This time let's turn in our Bibles to
the book of Daniel chapter 9.
In the beginning of chapter 9 we have
a very keen insight to this man Daniel.
And we understand why God has declared of
him that he was greatly loved by God.
For Daniel greatly loved God and he loved
the Word of God.
And his obvious knowledge and love for the
Word is revealed here in the 9th chapter.
As he understands the plight of the nation
Israel and the reason for their plight.
He sees behind the issues that caused their
being destroyed and now being captives.
Captives in the Persian Empire which has supplanted
at this point the Babylonian Empire.
But yet also because he was a man
of the Word and studied the Scriptures.
He realized that the time of their captivity
was about over.
The first year of Darius the son of
Ahasuerus of the seed of the meads.
Which was made the king over the realm
of the Chaldeans.
In the first year of his reign I
Daniel understood by the books.
The number of years were of the Word
of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet.
That he would accomplish 70 years in the
desolations of Jerusalem.
So Daniel was reading the prophecy of Jeremiah.
Now you'll remember that Jeremiah was one of
the last prophets in Judah.
Prior to the Babylonian captivity.
In fact he was still prophesying when Nebuchadnezzar
came.
And Jeremiah in his prophecy was telling the
people.
That God was going to give them into
the hand of the king of Babylon.
And the reason was they had forsaken God.
And that they had forsaken the law of
God.
And the commandments of God.
And therefore they were going to be captives
in Babylon for 70 years.
And that particular prophecy was in Jeremiah chapter
25 verses 11 and 12.
And there the Lord said in the whole
land shall be a desolation and an astonishment.
And these nations shall serve the king of
Babylon for 70 years.
And it shall come to pass when the
70 years are accomplished.
That I will punish the king of Babylon
and that nation saith the Lord for their
iniquity.
And the land of the Chaldeans and will
make it perpetual desolations.
So the Lord declared that in as much
as they had been in the land from
the time of Joshua 490 years.
And under the law God had told them
that every seventh year they were to let
the land rest.
The land was to have its own Sabbath.
Every seventh year they were not to plant
it.
But they were only to eat that which
grew wild and so forth.
And gather up in the sixth year.
The Lord would give them such a abundant
harvest in the sixth year.
It would carry them through the seventh.
The people did not obey this law of
God.
They did not give the land rest.
But they planted it every year.
And so God said you've been in the
land for 490 years.
You've never given it its Sabbath.
It's got 70 years coming.
So I'm going to kick you out of
the land for 70 years so that it
can have its Sabbath.
And then after 70 years you can come
back into the land.
So the 70 years of captivity prophesied by
Jeremiah are about over.
Daniel realizes this.
He's been reading the prophecy of Jeremiah.
He realizes that the time of the captivity
is about over.
And so he set himself, his face unto
the Lord to seek by prayer and supplications
with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.
So he set himself aside for a period
of intensive prayer and waiting upon God and
seeking God for the nation.
Now the prayer of Daniel is remarkable.
And in it he surely sets forth the
clear understanding that he has of the ways
and the purposes of God.
And it is interesting that he does not
seek to condemn God at all for the
calamities that have befallen the people.
But he acknowledges that these things have happened
unto us because we were guilty.
We turned aside from you.
We went our own wicked ways.
Now so many times people want to blame
God for the judgments that fall upon them
for their own wickedness.
As we pointed out a week or so
ago, God tells us not to do a
particular thing.
If you do it, God said you're going
to hurt.
So we do it and then we get
hurt.
And then we say, oh God, that isn't
fair to hurt me.
Well, God didn't hurt you.
He just told you what would be the
consequence of a particular action.
Now if you want to just defy God
and go ahead and do it, then don't
blame God for the fact that you got
hurt.
And yet this is what people are so
often doing.
Now Daniel did not have any of this
recrimination against God, but acknowledged that everything that
had happened to them happened to them because
they were guilty before God.
They had forsaken God.
Notice, I prayed unto the Lord my God,
made my confession and said, Oh Lord, the
great and awesome God who keeps his covenant
and mercy to them that love him and
to them that keep his commandments.
We have sinned.
Now Daniel isn't pointing the finger at others
in a holier than thou kind of thing
and said, God, they're horrible sinners.
They did this.
But he places himself.
We have sinned and identifies with God's people
who had sinned against God.
We as a nation have sinned.
And surely as we pray, we need to
acknowledge the sin of the nation.
We as a nation have sinned against God.
We've committed iniquity.
We've done wickedly.
We've rebelled even by departing from your precepts
and from your judgments.
Neither have we hearkened unto your servants, the
prophets.
Now, he had, of course, had been reading
Jeremiah and he read how that when Jeremiah
came and prophesied to them, they threw him
in the dungeon.
And he recognizes how that they so totally
failed to listen to the warnings of God.
We have not hearkened to your servants, the
prophets, which spake in your name to our
kings and our princes and our fathers and
to all of the people of the land.
Oh, Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto
us confusion effaces.
Lord, you you're all right, but we're the
ones that are confused.
As at this day to the men of
Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to
all of Israel that are near and that
are far off through all of the countries
where you have driven them because of their
trespass, that they have trespassed against thee.
Oh, Lord, unto us belongs the confusion of
faiths and to our kings and princes and
to our fathers, because we have sinned against
thee.
To the Lord, our God belongs mercies and
forgiveness, though we have rebelled against him.
And neither have we obeyed the voice of
the Lord, our God, to walk in his
laws, which he set before us by his
servants, the prophets.
Yes, all of Israel have transgressed thy law,
even by departing, that they might not obey
thy voice.
Therefore, the curse is poured out upon us
in the oath that is written in the
law of Moses, the servant of God, because
we have sinned against him.
So he was familiar with the books of
Moses and the law of God.
He'd been reading that.
He said, God, we've transgressed.
And now you've done those things that you
said you would do in the law of
Moses.
And of course, the Lord in the law
of Moses did declare that if they would
turn away from God and seek other gods,
that he would allow them to be driven
out of the land and all.
So Daniel recognizes that all of these things
have happened to us because we are guilty.
We have failed.
You've confirmed your word, which you spake against
us and against our judges that judged us
by bringing upon us the great evil.
For under the whole heaven hath not been
done as hath been done unto Jerusalem.
Actually, no city has been so devastated as
was Jerusalem.
As it is written in the law of
Moses, all this evil has come upon us.
Yet made we not our prayer before the
Lord, our God, that we might turn from
our iniquities and understand thy truth.
In spite of all of this, we didn't
turn from our sins.
Therefore, hath the Lord watched upon the evil
and brought it upon us.
For the Lord, our God, is righteous in
all his works, which he doeth for we
obeyed not his voice.
Not charging God at all, accepting the responsibility
and the guilt, a very important thing.
Not crying out against God when the judgments
have befallen us, but to acknowledge honestly, hey
God, it's my fault.
I am guilty.
You are righteous.
God is a God of judgment.
But even in judgment, he is so right
in his judgments.
In the midst of the great tribulation, when
God is pouring out his judgments upon the
earth, there are voices that come from the
throne of God declaring, holy and righteous and
true are thy judgments, O Lord.
There are a lot of people that are
concerned about God not being fair.
They say, but what about the poor people
who have never heard about Jesus Christ?
Is God going to damn them eternally and
all?
I don't know.
I do know God is fair.
I do know that God will be righteous
in his judgment.
And when God makes the disposition of those
particular cases, God will be absolutely fair.
And when he does that, I'll say, all
right.
I never thought of that.
Man, that is so right on.
Because God will be fair.
Abraham challenged the Lord when they said, shall
not the Lord of the earth be fair,
be just?
Lord, would you destroy the righteous with the
wicked?
But the whole issue was the righteousness of
God in judgment.
And yes, God will be righteous in his
judgment.
And now, O Lord, our God, that thou
has brought thy people forth out of the
land of Egypt with a mighty hand and
you've gotten renowned as at this day, we
have sinned.
We have done wickedly.
O Lord, according to all your righteousness, I
beseech thee, let your anger and your fury
be turned away from thy city, Jerusalem, thy
holy mountain, because for our sins and for
the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and thy
people are become a reproach to all of
those that are around about us.
Now, therefore, O our God, hear the prayer
of thy servant and his supplications and cause
thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that
is desolate for the Lord's sake.
Lord, not for our sake.
But for your sake, for the Lord's sake,
O God, shine thy face upon the sanctuary
that is so desolate.
Oh, my God, incline thine ear in here,
open thine eyes and behold our desolations and
the city which is called by thy name.
For we do not present our supplications before
thee for our righteousnesses, but for thy great
mercies.
God, I don't plead this because I'm such
a holy guy, but just because you're so
merciful, I'm asking you to do this.
Fabulous prayer of Daniel.
It does give to us a keen insight
into the spiritual depth of this man.
No wonder the Lord said, Oh, Daniel, you
greatly beloved of God.
And then the final plea.
Oh, Lord, hear.
Oh, Lord, forgive.
Oh, Lord, hearken and do.
Defer not for thy own sake.
Oh, my God, for thy city and thy
people are called by thy name.
Lord, people call us by your name and
we're such a mess.
God here, do something for your name's sake,
because these people are called by your name.
Now, Daniel said, while I was speaking and
praying, while he was in the midst of
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, even
the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in
the vision at the beginning being caused to
fly swiftly, touch me about the time of
the evening oblation.
Gabriel, one of the chief angels of God
named in Daniel, named also in the book
of Luke as the angel that appeared to
Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, and
later appeared unto Mary, the mother of Jesus.
Gabriel came and he informed me and talked
with me and said, oh, Daniel, I am
now come forth to give you skill and
understanding.
At the beginning of your supplications, the commandment
came forth and I am come to show
thee, for thou art greatly beloved.
Therefore, understand the matter and consider the vision.
Seventy and the word weeks there in Hebrew
is just sevens.
The translators translated it weeks because of seven
days in the week, but literally seventy sevens
are determined upon thy people and upon thy
holy city.
Notice there are seventy seven year cycles that
are determined upon the nation Israel, thy people
and upon the city of Jerusalem.
And so this is a prophecy that relates
to God's dealing with the nation of Israel.
It will be accomplished in seventy seven year
cycles and in these seventy sevens, the work
of God will be fully established as far
as the nation Israel is concerned, because within
the seventy sevens, there will, first of all,
be the finishing of the transgression, making an
end of sins and making reconciliation for iniquity
to bring in everlasting righteousness and to seal
up the vision and prophecy or to complete
the vision and prophecies and to anoint the
most holy and probably the most holy place,
the new temple in the kingdom of God.
So there are seventy sevens in which all
of the prophetic aspects of the nation Israel
will be complete, during which time there will
be reconciliation made for sins, for iniquities, finishing
of the transgressions, making an end of sins,
bringing in the everlasting kingdom of righteousness and
completing the whole prophetic scene.
Now he divides these seventy sevens.
Know, therefore, and understand that from the going
forth of the commandment to restore and rebuild
Jerusalem unto the Messiah, the prince will be
seven sevens and sixty two sevens.
The street shall be built again and the
wall even in troublesome times.
So there is to be, first of all,
seven sevens and sixty two sevens from the
time the commandment goes forth to restore and
rebuild Jerusalem to the Messiah, the prince.
Daniel wrote this in the first year of
Darius, the year 538 B.C. About
ninety five years later, in the year 445
B.C., the commandment was finally given by
Artaxerxes to Nehemiah to restore and rebuild Jerusalem.
Earlier, Ahasuerus and the other Persian kings had
given commandments to Ezra to go back and
to rebuild the temple.
But this prophecy was to be from the
commandment to restore and rebuild Jerusalem.
Though the temple was rebuilt, the walls of
the city were still torn down and the
houses were still destroyed.
And you remember that Nehemiah said, I was
a to the king.
And the king said, how come you look
so sad?
And Nehemiah said, how can I be happy
when the city that I love lies in
ruins?
And so the king gave commandment unto Nehemiah
to take a contingent of people and to
go back and to rebuild the walls of
Jerusalem.
445 B.C., in fact, according to records
that were found by Sir Rawlinson in the
palace of Shushan, that order was given in
March 14th, 445 B.C. Now, it is
an important date in history because according to
the promise here and the prophecy here, from
the time that commandment goes forth to restore
and rebuild Jerusalem unto the Messiah, the Prince,
will be seven sevens and 62 sevens or
69 seven-year cycles or 483 years.
And so from the year March 14, 445
B.C., according to the prediction here, the
Messiah should have come in 483 years from
the time of this commandment.
Now, the years in the prophecies of Daniel
are 360 day years, which was predicated upon
the Babylonian calendar of a 360 day year.
We, of course, compute now with a Julian
calendar of 365 and a quarter days a
year.
But Daniel's prophecies were predicated upon the Babylonian
calendar of 360 days a year.
And so it would be best to transpose
the 483 years into days in order to
figure out the time of the coming of
the Messiah, the Prince.
And transposed into days, 483 times 360 would
give you 173,880 days.
And if you take and then work that
out on our calendar, you'll find that it
comes out to the date April 6, 32
A.D. On April 6, 32 A.D.,
Jesus said to his disciples, go over into
this city, and on a corner you'll find
a colt that is tied.
Untie him and bring him to me.
And if while you're untying him, the masters
say, what are you doing untying my colt?
Just tell them that the Lord has need
of him.
They went over and just where Jesus told
them, they saw the donkey tied and they
untied it.
The owner said, why are you untying my
donkey?
And they said, the Lord needs him.
And so they brought the donkey to Jesus
and they began to lay their garments in
the path between Bethany and Jerusalem.
And they began to wave palm branches as
they cried, save now, save now.
Blessed is he who comes in the name
of the Lord.
Psalm 118.
Psalm 118 is a messianic psalm.
Psalm 118 declares, this is the stone which
was rejected by the builders, but the same
has become the chief cornerstone.
This is the Lord's work and it is
glorious in our eyes.
Hosanna, hosanna, blessed is he who comes in
the name of the Lord.
This is the day that the Lord hath
made.
We will rejoice and be glad in it.
We so often get up on a beautiful
morning and look out and see the sunrise
and say, oh, this is the day that
the Lord hath made.
We will rejoice and be glad in it.
That was not written for any beautiful morning.
That was written for one special day, the
day of God's salvation for the world, the
day that the Messiah would come.
Prior to this day, Jesus had never allowed
public worship of himself.
When they sought by force to make him
king, he disappeared from their midst.
But on this day, he not only set
the scene, he is encouraging his disciples.
And when the Pharisees said, Lord, you better
cause them to shut up because they are
being blasphemous.
Jesus said, I'm going to tell you something,
fellas, and I want you to get it
straight.
If these men would at this point hold
their peace and be silent, these very stones
would start crying out.
This is the day that the Lord hath
made.
The day of redemption for the world, the
day the Messiah would come, 173,880 days
from the commandment of Artaxerxes to Nehemiah to
restore and rebuild Jerusalem.
Right on schedule.
And as Jesus came on the Mount of
Olives and he looked at the city of
Jerusalem, he began to weep and cried, O
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou, if thou had only known
at least in this thy day, the things
that belong to your peace, but now they
are hid from your eyes and they're going
to come and they're going to encircle the
city.
They're going to destroy you and your children
are going to be dashed in the streets.
And he tells of the desolation that is
going to transpire upon them for their ignorance,
not knowing the day of God's deliverance.
And so this prophecy of Daniel is one
of the most remarkable of all of the
prophecies concerning the coming of Jesus Christ, because
Daniel here is declaring the very day that
the Messiah is to come.
The wall will be built in troublous time.
Read the book of Nehemiah.
As they were building the wall, they had
a trowel in one hand and a sword
in the other because there were guys constantly
guerrilla attacks against them.
And the PLO was constantly trying to defeat
them in their attempts.
Now, after the sixty two seven year periods,
notice the Messiah will be cut off.
Not the Messiah will be acclaimed and accepted
and salvation will come and all of the
prophecies will be complete and the everlasting kingdom
will come in.
No, the Messiah will be cut off, but
not for himself.
That phrase, but not for himself is literally
and receive nothing for himself or the Messiah
will be cut off without receiving this everlasting
kingdom at that time.
Of course, we know that Jesus was crucified
that very week.
He was cut off.
He was not given the kingdom at that
time.
He was rejected, as was predicted by Isaiah.
He is despised and rejected by men and
the prince of the people that shall come.
That is the Roman army that was going
to come, which did come Titus under the
edict of Nero, who died before Jerusalem actually
fell completely.
The prince of the people that shall come
shall destroy the city and the sanctuary and
the end thereof will be with the dispersion,
a flood or a dispersion.
So here Daniel predicts that the Messiah would
come.
Messiah would be cut off and that a
nation would come and destroy the city and
the Jews would be dispersed.
You read history and you find that's exactly,
of course, what did happen.
Christ was crucified.
The Roman armies came, the temple and the
city of Jerusalem were destroyed.
As Jesus said, not one stone was left
standing upon another.
And the Jews at that point were dispersed
and remained dispersed throughout the world until 1948.
So this portion of the prophecy literally completely
fulfilled and unto the end thereof, wars are
determined, desolations are determined.
Now we have one seven year cycle that
is not yet transpired.
Seventy sevens are determined upon the nation Israel.
These 77s were to begin at the commandment
to restore and rebuild Jerusalem 445 BC.
They were to culminate in the coming of
the Messiah.
That is 69 of them, but the Messiah
would be cut off.
Now, in a sense, you might say that
at that point God's prophetic time clock was
stopped and has remained stopped.
But now we have another event which will
signal the beginning of the time clock.
Once again, the beginning of the 77th seven
or the last seven year cycle, verse 27,
he who the prince of the people that
shall come or the ruler of the revived
Roman Empire that would be represented by 10
nations federating together, which were once a part
of the Roman Empire.
You have to go back in Daniel chapter
two, Nebuchadnezzar's vision of the great image, the
legs of iron representing the Roman Empire and
the feet of iron and clay with 10
toes iron representing still the Roman Empire, but
mixed with clays showing that it is not
as strong as the Roman Empire was in
an autocratic sense, but it was weakened because
it was a democracy nations that were joined
together with treaties.
Also, you find the same parallel vision of
Daniel as he sees them as a beast
with 10 horns in chapter seven and this
other little horn coming up and devouring three
of the horns.
So the leader that will arise over this
10 nation confederacy related to the Roman Empire
are called by many Bible scholars as the
revival of the Roman Empire will confirm the
covenant with many for one week, not with
all of Israel, but with many of them.
Now there are today in Israel a very
divided feeling as far as God is concerned
and religion is concerned among the people of
Israel.
It is not really a religious state, though
they do have religious laws and though they
do observe religious laws and though they keep
the dietary laws where they will not eat
meat with dairy products and they keep the
Sabbath, yet the people for the most part
are not religious people.
The reason why these laws are in effect
is because of the whole political setup in
Israel with two major parties, the Labor Party
and the Likud Party, but neither of them
strong enough to form a coalition in the
government on their own.
And in order for either the Labor or
the Likud to remain in power, just like
this last week, they had another meeting in
which they sought to oust Bagan because he
dared to speak out against the big brother
who's trying to control him.
I like this spunky little guy.
You've got to admire him.
And they had a vote of confidence.
And anytime some issue comes up, they can
call a vote of confidence.
And if Bagan does not pass in the
vote of confidence, then the new election has
to be called.
Now, to form a coalition in order that
he might have a government because the Likud
Party does not have a clear majority, they
have to depend upon the religious party and
its ten votes to be cast with them
in order that they might remain in power
and have a majority.
And the religious men in the Knesset, those
from the religious party, charge a high price
for their support.
They force them to make certain laws that
govern the religious aspects of the people.
Now, for the most part, the people hate
these religious laws.
But there's something that they realize they have
to live with in order to keep a
government in power.
And so they live with it.
But the people really are not wild about
the religious aspects of their government.
There are only about 10 percent of the
Jews that are really religious.
And of course, they are divided into Reform,
Conservative, and Orthodox.
And of course, then in the Miasharim, you
have the Ultra-Orthodox.
But even they are of the Hasidic or
the Shefardim or the Yemenites.
And it's really a divided issue.
So when he makes his covenant, it will
not be with everyone in support of it.
But with many, the leader that arises out
of Western Europe is going to make a
covenant.
Now the covenant, or he's going to confirm
a covenant, not make one, confirm a covenant.
No doubt confirming the covenant that God established
with the nation whereby they could relate to
him by basis of the sacrifices that they
would offer.
Now, the Ultra-Orthodox desire to rebuild the
temple and begin the sacrifices again.
But you ask the most of the Jewish
people about rebuilding the temple, they'll say, oh,
I hope they don't.
Because if they rebuild the temple, then some
fool is going to want to offer a
lamb as a sacrifice.
And that would be horrible.
And that's the general opinion of the general
public.
But the Ultra-Orthodox are desiring greatly to
rebuild the temple and to begin sacrifices again.
And so that's a very divisive issue.
And so he will confirm the covenant.
That is, will allow them the right to
rebuild the temple.
Now, how can he do that with the
Dome of the Rock Mosque?
No problem.
It would appear that the site of Solomon's
temple was not there at the Dome of
the Rock Mosque as we dealt with Ezekiel
chapter 42.
But the Dome of the Rock Mosque sets
over what was the outer court of Solomon's
temple.
North of the Dome of the Rock Mosque,
a large, vast, flat area, perhaps as much
as 10 acres, in which they can easily
rebuild their temple and never disturb the holy
Muslim site.
I'm certain that this will be the suggestion.
In John's vision of the new temple, Revelation
chapter 11, where John is ordered to measure
it, the Lord said, don't measure the outer
court.
It's been given to the pagans.
In Ezekiel, when he sees the temple, he
says, and there was a wall 500 meters
to separate the holy place from the profane.
And so I believe that a wall will
be put up along the north porticles of
the Dome of the Rock Mosque and the
Jews will be allowed to rebuild their temple
and will begin their sacrifices again.
And when that covenant is confirmed by this
European leader, at that point, the last seven
-year cycle will begin the 70th seven, the
final seven-year cycle, which at the end
will bring in the everlasting kingdom.
It'll complete the whole prophetic picture and the
most holy place will be anointed and the
kingdom of God established upon the earth.
So he will make, or he will confirm
the covenant with many for one week, the
70th week or one seven-year cycle.
And in the midst of this seven-year
period, or after three and a half years,
he shall cause the sacrifice and oblations to
cease.
And for the overspreading of abominations, he shall
make it desolate even until the consummation or
the final consummation of the age.
And that which is determined shall be poured
upon the desolate.
And so this remarkable prophecy of Daniel that
deals specifically with the day of the coming
of the Messiah, and then the 70th week
takes us out to the end of this
age in the last 27th verse.
Now in chapter 10, in the third year
of Cyrus, the king of Persia, a thing
was revealed unto Daniel, whose Babylonian or Chaldean
name was Belshazzar.
And the thing was true, but the time
appointed was long and he understood the thing
and had understanding of the vision.
In those days, I, Daniel, was mourning for
three full weeks and I ate no pastries,
neither meat nor wine.
Neither did I anoint myself at all until
the three whole weeks were fulfilled.
So again, a time of special waiting upon
God, the denying of his flesh by not
eating any pastries or any meat, just on
a vegetarian type of a diet, not drinking
any wine.
And after the 21st day and in the
20th day of the first month, I was
by the side of the great river, which
is and then I lifted up my eyes
and I looked and behold a certain man
who was clothed in linen, whose loins were
girded with the fine gold of Euphrates.
His body also was like the burl and
his face as the appearance of lightning and
his eyes like lamps of fire and his
arms and his feet like in color to
polish brass and the voice of his words,
like the voice of a multitude.
And I, Daniel, alone saw the vision for
the men that were with me did not
see the vision, but a great quaking fell
on them so that they fled to hide
themselves.
Those are the kind of friends you want.
Something goes a little wrong and they flee.
And so Daniel's left alone, but as he
describes this man in linen girded with gold,
the appearance is extremely similar to John's vision
of Christ in revelation chapter one.
And if you'll put those two passages side
by side, it would appear that they are
describing the same person.
Indeed.
John said he turned to see the one
who was walking in the midst of the
seven golden candlesticks and he was clothed with
a garment down to his foot and around
the chest.
He had a golden girdle.
His head and his hair were white like
wool is white as snow.
His eyes were like flames of fire, his
feet like unto fine brass and his voice
like the sound of many waters.
And so you find it parallel descriptions.
And because of the parallel descriptions, many Bible
scholars affirm that who John actually saw here
was none other than the Lord Jesus Christ.
This also is confirmed in their minds by
the reaction that the appearance of this man
had on Daniel verse eight.
Therefore, I was left alone and saw this
great vision and there remained no strength in
me for my comeliness was turned into corruption
and I retained no strength.
The effect of seeing him, it was just
devastating to Daniel.
He would just became weakened, no strength and
his beauty just turned into corruption.
This is the effect of any man who
has a real vision of God.
Daniel said in the year that King Uzziah
died, then I saw the Lord high and
lifted up, sitting upon the throne is trained
and fill the temple.
Then said, I woe is me for I
am an I am undone.
I am a man of unclean lips.
I dwell amongst the people of unclean lips.
The effect of seeing the Lord is always
seeing yourself in the true light.
We don't see ourselves in the true light
because we see ourselves in the light of
others.
And I say, oh, I'm not so bad.
Look at him and I, and I'm comparing
myself with others.
But Jesus said, you do air in that
you compare yourself with men to see myself
in the real light.
As God sees me, I must see myself
in the light of Jesus Christ and looking
at myself in the light of Jesus Christ.
All I can do is bow my head
and say, I'm ugly.
I'm filled with corruption.
I'm unrighteous.
I'm unholy.
Oh God, depart from me.
I'm a sinful man.
As Peter declared my comeliness, my beauty was
turned into corruption and I was weak.
I was faint and I heard the voice
of his words.
And when I heard the voice of his
words, then I was in a deep sleep
on my face, my face towards the ground.
It just sort of wiped him out.
He was just down on his face in
the ground.
And John, when he saw the vision of
Christ, he fell on his face and was
as he was dead.
And so the same effect on John as
it had on Daniel here.
Now the difficulty with this bright, glorious creature
that Daniel saw as being Jesus Christ comes
in the next passage or the next portion
of the passage.
And he said unto me, O Daniel, a
man greatly beloved, understand the words that I
speak unto thee.
Well, and behold, the hand touched me and
set me on my knees and upon the
palms of my hands and said unto me,
O Daniel, a man greatly beloved, understand the
words that I speak unto thee and stand
up straight for unto thee am I now
sent.
And when he had spoken these words unto
me, I stood trembling.
And then he said unto me, fear not
Daniel, for from the first day that you
did set your heart to understand and to
chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were
heard and I am come for thy words.
But the prince of the kingdom of Persia
withstood me for twenty-one days, but lo,
Michael, one of the chief princes, came to
help me and I remained there with the
kings of Persia.
Now am I come to make thee understand
what shall befall thy people in the latter
days, for yet the vision is in the
future many days.
So I'm going to give you again an
insight.
What's going to happen to your people in
the days to come.
Now it is inconceivable that the prince of
Persia, which of course is Satan, the power
behind the earthly thrones.
You remember Satan said to Jesus, all of
the kingdoms of the earth belong to me.
They are mine.
I can give them to him.
I will.
And so even as in Ezekiel, the king
of Tyrus, Satan is addressed through the king
of Tyrus.
So Satan is referred to through the prince
of Persia, for we wrestle not against flesh
and blood, but against these principalities and powers,
these evil spirit entities that are working in
the high places of world governments.
Really, Satan is not so much interested in
you as he is in the world leaders
over which he can influence so many people
by the edicts and all of the world
rulers.
He sends out his little puny cohorts after
us, but really we're no match for them.
You're fortunate.
You never dealt with the guy himself.
You'd have no chance at all, except of
course, greater is he that is in us
than he that is in the world.
And so thank God through Christ we triumph,
but he is dealing with the world leaders.
And so this one who was dispatched to
Daniel was dispatched at the time that Daniel
began his fast, but for 21 days, he
was restrained until Michael, that great prince came
and set him free.
Now Michael is always fighting with Satan.
It seems, and he is a match for
him.
They were disputing with each other over the
body of Moses.
Remember in the book of Jude, when Michael
was disputing with Satan over the body of
Moses, Michael dared not to bring any raiding
accusation against him, but said, the Lord rebuked
thee in the book of Revelation in the
last final great battle.
Then Michael, the great prince will stand up
against Satan and fight against him and his
armies.
So this battle has been going on between
Michael and Satan.
And here this angel was held captive or
this messenger was held captive until Michael came
and delivered him.
Now those who interpret the vision to be
of Christ do see in verse 10, a
change of personages where he declares and behold,
a hand touched me.
Now we would in reading assume that that
hand was the one of the person that
he saw, but those who interpret the one
that he saw as Christ say that the
Christ came, but also other messengers, because in
chapter 12, one of the others, when he
was declaring, uh, the great tribulation that was
coming said how long until the end of
these things.
And there's conversation going on between them.
So that one of the other messengers, one
of the angels that was with Christ touched
Daniel and set him on his knees.
And it is the angel that is talking
to him from here on through the end
of the chapter.
Um, I do not believe that you can
be dogmatic on this issue.
It would certainly appear that this is the
description of Jesus Christ, especially as compared with
revelation chapter one.
And I tend to lean in that direction.
And I do see the change of persons
in verse 10, uh, it does appear that
that is likely, uh, I, there is no
other angel.
So described as, uh, is this person he's
described.
And, uh, because it's so parallels the description
of Jesus Christ, it would appear to me
that it is none other than Jesus Christ.
However, uh, that's a matter of, of opinion
and, um, you can take it for what
it's worth.
But the main thing is that Daniel is
to be given now understanding of the things
that are going to take place towards the
end.
And when he had spoken such words unto
me, I set my face toward, toward the
ground and I became dumb, speechless and behold,
one like the similitude of the sons of
men touched my lips.
You see, there are other persons here.
Then I opened my mouth and spake and
said unto him that stood before me, Oh
my Lord, by the vision, my sorrows are
turned upon me and I have retained no
strength.
I I'm wiped out God, you know, because
these visions, I just wiped out.
I, you know, don't show me anything else.
I can't take it.
I'm just, I'm totally, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm
beat.
I've had it for, how can I servant
of this?
My Lord talk with this.
My Lord for us, for me, immediately there
remained no strength in me.
Neither was there any breath left in me
remembered.
And John fell at his feet as dead.
And so he describes, I had no strength.
There was no breath.
I was just wiped out.
Then there came, then there came again and
touched me one.
And you see, there are several personages here,
like the appearance of a man.
And he strengthened me.
And he said, Oh man, greatly beloved, fear
not peace.
The unto thee be strong.
Yay.
Be strong, glorious word of faith.
And when he had spoken unto me, I
was strengthened and said, let my Lord speak
for you have strengthened me.
Daniel says, Hey, I can't talk.
I've had it.
You know, I'm wiped out.
I have no strength.
And so he touched and said, be strong,
be strong.
And he says, okay, now you can talk.
I'm strengthened.
And then he asked Daniel, do you know
why I have come to you?
Knowest thou wherefore I am coming to thee?
And now I will return to fight with
the Prince of Persia.
Hey, I'm going to head back into the
battle.
That thing was going great.
And I'm going to get back there, you
know, with the Prince of Persia.
And when I am gone forth, lo, the
Prince of Grisha shall come.
So the Prince of Persia is going to
be replaced by the Prince of Grisha.
But I will show thee that which is
noted in the scripture of truth.
There is none that holdeth with me in
these things, but Michael, your Prince.