Alright, would you turn in your
Bibles with me to the book of Daniel chapter 9. Now I'm continuing on this subject
that I started last Wednesday concerning Daniel's prophecy
of Christ. Daniel's prophecy of Christ. And as I said in Wednesday Night's
Message, this is not the only prophecy that Daniel had of Christ. He had others. But this is one
of the clearest and most precise prophecies of Christ, not only
in the book of Daniel, but one of the clearest and most precise
you'll find in the whole Bible. And I was thinking as I was studying
this passage over these past few weeks that one of the reasons
that I know that salvation is not by the free will of man is
not only because the Word of God tells us it's not, it's not
of him that willeth nor of him that runneth, but of God that
showeth mercy. But by my own personal experience,
because in my efforts, and I was reading several things about
this passage, we're going to start in verse 24 there, where
it talks about 70 weeks. And one of the things that I tried to do in my efforts in
struggles and doubts with religion and even with the Bible was to
try to disprove the Bible. I put a great effort into that.
I tried to look for contradictions. And many of the things that I
found weren't in themselves contradictions. For example, we're going to see
some numbers here, and I know sometimes people don't like,
we don't want to get bogged down in numbers, but I will remind
you I want to remind you of something. I didn't put these here. God
did. And he put them there for a purpose.
And the Bible tells us all scripture is given by inspiration of God.
And that includes these, these numbers. We don't want to get
bogged down in them, but we want to understand what's meant by
them. We want to understand what the Lord has for us. And these
numbers are so accurate. It is astounding to me. And the
reason I say that we would use things like this to disprove
the Bible because what I would do with something like that if
I found an accuracy like this of numbers, I would say, well,
that proves that Daniel couldn't have been written before Christ,
had to be written by some guy afterward, you know, looking
back on it. And that's the way we would do
it. But that was in my unbelief. That was in my ignorance. Out
of that, in trying to do that against my will, the Lord just
brought me to such an appreciation and love for the Word of God.
And I pray that for all of us. We need to read and hear and
study and pray that the Lord will make effectual His Word
to us. Because that's what it's all
about. His Word is the Word of Christ. the word of grace now
before i get into daniel let me reread a portion that brother
and read their mark chapter one and that's first fifteen i hear
in mark one verse fifteen it marks uh... uh... actually the
whole passage that he read but what is marked out here is the
beginning of the public ministry of our savior not his birth now
that that that includes his birth but but He didn't begin his earthly
ministry, his public ministry, until he was about 30 years old.
I read Galatians 4 when it talked about the fullness of the time
was come. God sent forth His Son. And then
it speaks of His birth there, made of a woman. That's His incarnation. Born of the Spirit of God, without
the aid of man. He's God in human flesh. Jesus
Christ who came into the world to save his people from their
sins, made of a woman, made under the law to redeem them that were
under the law. Well, his public ministry began
at his baptism. He was about 30 years old and
he says here in verse 15, listen to this, and saying, he came
preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God and saying, the time is
fulfilled. And the kingdom of God is at
hand. Repent ye and believe the gospel. Now what time is fulfilled? And
I'll put it to you that the very time that Daniel's speaking of
right here is fulfilled. The 70 weeks that he's talking
about. But let's go back there to verse
24, Daniel chapter 9. Now, as I've told you before,
the 70 weeks there doesn't mean seven-day weeks. It means weeks
of years. That's what the term is. That's
what the literal term is in the original language. Seventy weeks
of years. So, what you need to do is either
write it down or print it on your mind. What you've got here
is 490 years. Just mark that down and keep
that in mind and we won't get confused. What is 490 years? Well, that has to do with multiples
of seven. You know what seven represents?
It represents the finished work of Christ. That's what it represents. Christ our Sabbath. Why 490 years? Because for 490 years, the nation
Israel failed to keep the yearly Sabbaths. They missed 70 of them. And we read back in 2 Chronicles
chapter 36 last Wednesday, verse 21, where it talked about how
God was going to send them into captivity in Babylon for 70 years
because they owed that land 70 Sabbaths. Now, that was according
to the predestinated will of God. God didn't change His mind. God wasn't reacting. But it was
also due to the fact that they had failed to keep those Sabbath
years. They'd failed to let the land rest. And the punishment
has to fit the crime, and you're going to see that in a glorious
way, I hope, in redemption here in just a moment. The punishment
has to fit the crime. They missed 70 Sabbath years,
they went into captivity 70 years. And of course, as you know what
all that meant spiritually, what's the type, what's the picture
there? Their failure to keep the Sabbath years or even the
weekly Sabbaths and all that is their failure to rest in the
finished work of Christ. Unbelief. That's what that's
all about. See, that's what it's all about today. You know, Hebrews
chapter 4 speaks of our Sabbath. There's a Sabbath right now for
the people of God. In the New Testament, in the
Gospel age, there's a Sabbath. It's not a day. It's not Sunday.
It's not Saturday. It's a person. It's the Lord
Jesus Christ. and what he accomplished on Calvary.
And listen how he puts this. This is amazing to me. If this
doesn't give you an appreciation for the Scripture and the accuracy
of it, and it being the wisdom of God, I don't know what will.
But listen, right after he talks about 70 weeks are determined,
490 years. Now what are these 490 years
all about? Well, okay, let's hold on. He
says, upon thy people, that's God's people, Now that's the
application to national Israel under the old covenant, but the
ultimate application is to the elect of God in the everlasting
covenant of grace. We're God's people. How did we
get to be God's people? How did that happen? Well, I
read it there in Galatians chapter 4, didn't I? But we know what
the scripture teaches us. We become God's people by divine,
sovereign, electing grace. He chose us before the foundation
of the world. We become God's people by redeeming
grace. Christ redeemed us on the cross
and we're adopted into his family. And then we become sons of God,
children of God, the people of God by the regenerating work
of the Spirit. sent forth His Spirit, that we
might receive the adoption of sons, and cry from our hearts,
Abba, Father, Papa, Papa." Through Jesus Christ. Now, all of that,
He says, thy people and thy holy city, that's, you know, they
were to go back and rebuild the earthly Jerusalem, but we're
not looking for an earthly Jerusalem, are we? Hebrews 12 says we're
not. We're not looking for an earthly
mountain, an earthly temple, we're looking for a heavenly
city. whose builder and maker is God, the spiritual Jerusalem. And that's the holy city that
we occupy. We're citizens of the heavenly
Jerusalem, see? And he speaks of 490 years. What
does that have to do with anything? Well, it was 490 years from the
time that they were commanded by the
king, the king of the Medo-Persian Empire who had conquered Babylon,
that he commanded them to go back and rebuild the city and
rebuild the temple, first the temple, and rebuild the walls
of Jerusalem 490 years from that time to the time of the Messiah
that's recorded there in Mark chapter one and verse 15. And every bit of that is centered
around the glorious person and finished work of Christ. Look
at it. He gives us six things here that describe the greatness
and the completeness of the work of the Christ, the Messiah. He
says to finish the transgression, to shut it up, put it in jail
to where it can't get out again, and condemn us. There's no condemnation
in Christ. I went over these things last
time, but just read them again. To make an end of sin. Boy, if
that don't make your heart leap, I don't know what will. Sin will
not make an end of me, because my Savior has made an end of
sin. Sin will not finish me, because
my Savior has finished it. He died to save me from my sins. His blood is the full payment
of my debt. and to make reconciliation for
iniquity. He is my peace with God. He made
peace by the blood of His cross. He was made sin, Christ who knew
no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.
That's how we're reconciled to God. He made reckoning, and he
did it. You didn't do it, he did it.
You see what I'm saying? And then he says, and to bring
in everlasting righteousness, that's our justification before
God, based on the righteousness of God in Christ, imputed, accounted,
charged to us. He fulfilled that completely.
He didn't leave it undone. You see, this is a complete work
here. This is a finished work. And this is speaking, Daniel
is speaking prophetically. Daniel was a partaker of the
same salvation that you and I are partaker of in Christ. The only
difference is that Daniel was looking forward to the accomplishment
of it by promise, just like all the Old Testament saints. We
look back to the work already accomplished. But it's the same
ground, the same Savior, the same God who saves us by grace. And then he says, and to seal
up the vision and the prophecy. What is that vision? That's the
Word of God, the Old Testament, and the prophecy. That's all
that was said of the Messiah in the Old Testament in type,
in picture, and in word. And Christ is the fulfillment
of all of it. This book is a book of Christ. The Old Testament and the New.
The Old Testament, someone is coming. The four Gospels, someone
is here. The epistles and the letters,
the epistles, that someone has already been here, he's already
accomplished. It's all of Christ. Genesis to
Malachi, Matthew to Revelation, it's all about Christ. All the
types, all the lambs slain. Under God's economy during that
Old Testament. That's not just during the Mosaic
economy because Abraham slew an animal too. Noah made sacrifice. Abel made sacrifice. And who
made sacrifice before Abel? God did. He slew an animal and
made coats of skin for Adam and Eve. All that blood that was
shed for all those thousands of years. You see? What did all that mean? John
the Baptist, you read about him there, he came, prepare ye the
way, what did he say, what was his message? Behold the Lamb
of God that taketh away the sins of the world, the sin of the
world. Worthy is the Lamb, that's all about Christ, that temple,
that tabernacle, that priesthood, that altar, the scapegoats, the
ark, everything you can talk about. It was all fulfilled,
sealed up, All right? Shut up, sealed up in Christ. And then to anoint the Most Holy.
Literally, that's the holy place. Now some people say that's the
anointing of Christ at His baptism. But I don't believe that's what
that's talking about. He was anointed at His baptism. Don't
get me wrong. He was anointed there. He was
anointed by the Holy Spirit who descended in the form of a dove.
And the Father spoke from heaven. This is my beloved Son in whom
I am well pleased. Hear you Him. So he was anointed
there. But this anointing here is literally
the most holy place. And what does that mean? Well,
it refers to the death of Christ, where the holy place, the true
eternal holy place, the very presence of God, was anointed
by His blood. He told His disciples, this is,
when He held up that cup of wine, He said, this is the new covenant
in My blood. That's right. And when he died and gave up
the ghost, what happened? It's recorded in Matthew 27,
I believe verse 51, it says, the veil was rent in two. What
did the high priest use to anoint the most holy place in the tabernacle
in the temple? He went in there with the blood.
That's how he anointed it. What's the most holy place the
very presence of God anointed with now? The blood of the Lamb,
the blood of Christ. We enter boldly to the holiest
of all through the blood of Jesus. So there's the completeness of
his work, all right? Now look at verse... Now all
this is accomplished by Christ. And now he goes in, he mentions
these numbers, he says in verse 25, now Daniel's writing by inspiration
of the Holy Spirit. And he says, know therefore and
understand that from the going forth of the commandment to restore
and to rebuild Jerusalem, unto Messiah the Prince from that
commandment well that commandment was going to turn back to Ezra
chapter 1 look back there with me right up above that is 2nd
Chronicles 36 21 we read on Wednesday night about the Sabbaths where
Jeremiah prophesied and Daniel remember when he started this
vision here in Daniel 9 who was he reading now he was reading
Jeremiah the book of Jeremiah And he learned from Jeremiah
that they were to be in captivity 70 years, verse 21, why 70 years? To fulfill the word of the Lord
by the mouth of Jeremiah until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths. God meant to let that land rest
for 70 years. But look at Ezra chapter 1 now,
verse 1. He says, now in the first year
of Cyrus, king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth
of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, that's 70 years, the Lord stirred
up the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia. Now don't tell me
the Lord can't stir up the spirit of an unbeliever. You say and
his spirit there means his mind stirred up his mind of Cyrus
the king of Persia that he made a proclamation Cyrus made a proclamation
throughout all his kingdom and he put it also in writing saying
this verse 2 Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia the Lord God of
heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth and He
hath charged me to build him and house at Jerusalem which
is in Judah That's the command, and that command was issued.
Now Daniel's saying, verse 25 back here in Daniel 9, he says,
from that time, that commandment from that king going forth to
restore and to build Jerusalem unto the time of Messiah the
prince, he says, shall be seven weeks. Seven weeks. And then he says, three score
and two weeks, that's 62 weeks. And again, these are seven weeks
of years, 62 weeks of years. The street shall be built again,
and the wall, remember the walls of Jerusalem, the wall of Jerusalem,
that's built, that's recorded in the book of Nehemiah. We studied
that, you know, how each gate from the wall. And he said, even
in troublous times, it wasn't gonna be an easy time. And when
we get to Zechariah and Haggai and Malachi, the last three of
the minor prophets, you'll find out it wasn't easy times. It
was troublous times. When the Lord came to do His
great work, it wasn't easy times. It was troublous times. What?
This world is full of troublous times. But the time of the Lord
is peace with God through Christ. and peace among his people. He
goes to verse 26, he says, after three score and two weeks. At
62 weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself. And
down in verse 27, he said, and he shall confirm the covenant
with many for one week. Boy, people have written volumes
about the 70th week. There it is. The 70th week. Because if you add it all up,
up to verse 27, you've got 69 weeks. Here's the 70th week. What about the 70th week? All
right. Now you look at all this. 70 weeks of years. 490 years. This is God's predetermined time. The fullness of the time. The
time is fulfilled. That corresponds with what He
is going to accomplish to save His people from their sins. That's
what He's going to do. He's going to establish His temple
just like the Judaeites were going to go back and rebuild
the temple. God sends the Messiah to build
His temple. What is His temple? It's His
church. What did Christ tell His disciples?
He said, upon this rock I will build my church and the gates
of hell will not prevail against it. The church is redeemed by
the blood of the Lord. They're the called out ones,
you see. And that's what he's talking
about. The Messiah come to do His great work, to build His
church, and He's going to build the walls of Jerusalem, not the
earthly Jerusalem, but the heavenly Jerusalem. His people, His citizens,
His redeemed ones are going to be populated. And this is God's
predetermined, predetermined time. And I'll tell you one thing about
it. This is amazing because These numbers are set forth and they're
revealed by God to show His sovereignty. God knows the time. He sets forth
the times and the seasons, doesn't He? You don't do it, I don't
do it, but God does. It shows His wisdom. Everything corresponds
with His glory and in some way pictures the salvation of His
people through the punishment and the obedience and death of
the Messiah. the Lord Jesus Christ, and it
sets forth His justice. You remember I said the punishment
must fit the crime? Well, here's multiples of 7,
490 years, Christ comes, He does His great work. As we're complete
sinners, He's a complete Savior. He finished the work. He describes
that work there in verse 24, all that He was going to accomplish.
And these numbers also tell us something else. And I want you
to think about this. They set forth positive proof
that Jesus of Nazareth is that Messiah. He is Messiah the Prince. The only person in the history
of the world that can conform to these numbers as revealed
in Daniel chapter 9 is Jesus of Nazareth. He's the only one. The Jews don't have to look for
another Messiah the Prince. He's already come, you see. I'm thinking about John the Baptist
when he was in his moment of weakness. And we all have those,
don't we? So we can't boast anything over
John. And he was in prison. And he
was in prison unjustly, wasn't he? And he was about to be killed. And he asked the Lord when the
Lord came to him. It's recorded in Matthew 11 and
verse 3. He said, Art thou he that should come, or do we look
for another? And the answer is, no, John,
you don't need to look for another. Here he is. He has come. Proof positive. Well, think about
this. Now, here's what I want you to
do. Just follow along with me. And there's three divisions here
that I want you to see. First of all, look at verse 25
again. He says, know therefore and understand
that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and
to build Jerusalem unto Messiah the Prince, the Prince of Peace,
The Prince of God, the Prince of Angels, the Lord Jesus Christ,
shall be seven weeks. There's the first division. What
is seven weeks? That's 49 years. That's what
that is, literally. Well, what significance does
that have? Well, do you know how long it took them? You know,
when they went back to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple and rebuild
the city, you know how long it took them? It took them 49 years.
Exactly. 49 years. God knows what he's
doing, doesn't he? He knew exactly what he was doing.
And that's how long it took to rebuild it, how long it took
to repopulate the city and all of it. And then he says, he says,
and three score in two weeks. Now that's 62 weeks of years.
What's that? That's 434 years. Once they completed The temple and the city, after
49 years, from that time on until the time that the Messiah came
was 434 years. You put them both together, what
have you got? You got 69 weeks of years. That's 483 years. And His first coming, not His
birth now, but His ministry when He was baptized and began His
earthly ministry is recorded in Mark 1 15. What does that
prove? Again, it proves that Jesus is
the Messiah. That's why it's recorded in the
book of Mark. The time is fulfilled, he says. God's time. In the fullness of
the time. And that's the second division,
62 weeks. But then look at verse 26. Now here's the third division.
He says after three score and two weeks, after the 62 weeks,
after that 483 years, And that's added to the 49 years. That's
altogether 483 years. It says, the Messiah shall be
cut off. He's going to be cut off. Now
we learn later on in verse 27 that he's going to be cut off
in the midst of those seven weeks, seven years. There was going
to be a seven-year period, and in the middle of that seven-year
period, the Messiah is going to be cut off. Now, what does
that mean? Well, look over at the book of Isaiah, chapter 53. From the time that Messiah the
Prince came and was anointed and began his public ministry,
483 years to the exact date. And don't try to measure that
by our calendar. They used a lunar calendar. Every
month had 30 days back then. All right? And so, from the exact
time that that decree was issued, 49 years they finished it, 483
years the Messiah was anointed at His baptism and began His
public ministry, that began the seven years, and in the middle
of that, He was cut off. Well, look at verse 8 of Isaiah
53. It said, He was taken from prison
and from judgment, and who shall declare His generation? For he
was cut off out of the land of the living. What does that mean
to be cut off out of the land of the living? It means to die.
He was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression
of my people was he stricken. He did it as a substitute. He
did it as a sin bearer, as a sin offering. He did it as a representative. He satisfied law and justice.
Now, from the time that Jesus of Nazareth began his public
ministry to his death, how long was it? Do you know? Three and
a half years. He was 33 and a half when he
died on the cross. What does Daniel say here? He
says, and look at verse 27, he says, 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. We'll look at that
in just a moment. What do you mean he will cause
the sacrifice and the oblation to cease? The old covenant's
over. The veil's written too, folks. He sealed it up. When he gave up the ghost, it's
finished, he said. It's finished! Took him three
and a half years of public ministry. He was 33 and a half. So in that
midst of that 70th week, he was cut off at Calvary. And why was
he cut off? Isaiah 53, for the transgression
of my people. He didn't die on that cross for
his own sins, he died for my sins. He died for the sins of
his sheep. He said, the good shepherd giveth
his life, lay down his life for the sheep. What was he doing? He was coming under the justice
of God because the punishment has to fit the crime. Just like
Israel going into captivity for 70 years because they didn't
keep 70 Sabbath years. It's got to equal out. If it
doesn't equal out, it's inequal, it's inequity, it's iniquity. And he fulfilled it all. He's
satisfied. He paid my debt and Jesus paid
it all. All the debt I owe. Sin had left
a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow. Now
there's three and a half more years to go. Hold on. Now look
back up at verse 26. He says, And after three score
and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, that's after the 62
weeks and the 49 weeks or 62 years and the 49 years, all of
that coming down, equal 483 years, he's going to be cut off in the
midst of that seven years, but not for himself. You see that?
He wasn't cut off for himself. Cut off for his people. That's
right in line with Isaiah's prophecy. It's right in line with the gospel.
right in line with the gospel message that God brought in Genesis
3.15. It's never changed, and it never will. And you say, well,
I can't hold on and remember all this. It doesn't matter.
Here's what you got to remember. Christ died for sinners. This
is a faithful saying worthy of all acceptation. Jesus Christ
came into the world to save sinners, whom I'm chief. That's the issue. And then he says, and the people
of the prince that shall come. Now there's another prince that
shall come, he says. And he says he shall destroy
the city and the sanctuary. That's Jerusalem and the temple.
Well, what's he talking about? Well, he's talking about the
destruction of Jerusalem. The destruction of the temple. Who
did that? Who did that? Well, the Roman
government did. The Roman army came in. And it
didn't happen right in the middle of these two weeks, but it happened
as a result of what happened in the middle of these two weeks,
of this seventh week, this three-and-a-half years. That's why it happened.
In other words, because of the Jews' rejection of Christ as
Messiah, what did God do? Well, He destroyed the city.
He destroyed the temple. Christ predicted that. He said,
this temple is going to be destroyed. And he says, and the end thereof
shall be with the flood, and to the end of the war desolations
are determined. That's the ultimate. There have
been many, you know, people talk about the abomination of desolation
in Daniel. There have been many abominations
of desolations. That right there is the most
blatant physical one. When the temple and the city
were destroyed by the Roman Empire as a result of what men And women
by nature, not just the Jews, but all of us by nature, do to
God's Son, and that is reject Him and despise Him. That's what
we do by nature. And all that was destroyed, you
see. Incidentally, you know when it was destroyed? A.D. 70. A.D. 70. It's a complete work.
Well, look at verse 27 again. He says, He shall confirm the covenant
with many. Who's the he there? That's Christ.
That's talking about Messiah the Prince. He confirms the covenant. What covenant? The everlasting
covenant of grace. How did he confirm it? He established
in time the everlasting covenant of grace made before time. What
is that called in the Bible? It's called the new covenant.
He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.
This is the New Testament, the New Covenant in my blood. That's
what he did. Look over at Hebrews 13. Here's how we know that's so.
Now remember he said when he instituted the Lord's Supper,
he said this is the New Covenant in my blood. Alright? Now look
at verse 20 of Hebrews 13. The blood of the new covenant
is the same as the blood of the everlasting covenant. Look at
verse 20 of Hebrews 13. Now the God of peace that brought
again from the dead our Lord Jesus that great shepherd of
the sheep through the blood of the everlasting covenant. Make you perfect in every good
work to do his will working in you that which is well pleasing
in his sight through Jesus Christ to whom be glory forever and
ever. Amen. of the everlasting covenant. The blood of the new
covenant is the same as the blood of the everlasting covenant.
It's the blood of Christ. He was cut off. And how did he
confirm that covenant? By his death on the cross. By
his satisfaction to the law and justice. By all that he accomplished
in verse 24. To finish the transgression,
make an end of sin, make reconciliation for iniquity, bring in everlasting
righteousness, seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the
most holy. And that confirmation was literally
set forth in physical miracles. The main one being that veil
rent in two, as recorded in Matthew 27 and verse 51. The veil was
rent in two. Secondly, by the resurrection
of many being raised from the dead there in Jerusalem, just
like Lazarus was raised from the dead. There were many of
his people who were raised from the dead just like Lazarus. Now
they died again, because that's not the great resurrection day.
That hasn't come yet. That's not even coming in our
time. That's future. But they were raised from the
dead just like Lazarus was raised. When Christ said, Lazarus, come
forth, what was that a result of? It's a result of his death.
That's what he's picturing there. So you think about that. It says
here he confirmed that covenant with many. How many? Everyone of God's elect. Everyone
of his sheep. Everyone whom he represented
on that cross. Everyone whom he redeemed by
his blood. Everyone who come by the power
of the Spirit to faith in Jesus Christ and repentance of dead
works. And it says he did it for one week, that's that 70th
week, in the midst of it, three and a half years. Now, and it
says, and in the midst of the week, verse 27, he shall cause
the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, that's when the whole
covenant, the blood of animals stopped, that's why we're not
slaying lambs today. That's why we don't have an earthly
high priest to represent us in an earthly temple or tabernacle,
because He calls the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, the
offering to cease. He is our sacrifice. He is our
offering. We don't need anyone else or
anything else but Christ. And for the overspreading of
abominations, He shall make it desolate. In other words, it's
not needed anymore. Desolation means it's done. And
he says, even until the consummation and that determined shall be
poured out upon the desert. That's the destruction of all
that. Well, it says, he shall confirm the covenant with many
for one week. That's the 70th week. That's
the seven years that began with his earthly ministry. In the
midst he was cut off three and a half. What happened in the
other three and a half? I'll tell you exactly what happened.
It began at Pentecost. when the Holy Spirit was poured
out in a great and mighty way, and many Jews, and later on,
in three and a half years, at Stephen's death, when the church
began to be sorely persecuted, the gospel was catapulted out
into the world, and many Gentiles were being brought into the kingdom.
That's the confirmation of that covenant. The death of Christ
And the sovereign, powerful, saving work of the Holy Spirit
to bring those for whom he died into the kingdom was instigated. It was confirmed right there.
At Pentecost, 3,000 were saved. The next day, 5,000 were saved.
And then in three and a half years of ministry around that
area and much persecution, God spread them out. You can read
about it in Acts chapter 7, 8, and 9. It talks about Saul making
havoc of the church, for example. And they being scattered out
through the regions. And they went forth, the Bible
says, preaching the word of the Lord, preaching the gospel. And
many souls were saved. That's what took place there. All of this, all of this, because
Messiah the Prince, the Lord Jesus Christ, came and fulfilled
his great work on the cross. And it's so accurate. It is.
It's amazing to me. I hope you gain an appreciation
for that. All of the 490 year period took
place and it was confirmed and it was accomplished. All right.