The Regular Guys Bible Study
The Regular Guys Bible Study podcast -- RGBS -- is a podcast for regular guys by regular guys (not theologians) studying the Bible together. It's brought to you by a couple of goofy guys who just want to study the Bible together and show you that anyone can read and study the Bible. In fact, you SHOULD read and study the Bible yourself. We're here to show you how we do it, and, hopefully, we can have some fun along the way.
The Regular Guys Bible Study
Daniel 9
Two regular guys read Daniel 9 in the NIV, moving from a heartfelt national confession to Gabriel’s message about the seventy sevens. We weigh major views on the timelines, center on the anointed one, and end with practical ways to pray with humility and hope.
• context of exile and Jeremiah’s seventy years
• Daniel’s “we” confession and national repentance
• humility that appeals to mercy not merit
• God’s righteousness in judgment and covenant faithfulness
• Gabriel’s arrival and purpose to give understanding
• survey of views on the seventy sevens
• the anointed one and the shape of atonement
• why date-setting distracts from obedience
• applying corporate confession and accountability
• knowing Scripture to spot truth and counterfeits
Read it and weep. Well, I don't know if you'll cry or not, but read it.
You are listening to the Regular Guys Bible Study Podcast, the Bible study for regular guys by regular guys. We are your host, Ken and Steve, and we are just regular guys studying the Bible together. Not theologians. I gotta get it done with you. Alright, Ken. Steve, how are you doing?
SPEAKER_02:Cold. How are you?
SPEAKER_01:You know what? I'm not actually cold at all. Um, but um, so right now, guys, uh, who knows when you're listening to this, but right now it is really cold in central Texas. Um we've had sleet.
SPEAKER_02:Down to 16 last night.
SPEAKER_01:At my house, it was 14. Wow. Really cold stuff. And um, you know, an inch of sleet on the uh driveway is keeping us home, which has been kind of nice. Um, you know, I was telling, I was telling my wife, I kind of I kind of regret the days back back when if I couldn't make it to the office, I couldn't work.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I was thinking about that too. Now it's like there's no excuse not to work.
SPEAKER_01:No, I I can work just as efficiently as always, um uh other than having to go out occasionally and see if I can break up the ice on the driveway. And you know what? Honestly, that stint was not very long. Um my my cardio gave out so quick. Um, especially when I looked at the size of my driveway. The driveway, Steve, is your driveway is pretty long. It's 260 feet. And it's and a big hill. It's a big hill to my house. So I have to go uphill to get out. And I thought, I looked at that with me breathing heavy after doing this a very tiny little section of scraping. And I realized I can't do this task.
SPEAKER_02:So You know, I I checked the mail today. I don't think the post office ran today.
SPEAKER_01:Uh what is that rather weather rain, sleet, snow, or hail?
SPEAKER_02:Won't keep them from delivering the mail.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Um I guess I don't think that's true anymore.
SPEAKER_01:Icy Roads was not in that list. No. So um all right. Well, guys, we are on Daniel chapter nine. Um, and it um I'm ready. I'm I'm glad it's different. It is different than seven and eight. Um, and I found it much more interesting personally. Um, so um you ready to get started, Steve?
SPEAKER_02:I am ready to get started, Ken.
SPEAKER_01:Um, all right. How are we gonna read this? It's pretty long, actually. Um I'll read the second two sections.
SPEAKER_02:No, no, you can read the first.
SPEAKER_01:I don't like that at all. Uh okay, let's see. Let's see. There's 20 seconds. No way. No, you have to read the first section, and then I'll read the next two sections. You are the master reader.
unknown:Oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_02:That all right, so that's did you have more notes today? Yeah, you have more notes today. I will read the first section.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so just so you know, guys, last week I was really absent on my notes, um, and it was pretty evident, and Steve carried the load. You know, but God provides this time. Steve really stunk it up on his note-taking capabilities, or not capabilities, just effort. Let's just call it what it is, poor effort. And I might I might be getting the hiccups. Oh no. And um, and then, but this week I picked it up and did a much better job of taking down some notes. I'm not sure the notes are any good. I have notes though. So, all right, so as always, if you haven't read Daniel chapter nine, go ahead and read it. And I think Steve can't read right now. He looks like he's coughing it up. Are you coughing up a lung or something? What's going on? No, I have like a hiccup that keeps coming back, but we'll see. You want me to read the first section while you take care of that?
SPEAKER_02:All right. If I hiccup, people will just have to live with it.
SPEAKER_01:Okay. Um, so if you haven't read, pause now and go read it and come back. All right, let's go. Okay. Daniel 9, verse 1. Hold on. Stop. What ver what version are you reading? ESV'd. Would you rather I do NIV? I would much rather NIV. I find the ESV hard to read. Um and I found the ESV, I mean the NIV much easier to read. Um, the NLT was actually super easy to read, but NIV, but you know, it's not as it's not as whatever. Accurate.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:It has more interpretation built into it. I think that's true. Alright, so Daniel chapter nine. Switching to NIV. In the first year of Darius, son of Xerxes, a mead by descent, who was made ruler over the Babylon 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 seventy years. So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting and in sackcloth and ashes. I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed, Lord, the great and awesome God who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments, we have sinned and done 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 name to our kings, our princes, and our ancestors, and to all the people of the land. There's those hiccups. But this day we are covered with shame. The people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, both near and far, and all the countries where you are scattered us because of our unfaithfulness to you. We and our kings, our princes and our ancestors are covered with shame, Lord, 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 or kept the laws he gave us through his 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, have 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 on us great disaster. Under the whole heaven nothing has ever been done like what has been done to Jerusalem. Just as it is written in the law of Moses, all this disaster has come on us, yet we have not sought the favor of the Lord our God by turning away from turning from our sins and giving attention to your truth. The Lord did not hesitate to bring disaster on us, for the Lord our God is righteous in everything he does, yet we have not obeyed him. Now, Lord our God, who brought your people out of Egypt with a mighty hand, and who made for yourself a name that endures to this day, we have sinned, we have done wrong. Lord, in keeping with all your righteous acts, turn away your anger and wrath from Jerusalem, your city, your holy hill. Our sins and the inequities of our ancestors have made Jerusalem and your people an object of scorn to all those around us. Now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of your servant. For your sake, Lord, look with favor on your desolate, desolate sanctuary. Give ear, O God, and hear. Open our eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears your name. We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy. Lord, listen, Lord, forgive, Lord, hear and act. For your sake, my God, do not delay, because your city and your people bear your name.
SPEAKER_01:And then Daniel chapter twenty uh verse twenty nine, verse twenty. While I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people, Israel, and making my request to the Lord my God for his holy hill, while I was still in prayer, Gabriel, the man I had I had seen in the earlier vision, came to me in swift flight about the time of the evening sacrifice. He instructed me and said to me, Daniel, I have come to give you insight and understanding. As soon as you began to pray, a word went out, which I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed. Therefore consider the word and understand the vision. Seventy sevens are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for the for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy place. Know and understand this. From the time the word goes out 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. After the sixty-two sevens the anointed one will be put to death 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. 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 at the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation until the end that is decreed and is poured out on him. Alright, let me see. There was actually something when you were reading, I wanted to make a note of uh, here it is.
SPEAKER_02:Um you want me to go on while you uh look that up?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, go ahead.
SPEAKER_02:Um when he refers to Jeremiah, I did look this up. Um I think I had to ask AI to find it. Uh but basically it's Jeremiah 25, 11 to 12, and Jeremiah 29, 10. Here's eleven and twelve. This whole country will become a desolate wasteland, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years. But when the seventy years are fulfilled, I will punish the king of Babylon and his nation, the land of Babylonians for their guilt, declares the Lord, and will make it desolate forever. And then 2910 is this is what the Lord says, When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
SPEAKER_03:Okay. So that's a very famous verse.
SPEAKER_02:Yes, it is. That's why I that was eleven. I read it because it was a famous one.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, that's a that one is uh spoken of often. Um and it's always out of context.
SPEAKER_02:So pretty much.
SPEAKER_01:Um all right, so uh so uh uh Daniel. First of all, this is this is in the first year of King Darius's reign. So what does that mean recently happened? Do you do you remember what happened right before Darius?
SPEAKER_02:The writing on the wall.
SPEAKER_01:That's right. So um, oh man, my my i have on my iPad thinks that I'm talking to Siri right now. Shut up, ignore me.
unknown:Okay.
SPEAKER_02:Actually, you better be nice to AI because they're gonna be your overlord soon.
SPEAKER_01:Well, Siri is not really AI. That's why it's so stupid. Um but actually telling it to shut up made it turn off. So that was good. Oh. Um so um, so yes, the writing on the wall has happened within the previous year. Because because the the night of that writing on the wall is when um King Belshazzar died. Right? Um, that's the impression the the scripture gives. And then uh the and uh Darius took over at that point. Um then in verse two um so okay, so Daniel is reading scripture and he sees this thing in Jeremiah about the seventy years, about the seventy years, and he starts thinking um and you know, he starts studying the scripture and just re he realizes this is the time that I am in. So do you think he's he's saying that uh he believes he's in the middle of the 70 years or 77s or seven sixty-twos and sevens and so uh that gets into some of the uh commentaries I looked at because there's like three or four views of what those 70 years are, and it it it differs quite a bit depending on a viewpoint. Okay. Um to me though, it sounds like he believes he's in the middle of that 70 years.
SPEAKER_02:I I think so. I think so.
SPEAKER_01:Okay. And and regardless of what a commentary says, um I think then what Daniel believes is the true commentary of the time. That would be my take. It's deep, man.
SPEAKER_02:It's deep. All right. When was when was Jeremiah written?
SPEAKER_01:Um let me see. Jeremiah was a bullfrog.
SPEAKER_02:He was a good friend of mine.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, that's what he was first, and then he wrote a book. Now, I don't know what happened between him being a bullfrog and before and then him writing some scripture, but a perfect transformation.
SPEAKER_02:Okay to say I don't know. Okay. Um I'm gonna I'm gonna search Google it.
SPEAKER_01:Um yeah. I wanna I do wonder how much earlier Jeremiah was written uh before this occurred.
SPEAKER_02:Well, and that got me wondering about other than the the books that um Moses came put together, which is called the Torah and all that, how did these other books get added to the Bible? Like to where Daniel would have access to them like this? I mean, they had to have taken Jeremiah as a real prophet or something in order to have this many copies floating around, I would think. Or maybe it's just because he's in the position he's in. He has access to all this stuff. I don't know.
SPEAKER_01:Um yeah, I uh you know, I I uh I have a Jewish friend at work, and we've been talking quite a bit about the scriptures that he um uh that they hold dear. And definitely the most important are what they call the law. And it's the I think it's four built books of Moses, is that right? Um and then these others have another name, but they are also um important um I don't I don't remember the name, but I think they still held them in quite esteem. Um and it's just in another book, or they didn't have just a book, right? They had a bunch of different scrolls. Um so I don't know if I'm answering anything, Steve. I'm just talking. Am I doing okay talking while you're looking this up?
SPEAKER_02:Well, other than your grating voice, I'd say you're doing okay. Uh it claims that Jeremiah was uh his prophetic ministry ran from about 626 BC to 586 BC, covering the final decades of Judah before the fall of Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_01:So that means this is about a hundred to a hundred and fifty years, maybe, or a hundred to two hundred years after Jeremiah.
SPEAKER_03:Uh let me find the chart.
SPEAKER_02:So the exile was six oh five BC and the fall of Jerusalem was five eighty-six.
SPEAKER_03:And oh, the fall of Jerusalem to the to the Babylonians? Is that what you're saying? That's what this is saying.
SPEAKER_02:Which means Jeremiah was contemporary.
SPEAKER_01:It was, yeah, pretty modern.
SPEAKER_03:Like he was alive at the same time as Daniel.
SPEAKER_01:Could be.
SPEAKER_03:All right.
SPEAKER_01:Should we move on? Are you are you getting more information?
SPEAKER_02:No, I'm just thinking and looking at stuff. We should move on.
SPEAKER_01:All right. So um, when are your next notes? I've got lots here in this section. I've I've got several more in this first section.
SPEAKER_02:Well then take her away.
SPEAKER_01:All right, so um one thing I noticed in verse three, so so you know, he reads this prophetic word from Jeremiah, and then he says, So I turned to the Lord and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes, and then he goes on to his pleading. Um, and and by the way, the rest of the section that Steve read is all considered Daniel's pleading to God. Um so I guess my question is there is this prophetic word from Jeremiah. About Jerusalem. But can we affect God's prophetic word by our petitions and pleading?
SPEAKER_03:So I'm going to say yes and no.
SPEAKER_02:I will say no because God already knows all of time and what's going to happen. But I will say yes because God knew Daniel was going to make this prayer and he was going to act on it.
SPEAKER_01:Does God make a change?
SPEAKER_02:Does he make a change? I don't think it doesn't sound like he changed anything.
SPEAKER_03:No.
SPEAKER_02:It was 70 years when Jeremiah spoke of it, and it was still going to be 70 years for Daniel.
SPEAKER_01:But he does send a messenger to comfort Daniel or to console him and let him know what's going on.
SPEAKER_02:Because he's highly esteemed.
SPEAKER_01:Because he is highly esteemed by God and or in heaven. Alright. Let's see. And then I say I have another note in chapter in verse 4. It's okay. I'm reading the note. I don't know when I wrote these notes. So they might not make any sense, or I might disagree with them as I say them. So just know that. All right. So I went in this note on verse 4. It's interesting to me here that Daniel is not confessing the sins of himself, but the sins of the people of Israel. And I don't believe I've ever prayed for the sins of a people group. You know, some people group I'm a part of. Really?
SPEAKER_02:I've prayed for the United States before.
SPEAKER_01:I have prayed for the United States. I've never confessed the sins of the United States.
SPEAKER_02:Do you understand what's got that kind of time?
SPEAKER_01:No, but do you know what I mean? It's like I've never felt like I had the authority to confess the sins of the United States. Or Central Texas, even. You know, do I have that authority?
SPEAKER_03:Um and it makes me wonder is that an appropriate prayer that I should be doing? Does Daniel have the authority? The fact he's doing it implies he does.
SPEAKER_02:Do you require authority to make a prayer like this?
SPEAKER_01:Um yeah, I don't know. Um I don't think you do. Okay, whether I have authority or not, or whether Daniel has authority or not, he is confessing the sins of his people. Um and I, while I pray for the U.S., um, I pray for, you know, how bad we, you know, how we mistreat, or I don't know. There's I'm not gonna say there's a lot to pray about and a lot to be upset about at times. But Daniel is not praying like that, or not like I pray. He is confessing as in we have done this. Not they are doing this. You see the difference?
SPEAKER_02:Mm-hmm. It's like when you are a fan of a sports team and they win, you say, We won! We won! And when they lose, you say, they lost.
SPEAKER_01:Actually, you know what? I say we stink. I I'll say we on the sports team.
SPEAKER_03:Uh I see your point. He's including himself.
unknown:Yes.
SPEAKER_02:Whereas you're putting yourself on a high chair and saying, I'm great.
SPEAKER_01:I'm putting myself stinged above above the rest of the place. And Daniel, just think about this. Daniel could have easily done that, right? Daniel has stayed true.
SPEAKER_02:Look at my namesake, Stephen, when he was getting stoned, said, Forgive them, for they know not what they do.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah, that's true. All right, anyway, so um that's I think somewhat convicting for me on how I pray and where I put myself in the in the grouping of our nation.
SPEAKER_03:I agree. You should be convicted.
SPEAKER_02:All right.
SPEAKER_01:Throw me in throw me in chains.
SPEAKER_02:Tomorrow.
SPEAKER_01:No will you still do it. Her name is Tamara.
SPEAKER_02:Will you still feel convicted tomorrow?
SPEAKER_01:Tamara? Tamara is actually how it's pronounced. But um okay. No one's gonna get that joke. Yeah, I know it. Um I'm sorry.
SPEAKER_02:Are you gonna still feel convicted tomorrow? Um because if not, that would make you an ex-con.
SPEAKER_01:Oh my gosh. I was wondering where that was going. I thought um I because you know what? I think I hope to be an ex-con tomorrow. Because I have my daily prayer in the morning. And tomorrow morning, it's it's funny because I took this note several days ago and it didn't change it. It didn't change a thing on me. But now talking to it about it with you, um, I'm going to change the way I do that tomorrow. Um, which actually brings up a good point about accountability with brothers in Christ. Um, if you don't have accountability, it's easy to read something and say, Yeah, I need to make a change, but not nobody is there to keep you accountable. If you read something and say, I'm gonna make a change, and you tell a brother in Christ, hey, I'm gonna make a change, keep me accountable, Steve, keep me accountable on this, then um you have a much better chance of following through. Unless the person you're asking to help keep you accountable is as lame as Steve.
SPEAKER_02:I was gonna say, I'm gonna forget by Wednesday morning.
SPEAKER_01:Come on, man, help me.
SPEAKER_02:Well, even if it were myself, a lot of times I'll hear a sermon or read something in the Bible and say, Oh, yes, I need to change that. Not five minutes will go by and I will completely forget.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, that happens to me all the time. Um, and it's not old age. That's been like that for me forever. I agree.
SPEAKER_02:Same here.
SPEAKER_01:I I'll even remember, oh, there was something I was gonna do. What was that? Uh oh well. I don't need to go back and read it to see what it was. All right, now during um let's move on. So during his confession um and his petition, which is basically four and a half through through nineteen. Yeah. I only have one note, and it's at verse eighteen.
SPEAKER_02:Oh.
SPEAKER_01:Do you have anything?
SPEAKER_02:My my comment on verse five, which is really for that entire section, just that Daniel is acknowledging they've sinned and pleased for mercy. I mean, that's that's what that whole section is.
SPEAKER_01:Yes, that is true. All right, so on verse 18, I have I have two comments. First of all, okay, let me read 18. It says, Give ear our God and hear. Open your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears your name. We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy. All right. It's actually, I I took two notes different times, um, but they're really the same note. Um so when we make requests of God, do we make the request in humility as Daniel does here?
SPEAKER_03:That's one of my notes. Daniel is acting in complete humility. Right. I I would say I am not uh always so humble.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, um I'm never arrogant, like I I'm so righteous I deserve it. Um not the humility that Daniel shows. Um and um my second, and okay, so and so uh, you know, I just want to be more humble and recognize my place um in the communication between me and God.
SPEAKER_02:And is that a new a new accountability thing?
SPEAKER_01:No, no, no, that's not a new accountability thing, really. Um it's um that's kind of I don't know. You can ask me about it, sure. There's nothing wrong with asking me about it. But um the the other part um is just a note on that same humility. God gives us nur uh mercy, not because we deserve it. Um and that is true. I mean, that's a that's like a key piece to the New Testament as well. Um that Jesus came not because we deserve to have our sins forgiven. He came while we were still sinners and gave us mercy and grace. So um I think it's just a good tie-in. Uh God is the same God. Uh it's not like God changed, God loves um and gives us mercy, not because we deserve it, but because he chooses to.
SPEAKER_02:Um, and then um I actually did have a note for verse 14, but I have no idea because I only wrote one word. Okay. Righteous. Righteous. And I think I was gonna look up what it means to be righteous. Uh God is righteous in everything he does.
SPEAKER_01:So, verse 14, the Lord did not hesitate. The Lord did not hesitate to bring the disaster on us, for the Lord our God is righteous in everything he does, yet we have not obeyed him.
SPEAKER_02:So I think what this means is God said, if you do not follow my laws, I'm gonna do X, Y, and Z, because that is the punishment for not following the laws. They didn't follow the laws, and so God did X, Y, and Z. He was following through with the covenant.
SPEAKER_03:Yes. I see.
SPEAKER_01:That's it, it's kind of similar, though, to the whole section, right? It doesn't just apply to that verse, um, but he does mention righteous. Righteous right there. All right. Um let's see. All right, I have a note on 20, which is something we've already talked about, really, um, about Daniel in verse 20. It's more obvious there that he's really associating himself with the sin of Israel.
SPEAKER_03:Um what go ahead and finish your thought.
SPEAKER_01:That was it.
SPEAKER_02:And 21, he says, Gabriel, the man, I had seen in the earlier vision, not the angel. Why does he say man?
SPEAKER_01:Well, he's always said the man. Um, I think he's in him, he's it's a vision, and he's coming to him in as a man. He looks like a man to him. That's my only guess. I don't really know.
SPEAKER_02:Maybe he didn't have his wings yet.
SPEAKER_01:Um, he's flying.
SPEAKER_02:Every time a bell rings, an angel gets its wings.
SPEAKER_01:It's beautiful. It is just beautiful. Um all right. Um so oh, so in my comment though, is it uh I have a question on 21. So is Gabriel coming to him in another vision while he's praying, or is this Gabriel in physical form? And my guess is that this is in a vision while he's praying.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, I would assume as much.
SPEAKER_02:It's not real clear on that though.
SPEAKER_03:It is not.
SPEAKER_02:It almost sounds like it could be uh in person.
SPEAKER_01:It it's possible. Um, but the fact that he came the reason I think this is that is the fact that he came in the same form he did in in previous um things and previous visions. So, and those were were called visions. That's why I'm thinking this is a vision. Uh and um in 22, um, you know, he instructs Daniel, he says, Daniel, I have now come to give you insight and understanding. And you know, it it reminds me back to the previous times that Gabriel has come to talk to Daniel.
SPEAKER_02:And he still didn't understand, and neither did we.
SPEAKER_01:If I were Daniel, I might I might go, hey, is there someone else maybe who can tell? Can I talk to your manager? When you tell me stuff, I'm not quite tracking. Um, but that's that was just a humorous thing I I've I noted. But true. Yeah. Um, all right, and then um I have one more note in 25. Um says, No one understand this. From the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the anointed one, the ruler comes, there will be seven sevens and sixty-two sevens. Um is this the who is this anointed one, the ruler? Um, and it says uh in 26, after the sixty-two sevens, the anointed one will be put to death and will and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come uh will destroy the city and the sanctuary. Um is this Jesus?
SPEAKER_02:It it sounds like it, but if you pull up the uh the side notes for the ESV study bible, there's four views of the seventy weeks. There's the Maccabean view, where seven weeks plus sixty-two weeks runs from the exile in six oh five BC to Judas Maccabeus cleansing the temple and the death of Antiochus, which that's not at all seventy years. That's like let me see if I can do math in my head, that's uh five hundred and forty-ish years. Um then there's the dispensational view, which the first seventy years are the years of captivity, or seventy years of captivity captivity from Jeremiah, and then it jumps to the decree of Arta Xerxes in 458, which I believe is when you were they were sent to rebuild the temple. I could have that wrong. And then seven weeks plus sixty-two weeks, which is four hundred and eighty-three years, almost four hundred and ninety, which would be seven sevens, seventy-sevens. Uh that would align with the triumphal entry of Christ.
SPEAKER_01:And then there's the triumphal in what is the triumphal entry?
SPEAKER_02:When he comes in on a donkey.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, okay. I see.
SPEAKER_02:Okay. Um and then they have this thing called the Great Parentheses, where there's a gap until the rapture, and then there's the last seven is when Antichrist makes a covenant with the Jews. So that's the dispensational view. Then we have the praeterist view, or preterist, I don't know how you say it. It also says the 70 years is the exile that Daniel is in. Um, but now the the seven plus sixty-two starts with the decree of Cyrus, which I'm not sure what the one of our Xerxes versus Cyrus is. I don't I don't remember. We could look up Ezra 1 and Ezra 7 and find out. Um but they also go to the triumphal entry, and then the 70th seven, the last seven, is the Messiah is cut off and confirms his new covenant. And so it's all done. There is no future part of it.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_02:And the last one, other than another one covenantal view or futurist view, where it matches everything I just said for the previous one, except the that last seven, we are still in it.
SPEAKER_01:Oh. The last seven, we are still in it. So it's like a never-ending seven.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. Um, I don't know.
SPEAKER_01:I don't know. Um, but you know, all I know is that I'm ready if if to follow the first person that says they know the number. All the that does all the math.
SPEAKER_02:Well, but only if they provide the Kool-Aid.
SPEAKER_01:That's not funny at all, actually. Um, it's too soon. Um all right. I'm just 40 years ago. I know. Is that no, it's more than that, right? More than 40 years ago.
SPEAKER_02:For the Kool-Aid thing? Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:No, I think it's wasn't that like '72.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, I thought it was in the 80s.
SPEAKER_01:What uh what's his name?
SPEAKER_02:Um was that the Waco guy? Oh no, no.
SPEAKER_01:The Waco guy was uh uh Wacko Waco was something else. And that was in the 90s, I believe. Maybe, yeah, I think that was in the 90s. The Kool-Aid thing, I think, was like 72.
SPEAKER_03:Let's see if AI can find that.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:I'm thinking he says the event you're thinking of is the Jonestown Massacre in 1978, led by Jim Jones.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. I thought it was Jim Jones.
SPEAKER_02:And it wasn't Kool Aid, it was a great. Flavored powdered beverage.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, I see. Kool-Aid is a brand. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:It was flavor aid, not Kool-Aid. All right.
SPEAKER_01:Okay. At any rate, I think. Do you have anything more about this, Steve? What does it say about God?
SPEAKER_02:Now that we've gone off the weeds of Jones.
SPEAKER_01:What does this say about God? Oh, well, first of all, I think the anointed one has to be Jesus. Now, I think so too. How it works, um, I don't know. Um, I'm not smart enough to know. As we say in the opening, we're not theologians.
SPEAKER_02:Um and you know, three out of four of these things on this chart here say it's Jesus, so it must be. Sure.
SPEAKER_01:Sure. You say so.
SPEAKER_02:Well, it's only the Jewish view that differs. Of course. Um I'm not sure what the Islamic view is. Oh, yeah. But they probably don't have Jeremiah and Daniel.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, maybe not. I don't know. Um, I know they have what, Isaiah?
SPEAKER_02:What does it say about God? It says that God doesn't make hollow promises and follows through with his his judgment and righteousness, but thankfully he's got mercy and he has grace.
SPEAKER_01:All right, that's good. I was gonna say that um, you know, it says that God cares about us even um you know, to the point where he's willing to go comfort Daniel um and let him know more about this. Also, um, as we have heard from other places, this tells us that God has mercy on us even though we don't deserve it.
SPEAKER_02:Yep. So it's it's like he built in mercy into his uh um prophecy.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, you're right. Um and for uh what does it say? Uh what should we do with it with this? As believers, what should we do with this, Steve?
SPEAKER_03:Um follow the first person that claims they know the day of the end.
SPEAKER_01:That's that's the worst advice I've ever heard in my life, Steve. Um, no, but um, yes, I know you're just not from you, Ken.
SPEAKER_02:I got it from you.
SPEAKER_01:Um so I think you know, we are not always gonna understand where these prophecies point. There are a lot of prophecies in scripture, and I would say that you know, we are not always called to understand everything. Um and that's okay. That's good because I don't. Yeah. But it's okay. I mean, in fact, Daniel here did not understand either, but then he suddenly had an epiphany of understanding, and because of that and his and his pleading with with God, then God sent him uh Gabriel to help him understand. Um you know, we don't need to spend time. I guess my point is this we don't need to spend time trying to calculate what all these things mean. Um it will not it will not uh affect my salvation or the good of the people around me in any way for me to try to figure out all these numbers.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I think you're right.
SPEAKER_01:Um and you know what? I will leave that to theologians to do. Um there are people, I think, who are tasked with this. Um and it uh and it's not me, and I don't think it's the everyday believer. Um, because that's not that that does not understanding these prophecies does not lead to salvation.
SPEAKER_02:Aren't we responsible for knowing the Bible well enough to recognize the signs when they happen?
SPEAKER_01:Ah man, that's that is the best answer, Steve. Yes, we are called to understand the Bible well enough so that all of a sudden something could happen, and this makes things obvious to us, right?
SPEAKER_02:Which the people that don't know it are buying it hook, line, and sinker and running towards the false messiah in the woods, and yeah.
SPEAKER_01:So, yeah, that's a great point. Know the Bible well enough to know the signs you see, or whether they're false prophets, the Antichrist, or whether it's a it's a sign from God. All right, that's all I got, Steve.
SPEAKER_02:Cool.
SPEAKER_01:You got anything else?
SPEAKER_02:All right, just chapter 10.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, well, next time, guys, Daniel chapter 10, read it. Read it and weep. Well, I don't know if you'll cry or not, but read it. All rights reserved.
