The Book of Revelation Introduction (part 3)

Daniel’s Revelation

4.10.2019

Review

Ephesians 1:9-10 (J. B. Phillips)

For God has allowed us to know the secret of His plan and it is this, He purposed long ago in His sovereign will that all human history should be consummated in Christ, that everything that exists in heaven and earth should find its perfection and fulfillment in Him.

 

God’s plan is to restore back to us all that was lost when Adam sinned. Our fellowship with God restored; our immortal body returned; the earth being freed from the curse; and God’s enemy Satan being judged and removed from his place of authority are all part of God’s plans for us and our future.

In lesson 1 we mentioned 3 classifications of people that God deals with in the Bible.

1 Corinthians 10:32

Give no offense, either to the Jews or to the Greeks or to the church of God,

In lesson 2 we discussed 4 eternal covenants that form a foundation for our future.

Today

 

Daniel’s Revelation

Daniel 9:24-27 is the foundation for understanding the timing of Jesus’ return.

Daniel 9:24-27

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.

(25) 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.

 

(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, and till the end of the war desolations are determined. (27) 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.

 

Background

Jeremiah prophesied 70 years of captivity for Israel, one year for every Sabbath rest violated. The Sabbath land rest was that each seventh year the land was to remain uncultivated.

 

Leviticus 25:1-7

And the LORD spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, saying, (2) “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When you come into the land which I give you, then the land shall keep a Sabbath to the LORD. (3) six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard, and gather its fruit; (4) but in the seventh year there shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a Sabbath to the LORD. You shall neither sow your field nor prune your vineyard. (5) What grows of its own accord of your harvest you shall not reap, nor gather the grapes of your untended vine, for it is a year of rest for the land. (6) And the Sabbath produce of the land shall be food for you: for you, your male and female servants, your hired man, and the stranger who dwells with you, (7) for your livestock and the beasts that are in your land — all its produce shall be for food.

 

For 490 years Israel violated this command. Jeremiah prophesied that Israel would go into captivity for 70 years, one year for each year they violated the land rest commandment.

70 x 7 = 490. This covered 490 years of Israel’s history.

 

Jeremiah 25:9-12

Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, says the LORD, and Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant, and will bring them against this land, against its inhabitants, and against these nations all around, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, a hissing, and perpetual desolations. (10) Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones and the light of the lamp. (11) And this whole land shall be a desolation and an astonishment, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. (12) Then it will come to pass, when seventy years are completed, that I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity, says the LORD; and I will make it a perpetual desolation.

 

 

Jeremiah 27:6-8

And now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant; and the beasts of the field I have also given him to serve him. (7) So all nations shall serve him and his son and his son’s son, until the time of his land comes; and then many nations and great kings shall make him serve them. (8) And it shall be, that the nation and kingdom which will not serve Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and which will not put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation I will punish, says the LORD, with the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand.

 

Jeremiah 29:10

For thus says the LORD: After seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place.

 

2 Chronicles 36:20-21

And those who escaped from the sword he carried away to Babylon, where they became servants to him and his sons until the rule of the kingdom of Persia, (21) to fulfill the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her Sabbaths. As long as she lay desolate she kept Sabbath, to fulfill seventy years.

 

Leviticus 26:34-43

Then the land shall enjoy its Sabbaths as long as it lies desolate and you are in your enemies’ land; then the land shall rest and enjoy its Sabbaths. (35) As long as it lies desolate it shall rest — for the time it did not rest on your Sabbaths when you dwelt in it. (36) And as for those of you who are left, I will send faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies; the sound of a shaken leaf shall cause them to flee; they shall flee as though fleeing from a sword, and they shall fall when no one pursues. (37) They shall stumble over one another, as it were before a sword, when no one pursues; and you shall have no power to stand before your enemies. (38) You shall perish among the nations, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up. (39) And those of you who are left shall waste away in their iniquity in your enemies’ lands; also in their fathers’ iniquities, which are with them, they shall waste away. (40) But if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers, with their unfaithfulness in which they were unfaithful to Me, and that they also have walked contrary to Me, (41) and that I also have walked contrary to them and have brought them into the land of their enemies; if their uncircumcised hearts are humbled, and they accept their guilt — (42) then I will remember My covenant with Jacob, and My covenant with Isaac and My covenant with Abraham I will remember; I will remember the land. (43) The land also shall be left empty by them, and will enjoy its Sabbaths while it lies desolate without them; they will accept their guilt, because they despised My judgments and because their soul abhorred My statutes.

 

God showed Daniel 490 years of Israel’s future.

Here in Daniel 9, God reveals to Daniel the next 490 years of Israel’s history. But at the end of this prophecy there is a gap of unspecified length.

 

In verse 24, seven weeks is literally seventy sevens or seventy weeks of seven years each

(70 x 7), which equals 490 years.

 

The time period covers the time of Daniel until the Messiah rules the earth once and for all! (vs. 24)

 

The 490 years is divided into three main parts.

 

Part 1 is in verse 25a:

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…

 

49 years (seven sevens – 7 x 7) were spoken of as the time given to rebuild Jerusalem.

In 444 B.C. king Artaxerxes gave the command to Nehemiah to rebuild the city of Jerusalem.

It took 52 days to rebuild the walls around Jerusalem, and 49 years for Jerusalem to be restored.

 

Part 2 is in verse 25b

…Until Messiah the Prince there shall be seven weeks (49 years) and 62 weeks (62 x 7= 434); the street shall be built again, and the wall even in troublesome times.

 

From the time of the completion of the city until the crucifixion of Jesus was 62 weeks, or 434 years.

 

A total of 483 years of the history of Israel and Jerusalem has already been fulfilled. 49 years to rebuild the city, and 434 years from the completion of Jerusalem until the death of Jesus Christ, for a total of 483 years.

 

Verse 26:

And after 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, and till the end of the war desolations are determined.

 

The Romans destroyed Jerusalem in 70 AD. The Jews were almost completely dispersed from the land by 135 AD, and the land was renamed “Palaestina” by the Romans to eradicate any thought of the Jews’ previous occupation of the land.

 

Part 3 – verse 27

The he [the anti-Christ] shall confirm a covenant with many for one week…

 

This “one week” is the last seven years of the 490 years revealed to Daniel that is yet to be fulfilled.

 

These last seven years are what is called the “tribulation.” The Bible NEVER calls it the tribulation. It’s technically Daniel’s 70th week.

The “he” in verse 27 is the anti-Christ. He will make a seven-year peace treaty (covenant) between Israel and her enemies. He will break the peace treaty after three and one-half years, and what Jesus termed as “the great tribulation” will occur.

 

There is a gap between verse 26 and verse 27. Verse 26 ended in 70 A.D. Verse 27 begins with Anti-Christ’s peace treaty with Israel. This time period between these verses is the church age, the age of “grace.” The church is a mystery in the Old Testament (See Ephesians 3:5-9; Romans 16:25-26; Colossians 1:24-27).

 

God’s dealings with the Jewish race have been put on hold for the last 2000 years. During the time people incorrectly call the tribulation, or what the Bible calls Daniel’s 70th week, Israel will become the center of God’s attention on earth once again. When the tribulation, or correctly “Daniel’s 70th week” begins, with the anti-Christ’s peace treaty with Israel, God will fulfill the last seven years of His dealings with Israel and their land.

 

The Israelites and their land

Through unbelief and disobedience the Jews were removed from their land of promise and scattered all over the earth.

The church age is a mystery.

 

The church age is a mystery not mentioned in the Old Covenant!

 

Ephesians 3: 1-6 (NLT)

When I think of all this, I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus for the benefit of you Gentiles . . . (2) assuming, by the way, that you know God gave me the special responsibility of extending his grace to you Gentiles. (3) As I briefly wrote earlier, God himself revealed his mysterious plan to me. (4) As you read what I have written, you will understand my insight into this plan regarding Christ. (5) God did not reveal it to previous generations, but now by his Spirit he has revealed it to his holy apostles and prophets. (6) And this is God’s plan: Both Gentiles and Jews who believe the Good News share equally in the riches inherited by God’s children. Both are part of the same body, and both enjoy the promise of blessings because they belong to Christ Jesus.

 

Colossians 1:24-27 (NLT)

I am glad when I suffer for you in my body, for I am participating in the sufferings of Christ that continue for his body, the church. (25) God has given me the responsibility of serving his church by proclaiming his entire message to you. (26) This message was kept secret for centuries and generations past, but now it has been revealed to God’s people. (27) For God wanted them to know that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles, too. And this is the secret: Christ lives in you. This gives you assurance of sharing his glory.

 

Romans 16: 25-26 (NLT)

Now all glory to God, who is able to make you strong, just as my Good News says. This message about Jesus Christ has revealed his plan for you Gentiles, a plan kept secret from the beginning of time. (26) But now as the prophets foretold and as the eternal God has commanded, this message is made known to all Gentiles everywhere, so that they too might believe and obey him.

 

God stopped dealing with Israel when Jesus died and rose from the dead, and the age of Grace, the church age, began!

 

Romans 9 and Romans 11 tells us that God will once again deal with Israel.

 

What’s happening right now

The Word of God reveals that just before the Second Coming of Christ, God would begin to deal with the Jewish race again.

 

For 2000 years they were scattered worldwide and ceased to be a nation. Deuteronomy 28:15-65 explains clearly what God said would happen to Israel if they disobeyed God as a nation. It happened!

 

In AD 70 under Titus, Rome destroyed Jerusalem, and by 125 AD, Israel was completely removed from their land. It was renamed Palaestina by the Romans so as to remove any memory of it belonging to the Jews.

 

This land became a desert over the last 2000 years.

 

At the end of the 19^th century, the late 1800’s, Jews began to have a desire to come back to their land. In 1916, the Balfour declaration allowed the Jews from all over the world to migrate back to their ancestral homeland, and in 1948, Israel became a nation again. May 16, 1948, Israel was recognized as a nation for the first time since Bible days!

 

This is a sign that the Messiah is returning soon.

 

Deuteronomy 30:1-3

Now it shall come to pass, when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the LORD your God drives you, 2 and you return to the LORD your God and obey His voice, according to all that I command you today, you and your children, with all your heart and with all your soul, 3 that the LORD your God will bring you back from captivity, and have compassion on you, and gather you again from all the nations where the LORD your God has scattered you.

 

Ezekiel 11:16-17

16 Therefore say, “Thus says the Lord GOD: ‘Although I have cast them far off among the Gentiles, and although I have scattered them among the countries, yet I shall be a little sanctuary for them in the countries where they have gone.”‘

17 Therefore say, “Thus says the Lord GOD: ‘I will gather you from the peoples, assemble you from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.”‘

 

Jeremiah 16:14-16

“Therefore behold, the days are coming,” says the LORD, “that it shall no more be said, ‘The LORD lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,’ 15 but, ‘The LORD lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north and from all the lands where He had driven them.’ For I will bring them back into their land which I gave to their fathers. 16 Behold, I will send for many fishermen,” says the LORD, “and they shall fish them; and afterward I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain and every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.”

 

Jeremiah 23:3-8

“But I will gather the remnant of My flock out of all countries where I have driven them, and bring them back to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase. 4 I will set up shepherds over them who will feed them; and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, nor shall they be lacking,” says the LORD. 5 “Behold, the days are coming,” says the LORD, “That I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness; A King shall reign and prosper, And execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. 6 In His days Judah will be saved, And Israel will dwell safely; Now this is His name by which He will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. 7 Therefore, behold, the days are coming,” says the LORD, “that they shall no longer say, ‘As the LORD lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,’ 8 but, ‘As the LORD lives who brought up and led the descendants of the house of Israel from the north country and from all the countries where I had driven them.’ And they shall dwell in their own land.”

 

They will never leave this land again.

Judgment is declared on anyone who hinders the Jews from enjoying the land God promised Abraham!

Genesis 12:3 (NLT)

I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.

 

Joel 3:2 (NLT)

I will gather the armies of the world into the valley of Jehoshaphat. There I will judge them for harming my people, my special possession, for scattering my people among the nations, and for dividing up my land.

Zechariah 12:1-3

The burden of the word of the Lord against Israel. Thus says the Lord, who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him: (2) “Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of drunkenness to all the surrounding peoples, when they lay siege against Judah and Jerusalem. (3) And it shall happen in that day that I will make Jerusalem a very heavy stone for all peoples; all who would heave it away will surely be cut in pieces, though all nations of the earth are gathered against it.

The next 2 things on God’s agenda

The Church – The Rapture

 

The World – The Day of the Lord

 

Peter’s Encouragement to our Generation

2 Peter 3:2-18 (NLT)

I want you to remember what the holy prophets said long ago and what our Lord and Savior commanded through your apostles.(3) Most importantly, I want to remind you that in the last days scoffers will come, mocking the truth and following their own desires.(4) They will say, “What happened to the promise that Jesus is coming again? From before the times of our ancestors, everything has remained the same since the world was first created.” (5) They deliberately forget that God made the heavens by the word of his command, and he brought the earth out from the water and surrounded it with water. (6) Then he used the water to destroy the ancient world with a mighty flood. (7) And by the same word, the present heavens and earth have been stored up for fire. They are being kept for the day of judgment, when ungodly people will be destroyed. (8) But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day. (9)The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent. (10) But the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief. Then the heavens will pass away with a terrible noise, and the very elements themselves will disappear in fire, and the earth and everything on it will be found to deserve judgment. (11) Since everything around us is going to be destroyed like this, what holy and godly lives you should live, (12) looking forward to the day of God and hurrying it along. On that day, he will set the heavens on fire, and the elements will melt away in the flames. (13) But we are looking forward to the new heavens and new earth he has promised, a world filled with God’s righteousness. (14) And so, dear friends, while you are waiting for these things to happen, make every effort to be found living peaceful lives that are pure and blameless in his sight. (15) And remember, the Lord’s patience gives people time to be saved. This is what our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you with the wisdom God gave him — (16) speaking of these things in all of his letters. Some of his comments are hard to understand, and those who are ignorant and unstable have twisted his letters to mean something quite different, just as they do with other parts of Scripture. And this will result in their destruction. (17) I am warning you ahead of time, dear friends. Be on guard so that you will not be carried away by the errors of these wicked people and lose your own secure footing. (18) Rather, you must grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. All glory to him, both now and forever! Amen.