In Daniel chapter 9, we were
just here for our Bible study. Daniel 9. Here at the end of this chapter,
We have one of the most glorious declarations concerning the Lord
Jesus Christ that is in all of the scripture. No matter how
this goes, no matter how I do in my delivery or how you hear,
I'm excited to tell you this. This is one of, this is among
the most glorious declarations that we have in all the scripture
of the Lord Jesus Christ. A lot is going on right here. There is a lot happening right
here, a lot being said. And in this chapter, you know,
for those who have been following this study through Daniel, we
know that Israel has been taken into captivity by Babylon. And they've been there at this
point about 68, 69 years in captivity. And Daniel realizes the cause
for their captivity. At the beginning of this chapter,
Daniel was reading the book of Jeremiah. And he saw that Jeremiah
prophesied of everything that happened to Israel just before
it happened. And Daniel realized this. Jeremiah
wrote it right there. It literally says, Nebuchadnezzar
will come and take them captive for 70 years. And he says, we've
been here about 69 years now. He also read that Jeremiah prophesied
their captivity was all because of their sin. It was all because
of their sin. Daniel realized in this moment
how the people of his nation had turned from the true and
living God to worship and serve idols. They forgot God. They turned from God. They rejected
and rebelled against God. And when Daniel realized that,
he started crying out to God for mercy. Look at verse 4, Daniel
9 verse 4 says, He said, I prayed unto the Lord
my God and made my confession and said, oh Lord, the great
and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that
love him and to them that keep his commandments. Verse five,
he said, we have sinned. We have sinned and have committed
iniquity. and have done wickedly and have
rebelled even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments. Oh, he cried, Lord, we need mercy. We need mercy, we are such great
sinners against you. Verse seven, he said, oh Lord,
righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us confusion of
faces, We are so lost. That's what he's saying. We are
so lost. We're just so lost. Verse 10.
Neither have we obeyed the voice of the Lord, our God, to walk
in his laws, which he set before us by his servants, the prophets. Yea, all Israel have transgressed
thy law. Everybody. Nobody's exempt. even
by departing that they might not obey thy voice. Therefore,
the curse is poured upon us and the oath that is written in the
law of Moses, the servant of God, because we have sinned against
him. Oh, we've sinned against him.
Verse 16, he said, Oh Lord, according to all thy righteousness, I beseech
thee, let thine anger and thy fury be turned away from thy
city, Jerusalem, thy holy mountain, because for our sins and for
the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and thy people are
become a reproach to all that are about us. Now therefore,
O our God, hear the prayer of thy servant and his supplications
and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate
for the Lord's sake. I'm crying for the Lord's sake.
Verse 18, oh my God, incline thine ear and hear, open thine
eyes and behold our desolations in the city which is called by
thy name. For we do not present our supplications
before thee for our righteousnesses, but for thy great mercies. He
said, we have nothing to plead concerning our righteousness. Clearly we have no righteousness
of our own. All we have before you is sin.
So we're not pleading our own righteousness, we're pleading
your mercy. God, be merciful to us, the sinners. Verse 19,
he said, O Lord, hear. O Lord, forgive. O Lord, hearken and do. Defer
not. For thine own sake, O my God,
For thy city and thy people are called by thy name. I can envision
him right here being in that place in prayer that some of
us know very well. Some of us know that place very
well. It's the place where you have said all that you know to
say. And the words are now gone. But the groaning is still there.
You know what I'm talking about? You've said it, and said it,
and said it, and you've just said all you can say, and now
you just keep saying, Lord, please. Please. Lord, please hear. Lord, forgive. Lord, hearken. Well, Daniel is
about to realize, I prayed, and my Lord heard me. And he hearkened
to me. Verse 20, he said, and whilst
I was speaking and praying and confessing my sin and the sin
of my people, Israel, and presenting my supplication before the Lord,
my God, for the holy mountain of my God. Yea, whilst I was
speaking in prayer, he said, I hadn't even finished praying
yet. I still had my head bowed. I was still groaning in my spirit. Yea, whilst I was speaking in
prayer, even the man Gabriel, the angel, angels are pretty
much always called men. There's no record in the scripture
of them having wings. Cherubims, yes. Angels, no. But
he's God's angel, and the word angel means messenger. He's God's
messenger. So verse 21, yea, whilst I was
speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen
in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly. I love that. I love that. I've always loved that. In my
center margin, it says that means with weariness in his flight. I'd love to take about 20 or
30 minutes right now and take you on a tour through the scriptures
to show you what God has to say about angels. He is mighty angels
that excel in strength. You know, these angels that God
has stationed with His people, you would be so encouraged if
we took a little tour just to see what He has to say about
these powerful warriors that He's stationed with His people.
With one blow, they can wipe out nations. In Second Kings 19, Assyria came
against Israel to go to war with Israel. And God sent one angel. He has an innumerable company. He has an unnumberable company
of angels. But God sent one angel the night
before Assyria attacked Israel. And in one night, one angel killed
185,000 Assyrian soldiers. And when the king of Assyria
woke up the next morning, the scripture says there was nothing
but dead corpses everywhere. He got up, walked out of his
tent, looked around, and he went home. I'm sure it didn't take that
angel all night to do this, but if it did, all right, if it took
him all night and there was 12 hours of darkness, That angel
smoked with a sword, as it says in other places in the scripture,
that that's the means they use to fight. With a sword, that
angel smoked 15,416 soldiers per hour, 257 soldiers per minute,
a little over four soldiers per second. That's strength. That's power. That's might. If this word says that angel
was flying so hard he was weary in his flight, you can't imagine
how fast that angel was flying. You cannot imagine. Verse 21
says, yea, whilst I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel,
whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused
to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation. And he informed me and talked
with me and said, oh Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee
skill and understanding. While I was praying, the commandment
came forth, go. Daniel. Being caused to fly swiftly. He touched me about the time
of the evening oblation and he informed me and talked with me
and said, oh Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill
and understanding. I have a message for you. That's
what he's saying. I have a message for you. Verse
23, at the beginning of thy supplications, soon as you started praying,
he had that long 19 verses of prayer. He said the moment the
first word came out of your mouth. In Isaiah 65, it says that our
Lord will answer us before we ever even ask Him the question. 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 three score and two weeks. That's a total of 69 weeks. The
street shall be built again and the wall, even in troublous times,
And after three score and two weeks, 62 weeks shall Messiah
be cut off, but not for himself. And the people of the Prince
that shall come to destroy the city and the sanctuary that's
talking about Jerusalem. And the end thereof shall be
with a flood. War is gonna come, soldiers are
gonna flood. 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." 70 weeks means, it actually translates, 70 sevens, which has been realized to mean
490 years, 70 times seven. 490 years. This angel told Daniel
that there would be a commandment to restore and rebuild Jerusalem. Babylon destroyed it when they
took Israel. And he said, there's going to
be a commandment to restore and rebuild Jerusalem. And there
was. There was. And he said, from
the time of that commandment, over the course of 490 years,
we read that he had it divided into God's appointed times. Over the course of 490 years,
he said that Christ is going to come and he is going to perform
a work of redemption like this world has never seen. And even though Jerusalem, as
a worldly city, is going to be destroyed again, it was destroyed
when they were taken captive, and the commandment was given
to rebuild it, and then Christ came, died, buried, rose again,
ascended, and then roughly 40 years later, Rome came in and
destroyed it again, leveled it again. But he said even though
that worldly city is going to be leveled again, And even though
the worldly abomination of false religion is going to be set up
in its place, they literally put an idol right there where
the temple was, where the sanctuary of the temple was. And they said,
you can't worship the true and living God anymore. You got to
worship this pagan idol. But he said, even though all
that's going to happen, God's people are going to be saved.
He said, you are going to see the Messiah anointed. And he
was. He was at his baptism. When John
the Baptist baptized the Lord Jesus Christ, God, the father
sent God, the spirit and God, the son was declared to be the
lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of this world. God, the
father said, this is him. This is him. Verse 26 says, after
three score and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for
himself. He's going to give up his life.
He's going to be cut off from the land of the living. He's
going to offer up himself as a sacrifice to God, but not for
himself. He's not going to do this for
himself. He's going to do this for his people. And this angel
said, Daniel, this is what he's going to accomplish in it. This
is the message I have for you, this angel says to Daniel. This
is the message that I have for you. Now, a lot of people get
hung up on this timeline of events at the end of Daniel chapter
nine. I'm sure you've heard of Daniel's 70 weeks before. People are very curious about
this. They get very hung up on this. I was a guest speaker at
a place years ago, many, many years ago. And a man, a visitor
came in that nobody from that congregation had ever met before.
And a couple of them went and said, hello. And is your pastor
here? No, but we have a guest speaker
today. So they brought him to me. And the guy said, now, before
I sit down, all I want to know is where do you stand on Daniel
70 weeks? I said, I have no idea. All I know is that somehow it
points me to Jesus Christ and Him crucified. He said, all right,
I'm going to sit down. I'm going to stay. But people
are very curious about this. And they get very hung up on
this timeline. This is a timeline that's given.
And honestly, there are some men who shed some very good light
on this. I read and read and read and
read Brother Gary Perkins sent me probably the best commentary
through Sam, the best commentary that I read on this. But what we need to remember
is the win is not what's important. It's the who and the what that's
important. And so many men did what I did. I got my calculator out, you
know, from the announcement of King Cyrus. Okay, when you go
back to his reign, when did Cyrus start and what was this? And
you start, you know, and well, they had the timeline off by
80 years. So you subtract 80 years and
I never, My calculation doesn't go that high. My calculator didn't
work like that. I never could make it all match.
But here's the thing, if God said this is how it is, that's
how it is. Wherever that timeline starts
and stops, it's like whenever the Lord told Abraham, your seed
is gonna be in bondage to Egypt for 400 years. You know how long
they were in bondage to Egypt? 430 years. Well, wait a minute. God said
it was 400 years. Amen. Well, then why was it 430
years? I don't know, but amen. If God
said it, amen. And this is the Lord's timeline
that the Lord gave, and this is how he divided it in the way
he was pleased to divide it. And what the message is from
this messenger, he said, I have a message for you concerning
the accomplishment of Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary for his
people. He said, that's my message to
you. The Messiah, he said, the savior of God's chosen people
is going to come into this world and he's going to give his life
He's going to give His body, He's going to give His blood
as an offering to God. And this is what He's going to
accomplish in it, alright? Six things. This messenger said,
Daniel, this is the message. Six things that Christ is going
to accomplish by the sacrifice of Himself. Daniel, I have a
six-point outline for you. And here it is, number one, verse
24, he said, 70 weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy
holy city, number one, to finish the transgression. He said, that's the first thing
he is going to accomplish in the sacrifice of himself. He
is going to finish the transgression. That word transgression means
rebellion. And that word finish means lock
up, forbid, restrain, bind. He said when the Messiah comes,
he is going to tie up. He is going to bind the rebellion. That's the first thing he's going
to do. And the second thing he's going
to do is, Verse 24 goes on to say, he is going to make an end of
sins. He is going to end sin. I really like the sound of that. I'm going to go ahead and tell
us that everything that this angel said would come to pass,
came to pass. And as He said that the Messiah,
the Prince, would end sin, He ended sin. He has already done it. When
is He going to end sin? He has already done it. It is
finished. Who did He end sin for? Everybody?
No, he ended sin for his greatly beloved, like we just looked
at for our Bible study. His chosen people, the particular
ones that he came to accomplish this for. To God's chosen people,
the glorious announcement is Christ has finished your transgression. And Christ has ended your sin,
all of your sin. Christ has ended all of your
sin. We say, you know, I don't understand
that. What do you mean Christ has ended
my sin? I'm still sinning. I'm still sinning. How can he have ended my sins
when I still have sins that I commit and will commit in the future? What about my future sins? What
do you mean he ended sins? What about my future sins? When Christ died on the cross
of Calvary, all of our sins were future sins. All of our sins were future sins.
Before we ever came into existence, Christ ended a lifetime of future
sin that we would commit. You say, I don't understand that.
Well, I don't fully either, but amen. We still have some of those sins
that are left to live out. Yes, we do. But Christ has already
ended them. He's already ended them. That means they're gone. I still
commit them. Yeah, but they're gone. I still
have more I'm going to commit. Yeah, but they're all taken away.
They're all taken away, away. Jeremiah 50 verse 20 says, in
those days and in that time, in that great day of judgment,
saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel, not the world, but
God's chosen spiritual Israel, shall be sought for and there
shall be none. and the sins of Judah, and they
shall not be found, for I will pardon them whom I reserve."
He said, that's what I will accomplish on the cross of Calvary. And
that's exactly what he did accomplish on the cross of Calvary. They're
over. This is the message of good news
concerning Jesus Christ crucified. Number one, he finished the transgression. Number two, he ended sin. And number three, the angel said
in verse 24, he is coming to make reconciliation for iniquity,
all of that iniquity. This messenger said, Daniel,
a payment is going to be made that will be so satisfactory
to God. You will be joined back into
a union of oneness with Him. Complete and total reconciliation. That's what Christ will accomplish
on the cross of Calvary when He comes. Daniel, you're crying
and you're begging and you're pleading to God for mercy and
for forgiveness and help. Well, here is His answer to you.
He said He will finish your transgression. He will end your sin. And he
will make reconciliation to God for all of your inequity. And
with that being done by the sacrifice of himself for you, he said,
verse 24, he will bring in everlasting righteousness. He's going to
purge out all sin. and he is going to bring in everlasting
righteousness. Once he strips you of your transgression,
your sin, your iniquity, he is going to robe you in his everlasting
righteousness. His goodness, his perfection,
his holiness, he is going to give you the garment of praise
in exchange for the spirit of your heaviness. Yes, he is going
to, verse 24, seal up the vision and the prophecy. He is going
to bind up. He is going to make sure. He
is going to fulfill, bring to fulfillment, prove, keep every
word that has been prophesied concerning who he is and what
he would accomplish in his coming. And in doing that, verse 24,
he will be anointed as the most holy of all. In the process of
everything he will accomplish, he will bring glory to himself. And just as it was prophesied, that's exactly what he did. That's
exactly what he did. Here at the end of Daniel 9,
Daniel had the gospel preached to him. who Christ was, what
he would accomplish for his people. That was the message then. That's
the message now. That's the message right now.
By himself, for his chosen people, he finished the transgression.
He ended sin. He made reconciliation for iniquity. He brought in everlasting righteousness. He sealed up every vision and
prophecy, and He anointed Himself the Most Holy, the Most Holy
of all. In closing, go with me to Isaiah
44. Let's read this together. Isaiah 44 verse 21. Remember these, O Jacob and Israel,
for thou art my servant. I have formed thee. Thou art
my servant, O Israel. Thou shalt not be forgotten of
me. I have blotted out as a thick cloud thy transgressions, and
as a cloud thy sins. Return unto me, for I have redeemed
thee. Sing, O ye heavens, for the Lord
hath done it. Shout, ye lower parts of the
earth. Break forth into singing, ye mountains, O forest, and every
tree therein, for the Lord hath redeemed Jacob and glorified
himself in Israel. To him be all the glory. Forever
and ever. Amen.