DANIEL 9 KNOW AND UNDERSTAND PROPHECY2016 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Daniel 9 Know And Understand Prophecy

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2016. Well, this morning we're looking here in Daniel chapter 9, continuing our journey through the Bible in three years, and we find ourselves in this prophetic place.

passage. And as I said earlier, it's a meaty passage. It's been referred to as the backbone of Bible prophecy. And as you look at other major prophetic passages in the scriptures, Matthew chapter 24, Luke chapter 21, the book of Zechariah, of course, the book of Revelation, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, all of those major prophetic passages, those things that we look at for future events,

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We included in the bulletin a little handout which goes into a little bit more detail and gives you some tools to be able to look up other passages and do some cross-referencing and get a fuller understanding of some of the prophetic events. And so if you want to look ahead and see some of those things, you have the ability to do that. And of course, there's much more there if you want to dig into it. When we think about prophecy, sometimes we kind of get this notion in our head that prophecy is...

this kind of mysterious thing that cannot be known. You know, a lot of times prophetic messages from the Lord are coded. You know, there's symbolism and there's, you know, different elements to it that are difficult to understand. And so sometimes we just kind of give up on trying to figure out prophecy and trying to know what it means or know what the Lord wants from it. And we just kind of, you know, leave that to the experts.

and we'll just kind of go about our business. But as we look at the book of Daniel here in Daniel chapter 9, I think it's interesting how many times it's clear in these verses that these things are for us to understand. And so I've titled the message this morning, Know and Understand Prophecy.

And that doesn't mean necessarily that we're going to know every mystery and every detail, but there are some definite things that we can know and understand in these prophetic words from the Lord. In verse 22, the angel Gabriel is talking to Daniel, and so he's showed up while Daniel has been in prayer, and he tells Daniel why he has come. In verse 22, he says, "'O Daniel, I have now come forth to give you skill to understand.'"

And so there's, you know, prophetic words about to come. There's a vision. There's some insight that he's about to bring, but he wants to also give understanding with those words. There's things that Daniel needs to understand from this message. And then again in verse 23, he explains, hey, Daniel, at the beginning of your prayer, I've come, you know, I was sent out because you're greatly beloved. And

And so therefore, consider the matter. The Lord's answered your prayer. He sent me. So consider these words and understand the vision. And so this passage that we're looking at this morning is given to us by the Lord because he wants to bring understanding to the things that are to come. He wants to bring understanding to prophecy and those future events.

Now, it's interesting to me also that this whole thing transpired in Daniel's response to prophecy. We didn't read that, but if you want to back up a little bit earlier to Daniel 9, verse 2, it begins there by telling us Daniel is reading the book of Jeremiah.

And as he's reading the book of Jeremiah, in verse 2, he says, And so here's Daniel in Babylon.

He's in Babylon because Israel has been conquered, defeated by Babylon because of their rebellion against God. And so Jerusalem has been destroyed. The temple has been destroyed. And Babylon, along with all the other survivors from Jerusalem, have been taken captive to Babylon and they're living in the land there.

And so there's Daniel. He's living in the land of Babylon. He's been there for almost 70 years. And he opens up his Bible, the books that he has, the prophetic writings of Jeremiah is one example. As he's reading through the prophet Jeremiah, he understands by the books, there's a specific time frame that they are going to be in Babylon. In Jeremiah 29, verse 10, we have the passage that

Daniel might have been looking at and reading. It says, So it says in verse 2, Daniel understood by reading Jeremiah the time period that God had established, 70 years.

And that after that 70 years, God was going to cause his people to return to Jerusalem and he was going to perform his good word. And that's what prompted Daniel to begin this time of prayer, which then brought the angel Gabriel and this message that we're about to get into in the end of the chapter. And so it's in response to Daniel understanding prophecy that

that we have this further revelation of these future events. And so again, it indicates to us God wants us to know and understand prophecy. These things are written for us to learn from, for us to get understanding and have some perspective about God's

plan. And so there's four points I'd like to walk you through as we look at verses 24 through 27. That's where we're really going to be camping out this morning. And the first point is from verse 24, and that is understand God's objective. As we seek to understand prophecy,

We need to, first of all, understand what it is that God is seeking to accomplish. What is it he is setting out to make happen? It's not just that God, you know, does random things or knows what's going to happen, and so he tells us in advance what's going to happen. Probably not.

Prophecy is God declaring what he is going to do, and we need to understand why he's going to do it to be able to understand prophecy better. And so look again at verse 24. Here's what it says. Seventy weeks 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

to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy. Here in verse 24, we have God's objectives. I like to call this God's to-do list. And so this is what it might look like on God's notepad in heaven. Here's God's to-do list. The things that he has yet to do or left to do, the things that he wants to accomplish today,

There's six things written down here. To finish the transgression, that's something he wants to make happen. 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.

These things are important to God, and these things are what he is working towards, and everything that he does is related to his accomplishing of these things.

And so just hitting on them a little bit briefly, the first two, I kind of lumped together to finish the transgression and make an end of sins. I kind of put those together. And that is, you know, the finishing of the resolving of the sin issue that began in the Garden of Eden.

Now, probably in God's mind, there's some differentiation between these two, and there's some distinction that he can reveal later if he wants to. But again, I kind of lump them together and say this is God wanting to make an end of sins. Sin was introduced to the world there in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve chose to rebel against God. And ever since then, all of history is really a record of God's work in bringing about an end to

to all of the aftermath of that sin that has been poured out and all the sin that we have inherited from Adam and Eve and the effects of sin upon this world. God is at work to reverse the sin issue.

Now, as you look at these things on God's to-do list, these are things that are yet to be completed. He will make an end of sin. He will eradicate sin completely so that there will be a point where there is no sin any longer. But we're not there yet. For now, we still live in a fallen world. And so these things remain unchecked, undone. These are still things that God is working to accomplish in his timing with the plan that he has set forth.

Moving on to the third one, though, this is one we could argue is completed because to make reconciliation for iniquity, well, that has been done. The word reconcile means to restore a relationship. And the idea here is the relationship was broken when Adam and Eve sinned in the garden. And

And no longer did they have perfect fellowship with God because of their sin. And so there needed to be a reconciliation between humanity and between God. And so this has taken place by Jesus dying upon the cross for us. We have the opportunity to be reconciled to God. Paul talks about this in Romans 5, verse 10.

He says, if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his son, much more having been reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.

So Christ came to bring reconciliation. And while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his son. While we hated God and were against God, he sent his son to die upon the cross that we might be restored in our relationship with him. And so those who believe in Jesus Christ have a restored relationship with God.

That is, we can relate to him and he relates to us as if we had never sinned. And so this one has been done. I'm sure that there is more that God wants to do in regards to that in the future as well. But generally speaking, make reconciliation for iniquity has been accomplished by Jesus at the cross. Now the next few are still left to be done. And so you have bring in everlasting righteousness. Right?

And you can look at the world around us and you can see there is not everlasting righteousness. The kingdom of the Lord has not yet been established. That's still yet to be completed. Still part of the things that God is accomplishing through his plan and purposes. Then the next one is to seal up vision and prophecy. The idea here is the completion, the fulfillment of all prophecy.

And that has not yet been completed either. There's still things that God has declared will take place that have not yet happened.

that things that God has promised that have not yet been fulfilled. And so they're still outstanding. God is still working to this end to bring completion to every prophecy. You know, the scriptures said, Jesus said, you know, the word of God will last. Everything else will fade away, but every jot, every tittle of God's word will be fulfilled. It's going to be accomplished to the very last detail. And that is not yet fully complete yet.

And then finally, to anoint the most holy. And there's a little bit of discussion about what exactly the Lord is referring to with that. That is, the most holy being Jesus and him being anointed, and maybe in his full capacity as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and in his glory. And so that might be the reference there. Or it could be a reference to the Holy of Holies. It's also known as the most holy place, right?

And so, you know, in the tabernacle, you had the most holy place. In the temple, you had the most holy place. And those are representations of the temple or the tabernacle that exists in heaven. And so there's perhaps an anointing there, a finished work that God wants to do in heaven as a result of his work here on earth. And so there's a little bit of, you know,

left to be revealed about that particular one, but we'll assume for now it's left unchecked. And so one of these things has been done, but most of the list is really incomplete. And so God is working to this end. He is accomplishing these purposes. He's still at work accomplishing these same things. And so what I'd like to do as we work through the passage this morning is kind of work us through a little bit of a timeline of

And understand as we work through this timeline, this is the end goal. This is the objective that God has. That is, he is working to bring about the end of sin. He's going to eradicate sin so that sin will be no more in all the world. And then everlasting righteousness. He's going to bring in everlasting righteousness so that everything is right. Everything is perfect. Everything is holy. That's going to be established forever.

forever when he establishes his kingdom. And then the completion of prophecy. These are the summary of those to-do list items, the summary of the things that God has in mind, and everything that he does is for this purpose. And so you can look at the past and

And look at all that God has done throughout history. Look at all that God has done in the past and understand that everything that God has done was working towards these objectives. Everything that God has ever done throughout history has been to the end of sin and to the establishing of righteousness and to the fulfillment of his word. And then you can bring that to the present and understand that everything that God is doing

And you can think about that on the big scale, around the world, all that God is doing, and then on the personal scale. Everything that God is doing in your life is working towards these objectives, to the removal of sin, to the establishing of righteousness, and to the fulfillment of prophecy and his promises. And then as you look at the future events, there are things yet to be fulfilled that God has declared would happen.

And everything that God will do also is working towards these objectives. And so as we begin to understand prophecy and to dig into what God is talking about when he speaks of future events, we first of all need to understand his objective. This is what he's working towards.

And as we hold on to these things, really, it's going to give us an eternal perspective, which is so important. Many times when we're looking at something that God has done or is doing or will do, it can be a little bit confusing, the purpose. Why would God do this? Why would God allow this? Or maybe when you're experiencing something in your life and you're wondering, why God?

We can zoom out a little bit. Just looking at the circumstances isn't necessarily always helpful, but zooming out and understanding that God is doing everything that he's doing in our lives and throughout the world for these purposes, because his objective is

is to bring about the removal of sin, the establishing of everlasting righteousness, and the fulfillment of every prophecy. And so holding on to these things will help us understand the rest of the elements of the prophetic things that God is about to reveal.

Well, moving on to the second point then, as we understand God's objective, now we also want to understand the events that are found here in this passage. So here's what God's setting out to accomplish. Now, here's the events that go along with that object or those objectives. Here's how he's going to accomplish these objectives that he has set forth.

And so what are these events? We find them in verses 25 through 27. There's some very specific events that are revealed and detailed here. And so we'll dig into them a little bit. But first, let's look at verse 25. It says,

Here in verse 25, there's...

A couple events, two events that I'll highlight really, that stand out as far as what God is going to do and stand out in the plan that he has established. What are these two events? Well, we have the command to rebuild Jerusalem, and then we also have Messiah the Prince. There's going to be a command to rebuild Jerusalem, and then there's going to be the revelation of the Messiah.

Now the command to rebuild Jerusalem, again remember, Daniel at this time as he is receiving this prophetic word, he is in Babylon and Jerusalem lays in rubble. Babylon has conquered Jerusalem. Babylon has torn down their walls and their homes. Babylon has torn down the temple. And so all that's left of Jerusalem is just rubble.

piles of rubble, just trash everywhere, just broken down things. That's all that's left. And yet God has said at the end of 70 years, he's going to bring the people back and they're going to be reestablished in the land. And so there's going to be a command to rebuild Jerusalem, God says. Now we find this recorded in the scriptures in the book of Nehemiah.

And we read through the book of Nehemiah not too long ago. And we got to see this played out. It was at that time that Artaxerxes is king of all Persia. And Nehemiah is his cupbearer. And Nehemiah hears back. Some people come back from Jerusalem. And they share the word that the walls of Jerusalem are still broken down. The homes are still a mess. They rebuilt the temple by that point. But the city itself lay still in ruins.

And it caused Nehemiah to be very sad. And he's there in the king's presence, and he has a sad face. And the king asks, hey, why are you so sad? What's going on? Why do you have this long face? And Nehemiah explains the situation that is going on there at Jerusalem. And so King Artaxerxes, there in Nehemiah chapter 2, gives the command and says, all right, Nehemiah, you go and rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.

And that's what the book of Nehemiah really is essentially about. It's Nehemiah going to Jerusalem and rebuilding the walls and how he coordinated the efforts of the people and motivated and encouraged the people and fought off the opposition and accomplished the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem. It was the fulfillment of this prophecy that was given here in Daniel chapter 9. And so the command to rebuild Jerusalem was given by King Artaxerxes back in Nehemiah chapter 2.

Well, the next major event here in verse 25, he says there's going to be Messiah, the prince. Now we read that, of course, and we understand immediately that Jesus is the fulfillment of that, that Jesus is the Messiah. The Messiah, it means anointed one. It refers to that promised savior that God had been declaring he would bring from the very beginning, since that sin in the Garden of Eden occurred.

He promised that I'm going to work this out, but there's going to be a resolution to the sin issue through Messiah, through the promised Savior. And so what's being revealed here is that there is going to be the revelation of this promised Savior. The Prince, Messiah, will be revealed. Now, this takes place. This is fulfilled on the day that we refer to as the triumphal entry. It's towards the end of the ministry of Jesus.

And he rides into Jerusalem on a donkey. And the people are laying down palm branches and shouting praises. You can read about it in Matthew chapter 21. They're singing psalms that are messianic psalms. Psalms that are celebrating the coming of the Messiah. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest, they're shouting. They're declaring that Jesus is the Messiah as Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey.

Also fulfilling the book of Zechariah, where it was prophesied that their king, the Messiah, would ride into Jerusalem on a donkey. That's what Jesus does at the triumphal entry. Now, throughout Jesus's ministry, he was healing, he was ministering, but he was not pronouncing himself to be the king in that way. But here was his public announcement, the public revelation, I am the Messiah, I am the king.

And so that took place as Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey that day. It was a fulfillment of this prophecy here in verse 25. Well, there's a couple more events in verse 26. Here's what it says. And after the 62 weeks, Messiah shall be cut off, but not for himself.

And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall be with a flood. Until the end of the war, desolations are determined. So in verse 26, we have a couple more events to consider. The first one is the Messiah shall be cut off there in verse 26. And then also the city and the sanctuary will be destroyed. That's talking about Jerusalem and the temple will be destroyed.

So the Messiah will be cut off, God says. Now again, this is being revealed to Daniel. He was living there in Babylon. This is probably about 539 BC that he is having this encounter with the Lord.

So several hundred years before Christ has come on the scene. But here Christ comes on the scene in the triumphal entry and the Messiah is revealed. But then a few days later, Jesus Christ is crucified upon the cross. So he rides into town on the Sunday, but then he is crucified that same week he is cut off. But notice it says in verse 26, but not for himself.

And so Jesus is cut off. He's put to death. He's crucified, but not for some issue on his part, not for some error or violation of a law or sin on his part. He's cut off. He is put to death on our behalf. For our sins, he died upon the cross. And so the Messiah is cut off here in verse 26, but not for himself.

And this next event is that Jerusalem and the temple will be destroyed. The prince who is to come, his people are going to destroy the city and the sanctuary. Now, the prince who is to come is a vague reference to what we refer to as the Antichrist. We'll get to that. There's going to be this destruction of Jerusalem. Now, it's interesting because Daniel, right now, he's in Babylon. Jerusalem is already destroyed.

But there's the promise that it's going to be rebuilt. The command to rebuild happens in verse 25, right? So there's the command to rebuild. The temple's going to be rebuilt. But then it's going to be destroyed again.

Now for us, we can look back at history and see this fulfilled also like the other events. The command to rebuild Jerusalem, we see that historically. The coming of the Messiah, we see that historically. Messiah being cut off, happened already, we see that in history. 32 AD, that took place. And now the

Temple and Jerusalem being destroyed. Also, we look back at history and we see the Roman Empire as they laid siege to Jerusalem. And finally, when the siege was ended, the city was destroyed. The temple caught fire and it was taken apart brick by brick.

in order to recover the gold that was melted there in between the cracks of the rocks. And so all of these things are fulfilled. These are the events that God declared would happen in verse 26 and 25. Now, verse 27, we have a couple more events to make sure we understand. It says,

And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, even until the consummation, which is determined, is poured out on the desolate.

There's a couple more things to consider. Two more events here in verse 27 to consider and to understand. Now these are different than the previous ones in that these are yet future as we read these things today. So these are things that God has said is going to happen and they have not yet happened. And so what are they? Well, it says that he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week and

And then in the middle of the week, he's going to bring an end to sacrifice and offering. So first of all, there's going to be a covenant that is made. Now, this has been referring in the previous verse and this verse to this person, he, the prince who will come, not talking about the Messiah, but talking about the false Messiah, the Antichrist. And so again, the covenant.

Further revelation of the Antichrist that's given to us ties back to these elements that are found here in Daniel chapter 9. The Antichrist will be received by the Jewish people instead of the Messiah.

Now, if you ask a Jewish person today who practices Judaism, they're still looking for their Messiah. They don't believe that Jesus is the Messiah. They're still looking for their Messiah. And if you ask them, you know, how they will know their Messiah, their answer will be that their Messiah will help them to rebuild the temple.

Because Jerusalem exists, and it's a city, it's occupied, but the temple has not been rebuilt since the Romans destroyed it in 70 AD. And so they're looking for the one who will come and help them rebuild the temple. And so this prophecy is about this man, this Antichrist, who will come on the scene, and he will establish a covenant. It'll be a covenant of peace, and it'll probably be related to the rebuilding of the temple for the Jewish people.

This covenant will be for one week. Now we'll talk about the timing just a moment as we go through the timing of these different elements. But he's not talking about seven days, but a seven-year period. This covenant will be a peace covenant for seven years. But in the middle of that covenant, the sacrifices are going to be ended. And that's the second event.

So the temple is going to be rebuilt in Jerusalem. The sacrifices will be resumed. There has not been sacrifices since the time that the Romans destroyed the temple back in 70 AD. But they're going to be brought back and they're going to be practicing Judaism as revealed in the Old Testament. They're going to be doing the sacrifices and that's going to be part of the covenant. And then in the middle of that covenant, the sacrifices are going to be halted by the Antichrist.

And not just that, hey, you guys can't do that no more. Not that kind of halting. But the Antichrist is going to what's referred to as the abomination of desolation. You can read about that from Jesus in Matthew chapter 24. The Antichrist is going to present himself as God and demand that all the world worship him instead of God. And so the sacrifices will be halted so that you could begin to worship the Antichrist. That's the whole idea that is going to be happening there.

And so Jesus says, when that happens, the abomination of desolation, if you're in Judea, run to the hills, get out of town because things are going to get really bad from there. So there's going to be this covenant that the Antichrist makes, and then there's going to be the breaking of the covenant halfway through as he halts the sacrifices and presents himself as God.

And so these are the events. These are the major things that God has established for Daniel to understand the accomplishing of his objectives. So getting rid of sin, establishing righteousness, and fulfilling every prophecy is going to be worked around these major events. And so you have the command to rebuild Jerusalem. You have the Messiah showing up on the scene and then the Messiah being cut off

and the city of Jerusalem being destroyed. And then later on, you'll have the Antichrist come on the scene with the covenant, and then that broken covenant in the middle of that seven-year period. Those are the events that are revealed here. Now, let's talk about the timing. In verse 25 through 27, looking at those again for the timing of the things that God has laid out here. There's specific time references that are given to help us understand what he is saying here.

In verse 25 again, he says, So as God has laid out these events, he's also giving some indications about the time frame in which these things are going to take place.

Now in verse 24, he began by telling us there is a 70-week allotment of time that has been determined for Daniel's people and for the holy city. These 70 weeks are directly related to the nation of Israel, the people of Israel, and the city of Jerusalem.

Now, this 70-week period is, again, not a, you know, 70 seven-day groups, you know, of days. It's talking about weeks of years. Now, that might sound a little bit weird to our ears, but the word week could be used as a group of seven of anything. Now, we typically use it, you know, for grouping seven days. We don't really use it in any other context.

But that wasn't the case for them in Hebrew. That group of seven could be applied to anything. Think about it like this. It's like a dozen. Now, if I use the word dozen, you immediately think of donuts, right? I mean, it's just the word that's closely associated with dozen is donuts. And so you're thinking of donuts, but I could be talking about a dozen eggs, right?

Or I could be talking about a dozen chairs or a dozen rocks or a dozen trees or a dozen people. It could be applied to anything. It's just 12. It's a group of 12 of anything, depending on the context of what I mean when I use the word dozen.

In a similar way, the word week is a group of seven. And so it can be days, it can be years, it can be chairs, it can be faces, whatever. It's just appropriate to the context of what's being referred to. And so it's a week of years. It's a group of seven-year periods. Now, why do we understand it as years? Lots of reasons I'm not going to get into. But if you do some of the

looking at the book of Revelation and the timing there. So for example, as Revelation is talking about the great tribulation and the specific number of days in the first half of the tribulation and the last half of the tribulation, it works out and you understand it ties back in and you can do the math and have some fun with that and understand, oh, this is, it fits perfectly when you understand that he's talking about

Not 70 weeks of days, but 70 sets of seven years. It's a total of 490 year period that God has established for the people of Israel, the city of Jerusalem, and the accomplishing of all these objectives that he has set forth. Now that 70 weeks is divided into a couple parts. So in verse 25 here, he says, there shall be seven weeks and 62 weeks.

So there's a seven-week period and a 62-week period. That's a total of 69 weeks. And then you have the 70th week. The final week is going to be dealt with in verse 27. So here in 25, you have 69 weeks total. Now, I don't know if you want to do the math, but in case you want to do the math, or maybe you've already done it in your head because you're super smart, I had to use the calculator. So seven sets of seven years is 49 years.

And 62 sets of seven years is 434 years. You add all that together, you're looking at a total of 483 years. So there's something significant about this 483-year time period. Well, God tells us what's significant about it.

It is the amount of time that happens from the command to rebuild Jerusalem until the Messiah is revealed. Again, verse 25. So God says there's two events.

In between these two events, there is this amount of time. Now, again, these things are historical for us, so we can look back. The command to rebuild Jerusalem happened in Nehemiah chapter 2. That was March 14th, 445 BC. Artaxerxes gave the command, go Nehemiah and rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. And it was very specific command.

The temple had already been rebuilt by that time, but the walls and the streets, they were still in ruins. And so Nehemiah go do that. That happened in 445 BC. Now, God says between that and the revelation of the Messiah, there's going to be this amount of time, seven weeks and 62 weeks or 483 years. And so if you start counting from there, you can arrive at 32 AD, which is

Well, the precise day, actually, when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. Now, I'm glossing over all kinds of very detailed, complicated calendar math. If you'd like to do the calendar math...

I can help you do that. I have the information. I can give it to you and you can do it. It gets into a little bit of detail because you're dealing with two different calendar systems. And so it's not just flipping pages on a calendar and counting the days in between or looking at the same date on a different year because you're going from B.C. to A.D., two totally different calendar systems. And so basically what you have to do is you have to convert the years that are promised here to days, right?

So if you want to do that, you can, you know, do the math, 483 years, convert that to days, and then you start there and you count your way forward and you figure out, okay, March 14th, 32 AD, that's when Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey. So pretty cool fulfillment of this prophecy and exactly the way that God declared. The command to rebuild Jerusalem is

The certain amount of time passes, and then Jesus is revealed to the nation of Israel as the Messiah at the end of that time period, just as God said. Well, as we go on in verse 26, there's some more timing to consider. It says, and after the 62 weeks, Messiah shall be cut off. So after that time period, after that 483 years, the Messiah is revealed, and then

After that, he is cut off. And of course, that's what we see. Immediately after that, just a few days following the triumphal entry, Jesus is crucified, but not for himself. And so that event also takes place in 32 AD. And then he goes on to say, the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. So as we look at that, again, that's historical. That has taken place.

70 AD, the Roman Empire defeated Jerusalem, destroyed the city, the temple caught fire, it was burned, and it was demolished as well as they recovered the gold. And so you look at these things and you can see they're fulfilled exactly the way that God said and when they, that God said they would happen.

Now as we get into verse 27, the timing is a little bit different because these things are not historical, but they're yet future as we look at them. Verse 27, then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week, but in the middle of the week he shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. So the Antichrist comes on the scene and starts this covenant.

When does this happen? Well, this is to be announced. We don't know this date yet. This isn't happened yet. And God hasn't told us exactly when it's going to take place. Now, once it happens, there's other things in the future that God has tied back to this point. So once that happens, then you'll be able to know exactly when other things that God has promised are going to happen. But until that happens, we don't know. That date is not set yet.

For us to know, it's something that the Father knows and will be revealed in his time. But this covenant will be established, and it will begin this 70th week of Daniel. Perhaps you've heard about that. It's kind of a very frequently used prophetic term, the 70th week of Daniel. That's referring to, God said, there's 70 weeks. 69 of those have been fulfilled already. There's that one that has not been fulfilled yet.

And so basically what you have is you have those 483 years already fulfilled. Those 483 years related specifically to the Jewish people and the establishing of the city of Jerusalem. But then as the Messiah is rejected, it's like God hit pause on that timer. And that didn't continue. That last week didn't continue immediately, but it's still there. It's on pause now.

And in the meantime, you have what we refer to as the church age, where God is directly reaching the world through the church. His original plan is to reach the world through the people of Israel. That will resume again when that 70th week begins. But in between the Messiah being cut off and the covenant being established, God

There is this interim period where the Lord is doing something unique and special and different through the church. When that concludes, then he will pick up again the timer, hit play again, and that 70th week, that final seven-year period, will be fulfilled, and he'll finish the work that he started to achieve the objectives that he set out to accomplish. Now, of course, that seven-year period we often refer to as the tribulation period.

That comes from the book of Revelation and that, of course, it is a seven-year period of tribulation. And you can read a lot more about this 70th week, this seven-year period in Revelation 6-19 and get a lot more detail about what's going to happen there. But in the middle of it,

So it's that date we don't know to be announced, plus three and a half years. That's when the Antichrist will break the covenant and set up himself as God and demand to be worshipped as God. And then at the end of that seven-year period is when Jesus Christ will come back. Now, to add in one other detail...

we often talk about the rapture of the church, and we are looking forward to that. That's not in this passage, but just because it's important to us as the church, we look forward to it, to add it to the timeline here. The rapture of the church, often in our minds, we kind of associate the rapture of the church with the beginning of the tribulation period, and it's

Generally true, but it's not precise. So the tribulation begins with the covenant that the Antichrist makes with the nation of Israel, that seven-year covenant. But the rapture of the church takes place around there, probably before that, because of what Paul says in

uh first and second thessalonians but so the rapture will take place before that seven year tribulation period and then we'll be caught up to be with the lord and then we return with the lord at the end of those seven years for the millennium and then eternity that's a lot more detail than i'm going to get into but just to give you a little quick glimpse at that so that's what we're looking forward to we're looking forward to the return of jesus and being caught up together with him

And that helps us to understand the timing of these events that God has been working out to accomplish his objectives. Now, one thing that's interesting about prophecy is prophecy can take you down some rabbit holes. When you look at prophetic passages like this and some of the other prophetic passages, there is...

So much opportunity for your imagination to go in a million different ways trying to figure out how exactly God's going to accomplish all of these things that he said he's going to accomplish. So we're talking about the Antichrist. And so sometimes people get on that, right? Well, who is the Antichrist? And let's do formulas and let's do calculations and let's try to figure out who the Antichrist is and how all that's going to work and the mark of the beast and let's figure out. And there's all these things.

And I would suggest that those are fun things to entertain in your mind. But as we look at prophecy, as we look at this passage this morning, I think it's really important for us to also understand one more thing. Not just the objectives, not just the events, not just the timing, but to also understand how to engage.

And sometimes we get so caught up in the speculation, in the sensational manner of some of the thoughts and things, and we don't get around to engaging in the work of God because we're so caught up in pursuing the what-ifs and the maybes and all of the things that we could imagine might take place. Now, another side of that, kind of going the other direction, is sometimes we'll look at prophecy and we'll just kind of give up and not do anything because it's like, well,

You know, God already said it. He knows what he's going to do. He's going to accomplish it. So I'm just going to sit here and wait for it all to happen. But as we look at these things, here's what I want to encourage you in and kind of conclude with. And that is, as we look at these things, let's understand how to engage by looking at the example of Daniel. And so if you'll kind of rewind with me a little bit to the beginning of Daniel chapter 9, starting in verse 1, here's what it says.

Verse 3.

Daniel sets for us a really good example for how to respond to prophecy. Here he is in captivity reading the book of Jeremiah. He realizes our captivity is almost over. God said it was 70 years. So I'm just going to kick back.

and just wait out these last couple years until we get the opportunity, because God already said it's going to happen, and I'll just kick back and not do anything, and then God's going to fulfill his word. Well, God will fulfill his word, but Daniel doesn't just resign it to, well, I don't have any part to play. What does he do? He

goes into a very serious and intentional time of prayer. He sets his face toward the Lord, it says. Because he understood the prophecy, it caused him to seek the Lord. It caused him to pray with fasting, to pray with supplications and sackcloth and ashes. He went into this time of prayer. And as you read through the prayer that follows, and we don't have time to get into it this morning,

But as you read through the prayer that follows, it's really evident that Daniel is holding fast to the promises of God, to the word of God, and asking God to fulfill his word, to do what he said. He's engaged in this work of God by seeking God in prayer. It prompts him to get involved in the work that God said he was going to do. I think that's a really good pattern for us.

As we look at prophecy, not to just dismiss it as something that's mysterious and not even bother learning it. No, God has it there for us to understand. And then not to get distracted by chasing down all the, you know, imaginations that we could have. And not to just sit on the sidelines and do nothing, but understand.

but to let those things prompt us and spur us to get engaged in the work of God. I like the way the commentator Laman Strauss puts it. He says, too often our interest in prophetic scriptures is of a curious and speculative nature, or else we conclude that God will carry out his sovereign purpose no matter what we do. And so we do not concern ourselves with those matters.

And that can be the case where we go to one end or the other. But there is something that God has for you. And let me put it to you this way. Going back to the objectives that God has. Remember the objectives? The end of sin, everlasting righteousness, and the completion of prophecy. Everything that God does, past, present, and future, all throughout history, throughout all humanity, is to this end.

But let me also suggest that everything that God does in your life, past, present, and future, is also to this end. And so you have the opportunity to engage in the work of God personally, very personally, in your own life, by, well, joining in with Him in these objectives. I think Daniel modeled this for us. And again, in his prayer, he is confessing the sin of the people.

He's dealing with the sin issue. He's asking God for forgiveness. He's bringing about an end to sin as he calls on God to forgive the sin that brought them to this place of captivity. He's asking God to establish his work, to establish the nation of Israel once again in the city of Jerusalem. He's asking God to bring in righteousness.

And he's believing God at his word and holding him fast to the promises that he gave in Deuteronomy when God said, if my people, you know, when they're gone, when they're scattered because of their rebellion, but when they turn and repent, when my people repent, I'll bring them back. And Daniel, from his prayer, you can see he's holding on to those promises. He's grasping hold. He's asking God to fulfill his word and to do what he said he would do.

and bring the people out of captivity back to Jerusalem. And in the same way, you and I, we have the opportunity to engage. And so as you understand this prophecy, there's a lot of fun things that you could play, you know, with in your imagination and mind and how all these things are going to be fulfilled. Let me encourage you to consider how to engage with God's plan for your life. First of all, by dealing with sin. God wants to remove sin completely.

And you get to be a part of that in your own life, in calling upon God for forgiveness, in repenting and turning from issues that the Lord brings to our attention. Wherever there's sin, if there's issues of sin in your life, engage in the prophetic plan of God by turning from that sin and establish righteousness. You can participate in the work of God and you need to engage in the work of God and

By doing what's right and bringing about God's will and living out the commands that we have from God in his word, taking it seriously and putting it into practice in our lives and fulfilling prophecy, holding fast to the word of God, believing the promises of God and holding on to them. These are areas that you and I get to engage in the plan of God and the prophetic work of God following the pattern of Daniel.

I'd like to finish up this morning with a passage that the Lord shared with us in Luke chapter 21. Would you turn there, please? Luke chapter 21. In Luke chapter 21, it's a prophetic passage dealing with many of the things that we've been talking about this morning. Again, it has their roots there in Daniel chapter 9. Jesus talks about the end of the age and the signs that it's coming and the destruction of Jerusalem and those things that we've been talking about.

But then after he talks about the events, he really deals with you and I as we wait for those events. What do we do about all that information about those things that are to come? And so here's what Jesus says. Here's how he says we should respond and engage in the work. Verse 34. Verse 34.

He says, but take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that day come on you unexpectedly. Here's what Jesus says. Here's how to respond to these prophetic events and these things that are going to take place. Jesus says, take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down.

He gives some examples. Your heart can be weighed down with carousing, with partying, with just entertainment, fulfilling every pleasure and every desire. Your heart can be weighed down with that, the pursuit of those things. And drunkenness, impairing your judgment, letting those things take control of your mind, weighs down your heart. There are those who are definitely struggling with those things and their hearts are weighed down. And he also says the cares of this life. So whether it's

you know, an alcoholic condition or a drug addiction, a serious pursuit of the partying lifestyle, or the cares of this life, which just kind of speaks generally to, I think, every one of us, that it's so easy for us to get caught up in busyness in this life, and we get distracted by this life, and it can cause our hearts to be weighed down so that we are unprepared for the day of the Lord.

And so Jesus says, in light of prophecy, in light of all these events that are going to take place, here's how to engage. Take heed to yourselves. Watch out for your heart. Pay attention that your heart doesn't get bogged down with this life, with pleasures, with drunkenness, with distractions, with things that will keep you from being prepared for his return. And then jumping to verse 36 here in Luke 21, he says, watch therefore.

Daniel's a good pattern for us in how he responded to the prophecies that he was reading. Now, he had a little bit of an advantage because the prophecy that was in regards to his time was an exact time period. Seventy years, he knew the end, he knew when it was coming, and he knew when it was coming.

He could do the math. It was very easy. And so he knew exactly when to expect these things to be fulfilled. For you and I, the prophecy that we're waiting to be fulfilled is the return of Jesus Christ. That beginning of that covenant of the Antichrist is still yet future. We don't know when that's going to happen. We don't know when we're going to be caught up to be with the Lord. It's true, even though we don't know the time period. But the problem for us is we have to battle that.

to stay attentive. And that's why Jesus, many times when he's talking about these things, he says, watch, pay attention, be on alert, because it's going to be easy to fall asleep. It's going to be easy to let your guard down and to begin to think about other things, to be weighed down and distracted and not paying attention to the work of God, that God is still on the mission, still looking to achieve the objectives.

of removing sin, establishing righteousness, and the fulfilling of prophecy. And so Jesus says, watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass.

There will be those who escape in the sense they'll be caught up to meet the Lord and there'll be those who enter in to that seven year, that 70th week, that final tribulation period. Jesus says you need to be on guard, engaged, prepared so that you escape that seven year period. Those things that are coming upon the earth and that you get to stand before the Son of Man.

How do we respond to prophecy? How do we engage? We need to watch our hearts. We need to go to God in prayer to deal with sin, to establish righteousness, and to look to be a part of the fulfilling of his word. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, as we come before you this morning, we thank you, God, for this opportunity to have a glimpse into the things that are to come.

have along with that glimpse the fulfillment of things that have already taken place, that we could know that you are true to your word and that these things that you have said will come to pass, they will come to pass exactly as you said and in the timing that you have established. God, I pray that you would help us to be attentive then and respond in the way that Jesus instructed us to. Help us, Lord, to not get so caught up in this world that we

we forget to look for your return, that we forget to participate in your work, that we forget, Lord, to spend time with you. Help us, Lord, to be paying attention to you, to your word, to be on guard and checking our hearts, taking heed, Lord, that we are not weighed down with the cares of this life. But God, I pray that you would use your word and these prophetic elements of your scriptures to inspire us, to stir us up, to remind us

You still have a plan that you're working to accomplish, and you invite us to be part of it. Help us, God, to engage with you. First, in our own lives personally, help us, God, to deal with sin, to stop playing around with it, to stop toying with it or putting up with it. But God, help us to turn from sin. That's your desire. That's your objective, and that's what you're working towards. Help us, God.

to establish righteousness, to learn from you what is right, Lord, that we would live our lives in a way that honors you and glorifies you. God, help us to believe you at your word, to hold fast to your promises. Lord, every promise that you give towards us, it's fulfilled by faith in Jesus Christ and not by our works or our deserving of it. So Lord, help us to trust you, to believe you at your word, and to hold on to your promises just like Daniel did.

God, I pray that you would help us to not just sit on the sidelines, distracted by fanciful things or weighed down by the cares of this life, but help us, Lord, stir us up through your word to get engaged in the work that you want to do in our lives and through our lives to the world around us. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.

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