Israel’s Place In the Plan of God

Transcript

GRM 1116
1/5/2014
Israel's Place in the Plan of God
Daniel 9
Gil Rugh

I want to continue the theme that we were talking about in our previous study, and we will, next Sunday as well. Last Sunday we talked about the nations of the earth and God's plan for them and how they fit in the unfolding scheme, climaxing with the kingdom of Christ on the earth, replacing all earthly kingdoms. Next week I want to talk to you about the church and how it fits in God's overall sovereign plan. Today I want to talk to you about i\Israel and its place in the plan of God.

When we talked about the nations we noted that Israel is the focal point among the nations of the earth. And if you would put up map #2 and see on there with this limited part of the world, we have put the pin there that marks Israel in red. Just a little strip of land there on the Mediterranean, but it is the focal point of everything going on. Those nations, Arab and Muslim nations surrounding Israel there. We see all the land they have and yet they are convinced if they just could have more of that little strip of land that belongs to Israel. Even the nations of the world begin to think, Israel is the problem, they are a trouble in the world. If Israel weren't there, then there wouldn't be problems over there.

Put up the next map if you would, #3. We looked at this last week, it's just moving out and if it weren't for that red pin you wouldn't even be able to find Israel. And think about it if we moved out and showed the world, you could still see great sections of the world like South America, United States, Russia, China, Israel would be so small you couldn't see it on a map like that. And yet that is the focal point. Everything in Scripture is built around the nation Israel, there is no other nation that plays the role in the plan of God that the nation Israel does. And I say that present tense, does. Even though Israel is under the judgment of God in this period of time we call the church age, it is still the only nation that God has chosen for Himself. And all of His work in the world has as its ultimate goal the realization of His promises to the nation Israel. We in this country so blessed of God can appreciate what God has done for us as a nation, but we must not lose perspective. This is not the nation God has chosen for Himself, that is unique to Israel and still belongs to that nation, even if they are under judgment. And they will ultimately realize everything God has promised.

Turn in your Bibles to the book of Daniel, that's where we focused much of our attention in our previous study. In Daniel 2 we saw the nations of the world unfolding as God revealed the plan from Daniel's day down until the kingdom Christ would establish. And He moves through, there would be Babylon that was presently ruling the world and the dominant nation. It conquered the southern kingdom of Israel as Daniel was prophesying. That kingdom would be followed by Medo-Persia, their empire, which would be followed by Greece, which would be followed by Rome. And in that portrayal in Daniel 2, that final form of the Roman Empire would have ten toes. And then in Daniel 2:44, in the days of those kings, referring to the ten toes that will be brought together as a strong and brittle kingdom, strength of iron and the brittleness of clay, remember. In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed. That kingdom will not be left for another people. It will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will endure forever. We believe in a literal, normal interpretation of Scripture. These are all physical, earthly empires. Then we come to the empire, the kingdom of Christ, which will replace all earthly kingdoms. That has not yet happened.

Come over to Daniel 7. This is just review of what we have looked at. Daniel is given the same information in a different picture with the beasts coming up from the sea. And then you have the same empires depicted, beginning with Babylon, followed by Medo-Persia, followed by Greece, followed by Rome. Then that Roman Empire has a final form of ten kings or kingdoms joined together. So Daniel 7:7, I kept looking in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast. And you'll note at the end of verse 7, it had ten horns. Parallels the ten toes of Daniel 2.

But now we get another piece of information. While I was contemplating the horns, verse 8, behold another horn, a little one, came up before them. A little one came up among them and three of the first horns were plucked up by the roots. This becomes a very powerful man, a very powerful kingdom. And then it climaxes with the kingdom of Christ and what He will establish on the earth in verses 9-14.

Then Daniel said, I'd like to know. He asks the angel the proper understanding. And he is particularly interested in the fourth kingdom. Remember these, except for Babylon, all these kingdoms are in Daniel's future as Daniel looks, what was ahead in coming days. But that fourth beast so powerful, that fourth kingdom. And then the ten horns and the little horn. What does that all mean? And the angel gives Daniel a summary. Daniel 7:17, these great beasts which are four in number are four kings, remember a king and a kingdom are used interchangeably as we've seen, which will arise from the earth. But the saints of the Highest One will receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever for all ages to come. Now that is a concise summary. No details. Four earthly empires ultimately replaced by the kingdom of Christ and His saints.

Daniel wants more information. I'd like to know more about that fourth beast. So then you get further details on the Roman Empire. Verse 20, the meaning of the ten horns that were on its head, then that other horn, the little one which came up among the three and became dominant. And that horn was waging war with the saints, overpowering them until the Ancient of Days and His kingdom comes and Christ is established as ruler on the earth.

That is the overview of earth's history and the nations of the world. As we noted, and we saw this when we looked at the first coming of Christ and the Second Coming, in the Old Testament there is no information given on the time in which we are living. Why don't you put up that diagram of the 70 weeks. This will move us a little ahead of ourselves. But you'll see the church age we've put in the tan color there. There is no information for that period of time in all the Old Testament, from Genesis to the last book of the Old Testament, Malachi. That period of time is not talked about. So you can see what happens. The Old Testament prophesies about events that will take place up until Christ's crucifixion and ascension to heaven. The next thing the Old Testament talks about is at the end of the 70th week, before the thousand years when Christ comes to earth. So they are sandwiched together. Now God never said nothing would happen in there, He just revealed nothing. Remember we talked about Peter who in his letters in the New Testament writes that was impossible for the Old Testament prophets to sort out. How could Christ come, suffer and die, and also rule and reign in glory? Because they didn't see anything in between. It seems so clear to us—there are two events where Christ will come to this earth. The first is in the past, being born at Bethlehem, culminating with His crucifixion, resurrection and ascension to heaven. Then some 2000 years later, at least as far as time has gone, He'll return to earth, set up a kingdom and rule and reign.

We saw that with the earthly empires. The earthly empires talked about the Roman Empire, but we then talk about it having ten toes in its final form, or ten horns and then a little horn. That hasn't happened yet. Well, some, if you read commentaries on Daniel, say that happened, there were ten Roman emperors and then we have the destruction of the temple in 70 A.D. And then we're in a spiritual kingdom now. I mean, that is just to make confusion out of everything. The kingdom that is promised in Daniel is a kingdom that will crush all other empires. There will be only one king, only one ruler. And the saints will rule over that earth. That just is not true today. And to take all these empires leading up to the coming of Christ as literal and then Christ's kingdom as some kind of spiritual kingdom that exists in the hearts of people is just to cancel out the clarity of Scripture.

So just as there is a gap between the first coming of Christ and the Second there is a gap in the unfolding of the empires because we have to come to the events of the Second Coming of Christ and the kingdom that He establishes.

So now I want to look with you at God's plan for the nation Israel. And we're going to face the same kind of situation. God is going to talk about His plan for Israel, but that will break off at the first coming of Christ and pick up with events around the Second Coming of Christ.

Let's come to Daniel 9. Remember Daniel was taken captive to Babylon when Nebuchadnezzar conquered the southern kingdom, which was Judah and Benjamin, that would have been Jerusalem and so on. Now there were three events in Nebuchadnezzar's dealing with the Jews in Israel, the southern kingdom. He came, he deported some people, he took possession, if you will, without stepping in and planting his forces there. They were a conquered people. He had to come back because of trouble. And he deported more people, took them to Babylon. Finally the third time he came back, he just crushed them, just wiped them and deported all but the poorest of the people in the land. He just put up with no more, not going to have anymore trouble here.

Now Daniel was carried away in the early deportation, so he has been in Babylon, when we come to Daniel 9, for sixty years. He was carried away from family and homeland and now has lived in this foreign country for perhaps sixty years. As we open up Daniel 9, the Medo-Persians have conquered the Babylonians. So we have reference now to Persian rulers here—the first year of Darius, son of Ahasuerus of Median descent was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans. He's not the Persian king, the Persian king will be mentioned in Daniel 10:1—Cyrus, king of Persia. But in Daniel 9:1 he has appointed and set up Darius to rule over this region that Babylon had ruled over.

In the first year of his reign, verse 2, I, Daniel, observed in the books the number of the years which was revealed as the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet for the completion of the desolations of Jerusalem. Seventy years. I think this tells you something about Daniel. Here carried away from his homeland and family to Babylon to serve in the court of a pagan king, never to be able to return home. Sixty years, just to us that as a round number, he has lived in Babylon and now an old man. What is he doing? Grown discouraged, frustrated, wondering has God forgotten about me. No, do you know what he is doing? He is studying copies of Jeremiah's prophecy that he has gotten hold of. Jeremiah's prophecies were written down, you read the book of Jeremiah and we are told they were. He has secured a copy. Jeremiah was a prophet of similar time period, but he never was deported from Israel. Nebuchadnezzar respected him, he had prophesied the victory of the Babylonians, he was allowed to stay. But here is Daniel, studying the prophecies of Jeremiah to learn more about God's plan and God's purposes and what God is going to do. He is studying Jeremiah, let's just follow this along, he found out that the Babylonian captivity was going to be seventy years. That had been revealed to Jeremiah, not to Daniel. Now as that captivity is coming to an end, Daniel comes to understand it.

Come back to Jeremiah, let's look at what Jeremiah said. Jeremiah 25:11, this whole land will be a desolation and a horror. These nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years. Then it will be when the seventy years are completed, I will punish the king of Babylon. We think of the Babylonian Empire and it was glorious and splendid, but it's a seventy-year empire. God raised it up to punish the Jews. When those seventy years of punishment are done, Babylon is gone and Medo-Persia comes.

Come back to Leviticus 25. Here God is giving instructions to the nation Israel. Verse 2, speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, when you come into the land which I shall give you, then the land shall have a sabbath to the Lord. Six years you shall sow your fields, six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather in its crop. But during the seventh year the land shall have a rest, a sabbath to the Lord. In other words the seventh year belongs to the Lord, it's a sabbath, it's a year of rest. So you can harvest, you can gather all your crops for six years. On the seventh year you don't do anything with the land, you don't plant anything, you don't harvest anything. That's a year set aside for the Lord.

Come over to Leviticus 26, and in Leviticus 26 God tells Israel the blessings He will give them for obeying His instructions and then He tells them the judgment He will bring on them if they don't obey Him. So you'll note verse 14 begins with the judgments for disobedience. If you do not obey Me, do not carry out all these commandments, if instead you reject them and so on, then here is what will happen to you. Verse 31, I will lay waste your cities, make your sanctuaries desolate, and so on. Verse 33, you, however, I will scatter among the nations, will draw out a sword after you as your land becomes desolate and your cities become waste. You'll be carried away captives into foreign lands, and there will be nobody living on your land, dwelling in your cities. Then the land will enjoy its sabbaths, all the days of the desolation while you are in your enemy's land. Then the land will rest and enjoy its sabbaths. All the days of its desolations it will observe the rest which it did not observe on your sabbaths while you were living on it. Do you know what God says? If you don't give Me every seventh year and let the land rest, the punishment will be that I'll wipe you off the land so then nobody is living there until I get what you owe Me.

Come to 2 Chronicles, have you been in Chronicles lately? And 2 Chronicles 36 records the end of the southern kingdom, the Babylonian captivity and you see the graciousness of the Lord. Verse 15, the Lord the God of their fathers sent word to them again and again by His messengers because He had compassion on them and on the land He had given them. But they continually mocked the messengers of God, despised His Word, scoffed at His prophets until the wrath of the Lord arose against His people, until there was no remedy.

Then you come down to verse 20. Those who had escaped from the sword he carried away to Babylon. They were servants to him and his sons until the rule of the kingdom of Persia. So you have a summary there. You see we pick up, Daniel has come through this time of captivity in Babylon and now we have Persia taking control.

What was it for? Verse 21, to fulfill the Word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah until the land had enjoyed its sabbaths. All the days of its desolation it kept sabbath until seventy years were complete. Do you know what this means? For 490 years Israel did not keep that seventh years. You know after time you think God doesn't care, He won't do what He said. Can you imagine the first time that seventh year came up and the weather was great, the harvest had been good. Seems like a waste not to use the seventh year. We'll have bad years, it's better to take the seventh year. But won't God judge us? And so they do that first, I'm sure, with trepidation. I'm reading this in my own mind, it's not there. But it gets easier, we got such a good crop. The second time the seventh year, we're 14 years along, it worked out well the last time, let's keep going. By the time 100 years have gone by, 200 years have gone by, 400 years gone by you think God really doesn't care. He said you have to keep the Sabbath or I'll punish you, but look, we haven't kept it for 400 years and nothing happened. I think we're better off when we didn't keep it, as though God probably just forgot what He said or it wasn't that important to Him. Do you know what? After 490 years time has run out. Do you know what God says? 490 years, every seventh year you should have given Me the whole year. How many years is that? Seventy. Do you know what? I'll take them all at once. So the Babylonians come in and Israel is swept away. Did God forget? Would Israel have been better to give Him His seventh year and be obedient? So they are carried off, even a saint like Daniel is caught up in it because he is part of the nation and God's judgment is on the nation.

So we come to Daniel 9 and Daniel is studying Jeremiah's prophecy. He is a man of God. I mean, 60 years in a foreign land, he is still trusting God. And do you know what? He realizes that’s 70 years. Because he is in the Babylonian captivity and now the Persians come but he doesn't have understanding that that is the time of Israel's punishment for the Sabbath is past 490 years, keep that figure in mind. Seventy years' captivity is over. What does Daniel do? Now I can get out of this, it seems to me the Lord maybe overdid it. I mean, our family has been torn apart, nations have been destroyed.

Do you know what Daniel does? You pick up with verse 3 and Daniel is humbling himself in prayer, acknowledging God's righteousness in judging the nation. And he includes himself. He says in verse 4, I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed and said, alas, oh Lord, the great and awesome God who keeps His covenant and loving kindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments. I mean, this is a man who was carried away from his homeland, his family, has lived 60 years in a foreign land. Now he is an old man and he'll never be going back. But he can talk about the loving kindness of God. He keeps His covenant, He keeps His word. Then he says, we have sinned, committed iniquity, acted wickedly. He identifies himself with the nation—we deserved it, it was our sin that necessitated it. We rebelled against you, we haven't listened to your servants the prophets who spoke in your name. Righteousness, verse 7, belongs to you, oh Lord, but to us open shame as it is to this day, to the men of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, all Israel. Verse 8, open shame belongs to us. Verse 9, to the Lord our God belong compassion and forgiveness. He never loses his perspective, all these years he hasn't lost his perspective. How amazing a man is this, a man of God.

This goes on down to verse 19. Oh Lord, hear; oh Lord, forgive; oh Lord, listen. He sees the 70 years was the just judgment of God on an unbelieving nation but now he is comfortable crying out to God for mercy because the 70 years are up and he wants God to be merciful to forgive. Because your city and your people are called by your name, the end of verse 19. Lord, it's your honor that is at stake. We deserve it all, but these are the people called by your name, this is your holy city.

The answer comes with an angel from heaven. And while he is speaking, verse 21, the man Gabriel whom I had seen in the vision previously came to me. Verse 22, he gave me instruction and talked with me. And note what Gabriel says. Gabriel is the one who in the New Testament will declare, I am Gabriel who stands in the presence of God. And now this Gabriel comes and speaks to Daniel. And he says, verse 23, at the beginning of your supplications the command was issued, the command for him to come. I have come to tell you for you are highly esteemed. What a testimony. Gabriel comes from the presence of God to say to this Jewish captive who spent 60 years of his life in a pagan land, in a pagan city, under pagan rulers to tell him, you are esteemed. What do you mean? Not on earth, esteemed in the presence of God. This angel who serves in the presence of God knows Daniel, you are esteemed in the courts of heaven. What a testimony.

So here is the answer. He is going to tell him there has been revelation regarding the nations of the earth. Here is God's plan, verse 24. Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city. Let's focus on the Jews in Jerusalem; you ought to have that marked, highlighted, starred, circled. Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people, not for the church, nor for the United States. Daniel's people are the Jews. And your holy city. No doubt about what we are talking about. This is God's plan, God's timetable for the Jews and Jerusalem. And in this 70-week period six things will be accomplished—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, to anoint the Most Holy Place. When we get to the end of this 70-week period, all Israel will be saved, as Romans 11 says. Their sin will have been dealt with, vision and prophecy will be brought to its fruition and completion. And you will have the anointing of the holy place, the Messiah will be here, the temple will be established and He will rule.

Seventy weeks, literally 70 sevens, or some modern translations translate 70 periods of seven. It's not 70 weeks of days, 70 seven-day periods. It is a period of 70 seven-year periods. So it is a period of seven years, not a period of seven days. And that's 490 years. Interesting. Israel's rebellion against God had been in the previous 490 years which results in 70 years of captivity. Now he talks about the future of Israel and he puts it in a 490-year period because during this time Israel will persist in their rebellion against God and the final period there will be a seven-year period of intense judgment.

If you keep in mind the unfolding of Old Testament truth, this is for Israel, this is for the church. Not for the church, you don't put the church in here. This is for Israel and for Jerusalem.

The 70 weeks are seven years, we'll see that in a moment. But let's move through the details of this passage, then when we go to the other. But right now you take my word for it, it is 70 seven-year periods, 490 years. Those six things will be accomplished and as you get to the end of those 490 years, the kingdom will be established, Christ will be reigning and so on. You are to know and discern from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there will be 7 weeks and 62 weeks. And Jerusalem will be rebuilt again with a plaza moat even in times of distress.

If you want to jump back to Nehemiah 2, that's when the 70 years begin. And in Nehemiah 2, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, Persian king, the command will be given in response to the request of Nehemiah. And he is given the right to go return to Jerusalem and rebuild the city. So put up the seventy weeks diagram. That's it. And you'll note I put the date 444 B.C., 445, 444. You read different dates there by a year, we're not going to go into that, it doesn't change what we're looking at right now. I've put 444 on there, 445-444 B.C., we can date that because we're told it's the twentieth year of Artaxerxes and you have a king of an earthly empire and his date. The date can be dated there.

Come back to Daniel 9. You have the beginning, seven weeks. Remember these are weeks of years—7 sevens, that will be 49 years, followed by 62 weeks. That gives you a total of 69 weeks. So that's why we have put 69 weeks or 483 years. It's broken down to 7 weeks, 49 years, and during that time the city will be rebuilt. That's why we have the first seven-week period, 49 years for the building of the city. In that time, the end of verse 25 tells us, the city will be rebuilt with plaza moat, even in times of distress.

Then you have the 62 weeks which is a total of 483 years. When you add 62 and 7, you get 69. That gives you 69 weeks, 483 years. You'll note, verse 26, after the 62 weeks which was after the 7 weeks, you have a total of 69 weeks, the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing. You can see why the Old Testament prophets struggled, as Peter said. Daniel has already seen in Daniel 2 and Daniel 7 the kingdoms of the earth will climax with the establishing of the kingdom of Christ, which will never be replaced. And now we see the coming King, the Messiah, after 69 weeks total He will be cut off and having nothing, no kingdom. He didn't take possession of the world. And another prince who is to come and his people will destroy Jerusalem and the city. That anticipates the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. And then we're told he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week. The people of the prince who is to come, that identifies the fact that the prince who is to come which carries us to the antichrist, the people of that prince, the Romans, we know the Romans destroyed Jerusalem in 70 A.D. Common knowledge. That's the people of the prince who is to come. Now this prince who is to come will make a firm covenant with the many for one week. Now it wasn't made clear to Daniel here that there was a gap between the 69th and 70th week, but there are indications. For example verse 26 said, after the 62 weeks the Messiah will be cut off. It did not say in the 70th week, which if the 70th week follows on the 69th you'd say, in the 70th week the Messiah will be cut off. It doesn't say that, it says after the 69th.

And then there is a specific marker for the beginning of the last seven-year period. And he, the prince who is to come, will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, one period of seven, a seven-year period. So you see where we are in the chart. Remember that church age doesn't appear anywhere in the Old Testament. So now we are down to that 70th week, that last seven-year period that will climax with the return of Christ to earth and the establishing of that thousand-year kingdom. So we have an indication here, at least the allowance for a space between the end of the 69th week and the beginning of the 70th. You understand this material that we are so familiar with called the church, we'll talk about it next week, there was not really any significant information made known by God on that until the Apostle Paul did it. We'll talk about that in our next study. He said the mystery of the church was revealed to him, that's new information.

So here we're told this prince who will come, and incidentally note that in verse 26, the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city. The Romans destroyed the city. That's why we say that the coming antichrist, the coming little horn, the prince who is to come, all reference the antichrist, is a Roman because the people who destroyed the city in 70 A.D. are the Romans. And the prince who is to come is identified with the people who destroyed the sanctuary. And we have that continuation of the Roman Empire. As we saw, we got down to the feet and toes in Daniel 2 we had iron mixed with clay. The Roman Empire continues. That's why we talk about the revived Roman Empire in future prophecy.

He'll make a firm covenant with the many for one week. In the middle of the week he'll put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering. His covenant with the many, with Israel, with the Jews enables the Jews for 3½ years, the middle of the 70th week, divided into two equal periods, enables them to have a rebuilt temple, have sacrifice and offering. So better days are ahead for Israel. You know this constant maneuvering and how to resolve the problems in Israel. And what do we do? There is going to come a man arising out of the revived Roman Empire who has a solution. And wonderful, finally we can have peace in that part of the world. He's worked it out. Israel is able to have a temple, have sacrifices.

But in the middle of that seven-year period he breaks his covenant. And note this, 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. The abomination, abominations one who makes desolate. Jesus will refer to that as the abomination of desolations.

Come to Daniel 12:7. And here is now a vision of the end times and when this will all happen. Verse 7, the man dressed in linen was above the waters, he raised his right hand and his left toward heaven and swore by Him who lives forever and ever that it would be for a time, times and a half time. And as soon as they finished shattering the power of the holy people all these events will be completed. And then you'll note in verse 11, from the time that the regular sacrifice is abolished and the abomination of desolation is set up, we just read about that in Daniel 9, the abomination that makes desolate. It will be a time, times and a half time, it will be in the middle of the 70th week. There will be 1290 days. Blessed is the one who comes to 1335 days. In prophecy a prophetic year is 360 days, and that was true in different nations. But in the prophecies of the Old Testament 360 days, it is rounded off. They didn't have the preciseness of what ours are—365.xxxxx. Then we have leap years periodically to balance everything out. A prophetic year is 360. So you come to 1290 days, 1260 days would be 3½ years. You have an extra 30 days here. Then you have an extra 45 days, coming to 1335. And what this allows for we're not going into, but when Christ comes we have a period of judgment, the sheep and the goat judgments and so on, the cleansing of the earth and the preparation for the fullness of the kingdom.

But you can see here the kind of time, a time, times and a half time correlates roughly with that period of 1290 days, which is 3½ years plus 30 days. So we can see the time, times and a half time. That was used back in Daniel 7:25 also, the end of the verse, they will be given into his hand for a time, times and a half time, talking about the little horn.

Come over to Matthew 24 now. In Matthew 24 Jesus is preparing His disciples for His departure. In Matthew 24 they come out of the temple, they are walking away. Herod had enlarged greatly on the temple that had been built under Zerubbabel, and it was magnificent. Herod the Great was a vile man but he was a brilliant architect and builder. The temple was splendid and they point out this to Christ. And He says, do you not see all these things? Not one stone here will be left upon another which will not be torn down. Jerusalem, and you still see the stones, huge stones that were thrown down by the Romans, dismantling the temple. He goes and sits on the Mount of Olives across the valley there from Jerusalem. And they say, tell us, when will these things happen? What will be the sign of your coming, the end of the age? What is going on here? What will happen.

Then He goes on to tell them all the events that will take place and in this seven-year period leading up to His return. Keep in mind the church is not here. They want to know about His return. Well here is an overview of that 70th week of Daniel. Verse 9, in the middle of that 70th week they will deliver you up to tribulation, will kill you, you will be hated by all nations because of My name. Remember the first 3½ years they had a covenant with that little horn, the prince that will come, enable them to have a temple and relative peace. But in the middle of that he'll break his covenant and there will be tribulation. Then He overviews the last 3½ years.

Then verse 15, He comes back to the important time for them, that middle point of that 70th week when everything will change for the nation Israel. 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. You see we are expected to know and understand the truth that God has revealed. Not some puzzle. No, understand it. When you see what Daniel spoke about in Daniel 9, the abomination of desolation, stand in the Holy Place, in the temple. The prince that will come will establish an image of himself to be worshiped, desecrating the temple. You realize now persecution is going to break out so immediately that if you are up relaxing on the roof of your house with those flat roofs, don't even stop on your way down the stairs to pack a bag. If you are working out in the field and word comes to you that the abomination has been set up, the prince has desecrated the temple, don't even go back home to get a coat.

Now we can understand this, you're out there and you get a text message and all of a sudden, I better go home and get my bag packed. Don't do it. That's how quickly the persecution is going to break out and the antichrist is going to move under the direction of Satan to try to destroy the Jews. _____________ give them time to adjust, to hide. So you better hope it is not bad weather, for those women who are pregnant fleeing through desert regions. It just makes everything more difficult.

Verse 21, for then there will be a great tribulation, such has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now nor will ever be. And if Christ didn't intervene at the end of that period of time, nobody would survive, this verse tells us.

And then you will hear rumors that Christ has come, He is over in New York or wherever. Don't believe it. Verse 27, just as the lightning comes from the east even to the west, so the coming of the Son of Man will be. Verse 30, His sign will appear in the heavens and all the nations will see Him. When He returns to earth to establish His kingdom, it won't be a secret event.

Come over to Revelation, just want to see the time period we are talking about. We saw time, times and a half time in Daniel; we saw 1290 days, the 1260 plus 30. Look in Revelation 11, something will happen in the last 3½ years. Just the last statement, they will tread underfoot the holy city for 42 months. Forty-two months is how long? 3½ years. I will grant authority to My two witnesses, they will prophesy for 1260 days. What are we talking about? You see 1260 days, 42 months, 3½ years. Makes clear the prophetic year is 1260 days.

Come over to Revelation 12. There is war in heaven and Satan loses his access to heaven. You come down and Israel gave birth to the Messiah, that's the woman whose sign appears in heaven, that's Israel as the crown of twelve stars, the twelve tribes as verse 1 is. But we'll come down, verse 5, she gave birth to a son, a male child who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron. Her child was caught up to God, to His throne. That's the ascension to heaven following the crucifixion in the chart that you can see. Then the woman, Israel, fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God. There she would be nourished for 1260 days. God has prepared a place in the wilderness for many of the Jews to find safe haven. For how long? 1260 days, the last half of the 70th week of Daniel.

Satan will try to persecute the woman, verse 13, who gave birth to Christ, Israel. But the two wings of a great eagle were given to the woman so she could fly into the wilderness to her place where she was nourished for a time, times and a half time. Same expression from Daniel. We were already told that is 1260 days, so the time, times and a half time is a period of 3½ , half of the seven-year period.

Come down to Revelation 13, and you have the little horn viewed as a beast here. Verse 5, there was a mouth given to him speaking arrogant words of blasphemy, authority to act for 42 months. So you have these repeated expressions that make clear the amount of time that we are talking about.

So God's plan for the nation Israel, laid it out timewise. It is 490 years in the future. During that 490 years it is going to be a time of testing and trial, Israel is under the judgment of God. We'll talk a little bit about the church's plan in this which was not revealed in the Old Testament. It has a place but it does not replace Israel. I mean, God doesn't pull tricks on His people. Just like He told them, every seventh year is Mine, here is what will happen if you don't. Do you think 490 years changes My word? No, you owe Me 70 sabbaths, I'll take them all at once. Now there are 490 years in your future, 490 years in Israel's future. You say, we have 2000 years of the church age. That's not part of God's plan for Israel. We make a mess for ourselves because we just don't take Scripture for what it says. Here are 490 years for Israel. Now the fact that God will put the church into that, that won't alter anything He has said for Israel. There are still seven years in the future that will be followed by the earthly kingdom.

I just can't get over, I keep saying this to you because I'm back reading commentaries this week and I can't get over how many say, this was all fulfilled. There were ten Roman rulers and then Jerusalem was destroyed. Well if the Messiah is killed after the 69th week and there are only seven years to go, Christ would have been crucified around 32 or 33 A.D. according to our calendar. That would have meant seven years later, by 40, it would be done. But Jerusalem wasn't destroyed until 70 A.D. So they end up saying numbers aren't to be taken literally—the number 7 is representative of perfection so 70 times 7 just emphasizing God's plan of perfection. Well, if you're going to do this to the Scripture, what does anything mean? When God told Israel, every seventh year, that wasn't just because the number seven meant completion and so it doesn't matter whether you literally do it or not. It was a serious act of rebellion not to set aside literally every seventh year. So God literally took all 70 of His sabbaths at one time. Do you think Daniel had any misunderstanding about the literalness of what God meant when He gave numbers? It's very clear. Beautiful. It's just God has more to reveal that fits in there without changing anything He said. There still are seven years left in God's program for the nation Israel. Well, we're not going to fight over seven years, are we? Well God is. Do you think I want to stand before Him and say, Lord, I didn't know you meant you seven years. I didn't know you meant 3½ years. I know you said 1260 days, I know you said 42 months, but really did you expect me to take that literally? I mean, why do we think we can deal with the Scripture that way?

This is a great blessing to us. If I'm not just to satisfy our interest in knowing about the future, this is a great comfort to me to know God is so sovereign, everything is under control, everything is on schedule. And that's the God who takes care of me. He's taking care of me and the struggles and trials of my life. Is that something God can handle? The God who controls the world, ordains the events and brings them to pass, and He says, I'm working everything out for your good and My glory. Don't worry about it. Jesus told His followers, don't worry about tomorrow, each day is enough trouble of its own. Trust the Lord today and trust Him for tomorrow. Doesn't mean you can't make plans, but James says, but make them with the understanding, if God wills this is what I'm going to do tomorrow. I'm going to lunch tomorrow, you can count on it, I'm going. No, I'm going if the Lord wills. If I have a stroke or a heart attack tonight, I won't be at lunch tomorrow. The Lord has that all under control. What a God we serve. Isn't it a blessing to be able to come and call Him Father? Pray to Him? Isn't it great to have the testimony of a man like Daniel, esteemed in the courts of heaven. After 60 years he hasn't lost his faith. I'm searching what Jeremiah wrote so I can find out more what God really plans and intends. He hasn't revealed it all to me, I can learn from Jeremiah. Aren't you discouraged spending all your life in a foreign land, cut off from your family and all that was precious to you? I'm in the plan of God. And then Gabriel says, you are esteemed in the courts of heaven. What a blessing is ours to belong to the living God, to know the salvation that He provided by having His Son come to this earth the first time to be the Savior so when He comes the second time He can provide a kingdom for a redeemed people.

Let's pray together. Thank you, Lord, for the riches of your Word. Lord, you are sovereign over all, sovereign over the nations. The confusion and turmoil and changes that cause us concern, that are frustrating, Lord, we rest secure. The nations don't rule, the rulers don't rule, you rule. Your people Israel, you have promised 490 years to complete Your program of salvation for them as a nation. Some day all Israel will be saved and seven years will transpire in bringing to completion your plan for the nation so that Your Son can come and rescue this world under judgment and establish a kingdom to replace all kingdoms. Father, thank you for so great a Savior, so great salvation. I pray for any who are here who don't know the wonder of your salvation, that they might come to trust Him today. We pray in Christ's name, amen.