1. Have you ever been reading a book, OR a novel and you come to a place where you think, “WOW, this is great! I don’t think it’s going to get any better than this?”
• You just hit a place where the plot thickens, the characters expand, the story gets intense… and you’re absorbed with it!
2. Daniel Chapter 9 is where things get exciting in our study.
• Our time in Daniel has been fruitful and challenging.
• We’ve been encouraged, exhorted, uplifted, strengthened!
• I believe every pastor should lead his flock through this book.
• It’s just that awesome!
3. If Daniel were a mountain, this section is the PEAK!
• You could say that we are at the highest point in all this book.
• It’s one of the most powerful & wonderful sections in all of the Bible as God unfolds the prophetic picture.
• But it’s also a little technical so be ready to follow along.
NOW IT’S important to get a handle on Daniel’s 70 weeks.
• Some come to this section as a critic, as they do with the rest of the book of Daniel.
• Some come to this section as a bystander, thinking this sort of stuff is just for the pastor.
• Still others come to this section as students, which has been my prayer for all of us. STUDENTS!
• Remember when Jesus was praying to the Father after his heart was sunk by the unfaithful cities of Chorazin & Bethsaida?
• Let’s look at Matthew 11:25ff
• THIS IS DEFINITELY A SECTION WHERE WE WILL ‘LEARN’.
What are we going to LEARN? It shouldn’t surprise us: PROPHECY.
• History in advance. A panorama picture of God’s dealings with Israel, the antichrist, the coming Messiah, the end of the age.
• So let’s read through this section and come back to study it.
I. (9.20-23) ANSWER TO PRAYER
1. (20) Speaking, Praying, Confessing.
a. The unveiling of the 70 weeks comes in an answer to the prayers of Daniel.
b. As he reads & studies the scrolls of Jeremiah 25 & 29.
c. And his heart breaks over the sins of the nation.
d. And from his broken heart flows prayers & supplications.
e. Remember, he noticed that the 70 YEARS of Israel’s captivity was very close to the end and it’s time to go home.
2. (21-23) Gabriel shows up!
a. So right in the middle of his prayers, this angel shows up!
b. What an answer! But that is A role of angels.
Hebrews 1.14 Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation?
SO GABRIEL shows up with an answer that was unexpected.
• Daniel is praying about the future of the CAPTIVITY.
• God answers with a PROPHETIC KEY to the FUTURE.
• The answers really supersedes the request.
A NOTE ON PRAYER BEFORE WE MOVE ON.
• Prayer is powerful! It’s a powerful means to accomplish God’s will on earth, not our will in heaven!
• So Daniel was praying for one thing, but God had different plans.
APP: I hope you’re ready for the answers of God to your prayers.
• You’re praying for missionaries in the Uganda, but God’s answer is “It’s your turn to Go.”! What? No God not me!
• God, Help SO & SO, he’s hurt me, she’s done this to me… and the answer is, “Forgive them and go help them.” What?!
• OR you’re praying for a certain problem or issue in the church and the answer is, “Step up and help solve it.” No way Lord.
APP: Not only is prayer a means to accomplish God’s will on earth.
• It’s also a means to change your heart & mind.
• It’s that open channel that God can use to mold & shape you!
• We see a similar thing with Isaiah, let’s flip to CH6:1ff.
SO Gabriel came forth, v22, to give Daniel skill to understand.
• Three times, as Gabriel is talking with Daniel, he talks about giving him understanding.
APP: God wants you and me to understand the things of the future.
• It’s a tragedy that so many pastors do not teach prophecy.
• They’re not interested in Rev., Daniel, Zechariah, any of it.
• So then we have believers who aren’t interested in prophecy.
• But the Word is clear… God wants to give us understanding.
Dan 12.4 "But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book until the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase."
• Prophecy puts us squarely in the position of looking for the soon return of Jesus Christ. It places hope in our hearts!
1 John 3.2-3 Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. 3 And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.
II. (9:23-34) 70 WEEKS.
1. (23) The time period.
a. God has set aside a time frame to accomplish a certain work. -- That alone reveals to us a God who cares.
NOTE: There are those who say that God is impersonal, and really the only time He cares about man is to punish or hurt him. NOT SO.
• God is very involved and very interested in his creation.
• He’s a God who loves, who cares, and who works among His creation. In case that still troubles you, the Bible says…
Isa 1.18 "Come now, and let us reason together," Says the LORD, "Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool.
NOTE: So there is this time period set in order to cut or divide out ALL of human history.
• AND it shouldn’t surprise us to see Israel on Center Stage.
• What Daniel is seeing is for your People Daniel, and your holy city, Jerusalem.
• Why? Because the Jewish nation brought forth the Jewish Messiah who provides forgiveness to the world!
So the unit of time is referred to here as weeks.
• V24: 70 Weeks are determined for your people & your holy city.
• V25: 7 Weeks & 62 Weeks. -- V26: 62 weeks
• V27: One week., the middle of that week.
NOW: When you think of a week, you think of 7 days.
• But in the Hebrew ‘HEPTAD’, it lit. means “7”, a unit of “7”
• It’s a unit of measuring, like DOZEN or DECADE.
• So 70-7’s are determined OR 70 sets of 7’s
• To the Jewish mind: Either mean a week of days or of years.
• Much of Jewish literature is filled with that viewpoint of years.
• We see that clearly with Jacob and Rachel…
• After tricking Jacob into marrying Leah, Laban explains:
Genesis 29.26-27 And Laban said, "It must not be done so in our country, to give the younger before the firstborn. 27 "Fulfill her week, and we will give you this one also for the service which you will serve with me still another seven years."
NOTE: Ancient Hebrews thought in terms of 7’s.
• There was a WEEKLY Sabbath but there was also a time to take off a year, the Sabbath YEAR.
• The 7th year was designed to rest the land.
So here is Daniel, in captivity, studying the scrolls of Jeremiah.
• The Jews have been in captivity but why?
• Really, because they failed to keep the Sabbath year.
• They failed to give the land rest on that 7th year.
• They disobeyed God for some 490 years.
• Now when you do the math, how many Sabbath year rests were in that time period? 70!
• God has taken back his 70 years of rest from this nation through this 70 year captivity that is just about to end.
• Isn’t it amazing how God word comes together?!
• Flip to 2 Chronicles 36:14-21
So these weeks mentioned in daniel are YEARS.
• Most scholars look that these 70 weeks as weeks of years, not of days for obvious reasons.
• As you read through, it couldn’t be days, it has to be years.
• The Jewish commentators, the Mishnah, the Talmud, all speak of years… so as we enter in notice…
• 70 weeks are determined, 70 sets of 7 years, or 490 years.
III. (9:24) SPECIFIC EVENTS WILL OCCUR.
1. (24) Things that will happen.
a. Daniel, there will be 6 things that will take place.
b. Listed there in v24.
c. So within the 70 weeks designated for the nation of Israel, these things will be done away with and completed.
In other words Daniel, good things are going to be happening!
• Iniquity will be forgiven, prophecy fulfilled, holy one anointed!
• Sin will be covered and atoned for!
NOTE: I’m so thankful my sins R forgiven, that our sins are covered.
Jesus Christ paid the price!
• That we be here today, blessed and broken, taught & trained!
• That our ears are now hearing, and our eyes are seeing spiritual things! What a blessing to know Jesus. Do you?
• Do you know Him? Do you know of this blessing?
IV. (9:25-27) THE MESSIAH
1. (25) 7 & 62 weeks.
a. So, from the going forth of the commandment to restore & rebuild Jerusalem will be 483 years.
NOW THE DAY is from the commandment to restore and rebuild, but there is a little problem. 4 edicts given to Jews to rebuild.
#1 – Ezra 1. King Cyrus, when he took it over in gave a general edict to the Jews. Go home you are free to go now.
#2 – Ezra 6, King Darius, reiterates what Cyrus said. Freedom.
#3 – Ezra 7 King Artaxerxes, go back & gather the materials & sacrifices for the rebuilding of the Temple.
#4 – THEN IN Nehemiah 2, given by King Artaxerxes to rebuild.
• Nehemiah asked permission to go back to initiate the building of the city along with the Temple. That’s the one!
• That date happens to be well attested, March 14, 445BC is the day that the command is given to rebuild and restore.
NOTE: So counting 69 weeks, 483 years from March 14, 445, would lead the first coming of the Messiah the Prince.
• SO When did He come? OK, Let’s sharpen our pencils a little.
So we start on March 14, 445 BC.
• We take 69 x 7 x 360 days (Jewish Calendar) = 173,880 days
• As you count off those days you come to April 6, AD32.
• What happened on that day?
• Jesus tells his disciples to get a colt and…
• Messiah comes riding into Jerusalem offering Himself to be their king and at first they welcome Him! – Turn to Matt. 21.9ff
• But then as the days progressed, the crowd turned fickle.
• We will not have this man rule over us… crucify Him!
• FLIP over to Luke 19:41ff
NOTE: you should have known your prophecy. You should have been looking for me. You didn’t’ know and you didn’t see!
• It’s your loss, a great loss. And Jesus, He weeps!
NOW notice again v26, after 62 weeks, the Messiah shall be cut off.
• Cut off. It means 2 different things in the Hebrew.
• #1 – To cut a covenant, make an agreement.
• #2 – To cut off a body part, or punish by death with piercing.
• Jesus was put on a Roman, cross, the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world! Just as Daniel predicts!
Now a warning to you: You may go home and try to do the math and get your calculator.
• I calculated, I have 176295 that’s because you’ve erred.
• You’ve used the Julian calendar based on the sun. The ancient calendar was 360 days based on the movement of the moon.
• AND Every few years the Jews added a month & leap year days.
• This math was tested by the royal observatory in London.
BY THE WAY: I RECOMMEND SIR ROBERT ANDERSON’S, the former head of Scotland Yard in late 1800’s, “The Coming Prince”.
• He exhaustively computes the days for this prophecy.
• It was so impressive, that in 1901 he was knighted!
V. (9:26-27) THE FUTURE
1. (26-27) But there’s still one 7 left.
a. So as we wind down, what about the last 7?
b. That last period of 7 years in the history of Israel.
c. It’s still yet future. A time we know as the GT period.
d. We know it’s still future as just look around:
Have you seen everlasting righteousness? Have we seen the anointing of the Most Holy? An end to vision & prophecy? NOPE.
• From the day of Jesus death to now there has been a huge gap.
• That 70th week has not been fulfilled.
• For over 2000 years, God’s heart has turned to the Gentiles.
• Romans 9-10-11, there will be a time, very soon where God’s heart turns again to the Jewish nation.
• 2000 year gap of time as the time clock for Israel has stopped.
• The time is coming where the fullness of the Gentiles is fulfilled and the 70th week of Daniel will be fulfilled too.
• V27 speaks of the work of the Antichrist, coming on the scene in peace and then breaking his covenant… we’ve studied in depth.
• Whew! Wow! What a chapter!
APP: God is exact and holds all of history in His hands.
• If God can give details as the exact date of the coming of His Son, the Messiah, don’t you think that your times & seasons are in His hand? John 10.11 "I am the good shepherd.
Can you trust Him? Yes. Can you rely upon Him? Yes.
• Looking at prophecy and the exactness of God puts a whole new perspective on fretting, and worrying, and doubting our God!
• Let’s close with John 10:25-30
