Today marks the 11th message in our series on the prophecy of Daniel. If the Lord wills, next week we'll study chapter 11, and then the week after that, chapter 12. But I've announced it twice now that I've wanted to go back and deal with what I think is the hardest portion of the prophecy, and what some people consider to be even the hardest passage in the whole Old Testament, and that's Daniel 9, 24 through 27. Sometimes this is referred to as Daniel's 70 weeks, or sometimes it's referred to as Daniel's 77s. Just before Christmas, I preached on what is absolutely clear in this passage. I would say 95% of scholars, pastors would agree on what I preached on December 15th. The clearest aspect of this passage is when verse 26 prophesies that the anointed one or the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, that refers to Jesus' crucifixion. That's why Matthew Henry referred to Daniel 9 as the clearest and brightest prophecy of the Messiah in all the Old Testament. That's clear. Most other details in the passage are not clear, they're very difficult. So today I'm gonna do something a little different and I am going to preach on the difficulties of a difficult passage. For those of you who've just returned from camp and are struggling with sleep deprivation, I'm sorry. I'm gonna call all of us to engage our minds and we're gonna do some hard work this morning. Just before I read the passage, I wanna review the context, and just to let you know where we're going, I'm gonna review the context, read the passage, we're gonna work through five difficulties, and then I'm gonna take just a little minute and talk about why do we have difficult passages anyway, and then end with four applications. So the context. Daniel lived and died in Babylon, or what became Persia, about 500 years before Jesus was born. When Daniel was young, as a teenager, he was taken as a slave, as a POW in 605 BC when King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came in and started to overthrow Jerusalem. Even though Babylon tried to reprogram this young man, they couldn't. He remained faithful to the God of Israel and he courageously suffered persecution for it. Daniel 9, takes place almost 70 years after Daniel was taken as a POW, as a slave to Babylon. According to chapter nine, verse two, Daniel was reading Jeremiah, especially Jeremiah 25 and 29, where God had prophesied that the Babylonian exile would last 70 years. So Daniel's reading Jeremiah and he's praying scripture And he's saying, God, please forgive us for our idolatry, our perpetual sin. He says in verses 18 and 19, end our desolations, bring us back to Jerusalem, end our desolations. Note that word, desolations. Beginning in verse 20 of chapter nine, God immediately answers Daniel's prayer by sending the angel Gabriel to him. and the angel Gabriel comes to Daniel and basically says God's plan is much bigger than simply ending the 70 years of exile. Much more than just ending their physical bondage, God says, I'm gonna bring an end to Israel's spiritual condition, her continual rebellious habit of covenant breaking that landed her in desolation in the first place. And Gabriel prophesies the timing of it. He says that God will end Israel's rebellion after 70 sevens. The periods of time referenced in Daniel 9 are counted in multiples of seven. They're sevens. Why is this? Well, in order to understand why they're counting in multiples of seven, you need to understand the Jewish mindset that goes back to Leviticus 25. That every seventh year was supposed to be a Sabbath for the whole land. And every seven sevens, every 49 years, was to be a year of grand jubilee celebration. So, Leviticus 25 says every seven is a rest and every 49 is a jubilee. So essentially, when God says, Daniel, your focus is on the 70 years ending, and yes, that is part of my plan, but I have a plan that's 77s, God's basically saying, this is when Israel is going to experience ultimate rest, ultimate jubilee celebration. Now I want to read. Daniel 9, 24 through 27. 70 weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city. To finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and profit, and to anoint a most holy. The ESV supplies place. So those are six purpose statements for this period of time. Then verse 25 provides more details about the first 69 of those 77s. Verse 25, know therefore and understand that from the going out of the word to restore or to return to and rebuild Jerusalem all the way to the coming of an anointed one, a prince, Stop there for a minute. The word anointed one is the Hebrew term mashiach, from which we get the word messiah. This term does not always refer to the messiah, but I'm just pointing out that the term is messiah, which is why the septuagint says until Christ the prince comes. It's a term for the Messiah, and most people understand this to be referring to the Messiah. Now, he says, from this word going out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem to the coming of the Messiah, there will be seven weeks. Then for 62 weeks, it shall be built again with squares and a moat, but in a troubled time. Now you gotta stick with me here, okay? This isn't the hardest part. If this is getting difficult for you, the next bit is gonna be harder. In the middle of verse 25, the ESV has a period after seven weeks, separating it from the next phrase. That division of sentences into two sentences follows the way that the Jewish scribes, the Masoretes, pointed the text a thousand years after Daniel wrote the Hebrew words. But the Hebrew words can be, and most translations do, the ESV does not, but most translations do, read them as a single sentence. So it would say, from the word to rebuild to the Messiah's coming, there will be seven weeks and 62 weeks. You can follow the King James, the NIV, the NAS, the Legacy, the Christian Standard Bible, the New Living Translation, they all read straight through it. I think that's the way it should be read. So if you have an ESV, you might put an X over the period in the capitalization to say it's a sentence that continues. In other words, verse 25 could read, and I think should read, from the going out of the word to restore Jerusalem to the Messiah's coming, there will be seven and 62 weeks. or sevens, in other words, 69 total. If the prophecy is referring to years, then this is 483 years. Now, according to verse 25, those years are going to involve Jerusalem's rebuilding, and then Jerusalem's going to be rebuilt, but continue to experience turmoil through all of them. Notice, interestingly, how verses 25, 26, and 27 all end on notes of hardship, trouble, desolation. I think essentially God is saying, Daniel, you think Jerusalem's desolations are over. They're not. Verse 26, and after the 62 weeks, An anointed one, or I think the Messiah, shall be cut off and shall have nothing. And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end will come with a flood that is a flood of devastation, and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed. In other words, God is saying, I have planned that Jerusalem is still going to experience many desolations throughout its history. If you compare the way verse 26 began, after 62 weeks, and what 27 describes, that is the central events of the 70th week, I think that while verse 25 surveyed the first 69 of the 70, verses 26 and 27 seem to be parallel descriptions of the climactic final week. As Hebrew parallelism often works, you've got it coming in the right ear and then in the left ear. There's a climactic parallelism. It's like surround sound, some teachers say. Verse 27 would then say, and he, that is that coming prince or ruler, shall make a strong covenant with many for one week. You might note for one week, the word for is supplied. It could be translated in that week. And for half of the week, or you could say in the middle of the week, he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering and on the wing of abominations or the result of extremely detestable behavior shall come one who makes desolate until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator. Oh God, help us understand your word. Give us hearts that are submitted to you. We don't stand over your word, we sit under it. Speak to us now. Amen. So we've read through the text one time, and I've tried to explain a few of the challenges, but now I want to lead us in considering the five greatest complexities as I see them. The first is this. When will the goals of the 77s be accomplished? When will the goals of the 77s be accomplished? It's a really tough question. The answer is not clear. I preached a few weeks ago that I think what is crystal clear is that the prophecy centers on the crucifixion of Jesus. Verse 26, the Messiah will be cut off. When Gabriel explains in verse 24 the goals that God has designed to be fulfilled by these 77s, many of them don't seem to be completely fulfilled in Jesus' first coming. I mean, can we say that all rebellion has been suppressed? That's the first goal. Or the fifth goal, can we say that all prophecy has been fulfilled? So were these six goals accomplished in the First coming of the Messiah, which seems to be the central focus of verse 26? I am quite certain, okay, I'm gonna say this, I'm rather certain that all of these goals point to the new covenant that Jesus enacted when his blood was spilt. Now we still wait for many of the promises of the new covenant to be fulfilled completely We still have teachers today, even though the New Covenant promises, everyone's going to know me and you won't have to have teachers. Some facets of the New Covenant still await fulfillment, complete fulfillment. And yet I think every one of the purpose statements here is set in motion when Jesus ratified the New Covenant. Jesus came. to rescue his people from their rebellion. He came to offer eternal righteousness for all who would trust him. He came to fulfill all the law and the prophets. And he was, as the last phrase puts it, verse 24, anointed as the most holy one. You'll see a marginal note that the most holy does not refer to necessarily a place. It could refer to a thing or a person. It is ambiguous. I think the best I know how to interpret this passage right now is that Jesus set every one of these goals in motion at his first coming, and they will be completely fulfilled. Jesus will finish what he's begun. Now let me step back and say, okay, that's the first complexity of the passage. If you don't agree with me, And instead, you are convinced that not one of the goals has yet been fulfilled. All of them await future fulfillment. I want you to know that I have wrestled with your interpretation. I think that you can make a really strong case for your view. I respect you, and honestly, I think you could be right. I'm not convinced of it. I've wrestled with it. I'm not convinced of it. But a strong case can be made against my view and for a different view. To the second complexity. Do the 77s point to a 490-year period? Again, this is a tough question. and the answer to it is not clear. Gabriel tells Daniel there will be 70 sevens. He uses the term sevens rather than 70 sets of seven years or 70 years of sevens. And many interpreters think that he's indicating symbolic time so that the first set is a relatively short period of time, not necessarily 49 exact years, and the second set of 62 is a relatively long set, but not to be exactly 62 times seven. They think that Daniel is given this vision of sevens to say, hint, hint, I'm speaking symbolically here, and I'm not talking about exact years. But many interpreters, including me, think that because the context is one of a 70-year exile, then the most natural way to take Gabriel's words are that we're talking about years. We're talking about sets of seven years. We're talking about 490 years, in which case Gabriel is breaking a 490-year period into a segment of seven sevens, or 49 years, 62 sevens, which would be up to 483 years, and then a last seven year period of seven years. And then we have to ask, wait, wait, are these consecutive subunits in the prophecy? So that from the beginning point to the end point, they're 490 years. Or could there be gaps of time between the sets? Like, for example, could there be a century between the first set of seven and then the next set of 62? Could there be 100 years between there? Or, like many interpreters do, could there be potentially 2,000 years between the last two sets, between the 69th year and the 70th year? You following me? Are there gaps? I'm fairly confident, and I choose my words carefully, that there are no gaps of time between these 490 years. I think that God predicted 490 normal years, that is 365 day years. I think if there were gaps of decades or millennia between the sets of years, then 490 years would not be 490 years. Just like a 70-year captivity wouldn't be a 70-year captivity if there was a gap between, say, the 30th and the 31st year. Of course, we could read a huge gap of time into, say, between the 69th and the 70th year, just like we read a huge gap of time into Isaiah 61 too, which Jesus says part of it was fulfilled in his first coming and part of it will be fulfilled in his second coming. I think that's possible, I just don't see something in the text to suggest it. I would have to read it into the text. Okay, so now let me explain the conclusion of this, okay? I do not think that the 70th week of Daniel is still something future, even though I still believe that there are aspects of the new covenant that await future fulfillment. Let me also say that I understand what this does to my conclusion. I don't believe that Daniel lays a foundation for a future seven-year period of tribulation. I do strongly believe that human civilization is deteriorating. I believe that human civilization is rushing headlong for God's judgment. I think that horrible devastations will occur on earth before Jesus establishes his kingdom. I just don't think that Daniel 9 is necessarily pointing to that in the 70th week. Now, if you disagree with me and you believe that there are gaps between the sets of sevens, and if you believe that the last seven is still future, you're in really good company, really good company. One Old Testament scholar named Stephen Miller observes that there were two early church pastors, Irenaeus and Hippolytus. They pastored about a century after the apostles, and they taught that there was a long gap of time between week 69 and 70, and that week 70 was still future. I want you to know that may be right. You may be right to take that interpretation, but based on the text, I'm not convinced of that. The third complexity, third of five complexities. When does this 70-year period, I mean, sorry, when does this period of 77s begin, okay? When does the period begin? According to verse 25, the period begins with the going out of a word, for people to return and to rebuild the city. The going out of the word. To what does that phrase refer? That's a really hard question. And the answer is not clear. Some think it refers to a word of prophecy. In fact, many interpreters say that This must be referring to the prophecy that went out from Jeremiah's mouth that Daniel is reading, so that it began 70 years earlier. I'm not convinced. Others think that it refers to one of three royal decrees. I've got them listed up there on the screen. It could be the royal decree of Cyrus the very year of this vision. That is a strong position. That would be the decree that's referenced in Ezra 1 at the end of 2 Chronicles. Cyrus, King Cyrus of Persia, made a proclamation that the Jews return, but that proclamation focused on the rebuilding of the temple. Two generations later, King Artaxerxes, this is around 457 BC, authorized Ezra to return to take a large group of returnees back to Jerusalem and to finish rebuilding the temple and to stabilize the government of the city of Jerusalem. He gave him authorization to establish leaders and taxation. That's referenced in Ezra chapter seven. Or the going out of the word could refer to the authorization of King Artaxerxes to Nehemiah in 444 BC to rebuild the wall of the city, which Nehemiah did in record time. with the help of God. That decree is referred to in Nehemiah 2. Was it one of these decrees, these royal decrees, these royal words, proclamations, that set the clock ticking on these 77s? I'm mildly certain, I choose my words carefully, I'm mildly certain that it started in 457 BC. That was a massive return that focused not just on the temple or the wall, but on the entire city of Jerusalem. And with 2020 hindsight, it would fit perfectly the historical timeline. Matthew Henry observed this in his commentary. if the first seven sevens is 49 years that goes from 457 to 408 BC, that's exactly when Jerusalem was being rebuilt. And then if the next period of some 400 years is describing a period where there's not much but there's a lot of turmoil, that's a fair description. And if there's no year zero and you count from 457 all the way to the end of 483 years, it plunks you at AD 27. That's when Jesus' ministry began. It's debatable, it could be AD 30, but this is getting pretty close, okay? Not all of you are gonna agree with me. My guess is that actually most of you in here won't agree with me. you won't agree with me that the starting point is Ezra chapter seven. And I'm guessing that most of you won't agree with me about this because you've not yet wrestled with the complexity of this issue and have even come to a conclusion that you say, this is my view. And in that case, you are rightly suspicious of me and you should be a Berean and say, I need to search the scriptures for myself to see if these things are so. If you don't agree with me, it's really okay. I haven't always agreed with myself on this. Four, keep your minds engaged, okay? The fourth complexity, is the coming prince in verse 25 the same as the coming prince in verse 26? Look at the language. In verse 25, Gabriel announces to Daniel the coming of an anointed one, a prince, the Mashiach, the Nagid. In verse 26, he says the Mashiach will be cut off, and pretty much everyone says the Mashiach in verse 26 is the same as in verse 25. But then in verse 26, Gabriel says the people of the Nagid, the ruler, So he's talked about the Mashiach, the Nagid. He talks about the Mashiach and then the people of the Nagid. The term prince, in both cases, is exactly the same. Is the prince mentioned there in verse 26 the same as the coming prince referred to in the previous verse? It's a tough question. Do you see? The answer is not obvious. Many people see two diametrically opposed rulers in these two verses. They see Christ in verse 25 and the beginning of verse 26, and then they see another ruler, the Antichrist, in the middle of verse 26, continuing into 27. But I'm pretty strongly convinced that one leader is being described, not two. The terms in verse 25, as I already pointed out, are the exact same as the terms in verse 26. And it seems to be, again, an example of Hebrew parallelism, where there's an identification made in the first bit, and then an explanation or an extrapolation in the second bit. So verse 25 says that after 69 weeks, the Messiah will come. And verse 26 says that he'll be killed while the Messiah's people, this is how I'm reading it, the Messiah's people, that is the Jews, will destroy Jerusalem. And I think that harmonizes with what Jesus said in Matthew 23 when he cried over Jerusalem's abominable rejection of their Messiah. And he says, within this generation, your temple is going to be left desolate. That's a Daniel 9 term. So I'm not convinced that there's enough evidence in the passage to substantiate two polar opposite individuals. I think the prince and ruler in verse 25, and in verse 26, can quite naturally refer to the Messiah and the people of the Messiah. Now again, let me step back and say, based on other passages of scripture, I absolutely believe that Antichrist is coming. I just don't think this passage is anticipating it. Now, you may not agree with the way I interpret Daniel 9, 26. And I want you to know that I do not arrive at my position quickly. I've wrestled with the text for years. I've wrestled alongside dozens of commentaries, some hundreds or thousands of years old and others that are brand new. I want you to know that I'm willing to be taught and I'm willing to change my mind with scriptural persuasion. Further, I want you to know that I am not speaking this this morning because I'm trying to form any clique in the church, the people who agree with Pastor Joe. It really does not matter to me if you agree with me on this. I am never, as much as God's given me authority in this church, I am never going to allow this church to divide over any of these differences we're talking about this morning. God forbid. But I pray that all of us, we're only four of the five complexities in, I pray that all of us can acknowledge this is a hard passage. It's really difficult. And I pray that rather than just throwing up our hands and saying, I give up, I pray that instead, we all become like Bereans and we diligently labor to accurately interpret the passage, even as we let each other come to differing conclusions on it. Of course, legit conclusions, you can't come up with anything out of these words. The fifth complexity, verse 27. Is it a good thing or a bad thing that the prince will make a strong covenant with the many, it's a definite noun, and put an end to sacrifice? Is it a good thing or a bad thing that this Prince will make a strong covenant with the many and put an end to sacrifice. Again, no matter which way you go on answering this question, you have to acknowledge that it can go either way. Verse 26, going back one verse, it opens after those 62 weeks. And verse 27 describes the 70th week. So are verses 26 and 27 talking about the 70th week? I think they can easily be read that way. Now, some people think that these refer to two different periods of time. Again, that after the 62 weeks is talking about the first coming of Jesus, and then the 70th week is long distant future that centers on the Antichrist who will make a covenant with Israel and then break that covenant with the Jewish people and stop them from offering their sacrifices. just like Antiochus, the wicked preview of the Antichrist did in chapters eight and 11. In chapters eight and 11, the ending of offerings is a bad thing. So there's a really strong case to be made for maybe the ending of sacrifice and the breaking of a covenant is Antiochus-like and it's a bad thing. But I'm not convinced. that verse 27 is describing something negative. I think it's describing something good, because I think it's parallel to the first phrase of verse 26. I think verses 26 and 27 are like Hebrew parallelism listening to the right ear and the left ear. I think verse 27 is parallel to the first phrase of verse 26, that the Messiah will be cut off. What will happen when he's cut off? He'll enact a strong covenant. and stop sacrifices. If the 700, if the 77s, some of you are just like, just give me a chance to breathe. If the 77s are set in motion in 457 BC, and if there is no gap between any of these sets of sevens, then what happens in the middle of the 70th week takes place between 27 and 34 AD. Did anything significant happen in that period? Only the most significant event in the history of the world, when Jesus ratified the new covenant by his blood. I think verse 27 is referring to the ratification of the new covenant. And in keeping with that, I think that the ending of sacrifice in verse 27 is good. And I think that this fits with the whole chapter, that Gabriel is pointing Daniel's attention away from the restoration of the old covenant system, and he's basically setting his attention on what is actually going to end Israel's sinful condition. God sets Daniel's focus on the new covenant that the Messiah's gonna enact by his crucifixion, verse 26, when he's cut off and has nothing. So I think verse 27, the strong covenant with the many, is a reference to the new covenant. In fact, that term, the many, could be a quotation of the many in Isaiah 53, 11 and 12. The Lord's servant will make the many to be accounted righteous as he will bear their iniquities. He will bear the sins of the many. Daniel could be quoting Isaiah here. I think the ending of sacrifices here is shockingly positive and I think it must have left Daniel scratching his head. Now you may not agree with my interpretation. But I hope that you are ready to acknowledge that there are some real complexities to this passage. And I hope you at least acknowledge Joe's not being cavalier with the passage. Joe's not just winging it. I see, he's got a point. There is a legitimate way of interpreting the passage like he is. Even if you're not convinced, I pray that you see, I see what he's saying. And I hope that you understand that I'm not doing this because I'm just trying to cause trouble. I'm doing this because I'm trying to wrestle with the text and I'm convinced that this is what the text says. Now, let's step back and breathe just a bit. Before we get into application, I want to ask, why in the world does God give us such difficult passages of scripture? I mean, why not make it easier to understand? Why leave us wrestling with different possible interpretations over which we're not fully convinced, I'm not fully convinced of my view, and over which we disagree? I think there are a few obvious, very good reasons for God giving us difficult passages, and I'm just going to mention three reasons. One is this. Prophecy includes encrypted war plans. I think we should expect prophetic passages to be difficult because they're essentially battle strategies. If God's telling Daniel when Jesus is going to come, And Daniel's in a context of spiritual warfare. God is gonna be like any good military general and he's gonna send his messages somewhat cryptically so his enemies don't know his specific plans. Secondly, difficult passages stretch us in really good ways. Jesus often spoke to his disciples cryptically, and his intention was to force them to wrestle with what he said and to ask more questions. Didn't your best teachers do that? Your best teachers don't spoon feed you, but they compel you to further exploration. God could purposefully obscure things to force us our whole lives to wrestle with these words, to beg him to turn the light on for us, to trust God even when we don't understand, and to experience greater joy as he does turn the light on. These are good, good reasons for making things difficult. They stretch us in good ways. The third reason I'll mention is because believers with differing convictions in debatable matters can brilliantly display love. If you and I see eye to eye on Daniel 9, it might be easier for us to get along. If you and I don't see eye to eye on Daniel 9, we can display God's love in a magnificent way by how we each live with biblical conviction, by how we each respect each other, by how we each refuse to think of ourselves as better than the other, and by how we choose to unite our voices in worship of the Lord, together, even though we have differences. That is the whole point of Romans 14 and 15, where Jewish and Gentile Christians in the same church, Paul says, do not have to agree on whether they should observe the Passover each year. Can some Christians in a church observe Passover? Yes. Can other Christians not observe the Passover? Yes, and Paul says when it comes to debatable matters like this, when believers of differing convictions live in harmony with each other, they glorify God. There's a magnificent display of love that can be experienced when we differ. Now, just before we move on, I wanna say, I am thankful that difficult passages like this are quite rare. This is not every chapter of the Bible. In fact, some people would say this is the hardest in the Old Testament. Further, I'm thankful that a difficult passage like this can be interpreted within the whole scripture. There are hundreds and hundreds of clearer pages of scripture that can help us as we wrestle with the tough portions. But I think in the end, we have to read Daniel 9, 24 to 27 and say, God, I'm gonna trust you that you have good reasons for giving us tough passages. I'm not gonna accuse you of being someone who likes to confuse your people, but I'm gonna trust that you believe this is the best way that I can get to know you and to reflect you and your love. So now I wanna move toward application, but to do so, I just wanna reread the passage. Okay, I'm gonna give a couple notes as I go through. but I'm gonna read the passage. Verse 24 summarizes God's purposes for the 77s. Seventy-sevens, I think that's 490 years, are decreed about your people and your holy city, that's Jerusalem, to end rebellion in the human heart, to pay for sin and atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to fulfill all that's been prophesied, and to anoint the Most Holy One. I think that's referring to the new covenant that Jesus enacts at the cross. Verse 25. is then gonna overview the first 69 weeks, or sets of seven. God says essentially, so Daniel, take time to know and understand what I'm saying. For from the time that the word goes out to repopulate and rebuild Jerusalem, I think that's Artaxerxes decree in 457, until the time of the Messiah, the Prince, there will be seven sevens and 62 sevens. That's 49 years plus 434 years equals 483 years. In that time, Jerusalem will be built again, but it will also be a troubled time. Verse 26, then, I think describes what will happen after the 69 weeks or in the 70th week. And after the 62 weeks, the Messiah will be killed and shall have nothing. That is, he'll die alone with nothing on and appearing to accomplish nothing. And the people of the coming prince, the Messiah, that is the Jews, will destroy the city and the temple because of their abominable rejection of the Messiah. And Jerusalem's end will come with a flood of devastation. And to the end, there will be war. Desolations are decreed. And I think in climactic parallelism, verse 27 repeats verse 26. And he, that is the coming Messiah, shall make a strong covenant with the many in that final period of seven. In the middle of that final period, he'll put an end to sacrifice and offering. I think that's by the sacrifice of himself. And on the wing of abominations, that is the Jewish people's rejection and slaughter of their Messiah, One who brings desolation will come until the decreed end is eventually poured out on the one who brings desolation. My goal is not that you agree with me on every point. Our statement of faith includes what we must agree on, and it does not include a specific statement on how we interpret Daniel 9, 24 through 27. I pray that each of us wrestles with this passage and comes to a conclusion, because this is God's word. I want to end by applying the passage to all of us and by pointing out that even though we might disagree on how to interpret this or that detail, and even major detail, there are dominant applications that all of us, regardless of our interpretation, will agree on and that we all need. The first application is this. We must trust that our sovereign God rules over history, including every devastation that his people experience. Let me just point out these terms. In verse 24, 70 weeks are decreed. Note the word decreed. Verse 26 ends, desolations are decreed. And verse 27 ends noting that this desolator of God's people has a decreed end. God is sovereign over every devastation in history. Throughout our studies in Daniel, the truth of God's sovereignty has confronted us over and over and over again. God has a predetermined plan and that governs what happens in history. God was in control when Daniel went from Jerusalem to Babylon as a captive. God was in control over the 70 years of captivity of the Jewish people. God was in control. As a word went forth from a king that the Jews go back. God knew that Jerusalem would be rebuilt. He knew how long the rebuilding would take, when it would begin. He knew that it would take place amid severe opposition. God knew exactly the length between the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the coming of the Messiah. He knew that his Messiah would be cut off. In fact, that had been planned before the foundation of the world, according to Revelation. God's in control. And if all of you are sitting there, maybe saying, I wish that we hadn't gotten into the complexities of the passage. This was really academic. Why did we have to sit through this? One thing I hope that you come out with is the main idea of Daniel 9 and the main idea of the whole book of Daniel is that God is in control of history. Every one of us needs that message today. And you might say, I've gotten it 10 times in the previous messages in Daniel. We need it again. God is in control. He is governing things small and big. Regardless of how we interpret the specific details of this passage, the passage should convince us for the rest of our lives that our God knows the future and he governs history to his intended end. And when you believe this kind of truth, it puts steel into your soul so that you can endure suffering with courageous confidence. The truth of God's sovereignty that fills the prophecy of Daniel has the power to make Daniels of all of us. Second, we must know that God's mission isn't simply temporary improvement of our lives, but eternally ridding us and the world of sin. God's goals are mentioned in verse 24, to put an end to sin, to bring in everlasting righteousness. God wasn't just intent on bringing Israel back from their exile so that after 70 years of difficulty, they could then build nice houses and celebrate holidays again. He was bringing Israel back to Jerusalem because his plan for world history centered in Jerusalem. What was going to happen in Jerusalem? His Messiah was going to come and be cut off. And it was through the Messiah's crucifixion, through his bearing of sin and destroying of death at the resurrection, that God's mission to rid creation of sin and death hung. It was on that moment in Jerusalem. Now we just don't need to trust that the general mission of God is to rid the world of sin and death. But we need to apply this personally, right? God basically reminded Daniel, I'm doing more in the world than just bringing Israel back from captivity. My plan stretches out much farther. But in the early part of Daniel 9, the prophet had been praying for God to cleanse his sin and his people's sin. And the prophecy of the last few verses explains how that's going to happen, how iniquity is going to be atoned for. It's going to be atoned for in 77. It would happen by the Messiah's crucifixion. Tri-county, visitors, attenders, we don't just need a fix in our circumstances. We need someone who can fix our hearts. We don't just need a fresh start in life. We need someone who can change our hearts. Getting Israel out of Babylon and back to Jerusalem was just a small part of a much bigger story. And I say, if you have not confessed your sin to God and called on Jesus to be your savior, don't think that you just need a quick temporal fix, that you need better living circumstances, You need Jesus. You need his blood to be applied to you, to your life, to your decisions and your guilt. You need Jesus. He's the only way that you can be reconciled to God. God set Daniel's attention not just on getting out of exile, but on Jesus. All of us need the same. Third application, we must accept that God's good plan for our lives includes that we endure suffering longer than we desire. This is a hard one. Daniel's begging for God to bring 70 years of captivity to an end. And God basically says, Daniel, the sufferings for your people are gonna go on a lot longer. Can you imagine what Daniel's knee jerk must have been? What do you mean, God? Our desolations aren't over? Are we talking centuries? Now I'm sure Daniel reacts differently than what I portrayed. He was humble, he was much more submitted to God. He had experienced a lifetime of enduring trials and I'm sure that he, though initially disappointed, didn't exclaim like I did. I'm sure underneath his initial disappointment was this realization that God's decreed it and I can trust God. And God, I know that horrors are part of your good plan. And I'm just going to trust you, even though they're going to continue. And that's a really good example for us, isn't it? If disappointments are hitting your life by God's design, hunker down. Say, God, I'm in it. I'm following you. I know your plan's good. I'm in it for the long haul. And I am not going to give in to despair. Tell God that. Fourth, finally, we must be confident that God will eventually destroy every oppressor. Daniel 9.27 ends with the assurance that God's decrees include this. He's going to bring decisive justice on the one who brings desolation on his people. In other words, history is not gonna end with the oppressor winning. History won't end with Babylon winning, or Persia winning, or Greece winning, or Rome winning. History won't end with Antichrist winning. When history ends, all of us are gonna be shouting in song, finally, oppression is over. That's what we sing today. Finally, oppression will be over. We long for that day. We long for that day when justice is done and evil cast away. Oh, may we all be founded in Christ that day. Let's pray. Oh God, I pray that through the teaching of your word this morning, You would strengthen your people as students of scripture, as those who trust you through difficult, complex passages. I pray that you would drive all of us to beg you for illumination. Push all of us to study your Bibles and to crave your light shining in our understanding more than we ever have. Oh God, I pray that you would through today's message, develop, nurture love in our congregation, the kind of love that glorifies you when we, though differing in interpretation, unite our voices in praise of you. God, I pray that our lives would be shaped by what we've just experienced. Your word is intended to feed us, to strengthen us, to shape our lives. And God, I pray that you would do that as we learn to trust that you're sovereign and you govern history. I pray that we would come to that, to the realization that your purposes center on Jesus and on ridding the world of sin and death. And I pray that we would commit ourselves to trials as long as you allow them to endure. in hope that one day all oppression will be over. Oh God, I pray that you would strengthen our faith, strengthen our hope, strengthen our love. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen.