Unlocking Daniel’s 70 Weeks Mystery

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You're gonna pay attention and I'm gonna give you great detail. You can't miss it. You can get the outlines of this podcast by going to jackhibbs.com slash podcast. Today, if this podcast lifts you up and encourages you to live a more fulfilled life in Christ, then make sure you leave us one of those five star ratings. To us, that's like saying amen or yes. Then that rating will encourage others to listen. Now open your hearts to what God's word has to say to you. Here is Jack Hibbs. Hey everybody, we are gonna be looking at one of the single most greatest prophecies given in the Bible that is so often overlooked. In fact, I don't know why except but either satanic attack or just sheer human laziness. Maybe it's a combo as to why in the world do we not hold dear more often and make louder prophecies like Genesis 315 where the Messiah is promised to come through that of a virgin woman. Why do we not publish more frequently, more often louder? Prophecies like Proverbs 30 verse four, where there the Bible announces that the Creator God who was singularly God himself, that he would have a son and that we are to know the name of his son, Proverbs 30 verse four, Old Testament. These are prophecies, why do we not know them? Why are they not, for example, one of the greatest lessons you'll learn in going to seminary or going to Bible college or whatever or church for that matter, for church. There are just overwhelming prophecies like Psalm chapter two that again tells you that God has a son and you better kiss him. The word Greek would be proskonaeo, worship him because if you don't, if you don't acknowledge him that you can garnish the wrath of Almighty God when the anger of his son is kindled, oh, but a little. Psalm two, why do we not have these as just as well known as John 316? For the life of me, I don't understand. I gotta tell you, I am so grateful that I grew up at a church that taught the entire Bible chapter by chapter, verse by verse, book by book and knew that Bible prophecy was the foundational comfort to all those who would study the Word of God because if God does not keep his prophetic promises then he's not God. Okay, if God doesn't keep his word, he's not a God to be worshiped. If the God of this book, the Bible fails in any part, then I have no God and I have no salvation, I have no savior. If God were to say that I've told you about these things in advance prophecy so that when they do happen, you might believe that I am he, John 14, 29, as well as many other scriptures. If he doesn't come true on that end, then he's worthless. I want nothing to do with them. He can't save me, he can't save you. And so here's my sarcastic conclusion on this before we dive in. If you don't understand that, if you don't believe that, then that explains why your walk might be so pathetically weak and you are so prone to fear and intimidation when you realize that the God that you claim to believe in really ain't worth a bucket of beans because he can't keep his promises. If the God of the Bible who claims to be prophetic is not, then you don't have anything. I don't know what you're doing. But I tell you what, my friend, he is the prophetic God. That's why we know that he's not the God of Hinduism. He's not the God of Buddhism. He's not the God of the cults. He's not the God of man-made Judaism. That is Judaism when it focuses on the traditions of man rather than the teachings of God and the word of God. He's not the God of Islam, that's for sure. He is not that God. The God of the Bible is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and even his promises to those three patriarchs is all based upon prophecy. So today we're gonna be looking and granted, I confess upfront, listen to me, I confess upfront and out loud, our time is limited, I'm gonna scratch the surface, but I hope it provokes you to deeper study. We are gonna be looking at what I love, what John Wolveritt, the great, great eschatology theologian from Dallas Theological Seminary, who's now in glory with Jesus. I had an opportunity to not only host him here at our church several times, but to have dinner with him, to be in his home, with him, he and his wife Geraldine. I knew him and he's just remarkable. Dr. John Wolveritt, Dr. John Wolveritt says of Daniel chapter nine, verses 24 to 27, he called it the Holy of Holies of old Bible prophecy. He said it is the most holy, the most important Bible prophecy of the mall because it cannot be refuted. In fact, it's my understanding from studying Daniel chapter nine, verses 24 to 27, that has led me to believe and to say publicly that I no longer tolerate or allow someone to say that you cannot prove the existence of God. I think that's a false statement. I think that's wrong. You can prove the existence of God. Daniel chapter nine, verses 24 to 27 proves that. So hang on, hang on. It's not gonna sound like it at first, but I'm gonna ask you to listen carefully as we unpack the Holy of Holies of Bible prophecy. Daniel chapter nine, verse 24, 70 weeks are determined for your people, the angelic manifestation, the angelic appearance is speaking to Daniel. 70 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 an 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 rebuild Jerusalem until the coming of the Messiah, the Prince, there shall be seven weeks and, or plus sign, 62 weeks. The street shall be built again and the wall even in troublesome times. And after the 62 weeks, this is key, after the 62 weeks, the segment of the 62 weeks, the 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 till the end of the war, desolations are determined. Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week. And in the midst of the week, in the middle of the week, he shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abomination shall be one who makes desolate even until the consummation, which is determined is poured out on the desolate. You might say, Jack, what in the world is going on? This is what's going on. God says to the prophet Daniel, due to Israel's disobedience and honoring the Sabbath for which I commanded them, they owe me, they owe me 490 years because they did not honor me. I will extract this out of them. They owe me 490 very specific years. Friends, just listen, mark that down. Israel, it says Israel, Daniel's holy people and Daniel's holy city, that's Jerusalem. That's Israel. 490, see wait, weeks, you said weeks. Yes, don't let that bother you. In the English, it is the word weeks, but we know this, it's Hepstead, meaning we know years. It's a cluster of, and there's several clusters. And let me point out to you what we mean by that. Number one is this, that when he says 490, in Daniel chapter nine, verse 24, write down on a piece of paper, 490, and just trust me on this for a moment. Trust me, but don't trust me. I always hate saying trust me because you shouldn't trust anybody but God, right? But go find out if this is true or not. The 490, or what is known here as 70 weeks, 70 times seven is 490. Just write that down. God says, you guys have disobeyed me, you owe me 490 years, and here's how I'm gonna get it out of you. 70 weeks are determined for your people. So Daniel was a Jew, Daniel was from Israel. Who is his people? The Jew. And for your holy city, what's Daniel's holy city? Jerusalem. To finish the transgression, he gives the list of things, again, mark it down, don't believe me. He gives a list of things that all have to do with the anointed one, the Messiah, the acts of God, no man, God, no man can do this. No man, no rabbi, no priest, no pope, no evangelist, no human can finish the transgressions, make an end of sins, are you tracking with me? To make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness. Nobody can do this, but the anointed one. To seal up vision and prophecy, wow, side note. Revelation 19 verse 10 says, Jesus Christ is the spirit of prophecy. Isn't that awesome? And to anoint the most holy, that's to bless the Father, to bless God. Verse 25, Daniel chapter nine. Know therefore, can you allow me to do this? I'm gonna make it conversational. Know therefore and understand Daniel, I'm adding that, that from the going forth of the command to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Messiah, the prince, there shall be seven weeks, seven times seven, and another calculation, 62 times seven. Pause right there. Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the commandment, what in the world is that? Daniel knows what this is. Back in the days of Nehemiah, in the Bible, Nehemiah, King Art Exertes saw Nehemiah's face and Art Exertes says, Nehemiah, why are you so sad? And he said, how can I, I'm sorry, because you know, as a cup bearer, you cannot be sad in the presence of the King. It was actually punishable by death. Nehemiah didn't even care, I guess. He's just so dejected. And Nehemiah, in the book of Nehemiah, he says, how can I be glad? I'm in exile, but that's not the big problem. The big problem that worries my heart is that my country, my city, my temple is destroyed back in Jerusalem. It's trashed. And you read the book of Nehemiah, and Art Exertes is moved with compassion and says, I'm gonna take care of this. You just have to promise me something, Nehemiah. You have to promise me that when I give you these passports and funding and permits, when you leave me, you have to promise me that you'll come back. Isn't that a beautiful thing? That this pagan Gentile King would say to Nehemiah, Nehemiah, I can't stand to see you so sad. I'm gonna issue this decree and I'm going to give you the funding, the permission, the permits to travel through the empire and make it all the way back to Jerusalem so you can survey what's going on and you can get a work party going. Guess what? Write it down. We know through archeological antiquity that Nehemiah got his paperwork signed on March 14th, 445 BC. 445 BC. March 14th, 445 BC. King Art Exertes gives Nehemiah the thumbs up to go back and to begin the restoration of the streets and of the walls of Jerusalem in the land of Israel. Watch how this works out. You've got 490 written down on your piece of paper. You've got 490 and you've got 445 BC, which is the year, which was issued on March 14th, 445 BC. That's the day the permit was issued, okay? And so he says, no, therefore, and understand that from the going forth of the command to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until, wow, listen, until the Messiah, the Prince. To my Jewish friends, I'm reading Daniel chapter nine, verse 25, in your Hebrew Bible, it is the Messiah, the anointed one. Jews, listen, I'm talking to you. Daniel 9.24 says the Messiah is coming to Jerusalem. Book of Daniel. Do you ever read the book of Daniel? Of course you don't. You've been told not to read it. Why? I know for some of you right now, some of you who are Jewish or watching me right now, you can hear your rabbi saying, this is the forbidden scriptures. Don't read them. You're not allowed to read them. I'm asking you to draw your curtains, shut the shades, and just hang on with this for a moment. Look, if a Gentile can dive into the Hebrew scriptures and let them speak for themselves, certainly a Jew can let the Hebrew scriptures speak for themselves. So we've got a permission to go back and restore Jerusalem. Until the coming of the Messiah, we're gonna hear something about time, and here it is. There shall be seven weeks, seven, seven times seven is 49. So we've got 490, 70 times seven. Now we have seven times seven is 490. Watch this. The streets shall be built again and the wall even in troublesome times. That's exactly what Nehemiah did. Read the book of Nehemiah. They had a trowel in one hand and a sword in the other hand. And after the 62 weeks, 62 times seven is 62 times seven equals 434 years. Write that out. Started out with 490. 490 are owed to me, God says. Here's how it's gonna unfold. Number one, in 49 years, there's gonna be a 49 year period of time that the streets, the walls of the city and all will be rebuilt. In the 490 cluster, when you back away the 49 and you look at the 62 times seven, that brings you to the 434 year. What's gonna happen there? And after the 62 weeks, watch this, it says the Messiah shall be cut off. What? Wait a minute. 434 years, that's the 62 weeks, plus the 49, that's 483 years. What happens in the 483rd year? From March 14th, 445 BC, God says Israel owes me 490 years. Here's how it's gonna shake out. 49 events are gonna take place. And then there's gonna be a time period of 62 times seven, that's 434 years. When you take the 430 and add the 49, you come out to 483. What about that? Who cares? In the 483rd year, the Messiah shall be cut off. Forgive my Hebrew, but the Messiah, Hamashiah shall be cut off. He shall be the Messiah of Israel. Excuse me, the anointed one will be killed for committing a capital offense. That's what it means. Why would the Messiah of Israel be charged with a capital offense? Has anything ever happened in history? Why would that happen? Well, first of all, the why is in the Bible. Has it ever happened in history? Can I just float this out to you for a moment? Do you know of any Messiah of Israel who was somehow arrested for committing a capital offense? A capital offense is that which is warranting death. What could a Jewish Messiah do to have somebody issue a decree, you're guilty of a capital offense, you must die. Wow, I mean, we need to think this through. The Messiah would not commit a crime. The Messiah is perfect. But the Bible says the Messiah is gonna be killed for committing a capital offense. That's puzzling. Well, let's just keep reading, you know. The Messiah shall be killed for committing a capital offense. Oh, I see, but not for himself. The Messiah is going to die, but he's not gonna be guilty of the crime for which he's charged. He's not gonna die for himself. The book of Daniel chapter nine, verse 26, says the Messiah is gonna die for others because they committed a capital offense. And the people of the Prince who is to come, by the way, that's one of the names referred to or given in the scriptures as the Antichrist, the coming Prince. Interesting. And the people of the Prince who is to come shall destroy the city that is Jerusalem and the sanctuary. That's temple talk. Wow. The people's Prince will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall be with the flood, with armies. Until the end of the war, desolations are determined, then he, the Prince, the Prince of the people, not the Prince of God, not the Prince of peace. Verse 27, the Prince of the people who is to come shall confirm, the word confirm is shall recognize, shall enter into an agreement, shall sign the deal, make a deal, a covenant with many for one week. That's the number seven. Like a, think of a week of years. One week would be seven years. Two weeks would be 14 years. Seven times 70 is 490 years. Seven times seven is 49 years. 62 times seven is 434 years. So the Messiah is going to be cut off, but not for himself on the 483rd year of the prophecy of Daniel chapter nine versus 24 to 27. But then there's a remaining seven years where the Prince of the people will come and he will create an agreement, a covenant with those who are the holy people or the people of Israel or the people of the city, Jerusalem. And he will make it for seven years, one week. Seven years. 483 plus seven goes back to our original number of 490. Here's where this gets fun. What I'm about to share with you, there was once something called the German School of Higher Criticism. They were theologians. And when Sir Isaac Newton began to unpack this, and then later on scholars like Sir Robert Anderson picked up on it and did more research. Yes, it's true by the way, Sir Isaac Newton covers this in his commentary in the book of Daniel. That when God said, you owe me 490 and then God breaks it up so detailed, the German School of Higher Criticism said, this is impossible. It's so detailed that it could only be written after the fact, the book of Daniel must be, the book of Daniel must not even belong to the Old Testament. It's so exact that it's gotta be falsified. And it's so exact that it's gotta be falsified. But then the Dead Sea Scrolls are found, that has all this data. But what killed them was on May 14th, 1948 when Israel became a nation in one day. As Isaiah 66 verse eight said they would, it just destroyed them. And you have never even heard of them because they just blew away in the past. They just blew away in the dust of history. They're gone because of the book of Daniel. So I wanna approach this as I think we should as big skeptics. This I know for sure. We got a prophecy here in front of us that's given to the prophet Daniel. And it is 100% true that Israel in their offense to God did not give him the Sabbaths of worship that they owed him. And so God says, I put those together and you owe me 490 years. So this is how I'm good, this is how I want payment. The payment is, I want you to pay attention. That's how you're gonna pay. You're gonna pay attention and I'm gonna give you great detail. You can't miss it. On March 14th, 445 BC, King Art Exercize is gonna give Nehemiah the permission to go back and restore and rebuild the streets and the wall of Jerusalem and to begin to rebuild. That's gonna be 49 years. There's also gonna be a section of 62 weeks time seven, which is 434 years. And when you do the math and put those two equations together, the 49 and the 434, on the 483rd year from March 14th, 445 BC, you will come to April 6th, 32 AD. Now in your notes, my friends, write this down. That's why these scientists did a great job. Leap years have got to be taken into consideration. This is not based on a Gregorian calendar, this is based on a biblical calendar, a Bible calendar from Genesis to Revelation. A year is 360 days, not 365. From Genesis to Revelation, the years are 360 day years. When you do the math to the detail, with all of the accounts that are included in that, Newton did this, Sir Robert Anderson did this, others have done this. They, listen, in fact, some of them disagree with the exact date. But the beautiful thing is they're all talking about the exact same Bible prophecy, with the exact same conclusions, but they bicker about the amount of days. And that's all based upon what is the year zero, which is a good question. This is so cool. If the Messiah was cut off, but not for himself, but for others, on the 483rd year of this prophecy, that leaves seven left. Seven left for whom? The holy city and the Jewish people. Ring a bell, seven years. The Messiah entered into Jerusalem in Matthew chapter 23 and 24. I know my Jewish friends don't wanna hear what Matthew Levi has to say. But that's okay, go ahead and read your Hebrew prophet, Zechariah chapter nine, verse nine. Go and read Psalm 118, because Zechariah 9, 9 says that Israel's Messiah will arrive presenting himself as king, riding on the back of a baby donkey that has never been ridden by anyone before, on a little colt, Zechariah 9, 9. And in Psalm 118, it was prophesied that when the Messiah would come, the people would shout, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, blessed be the son of David. The Messiah. That happened on April 6th, 32 AD. From March 14th, 445 BC, to April 6th, 32 AD. It is 483 years based on the 360 day year calendar. That's 173,880 days to the day. Which is why Jesus Christ, on the back of the donkey on Palm Sunday, said, oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, if you had only recognized this your day. Now your peace will be taken from you and you will be taken away. Your ramparts will be invaded. The temple shall be torn down. Not one stone shall be left upon another and you will go into exile until the time of the end. Friends, how long is the tribulation period recorded in the book of Revelation? Do you know how long it is? Take a wild guess. When does God get his seven years that's owed to him? When does Israel, when does the Jew, after the 483rd year for these last 2000 years, the Jews have been exiled to the four corners of the earth? But in May 14th, 1949, they've been coming back home to Israel. And since October 7th, October 7th, 2023, instead of Jews running from Israel, more Jews have moved into Israel. Why? Because the Lord's coming back soon. But something's gonna happen. Someone's going to arrive someone's going to arise, a political leader. The book of Daniel tells us chapters two, chapter seven, chapters eight, chapters 11, chapter nine, and he's gonna sign a peace agreement that's for seven years. And the book of Daniel here tells us that in the middle of the seven years, what is that, three and a half years, he's gonna break the covenant and he's going to break it in Jerusalem and he's gonna desecrate the temple. He's gonna destroy the sanctuary. Jesus talked about this in Matthew chapter 23 and 24. I just proved to you the existence of God. Go after this all you want. Study it with all the vigor that you can muster. Just know this. That from the commandment to restore and rebuild Jerusalem from March 14th, 445 BC, until the coming of the Messiah, the Prince, in the 483rd year, it would be 173,880 days. And Jesus held Israel and their spiritual leadership accountable to know the day. Some no doubt recognize the day. Some woke up in what is called Palm Sunday and said the Messiah is coming today to Israel. The Messiah is going to come. Let's go and read him. And they went out, many of them went out and shouted, Hoseanna, Hoseanna, 2000 years ago, but the nation and its religious leadership, its governing powers did not recognize him and turned away from him. In the second coming when Christ returns, where does he return to? Israel. To what city? Jerusalem. For that, read Daniel chapter 12. This Jack Hibbs podcast, as well as all the broadcast outreach opportunities that our listeners supported. Will you consider partnering with us through a special gift? Go to jackhibbs.com to learn more and stay connected.