Today we come to one of the most difficult portions of the book, and maybe one of the most difficult portions of the Old Testament.
So keep your bibles open, and hold me accountable. Because when we get to verse 24-27 we will be slowing down and walking through the texts.
This passage gives us humility when it comes to dealing with the scriptures. Sometimes we come at scripture especially the so called “easy passages” and we think we know what it says, and what it means. But it is the Spirit that reveals the mind of God. The study of the word of God takes time, meditation, prayer, work, thinking. This is a passage that teaches us this. We cannot just read this and move on. We would get nothing out of it. And yes, maybe we do not have the answers and maybe we never will. It is God’s word, not our word. So I preach Gods word under the theme.
The prayers of God’s people are answered in the Anointed.
1. Prayers of the righteous are heard
2. Prayers of the righteous are answered
Prayers are heard
While I was speaking and praying. Don’t you love that. Daniel is still on his knees probably looking out toward Jerusalem, and he is not even done before the creator of the universe, who upholds everything by his word comes to that room at that time, because he heard that man’s prayer and he gives him an answer. Notice he was speaking and praying, probably meaning that he was praying out loud. In personal prayers it is often better so say them out loud, so that your brain has less chance of wandering off while praying. Prayers are heard.
While I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel and making requests to the LORD my God for his Holy Hill. I think this verse is an interpretive key for also understanding what comes later. He was praying for forgiveness, which involves repentance as we saw last week, and restoration. So this answer has to involve those two things.
Without God forgiving and cleaning his people, there cannot be a restoration of God’s holy hill. It might be a hill, but it sure wouldn’t be holy.
Notice again how personal this is. My sin. My people. My God.
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Verse 21, “while I was still in prayer, Gabriel, the man I had seen in the earlier vision, came to me in swift flight about the time of the evening sacrifice.” This is an immediate answer from God by one of his most trusted messengers in the Bible, Gabriel. His name means God is my Strength.
Daniel says it was about the time of the evening sacrifice. This I find amazing, because when had Daniel last seen the evening sacrifice? There was no more evening sacrifice, it had been stopped for probably around 60 years. But this tells us something about Daniel. You can take the man out of the city of God, but you cannot take the city of God out of the man. His life was calibrated, and tuned to Jerusalem, to the rituals and customs of the eternal city. Daniel was loved in heaven because he lived for God. Here was a man whose worldview was God-ward and church-ward. You could do everything you wanted to make him leave it all behind, but it would not work because it was part of him. His waking moments were dominated by God’s covenant purposes. He wanted to see Gods honor restored through his people. God heard the prayers of a righteous servant. This man’s heart was focused.
In verse 22-23 we read, “He instructed me and said to me, “Daniel, I have come to give you insight and understanding. As soon as you began to pray, an answer was given, which I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed. Therefore, consider the message and understand the vision.” Just three things before we move on.
First, an answer was given. What did I say last week? If you pray the promises of God he will hear you. Did you catch that this is now the third time in three verses that it is stressed that Daniel was answered as soon as he began to pray? It’s as if God is saying loud and clear – I HEAR you Daniel, and I will answer. Dear church when you pray God hears you. Isaiah says, “Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear.” Or Psalm 139, “Before a word is on my tongue you know it.”
Second, notice Gabriel calls him highly esteemed. O to be called highly esteemed by the court of heaven! That is something to live for. It is so sad when the church lives to be esteemed by this world, rather than by their God. May God work powerfully so that we may more and more live for the esteem of heaven than the esteem of earth. We need to all look at our own heart and ask who and what we are living for? I am so thankful for so many here that do want God glorified and his kingdom more than keeping peace or looking good in the eyes of men.
And finally notice that Gabriel gives him understanding and wisdom in verse 22, but then in verse 23 he is commanded to understand the vision., we see the intersection between man’s responsibility and God’s sovereignty. Which come through powerfully throughout the book. Gods sovereignty does not take anything away from our responsibility to be faithful. It is the prayers of the righteous that are answered. The prayer of those who come to God with pure motives, and a clean heart.
So before we continue to the answer, I just want to make clear that what we are looking at is the answer to the prayer. We cannot separate this from the prayer. And make it mean something that has nothing to do with the prayer that Daniel just prayed. It will help us understand these verses.
The prayer of the righteous is answered
As we go through this passage you will realize why one famous scholar called this text the dismal swamp of OT study. Commentators agree this is the most difficult part in Daniel… And that is about all they agree on.
Just some questions that are asked and that people differ on is; What are the sevens? Weeks? Weeks of the year? And are they to be understood symbolically? Or literally? Is the anointed one in v. 25 the same as in v. 26? The Westminster Confession of Faith says that not all texts in scripture are equally understandable, and when it comes to this one that is an understatement.
But this is the word of God. And it was written for our benefit. Sometimes this takes working, discernment, understanding, maturity. So, let’s do the hard work.
We read in verse 24, “Seventy sevens are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the Most Holy.” This is basically an overview verse that speaks about what will happen after this time.
Daniel says it is God’s Holy hill and God graciously replies that it is Daniel holy hill as well. The holy city of God is also the Holy city of his people. Is this not an amazing answer to Daniel’s prayer! But God shows him that the time is not yet. Daniel had read in Jeremiah that the exile would be over in 70 years, which is why he prayed.
But here God is saying, 70 x 7 years need to take place before your prayers are fully answered. This could very well be a fulfillment of Leviticus 26:28 where God warns his people through Moses that if they persisted in disobedience he would punish them seven times over. There would be 490 years of exile, silence from God. No prophets, no word. The exile would in a sense be extended. But then they would return, and boy! would the exodus and return be beyond anyone’s wildest dreams. It was going to be amazing! It would not be an exodus from Babylon, or Egypt, it was to be the exodus from sin into the presence of the kingdom of everlasting righteousness.
As we read in verse 24 at the end of these 70 sevens “To finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy.”
Now anyone reading this, even the younger ones will right away think of only one person that fulfills these things. Jesus the MESSIAH. The question is, has he already done it, or will it still happen? And my answer is both. These prophecies have all have been completed in Christ, and yet have not been brought to their fullness. Let’s walk through each one quickly.
To finish the transgression. God is a God that is slow to anger, a God that is long suffering, and patient with his people. He told Abraham that there would be 430 years before his descendants inherited the promised land because the “iniquity (or transgression) of the Amorites is not yet complete.” When Christ came sin had in a sense reached its zenith, or its highest point, and needed to be judged. As the Bible says, “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son”
puts an end to sin. WOW, an end to sin. An end to the vicious cycle of sin. Throughout the OT sin had been piled upon sin. The sacrifices were a symbol that God would forgive. O thanks be to Jesus Christ who put an end to sin as we read in Romans 6, “He came to die for us that through him we might die to sin, and be raised to a new life of righteousness. You are righteous. He has put an end to sin. One day you will be perfect. He will put an end to sin.
“To atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness.” I love that. To atone for wickedness. Or more literally to make a covering for wickedness, or to make propitiation or to pacify. Here the wrath of God will not fall on his people for there will be one who pacifies Gods wrath, who covers our sin. WOW. You see without this covering we are cursed by God. We are God enemies. We are God-damned. But here is someone that takes that wrath, that damnation and reconciles or make peace, brings in everlasting righteousness.
he will seal up vision and prophecy. What does Revelation say – that book that is so closely connected with Daniel, and uses Daniel throughout? It says at the very end, “I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book.” Vision and prophecy will be sealed. Jesus was the last word of God. This book is now closed. Daniel predicted it 500 years before it would happen.
and to anoint the most holy. Jesus our Lord has made atonement for our sins, in the most Holy Place, the presence of God. As Hebrews says, “He did not enter by the means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the most holy place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption.”
Whoever said the Gospel of Jesus Christ is not to be found in the Old Testament needs to read verses like these. The gospel was revealed although not fully in the OT. This is God shouting to Daniel, “I HEAR,” And boy, will I ever answer this prayer. I will accomplish your prayer. I will be faithful to my promises in spite of all the sins of my people.
With this in mind let’s turn to 25-27. Where it tells us about the intervening time.
Verse 25, “Know and understand this, From the issuing of the decree to restore the rebuild Jerusalem until the anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven sevens and sixty-two sevens. So, these seventy sevens are split up into seven sevens, sixty-two sevens, and one seven.
So, before the anointed one comes there will be 7 sevens and 62 sevens. The first seven refers to the time of the decree of Cyrus, all the way to the end of Old Testament prophecy. This was the time when Jerusalem was rebuilt As we read at the end of verse 25, “It (Jerusalem) will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble.” This refers probably to the time of Nehemiah. You can read about the intense trouble that the people of God encountered in rebuilding the temple. This is an immediate answer to Daniel. You will go back, and it will be rebuilt.
And the sixty-two sevens refers to the intertestamental period, when God was “silent”. When there was no direct revelation. So far so good. So what happens after the sixty-two sevens. Well verse 26 tells us.
Verse. 26, “After the sixty-two sevens, the anointed one will be cut off and have nothing.” After the sixty-two sevens, the anointed one will be cut off and have nothing. This is how everything in verse 24 is accomplished. We read about this anointed one in Isaiah, “He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed…he will be cut off from the land of the living.” In other words, he will have nothing. OR if you want the new testament prophecy. God in Christ made himself nothing, taking on the very nature of a servant, he humbled himself and became obedient to death, even death on a cross.” MAN, O MAN, does Daniel ever connect the word. You see what Daniel is allowed to see is stunning! In Chapter 7 he saw the glory of the son of man, here he sees him in his humiliation.
And then during this last seven of 26, “The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and sanctuary. The end will come like a flood.” I think this is a reference to the Roman sacking of Jerusalem under the general Titus in 70AD. It is said his armies descended upon Jerusalem like a flood. There was a final and absolute end to the old covenant sacrificial system. And it has never be restarted.
Josephus (a personal witness to the events) claims that over 1,100,000 people were killed during the initial siege, of which a majority were Jewish. 97,000 were captured and enslaved, and many fled to areas around the Mediterranean. Titus reportedly refused to accept a wreath of victory, he said, "there is no merit in vanquishing people forsaken by their own God." During the siege, there was mass starvation in which cannibalism widely occurred with, it is believed, some mothers even devouring their own children. There were mass crucifixions to the degree that wood eventually became unavailable.
And then it says, “war will continue to the end, and desolations have been decreed.” Here is why I am not sure if this has fully been fulfilled. It does not sound like it is done. In the Hebrew there is an ongoingness to these verbs. War will ongoingly continue to the end. And multiple desolations have been decreed. It doesn’t seem to just stop there at the end. More wars, and desolations continue, and when you look at world history this makes sense.
Then what we have in verse 27 is parallel to verse 26. Verse 27a “he will confirm his covenant with many for one ‘seven’ In the middle of the seven he will put an end to sacrifice and offering.” This can be read in parallel and as a further explanation of verse 26a, “After sixty-two sevens the anointed one will be cut off.” Jesus put an end to sacrifice by sacrificing himself or being cut off. As Hebrews says, “He appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself.”
And finally, in verse 27b we read “And on a wing he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.” This should be read as a parallel and explanation of verse 26B, and here again I think it points to an end beyond the fall of Jerusalem. There will be a definite end that God has decreed.
This business is not all done, and the new testament draws heavily on our book to push us also past these events. The battle is not over, and the closer we come to the end, the heavier the battle will be. Satan is a cornered dog; his day is coming to an end. Satan and the anti-Christ will do its best to set up its abomination within the living temple of God, the Church. Whether that be money, sex, or power, false teaching, or persecution. But we now see the one who set himself against Christ destroyed, as we read in 2 Thessalonians 2, “And the Lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy with the splendor of his majesty.” Desolations continue. God’s church continues to fall and be attacked from inside and out. Anti-Chrisst raise themselves up in every age. The war continues today. But the end that is decreed will be poured out. There is a definite end already decreed in the history book of heaven. And it will be poured out on him.
God will conquer. It is him that has set the end date. We don’t know if that’s tomorrow or 100 years from now! What we do know is It’s coming! And we are called to faithfulness.
A few reflections. This passage says to Daniel, I will fulfill my promises in History! Human history! Your God has the exact times and dates and historical events under his control. There will be an end to wickedness. A final total end of all wrong doing, sin, rebellion. A realigning of all wrong. But it will happen through suffering. The church follows the way of the cross. The sin of Adam will not reign upon this earth forever, because the second Adam has overcome the power of sin.
Second: A prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective (James 5:16). We have the privilege of speaking with God and taking hold of God in prayer. I know for myself I sometimes respond in my own strength. We resort to activisim that places all our hopes on our efforts, or we become passive assuming that nothing can stem the tide of evil, and oppression. Daniel 9 challenges us to get on our knees, both in its prayer and answer.
Third, we live in an age of instant gratification. But notice God’s timetable is not our time table. We expect everything now, if not sooner. We have instant meals, and instant answers. And sometimes this spills over into our relationships. With God and neighbour. We want instant sanctification. Instant reconciliation. Instant freedom from sin. We want others to be holy and repent. Preferably by tomorrow at the latest. But Gods timetable for sanctification, and renovation of the world to make things right is far larger than we think. God works slowly, but perfectly. He will not leave the job half done. And just because God is sovereign does not mean things will go smoothly. The 69 sevens are marked by trial and difficulty. It is a hard path we follow to glory.
So let’s believe that God will fulfill his promises, and that we are part of that fulfillment. Let’s pray that back to him, and wait patiently for the Lord in our lives, and in our church’s life, to continue to move and act powerfully according to his will.
Amen.