I. GOD'S PROMISE OF A SPECIAL DAY.
A. In the Psalm that we read this morning, "This is the day that the Lord has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it."
1. That is not just any beautiful morning that you might wake up to blue skies.
2. It is a day when God will provide salvation from the powers of darkness.
3. A day of rejoicing in God's salvation, when the people will be shouting, "Hosanna, blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord."
4. There is a hint in this Psalm that not all will be well, for the Messiah is referred to as the stone that the builders refused becoming the chief corner stone. That is, the Messiah would be rejected by the religious leaders.
B. From the beginning even as He was pronouncing the curse that Adam had brought on mankind because of his sin, God spoke of the day that the seed of the woman would bruise the head of the serpent. This is a reference to the virgin birth of Jesus who would destroy the power and authority of Satan over mankind.
1. Again we observe a problem for the serpent was to bruise the heel of the woman's seed.
2. As the spikes would be driven through the feet fastening Him to the cross, it would appear that the serpent defeated God's plan of redemption by destroying the redeemer.
C. In our text it plainly declares that the Messiah will be cut off and receive nothing, and the Jews would be dispersed. That is, He would receive the Kingdom immediately.
D. Isaiah is even more explicit as he declares, "He is despised and rejected by man, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, He was despised and we esteemed Him not. He was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities, The Lord has laid on Him the iniquities of us all. He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, yet He opened not His mouth. He was cut off out of the land of the living, for the transgression of my people was He stricken. His soul shall be made an offering for sin. By the knowledge of Him shall man be justified, for He shall bear their iniquities.
E. Zechariah spoke of that day that the Messiah would come, he said "Rejoice greatly O daughter of Zion, shout O daughter of Jerusalem behold your King cometh unto you, He is just and has salvation, lowly, and riding on a donkey, the foal of a donkey."
II. IT NEEDS TO BE NOTED THAT THIS REVELATION BY THE ANGEL TO DANIEL ENCOMPASSED 70 SEVENS THAT WERE DETERMINED UPON THE NATION OF ISRAEL, AND THE CITY OF JERUSALEM.
A. After the seventieth seven year cycle, the whole prophetic picture would be complete.
B. There are six things that are to be accomplished in the 70 sevens.
1. To finish the transgression.
2. To make an end of sin.
3. To make reconciliation for iniquity.
4. To bring in everlasting righteousness.
5. To seal up the vision and prophecy.
6. To anoint the most Holy.
C. Through His death Jesus made reconciliation for our iniquities.
1. Paul declared that we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son.
2. Thus the Messiah was cut off from God that He might reconcile us to God.
D. The seventy sevens have been divided as is obvious. Seven sevens, sixty two sevens, and one seven.
E. From the time the commandment is given to restore and build Jerusalem to the Messiah the Prince would be seven sevens, and sixty two sevens, or a total of sixty nine sevens, or 483 years.
F. If we can determine the time that the commandment went forth to restore and build Jerusalem we would know when to look for the Messiah.
III. THE TIME OF THE COMMANDMENT.
NEHEMIAH 2:1 TELLS US THAT IN THE MONTH OF NISAN, IN THE TWENTIETH YEAR OF ARTAXERXES THE KING THAT NEHEMIAH WAS BEARING THE CUP TO THE KING. ON THAT DAY THE KING MADE THE DECREE.
A. Longimanus Artaxerxes ascended to the throne of Persia in 465 B.C. The twentieth year of his reign would then be placed in the year 445 B.C. The Jewish month of Nisan would have begun on the 14th of March in the year 445 B.C.
1. The prophecies in Daniel are predicated upon 360 day years, of the Babylonian calendar, 483 360 day years would be 173,880 days.
2. Luke tells us that Jesus began His public ministry in the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar. This means that the year of His crucifixion would be 32 A.D. That year the 14th of Nisan would have fallen Thursday, when the Passover meal would have been eaten. The previous Sunday would have been the 10th of Nisan, or in the Julian calendar, April 6th.
3. From March 14th 445 B.C. to April 6th A.D. is exactly 173,880 days.
B. God kept His promise, He sent His Son as the Messiah, to be the Savior of the world. To reconcile the world back to God. He came riding into Jerusalem on a donkey, amid the shouts of the people as they cried, Hosanna, Hosanna.
C. Luke tells us that as they were descending the Mount of Olives Jesus began to weep as He looked at the city. He said, "If you only knew the peace that you could have in this thy day, but now it is hid from your eyes. The days will soon come when your enemies will besiege you, and they will lay you even with the ground, they will not leave one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation.
D. He wept over them because of the horrible calamities that would come upon them as a result of their missing their day of opportunity to know peace with God.
E. Today you have an opportunity to know peace with God, this is your appointed day, don't miss it.
Verse-Reference
Square — [Jhn 1:1 KJV]
Abbreviate Books
Use SBL Abbrev.
