God's Plan for Israel's Future Pt. 2 - Evansville Bible Church

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Welcome back to Daniel’s 70 weeks of years, or 490 years in Daniel 9. God literally lays out Israel’s future for Daniel and us. How can God do this? Because God has predestined everything that comes about. He knows the end from the beginning because He predestined the end from the beginning.

History is the unfolding of God’s plan. The Bible reveals much of that plan. Can you draw a timeline from the eternity past to eternity future and place key biblical events on that line? From creation to consummation? You’d have the flood, the call of Abraham, Israel in Egypt and the promised land, judges and kings and prophets leading up to the birth and life, crucifixion and resurrection of Christ, the present Church Age, the future Tribulation Period, the Millennium, the Final Judgment and the eternal state. God predestined every minute detail that goes into this big picture. From creation to consummation, God is fulfilling His plan.

Now, within that timeline are Daniel’s 70 weeks in Daniel 9. Daniel was living around 539 BC when Gabriel came and gave him this timeline of 490 years for his people Israel and the holy city Jerusalem. The key to interpreting the 70 weeks is to understand that a week equals seven years. The time period began in 445 BC when Artaxerxes told Nehemiah to go back and rebuild the walls and streets of Jerusalem. That’s exactly what he did, and this falls within the first time period of 49 years (vs. 25). Then a long stretch of time, 434 years, takes us through the time between the Old Testament and the New Testament right up to the day when Christ entered Jerusalem in the triumphal entry and then was “cut off” or crucified (26). Forty-nine years and 434 years equals 483 years. But we need one seven-year period to come up to 490 years. That’s where we’re going this morning, in verse 27. Let’s put vss. 26-27 together:

Daniel 9:26, “Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined.

Daniel 9:27, “And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate.”

You might ask, “But where do we fit in?” Between verses 26 and 27 there is a gap of time we call the Church Age. God began the Church Age in Acts 2 on the Day of Pentecost and we’re still in it. This is the time when God is taking the gospel to the nations. We believe this unknown time period will end when Christ comes back into the earth’s atmosphere and brings all the dead and living believers from this Church Age to Himself. Let’s look at it in 1 Thessalonians 4.

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, 13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. 15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.

There is nothing in this passage about unbelievers or about Christ coming to earth. We go to be with Him; He’s not coming down to us. In John 14:1-3 Jesus promised to receive us to Himself and take us to His Father’s house, but says nothing about coming to earth in judgment. This means He could come at any moment – the imminent coming of Christ for His church. We call this the pre-tribulation rapture of the church because we believe this will happen just before the beginning of Daniel’s 70^th week, which is that last seven years called the tribulation period. Don’t forget, the church is not Israel. God has a plan for Israel and He will call her to Himself as a nation during this Tribulation Period. When you go to the book of Revelation, from chapters 6 to 19 you have a future time of seven years when God will bring judgment on this world and save His people Israel. Remember those 144,000 Jews from the twelve tribes? We take that literally. Plus many Gentiles will be saved in the Tribulation Period, as we see in Revelation 7:9.

So now, let’s go back to Daniel’s last week of seven years, which comes after the Church Age.

THE DEFINITE TIME PERIOD – “for one week”

There are clearly seven years divided in half, “one week but in the middle of the week.” This is important because you’ll find references to 3-1/2 years in Daniel 7, 12, and especially Revelation 11-13. Sometimes it says time, times, and half a time; sometimes it says 1260 days; and sometimes it says 42 months. These are all 3-1/2 year time periods. God is going to tell us what happens in this time period and what separates the first 3-1/2 years from the second.

THE DOMINANT PERSONALITY – “the prince who is to come”

The antecedent for “he” in verse 27 is in verse 26. He is the prince who is to come. He comes from the people who destroyed Jerusalem, the Romans. We saw him in Daniel 7 as the big-mouthed little horn emerging from a revived Roman empire in the last days, which is still future.

Daniel 7:25, ‘He will speak out against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Highest One, and he will intend to make alterations in times and in law; and they will be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time.

He is the Antichrist, this end time world ruler, Satan’s messiah for a planet in rebellion against God. In 2 Thessalonians 2:3 Paul calls him “the man of lawlessness,” “the son of destruction,” and “the lawless one.” 2 Thessalonians 2:9-10 says he will come in Satan’s power and do signs and wonders to deceive the nations who reject the gospel of Christ.

THE DECEPTIVE COVENANT – “he will make a firm covenant with the many”

But before he reveals himself as the totalitarian dictator of the entire world, he’s going to befriend the Jews and make a firm, strong peace treaty or covenant with Israel. This will be a major issue at the beginning of these seven years. He comes to Israel as the prince of peace and assures her he will protect her from her many enemies which surround her in this day. He will solve the Middle East problem. He becomes Israel’s political messiah. Jesus told the Jews they refused to believe Him, who came in the father’s name, but they will receive one who comes in his own name (John 5:43).

How could they be taken in so easily? They’ll fall for the promise of peace and safety. Israel has been the object of the world’s hatred and violence for centuries, and this slick, deceiving world ruler comes and gives Israel permission to rebuild the temple, which means the Dome of the Rock and the Islamic Al Aqsa Mosque will have to be removed. The Zehut party in Israel today is demanding that the temple be built now, immediately. So they gladly submit and sign the peace treaty. You may remember that Neville Chamberlain met with Hitler, that so-called man of peace, in Munich in 1938 and signed a peace treaty. When he returned to England he got out of the airplane and proudly waved a paper containing Hitler’s pledge of peace and announced to England, “Peace in our time.” Of course, that was like signing a passport to heaven with the devil. Shortly thereafter the Nazis invaded Poland and World War 2 was unleashed.

This greatest of all deceivers will keep his promise for 3-1/2 years, but midway through these seven years, “in the middle of the week” he will break his friendly agreement and force the Jews to stop their sacrifices in the temple. Biblical scholar and theologian Gleason Archer wrote, “All pretense of religious toleration will be dropped, for the ‘ruler’ will aspire to absolute authority and complete control over the life and thought of all mankind.”

This is so easy to see today as the entire world has come under the mandates and forced guidelines of the so-called global pandemic. “For safety’s sake” the world is lulled into accepting even the most ridiculous requirements that come down from the ruling elites, even though they lie as easily as they breathe.

THE DISASTROUS ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION – “in the middle of the week”

“On the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate.” Wing may mean fast or extreme. The word abomination means disgusting, repulsive, loathsome, used of idolatry and gross ungodliness. What is this? This is the worst abomination in human history. Let’s turn to Matthew 24, 2 Thessalonians 2, and Revelation 13 to understand what is going on here.

Matthew 24:15, “Therefore when you see the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand),

2 Thessalonians 2:4, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God.

Both Jesus and Paul are describing this prophecy of the abomination of desolation. The Antichrist literally goes into the temple in Jerusalem, presents himself to the world as God, and requires universal submission to his authority! Jesus describes this second half of the Tribulation period the “Great Tribulation.”

Matthew 24:21, “For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will.

If you thought the holocaust was horrible, this will be far worse! Let’s go to Revelation 13 to see more of his abominable activity.

Revelation 13:5-8, There was given to him (the Anti-Christ) a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies, and authority to act for forty-two months was given to him. 6 And he opened his mouth in blasphemies against God, to blaspheme His name and His tabernacle, that is, those who dwell in heaven. 7 It was also given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them, and authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation was given to him. 8 All who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain.

That’s universal, global worship. Everybody bows down and worships or submits to this abominable man. Satan has wanted worship since the beginning. Now he gets it, for a short time, through his human representative. It gets worse, though. Antichrist has a “vice president,” an evil, deceiving lying partner, known as the false prophet.

Revelation 13:14-18, And he (the false prophet) deceives those who dwell on the earth because of the signs which it was given him to perform in the presence of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who *had the wound of the sword and has come to life. 15 And it was given to him to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast would even speak and cause as many as do not worship the image of the beast to be killed. 16 And he causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead, 17 and he provides that no one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name. 18 Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for the number is that of a man; and his number is six hundred and sixty-six.

For the second half of this Tribulation Period the entire world will be under constant surveillance, a true Big Brother. This image of the beast, with a universal database, will track every human being and have any who refuse to worship the Antichrist to be killed. You will have to have a passport in order to buy or sell and engage in any social or business activities.

THE DECREED DESTRUCTION OF THE ANTICHRIST – a complete destruction

The Antichrist has 3-1/2 years to rule in terror over the entire world, seeking out believing Jews and Gentiles to get rid of them, trying to purge the world of any knowledge of God. But praise God, this monster only has 3-1/2 years. Jesus said in Matthew 24 if the time would be longer, none of His people would survive. Gabriel assures Daniel at this point that “a complete destruction will be poured out on this desolator.” This will happen when Christ returns to earth at His second coming. Both Paul and John assure us of his destruction.

2 Thessalonians 2:8, Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming.

Revelation 19:19-20, And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth, and their armies assembled to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army. 20 And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone.

SO WHAT?

Even though we believe the church will be raptured before the Tribulation Period, we can see indicators that we are close to this time. We should always be alert and keep looking for the blessed hope of His imminent return. Mainly we know that God has the unfolding of world history in His hands, one day at a time, all decreed, happening just as He revealed.

But what does the world look like today? Does it look like the world is ready for a world ruler to promise peace? Is there an anti-Christ attitude prevalent? Is there a growing rejection and even hatred of the divine order of things? Is there a growing plethora of public and political lies and deception coming from the leaders of the world and even our own government? Do men feel invincible; even like little gods who can determine their own identity, even their gender identity? Is there resentment toward God’s rules over human life? Are we losing the sense of the sanctity of human life with wholesale abortion, murder, and suicide as if we are merely matter and not bearers of God’s image? Is there technology that has brought the entire globe to our fingertips? Do we have what it takes to track the human population? Is there a growing departure from the faith of Christ and knowledge of the Bible? Is there strife in the Middle East that awaits a solution? Is there a rise of brutality, of self-worship, loving pleasure more than God, of the loss of natural affection, even confusion of gender roles? Do we see more and more of the potential for totalitarian control through the economic system? Has government become more and more intrusive into the privacy of the citizens? Do we see the potential for financial control and tracking, even through the injection of little chips carrying all your data needed about you? Is there a capacity to view events immediately anywhere on the planet? Does there seem to be a proliferation of cameras capturing our every move?

When Christ warned about Daniel’s abomination of desolation in Matthew 24:15, He over and over warned: “Be on the alert. Let no one mislead you.” We need the wisdom of Paul, the strength of a Samson, and the courage of a David to face the future and remain true to the faith in these treacherous times. We know that our Shepherd will never leave us nor forsake us. I trust God has opened your eyes; that you aren’t deceived into a false sense of security in your religious works, that Christ is your one and only hope for your eternal salvation and you are now living to please Him by obedience to His Word.