Seventy Sevens (Part 2)

Amen. Tonight, we're ready for point number two or Roman numeral number two on your outline.

Daniel's privileged reward.

That's what we're going to be looking at tonight out of Daniel chapter 9, verses 20 to 23. Daniel's privileged reward. And what I mean by that is Daniel was privileged to receive what we could call a special envoy from God.

Remember, he's praying. He'd been praying. And God's now going to respond to his prayer. And his response is to deliver that response to Daniel's prayer by way of an angel, angelic visitation.

I mean, how would you like to have that kind of response to all your prayers? You know, suddenly you finish praying, you say amen. And there's, you know, the archangel Gabriel standing there. And he's got a message for you.

I think probably if we were honest, we'd say maybe not. I don't know how we would react. You know, let's say you're praying, you know, late at night. You're lying in the bed.

And maybe that's the time that you really pray. And maybe even get on your knees by your bed like my grandmother used to do years ago. And, you know, I can't imagine what it would be like to say amen and then look up and there's an angel.

But it'd be quite an experience. And so that's why I say this is quite a privilege for Daniel. And so that's what we want to see here to begin with tonight.

First of all, and I've really already let the cat out of the bag here. In fact, really, it's no secret. But first of all, who did God send to Daniel? Who did God send to Daniel?

Well, verse 21 says, Yes, while I was speaking in prayer, and this is Daniel, of course, relating the experience. While I was speaking in prayer, the man, Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning.

All right, so that's the answer to the question, who? Who God sent? Now, don't be thrown by this word man. The word man refers to Gabriel's appearance, what he looked like to Daniel.

All right, not his nature. It wasn't a real man, a flesh and blood man that was standing there. This is a reference to his appearance. Gabriel, of course, is an angel. In fact, an archangel.

Meaning, you know, he's a chief angel. Kind of the hierarchy of God's angelic forces. And he appeared to Daniel in the form of a man.

Right? Which is not unusual. In fact, more times than not. That's what we have in Scripture, recorded in Scripture. And so from Scripture, we understand that Gabriel was God's chief angel for divine communication.

And why do we know that? Well, because he, and I just gave you the references here, but you'll remember them as soon as I mention them. But he appeared to Zechariah. Remember the New Testament?

Zechariah. Who was Zechariah? Right. The father of John the Baptist. And Luke chapter 1, verse 19. So Gabriel appeared to him.

Gabriel also appeared to Mary, the mother of Jesus. Luke chapter 1, verses 26 and 27. So, we know about those. We know those very well. So, you know, here then are three examples.

In fact, we can add a fourth because Gabriel had already appeared to Daniel in an earlier vision. In fact, all we have to do is go back to chapter 8.

In fact, Daniel said, what did he say here? He said, whom I had seen. That is, this man Gabriel, I had seen in the vision at the beginning. Literally, previously.

Or some versions put it in the earlier vision. So, I've already seen him. He's the one who appeared to me. And we can go back to chapter 8, verse 15 and 16.

I didn't put it in your notes, but let me read it to you. Just as a reminder. Then it happened when I, Daniel, had seen the vision. Remember that vision of the goat and ram and the significance of that.

We studied that already. I had seen the vision and was seeking the meaning that suddenly there stood before me one having the appearance of a man.

And he, this one having the appearance of a man, said, Gabriel, make this man understand the vision. And so, we have actually two angelic beings there that Daniel saw at the end of that vision in chapter 8.

One of them is unnamed. The second one, Gabriel. The text tells us that. All right. So, next then, not only who did God send to Daniel, but when.

When did God send him to Daniel? Send Gabriel to Daniel. And we have a couple of references to that in verse 21.

First part of verse 21. Being caused to fly swiftly, reaching me about the time of evening, of the evening offering. And then in verse 23, first part of verse 23.

At the beginning of your supplications, the command went out. That was what Gabriel said to Daniel. All right. So, let's just consider those two references.

To the timing of it. When he appeared to Daniel. Verse 21b is really a very difficult passage to translate exactly.

And I kind of threw this in because I think it's good to know. The New King James Version that I read just a moment ago seems to suggest, just by the language used here, it seems to suggest that Gabriel flew with wings to meet with Daniel.

I mean, it says, caused to fly swiftly. All right. So, that kind of suggests flapping the wings. And also that he is in a hurry. All right.

So, the translation kind of suggests that. But remember, Gabriel appeared as a man. All right. And, you know, I've seen a lot of men.

I've not yet seen one with wings. You know, men don't have wings. So, he appeared as a human man. Men don't have wings. And I would also add that on rare occasions, only on rare occasions, does the Bible describe angels with wings.

You know, that's what we always think of. And if we have little angel figurines or pictures or whatever, you know, the first thing we think of are these beings with wings flying around.

And there are some references to angels with wings. I'm not suggesting that on occasion they don't have wings. But when they appear to man as God's messengers, and that's what angels are, very rarely in Scripture do they have wings.

They always appear as men. And so, you know, super... And then also, you ought to notice here, you know, when it says being caused to fly swiftly, suggesting that I've got to hurry up and get to Daniel in time, telling what God has for me to say.

We should know that supernatural beings are not confined by space or time. God wants an angel to appear. They're not confined by space or time. They're outside of that.

They're supernatural beings. Above natural beings. So the phrase really should be translated. And it is, by the way, in some versions, more literal versions.

He came to me in my extreme weariness about the time of the evening offering. So that kind of marks the time of the day, probably between three and four o'clock.

And so what's the idea here? Well, Daniel had been praying. He'd been fasting and praying.

Therefore, you know, it's later in the day, and he was extremely weak and hungry. And this was the time that the angel appeared to Daniel. Secondly, the second part of this reference to time, the wind.

Verse 23, the first part of verse 23, reveals the timing of God's command to send Gabriel to Daniel simply this way, as soon as he began to pray. So God made the decision to send Gabriel just as soon as Daniel began to pray.

Now, it didn't take Gabriel all that time to finally get there. It was all prearranged. It was part of God's plan. He wanted to appear right there at the end of his prayer.

But Gabriel said, at the beginning of your supplication, the command went out. God gave me the command to come.

All right, so that's the who and when. Now, why? Why did God send him to Daniel? And there are two reasons stated here in the passage.

First of all, to help him, to help Daniel. To help him with something. Verse 22, and he informed me and talked with me and said, Oh, Daniel, I have now come forth to give you skill to understand.

See, Daniel needed to understand. Now, literally, it is to give you insight. Insight with understanding. An insightful understanding.

That's what Gabriel had come to do. Now, not in terms of interpreting the revelation. Because, you know, it's very straightforward.

The prophecy is simply a plain statement of coming events. Though, as plain as it is, it sure seems like there's a lot of controversy about this particular passage.

But if you take it at face value, it's just simply a description of things that are going to take place. So, it's not that the angel came to interpret this. You know, much like God allowed Daniel to interpret Nebuchadnezzar's dream, remember.

Not only did he have to know by divine revelation what the dream was, but he was also given the ability to interpret it. That's not the case here.

He's not coming to help Daniel understand or interpret the dream. He really is coming so that Daniel, to empower Daniel to grasp the significance of it.

The weight of it. Because this is a huge prophecy. It's kind of the granddaddy of prophecies. Because of the span of time that it takes up.

Because it takes us all the way, really, to the end. And so, this is a very significant prophecy. And Daniel needs help understanding the significance of that.

Alright, so he came to help Daniel. Also, he came to honor Daniel. To honor him. And it did honor him. That's why I call this a privilege.

Verse 23, a lot of part of it. And I have come to tell you, for you are greatly beloved. Therefore, consider the matter and understand the vision. You're greatly beloved.

Now, God loved Daniel. In a very kind of uniquely special way. And for what did God love Daniel?

Well, when you think about it, like Joseph. Maybe you haven't thought about this. Maybe you don't even know it. But there's one other character in the Old Testament.

That's very similar to Daniel. In the sense that the Bible includes nothing but good things about them. Daniel and Joseph. And also, even more significantly, like Jesus.

Like Jesus, Daniel had become an intercessor. An intercessor for God's people. Remember, he's praying. He's praying about the sins of Israel.

He even included himself in that. He's interceding for God's people, Israel. All right. So, and then we could conclude by saying, kind of like the Apostle John.

Daniel was a beloved disciple. All right. So, he came to Daniel to help Daniel, to honor Daniel. All right. So, Daniel's prayerful request.

Daniel's privilege, reward. And then, finally, the part we've all been waiting for. Daniel's prophetic revelation. This prophetic revelation.

And you should know that, and maybe you do know, not everyone interprets this passage the same. There are many different views about this.

There are actually four primary views about the interpretation of this vision, this revelation.

Primarily, the time period of the revelation. The people who are involved in it. Several things. But really, just basically four. Many different variations within those four.

And, maybe you want me to do this, but I'm not going to. I'm not going to tell you all those four. I'm not going to get into that, because some of them are just kind of laborious to try to explain.

Because these, you know, some of these views come from, I start to say, I guess I will say, pinheaded scholars. That, you know, at least one other is somewhat orthodox.

Takes a literal view of it. I'm only going to go through all those four. I'm just going to give you one. And it's the right one. Okay? It's the right one.

If I could take personal privilege there. And I am the teacher, so I can do what I want to. Right? And you can come up afterward. I mean, if you disagree with me, you can come up afterward and apologize to me.

I borrowed that from Adrian Rogers. You say that all the time. Anyway, let's look at what I believe the revelation concerns.

With the understanding of it. And so we can divide the text into four parts. Divide it into four parts. First of all, the period of time of this revelation.

The period of time that it involves. That it takes in. That it encompasses. The period of time. First part of verse 24. Seventy weeks are determined.

So that's just a statement about the period of time that this revelation consists of. Word weeks. Weeks. Weeks.

Weeks are determined. Seventy weeks. The word weeks is Shabuah. Shabuah in the Hebrew. Refers to a period of sevens. I mean, that's just a literal translation of the word.

A period of sevens. Seventy sevens would be a literal translation. I think some versions do render it that way.

So, seventy seven. So, weeks means sevens. It's a period of sevens. The word by itself. We should know this. And this probably explains why there are other views as to the meaning of the revelation.

The word by itself does not specify what the sevens are. It does not specify what the sevens are. It could be days. Seven days. It could be months.

Years. It could even simply refer to indefinite periods of time. I mean, if you take a kind of figurative position on the word.

And the word could be used in that sense. Though it's not used that way in the Bible. But those, you know, it doesn't specify what the sevens are. The context, I will tell you, the context clearly points to years.

Years as the intended unit of time. Years. Days and months won't work. Because of particular elements in the revelation itself.

Indefinite periods of time also doesn't seem to fit. Because there are references to key historical events. In this revelation. And not just key historical events.

But also specific numbers. Places and numbers. And when the Bible, you know, mentions events, places.

Even uses numbers in a very specific way. Then it usually means. It does mean. That we're to take this literally. Not figuratively. So it's not indefinite periods of time.

The context points to years. All right. Therefore, seven. Seven. The word seven here in the text is better interpreted to represent seven years.

All right. Seven years. And so the period of time for this revelation would be 490 years. 490 years. Seventy sevens of years.

490 years. So that's the period of time. Period of time for this revelation.

Yeah, it's just simply doing the math. Seventy times seven years. Seventy of those. Seventy sevens of years. 490 years. So next, the people.

The people of the revelation. Again, verse 24. For your people. Daniel's people. And for your holy city.

Daniel's people were the Jews. Right? The Jews. Israel. Daniel's holy city.

What? Jerusalem. Jerusalem. So, you know, it's very clear. The people of this revelation are not, I repeat, not as some have suggested, some spiritual Israel or church.

Revelation is not about the church. In fact, the church is missing in the revelation. The church isn't mentioned in it. We'll get to the actual revelation and note that there is a big gap in the time period of the revelation.

And it is that gap that we're living in. It's the church age. So it's not about the church. It's about Israel. So the people of the revelation are God's people. God's people. Israel. So, we're talking about Daniel's prophetic revelation.

The period of time of the revelation. The people of the revelation. And next, the purpose. The purpose of the revelation.

Again, verse 24. And it's the balance of that verse and the larger part of it. To finish the transgression. To make an end of sins.

To make reconciliation for iniquity. To bring in everlasting righteousness. To seal up vision and prophecy. And to anoint the most holy. All right.

This is the purpose for which God has made this plan. This revelation. And that's pretty all-encompassing.

It is for a purpose. And it's six-fold. Six-fold purpose. Number one. To finish the transgression. All right. That's the first thing mentioned here in this list of six.

To finish the transgression. The Hebrew word translated transgression. Transgression means to revolt. Or rebel. And though certainly the events, the prophecy, the revelation is identifying.

Really includes more than just Israel. But specifically here it is the rebellion. Israel's constant, almost constant rebellion against God's divine authority.

And that's what the word transgression is. It's to rebel against authority. It could be used, of course, in a secular sense. But in this sense, it is used in the sense of God as our supreme authority.

And Israel had transgressed against God. Rebelled against his authority. Now, this rebellion, of course, did not end after the cross. Perhaps the cross was signified there.

The height of their rebellion. And rejection of Messiah. But it didn't end after the cross did it. It continued on in sin. But it will end at the second coming.

The second coming of Christ. And his subsequent millennial. And after that, eternal reign. So, the transgression will be dealt with.

When Christ comes the second time. And that's the point here. After the finish. The finish of this rebellion. That one day it will be done.

You know, the meek and mild Jesus came the first time. He's going to come differently the second time. And he will rule. There will be no rebellion against him that he won't put down immediately.

And then we get on into the eternal realm. Or eternal reign. There will be no more. No more transgression whatsoever. Second, to make an end of sins.

An end of sins. It may sound like parallel expressions. But there's a little bit of a difference. The Hebrew word translated sins means to miss the mark.

Now, you may have heard that before. In reference to hamartia. Hamartia in the Greek means to miss the mark. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

Hamartia is the Greek word that's used more often than not in the Greek New Testament. But in the Hebrew, this word that's translated sins also means the same thing.

To miss the mark. To miss the mark. And it is a general word. It generally refers to all sins. And in this revelation, the intent is to convey to Daniel Israel's sins specifically.

All right. So, he's going to make an end to that. All right. So, after Christ's return, sin will be controlled during the millennial reign.

There will still be sin during the millennium. And there will be judgment at the close of it. But it will be controlled. Unlike today.

It doesn't seem like it's controlled at all. But, of course, it is even though we don't see it. There is the restrainer still here today. But it will be controlled in the millennium.

But completely obliterated. Completely ended and ceased during the eternal state. Number three.

To make reconciliation for iniquity. The word translated iniquity is the third and final term for sin.

That you'll find in the Hebrew language. And it refers to crookedness. Bentness. That's true of every one of us. And so, the word reconciliation could be translated atonement.

Which is what Christ accomplished at the cross. He, in Daniel's view, will accomplish. From our view, has accomplished. Number four. To bring in everlasting righteousness.

At the end of the 77s. An era of righteousness will permeate the entire earth. Beginning with the millennial reign of Christ. Thousand year reign of Christ.

And continuing then forever and ever and ever into the eternal state. To seal up vision and prophecy. To seal up carries a two-fold meaning.

It can mean the closing up of a document. The document being the prophecy, the visions, the prophecies. They'll be closed up. Be all done. All visions and prophecies concerning the first and second coming of Christ.

Will be complete. Be fulfilled. Fulfilled. The other meaning is also the sealing of an official document. So, the outcome is still the same.

It's the same. So, all visions and prophecies have God's seal of authentication and authority upon them. They're true. And now fulfilled. Finally, to anoint the most holy.

And here's where we have a bit of a problem. At least in the New King James. In fact, I looked at New King James as the only one that does this. But they show their bias by capitalizing the word most.

Most holy. Presumably a reference to Christ. But the meaning of the phrase really concerns not a holy person, but rather a holy place.

Now, by implication, it does concern the holy person as well. Because the prophecy concerns the holy of holies in the temple, which will be, the temple will be rebuilt during the millennium.

Ezekiel chapters 40 to 48 through that period there, those chapters. It's going to be rebuilt. That means the holy of holies will be rebuilt. But instead of the ark of the covenant being there, where sacrifice will be made, because that will all be done with, the throne of Christ will be there.

And so, hence the idea to anoint the holy place. It's anointed and it's holy because of who sits there. All right, so we have then the period of time of the revelation, people of the revelation, the purpose of the revelation.

And now we're ready for the particulars. Particulars of the revelation. So let's kind of walk through this.

All right, so we begin with a timeline. All right. Daniel 77. It's his 70 weeks. It begins, verse 25, the 70 weeks begins.

Know, therefore, and understand that from the going forth of the command to restore and rebuild or build Jerusalem. That's where this prophetic time period begins.

445 B.C. You can find the reference to it in Nehemiah chapter 2, verses 1 through 8. Rebuilding, restoring and rebuilding of Jerusalem in the temple.

So that's where it begins. Verse 25 B. Until the prince. So this is the first time period.

Until the prince. And that will take place. Of course, the prince is Jesus. Right? And this will take place at Christ, did take place at Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem in 32 A.D.

There shall be seven weeks. There shall be seven weeks and 62 weeks. The street shall be built again. The streets shall be built again. And the wall even in troublesome times.

Now, a little confusing here. Not confusing about until the prince. It's pretty straightforward. So the time period, which is 483 years.

That's seven weeks plus 62 weeks. That's 49 years plus 434 years. 483 years. That's the time period between when the prophetic time period, the revelation would begin.

The fulfillment of it would begin to its first, kind of the completion of its first stage, which would be the coming of Christ. All right? But then it kind of reverts back to what's going to take place during those 49 years, the rebuilding of the temple.

The street shall be built again. And the wall even in troublesome times. And it was. Just ask Nehemiah how troublesome it was. All right. So we're following the weeks.

That's 69 of the 70 weeks. And then verse 26. And after the 62 weeks. That's a reference to that final. That second part.

The 62 weeks. In the first part of the prophecy. Messiah shall be cut off. But not for himself. Now, it's not hard to understand that.

Unless you want to try to make this too complicated. It's pretty straightforward. The Messiah shall be cut off. It means he'll be killed. Crucified.

And he's not going to do that for himself. He didn't need a savior. He did that for his people. He did that for you. All right. So, that's 69. The first 69 sevens.

And along with that, it gives prophecy of what's going to happen to Jerusalem. Verse 26. And the people of the prince.

That's important to note that people is underlining it. Not the prince, but the people of the prince. Now, this prince is not Christ. This prince is Antichrist.

But Antichrist has not come yet. He's not talking about what the Antichrist is going to do at this time. He's talking about what the people of the Antichrist are going to do. And who are the people of the Antichrist?

Well, in my view, it's Rome. Roman Empire. Which today still lives. And the Antichrist will come out of the old and restored Roman Empire.

So, the people of the prince, the Antichrist, the Romans, who is to come, shall destroy the city and the sanctuary, the temple. And that happened in 70 AD.

The end of it shall be with a flood. And that would be a good way to describe how the Romans marched upon Jerusalem. And till the end of war, desolations are determined.

They completely destroyed the city of Jerusalem. Leveled it. Not one stone left upon another. Remember, Jesus prophesied that. So, this desolation of Jerusalem and the temple been determined.

By whom? God. By God. By God as judgment. You know, after Christ died upon the cross, that ended the need for sacrifice in the temple.

Remember, the veil was rent from top to bottom. God is saying, don't need this anymore. Because more perfect sacrifice has been made. But what did the Jews do?

They sewed the thing back together and continued. And in 70 years, God said, okay, well, I'll just destroy the whole thing. And he did. All right. Then we have a gap.

At least as it stands now, some 2,000 years. Gap in the prophecy. The gap is the church age.

There's nothing in the revelation about the church. In fact, there's very little other than a few shadowy implications of the church in the entire Old Testament. It's a mystery in the Old Testament.

But certainly is missing totally in this revelation. And so, after the 69 years and the cutting off of Christ, there's been this gap.

And God has not been dealing with the Israel. He's just been dealing with the church. The church. But he's going to get back to Israel. Going to get back to them. And so, that leads us then to verse 27.

Then he, Antichrist, shall confirm a covenant with many for one week. This is the 70th week. Now, remember, how long is a week? You say seven days.

Well, no. In prophetic term, it's seven years. Seven years. This is a reference to the tribulation. And the he here, of course, is Antichrist. Right?

And he's going to confirm a covenant. He's going to make a covenant with God's people. At the beginning of this seven years. And halfway through it, in the middle of the week, three and a half years into that 70th week, he shall bring an end.

I should not have capitalized he, by the way. We don't need to capitalize Antichrist. He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. And he will. Everything's going to be seemingly hunky-dory for three and a half years.

Relative peace. And then, he's going to end the sacrifice and the offerings. And on the wing of abomination shall be one who makes desolation.

Very much like Antiochus IV Epiphanes. It was a kind of a foreshadowing of the Antichrist. Who set up the image of Zeus there on the altar.

And required... He stopped the sacrifice, too. And required worship of Zeus. Just a kind of foreshadowing of the Antichrist and what he will do.

It'll be his own image. It'll be set up there. He'll sit on the throne in Jerusalem. Verse 27. Even until the consummation.

So, three and a half years. Desolation. Desecration. Until when? The end of that seven years. Until the consummation.

The end of it all. Which is determined. It's been decreed by God. Is poured out on the desolate.

Actually, literally, the desolator. Antichrist. And so, it will end with the judgment of Antichrist. Now, the prophecy doesn't give any details about the judgment.

We have to go other places in Scripture to find that. But this is Daniel 70. 70. You see what a huge period of time it takes in. And the part of it that we're most interested in, of course, is the part where we're living.

You know, in terms of time, I don't think anybody can say they know that. Though there are a lot of people who have tried. But there is Daniel 77. That have been determined. That have been decreed by God.

Not for the church. But for Israel. For the Jews. Thank you.