By "jigsaw puzzle", I'm not condoning the common error of merely gathering proof texts out of context and cramming them into a preconceived framework.  To do it properly, each piece, whether it be a word, sentence, or paragraph must be prayerfully and carefully studied in its full context.

How're you doing?  "Always better than I deserve!"
    Daniel is a model of how to respond to the world system, especially authorities like the government, when persecution and tribulations increase.  Don't forget that Daniel, who was "greatly beloved" by God, was never a political activist.  Soon all believers will stand before the judgment seat of Christ for how we responded to the testing trials God allowed into our lives.

*  Do you believe that God has fulfilled many of His biblical prophecies?
*  Do you believe that He is in control of History (His-story)?
*  Then do you also believe that God is in control of the events that come into your life?
*  Do you flip out or fall apart when things seem to be going wrong?
*  Will your children grow up and tell others how their mother or father stood strong, peaceful, and loving even when things around them got rough?
*  Do you open your home to co-workers and neighbors for evangelistic hospitality, and to members of our church for mutual, discipleship counseling?
*  Are you committed to your family at home and to your family at church, or do you withdraw or lash out when you feel rejected or neglected?
*  None of us are perfect and we have all failed, but check and see if you're really growing consistently in these characteristics?
*  If not, are you willing to humbly admit it, and turn (repent) back to God and submit your fears, desires, idols of your heart to His control?
*  What if you or anyone in your family needs help (discipleship counseling)?  Are you committed to go get it so that God will be glorified?

Did you know that some of the people who call me for counseling from other churches say they won't go to anyone in their own church because they don't want them to know that they're struggling!   Is that the right heart attitude of humility or could it be embarrasment rooted in pride?

Review of foundational articles on prophecy & eschatology:

Biblical Prophecy:  A Jigsaw Puzzle with Pieces Throughout the Bible
How to Interpret Prophetic Passages: Four Different Views with Important Consequences
Why "Normal" Interpretation is the Key to Prophetic & Apocalyptic Passages
Daniel's 70 Weeks: The Heart of God's Prophetic Puzzle 
        (Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Zechariah, Mat 24, 2 Th 2)
Introduction & Outline of The Revelation
 . . . . . . . 

The Text (Blue Letter Bible): Daniel 9:23-27
(Strong's numbers, Hebrew-Greek lexicons, cross references, etc., can be accessed from the above link)

Brief Outline, Exposition, and Commentary - 

Examples of signpost scriptures & symbols to help you fit Daniel 9:23-27 & The Revelation together (note the literal, chronological context of each):

-  "Middle of the 70th Week"     (3.5 yrs, 42 months, 1260 days, time/times/half a time)
      Dan 9:27; 12:7, 11 & 12 (1290 & 1335 extended for clean up); Rev 11:2-3; 12:6, 13:5
   
-  "Abomination of Desolation" 
     Daniel 7:25; 11:31; 12:11; Mat 24:15; 2 Thes 2:3-4; Rev 12:6; Rev 13

Background & Summary:  

Three Wise Men -  

Daniel's chronologically specific prophecy, 
literally interpreted, 
prepared the Magi for the Messiah, 
the "King of the Jews" 
(Mat 2:2)!

Isaiah 7:14 ff;  9:6 ff; 61:1-2
(Double fulfillments separated by a long span of time)

-  Only Mat 2:1-12 tells us of the eastern Magi who came to worship Jesus.  
-  How did they know that the "star" meant the Jewish Messiah had come?
-  We don't know how many Magi came or their names.
-  We do know that historically the Magi became the most respected astronomers and counselors of the
    Medo-Persian and Babylonian empires.  (Ester 1:13; Dan 1:4 & 20; Jer 39:3)
-  Daniel (2:48) became the head over all Magi in Babylon, because of God's spiritual gifting.
-  The magi respected Daniel and were not the ones who plotted against him (Dan 6:4-9).  
-  Daniel's 70 weeks prophecy was certainly well known to the Magi, and passed on.
-  They knew the time prophesied when Messiah, King of the Jews, would come to Israel.
-  The star seen from the east may have been the Shekinah glory of the Lord.
-  Star is often used figuratively to refer to Messiah, Jesus (Num 24:17; Rev 21:23).
-  When they arrived at Jerusalem, the capital, they had to ask continually where the new king was born.
-  Herod, with the help of the scribes, sent the Magi to Bethlehem because of prophecy (Mic 5:2).
-  Daniel's chronologically specific prophecy, literally interpreted, prepared the Magi for the Messiah.

A figurative (symbolic) use of language does not require or justify a "spiritualist" (allegorical) interpretive methodology.  Figures of speech in the Bible simply portray real, historical (both past history as well as future history) events through colorful and often graphic descriptions for emphasis.  In fact, many of the OT prophetic pictures and figures of speech are directly explained by the Scripture, and these pictures with their direct meanings are later picked up and reused by the NT authors.

Daniel's prophecies in Chapter 2 Image, Ch 7 Beasts, Ch 8 Beasts, Ch 9 the first 69 Weeks) have been fulfilled in an historically literal manner, . . . and since Mat 24 and the Revelation are clearly connected to Daniel's 70th week, then the logical conclusion is that Revelation should be interpreted in an historically, chronologically literal manner.  Revelation was written after AD 90, so it could not have been fulfilled by the Romans destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in AD 70.  Therefore the Revelation's fulfillment must be in our future.

First a look at Daniel’s Visions of the Gentile's Future:
        The "Times of the Gentiles"  Luke 21:24;Rom 11:25; Rev 11:2

Now, Daniel's Prophecy of Israel's Future in 9:23-27 ..........
 . . . . the time of "Jacob's Trouble":

"Israel" - (see also the sermon notes showing why the church does not replace Israel - Gen 15). 
The term, "Israel", is used 2579 times in the Bible.  It is consistently used to refer to a real person, Jacob, or a real, physical nation, Israel.   The first 69 weeks of Daniel's 70 weeks of years were fulfilled literally in an amazingly accurate manner.  Therefore it is only reasonable to interpret the 70th week as literal.  

A Chronograph of Daniel's 70 Weeks:

* Decrees to Rebuild:  (The first three were only for rebuilding the temple)

1.  Cyrus        537 BC        Ezra 1:2-4
2.  Darius                            Ezra 6:1-5, 8, 12
3.  Artaxerxes    458 BC    Ezra 7:11-26
4.  Artaxerxes    445 BC    Neh 2:1-8, 17, 18 (The only one to rebuild the city & walls, etc.)

** Current Geopolitical & Technological Evidence:  A literal, detailed fulfillment of the 70 Weeks has never been possible until the 20th century.  The following examples reveal that such a fulfillment could occur now, at any time.

1.  Israel Regathered:  Ezek 36-37.  May 14, 1948 as Nation.  Jun 6, 1967 Jerusalem after the amazing Six Day War.
2.  Temple Being Rebuilt: Predicted in Mat 24:15; 2 Thes 2:4; Rev 11:1-2. Necessary for the Abomination of Desolation.  (see the following web article from the Jerusalem Post) 
http://www.jpost.com/Editions/2001/01/08/News/News.18980.html
3.  Babylon Being Rebuilt:  Isa 13 & 14; Jer 50 & 51; Rev 17 & 18.  Babylon will be destroyed in a specific manner that has never before occurred.  Saddam Husein has spent over 20 years rebuilding the city, along with huge pictorials of Nebuchadnezzar.
4.  Revived Roman Empire: Dan 2 & 7.  The European Union Superstate now consists of almost 30 countries, with its own currency and now its own military forces.
5.  Biochip Ready:  Rev 13.  "Digital Angel" is a product now internationally acclaimed for the identification of individuals.  It can be tracked by the GPS (Global Positioning Satellite) system.  This current technology along with the internet, and transnational corporate alliances is capable of replacing cash as the means of monetary exchange.

Digital Angel ® 
http://www.adsx.com/frontpage/1,1524,,00.html
"Applied Digital Solutions Acquires Rights to World's First Digital Device Implantable in Humans - With Applications in E-business to Business Security, Health Care and Criminal Justice

PALM BEACH, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 15, 1999-- Inserted just under the skin, with maintenance-free regenerating power supply, miniature ``Digital Angel®'' has multi-billion dollar market potential Applied Digital Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADSX - news) today announced that it has acquired the patent rights to a miniature digital transceiver -- which it has named ``Digital Angel®'' -- that can be used for a variety of purposes, such as providing a tamper-proof means of identification for enhanced e-business security, locating lost or missing individuals, tracking the location of valuable property and monitoring the medical conditions of at-risk patients.  In the agreement signed last week, ADS acquired the right to develop this unique product itself for all of its applications or to sublicense the development of specific applications to other entities. A special technology group has been formed within ADS to supervise the development of the device. The implantable transceiver sends and receives data and can be continuously tracked by GPS (Global Positioning Satellite) technology."

6.  Russia & Moslem Extremists (North):  Ezek 38-39.  The attack against Israel by Gog/Magog (a nation far "north" of Israel) in alliance with Syria, Iran (Persia), Libya, et. al. has never occurred as portrayed by Scripture.  And the end result (Eze 39 ? thermonuclear exchange?) of massive defeat against the attackers along with a careful clean up requiring the marking and burying of bones has never occurred.  Yet just this month, Dec 2000, Russia formed new strategic alliances with Iran, Syria, and other Islamic nations, all of whom have publicly vowed to destroy Israel.  Anti-semitism is spreading in Russia at an alarming rate, even espoused by Russian politicians.  And Russia's current state of affairs make it very hungry for control of middle eastern oil, and desperate for a warm water, southern port.
* The New Russian threat,  http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=21248

7.  China (East):  Dec 2000, the top Pentagon official, General Shelton, warned that China is becoming at least as dangerous a threat to world peace as Russia.  Reknowned investigator, and reporter for the Washington Times, Bill Gertz, has written a new book entitled, THE CHINA THREAT, exposing the serious danger of China, which is being hidden from the western public by the mainline media.
8.  Weapons of Mass Destruction:  Jesus said in Mat 24:22 that the time of Jacob's trouble, the final 70th week, would be so severe of a geopolitical meltdown that unless God had shortened those days, "all flesh would be destroyed".  Only now, with the destructive potential of modern nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons could such a statement have been taken realistically (literally).  Yet today, the potential of global destruction as a result of another world war is the concern of every intelligent person.
9.  Peace Treaty (Covenant) with Israel:  Dan 9:27.  The whole world is obsessed with the concern that the Israel/Jerusalem problem could ignite into World War III.  Every nation is desparately hoping and looking for someone to arise who can bring peace to the area.  If Israel must use its nuclear weapons (the Sampson Solution) against a Russian invasion in the near future, they will then have no major defensive capability left and will have to depend upon some other geographically close nation (like the EU Superstate) to protect them from other enemies.
10.  New Age Messianic Hope:  Across the globe, the new age philosophy of pantheistic socialism has spread into every major social institution (universities, UN non-governmental organizations like Lucis-Lucifer Trust, World Bank through Richard Barrett, theoretical physics, evolutionary theories of biology and psychology, etc.).  The world is ripe and ready for a pseudo-savior, and ant-christ, who will proclaim himself to be divine, and offer to lead others down the road most traveled (self-deification).  2 Thes 2 calls this "the lie", and it is the original deception of Lucifer.

A Summary review of Interpretation Tools from last week:

    Statements in Scripture are to be seen as literal, unless the context forces a symbolic interpretation.  Even then, the symbols represent real events, real people, and real nations in the real world, plainly laid out in real time frames of real chronological order.  The Bible contains many symbols and allegories, but never does an author of the NT, allegorically "interpret" any portion of the OT.  Paul in Gal 4:21-31, for example, merely explains a specific passage regarding the covenant family of Abraham, and the distinction between God's Covenant Way vs. Abraham's fleshly effort to produce an heir through the Egyptian maid, Hagar.  (Please see notes for the previous sermon on "Normal" Interpretation, as well as the sermon notes for Genesis 16, Isaac or Ishmael)

    Systematic literalism (macroliteralism) forms the cornerstone of the foundation of a Futurist (Premillennial) view of eschatology.  Four more foundation stones compose the rest of that foundation.  Each one leads to the logical acceptance of the next in the systematic process of developing a coherent, theology of last things.

1.  Consistent macroliteral interpretation.
2.  Distinction between Israel and the Church.
3.  Futurism
4.  Premillennialism
5.  Pretribulationism  ** This additional foundation stone is, I believe, a logically inescapable conclusion that grows out of the first four.  The central focus of the 70th week, "Jacob's Trouble", is on national Israel, with no mention of the church on earth in Daniel 9; Ezek 36-39; Zech 11-12; Mat 24-25; or Rev 6-19.  In fact, 2 Thes 2 strongly indicates that the antichrist, the lawless one, cannot rise to power until the church is raptured and the Holy Spirit again serves in His Old Testament role on earth (John 7:37-39).  We'll examine this later in our exposition of Rev 1-5.

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