Participants: William Shea
Series Code: FC
Program Code: FC000376
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00:30 My name is William Shea,
00:31 I am a retired seminary professor. 00:34 Welcome to Faith Chapel. 00:36 Our topic today is Christ 00:38 in the heart of the book of Daniel. 00:40 Let us pray. Loving Father, 00:42 we thank you for the messages 00:44 which you gave to your servants of old. 00:47 We thank you for that light 00:48 that it sheds on our pathway, 00:50 and we ask for Your Holy Spirit to lead us 00:53 and guide us now in your path, 00:55 in Jesus name, amen. 00:59 The book of Daniel divides in half. 01:01 There is a historical half that's Chapters 1 to 6 01:05 and a prophetic half that's Chapter 7 to 12. 01:09 If we think about the heart of the book 01:11 we look at the beginning of 01:12 the prophetic section Chapter 7, 8 and 9. 01:16 And that's what we're going to be studying today. 01:19 We're going to do them in reverse order. 01:21 We're gonna start with Chapter 9 and back up 01:23 to Chapter 8 and then end with Chapter 7. 01:26 And we'll do that for the reasons 01:27 which you will find out later when 01:29 we get further into our message. 01:32 Chapter 9 opens with Daniel the prophet 01:35 on his knees with the open word before him. 01:39 He has the scroll of Jeremiah and he is 01:42 looking at that's scroll and reading it, 01:44 and seeing what we would call Jeremiah Chapter 25, 01:48 which promise that the people of God would only 01:50 be in Babylonian captivity for seventy years, 01:53 and he has been there almost that long himself. 01:56 So he is praying for God to fulfill his word 01:59 to send his people back to their land, 02:01 to rebuild the city, to rebuild the country, 02:05 and to rebuild the temple. 02:06 God sends the angle Gabriel to him 02:09 and Gabriel brings him a message, 02:11 and the message basically is yes, 02:13 your city, your country, 02:15 and your temple will be rebuild. 02:17 But I am going to tell you more, 02:19 I am going to tell you what's going 02:21 to happen five centuries further down the line 02:24 because I am going to tell you what's going 02:27 to happen when the Messiah comes. 02:29 And so we have a messianic prophecy here 02:31 and I want to look at verse 24, Daniel 9:24. 02:36 Seventy weeks are determined upon your people, 02:40 and your holy city, to finish the transgression, 02:43 to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation 02:46 for iniquity, and to bring 02:48 in everlasting righteousness, 02:50 and seal up the vision and prophecy, 02:52 and to anoint the most Holy. 02:54 I want you to notice especially 02:55 the middle pair of these two statements 02:59 to atone for iniquity and to bring 03:02 in everlasting righteousness. 03:04 There was a problem in the Old Testament system 03:07 and the problem was that the people kept sinning 03:09 and so they would take an animal sacrifice 03:12 to the temple, and that would atone for that sin 03:15 but then they would sin again 03:17 they take another sacrifice and on and on, 03:20 this round of ceremonies went. 03:22 So they needed something greater, 03:24 they needed something more definitive. 03:27 And so they needed what we've called V atone, 03:30 with the capital T and a capital A. 03:34 That attornment came when Jesus of Nazareth 03:37 died on the Cross of Calvary 03:39 that was the great antitype of those 03:42 Old Testament sacrifices. 03:44 Those Old Testament sacrifices look forward 03:47 to the Cross of Jesus and the death of Jesus 03:49 as he made the great final atonement for iniquity. 03:53 And this happens within this 490 period 03:57 that we have of this prophecy, 04:00 and that brings in something else. 04:02 There is a result that flowed from the cross. 04:07 And it says to bring in everlasting righteousness 04:12 you see the righteousness that Jesus obtain on the 04:14 cross by His death and His atonement was not a 04:18 temporary righteousness, 04:19 like the Old Testament sacrifices. 04:22 It was permanently available and still is 04:24 available today 2000 years from the time 04:28 that Jesus died. It is still available 04:31 for you and me today. 04:33 This righteousness and its effects will go 04:37 on into eternity. So here is the first 04:40 two statements about the work of Jesus 04:42 in this prophecy. The next statement 04:45 comes in verse 25 which give us the date 04:48 for the coming of the Messiah, 04:50 and I won't work through the mathematics 04:52 of that for you. But are you perhaps 04:54 studied out the dates that we've used commonly 04:57 457 BC the time of Artaxerxes decree 05:01 in Chapter 7 of the book of Ezra reaches 05:03 to the beginning of the Jesus ministry in 27 AD. 05:09 And the word Messiah of course means 05:10 anointed one and Jesus was anointed 05:13 at the Jordan River by the John the Baptist 05:15 to begin his public ministry. 05:18 So the prophecy the third point about Jesus 05:21 in this prophecy is it gives the time 05:24 when the Messiah would come. 05:26 But then on a sadder note it tells us 05:29 what would happen to Him because he goes on 05:32 to say in verse 25 that the next event 05:37 in the prophecy is the Messiah would be 05:39 cut off, cut off in his idiom for to be killed 05:43 and you noticed the verb is in the passive, 05:46 somebody else was going to do this to him. 05:49 And so we have the fulfillment of this 05:51 as we look at the Gospels. 05:53 When we see the Roman troops 05:55 crucifying Jesus hanging Him on 05:58 the Cross of Golgotha or Calvary. 06:03 So we have the date, we have the event 06:07 the death of Jesus. He was not, 06:09 the Messiah was not to live out an ordinary 06:12 normal lifetime, His life would be cut shot by 06:15 the crucifixion. And so that was fulfilled 06:18 in the experience of Jesus of Nazareth. 06:21 Then when we come to verse 27 06:23 we have two more great acts. 06:26 He will confirm the covenant with many for one week. 06:29 That's the 70th week of this prophecy, 06:32 or the last seven years and is in the midst of 06:35 that week that Jesus was cut off. 06:39 Jesus was the messenger of the covenant, 06:41 He came to confirm the covenant. 06:43 He came to offer the covenant, 06:45 and the greatest benefits and blessings 06:48 that it could offer. And so if you look 06:52 at the Sermon on the Mount, 06:53 you can see how He says, 06:55 you have heard that it has been set of old. 06:57 But now I say on to you, 06:59 and He takes the commandments of 07:01 the old covenant and amplifies them 07:03 and puts the microscope on them 07:05 and shows that they are not just external actions 07:08 but there it go down deep into the heart. 07:11 And so Jesus is the messenger of the covenant, 07:14 who came to make that offer the covenant. 07:16 It's the last week, the last seven years of 07:20 the old covenant soon to be replace by 07:22 the new covenant beginning when Jesus 07:25 died on the cross. Then its says, 07:28 He will in the midst of the week he shall cause 07:31 the sacrifice and oblation or grain offering to cease. 07:35 There is a little bit of a problem here, 07:38 because when Jesus died the sacrifice 07:41 and offering in the temple 07:42 went on for another 40 years. 07:44 But now it was in the different category. 07:47 Now it was an empty round of ceremonies 07:51 because type of the Old Testament system 07:53 had met the antitype in the death of Jesus, 07:56 and the Old Testament sacrifices were no 07:58 longer necessary. And God showed that 08:00 if you remember by rending the veil in the temple. 08:04 Well we have six great facts here about 08:07 the Messiahship of Jesus of Nazareth. 08:10 It tells us that He would make the great atonement 08:12 for sin that would produce everlasting righteousness 08:16 that's available for us today. 08:18 It tells us when He would come, 08:20 it tells us that He would die. 08:24 And it tells us what would happen 08:26 to the sacrificial system and that He would make 08:29 the final offer of the Old Testament covenant. 08:32 If we summarize all this and put it into 08:35 one word picture, we can say this is the picture 08:38 in Daniel 9 of Christ as sacrifice. 08:43 Now lets backup and go to Chapter 8. 08:48 In Chapter 8 we have, we start of with two 08:51 animal symbols; first there is the Persia ram, 08:55 and this ram is identified in verse 20 as Medo-Persia. 09:00 And this is followed by the Greek goat 09:02 and that's identified as Greece in verse 21. 09:06 And so the Persian ram starts out doing 09:09 its conquest, and then the Greek goat does 09:12 its conquest, and then there is big clash 09:15 between the two and the Greek goat wins. 09:18 And the Greek goat has his first great horn, 09:21 and that first great horn of course, 09:23 we know so well is Alexander. 09:25 But Alexander did not live out a full life, 09:28 he too died at a very young age in his thirties. 09:32 And so his kingdom, his empire was split up 09:34 into four pieces, and those four pieces 09:37 were divided among the generals of Alexander, 09:40 one general took Greece, 09:41 one general took Asia Minor, 09:43 one general took Syria and Babylon, 09:45 and one general took Egypt. 09:48 And then there is the fifth horn as the symbol, 09:51 horn symbol is used that comes onto 09:53 the scene of action and basically 09:54 it picks off one by one, and picks off 09:57 all these pieces of the Greek empire. 10:00 And Rome has taken the Eastern Mediterranean 10:03 basin and even it mentions the glorious land. 10:08 The Roman general Pompey arrived in Judea in 60 BC. 10:16 And he conquered the city after brief resistance, 10:20 and he merged in to the temple. 10:22 He wanted to see what the God of Israel look like, 10:24 what the statue, what the image look like. 10:26 The priest protested please don't go 10:28 in there you will contaminate our temple, 10:30 but he march in anyway and found to his shock 10:33 and surprise an empty room. 10:35 You may remember the Ark of the Covenant 10:37 had been hidden at the time of Nebuchadnezzar's 10:39 conquest six centuries earlier, 10:42 and it was not found or replaced 10:44 or put in the second temple. 10:46 And so Rome has taken possession of Judea 10:50 and Jerusalem and all of the Near East. 10:55 Now this phase of Rome then begins 11:00 and attack in a different direction, 11:02 it begins an attack on heaven. 11:04 And there we have the prince of 11:07 the host in heaven, and the prince of 11:10 the host in heaven is another symbolic 11:12 representation of Jesus Christ. 11:15 He is the leader of the host of the people of God. 11:18 And he previously in his earthly ministry 11:24 now has gone on through the ascension 11:28 to take His heavenly ministry. 11:30 And it says in Chapter 8 here 11:33 that the sanctuary belongs to Him 11:35 and the daily or continual ministry belongs to Him. 11:38 So it's a picture of a priestly ministry in heaven 11:42 and that's what, we have today. 11:44 We have heavenly sanctuary working on our behalf, 11:47 there Jesus and His Father minister on our behalf, 11:52 they send the angles, they send the Holy Spirit 11:54 pleading intersession answering our prayers. 11:57 This is the daily ministry that goes on 11:59 for the redemption of 12:00 the human race in the world today. 12:03 But this earthly power attempt to subvert 12:06 or direct people's attention away from 12:09 the heavenly sanctuary to earthly powers, 12:11 earthly experience, and so there is 12:14 this conflict and, how do you resolve 12:16 this conflict? You resolve 12:17 this conflict by judgment, 12:19 and that's what comes at the end of the prophetic 12:21 time period that's mentioned here 2300 12:24 evening, mornings which is mentioned 12:26 in verse 14 Chapter 8. And at the end of 12:29 the long time period which using 12:32 the rule of the day for year in prophecy bring 12:35 us to 1844 and then begins a 12:38 heavenly judgment to demonstrate the truth 12:41 or the plan of God salvation, 12:43 and the falsehood of human inventions 12:47 in contrast to it. Now if we ask 12:50 what kind of picture do we have of Jesus here, 12:53 is a picture of Jesus as priest. 12:56 He is the one to whom the sanctuary belongs, 13:00 He is the one to whom the ministry is given, 13:03 and He is the one who carries out that 13:04 ministry in that heavenly sanctuary. 13:07 So the second picture we have here is 13:10 of Jesus as priest. Let's keep these 13:14 pictures in mind, Jesus' sacrifice in Daniel 9, 13:18 Jesus as priest in Daniel 8. 13:21 Now let's go back to Daniel 7. 13:26 Daniel 7 has this picture of these four symbols 13:29 of these four animals. And these four animals 13:31 give us progressively a lion, a bear, 13:35 a leopard and nondescript beast. 13:39 And as we look at the fulfillment in history 13:42 we start off with Daniel's own time, 13:45 so the lion is Babylon and in deed on 13:48 the walls of Babylon the great entryway 13:51 we have depictions of lions, 13:53 and we have depictions of lions on 13:55 the walls of the palace as the exequatur 13:58 has found them in enamel colored 14:00 and enamel bricks, and these lions are 6 feet 14:03 about 6 feet long from nose to tail. 14:06 So we have beautiful depictions of the lion 14:09 of Babylon in Babylonian art itself. 14:13 Now the Babylonians had little different conception. 14:15 They thought of their God writing on 14:19 the back of this lion so they it was not just 14:22 that they loved animals, it was to show the truth 14:25 and power and strength of the God of Babylon. 14:28 But the God of the Bible was greater than 14:30 the God of Babylon as Daniel revealed to them. 14:33 And so Daniel now reveals that the lion of Babylon 14:37 and after this will come another kingdom 14:40 he tells king Nebuchadnezzar inferior to you, 14:43 the Persians came and conquer Babylon 14:46 and that we find right in Chapter 5 14:48 of the book of Daniel. 14:51 And so we have the first transition 14:53 from these first two symbolic beast 14:55 from the lion of Babylon to the bear 14:57 of Medo-Persia right in the book of Daniel 15:00 itself in Chapter 5 and Chapter 6 15:03 the book starts out Daniel's experience starts 15:05 out under the new Babylonian king, 15:08 and then he is taking to the court room of 15:14 king Darius the Mede. Who was the sub 15:17 governor of Babylon under Cyrus of Persia. 15:21 Then comes the Greek leopard, 15:23 it's the same Greek king Alexander 15:25 that we read about in Chapter 8 15:27 and Alexander of course now is represented, 15:31 or his kingdom is represented by the leopard 15:33 that has four heads, four horns on 15:36 the great Greek goat in Chapter 8, 15:38 four heads on the leopard in Chapter 7, 15:41 its the same Greek kingdom. 15:43 And then following that comes this dreadful 15:46 and terrible beast that represents Rome, 15:49 its called the nondescript beast 15:50 because it doesn't connected 15:52 with the specific animal, it has parts of various 15:56 animals for instances it mentions his teeth of iron 15:59 and you may remember then in Daniel Chapter 2 16:02 the legs of iron represented Rome, 16:05 the might and power the crushing power of Rome 16:09 as it conquered the Mediterranean world 16:11 and world's farther I feel on that 16:14 all the way through Gall or France onto England. 16:18 And so Rome is now in the picture here 16:21 just as it was in Chapter 8. 16:26 But Rome does not last forever either 16:28 and so there is ten horns that come up 16:31 spring up on the head of this fourth beast 16:35 representing the divisions of Rome, 16:37 and this came about through the barbarian 16:40 conquest of Rome in the 5th and 6th century. 16:44 And so Rome felt to the Herali in 476 16:48 and the Ostrogoth dominated 16:50 the Italian peninsula for century or so. 16:53 And so Rome as an empire was gone, 16:56 and that's represented in this vision by the horns 17:01 and its represented in Daniel 2 the great image 17:04 by the iron mixed with clay. 17:07 And then we have the religious face of 17:10 this beast represented by the little horn 17:13 who speak words against the most high 17:15 and who persecutes and so on and so forth. 17:20 Now we have an answer from God 17:23 and the answer from God is that the, 17:26 the answer from God is set in the heavenly court. 17:30 And that brings us to our key text 17:34 which I think we can display on the screen 17:36 Daniel 7, verses 13 and 14. 17:40 I saw in the night visions, and, behold, 17:42 one like the Son of man came 17:44 with the clouds of heaven, 17:45 and came to the Ancient of days, 17:47 and they brought him near before him. 17:51 And there was given to him dominion, 17:53 and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, 17:55 nations, and languages, should serve him: 17:58 his dominion is an everlasting dominion, 18:01 which shall not pass away, and his kingdom 18:04 that which shall not be destroyed. 18:06 We have a scene here set in the heavenly court 18:09 back in verses 9 and 10 we have the ancient of 18:13 days coming and taking his seat 18:15 the angelic host gathers around him 18:18 the judgment are set, and the books are open. 18:22 That's the beginning scene of the 18:23 judgment in heaven which take place after 18:26 these four kingdoms have risen and fallen, 18:29 and after the experience of the little horn. 18:35 Then the end of this judgment scene 18:37 in portrait in which the Son of man, 18:39 and we know from the Gospels as Jesus Christ 18:42 comes to the ancient of days God the Father, 18:45 and there he received the kingdom. 18:47 Now if I give you the kingdom that makes 18:50 you the king. If God the Father gives Jesus Christ 18:53 the Son the kingdom that makes Jesus the king, 18:56 so the picture we have here is of Jesus as the king. 19:01 Now one way to study the Bible is to look 19:03 for keywords and a keyword in Daniel Chapter 7 19:07 is the word dominion, dominion. 19:10 And the question is who has dominion? 19:14 You see Babylon had dominion for while, 19:16 but then Babylon lost it and pass it along 19:19 to the Persians, and the Persian had 19:21 dominion for a while, but they lost 19:23 and passed it onto the Greeks, 19:24 and the Greek had dominion for while, 19:27 and then they passed it along to the Romans, 19:29 and they had dominion for while but it wasn't 19:30 permanent for them either. 19:32 And so there is this constants human state 19:35 of affairs where we're under different rulers 19:38 or different kingdoms and usually 19:41 or commonly the next one is worst than the first. 19:45 And the question is how long is this going 19:47 to go on, how long are we going to endure this? 19:49 And the answer is God has an answer for us, 19:52 set in the scene in the heavenly court 19:55 because there at the end of this judgment scene 19:58 he decrease that the Son of man will be 20:01 the great eternal permanent ruler, 20:04 and his dominion is not going to be like 20:06 the dominion of Babylon, or Greeks, 20:08 or Medo-Persia, His kingdom is going 20:11 to go on forever and ever, and ever. 20:14 And we have the opportunity to enter 20:16 into the kingdom because we're right 20:18 in this Chapter, we're in verse 27. 20:20 The saints of the Most High will receive 20:22 the kingdom. But before we get there, 20:25 let's, let's notice a little bit more about 20:29 Christ as king. When He comes 20:33 to the ancient of days and He receives the kingdom, 20:40 He then comes to take possession of His kingdom, 20:42 that is not shown to us in this prophecy. 20:45 Our spiritual four bears and the Millerite 20:48 movement believe this was the depiction 20:50 of the second coming of Christ 20:52 that is not correct. This is not a depiction of 20:55 the second coming of Christ. 20:56 The second coming of Christ takes place 20:59 subsequent to this. This is the scene of a 21:02 transition which take place in heaven, 21:04 and then when Jesus receives the kingdom, 21:08 He comes to earth in the clouds as described 21:11 in Revelation 1 and Mathew 24 and so forth. 21:15 And then He takes possession of the kingdom, 21:18 the physical possession of the kingdom. 21:20 He is given the titled kingdom in heaven 21:22 and then he is given possession of the kingdom 21:25 when he comes for His saints from all the ages 21:28 and at the resurrection. 21:31 Now we have before us these three pictures 21:36 word pictures of Jesus, and let's summarize 21:40 Daniel 9 is a picture of Christ to sacrifice. 21:44 Daniel 8 is a picture of Jesus as priest, 21:49 Daniel 7 is a picture of Jesus as king. 21:53 But if you have followed the sequence carefully 21:56 you may notice there is a little problem here 21:59 and the little problem is they seem to be in 22:03 reverse order from the way we think, 22:04 and that's true. Modern European philosophical 22:10 thinking reasoning reasons from cost to affect. 22:13 We collect the data, we make a theory, 22:16 we test the theory and then it becomes 22:19 the conclusion. Now the ancients 22:21 could do that too, we have then 22:22 in the book of Daniel where they follow 22:24 this chronological order. but they can also do 22:26 it in reverse order for example in Daniel 9 22:30 and we look at the summary verse is in verse 24 22:33 and then the detail verses follow, verses 25 to 27. 22:38 Let me give you a simple brief illustration 22:40 of this on the words of Jesus. 22:42 Jesus said where your treasure is, 22:46 there your heart be also, is that correct? 22:50 Yes, yes correct, but that's not the way 22:53 we would put it, because we would say 22:56 where your heart is, where your motive is 22:59 that's where you would put your treasure, 23:02 that's reasoning from cost to affect. 23:04 The Biblical statement of Jesus reasons 23:06 from affect where you have put your treasure 23:09 back to the cause where your heart is, 23:12 and that's what Daniel does here. 23:15 The first picture of Jesus is a Jesus as king 23:19 and in that picture we are supposed 23:22 to ask a question who is this, 23:25 where did He come from and how did He get 23:27 to be king? That takes us back to Chapter 8 23:31 because the subjects of the kingdom are 23:34 the ones for whom He is minister as priest. 23:38 Oh wait a minute, how did He get to be priest. 23:40 He got to be priest because He had a sacrifice. 23:44 Book of Hebrew says every priest has 23:47 to have a sacrifice to offer. 23:50 Jesus offered the sacrifice of Himself, 23:53 so we start out with the picture of Jesus 23:55 as king the result because He was the priest 23:59 who ministered for His subjects, 24:01 and that lead us back to the original cause 24:04 in the sacrifice that He gave of Himself. 24:07 So let summarize now, three pictures of Jesus, 24:11 Jesus as sacrifice, Jesus as priest, 24:15 and Jesus as king. Three works of 24:18 the plan of salvation with the atonement 24:22 of the sacrifice we get justification, 24:26 we are declared just because what Jesus 24:29 has done for us. His ministry for us 24:32 in heaven now give us all the benefits 24:34 that heaven can send to bring our life into 24:41 obedience to Christ, and that we call 24:45 sanctification, the picture of Jesus in heaven 24:49 now as He works for our sanctification 24:52 having saved us, He purifies us 24:54 and cleanses us, and that make us ready 24:58 for the kingdom to come. 24:59 And the picture in Chapter 7 is glorification, 25:03 three pictures of Jesus, three works of Jesus, 25:08 justification, sanctification, glorification. 25:13 Three time prophecies on different scales, 25:17 Daniel 9 five centuries 490 day years takes us 25:23 to the first century AD, Daniel 8 2300 days 25:27 that takes us to 1844 that's the intermediate 25:30 length prophecy to the beginning of the judgment, 25:33 but Daniel 7 takes us all the way into 25:36 the kingdom starts at Babylon finishes 25:38 in the kingdom, that's the longest prophecy. 25:41 Three pictures of Jesus, three works of Jesus, 25:45 three time prophecies on a short, medium 25:49 and long length scale, and three time tenses 25:53 are involved in this from our point of view today. 25:56 We look back to the cross, 25:58 we look up to heaven today, 26:00 and we look forward to the kingdom of God to come. 26:06 Now, this gives us a beautiful view 26:10 the plan of salvation as given to us 26:13 in the pictures of Jesus 26:15 in each of these three Chapters 26:17 in the heart of the book of Daniel. 26:19 But I want to tell you that this is not just 26:21 an academic exercise, not just something 26:24 you would teach in a seminary class, 26:26 this is personal, this is for you, 26:30 this is for Messiah, because as I look back 26:33 to the cross, I see Jesus as my sacrifice, 26:37 as my personal savior. 26:39 As I look up to him to heaven today, 26:42 I see him as the one who sends His angles 26:45 on the Holy Spirit to lead me on the road 26:48 to heaven to sanctify and purify my life 26:51 and your life. And then we look forward 26:55 to the great final day represented by 26:59 the second coming of Jesus that follows after 27:03 the great heavenly court scene 27:05 when He will he come to claim His own 27:07 and the saints of the most high in which 27:09 you have an opportunity of being a member. 27:12 May God bless you that you take the opportunity 27:17 to make Jesus your personal Lord and savior, 27:21 that you accept that sacrifice on the cross 27:24 as sacrifice for you and the forgiveness 27:28 that it brings, accept the Holy Spirit 27:31 in your heart and wait for the soon coming day 27:34 when His kingdom will come and Jesus will ride 27:37 forth on the clouds of heaven 27:39 to come for his own, and you can be in 27:43 that crowed amongst that great group of 27:48 the saints of the most high, 27:50 who will enter victoriously into the kingdom. 27:53 God bless you with your faith 27:55 in that plan of salvation. |
Revised 2014-12-17