The Calendar, the Coming, the Crowns. Daniel 9:24-27; John 14:1-4; 2 Cor. 5:10 (Part 1)

Now we'll turn please to Daniel and chapter 9 to read the book of Daniel and chapter 9. We've got three subjects before us for this morning's Bible reading, and I'm going to break the time down into three sections. So we're not going to read all the passages right now, we're going to read the first of them. Then when we've dealt with that subject, within the time we have, we'll move on to the next and so on.

At this point, please, those of you behind me, excuse my back, it's probably the better view, I don't know. But I'll not keep twizzling around, otherwise I'll get dizzy and fall over. So excuse me for having my back to you, please.

Daniel and chapter 9, the angel Gabriel is speaking with Daniel, who is down in Babylon, and verse 22 says of Daniel 9, and he informed me and talked with me and said, O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding. At the beginning of thy supplications, the commandment came forth, and I am come to show thee. For thou art greatly beloved, therefore understand the matter and consider the vision.

Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city to finish the transgression and to make an end of sins and to make reconciliation for iniquity and to bring in everlasting righteousness and to seal up the vision and prophecy and to anoint the Most Holy. Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah, the Prince, shall be seven weeks. And threescore and two weeks.

The street shall be built again and the wall even in troublous times and after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off but not for Himself. And the people of the Prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary and the end thereof shall be with a flood and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. And He shall confirm the covenant with many for one week.

And in 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 upon the desolate. We trust God will bless the reading and give us help as we study His Word today. Utter the words Daniel's seventieth week to many dear saints and they visibly shrink in horror, probably because they've heard it mangled many a time at a conference.

You needn't be afraid of it. We'll go down through these verses in an orderly way, God willing, after a brief introduction. And I think what we will find is that they form what is effectively a highway route, a highway map for the rest of prophecy.

There will be many byways, there will be many offshoots, off roads, but as far as the mainstream, the main route of biblical prophecy is concerned, this is absolutely pivotal. We must see where it lies. Daniel is in Babylon, Judah, the southern kingdom, has been taken into Babylonian captivity.

And the main reason, according to 2 Chronicles 36, is that because when they were in the land, they never gave the land its Sabbaths. Just as the people had a Sabbath day, God told them that when you're in the land, you'll give the land a Sabbath year. It was a marvelous promise.

It meant that God would provide for them while they let the Sabbath year go through, the land would have its rest a whole year, and God said, don't worry, you won't go without. I'll see that in the sixth year, the land brings forth more than enough to see you through the seventh and into the eighth and the ninth and so on. It was a marvelous promise, and amazingly, they never did prove it.

So, they had been in the land under a monarchy for 490 years. Out of that 490 years, every seventh year should have been a Sabbath for the land. So, God said to Judah, His people, He said, very well, if you won't give the land its Sabbath, I will.

And the land is owed 70 Sabbaths. And so, He said, there will be every one of those years taken back, and I will take you out of the land for 70 years so that the land can have all the Sabbaths you failed to give it for 490 years. Is that making sense so far? Now, interestingly, there was another 490 before that.

And before Israel came into Canaan, or once they had come into Canaan after coming out of Egypt, once they were established as a nation in Canaan, until the beginning of the monarchy, they had been under the rule of priests, the priesthood had desperately failed, and you could see with the state of Eli and his sons just how bad things had got. And immediately before the monarchy came in, from they came into the land until the monarchy was 490 years. So, 490 years from coming into the land until the monarchy.

490 years from the monarchy until the Judah was taken captive into Babylon. And while Daniel's in Babylon, he has a vision of another 490 years. If we wonder why 490, we might care to remember that in Matthew chapter 18, Peter said to the Lord, Lord, how often should I forgive my brother? Until seven times? What did the Lord reply? No, He said until 70 times 7, 490.

So, it would seem to suggest that 490, for whatever reason, is a number that indicates the limit of divine patience. God had wrought with His people in the land. They finished up every man doing that with which was right in His own eyes.

He allowed Samuel, told Samuel to give them Saul as a king. He said they'll regret it. Sure enough, they did.

490 years under monarchy, they finished up with a man like Zedekiah. Now, a further 490 years. In the first 490 years, they were under priestly rule, and they failed.

In the second 490 years, they were under kingly rule, and they failed. Now, in this third 490 years, there lies implicit in it, and we know from other Scriptures that it will result in the nation finally being under the rule of one who's both a king and a priest. What a wonderful book it is, isn't it? So, it's that third period of 490 years that we're looking at here, and you will see in verse 24, 70 weeks are determined upon thy people.

Now, as a matter of course, we think of a week as a week of days, but literally the word is a heptad, a group of seven, and we would ask, well, okay, if 70 groups of seven are determined upon thy people, what groups, what are the units we are looking at? And Daniel's been dealing with years just before this section, so we're quite confident when we look at all that's involved that these are weeks of years that are involved, 70 heptads of years, 490 in total. Notice too, please, verse 24, 70 weeks are determined, Daniel, upon thy people. So, it's not to do with the world, it's not to do with the church, definitely, it's to do with Israel.

These weeks are determined upon thy people, and upon thy holy city, so Jerusalem's involved. It's about Israel, it's about Jerusalem. Six outcomes, which we'll discuss, so I won't eat up every green thing that's here, but just notice that the first three, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, they're to do with sins, they're to do with transgressions, iniquities, and sins.

It's all going to be finished up. And then the next three things, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy, whether that's the Most Holy, the person of the Lord Jesus, anointed to His kingship, or whether it is the temple and sanctuary that's in view, we will let the brethren discuss that. Know therefore, verse 25, know therefore and understand.

So, this is something understandable, it's not a mystery, it is not some coded message, it is plain, straightforward speaking, from God, through the angel, to Daniel. Know and understand that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem, until Messiah the Prince shall be 77 weeks and three score and two weeks. Sixty-nine, in other words.

Sixty-nine weeks of years, 483 years, and we're given these tremendously accurate waypoints. This is what makes biblical prophecy so exciting. I speak very reverently, but God lays things on the line.

You hear politicians say, here I stand, you judge me by it, when the next election comes. But really, this isn't some nebulous prediction, this isn't some floating kind of idea. Speaking reverently, God nails Himself down to this.

So, this is what's going to happen. So, He said, there is going to be a decree, there's going to be a commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem. Remember, it had been sacked by Nebuchadnezzar.

Now, as Judah are in Babylon, there's going to be four decrees from Persian monarchs. This is the fourth of them. And this decree, under Artaxerxes, is for them to go out.

And in Nehemiah chapter 2 and verses 1 to 8, once again, I speak reverently, God lays it on the line. He says, it starts now. March the 5th, 444 BC.

He holds Himself to a day. And He says, right, the clock starts ticking. There will be a period of seven weeks of years, 49 years.

And in those 49 years, verse 25, the street shall be built again and the wall, even in troublous times. This is the restoring of the city of Jerusalem under the leadership of Nehemiah. And although it only took 52 days to restore the wall, the rest of the city and its functioning, 49 years.

During that period, Malachi comes along and Malachi closes the Old Testament period. The Old Testament finishes really with Nehemiah. Forty-nine years have elapsed.

There's going to be a further three score and two weeks, says verse 26. So another 434 years are going to elapse after that first 49, certainly beyond my ability to calculate it all. But many of you will have, if not consulted, you will have heard of Sir Robert Anderson's great book, The Coming Prince.

And in that, and I think most conservative scholars support Mr. Anderson in his findings, he has calculated that this period of time, finished on the very day the Lord Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a colt, the foal of an ass, in potential fulfillment of Zechariah 9 and verse 9, five days before he was crucified. He's come to be received by Israel as their king. He has come as Messiah, the prince.

But instead of being received, he was cut off and effectively left with nothing. And in that situation, says verse 26, the people of the prince that shall come. Now he's been speaking about a man who will arise out of what we usually refer to as a revived Roman empire.

The people of that man, the Romans, they will come, they'll destroy the city and the sanctuary. They did that in AD 70. And the flood of trouble and distress and anti-Semitism that came out of that time continues to run.

That man in the future is going to sign a covenant, perhaps pictured in the agreement with hell, that Israel signed with Egypt in Isaiah chapter 28. Going to sign a covenant, guaranteeing their peace and security. In the middle of that final week of seven years, he's going to break it.

There's going to be the beginning of the great tribulation. I'm hurrying over these things because the brethren will bring these out in discussion. And the period will terminate, Daniel's 70th week, will terminate with the coming of the Lord Jesus in power and great glory.

And he'll destroy his enemies with the brightness of his coming. Very clearly in Scripture, there is a gap between the 69th year and the 70th. 69 years have elapsed, 69 weeks of years have elapsed.

We are now living in that period of time between week 69 and week number 70. Week number 70 is the period we generally call the tribulation. The latter half of it is the great tribulation, the time of Jacob's trouble.

We want to emphasize that no believer in the Lord Jesus Christ in this age in which we're living, no believer in the Lord Jesus Christ will see any part of that tribulation period. The Thessalonian epistle is our go-to passage really for confirmation of that. And one of the things Paul says to the Thessalonians very clearly, he says now, we, emphasis on that, we have not been appointed unto wrath but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.

There are other texts, there are other things that are kind of hidden away almost in the Greek text in 1 Thessalonians 1. We won't go into that now, but enough to confirm for us absolutely confidently that no believer in the Lord Jesus is going to see any part of the tribulation period here on earth. So now there is a quick sketch of what I've described as the highway map, or the spine if you like, however you want to visualize it, to which all the other important passages of biblical prophecy somehow or another relate. We get this line right, and we will get most of the other things right.

There will be some byways, there will be some details which perhaps we disagree on because one will see one passage relating to something, one will see another. There's no harm in that, and I'm sure we will have some beneficial discussion on various things like that this morning. So I've taken up enough time already in this introduction, but we'll start and go down through the passage in the order in which it was written, please.

And brethren, I usually say in Bible readings like this, please pay regard to the ABC of a Bible reading. A stands for audibility. If it's worth saying, it's worth saying loud enough for everyone to hear.

Remember some folks are audiologically challenged, that's an abbreviation for being deaf. So be audible when you speak, and B is for brevity, did I hear someone say physician heal thyself? Well, there's a physician. And C stands for context, context.

So you might have a very nice line on Habakkuk 3 verse 6, but if it doesn't bear on what we're doing here, save it for the mealtime, please. So the ABC of a good Bible reading, be audible, be brief, and give attention to context. And we trust God will help us as we go through this passage now.

First of all, as I said, I'm not quite used to how you run Bible readings here, but there's other good men here, Brother Joe, Brother Sandy, Brother Frank, and of course, Brother William. So I would ask them first to sweep up any mess that I've already made. If there's anything I've missed out, brethren, say on, and then we'll be looking for help from other brethren after that.

Please. I feel like that's a hell, smitten under the fifth rib. Brother Colson, we've come to chapter 9 in Daniel, and in this chapter you have the first mention of Jehovah.

I think it's there in verse 2, and that's the first of seven mentions of Jehovah in this whole chapter. Is there a significance that we're coming now to the covenant keeping Jehovah in regards to his earthly people? Yeah, it's a nice point. Well made, Brother William.

As you say, we've got seven mentions of Jehovah here. That particular name always associated with God in his covenant keeping character. And once again, it's not just that God is revealing this through Gabriel to Daniel, but he's underwriting it.

He is, I keep using this expression, but I mean it. I'm speaking reverently. God is laying his honor on the line with this.

Because the Spirit of God knew that many, many years later, particularly around the turn of the 19th century, there was what arose in Germany known as the higher criticism. Men who felt that they could, with impunity, start to tear the Bible apart and think that it was just fairy stories. And God has said, no, I've not only said this, but I'm underwriting its accuracy on the basis of my own honor.

We're dealing with a God who cannot lie. So a nice point to start off with. Thanks, Brother William.

Sandy. Just going to, is it that emphasized by the fact that would this be the only dated prophecy in all of scripture? I think so. Some we can probably deduce fairly accurately, but it's all stems back to this.

So it shows it's basic, how important this is. Yes, absolutely. Yeah.

Brother William mentioned the name of Jehovah, but it is interesting that in the very next verse where that first appearance occurs, he presents himself as the Adonai, as well as Elohim. So this is God who is saying, I'm not only faithful in terms of the covenant, but I am in sovereign over creation. I am the one who is sovereign over all matters.

So that time itself is under my purview. Yes, very good. And that's really in the thought of the word determined here, isn't it? In verse 24, 70 weeks are determined upon my people and upon the holy city.

God's the one who determines them. So it won't be any longer and it won't be any shorter. God has determined that as far as the nation of Israel and the city of Jerusalem is concerned.

Is there just a, by the way point we can learn from Daniel's spiritual condition when he received this, like it says going back again, that he understood by books, he was in a repentant and prayerful condition. Is there a principle that further revelation follows, uh, such a condition spiritually? Yeah, very nice point, Joe. We keep, it's good to get a practical point out of this.

Daniel was in a fit spiritual condition to take this. And what a remarkable man he was right. Of course, as we know from chapter one.

So as a man, uh, has an open ear to the word of God and moves in accordance with what God reveals to him. So he puts himself in a position to have more given to him. The Lord enunciated the principle later when he was here.

And he said to him that half should be given to him that half not shall be taken away even that he has. So if you want more obey what you have, and that's the principle our brothers brought out. What was it that led him to pray? Well, I think you've got that here in verse 16.

He had a burden for the city for a 17. He had a burden for the sanctuary on verse 19. He had a burden for the people, but he also understood by books.

Yes. Jeremiah particularly. So the word of God understood led to prayer.

Yes. Yes. Very good.

So we see something else. Although Daniel was a prophet, the 70 weeks didn't need to be revealed to him again. It had already been revealed.

He was responsible to read what had already been recorded. I think on another practical note, circumstances do not determine our ability or inability. Here's a man who's 87 years old.

He's in a place where displaced, uh, extreme difficulties of the language of cult, displacement, idolatry, astrology, divinity, divinity, and all of these things. And yet he understood, he understood good. Thank you.

Well, as a purpose behind this determination by God, and we come to these six issues in verse number 24, the first of them is sorry. Sorry. I was, I was just going to interject there briefly.

Um, if you take the time period of 70 weeks are determined, that's point number one that would give you seven and seven is very significant in prophecy. Isn't that in the sense of what fulfillment and things being filled perfect number completion completion. Yeah.

Seven days in the week, you know, it starts there and yes. All the way through the series of sevens in the book of revelation. 70 times seven.

Yeah. Yeah. Okay.

Yeah. Thank you. All right.

So perfection in the purpose of God, these interestingly, not seven, but six aims of that determination. The first three we've mentioned are to do with the question of transgression sins and iniquity. Now this is very important because, uh, we mentioned last evening that, that putting together in the right places, the blocks of prophetic truth depends so much upon our understanding of the rest of the Bible.

So if we don't see a future for Israel, if we take God's dealings with Israel and say, they've all finished and his promises now apply to the church, we'd be in a dreadful mess with this. The fact is that Israel now set aside is an unbelief. They have no special favor in the sight of God at all.

They've been put in the fridge. It is true that a Jew can get saved under the preaching of the gospel today. And some do thank God, but largely it's out from among the Gentiles that God is gathering himself for people.

But when the church is complete and taken home to glory, then God is going to use this, this 70th week, the culmination of this 490 year period to achieve these aims that are in this verse. Notice the language and then think that first of all, it's the transgression to finish the transgression, to wrap the whole thing up. What transgression, the transgression of the nation, crucifying their Messiah, that specific transgression.

They stand guilty of it still at the moment. The next thing is to make an end of sins. And the thought now is, well, it's there in Ezekiel chapter 37.

It's there in Romans chapter three, that potentially the work of Christ, though they didn't intend it, but the work of Christ, when they crucified him, laid the foundation for the sins of the nation to be forgiven. They are not yet, but they will be. So there will be a making an end of sins and also a making of reconciliation for iniquity.

There's going to be peace between them and their God. Then think of that tremendous verse. It is a tremendous verse because it's the verse God used to save my soul in August 15th, 1963, Isaiah 53 and verse five.

He was wounded. Why? For our transgressions. There's the first point that's here.

He was bruised for our iniquities. There's the second point. And the chastisement with a view to our peace reconciliation was upon him by his strike.

We are healed Israel as a nation. When the heaven opens to reveal Christ in glory, coming to deliver them and destroy his enemies, Israel will cry from the heart, but he was wounded for our transgressions. It's going to be a glorious day for the nation.

And that's when that nation will be born again in a day. That's when they'll get a new heart. That's when their sins potentially already dealt with will be finalized.

They'll be sealed up. That's when the great truth of the day of atonement will find its fulfillment. You see what I mean? When I say to understand these things, it involves the whole of the word of God, our view of Israel, our view of the way in which God has dealt with sins at Calvary.

Romans is in there. Ezekiel is in there. Leviticus is in there.

We need to know our Bibles if we're to understand the prophetic program. So there's the end of those three things. Any comment specifically on those three things on that thought, please? So to finish the transgression, while it is on the basis of the cross, it is not the cross.

In other words, it is when Israel, their wanderings will be done, they will be brought back into the land, the rebels will be brought back and so on, right? Yeah, but I think the transgression, Frank, is particularly what they were charged with by Peter. You have crucified the Lord of life and glory. Now, Peter puts the whole thing into balance by the Spirit because he said he was delivered up by the determinate counsel and for knowledge of God.

There's the divine hand in it. But ye have taken and with wicked hands have crucified and slain. It is the transgression that I think is in view there.

Which will come to an end at the end of this time when he returns. When he returns. When they make that confession.

When you think of the day of atonement, that great day on which there was two animals constituting one sin offering, the potential for forgiveness had been achieved by the time the Lord's goat had been slain and its blood taken in. But the sins of the people couldn't be confessed upon the head of the scapegoat and it led away by the hand of a fit man into a land uninhabited. That could not happen until Leviticus 23 says there was affliction of soul.

There has to be affliction of soul. And it's that affliction of soul that Israel will know on the day they see their Messiah rejected coming now to deliver them. There'll be this great affliction of soul and that then triggers the removing as far as the east is from the west.

So far are thy sins removed from thee. So it's a great day when the Lord returns for his people. On the day of atonement, the scapegoat, the high priest would put his hand upon its head and confess over it all the iniquities, the transgressions, and the sins of the people.

And here you have those three things that are mentioned right here. The transgressions, the sins, and iniquities of the people. That will come to an end when Israel is converted.

That's right. And this is also the truth of Hebrews 9. You know the three appearings at the end of Hebrews 9. This is the third of them. To those that look for him shall he appear, apart from the sin question, unto salvation, literal deliverance from their enemies.

It's the thought of the high priest coming out again, the work having been completed. So there's wonderful, wonderful strands of scripture are all brought together on this momentous day. Now we've got three positive things as well.

Well, they're positive enough, but they're to do with sins. But the next three things are to bring in an age of righteousness is really the sense of the phrase. To bring in an age of righteousness, that's the millennial reign of Christ, of course, and to seal up the vision and prophecy.

The thought being that all these prophetic scriptures have ultimately got this in view. Remember what the spirit of prophecy is? It's the testimony of Jesus. And there's no greater day, may I suggest, for the Lord Jesus as far as this world is concerned and the nation is concerned as that glorious day when he comes from an open heaven and the nation repents and receives him.

And all these wonderful things are triggered. So an age of righteousness, the sealing up, the filling up of the whole cup of the prophetic scriptures, and then we have this expression, to anoint the most holy. A place or a person, do you think, Brother Sandy? I think it's a place.

I agree. Yeah. The place being Ezekiel's temple, chapter 40 onwards? Yes.

Okay. A millennial temple. So Zechariah chapter 6, Zechariah prophesies that he, the Lord Jesus, when he returns, he shall build the temple.

That's the temple that Ezekiel describes from chapter 40 to the end of his great book. Now clearly the Lord Jesus isn't going to build that temple stone on stone. He's going to speak a word of recreation because the earth is shattered so this is what Matthew 19 verse 28 calls the regeneration.

The regeneration. I won't, I think this is probably your reading, isn't it, Sandy? So we won't steal his thunder. But part of that great regeneration will be that Jerusalem shattered a city that morally was worse than Sodom and Gomorrah, we read in Revelation.

Suddenly that glorious city is transformed, it's recreated, it becomes Zion. The Zion of Psalm 48. The city of the great king.

It is a temple city. It will be the center of the earth's administration. It will be the center of the earth's worship.

For the administration it will require a king. For the worship it will require a priest. The king priest is our Lord Jesus Christ in all the fullness of his Melchizedek glorious character.

So any comment on those things, please? Yes, just to support that we're all in agreement, that's wonderful, but that it is the holy place. It's almost always that term refers to the holy place. Second of all, for these things to be fulfilled in the context of what they are, three things are absolutely necessary.

Number one, Israel must be in the land, back in the land with a representative government to sign that treaty, number one. Number two and three, which focus on this, the temple must be rebuilt. And number three, sacrifices must be reinstated.

So if we're looking at that temple and that holy place with the sacrifices, therefore the context would determine that it would likely be that too. Thank you. Yeah, very helpful.

Thank you very much. To seal up the vision of prophecy, that would be Old Testament scriptures, obviously. Is it true to say that the Old Testament prophets, they didn't see beyond the millennium? It's not until we come to the New Testament we have the looking for the day of God and Revelation 21, the opening verses.

Absolutely, yeah, I would agree with that, yes. So then verse 25, I'm having to push on. I have to watch the clock.

I know the rest of you don't, but I do. So we're pushing on. Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem.

So that we've suggested, yesterday we stated, out of the four different decrees that came out under Cyrus and Darius and two from Artaxerxes, this is the fourth of them. This is the one that allows them to go now and rebuild the city of Jerusalem. March the 5th, 444 BC is the date that the scholars give us, and so the clock starts ticking from there.

And unto Messiah the prince from that point, there will be two periods that run consecutively. The first of 49 years, and we've suggested that takes us to the completion of that work on the city, and that's where the Old Testament ends. And then we have the further 62 weeks, and after the total of those 62 weeks, shall Messiah be cut off and have, as your margin will suggest, and have nothing.

So let's just confine our remarks for the moment, please, Brethren, and don't be intimidated by this ring here. We haven't got all the answers, so Brethren, if you've got thoughts and questions, do chip in, if you can. But let's just confine our remarks so far for clarity up to this point where Messiah is cut off.

Any more to say on that, please? Just to add concerning the Nehemiah 2 that you've mentioned, recall in Nehemiah chapter 1, Nehemiah was burdened and he prayed. Yes. But God delayed the answer to that prayer for four months in keeping with his timetable of prophecy.

So we learn lessons there about what we would call God's pending file of prayer, that our prayers are put in a pending file until his date comes to fruition. Very good. To coincide with the accuracy of this prophecy.

In fact, that's a nice way of putting it, Brother Sonny, because it gives a little idea of just how, you know, it puzzles us. How do our prayers affect the purpose of a sovereign God? But that's one of the ways in which Nehemiah 1, we see them mesh together, isn't it? You've got a similar idea in Luke chapter 1, Zacharias and Elizabeth. Thy prayer is heard.

Not prayers, their prayer, a lifetime. But now is the right time for it to be answered. The street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troubleous times, fulfilled in the days of Nehemiah, some 93 years later after this is written.

Mm hmm. So again, the accuracy of Scripture, that's exactly the conditions in which the wall was rebuilt. Yes.

Yes. And it means that those who challenge this are willfully challenging what God has revealed because it's measurable. It's historic.

We can go back and prove these dates. So for those who would then allegorize them or just make them symbolic, they are deliberately going against the clear word of God. So those 69 weeks now, the three score and two from the end of the Old Testament until Messiah being cut off, the thought then we've suggested on the back of particularly Sir Robert Anderson's studies is that some would say this happened at Calvary.

Mr. Anderson has calculated it was actually the day the Lord Jesus rode in to Jerusalem. I don't have the scholarship or anything like it to say which of the two is the more accurate, but enough for us to see that very clearly there is the thought here of the ultimate rejection of the Lord Jesus. He's already been rejected in the hearts of the leaders.

That's way back in Matthew chapter 12. But this is the point now where they take their Messiah, the King of Israel, they hand him over to the Roman authorities for execution. Messiah being cut off.

So during those 49 weeks to start with... You're determined to hold us back, aren't you? No, I'm taking you to the end of the Old Testament. Okay. All right.

So we come to Malachi, the remnant that had returned after the 70 years of exile. They have rebuilt the temple and so on. Temple worship was reinstated, but a reading of the book of Malachi, things had deteriorated again and they were despising the things of the Lord and so on.

Then you have 400 years almost of prophetic silence. But that period of time is described for us, isn't it? In Daniel chapter 11. Very good.

There's a prophecy given to Daniel that covers that period of history largely until we come to Messiah, the Prince. Yes, yes. Forgive me, that was a rude statement of mine.

I meant it jocularly. I know you well, brother. Yes.

So that is very useful. Once again, all these things are the subject of divine statement, divine control. Daniel's got a great heart for his people and for the honor of God and the honor of the city and the sanctuary.

And so at the same time, God is comforting the heart of that faithful servant and saying, Daniel, it's all under control. This is exactly how it's all going to work out. But what a tremendous statement that Israel's Messiah is going to come to them and he's going to be cut off.

He came unto his own. His own received him not. What a summary.

And so Messiah cut off and apparently has nothing. That's the meaning in that expression, but not for himself in verse number 26. Okay.

So the next bit then in verse 26 is that the people of the Prince that shall come. So again, without taking too much time to delve back into the earlier chapters of Daniel's prophecy, there is, um, very clear, uh, evidence given that of the great world empires, as far as dealings with the nation of Israel are concerned. There were other great world empires.

We mentioned last evening, they never appear on the page of scripture because they're not, they're not part of that mainstream of divine purpose, but of the great world empires, uh, out from the fourth of them, which is characterized as a bestial empire out of the fourth of them, uh, will eventually arise a ruler. And this is the one who is referred to here as the Prince that shall come. So he's still future, but Daniel is told that the people of the Prince that shall come, well, where's the Prince that shall come coming from.

He's coming from the Roman empire. So his people are the Romans. So the Romans are going to come and they're going to destroy the city and the sanctuary.

When did that happen? Historic date, AD 70. And so the temple was destroyed. The sanctuary desecrated and the end thereof, the result of it all will come with a continuing flood.

When we look at the tents and unto the end of the war, desolations are determined. Did the nation say his blood be upon us and upon our children? Well, God took them at their word and we need not wonder at the irrationality of antisemitism. It's one of the things that the nation has brought upon their own head.

And so ever since the Jew has been on the back foot, he's been vilified. Remember that at the time of them going into Babylonian captivity, God took them away as the head of nations. The times of the Gentiles began and the times of the Gentiles will run until the Lord Jesus returns to establish his kingdom.

So there is the thought then of AD 70 and the continuing persecution of the Jewish people. So the desolations here, I mean, we look at the land of Israel today, you can't, couldn't really say it's desolate, but it's this in a religious sense. There's desolations.

So even through the tribulation period, when a temple will be rebuilt, it will not have the anointing of the presence of the Lord, like you do in Ezekiel. It's desolate. Yes.

Yes. And desolate means waste, doesn't it? And empty. So it might be a grand building, but it's purposeless if the glory of the Lord is not there.

The Lord said, your house is less than two desolate, even during his time on earth. Right. And the sacrifices were still being offered.

The priesthood was still functioning, yet it was desolate, empty. And even at that time he turns and leaves, which is significant. Okay.

So we've got then, um, the ongoing desolation, uh, spiritual and moral, particularly of the nation. Then verse 27, he, the antecedent of course, is the prince that shall come. So the prince that shall come will confirm a covenant with many for one week.

Now this is the trigger for the commencement of that seven year period of the tribulation. The rapture is not the trigger. The trigger which comes sometime after the rapture is that a covenant, a peace deal is signed by the prince that shall come and the nation.

This is now the bit you've all been waiting for because we're probably the brethren in this ring going to part company at this point. I'll take my jacket off in a minute. Now brother Frank has made mention of the fact that the temple will be rebuilt and it will be, uh, there is also the thought that Israel is going to be invaded.

What is it that makes it necessary for this covenant to be signed? Now I'll state what I uh, believe as a result of my studies. Uh, and, uh, the brethren can make the comments as they wish. It would seem to me that after the rapture or after the church has taken home that in the order of events, probably the first thing that will happen is the invasion by Russia, Iran and Turkey and other nations, Germany possibly, of Israel.

I believe that invasion not to be in the middle of the week but rather before it commences. Uh, it is clearly post rapture after we've gone but pre-tribulation. Ezekiel chapter 38 deals with that invasion and shows how that that invasion is thwarted and those enemies destroyed by God himself.

He doesn't use any other agency. Israel doesn't achieve it. God destroys them.

I believe it's probably going to be Islamically motivated and that will be the end of Islam as a world authority and a world power along with those nations. Now I think that that has to be pre tribulation. The building of the temple in unbelief I think has to be pre-tribulation.

Then two witnesses are going to testify. Revelation chapter 11. They're going to testify for the first half of the week.

In the middle of the seven-year period there will be another assault on Israel, another invasion but this time it will be from their Middle Eastern neighbors and I think Psalm 83 is the prophetic scripture that governs that. The peace treaty, if I'm correct, the peace treaty will be forged with Israel by the prince that shall come after the northern and southern kingdoms have been destroyed and because that peace treaty is in place when their Middle Eastern neighbors invade them in the middle of the week that will then trigger the Roman or the prince that shall come to move his headquarters from Rome to Jerusalem and the great tribulation will start. Now clearly in this forum and with the amount of time we don't have I can't go into more detail than that but we're trying to sketch out what clearly I believe and suggest is a credible biblical outline.

Others will have their own views and you're very free to make those clear now please. I had personally taken the invasion from the north in Ezekiel 38 and 39 to be in the middle of the week. Which by the way is the conventional view.

It must be said. Thank you. So you're unconventional.

That's not why he believes it. I'm just saying it is the conventional view. So you're unconventional on this.

Yeah. Okay. So I arrived at that conclusion myself from the Bible.

Then in January I was visiting the old country went into the faith mission book room in Palomino and there on the shelf was Daniel revisited Mr. Jim Allen. So I took it down I read Daniel 11 and he agreed with me. So I bought the book.

I bought the book. Okay. How does that take us forward.

I don't want to get you away from it but for young Christians some people may wonder when you said there's a parenthesis between the 69th and 70th. Can you just simply show it show that to us through this passage how you come to that conclusion. As you know some people would see that this has already happened the 70th week.

So can you show that parenthesis idea. Yeah. I think you really brother Joe you've got it there in verse 25 26.

You know we're being given a consecutive series of events. We're being told of the seven weeks then the three score and two weeks. What's going to happen in that time.

Messiah being cut off and then and then before a 70th week is mentioned all these other things start to be developed. So when we take this scripture and we overlay it on the further truth we have in the New Testament scriptures we can see that added to it with that overlaying truth of New Testament teaching that very clearly the church is in that bracketed period and that it will culminate with the Lord's coming to the air. That's our next subject for this morning God willing.

And therefore the church is like it's been likened as being in brackets hasn't it. You know between the 69th and the 70th week of Daniel's prophecy. Keeping in mind of course what one of the principles we brought out last night which is that the church is not the subject of prophecy.

The church is hidden in the Old Testament scriptures. So we wouldn't expect to find a specific reference to it here. But as I say when we overlay New Testament truth on it then it makes it clear I think the Lord Jesus specifically says to the church it is not for you to know.

So that would help us too. I just the conventional view I have wondered with the signing of that treaty the covenant being signed of course that is when he is revealed right. The man of sin is revealed and we will not be here.

But I've wondered myself taking the other view that if that signing of that treaty and the Antichrist entering into a sort of deceptive protection of the nation of Israel is what prompts the jealousy the satanic antagonism of these other the northern confederation to come down against them. So that yes I appreciate that and I said you know we don't really don't have the time to go into all the detail. But suffice to say that there's things such as when that invasion takes place from the north with its corresponding invasion from the south the scripture says it's going to take Israel seven months to bury the dead.

Seven years. Sorry no. Seven years.

Seven months to bury the dead. So seven months to bury the dead. But from the moment that the covenant is broken Israel's fleeing.

They haven't got seven minutes to bury the dead let alone seven months. So they don't have that time. If they're going to take seven years burning the weapons of that invasion that means that they have to go three and a half years into the millennium still burning weapons of warfare.

Now that just to me great so it doesn't make sense. I could help you with that brother. There's a there's a verse.

I've got to go easy. This is my this is my bed for the night. And your breakfast.

Anyway Isaiah 61. It's that passage that the Lord read in in Jeremiah to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God. Right.

To comfort all that mourn to appoint them that mourn in Zion to give unto them beauty for ashes the joy of oil of joy for mourning the garment of praise with bird of heaviness. Clearly the manifestation has taken place that they which are called might be trees of righteousness the planting of the Lord that he might be glorified and they shall build the old wastes they shall raise up the former desolations and they shall repair the waste cities. There is a process of rebuilding and repair after the manifestation of Christ.

Which takes us into the millennium. Which takes us into the millennium and I see no difficulty with the cleanup process continuing on into the millennium. The tribulation per se is not a clean up period.

It's going downhill all the time. Okay. Well there it is.

Let the prophet speak two or three. Let the others judge. And that's the beauty of a Bible reading.

You know I've tried to give an outline of what I see from scripture. So is my respected and beloved brother. He's done exactly the same thing.

But maybe we should just do the brilliant thing. Just emphasize that I think the chief thing maybe from all of this is that it is the signing of the covenant not the rapture. Yes.

Which begins. So there could well be a period of time in between. Yeah.

In fact there will be a period of time between the rapture and the signing of the covenant. Yes. Very good.

Yes. Thanks for bringing that point out brother Sandy. So let's just round this off then because I'm conscious of the time.

Oh sorry you've got to. Yes. You mentioned at the beginning that these are not primarily an application for us.

So then what would you say is the benefit that we should derive from the section. A very nice question brother. Thank you.

What benefit should we derive from this. First of all I think that we derive comfort and strength from the fact that God is in control. Yes.

The God who is Jehovah who's Adonai who's Elohim. The God of Daniel is our God. And as the little chorus says God is still on the throne.

And that would cheer the heart to begin with. But also I think too that so much of the hope the blessed hope as Paul refers to when he writes to Timothy is dependent upon this timing. It's dependent upon this structure.

It's not some kind of pipe dream that this is how we're going to look forward as Christians to the coming of the Lord. It is solidly based on the word of God as already demonstrated in the past. And so we rest upon prophecy fulfilled.

If everything's been fulfilled as it has we've got total confidence that what God has promised for the future will be fulfilled as well. So does that answer your question brother. And thank you for it.

OK. So then the where we're left at the end of Daniel 27 is that the man of sin the prince that shall come the beast as he's known he's going to break this covenant in the middle of the seven year period. And that then commences the great tribulation the purpose of which the purpose of which is not to punish Israel.

The purpose of which is to drive them to repentance. The biggest problem is pride. The biggest problem is arrogance.

And God is going to use every moment of of that terrible tribulation. He's going to be judging the earth dwellers. He's going to be judging the wicked.

But Israel the purpose of them going through the great tribulation is to drive them back into the arms of not only their God but of their husband. You see we think a lot about the church being the bride of Christ. Never forget that Israel is the wife of Jehovah.

If you're not sure about that read the book of Hosea. Israel is the wife of Jehovah. She has been a serially unfaithful wife.

That's why the Lord referred to them. Matthew 12 as an example a wicked and adulterous generation seekers after a sign he talks to them the language of marital infidelity. And they've gone a whoring after their false gods.

God says I'm going to cure them of this once and for all. And it will only be finally broken when they recognize the Lord Jesus and accept him. Then God is going to give them the new heart that Ezekiel speaks about in chapter 37 chapter 36.

They're going to be given a new heart. They're going to be cleansed of all their filthiness and the marriage supper of the lamb is actually going to be a dual celebration. Not only a bride for Christ but Israel the wife of Jehovah restored and she will love the Lord her God with all her heart with all her soul with all her mind with all her strength and God will be glorified and honored in it.