Turn to Daniel chapter 9, the
book of Daniel chapter 9. You remember in chapter 2 I think
it was Nebuchadnezzar's dream of the big statue which pictured
world history and how it was that this great and fearsome
statue stood there a terrifying image to Nebuchadnezzar because
it pictured the history of the great empires of the ancient
world up to the time of the Romans and yet what we saw there was
a little stone cut out without hands and how that stone became
a mighty rock which came and crushed all of those other kingdoms
and filled the world here we see in this vision that stone
is set in history you say where does the Old Testament tell us
about Jesus coming where does it tell us oh well maybe it talks
a bit about Bethlehem Ephrata and so on and so forth but here
in this chapter it sets It sets the coming of Christ so clearly
at a specific point in time. So clearly. You know the various
sects try and tell you when the world's going to end and they
walk around with their sandwich boards on saying it's going to
end next Tuesday at three o'clock in the afternoon and Tuesday
comes and goes and it never does end. But this was absolutely
fixed in history by God who controls history. The year 605 BC was
the year in which the Jews were carried away. The prophecy of
Jeremiah, the threatened judgments of God, were exacted exactly
as he had said in 605 BC. And Nebuchadnezzar and his Babylonian
Empire came and swept over that part of the world and took all
of the symbols of the temple rituals away, the gold plates
and cups that Belshazzar tried to use in his drunken feast that
we saw in chapter 5. They took all of that away. Temple
worship stopped. Jerusalem was ruined. The temple
was left standing, but in a mess. There were none of the daily
services, just as Jeremiah had said. All of that would stop
for a period of 70 years. Daniel and his friends were carried
away. Over the next 20 years, virtually all of the Jews were
carried away from Jerusalem into exile. And we have that psalm,
How Can I Sing a Glad Song in this foreign land. They said
to us, by the rivers of Babylon, when we sat down, they said,
sing us a song. Sing us a song of Zion. How can
we sing a song of Zion in this foreign land? And their hearts
bled for the fact that they weren't there in Jerusalem, where the
temple was, where the gospel was. Because it was. It's not
that the gospel started when Christ was born. The gospel was
there. The gospel started in the Garden of Eden, when God
took animals and clothed Adam and Eve after they'd sinned.
That's where it started. It started in eternity, and it's
played out throughout this book. And they were brought to Jerusalem.
They were brought from Jerusalem to Babylon, and all the temple
rites were suspended. And Daniel probably, as he'd
been growing up as a boy, before he was 14 years old when he was
carried away to Babylon, he probably heard Jeremiah pronounce those
judgments. But he might also have remembered,
I'm sure he did, that in the midst of it was a promise. that
that captivity, that that exile in Babylon would be limited to
70 years. And so 605 BC they were carried
away, but it's now the first year of Darius, the son of Ahasuerus,
the one who came and took over from Belshazzar. There are two
Darius' by the way, that confused historians a lot, but this is
the same one that took over from Belshazzar. And the year is now
537 BC. So don't bother, if you find
it difficult counting backwards with BCs as opposed to ADs, don't
get too confused about this. I can write it all down and show
it to you later if you really want to see, but it all fits
absolutely remarkably. But it's now 68 years after Daniel
had been carried away. 14-year-old boy. He's now 82
years old. An old man of 82. And remember
what he'd been throughout that time. He'd been a high official
in the government of the Babylonian Empire and now the Empire of
the Medes and Persians. He was highly honored for his
faithful service, his uncorruptible service. Compared with the others
all around him, he was absolutely uncorruptible. But he hadn't
compromised in any way his faith. He hadn't compromised his faithfulness
to his God and to his salvation. And that's where his hope lay.
Even though to this Darius we read in chapter 6 and verse 3
how much he admired and loved Daniel. He thought to set him
over the whole kingdom. When Daniel, when he was caused
to put in place a very ill thought-out law that led to Daniel being
thrown into the lion's den, Darius couldn't sleep. He was torn apart. He was desperate for this man
that he honored so much, this wise old man to be taken out
of that lion's den. Most of the captive Jews, most
of those that were taken away, they'd settled very comfortably.
Hey, you know, it's not bad here. We've got everything we need.
There's bread on the table. There's meat. We've got a nice
environment in which to live. Everything is comfortable. And
they'd forgotten Jerusalem on the whole. They'd certainly forgotten
what it stood for. They'd certainly forgotten the
gospel of grace and of salvation by God that it stood for. But
Daniel's hope was elsewhere. And so we see, first of all,
a promise is given to him. The Word of God is full of promises
to his people. You know, people used to have
promise boxes where you would, eeny, meeny, miny, moe, and you'd
pick a promise out. What's today's promise? Well,
that's not the right way to use the promises of God, but this
book is full of the promises of God. These are promises of
God to his people. He's elect, chosen in Christ,
of the salvation that he brings to them. Here we have a promise. In verse 2, in that reign of
the first year of the reign of Darius, I, Daniel, understood
by books the number of years whereof the word of the Lord
came to Jeremiah the prophet that he would accomplish seventy
years in the desolations of Jerusalem. Seventy years of captivity. He
understood by the books, the scrolls, because the scriptures
as they had them were in scrolls. Obviously, the later prophets
were not they didn't have those yet, and the New Testament Scriptures,
they didn't have those, but they had the bulk of the Old Testament.
Remember, this is 537 BC, so the bulk of the Old Testament
was there. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, those prophets were
there. The writings of Solomon, the
Psalms, most of that was already there. The books of Moses and
the history books, the Chronicles, the Kings, they had all those
scrolls. And he read his Bible. This old man, who was a prophet
of the Lord, greatly and mightily used, given visions that were
amazing, absolutely amazing, the visions he was given of the
God who is in control of all things, and yet he read his Bible,
he studied his Bible, he understood by the books, and so we just
sang that hymn, how firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord, is laid
for your faith. Do you know why I said it's such
a favorite of mine? in battling with so many charismatic influences
twenty-five or thirty years ago. It kept coming to me, did that
hymn, when people were coming up with their latest prophecy
about what the Lord was doing in this place and that place.
No. How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord, is laid for
your faith, in his excellent word. Although it was several
hundred years later that Peter wrote this, in 2 Peter chapter
1 and verse 19, Peter's talking about the time when he was on
the Mount of Transfiguration with Christ. And he saw this
man who had no comeliness that we should desire him, just looked
like any other man. And he was transformed. He was
transfigured into this shining, heavenly being. They saw who
he really was. Peter, James and John, they were
there on that holy mountain with him. And Elijah and Moses came
and talked to him. And they saw them there. They
had a glimpse into eternity. What a wonderful experience.
If only we could have such experiences. But Peter who had that experience,
says to us in 2 Peter chapter 1 and verse 19 we have a more
sure word of prophecy to which we do well to take heed and this
book is that more sure word of prophecy if you have, what Peter's
saying is if you have this book in your hands this morning you
have a more sure word of prophecy than even being there on that
Mount of Transfiguration now what a blessing it was and this
old prophet Daniel he knew that He knew that. And how much we
need to know that. How much we need to stand for
this today. That it's according to Scripture.
Sola Scriptura was the testimony of the Reformers. To the law
and to the testimony, if they speak not according to this word,
there is no light in them. So Daniel, though a great prophet,
was not above reading his Bible. And he read. Now let's turn to
what he read. Turn back to Jeremiah. The book of the Prophet Jeremiah. The book of the judgments of
God on a wayward people and look at 25 Jeremiah chapter 25 first
of all you can read it all it's a long
book 50 chapters or more can't remember exactly good 50 chapters
and in Jeremiah 25 and verse 11 this is what Jeremiah says
and this whole land shall be a desolation and an astonishment
and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years
quite clear who it is the king of Babylon is going to come and
for how long you will be there serving him in exile seventy
years now turn over to twenty nine the verses that we read
right at the start thus says the Lord verse ten chapter twenty
nine and verse ten thus saith the Lord that after seventy years
be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you and perform my good
word toward you in causing you to return to this place for I
know the thoughts that I think toward you said the Lord thoughts
of peace and not of evil to give you an expected end then shall
ye call upon me and you shall go and pray unto me and I will
hearken unto you and you shall seek me and find me when you
shall search for me with all your heart he says there you
will be for seventy years but then at the end of it you will
come and you will pray to me God speaks and it is done God
speaks right throughout the scriptures God speaks and it is done from
the moment in Genesis 1 when God said let there be light and
there was light when God speaks it is done the word of the Lord
came it spoke he spoke he said it it's as good as done maybe
not there at that instant but in his time it is done and nothing
can undo it for he has spoken it the word of the Lord has spoken
it you put it into your concordance or your online Bible and you
just have a look I couldn't pick out one reference to give you
there's just so many the Lord speaks and it is done and Daniel
knew that the Lord had spoken 70 years it's now 68 years into
the captivity there's only two years to go hey two years time
we're all going home the Jews are going back, the captivity's
over, two years, so what should we do? Well, I'll tell you what,
let's get the bags down out of the attic and we'll start packing
and we'll get the camels ordered ready to take us back there and
we'll just sit back and wait for it to happen. Is that what
he did? Not at all. Not at all. He didn't just do
that. He must pray. As we read in Jeremiah
29, you will pray to me. At that time you will pray to
me. you will call upon me. I will answer you." In the prophet
Ezekiel chapter 36 and verse 37, God is promising good things
for his people and he says, Thus saith the Lord God, I will yet
for this be inquired of the house of Israel to do it for them.
He will be inquired of the house of Israel. God says that we will
pray to him for these things. He will cause us to pray to him
for these things. He will put as it were with David
in, I can't remember which scripture in 1 or 2 Samuel. He put it in
David's heart to pray to him. He put it in his heart. So Daniel
comes and he prays. He sees it. He sees that the
word of the Lord has spoken it. He sees that it is definitely
going to happen. But he also sees that he will
be inquired of by the house of Israel before he does it for
them. He will be inquired of. He will
be prayed to. These things do not just happen
fatalistically. He will be prayed to. And so
there's a prayer. Look in verse 3. And I set my face. So having
seen that the word of the Lord had spoken, that the voice of
God had spoken it, therefore it was bound to happen. Because
of that and on the strength of that and on the basis of what
else God had said, He set His face unto the Lord God. to seek
by prayer and supplications with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. And I prayed unto the Lord my
God and made my confession." Oh, there's a lesson there for
us. Yes, we believe in the sovereign God who will do all things. But
oh, how he says, I set my face to pray. I set my face to seek
the Lord, to seek by prayer and supplication. You know how Daniel
used to open his windows towards Jerusalem? And he set his face
to Jerusalem to pray. He's so earnest here, he set
his face to the Lord to pray. And he came to it very, very
seriously. Very seriously. To seek by prayer
and supplications with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. This
is an indication of how seriously, how earnest he was in this prayer,
how reverent he was in this prayer, how much he came before God with
a godly fear that this is the God of the universe before whom
he comes. Again, it was several hundred
years later that the Apostle John wrote this in his letter,
1 John chapter 5, 14. If we ask anything according
to his will, he hears us. That's what he says. If we ask
anything according to His will, He hears us. Daniel had seen
God's will. How had Daniel seen God's will?
He read it in the books. How do we see the will of God?
We read it in the books. We read it in the scriptures.
We read His eternal purpose to save a people for His own glory.
To get glory to the Lord Jesus Christ for all of His saving
work. And we pray for those things.
Save your people. And He is. And He does. And at
times it may not seem like much. But oh, in the grand scheme of
things, we'll see one day how much God is doing. We'll see
what He is doing. He is fulfilling all of His holy
will. We mustn't fret about anything.
Fret not because of evildoers. It only causes harm. It only
causes distress. God is on the throne, but He
will be inquired of by us. And we must pray for these things.
So Daniel comes and he brings his confession in verses 4 to
15. Just scan down these verses with
me. I made my confession and said, O Lord, the great and dreadful
God." You see how reverent he is coming before God. Keeping
the covenant and mercy to them that love him and that keep his
commandments. He's talking about the covenant
of the gospel. The gospel. He's not talking
about legal obedience. He's talking about the gospel.
The covenant to them that love him. Those who are the called
according to his purpose. He says we have sinned. and have
committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled,
even by departing from thy precepts. And he's not so holy that he
doesn't have to confess his own sins. Look in verse 20. While
I was speaking and praying and confessing my sin, what? Daniel? He's too good to confess
his sin, isn't he? Not in the least, for all have
sinned and fall short of the glory of God. There is none righteous,
no not one. Whatever light we've been given,
were all sinners in this flesh. No, He was confessing His sin
and the sin of the nation. And what are those sins? They've
rebelled. Verse 5, "...even by departing
from Thy precepts and Thy judgments." Gospel testimony. Neither have
we listened to Your servants, the prophets, which spoke in
Your name to the kings, the prophets that they killed. Jesus said
to the Jews, He said, which of the prophets did your fathers
not persecute and kill? You all celebrate them today,
but which of them did your fathers not persecute and kill? We haven't
listened to them. We haven't listened to them.
That, O Lord, righteousness, verse 7, belongs to you, but
unto us confusion of face. There's righteousness with God,
but confusion of face to us, to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants
of Jerusalem, to all Israel that are near and are far off, through
all the countries where you have driven them, because of their
trespass, that they have trespassed against you. O Lord, to us belongs
confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, to our fathers,
because we have sinned against you. To the Lord our God belong
mercies. He's pleading the mercy of God
and forgivenesses that we have rebelled against him. 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. He's spoken
to us. We have no excuse. It's there
in black and white. He's said all of these things,
yet we haven't obeyed his voice. All Israel have transgressed
thy law by departing, that they might not obey thy voice. Therefore
the curse is poured upon us, and the oath that it is written
in the law of the Moses, the servant of God, because we have
sinned against him. And he has confirmed his words
which he spoke against us, and against our judges that judged
us. by bringing upon us a great evil, for under the whole heaven
hath not been done as hath been done upon Jerusalem." It was
a dreadful thing that was done. There was great scorn poured
upon the people of God, the Jews, and the temple of God, and the
presence of God on this earth. There was great scorn. They were
a byword. They were a disgrace. They were
a shameful people. All of this had come upon them
because of their sin. as it is written verse 13 as it is written
in the law of Moses all this evil is come upon us yet we made
not our prayer before the Lord our God because the books of
Deuteronomy and all those five books of Moses all speak of what
will be the consequences of walking out on such gracious provision
and verse 14 therefore the Lord therefore has the Lord watched
upon the evil and brought it upon us for the Lord our God
is righteous in all his works which he does for we obeyed not
his voice and now oh Lord our God that have brought your people
out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand and has gotten
thee renowned at this day we have sinned and we have done
wickedly it's a prayer of great confession a prayer of admission
of transgression of the law and it's not just the do's and don'ts
of the law that have been transgressed it's not just that he said Remember
the Sabbath day. Keep the Sabbath day. And we
didn't keep it. It's not just the external. You see, so many
people today think that there's this thing called the law which
we have to keep. It's a whole load of strict things
that the God of the universe requires of us. And you better
not question it. You better just do it. And whether it seems reasonable
or not, you better just do it and put all your ticks in the
boxes every week. And then over here, there's this other completely
different thing which is called the gospel. which is how you
get right with God. And even though you've got to
keep trying to keep that and you're under it and you'll never
get away from it, then you come over here to get right with God
because we know really you can't ever be completely right. You
might sanctify yourself a bit by all that you're doing over
there with the law. It's all one. It's all one and the same
thing. What is the purpose of the law?
What is this law that was given? What are all of these precepts
and testimonies. What was all the temple worship
about? It was all about how to be right with God because of
transgression of the law of God. It was all there to show a way
of acceptance with God through substitution. All of it. That's
what they'd done. They'd walked out on the gospel
because at Jerusalem In the law and in the temple and in the
priesthood, in all of those things was the gospel of Christ and
of substitution on parade and on show every day in the temple
sacrifices. Every day at the evening oblation
was that thing which was done which pictured Christ dying on
the cross of Calvary. And there was righteousness there.
To you Lord, he says, belongs righteousness. In verse 7 he
says, to you belongs righteousness but confusion of face to us.
Do you know there is a righteousness of God which is now revealed
in the gospel of His grace. Paul speaks of it in Romans 3.21.
But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested,
is made known. The righteousness of God without
the works of the law is manifested. Being witnessed by the law and
the prophets, all of this law and all of these prophets witnessed
of this righteousness of God which is without legal strict
obedience to the law. even the righteousness of God
which is by faith of Jesus Christ, the faithfulness of Jesus Christ
as the substitute, as the representative of His people, and who is it
for? It's unto all and upon all them that believe. How do you
know you're the elect of God? How can you be so arrogant to
say I'm amongst the elect of God? How can you say that when
there are others around? What makes you so much better
than the rest? God has given me His light for some reason
known only to Him I do not understand it but the reason I know I'm
amongst them is when He gave me that light He gave me the
gift of repentance to turn to Him and the gift of sight to
see and to believe and trust His Son and that's how I know
I'm amongst those people it's not that I have done anything
it's not that I have decided to follow Jesus He took me when
I had decided to go exactly the opposite way and He laid His
hand upon me, and He turned me round. He made me an object of
His grace, and He shone His light into my heart, and that's how
I know. This gospel righteousness is the righteousness of Christ.
That's what He's talking about. It's in the gospel of grace.
It's the message of Scripture. This law, this testimony, these
oracles of God, it's the gospel. And what was the law anyway?
Paul tells us in Galatians 3.24. It was our schoolmaster. to bring
us to Christ while we're growing up some of you children you have
school teachers and masters and some of them you like and some
of them I think you think are a little bit strict somebody
told me last week a little bit strict but do you know something
they're doing you good they're turning you into what you will
be when you're grown up and so it says the scriptures this law
is our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ and they had scorned
this law and they'd scorned the temple rites and they'd turned
to idolatry and they'd scorned the gospel. In the process of
doing that, they'd scorned the gospel. And severe punishments
were pronounced and we say, oh, we don't like the God of the
Old Testament. Let's have the loving, gentle God of the New
Testament in Jesus meek and mild. Let's have that. You hear people
say that. Why were those punishments in the Old Testament so severe?
Why were those punishments for walking out on the temple sacrifices
so clear and so severe? It's because they were simple,
simple, clear picture. of the state of those who reject
the gospel of grace that is in Jesus Christ. The eternal punishment
of gospel rejection the scriptures are so clear about. How shall
we escape, says the writer to the Hebrews, how shall we escape
if we neglect so great salvation? Oh, it's a terrible thing. Where
did Paul want to be found? That I might be, what, trusting
in all the things I am, a Pharisee, a Benjamite, circumcised the
eighth day, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, all of these things as counting
the law according to the Pharisees blameless. Oh, those things will
put me in good stead. No, I count them as done. I count
them as worthless rubbish. I count them of no value whatsoever. And what do you want to be then,
Paul? I want to be found in Christ. Not having my own righteousness,
because that's just filthy rags, but having the righteousness
which is by faith of Jesus Christ. unto all and upon all who believe."
That's the truth. That's why this was so important.
That's why they were where they were. They'd walked out on the
gospel. That gospel that is pictured in Cain and Abel and Abel's sacrifice
and Cain's works offerings throughout the Old Testament, right the
way down throughout the Old Testament, it's pictured. That's what they
had walked out on. And so in verses 16 to 19, he
goes on praying. he confesses the sin of himself
and of the people and he goes on praying and it's a heartfelt
plea to God to restore and so now he comes and I like the way
he prays do you? I like the way he prays he comes
boldly before the throne of grace splitting his infinitives there
he comes boldly before the throne of grace he comes there confidently
he comes there putting arguments before the God of the universe
before whom he is so reverent But He's saying, your name has
been disgraced. Your people are a shame. Look
at them. Restore your honor. Bring back
glory to your name. Incline your ear. Do these things
for the city which is called by your name. It's lying in ruins.
Look what the heathen are saying about the God of the universe.
The city which is called by your name. Jerusalem. Peace with God. It's lying in ruins. We don't
present our supplications before you. Verse 18, because of our
righteousness for we have none but because you're a God of mercy
how does he know? by the books the books have said
he's a God of mercy he's gracious he's compassionate he is slow
to anger oh Lord hear oh Lord forgive oh Lord hearken and do
defer not don't put it off any longer for your own sake he's
implying you've said seventy years it's nearly there oh my
God for the city and thy people are called by thy name thy people
the people of the eternal God not a national race of Jews they
were just a picture of that people that are called by his name those
who were chosen in Christ from before the foundation of the
world for those people for the glory of your name what is the
glory of God what is his great glory it is this show me your
glory said Moses I will show you my glory. You cannot look
upon my face, but I will show you my glory. I will be gracious
to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion upon whom
I will have compassion." You have a people whom you have promised
to be compassionate to. You cannot save them unless certain
things happen, unless justice is established. These people
are called by your name. You must do these things. You
must re-establish Jerusalem. You must re-establish temple
worship. which symbolizes the gospel of
your grace, which is the only way by which a man might be right
with God, be just with God. You must reestablish these things.
It's a heartfelt plea. And it's confident that He will
hear and that He will do. Not just build the ruins, but
for God to vindicate His name and for God to accomplish the
salvation of His people. And while He's speaking, when
He started speaking, says Gabriel, the command came forth and I'm
come to show you Daniel started praying go and tell him go and
tell him the answer he started praying and he says while the
command while you started the command came and I'm come and
while he was still speaking and confessing in prayer the man
Gabriel came whom I had seen in the vision we could go down
a little side alley about who is Gabriel and there's all sorts
of things in it. For the purposes of this message
I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to do that. Let's
just say it's an angel, it's a messenger from God, a heavenly
sent messenger who's come to tell him these things and to
give him assurance and to show him things. He sends a messenger
to him. Do you remember we read in John
chapter 15? You can turn there if you want
to, but I've got it here. Where Jesus is talking to the
disciples You see, Messiah has come. He's come. He's in His
ministry. He's in His 33rd year. And He says in verse 14, You
are my friends if you do whatsoever I command you. What does He command
us? To obey the gospel of His grace. To believe the gospel. To live
in the gospel. To walk in the gospel of His
grace. That is His commandment. That is His commandment to us.
Henceforth, I call you not servants." They were glad to be his servants,
as Paul kept saying. Paul, an apostle, a bond-servant
of Jesus Christ. A bond-servant who loved his
master so much that he'd got his ear and it had been pierced
to the post of the door to show that he was tied to his master
for life. But Jesus says, I call you not
servants. Why? For the servant knoweth not what
his Lord doeth. You know that the company that
I work for in the boardroom there are secrets that they can't they
try to be as open as they can but there are secrets that they
cannot tell us for we're only servants they cannot tell us
it would be wrong for them to tell us we're only servants but
he says but I have called you friends for all things that I
have heard of my father I have made known to you Jesus reveals
the truth of his gospel the mystery of the gospel of his grace to
his friends. And what is that mystery that
is revealed? What is the thing that Gabriel comes to tell him? It's about a person because the
key thing is not the temple in Jerusalem but what the temple
in Jerusalem represented and what the temple in Jerusalem
was pointing towards. The temple in Jerusalem was just
a shadow and a type and all the things that went on there were
just shadows and types But they weren't the reality. They weren't
the body. It was just pointing to One who would come. And who
is that One? He's named in verse 25, Messiah. And verse 26, Messiah. It's the
Messiah. It's the Promised One. It's the
Holy One. It's the Anointed One. It's the One whom God would send.
It is God in human flesh who would come. Gabriel says to Him,
You're greatly loved, Daniel, as are all God's people, for
He has loved them with an everlasting love. And because of His great
love, says Paul, Ephesians 2 verse 4, because of His great love
wherewith He has loved us, God must accomplish salvation. God
must redeem His people. To get honor to His name, He
must redeem His people. To get honor to His name, He
must satisfy justice on behalf of His people. He cannot leave
it open. The will of His Father is of
all that He has given to Christ, He should lose nothing, but should
raise it up at the last day. so that he can say, there's that
picture in the Psalms, behold I and the children whom he has
given me, of Christ taking his people into glory at the last
day. He must do all of these things.
Oh yes, verse 25, Jerusalem would be rebuilt. All the temple ceremonies
that picture God's way of saving people would be reinstituted.
Those that talk about the substitution that is in Christ, the lambs
speaking of the Lamb of God, but they're only the types and
shadows and not the reality as Paul says to the Colossians talking
of all of these things which are a shadow of things to come
but the body is Christ and in verses 24 to 27 we have a clear
declaration there isn't a clearer declaration that Messiah is coming
that Christ is coming to justify his people to save his people
from their sins to be Jesus the Savior He's coming to do all
of these things. And to do away with all these
mere types and shadows and pictures for good. For good. They'll be
swept away for good. Why are there no temple sacrifices
today? Do you know there are people
who, if they could, they would reinstitute it. But do you know
for 2,000 years it has not been reinstituted. When Christ died,
that veil of the temple was torn in two. In AD 70, Titus and the
Roman legions, that's what's being spoken of. In verse 26,
the people of the prince shall come and destroy the city and
the sanctuary. And they came and they absolutely
devastated Jerusalem. So that all trace of the temple
that ever was, was gone and has never ever been rebuilt. Never
been rebuilt. There's a wall there they call
the Wailing Wall, which they think was part of the temple.
But the temple itself and the daily sacrifice, it was ended.
Why was it ended? Because the God of the universe,
the God of Scripture said it. and He spoke and it has been
done. The Roman legions came and swept it all away. But what
did Messiah come to do? Look in verse 24. 70 weeks, 70
heptads, 77's of years are determined. 490 years are determined upon
thy people and upon the holy city. What's He going to do?
He's going to finish transgression. He's going to make an end of
sins. He's going to make reconciliation
for iniquity. He's talking about in respect
of His people. in respect of his people, not
mankind in general, and to bring in everlasting righteousness,
and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most
Holy. And again, we have sealing up
the prophecy later on in this passage. That's why the Scripture
was completed in the first century, when the Apostle John, as an
old man, wrote the book of Revelation. That was it. There is no more
that he has to say. What more can he say than to
you he has said? We have it here in this book.
This is the Word of God. He's coming to establish righteousness,
to establish justice, to stand in the place of his people. He's
coming to be cut off, but not for himself. This is Messiah
who's coming to do all of these things. And when is it going
to happen? Daniel was expecting the end
of the 70 years of exile. He's now told about 70 weeks,
70 heptads, 77s of years. 490 years. Verse 25 is the start
of it. Know therefore and understand
that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and
build Jerusalem unto Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks
and three score and two weeks. Now you're getting confused already.
I know. I know you are. It is tricky to piece together
but there are those that can help us and have helped us. It
starts with the command of Artaxerxes in 457 B.C. Some... Oh, how long later? Let me see.
Did I actually write this down? It's 78 years after the end of
the exile. In 457 B.C. Ahasuerus gave this
command to go and build Jerusalem. He gave the command to Nehemiah. Read the book of Nehemiah. And
there he is in the presence of Ahasuerus the king. Terrified
that he might have his head cut off for being sad in the king's
presence. And he says to him, why are you sad Nehemiah? And
he said, because of my, the land of my father's and because of
the city of my God. And he says, well here's some
letters. Go and show it to the governors over the other side
of the river and God speed you and go and rebuild Jerusalem.
They'd already gone back and reinstituted the temple worship
at the end of the exile, but the rest of the city lay in ruins,
inhabited by all the peoples all around. But now was the command
given. 457 BC, And it took seven weeks,
seven sevens, 49 years later, Ezra and Nehemiah in 408 BC went
and built again the temple and the walls and restored them to
their former glory. And after three score and two
weeks shall Messiah be cut off. You add all of these numbers
of years together, another 434 years, and you come to the start of the ministry
of John the Baptist in A.D. 26 and then there's one final
week of seven years 26 plus 7 33 in A.D. 33 Christ was crucified
and put an end to sin for he bore our sins he who knew no
sin was made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him he was cut off but not for himself what did
Isaiah say in Isaiah 53 and verse 8 Isaiah 53 and verse 8 for the
transgression of my people Isaiah 53 and verse 8 he was taken from
prison and from judgment and who shall declare his generation
for he was cut off that same word out of the land of the living
why for the transgression of my people not for himself says
Daniel 926, not for himself, for the transgression of my people
was he stricken. By his stripes we are healed. All of these things were carried
out, all of them exactly. And in AD 33, Christ was crucified
and brought an end of all of these things. And it was AD 70
when the Romans came in, Titus, and destroyed it. An end of prophecy,
prophecy was sealed up, the vision was sealed up, and Christ justified
his people. Christ established everlasting
righteousness. Daniel was waiting for these
70 years to be complete. Daniel was waiting for them on
the basis of the books that he'd read. Based on this chapter,
based on this chapter, others were looking. I believe, as you
know, because I've told you so many times before, it's only
a theory, but I believe it's very plausible. The wise men
The Magi, in the East, in the realm of the Chaldeans, in that
area, in the libraries, would have had this book. And they'd
been reading, and God had given them a sight that He's been pleased
to give us. And there, they would have been waiting and expecting.
And they saw His star in the East, and they thought, it can't
be long before this Messiah comes. Who is this Messiah? He's our
hope of eternal life. Can we ignore Him? We cannot
possibly ignore Him. He's our only hope. of eternal
life. There were others. There was
Simeon. There was Anna waiting at the temple. And when he was
brought in and given to Simeon by Mary and Joseph, he said,
I can now go for mine eyes have seen thy salvation. You promised
it in Daniel 9 in those verses that Messiah would come. Mine
eyes have now seen your salvation. I trust that's a great encouragement
to us. It was a tremendous encouragement
to me studying this. Well, let's sing our closing
hymn now. Our closing hymn is Man of Sorrows. What a name for
the Son of God who came.