A Righteous Restoration

[0:00] Субтитры создавал DimaTorzok How are we doing, Faith family?

[0:50] Good to see you, everybody. Good to see you. If you got your Bible, go to Daniel chapter 9. Daniel chapter 9. No gasp, all right? Daniel 9 is the chapter I know a few of you, maybe five of you, were waiting for us to get to in the book of Daniel.

[1:08] If you have no idea what I'm talking about, that's probably a good thing, all right? Daniel 9 is one of the more controversial passages, maybe in all of the Bible, but certainly in the book of Daniel.

[1:22] What you hear a lot today is people making reference to Daniel chapter 9 to predict the end of the world. It's a chapter that people will go to as it relates to the Antichrist or the seven-year tribulation.

[1:39] Show of hands, how many of you have heard of that, right? The seven-year tribulation in the future. Well, here's what I hope tonight. I hope that when I'm done, you will still love me, right? Because you have to.

[1:51] The Bible says so. But what I really hope is that you will see that a faithful treatment of this passage will show you that it's actually not about any of those things.

[2:02] Nor has that been the view of Daniel 9 throughout the overwhelming history of the church. It has only really been into more modern times that this has become, I would say, unfortunately, the popular view.

[2:19] But I don't believe it's the biblical view. And so we'll see about that. As I've been saying the last few weeks, when you get to the second half of the book of Daniel, what you're reading is these series of dreams and visions that Daniel has that's meant to give him hope.

[2:38] As we've mentioned, Daniel has been in Babylon for a long time. And it's very easy to kind of get discouraged and begin to wonder, like, is there any hope for my future?

[2:48] Is life ever going to be any different? And so the Lord graciously gives Daniel these visions that are meant to give him hope and encourage him during his time of exile.

[3:00] And so we'll see the same thing here, another vision to encourage Daniel in Daniel chapter 9. We're going to read the first few verses, but we'll look at most of the chapter.

[3:11] Are we ready to dive in? Oh, this is going to be fun. Here we go. The Bible nerds will love this. All right. Daniel 9, verse 1, if you're able to stand, please do so as we honor the reading of God's Word.

[3:25] It says, In the first year of Darius, the son of Ahasreus, by descent Amid, who was king over the realm of the Chaldeans in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, perceived in the books of the number of years that according to the word of the Lord to Jeremiah, must pass before the end of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely 70 years.

[3:48] Then I turned my face to the Lord, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. I prayed to the Lord my God and made confession, saying, O Lord, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments.

[4:13] We have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules. We've not listened to your servants, the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, our fathers, and to all the people of the land.

[4:30] To you, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us, open shame. As to this day, the men of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, all of Israel, those who are near and those who are far away, and all the lands to which you have driven them because of the treachery that we have committed against you.

[4:50] Would you pray with me tonight? All right. Father, thank you for, once again, every week, the joy and the privilege to be able to gather together to study your word. We believe, I believe in these moments that you speak to us through your word as these are your words.

[5:08] And I pray that you'd come and talk to us tonight. Lord, I pray that I would be faithful to the text, faithful to your word, and that what is said will be the truth that you want us to understand.

[5:22] And so we give you this time and just pray that you would be exalted in it. That's our heart's desire. We pray it in Jesus' name and God's people said, amen. Amen.

[5:33] You can be seated. It was advertised as the greatest gathering of pizzerias. A day-long celebration of cheese, dough, sauces, and delicious toppings.

[5:49] And there would be pizza there of every kind. Just look at that, Faith family. Pepperoni, sausage, even gourmet pizza.

[6:00] Some even advertise this as an all-you-can-eat experience. And this was not just any pizza. Oh, no. This was an opportunity to enjoy some of the best pizza that New York City has to offer.

[6:18] And people believed it. In fact, they not only believed it, they bought tickets to this festival, which went up in the neighborhood of $75 to attend this event.

[6:29] Some people even traveled from out of state just to come to this, expecting this festival full of food and music.

[6:40] And yes, of course, pizza. And all God's people said, amen. That's the biggest amen I'll get all night. But when they arrived in Brooklyn, what they expected was not what they experienced.

[6:57] Instead of this booming food festival, what they experienced was mostly an empty lot with a few small tents. There was no long rows of vendors, no fresh smell of pizza filling the New York air.

[7:15] Just a whole lot of confusion and frustration. People stood in long lines waiting for the pizza to finally show up.

[7:26] And eventually it did, but it came in boxes. And they cut the slices in halves and began to hand them out. One attendee even said that his pizza was smaller than the palm of his hand.

[7:44] Now, as you can imagine, when reality began to set in, frustration grew. People were not happy. In fact, look at some of the posts on social media, right?

[7:56] I'll see to it that bad things happen to you, right? But how do you really feel? How could you do this to us? Because people felt like this was more than just a poorly run event.

[8:10] They felt like it was a scam. Eventually, the authorities were brought in and refunds were given. Like the guy that put the event together paid some pretty big fines.

[8:22] And they tried to give all kinds of explanations. Like they had issues with vendors and there were delivery delays and logistical problems. But honestly, at that point, no one really cared.

[8:35] They felt they'd been wronged. Why? Because their experience didn't match what they were promised. How many of you have ever had a situation like that?

[8:49] How many of you have ever faced a situation where what you expected was not what you experienced? My guess is you've experienced that in a lot of ways.

[9:01] For some of you, you expected an oceanfront view. What you experienced was something different. You expected a job where you could use your creativity and all your experience.

[9:18] What you experienced was a micromanaging boss. You came to Saturday night expecting the sermon to be short. I don't know why you're laughing.

[9:30] What you experienced was something very, very different. It really hurts my feelings that you're laughing the way you are. I mean, a little laughter, but not that much, right?

[9:43] You expected marriage to be forever. You experienced something different. Maybe even as a Christian, like, you expected the Christian life to be easy.

[10:00] But if you're honest, that's not been your experience. And in many ways, Daniel feels the same way. I mean, after all, Daniel belongs to the chosen people of God in the Old Testament.

[10:15] These were the people that had received the very promises of God. But Daniel's experience has been one of exile.

[10:27] No freedom. No worship in the temple. No life in Jerusalem. And you know this. When what you expect becomes very different than what you experience, it's easy to get discouraged, isn't it?

[10:43] And Daniel's discouraged. He's even wondering, like, does God do right by his people? Does God actually do what he promises that he will do?

[10:57] How do you respond when what you expect of God doesn't line up with what you experience? Is God faithful? That is exactly the question that Daniel 9 answers.

[11:12] Look at verse 1 of how chapter 9 begins. It says in verse 1, In the first year of Darius, the son of Ahasuerus, a descendant of Mede, who was made king over the realm of Chaldeans in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, I perceived in the books of the number of the years that according to the word of the Lord to who?

[11:32] Jeremiah the prophet must pass before the end of the desolations of Jerusalem. Namely, how long? Seventy years. Now, every single week, I think almost every single week in our study through Daniel, I have told you that this book is about four Israelites.

[11:50] Primarily, it focuses on Daniel, but it mentions the other three as well. And they've been taken from Jerusalem. They've been brought into Babylon.

[12:01] And they have been living in exile. Now, what I have not told you, you may already know. In fact, the book doesn't even mention it. And the reason why the book doesn't mention it is because the book assumes you as the reader already know this.

[12:18] And that's why are they in exile to begin with? Why are they even in Babylon in the first place? Well, you may know from your reading of the Old Testament, or if you went through our Exodus series, which I know you remember, God brings, when God brings them out of Egypt, God brings them to what mountain?

[12:42] It's not a trick question, all right? Mount Sinai. And what happens of really importance there at Sinai, God makes a covenant with the nation of Israel. He enters into a covenant with them.

[12:54] And all the terms of the covenant get listed out. And do you remember what Israel's response was? They said, all of these things we will do. Like, we commit to all of these commands.

[13:08] We will follow them, every one of them. And if they did, they would be blessed. And if they didn't, they would experience consequences.

[13:18] Everybody with me? You know that, right? On a scale from like zero to ten, how well did Israel do keeping the commandments? Like zero, right?

[13:29] I mean, maybe a .5, but not much more than that, right? They failed the test repeatedly. In fact, they not only failed the test, for 400 years, they broke the covenant.

[13:45] 400 years they've been breaking the covenant they promised at Sinai. Now, I want you to imagine for just a moment that you have a kid, and this kid constantly does the opposite of everything you tell them to do.

[13:59] Some of you don't have to imagine very hard, do you, right? So you've got this kid, and everything that you tell them to do, they do the opposite. Now, what begins to happen after a while, if you let that behavior continue, you know this, is it starts to say something about you.

[14:19] Are you with me? It doesn't just say how poorly behaved the kid is, it says something about your unwillingness to do anything about that.

[14:32] Don't point, right? You've seen that parent at Target, right? I hope you're not that parent at Target. And you've had that feeling where you're like, I wish I was that kid's parent for five seconds.

[14:45] That's all it would take is five seconds. Because they just don't do anything. They let their kid do anything they want, and they never, ever, ever intervene. Are you with me?

[14:56] Well, that's essentially the issue with God. But God, because He always keeps His word, Amen? Judges Israel for their rebellion.

[15:09] How does He do that? How does He bring judgment? He sends them from Jerusalem into Babylon. He brings them into exile. Is everybody with me so far?

[15:21] Now, fast forward to Daniel. Daniel's been living in this exile for almost 70 years. He's wondering at this point, like, how long is this going to last?

[15:34] Because what I expected in terms of being God's people is not lining up with the experience. And he opens up his Bible, and lo and behold, boom, there's the answer.

[15:46] What does he read? There you go. It's in verse 2. He reads the prophet Jeremiah. Now, keep in mind that Jeremiah and Daniel are contemporaries, meaning they're living roughly around the same time.

[16:00] It is very likely that Daniel had not read this before. And so he reads in the book of Jeremiah this. This is Jeremiah 29, verse 10.

[16:10] Unfortunately, these are verses that we quote out of context all the time. This is a promise given to Israel about the exile. Thus says the Lord, when how long? 70 years are completed for Babylon.

[16:25] I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise. And I'll bring you back. I'm going to restore you. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

[16:45] Everybody with me? Daniel reads this in Jeremiah, and he does two things. One, he checks his calendar. Probably had one of those wall calendars.

[16:58] And he realizes this is like, it's almost been 70 years. And because that's what God promised through Jeremiah, he does the second thing. What did God tell his people to do through Jeremiah?

[17:11] Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me. So what does Daniel do? He prays.

[17:22] Verse 3. Verse 3. Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by what? Prayer and pleas for mercy, with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.

[17:37] I prayed. In other words, he's doing what God said to do through Jeremiah. To the Lord my God, made confession. O Lord, the great and awesome God who keeps his covenant.

[17:49] God keeps his promise. His steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments. We have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules.

[18:03] So, Daniel here intercedes on behalf of his people. And what follows is this very long and beautiful prayer from verse 3 all the way down to verse 19.

[18:18] I highly recommend you read all of it. We're not going to tonight take the time to go through every detail. It's a beautiful prayer of confession. And again, I encourage you to read that.

[18:29] But there's one big theme, one really important theme that runs throughout this prayer that Daniel prays that's very important and it is worth us thinking about so that we can understand not only what's happening in this text but about God.

[18:47] Verse 7. To you, O Lord, belongs, say it, righteousness, but to us open shame. As to this day, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to Israel, those near and those far away in the lands which you've driven them because of the treachery that we've committed against you.

[19:07] That's verse 7. Look at verse 14. See the theme again. Therefore the Lord has kept ready the calamity, this exile, that he's brought upon us for the Lord our God is righteous.

[19:20] Now look at verse 16. O Lord, according to all your... Is everybody noticing the theme? The theme, the theme, one of the main themes in Daniel's prayer here is the righteousness of God.

[19:35] Now, can I teach you some Hebrew? Okay, I'm going to anyways, but I want to teach you a little bit of Hebrew because I'm a Bible nerd. The Hebrew word for righteous is this Hebrew word.

[19:48] It's tzaddik. Everybody say that with me. Tzaddik. Tzaddik. That's the Hebrew word here for righteous. And it doesn't quite have the same meaning that we tend to think of when we think of someone being righteous.

[20:03] When we think of somebody being righteous, we think of them having like good moral character. Now, I'm certainly not suggesting that that's not true of God. Of course it's true of God.

[20:13] It's just not what this Hebrew word means. This Hebrew idea is, to kind of put it in a modern phrase, to do right by someone.

[20:25] You know that phrase. To do right by someone. Well, what does it mean to do right by someone? It's a relational term. Meaning, this is important, you can't practice this righteousness outside of relationship.

[20:42] It's not something that you just internally have. Again, not suggesting that righteousness isn't that. I'm talking about in this specific context. It's a relational term.

[20:54] And I think the best way for me to get you to understand this is to illustrate it. So let's just say, for example, you have a child. How might you do right by showing your child that you care about them, that you love them?

[21:09] Well, you might read them a bedtime story. Right? You might crawl in bed and read them a bedtime story. You might get down on the floor and wrestle together or play dolls or house or whatever.

[21:21] You might kiss them on the forehead. Right? All of that would be appropriate ways, right ways, to show your child that you love them and that you care about them.

[21:32] Right? Are you with me? Let's say, same person, you also are a business owner. How might, you know, like you've got employees that work for you.

[21:43] How might you be right or do right towards your workers? Well, you might pay them a fair salary. You might create a healthy work environment for them to work in.

[21:57] Right? Wouldn't that be a right thing to do as an owner? What you wouldn't do to your employees is crawl in bed and read them a bedtime story.

[22:09] Okay? You're probably not going to get down on the floor in the break room and wrestle with each other and play house. Okay? You're probably not going to kiss them on the forehead unless you won a lawsuit.

[22:20] Okay? So, like, those would not be right expressions of love and care to your employees in the same way that they would be to your child.

[22:32] Do you get that? Okay? Let's say, same person, you're also a neighbor. How might you do right to your neighbor? Well, you might mow their yard when they're away on vacation.

[22:44] You might take them cookies if maybe something happened in their family or whatever. Like, those would be right ways of showing your neighbor that you love and care for them. You wouldn't read them a bedtime story and you wouldn't pay your neighbor a fair salary.

[22:59] Is everybody tracking with me? So, the way in which you do right, notice this on the screen, how you do right changes based on the relationship.

[23:11] Does everybody got that concept? Okay, that's the Hebrew idea here. Now you can understand what Daniel is doing when he appeals to the righteousness of God and he does this in two ways.

[23:24] This is really important. Look at verse 11. Verse 11. It says, All of Israel has transgressed your law and turned aside refusing to obey your voice.

[23:37] And the curse and the oath that was written in the law of Moses, the servant of God, has been poured out upon us because we sinned. We sinned against God.

[23:48] And he confirmed his words which he spoke against us and against our rulers who ruled us by bringing upon us a great calamity, this exile. For under the whole heaven there's not been done anything like what has been done against Jerusalem.

[24:03] As it was written in the law of Moses, all this calamity that's come upon us and we have not entreated the favor of the Lord our God turning aside from our iniquities and gaining insight by your truth.

[24:15] Therefore, the Lord kept ready the calamity and has brought it upon us. Why did God bring this judgment upon us? For the Lord our God is, say it, tzaddik, tzaddik, he's righteous in all his works that he has done and we have not obeyed his voice.

[24:36] In other words, what Daniel is saying is God has done right by us in judging us. God has shown his righteousness by giving us justice.

[24:50] Now this is something you will not hear in our culture. Namely, Daniel is saying God, when you brought This exile upon us, you were doing right by us.

[25:03] You were righteous in doing this. We deserved the exile. Because here's why. God, you said in the law of Moses that if we did not obey, there would be consequences and we did not obey and you were true to your word.

[25:26] You always are. Does everybody get that? And Daniel not only understands this, he actually praises God for his tzaddik. Now, you actually want the same thing.

[25:39] I know you do. Because if you go home tonight, if you go home tonight and you realize that while you were at church because of the long sermon, somebody broke into your house, they stole everything, they completely tore your place apart and then they catch the person, all the evidence is clear that this is the person who did that and they stand before a judge, they stand before the law, do you want the judge to look at that person and say, it's not a big deal, just go free?

[26:11] No. No. It's not tzaddik. It's not right. It's not doing right to you and it's not doing right to a community because you don't want to live in a community where people can just steal all your stuff and it's no big deal.

[26:30] Is everybody with me? So Daniel's view of the exile here, he sees it as an expression of God's righteousness. This will preach, notice it on the screen, you can't believe in God's righteousness and be a victim.

[26:47] Daniel does not believe that he is a victim of the exile. He fully understands that God is tzaddik. But it's not just with his justice.

[26:58] Pick it up in verse 17. In verse 17, it says, Now therefore, O Lord God, listen to the prayer of your servant and his pleas for what? Mercy. And for your own sake, O Lord, make your face shine upon your sanctuary, which is desolate.

[27:15] God, incline your ear and hear. Open your eyes and see our desolations. The city is called by your name. We do not present our pleas based on our tzaddik, but by your mercy.

[27:29] And Lord, hear. Lord, what? Forgive. Be merciful. Forgive us. Pay attention, God. Act.

[27:39] Act. Restore. And don't delay. Not for our sake, for your sake. Do you know why? This is really important. Because the city and the people are called by your name.

[27:55] So Daniel's prayer, this is so important, is that God does right to us by judging us.

[28:08] And if God is to do right by us, he must show us mercy. Now this is where it might even get more uncomfortable because some of you would say, wait a minute, wait a minute.

[28:21] I would agree that Israel deserved justice. Would you agree with that? Israel deserved the exile. But you cannot expect mercy.

[28:34] Yes, you can. And Daniel should expect mercy. And those of you that have been around long enough, you're like, I caught the pastor here because I've heard you say, I've heard you teach before from this platform that grace is the unexpected gift.

[28:59] That is, you're not expecting grace from an unobligated giver, meaning that God does not have to give it. That's exactly right and I stand by my words.

[29:11] To which you're like, okay, that's a contradiction. Which is it? On one hand, you're saying expect grace and even demand it for God to do right by you.

[29:23] And on the other hand, you're saying not to expect grace. Do you feel the tension? Let me relieve it. Here it is.

[29:34] God is not obligated to show grace unless He's promised it. because if He's promised it, just like He promised the consequences, then if He is righteous, He is obligated to give it.

[29:56] Otherwise, He'd be breaking His promise, which Hebrew says He can't do because when He makes a promise, when He makes an oath, He does it based on the unchanging nature of His character.

[30:10] You see, God didn't just promise, God didn't just give a promise through Moses. God also gave a promise through Abraham.

[30:25] An unconditional promise where Israel would be a blessing. Is everybody with me? Okay? So just as Daniel expects God to do right by His justice, he expects God to do right by His mercy.

[30:46] Why? Because He promised both. And because of the promise of God, Daniel comes to God and says, God, do right by us.

[31:02] You did right with the exile. Now do right and let us go home. Are you with me? Three of you, really.

[31:13] I thought that was a really important point, but I guess not. Okay. Just, you know, only trying to teach you about the character of God. Anyways, all right. Now there's another interesting thing about this prayer.

[31:25] Not only what it reveals about God's righteousness and Daniel's understanding of it, there's another interesting thing about this prayer in verse 5. Look at verse 5. Everybody say the very first word.

[31:38] We. We have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commands and rules. Say it again. We have not listened to your servants, the prophets.

[31:52] Okay. Okay. We. I mean, Daniel wasn't a part of the generation that sinned.

[32:04] Nor is there even any sin of Daniel mentioned at all in the whole book of Daniel. Now, I really want you to get this. Daniel is in exile.

[32:15] It was actually his forefathers, those that had like sinned in the wilderness and throughout these 400 years and so, but when Daniel thinks about their sin, he thinks of our sin.

[32:29] Daniel puts himself in that very situation and this teaches us two very important things. Here's the first. It's more of a personal application.

[32:41] Are you with me? Are you listening? People with a true understanding of God's righteousness are humble. People with a true understanding, a real deep understanding like Daniel has of the righteousness of God are humble.

[32:57] That is, they do not view themselves as better than anybody else. In other words, I may not have done that, but I've done what I've done, so I'm not any better than that generation.

[33:13] Daniel here doesn't say, you know, I didn't deserve this exile. We're here because of them. Blame them, not us.

[33:24] No, Daniel is humble. God's righteousness has humbled Daniel to where he realizes he's not better than anybody else.

[33:36] Amen? But there's a theological application to this. Who is Daniel 9 ultimately about? Okay? Stop and think for just a moment.

[33:48] Can you think of anybody who didn't actually commit the sin, was willing to take their sins upon himself even to the point that he intercedes for them with a prayer of forgiveness asking that God's righteousness be upheld through an act of justice and mercy which would ultimately lead to the deliverance of God's people?

[34:27] I can think of one. In other words, not only does this understanding of our sin show Daniel's humility, it's a type to Christ.

[34:41] Do y'all get tired every week of me showing you how the Old Testament is fulfilled in Jesus? I hope not, right? Daniel is a type of Christ. Jesus did not commit sin yet he takes our sin upon himself and he intercedes for us with a prayer of forgiveness and at the cross God's justice and mercy come together leading to the deliverance and restoration of God's people.

[35:13] Daniel 9 is about Jesus. This prayer is pointing us to Jesus. In fact, this is exactly what Paul says in Romans 3 verse 25. Christ Jesus whom God put forth as a propitiation or sacrifice by his blood to be received by faith.

[35:32] This was to show God's what? Righteousness. Because in his divine forbearance he passed over former sins.

[35:42] It appeared as though God wasn't going to do anything ultimately about sin. But this showed his righteousness at the present time so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

[36:01] Do you see? That's exactly what Daniel 9 is about. Is that Jesus is offered up on the cross and God's righteousness is revealed.

[36:13] He does right to us because of what happened with Jesus. That's the gospel. That's exactly what Daniel 9 is all about.

[36:26] so where is Daniel's prayer for God's righteousness displayed through an act of justice and mercy? Where is it ultimately answered?

[36:38] It's ultimately answered at the cross. You love me? Which is what the next section is about. how does God answer Daniel's prayer?

[36:54] He sends an angelic being who says this verse 24 here's the debatable part not to me to others 70 weeks are decreed about your people in your holy city to do what?

[37:11] Finish transgression put an end to sin and atone for iniquity what does that sound like? To bring an everlasting righteousness to seal up vision and profit to anoint a most holy place know therefore and understand from the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one a prince there shall be seven weeks then for 62 weeks it shall be built again with squares and moat but in a time of trouble and after the 62 weeks an an anointed one shall be cut off and have nothing and the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and sanctuary its end shall come with a flood and to the end there shall be war desolations are decreed and he'll make or he'll uphold a covenant with many for one week and for a half a week he shall put an end to sacrifice an offering and on the wing of abomination shall come one who makes desolate until the decree decreed end is poured out on the desolate tour okay

[38:17] I obviously don't have time to do a deep dive in every detail of that nor am I even going to try to however I actually did an entire class like one of those hour and a half long classes just on that section of Daniel 9 it's on our YouTube channel on the eschatology course and so if you're really a Bible nerd or you really want to go more of a deep dive into this I've addressed this in far more detail there what I'm going to begin with is what everybody agrees on regardless of what position you hold what everybody agrees on is or agrees with is that while Israel will be allowed to return to Jerusalem at the end of 70 years like think Ezra Nehemiah right those sections of the Old Testament the ultimate listen the ultimate answer to Daniel's prayer which is the forgiveness of sin spiritual restoration that will not happen in 70 years that's going to happen in 77 or 490 years now why why is that because will

[39:34] Israel's return to Jerusalem fully deal with their sin once and for all no it will not again read Ezra read Nehemiah Nehemiah they still still are as disobedient as they were before it does not ultimately deal with their sin so God tells Daniel of a day when he'll bring a greater deliverance a greater restoration than the one out of Babylon is everybody with me everybody understand that don't fall asleep Bible nerds I know you're really listening but the rest of you just hang on and we'll get back to the main point the question that people debate about this passage is when does this happen and some will say that it's about the antichrist and the seven year tribulation and the antichrist reestablishes the temple and animal sacrifices and I really I genuinely want to be sensitive to people that hold that view but I'm just telling you I have no idea how you get that from this text like no idea it doesn't make any sense to me at all except that you force your theological system onto the text rather than just letting the text say what it says now in that sense yeah I can see where you get all that out of it but it's not at all the context of

[41:09] Daniel whatsoever I love you you have to love me okay but it like it baffles me how people believe that on like little to no biblical evidence whatsoever I've shown you throughout Daniel Daniel 2 Daniel 7 Daniel 12 how these visions ultimately point us to Jesus Christ and if you would be willing to put your system aside for just a moment and actually ask what is the context here like don't just jump into verse 24 and try to predict the end of the world the answer the answer at the end of chapter 9 is about the prayer earlier in chapter 9 you have to keep the context together and what is the prayer in Daniel 9 Daniel prays for the deliverance of Babylon from Babylon and he receives a vision about a greater deliverance and what does that greater deliverance look like it looks like this sin is dealt with once and for all the language here of finished transgression put an end to sin atone for iniquity is all pointing to a day when sin is dealt with once and for all when sin is dealt with permanently do you know what Israel needs do you know what you and I need we need a it is finished and where do we receive that in

[42:50] Christ not only that sin is dealt with once and for all but we'll bring in an everlasting righteousness and some will say well that's got to be the end times but only if you skip like the entire New Testament because the entire New Testament is talking about the righteousness the everlasting and eternal righteousness that we now have where in Christ passages like Romans 1 he talks about I'm not ashamed of the gospel it's the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes in fact in it is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith for it is written the righteous shall live by faith Romans 3 22 this righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to who all who believe in other words the essence of the gospel in the

[43:50] New Testament is that we have an everlasting righteousness in Jesus Christ amen thirdly seal up vision and profit seal up just simply means to fulfill to bring to completion who fulfills Old Testament prophecy well Jesus does the apostle Paul says in 2nd Corinthians 1 20 for all the promises he's referring to the Old Testament promises of God find their yes in Jesus here's here's a very important verse Hebrews 1 long ago at many times and in many ways God spoke to our fathers by the prophets but in these last days he has spoken to us how by his son who is the final word Jesus is for in the beginning was the word and the word has become flesh fourthly to anoint the most holy place or the

[45:02] Hebrew word can be the most holy one in fact just look at your reference area in your Bible your margin and it will say either place or one because either one could be true with this Hebrew word and as far as I'm concerned it doesn't really matter because if it is to anoint the most holy one that's clearly talking about Messiah Luke 4 Jesus says the spirit of the Lord is upon me at his baptism the the spirit of God anointing comes down upon Jesus if this means most holy place well who is the most holy place in the New Testament Jesus says destroy the temple and I'll build it back up in three days who's he talking about they know who he's talking about he's saying he is the temple he's the temple and it's not just him the word became flesh and dwelt you've heard me say this before that literally means tabernacled among us read

[46:08] Hebrews 9 are you kidding me Hebrews 9 makes it very clear that the Old Testament temple has been done away with in light of Jesus come on notice this here this is not it is not about the rebuilding of the temple it's about the true temple which is Jesus Christ he is the most holy one and he is the most holy place and all of this happens with what come on now come on verse 26 an anointed one that's Messiah language shall be cut off and shall have nothing it's the crucifixion of Messiah it's the crucifixion of Jesus in other words this is so very clear to me notice that physical restoration is coming in 70 years but spiritual restoration is coming in 77 that this is ultimately pointing you to a greater restoration than that of

[47:12] Babylon namely what Jesus has come to do that is when all of this is dealt with once and for all you with me I'm not done all right so why the 77 why the 77 what's so important about seven sabbath god rested on the seventh the seventh year you know was sabbath year if you know from your old testament at the end of seven sevens the end of seven sevens 49 years was the year of jubilee and do you remember what happened in the year of jubilee well I'll remind you all property was returned to its original owner all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me there was the release of all slaves Romans 7 and 8 we are no longer slaves to sin the cancellation of all debts

[48:16] And look at what Paul says in Colossians he says you who were dead in your trespasses! and the uncircumcision of your flesh God made alive together with him having forgiven us all our trespasses by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands this he set aside nailing it to the cross and then finally land was not worked for a year in the year of jubilee in other words they experienced sabbath rest come on come on come on now stop it with your end time prophecy stuff this is about Jesus Daniel 9 is pointing to you ready the ultimate jubilee the ultimate jubilee the ultimate sabbath and that ultimate sabbath that ultimate jubilee is about

[49:18] Jesus Christ and for those of you real bible nerds that have to have a timeline fine I'll give you a timeline here it is you got your seven by the way there is absolutely no exegetical reason whatsoever I mean whatsoever at all that you would take this last week and spin it off to some 2000 plus years in the future there's no reason for that in the text this is one vision of 490 years that is to stay together and if you don't you better prove why and you can't right anyway I love you all right so you got seven which is 49 years this is the time of Ezra and Nehemiah and the rebuilding and restoration of the temple then you have the 434 years which is essentially a time where nothing noteworthy as it relates!

[50:13] to what's in the vision takes place and then you have the final week you're kidding which just so happens to cover the entire ministry of Jesus the life and ministry of Jesus here on earth one final nerdy thing and then I'm done okay are you still with me do you still love me yeah we'll see afterwards all right who is this prince what about this prince!

[50:42] is the antichrist what is this about well not if you know basic Hebrew just a very basic understanding of Hebrew and you will see why this is not at all what it's talking about and I get it listen most the casual reader is not going to see this when you're just reading through an English translation because you're reading things in a linear way and what I mean by a!

[51:09] A B D but Hebrew doesn't always work like that there's a thing in Hebrew known as parallelism and Hebrew parallelism is often given to help one phrase explain another phrase and so verse 26 and 27 are actually structured with Hebrew parallelism what this means is the anointed one that is cut off in verse 26 is the one that makes the covenant if you're reading this in a linear way for some reason you come up with the antichrist making some type of covenant with Israel and it's total nonsense it's not at all what the text is showing you this is the anointed one being crucified and what comes through the crucifixion of Jesus the new covenant the new covenant the everlasting covenant is brought in through

[52:10] Christ and then you see the two B's here people of the prince that destroyed the sanctuary the prince here is clearly the anointed one the Messiah in other words you have the Jews the people of Jesus and what do they do what are the desolations that occur the destruction of the temple so in other words once you see the Hebrew parallelism you see that the anointed one cut off is the one that makes the covenant namely the new covenant and the people of the prince the Jewish people are the ones that make desolations well what's the desolation the destruction of the sanctuary destruction of the temple which could mean one of two things either it's the Jews crucifying Jesus who is the true temple that's certainly a possibility or it could be and I'll prove it it could be the fact that it's because of Israel's rebellion and sin that leads to the destruction of the temple look at

[53:17] Matthew 23 it's so obvious Matthew 23 27 37 Jerusalem Jerusalem you who killed the prophets and stoned those who were sent to you how often I would have longed to gather your children together as hen gathers her chicks under her wings but you were not willing you rebelled you rejected Messiah and look come on your say it house is left to you desolation of desolations so whether it is crucifying the true temple or whether it is because of their rebellion that the temple will be destroyed either way this passage is about Jesus it just is there is no biblical exegetical theological or contextual reason whatsoever for a gap of some 2,000 years between the 69 weeks and a final week and I'm just going to say this and you can beat me up later if you want there is no passage no passage anywhere in the bible that teaches a seven year tribulation none zero zilch exactly right this is the only passage where people come up with that and I think

[55:02] I've just shown you I hope I've shown you faithfully from the text there is no way you can come to that conclusion at all it's not anywhere in the New Testament so what is this actually about what is Daniel 9 actually about and this is where we come back to you to encourage us as we close Daniel 9 what is it about it is about a prayer of forgiveness and restoration did you see that and while the exile will end in 70 years true forgiveness which is what Daniel is praying about true restoration which is what Daniel is praying about that's not going to come in 70 years that's coming in 77 when who comes Jesus Messiah what Israel needed is what you and I need we need our sin to be dealt with once and for all we need to be restored to and you and I do not need to be restored to a land you and I need to be restored to

[56:21] God we need to be reconciled to God and the good news of the gospel is that we have that in the person of Jesus Christ in Jesus the righteousness of God in displaying both his justice and mercy meet they come together at the cross and let me assure you this evening faith family if you will come to the cross today and experience his forgiveness and his restoration what you will experience there will be far greater than anything you could have expected and all God's people said amen amen let's pray and Lord that that really helps us enter into communion now as we reflect upon the cross

[57:25] Messiah the anointed one who was cut off and had nothing and yet it was there that our sin was dealt with once and for all the justice that our sin deserved and the mercy and grace that you promised they all find their yes at Calvary and I pray like this vision was meant to do for Daniel that the cross this evening would be our hope both the hope for our now and the hope for our future and so we come now before the cross setting our minds on our Savior remembering what you have done for us how you have set us free not from

[58:29] Babylon but from sin and death we pray this in Jesus name amen