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Alright keep your place there in Matthew chapter 1, so we're gonna finish up Matthew chapter 1 this evening so last Week we went through Matthew chapter 1 of course This is the the story of the genealogy of Jesus And then I'm also the birth of Jesus, and you know the the angel coming to Joseph It's a great story in the Bible I want you to focus down on the what I want to do this this evening is I want to focus down on Really verse number 17 tonight, we're gonna preach through the rest of the chapter But we're gonna start out in verse number 17 and what I want to do to you tonight do for you tonight It's kind of finish up The book of Matthew, but in that I want to kind of show you some interesting things that are that are inside Especially verse number 17 if you read verse number 17 the Bible says this it says so all the generations from Abraham to David are 14 generations and from David until the carrying away unto Babylon are 14 generations and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are 14 generations so we see you know basically these 14 generation Periods that the Bible is telling us here and the first thing I want to say is basically from David Unto the carrying away to Babylon is about 420 some years So we see that a generation in that case is about you know, 30 years or so Okay, and then of course from Babylon until Christ is you know, five six hundred years So we have generations that are a little bit longer But the first point I want to make tonight when it comes to generations We talked last week about these missing kings in the genealogy of Jesus Christ and I want to point out that The generation so you say okay these generations of kings There was like 18 or 19 kings and some of them were deleted from the genealogy of Christ But basically I want to point out to you that a king the the reign of a king does not equal a generation Okay, because many of the kings in the Bible and many of you have probably heard me say this before but being a king of Israel especially or the lower kingdom of Judah was not necessarily the best career choice that you could have there was not There was some people some kings that rained for just a very short period of time some examples Abijah rained two years Aha, Aha Isaiah less than one year and then we have Zimri, you know a king of Israel who literally rained for seven days Okay, so being a king the reign of a king does not have any bearing on what a generation is as far as what? The Bible is talking about 14 generations 14 generations 14 generations Okay, so what I want to do this morning or this morning this evening There was this I worked with this Austrian guy and he would come into the morning meetings every single morning and he would say good evening You know and that Arnold Schwarzenegger Austrian he ruined me for the rest of my life, you know, so good evening this evening I want to talk about the 14 generations from Babylon to Christ's birth So we see that there's 14 generations from Abraham to David 14 from David to the carrying away of Babylon but I want to focus in and look at some details on the 14 generations from Babylon the the taking away the carrying away of Babylon to Christ's birth because there's very there's two very Important prophecies that happen during that time and that's what I want to look at There's some amazing things that happen there So most people think I'm going to give you some secular dates right now. Okay, and and I'm going to kind of preach against Secular dates and all that type of thing in in this evening sermon but basically most people agree that the Babylonian captivity of the lower kingdom of Judah happened around 609 BC and then the carrying away happened in three faith three major waves of Which Daniel if you remember Daniel was taken away in that first wave? Okay, so from about 609 to 586 or so BC is when that carrying away happened But it started the at first invasion happened in 609 BC or 610 BC somewhere around there Okay The Persian Empire then ended up as you know taking over the Babylonian Empire and most secular historians will tell you that this happened in 539 BC Okay So the point I want to make tonight first is that Daniel who is carried away in 610 609 somewhere around that time He actually the Bible chronicles him being underneath the Persian Empire as well. Okay, so we're talking about 60 70 years later is Daniel is still there. Okay. Daniel is still there and he's witnessing these things So Daniel saw first of all, Daniel saw some major fulfillment of prophecy in his time Okay, that's the first thing turn to Jeremiah chapter 25 So Daniel was this young man and he was taken away as To be a wise man He was the best of the princes of the royalty and things like that and he was taken away To be with the in the palace to be raised as a wise Counselor to the king. Okay. So Daniel you remember his three friends Shadrach Meshach and Abednego So Daniel was taken away in that first captivity He must have been very young maybe, you know, 10 to 15 years old We don't know but he was a young child at that time Okay He was old enough to already have some character and some some strong principles in his life Which made me think that he was probably in his teens at some point Okay But turn to Jeremiah chapter 25 and let's look at the first prophecy that I want to discuss tonight in Jeremiah chapter 25 in verse number 9 the Bible reads Behold I will send and take all the families of the North sayeth the Lord and Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon my servant and will bring them again against this land and against the inhabitants thereof and Against all these nations round about and will utterly destroy them and will make them astonishment and in hissing and perpetual desolations Moreover, I will take from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride the sound of the millstones and the light of the candle and this whole land shall be a desolation and astonishment and these nations shall Shall serve the king of Babylon 70 years turn over to Jeremiah chapter 29 So the Bible says that this Babylonian Empire is going to take over the lower kingdom of Judah and they're going to serve the Babylonian Empire for 70 years we see in Jeremiah chapter 25 in Jeremiah chapter 21 29 look at verse number 10 When the Bible says for thus saith the Lord that after 70 years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you and perform my good work my good word toward you in causing you to return to this place so Jeremiah 29 10 says that this captivity this Babylonian rule is going to last 70 years and then the Lord will return to them Okay, so Daniel we know in the Bible Daniel serves the you know, King Darius of Persia When this when this overthrow happens, so turn to Daniel chapter 9 So what I want to do to you do for you tonight is explain to you the prophecy not only of the 70-year captivity and how Daniel saw that fulfilled, but I also want to explain to you the prophecy of This period from the Babylonian captivity until Christ of Daniel 70 weeks Okay, because that is when this prophecy takes place Mainly is this time from the Babylonian captivity until the time of Christ? So if we go to Daniel chapter 9 and verse number 24 I'm going to read you these four verses now these four verses there is a lot That has been written about these four verses. Okay, and I'm going to show you What these four verses mean? I'm going to show you what I don't think they mean and then I'm going to show you what we should not do with these Verses in in my opinion. Okay now in Daniel chapter 9 look at verse number 24 Now my goal tonight is not to do math and predict anything Okay it's it's to show you what Daniel was was shown here in this vision as He was seeing the prophecy of Jeremiah being fulfilled before his very eyes Okay now Daniel chapter 9 look at verse number 24 the Bible says this 70 weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city to finish the transgression and to make an end of sins and to make reconciliation for iniquity and to bring in everlasting righteousness and to seal up the vision and Prophecy and to anoint the most holy now, of course the most holy is talking about the Christ the Messiah Okay, so he's talking about 70 weeks are determined to make the end of sins to make reconciliation for iniquity This is talking about you know, the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ the coming of the Messiah. Okay verse 25 Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the prince shall be seven weeks and Three score in two weeks The street shall be built again and the wall even in trouble as times and after three score in two weeks Shall Messiah be cut off but not for himself and the people of the prince that shall come to destroy the city and the sanctuary Referring to the temple. We'll get to that and the end thereof shall be with a flood and unto the end of the war Desolations are determined and he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week and in the midst of the week He shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease and for the overspreading of abominations He shall make it desolate even until the consummation that determined shall be poured upon the desolate and you think what in the world? Is that talking about right? So I just want to break this down for you I want to break this prophecy of Daniel 70 weeks down for you Okay, so we see that there's 70 weeks here But the thing that you need to understand is for some reason the Bible breaks it into three pieces The Bible breaks it into seven weeks 62 weeks and then one week at the end. Okay, so we see that there's seven weeks a 62 week period and then one week at the end now looking back on this that we know that the week is referring to Seven days or in each day refers to a year Okay, so if you look back at verse number 25, let's break down Let's look at the 69 weeks Which is broken into seven plus 62 in verse 25 The Bible says from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem So that's the beginning point Unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks and threescore and two weeks the street shall be built again and the wall even in trouble as times so we see there's kind of a Strange way of using language there where they put that the Messiah the Prince in the middle But we see that there's this seven week in the 62 week period so basically he's talking about the command to go forth and build is the beginning and Then to the city being restored is going to be seven weeks is what he's talking about Okay, now turn to John chapter 2. This is where it starts to get interesting So we see if it's seven weeks each day is a year seven weeks times seven days in a week We see that that would be 49 years. Is that time period that we're talking about here? Okay now turn to John chapter 2 in verse number 20 so we're saying that the command to go forth and build and To where the street will be built again and the wall even in trouble as times Appears to be about 49 years is what this prophecy is telling us So in John chapter 2 we see some evidence that this might be What it's talking about in John chapter 2 in verse number 20 now. Keep in mind Daniel didn't have John chapter 2 verse 20. I mean Daniel Daniel knew the book of Jeremiah and Daniel knew the prophecy Daniel knew the Bible. He was one of the wisest men in the kingdom He was not only Second in command in the Babylonian kingdom, but when the Persians took over he got to be second in command of that kingdom as well That's how wise Daniel was Daniel knew the scriptures. So Daniel knew the prophecy of Jeremiah So when Cyrus the king is we're gonna see decrees to send them back to Jerusalem to rebuild Daniels was seeing that prophecy happen before his very eyes Okay, but he did not have the book of John All right He did not have John chapter 20 or John chapter 2 and look at verse number 18 the Bible says this then answered the Jews and said unto him what signs show us thou unto us seeing that thou doest these things and Jesus answered and said unto them destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up Of course He's talking about his body in the Bible even tells us that here then said the Jews 40 and 6 years was this temple in building? And wilt thou rear it up in three days, but he spake at the temple of his body So here we see evidence that the Jews knew that this this is the second temple Okay, the this is the second temple. They knew that the temple itself took 46 years to build But you said it's 49 years. Well, look, it's not just the temple look at what else in in verse number 25 the Bible says to build Jerusalem and The street shall be built again and the wall Even in trouble as times that right there and I'm going to show you some of those stories I'm not going to go through every one of all the trouble that they had Rebuilding Jerusalem, but that's why it took 46 years Because it was trouble us for them to build these things. Okay, so we see that the temple itself Just from the Pharisees Jewish history that what the Jews knew about the second temple. It took 46 years to build Okay now Cyrus decrees to build the house Cyrus is the print the king of Persia when the Persian Empire takes over the Babylonian Empire and he immediately decrees To send them back send a wave of Jews back to build the house of God turn to Ezra chapter 1 He ends the Babylonian captivity He is the one that fulfilled the prophecy of Jeremiah 25 and Jeremiah 29 to Daniel Daniel saw it at that point right here in Ezra chapter 1 is where Daniel saw Jeremiah fulfilled look at Ezra chapter 1 in verse number 1 And Ezra chapter 1 in verse number 1 the Bible says now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia That the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia that he made a Proclamation throughout all his kingdom and put it also in writing saying that's important that he wrote it down by the way You'll see that thus sayeth Cyrus king of Persia The Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he hath charged me to build him and house at Jerusalem which is in Judah So he immediately decrees that he's gonna send some Jews back and they are going to build the house of God now Look at Matthew chapter 1 in verse number 12, and we're gonna see a man's name here who is key to this story Who's key to this story and This is the man who was sent back to build the temple So we see the first thing that happens is Cyrus ends the captivity and he sends them back to build the house of the Lord okay, look at Matthew 1 in verse number 12 and after they brought to Babylon Jeconias begat so we see this is after the captivity right after the captivity began after they were brought to Babylon Jeconias begat Solathial Solathial begot this man named Zerubbabel and Zerubbabel is the one who led the first way back to build the temple and here's another interesting thing That ends the captivity which was how long about 70 years How long was the generation 30 40 years or so and how many generations went by before Zerubbabel? popped up about two Maybe two and a half if he was 20 or 30 years old So we see that Zerubbabel fits perfectly into that puzzle of the man that would be talked about in Ezra to go back and build The temple, okay. So look at Ezra chapter 4 Let's look at some of these these Troublous times that they went they went through people opposed them when they got there people tried to stop them Look at Ezra chapter 4 So we have Zerubbabel And Zerubbabel is the is the beginning of Ezra if you read the first chapters of Ezra It's about Zerubbabel building the temple and the troubles that he went through I'm not gonna I don't have time to read through all that for you But it's a great read. It's a great story Look at Ezra 4 and verse number 1 now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the children of the captivity Builded the temple unto the Lord God of Israel basically skip down to verse 29, but basically these adversaries they came to them and they're like, hey, let us help you and Zerubbabel said no. He's like you're not going to help us. We're gonna do this ourselves You know your outsiders and in verse number 29, they turned on him and they started You know, basically writing letters to the king to try to stop this construction in verse 21 of chapter 4 It says give ye now commandment to cause these men to cease These are the ones trying to get the king to stop them and that this city may not be builded until another commandment shall be Given from me take heed now that you fail not to do this Why should damage grow to the hurt of the Kings now when the cop this is art of Xerxes letter that he writes back After these been convinced by these men now when the copy of King art of Xerxes letter was read before Rahab and Shimshai the scribe and their companions they went up in haste to Jerusalem unto the Jews and they made them cease by force and power They're like, here's your stop work order right here. They basically they didn't want the temple to be rebuilt So they wrote all these letters and they they decreed to King art of Xerxes and they said hey They're gonna turn against you and they're not gonna they're gonna build up their city again And this used to be a city of great kings and they convinced King art of Xerxes to stop the work Okay, so they ratted them out to the king basically and then art of Xerxes. Stop it stops it turn to Ezra chapter 6 Then we see King Darius later Restarts it and the way he restarts it is he says hey go check the books Says go check the the book. So they go and they dig through all the records and they actually find King Cyrus's words that he wrote down Okay, and then that turns everything look at Ezra 6 in verse number 1 And the Bible says then Darius the king made a decree and a search was made in the house of the rolls This isn't the house of the Lord. This is the house of where the Persians keep their records Okay, where the treasures were laid up in Babylon look down at verse number 7 Let the work and then he finds it he finds King Cyrus's decree and then he says in verse 7 let the work of this House of God alone, but the governor of the Jews and the elders of the Jews build this house of God in this place Moreover I make a decree that what you shall do to the elders of these Jews for the building of this house of God That the Kings goods even of the tribute beyond the river forthwith the expenses be given unto these men that they be not hindered He said even give them whatever they need pay for it look down to verse number 14 of Ezra chapter 6 and the elders of The Jews build it and they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Edo and they build it and finished it according to the command of the God of Israel and according to the command of Cyrus and Darius and art of Xerxes had changed his mind at this point King of Persia from Cyrus to Darius They had trouble Okay from Cyrus all the way to Darius now I'm not gonna I have a theory on what the order of these kings are I'm not gonna list that out now But basically you had you basically had Cyrus a king a king and then Darius Okay Now many of the Kings many of the confusion about the Kings and the orders of these kings is because many of these Kings his Names were Xerxes and art of Xerxes. They had the same name. There was there was three Darius's I believe At you know in the history of the Persian Empire There's Darius one Darius two and Darius three secular history will tell you this so they had all these different names So, you know, I believe that it went Cyrus ahasarius art of Xerxes Darius one is what makes the most sense to me because that matches the book of the Ezra story and these kings had different names other than just as as areas, right? Alright, so another thing that is is interesting is that Ezra is not here yet Ezra's not in town yet Okay, we just have the rubable at this point building the temple turn to Ezra chapter 7 and look at verse number 9 The temple was finished It said in in Ezra 6 14 it said and they finished it after Darius gave the order to restart they finished it Alright, so you can see that this construction project has gone on for a long time Okay. Now in Ezra chapter 7 look at verse number 9 And the Bible says this for upon the first day of the month began he to go up from Babylon and on the first day Of the fifth month came he to Jerusalem according to the good hand of his God upon him that is talking about Ezra when he comes into Jerusalem so Ezra comes when it's done He comes he's a priest. He's coming to enact, you know, the the sacrifices and to lead the people He's a priest now, there's this other man turned to Nehemiah chapter 2 just one book over There's this other man that comes later to build the wall of Jerusalem He comes to build this is your civil engineer he comes to build the wall and to reconstruct the the fortress or the the Fortify the city again and look at Nehemiah chapter 2 in verse number 1 and we hear the story about Nehemiah and Nia in the Bible says in verse Nehemiah 2 verse 1 It says and it came to pass in the month Nisan in the 20th year of Artaxerxes the king That wine was before him and I took up the wine This is a different Artaxerxes, by the way And I took up the wine and gave it unto the king and now there had not been before time I had not been before time sad in his presence. So he's in front of the king and he's sad Wherefore the king said unto me, why is thy countenance sad seeing that thou art not sick? This is nothing else but sorrow of heart Then I was very sore afraid and I said unto the king let the king live forever Why should not my countenance be sad when the city the place of my father's sepulchres? Lieth waste the gates thereof are consumed with fire then the king said unto me for what dost thou make request So I prayed to the God of heaven and I said unto the king if it pleased the king and if thy servant have found Favor in thy sight that thou would have sent me into Judah under the city of my father's sepulchres That I may build it and the king said unto me the Queen also sitting by him for how long shall thy journey be and When wilt thou return so it pleased the king to send me and I set him a time Moreover I said unto the king if it pleased the king let the letters be given to me the governor's beyond To the governor's be on the river that they may convey me over till I come into Judah and a letter unto Asaph the keeper of the king's forest that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the palace which Appertained to the house and for the wall of the city and for the house that I shall enter into and the king granted me According to the good hand of my God upon me So from the time that Zerubbabel came to build the temple to the finishing of the wall and the streets was 49 years Is what the Bible says now, I mean, we don't know now This is where you don't want to get into all this, you know direct, you know, what date to what date because basically Where God drew the line of 49 years around that construction project, that's what's right and That's what the prophecy is. Okay, so from Zerubbabel it went from Zerubbabel to Ezra to Nehemiah is the order that this went now Here's the thing about the 70 weeks of Daniel There's a time gap between this is why God cut it up into seven weeks 62 weeks and then one week at the end because it just doesn't go you can't just add up You know 69 times 7 and then basically it doesn't work to get you to Christ Okay, you're missing, you know, 50 60 years or however you want to do the math but basically there's a time gap between the time that the temple was built the city was finished that 49 years and then the 434 years of the 62 weeks up until Christ. Okay, so go back to Daniel chapter 9 And look at verse number 26 So now the seven weeks has passed The 49 years has passed and if we look at Daniel chapter 9 in verse number 26 The Bible says and after three score and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off but not for himself and the people of the prince that shall come to destroy the city in the sanctuary and the End thereof shall be with the flood and unto the end the war Desolations are determined and he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week and in the midst of the week He shall cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease and for the overspreading of abominations He shall make it desolate even unto the consummation and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate So this must this 62 week period must have started around 4400 ad if we're talking about getting up to 33 ad where Jesus is Crucified Daniel could not have seen this going forward. Okay, he's looking at this and he's just getting this prophecy He could not have seen this going forward. So the remaining 62 weeks Occur and then Jesus is crucified in 33 ad Okay, the Bible says Jesus was baptized when he was about 30 years old and then the Bible says, you know that he had About a three and a half year ministry that puts us at about 33 ad pretty much everyone, you know agrees with that and Looking back we can see this. Okay. So this is the end of the 69 weeks This is the end of the seven week period then we had a gap then we had the 62 weeks that we know are Ended at the death of Christ Okay, Messiah is cut off. That's what that means so we can see it looking back. But look God didn't want to give that forward vision It's the same reason doesn't give us this forward vision today so we can just calculate when the end of The world is going to be right and he didn't give that forward vision to Daniel either Okay, but he certainly gave him some things to look for He certainly gave people who are reading the book of Daniel things to look for So, I mean people would have claimed this if it was exactly to the year people would have claimed it in the Bible You would have read about it in the New Testament Okay, so we have a gap between the 60 between the seventh year and the eighth year basically So between that seven year period and that 62 year chunk But there's also a gap between the 69th and the 70th week Okay, now I'm going to explain that to you. Now. Look at back at Daniel chapter 9 and verse number 26 In the first part of verse number 26 it says now after three score in two weeks shall Messiah be cut off That's how we know that that 62 week period that's actually the 69th week 62 plus 7 that's already gone Messiah's cut off that's the death of Christ Okay, and we know that the people of the prince shall come to destroy the city and the sanctuary We know that that happened in 70 AD that's documented throughout history. Okay. Now here's what's really interesting We know that if that 69th week is done at Jesus's death There's a gap and then we know that in the midst of the week Should the sacrifice and oblation shall cease and that happens when the temples destroyed in 70 AD Here's what's really interesting the first Jewish-Roman war happened between 66 AD and 73 AD how many years is that? It's seven years That's the first Jewish-Roman war extremely documented throughout history throughout Jewish history throughout everything and in the midst of that at 70 AD is when the temple was destroyed in the midst of the week. Okay now look With that we could say that this prophecy of Daniel 70 weeks is done Right. I mean we could say that But and there's a lot of people that teach that by the way that teach that red that you know The Bible and all these prophecies are already fulfilled There's a lot of people that teach that the problem is is we have the New Testament That's the problem. The problem is the Bible. The problem is that we have this book called Revelation That we have this book called Matthew Mark Luke we have all these books in the Bible. So this is where this idea of dual prophecies comes in Okay, many of the prophecies in the Old Testament had an application to that time and also to future times And you're gonna see that here as you look turn to Luke chapter 21 I'll show you you say I don't even know what you're talking about. Just turn to Luke chapter 21 and I'll show you Luke chapter 21 So We see in 70 AD that the temple is destroyed let's focus on that for a minute and In the midst of that week We see the first the Jewish Roman Wars We see that there's a 70th week of Daniel that happened between 66 and 73 AD with this war Between the Jewish revolt and the Romans and the Romans finally just came in and they crushed the temple But look Daniel is not the only one that prophesied this Jesus prophesied it to look at Luke 21 in verse number one and the Bible says this it says and he looked up and saw the Rich men casting their gifts into the Treasury and he saw also a certain poor widow casting in Their two mites and he said of a truth I say unto you that this poor widow hath cast in more than they all For all these have of their abundance cast in under the offerings of God but she of her pernary hath cast in the living that she had and some spake of the and As some spake of the temple how it was adorned with goodly stones and gifts He said as for these things would she behold the days will come in In the which there shall not be left one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down. He just Prophesied that the temple would be completely destroyed. Okay, the book of Revelation shows us that not only this 70th week there will be another 70th week of Daniel that happens. It's a cycle that's happening there will be another seven year period where there will be an abomination of desolation that arises the abomination of Desolation turn to Revelation chapter 13. I'll show you that Revelation chapter 13 Revelation chapter 13 talks about this and The Bible says in Revelation 13 1 the Bible says and I stood upon the sand of the sea and I saw a beast rise up out of the sea having seven heads and ten horns and upon his horns ten crowns and upon his heads the name of blasphemy and the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard and his feet were as the feet of a bear and his mouth was at the mouth of a lion and the dragon gave him his power and his seat and great authority and I saw one of his heads that were wounded to death and his deadly wound was healed and all the world wondered after the beast and they worshiped the dragon which gave power unto the beast and the mate and They worshiped the beast saying who is like unto the beast who is able to make war with him who is able to make war With him and there was given to him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies and power was given unto him to continue 42 months now turn to Revelation chapter 11 and let's look at the last half of this So we see that this beast this Abomination of desolation is gonna is gonna have power for three and a half years. That's 42 months in Revelation chapter 11 verse 3 we see the witnesses that God sends You know after this happens during the time of God's wrath and I will give power unto my two witnesses that they shall prophesy a thousand 203 score days clothed in sack loss and basically, you know, three point four or five years three and a half years So you put those two things together, you know The time that the beast reigns and then God's wrath and you have your Daniel 70th week right there in Revelation There's it's another 70th week coming folks. You say that's not enough Well, how do we know these things because the things in Revelation have not been fulfilled? That's why I mean has Christ come in the clouds. I Mean did we miss that? I Mean, I don't pay a much as much attention to the news as I used to but did I miss the locusts coming out of hell? You know stinging men for five months Did I miss that with the with the hair like women and the the scorpion tails and the armor like war horses? I mean did I miss that? I Mean, there's a lot of things did I miss the star falling from from heaven and poisoning a third of the the water on earth? Did I somehow miss that there's a lot of things that have to happen yet? That's how we know that there's another 70th week the mark of the beast where everyone's forced to take the mark of the beast to buy or sell and We know everyone will be fooled except Christians except saved people Where they will just be beheaded. I mean did I miss that did that happen 10 years ago? And I missed it because I was living in North Dakota. I mean I was isolated, but I think I would have noticed that Right. So look we are looking forward Just like Daniel was looking forward So the Daniel 70 70 weeks is this there was seven weeks of the building of the temple after the great Prophecy of Jeremiah of the 70 year captivity was fulfilled We have seven weeks where we rebuilt the city and the temple For 49 years the Pharisees themselves said in the New Testament that it took 46 years to build just the temple. I mean Nehemiah give him so give him a couple of years. I mean they took 46 years to build the house of God You know, he did he did pretty well And I don't know if it was exactly in line But you see my point then we have a gap where we have this four hundred and thirty four year period To the Messiah, which is the 62 weeks then we have another gap where we see that there's a there's a 70th week model with the Romans destroying the temple in 70 AD and the seven-year war and The temple being destroyed right in the center. I mean, that's not an accident folks We can look back on these things and clearly see That that prophecy of Christ and that prophecy of Daniel was clearly fulfilled. It's great to look back on it, right? I mean Look just think about how exciting it must have been for Daniel to like see a prophecy like Fulfilled right before his eyes in his lifetime, right? So that's Daniel 70th 70 weeks. That's the prophecy of that There's a 70th week coming. So the 70th week. We're in that gap right now We're in that gap between the 69th week and the real Abomination of desolation Coming to start that last seven-year period that's where we are right now. Okay, and look There's some things that we will notice That will tell us that that week is starting. I mean, thank God that's the point of the Bible telling us these things Okay. Well, I'll get back to that in a minute But let's finish through Matthew chapter 1 and then I'll come back with some parting thoughts on On these prophecies and how we should look at these prophecies look at Matthew chapter 1 in verse number 18 Where the Bible says this it says now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise When as his mother was espoused to Joseph before they came together She was found with child of the Holy Ghost Then Joseph her husband being a just man and not willing to make her a public example Was minded to put her away privately. So there's two things in verse number 19. I want you to see number one Joseph was a just man That means that he was gonna do what was right The Bible says he would do what was right, but he was gonna put her away which means divorce her Okay, he was going to put her away and that was going to be the just thing to do you say why that doesn't sound Right. He was espoused to her that was the same as being married. So basically there is no there is no American cultural Equivalent to a spousal and then basically it was they had not consummated the marriage yet is what happened is what that was You're espoused you were married you were considered married, but there was no consummation of that marriage yet and if You know there was turn to Matthew chapter 19. We'll see. Let's see what the Bible says So he was a just man and he was going to divorce her, but he was gonna do it privately He wasn't gonna make a public example of her. Okay, so Look at Matthew chapter 19 Let's see if there's a reason in the Bible for putting away your wife or divorcing and in Matthew chapter 19 verse number 9 And we're not gonna spend a ton of time on this There's a lot of Bible on this but it we get to the point right here The Bible says and I say unto you whosoever shall put away his wife except it be for what? Fornication does that say adultery No, it says fornication meaning in the Old Testament if she was found to be on Not pure not a virgin when she was married during that espousal period or before the marriage was consummated Usually is how this is understood, but look that is the reason given for putting away your wife or divorcing your wife Okay now We talked about a spousal versus marriage. It doesn't apply in our culture. There's no espousal There's these stupid engagements that last for like 10 years here. That's not an espousal. You're not married when you're engaged here Okay, you're not legally married now if you have an NIV Keep your place in chapter Matthew chapter 19 look at verse number 9 in your NIV and let's see if having a King James Bible matters Look at Matthew chapter 9 verse number Matthew chapter 19 in verse number 9. I'm just gonna read it for you I know nobody has an NIV here I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife except for sexual immorality and marries another woman commits adultery So now we've changed fornication, which is a very specific Sin, it is a it is a fornication is defined as someone who has sexual relations with someone Physical relations with someone that they are outside of marriage. They're outside of marriage. They're both outside of marriage. They're fornicating Okay, they are not married to each other. Okay now that says sexual immorality now look Jesus said any man who looks upon a woman and What to lust after her commits adultery with her in his heart that is sexual immorality Jesus defines that that's sexual immorality So if you go to the grocery store and look too long at the magazine rack, which you shouldn't do But that is not a reason for divorce. You see what I'm saying? Sexual immorality is a whole big picture of sins where fornication is a very specific sin and It is very specific to the type of marriage arrangements that they head here Okay. Now it gets even worse if you have a New American Standard Bible That Bible says this in verse number nine. I say unto you who whosoever Divorces his wife except for immorality I mean and marries another woman commits adultery and you say, you know, it doesn't matter But do you think that there's a coincidence that like 50 to 75 percent of Divorces today or of marriages today end in divorce. And also nobody has a King James Bible in their home Do you think that that's a coincidence if you do you're crazy because How many people I mean, I'm sure you all know divorce people How many people do you know that are divorced who would talk about their their ex like they're a moral person? You want to talk about that there's two sides to every story find somebody who's been divorced You'll find plenty of blame on both sides by the way, so don't get sucked into those kinds of arguments But second of all, we're all immoral So, I guess we can all just get divorced according to the Bible That's what these that's why the King James Bible is so important. I mean you could literally end up ending your marriage If you do not have the right Bible, I Mean if you don't have the truth in front of you, I Mean, there's a lot of outs in these fake Bibles if you don't want to stay married So it matters folks it matters God hates divorce You have any of these Bibles or you know anybody that has these Bibles and they're saved and have them thrown away They're not all look. They're not only wrong They're not only written by people who are burning in hell right now But I mean, they're dangerous They're literally dangerous. They're literally destroying families and marriages All right, Matthew chapter 1 in verse number 20 Well, all he thought on these things behold the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream saying Joseph thou son of David Fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife and which for that which is conceived in her as of the Holy Ghost So it explains it God explains it to him and he shall bring forth a son and shall call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins Now all this was done that it might be fulfilled which spoken of the Lord by the prophets saying behold a virgin shall be with Child and shall bring forth a son and they shall call his name Emmanuel which being interpreted is God with us Jesus was God right there it is. Okay You know just like Isaiah 9 6 front to us a child is born unto us The son is given and unto the government shall be upon the government shall be upon his shoulders His name shall be wonderful counselor the mighty God The everlasting father the Prince of Peace I'm not going to go through all the different verses in the Bible that prove that Jesus was God, but these are just a couple Okay Matthew chapter 1 verse 24 Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him and took unto him his wife and knew her Not until she had brought forth her firstborn son knew her not was the same You know, that's the same language that the Bible uses talking about with Adam and his wife, you know Meaning that he did not have that physical relationship with her tell she brought home brought forth her firstborn son and he called his name Jesus Okay, but you see how it says in verse 25. He knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son Look turn to Matthew 13. We'll end Matthew chapter 1 right here The Bible clearly teaches that after Jesus was born That Mary and Joseph had a normal relationship They had been a normal husband-and-wife relationship. Look at Matthew 13 in verse number 55 Where the where the the folk the people said this when Jesus was preaching they said is this not the carpenter's son? This is is not his mother called Mary and his brethren James and Joseph and Simon and Judas and his sisters Are they not all with us? Once have this man all say all when said whence then has this math all man All these things look Jesus had many brothers and sisters probably way more than then then these right here Okay Joseph and Mary had a normal relationship this idea that Mary, you know remained a virgin her whole life And I mean, it's just made up. I mean, it's it's it's not anywhere in the Bible Okay, so that's Matthew chapter 1 but let me just make some applications since we talked a lot about Prophecy tonight and even a little bit last week turn to Mark chapter 13 You say what's that? What's the purpose of all the these this prophecy? This these cryptic things these these things that we look at we're not really sure what they mean, you know Say what is the purpose of this turn to Mark chapter 13? Let me tell you what it's not for It's not for us to Infer all sorts of things and conjure in the end times in our own mind That's not what it's for. Okay, what it's for is Look at look down at mark 13 in verse number 37. First of all, it's a warning It's a warning the prophets of the Old Testament They were prophesying things of the future But the main thing you want to talk about dual prophecy The main thing that they were doing was they were warning people they were warning the nation of Israel They were warning the nation of Judah. If you don't turn it around God's gonna destroy this place God's gonna come in here and he's gonna bring this place down You're gonna be brought into captivity Look at mark 13 verse 37 This is after Jesus was just talking to them about end times and then he says them at the very end And he says and what I say unto you I say unto all watch He's saying watch he's saying the purpose of Bible prophecy is to just watch for these things Watch for these things happening turn to Daniel chapter 12 in verse number 4 Let me give you some examples of watching of things that we should watch for. I Mean, there's lots of things to watch for today. There's lots of things look at Daniel chapter 12 in verse number 4 This is one of my favorite things that I think we should be watching for right now Daniel chapter 12 in verse number 4 the Bible says but thou O Daniel shut up the words and seal the book Even to the time of the end So he's talking about the time of the end and he says what's that? What's gonna happen then many shall run to and fro and knowledge shall be greatly increased Look, that's something to watch for are we not seeing knowledge greatly increased? I'm not talking about wisdom I'm talking about knowledge Has there ever been a time in in human history where the average person has had more access to? Information of all kinds than there is today. I mean if that's not what this is talking about There must be some big explosion of knowledge coming that I'm not aware of But this I mean these are things to watch for like hey the internet I can now have access at my fingertips to any book ever written That's a great increase of knowledge I mean these are things to watch for you know He'll make a covenant with many for one week the Antichrist coming on this on the scene to start this 70th week The abomination of desolation look in 168 BC. There was a man to called Antichrist epiphanies that actually Desolated the temple in Jerusalem and he set up Like a like a statue of Zeus so I mean these things have happened on smaller scales already, but there's going to be a big major 70th week coming and we're to just watch look at Matthew 24 look at verse number 14 So you say well, maybe that was the abomination of desolation maybe it's over with maybe it's done But we know that it's not because there's things that still need to happen Look at Matthew 24 in verse number 14 and the Bible says this it says in the gospel of the kingdom Shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations and then shall the end come So this is a this is a big one to watch for right here now look had the gospel in 168 AD been preached throughout all the world I Mean Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492, right? And you say Columbus didn't discover America well who cares my point is the same that The gospel had not been preached across the whole world and Columbus was Catholic Anyway, he wasn't preaching any kind of gospel to anybody All right So look the Bible says that the gospel when the end comes the gospel will be preached throughout the whole world now Could you say that today? maybe Maybe maybe it hasn't been done good enough, but you could kind of make that claim today right, so if we saw somebody, you know rebuild a temple today and Stand up and you know desolate the temple and and declare himself to be God I mean that is gonna be something to watch for Okay, because look these things that Jesus talked about, you know, the gospel has kind of gone throughout the world at this point All right. Look we're gonna do a better job of it. Don't get me wrong, but There's things to watch for we should be watching for these things, right? Look, I mean you could take any one of these things and you could start look I could start a cult I could be like look knowledge show greatly increased man when this when the silicon transistor was invented in 1950 That was the start of that and the world's gonna end and you know 62 years or whatever but guess what? When we when we read about when we studied the Millerites when we studied the Seventh-day Adventist, that's exactly what they did they just took one of these stupid things and And they made I mean they took one prophecy they made up stupid things and It had like some piece of Bible in it and they formed a cult and they got all kinds of people to follow them But guess what? They ended up being wrong again and again and again So that's what we don't want to do We don't want to take you know, some prophecy and just run like a crazy person with it, but we want to watch Like Jesus said watch Look I mean the Jehovah's Witnesses That's what that's what they did And I mean, that's why when we did the American heresy series. My favorite part of that whole series was just going through all the false predictions of those people and you're just like how in the world Deuteronomy tells you that you'll know a false prophet if they prophesize something and it doesn't come true and these people had Dozens and dozens of false prophecies the world's gonna end this year. Nope next year Nope, the next year. Nope the next year. No ten years from now. No, you got to build me a mansion first Build me a mansion and then I'm gonna live in it and then David's gonna come back and I'll give him the keys when he gets here then all He didn't come back, but I still have to stay in the mansion This is real people did this and they did use him just twisting Bible prophecies So you got to be careful with this stuff. Look we look through a glass darkly Just like Daniel when he was given the 70 week prophecy. He looked forward through a glass darkly turn to 1st Corinthians 13 At the at the 70 year prophecy he looked back on that and he's like man look at that came true Because he had the book of Jeremiah and he looked back on it. He's like wow God is amazing. He brought that true right before my very eyes in my lifetime in my In my neighborhood, he brought that true. He brought that home. Look at 1st Corinthians 13. Look at verse number 9 But as far as the 70 weeks Daniel did he didn't know what that meant You know, he's looking forward just like we're looking forward today These things aren't supposed to be clear looking forward But we're supposed to watch and in 1st Corinthians 13 the Bible says in verse number 9 for we know in part And we prophesy in part But when that which is perfect has come then that which is in part shall be done away When I was a child, I spake as a child. I understood as a child I thought as a child, but when I became a man, I put away childish things for now we see through a glass darkly But then face to face now, I know in part but then shall I know even as also I am known So as Bible believing saved Christians when we're reading the Bible We know look when these things start unfolding and these things start happening when we see that hey There's technology now to actually create something that could be put in your hand or in your forehead and they could Store all your information so you could buy and sell with it. We notice those things But you know, we don't run with it and say okay. That means that that Jesus is coming back in 37 years from Tuesday People do that and that's not what we're supposed to do. We're supposed to watch Okay. I mean what my my personal opinion is that you know The end times with the one the one world government and all these nations have to give I mean we see a lot of things That are possible today. We see a lot of things happening in the in the Middle East We see a lot of things happening with technology with knowledge increasing with people traveling to and fro all across the world that we see that pestilences and Famines and look locust swarms are eating up parts of Africa These things are gonna get worse and worse and worse We can notice these things but I don't see every nation giving up their sovereignty next month And starting, you know a one-world government the UN is basically a toothless organization at this point basically now There could there could be a huge war Nuclear war of some kind that could change all this in a month. Who knows? I Don't have any idea but my point I'm trying to make is that we are supposed to be knowledgeable About the prophecies that God's given us and we are supposed to watch And I mean that's for our personal You know so we can know what's happening But basically it should also motivate us to just like the prophets of the Old Testament. What were they doing? When they were in Israel and we were in they were in Judah They were not they were watching but they were saying look you guys better get right right now Because it's coming So when we watch and we see these things it should warn us to hate just just cry aloud and spare not And and preach the gospel harder to a lost and dying world because it's not going to go on forever and it's it's we know just from Romans chapter 1 and from just the nature of God that even on a personal individual level that it's Just people just don't have as many chances as they want to get saved. It just doesn't work that way That's not what the Bible says. So we're to watch and we're to warn people That's why we are you know kings and priests It's that that's what prophecies for for us it should motivate us and It should it should it should keep us aware of what's happening Okay, so there's Matthew chapter 1 and I know that was a huge rabbit trail But it was a it was it was a good opportunity to look at Daniel 70 weeks and kind of explain That prophecy so Matthew chapter 1 we get into chapter 2 next week. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for this book in the Bible. We thank you for this wonderful Record-keeping and these prophecies that you've given us in the Bible and how it all just fits together perfectly Lord We ask that, you know, you just help us to understand the Bible Lord when we read these things and help us to you know, just clearly see what you're you're showing us and We just thank you for the perfect Word of God or we thank you for the King James Bible. We love you In Jesus name we pray. Amen You