Daniel 9

When I was going to school, I had a couple of teachers-- and I bet you've heard this line too-- that you'd come to a certain class, and she'd say, now, class, you have to put on your thinking caps today. And I didn't know exactly what she meant by that, because I never saw a cap that helped me think. But what she meant is you have to really apply yourself and listen carefully. And tonight is a night when you definitely need to put your thinking caps on tonight, because some parts of Daniel are technical.

Daniel chapter 9, the first part of this chapter is the story of Daniel's prayer life and the prayer that God answered as he was wondering about when the captivity of the Jews would end. But the last half of it is a technical description and prophecy of the future, from the time that they would be released from captivity to the time the Messiah would come to the time when the Antichrist would come. It's an all-encompassing prophecy in a few versus.

But again we see the importance in the Bible of prophecy. There was once a young seminarian. And he was pastoring a church at the same time. And he said, you know, I try to stay away from prophecy. I find that it distracts too many people from living in the present. So I don't preach prophecy.

And the seminary professor heard him say that. And said, well, there sure are a lot of distractions in the Bible then, because the Bible's filled with prophecy. And if you're the kind of a person that likes to stay away from prophecy, there's a lot of the Bible you'll be staying away from. It's chocked full of predictive prophecy. And it's put there for a purpose. It's put there so that if you can trust God with your future that far down the line, and he's been shown to be that accurate, certainly, you can trust him with tomorrow. But isn't that where our trouble lies?

Oh, I know I'm going to heaven. Oh, yeah, and I know Jesus is going to come again. And we argue pre, post, and mid-tribulation. But we're confident in our position. But tomorrow comes, oh, I don't know if I can make it. I don't have enough money to pay the rent. Wait a minute. If God's big enough to fling the heavens and to sustain you on the Earth and mankind and predict the future, can't he take care of this $500, $600 bill that you have? What's so hard about that? And so it's meant so that we can see God's character, His accuracy. And we'll learn to trust Him.

Daniel 9 is what I would consider the backbone of biblical prophecy. It is absolutely imperative in understanding God's prophetic timetable. If you want to understand Revelation and many of the prophecies of the Old Testament, Daniel 9 is crucial.

Let me give you a little preface. Daniel chapter 9 deals with the Jewish people. It is God's program primarily for Jews. Now, we've already seen in Daniel chapter 2, Daniel chapter 7 how God speaks about the future for nations of the world, Gentile nations. And Daniel chapter 8 was God's program for the Jews in relationship to two of those kingdoms. And now chapter 9 is strictly confined to the Jewish nation, and in particular, the city of Jerusalem.

For we read, if we could skip ahead, in verse 24, 70 weeks are determined for your people-- Daniel's people were the Jewish people-- and for your holy city-- and Daniel's city, where he came from, was the city of Jerusalem. But Daniel 9 is fascinating, because there are those who talk about the Bible as being an outdated book. You've probably heard people say that, an outdated book, irrelevant book, has nothing to do with me today. In fact, it's a bunch of fairy tales and myths. Well, you won't be able to walk away from Daniel chapter 9 with an open mind and think that anymore.

You will see that prophecy is history written in advance. Just as you look back over history, and you can see how it flowed, God can look into the future, and it's past tense to Him. In fact, He will often write about the future as if it's happened. Isaiah 53 describes Jesus in his suffering hundreds of years before He came as a man. And it says, he was wounded for our transgression. The chastisement for our peace was upon him. By his stripes, we were healed. God speaks about it in past tense. The event hadn't even happened yet.

But it's easy for God. God is omniscient, or he knows everything. God is omnipotent, that is, he can do anything. He's all-powerful. And Daniel chapter 9 speaks of those attributes of God in a wonderful way.

I worked for years, many of you know this, in the medical profession, where I found lots of skeptics. I was a baby believer when I was starting to go to college. And I had classes in zoology and physics and the like. And I found that a lot of these scientific people were skeptics, and that it was in and cool to be a skeptic and to knock the Bible.

And I had a few professors and classmates who took great joy in knocking me and the Bible. And so I thought, well, if the Bible isn't true, I'm not going to say I'm a Christian. I'll throw it out the window. If the Bible can't stand up for itself, it's not worth a dime. But if the Bible is true, there's got to be a way to contend earnestly for the faith, as we read in the New Testament that was once and for all delivered to the Saints.

And so I undertook a series of studies, personal studies in apologetics, and just really examined the Bible until I was able to have conversations with these pseudo-scholars. Now, granted, they were very intelligent in their own discipline. In the medical field, they were fabulous. When it came to the Bible, they were dunces. They didn't know a thing. But they'd claim to be experts.

Well, you know, the Bible is a contradiction. It says this and that. And so I said, well, here. Show me those contradictions. Well, I couldn't define them for you readily. Well, if you're such an expert, put your money where your mouth is. And we had wonderful conversations that sometimes lasted hours into the night. And Daniel 9 was one of my favorite landing points, where I'd like to lead people. And I'd like to go through the prophecies with them and have them listen and ask questions. And I was able to see many of them come to faith in Christ because of the prophecies and Daniel, and in particular Daniel chapter 9.

But the Bible speaks about those people. Professing themselves to be wise, they become as fools. Any time a person usurps his knowledge over God, that person is a fool and showing himself to be very foolish. They profess to be so wise, but they are fools.

It's like the Quaker who is giving his testimony. He had a very simple walk with the Lord, very simple faith. He didn't know much, but he thought pretty clearly. And an atheist walked up to him, professing to be wise. And he said, let me ask you something, Quaker, have you ever seen God. The Quakers said, nay. Have you ever felt God? Nay. Have you ever smelt God, touched God? No. Well, how do you know that there is a God then, Quaker? And the Quaker responded beautifully, he said, hast thou ever seen thy brain?

[LAUGHTER]

Well, how do you know that you have a brain? Perfect logic. There's enough evidences is that indicate not only the existence of God, the personality of God, but the power of God as well. And we see in the backbone of prophecy this coming through history written in advance.

In the first year of Darius or Darius, the son of Ahazarus, of the lineage of the Medes who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans, in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood by the books, the number of the years specified by the word of the Lord, given through Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish 70 years in the desolations of Jerusalem. And then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplication with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. And I prayed to the Lord, my God.

Daniel is a POW. He is a prisoner of war. He's been taken captive from Jerusalem, placed in Babylon. But he is still true to his God. He has been true from the first day he set foot into Babylon. He wouldn't defile himself with the king's food. He wanted the Jewish diet. He started out pure. He ends up pure.

He hasn't strayed in his whole life. He's been walking tightly with the Lord. He's reading the Bible, the book of Jeremiah. And in response to reading the Book of Jeremiah, it says that he set his face toward the Lord and began praying.

In a sense, this is the easiest place to be a Christian, right here, among the body of Christ, to be around Christian friends who love you and who support you and who carry Bibles with you and hug you and sing with you. But when you're isolated from Christian friends in an atmosphere hostile to the gospel, that's another thing, isn't it? To be a witness steadfastly following Jesus Christ in a hostile environment over a long period of time without any help or encouragement, that's tough.

And all I can say is that Daniel had a good foundation. He was raised in a godly home, no doubt, because we read a couple chapters back, when the decree went out for no one to pray to his God, except the gods of Babylon, it says, as was his custom, Daniel opened his window toward Jerusalem. And three times a day, he prayed. It was his custom. He'd done it all his life.

And we live by habits. We set habits. Daniel started out as a young boy seeking God. He went to Babylon, and he was still steadfast, because he made commitments early to the Lord. He didn't waste any time. He didn't say, well, I'll put God off till I'm older. I want to have fun now. He sought the Lord in the days of his youth. And by the time he got older, he had formed such habits of seeking God that it came easier to him.

Now, we do form habits. They're easy to form. They're tough to break. I would encourage you, especially the young people here tonight-- young people is an arbitrary term. I'll let you decide if you're one or not. But Solomon encouraged the young people, seek now the creator in the days of thy youth. Seek the Lord now. Form habits early. Have quiet times with the Lord.

If you don't have a Bible, buy one. If you can't afford one, ask us, we'll give you one. But get your hands on one. Read it daily. Pray daily.

If you're married, have established times with your family of prayer, meditation on the word, and worshipping God. Set those habits now so that, if you are isolated for any reason, from a church, from a Christian community, that when you're out there in the world, you'll be able to stick it out and serve the Lord. I love seeing young people come to Christ. In fact, Billy Graham Association years ago ran statistics that said the majority of conversions occur in the teenage years, because when you're younger, you're generally more open to things. You get older, you start closing down to certain things. You become sort of rigid in a mindset.

But younger people are seeking. They're open. What's the meaning of life? And more conversions happen at a younger age than at an older age. And that's great.

When I see young people turned on for Jesus Christ, man, I know if they get the right training and encouragement, they'll go far, because they've got their whole life to live. Dwight L. Moody one time came home. And his wife said, well, how many came to Christ tonight, honey? And Dwight L. Moody said, 2 and 1/2. She said, oh, you mean two adults and one child? He said no, one adult and two children, because, he said, I figure that that adult has only half of his whole life to live for Christ. These children have their entire life to live. They're the whole. Good thinking.

Seek now the creator in the days of your youth. Daniel was able to maintain that witness seeking the Lord, reading the word, because he's always maintained it, from his youth up. So go for it. It's rare these days to find young people loving Jesus. And that's why you're such a rare jewel in this city. People come from churches all over the United States. And they look, and they say, I can't believe the number of younger people with Bibles here.

Years ago, before J. Vernon McGee went to heaven, and he was old, he came here, he was 85, died around 90. He came, and he spoke. And at first he was a little bit fearful. I don't know. I've never spoken at a Calvary Chapel before. But let's see how it goes.

Afterwards, he ranted and raved. He wrote me a letter, in fact. It said, can I speak again at your church. I have never, he said, in my life seen so many young people with their Bibles open, taking notes, listening to me for an hour. In love with the word of God.

You keep those habits. You keep seeking the Lord and having those quiet times. And God will use you as you go on. I love to see what God's doing in the youth group and in the metal church.

There's a lot of these kids that come from real wild, rebellious backgrounds. We were watching a videotape on Halloween a couple of weeks ago, our staff, about how all these kids, many of them are involved in satanic worship and animal rituals, killing animals. And a lot of the staff went-- [GASP] they'd never seen anything like that.

Afterward, Paul said, you know, I realize a lot of these people on staff haven't seen it. But I see kids every week that come to the metal church who were involved in animal sacrifice. And we're leading many of them to Christ. Well, you get those people turned on who were radically against Christ and get them radically turned on for the gospel, wow. They'll go far.

Now, in verse 2, he understood by books, the number of years specified by the word of the Lord given through Jeremiah the prophet. Somehow he got his hands on the scroll written by the prophet Jeremiah, who was writing from Jerusalem. And he was kicking back in his apartment in Babylon, reading the Bible, having quiet time, maybe a cup of espresso in one hand, Bible in the other. And he comes across this text that the captivity would be 70 years. And he goes, 70 years. We're almost at the end of that.

Now, if you go back to Jeremiah 25, you'll find out what he was reading. You'll be able to read it just like Daniel read it. Jeremiah chapter 25, we won't read it all. But if, on your own, you want to begin in verse 1 and read through verse 14, you'll get it.

But in verse 9, it says, "Behold, I will send and take all the families of the North, says the Lord. And Nebuchadnezzar, the King of Babylon, my servant, will bring them against this land, against its inhabitants, against these nations all around and will utterly destroy them and make them an astonishment, a hissing and perpetual desolation."

Verse 11, "And this whole land shall be a desolation and an astonishment. And these nations shall serve the King of Babylon 70 years. And then it will come to pass when 70 years are completed that I will punish the King of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity, says the Lord, and I will make it a perpetual desolation."

Now Daniel's reading this. He's thinking, well, if it's 70 years, we've been here almost 70 years. That means it's almost up. It's almost time for us to go back. Or at least it's almost time for the captivity. Now what's going to happen? And so as he read the scripture, it prompted him to pray.

By the way, if you want to see your prayer life get fuel and energy, be a Bible student. Daniel, in response to the word, learned how to pray. He's living in this secular society. He sees what's happening around him and the wickedness that prevails. And he's reading the Bible. And a tension develops in his heart. Oh, I got to get on my knees and pray about this. If the time's almost up, and I don't know what's going to happen, but we're coming to the close, I better pray.

And a Christian who reads the Bible and gets his cues from the Bible will be a better prayer warrior. In fact, I like to use the Bible when I do pray. I like to have it open and see what God would speak to me. A lot of times, prayer is a monologue. We don't really talk with the Lord. We talk at the Lord.

Oh, God, I want, I need, in Jesus' name, Amen. But we don't listen to him. When you read the Bible and pray, it's a dialogue. God speaks back to you. And you can speak back to the Lord in prayer based on what the Holy Spirit teaches you in the word, those salient principles from the scripture. And oftentimes I walk away from a session with the Lord, knowing God has touched my heart. He has spoken to me today. He's given me concrete direction of things that I need to do and apply. I've gotten it out of his word.

And it applies to my situation here and now. And I'll even write those things down and then pray about how to practice them, how to put them into practice.

And so he says, I set my face toward the Lord God to make requests. Now, by the way, Daniel understood by reading the Bible that 70 years were up. I hope you didn't miss that. Daniel believed literally the Bible. He didn't spiritualize this. He didn't say, oh, 70 could mean 70, or it could mean 60, or it could mean 100, or it could just be this general vague number. He believed that 70, when it says 70, means 70.

And I share that, because I do have those brethren who are spiritualizing the scripture and who are of a persuasion that, well, the Book of Revelation has already been fulfilled. And it's symbolic language. It's really not a literal thing. And you can't take it literally. Daniel did. Jesus did. 70 meant 70. And we're going to see how literal it is as we go on.

So he set his face to the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplication with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. There's a whole study in these first verses on forms of prayer. But notice with me just one of them, supplication. I would define supplication as prayer with muscle. It's the opposite of a wimpy prayer, of a wet noodle prayer. Supplication is often cried with emotion, not fake emotion, not pumping people up, OK, right now, let's do this. No, it's real. It's from the depth of the heart. A person feels it in his gut.

The Bible says, in the book of Philippians, be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication, prayer with muscle. Let your request be made known to God. Roll your burdens onto the Lord. And then he says, the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will rule and reign in your heart.

James said the effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. The word fervent means red hot. Some people praise if it's just this exercise and duty, but it's really not going to work. Say, brother, let's pray about. Oh, yeah, yeah, OK, let's pray about it. All right. Well, Lord, we just-- oh, man.

Acts chapter 4 is a beautiful prayer. They're in trouble. They're in hot water. The authorities have commanded that they preach not the gospel in Jerusalem. And the disciples get together. And, boy, do they pray fervently. They say, Oh, Lord God, who created the heavens and the Earth, and you formed everything on them and in the sea. There's nothing too hard for you. You see what they're doing. But you said in your word in Psalm 2-- and it's this beautiful, red hot prayer. And the result in Acts chapter 4 is the building that they were in was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and boldness. Prayer with muscle, supplication.

Peter, by the way, learned that. And I think you learn supplication at your lowest point in the Christian walk. In your deepest trial, you don't pray wet noodle prayers. When you're going through suffering and trials, all of a sudden, your prayers are turbocharged, aren't they? It's like you've added STP to the gas. It's vroom!

Peter is sinking. As he's walking on the waves, he starts going down, he goes, God, help. He didn't have a long, wimpy, flowy, oh, no, no, no. He just said, God, save me. And he meant it from his heart. And sometimes I think sometimes our communication with God is so sporadic that I can see the Lord just backing us into a corner with circumstances till we cry out. And I can just imagine God saying, well, nice to hear from you. I haven't heard from you in a long time. I'm glad you're so fervent. Just to get us to trust Him and live close to Him.

And I prayed to the Lord my God. And I made confession. That means to agree with God regarding your condition. And I said, oh, Lord, great and awesome, who keeps His covenant in mercy with those who love Him and with those who keep His commandments. Confession, by the way, should be a normal part of your prayer life. You're not perfect, neither am I. Your life, like my life, is laden with sins. And we're to bring them before the Lord.

Lord, I had a bad attitude yesterday. I yelled at that guy, and I shouldn't have yelled at him. I shouldn't have cut off that guy on the freeway doing 95 miles an hour and run him into the ditch. Lord, it was a bad attitude. Forgive me for that. And helped me to find him and make restitution. Or just a bad attitude or a word that you might share with your spouse-- Lord, I agree with you. I confess that it's wrong.

The more you walk with the Lord and you see His Holiness, the more you confess your sins, the less prideful you become. As you understand the nature and the character of God, you seek to walk more in humility.

Daniel was a stalwart believer. He'd been hanging around God for a long time now. He wasn't just a novice. He wasn't a young upstart. He was a mighty prophet of God. And yet he's making confession before the Lord, his God. And you're going to notice that his confession includes himself. We have sinned.

How often we complain about the dark world that we live in, the dark country that we live in, the sin that prevails. And we blame it on everybody else. Lord, they have sinned. What about you?

Before I came to Christ, I dealt drugs. I sold drugs in the choir loft of my church, because nobody would suspect it. I did lots of things that contribute to the crime of this nation and the downfall of this nation before I came to Christ. I have a lot to confess to the Lord, along with this nation. And Daniel, though he wasn't part of the sin that brought the nation down, he lumps himself together and identifies with his people.

And he says, oh, great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and mercy with those who love Him and with those who keep His commandments, we have sinned and committed iniquity. And we have done wickedly and rebelled, even by departing from your precepts and your judgments. Neither have we heeded your servants the prophets who spoke in your name to our kings and our princes and our fathers and all the people of the land.

The prophets went to Israel many times. God raised up many men to speak the word of God to these people. And they just shined them on. They persecuted some. They killed others. They wanted to continue living in their lifestyle apart from God. Even though they were sent by God to tell them the truth, they didn't want to hear the truth.

They didn't want a preacher. They wanted a politician to pat them on the back. Yeah, we'll do it. And I find the same kind of thing many times in counseling sessions, that when people come in for counseling, what they really want is somebody to be a politician to them, pat them on the back, look them in the eye, and say, it's OK, you're doing right, even though it's unbiblical. God understands, you do your own thing, man.

When you say, well, you know, that part is right. But in this area, that's transgressing the Lord. And you shouldn't do that. You should withhold. And you should-- what do you mean? You know how hard it is to live with that creep? You want me to reconcile with him? Forget it.

In being opposed to God's word and God's authority, Daniel lumps himself together with these people and makes confession and in verse 70 says, "Oh, Lord, righteousness belongs to you. But to us, shame of faith says that is this day to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all of Israel, those near and those far off, in all the countries to which you have driven them, because of the unfaithfulness which they have committed against you, oh, Lord. To us belong shame of face to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, because we have sinned against you. To the Lord, our God belongs mercy and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against Him."

It's a good thing to remember when you confess your sin. You don't want to confess your way into a place where, oh, I'm so wretched, I'm such a creep. See you, God. No, you want, God, I'm reminding you and reminding myself, really, that you're full of mercy and righteousness and, as we talked about this morning, grace. Remind yourself of that. And remember that when you pray to God.

God has a big eraser. God will forgive you zillions of times in this life. After this life, that's it. You made your choices. And now you have to live eternally with them. But until that point, God gives you zillions of chances. He has a big eraser.

The Psalmist said and Psalm 130, "Oh, Lord, if you should mark iniquity, who could stand? But with you, there is forgiveness and mercy that you should be feared." Daniel remembers that, hey, we've sinned, we've blown it, God's judged. But to you belong mercy and forgiveness that we have rebelled against you.

How far have you strayed from God? Well, if you've strayed from God, get back. Draw near unto the Lord, and He will draw near unto you. I know many people who feel far from God. And there's a number of reasons why that feeling exists. But for some people, they are far from God. They do their own thing, walk their own path, rebel against their creator. And then they wake up one morning after experiencing the consequences of their own acts and their own sin, and they wonder, where's God. Well, you've run away from home. You're the prodigal son.

Run back to your father. Draw near to Him, and He will draw near to you. And you'll find a Heavenly Father who loves you, who'll embrace you like the father embraced the prodigal son, who put the ring on your finger, the robe on your back. He'll throw a big party in heaven and say, welcome home. But you've got to come to him.

We have not obeyed the voice of the Lord, our God to walk in his ways, which he has set before us and by his servants, the prophets. Yes, all Israel has transgressed your law and has departed so as not to obey your voice. Therefore, the curse and the oath written in the law of Moses, the servant of God, has been poured out on us, because we have sinned against him. That's a basic biblical truth.

Stated in another way, whatever you sow, that you shall also reap. There are consequences to every action. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. And that's true in the spiritual realm. If you sow to the flesh, you shall of the flesh reap corruption. If you sow to the spirit, you'll reap everlasting life.

And so Daniel states this basic spiritual truth. We have sinned, therefore the curse has fallen upon us. Way back in Deuteronomy, God said, OK, children of Israel, I love you. I care for you. I'm delivering you out of the bondage of Egypt. I'm going to put you into a new land that you didn't work for, just as a free gift. Here it is. But know this, if you rebel against my commandments, and you turn away from me and worship other gods, I'll send you into the lands of the gods that you worship. And you'll be taken captive. And I'll boot you out. And your land will be cursed. And Daniel says, well, it happened. We're reaping what we have sown.

And he has confirmed his words which he has spoken against us and against our judges who judged us by bringing upon us a great disaster, for under the whole heaven, never such has been done as what has been done to Jerusalem. Its true. Jerusalem has seen 36 wars, 17 total destructions, and it's been raised again 18 times. And it stands today. No city has a history like Jerusalem. Nothing has been done to Israel, and Jerusalem in particular, like this city.

As it is written in the law of Moses, all of this disaster has come upon us. Yet we have not made our prayer before the Lord, our God that we might turn from our iniquities and understand your truth. Therefore the Lord has kept the disaster in mind and brought it upon us, for the Lord, our God is righteous and all the works which He does, though we have not obeyed His voice.

You notice that Daniel doesn't shake his fist at God? Oh, God, why would you allow us to suffer in captivity like this if you're such a God of love? No, he says, look, it's our fault. We're reaping what we have sown. God, you're righteous. None of this is Your fault. It's our fault. You're righteous. We've blown it.

You know the three hardest words for us to say? I am sorry, or I am wrong. It's so tough to get to that point. Who stole my keys? You, dummy, you left them somewhere and forgot where you laid them. Don't blame anybody else.

Or you get into an argument. Well, if you wouldn't have said that, then I wouldn't have blown up at you. Why don't you just shut up and say, I'm sorry, honey? I love you. It's so hard for us to swallow pride and get to that point and just say, I was wrong. I've sinned. Forgive me.

You want to end an argument? That'll work. A soft answer turns away wrath. If you want the argument to continue, just turn on mouth, turn off brain, and let the hose run. And you'll argue from now till kingdom come, and it'll never end. Or you can humble yourself. Say, I was wrong. I'm sorry. Forgive me. Even if you think, well, it's his fault, or it's her fault, just say, well, honey, maybe I'm not understanding you. I'm sorry I don't understand you like I should. Forgive me. A soft answer will turn away wrath.

And now, oh, Lord, our God, who brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand and made Yourself a name as it is this day, we have sinned. And we have done wickedly. Oh, Lord, according to all your righteousness, I pray, let your anger and your fury be turned away from Your city, Jerusalem, Your holy mountain, because for our sins and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and your people have become a reproach to all who are around us.

There's another couple aspects of prayer in Daniel's prayer. And by the way, if you were destroy read Daniel's prayer without interruption or making comment on it, it would last about three minutes. That'll prove interesting in just a minute.

But one of the aspects that's important in prayer, as Daniel is involved in it, is intercession, praying for something or someone other than you. That's intercession. You're praying for others. Somebody says, hey, would you pray about this. And you say, sure, I will. And you write them down in your prayer list. And you go over that prayer list, and you pray for them, intercession.

That is where prayer becomes work. That's what Paul meant in Colossians when he spoke of epapharas or epaphroditus, laboring for you fervently in prayer. He was interceding, laboring for you fervently in prayer. It's work.

Now, when I worship, that's not work. That's pleasure. It's easy to worship God. I love singing love songs to the Lord and worshipping the Lord. That's great. And even personal petition, that's not work. I find it very easy to identify with my needs and come before God, saying, oh, God, I got all these needs. That comes naturally. But praying for other people, that's work, when you enter into their needs, as Daniel was interceding here, and praying for them.

Now, therefore our God, hear the prayer of Your servant and his supplications. For the Lord's sake, cause your face to shine on Your sanctuary, which is desolate. The temple had been destroyed. Oh, my God, incline your ear. Bend down, listen, God, please, carefully. And here, open Your eyes and see our desolations in the city which is called by your name, for we do not present our supplications before you because of our righteous deeds but because of Your great mercies.

That's the way to approach God. Don't build your own case. Don't come before God and try to convince God that you're a pretty fabulous, wonderful person, and He made a great choice in choosing you for His kingdom. No, you come pleading God's mercy, as Daniel did.

Oh, Lord, hear. Oh, Lord, forgive. Oh, Lord, listen and act. Do not delay, for your own sake, my God, for Your city, Your people, which are called by Your name. Now, while I was speaking and praying and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, presenting my supplication before the Lord my God for His holy mountain, yes, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in a vision in the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, reached me about the time of the evening offering.

Boy, I find that interesting. What evening offering? Was he in Jerusalem? He was in Babylon. There wasn't an evening offering in Babylon. Even if he was in Jerusalem, there wasn't an evening offering. The temple had been destroyed for 70 years, but not in Daniel's heart. He was so separate from the world, though living in the world, that he still reckoned time according to the Bible. The evening offering, it was about the time of the evening offering. That's how close his relationship was with God.

And he informed me, and he talked with me. He said, oh, Daniel, I have now come forth to give you skill to understand. At the beginning of your supplications, the command went out. And I have come to tell you, for you are greatly beloved. Therefore consider the matter, and understand the vision.

Daniel, you started praying. And as soon as you started praying, I was sent. It was about three minutes ago. It was about a three minute trip. It wasn't a long prayer at this point. He was interrupted. And it was Arno C. Gaebelein who said, heaven is not that far away. The moment your prayer is uttered on Earth, it's heard in heaven. And God acts. And He'll either say yes or no or maybe, in other words, wait for further information. But your prayer is heard, and God answers it, because you have a loving Heavenly Father.

Now, what I find beautiful is something that I wish for and I wish would happen more often to me. Daniel's prayer was answered before he could even say Amen. Wouldn't that be wonderful? Lord, I have a need, and Lord-- boom! Oh, wow. But it doesn't always happen that way. Father knows best. There is a timing factor and a timing element in it. But every now and then, God'll just blow your mind. And while you're praying, He'll answer it.

I was waiting for my visa to go to China. I sent it to the consulate in Los Angeles. It didn't come back. And I prayed, and I didn't get an answer. And I prayed for days, didn't get an answer. And the time was past me to get my visa in time. And it was Monday morning. My plane was scheduled to leave in exactly 30 minutes.

And I'm in the office up here. My bags are packed. And I go, Lord-- and my wife who happened to be here said, let me come in here. Close the door. We've got to pray one final time. Man, I need a miracle. And it was supplication at that point.

I said, God, You can do anything. I need that passport. And before I could say in Jesus' name, Judy runs in and said, the Post Office just called. It's here. All right. So we ran down to the Post Office, went to the airport, and got on board. I love it when it happens like that. Actually, it was a little too close. If he would have done that a few days earlier--

[LAUGHTER]

But the Lord knows.

OK, let's get into the prophecy, and we'll finish it up. You are greatly beloved, therefore consider the matter and understand the vision. That, by the way, is a commandment to you and I. You are to consider the matter. You are to understand the vision.

70 weeks are determined for Your people, for Your holy city to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring an everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, to anoint the most Holy. Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem, Mashiak nagid, Messiah the prince, shall be seven weeks. In 62 weeks, the streets shall be built again and the wall, even in troublest times, or troublesome times.

And after the 62 weeks, Messiah shall be cut off, but not for himself. And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall be with a flood. Until the end of the war desolations are determined, then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week. But in the middle of the week, he shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. And in the wing of the abomination shall be one who makes desolate, even until the consummation which is determined is poured out on the desolate.

You say, what on earth did I just read? Well, let's back up and take it slowly. First of all, he says, Daniel, I'm going to tell you something that concerns, first of all, it's your people and your city. This is a prophecy that deals with Jerusalem and the Jewish people. And that's a key to prophecy. And many people who get mixed up in prophecy and even mixed up as to when Jesus will come for his church negate the plan of Israel and prophecy. 70 weeks, including the 70th week, or tribulation, has to do with the Jewish nation, for Your people and the holy city of Jerusalem.

Now, in verse 24, the term 70 weeks, in some of your Bibles, read 70 sevens. That's what the Hebrew literally says, 70 shavuot, weeks or, shavua, shavin, periods of seven, 70 sevens, periods of seven, are determined for the city and for the people. If you have, I believed, a Revised Standard or a New Revised Standard, it amplifies it and translates it in its intention. 70 weeks of years are determined upon your people.

If I were to tell you that I'm going away for a decade and coming back, when would when would you expect me? How many years? 10 years. But I didn't say anything about years, I just said I'll see you in a decade, in a 10, literally. I'll see you in a 10. But when I say the word decade, it infers to you, not 10 days, not 10 weeks, not 10 months, but 10 years. That's how it's typically used.

In Jewish reckoning, it's the same thing. They called it what we would say a heptad, or a period of seven. And to the Jewish people, a week was not just a week of days but weeks of years. And just as you had six days and the seventh was the Sabbath day, the Jews also had six years and a seventh year, a sabbatical year. It was called a week. In fact, the whole reason the Jews were in captivity is they failed to keep not the Sabbath day but the Sabbath year.

Leviticus 25, God says, plant your fields. For six years, you'll plant, you'll harvest. But on the seventh year, you don't do anything. Let the ground lay fallow. That's the seventh, or sabbatic, year. For 490 years, Israel sinned. How many Sabbath years is that? 70. So they went into captivity 70 years, because they sinned against the land 70 Sabbath years, 490 years. God says, you owe me 70 years to let the land rest. II Chronicles tells us that specifically.

So in the Jewish reckoning, a period of seven could mean days, but very often could mean years. And it's been correctly translated by many versions, 70 weeks of years are determined upon Your people, or for Your people, for the holy city to finish the transgression and so forth. To bring an everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy. Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem, until the Messiah, the prince. And it gives us a timetable here.

Boy, I want to sum this up quickly and understandably. The first key in verse 25 is that there will be a commandment, a decree that will be issued to restore and build the city of Jerusalem. And it describes the streets being built, the city being built in a period of time. And then it describes the Messiah coming.

The problem we have is that there are four decrees in history that speak about Jews returning to their land after the captivity that Daniel is in and going back to Jerusalem to carry on business. The first is an Ezra chapter 1. A decree from Cyrus is given for the Jews to go back. And then we read Ezra chapter 6. And Darius tells the Jews to go back and rebuild. And then chapter 7 of Ezra, Artaxerxes tells the people to go back. And then Nehemiah chapter 1 and 2, Artaxerxes tells Nehemiah to go back.

You say, goodness, gracious. There's four separate dates. But from the going forth of one of those decrees, in Jerusalem will be built until the Messiah would be a period of 483 years. Now, follow me. 70 weeks of years is 490 years.

From the going forth of the command to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Messiah, the prince, there shall be seven weeks, or 49 years, and 62 weeks, or another 434 years. And then it says the street will be built again and even the wall, even in troublest times. So you have 483 years total. That make sense so far? No? OK.

The trouble with the first three decrees in Ezra 1, Ezra 6, and Ezra 7 is that all of the decrees let the Jews go back to rebuild only the Temple. There was only one decree in history given by Artaxerxes to Nehemiah. And you can read it sometime on your own in Nehemiah chapter 1 and 2, where he tells Nehemiah to go back, because Nehemiah's weeping that the city is burned with fire, and the gates are left desolate. And the people are discouraged. He says, Nehemiah, go back and rebuild the city of Jerusalem.

The date that decree was given, we can pretty well fixed the date as March 14, 445 BC. So we have a starting point, March 14, 445 BC was the only decree in history when the Jews were allowed to go back, rebuild not only the Temple but the city. By the way, it took him 49 years to do it. Took him 52 days to just build the wall. But he had to clear out the debris. And to rebuild the whole city took him exactly 49 years.

And so it says, there shall be seven weeks, or 49 years, and then 62 weeks. The street shall be built again and the wall, even in troublest times. Pretty much fulfilled during the days of Nehemiah. It took 49 years.

But it says, and after the 62 weeks-- so there's 49 and then 62-- I'm sorry there are seven weeks, 49 years, and then 62 weeks, or 434 years, equaling a total of 483 years. From the going forth of the commandment to restore and rebuild Jerusalem, and you count 483 years, it says, until the Messiah, the prince. And after 62 weeks, Messiah shall be cut off.

So great, we have a starting point for the Jews to know when their messiah was going to come. Starting on March 14, 445 BC, count 483 years, that's when the Messiah is going to come. If you were to count it out in days, it would be exactly-- let's just get tech. From March 14, 445 BC. And you take 483 years in terms of days, you'd have 173,880 days.

And if you go home and try to calculate it, you'll have 176,295 days. If you try to reckon it on your calendar, because you live in the Julian calendar of 365 and 1/4 days that the Earth revolves around the sun. When you think in terms of the Bible, don't think and 365 and 1/4 days, you have to think back in 360 days, the Babylonian calendar. They looked at the lunar calendar, not the Julian calendar. It was marked differently.

In fact, it was the Babylonians who came up with 360 degrees in a circle because of the rotation and because, looking at the heavens, their astronomical charts, they came up with the idea. 60 seconds in a minute, 60 minutes in an hour all came from Babylon.

The reckoning in the Bible of years and dates is always in 360-day years. So if you were to count 173,880 days from March 14, 445 BC, you'd come to a date April 6, 32 AD. And you say, well, that's a bunch of dates and numbers and figures. And it sounds confusing. So what?

Well, there was a guy named Sir Robert Anderson about a century ago who worked for Scotland Yard, brilliant man who devoted years of his life to Daniel chapter 9, just these verses. And he looked at all of the decrees when the Jews were allowed to go back and rebuild the temple. And by the way, if you count 483 years from any of those four decrees, you come to the time of Jesus, sometime in his lifetime. It's really interesting.

But he looked at that fourth decree when Artaxerxes told Nehemiah on March 14, 445 BC, hey, man, go for it. Go back. You have my permission and my provisions. And Sir Robert Anderson did the reckoning, first in the Julian calendar, then the Babylonian calendar, worked leap years and all sorts of things into it. Came up with exactly 173,880 days. He had the Royal Observatory in London to all the calculations for it. In fact, he was knighted for the book he wrote, The Coming Prince.

And just for your trivial information, it was Sir Robert Anderson who solved the case on Jack the Ripper. Brilliant man, brilliant Christian man.

April 6, 32 AD is a significant time. Keep in mind that up to this point, Jesus never allowed himself to be set up as King of the Jews. They tried to take Him by force and make Him a king, right? Jesus said, don't. I won't let you do it. He withdrew himself from the crowd. He would heal people and say, keep it quiet. Don't tell anybody I did this. And you wonder why.

Why would You hide Yourself? Why would You not let people tell that You're the Messiah, the King of the Jews? He was waiting for a specific day, and the day was April 6, 32 AD. Exactly 173,880 days from March 14, 445 BC, Jesus Christ told His disciples, go to Bethphage. Go get a donkey. Let's fulfill Zachariah 9, first of all.

And Jesus was going down the Mount of Olives on this donkey. And they were publicly proclaiming, Hosanna, blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. And it was the first time He allowed and encouraged the nation to worship Him as their messiah, exactly 173,880 days from the going forth of the commandment to restore and rebuild Jerusalem to the coming of the Messiah.

Now, I don't know if that excites you or not. When I first discovered that, I went, wow. Talk about accurate, on the exact day it occurred. And so this should bring something to light when Jesus approaches Jerusalem. And some of the Pharisees call to him from the crowd, teacher, rebuked your disciples. But He said, I tell you, if they should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out.

The Pharisees knew what Jesus was doing. They remembered Zachariah chapter 9, rejoice greatly, oh, daughter of Zion. Shout, daughter of Jerusalem. Behold your King Cometh. He is lowly and having salvation on the foal of a donkey. He would come on a donkey into Jerusalem. And they knew, coming on a donkey and being proclaimed, and people shouting that what he was up to. Tell your disciples to be quiet. He said, if I do, you'll have a rock concert. All the rocks will cry out.

[LAUGHTER]

But now the sobering scene develops. Listen carefully. As he drew near, He saw the city. And He wept over it. When I first read that, I pictured Jesus standing on the Mount of Olives with a few tears coming out of his eyes. But the word in Greek means to cry out violently, to weep audibly. It sounds like a strange response from their Messiah. It sounds sort of like the response of a husband who just had his wife die, weeping, audibly crying. But in a sense, He did have His wife die. The wife of Jehovah that was to receive their Messiah had rejected their Messiah.

And listen to what Jesus said. "If you had known, even you, especially in this, your day, the things that make for your peace but now they are hidden from your eyes, for the days will come upon you wen your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you, and close you in on every side, and level you and your children within you to the ground. And they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation."

He held them accountable to know when he would be there, for Daniel predicted exactly 483 years from this commandment, the Messiah will show up, until the Messiah, the prince. And exactly that many days from March 14, 445 BC to April 6, 32 AD, he showed up.

And you did know the time of your visitation. They should have been students of prophecy. He held them accountable for it. And He wept. And He wept audibly.

The day, in the Jewish calendar, was the 10th of Nisan or Nisan, which should ring a significant bell to you. The Jews on the 10th of Nison son were told to take a lamb, to take each man a lamb for himself as a sacrifice. And for four days, from the 10th to the 14th, he'd nurture and care for it. And it would be sacrificed on the 14th.

If you had only known this your day, but you didn't recognize the time of your visitation. Jesus had come, exactly as Daniel predicted, as the angel gave in the prophecy. But they were ignorant to it.

And then Jesus wept, because He saw what would happen. He said, not one stone will be left upon another. What was he looking at? He was looking into the future, 70 AD. He foresaw what would happen to Jerusalem, and it happened. The Roman legion surrounded Jerusalem under the general Titus sent from Rome to quiet the Jews' rebellion. They surrounded Jerusalem. And Titus gave orders to his army to attack the people, but save the Temple, don't destroy it.

But it is said that a drunken soldier in a frenzy threw a torch into the Temple, and all the tapestries within it caught on fire. So hot was the fire, Josephus tells us, that it melted even some of the metal furnishings. And we are told by history that the gold cap that surrounded the temple melted. And the gold trickled in between the cracks of the temple proper. And the Romans, so money hungry for the gold took every stone off of each other to get the gold in between the cracks.

So it wasn't just a metaphor Jesus was using. Not one stone shall be left upon another. They will all be thrown down. And today if you go to Jerusalem, you can see remains of the temple complex. But to this day, no one can find a single foundation remain of the original temple. There's not one stone left. There's still the debate. Did the temple stand here or here? It was literally fulfilled, because they didn't know the time of their visitation. Jesus held them accountable for knowing Daniel 9.

Now we have 30 seconds. Verse 26, after 62 weeks-- so you have 49 and 62, 483 years. After 62 weeks from that beginning point, March 14, Messiah shall be cut off. The Hebrew word is kareth, which means to suffer the death penalty. But notice, not for Himself. And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. And the end of it shall be a flood until the end of the war desolations are determined.

Now, as I read verse 26, if you're looking for a Jewish Messiah, He has to be alive before the destruction of the Temple. And by the way, that's how the founder of, I think, Jews for Jesus got saved, by reading this prophecy. And he asked a rabbi. It was in Europe. He said, where can I find the Messiah? The man said, go to New York City, and you'll find the Messiah.

He went to New York City. And he ended up, through a series of circumstances, coming to know Jesus Christ. And he found his true Messiah. And he discovered, in reading this text, that the Messiah of the Jews-- this is before he came to know Christ. The Messiah of the Jews has to be in history someplace, because He had to have come before the destruction of the temple.

It says the Messiah will be cut off. What does that mean? To suffer the death penalty, but not for himself. He was an atoning sacrifice for His people.

And then verse 27, "He shall confirm a covenant for many with one week, or seven years. In the middle of the week, he shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering and on the wing of abomination shall be one who makes desolate, even until the consummation which is determined is poured out on the desolate."

There's one final week of this 70 week, or 490 year, calendar that hasn't been fulfilled. Now, what the difficult part of it is, is that verse 26 goes right into verse 27. It sounds like the same event. But if you've been with us and our studies of prophecy, that shouldn't throw you, should it? Because you've seen the dual fulfillment. You've also seen the idea of the gap.

Now, you can have 2,000 years of a gap. Remember we talked about that last week? Isaiah chapter 61 and Luke chapter 4, the Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the-- but what did Jesus leave out? And the day of vengeance of our God. That word "and" has lasted 2,000 years. The day of vengeance of our God hasn't occurred yet.

So if you've been with us, and you're a little bit more sophisticated in prophecy, you know that many times, the prophets squeeze things together in one event. I've got to tell you, though, that there are those who look at all of these verses and say that they are continuous, 70 weeks of years, 490 years continuous, from March 14, 445 BC, and that the 70 years is already passed. It's a past event. Don't look for it in the future, this idea of seven years tribulations is nonsense.

If it is past, that means Jesus was cut off. And then the calendar continues. It doesn't stop. And the Temple is destroyed. The problem is, the Temple wasn't destroyed seven years after Jesus was cut off, 40 years after Jesus was cut off.

And then it speaks about here an abomination of desolation. That hasn't happened during the time period of the Roman army invading Jerusalem. Jesus himself predicted it as being future. When you see the abomination of desolation, as spoken by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place, Jerusalem. The Jews, no one has ever seen the abomination of desolation occur. It's not a contiguous, continuous event. It's something future.

And this ties into what we read last week and what we'll read in chapter 11 about a man called the Antichrist, whom Paul predicted will come and Jesus predicted will come. And it seems, looking at the newspapers and world events in light of biblical prophecy, that the world is ripe and waiting, and things are being set up for this person to come.

There is still a 70th week that hasn't occurred yet. There's been 69 weeks. The Messiah has been cut off. And then there's been this glorious age of the church where God has reached out past the Jewish nation into the Gentile world so you and I can be saved. And there will come a time, in Romans 5, where it says, blindness in part has happened to the Jews until the full number of Gentiles has come in. And at that point, God will deal with the nation of Israel again, during that seven year tribulation period.

That should be a key to prophecy. The seven years of tribulation is part of the 70 weeks of Daniel. It's the last week, the 70th week. And it has to do with Israel. It's called, in the Bible, the time of Jacob's trouble, not the time of the church's trouble, the time of Jacob's trouble. And God does differentiate in his plan between his chosen, the Jewish people, and the church.

Now, we've touched on, we haven't explained a lot of things. We've gotten maybe a little bit over our heads. I'd commend several books to you. John Walvoord's Israel and Prophecy is one. The Rapture Question is another. There's encyclopedias and books on biblical prophecy. Some of your study Bibles have notes on this.

But I wanted to get all of this out, first of all, so that you would know that the key to effective prayer life is to be a student of the Bible. And secondly, in seeing this incredible detailed fulfillment, the 173,880 day fulfillment, that should cause you to trust the Lord. When God says He'll do something, He doesn't mean maybe I'll get around to it, maybe I won't. He means He'll do it.

And it's through studying prophecy that I have walked away with a greater appreciation for the detailed love of God, how I've learned to appreciate God and say, you know, Lord, I can trust You. And who are we to rebel against God and say, I can run my own life? As I read this book, I think, God, you do a pretty good job of running things. And it would be a fool who would turn away from the control in the sovereignty of God.