Daniel 9:24-27
Let’s give our attention to God’s
holy word. Daniel chapter nine, beginning
at verse 24. These are the words of Gabriel to Daniel. 70 weeks
are decreed about your people and your holy city to finish
the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for
iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision
and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place. Know therefore and
understand that from the going out of the word to restore and
rebuild Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a prince,
there shall be seven weeks. Then for 62 weeks, it shall be
built again with squares and moat, but in a troubled time. And after the 62 weeks, an anointed
one shall be cut off and shall have nothing. And the people
of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the
sanctuary Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end
there shall be war. Desolations are decreed, and
he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for
half the week he shall put an end to the sacrifice and offering,
and on the wing of the abominations shall come one who makes desolate
until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator. Amen. This is God’s holy word
for us. Well, remember the last couple
of times we’ve looked at chapter nine, tonight’s our third time
looking at this section. Daniel has been praying as was
his custom, praying several times a day. He’s praying at the hour
of the evening sacrifice. He’s been in exile for most of
his life. He’s now somewhere about 80 years
old. And as he is praying, as he is
on his knees, as he’s fasting, as he’s wearing sackcloth, he’s
praying to God, confessing the sins of Israel, the reason for
their exile, and he’s realizing as he reads the Bible, as he
reads Jeremiah, the exile is soon to come to an end. And so
while he’s praying, remember our study last week, Gabriel,
the angel, is dispatched to him, and he comes to Daniel and says,
you are beloved of God, your prayer has been heard, Tonight
we’re gonna get the answer to his prayer though. Probably after
we get through you’re gonna say I don’t even know that that’s
an answer It’s more confusing than anything else But at least
he gets an answer he gets some hope And so we’re gonna we’re
gonna dig through this tonight. This is meant to be a message
of encouragement This is meant to be a message of encouragement
to Israel verses 24 through 27 Yes, it’s meant to be an encouragement,
but I think it raises more questions than it does answers. This is
like dumping out a bucket of snakes and trying to round them
back up and put them in and make sense which ones are which and
not getting bitten and all the rest. But nevertheless, this
is the answer God gives to Daniel. Two warnings. One is buckle up. There’s going to be hard times
for God’s people. The second warning is put on your hard hat.
God is at work, and when God is at work, it’s generally messy.
So this is a fasten and tighten your seatbelt type passage, and
it’s a put on your hard hat. The end of exile is coming for
Israel, for God’s people, but it’s also gonna be the beginning
of hard times. And in those hard times, it will
ultimately lead up to the coming of the Messiah. Now, stop there
and forget all I’ve just said. Think of something completely
different. And I think I’m accurate when I say this. When we read
the book of Revelation, written in the late first century by
John the Apostle, pastor at Ephesus, on the Isle of Patmos because
of persecution as a prison island. When we read the book of Revelation,
it’s meant to encourage the first century church initially. And
it’s meant to encourage the church from thereafter that Christ is
in control and Christ wins. So this passage in Daniel is
meant to encourage the people of God during the exile, that
God will restore them to Jerusalem. The temple will be rebuilt, the
city rebuilt under Ezra Nehemiah, and there will be good times
and hard times until the coming of the Messiah. And so, Revelation
is really for us in the church. Daniel is for the people of God
at that particular time. There’s certainly messages for
us today, no doubt about that. But Daniel and his message really
hits at the heart of the people of God living during the time
of exile, while Revelation hits the first century church after
Christ. Both are important for us. So let’s dig in for a few
moments if we can. And I want us to think of Daniel
chapter 9, 24 to 27 in three ways. I wanna think about the
purposes that are listed, the time that is listed, but then
the character of the message that God is giving to Israel. Let’s think first of all about
the purposes. Now, this couldn’t be any clearer. I think you notice
this in verse 24. Well, it’s all in verse 24, right?
It just lists six purposes. You see them right there in the
passage. One purpose, to conclude transgression or finish the transgression. A second, to bring an end to
sin or to put an end to sin. The third, to make atonement
for a sin or atone for iniquity. The fourth is to bring in everlasting
righteousness. The fifth is to seal both vision
and profit. And the final thing is to anoint
a most holy place. And so if someone were to ask
you, what’s the purpose for God’s people in history from Daniel
chapter nine, you could state these six purposes, but then
you got the problem. What does it mean? And the problem,
what does it mean, brings up all kinds of questions, even
all kinds of confusion. This is where it gets sticky.
And instead of letting it get sticky, I’m gonna tell you what
I think it means. You can decide for yourselves,
but historically, you’ve had to approach this chapter of Daniel
and say, is it literal, or is it symbolic? Did these things
really happen in history? Are these specific weeks and
numbers and times and people? Or is this symbolic of things
that will take place? Well, the answer is usually,
well, some of both. Then another question comes up.
Are these things fulfilled in the first coming of Christ or
in the second coming of Christ? Then there’s technical questions
like, is it speaking of a most holy place or a most holy one? If it’s a place, it’s Jerusalem. If it’s a one, it could be the
Messiah, or it could be another chosen by God to do a certain
thing. Then there’s the question, whose
decree to build Jerusalem? Is it God’s decree in Jeremiah?
Is it Cyrus’ decree? at the beginning of Ezra, how
you get to go back. You get to rebuild. I’m giving you the treasury,
the pots and the pans and the temple instruments. Whose decree? Then there’s the question of
the order, the chronology of the weeks. Then there’s the question,
who is the leader in verse 26? Is it a person? Is it someone in real history?
Who makes the firm covenant? Who stops worship or sacrifice
in the temple? These are all kinds of questions
that pop up. And I think what you’ll see as
we make our way through these few verses of Daniel chapter
nine, the big picture is this. God is at work, fasten your seatbelt. God is at work, it’s messy, put
on your hard hat. The people of God have not been
forgotten. Exile will end, they will return.
There will be a rebuilding of Jerusalem. The temple will continue
in its ministry. There’ll be hard times, there’ll
be good times, but Jesus is coming. So fasten your seatbelt and put
on your hard hats. Well, now that you’re thoroughly
confused, let’s look back again at these purposes. There are
six of them. They’re listed in verse 24. the purpose of the 70 weeks decreed
about the people of God and the city of God, the conclusion of
transgression, the bringing an end to sin, the making atonement
for sin. Does not this scream at us? We live on this side of the cross,
this side of the whole Bible, the New Testament. Jesus is coming. Sin is going to be atoned for.
It is going to be paid for. There will be an end made to
sin. And then the results bringing
in everlasting righteousness, the kingdom of God is upon you,
right? And this vision, this prophecy is sealed up. We know
the rest of the story now, do we not? We know that Jesus could
come at any day, any hour, any moment. It could be today. It
could be tonight. It could be tomorrow. It could
be another 2,000 years. A day with the Lord is like a
thousand years. He is patient, not willing for
anyone to perish. So we don’t know when Christ
will return, but we know that he will. They didn’t know this
at these times. They didn’t know these sorts
of things, but we get a picture of an end of sin being made. Sin is atoned for, everlasting
righteousness is ushered in, the prophecies, the visions are
sealed, and a holy one is anointed who will bring these things about.
So the purpose of God in answering Daniel’s prayer is to say, look
up, buddy. Chin up, Israel. Yes, fasten
your seatbelts, pull it tight, put on your hard hat, but God
is at work. and the exile is about to come
to an end, and you’ll go back to Jerusalem, rebuild. Let’s
think about the second thing this passage shows us, not just
the purpose, those six things, but how about the timing? It
speaks of weeks, and it speaks of weeks if you spell them out
in terms of 490 years. It’s broken up into 49 years,
that’s kind of the Jubilee system, It’s broken up into 434 years,
which is the longest stretch of time, and then seven more
years. You can take these 490 years
literally, say, for example, from the time that Cyrus decrees
that the exiles may return to the promised land and rebuild.
And he resources them with the treasury of the temple, but also
the treasury of Babylon to go back and rebuild this temple
to fund and bless the project. You could take the 490 years
and if you do the math right and look at all the right people
in all the right places, You can come up with this. This runs
right about to the time of the birth of Jesus or the ministry
of Jesus. And you can get lost in the weeds.
And if you get lost in the weeds and start figuring out, is it
Cyrus or is it Jesus or is it Nebuchadnezzar or is it whoever,
whatever, if you get lost in those weeds, you’re missing the
point. If you get lost in those weeds, you’re missing the message. And I fear that’s what happens
today in the church. You know, you’re riding down
the road listening to the local Christian radio station and there’s
the guy on there saying prophecy, prophecy, prophecy. Iran is doing
this. Iraq is doing that. Russia is doing this. China is
doing that. Oh, and this means this, this means that, this means
that. And then you’re riding down the road a week later and
the news has changed. So what else has changed? is
interpretation of the book of Daniel or the book of Revelation.
Leave all that wacky stuff out. The point of this message to
Daniel and to the church at this particular time is that for a
extended amount of time, you’re just gonna have it hard. For
a restricted amount of time, you’re gonna have some blessings
And for a climatic period of time, you’re gonna have some
extreme difficulty. It speaks of Jeremiah’s word,
exile will end. It speaks of Cyrus, go back and
rebuild, go back and start your temple worship. It speaks of
the era of Ezra and Nehemiah, those hundred or so years of
rebuilding the temple, rebuilding the city, rebuilding the houses,
reestablishing the covenant worship, the covenant sacrifices of Almighty
God. But it speaks of distress and
destruction. And so, We can get lost in the
weeds, but what we realize is that in different periods, different
stretches of time, some limited, some lengthy, some even climactic,
the enemies of God will come in the camp and they will wreak
havoc on the people of God. And we’ve heard this already
in the other visions of Daniel. There’s the period of Greek rule
and Roman rule and Babylonian rule and the Medes and the Persians
and all that. We know of the coming of the
last little stretch before Jesus where Antiochus Epiphanes, the
great one, he comes, he takes over the temple, he worships
Zeus at the altar of God, he stops Jewish worship and he desecrates
the temple. We also know that during the
entirety of humanity on earth, Satan has been roaming about
the earth seeking to devour and to destroy the people of God.
But what God tells us is I’ve got my rifle zeroed in, I’ve
got my bullet in the chamber, and at the appointed time, I’ll
pull the trigger and it will go right through the heart of
Satan. And God’s people, though under distress, though under
hardship, they will be rescued and redeemed. This is what Martin
Luther, writes of, and is him, a mighty fortress is our God,
a rendering of Psalm 46, a mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark
never failing. He talks about the tumult of
Satan and the world against the church, but God is our strong
warrior. And what do we sing of? Lo, his
doom is sure, one little word shall fail him. And so we think
about the purpose of God for his people, the timing. We don’t
wanna get lost in the weeds of all this, but let’s think last
about the character of this message to the people of God. Remember,
God’s people are living east of Eden. If you’ve been with
us on our Wednesday night studies, Adam and Eve booted out of the
garden because of sin. They lost fellowship with God.
They’re living east of Eden. Cain kills Abel. Cain’s line
continues on ungodly. They have a child, Seth, and
from Seth comes the remnant of godly people. Well, there’s Noah,
the only righteous family. God saves them in an ark. They
get out of the ark after a year. Be fruitful, multiply, fill the
earth. Well, two of the boys are kind of rotten. One of them,
the offspring of Abraham, come from the Hebrews, and so the
promise of God comes to us in Christ through Abraham’s line. And so life for the Christian
is east of Eden. Life for the Christian is out
in the world. Life for the Christian, as we
saw today in the book of Acts, is before a crooked and depraved
generation, a twisted generation, a dark and dying world, a rotting
culture. And yet we are called to be righteous.
Now, this is speaking to Israel as a body, Israel as a nation.
They’ll go back to the borders and live as a nation. But now
we’re the church, we’re the scattered one, scattered across. the globe
scattered around the world, living the purposes of God. There are
clear things in this passage. Clear things such as God is at
work. Clear things like it’s gonna be hard. Clear things like
God hasn’t forgotten you. And there are unclear things,
how much time, who is this person, who is that person? But the goal,
the end, of the vision, the blessing we have seen fulfilled in the
coming of Jesus, in the putting to an end sin. Atonement has been made. Everlasting
righteousness has been ushered in. The book has been closed. Nothing is to be added to it.
Our holy one has been raised from the dead, has ascended into
heaven. He’s given us the spirit, the church, the word, And he’s
going to kill our arch enemy at the last day. And so this
passage, though it raises a lot of questions, it also gives us
a lot of comfort. And so let us take comfort in
almighty God. Pray with me. Our Lord, we thank
you for your word. Sometimes it’s so clear to us.
Sometimes it’s less clear. We remember the words of Peter.
There are some things in the Bible that are hard to understand,
especially at times the writings of Paul, and we can for sure
say the writings of Daniel. But one thing is clear to us,
you love your children, you seek and save the lost, you preserve
us in the midst of a hard life, a hard world, and your purposes
shall stand, your work will come to a completion. And so we thank
you that we can trust you. And we look for the coming, the
second coming of the Holy One of Israel, even Jesus Christ.
And so encourage us in this hour. We pray in Christ’s name. Amen.