Daniel 9 and Hebrews 9

“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 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: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.

And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for Himself: 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 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, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.” (Dan. 9:21-27).

Immediately upon Gabriel’s soliloquy to Daniel we notice that this vision is in reference to the preceding one in chapter 8, “the vision at the beginning…therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision.” (Vs. 21,23). The vision of chapter 8 and this one in chapter 9 are intimately intertwined. Even if the Hebrew word for “determined” does not mean that his new vision was to be cut off of the previous chapter 8 vision, Daniel and Gabriel both acknowledge that both visions are two parts of one whole.

William Miller may not have consciously seen this, but, I believe, subconsciously its truth led him to the true conclusion, albeit by an incorrect line of thinking. The word “determined” is a reference to the warnings from Isaiah. “For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return: the consumption decreed shall overflow with righteousness. For the Lord GOD of hosts shall make a consumption, even determined, in the midst of all the land.” “Now therefore be ye not mockers, lest your bands be made strong: for I have heard from the Lord GOD of hosts a consumption, even determined upon the whole earth.” (Isa. 10:22,23;28:22).

“Determined” is an accurate translation for the two Hebrew words charatz in Isaiah and chathak in Daniel, both meaning to decide, to decree, as in the Lord being infinitely resolved to bring the judgment against the descendents of Abraham. While His grace would abide upon Israel for the next eight centuries, His justice would eventually be dealt because, even following their Babylonian captivity, they would continue to look away from His grace to the self-satisfying religion of Satan. The consumption or “consummation” was decreed and inflexible, “even determined.” The rebellious hearts of the Jews incurable, the Lord must finally end their once honored place as His earthly representatives. Because of their unfixed overspreading of abominations “He shall make it [thy people, their city, and the sanctuary] desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.” (Dan. 9:27)

This woe was only a repeat of the one written in their books from the beginning, “I will destroy your high places, and cut down your images, and cast your carcases upon the carcases of your idols, and My soul shall abhor you.

And I will make your cities waste, and bring your sanctuaries unto desolation, and I will not smell the savour of your sweet odours.

And I will bring the land into desolation: and your enemies which dwell therein shall be astonished at it.

And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you: and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste.” (Lev. 26:30-33).

That special position before the Most High and His continued mercy upon them as a holy nation was all contingent on their loyalty to His covenant and law. It was all conditional. “And it shall come to pass, if ye diligently hearken unto Me, saith the LORD, to bring in no burden through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but hallow the Sabbath day, to do no work therein;

Then shall there enter into the gates of this city kings and princes sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they, and their princes, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: and this city shall remain for ever.

And they shall come from the cities of Judah, and from the places about Jerusalem, and from the land of Benjamin, and from the plain, and from the mountains, and from the south, bringing burnt offerings, and sacrifices, and meat offerings, and incense, and bringing sacrifices of praise, unto the house of the LORD.

But if ye will not hearken unto Me to hallow the Sabbath day, and not to bear a burden, even entering in at the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day; then will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched.” (Jer. 17:24-27).

After their release from Babylon a new spirit pervaded the returnees to the land of Israel. It seemed that their rebellion was cured. But once again, the Jews were warned through Zechariah’s vision of Joshua the high priest that their new blessings from heaven were conditional.

“And the angel of the LORD protested unto Joshua, saying,

Thus saith the LORD of hosts; If thou wilt walk in My ways, and if thou wilt keep My charge, then thou shalt also judge My house, and shalt also keep My courts, and I will give thee places to walk among these that stand by.

Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, thou, and thy fellows that sit before thee: for they are men wondered at: for, behold, I will bring forth My servant the BRANCH.” (Zech. 3:6-8).

“If...and if…then thou shalt also judge My house…” All conditional. Why not unreserved faith and grace for Israel? Because they had proven their course of evil and the Lord knew the seeds of the fallen human nature were not overcome through surender to His Spirit. “Jesus did not commit Himself unto them, because He knew all men, and needed not that any should testify of man: for He knew what was in man.” (Jn. 2:24,25).

But, He prefaced His warnings through Zechariah with encouragements, as He always does. It’s the combination of His grace and truth that makes the word of God so “quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword.” (Heb. 4:12). His co-mingling of truth and grace only comes from His heart of love and tender pity for sinners.

Would they continue to choose to distrust Him, or love Him with full trust and obey Him, and be ready for the coming of the Messiah? Their sacred history ended just as Gabriel predicted. After three and a half years of reaching out to the lost sheep of Israel, the Messiah pronounced upon them, “The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.” (Matt. 21:43). Not as individuals (Rom. 11:14), but, surely as a nation holding the office of preserver of divine truth, were they “cut off” from God and “cast away” (Rom. 11:22,2). They “fell” and most “were blinded.” (Vs. 12,7).

“For finding fault with them, He saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.” (Heb. 8:8).

Paul declares, “But I say, Did not Israel know? First Moses saith, I will provoke you to jealousy by them that are no people, and by a foolish nation I will anger you.

But Esaias is very bold, and saith, I was found of them that sought Me not; I was made manifest unto them that asked not after Me.

But to Israel He saith, All day long I have stretched forth My hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people.” (Rom. 10:19-21).

“Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace... and the rest were blinded.

And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.

What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it.” (Rom. 11:5-7).

“Even us, whom He hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?

As He saith also in Osee, I will call them My people, which were not My people; and her beloved, which was not beloved.

And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not My people; there shall they be called the children of the living God.

Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved:

For He will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth.

And as Esaias said before, Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodoma, and been made like unto Gomorrha.” (Rom. 9:24-29).

“The way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing.” (Heb. 9:8). Daniel did not even comprehend it in his chapter 8 vision; he did not connect the cleansing of the sanctuary and the coming of “Shiloh” (Gen. 49:10); neither did he connect it to the Branch that would come with the Spirit of the Lord to judge and reprove and “smite the earth with the rod of His mouth” (Isa. 11:1-5), or the Servant who would grow up before God as a tender plant and be wounded and bruised for our iniquities, upon whom would be cursed with the chastisement of our peace. (Isa. 53:2,5).

But, to Daniel’s ears were spelled out a 490 year probation for Israel and at its termination the most holy, the holiest of all,” “heaven itself” would be anointed. When Jesus “poured out His soul unto death” (Isa. 53:12), when He bore our iniquities, and God saw “the travail of His soul,” and was “satisfied” (Isa. 53:11) and He was “brought as a lamb to the slaughter” (Isa. 53:7), then is when the new testament or new covenant was “dedicated” with “blood.” (Heb. 9:18).

“But Christ being come an High Priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building;

Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.

For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh:

How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

And for this cause He is the Mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.” (Heb. 9:11-15).

By His death by God’s infinite wrath upon our sin, Christ inaugurated the work of ending Satan’s campaign of sin. This inauguration was typified in the dedication of the earthly temple, “when these things were thus ordained.” (Heb. 9:6). “Saying, This is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you.

Moreover he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry.

And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.

It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.” (Heb. 9:20-23).

Once ordained and that dedication was perpetuated daily and annually at the altar of sacrifice (Heb. 7:27;9:25) the work of making effective the earthly atonement could begin as the priest/high priest entered the holy place (Heb. 7:22,27). Finally, the ultimate atonement would end the whole process of permitting a holy God to dwell among sinners, as the whole tabernacle of the congregation and the people (Lev. 16:33) were fully cleared of all guilt and “sins that are past.” (Rom. 3:25). Not only was their sin gone, but so was the history of it.

Thus, we see that Paul was speaking of all three phases, that the sacrifice, the Holy Place ministry, and the Most Holy Place cleansing were that which signified the new and living way into the most holy. Once, at the end of the age, Messiah came and was cut off for the purpose of anointing the holiest of all [Greek ta hagia], or heaven itself, to make an end of sins and to bring in everlasting righteousness. Christ ascended and sat at the right hand of God until He should make a footstool out of all Christ’s enemies—sin, Satan and all of His earthly agencies from Babylon all the way down to the final “Man of sin”, the “Son of perdition”, “the Mystery of iniquity”, “that Wicked” which is the Roman Papacy; and finally He would destroy the last enemy, death itself. (1Cor. 15:25,26;2Thess. 2:3,7,8;Rev. 19:20;20:14,15).

There cannot be an atonement without a judgment, any more than God is not full of both grace and truth, mercy and justice. Both atonement and judgment must go together, both at the end and at the beginning, the cross. “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation.” (Heb. 9:27,28).

For in Him, “Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.…

Righteousness shall go before Him; and shall set us in the way of His steps.” (Ps. 85:10,13).