Bob's Notes: 7/7/19 The Seventy Weeks of Daniel – Part three (Daniel 9:24-27)

Post date: Jul 7, 2019 7:47:37 PM

When Exactly does the 70^th Week of Daniel Begin and what is the Day of the LORD?

Introduction

During our last class we continued our study of the 70 Weeks of Daniel which gives us the big picture of the decree that the Lord made and was given to Daniel by the angel Gabriel concerning Israel, the Jewish people, and the city of Jerusalem.

When Exactly does the 70^th Week of Daniel Begin?

Daniel 9:27a – Who is the “he” in this verse. To determine that let’s go back to Daniel 9:25 to get the context. As we talked about during our lesson, there are two princes referred to in verses 25 & 26. The first Prince in verse 25 & 26 is clearly the Messiah who would die without becoming King and without setting up His’ Messianic Kingdom. The second prince in the second part of verse 26 is clearly not the Messiah because the people of this prince or leader will destroy the city of Jerusalem. The Jewish people have never destroyed the city of Jerusalem. The people of the prince who would destroy the city of Jerusalem and the Temple and kill thousands of Jewish people are the Romans. They did so in AD 70. Therefore, the prince referred in verse 26 would be a Roman because they are his people.

This Roman leader is the one referred as “he” in verse 27a. The phrase ‘he will make a firm covenant” in the NASB is better a better translation than “he will confirm a covenant,” as in the NIV and other translations. This leader who is the anti-messiah will be the ruler of the Revived Roman Empire. He will want to make a foothold in the Middle East so he will broker a covenant of peace between Israel and the Arab nations who ae referred to as “the many” in this verse. Israel and the Arab nations surrounding Israel will be so tired of war and conflict and the anti-messiah will be such a charismatic person and seem to be a friend of Israel, that they will gladly make a covenant of peace with him. He is going to allow them to reinstate sacrifices and other offerings in the Temple as part of the covenant. Will the Temple already be built when the covenant will be signed or will the anti-messiah allow them to build the Temple as part of the covenant. We will talk about that later today or next week. The length of this covenant will be confirmed for one week or seven years.

The signing of the covenant with Israel, then, is the event that begins the tribulation period of seven years. The remainder of the verse 27 gives us a little more insight into this. He makes the covenant with Israel to begin of the Tribulation of seven years, but in the middle of the week, 3½ years, he going to break it. We will discuss this more when we focus on the anti-christ and what events happen at the 3½ year period during the tribulation period.

As you can see, we are in the process of putting together an end times puzzle one piece at a time. Let’s not put one more piece in place. That piece is the Day of the LORD.

1. What is The Day of the LORD?

The Day of the Lord is an important Old Testament and New Testament doctrine that we want to discuss as it relates to future end time events. This phrase is used 18 times in the Old Testament and 5 times in the New Testament in the NASB. We usually think of a day as a 24-hour period of time. The Day of the Lord is used in the sense of an extended period of time. We have had heard people say something like, “I use to wear bell bottom pants back in the day.” The day in that context is an extended period of time. The Day of the Lord, then, is an extended period of time in which God will deal with wicked men directly and dramatically in fearful judgment. It’s a time in which the Lord actively controls and dominates history in a direct way instead of working through secondary causes either to judge or to bless. In a series of devastating judgments, God will pour out his wrath upon rebellious man. He will also pour out His’ blessings on those who have believed in Him in the Messianic Kingdom. The Day of the Lord has over twenty other different terms in the Old and New Testaments that describe it. The Day of the Lord in the Old Testament and in the New Testament includes the Tribulation, the Second Coming, the Millennium, and the Great White Throne Judgement.

Today in this age of grace, the church age, a man or woman may be a blasphemer of God, an atheist, an agnostic, can denounce God, and teach false doctrine. It seems that God does nothing about it. This seemed to be true in the Old Testament as well. (Psalm 10:13-14a). King David in the Psalms continually complained to God that he wicked were getting away with evil. He wanted God to do something about it. Don’t we want the same thing today?

There are many evil people who flourish, who have health and wealth; they may succeed in business, even though they are not Christians and are not honoring the Lord. Second Peter 3:3-4, “Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, and saying, ‘Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation.’” They say nothing will change. We will live like we want to and there will be no consequences. The Lord is not attempting to deal with people like that right now. This is a day of grace. The Lord is patient and longsuffering. Peter also said several verses later in verse 9 that “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance” The purpose of God in this day is to proclaim His grace so that souls may be saved by trusting in Christ to receive God’s gift of grace.

But there is coming a day designated in Scripture as “the day of the Lord” when God will punish human sin, and He will deal in wrath and in judgment with a Christ-rejecting world. (cf. Ps. 2:9; Isa. 13:9-11; Joel 2; Amos 5:18; Zeph. 1:14-16; 3:14-20; etc.). The Day of the Lord is also a time of deliverance and blessing for Israel during the Messianic Kingdom as God fulfills all the covenantal promises made with Israel. In the Messianic Kingdom Jesus the Messiah will reign on earth for 1000 years and will personally direct the government of the world (Isaiah 9:6-7; Luke 1:26-33)

After the visit from the angel, Mary went to visit her cousin Elizbeth. After finding out that Mary would birth the Messiah, John the Baptizer leaped in Elizbeth’s womb and she was filled with the Holy Spirit. Mary then responded with this set of verses called the Magnificat. Let’s now read Luke 1: 46-55.

Application for Today

Well, what does the judgements in the Day of the LORD have to do with us? We are not going through the Tribulation and the Day of the LORD. That is absolutely true! However, we live in an age called the age of grace or the church age in which God is longsuffering and patient toward men and women and their sin and rebellion against Him. BUT this will come to an end one day, maybe sooner then we think. Lost men and women will face God’s judgement in the Day of the LORD, the Tribulation Period, by experiencing His’ wrath firsthand. But they do not have to go through this terrible time. God placed each of us in this period of time in the history of the world and in a suburb of Atlanta to be His’ ambassador to an evil generation concerning God’s free gift of grace through Jesus. To be an ambassador is something that is active not passive. Let each us today dedicate or rededicate ourselves to proclaim the gospel of grace and “to make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20)

SELAH