Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven,
whose sins are covered.
Blessed is the man whose sin
the LORD does not count against him ...
... I acknowledged my sin to you,
and did not cover up my iniquity.
I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD",
and You forgave the guilt of my sin.
Therefore, let everyone who is godly pray to You
while You may be found;
surely when the mighty waters rise,
they will not reach him.
(Psalm 32:1,2,5,6)
Please note that Daniel took these instructive words to heart. He demonstrated for us that:
The secret of the LORD is with those who fear Him;
He makes His covenant known to them.(Psalm 25:14)
And verified this promise:
Turn at my rebuke;
behold,
I will pour out My Spirit unto you,
I will make known My Words unto you.
(Proverb 1:23)
And Daniel's inspired prayer and answer, near the end of Jeremiah's prophesied 70 years of captivity in Babylon, concerning the coming of Messiah, reaches to our day, (Daniel 9:1-27; i.e., the whole chapter.)
Daniel was told, that AT THE END of this world's kingdoms, the very time that The God of Heaven sets up His Kingdom on earth, it would be an information generation, with the growth of knowledge being explosive; but also, it would be a time of great distress, (Daniel 12:4,1).
Since known unto God are all His works from the beginning of the world, to encourage His people, God informed Daniel and all who reverence His Word of Daniel 9:24-27 - via His angel Gabriel:
the precise date of the coming of Messiah,
(70 x 7 - 7 = 483 years from the command given a few years later by the Persian king Artaxerxes to Nehemiah, his trusted cup bearer, to go and rebuild the city and walls of Jerusalem),
that Messiah would at first be cutoff,
(i.e., rejected and killed),
that the rebuilt Jerusalem would later be destroyed,
(Rome destroyed Jerusalem under Titus in 70 A.D.)
and then with another rebuilt Jerusalem, a prince who would descend from the very peoples who destroyed the previous city and temple, that this deceitful prince would be BEHIND an astonishing (abominable/deceitful) "7 year" (giving land for) "peace" covenant with "RABin/MANY" that is instead intended for Israel's "SUDDEN destruction". (But Isaiah 12 gives wonderful insight into the results of the Lord's intervention on behalf of His people on that day.) And "in the middle" of the "7 years", the "sacrifice and gifts" (SPECIFIED BY THAT TREATY - thus, land for peace) would "CEASE/TAKE A REST"!
Daniel thus supplies us with several AND sufficient specifics so that WE MAY SEE for ourselves these prophesied events happening right before our very eyes ...
HAVE WE NOT IN FACT PASSED THE MIDDLE of a DECEITFUL "7 YEAR PEACE accord" with "RABin/MANY", that has "CEASED/taken a REST" for 20 months at "MID-POINT" ITS "SACRIFICE AND GIVING" of LAND FOR PEACE, that instead of true "PEACE AND SECURITY", appears to be a pact that will LEAD instead TO the "SUDDEN DESTRUCTION" of Israel, SOON, once all the land and military advantage that might be gained by "PEACE" has been realized?
Related articles and web sites
IN THE BEGINNING - ALL VERY GOOD
SCRIPTURE REFERENCES:
In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, which was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans; 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 seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem. And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes:
And I prayed unto the LORD my God, and made my confession, and said,
O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments; We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments: Neither have we hearkened unto thy servants the prophets, which spake in thy name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. O Lord, righteousness [belongeth] unto thee, but unto us confusion of faces, as at this day; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto all Israel, [that are] near, and [that are] far off, through all the countries whither thou hast driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against thee. O Lord, to us [belongeth] confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against thee. To the Lord our God [belong] mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against him; Neither have we obeyed the voice of the LORD our God, to walk in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets. Yea, all Israel have transgressed thy law, even by departing, that they might not obey thy voice; therefore the curse is poured upon us, and the oath that [is] written in the law of Moses the servant of God, because we have sinned against him. And he hath confirmed his words, which he spake against us, and against our judges that judged us, by bringing upon us a great evil: for under the whole heaven hath not been done as hath been done upon Jerusalem. As [it is] written in the law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us: yet made we not our prayer before the LORD our God, that we might turn from our iniquities, and understand thy truth. Therefore hath the LORD watched upon the evil, and brought it upon us: for the LORD our God [is] righteous in all his works which he doeth: for we obeyed not his voice. And now, O Lord our God, that hast brought thy people forth out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and hast gotten thee renown, as at this day; we have sinned, we have done wickedly. O Lord, according to all thy righteousness, I beseech thee, let thine anger and thy fury be turned away from thy city Jerusalem, thy holy mountain: because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and thy people [are become] a reproach to all [that are] about us. Now therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of thy servant, and his supplications, and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord's sake. O my God, incline thine ear, and hear; open thine eyes, and behold our desolations, and the city which is called by thy name: for we do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousnesses, but for thy great mercies. O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, hearken and do; defer not, for thine own sake, O my God: for thy city and thy people are called by thy name.
And whiles 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 for the holy mountain of my God; Yea, whiles I [was] speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation. And he informed [me], and talked with me, and said,
O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding. At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth, and I am come to shew [thee]; for thou [art] greatly beloved: therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision.
Seventy weeks [from the above context, "seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem", this clearly means 70 x 7 years] 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.
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 threescore and two weeks [totalling 69 x 7 = 483 years]: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.
And after threescore and two weeks [i.e. at the end of the 483 years from the "going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem"] shall Messiah be cut off [killed], but not for himself [i.e. NOT on account of His own sins, for He was sinless and was that "LAMB of GOD" who was to die for the sins of the world]: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof [shall be] with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
And he [i.e. the "prince that shall come" of the previous verse, who comes from the same people who destroyed Jerusalem and the temple in 70 AD (CE), i.e the Romans], shall confirm the covenant with many [Hebrew = "RAB"; note that RABin, who initially confirmed the "7 YEAR PEACE and SECURITY ACCORD" comes from the plural of RAB] for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation [gifts] to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make [it] desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate. (Daniel 9:1-27)
But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, [even] to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.
And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation [even] to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book. (Daniel 12:4,1).
Seventy weeks [from the general context, "seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem", this clearly means 70 x 7 years] 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.
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 threescore and two weeks [totalling 69 x 7 = 483 years]: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.
And after threescore and two weeks [i.e. at the end of the 483 years from the "going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem"] shall Messiah be cut off [killed], but not for himself [i.e. NOT on account of His own sins, for He was sinless and was that "LAMB of GOD" who was to die for the sins of the world]: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof [shall be] with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
And he [i.e. the "prince that shall come" of the previous verse, who comes from the same people who destroyed Jerusalem and the temple in 70 AD (CE), i.e the Romans], shall confirm the covenant with many [Hebrew = "RAB"; note that RABin, who signed the "7 YEAR PEACE and SECURITY ACCORD" comes from the plural of RAB] for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation [gifts] to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make [it] desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate. (Daniel 9:24-27)
For WHEN they shall SAY, PEACE AND SAFETY [SECURITY, PROSPERITY, CERTAINTY]; THEN SUDDEN DESTRUCTION cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. (1 Thessalonians 5:3)