Holy Scriptures and Israel

Guest (Male): Shalom. Holy Scriptures and Israel is a ministry designed to share with the Jewish people the good news of the Lord Jesus Yeshua the Messiah and to instruct Christians on the Jewish roots of their faith. And now teaching God's word from a Hebrew Messianic perspective here is Gideon Levitan.

Gideon Levytam: Well, we want to turn to Daniel chapter 9 and we are going to talk a little bit today and finish this this evening the 70 weeks of Daniel. Another way of saying it the 77 found in the book of Daniel chapter 9. And so please turn with me to the 9th chapter and let me read those verses. Daniel chapter 9 Daniel chapter 9 and verse 24. 77 are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city to finish the transgression and to make an end of sins and to make reconciliation for iniquity and to bring in everlasting righteousness and to seal up the vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy.

Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the prince shall be 7 weeks and three score and 2 weeks. The street shall be built again and the wall even in troublous times. And after three score and 2 weeks shall Messiah or in Hebrew Mashiach be cut off but not for himself. And the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary and the end thereof shall be with a flood. And unto the end of the world desolations are determined.

And he shall confirm the covenant with many for 1 week. And in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease. And for the over spreading of abomination he shall make it desolate even until the consummation. And that determined shall be poured upon the desolator. Let me repeat the last verse. And he shall confirm the covenant with the many for 1 week. And in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease. And for the over spreading of abomination he shall make it desolate even until the consummation and that determined shall be poured upon the desolator.

And I stop with this right now. Daniel chapter 9 is one of the most important chapters in the whole book of Daniel especially as in this particular chapter we have one of the most important prophecies found in the scripture concerning the first and the second coming of the Messiah. As we have been studying up to this point we have ended up really in the end in the end of the of less times less session we have ended in verse 22 and 23 there. And you remember what we said Daniel chapter 9 verses 1 to 19 it is the prayer that Daniel had prayed and he confessed the condition of the nation of Israel.

He confessed and he and he prayed in the whole chapter ultimately almost all the way to verse 19 he was literally praying and confessing the confession the condition of the nation of Israel. And then we read in verse 20 to 23 that while he was speaking and if you remember in our last meeting together we were talking about what Isaiah already was speaking long time ago that when the nation of Israel will ask the Lord that will speak to him and we confess their sins that while they were speaking they will not even finish to pray God was going to answer the nation the person who would would confess their sins and will will ask for God's help.

Well, while he was speaking verse 20 and he was praying confessing I was confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God for the holy mountain and the for the holy mountain of my God and while I was yet speaking in prayer the man Gabriel whom I had seen in the vision in the beginning being caused to fly swiftly touch me about the time of the evening sacrifice. And I think and I'm quite confident last time we spoken about it the evening sacrifice while Daniel haven't been offering sacrifices for quite a while in fact almost 70 years since Israel the Jewish people have been taken captives brought down to Babylon almost 70 years Daniel really did not offer any sacrifices but he understood the timing.

And the timing was the evening sacrifices and the morning sacrifices which have been offered day by day by the nation of Israel is really a timing in which it's pointed out to the death of the Lord Yeshua the Messiah. Of course we do not read in the Old Testament that he spoke about Yeshua directly but if you will notice if you read Matthew chapter 27 and also Mark in the Gospel of Mark you will find out that it was in the afternoon between in between the evenings where the Messiah died. And so in the evening sacrifice as it says here in verse 21 the evening the time of the evening oblation he is really speaking to us about the time when the Messiah was going to die.

And so it was at that time when Daniel received the answer from the from the angel from Gabriel. You notice what it says also in verse 21 that this particular Gabriel is mentioned in chapter 8. And also he is mentioned later on as well he's mentioned in the Gospel of Luke in chapter 1. And so Daniel have already heard from Gabriel this time he's hearing from him again. And Gabriel was going to give Daniel now help to understand God's revelation concerning the nation of Israel. Now verse 23 at the beginning of the your supplication Gabriel is saying to him the commandment to come forth was given to me and I am coming to show thee for thou art greatly beloved therefore understand the matter and consider the vision.

That was Gabriel was saying by the way you notice that he called him greatly beloved. It's like the apostle John was called in the New Testament the the he called himself the disciple whom Jesus loved. He didn't say sometimes we say how we love the Lord Jesus you know but when you think about our love is like this you know it's like a roller coaster. One day we love him so much and one day we are so cold towards him. One day we are on on a mountain the next day we are in the valley.

And so we read here in the book of Daniel it is the if he he had been beloved by God like we read also in the New Testament about the apostle John he wrote he says that this this letter or this Gospel was written by the disciple whom Jesus loved. You know it's far more beautiful for us to recognize the love of the Messiah towards us rather than the love of us towards him. And his love is unchanging. His love is un you cannot measure it. Our love towards him is often time very shallow and very weak.

Okay. So we have been now speaking verse 20 to verse 23 is really dealing with the answer of Gabriel who came swiftly to give Daniel the explanation and the help to understand and to consider the vision and the matter of which Daniel wanted to know so much. Now from verse 24 to the end of the chapter really it is the title there we can give it the revelation of God to Daniel or God's revelation concerning the future of Israel to Daniel his servant. Now we're going to go verse by verse and point by point. And I want to begin by first of all I want you to look at this a chart for a minute here.

Now if you just look at this at this chart for a few minutes before we are going to go into the verses the chart here giving us the 70 weeks of Daniel chapter 9. The 70 weeks of Daniel we which is found in chapter 9. As you look at this at this chart you will notice by the way that this chart is really dividing another word it dividing for us certain certain years. For example this period of time is from this beginning 445 BC to 397 BC is the first it is really 7 weeks of 49 years.

I'm going to talk about this in a in a moment so we can be clear on that. Then immediately following these 397 BC we are continuing all the way to an additional 62 weeks which is equal 434 years up to the time where the triumphant entry of the Lord Yeshua the Messiah when he came and he entered into the city of Jerusalem claiming to be the prince. We are also going to talk about it in a little bit more detail. After that approximately 30 years or so I'm sorry approximately because when he entered here he was already about we say close to his time for him to give his life over.

Immediately following this we have the the the death of the Messiah he had been cut off. And then of course later on the destruction of the temple in 70 AD and then he takes us all the way onto the end of the church age and eventually 1 week is awaiting where the rapture of the church first of all will come and then the final coming of the Messiah in his second coming. When we are dealing with 70 weeks of the book of Daniel in chapter 9 we are really dealing with both the first coming and the second coming of the Messiah.

You can look at this chart a little bit later but I want you now to go into verse by verse and this particular chapter 9 verse 24 to 27. Let's look at this verse by verse so it can help us to understand it a little bit better. First of all in verse 24 we have something very interesting. God is going to give Daniel an instruction concerning the fact that he is going to continue to chasten his people Israel for an additional 70 weeks of years. Let me read this verse again so we can have this before us.

Gabriel is answering Daniel and he telling him in verse 24. 70 7s are determined upon thy people. And then he continue and upon thy holy city to finish end to finish the transgression to make an end of sins to make reconciliation for iniquity and to bring in everlasting righteousness and to seal up the vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy or the holy of holies. Now to understand this prophecy we need to get a hold of a few important things in verse 24. Very important the first of first of all notice this expression 70 weeks.

70 weeks are determined upon and I'm going to pause here for a moment. 70 weeks are determined upon and I'm going to stop with this because we are going to talk about those 70 weeks first of all. The word for weeks in Hebrew it's not the ordinary word for a week of 7 days. You know when you for example say in Hebrew I'm going to go to to spend some to have a vacation for 2 weeks. If you will say in Hebrew 2 weeks you will use the word weeks mean weeks a 7 day week is a plural of is So when you would talk to an to an Israeli individual you'll ask him how how long time are you going for vacation he will tell you 3 weeks.

He will say 3 weeks. But the word here in Daniel 9 and verse 24 in plural is not but it's a different Hebrew word. And the word in Hebrew does not mean weeks of days. It's simply another word it's is a number it could be of anything. For example if you're going to the store and you're going to buy 12 eggs another words for 12 eggs is dozen. I'm going get me dozen eggs. Well, the word weeks in Hebrew simply mean a group of 7. It could be 7 days, it could be 7 7 7 of of various things just like you have a dozen eggs and a dozen days and and it simply mean a group of 7.

So what he's saying to to Daniel here in verse 24 77 are determined upon your people and upon your holy city. Simply he said 70 groups of 7 are depend or determine upon your people and your holy city or your sanctuary. So if it is 77 is simply has to do with 77 of years. Why? Because in the book of Daniel every time that he's dealing in the book of Daniel with communicating to Daniel about the dealing of God with Israel is has to do with years. And remember now the Jewish calendar the Jewish calendar is not a solar but it is a lunar calendar.

In other words in a month you don't have 28 days or 31 days you have a 30 day month. Every month in Jewish calendar has 30 days. In other words 30 days in a month. In a year is 360 day year. That is the Jewish calendar. Now I want to prove it to you from scripture that the Bible both in the Old Testament and New Testament biblically did not have 365 days for a year but simply 360 as well as 30 day a month. So quickly I want you to turn to 2 passages. First of all to Genesis chapter 7.

Genesis chapter 7 is dealing with timing that has to do with Noah's ark. I want you to read with me 2 verses Genesis 7 and verse 11 and Genesis 8 and verse 4. Genesis 7 and verse 11 says this. In the 600 year of Noah's life in the second month the 17th the 70th day of the month the same day where all the fountains of the great deep broken up and the windows of heaven were open. Thank you. Notice by the way 600 years in the 600 year of Noah's life in the second month the 70th day of the month the same day where all the fountains of the great deep broke up and the windows of heavens were open.

Now chapter 8 in verse 4. And the ark rested in the 7th month on the 17th day of the month upon the mount Ararat. You notice by the way it says here in the second month in verse 11 the 17th day. So from the second month on the 17th day until notice verse 4 chapter 8 he rested on the 7th month on the 17th day together what are the chores from the second month to the 7th month it is 5 months. Okay. Now turn the page back to chapter 7 again this time verse 24. How long time In verse 24 it says and the waters prevailed upon the earth 150 days.

Now if you take 150 days and you divide it into 5 months what do you get simply 30 day a month. Look also in chapter 8 and verse 3 again and the waters returned from off the earth continually and after the end of the 150 days the water the water were abated. If you put those 4 verses together chapter 7 11 in verse 11 and chapter 8 verse 4 on 1 side connecting it with chapter 7 verse 24 and chapter 8 verse 3 you will find out 150 days equal 5 months. And you will divide 150 days into 5 you will find out that they 30 day month in the Jewish biblical calendar.

Okay that is Old Testament. Now let's go to the New Testament revelation. Revelation chapter 12. Now this is interesting because we want to find out because the scripture does teach that that there will be a a 77 and 77th that means a we want to know if these are 77th of years and how long time was a year how many days well revelation chapter 12 and verse 6. Revelation chapter 12 and verse 6 we read and the woman fled into the wilderness the woman is Israel where she has a place prepared of God and looking for how long time.

The day should feed her there 1,260 days. 1,260 days. Now go back to chapter 11. Chapter 11 and verse 2. But the court which is without the temple leave out. And measure it not for it is given unto the Gentiles and the holy city shall they tread under foot 42 months. You will take 1 1,160 days and you divide it into 42 months you will find out that it is that it is exactly 3 and 1/2 years which has to do with 30 days a month. Now go to chapter 13 of revelation. Revelation chapter 13 and verse 5.

And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things speaking about the Antichrist and blasphemies and power was given unto him to continue 42 months. Again 42 months it is exactly 3 and 1/2 years of the second half of the tribulation here in chapter 13. He is going to speak blasphemy. He is going to speak against God 42 months 1,260 days. It is exactly 3 and 1/2 years of 30 day a month. Is it clear?

Guest (Male): Yeah.

Gideon Levytam: Okay. If it's clear let's go back now to Daniel chapter 9. Revelation 13 and verse 5 revelation 11 2 and revelation 12 6 together gives us the number of the days and the month which is equivalent to 30 day a month. So if you connect together Genesis the first book of the Bible revelation the last book of the Bible give us to understand that in a Jewish calendar I should say biblical Hebrew calendar it is a 30 day a month and 360 days in a year. Okay. Now here we go and that is where it become very interesting.

Daniel chapter 9 verse 24. After we understood that he's speaking about 70 weeks of years. Now let's begin. If we are to understand this prophecy correctly we need to get a hold of a few things. Number 1 verse 24 A. This prophecy deals totally with the nation of Israel and the city of Jerusalem and not with the church. Let me repeat. This prophecy deals completely and totally with the Jewish people the nation of Israel and the city of Jerusalem. And let me underline not with the church. Don't make the mistake because a lot of people making mistakes here when they are taking this prophecy to speak to the church.

How do I know that it doesn't speak about the church? Look at this verse. Verse 24 A. 70 weeks are determined upon thy people. Daniel's people are the people of Israel the Jewish people. Number 2 upon thy holy city. This is the city of Jerusalem or Jerusalem or Jerusalem. And this is very important to begin even to understand these 70 weeks of Daniel that begin in a certain period of time it has in its totality to deal with number 1 thy people number 2 thy holy city. In other words we are not talking at all about the church age.

In fact In fact when Daniel received this instruction the church was not existing when God through Gabriel gave this instruction to Daniel. This is very important to understand. Okay. Number 2 if we are going to understand this particular a a 70 weeks of Daniel number 2 we have to understand that this prophecy will take the times of 490 years. Let me show it to you again. Listen.

Guest (Male): You have been listening to the Holy Scriptures and Israel with Gideon Levitan. Gideon teaches God's word from a Hebrew Messianic perspective. For more information about this ministry write to Holy Scriptures and Israel box 1411 Niagara on the Lake Ontario L0S 1J0 or visit our website at holyscripturesandisrael.com. You are also invited to Gideon's weekly Bible teaching on Fridays at 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. and Saturdays at 1 p.m. at Willowdale Christian Assembly Hall 28 Martin Ross Avenue in Toronto. Holy Scriptures and Israel is made possible by your prayers and financial support. If you would like to support the program visit holyscripturesandisrael.com.

God bless you. Shalom Shalom.