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[0:00] Well, we are going to turn to our Bibles now. Paul Brennan is leading us through these latter chapters of the book of Daniel. And we've come this evening to Daniel chapter 9.

[0:13] A long chapter and not a very straightforward chapter, certainly towards the end. So I'm glad it's Paul and not me this evening. But I am going to read for us.

[0:27] Daniel chapter 9, beginning at verse 1 and reading right through the chapter. In the first year of Darius, the son of Ahasuerus, by descent Amid, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans, in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, perceived in the books the number of years that, according to the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet, must pass before the end of the desolations of Jerusalem.

[1:01] Namely, 70 years. Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy, with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.

[1:14] I prayed to the Lord my God and made confession, saying, O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments.

[1:27] We have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules. We have not listened to your servants, the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.

[1:47] To you, O Lord, belongs righteousness. But to us, open shame. As at this day, to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, those who are near and those who are far away, in all the lands to which you have driven them, because of the treachery that they have committed against you.

[2:11] To us, O Lord, belongs open shame to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against you. To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against them and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God by walking in his laws, which he set before us by his servants, the prophets.

[2:35] All Israel has transgressed your laws and turned aside, refusing to obey your voice. And the curse and the oath that are written in the law of Moses, the servant of God, have been poured out upon us because we have sinned against him.

[2:55] He has confirmed his words, which he spoke against us and against our rulers who ruled us, by bringing upon us a great calamity. For under the whole heaven, there has not been done anything like what has been done against Jerusalem.

[3:13] As it is written in the law of Moses, all this calamity has come upon us. Yet, we have not entreated the favor of the Lord our God, turning from our iniquities and gaining insight by your truth.

[3:31] Therefore, the Lord has kept ready the calamity and has brought it upon us. For the Lord our God is righteous in all the works that he has done, and we have not obeyed his voice.

[3:42] And now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and have made a name for yourself, as at this day we have sinned, we have done wickedly.

[3:58] O Lord, according to all your righteous acts, let your anger and your wrath turn away from your city Jerusalem, your holy hill.

[4:10] because for our sins and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and your people have become a byword among all who are around us.

[4:22] Now therefore, O our God, listen to the prayers of your servant and to his pleas for mercy. And for your own sake, O Lord, make your face to shine upon your sanctuary, which is desolate.

[4:37] O my God, incline your ear and hear open your eyes and see our desolations and the city that is called by your name. For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy.

[4:56] O Lord, hear. O Lord, forgive. O Lord, pay attention and act. Delay not for your own sake. O my God.

[5:08] Because your city and your people are called by your name. While I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my plea before the Lord my God for the holy hill of my God, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at first, came to me in swift flight at the time of the evening sacrifice.

[5:36] He made me understand, speaking with me and saying, O Daniel, I have now come to give you insight and understanding. At the beginning of your pleas for mercy, a word went out, and I have come to tell you, for you are greatly loved.

[5:53] Therefore, consider the work, the word, and understand the vision. Seventy weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to appoint a most holy place.

[6:26] Know, therefore, and understand that from the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a prince, there shall be seven weeks.

[6:39] Then for 62 weeks, it shall be built again with squares and moat, but in troubled time. And after the 62 weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing.

[6:56] And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war.

[7:11] And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator.

[7:35] Amen. And may God bless to us his word. Well, good evening folks.

[7:46] Please do turn your Bibles if you have them with you to Daniel chapter 9. And we're picking up our series from last Sunday morning. We were in chapters 7 and 8 the previous weeks.

[7:57] And now chapter 9. So please have that open in front of you. That'll be a real help. Will God keep his promises to a wayward people in a dark and difficult world?

[8:16] Will it all be okay in the end? That is the question at the very heart of Daniel's prayer here in this chapter. And essentially Daniel asks, is there hope for us in exile?

[8:32] Will you bring an end to this exile and return us to Jerusalem? And the answer Daniel gets is yes, but.

[8:44] Yes, but it's perhaps not the answer that Daniel was expecting. The answer he gets is massive in scope. Daniel is told that God is faithful and would bring about an end to the exile.

[9:01] Not just a return to Jerusalem but an end to the greater exile that began when humanity was sent east out of Eden. The answer that is given to Daniel here is the answer to all of humanity's deepest prayers.

[9:19] It gives the answer to our deepest prayers because it deals with our most fundamental problem. Our greatest need which is atonement for sin. And it shows us the source of that answer.

[9:33] the gospel of Jesus Christ himself. God's faithfulness and his mercy blow us away in this chapter and they call us not only to repent but to persevere.

[9:50] This is a hugely significant chapter not just for Daniel but for the whole Bible. Its message would have brought great comfort and perspective and strengthening for Daniel.

[10:05] And it brings comfort, perspective and strengthening for us today. And we look at it under three points. Firstly revelation. So verses 1 and 2 we see that God's word reveals the realities of his faithfulness and of our sin.

[10:25] God's word reveals. Now Daniel finds himself here at the start of this chapter in turbulent times. It is we are told in verse 1 the first year of Darius.

[10:41] The Babylonian empire has been crushed and the Mede Persian empire has begun. You can read about that changeover in Daniel chapter 5 and 6.

[10:53] You see the transfer from Babylon to the Mede and Persian empire. And Daniel is caught up in the midst of all this. These were not easy days for God's faithful servants.

[11:06] We don't know the precise chronology of events but this prayer and the vision we see in this chapter they take place in the very same year as Daniel chapter 6.

[11:18] You'll know there the story of Daniel's senior position in the empire and the jealousy and the plotting of his colleagues who somehow managed to persuade Darius to enact a law that bans all prayer apart to himself as the king.

[11:35] But Daniel prays to the God of Israel anyway. And perhaps this is the very prayer here in Daniel 9 that Daniel was praying in chapter 6. He opened his windows three times a day and prays towards Jerusalem.

[11:49] But his actions his persistence to pray to the God of Israel will end up in the den of lions in Daniel 6.

[12:03] Perhaps this is the very prayer that those who are plotting against him heard him pray. But his actions although ending him up in the den of lions he was wonderfully rescued wasn't he?

[12:16] God delivered him from the lion's den. But that is the sort of pressure that Daniel was under. That was the world he was living in. Still in exile still a long way from home under another empire.

[12:33] But notice what Daniel is doing in the midst of these turbulent times in the midst of great pressure notice what Daniel has been doing here in verses 1 and 2. He's been reading his Bible.

[12:44] Look at verse 2. In the first year of his reign I Daniel perceived in the books the number of years according to the word of the Lord to Jeremiah.

[12:57] He had been reading the scriptures. And when we are in difficult times when hardship comes for us as individuals or as a church the source of solace and sanity is to be found only in the scriptures.

[13:14] Now I don't expect any of us will experience the levels of hardship and pressure that Daniel experienced. I don't suppose many of us will face the prospect of death in a den of lions.

[13:30] But we would do well to do as he does and immerse ourselves in the scriptures to seek out the answers it gives to the stresses and strains of life that we face.

[13:41] There is no better place to go. There is no other place to go. Daniel in the midst of all the stresses and strains of living in the empire of Babylon and now Persia he studies the scriptures.

[13:59] And verse 2 he perceived there that according to the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet the years that must pass before the end of the desolations of Jerusalem namely 70 years.

[14:12] Now what's this referring to? What has Daniel been reading there in this Bible? Well he must have been reading Jeremiah chapter 25 and chapter 29.

[14:22] Let me read a couple of verses from those chapters no need to turn it up but here's what Daniel would have been reading. So Jeremiah 25 verse 11 this whole land that is Israel Jerusalem shall become a ruin and a waste and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon 70 years then after the 70 years are completed I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation for their iniquity.

[14:50] Jeremiah 29 verse 10 when 70 years are completed for Babylon I will visit you and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place for I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord plans for welfare and not for evil to give you a future and a hope.

[15:12] That is what Daniel's been reading in Jeremiah and here he is 70 years have almost passed Babylon is no longer you read about that in chapter 5 of Daniel and so the obvious question for Daniel as he has read God's word observed the world around him is this is now the time was God about to restore his people to Jerusalem just as the prophets have promised surely the end of exile is near Daniel thinks surely this was a time for joy and celebration for Daniel anticipation for all the exiles the time is nearly up the 70 years are nearly passed but that isn't what we see is it in the rest of the chapter we don't see joy and anticipation yes God is faithful he's made his promises he's promised to bring an end to the exile but

[16:14] God's word also reveals our sin and that is why we read what we read in verse 3 verse 3 of Daniel this chapter tells us something very different to what we might expect look at it there then I turned my face to the Lord God seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes so we've seen first in verses 1 and 2 God's revelation his great promises but secondly we see here repentance God's faithful servant throws himself upon God's mercy you see confession for sin is the keynote of this prayer and as we'll see that is always the right response to God's revelation the right response to God's word to his promises is to pray and repent but why does Daniel in light of this promise we just read in Jeremiah the promise of 70 years which is pretty much up why does Daniel repent rather than rejoice well he repents

[17:32] I think because he's not just been reading Jeremiah Daniel clearly knows and understands the book of Moses that is Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers Deuteronomy he's been reading those books it's all over this prayer God's covenant promises and the law and the prophets is all over this prayer he's read and understood in particular Deuteronomy chapters 28 and 29 which set out to God's people the blessings of God's wonderful covenant and also the cursors Daniel knew because he's read Deuteronomy that if God's people were unfaithful if they disobeyed God's word if they acted wickedly and turned aside from his commandments if they turned aside from his rules there would only be one outcome the exile of God's people from the land of promise and that's exactly what's happened that's why Daniel is where he is that is why he's living in Babylon God has kept his promise if you disobey you will go into exile look at verse 11 here in the prayer all Israel has transgressed your law and turned aside refusing to obey your voice and the curse and oath that are written in the law of Moses the servant of God have been poured out upon us because we've sinned against him they're in exile because God has done just what he said he would do but Deuteronomy spoke not only of judgment that would come upon God's people when they rebelled it spoke also of the promise of a new beginning for Israel beyond sin and judgment when they experienced the wrath of God and repented of their sins turning to God among the exiles where the Lord had scattered them the Lord would restore their fortunes and once again return them to the land that is in the covenant promises when you're in exile and you repent

[19:38] I will bring you back but you see God's people although in exile they had not repented that is the central issue in the prayer look at verse 13 this is the key as it is written in the law of Moses there it is again he's been steeped in the scriptures as it's written in the law of Moses all this calamity has come upon us yet we have not entreated the favor of the Lord our God turning from our iniquities and gaining insights by your truth yes God promised an end to exile but exile would only be reversed when the people of God repented for their sins and Daniel says we haven't yet repented do you see why Daniel is so grieved do you see why he is in sackcloth and ashes yes

[20:43] Jeremiah has promised 70 years of exile yes that 70 years is almost up but God's people couldn't presume on God he would bring an end to exile if they learnt the lesson of exile exile was a long and a painful punishment a long and painful lesson to restore his people but it's a restoration that can only come about as God's people repent and as Daniel says they haven't they haven't repented they have stubbornly refused to learn the lesson it's a warning isn't it I think to us to learn the lessons of the Lord's loving discipline we do face hard times difficult times perhaps perhaps even this evening you feel as if you're in the depths of sorrow and despair you feel like the weight is on your shoulders it is worth considering might this possibly be the Lord's wake up call for you is he wanting you to learn the lesson and turn to him if you're not a

[22:03] Christian here this evening then the Bible tells you that you are in bondage to sin you are in exile from God and he would love nothing more than for you to turn and repent and he will restore you if you're a Christian here this evening is the Lord seeking your attention is he wanting to wake up and hear the warning and turn again to him and as we read this chapter we might well be tempted to think that God's people there in exile are they a bit dense are they stupid they've experienced the shocking horrors of exile and they still hadn't learnt we might think if I'd been there I would have learned the lesson sure I wouldn't still be stumbling around refusing to repent I would have learned the lesson well I wouldn't be so sure

[23:03] I think we're often like this stubborn and foolish slow to learn from the Lord's discipline in our lives but you see he disciplines us to restore us and to drive us to repentance that is part of the purpose of this exile it was to teach God's people so that they would turn and repent and be restored but Daniel you see Daniel has we've seen all the way through Daniel's book Daniel has been faithful he has been all the way through and he has learned the lesson he is faithful and he seeks the Lord's favor here not only for himself but for all the Lord's people he flings himself upon God's grace look at his petition he's poured out confession in the first half of his prayer he hides nothing talks again and again about their shortcomings their failures their rebellion but look at his petition from verse 16 here's his request

[24:18] O Lord according to your righteous acts let your anger and your wrath turn away from your city Jerusalem your holy hill because for our sins and for the iniquities of our fathers Jerusalem and your people have become a byword among those who are around us now therefore O God listen to the prayer of your servant and to his pleas for mercy and for your own sake O Lord make your face to shine upon your sanctuary which is desolate O my God incline your ear in here open your eyes and see our desolations and the city that is called by your name for we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness but because of your great mercy O Lord hear O Lord forgive O Lord pay attention and act delay not for your own sake O my God because your city and your people are called by your name you see the basis for Daniel's plea is not self is it he's not asking for himself nor is it primarily for the people of

[25:35] God either no it's for the Lord himself and his name and his glory that is the driving force behind this petition notice the repeated emphasis on your city your holy hill your people your sanctuary your name your great mercy for your own sake for your name see Daniel is appealing to the Lord's reputation for the glory of the Lord's name that is Daniel's primary concern in this prayer prayer and he asked the Lord to show the greatness of his grace to vindicate the honor of his name and to do that the Lord Daniel appeals to him that he would once again redeem his people and restore them to his favor by doing that your name will be glorified that's Daniel's prayer and he prays with confidence that God would hear his prayer show favor to his people and restore

[26:41] Jerusalem Daniel asks will you Lord fulfill your promises and bring an end to exile not for our sake but for the glory of your name that is the essence of Daniel's prayer that's his request and the answer the answer Daniel gets is mind-blowing it's an astonishing response the answer has universal and eternal implication because the answer isn't just dealing with this return to Jerusalem for those exiles living in the 6th century BC it's much much bigger than that as we'll see this is a huge answer to Daniel's prayer so we've seen God's revelation and Daniel's repentance but lastly we see rescue God graciously promises to end the exile through his promised

[27:42] Messiah verse 20 to the end it's whilst Daniel is praying verse 20 it's in the midst of his prayer that he receives an answer from the angel Gabriel look at verse 24 here's the the contents the big idea of the answer Gabriel says verse 24 70 weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city to finish the transgression to put an end to sin and to atone for iniquity to bring an end to bring everlasting righteousness to seal both vision and prophet and to anoint a most holy place what Gabriel brings news of here is astonishingly wonderful but there is a but as we'll see the wonderful news is that God is going to fulfill all his glorious promises and deal finally with humanity's exile once and for all you see

[28:50] God's answer here is dealing with a much bigger exile you see this is promising a final dealing with humanity's exile from Eden caused by sin this is bigger than 70 years in Babylon just notice what's promised there in verse 24 to finish transgression to put an end to sin to atone for iniquity to bring everlasting righteousness to seal both vision and profit in other words to bring about the fulfillment of all that we see in the scriptures and to anoint a most holy place those are big issues those are massive promises and all these things we see in verse 24 we know as we look back in time as we look back to the work of the Lord

[29:52] Jesus Christ through his death and resurrection all these things occurred through the coming of the promised Messiah the Lord Jesus Christ he put an end to sin he atoned for iniquity he brings everlasting righteousness he was the fulfillment of the scriptures he is the holy place he is God incarnate the second person of the trinity verse 24 anticipates and looks forward to the coming Messiah this is bigger than a return to Jerusalem this is huge this is the culmination of all the promises of the scriptures and it's a promised Messiah we see in the text itself it promises an anointed one a Messiah notice verse 26 the coming of the anointed one and again anointed one shall be cut off there is a promised one anointed one coming do you see the magnitude of what is being revealed to Daniel here

[31:02] God's final and complete answer to the deepest problems that humanity faces has been revealed to Daniel and it's bigger as we've seen than a return to Jerusalem it's bigger than rebuilding of the temple it is the coming of the promised one the one long promised who would crush Satan and deal with sin and bring people back into a relationship with God forever that is the scale and the magnitude of this answer to Daniel's prayer but there are some buts and both are to do with timing the first but relates to the implications for Daniel and for his generation and the ones that would follow and the second but relates to us so first the first but yes the answer to Daniel's plea is bigger and more wonderful than he would have expected but it was not going to be immediate it wasn't going to be instant notice the very first couple of words in verse 24 70 weeks are decreed 70 sevens you see the promise fulfillment that Gabriel speaks of here of the new covenant which Jeremiah promised that's what we see in verse 24 these wonderful promises they will not arrive at the end of these 70 years of exile in fact that period of judgment is part of a much larger plan which will not be completed in 70 years but in 70 weeks 70 sevens see the exile was going to be multiplied seven times again as God's word in Leviticus promised if you do not repent it will be multiplied seven times

[33:05] God was delaying the restoration of Israel for quite some time hundreds of years in fact until the coming of Jesus Christ now I'm not going to go down the rabbit hole of interpretation here if you were to take the time and consult the commentaries you'll see that they present six seven eight nine ten more interpretations of understanding these 70 weeks in these verses so I'm not going to unpack all of that because we'll be here all night but these different interpretations try to align different periods of time with particular historical events and there's lots of different ways of trying to understand it I'm not going to go there let's stick to what is clear and hopefully not miss the big points of this chapter if you want to go into all that feel free you can go and look the commentaries up and knock yourself out but let's not miss the big point you see this promised restoration this wonderful restoration that's promised in verse 24 these huge promises being promised here to

[34:20] Daniel the end of sin everlasting righteousness that great restoration that great answer is going to come in three stages says Gabriel to Daniel first in the first half of verse 25 we have seven sevens so these 70 weeks these 70 times sevens are split into three sections and the first is seven sevens and this would run from the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until its completion and so Daniel's request for the restoration of Jerusalem is going to be met God's people would return to Jerusalem they would rebuild the temple and they would restore partially the city you can read about that in Ezra and Nehemiah so there was at least in the short term some sort of fulfillment of the promised return from exile and this period of restoration and the subsequent 62 weeks that's stage two after the city has been rebuilt it would be a time of trouble look at verse 25 know therefore and understand that from the going out of the word to restore and build

[35:40] Jerusalem to the coming of anointed one a prince there shall be seven weeks then for 62 weeks it shall be built again with squares and a moat but in a troubled time so it's going to be a long period where things are not going to be straightforward there's going to be a troubled time for God's people for Jerusalem it's not going to be easy it's only after that verse 26 after the 62 weeks only then will the messianic ruler the promised anointed one make his appearance and at the end of all that we have the 70th week that's stage three only then with the coming of the promised messiah the lord jesus christ with the final fulfillment of all that's promised in verse 24 come to be but even then it's not straightforward and we'll think about the second but which relates to us in just a second but you see the implications for

[36:44] Daniel the full restoration of God's people to the land it's not going to be fully realized yet Daniel there's going to be a long period seven times seven weeks and then a multiple beyond that 62 sets of seven there's going to be a long stretch over 400 years until the promised Messiah comes it's going to be a long and difficult time for God's people so yes what Daniel is being revealed here it's wonderful it's huge but it's going to take a while it's going to be a long time so that's the but for Daniel and the generations to come yes I will fulfill my promises but it's going to take a while it's going to be difficult but the second but relates especially to us this coming of the Messiah in that last week the 70th week it's not straightforward like the 69 weeks before it the final week will be no easier perhaps even more difficult we're being shown that

[37:55] Jesus coming his fulfillment of all the promises of the scriptures it's a coming in stages Jesus has begun his kingdom he's inaugurated it but he's not yet fully consummated it this 70th week which began with Jesus earthly ministry some 2000 years ago is not yet complete and of the death but there will be a long period of distress and difficulty until the end comes and Jesus returns to bring his kingdom in all its fullness we're still living in the midst of this last week Christ has not yet returned so let's unpack this final 70th week and obviously these weeks are not literal it would have finished a long time ago if it were but it's a figure of speech so let's unpack this last stage the 70th week here in Daniel chapter 9 and we're looking here at verses 26 and 27 let me read it again for us and after the 62 weeks an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing and the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary its end shall come with a flood and to the end there shall be war desolations are decreed and he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week and for half of the week shall be put an end for sacrifice and offering and on the wing of abomination shall come one who makes desolate until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator now I think these two verses verses 26 and 27 they do not read as a continual chronological account but rather two accounts of the same events so verses 26 and 26 verses 26 and 27 are on parallel they're covering the same events over twice so in verse 26 when the anointed one the

[40:10] Messiah when Jesus finally arrives he was indeed cut off verse 26 he was crucified on the cross and left with nothing and that same moment is I think referred to in verse 27 where you see there it talks about the putting to an end of sacrifice and offering that is another reference to the sacrifice of Christ on the cross he put an end once and for all he was the final sacrifice for sin he put an end to it you see Jesus coming is God's ultimate answer to the problem of human sin Jesus with his ultimate sacrifice paid the ultimate price the final penalty for sin he will bring atonement for sin that's what we're seeing here in these verses and Jesus is the one verse 27 who makes the strong covenant with many and I think given that that Daniel's prayer is rooted in the covenant promises of God it makes sense to understand this covenant in verse 27 as being the new covenant anticipated by Jeremiah the blessings of which we see in verse 24

[41:24] Jesus the one who brings this final covenant for the people of God and after the Messiah is cut off look at verse 26 after he's cut off the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary I think this must most likely refer to the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in AD 70 it's a destruction that Jesus himself warns of in Matthew 23 and these events surrounding the destruction of Jerusalem are again referred to I think in verse 27 where it mentions on the wings of abominations see following Jesus death and the destruction of Jerusalem there is more difficulty to come that isn't the end of the matter but the difficulties to come are limited notice at the end of verse 26 to the end there shall be war desolations are decreed and again in verse 27 on the wing of abomination shall come one who makes desolate until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator in other words the end has not yet come and until the end there will be war there will be a desolator and he will be active until the end and the thing is friends we're not there yet we are not yet at the end we have not reached the end of this final week in Daniel's vision we are in that 70th week

[43:11] Christ has come he has put an end to sin but until the end there will be war and we are living in these end times we are living in the second half of the 70th week and so alongside the glorious realities of the coming of Jesus the Messiah what we're being told here what Daniel is being shown what we're being taught we've been told of the patience the steadfastness that will be required as we live on in the 70th week it is a week it is a week in which there will be war until the end and so we are to patiently endure in this world as we wait but we wait as those who can look ahead to the glorious fulfillment when the end is poured out on the desolator the great enemy of God's people will meet an end that's what Daniel's been shown here there is a date in the diary there is an immovable date when the enemy of God's people will be finally destroyed so will everything be okay will it all be alright well this vision is showing us that it will in the end there will be an end we can look ahead to when all the glorious realities of verse 24 will be fully and finally realized all the glorious things we read about there they will come and what a day that will be on that day all of our transgression will be finally finished all our sin ended our wickedness atoned for and our eternal righteousness assured forever on that day we will reign with

[45:07] Jesus forever in the new Jerusalem with our God that is what we've been shown here that is the future that awaits God's people and isn't this message one that we all all of us needs to hear like Daniel we are far from home we face many difficulties but those difficulties they ought to drive us mustn't they to God's revelation and to repentance and as we do that we are given gracious assurance of the great rescue achieved for us in the gospel of Jesus Christ we have a hope for the future because the 70th week has already started and there is nothing there is nothing in this world that can stop Jesus completing what he has started and so what Daniel looks forward to here hundreds of years ahead we look back on and we can know that the 70th week has begun and so it will be completed and even though

[46:16] God's people must endure a prolonged period of persecution this last week may be very long our ultimate deliverance it will be glorious and this is what awaits God's people there will be an end so let's keep going do not lose hope well let me pray and we'll sing Father we thank you for this chapter difficult as it is to get our heads around but I do pray that we would go away with a message ringing in our ears that you are the one who is sovereign in history you are in control and the end is assured so help us to be a people of hope and of steadfastness in these last days help us we ask in Jesus name

[47:16]  Amen keep saying thank you AND I am you do do love for you um and that you and that you would keep saying and this is you King you do