Prophecy Special - 9/11 - The Final Solution of God, No. 2

PS02

In Daniel 4:34, this is stressed again. This passage of Scripture is a declaration by Nebuchadnezzar, who was so proud and so arrogant, and he thought that he was the one who made things happen in the world. Thus, God let him act out of his mind, roaming in the fields, living like an animal for seven years. His hair was long, and he had long fingernails like claws. Suddenly he came to his senses. When he did, in Daniel 4:34-35, we read, "But at the end of that period (that seven years of wandering in the fields), I, Nebuchadnezzar raised my eyes toward heaven, and my reason returned to me. I blessed the most high, and praised and honored Him, who lives forever." Nebuchadnezzar was saved, and you will see him in heaven.

He goes on to say, "For his dominion is an everlasting dominion. His kingdom endures from generation to generation, and all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing. But he does according to His will in the host of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth. No one can ward off his hand or say to him, 'What has now done?'"

People may believe that it's all human effort and human doing. But the Word of God is very clear that God is sovereign. Nothing moves along without His direct authority and explicit plan. What does come to pass is determined by His decrees. Then He brings about those decrees. The 9/11 tragedy in New York and in Washington, D.C. is part of the unfolding of God's plan of human history. The background of the terrorist attack is a hatred of Satan for the Jewish people. Make no mistake about that. That's point number one. What happened in New York and Washington, D.C. on the part of the Islamic terrorists is because of Satan's hatred of God's people. This is part of his effort to destroy the nation of Israel. Why? In order to prevent the Lord Jesus Christ from ever reigning over all the nations in a Jewish kingdom from the city of Jerusalem. That is the plan of God. That is the promise to Israel. Satan wants to frustrate that plan. The United States came under attack because it is the friend and the ally of Israel. The bombings of 9/11 are part of the fulfillment of biblical prophecy about Israel. The Islamic terrorists ultimately want to destroy Israel once the United States is neutralized as an ally and a protector of the Jewish people.

So a holy jihad, a holy war, is being waged against Israel with the promise to those who engage in it of a place in paradise if they die in the effort. The United States is viewed by the Muslim terrorists as an infidel nation supporting the infidel nation of Israel. So the United States is attacked with the approval of Allah. It is a religious endeavor.

Jewish Prophecy

There are some people who are very irritated by a statement like that, that God punishes a nation for its sin. Two prominent religious leaders in the United States in the Protestant tradition got in hot water because they suggested that what was happening in the terrorist movement was an act of divine judgment because of the United States, and because of its sin. They mentioned specifically the sin of abortion, which is murder, and they mentioned the sin of homosexuality, one of the categories of sin which the Bible says God views as an abomination. That means a loathing of reaction emotionally by God because it's such a horrendous sin. They mentioned the ACLU, the American Civil Liberties Union (which is neither American nor civil nor liberties nor a union) that is out to squelch all influence of spiritual matters in the government. They found themselves in a firestorm. Even Rush Limbaugh, who usually has pretty good sense, thought that was not a good thing to say.

Well, it may have not been a wise thing to put it so explicitly. It may have been wiser to put it in more general terms. But Mrs. Danish came to me and said, "You're no better off than they are. That's the same thing you did in church Sunday, what they did on the air. You pointed out that Israel, because of its sin, has come under God's domination. They lost their country. They got shredded, even though they were warned. That's exactly what those evangelists and TV speakers were saying. God's judgment comes upon a nation that tolerates evil."

This is what is happening today. It happened in the past, and it will happen in the future. So God said, "70 years will be judged upon you." National sin and tolerance for the evil ways still brings national judgment on a society. The United States is no exception. This 70-year period of captivity was the exact number of years which the Jews had refused to allow their agricultural fields to lie fallow; that is, unseeded. It was the law of God that every seventh year you were to leave the fields fallow. Don't plant anything. Don't even harvest what comes up on its own. Don't prune your vineyards. Everything gets a rest to rejuvenate itself. In order for the Jews to do that, in the sixth year, God always gave them a bumper crop--three years' worth of returns in that one year so that it would carry them over to the harvest of the eighth year following the seventh year of rest.

When the land rested, that meant that the people had all the food they needed. They had all the material provisions they needed. That left them free to serve God. But they didn't make the connection, as stupidly as some Christians are today. It didn't make sense to them to let that seventh year go by. When they had such a bumper three-year crop in the sixth year, they said, "Hey, let's just plant the seventh year and kick it up a little more. One more big deal. For 490 years they did this, and they never came to their senses to realize that they should have been taking that year off, with pay, to serve God; to work with the priests at the temple; to help the orphans; to help the widows; and, to serve in the nation's needs socially. All these things they could have done, not the least was the religious instruction they could have been part of, but they did not. It should be a good lesson to us. The greed (and that's the word) of the Jews for material gain led them to enjoy the three-year bumper crop in the sixth-year, and then to greedily plant the seventh year for still more. So they refused to let the land take its sabbatical rest for 490 years.

God said, "Fine. That's what you wanted to do, but My law stands. Now your land, your agricultural fields, are going to get all their seventy years that you've robbed it of. They're going to get it back all at once. I'm going to send you to Babylon. You'll be there under the heel of an oppressor. You will not have freedom. You will lose your freedom. You will lose your rest. You will lose your opportunity to have stored treasures in heaven." However, God always promised the Jews mercy and forgiveness at the end. He promised them that at the end of the 70-year captivity in Babylon, he would bring them back to their country. During the 70 years, they were told to settle down in Babylon; settle down to a productive life; marry; have children; and, act as responsible citizens as captives in that land. The empire of Babylon would be conquered by the Medo-Persian Empire before the end of the 70-year captivity, and then that empire would release them. So here is the return to Babylon. This is all background because we're going to get to the final promise of what the antichrist is going to do to the world. The preview of that is what is happening in our society today.

The Prophecy of Four Coming Empires

Well, the inspiration of God did exactly that. Daniel was talking about an empire which was going to replace Medo-Persia. They were the chest and the arms of silver. Daniel 2:32 said, "The head of the statue was made of fine gold." This represented the Babylonian Empire. "Its breast and its arms of silver." That was the Medo-Persian Empire. "Its belly and thighs of bronze." That was the Empire of Greece and Alexander the Great. "Then its legs of iron, and its feet partly iron and partly clay" was the Roman Empire.

So the Medo-Persian Empire indeed conquered and replaced the Babylonian Empire and then expanded tremendously beyond it. This was the extent of the Babylonian Empire. It went from the Persian Gulf across the Fertile Crescent. You can't come across the desert. They had to go up through where there were waterholes, and then down. That included all of Israel, and went back up to the north. Medo-Persia took over. Lo and behold, they expanded it all the way to India, Persia, and Syria, and it went all the way up to the Black Sea into a part of Spain. It went down here to Egypt, to the Sinai Peninsula. The Medo-Persian Empire was a force to contend with. It was greater, but not as refined. The silver was not as valuable as the gold, but it was a greater empire than even Babylon had been.

So it happened as God predicted. The result was that Medo-Persia replaced Babylon. These empires were also represented by animals in Daniel's revelation. In Daniel 7:5, we see that the Babylonian Empire had been portrayed as a lion, a magnificent animal. Medo-Persia comes along, and it's another beast resembling a bear. It was raised up on one side. There were three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. "Thus they said to it, 'Arise and devour much meat.'" That means, "Conquer." You can see how much more territory they conquered than Babylon had. It has one shoulder higher than the other because first the Medo Empire was prominent, and then Persia joined it, and Persia superseded in power that of the Medes. They stayed together, but Persia was a higher shoulder, the more prominent empire. There is a variety of ideas as to what the three ribs might be--territories they took, or people they conquered. But the point was that the lion empire was replaced by the bear empire.

Daniel 8:1-4 verses predicts that Babylon would be replaced as a world power by the Medo-Persian Empire. Here, Medo-Persia is portrayed as a ram with two horns. "In the third year of the reign of Belshazzar (one of the descendants of Nebuchadnezzar) the King of Babylon, a vision appeared to me, Daniel, subsequent to the one which appeared to me previously (the one about the image on the plain). And I looked in the vision, and it came about while I was looking that I was in the citadel of Sousa, which is in the province of Elam. And I looked in the vision, and I myself was beside the Ulai canal. When I lifted my gaze and looked, behold, a ram which had two horns was standing in front of the canal. Now the 2 horns were long, but one was longer than the other (Persia more prominent than Medo), with a longer one coming up last. I saw the ram pushing westward, northward, southward." Much territory from Babylon had been conquered by the Medo-Persians. The Bible is exact when it predicts. "And no beast could stand before him. Nor was there anyone to rescue him from his power. But he did as he pleased, and he magnified himself."

So Daniel realized from reading these prophecies that Babylon was going to go down the tube. Another empire was going to come into power. That raised a thought in his mind about maybe a new administration and a new national policy. Perhaps the Jews could be released to go back to their land. The course of this he's reading in the book of Jeremiah. In Jeremiah 25:11, something hits his eye that he had not picked up before: "And this whole land, the land of Israel, shall be a desolation." After the people were taken out as captives to Babylon, the land of Israel had been left to degenerate and to deteriorate. "This whole land shall be a desolation and a horror, and these nations shall serve the King of Babylon 70 years." These tribes of Israel will serve the King of Babylon for 70 years. See how precise this is. We're not making this up. It was exact. Then in verse 12, "When 70 years are completed, I'll punish the King of Babylon. That nation, declares the Lord, for their iniquity and the land of the Chaldeans, I'll make it an everlasting desolation."

So the plan of God is to put the people of Israel into Babylon for discipline for 70 years. Then in Jeremiah 29:10, Daniel notices this: "For thus, says the Lord, when seventy years have been completed in Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill my good word to you to bring you back to this place." They would come back to their own land. Bingo! Daniel reaches for a piece of paper; pulls out his calculator; starts adding up the years; punching the figures in; and, he gets the time line. He says, "We've gone through 68 of these years. We are getting close." All of a sudden, Daniel, who had that straight line communication to God, says, "I want to know what's going to happen." He goes to the Lord to find out. 70 years of captivity were promised, and then freedom with a new empire in charge, they could go back to rebuild Jerusalem; put up the wall; and, most of all, to rebuild their temple which had been completely devastated.

So Daniel saw that the conqueror would be defeated. Israel's conqueror, the Babylonians, would be defeated by the Medo-Persians. Therefore, Daniel prayed that God would reveal to him when the Jews would be freed by the Medo-Persian Empire and be able to return to their land, and that the judgment of the 70-year period would be over. We have this recorded in Daniel 9. This is the tender prayer of this man of God pleading for the nation. This man who stood firm against all attempts to get him to deny his God, and the compromise of the pagan ways. In Daniel 9, here was a politician of integrity that you were proud to have on your team.

Daniel 9:1:"In the first year of Darius, the son of Ahasuerus, of Median descent, who was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans--in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, observed in the books the number of years which was revealed as the word of the Lord to Jeremiah, the prophet, for the completion of the desolation of Jerusalem, namely 70 years." I've shown you where Jeremiah said that. Daniel was reading it, and he says, "I'm reading this book, and all of a sudden it hits me--70 years. How long has it been? So I gave my attention to the Lord God to seek him by prayer and supplication with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. I prayed to the Lord, my God, and confessed and said, 'Alas, O god, the great and awesome God who keeps His covenant, and loving kindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments.'"

There are articles being written about the series of movies Left Behind, and the features of the rapture of the church (the catching away of believers) and the Tribulation Period. The covenant theologians, those who never got it straight in the Reformation, are having a fit over this popular presentation that the Jewish people are going to have a kingdom on this earth over which Christ is going to rule from Jerusalem, and that the Christians will be reigning with Him. But you see, Daniel knew better. He said, "The God who keeps his covenant." God told David, "I'm going to give you a kingdom. I'm going to give you a land. I'm going to give you a king. He will reign over this earth forever." That's what Daniel knew.

God's Covenants with Israel

Then Abraham sees God come down in the form of a smoking pot--a furnace-like thing. Then he sees this go between the parts of the animals alone. Abraham got the message. "How do I know you're going to do this, God?" God said, "Because I said so. I'm showing you that I'm making a deal with you. It's dependent on God alone, not on you." In fact, God, said to Abraham, "Your descendants are going to turn against me, but I'll never turn against them. I'll discipline them. But they're going to rule this world with My Son, the Messiah Savior, from the city of Jerusalem for a whole 1,000 years."

So here's a covenant. Daniel is saying, "You keep your covenants, God. You said 70 years. What's the deal?" Verse 5: "We have sinned." Now he confesses for the people of Israel. "We have sinned; committed iniquity; acted wickedly; rebelled; even turning aside from your commandments and ordinances." That's exactly what the poor preachers said on the TV interview, that everybody rose up in holy indignation against them. They said, "We've been guilty of national sin, and we've seen one of the things that happens there by the sovereignty of God."

Concerning the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania, there are more and more interesting details coming out about that. I don't know if you heard the lady who took the pilot's call. The pilots had been taken to the back. There were 3 terrorists on board. Two were up in the cockpit. One was standing there with a strapped-on bomb (whether real or not, we don't know). The pilot used his cell phone. This lady answered it. The gist of this conversation was that he told her what was happening, and a message that he wanted to deliver to his wife and children, that he loved them, as it looked like he was doomed. This was one pointed thing that really saddened me. Then she said, "Then he asked me, 'Would you recite the Lord's Prayer with me?'"

Well, he was doing it for divine protection. That does not speak well of what his religious orientation was. I can't say. But Christians who understand salvation know how to pray to God. They don't say prayers in order to gain merit and favor with God. I don't like the expression, and I've been hearing it on public statements, "Please say a prayer."

When I was in China visiting a Lama temple with a terrific guide, we were shown the wheel outside in which the Lama priest had stuck these little pieces of paper which had prayer requests written on them. They would crank the handle, and every time they cranked it, it was a prayer to their gods. That's what "Say a prayer" means. It's a ritual. You don't say a prayer to God. You pray to him.

National Sin

That's the thing that is so absent in American society today, isn't it? People are not ashamed of what they do. They like to speak about the most shameful things that are done in secret because they have that much contempt for God. They don't fear Him. "Open shame belongs to us O Lord, or to our kings, our princes, and our fathers because we have sinned against you. To the Lord our God belong compassion and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against Him. Nor have we obey the voice of the Lord, our God, to walk in His teachings, which we have set before us through His servants, the prophets. Indeed, all Israel has transgressed your law and turned aside, not obeying your voice. So the curse has been poured out on us, along with the oath which is written in the Law of Moses, the servant of God. For we have sinned against Him."

He is saying that they had not only sinned against God, but they had sinned against their good preacher Moses, who prepared his remarks; knew what he was talking about; and, had direct communication with God, and we didn't listen to him. "Thus, God has confirmed His words, which He had spoken against us and against our rulers who rule us, to bring on us great calamity. For under the whole heaven, there has not been done anything like what has been done to Jerusalem. As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this calamity has come on us, yet we have not sought the favor of the Lord our God by turning from our iniquity and from attention to the truth." Our two poor nationally known preachers were calling on a nation to turn from its iniquity, and they got beaten up for it verbally.

"Therefore, the Lord has kept the calamity in store and brought it on us. For the Lord our God is righteous with respect to all His deeds which He has done, but we have not obeyed His voice." God is patient, but the time comes when He will act, and judgment will come.

"And now O Lord, our God, who has brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and has made a name for Yourself, as it is this day, we have sinned. We have been wicked, O Lord. In accordance with all your righteous acts, let now your anger and your wrath turn away from the city Jerusalem, your holy mountain, for because of our sin and the iniquity of our fathers, Jerusalem and your people have become a reproach to all those around us." People are making fun of us. They're making fun of God's people. We were the great spokesmen for God. Look at our city. Look at our temple. Look at us--captives in Babylon.

"So now our Lord, our God. Listen to the prayer of your servant and to his supplication. For your sake, O Lord, let your face shine on your desolate sanctuary. Oh, my God! Incline your ear and hear. Open your eyes and see our desolation and the city which is called by your name. For we are not presenting our supplication as before you on account of any merits of our own, but on account of your great compassion." I can't ask your blessings, Father, because I deserve it, but because Your grace has promised to do this for me.

"Oh, Lord, hear. Oh, Lord, forgive. O Lord, listen. Take action for your own sake. Oh, my God, do not delay because your city and your people are called by your name." So with this very tender prayer, Daniel comes to the Lord, and he pleads for forgiveness for the people. God hears. In tender mercy, as always, He forgives. The Father in heaven dispatches the archangel Gabriel with a message in answer to Daniel's prayer.

In Daniel 9:20-23, Daniel says, "Now while I was speaking and praying and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God in behalf of the Holy Mountain of my God, while I was still speaking in prayer, then the man, Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision previously, came to me in my extreme weariness about the time of the evening offering. And he gave me instruction and talked with me and said, 'Oh, Daniel, I have now come forth to give you insight with understanding.' At the beginning of your supplications, the command was issued, and I've come to tell you for you are highly esteemed. So give heed to the message and gain understanding of the vision.'"

Gabriel says, "God has given me the answer to your prayer. Basically, you're asking how long are we going to stay in this condition of captivity? How long before you fulfill those covenants that you have made with us?" These were the Abrahamic Covenant; the Davidic Covenant; the Palestinian Covenant; and, the New Covenant. All of these promises were unconditional. They would end up with Jewish people as a nation from Jerusalem, with their Messiah on the throne, and a world government reigning over the whole earth. It would be a lighthouse of spiritual truth and enlightenment. How long? Do you see the bigger picture? It's not just how long before we get out of here and get back to Jerusalem. It's how long are you not going to fulfill your covenant? You are a covenant-fulfilling God, as we previously pointed out. How long now before all this is done?

In verse 24 is the great revelation of the final disposition of Jewish history: "70 weeks have been decreed for your people." We know both historically and because Daniel has been speaking about years here in Jeremiah, that these 70 weeks are 70 weeks of years. So what he means is 490 years. Jeremiah 25:11-12: "And this whole land shall be a desolation in horror, and these nations shall serve the King of Babylon for 70 years."

Daniel has been talking to God in terms of years. That is another point to help us understand that 70 weeks is 70 weeks of years. They are going to be in the Babylonian captivity for 70 years. But this is what God has decreed for the conclusion of Jewish history and your holy city. Then he mentions six items that will be fulfilled that are all divine promises that will complete God's dealing with the Jewish people. The length of time of 490 years is going to be needed to fulfill the events decreed by God for the history of the Jews for Jerusalem. This does not have to do with world history, but with Jewish history. It has not to do with church history.

Predictions for Israel

1. First, he says, "At the end of 490 years, I will finish the transgression." Here He's referring to bringing an end to divine judgments upon Israel. This judgment was brought down upon them when they rejected Jesus Christ as their Messiah Savior. This represents their turning to Him and their being restored to blessing in the land once and for all, never to be removed again, and with Christ having covered their sin. "To finish the transgression." Well, the transgression had obviously not been finished then. They were in captivity.
   
   
2. "To make an end of sin." Here the idea is to seal up the moral guilt of the Jews through Jesus Christ who took their punishment on the cross, so that at his Second Coming, He will be able to receive them. Their sin will have been covered. Job 14:17 puts it this way: "My transgression is sealed up in a bag, and you wrap up my iniquity. This is the same idea. God is going to take our transgression like a bunch of garbage; put it in a bag; and, dispose of it. This same idea is in Romans 11:26-27: "And thus all Israel will be saved, just as it is written. The deliverer will come from Zion. He will remove ungodliness from Jacob, and this is My covenant with them when I take away their sins." This is exactly the same thing that he's talking about here to Daniel. At the end of 490 years, all Jewish sin (moral guilt) will be covered.
   
   
3. "He will make atonement for iniquity." This means to cover Israel's sin so that at the Second Coming of Christ, the blood of Christ will be sprinkled upon the mercy seat of the ark of God in heaven. This will permit God to accept his sinful people. The righteousness of God will be satisfied. He will be propitiated.
   
   
4. "He will bring in everlasting righteousness." This is based on the death of Christ so that there can come an age of human history that is characterized by righteousness. That is the millennial kingdom. The angels will be administering it. All of you, as the bride of Christ, will be in positions of administration all over this world and running the millennial kingdom with Jesus Christ. It will be a time when there'll be no mafia; there'll be no hypocritical politicians; and, there'll be no liberal religion. Everything will be according to the reality of the truth of God. Isaiah speaks about the same in Isaiah 60:21: "Then all your people will be righteous. They will possess the land forever." You got that? Jews will possess their land from the Nile to the Euphrates (promise to Abraham) forever. "The branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified."

   This same point is again made in Jeremiah 23:5-6: "Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous branch (that's the Lord Jesus Christ). He will reign as King and act wisely, and do justice and righteousness in the land. In His days, Judah will be saved. Israel will dwell securely. This is His name, by which He will be called: the Lord our righteousness. So Daniel is told that at the end of that 490 years, He will bring in total righteousness--the millennial kingdom.

5. "He will seal up the vision and prophecy." This is all that God through the Old Testament prophets ever promised to do in fulfilling His covenants with Israel. They will be realized in the millennial kingdom. "Seal up" means to finish what God has promised. Reformed theology (the leaders of the Reformation) did not understand the difference between Israel and the church. They thought that the church had replaced Israel. Therefore, they made an enormous mistake--that there was no future for Israel. They got everything botched up. So they've come right down to this day. When you come into these reformed churches out of the Reformation, they still have an altar, as if there were sacrifices that were still necessary, as if Christ had never died. The whole thing is botched up for them, and they cannot figure out what's happening today, that Israel should rise up and be a nation, and be exactly what the Bible says it will be at the end time, before Christ returns, the focus of world conflict.

   So here Daniel is told that all the prophecies of God and all the covenants are going to be fulfilled. God has not gone back on anything he ever promised the Jews. What's happened? They're now, out of His blessing. They're temporarily set aside because we are now in the church age. We are between week 69 and 70. That's why the seven years are still ahead.

6. "I will anoint the most holy place." This refers to the holy of holies in the millennial temple. There'll be a temple rebuilt in the millennium as a memorial. You can read about this in Ezekiel 40-43. It even refers specifically to the holy one, Jesus Christ, who will come as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. In Daniel 7:25-27, we read, "And he will speak out against the most high. (The Antichrist will.) He'll wear down the saints, the Jews, the highest of the highest one. He will intend to make alterations in times and in seasons (change the laws and the customs). And they will be given into his hands for time, times and half time (which means three-and-a-half years) for the court. But the court will sit for judgment (God's court), and his dominion will be taken away. (The antichrist will be brought down.) He'll be annihilated, destroyed forever. Then the sovereignty, the dominion, the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the highest one (the Jewish people). His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all the dominions will serve and obey Him forever." Where is heaven for the Jews? Right here on this earth--the renewed earth and the renewed heaven for all eternity. That is what their future is.

So 70 years have decreed on your people. 70 years of weeks. That's 490 years. Then in verse Daniel 9:25, he says this is how it's going to be divided. There will be a period of seven weeks, or 49 years. There will be a period of 62 weeks, or 434 years. Add it up and that's 69 weeks, or 483 years. There are seven years missing. All of a sudden, the prophetic clock stops because God's judgment comes upon Israel. Do you know what the day was when it stopped? It was at the end of March of the year, 33 A.D., when Jesus Christ came into the city of Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. They rejected Him officially. This is where it becomes fascinating.

You'll see, beginning in verse 25, the progression of history, bringing us to the point where we are today. And what is on the horizon? I want you to see. I hope that you've seen that God's judgment upon Israel was severe, but He has not turned against His people. He has not abandoned them. His Word will be kept. But in the meantime, they're going to have the greatest turmoil. They're going to live under the greatest threat because Satan is going to move things into high gear. He will do everything he can to use the enemies of God to destroy the Jewish people. Next time, we'll pick it up in Daniel 9:25.

Dr. John E. Danish, 2002

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