"Prophecy to the 70th Power" Daniel 9:20-27 Sunday Evening Worship Service

Last week we looked down through verse 19.

This week we'll begin in verse 20 and go through 27.

Let me read it for us.

While I was speaking and praying and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my plea before Yahweh, my God, for the holy hill of my God.

While I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I'd seen in the vision at first, came to be in swift flight at the time of the evening sacrifice.

He made me understand, speaking with me and saying, Oh, Daniel, I have now come out to give you insight and understanding.

At the beginning of your pleas for mercy, a word went out, and I've come to tell it to you, for you're greatly loved.

Therefore consider the word and understand the vision.

Seventy weeks are decreed about your people in your holy city to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, 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 the anointed one, a prince, there will be seven weeks.

Then for sixty-two weeks it shall be built again with squares and a moat, but in troubled time.

And after the sixty-two 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 sanctuary.

Its end will 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 abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator.

He writes, This passage has been variously treated and so distracted and torn to pieces by various opinions of interpreters that it might be considered nearly useless on account of its obscurity.

The only passage of scripture you'll probably find Calvin say it's almost nearly useless.

If you look at that quote carefully, he's not saying it is useless.

He says it seems useless because of how many different interpretations have arisen through the years and assailed it, torn it to various pieces.

So I want to try to tape it back together again tonight.

I want to bring it back together for you.

I know there's different understandings of this passage and different interpretations, but I think that the biblical interpretation is, I think, clear enough that we can get to it, especially by asking a series of questions in the text tonight.

And so I want to guide our conversation here.

This is less preaching and more teaching, which is fine because my voice is going out anyway, so it's it's not a preaching night, but it'll be a teaching night.

And I think this kind of teaching will be helpful for us to get into the word here.

And so I want to teach through a series of questions tonight to understand this passage.

So question one, and the first step to understand this passage, is to ask yourself, what was Daniel praying about?

I mean, this vision of the weeks that comes, that's the interesting part.

That's the part with the spotlight on it.

But it's got quite the introduction, doesn't it?

I mean, there's an angel that arrives on the scene to help Daniel understand this.

This angel arrives, code three, so to speak.

I mean, he comes in, he comes in hot.

He says he had to come with lights and sirens on.

He had swift flight in verse 21.

He was sent out with urgency.

And so I think that's a critical first part of understanding this is the vision of the weeks comes from an angel, and the angel comes with a sense of urgency, it says in verse 21.

He came in swift flight at the time of the evening sacrifice.

In other words, this couldn't even wait until the morning.

And just notice the different ways Daniel's received vision so far.

He has interpreted dreams.

He's had dreams, he's interpreted visions, he's had visions.

In one of his visions, he fell asleep, and the angel woke him back up.

Well, now you've got the angel who's coming to him with the evening sacrifice.

And notice what he says in verse 22 He made me understand.

So, whatever this passage is about, Daniel got it because the angel made him understand.

And the angel promises, verse 22, to give you insight and understanding.

At the beginning of your pleas for mercy, a word went out, the angel said.

And this takes you back to the first half of the chapter we looked at last week, and I won't go through it all again, but the main thing that Daniel was praying about was the end of the exile.

Remember, we looked at this in chapter Daniel 9, verses, specifically verses 4 all the way down through 19, is his long prayer.

And what started his prayer at the beginning of Daniel 9, remember is he was studying the book of Jeremiah, and he deduced that their time in exile was almost over.

Israel was exiled because they broke the Sabbath years.

They were exiled for a certain period of time, 70 years.

File that number away.

And now the 70 years are almost over.

And so he knows they're going to come back, and Daniel prays to the Lord.

And remember, we talked about this point here that God says you're going to come back.

And how marvelous is it that Daniel prayed for what God said to happen to happen.

Daniel was no hyper-Calvinist, so to speak.

He didn't sit back and say, since God said it, I'm going to tap out and just let it happen.

Daniel says, I mean, what a better prayer to pray than when you know that God's going to answer, right?

If God says this is going to happen, well, pray for that to happen.

And that's what Daniel did.

But specifically, he was praying for the exile to end.

And so that's going to set you up for your understanding tonight.

If you understand the 70 weeks are about the end of the exile.

But it's something more than that.

It's not just the end of the exile.

It's specifically that the punishment that God is giving to Israel will not end when the exile ends.

And that's the kind of the two-pronged punch that God is giving the Israelites.

They neglected the Sabbath for a period of time, for 10 seasons.

They'll be exiled for the 70 years.

But the end of the 70 years, that does not mean God's punishment is over with them.

It does not mean his punishment is over with them.

God has more punishment for them, even once the exile is over.

In other words, their time in captivity, this is the best way to say it.

Israel's time in the dispersion and in captivity does not atone for their sins.

Sometimes with your children, a discipline ends the punishment for sin.

This is why my wife and I like the method of spanking so much better than a timeout or like you can't watch a movie or whatever the other punishments are.

Because with the spanking, the punishment is over.

It's given, it's over, and you can move on with life.

The kid can move on with life.

They just want it done and to go back out and play.

Other kinds of punishments are hanging around, and you have to enforce them, and you know, it gets complicated.

Like, wait, which kid cannot watch a movie and which kid cannot have dessert and which kid can't ha.

So simple.

Well, this is not so simple here.

They're in exile.

That's their spanking, so to speak, but their punishment does not atone for their sin.

Their punishment, the exile time, is not enough to remove the consequences of their sin from them.

And that, file that away because that's going to lead to our second question.

Why 70 in verse 24?

And why weeks?

That's a very strange way of telling time, huh?

This sermon was going to last for 70 minutes.

I wouldn't say it'll last for, you know, 10 weeks, although it might feel that way.

10 weeks of minutes.

But that's what Daniel's doing here.

It's not a normal way of communicating.

On the one hand, we get communication like this because we understand that we work in a unit units of 10.

So groups of 10 are easy for us.

We teach math to kids on the abacus or whatever that thing is called.

It slides in groups of ten and we buy donuts in dozens, multiple dozens, right?

You got five kids, you buy five dozen donuts.

Maybe not.

But they kind of you're familiar with that conversation.

The eggs come in a dozen, so you want four dozen eggs.

It doesn't sound weird to you because you're familiar with the groups of twelve.

Well, the Israelites worked in groups of seven.

That was their number set.

It went in work in groups of seven.

So it sounded less strange to them than it does to us.

Nevertheless, it is still an unusual turn of phrase.

And so I want to look at it a little bit more carefully with this note here.

70 is the punishment for the Sabbath years.

That's why it's 70.

And that's why it's in weeks.

Now we understand this from Jeremiah 25, verse 11.

Jeremiah 25:11

You don't need to flip there, I'll read it to you.

Jeremiah 25, 11, the whole land will become a ruin and a waste, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon for 70 years.

That was the punishment that Jeremiah wrote and that Daniel read last week that let him know the Israelites' captivity is almost over.

Jeremiah 29, verse 10.

Jeremiah 29:10

Thus says Yahweh, when seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I'll fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place.

They were supposed to have had 49 Sabbaths, and they, you know, they skipped our 49 groups there, and they skipped all of them, and that led up to the 70 years of captivity.

But there's other statements in the Bible about this.

That God is going to inflict the Sabbath, comes from Leviticus 26.

I myself will devastate the land, your enemies will settle in it and will be appalled at it, and the holy land will enjoy its Sabbaths as long as it lies desolate.

And when you're in your enemy's land, then the land shall rest and enjoy its Sabbath.

So that's why the punishment is in a group of seven, because it is described for the punishment for them missing their Sabbath, which should come every seven years.

Does that make sense?

They're supposed to farm for six, give the land a year off.

They never did that.

And so for each Sabbath they skipped, they get a year in exile.

That's the idea.

But that doesn't quite explain the weeks.

And so let me give you the next point here.

Leviticus 26 speaks of this punishment in terms of seven.

Leviticus 26 speaks of this punishment in terms of seven.

And it might be helpful for you to flip over to Leviticus 26.

Leave your finger there in Deuteronomy 9.

I'm sorry, in Daniel 9, and flip over to Leviticus 26, down at the very beginning of the Bible.

Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Leviticus.

Not quite right, but you know what I mean.

I found her.

Leviticus 26, verse 18.

Leviticus 26:18

God says, In spite of this, this is all the consequence for the exile for going to Sabbath, Leviticus 26, verse 17, in spite of this, I will set my face against you.

Leviticus 26:17

This is verse 17, and you will be struck down before your enemies.

Those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee when no one pursues you.

This is speaking of the exile.

And Jeremiah fulfills this the end of Jeremiah.

They run into Egypt when nobody is pursuing them.

The last remnant flees into Egypt.

So this is fulfilled.

But in spite of this, verse 18, says, If you will not listen to me, I will discipline you again sevenfold for your sin.

Notice that phrase.

Because the Israelites won't listen, they will get their discipline for the Sabbath years, but then on top of that, it will be increased sevenfold.

Notice that phrase again.

It's like you will be, you will get your spanking, and then after that, seven more.

That's the concept here.

It's repeated.

Look down verse 21.

If you walk contrary to me and you will not listen to me, I will continue striking you sevenfold for your sin.

Verse 24.

Then I also will walk contrary to you, God says.

You turn against me, I'll walk against you, and I myself will strike you sevenfold for your sins.

Verse 28.

Verse 27.

In spite of this, you wouldn't listen to me, walk contrary to me.

Verse 28, I will walk contrary to you in fury.

And I myself will discipline you again, sevenfold for your sins.

So this covenantal promise here, Israel, if you reject the Sabbath, you will get a year in exile for each Sabbath you skip.

And when it's over, you will get it seven more times.

Now that's hard to understand.

How do you get exiled as a punishment?

And when the exile is over, you get exiled seven more times.

So that doesn't, is it a yo-yo?

Do you keep moving in and moving out?

And that's what Daniel is designed to wrap up.

You can flip back to Daniel.

You can flip back to Daniel 9.

Flip back to Daniel 9.

And you understand that this is given in terms of weeks to draw your connection to Leviticus, which says the sevenfold punishment.

Again, weeks is such a weird word for us, but understand, just use it like dozen, and it would make sense for us that the punishment will come to you twelvefold, and you speak of it as terms of a dozen.

It sounds natural to us.

That's how this was sound to the Jews.

They're going to be punished in groups of seven.

They refer to it as a week.

It makes sense to them.

Third question.

Does this show God's wrath or God's love?

And I think that's an important question to understand.

This takes you back to Daniel's prayer.

In Daniel's prayer, Daniel was praying that God's covenant and the curses that he made with Moses would come to pass.

And we noted last week, that's a very awkward expression.

If you're praying for God to return you from exile, why would you call the return a fulfillment of the curse?

So is this a curse or is it a blessing?

And if you're familiar with the way God does covenants, you understand that it is both.

And I want you to notice that that is a week of exclamation marks up there.

It is both a curse and a blessing.

Because that's the nature of the covenant.

That God will bless you if you obey him, and he will curse you if you don't.

Or to use the language of Leviticus 26.

If you walk with God, he'll walk with you.

If you walk against God, he'll walk against you.

Is that a promise or a curse?

It's both.

Is that a blessing?

Yes.

Is that a threat of punishment?

Yes.

It is both.

And these 70 weeks function in exactly the same way.

They are both a blessing and a curse.

And that's important to remember.

Verse 4 of Daniel 9, I prayed to Yahweh my God and made confessions, saying, O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps what?

Covenant.

And Hesed.

Hesed me is the word for steadfast covenantal love with those who love him and keep his commandments.

Down in verse 13, the law of Moses says that these calamities will come upon us.

It is a blessing, it is calamities, it is a curse, and it is gospel.

It is all of those things in one.

And the 70 weeks function in the exact same way.

So you understand now that what these 70 weeks are is a promise to how the exile will end, and yet the punishment will continue.

Is the exile ending good or bad?

Both.

It's a blessing that they get to go back to their land, but it's an ominous sign because they get seven more punishments on top of that.

It's so great that God remembers Israel and brings them back to the promised land.

It's also important that he remembers his curse to them to inflict his wrath on them sevenfold.

You know, Israel had the tabernacle.

They had the temple.

The temple collapsed under the weight of the covenantal curses and then was engulfed in Babylonian flames.

This is how that ended.

But God's telling him, you'll get it back.

You'll get it back.

That'll be a blessing.

But it'll also be a curse.

And so then finally, the most complicated question, maybe not finally, second to last.

What will happen in those 70 weeks?

What will happen in those 70 weeks?

What's going on in these 70 weeks?

Well, we get it in the scripture here, a list of six things.

There's six things described here.

And I'm just going to read it to you real quick.

I'm going to read you the way it's in the text and describe how I pulled it out here.

He says in verse 24, in those seventy weeks that are written about the Israelites and Jerusalem, these six things will happen.

One, it'll finish the transgression.

Two, it'll put an end to sin.

Three, it'll atone for iniquity.

Four, it'll bring in everlasting righteousness.

Five, it'll seal up vision and profit.

And six, it will anoint a most holy place.

These are the six things that happen in the seventy weeks.

Now, an astute eye will notice that this list is in a form of cup, you know, triplets here, two groups of three.

Let me pull that out for you a little bit, turn one of them to green.

The first half of this list is about sin, and the second half of this list is about righteousness.

Which again makes a lot of sense if you understand this as both a blessing and a curse.

God is dealing with sin and he's bringing in righteousness.

Both are happening, and so it makes sense that in the 70 weeks, the six things that happen, half of them would be good and half of them would be for harm.

Let's look at the six things here for splitting up.

First, it says to put an end to sin is how the ESV renders it, to finish the transgression.

I think a better way to render render that would be to end the effects of their sin.

It's the word for restraining.

It's the word that's there.

So it doesn't mean end like terminate their sin.

It means end almost like hold them there in their sin.

In other words, for these 70 weeks, Israel is going to be held there in Israel in their sin.

They're not going to go away.

They're not getting thrown out of the land.

They're going to be stuck there.

This is what Paul means in Galatians when he talks about how the law is a tutor that watches over you until Christ comes.

That's just part of the promise.

These 70 weeks are spent with Israel held together by their sin.

And that is both a promise and a curse because they're sin, they're accumulating judgment, but because of the promise, God's not going to let them fail.

When Antiochus Epiphanes attacks them, which we looked at in chapter 8, we'll see it again in chapter 11.

They're not going to lose.

A Zeus statue is going to go up in the middle of the temple, but Israel's not going to get thrown out.

That all is going to happen.

And that I think is the first part of this, that God is going to keep them there in their sin.

The second part of this list, he's going to ultimately deal with their sin.

And that's the way that the ESV renders it there.

He's going to put an end to their sin.

He's going to end it.

Now, this is the final one.

God is going to let their, he's going to hold them there, and then he's going to end it once and for all.

He's going to ultimately deal with their sin.

And that's interesting because remember, exile can't do that.

Exile cannot atone for sin.

So the second thing on the list is going to be an actual, some kind of removing the consequences, removing the wrath.

And of course, without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sin.

Which leads to the third point.

They will atone for their sin.

Atone for their sin.

God is going to put an end to it without violating his own righteousness, which means he's got to do something.

They have a sacrificial system, so this seems to be pointing to the final sacrifice.

Final sacrifice is given in the language of atonement, and so that I think is what's describing here.

Romans 3, verse 23 sheds so much light on this.

Romans 3:23

There, Paul says, All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, in other words, to hold back the wrath of God, to be received by faith.

This was to show God's righteousness, Paul writes, because in divine forbearance he passed over former sins.

So in other words, Daniel is going to heaven when he dies, even though Jesus hadn't died yet.

How can God forgive Daniel's sins without a death, without finally making atonement for Daniel's sins?

Because he will in the future in Jesus Christ.

That's this third point.

There will be the final and ultimate atonement for sins, even for the sins of those who are believers in this captive period.

There are believers in Israel.

To this day, there's believers in Israel.

Through all 70 of these weeks, there's believers in Israel, and their sin is atoned for.

That's the first half.

The second half of this list is all about righteousness.

Notice the fourth thing: to bring in righteousness.

An everlasting righteousness, it says.

How different is that from our righteousness?

Our righteousness seems to come and go.

God's righteousness is forever because it is an everlasting righteousness.

God doesn't get righteous.

He doesn't do good things to be righteous.

God doesn't earn righteousness.

He just is righteous.

He's righteous before time begins, and he will be righteous when the earth is rolled up like a scroll.

God is always righteous.

And this phrase, he's going to bring that eternal righteousness into the earth.

Where is he going to put it?

How could the earth contain the eternal righteousness of God?

But it will happen, it says, and it'll happen in these 70 weeks.

Second, he's going to seal up both vision and prophet.

This means he's going to end the revelation.

There will be no more prophets that are bringing you scripture.

There's going to be no more visions like Daniel has.

They're all going to end during these 70 weeks.

Visions out.

Prophets out.

In the 70 weeks, the Old Testament is going to be completed.

And there's going to be 400 years of silence without prophets and without visions.

That's why we call it the 400 years of silence.

God wasn't speaking to them anymore during this time.

And even in the New Testament, we don't have prophets now in that Old Testament sense because we're not pointing forward to Christ.

All the prophets pointed forward to Christ.

The point here is that the 400 years, you don't need a prophet to point forward to Christ because all God has said about Christ is there.

And the New Testament.

We don't need prophets to point forward to Christ because we look at him in a sense in the rearview mirror.

We're waiting for him to come back to earth, but his revelation is complete.

Hebrews says God in former days spoke through prophets, but now he's spoken to us finally and ultimately through his son.

That's going to happen in these 70 weeks.

And the sixth thing that's going to happen is that the temple will be anointed.

In other words, this is this is a weird one.

Because is there a temple when Daniel says this?

Is there a temple?

No, there's a pile of rocks when Daniel says this.

A pile of rocks with Babylonian fingerprints all over the place.

But Daniel says, in these 70 weeks there's going to be a temple.

Look out, it's coming back.

This is described in Ezekiel chapter 40 through 48.

Ezekiel 40 · chapter mention

Again, such a radical promise that many commentators who are liberal commentators say it's, you know, it can't actually be an actual temple because there's no way Daniel or Ezekiel could have thought a temple would come back to Jerusalem.

That's just absurd.

And so it must be figurative.

Well, there was a temple that came back.

Jesus is going to be crucified right outside of it.

Jesus is going to flip over the tables in it.

Haggai's going to dedicate it.

I mean, it's temple coming back.

And that's going to happen in these 70 weeks.

So I got a few more questions still.

Do the 70 weeks come as one unit?

Do the 70 weeks come as one unit?

Because verse 24 says 70 weeks are decreed to your people.

But the answer is no.

They're not going to be one unit.

They're going to come in in three groups.

They're going to come in three groups.

And you see this down in verse 25.

From the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of the anointed one, a prince.

There shall be seven weeks.

Then for 62 weeks it will be built again with squares and moats, but in a troubled time.

After 62 weeks, the anointed one will be cut off and have nothing.

So this is something that happens after that total of 69 now.

And there will be the final week at the end, which you'll get in verse 27.

So these 70 is broken up into groups of three.

And this is why people get confused, because it requires a little bit of math.

You know, common core here.

So the idea is that 70, but it breaks up into three subsets.

Each of these weeks is a group of seven years.

We established that earlier.

And so, here's the most complicated slide for you.

I give you your math on here.

I use my own calculator.

I double-checked my work with paper.

I get the same answer that was in the study Bibles and the commentators.

So we're good.

I carried the one and everything.

Seven plus sixty-two plus one equals seventy, and multiply that by seven.

You get 490 years.

Now, what's going on in this 490 years?

Well, it breaks into three groups, as I said.

The first is a group of 49 years.

That's listed first, down in verse 25.

From the going out of the word to restore to rebuild Jerusalem, that's the decree to rebuild the city, to the coming of the anointed one, the prince, the one who's going to be uh leading over the Arta Xerxes here, commands.

That will be 49 years.

That's described in Nehemiah 2, verses 1 through 8, by the way.

Nehemiah 2:1–8

Nehemiah 2 describes this.

From that period, for the dedication of the temple until the end of the Old Testament, till Haggai and Haggai is gone, Ezra is gone, the Psalms are compiled.

That's how the Old Testament ends.

Ezra is finishes compiling the Psalms, Haggai dies.

Old Testament over.

From that period, the start of the command to go rebuild the wall until and rebuild Jerusalem and the temple until the Old Testament is wrapped up will be 49 years.

That's the first group.

The second group, from the close of the Old Testament to the Messiah being cut off, and that's how this one ends down here in verse 26.

In other words, it will have the wall.

Squares, I think, is a reference to the wall, moat, the protection around them, but in a troubled time.

Those four, those, that period of time, they are under attack.

And that's the story of Ezra and Nehemiah.

We'll look at that next year, Lord willing.

But now, verse 26, after this 62 weeks, this next period of 62 weeks, from the Old Testament closing to the Messiah being cut off, is this period of time.

It's described as the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary.

Its end will come with a flood.

But notice that the anointed one, the start of verse 26, will be cut off.

There's a promise that the prince will come, and he's killed.

Cut off is a very dramatic Hebrew phrase.

It means he's broken, he's exiled.

It's a phrase that's often used for murder.

In other words, the Savior will come, this anointed prince, the one who will do those six things, the one specifically who will make the final sacrifice for sin, who will anoint the temple, he will do these things, and he will be killed for it.

They reject him.

When you take all this map together, the first group of 62 weeks, 434 years from the end of the Old Testament, 483 years from the start of the command, that gets you more or less within a ballpark of 32 AD, which would be around the time that Jesus enters the great uh triumphal entry.

Now, people measure these differently because there's different commands.

Arta Xerxes had multiple commands to rebuild the wall.

We don't know the exact date the Old Testament ended.

I don't even have a problem seeing a gap between the first seven and the second 62.

If the years don't line up exactly, it's not a big deal to me.

Some commentators are dogmatic that this happens the year that Jesus walks in and the triumphal entry.

A common view through church history.

Uh even Calvin's view was that it was the baptism of Christ wraps us up.

All of those are fine.

It doesn't matter to me if this 69 weeks ends here with the triumphal entry or the baptism of Christ, or even the birth of Christ.

I don't think that's the point.

Although it is, it is, I think, pretty neat.

When you look at the calendars of these different dates and the best guesses for the Haggai's temple and how that lines up, if Jesus entered Jerusalem at 32 AD, it lines up right then.

That's pretty impressive.

But let's just say I wouldn't be martyred over it being the triumphal entry versus baptism.

Does that make sense?

If I find out in heaven it was his baptism, I'll be okay with it.

But it all leans nicely to the crucifixion of Christ because it says the Messiah will be cut off.

But notice that's only two of those groups.

We still got one week hanging out there.

We got all the way to Jesus' triumphal entry, or possibly his baptism, and we still got one week hanging around.

Seven years are missing somewhere.

And that's what is referenced down in verse 27.

He will make a strong covenant with many for one week.

This is the final and 70th week.

So here's our last question What is different about this 70th week?

Why is it called out from the other 69?

If you have seven plus 62, that makes 69.

You're staying with me?

Why is this last one different?

And I think it's different because there's a gap there between the 69th and the 70th.

And there's lots of verses you go to look at this.

Jesus speaks of the abomination, desolation coming in the future, while he says that no one knows the time or the hour that it will come.

So for that to be true, there has to be a break.

If Jesus is saying it's going to happen in the future, in other words, it's not his death, it's going to happen after his resurrection, will be the 70th week, but no one knows what it will be, that means there's going to be a gap there.

And I could show you that, but Joyce Baldwin, one of the most famous Old Testament commentators, she has, I think, just the right answer for this.

Let me read this to you if it's too small for you to see.

She writes, if we accept that the work of Christ concluded in the 69th week, what of the 70th?

Many would see a prophetic gap here.

And my hand is raised for the many, during which the age in which we would live would be placed.

Dispensationalists, my hand is up again.

See, this is the church age, which forms a parenthesis between the first coming of Christ and the revived Roman Empire, whose prince will be the Antichrist.

I think that's the right answer.

I think there is a gap between the first coming of Christ and the second.

The first coming of Christ wraps up the 69 weeks with his being broken off in his crucifixion.

The 70th week will start in the future, and we're living in the middle of that.

This is the church age.

This is what the New Testament refers to as the mystery.

It was hidden.

Now it's revealed.

Daniel didn't understand the gap.

Daniel didn't see it.

So why, if there is this whole period, 2,000 years of a gap, why is it not in Daniel's 70 weeks?

And the answer, I think, is so simple.

Because what is Daniel's 70 weeks given for?

For the Jews to explain their punishment continuing to them.

Their punishment, although they're under a curse right now for rejecting Christ, this is not, the period of time right now is not one of the 70 weeks of punishment.

69 of those weeks happened, completed when Christ was crucified.

Now they're broken off as the language of the New Testament.

In the future, they will be restored.

In the future, Lord Jesus will come back to Jerusalem, and Israel will be saved in the middle of this tribulation period.

That's all going to happen.

But right now it is in the middle, and this is the church age.

That's why it is a mystery in the Old Testament.

This is why Paul calls it a mystery.

It was hidden from the prophets, but now it is revealed to us.

And I mentioned this morning that this passage, I think, is a very strong argument for the pre-tribulational rapture.

Because the 70th week, which is called the tribulation, it is not given for the church.

This is the passage that finally ultimately convinced me to believe the pre-tribulational rapture.

Because the scripture describes this period of tribulation coming upon the earth, a time of judgment and desolation coming upon the earth.

And it describes it in terms as punishment to Israel for their rejection of the Lord, for their rejection of the Sabbath years, for breaking off the Messiah.

This is why John in Revelation says that when you stay faithful, he will keep you out of this hour of trial.

John doesn't call it a week, he calls it an hour, a season of trial.

He'll keep the church out of it.

And that makes sense here.

I mean, the church is in this gap here.

It's not in the 70 weeks.

The 70th week kicks back in afterwards.

I mean, it kicks back in, by the way, with judgment and desolation.

Look at the language.

It will come with a flood.

The city in the middle of verse 26 will be destroyed.

At the end there will be war.

Desolation is a decreed.

This is the language of the New Testament picks up, quoting Daniel to refer to this as the abomination of desolation.

Years of desolation.

Mark 13, 14 describes this as a time of desolation.

2 Thessalonians 2, 3, verse 10 describes this as the man of lawlessness reigning and taking over the temple.

Revelation 13, 1 through 10 describes the man of lawlessness in the temple, unleashing his war on the world and breaking his covenant.

In fact, Jesus cites this prophecy.

Matthew 24, you want to write down one verse?

Write down this one.

Matthew 24, verse 15, where Jesus cites this tribulation and says, as the prophet Daniel predicted, it will come with abomination and desolation.

Matthew 24:15

So when Jesus describes this coming week, he says it'll be in the future after his death and resurrection.

It'll be a time of desolation, and it'll be what Daniel talked about, quoting this passage.

This is going past the temple will be destroyed in 70 AD.

That's not what this is about.

It's not about the destruction of that temple.

It's something different.

It's talking about the end times.

Its end will come with a flood, it says.

Verse 27, he, speaking of the Antichrist, the one who just, the antecedent here is in verse 26, the one who destroys the temple, will make a strong covenant.

The Hebrew for strong covenant means to make a covenant by force.

It doesn't mean a strong covenant, like sternly worded, with lots of footnotes and, you know, writer clauses.

That's not what it means.

It means strongly covenant, like sign this or I kill you, kind of strong covenant.

The Jews, compelled by force, will sign the covenant.

This is described in Matthew 24, Mark 13, 2 Thessalonians, 1 Thessalonians, Revelation 11 through 14.

All these passages describe the Antichrist making this covenant.

This starts, this is the middle of the tribulation.

The tribulation starts with God pouring his wrath out on the earth.

Then the Antichrist making a false peace promise.

That's the first horse, false priest.

He brings global war to an end by promising peace, signs the covenant.

At the middle of the tribulation, he is revealed as a fraud, revealed as the Antichrist by desolating the temple.

And notice that this covenant is broken in half, verse 27, this last week.

He'll make a strong covenant for one week, and for half of the week, he'll put an end to sacrifice and offering.

So he will, at the middle of the week, he comes into the temple, breaks the covenant, and ends the Jewish sacrifices, ends the Jewish system that was going on.

The wing of abominations will come to the one who makes desolate.

This is the phrase that Jesus quotes, until the creed end is poured out by the desolator.

This is the midpoint of the tribulation.

When you take all this together, you get a seven-year tribulation or a week of tribulation.

That's the 70th week.

The middle of it, the Antichrist is revealed.

All of it, the church is absent.

All of it is wrath of God on the world.

Some of the wrath is from God to the nations.

Some of the wrath is the Antichrist to the nations, and some of the wrath is God against the Antichrist hurting the nations.

All of it is God's wrath.

All of it is punishment to Israel.

And how does the tribulation end?

How does this week of punishment end?

That's where you need Zechariah 11, 12, and 13.

Say Jesus comes back and revival breaks out in Israel.

They turn to the Lord and they come to faith in Christ.

So are these 70 weeks a promise of blessing?

Yes.

Because the Savior will come.

Is it a promise of judgment?

Yes.

Because the Antichrist will come.

Is it a promise of blessing?

Yes, because sins will be forgiven.

Is it a promise of judgment?

Yes.

Because it's God fulfilling Leviticus 26.

Is it a promise of revelation?

Yes, because the final atonement will be made.

The object that all the prophets point to will be revealed, namely Jesus Christ.

And is it a time of silence?

Yes, because God will wrap up prophetic revelation.

It's complete in Jesus Christ.

All of that is true.

The main point of these 70 weeks is that God knows the future, that He has a countdown to Jesus' arrival.

I think this is the passage that directed the Magi to come find Jesus.

And you don't see a star in the sky and go, oh, I had to do some new star.

The Savior is born.

They knew the time period.

Just like Daniel studied Jeremiah to know the end of exile, the Magi studied Daniel to know the arrival of the Savior.

They put it all together.

But there's one week left.

And that week will be in the future.

Where God wraps up this world and ushers in his kingdom.

Lord, we're thankful that you have made the future clear, that you hold the future in your hand.

We're grateful that you are sovereign over the world.

Lord, through these prophecies, we understand the central figure in all this is you.

Not just you generically, but you on your cross.

You crucified for sin.

You making the final atonement for sin.

We know, Lord, there is no forgiveness of sin apart from belief in your death and resurrection.

The sacrificial system obviously doesn't give forgiveness of sin because it will end and forgiveness will never end.

The sacrifices will be done away with, and yet there is an eternal righteousness, an everlasting righteousness.

How can this be, Lord?

We know it comes through Jesus Christ, his death on the cross.

He is the final sacrifice, he is the object of prophecy, he is the final atonement, he makes amends for our sin by bearing our punishment, and he brings us a righteousness that we do not deserve, that will never expire, and that is powerful enough to equip us for eternal life.

Lord, we want to put away our calculators for a second and just marvel at the glory of Jesus Christ.

That he triumphs over the grave, he makes atonement for sin.

He is the resurrection of the life.

It's in his name we pray.

Amen.

You have been listening to Emmanuel with Pastor Jesse Johnson.

You can find more resources like this at ibcba.com.

Here is a parting word from Pastor Jesse.

If you have any questions about what you heard today, or if you want to learn more about what it means to follow Christ, please visit our church website, iBCBA.com.

If you're not a member of a local church and you live in the Washington, DC area, we'd love to have you worship with us here at Emanuel.

We're located in Northern Virginia.

For more information about when and where we worship, check out our church website.

I hope to personally meet you this Sunday after our service.

But no matter where you live, it's our hope that everyone who uses this resource is involved in their own local church.

Now may God bless you this week.

You speak to Jesus constantly, serve the Lord faithfully, and share the gospel boldly.