DANIEL: THRIVING IN A GODLESS CULTURE

XII: God's Encouraging Prophetic Timeline Amid Apostasy

(Daniel 9:24-27)

I. Introduction

A. We believers living in a spiritually decaying, godless culture, need to live affirmatively in victory over sin.

B. Daniel as a young man was taken captive by godless Babylonians, and he lived through Persia's conquest of Babylon, righteously and wisely serving the Lord in a godless culture as a great example for us.

C. We view Daniel 9:24-27 on the God's encouraging prophetic timeline amid apostasy for our edification:

II. God's Encouraging Prophetic Timeline Amid Apostasy, Daniel 9:24-27.

A. The Daniel 7-12 visions describe challenges God's people would face after Daniel's era under future godless empires until the arrival of Christ’s Kingdom. Couched in this section is God's Daniel 9:25-27 timeline on events from Daniel's era to Christ's Kingdom that God gave to encourage and bless Daniel for its insight.

B. It was meant to give Daniel insight and edification, so we view that timeline for our insight and edification:

1. The angel Gabriel in Daniel 9:24a told Daniel that there were literally "seventy sevens," referring to seventy sets of seven years each according to the Daniel 9:2 context of sabbatical year land sabbaths that were yet to occur for his Hebrew people and Jerusalem, Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978, ftn. to Dan. 9:24.

2. The end of these yet future "seventy sevens," or 490 years, would be Messiah's Kingdom, Daniel 9:24b.

3. The first sixty-nine of the "seventy sevens," or the first 483 years, have SINCE Daniel's era been literally fulfilled according to the Hebrew calendar of 360-day years each. We explain this (as follows):

a. The terminus a quo or the start of the sixty-nine "sevens," was to occur with the command to restore and rebuild Jerusalem (Dan. 9:25a NIV), what occurred on March 5, 444 B. C. when Persia's king Artaxerxes Longimanus gave Nehemiah orders for Jerusalem's reconstruction. (Ibid., Ryrie, ftn. to Dan. 9:25; Harold W. Hoehner, Chronological Aspects of the Life of Christ, 1979, p. 139, Chart, "Daniel's Seventy Weeks")

b. Gabriel said this work would occur in "a troubled time" (Dan. 9:25 NIV), the era of Ezra and Nehemiah!

c. The terminus ad quem or the end of the sixty-nine "sevens" would come with the arrival of the Messiah, what occurred on March 30, A. D. 33 with Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem, Luke 19:28-40; Ibid.

d. The breakdown of the 69 "sevens" first into 7 "sevens" and then into 62 "sevens" refer to the 49 years it took to rebuild Jerusalem and the next 434 years in anticipating Messiah's arrival, B. K. C., O. T., p. 1363.

4. Since the first sixty-nine "sevens" were fulfilled literally, the seventieth "seven" must also be fulfilled literally, what leads us to the Premillennial view of Bible prophecy. We explain (as follows):

a. "After" ('aharey, Kittel, Bib. Heb., p. 1277) the end of the sixty-ninth "seven," Messiah would be "cut off," a word used "of executing the death penalty on a criminal," Ibid., B. K. C., O. T., p. 1364. He would "have nothing" (Dan. 9:26 NIV; we'eyn lo = "and nothing to him, " Ibid., Kittel), meaning "Israel had rejected Him and that the kingdom could not be instituted at that time," Ibid., B. K. C., O. T., p. 1364.

b. Then, the "people of the prince that shall come," that is, the "prince" who will confirm the covenant with "the many" Hebrews in the seventieth "seven" (Dan. 9:27 NIV), would overwhelm Jerusalem and the temple as a flood (Dan. 9:26b NIV). This was fulfilled by Rome's invasion under Titus in A. D. 70. (Ibid.)

c. After that, there would be war and desolations for Jerusalem for an undisclosed period of time, Daniel 9:26c NIV. Thus, there is a hidden period of time between the end of the sixty-ninth "seven" and the start of the seventieth "seven," what we have come to learn is the formerly-hidden era of the Church that is now revealed (Eph. 3:1-9) and was predicted in John's prophecy of Church History in Revelation chs. 2-3.

d. Then, the final "seven" or the seventieth of Israel's seventy sets of "sevens," is predicted in Daniel 9:27 NIV. There, the antichrist who is the ruler of the Revived Roman Empire is predicted to make a seven-year treaty with Israel in the seven-year Great Tribulation Period.

e. The antichrist will violate his covenant with Israel in the middle of that seventieth "seven," or 3 ½ Hebrew years into the Great Tribulation, he will cause the regular sacrifice to cease and desecrate the temple until the end of the seventieth "seven," Dan. 9:27 NIV. After that comes Christ's Kingdom, Dan. 9:24b NIV.

f. Thus, the Church era comes BEFORE Christ's thousand-year reign, the Premillennial view of prophesy!

Lesson: God revealed to Daniel, and to all believers who face apostasy since his time, the timeline of His working with Israel until the establishment of His Messianic Kingdom to encourage His people to hope for that kingdom.

Application: May we hope for the future Kingdom of our Lord for encouragement amid the apostasy we face now.