Daniel Chapter 9 Verses 11 – 13

• Notice the pattern. Speak to God, pray. Turn from your iniquities…find repentance man…face the truth of sin and take responsibility for it…and then what arrives? Understanding…The best truths cannot be taught, they must be learned and that comes only through coming to God personally, turning from sin specifically and receiving the Holy Spirit download individually! 

Daniel Chapter 9 Verses 13 – 19 

• The fervent prayers of a righteous man avails much James would later write…teach us how to pray the disciples asked…here it is…God, how great and awesome You are, You know what I’ve done, I confess it openly to You now…I take responsibility for what has happened, I turn from my sin…O Lord hear, O Lord forgive, O Lord move upon my life…from here on, I will be called by Your name… 

• That is the prayer that in faith will press folks forward and many times will cause them to escape the curse and avoid the disaster entirely…because God is rich in mercy man and in a moment can and will and (you ever think of this?) is entirely ready to turn everything completely around for anyone, ANYONE, who would have the courage to give an honest assessment of the mirror in the shadow of the cross of Christ. 

Daniel Chapter 9 Verses 20 – 21

• Now it was odd to me that Daniel would call Gabriel a man but understand what he says here is actually "male" or "male servant." All angels mentioned in the Bible are presented in the masculine or as "men" opposed to "women." So don’t get hung up on that word "man." This is the angel Gabriel arriving back on the scene. 

• Now I’m not sure why we see this word "fly" here in verse 21 because in the Hebrew the word phrase really has nothing to do with physical flight but rather has everything to do with the appearance of coming very quickly. The phrase we find here in the Hebrew is found in four other places in the Bible and never is it translated "fly" but here. 

• So Gabriel appears (BOOM, out of nowhere!) and Daniel can tell that he was traveling at super speed. Now Daniel says that Gabriel reached him at about the time of the evening offering…which is significant to say the least. Let me set it up… 

• What is Daniel doing? He is speaking, praying and confessing the sin of the people…he is accepting responsibility for all of his people…he is making himself an intercessor, a mediator…remind you of Anyone? (Jesus) So back to the evening offering. The Law of Moses commanded that an unblemished yearling lamb be offered morning and evening along with a meal offering and a drink offering. We find that in Numbers 28. 

• Now…the time of the evening offering was three o’clock in the afternoon which is the same time that Jesus died on the cross. Ok, keep following this little crumb path…The ritual of the evening offering was precise. The lamb speaks of the Lamb of God…spotless, unblemished and sacrificially offered to God. The fine flour of the meal offering speaks of Christ’s flawless life. The oil of the meal offering speaks of the Holy Spirit who filled Him and anointed Him and ultimately because of Him was granted to men. The frankincense spice of the meal offering speaks of the His life…a life lived completely for others. And finally the outpoured wine of the drink offering…which speaks of the blood, the life being in the blood, poured out for the sins of you and me… 

• It was no accident that Gabriel came when he did. It was no coincidence that Daniel was praying in this manner. This all fits perfectly and intricately together into a grand picture of Jesus Christ and Him crucified as a mediator between God and man… 

• And Gabriel says he came for a few reasons…look at the next couple of verses…

Daniel Chapter 9 Verses 22 – 23

• He says he’s come to paint the sky! "I’ve come to give you skill to understand the vision." What vision? Daniel’s been praying…and then Gabriel paints the sky man…and ties together all of the visions of the past with this specific, particular, perfectly precise revelation of revelations man…I’ll show you how precise it is in a moment… 

• And Gabriel says he’s come also because a) Daniel is praying and b) Daniel is greatly beloved. Man just marinate on that for a moment…Gabriel, Luke 1:19 tells us that this specific angel is the herald angel that stands in the presence of God. He is commanded to leave the heights of heaven to tell this man that he is precious to God… 

• To the outward eye, Daniel is just an old man. Dressed in sack cloth, his body covered in ashes, worn out with the intensity of his prayer and his years…but to God, precious. This single person. Know who else is a single person? I am! You are too! And isn’t it amazing that the God of all, the Almighty looks upon you personally, singularly…loves you…deems you very precious…important, beautiful and good…and comes to you individually? 

• I know what you’re thinking…7 billion and I get His attention? How is that even possible? AW Tozer once explained it for us…check this out, "An infinite God can give all of Himself to each of His children." So you and me, just like Daniel, we have the attention of our Father in heaven even now at this moment! 

• So Gabriel paints the sky…let’s look at this masterpiece of a vision together…

Daniel Chapter 9 Verse 24

• Literally Gabriel says here…"seventy sevens" and thus the Bible translators have stated this as seventy weeks and what this is revealing…first to Daniel and now to us…is that seventy periods of seven…or 7 times 70…or 490 years have been determined until the end of it all. 

• All transgression finished. All iniquity reconciled. Everlasting Righteousness ushered in…no more vision, no more prophecy, no more life as we know it in this fallen inferno of incarceration as a result of man’s rebellion against his creator…490 years until the Most Holy is anointed just like we see at the end of the Book of Revelation…

• Well, um, Matt…Daniel was alive a long time ago…much longer than 490 years ago…are you missing something? Yes…let’s keep reading!! 

Daniel Chapter 9 Verses 25 - 26

• So there are seven weeks and sixty two weeks…see that? That equals what? Sixty nine weeks! Correcto…So what’s the starting point? The command to restore and build Jerusalem…and what’s the ending point? The Messiah the Prince. We’ve covered this before in our verse by verse study through John but here is one of the most fascinating pin-point accurate examples in the Bible where we can hang our hat upon its divine inspiration…thanks to a Biblical genius and mathematician by the name of Sir Robert Anderson. 

• Seven weeks and sixty two weeks…that’s 69 weeks total, right? Or as we talked about before, 69 sevens. So take 69 weeks or 69 periods of seven years and you get 483 years.　 Understand the Jews held to a lunar 360 day year so take 483 years and multiply that by 360 days per year and you arrive at 173,880 days. Boring! What are you getting at! I’m just getting started!!! 

• Nehemiah Chapter 2 verses 2 - 9 we find a command…all together now…ahhhhhhh. The command given by King Artexerxes to not just rebuild the temple…but to restore and rebuild Jerusalem! Now, from clues given of this account within the Bible, this command by Artexerxes, strengthened with artifacts uncovered even by modern archaeology, we are able to actually nail down the exact day that this command was given in 445 BC! Yea! Um…cliff hanger…. 

• Now, if you convert the 173,880 days into solar years, adjusting for leap years, you arrive precisely at the year 32 AD.　 Exactly within the Jewish month of Nisan and perfectly on the exact day that Jesus Christ rides into the city on the back of donkey showing Himself finally as Messiah the Prince! Crazy!!!! 

• Now, hair raiser…In how many chapters of the Old Testament do we find the word Messiah? ONE! Can you believe it! Right here! God says to us, "My people, check this out…bread crumb boulder…this chapter…you…at church tonight…2014…YOU get to look back on this and exhale! I will accomplish My word! I AM with you! I AM returning…trust Me!" Home = hope man. When I travel, I get lonely. I’m very needy…and I tell you just knowing I’m going home…helps me to rest… 

• Now Verse 26 presents only the 62 weeks because the 7 weeks come first as we saw in verse 25…again a two part prophecy with both a near term and a future application…seven weeks or seven sevens…remember the scene, this is Daniel and Gabriel in the first year of Darius’ reign and so seven times seven or approximately 49 years from now Jerusalem would be up and running again because Cyrus is about to free the Jews from the Babylonian captivity… 

• So then 62 weeks plus the seven gives us the future application, the future prophecy of the presentation of Messiah the Prince but then what happens? He is slain…crucified…cut off as it were but no for Himself…for you and for me… 

• But then gears switch again because we are still missing a week right…we’ve covered 69…where’s the seventieth? Did Gabriel break a mirror? (Get it? Seven years gone…) 

• Gabriel begins to mention it in verse 26 with the coming flood…the flood of what? The flood of the Roman army that decimates Israel and wipes it off the map for 2,000 years…that is the end of the 62, stacked on top of the first seven…so that is the end of the 69 sevens or 69 weeks…Did the seventieth week begin immediately? It would appear not. Why….the revelation of the seventieth week is given to us clearly in Verse 27…. 

Daniel Chapter 9 Verse 27

• Who he? Messiah is cut off, so it’s not Him…so who he? A mystery. But we know…don’t we? This "he" will confirm a covenant with many for one week…in the Hebrew this is quite a specific phrase to the point that we know it is speaking specifically of the Jews when it says "many." And so there will come on the scene…one he…a man…and he will establish a treaty with the Jews…an agreement of agreements…a covenant…and there will be peace…one world unity because Jerusalem is the very center of the planet socially and politically…

• Yet right smack dab in the middle…he breaks it…makes an end to sacrifice…so there must be a temple…pistons firing yet? Ringing bells yet? We covered this in detail in Revelation…and then he will commit the abomination of desolation and then the consummation of all things is sure… 

• So when is the seventieth week? The Great Tribulation. So why the gap? Why the pause? 69 weeks were fulfilled way back with Jesus in His earthly ministry. Here we are 2,000+ years later and the seventieth week is yet to come…why the delay?

• Maybe for you. You see before the Great Tribulation begins…before God’s restraining hand of grace is removed and the evil one, the AntiChrist is revealed, He rescues us…The Bible says that we are not appointed to wrath and that we will be saved out of the Great Tribulation…the rapture takes place right before the 70th week begins…and then all heck breaks loose on earth…so why the delay? 

• Maybe for you. I sure am glad He delayed until 2005. Lest I myself be lost…but at any moment, any second, any blink of an eye…done. We wait for nothing else but to be called into the clouds with Jesus…you come too. J