Weekly Bible Study – August 29, 2016

The prophecy of Daniel 9.
The mystery behind the sealing up of vision and prophecy.

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Scripture References, Word & Phrase descriptions: the “Logos Reftagger” scripture links are hover pop-up active, meaning the scripture reference will just pop-up if you hover your cursor over it (don’t click on the link, just hover your cursor over it), when finished reading, hover your cursor off the scripture reference link. If the pop-up doesn’t show all the verses, left click on the “More” button in the Reftagger pop-up and it will take you to the online bible. On older computers some word definition or message hover popups may not work unless you are using an up-to-date Firefox browser – some of the latest versions of other popular browsers that require Windows 10 work well also. If you don’t have Firefox on your XP, Vista, Win 7, Win 8.1 or other operating system, that’s OK, try left clicking the link which will open the verse at the online bible; or if that doesn’t work, you can always use your Bible to look up the verses. Word or Phrase definition links may not have a website that opens.

Prepare yourself for learning the Word of God!

Before we begin, if you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ (that is; you have believed [trusted] in Him for His promised gift of eternal life), it is important to prepare yourself to learn God's Word so take a moment to name, cite or acknowledge (confess) your sins privately to God (i.e.; with your thoughts directed only to God the Father).

1 John 1:9 says: "If we confess our sins, He (God) is faithful and just to forgive us our sins (known sins) and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness [unknown or forgotten sins]." NKJV (New King James Version) [italics added]; we call this REBOUND, read the full doctrine as to “why” we need to use 1 John 1:9 to grow spiritually. REBOUND

If you have never personally believed in the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior (that is, believed in Him for eternal life), the issue for you is not to name your sins; the issue for you is to have faith alone in Jesus Christ alone for eternal life: John 3:16, 5:24, 6:47, 20:30, 31.

John 6:47 says: "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me (Jesus Christ) has everlasting life." NKJV [italics added]

Notice again what Jesus said in John 6:47: "…he who believes in Me (Jesus Christ) has everlasting life." It doesn't say, "will have"; it says, "has." Therefore, the very moment you believe in Jesus Christ for His promise of everlasting life, you have it (it's really just that simple; nothing more and nothing less), and it can never be taken away from you (John 10:28-29). Furthermore, the gift (Ephesians 2:8c) of everlasting life (also called eternal life in scripture) is available to every human being; there are absolutely no exceptions.

John 3:14-15, 16, 17, 18, says: "¹⁴ And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, ¹⁵ that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁶ For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. ¹⁷ For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. ¹⁸ He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." NKJV

Let us now bow our hearts and take a moment to prepare for worship and learning God's Word. If there is any known sin in your life, this is the time to just cite it privately to God the Father with your thoughts directed towards Him. With your head bowed and your eyes closed, you have total privacy in your mind and soul:

Study to show yourself approved to God!

Grace Bible Church
Robert R. McLaughlin Bible Ministries

Doctrinal Statement

The Tree of Life is a weekly teaching summary:
God’s Word is taught Wednesday, Friday and Sunday mornings

STUDY TITLE:

The prophecy of Daniel 9.
The mystery behind the sealing up of vision and prophecy.

Terms & Abbreviations used:

PPOG = Predesigned Plan of God
Human Good = Evil + Good Deeds while not in fellowship with God
Old Sin Nature = Old Sin Nature
TLJC = The Lord Jesus Christ
SSE = Spiritual Self Esteem
PVTD = Positive Volition Towards Doctrine [Bible Truth]
+H - The Happiness of God
NVTD = Negative Volition Towards Doctrine
Doctrine = Bible Truth

To look up other “terms”, go to:

Alphabetical Listing

BEGIN BIBLE STUDY
Unless otherwise noted, scripture quotes and references are from the NASB – New American Standard Bible. However, a few may be corrected translations developed from the exegetical study of the original languages.

The prophecy of Daniel 9. The mystery behind the sealing up of vision and prophecy.

We are noting the six different manifestations of the prophecies given in Dan 9:24 that our Lord either already fulfilled or will fulfill in the future. In Dan 9:24 there are six different prophecies mentioned that our Lord fulfilled or will fulfill, three of them He has already fulfilled which are the following: Dan 9:24, “Seventy weeks or 490 years have been decreed for your people and your holy city. Here’s the three prophecies that have already been fulfilled:

1) To finish the transgression.
2) To make an end of sin.
3 To make atonement for iniquity.

All three of these we have already seen. The next three prophecies are prophecies we are waiting for our Lord to fulfill and are found in the remainder of Dan 9:24:

4) To bring in everlasting righteousness which means to bring in the Millennial reign or the 1,000 year period of the kingdom of righteousness. And we have now spent enough time on that kingdom of righteousness that our Lord will fulfill.

5) The next prophecy is given by the phrase to seal up vision and prophecy. This is the fifth prophecy that Daniel mentions. To one degree or another, one of the goals of the 70 week period is “to seal up the vision and prophecies” given to man by God.”

The two questions that need to be answered are:
a) Who will fulfill the prophecy? b).
b) What does the phrase “to seal up visions and prophecy” mean?

The answer to the first question is of course our Lord will fulfill the prophecy when He comes back the Second time.

The second question that needs to be answered is what the writer means by the verb “to seal up.” It is the Hebrew verb chatham meaning to close up; especially to seal, to complete, to make an end or a mark or to stop. Because we have not reached the end of the 70th week yet, the 490 years which is waiting for the last seven to be fulfilled and will during the Tribulation period, this prophecy remains partially, but not fully fulfilled. Partially because most of the prophecies have been fulfilled, but there are still some that are a mystery as far as when and how they will be fulfilled.

This part of Daniel’s prophecy seems to have several levels of fulfillment – It has a Short term, long term, and everlasting term. For example, in chapter 8 Daniel records this for us:

Dan 8:1-14, In the third year of the reign of Belshazzar the king a vision appeared to me, Daniel, subsequent to the one which appeared to me previously. And I looked in the vision, and it came about while I was looking, that I was in the citadel of Susa, which is in the province of Elam; and I looked in the vision, and I myself was beside the Ulai Canal. Then I lifted my gaze and looked, and behold, a ram which had two horns was standing in front of the canal. Now the two horns were long, but one was longer than the other, with the longer one coming up last. I saw the ram butting westward, northward, and southward, and no other beasts could stand before him, nor was there anyone to rescue from his power; but he did as he pleased and magnified himself. While I was observing, behold, a male goat was coming from the west over the surface of the whole earth without touching the ground; and the goat had a conspicuous horn between his eyes. And he came up to the ram that had the two horns, which I had seen standing in front of the canal, and rushed at him in his mighty wrath. And I saw him come beside the ram, and he was enraged at him; and he struck the ram and shattered his two horns, and the ram had no strength to withstand him. So he hurled him to the ground and trampled on him, and there was none to rescue the ram from his power. Then the male goat magnified himself exceedingly. But as soon as he was mighty, the large horn was broken; and in its place there came up four conspicuous horns toward the four winds of heaven. And out of one of them came forth a rather small horn which grew exceedingly great toward the south, toward the east, and toward the Beautiful Land. And it grew up to the host of heaven and caused some of the host and some of the stars to fall to the earth, and it trampled them down. It even magnified itself to be equal with the Commander of the host; and it removed the regular sacrifice from Him, and the place of His sanctuary was thrown down. And on account of transgression the host will be given over to the horn along with the regular sacrifice; and it will fling truth to the ground and perform its will and prosper. Then I heard a holy one speaking, and another holy one said to that particular one who was speaking, “How long will the vision about the regular sacrifice apply, while the transgression causes horror, so as to allow both the holy place and the host to be trampled?” And he said to me, “For 2,300 evenings and mornings; then the holy place will be properly restored.”

Notice Dan 8:15 says, And it came about when I, Daniel, had seen the vision, that I sought to understand it; and behold, standing before me was one who looked like a man. He looked like a man but he was an angel.

Now in Dan 8:16-26, And I heard the voice of a man between the banks of Ulai, and he called out and said, “Gabriel, give this man an understanding of the vision.” So he came near to where I was standing, and when he came I was frightened and fell on my face; but he said to me, “Son of man, understand that the vision pertains to the time of the end.” Now while he was talking with me, I sank into a deep sleep with my face to the ground; but he touched me and made me stand upright. And he said, “Behold, I am going to let you know what will occur at the final period of the indignation, for it pertains to the appointed time of the end. The ram which you saw with the two horns represents the kings of Media and Persia. And the shaggy goat represents the kingdom of Greece, and the large horn that is between his eyes is the first king. And the broken horn and the four horns that arose in its place represent four kingdoms which will arise from his nation, although not with his power. And in the latter period of their rule, When the transgressors have run their course, A king will arise Insolent and skilled in intrigue. And his power will be mighty, but not by his own power, And he will destroy to an extraordinary degree And prosper and perform his will; He will destroy mighty men and the holy people. And through his shrewdness He will cause deceit to succeed by his influence; And he will magnify himself in his heart, And he will destroy many while they are at ease. He will even oppose the Prince of princes, But he will be broken without human agency. And the vision of the evenings and mornings Which has been told is true; But keep the vision secret, For it pertains to many days in the future. – it concerns the distant future.”

Then in chapter 9 Daniel is told that to “seal up vision and prophecy.” And then Daniel is told in Dan 12:4, “But as for you, Daniel, conceal these words and seal up the book until the end of time; many will go back and forth, and knowledge will increase.” Now, this all means while some of the prophecies in the book of Daniel have not been fulfilled as of yet such as the prophecy in Dan 9:24 which was fulfilled in principle at our Lord’s First Advent or Christ’s first coming, it will be fulfilled in full at His return, His Second Advent. When the Messianic age begins, the Millennial reign or the Kingdom of His righteousness is brought on, as the fourth prophecy in Dan 9:24 predicts;

Daniel is told that God will eventually accomplish all that was promised through the visions and prophecies he made in the book of Daniel, and therefore Daniel was to stamp “God’s seal on the visions and prophecies” which were eventually going to be fulfilled.” Some scholars believe that the end of the first seven years given in Dan 9:25 when it says “So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there will be seven weeks or 49 years. And that this first 49 year period (called here in Dan 9:25 the first seven weeks) also brought with it the end of Old Testament vision and prophecy.

The prophetic book of Malachi was written in this general time frame and ushered in around 400 years of prophetic silence where no prophet heard from God a 400 period. This was actually what we the age the silence of God.” And this is the fifth prophecy that our Lord will fulfill when He comes He will unveil or the prophecies that Daniel was told to seal and hide until the appropriate time.

So Dan 9:24 says, that our Lord is going to “ to seal up vision and prophecy,” it literally means that He is going to place His seal upon Him by giving what a seal in the Bible represents which is divine approval. You see, when the Bible talks about sealing it is not like the English definition. It doesn’t just mean to hide something. In the ancient, Sealing was a signature guarantee which was tantamount to a king sealing a proclamation, that became a law. When people signed a contract by using a wax seal, that was their guarantee from their integrity that they would fulfill their part.

Sealing as a signature was used as a guarantee of transactions, authentication of invoices, contracts, laws, directives, orders, policies of kings or rulers. It was a sign of integrity and virtue. The sealing of tombs, libraries, and treasuries indicated ownership. For example, let’s take salvation, of the Holy Spirit makes five signature guarantees at the moment of our salvation:

1. God the Holy Spirit guarantees that your faith alone in Christ alone is effective for salvation. God the Holy Spirit takes the unbeliever’s faith alone in Christ alone and makes it effective for salvation. God the Holy Spirit guarantees His ministry of making that faith effective for salvation. God the Holy Spirit puts His seal on the unbeliever’s faith alone.

2. The Holy Spirit guarantees eternal life at the point of salvation to everyone who believes in Christ. He does this by the creation of the human spirit, to which God the Father imputes eternal life. God the Holy Spirit seals that eternal life, Eph 4:30, And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. There is nothing you or all the power of hell can ever do to cancel this guarantee.

3. God the Holy Spirit guarantees the eternal security of the believer at the moment of salvation. You cannot cancel the forty things God does for you at salvation. You cannot undo what God has done. You cannot renounce your faith in Christ and no longer be saved.

4. God the Holy Spirit guarantees the portfolio of invisible assets for every Church Age believer. There are two guarantees of our portfolio of invisible assets: the sealing ministry of the Holy Spirit at salvation and the indwelling of Christ as the Shekinah glory.

Eph 1:13, In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise,

2Co 1:21 22, “But God [the Father] who strengthens us in Christ [predestination] along with you, and has anointed us [baptism of the Holy Spirit plus the sealing of the Holy Spirit], who also put a seal on us and has given us the Spirit in our right lobes [filling of the Holy Spirit] as a guarantee [down payment].”

5. God the Holy Spirit guarantees the redemption of the body on the day of redemption. Redemption of the body occurs at the Rapture or resurrection of the Church, Eph 4:30, “You have been sealed to the day of redemption.” My point is that when the lord Jesus Christ comes back He going to bring all the visions and the prophecies that have been hidden to the light and make them all known as He places His seal, or His eternal guarantee upon all of them. As of know many of these visions and prophecies have been hidden but will become make known. For even though Daniel was a mature believer for at least 400 years God did not speak to anyone else all the way to the book of Malachi, God was silent! I don’t know how many of you have ever studied with me what I call “The Doctrine of the Silence of God.”

Many times God had been silent throughout human history as He was with Job because of the angelic conflict and the historical trial of Satan and all of the fallen angels. For example, in the book of Job Satan had actually been cross-examining Job and while he is doing so, God was completely silent…He does not interrupt the cross examination of Satan on God’s people. It is a part of what we call evidence testing, one of the highest forms of testing a believer can have the privilege of taken in order to glorify God. And when we noted in the book of Job, the opinion of the Divine Judge as Job passed the test magnificently, Satan has been silenced by the fantastic life of Job.

I’ve always loved what David said in one of his prayers, called an imprecatory prayer in Psa 58:6, O God, shatter their teeth in their mouth; Break out the fangs of the young lions, O Lord. Job was one of the greatest witnesses for the prosecution in all of the Old Testament! And along with Noah and Daniel, Job is one of the greatest all time believers who passes evidence testing. In fact, the prophet Ezekiel identified three men as one of the greatest believers of all time in Eze 14:12-14, note who they are. In Ezekiel the Lord is telling us how afar astray His people have gone astray. And uses the principle of the pivot and how even if these great men or gracious men were present within the nation, He would still discipline it.

Eze 14:12-14, Then the word of the Lord came to me saying, “Son of man, if a country sins against Me by committing unfaithfulness, and I stretch out My hand against it, destroy its supply of bread, send famine against it, and cut off from it both man and beast, even though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job were in its midst, by their own righteousness they could only deliver themselves, declares the Lord God.”

This means that God is declaring Noah, Daniel and Job as mature winner believers.

Now, when Job was being tested by Satan, God would not say anything for the moment because Satan must be permitted to cross examine Job in the historical trial of the angelic conflict without interference from God. This is the silence of God where God cannot speak during the cross examination by Satan…..where Satan says such things to Job such as. If God loves you so much Job why did he give me, Satan, permission to kill your children as we are told in Job 1:12, Then the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power, only do not put forth your hand on him.”

Job 2:10, But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.

Then the biggest accusation that Satan has been making throughout human history is this: If the God you follow Job is suppose to be a God of love, how can a loving God cast His creatures into a lake of fire and brimstone? And of course the answer to this question is simple found in passages like Hab 1:13. The rules in the angelic conflict have already been given and Satan is following the rules, he is not taking Job’s life but he can do anything else he desires! And under the doctrine of the silence of God, God must remain silent and Job must handle this on his own with the doctrine resident in his own soul if Job truly desires to glorify God in the midst of the angelic conflict! In other words, it wasn’t time for the Lord to reveal His stamp of approval or His seal on Job’s life, at this time.

All undeserved suffering or suffering for blessing requires you to use the inventory of your doctrine…doctrine resident in your soul. Not someone else’s counsel! Not someone else’s encouragement! You must do it on your own from the resources of doctrine in your own soul. Right now Job is having a little trouble with the silence of God. He knows that he did nothing wrong to have this suffering. He knows that all of these disasters that came to him did not come because of any personal sin or divine discipline. There comes a time in the life of every believer when he must go it alone. You’re going to have that experience from time to time to see if the doctrine is there, alive, inside of you. Because God never lets you go it alone unless you’ve been exposed to the doctrine.

Gal 6:4-5, But let each one examine his own work, and then he will have reason for boasting in regard to himself alone, and not in regard to another. For each one shall bear his own load.

Do you realize that we live in the dispensation of the silence of God. We live in the dispensation called the Church-age. God does not speak personally and audibly like He did in other generations. We live at a time where our Lord’s commands and directions to Daniel were centered around two major principles:

1. Many of the prophecies were hidden even to Daniel.
2. These prophecies would be revealed by our Lord during the end times.

Dan 12:4-13, “But as for you, Daniel, conceal these words and seal up the book until the end of time; many will go back and forth, and knowledge will increase.” Then I, Daniel, looked and behold, two others were standing, one on this bank of the river, and the other on that bank of the river. And one said to the man dressed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, “How long will it be until the end of these wonders?” And I heard the man dressed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, as he raised his right hand and his left toward heaven, and swore by Him who lives forever that it would be for a time, times, and half a time; and as soon as they finish shattering the power of the holy people, all these events will be completed. As for me, I heard but could not understand; so I said, “My lord, what will be the outcome of these events?” And he said, “Go your way, Daniel, for these words are concealed and sealed up until the end time. “Many will be purged, purified and refined; but the wicked will act wickedly, and none of the wicked will understand, but those who have insight will understand. And from the time that the regular sacrifice is abolished, and the abomination of desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days. How blessed is he who keeps waiting and attains to the 1,335 days! But as for you, go your way to the end; then you will enter into rest and rise again for your allotted portion at the end of the age.”

The following link is to a good news message describing how one can receive eternal life:
Ticket to Heaven, it was written for anyone not absolutely certain about their eternal future.