Daniel 9

Daniel 9 is dated for us at the beginning. It's in the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus of the seed of the Medes which was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans. Babylon was conquered by the Medo-Persian empire and this is in the transition state and Darius it was in his beginning of his reign the first year of his reign over the Medo-Persian empire as they had conquered now the Babylonians or the realm of the Chaldeans.

So in the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by books the number of years where of the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet that he would accomplished 70 years in the desolations of Jerusalem. So it is interesting because it shows to us that Daniel was a student of prophecy and the prophet Jeremiah had prophesied that the Babylonian captivity would be 70 years. When the Jews came into the land that God had promised to Abraham their father he had given to them the Sabbath law and in that Sabbath law every seven years was to be a Sabbath for the land.

They were to plant the land and cultivate the land for six years and then the seventh year they were to just let the land go fallow. They weren't to plow it they weren't to cultivate it and just whatever grew they would eat of it but they were not to labor on the fields on the seventh year and so they had been now in the land for 490 years but they had not obeyed that law of the Lord in giving the land the Sabbath. And so God said well you know you haven't obeyed the law you haven't given the land the Sabbath you've been in it for 490 years and so you actually owe 70 years to the land to let it rest and so the Lord said if you don't do it I'll do it for you.

So your captivity in Babylon will be for 70 years in order that the land might get the Sabbath that it was deprived of during the time that you were occupying the land and so it is God exacting from them what they weren't willing to give but that's an interesting concept that I see and I realize that in our own lives sometimes we want to sort of cheat on God but he won't let you. He will exact what is his one way or another and so with the land God exacted the 70 years that they were in Babylon the land would have its rest they would not be planting or developing or cultivating the land during that 70 years. Now Jeremiah did prophesy that after the 70 years that they would go back to the land so realizing that they're only about two years away from 70 years that they had been in Babylon Daniel was seeking the Lord.

I like this he knows the scriptures he knows that it's about time that God does move and being in a position of authority and power he thought well maybe God wants to use me because of the position that I hold as one of the leaders in the Medo-Persian empire which he was and maybe God wants to use me as far as the repatriation into the land. So he is setting his face to seek the Lord and by prayer and supplication with fasting and sackcloth and ashes and to find out Lord you know do you want to use me here I am I'm available is there something that you have me would have me to do in the repatriation. Interestingly enough we don't read that Daniel had any part of the repatriation but yet just making himself available.

I love that I love doing that I love to just say well Lord you know here I am if there's anything you want done I'm available and just guide me and direct me Lord into whatever it is that you have in mind for me to do and just to make myself available to God. So he said I prayed unto the Lord my God I made my confession I said oh Lord the great and dreadful or awesome God who keeps the covenant and mercy to those that love him and to those that keep his commandments. We have sinned we have committed iniquity we have done wickedly we have rebelled even by departing from your precepts and from your judgments.

You know it's interesting how that a lot of times when people are going through problems they want to in their prayers blame God for their problems. Quite often their prayers are sort of whining and saying Lord why would you allow this to happen to me and why would you allow that to take place you know Lord and oh Lord why why why and they are wanting to sort of accuse God of failing them or not being faithful to them but here it is he's not blaming God at all for the problems that they've had but he's acknowledging these problems have come to us because we have failed to be what you wanted us to be. We have failed to do what you wanted us to do and and so he's accepting the full responsibility for the conditions that they were in which were not pleasant conditions because they had been captives there in Babylon for almost 70 years.

So we have sinned we've committed iniquity we've done wickedly we've rebelled even departing from your precepts from your judgments and neither have we hearkened unto your servants the prophets which spake in thy name to our kings our princes and our fathers and to all of the people of the land. O Lord righteousness belongs unto thee but unto us confusion of faces as it is this day to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to all of Israel that are near and that are far off and through all of the countries whether you have driven them because of their trespass that they have trespassed against thee. O Lord to us belongs confusion of face to our kings to our princes to our fathers because we have sinned against thee.

Notice no incriminations against God no trying to blame God for their problems but the acceptance that this is something that we have brought upon ourselves it's because of our sin that we've gone through these difficult times and so to the Lord our God belongs mercy and forgiveness though we have rebelled against him. God is merciful God is forgiving we're the ones we were in rebellion neither have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our God to walk in his laws which he set before us by his servants the prophets. Yea all of Israel have transgressed thy law even by departing that they might not obey thy voice and therefore the curse is poured upon us and the oath that is written in the law of Moses the servant of God because we have sinned against him.

Again confession of sin acknowledgement of it's not your fault God that it's our fault that we are in these problems that we're experiencing. Yea all of Israel have transgressed thy law even by departing that they might not obey thy voice therefore the curse is poured upon us and the oath that is written in the law of Moses the servant of God because we have sinned against him and he hath confirmed his words which he spoke against us and against our judges that judged us by bringing upon us a great evil for under the whole heaven hath there not been done as hath been done unto Jerusalem. Jerusalem is lying in ruins it has been totally destroyed by the Babylonians and now he is just saying you know this is all our fault we're the ones that precipitated this judgment against you know the city of Jerusalem.

As it is written in the law of Moses all of this evil has come upon us and yet we did not make our prayer before the Lord our God that we might turn from our iniquities and understand thy truth.

Therefore hath the Lord watched upon the evil and brought it upon us for the Lord our God is righteous in all of his works which he doeth for we obeyed not his voice and now oh Lord our God thou has brought thy people forth out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand and you have gotten thee renowned as it is this day we have sinned we have done wickedly oh Lord according to all of thy righteousness I beseech thee let thy anger and thy fury be turned away from the city of Jerusalem and thy holy mountain because for our sins and for our iniquities of our fathers Jerusalem and thy people are become a reproach to all that are about us now therefore oh our God hear the prayer of thy servant and his supplications cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate for the Lord's sake

oh my God incline thine ear here and open thine eyes and behold our desolations and the city which is called by thy name for we do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousnesses but for thy great mercies not saying Lord we don't deserve it or that we do deserve something better than this because you know we are good people and so forth but no Lord we're just saying be merciful we're guilty we were wrong be merciful unto us and thus we are presenting this not because we deserve anything other than what we have but Lord we're calling upon you because we know that you are a merciful loving gracious God and so he said 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 for the holy

mountain of my God yea while I was speaking in prayer even the man Gabriel whom I had seen at the vision of the beginning being caused to fly swiftly touched me about the time of the evening oblation or prayers and he informed me and he talked with me and he said oh Daniel I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding at the beginning of your supplications and the commandment came forth I'm come to show thee for thou art greatly beloved therefore understand the matter and consider the vision there are 77 year cycles that are determined upon your people and upon the holy city to finish the transgression to make an end of sins to make reconciliation for iniquity to bring in everlasting righteousness and to seal up the vision and the prophecy and to anoint the most holy so these

are the things that are going to transpire within these 77 year cycles of time so the finishing of the transgression and to make an end of sins in other words that's what Christ did when he died on the cross made provisions for the forgiveness of our sins and to make reconciliation be reconciled to God through Jesus Christ and the work that he has done for us and to bring in everlasting righteousness that is that righteousness of Christ which is imparted and imputed to us by our faith in him to seal up the vision that is to sort of complete it when it's completed you set the seal upon it and it indicates that it's a completed deal and that is to finish then the vision and the prophecies and to anoint the most holy now Christ of course is the most holy and to anoint him as the king of

kings and lord of lords and that is of course yet future and it's a part of this 77 year cycles so he said know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the commandment and this is Gabriel the angel talking to him know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build jerusalem unto the messiah the prince will be seven sevens and 62 sevens and the street shall be built again and the wall even in troubleless times so note now here the prophecy is interesting in that uh understand that from the time the commandment will go forth to restore and to build jerusalem to the coming of the messiah the prince will be seven sevens and 62 sevens or 469 uh seven year periods uh so uh 489 seven year periods so uh the he says the prince uh and the

wall shall be built again in troubleless times and after the 62 sevens shall the messiah be cut off so to the coming of the messiah the prince would be 69 sevens after the commandment to restore and rebuild jerusalem if you want to turn in your bibles back to nehemiah chapter one we can see where this commandment did go forth to restore and to rebuild jerusalem and so it gives us really what you might say the starting date for this particular prophecy and so in nehemiah chapter two it came to pass in the month of nisan which is the month of april in the jewish calendar it was in the 20th year of artaxerxes the king that is the king of persia that wine was brought before him and i took up the wine and gave it to the king now nehemiah said i had not been before time sad in his presence but

wherefore the king said unto me why is your countenance sad seeing that you're not sick this is nothing else but sorrow of heart and so i was very afraid and i said to the king let the king live forever but why should not my heart or my countenance be sad when the city the place of my father's supplicators is lying waste and the gates thereof are consumed with fire then the king said unto me for what do you make your requests and so i prayed unto the god of heaven and i said unto the king if it pleases the king and if thy servant has found favor in thy sight that you would send me to judah to the city of my father's supplicators that i might build it and so the king said unto me with the queen sitting beside him how long shall your journey be and when will you return so it pleased the

king to send me and i set him a time moreover i said unto the king if it pleases the king let letters be given to me and to the governors beyond the river that they might convey me over until i come unto judah and the letter to asaph the keeper of the king's forest that he may give me timbers to make the beams for the gates and of the palace and appertain to the house and for the wall of the city and for the house i shall enter into and the king granted me according to the good hand of my god upon me and that i came to the governors beyond the river and gave them the king's letters and now the king had sent captains of the army and horsemen with me and when sam ballot the horonite and tobiah the servant of the emanite heard of it it grieved them exceedingly that there was come a man to

seek the welfare of the children of israel now they had completed their 70 years in captivity and it was at that time that cyrus who was the king of the medes or the persians actually cyrus made a decree to allow them to rebuild to go back and to rebuild the temple but this is a different decree because this decree is to rebuild the walls of the city and to fortify the city in the book of isaiah chapter 44 45 it's an interesting prophecy very interesting prophecy concerning the building of the temple in verse 28 of chapter 44 of isaiah that saith of cyrus he is my shepherd and shall perform all my pleasure even saying to jerusalem thou shalt be built and to the temple thou thy foundation shall be laid thus saith the lord to his anointed to cyrus whose right hand i've held to subdue

nations before him i will loose the loins of kings to open before him the two levy gates and the gates shall not be shut i will go before thee and make the crooked places and the gates of brass cut and sundered the bars of iron i will give to you the treasures of darkness the hidden riches of the secret places that you may know that i the lord which call thee by thy name and the god of israel for jacob my servant sake and israel mine elect i have even called thee by thy name i have surnamed thee though you have not known me now the amazing thing about this is that this was written 150 years before cyrus was ever born that the lord said he calls him by his name that you might know you know that i am the god of israel i'm going to call you by your name and i have surnamed thee though you

have not known me interesting that 150 years before the fellow is ever born god calls him by his name so that uh years later when his parents uh when the mother was pregnant and he was born they said well what shall we name him and someone said well why don't we call him you know joseph no no i don't like that but how about cyrus that sounds great call him cyrus and god says i'm the one that sort of surnamed thee before you ever existed i called you by your name so he said i am the lord there is none else there's no other god beside me i've girded thee though you have not known me and that they might know from the rising of the sun from the west there's none beside me i am jehovah there is none else i form the light i create the darkness i make peace i create evil i the lord do all these

things and so uh in verse 9 woe to him that strives with his maker let the pot shirt strive with the pot sherds of the earth shall the clay say to him that fashioned it why make us thou or what make us thou or the work uh that he has no hands so here is god calling the king by name before he is ever born years before he's ever born and the story goes that when uh the mead and the persians conquered the babylonian empire and the babylonian empire did fall to them that when cyrus became the king that somebody brought cyrus the book of jeremiah and showed him where the 70 years of prophecy was of their captivity in babylon was predicted and how that his name was in their sacred book and they showed him here in isaiah how his name was written in the book of isaiah 150 years earlier and this

is what caused cyrus to make this decree and so again going back to nehemiah that will actually to the last chapter of the book of ezra talks about this also and there in ezra ezra it declares that chosen wasn't prepared for this uh there in ezra it does again tell us of this decree that is mentioned in the book of nehemiah that was made by artaxerxes the king of the rebuilding of the temple and that the uh commandment to the rebuilding of the temple and ezra speaks of it also so uh 7 13 thank you very much i knew it was there somewhere i make a decree that all they of the people of israel and of his priests and levites in my realm which are minded of their own free will to go to jerusalem with thee for as much as you are sent of the king and the seven counselors to inquire concerning

judah and jerusalem according to the law of thy god which is in thine hand and to carry the silver and the gold and so ezra is sent back by the king and this is though some 60 years before nehemiah goes to rebuild the temple ezra was going back to rebuild the city of jerusalem they did rebuild the the temple ezra did rebuild the temple but the city of jerusalem was still pretty much in ruins and the people were quite discouraged but what was happening is that the walls of the city had not been built and thus the city was just sort of opened as the enemy would come in and would maraud the city and because no walls and so it was just really miserable living there within the city of jerusalem and the people were demoralized as a result and that's when the some of the people had come back

from jerusalem and nehemiah was talking to them about the conditions in jerusalem and they were talking about how demoralized the people were because of the inability to defend themselves from the enemy around them and that is when nehemiah was upset and that is why when the king said how is it that you look so sad you know that isn't customary with you you're usually a happy you know go lucky guy and he said well you know it's because of the conditions in jerusalem and that's when he was given the permission to restore and to rebuild jerusalem the walls of jerusalem and so that is interesting in that that does then begin the prophecy of the 77s that were determined upon the nation of israel from the time the commandment goes forth to restore and rebuild jerusalem and that would when the

commandment was given so that starts the prophetic calendar at that point 483 years until the messiah does come and presents himself as their messiah so that was at the beginning of the 483 year cycle that would transpire so uh no one understand that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and and to build jerusalem to the messiah the prince will be the 7 7s and 62 7s or 483 seven-year cycles the street will be built again the wall even in troublous times and after the 62 seven-year cycles shall the messiah be cut off now the interesting thing jesus did come exactly 483 years after the commandment was given in 445 bc by arctic xerxes to nehemiah to restore and rebuild the temple jesus did come and he made his entry into jerusalem riding on a donkey as zechariah had prophesied

behold thy king cometh unto thee but he is lowly he is riding on a donkey and so jesus did fulfill this prophecy and it is interesting that up until this point jesus would not allow any public recognition of him as the messiah he would not allow any public worship of him or acknowledgement of him up until this point but on this particular day he made a special uh effort to draw attention to himself as the messiah and as he actually sent the disciples into the city to get this little donkey upon which a man had never ridden and bring him to me and if the owner says what are you doing untying the donkey just say the master needs him and how that they found the donkey on the corner that jesus told them about and as they were untying the little donkey the owner said what are you doing untying

my donkey and they said well the master needs him and so they brought him to jesus who was there on the mount of olives and they put their coats and all on the little donkey and jesus sat on it and began to ride down the steep mount of olives the path on the mount of olives on into jerusalem to present himself as their promised messiah behold thy king cometh unto thee but he is lowly zechariah prophesied he is riding on a donkey and so jesus made his entry into jerusalem riding on this donkey just as was prophesied but as daniel prophesied of the day that the messiah would come he said after the uh the 62 weeks or weeks of years shall the messiah be cut off and not for himself and the people of the prince that shall come will destroy the city and the sanctuary and the end thereof will be

with the dispersion and the end of the war desolations are determined and so as we look at history jesus was rejected and by the leaders of the jewish community and before the week was over he was crucified and without receiving the kingdom so the messiah would be cut off but not for himself and that in the hebrew is without receiving the kingdom for himself and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary in other words here is the prediction of the destruction of the temple that had been built in jerusalem to replace solomon's temple and that the sanctuary would be destroyed and the prince of the people that shall come would of course be the romans they would come and they would destroy the sanctuary and the people would end in a flood and that word

flood is dispersion the jews would be dispersed throughout the world now in 70 a.d the jews rebelled again against the roman empire and against the roman government and the roman government sent titus the roman general to conquer jerusalem and to put down the rebellion of the people and so he came to jerusalem and he set siege against jerusalem he destroyed the temple that was there and the people were dispersed from jerusalem throughout the world and they no longer were a nation and from that time till the present day israel became just a desolate forsaken land the jews were not inhabiting it except for just a few jews who did remain and have remained there through the years but the land was basically a barren land it was a media a an area that was infested by swamps and malaria and all

types of diseases because of the land was just so desolate uh the rivers that flowed uh had all silted up and could not flow out into the mediterranean and so that whole land of the sharon valley was nothing but big swamp land and infested with mosquitoes and all kinds of vermin and back in the turn of the last century back in the late 1900s early 1900s actually the jews began to many of them go back to israel they began to purchase these malaria swamps and by the owners that were there who laughed at these stupid jews are willing to buy this worthless property you know that it's just so filled with you know mosquitoes and malaria and all and they left all the way to the bank but the jews who purchased the property went ahead and they began to open up the rivers and remove the silt dams

at the mediterranean so that they could flow into the mediterranean again and they planted eucalyptus trees that drank up a lot of the water they emptied the swamps and they began to plant citrus trees orange trees and all and some of the greatest citrus trees in the world were there in the sharon valley and it became a very lush lush farmland and thus they reclaimed the land and it became very valuable to the jews and of course we know that in 1948 may the 14th just they celebrated just recently again the birthday of the nation as israel became a nation once again may 14th 1948 and thus setting up really the prophecies for this last day and so interesting how that god's word was telling us these things 2500 years ago and now in our lifetime we saw them take place and come to pass and

amazing that 2500 years ago the prophets were speaking of the very things that we see today happening there in israel so uh the uh they shall come and destroy the city and the sanctuary at the end there shall be with a flood or dispersion and the end of the war uh and under the end of the war desolations are determined and he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week now we're talking about the antichrist who is going to come and he's going to uh confirm a covenant with the nation of israel for one week this is the 70th week of daniel the 70th seven-year period it is yet future the 69 were fulfilled uh the messiah came but with the death of christ it was sort of like god just stopped the prophetic clock right there but now is ready to start the clock again as israel has become a

nation once again and so the antichrist is going to confirm the covenant with the nation for one week or for the seven-year period and in the midst of the week he will cause the sacrifice and oblations to cease for the overspreading of the abominations he shall make it desolate even under the consummation and that which is determined shall be poured out upon the desolate right now the jews are wanting to rebuild their temple in jerusalem they do not have any place that they can look at as really the heart of the worship of the nation of their god and they want to rebuild the temple and of course we know that the big problem with rebuilding the temple is the fact that the temple mount area is occupied now by the muslims and they have their al-aqsa mosque and they have their other dome of

the rock mosque there on the temple mount area and we know that if the jews would attempt to destroy the the dome of the rock or the al-aqsa mosque it would create the next major world war as the muslims from all over the world would then attack israel so yet israel is so determined to actually rebuild their temple and re-institute their worship and it's interesting they already have what they call the temple mount institute and they are already making the instruments for the sacrifice of the animals they are making the instruments for the robes of the priests they are making their robes and they are getting everything all set to rebuild their temple and that is their intention to rebuild their temple on the temple mount area but how can they do that without creating this major world war

situation well as you might know god always is one step ahead and there does seem to be an ideal solution that god has for this we do know that there is coming a major war with the muslim nations headed by iran and by turkey and by some of the other islamic nations over there and that uh there is a war that is coming and you know we we read about it almost daily in the paper how that you know israel is going to have to take some kind of action to stop the development of the nuclear weapons that are being planned and made by iran and so the bible tells us about this war that is coming and that is told to us in ezekiel chapter 38 and 39 that there is this major war that is coming with the islamic powers against the nation of israel in an endeavor to destroy the nation of israel the bible

tells does tell us about uh the result of this war will be a total destruction well not a total but a almost total destruction of the muslim forces five six of the uh forces of russia and uh iran and so forth that come against israel will be destroyed the powers of russia and the muslim nations will be decimated so that they will no longer be a major threat to the world peace as they are at the present moment tonight but god is going to deal with them and sort of destroy them and so um when god does this uh the western powers uh in order to sort of reward israel uh for getting rid of this major uh threat to world peace that does exist as a result of the muslim nations and religion that they will make a covenant with the nation of israel and allow them in that covenant to rebuild their

temple it would appear that a compromise will be made and that they will build a wall next to the dome of the rock mosque and give that whole northern area of the temple mount area to the jews to rebuild their temple there on the northern part of that dome of the rock or the the temple mount area and giving them the rights to rebuild in that area will be the solution and so the covenant with many for this seven-year period and in the midst of the week this antichrist who has put this all together will then come to that rebuilt temple he will stand in the temple in the holy of holies he will declare that he is god and demand that they worship him as god and when that does happen then of course the judgment of god is going to be coming upon the earth in the last three and a half years of

this seven-year cycle and god's wrath will be poured out upon the earth and in that period of time and the bible does detail for us the events of the great tribulation period and it's known as the abomination of desolation or the abomination which brings the desolation the abomination is the establishing of the antichrist image of himself in the holy of holies the stopping of the daily sacrifices and the stopping of the worship of jehovah in the new rebuilt temple in jerusalem and that will be the abomination which will bring the desolation or the great tribulation period so he outlines it all for us here putting it together with other passages of scripture it gives us a pretty clear indication of the things that are transpiring right now and we realize that any day the the whole thing

could just blow up and the final events could start just happening one after another and that's why uh we are so excited about the days in which we're living so excited about the news that is coming out of israel and out of the middle east when we see the players in this next major event in place and we see the threats that are being made and uh the talk about the wars and uh you know the uh fightings and so forth uh that are going on and the threats that are being made how that iran is threatening to wipe israel off the face of the earth to drive them into the mediterranean and and so forth that's not going to happen but at least they're making those kind of threats but it is interesting that these are the things that are transpiring in our world today so that it causes us to be on the

major alert as we watch these events unfold and as we realize god's word is being fulfilled before our very eyes and it's exciting times to be living in well brings us up to chapter 10 but it's getting late so we'll just pick up chapter 10 next week and it's sort of a chapter that is deals with the events that are to be fulfilled and and some of them fulfilled uh and uh so uh it is uh interesting it will go from that on into chapter 11 and chapter 11 is a chapter that is most of it has been fulfilled already in history in such accurate detail that the people say well the book of daniel was written after the fact and that you know no one could have talked of history as has been written in the book of daniel unless they were talking after it had happened uh cleopatra and others are

mentioned here not by name but uh surely obvious references to them as we will get into chapter 11 and identify the various ones that are in here the events that it is talking about and you'll be absolutely amazed as we study the 11th chapter of the book of daniel so uh great great times ahead as we will finish off the book of daniel probably in a couple of weeks and uh but uh it's going to be a fun ride an e-ticket so fasten your seat belt we're going to really go at it as we get into the latter portion of the book of daniel here father we thank you that you have proven your existence as god knowing all things and as you have revealed the things that have not yet even transpired but are in the process of happening in the days in which we live now and so lord we do thank you for the

certainty of prophecy the certainty of your word and lord that we can put our reliance and our trust in your word knowing lord that you're going to complete that which you have begun and so lord we have that confidence in you that the things that you have declared you are going to bring to pass just as you have declared them just as you've already done in the past lord declaring in advance the things that would transpire and lord we have the record of history and we can see how that you have fulfilled your word over and over again and so lord thank you for your word and a lamp into our feet a light into our path may we walk lord in the light of your truths in these last days may we live lord our lives for you may we dedicate ourselves lord to living a life that is pleasing unto you we ask

father in jesus name and for his sake amen