All right. Good morning. It is good to be here. We were a host home, so we had 17 freshman girls at our house. So it's good to be here right now. Grab your Bibles, Dan. No, they were great. They were great. A lot of giggling, but they were great. Grab your Bibles. We've been marching through the book of Daniel, and we're gonna jump right through there. We're gonna get the back half of Daniel, chapter nine. Just eight verses to look at, but, oh, boy, there's some doozy. So let me read just kind of the back half of the text. We're gonna perhaps to maybe stir some leaning in this morning. Here's what it says. Starting in 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 everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place. Know, therefore, and understand that from the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem, the. To the coming of an anointed one, a prince. There shall be seven weeks. Then. Excuse me. Then for 62 weeks it shall be built again with squares and moat. But in a troubled time, and after the 62 weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off and have 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 the 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 he shall put an end to 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, anybody want to know what this means? Yeah, me too. We got some challenging. We got a challenging text this morning, a debated text. I don't want us to get lost in the weeds. We're getting in the weeds. But there's a clear challenge and encouragement in this text. But we're going to also try to make sense of some of what it's saying. My wife, before the first service, asked like, how's it going? I was like, well, I got a lot of explaining to do. So I'm worried it's going to be a little boring. And she's like, I'm sure it will be. So that was the encouragement that I've just kind of been built up in here. But this is one of Those message where you can have your Bible out open in front of you with a pen with this is going to be best. So we do have some explaining to do, and I'm going to try to be as fair and clear as possible. But let's not get lost in the weeds because there is, like I said, a clear challenge and encouragement for us to see in this text because Daniel gets a hope adjustment. His hope is off a bit and his hope gets realigned. And that's my hope for us this morning too, that our hope would be where it ought to be. So let's go back to start where we left off last week. We stopped in the middle of chapter nine, Daniel's praying, and we talked a lot about prayer. But we're going to kind of pick up in verse 20, he says, while I was speaking and praying, because that's what was happening, confessing my sin and the sins 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 the first, came to me in swift flight. That had to be awesome. At the time of the evening sacrifice, he made me understand, speaking with me and saying, oh, Daniel, I have now come out to give you insight and understanding. At the beginning of your pleas for mercy, a word went out and I have come to tell it to you, for you are greatly loved. Therefore consider the word and understand the vision. So this would be nice if in your prayers you kind of get a personal visitation from an angel to kind of explain things that would be wonderful to now this happened to Daniel, but it's also for us because we get let in. Like Daniel gets the curtain peeled back and he gets let on some things that God's up to. And we get to peek behind that curtain as well. And it says at the beginning, at the beginning of your pleas for mercy, a word went out. Daniel is getting a prompt response, like God is eager to lead his people and it says, here's why, for you are greatly loved. Now, as Christians, we all can say that like God's love has been displayed or shown to us, that in our sin he sent Christ. Romans 5, 8. That is a wonderful truth. Amen. We can say, like we have been loved by God. If he didn't withhold Christ, will he not give us all things? Like God has made his feelings and his actions of love very clear to us. That is wonderful news. And that's true for Daniel. I just don't know if that's the main point here, I don't think it's talking about Daniel's positional standing before God, because all. All of us who are in Christ have a position of holiness before God. I think this is highlighting his practical walking with God, because that's kind of been the theme from the beginning. Daniel's faithful in a hard situation. He's saying yes to God. He's being loyal to God. He's following God, and this is pleasing to God. And Gabriel's telling him, like, you are greatly loved, like you bring pleasure to God in how you've been living. And we know James tells us in his letter that the prayers of a righteous man are effective. Peter warns he's talking to husbands specifically. But he says, husbands, if you don't show honor to your wife, you're gonna hinder your prayers. Like, there is a connection between practical holy living and an effective prayer life. So Daniel gets a personalized answer. But I want us to see behind that. Closeness to God now is a real thing, and we should crave it. We should want to live in that way where we have great communication and prayer to God. So Daniel gets this personalized answer. Gabriel, the man now doesn't mean he's like a human being, but he has the appearance of a man as he's seen before. So he showed up in other visions. So this is kind of wild. Daniel's kind of getting to know this angel. Like, this isn't their first. First interaction. It's like, oh, it's you again, Gabriel. Like, he recognizes this, this angel, and he comes in swift flight. I don't know if that means he flew there literally or he just kind of showed up promptly, but he gets this message from Gabriel. Now, this is important to see this. What is Daniel doing? He's praying. And it also draws attention to the time of day, that it's the time of the evening sacrifice. Now, I don't think he's making sacrifices. They're not in Jerusalem. They don't have a temple. But he still has this time of devotion that he is continuing to give to God. It draws attention to that. Now some things are about to get explained to him, and he's gonna be given understanding. And there's no coincidence that it's coming at a time of prayer and devotion. And here's what I want us to get. This is a side point. It's not the main point of the text, but it's a point worth making. Don't expect clarity outside of devotion. Don't expect clarity Outside of devotion, Be like, I don't understand my Bible. I don't get what this means. It's like, are you praying? Are you reading? Are you pursuing God? Because those things go hand in hand. It seems like the more I pray and the more I read and the more I study, the more I understand. Imagine how that works. And God is giving Daniel understanding, but also comes alongside his personal devotion to God. So Gabriel shows up. He tells him, consider the Word and understand the vision. Basically like, all right, listen up, Daniel. I'm about to pull this curtain back a little bit. I'm going to give you a peek at what God is doing, so pay attention. Now let me reread that section that I read at the beginning. This time, pay attention to the numbers. 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 in everlasting righteousness. Let me just pause here. We're gonna get into some confusing text or things. Like, we're trying to make sense of stuff, but can we please not miss the good news that's very clear, that he's gonna put an end to sin and atone for iniquity and bring everlasting righteousness. Is that not awesome? Especially if you're like, no, you're a sinner. That's wonderful news. So don't miss the good news in the midst of a confusing text. To seal both vision and profit and to anoint a most holy place. 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. Then for 62 weeks, it shall be built again with squares and moat. But in troubled time, and after 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, 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 the desolator. All right, let's get all those numbers. We'll do some apocalyptic math here. If I ask questions that are confusing, just let the engineers speak. Okay. It uses weeks. Now, the literal translation of weeks is sevens. So It'd be like 70 sevens, seven sevens, 62 sevens, 1 seven. And it's not a literal week. It's not like seven days. It's interpreted as a unit of seven. That's often been understood as years. Like seven years. So one week is seven years. And they're working on a 360 day calendar. But that's besides the point. So how many. Let's do some math here. How many is 77s? 490. You can use your phone. It's all right on the spot. You can get it out. Double check your math. You don't have to show your work. So you got 70 sevens is 490 years. So that's what Gabriel comes out with. All right, we got Daniel. I'm talking to you about 490 years. I want to talk to you about this 490 years. And we get a starting point and an ending point of these 490 years. Look at verse 25. Know there 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. And then for 62 weeks and he starts to kind of add them up. We'll get into distinctions before. But you kind of get this starting point and you get this ending point. I'm gonna talk to you about 490 years, Daniel. And here's where it begins and here's where it ends. Now, the problem is there's like four different decrees made for for the Israelites to go back and rebuild Jerusalem. So if he's saying it's gonna start at the going out of the Word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of the Anointed One. So it's gonna start when the Word is given that they can go back and build Jerusalem. All right, well, there's like four different ones of those. So where do you begin with that? But the ending is clearer. It's gonna come to the Anointed One, who will. And if you read in verse 26, who after 62 weeks, an anointed One shall be cut off and shall have nothing. And this anointed with that word cut off, like from Isaiah 53. So about death. And you go up to verse 24. What's this whole thing about? To finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for iniquity, to bring an everlasting righteousness. So who's the anointed one? Church. Yeah, Jesus. He's talking about. So we have a clear kind of who's this anointed one talking about at the beginning. So let's use the clearer parts to make sense of the less clearer parts. Gabriel's talking about the coming of Christ, and he gives them this timeline. 490 years. Now, within this time frame of 490 years, we get some specific divisions of time. So back to verse 25. 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 or seven sevens. Then for 62 weeks or 62 sevens, it shall be built again with squares and a moat. Then you go to verse 27, and he says, and he shall make a strong covenant with many for 1 7, 1 sevens. So you got seven sevens. You got. Excuse me, got seventy sevens. Then you have. Within that you have seven sevens. 62 sevens. 1 seven. There's not six seven. So it's not that. Don't be confused by that. Hold on. All right, so the moans of parents. I just found out what that meant. It's like. It's like what? Pray for our youth. Okay, let's do some math here. How many is seven sevens? 49. Again, just let the engineers talk. You saw it. 49. This is a little trickier. How many has 62 sevens? 434. Okay, I did the work ahead of time. It's all right. Get a lot of paper. All right, Then you have one seven. Okay, that was the easy one. All right, if you add up 49 plus 434 plus 7, what do you get? 490. Right. So that this is the 490 that Gabriel's coming. Like, I'm here to talk to you about these 490 years. And then within those 490 years, he's given them some breakdowns. Now, at the last seven, the one week, the seven years, he zooms in and he's like, let me tell you about the first half of that seven, the first three and a half years. But he doesn't tell us about the next three and a half years. So we kind of get left in the dark here. So let's try to make sense of some of this. Go Back to verse 24. 70 weeks, 70 sevens 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 anoint a most holy place. 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. Then for 62 weeks it shall be built again with square and moat. But in troubled time, and after the 62 weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing. Now, who's the anointed one who is called the prince? So far? Jesus. Like, he's the one that was cut off. He was killed. He put an end to sin. Like, there's very clear that this is Jesus. And pretty much everybody agrees with. With that. But then you get into the next part of verse 26, and it says, and the people of the prince, Is it the same prince, or is it a different prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary? Does that sound Messiah? Like, confusing here? Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed. So who's the prince here? And then you get into verse 27, 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. Who's the he here? Because he is not in Hebrew, you add it in there, you apply it from the context. But who's the he? Who. Are you going to reach back to verse the last part of verse 26 and say, it's the people of the prince. Is that he? Or are you going to reach further back and say, no, it's the anointed one who shall be cut off. Who's the he? So you have this. There's some complexities to this passage. Are they the same person, or is he talking about two different people? And everybody agrees it's really clear on the front end. This is Jesus, the anointing one who's cut off is Jesus. But then you get further on and be like, okay, now who is he talking about? And you see, like when it talks about Jesus, that there's going to be a coming of anointed one, a prince. But then when you get to the last part of verse 26, and the people of the prince who is to come. So is this the same prince who was coming and he is to come, or is he talking about, yeah, the anointed one is gonna be cut off, came, and then there's this other prince who is to come. You track with me. All right. Is Marcy's prophecy being fulfilled that this is boring, or we leaning in? You got it open. All right. Sometimes confusion helps people lean in. So some People think I'm trying to be as fair as possible. Some people think, and I would guess a lot in this room from what many of us grew up with. See the guy in verse 26, the last part of verse 26 and the first part of verse 27, the people of the Prince and the he who will make a strong covenant is this future Antichrist who's going to make a covenant with God's people for one week, for 1 7. Often referred to as the Tribulation. This future seven year period of time where for the first three and a half years there's gonna be peace, it's gonna go well, but at the end of those three and a half years he's gonna like, supposedly there's the temple that's built and things are going well, but he's gonna put an end to temple activity of sacrifices and offerings, and he's gonna turn on them for the last three and a half years. You guys familiar with that perspective? It's been taught often, maybe, maybe there's a lot of good and smart godly people that make some arguments in that. I doubt it. I don't see that. If you believe that, I don't think you're dumb, just think you're wrong. Okay, it doesn't have to break fellowship. Again, we're doing some hard text here. I just don't think that's the clearest interpretation of these verses, these challenging verses. For one, for that to work, you have to create this mysterious gap. So you got 483 consecutive years and then this long gap between the for the next seven years. Well, if that's the case, you don't really have 490 years like Gabriel was talking about. You have 483 years and then this mysterious unknown time gap. And then the seven years is later, sometime in the future. It just doesn't read clean. Just like if you go back to Daniel chapter seven and we were trying to make sense of the different beasts and what they represented, it's like, okay, the first one clearly is Babylon, and the next one's clearly the Medo Persian Empire. And then the next one is clearly Greece. But then the next one's like this ten horned monster. And it's like, who's that? I don't know if that's Rome, it's probably this future kingdom that's kind of this 10 nation confederation. But it's like it doesn't make sense to skip Rome. Like he's making a description of Rome and I don't think here it makes sense to make this gap and kind of say this is just in the future. It seems like Gabriel's talking about a consecutive 490 years. So if that's the case, you have to say, is what Gabriel's saying work and fit within 490 years? I think it does, but let's keep reading. Some think that the prince who is to come in verse 26, who shall destroy the city and the sanctuary is Emperor Titus of Rome. And then the he in verse 27 is Jesus. So it would be like, we're clearly talking about Jesus. But then at the end of the last part of verse 26, it's somebody else who's going to destroy Jerusalem and the sanctuary. And then we're back to Jesus again in verse 27. Maybe, in fact, maybe even probably. Like, it seems like it's a strong understanding. In AD 66, Jewish people rebelled against Rome. Like, you guys remember, even in the time of Jesus, there was strife and tension building up. So in AD 66, they rebelled against Rome. Not a great idea. I mean, still a good cause. But Rome didn't like that much. And in 70 AD they come under Emperor Titus and destroy the city of Jerusalem. Just wipe it out. But it says in here, to the end, there shall be war. Well, sometimes we read the end and we think the end, but he's saying, like, no, the end of Jerusalem, like, until Jerusalem is going to come to an end, there's going to be war. And although they wiped out Jerusalem in 70 A.D. a lot of Jews held on and fought. And it wasn't until 132ad that they finally took over the city and over 600,000 Jews were killed in this, it was a big deal. So for Gabriel to give some foresight under this event and be like, yeah, that checks out. This is a major thing. And there's parallelism happening. You guys remember when we went through Revelation, a lot like, we see parallelism happening in Scripture where you say something and you say it again, you see this here as well. So you look at verse 26. The first half is referring to the Messiah, clearly. So there's saying, well, the second half seems to be clearly referring to the structure destruction of Jerusalem. But then you have that same pattern in verse 27. The first half is referring to the Messiah, and then the second half is referring to the destruction of Jerusalem, kind of parallelism. So you look verse 26, and after the 62 weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing. Jesus Christ talking about the death of Christ, the Second half. 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, destruction of Jerusalem. So that same kind of parallelism happens in verse 27. 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 Jesus. And on the wing of abomination shall come one who makes desolate until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator. That's talking about destruction. So you have this parallelism happening here. And I would say this is a strong interpretation. Like, there's a lot back in this. What I said before. The other one I'm like, maybe doubt it. This one I'm like, probably like, it seems to fit well, because the He in verse 27, I think is more clearly the Messiah than some future Antichrist that's making some agreement or deal or covenant in the future. Because the whole point or message that Gabriel has given Daniel is not to present bad news about a coming future Antichrist, but good news about a coming Messiah. So let's look at verse 27 and see if that works and makes sense. And he. And this is who we're trying to figure out, who's the he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, for seven years, and for half of the week he shall put an end to the sacrifice and offering. Now, the word for make a covenant, there's some. There's a couple different words they could have used. Could have used a word that talks about we established a new covenant that did not exist before. That's not the word that gets used here. The word that gets used here is actually communicating the idea of confirming a covenant or authenticating a covenant that already existed. And Jesus did that. It's the new covenant of his blood. He made a covenant with many those who believe. And it's the new covenant of his blood, the covenant of grace, the grace that he promised or that had been promised. And for the first three and a half years of his ministry, what do you get? His baptism, his death, his resurrection, his ascension. And what did that do? It put an end to offerings and sacrifices. Right? Let's go to Hebrews, chapter 10. And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God and then get this, waiting from that time until his enemy should be made A footstool for his feet. What is that telling us? That even after his final sacrifice, there is still a time of strife and enemies that's going to go on. For by a single offering, he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. Jesus Christ and his sacrifice put an end to sacrifices. But you go back to our text, it's in this context. So go back to the verse 24. This has given us the context of what all this 490 years is about. They are decreed about your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin and to atone for iniquity, and to bring an everlasting righteousness to seal both vision and profit, and to anoint a most holy place. That's what he's talking about. Like Gabriel saying, this is what the 490 years is about. This stuff. Now the debate is, is he talking about the first coming of Jesus or the second coming of Jesus? You know, you talk about putting an end to sin, right? And anointing a most holy place. Is this like the day when you're going to make all things new and wipe every tear from our eye, and the new creation will be here? Or is he talking about the first coming of Jesus? And it's hard because when we think of prophecy, what do we tend to think? Future. Right. And Jesus, his first coming is in our past. But was it in Daniel's past? No, it was in Daniel's future. So if Gabriel's coming to give this message, it wouldn't really make sense that he skips over Jesus first coming. It seems clear that he's talking about Jesus first coming. In fact, even he says, he shall be cut off and have nothing. This anointed one that's coming is gonna die. When did that happen? At his first coming. Right. You with me? Okay. Gotta check in. Do you do a pulse every now and then? I know there's a lot of numbers and stuff. We're gonna get through this. So it seems clear that he's talking about his first coming and all these things Christ accomplished in his first coming. He did put a finish to transgression. What did he say on the cross? It is finished. He put an end to sin. He killed sin, Satan and death on the cross. He atoned for iniquity. He was the perfect lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. He brought an everlasting righteousness. We get the righteousness of Jesus Christ given to us, and it's an everlasting righteousness he sealed vision and prophet. Or another way to say that he fulfilled the vision and prophet, like everything that scripture's been talking about came and was fulfilled in Jesus Christ. I came to fulfill the law, right? That's what he did in his first coming. And he anointed a most holy place, his body. Him. He said, I'm gonna tear down this temple in three days, build it again. What's he talking about? His resurrection. And in Christ, we're sanctified, we're made holy. It's his most holy place is his body. This is all about Jesus. You get that? Everything's about Jesus. It's all been building to Jesus. Gabriel's letting Daniel in. Hey, Jesus is coming. The Messiah's coming. That's what he's talking about. Now, there is another perspective when it comes to verse 26 that I'm kind of partial to. About. I don't. I think verse 25, verse 26 and verse 27 is all talking about Jesus. But maybe we'll get into that and beyond the message. It doesn't. It doesn't change the point. The main point is God is up to some big things and he's going to fulfill and fully rescue his people. They don't. Don't miss that. So let's back up and see if we can see the big picture, because there is a clear encouragement for us and a clear challenge for us as well. Go back to verse 25. 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. Then for 62 weeks it shall be built again with squares and moat. But in a troubled time, think of it this way. So from the word to go out and build Jerusalem to the coming of the anointed one, there's going to be 483 years. But he didn't say it like that. He says there's going to be 49 years and then there's going to be 434 years. Right? There's going to be seven sevens and then there's going to be 62 sevens. Why does he make that distinction? Like, what is he letting us in on in this period, building up to the Messiah. Well, this is fascinating. In 457 B.C. king Xerxes made a decree for the Jews to rebuild Jerusalem. You can read about it in Ezra 7. Now, if you take that as the beginning, because I said there's multiple decrees, but if you take that decree as the beginning, 49 years from then is the time when the walls were completed and social and religious reform under Nehemiah and Malachi were instituted. So that happened. Like that fits in the time frame. Like, okay, after 49 years that was done. So that takes us to 408 BC somebody just give me a noise that you're still with me in all the numbers. All right, so that brings us to 408bc but you still have 434 years. And Gabriel tells us in those 434 years, or 62 weeks, it shall be built again with squares and a moat. But in a troubled time. So how successful or elaborate did they rebuild Jerusalem in those first 49 years? Wasn't great. Wasn't great, but it continued to develop. In fact, Herod, when Rome comes, builds his temple there and it's pretty epic. So he's saying it's going to continue to develop. But Daniel, you ain't free like you're still under oppression. The Greeks are coming, the Romans are coming. So a lot more is going to go into it. You're going to get some attention to the rebuilding of Jerusalem. But you're not. It's still a time of trouble. Like this isn't the deliverance. So you have 434 years from 408 BC where does that bring us to? AD 26. Now, AD 26 is thought to be the time of Jesus baptism, the beginning of his ministry and his earthly ministry from that point on, about three and a half years. And his ministry ends with his death, burial, resurrection and ascension. And what did that do? Put it into offering and sacrifices. Like it fits. It works. But what about the other three and a half years that Gabriel doesn't tell us about? He only gives us the first half of those last seven years. What about the last three and a half years? Now here's why I don't think Gabriel says anything about it. Cause that's not his point. His point is to tell Daniel about the coming Messiah. He's coming. Here's a timeframe. It's gonna happen. He doesn't tell us about these last three and a half years. But we do get told about these last three and a half years other places in Scripture. So go to Revelation, chapter 12. And a great sign appeared in heaven. A woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of 12 stars. She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth. And after. And another sign appeared in heaven. Behold a great red dragon with seven Heads and ten horns, and on his head seven diadems. His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child, he might devour it. She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron. But her child was caught up to God, to his throne. Who's that? Say it with confidence. Jesus. Jesus. Right. And the woman fled into the wilderness where she has a place prepared by God. So the woman is the church. It's the people of God. And there's a place prepared by God and in which she is to be nourished. She's going to be looking after, protected for 1,260 days. You know how long that is? Three and a half years. So from Jesus, ascension to Acts 7 is three and a half years, where Christ establishes his church, protects his church, grows his church in Jerusalem before sending them to the ends of the earth where there's going to be continued opposition. You with me? Okay. Verse 27. Let's look at that again. 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 abomination shall come one who makes desolate until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator. So basically, Jesus is saying, I made a strong covenant with many, with those who believed the new covenant of my blood. And I took away the sins of the world like I atoned for their iniquity. But there will still be strife, there will still be opposition, there will still be desolation happening until. Until the decreed end, the ordained end, is poured out on the desolator. And that gives us a complete consecutive 490 years. It fits. It works. Look. How awesome is God's sovereignty. He tells Daniel what's going to happen. He tells him the time frame that it's going to happen in, and it happens. Who does that? God. So can we just be encouraged about the reality of the atonement of our iniquity and the end of our sin? Because it's seen in prophecy. That's fulfilled. Does that give you greater comfort in the reality of your forgiveness? Like that's supposed to comfort us, right? Yes. Okay. It's supposed to. But here's what's going on personally with Daniel, and this is the challenge that we need to see. What is Daniel praying for? You look back at verse 20 while I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sins of my people Israel, and presenting my plea before the Lord my God for the holy hill of my God. What's about to happen that he recently discovered. Last week, we found out reading the book of Jeremiah. Our time of exile is about up. We're going back. We're going back to Jerusalem. And this is what he's excited about. And he's pumped about this. He's praying about this. You want to know what you're excited about? Look at what you pray about. Daniel is excited about this coming, but the message, or you could even say the correction he gets from God is, daniel, you are excited about the restoration of Jerusalem, but I am doing something far greater than that. You shouldn't be so excited about rebuilding of a city as you should be excited about the coming of a messiah who's gonna put an end to sin. Daniel gets a hope adjustment. Again, your hope is here. You're excited about this, and that's great. But there's something better. There's a better place for your hope. There's a better place for your excitement. You need to be excited about this. And Gabriel kind of pulls back the curtain and it's like, hey, Daniel, you're excited about rebuilding a city. Get a load of this. God's not just rebuilding a city. He's putting an end to sin. He's bringing his Messiah. Like, this is what should energize you. But if we're honest, isn't it pretty easy to begin to misplace hope, to get excited about lesser things, to have our passion drift to lesser things? I mean, think of hope as your excitement of what you think is really going to make a difference. If we could just get back to Jerusalem, it's all going to be better then. If we could just get those walls built, we just get that temple rebuilt, we can just get back to our promised land, then it's gonna be all better. He's like, no, it's not. No, it's not. Don't hope in the wrong things, Daniel. Right? If we could just get that leader in office, if we could just get these laws passed, if we could just do this, if we could just get better at this, and if we could just get this in the school system, if we could just do this, if we could restore America, then it's all gonna be better. No, it's not. Listen, it's often not the bad things that we need to turn from, but the lesser things that we need to turn from where our hope and Our passion gets just kind of channeled to lesser things. If I make that team, if I get in that relationship, if we just get married, if we just have some kids, if I just get that promotion, if I just get past this, like, whatever it may be, then I'm gonna be happy. Then everything's gonna be okay. Then I'll be satisfied, Then it's all gonna work out. It's like, no. No. And it wasn't wrong for Daniel to be excited about the restoration of Jerusalem. He just got shown something better. He just got his eyes open into something bigger. So it's like, Daniel, don't get all worked up and excited about this when you could be excited about this. He's not just rebuilding a city. He's taking away the sin of the world. And he had a hope adjustment. Do you need a hope adjustment? Have you fallen into being more excited and passionate about lesser things? I mean, let's be honest. When you look at your life, when you look at your emotions, when you look at your spending, when you look at your time, are you more zealous for politics than God and His kingdom? Do you think that's going to fix the problems of this world? Are you more passionate and emotional about sports than God and His kingdom? Are you more devoted and committed and excited about your career than your Savior? And none of those things are bad things. But they're not the best thing. They're not what's deserving of your hope and your excitement and your zeal and your passion. Church. Listen. We need to put our hope in God's ultimate plan of redemption. Through Christ, he and he alone finishes the transgression. He puts an end to sin, and he atones for iniquity. And he brings everlasting righteousness. And he seals both vision and profit. And he anoints a most holy place. Him, him and him alone. It's about Jesus. It's all about Jesus. Everything in scripture builds to Jesus. It's all about Him. And for him, he holds all things together. He is the king worthy of our worship. It's all about Jesus. The question is, are you all about Jesus or are you about lesser things? Is Jesus your king? Is he king of your life? Is he king of your checkbook? Is he king of your calendar? Is he king of your emotions? And if not, you've settled for lesser things. And sometimes you don't know it, because it's not like you don't believe in Jesus. You've just misplaced your hope and you've become more excited about lesser things, more passionate about lesser things. But those things will not deliver. Jesus wins. He is king and he alone wins. He wins in the end. Until the decreed or ordained end is poured out on the desolator. You know what that means? Jesus wins. But is he winning right now in your life? Is he winning right now in your emotions? Is he winning right now in how you spend your time and what you're passionate about? Jesus Christ is king and church. If we could just act like it, what difference would it make? So as you remember his sacrifice, some elements that point to what he's done for us. See the invitation, just God saying, do you know how much I love you? I put an end to sin through myself being cut off and Jesus words. Whoever would deny himself and follow me, willing to lose himself for my sake, will find life. May we be those types of people. Amen. Let's pray. Father, I pray that you wake us up to who you are. You pull back the curtain and you show us what we should really be excited about. And we would put the lesser passions in their place in the light and glory of Jesus Christ. That we would be ignited on fire for you. That we would live wholeheartedly for you in our lives. For your glory, pray this in your name. Amen.