Title: The Last Week (Daniel 9:27)
Contents
Lesson 99 Last Week (Daniel 9:27)
9:27
He will make a covenant with many for one week, and in half the week he will forbid sacrifices and offerings, and the abominations and abominations will stand on their wings, and wrath will devastate until the appointed end. It will be poured out on them.
The seventy weeks in the book of Daniel are divided into three periods. The first seven weeks, then the sixty-two weeks, and then the last week. What happens in the first seven weeks? Jerusalem will be rebuilt. As recorded in verse 25, those were difficult times. When Nehemiah and other Jews were rebuilding the city of Jerusalem, they were often persecuted by their opponents. But during the first seven weeks, the city of Jerusalem, which had been destroyed by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, was rebuilt. After that, sixty-two weeks passed, and the anointed one, the king, would rise. Jesus, the only begotten Son sent by God to save mankind, will be anointed with the Holy Spirit.
After the sixty-two weeks have passed, in the blank period until the last week, the anointed will be cut off and perished, according to verse 26. Although Jesus came to this earth as the Messiah, the Jews did not accept him. Jesus was crucified. However, three days later, Jesus broke the power of death and rose again. After forty days on this earth, he ascended into heaven on a cloud. The Jews were punished for their sin of rejecting Jesus. The city and sanctuary of Jerusalem were completely destroyed by the Roman general Titus and his soldiers, leaving no stone on top of it.
Now the last week is described in verse 27. The events that will take place during the last seven weeks are explained in the text in three ways. The first is, “He is going to make a covenant with many people for a week.” Here he means the Antichrist, the substance of the little horn. The antichrist will appear and make a covenant with many Jews for a week, that is, seven years. The second is, "He will forbid sacrifices and offerings in half the week." How much is half a week? three and a half years. After three and a half years, the Antichrist will break the covenant and persecute the Jews. The third and final word is "And the ugly and ugly things will stand on their wings." It means that the Antichrist will exalt himself as God. But what will happen in the end? “And wrath will be poured out on the desolators, even to the end that has already been appointed.” The Antichrist will be judged. That is the end of the world.
But the Antichrist will soon reveal his true nature. That will happen the second time. "He's halfway through the seventh." So the Jews may be living in freedom of religion for three and a half years. But it is just the calm before the storm. After half of the week, the antichrist's magic will be revealed. "Sacrifice and offerings will be forbidden." Since sacrifices and offerings are offered in the temple, we can guess from the fact that the temple in Jerusalem will be rebuilt in the first seven and a half years, and that sacrifices and offerings were offered to God there. But after three and a half years, the Antichrist will forbid offerings and sacrifices to God.
What's the third and last thing that will happen? “Again, the ugly and ugly things will stand on their wings.” Ugly objects are detestable, meaning idols or foreign gods. The antichrist is trying to get people to worship him by pretending to be God.
Please see 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4.
“Do not let anyone deceive you, for it will not come until the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of perdition. He sat down and showed himself that he was God."
In the second half of the last week, the Antichrist will oppose God and will take his place in God's place.
Let's look at verse 27 again. “Again, the ugly and ugly things will stand on their wings.” I'm not sure exactly what it means to stand on your wings. It's going to happen in the future. When you say wings, you don't mean any part of the body other than the body, doesn't it? So some say that the Antichrist will make an image of himself in one part of the temple so that people will worship him. It is as if King Nebuchadnezzar made a golden image in his shape and made people bow before it. Others speculate that, like a cross on the roof of a church, in the future, the Antichrist will make an image of himself with wings on the top of the temple and have everyone in the world bow down before him. After all, the Antichrist will try to be worshiped as if he were God.
Jesus also spoke about this event. Matthew 24:15-17.
"Therefore, when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place, then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let no one who is on the roof go down to get what is in the house."
So, will the persecution of the Antichrist continue forever? It's not like that. It will only happen within a set time period, that is, for three and a half years. After that, Jesus will come again in the clouds.
Let's look at the words of Matthew 24:29-31.
“In that day, immediately after the tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will be seen in heaven, and then all the peoples of the earth will mourn, and they You will see him coming on the clouds with power and great glory, and he will send his angels with the sound of a loud trumpet, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”
On the day when our Jesus comes again on the clouds, believers will suddenly change their bodies to receive Jesus who comes again in the air. But the Antichrist and his wicked followers will be thrown into the eternal, unquenchable pit of fire prepared for them.
How is this expressed in the text? “And wrath shall be poured out on the desolators, even to the end that has already been appointed.” First of all, I said that there is a deadline already set. It is a deadline set by God. The desolator, the antichrist, cannot torment the elect indefinitely. It will only happen within the specified period. When the time set by God is fulfilled, the Antichrist will receive the terrible wrath of God along with his followers. They will be thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone that will never be quenched.
However, people who live in hope while waiting for Jesus to come again with faith on the day when our Jesus comes again are different. As already mentioned, our bodies will change in an instant. We will welcome Jesus in the air. And we will enter the new heavens and new earth, the New Jerusalem, that our Jesus prepared for us, and we will live with the Lord forever.
Let's look at the words of 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18.
“We do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, about those who sleep, so that they do not grieve like others who have no hope. And we tell you this by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. The dead in Christ will rise first, and then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, so that we will always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words."
May the comfort of our Lord overflow to all of you during this time. No matter what trial, it is not eternal. Everyone has a set time. Do you think you are now in the valley of the shadow of death? It's just covered by the valley and the corner of the mountain ahead so you can't see beyond it. The moment we turn the corner, we will be greeted with blessings and glory that we could not have imagined before our eyes. Please do not forget that fact and overcome all trials with faith. With a little more patience and a little more patience, I pray in the name of Jesus that you will receive and enjoy all the splendid glory beyond your trials.