Participants: James Rafferty & Ty Gibson
Series Code: DBOTB
Program Code: DBOTB000010A
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00:20 Hello friends!
00:22 Welcome to Books of the Book. 00:23 We are studying the book of 00:25 Daniel and we are in Daniel 9. 00:27 My name is James Rafferty. 00:28 And I'm Ty Gibson. 00:30 We are happy that you have 00:31 joined us for the study of 00:33 the book of Daniel. 00:34 We would like to invite you grab your Bible and follow 00:37 along, before we get right in to chapter 9, James. 00:40 We need to do a little bit of background work because 00:43 as we learned in our previous time together, 00:46 Daniel has been left with some hanging threads with 00:50 regards to the prophecy that has been revealed to him 00:55 in chapter 8. 00:56 He is really struggling, he is even sick, 00:58 to the point of sickness because he cannot understand. 01:01 He can't comprehend what he has been told in relation 01:05 to the 2300 days and how that correlates with the 01:08 70 year prophecy and Jeremiah. 01:10 Daniel is thinking in his own immediate context James. 01:14 He is a captive in Babylon and he is anticipating, 01:18 and hoping that in his lifetime, rather shortly, 01:21 there will be a deliverance for his people and a 01:25 re-establishment of the temple in Jerusalem. 01:28 So he is thinking in that context, how does the 2300 days 01:33 fit, and so Daniel here is even sick certain days 01:37 because he cannot correlate the connection between 01:41 2300 days and the 70 years. 01:44 In his mind the 2300 days cannot be literal days. 01:47 Because literal days to make a too short a period 01:50 and it can't be a day for a year even though that is the 01:52 only choice he has left. 01:53 If it is a day for a year and that puts this prophecy way 01:56 out into the future. 01:57 He is thinking this prophecy is dealing with the 02:00 restoration of the sanctuary. 02:02 The angel specifically told him, in chapter 8 verse 26, 02:06 that the vision the time portion 02:08 of the vision refers to many 02:10 days in the future. 02:12 Specifically the angel tells him 02:14 but he still doesn't get it. 02:15 He is still thinking in terms of the immediate historic 02:19 context he is living in, but the angel is saying, no, no 02:23 Daniel, this vision is about the future, distant future. 02:27 In chapter 9, which is the first year of king Darius, 02:31 he begins to supplicate, he begins to pray to the Lord 02:34 for understanding of the vision because it is really 02:38 troubling him and he wants to know about the deliverance 02:42 of his people. 02:43 You know what is really interesting here Ty, 02:45 sometime has gone past, because the vision he had is in 02:49 the third-year of the reign of Belshazzar, and now he is 02:53 under Darius so some time has gone past. 02:54 This has been weighing on him and he is finally gotten to 02:58 the place where he really wants to figure this out. 03:01 So he fasts and he prays. 03:02 In the first year of Darius, if you go back to Daniel 6, 03:05 you'll notice that it was in the first year of Darius that 03:10 Daniel was set up as the Prince, or the principal head, 03:14 president of 120 leaders of this new kingdom. 03:17 Darius established the Media Persia kingdom. 03:20 He was in that first year that that decree went forth, 03:23 that no one could pray to anyone for 30 days 03:26 except to Darius. 03:27 It was in that context that we find Daniel earnestly 03:29 praying to God for understanding of this vision. 03:32 And thrown into the lion's den because of the conspiracy 03:35 against him. Exactly! 03:36 So what you have here is that you have an intriguing 03:39 insight that Satan is seeking to undermine the 03:42 understanding of the interpretation of this very 03:46 prayer concerning this prophecy and stop Daniel from receiving 03:50 an insight, or further understanding of the prophecy. 03:53 I believe Sir Isaac Newton said, this prophecy that 03:56 we are about to study with our viewers, 03:58 this prophecy is the foundation stone of Christianity. 04:02 Yes, no doubt about it. 04:03 This reveals to us also James, that in the background of 04:08 the story of Daniel receiving these prophecies, there is 04:13 spiritual warfare going on. 04:14 Later on in the book of Daniel we are going to discover 04:18 that why Gabriel is the one, the angel sent from God to 04:22 continually interact with Daniel at the same time there 04:26 are angelic forces that are demonic and they are trying 04:31 to prevent the answer to Daniel's prayer, hence he was 04:35 thrown into the lion's den. 04:36 He was tested severely over the interpretation 04:41 of this very prophecy. 04:43 I think it is important for viewers to understand and to 04:46 emphasize this one more time, friends prayer is powerful. 04:49 When we pray Satan trembles. 04:51 It is vital for us to understand 04:53 that he is doing everything he 04:55 can to stop us from praying and supplicating, 04:59 from connecting with God, 05:00 from communicating with God, 05:02 talking to God as to a friend. 05:04 To give Him all our burdens and troubles our trials, 05:06 our sins, our failures and receiving from Him the blessings 05:09 and the strength we need in our Christian experience. 05:13 Okay so in chapter 9 Daniel begins to supplicate before 05:16 the Lord, he begins to pray. 05:18 He wants to understand the vision. 05:19 He begins confessing his sin, the sin of his people Israel. 05:24 He is before the Lord in a humble state seeking forgiveness 05:30 and seeking understanding. 05:31 As he prays this prayer, the angel Gabriel intervenes. 05:37 Right during this prayer, verse 20, "now while I was" 05:42 "speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin and the sins" 05:46 "of my people Israel, and presenting my supplications" 05:49 "before the Lord my God for the holy Mountain of my God;" 05:53 "while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel," 05:56 "whom I had seen in vision at the beginning, being caused" 06:01 "to fly swiftly to me about the time of the evening" 06:05 "offering. And he informed me, and talked with me," 06:09 "and said, O Daniel, I have now come forth to give you" 06:13 "skill and understanding. " 06:15 A very directly, James, Gabriel comes in answer to 06:18 Daniel's prayer and says, okay Daniel, now I am here. 06:22 I have been sent forth and I'm going to explain 06:25 the vision that you received. 06:27 That is recorded back in chapter 8 of Daniel. 06:31 You know Ty this is vital, this is vital for viewers to 06:34 understand because there can be a disconnection here. 06:37 We can think that maybe Daniel is going to see another 06:40 vision, no he is not going to see another vision. 06:41 Daniel is going to be given understanding of the vision 06:44 that has been bothering him, troubling him, in fact 06:46 in verse 23 if you look at this it says, 06:49 "at the beginning of thy supplication the Commandment" 06:52 came forth and I have come to show you," 06:54 for you are greatly beloved," 06:56 "therefore I understand the matter and consider the vision" 07:00 The one he already had. 07:01 Because there is no vision yet that has been shown in 07:04 Daniel 9 so it has to be the vision that he has had a 07:07 question about in Daniel chapter 8. 07:09 What that means is a direct connection between 07:12 Daniel 9 and Daniel 8. 07:13 It is crucial to notice also that it is the portion of the 07:17 vision that pertains to the time prophecy of Daniel 8:14. 07:20 The 2300 days, the reason we know this is because the 07:24 beginning part of the vision, chapter 8, 07:27 was already explained. 07:28 The ram was identified, the he goat was identified, 07:33 all of that was explained to Daniel. 07:34 The part of the vision of Daniel chapter 8 was left hanging 07:37 that wasn't explained, was the time portion. 07:40 We know what he struggled with because in chapter 9 07:43 and verse 2 he said, "in the first year of the reign of 07:47 "Darius, I Daniel understood by books the number of years," 07:50 "where the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the" 07:53 "prophet, then he would accomplish 70 years in the" 07:55 "desolation's of Jerusalem. " 07:56 So he is looking at the time prophecies. 07:58 He is struggling with this time prophecy. 08:00 This also confirmed by the very first verse of the 08:05 explanation of verse 24 of Daniel 9. 08:07 "70 weeks are determined upon thy people. " 08:09 He's dealing with time! Time prophecy. 08:11 He is dealing with time. 08:12 He is explaining the 2300 day prophecy and he is beginning 08:17 by telling Daniel that there is a 70 week portion at the 08:23 beginning of the 2300 day prophecy. 08:25 "It is determined upon your people, Daniel, to make an end" 08:30 "of transgression, to finish transgression to make an end" 08:35 "of sin, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in" 08:38 "everlasting righteousness, to seal up the vision and" 08:42 "prophecy and to anoint the most holy. " 08:45 So in verse 24, the 70 week prophecy is delineated as the 08:50 1st portion, the cut off portion the determined portion that 08:54 pertains to Israel. 08:56 To the Jewish nation as a nation. 08:59 They have 70 weeks to accomplish these 7 tasks. 09:02 But notice just in case we might think that it is actually 09:06 something they need to accomplish, which is remember 09:09 that whole covenant mentality the Jews had for many, many 09:13 years, that is totally wiped away, or laid aside by the 09:18 new covenant mentality. 09:19 The new covenant mentality friends, 09:20 is that we don't accomplish anything by our power, our 09:24 strength, but God is the One accomplishes for us His promises 09:28 When you look at this first verse you can think, well the 09:32 Jews have the 70 years, or 70 weeks excuse me. 09:35 490 years, a day for year prophecy. 09:37 They have 490 years to accomplish these tasks. 09:40 But look now at verse 25. 09:42 Verse 25 says, "know therefore and understand. " 09:46 Now what is the implication there, 09:48 know therefore and understand? 09:49 Since you have 490 years or 70 weeks to accomplish 09:53 these 7 tasks, you need to know and you need to understand what? 09:58 "That from the going forth of the Commandment to restore" 10:01 "and to rebuild Jerusalem unto Messiah the Prince," 10:04 "that is the Prince, the Messiah, Jesus Christ shall be" 10:09 "seven weeks and three score and two weeks. " 10:13 I'm speaking in the King James language in which a score 10:16 is 20 years and three score is 60 years. 10:18 Seven weeks and three score and two weeks is 69 weeks. 10:21 Now this is very significant because what it is saying 10:25 is that this time period is a total of 70 weeks. 10:28 All this needs to be accomplished in 70 weeks. 10:31 You need to know and understand therefore, 10:33 since you can't accomplish it, the new covenant truth, 10:35 that the Messiah, the Prince, will accomplish it, 10:39 and it's going to come in 69 weeks. 10:41 He the Messiah will actually achieve these 7 delineated 10:47 achievements that are brought forth in verse 4. 10:50 Jesus will come into the world and He would, 10:53 in fact, finish transgression. 10:55 He would in fact, make an end of sins. 10:58 He would in fact, make reconciliation for iniquity. 11:02 Jesus would bring in everlasting righteousness. 11:05 Jesus would seal up the vision. 11:07 Jesus would seal up the prophecy. 11:09 Jesus would in fact anoint the most holy 11:13 and fulfill all of it. 11:15 That's why He comes in the 69 weeks. 11:17 Because this has to be done before the 70 weeks is finished. 11:21 Jesus is the only one Who can accomplish it. 11:23 So He comes in 69 weeks. 11:25 Friends if you want to find another application to this 11:28 prophecy, if you want to put it in another time frame 11:31 other than the time frame of Jesus Christ. 11:33 If you want to apply it to somebody else other than to 11:35 Jesus Christ you are going to have to find another 11:38 Savior, another Messiah. 11:40 But if you are a believer of Jesus Christ, 11:42 you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that this 70 week 11:45 prophecy applies to a certain time in a certain place. 11:49 It applies to the life, death, and mediation of Jesus. 11:53 James this is a rather complex prophecy. 11:55 I mean we have time periods here. 11:57 We have math to figure out. 11:59 This is not a simple thing to 12:01 understand and we need to 12:03 recognize that even Daniel, 12:05 the prophet, the one who received this vision grappled 12:08 with a prophecy, he didn't understand it. 12:11 You know Ty, that is an important principle 12:13 that you are bringing out. 12:15 We should not come to the 12:16 Bible with I know it all 12:18 attitude or be too proud 12:20 to acknowledge that we don't 12:21 know something about the Bible. 12:23 Daniel was qualified because he was able to say, 12:28 I don't get this, I don't understand this, 12:30 this just doesn't make sense to me. 12:32 That prepared him to receive heavenly knowledge 12:35 and heavenly wisdom. 12:36 That is the attitude that God wants us to have. 12:38 Not only was he humbled in his estimation of his own 12:42 ability to understand and really felt the need for 12:46 heavenly guidance, but he also had a humble attitude 12:49 about his position before God. 12:52 Because in his prayer in chapter 9, repeatedly Daniel 12:57 uses the word we in referring to himself and Israel. 13:02 He identifies with his people, "he says we have sinned. " 13:07 In verse 5, he says "we have done wickedly". 13:10 He says in verse 6, 13:12 "we have not heeded your servants the prophets. " 13:15 He says in verse 7, 13:17 "we have shame of face because of our unfaithfulness. " 13:22 Over and over again we see Daniel, who we studied so far, 13:27 was a righteous man. 13:29 He walked and faithfulness before the Lord and he was the 13:33 one in whom his enemy said, this is a guy in whom has the 13:36 Spirit of the holy God. 13:38 That "we attitude" that Daniel had, our viewers need to know, 13:42 that "we attitude" is what prepared him, or qualified him 13:46 to really see this prophecy. 13:48 Because this prophecy friends, is directing our minds and 13:51 our hearts to God Himself in the person of Jesus Christ 13:55 who took upon Himself the corporate sins of the human race 14:00 Daniel had this corporate attitude, this we attitude. 14:03 Jesus had the same attitude when He came to die for us, 14:05 He took upon Himself the sins of this entire race. 14:08 This prophecy is pointing to that Messiah and Daniel is 14:12 preparing his mind to see and understand this prophecy because 14:14 of his own personal Christian experience and his 14:17 own attitude in relation to the sins and the failures 14:20 of his nation. 14:22 Don't go away we'll be right back! |
Revised 2022-11-14