Building work is not easy. We have had some men do small alterations and renovations to our outer buildings. Although the rumble was only a third of the pile, half bricks and broken bricks I had from other projects a few years ago, added to the pile becoming rather huge. I ordered a 2.5 cubic meter skip and as soon as it was delivered at 7am I started loading the pile into the skip. I had just returned from my brisk walk. Two hours later I finished loading the skip. The skip was filled to the permitted limit. After this I was exhausted but the rubble was ready to be removed. Building work is hard work.
Da 9:25 “Know and understand this: From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens.’ It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble.
The prophecy is that the City would be rebuilt and restored by the time the Messiah arrived … but once the Messiah is “cut off” … another ruler will come and destroy the city and the temple (sanctuary)
Da 9:26 After the sixty-two ‘sevens,’ the Anointed One will be cut off and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed.
1) The Anointed One and Ruler of verse 25 and 26a is the Messianic King who fulfills virtually all the Old Testament about the Messiah … (the Second Coming of Jesus, the Judgment, the Separation of the lost unto damnation and the saved into glory and the New Heaven and Earth are still to happen) … but free salvation by grace through faith to believers of all ethnicities has been accomplished and the gospel invitation is available to nations. This Anointed One and Ruler is God’s Ruler. He is the Lord Jesus Christ.
2) The ruler of the people (v 26b The people of the ruler) is a different ruler. This is a human ruler. Where the people of God rebuilt the city, the ruler of the people destroys the rebuilt city. It is crucial to grasp that after the “cutting off” of the Anointed Ruler of God … referring to the Sacrificial, Penal, Substitutionary Death of the Lord Jesus at Calvary, a human ruler will rise and destroy the city. Although some argue otherwise, the “people” are the Romans and the ruler in none other than Titus Vespasianus. Emperor Nero sent Vespasian who was a decorated general to stop the Jewish rebellion. Tactically he started in Galilee, move to Transjordan, then Idumea and then circled Jerusalem. Before Jerusalem was brought down, Nero died and a leadership struggle ensued with the eastern armies calling him, Vespasianus to be emperor. Once ascending to this position, he appointed his son Titus to conduct a war on Jerusalem. After his father, he became the Roman emperor from 79 to 81 AD. He was responsible for the fall of Jerusalem and the desecration of the temple (March 70 AD). The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary.
3) The destruction of Jerusalem will be terrible.
Da 9:26 The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed. 27 He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’ In the middle of the ‘seven’ he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on a wing of the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.
Once again, there has been much written about this passage. Sifting through what has been said and dumping all that is contrary to orthodox interpretation aside, we may say …
(1) The end of the city and temple will come like a flood as the military onslaught will be far worse than Russia’s onslaught against the Ukraine. Whether Gabriel had the universal flood in mind or another flood it does not matter. What matters is that it will be an invasion compared to might waters rolling forward … unstoppable … like a military tsunami.
(2) This onslaught will continue until Jerusalem is fully destroyed.
(3) At this time, with the temple ruined, there will be no more sacrifices … and no one will bring offerings to the temple because the priests will no longer be there.
(4) It is possible that the … on a wing of the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation … might refer to idols and idol worship within part of the temple before it was fully destroyed.
(a) Firstly we must understand that this interpretation of the dream as given by Gabriel is Messianic. Over the past few days we have seen this very clearly for the dream pointed to Messiah’s coming and ministry followed by His death. He was “cut off” to bring reconciliation between God and believing man.
(b) Secondly we need to understand that the destruction, as prophesied by Jesus as well, was God’s wrath upon the unbelieving nation of Jews. He sent His Messiah to them, proving He was the fulfilment of all Messianic prophesies.
Heb 1:1 In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. 3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.
Their refusal of Messiah constituted the end of them as the chosen people of God … hence the end of the temple, temple worship, sacrificial system, priesthood and Holy of Holies. The Gospel and how it works itself out in the New Covenant replaces what is now obsolete.
(c) Jesus said the temple, the central point of nationalistic Judaism would be destroyed.
Mt 24:1 Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. 2 “Do you see all these things?” he asked. “I tell you the truth, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”
Read all of Matthew 24 … but for now
Mt 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. 15 “So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand
As the gospel was being preached to the nations the end come to Jerusalem and the place of worship … just as Gabriel revealed to Daniel. How can anyone dispute the inspiration, inerrancy and authority of the Bible?
Father, thank You for giving us a more accurate understanding into Your Word. Amen.