What Daniel 9 Has to do with Rev. 6-19

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/17/2015 9:59 AM

My Worship Time                                             Focus:  How Daniel Nine Goes along with Rev. 6

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Daniel 9:24-27

            Message of the verses:  I have often mentioned that the prophecy that is found in the ninth chapter of Daniel is probably the most amazing prophecy found in all of God’s Word.  It is worth mentioning that the prophecy that Daniel received began with a rather lengthy prayer of confession and intercession for the nation of Israel.  Israel had been taken captive by the Babylonians and in a series of three different years, 605, 597, and 586 Jewish people had been taken to Babylon.  Daniel was taken in 605 and Ezekiel was taken in 597.  God would send these men ahead along with others to preserve the line of the Messiah, a line that had to run through David.  Daniel was a very faithful man of God as no sin of his is ever mentioned in the Word of God.  God called him to work in the government of Babylon and it was a series of miracles that this happened as we read when we study the book of Daniel.  My entire study on the book of Daniel is on my blog which I did in 2013, but what I want to do in this blog post is to try and explain what the prophecy in Daniel nine has to do with the tribulation period that we are beginning to study in the book of Revelation.  We have not studied five chapters in the book of Revelation and beginning in the sixth chapter and going through the 19^th chapter we will see God’s judgment on sinful mankind which will take place in a seven year period, and that seven year period is seen in this wonderful prophecy found in Daniel chapter nine.  I first want to copy and paste my study on the verses at the end of Daniel nine and then perhaps make some ending comments, but I want you to know that it is vital to understand this passage from Daniel to help us understand what is going on beginning in Revelation chapter six.

            “My Worship Time                                           Focus:  Instruction: Discovering God’s Timetable

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                    Reference:  Daniel 9:20-24

            Message of the verses:  We will be just looking at verses 20-23 and then also verse 24 which speaks of what is called the “Seventy Weeks.”

            “20 Now while I was speaking and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the LORD my God in behalf of the holy mountain of my God, 21 while I was still speaking in prayer, then the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision previously, came to me in my extreme weariness about the time of the evening offering. 22 He gave me instruction and talked with me and said, "O Daniel, I have now come forth to give you insight with understanding. 23 "At the beginning of your supplications the command was issued, and I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed; so give heed to the message and gain understanding of the vision. 24  "Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy place.”

            We see actually that Daniel was not really finished with his prayer to the Lord, a prayer that consisted of his confession his sins and also the sin of the people of Israel as we have been looking at in our previous SD’s.  Daniel is interrupted by an angel, an angel he had seen in his last vision described in chapter eight, and his name was Gabriel which means “man of God,” or “warrior of God.”  Gabriel was sent to Daniel to answer his prayer, and he was sent when Daniel began to pray.  I suppose that we can conclude from this that angels can move very fast.  Gabriel tells Daniel that he is highly esteemed, and this is a wonderful complement given to Daniel.

            Next we see that Gabriel came at the time of the evening sacrifice, a time when Daniel would usually be praying to the Lord, as he prayed three times a day.  The evening sacrifice that is given at this time is a lamb as seen in Exodus 29:38-41, “38 "Now this is what you shall offer on the altar: two one year old lambs each day, continuously. 39  "The one lamb you shall offer in the morning and the other lamb you shall offer at twilight; 40  and there shall be one-tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with one-fourth of a hin of beaten oil, and one-fourth of a hin of wine for a drink offering with one lamb. 41  "The other lamb you shall offer at twilight, and shall offer with it the same grain offering and the same drink offering as in the morning, for a soothing aroma, an offering by fire to the LORD.”  In the NT we find that there are different sacrifices for us to offer to the Lord, and one of them is found in Romans 12:1 “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.”  Let us look at Psalm 141:1-2 “O LORD, I call upon You; hasten to me! Give ear to my voice when I call to You! 2 May my prayer be counted as incense before You; The lifting up of my hands as the evening offering.”  We see here that David must have also prayed at the evening sacrifice too.

            The Seventy Weeks:  (Daniel 9:24):  “24  "Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy place.”

            I have mentioned this before about these seventy weeks, and so I want, at this time to quote Dr. Wiersbe, “The word ‘weeks’ means ‘sevens,’ so Gabriel was speaking about seventy periods of 7 years, or 490 years.  Keep in mind that these years relate specifically to Daniel’s people, the Jews, and their holy city, Jerusalem.  In his prayer, Daniel’s great concern was that his people be forgiven their sins against the Lord, the city be rebuilt, and the temple be restored (vs. 16); and these are the matters that Gabriel will discuss.  To apply this important prophecy to any other people or place is to rob it of its intended meaning.”

            There are six specific things that Gabriel explained to Daniel that would happen during these 490 years, six specific purposes for the Jewish people.  Dr. Wiersbe explains that the first three have to do with sin and the last three have to do with righteousness.  Dr. Wiersbe explains “The Lord would ‘finish the transgression,’ that is, the transgression of the Jewish people, and ‘make an end of’ Israel’s national sins.  This was one of the main burdens of Daniel’s prayer.  Israel was a scattered suffering nation because she was a sinful nation.  How would the Lord accomplish this?  By making ‘reconciliation for iniquity,’ that is, by offering a sacrifice that would atone for their sin.  Here we come to the cross of Jesus Christ, Israel’s Messiah.”  It was Jesus who paid the price of sin as He suffered on the cross in order to bring salvation to those who will receive Him, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God (John 1:12-13).” 

            The last three specific things that Gabriel speaks to Daniel of, as we said, have to do with righteousness, and they will happen during the 1000 year reign of Jesus Christ upon planet earth. 

            Dr. Wiersbe concludes his commentary on this section with these words, “These six purposes declare the answer to Daniel’s prayer!  Ultimately, Israel’s sins will be forgiven (Zech. 12:10-13:1), the city of Jerusalem will be rebuilt, and the temple and its ministry will be restored, all because of the atoning death of Jesus Christ on the cross.  All of these wonderful accomplishment will be fulfilled during the 490 years that Gabriel goes on to explain.  He divides the seven sevens—490 years—into three significant periods:  49 years, 434 years and 7 years.”  At the end of this statement Dr. Wiersbe gives us an endnote:  “The Jewish calendar is based on a series of sevens.  The seventh day is the Sabbath day and the seventh year is a sabbatical year (Ex. 23:11-13).  The fiftieth year (7x7+1) is the Year of Jubilee (Lev. 25).  The Feast of Pentecost is seven weeks after Firstfruits (Lev. 23:15-22), and during the seventh month of the year, the Jews observed the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Tabernacles.””

            Now we will go to the next SD on verses 25-27:  “Message of the verses:  In Warren Wiersbe’s commentary he has broken up the 490 years into three different sub-points and we will try to look at each one of these in today’s SD.

            Period # 1—49 years (Daniel 9:25):  “25  "So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of distress.”

            I can remember the first time that I heard the explanation of this verse while visiting a friend in Florida in January of 1974.  I was listening to a series of taped messages by a man named Hal Lindsey who had recently written a book named “The Late Great Planet Earth” which was a book about prophecies from the Word of God.  As I look back on that time I remember that this was the time that the Lord Jesus Christ saved me from my sins and He used the tapes on prophecy to draw me to Himself as each message had the clear gospel presentation at the end of it.

            Daniel 9:25 gives us the starting point of when this 490 years will begin, and since there were three different times in which the Jews were told that they could leave Babylon there has been much disagreement as to when this time period would begin.  The prophecy is about the city and the temple, for that is what Daniel was praying about, along with, of course, having the Jewish people return to the city of Jerusalem.  Sir Robert Anderson has written a book in which he entitled “The Coming Prince” and this book is about the 490 year prophecy from Daniel nine.  He believes along with many people that I have respect for believe that the decree that is spoken of in Daniel 9:25 is given in the second chapter of the book of Nehemiah.  Nehemiah was a cup bearer to the king of Persia and when you have that job you better not look sad in his presence or you could lose your head.  Nehemiah had spent much time in prayer over what was going on in Jerusalem for there had been Jewish people already living there for almost 100 years and the city was still not complete.  Nehemiah’s prayers were answered in chapter two, which was 445 BC and we read about it in Nehemiah chapter two:  “1 And it came about in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, that wine was before him, and I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad in his presence. 2 So the king said to me, "Why is your face sad though you are not sick? This is nothing but sadness of heart." Then I was very much afraid. 3 I said to the king, "Let the king live forever. Why should my face not be sad when the city, the place of my fathers’ tombs, lies desolate and its gates have been consumed by fire?" 4 Then the king said to me, "What would you request?" So I prayed to the God of heaven. 5 I said to the king, "If it please the king, and if your servant has found favor before you, send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ tombs, that I may rebuild it." 6 Then the king said to me, the queen sitting beside him, "How long will your journey be, and when will you return?" So it pleased the king to send me, and I gave him a definite time. 7 And I said to the king, "If it please the king, let letters be given me for the governors of the provinces beyond the River, that they may allow me to pass through until I come to Judah, 8 and a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king’s forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the fortress which is by the temple, for the wall of the city and for the house to which I will go." And the king granted them to me because the good hand of my God was on me.”  With this statement the 490 year prophecy began. 

            When you read through the book of Nehemiah you see that there was much trouble in rebuilding the city walls as the people who were working on the walls had a sword in one hand and things to rebuild the wall in the other hand, and this is just as Gabriel said would happen, that it would be done with trouble.

            Period # 2—483 Years (Daniel 9:26):  “26  "Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined.”

            The math is like this 49 + 434 = 483, so there are 483 years from the time that the decree was given in Nehemiah chapter two until the cutting off of the Messiah.  Four hundred and eighty-three years from 445 BC puts you into 29/30 AD.  We know what happened then, for Jesus was turned down as the King of Israel and was thus killed, but not for Himself. 

            I have studied this prophecy for many years off and on and I believe that the exact time that this prophecy began was in March of 445 BC as I have already stated and it goes until when Jesus rides into Jerusalem on what is commonly called Palm Sunday, and it is then that He is rejected as their King.  In Luke chapter nineteen we see this take place:  “37 As soon as He was approaching, near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the miracles which they had seen, 38 shouting: "BLESSED IS THE KING WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD; Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!" 39 Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Him, "Teacher, rebuke Your disciples." 40 But Jesus answered, "I tell you, if these become silent, the stones will cry out!’”  Why did Jesus say that if this was not said that the rocks would cry out with these words?  These words were to be said when Messiah came and the Pharisees did not believe that Jesus was the Messiah.  Jesus goes on to say a bit later on “"If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes. ‘” This day was the end of the 483^rd year that is written in Daniel, and thus it stops the prophecy with seven years left on it.  In Sir Robert Anderson’s book he figures out the different calendars and changes the Jewish calendar, which is a lunar calendar to our Julian calendar which has 365 days in it, while the Jewish or lunar calendar had 360 days in it.  He figured out how many days were involved even to the point of having tree leap years deleted because one has to delete a leap year every so many years, and at the end he comes up with the day that Jesus rides into Jerusalem to offer Himself as King of Israel and is rejected and then killed a few days later.

            Period # 3—7 Years (Daniel 9:27):  “27 “And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate.’
            The book that I mentioned by Sir Robert Anderson “The Coming Prince” does not speak of the prince as the Lord Jesus Christ, but the prince that is spoken of in Daniel 9:26 and referred to as “he” in verse 27.  The text says that this prince will come from the people who destroyed the city and the sanctuary which was Titus and his Roman Legion.  Herod’s temple was a beautiful building that Titus did not want to destroy, but there was gold in between the huge limestone blocks and the only way that they could get the gold out was to tear down the building.  Jesus told the people that this would happen, that not one stone would be left on another:  “43  "For the days will come upon you when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you, and surround you and hem you in on every side, 44  and they will level you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation (Luke 19:43-44).’”

            What prince then is the text speaking of?  It is none other than Antichrist and this last seven years of this prophecy will begin when this prince who comes out of the territory of the old Roman Empire will come on the scene and make a covenant with the nation of Israel for seven years.  This period is known as the “Tribulation Period” and what happens during this period is described in verse twenty-seven of Daniel along with chapters 6-19 of the book of Revelation.  This even is still in our future, but as we look at one key element that happened in May of 1948, and that is that Israel became a nation again, we know that this time is not too far off.  I have never made it a practice to set a date as to when these events will take place, and I firmly believe that the Lord Jesus will return to the clouds over the earth to take His bride home to be with Him before these events take place.  This even we know as the rapture of the Church and are described in 1 Thes. 4:13-18 along with in 1 Cor. 15:51-54.  Our world is much smaller than it used to be, that is because modern technology and modern weapons where enemies can now be many thousands of miles away from us and can still kill us.  We have weapons that can actually destroy the entire earth, but this will not take place for at the height of global war as described in the 19^th chapter of Revelations the Lord Jesus will return to planet earth riding on a white horse with His army with Him and this will end the last day of Daniel’s 490 year prophecy.”

            I realize that this is going to be a very long SD, but again it is necessary for us to understand what we are beginning to look at in Revelation chapter six.

            “Message of the verses:  We come to the last SD from the ninth chapter of the book of Daniel and as we look at this topic we will understand how the Church of Jesus Christ is involved in this prophecy even though it is not mentioned.  Before I go onto the topic of the strange parenthesis I want to go back to Daniel 9:26, and at the end of that verse we read:  “even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined.”  I believe what is said here is that there will be continued trouble of the Jewish people right up until the time when Jesus Christ, the Messiah returns as described in Revelations chapter nineteen.  There has been continued trouble for the Jewish people since the rejection of their Messiah, and even in a matter that happened over this past week-end there was trouble for them, and it will grow worse and worse especially in the “time of Jacob’s trouble” which is the tribulation period, and especially the last three and a half years of the tribulation as seen in the prophecy in Daniel chapter nine.

            Gabriel did not tell Daniel what was going to happen between the sixty-ninth year and the seventieth year of this 490 year prophecy, and that is what this strange parenthesis is.  There are things called mysteries in the Bible and this is something that had not been revealed, but is now being revealed, and the Church fits into that category as it was not mentioned in the OT, but was all along in the plan of God and was revealed in the NT.  Paul speaks of this mystery in Ephesians 3:1-13, “1 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles- 2 if indeed you have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace which was given to me for you; 3 that by revelation there was made known to me the mystery, as I wrote before in brief. 4  By referring to this, when you read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, 5  which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit; 6  to be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel, 7 of which I was made a minister, according to the gift of God’s grace which was given to me according to the working of His power. 8 To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ, 9 and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things; 10 so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places. 11 This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord, 12 in whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him. 13 Therefore I ask you not to lose heart at my tribulations on your behalf, for they are your glory.”

            Dr. Wiersbe concludes his commentary on Daniel chapter nine with these words:  “Some of the prophecy in Daniel 9:24-27 has already been fulfilled, and the rest will be fulfilled in the end times.  We are today living in the age of the Church, when Israel has been partially blinded and temporarily set aside (Romans 9-11).  Like Paul, we must have a heart concern for the Jewish people, pray for them and seek to share the Gospel with them.  Gentile believers have a debt to the people of Israel (Rom. 15:24-27) because they gave us the knowledge of the true and living God, the inspired written Scripture, and the Savior, Jesus Christ.”  To all of this I say Amen!”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  As I write this SD today there is an election going on in the state of Israel, an election that I would like to see give the current Prime Minister another term for he knows the importance of what the Bible has to say about Israel, and the rebuilt state of Israel.  I take courage in knowing that the Lord is in charge of this election as He is in all elections.  Since the Lord saved me He took away a dirty mouth and gave to me a love for His Word and for His people Israel.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To love the Lord with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to live in and better understand the love Christ has for me.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Apollos” (Acts 18:24).

Today’s Bible question:  “Who wrote First and Second Timothy?”

Answer in our next SD.

3/17/2015 10:46 AM