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Wednesday, March 14, 2012

The Bible's most amazing prophecy

Daniel 9:20-22  20 Now while I was speaking and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the LORD my God in behalf of the holy mountain of my God, 21while I was still speaking in prayer, then the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision previously, came to me in my extreme weariness about the time of the evening offering. 22 He gave me instruction and talked with me and said, “O Daniel, I have now come forth to give you insight with understanding.


An 85 year old Prophet is visited by an Angel
The year was 538 b.c.  The man who had been deep in prayer on behalf of his people was Daniel, the prophet whom you may reocognize as the same Daniel who spent time in the Lion's Den.  The one called "the man Gabriel" was an angel, the same angel who would 538 years later appear to Mary and Joseph, announcing the coming and birth of Jesus the Messiah. (Luke 1:19,26)  Daniel the prophet was in his mid-eighties when he began receiving this latest prediction of events yet to come. 

The most detailed prophecy, the most broadly-sweeping prophecy and the most amazing prophecy
The Bible contains over 600 general prophecies and 333 prophecies about Jesus Christ.  Out of those 900 total prophecies, the 333 that speak about Jesus Christ deal with what He would come to do in His first and second comings.  Of those 333 prophecies, 109 were fufliflled by Christ at His first coming, and 224 have yet to be fulfilled at His second coming. Then of those prophecies, Daniel contains three of the finest examples of predictive prophecies we will find in the Old Testament. 

Daniel 2 is the vision of the great statue of Nebuchadnzzer's dream, wherein is contained the summary of all History stretching from Daniel's day up until our own.  That prophecy is the most broadly sweeping prophecy.

In Daniel 10-12 we see an intricately detailed prophecy that is virtually unparalleled in the detail it gives to events that were centuries removed from its utterance.  I term that prophecy the Bible's most-detailed prediction.  Now Daniel 9:24-27 takes the best features of both those prophecies and gives you both broad-sweep of time and incredible detail, making it the most amazing prophecy of the Bible.

Why is Daniel 9:24-27 the Bible's most amazing prophecy?
There are a number of reasons why this prophecy is most amazing:

1. The prophecy's scope In that prophecy we see prediction of the time leading up to both Christ's crucifixion and second coming.  Though there are many prophecies in the Bible that speak on both subjects, Daniel's does so in the shortest amount of time and in the most detailed manner. 

2. The prophecy's extensive use in the New Testament The New Testament makes reference to Daniel 9:23-27 in explaining the second coming of Jesus Christ.  Jesus uses Daniel 9:27 to explain end time events in Matthew 24:15.  The Apostle Paul uses Daniel 9:24-27 as the background for his material in 2 Thessalonians 2.  The entire section of Revelation 13-19 could be taken as an extended Divine commentary on this maginificent prophecy in Daniel.  

3. The prophecy's incredible accuracy Daniel 9:24-27 predicts down to the very day when Jesus Christ was going to ride into Jerusalem, as well as the very week He was going to be crucified. There are other key events that this prophecy predicts down to the very day. If anything, this one prophecy demonstrates the Divine origin and accuracy of God's Word.

4. The prophecy's encouraging message Daniel 9:24-27 points to how God is going to bring an end to the final human and satanic rebellion at the end of all time.  When read in concert with other texts such as Daniel 10-12; Matthew 24-25; 2 Thessalonians 2 and Revelation 13-19, we discover that God's glory revealed at Christ's second coming will crush the Evil rebellion by satan and his minions.  Truly God has and will have the final word.  Christ will reign and the Bible's words and message will be vindicated.