We are going to continue our message on Messiah the Prince. Let's look to the Lord. Our Father in heaven, as we come to you this day, we are thankful again for your mercy to us. We're thankful for this time of year when we can reflect on what you've done for us through your son, Jesus. Lord, as we look in the scriptures this morning, I ask that you would help us to understand the meaning, understand the significance of the events that unfolded, and understand the need. And Lord, in the process of this, help us to glorify your Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. In a few days, the world, the world will recognize the birth of Christ. I don't care where you live in this world, Every country has heard of Jesus Christ. But most do not understand the true significance of what happened 2,000 years ago. When we look at the scriptures, this represents the pinnacle of all the prophecy of the Old Testament. This is the hope of the entire lost world. If you go to a store today, you can look at these Advent calendars. And these Advent calendars are timetables leading up to Christmas Day. You open a drawer or you flip open a page and there's something new leading up to this time. The whole Testament was leading up to this time that we look at the birth of Christ. And today we're going to look at Daniel's prophecy to understand the significance and to look at the situation. God's people are in bondage for disobedience, and they are in bondage for transgressing God's law. And Daniel is crying out for God to help, for deliverance. And look at Daniel 9 verse 4. It says, And I prayed unto the Lord my God and made my confession and said, oh Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him and to them that keep his commandments. Does anyone know that God today? Is that the God that's being preached in the pulpits across America? Daniel, one of the men we look back and as the people of faith says, the great and dreadful God, the covenant keeping God, the merciful God, and he's merciful to those who keep his commandments. He is pleading for God's mercy in the ninth chapter of Daniel. Let's remember why they were in bondage. We're going to be jumping all over this morning, but we're going to go to 2 Chronicles 36, after Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, before Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Job, Psalms. 2 Chronicles 36, verse 21. It says, 2nd Chronicles 36, 21 says, to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah until the land had enjoyed her Sabbaths. For as long as she lay desolate, she kept Sabbath to fulfill three score and 10 years. Three score and 10 years is 60 plus 10, 70 years. This 70-year period of exile that the Israelites would spend in Babylon was because of their disobedience, fulfilling the prophecy of Jeremiah, where the land would enjoy Sabbath by resting and uncultivated during their absence essentially giving the land the Sabbath rest it was denied during their time of farming. They were in trouble for not keeping God's Sabbath. So turn to Jeremiah, Jeremiah chapter 25. Go further after Jeremiah is after Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastics, Psalms, Solomon, Isaiah, Jeremiah. Jeremiah chapter 25, verse 11. Jeremiah 25, 11 says, and this whole land shall be desolate, and an astonishment and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon 70 years and it shall come to pass when the 70 years are accomplished that I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation saith the Lord for their iniquity and the land of the Chaldeans which make it perpetual desolations. We must understand here the Sabbath and the year of Jubilee. You say, what does this have to do with Christmas, the coming of Christ in this time of year? Let's go back to Exodus 31, Genesis, Exodus, the beginning book of the Bible, the second book of the Bible. Exodus chapter 31. Verse 12, And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily, my savage ye shall keep. For it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you. Well, that's the purpose of that. It has to do with God's sanctification of his people. Ye shall keep the Sabbath thereof, for it is holy unto you. Everyone that defiles it shall surely be put to death. For whosoever doeth any work thereon, that soul shall be cut off from amongst his people. Kind of scary. Remember the man who collected the wood? on the Sabbath day and is put to death? Six days may work be done, but the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord. Whosoever doeth any work in the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. Wherefore, the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations for a perpetual covenant. And it is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever, for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed." Now today we have debates going on about the significance of the Sabbath. From what I understand, I think they missed the debate I think the debate misses the point. Even in great circles, the Sabbath is losing its importance instead of being celebrated. And as I looked into this, I started seeing things in a new light. Do you remember the New Testament? He said, man was not made for the Sabbath, but Sabbath for the man. God isn't the one who needed rest. God is the one who provided rest for his people. Mark 2, 27 says, and he said unto them, the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore, the son of man is the Lord over the Sabbath. Remember when they were always on him about the Sabbath day, whether he healed somebody. And then he pointed to David in the Old Testament. He said, man wasn't made for the Sabbath, but the Sabbath was made for man. The number of God is seven, and it represents the completeness of God. The number of man is six, and that's one short of the glory of God. Man, in all his labor, in all his toil, has no seventh day of rest outside of a relationship with God. The Sabbath is for man to rest in God at the end of his toil. If you remember, you don't have to turn back there, but in Genesis 3.17, because of man's sin, and unto Adam he said, because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, and of that which I command thee, saying thou shalt not eat, cursed is the ground for thy sake. We all understand why we have to work the ground, why there's weeds, why we sweat. It's because of sin. In sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life. Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to thee, and thou shalt eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thy return unto the ground. Your whole life is going to be a struggle. Your whole life is going to be toil. For out of it was thou taken, and from dust thou art, unto dust thou shalt return. Man in his sin has no rest and has no peace outside of God. Only God can provide our rest. It is through Christ that we can have peace. That's why the number of man is six until you meet God, until you have a relationship with him, until you by faith find rest in God and his works. Leviticus 27 or 25, turn to Leviticus 25. In order to understand this, in order to understand redemption, we have to understand the Sabbath and the year of Jubilee. Turn to Leviticus chapter 25. I had a preacher in St. Louis years ago, Holmes Moore, and he used to take on a topic and I used to say, where is he going? Until he had circled the wagons and circled the bushes until he finally got to his point, it started to make sense. And hopefully this morning this will all make sense when we understand the significance of what was going on. So in Leviticus 25, it's at verse one, it says, and the Lord spake unto Moses in the mountain saying, speak unto the children of Israel and say unto them, when ye shall come into the land which I shall give you, then shall the land keep a Sabbath unto the Lord. Six years shalt thou sow thy field, And six years shalt thou prune thy vineyards, and gather their fruit thereof. But in the seventh year shall be a Sabbath of rest unto the land, a Sabbath for the Lord. Thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard. Now, how in the world are they gonna make it? Every seventh year, they're to do nothing. They're to leave. If you're a farmer, can you imagine getting up one year and say, don't have any chores? Don't have to go plow. Don't have to fertilize. For a year, you had to sit and trust God. And rest in his abilities and rest in his work. That which groweth of its own accord of the harvest Thou shalt not reap, neither gather the grapes of the vine undressed, for it is a year of rest unto the land. And the Sabbath of the land shall be meat for you, for thee, and for thy servant, and for thy maid, and for their hired servant, and for the stranger that sojourneth with thee, and for the cattle, and for the beast. And they that are in the land shall all the increase therefore be meat. Can you picture this? You laid the lands to rest in an act of faith toward God, trusting in God's promises to provide. It is the core of his covenant. After six years of working, the land would lay barren. The people would find peace and rest from their labors. And the people would learn to trust in God for their provisions by faith they trusted in God to provide for them. And at the end of their labors of six years, they needed to trust God. And verse eight says, and thou shalt number seven Sabbaths of years unto these. Seven times seven years, The space of the seven Sabbaths of years shall be unto thee for 49 years. That's seven sevens. It's very significant in Daniel's time because it's going to be seven times 70. It's going to be a period of 10 jubilees. a perfect number of jubilees. Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of jubilees. After 49 years, after complete seven of seven cycle, after 49 years, thou shalt cause the trumpet of jubilee to sound on the 10th day of the seventh month. In the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout your land. And ye shall hollow that 50th year and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants, and it shall be a jubilee unto thee, and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family. Okay, what does that mean? In the Bible, the year jubilee was a year of celebration, of rest and restoration that occurred every 50 years. As far as land was concerned, the land was returned to its original owners. The land was not to be sold in perpetuity and Israelites were not to be slaves. They were free from their bondage. People, enslaved people were freed and they were forgiven their debts. This is what Jubilee is. Rest, the land rested, the crops were not to be planned, the vineyards were to be pruned. Celebration, the year was dedicated to the Lord. The laws of jubilee were intended to ensure the people lived in a way that reflected a good relationship with God. Resting and trusting God for a cycle of seven years of Sabbaths. Okay? Now, how does that pertain to us? So at the end of all of our work, of all of our struggles, of all of our sin, of all of our battles, of all of our rat race, the Sabbath is a day to reflect on the Lord and what He has done. The freedom that He has given us from the labors of this world, from the sweat of our brows, that is what the intent of the Sabbath was. You remember Matthew 7.22? In 23, it says, many will come to me in that day. Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? In thy name have not we cast out devils? In thy name haven't we done many wonderful works? And he says, I will profess unto them, I never knew you. Depart from ye, ye that work iniquity. If your salvation is trusting in all your works and all that you've done without the blessing of God, he will say, depart from me. There's no mention, there's no mention of God in all those works. We can't rest in our own works without our Sabbath in Christ. No mention of Christ in that. Mankind needs our rest in Christ. What is the significance? Because of the transgression, man will struggle to no end until he finds rest in God. So what is our hope to free ourselves from the enslavement of sin? This is what Daniel's dealing with. Daniel cries out to a covenant God. He pleads with the covenant God. He admits his sin. He admits his people's sin. And he said, God, you're also a covenant God that delights in showing mercy. We need restoration. Well, Daniel calls unto God and Gabriel comes and gives an answer. We need full restoration from sin. This covenant was established for this. Daniel is seeking rest from their bondage, freedom from their bondage, and he finds rest in the Sabbath day principles. He pleads to a covenant-keeping God. He speaks in a covenant language, and it is answered. Turn back to Daniel, chapter 9. Now, the 70 weeks in the original language, it's a multiple week setting, 70 weeks, that is addressed in a singular pronoun or singular verb. It's not, it's one 70 weeks grouped into one. There's different belief systems that separate these weeks and have weeks separated for thousands of years. In the original language, it's not the way it was written. Verse 24 says, 70 weeks are determined upon thy people and upon the holy city. These weeks are determined to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make reconciliation for iniquity or sin, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy. This is hard to get our minds around. All this toil, all this problem, he promises Daniel, at the end of this vision, all your problems are gonna be over. Thousands of years you've struggled, thousands of years the people have looked for this thing. You look at this advent calendar that leads up to this time and he said to Daniel, this time is coming and I have set this time and I'm going to tell you exactly when this time is. He says, know therefore and understand that from the goings forth of the commandments to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah, the Prince, shall be seven weeks and three score and two weeks, and the street shall be built again, and the wall, and even the troublous times. And after three score and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself. And the people of the Prince shall come, shall destroy the city, and the sanctuary, and the end thereof, shall be with the flood, and unto the end of the war, desolations are found. And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week. And in the midst of the week, he shall cause sacrifice and oblation to cease." The whole thing that was set up, the whole sacrifice system that was set up for sins is gonna end There's someone coming that's gonna put an end to all this. And for the overspreading of the abomination, he shall make it desolate, even unto the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate. At a determined time, told to Daniel, this will happen. The timeframe is set, mark it on your calendar, 70 weeks are determined. This vision is 70 weeks of years, 77. So in 490 years, a 10 jubilee cycle of time, the ultimate jubilee celebration will be here. A prince will come. The Messiah, their deliverer, will arrive on the scene. and the timetable is laid out to Daniel. The Messiah is coming to set up his kingdom. He's coming to establish a kingdom. Do we believe it? This kingdom is not like other kingdoms. And as we found out later, it's not recognized by most. This is the ultimate year of Jubilee. Now, let's go back and look at prophecy in Isaiah 61. I know my children just got done with their finals in college, and they thought they were done studying. But we're going to go back and look at the scriptures and study and see what happened. Isaiah 61.1 says, the spirit of the Lord is upon me. Because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek. He has set me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to them that are bound. Freedom. To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God to comfort all they that mourn. That was in Isaiah. Let's look what Christ said. Turn to Luke chapter four. Luke chapter four. As Jesus' custom was, he went to the synagogue in verse 16. Jesus went to the synagogue on a Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. And there was delivered unto him, verse 17, the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, the spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor, and hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, and to preach the deliverance of the captives, and recovering of the sight to the blind, and to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord." The exact same thing that was talked about in Isaiah. And it says, and he closed the book and he gave it to the minister and sat down and all the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened upon him. And he began to say unto them, this day, this day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. This was the fulfillment. of the promise of Isaiah. Our jubilee was here. Our final rest in Christ was here. Why aren't we more excited about it? Why isn't the church more excited about it? Why isn't the people of God more excited about it? Jesus said, this day of jubilee, this day of preaching, this day of the Lord has come to you. You know why it wasn't? Zechariah 9.9, it says, Rejoice, O daughter of Zion, shout, O daughter of Jerusalem, behold, thy king cometh unto thee. How many of us would like a government? We just tried to pass a spending bill for our government and they shot it down. And then a couple of guys just stepped in and cut a bunch of the pork out of it and posted all this junk that was on it, and all of a sudden the bill got passed. They made him get a little more honest. We would like truthful people. Here it says, the king cometh unto thee. He is just having salvation. But how did he come? It says, lowly, riding on an ass, upon a colt, the full of an ass. That isn't what they wanted. That isn't what they were looking for. It didn't come wrapped. Have you ever given a present to a kid and they open up and go, oh. Oh. I remember one time I was at my uncle's house and they gave me a book with stamps in it. I'm like, oh, great. I'm eight years old. What do I want stamps for? Oh, you keep those stamps and someday they'll be worth money. OK. They look for this king. What kind of king do you think they wanted? The first king they selected was Saul, right? That's who they want. They want the tall guy. They want the big burly guy. They want the one who win all the fights for him. That's what they wanted. He said, no, I'll give you King David. He'll be much better for you. So he said, here's a king, I'm sending you a just person that has salvation, but he's gonna be riding on a donkey? No king in a chariot with royal apparel and a crown coming? This kingdom is different. Turn to Isaiah chapter two. My dad knew a guy years ago who said, boy, I can't wait till Armageddon. Go over and shoot some of those Russians and all this kind of stuff. That's what we think of when we think of war. We think of blood high as a horse's bridle. That's what we're sensationalized for. Look at Isaiah chapter 2. Go back to verse 1. The word that Isaiah, the son of Amos, saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. and it shall come to pass in the last days. When are the last days? When are the last days? He said, in times past, he spoke to us by all these things. He said, but in these last days, he's spoken to us by his son, Jesus Christ. He said, in these last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills, and all the nations shall flow to it. And many people shall go and stay and come, saying, let us go to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will teach us his ways, and we will walk in his path. For out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. Now, look at this, how he's going to judge. It says, and he will judge among the nations and shall rebuke many people. They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. And nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. But wait a second, I thought when judgment come, we're gonna take the plowshare and we're gonna take the pruning hook and we're gonna beat them in to swords so we can stab and kill people. That's not what his nation is. He just told you that. That's his judgment. It said, and he shall judge among the nations. Is that what we pictured it to be? In the Bible, plowshares are symbols of peace. They're used for tools as opposed to swords, which symbolize war, destructive war. The pruning hook is a symbol of removing what is unnecessary or harmful to ensure a fruitful development. It is God's care and discipline of his people. The use of the pruning hook and pruning are signs of peace and prosperity. That's the judgment of this world. It's not a war with swords. He's taken the swords, he's done away with the swords, and he's gonna bring in peace and prosperity. Do you remember in Romans 14, 17? God said, we went over this, for the kingdom of God is not meat or drink. but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. That's what his kingdom is. Christ ushered in his kingdom, but it's not the kingdom they wanted. Turn to Matthew 12. Matthew chapter 12. Verse 28, they brought him one possessed of the devil. They are always, always at him. Didn't matter what, breaking the Sabbath, didn't matter what he did, they tried to find fault. They bring him one possessed of the devils. He casts out the devils. And they said, well, he cast him out by Beelzebub. In verse 28, He said, if Satan, if I'm of the devil and I'm casting people out, that means Satan is divided. Verse 27 says, and if I, by the Albus above, cast out devil, by whom do your children cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges. But if I cast out devils by the spirit of God, then what has come? kingdom. It says the kingdom of God is come unto you or else how can one enter into a strong man's house and spoil his goods except he first bind the strong man then he will spoil his house. But the flesh doesn't like this. It's not appealing them enough. They want an earthly visible kingdom. That's what religion today is looking for. Most all of religion is looking down the road, I don't know, 50 years, 100 years, a couple more thousand. We're looking for a culmination in a kingdom on earth when God just said, your king is here and your kingdom is here. We don't have swords. Remember when they smoked the high, serving the high priest's ear off? Jesus said, that isn't what we're about. That isn't what we're about. Turn to Luke 17. Luke 17, verse 20. And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, The Pharisees wanted an answer. When's your kingdom gonna come? When do you think the kingdom's gonna come? There's enough evangelists telling you. There's enough people over the years have told you when the kingdom's coming. These Pharisees said, Jesus, when the kingdom of God should come, and what did he answer them? The kingdom of God cometh out, not with observation. Neither shall they say, lo here or lo there. For behold, the kingdom of God is within you. The kingdom of God is within you. Well, who's gonna see that? Who's gonna see the kingdom of God that's within you? Well, you're gonna enjoy the kingdom. Those around you hopefully will see it, because you're light and salt. Turn to Matthew 26. Turn back to Matthew 26. 52. Go back to 51, where 50 says, then they came and laid hands on Jesus and took him. They took Jesus. And 51 says, and behold, one of them which were with Jesus stretched out his hand, drew out a sword, and struck a servant of the high priest and smote his ear off. Cut his ear right off. What did Jesus say? Well done, my good and faithful servant. Is that what he said to him? That's how I taught you boys. That's not what he said. He said, put up again my sword into his place. For all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword. Is that going to change? Is there a time when that's gonna change? Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my father and he shall presently give me more than 12 legions of angels? But how then can the scripture be fulfilled that thus it must be? Do you think Jesus, do you remember when they came in the garden to take him and they asked him if it was him? He said, I am. Did he grab ahold of him? No, they all fell back at his voice. Do you think there is any battle in which an opponent would have any chance against God and his legions of angels? How do I know this is the kingdom? How do I know? Well, you're telling me this, and I see some verses that talk about it, but I'm still not sure. Well, let's look at after Christ died and he sent the Holy Spirit. Turn to Colossians 1. Acts, Romans, Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians. Before Thessalonians and Timothy. Colossians chapter 1. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, to Timothy, our brother, this was written. Colossians 1.13. What does he say? Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness? When do you think you're gonna get delivered from the power of darkness? Sometime down the road? If you're a Christian this morning, you have been delivered from the power of darkness and has translated us into the kingdom of his dear son, in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sin. Do you understand this morning, if you're a Christian, the everlasting kingdom that was talked about in the Old Testament, that was prophesied in Daniel's time came when Christ came here. And you are in a kingdom of his dear son. Turn to 1 John. 1 John. John, Jude, Revelation. 1 John chapter 3. Verse 8. He that committeth sin is of the devil. For the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose was the Son of God manifest. For this purpose was Jesus made man, came to us, incarnated in human flesh, that he might destroy the works of the devil. You know what our last enemy was? Was death. And he conquered that when he went to heaven. Turn to Hebrews chapter 12. Hebrews. Just go back Peter, go back James, and Hebrews is right there. Hebrews chapter 12. Why can't wait for this everlasting kingdom that there's going to be no end? I can't wait for this time when I won't have to put up with this stuff and God's gonna usher in His everlasting kingdom. Verse 28, wherefore we, meaning us Christians, receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved. That's the everlasting kingdom. He already ushered in the everlasting kingdom. We are in a kingdom which cannot be moved. The gates of hell cannot prevail against him. It's all sealed up in Christ. Wherefore, we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace whereby we may serve the Lord acceptably and with reverence and godly fear. For God is a consuming fire. God's the same yesterday, today, and forever. He's a fearful God. You better get on his side and better get in his kingdom. You better find his son. We are in the kingdom. But wait a second. Wait a second. I don't think we're there. I think a temple is going to be built. I think sacrifices are going to be reestablished. I think all this is going to happen. Turn to John 2. John 2.19. The zeal of the house has eaten me up. The Jews said unto him, What sign showest thus? Verse 19 said, And Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up again. Destroy this temple. Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building. And wilt thou rear it up in three days? But he spake, of the temple of his body. But he spake of the temple of his body. Wait a second. Turn to John 4. Do you remember the lady at the well? Do you remember the lady at the well? She was having a conversation with Jesus about everlasting water to drink, and hey, you don't have a pitcher to draw the water with. He said, lady, if you knew who you're dealing with, you would ask of me, and I'd give you the drink. And it was confusing to her, because she was just thinking physical things. Well, look at verse 20. She perceived he was a prophet. And she said, our fathers worshiped in this mountain And ye say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship? You're telling me, wait a second, our fathers worshiped in mountains, but you said in the temple in Jerusalem is where people are gonna worship. And he said, woman, believe me, the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem worship the Father. ye worship ye know not what we know what we worship for salvation but the hour cometh and now is okay I'll ride with you to Jerusalem the temple no he said the hour cometh and now is that the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth for this father seeketh such to worship him You're not gonna worship Him in the mountain. You're not gonna worship in Jerusalem. You're gonna worship the Father in spirit and in truth because I have delivered the kingdom unto you and I am the temple. 1 Corinthians 3.16, we're running out of time. Know ye not that ye are the temple of God and that the spirit of God dwelleth in you? And if any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy for the temple of God is holy which temple ye are." This building is not the temple. We could go over and meet in any building, in any storefront, in any, it's the people that made up the church. 2 Corinthians 6.16, what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the living God, as God has said, I will dwell in them and walk in them, and I shall be thy God and they shall be my people. Do you remember what he said in the Old Testament and all the prophecies? He said, I'll tabernacle amongst them. The temple represented a dwelling place of God. Remember when they built the temple and the spirit came in the temple and filled the temple? Well, guess what? The spirit of God doesn't have to come in a building. It has filled his people through the blood of Christ. Their fellowship is restored because of Christ and his work. So Daniel prayed for his bondage to be opened. He wanted his bondage to be over. He said, God, you're a covenant God. And he said, Daniel, remember my covenant. At the end of every week, at the end of six, I remember Sundays when I was a kid, mom and dad used to make us lay down and have to take a nap even when we weren't tired. It had nothing to do with, I'm tired. It had to do with recognizing that as man, the number of six in your sin, we're just like rats on the wheel. Do you ever feel like you're just treading water? You get up, you go to work, you read the paper, all the garbage in, garbage out, you can't wait to get home at the end of the day just to rest. Well, that's what God's saying. After six days in the world of this chaos, I've provided a Sabbath of rest that you can rest in me and by faith, if we can understand what the Sabbath was made for, we can rest in the works of God and understand that, hey, at the end of the day, at the end of the day, we'll just run around and we'll just, from dust we are, from dust we'll return and we'll get nowhere. But he provided that Sabbath. And at the end of seven years of seven Sabbaths, seven is forty nine years. He had a year of Jubilee. And that just that just blew up what the Sabbath was all about. The slaves weren't slaves anymore. The land was restored again. Everybody got back to their original state like they were back in the garden when they had fellowship with God. And at the end of 10 jubilees, he's telling at the end of 10 jubilees, at the end of 490 years, the jubilee of jubilees coming. And Christ is gonna restore your relationship with God like they've dreamt about for thousands of years. And we get to look back at that. And we get to see all that was done. And Christ has become Our temple, he's the chief cornerstone. You are his lively stones. We are the temple of God. We don't need a physical temple anymore. It's all finished in Christ. And it was prophesied in Daniel. So when you look at the world today, and we're gonna celebrate Christmas, And we're gonna look and see the birth of Christ. How many people do you know that understand the significance of what happened when God sent his son into this world in a virgin birth? He just reset the whole thing. He established righteousness and truth in the Holy Ghost. So we could be one with God again in union. Our Father in heaven, as we come to you this day, we look in these things and it's hard to understand how far we strayed from the truth. And Lord, how many teachings that come back to us. Growing up as children, we hear things, our parents instruct us and tell us things. And one day when we're parents and we're adults, all those things come back to us. And they finally make sense to us. Lord, help these scriptures to make sense to us. to rejoice in the work that you've done, rejoice in your gift that you sent. You sent your son to take our burden so that we could be restored to the right state. Help us, Lord, by faith to enjoy the Sabbath, to enjoy the jubilee of Christ coming to this earth, Lord, and if it affects us in a way That it should, we should be light and hope to our neighbors. We should be salt in this dark world. Lord, be with us as we leave. Help us not to be forgetful hearers, but help us to be thankful for you and all that you've done for us through your son. We ask in Jesus name, amen.