for a little while, longer than I had planned to be, but of course that goes without saying. Are we using your notes from last week? Yes, if you don't, anyone not have the timeline I gave out from last week? I have extras. Anyone need one of these? I'm sure Jason, you do. Anyone else need one? Yeah, I do. I told you guys to keep them, but I know half of you are probably gone, that's fine. Quickly by review, remember where we are. In Daniel chapter 9, the Jews are captive in Babylon. Daniel, who's an old man by this time, probably in his 80s, reads the book of Jeremiah and sees in there a reminder that God said through the prophet, you'll be in captivity 70 years, and then I'm going to bring you out of there. Daniel reads that. believes that and goes to prayer. And the whole first portion of chapter 9 is this amazing prayer by Daniel. It's a great model prayer as we said. And what happens is what Daniel prays for gets answered almost immediately. The angel Gabriel is sent to Daniel with an answer. Daniel prays that God would forgive his people's great sins. He confesses their sins over and over and over again. He confesses how wicked they were, their leaders, that we ignored your word, we ignored your prophets. That's addressed in this 70 weeks. Daniel prays that God would have mercy on Jerusalem. Because the city, he says, your holy hill, he says, is in ruins and destruction. And please, Lord, remember us again. That's answered in Daniel's 70 weeks. And he prays for their temple, that the temple is in ruins. In fact, the last word of his prayer was, be gracious to your desolate sanctuary. Well, as he's praying, God is so pleased. In fact, the angel says, you are highly favored in heaven, Daniel. God sends the angel Gabriel to Daniel to give him this amazing revelation. Let's read it again. This angel was sent to Daniel to tell him this. Here in Daniel chapter 9, start at verse 24. 70 weeks have 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 an everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the holy of holies. So you are to know and understand that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince There will be seven weeks and 62 weeks. It will be built again with plaza and moat, even in times of distress. Then after the 62 weeks, the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing. And the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And this end will come with a flood. Even to the end, there will be war. Desolations are determined. And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week. But in the middle of the week, he'll put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering, and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate." Many of the commentators have said, John Walford and others, this is what they call the key to prophetic interpretation. If you can get a handle on what's being said here, This basically sets up what all the rest of the Bible is going to say in prophecy. And I didn't realize that until I started studying it, how important this is. I have it in a sheet there, a little paragraph. What follows is a somewhat strange, yet stunningly precise prophetic calendar, revealing to Daniel and his people an exact timeline to the Messiah and a description of its activities and beyond. This is one of those prophecies. I wish every prophecy did this. It's not just telling you what's going to happen. It's telling you exactly when, exactly when. This sets up an exact calendar that you can count the days until Messiah the Prince. That's an amazing thought. You often, if you ever wrestle with, is the Bible really true? Is this really God's word? It's things like this that say that, how else can you explain this? We've already covered this in some detail, but only the Bible does this. And Daniel is given this exact timeline that worked out precisely. I wish I could show you all the stuff I've read these last four or five weeks. How these guys sit down and write to the exact time of Christ, even to the exact days of some of these activities. I'll show you some of that here in a minute. Now get your sheet out again, your timeline. I should have kept one, that's all right. Notice what's being said there. Daniel's being given a period, it says 77, and we've covered all this. That just means 70 periods of seven years each. There's a lot of reasons for saying that. The Bible often uses that phrase in the Old Testament. A period of 490 years is being given. There's a 490-year period. 77s are given, he says. And we saw there in verse 24 what it's gonna do. We'll get that here in a minute. But notice how it breaks down. For some reason, God, through the angel, breaks this period down into three periods. It says there's seven weeks, that's 49 years. There's 62 weeks, that's 434. That comes out to 69 weeks. Then there's this third period of just one week. So you get that, there's that first period of seven weeks. We went to that last week. Then that's followed by this period of 62 weeks. It says after that period, Messiah the Prince will be cut off. The city will be destroyed again. And then there's another week, which we'll get to down the road in a couple weeks. Is that clear? You understand this is broken up? That's the basics of this? Now this last week, of course, occurs sometimes after there's a gap in there of some kind. I have something on your sheet there, some things that make you go, hmm. In fact, you can do that with me. First of all, from the time the Hebrews entered Canaan, this is under Joshua, until the beginning of the kingdom under Saul was 490 years. There's a whole bunch of them, I only gave you two. The time between the dedication of Solomon's temple, that was the first temple built. For the time they dedicated that temple until the time they dedicated the second temple under Ezra and Nehemiah was 490 years. And I could give you several more of these. The commentators go to great lengths to show you this. For some reason, that 77s appears several times in the history of Israel, over and over and over again. In fact, you recall, they're in captivity for 70 years. Now they're being told there's a period of 77 years. That's just how God uses numbers. You can't read too much into that. It just pops up, and here we see it again. What you have here then in this 70 weeks, and we covered this somewhat last week, there's three major themes. The first major theme is about Israel. We saw that last week. The city will be rebuilt. And we saw the decree, we'll get to that here in a second. The major theme of this is the Messiah, until Messiah the Prince. It tells you there what he will do. He'll be cut off. And also verse 24, we'll see here again in a minute, what he will accomplish. We covered that already. And the third major theme is that last week, what's being called here, this abominating desolator. Now we've seen him before several times in Daniel. Here we see him again. So those are three major themes. Now last week we covered this decree to rebuild the city. I'm just gonna review this. If you wanna get the information, just get the CD. But notice on your sheet there again, I went through a lot of work last week to do this, a lot of commentary, a lot of figuring out, but here's what it comes down to. If you read the book of Nehemiah, remember, Ezra and Nehemiah are written after the captivity. When they return back from captivity, Ezra goes back and starts rebuilding the temple. That takes about 15, 20 years to rebuild the temple, not quite that long. But the city still lays in ruins. Remember, the prophecy here is until the rebuilding of the city, the rebuilding of Jerusalem, On your sheet there, in 445 BC, in fact, I've seen guys who have this down to the very day. I don't know if they can be that accurate. But in late April, early, in late March, early April of 445 BC, Nehemiah, who was Artaxerxes' cupbearer, Artaxerxes was the prince of Persia. He succeeded Cyrus after a few more guys. Where this gets confusing is there's several Artaxerxes, Artaxerxes, Artaxerxai, however you say that. But they're pretty sure this is the Artaxerxes Longimanus. I won't get to all the details of that, but in 445 BC, that Artaxerxes, Nehemiah, his cupbearers, this is the book of Nehemiah, comes in. Some people have come back from Jerusalem to tell him how the temple's going. And he said, the temple's going great, but the city, the walls are still falling down. The gates are all burnt with fire. The city is a rubble heap. Well, Nehemiah gets very distressed over that. The pattern repeats. Nehemiah goes into prayer and fasting. about this. Then, next time he's before the king with his cup, the king says, Nehemiah, you look so sad. What's going on? And he tells him his burden. And the king gets a bright idea. Guess what, Nehemiah? I'm going to send you and a whole bunch of other Jews back with money and gold and silver. You're going to rebuild your city. That was in 445 BC. Again, notice the prophecy, verse 25. You are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem. That was it. 445 BC, late March, early April, this king gave a decree. Jerusalem shall be rebuilt. And I'm going to send you back with money and workers and gold. Remember that cool story in Nehemiah? Because it says in the prophecy that we're built in troubleless times. That's where that phrase, sword and trowel, comes. As they're working on a wall with a trowel, they've got a sword in the other hand, because they're constantly under attack and threat. But they do rebuild the city. Again, on your sheet there. Nehemiah 1, 1 to 14, turn there. Artaxerxes decreed to rebuild the walls and the gates of the city was given in the month of Nisan in the 20th year of King Artaxerxes. By the way, that's the same exact period of time our Lord was crucified. Early April, 445 BC. Here we go. If you count forward from 445 BC, Again, I hate to, I'm reviewing everything. I'm going over this in my head trying to make this clear. If you count forward from 445 B.C. and add these 483 years, it brings you exactly to the time of about A.D. 27 through A.D. 30. Now there's some debate on exact times. There's some debate how you handle the year zero. And also a note there in your sheet, and this is important if you try to do this yourself. Jewish and ancient calendar. All of them, the Babylonian calendars, Jewish calendars, right up through the time of Christ, and even through the time of Revelation, ancient calendars were lunar calendars. That means their months were 30 days long, from full moon to full moon. That's how they told time way up past the Roman Empire days. In your sheet there. So he's talking here 483 years of 360 day years. 30 days to a month brings you to a 360 month, 60 day year. I'm getting ahead of myself here. If you add that up, it comes perfectly to the time of Christ. Perfectly. By the way, I have your sheet there. It's kind of cool when you think about it. That first period of seven years, that 49-year period, we discussed this last week, it took just about exactly that long to finish building the city. That's probably why that period is. But that's also what happened there in that year. The last year of that first seven-year period is exactly when Malachi the prophet wrote his book. Which means the Old Testament closed right then and there. The last prophet spoke at the end of that seven year period. Then you have almost, almost 400 years of silence. No prophet, no miracles, no word from the Lord. Imagine, just think what was going on four centuries ago. Do you even care? But all that time, God's clock is ticking, because when that decree to rebuild Jerusalem, the clock was ticking. And you read then, when you open up the book, the Gospels, how all of a sudden, the angel Gabriel, who spoke here, appears to an old man in the temple one day and tells him, guess what? Your barren wife's going to have a child. And here's another aged old couple having a child, and the whole thing now is going to start over again with the Lord. So God's clock was ticking, it's perfect. It's a stunningly precise prediction. By the way, what am I doing here? Yeah, number five in your sheet. Notice it says at a starting point again, because today I wanna start focusing on the Messiah. Again, verse 24, verse 25. You are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem, notice, until Messiah the Prince. Now, the starting point we already saw here was 445 BC. That's when that decree was issued. Now, if you do the math, it says there, until Messiah the Prince. If you do the math, it's perfect. It's just not talking about his birth. It's talking about when Messiah showed up in Israel. Well, let's talk about that. Let's think that through. First of all, notice the phrase there, Messiah the Prince. By the way, I don't know if this is on your outlines or not. We use what's called a Gregorian calendar. Somewhere around the time of the Roman Empire, they set up what's called the Julian calendar, which was basically when a calendar is based on the cycles of the sun through the sky. That's the calendar we're using in 15-something. I think it's on your sheet there somewhere, I don't know. In 15-something, Pope Gregory III commissioned all these scientists to make a modern calendar. That's the calendar we use today, based on the sun, not the moon. And also, Jesus probably wasn't born in the year one. They were wrong in their calculation. Jesus is probably born around the year 4 to 6 BC. We'll get to that here in a minute as well, just so you know what we're talking about. But it also says there, from the time that the historian built Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince. In the Greek, the word is Masiach, the Messiah. In Greek, of course, it's Christos, the Christ, the Anointed One. From the time that city is rebuilt until the Anointed One. Now, the word anointed, as you know, all throughout the Old Testament, prophets, priests, and kings, does that sound familiar? were all anointed with oil. When they entered God's service, someone would anoint them on their head with oil, setting them aside, symbolizing the fact that they were set aside for God's service. Well, of course, Christ is the ultimate anointed one. But it says here, until the anointed one, the Christ, until the Masiach shows up. But that's also what it calls in there. In fact, I have on my sheet there some verses. The ultimate anointed one, Luke 2.11. Remember what the angel said, for unto you is born in this day in the city of David a savior who is literally Messiah the Lord, Christ the Lord. Christ is not Jesus' last name. Christ is his title, Jesus Messiah, Jesus anointed one, kind of like you say President Trump, Christ Jesus, Messiah Jesus. That's his title, not his name. Matthew 16, 20, Jesus says, and he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Messiah. We'll get to that in a minute, too. Why was Christ always telling them, don't tell anyone, that all of a sudden one day he changes that dramatically? We'll get to that here in a second. Luke 4, 41, also demons were coming out of many, shouting and saying, you are the Son of God, but he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak. because they knew he was the Messiah. I always think that's so cool. Here's this Galilean carpenter walking around. He's just some guy. Isaiah tells us very clearly. He had no stately foreigner. We should notice him. If you'd see a crowd of 20 Jewish men with Jesus, you'd never say, look at that guy. He was a short, average-looking Jewish man. You'd never pick him out of a crowd. But the demons, when they saw him, You're the Son of God. You're the Messiah. And Christ would say, shut up and get out of here. That's so cool. They know who he was. They couldn't help but know who he was. And he scared the daylights out of these demons. You gotta love that stuff. They knew who he was. John 20, 31, Jesus said, or sorry, John writing, here's the reason why he wrote his gospel. John says, but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God. And by believing, you may have life in his name. Jesus is the Christ. The Messiah, that was John's purpose in writing. Acts 2.36, Peter's first Christian sermon, Peter said this to all of Israel, therefore, that all the house of Israel know with certainty, God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah. We hear that name Messiah and think, that's nice. Or remember how the Jews would have heard that. They were taught from the time they were little wee babies what Messiah would be. Messiah's coming, Messiah. When Peter stands here and says, this man you crucified, he's your Messiah. That would have struck like thunder. You crucified, you're Messiah. That's what he's telling them. And now he's Lord. The Messiah is Lord. And of course, that cool verse in Revelation, it's on your sheet. The seventh angel blew his trumpet. There were loud voices in heaven saying, the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah. And he will reign forever. Now keep your finger here and turn to Psalm 2. This is just a playing out of the filling of what God has prophesied over and over again through the Psalms, through the prophets that Messiah would reign and rule over everything. And Psalm 2 is one of those basic prophecies that one commentator said, all the rest of scripture is basically a fulfilling of Psalm 2. What you're reading here is Daniel's God saying, here's how I'm gonna fulfill Psalm 2. Let's look at it again, Psalm 2. I think you're familiar with this, verse one. Why are the nations in an uproar and the peoples devising a vain thing? The kings of the earth take their stand, the rulers take counsel together against the Lord, against His anointed. That word anointed is the word Masiach. against his Christ, against his Messiah, saying, let us tear their fetters apart and cast their cords away. Here's the earth. Like you see today, all the rules of the world and the smart boys shaking their fists in God's face saying, you will not rule over us. We will not do what you say. We don't care what you want. We'll do what we want. We'll rip off. Your laws will break. Your rules will violate. We don't care who you are, who you think you are. Sound familiar? And of course, look at verse two. He who sits in the heaven does what? Laughs. Why does he laugh? Well, read on. Look what he says he's done. The Lord scoffs at that. He will speak to them in his anger and terrify them in his fury, saying, as for me, I have installed my king upon Zion, my holy mountain. I will surely tell the decree of the Lord. He said to me, you are my son. Look at that. God laughs. Why? Because Messiah, the king, has already been crowned. You can laugh all you want, cousin. You can rage all you want down there. My messiah, my anointed one, the king, my son is on the throne already. And you'd better deal with it, basically what this says. You better kiss the son. And I've already promised this son, the messiah, all the nations as his footstool. Do you have a footstool at home? Kick back and put your feet up. A footstool. A footstool is something you just use and abuse. It rests your tired feet. Imagine, I've seen paintings of this, of Christ sitting on his throne with his feet on the world, a footstool. That means absolute dominance, absolute authority, absolute sovereignty. And God says, you can rage all you want. The Messiah, my son, is already king, and you'd better deal with it. back in Daniel 9. That's what you're seeing here in these prophecies. This is happening. The Jews had this as their hope. The Jews had this as what they're looking forward to. And here you see revelation and fulfillment of that. The kingdoms of this world have now become the kingdoms of the Lord and of his Messiah, of the Christ. But notice what it says there again, back in Daniel 9. Look at verse 25 again. From the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah, the Prince. I think that went through. Messiah, the Prince. In fact, turn back in Daniel just a chapter before chapter eight. You recall there he's talking about this little horn that pops up out of this last beast kingdom of the Roman empire there. And his little horn, of course, is the Antichrist. And it says here in chapter eight, verse 25, this little horn. 825, through his shrewdness he will cause deceit to succeed by his influence, he'll magnify himself in his heart, he'll destroy many while they're at ease, he will even oppose the prince of princes. We're here in chapter 9, we're told that Messiah is the prince. Now think about it, what's a prince? What is a prince? A son of who? A son of the king. Look at what they're being told here. This Messiah is also royalty. His father is the king. Now, we're not told here who this king is. Of course, you would know that. They would know who this is. The Messiah who's coming is not just some guy, some Maccabean general who's gonna save Israel. This is the king's very son, the prince, Messiah the prince, Masiach the prince, the king's son. He's royalty. You're probably well aware of when Christ showed up around that time, many of the Jewish scholars had these arguments going on because you had phrases like this, Messiah the Prince. You have all those many prophecies in the prophets about how the Messiah will rule and reign on David's throne and be great in the world and all these things. But you also have these prophecies like Isaiah 53 and others. The suffering servant will be crushed. and put the grief, and they wondered, well, is there two messiahs? Is there the reigning victorious messiah and a suffering messiah? They had a hard time putting this all together. How can he be the glorious, powerful, ruling son of David, and yet be crushed for iniquities and put the grief and suffer, and how can that be? You can see some of their confusion. Though Christ did rebuke him, he should have known this. So the verses are in your sheet. The verse you know you want around Christmas time, Isaiah 9, 6. For a child will be born to us, there's the next phrase, a son will be given to us. Mary Fred years ago, taking that apart in Hebrew, is not saying that just a guy's gonna have a son. It's saying someone's son is being given to us. He was already someone's son before he was born. Someone's son has been given to us. You get that? Jesus is not the son of Joseph, the husband of Mary. Jesus was already someone's son who was given to us. That's what it's saying there. The government be upon his shoulders, he'll be named wonderful, counselor, mighty God, eternal father, and note that phrase, the prince of peace. Messiah, the prince. Jesus Christ is the son of the most high king. He's a prince, the prince of peace, the prince. Again, think how Daniel's people would hear this. We know this. We look back on this. This makes sense to us. Imagine how Daniel's people, captive in Babylon, their nation is in utter ruin. It looks as though Judaism has been wiped off the face of the earth. Their temple's a smoking heap. But they're hearing this prophecy. Your city, Daniel, will be rebuilt. And Messiah is coming to this city. And guess who he is? He's Messiah the Prince. That's great hope. They would look forward to this. You really gotta pity the Jews that they missed this. God is being so gracious here to give them not only a prophecy of what's good, even when. They should have known. They should have known this. It's so sad that they didn't. Today they still don't get it. Just listen, Paul gave me some great testimonies on CD and this one guy is this Jewish fella. whose daughter becomes a Christian, he goes through all this long, terrible time of trying to prove her wrong. He just can't stand the fact of someone in my family being a Christian. He's a Jewish man, he gets saved, wonderfully, gloriously saved, it's pretty cool. Another verse there, Ezekiel 34 is on your sheet. I, Yahweh, will be their God, and my servant David will be a prince among them, because I, Yahweh, have spoken. God says, I will be their God, and guess who's gonna rule for me? The prince. That's how it works where there's kings. Kings have their son rule for them and after them. Mike? Jesus actually called them slow hearted fools, not to leave all the proverbs written. As all the other verses speak about how, like Isaiah was told, you'll go to a people whose eyes can't see, in a year they hear, but they don't hear. It's sad what happened to Israel. Now, letter D there in your sheet. It says, from the going of the decree to rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, there will be 69 sevens. Again, I have it in your sheet. I'll repeat this to you again. Note, nearly all ancient cultures, including Israel, used a luni-solar calendar of 30-day months based on the cycle of the moon. They still do today. The Jews still, if you look at Jewish calendars, there's our calendar and there's their calendar, which is still based on, to them it's the year 4000 something something. Because they're still using this lunar solar calendar for their religious observances. This calendar was used right up through the New Testament times. It is even used today. I haven't yet read where our calendar came from. An example of this, we needn't turn there. In Revelations, two times in the book of Revelation, we're told that the tribulation time, the tribulation period lasts for 42 months. Two times we're told that. 42 months, Antichrist does all these terrible things. We're also told two times in Revelation, that same period is referred to as 1260 days. Well, that only works if those months are 30 days each. If you do the math, 1260 days comes out to three and a half months if those months are only 30 days long. When John is given this revelation, they're still using this 30-day lunar cycle calendar. It's all through the scripture. This is how they told time. So when God reveals this calendar to them, he gives it to them in the time they knew, which made my studies Difficult. Because I'm reading through all these different commentaries, and I love this study. I'm fascinated by this. But we're trying to look at those dates in their time using our dates. So you guys say, well, our date for this is, but their date for this was. It gets confusing. Thank God there's guys who do this and enjoy that kind of thing. Then you've got to fool with a year. There is no year zero, and there's a whole lot of weird things you've got to do. But I've seen so many guys work this out. That's impressive. If you ever want to see some of this stuff, I'll give it to you. But I don't want to bore you here with all that math. But the point is, the point of all this boring math I have in your sheet there, letter E, exactly 483 years of 30-day months, get that, this brings us to about AD 27 or 28. I could give you all the math for that. I won't bore you today with it if you want to see it. If you do the math on this, from the time Artist Erste said, I'm going to send you, Nehemiah, back to rebuild the city. It was 483 years. Brings you right up to about A.D. 27, 28, in that period, 29. Now, if Jesus was born, which he was, probably about four to six B.C., this is right around the time when he's 32, 33. See what's being said here? Josephus points out that when Christ, at the time of Christ, There are many, many false messiahs. In fact, his words were, Israel was overrun with false Christs. You know why that was? Because they knew this prophecy. They knew this. There were some who were waiting for this. I think Simeon's probably one of them. There were other Jews who were wondering. There's some hints in some of the Jewish writings about, where's the messiah? Where is he? The time has come. Where is he? It's amazing how this works out. It's exact. In fact, I have, I could show you charts where they think they know the exact day that Artur Xerxes made this decree, and they count forward to the exact day they think this was fulfilled. I don't know if that's right. I don't know. It's fascinating to read. I won't bore you with all that either. But there's a point of all this is, Jesus was probably born around 4 or 6 BC. Most of the number-crunching commentators figure this was probably at his triumphal entry. Now, some say it was his baptism. That may be. I tend to think they're right about his entry into Jerusalem the last time. Let's just talk about it. Here's why. Think of it. Jesus was baptized at age 30. For about three and a half years, he ministered in Jerusalem. The last time, this is probably the third time they think, third or fourth time he made a trip to Jerusalem, was just six days before he was crucified. That's with his triumphal entry. Now think, why is that significant? What happened at his triumphal entry? Think about it, just think what you know. In fact, turn in your Bible to Luke chapter 19. Let's just read this. Something changed at that time. Up until that point, if you read through your Gospels, we're going to Luke 19, verse 35. Every time, every time, something amazing Jesus did, remember what he said? Don't tell anybody. Keep this quiet. Those amazing miracles of raising Jairus' daughter from the dead, see if you tell no one about this. The lepers that got healed, don't tell anybody about this. Even on the Mount of Transfiguration, don't tell anybody about this. And I'm sure they're just bursting inside. We've got to tell somebody the Messiah is here. He said, don't tell anybody that. In fact, he exactly said to them, don't tell anyone yet that I'm the Messiah. That was his pattern for most of his ministry. Frustrating, I'm sure, for his disciples. Dean? This is what he meant every time he said, my hour is not yet come. Exactly right. It's not time yet. But notice now how that all changes in a big way. Here in Luke 19, look at verse 35. I'll go back to verse 28. Verse 28. After he had said these things, he was going on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. This is for the last time now. This is the last time he goes there and he's going to be arrested and crucified. When he approached Bethphage and Bethany near the mountain, which is called Olivet, he sent two of his disciples, saying, go into the village ahead of you. There, as you enter, you will find a coat tied on which no one has yet ever sat. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, why are you untying it? You will say, the Lord has need of it. So those who were sent went away and found it, just as he had told them. And as they were untying the coat, his owner said to them, why are you untying the coat? They said, the Lord has need of it. Now stop there. I've always wondered about this. Why is that cult there? Yeah, but did Jesus, ahead of time, set this up? The cult's waiting there. He told his disciples exactly where to find it. He even told them what to say to the guy who owns the cult, so he'll give it to you. It sounds like Jesus, apart from the disciples' knowledge, had this set up. This may be miraculous. But it sounds like he had this all set up. This is all planned. They don't know what's happening, but Jesus exactly knows what's happening. Jesus is going to stage an event. And so he made sure that that cult was waiting there. His disciples knew exactly where to find it so that he could do what he was going to do next. Jane? I have a suspicion that he was starting the underground church there. Well, he's starting a church, that's for sure. But I know what happens next. And of course, you know this story. 35. They brought it to Jesus. They threw their coats on the colt and put Jesus on it. And as he was going, they were spreading their coats on the road. And as soon as he was approaching near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the miracles which they had seen, shouting, blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory to God in the highest. There they're quoting from Psalm 118, which is a messianic psalm. He gets his colt. They put Jesus on it. He comes down the hill, and all the people start to recognize this is Messiah. He's presenting himself as their Messiah. Read on here. Shouting, verse 39, some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, teacher, rebuke your disciples. They hear what they're saying. They're calling you Messiah. You don't want that, do you? They're calling you Messiah. Matthew says, Hosanna to the son of David. The son of David means Messiah. Jerusalem is welcoming her Messiah. And the Pharisees go, you can't let this go on. Tell them to shut up. Look what he says next. This is very significant. Jesus answered, I tell you, if these become silent, the stones will cry out. Now think about that. What does he mean by that? This has to happen. If you shut this crowd up, the stones will cry out, Messiah. Because what God has promised for centuries has happened on this day. Messiah, who over the last three and a half years has proven who he was, is now publicly displaying himself as Jerusalem's Messiah. Think about that. Let's read on, verse 42. Remember, if you put Matthew and Luke together, as Jesus, some of you guys have been in Israel, when you come over that hill there in Bethany, as soon as you crest that hill and look down, there's the whole city in front of you. They say it's a gorgeous sight. The whole city's laid out before you. And what does Jesus do? He starts weeping. In fact, Matthew says he's wailing, because he knows what's about to happen. He knows what this means. Notice how he says this here, verse 42. Jesus is saying to them, If you had known in this day, get that, in what day? If you had known what day this was, is what he's saying there. If you knew how important this day was, if you only knew how important this day was. Daniel told you about this day 400 years ago. If you had only known. But notice what he says, it's very sad. If you'd known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace, but now they've been hidden from your eyes. And he gives this prophecy. This is exactly what Daniel said. Behold, there'll be this time period until Messiah the Prince, and after that, the city and the sanctuary will be destroyed again. Notice what he says next. For the days will come upon you when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you and surround you and ham you in every side. They will level you to the ground and your children within you. They will not leave one stone upon another. And notice this next phrase, because you did not recognize what? What's that phrase? The time of your visitation. You didn't figure it out the time Messiah came. Messiah has come to you. And you didn't see it. You poor city, this poor, I love this city. I love this people. Jesus says, the day has come. The time of your visitation has come. That time Daniel prophesied of has come and your eyes are closed. And he said, behold, the days are coming only about 35 years after this, when this whole city is going to be laid into another rubble heap and millions will die. Think about that. Jesus, up until this point, refused to let anyone tell them he was the Messiah. Here, he's publicly displaying himself as Messiah. Notice what he does here. I have it on your sheet. Zechariah 9.9, they're quoting this. Remember, Zechariah 9.9, this prophecy. Rejoice greatly, daughter Zion. Shout in triumph, daughter Jerusalem. Look, your king is coming to you. He's righteous and victorious, humble and riding on a donkey on a colt, the foal of a donkey. Jesus had this all set up. Everyone there who knew their Bible would recognize. Zechariah told us our Messiah, the King, will ride in Jerusalem on a donkey, on a young donkey, a foal of a donkey, a baby donkey. And there he is, exactly as Zechariah foretold. Christ is saying to the whole city, I'm your Messiah. I'm here. If you had only known. But they don't, do you? If they would have recognized him, though, they would have never crucified him. Exactly right. Exactly right. I was told that this coat is a baby coat, but it was never ridden. Never ridden, never ridden. Christ is the first one to ride on it. It's an amazing sight, because here's this donkey, and here's all these people shouting, Hosanna, Son of David, the Messiah, the King, dancing and singing, and Christ is coming down the hill with just tears streaming down his face. Oh, Israel, how I would have welcomed, how I would have saved you, how, but you will not. He's broken hearted, because he knows what happens next. It's an amazing scene, but this is what the 70 weeks are pointing to. Exactly, exactly on schedule, exactly on time. This brings you right down to that period that Daniel was writing about, until Messiah the Prince. Remember what it says next? After that, after this period, he shall be cut off. Well, six days later, he was crucified. We'll get to more of that next week, Lord willing. We're gonna see more time what Messiah does here. But this is stunning in its accuracy. Had the Jews believed their own scriptures, they would have known that has to be the Messiah. Look what time it is. This is exactly what Daniel said. I told you this story before, I'll tell you again, because I think it's so good. S. Lewis Johnson records a debate back in the early 1800s of a very renowned Jewish scholar, And a man who used to be a Jew, but a saint, they're having a debate on who's the Messiah, a public debate. And this man, who's the Christian now, takes him to Daniel. And he takes his whole prophecy apart and says, the time, the place, everything points to Jesus, the Messiah. He just kept hammering that home. Who else could the Messiah be? Who was there at that time? Who was doing this? It was Jesus. It got so bad, the Jewish rabbis said, let's close our books and go home, because this keeps on. We're going to all be Christians here soon. And he ended the meeting. Case closed, Kenny. Paul just gave me a CD of this Jewish fellow who was a strong, strict, orthodox Jew whose daughter gets saved. So he says, I'm going to prove her wrong. And guess what mistake he makes? He reads his Bible. He gets into the scriptures, and he figures out our Messiah has already come. It's so obvious when you look at it. And again, I can't help but almost be brokenhearted here. Look what God did for the Jews. I understand sovereign grace and election, and I love it, but God gave them every chance to believe, didn't he? He painted a picture for them of Messiah. There's several hundred prophecies about Messiah. He not only told them what he will do, he gave an exact clock that you could sit there and tick off the month and figure out exactly when he's coming. He came, he gave them exactly the signs that the Bible said he would give. There is no excuse for their unbelief. except for how hard our hearts are. And so when you see what happens in 35 years, when God finally wipes out the city again, remember Jesus had the wrath of all those prophets were gonna fall on this city. They were without excuse. We should be praying for the Jews. To this day, they still reject Messiah. awful thing and God's laid it out so clearly for them that's that's where Jesus rebukes take on those force you should have known this your scriptures told you this and they did now it's easy for us looking back to say that but they had it more than enough to recognize their Messiah when he came and he came down that hill into Jerusalem and thousands were screaming Hosanna son of David Jesus didn't stop then didn't tell him to shut up He rode in there as their messiah. What's the first thing he did when he entered the city? Remember? He went to the temple. And what did he do there? Clean it up. He cleaned it out again. That's probably the second time he did that. As a messiah, he walked in there and said, you guys get out of here now. That's cool. And then for six days, he taught in the temple daily until he gets arrested the next weekend. Mike? Yeah, put a cemetery there because they figure he can't defile himself walking through a cemetery. Yeah, good luck with that. Yeah. This is cool though, isn't it? This is telling, the scriptures are so exact and God is so gracious to lay this out. Messiah, the Prince came to their city, but of course they rejected him, didn't they? Exactly. It's all part of God's plan. God planned this. It's amazing stuff. What Mike is saying is, in Jerusalem today, The Arabs, many years ago, knew of these prophecies about the Lord returning on the Mount of Olives. If you come back on the Mount of Olives and go straight into the city, you're going to go through the same gate He's going through here. So the Arabs sealed that gate shut. It's sealed to this day, so the Messiah can't ride in there. And they put a cemetery right in front of it, because Jews can't touch dead bodies or they'd be defiled. Therefore, Messiah is locked out, they think. Yeah, good luck with that. Yeah, they sealed it so you can't get in, He's going to get in. You got that right. He's going to get in. He's going to get in. On your sheet there, in summary. Again, next week, Lord willing, I want to really take apart what the Messiah will do. It says he'll be cut off. And we're going to go back to verse 24, where it says all those four great promises. He'll put an end to transgression. He'll cover up iniquity. He'll put an end to sin. He'll bring in everlasting righteousness by being cut off. That's what it says here. This is the gospel according to Daniel. Actually, it's the gospel according to the angel Gabriel. It's so cool. They should have seen this. They should have known. I'm sure if Daniel wrote this, his mind's probably going back and went, wait, Isaiah said, Jeremiah said it all comes again. This Messiah, this Prince, this King, he's riding into the city for one main purpose, to be cut off. and bring in all these things we see. Is this why Jesus was so mad at the religious leaders that should have known? Yeah. And he said, you should have told these people. Remember he says that. You stood in Moses' seat. You not only should have known, you're keeping them from this. They would have put you out of the synagogue if you believed in Jesus. They should have been the ones cheerleading the Messiah. Instead they're out there ordering everybody to shut up. It's sad. It's just sad. In summary on your sheet there. Exactly as predicted, at the exact predicted time, the Messiah presented himself to Jerusalem after several years of undeniable proof. Think of it. Think what just went on the last three and a half years. What he did, what he said, where he was. He gave proof after proof after proof that he is the Son of God. And now He says, I am the Messiah. And everyone who was with Him would say, it's finally time. Look at this. There was no reason to reject Him. No human, no intellectual reason to reject Him. Except that our hearts love darkness rather than light. It's sad. He gave all these undeniable proofs, and then, exactly as predicted, after the 62 weeks, the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing. Six days later, that period of 62 weeks probably ended the day he wrote in Jerusalem. I can give you charts where guys think they have the exact day, the month of Nisan and what it was, six days before the full moon when Passover came. But six days later, remember, he was arrested and crucified, cut off. and had nothing. And then, about 35 to 40 years later, just as Daniel's prophecy says, Messiah will be cut off and the city and the sanctuary again made desolate. About 35 years later, we're going to get to that prophecy too in this study, probably in about two weeks, Lord willing. Jesus, Daniel, and of course Jesus, so accurately predict, I didn't even turn, and Luke, that verse you just read in Luke, the words he uses there to describe the siege are so incredibly stunningly accurate. Again, skeptics will say, well then Jesus couldn't have said that because it's just too precise. And his prophecies in Matthew 24 and Mark 13, Luke 21 are so stunningly precise of what's gonna happen 35 years from now. To doubt your Bible is just foolishness, Mike. A dumb question. Was there an eclipse at the time of the crucifixion? No, it was full moon. Has everything got really dark? No, there wasn't. Passover is always on the full moon, always on the full moon. That's how they tell their lunar cycles. In fact, interesting, what's happening here, Daniel's prophecy March, April, the month of Nisan, that's their New Year's. That's their first year of their calendar. When they left Egypt during the Passover, that was when the calendar started. They were given, this month is called Nisan. Nisan is our last half of March, the first half of April, full moon to full moon. That's their January. That's happening here. This is their January. This is their, the first full moon in January is when this Passover was. That wasn't an eclipse, that was a miracle. God just put the sun out. God just put the sun out. Yeah. And I think the reason for that was, that bothers the state is, the first three hours on the cross was in broad daylight. That's when he said almost everything he had to say. People could watch him. But that last three hours was just between the Son of God and his Father. We're not privileged to watch that. And in those three hours of darkness, that's when all of our sin, all of our guilt, all of our filth was laid upon his holy soul. And he suffered and struggled like we can't begin to imagine his soul. And that's when God was crushing him. That's when God was damning him. God put the son out. No one gets a right to watch this. This is God the son doing business with God the father for our redemption. Carly, you had something? Yeah, he says last what 25 minutes I don't think I don't think darkness stops that much yeah Though Peter does say how the angels long to look into this, I can well imagine as he's hanging on a cross, the angels in heaven, because they don't get this. They've never been redeemed. They don't need to be redeemed. Why are you doing this? I can imagine how that would have ripped their hearts out, if angels have hearts. It's an amazing thing. It really is. And that's what this is all about. And six days later, it's happening exactly as he said it would. Again, your sheet there. After the 62 weeks, that's six days later, the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing. Then about 40 years later, the city and the sanctuary were destroyed, it says, through war and desolations. Some thoughts in closing. I was thinking this week, be honest, confess with me if you will. Every now and then, every couple of years, I get this twinge in my mind that says, is this really all true? Did you ever do that? Is this really all true? I mean, as Christians, is this really right? I mean, really, not often. I don't think that much anymore than I used to years ago. But any kind of twins, you've got to come right back to this. I mean, how do you explain this? How is this possible? Men can't do this. No human book has ever done this. Anything like this, only one prophecy of hundreds. This is God's word. This is God's inspired word. The Bible itself proves over and over, it truly is the inspired word of God. Things like this remove all doubt that God has spoken. Only God can do this. And notice what he speaks about. This is all concerning Messiah, Christ, all of this. I mean, I hear so many prophetic shows on the radio when I'm driving to work back and forth, only shows, and some of that's good. But you know, prophecy is all about Christ, or you're not teaching it right. Revelation says Christ is the spirit of prophecy. It's so easy to get worried about timelines and antichrist and new world orders and all of this, and that's important, I guess, But in scripture, all of prophecy centers on the Messiah. Of course, I get ahead of myself. Let her be there. God has graciously recorded in the scriptures many infallible proofs, quoting from Acts, that Jesus Christ is the Messiah, the Son of God, the only Savior of mankind. You can take anybody who is willing to listen and demonstrate. God has made a huge neon sign out of heaven. This is the Messiah. There's no mistaking this. No one else in Israel's history ever came close to fulfilling these prophecies. Only one Jew, one Jewish man ever. And he, it all converges on him. It all, these big neon signs on the scriptures. This is Messiah. This is the Son of God. Dean. This is what they said when God the Father said on the Mount of Transfiguration. This is my Son. This is my Son. Listen to him. Of course, letter C, the central message of the Bible is that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah. That's what it's all about. All through the Old Testament, it's looking ahead to the Messiah who's coming. All through your New Testament, looking back on the Messiah who has come. It's all about Messiah, the Savior, the Christ. And of course, letter D, as we've said already several times, the central purpose of history, both past and future, is the revealing and exaltation of God's Son. It's all about Him. It all centers on him. You can't understand history unless you get that right. If you don't get that right, history's not meaningless. History's not aimless. History has a purpose. History is going somewhere. Even now, God's prophetic clock is still ticking. There are still yet things God, remember Jesus said that day and hour? There's a day and hour coming. We don't know exactly when it is, but it's coming. It's just ticking right now. Just like for those four long centuries of silence, God's perfect prophetic clock was ticking until the coming of the Messiah. Right on time, not a day late, not a day early, exactly as He said it would. And there still are promises left of the coming of the Messiah, of His kingdom. That clock is still ticking. It's going to happen. History's going somewhere. This ends exactly where God says it ends. On time. Isn't that cool? Isn't that cool? History still, you still tell time by the coming of the Messiah. Isn't this part of the declaration that Gabriel said to Mary, he will save their people from their sins? Yes. The same Gabriel who gave Daniel this prophecy goes to Mary and says, you're going to have a son and guess what he's going to do? He's going to save his people from their sins. In closing, when you receive their Colossians, One Paul says he meaning Christ. He is also the head of the body the church He's the beginning the firstborn from the dead So he might come to have first place in everything get that it is God the Father's will That Jesus Christ be number one in everything. I He's not now, but he certainly will be. And read on. For God was pleased to have all the fullness dwell in him and through him to reconcile everything to himself by making peace through the blood of his cross where the things on earth are things in heaven. I read this, heard it on a recording years ago from CCEF where he said, when it's all said and done, everything will be in a huge pile. Helicopters, starships, countries, computers, every person, everything ever lived in a big pile and Christ standing on top like this. It's all mine. As God the Father has determined, or as Paul said in Philippians, every knee will bow and call Messiah Lord. That's where it's all going. If you're not there now, you're missing the boat. That's where God's train is heading. Whether you like it or not, that's where we're all being taken to. The saved will get there and exult and rejoice with great joy as Paul taught last week from Romans. The lost are going to get there too, in terror and horror on their knees before the Lord whom they've ignored and rejected. But it's coming. What a cool thing. Your Bible's amazing. Let's close in on the mic. I just wanted to say something like you said. The greatest way to know and have doubt taken away is to study the Scriptures. Study the Scriptures. And see, and it will prove itself. Let the Bible just say what it says. And it will tell you what you need to know. Thank God for such a thing. Barron? I've come here to just say that the saying that, I mean, the saying that they don't look for God if they don't look for someone's power to help them. Let's say you lose crown, but let's say you lose rewards. Yeah, Christ will reward us for the things we've done. And there'll be many of us who could have done things, but didn't. We're not going to get that reward. Paul says they will suffer loss. You're going to think, what was I thinking? You know, we could have done, I could have said I could have, but I didn't. And we lose a reward for that. We could have, you know, our Lord would have commended us for that, but we didn't do it. We didn't, they're not crowned. He says, but you'll, you'll, you'll suffer loss. Let's close in prayer. Our Father in heaven, how we thank you for your word. And more importantly, we thank you for your son, whom your word is all about. We thank you for the Messiah, for the Christ that exactly as you promised, exactly as you planned, he came right on time, right on schedule to allow himself to be cut off so that our sins might be covered, our transgression might be finished. everlasting righteousness will be applied to our account through the death of Christ. Lord, we thank you for your graciousness, your kindness. Lord, help us to understand these things, to believe these things. May these things, Lord, encourage us and encourage us to stand ever more strongly on your word and the truth it contains, to have great strength and faith in defending the scriptures, but more so, Lord, in defending our Messiah. I thank you, Lord, that even though many, many still reject him and miss him, Lord, you've opened our eyes. You've allowed us to see him, to embrace him, to know him. What a joy it is to be a Christian, a follower of the Christ. Lord, we thank you for this. Lord, bless these people with what we've heard today. Lord, may these things just resonate in our souls and may we look forward to seeing him who is yet to come, as we know he will exactly on time. For we ask this all in Jesus' great and powerful name. Amen.