Will you take your Bibles and turn to the book of Daniel in the Old Testament? If you have not been with us, we go verse by verse through whatever book is before us. And we come now to Daniel chapter nine. We're going to be looking at verses 20 through 24 today, under the heading "Seventy sevens," Seventy sevens, and you will understand that more as we get into the text. I was thinking this week that there's probably never been a more sobering era in human history to study Bible prophecy than in the days in which we live right now. We live in an age of idolatry and sexual deviancy, fear, insanity, government corruption, and authoritarianism. We continue to witness the power of fear as these corrupt pharmaceutical companies with their own regulators, with the fox guarding the hen house, as you might say, continue to push their experimental vaccines on people; now even on our children, to protect us from a virus that has just a fraction of a fraction of a percent of killing you. The deception and the corruption, even within the CDC, the NIH, the FDA, is routinely censored. I've been looking into this a lot, here of late, because so many of you are asking me about this. And certainly I'm not here to give you the pros and cons of the vaccine. But I can tell you that much of the adverse reactions to this vaccine are being censored. Only onset treatment is being censored. We see big pharma has collaborative efforts with world governments big tech, with media; national and international public health organizations all working together to control the money, control the power, controlling economies, that control governments around the world, even our own children, our families, our careers, all under the guise of promoting and preserving health. And out of all of this, we see authoritarianism rising in the United States of America. like never before. Neo Marxist democrats will tell us we know best, so we will tell you what to do, what to think, how to teach your children. And so we experienced today censorship, lock downs, mandates, job loss, slander of those who dare say anything contrary to the agenda, the officials of the CDC and WHO. All of this is commonplace. Perhaps you just heard on the news, and I read the letter from the CDC, that after a formal demand, the CDC now concedes, it has no proof of a single instance of a naturally immune individual spreading the virus. And yet the deceptions go on, the pressure goes on. Folks, totalitarian regimes have always used fear to control people. One of the first things to go will be free speech. That's what we're seeing like never before.

Another reason why I believe this is prime time to study Bible prophecy is because of the rise of apostate Christianity. I would argue that the vast majority of evangelicalism today is thoroughly apostate, consistent with what Jesus said in Matthew seven and many other passages. Luke 18 verse eight, Jesus said, When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?'" The idea being that, not much. Remember when judgment came before was no oh, there were how many faithful ones? Eight. And Jesus tells us that when he comes again it will be like in the days of Noah. His return will be marked by persecution, apostasy and unbelief even among those who named the name of Christ. Today we look around in the so-called evangelical church, and we see sodomites, lesbians, transgender deceivers filling pulpits. Apostasy in the form of this wake, woke cult is overtaking the ranks of evangelicalism at an alarming rate. Class warfare, heretics preach their Marxist oppressor/oppressed ideology under the banner of redemptive social justice. I hear this stuff and I just shake my head. That somehow the redemptive work of Christ, to reconcile sinners unto himself is equal to the redemptive work of social redeemers of leftists, to reconcile sinful white people, to oppressed minorities. And then to have the audacity to claim that their definitions of justice and righteousness and the Gospel, bear the same weight of authority as that which is in the Word of God. Folks is not only ludicrous, it's blasphemous. And I just wonder, how much longer will God tolerate this escalation of evil, before the nostrils of God begin to flare and he rises from his throne, and he says, This is it. And he sets into motion the great day of his wrath, a day that is repeated throughout the Old Testament and even into the new. The Old Testament prophets called it the day of the Lord. Folks, this is coming. The Lord Jesus Christ warned of this as well in his Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24, where he described the unparallel sufferings that will come upon the earth just prior to his returns, also described in the book of Revelation as the time when, quote, "the wrath of the Lamb, will be poured out upon," quote, "the inhabitants of the earth." And that will happen through a succession of dreadful cataclysms known as the seal and the trumpet, and the bowl judgments. And I might add that by comparison, the horrors associated with the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70, pale in comparison. The Holocaust pales in comparison to what is coming upon this earth. These final judgments will culminate in the greatest of all eschatological conflicts known as the Battle of Armageddon. You read about it in Revelation 16. This is also known as, quote "the day of vengeance." according to Deuteronomy 32, verse 14 and Isaiah 63 and verse four.

I want to read you a passage of Scripture before we get to Daniel, actually, I want to read several to help you get the context here. In Isaiah 13, the Lord speaks through his prophet, and he looks beyond in this prophecy; beyond the immediate conquest of the Medo-Persians against Babel into a greater and final destruction of Babel, and that will occur by the Messiah when he returns. In Isaiah 13 beginning of verse six, we read this, "Wail for the day of the Lord is near! It will come as destruction from the Almighty. Therefore, all hands will fall limp, and every man's heart will melt. They will be terrified, pains and anguish will take hold of them; they will writhe like a woman in labor, they will look at one another in astonishment, their faces of flame. Behold, the day of the Lord is coming, cruel with fury and burning anger, to make the land a desolation; and He will exterminate its sinners from it. For the stars of heaven in their constellations will not flash forth their light; the sun will be dark when it rises, and the moon will not shed its light. Thus, I will punish the world for its evil and the wicked for their iniquity; I will also put an end to the arrogance of the proud and abase the haughtiness of the ruthless. I will make mortal man scarcer than pure gold and mankind than the gold of Ophir. Therefore, I will make the heavens tremble and the earth will be shaking in its place at the fury of the LORD of hosts, in the day of His burning anger."

Beloved, the world in which we live is marching inexorably towards this Day of Judgment. Jesus' ominous words in Matthew 24:15 and verse 21. And following, describe this period, known as the Great Tribulation and when you read about it, it just sends shivers up your spine. There Jesus says, "'Therefore, when you see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place, (let the reader understand) then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains....For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect, those days will be cut short.'" Jesus tells us that this will catch people unawares. They've ignored the warnings. He goes on to say in verse 36, "But of that day, and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. For as in those days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be.'" They were preoccupied with all of the commonplace, mundane matters of life, life as usual--don't pay any attention to what that Bible says, or those crazy preachers tell you.

By the way, Jesus also gave some good news in that prophesy, Matthew 24, beginning in verse 29. First he says, "'But immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.'" And then here's the good news, "The sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds from one end of the sky to the other.'" Since the church will have been translated to heaven in the rapture, the elect refers to Jews and Gentiles that are saved during the time of the tribulation. That's the way the term is used throughout the Olivet Discourse. And dear friends this will put an end to the times of the Gentiles that we've been looking at in the book of Daniel. The book of Daniel confirms these prophetic realities. My dear and departed friend Dr. David Larsen offers an excellent summary of this as we read in Daniel, he says this, "The times of the Gentiles, culminate in judgment as portrayed by the prophet Daniel's metallic colossus in Daniel two. The structured Gentile world power persist to the end of the age and ultimate ruination when struck by the rock cut out of a mountain but not made by human hands, a rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold to pieces, Daniel 2:45. The metals, while decreasing in value, increase in shear strength, until we come to the mixed iron and clay and the feet and the 10 toes, corresponding to the great image of the four beasts of Daniel seven. Out of the last of which creatures come 10 horns, Daniel seven, seven and following." He goes on to say, "Among these 10 horns arises a little horn of a particularly devious sword, who wages war against the saints, Jews who are saved in the tribulation period, and indeed inflicts great duress upon them," quote, "until the Ancient of days came and pronounced judgment in favor of the saints of the Most High and the time came when they possessed the kingdom. This time of suffering for the saints, the Jewish messianic woes is the trauma preparatory to the establishment of the Messianic kingdom." And he adds, "The little horn should be seen as the Antichrist."

Well with this now, we return to Daniel nine. And in the first 19 verses, you will recall that Daniel offers a heartfelt confession of sin, both his as well as his Israeli kinsmen. And he also intercedes on their behalf, pleading for not only forgiveness, but also restoration for a regathering of Israel to her land. A restoration that would also be spiritual--that the glory of God might be put on display in them before the world. He understood from his study of the Word of God, especially as he was looking at what Jeremiah said, that God was going to impose 70 years of judgment upon Israel because of their idolatry, and for their deliberate neglect of his sabbatical years. We see these warnings in Leviticus 26. And Daniel, of course, as you might remember, was wondering, hmm, how and when this captivity, when is this exile going to end. But as we are going to see, God's answer encompasses a far greater deliverance than what he was talking about; deliverance from their captivity. His plan included the deliverance from a more formidable enemy, the enemy of sin, the culprit that caused all of the problems to begin with. A remedy that could only be accomplished by Christ's death on the cross at his first coming. Moreover, God is going to look beyond their Gentile oppressors in Babylon, and the others, to a final day when they will be forever delivered from all earthly oppressors. And all of this will be accomplished by the Lord Jesus Christ, at his second coming.

Well all of this is going to require 490 years, 70 weeks of years, or 70, sevens, and we're going to see that these are divided into two seasons of deliverance. I'm giving you a little summary of what we're going to study at great length. The first season will require 69 weeks of years. In other words, 483 years, and that will lead up to the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then after an indefinite period of time, that final 70th week would ensue a time yet future, culminating in the second coming of the Messiah King with his armies from heaven, who will destroy the Antichrist, who is bent on exterminating all of ethnic Israel, and all Christians who lived during that time, even Gentiles, all who refuse to worship him. Daniel gives the details of this in Daniel seven.

And so let's look at God's answer now, to Daniel's prayer beginning in verse 20, of Daniel nine. "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." Let's pause here, I want you to look at this. "The mountain of my God," in other words, on the basis of the city of Jerusalem, and the restoration of your temple where your people worship. That's what he's looking at here. And I might add, this is an important distinction. He's not praying for the church. He's not praying for the body of Christ or for all of the elect down through redemptive history. This present, church economy or the stewardship of God's grace was hidden to Daniel, it was hidden to the Old Testament prophets, we read about this in Ephesians three, two through 10, Romans 16:25, through 26. The focus of his prayer to God, and the answers that God gives him, has to do with the restoration of quote "your desolate sanctuary," as we saw in verse 17, and verse 18. "Oh my God," he says, "incline Your ear and hear! Open your eyes and see our desolations of the city which is called by Your name." So God's answer will address his dealings with Israel on the bases of his covenant promises to them that he will indeed fulfill all that He has promised to them. That's what Daniel, that's what all of them were looking for. This is one of many reasons why I believe the church will not go through the tribulation. That's another whole study. The church will not be a part of Daniel's 70th week there, God is focusing on his promises to Israel. There's many other exegetical reasons why I would argue that, but throughout scripture, and especially here and Daniel nine, we see, God's plan for Israel is distinct from his plan for the church. The church will later on become the temporary custodians of God's truth. And I might add that I do not believe that the church has permanently replaced Israel in God's plan of redemption. Many people teach that and believe, some of my very best friends believe that. I do not see that in Scripture. This is certainly not a test of orthodoxy but it's an important distinction. If you're going to understand what we believe here at Calvary Bible Church with respect to premillennialism, this is an important distinction.

And I might add, it's worthy of a bit of a digression here, if you will bear with me, I do not believe that ethnic, national, territorial Israel are all permanently absorbed into the universal Christian Church, thereby permanently eliminating their national identity. This is often known as Augustinian or Roman Catholic eschatology. Sometimes it's called supercessionism, amillennialism, replacement theology and so forth. I do not believe that all of the promises given to Israel in the Old Testament were forfeited by their unbelief. I don't see that in Scripture. I don't believe that all of those promises are now given to the church in some spiritual sense, as God's chosen people to be his witness, his witnesses Israel failed miserably. Indeed they did. But is there a level of sin that surpasses grace? I think not. Psalm 130 and verse three, "If thou Lord, oh Lord should mark iniquities, Who could stand"? However, as we look at Scripture, because they quote, "rejected the chief cornerstone," Matthew 21:42, Jesus said in verse 43, "'Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you, and be given to a nation producing the fruit of it.'" Now, the supercessionism will argue that here, Jesus permanently rejects the nation of Israel, and the nation to whom the kingdom would be given is now the church. I think that is highly unlikely for several reasons. Just briefly, if we look at this text, we see that Jesus is addressing the chief priests and the Pharisees. He's addressing these wicked, hypocritical leaders of Israel that were determined to kill him. He was not addressing Israel as a nation as a whole. In fact, three verses later in verse 45, Matthew tells us that the religious leaders quote, "understood that he Jesus was speaking about them". Although Jesus antipathy towards the Jewish leaders continued to increase throughout his earthly ministry, he never shows any contempt for the multitudes. In fact, on the previous day, we see how he wept over Jerusalem, and they constantly acclaimed him as the messianic Son of David. Furthermore, other passages in Matthew's gospel reaffirms the idea that Jesus fully anticipated Israel's future restoration. In chapter 19, verse 28, he offers much needed reassurance to the disciples and He says, "'Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon 12 thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel.'" "You who have followed me in the regeneration," "palingenesia" in the original language, it literally means rebirth, regeneration. It's referring to the Messianic age, clearly a reference to the earthly kingdom described in Revelation 20 verses one through five. It'll be when he says the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne and you also shall sit upon 12 thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. I might add that Peter also understood Jesus words. In Matthew 19:28. He understood that he was referring to a messianic kingdom, he wasn't referring to the church. Later, when Peter called the men of Israel to repentance and Acts three, in verses 20 through 21, he spoke of, quote, "The Christ appointed for you "whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from ancient time." You see, none of the prophets had spoken about the church, none of them had spoken about the inclusion of both believing Jews and Gentiles in a new spiritual community, the body of Christ, that was a mystery not disclosed in the Old Testament. Romans 16, verse 25, we read that it's a "mystery which has been kept secret for long ages past." We see the same thing in Ephesians, three, two through six.

So back to Matthew 21:43, "'Therefore, I say to you,'" referring to the wicked leaders of Israel, "'the kingdom of God will be taken away from you, and given to a nation.'" An "ethnos," a new nation spiritually, but also the same nation historically; a restored future Israel, we read about it in Romans 11:11, through 15. A nation that will experience a new birth. Isaiah 66, five through 13. A nation producing the fruit of it and so forth. Another passage affirming the restoration of Israel, and why I see a distinction between Israel and the church, and I believe that's what Daniel is seeing and what God is speaking about, in Daniel nine--in Acts chapter one and verse three, we learn that Jesus met with his disciples for a period of 40 days after His resurrection. 40 days. And what was the main topic that Jesus spoke about? He was speaking it says of the things concerning the kingdom of God. Then in verses six through seven, Luke records Jesus final interchange with his apostles before his ascension, when he once again affirmed the idea of restoration of national Israel. There we read, "When they had come together, they were asking Him saying, 'Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to to Israel?' And He said to them, 'It is not for you to know times are epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority.'" Now, I would humbly submit to you that if God was finished with his covenant people, Israel, and the church had therefore permanently replaced her as a new spiritual Israel, this would have been a perfect place for Jesus to have made that abundantly clear. If that were true, why wouldn't he have corrected them? Why wouldn't he have said, no, no, no, no, wait a minute. I've been with you for 40 days speaking to you concerning the kingdom of God. Don't you understand that ethnic, national, and territorial Israel is now absorbed into the universal Christian church, thereby eliminating their national identity? Don't you understand that the physical Messianic Kingdom once promised, Israel has now been changed to a spiritual kingdom, and you're living in it right now? Don't you guys get that? Well, obviously, he didn't say that because I don't believe any of that's true.

Romans 11 and verse one, Paul said "God has not rejected His people, has He? May it never be!" The apostles understood this. And like Paul, they long to see the spiritual salvation and the physical restoration of their nation Israel. So it was appropriate for them to ask, "Lord, is it at this time you are restoring the kingdom to Israel?" We can go to the book of Romans in Romans chapter nine. The focus is on Israel's election, he assures them that God has not forgotten, he has not rejected his chosen people. Quite the contrary. In chapter 10, the focus is on Israel's defection. There, the apostle Paul explains why Jews rejected their Messiah and remain in ignorance and unbelief. Why salvation is now extended to the Gentiles, all of which is part of God's plan, even for Israel. And then in chapter 11, the focus is on Israel's salvation. God made it very clear that the specific promises that He had made, to his chosen nation, would come to fruition. Now some of those were conditional dependent upon their obedience, but his greatest promises were unconditional based upon God's character. And to this day, because of their unbelief, God is disciplining them as a nation. They have been temporarily put aside, as Paul says in verse 25, "until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in," and then in verse 26, eventually he says, "all Israel will be saved just as it is written, THE DELIVERER WILL COME FROM ZION, HE WILL REMOVE UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB. And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins." So I'm convinced that Israel was God's unique focus of redemption in one dispensation in the Old Testament, while the church, consisting of both Jews and Gentiles, has been his focus since their rejection of Jesus. However, I believe Scripture teaches that God will eventually focus once again, on Israel during the millennial reign of Christ on earth when all of the covenant promises that he has made to Israel will be fulfilled literally, including the the earthly blessings and the earthly Messianic kingdom. Prophetic literature is filled with the pivotal role Israel plays during that time. So I believe that the church shares in the promises of Israel, but not in their unique identity. (Audio not able to be transcribed)....And in that he says, quote, "The prophecies concerning Israel are the key to all the rest, true principles of interpretation in regard to them will aid us in disentangling and illustrating all prophecy together. False principles, as to them will most thoroughly perplexed and overcloud the whole word of God," end quote. And speaking on Ezekiel 37 that we read earlier in our scripture reading--in 1864, at the Metropolitan tabernacle, Charles Spurgeon was soliciting funding for the British Society for the Propagation of the gospel amongst the Jews. And Spurgeon declared this, quote, "The meaning of our text," referring to Ezekiel 37, the dry bones that come to life and so forth, "The meaning of our text as opened up by the context is most evidently, if words mean anything, first, there shall be a political restoration of the Jews to their own land, and to their own nationality. And then secondly, there is in the text, and in the context of most plain declaration, that there shall be a spiritual restoration, a conversion, in fact of the tribes of Israel." He went on to say, "Her sons, though they can never forget the sacred dust of Palestine yet die at a hopeless distance from her consecrated shores. But it shall not be so forever. They shall again walk upon her mountains, shall once more sit under her vines and rejoice under her fig trees. And they are also to be reunited. They shall not be two, nor 10, nor 12, but one, one Israel praising one god, serving one king, and that one king, the son of David, the descended Messiah. They are to have a national prosperity which will make them famous. They, so glorious shall they be that Egypt and Tyre and Greece and Rome shall all forget their glory and the greater splendor of the throne of David." And then Spurgeon said this, "If there be meaning and words, this must be the meaning of this chapter. I wish never to learn the art of tearing God's meaning out of his own words, if there'll be anything clear and plain, the literal sense and meaning of this passage; a meaning not to be spirited or spiritualized away, must be evident that both the two and the 10 tribes of Israel are to be restored to their own land, and that a king is to rule over them."

Now, after a long and weighty digression that I felt was important for me to get out, back to Daniel nine, verse 21, "While I was speaking in prayer, then the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision previously, came to me in my extreme weariness about the time of the evening offering." That's a reference to the meal and drink offering would have been between three and 4pm. I find it intriguing here, he speaks with his extreme weariness, any of us who have labored long hours and prayer; for that which is burdening our hearts, we know that it is difficult, even physically. But isn't it interesting, it had been 70 years since Daniel had offered the sacrifices in Jerusalem. Now the temple is destroyed, but notice he continues to worship the Lord, as if he was right there in the temple as if nothing had ever changed. Would that we all be so faithful in honoring the Lord. Verse 22, "He gave me instruction and talked with me and said, 'Oh, Daniel, I have now come forth to give you insight with understanding. At the beginning of your supplications the command was issued, and I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed." It could be translated, "counted precious." So God hears his prayer, dispatches Gabriel to answer it. And then Gabriel says, "so give heed to the message and gain understanding of the vision."

And here he begins, "70 weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city." Now 70 weeks, literally 70 sevens, or 70 heptad units of seven. So 70 times 70, 490 years have been decreed. The term "decreed" comes from a Hebrew word, "chathak," it means "to divide, to determine, to to cut off, to decide something to determine something." So the 70 weeks has been divided, has been cut off, "for your people and your holy city." And so in other words, God has deliberately determined that these 490 years would be cut off from all the rest of history to accomplish his purposes in delivering the people of Israel and their capital city, Jerusalem. And that's all consistent with Daniel's prayer. Which by the way, did not happen. All of those things did not happen when Jesus came the first time.

Now I want to focus on the six magnificent objectives that are to be accomplished in this regard. Notice what he says, again, "70 weeks had been decreed for your people in 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." So here, beloved, God reveals the future events I might add, that are far beyond that which occurred with Antiochus Epiphanes, far beyond the events surrounding the first coming of Christ, far beyond anything that has ever happened in history. So in other words, 490 years of judgment must occur before the six glorious objectives can be realized. All of which look to the Messianic Kingdom on earth, all consistent with Old Testament prophecy, even New Testament prophecy.

For example, in Acts three, verse 19, we read, "Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; and that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you, whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time." Again, go to Romans 11, beginning in verse 12. Paul says, "Now if their transgression is riches for the world, and their failure is riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their fulfillment be!" Referring to the unbelieving Jewish people. Verse 15, "For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be, but life from the dead?" And in verse 25, "For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery--so that you will not be wise in your own estimation--that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; and so all Israel will be saved just as it is written, THE DELIVERER WILL COME FROM ZION, HE WILL REMOVE UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB. This is my covenant with them, when I take away their sins. From the standpoint of the gospel, their enemies for your sake," you Gentiles, "but from the standpoint of God's choice, they are beloved, for the sake of the fathers; for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable."

So again, six magnificent objectives are to be accomplished during this 490 years. The first three are all negative realities that must be a eradicated. Namely, man's global rebellion against the Most High God. So the goal first here is to deal with sin and Satan, both of which are defeated at the cross. The first three are to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity. Now, it's important that we look at these closely because if you're like most people, you come to a passage like this, you read through it, have no real idea what it said, but you kind of move on to something else that will kind of speak to your heart-- when you're missing out on a whole lot. So let's don't do that.

Notice what the Spirit of God says, through Gabriel. First of all, "to finish" where it could be translated and "restrain the transgression." Transgression here is a term used to describe the violation of God's law, those that revolt against God's authority, specifically, Israel's unrelenting and unrestrained rebellion against God. If we were to go to Ezekiel, Chapter 20, beginning in verse 34, you will see how the prophet describes the elimination of all the apostates from the land of Israel during the Millennium. And Jesus described the same thing is going to happen among the Gentile nations in his Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24 and Matthew 25. In fact, during Christ's earthly reign, Isaiah 11 and verse 10, tells us that "the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea." Can you imagine that? Sin will not be completely eliminated because unregenerate children will be born to those who enter into the millennial reign of Christ. And many of those unregenerate children will continue to reject Christ. So there will be occasional situations of rebellion, requiring the Lord to rule over them with a rod of iron as we're told. But that's going to be the exception, not the rule. Christ himself during that time is going to restrain sin during his reign, but it will be utterly non existent in the eternal state. You must bear in mind that the millennial reign of Christ is the consummating bridge between human history and the eternal state where sin will be eradicated completely.

He then uses, Gabriel now uses, nuances of terms and repetition in these parallel clauses he says, not only to "finish the transgression," but also "to make an end of sin." This is something else that's got to happen during this 490 year period, to make an end of sin. Here the term for sin is a more general term for all wrongs. And it carries the idea here when he says to make an end of, it's to seal it up, that it might be concealed, to even the idea of judging it with finality. And again, these are nuances. They're almost synonyms of all that God is going to do with respect to sin. Hebrews nine in verse 26, we read, "But now once at the consummation of the ages He has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself." So all of that was set into motion at the cross.

But then there's this magnificent climax, he says also, "to make atonement for iniquity." Atonement, a Hebrew term "kaphar," it means to cover by means of an expiatory sacrifice, or literally to make a covering. To provide a moral repayment for a fault or an injury. In fact, if we look at Scripture, we see progressive revelation, and how the death of Christ was foreshadowed by many Old Testament types and symbols. Remember the coats of skin that God made for Adam and Eve in the garden? That was a picture of a coming Redeemer. The animal offering of Abel in Genesis four, the offering of Isaac by Abraham in Genesis 22. It goes on with the Old Testament sacrificial system that we read about, especially in Leviticus 17, the brazen serpent, erected by Moses in Numbers 21. The Passover lamb in Exodus 12. All of these things point towards an atonement. Atonement, by the way always involves two things satisfaction and substitution, satisfaction of the offended holiness of God accomplished only by an acceptable substitution. An innocent life must be given for the guilty, one who has offended the holiness of God. And this is why Jesus had to taste death for everyone, right? This is how salvation is made possible. This is the only way God can forgive sin and still remain holy. And what this accomplished, the way is paid for the second, three positive objectives in this 490 years. And that is, number one, to bring in everlasting righteousness.

I'm reminded of Isaiah's prophecy to Judah in Isaiah five, verse seven, he says, he speaks of Israel as the vineyard of the Lord of hosts, "The vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah His delightful plant." So given the idea here is, given all that God has done for them, he's expecting them to do better than what they've done. And he goes on to say, Thus He looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed for righteousness, but behold, a cry of distress." In Hebrew, it's a play on words. He looked for justice, which is "mispat", but behold, bloodshed "mispah." I looked for "mispat" and I got "mispah". And the same thing he goes on to say, I look for righteousness, which is "sedaqa', I look for "sedaqa," and I got "seaqa" So where's the righteousness going to come from? It has to come from the one who would make atonement for sin, the only one who can bring in everlasting righteousness. Only the Lord Himself can do this. It's fascinating. The removal of sin that he accomplished on the cross will be appropriated by Israel as a nation when Christ returns. It's an amazing thought. Many passages that speak to this, I'll give you but one, Jeremiah 23, beginning of verse five, "And behold, the days are coming." I love it when the prophets say that, "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."

Well not only is he going to bring in everlasting righteousness, we read that there'll be a time when he will "seal up vision and prophecy." Seal up, the term that carries the idea of hiding from view and demonstrating that its functions are over. What would that would be, well vision, to seal up vision, the functions of the vision, what's vision? Revelation, not only revelation, but prophecy, the message of the prophets. My dear professor, Dr. Whitcomb said this, quote, "Similarly, in the post apostolic phase of church history, we have no further need of such ministries, possessing as we do the completed revelation of God and Holy Scripture." He's referring here to vision that is special revelation, and prophecies and so forth. He went on to say, "during the first half of the 70th week of Daniel, two witnesses will prophesy to Israel."

I need to backup, we have no further need of such ministries, possessing as we do the completed revelation of God and Holy Scripture. You know, we've got the closed canon here. We don't need somebody to come along and say, God told me this, God told me that; we don't need that. Don't pay any attention to that. But he says, "During the first half of the 70th, week of Daniel two witnesses will prophesy to Israel in order to launch the 144,000, and others into global witness for Christ after the rapture of the church, you read about that in Revelation 11." But he says, "All such prophetic ministries will end forever at our Lord's return to Earth.

So it's during this time, it's going to bring in everlasting righteousness, seal up vision and prophecy, and then finally, "to anoint the most holy place." The term anoint means to officially inaugurate something into public ministry. And what is the most holy place it could be translated literally, the Holy of Holies. This underscores the profound importance of the millennial temple that is described in Joel three in verse 18, Isaiah 60 verse seven, Jeremiah 33 verses 20 through 22, Ezekiel 37:26 through 28. And then Ezekiel chapter 40, all the way to chapter 48. Prior to this, during the Great Tribulation, the Antichrist we know will desecrate a newly constructed temple. We read about that and our Lord's Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24. Also in Second Thessalonians two verse four, Revelation 13:15. But when the Messiah returns, that will be done away with and a magnificent new temple will be built, And Ezekiel tells us this, "and the glory," remember the glory of the Lord, the Shekinah, that left, all right? And didn't return until Jesus returned and it was veiled in his body. Now it says, "The glory of the Lord will come into the house by the way of the gate, facing toward the east," Ezekiel 43 and verse four. So the Lord will come into His temple. And of course, during the eternal state, there will be no temple, because the Lord himself will be the temple.

So these six objectives, Gabriel tells Daniel will be accomplished in these 77s, 490 years that God has carved out of history to accomplish his purposes in delivering the people of Israel, their capital city, Jerusalem, consistent with all of his covenant promises. 490 years before Messiah would finally established the long awaited kingdom, for which Daniel prayed. Now, the next verse tells him when the clock is going to start ticking. And we'll look at that beginning the next time. Oh, dear friends, what a glorious future awaits the redeemed. Amen? And what a glorious God to not only make this possible, but to make it certain. I get so excited when I think about it. All of this stuff we deal with is one day going to be over. And the Lord is going to reign, every knee will bow every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord, let's pray together.

Father, thank You for these eternal truths. We pray as always that by the power of your Spirit, you will ignite our hearts and prays to the one who gave Himself for us our Redeemer and our coming King. And Lord, for those that may not know you, that may have some religion, but they have really never been broken over their sin. They've never cried out to you for the mercy that you will give. As a result of repentant faith, I pray that you will break their hearts, give them no sleep upon their pillow until they do business with you. We commit this to you by your grace, and for your glory. Amen.