Intro:

Most of chapter 9 is a type of prayer that Jews will pray at the end of Tribulation - Penitent Prayer. The first two verses of this chapter indicate that Daniel had been studying his Bible and particularly those prophecies that related to the destiny of his people. He was now nearly 90 years old. He was reading (Jer. 25:1-14) and the Lord caused him to see that his people would be in Babylon 70 years. Babylon invaded Palestine and began its siege in 606 B.C., and Daniel understood the prophecies in the year 539-538 B.C.; so there were but two years left in the 70 years promised by Jeremiah.

I. The Cause Of The Prayer

II. The Nature Of The Prayer

Some of the things that Daniel confesses are:

A. A departing from God's precepts (vs. 5)

The precepts of God is the final authority of His Word. Christians are no different today - how many are really willing to submit their lives to the authority-of God's Word. God commands us to:

[1]. Keep His precepts (Ps. 119:4)
[2]. To understand His precepts (Ps. 119:27)
[3]. To long after His precepts (Ps. 119:40)
[4]. To seek God's precepts (Ps. 119:45)
[5]. To meditate in them (Ps. 119:78)
[6]. Not forget them (Ps. 119:93)
[7]. To choose them (Ps. 119:173)

B. A failure to listen to the prophets of God (vs. 6)

Keep in mind that Daniel had been studying Jeremiah who had Personally preached to three different Jewish kings, none of which heeded the message of the prophet of God. See Jer. 21,25, 36,38. God's people have always had trouble accepting the message of God's prophets (Lk. 13:33,34).

C. The sins of the judges and judicial system of the land (vs. 12)

(See Jer. 5:25-31; Isa. 1:23-27)

 

III. The Results Of Sin

B. Scattering and curse (vs. 7,11)

This scattering was first prophesied in (Deut. 28). It was a direct result of disobedience.

C. Jerusalem was downtrodden (vs. 16,19)

Jerusalem had been a city of great privileges. At one time it was the religious, economic, educational and political capital of the world. (Jer. 52) gives us a brief picture of the overthrow of Jerusalem and the desperate condition it was left in.

 

IV. The Plea For Mercy - (9:16-19)

The Seventy Weeks-9:20-27

Intro:

Daniel is about to receive some of the greatest information that has ever been revealed to mankind. He is to receive the timetable of prophecy.

I. The Prayer Delayed

II. The Vision Revealed

Now for the outline of the 490 years. (Vs. 25) tells us that the event that will trigger the 490 years is a decree permitting the Jews to go back to Jerusalem and rebuild the city. (It is interesting that the event that will trigger the last 7 years of this period will be the covenant of the Anti-Christ to protect the Jews. We find a decree at the beginning and the end of the 490 years.) History tells us there were four different decrees relating to Jerusalem: Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes all make decrees concerning the rebuilding of the temple (Ezra 1:6-7); and Artaxerxes decreed that Nehemiah could return to rebuild the city (Neh. 2). This was 445 B.C. and it is the decree (Dan. 9:25) is talking about; it took place nearly 100 years after Daniel received the message from God. Gabriel said that there would be "seven weeks and threescore and two weeks" (69 x 7 - 483 years) between the giving of the decree and the arrival of the Messiah, The Prince, in Jerusalem. Keep in mind that prophetic years" in the Bible are not 365 days, but 360 days long. It has been calculated by scholars that there were exactly 483 prophetic years between the decree in 445 B.C. and the very day that Jesus rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday!

But Gabriel divided these 483 years into two parts - seven weeks ( 7 x 7 = 49 years) and threescore and two weeks (62 x 7 = 434 years). Why? Well, it took 49 years from the time of the decree to rebuild Jerusalem; and this was done "in troublous times." Read Nehemiah and see how difficult a task it was to restore the city. Then, 434 years later we come to the Messiah, The Prince, who is "cut off" (His death on the cross) for the sins of the world., It was His death on the cross that accomplished the purposes given in (vs. 24). What followed His death? Did Israel accept Him and His message? No! They lied about Him, persecuted His messengers, stoned Stephen, and refused to acknowledge His Lordship. What happened? Rome came and destroyed the city and wrecked the temple. The nation "cut off" Jesus Christ, so He cut them off from from being a nation! Until May 14, 1948, Israel was not a free nation.

Rome is called "the people of the prince that shall come." Who is this prince? Not "Messiah the Prince" because that refers to Christ. "The prince that shall come" is Anti-Christ! 'He will be the leader of the restored Roman Empire. So, the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. was but an illustration of a future invasion and destruction to be led by Anti-Christ. This prince will make an agreement with the Jews to protect them from the other nations and this agreement will be set for seven years. This final seven years is the completion of Daniel's 490 year period.

Four decrees that have to do with rebuilding Jerusalem:

536 B.C. (Ez. 1:1-4)
519 B.C. (Ez. 6:1-12)
458 B.C. (Ez. 7:7)
445-6 B.C. (Neh. 2:1-8) Christ is 33 1/2 years old from this date!

NOTE: Between the death of Christ and the signing of this covenant you have the entire Age of the Church, a "great parenthesis" in God's program. The 490 years are in operation only when Israel is in God's will as God's people. When Israel crucified Christ, she was set aside and the "prophetic clock" stopped ticking. But when the church has been caught away to heaven and the Anti-Christ signs his pact with Israel, then the last seven years of Daniel's "70 weeks" will start being fulfilled. This seven year period is know as the Tribulation or the Time of Jacob's Trouble. It is described in Rev. 6-19.