complete dependence upon the
Lord for all needed help this evening. I wish to direct your
very prayerful attention to the book of Daniel and that chapter
that we read, chapter 9. By way of text, I wish to consider
most particularly verse 24, but verses 24, 25, 26 and 28 seven, we can really only scratch
the surface this evening but 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 over spreading of abominations he shall make it desolate even
until the consummation and that determined shall be poured upon
the desolate. Now here in Daniel chapter 9
we have perhaps one of the most misunderstood chapters certainly
of the Old Testament but probably of the Holy Scriptures. we must always remember and we
need keep coming back to this that there is one purpose to
Holy Scripture an overriding purpose I should say there is
the one message of the Holy Scripture which reveals the Lord Jesus
Christ himself in the book of Daniel is no exception to this
now by way of context we are reading here in the first year
of Darius that word, that name Darius means Lord, but it means
Lord with a small L he was a ruler of the Medes now during this time Daniel had
been promoted to a very high civil and political office we are talking now around about
the age of 538 BC Now although only this first
year of his reign is mentioned in the scripture, it was very
much significant. Daniel was very concerned for
his people. He felt the burden of the position
that he had been promoted to. And you know, this chapter is
an experiential chapter because we have to remember that Daniel
was a part of that great church, the Israel of old there are those
of course who say there was no church in the Old Testament but
they're totally wrong Daniel knew his God and he knew
the condition of his own heart and what did he say in verse
5? we have sinned and have committed iniquity and have done wickedly
and have rebelled even by departing from thy precepts and from thy
judgments neither have we hearkened unto thy servants the prophets
which speak in thy name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers,
and to all the people of the land." Daniel knew the weight of the guilt that
was upon Israel. Verse 8, All to us belongeth
confusion of face, confusion of faith when men and women sin in open
sin against God they don't prosper sometimes they think they do
but they don't just look around you outside just go down Shearer
Road or into a commercial road into the city people think that they're prospering in some
respects they think that they're more enlightened Israel thought
the same but they weren't but you see Daniel was speaking
here as one who knew he knew the condition
that Israel had been brought to and he knew the state of his
own heart a Christian will say and will speak the words in his own soul that Daniel is
speaking here and so he prays this prayer so that's the context But here he is visited by Gabriel,
he is visited by the angel. Now, to my knowledge, and you're free
to correct me at the end if I'm wrong, but there are only two
angels mentioned by name in the scripture. That is Michael and
Gabriel. I believe I'm correct there. And Daniel speaks of this visitation
from the angel. Seventy weeks are determined
upon thy people, upon thy holy city. And there are six things
here mentioned, and these six things are specific in relation
to the Messiah. The Messiah would accomplish
and has accomplished these six things people tell you that some
of these are in the future they're not they are all fulfilled to
finish the transgression 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. All of these things were prophesied that the Lord Jesus in His first
advent would come to the earth and would fulfill every one of
these things and they are fulfilled. All of them. this here speaks
of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ to finish the transgression well
people say this is yet to come men and women still sin yes they
do but let me ask you the question who is reigning I meet people all the time, I'm
sure you do as well and they believe, they really believe
that the devil is in control as I mentioned on the Lord's
Day until the so-called millennium this is what they believe but
friends, this is not the case is it? because when the Lord
Jesus said upon the cross it is finished, it was finished
it was finished He made to finish the transgression. That is the
damning power of the transgression. This prophecy, like all prophecies
of the scripture, must be considered spiritually. They must be. Yes, the angel Gabriel visited
Daniel. Yes, he spoke these things, but
what was he speaking to him? It's the same, you know, when
The Lord visited John on the Isle of Patmos. He signified
these things. Signs. He spoke in signs. They mean something, of course
they do. But this was the way that the Lord was to speak. To finish the transgression. No more damning power for sin. This was the Messiah. that was
to accomplish this what tremendous insight Daniel had what a mighty what a mighty vision he saw to
finish transgression you see the things that we spoke of earlier
affected him they exercised his mind and his heart and this is
what the Lord Jesus does in a poor sinner's heart to finish the
transgression the damning power and to make an end of sins now
this is not the millennium to make an end of sins this is not
speaking of a future state this is speaking and to make an end
of the debt that God's people owe a tremendous debt do you ever consider it's a solemn
thing really do we ever consider day after day we rise and we
go to our bed and how many sins of the heart Archbishop Usher
calculated that during a man's life it came to several billion and he was speaking you see of
the reality of the human heart but here is the mighty saviour
who delivers from these things to make an end of sins an end of sins this is of course in its final
consummation at the Lord's return but you know the devil is bound
today the devil is limited today The Lord Jesus said, whatsoever
shall be bound on earth shall be bound in heaven. And the devil
is bound today. He can only go so far. He can
only go so far. And he only is allowed to go
as far as the Lord allows him to go. So the devil does not
reign. Here, Mr Kent, speaks of this
in his hymn. Hark how the blood brought hosts
above conspire to praise redeeming love in sweet harmonious strains
and while they strike the golden lyres this glorious theme each
bosom fires that grace triumphant reigns. Grace till the tribes
redeemed by blood are brought to know themselves and God her
empire shall maintain. to call when He appoints the
day, and from the mighty take the prey, shall grace triumphant
reign. Grace triumphant does reign,
because the Lord is calling His people to Himself, and to make
reconciliation for iniquity. Notice He was looking forward,
He was looking for that day, but He is laying clearly what
must be this is what the Messiah, the Saviour must be now many
have come and declared themselves the Messiah many have come and
declared themselves the Son of God even in the 20th century
such people made such claims they were all false and the scripture
speaks of these people but here we can see this is what the true
Messiah would accomplish to make reconciliation for iniquity Daniel
knew the total depravity of mankind he knew the depravity of the
human heart and he knew that a reconciliator
to be brought back to be reconciled was necessary and here This is what was to take place. Notice the certainty of it all. It's not doubtful, is it? It's
certain. We might say that Daniel, he
believed in the doctrines of grace, you know, he did, because
he believed in the certainty of these things to bring in everlasting
righteousness. Now that, friends, can be taken
in respect of not only his first advent but also his second. He
brings in everlasting righteousness because his people are secure,
they can't be lost. But at the final day, there will
be no more sin. And that great resurrection marks
the victory, the eternal nature of this victory. and to seal
up the vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy. If you notice the marginal reference
to that is here to that particular verse
is the 1 Mark 24. It's a quite remarkable statement. Here, the scribe in the Pharisee
saying, letters alone What have we to do with thee, thou Jesus
of Nazareth? Art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art. He
was the confession that the scribes and the Pharisees made under
fear. And it makes reference to this scripture. The Holy One
of God. He knew, didn't He? He knew. To anoint the most holy This
is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased the Lord said. This
is it. 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 three score and two weeks. the street wall shall be built
again and the wall even in troublous times. Now, 70 weeks are determined upon thy
people and upon thy holy city. What is this 70 weeks? What is
this 70 weeks? Well, there is great speculation
about what these 70 weeks are. and I must say friends today
I don't think I've ever read so many commentaries and writings
by those of whom I've disagreed with and some whom I have a great
deal of time for but you see many make the mistake here in
respect of these 70 weeks of calculating 70 times 7 and coming
up to 490 years and so on and the problem is
there is a great deal of debate about when these 490 years began whenever we interpret scripture
in that way we will find ourselves with problems these 70 weeks
here are speaking of a period of time it's a period of time
And this period of time here is broken down for us. Now, why is that? Well, in the
direct context that Daniel was speaking, he was to prophesy the rebuilding
of the temple in the biblical context. there will not be a rebuilding
a future rebuilding of the temple this was the rebuilding that
was to take place during the time of Nehemiah in that biblical
period and it speaks here of the troublous times the troublous
times Now, we read in verse 25, and to build
Jerusalem unto the Messiah, the Prince shall be seven weeks. We have here seven weeks and
we have three score and two weeks. That is sixty and two weeks. This first seven weeks is speaking
of the troubles and the time of the rebuilding of the temple
at Jerusalem. And the sixty and two weeks I
believe to represent the time between the Old and the New Testament. That is the traditional accepted
a millennial position of which I would hold. and after three
score and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off but not for himself
now here we must make an observation and I say it particularly those
of you of whom have to go into the working world into the colleges
and universities and you'll meet people that spend a great deal
of time upon this chapter and they will tell you that at the
end of the 69th week that the era of prophecy had frozen has
frozen and that the parenthesis which we are now allegedly living
in has begun friends that is not true that is not accurate
all of the things which we have read of here which the Savior
has accomplished is complete. All of these things are complete. After three score and two weeks
shall Messiah be cut off but not for Himself. The 70th week here is spoken of as that one
week in verse 27. And He shall confirm the covenant
with many for one week you see friends there's only one covenant
there's only one covenant there's not two covenants there is only
one covenant and here we can see that in AD 70 the temple
was destroyed the temple was destroyed And the Lord Jesus
Christ in His resurrection power has achieved all for the church.
There's not going to be any future rebuilding of the temple or a
future kingdom in that sense. And He shall confirm the covenant,
verse 27, with many for one week. And he shall cause the sacrifice
and the oblation to cease. And for the overspreading of
abominations he shall make it desolate. You see that 70th week
confirms that better covenant. It confirms that greater covenant. All the Old Testament prophecies
of the Gospel going to the Gentiles would be fulfilled and it would
be fulfilled here, would be fulfilled here. When the Lord Jesus said, it
is finished and we can see that He broke down that wall of partition. He broke down that separation. Israel, of course, been that
type of the church. These things came to Daniel in
a vision. What a thing it must have been
to realize these things. Now, as he prophesied these things
to the Jews, they saw them, didn't they? But they only saw them
in the tights and in the shadows. but then the Lord Jesus came
and every single one of these during his life and ministry
was fulfilled and was complete and now we can look back upon
these things that are found in here and we can see each of these
six accomplishments which were mentioned in verse 24 have all
come to pass, every single one of them. You see that 70th week that we
read of in verse 27 is inclusive of the Lord's advent, life and
resurrection. It has to be that way. Why? Because we have to ask ourselves
this question. We come here, we worship, we
preach, we sing the hymns. And do we worship a God that
is defeated? Do we worship a God
that cannot save? Or do we worship a God who has
achieved all for his church? Who has removed the wall of partition,
who has made a way for his people, who has made an end of sins and has brought in everlasting
righteousness. Well, we've but scratched the
surface. I would like to have gone on longer with those verses,
but time does not permit. May the Lord add His blessing.
Amen.