Church: Reformed Baptist Church of Franconia | Text: Daniel 9:24-27 | Date: June 23, 2019 | Speaker: Fred Zaspel

On this Sunday each year, I am struck with both the extent of the dedication and the quality of the work of so many people in our church going to such work for gospel advance with our children. And we owe them our thanks and appreciation for it. We certainly should be upholding them all in prayer this week in this wonderful ministry. This is just certainly part of what our Lord had in mind when he said that in his delayed return, we are to not only busy ourselves, but to busy ourselves with the talents that he has given to us to multiply them and to use them to further his interests. And that’s what this week is about. We appreciate all of you who work, and our prayers certainly will be for you in it.

It’s not all good. I lost my fan again. And I was told that yesterday during setup, Ian walked over here, unplugged the fan and said, “Sorry, Pastor Fred.” Apologies in advance don’t work. We will be having an offering after the service to cover the expenses of VBS. We encourage you to give generously for that. I know firsthand that a lot of expense goes into this. My wife is teaching this year, and she no sooner got the assignment and began purchasing things for crafts and for games. I looked at all that was coming in and I said, “Kim, couldn’t we have just saved money and taken everybody to Disney World?” There is a lot of expense, so please give generously for that.

It’s interesting the differing impressions that people have. I walked in and I saw all of these decorations. Like every year, it’s always done so well. But I remarked to Pastor Boyd, “I’ve never preached in a zoo before.” His immediate response was, “I have.” Well, I stepped away from Pastor Boyd. I saw Dan Zaskota. I said, “I’ve never preached here in the zoo before.” And he said, “Yes, you have.” Okay.

Daniel chapter 9. Daniel chapter 9. We are finishing up the prophecy of Daniel’s 70 weeks. We’ll read again verses 24 to 27. Our focus this morning will be on verse 27.

Seventy weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, 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 squares and moat, but in a troubled time. And after the 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, and his 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 abomination shall come one who makes desolate until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator.

Let’s bow for prayer. Our Father, again, as we come to this most difficult passage, we pray that you would give us a right understanding of it and we pray that you would equip us by it. We believe that this and every portion of your word is given for our edification. We pray that you will then give us a right understanding that we may be built up and strengthened in the ways that we may serve you more faithfully until that blessed day when our Lord returns. In his name we ask, amen.

The Sixfold Purpose Of The 70 Weeks

All right, we have seen in this prophecy that what Gabriel gives to Daniel is that there is a period of 70 weeks that God has in mind in which he will accomplish this sixfold purpose of verse 24. 70 weeks, that is 70 periods of seven—70 periods of seven years—adding up to 490 total. And during this period or within these three sections (the seven, the 62, and the one week), He will finish the transgression, put an end to sin, atone for iniquity, bring in everlasting righteousness, seal both vision and prophet, and anoint a most holy place.

We saw that the first segment of these 77s was, he said, seven weeks. And this takes us from the going forth, verse 25, of the word of God to Jeremiah to Cyrus, the Persian general whom God had appointed to carry out the, or liberate the people of God. Then he mentions another segment, 62 weeks, and this, we saw, describes for us in the last part of verse 25 the rebuilding of Jerusalem during a troubled time. And it takes us decades on end, 62 weeks—434 years—that is from the rebuilding of the city under Nehemiah all the way to the birth of Jesus Christ.

And then verse 26, after the 62 weeks, two important things happen. One, there’s the cutting off of this another anointed one, cutting off of Messiah. We saw the reference to Jesus and his crucifixion, cutting off of Messiah on behalf of his people and bearing their sin to bring in righteousness for them. And the other thing that happens after the 62 weeks, verse 26, is the destruction of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple. And it says this will be a prolonged period of trampling of the city of Jerusalem.

The 70th Week

And now we come, verse 27, to the 70th week. “He shall make a strong covenant with many for one week.” So this is the last period of this prophecy, a final seven years. “He shall make a strong covenant with many for one week.” This receives special attention in this verse, and this week is divided in half. “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 end decreed is poured out on the desolator.”

So, in verse 27, we have in brief a prominent figure, “he.” This would be the prince that is to come in verse 26, which harks back to chapter 7, the little horn. He will impose a covenant, make a strong covenant, which evidently is some kind of peace—a peaceful arrangement with the people of God—but midway through that week, that seven years, it says he’ll break the covenant, he’ll disallow sacrifice, he’ll commit some kind of awful sacrilege, and there’ll be persecution for the people of Israel. That’s expressed in the last part of the verse: “cause sacrifice and offering to cease,” and this “abomination that causes desolation,” as it’s translated in the NIV that some of you have. This abomination that causes desolation—some awful act of sacrilege that involves the persecution of the people of God.

And then last we see in this verse, this continues for half the week, or three and a half years, until he is finally destroyed. And that’s what he says at the end of the verse: “until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator.” And then we have the end of this last week, the 70th week.

Now, what does all of this refer to? Well, since the earliest centuries of the church, interpreters—and I think the majority of them—have referenced this to the end of the age. And there are some good reasons for that. I think that is right. And I’ll just highlight a few of those reasons for you.

Number one, the “he” that is mentioned at the beginning of the verse: “he shall make a strong covenant with many.” Who is the he? The closest antecedent to that is verse 26, the prince who shall come. And that in turn, this coming one, this prince, the coming one, harks back then to someone who’s already been mentioned, which it seems is Daniel chapter 7 and the little horn that will come rising out of that fourth kingdom, this world kingdom, who will then wreak havoc on the people of God and, as it says, “wear them out” and kill them. So the “he” then seems to be this little horn of Daniel chapter 7, who was typified again in turn by Antiochus that we saw in the second century BC, who in turn then prefigures the final opponent of the people of God, who is the Antichrist.

Another reason we think this refers to the end of the age is the purposes of the 70 weeks expressed in verse 24. There’s, I think, no question that they focus on the cross and the accomplishment that Jesus worked there, but the full outworking of those seem comprehensive. The filling up of prophecy, sealing it up, prophecy done, all accomplished, everlasting righteousness here. In principle, that was accomplished at the cross, but in fact, and in its consummation, that awaits the end of the age. And I think he’s speaking then in those purposes of the goal of history.

Another reason this, I think, refers to the end of the age is that it fits within Daniel’s repeated prophetic framework. Now, we’ve seen a lot of prophecies going through Daniel. We’ll see another in Daniel chapters 11 and 12. And Daniel seems to follow a select pattern; in each of them successively, he fills in more detail for us, but they all have the same broad perspective in view. And this, it seems, fits into that.

So in chapter 2, we have that stone cut out of the mountain, rolling down the side of the mountain, crushing that metallic image, and that mountain growing to fill the whole earth—obviously bringing us to the end of the age when Christ’s kingdom arrives in full and in its consummation. We have the same in chapter 7. We have the judgment of the beasts, and the final destruction of them, and the Son of Man given full authority over them all, and the saints sharing in his rule over the entire kingdom of God, and again in its consummated form after the destruction of the wicked one. We have the same again, I think, in chapters 11 and 12, which we’ll see later on.

There’s another reason why I think this refers to the end of the age, and that is this expression in verse 27. Now in my version, it’s translated, “on the wing of abomination shall come one who makes desolate.” What in the world does that mean? I was reading something newer this week, and some very well-known scholar happened to refer to this passage, and he referred to it as perhaps the most difficult passage in the entire Old Testament, which of course made me feel really good about the work I had to do.

But you’ll notice in some of those of you who have the New International Version, it’s translated differently. It’s translated, “the temple and the abomination of desolation.” The “wing of the,” as it’s translated here, the “wing of abomination,” speaking of one of the pinnacles of the temple. It’s very difficult to translate and understand exactly. The sense is there’s some kind of sacrilege going on. That is mentioned elsewhere in the book of Daniel, and it’s some kind of abomination. It is translated as an “abomination that causes desolation” elsewhere in Daniel.

Now, later in Daniel when this expression is picked up, and then later in the New Testament when this expression is picked up, it consistently refers it to the end of the age. So let me take the time to look at a couple of those with you. Look at Daniel chapter 11, just forward a couple of pages. Daniel 11, verse 31:

Forces from him shall appear and profane the temple and the fortress and shall take away the regular burnt offerings and they shall set up the abomination that makes desolate.

Well, here he is speaking in this prophecy again of Antiochus, but as we’ll see in a couple of weeks or next month—whatever it is when I get back to this—that this is referring to Antiochus of the second century BC, but in turn pointing ahead to Antichrist. And that certainly is the case when we get to verses 36 and following: “and the king shall do as he wills.” That’s an expression we found referring to Antichrist before in Daniel.

The king shall do as he wills, he shall exalt himself and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak astonishing things against the god of gods. He shall prosper till the indignation is accomplished, for what is decreed shall be done, and shall pay no attention to the gods of his fathers or to the one beloved by women. He shall not pay attention to any other god, for he shall magnify himself above all.

So there’s some kind of great sacrilege to come that he’s looking forward to. Now look over—and keep your hand back in Daniel 9, we’ll be back—but look at Matthew chapter 24. Here we have Jesus, as we call it, the Olivet Discourse—the discourse that he gave on the Mount of Olives. And look at verses 15 and 16. Here he’s looking ahead at what will happen:

So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet…

Alright, there we are. He’s referring to this passage in Daniel.

…standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains and so on.

Now, in my view, Jesus is speaking here—well, let’s start here. Jesus is speaking here of something future to him. So that immediately discounts any interpretation of Daniel that exhausts it in the second century B.C. or in the time of the first coming of Jesus. It seems to be looking to something further. I think here he’s referring to the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70, but that in turn I think points ahead to the end.

The reason I think that is look at 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, for example. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, where we see the Apostle Paul picks up this language. 2 Thessalonians 2, verses 3 and 4:

Let no one deceive you in any way, for that day will not come unless the rebellion comes first. And the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God… whom the Lord will destroy with the breath of his mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of his coming.

Now here Paul does not exactly quote Daniel, but it’s unmistakable that he’s alluding to Daniel’s prophecy with his boastful arrogance and blasphemy. It is a direct reference back to Daniel chapter 11, which in turn reaches back to Daniel chapter 9. And notice he puts it into the eschatological time frame: “whom the Lord will destroy with the breath of his mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of his coming.” So what is spoken of then refers us to the end of time, the end of this age.

The Half Of The Week

Now there’s one other line of thinking I have to work through with you to see this. Back to Daniel. Notice he speaks of a “half of the week” or three and a half years. Half of the week or three and a half years. Now what we have now is that there are other references—both before Daniel 9, after Daniel 9 in Daniel 11 and 12, and then again in the New Testament—where this time frame is picked up. This half of week or three and a half years is picked up and it is consistently referred to the end of the age.

So for example, if you want to glance back at Daniel chapter 7, verse 25, where it says of this little horn:

He shall speak words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and shall think to change the times and the law, and they shall be given into his hand for a time, times and a half of time.

That is, for a year, two years, and a half a year—three and a half years, half a week. The same kind of time frame that we read in Daniel chapter 11. We find the same in chapter 8; I’ll skip that for now. Look ahead to Daniel chapter 12. Daniel chapter 12.

Now, at the end of chapter 11, we have the rescue of the people of God from this great opponent who is to come. And in that rescue of the people of God entails, verse 2 of chapter 12, the resurrection of the dead, and the righteous will shine, and so on, verse 3. So we’re clearly in an end-of-the-age kind of framework here. Notice then Daniel asks, or it’s asked here, how long will this, all of this tribulation thing end? How long will it continue? We have that in verse 6. And then we have in verse seven, the answer:

I heard the man clothed in linen who was above the waters of the stream and he raised his right hand and his left hand toward the heaven and swore by him who lives forever that it would be for a time, times and half a time. And when the shattering of the power of the holy people comes to an end…

Notice that expression, “the shattering of the power of the holy people”—a defeat, a crushing of them. All these things would be finished. Then we have in verse 11:

And from the time that the regular burnt offering is taken away and the abomination that makes desolate is set up, there shall be 1290 days.

Another way of saying three and a half years or half of the week. And we know then that this is in the time frame of the end of the age.

Now this three and a half years, half of a week, time times and a half of times, this 1290 days—all this apocalyptic language to speak of this time period of tribulation that is to come—that’s picked up primarily in Revelation chapter 11. Again, keep your hand here and Daniel will be back, but look at the book of Revelation. So we go from a difficult book, Daniel, to a difficulter book, the book of Revelation. We can’t work through the details here, obviously, but look at Revelation chapter 11, verses 1 to 3:

Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff, and I was told, rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there. But do not measure the court outside the temple. Leave that out, for it is given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for 42 months.

There it is again, 42 months.

And I will grant authority to my two witnesses and they will prophesy for 1260 days.

Again, an approximation of the three and a half weeks. So in verse one, measuring the temple—I suspect (you don’t have to agree with me on this for it to, it doesn’t make a great deal of difference) I suspect that this is not talking about a literal temple in the end, but it’s measuring the people of God to know who is God’s and who is not God’s people in order to protect them. That’s the purpose of them is protection here.

Verse two, that outside the temple, outside the holy city, belonging to the nations and being trampled by them—well, that belongs to God too, but the rule is given over to them and the world is trampling over it for now. This is in correspondence, I think, with the fourth kingdom in Daniel chapter 7. They devour the whole earth as it’s spoken of there, and trample it down and break it to pieces.

So in verses 1 and 2 of Revelation 11, we have God will protect his people. And that protection, verse 3, is for the purpose of gospel advance, and it lasts 1260 days. Now verses 7 through 9:

When they have finished their testimony, the beast that rises from the bottomless pit will make war on them and conquer them and kill them. And their dead bodies will lie in the streets of the great city that symbolically is called Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was crucified. For three and a half days…

There we have another expression like this.

…for three and a half days, some from the people of the tribes and languages and nations will gaze at their dead bodies and refuse to let them be placed in a tomb and those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and make merry and exchange presents because these two prophets had been a torment to those who dwell on the earth.

“Those pesky Christians have been a pain in our side long enough. Now they’re trampled and dead and made war on them. They’re conquered and they’re killed and we’re happy about it.” In other words, then, for this period of time, God’s protection is lifted. And they are defeated and killed. And notice that expression: “they make war on them and conquer them and kill them.” That is a reference back, I think, to Daniel chapter 7, where it says in verse 25 that we read earlier, “they shall wear out the saints of the Most High.” And that, I think, in turn, is what we have in Daniel chapter 9, is involved in that with this abomination that causes desolation.

Now notice here, it’s three and a half days. We have 42 months in verse two. We have 1260 days in verse three. And now in verse nine, we have three and a half days. And then that appears again in verse 11, three and a half days—another prophetic symbol of the same. So we have now both halves of Daniel’s 70th week. This is John interpreting Daniel for us, both halves of the 70th week. For one half of the week, the people of God are protected for the purpose of gospel witness. And then for the other half of the week, they are persecuted and put down, conquered and killed.

Chapter 12 of Revelation, we have really an examination of that first half of the week. This is a grotesque chapter. We won’t take time to read through it all, but here we have this great dragon standing before a woman, and this woman is sitting there in the stirrups with her legs spread and ready to give birth. And the dragon is, “Ah, let me have it, let me have it.” And he’s going to gobble up this child as soon as it is born. Just an awful, awful kind of sight. And suddenly the child is born and he’s carried up to heaven. And the woman and those of the woman are rescued.

And in verse six, “the woman fled into the wilderness where she has a place prepared by God in which she is to be nourished 1260 days”—the first half of Daniel’s 70 weeks, where she’s nourished, still under attack, but protected by God. We have it again in verse 14 as well, the people of God nourished 1260 days, but here it is verse 14: “time, times, and a half of time.” This is the first half of the week.

Then we move to Revelation chapter 13 and we have a repeat here of something that we found in chapter 11. Notice verse one: “I saw the beast rising up out of the sea with 10 horns and seven heads, with 10 diadems on its horns and blasphemous names on its head.” Verse five: “and the beast was given a mouth, uttering haughty, blasphemous words.” You can see the references to Daniel. “The beast was given a mouth, uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for 42 months.”

Evidently now this is the second half of Daniel’s 70 weeks. And it was allowed—here we have the words we found in chapter 11—it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them. And authority was given over every tribe and people and language and nation. This reference here to uttering haughty and blasphemous words, receives worship and pressuring the saints and at war with the saints—all of this is Daniel’s abomination that makes desolation.

And all of this then—Daniel 11, 12, 13—is John’s interpretation then of Daniel’s 70th week in Daniel 9:27. For the first half of the week, we have protection of the people of God for the purpose of gospel witness. There is still persecution, but they’re protected and the gospel advances. But then for the second half of the week, there is this awful outbreak of evil. And the beast makes war on the people of God, conquers them, and kills them. That is what we found in Daniel chapter 7, where he kills the saints, makes war on the saints, and wears them out.

Now notice back in chapter 11 especially, we find that this second half of the 70th week culminates in the climactic arrival of the kingdom of God. Verses 11 and 12, we have the resurrection of the dead after three and a half days. These two prophets that were slain and left in the streets for people to gaze at. After the three and a half days, a breath of life from God entered into them, and they stood up on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them. And they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here.” And they went up to heaven in a cloud, as their enemies watched them.

Then verses 13 and 14, we have the judgments of the end with day of the Lord language. At that hour, there was a great earthquake and the tenth of the city fell. 7,000 people were killed by the earthquake. The rest terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven. The second woe has passed. Behold, the third woe is soon to come.

And then verses 15 and following, we have the angel blowing the trumpet and then making the loud voice in the announcement: “the kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.” The first half of the week, they’re protected for gospel advance. The second half of the week, they’re crushed under the opposition of this great opponent to come. And then the Lord comes and brings in the climactic arrival of the kingdom of God.

Well, that again is a reference back to Daniel chapter 7, where the Son of Man receives the kingdom to share it with the saints. This is a reference back to Daniel chapter 9, with the destruction of this great opponent. This one who makes desolate will himself be destroyed. And this, of course, comes to a grand conclusion in Revelation in chapter 19 when the Lord Jesus comes riding on a white horse and there’s a sword coming out of his mouth with which he destroys his enemies.

Now, all of that to say we have then in John, in Revelation, his interpretation of Daniel chapter 9. So let’s look back at Daniel 9, verse 27. See the details of the 70th week. “He,” that is the Antichrist, the end-time champion of evil, the opponent of the people of God. He makes a strong covenant and acts or imposes some kind of agreement, some kind of peace is on, and then midway through, he causes the sacrifice and offering to cease—an abomination that causes desolation. Some act of sacrilege, disallowing sacrifice, committing some kind of sacrilege. Simply put, all hell breaks loose in its opposition to, and for a time, its successful opposition over the people of God. A great outbreak of evil at the end of this age. And then the Lord Jesus returns, as he says here in verse 27 at the end: “the decreed end is poured out on the desolator.” Or as Paul says, He destroys him by the breath of his mouth at the appearance of his coming.

Well, that in short, I think, is what’s going on in this 70th week. Now, there are several other questions that remain, and I’m not going to go into them at any kind of length. Do we take these numbers at this point in a literal way? Is this going to be a literal seven years at the end of the age, or is this symbolic? I tend to think that at this point we’re dealing with symbolism of a period of this church age. I think that’s what’s being described in Revelation chapter 11—this church age—and then for a shorter period we have this back half of the week, a shorter period in which this persecution comes at the very end of the age.

I think that’s alluded to in a couple of different ways in Revelation. This back half of the 70th week is referred to not as 42 months, but as three and a half days. It’s referred to in chapter 17 as a “shorter time” and as a “while.” I think it’s referred to in Jesus as that time that will be “cut short” for the sake of God’s elect. But whether it is the last seven years of this age or this whole age, the point is the same. There is this time of protection for gospel witness. At the end, some of that protection will be lifted and we have this horrible outbreak of evil against the people of God.

Israel is in view in chapter 9. What does that mean at the end of the age? I think it’s broadened to the people of God. Again, we’ve got to work those things out. I think that’s what’s in view in Revelation chapter 11. There’s also the question of the temple itself, standing in the temple and making the sacrilege in the temple. Does that mean there will be a literal temple at the end and that there’ll be some sacrilege happening there at the end of the age when Jesus comes? I don’t know any way to disprove that. I don’t think that’s what’s in view here, though. I think the way John takes it is to refer it to the people of God themselves, and some sacrilege has happened with regard to them.

But in summary, what we have here is that this age then is marked by gospel advance, and then there’ll be this final outbreak of evil. Something like the outlawing of true religion, people of God increasingly pressured to follow the beast, the successful persecution of the people of God led by some prominent figurehead, and the people of God being conquered and worn out. This climaxes then finally in the return of Christ who will destroy that great oppressor and deliver his people and establish his kingdom. And at that point we come to the end of the age and this sixfold purpose of verse 24 will be accomplished.

All right. We mentioned last time that this prophecy served in its earlier portions to serve as establishing Jesus’ messianic credentials, giving us the timeframe when he will come. Now it tells us what the course of this age will look like and then how it will end. What this prophecy does not tell us is how long it will be until then or when that will occur. It doesn’t seem to me, for those of you who are interested in this study, it doesn’t seem to me to lend any credence to the post-millennial view and the optimism that in the end righteousness will just overtake the world. It doesn’t seem to allow for that. What it seems to speak of is an increasing opposition, even a great suffering for the people of God, which climaxes in their deliverance at the return of Jesus.

Four Lessons From Daniel’s Prophecies

All right, what does that have to do with us? How is that relevant? I think that is relevant, in fact, in terms of the whole sweep of Daniel’s prophecies. And I think we can reduce it to four things.

Number one, suffering and persecution is inevitable. Suffering and persecution is inevitable. Prepare for it. It is the characteristic of this age—Jesus told us that—and in fact, it will get worse. What else would you expect living in Babylon? Suffering and persecution is inevitable. Prepare for it. We have, by the way, we have lived in something of a historical bubble in the West in our lifetime. Jesus told us explicitly that this age will be characterized by persecution, and that in largest measure has been the experience of the church outside the West. There’s been such a great advance of the gospel in recent centuries since the Reformation that we’ve been living in this bubble when persecution has been greatly lessened. We have no reason to think that that will continue. We have every reason to think that it will not. Suffering and persecution is inevitable.

Number two, faithfulness is demanded. Faithfulness is demanded. That is why in Daniel’s prophecies, we have included those historical narratives: chapter one, chapter three, chapter six. Chapter one: Daniel and his three friends from Israel remaining faithful in the king’s court. Chapter three: we have the three men—Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego—faithful even in the face of the fiery furnace. Chapter 6: we have Daniel faithful even in the face of the lion’s den. These are thrown in there to tell us that this is what is to be expected in this age and in fact it will come worse and we must, we must be faithful. We must be prepared to be faithful even in the face of the most extreme persecution.

But if this is given to us to tell us that suffering and persecution is inevitable, and if it’s given to us to tell us that faithfulness is demanded, it is also given to us, number three, to tell us that the suffering and the persecution is limited. The suffering and the persecution is limited. God rules over the suffering too, and he’s put a time limit on it. And in fact, I think it is what is in view when Jesus tells us that it is for the elect’s sake that that period will be cut short.

And then the fourth: this tells us be assured, be assured, and be encouraged—the goal of history will be reached. And all of this will climax in this great arrival of the kingdom of God when the Lord Jesus himself comes and puts down all of his enemies and brings in the kingdom of God in its consummated form. And in the end, God wins and all of his enemies will be put down and destroyed forever. God’s kingdom will prevail in all of the earth. Sin will be completely eradicated and all prophecy will be fulfilled. And in fact, this will be a time in which, chapter 7 tells us, the saints will share in the reign of Christ over the kingdom of God. And God’s saving purposes will be brought to consummation.

And this has always been and always will be, until Jesus comes, the hope of the church. The hope of the church is not anywhere—I can’t find it anywhere in the New Testament—the hope of the church is not that we will be rescued from persecution and suffering. We’re warned everywhere that it will come and that it will get worse at the end of the age. But the promise is that the kingdom of God will come and will prevail over all and the saints will share in its rule.

That is the message of Daniel in complete. That is the message of Daniel here, I think, repeated in the 70th week prophecy. Brothers and sisters, suffering is inevitable. Faithfulness is required. It’s limited. God, he’ll put a cap on it. And at the end, Jesus will come and bring in the kingdom of God and will reign with him forever. Amen.

Let’s bow for prayer. Our Father, we are grateful that you have determined to bring history to its glorious end. We’re grateful that you have let us in on it so that we may look ahead with great anticipation for the coming of our Lord. Lord, we pray that you would hasten that day. Send your Son to us. Send him soon, we pray. Until then, Lord, we pray that you will keep us faithful. Help us never to shrink away from persecution. May we always remember the privilege that it is to suffer for Jesus’ sake. In his name we pray, amen.