Let's bow together in prayer. Would you join
me? Lord, today we do proclaim the grace and
glory that belongs alone to you. Father, your
Almighty Son, we adore and worship, and we quiet
ourselves before you, desiring with all of our
hearts that in this time we might hear from you.
We have come not only to sing and to speak to
you, but to be quiet and to listen. And so open
our minds, prepare our hearts, and do that work
by the Spirit which you alone can do within each
one of us. For Lord, we are a needy people. We
need cleansing from our sins. We need grace for
our struggles and temptations. We need encouragement
along this pilgrim pathway. And so we present
ourselves to you, acknowledging our needs and
trusting you to provide for them by your grace
and glory. Sing with me the chorus that I think
most of us know. Father, we love you, we worship
and adore you. Father, we love you, we worship
and adore you. Glorify thy name in all the earth.
glorify thy name glorify thy name glorify thy
name in all the earth Jesus we love you Jesus
we love you Hershey Spirit, we love you. Spirit,
we love you. Father who art in heaven, hallowed
be your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be
done on earth as it is in heaven. Amen. There
are some things that you try to wipe out of your
memory. But in the back of my mind I recall an
occasion when I was late for an appointment.
and drove perhaps a little bit too fast to get
there, but nonetheless arrived safely and pulled
into the parking lots, jumped out of my car,
locked the door, and went into the building,
only to realize that I had left the car running
with the keys inside of the locked car, and there
I was late for an appointment in a real mess.
If you've ever lost your keys or been locked
out of a place you wanted to be, you know the
importance of a key. It's valuable. A key brings
to us entrance and comfort. Daniel was urgently
asking God in Daniel chapter 9 for the restoration
of the Jewish nation. We examined that prayer
of his last week. You will recall that for nearly
70 years they had been exiled from their land.
They had been locked out by God because of their
disobedience and sin. Daniel knew that the exile
was to be 70 years in length and that God had
then promised his people restoration, and so
he prayed. In answer to Daniel's petition, God
gave Daniel more than an open door for the restoration
of the Jews in that generation. In answer to
his prayer, God gave to Daniel a key. A key that
prophetically unlocked the future of the Jewish
nation for Daniel's understanding. I believe
that if a student of the Bible can comprehend
the timeline that God revealed in this key passage
that we look at this morning. He will be comforted
because he will possess three assurances. He
will be assured that God is sovereign. He will
be assured that God is faithful. And he will
be assured that God is loving. Because we all
face temptation. and because we all struggle
with doubt and uncertainties. We need our hearts
to be reassured that God is and that God reigns.
We turn today to Daniel chapter 9, verses 20
through 27, and we talk about God's key to Israel's
future. The key to Israel's future involves several
important features, as we shall see. In verses
20 -23, Daniel explains to us how God answered
his prayer. It was while he was still praying,
actually, that the man Gabriel was sent to him.
By man, he does not mean a human being, like
you and me, but nonetheless a person, an angel,
actually, who had come to him before in a vision.
And he explains to Daniel that God had heard
his prayer and that from the very first of his
pleading with God, he had been sent from the
throne of God to give Daniel understanding. And
in verse 24, this is that understanding. This
is the key that God gave to Daniel and to all
of us regarding the future of Israel. Seventy
weeks have been decreed for your people and your
holy city. to finish the transgression, to make
an end of sin, to make an atonement for iniquity,
to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal
up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most
Holy Place. So you are to know and discern that
from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild
Jerusalem, until Messiah the Prince, there will
be seven weeks and sixty -two weeks. It will
be built again with plaza and moat, even in times
of distress. Then after the sixty -two weeks,
the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing.
And the people of the prince who is to come will
destroy the city and the sanctuary, and its end
will come with a flood. Even to the end there
will be war. Desolations are determined. And
he will make a firm covenant with the many for
one week. But in the middle of the week he will
put a stop to the sacrifice and grain offering.
And on the wing of abominations will come one
who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction,
one that is decreed, is poured out on the one
who makes desolate. This is perhaps one of the
most complex prophetic passages in the entire
Old Testament. This morning we want to look at
it so that we can all gain at least a preliminary
understanding of this key to Israel's future.
Notice that in this key there are three features
that stand out immediately. They are the 70 weeks,
the six accomplishments, and the three divisions.
Those are the three features we want to examine
this morning. First of all, the 70 weeks. Gabriel
said to Daniel, 70 weeks are decreed. Literally,
Gabriel said, 70 units of seven or 70 sevens
are decreed for your people. What did he mean
by that? In our culture today, because of our
heritage, we think in terms of tens. as mathematical
units. And so we talk about decimals. And we
talk about decades. We think in terms of tens.
But in the culture in that day, people did not
think that way. They thought in terms of sevens
or heptads. Units of seven were very common to
them. And so Gabriel simply explains to Daniel
something that he would more easily have understood
than we might. Daniel, for your people there
are seventy -sevens that are decreed. Now the
question is, what unit of time is Gabriel referring
to? Is he talking about seventy periods of seven
days, seventy periods of seven weeks, seventy
periods of seven years? Well, as we examine biblical
history following this prophecy and what took
place, it is very clear that Gabriel had in mind
70 units of seven years. In other words, if you
multiply that out, Gabriel is saying, Daniel,
I want to tell you about a period of 490 years
that are relevant to your people. Notice that
he says, to your people, not to the church of
Jesus Christ in this age, not particularly to
the Gentile nations, though Daniel has dealt
broadly with Gentile empires that would arise
in history after his day. But he is talking about
a period of 70 times 7 years, 490 years, that
deal with the Jewish people. That brings us to
the six accomplishments, the second feature of
the key, for he says that in this period of time
there would be six objectives that would be fully
realized by the end of the 490 years. Three of
these objectives deal with the removal of sin.
Three of these objectives deal with the restoration
of righteousness. Remember now Daniel's people,
the Jews, had disobeyed God and for that disobedience
they were now in exile. Daniel is saying, God
restore your people. And Gabriel brings the message
from God, we must first of all deal with sin
and then restore righteousness. Notice how he
puts it in verse 24, these weeks of years are
determined to finish the transgression. That
is to get a firm grip on. or a firm restraint
on transgression. In other words, Gabriel says
something has to be done, Daniel, to deal with
sin. That is the real problem, whether you're
dealing with just the Jewish people or all the
peoples of the world, the Gentiles. Sin is the
real problem. It's the root problem between man
and God. So that has to be dealt with. He talks
about making an end of sin. And so he deals with
the extent with which God will deal with it,
make an end of it. And he says, furthermore,
to make an atonement for iniquity. So he explains
how God is going to deal with sin. It is through
an atonement, through the shedding of blood,
although we have not many details given to us
here. Nonetheless, we are told that is the method
by which God will put an end to sin and will
put a firm restraint on it. Now we know, because
Bible prophecy has been fulfilled since that
day, that these first three objectives were principally
and foundationally dealt with in Christ's first
coming. This week we are remembering. the cross
of our Lord on Good Friday. We remember his sacrifice
there where he made the final payment and atonement
for sin. Now there is another sense in which
the foundation only has been laid because there
is still sin in the world. And Daniel's people
are still in rebellion and unbelief against the
Lord. And so the actual removal of sin It's finally
being dealt with, is still in the future. But
the foundation was laid in the first coming of
the Savior. But it goes on to talk about a fourth
objective, to bring in everlasting righteousness.
And so not only would man's sin be dealt with,
but God needed to do something to provide for
man what he could not provide for himself, and
that is righteousness. Now again, for the individual,
that is provided through the death of Christ.
When someone trusts the Lord Jesus Christ, his
Savior, not only is his sin forgiven, But given
to him is the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
That's what we call in New Testament language
justification. God declaring me to be not only
free from sin, but actually to be righteous in
his sight because of my faith in Christ. But
for the Jewish people as a nation, and for the
world as a whole, that righteousness has not
yet come because there has not been repentance.
He goes on to speak about the sealing up of vision
and prophecy. In other words, the final and ultimate
fulfillment of all prophecy regarding the Jewish
people. That must be accomplished during this
490 year period. And it says to anoint the most
holy. And you may notice in your translation
of the Bible that it ends at that point or it
may insert in parentheses or in italics the word
place. The thrust here seems to be that during
this 490 year period, by the end of it, there
will be the anointing of the most holy things,
referring most likely to a temple. in Jerusalem
once again. Now remember, that was a big issue
with Daniel and the Jewish people in captivity.
The temple had been destroyed, their sacrifices
had been set aside, of course, and they were
longing for that day when those things could
be reinstituted. And here Gabriel says, actually
Daniel, before all of these things can come to
pass, including the removal of sin, the restoration
of righteousness, and the anointing of the most
holy place again, 490 years must be fulfilled
for your people. And so we cover the six accomplishments.
And now move into the most complex portion of
our text, where we want to look at the third
feature of this key to Israel's future, dealing
now with the three divisions of the 490 years,
verses 25 to 27. You will notice that these 490
years are broken down into three divisions. Division
number one, 49 years or seven weeks. Verse 25.
And then again, 434 years or 62 weeks. And then
a final period of one week or seven years. Now
you'll understand why the latter division is
especially important in this prophetic passage
in just a moment. But the first period is said
to be seven weeks in verse 25. You are to know
and discern that from the issuing of a decree
to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah
the Prince, there will be seven weeks and 62
weeks, or a total of 69 weeks. Now what begins
this whole clock that God is setting up. What
is it that initiates the 490 year period? Is
it this prophecy to Daniel? No. He says clearly
it is instituted, it is initiated with a decree
to restore and rebuild Jerusalem. That's when
the 490 years would begin to be counted on God's
prophetic clock. The question is, when did that
decree come? Most Bible scholars are divided
around three answers on that. Some look back
to the decree of Cyrus that we've already talked
about in 538 BC, when he released some of the
Jews to go back to their homeland. And he even
made it possible for them to re -institute some
of their culture there in Palestine. Others,
and I think more wisely, look later, in fact
past the time of Daniel, to one of two years.
The first one is in 458 BC when Artaxerxes I,
who was the king of Persia, allowed Ezra to return
to Palestine. Ezra tells us about this in the
book bearing his name, Ezra chapter 7. Our exerxes
also at that time allowed the Jews to take back
some of the vessels from the temple in Jerusalem
and provided for them to be able to re -institute
the temple worship in Jerusalem. However it was
13 years after that in 445 BC that our exerxes
gave another decree concerning the Jews and it
seems to me that this is the best choice as to
the beginning of the 490 years. In that year,
Artaxerxes sent Nehemiah back. Nehemiah tells
us about this in the second chapter of his book,
the book bearing his name. And Nehemiah's responsibility
was in fact to begin to rebuild the city of Jerusalem.
particularly the walls of the city for Nehemiah
was greatly distressed that while the Jews were
living in Jerusalem and they had reconsecrated
the temple in part and there were sacrifices
being made there, that the city was unprotected
and the Jewish people were demoralized. And so
he gains permission from our exerxes by this
decree in 445 to go back and to actually begin
to rebuild the torn down destroyed city. Jerusalem
and that seems to be the thrust of what is said
to Daniel more than a hundred and twenty five
thirty years before this or a hundred years rather
before this that the city would be restored by
a decree and that that would begin the clock
and so from my own understanding of this I would
select 445 BC and the second decree of Artaxerxes
to rebuild the city of Jerusalem under Nehemiah
Now you say, well what is the significance of
the first period of 49 years or seven weeks that
seemed to be separated here in verse 25? That
seems to be the period of time that it took to
actually restore the city. Remember it took Nehemiah
and his co -workers 52 days to essentially rebuild
the walls of the city. But it took much longer
than that to rebuild the whole city and to place
around it what is called here a moat and to build
a plaza a large Central area perhaps a marketplace
or perhaps a gathering area But in order for
the city actually to be restored it took almost
50 years 49 years and so that takes us into about
395 396 BC That seems to be the reason for the
first seven periods of seven, 49 years being
set aside. But consecutive to that, following
that immediately went on the 62 weeks, the next
period of 434 years. And nothing is said to happen
during that time and indeed, it is a silent time
primarily in God's revelation. Bible students
speak about the 400 silent years from the time
that Malachi closed his book until John the Baptist
appeared on the scene and began to prepare the
way for the coming of the Messiah. So 434 years
pass, it says here, until Messiah the Prince.
Until Messiah the Prince. The language here is
unmistakable. It refers to the coming of Jesus
Christ. Daniel is told exactly when the Messiah
would appear. Now Bible scholars have differed
as to the beginning date, as I've said, and they
differ as well as to the ending date. Does the
coming of Messiah the Prince refer to his birth?
Does it refer to his baptism? Does it refer to
his triumphal entry? Personally, I'm undecided
about that, and it's not that important to me
to debate that and come to a conclusion. The
point is that the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ
came at the end of the 69th week after 483 years.
You say, well that should be very easy to calculate.
Well, it's not as easy as you think it is. because
of the change there from BC to AD, because of
uncertainty as to whether the 490 years are lunar
years or solar years, and scholars debate that,
and there are other issues involved. So it's
not as easy as you think, but the point is that
in this year, and we're looking now at around
537 BC, Daniel is given the time when Messiah
would come. And, as I've already suggested, many
Bible scholars believe that the 483rd year ended
on Palm Sunday. On the Sunday that the Lord Jesus
Christ came into Jerusalem, officially presenting
Himself to be the King to the Jewish nation.
And, of course, only a few days later He was
killed. And in fact, Daniel is told that, for
he says in verse 26, then after the 62 weeks
plus the original seven, total of 69, the Messiah
will be cut off and have nothing. That must have
shocked Daniel. Surely it left him in mystery
as to what that meant. We know now. We're on
the other side of things. But what it meant was
that after the 483 years had been fulfilled,
from the time that the issue of the decree came
forth to rebuild Jerusalem, after the 483 years
had been fulfilled, Messiah would actually be
executed as a criminal, which is what this verb
suggests. He will be cut off and will have nothing.
The point being that he would have nothing of
his rights. nothing of the regal splendor that
belongs to him as Messiah. It is John who gives
us a brief commentary on this in his first chapter
when he says he came unto his own and his own
received him not cut off. He received nothing
in his first coming that was due to him as the
Messiah of the nation of Israel. The prophecy
doesn't stop there. It goes on to say, and the
people of the prince who is to come. Now the
question is, who is this prince? Well, there
are some people who relate it back to Messiah
the prince in verse 25. However, I believe that's
an incorrect interpretation. I believe the prince
that is in view here is a different prince that
has been introduced to us in Daniel before. It
is that prince that is called the Little Horn,
back in Daniel chapter 7. It is that prince that
is yet to arise out of, as we have seen, the
restored and revived Roman Empire, that individual
that is called in the New Testament the Lawless
One or the Antichrist. Now what Daniel is told
here is that the people of that prince who is
to come will do something. They will destroy
the city and the sanctuary that has just been
promised to them again in this prophecy. They
will get it back and it will be taken away from
them again by the people of the prince who is
to come. Now who are those people? Well, it's
the Roman people, the Roman Empire in the day
of our Lord. original form, not as it will be
reinstituted, but in its original form. Those
people, Daniel is told, will destroy Jerusalem
and its city. Did that happen? Exactly. It happened
in 70 AD, when Titus, the general of the Roman
army, came and besieged Jerusalem, and then ultimately
destroyed the city, destroyed the temple, and
never since that day have the Jewish people had
a temple again. And so what Daniel was told in
537 BC literally was fulfilled, the people, the
Roman Empire, of that prince who is to come will
destroy the city. And he goes on to say, its
end will come with a flood, describing there
the devastation, the ravages of the city of Jerusalem
by the Roman army. Time doesn't allow us to recount
the torture, the destruction. the ravishing of
the city of Jerusalem when the Roman soldiers
finally conquered it in 70 AD. Even to the end,
there will be war, seeming to describe the struggle
between the Jewish people and the Roman army,
which dominated Palestine. And as you know, that
was very strong, even in our Lord's ministry,
for many of the Jews wanted him to rise up as
Messiah to overthrow the Romans. But that wasn't
God's plan. There was this struggle between the
Jews and the Romans until finally the Romans
crushed the nation in 70 AD. Desolations are
determined. Then in verse 27, he goes further.
He says, and he will make a firm covenant. And
make that covenant with many for one week. Now
if you've noticed, we have already described
69 weeks out of the 70. 483 years out of the
490 have already been fulfilled before the cutting
off of Messiah. What Daniel did not understand
and could not have understood is that there is
a stop in God's clock between verses 26 and 27.
The point I'm making is that the final week of
years, the final period of seven years has not
been fulfilled upon the Jewish people. God's
clock has been holding at 483 years now for almost
2 ,000 years. Seven years are yet to be fulfilled.
What starts the clock again? What initiates the
final week, he tells us, a covenant that someone
will make with the many, referring to Daniel's
people, the many of the Jews. The question is,
who is making this covenant? Now there are some
again, particularly all millenarians, theologians,
who take this to refer to the Messiah, making
the new covenant with the people of God. I disagree
with that interpretation. I believe that he's
talking here about the prince who is to come,
that he's just talked about. That he, the antichrist,
will make a firm covenant with the Jewish people
for seven years. I believe that we can anticipate
a future agreement, a peace treaty, an alliance,
whatever you want to call it, between a strong
European leader and the Jewish people. Now whether
we will see that before the rapture of the church
or not, I cannot give you a clear answer. I believe
the answer is no. They may happen very closely
together. We may see the beginning of it. But
it seems as though this clock begins with the
actual signing of that agreement. And if that's
the case, then we will not actually see that
signing because I believe the scripture teaches
that the church will be taken out before the
seven years begins. Now in that seven years,
it says that in the middle of the week, he, the
Antichrist, will put a stop to sacrifice and
grain offerings. Now we understand the implication
here that the Jewish people are going to rebuild
a temple in Jerusalem. Now let me tell you, they
would do it yesterday if it weren't for the fact
that a Moslem mosque is in the place where they
have to build that temple. And they have a little
problem there. You understand the dynamics, of
course. For if they send a bulldozer in to get
rid of the mosque, they're going to be involved
in a tremendous war with the Islamic powers of
the Middle East. So how this is going to come
to pass, I do not know. There are some people
who suggest that perhaps they have mislocated
the Temple Mount and that the temple actually
should be constructed a slight distance from
the mosque. Well if they decide that's the case,
then the temple can go up very, very quickly.
and the mosque can remain. Otherwise, the mosque
is going to go some way, somehow, and that temple
is going to go up. And there will be a reinstitution
of the sacrifices of the Old Testament, probably
by the Orthodox Jews. And the covenant will allow
for that until the middle of the week when it
says that Antichrist will put a stop to that.
Why? Because he will want the Jewish people and
all of the peoples of the world to accept Him
as Messiah. Indeed, we read in the New Testament
that He will establish an image there in Jerusalem,
which He will demand that they worship instead
of their God, the God of their fathers. And that
is the reason for the breaking of the covenant.
And He will change nature. Up to this point,
this man will have been a prince of peace. He
will make agreements and be very charismatic
and very very powerful. At this point, however,
he takes off his mask in the middle of this seven
-year period and his true nature as a very wicked
evil dictator will be exposed and he will begin
to oppress the Jewish people. He again will make
desolate. He will come, it says, with the wing
of abominations. The actual language there seems
to suggest an over -spreading of abominations
and desolations which will be geared primarily
toward the Jewish nation. He will be tremendously
anti -Semitic. He will pick up where Hitler left
off and make Hitler look like he was playing
games. He will be that kind of an individual.
But it goes on to say that eventually he himself
will be judged and destroyed by God. We don't
have time to look into the New Testament regarding
that, but the New Testament gives us a great
deal more information regarding how that will
come to pass. Every time that Antichrist is mentioned
in the Bible, his destruction is also mentioned.
He is a man who will be very powerful for a while.
and then he himself will be destroyed. And so
that consummates the 490 years. It is a yet future
period of seven years that must be fulfilled
and then will come about the kingdom of righteousness
when Jesus Christ will reign on the earth. And
then all of the vision and prophecies regarding
the Jewish people will be fulfilled. And then
the most holy place, a temple that will be constructed
for the millennial reign of Christ, described
in the last part of the book of Ezekiel, will
be anointed by God and the sacrifices will be
instituted again as memorials looking back to
the coming of Christ. Now, we have quite a panoramic
view for the Jewish nation. I hope that this
key this morning will give you more than knowledge,
however. I hope it will give you assurance. In
the first place, we can be assured that the future
rests in the hands of a God who is sovereign.
As he has worked in the past, so he is at work
today and he will be working in the future. I
was talking with someone yesterday about current
events and he said these are frightening times
in which we live and indeed that is true but
the fact that we know the last chapter of the
book eases the fright because God is in control,
God is sovereign and we can be assured that the
future rests in the hands of a God who is absolutely
sovereign in the history of the world. The things
that have been prophesied in this book will come
to pass. Now, friend, if God is sovereign in
the history of the world, he is sovereign in
your life too. And you may today be faced with
some uncertainties, some question marks about
your future. Let me just give you some cause
for rest God is sovereign in your future, too
Let him have his way in your life and lead you
Let him guide you let him open the doors let
him close the doors Let him develop you grow
you and make you the person the man the woman
that he has created you to be A second assurance
that I want to point to is this, that we can
be assured that our prayers come to the ears
of a God who is faithful. Daniel cried out to
God, praying earnestly, intensely, fervently,
as we saw last week, and God heard. And I like
what Gabriel said, Daniel, from the very first
you began speaking, God sent me. When you and
I pray, our prayers come to the ears of a God
who is faithful, who hears us as we pray. Now,
sometimes God in His faithfulness does not answer
our prayers because we've asked to miss. Because
God is faithful, He will not pray prayers that
are prayed wrongly. Sometimes because God is
faithful, He will redirect our requests and reshape
them and bring an answer that we hadn't really
anticipated. He did that with Daniel. Daniel
didn't ask for this vision, this key to Israel's
future. He was simply praying for Israel to be
restored. God said, no, here's how I'm going
to answer you. But the fact is that when we pray,
we are addressing a God who is faithful. And
we can know that He will respond in some way
and respond immediately. And a third assurance
is a very wonderful one. we can be assured that
our soul needs are known to the heart of a God
who is loving. Because you see, God was not simply
showing us in what he's done that he could predict
and then fulfill the future. What God orchestrated
in human history was specifically geared to provide
a savior for humanity. through the cross of the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's what God was about
in saying 483 years, then Messiah will be cut
off. You see, that's the real heart of it. That's
the heart of God. It's a heart of love. God provided
a Savior for you and for me. So that we might
be delivered from our sins. So that our sins,
our personal sins might be removed. And so that
we might receive from God the gift of righteousness,
so that as He sees us, He sees us not as sinners,
but as saints. And He receives us even as He
receives His own Son, Jesus Christ. This last
week we will remind you again of a decision that
a father and mother made to have a child. They
decided to have the child despite the fact that
they are in their mid -forties and knowing the
risks that are involved having a child at that
age. They had a particular reason for this. You
see, their teenage daughter is dying of leukemia.
The doctors desired to do a bone marrow transplant
to try to save her life, but no suitable donor
could be found, and so the parents decided to
take a chance. to have a child, hoping that the
bone marrow of the child would match the sister
and provide for the sister an opportunity to
live. This last week the baby was born. Born
to provide extended life, hopefully, for the
sister. Now we know that there are some ethical
questions involved in this kind of thing. Not
so much from exactly what they did as the ramifications
of that in our society. But I think that there's
something of a parallel in what happened in that
family to what God did. It is not unlike what
God did in sending His Son. For God caused a
virgin, Mary, to be with child. And the only
purpose for that child being born Was that he
might be sacrificed and die When he was given
his name by the angel Gabriel Gabriel said call
him Jesus for he will save his people from their
sins You see God our Heavenly Father Sent his
son into the world to be born as a man that he
might be sacrificed for your sin and for mine.
What a wonderful truth. And it's a truth that
I hope you not only know intellectually, but
it's a truth that I hope you have trusted and
believed upon in your heart for the saving of
your soul. The God of glory himself became the
sacrificial lamb of glory. Praise his name. Let's
pray. Father, we thank you that we can be assured
today that you live and that you reign. That
you reign over the heavens and the earth. Oh,
that you would reign likewise in our hearts.
Dear friend, listening to me right now, does
this God reign in your heart? Have you trusted
Him as your Savior, as God who is sovereign,
who is faithful, and who loves you so desperately
that He sent a baby, His son, to eventually go
to the cross for you to be your sacrifice? And
child of God, you who have trusted the Savior.
Does God reign in your life today? Is this Lamb
of glory the risen King who reigns on the throne
of your life? Oh, may it be so. May it be so
today. In Jesus' name, amen.