The sermon by Scott Brown explores the concept of the 'Abomination of Desolation' and the prophecy of the seventy weeks from Daniel 9, as referenced in Matthew 24. The speaker emphasizes the need to understand the spiritual significance of these prophecies, highlighting the connection between spiritual desolation and physical destruction. The sermon underscores the importance of prayer and repentance in comprehending divine messages and calls for introspection about personal and communal spiritual states. It also outlines the six accomplishments of the Messiah, including finishing transgressions and bringing in everlasting righteousness, as pivotal to understanding the prophecy. Ultimately, the sermon calls for believers to recognize the divine orchestration of history and individual trials, encouraging trust and closeness with God.

As we understand try to understand the words of Matthew better From Matthew 24 we're breaking to go to Daniel 9 in The scripture this morning will come from Daniel 9 20 to 27 Now while I was speaking praying and confessing my sin and the sin of my people, Israel, and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God, for the holy mountain of my God. Yes, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, reached me about the time of the evening offering, and he informed me, and talked with me, and said, O Daniel, I have now come forth to give you skill to understand. At the beginning of your supplications the command went out, and I have come to tell you, for you are greatly beloved. Therefore, consider the matter and Understand the Vision. Seventy weeks are determined for your people and for your holy city to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy.

Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the command, to restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince. There shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks. The street shall be built again and the wall, even in troublesome times. And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself. And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city of the sanctuary.

The end of it shall be with a flood. Until the end of the war desolations are determined. Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week. But in the middle of the week He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering and on the wing of abominations Shall be one who makes desolate Even until the consummation which is determined is poured out on the desolate Let's pray Lord father we just pray that you would pour out your spirit upon the preaching and the dividing of your word. Lord, that it would be your words that are spoken this morning.

Lord, that all may hear and fear and come to love you more and to know your will for all of us. Lord we pray blessings upon Scott as he is labored in the Word to divide rightly and bring it to the sheep. We pray this in your son's name, amen. Today we'll consider what Jeremiah and Daniel and Jesus have referred to as the abomination of desolation and the 70 weeks of Daniel. And when you go back to Matthew 24, where we've been studying, beginning in verse 15 is really the reason why we're going to the book of Daniel here, where in Matthew 24, 15, the Lord Jesus says, Therefore, when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place, Whoever reads, let him understand.

Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains and let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house." This leads us to the book of Daniel where this phrase exists a number of times as well as in the prophet Jeremiah. And so in Daniel 9, 27, we read that, Then He shall confirm a covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, even until the consummation which is determined is poured out on the desolate. Now, these matters here have caused tremendous difficulty and a cause for lots of study among lots of people across lots of years. And Matthew Poole speaks of the difficulty and the complexity of the subject, and he says this.

They that will curiously search further into the 70 weeks and other numbers in Daniel and have leisure and skill, Let them read Gratius and Laemperer and Wasmuth and Mead and Willet and Wicomus and Sanctius and Rinaldus and Perarius and Derodon and Brotten and Lavillius and Havilicus and Cavallus and Garius. Read also Joseph in page 861 and Baal in page 180. So I mean The question is, do you have the curiosity? Do you have the leisure? Do you have the skill to completely search out these words that are here?

And if the answer is no, then I would just say, we ought to be reminded that the scripture says that whether we have the leisure or the skill or the inclination or the curiosity, it doesn't really matter. We've actually been commanded to try to understand, and it's a good thing. Matthew 23, 15 says, whoever reads, let him understand. So it's something we ought to try to understand. And in the attempt to understand causes us to go all over scripture, causes our brains to warp and to be exercised.

And so it's a good thing God has called us to a good work that calls us out of our own comforts often to learn more than we knew before. And so I trust that our times in Daniel 9 and Nacchie 24 has helped us do that. So we're here to answer a number of questions and we wanna answer what is the abomination of the desolation? What is it? Now, we know it's a moment in history.

We know it's connected with what a person will do. We know it's connected with the temple. So we know much about it. And the abomination of desolation is actually a result of other things. And it's the result of the desolation of the worship of God.

And of course it literally means an abomination which makes desolate. And so while the abomination of desolation is a moment of time performed by a particular person or particular people, it also is a, it's a result of a condition that exists among the people of God. And so, while you, on the one hand you would have an abomination of desolation, On the other hand, you would have the fullness of the presence of God. Those are the two things that one might have in their experience with God and with God in the worship of the temple. And so, I guess one of my great prayers for this morning is that we would, as we study these things, we would understand really the heart of the matter that's created this condition, this situation, this historical moment in time, that we would be able to pray the prayer that's in Daniel 9, 17.

If you have your Bibles in front of you, the prayer goes like this, For the Lord's sake cause your face to shine on your sanctuary, which is desolate. This is a prayer for the real presence of God, for the life-giving light and life and bread from heaven that exists in the true worship of God. That's a prayer that he would shine his face on his sanctuary. And that's my prayer here today, that God would shine his face on his sanctuary. And that the condition that created the historical moment that required the destruction of the temple would be addressed in our own hearts at the same time.

So in order to really grasp the central meaning of the abomination of desolation and the 70 weeks of Daniel, You really have to understand the whole matter of worship, the worship of God. And because God has always desired to be close to his people, And an abomination of desolation is the exact opposite of that tenderness and intimacy and love and connection and relationship with God. And so what you find is that the abomination of desolation that happens physically, it happens spiritually first. It's a spiritual condition that leads to a physical reality. And I would like to suggest that the abomination of desolation really is a picture of heaven and hell.

It's a picture of the person who is spiritually desolate, empty, lifeless, and the actual physical judgment that will come upon all those who have lifeless and desolate worship. So I believe that there are two things being held in the balance here. The spiritual desolation that Jesus Christ spoke of when he said, your house has left you desolate. It is. It's desolate right now.

It's bankrupt, it's empty, there's really no life of God there. And at the same time, there's this physical reality that comes upon those who are truly bankrupt and desolate, with abominations, with idolatries, unrepented of and unaddressed in their lives. So in order to understand the physical aspect of the abomination of desolation, you have to understand that God desires to be close to His people, commune with His people, express His love to his people, to make their souls fat, to cause their souls to delight. This really is the issue that is being addressed here. In John 17, verse 24, you find an expression of this, really in the Lord Jesus Christ's prayer for His disciples.

You see His desire for intimacy and love with His people. He prays that they may be one as you, Father, and me, or in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that you sent me. This is the condition of unity. This is the opposite of desolation of the soul. And the glory which you gave me, I have given them that they may be one just as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them as you have loved me." And then finally in verse 24, he says, Father, I desire that they also whom you gave me may be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory which you have given me, for you loved me before the foundation of the world." The desire of God, the desire of His Son Jesus Christ, is that He would have such a connection with His people that He would actually share His glory with them, that they would be in His glorious presence.

And this is really the theme of the whole Bible that God calls mankind into his presence to know to feel to experience his glory It's that kind of connection and the abomination of desolation is the absolute opposite of that kind of relationship that God has desired. That's why in the Lord's Supper, the Lord Jesus says, I desire to be with you. It's why He says, come, Eat, take, eat, drink. He says, come. The Spirit and the bride, they say, come.

The Lord Jesus says, come to me, all you who were weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. This is the compelling call of Jesus Christ to come and to draw near, to eat and drink, to be nourished, to be cared for, to be loved, to be near God desires, to be near His people, not desolate from them at all. And the abomination of desolation calls us to recognize the opposite of that. And it's the absence of that closeness of connection and love that causes this physical act to be performed in 70 AD. And then finally in the last judgment.

And this is why in Hebrews we are bid to draw near, in Hebrews 415, for we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Verse 16, Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. That's the call of God toward his people. A needy people, a broken people, a sinful people in need of grace. From the heart, drawing near, that had been lost.

What a sweet thing had been devastated and made desolate as a result of this. Now there are two ways that God desired to communicate the closeness that he intended for his people in the Old Testament. These are two types. There is the tabernacle. And the tabernacle, which was set up by God to bring the very presence of God to the people, that he would speak directly to them, that he would care for them by speaking directly to his priests and to Moses himself.

Where people could go and they would actually see the glory of God. When the children of Israel were traveling in the wilderness, they could come and see the very glory of God in the tabernacle. It's remarkable. And it's a type of what would come, what would come in the New Covenant when the glory of God would be shed abroad in our hearts. And we would see his glory as well.

But, and this is why in, but spiritually, this is why in Leviticus 25, verse 22, in the building of the tabernacle, here's what God says, and I will meet with you, and I will speak to you from above the mercy seat. So, you know, in the tabernacle, God desired to be near his people, to speak to them, to be right there in front of them. And that's why at the end of the book of Exodus, God declares that he's using his tabernacle to lead his people. And you know the story of the cloud. The cloud would stay above the door of the tabernacle, and then when it would move, the people would move.

Sometimes it would move in a day, sometimes it would move in a week or a month. But God was leading his people, he was declaring his glory to his people in the same way that God led his people through the cloud of his glory with the tabernacle. He now leads his people by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit as he illuminates the Word of God and he interprets it for them so that they know how they ought to live. But it expresses God's desire to dwell with his people. And This is exactly what has happened with Jesus Christ.

The Lord Jesus Christ came and dwelt among us. Now, that terminology dwelt means tabernacle, lived with us. The tabernacle of God is now on the earth with the Lord Jesus Christ. And he walks with and he talks with his disciples in the same way that he'll walk with and talk with his disciples through his spirit and through his word that he gives and his people that he provides. God is always desiring to be close to his people.

And in the tabernacle, God desired to show his glory to his people, to show his closeness. This is the exact opposite of the desolation that existed physically as a result of the spiritual desolation that led up to the destruction of the temple in 70 AD. And it's the same kind of desolation that leads up to eternal damnation in hell. And hence the reason that we should repent and turn to Jesus Christ, to be near him, to be close to him, not our former father, the devil, who will take us to hell and destroy us forever, but to be close to our Father in heaven, the Lord Jesus Christ, to love Him, to be attracted to Him, to eat of Him, to drink of Him, to partake of His bread, to know Him, to be near Him. So The tabernacle was one of those places that God gave to declare His glory and His presence to be near.

Now God, in His wisdom, desired that that tabernacle would be changed to something more permanent, and that would be the temple. He desired to have a permanent structure that he would specify its building. And if you read the book of Exodus and Leviticus, you find how distinctly, clearly, in such detail, God designed the temple, every single part of it. But every single part of that temple was designed to show God's desire to be close to man. If you look at all the articles, all the utensils, everything breathes of God's desire to be close to man, to declare his glory, to pour out his grace, to show them his holiness and his goodness.

All of the articles of the temple, as well as the tabernacle, were constructed that way. Now here's one of the most amazing things. God also destroyed his tabernacle and his temple. God chose that the ways that he had designed to show his glory would be destroyed. Isn't that amazing?

Because they had lost the presence. Their hearts had been lost in their observances. And so he determined that he would destroy his tabernacle and his temple. The tabernacle in Shiloh was destroyed. We know that in Exodus 25, 8 that God commanded Israel, let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them.

But that tabernacle was destroyed And you can read about this in 2 Chronicles and you can see Eli and Samuel and how his sons dishonored the sacrifices and then God brought the Philistines to come in and attack the Israelites and they regarded that ark as a good luck charm. But what we learn from Psalm 78 is that God abandoned the tabernacle of Shiloh. God abandoned that tabernacle. And then Eli's daughter-in-law named her child Ichabod, saying, "'The glory of the Lord has departed from Israel.'" God somehow desired to destroy that tabernacle in Shiloh. And then he also destroyed Solomon's temple that he had raised up for his own glory.

And he sent a sword and a famine and a plague. And, you know, the prophet Jeremiah, you know, speaks of these things. And he says, reform your ways and actions, and I will let you live in this place. But don't trust in deceptive words saying, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord. The people were pretending that they were just saying the words of the temple.

They were just doing the things that were supposed to be done in the temple, but it was just a mantra to them. It wasn't in their hearts. God desired to be close to them, and all they had was words, you know, which reminds us of what Jesus said when he said, this people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. And because of that, God destroyed that temple in 586 BC by the armies of Nebuchadnezzar. And God took his temple that he had designed and built because it became bankrupt, because it became lifeless, because there was no nearness of God.

And then Herod rebuilt that temple just before the Lord Jesus Christ walked the earth. And then he destroyed that temple. Here you have at least three of the elements of worship that God raised up to declare his closeness, his desire to communicate with his people. He destroyed them. And this is what is happening in the abomination of desolation.

And it really all goes back to this matter of the spiritual Desolation happens before the physical desolation. And that's why it's so appropriate for us in this place here today to cry out with the same prayer that Daniel prayed in chapter 9, verse 17, where he said, for the Lord's sake, cause your face to shine on your sanctuary, which is desolate. And so, how does all this relate to Daniel 24, I mean, Matthew 24 and Daniel 9? And of course, we've been following this story in Daniel 24 where our Lord has just finished teaching in the temple and He has proclaimed judgment on the false religion that was there, particularly in chapter 23 of Matthew. And Jesus is showing what dead religion looks like.

If you want to know what it means to be dead, read Matthew 23, and you'll know. If that's you, repent. Turn to the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved from the judgment to come. Because recognize that the spiritual desolation happens before the physical desolation. And the Lord cries out, he says, Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, killing the prophets.

He says, your house is left to you desolate. And then he leaves, he leaves that temple area. And I believe that It's a picture of the glory of the Lord departing from the temple. The voice of God is no longer in that temple, at least the personal voice of Jesus Christ. And so this spiritual desolation preceded the physical desolation that was there.

And we have to recognize that when the Lord Jesus was uttering these words in Matthew 24, He is speaking to the disciples themselves. He says, when you, when you see. And the people understood that he was speaking to them. And he says that this will happen to this generation, the people alive in that day. And so there's this language that is here.

And then there is a sign of this moment, the abomination of desolation in Matthew 24, which is a quotation of Daniel 9. You might read Daniel 9 and say, well, is Daniel 9 really talking about this abomination of desolation? Well, Jesus said it did. So, we may not be able to sort out all the details of that, But it looks to me that Jesus said this is that, that was spoken of by the prophet Daniel. Now he may have been speaking of some of the other places in Daniel that this terminology appears and that makes it even more difficult.

But there is an unbreakable link between the destruction of Jerusalem and the abomination of desolation. Luke 21.20 makes it perfectly clear. When you see the armies outside, then you know that the abomination of desolation is here. So whether that means the emblems of the armies of Rome, or whether that means the things that the Roman soldiers will do in the temple and in the holy place? Or does it have to do with the Jewish zealots that were there before?

Whether there was a sort of A range of time where this abomination of desolation was happening, which seems to be implied in Daniel when it was the wing of abominations, it was the edge of it. In other words, it's possible that there were multiple abominations that fit into this definition of abomination. I'm not really sure. But it's definitely happening in that time frame, when the armies of Jerusalem, when the armies of Rome are outside of Jerusalem. Now, abomination is a term that is familiar to anyone who has read scripture.

There are many things that are referred to as abominations. And when you think about the spiritual issue of an abomination of desolation in the heart and soul of man. My view is that you should think about those words rightly and you should ask yourself what are abominations because they do exist spiritually in the heart before they are experienced physically in the body or in the city or in the world. And abomination applies to idolatry in Deuteronomy chapter 7 verse 12. In Leviticus 7, 18, it's corruption and worship.

In Deuteronomy 17, 1, it has to do with a defective sacrifice. In Deuteronomy 19, verse 9 forward, it has to do with practicing false religions. In Leviticus 18, 22, and Leviticus 20, verse 13, it has to do with cross-dressing and homosexuality. In Leviticus 18, it has to do with unclean animals. In Deuteronomy 23, it has to do with harlotry.

In Deuteronomy 25, 16, it has to do with unjust practices. So abominations cover a wide range of categories of sin in our hearts. And so when we think about abominations in the heart, we think of various elements of sin and idolatry that still exist in our hearts that we ought to be addressing. And thankfully, the Lord Jesus Christ has covered us in His blood, He's clothed us in His robes of righteousness so that those impurities would be able to be addressed by the power of His Holy Spirit as He brings them to mind by His power, by His love for us, that we would understand them and then recognize His great mercy and grace that He has covered, He has washed all of our sins away as a result. But we have to recognize that the abominations cover in a spiritual level a number of things that we have to recognize and it's an abomination that causes desolation.

That's really how the language reads. It is an abomination of desolation, right? So they were defiling the house of God. They were not drawing near to God. And there were, of course, you know, it was a dismal and wretched and unhappy deprivation of the presence of God.

That God was not near his people because his people had not drawn near to him. And there are a number of examples in history of the physical abomination that can easily be identified in 167 BC. Antiochus Epiphanes for three years conquered Jerusalem and he set up an altar to Zeus and he slaughtered pigs on the altar. And this is rightly an abomination of desolation that took place. Then Judas Maccabeus regained control over Jerusalem, and he quote unquote purified the altar.

In AD 40, Gaius, a Roman emperor, ordered a statue of himself to be set up in the temple. It was another abomination of desolation, violating all of the ordinances of God for the temple, rejecting them and replacing them with Roman deities. And then in 67 and 68 AD, the Zealots took over the temple. Josephus speaks of the terrible things that they were doing in that temple. He says they, quote, invaded the sanctuary with polluted feet and mocking and fighting and murdering and raping in the temple.

It was just a horrible crime-infested debauchery of murder and hatred and strife and they came in and they offered their own sacrifices and some of those were very despicable. And so the abomination of desolation is both a physical and a spiritual matter. And that's what I want to try to establish first in this whole matter. Because it's so easy to try to get wrapped up in the timing of everything and the confusing numbers that there are to deal with. And we ought to pursue those things.

But in the pursuit of those things, Let's not forget what's really happening here. That there is a spiritual emptiness that brings forth a physical destruction. And that's the meaning of the abomination of desolation. And I'd like for us now to begin to work our way through Daniel 9. We're going to move quickly in the first part, but I'd like you to start in verse 1.

You have kind of an outline in front of you to see the flow of thought here, but I would like for us to pick up Daniel 9. Now, get ready here. There are things that you will want to meditate on. There are such wonderful things here to consider. They're food for the soul, and They're very wonderful.

But we won't be able to camp on them, so we're going to kind of race down to verse 20, and then we'll camp out a little bit longer in verse 20. So, First of all, in verses 1 and 2, we see Daniel, he understands the 70 years of captivity that was prophesied. In the first year of Darius, the son of Ahasuerus, of the lineage of the Medes, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans, In the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood by the books, the number of the years specified by the word of the Lord through Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish 70 years in the desolations of Jerusalem. So Daniel is recognizing, he understands that the prophet Jeremiah has prophesied 70 years of desolations. In other words, 70 years of captivity.

He understands that. And he understands that God gives him wisdom to understand that there are multiplications of sevens in the prophecy of Jeremiah. That there were 490 years of ignoring the Sabbath years that God had established. And there are 77s. And the 70 weeks would be, he's going to speak of 70 weeks later on, but this 70 times they refused to celebrate the Sabbath and rest the land.

And the 70 years, the 70 years are correlated to the 490 years of rejecting or not observing the Sabbath rest of the land. So the Babylonian captivity was specifically enacted by God because throughout those 490 years they did not celebrate it. Or at least there were 490 years in which they did not celebrate it, because the time was actually longer than that. And then in verses 3 through 11, we begin to enter into Daniel's prayer for repentance. And it's a wonderful prayer.

It's a prayer that is worthy to be meditated on in your times before the Lord. Then I set my face to the Lord God. What a wonderful thing. I set my face to the Lord God to make requests by prayer and supplication with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. And I prayed to the Lord my God and made confession and said, O Lord, great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and mercy with those who love Him and with those who keep His commandments.

This is a declaration of the greatness of God which should be part of every prayer. So often we go to prayer with just our sorrows, but we don't come with declarations of the greatness and the goodness of God in thanksgiving. And then he confesses his sin and he speaks of departing from God's precepts in verse 5. We have sinned and committed iniquity and we have done wickedly and rebelled even by departing from your precepts and your judgments." And then he speaks about how they had their ears closed to the prophets in verse 6. Neither have we heeded your servants, the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings and our princes, to our fathers, and all the people of the land." And then he speaks of the shame that he feels deep in his soul that they rejected the voice of the prophets in verse 7.

Oh Lord, righteousness belongs to you, but to us, shame of face, as it is this day, to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all of Israel, to those near and those far off in all the countries to which you have driven them, because of the unfaithfulness which they have committed against you. Oh Lord, to us belong shame of face, to our kings, our princes, our fathers, because we have sinned against you." He's just repenting for his civil leaders. Have you ever done that? Have you ever repented for your own civil leaders because you are part of their culture and maybe you've not spoken to them, maybe you've not done your duty to speak, but they've not listened? Imagine the scope of what he's talking about.

All the people who God came near and brought his tabernacle and his temple, all of those people, they're now scattered. And now they're empty. They are out there living without hope and without God in the world. The emptiness, the desolation is upon them. And he's feeling shame.

And then he speaks of the way that they rejected his laws in verse 9. To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against him. We have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in his laws which he set before us by his servants, the prophets. And then he says something in verse 11 that's so astonishing because he calls back to the curses in the law of Moses. Yes, all Israel has transgressed your law and has departed so as not to obey your voice.

Therefore the curse and the oath written in the law of Moses, the servant of God, had been poured out on us because we sinned against him." So that's this prayer of personal repentance that acknowledges his own, his societies, the effects that it has had, and even specifically why it's happening. They really are the curses of the law falling on people because they rejected his ways. And then he speaks of the disaster that will come on the city in verses 12 through 14. And he has confirmed his words which he spoke against us and against our judges, who judged us by bringing upon us a great disaster. For under the whole heaven, such has never been done as what has been done to Jerusalem.

As it is written in the law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us, yet we have not made our prayer before the Lord our God, that we might turn from our iniquities and understand your truth. Therefore the Lord has kept the disaster in mind and brought it upon us. For the Lord our God is righteous in all the works which he does, though we have not obeyed his voice." And here he's saying that the judgment is coming to cause them to return. How does God deal with desolation? In your heart, he brings judgment to you.

He makes you bang your head against the wall. He gives you ulcers, he gives you heartaches, He gives you deprivations to make you turn to Him. And this is what is happening in the days of, prophesied by Jeremiah, there in the days of Daniel. And then there's a cry for mercy for the city in verses 14 through 19. And now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand and made yourself a name, as it is this day, we have sinned, we have done wickedly.

O Lord, according to all your righteousness, I pray, let your anger and your fury be turned away from your city, Jerusalem, your holy mountain. Because of our sins and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and your people are reproached to all those around us. Now, and this is the prayer. Now therefore, our God, hear the prayer of your servant and his supplications. And for the Lord's sake, cause your face to shine on your sanctuary which is desolate.

Oh my God, incline your ear to hear. Open your eyes and see our desolations and the city which is called by your name. For we do not present our supplications before you because of our righteous deeds, but because of your great mercies. Oh Lord hear, oh Lord forgive, oh Lord listen and act. Do not delay for your own safe My god yours for your city and for your people who are called By your name and so here is a cry for mercy because he knows the desolations are upon them The desolation of 586 BC when Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem is a type of the next desolation, which is a type of the next desolation in the final hour when God will bring everything to judgment.

Here is a cry for mercy upon the city. You know, it's so remarkable to hear Daniel's cry for mercy. He's really pleading for the people, not against them. He's pleading that they would have mercy. I don't know if you've ever read the story of Moses.

Note how many times he cries out to God to spare the people. You know, sometimes they want to stone him. Sometimes he wants God to just kill him because it's becoming so intolerable, they're dishonored toward him. But he still pleads for their lives, even though they've hated him. He loves his enemies, Moses does, and he pleads for them.

And this is exactly what Daniel is doing here. He's pleading, pleading, pleading that even the enemies, his own enemies that he has been prophesying to would somehow be saved. And then in verse 20 now, one of the most astonishing things happens in all of Biblical history, verse 20, Now while I was speaking, praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God, for the holy mountain of my God. Yes, while I was speaking in prayer. Stop right there.

While I was speaking in prayer. Now what happens to those who pray, who draw near to God, what happens to those who truly repent? God visits them, He cares for them, He helps them, He speaks to them. And I don't know if you've spent extended times in prayer, you know what I'm talking about. God reveals things to you.

Things come to mind. People you need to see. Things you need to do. Things you need to say. Ways you need to be.

He shows up when people pray. He blesses his people when they pray. And it just shows us why we ought to pray. Here we see God is revealing to Daniel something, but notice the context. It's not because he's some kind of high and mighty big shot prophet.

Not at all. He's on his face. He's humble. He's repentant. He loves people, and he's crying out to God.

And through this context of prayer, God blesses him and as a result reveals to him the whole of history up to the destruction of the next temple that's going to be rebuilt. Here's the lesson. Is it possible that our lives are so ineffective because we pray so little, because we repent so little, because we're so unlike this? We just have so much work to do that we take so little time to be before his face. And we have not because we ask not.

You remember what Jesus said? He said, and when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who sees in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. This is what's happening to Daniel right here. This is exactly what's happening to Daniel. May it be so with us.

May, could it be, Could it be that we, in the coming year, would be a people of prayer like never before, people like this, people who go into the secret place, not in order to be rewarded, but to be anointed by the face of God, to see his face to be transformed from glory to glory. Because God desires to be close to his people. And here in this prophecy, we see this example of this man. Who is the man that God uses? The man that God uses is the man that's on his face.

The man that God uses is humble, and he repents of his own sin. The man that God uses is not the man who hates those who have disobeyed, but he Cries out for them because he loves, and he cries that God would have mercy upon them. Not like the disciples who wanted to cast fire down on those people that one day. So this is just a remarkable testimony here of prayer. And then in verse...

And then we read, and while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning being caused to fly swiftly reached me about the time of the evening offering. And here's Gabriel's message, verse 22, and he informed me and talked with me and said, O Daniel, I have now come forth to give you skill to understand. Imagine that moment. In verse 23, at the beginning of your supplications the command went out, and I have come to tell you, for you are greatly beloved. So Daniel begins to pray.

He doesn't know that anything's happening. As far as he knows, the heavens are his brass. As far as he knows, there's no hearing of his prayer. As far as he knows, his prayer's going unanswered. He's just crying out to God, You know, with his face before him.

He has no idea what's happening. But here Gabriel tells him, when you first prayed, when you first prayed, something happened. And this is true prayer. We pray and we don't know what's happening. You know, we gather every Wednesday to pray, and we pray a lot of times about the same things all the time.

And we don't know. We don't know what's happening. But what we do know is that in the spiritual realm, when God's people pray, something happens, and a dispatch, A command is given, and the work of God is enacted because of the prayers somehow. And I do not understand how God's perfect sovereign hand and the prayers of his people work together, that they both work together. That God does do things as a result of prayer.

He does. He dispatches. He commands. He puts forth the plan. He sends out angels just like he did here.

And then Gabriel exhorts Daniel to understand the vision. He says, therefore consider the matter and understand the vision and here we see an example of how God gives strength to do what God commands and then he says verse 24 70 weeks are determined for your people and for your holy city. So these now were introduced to 70 weeks of Daniel. And you know, and how are we supposed to understand these 70 weeks? Some say it's just symbolic because of the use of the number seven.

Others say it's heavenly language and it can't be discerned. We know that sevens are common in the Bible and they should not be disregarded. There are so many sevens in the Bible, it would take quite a long time to examine them. But you have, you know, every seventh year was a year of release. You had 49 years of Jubilee, which is really a picture of Christ.

You have 49 days after Passover comes the Pentecost. You have, you know, even the Lord Jesus Christ speaking of forgiving seven times 70, 490 times, which is just symbolic for completeness of forgiveness. You have, in Revelation, you have seven trumpets and seven vials and seven spirits and seven horns. You have all these sevens, you know, that are all throughout the scripture. But we know from Jeremiah that one day stands for a year.

There were 70 weeks of years. And Daniel has been talking about what Jeremiah the prophet wrote about 70 years of captivity. One day would stand for a year. So It's language that involves this multiplication of sevens. And we know that from Leviticus chapter 25, where Israel was commanded to let her land lay fallow every seventh year.

That's Leviticus 25. And then there would be one year of captivity for every time they missed the Sabbath rest in the land. Leviticus 26 tells us of that punishment, 26, 43, and then the Lord explains why Israel was sent away to Babylon for 70 years in 2 Chronicles 36, 20-21. And those who had escaped from the sword, he carried away to Babylon, and they were servants of him to his sons, until the rule of the kingdom of Persia, to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its Sabbath all the days of desolation, it kept Sabbath until seventy years were complete." That's the key to the seventy weeks. You can go to Jeremiah chapter 25, 11 to see the passage that 1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles 36 was referring to.

And you can also go to Jeremiah 29 verse 10. But what we know about the 70 weeks is the interpretive key about the multiplication of sevens. And the reason for the Babylonian captivity of 70 years is because Israel refused to keep the Sabbath rest every seven years for 490 years. And so therefore they are going to have 70 years of captivity. That's how you get the calculation that's here.

Now in verse 25 Daniel says, we read, know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the command to restore to build Jerusalem until the Messiah the Prince there shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks the street shall be built again and the wall even in troublesome times." Daniel understands that's what the 70, why 70 years and the multiplier that has created those 70 years of captivity. Now he is being told that there are going to be seven weeks and then 62 weeks, and Messiah is going to come. So he learns in this one verse, he learns that the temple is gonna be rebuilt, and then the Messiah is going to come. And that temple is going to be rebuilt even in troublesome times. So the keys are disclosed here.

So the command to restore and rebuild The temple is seven weeks, which is 49 years. That's how long it took to rebuild the temple. And it happened in troublesome times. From Cyrus' decree to rebuild the temple until the time of Messiah now is this next increment of sevens. You're calculating it from Ezra one, Cyrus, or Ezra seven, Artaxerxes, you get different numbers.

But you get the exact same flow. You've got at the end of 70 years of captivity, then you get the rebuilding, and then you get these 70 weeks that roll out in history. The 62 weeks, so you add seven weeks to 62 weeks, and you have 69 weeks, and the Messiah will come after these 69 weeks. That from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah the prince comes. So now you're at 69 weeks.

In the Sia, the prince has come. And then the 70th week, there are seven more years, one more week, to make up the final 70 weeks of Daniel. Now if you've read much about this, you know that dispensationalists say that there's a long gap between the 69th and the 70th week. You just have to ask yourself, is there really any exegetical evidence for that here in this passage or really anywhere else. But Jesus is crucified after the 69th week.

Verse 26 makes it very clear that it's after the 69th week, sometime in the 70th week, most probably in the middle. He had a three and a half year ministry. I'm not really sure what to do exactly with that final week except that the Lord Jesus Christ is crucified there And then all these other things that happen in the destruction of the temple happened during that time. So in verse 26, And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, But not for himself, and the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall be with a flood, until the end of the war, desolations are determined." So, when is the Messiah cut off?

We know when the Messiah is cut off. And it happens during that time. This is the crucifixion. And then in verse 27, he will confirm a covenant with the many for one week. And we have to ask exactly when is this?

This covenant is confirmed. It's not a different covenant. It is a confirmed covenant. And of course, dispensational will say that this refers to the far, far future. That's not my position.

But I recognize there are many critical passages to consider that have to be understood, and I don't understand them all. But what we do know from verse 27 that in the middle of the week he shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. So he brings an end to sacrifice And whether, there are probably two or three things that you can say that that is. Is it the crucifixion and the resurrection? That's, in my mind, that's most likely.

But here is what is so critical about this passage of Scripture. Daniel is understanding these things. At least he understands the 70 years of captivity with clarity. He understands that part of the prophecy. But the most important issue here is what is happening.

And what is happening is that the Messiah is coming. That's the heart of this passage. We can spend all of our time trying to discern the 70 weeks, but the heart of it, we know what is going to happen in this timeline. And there are six things that will be happening. And that is the heart of the matter.

Six things that the Messiah will accomplish. And we see them in verse 24. And this is really the focus of the prophecy and the reason for it, to finish the transgression. Jesus Christ is going to come and he is going to finish the transgression. Now the word that is used here reflects a range of meanings.

It can mean swallow up that transgression. It can mean imprison it. It can mean to incarcerate it, to stop it, to hold it in in the same way that imprisonment would restrain it. He would stop the rebellion. He would break the power of sin.

He would say, it is finished. And when anyone puts their trust in Jesus Christ, repents of their sins, and believes in the gospel, the power of sin is broken. The transgression is finished. That's why the veil was torn from the temple, and it marked the end, really, of animal sacrifice. And, you know, you know, perhaps the priests went back in and they sewed that veil back together and continued the sacrifices until 70 AD.

But the Lord Jesus Christ presented himself as the one who finished the transgression. What that means is that for the Christian, your apostasy is brought into bondage. That He restrains the power of sin in your life. You think about where you would be today without the restraining power of the Spirit of God. You might not be satisfied with where you are today before God.

You may loathe many things going on in your life, but you ain't seen nothing that would have happened if the restraining power of the Holy Spirit wasn't existing in your life. Where would you be today? Think of that. You should rejoice in where you are today. Rejoice in what God has done by breaking the power of sin and death in your life.

Rejoice, rejoice church over this thing that's happened. You know often we are so focused on the things that the things that need to be fixed in our lives, that we so forget what He has fixed, how He has blessed us, how He has helped us, how He has begun to cleanse the well. Look at what He has done in your soul. Look at that. Look at that clearly.

It says here that he has finished the transgression. He has swallowed it up and imprisoned it and held it at bay. And this is the power of God working in the life of a believer. And then second, to make an end of sins, he says, End means to seal. It's the same as seal up the vision and the prophecy.

A seal is the property of a dignitary who marks the end of a matter, the conclusion of it. The contract is concluded. Now everything is set in place, and you go forward according to the contract. It's a seal. It's done.

And typically, the seal was pushed into hot wax to secure the document so anyone would know if it had been opened and tampered with by some means. And here what we find is that the scroll is sealed. The documents that have detailed your sins have been sealed up. They've been hidden in Christ, in God. And they've been nailed to the cross.

They've been cast into the sea. They've been put as far away from you as the east is from the west. He has made an end of sins. He has sealed it. He's made an end of it.

It's over. The contract is done. The covenant has been made. It's an unbreakable covenant that God makes with His children. And then thirdly, to make reconciliation for iniquity in verse 24.

Reconciling sinful man with a holy God, dealing with iniquity, dealing with our crookedness, our bankruptcy, and he reconciles us to God. His reconciliation causes us to be near him in the same way that the reconciling the reconciling oblations and sacrifices in the temple brought one near to God. So it is with the Lord Jesus Christ. He's washed us in His blood. He's covered our sins.

He's cleaned us. You know, In Colossians 2, our sins are blotted out. In other places, our sins are forgiven. We've had a circumcision of the heart. In other words, the evil has been cut away and taken off from us.

And here, Daniel is just speaking of this reconciling work of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is doing the work of reconciliation. It's the ministry of reconciliation in operation that Daniel is talking about that the Messiah will do. He will go throughout the earth. He'll send people out the earth, spreading forth the word of reconciliation.

People with the ministry of reconciliation. Apostle Paul says that we have the ministry of reconciliation. That he is the great reconciler and he gives us the message of reconciliation. And then fourthly, to bring in everlasting righteousness. This is the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ, Jehovah our righteousness, the everlasting righteousness, the completeness, the righteousness of God, the robes of righteousness that are laid upon the believer because of his righteousness.

Like the Apostle Paul, not having a righteousness of my own, but a righteousness of Jesus Christ. You see the beauty, the life-giving nature of the Son of God who's being prophesied here. However you dissect the 70 weeks of Daniel, you know this, it's a reconciling 70 weeks. And then number five, to seal up the vision and the prophecy, it means to authenticate with his authority. I believe the sealing up is the resurrection, where he demonstrated his power to the powers and the principalities, and he defeated them.

He was making a spectacle of them by sealing up the vision, by authenticating his authority. He is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. And it's the prophecy. He's actually, he uses the word prophet here. He is authenticating the voice of the prophets, Jeremiah and Daniel and all the rest that came after him.

And then sixth, to anoint the most holy. He's anointing the most holy. He's going to anoint Jesus Christ. He's going to give him the mantle of joy and gladness in his presence. And He's going to anoint his son.

And he is called the Holy One. In Acts chapter 3 verse 14 we read, You denied the Holy One. You know, In Acts chapter 4 verse 21, the church is praying about the holy child Jesus. Here's the holy one of Israel who's coming among his people. He desires to be near his people.

His holiness near his unholy children. He brings his holiness near. This is God's desire to be near to his people in all of these ways. Okay, I want to bring some applications here before we finally finish. There are several of them.

The first is consider your heart. You can have an abomination of desolation in your own heart. You can have the spiritual aspect of this in your heart. And it has to do with idols, it has to do with idolatry. The greatest idol that you have is yourself.

And dealing with yourself, the great idol of self, is is the most present and pernicious that we have. And here's the question, are you desolate before God because of your idolatry? The Bible makes it really clear that idols deprive you of the presence of God. And the wonderful thing about that is that God, when he desires to deal with idols, he comes with a whip. He may come with an army to clean his temple.

He invites you to clean it first, right? Like in a few minutes we're going to celebrate the Lord's table where he invites you to examine yourself, to clean the temple, clean the temple during that time. But to draw near, to deal with those idols. Secondly, pray the prayer of Daniel 9, 17. For the Lord's sake, cause your face to shine on your sanctuary which is desolate.

This is a prayer we should pray for ourselves, for our church, that God's face would shine upon the sanctuary, the worship that takes place here, that we would be a people whose hearts are so lifted up, so happy in his presence, so humble in his love, so with him in that sense, so hearing his voice, come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, I'll give you rest. To recognize He is tabernacling among us. He set up the tabernacle, then he set up the temple, and now he calls you the temple of the Holy Spirit. And we can cry, we can pray this prayer, Oh Lord, cause your face to shine on your sanctuary, which is this, This is a prayer that we should pray. Maybe it's a prayer that you can pray this week.

Oh Lord, cause your face to shine upon the sanctuary, the sanctuary of my body, that I might be near, that it might be a sanctuary of genuine, heartfelt love and nearness. And then thirdly, third application. In terms of thinking about the 70 weeks, this span of history, how God ordains trials throughout history. What we have in the 70 weeks is that God determines your trials. He determines the trials of the church.

And here's the question ask, do you, have you fully realized that God ordains your trials? He gives you also a way of endurance and a way of escape. Trials, endurance, and escape. Those are the three things God gives. And He does it all for a purpose.

He does it all to glorify Himself so His people would draw near to him. Some of our, all of your trials really are designed to draw you near to God. To correct you, to humble you, to help your face be lifted up to heaven, to help you quit trusting in yourself, to help you quit trusting in this government, to help you quit trusting in the economy, to help you quit trusting in your boss, to help you quit trusting in your wife, to help you quit trusting in this government, to help you quit trusting in the economy, to help you quit trusting in your boss, to help you quit trusting in your wife, to help you quit trusting in your husband, to help you quit trusting in your child, but to trust God and God alone. But God has ordained all of your trials for one single purpose, and that is that He would glorify Himself, that He would be near, that in His sanctuary He would be present in the midst of the sanctuary, in the holy place, in the sanctuary of your God. Read Psalm 27 and you'll see how this works.

Where he says, he says that it's God that is his help. But God has ordained your trials thousands of years before they took place. And I, you know, everybody has trials here in this place. You know, maybe you're a single person. We have a lot of single people here today.

Maybe you're single today and it's a big trial to you that you're single. And I'm confident it is a big trial that you're single. But you need to know this. This trial has been ordained by Almighty God. He has set it forth.

And when you ask the question, Well, you know, how is your week? Well, your week is no different than the 70 weeks of Daniel. Every single week is ordained by God. Every single week was bathed in prayers from heaven for you, from your Savior who prays incessantly for you. He's ordained every single trial, every delay, every advancement, every disappointment, He's ordained those things.

And I just, have you recognized that God ordains your trials far in advance? He's ordained this trial for you far in advance. He knew you were going to enter it. He established the moment of its entry and all the challenges and the difficulties and the thoughts that you'd have. Why?

Because he wants to glorify himself through your trial. And we can say the exact same thing about any trial that anyone else has in this room. Don't forget, just as there is a timeline for history, there's a timeline for your life, and God rules it from the beginning to the end, and He's in perfect control, There is no chaos in this universe. There is no chaos in your life while you're waiting for something to happen. Because God is in control of every week of history, and He has preordained it, every single trial that will come.

Why? So that your face would be lifted up before Him. That you would not trust man, that you would not trust anything but God. He wants to deprive you of trust in this world, so that you trust in Him. That's why James said what he did.

Consider it joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, the testing of your faith produces endurance. Isaiah 46, 9 through 11 says this about time in history, your history. Remember the former things of old, for I am God, there is no other. I am God. There is no one like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from the ancient times, things that are not yet done, saying, my Council will stand and I will do all my pleasure.

Calling a bird of prey from the east, the man who executes my council from a far country, indeed I have spoken it. I will also bring it to pass. I have purposed it. I will also do it. This is God.

This is your God. This is your God who controls all the trials of your life. And I just want to ask, have you carefully enough considered that the trials of your life have been ordained from a long time ago? God is doing it. Don't, don't, Don't pine away.

Don't be discouraged about it. Trust in God. Lift your face to your only help in this world anyway. God and God alone. It's His worship.

It's your worship that He wants. It's your heart that he desires to be close to him. Not for you to complain and carp and be discouraged about all these things. God has something far greater for you than that. Because just like he did in the Tabernacle, just like he did in the Temple, he wants to speak to you, He wants to show you his glory through the trial that he's given to you.

And then finally, God saves the 70 weeks of Danieler about the story of the substitutionary death and atonement of Jesus Christ and His resurrection, which would bring in everlasting righteousness for all those who would love Him and repent, who would find it in their hearts to love Him from the heart. And it's the glory of the Gospel that is here. And I want to just close by reading something that I read. It was written in 1858 by W. Poole Balfourn.

Oh, the wonders of the gospel. It wipes guilt from the conscience. It rolls the world out of the heart and darkness from the mind. It will put honey into the bitterest cup and health into the most diseased soul. It will give hope to the heart, health to the face, oil to the head, light to the eye, strength to the hand, and swiftness to the foot.

It will make life pleasant, labor sweet, and death triumphant. It gives faith to the fearful, courage to the timid, and strength to the weak. It robs the grave of its terrors and death of its sting. It subdues sin, severs from self, makes faith strong, love active, hope lively, zeal invincible. It gives sonship for slavery, robes for rags, makes the cross light and reproach pleasant.

It will transform a dungeon into a palace and make the fires of martyrdom As refreshing as the cool breeze of summer, it snaps legal bonds, loosens the soul, clarifies the mind, purifies the affections, and often lifts the saint to the very gates of heaven. No man can deserve it, money cannot buy it, or good deeds procure it. Grace reigns here. Grace reigns in the abomination of desolation and the 70 weeks of Daniel. You pray with me.

Oh Lord, we thank you for your perfect and wonderful hand upon all of history. Oh, that we would rejoice, that we would be the happiest people in the world to know it, to trust in your Son, to be near Him. Oh Lord, make us a church like this, so near to you, that you would not come and destroy our tabernacle or our temple. Amen.