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So we are. We're going to undertake the Book of Daniel here and go through this verse by verse. And we spent a year in Joshua that has twice as many chapters as Daniel. So. But Daniel might be deeper, so might take us a year. I don't know. We'll see. We'll see how long this takes us. But we're going to do an overview of the book today just to give you an idea of Daniel where he was living, the time of Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon and the three sieges of Jerusalem, and kind of give you some structure around the book itself. And then we'll dive into chapter one next week and start going through it verse by verse. So let's go to the Lord in prayer and we'll get started. Father, I thank you so much for this time together. And Lord, I just pray that you would illuminate for us everything you would have out of the book of Daniel. Lord, this will be an incredible study in your word. Lord, in Revelation 19:11, your word declares that the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy and God, this beloved prophet Daniel that you wrote this book through. Lord, you laid out so much prophecy for us today. And God, at the very end, you declared that the book be sealed until the time of the end. Father, the fact that it is unsealed and we have understanding of these prophecies just shows us how much closer we are to the very end of the age. And so, Lord, I just pray that you would give us the strength to stand in this world on our most holy faith built up upon your word, exactly as Daniel did. He did not bow a knee. He did not turn his back on you. He didn't eat things that were unsanctified and unholy in your eyes. He didn't partake in the delicacies of the world. But God, he stood on your word, no matter what it cost him. And Father, I pray that we would have the same strength in this day today. So, Lord, teach us everything out of this book and be with us, God, in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Okay, so in. You know, two of my favorite verses here, the first John 2, 27 and 28. And all of you have heard me say this for so many years now. But the Holy Spirit teaching you is so important, especially when you dive into books like Daniel, where there's a lot of. A lot of the prophecy is in symbolism and in visions of different animals. And God will illuminate that for you a lot of times if you just ask him and continue going in the scripture to see what he means by it and he will give you the interpretation of it. A lot of times in the Bible, if you just keep reading further. A lot of people read in the Bible and they get this, they get to a part where there's a weird vision or something of, you know, this beast out of the sea, and then they just stop reading. Like, well, I can't understand that. Well, if you just read the next chapter, God tells you what it is. You just gotta keep, keep going. And so, but a lot of times, you know, you'll miss that if you don't. If you don't. It's amazing what you won't pick up that's plainly written if you're not just asking the lor to reveal it to you. And so we're going to do that all through this book. And my, my prayer for this as we go into the book of Daniel. It's not just a book about prophecy, although that is mainly the, the focus of the book. It's really a book also about how to stand in a, in a world that's hostile to your God. And Daniel had to do that both in Babylon and in Persia. He rose to be prime minister of two different world empires. So no other book of the Bible has been challenged more than Daniel. It's amazing how many people over the past thousands of years have set out to disprove Daniel and not only found it truthful, but have become Christians as a result. Daniel's been challenged more than any other book of the Bible. Daniel's the dearly beloved prophet who will be personally tried and tested by these two world empires. So Babylon and then Persia, you'll be held as a model for us today on how to live in and confront a world that is against our faith. Because you and I live in that same world today. We will live in a world that wants you to partake of things sacrificed to demons and idols and these fornications and abominations to our Lord. The world wants you and I to partake in those today. Just as in Daniel's day when he is drug off to Babylon, but he stood his ground on the word of God. It's one of the few occasions. I'm sorry, this book also, it chronicles some of the most miraculous prophecies in the entire Bible. And one of the prophecies that it is just the most. One of the most amazing prophecies in the Bible is the 70 weeks of Daniel from chapter nine. So when we get there, we'll dive into that pretty deep. It's one of the few occasions in the Old Testament that God looks at the world through a Gentile lens. So most of the Bible God focuses through Israel. In fact, if you look at the Bible and you pick up from really from about Genesis 13, 14 all the way until Acts 2, 99.99% of that is focused on Israel. Daniel's the one exception where the Lord really, yes, he's talking to Israel the whole time, but he gives so much prophecy through these Gentile nations. And most of the Old Testament focuses on that peculiar people in Israel. This is the only book where God writes a chapter through a Gentile king, which is really interesting. Now it focuses on the world through these Gentile powers. You have Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome, and then Rome in two phases, the Antichrist kingdom. So these five Gentile kingdoms. Now in 332 BC, Alexander the Great conquered Jerusalem. And the priest Jadua showed him references to himself in the book of Daniel. And as a result the city was spared. And that's chronicled in Josephus. But the Israelites who knew the prophecies in the book of Daniel actually used those. And Isaiah used those to spare Israel and Jerusalem on multiple occasions. Cyrus was one of them. Daniel shows Cyrus, the Persian general, where he's prophesied about in the Book of Isaiah. So we'll see that in Daniel later on. But Daniel knew that prophecy from Isaiah showed it to Cyrus. And Cyrus then became one of the most the biggest advocates of Israel going back and rebuilding their temple. From 1899 to 1917, excavations of Nebuchadnezzar's palace and the surrounding Babylonian city took place. So over in Babylon was a literal city. It's still in existence today on the Euphrates river in Iraq. And for those 18 years, they excavated Nebuchadnezzar's palace, the banquet hall, from the handwriting on the wall from Daniel, that event, where that event was found, that banquet hall was found to be 173ft by 56ft in size. So massive, I mean, just a huge banquet hall. But that phrase, the handwriting on the wall, if you hear that phrase, it's in our language today, it comes from Daniel with the hand of God writing on the wall. And all of that was rebuilt by Saddam Hussein when he was alive. Jesus validates Daniel as a prophet in Matthew 24, verse 15, when ye therefore shall see, see as in with your eyes he's speaking to the Jews. In Matthew 24, when you shall see the abomination of desolation Spoken of by Daniel the prophet. Stand in the holy place. Whoso readeth, let him understand. And then essentially that verse is repeated in Mark 13, verse 4, chapter 13, verse 14. Daniel is the only prophet in the Old Testament who is noted to be greatly loved, as in a deep relationship and closeness to the Lord. Not even Abraham was spoken of with that distinction, as he was called a friend of God. So you see that in Isaiah 41, verse 8. But thou, Israel, art my servant Jacob, who I have chosen the seed of Abraham, my friend. In 2nd Chronicles 20, verse 7. Art not thou our God, who didst drive out the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel, and gavest it to the seed of Abraham, thy friend forever? Remember, Abraham was a friend of God, and it was accounted to him as righteousness. He was a friend of God. Obviously God loved him. But the Holy Spirit is using this distinction to show you the deeper relationship with the Lord and thus what's revealed to him. John got the same thing. John was the disciple whom Jesus loved. Remember, John laid his head on the chest of Jesus at the supper. He wanted to be as close to the heart of God as possible. And John was the one who the Lord revealed revelation to. So the closer you got to God, the pattern here is, the closer you are to the Lord, the deeper relationship you have with him, the more he reveals to you of his plan. And you see that with Daniel and John, three times God declares that Daniel is greatly beloved. Look at chapter 9, verse 23. At the beginning of thy supplications, the commandment came forth, and I am come to show thee, for thou art greatly beloved. Therefore understand the matter and consider the vision. So look at what's tied to that. Thou art greatly beloved, therefore understand or understanding follows that. Daniel 10, verse 11. He said to me, o Daniel, a man greatly beloved. Understand the words that I speak unto thee, stand upright, for unto thee am I now sent. And when he had spoken the word unto me, I stood trembling. And then verse 19, you see it again and said, o man, greatly beloved, fear not. Peace be unto thee. Be strong. Yea, be strong. And when he had spoken unto me, I was strengthened and said, let my Lord speak, for thou hast strengthened me. So you see Daniel's three times he's called that in the book of Daniel, greatly beloved. And so there's. Obviously, I just want to clarify. Obviously God loves everyone. It's just the matter of how much does that individual love God? And you see that with Peter, right? Peter, do you love me? And Jesus was asking him, do you agape me. And Peter always responded, lord, you know that I love Phileo. It was a different kind of love. You. And the Lord was trying to draw him closer. Daniel is spoken of three times in Ezekiel, which is interesting. Ezekiel 14, verse 14. Though these three men, Noah, Daniel and Job were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord God. Now what I find fascinating about that is in Ezekiel, so the three prophets that were all kind of overlapping time together, Ezekiel, Jeremiah and Daniel. And we're going to look at those three in just a minute. But Ezekiel, God's asking, Ezekiel's asking the Lord, will you spare the city? And God Sundays, if these three men were in it, I wouldn't even spare it. They're so righteous. And Daniel's the only one who is alive. At that time, Noah had obviously passed, and Job was passed. But Daniel. Ezekiel 14, verse 20. Though Daniel or no, though Noah, Daniel and Job were in it, as I live, saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter, and they shall but deliver their own souls by their righteousness. In other words, not even these righteous men in the city of Jerusalem at that time could save anyone in the city. They would deliver themselves, but no one else. And God's making this point to Ezekiel. And again in chapter 28, verse 3, behold, thou art wiser than Daniel. There is no secret that they can hide from thee. Now that verse is speaking of Satan. At that time in Ezekiel 28, two main chapters about Satan is Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28. And God is telling Satan, behold, thou art wiser than Daniel. So. And he called Satan the sum of all wisdom. So think about how what he's attributing to Daniel, how wise Daniel must have been for him to make that declaration to Satan himself. Now, the Bible has nothing bad to say about Daniel, which cannot be said of many other people. Joseph is another example of that from Genesis. It's interesting that they both rise to be prime minister of the dominant world empire in their day. I find that fascinating. Now, it doesn't, obviously, it doesn't mean that Daniel never messed up. It's just the way the Holy Spirit wrote the text about Daniel. He never has anything bad to say about him, which is not true of many people. The Lord has some correction or a rebuke or something for most people in the Bible, because we're all fallen, sinful people. David even messed up constantly, and there's records of that, but he always ran back to God. Daniel, there's not even a Record of him doing something bad, which I find just fascinating, that the Lord orchestrated that in the Bible, the Holy Spirit, how he wrote that. Most of the Old Testament is written in Hebrew. However, parts of Daniel are actually written in aramaic. From Daniel 2, verse 4 until 7, verse 28. Daniel also contains the only chapter in the Old Testament written by a Gentile king, Nebuchadnezzar. And the Lord through, through Nebuchadnezzar writes Daniel, chapter four. Look at Daniel four, four. I, Nebuchadnezzar was at rest in mine house and, and flourishing in my palace. And he goes on to give his testimony of what the Lord was doing in his life at that time. We're going to find some very interesting things about Nebuchadnezzar throughout the book of Daniel. And one of the keys to studying this book, honestly, is to really, to study in the Bible, not just the Book of Daniel, but studying the Bible is to set aside any presupposition and just let the Lord guide us verse by verse. Let him teach you. Because every time you read through this, you're going to get something new out of the Bible. When you're going through the Scripture, it's living and active. Hebrews 4:12, living and active. So whatever you're going through in your life right now, when you pick up the Bible, it's going to speak to you about what you're going through right then. It never fails. Okay, Daniel chapters one through six are historical chapters with some visions. So chapter one, the Jewish captives are taken to Babylon. Chapter two is Nebuchadnezzar's dream. And hopefully you all remember the test Nebuchadnezzar puts the magicians and the sorcerers to in Babylon. They try. He challenges them to tell them the dream and the interpretation of it. And they're like, well, who could do that? Tell us the dream and we'll give you the interpretation. They were trying to be false prophets. And Nebuchadnezzar goes, no, if I tell you the dream, you're going to make something up and spare your life and just to save it. And you got to tell me the dream that I had and the interpretation. And Daniel's the only one that can do that, obviously, by the power of God and the fiery furnace. Nebuchadnezzar is chapter three, if you all remember that. So Daniel's three friends. One of my goals for the time of the end of this book is that you never refer to Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah ever again by their Babylonian names. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, those are their names after false gods they get when they're in Babylon. But let's know them by their God given Israeli names that glorify the Lord. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego are false God names, but the fiery furnace. And then we have Nebuchadnezzar's pride in chapter four. The fall of Babylon in chapter five will be very interesting to study that when we get there. It's not to be confused with the destruction of Babylon and that the destruction of Babylon is something that happens in Revelation 17 and 18, Isaiah 13 and 14. Then we have the lion's den after Persia conquers Babylon. Then chapter seven through 12, okay, we have the four, four beasts, the ram and the he goat. So the four beasts, the ram and the He Goat. Those two chapters link to Revelation. And then the 70 weeks prophecy, which is one of the greatest prophecies in the Bible. We'll look at that when we get there. A view into the dark side behind the world powers in chapter 10. So that's when you see this spirit of, of Greece fighting with Michael, or really it's an unnamed angel, actually not Michael, but to get a message to Daniel and the prince of the power of Persia. And then he had us to go and fight the spirit of Greece, which was this little nation that wasn't even a world power yet, which, so that's kind of amazing. Then we have chapter 11, which a lot of people in the Bible that say the Bible think there's what's called the silent years. And that's from when Malachi ends to when Jesus shows up in the New Testament. Well, in Malachi ends they call that 430 silent years. And you might hear that phrase if you are kind of studying the Bible. They're actually chronicled in great detail in chapter 11. And in chapter 11 they chronicle these four different generals that break up Alexander the Great's kingdom. So when he dies, he leaves his kingdom to, he just says give it to the strong. And so four of his generals break up the kingdom and they fight over this tension of conquering Greece and controlling it. And those four generals, the king of the south and the north and the east and the west, it's all chronicled in chapter 11 prophetically, which is really interesting. And then chapter 12, the last chapter of the consummation of all things in the end times. And that's where God declares for the end to be sealed up. That book, the book of Daniel, be sealed up until the end. So that's really interesting. Okay, the book of Daniel is not actually in chronological order. So 1 through 12 here, when you look at them and you put them in chronological order, it would go chapter one starts in 606 BC. Then Nebuchadnezzar's dream four years later. Then the image, remember he makes the gold statue that he, he commands everyone to bow to. And the three friends, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah do not bow to it and they get thrown in the fiery furnace. Then Nebuchadnezzar's pride, the vision of the four beasts. Then it skips to chapter seven. So in 556 BC, the vision of the four beasts, the ram and the he goat. 8. Then back to 5. Babylon falls to Persia. Then the 70 weeks prophecy in around 538 BC Then the lion's den, then a view of the dark side, then the silent years and the closing vision. So that kind of gives you a perspective of it's not how it's in your Bible. God put it there in that order for a reason. And so we're going to study it that way. But the order of events, when we get to those, we'll make sure to kind of clarify that as we go. So you don't think it's out of order for some way. Okay, the biblical events leading up to the Babylonian captivity in 606 BC. So in 612 BC, Nineveh falls to an alliance of Babylon and Media or Persia Media empire. That empire was the Persians and the Medes kind of came together and that actually we study that every year about Christmas time because we talk about the Magi a lot that came from the Medo Persian empire. The Magi who come to find Jesus when he arrives, they get that prophecy from Daniel because Daniel was made head of the Magi. Well, Nineveh falls to this alliance of Babylon and the Persia media empire in 612 BC. Well, three years later, in 609, Pharaoh Necho leads an army against Assyria. If you remember, Josiah fights Necho and gets killed in 2nd Chronicles 35, 2024. Remember at that time the Ark of the Covenant had been taken from the temple. And there's a lot of. There's a suggestion in the Bible that Pharaoh Necho had it because the Levites were in Egypt. And he tells Josiah, I have heard from God. And it's just a suspicion. It actually gets into an interesting study about Ethiopia and their role when the Messiah comes back in the molecule millennium in Isaiah, there's some very unique prophecies of the Ethiopians bringing a gift to the Messiah. And the Ark of the Covenant may have ended up through Neco, through Pharaoh Necho in Egypt, on a little island in Ethiopia, where it may still be there today. We don't know. It's just an interesting kind of thing to study. In 606 BC, the Battle of Carchemish happened. The Syrian city on the, on the middle of the Euphrates takes place. Place. Nebuchadnezzar fights Pharaoh Necho from Egypt on the banks of the Euphrates. And that's in Jeremiah chapter 46:1 through 6. After that battle, Nebuchadnezzar then besieges Jerusalem. So, so Babylon's rising to power, they defeat Egypt and then Nebuchadnezzar goes to Jerusalem. So there are three, you've gotta, this is really important to understand. There are three different besieges or sieges of Jerusalem in the Bible. The city is under siege three times. In 606 BC, the Babylonians begin their first of three deportations of the Jews. Daniel's in that first group. He's a young man who's from a priestly line or a kingly line. I mean, we'll see that in a minute. He gets taken in the first group of exiles to Babylon. He goes to the home base because he's of the king's seed, of the line, of the royal line in Israel. And Nebuchadnezzar had this stance that whenever he conquered a city or a nation, he wanted the best of the best to come to Babylon, to his own palace, where they would basically take the highest educated, the ones that could speak multiple languages, the wealthy ones. He wanted them to ascend, assimilate into his court, so to speak. So he, he had that strategy. In 597 BC, the second group was taken. And. And what? Young Ezekiel's taken about the age of 25. He was taken to Tel Aviv. Not the Tel Aviv that's in Israel, but Tel Aviv that's not far from Babylon in Iraq at the time and near the ship channel Chebar. And you can find that in Ezekiel 3, verse 15. So Ezekiel was not of the kingly line. He was kind of a poor servant, so to speak. So he's shipped off to work the fields in Chebar with these other Israelites. There he lived in his own house with his beloved wife. And that's in Ezekiel 8, verse 1 and 2416. And the third siege in 592 BC, five years after Ezekiel came to Tel Aviv, he was called to be a prophet. I'm sorry, five years after that's not the third siege, but 592 BC he's called to be a prophet of God when he was 30 years old. And that's the same as when the priests were to take office from Numbers 4, Verse 3. So that's six years before the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. so Jeremiah, so you have Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel, the three prophets. Daniel's taken off to Babylon in the place first, first siege, Ezekiel gone to Chebar to work the fields. In the second, Jeremiah is still back ministering to the people back home in Israel as an old man at this point, he's very old. He's much older than Daniel and Ezekiel. Ezekiel was also preaching to the Jews of the captivity of Babylon. And so like Jeremiah, Ezekiel was a priest called to be a prophet. Daniel of the kingly line becomes a prophet while in Babylon, which is really interesting. So, okay, so these three sieges then. In Siege 1, Jehoiakim is released as a sign of being a support of being subordinate by Nebuchadnezzar, the temples robbed for the Babylonian museum. And they will come to regret that later in the handwriting on the wall. In Daniel chapter five, the hostages are taken captive back to Babylon and that begins the 70 year servitude of the nation. Okay, it's important and I've got a chart in here in a minute that I made in Excel years ago. It's very generic, but it'll help you understand this. So the 70 year servitude of the nation, the second siege, Jehoiakim ignores Jeremiah's prophetic word. So Jeremiah is prophecy prophesying to them. If you remember. Hey, Jerusalem's going to be destroyed. Get your act together. Well, the false prophets were saying the opposite. They were going in Ezekiel's day too. Where he was in Babylon, all these false prophets were going, no, God's going to deliver us. Jerusalem will stand. He's going to wipe out Nebuchadnezzar. Don't bow to him. Meanwhile, truly what God was saying was Nebuchadnezzar is my instrument of judgment. You need to bow to him. He's my instrument of judgment. You've got to go and go captive to him, not bow to him as God, but be subservient to him. Go to Babylon is where I'm saying, and let me fix this up and I'll, I will restore you. So Jeremiah is making this prophecy back in Israel and Jeim Ignores him, he rebels and there's a five year battle and he died. And that's in Jeremiah 22:17, 19. His son Janiah reigns until the siege is over. In Jeremiah 22:24:30, God then pronounces a blood curse on the royal line in Jeremiah 22, verse 30. And we've studied that a lot in here because that blood curse Satan was probably celebrating at that point because what God says in Jeremiah 22:30 30 is that the seed of David, no man from the seed of the line of David would sit on the throne in Israel prospering or ruling over Israel anymore, forever. But yet God promised to David that his seed would sit on the throne of Israel forever. And so God has an issue there. Well the problem is solved with the daughters of Zelophehad back in numbers when if you only have daughters, you can pass your inheritance onto your son in law if they marry within the tribe. And that's why Mary is only a daughter. And Mary and Joseph, when you fast forward in the New Testament, Mary only has sisters and so she's a daughter and the father, her dad can pass the inheritance on to her son in law, Joseph. So they bypass the blood curse and Jesus then has a right legally to the throne. So but that blood curse in Jeremiah is in chapter 2, verse 30. Jeconiah's captured their 10,000 captives including Ezekiel that get taken taken over to Iraq, the modern day Iraq, Babylonian area. That's in Ezekiel 1, 2nd Kings 24 and 2nd Chronicles 36. Zedekiah, his uncle is then appointed by Babylon to rule Israel. And Jeremiah and Ezekiel continually warn against rebellion. Remember they're the two that prophesy and tell him you're never going to see Babylon and yet you're going to die there. And Zedekiah scoffs at him and all the false prophets are chirping in his ear and he's like, you guys came and get your story straight. Am I going to die there or am I never going to see it? And what happens then is Nebuchadnezzar comes, pulls his eyes out of his eye sockets where he's blinded, then he's drug off to Babylon where he dies. So he never saw it and yet he died there. God meant exactly what he told him. So you have to take the Lord exactly what he says. You can't add to it or take away from it. And the false prophets are continually saying something opposite to Israel and the royal line at that point. So then the third siege takes place in 587 BC Zedekiah ignores Jeremiah and Ezekiel's warnings. He believes the false prophet prophets. He ultimately rebels. And that's in Jeremiah 32, verse 5, 39, 6 and 7, Ezekiel 12:13 and 2nd Kings 25:1 7. This third siege results in the destruction of the temple and the city. So that's when the desolation of Jerusalem takes place. And Zedekiah is the one who did not believe the prophets like I just mentioned. So you can find that in Ezekiel 12:13, Jeremiah 32:4, Jeremiah 34:3, 39, 6 and 7, 2nd Kings 25:7. I know you all remember these. There'll be a quiz in the back. You got it right down. We're going to do a Scantron fill in the bubbles of where these prophecies are. Kids today just doing they. They need Scantron back. I think that those things were awesome. The number two pencil and you got to fill in the bubble. Exactly. In any case, ultimately this begins the 70 year desolations of Jerusalem. So 2 Kings 24 and 2 Kings 25 cover that period. Look at Daniel 9, verse 2. In the first year of his reign I, Daniel understood by books the number of the years whereof the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish 70 years in the desolations of Jerusalem. The desolations of Jerusalem. Okay, so what God is saying here, See Daniel, you can learn a lot from Daniel just in this verse. Daniel was captive in Babylon, yet reading the word of God, he was reading his Bible, the book of Jeremiah. He understood in Jeremiah, the prophecy that God had through Jeremiah, that 70 years, Jerusalem would have to sit desolate for 70 years. Now this is not to be confused with the 70 weeks of Daniel prophecy, which is completely different. The 70 years desolation is what Israel owed God. And we'll see why in a minute. Look at Ezra 9. 9. For we are bondmen, yet our God hath not forsaken us in our bondage, but hath extended mercy unto us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us a reviving, to set up the house of our God and to repair the desolations. That term is important. Desolations thereof. And to give us a wall in Judah and then in Jerusalem. So if you remember in Ezra's day, Ezra gets the call from the kings of Persia to go rebuild the temple after all of this time is up, after the 70 years of desolations are up. Nehemiah is the one who gets the commandment to rebuild the wall after this. And that is what triggers the start of the 70 weeks of Daniel is the commandment to rebuild the wall. Okay, so hopefully this helps. This is about as generic of an excel chart you can make, but I, but I did this years ago and I just thought it was good to pull out again. So you have the first siege, the second siege and the third siege. The first siege starts the servitude of the nation, which is 70 years unto the decree of Cyrus. The third siege is when Jerusalem actually gets destroyed. And that's the 70 years of desolations of Jerusalem. So different 70 year periods. The decree of Artaxerxes in the book of Nehemiah, when he gives Nehemiah the commandment to go rebuild the wall, that is what is the commandment that triggers the start of the 70 weeks of Daniel. Not 70 years, 77 year periods or 490 years total. Okay, that's what that starts. So the 70 weeks of Daniel is a prophecy of 77 year periods lined up that God lays out. And there's a gap between the 69th week and the 70th week. The 70th week is this final seven year tribulation where the Antichrist rules the earth. The church, we are not here. We've been taken out in the rapture. That final seven year tribulation, that's the 70 weeks of Daniel. So there's a lot of 70s. I know, so stay with me. There's a lot of 70s, but in a lot of sevens. There's a lot of math here. But just keep in mind the 70 years of desolations of Jerusalem that has been completed. The 70 weeks of Daniel has not been completed. So hopefully that's very clear. The Persian empire runs at the top. You can see at the bottom which books of the Bible kind of overlap those periods. So you have Daniel and Ezekiel and second Chronicles. Then you have Haggai and Ezra and then Zechariah and Malachi and Nehemiah. So if you kind of study your Bible that way, it should help put those in perspective. Perspective of where you are in time. Okay, so Daniel was a Jewish captive in Babylon. He was of royal or princely descent. In Daniel, chapter one, verse three is where you learn that. And the king spake unto as. Sorry, the screenshot as Penza. However, you say that the matter of the eunuchs, that he should bring certain of the children of Israel and of the king's seed and of the princes. So Nebuchadnezzar wanted the best of the best out of Israel to come into his court. What he wanted to do. And what his. His pattern was is he would train them then in the ways of Babylon because they were viewed as the smartest, the wealthiest, the best that that nation he just conquered had to offer. So he would train them in the ways of Babylon and try to convert them in some way to worship their gods, their false gods. And then he would raise them up to some position in their. In his court. That's. That's what he had the. The reputation of doing. Okay, so why did Israel go into captivity in the first place? So the 70 years of desolations of Jerusalem. Okay, just to clarify. So here's one reason. There's lots of reasons. Here's one I just find fascinating. God told his people to give the land a Sabbath every seventh year. And that's in Leviticus 25, verse 4. But the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest unto the land, a Sabbath for the Lord. Thou shall neither sow thy field nor prune thy vineyard. Okay, so every. What they were supposed to do was every six years, they work, worked the fields, they. They brought in crops and harvest. Then they did nothing. The seventh year, they're supposed to let the land rest and replenish. And a lot of farmers do that today. Agriculturally, it's. It's important to let the soil kind of regenerate minerals and all that kind of stuff. Well, God told them to do that in Exodus 23, 10 and 11. In six years, thou shalt sow thy land, and shalt gather in the fruits thereof. But the seventh year, thou shalt let it rest and lie still, that the poor of thy people may eat. And what they leave, the beasts of the field shall eat. In like manner, thou shalt deal with thy vineyard and with thy olive yard. So God tells them twice. When God repeats something in the Bible, you gotta pay attention. He's really trying to get you to understand, do this or don't do this. But when he repeats anything he says, you need to know. But when he repeats it, he's really trying to make a point. So for 490 years, the Israelites did not do this. They did not obey God's word. So they should have, by that point, let the land rest for 70 years. Because 490 divided by seven, you get 70. God was very patient. He gave them 490 years to get this right, and they never did. And so what he essentially tells them is, you owe me 70 years. That's why they were drug off to Babylon for 70 years. Look at Leviticus 26, 33, 35 and I will scatter you among the heathen, and I'll draw out the sword after you. And your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste. Then shall the land enjoy her sabbaths as long as it lieth desolate, and ye be in your enemy's land. Even then shall the land rest and enjoy her sabbath as long as it hath as long as it lieth desolate. It shall rest because it did not rest in your sabbaths when you dwelt upon it. And then again in 2nd Chronicles 36:21 to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths for as long as she lay desolate, she kept sabbath to fulfill three score and 10 years. So 70 years. And that's what Jeremiah was prophesying to them, that Daniel then read and understood, and then was given the 70 weeks prophecy or the 490 years that God planned for them from that point. Okay, ultimately the failure to follow God's word leads to the captivity. So it wasn't just one thing. It wasn't just, hey, you didn't. You didn't let your land rest. That was one reason for sure. But it was a multitude of things that they refused to listen to God. And look at 2nd Kings 24:1017 at that time, the servants of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came up against Jerusalem, and the city was besieged. And Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came against the city, and his servants did besiege it. Jehoiachin, the king of Judah, went out to the king of Babylon, he and his mother and his servants, and his princes and his officers. And the king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign, and he carried out thence all the treasures of the house of the Lord. Big mistake. They shouldn't have touched what God had in the temple and the treasures of the king's house and cut it in pieces all of the vessels of gold which Solomon, king of Israel, had made in the temple of the Lord, as the Lord had said. And he carried away all of Jerusalem and all of the princes and all the mighty men of valor, even 10,000 captives. Remember we talked about that earlier? 10,000 captives and all of the craftsmen and smiths. None remained save the poorest sword of the people of the land. See, that was Nebuchadnezzar's pattern. He left the poorest, most destitute people in the land. He wanted the rich people that were educated. And he carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon and the king's mother and the king's wives and his officers, and the mighty men, and the mighty of the land, those carried he into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon. And all the men of might, even 7,000, and craftsmen and smiths, a thousand, all. All that were strong and apt for war, even them the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon. Okay, so there they are in Ezekiel. We'll close with this. This is interesting to me. In ezekiel, God declares 430 years of judgment. I'm trying to give you this overview of Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel, of what they were doing, what God was doing through each of these prophets at this time with Nebuchadnezzar, leading ultimately to Daniel being export or deported to Babylon, where he writes the Book of Daniel, which obviously we're. We're diving into here. So Ezekiel's 430 years. Thou also, son of man, take the tile and lay it before thee and. And portray it upon the city, even Jerusalem, and lay siege against it. So Ezekiel. God had Ezekiel act things out a lot. He was a prophet. He did lots of very weird things. When you study the book, he acts out these sieges and starvation, and he has to not mourn when his wife dies. The Lord has him act out a lot of things to try to get a message to Israel. And lay siege against it, and build a fort against it, and cast a mount against it. And the camp. Set the camp also against it, and set battering rams against it. Roundabout. God's trying to show them, this is what's about to happen to you if you don't repent and get this right. Moreover, take thou unto thee an iron pan and set it for a wall of iron between thee and the city, and set thy face against it, and it shall be besieged. Now, in ancient times, too, just so you understand, this, besieging a city was terrifying. They didn't have Amazon drone delivery, you know, at that time. They were whatever food, water, supplies you had in the city at that point, when. When an army like Rome or Babylon was surrounding your city with their entire military and no one could come in and out, they would just starve you to death. That's. That was their plan. That was their tactic. They would let you just starve to death. And God warns them of that a lot through these Old Testament prophets. Okay, Thou. This shall be a sign of the house of Israel. Lie thou also. Okay, this is it. Lie thou also upon thy left side and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it, according to the number of days that thou shall lie upon it. Thou shalt bear the iniquity. For I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity according to the number of the days, 390 days. So shalt thou be bury the iniquity of the house of Israel. And when thou has accomplished them, lie again on thy right side. Thy right side. And thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah. 40 days. So you have a 390 days on his left, 40 days on his right. It adds up to 430 days. And God tells him a day for a year. So 430 years of judgment. Okay, until this is complete. Now 70. This, this is. I find this fascinating. So I don't know if you can take this to the Lord. Ask the Lord if this is true. Acts 17:11. You know, go check this out yourself. I just, I think this is fascinating. So, and I heard this years and like maybe 10 years ago I heard this and I don't even remember where I I heard it. Now we had it in some notes from an old Bible study and I came across it, so I put it back in here. But 70 of those years were accomplished at Babylon. So 430 minus 70 would be 360 unaccounted for, years of judgment. Well, those years don't really fit anywhere in the Bible into prophecy or something that has happened to Israel, you know, in their history. Well, someone noted in Leviticus 26:18 that if you will not yet for all this hearken unto me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins. So what they did was they took the 360 times the seven. They get 2,520 years. Well, God's word, always from Genesis to revelation, deals in 360 day years. So when accounting for a leap years, these calendar changes, all this stuff going from B.C. to A.D. remember, there's no year zero. You go from one to one. This 2,520 years on God's calendar would equal 907,200 days on our calendar. Okay, so if you add that value to the two dates that we studied earlier, from the servitude of the nations and the desolations of the Jerusalem, the servitude of the nations ends plus 907,200 days. You get exactly to May 14th in 1948, when Israel is re established as a nation, the desolations of Jerusalem ends and you add the same number 907,200 days to it, and you get to June 7th of 1967, which is after that six day war, Jerusalem becomes restored to the nation Israel. So that's pretty amazing to me. It's not like it's, you know, close within a day, it's like to the day. So I just find that fascinating. God means what he says, and there's a lot of these prophetic things in the Word that just will make you even more appreciate what God has written down for us. So Daniel was a captive in a wicked society, and yet he never stopped serving God. And I just want you to see that as we go through this book. He never turns his back on God. He did not eat the food forbidden by his God. We'll see that at the beginning. Remember, he and his three friends are told to eat this certain meal from Nebuchadnezzar so that when they come before him, they look flush and healthy and whole. And he refuses. He just wants to eat what God told him to eat, and they look even better. He did not bow down to the golden statue. In fact, the Holy Spirit does not even mention him in that event, just his three friends. He did not stop praying to God to his temple when he was told not to in Persia. He did not fear the lion's den. And you see this constantly through the book. Daniel was a man that did not fear a wicked world that was against his God. He didn't care if he was captive, a prisoner, going to be thrown into the den with lions. He didn't care if he would starve to death. He stood on what God's word said. And it just Joshua. We just finished Joshua two weeks ago. And Joshua 24:15 is just so applicable to Daniel of who will you serve? And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom you will serve. Whether the gods which your fathers serve, they're on their side of the Flood, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. And Daniel made that decision constantly through this book. So my challenge to all of us is you and I are in the exact same position as Daniel. We have God's word. We have everything he's written down for us. We live in a world that's hostile to our God. We live in a world that wants you to partake in a lot of things that God does not want you to partake in. And yet we've been called. We have to stand. You've got to stand on the word. You have to build up your most holy faith. It's your shield of faith and your Sword of the Spirit. And that's how you stand get in the Bible. There is no substitute. You cannot outsource it to anyone. So if you're here, if you're not saved. Romans 10:9. If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, you shall be saved. It's so simple. You'll be born again in the Spirit, never to be without the Lord again. And once you're then born again and you're endowed with the Holy Ghost, you can then have understanding of the Bible and build that relationship with the Lord that he wants so desperately to have with you. Lord, we thank you again for the this time together. And God, we just pray that you would be with us as we continue to study the book of Daniel. Lord, I thank you so much for preserving this God, I thank you for Daniel's testimony. God, as a man that did not back down, as a man that stood his ground on your word, that looked to you, no matter his circumstances, that Lord, he traversed everything from being in Israel to a prisoner to the height of the Babylonian empire, back to a slave thrown in the lion's den, only to rise again in Persia. And God, you entrusted him with this incredible prophecy, not only of the 70 weeks of Daniel and the end times where the Antichrist would try to conquer God, but Jesus as your arise in the flesh in the first time to come and take our place. You trusted him with that and he passed it on to the Magi. And we see them march into Jerusalem in the New Testament. And God, what an incredible life this man lived. And we just pray that you would speak to us out of your word through this series. God, let none of the lessons be wasted on us. And God, may we find it as we study these prophetic end times even more urgent to live for you day in and day out right now, Lord, time is short. It is going by so fast. And we just pray that whatever you've called us to, no matter how much time we have left, that we would stand on your word and live free you and be about your business, our Father's business, just as Jesus was, he needed to be about his father's business. And God, what a great model for us today. So Lord, we thank you so much for this time together. We thank you for what you're doing in this new year. And Lord, we pray and we continue to pray for the people in Iran. God, we pray that you would move through that nation and raise up millions of millions of people out of the grave, Let them be born again in the spirit. Let the revival and your Holy Spirit's your fire from heaven, God, be so great that the Iranian government can do nothing about it but recognize that the God of the universe is here in our nation. And, Lord, we just pray that you would move across that land and that you'd bring these people that are so desperate looking for a savior, Let them be introduced to the Savior, whether it's through dreams like in Persia and with Daniel in the Magi, or through your word getting to them, whatever method you need to do. Lord, I pray that you'd shake that nation and set your people free and let it be in our time, Lord, to glorify you. And Lord, I pray that you'd give the leadership in our nation and in Israel wisdom and discernment in these days. And, God, let this nation be a nation that stands with Israel. That, Lord, we may not agree with everything they do, but we agree with their right to exist and your covenant with them. And so we are praying for them. And God, you have a plan for them that we're gonna see in Daniel, and we're gonna see it unfold in the end times. And God, we just thank you for that. So God be with us in the week ahead. And I just pray that you would speak to us out of your word word this week in our personal time to gather back together around your word next Sunday. Thank you for it, Lord, in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. All right, we'll see you, everybody. Have a good week.