Okay, now, I've entitled this
message, Daniel's Prophecy of Christ. And I'm going to divide
it up for tonight and then this Sunday evening. I want to deal
basically with verses 20 through 24 tonight. And then I want to
devote one whole message to the latter part of this. You can
tell as I read through it that there's a lot there. And it seems
that, you know, it may seem at first reading a little confusing,
but it's really not. Basically, the lesson there,
the truth revealed there is that God has determined the times
and the seasons to accomplish his work. And it is amazing once
you see these specific times and seasons. We'll see something
about that tonight. But this is Daniel's prophecy
of Christ. This is part one. This is not Daniel's only prophecy
of Christ. We've seen other prophecies.
We've seen the stone cut out by God that would topple the
empires of the world. That's Christ on the throne of
his glory and his power working his will. We've seen Daniel in
the lion's den, that great picture of how God can justify the ungodly. And we saw even in the Hebrew
children in the fiery furnace, that manifestation, the pre-incarnate
Christ who delivered them from that fiery furnace, which is
such a great picture of God delivering us from the furnace of his wrath
by the cross of Christ, by his shed blood and his righteousness
imputed. And so this isn't the only prophecy
of Christ from Daniel, but I'll tell you what, it's the clearest.
And not only that, it's one of the clearest in the whole Bible.
It's amazing how clear this is. when you understand by the power
of the Spirit the revelation of Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
And I believe this passage probably isn't preached on that much except
in the context of what people call dispensationalism and the
future and all that. But I'll tell you something now,
if you get a hold, just even what I'm going to deal with tonight,
it's such a comfort and an encouragement to the people of God who are
struggling through this world, struggling with sin. Oh, I tell
you what, if this isn't Christ, I don't know who it could be.
It's a myth. It's, listen, it's not a myth. This is Christ and
the glory of Christ, both in his person and his work. So now
remember in the first 19 verses, we saw Daniel's prayer of faith
and what a prayer it was. This sinner crying, coming to
the throne of grace, through his high priest, looking forward,
as all the Old Testament saints did, to the coming of the Messiah,
to do this great work that is so clearly described in this
part of what we're going to talk about tonight. He cried out for
God's mercy. He knew he needed mercy. He cried
out for the forgiveness of his sins according to God's word,
according to righteousness, he said. and that God would fulfill
his promise to Israel for their return to Jerusalem, but not
only that, for the ultimate fulfillment of all the promises of God for
the salvation of his people, spiritual Israel, in and by the
Lord Jesus Christ. And so now we come to the prophecy
of Christ. It's almost like this is God's
answer to Daniel's prayer. Daniel prays, God be faithful
to your word. And that's not doubting God,
that's just recognizing that God is faithful. God forgive
me of my sins, remove my sin, make an atonement for my sin.
Well, here's God's answer. Daniel or any child of God, any
sinner seeking mercy, here's the answer. The only way that
all of these things are gonna be fulfilled and come about is
through the glorious person and the finished work of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And that's what this prophecy
is all about. Here, God reaffirms to Daniel
and to us that all of salvation, all of God's mercy, all of the
forgiveness that God gives to his people is founded upon and
found in the Lord Jesus Christ, whom he calls down here in verse
25, Messiah, the prince, the anointed one. And he would come
in time and he'd do his great work of putting away our sins
and establishing righteousness and that the ultimate fulfillment
of God's eternal promises to all his elect people, his church
out of every tribe, kindred, tongue and nation and accomplished
in the complete eternal salvation of his people in Christ. Now, verses 20 through 23, we'll
divide it up this way. Two ways here, two divisions,
verses 20 through 23 and then 24 through 27. But like I said,
I'm going to stop at the end of 24 and then pick up there
next Sunday night because there's just so much there. But verses
20 through 23 is a preparation for a revelation of Christ. He's
preparing Daniel for this glorious manifestation. And let me say
this before I get into it. Daniel had already seen Christ.
Daniel already knew the Lord of Glory, as I said, like all
the Old Testament saints, he was looking forward to the promise
of God to be fulfilled in the coming Messiah. But what Daniel's
going to learn here is some astonishing truths concerning more truth
about this glorious person who would do this great work. And
so it's a preparation for that. So listen to what he says. He
says in verse 20, while I was speaking and praying and confessing
my sin, and the sin of my people Israel. You know, God does not
hold back in his word to show us the weaknesses and the sinfulness
of his most choice saints. You know that? I mean, you go
back and look at it. You can go down through the history
of those who are called the Hall of Faith in Hebrews chapter 11.
And you can see those things that are commendable because
of the grace of God in Christ, but you can also see those things
that we ought to be ashamed of. I mean, you obviously, most people,
the first name that comes up is David, they think about King
David, and how God records openly and vividly the sin that David
committed with Bathsheba. And in showing that, not to show
David as an example to be followed in those areas, but showing David
as an example of God's grace, God's mercy, God saved sinners. Jesus Christ came into the world
to save sinners, of whom I am chief. We can even think about
Abraham and Noah, all these great saints of the Bible. God exposed
them for what they were, sinners saved by the grace of God, and
he didn't hold back. But there's one man in the Bible
that there is nothing recorded about any specific sin that he
committed, and his name is Daniel. Not one thing is recorded about
Daniel as to any specific sin that he committed. In fact, you
remember back when those false accusers were trying to drum
up charges against Daniel, it says they couldn't find any charge
against him. Daniel, in that sense, he was
like Saul of Tarsus in that sense. He says, touching the law blameless.
And there's nothing recorded in here. The only thing that's
recorded about Daniel is the triumphs, the things that we
ought to follow as an example. That's why you hear that song
and people will talk about dare to be a Daniel. But I want you
to see what Daniel says about himself. Daniel, when he prays
to God, he doesn't say God reward me because I'm such a great example.
He doesn't say, God commend me because I've not committed any
sin. Look at what he says. He said,
as I was speaking and praying and confessing my sin. That's what Daniel says of himself. You see, in all of this, Daniel
knew himself. Because that's what God, the
Holy Spirit, does to a child of God, to one of his people.
He convicts us of sin. And though nothing is recorded
about anything specifically Daniel did that was sinful, we know
that the Bible tells us that all have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. And my friend, that includes
Daniel, and he knew it more than anybody. Later on, you'll see
in a prayer. Well, in fact, it's just across
the page there in verse 8 of chapter 10. When he was left
alone and saw a great vision of the glory of God, he said
in verse 8, there remained no strength in me. Most people talk
about Daniel as being a strong person. Daniel says there's no
strength in me. Daniel knew the score. He says,
for my comeliness, you might see the word vigor, some people
say beauty, my beauty was turned in me into corruption and I retained
no strength. Daniel knew that he was a sinner
and he was just as much in need of mercy as the worst of sinners. He said as I was, back here in
verse 20, as I was speaking and praying and confessing my sin. That's why I read that in 1 John
chapter one. If we say we have no sin, we're
liars. We make God a liar. There's no
truth in us. What does it take to wash away
my sins? Daniel included the blood of
Christ, and that's it. Nothing else will do it. It's
by the grace of God. Daniel was a sinner saved by
grace. Over in verse 16 of chapter 9,
when he prayed, he said, O Lord, according to all thy righteousness,
He said, I beseech thee, let thine anger be turned away from
thy city, Jerusalem. Not by my righteousness. Daniel
knew he had none. But he knew that his righteousness
was in Christ. And I believe Daniel had in mind
there the mercy and grace of God in Christ. You know, he was
reading the book of Jeremiah. You remember that? As we opened
up there in verse one or verse two, it says he understood by
books the number of years where of the word of the Lord came
to Jeremiah the prophet. And I'll tell you, there's no
prophet like Jeremiah who set forth Jehovah Sid Canu, Jesus
Christ, the Lord, our righteousness. That's what Daniel was reading
in the book of Jeremiah. So I believe when he said, O
Lord, according to all thy righteousness, remove thine anger, I believe
he was looking forward to Christ, the Lord, his righteousness.
Not just justice on display, but justice on display in that
person who's Messiah, the Prince. He had that in mind, I believe.
Well, Daniel was a man of faith, and his prayer was a prayer of
faith. He believed God. And look here in verse 20. He
said, I was praying and confessing my sin and the sin of my people
Israel, presenting my supplication, my desire, that's what I want
before the Lord my God for the holy mountain of my God. What
he's talking about there is the people returning to Jerusalem
to rebuild the temple and rebuild the city. Because that was God's
purpose and plan. And he says in verse 21, yea,
while I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, and most
commentators say this was an angel, but God called him a man.
But think about this, you know, God's preachers are men, but
in Revelation, God calls them angels. So what are we talking
about? We're talking about a messenger
from God. A messenger from God. And so whoever this messenger
was, he was from God, he was an angel. I believe it was an
angelic being. And he says, whom I had seen
in the vision at the beginning, this is the one he saw at the
beginning of this vision, being caused to fly swiftly touched
me. Think about that. You know, as
we look at this and we try to figure these things out, all
we have to go on is scripture. And what the, for example, The
name Gabriel means strong one, man of power, something like
that. People argue over that. But we know, we know that all
power, all strength, all truth ultimately come from Christ,
the God-man who is the angel of the covenant. We know that. And he touched Daniel. And I
thought about that. In order for Daniel to understand
this vision, in order for him to understand this message, He
had to be touched by the divine. He had to be touched through
a messenger of God or through God himself. Either way, God
has his way. But that's what it takes for
us to understand these scriptures. Remember when Christ told the
Pharisees in John 5 in verse 39, he says, you search the scriptures. And he says, in them you think
you have eternal life. They are they which testify of me. It
takes the power of God touching us some way through the power
of the Holy Spirit for us to understand these visions and
Daniel said he calls to fly swiftly touch me about the time of the
evening oblation an evening offering and then verse 22 he says and
he informed me and talked with me and said Oh Daniel I am now
come forth to give thee skill that word skill there is wisdom
and understanding the understanding there is knowledge wisdom and
knowledge You see, it's not salvation just to know a thing intellectually,
but it's understanding the value and what to do with that thing
we know, and that's wisdom. And wisdom and knowledge both
come from God. Salvation must be revealed. That's
what Christ told Nicodemus, you must be born again or you cannot
see the kingdom of heaven. 1 John chapter 5 and verse 20
says and we know that the Son of God is come and hath given
us an understanding that we may know him that is true and that
we are in him that is true even in his son Jesus Christ this
is the true God and eternal life so Daniel is given wisdom and
knowledge to know what's going on here look at verse 23 I love
this he says at the beginning of thy supplications the commandment
or the word came forth And what he's saying here is that, you
know, I mentioned this the other day. Whatever God does, he purposed
to do from the beginning. This is not new to God or anything
like it. It's not Daniel trying to get
God to change his mind. It's just simply Daniel in submission
to the sovereign will of God in all things. And God is never
reluctant to hear his people. And that's what he's saying.
It's almost like he's saying, he said, the minute you begin
to pray, he says, the commandment came forth. Now God does things
in his own appointed time, but he reveals to us that he's a
God who not only is plenteous in mercy, but he's ready to pardon
and forgive. He's never reluctant. And the
scripture says that, Psalm 86 5, for thou, Lord, art good and
ready to forgive, plenteous in mercy unto all them that call
upon him. And it shall come to pass, Isaiah
65 and verse 24, that before they call, I will answer, says
God. And while they are yet speaking,
I will hear. You see, what's that tell us?
Well, look at it. At the beginning of thy supplications,
the commandment came forth. This is something God had already
purposed to do before Daniel even spoke it. You see, that's
what prayer is all about. It's submission to the will of
God. But now look at this next thing. This is good. It says,
and he says, I came forth and I am come to show thee for thou
art greatly beloved. Some translations say one whom
God desires. And that's who God reveals himself
to, those whom he loves, greatly beloved. And we know that the
reason for God's love was not in Daniel, he'd already said
that. He said, I'm a sinner, I'm confessing my sin. I deserve
nothing but God's wrath. I deserve nothing but God's eternal
damnation. And yet God loves his people. Herein is love, 1 John 14, not
that we love God, but that he loved us and gave his son to
be the propitiation for our sins. Thou art greatly beloved. Would
you love to have that said of you? Well, my friend, if you're
resting in Christ for all your salvation and all your forgiveness
and eternal life and righteousness, that is said of you. Because
that's, you see, God doesn't reveal himself to those he doesn't
love. He reveals himself to those who are greatly beloved. So he
says, therefore, understand the matter and consider the vision. Now, from here on, verse 24,
we have the preparation of the revelation of Christ. He's prepared
him. He's given him wisdom and knowledge.
He's reassured him of his love. He's reassured him of his sovereign
will. Before you even started speaking,
he said, the commandment went forth. God's sovereign. So that's
the preparation, you see. That's the preparation. And that
preparation, I'll say the prayer too was a preparation because
that's how we come before God, taking our place. In humility,
as God brings us by the power of the Spirit to come down from
our high horse, come down from our pride, and beg for mercy
in Christ. That's all preparation. Now,
look here. Here's the revelation of the
glory of Christ. And actually, the rest of the
book of Daniel, in one way or another, is a vision of Christ. Someone said, and this is speculation,
but I wouldn't discount it totally. You remember the wise men from
the East that came to pay homage to the Christ child? And I don't
know, I've often wondered, where did they ever hear about the
Messiah? Could have been right here. Could
have been the book of Daniel, because that's where he was,
in the East, in Babylon. And this is where this was written
down. You remember he wrote them down, And you know, like I said,
I wouldn't split the church over this now. But it could have been,
reading the book of Daniel, because it's so clear. And it's so clear
about these issues in Judea, Jerusalem, and things like that.
They could have been reading this. And that's how the Lord
brought them to see the glory of the Messiah and brought them
to pay homage to the Christ child. But either way, this is so clear,
and listen to what it says. He says in verse 24, 70 weeks. Now that word 70 and that word
weeks, all right. Weeks there is not seven days. It's a term like we would use
a dozen. You could say a dozen, you mean
a dozen of a lot of things. But it's a unit of measure. And
the Hebrew way of saying this would be 70 weeks of years. That's what he's talking about.
And it says 70 weeks are determined. Now who determined this time?
Well, you know who determined it, God did. He's the determiner. Man doesn't determine the times
in the season. We don't have that power. We
can make a stab at it, you know. But that's not, this is God,
this is a full ordination. This is a predestination, you
see, that's what this is. And it's 70 weeks are determined
upon thy people and upon thy holy city. And then he lists
six things here. Now, he says, to finish the transgression,
to make an end of sin, to make reconciliation for iniquity,
there's three things that are negative, and then three things
that are positive. To bring in an everlasting righteousness,
to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy or
the most holy place. What that would be literally.
What does he show us? Well, he's talking about the
coming of the Messiah. Look at verse 25. Know therefore
and understand that from the going forth of the commandment
to restore and to build Jerusalem unto, unto the time of the Messiah,
the Prince. And then he gets into some other
numbers there that I'll get into Sunday night, Lord willing. But
what has he shown us here? Well, first of all, he's shown
us that there was a set time for Messiah to come into the
world. And it was set. The Apostle Paul
spoke of it in Galatians chapter 4. Let me read it to you, verse
4. It says, But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent
forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem
them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption
of sons. And because you are sons, God
hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying,
Abba, Father. In the fullness of the time,
when that fullness of time was come, what's the fullness of?
That means the completed, determined, predestinated time. And that's
it. Now, I know this. There is a
predetermined, predestinated time for the Son of God in glory
to come again the second time. I don't know when that is. You
don't know either. And the reason we don't know
is because God hasn't revealed that time, but he revealed the
time of his first coming here to Daniel and anybody else who
had wisdom and knowledge from God to understand it and to see
it. And that's what he's talking
about. And these 70 weeks, as I said, 70 weeks of years, what
would that equal out there? It'd be 490 years. And that was no arbitrary time
set. I mean, God just didn't pick
the number out of the air or throw a set of dice or something
like that. He didn't spin a wheel. This
wasn't fate or anything like that, or kismet, as the Muslims
would say. Nothing like that. This was a
time determined, set by God, set before the foundation of
the world concerning the Messiah and his great work. 70 weeks
of years. That's 70 times 7. That's 490
years. Remember, Daniel had already
mentioned 70 years, 70 years of captivity. He read that in
Jeremiah. He knew that time for Israel,
or Judah rather, to be in the Babylonian captivity was coming
to a close. Why was it 70 years of captivity? Why was that? Well, as this was
God's predetermined time set, it also corresponds to God's
judged punishment against the sin of Israel. And it's because
the punishment's got to fit the crime. Well, what crime was it?
Well, I want you to turn back to 2 Chronicles, chapter 36.
2 Chronicles, chapter 36. I mentioned
this last time. I didn't go into much detail
on it. But you know, when Israel came into the Promised Land,
under the Law of Moses, it was determined, and it was an agricultural
society, they farmed, they harvested all that, they planted, they
sowed seed, and planted seed, and then they harvested. And
every seventh year, what would they do? They would declare a
Sabbath year. They were to work that land for
six years, And then they were to not work the land, let it
rest for the seventh year. That was the Sabbath year. And
that was a yearly Sabbath. But they refused to do it. They disobeyed God. They did
not keep those seventh year Sabbaths. You know how long they didn't
do it? Guess. 490 years. That's how long they didn't do
it. Look, and for that reason, God punished them with 70 years
of captivity, because that's how many years they missed the
Sabbath, for 70 years. Out of those 490 years, there
were 70 Sabbath years, and they missed them. They disobeyed God.
And of course, you know what that Sabbath, all Sabbaths, what
they represent. Sabbath days, Sabbath weeks,
Sabbath years, all represent Christ, our Sabbath. resting
in Christ for all of salvation. And that's one of the main crimes
that Israel in their existence for 1,500 years under the old
covenant, they failed to keep Sabbaths. And when they failed
to do that, they were just spitting in the face of God. They were
denying the promises of God, the types and the pictures of
the Messiah. And they were opting for salvation
by works rather than resting in the finished work of Christ.
So for 490 years, they had failed to keep those Sabbath years.
That's what they, oh God, 70 years worth of Sabbath. So he
put them into captivity for 70 years. Here in 2 Chronicles chapter
36, verse 21, leading up to this, he's talking about the punishment
that they're going to go into for 70 years. That's what he's
talking about. He said in verse 20, them that
had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon. That's what
we're in the Babylonian captives where Daniel is in other words
those that weren't killed were carried away to Babylon where
they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the
kingdom of Persia they were servants to the king of Babylon Nebuchadnezzar
until the reign of the king of Persia look at verse 21 to fulfill
the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah And this is recorded
in Jeremiah 25, until the land had enjoyed her Sabbaths. For as long as she lay desolate,
she kept Sabbath to fulfill three score and 10 years. Now, how
many is three score and 10? 70. So they failed to keep it
for 490 years equals 70 Sabbaths. God put them in captivity for
70 years. Now go back to Daniel 9. So see,
this is not an arbitrary number. God does everything on purpose,
you see. And again now, don't misunderstand. God had determined this from
the foundation of the world. This is no plan B for God. This is no counter move on God's
part. But it's well within the realm
of God's justice to punish them. The punishment must fit the crime. It's got to equal out. That's
what he's saying. Now look back at Daniel chapter
9. Now not only does he tell us here that there's a determined
set time for the Messiah, he also tells us there's a particular
people for whom the Messiah would come and do his great work. Look
at verse 24. He says, 70 weeks are determined
upon thy people and upon thy holy city. Who? God's people. Now there's a physical, temporal
application to the people of Judah in captivity who go back
for a while and rebuild the temple and rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.
But the ultimate fulfillment of this is in spiritual Israel.
God's elect out of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation.
His church. His sheep. For whom did the Messiah
do all this great work? He tells us. God's people. His holy city. What is his holy
city? The spiritual heavenly Jerusalem.
Populated by who? His people. That's why Paul said,
we're not citizens of this world, our citizenship is in heaven.
He did it for his people. Christ said, the good shepherd
laid down his life for who? The sheep. That's right. Not all without exception, but
for his people. So Daniel understood that. Well,
they understood that all along. The whole old covenant showed
that. But here it is. For thy people, upon thy holy
city, the population of heavenly Jerusalem, his church. And then
thirdly, it shows us there's also a specific work Messiah
would do for them, and it shows us the nature of that great work
to redeem his people from their sins. And he says, from the time
the commandment to build and restore Jerusalem went out to
the time of the Messiah would be 490 years, and this is what
he would do. Now, he gives us these six things.
Let me just go over them briefly, and I'll come back and redo them.
But he says, number one, to finish the transgression. And that word
transgression, he's got three words for sin here. He talks
about transgression. He talks about sin. He talks
about iniquity. And what he's showing us here
is the complete power and the complete work that Christ did
to defeat the whole realm of sin. There's not one aspect of
sin that our Messiah, our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, did not
defeat and fulfill and finish. And he starts out, finish the
transgression. Transgression, which means to
break the law. It means to rebel against God. That's what we did
in Adam, we fell. That's what we do by nature.
To finish it means to restrain it as if in prison. Shut it up. To confine it. Lock it away as
if in a cell. Sin. The transgression here. Confined so that it will no longer
condemn us. That's what he's talking about.
Man cannot arrest His own transgression. He can't bind it, He can't put
it away. But Christ did it all by His
obedience unto death. The Bible says in Romans 6, 14,
For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you're not under
the law, you're not condemned by the law, you're under grace.
You're in Christ. And where sin abounded, grace
did much more abound. That's what he did. He locked
it away and nobody can open that cell door again and let transgression
out to condemn God's people. Secondly, he says to make an
end of sins. That means to seal up sins. Sin
there meaning to miss the mark. For all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. And sin is so sealed up by the Lord
Jesus Christ that, again, it can never condemn us again. There's
no condemnation in Christ. There's no charge to God's people.
It's been removed from God's sight as far as its legal condemnation
is concerned. He said it in the book of Hebrews
chapter 10. He said, there's sins and iniquities
I will remember no more. Christ made an end of sin. My
friend, if you don't have Christ, The transgression will finish
you. If you don't have Christ, sin will make an end of you.
But in Christ, he finished the transgression and made an end
of sin. And then thirdly, it says he made reconciliation for
iniquity. That means to cover it up. But
hold on. It doesn't mean to cover it over
as if just to hide it from sight. It means to cover it up by way
of making an atonement for sin, for our iniquity. In other words,
our injustice, our imbalance that brings us in guilty. And
so to make an atonement, how is an atonement made in the scripture? It's an atonement by blood. That's
how it is. That's why David cried, blessed
is the man to whom the Lord Whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity,
whose sins are covered." He doesn't mean just covered up as that
throw a coat over top of it or throw something, pat out outside. But he means put it away with
an atonement by blood. That's what he's talking about.
For he was made sin, Christ who knew no sin for us, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in him. He and his own self
bear our sins in his own body on the tree that we being dead
to sin should live under righteousness by whose stripes you were healed.
He put them away. So when it says he made reconciliation
for iniquity, in essence what it's talking about is that God
has reconciled the sinners and sinners to God based upon the
blood atonement, the substitutionary saving work of Christ, the Messiah. That's what he did. He put away
my sins. My sins were charged to him, and he put them away.
He died. And then that's the negative.
Here's the positive. Here's the first one. To bring in everlasting
righteousness. Now that's the kind of righteousness
that we need. An everlasting righteousness.
My friend, we don't need the righteousness of man, even that
Adam had before the fall. Because it's still the righteousness
of man. and man is a creature. We need the righteousness, what
the Bible calls the righteousness of God. Romans 1, 16 and 17. We need the righteousness of
Christ. It's only to be found in Christ. It comes with the
putting away of our sin. And I'll show you that Sunday
night in even more detail. Grace reigns through righteousness
unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Be the best you can
be, but that is not your righteousness before God, and you better hope
it's not. We don't need that kind of righteousness.
In fact, when compared to the righteousness of God in Christ,
our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. Isaiah 64, verse 6. So we need an everlasting righteousness. Now, who brings that in? Not
man with the help of God. No, sir. Messiah the Prince brought
it in. How did he do it? By his obedience
unto death. For Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness to everyone that believe it. That's the righteousness
and everlasting and unchangeable and eternal righteousness. That's
why there's no liability or possibility of falling if we're in Christ. That's the righteousness of God
revealed in the gospel. Here's the next one. He says
to seal up the vision in prophecy That means to fulfill or bring
it to its close its end What's he talking about? What is the
vision in the prophecy? He's talking about how Christ
in his coming and his obedience unto death he fulfilled completely
and finally and all the Old Testament types, all the pictures, all
the prophecies, and now there is nothing new to be added at
all. He sealed it. That means it's
done. That's why the book of Revelation
in this last chapter says, if any man take away from this book,
if any man add to, let him be damned, basically. All the Old
Testament types, pictures, prophecies, All of them fulfilled completely.
He sealed them up. It's already finished. He took
away the first that he may establish the second. That's why we're
not under the old covenant. He appeared in glory, and when
they saw him on the Mount of Transfiguration, here's Moses
representing the law, here's Elijah representing the prophets,
and put them together, it's a manifestation of the whole Old Testament, and
what did they speak of? His decease, which he should
accomplish at Jerusalem. It's fulfilled. It's sealed up. That's why Joseph Smith is a
heretic. and why anybody else who adds
to the scriptures a new revelation that denies this vision and prophecy
that has been sealed up is a heretic, an unbeliever. And then lastly,
he says to anoint the most holy, and that's the most holy place.
You know what it is to anoint something. In this context, anoint
can mean to smear, or spread as a liquid. And all this has
reference to the Holy of Holies back in the Old Covenant. Well,
let me ask you a question. What did they use to anoint the
Holy of Holies in the Old Covenant? What did the high priest use?
What did he smear or spread around as a liquid? It was the blood
of bulls and goats, wasn't it? Of course, we know the blood
of bulls and goats can never take away sin. Those things didn't
accomplish that. So what is this talking about
when it says anoint the most holy? It's talking about the
blood of Christ, which opened the way into the holiest of all,
the very presence of God, by the shedding of his blood. And
when that blood is spread on our consciences as it were, what
happens? We're free to enter in to the
holiest by the blood of Jesus. Scripture says. And I'll show
you some more scripture on that, but that was, you remember how
that was signified in Matthew 27? When it says, he gave up
the ghost, and what happened? The veil in the temple that separated
the holy place from the holiest of all, that veil was rent, torn
in two from top to bottom. That's what that's talking about.
What a great work. That's a complete work, isn't
it? That's a full work of Messiah the Prince for the salvation
of all his people. All right. What's our last song? I lost my little... We'll close with hymn number
195. Luke and Luke. I've a message from the Lord,
Alleluia! The message unto you I'll give,
It is recorded in His Word, Alleluia!