a root to it and we understand what it means.

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But he gives us this in so many ways and categories. And one of the things that God does is he sets something down literally in history and it becomes the symbol.

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Like for example, the creation week, seven literal days, seven becomes the creation week, right?

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Seven becomes a very important number in scripture, but also 10 is an important number in scripture.

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It symbolizes quantitative perfection because when you have 10 fingers and 10 toes, you can do work properly.

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You can labor. 10 is a big number in scripture as quantitative perfection. By the way, when you think about a millennium, what is a thousand years?

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10 times 10 times 10. It's a symbolic number of quantitative fullness and perfection.

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But in this prophecy, so much is happening. So much is happening that has to do with Jubilee.

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Jubilee and freedom. It's underneath the text to every Jew who understands this text and what's happening here.

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But 70 times 7 is 7 times 10. Big number 7, big deal.

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10, big number. 70, great. 70, not just 7, not just 10, 70 times 7.

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This is shouting to the Jewish people, the Jubilee. It's shouting to the Jewish people, what

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God's going to do. But 70 times 7 is 490. The prophecy relates to 490 years, 490 years.

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That's what the prophecy is about. So you know, what's amazing about this is watch, come with me now. So we get this all together as a church.

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When Daniel wrote this, is there a temple? I've asked it a bunch today to make sure it gets rooted in you.

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There is no temple when Daniel's writing this. Where are the Jews when Daniel is actually doing this petition before God?

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Where are they? In Babylon. For what? Exile. Why? Covenant unfaithfulness.

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They transgressed God's law. They've sinned against their covenant God. And now they're being punished for it.

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And so Daniel now is being told by Gabriel, this is what's going to happen. God's going to finish all these things.

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And this is the time period that God has for it to happen. By the way, do you ever wonder why the

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Magi and why everyone in the first century seems to have this fervor of who's the

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Messiah? Where's the Messiah? Are you the Messiah? Are you the Messiah? Who's the Messiah? Is there's a Messiah here somewhere?

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How'd they know that? How'd they know that this was the time of the Messiah? And why was this there's massive messianic fervor in the first century?

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My answer is Daniel 9. The Jews could count. They understood we have a 490 year period here.

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We've got a clock that's running. So who's the Messiah? Where is he? It's got to be happening now.

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So 490 years are decreed here. But more interesting facts.

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There is a promise in the passage that watch. It says verse 25, know therefore and understand that from a the going out of the word to restore and build

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Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one that's Mashiach, a prince, there should be seven weeks.

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So here's what we know. There's a word, a decree in history that's given. And that's when they're supposed to be counting things down.

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So the question is this, and it really ultimately doesn't quite matter in terms of the big nuts and bolts of the prophecy of how exactly people have tried to work it out many different ways.

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There's a decree in history of Cyrus. It's a fact in history.

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It's predicted by Isaiah. Isaiah, the prophet names. This is crazy.

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He names before Cyrus is around. He names the name of the person.

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Cyrus is his name before it even takes place. But in history, we have a fact.

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Cyrus gave a decree to restore and go back to Jerusalem in 538

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BC. The problem is that more is required in Daniel's prophecy than just going back to the land and they're supposed to be actually restored a return to its former grandeur, according to the text.

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So Cyrus's decree in 538 doesn't quite work in terms of the decree that goes out. So you start counting down.

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The word is shuv in the Hebrew and the word return means to return to its former grandeur.

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Now there was an event that took place in the mid 400s where you can start counting down, but here's the point.

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Listen closely again, we're just doing a cursory look here. There are a certain number of weeks that are allowed for the building of Jerusalem to Messiah.

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I want to argue this. Listen closely. If you're wondering, how do you tie this together? I'm going to argue this, that the clock counting down to Messiah lands on Jesus's baptism.

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It lands on Jesus baptism. So the presentation from John the

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Baptist of Jesus to the world, the spirit of God descending like a dove and the father saying, this is the son of my love.

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I want to argue that that is the start of the final week of years that was promised in Daniel's prophecy.

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Hang on to it for a minute and just remember the clock is running. I'm arguing it lands on Jesus baptism.

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Now here's what's most important, not in terms of when do you start counting?

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Where does it land? Here's what's most important in the final week.

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We have a week of years, seven years for Messiah.

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I'm going to argue it lands on his baptism in the middle of the week, three and a half years.

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Jesus put an end to sacrifice and offering how, how through the cross.

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And then there were three and a half more years of ministry to the Jewish people before Acts 10, where Peter now brings the gospel to the

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Gentiles. Seven years, the final week of years, Jesus crucifixion happens in the middle of it.

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That's where we see that accomplished. But watch, there are six things that are the main point of the prophecy.

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Number one, the promise is to finish the transgression, to finish the transgression.

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Now context, what did I read at the start? This won't take too long to get through. Just follow me on this so we can get through, kind of plow through these promises.

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What did I say at the start? What did I point to Daniel's confession of sin? What sin?

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The sin of Israel for what covenant unfaithfulness, breaking God's law. So they had transgressed

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God's law. They broke and violated his law. And they said, we're getting the sanctions. Now we understand why we've transgressed.

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Well, the promise from Gabriel to Daniel is 70 weeks are decreed for what to finish the transgression.

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Daniel's prayer is for Israel's sin. The promise is in the 70 weeks, their sin, their transgression is going to be finished.

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It's going to be brought to completion. And I want to argue that they actually did bring their transgression to its completion and finishing points in the crucifixion of the son of God on the tree.

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What did the Jews say at Jesus trial? Pilate says, shall

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I crucify your king? I find no fault in him.

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And on record, this governor in history washes his hands to say he is blameless.

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And the Jewish leadership of that day, they say crucify him.

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They say, we have no king but Caesar. I'm going to argue that in the crucifixion of Jesus, Israel, the covenant people of God actually finished the transgression.

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They brought their covenant unfaithfulness and their sin to its ultimate apex, its peak, its climax.

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Next, the promise from Gabriel to Daniel in this prophecy of the 70 weeks is to make an end of sin, to make an end of sin, to seal up is the word, to seal up sin in the

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Hebrew, to seal up the sin. Now I want to argue, I agree with Gentry on this point, that the point of the passage here in the language is to seal up the sin.

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They finished the transgression, but then there's going to be a sealing up of that sin, a reserving of that sin for punishment.

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How does that look? When the Jews in the first century crucify their own Messiah, when they turn him over and they say, crucify him, crucify him.

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We have no king but Caesar. I want to argue like many commentators that God actually reserves that sin and for a generation gives the people a generation to repent of their sin before he pulls, pours out his wrath and justice upon them at the destruction of Jerusalem, the

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Jewish people and the Jewish temple. Next, and this is where it gets awesome. Awesome.

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Reconciliation for iniquity. Gabriel promises in the prophecy of the 70 weeks that there is going to be reconciliation for iniquity.

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Some of your translations use a different word. What's the word some of your translations use? Atonement.

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The Hebrew word there for reconciliation is kephar, for atonement.

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And now here's what's glorious. Pause for a second and stop and think about how amazing this is. Gabriel says 70 weeks are given.

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Watch. Doesn't matter if people understand the clock and the timing and everything else. Here's what matters. God says that he is going to bring atonement for iniquity in the 70 weeks atonement for iniquity.

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He's going to accomplish atonement. The word kephar is to accomplish. You're going to accomplish atonement.

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Now, can anybody think about a time in history where atonement was made, where it was accomplished in the life and ministry of the

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Lord Jesus and brothers and sisters? Can I ask you a question? When in history did the atonement take place?

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It took place before the destruction of the Jewish temple, the second temple.

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So angel Gabriel says there's going to be atonement for iniquity, full atonement. It's going to be accomplished.

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It's going to be finished. And that occurred in the life of Jesus. Next, everlasting righteousness is brought in through the 70 weeks prophecy.

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An anointed one comes. A prince comes. There's going to be everlasting righteousness. And I'm going to ever want to turn to your

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Bible Bibles to Hebrews chapter 10, verse 14, Hebrews 10, 14 for my single offering.

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He has perfected for all time. Those who are being sanctified

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Jesus atonement, his single offering. He has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.

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He brought in everlasting righteousness. What's the promise of Jesus in 524? Some of you guys may have seen the conversation that we had with a

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Mormon, a couple. She was raised Mormon her whole life. He was a

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Mormon missionary. They, she slipped me a letter in my hand at the temple while we were in Utah, just slipped into my hand while we were talking to all these people that had come to Christ out of Mormonism.

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She walks by, slips it in my hand and walks away from me and says that she's in tears and she needs help.

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They know the church is false now. They've been watching our stuff. And she says, please help me. Like I want to go to heaven.

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I want to know Jesus and I don't know what to do. Please help us. So we called her back. We said, come back and talk to us.

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And you can see that whole conversation. They wanted it filmed so they can show their, their son. But one of the things

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I quoted to her is John 5, 24. I said, I said,

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Jesus says, truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears my voice and believes him who sent me has everlasting life and does not come into judgment, but is passed out of death into life.

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The promise in the scriptures about Jesus, his promises to his people is that he gives us everlasting life.

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He gives us a righteousness that is not our own. He gives us a righteousness that actually is his.

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We're found in him, counted righteous in him. And it's an everlasting righteousness and salvation.

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That's the glory of the gospel. Listen, that separates our message from the message of every world religion.

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And the promise in Daniel is the 70 weeks prophecy concerns atonement and end of sin, everlasting righteousness.

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And there's a promise to seal up vision and prophecy to seal up vision and prophecy is to fulfill and to confirm vision and prophecy.

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And I'll just point you to one place here. You know, this, we've talked about it before the road to Emmaus after the resurrection, the disciples are walking around like a bunch of sad saps, right?

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We thought he's Messiah. We thought he's Messiah. And we don't know what to do now. And Jesus reveals himself to them.

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And he says, slow of heart to believe what all that the prophets have written.

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And then what does he do? He opens their understanding by bringing them from the law all the way through the old

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Testament, showing them everywhere that was spoken about him to seal up vision and prophecy is to fulfill and to confirm all the prophecies in this time period.

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And Jesus did that precisely and even takes people through Bible studies to demonstrate where the scriptures are fully and finally fulfilled in him.

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Last point on this to anoint the most holy, to anoint the most holy.

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I want to argue that the anointing of the most holy was actually the baptism of Jesus, the anointing of Jesus.

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Listen, if you guys heard our Emma, remember this is a while ago. I know the Browns have been around for long enough to hear this one.

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Well, I think most of you guys have remember when we did a study on John the Baptist, I think we were over, we were over at the hotel where those were amazing days.

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We were over at the hotel. We had to always pack everything up and get it in there. It was, it was actually a difficult time for us in terms of organizing worship, but I believe it was there that I did the study on John the

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Baptist. And I argued then that John the Baptist is the son of a priest. Okay.

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He's a son of a priest. He has a right to that priestly duty. He's a son of a priest and he actually gives

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Jesus this anointing. Watch, this is key. A lot of brothers and sisters actually,

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I think, approach the baptism of Jesus in a way that actually is not consistent with the scriptures. I mean, it's very humbly.

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People will say things, men I actually greatly respect, will say things like, Jesus got into the waters of baptism to give us the model of how we're to repent of sin.

01:00:04

I can't go there. I can't actually have the savior of the world, the blameless one, the righteous one, pretending to repent.

01:00:13

If he's pretending to repent, he's lying. Also, Jesus has nothing to repent of.

01:00:21

So what was happening in the waters of baptism with Jesus? Who baptized him?

01:00:27

Who was doing this? John the Baptist, who was the son of a priest.

01:00:33

He had the right to that role. Also, what does Jesus say? Don't you, oh,

01:00:38

I love this. I love God's word. It's so awesome. When they're like challenging

01:00:44

Jesus and they're like challenging him as Messiah, I love how

01:00:49

Jesus answers them. He says, baptism of John, from men or from God, I'll answer your question in terms of like, what right do

01:00:58

I have to do this? Because that's what they want to know. Tell us by what authority you're doing this. You say the Messiah, tell us if you have the authority to do it.

01:01:05

So Jesus goes, I'll answer you. Quick question. Baptism of John, from men or from God?

01:01:11

And they're like, shoot. If we say from men, people are going to be ticked because they revere him.

01:01:19

If we say from God, we're in trouble then too. And they go, eh, we don't know.

01:01:26

We don't know. And so Jesus goes, well, then neither will I tell you. And some people just pass on that like a really cryptic thing of Jesus.

01:01:33

Like it's really cryptic. We really don't know what exactly was Jesus saying there. I want to argue that he was actually telling them, uh, by what authority do

01:01:40

I do this? I was anointed by John. John's dad's a priest.

01:01:46

John's a priest. He anointed me by what authority I received that from John the

01:01:51

Baptist, that anointing and the spirit of God was down. And God said from heaven, this is my son, the son of my love.

01:01:58

I believe that the anointing of Jesus was the anointing of the most Holy, the

01:02:03

Lord Jesus, the true temple was taking place there. Now, uh, let's go to the text and just point this out because I think it's powerful.

01:02:13

Go to Daniel nine. Again, look at this in verse 26 and after the 62 weeks and anointed one

01:02:21

Mashiach shall be cut off. Go do a word study. Go do a word study.

01:02:26

Go do your homework. Do a word study on the word cut off there. The Hebrew word for cut off describes a violent death, a violent death.

01:02:36

You know what's amazing? Isn't that debate the last debate night with pastor James Lee Baker actually had the audacity to say the nowhere does the old

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Testament predict the Messiah's death. I can show you at least two places. Daniel nine and Isaiah 53 both predict prophesy the death of the

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Messiah. This text says that the Messiah and anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing.

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And the people of the Prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Now what's interesting about this passage is remember quick thing.

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We're almost done here. Is there a temple when Daniel wrote this? Is there a temple when Daniel wrote this?

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No, there is no temple when Daniel wrote this. So what is Daniel predicting here?

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He's being told there's going to be a second temple and Messiah is cut off.

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He dies a violent death before the destruction of the second temple.

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So brothers and sisters, listen to the strength of your faith before God and the world. If Jesus is not

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Moshiach, there is no Moshiach. Do you get it? The second temple is destroyed.

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It's gone. So if Jesus isn't Messiah, there is no

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Messiah. This revelation is a lie. But isn't it amazing that this prophecy predicts full atonement for sin, the anointing of the holy, the everlasting righteousness, and the death of Messiah before the destruction of the

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Jewish temple. How you like them apples? Isn't it amazing? It's glorious. But here's what's

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I think even more interesting about this next part of the text. Look at the text. Look in your

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Bible so you see it. It says he'll be cut off and have nothing. The temple's going to be destroyed.

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And then it says in verse 27, and he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week and for half of the week in the middle of the week, he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering.

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So we've got a final week of years, seven years. And this anointed one, this

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Prince, the only one in the passage, the text is about atonement for iniquity, everlasting righteousness, anointing most holy, finishing the transgression of the covenant people of God, making an end of sin.

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All that is there. But now we have seven years to deal with. And it says in the middle of the seven years, in the middle of the seven years, the

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Messiah is going to put an end to sacrifice and offering.

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He'll put an end to sacrifice and offering. Hmm. I don't even know where to, where to start and stop with this one.

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So I'll give you two and they're right next to each other. So keep a finger in Daniel and go to Hebrews really fast to see how the

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Bible talks about this Hebrews chapter nine. And we're going to go to 10 to just two quick verses here.

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Hebrews nine and verse 26 says this after talking about the copies of the heavenly things, entering the holy place, that's temple stuff.

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Let's start, do 25, 25. Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood, not his own.

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So what is that? That's the sacrifice happening over and over and over and over and over again.

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It's nonstop. It's every year, Yom Kippur, day of atonement and day of atonements, actually over and over and over every year, repetition over nonstop, keep going, offering sin, show the blood, show the animal, show your sin over.

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And then the writer of Hebrews says, for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world.

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But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

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Two things happening there. When did Jesus appear at the end of the age? Not the beginning of the age.

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What is Matthew 24 about the end of the age? When did Jesus appear at the end of the age?

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Not at the beginning of the age. Just think about that. The next thing is, is Jesus puts away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

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And it's a once for all sacrifice. Brothers and sisters, can

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I ask you this question? Think with me here. Did the father accept one more animal sacrifice after the death of Messiah?

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Did he? It was over. What is Daniel 9 promise about Jesus and his coming sacrifice?

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In the middle of the seven years, he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering.

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What happened that terrific and terrible day? What happens? There was a great earthquake.

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The temple veil was ripped in half, right? Passage was made now for us to go into the holy place before a holy

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God, because Jesus accomplished our redemption once for all. There were no more sacrifices accepted by the father.

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After what? After the crucifixion of Jesus. He was cut off. He died a violent death.

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There's seven years. Jesus ministry. If you land on the baptism of Jesus was three and a half years long.

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And that is when he put an end to sacrifice and offering that leaves three and a half more years.

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And all I would invite you to do is just read the book of Acts, read the book of Acts, the acts of the apostles.

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Where did they focus in their ministry after the death and resurrection and ascension of Jesus?

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Where do they focus? They focused on the Jews. They continue to focus on the Jews. And you have that glorious moment three and a half years after the death of Jesus, where Peter is told to do what?

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Go preach the gospel now to who? The Gentiles. Seven years in the middle of the week, cut off, makes an end of sin, atonement for iniquity.

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And he does what? He puts an end to sacrifice and offering. Is that amazing? Am I the only one that thinks that that's awesome?

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It's incredible. That's Daniel nine. But Daniel nine also tells you this last point. And I'm just going to read you

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Eusebius here in a second here. But Daniel nine is the one that mentions the abomination of desolation. And somebody might say, like, what's specific?

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How? I like to play this safe. And I want to just confess to you as your pastor. I have been tempted to do a very detailed study of the abomination of desolation, who specifically, what specifically in history.

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I want to play this as safe biblically as possible and have you plant your feet on what you know is the case from scripture rather than is giving you a theory of my own.

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When Jesus says the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel, that's Daniel nine.

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But we have divinely inspired scripture that says in Luke 24, when you see

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Jerusalem surrounded by armies flee, I want to say the safest bet to say

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I know for sure that that's what's being talked about is to land on Luke 21 and say, this is at least what's being described here.

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When you have Jerusalem surrounded by armies, you know that that total event, that thing is what is being essentially pointed to in Daniel's desolation or abomination of desolation.

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Okay. So point you to those passages to look through that to understand. But what

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I think is important is to notice how even an early church father understood this promise, because this is the final word

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I have here. In Matthew 24, isn't it, we talked about this already, isn't it amazing? Don't go back to get your coat.

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Pray that it's not in the winter, the Sabbath. Pray that you're not nursing babies in those days. It's going to be an incredible time of tribulation.

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All that is there. But Jesus warns his disciples about when to escape the city.

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And in the early church, Eusebius is an early church father, pastor, bishop, and apologist.

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And he writes in his book chapter, sorry, book three, chapter five.

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Here's what he says. After Nero had held the power 13 years and Galba and Otho had ruled a year and six months,

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Vespasian, who had become distinguished in the campaigns against the Jews, was proclaimed sovereign in Judea and received the title of emperor from the armies there setting out immediately therefore for Rome.

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He entrusted the conduct of the war against the Jews to his son Titus. This is the war of the

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Romans versus the Jews that led to the destruction of Jerusalem, the setting of the temple on fire and the slaughter of so many

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Jews. They said there were crucifixes surrounding Jerusalem that looked like a forest of crucifixes.

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There was blood literally flowing through the street. People were eating their own children, eating dung to survive, eating each other to survive.

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It was a horrible time in history. He goes on to say, but the people of the church in Jerusalem had been commanded by a revelation, vouchsafed to approved men there before the war to leave the city and to dwell in a certain town of Perea called

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Pella. And when those that believed in Christ had come there from Jerusalem, then as if the royal city of the

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Jews and the whole land of Judea were entirely destitute of holy men, the judgment of God at length overtook those who had committed such outrages against Christ and his apostles and totally destroyed that generation of impious men.

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Listen, he goes on though. But the number of calamities which everywhere fell upon the nation at that time, the extreme misfortunes to which the inhabitants of Judea were especially subjected, the thousands of men as well as women and children that perished by the sword, by famine and by other forms of death innumerable, all these things, as well as the great sieges which were carried on against the cities of Judea and the excessive sufferings endured by those that fled to Jerusalem itself as to a city of perfect safety.

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And finally, the general course of the whole war, as well as its particular occurrences in detail and how at last, here it is, the abomination of desolation proclaimed by the prophets

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Daniel 9 27 stood in the very temple of God. So celebrated of all the temple, which was now awaiting its total and final destruction by fire, all these things, anyone that wishes may find accurately described in the history written by Josephus.

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That is an early church father, fourth century, describing the events in Matthew 24 as past tense, past tense.

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So when we say futurism versus preterism, preterism means past in fulfillment.

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A futurist view of Matthew 24 says this is all future to us. A preterist interpretation says, no, it's past in fulfillment.

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Here you have an early church father arguing that Matthew 24 is past in fulfillment.

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The abomination of desolation, the destruction of the temple, and God's people rescued from the destruction of Jerusalem.

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Don't you love it? Brothers and sisters, you've got a matter of record. Early pastor saying, hey,

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Jesus protected his people. It was vouchsafed by holy men, his word, that when this was all occurring, they were to flee.

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And they did flee. The Christians escaped the destruction of Jerusalem and fled to a town called

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Pella. Why? Because Jesus says, when you see it, don't get your coat.

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Don't go back. You run. You get out of the city as fast as you can.

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And we know as a matter of record in history that the city was surrounded by the armies of Rome.

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And then for some reason, there are, of course, varying interpretations as to why, the armies of Rome backed away from the city, started to go back again, and the

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Christians fled the city. And all of a sudden, the armies of Rome turned back around, re -sacked the city, and the

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Christians were the ones to escape the destruction of Jerusalem. Who told them to? Jesus.

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Where? In the Olivet Discourse. God's word is amazing.

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Amazing. And I want to say that when

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I reflect on Daniel 9, I'm reminded again, brothers and sisters,

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I'm reminded again of God's promises that he never fails to keep.

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And if anything is a so what from all this, it can't just be from, of course, the massive information of time and date and detail and all the things in history.

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If anything's a so what, I think that we have to grapple with this as God's people who are constantly blowing it, having bad days spiritually, not trusting

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God, lashing out against God, all the rest. Just confess that. We have those moments as sinners who are being sanctified.

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This is an example of God, the covenantally faithful God, who says a word and then he accomplishes it in history.

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And if God preserves his word and accomplishes his word in history, and he gives us testimony after testimony that he always does, and he never changes, and he cannot lie, then it means that you and I, as his children, can actually rest on his promises, no matter how much we blow it and how much, can

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I use the word, how much we suck at the Christian life, how much we actually just can't get it right.

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And we have our fits and our starts. God is faithful, even in the midst of our unfaithfulness.

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Here is unfaithful Israel, in exile, no temple, sinning against God, deserving all the sanctions.

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But what does Daniel plead for? Your mercy and your forgiveness, your covenant faithfulness to your people, that you'll accomplish all of this.

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And he keeps his promise in history. It happens on time. It happens as promised.

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And the answer, I think, the response to the message today, I think, has to be this. God, you're faithful.

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God, you're worthy of my praise and you're worthy of my life. God, you keep your promises. God, you're not like me.

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You're not like me. You don't have your inconsistencies. You don't have your good days, your bad days.

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You don't lash out. You don't let, God doesn't lash out, even when he has a moment of wrath and justice.

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It is a settled opposition against evil. It's not lashing out. He doesn't have the angry word.

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He doesn't, he doesn't lose his temper. He's settled. And in history, when he actually brings about his judgments, it's judgments that he's promised.

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They come on time. They come as planned, but he hasn't just promised justice. He's promised mercy.

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He's promised grace. He's promised his unfailing love to you. It never ceases.

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It never fails. And Daniel 9 is an example of that. Sin, sin, sin, corruption, unfaithfulness.

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And God says, here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to bring atonement for your iniquity. I'm going to bring an everlasting righteousness.

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I'm going to make an end of all this. I'm going to put an end to sacrifice and offering. I'm going to accomplish all this.

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I'm going to accomplish my word. And it happens on time and as plans. And you see in a life and ministry of Jesus, the

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Jesus story in the midst of all of this is a part of the whole story.

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It's not new. It's not unexpected. It's on time and it's as plans.

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And I think that the proper response from all of us to the message of Jesus is to fall at his feet and submit to him as Lord.

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It was, I have to say, it was sad. It was sad to see a man five feet from me.

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And I'll just, I'll, this is being recorded, but I'll go ahead and tell you something. I haven't announced it yet. When I walked past him, he knew who

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I was. And he said, I watch your stuff all the time. I'm grateful for your work. And he shook my hand and smiled grateful for my work.

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Think about it. Here's a man who has abandoned the faith and he tells people that Jesus was a lying prophet.

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And he told me he's grateful for my work. My life's work is to call this whole world to fall at the feet of Jesus and to obey him as God.

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That's my life's work. And here you have a man who is actually telling people that he's not

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Messiah, that he's not to be listened to and he's not to be obeyed. But if you actually look in the scriptures, you see that the testimony of Jesus as Messiah is something that is incontrovertible and it cannot be neglected, missed, turned away from.

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Jesus is God in the flesh. He is the Messiah. He's ruling on his throne.

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And listen, you got to respond to him. You have to respond to him. If you're not in Christ, you got to repent and believe in a hurry because he's

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King of Kings and he is either going to face you as judge or savior. So which one?

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And if you're in Christ today and you've been living a life apart from God, inconsistent, falling down, then you fall on your face after this message.

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You repent, you wash your face, you get up and you come to this meal rejoicing.

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But listen, these aren't things to be played with. They're not. Our life is that.

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It's gone. It's gone so fast. It's gone so fast. You got to respond to this.

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It can't just be another Sunday where you hear a message from Pastor Jeff, you hear about these amazing things, and you go, I'll get to it.

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Like I'll decide how serious I want to be about this savior later. These people died.

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Matthew 24, think about it. They died horrible, graphic, awful, terrible deaths.

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Why? Because they did not believe him. They didn't trust him. And they thought they had more time.

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And I want to encourage you to live a life that thinks so serious about the claims of Christ that you would never make the mistake that they made.

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And that's not see him for who he is and to think I have more time. Don't make those mistakes.

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History is replete with examples of people who did and now they're ashes. Don't make that mistake.

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Let's pray. Father, I pray, Lord, that you bless the word that went out today for your glory. Thank you for your word.

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Thank you for your promises. Thank you for your covenant faithfulness. Father, I don't know in this room who knows you truly.

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So I ask that you open the eyes of the blind by your spirit and according to the message of the savior, bring to life those who hear this message.

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I pray, Lord, for those of us who know you and are your children. I pray that you please help us.

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Help us to be fathers that glorify you and love you and delight in you. Help us to be mothers who do the same.

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Help us to be children who are obedient to your word and honor our fathers and mothers.

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Help us to be single people who are faithful to you, who look to you as a source of pleasure and joy.

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Help us to be a church that is faithful to your call, a church that's obedient to you, a church that is bold and filled with grace and love.

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Lord, we lean on your covenant mercy and faithfulness.

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That's what we lean on. Thank you for restoring, redeeming, and saving us. Thank you that you were cut off,

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Lord Jesus, for us. Thank you that you put an end to sacrifice and offering. In Jesus' name, amen.