The Prophecy of the Seventy Sevens - Daniel - Part 9

You know, a great man of God was once asked how he could be so sure that God existed. And he hesitated for a moment and then simply looked at his questioner and answered, the Jews. The Jews.

That was how he could be so sure that God existed. The existence and continuation of the Jewish people down through the centuries is unequal. There is nothing in all of history like it. Do you realize that no other people in history has ever lost their homeland and had to live spread out throughout other nations for 2,000 years? No nation that has ever had to do that has ever survived as a nation. No nation that's ever had to do that has ever regained their homeland back like the Jews have. And no other language in the history of the world has ever died out as a living, spoken language and ever been revived as a living, spoken language with the exception of one, and that is Hebrew.

The Hebrew that is spoken today in the nation of Israel is for all practical purposes the very same Hebrew that Jesus would have spoken and Isaiah would have spoken. These are amazing things. Now how do you explain a people like this, a people who challenge and break every rule of survival in the history of the world, a people who are a historical anomaly, a people who by every stretch of the imagination should not even be in existence today. And yet they are. The answer to the continued existence of the Jewish people, the explanation for that I believe is found in the Bible. And put very simply it's this, God is not finished with the Jewish people yet.

That's why they're still here. God is not through with them. God himself has supernaturally preserved them in spite of all the things that they've been through, things that would have destroyed any other nation and frankly things that should have destroyed the Jews. Except that Almighty God himself overruled all of these events to assure the survival of Israel to this very day.

We can point to their survival as one of the greatest proofs that the God of the Bible really does exist and that he's really as powerful as he says he is in the word of God. And the clearest and grandest passage I think in the Bible that addresses this issue of the continuation of the Jewish people all the way down through the centuries to the end of the age is found here in Daniel chapter 9. It's called the prophecy of the seventy-sevenths. And it's one of the most incredible prophecies in all of the word of God not only because of what it tells us about Israel but also because of what it tells us about the Messiah, the Lord Jesus. And we want to look at it this evening and we want to begin in verse 1. Now the prophecy does not actually begin in verse 1. It begins in verse 20. But in verse 1 we have the prelude to this prophecy and the prelude to it is a prayer by the great man of God, Daniel. Let's look, verse 1. In the first year of Darius, the son of Xerxes, a Mede by descent, who was made ruler over the Babylonian kingdom, in the first year of his reign, now this would be 538 B.C., Daniel is now a very old man.

He's probably well into his eighties, maybe near ninety. And we're going to find here that he was reading the word of God one day when something happened. It says in his first year, I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures, according to the word of the Lord given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years. Daniel is sitting around reading the prophecy of Jeremiah.

And as he reads it, he comes across a startling discovery. It's found in Jeremiah chapter 29, verse 10. And if you'd like to flip back to Jeremiah 29, it's only two books back, I'd like to show it to you. Jeremiah 29, verse 10. And as Daniel is reading, here's what he reads. For thus saith the Lord, after seventy years are accomplished in Babylon, I will come to you and I will fulfill my gracious promise to you to bring you back to this place, that is, Jerusalem.

Skip down to verse 14. And I will gather you from all nations and places where I have banished you, and I will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile. Here is a promise given to Jeremiah who prophesied that the Babylonians would capture Jerusalem. He also prophesied that one day God would restore the Jewish people back to the city of Jerusalem. And he said it would be seventy years after Jerusalem was deported. Now, when we study historical records, we found out that there were three deportations from Jerusalem that Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, carried out. The first one was in 606 B.C.

Daniel and his three friends were carried away in the first one. In 597 B.C., Nebuchadnezzar came back, conquered the city a second time, and deported a whole bunch more people. Finally, in 586 B.C., twenty years after the first one, there was a third deportation when Nebuchadnezzar came back, destroyed the city, destroyed the temple, burned it to the ground, wiped out everybody and everything in town, and took everybody away to Babylon. And so in 538 B.C., you can see it has almost been seventy years.

It has been sixty-eight years since the first deportation. And so realizing that seventy years is just about up, Daniel, believing the promise of God that when seventy years was up, God was going to restore them to their land, Daniel is emboldened, he is encouraged to begin praying for God to do that very thing. Verse 3, So I turned to the Lord, and I pleaded with Him in prayer and petition in fasting and in sackcloth and in ashes. And what follows here is one of what I think is the greatest prayers in all of the Bible. Tremendous prayer. You want to pick a prayer to model your prayer life after?

You can't pick a much better one than this. Look with this prayer. Let's read it.

Follow along. O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant love with all who love Him and obey His commandments. We have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked and have rebelled. We have turned away from Your commandments and Your laws. We have not listened to Your servants, the prophets who spoke in Your name to our kings and to our princes and to our fathers and to all the people of the land. Lord, You are righteous, but this day we are covered with shame. The men of Judah and the people of Jerusalem and all Israel, both near and far, in all the countries that You've scattered us, Lord, because of our unfaithfulness to You.

O Lord, we and our kings and our princes and our fathers are covered with shame because we have sinned against You. The Lord, our God, is merciful and forgiving even though we rebelled against Him. But we have not obeyed the Lord, our God, nor have we kept His laws that He gave us through His servants, the prophets.

All Israel transgressed Your law and turned away refusing to obey You. Therefore, this is why the curses and the judgments that You swore that are written in the law of Moses have been poured out on us because we have sinned against You. You have fulfilled the words You spoke against us and against our rulers by bringing upon us great disaster.

Under the whole heaven, nothing has ever been done like what was done to Jerusalem. But it was just as was written in the law of Moses, all this disaster came upon us, yet we have not sought the favor of the Lord our God by turning from our sins and giving attention to Your truth. So You, the Lord, did not hesitate to bring this disaster upon us, for You are righteous in everything You do, and we have not obeyed You. Now, Lord, You who brought Your people out of Egypt with a mighty hand and who made for Yourself a name that endures to this day, we have sinned, we've done wrong. And, O Lord, in keeping with all of Your righteous acts, we beg You, turn away Your anger and Your wrath from Jerusalem, Your city, Your holy hill.

Our sins and our iniquities of our fathers have made Jerusalem and Your people an object of scorn to those around us. Now, God, hear the prayers and petitions of Your servant for Your sake, O Lord. Look on favor upon Your desolate sanctuary. Give ear, O God, and hear us.

Open Your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears Your name. We do not make these requests of You because we are righteous, but because of Your great mercy. O Lord, listen. O Lord, forgive us. O Lord, hear and act for Your sake, O my God.

Do not delay because Your city and Your people bear Your name. What a prayer. That's a prayer, friends. And I'd like to point out to you some of the important themes of prayer that are contained in Daniel's prayer here in Daniel chapter 9. First of all, would you notice that Daniel's prayer flowed out of a familiarity with the Word of God?

Did you pick that up? He talked about the law of Moses. He talked about the threats and the promises of destruction God had given. He talked about the fact that God had promised if they would turn and call on His name, God would spare them, but they didn't. He talked about Jeremiah's prophecy, and he was reading Jeremiah's prophecy. He talked about all the commandments of God they had broken. He talked about the mercy of God. He talked about the city of Jerusalem and how it bore the name of God. This was a man who understood the Bible. This was a man who had a prayer that flowed out of a familiarity with all of the Word of God and all the great themes of the Word of God. Daniel's whole prayer was inspired by his reading not only of Jeremiah's prophecies, but his familiarity with the teachings of the Bible on every subject. This is a Bible-based prayer.

That's the first thing I want you to notice. You want to pray with power? Let me suggest to you that you immerse yourself in the Word of God and pray out of a familiarity with the themes and the truths of the Word of God, about God and about what God says. That's the basis on which to have a great prayer. Second, would you notice that Daniel's prayer begins with the adoration of God. Verse 4, Daniel starts off and says, Lord, you are the awesome God, the great God.

You are the one who keeps your covenant with everybody who loves you and everybody who obeys you. Daniel begins by stating who God is, by adoring God, before launching into any requests, before launching into any confession, before doing anything at all, he first establishes the control group. He first establishes the plumb line for prayer, and the plumb line is the character and the person of God. And he says, God, before I do anything or say anything, let's go on record and establish just who you are, okay? And we'll start from there.

And let me praise you and thank you, Lord, for who you are. That's where his prayer began. Dear friends, how many times is it that we go to prayer and we go right past this step? I mean, we get on our knees and, man, we launch right in.

My God, I need this today and I got this problem. And, Lord, you know this and I need this and my kids this and my parents this and the finances and my house and my car and my job. Whoa, forgot something, didn't we? Is that really how we want to go into the presence of God? Is that really what the greatest theme of prayer is that we want to start with?

I don't think so. Whatever happened to getting on our knees and saying that, God, for my sake, let me remind myself who I'm here to talk to. Let me remind myself who you are, God, who I'm about to communicate with.

You don't need the reminder, God, I do. You're the awesome God. You're the great God. You're the faithful God. That's the way to start a prayer.

Then you're in a mental attitude to go someplace else with prayer. That's what Daniel did. Third, Daniel's prayer went next to confession of sin.

He didn't go right to asking God for anything. He went to confessing his sin and we saw it over and over and over and over again. He keeps saying, this is our fault. We're in trouble because we blew it. It's not your fault, God. You were righteous, God.

You did what you promised. It's our fault that we're in the mess we're in because we have sinned. We've broken your laws.

We've turned away from you. Daniel doesn't whitewash their sin. Daniel calls it sin. And then he appeals to God to forgive them on the basis of his mercy.

But why does Daniel go here before he begins to ask for anything? It's because Daniel understands the relationship of God to us and how sin interferes with that. And he understands that he's not ready to ask God for anything until he's first dealt with sin that separates between him and God that affects his power in prayer. And he knows it's only after sin has been confessed and forgiven and settled can prayer be effective. And so he praises God first and then he clears up the sin issue second before he ever asks for anything. You know, I think we'd get a lot more done in prayer if we were a little bit more honest with God about our situation spiritually.

How many times is it that we get on our knees and we say, oh, well, God, I know I haven't been perfect, but thank God you're forgiven, and then we go on. You know, that is what Daniel did. Daniel didn't say, well, Lord, you know, Israel wasn't perfect, and so what can we do about it?

No. He said, God, we have sinned. We've broken your laws. We transgressed your commandments.

We left you in our heart, and even after you afflicted us, we still didn't turn back. This was sin. Lord, we need to be forgiven and cleansed. And I'm interested that Daniel keeps using we, not they, we. I don't think there was probably a more righteous man on the face of the earth at the day in which he was writing than Daniel.

But Daniel says we, meaning he included himself. I don't care how righteous you may think you are. I can promise you you're not as righteous as Daniel. And if he can include himself and confess his sin, dear friends, there's not a single one of us who ought to skip that in prayer.

And if you don't think you did anything wrong, I have a suggestion. Ask God to show you what He thinks of your day, not what you think of your day, but what He thought of your day, what He thinks of your spiritual condition, and then be quiet for a minute and let Him show you. You'll find something to talk to God about.

You'll find something to confess, believe me, because all of us do things every day that we need to clear up between God and us before we're ready to talk to God about anything. Fourth and finally, only after all of this does Daniel ask for anything. And then when he asks, down in verse 15, I want you to notice the basis on which he asks for Jerusalem to be restored. He does not come in and say, well, God, you know you made a promise now.

Name it and claim it. Stick to it. No, that wasn't Daniel's attitude. He doesn't come in and say, well, now, Lord, you know we need a blessing. I mean, you've been kind of nasty to us and it's time to bless your people and for our comfort and our blessing and our luxury, Lord. It's time for you to do something. Oh, no.

Look what he says. He says, oh, Lord, hear the petition of your servant for your sake, oh, Lord, look with favor on your sanctuary. Give ear, oh, God, and listen, open your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears your name, Lord. We don't make requests because we are righteous, but because of your mercy. Listen, Lord, hear us, Lord.

Don't delay because your city and your people are called by your name. The appeal that Daniel makes to God is on the basis, A, of God's mercy, saying, Lord, we're not worthy of anything. We're not asking this because we're worthy. We're only asking it because you're merciful. And second, his appeal is, Lord, do this because your reputation, your glory, your honor is on the line.

Jerusalem is a city that bears your name and the whole world knows it. And having it in desolation, Lord, brings reproach on your name. He asks it for the glory of God, not for his own comfort, but for the glory of God. That's the right reason to pray a prayer. That's the right reason to ask God for something. That's the kind of prayer God listens to. And I'd like to suggest to you, when we ask God for things, we ought to ask God for things on the same basis Daniel did. We ought to learn to say to God, God, I may be your child.

I may have trusted Christ by faith. You may love me, but God, I'm not here to ask you for anything on the basis of the fact that I'm righteous or I'm such a good person because I'm not. Lord, the only reason that I'm going to ask you for anything is based on your mercy, that you love me, that you're merciful.

That's my hope. And God, here's what I'm asking for. Lord, does this serve your glory? I'm not so much interested, does it serve my comfort? But, Lord, does it serve your glory? Does it advance your name?

Does it advance your reputation? If so, God, do it. And if it doesn't, then, Lord, do something else to solve the problem that advances your name, whether it brings me comfort, whether it brings me affluence or not. This is a prayer, ladies and gentlemen, that's worth imitating in our lives.

So here Daniel is. Now, we haven't even got to the prophecy yet. This is good stuff, but we're not even at the prophecy yet. We're getting there.

We're getting there. But I just couldn't see us flying over a prayer like that without having us take a look at the way this man prayed. Daniel 9, man, you want a template for prayer, this is it. Now, Daniel prays, and he does ask God for something. He does ask God for the survival of the Jewish people. He does ask God for the continuation of the Jewish people. He does ask God for mercy to be shown to Jerusalem. That is what he's asking for, and God answers him. In fact, God answers him in two ways. First of all, God answers him by keeping his promise that he made through Jeremiah and letting the Jewish people go back to Jerusalem.

That happened. You can read about it in the book of Nehemiah, but it did happen. You can read about it in the book of Ezra. But second of all, God also answers Daniel's prayer by giving him a prophetic look at Israel's future, in which God promises that Israel will continue to survive. And that's what the prophecy of the 77s is all about. It is an answer to Daniel's prayer. Daniel was saying, Lord, I want the Jewish people and the nation of Israel to survive and continue. And God says, let me show you the future, Daniel, and let me show you that I'm going to answer that prayer.

These people are going to continue. Let me show you. And then comes the prophecy of the 77s. Verse 20. While I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and making my request to the Lord my God for his holy hill Jerusalem, while I was still in prayer, Gabriel, the man that I had seen in the earlier vision, came to me in swift flight about the time of the evening sacrifice. He instructed me and said to me, Daniel, I have come to give you insight and understanding as soon as you began to pray. An answer was given that I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed. Therefore, listen to my message and the unfolding of this vision. Seventy-sevenths are decreed for your people and your holy city. Stop.

Let's stop right there. Notice, please, the subject of this prophecy. Seventy-sevenths are given for your people and your holy city. Now, this prophecy, it's important for us to understand, is specifically aimed at explaining God's program for Daniel's people and Daniel's holy city. Daniel was not a Gentile. He was a Jew. And so God specifically says, whereas in some of the other prophecies in the book of Daniel, God has been talking about the Gentile kingdoms of the world. He's talked about the Babylonian kingdom and the kingdom of Medo-Persia and the kingdom of Greece. This is a prophecy that has nothing to do with the Gentile kingdoms of the world, but is strictly and specifically limited to one people, one city, the people of Israel, and the city of Jerusalem.

That's very important. If we miss that, we will get this prophecy wrong. But that's what Gabriel said. Walvoord said in his commentary, and I quote, To make this prophecy apply to the church, composed of both Jews and Gentiles, is to read into the passage something foreign to the whole thinking of Daniel. The church as such has no relation to the city or to the promises given specifically to Israel relating to their restoration and repossession of the land. End of quote. This is a prophecy about Israel giving the historical chronological framework of the history of Israel, and it has nothing to do with the church, Gentiles, Greece, Rome, nobody, just Israel.

Now what does he say? He says, While I was speaking, Gabriel came and said to me, Seventy-sevenths are decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision in prophecy, and to anoint the most holy place. Without taking the time to go through every one of those, would you notice from those that this prophecy has to extend to the return of Christ? Only at the return of Christ, if you look at these verses, will there be an end of sin. Only at the return of Christ will transgression be finished. Only at the return of Christ will there be everlasting righteousness that is brought in. So wherever this prophecy starts, it's obvious that it extends all the way to the time when Christ returns and righteousness reigns on the earth.

And we're going to see that in just a minute. Know and understand verse 25 this, that from the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the anointed one, the prince, comes, there will be seven sevens and sixty-two sevens. That is, sixty-nine of the seventy will be in that period. And the city will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble. And after the sixty-two sevens, which came after the sevens, so after sixty-nine sevens altogether, the anointed one, the Messiah, will be cut off and have nothing. And then the people of the ruler who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood.

War will continue till the end and desolations have been decreed. Verse 27, and he, who is he? He is the prince who is to come. He will confirm a covenant with many for one seven. But in the middle of that seven, he will put an end to sacrifice and offering.

He will set up an abomination of desolation in the wing of the temple until the end that is decreed is poured out on him. You say, Lon, what in the world is going on? Okay, let's pick it apart now, alright? It's time to dissect the frog and then we'll put him back together.

Let's dissect it. There are two main players in this prophecy. They are, verse twenty-five, Messiah the prince.

Now that's pretty easy, isn't it? Who do you think that is? That's Jesus Christ, of course. Now, second of all, there is in verse twenty-six the prince or the ruler who is to come.

Now who is this? Well, whoever he is, he appears after the Messiah is cut off, after the death of the Messiah. And whoever he is, he plays a central role in the last week, which appears in verse twenty-seven. He appears as a key player in the events of the seventieth week of Daniel's prophecy.

He is the prime mover of the events of the seventieth week. Now let's compare some Scripture with Scripture. Verse twenty-seven says that he, the prince who is to come, will set up the abomination of desolation in a wing of the temple. When we go to Matthew twenty-four and read, we find that the apostles came to Jesus and said, Lord, tell us what is the sign of the end of the age and of your coming? And Jesus said, verse fifteen, when you see standing in the holy place the abomination that causes desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, then you guys better run for the hills. Now clearly, Jesus places the abomination of desolation in the last days. Clearly, he places it in the time right before the return of Christ. And yet it is spoken of here in verse twenty-seven as being connected with this second player, the prince who is to come, who actually sets it up.

Now let's go on and think for another minute. This person is the ruler. The Bible calls him that right here. He is the ruler in the last days of the age of this world who defiles the temple, who sets himself up in the temple, the abomination of desolation. We don't know exactly what that is. People say, what is that?

I don't know. Some people have said they think it's a statue that this person sets up in a wing of the temple and demands that people worship. Other people have suggested that it's a throne that he sets up in the temple upon which he sits and demands the worship of the world because 2 Thessalonians says the antichrist will take his seat in the temple and demand the worship of the world. I don't know whether it's a throne.

I don't know whether it's a statue. But whatever it is, it is something that is so defiling to the worship of God, so insulting and so abominable in the sight of God that God calls it an abomination. And it's set up in the temple.

Now, who is this person who would do this? Well, the little horn of Daniel chapter 7, the Bible says that he spoke great things against the most high God and made war with the saints on earth and prevailed against them until the ancient of days came. 2 Thessalonians 2 says the man of perdition opposes and exalts himself against everything that's called God. He sets himself up in God's temple proclaiming himself to be God. And the Lord shall consume him with the breath of his mouth and destroy him at his coming. And finally, in Revelation 13, it says about the beast, the antichrist, that he opens his mouth in great blasphemy against God. It was given him power to make war against the saints and overcome them. And all that are on the face of the earth will worship him whose names are not written in the Lamb's Book of Life. So let's play Jeopardy.

Ready? Ruler of the earth in the last days sets himself up as God, makes war with the saints and overcomes them, desecrates the temple in Jerusalem. The whole world worships him. Who is?

Sure. He's got to be the other player here. And so understanding that these are the two main players, Messiah and Antichrist, we're now ready to figure out what this prophecy is talking about. And it also tells us, knowing this, that this prophecy has to extend to the end of the age.

Why? Because that's when the antichrist is going to be around, right? So if he's in this prophecy, the prophecy has got to go to the end of the age. But that's what we said up above, that the prophecy is going to the end of this age. Now, what does the prophecy say?

Seventy weeks are ordained. Literally, in Hebrew, seven shavuas. Shavuas in Hebrew means a group of seven anything. Seven days, seven months, seven weeks, seven years.

It means heptads, groups of seven. But the only thing that makes any sense is that this is groups of seven years. And so what we are talking about here is 70 times seven years, or 490 years. However, that's not exactly right, because these are lunar years. Remember, the Jews ran on a lunar calendar, not a solar calendar. And so it's not 490 solar years, but you've got to make an adjustment for the fact these are lunar years. They're shorter than solar years. And so the number of solar years, that is years like we think of years, is not 490, but actually 483 solar years. That's what we're talking about. Now, these 483 years, is everybody still with me?

Okay. Are split into two groups. Sixty-nine of them is in one group, and one of them is in another group.

Did you notice that? It says they're going to be seven weeks and then 62 weeks, that's 69. And then after that, something happens. And then it goes on to say in verse 27, for one more week, something else is going to happen. So there are two parts to this. There's 69 weeks in one part, and one week in the other part. Sixty-nine times seven years in one part, and one times seven years in the other part.

So let's examine them like that. Part one. Sixty-nine times seven years, or 476 years. And the Bible says, if you look in verse 25, from the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem. Stop. When did that happen?

You say, well, I don't know. Well, if you look in Nehemiah chapter one and two, the only record we have of any decree being issued to rebuild Jerusalem was issued by King Artaxerxes to Nehemiah, and the year was the 20th year of the reign of King Artaxerxes, the month of Nisan. And that would place it, we can nail it down without any doubt, 445 B.C. You can write 445 B.C. in your Bible right next to verse 25.

That's when it starts. Now, from that point, 445 B.C., until the anointed one, the Messiah, comes, there will be seven sevens and sixty-two sevens. You say, well, Lon, why do they split it into seven and sixty-two? I don't have the slightest idea.

Nobody else does either. But the point is, sixty-nine is the grand total. And it says the city will be rebuilt, there will be a trench around it, and after the sixty-two sevens, of course the seven have already gone, and then the sixty-two, sixty-nine, the anointed one, the Messiah, will be cut off and have nothing. Okay, so we know the beginning point is the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem, 445 B.C., correct? We know the ending point. At the end of 476 years, sixty-nine times seven, the Messiah will be cut off, will be killed, and will have nothing.

Now, all you've got to do is do a tiny bit of subtraction. 476 years minus 445 B.C. gives you somewhere around 31 A.D. for the year in which the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing. This is the most absolutely accurate prediction of the coming of Christ anywhere in the Bible.

It's incredible. We know from the Dead Sea Scrolls that the book of Daniel was well known, well studied, and well loved by the Jewish people. They knew the book of Daniel well. Right here in Daniel 9, we have an exact chronological prediction of when the Messiah would come. It does not take a Ph.D. It does not take a seminary degree to figure it out. You don't even need a calculator.

You can do it on an abacus. You remember in Luke chapter one and two where Simeon was in the temple and he said that he knew for certain the Messiah was imminent? And you remember Anna in the temple and she said she knew for certain the Messiah was imminent? How could they know that? You say, well, God appeared to them and God supernaturally told them, yeah, that's possible, but it's also possible they read Daniel and subtracted.

That's all you have to do. And you can be pretty close to when the Messiah's got to show up. And that's why Jesus rebuked and castigated the religious leaders of his day as mercilessly as they did because they knew the book of Daniel and they knew this prophecy. Jesus said to them, John 5, you search the Scriptures because in the Scriptures you think that you have eternal life and the Scriptures are they that testify of me.

But he went on to say, but you won't come to me so that you might have life. You see, the issue was not that these people didn't know enough. They had an exact chronological prediction of when the Messiah was coming. It's not that they didn't know enough. Don't you ever think these people didn't know enough?

They knew plenty. The issue with them was not ignorance. The issue was rebellion. It was defiance. It was self-will. It was obstinacy. And Jesus said in Luke 16, if they won't believe Moses and the prophets, that is the Scriptures, neither will they be persuaded even though somebody rises from the dead and somebody did. And they still didn't believe. Stubbornness wasn't lack of information.

Stubbornness. When we were in Israel in 1983, my wife and I, we had a private tour guide. We were with some friends and they got us a private tour guide. And we were riding back from Masada. We'd gone down to Masada and we'd climbed up there and that was real neat and everything.

We were riding back and I was in the front seat with this Israeli tour guide and we got to talking and one thing led to another. And I was praying for an opportunity to share Christ with this guy and it opened up. And so we started talking a little bit about Jesus and a little bit about the Messiah. And he, man, he wanted nothing to do with it. He was sure Jesus wasn't a Messiah.

He was positive that it couldn't have been Jesus. And I said, oh, what makes you so positive? Oh, well, I just know. And I said, could I show you something from the Bible?

Sure, sure, sure, yeah, yeah. So I opened to this prophecy and I shared in this prophecy and I read it with him and I walked him through it just like I've walked you through it. And I said to him, now who can you think of in 31 AD that was cut off and killed that might be any other candidate for the Messiah than Jesus Christ? He said, well, I'm sure you're interpreting that prophecy wrong. And I said, well, how else do you interpret it? I mean, multiply 69 by 7 and subtract 445 BC. I mean, how wrong can you go?

Pretty simple. He said, oh, no, I'm sure there must be another interpretation for this. When I get back, I'm going to ask my rabbi. And I said, well, ask him. I said, well, what happens if your rabbi does not give you a satisfactory answer and you're still confronted with the fact that this prophecy says the Messiah is going to be killed around 31 AD like Jesus was?

What are you going to do? And he said, I'll tell you. He said, even if my rabbi does not have a good answer and even if I can't come up with a good answer, I will never believe in Jesus. Now, what was the problem? Ignorance? Not ignorance. I told that man enough to tip 10 people saved. Ignorance was not the problem. The problem was stubbornness, obstinacy, the will. And so, dear friends, when you read Jesus and how He sometimes leveled the barrel at these religious leaders and blasted, remember, they knew this prophecy.

They knew all about it. Well, let's go on because there's one week left. We haven't got the last week yet, have we? There's a 70th week here. Part two is the last week. And the last week we pick up in verse 27. It says, And he, the antichrist, will confirm a covenant with many for one week.

There's your 70th week on the end. But now the antichrist is on earth. Suddenly, we have gone way down the corridors of time. And now we're all the way at the end of the age with the antichrist on earth. You say, but Lon, what happened with all the space in the middle? I mean, suddenly we got Jesus being cut off and it's 31 AD and we pick up in the next verse and it hadn't even happened yet. I know.

You say, well, what happened? That doesn't seem to make any sense. Sure it does. Remember who this prophecy deals with? Who does this prophecy deal with? Daniel's people and Daniel's holy city.

Correct? And in 31 AD, when Jesus Christ was cut off and Israel rejected Jesus Christ as their Messiah, they said, Matthew 27, His blood be on us and our children. And God said, fine, that's exactly the way it'll be.

I'm going to hold you responsible for rejecting your Messiah. And right at that point, God judged the Jewish people for their rejection of the Messiah. And one of those judgments is that God displaced them from being at the center of His program for the world.

Favored nation status was lost at that point. And the church began. And the church ever since that point has been God's instrument and God's focal point in the world. The point is, after the 69th week of Daniel's prophecy that deals exclusively with God's program for Israel, Israel went on hold because they rejected their Messiah. And for the last 1950 years, God's plan for Israel has been on hold. That's why there's this big gap in here because this prophecy deals with God's plan for Israel. And Israel's been on the back burner. The church has been on the front burner. But remember, God's plan for Israel is not over.

It's just on hold. One of these days, God is going to turn back to Israel as His favored nation. He's going to turn back to Israel as the central focus for His plan for the earth.

And when God is through using the church for what He's ordained the church for, He's coming back and taking the church out of this world. Then He's going to turn back to the nation of Israel and complete the plan that He had for them from the beginning. And suddenly, Daniel's 70th and final week will begin because God will turn back and begin dealing with Israel again. That's why the parenthesis is there.

That's why there's the huge gap that's there. And when God does that, look what's going to happen. He, the Antichrist, will make a covenant with many for one seven. You ever wonder why the tribulation period is seven years long and not eight years, ten years, twelve years, four years, two years? Why seven? Because it's the last week, the last seven-year period of Daniel's prophecy.

That's why it's seven years. And in the middle of that seven, He will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And He will set up the abomination of desolation in the wing of the temple. And He will be going great guns until the end that is decreed for Him will come.

We all know what that end is. The Bible says Jesus will personally destroy Him by the breath of His mouth and at His coming. And one of the things that this tells us is not only that God's not through with Israel.

It does tell us that. And therefore, dear friends, there should be no surprise for us to see Israel back in their land. There should be no surprise for us to understand that Israel is not leaving that land. If you think Israel has given up Jerusalem in leaving that land, my advice to you is don't bet on it. Not much anyway. And whatever you bet, be prepared.

It better be money that you can afford to lose. Because they're not leaving that land, it's my opinion. They're not giving up Jerusalem. Nobody in all the world are going to get that people out of that land because God is setting things up for His return. And His return means He's got to go back and deal with Israel. He's got a week left.

He's got seven years He hadn't finished yet. He's got to go back and deal with those people. And they're back in the land and back in control of Jerusalem because He's got seven years worth of work yet to do with those folks. So it shouldn't surprise us to see them there. And it shouldn't surprise us to understand they're going to be there for an awful long time to come.

Menachem Begin was right. It is their land. It is their land. And they're going to keep it. But there's one other thing I want you to notice here before we close. And that is not only is God not through with the Jewish people yet.

That is so obvious. God has a plan for them that extends to the end of the age. And that's the only reason they're still here while the Hittites, the Moabites, the Phoenicians, and the Pharaohs, and the Assyrians, and the Babylonians, and the Persians, and the Philistines, and the Canaanites are all gone. That's why the Jews are still here.

God hadn't finished yet. But would you notice what it says here about where the antichrist is going to set up? It says he's going to set up in a wing of the temple. You say, what temple? There is no temple. There has not been a temple since 70 AD.

That's 1900 years. I know. But there's going to be.

You say, what are you talking about? Friends, there's going to be another temple. A third one. Yes, Solomon built the first one. It got torn down by Nebuchadnezzar. And then, under Zerubbabel, they started building the second one.

And even Herod the Great worked on it in the time of Jesus. And the Romans tore that one down. But there's another one coming.

A third one. In fact, its dimensions are given in the book of Ezekiel. And those dimensions don't agree with the dimensions of either one of the other two temples.

Why? Because it's a different one. It's another one. And who knows but that maybe part of this covenant might not include permission to rebuild the temple up on the Temple Mount, which seems preposterous at this point. You remember the riot in Jerusalem last year where all those Arabs were killed? You know what started that riot? What started that riot is that the Arabs heard that there were a group of Jews marching into Jerusalem to go up on the Temple Mount and lay the foundation stone for the new temple. That's what sparked the riot that killed, resulted in the killing of all of those Arabs.

Today, you look at it and you say, that's preposterous. The Arabs would never allow that. There would be an international war before that happened. Well, it might look that way now.

But you know what? If I told you what was going to happen in Eastern Europe was going to happen two years ago, you'd all call me crazy. But it's happening, isn't it? God's in control, not people. And the temple is going to be rebuilt because it also says in verse 27, And in the middle of the week, the antichrist cuts off the sacrifices and the offerings. Well, nobody's making any sacrifices and offerings because there's no temple to make them in.

But there's going to be. You say, Lon, I don't know about this. Are you sure you're right on this?

Yes, I am. And you've heard me talk to you a little bit about this before, but I've got an article here. And the title of the article is, Move to Build Third Jewish Temple in Jerusalem Stirs Resistance. And this is not from the National Enquirer or the Globe. This is from the Washington Post.

You say that's almost as bad. Well, I don't know whether it is or it isn't. But anyway, it's a little more reputable than the Enquirer. And what this article says is that right now in Israel, there is an actual attempt being made to rebuild the temple. They have actually brought a cornerstone to Jerusalem. It's there in Jerusalem.

There are actually two schools near the Western Wall that are training rabbis in all of the complex ritual of the temple worship so that they'll be ready to carry it out when the temple's rebuilt. No Orthodox Jew is allowed up on the Temple Mount because somewhere up there was the Holy of Holies. And the rabbis say no Jews should go up there because he might accidentally step on it. And until we can locate where it is, no Jews going up there. But in recent days, they believe, and I believe from reading this man's work that he's right, that they have located where the Holy of Holies was. And the interesting thing is it's not where either one of the mosques are. It's way down on the northern end of the Temple Mount. The point is you could build a temple up there and keep the original site of the Holy of Holies and not have to touch either one of those mosques.

You could leave them right where they are. And there are people who are planning to do this. In fact, quoting from an official of the Temple Institute, which is one of these ad hoc groups, he says, and I quote, We believe that all of our hopes and attempts will cause some activity in the heavens, and with God's help, the day will soon come when we will build the third temple. End of quote. You don't think this is happening?

It is. And I believe within the next few years we're going to actually see the temple begun in Jerusalem. I don't know exactly how it will happen. It seems preposterous at this point. But the Word of God says it has to happen. There has to be some place to set up the abomination desolation. There has to be some place to cut off offering and sacrifice.

The temple's got to go up again. So you remember when it starts and you read about it in the paper that you heard it here, right here. I told you.

I didn't tell you. God told you. God's going to fulfill His Word.

You watch what's going to happen. There's another temple going up over there, friends. And let me tell you in closing what Jesus said.

Luke 21. He said, even so, when you see these things happening, what things? Well, Israel back in the land and the temple being rebuilt and everything setting up for the antichrist to come. You know that the kingdom of God is near. I think that's exciting. I mean, I don't know that anybody else – I know Christians down through the ages have always thought the coming of the kingdom of God was near.

But Jesus said there's some signs we ought to be looking for before we can really be sure of that. And I see them today. Today, Israel in their land. The temple about to be rebuilt. Israel in control of Jerusalem, which they have not controlled for 2,000 years. Don't you see it?

Can't you see it? And Jesus said, be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and anxieties of life, and that day will close in on you unexpectedly, like a trap. For it will come upon all those who live on the face of the earth. Be always on the alert and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen and may be able to stand before the Son of Man. Jesus gives us a warning. He says, friends, yes, it's exciting. Yes, it's exciting to think the Lord's coming soon, but when the Lord comes, make sure you're ready. Make sure you're prepared to stand before Him.

Make sure that spiritually you're not asleep and not in dissipation and not in drunkenness, but that you're sober, as Peter said, and alert and looking and serving the Lord. And that's my challenge to you as we close this evening. Is the Lord's coming soon? Man, I think if we knew how soon it was, we wouldn't believe it. Say, Lon, put a date on it. I can't. Put a year on it. I can't. Put a decade on it.

I can't. But I'll tell you, Jesus said, when you see all these things happening, get ready. Buckle your seatbelt, because the coming of Christ is right around the corner, and I believe it is. May God find us faithful. May God find us doing the things we ought to be doing, not laying up treasures on earth, but laying up treasures in heaven. May God find us faithful in the service of Christ, so that we are ready to meet Him, and so He can say to us, well done, good and faithful servant.

Let's pray. Dear Father, thank You for Your word this evening, and thank You for teaching us much. Maybe almost more than we could take in at one sitting, but nonetheless, Lord, thank You for giving us rich teaching from Your word tonight. Thank You for giving us a great model for prayer. And thank You for reminding us, Heavenly Father, that there is a way to pray that is effective. There are ways to pray that aren't. Now, Lord, make us men and women who copy the effective prayers of the great man of God, Daniel. Adoration and confession, prayers that are biblically based and flow out of a familiarity with Your word. And Lord, prayers that depend upon Your mercy for everything we ask. And Lord, prayers that ask whatever they ask for Your glory above our own comfort.

Teach us to build these principles into our prayers. And Heavenly Father, we also thank You for this great prophecy. We thank You, Lord, that this thing is unfolding right in front of our eyes, things that even 30 or 40 years ago would have seemed impossible. People would have stood in amazement and said they could never happen. Our eyes have seen those things happen.

Israel back in their land, Jerusalem back under their control, people making plans to rebuild the temple. It's unbelievable, God, that our eyes are seeing these things. And Lord Jesus, thank You that You told us when You see these things happening, look up because the Kingdom of God is around the corner. Lord Jesus, find us faithful, I pray. Find us committed to doing the things You've told us to do, Lord. When You come back, we'll be ready to face You. Lord, make us soldiers of the cross. Lord, make us more concerned about laying up treasure in heaven than on earth. We pray these things in Jesus' name, amen. . . . .