There are people who always want to know the future? Most people would like nothing more than to have a magic 8 ball to consult whenever they want to know what’s in store for them. This is why books on Revelation or other Biblical prophecy that make specific predictions usually become best sellers. Some of them even assign exact dates to events they say are going to take place. But the imagery in apocalyptic literature is used to both conceal and reveal. And while the original audience would have understood all of the imagery, sometimes we can’t define some symbols definitively, and we need to be okay with that and just trust God. We saw this in the differing views on the beasts from chapter 7. Sometimes, apocalyptic texts in Scripture are so complex, they can make our head hurt! Such is the case with Daniel 9. In fact, chapter 9 of the Book of Daniel has been called the most difficult and most debated chapter in the entire Old Testament. So you may want to pop a couple of Tylenol before diving into this with us!
Thanks for tuning in! Be sure to check out everything Proverbs 9:10 on our website, www.proverbs910ministries.com! You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Rumble, YouTube, Twitter, Truth Social, and Gettr!
There are people who always want to know the future? Most people would like nothing more than to have a magic 8 ball to consult whenever they want to know what’s in store for them. This is why books on Revelation or other Biblical prophecy that make specific predictions usually become best sellers. Some of them even assign exact dates to events they say are going to take place. But the imagery in apocalyptic literature is used to both conceal and reveal. And while the original audience would have understood all of the imagery, sometimes we can’t define some symbols definitively, and we need to be okay with that and just trust God. We saw this in the differing views on the beasts from chapter 7. Sometimes, apocalyptic texts in Scripture are so complex, they can make our head hurt! Such is the case with Daniel 9. In fact, chapter 9 of the Book of Daniel has been called the most difficult and most debated chapter in the entire Old Testament. So you may want to pop a couple of Tylenol before diving into this with us!
Thanks for tuning in! Be sure to check out everything Proverbs 9:10 on our website, www.proverbs910ministries.com! You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Rumble, YouTube, Twitter, Truth Social, and Gettr!
Episode 109 - Praise the Lord and Pass the Tylenol
Welcome Back! Have you ever noticed that people always want to know the future? Most people would like nothing more than to have a magic 8 ball to consult whenever they want to know what’s in store for them. This is why books on Revelation or other Biblical prophecy that make specific predictions usually become best sellers. Some of them even assign exact dates to events they say are going to take place. That hasn’t really worked out well for them.
That is absolutely right!
As we head into chapter 9 & 10, the situation is the same. In fact, chapter 9 of the Book of Daniel has been called the most difficult and most debated chapter in the entire Old Testament. If the last 2 episodes on chapters 7 & 8 made your head hurt, you may want to pop a couple of Tylenol before diving into this!
We’ll start by setting up and paraphrasing the beginning of chapter 9. Daniel is writing this in the 1st year of King Darius’ reign. So, the events in this chapter happen close to the time of the events in chapter 6 when Daniel was thrown into the lion’s den. Daniel was a contemporary of Jeremiah and Ezekiel – meaning they were alive and active in their prophecy around the same time. Jeremiah is the earliest of the three though – He predates Daniel and Ezekiel by about 30 years, give or take a few. Jeremiah is the only prophet who prophesied the exact time the southern nation of Judah would be in exile in Babylon. Jeremiah 25:11 – 12 has this prophecy. “This whole land shall become a ruin and a waste, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. 12 Then after seventy years are completed, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity, declares the Lord, making the land an everlasting waste.”
There were 3 sieges on Judah by Babylon, with the first one being in 605 BC. If you remember, we said, that is most likely the one Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were taken in. The Medo-Persian empire killed King Belshazzar and took complete control of Babylon in 538 BC. King Cyrus took control, made Darius the king of the Babylon area, and began to let the exiles go back to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple that King Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed. The time from the first siege in 605 to Babylon’s total defeat in 538 comes out to 67 years. Dating may be off a year, or it may have taken a couple of years for the people to leave and return to Judah. But there’s the 70 years
There are some scholars who think 70 years is a symbolic number, and not a literal number because its 7 x 10 – 2 numbers used to symbolize completeness. But that is highly unlikely. Both Daniel and Ezekiel were aware of Jeremiah’s prophecy and were counting the years literally as Daniel says in chapter 9 verse 2. Daniel would have also aware of a prophecy made by Isaiah. It is recorded in Isaiah 44:26 – 28, “(I am the Lord) who says of Jerusalem, ‘It shall be inhabited,’ of the towns of Judah, ‘They shall be rebuild,’ and of their ruins, ‘I will restore them.’ And then in verse 28, he says, “of Cyrus, ‘He is my shepherd and will accomplish all that I please; he will say of Jerusalem, “Let it be rebuilt,” and of the temple, “Let its foundations be laid.” So given both of those 2 prophecies, Daniel knew that the time of exile was just about up.
We tell you all this so you know what was in Daniel’s mind and what was going on around him in chapter 9. The 70 years are up and he is in great anguish because he knows most of God’s people have not learned the intended lesson from being in exile. Starting at 9:3, Daniel says, “ Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. 4 I prayed to the Lord my God and made confession, saying, “O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, 5 we have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules. 6 We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.
Chris, we said that in one way Daniel points to Jesus is in his role as an intercessor for the people. Now Daniel certainly isn’t sinless like Jesus, but he has remained faithful to God throughout his exile as we’ve seen. And here he is grieving over the people’s sin and rebellion and failure to obey and honor God even though he, himself had not sinned in this way. He is doing exactly what Moses did in Exodus 32 when he acted as an intercessor between God and the Israelites, pleading for mercy for the people after they’d worshiped the golden calf. Remember, Moses wasn’t guilty of that sin. It made him sick that the people did it, just like it makes Daniel sick that the jewish people in exile, still have not repented.
Both Moses and Daniel point us to Jesus Who is our intercessor with God if we are Christians.
Daniel 9 goes on to say righteousness belongs to God, but open shame belongs to every Jew because of their treachery, as he calls it, committed against the Almighty God. In other words, they are wretched sinners unworthy and unable to stand before their holy God. As we says in 9:13, “As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this calamity has come upon us; yet we have not entreated the favor of the Lord our God, turning from our iniquities and gaining insight by your truth.” Daniel spends the beginning of chapter 9 pouring out his heart to God, repenting of Israel’s sin, and begging God for forgiveness – not because they deserve it, but because it is in God’s character to be merciful and forgive.
As the end of the 70 years approaches, Daniel realizes a very disconcerting thing: This 70-year period of judgement has not brought Israel to repentance for their sins against God. Taking a look back historically, Leviticus 26:14-46 tells us of the curses that were promised for disobedience. These are again echoed in Deuteronomy 28:15-68. God does not take sin lightly. This is what sets the stage for Daniel’s prayer, and why his sense of mourning is so great.
We said the prophets understood the covenant between God and His people in the OT. Daniel is a prophet. He fully understands the convenantal relationship. He understands the idea of blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience. Daniel is going to go to God in prayer and petition for mercy for His people even though they are unrepentant and most continue to sin against God. Again, he is acting as intercessor – praying on the behalf of others. Jesus, the ultimate and perfect intercessor stood in the gap between us and God while we all were enemies of God and dead in our sins. Like Daniel, Jesus worked on our behalf long before we came to God repentant of our sin.
Before interceding, Daniel puts himself in a humble position before God – something Jesus had no need to do – but still did by always turning His glory back to the Father, and submitting to the will of the Father. Daniel fasts, he prays, and clothes himself in sackcloth and ashes. Sackcloth and ashes were a sign of self-abhorrence and humility before God. They were used when mourning and pleading with God for mercy and help. We see this in the book of Esther in chapter 4 when the Jewish people were mourning and pleading with God that they not be annihilated. The Jewish people in Esther’s time did not know what their fate would be. In Daniel’s time, though, as we saw, God told His people ahead of time there was hope and that He would free them from their exile and they would return home. But still the people did not repent of their sin.
We see a picture of this in Luke 10:13 concerning the cities all bordering the sea of Galilee. Jesus had done mighty works and miracles, but the people refused to repent. Here they’re told that their doom for their unbelief is made worse because if those same miracles had been done in the pagan cities of Tyre and Sidon, the people would have repented. Jesus tells them, because they knew about Jesus and saw Who He was, but still refused to repent, their fate will be worse than the unbelievers who didn’t have the evidence right in front of their eyes. This is the same kind of thing Daniel is lamenting in verse 15 when he says, “ And now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and have made a name for yourself, as at this day, we have sinned, we have done wickedly.”
But Daniel knows God. He knows Him intimately, so he knows His character. Despite the wickedness, hardness and sinfulness of the people, Daniel knows God’s people always have hope – not because of who we are, but because of Who God is. He shows this in verses 16 – 19, when he says, “O Lord, according to all your righteous acts, let your anger and your wrath turn away from your city Jerusalem, your holy hill, because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and your people have become a byword among all who are around us. 17 Now therefore, O our God, listen to the prayer of your servant and to his pleas for mercy, and for your own sake, O Lord,[b] make your face to shine upon your sanctuary, which is desolate. 18 O my God, incline your ear and hear. Open your eyes and see our desolations, and the city that is called by your name. For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy. 19 O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive. O Lord, pay attention and act. Delay not, for your own sake, O my God, because your city and your people are called by your name.”
There is a stark contrast between God and His people. And this still applies to us as His people today. God is the Almighty sovereign Lord, we are nothing. God is merciful even to those who rebel against Him, we are unfaithful and sinful. God is forgiving, we are rebellious. God does not change and keeps all of His promises, we are unfaithful and disobedient. Daniel, and others in Scripture, remind God that His mercy is for His own Name’s sake? And that’s because when God shows mercy to the undeserving, i.e. all of us, it glorifies Him! And that is our main purpose on earth...to glorify God. And understand, we don’t glorify God by great things we do for Him. We glorify God by showing the world the He great things He does for us!
Continuing in Daniel 9, 21 – 23 say, “while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the first, came to me in swift flight at the time of the evening sacrifice. 22 He made me understand, speaking with me and saying, “O Daniel, I have now come out to give you insight and understanding. 23 At the beginning of your pleas for mercy a word went out, and I have come to tell it to you, for you are greatly loved. Therefore consider the word and understand the vision.”
So the angel Gabriel shows up, says he has insight and understanding to show Daniel. But first, God sees the mournful, anguished state Daniel is in over the people’s sin, and God has a message for Daniel. Before Gabriel lays out what God has planned for His disobedient people, God tells Daniel, through Gabriel in verse 23, “You are greatly loved.” Imagine being Daniel, faithful and obedient to God, yet taking the rest of the people’s sin on yourself pleading with God to pardon them. God is reminding Daniel that He is dearly loved. Sound familiar?
Hmm . . . could it be Daniel is pointing to Jesus here again? Remember at the start of Jesus’ mission – a mission He knew fully well would lead to His undeserved horrific torture and death, but He was doing it so God would pardon His people. Jesus gets baptized and when He came up from the water, Matthew 3:17 tells us, “behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” We see this again at the Transfiguration in Mark 9, where is says in Mark 9:7, “And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, “This is my beloved Son, listen to him.” Yes, both times were to testify to witnesses Jesus’ Divinity, but it was also God, the Father, reminding Jesus that He sees Him and He is dearly loved knowing that there were hard times ahead for Him.
So Rose, 23 verses into chapter 9, and for this being the most debated and complex chapter in the OT, it seems pretty straight-forward. Don’t think anyone could disagree with what is clearly laid out in the first 23 verses. But, when we get to verse 24, that starts to change. Verses 24 – 27 are the complex verses we were referring to. They say, “Seventy 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. 25 Know therefore and understand that from the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a prince, there shall be seven weeks. Then for sixty-two weeks it shall be built again with squares and moat, but in a troubled time. 26 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 the sanctuary. Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed. 27 And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week he shall put an end to 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.”
So, let’s try and unpack this. And don’t worry if you didn’t catch all of that, we will be requoting lines as we go through the interpretation. This passage has been hotly debated, especially with the advent of dispensationalism in the late 1800s. There have been numerous charts and timelines created all trying to figure out if this timeline is symbolic or literal, what the events are, and when or if they have happened. How this passage has been interpreted has divided churches. Some believe these are future events that will occur at the end times, which they define as when Jesus comes back. Since we think Biblical evidence clearly says we are in the end times now and have been since Jesus’ ascension, we do not take this view. Some think these verses are describing events that may have been future to Daniel, but are all past for us. We mostly agree with that, but fall into the third camp that hold to most of the events have already occurred, but there is a still future aspect at the end of the timeline. The only thing we can promise is that while we can’t give any absolutes on these verses – no one has been able to – we will do our best to explain it as we see it. Hopefully, the Tylenol has begun working because here we go!
Gabriel tells Daniel 70 weeks are decreed about the Jewish people, the holy city, and the people’s transgression so as to put an end to sin, to atone for that sin, bring everlasting righteousness, to seal prophecy and prophets, and to anoint a most holy place. You can’t read that and not think immediately, this is going to be about Jesus. And it is. We see that from verse 25 when Gabriel tells Daniel an anointed one is coming. The big debate is on the timeline of this 70 weeks that Gabriel breaks up into 7 weeks, 62 weeks, and 1 week (which is further broken up in half.
Let’s look at this “Seventy weeks.” The NLT, and other translations, don’t use “weeks” but say 70 sets of 7. This is made complex and confusing by the use of 7’s and multipe of 7’s. This could be a literal time or it could be a symbolic time. 70 years of exile was literal, 7 days of creation was literal. Seven is also used symbolically throughout Scripture to mean complete. Even when used in the literal, there is a metamephoric aspect to 7 meaning complete. 70 weeks (which has 7 days) and 70 sets of 7 are the same thing. However, seventy weeks which the ESV uses, lends itself to being taken literally, while 70 sets of 7, which the NLT uses implies symbolic meaning. Both are very credible translations, so which is it?
Daniel was speaking in terms of years when he was praying about the end of the exile. This has led most credible Biblical scholars to conclude that Gabriel is also speaking in years. 70 weeks or 70 x 7 means 490 years. It’s the same for translations that use 70 sets of 7. Gabriel was speaking of the time decreed between the end of the exiles of Judah’s current punishment and the end of sin. For many, they conclude this is the time from King Cyrus to Jesus. But for this time to be literal, poses a problem. Cyrus took control in 538 BC. As we’ve seen, he is the one God used to set the exiles free and allow them to go home and rebuild the temple and their land. Although dates are not exact, Jesus is estimated to be born in 4 - 6BC. He was 32 - 33 when He was crucified, which would have made the year 28 – 30 AD. If you do the math, 538 BC to either 4 or 6 BC or 28 – 30 AD does not add up to 490 years. It’s 534 years or 564 years roughly.
Some in the literal years camp start the dating later like in 458 BC or 420 BC with the time ending in 70 AD. with the destruction of the Temple. The argument is that for those 490 years, although the Jews did return and live in their land again, and even were able to start worshipping at the Temple again, they did not govern themselves. They had someone controlling / oppressing them – first Medo-Persia, then Greece, then Rome. Their argument for 490 literal years is a good one. In the original prophecy of the curse for Israel about their exile, found in Lev. 26:14-46, God said there would be sevenfold increase in punishment for their continued disobedience. We see this in Lev 26:21, “Then if you walk contrary to me and will not listen to me, I will continue striking you, sevenfold for your sins. So God first punished Judah by disobedience by exiling them in Babylon for 70 years, but here, He is instituting a 7 fold punishment, as promised, for their continued disobedience. 70 years for the first exile, 7 times that for the 7 fold punishment, voila, 490 years.
But as we saw, the math doesn’t add up. In fact, those in the literal camp don’t agree and have a hard time finding a starting point for the 490 years. This is why we believe that they are symbolic. And that’s a hard stance to take considering Luther and Calvin took them to be literal. But we have to take this into consideration, the book of Daniel directly correlates with the book of Revelation as we have seen over and over. Luther thought Rev. was worthless and should be eliminated from the Bible and while Calvin wrote a commentary on every book of the bible, he omitted 2 & 3 John (which talk about the antichrist and other “Revelation” things, and the book of Revelation itself)
So we have to conclude that Luther and Calvin, although absolutely brilliant and should be looked to almost all things Scriptural, had an issue with Revelation. And given this, it would make sense then that they assigned the literal to Daniel instead of seeing it as a springboard for Revelation. And, in their defense, it could very well be they avoided it because of the Catholic mysticism that was becoming rampant in their time. They may not have wanted to feed into it. Whatever the case, many other brilliant theologians, like Spurgeon, did take on Revelation and symbolic, future prophecy. We tell you this to show that if these giants in the faith couldn’t get it perfect, don’t expect us to come even close.
But here’s why we, and others, think the 70 7s are symbolic of a time when God’s plan would be complete and not a literal 490 years. Seventy sevens would be the ultimate in completeness. We see this same thing in Matthew 18:21-22 when Peter asks Jesus how many times he has to forgive his brother, seven times? Jesus’ famous answer, “ 22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.” Jesus didn’t mean literally 77 times. 77 is two 7s, and since 7 means complete, 77 means complete, complete. In other words, forgive someone every time.
So let’s start by putting these verses into context. Daniel was praying to God for mercy for the Israelites whose exile in Babylon was coming to an end anguishing over the fact that they still had not repented of their sin. Verses 20 – 27 are God’s answer to that prayer through Gabriel. Gabriel is referencing the Jewish people and Jerusalem in what he is saying. A day was coming when God would act to finish transgression, put an end to sin, atone for wickedness, bring an everlasting righteousness, seal up vision and prophecy and anoint the most holy. Okay, so that wouldn’t be so complex if we could say that the 490 years refers to the complete period of the rest of the Old covenant, the advent of Jesus, His defeat over Satan, sin, and death, and even to His second coming when He brings that to complete fruition. But Gabriel muddies the water by splitting these 70 weeks in 7 weeks, 62 weeks, a half a week, and a half a week.
There’s disagreement about if the original Hebrew meant to separate the first 7 weeks and 62 weeks, and that the way it was written, it was meant to mean 69 weeks (not separated). We’ll look at 3 trusted translations – all who translated from the original Hebrew. First, our usual go to, the ESV. Verse 25 of the ESV says, “Know therefore, and understand that from the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a prince, there shall be 7 weeks. Then for 62 weeks it shall be built again with squares and moat, but in a troubled time.”
Then there’s the NASB which says, “So you are to know and understand that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem, until Messiah the Prince, there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be built again, with streets and moat, even in times of distress. And then the NLT which says, “Now listen and understand! Seven sets of seven plus sixty-two sets of seven will pass from the time the command is given to rebuild Jerusalem until a ruler—the Anointed One—comes. Jerusalem will be rebuilt with streets and strong defenses, despite the perilous times. So all three separate the 7 and 62, but also link them together. Whereas as we will see in verses 26 and 27, the last 7 period is clearly and distinctly separate. So what does it mean? We don’t know for sure. Here is what one commentator said, “The history of the interpretation of this verses is confirmation of the fact that this prophecy is difficult and requires spiritual discernment." He correlates it to a Rev. 17:9 where John says, “This calls for a mind with wisdom.”
So instead of confusing the heck out of you throwing a bunch of different theories at you, we will tell you what we don’t know and what we do know. What we don’t know is if there is a definite separation between the first 7 sets of time and the next 62. The Hebrew text just isn’t clear. Sometimes it does separate time periods that are the same. For example, we just saw it in chapter 8 where time, times, and half a time was one symbolic number of 3 ½. So that could be the case here. And since it’s been done in this particular book before, it makes that case stronger.
So if we go with the 7 sets and 62 sets are linked and symbolic of one set of 69, that makes the interpretation much easier. This is the time between when the exiles were released until the advent of Jesus. During that time, the people would return to Jerusalem, rebuild the temple looking forward to the coming Messiah. The temple would be rebuilt, but there would still be troubled times. We saw just how troubled the times were when we talked about Greece and Rome as we saw in chapters 7 & 8.
So, then we get to verses 26 & 27 and here we see the divide between the first 69 weeks or allotment of time, and the last week. This last 7 is set apart.
Verses 26 says (and we will read from the NLT, because the language is a little clearer, “After this period of sixty-two sets of seven, the Anointed One will be killed, appearing to have accomplished nothing, and a ruler will arise whose armies will destroy the city and the Temple. The end will come with a flood, and war and its miseries are decreed from that time to the very end.
The beginning of verse 26 that says the anointed one will be killed appearing to have accomplished nothing is referring to Jesus’s crucifixion, but a lot more. Remember, the Jewish people were looking for a Messiah to save them from Roman oppression. Jesus’ death and resurrection did not do that, hence He “appeared to have accomplished nothing.” And we know this is what this means by the rest of that verse. “and a ruler will arise whose armies will destroy the city and the Temple.” This is talking about Titus destroying the Temple and city of Jerusalem in 70 AD – some 37 years after Jesus’ resurrection.
This is exactly what Jesus Himself told His apostles would happen in His olivet discourse. I’ll abridge Matthew 24:6-22, where Jesus said, “You will hear of wars and rumor of wars, nation will rise against nation, there will be famines and earthquakes. All these are the beginnings of birth pains. When you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), 16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. 22 And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.”
And this is one of those already / not yet passages. Jesus is fortelling the destruction of the Temple that occurred in 70 AD, but He is also pointing to the events that will take place between the time of His ascension and His Second Coming – meaning the end times, the time of tribulation, now! He even references back to this Daniel passage. And what Jesus says paralelles the rest of Daniel 9:26 which says, “The end will come with a flood, and war and its miseries are decreed from that time to the very end.”
Okay, one more verse to go, and this one is not as complex as the others. Verse 27 says, “27 The ruler will make a treaty with the people for a period of one set of seven, but after half this time, he will put an end to the sacrifices and offerings. And as a climax to all his terrible deeds, he will set up a sacrilegious object that causes desecration, until the fate decreed for this defiler is finally poured out on him.” Verse 26 and 27 are Parallel, Jesus is cut off, meaning crucified in verse 26, and makes a covenant in verse 27. Jesus institutes the new covenant during the “first ½ of the final week.” This is referring to Jesus’ first coming. He ushers in the Kingdom of God as King. This is the start of the New Covenant. No more animal sacrifices or meager offerings will be made by people to try and get right with God. By Jesus being “cut-off,” He takes the wrath of God on Himself for His people. Our sins are permanently atoned for.
And the Temple destruction, and end time tribulation all happen during that first half of the final week. Like you said, Chris, it’s Jesus’ first coming and goes up until His second coming. The second half of the final week though, is Jesus’ Second coming. That is when he (meaning Satan and the antichrist and all antichrists) will set up a sacrilegious object that causes desecration. However, they will only do it until, as the text says, “the fate decreed for this defiler is finally poured out on him.” This is a picture of Jesus’ Second Coming, judgment on the world, condemnation of the wicked, and His bringing to culmination His already won victory on Satan, sin and Death.
Okay, so what are the takeaways from this very complex passage in Daniel. First, again we see the reoccurring theme of the sovereignty of God in this passage. God, through Gabriel is showing Daniel, that yes, things are hard, and guess what, they are going to get worse, but God’s got it. He’s got a plan and nothing, absolutely nothing that happens throughout history is outside of His plan. Two, regardless of the state of the Temple – whether it was destroyed, rebuilt, or destroyed again God was with His people. Even when He was punishing them, He is with them. For those who belong to Jesus, whatever our state is – whether we are passionately following Jesus, hungrily devouring God’s Word, or feeling guilty and overwhelmed by our sin, or if we are in a dry spell where we aren’t feeling like cooperating with our sanctification. Regardless of where we are – we can know for sure where God is – He is with us!
And one more. Daniel and his original audience would have understood that they weren’t getting complete restoration, but instead 70 more week of punishment because they were impenitent. Now, understand, this is from a human standpoint. Obviously, God always knew this was going to happen. But they should have learned, and we should learn by reading it that God’s blessings in our lives may also be delayed if we continue in sin without turning unto Him. What are we missing out on if we continue to wallow in our sin instead of surrendering our entire life over to God?
A good question to ponder and end on. Thanks for tuning in! Don’t forget to check out our website, www. Proverbs910ministries.com for resources, posts, and news! Have a blessed day!