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CORE Evangelism School

A God Worth Knowing

Dee Casper

01 The God Who Hears and Knows

02 The Problem of Evil: Does God Care?

03 The Faith of Jesus

04 Are We In This Thing Alone?

05 A New Covenant Experience

06 Bad Religion

07 The Reminder of Your Value

09 A Matter of Life or Death

10 Unquenchable Love

12 A God Who is Always on Time

13 The Gospel in Types and Symbols

15 Last Church Standing

16 An Abundant Life

18 Why God Won’t Leave

19 Jesus Understands

17 A Voice of Reason

14 The Coming Crisis

08 Building a House for My Wife

11 A New Birth

Oh, sweet Jesus, thank you that you truly are a God who's always on time.

And I pray as we reflect upon the prophecies concerning the coming of the Messiah, Lord, that you would bless us, the first coming of the Messiah, and that you would just overwhelm us with how trustworthy and awesome your word is and how trustworthy and awesome you are.

So keep me from getting in your way and bless us, I pray.

So we're gonna be looking at 1 of the most amazing prophecies that relates to the life and ministry of Jesus that was literally written hundreds of years before Jesus came to earth.

And it laid out his whole ministry to a tee, So I hope that you're blessed by this.

In the book of Daniel 8 and verse 14, we see the longest time prophecy given in the entire Bible.

In Daniel 8 and verse 14, it says, and he said to me, for 2, 300 days, then the sanctuary will be cleansed.

2300 days and the sanctuary will be cleansed.

What we do know is it has to do with the sanctuary.

And if you remember from our third meeting together, if it has to do with the sanctuary, then that means it has to do with the life and ministry of who?

When you hear about the sanctuary, it's teaching you about Jesus, about His ministry, His life, and His purpose.

And so it's gonna have something to do with the plan of salvation, and we know that much.

And as we've covered in a previous night, when prophetic timelines like this are given, they use a day for a year.

So it's actually a 2300 year prophecy, which is massive.

So what we're gonna do now is read the following verses after Daniel's given this allusion to this point.

In Daniel chapter 8, what happens right before he's told this is he's given a vision of a ram and a he-goat.

We alluded to this in a previous night together, how there's kind of this war between a ram and a he goat, and the goat wins, and then the 4 horns of the ram eventually turn into 1 small horn that's wreaking havoc.

And that vision concludes, and when Daniel's seeking understanding on that vision, an angel is sent to give an interpretation.

And 1 of the things that's mentioned to him at the conclusion of that is 2, 300 days until the sanctuary is cleansed.

We'll deal with that topic more tomorrow night, this idea of the cleansing of the sanctuary.

And then it goes on for further interpretation, and that's here now in Daniel 8, beginning of verse 16.

So, I heard a man's voice between the banks of the Ely, who called and said, Gabriel, make this man understand the vision.

This word understand is very important in Daniel 8 and Daniel 9.

So he came near where I stood, and when I came I was afraid, and I fell on my face.

But he said to me again, understand, son of man, that the vision refers to the time of the end.

There's 2 aspects to the vision he has in Daniel 8.

There's the vision of the saints being persecuted and trampled and this havoc that's being wreaked, and there's also the time period of the 2300 days or years.

These 2 things he doesn't quite know what to do with.

So the vision regarding the havoc of the people is to the time of the end and then the vision of the evenings and mornings which is the second part the 2300 days which was told is true.

He's not really given an interpretation about that time period just the fact that it's true and it says Therefore seal up the vision for it refers to many days in the future.

And I, Daniel, fainted and was sick for days.

Afterward I arose and went about the king's business.

I was astonished by the vision, but how many people understood it?

There's a physical reaction to how overwhelmed he is.

So, Gabriel helps in Daniel 8, but he still doesn't understand all of what's going on here.

And so in chapter 9, Daniel chapter 9 begins with this long, passionate prayer from Daniel, pleading with God to intervene on behalf of his people.

He's praying, you know, that God would forgive their sins, that he would be faithful and keep covenant with his people.

Just this passionate prayer that I'd encourage you to read at another time, the beginning of Daniel 9.

And then at the conclusion of that prayer, I mean, Part of the vehemency and part of the tenacity and urgency for his prayer in Daniel 9 is that he doesn't understand what's going on in Daniel 8.

He knew from reading the books of Jeremiah that they would be in captivity in Babylon for 70 years.

But then he's given this picture, this prophecy, that after 2, 300 years then the sanctuary is going to be cleansed.

And he's thinking, well, well, you mean we have to stay longer?

And so out of that kind of fear and anxiety, he's just praying his guts out in Daniel chapter 9.

It's a whole other story that I wish I could go into and study.

So now let's look at what he's praying about and what happens after his prayer is over, specifically the interpretation he's given.

So in verse 20, now while I was speaking, praying, and 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, in the very moment while I'm praying, the man Gabriel whom I'd seen in the vision at the beginning, Daniel 8, being caused to fly swiftly, reached me about the time of the evening offering.

And he informed me and talked with me and said, O Daniel, I have now come forth to give you skill to do what?

At the beginning of your supplications, a command went out, and I've come to tell you that you are greatly beloved." I love this.

In the moments of Daniel's stress and anxiety and not understanding, God sends an angel to help him understand and to remind him that even if you don't understand what I'm doing or what I've said, what you will be able to understand is you're loved.

You are greatly beloved and that heaven desires to help you because as soon as he prayed, the angel shows up and the angel tells him at the very beginning of your prayer I was dispatched.

So even if we don't understand all what's going on right now and Daniel didn't either so don't feel bad.

You know people weren't gonna understand this until after Daniel's dead and gone for years.

But in this circumstance the good news I can take from this is when we're overwhelmed and we don't know what's going on Heaven's listening to us Heaven hears those passionate prayers and they're willing to help us They're willing to send angels to help us and they want us to know that we are greatly beloved.

That's something we can't lose sight of, even though we're looking at difficult prophecies.

Therefore, consider the matter and understand the vision.

Now, part of the issue we need to understand here is that there is no vision in Daniel 9.

Daniel 9 begins with a prayer, and then in verse 20, he's interrupted at the end of his prayer by an angel showing up.

So the only vision then that they're telling him about is going to be the vision in Daniel 8 that he didn't understand.

This is why that word understand is a bridge between Daniel 8 and Daniel 9.

He's given a vision and he doesn't understand.

He's praying his guts out for his people and an angel shows up and says, I've come to help you understand the vision.

There's no vision in Daniel 9, so the only vision he can be talking about is the vision he didn't understand that's still unresolved from Daniel 8.

Now, in verse 24, so the vision we're talking about specifically is this 2300 days.

He doesn't know what's going on with this and what it means.

So in verse 24, Now he's going to give him some information about that vision to help him understand it, but he doesn't give him all of it.

Okay, so now in verse 24, it says that 70 weeks are determined.

Now the word that's used here is the word shittak, which means to cut off or to amputate.

So what he's implying is 70 years of this 2, 300 years you don't understand, 70 weeks of that timeline I should say, are going to be cut off for your people.

For the Holy City to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up vision of prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy.

Know therefore and understand that from the going forth to command and restore and rebuild Jerusalem until, so from 1 thing until another thing, from the command to restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, there should be 7 weeks and 62 weeks.

The street should be built again and the wall even in troublesome times.

We'll get into the details here in a moment, but here's the first thing we know from what we're reading.

That 70 weeks of time are going to be cut off from this larger time period.

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Series

A God Worth Knowing

12 A God Who is Always on Time

Transcript

Parent Series

Sponsor

Recorded

Hands-Free Operation

56m

God is Love?

10-The Return of the King

55m

Unlocking the Mysteries of the Sanctuary

20 The Judgment Continued Phase 2

50m

Does God Care? - Part 1

1h 8m

The Sanctuary, God's Answer to the Sin Problem

Why Jesus Waits

1h

Loss

41m

A God Worth Knowing

09 A Matter of Life or Death

54m

A God Worth Knowing

03 The Faith of Jesus

1h 1m

A God Worth Knowing

14 The Coming Crisis

1h 3m

Preaching from the Grave

1h 41m

A God Worth Knowing

15 Last Church Standing

56m

Sound Doctrine