Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and I will be a lamp. A light unto my path. Welcome to the Wednesday in the Word podcast, equipping our leaders of this great weekly Bible study held at Dario, our wonderful, gracious host. all across North Carolina. This is to equip, encourage, and guide you as you prepare to teach the word and guide the discussion.
at each location each week. And we continue our journey now through the book of Daniel. Here we are with today's special guest. Dr. Sam Warren.
Daniel chapter 9, the last part of the chapter, and really a Mount Everest of biblical prophecy. That gives light to all the different areas of prophecy in the Old Testament, in the book of Revelation. Stu Epperson here.
So glad you all are with us. And we split Daniel into two parts to do two different weeks because it's so rich. You heard our podcast. I hope you did on the power of prayer. How Daniel's prayer life really connects to and drives and drove the prophecies that God revealed to him.
Dr. Horn, how do you explain or how do you give perspective? From the mountaintop, from everyone, of the significance. of Daniel seven parti or Daniel nine particularly versus 20 Through 27, which we'll cover this week. Just give us a brief perspective, then we'll jump right in.
Wow.
Well, my first word. Wow.
What an amazing. Uh Piece of scripture in front of us. What an amazing two paragraphs.
Somebody described these two paragraphs. as the central Uh Portion of the Bible. In other words, if you want to go to the very heart of what God is up to. In the middle of all that is going on around you, this section of Daniel is it. I mean, this is where the whole thing has been going.
All the visions. All the dreams, all the... the hard places and dark spaces where Daniel and Shadrach and Meshach and Abednego had to live, all of it is going to these two paragraphs. that are in front of us. It's interesting, Stu to me, that Before Daniel got the answer to His questions.
He did two things. He read scripture. And he prayed. Yeah. And it's an important reminder to me as a pastor.
And to me as a dad and to me as a husband. And really to me as an individual believer. That I can read scripture, and it's an important component. I will not survive apart from reading scripture. Daniel was reading scripture, he read the Torah.
As we talked about, he knew Leviticus. He knew Deuteronomy. He understood Jeremiah and Isaiah.
So he read the scripture. But he didn't get the answer that he was looking for from the scripture. Until he prayed. And God revealed it to him. And so prayer is an important component.
of our personal Bible study. And I love what you said before. in our earlier podcast. You quoted somebody saying, We ought to read through our Bible every year, but we also ought to pray through our Bible as we read it. And that's what's happening here.
So we're going to see the heartbeat. Of Daniel, we're going to see the heartbeat of God, and we're going to see the center. of everything that has been going on in the book. Uh That's a great word. And every week we're committed on these podcasts to give you a review: kind of what's gone on up until now.
How did we get here? And then a preview of what's coming up to kind of help you work your way through. In this case, verses 20 through 27 of Daniel chapter 9, 70 weeks, a whole lot of apocalyptic language, a whole lot of very important language as it relates to the chosen people of Israel. And then. Down the road, the tribulation, we've got The Millennial Kingdom, we've got a lot of different folks in different camps.
We have folks that are You've got the the historic traditional A premillennial view, which is the pre-tribulational rapture. You have folks that are premillennial, but They believe in a mid-tribulational rapture, and others believe in a post-tribulational rapture. The believers will go through the tribulation. And then you have folks that are. Amelin, you're thinking this is all spiritual stuff that kind of worked itself out, you know.
In the great apocalypse was Titus's invasion of AD 70.
So we want to kind of. Take the word like we do, word for word. We're not gonna we won't spend a lot of time on this. We'll just be total of a half hour together today. Lord Willing, who was But we want to kind of break it down biblically to give you a framework.
Because what we do know is the king is returning. We do know things will get a lot worse before they get better. And we do know that there are specific signs of the times, and the first coming of Jesus has not happened yet in Daniel chapter 9.
So let's go take us through a quick review, Dr. Horn. You did a little bit already, so it could be just a real quick. you know, with everything going on, how we got to this chapter. And Daniel, and maybe you kind of Where this chapter sits, because we still have a couple more chapters on prophecy yet to come in 10 and 11.
Yeah. Well, it's interesting. You kind of laughed when you were talking about all the different views. And the beauty of all those different views when you're doing sort of what we're doing as a podcast or on the radio or sort of individual Bible studies all across the country is people can get mad at you and then they just send you an email. But if you're a pastor, and you have all those different views in your church.
And you're preaching through Daniel, and you come to this passage, you can't just skip it. Which is what I was praying for. I was praying, Lord, if there is really going to be a rapture, this would be a really good time for that to happen. But it didn't happen. And so I had to preach this to a congregation of people.
And those people had all of the different views that you mentioned.
So I understand the complexity of it. Let me put this in historical context for you. When you go back to chapter seven. 15 years have passed. From the time Daniel got the vision in chapter seven during Belshazzar's first year.
Three years later, in Belshazzar's third year, he got a second vision. And we saw that in chapter 8.
So He's had a lot of time. To think about this. By the time he gets to the first year of Cyrus, which is chapter 9, verse 1. 15 whole years have passed. Daniel's been thinking a lot.
about the two visions. that he got the vision sort of the the the dream or the vision with the four kingdoms. And then in chapter eight. It goes back over. the the kingdoms that are going to impact israel up to the coming of the messiah And so now he has this prayer time.
And then all of a sudden. God sends him an angel. And you can see this in verse 20. While I was speaking and praying. Confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my plea before the Lord.
My God, for the holy hill, the holy mountain of my God, that's Jerusalem. While I was speaking in prayer. the man Gabriel, whom I'd seen in the vision at first. Came in swift flight at the time of the evening sacrifice, and he made me to understand. In other words, He shows up and he's going to give Daniel understanding.
And he said these words: O Daniel, I have come to give you insight and understanding. At the beginning of your pleas for mercy, a word went out. and I've come to tell it to you for you are greatly loved. Therefore, consider the word. and understand the vision.
So that's sort of the first paragraph. This is angelic communicated. To Daniel. And it's interesting that the angel Gabriel is going to come to Daniel and give him a vision about the Messiah. And then the same angel Gabriel is going to show up to Mary.
and give her the announcement that the Messiah. He announced to Daniel hundreds of years earlier is about to be born. And she's going to bear it. Yeah. Or he's going to bear him rather.
And so this reference to Gabriel is really significant. And then, secondly, Gabriel says, I'm going to give you the word. And then I'm going to give you understanding of what you're going to see. And so Daniel is going to see things, all right?
So that's sort of the the the way it plays out.
Now what? What I did, what I found to be helpful. Um, I use this illustration. If you like white water rafting, and a lot of people do. There's a classification of rapids.
So, a class one to class three. Basically, you get in your boat or your raft. and you basically get wet and you have a lot of fun. Class IV and Class V rapids. you have big drop rapids that kind of thrill your heart and sometimes can break your bones.
Class VI rapids are unnavigatable to mere mortals. They are killer rapids for ultimate river professionals or lunatics. There is no class seven. If you're looking at the paragraph in front of us and you're trying to classify it as a rapid, it's a class seven. It's arguably one of the hardest.
interpretive Paragraphs in the entire book of Daniel, and maybe even in the entire Old Testament. And so when we come to a passage like this, we got to come with prayer. We've got to come with intentionality. And we've got to come with a boatload of humility. and a boatload of charity.
for others who may look at the same verses we're looking at. and come to some different conclusions. With that in mind, here's what I did. I focused on the plain things. Then I drew some attention to the main things.
And then we talk a little bit about the disputed things. And we ended our time together. talking about the essential things.
So the main thing or the plain things, the main things, the disputed things. And the essential things. And so I think that might be helpful, Stu, to kind of do what we talked today. That's an excellent framework, and it's a great way to look at it. And I just want to, with Dr.
Horn, by the way, Dr. Sam Horn, our special co-host of this podcast, Pastors Palmetto Baptist Church. In the upstate of South Carolina. He's also host of a wonderful radio program, author, and a gifted man of God. Dr.
Horn, and we're so glad you're with us each week. I'm Stu Epperson, and this is the goal of this is to equip our leaders going through Daniel. Really, anyone in the world that's teaching through Daniel, I hope you'll get them these podcasts just to take you through. To come alongside and encourage you as you prepare. We have a ministry called Wednesday in the Word, an outreach that's at a wonderful restaurant in North Carolina called Dario, all 12 locations.
And then we have the Men Meet Wednesday morning. We have five women's groups that meet, four on Thursday morning, women in the Word, and then one on Tuesday morning. That one meets in Jacksonville, North Carolina.
Some great ladies there. Dr. Horn is. Just if you could, and something you said, I want to catch, you know, kind of hitch to, and that is. Almost like permission to disagree.
You know, there's so much vitriol on anger, and people fight, churches split, people get angry. But when it comes to The end times, eschatology, which is a fancy word that means the doctrine of end times. It's okay. It's like it's not a hill to die on necessarily if someone is post-trib. Or pre-trib, right?
I mean, the pre-trib guy might just say, hey, well, you enjoy that tribulation, bud. I'm going to be out of here, right? You know, the post-trib is going to say, hey, there's already tribulation going on in the world. Why do you want to bifurcate it like that?
So, but when you look at the scriptures, some godly people have studied. and come to maybe a little bit different conclusion. you know, than other people.
So I want you to speak to the fact that it's okay if you're not like in in a specific a hard line eschatological camp And that's where you talk about the disputable areas that are where we're safe to To talk about, you know, we're in all things, what's that great thing? Was it Augustine that said, you know, in all things, Well, in the major things. You know, we are to we are to we are to we're to hold together, you know, is and have unity. These are these are Christology, and these are the solar scripture or the key. the key axioms of the faith.
And then in the minor things, we're to have liberty.
So Some folks have Sunday night church. You know, because they can't get a facility Sunday morning. But you don't want to split over the liberty. And then, but in all things, charity. And this this area goes into that.
liberty slash charity uh Department. But Dr. Horton, speak to that and then jump right in and give us a preview of how to break these verses down just so everyone can walk through them this week.
Well you kind of nailed it.
So I came out of a tribe. where where everything was defined and all the lines were clear and there was very little gray in any area of life. And as I grew in grace, and as I grew in my understanding of scripture, and frankly, as I grew in maturity and in life, which I still have a long way to go, I began to realize that. There are good brothers. who are faithful to the Lord, obedient to the Spirit.
who are going to see certain parts of scripture differently than me. And a differing brother. In my early years, was a disobedient brother. But I've had to come to realize, and by God's grace, I think he's helped me to do this. A differing brother is not A disobedient brother.
Necessarily. And so I just I'm just in my own journey, as I've understood scripture. What's clear in the scripture, we should all agree on the virgin birth of Jesus Christ. If you disagree with that, You don't believe that, then we don't. You know, we don't have any ground for Christian fellowship.
We have ground for fellowship as image bearers. And human beings, that we ought to be kind to one another and respect one another and be gracious to one another. but there's no ground for brotherhood there. There's no ground for the kind of relationship between believers with somebody who doesn't believe in the virgin birth. But but there are parts of scripture That aren't clear.
They're true. but they're not clear. And so eschatology is one of those things. And so I would just encourage All of our listeners. And anybody who hears these podcasts.
Study the scriptures like Daniel did. Come to your conclusions based on the scripture. but realize that in the area of eschatology other people Historically, have been phenomenally obedient gracious loving believers Who disagree. And we need to have the charity and the freedom to do that.
So, with that in mind, There are some plain things. That Gabriel explains to Daniel, and there are five of them. In the text. And so let's talk really quickly about the plain things. You can see them.
uh right away in verse 24 plain thing you know sort of the big idea daniel 70 weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city.
So, whatever this vision is, whatever is coming, Gabriel says it's about your people. The Jews And it's about your holy city.
So, when we look at the rest of what's being talked about, this is not for Babylon, this is not for Assyria, this is not for Persia, this is not for Greece. This this next little section zeroes in. On what is going to happen to God's people, the Jew. And to his holy city, Israel, the land of Israel or Jerusalem.
So, That's important to keep in mind. And the timeframe for all of this is is called 70 weeks. It's called 70 sevenths. And prophetically, A prophetic week. And virtually everybody agrees with this, so there's not a lot of disagreement here.
A prophetic week is a period of time that is seven years in length. And so, obviously, there are going to be some people who disagree, but we don't have time in our podcast to establish that.
So, I'm just going to take that as a given since it is so almost universally held.
So, here's what's going to happen during that time. During those 70 weeks, five things are going to happen. With regard to Israel and the Jews, your glorious city is going to be rebuilt.
So look at verse 25. Know therefore and understand. That from the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a prince. There shall be seven weeks.
So there's a period of time. When A decree is going to go out. And whenever that decree goes out, It is going to be about the rebuilding of the city.
So Cyrus is going to issue a decree. To send Ezra back. to re-establish Israel. Artaxerxes in Nehemiah 1 and 2. Is going to actually write a letter authorizing his cupbearer Nehemiah.
to go and rebuild Jerusalem. And so there's a great deal. of discussion about What's going on here? Is it Cyrus sending Zerubbable back? Is it Artaxerxes sending Ezra back?
Or is it Artaxerxes sending Nehemiah back? And so where I land, because it is so specific. There's only one time where there is a decree. By King. Related to the specific rebuilding of Jerusalem.
That's Artaxerxes. in 445 BC. And you can read about it in Nehemiah. Chapters one and two.
So your glorious city will be rebuilt. Secondly, Your Messiah will appear and will be cut off. Look at verse 26. In the text, all right? Know, therefore, that from the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of the anointed one, a prince.
There will be. Seven weeks. Then for sixty-two weeks it shall be built again with squares and moat. But in a troubled time. And after 62 weeks, an anointed one will be cut off.
and have nothing. There is going to be. A a Messiah who is going to come. And he is going to be established As the Messiah. And we're gonna and you would think, okay, he's gonna show up.
In everything that he came to do. Is going to happen, but the text says he's going to be cut off. In other words, he's going to be slaughtered. That's the idea, he's going to be murdered. This is exactly what Isaiah 53, by the way, predicts.
All right, so that's thing number two. Thing number three. The people of a coming malevolent ruler will destroy the city again. And you can see that. In The second part of verse 26.
And the people of the prince who is to come. will destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end will come with a flood. And to the end there will be war. Desolations are decreed.
And so The third clear thing is that there is a malevolent ruler who's going to come at some point in the future. And the people. The nation, the group out of which this leader will come, are going to destroy the holy city a second time. And so it got destroyed by Uh by Nebuchadnezzar. In 586, and it's going to get destroyed again a second time.
And we know that's true because it got destroyed by the Roman army. In uh seventy AD. All right.
Now The fourth thing that we know is that There is going to be a wicked leader who will appear and deceive. And make desolate? and ultimately be destroyed. And you can see this in verse. Twenty-seven In verse 28, right?
The people of the prince who's to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end will come the flood. And to the end there shall be war.
So there's a switch here. Jerusalem will be destroyed. And then There is the end, sort of the end time. From the time that Jerusalem is destroyed to the end time, there are going to be wars. Desolations are decreed.
And when this prince, this malevolent ruler, comes, he will make a strong covenant with many for one week.
So there is the final. We've got 69 weeks up to this point. If you add them up in the text. And when this ruler comes, he's going to initiate the final week. And the half part of that week, what he's going to do, he's going to put an end to sacrifice and offering.
And he is going to make desolate The sanctuary of God. Until the decreed end is poured out. on the desolator. And so that's the fifth thing that happens. This wicked prince will be destroyed.
As God has Arranged.
So those are the key, those are the plain things.
Now, we don't know what they all mean. We're not going to agree on the timing, but we do have really plain statements. Jerusalem is going to be rebuilt. Messiah is going to show up and be cut off. The people of a coming malevolent ruler will destroy the holy city a second time.
There is this malevolent ruler, this wicked prince who's going to show up. He's going to deceive, he's going to defame, he's going to violate, and he's going to make the temple desolate. And ultimately, number five, he's going to be destroyed just like God decreed.
So, those are the plain things. All right, now secondly. Before I do that, Stu, do you want to make any comments about that?
Well, and there this is actually outlined fairly nicely, you know, in verse 24, because he says that, you know, the 70 weeks are determined, and he gives these a list of things to finish the transgression. To make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy.
So those six things are. Nicely laid out there. By Dr. Horne, and you, you know, you took and you showed how they're unpacked in the text. In the leader notes, I give some pretty good attention to each of these.
So there's some detail that's important that's broken down. Our God is a God of order. But we don't want to go beyond the text, and we don't want to go beyond what the plain things are. You know, the main things, the plain things, right? Yeah.
Things lead to the main thing, and you, you, you, you, you hit it really hard on verse 24. The main thing. that that all of these plain things point to is that When this Messiah shows up, he's going to do six things. And the six things are He is gonna finish. The transgression.
The word transgression is the word for rebellion. And so here's the point. When Messiah shows up. He is going to put an end. to rebellion.
And so the question is. Whose rebellion is he talking about?
Well, look at verse 24 again. 70 weeks are decreed about your people. What has Daniel's people, Israel, been doing for 70 years? They have been rebelling. They have been rebelling at whatever God told them to do all throughout their history.
They rebelled to the point that God finally had to send Babylon to them to destroy them. And even in the destruction, they kept on rebelling. And even after the restoration in Ezra's day. And later on in Malachi's day, God's people were still rebelling. And even in Jesus' day, they were rebelling.
And so when Messiah comes. He is going to put an end to the rebellion of Israel. He will he will put He will bring all of that long history of persistent, ongoing, repeated rebellion to an end. This is what Zechariah 12 is talking about. This is what Ezekiel 36 is talking about when God says, I will put a new heart in my people.
So he's going to finish the transgression. He's going to make an end of sin. That's the second thing. This speaks of of removing sin from the daily life of a nation. In other words, Messiah is going to establish a kingdom.
for his people in which there will be no sin. it will be eradicated and sinners will be removed. And then the third thing is he will make an atonement for sin.
So he's gonna make an end of rebellion. He's gonna make an end of sin by removing it, and then he's gonna make an atonement. for iniquity. He's not just going to appease God's wrath. He's going to remove it.
He's going to purge iniquity out of the life of his people. And that's what Zechariah 3. and Zachariah 13 are all about. And then the fourth thing he's going to do is he's going to bring in everlasting righteousness. There had been periods of revival throughout Israel's history, but they never lasted.
Remember in Isaiah chapter 9, we read about A son who is coming and his name will be called the Mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. the wonderful counselor. And on his shoulders will be the government and the government will be a government of righteousness. He will bring in everlasting righteousness. He will fulfill all of the vision.
And all of the prophecy. That Daniel has received and will receive all of the prophecy that Jeremiah, Ezekiel. receive all of the prophecy that every prophet Has been given ultimately when Messiah comes, all of it will be fulfilled. And finally, he will anoint the most holy place. And this is a reference to the entire temple complex.
So When you kind of come back and look at this, it's talking about the arrival of a Messiah. And by the time he is done, he will have removed the curse. He will have dealt with sin. He will have made an end to rebellion. And he will have established the kingdom.
that will be marked by righteousness. And that kingdom will be like a temple. It will be like a holy place on earth. And all of the earth will come to that place to learn of him. That's what you see in Isaiah.
That's what you see in Jeremiah, and that's what you see in Ezekiel. He will anoint a most holy place.
So when you think about the messianic mission. These are the six things. When Messiah comes, he will make an end to rebellion. He will put an end to sin. He will make an atonement for iniquity.
He will bring in everlasting righteousness. He will fulfill all prophecy. And he will establish and anoint. A holy place, a holy nation.
So When you think about Jesus coming. He did. in his first arrival. Everything that was necessary to set the ball in motion, right? But all of a sudden, as he's walking around with his disciples, And he's talking to them.
He says, now when I come back. And it's like everything stops. You're like, wait a second. What do you mean when you come back? Where are you going?
And Jesus said, listen, I'm going back to the Father. What do you mean you're going back to the Father? You just got here. There's supposed to be a kingdom. There's supposed to be a righteousness.
Daniel 9 said, you were going to do six things. And so for the very first time. In the scriptures, reading 39 books worth of it, you come into Jesus' ministry and he starts talking about a second coming. coming. Ah In other words.
Now we have a piece of information. That was true back in Daniel 9. But it wasn't evident because nobody was thinking about the messianic arrival being an arrival in two parts. Does that make sense? Makes a lot of sense, and it really clears up things for us as we look at the scriptures.
You know, the Jews wanted someone to come in and conquer Rome and take them down. They wanted their king. To reign and rule, but they needed salvation of hearts. They needed the rebellious, sinful heart to be transformed. And that's why Jesus came to seek and save the lost.
In that first coming.
So there is a lot of confusion then, maybe some today, about the differences between the first and second coming. Dr. Horian, I really love the clarity with which you're sharing this. And I want everyone to really think about that. that first century Jew that encounter Jesus, the miracle-working Carpenter's son, And his message.
to change hearts. And not so much. to overthrow And to bring about a political change. But then, when we get to, and then some CMA scholars believe that the 69th week is actually. going to be Um That 69th week is actually going to be when Jesus came.
Yeah. You know fr uh you know when they said hell You know, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, right? When we made that grand entrance on Palm Sunday. And so that set off, but then he, you know, he picked. pays for sin, he atones for sin.
The most important thing, without the cross, there's no redemption. Without the shedding of blood, there's no remission of sins. And so everything else is a setup. For this Next great event in history. Which is the return of the king.
And that's when you're going to jump into the 70th week.
Now, you got to connect, I think, Revelation 11 and especially 13. I believe. Yeah, yeah. Maybe show how it connects to, finish your track what you were on, and then show how it connects real quick to Revelation. And then we do got to kind of wind this thing down.
Yeah, okay. We had the main things, right? We had the plain things and the main things, all right? And the main things basically show us The coming of a Messiah to a rebuilt city to do these six things. And when that Messiah shows up, What we're told is he's going to be cut off.
But nobody's thinking that when he actually shows up, although he says it repeatedly to his disciples. And he introduces the idea that when I come back, so he introduces the idea of a second coming. Which leads us now into the disputed things. And so let me just kind of help you navigate this, and I'm going to navigate it from my perspective. And I'm going to realize that there would be people listening to this or perhaps in the Bible study who would hold a different view.
And I'm going to be super, super charitable. Uh with people just like I am with anybody who's wrong.
So, no, I'm kidding. We just want to be charitable with one another. All right.
So, here's here's one here's one view, and that is that all of this is symbolic. That the book of Daniel, when we get into this section, is apocalyptic. It's larger than like language. It's really hard to grapple with. And so it's all symbolic.
And the idea is, Daniel. There's going to be a lot of enemies that are going to come against your people. God is going to sustain you and in the end, he's going to win. And your people are going to be vindicated. And so don't sweat.
You know, what these detail. Don't worry about the weeks. Don't worry about who the leopard is and who the bear is. All you need to know is that there's going to be a war on earth like there is in heaven. That's where Revelation 11 and 13 come in.
And these forces, the forces of evil and the forces of good. are gonna are always going to be clashing and in the end God wins. You're on the winning side.
So that's symbolic. Um There's another group of people who would say. Everything you're reading about has been fulfilled already. It's all history now. It was all future for Daniel.
It's all history now. And we are in this period of time. where the kingdom is growing slowly. And now more rapidly and eventually. We're going to usher in a kingdom when Messiah returns.
But everything has been fulfilled except the ultimate. Return when we spend eternity with Jesus. All right.
And then there's the view that I take. Those are very general. And obviously, the people who hold those views would be going, Dr. Horne didn't really represent that well. And I'm just acknowledging that in our time, it's impossible to do that.
So I'm trying to give you a fair synopsis of them. The view I hold is that. What we're reading about is historical. It's all future to Daniel. All 69 weeks, the first 69 weeks have been fulfilled.
And the final week, in my view, is still coming. And I want to make the case for that. All right.
So Uh with With that in mind. Um We know That Everything in verse 25. all the way up through Verse Uh twenty Uh 27 have been fulfilled. We can argue about the 62 weeks, we can argue about the seven, but the city of Jerusalem was destroyed. the anointed one did show up His name was Jesus and he was cut off.
And though he had nothing. Right? And the people of the prince who is to come. Did destroy the city and the sanctuary, and its end did come with a flood in AD 70.
So all of those things that were future for Daniel are absolute history for us. We could put names. I was just in Rome, saw the Arch of Titus, where they have the commemorative victory of Vespasian and Titus. The very generals who destroyed the city of Jerusalem.
So these things actually happened. What what Debated is the nature and the identity of the second prince. Are there two princes? Or is there one? And let me show you that in the text.
It says In verse 26. After 62 weeks, an anointed one will be cut off and will have Nothing, right? And that anointed one is described for you up in verse 25. There will be the coming of an anointed one, a prince. And that anointed one will be cut off.
So that's prince number one. There's a second print that shows up. In the same verse, and the people of the prince. Who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The reason that prince cannot be the Messiah is his people are going to actually burn the city.
If you go back to AD 70, the Jews did not burn their city. Jesus came out of the Jewish nation. That was his people. There is a coming prince. And the people out of whom he will come are the ones that are going to destroy the city.
This prince in verse 27 is or in verse 26 rather is a gentile And he comes out of the Gentile nations. And the Gentile nations destroyed Jerusalem, particularly Rome and the sanctuary.
So that's why I see the prince here is not Jesus. It is a coming leader, a coming prince. And when he finally arrives. He's going to inaugurate the final week. And he's going to inaugurate the final week by deceiving.
the nation. And the nation has been scattered. It's still scattered. There's a tiny group of them over in Israel right now. But when this prince comes.
He is going to show up. And he is going to deceive. The people of God, he is going to deceive Israel, and he is going to make a covenant with them. And then at the halfway through, he is going to put an end to the sacrifice and the offering. just like Antiochus Epiphanies did 150 years before Jesus showed up.
So we have What this looks like in Antiochus' Epiphanies. He shows up. He does something so abominable in the temple. that he stops all worship. And in the future, after Jesus is murdered and Jerusalem is destroyed.
There will be a coming leader. out of the gentile nations that destroyed Jerusalem. And he's going to come to a reestablished nation and he's going to deceive them. And halfway through, he is going to do something so abominable, so awful, so horrific. in the temple that it's going to make the temple desolate.
And then the text says. A decreed end will be poured out on him. And when you get to Daniel chapter 10. Twelve, you find out what that decreed end is, he will be destroyed. in Jerusalem.
without any human hand. We know that's not Antiochus Epiphanes. Because in Tai, Epiphanes was actually killed or actually destroyed up in Iran, up in a region near Iran.
So he was nowhere near Israel when he was destroyed.
So there has to be a coming leader. who is going to come, like Antiochus Epiphanes came before Jesus. There's going to be another one even greater and worse that's going to come after Jesus and after the destruction of Jerusalem and after the destruction of the temple. And he's going to inaugurate that final week. And at the end of that week, guess who shows up?
Revelation 19. Revelation 20. You have Messiah coming back a second time, but this time he's not wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger. He's riding a war horse. He's coming with the full army of heaven.
He is the Lord of hosts. The word hosts is the word for armies, plural. Jesus is going to show up in Revelation 19 and in Revelation 20. At the head of all of his armies, and this beast This man who is Arrogant and destructive, who's desolated the temple, is going to be snapped up. And he's going to be judged and he's going to be hurled alive into the lake of fire.
It's a stunning moment in human history. And that's exactly what has been decreed. And that's what's poured out on the desolator. And you can read about it in 2 Thessalonians, you can read about it in Revelation 11. 12.
13. You can read about it in Revelation 17, 18, 19, and you can see it full bore in Revelation 19 and 20. Wow, so Antiochus Epiphanes is a prefiguring. We've studied him in chapter 8. of the abomination of desolation when he when he slaughters that pig on the altar, horrible stuff happened.
And it was a picture of what will be in the end when the Antichrist himself. uh feigns this kind of fake A false treaty with the Jews and then comes in and destroys them, but at the very end. King Jesus returns. Dr. Horn.
When Jesus returns, it's not going to be. To offer love and forgiveness, and God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. No, when he returns, the next time he comes back, It will be To judge, it will be. Not an offering of salvation, but it will be to judge those who did not receive him and to bring into his own those who have received him, which is great hope for the believer, but also a great. Compelling message for us to get the gospel out of there and to spread the good news of Jesus.
We know he's coming back, we don't know when. And I want to encourage everyone to read, study, and pray continually in this. Dr. Horne, give us a closing thought and a prayer, will you, please? Yeah, absolutely.
You know, John 3, 16, everybody knows that verse, but verse 17 says, God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world. but in order that the world might be saved through him. When Jesus came the first time, he did not come to judge. He came to save. And that's why you and I.
like Daniel, have to be assured of God's love for us. We have to strengthen ourselves through God's word. And we have to be refreshed in prayer because we have a great mission. Our mission is to go into the world that Jesus came to save. And announced the fact that he made an atonement, he made an end to sin, he came so that rebellion could be.
Could be crushed out of our lives. He came to cleanse the iniquity that is in each of us, not just the one that he's one day going to cleanse out of Israel. He's actually wanting to cleanse it out of Sam Horn. He's actually wanting to cleanse it out of Stu Epperson. And that's an amazing thing.
When God sent Jesus into the world the first time, he did not send him into the world to condemn it, but to save it. But in Revelation 19, when he shows up the second time, he is not coming to save the world. He's coming to judge it. That's a very, very sobering thought. And you and I, as we live in the in-between time, instead of fighting over whether we're going to be a pre-trib or post-trib or mid-trib or whatever trib, we ought to be doing what Paul said to do.
We ought to be going out into the world saying there is a day when God is going to judge the world through his son. And that son was sent. 2,000 years ago to save you so that when you stand before him, you would not be judged. He came to take the judgment. on himself.
And if you refuse him, there will come a day when you'll stand before him and you'll feel the full weight of that judgment. And that's the beauty of Daniel 9. And so let me pray that God will encourage us and strengthen us. and help us To spread the wonderful news of what Messiah came to do. Lord, thank you for our time today.
Thank you for your word. Thank you for Daniel. He being dead yet speaks. And he speaks powerful truth into our life. And I pray that this week we would live it out, that we would be encouraged.
and that we would make the plain thing the main thing. And in the disputed things, you would have charity. And that, Lord, we would love. each other. And that we would love the lost like you love them.
And that we would compel them to be reconciled to the Son who came to save them. And we'll thank you in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you, Dr. Horne, and thank you for joining us for this Wednesday in the Word.
podcast. Learn more at wedintheword.com. Follow us on YouTube. Facebook and all social media including and Stu Graham. and be encouraged, stay in the word.
Read it. Share it, study it, memorize it, and Meditate on God's Word. Every word of God is pure. He is a shield to those who put their trust in him. Proverbs 30, verse 5.
