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Map Of The End
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Map Of The End
We are on the final lap of teaching NextGeneration, in-country, self-supported missionaries this month’s courses. Through the end of this month, we are teaching Old Testament Theology, Personal Discipleship & Eschatology using Jesus’ favorite End Times prophet named–DANIEL!!
Welcome to the widest-touching chapter in God’s Word. Daniel 9 shows us how God wants us to pray (something we are to do frequently); and how we are to study prophecy (something God recommends); and how God plans to show us the end is near (something very important and fascinating); and why we should believe the Bible is true (critical among the doctrines to be assured of). All that plus the clearest explanation of the timing of the Tribulation, God’s view of world history, and so much more you should just watch the video rather than me trying to explain it all!
Jesus Gave A Simple Map: Jesus offers us a map of the future that is flawlessly accurate and a guide for us to understand history—past, present, and future. When God Almighty who rules from Heaven over all the affairs of mankind, gave to Daniel the snapshot of all the ages left for mankind,
God says this is all there will be to the end.
JESUS SAYS—Jerusalem is God’s Clock Counting Down the End of the World! The close of world history is tied to this little city, called Jerusalem. All the world will focus on Jerusalem as the Wrath of God is poured out in the Tribulation. Fallen human history culminates with Jesus Christ’s descent to the Mount of Olives, in Jerusalem—as Earth’s Creator returns to Jerusalem, to restore His fallen Paradise.

Transcript

Video Clip #1

What Daniel said was going to happen. We’re going to examine this. Daniel said in the 6th century BC, that at a future time this thing was going to take place. I’m not going to get into this abomination that causes desolation, but in the context of where Daniel is talking, he’s talking about one of the most described people in the Bible. He is called by more than 20 different terms. We know him as the Anti-Christ. On Sunday morning, Lord willing, the first seal that we’re getting to in Revelation 6 is going to introduce him. He is going to be the one that brings humanity what we’ve always looked for. He’s going to bring world peace. Did you know there’s going to be world peace? There’s going to be an absence of war on this planet. There’s going to be a man, who can talk like nobody’s talked before, since Christ. He’s going to get everybody behind him. That’s the first seal and we’re going to come to that.

In the midst of what he does, he is going to set up an abomination that causes desolation in the Holy Place. What that means is that, Jesus told his disciples that Daniel was right when Daniel said that at the end of the world there was going to be a temple in Jerusalem, where the Jews worshiped. That’s what the Holy Place is and there was going to be an idol put into that place. What that means is, it means there has to be a nation of Israel. That means that God’s going to have to preserve the Jewish people for 2,600 years. From 600 BC to where we are now… 2,613 years later. They’re not only going to have to continuously exist and not get exterminated, but they’re going to have to be identifiably back in Jerusalem. That happened in the last half of the last century. We’re starting to chart; we are alive in what the Old Testament calls the last or final generation. It’s very interesting that we are seeing a time in history that is astounding.

Daniel 9 is the most amazing prophetic chapter of all. The reason I say that is, really quickly for we go, Daniel 9 is a prayer. Daniel is studying the Bible and he is praying through the scripture. Praying for his people. He’s praying and all of a sudden, his prayer is interrupted by Gabriel. Gabriel’s important. Gabriel’s the one that announces that Jesus is coming. Gabriel’s the one that is there and speaking into the events for the children of Israel. Gabriel visits and gives to Daniel, in Daniel 9 verses 24 to 27, a very interesting prophecy. We just have enough time to read it. Turn to Daniel 9. I want to show you something. If you’ve never seen it before, this is the most amazing prophecy in the Bible.

It has four parts, a three point sermon with a poem. It talks about the scope of God’s plan for history in verse 24. Then, it talks about a period of time called 69 weeks. Then it says, there’s this period where it’s like the clock is off at the game when they’re running around and measuring everything and the clock’s not running, there’s an interval period. Then, there’s a final segment of time. This 70th week is where we get the seven year tribulation from. Let me show you what I mean by that in your Bibles verse 24.

“70 weeks.” It doesn’t really say weeks. It’s actually an interesting term that in English would be the word heptad. It’s like the word dozens. What does dozens mean? It means groups of 12. Heptads means groups of sevens. This heptadic structure revolving around the number seven. It says, “70 [ heptads] are determined for your people.”

What we’re seeing is the scope of history, God has designed all history as surrounding the people He chose, way back 21 centuries before Christ. Of course he chose them in eternity past, but He revealed it to us in Abraham’s time. The Jews, the descendants of Judah, the Yehudim, the Jews. Daniel’s people are the Jews and God determined 70 heptads. What is 7×7? 7×7 is 49. 7×70 would be 490. God says, I have planned 490 years for the Jewish people. Not just for the Jewish people, remember the UN line to give them Rhodesia or something, some land out in Africa. Doesn’t work. God says I have put my plan for those Jewish people, and it’s totally bound up with the holy city, the city of Jerusalem.

Then He says, and this is a study in itself, “To finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness.” Wow, what on Earth is that? There’s only one thing. There’s only one thing that finished transgressions, made an end to sin, reconciled iniquities, and brought in everlasting righteousness. That’s the cross of Christ. Something in these 490 years involves Christ dying on the cross. These 490 years, also, seals up the vision, and prophecy, and anoints the Most Holy place. Something big is happening. That’s what verse 24 is about, the scope.

Part two. Remember there are four parts is the 69 weeks. Look at verse 25, “Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem.” Artaxerxes tells them that they can go back and rebuild Jerusalem. From that command, “Until Messiah the Prince.” If you read the Gospels you see that, Palm Sunday as we call it. Jesus comes in and they’re saying, Hosanna, save us, you’re the king. They say, tell the people to stop saying that, they told Jesus. He said, if they didn’t say it, the rocks would cry out because it was a very important day to God. It was the day that Jesus Christ offered Himself to the Jewish people as their king. They rejected Him as their king. He died as the savior of the world. What’s interesting is, seven heptads and threescore is 60 and 2. We have 7+60+2, so we have 69 heptads, groups of seven, which equals 483 years. Something is going to happen in that time period.

Basically, what he’s saying is the 69 weeks go from when the commandment came from the secular king that they could restore Jerusalem, until Jesus offered Himself. Zechariah 9:9 behold, your King comes, meek and lowly sitting on the colt of a donkey. When Jesus came riding into town on the donkey and they threw their clothes down, their cloaks, and put the Palm branches down it was 483 years. If you look on the calendar, actually it’s 445 BC to 30 AD, that’s 475 years, but they have not always calculated years as 360 days. We have a Gregorian calendar. We also have the Julian calendar. There’ve been so many corrections, but if you look at Jewish years, which are 360 day years, not 364.5 or 365.25. It’s wonderful mathematics. The Royal Astronomical Society of Britain worked it out.

Look what Jesus said when He came for Palm Sunday. “Now as He drew near,” Luke 19 “He saw the city and wept over it saying, ‘If you had known, even you, especially in this your day.’ “ Jesus said, when He rode into town, it was their day and it was what was promised would happen. That Messiah would offer Himself as king.

Then Jesus said, because you didn’t know your day, “for days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee on every side,” (KJV) and mow you down.

After the threescore and two weeks “Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself.” That’s the substitutionary atonement. Daniel 9:26, this is the heart of the Gospel. That the promised Savior “shall be cut off, not for Himself,” and look at this, this is where we have to pick up next time. This is fascinating. “And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city [of Jerusalem] and the sanctuary.” We know when that happened. After, notice it says after, this Jesus announcing Himself as Messiah, that the people of the prince that shall come, the Romans are going to come and destroy the city of Jerusalem and the temple. “The end of it shall be with a flood, and till the end of the war desolations are determined.”

Then if you want to see a chart of it, verse 25 says there’s going to be this 69 week period. That ends at what we call Palm Sunday or Christ riding into town to offer Himself as the Messiah. After that, 69 weeks ends. After it Messiah would be cut off, that’s the cross, and the city of Jerusalem and the temple would be destroyed. It just goes hum. It’s like TVs used to go when the programming ended, is hummed. That’s the interval.

Verse 27 down here, is what is the most remarkable thing. I stopped with you in verse 26. What does verse 27 say? If you look down at your Bible, it says, look at these words. He the prince shall enforce “a covenant with many for one week; and in the midst of the week he shall cause…” You see, if you counted and did the math there’s one week left out. God has accounted for this. His time clocks stopped after 69 weeks. After the clock stopped, Christ was crucified, Jerusalem was destroyed, and it’s going to hum for a while.

The prince that shall come? Wait a minute. What prince is that? “The people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city.” Who destroyed Jerusalem? The Romans. What empire destroyed Jerusalem and the temple? The Romans. “The people of the prince who is to come.” What it’s saying is, that’s where we get the revived Roman Empire in the midst of the week. This prince that shall come, this Anti-Christ that is somehow involved with this revived Roman Empire is going to enforce the covenant for one week, that’s seven years. There’s where we get the tribulation from, right there. In the midst of the week, now you’ve heard of mid Trib. That’s where the middle is. “The middle of the week he shall being an end to sacrifice and offering,” to cease.

Video Clip #2

Let’s begin this evening, looking at the question that I was just finishing up last week. What is Daniel 9 talking about? It’s talking about the most amazing prophetic chapter in the whole Bible. The only thing I want to remind you of before we dig into Ezekiel is this, that God wants us to know about the future. Think about it, it’s not Hal Lindsey that thought all this up. It’s not John Walvoord of Dallas Seminary that thought all this up. It’s not even J. N. Darby of the Plymouth Brethren that thought all of this up. God is the one who, in the book of Isaiah, said test me to know that I am the Lord. Do you know the things that are going to happen in the future because only I do, says the Lord. What we see is, prophesy was built by God for the purpose of helping us know the future. It’s not like it’s the fringe of Christendom that’s into this. God is into it, and He’s devoted, as we saw last week, a fourth of His book to – things to come.

Real quickly, what we saw in Daniel 9, the most amazing prophetic chapter in the Bible is this. There are so many pieces. Those four verses 24, 25, 26 and 27; basically tell us the scope of history. Then, specifically the 483 years. The Church Age we would call it is just an interval. Then, the last seven years. The scope is, God says He’s determined that there are 490 years of history that revolve around the Jewish people. Remember, in God’s map, Jerusalem’s at the center. His people, His chosen people of promise. It surrounds the Jews and Jerusalem, it lasts 483 years.

You say, how do you get 483 years? It says there shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks. 7+ 62 makes 69 weeks. If you look, 69×7 weeks of years. By the way, if you want to track this down, you’ll find that this word that’s used here is used in other parts of the Old Testament for how we would use dozens. It uses sevens, but that’s where we come with the 483 years.

The third part is, notice the wording after threescore and two weeks. “Messiah shall be cut off.” We know that’s the crucifixion. The crucifixion takes place after this time period. This time period, if you look here, there are 69 weeks that are talked about, that are from the command to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until God’s counter ended at Palm Sunday. Palm Sunday is a bigger deal, it’s the triumphal entry of Christ. Some people wonder if it’s really on Sunday, but it doesn’t matter. What we call Palm Sunday is very big on God’s calendar, it’s the end of this period, of His plans for Israel. It ended when they, as it were, rejected Jesus as their king. They rejected Him. Following that the time clock stopped. Christ was crucified and Jerusalem was destroyed. There’s an indeterminate amount of time, it’s called an interval. God says 69 weeks, 1 week. That’s what makes 70, but between the end of the 69th right here and the beginning of the final one, the 70th, is an indeterminate amount of time.

You say what’s it for? It’s what the Bible calls “Until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.” I love it that some Bible teachers say that God has this clock, this counting clock, and it’s counting up time and people that are coming. When the last one that He desires to enter into the Church of Christ enters, boom, you’re going to be out. In fact, it says hastening the day of the Lord. You want to hasten the Lord, lead people to the Lord. You hasten when the last one that He has chosen for this time period to be saved is saved. Boom. Then He takes His church out and it starts that 70th week.

We already covered this last week. The last seven years is in Daniel 9:27. “Then he,” that’s the prince that shall come, “shall confirm a covenant with many for one week.” This whole Daniel 9 thing is built around these heptads, these weeks of years, seven years. He’s going to enforce a covenant for seven years and in the middle of the seven years, “the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured out upon the desolate.” All that is saying is, everything that it chronicles when you look at Revelation 13, and you see this Anti-Christ coming and this image he sets up of himself. The breaking of the covenant and tricking the Jewish people who were trusting in the false Messiah.

I’m looking forward to, in a couple of weeks, when we get on Sunday morning to the first seal of Revelation 6. The first seal is a white horse. The first event that the Lord unfolds for us is the rise of this man that is the ultimate Superman in every way. Super intellect, super communicator, super mesmerizer of audiences. If Hitler could keep the Munich stadium absolutely mesmerized with his orations and everything he did, this fellow will be able to mesmerize, not just Munich or Germany, he will mesmerize the world. He will give everybody what they always wanted, for a while.

That leads us to the second question. Where does this term seven year tribulation come from? It’s right there. It’s this idea that God had 483 years or 69 heptads that ended and there’s this interval. The last section, the last week, the 70th week is seven years long. This 70th week period is called the tribulation or as it says from chapter 6 on, at the end of 6, the great tribulation. This is something that we’re going to cover tonight.

There is a prophesied two chapter event in Ezekiel that describes the Magog invasion of Israel. It’s not clear in the Bible when it takes place. What we’re going to do tonight is understand what’s going to happen, understand the participants. We don’t know if it falls right here before the tribulation, it could actually happen mid tribulation. It isn’t clear whether it happens sometime near the time of Armageddon, anytime during the week, before the week. It’s just not clear and I’ll show you why. What we do know is that there’s a rebuilt temple in this time period because in the center, at the three and a half year mark right here, right in the center of the tribulation, the Anti-Christ defiles it. He sets up the image of himself, breaks the covenant, and all the things we read about in Revelation. This is where the seven year tribulation comes from, it’s that 70th week that is culminated by the battle of Armageddon and the second coming of Christ. That launches into the personal, direct rule of Christ called the Millennium.

What’s interesting is, go to Daniel 10, I want to show you something. I wanted to throw this in because someone mentioned it. Probably they were reading Peretti books or something, I don’t know. Look in Daniel 10. Where did this idea of spiritual warfare on a global scale come from? Sometimes we, in our reading this, we don’t really notice some of the things that it’s talking about. First of all in Daniel 10, if you read the whole chapter, you see that Daniel is fasting for three weeks. That immediately makes me think of when Jesus’ disciples confronted a very powerful demon situation, Jesus said to them this kind cometh not, but by what? Yeah, “this kind cometh not out but by…” God always puts this word first, “prayer and fasting.” Prayer in God’s book is always first. “But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and the ministry of the word.” “This kind cometh not out but by prayer and by fasting.”

Prayer is a reference to our seeking God; fasting is us denying our flesh. The idea of, that I am so weak I need to seek God’s strength. My flesh is so strong, I need to deny it. First, I start seeking the Lord. Then, I start denying the enemy within the trader, my flesh. Daniel is already seeking the Lord and he goes into the three week fast. The Lord dispatches a messenger to him. For the whole fasting period, the prince of the kingdom of Persia. It’s so interesting, movie makers read the Bible. There was a movie a while back, the Prince of Persia. I thought, do they know what they’re talking about? There is a demon that is behind this moment, what the Persians are doing in their hatred of Israel. It is so interesting to think about the dark side. What we don’t even realize, so much of, it’s not just nation states buying hypersonic missiles and Israel intercepting them and blowing them up last week.

There’s so much more going on in the spiritual realm that God, interestingly enough (this chapter is one of the only places in the Bible other than Job 1 and 2 that we’ve already looked at) pulls back for a moment, the curtain. He wants us to know that there’s so much going on, that this is why the Bible says God is watching over His word. Satan doesn’t understand the Bible and doesn’t know what God is doing, but he’s going to try and stop it at every hand. There is this higher level of warfare, this prince of the kingdom of Persia, this order of demon creatures.

Paul describes seven orders of demons, principalities, and powers. He goes through all these, spiritual weakness in high places when he is talking about it. If you add them up with the ones that are in the Old Testament, it appears that there are seven orders of demons that reflect the seven orders of angels; Cherubim and Seraphim, and the Arch Angels, Lucifer that was the anointed Cherub the top, plus normally angels. Until Michael, and Michael is the one that seems to always be the defender of God’s chosen people of promise, the Jews. Michael comes and this messenger on his way to Daniel is hindered by this being. Michael comes and assists this angel to get to Daniel. After giving Daniel, after that messenger gets to Daniel, this angel, and gives him chapter 11 and 12, he will have to deal with the prince of Greece. Here’s another one appears to be one of these hierarchy of demons that is influencing the nation of Greece.

All that to say, in a little while, while we’re looking at the maps we think of armies, and soldiers, and political leaders, and God sees overlaid over all that Satan is just like in Job. Satan incited the Sabaeans to go and attack Job’s flocks. Satan incited and if you read, Satan can actually incite people, groups, to terrorize and kill and fight and war. He can drive them just like the demon of Gadara, the demonized man. This is very interesting, but I just wanted you to see where that comes from.

Video Clip # 3

What are your thoughts on the probable timing of Ezekiel’s Russian invasion, where God shows Himself supernaturally protecting His people? This is what the discipline of truth is. Where in the world would it say anything about that? That’s what we’re supposed to know, not the professionals, we’re supposed to know. That’s what the discipline of truth is. When you hear of something, it should draw your mind to some portion of the Bible, because you’ve read the Bible enough. Better than your sports statistics, more than the latest goings on.

Bonnie and I were trapped in traffic going between two points in Los Angeles. Finally, we found out what it was. We were actually cutting between two places and ended up on Hollywood Boulevard. It was a premiere, and all these black limousines and people were getting out in their little gowns, and police were everywhere. I said, wonder what that is? We’re so out of touch and it was some premiere of some movie. If you talk about this, the end times, I know where it is. Where is your treasure? Is it in Heaven? You know the word of God. Is it on Earth? You know what premiere it was in Hollywood last week.

The two places you look are Ezekiel 38 & 39 and Daniel 9. Quick, open your Bibles. We have exactly eight minutes and I’ll try and answer this fast. When I was little, they used to have 16.5, 33, 45, and 78, I think those where the speeds of the record player. Which was a flat pancake thing that spun with a needle. We will go from, I’ve been going at 16 and 33, we’ll go 45 and 78 soon.

The question is, do Russia, the Arab Muslims, and the current events fit anywhere in Daniel 9? First of all, what is Daniel 9? Here’s Daniel 9. I printed out for you Daniel 9:24, 70 weeks. I would add that the Bible shows us that actually is not 70 7-day weeks, but it’s 70 heptads of 490 years. I’ll show you why. “Upon thy people.” A little interpretation, that’s the Jews. “Thy holy city,” Jerusalem. God says, basically I have 490 years planned for the Jewish people in the city of Jerusalem to do all these things.

Look at the next verse. “Know therefore an understand that from the going forth of the commandment to restore.” If you know anything about history, you know that in about 445 BC, the Persian, Iranian, king made a decree. You can read about it in the last chapter of Ezra, and you can read about it in the first chapter of 2 Chronicles. This decree goes out to rebuild the city of Jerusalem’s walls and the temple. From that point, 445 BC, you can look that up. By the way, I checked this morning, went to Wikipedia. First thing right there in that collect all of a lot of junk, they had the right date in there. Praise the Lord. “Unto the Messiah the Prince.” We know that’s about 30 AD, Jesus was crucified.

“Shall be,” now look at this, we have to do a little math within sets and close sets. Threescore is 60 and 2. 60+7+2. There’s something going on for 69 of these weeks. What’ll happen is, “the street shall be built,” in Jerusalem, “the wall,” of Jerusalem, and “troublous times.”

Video Clip #4

How would we possibly know that Daniel is talking, not about 70 weeks, which is like one year and 18 weeks. One year, four months and two weeks. How do we know he’s not talking about a year and a quarter? Just plug in, just do a little math from the command to restore Jerusalem in 445 BC. Messiah the King was heralded on Palm Sunday in 30 AD. If you do a little math and take those years, actually that is 475 years if you look at that. If you take 360 days, which is what Hebrew calendars were, a lunar calendar, and divide that time period down today, you find it exactly is 483 years, which is just what the Lord said. The 60+2+7, right up to the time of Messiah.

Let’s go back to the text, verse 26, “After threescore and two weeks,” plus the seven that has already been mentioned, after these 69 weeks or 483 years, something is going to happen. After that, “Messiah be cut off.” What’s that’s? The crucifixion. The Messiah was crucified. “Not for Himself.” It’s a substitutionary atonement. “And the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city.” Who crucified Jesus and who destroyed Jerusalem in AD 70? What nation of people? The Romans. All of this is a very historically validated. The people that destroyed the city of Jerusalem and the temple were the Romans. But notice what it says, “the people,” the Romans, “of…” whoa, who’s that the prince that shall come? We know him, we meet him in Revelation 13. He’s the Anti-Christ. This is where we get the concept of the revived Roman Empire. Hal Lindsey didn’t think of that, God thought of that. God said the same people that destroy Jerusalem and the temple are going to produce a prince that shall come.

What is he going to do? “And he,” this is the very next verse. The antecedent is the prince that shall come, shall “confirm the covenant with the many (NASB)” There’s the last week. We have 69 accounted for, but in the future there’s one left. It’s right there. “In the middle of the week,” if a week has seven years, in the middle of the week, three and a half years. He’s going to cause, this little line right here. Jesus, Paul, and John all believed that was true. That there was a future time, that this bad guy, the Anti-Christ, is going to stop the sacrifice and the oblation.

Is there a temple in Jerusalem today? No, there hasn’t been one since AD 70, but Jesus, Paul, John, and Daniel in the future, for one week, saw this temple. He’s going to “make it desolate.” If you’ve read the rest of the book, in chapter 13 of Revelation it says that he sets up an image of himself and wants to be worshiped as God. This Anti-Christ savior of Israel that defends them at their darkest hour comes in. That’s the backdrop. A picture’s worth a thousand words.

Here’s verse 25 of Daniel. 69 weeks, 7+62. It ends with Christ being cut off and the desolation, there’s this period that’s not determined how long it is, until this final section. This last week, that is bisected by a half. At the halfway point, the Anti-Christ shows his true colors and turns on Israel.

Video Clip #5

The Bible says that there is a future Jewish temple during the tribulation in Jerusalem. During the tribulation in Jerusalem is this temple. This temple is what prompts the entire unleashing of the prophecies about the end of the world.

Verse 1 of chapter 11 in Revelation. “I was given a reed like a measuring rod.” John is just seeing and measuring what Jesus saw. Four people see this temple. That’s how we know it’s going to be there. You say, why am I spending so much time talking about this? Because half of all Christians do not believe that there is going to be either one of these temples. They say, this is all figurative. It’s talking about the Church. Yet, Jesus said in Matthew 24, “When you see the ‘abomination of desolation’ […] standing in the holy place […] flee to the mountains.” Jesus, when He’s talking about the birth pangs, that we saw about five or six lessons ago Matthew 24, and the signs of the end. When Jesus was giving that sermon He said, as the world is ending, “when you see the ‘abomination of [that causes] desolation,’ […] standing in the temple […] flee to the mountains.” Jesus saw a tribulation temple.

Paul saw the same thing in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. Paul said that, this one who makes himself God and calls himself God is going to raise up and put an image of himself; and cause false worship in a temple in Jerusalem at the end, after the rapture of the Church. So, Jesus saw this temple. Paul saw this temple.

Daniel saw this temple in Daniel chapter 9. He said in Daniel chapter 9 and starting in verse 24, let me get there with you. Daniel 9:24. “70 weeks are determined for your people and,” Verse 25, “Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, there shall be seven weeks and 62 weeks.”

So, from the rebuilding of the destroyed Solomon temple, there’s going to be 483 years. We know to the day that, that is truly what happened. This was destroyed and then Cyrus sends them back and lets them have the lumber. You remember Ezra, Nehemiah, Zerubbabel, and all that, and they start rebuilding the temple. 483 years are clocked there.

Then it says, keep going to verse 26, “and after 62 weeks Messiah shall be cut off.” Now we’ve gotten to the crucifixion of Christ right here. “Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself;” That’s the substitutionary atonement. “And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city.” Whoa, the people of the prince that is to come? This prince, this person, the Anti-Christ. The Anti-Christ has 33 different names in the Bible, prince to come is one of them.

Look what it says in this verse, “but the people of the prince who is to come” that’s the tribulation. The Anti-Christ shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. AD 70 who destroyed Herod’s temple? The Romans. That’s where, if you’ve ever heard of the revived Roman empire and that the Anti-Christ is going to be coming out of the revived Roman empire, it’s because Daniel 9:26 says the people of the prince that will come are the ones who destroyed the temple in AD 70. All that is from this amazing prophecy.

This whole event we’re talking about, this whole temple and everything that’s going on here, in chapter 11, 12, and 13. See, on the slide in front of you, that’s Daniel 9:24-27, God’s prophetic word in Daniel is directed at the future of Israel. See, that’s where the confusion comes in. It’s not the Church. All of this has nothing to do with the Church. The Church is around the throne. This has to do with Israel. Do you see? The tribulation is for Israel.

Basically, you could summarize the tribulation this way. It keeps getting worse, and worse, and worse, and worse, and worse until the Jews are with nowhere to turn. They’ve all been pushed back into the promised land, back into the holy land, back into Jerusalem with the Anti-Christ, this worst man that ever lives, hemming them in. He’s assembled the biggest army the world’s ever seen, what we would call the battle of Armageddon. They’re all gathering at Armageddon. They’re going to march together to annihilate, the Jewish people in Jerusalem.

Video Clip #6

John Barnett here and welcome to Daniel chapter 9. You can be turning in your Bibles to Daniel 9 I’ve got mine open we’re in the 52 Greatest Chapters of the Bible. I, by the way, do read the notes that you all send. One of you just sent me a note this morning and they said, you need to not just put number 23, you need to put your old abbreviation you used to use. F T G C 52 Greatest Chapters. Now there is a serious student. Thank you for being a part of our small group. We’re in a year long journey looking at the Bible from cover to cover. Looking at all the big doctrines. The theological truths the attributes of God. The, what I call, the mega themes. Today among the greatest chapters of the Bible is a chapter for many believers that is obscure. I hope that after we get through today it becomes what I call it, one of the most important chapters in the framework in the scripture and the doctrine of all the Bible. Daniel 9 has so many of the vital doctrines.

Let me show you what I mean. Daniel chapter 9, and here’s the title. The title of the lesson is always after my whole week of studying and journaling everything together with you in this study. I write my last title and it’s on the slide. Here’s my title, Jesus said a temple for Israel will be operating, by that… offering sacrifices, animal sacrifices in Jerusalem… Jewish people operating a temple in Jerusalem at the start of the tribulation. If you sit back and think what that means, what I’m saying right there is huge for your understanding of the Bible. Here’s where it said, Jesus said. “When you see the ‘abomination of desolation’ […] standing,” where he should not stand, which is the holy place. “Then let those in Judea flee to the mountains.” Jesus, in Matthew 24, affirms that in the city of Jerusalem, in the future, at the end of the world, Jewish people were going to be living in the city of Jerusalem with their own temple. It’s going to have a Holy of Holies and it’s going to have sacrifices, just like Daniel said.

Look at those other pictures, here’s what the temple looked like in the Jewish times. That’s actually Solomon’s temple. Then it was recreated by Zerubbabel. Then it was enlarged and beautified by Herod. Look what’s right there, right now. Al-Aqsa and the dome of the rock. Jesus said, this is going to be here, somehow. Wow. That’s all I can say.

Jesus is giving us a simple map. That’s why we want to look at Daniel 9. Jesus offers us a map of the future. I have Google maps and I use them all the time. You use them all the time. The Bible is a flawlessly accurate guide for us to understand history. Past history. How to fit together all that’s gone on in the past. What’s going on in the present. Every day, a little discipline I have is, I scan the headlines of the major news outlets of the world. The English speaking world, the Asian world, the whole Russian world, Africa, South America, and of course our area. Looking at all those, I am always finding articles that explain the present goings on and how they fit with the scriptures. That’s the framework all of us need to have. That’s the framework I hope that you’re gaining from this Bible study. We’re always looking toward the future.

God almighty who rules from Heaven over all the affairs of mankind gave to Daniel the snapshot of all the ages. All the time, from when Daniel lived right at the beginning of the Medo-Persian Empire, all the way to the end of the history of the world. God says, this is all there will be, from Daniel’s time to the end. That’s very comforting because a lot of people think we’re going to colonize Mars. I’m going to go with SpaceX and the moon. We’re going to someday live there and all this. You know what God says? He says, no, actually the real end of the world is not like Star Trek or Star Wars or Avengers. The real end of the world is that all the problems we have right now in this world are going to become like birth pangs.

The weather problems. We have the climate change problems. We have the food shortage problems. We have the water shortage problems. We have the pollution problems. We have the ethnic strife going on and increasing more than I ever remember in my lifetime. It just seems to be constant rioting and all the civil unrest. Not just in America, it’s going on all over. There are riots in Rome. There are riots in Paris. There are riots in Berlin. There are riots in London. They’re rounding up people in Russia and putting them in jail. China is at the forefront of all this. There are all kinds of civil and ethnic strife, and you know what the Bible says, all those are just going to get worse and worse and worse until the end. Like birth pangs.

Next slide, Daniel’s prophecy is an end of days roadmap, especially when we focus on verses 24 to 27. Let’s start going through the details. There’s a future Jewish temple during the tribulation in Jerusalem. How do I know that? Jesus saw it, Matthew 24. Paul saw it in 2 Thessalonians 2. Daniel sees it in the passage we’re studying today. John sees it and describes it in Revelation chapter 11.

Jesus says, Jerusalem for all of us. Every time you see the news, hear the news, watch the news, read anything, Jerusalem is God’s clock counting down the end of the world. I have a clock right over there that tells me we’re in the eighth minute of this Bible study. Often, when I used to speak, there would be a countdown clock in different places because they were timed, and classes, and 50 minute segments. Do you know what God’s count down to the launching of the tribulation is? Jerusalem. The close of world history is tied to that little city called Jerusalem. All of the world will focus on Jerusalem.

In fact, next week Lord willing, I’ve had such a blessing studying Daniel this week, but I can’t wait to introduce to you Zechariah. Do you know what Zechariah says? It says that Jerusalem is going to become a burden stone around the neck of the whole world. It’s like everybody is going to be weighed down by what’s going on in Jerusalem. It’s going to become a burden globally. I actually have a little file in Evernote where I put all of the global burdens that the world has about Jerusalem, little notes. There have been more United Nations resolutions against Israel than any other country since they’ve been keeping records. Did you know that there are more weapons being purchased that are surrounding the nation of Israel than any other part of the world? All of the Arab nations are arming themselves. Did you see what the United Arab Emirates just bought? I think it was 60 billion, maybe a hundred billion, billions of dollars’ worth of F 35 stealth bombers. What do they need that much armament for? Iran just inked a multi, multibillion dollar deal with China. They already have a mega billion dollar deal with Russia. Saudi Arabia, a hundred billion dollars of arms. Israel just constantly is on the forefront. That’s going to cause the world to focus. Israel and Jerusalem are going to be the tinder box that’s going to start a nuclear conflagration. Everyone always says, Russia and America, China in America. No, no. The one you need to worry about is when an atomic warfare begins around the Middle East.

The wrath of God will be poured out in a tribulation falling human history will culminate with Jesus’ descent to the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. You see this, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, as Earth’s creator returns to Jerusalem. That is the center of the world to God.

 

Jesus said, and that’s the lesson as we jump into Daniel 9, that a temple for Israel will be operating in Jerusalem when the tribulation starts.

It’s not going to be as glorious as Solomon’s top temple. It’s not going to be 40 acres, probably like Herod’s temple was.

It’s going to be the third temple, Revelation 11, during the tribulation. There’s another one coming. This one is really going to be big. This one is going to be about 50 square miles. That’s going to be huge. It’s going to be God’s visitor center and we cover that in the Isaiah course, so I won’t go over that now.

Let me get into my journal. This is a little different. I thought, instead of showing you the typed up version first, I’m going to show you the rough copy first. Here is Daniel 9, the most amazing passage in the Bible. Just now I went like this, I took my phone, and I took a picture of my Bible that I have worked on all week long, scratching notes. You can see, I even use all different colored pens. First I did this, this is Daniel’s prayer for the people of Israel. That’s what the ninth chapter starts with. Then, I noted the ACTS model. Have you ever heard of the adoration, confession, thanksgiving, supplication, prayer model? Have you ever gone to Wednesday nights, to prayer meetings, to some college prayer meeting, or some concert of prayer of believers? They say, let’s do the ACTS prayer model.

We start out adoring the Lord before we get into all of our prayer request. Then, we’re going to make sure that He hears us by going through a time of confession and repentance. Then, we’ll offer Thanksgiving to Him for all of His blessings. Then, we get to supplication. Where did that wonderful idea for prayer come from? The original one is right here. I did write this, because look, “in the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the lineage of the Medes.” By the way, who are the Medes? They’re the Kurds. Whenever you’re looking at the news, Kurdistan is actually Media, the Medo-Persian Empire. That’s why the Kurds and the Iranians are always having trouble. The Iraqis and the Kurds. The Turks and the Kurds. Why? The Medo-Persian Empire, notice what’s first, Medo-Persian Empire. They were the strong half of the Medo-Persian Empire. The Kurds are very militant and war-like. Turkey’s always fighting them. Iran is fighting them; Iraq is fighting them.

Right there, Darius was a Mede, and he took over the realm of the Chaldeans, that’s the Babylonians. Look it up in Wikipedia, that’s exactly the dates. I wrote that in my Bible because that is a historic marker. We know exactly when verse 1 took place, it’s somewhere between 530 and 539 BC. There’s a hyphen in it usually, in Wikipedia.

“In the first year of his reign I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years specified by the word of the LORD through Jeremiah the prophet.” Whoa, did you catch that? He is studying prophecy. Daniel is reading the Bible. He’s a prophet of God and yet part of his personal life was like Paul’s, and Jesus’s, and everybody else’s; they studied the Bible. Jesus studied the Bible. Jesus memorized the Bible, the Old Testament, as He was growing up and quoted it. Do you see how important the word of God has always been? Even more today as we live in, what Jesus calls, the last days. Jesus said we’re living in the last days; you and I are. Paul said that we’re in the last days. If Paul is in the last days, we’re really in the last days. Look at this, Daniel “understood by the books the number of years specified by the word of the LORD through Jeremiah the prophet, that He would accomplish 70 years in the desolations of Jerusalem.”

That intrigued me. Remember we used the MacArthur Study Bible? I looked down at the MacArthur Study Bible and I read the footnote. What did the footnotes say? It says, go to Jeremiah 25:11 and 12. Do you know what Jeremiah said? He said that there’s going to be 70 years of desolation. I wonder what 70 years of desolation means. Does it mean a long time? Does it mean a hard time? Does it mean seven ages or seven eons? That way of studying the Bible saying, I wonder what 70 means is called allegorizing. It means saying that the words represent something else, other than what they say.

How did Daniel understand Jeremiah? I wrote it over here. He said it was literal. Think about that. “Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make requests by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.” He starts a prayer time after he understood the prophecy that 70 years were determined for his people. He started thinking about… wow, I remember Jerusalem was destroyed in 586 and look, that time period is going by. I want to start praying for the Lord to fulfill His promise. He does fulfill His promise within a few years. The return of Zerubbabel takes place and the rebuilding of the temple. That’s what Daniel’s praying for.

Here comes the ACTS model right here. Adoration starts. “I prayed to the LORD my God, and made confession, and said…” What does his prayer start with? “O Lord, great and awesome God.” What do you call it? That’s adoration of God. You are the covenant keeper. You are merciful to us who love you, and with those who keep your commandments. He’s adoring the Lord. Immediately it goes from adoration to what? Confession. “We have sinned and have committed inequity, we have done wickedly and rebelled, even by departing from Your precepts and Your judgments.” Do you remember Psalm 119? The precepts, the judgments, the law. It’s the divine law giver telling us what He wants.

This one is really good, “Neither have we heeded Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings and our princes, to our fathers and all the people of the land.” That’s the way that the scriptures speak to all of us, that is the voice of God. He continued, “O Lord, righteousness belongs to You, but to us shame of face, as it is this day – to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, those near and those far off in all the countries to which You have driven them, because of the unfaithfulness which they committed against You.” All sin is against God. We always look at people that we harm, and we always think about that dimension, but did you know that there are people in life that our sin affects. Only a few of them does our sin affect, but all our sin affects God. You see how he’s confessing. He is identifying and he said, “O Lord, to us belongs shame of face, to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, because we have sinned against You.”

Adoration, the confession is continuing. “We have rebelled,” verse 9. I like this, he says, “We have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God, to walk in His laws, which He set before us by His servants the prophets.” Right there is why I say, you’ve probably heard me if you’ve been in this course very long, I say that I hear the voice of God when I read the Bible. Why do I say that? I always have people that go, whoa… and in the comments they go, what are you saying? You actually hear audible voices? I said, no. “We have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God,” just like Daniel said. When you read the Bible, like I’m reading it out loud to you right now, when I read the scriptures, you’re hearing God speaking. He’s using my voice, but you don’t need my voice. All you need to do is read the scriptures.

One of the habits I have in the car, when I drive, on my iPhone I’ve downloaded the Hosanna Audio Bible by Faith Comes By Hearing. It’s an outfit that has the Bible in every language of the world and they supply it for missionaries. They have a dramatized New International Version, Audio Bible, free for download. I’ve downloaded all of it. I used to, when I was speaking up in one place way in upstate New York, I used to have to drive between meetings 30 minutes each way. I could drive and cover a whole book of the Bible, one of the Old Testament books, many of the New Testament books in an hour of audio Bible reading with drama. Listen to the voice of God. Boy, that’s an important verse right there.

“Yes, all Israel has transgressed.” We have sinned. Look at all this confession. We’ve transgressed, we’ve sinned. Then look, “He has confirmed His words, which He spoke against us and against our judges who judged us, by bringing upon us a great disaster.” That’s the Babylonians and Assyrians capturing Jerusalem and the north. “Under the whole heaven such has never been done as what has been done to Jerusalem.” You see where God’s focal point and Daniels is, Jerusalem. “As it is written in the law of Moses.” Do you remember it says in Leviticus 26, Deuteronomy 26, all of those curses and doom upon the disobedience of Israel. “Yet we have not made our prayer before the LORD our God, that we might turn from our iniquities and understand Your truth.” What a great example of how God wants us to pray.

“Therefore the LORD has kept the disaster in mind, […] we have not obeyed His voice.”

Look how he changes in verse 15 to thanksgiving. Adoration started, lots of confession, now thanksgiving. “And now, O Lord our God, who brought Your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and made Yourself a name, as it is this day.” He’s saying thank you for the Exodus. Thank you for the deliverance, the Passover. Thank you for bringing us into the land. Thank you for all you did in providing us the promised land. “We’ve sinned and done wickedly!”

That’s so interesting. In American Christianity, we have very little confession and lots of supplication, asking for things. Some adoration. Daniel greatly beloved to the Lord had real pointed adoration, but an awful lot of confession. He looked into the mirror of the word of God and saw much that needed to be changed.

Then, he starts into the prayer request. “O Lord, according to all your righteousness, I pray.” Here are his requests, “Let Your anger and Your fury be turned away from Your city of Jerusalem.” That’s interesting. “Your holy mountain; because of our sins and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem, and Your people are a reproach to all those around us.” He’s concerned about God’s city, where God has put His name, and God has said, this is where I will dwell forever. “Now therefore, our God, hear the prayer of Your servant, and his supplications, and for the Lord’s sake Your face to shine on Your sanctuary, which is desolate. O my God, incline Your ear and hear; open Your eyes and see our desolations, and the city, which is called by Your name.” Your holy mountain, Jerusalem, Your sanctuary, Your city. “For we do not present our supplications before You because of our righteous deeds, but because of Your great mercies.” I don’t pray expecting You to respond because of my righteousness, but because of Your character, Your attributes. He’s saying, “O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and act! Do not delay for Your own sake, my God, for Your city and Your people are called by Your name.” It’s all about the Lord.

“Now while I was speaking, praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the LORD my God for the holy mountain of my God.” He’s really laying it on how God looks at Jerusalem. “Yes, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel…” He gets the Archangel visit. Remember there are two archangels, archō are the high or exalted, kind of preeminent ones among the angelos, the billions of angels. Probably there are seven of them because they’re called seven angels of the face that always surround the throne of God. We see them in Revelation twice. Here’s two of them. They have names, Michael and Gabriel. This is Gabriel, “Whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, reached me about the time of the evening offering.” By the way, the evening offering was at 3:00 PM. That’s when Christ said it is finished, they didn’t mean evening dark. They meant at the beginning of the preparation for sunset. They had an offering at 3:00 PM. “And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, ‘O Daniel, I have now come forth to give you skill to understand.” Wow. There’s a little insight, angels can give skill to understand. They do that to the scripture writers. This is just an example of it. Look how God looks at Daniel. “You are greatly beloved.” Wow.

Now we’re entering into something, and I want to show it to you. I’m typing this out, just so you have time to see it and can screenshot it, if you want to. We’re entering into what makes this not only an incredible model of what a godly person’s prayer life looks like, how they study prophecy, and all the other elements, how they hear the voice of God when they read the Bible. There’s something else. This is probably the greatest single prophetic passage in the whole Bible. I will show you why.

First, we get a scope of what God is doing. Then, he talks about a time period called 69 weeks that culminates with Messiah being cut off. It’s actually a prophecy of the cross of Christ. Right there, to have a countdown that exactly was fulfilled, I’m going to show you, right to the day when Jesus offered Himself on Palm Sunday, Jesus was exactly in step with Daniel’s prophecy. Wow. Then, there’s an interval. There’s a time period that nothing is happening. Then Daniel says, 69 of these weeks are used up, one week is left, and he describes that in verse 27.

Have you ever wondered where we get the seven year tribulation from, does it say that anywhere? You can’t find seven year tribulation anywhere except in prophecy books, theology books, study Bibles. It’s not in the Bible. It’s like the word rapture. That’s not in the Bible either. Rapture is a Latin word, rapturo, which comes from a Greek word harpazo, which means to snatch out, which is what we mean by rapture. We have to be precise because people can accuse us and say, millennium isn’t in the Bible. You’re right. That word isn’t in the Bible, but mille ennium is, that’s the Latin translation of a thousand years. What people accuse is usually partially true. When Christians haven’t studied the Bible, they get nervous and they go, oh maybe I don’t understand. You do understand. There is a seven year tribulation. Let’s see that in the scriptures.

“70 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 everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy.”

Now he starts explaining. Remember, first we have the scope, that’s what I just read. 70 weeks. Then, he starts explaining the components. Then, he talks about a gap. Then, he talks about that climactic week. Right here, “Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince,” that’s Jesus coming into Jerusalem and what we just celebrated a month back or so, Palm Sunday. His triumphal entry as the King of the Jews. Remember Hosanna, save us? They were asking for Him to be their Messiah. “Shall be seven weeks and 62 weeks.” 62+7=69. It says in this time, “The street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublesome times.”

He says from the command to restore Jerusalem, until Messiah comes as King in the triumphal entry, would be 69 weeks. 69 weeks of 360 day years. What we’re talking about is weeks of years. This is what a week is, it’s actually not the Hebrew word for a week, it’s the word for heptad. If you’ve ever heard of heptad, it means a group of seven. I’ll show you that in just a minute.

Basically, there’s this verse 25, 69 weeks, that’s 7+62. Then verse 26, we’re going to see, talks about this interval where Messiah is cut off and these people come and destroy the temple. Then he says, after all that interval will be this final week. This is what we call the tribulation, the 70th week. The heptad is seven years. This is where the seven years come from. I’ll show you that.

The 70th week. This is the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70. This is Jesus being crucified on the cross. This is the rapture of the church right there. This is the seven year tribulation. It’s two halves, three and a half years, three and a half years, 42 months and 1,260 days. The tribulation has two parts. It has a certain center and that’s what Jesus talked about in Matthew 24:15. He said, when you see the abomination that causes desolation, “standing in the holy place,” “let those in Judea flee to the mountains.” This is the tribulation. It’s the 70th week. That’s what makes this such an important passage.

Here it is. “After the 62 weeks Messiah shall be cut off.” That’s the crucifixion I wrote in my Bible. “But not for Himself.” That’s the core of salvation, the substitutionary atonement. “And the people of the prince who is to come,” that’s the Anti-Christ, “shall destroy the city,” that’s Jerusalem, “and the sanctuary,” that’s the temple. When did that happen? AD 70. Who destroyed Jerusalem in AD 70? The Romans. “The people of the prince who is to come” are the Romans. That’s going to be interesting for you to think about when we talk about prophecy. “The end of it shall be with a flood, and till the end of the war desolations are determined. Then he,” who is the he? He is the prince who is to come right here. What is he? He is the leader of the revived Roman Empire or the Anti-Christ. “He shall confirm a covenant with many for one week.” That one week is the seven year tribulation. What happens is everything gets worse and worse and all these troubles happening, ethnic strife and everything. All of a sudden, this global leader rises, and he is so brilliant and such an effective communicator. Just like the whole world stopped for this pandemic. Have you ever seen anything like what just happened in the last year? Have you ever seen the whole world stop? Global travel stops? Everybody stays home? The whole world came to a standstill. You can see from satellites the world changed. Satellites determined that there were so many changes on the Earth. Animals started multiplying, things started growing back, harbors started changing. All of the earthquake detection systems found so much less noise. They said that the Earth went silent because the humans basically paused for a year most of our activity. If you think the pandemic was hard, can you imagine when one person rises up that starts controlling the whole world? You can’t buy or sell unless he allows you to. If you don’t agree with him, he beheads you. Wow. That’s who we’re talking about right there.

He confirms the covenant. The way he rises to power is, he settles the Arab Israeli conflict, the Islamic Judaism conflict. He stops all the terror, all the warfare, all the nuclear proliferation, all of the WMDs (weapons of mass destruction), and the whole climate problem, and the whole food problem. He just steps in. The Bible says that he comes on a white horse, Revelation 6, and is a peacemaker. He causes everybody to settle down and all the ethnic strife to stop. We don’t have any more riots, and burning, and pillaging. None of that stuff. There’s this false peace and he let Israel worship in Jerusalem like they’ve always wanted to.

” In the middle of the week,” that’s the middle of the tribulation, “he brings an end…” look at this, “to sacrifice an offering.” There’s going to be a temple in Jerusalem offering animal sacrifice. That’s what Daniel saw. That’s what Jesus saw in Matthew 24. That’s what Paul saw in 2 Thessalonians 2. That’s what John sees in Revelation 11. Then, it’s all going to come down hard. The second half of the tribulation is horrible.

You say where do you get all this weak stuff and seven years means something else. I thought we weren’t supposed to be allegorical. We’re not, I’m being literal 70 weeks. If you look at that little mark, there’s a little footnote right there, go down to the bottom. This is what it says, the word translated weeks in English is the Hebrew word for heptad or a group of seven. Not to be confused with over here, look at this in chapter 10, the occurrences of the word weeks is not the same. These are not the same. This word is not weeks, it’s heptad. This word [ in chapter 10] is weeks like we know it, seven days. Two completely different Hebrew words. God says, I’ve determined 70 groups of seven for my people and those are in two parts. 483 years from that command to the crucifixion. Then, the last seven that we just saw.

This is all my notes typed, just to show you I did my homework. We are in week 23, I titled this: The Greatest Prophetic Passage in the Bible. I titled it: Jesus, Daniel, Paul, and John all saw an end of days temple. I already talked to you about how this literal studying by Daniel is how he started his prayer.

Daniel, I showed you that, in 539 to 538 was doing prophetic Bible study. He responded with his prayer and supplication. He starts the ACTS model. He gives adoration to the Lord. He starts the confession time. Then, as he read God’s word, he says he heard God’s voice. Do you see everything? Basically, on one of my read-throughs I don’t write anything in my journal, I just note everything in the text, so I never forget what I found. Daniel’s 70 weeks are heptads, not to be confused with the word weeks. Cutoff is a substitutionary atonement. The revived Roman Empire, prince of the people to come, or the Roman Empire. Daniel saw a temple and so did Jesus, so did Paul, so did John.

How do you apply one of the greatest chapters in the Bible? Let me just give one example. This is my last prayer; this is this morning’s prayer. This is what I prayed as I in the dark this morning was drinking my first cup of coffee, reading the Bible, and meditating on how God’s word can transform my heart. I wrote this, Lord, I adore you as my God and King. You are great and worthy of all my adoration and worship. I too have often not heeded Your voice and Your word. So, please forgive and cleanse me. You are awesome. You keep Your word. I want to hear Your voice. I want to obey Your word. I want to trust Your plan. Guide me to do Your will and accomplish Your purpose in my life. Thank you for literally explaining the future in such simple terms, I can understand and trust that You’re in control. For Jesus’ sake, Amen.

Isn’t it wonderful to know that the Lord is in control. Remember, this is where we are in sacred history. I always want you to realize that we’re talking about real people, in real places, with real problems that lived historically. Everything happens sometime. When is this book? From the 70 years of captivity? It’s right in this time from when Babylon conquered Jerusalem and onward, it is this 70 year period.

As I told you last time, Nebuchadnezzar started his first siege. The Babylonians came in 605 BC and hauled off Daniel. The Babylonians came back to Israel. They left a contingent and it was occupied. In 597 they besieged Jerusalem a second time and hauled off Ezekiel. That’s who we saw last week. Daniel gets to Babylon first. Ezekiel gets there second. Then, in the third siege, which is in 586, the city was leveled, the people were massacred, and all these theological designation events take place. There’s the servitude of the nation. The 70 years that Israel had to suffer. There’s the desolation of Jerusalem, which is the time period that there had to be no sacrifice and no offering of offerings. One ended with Cyrus, the head of the Persian Empire. The other ended with Artaxerxes, but that’s what triggers the 70 week countdown. In the middle of this, next time Lord willing, after you study Daniel 9 all this week, next week when we come back, Lord willing, we’re going to look at Zechariah 12 to 14, which is the ultimate description with details. Nowhere else in the Bible of the second coming of Jesus Christ. After Zechariah, is the time of Esther. Esther is right here during the time of Nehemiah. Ezra came back, Nehemiah, remember we studied Ezra when we were looking at Psalm 119. Ezra, Psalm 119, and copying the scriptures, Nehemiah building the wall, Esther is over in Persia. Then of course the concluding of the Old Testament and the book of Malachi.

You see that historically the kings of Persia, they’re all in there. Different ones in history mentioned. Ezra 1 talks about Cyrus the Great, so does Isaiah 45, that 200 year before prophecy. Ahasuerus as before, Artaxerxes as before, this Darius the 1st or Hystaspis is in Ezra 5 and 6. Here’s queen Esther’s husband, Xerxes the 1st. Artaxerxes, Longimanus, is in Nehemiah 2. Nehemiah 12 has this Darius the 2nd. Darius the 3rd is in Nehemiah 12 also.

Just to show you, when you go to a museum, which is something Bonnie and I love to do. I love to go to museums and find the artifacts that tie in with the scriptures. Real quickly, what I’ve just shared is amazing. If you have time to study the rest of Daniel, if you study chapter 2, chapter 7, chapter 9, chapter 11, Daniel is the most attacked book of the Bible, as far as the authenticity of it. Why? Let’s look at what Jesus said.

Matthew 24:15, Jesus authenticates Daniel. He gave Daniel a strong endorsement. Daniel is the only Old Testament prophet that Jesus calls by name when he talks about the future in his longest sermon, the Olivet discourse, which is in Matthew 24 & 25, Mark 13, and Luke 21. Jesus was a fan of Daniel.

What he said is, Daniel was a Jew, he was alive in the 6th century BC empire of Babylon, he served at the highest levels in the closing days of Babylon and was there at the opening days of the Medo-Persian Empire. In other words, Jesus said that what Daniel says about who he is, when he lived, and what he saw is true. There is the bottom line.

When people ask me how I know the Bible is true, do you want I tell them? The number one biggest reasons why I believe, I have seven reasons why I believe the Bible is true. The first and most important, and the only one I need is Jesus believed it was true. Jesus affirms Daniel and Daniel says that the world is going to be ruled by four great empires. It’s going to culminate with the rise of the Anti-Christ, and it’s going to end with the return of the real Christ. That’s a summary of Daniel 2 and 9.

Let me just go over this with you. God sees only four world empires. Were there other empires? You bet there were, they are in the Bible. There’s the Assyrian Empire. There’s the Egyptian Empire. There’s the Aramaeans. There are all these different people that are all over the place. The Hittites. The whole Hittite Empire, by the way, wasn’t even really believed to be true, even though it’s in the Bible, until the 20th century. Did you know archeologists didn’t really believe there were Hittites. If you look at old encyclopedias before about 1910, they said the Hittites, in fact Wikipedia says it. Wikipedia says until about 1910, the Hittites were only in the Bible. A German industrialist in World War I was building a factory in Turkey. He went to the bar to have a beer and he heard the Turks talking, at the bar, about these gigantic stone figures they found out in the desert. He hired them to take him out in the desert. There they were. Huge, larger than life animals with human faces. He hired 200 of them, he was a rich German industrialist, to start digging. They uncovered the first of the Hittite Empire’s gigantic cities that had been buried for thousands of years.

The Bible says there are lots of empires, but in Daniel 2, God gives an overview of human history from His perspective, so we as humans can understand the human perspective of what God sees.

With all their outward beauty and accomplishments look what He says. He says, from God’s perspective, the first real big glitzy empire was Babylon. The second empire, inferior in glitziness, just like gold is more valuable than silver is the second empire, the Medo-Persian. Look at this, inferior… gold, silver, brass. We make our plumbing out of brass, now it’s plastic, but it used to be out of brass, that is Greece. Then iron, see it’s declining value but increasing stress? The Roman Empire is the final empire. There are only four from God’s perspective. All of human history is encompassed by Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome. Look at what the ending is going to be, Rome number two, the revived Roman Empire.

What’s interesting is, this is from human perspective, gold and silver. From divine or God’s perspective, Daniel 7 is the same vision only in a different form. A winged lion, a bear, a leopard, and a terrible beast. God sees human history as rapacious, and horribly murderous, and violent, and monster like. Humans just think of glory and splendor. They look at the architecture and all the gold vessels, and God looks at the heart.

God sees four empires. The gold, the silver, the bronze, iron, and clay. The iron and clay are the end times. What God says is, just like the Roman Empire had two legs… You know what that is? The Roman Empire was divided between the north shore of the Mediterranean and the south shore of the Mediterranean. Basically, the rule of thumb is, if you look at the ancient Roman Empire, two-thirds of the Roman Empire of the Bible times today is Islamic Northern Africa, Turkey, and the Middle East. So, it could be that the revived Roman Empire is going to be in the geographic area of the original Roman Empire, but it’s going to be predominantly Islamic. That could explain the beheading of all the tribulation saints. We cover that in Revelation by the way.

The leader of that final revived Roman Empire, see what it says in chapter 9 of Daniel, “the people of the prince,” verse 26, that destroyed the city of Jerusalem in AD 70, that’s the Roman empire. The revived Roman Empire says he, that’s this prince that will come from verse 26, will make the covenant. Who is he? The Anti-Christ. Who is he? The worst human that ever lives. He’s called in different books of the Bible, the man of sin, the son of perdition, and the false Christ.

Daniel talks about a 69 week time that culminates with Christ’s crucifixion. Then, the people, the Roman Empire destroyed the sanctuary. There’s this time period that goes by. Jesus ascends to Heaven here. Jesus takes His church out here. The Anti-Christ starts ruling here. He is an abomination that causes desolation. He allows the Jews to start their temple. They get to keep the temple till the middle, then all Hell breaks loose when he breaks the covenant. All the great tribulation takes place. This rebuilt temple that He allows them to start doing sacrifices here. The temple is rebuilt somewhere at the very beginning of the tribulation, desecrated in the middle, and then the battle of Armageddon. Remember we talked last week about the Magog invasion? Jesus comes in the second coming to rescue His chosen people of promise and to launch His kingdom. Jesus said, there’ll be a temple operating in Jerusalem at the start of the tribulation. Wow.

Bonnie and I thank you for joining us on this year-long study through the scriptures. I was talking to her today, our daytime job is what it says right here, doing classes. We alternate between real classes. Pre-COVID, B.C., Before COVID, we traveled 11 months a year to five continents, going from training center to training center and teaching. Then, A.C., After COVID we immediately, in March of 2020 when we got back from our last trip, started in our virtual studio teaching the same classes. All of those, by the way, are now online as I said to you a couple of weeks ago, on YouTube. You can find each of the books of the Bible that we teach through as formal courses, with all the quizzes and assignments, and everything for you to actually take a full course. We’re now starting back and we’re on the road now as we’re teaching, still doing virtual classes, but soon to be going overseas and going to teaching centers. We are, after work at night, once a week recording for you our small group, this Bible study. I told Bonnie today, I said, did you know for five years, I always wanted to capture what I talked about at Starbucks, and Panera, and Chipotle with all those groups, showing them, and explaining the Bible, and showing them how to journal, and do the devotional method, and their application prayer. I want to capture that. Do you know what the Lord did? He sent COVID. A by-product of this shutdown is us getting the time to do this study with you and to actually have you as our partners praying for us. I actually talked to you, on a regular basis, more than anybody else because we’re traveling all the time. I would encourage you to pray for us.

This is our prayer card. These pictures show where we alternate between teaching. We would like you to know that we feel your prayers. In fact, thank you, one of you in the Netherlands last night sent me a note and said, turn down your microphone there’s too much noise, something interfering, and it makes this loud sound. You know what? I called my son and I said, what is he talking about? He says, dad, you have to go into your computer, and you have it set at 12 decibels. It really should only be at six, on the actual microphone coming in through all this sound studio. I said, wow. I’m so thankful for you in the Netherlands, part of our small group, helping us to communicate more clearly.

Have a great week in Daniel chapter 7. Take your notes, write your prayer, ask God to change you, and Lord willing when we come back next week, we’re going to look at the coming of Jesus Christ in the clouds. Zechariah 12 to 14. Until then, God bless you. Have a great time in His word.

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