To Gain Understanding
Daniel 9:20-27
July 17, 2016
One of the reasons we started the book of Daniel now
Is because it is a book that fits so well
With our Sunday morning study of Revelation.
This morning in Revelation we began to talk about God’s redemption plan for Israel and how that plan includes the time of the tribulation.
God told John that the tribulation was something that “must take place”.
The book of Daniel helps us understand that even better.
In fact understanding is the entire purpose of the final 8 verses of Daniel 9
At the end of verse 23 Gabriel tells Daniel, “so give heed to the message and gain understanding of the vision.”
It is the equivalent to what we have heard Jesus say over and over
To the churches: “He has an ear, let him hear…”
The purpose of this portion of Scripture is understanding.
It is actually the purpose of the entire chapter, the first 19 verses merely show us why Daniel was given the privilege of receiving this revelation.
And the reason namely is because Daniel was contrite of heart.
Psalms 51:17 “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.”
If you were here with us two weeks ago when we studied the first 19 verses of Daniel 9, it was DANIEL’S CONTRITION that was on full display.
• Daniel had no desire to argue with God or question God.
• Daniel had become fully aware of his sin and the sin of Israel.
• Daniel was in full agreement that the consequences for that sin were both just and deserved.
• Daniel even realized that the sins that caused their predicament had yet to be repented of, and therefore God was perfectly right and just in allowing their suffering to endure.
• And finally Daniel understood what so many fail to grasp and that is that by reason of her sin Israel had blasphemed God, and the entire purpose of this Babylonian exile was to transform Israel into a nation that would rightly glorify God.
Daniel saw and confessed all of that in the opening verses of this chapter.
And if you’ll notice, it is because of his contrite heart
That God determines to give Daniel even greater understanding.
IS THAT A TRUTH YOU ARE WILLING TO SEE?
God grants more of His truth and more of Himself
To those who are truly contrite of heart.
That is when God sent word to Daniel.
(20-21) “Now while I was speaking and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the LORD my God in behalf of the holy mountain of my God, while I was still speaking in prayer, then the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision previously, came to me in my extreme weariness about the time of the evening offering.”
We saw Daniel’s contrition.
God did too.
• Daniel was praying, Daniel was seeking.
• Daniel even reached the point of “extreme weariness” over his sin.
And God responded to that.
It’s no different than the prophet Isaiah.
Remember Isaiah 6 when Isaiah saw the LORD and then said, “Woe is me! I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips.”
Remember God then used a live coal from the altar
To purify Isaiah’s lips and to take away his iniquity.
Then what does it say?
Isaiah 6:8 “Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I. Send me!”
“Then I heard…”
It was after Isaiah’s contrition that God was willing
To reveal to Isaiah His plan for the nation.
I’m not saying God will map out for you what is coming for America.
What I am saying is that God responds to the humble in heart.
And notice what Gabriel has to say to Daniel.
(23) “At the beginning of your supplications the command was issued, and I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed; so give heed to the message and gain understanding of the vision.”
That proves that is was the state of Daniel’s heart
And not simply the words of Daniel’s mouth
That prompted God to respond.
Daniel was answered “at the beginning” of his prayer, not the end.
God saw his heart and responded.
And Gabriel was sent to give Daniel (22) “insight with understanding”.
God is revealing the plan.
He wants Daniel to “give heed to the message and gain understanding.”
It is not God’s desire to hide all His plans from His people.
If that were so, we would have nothing.
But God has broken into our world and revealed His truth to us.
In short, God wants us to have understanding.
He wants us to be a people of discernment.
And that is the purpose behind Daniel 9.
God wants Daniel (and us) to understand what is about to happen.
And as I said, these verses fall right in line with
What we talked about this morning as we began Revelation 4.
God told John that these things “must take place”, by reading the 9th chapter of Daniel you will understand more fully why that is so.
So let’s look at the message that Gabriel brings to Daniel.
For the purpose of understanding we can break it down into 3 points.
#1 THERE IS A DETERMINED TIME PERIOD
Daniel 9:24
“Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city,”
Don’t get too caught up on the word “weeks” there.
Gabriel isn’t speaking of a week as you think of one.
The word simply means “sevens”
It is used more like you would use the word “dozen”
It can be a dozen of anything.
Gabriel tells Daniel that “Seventy sevens have been decreed…”
We’ll come to understand that Gabriel was referring to years.
If you are slow in math, that’s 490 years.
I want you to understand why that is interesting here.
If you look back at the beginning of Daniel 9 you will remember that Daniel found a very interesting piece of information by reading the prophet Jeremiah.
Daniel 9:1-2 “In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of Median descent, who was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans — in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, observed in the books the number of the years which was revealed as the word of the LORD to Jeremiah the prophet for the completion of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years.”
Daniel had been reading Jeremiah 29 and he learned that God
Had decreed that it would take 70 years to actually cause Israel
To once again seek God with all her heart.
Jeremiah 29:10-14 “For thus says the LORD, ‘When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place. ‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. ‘Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. ‘You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. ‘I will be found by you,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will restore your fortunes and will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will bring you back to the place from where I sent you into exile.’”
You can imagine Daniel’s excitement
Since at this time they had already been in Babylon for 67 years.
Daniel saw that the time was almost up
And that repentance was absolutely necessary,
So Daniel began to repent.
And God is answering Daniel here,
But he has what COULD BE PERCEIVED AS DIFFICULT NEWS.
“Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people”
It is true that it would take 70 years for the children of Israel
To learn their lesson in Babylon and once again begin to seek God.
It would take 70 years to rid Israel of her idolatry
And once again give her a heart for God.
However…
It would take 490 years for Israel to fully become
All that God intended for her to be.
The Babylonian exile was not the end, it was barely the beginning.
It is true that Israel was exiled to Babylon because of her idolatry.
They worshipped every false god known to man.
And it is true that the exile cured that.
Israel came out monotheistic
And never again ventured into that type of idolatry.
But God desires more for Israel than that she just be monotheistic.
You must understand the difference between
True worship and false worship.
True worship is when you worship the right God in the right way.
But there are varied forms of false worship.
• One is to worship the wrong god (which is what Israel did before the exile)
• The other form of false worship is to worship the true God in the wrong way.
And this is what Israel did after the exile.
The 70 year exile cured the first type of false worship,
It would take 490 years to cure the second.
God is not just interested in monotheism.
God is interested in pure worshipers.
Remember what Jesus told the woman at the well?
John 4:23 “But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.”
That is what God is looking for from Israel,
And that is what He has NEVER received.
It will take “seventy weeks” to bring that about.
Listen to what Gabriel says:
(24) “Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy place.”
There were six things Gabriel listed there that God is still waiting for from Israel.
1) “to finish the transgression”
We that from the moment Moses descended off of Sinai with those tablets
And the people entered into covenant with God
They have done nothing but transgress that covenant.
Every promise they ever made to God they broke.
Their history has been one of repeated lying and unfaithfulness.
Psalms 78:34-37 “When He killed them, then they sought Him, And returned and searched diligently for God; And they remembered that God was their rock, And the Most High God their Redeemer. But they deceived Him with their mouth And lied to Him with their tongue. For their heart was not steadfast toward Him, Nor were they faithful in His covenant.”
Hosea said:
Hosea 6:4 “What shall I do with you, O Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah? For your loyalty is like a morning cloud And like the dew which goes away early.”
And while the 70 year exile stopped their idolatry,
It did not change their lack of loyalty.
It would take 490 years to stop that.
2) “to make an end of sin”
The difference between transgression and sin is that
Transgression refers to the breaking of an agreement, or willful sin.
“sin” is simply just a falling short of God’s standard of holiness
And Israel has done this from the beginning as well.
The great deception of Israel’s past is that they actually thought
That their religious works made them acceptable to God.
They actually assumed all their religious ordinances
Somehow nullified their sinfulness.
And that has never been the case.
Prophet after prophet in the Old Testament reminded Israel that her religious sacrifices were a poor substitute for her sinful ways.
When John the Baptist came on the scene
He was still preaching the same message.
“Repent! And do not suppose you can say we have Abraham as our father…”
Israel was sinful and no religious ordinance had taken that away.
The 70 year captivity stopped Israel’s idolatry, but it didn’t stop their sin.
It would take 490 years to do that.
3) “to make atonement for iniquity”
Once again Israel’s stubbornness will work against her.
You and I know that God would send His Son as atonement for sin
To offer Israel forgiveness,
But she would reject Him and nail Him to a cross.
This is explicitly why it will take 490 years and not just 483.
That last 7 is required because it will take all 490
To finally get Israel to look on the One they pierced.
Their sin will never be atoned until they come to Jesus.
And while the Babylonian captivity removed idolatry,
It did not atone for their iniquity.
It would take 490 years to do that.
4) “to bring in everlasting righteousness”
This runs hand in hand with the previous, for Christ does both.
2 Corinthians 5:21 “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
It is the truth known as IMPUTATION
• Our sin was imputed to Christ.
• His righteousness was imputed to us.
But Israel rejected Christ so neither occurred for them yet.
And as a result they are still sinful and still not righteous.
They may not bow down to Molech any longer,
But that doesn’t mean they are righteous in the sight of God.
It will take 490 years to accomplish that.
5) “to seal up vision and prophecy”
That simply means to FINISH all the prophecies.
There are still numerous promises and prophecies in the Old Testament
That have yet to be fulfilled.
Isaiah 65:17-25 “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; And the former things will not be remembered or come to mind. “But be glad and rejoice forever in what I create; For behold, I create Jerusalem for rejoicing And her people for gladness. “I will also rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in My people; And there will no longer be heard in her The voice of weeping and the sound of crying. “No longer will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, Or an old man who does not live out his days; For the youth will die at the age of one hundred And the one who does not reach the age of one hundred Will be thought accursed. “They will build houses and inhabit them; They will also plant vineyards and eat their fruit. “They will not build and another inhabit, They will not plant and another eat; For as the lifetime of a tree, so will be the days of My people, And My chosen ones will wear out the work of their hands. “They will not labor in vain, Or bear children for calamity; For they are the offspring of those blessed by the LORD, And their descendants with them. “It will also come to pass that before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear. “The wolf and the lamb will graze together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox; and dust will be the serpent’s food. They will do no evil or harm in all My holy mountain,” says the LORD.”
It is a promise yet to be fulfilled.
This morning in Acts 3 we listened as Peter told the children of Israel that Christ had already fulfilled every passage regarding the suffering of the Messiah.
The only thing missing was for Israel to “Repent and return so that her sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; and that God may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for them.”
The reality is that in leaving Babylon Jeremiah 29:10-14 was fulfilled,
But there are a host of other promises yet to be fulfilled.
It will take 490 years to get all that done.
6) “and to anoint the most holy place”
It is not fully understood what is meant by “anoint the most holy place”
But it is clear whatever it was did not occur at Calvary.
It seems most likely that the idea here is that of sanctifying or setting apart the holy place as the most important place of all the earth.
When Ezekiel saw the end he said:
Ezekiel 43:6-9 “Then I heard one speaking to me from the house, while a man was standing beside me. He said to me, “Son of man, this is the place of My throne and the place of the soles of My feet, where I will dwell among the sons of Israel forever. And the house of Israel will not again defile My holy name, neither they nor their kings, by their harlotry and by the corpses of their kings when they die, by setting their threshold by My threshold and their door post beside My door post, with only the wall between Me and them. And they have defiled My holy name by their abominations which they have committed. So I have consumed them in My anger. “Now let them put away their harlotry and the corpses of their kings far from Me; and I will dwell among them forever.”
It carries the idea of God’s presence
Being the most important thing in Israel.
And while 70 years in Babylon did get them to remove foreign gods,
It did not get them to value the true God as they should have.
It will take 490 years for that.
So you see the message for Daniel.
God has a bigger plan for Israel than just to cause them to lay down their idols and seek Him.
• God wants them to be completely finished with transgression and sin.
• God wants to atone for that sin and make them perfectly righteous.
• God wants to be able to fulfill every promise He ever made to them.
• And God wants to be the most important thing in their lives.
Incidentally that is God’s goal for every one of us.
And all of those things are fulfilled in Jesus.
He not only atones for our sin and makes us righteous,
But He is also the fulfillment of all God’s promises to us.
Remember what Paul said about Jesus being our “Amen to the promises of God”.
It is Jesus also who causes us to be born again with a new nature
That hates sin and loves righteousness
And loves God with all our heart and soul and mind and strength.
That is why trusting Jesus is the plan of God for each of us.
Israel is not there.
God tells Daniel it will take 490 years to get them there.
There is a Determined Time Period
#2 THERE ARE DETERMINED EVENTS
Daniel 9:25-26
Now I don’t mind telling you that this may be
The most profound prophecy recorded anywhere in the Bible.
God reveals to Daniel how this 490 years is going to play out.
First God reveals when the clock starts.
(25) “So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of distress.”
Now don’t confuse this with Cyrus’ decree to rebuild the temple,
That is not what Gabriel said.
This is the “decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem”
And it happened in Nehemiah 2
Nehemiah 2:1-8 “And it came about in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, that wine was before him, and I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad in his presence. So the king said to me, “Why is your face sad though you are not sick? This is nothing but sadness of heart.” Then I was very much afraid. I said to the king, ” Let the king live forever. Why should my face not be sad when the city, the place of my fathers’ tombs, lies desolate and its gates have been consumed by fire?” Then the king said to me, “What would you request?” So I prayed to the God of heaven. I said to the king, “If it please the king, and if your servant has found favor before you, send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ tombs, that I may rebuild it.” Then the king said to me, the queen sitting beside him, “How long will your journey be, and when will you return?” So it pleased the king to send me, and I gave him a definite time. And I said to the king, “If it please the king, let letters be given me for the governors of the provinces beyond the River, that they may allow me to pass through until I come to Judah, and a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king’s forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the fortress which is by the temple, for the wall of the city and for the house to which I will go.” And the king granted them to me because the good hand of my God was on me.”
In the month of Nisan Nehemiah received the decree to rebuild Jerusalem.
First Gabriel said there would be “seven weeks”
• (49 years) which is the time it would take for Jerusalem to be rebuilt.
And then Gabriel said there would be “sixty-two weeks”
• (434 years) until the next major event would happen.
What event would that be?
(26) “Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing,”
Let me make this as clear as I know how.
First you need to know that the Jewish calendar differs from the Gregorian calendar, which is the one you and I use.
If you try to take a Jewish prophecy and align it by a Gentile calendar
You run into trouble, so let me help you out.
(And I don’t expect you to fully grab all of this, but you will get the point)
Take 483 years according to the Jewish calendar.
(The Jewish calendar has 360 days per year in it)
So the total number of days we are talking about is 173,880 days.
Now the decree by Artaxerxes was in 444 BC
And obviously Jesus died in 33AD
By our calendar that is 476 years
(So it appears we are 7 years off)
However, if you go by days.
476 x 365 is 173,740
And you say preacher we’re still off by 140 days.
• That is unless you account for the 116 leap years that would have
occurred during that time
• And the 24 days which occurred from March 5 to March 30 and you
realize this:
Artaxerxes gave the decree on March 5, 444BC
Do you want to know what happened on March 30, 33AD?
Jesus entered Jerusalem seated on the foal of a donkey.
God showed Daniel the exact time of the rejection of the Messiah.
It is absolutely staggering.
God has now told Daniel that it was going to take 490 years to finish everything He intended to do with Israel.
• The first 49 years was to rebuild the city.
• The next 434 years was to wait for ultimately kill the Messiah
Now you should know that killing the Messiah
Would have devastating repercussions for the nation of Israel.
Here is what Gabriel told Daniel would happen as a result of that.
(26) “and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined.”
Now pay attention here because this is important.
Gabriel introduces “the prince who is to come”.
We haven’t seen him yet, he’ll show up in verse 27. You and I know him as Antichrist.
But we find that BEFORE HE ARRIVES on the scene his “people”
Will inflict much pain on the nation of Israel.
• His people will “destroy the city and the sanctuary” which did
happen in AD 70.
• “there will be war” which has happened nonstop for Israel.
• “desolations are determined” which has also been constant.
This is where we throw in horrific events like the holocaust under HITLER
Or the persecution under STALIN or even the TERRORISM of today.
All of these things are continually occurring in Israel
As a result of her killing her Messiah.
What is not spelled out here,
But is made clear to us in places like Romans 11
Is that when Israel killed the Messiah
The DIVINE CLOCK regarding their redemption STOPPED.
• At 483 years the pendulum quit swinging and Israel since that day has been trampled underfoot by Gentiles.
If you want me to do a little CONNECTING OF THE DOTS for you.
This is the period Jesus spoke of in Matthew 24.
Matthew 24:4-8 “And Jesus answered and said to them, “See to it that no one misleads you. “For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will mislead many. “You will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end. “For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes. “But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs.”
That is where Israel has been stuck for nearly 2000 years.
Luke 21:20-24 “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then recognize that her desolation is near. “Then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains, and those who are in the midst of the city must leave, and those who are in the country must not enter the city; because these are days of vengeance, so that all things which are written will be fulfilled. “Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days; for there will be great distress upon the land and wrath to this people; and they will fall by the edge of the sword, and will be led captive into all the nations; and Jerusalem will be trampled under foot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.”
This has been the repercussions
Israel has continually faced for killing her Messiah.
However, you must have noticed that
We are only 483 years into this promised timeframe.
That is because there is A DAY COMING in the future.
The day we learned about this morning in Revelation 4
That “must take place after these things.”
It is that final 7 years that is yet to be fulfilled
When God will once again start the pendulum swinging
And fulfill all those things listed in verse 24.
That day is coming.
So you’ve seen There is a Determined Time Period
There are Determined Events
#3 THERE IS A DETERMINED END
Daniel 9:27
This is that “prince” spoken of earlier. You know him as Antichrist.
In that final 7 year period he will make an agreement with Israel to be their deliverer, but 3 ½ years into it he will break that agreement.
(just as was foreshadowed by Antiochas Epiphenes)
And he will terrorize Israel “even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate.”
That final 7 is on its way.
• A time of great tribulation.
• A time of great desolation.
But it will be this final 7 years that will finally cause
That list of 6 things back in verse 24 to happen.
Because it will be during this period that Israel will finally
Look on Him whom they have pierced and will mourn for Him
And as a result of that:
• Their sin will be removed
• Their righteousness will be granted
• And they will finally love God the way He intended
• And God will bring the fulfillment of all the promises He made to them.
This is what it will take to finally mold Israel into the nation God intended.
I’m sorry Daniel, but 70 years in Babylon isn’t going to cut it.
It’s going to take 490 years (that is if you don’t count the 2000 plus where God had broken them off and focused on the church)
This helps us understand passages like:
Isaiah 65:1-2 “I permitted Myself to be sought by those who did not ask for Me; I permitted Myself to be found by those who did not seek Me. I said, ‘Here am I, here am I,’ To a nation which did not call on My name. “I have spread out My hands all day long to a rebellious people, Who walk in the way which is not good, following their own thoughts,”
It helps us understand the weeping of Jesus over Jerusalem.
Matthew 23:37-39 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling. “Behold, your house is being left to you desolate! “For I say to you, from now on you will not see Me until you say, ‘BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD!'”
And it helps us to understand why the tribulation
We are studying in Revelation MUST take place.
It will happen because God is not willing to forsake the nation of Israel,
And that is what is required to bring about their salvation.
So, I encourage you to “gain understanding”
From the vision just as Daniel did.
• Understand God’s unfailing redemptive love for Israel and the
lengths to which He will go to save them.
• Understand God’s sovereign prerogative and the immense wisdom
that is His in orchestrating such events.
• Understand the grace that is yours to have salvation in the midst of
their rebellion.
• Understand the high cost of stubbornness before God and the high
cost of rejecting Jesus.
“so give heed to the message and gain understanding of the vision.”
