Gabriel and the Seventy Weeks (Part 1 of 2)

Alistair Begg: When we come across a difficult passage of scripture, one that seems to have a number of different interpretations from credible theologians. How do we determine which interpretation is correct?
Alistair Begg: Alistair Begg shares some biblical wisdom and fundamental principles as he wrestles with this dilemma today on Truth For Life.
Alistair Begg: Daniel chapter 9 and verse 20. "While I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my plea before the Lord my God for the holy hill of my God, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the first, came to me in swift flight at the time of the evening sacrifice. "He made me understand, speaking with me and saying, 'O Daniel, I have now come out to give you insight and understanding. At the beginning of your pleas for mercy, a word went out, and I have come to tell it to you. For you are greatly loved. Therefore, consider the word and understand the vision. "Seventy weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place. Know therefore, and understand that from the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem, to the coming of an anointed one, a prince, there shall be seven weeks. Then for 62 weeks it shall be built again with squares and moat, but in a troubled time. "After the 62 weeks an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing. And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed. And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator.'" Amen.
Alistair Begg: Shall we pray together?
Alistair Begg: Father, thank you that your word is absolutely unerring. Thank you that everything that we need for life and for godliness is conveyed to us in it. And we pray now that you will make the book live to us, show us ourselves, show us our Savior. Grant to us clarity, we pray, for Jesus' sake. Amen.
Alistair Begg: As we said this morning, and we're back in Daniel chapter 9, the prayer of Daniel, which is an extensive prayer, probably one of the great prayers of the Old Testament, was actually stirred as a result of him turning to the book of the words. And we noted that he was reading from the prophecy of Jeremiah. And as a result of that, he recognized not only the majesty of God, but also the need for the people of God to confess their sins. And largely this morning, we were recognizing that fact. I think to a man and a woman, we were struck by it. I think not simply on a personal level, but also on a corporate level as a church. I believe that God's word to us was very, very clear. And necessarily so, because so much contemporary life challenges even the very notion. And that's why most of us are helped by reading old books. Not solely old books, but certainly reading the reformers and reading the Puritans. They help us with this kind of thing. The reformers spoke of the importance of daily repentance. And the Puritans actually spoke of Christian maturity being expressed in a perpetual brokenheartedness, which, of course, just doesn't seem right in our day-to-day. But again, I encourage you as you go into the bookstore to look not only for the new stuff but for some of the old stuff. And if you happen to fasten on Calvin, you will find that he's saying similar things. For example, when he comments on the Lord's Prayer and the phrase, "Forgive us our debts," he writes as follows, "For whom did Christ wish to use this petition? Surely, all his disciples. If anyone thinks that he has no need of this form of prayer and confession of sin, let him depart from the school of Christ and enter into a herd of swine." Well, thank you for being so clear, John. That is, I think we got that perfectly well. Daniel has confessed, as we've seen, the sins that had given rise to the desolation of the city and the temple. He recognizes that he is one, but he is part of a larger, and in the same way that we are too. At this point in history, we are part of the larger representation of the church in our world and certainly in our culture.
Alistair Begg: And I think it's worth pondering which of us is prepared to confess the sins of our contemporary church and our own areas of neglect. If you think about America tonight, or North America tonight, we have Canadians with us as well. I beg your pardon. As we think of North America tonight, and think of it as we have read history or experienced history. Is it not true that we ought to bemoan the fact that many of the buildings that bear the name of Christ are in this moment dark, if not entirely empty. That the professions of repentance towards God and confession of sin is increasingly swallowed up in a man-centeredness, both in preaching and in praying and in singing. And if Daniel had occasion to stop in the midst of his day and confess the circumstances of the people of God 600 BC, it behooves us surely to take on that responsibility, not in a morbid way, but in a realistic way, so that we might pray that God will intervene as he did at that time.
Alistair Begg: Now the urgency of Daniel's appeal, and it was an urgent appeal, is more than matched, as we've seen, by the immediacy of the answer of God. Verse 20, "While I was speaking and praying." Again, in verse 21, "While I was speaking in prayer." Now, this is an interesting point, and we're not going to belabor it, but it's almost as though he never managed to get his prayer out of his lips or off his heart before the answer was dispatched to him. It's a reminder that God hears prayer immediately. He answers in his time and in his own way. But there is no sense in which we can then say, "Well, Daniel caused this by his prayer," but nor is there any way that we can say the events unfolded absent Daniel's prayer. "While I was still speaking," he realized, recognized what the prophet says, "Before they call, I will answer, and while they are yet speaking, I will hear." He was aware of Psalm 139. "You know the words of my mouth before I speak them altogether." And it's in light of that that God then dispatches his messenger, Gabriel, whom we've met before, certainly back in chapter 8. And I heard a man's voice, and it called, "And Gabriel, make this man understand the vision." So here he is again. He is one of God's mighty ones, dispatched to do his bidding. On another occasion, we'll give thought to the nature of angelic activity, not only as it is recorded in the Bible, but as it is experienced in our world.
Alistair Begg: And Gabriel is sent on a flying visit. In fact, verse 21 says, "He came to me in swift flight, in swift flight," to inform Daniel that at the beginning of his plea, his word was heard. To tell him that he has come out to give him insight and understanding. Now, that in itself is quite remarkable, because you will remember that when we began our studies in Daniel, one of the things that marked Daniel as a man is that he has a peculiar measure of understanding, that God has given him understanding beyond his peers and the ability to see and interpret visions and dreams. But I guess you can never have enough understanding. And so Gabriel says, "I've come and God says you're going to have a little bit more." Now, you will notice too, if the text is open in front of you, that the gift of understanding does not negate the necessity of Daniel's engagement in consideration. That's the final phrase of verse 23. "Therefore," says Gabriel, "Consider the word and understand the vision." Daniel's effort and God's enabling work in tandem. That's not unique again to this book. Remember, when we studied second Timothy, Paul says to Timothy, "Timothy, consider these things and the Lord will give you insight." It is the Lord who gives the insight, it is Timothy who does the considering. It is God who dispatches the understanding and the wisdom, it is the responsibility of Daniel to pay attention to it.
Alistair Begg: And so to summarize that little section, the visit of Gabriel conveys at least these three things. Number one, he comes to tell Daniel, "God hears you. God hears you." Secondly, "God has sent me." That's the significance of him saying, "I have now come out to give you insight and understanding." Come out from where? Come out from God's presence, come out from God's dispatch box, if you like. Come out from the company of the mighty ones who do the bidding of God. "I have come out to you." And thirdly, "I'm here to tell you that you are greatly loved. You're greatly loved." If you think about it in the panorama of this whole context, that is, that is quite remarkable, isn't it? Daniel, "I know you've had quite a go of it with the lion's den and everything else that you've been through. But I'm here to tell you that you, God really, really loves you." He loves the whole world, but he loves you. You know, that's true of every child of God. You are really loved. You may not feel loved by the people around you. You may feel that you're despised by people around you, whether at work or in your home. But the word of God is that he loves you. The Son of God loved me. God loved me. He gave himself for me. Now, the wonderful thing about it is, and just this little note there at the end of verse 21, is you realize how much Daniel is the embodiment of the one to whom God looks. Remember Isaiah 66, "This is the one to whom I will look," says the Lord, "he who is humble and contrite in spirit, the one who trembles at my word."
Alistair Begg: And Daniel embodies that. And so if you like, the blessing of heaven is tied in some measure to the life of Daniel lived here in this context. And the very fact that Daniel records that the flying visit of Gabriel came at the time of the evening sacrifice, tells us something about Daniel. When had he last been at the evening sacrifice? He hadn't been at the evening sacrifice since he had been snatched up from his home in Jerusalem. There had been no evening sacrifice. There was no place to go. They lived entirely separated from all of that. And yet Daniel says, "When the angel came, he came about 3 o'clock in the afternoon." What does that tell you about Daniel? It tells me this, that you can take Daniel out of Jerusalem, but you can't take Jerusalem out of Daniel. That his life lived as an alien was calibrated by the reality of all that was his in God and with God in the celebration of the people of God. And it is in that context that Daniel then is called to consideration and to understanding.
Alistair Begg: I'm sure Daniel would not have said this, but if I had been Daniel, I would have said to the angel Gabriel, after he gave me this, "Could you hang on just a minute because I'm not sure I got it the first time?" Or when he said, "Therefore, I'm here to give you insight and understanding, and you should just consider these things." I might have said, "Well, that's easy enough for you to say." Because what he then says and gives to Daniel is a remarkable little piece, isn't it? I mean, some of you have read it again this afternoon in the hope of discovering what it means. And so it's time for us to descend into the abyss. Here we are. One commentator says that the history of the exegesis of the 70 weeks is the dismal swamp of Old Testament study. In fact, having spent a long time now in this little section, I have begun to think very differently about the 70s when people mention them. It's taken on a whole new thought for me. These 70s have been chasing me down for some days now. These verses, 24 to 27, are the most difficult in the entire text. Commentators agree that they are the most difficult in the entire text. That is the only thing that commentators agree on. They agree that these verses are really difficult. At the same time, they certainly do not agree on the right way to understand them. And I, having dealt with this for some considerable time now, have found, to my great surprise and at times discouragement, that I am disagreeing with the interpretation of these verses, interpretations done by my closest friends, whom I admire greatly. And then I'm encouraged by the fact that my closest friends disagree with each other. And then I realized that I actually disagree with myself. I don't say that for fun. I say that to be very, very honest with you. Let me remind you again of the Westminster Confession, "Not all parts of the Bible are equally understandable," says the confession. "But all that is necessary for our understanding of salvation is made perfectly plain in the scriptures." And so when we come to a passage like this, it would be relatively easy for me, but laborious for you, tedious for you, and really a miserable exercise for me to start now and rehearse for you the plethora of ways in which this section of the Old Testament is understood and explained. Many commentaries, to their shame, spend far more on these four verses than they do on the first 23 verses. And many people view these verses with such emphasis that as soon as you say what you believe about them, you will either be included in their will or removed from it immediately. Now, if you think about that, that's a very strange way to operate.
Alistair Begg: But you're saying to me, "Well, I'm not so sure that it would be so tedious." Well, let me give you just a little flavor of some of the material that I was reading this week, where one of the questions that is obviously raised is, what are these sevens? Are the sevens weeks? Or are the sevens weeks of years? And are these sevens and this 70 to be understood in symbolic terms, or are they to be understood in literal terms? It's a very important question. And in fact, if you want to continue, you can ask a number of other questions. Is the anointed one referenced in verse 25 the same as the anointed one referenced in verse 26? And so we can go on through the whole thing. But certain people in order to help, get into it in great detail. This is the kind of place where I finally said, "Oh no, I don't want to do this anymore." Here is somebody in a section in his commentary entitled "Do the Math." Now, this person obviously believes that you can understand this in a very, very literalistic way. And so I'll stop off in a moment, but let me give you a flavor of it. So I'm trying hard to understand this. From the first of Nisan, 444 BC, to the first of Nisan, AD 33, there are apparently 476 years of 365 days, or 173,740 days. From the 4th of March to the 29th of March, there are 24 more days. If you add to this 116 days for leap years, and the total number of actual days between the decree to rebuild Jerusalem and Christ's death is 173,880 days. Who cares right now? Right? Okay. But hang on. After this comes an undefined gap of time, a break in the prophecy. Who says? Until the final last week, which is described in more detail in the book of Revelation. Gabriel spoke of 69-year weeks, or 483 years. Get this. Using a stylized prophetic 360-day year, this multiplies out to 483 * 360, which is 173,880, and guess what? That's the number we're looking for. Now, do you really think that this passage of scripture, that it would have occurred for a moment to Daniel to sit down and try and do this kind of algorithmic mechanism? And how good do you think he would have been at it? Because this was given to Daniel. This was given to Daniel by the visit of a flying angel, so that he would understand. So that he would understand. And so that we, when we read it, would understand as well. Ralph Davis, who's a good friend of ours, makes this humorous but helpful observation. He says, when you take this kind of thing and you ask yourself, "What does this all mean?" He says, it means this, that if you're driving home late at night and tune in to the prophecy hour on your radio, and hear the preacher refer to, "What is perfectly clear in Daniel's 70 weeks prophecy," you may know with a certainty that he hasn't read the text carefully. Because the longer you go at it, the more daunting it becomes. This is a brief passage, and this is an obscure passage. And therefore, when we come to something like this, it is imperative that we don't disengage from our normal principle of interpretation. A fundamental principle is as follows, that we should understand and interpret what is unclear in light of what is clear, and not the other way around. So you don't start with an obscure, tiny passage of the Bible or of a book, and then try and understand the book in light of that little passage. You take that within the overarching framework of the book, within the framework of apocalyptic literature, within the context of God's revelation, and within the awareness of the fact that God is not playing hide and seek with himself or with his wisdom when he gives to us his word. For if the main things are the plain things, then clearly in these verses, we're not dealing with foundational blocks of biblical theology.
Alistair Begg: What I am about to now unfold for you will annoy some, disappoint others, confuse many, and perhaps encourage a few. Remember, it is the word of God which is absolutely true and absolutely sufficient and absolutely right, and not the preacher's interpretation of it. It is the word of God which is authoritative, and parts of the word of God leave us with our hands over our mouths, and our unwillingness to end up in that position, perhaps says more about our pride than it does about our desire to fully comprehend its truth.
Guest (Male): You're listening to Alistair Begg on Truth For Life. We'll hear the conclusion of this message on Monday.
Guest (Male): Alistair mentioned today how he is often helped in his Bible study by reading the old books, especially those of the reformers or the Puritans, who emphasized the importance of daily repentance and maturing in faith.
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Guest (Male): Thanks for listening. Hope you have a great weekend and are able to worship with your local church. On Monday, we'll learn why the only true biblical pilgrimage to the Holy Land is to go to Jesus. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth For Life.