[01:00:00;45 - 01:01:49;23] All right, thank you, thank you, thank you for being here tonight. Tonight and next Wednesday night we're going to study some very important stuff. In fact, I'm going to use a quote I used last week to describe the importance of Matthew chapter 9 verses 24 to 27. "The prophetic message Gabriel brought from the throne of God to Daniel is perhaps the most important not only in the book of Daniel but in the whole Bible. The clear understanding of it is indispensable to every reader of God's Word who wants to know God's purposes concerning the future. In the few verses which contain the words of Gabriel, events relating to Jewish future history are predicted. The return of the Jews from the Babylonian captivity, the rebuilding of the city in time of distress, and the coming of Christ in humiliation, his death, the destruction of the temple, and the city by the Romans, the desolations and wars which were to follow. All of this is pre-written, this is what blows my mind, it's pre-written in great prophecy, biblical prophecy. The final end of the time of the Gentiles, the great eventful week of seven years is revealed in the last verse that will go over tonight. So I'm glad that you're here. I hope and pray that you have your thinking cap on because you'll need your thinking cap. I've been thinking so much my head hurts. [01:01:51;10 - 01:02:02;16] So let's begin with a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, I thank you for the men and women in this room. I thank you that they care enough about the Word of God, [01:02:03;35 - 01:05:00;57] that they're willing to give up time, that they could be doing other things to come and sit under the ministry of the Word. Father, tonight I pray that you would fill me with the Holy Spirit. I pray that you would help me to think clearly, help me to speak with wisdom and understanding, and I pray Heavenly Father that the Holy Spirit would have total control of my heart and every member of my body. And I pray that tonight you would make me a vessel of honor set apart for the glory of Jesus and the Father. Please Lord, use me. We love you. We thank you for the opportunity we have to be a part of your kingdom, an everlasting kingdom. And Lord, just bless us tonight with fresh truth from the Word of God. In Jesus name, amen. Now last week we spent a great deal of time looking at the the prayer of Daniel. And Daniel, if you remember, had been digging in the the prophecy of Jeremiah and he found out something that blessed his heart. In Jeremiah chapter 29 verses 10 to 14, this is what he discovered. "For thus says the Lord, when 70 years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill my good word to you to bring you back to this place, back to the Promised Land. For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for calamity, to bring you a future and a hope." But sometimes we take scripture out of context and this is one of the key scriptures that are taken out of context so many times. But I want you to see the context here. Notice God says, "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 hope." Well, who did he say that to? He said that to the Jewish people who were in captivity in Babylon. Now, are there some obvious carryovers that we can apply to our lives? Sure. But this is a promise from God to the covenant people of God who were in captivity in Babylon. Verse 12, "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, [01:05:01;58 - 01:05:23;16] from all the places where I've driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from where I sent you into exile." Now, understand that God had disciplined the covenant people of Israel. You say, "Well, why would God discipline the covenant people of Israel?" Because they had sinned against God. [01:05:24;35 - 01:08:43;39] Because they had become idolaters and they ignored the Word of God and they basically lived the way they wanted to live. And it cost them. In 605 BC, you remember Nebuchadnezzar came and he took Daniel and Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, and some of the best youth there in Israel and carried them to Babylon. Then in 586 BC, Nebuchadnezzar and his army came and absolutely destroyed the city of Jerusalem and destroyed the temple. And it was a crushing blow to the Jewish people. Now, Daniel was one of those Jewish people. By this time where we're at tonight, Daniel is an old man. He's probably in his late 80s, but he is a godly old man. I hope and pray that as you get older and older, that you will dig into the Word of God more and more and you will be a godly spirit-filled man and woman, that God will use you to the very end of your life. I pray that on your deathbed, you'll be making a difference for Jesus. Amen? Now, as Daniel began to study this prophecy in Jeremiah, he made the discovery that the 70 years of captivity was about up. We just read it. God said, "For 70 years, I'm going to send you and discipline you and at the end of 70 years, I'm going to bring you back to Israel." Well, Daniel discovered they were within about three years of the captivity coming to an end, and that motivated him. And man, I'm telling you what, he got on his face before God and he prayed with fervency and power and he's praying. Daniel knew that he wouldn't be going back. He knew that, but he was so concerned about Jerusalem and the Jewish people and the temple, he wanted to make sure that he did everything he could. The best thing he could do was pray. You know, sometimes the best thing we can do is pray. The best thing. And I open pray that your prayer life is strong and healthy. Now, a cursory reading of Daniel's prayer that we went over last week, reveals that he was deeply, deeply, deeply concerned for Jerusalem and Mount Zaya. Okay? Here's some questions that Daniel would deal with. Would the city be restored? Would the temple be rebuilt? Would the nation ever get right with God? Would righteousness ever dwell on the earth? [01:08:45;23 - 01:12:03;17] Now, Gabriel is an angel of God. As far as I know, there are only two angels that are named in the Bible. That's Gabriel and Michael. And Gabriel was sent by God, sent from heaven with a message for Daniel who had poured himself out in prayer to the living God. Look at verses 20 to 23 of Daniel chapter nine. Just take your Bible, look at Daniel chapter nine, verses 20 to 23. And here's what Daniel wrote in his book. 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, Mount Zion, 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 weirdness about the time of the evening offering. The evening offering was usually around 3 p.m. Okay? So it's about 3 p.m. And Gabriel the angel showed up in Daniel's presence. Verse 22, he gave me instruction and taught with me and said, "Oh, Daniel, I've now come forth to give you insight with understanding." That's interesting, isn't it? Gabriel said, "God has sent me to you to give you insight with understanding." I can tell you, if you study the book of Daniel, if you study our text tonight, you need insight with understanding. Okay? Now, you're not going to have Gabriel, you're going to have somebody better than Gabriel. You're going to have the Holy Spirit to help you. Okay? Now, look at verse 23. "At the beginning of your supplications, the command was given, and I've come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed." Oh my goodness. Daniel was highly esteemed in heaven. Every time I read that, I marvel at the character, the spirituality, the passion of Daniel. He was highly esteemed. So give heed to the message and gain understanding of the vision. Now, why did Gabriel come? He came to give Daniel insight with understanding, and the angel Gabriel revealed the prophecy of the 70 weeks to Daniel. Now, that's what we're looking at tonight, the prophecy of the 70 weeks. Okay? Look at verses 24 to 20. It's a real short text, but I'm telling you, this short text is absolutely jam-packed [01:12:04;26 - 01:12:12;46] with important stuff. Okay? Now, let's read it together. Look at Daniel chapter 9, verse 24 to 27. [01:12:14;07 - 01:12:22;11] Here's God's message to Daniel. "Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city [01:12:23;13 - 01:12:40;44] 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. [01:12:41;46 - 01:14:25;22] 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 62 weeks. It will be built again with plaza and moat, even in times of distress. Then after the 62 weeks, the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, 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, and he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week. But in the middle of the week, he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering, and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction. The one that is decreed is poured out on the one who makes desolate. Now, there's a lot packed into these verses. Now, we're only going to be able to cover about half of these verses tonight, so next week we'll finish them. Next week, we will not meet in here, we'll meet in the sanctuary. Okay, so make sure you remember that. Next week, we go to the sanctuary, and I'll finish chapter 9 next week. Now, let's think about the word week. What does it mean when God says in this prophecy, [01:14:26;31 - 01:14:45;39] he mentions the seven weeks, the 62 weeks, and the one week. What does he mean? Well, the word week, W-E-E-K, not W-E-A-K, W-E-E-K, the word week is a translation [01:14:47;03 - 01:14:55;27] of the Hebrew word for seven, for seven. Therefore, most Bible scholars and Bible teachers [01:14:56;39 - 01:15:07;56] believe that the week that's used here refers to a period of seven years, seven years. So, [01:15:09;15 - 01:15:17;11] 70 times seven equals 490 years. So, what God is doing here, he's giving [01:15:18;12 - 01:16:09;06] Daniel insight and understanding about the future for the nation of Israel and the city of Jerusalem and the temple. He's going out 490 years, but here's how it's broken down. There's seven weeks, seven times seven equals 49, so 49 years. There's 62 weeks, 62 times seven is 434 years, and there's one week which equals seven years. That's how the 490 years are broken down. Now, keep this in mind. The Jewish calendar was built upon... [01:16:10;49 - 01:16:22;51] It was a lunar calendar. It was 360 days per year, okay? 30 days per month, 360 days per year. [01:16:24;27 - 01:16:31;37] It's not the Gregorian calendar. It's the lunar calendar. God was showing Daniel [01:16:32;46 - 01:17:09;10] how his plan for Israel fit with his plan for the Gentiles, okay? I mean, God is unloading the boat on Daniel. He's helping Daniel to see some things and understand some things. You say, "Well, why would God give Daniel so much information?" Because he wanted us to have it too. Daniel recorded this stuff in his book. Look, most preachers, most preachers, when they go to [01:17:10;47 - 01:17:14;53] the book of Daniel and they teach through the book of Daniel, they stop with chapter six. [01:17:16;53 - 01:18:05;58] To be honest with you, I can understand why sometimes. But you know, I think we would do a disservice if we stop with chapter six and we didn't get into the prophetic section of the book. Now, remember this. The prophetic section of the book is just as much the word of God as the narrative section, chapters one through six, okay? So we're digging in the word of God here. So I hope and pray that you don't get too frazzled or you don't get too frustrated with all of this prophetic information about the 47 weeks or 62 weeks or one week. [01:18:07;17 - 01:21:22;17] It'll become clear as we go through. Will you be completely clear about it? I'm not sure you'll ever be completely clear about it. I'm not sure I'll ever be completely clear about it, but I can tell you, you'll be clear enough about it that God will use it in your life and he will give you some shock and awe at some of this stuff. I promise you. All right. Now, during this period, God would deal with the Jews while they were in the land. Listen to me. When the Jews were out of the land, the prophetic clock would stop. In AD 70, the Romans came to Jerusalem and they absolutely destroyed Jerusalem. They destroyed the temple and they dispersed and deported the Jewish people out of the land. And basically the nation of Israel ceased to exist in AD 70. Many people thought that the nation of Israel was completely gone forever. But in 1948, May the 14th, the nation of Israel was reconstituted. I can't tell you how important a sign, prophetic sign it is that the nation of Israel was reconstituted. Man, it's important. The stuff that we looked at in Matthew chapter 24, none of that would be on the table if the Jews were not in the land. So when the Jews are in the land, the prophetic clock begins to tick. Okay. Now, the first thing I want us to look at tonight is the subject of the prophecy. What's it about? What is it about? Well, Daniel chapter nine verse 24, look at it. 70 weeks. All right. Let me give you a quiz. A week equals what? Remember, a week equals seven years. Okay. Not seven days. In this context, it's seven years, 70 weeks. Literally, literally it's 77. Okay. 490 years. 70 weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city. So it's important as we get started in this prophecy, that we understand that the subject of this prophecy is both for the Jewish people and for the city of Jerusalem. [01:21:23;56 - 01:22:18;45] With that in mind, we need to grasp when the prophetic clock started ticking. Okay. Now, it didn't start ticking when Daniel had a visit from Gabriel. That's not when the prophetic clock started ticking. It started ticking a little bit later. Look at chapter nine verse 25. Here's when the prophetic clock started ticking. So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, there will be seven weeks and 62 weeks. That's 483 years. Okay. It will be built again. Now, imagine you're Daniel [01:22:20;35 - 01:22:37;39] and you know that the city of Jerusalem has been decimated. The temple has been torn to shreds. And here's a prophecy that Gabriel the angel brings to him and gives him wisdom and understanding. [01:22:39;58 - 01:22:47;31] And he learns that God is going to make sure that Jerusalem is rebuilt. Hey, [01:22:48;43 - 01:23:14;04] Darlene and I have been able to go to Israel three times. I'll never ever forget the first time. We were down in the Dead Sea area and we came up from the southern part of Israel up to Jerusalem. Anywhere you go in Jerusalem, you go up to Jerusalem. Okay. And I never, if we were on a bus [01:23:15;43 - 01:23:25;12] and I look up on a hill and there's Jerusalem. I'm telling you, it was an awesome sight. [01:23:27;08 - 01:23:40;25] All the Bible study I've done, everything I've studied about prophecy just came flooding in. I started crying. It was a dream come true for us to go to Israel. [01:23:43;08 - 01:24:19;52] And so he says here to Daniel that Jerusalem will be rebuilt. It will be restored. And there's a time here until Messiah of the Prince, there will be seven weeks and 62 at 69 weeks, 483 years. It will be built again with Plaza and Moat, even in times of distress. Now I'm going to call your attention to two decrees in the Old Testament. [01:24:21;04 - 01:25:05;48] Both of these decrees are important. Okay. But one for the sake of the prophetic clock is more important and we're going to look at it. The first one I want us to look at is a decree of King Cyrus of Persia. And the other one is by King Artaxerxes, the Medo-Persian King. Let's look at what Ezra has to say about King Cyrus's decree. Look at the next page, page four. Ezra one, one through four. Now in the first year of Cyrus, King of Persia, [01:25:07;08 - 01:25:11;09] in order to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, [01:25:14;21 - 01:25:29;37] the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, King of Persia, so that he sent a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing, saying, thus says Cyrus, King of Persia, [01:25:30;47 - 01:25:42;19] the Lord, the God of heaven has given me all the kingdoms of the earth. And he has appointed me to build him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. [01:25:43;50 - 01:26:05;00] That's the temple he's talking about. Verse three, whoever there is among you of all of his people, the Jewish people, may his God be with him. Let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah and rebuild the house of Lord. Would you underline that? Reveal the house of the Lord. Okay. [01:26:06;33 - 01:26:19;27] The God of Israel, he is the God who is in Jerusalem. Now King Cyrus, his theology wasn't really at the par because God's everywhere, right? [01:26:20;51 - 01:26:33;23] God is omnipresent. He is everywhere at one time. You realize that when you pray in your bedroom and somebody prays in Indonesia, [01:26:34;53 - 01:26:46;04] God hears everything's prayed all over the world. He hears everything. He knows everything. Okay. He's everywhere at one time. Now, when Jesus was incarnated, [01:26:47;46 - 01:27:41;29] he was limited in the use of his deity. Okay. Now he was still fully God and he was fully human. Okay. But for instance, he couldn't be everywhere at one time. Now, when he was resurrected from the dead and he ascended back to heaven, he resumed and took all of his powers of deity and began to use them again. Right? So understand that. So, verse four, every survivor at whatever place he may live, let the men of that place support him with silver and gold. King Cyrus said, look, I want, I want the Jewish people to go back home and rebuild the temple. [01:27:43;07 - 01:27:46;34] And not only that we're going to support you with silver and gold. [01:27:48;01 - 01:28:12;42] Only God could do that. Only God could stir the heart of a pagan King and cause him to want to do something like that together with a free will offering for the house of God, which is in Jerusalem. Now, let me ask you a question. Is that when the prophetic clock, the 490 years started ticking? [01:28:14;39 - 01:28:38;47] No, no. But remember what was said earlier, the prophetic clock starts ticking when the city of Jerusalem is being rebuilt. Okay. This is the temple. It's not the city. Now that brings us to another decree by another King, by the name of Artaxerxes. [01:28:40;13 - 01:28:47;40] Look at Nehemiah chapter two, verses three to eight. Remember Nehemiah was a Jewish exile [01:28:48;45 - 01:29:18;57] and he was the cup bearer for King Artaxerxes. Before King Artaxerxes would drink a sip of wine, Nehemiah had to verify that he wasn't being poisoned. Assassination in those days was not with rifles. It was with poison. Okay. A lot of leaders were poisoned in those days. [01:29:20;06 - 01:29:59;30] So Nebuchadnezzar job was to make sure that King Artaxerxes was not poisoned. And die prematurely. All right. So Nehemiah chapter two, verses three to eight, look at it. I said to the King, let the King live forever. Now I didn't put the earlier part in here, but I could have, but I didn't have room. So just like Daniel prayed, I'm telling Nehemiah got on his face before God and cried out to God for help. And you can read it in the book of Nehemiah. [01:30:01;02 - 01:32:38;45] Because for him to walk into the presence of Artaxerxes and ask what he was going to ask for, he was putting his life on the line. He was putting his neck in a noose. Okay. Now let's keep reading. I said to the King, let the King live forever. Now that's a great way to start when you're talking to a King. Okay. Why should my face not be said? The King noticed that Nebuchadnezzar, Nehemiah's face was sad. Why was it sad? Because he was so burdened for the city of Jerusalem. So burdened. So we got two guys here. Daniel was so burdened for the city of Jerusalem and the temple and Nehemiah was so burdened for the city of Jerusalem. And so he wanted to go into Artaxerxes presence and ask permission to go to Jerusalem and start rebuilding the city. Now look at this. Why should my face not be sad when the city, the place of my father's 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. Did you know that you do this? If I'm talking to you right now, I can pray in my spirit. I can say, Lord, help me in my spirit. While I'm talking to you, I can pray in my spirit. Have you ever prayed going down the road without saying anything? You got somebody over here and you're praying in your spirit. Okay. That's what he's doing. 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 pleased the King and if your servant has found favor before you send me to Judah, send me to Judah to the promised land, to the city of my father's tombs that I may rebuild it. You ought to underline that right there. 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? [01:32:39;48 - 01:32:45;23] So it pleased the King to send me and I gave him a definite time. [01:32:48;25 - 01:32:59;41] I said to the King, if it pleased 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. [01:33:01;27 - 01:33:21;46] And a letter to Asaph, the keeper of the King's forests, 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 with me. [01:33:24;25 - 01:33:35;32] So God moved in the heart of King Artaxerxes to give Nehemiah everything he asked for. [01:33:36;42 - 01:33:55;10] It's amazing. And Nehemiah was not shy about it. He was not afraid to ask for some big stuff. And he got everything he asked for. So Artaxerxes decree focused on rebuilding the city of Jerusalem. [01:33:57;05 - 01:34:43;13] That's when the prophetic clock started ticking. For 190 years, it started ticking right then. Now, John Lennox said this, his new decree, now earlier Artaxerxes had made an earlier decree saying no one can rebuild the city. And he changed his mind. Guess who changed his mind? Guess who changed his mind? God. His new decree permitting the rebuilding of Jerusalem was issued in the month Nisan in the 20th year of Artaxerxes. That's March 444 BC. [01:34:44;51 - 01:34:54;15] That date's real important. I'm not going to tell you why it's important this week. I'm going to tell you next week why it's important. You know why I'm doing that? So you'll come next week. [01:34:56;56 - 01:35:03;43] It was a historic moment. God's plan for Jerusalem took a major leap forward. [01:35:05;25 - 01:35:13;08] The city would be rebuilt and the 70 weeks began to run or tick away. [01:35:14;42 - 01:35:53;10] So let's look secondly at the significance of the prophecy. Daniel 9 24. Again, 70 weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city to finish the transgression, to make an end to sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and process into the most holy place. So during the 77s, the 490 years, six things will occur. Rebellion will be finished. An end to sin is to be made. [01:35:54;17 - 01:36:10;28] Atonement for iniquity will take place. Everlasting righteousness is to be brought in. Vision and prophecy will be sealed up and the most holy place or holy one will be anointed. [01:36:12;26 - 01:36:33;19] Now, even if you have a limited knowledge of the Bible and the Christian faith, you could see that none of this was completed. All of this was not completed [01:36:34;26 - 01:37:07;24] during the time allotted here. Anyone can see that. The book of Revelation also refers to a period of time during which the holy city is trampled underfoot. Look at Revelation 11 two. Revelation 11 two. You realize that all this stuff has, all of it has not even occurred to this moment. Some of it has. Okay. [01:37:09;32 - 01:37:21;05] Revelation 11 verse two. Leave out the court, which is outside the temple and do not measure it for it has been given to the nations [01:37:23;39 - 01:37:30;10] and they will tread underfoot the holy city for 42 months. That's three and a half years. [01:37:32;40 - 01:38:47;37] And I will grant authority to my two witnesses and they will prophesy for 1260 days clothed in sackcloth. So I understand that even we get over to Revelation, some of the six things we mentioned here still hasn't have not been fulfilled at that moment. Even look at this since there's a desecration of the sanctuary and that's what it prophesies trampling down to the people in the city. That's what revelation says. Violent persecution leading up to the time of Christ return. It is obvious. I love this. It is obvious that the finishing of the transgression and bringing in of everlasting righteousness promised by Daniel 9 24 did not occur in AD 33 when Christ was crucified and resurrected or AD 70 when the Romans came in and ransacked that the city of Jerusalem and destroy the temple or any subsequent time up to the present. So what does all this mean? [01:38:49;54 - 01:39:02;44] It means this. That's why you got that one year left. One year left. Okay. I mean one seven years for 483 years. [01:39:04;19 - 01:39:33;06] And you got seven years left. Well, what is that seven years? That seven years is the tribulation period. That seven years is the 70th week of Daniel. I understand this. That when we studied the tribulation in Matthew chapter 24 we were studying the 70th week of Daniel. Okay. Now [01:39:35;30 - 01:40:36;55] maybe you're thinking why are we focusing on 49 years seven sevens four hundred and thirty four years 62 sevens and that final seven years that that final one seven. Why are we focusing all that why we spend so much time on. All right. There it goes. All right. It just quit on me. All right. So why are we doing this. I love what what John Lennox said. He said such a tiny bit of time can have no relevance to us. Do you realize that that's why so many people in the church today run from prophecy. When a pastor preaches a series on prophecy a lot of times the attendance dwindles. [01:40:38;05 - 01:40:42;51] I remember I preached through revelation several years ago when we went into the new building [01:40:44;19 - 01:41:01;06] and I was absolutely shocked. And I've told you that I was shocked that people left the church. They went to other churches. I asked them on why. I don't want to hear about judgment anymore. [01:41:06;05 - 01:41:11;14] So what John Lennox says here such a tiny bit of time can have no relevance to us. Oh really. [01:41:12;55 - 01:41:52;09] Thinking about it only detracts from the actual business of Christian living in the real world today. Is it not this kind of speculation that gives Christianity a bad name. Why don't we just avoid it completely. That's what a lot of people say. Why don't we just avoid prophecy completely and concentrate on what really matters. I've heard that before. And here's what John Lennox said. I love this. He said however I believe Daniel was a prophet [01:41:53;30 - 01:43:05;05] who spoke the word of God. Daniel 9 is a part of that word. So I must treat it as such. Of course I must not lose a sense of proportion and spend all my time thinking about one short part of God's word and ignore the rest. It means however that I should give Daniel 9 its due weight and not dismiss it as irrelevant. Can I say this. There's no part of the word of God that's irrelevant. You say well pastor what about Leviticus. Can I tell you that there is some relevance and there's some special jewels in the book of Leviticus. You realize that every time in the book of Leviticus they talk about the burnt offering they talk about the guilt offering they talk about the the Passover where the lamb is slain. You realize every time it's a picture of the coming Christ who would offer himself as a lamb of God on the cross for our sins. [01:43:07;57 - 01:43:10;09] There is no part of the word of God that's irrelevant. [01:43:12;22 - 01:43:21;33] And we should not call any part of the word of God we should study it all. All right. Now. [01:43:26;03 - 01:43:30;36] So Linux says of course I must not lose a sense of proportion. Now there are some people [01:43:32;16 - 01:43:38;38] who go to extremes okay and all they want to do is study prophecy. [01:43:39;49 - 01:43:52;48] Okay there are other people who go to extremes all they want to study is the epistles or the gospels. Can I tell you the best place to be is a balanced place where you study it all. [01:43:54;34 - 01:43:57;55] Okay don't call any part of the word of God. [01:44:00;23 - 01:44:10;56] Now. As we wrap up our time tonight I want to remind you that this amazing prophecy [01:44:12;08 - 01:44:31;53] I say this at the beginning I'm saying again now because I want you to remember that please don't forget it. This prophecy was God's response to Daniel's concern for the city of Jerusalem which bore God's name and was connected with God's reputation in the world. [01:44:33;18 - 01:44:51;15] On the one hand God was preparing Daniel. God wanted Daniel to understand that all this stuff that he expected to happen would not happen the moment the Jewish people got back in Israel the promised land. [01:44:53;05 - 01:45:10;13] In fact it wouldn't happen until the end of the age the end of the world when Christ comes again. Now on the other hand God was encouraging Daniel. You say well how was he encouraging Daniel? [01:45:11;52 - 01:45:17;10] He was encouraging him by reminding him that God is God. [01:45:19;24 - 01:45:39;03] That God is going to reverse the misfortune of the Jewish people. He's going to reverse the misfortune of the city of Jerusalem. Hey let me ask you when Jesus comes again where is he going to come to? Is he going to come to New York City? Is he going to come to San Diego? [01:45:40;22 - 01:45:43;59] Is he going to come to Memphis? No you know where he's coming he's coming to the Mount of Olives. [01:45:45;33 - 01:45:48;10] His feet are going to come to the Mount of Olives. [01:45:50;16 - 01:45:50;37] Jerusalem. [01:45:54;18 - 01:46:25;58] Listen I get so weary of the silly anti-Semitism that is so prevalent in our world today. I'm so disappointed in him. He has decided that he believes in annihilation of theism that is that people will not suffer a lost person will not suffer for eternity in hell. [01:46:28;03 - 01:46:34;20] He'll suffer for a while and then it's over. And then he has turned against Israel. [01:46:37;05 - 01:46:44;16] He's practicing a lot of anti-Semitism. That guy spoke in this church one time. [01:46:48;20 - 01:46:59;09] Listen I've told you before please don't let the world misinform you about the Jewish people. [01:47:01;22 - 01:47:12;21] They're still God's covenant people. God made a promise to them and God will keep his promise and you better praise God he'll keep his promise to them because he made a promise to us too. [01:47:14;04 - 01:47:28;49] I like the fact that we've got a God who keeps his promises. Amen. So next week we're going to finish our study on the prophecy of the 70 weeks. [01:47:30;02 - 01:48:02;10] You don't want to miss next week because I've got a little jewel waiting for you next week. All right let's pray. Heavenly Father thank you so much for the Holy Spirit's ministry among us. I just feel like Lord you gave us some stuff tonight to think about and to apply to the way we think and the way we act. And Lord I thank you for that. [01:48:03;15 - 01:49:15;13] I pray that you would give us wisdom and understanding and insight as we continue to study this prophecy. I pray that next week Lord you would prepare us for what you have for us next week as we look at the rest of this prophecy. Lord thank you so much. Thank you so much that you are a powerful God that you keep your promises and that you can stir the heart of King Cyrus and you can stir the heart of King Artaxerxes to accomplish your purpose and to keep your promise to the Jewish people that they would only be in captivity for 70 years. Oh Lord you're amazing. Thank you. Bless us and use us for your glory in Jesus name. Amen. Hey don't forget this weekend we have a carnival Christmas and Saturday at six o'clock and Sunday at six o'clock and the worship ministry has worked so hard it's going to be awesome I'm telling you. All right so invite people to come with you okay. Thank you.