Daniel Chapter 9:20-27

Oh, right. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, this is Lee Arnold and welcome to he’s associate ministries. Glad to have you all here with us this morning, as we continue and pick up our study in Daniel chapter nine. So if you would please turn your Bibles to Daniel chapter nine. And we will read through it together, although we are only going to be picking up in verses 20 and 27. So that’s where we left off two weeks ago, was 20 and 27. But I won’t read the whole chapter just from a contextual standpoint, and make sure that we are all on the same page. So Daniel, chapter nine, beginning in verse one. And I will be reading out of the an IV, the New International Version. We’ve had some emails and some comments about how can what you you read doesn’t match what I’m reading? Well, I read out of the nav and if you guys have gotten a Bible from Jesus solution ministries, the Bibles that we give out are also an IVs. So I don’t often say it during these live streaming events, we say that all of our events, but if you need a Bible, or just prayer, anything you can always give us a call at 800-461-0216. You’d like a lot of nice large print leather bound Bible. We’d be happy to send you one just give our office a call at 800-461-0216 Dave chapter nine beginning of verse one. In the first year of various sun, Xerxes a bead by descent was made ruler over the Babylonian kingdom. In the first year of his reign I Daniel understood from the scriptures, according to the word of the Lord given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last 70 years so I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with Him in prayer and petition, in fasting and in sackcloth and ashes. And I prayed to the Lord my God and confess to the Lord the great and awesome God who keeps his covenant of love with all who love Him and obey his commands. We have sinned and been wrong. We have been wicked and have rebelled, we have turned away from your commands, and laws. We have not listened to your servants, the prophets who spoke in your home to our kings, our princes, and our fathers and to all the people of the land. Lord, You are righteous, but this day we are covered with shame, the men of Judah and the people of Jerusalem and all Israel, or near and far in all the countries where you have scattered us because of our faithfulness to You. Lord, we and our kings, our princes, and our fathers are covered with shame because we have sinned against you. The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving. Even though we have rebelled against him, we have not obeyed the Lord our God who kept the laws he gave us to the servants the prophets. All Israel has transgressed your law and turned away refusing to obey you. Therefore, the curses and sworn judgments written in the law of Moses, the servant of God had been poured out on us, because we have sinned against you. You have fulfilled the words spoken against us and against our rulers by bringing upon us great disaster under the whole heaven. Nothing has ever been done like what has been done to Jerusalem, verse 13. Daniel chapter nine, just it is just as it is written in the law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us yet we have not stopped the favor of the Lord our God by turning from our sins and giving attention to the truth. The Lord did not hesitate to bring the disaster upon us. For the Lord. God is righteous in everything he does, yet we have not obeyed Him. Now, oh Lord, our God who brought your people out of Egypt for the mighty hand, and who made it for yourself a name that endures to this day, we have sinned, we have done wrong. The Lord in keeping with all your righteous acts, turn away your anger and your wrath from Jerusalem, your city, your holy hill, our sins and the iniquities of our fathers that made Jerusalem and your people an object of scorn to all around us. Now are God here the prayers and petitions of your servant for your sake Oh, Lord, look with favor on you’re desperately at sanctuary. give ear Oh, god here. Open your eyes and see the desolation the city that bears your name. We do not make requests of you because we are righteous but because of your great mercy. Oh, Lord, listen, oh, Lord, forgive Oh Lord, hearing the act for your sake. Oh my god, do not delay because your city and your people. They’re your name. Verses 20 through 27 will be the context for our message here this morning. Verse 20. While I was speaking in praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people and making my requests to the Lord, my God for His holy hill was still in prayer Gabriel, that I had seen in earlier vision came to me in Swift, like about the time of the evening sacrifice. And he instructed me and said to me, Daniel, I have now come to give you insight and understanding. As soon as you began to pray an answer was given which I have come to tell you for your highly esteemed. Therefore consider the message and understand the vision 70 sevens are decreed for your people and your whole holy city, to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring an everlasting righteousness to the sila, vision, and prophecy and to anoint the Most Holy 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 62 sevens, it will be rebuilt with streets and trench, but in times of trouble, after the 62 sevens, the anointed one will be cut off and will have nothing but people with the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And the end will come like a flood war will continue until the end and desolations have been decreed. He will confirm a covenant with many for once. 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. Let’s pray. Or we just come to you this morning as we open up your word, Lord, we we just ask that you would open up our hearts, Lord, that You would open up our minds, that you would help us to be attentive and focused on what it is you want to share with us this morning. Lord, you know, the desire of each of our hearts will you know the fears of each of our hearts. Lord you, you have brought every single person here today for a reason. Or I’m always intrigued to see the people that you bring in for a particular message that we might never even, we might never see again, alert you you use your word to instruct, to teach and to direct alert. Every single one of us this morning is in need of instruction and encouragement, and direction. So we just surrender ourselves to you. waiting to hear what you would have to share with us for your word this morning. So Lord, teach us train us equip us and learn more than anything helped me to get out of the way. We want to hear from you this morning. So commit our times, you know Jesus and we pray. Amen. All right. Daniel was an exile. While he was an exile, he read Jeremiah chapter 25, verses 11 and 12. And Jeremiah 3910. And while reading these prophetic chapters, he realized that Israel’s 70 year punishment was almost over. Now I want you to just think about that, right? You’re sitting in jail, you have been given an undetermined sentence, or at least what you believe to be an undetermined sentence. And you really don’t have any idea how long you’re going to be in prison. And you pick up a Bible. And as you’re reading it, it says right in the Bible, that you person sitting in prison cell are going to release from captivity in a very short period of time. This is essentially what’s happening today. He’s in captivity, he’s serving the king as a slave. Now, certainly he has you know if prison can be could be comparatives, you would call the prison that Daniel was living in club fed or Club Med. Has he had the ability to come and go as he pleases? He was giving places of authority. Kings, magicians, magistrates look to him as being God’s man. But he’s still in captivity. So as he’s reading Jeremiah, he realizes that this captivity that he’s been in is about to end. Now, he knew that his people had been unfaithful, but he asked God to forgive them. And while he is praying over his people, and saying, Lord, we have been a sinful nation, the children of Israel we have, we have not followed your precepts. We have not done what you’ve asked us to do, what we is having this time of prayer, he receives another vision, about the end times of the fate of Israel. The most important thing we can do in the service, our king is to become men and women of prayer. Here in chapter nine, we see a prayer of Daniel, that the Holy Spirit preserved for us to stay along with was recorded in Ezra chapter nine. And Nehemiah chapter nine, this is one of the great three prayer chapters of the Old Testament. So hopefully, you guys take notes in your Bible, I would encourage you over chapter nine in your Bible to simply write one of the three great prayer chapters in all of Scripture. And then I will do a reference to Ezra chapter nine, and the Maya chapter nine. Because how we pray, when we pray, the frequencies of which we pray, is really quite important, because the most powerful thing we as Christians can do is to pray. Now, I gotta be honest with you, I struggle with that more than anything else. Because I’ve always been a kick, charge kind of guy. So something’s broken, fix it, if something isn’t going the way you want it to go, change the course of whatever it is, fix it. But that’s carnal human nature, is to just try to fix it ourselves, as opposed to waiting on the Lord to fix it. You know, I know that every Christian on the planet is praying diligently for the selection and the recounts. But you know, I would love it if Donald Trump would come out on live TV, and he would say, Americans, I believe that there has been an injustice in this election. But I also know that the Lord is on the throne, and he’s working things out for His glory, and for his good, and ultimately, his will, will be accomplished. And what’s the Lord Tico? Well, Lee, that, you know, that’s tough, because he’s fighting against some pretty, some pretty aggressive Suppose, you know, he needs to be suing people in court and, and doing this thing and doing that thing. Fair is the most powerful thing we can do as a Christian. And sometimes we fight and we buck and we complain, and we argue, but it doesn’t change anything. And I think the most important thing to understand about prayer is that prayer is not necessarily to change the outcome of an event or an occurrence. As much as prayer is the result of us changing, changing our perspective, changing our outlook, you know, when you come to the Lord in prayer, in, in, in a, in a funk, you know, just not having a great day, you know, everybody’s coming down on you, this deal went sideways, not getting paid for that thing, this relationship isn’t going the direction you want it to go. And it’s very easy to start getting bitter. But boy, the minute you just bow your head and pray. Your entire perspective begins to change. And the thing to note from all three of these great prayers of the Bible, Daniel, chapter nine, as your chapter nine, Nehemiah chapter nine, I don’t know yet what the what the reason for the three great prayers of the Bible being the number nine, but I’m sure there’s a study on it somewhere. Unfortunately, I didn’t go that deep for this. But I would imagine there’s something there. But as we look at these three prayers, the thing I want you to notice is that they are not very long. You know, sometimes we think that prayer has to last a long, long period of time. And it’s not, you know, simple prayer while you’re driving. Lord, I just thank you for this beautiful day. Thank you for all that you’re doing. And that’s pretty giving wisdom today. Keep my family safe. Today, Lord, if there’s anybody that needs help or to be served today, Laura revealed it isn’t a fers don’t have to be long and it seems like the longer somebody is a believer, the longer they pray, and You know, now they try to use the king’s English and they pray out of the Holy Bible or the King James Version of the Bible. And there’s a lot of these and vows and, you know, the new baby Christian coming into here that it can be really intimidating. It’s like man, like, I don’t even know how to use these and thousand dies in vocabulary. How do I pray with that stuff? guy doesn’t need your flowery prayers. God does not start a stopwatch when you begin praying to see how long you actually go. Because the longer you pray, the holier you are, there’s nothing in the Bible that says that’s true. And sometimes seasoned veteran Christians, I think we can do a disservice, especially in mixed circles, where we know that there are new Christians in that environment, to pray, continually, out loud. I remember growing up as a kid, we had this one gentleman in our church, and every time he stood up to pray, we all kind of looked at each other rolled our eyes and went, good grief, here we go. Because this guy would literally pray 15 and 20 minutes. Now, in a prayer time of 30 minutes, you know, he would consume two thirds, or almost all of it, leaving no time for anybody else to pray. And it was not about him drawing closer to the Lord. It was about him trying to impress the other people in the church. And that’s not the purpose of prayer. The purpose of prayer is to draw us closer to the Lord, and change our hearts as relates to a particular situation. First one to one verses, give us the prayer of Daniel. And as you read it, if you were to time yourself reading Daniel’s prayer, you realize it would take you less than three minutes reading those prayer, one of the prophetic giants in history is recorded prayers, less than three minutes in length. So I just want you to understand that the power is not in the length, the power in prayer is in just being in prayer. 30 seconds, three minutes, you want to be in prayer for 30 minutes, that’s fine. But I would encourage that to be something between you the Lord, no, go to a room, go to your bedroom, and just worship and pray and just be with the Lord in prayer. The final six verses of chapter nine give us the very important prophecy of the 70 weeks. And that’s what we’re going to be talking about this morning. The topic of our talk is the prophecy of the 70 weeks. Now, in this chapter, the data is about 537 BC. And Daniel here as he’s writing this as between the age of 85 and 90 years of age, so I’m a visual person. So I like to visualize the situation, the circumstance that the author is in as they’re writing this thing. So this is an older, more mature gentleman 85 to 90 years of age, Danny was captured back in 606 BC, when he was about 17. Now that means that the 70 year period is coming to a close. Now remember, the children of Israel are in captivity, because God told them to farm the land for six years, and then let the land rest for year seven, they were to do this every year. Well, they didn’t do this for hundreds of years. So this 70 years of captivity was God’s way of saying you owe the land rest. And so that rest period is about to expire here. So 70 year period is coming to a close. And it is about the time that these people will be given the opportunity to return to their own land. Now these people means the children of Israel, who are in captivity, here with Daniel. Now, I wanted to give you the closing and the application from our study two weeks ago because we are inserting ourselves right here into the end of the chapter. So the closing application from two weeks ago as it relates to verses one through 19. Preparation for prayer and worship is as important as prayer itself. without a heart that is right with God. Our prayers are just so many pious words. Too often we rush into God’s presence and ask for things without first pausing to worship Him. And when we see the greatness and glory of God, it helps to put our own burdens and needs in proper perspective. by exercising even a little faith in a great God. We can move the hand of God To accomplish wonders that will glorify His name. Dr. Robert a cook used to say, if you can explain what’s going on in your ministry, or in your life, God didn’t do it. So if you’re fearful about the future, wondering where God is leading, just talk to him. trust him. He is the God of the universe and the one who knows how many hairs are on your head. He loves you. And believe it or not, he loves Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, too. He died to save them from their sins, dislike He died for yours, and mine. So the first part of chapter nine deals specifically with prayer, the importance of it, the process of it out, we go into the 77th. This is where the angel Gabriel is going to interpret for Daniel, the dream that he has had and what it means. So as Daniel is praying concerning the 70 year captivity, God sends Gabriel a message that dealt with something far bigger than Daniel realized. Not just was Daniel being. Not only was it being revealed the day ended, but 70 years of captivity was over. But God is revealing to Daniel the entire history and future of the Jewish people prophetically. Agenda corson said this, he said this frequently happens in prayer, we come concerns about a particular matter. But as we spend time in prayer, God shows us other things, and ministers to so deeply and intimately that we leave with an entirely different perspective. That’s why prayer is so important. Daniel went his way, blown away by what he had learned in the place of prayer. So verse 20, says, while I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin, and the sin of my people Israel and making my requests Lord, my God, first holy hill, while I was still in prayer, Gabriel, the man I had seen in the early days came to me and swift What about this time of the evening, sacrifice? Verse 22, he instructed me and said to me, Daniel, I have now come to give you insight and understanding. As soon as you began to pray, an answer was given, which I’ve come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed. Therefore consider the message and understand the vision. Now one of the things I like about verse 23, here, it says, As soon as you begin to pray, an answer was given. As soon as you begin to pray, an answer was given. Now you’ll notice that an answer was not given. Before Daniel began to pray, the answer was not given. While Daniel was sitting at church, an answer was not given. While Daniel was sitting at the office. An answer was given to Daniel, as soon as he began to pray, now that that is like, the secret sauce here. You want to open up your relationship with the Lord and see just incredible results. It’s going to come through prayer, it’s not going to come through charitable contributions, it’s not gonna come by serving in the soup lines and, and feeding the homeless and helping the poor, and what all of those things are great. Prayer is intimacy with God. And remember, we are the bride of Christ and intimacy with God is that quiet time of prayer? I mean, imagine if all you ever did with your spouse was ran around and just did activities went to this place when there’s travel here. But never as a couple had those quiet times those moments and not just have sexual intimacy, but it’s the intimacy as a couple where you share with each other what you are feeling what you’re going through hopes, dreams, desires, it’s in those intimate moments with your spouse that the relationship draws closer. Well, if that’s true for us as humans, why would that not be true for our relationship with blog? And if you feel like your life has been a little bit off track, or for some of you, it has derailed and you know this, I would estimate that you can probably point to your prayer life not being what it needs to be. You know, we often use this analogy when I’m teaching a sales class but the analogy goes like this when we go to the doctor, the doctor will spend, you know, first three to five minutes trying to assess what’s wrong. Where does it hurt? Let’s check your breathing. Let’s check your blood. Let’s check your blood pressure. Let’s test you for COVID. Let’s do all of these things. So they’re doing these diagnostics. Okay, what could it be? What’s wrong? And the same thing occurs when we go to the auto mechanics. Okay, Mr. mechanic kermis mechanic, the engines knock it. Okay. Well, did you put fuel in it? Yes. Did you put oil in it? Yes. Are all of your spark plugs? firing? Yes. Okay, then it has to be something in the engine, let’s pull the head, let’s look at the pistons and the rods and see if we’ve got any anything going on there. Right. So we’re diagnosing what the issue is, as humans. In my business, I have the opportunity in many cases to communicate with people who will share really interesting things with me mainly because of the ministry more than anything else. And as I’m talking to them, and they’re saying, you know, Lee, this is going on, and this is going wrong and our relationships, my spouse isn’t where it needs to be Ana. And the first thing I asked him is, are you paying? That’s like the first thing, if an engine won’t run, what’s the first thing that you put gas in it? If your relationships if your life is not moving, according to your plan? Did you put gappa? Did you pray? Did you commit your plans the Lord and say, Lord, I submit to your will and your authority. I don’t know who said it. But the old adage of if you want to see God, laugh, make plans. Because we need to certainly be good stewards of the time that God has given to us the access that God has given to us the opportunities that God opens up to us. But we can’t be so rigid in our mission, that we are unwilling to take a left or a right, even though it wasn’t in the plan. So you’re feeling this morning, a little bit out of sorts, and you just can’t be able to put your finger I don’t know what’s going what’s wrong with me. Starts with prayer. We need to be in prayer. Again, prayer is not to change things. Prayer is to change our hearts and our attitude towards things or about things. As soon as you begin to pray, an answer was given. Now, I know that some of us have spent years praying for a thing. And perhaps it’s the healing of a family member or a loved one who’s battling an illness or disease or going through some tough financial challenges. And, and we are praying and praying and praying. And we just are frustrated, because we don’t feel like God is hearing our prayers. We don’t feel like God cares. And look, if you really loved me and cared about me, you would have already taken care of such and such. Or you might you would already dealt with so and so. Here’s what you need to know God answers every single prayer that you pray every single prayer that we pray to the Lord, he hears it and he answers it. And there are three possible answers to every prayer. Yes, no. Grow. Yes, no grow. Those are the three answers to prayer. And if you’re not getting the answer, you want it then the answer could be no. But then six months, six years, 60 years later, whatever it was you wanted, you finally get. And so God was saying in the answer to that prayer, you need to grow. And I remember when Harrison was eight. Boy, he wanted a BB gun like it was nobody’s business. I want a gun. I want a knife. I mean, he is. He is all boy. He had a friend over yesterday and I went out to check on him. They’re down by the creek covered. It’s 30 degrees outside. They’re down by the creek, soaking wet covered in mud, all boy and he says I want to be bigger. And I said no. You can never be that. Well, why not? Because you’re not ready for a BB gun. You’re not old enough. Yes, I am. What’s the movie the Christmas story you’ll put your pie out. So he didn’t get Amiga didn’t get one for his ninth birthday or his 10th birthday. Finally, his 11th birthday rolls around. He’s now mature enough and ready for BB again. And I feel like that’s how the Lord handles us too. We are praying for the job. But we’re not ready for that job yet. We’re praying for financial success, but the Lord knows you’re not ready for financial success yet if I give it to you now, you’re gonna think you did it and you’re going to forget about me taking all the credit and before you know what your relationship with me is not nonexistence. Yes, no, bro. So don’t get frustrated when you feel like God isn’t hearing or answering your prayers. Try to look deeper into perhaps the reason why he hasn’t answered your prayers. And I always think of that Garth Brooks song sometimes I thank God for unanswered prayer. Remember when you’re talking to the man upstairs that even though he doesn’t answer doesn’t mean he don’t care. So God’s greatest gifts are an answered prayer. I don’t know how I remembered that. Good song though. On answered prayer, sometimes an A no to a prayer is the best possible thing. As soon as you begin to pray and answer your prayers given which I’m going to tell you for your highly same therefore consider the message and understand the vision. Alright, so here we go. 77 verse 2477, are decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to see it to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the Most Holy about indoor translation where it says 70 sevens, okay? The original Hebrew or Greek word here was heptad h Ep. TAD. So if you go into your King James Version, if you go into the Geneva Bible, which you guys remember Kirk Cameron talked a lot about when he was here for the conference. If you go into one of those translations, you’re going to hear the word kept Tad hgp ci ad. This is God answers Daniel’s prayer. So we can have confidence that God hears and answers our prayers. Now the word week that he say the word week in Hebrew, is heptad. Like a decade means 10, or a dozen means 12. A heptad means seven. So I googled it. And Webster said this heptad means seven, or a group of seven, or a set of seven, which means it could speak of seven days, seven weeks, or could speak of seven years. Now, this is really important, because this is where a lot of people get off track here, because they think that this period of time has already come and gone. Because 70 sevens, it’s only 70 weeks. So they’re looking at it the wrong the wrong way. Here, as is frequently the case throughout the Bible, the heptad refers to seven years. Oh, well, how do you know that Lee? How do you know it’s not seven weeks? It could just be 49 days? How do you get? The answer is that is seven periods of seven years. Now there’s a principle of Bible interpretations called the principle of first mentioned that is, if you want to know the meaning of any given term, go to the first place it is mentioned in the Bible and there you will find a key. Now if you go into Google right now and just say, Where was heptad actvt. At first us in the Bible, where did it first appear? It’s going to take you to Genesis chapter 29. And a Genesis chapter 29. We see this Genesis 2926 and Jacob serves heptad for Rachel, and it seemed to him but a few days for the love he had for her. Now you guys all know the story of Jacob. He fell in love with Labour’s daughter Rachel also his cousin By the way, and her father Laban said to Jacob worked for me seven years, and I’ll let you have her. And at the end of seven years, the wedding ceremony took place according to custom the bride is veiled. But when Jacob work the next morning he was shocked to find and he had married Rachel’s older sister Leah This story always trips me out. Because you know, how dark was it? You know, I understand that courting back in the day was very different and women were veils, but he had seen Rachel when she came to water her dad’s horses and cows. He had seen her. So I knew what she looked like was It’s so dark that he couldn’t tell. For us to decide or discuss here, I just am always curious. How can he not know it was the love of his life? Rachel? You know, I love my wife, Jacqueline. She has an older sister and I would like to think that I would have known that it wasn’t jack on our wedding night. Needless to say. Jacob woke up the next morning he was shocked to find he had married Rachel Rachel’s older sister. Yeah. So he goes to laeven. And he says, laeven Dude, I worked heptad for Rachel. That means I work seven years for Rachel. But Jacob protesting he’s an Anna, he says we have a custom here that the older daughter always gets married Bruce. But if you work for me for another heptad all throw Rachel in another half dead being another seven years. So Jacob worked seven more years for Rachel. Now, Genesis chapter 29, verses 26 through 28. Fitness and live even said, it must be done. It must be It must not be so done in our country, to give the younger before the first born fulfill per week. And we will give three, this also for the service, which thou shalt serve with me yet another seven years. And Jacob did so and fulfilled her week. And then Laban gave him Rachel his daughter to marry also. So when Laban said fulfilled her week, the word use is Tad and he wasn’t talking about seven days, he was talking a week of seven years. So again, this is what is known as the this is what is known as the principle of first mention. Okay, so as you guys are studying your Bible, in your private time, if you come across the word or something that it seems different, just google it when did this word when did this first occur in the Bible? It’s the the process of first occurrence. So when Daniel was having this vision here in verse 24, it says 70 sevens are decreed for your people, that means 70 weeks of seven years, okay, so that is 490 years, 70 weeks to determine up on Israel, to finish or literally to restrain transgression, that is Satan, the one who causes transgression will be restrained. So here’s the thing, after 70 weeks, and we’ll end there will also be reconciliation for iniquity and everlasting righteousness, the vision and prophecy will be sealed in the Most Holy One anointed. In other words, the message to Dan was this, Daniel, good things are going to happen at the end of seventh weeks or 490 years of iniquity will be forgiven, prophecy will be fulfilled. And the most holy one Jesus Christ will be anointed and received as King. Now I want you to remember that, okay? A NyQuil you will be forgiven prophecy will be fulfilled in the Most Holy One, Jesus Christ will be anointed and received as King. Now, we’re going to fast forward here a few hundred years in just a moment, and we’re going to see Jesus this triumphal entry, as he is coming riding on a donkey as prophesied into Jerusalem, where they are praising and singing. Alright, so keep Don’t forget that. Keep that in mind. We’re going to come back to verse 25. know and understand this. Again, this is Gabriel speaking to Daniel In your dream, he says no one understand this, from the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler comes, there will be 70 sevens, and 60 to 70 that is 70 or 770 year periods, 77 year periods and 60 to seven year periods, it will be rebuilt with streets and a trench. But in times of trouble. Daniel was told that 69 weeks or 483 years would pass between the time the command to rebuild Jerusalem was given, and Messiah would come. Why is there a division between seven weeks and 62 weeks? We see the answer in Nehemiah. Don’t forget that Jews were in captivity in Babylon. Jerusalem was lying in the ruins. On March 14 for 45 BC, the command was given for the Jews to go back home to rebuild Jerusalem and restore the temple. Now zuru bubble, Ezra and Nehemiah and others began to lead groups of Jews out of captivity and back to Jerusalem to restore and rebuild the city. Now you guys can go back and listen to our we went through the book of Nehemiah and talked about this process of Nehemiah rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem. How long did it take to rebuild the city? 49 years. That’s why there are seven weeks followed by 62 additional weeks. So seven weeks. And then remember a heptad a week is seven years. Seven times seven is 49 years. So God till dare you. Kimball is going to be rebuilt in 49 years and boom. As we fast forward in history. Where did yours now if you begin at March 14, we’re 45 BC, and then use the Jewish calendar have 360 days per year, that is 69 weeks, or 483 years. It brings us to April 6, ad 32. What happened on that day? Saya team writing into Jerusalem on a donkey, offering himself to be the king of Israel. At first they welcome him waving palm branches and saying Hosanna in the highest save now be on our king. Within days the fickle crowd said we will not have this man to rule over us. away with him. crucify him. Now, Luke chapter 19, verses 41 and 42 say this and when he was come near, he beheld the city and he wept over it saying, If thou has known even now at least in this day, the things which belong on Tuesday peace, back to 24 verse 24. For wickedness, suffering and everlasting righteousness to seal of vision and prophecy and to anoint the Most Holy guys, the triumphal entry of Jesus coming into Jerusalem was prophesied right here. Jesus wept because the Messiah had arrived. And the Jewish people didn’t even realize it. Jerusalem Jesus said, You should have known that this is your city over peace that would be possible if I were your king, but they didn’t know it was their day because they didn’t know Bible prophecy. And Jesus wept. I gotta be honest, I never understood it or realize that verse other than it was my favorite verse to quote in Sunday school because it was really easy to memorize Jesus what john 1130 but, Jesus What? If Jesus wept because he was about to be crucified, I thought Jesus wept because they were hurling insults at him. Jesus wept because the Promised Messiah had arrived. And they rejected him.