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DANIEL 9
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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
spiritual 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
an animal for 7 years ... 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 gods except the king ... and was subsequently
thrown alive into a pit of lions.
In chapter 7 ... He was shown the great Gentile kingdoms of the future
and saw into Heaven on 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 angel Gabriel said he was sent to Daniel because ...
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.
If you should
find yourself wondering just what it means to be
spiritual ... just think
about Daniel. In the first part of chapter 9, I would like to explore this a
bit. Just how does one become such a
giant of 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. There, 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! After reading that,
don't you know he wasted no time in getting out his calendar to determine how
much longer he and his people would be there? You know it!
Seventy years was, no
doubt, ringing in Daniel's heart all that day long and for all the days that
followed.
Seventy years and we are
out of here. We're going home!
A.
The first principle of spirituality we
see here is that Daniel was �c �ga reader and student of the Word of God.�h
He found spiritual sustenance, wisdom, knowledge and fellowship with God within
its pages. Make no mistake about it, beloved,
this is the first principle of being a spiritual man or woman. The
first and most vital step that a spiritual man or woman does is nurture and
acquire a love affair with the Word of God. You and I have a great advantage
over Daniel in this regard. He only had Genesis through Malachi. We have, in our
hands, so much more.
Colossian 3:16,
says,
Let the word of Christ
(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.
I have heard a
lot of excuses for not reading the Word of God. Some have said,
My eyes aren't as good as they used to be and it's just too hard for me
to read any more. Well, then ... get a large print Bible or a recorded
version. There are so many tools available to the child of God today ... the
Internet ... phone apps ... CD's, etc. Don't let anything keep you from
the Book of books! Take every
opportunity to immerse yourself in it. We can't even get out of the
starting blocks to
spirituality without developing a love affair with the Word of God.
Every 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 avenue of fellowship with his God.
_________________________________________________________________
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.
Immediately on
learning in Jeremiah of the 70- year duration of their captivity, Daniel went to
his knees. Dr. Gaebelein, the Hebrew scholar, says that it takes
three minutes to read Daniel's prayer
here in the Hebrew. Daniel was very thorough when he prayed. He had a tender
heart toward his God and toward God's people. His people had completely turned
away from their God and, as a result, they were now scattered 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 as a
transgressor ... along with the rest
of his people?
B. The second principle of spirituality
we see in Daniel can be summed up in 3 words ... �gCommunicate with God�h.
Daniel says,
I gave my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer. We
need to ask ourselves, Have I been giving
my
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 the child of God who is spiritual ... prayer is 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. God's Word to us
in
I Thessalonians
5:17,
is,
...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. Because, you see, the portal to our Lord's throne
has no door. It is always open. A good deal of what it means to abide in Christ
... as found in John 15, ... is realized in prayer. That's 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 concerning this.
Let me list them.
1. Be serious. Did you notice how far Daniel went in
this regard in verse 3? It says that he sought the Lord with
fasting, sackcloth and ashes. Do you think ... when this great man of
God was sitting in
sackcloth, dust and
ashes... praying ... that it
caught God's eye and ear? Have you ever cared that deeply about something?
James 5:16b,
comes to mind.
...the effective,
fervent prayer of a righteous man
avails much.
2. Be honest.
The lives of spiritual people are 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 in here. It is the Christian'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.
If we confess our
sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from
all unrighteousness.
Someone has said, Keep short accounts with God. Right on, brother!
__________________________________________________________________
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.
C. The third principle of spirituality
found in Daniel's prayer is: �gAlways expect to receive grace and mercy at the
throne of God.�h
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. So, dear saint, walk
in Daniel's footsteps ... 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 in a mess. They had created a huge spiritual
disaster, but their God was the God who specializes in people who make
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 learned, we serve the God of the second
chance. And, I might add, the third and fourth and ...? When asked about
forgiveness, Jesus told his disciples to forgive 70 times 7.
If we are to do that ... what must
our Lord be like in that department? Aye? I repeat, if we are to be that way ...
what must our God be like? So, go to him often, beloved. Take your cup ... and
lift it up ... and ask him to fill it with grace and mercy. He will be all too
glad to do so and we can experience his 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 then, the
three major highways (and they are
"High Ways" indeed) that are basic
fundamental principles of spirituality are:
Develop a love affair with the Word of
God.
Develop a love
for talking to God.
Develop an
openness to receiving the grace and mercy of God.
Go to him often. Receive from his hand and
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.
__________________________________________________________________
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, he had come to the right place. And, the response of his Lord was
immediate. Instantly, Gabriel was dispatched from before The Throne to go to
Babylon and to bring 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 (or intercession for one of their
brothers or sisters) is always the same.
Yes! ...
Yes! ...
Yes! (I John 1:9). God can say
that, by the way, because of what his Son did 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 =
keeps on cleansing us)
from all sin.
The fact that
Gabriel was immediately dispatched to
Daniel, is more than sufficient evidence that Daniel's sin was
forgiven and that his
fellowship with his God was intact.
While he was
still praying, suddenly, a hand touched
his shoulder. Then, for the second time, Daniel found himself looking up
into the face of that great Archangel of God named
Gabriel. Under the
inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he records that Gabriel
came to me in swift flight.
This implies distance and spatial quantities between where Gabriel had been ...
to where Gabriel was 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 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. But, 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
omnipresent as well as 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
__________________________________________________________________
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.)
Now, in order
to "be at home" in this amazing prophecy that Daniel was given, one needs to
understand the following:
1. Gabriel's
seventy weeks = 490 years.
2. The starting point of the 490 years began with the decree of
Artaxerxes to
restore and rebuild Jerusalem (Nehemiah
2:12-15).
3. Gabriel's reckoning of years contained 360 days each (12 months X 30
days).
4. The
prince in the 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 learn from the mention of:
a.
the cross ... where
Messiah will be
cut off
b.
the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70
c.
and, the
covenant that the Antichrist will make with the Jews.
6. finally, the distinctly Jewish nature of the entire passage.
Having said
all that, what we have here is doubtless the most intricate and amazing prophecy
in all of the Bible. I took the liberty of inserting comments (in black) within
the scripture text in order to help make it more easily understandable ...
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
specific timing is concerned, this 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 (445 BC).
II. The fulfillment of the exact time
period predicted between that decree and
the first coming of Christ Jesus the Messiah (483 years).
III. And,
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 Daniel's
weeks were each 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), to 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 in Daniel predicted!
This turned
out to be so precise a prediction, and with such an exact fulfillment in
history, that, again, liberal theologians concluded that the book of Daniel
could not have been written by Daniel but 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).
The following
is a copy of 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 that there now
remains just one week (7 years), that
is yet to be fulfilled. As it turns
out, that was due to the Church age. Now, in the Old Testament, the mystery of
the Church and its day on earth (from the cross of Christ until right now,
today), was not revealed. In fact, the Church is not found in the Old Testament
at all. It is the New Testament scriptures that reveal the Church. There, the
careful study of its many prophetic passages bring us to the conclusion that the
Church Age falls between Daniel's 69th and 70th week.
So, when
Messiah was
cut off at the cross, Daniel's
prophetic seventy weeks clock
stopped. And its final
week ... its 70th week ... stands in
the wings awaiting its time to be fulfilled. When
the Rapture of the Church occurs (I Thess. 4:16-18), that amazing
event will bring the Church Age to a
close and commence Daniel's 70th week.
Then, once more, the prophetic clock of Daniel's 70 weeks
will begin to tick down ... ticking
off the final 7 years of Earth's Gentile history. It is called
The Tribulation Period. Christ Jesus' detailed account of those
coming days are given to us in Revelation 6-18. When those seven years are over,
all of Daniel's prophecy of the 70 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 at 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 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 problem, was forever
settled. As you 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 yet future time 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 that most holy inner sanctum,
The Holy of Holies (Greek:
naos), that will be inside of
Christ's literal temple on Earth. Christ's temple will exist on earth all
through his Millennial (1000 year) reign. Ezekiel 41-46, gives us its exact
specifications and dimensions, by the way. And the Jews, to this day, don't know
what to make of it!
Another
amazing thing about this prophecy is that it was written 550 years before Christ
was even born!
Scripture taken
from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by
permission. All rights reserved.