The Spectacular The Spectacular Prophecy that Nostradamus Missed!

1. Living as we are on the brink of a new millennium, have you noticed how BIG the world is on prophecy!
   1. And everybody's getting into the act!
   2. Illus:  You can't get out of a supermarket without your eye being caught by another one of those sensational headlines blaring some new prophecy on the cover of one the infamous supermarket tabloids. [Hold up a tabloid with examples shown on screen.]
      1. "Michael Jackson Will Marry Again" (You don't have to be psychic to figure that one out!)
      2. "Tom Cruise Will Lose His Hair" (That's a real winner--no kidding--a psychic named Maria Graciette predicted that a stress-related illness would result in his baldness--probably meant the stress of old age--which means the next 40 years should reveal whether or not that prophecy comes true!)
      3. Pyschic Terri Brill's headline proclaimed, "Earthquake to Drop California into the Ocean."  (Which means all of you living in Arizona and Nevada will soon have ocean front property!) 
   3. Everybody's in the prophesying game, and psychics are almost a dime a dozen...especially as we countdown to the year 2000.
   4. But perhaps the most famous and world renown psychic today is someone who's been dead now for 400 years!
      1. The French physician whose name meant "Our Lady," in reference to the Mother of Jesus.
      2. Nostradamus (which incidently is the name of the famous university just 1 hour south of where I'm standing tonight, Notre Dame Universe, the university of "Our Lady").
      3. He was actually born Michel de Nostradame and practiced his medicine in St. Remy, a city in southern France.
      4. They say that in appearance he was short and energetic with a dark beard and kindly eyes.
      5. Known for his generosity, he gave gifts to the poor.
      6. Known for his bravery and compassion, he fearlessly served cities under the ravages of the bubonic plague.
      7. But he is not remembered as a physician--but rather as a psychic.
      8. And his nearly 1000 mysterious four-line rhymes called quatrains are now poured over by enthusiasts the world over.
      9. Some of the quatrains are said to have predicted the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the summer storms of 1996, and on and on and on.
      10. Step into a bookstore anywhere in the world and you'll find a translation of Nostradamus's predictions--originally written in his mother tongue of French laced with Latin and Hebrew as well.
      11. Illus: His method of "receiving" these prophecies consisted of his sitting alone in a darkened room at night, gazing at the water in a bowl hanging from a brass tripod, touching the water with a wand, dampening his robe, and then staring at the water's surface until his eyes would begin to "see" future events shadowed there.  (He even claimed to sometimes hear a voice.)
      12. Did his prophecies come true?  Most of the predictions did not.
      13. However the Queen of France became a believer when his predictions about how the king and her sons would die apparently did come true.
      14. Thus catapulting him to fame and popular notice.
      15. Illus: And what about Prophecy Number 936 that is the one proported to predict the assassination of President Kennedy?  Here is the English translation (which of course does not rhyme):

          A great king captured by the hands of a young man, not far from Easter. [If that's about Kennedy, the time of death couldn't be farther from the actual date in November.] Confusion, a state of the knife. [No plausible connection with either John or Robert Kennedy's assassinations.] Everlasting captives, times when the lightning is on top, [some believe a reference to the gun fire from the Dallas depository bookstore, though modern guns do not shoot flames.] When three brothers will be wounded and murdered. [Two brothers were murdered.  Ted Kennedy is yet alive and well--I bumped into him at the U.S. Capitol and stood and the street corner and chatted with him about his recent fishing expedition--he brought it up!]

      16. So much for the celebrated psychic Nostradamus.
      17. Because tonight I would like to place in your hands the actual wording of a spectacular prophecy that makes Nostradamus's predictions pale comparison!

2. But before I do, open your Bible to John 14 (p ).
   1. While you're doing that let me ask a candid question: Do you ever struggle over whether or not there is a God, or whether Jesus Christ really was the Son of God, and that the salvation of the entire human race is comes through Him alone?
      1. Those are hardly idle questions.
      2. And I believe God Himself respects us when we struggle with our doubts and wonder about the truthfulness of what we've found in this Book.
      3. Truth can surely bear the intense scrutiny of examination, can't it?
      4. After all, if God is Who He says He is, then He is the one Who has given to us minds that require evidence for the conclusions we come to.
      5. And we must have the greatest evidence for the most important conclusions of life, mustn't we?
      6. What you are about to read is conclusive evidence for the very unique place Jesus Christ has in human history and religion.
   2. And what response is the pinpointing accuracy of this spectacular prophecy intended to create?  Read the words of Jesus here in John 14:29 (p 1043).
      1. The powerful impact of tonight's prophecy on the lives of even sceptics has been exactly as Jesus described.
      2. When you discover that all of this was prophesied BEFORE it came to pass, your response, Jesus told His disciples, will be to BELIEVE IN MY WORD.
      3. Nothing brings a sense of trust, confidence and belief more surely than the realization that long before an event took place, it was predicted.
   3. Because obviously something very much more than human is operative the moment you step into the realm of predictive prophecy!  Listen to the words of God through the ancient prophet Isaiah--Isaiah 46:9,10 (p 703).
      1. The words of this Book are unequivocal: There is no one but the God who inspired this Book who is able to declare "the end from the beginning."
      2. And how did He put it, "from ancient times things that are not yet done."
   4. Which brings us to the spectacular bible prophecy which makes Nostradamus' predictions pale in comparison.
      1. No dark room jug of balanced water here!
      2. No reading of tea leaves or crystal balls here!
      3. Instead a plain and profound prophecy that has made a believer out of thousands of one-time sceptics.
      4. And unlike the predictions of Nostradamus and others like him, this prophecy like so many others in the Bible has convincingly been proven to have already come true, which provides strong and compelling evidence for the reality of God and the divine inspiration of this Book!
      5. The brilliant English scientist mathematician, Sir Isaac Newton, was compellingly convinced of the veracity of the Holy Scriptures, this Book, by the amazing prophecy you are about to read for yourself.
         1. The prophecy was written over 500 years before Jesus was even born.
         2. And yet it predicted major events of His life with pinpoint accuracy.
         3. And thus provided indisputable proof that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God.
         4. For this reason, Sir Isaac Newton called this prophecy "the foundation stone of the Christian religion."
      6. It has also been called "The Crown Jewel of the Old Testament."
      7. Read it with me for yourself tonight!

3. Turn with me to Daniel 9 (p 867), where we will find this great messianic prophecy, this "crown jewel of the Old Testament," this "foundation stone of the Christian religion."
   1. And while you're turning to that chapter, let me give you a one-minute synopsis of Jewish history, clustered around the tragic fall of Jerusalem in 586 B.C.
      1. Israel had fallen into apostasy--as the prophets were used to describing it, they had gone "awhoring" after other gods, the gods of their neighbor nations and cultic religions.
      2. Over and over again, a heartbroken God had pleaded with them to return to Him Why do you run from Me, your Creator and Redeemer and Savior Come back to Me and let Me shine My Love through you to win the hearts of the rest of the world!
      3. But alas, as you may know from sacred history, the people of Israel kept falling for the seduction of other gods and foreign cults.
      4. Illus: I have listened to many a heartbroken spouse pour out his or her pain and grief over the wounded feelings of rejection when his wife or her husband walked out on their marriage forever.
         1. You can't force your spouse to return to you.
         2. Come back to me or I'll kill you!
         3. Tragically, there have been too many such ill-fated attempts.
         4. But Love can't be forced--it must be wooed and won.
         5. And if it is rejected, Love must accept the NO just as much as it accepts the YES.
      5. And so, you remember, after sending prophet after prophet after prophet to His people, God finally was given no choice but to accept their freedom to reject His Companionship and to walk out on His love.
      6. Finally, in 586 B.C., God withdrew the last protective barriers His loving relationship had been providing for them all these centuries, and Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian army stormed into Jerusalem and sacked that sacred city.
      7. Illus: In an earlier siege in 605 B.C., the same Nebuchadnezzar had taken captive some of the creme de la creme (as the French would say), some of the nobility of the city--a young man named Daniel was in that deportation.
   2. It is this same Daniel who is pouring out his heart to God in prayer one day for his ransacked home and city Jerusalem.
      1. Turn to Daniel 9--read vv. 1,2.
      2. You see Daniel has been studying some of the scrolls of another prophet named Jeremiah, and there he has discovered the hope-filled prediction that Israel's captivity would only last 70 years.
      3. Illus: You may read that prophecy in Jeremiah 29--in fact, because it is right beside the beautiful verse we shared on opening night together, hold your finger here--and let's read Jeremiah's prediction (p 759), Jeremiah 29:1,10 (and you remember the promise in v. 11).
      4. Well, Daniel was taken in the first wave of captives in 605 B.C., and now it is nearly 70 years later--Daniel is an old man--the year 536 B.C. is approaching!
      5. And reading Jeremiah 29 Daniel senses that liberation could be coming for his people.
      6. And so he pours out his fervent heart to the God of heaven!
   3. I would invite you to read on your own at another time one of the most passionate and stirring prayers recorded in Scripture--beginning in v. 3ff
      1. But for now let's pick it up in vv. 18,19.
      2. O God, remember our fallen city, and set us free that we may go home again!
   4. Now notice the most remarkable response that Daniel's prayer elicited--read vv. 20-23.
   5. From the throne room of the Most High God comes the great angel Gabriel that must have taken the place of fallen Lucifer--Gabriel who in the appearance of a mortal like Daniel brought the divine announcement that has become "The Crown Jewel" of our study tonight!
   6. Like a piece of academic doctoral research, the entire divine message is first summarized in its opening lines--read v. 24.
      1. Daniel, your prayer has been heard and now it is being answered.
      2. God will deliver His people from captivity just as He promised.
      3. But He is not returning them to their homeland with a blank check.  If they continue to apostatize, they will again fall into the hands of their enemies.
      4. God is indeed delivering them, but He is also putting them on probation, allotting them a specified, probationary time for the spiritual goals He has for them as listed here in verse 24 to be fulfilled, that they might be confirmed as His chosen people and take His Good News to the world as He had originally commissioned them to do.
      5. This probationary time will be "seventy weeks" in duration.
      6. And during this time period God Himself will act on behalf of the two great hopes of Israel: THE HOLY ONE (the Messiah) and THE HOLY CITY (Jerusalem).

4. What in the world is Gabriel telling Daniel?  It is imperative we read on so that Gabriel might explain his own answer.
   1. But first, let's give careful attention to the probationary time period Gabriel referred to--Seventy weeks (or in the Hebrew, seventy sevens).
      1. Were these literal weeks?
      2. Hardly--for in less than a year and a half--which is what 70 weeks would be--nothing was achieved that could in any way fulfill the sweeping prophecies about the Messiah and Jerusalem that Gabriel is giving!
      3. At this point it's important to be reminded of a very significant key of interpretation in understanding the time prophecies of this Book a day in predictive prophecy to represents one year in actual time.
      4. This significant key to prophetic interpretation has been used and embraced by Bible scholars throughout the past nearly two millennia.
      5. Illus: Some two centuries before Christ, 70 Jewish scholars translated the Hebrew Bible into the Greek language it's called the Septuagint version of the Bible.  And when they translated Daniel 9:24, they applied this "day-for-a-year" principle and translated it as "seventy weeks of years."
      6. Illus: Based on this accurate translation, the very respected Revised Standard Version of the English Bible renders the 70 weeks of Daniel 9:24 as "seventy weeks of years."
      7. I.e., the seventy weeks of this momentous prophecy actually represent 70 x 7 = 490 days/years.
      8. Illus: Throughout the centuries well known Bible expositors have recognized that the time period here is 490 years, not 490 literal days-- Jerome (3rd century), Justin Martyr (4th c.), Augustine (5th c.), Luther (16th c.) along with the other major Reformers--all understood that the probationary period was longer than 70 literal weeks (a year and a half).
   2. AND WHAT WAS PREDICTED TO TAKE PLACE DURING THIS 490 YEAR PROBATIONARY PERIOD FOR ISRAEL?
      1. Read vv. 25-27.
      2. Before we note the phenomenally accurate fulfillment of this time prophecy, notice six important predictions this prophecy makes that will occur during the 490 years: And notice how each of these verses makes a prophecy of something that will take place regarding the two great hopes of Israel prophecies concerning the Holy One, the Messiah; and the Holy City, Jerusalem. 

                   MESSIAH Statements            JERUSALEM Statements
              v. 25          would come                         would be rebuilt
              v. 26          will be cut off                         will be destroyed
              v. 27          will confirm a covenant            desolated
                        with many by bringing              (quoted by Jesus in 
                        an end to sacrifices.                   Mt. 24:25 to refer to the 
                                                      destruction of Jerusalem.

   3. Daniel in wonder is listening to the angel Gabriel outline this momentous answer from the throne room of heaven regarding the destiny of his people--but you can be certain that what Daniel wants to know more than anything else is, WHEN DOES ALL THIS BEGIN, WHEN DOES THIS PROPHECY COMMENCE?
      1. Gabriel's answer could not be clearer!
      2. Read v. 25.
      3. Illus: Let's put this time chart on the screen so we can follow Gabriel's answer clearly:
         1. From the command to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Messiah there were to be 7 weeks and 62 weeks--which equals a total of 69 weeks.
         2. Recalling the key to unlocking prophetic time, 69 weeks = 69 x 7 days = 483 years.
      4. Which means that if we can ascertain the correct date for the rebuilding of Jerusalem, we should theoretically be able to add 483 years to it and arrive at the coming of the Messiah.
      5. Does it work?
      6. Watch!
      7. Illus: The culminating decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem is recorded in Ezra 7:13-26.  And the date this decree was issued is recorded just a few verses earlier vss. 1,8,9 (p 449).  Read.
         1. The fifth month of the seventh year of King Artaxerxes fell in the late summer or early autumn of 457 B.C.-a date that has been well attested and verified by extensive historical and archeological research.
         2. So taking the time period of 483 years and adding it to 457 B.C. we should arrive at the coming of the Messiah, shouldn't we?
         3. And we arrive at 27 A.D.
         4. (You may have done the quick arithmetic by subtracting 457 from 483 and coming up with 26--which is correct--except that in dealing with the crossing of time from BC to AD you always need to add a year, since there was NO ZERO YEAR. Nobody was born in the year zero!)
   4. The next question is, does the date 27 A.D. have any significance concerning the coming of the Messiah?
      1. Illus: Turn to Luke 3:1 (p 993)
         1. The Jewish reckoning for the fifteenth year of Tiberius begins that year in the fall of 27 A.D.
         2. What happened in that year?
         3. Read Luke 3:21,22.b
         4. In 27 A.D. Jesus was baptized.  And by the way, this is the only event in Jesus' life that the gospel writers assigned a date to.
         5. Even Jesus birth is not given an exact date in the Bible, but the Bible makes a point of the fact that Jesus was baptized in the 15th year of Tiberius, which historians document as 27 A.D.
         6. And something else: The baptism of Jesus was so important that two of the four gospels Mark and John do not begin with the story of Jesus birth, but with the story of His baptism.
      2. What is so significant about Christ's baptism?
         1. Note again Luke's reference to the Holy Spirit descending upon Jesus like a dove at His baptism.
         2. Now turn to Luke's other book, Acts 10:38 (p 1063), and notice the language Luke uses to describe that same event God anointed Jesus with the Holy Spirit and then He went about doing good and healing....
         3. I.e., Jesus was anointed for His ministry as the Messiah at His baptism in 27 A.D.
         4. Illus: In fact the Hebrew and the Greek words for Messiah (or Christ) mean "Anointed One."
         5. WHICH IS PRECISELY WHAT GABRIEL'S PROPHECY TO DANIEL PREDICTED: 483 years after 457 B.C. (the rebuilding decree for Jerusalem) Messiah the Prince, "the Anointed One" would come.  AND SURE ENOUGH, in the 15th year of Tiberius Jesus was anointed for His Messianic mission.
         6. 27 A.D.--it is a perfect fit!
      3. Illus: Which explains the wording of Jesus' message to Israel immediately after His baptism!  Mark 1:15 (p 968).
         1. "The time is fulfilled!"
         2. What time?  The great time prophecy of Daniel 9!
         3. Jesus is essentially declaring, "I am here in fulfillment of that great prophetic time clock--the Kingdom of God has come into your midst! Repent and believe the Good News that I bring from the Father."
      4. Now can you see why the brilliant scientist, Sir Isaac Newton, called this prophecy "the foundation stone of the Christian religion?"
      5. God doesn't ask you to believe in Jesus as the Son of God and Savior of the world without any evidence to back it up.  This prophecy, given 530 years before Jesus was even born, provides incontrovertible proof that Jesus WAS THE PROMISED AND PREDICTED MESSIAH--NO OTHER IN ALL OF HUMAN HISTORY COULD FULFILL THIS DIVINE PROPHECY 530 YEARS IN ADVANCE!
   5. Now, the question must be asked--But does the rest of this amazing prophecy fit?
      1. Let's go back to Daniel 9:25 (p 868).
      2. Read vv. 25, 26a.--"after the 62 weeks"--which is after the 7 weeks--which in essence is saying, after the 69 weeks have gone by....something extremely significant is going to happen to the Messiah!
      3. Read v. 26,27.
      4. Note carefully that we are dealing with the final week or the final 7 years of this 490-year probationary period for Israel--from 27 A.D. to 34 A.D.
      5. Notice again: (Put the following chart back up on the screen:)

                   MESSIAH Statements            JERUSALEM Statements
              v. 25          would come (27 A.D.)               be rebuilt (before 27A.D.)
              v. 26          will be cut off                         will be destroyed
              v. 27          will confirm a covenant            desolated
                        with many by bringing              (quoted by Jesus in 
                        an end to sacrifices.                   Mt. 24:25 to refer to the 
                                                      destruction of Jerusalem.

      6. During this crucial 7 year span, the Messiah would be "cut off" as v. 26 indicates.
      7. And in the middle of the week (the middle of 7 = 3 1/2) He would bring an end to sacrifices as v. 27 indicates.
   6. WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?
      1. Bible scholars are united in their consensus that the public ministry of Jesus covered a period of 3 1/2 years--in fact you can count in the gospel records 4 Passovers that He celebrated, thus confirming that 3 1/2 year ministry.
      2. Simple arithmetic tells us that if you add 3 1/2 years to Jesus' anointing as Messiah at His baptism in the Fall of 27 A.D. you will arrive at the Spring of 31 A.D. as the date for the end of His public ministry.
      3. And we all know that His end was brought about by His crucifixion and death.
      4. Thus placing His crucifixion in the Spring of 31 A.D. PRECISELY WHEN OVER 500 YEARS EARLIER GABRIEL HAD PREDICTED THE MESSIAH WOULD BE CUT OFF AND BRING SACRIFICES TO AN END!
   7. Illus: Did the death of Christ bring sacrifices to an end?
      1. Read the record for yourself in Matthew 27:50,51 (p 966).
         1. At the death of Jesus the sacred veil that shielded the most holy precincts of the Jewish temple services was mysteriously and supernaturally wrent in half, FROM THE TOP DOWN (nobody put a hand on it from the bottom up!).
         2. Thus powerfully and dramatically confirming the truth that at the death of the Lamb of God, as John called Jesus, the Old Testament system of sacrifices was brought forever to an end.
         3. There was no more need for sacrificial lambs--God had become the sacrificial Lamb in Christ.
      2. Illus: No wonder Hebrews 9:26,28 exclaims [show on screen]: "But now once at the end of the age, Christ has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself....to bear the sins of many."
      3. The old was forever gone--for the new had come!
      4. Illus: Why on the very night before He was crucified, Jesus celebrated the Last Supper with His disciples--and notice how He used the very words of Daniel 9 with them--Matthew 26:26-28 (back a page).
         1. This is My blood FOR THE NEW COVENANT.
         2. The old has passed away--and something new has come!
         3. aniel 9:27 declared that the Messiah would "confirm a covenant with many" during the last week of that 490-year prophecy.
         4. And right on time, on the very eve of His death, Jesus declares the confirmation of a NEW covenant!
      5. It was God's covenant of love!
      6. IIlus: DIVINE LOVE WAS THROWING WIDE THE DOOR OF SALVATION TO THE ENTIRE HUMAN RACE!
         1. [On screen] "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8
         2. [On screen] "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."  John 3:16
   8. But we must finish Daniel's astounding prophecy, because it ends with a note of love unrequited, of divine love rejected.
      1. Read Daniel 9:27 (p 868).
      2. The final date in the 490 year probation is 34 A.D. (27 + 7 = 34).
      3. Because even though His own people rejected Him at Calvary, the love of God through the resurrected Christ kept beating like the pounding surf against the rock of His beloved nation.
      4. And I am grateful to note that the book of Acts describes hundreds and thousands of the people and the priests of Judaism embracing Jesus as the promised Messiah, and the Christian Church in Jerusalem grew into a shining witness to the world.
      5. But tragically, the nation as a whole rejected the unrelenting appeals of God through the disciples and followers of Jesus.
      6. And just as it was 500 years earlier, even so once again Divine Love is forced to accept the reality of the nation's rejection of His offer.
      7. And when in A.D. 34 the ruling council of the Jews stoned to death the first Christian martyr named Stephan THE FINAL STROKE ON THE PROPHETIC CLOCK OF DANIEL 9 STRUCK, the merciful probation of God for Israel as a nation came to an end.  (Read it later for yourself in Acts 7.)
      8. God accepts their decision and removes His protective presence.
      9. And as v. 26 sadly predicted, the very city of Jerusalem was destroyed within that same generation.
      10. AS HE HAS ALWAYS DONE, GOD HONORED THEIR FREE CHOICE AND PRESERVED THE RIGHT TO SAY NO TO HIM.
      11. Which did not mean that God then said NO to Jews--Oh no, just as He has gone on doing for the likes of you and me, He has continued to knock on the heart doors of Jews and Gentile alike WITH HIS OFFER EVEN TONIGHT OF A SAVING LOVE AND A LIFE-GIVING FRIENDSHIP TO ALL WHO WOULD RECEIVE JESUS!

5. Because that is the indisputable truth of this spectacular divine prophecy--Jesus Christ was exactly who He claimed to be--the Son of God and the Savior of the world!
   1. He came on time, He died on time, and He lives now for all time with His passionate longing to save, not just Israel, but the entire human race.
   2. But before we close the Book on this incredible piece of prophecy, I need be candid and inform you that there is one more piece that is yet missing to this prophecy.
   3. And it has everything to do with Israel and their sanctuary worship!
   4. With this final piece the final date prophesied in the Bible prophecy is quickly calculated--proving tonight that it's much later than you might think!
   5. The missing piece?  Turn back a chapter to Daniel 8:14.
      1. Read v. 14.
      2. Illus: In the Jewish tabernacle or temple one day every year was set aside to represent the solemnity of God's judgment--and it was called the Day of Atonement.
         1. Actually, the very word "atonement" in English beautifully describes what in fact that day was all about--it was a day to bring about AT-ONE-MENT with God.
         2. Carefully described in Leviticus 16, the Day of Atonement was a day of corporate cleansing, where the sins of the entire community were symbolically washed away.
         3. At the end of that Day, it could be said of the community, "You are all clean again."
         4. It was a Day where each member of the community searched their heart and brought to God's forgiving grace any sin recalled from the previous year, any habit that he or she sought victory from.
         5. And on this Day that deeply earnest, personal confession was met with the joyous expression of forgiveness and cleansing.
         6. IT WAS BOTH A SOLEMN AND HAPPY TIME.
      3. Daniel here in chapter 8 is being given an extensive vision of history from his time forward until the final judgment of the human race.
      4. Verse 14 describes a time coming when God, just as Israel celebrated on the Day of Atonement, would cleanse the heavenly records of human sin and rebellion.
      5. In fact, several lectures ago we gazed upon the judgment scene in Daniel 7 where the court sat and the books were opened.
      6. Daniel 8:14 is describing the identical event, only instead of books being opened the imagery is from the Day of AT-ONE-MENT where the sanctuary is being cleansed.
   6. Why do I share this with you before we leave this evening?
   7. Simply because the spectacular prophecy we've been studying all evening together in Daniel 9 is actually the foundation and starting point for the pointed prophecy we just read in Daniel 8:14!
      1. Illus: Most interestingly the very word that Gabriel uses to introduce the 490 year prophecy in Daniel 9:24 literally means, "cut off."
      2. But cut off from what?
      3. It is no coincidence that the twin prophecies of Daniel 8 and 9 are back to back.
      4. Daniel 8:27 reveals that the prophecy of Daniel 8:14 has brought great distress to Daniel as he wonders about the fate and future of his people.
      5. Read 8:27.
      6. "No one understood it"--until Daniel is dramatically given the foundational starting point for the 2300 day vision.
      7. Daniel 9 comes in order that Daniel might understand Daniel 8.
      8. When Gabriel declares that this 490 year period has been cut off from something else, he is overtly and clearly referring to the very vision that has left Daniel so troubled.
         1. Do you mean that my people will have to wait 2300 years until our temple is restored?
         2. No, Gabriel responds--your people will actually have 490 years beginning right away to determine their fate.
      9. But then what are the 2300 days or years all about?
         1. Ah, they are the countdown to the final Day of Atonement or to the great Judgement chapter of human history.
         2. When the 2300 days/years are ended, THEN the court will sit and the books will be opened and the sanctuary records in God's temple will be cleansed.
   8. And when then will this all come to be?
      1. Gabriel is clear--the 490 years are but the cutting off from the beginning of the 2300 years.
      2. And so the calculations are both simple and logical: [show on screen]
         1. If the 490 year prophecy began in 457 B.C., the 2300 year prophecy will do the same.
         2. Quick arithmetic results in 2300 - 457 = 1843 (plus 1 year for moving from BC to AD)--1844 A.D.
         3. And since the decree to rebuild Jerusalem came in the fall of 457 B.C. 2300 years later would carry us to the fall of 1844 A.D.
   9. So what's all of that supposed to mean?
      1. It means that since 1844--and there is no date prophesied in the Bible after 1844--it means that since time--and we can be as certain of that time as we can be of the amazing accuracy of Daniel 9's prophetic timetable--it means that since 1844 God has thrown open His books, as we noted last evening, and has convened a celestial judgment to audit the records and cleanse them IN PREPARATION FOR CHRIST'S RETURN TO THIS PLANET.
      2. SIMPLY PUT--IT MEANS THAT WE ARE LIVING TONIGHT IN THE FINAL JUDGMENT HOUR OF THIS EARTH.
      3. The twin prophecies of Daniel 8 and 9 are too compelling, the evidence is too strong, to conclude otherwise.
      4. YOU DON'T NEED NOSTRADAMUS, you don't need the SUPERMARKET PSYCHICS TO KNOW THAT WE ARE LIVING AT THE END OF HUMAN TIME.
      5. The precision of Daniel's twin prophecies is compelling evidence that not only was Jesus Christ the great Savior on Calvary, He is also the Great Judge of the Day of AT-ONE-MENT.
      6. Illus: AND AS THE MIDNIGHT ANGEL CRIES OUT IN REV. 14 JUST BEFORE HE RETURNS, "The hour of His judgment is here!"
   10. Which means, my friend, that we aren't living tonight in an INDEFINITE PARTY-ON, DUDE kind of time.
       1. Because while we sit here together, while we are going on living our frenzied lives on this planet, there is a convening in the courts above that is ratifying the free and personal choices of human beings living and dying on earth at this very moment!
       2. This perhaps is the most solemn message that any human being can consider in this life.
       3. On the eve of the Next Millennium, WE ARE IN THE JUDGMENT TONIGHT.
       4. ALL THAT IS LEFT IS THE RETURN OF CHRIST!
   11. Shall we tremble with fear?
       1. We don't have to!
       2. Because the very One who stands in the midst of the judgment hour in heaven's temple above is the same One who climbed the hill of Calvary in the middle of Daniel's last week--our Judge is our Savior.
       3. We have nothing to fear, IF WE WILL ONLY TURN OURSELVES OVER TO HIM!
   12. Illus: His real name was Clarence Coleman.
       1. But six years ago, while serving time on parole in Colorado, he jumped the law, ditched out of his probation, and went on the run--he became a fugitive from the law.
       2. He changed his name from Clarence Coleman to Stephen Ingraham, he changed his hairstyle, and running from the law he changed his life.
       3. And so he became a street musician--like we have all over the world--playing his guitar on street corners, begging for money, earning just enough to get to the next town or the next country.
       4. Because he fled from the U.S. and traveled to Canada and even to New Zealand.
       5. But all the while, Stephen Ingraham's--or should I say--Clarence Coleman's conscience troubled.
       6. He lived in fear of the police, he lived in fear of being followed.
       7. In fact he was so afraid, that this 27-year old young man went four years without contacting his parents back in Colorado.
       8. They assumed he was dead.
       9. But then, in his vagabond travels--as it can happen to any of us he discovered that Jesus Christ is indeed God's Messiah who takes away the sin of the world, and Clarence Coleman accepted Jesus Christ as his personal Savior from sin and became a Christian.
       10. Now came the struggle--shall I turn myself in or shall I not?
       11. Coleman lived with that debate with his own conscience, until finally the day came when he could live with it no longer.
       12. He happened to be in Eugene, Oregon, at the time--while I was also there--and I read his story in the paper.
       13. He made the decision--I'll turn myself into the law and take whatever penalty I have coming to me!
       14. A reporter stopped him just before entering Judge Frank Bocci's chambers--"what penalty do you expect to receive?"--to which Coleman replied, "I imagine I'll spend 10-15 years in two or three prisons on a variety of charges, including parole violation, interstate flight to avoid prosecution, and theft."
       15. Clarence Coleman went in and stood before the judge.
       16. He told the judge that having become a Christian he felt it his moral duty to set his record straight and turn himself in as a fugitive from the law.
       17. The judge nodded--and turned to his bailiff for the police records and federal warrants.
       18. The bailiff made the computer checks--and returned to the judge with the report.
       19. Summoning Clarence Coleman to stand before him once more, Judge Frank Bocci announced his verdict: YOU ARE TO BE IMMEDIATELY RELEASED....Clarence stood there dumb-founded...the judge went on: ALL CHARGES AGAINST YOU BACK IN COLORADO WERE DROPPED LONG AGO!
       20. Young man, you have been a fugitive for nothing--you could have been free all this time!
   13. Six years on the run when he could've been free!
   14. Are you on the run tonight, my friend?
       1. You don't have to be!
       2. 2000 years ago--the prophetic clock struck--and the One who is both your Judge and Defender paid your penalty and the charges against you have been dropped!
       3. My friend, if you'll ask Jesus to be your Savior and your Defender, you'll get the Judge as well!
       4. AND I REPEAT FROM A NIGHT AGO--when the Judge is on your side--YOU'VE GOT NOTHING TO FEAR--AND THE TRUTH ABOUT THE JUDGMENT TURNS INTO VERY GOOD NEWS INDEED!
       5. Just don't wait a moment longer to TURN YOURSELF IN, TO

          TURN YOURSELF OVER TO CHRIST.

          Let us pray:
          O God--there is a judgment--and it is in session even as we pray right now.  The books, the records, the lives of every human being, arraigned before Your Bar.  But dear God and Father, how thankful we are to know that our Defender is also our Judge.  Please grant that every heart here will choose Jesus Christ--so that we will run no more.  Free forever and ever in Christ Jesus our Lord and Friend and Savior.  Amen.

          
          
          

          Further Study:

          Discover Guide - From Guilty Sinner To Forgiven Saint     (Lecture Study Guide from Discover Bible School)

          
           
           

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