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We come here to another of the great prophetic chapters of the Word of God. Dr. Philip Newell says, This is the greatest chapter of the book and one of the greatest chapters of the entire Bible. The two main themes of this chapter are prayer and prophecy. Daniel was one of the Lord's greatest saints in God's Kingdom. His recorded life and walk with God as found in the pages of this book is without equal in God's Word.
In chapter 1 ... At 17 years old he defied the King's edict to eat unclean meats (in order to remain faithful to his God).
In chapter 2 ... He called his friends to prayer so they could get the interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream.
In chapter 4 ... He fearlessly stood before Nebuchadnezzar and told him that he was about to be humbled by the true and living God by being turned into a beast for 7 years and that he would be wandering the fields and eating grass like an ox.
In chapter 5 ... He confronted Belshazzar and told that strutting young peacock that he was filled with ungodly pride and a worshiper of dumb idols and therefore the God of Heaven had removed him from his throne.
In chapter 6 ... He continued to pray 3 times a day in open defiance of Darius' ban on prayer to any god except the king. Then, he was thrown alive into a pit of lions.
In chapter 7 ... He was shown the 4 great Gentile kingdoms of the future and saw into Heaven to that future day when the Son of Man would receive his eternal Kingdom from the hand of the Ancient of Days.
In chapter 9 ... The archangel Gabriel (an Angel of the Presence) was sent from God to Daniel saying ... you are greatly loved.
I Corinthians 2:15, says,
But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one.
Hmmm, spiritual. Ever wonder what that means? Maybe, all we need do is just think about Daniel. In this first part of chapter 9, let's explore this. Just how does one become a giant in the faith?
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9:1-2
In the first year of Darius son of Ahasuerus (a Mede by descent), who was made ruler over the Babylonian kingdom- in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures, according to the word of the LORD given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years.
Somehow, Daniel managed to possess copies of the Old Testament Scriptures. And one day, as he was reading in the Word of God, he came across Jeremiah 29:10. He read,
This is what the LORD says: 'When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place.'
No doubt, when Daniel read that, he was ecstatic. He had discovered in the Word of God that the captivity of Judah in Babylon would only last for 70 years! You know he wasted no time getting out his calendar to see how much longer he and his people would have to be there. Seventy years, no doubt, dominated Daniel's thinking all that day long and for all days that followed. Seventy years and we are out of here. We're going home!
The first principle of spirituality we see here is that Daniel was a reader and student of the Word of God. He found spiritual sustenance, wisdom, knowledge, and fellowship with God within its pages. Doubtless, this is the first principle of being a spiritual man or woman. The first and most vital step a Christian man or woman can make is to nurture and acquire a love affair with their Bible, the Word of God. You and I have a great advantage over Daniel in this regard. He only had Genesis through Malachi. We have, right at our fingertips, so ... so much more. Colossians 3:16, says,
Let the word of Christ (speaking of the entire Bible) richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
We hear a lot of excuses for not reading the Word of God. Some say, My eyes aren't as good as they used to be and it's just too hard for me to read any more. Well, get a large print Bible or listen to a recorded version. There are so many tools available to the child of God today for access to the Word of God ... the Internet ... phone apps ... CD's, etc. Don't let anything keep you from the Book. Take every opportunity to immerse yourself in it. One can't even get out of the starting blocks to spirituality without developing a love affair with the Word of God. Each time we read it, we are sitting at the feet of Jesus. He has spoken to us in his Word. Daniel was well steeped in this critical avenue of fellowship with his God.
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9:3-6
So I gave my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes. I prayed to the LORD my God and confessed and said, 'Alas, O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments, we have sinned, committed iniquity, acted wickedly and rebelled, even turning aside from Your commandments and ordinances. Moreover, we have not listened to Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings, our princes, our fathers and all the people of the land.
Upon learning in Jeremiah of the 70-year duration of their captivity, Daniel went right to his knees. Dr. Gaebelein, the Hebrew scholar, says that it takes three minutes to read, in Hebrew, Daniel's prayer here. When Daniel prayed, he was very thorough. He had a tender heart toward God and toward God's people. His people had completely turned away from their God and, as a result, they were now scattered all across Asia Minor, having been driven out of their homeland by the very God who had put them there in the first place. Did you notice how Daniel included himself among the transgressors?
The second principle of spirituality we see here in Daniel, can be summed up in three words. Communicate with God. Daniel says, I gave my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer. We need to ask ourselves, Have I been giving attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer? How serious a matter is prayer in my life? Where is talking to God on my priority list? Is it somewhere down at the bottom of page 19? To a spiritual child of God ... prayer has become as natural and necessary as breathing. Back in chapter 6, we read ...he kneeled upon his knees three times a day and prayed, and gave thanks before his God. I Thessalonians 5:17, admonishes us,
...pray without ceasing...
Can we receive it? I was thinking about this a while back and it came to me that prayer is more of a portal than it is a door. The portal to our Lord's throne has no door, you see. It's always open. A good deal of what it means to abide in Christ, found in John 15, is realized by prayer. This is why we believers are told to pray without ceasing. You and I can have a continuous dialog with our Lord from any place and at any time. There are a couple of specifics here in Daniel's prayer that I believe are helpful to us concerning this.
Be serious. Did you notice how far Daniel went being serious before his God? It says that he sought the Lord with fasting, sackcloth and ashes. Do you think as this great man of God was sitting in sackcloth, dust, and ashes... it caught God's eye and ear? Have we ever cared that deeply about something? James 5:16b comes to mind.
...the effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avai,ls much.
Be honest. The thoughts, needs, fears, and dreams of spiritual people are regularly placed by them at Jesus' feet. They an "open book" before their God. As King David put it in Psalm 51:6-7,
Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach me wisdom in the inmost place. Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
When Daniel prayed, he was completely transparent with God. He told it like it was. The sooner a child of God learns to come before their Lord and "call a spade a spade" ... the more firmly their feet will be planted in true spirituality. I John 1:9 comes into play here. It been called, the believer's bar of soap. Keep in mind, this verse has nothing to do with one's salvation. That's a done deal. First John 1:9 has to do with our fellowship with the living God ... not our position before God. Confession restores our fellowship with God. Our position before God never needs restoring (Eph. 5:27).
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
Keep short accounts with God. The great saint, George Muller, was once seen standing in the middle of a busy street with his head bowed ... praying. When asked what that was all about, he replied that he had sinned while crossing the street and it was his habit to keep short accounts with God. So, he stopped in the middle of the street to take care of it!
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9:7-19
Lord, you are righteous, but this day we are covered with shame -- the men of Judah and people of Jerusalem and all Israel, both near and far, in all the countries where you have scattered us because of our unfaithfulness to you. O LORD, we and our kings, our princes and our fathers are covered with shame because we have sinned against you. The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him; we have not obeyed the LORD our God or kept the laws he gave us through his servants the prophets. All Israel has transgressed your law and turned away, refusing to obey you.
Therefore the curses and sworn judgments written in the Law of Moses, the servant of God, have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against you. You have fulfilled the words spoken against us and against our rulers by bringing upon us great disaster. Under the whole heaven nothing has ever been done like what has been done to Jerusalem. Just as it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us, yet we have not sought the favor of the LORD our God by turning from our sins and giving attention to your truth. The LORD did not hesitate to bring the disaster upon us, for the LORD our God is righteous in everything he does; yet we have not obeyed him.
Now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of Egypt with a mighty hand and who made for yourself a name that endures to this day, we have sinned, we have done wrong. O Lord, in keeping with all your righteous acts, turn away your anger and your wrath from Jerusalem, your city, your holy hill. Our sins and the iniquities of our fathers have made Jerusalem and your people an object of scorn to all those around us.
Now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of your servant. For your sake, O Lord, look with favor on your desolate sanctuary. Give ear, O God, and hear; open your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears your Name. We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy. O Lord, listen! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, hear and act! For your sake, O my God, do not delay, because your city and your people bear your Name.
The third principle of spirituality found in Daniel's prayer is: Always expect to receive grace and mercy at the throne of God. In verse 7, Daniel prayed, O Lord, righteousness belongs to you. In verse 9 he said, To the Lord our God belongs mercies and forgiveness. That being the case, dear saint, let's walk in Daniel's footsteps and go and get it! Go and get it often. Our God is kind, forgiving, gracious and merciful beyond what you and I can imagine. There is nothing his children get into that he can't handle. Daniel and his people were a mess. They had created a huge spiritual disasters but their God specialized in people who caused disasters! And he hasn't changed, brother or sister. You and I require a lot of mercy and grace from the hand of our God. Am I right? Well, he's got a lot of it waiting for us. He has it by the bucket load. As the prophet Jonah found out ... we serve the God of the second chance. And, I might add, the third, fourth, and ...? When asked about forgiveness, Jesus told his disciples to forgive 70 times 7. If we sinners are to do that ... what must our Lord be like in that department? So, go to him often, beloved. Take your cup and lift it up and ask God to fill it with grace and mercy. He will be all too glad to do so. You and I can experience his grace and mercies new every morning in our fellowship with our God. As you have it in Hebrews 4:14-16,
Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are -- yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
And again, in Philippians 3:13-14,
Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
So, to sum up ... the three primary highways (and they are high ways indeed) to spirituality are:
Having a love affair with the Word of God.
Loving to talk to God.
Regularly receiving grace and mercy from God. Go to him often. Receive from his hand. He will more than meet your needs. Psalm 136, says,
Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good!
For His mercy endures forever.
Oh, give thanks to the God of gods!
For His mercy endures forever.
Oh, give thanks to the Lord of lords!
For His mercy endures forever:
To Him who alone does great wonders,
For His mercy endures forever;
To Him who by wisdom made the heavens,
For His mercy endures forever;
To Him who laid out the earth above the waters,
For His mercy endures forever;
To Him who made great lights,
For His mercy endures forever --
The sun to rule by day,
For His mercy endures forever;
The moon and stars to rule by night,
For His mercy endures forever.
To Him who struck Egypt in their firstborn,
For His mercy endures forever;
And brought out Israel from among them,
For His mercy endures forever;
With a strong hand, and with an outstretched arm,
For His mercy endures forever;
To Him who divided the Red Sea in two,
For His mercy endures forever;
And made Israel pass through the midst of it,
For His mercy endures forever;
But overthrew Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea,
For His mercy endures forever;
To Him who led His people through the wilderness,
For His mercy endures forever;
To Him who struck down great kings,
For His mercy endures forever;
And slew famous kings,
For His mercy endures forever --
Sihon king of the Amorites,
For His mercy endures forever;
And Og king of Bashan,
For His mercy endures forever --
And gave their land as a heritage,
For His mercy endures forever;
A heritage to Israel His servant,
For His mercy endures forever.
Who remembered us in our lowly state,
For His mercy endures forever;
And rescued us from our enemies,
For His mercy endures forever;
Who gives food to all flesh,
For His mercy endures forever.
Oh, give thanks to the God of heaven!
For His mercy endures forever.
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9:20-23
While I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel and making my request to the LORD my God for his holy hill--while I was still in prayer, Gabriel, the man I had seen in the earlier vision, came to me in swift flight about the time of the evening sacrifice. He instructed me and said to me, 'Daniel, I have now come to give you insight and understanding. As soon as you began to pray, an answer was given, which I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed. Therefore, consider the message and understand the vision:...
When Daniel began to pray that day, he surely never dreamed what was about to happen next! God's response was immediate. Instantly, Gabriel was dispatched from before God's Throne to go to Babylon and give further revelation to Daniel concerning his people, the Jews. Isaiah 1:18, says,
'Come now, let us reason together', says the LORD. 'Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.'
God's response to one of his saint's prayers for forgiveness (often, even in intercession for one of their brothers or sisters) is always the same. Yes! ... Yes! ... Yes! (I John 1:9). Our God can say that because of what his Son has done on the cross. As you have it in I John 1:7,
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us (the tense of the verb here is: keeps on cleansing) from all sin.
While he was still praying, suddenly, a hand touched his shoulder. And, for the second time, Daniel found himself looking up into the face of God's great Archangel, Gabriel. Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Daniel records, he came to me in swift flight. This implies distance and spatial quantities between where Gabriel had been and where Gabriel had been sent. It had taken him around 3 minutes to make his flight. Wouldn't you and I like to know just how far that distance actually was! If Gabriel had flown at the speed of light (186 282.397 miles per second in a vacuum), he had traveled approximately 560,000 miles. However, I suspect, that in the spirit realm, there are no such terrestrial limitations ... so the distance was probably much, much further. Be that as it may, it took Gabriel a good bit of time to travel from where he was to where Daniel was. However, God heard Daniel the instant his lips said, O Lord. Our God is a very, very available God. He is closer than the very next breath you and I draw. He is both omnipresent and omniscient. As the Apostle Paul put it to his audience on Mars Hill in Athens,
God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 'For in him we live and move and have our being... Acts 17:27-28a
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9:24-27
Seventy weeks (70) are determined for your people and for your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy. Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem (fulfilled by Artaxerxes in 445 BC ... Nehemiah 2:5-8) until Messiah the Prince, there shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks (69); the street shall be built again, and the wall (accomplished under Nehemiah), even in troublesome times. And after the sixty-two weeks, Messiah shall be cut off, (speaking of Jesus' rejection by the Jewish people and crucifixion) but not for himself (speaking of his vicarious death for you and me); and the people (the Romans) of the prince who is to come (Antichrist) shall destroy the city and the sanctuary (destroyed by the Roman general, Titus, in AD 70). The end of it shall be with a flood, and till the end of the war desolations are determined. Then he (Antichrist) shall confirm a covenant with many for one week; (make a 7, year treaty with the Jews at the beginning of the Tribulation) but in the middle of the week (3 and 1/2 years after the treaty is signed) he shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall be one (Antichrist) who makes desolate, (Antichrist's seizing of the temple and setting up the worship of himself there) even until the consummation, which is determined, is poured out on the desolate. (Christ's judgment of Antichrist at his Second Coming ... destroying his dark kingdom and casting him into the Lake of Fire.)
In order to feel at home with this amazing prophecy that Daniel was given, we need to understand the following:
1. Gabriel's seventy weeks = 490 prophetic years.
2. The starting point of the 490 years began when the decree of Artaxerxes went out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem (Nehemiah 2:12-15).
3. Gabriel's year contained 360 days (12 months X 30 days).
4. The prince mentioned in this phrase, the people of the prince that shall come, is not Messiah the Prince of verse 25, but rather the little horn of Daniel 7, the man of sin of II Thessalonians 2.
5. There will be a time period of undetermined length between the coming of Messiah the Prince and the final 7 years in this prophecy. This we deduce from the mention of three things in this prophecy:
a. the cross ... where Messiah will be cut off
b. the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70
c. the future covenant that the Antichrist will make with the Jews
6. The distinctly Jewish nature of the entire prophecy.
Having said all that, what we have before us here is doubtless the most intricate prophecy in all of the Bible. I took the liberty of inserting comments (in black) within the scripture above in order to assist making it more easily grasped ... especially for those who might be studying it for the first time. I also quoted it from the King James Version since it is a literal translation and therefore takes great care in attempting to give it to us word for word from the Hebrew.
As far as the specific timing is concerned, this also is the most amazingly precise prophecy in the entire Bible. Three key portions of it have already been fulfilled ... namely:
I. The issuing of the decree to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem. Took place in 445 BC.
II. The exact time between Artaxerxes' decree and Christ's presentation of himself to Israel as their Messiah (the Palm Sunday event ... John 12:12-15). Exactly 483 years.
III. The cutting off of Messiah by the cross.
Based on the statement, from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, there shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks (69) ... Sir Robert Anderson posited that each of Daniel's weeks were seven years long ... or, prophetic weeks. Sixty-nine (69) of the prophecy's weeks then, equaled ... 7 X 69 = 483 years. He then discovered that from Artaxerxes' decree, in the days of Nehemiah (Neh. 2:12-15), unto the day that Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the donkey's colt and presented himself to Israel as their Messiah was in fact, EXACTLY 483 years. Just as the prophecy given to Daniel had predicted.
This turned out to be so precise a prediction and with such an exact fulfillment in history that again, liberal theologians conclude that the book of Daniel could not have been written by Daniel at all. It must have been written by someone else at a much later time ... writing from hindsight rather than foresight! Scholarly study of Daniel, however, clearly proves otherwise. The historicity and date of Daniel's writings are beyond question. This is dealt with extensively by Sir Robert Anderson in his classic book, The Coming Prince (Anderson, Pickering and Inglis, Ltd., London, 13th Edition, n.d. pp. 127-128).
With the following, let me give a copy from Sir Robert Anderson's work:
In accordance with the Jewish custom, the Lord went up to Jerusalem upon the 8th of Nisan, 'six days before the passover.' But as the 14th, on which the Paschal Supper was eaten, fell that year on a Thursday, the 8th was the preceding Friday. He must have spent the Sabbath, therefore, at Bethany; and on the evening of the 9th, after the Sabbath had ended, the Super took place in Martha's house. Upon the following day, the 10th of Nisan, He entered Jerusalem as recorded in the Gospels. The Triumphal entry, the end of the 69 sevens cf. Zech. 9:9. The Julian date of that 10th of Nisan was Sunday the 6th of April, a.d. 32. What then was the length of the period intervening between the issuing of the decree to rebuild Jerusalem and the public advent of 'Messiah the Prince,' -- between the 14th March b.c. 445, and the 6th April, a.d. 32? THE INTERVAL CONTAINED EXACTLY AND TO THE VERY DAY 173,880 DAYS, OR SEVEN TIMES SIXTY-NINE PROPHETIC YEARS OF 360 DAYS, the first sixty-nine weeks of Gabriel's prophecy.
The 1st Nisan in the 20th year of Artaxerxes (the edict to rebuild Jerusalem) was 14th March, b.c. 445.
The 10th Nisan in Passion Week (Christ's entry into Jerusalem) was 6th April, a.d. 32.
The intervening period was 476 years and 24 days (the days being reckoned inclusively, as required by the language of the prophecy, and in accordance with the Jewish practice.)
But 476 x 365 = 173,740 days
Add (14th March to 6th April, both inclusive) 24 "
Add for leap years 116 "
173,880 days
Add 69 weeks of prophetic years of 360 days (or 69 x 7 x 360) = 173,880 days."
Returning to Daniel's prophecy, this means there now remains just one week (7 years), yet to be fulfilled. As it turns out, that is due to the Church age. The mystery of the Church and its day on earth (from the cross of Christ until now), is not revealed in the Old Testament. In fact, the Church is not found in the Old Testament at all. It is in the New Testament scriptures that the Church is revealed. There, the study of its prophetic passages brings us to the conclusion that the Church Age falls between Daniel's 69th and 70th week.
When Israel's Messiah was cut off at the cross, Daniel's prophetic seventy weeks stopped their count down. And its final week ... its 70th week ... now stands in the wings awaiting it's time to yet be fulfilled. When the Rapture of the Church occurs (I Thes. 4:16-18), that event will bring the Church Age to a close and Daniel's seventy weeks will once again commence ... ticking off the last 7 years of Earth's Gentile history. Theologically, it is called The Tribulation Period. Christ Jesus' detailed account of those final days is given to us in Revelation 6-18. When they are completed, all of Daniel's prophecy of the seventy years will have been fulfilled to the letter.
Other references to the 7-year Tribulation period come from several scriptures that mention its two 3 1/2 year segments. The last 3 1/2 years is called the Great Tribulation. Here is a list of these scriptures.
Revelation 11:3, says that God's two witnesses will prophesy at Jerusalem for one thousand two hundred and sixty days (1260 divided by 360 = 3 1/2 years).
Revelation 12:6, says that the woman, Israel, will be hidden in the wilderness for one thousand two hundred and sixty days (1260 divided by 360 = 3 1/2 years).
Revelation 13:5, says that the beast with the big mouth (Antichrist) was granted to continue for forty-two months (42 divided by 12 = 3 1/2 years)
Daniel 7:25, says that the saints will be given into the hands of the little horn (Antichrist) for a time and times and half a time (a Jewish idiomatic expression where the term, time, means one year) (1 + 2 + 1/2 = 3 1/2 years)
Daniel 12:11, says that from the time that the sacrifice is caused to cease and the abomination of desolation is set up (until the end) will be one thousand two hundred and ninety days (1290 divided by 360 = 3 1/2 years + an extra 30 days) We don't know what that extra 30 days is about. It is still a mystery.
Daniel 12:12, says that there will be one thousand three hundred and thirty-five days until a day when all who arrive in Israel will be called blessed (1335 divided by 360 = 3 1/2 years + an extra 75 days) Probably this is referring to a particular red-letter day that will occur in the Millennial Kingdom of Christ calculated from the day that the sacrifice was stopped by Antichrist in the middle of the Tribulation.
In conclusion, Daniel 9:24-27 is the prophecy where the foundation for the seven year Tribulation is well laid. It's already fulfilled predictions and time periods are precise and beyond question. There is only one piece of the puzzle that lies yet unfulfilled ... namely, its final 70th week (7 years).
In addition, there are the other scriptures mentioned above that predict its three and a half year segments. Together, these scriptures clearly show that the length of the Tribulation will be seven years.
Just a couple more comments before we leave this chapter...
According to Gabriel's message, these 70 prophetic years are required in order to:
1. ...finish the transgression. I believe this refers to the transgression of the Jew's continuous rejection of their God. Throughout history, that has been their Achilles heel. For example, of the 2 million plus Jews that God delivered from Egypt, only 3 people entered the Promised Land. The Old Testament is the history of the people of Israel's repeated transgressions and rejections of their God. As Stephen put it to them so directly in Acts 7:51-53 ... just before they stoned him to death ...
You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are just like your fathers: You always resist the Holy Spirit! Was there ever a prophet your fathers did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him --
2. ...to make an end of sins and to make reconciliation for iniquities. These statements are clear references to the cross-work of Christ ... wherein the sin problem and the estrangement between God and man was forever settled. As we have it in I John 2:2,
He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
And again, in II Corinthians 5:18-19,
All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.
3. ...to bring in everlasting righteousness. This is a clear reference to Christ's Kingdom on Earth ... that future day when the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea (Isa. 11:9; Hab. 2:14). This will occur when Christ sets up his Kingdom on earth following the Tribulation Period (Daniel's prophetic 70th week). As you have it in Isaiah 1:26-27,
I will restore your judges as in days of old, your counselors as at the beginning. Afterward you will be called the City of Righteousness, the Faithful City. Zion will be redeemed with justice, her penitent ones with righteousness.
4. ...to seal up vision and prophecy. In other words, after the 70 prophetic weeks have come and gone, there will never again be need for visions or prophecies.
5. ...and to anoint the Most Holy. This is a reference to the inner sanctum, The Holy of Holies (Greek: naos), that will be inside Christ's literal temple on Earth during the Millennium. Christ will have a temple on earth all through his Millennial (1000 year) reign. Ezekiel 41-46 gives us its exact specifications and dimensions. The Jews to this day, don't know what to make of it!
Another amazing thing about this prophecy? It was written 550 years before Christ was even born!
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Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission.
All rights reserved.
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