Daniel’s Amazing Prophecies About Our Day/Program 4

By: Dr. Jimmy DeYoung; ©2010

Daniel’s prophecies actually revealed the time when the messiah would appear in Israel.

Contents

Introduction

Announcer: Today, one out of every four Christian adults believes Jesus could return in their lifetime. The Old Testament prophet Daniel gives us the skeletal outline of all future Bible prophecy and is the key to understanding the book of Revelation. Jesus Christ himself quoted from Daniel, assuring us of its truths. This book contains Daniel’s predictions of four world empires that will rise and fall, his predictions of a final world empire that will be led by a new and powerful global leader, and his warning of an alignment of nations that will come against the nation of Israel in the last days.

Where do we find ourselves in the events Daniel describes? How do Daniel’s prophecies fit into such events as the rapture, the tribulation, the battle of Armageddon, and the second coming of Christ? Today we will take you step-by-step through the book of Daniel to help you understand its message and the events God foretells are up ahead. My guest is journalist and prophecy scholar Dr. Jimmy DeYoung, who has lived and reported from Jerusalem since 1991 and has interviewed every Israeli prime minister over the last 15 years. Join us for this special edition of The John Ankerberg Show.

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Ankerberg: Welcome to our program, we’ve got a great one for you today. We’re talking about the amazing prophecies of the prophet Daniel, a man that lived in Babylon in the sixth century and wrote a book that’s in the Old Testament, the book of Daniel. And we’re talking about the prophecies. These brown pillars up here are talking about the major prophetic events that are in Daniel, some that have happened, some that are up ahead, alright.

And the thing is that what we want to talk about today is not just to give the basic outline, Jimmy, here of Daniel, which we need to do in a moment, so folks that haven’t joined us before, they will know what we’re talking about. But then I want to talk about one of the most unique prophecies in all of the Bible. This one, when you realize what Daniel is doing, is a mind-blower, okay. When I was a college student, University of Illinois, I remember looking at this and saying, you’ve got to be kidding me. If this is true, this is unmistakable evidence that Jesus Christ is the Messiah of God. Now here’s why: Daniel actually framed a time-period, we call it the countdown to the Messiah. From his time, he picked a date that God gave him and then he gave the number of years that it would take, and then at the end of that time, God’s Messiah would show up in Jerusalem and He would present Himself to Israel as the Messiah.

Alright, now, folks, you may have never read this passage before. Take us to Daniel 9:27, after you get through the outline of book of Daniel.

DeYoung: Okay, let’s go back to this particular pillar right here, which is the first of the four major chapters in Daniel that have significant prophecy for our day today. This is chapter 2, which gives us the prophecy about the Revived Roman Empire. I believe the infrastructure for the Revived Roman Empire is in place. I would call that the European Union, not the fulfillment, necessarily at this point in history, but at least the infrastructure. So the Revived Roman Empire is in the process of coming into place. And, remember, Daniel in chapter 2 and verse 44 said, when you see that happening, know that Jesus is ready to come and set up the kingdom.

This would be then, Daniel chapter 7. Here Daniel gives information similar to Daniel chapter 2, and where he interprets the dream for Nebuchadnezzar. But this is Daniel’s own dream. He sees four beast rise up out of the sea, That last beast representing the Roman Empire. And on that beast, ten horns; and those ten horns representing the same as the ten toes of iron and clay in chapter 2, the Revived Roman Empire. Coming out of that, the leader of the Revived Roman Empire, the Antichrist. He comes to power, this world dictator, that helps set up all that’s going to happen during the seven year Tribulation period.

Then we come to Daniel chapter 9. Now, we’re going to come back to 9 in just a moment, verses 24-27, which is that unique prophecy that you were talking about, pinpointing the time in history when the Messiah had to be on earth. But Daniel chapter 9 verse 27 talks about three elements that must be in place at the beginning of the Tribulation period. One of them is the tyrant, the Antichrist, this world dictator. He comes on the scene. I say he’s alive and well on planet earth today. There are men who could be prototypes of what the Antichrist will do; we’ve talked about them in previous programs. But the Antichrist is going to confirm a peace agreement; there’s going to be a treaty, in addition to the tyrant. And this treaty that is confirmed actually starts the clock ticking on the seven year Tribulation period, after the rapture, and before the second coming of Jesus Christ. This is Daniel chapter 9.

Daniel chapter 11 gives us the beginning steps of the nations who will align themselves against the Jewish State of Israel. In chapter 11, verses 40-44 talks about two states that will make the first move. That will be Syria and Egypt that come against the Jewish State of Israel, followed by then, a group of nations out of the north and out of the east that are not mentioned. You have to go to Ezekiel 38 to see who those states are. But it also then mentions Ethiopia and Libya, which would be modern-day Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan, and Libya. The other nations, of course that will align themselves according to Ezekiel 38 – Russia, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan. These nations will come against the Jewish State of Israel. In Psalm 83 you see mentioned the Ishmaelites, which would be Saudi Arabia today; and Tyre, which would be modern-day Lebanon. So in chapter 11, in coalition with Ezekiel 38 and Psalm 83, we see the nations that will come against them.

But coming back to Daniel chapter 9 verses 24-27, John, we see that God gives Ezekiel the 70 weeks of Daniel and all that will happen during that 490 year period of time.

Ankerberg: Quote the Scripture and then let’s talk about this prediction of when the Messiah will come.

DeYoung: Daniel 9:24 talks about a special plan, for a special people, in a special place. He says, “Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and thy holy city.” Now, the 70 week period of time – and in the context of chapter 9, he’s talking about years. And in fact, when we look what will happen at the end of those 490 years, found there in verse 24, it has to be years that he’s dealing with – and it’s 70 sevens, better translated from any of the translations. That’s a 490 year period of time. It’s during that period of time the special plan is put in place. Then he says, “Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people, a special people – the people of Daniel were the Jewish people – and a special place, thy holy city.” Nehemiah chapter 11 verse 2, describes Jerusalem as the holy city. So, a special plan, upon a special people, in a special place, will lead us during this time of 490 years. That sets up the 70 weeks of Daniel.

When you get to verses 25 and 26 of chapter 9, then you start to focus on that prophecy talking about the Messiah who will come. In verse 25, he talks about a command given to someone to go back and rebuild the walls of the city and the streets of the city; not the temple, because the temple will have already been built. But Nehemiah, the one who would go back to Jerusalem and restore the walls of the city and the streets of the city, was the one who would play a key role. And he would be the one given the command to do that. He was the cupbearer for Artaxeres. This is the book of Nehemiah. His cousin came from Jerusalem and said Jerusalem was the laughingstock of the world. The temple was standing there; it was a simple temple; it wasn’t like Solomon’s Temple. And it would be later refurbished by Herod the Great, become a majestic building in the city of Jerusalem. But at this time, it was just a simple temple and the walls were torn down, the streets were all in rubbish. And so Nehemiah went to King Artaxeres and said, “May I return to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple?” That happened approximately 445 BC, when the command was given to go back.

So, Artaxeres gives the command to Nehemiah that he may go back to Jerusalem and rebuild the walls of the city. It tells us in the text there that from the time that command is given until the time of the appearance of the Messiah, Ha’Meshiyah, in the text in verse 26 of the book of Daniel chapter 9, its talking about a period of time that would be 69 of the 70 weeks; in other words, 483 of the 490 years.

Well, indeed, at that time in history, after 445 BC, when you put in all the leap years and everything else that’s considered, you come up with the time when Jesus Christ was here on the earth. In fact, Jesus Christ, when he stepped on the Mount of Olives and looked across the Kidron Valley at the Temple Mount, Luke chapter 19 verses 40 and following, He made the statement, “If you’d have only read the book, you would have known I was to be here today – not yesterday, not tomorrow, but today.” And what’s interesting, if you do the numbers, Sir Robert Anderson of England did the numbers, but if you do the numbers, you would see from the time the command was given by Artaxeres to Nehemiah to go back and rebuild the walls of the city, and the streets of the city, was 173,880 days on the dot, when Jesus stood there. That’s why He said, “If you’d have read the book, you would have known I was to be here today – not yesterday, not tomorrow, today.” That’s how specific Bible prophecy is, and it helps us to understand that Jesus Christ showed up right on time.

But that’s not the end of the story. It also says in the text that He would be cut off. Now that’s a terminology referring to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. He was crucified: 30 AD, I believe, was the year that He was crucified. He was cut off. By the way, it says that He would be cut off or crucified before the temple was destroyed and the city devastated. Now, that happened in 70 AD. That’s just absolute history. Any record of history will tell you General Titus and the Roman army came off the Mount of Olives, crossed the Kidron Valley, entered up to the Temple Mount, destroyed the temple, devastated the city and dispersed the Jews to the four corners of the earth in fulfillment of another Bible prophecy, Deuteronomy chapter 28. Jesus Christ is the only one in history that meets every one of the qualifications in the prophecy found in Daniel 9 verses 24-26.

Ankerberg: Yeah, and right along with that, what are the next two verses? Just keep going. I mean, the story is fascinating about the prince that’s going to come.

DeYoung: Well, indeed, the prince that shall come is referring to the Antichrist, there in verse 26. In verse 27, it’s talking about he – the he, of course, a pronoun that modifies a noun – the prince that shall come, he will come into Jerusalem. He will establish a treaty; he will give the Jewish people the right to build their temple on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, and we’re underway with the Tribulation period. So all of Bible prophecy contained, almost, as it relates to the Tribulation period, at least the first six months, here in Daniel 9:24-27.

Ankerberg: Alright, you’ve got this first 483 years. Alright, and then you’ve got this seven year period of time. And there’s a jump in history. Why is it that Daniel didn’t say, “Hey, guys, there’s a big gaposis right here between this and the last seven year period of time?”

DeYoung: Because he did not bring to the attention of the Jewish people the church period of time, when Jews and Gentiles would come to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. He knew it; he was not going to take the time in the book of Daniel to explain that. In fact, he didn’t even talk about the church until near the end of his ministry, and did not talk about the rapture of the church and what was going to happen during the church age. That’s the reason in the gap. And you can find many passages of Scripture where a prophecy will conclude here and then you can see later on that it is brought back into place. And everything’s going to operate just like the prophecies called for.

Ankerberg: Yeah, the other reason that you know that you have the seven years, and it hasn’t taken place, and it didn’t follow after Jesus died and the city was destroyed, was because the events that are talked about in the next verses have never happened in history before.

DeYoung: Absolutely.

Ankerberg: And also the fact of, the very things that we’re talking about here in Daniel versus Revelation, the events, in terms of the ten kingdoms and the ten kings and another, the eleventh king, that comes out of it and displaces three, it’s never taken place in history before, so that’s still up ahead. So, it’s another tip-off that we’re waiting for this seven year period to start.

Alright, we’re going to take a break, Jimmy, and when we come back, we’re going to talk about another controversial topic; and that is, that Daniel consistently reports from God that there’s going to come a time when God’s going to establish His own kingdom on earth. It’s this, after Christ comes back, this middle pillar in Revelation, the second coming of Christ, the millennial kingdom. But it’s amazing how many times God says in these chapters that he’s coming back and he’s going to establish His kingdom. We’re going to talk about why He’s let it play out the way it is, what’s going to happen, and what’s going to happen when Jesus Christ actually comes back. Take a break, we’ll come right back.

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Ankerberg: Alright, we’re back. We’re talking with Dr. Jimmy DeYoung. We’re talking about the book of Daniel and how it impacts our day today. We’re talking about the amazing prophecies that are found in Daniel. And we’ve just talked about how Daniel predicted that the Messiah would come to Israel at a specific date, and that turns out to be the time when Jesus actually presented Himself in Jerusalem; that He’d be cut off. And then we’re coming into the future where God says that He’s letting man play out a chance to choose whether or not they want to love God, serve God, come into a relationship with God.

But He says there’s going to come a time where He’s going to say that’s enough. And in Daniel chapter 2 He says there’s going to be a rock not made by human hands; it’s going to come and it’s going to smash the kingdoms of this world. He’s going to bring them to the end. There’s another passage in Daniel. He says in the days of those kings, God’s going to establish His kingdom. And I find it amazing how many times God says in the book of Daniel, and then again in the book of Revelation, that He’s going to do this and there is going to be His kingdom on earth. After this second pillar here in the book of Revelation, which stands for the second coming of Jesus Christ, there’s going to be this 1000 year millennial reign of Jesus Christ, where Jesus Christ, the one who’s our Savior, He’s going to come and He’s going to rule and reign from Jerusalem. Now, I want you to establish, from Daniel, where God says He is going to set up this kingdom here on earth.

DeYoung: If you don’t mind, let me go back to the book of Revelation, which you were just referring to. Let me quickly run through how that scenario’s going to unfold. The first pillar that you see, the one to the left of your screen, is the rapture of the church. The space between that and the second pillar, the Tribulation period; the second pillar, the return of Christ back to the earth. He then establishes His kingdom. Now notice, the rapture’s next, the seven year Tribulation, Jesus Christ returns, and then the kingdom is put in place. The kingdom is now not in operation; it is to be in operation. It will be a physical kingdom, on the earth, when Jesus builds His own temple there, and He establishes the kingdom that God the Father gives Him.

When you go through the book of Daniel, you have to come to the seventh chapter of the book of Daniel, in verses 13 and 14, where it says the Ancient of Days will give to the Son of Man – those are both apocalyptic terms: the Ancient of Days, a name for God the Father; the Son of Man, the special name given to Jesus Christ in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John – and so, God the Father is going to give the dominion and a kingdom to Jesus Christ. That’s a promise. God the Father gave that promise to King David, way back in 2 Samuel chapter 7, the Davidic Covenant, where He told King David, “One of your sons will build a temple in Jerusalem. I’ll establish a kingdom there that shall be forever.” So there is a kingdom coming.

Jesus Christ, after He resurrected from the dead, He spent 40 days on the earth, most of that time in the Galilee with His disciples and some others who gathered there with Him. He was teaching, and Acts 1 says He was teaching about things that will happen in the kingdom to come. They came back to Jerusalem. Just before Christ ascended into the heavenlies, the disciples asked Jesus, “Are you going to put up your kingdom now?” He said, “No, I’m not.” “Well, when are you going to do that?” And Jesus said, “Only My Father knows that.” And so only the Father, as promised in Daniel chapter 7 verses 13 and 14, knows when the kingdom will be established.

But as you said, John, it’s a physical kingdom on the earth, centered in the city of Jerusalem. That kingdom will come to play. You mentioned a few moments ago about chapter 2 of the book of Daniel. Those kingdoms of this world have to be destroyed: the Gentile world powers, the Babylonian Empire, the Medo-Persian Empire, the Grecian Empire, the Roman Empire, have already been destroyed. But that Revived Roman Empire, those ten toes of iron and clay, it must be destroyed. And Daniel’s prophecy in chapter 2 says that stone, Jesus Christ, will come and destroy those kingdoms that are set up on this earth, the Gentile world powers. And then that stone becomes a mighty mountain, which is talking about His kingdom. Interesting, you referred to Daniel chapter 2 verse 44, when you see these kingdoms coming to power, in other words, those ten kings of Daniel chapter 2, when they come to power, you can know the kingdom is about to be set up, a kingdom that will last forever. The kingdom is going to be set up; it’s going to be in that 1000 year period of time. God the Father’s going to give it to Jesus Christ. Jesus will build a temple there, He’ll rule and reign from that temple. The Scriptures say more about the kingdom of God than any other prophetic thought in all of the Bible. It’s interesting; the kingdom is coming.

You know, in the first three chapters of the Bible, Genesis 1, 2, and 3, it was a theocracy. In the last three chapters of the Bible, Revelation chapters 20, 21, and 22, there will be a theocracy. All in between has been a satanocracy. Satan is the ruler of this world. But the reason for the Tribulation period, the reason for the information found in these four major chapters in the book of Daniel telling us of those details, is to bring the earth under submission, earth dwellers under submission, so God the Father can give His kingdom to Jesus Christ.

And there’s an interesting verse over in Matthew chapter 19 and verse 28, when Jesus says to His disciples, when the generation takes place, when I’m on My throne. You know what that word, generation, in the Greek its paliggenesia, Genesis again. He’s going to make this world, after all the Tribulation period, after all the devastation, after half of the population of the earth has been destroyed, Jesus… This is not the New Heavens and the New Earth, He’s going to make it like it was in the time of Genesis, when He sets up His kingdom to rule and reign in the city of Jerusalem.

Ankerberg: Yeah, I find it fascinating when Jesus was on trial for His life and the High Priest asked Him, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the blessed?” He said, “I am, and you shall see the Son of Man coming with the clouds of glory, the clouds of heaven.” And that goes right back to Daniel chapter 7. So Jesus applied that to Himself. And the phrase Son of Man was used 81 times by Jesus in the Gospels, and nobody else, okay. Jesus applied it to Himself. And so He thought He was that king that was going to be given a kingdom that would be everlasting, that would never pass away. So all of this ties together. And there’s a kingdom that’s coming, and Jesus is going to rule and reign from Jerusalem.

DeYoung: That’s so exciting to me. I see everything setting the stage for all of these prophecies to be fulfilled, leading up to that kingdom. As we’ve studied the book of Revelation, as we’ve studied the book of Daniel, you cannot deny that the prophecies we see in both of these prophetic books, we can see the stage being set for every one of those prophecies to be fulfilled, which is indicative of the fact we’re quickly moving towards that kingdom on earth that Jesus Christ will rule and reign from. That means we had better be prepared for that event. It’s about to happen. And if prepared, knowing Christ as Savior, live pure and productive until He does come back.

Ankerberg: Folks, this has been mind-boggling information that you can find in your Bible. Just take it out and read it. And I’ll tell you what, as I’ve been studying for this program, I’ve read these passages over and over. And it’s amazing how clear they are. It also speaks to you in a very practical way. And I would just advise you, take out the book of Daniel and just read it carefully and slowly. And I’m sure that God will speak to your heart. Not only that, but you will see the pillars that we’re talking about. Then come on over to the book of Revelation and go through the chapters that are there, and you’ll see that they jibe together – they’re both talking about the same thing. It’s absolutely amazing material that only God could give us, and you’ll find it in your Bible.

Jimmy, thank you for being with us, and giving us all this tremendous information. The wealth of knowledge you have is just amazing.

Folks, thank you for being with us.

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