In the providence of God, we now find ourselves in Zechariah chapter nine. We will be looking at verses nine and 10, but also, we are going to look at some passages in Daniel chapter nine, and we're doing this under the heading, "The Humiliation and Glorification of the MessiahKing."

And might I say, by way of introduction, whenever we study Bible prophecy, we find ourselves excited because it gives us hope. Can you imagine reading a novel and knowing from hearing from others that the end is absolutely terrible and the bad guys win. I mean, who would want to read that novel, right? Or watch that movie where the bad guys win; but to know that God has revealed, even the end - and it is a glorious end - is a wonderful thing. And I would say that prophecy fuels hope, and hope promotes and produces happiness. So we can rejoice in the Lord, regardless of what we see in our culture.

And certainly, as we look at Scripture, we see there is a profound difference between darkness and light, and we see that in our country and around the world, darkness biblically speaks of falsehood and evil and light speaks of of truth and righteousness, and we've seen so much darkness as well as some light. Even this past week, I think of, I should say, this past month, and certainly this past week, I was made aware of hundreds of 1000s of people that took part in a three weeklong celebration in Washington, DC called World Pride. And of course, this again demonstrates the left's obsession with sexual perversion and the ludicrous gender ideology that they want to promote. I mean, this is depravity in its rawest form. And then, of course, we've seen the riots and the looting. These rioters tend to loot everything but Barnes and Noble. I guess you've noticed that, and it's so sad. I mean, these are anti-Western, anti-American anarchists asserting themselves under the anti-deportation protest. But of course, it's a pretext for so many other things; and it's so frustrating you see primarily liberal white women screaming at the top of their lungs, like howler monkeys on meth. You know, it's amazing to watch this, and you see people that are ultimately opposed to capitalism. They want to impose socialism. They hate the Constitution; they hate America and all of this type of thing.

And then, of course, we saw yesterday, or I tried not to look at it, maybe you saw some of it - the anti-Trump, Neo Marxist, no thrones, no crowns, “No Kings” protests. By the way, it'sinteresting, that's exactly what we need....is a king, not Trump or any other king, we need the King of kings; and the King of Kings is coming. But you know, all of that is funded by our tax dollars, primarily through NGOs and unions, and then, of course, you have billionaires, and now they've exposed that the Democratic Party is funding a lot of this as well. And you contrast that with the 250th anniversary of the army that you saw on television last night, that was really remarkable, what a wonderful display of of of true pride, not pride in perversion, but pride in patriotism and pride for all that the Lord has blessed us with, in protecting us and preserving us from tyrannical kings and from enemies, both foreign and domestic.

And you know, what our culture refuses to believe is that Man's problem is spiritual. It is not psychological; it is not sociological. There is no political answer to this. The only answer is in Christ. Out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adultery, fornications, thefts, false witness and slanders. So we've seen a lot of darkness this last month, this last week, and it will continue. We've also seen some light, and certainly we see the contrast of darkness and light with Israel defending themselves against the homicidal, maniacal Islamic terrorists in Iran. It's interesting, Israel calls their military operation "Rising Lion" that comes out of Numbers chapter 23 verse 24 where we read, "'Behold, a people rises like a lioness, and as a lion, it lifts itself; it will not lie down until it devours the prey, and drinks the blood of the slain.'" By the way, thecontext of that was Balaam warning Balak not to challenge the Israelites, I should say the Moabites...well, no, they're not to challenge the Israelites, they were Moabites, lest they be devoured by Yahweh, the Lion of Judah and of Israel.

And I find it interesting, just to give you a little more sense of what's happening with all of that, because it fits into what I want to share with you from Zechariah, as well as Daniel, it's noteworthy that Arabs, most of which are Muslims, occupy 99.5% of all of the land mass in the Middle East. Israel is about the size of New Jersey, and yet, this is the kind of odds that God has ordained for his covenant people. And frankly, these are the kind of odds that God loves because it demonstrates his power and his faithfulness to his covenant promises to preserve a remnant of Israel. And I might add that Tehran's military infrastructure has now been pretty much destroyed. Israeli jets fly freely; the hollowness of Iranian bravado and propaganda has now been exposed. Their military options are diminishing every day. Their weapons stockpiles are depleting. Their Hezbollah and Hamas proxies are now toothless tigers, and Iran's global dominance, in their mind, is certainly not what they thought it was, and their alliances are fractured. Internally there is a great deal of dissent, I'm hearing from some of my friends in Israel; and 75% of the citizens in Iran want regime change. By the way, those are the ones that don't have guns. It's the 25% that do, that are in control.

So Iran, for now, is pretty much finished, but I want to say for now, because according to Ezekiel 38 and 39 we read that God is going to raise up a Russian Arab alliance of predominantly Muslim nations to descend upon Israel from the north, where they will be utterly destroyed. And this confederacy includes, according to Scripture, parts of Iran and Turkey and the southern provinces of Russia. This could be the event to set into motion the first seal of Revelation six, which would be the Antichrist coming on the scene, which will set into motion the tribulation and so forth.

Now I share this contrast of darkness and light, because I want you to remember that there is hope, there is joy in Christ, knowing what he has planned, and what should we do, given all of this that's going on in the world - real simple, make disciples, evangelize, tell people the good news of Christ and pray for unbelieving Jews and unbelieving leftists and Islamists, the Muslims and the pagan Americans. Warn them that the King of kings is coming and that you must be prepared. He is coming to judge the living and the dead, and no mask will be able to hide you from his wrath. He came the first time in humility to seek and to save the lost, and we're going to see that as we look at Zechariah 9:9; but he is going to come again in glory to put an end to sink. And reign in righteousness and peace, as we will see in verse 10.  The first time He came as a lamb that opened not his mouth, the second time he is going to come as a lion of the tribe of Judah. And in Revelation 19, verse 15, we read that, "From his mouth will come a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty." And it's this contrast, frankly, between the lamb and the lion that is the topic of the text that we have before us this morning, again under the heading, "The Humiliation and the Glorification of the Messiah King." So let me read it to you, Zechariah, nine verses nine and 10.

"Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion ! Shout in triumph. O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, humbled, and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

"I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem; and the bow of war will be cut off. And he will speak peace to the nations; and His dominion will be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth."

I want to examine this passage under two points in an outline; we're going to see real simply, first, the humiliation of the Messiah King, and then secondly, the glorification of the Messiah King. And certainly, we are all profoundly humbled and familiar with the former, and we joyfully await the latter. As Paul told Titus in chapter two, verse 13, we are,

"...looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us."

Charles Spurgeon said, "Oh, joy above all joys, to know that I am His everlasting and inalienable inheritance, given to Him by His Father or ever the earth was! Everlasting love shall be the pillow for my head this night." End quote. Indeed, beloved, as we read in Romans eight, beginning in verse 18, the apostle Paul said that,

"I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

"For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God."

I might add that as we go through a number of these passages - I think you'll have most of them up here, and I will be into a bit of complicated passages that I want you to at least be aware of - but all of these things are going to be transcribed in a few days, and you can go to the shepherdsfire.org website, and you can hear and you can read what I'm saying, so you don't end up with writer's cramp and trying to write down everything that I'm saying.

Now I want you to recall, when we looked at Zechariah nine and verse eight, we read this, "But I will camp..." referring to a military encampment, "...around My house..." evidently, speaking of the temple, as well as, by extension, the city and the people of Israel, "I will camp around My house because of an army, because of him who passes by and returns." And certainly there were continuous army campaigns that, over the course of the millennia, have gone through the region of Israel. God is going to preserve them and protect them, as he did. And I went into great detail of how he protected them with Alexander the Great the last time we were together. But even now, there's an endless march of hostile enemies that want to pass over Israel. Sothis prophecy depicting some kind of a permanent divine protection awaits a future fulfillment, a future age, in the millennium, when the Lord Jesus Christ reigns over his earthly kingdom from Jerusalem; and he has promised to dwell amongst his people Israel, to defend them against all who will try to come against them. Ezekiel 38 and 39 speak of that as well as Zechariah 12. And beginning in verse one, we read this,

"The burden of the word of the LORD concerning Israel.

"Thus declares the Lord who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundations of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him.

"'Behold, I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that causes reeling to all the peoples around; and when the siege is against Israel, it will also be against Judah.

"'It will come about in that day that I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who lift it will be severely injured. And all the nations of the earth will be gathered against it.

"'In that day,' declares the LORD, 'I will strike every horse with bewilderment and his rider with madness. But I will watch over the house of Judah, while I strike every horse of the peoples with blindness.

"'Then the clans of Judah will say in their hearts, "A strong support for us are the inhabitants of Jerusalem through the LORD of hosts, their God."

"'In that day, I will make the clans of Judah like a fire pot among pieces of wood and a flaming torch among sheaves, so they will consume on the right hand and on the left all the surrounding peoples, while the inhabitants of Jerusalem again dwell on their own sites in Jerusalem.

"'The LORD also will save the tents of Judah first, so that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem will not be magnified above Judah.

"'In that day, the LORD will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the one who is feeble among them in that day will be like David, and the house of David will be like God, like the angel of the LORD before them.

"'And in that day, I will set about to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.'"

Similarly in Zechariah, chapter 14, beginning in verse one, we read,

"Behold, a day is coming for the LORD when the spoil taken from you will be divided among you.

"For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city will be captured, the houses plundered, the women ravished and half of the city exiled, but the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city.

"Then the LORD will go forth and fight against those nations, as when He fights on a day of battle."

And you could go to, for example, Revelation chapter 19, verses 11 through 19, and read more about this same scenario. So indeed, back to Zechariah nine and verse eight, "I will camp around My house because of an army, because of him who passes by and returns; and no press oppressor will pass over them anymore." And so this underscores the broader eschatological context of the destruction of the Gentile world powers by God, way beyond that of Alexander the Great in that day, and now the Holy Spirit reveals to us, through his prophet, Zechariah, a prediction of the arrival of the coming Messiah in his first advent.

Notice Zechariah nine, beginning in verse nine, "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout and triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you." They had witnessed Alexander the Great - or they would eventually - and the people that received this first were the post exilic Jews that had come back from Babylon, and now they are given the hope here that your king is going to come. And it's not the king of the Medo Persians, and later on to the others, it's not Alexander the Great; later on, it's not Caesar and so forth. But "Behold, your king is coming to you." And certainly they were well aware of the pain of being ruled by Gentile kings, but they were awaiting their own king. And so for this reason, they can have a "shout" of triumph.

And then we learn more of this king who is coming. He says, "He is just and endowed with salvation, humble and mounted on a donkey. Even on a colt, the foal of a donkey." And beloved, 550 years later, Jesus rode into Jerusalem at the Triumphal Entry, and he was riding on a donkey, not a horse, which was in that day, the preferred beast of nobility that happened after David's reign. And if you know anything about horses, and I grew up with them and loved them, it's humiliating to ride a donkey. I can tell you that firsthand. But it's something else to ride a magnificent horse.

So this brings us to our first point, the humiliation of the Messiah King; and I find the contrast here of the majestic arrival of Alexander the Great to be so different than what happened later on with the arrival of Jesus. And certainly they weren't, at this point, familiar with Alexander yet, he hadn't come yet, but they had seen other kings writing on these majestic steeds. I did a little bit of research, because I remember seeing a picture of this in the British Museum many years ago. Alexander the Great rode a horse named Bucephalus. Bucephalus - not Bosephus here in Tennessee, - but Bucephalus. And he was a massive dark horse. It would appear that hehad a white star on his forehead, and he was what they call an Akhal-Teke horse, one of the finest Thessalian breeds descended from the Turkoman horse. And Bucephalus was a legendary war horse. He was known for his strength and his bravery, and he had a deep bond with Alexander the Great. And again, you can see this on some of the famous paintings.

But again, notice the stark contrast between kings. And this cannot be overemphasized. I mean, Alexander and other kings were not just; they were violent, they were impetuous, they were unpredictable, they were unfair, and they were not endowed with salvation. They were merciless. They were cruel. But here we see that the arrival of the Messiah the first time when he comes to Jerusalem on a donkey. He is described as being one who is just and who is righteous. And these are the chief characteristics of the Lord Jesus Christ. Matthew speaks of or Jeremiah speaks of this in Jeremiah, 23 beginning in verse five.

"'Behold, the days are coming,' declares the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch; and He will reign as king and act wisely and do justice and righteousness in the land.

"'In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely; and this is His name by which He will be called, "The LORD our righteousness."'"

Now, in a prophecy made 600 years before the Messiah entered Jerusalem and made 55 years before Zechariah's prophecy, we are given the precise date of when Jesus would enter into Jerusalem. And we read about this in Daniel chapter nine. I want to go there for a few minutes.

Let me remind you of the context in Daniel nine, we read, actually prior to that, Daniel's heartfelt confession of sin; both of his and his Israeli kinsmen, followed by his passionate intercession on their behalf that they might be delivered from Babylonian captivity and be restored to their land. And then we read how God sent his angelic messenger to answer his prayers, the angel Gabriel. But his answer encompasses a far greater deliverance than that of the Babylonian captivity. In his answer, he discloses his plan to deliver them from their sin; a remedy that could never be accomplished by a king other than the one that would come, one that could only be accomplished by Christ's death on the cross at his first coming. But his answer looked beyond the Gentile oppression of Babylon to a final day when they would be forever delivered from Gentile oppression. And all of this would be accomplished by the triumph of Christ at his second comings.

Now all of this will require 490 years. We read this in the prophecy. 70 weeks of years, literally, 70 sevens. And this is divided into two seasons of deliverance, the first requiring 69 weeks, or in other words, weeks of years, 490 or 483 years. And this would lead up to the death of Christ -  and then, and I'll elaborate on this in a moment - and then after an indefinite period of time, the final week, the 70th Week, would ensue, culminating in the second coming of the Messiah King who will defeat the armies of the Antichrist that's trying to exterminate Israel and so forth.

Now let me read the passage to you in Daniel nine. Again, this is a prophecy given about roughly 55 years before Zechariah's prophecy. And we read in beginning in verse 24,

"'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 sixty-two weeks; it will be built again with plaza and moat, even in times of distress.

"'Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city, 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.

"'Then after the sixty-two 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.'"

Verse 27,

"'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 offerings; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate.'"

So if we look at verse 24, we see there are seventy weeks, literally seventy heptads, 70 sevens, 70 times seven is 490 years. So these seventy weeks have been decreed. The Hebrew term carries the idea of been divided out, they've been determined; they've been decided. They've been literally cut off, and they've been cut off for your people and your holy city. So the point is, God has deliberately determined that these 490 years be cut off from all ofthe rest of history to accomplish his purposes in delivering the people of Israel and their capital city, Jerusalem. And that was consistent with David's prayer for them. And this did not happen at his first coming, it will at his second.

And notice there are six magnificent objectives to be accomplished, in this regard: 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. And so here, God reveals the future, and I might say that it's a future, way beyond Antiochus Ephiphanes of that day; far beyond the events even surrounding the first coming of Christ, beyond anything that has ever happened in history. 490 years of judgment must occur before these six glorious objectives, pertaining to quote, "your people," Israel and "your holy city," Jerusalem, could be realized - in verse 19. So all of which now looks towards the Messianic Kingdom on earth.

And this brings us to the second division of the prophecy, where God's messenger, the angel Gabriel, reveals the historical context of when the six objectives will be accomplished. Notice verse 25, "'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 sixty-two weeks; it will be built again with plaza and moat, even in times of distress.'" Now again, notice there are two divisions of time here. First, you have seven weeks. That's seven times seven is 49, so you've got 49 years. And then secondly, you've got 62 weeks. 62 sevens is 434 years. This means that something special occurred 49 years after quote, "the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem." And then 430 years later, Messiah the Prince, comes on the scene. So if you add this together, 434 and 49 that's 483 years.

Now the point that we have to look at, as students of Scripture, is what is the starting point for this 483-year period that will also include another final seven-year period known as Daniel's 70th week? Well, there are various calculations, but the one that is by far the most compelling is this, the first division of seven weeks, in other words, 49 years began in 445, BC, when Artaxerxes gave the decree to Nehemiah to rebuild the city. You can read about that in Nehemiah chapter two. And Nehemiah completed his work in the 15th year of the Persian ruler Darius Nothus in 409/408 BC, according to ancient historians like Josephus in Antiquities Book 11, chapters five and chapter eight.

Now, history is a little sketchy on the precise details, but we also know that the full 49 years of this division probably included the period of Ezra and Nehemiah; combined efforts of establishing a working capital city there in Jerusalem. We know historically that Nehemiah said the debris in Jerusalem was so great that it was impassable in places, and it took almost a whole generation of people just to clear the debris. And Nehemiah work included construction of the quote, "plaza." Plaza is a street, or it could be translated a wide place, and "moat"; moat being a fortification ditch filled with water. And it is clear from Nehemiah account that all their work was done in quote, "times of distress," just like we read in Daniel's prophecy. And this also includes the great difficulties Ezra had with the people during that time, trying to restore within them a spiritual foundation so that Jerusalem could function as it should.

And then the second division of 62 weeks - 62 sevens, 434 years until Messiah the Prince - can also be calculated by using the starting point of 445 BC and ending point in AD 32, which was the date of the triumphal entry of the Lord Jesus. So you have 49 plus 434 equals 483, and that is exactly the number of years according to the biblical chronology.

So in summary, back to verse 25, "'So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem,” 445 BC, "'...until Messiah the Prince," 32 AD, "'...there will be seven weeks.'" In other words, 49 years. That's the period of restoration under Nehemiah and Ezra; "...and 62 weeks,'" so another 434 years. So you have a total of 483 years.

"'Then,'" verse 26, "after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing.'" This is a reference to Christ's crucifixion, cut off, "kāraṯ." It means to put an end to something, to destroy, to kill. It's sometimes used in the Old Testament to denote an execution; "and have nothing," literally nothingness, no one; and you think about it, nothing he deserved was awarded to him. Israel rejected him. His disciples abandoned him. His father forsook him for a short period of time, and he bore the wrath that we all deserve. Indeed, on earth, in his humiliation, he had nothing, not even a grave.

So again, verse 26, "'Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing.'" Now, obviously this has happened. We know it, historically, Jesus entered Jerusalem on Monday, the 10th of Nisan, which is April, the precise day when, according to the Mosaic Law, sacrificial lambs for Passover were to be selected. You can read about that in Exodus chapter 12, verses two through six. And Jesus was, quote, "cut off." He was crucified on Friday the 14th. Now, bottom line, Christ's death occurred shortly after the end point of the 69 sevens, or in other words, 483 years, as Daniel prophesied. The 69 weeks were then fulfilled in total.

And then notice in also in verse 26, "'...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 we know that this actually happened 43 years later. "'The people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city in the sanctuary," which was is a clear reference to the Romans that came in in AD 70. So, as prophesied, "...its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined.'" A more literal rendering would be this, "and the end of it will be in the overflowing and unto the end, there will be war, a strict determination of desolations." Or it could be translated "the determined amountof desolations." So this also indicates an ongoing experience for the people of Israel. It says in verse 27, until the end of the times of the Gentiles, and the end that is decreed. And this is a reality, by the way, that is corroborated by many other prophecies.

Now bear in mind, all of this took place before the final 70th week is even revealed. All of this took place before the final 70th week is even revealed. And it's revealed here in verse 27, "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, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate.'" Now notice there in verse 27, "..and he...'" we got to stop, well, who is this? Who is the "he"? Is this the Messiah, or is it the prince who is to come? It certainly can't be a reference to the Messiah in the previous verse, although there are those who will argue that and deny the future fulfillment of this text, and see this last unit of seven of Daniel's prophecies just as something that just followed immediately after the 69th week, and ultimately finding its fulfillment in the ministry of Christ.

And here's why I would reject that interpretation. There's nothing, absolutely nothing, in the context of Daniel's 70th week that corresponds to anything in Christ's earthly ministry. So it can't be speaking of him. Let me give you some reasons. Number one, the 70th week is depicted as a period of time that is apart from the 69 weeks, which are clearly treated as one unit at one period of time. Secondly, the text goes on to describe how this person makes a quote, "firm covenant with the people." Christ never made a firm covenant over the course of his ministry. And thirdly, even if he had, it makes no sense to mention it here, after the statements concerning his death and the destruction of Jerusalem; that makes no sense. Fourth, in what way did Christ, quote "put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering"? Well, some will say, well, his death on the cross. But how does that fit into the context of this prophecy, and how would the ancient people - Jewish people - how would they have possibly made any sense of that? Furthermore, I would submit to you that the sacrifices did not cease until AD 70, some, 40 years later. It was stopped by the Romans, not by Christ.

And then fifthly, and this gets into the exegesis of the passage, Hebrew grammar suggests that the subject of the verb has to be linked to the last eligible antecedent, namely the "prince who is to come," who will destroy the city and the sanctuary, verse 26, that is the Roman prince; not "Messiah the Prince" in verse 25. And it's obvious that something further needs to be said about this destructive prince who is to come. And sixthly, in Matthew 24:15 Jesus referred to the quote, "abomination desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophets," as a future event beyond his earthly ministry.

Moreover, because of the events described at the end of verse 26 and those described in verse 27, and other parallel passages, this can't even refer to the Roman ruler of AD 70. It has to refer to something else, another ruler of a Roman Empire that was described in Daniel's previous visions; a ruler represented by the figure of the quote "fourth beast," the 10 horned beast of chapter two in Daniel and the quote, "little horn" described in Daniel seven, namely the Antichrist, who will rule over a revived Roman Empire. This means there must be an extensive time gap between the first 69 weeks and the 70th week, which is not at all unusual in bible prophecy. And you will recall in Daniel seven and verse 24 the Antichrist is described as one that will rule a massive kingdom that will basically compromise the old, I should say, comprise the old Roman Empire. It will be a western confederacy of a unified Europe. And Daniel describes it as a 10- nation empire.

So bottom line, with all of that technical stuff that your eyes are glassing over...you can read it later, but bottom line, beloved, I would submit to you that one more heptad still awaits; one more period of seven years, and it is this text, in Daniel 9:27 that Jesus refers to as the prophetic template that we are to use to determine the chronological sequences of quote "the beginning of birth pangs." You read about this in Matthew 24 verses 15 and 16 and Mark 13, I believe in verse 14. And all of this corresponds with the judgments that we read about beginning in Revelation six.

Now back to Daniel 9:27, it says, "'And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week.'" In other words, a seven-year period of time, there will be a great deceiver that will lure Israel into a protective agreement called a covenant. But he says, "'...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, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate.'" And this describes, I believe, the Antichrist, who will seduce the world with his political savvy, with his personal charisma, by putting forth a very compelling strategy of world peace as well as prosperity; and he will form a strategic alliance of European nations, along with Israel. And even Israel is going to be seduced into this sham and finally rebuild their third temple. But then, three and a half years later, they will learn of the Antichrist charade as he desecrates the temple, as we read about in Daniel 9:27. So in the middle of the week, that is three and a half years in, this satanically possessed antichrist will seize the temple, he will betray the Jews, and he will demand to be worshiped like his forerunner, Antiochus Epiphanes. And he will do this for 42 months, according to Revelation 13:5. That is the last half of the seven years of tribulation; and this is the one pictured in Revelation 13, verse one and verse five, as the beast that's coming up out of the sea.

And what will he do that will be so utterly abhorrent to God? Well, we read, for example, in Second Thessalonians two, beginning in verse three, the answer to that; there we read, "...the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship." It says that he will take, "...his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God." Of course, this is consistent with Satan's strategy all throughout history. He always has wanted to be worshiped, and this will be the "abomination of desolation" to which Jesus referred in Matthew,24 verse 15 where he quotes Daniel 9:27. And God makes it abundantly clear to his people through Daniel that a complete destruction, one that is decreed, will be poured out on the one whom makes desolate. And indeed, according to Second Thessalonians two and verse eight, I love this, this is...this is the end of the story where the bad guy gets it, okay? The Lord will slay that lawless one, "with the breath of His mouth by the appearance of His coming." That's the Jesus that I worship.

Now, the point with all of this is, Daniel's prophecies reinforce Zechariah's prophecies here, and well, actually in all of Zechariah, but especially in Zechariah nine, nine through 10. And naturally they would, because they were written by the same divine person, the Holy Spirit.

So this brings us to the second, final point, as we wrap this up this morning. We've seen the humiliation of the Messiah King, and now the glorification of the Messiah King, which again, is consistent with Daniel's 70th week prophecy, the tribulation, the second coming of Christ, and so forth. And here, in verse 10, the just and righteous rule of the Messiah's kingdom is described, and this is what I long for. Notice verse 10, it says, "I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim." Now, the "I," who is that? Well, it's got to be God the Father; in contrast to the pronoun "he," referring to the Messiah, in verse nine, and then later on here in verse 10. SoGod the Father will cut off the chariot from Ephraim. Ephraim was the northern capital, "...and the horse from Jerusalem." Jerusalem the southern capital, n other words, all of the whole region, "...and the bow of war will be cut off." It's amazing when you think about it, when the Lord returns and the judgment is over and he establishes his kingdom, all of the evil men and women of the world will be killed, and the instruments of war will no longer be necessary. Jesus will never have an army parade. An army will no longer exist. This is talking about world disarmament. No need for that, no need for arms; plus, arms would be absolutely powerlessagainst the Messiah King.

And it says, "He will speak peace to the nations." Can you imagine that? A time when the nations of the world can finally relax and rejoice in their just and their righteous and omnipotent king. And it says, "And His dominion will be from sea to sea, and from the River..." which, by the way, was referring to the Euphrates, the eastern most boundary of the promised land - "...from the River to the ends of the earth." And here, Zechariah describes just the global scope of the Messiah's rule and reign by quoting Psalm 72 eight, it says he also will rule, "from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth." Oh, dear Christian, don't miss this, don't miss this. God has revealed to us the framework of the end of human history and the glorious return of our Savior and King, the Lord Jesus Christ.

You know earlier, I said to you that prophecy fuels hope, and hope produces happiness; it produces joy. And I must ask you, is your joy anchored in the bedrock of the person, in the work of the Lord Jesus Christ? Is your greatest delight found in the one who gave himself for you and who longs to fellowship with you and to give you the fullness of his joy? Is he the source of your greatest delight, or are there many other things that you find much more delightful? Is he the solace that soothes your sorrows? Is he the song that you sing in your heart, in the middle of the night, when no one's around? Is it the song that you sing to your family and to your friends as you tread the paths of life, making your way towards your heavenly home? I hope it is. And we can all rejoice that he has rescued us from the domain of darkness, right? And he has transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, the kingdom of light. And Jesus said, "'I am the light of the world. He who follows Me will not walk in the darkness but will have the light of life.'" I hope you have that light of life, and you're not walking in the darkness. If you're confused about who you are in Christ and what he has done and you just don't know what to think about the world, and you get caught up in all of this crazy, immoral, insane stuff that's all around us, you need Christ. You need the light of who he is, the truth of who he is, and by his power, through the indwelling Spirit of Christ, He will lead you into all truth and help you understand the glory of who he is and what he has for your life. I pray that you know and that you love the Savior who is coming again in power and great glory. "No King?" No. We need to know the king because the king is coming, Amen?

Father, thank you for these glorious truths. Magnify them in our hearts so that we will walk in faith, in obedience, so that you will be honored by what we say, what we do, so that others will see Christ in us. And I pray that you will give each of us an extra measure of joy, even after having immersed ourselves in all of these magnificent prophetic truths; use us mightily for the sake of the kingdom, and Lord Jesus we would pray that you would come quickly, for it's in your name that we pray, Amen.