The Hebrew Scriptures tell us much about who the Messiah would be and what He would do. The prophet Daniel also foretold, with amazing specificity, when the Messiah would come. In just a few verses, he laid out God’s plan for Israel, including their return from exile, the rebuilding of Jerusalem, and the Messiah’s death. In this episode, we discuss Daniel 9:24–27 with Dr. Michael Rydelnik, professor of Jewish studies at Moody Bible Institute, host of Open Line radio show, and editor of The Moody Handbook of Messianic Prophecy.

(bright music)

- Welcome to "Our Hope", a production

of Chosen People Ministries.

On this podcast, you will hear inspiring testimonies,

learn about Messianic apologetics and discover God's plan

for Israel and you.

Wherever you're listening, we hope you lean in,

listen closely and be blessed.

(calm music)

Throughout Jewish history, several people have claimed

to be the Messiah.

How do we know who the true Messiah is?

In this season, we have looked at prophecies which talk

about what the Messiah will do, but what if the Bible

also told us when to expect him?

Today we are going to discuss

one of the most specific prophecies

in the Bible, Daniel 9:24-27.

Amazingly, the prophet Daniel casts a vision

of God's plan for Israel that spans several centuries.

In just a few verses, we catch glimpses

of Israel's return from exile, the Messiah's death,

the temples destruction and the end times.

There is so much we could talk about, but we will focus

on what this passage has to do with the Messiah.

Thankfully, we are joined by an expert guest,

Dr. Michael Rydelnik.

He is the Professor of Jewish Studies

at Moody Bible Institute,

Host of the "Open Line" radio program and Editor

of the "Moody Handbook of Messianic Prophecy."

I now introduce the host of "Our Hope" podcast, Abe Vazquez.

(calm music)

- Well, everyone, welcome back

to another week of "Our Hope".

I'm Abe Vazquez.

I am so excited about today's episode, but first,

I do wanna wish everyone who's listening,

if you celebrate Christmas, Merry Christmas to you.

I hope you had a wonderful time with your family.

And the holidays are just really wonderful.

Unfortunately, the coronavirus has really made things tough,

especially the last two years,

and I know that it's made some people hesitant

to maybe want be with family, but for those

who are able to be with family,

I know it's just a wonderful time and I know

I am just grateful for God's blessings

throughout this holiday season.

But today's episode, I'm really excited

because really, the whole season has been inspired

by this guest.

This is Dr. Michael Rydelnik and he wrote a book

called "The Moody Handbook of Messianic Prophecy".

And he really dives into Messianic prophecies,

and if you don't have this book, we highly recommend it.

You can find it on Amazon, you can find it

on our online store at store.chosenpeople.com

and just get your hands on this book

and you will be blown away.

But I just want to introduce Dr. Mike Rydelnik.

Thank you so much for being on "Our Hope".

- Oh, it's my pleasure, thank you for having me.

And I just want to say I didn't write the book, I edited it.

I contributed about nine articles in it,

but a lot of wonderful scholars

from all across the world actually contributed,

and even some staff from Chosen People Ministries.

And so I just really commend

all those wonderful contributors, they've done

a great job and I love the book,

I use it all the time I myself, so.

(Abe and Nicole laugh)

- That is awesome.

Thank you so much.

And so every guest that we have on,

we ask a really, really tough question,

probably the hardest question we'll ask,

and that question is, what is your favorite food?

- Oh, my favorite food?

Well, I'm in Chicago, but I'm born in the holy land,

I was born in the holy land of Brooklyn, New York.

And so even though there's lots of great food

here in Chicago, I'm a true New Yorker at heart,

and there's not just one food, I love New York bagels,

New York pizza. - Yes.

- And a pastrami sandwich from a good kosher deli

or kosher-style deli like like Cassis in New York.

- Oh, yeah.

- I was nervous you were gonna say deep dish pizza.

(Abe laughs)

- No, no.

I can tolerate deep dish pizza, but it's not pizza,

it's sort of pizza quiche or something,

I don't wanna (indistinct).

- To all of those who are listening in Chicago,

we apologize, but we're all from New York here,

so it's a little bias.

(Abe laughs)

Well, thank you so much for joining us.

And we're really excited to jump in.

Before we get into the actual Messianic prophecy

we're discussing today, I'm just curious,

what book of the Bible

have you personally been studying recently?

- Oh, I just finished Zechariah,

and it's the second most Messianic book

in the Old Testament.

The first is Isaiah, but Zechariah is deeply Messianic,

and I liked it so much.

I was studying it with my wife,

we were working through it together, my wife, Eva,

and I actually called a friend of mine who is a pastor

of a fairly large church here.

I know they have a Bible Institute

kind of Bible study during the week, and I called him up

and I said, I'm so excited about this.

Is there any way I can teach Zechariah to your congregation?

It was just a great book to look at.

We just finished that,

now we're about halfway through Matthew.

- Wow, that's awesome.

- And Dr. Rydelnik, we know that the pandemic

has been dragging for the past couple years,

so what have you been up to and how has it impacted

your teaching and your ministry?

- Well, I didn't teach for about a year publicly.

I was on Zoom.

- Yeah.

- I taught my classes at school on Zoom,

I kept doing stuff on radio, but we set up a studio

here at my home and it didn't sound like I was at home.

- Yeah. - Yeah.

- But we used a kind of a internet protocol to do that.

So I did a lot of teaching that way.

And that first year, there were some challenges

that my family was facing at the same time,

so my wife and I, we watched a lot of old movies,

and I read really like the old classic ones,

with Bob Hope and with Danny Kaye and Ginger Rogers,

Fred Astaire, people like that, Jimmy Stewart,

we watched movies like that.

And then I also did a lot of books, I read books

and listened to books on audio and I really made sure to...

I listened to "The Lord of the Rings".

- Oh. - That's unique, very cool.

Yeah.

- And I read "Narnia" again.

- Yeah.

- Actually, it was more rereading, although I did read

some new books too, but I use the time to find books

that I love and found real joy in.

- Yeah.

- And so those were the books I listened to.

- As painful as the pandemic has been,

it was sort of a forced sabbatical.

- Yes, oh, yeah.

- We were all forced to kind of just figure out,

okay, now we can't do the things we're used to,

the things that keep us busy, how do we fill in that time?

So people learned to cook, people learned different things.

- Yeah, there was a big church here in the Chicago area

that was without a pastor, and the week when my wife and I

were first vaccinated, after a few weeks,

I became the interim preacher, speaker at this congregation,

and I did that for six months until they called the pastor.

- Wow.

- And it was kinda fun, I was little scared.

After all the speaking I'd ever done, I thought,

I haven't done this in a year and I was all nervous

about starting, but it was it was really a joy to me,

it was a community that loves God's Word

and I was able to teach the Book of Ruth

and the Book of Ephesians, and it was a delight

for me to be back teaching.

- Yeah.

- Not just at school, which I was back at school already,

but also to teach, like I always tell my students,

I love teaching you but I like teaching normal people too.

So, yeah.

- So, let's dive in.

I wanna make sure we have plenty of time

to talk about this Messianic prophecy.

We're gonna focus on Daniel 9:24-27,

and kind of like how you listened

to "The Lord of the Rings.", I think it's a good practice

to hear the Word of God, and so we'd love for Nicole

to read this prophecy out loud.

Nicole, if you would.

- Okay.

So this is Daniel 9:24-27.

"70 weeks have been decreed to your people

in your holy city to finish the transgression,

to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity,

to bring an everlasting righteousness,

to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint

the most holy place.

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 and 62 weeks.

It will be built again with plaza and moat,

even in times of distress.

Then after the 62 weeks, the Messiah will be cut off

and have nothing and the people of the prince

who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary.

And its end will come with a flood.

Even to the end, there will be war,

desolations are determined, and he will make

a firm covenant with the many for one week,

but in the middle of the week, he will put a stop

to sacrifice and green offering

and on the wing of abominations,

will come one who makes desolate,

even until a complete destruction.

One that is decreed, is poured out

on the one who makes desolate."

Wow.

- Thank you, Nicole. - Yeah.

- Intense, a lot in there.

- A lot of math too.

- You're right.

So context is key, right?

So who was Daniel, and where and when did he live?

- Daniel was a biblical prophet.

He was probably born around 620 BC,

because he was a teenager, I always guess,

if he became to Babylon,

he was taken as an exile and 605 BC,

if he was around 15, he was probably born about 620 BC.

When he has this prophecy,

we're talking at somewhere much later.

He's an old man at this point.

He's looking at the book of Jeremiah, it says,

"And he realizes the 70 years of the desolation

of Jerusalem were complete.",

meaning that the Babylonian captivity had started

and it was 70 years, and if he takes 605

as his date somewhere, it was right around,

I would say, or a little bit before then, I would say

that he was looking at around 539 BC

when he gave this prophecy.

- Yeah.

- Or when he received this vision, I guess, I would say.

And so we're looking that Daniel was probably

an old man by now if he was born in 620,

he was about 80-years-old. - Wow.

- And he receives this vision

because he's longing for Israel

to be released from captivity.

And that's really important as a context

for this passage, because the reason Israel

went into captivity was over 70 sevens,

a period of seven years, 70 times over,

they missed the sabbatical year.

And so God decreed that they would go into captivity

for 70 years to make up for those every seventh year

that they failed to carry out

the sabbatical rest of the land.

- Wow.

- So that's the context, and Daniel is asking,

"Okay, release us now that we've paid the fine.

We've been in captivity for 70 years,

and the land has rested for 70 years."

And the angel comes and says,

"No, no, I'm not gonna talk to you

about the past 70 times seven years, I'm going to talk

to you about the future, a period of 70 times seven years."

- Wow, so this is a very complex prophecy.

We were looking at the chapter.

- You noticed?

(panelist laugh)

- Not a simple straightforward one like our other ones,

but we were looking at the chapter

in the "Moody Handbook of Messianic Prophecy"

and Kevin Zuber

contributed to this chapter and he wrote,

"It would be difficult to exaggerate the significance

of this prophecy.

Many would argue that this is the key text

both for understanding the person and work of the Messiah,

and also for comprehending the Lord's

whole unfolding program for his chosen nation, Israel."

So why exactly is this specific prophecy

in Daniel 9 so important?

What exactly does it reveal to us?

- Yeah, I want to talk about that.

I do want to say first of all, even though it is complex,

as you say, there's a couple of reasons

people think it's complex, but one of the most

is it involves numbers and we're not so good at arithmetic,

and so I just have a comfort for everyone,

the calculator has been invented,

it's on most people's iPhone.

- Millennials know it well.

- Oh, yes, oh, yes. - Yeah.

And so we can figure it out, and if you get the keys down

of what this prophecy is about, it kinda opens up,

it unlocks the door and we can understand it.

This is so important because it reveals

precisely when the Messiah would be revealed to Israel.

It reveals what the Messiah would do

that he would be cut off and the context tells us

it's for sin.

And then it also reveals what the last hour period of time

is before the return of the Messiah,

what the 70th week of Daniel, or what some people

have called the tribulation period of the future.

So it's very significant

about the both the first and second coming of the Messiah.

- So let's dig into what is defined as a week.

So how long is a week?

Is it literally seven days?

And what exactly is supposed to happen

during these 70 weeks?

- Yeah, well, the word week,

sometimes it's not a great translation.

It can mean a week, but it could also be translated,

I think the NIV translates at 70 sevens.

It's sort of like the word dozens.

- Got it.

- I could send you to the store and say, buy a dozen,

and if I don't tell you a dozen of what,

you'll all come back with different things.

Probably in New Yorker you'll come back

with a dozen bagels, here in the Midwest,

someone would come back with a dozen donuts or a dozen eggs,

just the context tells us what it is.

- Yeah.

- And in this context, it's talking, as I said,

Daniel's thinking about the 70 times seven

years of missing the sabbatical year,

and for that reason, Israel is in captivity for 70 years,

to restore the land for those 70 years,

to make up for the past.

And now the other clue in the context

that tells us he's talking about years

is in the very next paragraph after this prophecy,

it says that Daniel, in Daniel 10:2,

"In those days, I Daniel, was mourning

for three entire weeks."

Now, that's not what it says in Hebrew.

It says, "I was fasting for three weeks of days."

And the reason it says of days is to specify it as different

from the weeks in the previous paragraph,

which was weeks of years.

And the word is used that way in the Old Testament,

it means a period of seven or a heptad of years,

it's used that way.

Remember, when Jacob worked seven years

and he was supposed to marry Rachel

and Laban deceived him and gave him Leah,

and then he had to work another seven,

that's the same word that's used, to receive Rachel

as his second wife and it says he worked another week.

Same idea, but it was a week of years.

And it's used this way in rabbinic literature as well,

and so the idea of it being a week of years

makes a lot more sense.

- Just a quick question.

This predates Nehemiah, correct?

- Yes.

- Okay, so we know that in verse 25 of this prophecy

in Daniel, it talks about a decree to rebuild Jerusalem.

Why does Jerusalem needs to be rebuilt?

And do we know if this prophecy has already occurred?

- Well, it says that from the issuing of the decree

to restore and rebuild Jerusalem, (indistinct) the Messiah,

there'll be seven weeks and 62 weeks.

That's what it specifically says.

People argue about, what was that decree?

Why does it need to be decreed

to restore and rebuild Jerusalem?

Because in 586, Nebuchadnezzar, the Emperor of Babylon came

and destroyed Jerusalem and took the Jewish people captive,

and brought them into exile in Babylon.

So Jerusalem sat 70 years, at least till 539

when Cyrus the Persian gave a release,

sent the captives back.

Some people count the captivity in round numbers

from the time when the first captives were taken

in 605 BC when Daniel went to Babylon

up until about 539, 538, somewhere around there

when the decree was given to allow the Jewish people

to go back.

And some people think that's the decree

to restore and rebuild Jerusalem, but if you look

at the decrees that are found in the Bible,

they was Cyrus's decree in 539,

but that was only to build the temple

and to let the captives back,

it wasn't to rebuild Jerusalem.

And Darius gave a decree and 519 and that referred

'cause the people had quit building the temple,

so they needed reestablishment of orders

to rebuild the temple, and so that decree in Ezra 6,

that's not it either.

Artaxerxes gave a to decree in 457,

it's found in the Book of Ezra 7:11, and it relates

to Temple restoration once again

on the appointment of civil leaders,

nothing about restoring and rebuilding Jerusalem.

But the book of Nehemiah, now, that's significant

because Nehemiah was the butler or the chief advisor

compatriot to Artaxerxes and he receives word from Hanani,

one of his relatives, that Jerusalem is still devastated,

that the walls are torn down, the city has not been rebuilt.

And so he was sad, he prayed and then he was sad

in the king's presence, which you should never do,

with the Ancient Near Eastern potentate,

and the King Artaxerxes asked him, why is he sad?

He prays to the God of heaven one last time

and tells him about his distress

about Jerusalem being destroyed.

And so the king authorizes him to go back, we often say,

to rebuild the walls, but in rebuilding the walls,

that was to rebuild the city.

- Yeah.

- And that decree was given to Nehemiah to become Governor

to restore and rebuild Jerusalem in the year 444 BC.

And so that tells us when the starting point

of this prophecy is, from the decree to restore

and rebuild Jerusalem, there'll be seven weeks and 62 weeks

or 49 years and whatever seven times 62 is, 434 years.

And so that it comes to a total of 483 years.

People often say, and I think

you're probably wondering this 'cause of your question,

when was this fulfilled?

- Yes.

- Why does it break it up into two segments?

Because it's really from the decree

until the coming of the Messiah.

And the answer is that likely it refers

to, it took about 49 biblical years or 48 solar years

to rebuild Jerusalem. - Yeah.

- And so it breaks it up into the period of time

for rebuilding Jerusalem and then continuing

until the coming of the Messiah.

- And that's his first coming or his second coming

you're referring to?

- That's his first coming.

It's really very clear.

If you look at it, it's talking about 483 biblical year.

So from 444 BC.

A biblical years, as best I can tell from all the evidence,

and of course, maybe it'd be helpful to look

at the book, Kevin Zuber did a really good job,

or the "Moody Bible Commentary", which I don't know

if you've ever looked at, I edited that,

but I happen to have written that commentary on Daniel

in the "Moody Bible Commentary".

But anyway, it's 483 biblical years of 360 days,

which comes to 173,880 days.

And if you divide that by 365 and 1/4 it comes

to 476 solar years, so from 444 BC, if you add 476,

we would often think, oh, that comes to 32,

but the problem is, and it's not quite the same,

'cause we're not dealing with the number line,

we're going from BC to AD, and from 1 BC,

there's no zero year, it goes right after that to 1 AD,

or AD 1, and so you have to add one.

So it comes to the year 33, Messiah would have

to be revealed to Israel in the year 33.

And that's exactly what happened.

There are two possible dates

for the date of the presentation to Israel on Palm Sunday,

or maybe the day after Palm Sunday.

- Yeah.

- It's called Palm Sunday by tradition,

but it might have been Monday, it's what I think.

But anyway, the actual year could be the 30 or 33,

'cause Passover, when Jesus died,

was either in the year 30 on a Friday, it was on a Friday

in the year 33.

I think for a variety of historical reasons,

I take the date that Jesus began His ministry

around the year 30 and or 29, and then he was presented

to Israel the year 33, just as Daniel foretold.

- And that was Messianic prophecies and mathematics.

- Wow. - Yeah.

(Abe and Nicole laugh)

And I really encourage you, take a look at what Kevin wrote.

I mean, it's obvious a lot of numbers,

but the more significant thing about this,

if you remember the old movies when they showed

the passage of time, they show a calendar,

a daily calendar and the pages are being torn off,

and so if we look at the date of the Artaxerxes' decree,

which was actually, we can calculate it as March 5, 444 BC,

and if we tear off 173,880 days, okay?

- Yeah.

- That would come out to march 30, AD 33,

which is significant.

I mean, that is a very significant date.

- Yeah.

- It is the date of the triumphal entry.

- Wow.

- When Jesus enters Jerusalem fulfilling Zechariah 9:9

on the foal of a donkey and the people are shouting,

"Save now, Hosanna, save now".

- Wow.

- That's the date that Daniel predicted

Messiah would come.

- Incredible.

- And so that's very significant because what does Jesus say

on that day in Luke 19:42?

He says to Israel, "If you had known this day

the things which make for peace,

but now it's hidden from your eyes."

So it's a very, very significant prophecy,

and it really shows that Messiah came

on the very date predicted.

(calm music)

- We'll be right back.

(upbeat music)

We hope you're enjoying this episode

about Messianic prophecy.

To dive even deeper into what the Hebrew Scriptures

say concerning the Messiah, check out

the "Moody Handbook of Messianic Prophecy".

This book features in depth analysis

of virtually every Messianic passage in the Old Testament.

The "Moody Handbook of Messianic Prophecy"

is edited by Dr. Michael Rydelnik,

and its contributors include

dozens of respected Bible scholars.

This is the book for anyone who has ever wondered

what Jesus said to His disciples

on the road to Emmaus.

Exclusive for our podcast listeners, get your copy today

at ourhopepodcast.com/moodybook,

and use the coupon code Moody20 for 20% off.

Do you think the Israelites, 'cause I mean,

they did a big presentation with the palms

and everything, do you think the Israelites

were expecting something to happen

on that day mathematically?

Do you think they figured it out

or was it just kind of almost happenstance?

- I don't know, I think what he says to the Jewish people,

"If you had known this day the things

which make peace", when Yeshua said that,

I think he was talking to the Jewish leadership.

- Oh, yeah.

- Now, unfortunately, I don't think that most people got it,

but there must have been some,

which is why they lined up there, and when they saw

Yeshua on that foal of a donkey

and they knew Zechariah 9:9, "Behold, your king comes

to you lowly and riding upon a donkey,

even the foal of a donkey."

When they saw that, crowds gathered 'cause they said

that's the Messiah and they were calling

for him to stay.

Now I think what they were calling for him to do

was to deliver Israel from the Romans.

- Right. - Yeah.

- Not to deliver Israel from their sins or from our sins.

But nevertheless, that's what they were doing.

So there must have been some people that got it.

- What I love about how the Lord uses prophecy

and how he communicates to people,

it's through math sometimes, it's through using math

and numbers, right?

- Yeah.

- It's very rare, but yeah, it happens.

- But what is amazing to me about that

is that I think when you think of one plus one equals two,

that can't change.

That one plus one must always equal two.

That's sort of, in a way, perfect, right?

And so the way he uses math something,

that that's really the only concept

that we can come close to understanding perfection.

It's just amazing, it's not random.

- It's so plainly objective.

- Yeah, right. - Yes, yeah.

- Numbers don't lie, they just...

Right?

Now, we can make statistics say anything,

but actual maths, that's just what it is.

- Yeah. - How mathematics work.

- Yeah.

- And so I agree with you, that's kinda cool.

Now, Nicole, you wanted know, wait,

you don't see a 69th week, you see a 62nd week

after the 62nd week, right?

- Yes, seven and 62 weeks.

That's what I see there. - Yeah.

- Yeah, and it says after the 62nd week,

the Messiah will be cut off, but that presumes already

that there was the seven-week period.

- Yeah.

- So from the issuing of the decree

to restore and rebuild Jerusalem,

there'll be seven weeks and 62,

so it divides it into two periods.

And then it says and after the 62nd-week period,

which already presumes the seven-week,

so that makes it 69 weeks, it says the Messiah

will be cut off and that's the key that when Messiah came,

we expected him, this is so much the Jewish people,

this is what what I grew up expecting,

the Messiah who would deliver us from oppression,

who will establish a kingdom of peace.

We didn't expect the Messiah that would be cut off,

which is a Hebrew phrase that means to be killed.

And it says that he will be cut off.

It either means and will have nothing or,

but not for himself, and that means he will be cut off

for us, that his death wasn't

because he was a guilty criminal,

but because he was sacrificing himself for us.

And then it says, "the people of the coming prince

will destroy the city and the sanctuary."

Sometime after the death of the Messiah,

and we have to imply His resurrection and ascension,

but sometime after that, the people

of the coming prince, well, in this book,

there's this coming prince, he's even mentioned

in this passage, he's a Roman and who are the people

of the coming prince?

It's the Romans.

So the people of the coming prince will destroy the city,

that's Jerusalem and the sanctuary.

And what's amazing is the city wasn't even rebuilt

and the sanctuary wasn't even rebuilt

when Daniel received this prophecy,

and yet, it is assumed that it will be rebuilt

and then destroyed by the Romans,

and that's exactly what happened in AD 7.

- So Dr. Rydelnik, can we fast forward to today?

Where do you believe we are now in this timeline

that Daniel lays out?

- Yeah, well, Daniels makes it seven weeks,

plus 62 weeks, plus one week,

and we are between seven and 62, between week 69

and week 70, there's a gap and it is presumed,

'cause it tells us what will end that gap,

what will start that 70th seven-year period,

and that is when the prince who has to come,

is a future false Messiah, a powerful ruler

who will come when he makes a firm covenant

with the many of Israel, the leadership of Israel,

he'll do it for one week, a seven-year period.

And it will be some sort of covenant

that brings peace and security to Israel

and the Middle East.

But then midway, 3 1/2 years in, they'll break it,

he'll then demand worship of himself

as if you were really the Messiah,

and that's what sets everything worse

to the decreed destruction that it will finally be poured

out on this prince who is to come, this false Messiah.

So we are between week 69, the end of that,

and the beginning of week 70,

but I think we're pretty close.

- Yeah, what are the signs that we should be looking for

as we get closer to that last week?

- I don't think that...

I'm not a sign looker.

I look for stop signs, things like that, but not...

I joke, I'm not gonna write any books

like "Left Behind Again" or anything like that,

that's not me, but I think there's one sign

that comes right out of the text,

and that is that the future false Messiah,

the prince who is to come will make a covenant with Israel.

- Yeah.

- Now, think about this,

for all these last 2,000 years almost, the idea

of a false Messiah making a covenant with Israel,

that wasn't possible.

- No.

- Because there was no Israel, Israel had lost sovereignty

in the year 63 BC and did not have sovereignty

over its own land until 1948.

- Right.

- So the birth of the modern State of Israel

is the most significant sign

that renders this prophecy possible.

And so that's why I think we're much closer

to the end of the gap than we ever have been

because of the existence of the State of Israel.

Now, I do think this, and this is really important,

a lot of followers of Jesus disagree about when he will come

for his people today.

I happen to believe it could happen imminently, any moment

and I don't have to have Israel in existence.

And for the entire period that we're in now,

this whole gap period, well,

Yeshua could have returned for his people.

The Bible calls that the great swoosh, is what I'll call it.

(Nicole and Abe laugh)

- It's a technical term.

- Yeah, and I actually the Greek word that's used

in 1 Thessalonians 4 is to be caught up.

- Yes.

- Catches up to be with him.

And that will happen at any moment, and then some time

after that happens, that's when that future false Messiah,

this prince who is to come will make a treaty with Israel

and begin this seven-year period.

And so I happen to believe that we still have to be looking

for Yeshua, if we know him, we are excited

and anticipating his coming at any moment.

There's no precondition for that,

but for that seven-year period to start,

then that's the treaty, the covenant with Israel,

and then after seven years, Yeshua will return

and deliver Israel from that false Messiah.

- So a more personal question,

how has Daniel 9 impacted you personally?

- Well, I think one of the great benefits

that I have is that I get to teach Messianic prophecy

every spring semester, and I also teach it

at various schools.

Besides Moody Bible Institute, the summer

I'll be teaching it at Dallas Theological Seminary

and I've taught some for the Feinberg School

that Chosen People Ministries does in conjunction

with Talbot School of Theology.

So I get to teach it all the time,

and this prophecy in particular, and Messianic prophecy

in general, constantly builds my faith.

I came to faith in Jesus

through a Chosen People Ministries staff member

of years ago, she's with the Lord now, (indistinct) Coser

telling me about Messianic prophecy

and arguing with me about the meaning of these passages.

And I was very, very obnoxious and overly confident

as I argued with her.

But when I would go home and think

about what we talked about,

I think, wow, she makes a lot more sense than I am

and her interpretations make more sense,

and that was ultimately what God used to bring me

to faith in Yeshua, when I believed that He died for me

and rose again, he's my Messiah.

It wasn't just some esoteric knowledge out there,

it became very personal.

And I really do believe that everyone has doubts

from time to time.

We go through a pandemic, we lose someone we love.

Other people we love our facing illnesses.

We struggle, we have children that struggle

and have difficulties in their life,

and we start saying, "God, is this whole thing real?

Is this true?

And every time I come back to prophecies like Daniel 9

which are so precise, so on the money

that could not have been known by Daniel

without supernatural, divine inspiration,

without that, he couldn't have known that.

- Yeah.

- That text tells us exactly when the Messiah

was supposed to come,

he did come and then when I review these things,

it just confirms the truth of the faith.

And, yeah, I do know that there's going to be trouble

in this life

The one Bible promise that no one likes to claim

is John 16:33 when Yeshua said "In this world,

you'll have trouble."

- Yeah.

- No one said, "Wow, he promised trouble."

But that is true, we will have trouble.

But he said, "Fear not, I've overcome the world."

- Amen. - Amen.

- But whenever we have trouble, we start to have doubts,

but Messianic prophecy, particularly Daniel 9,

which I think is such a great prophecy,

helps us to see the truth and confirms our faith.

And also there's that little line in there,

"the Messiah will be cut off, but not for himself",

it's not just that Yeshua came,

and now he didn't do anything, he actually paid

the penalty for my sin, and he rose again,

and he was cut off, but not for himself,

he was cut off for me, and for Abe Vasquez and Nicole,

and anyone else listening to this.

And so that's a great reminder

that he provided our atonement through His death.

So it wasn't just that he came but that he was our Redeemer.

- Amen.

- Amen.

Well, I have nothing else to say except I would love

for people to find you.

How can people listen to you on the radio?

- Oh, the best thing to do is go to...

Well, they can listen in all sorts of ways,

they get to the podcast, they can listen

on the Moody radio app, it's called Open Line.

And that's the name of the program with Mike Rydelnik

and you can listen online, our website

is openlineradio.org, but if you look up Open Line

on your your smart phone, on your podcast,

whatever podcast you use, my dog is confirming

that right now, yes, I listen, but anyway,

when you look that up, you will find Open Line,

they can listen to open line every week

as much as they want, two hours every Saturday morning,

and the podcasts, you could listen anytime you want.

Go to (indistinct) radio app, which is free,

download that, listen anytime you want.

But the other thing that people can do

is they could check out my web page, which is my website,

which is michaelrydelnik.org.

I always say if you can spell my name, you can find it.

(Abe laughs)

- Well, thank you so much Dr. Rydelnik.

It was a blast to have you and we hope to have you again

if that's okay.

- Always my pleasure, I love doing it.

- Thank you so much, Dr. Rydelnik.

- Yeah, thank you for having me.

(calm music)

(bright music)

- It's exciting to see how Messiah, the Prince Yeshua,

fulfilled parts of Daniel 9 right on time.

He came to Israel and laid down his life.

Of course, we also know that he rose again,

is seated with God the Father and will return.

We're still waiting for the final week.

We do not know exactly when it will happen

or what it will look like, but we do know that Jesus wins.

Just as God was faithful to bring Israel back from exile

and send the Messiah, he will fulfill everything

that he has promised.

I hope you've enjoyed listening to this week's episode

of "Our Hope" featuring Dr. Michael Rydelnik.

I would just like to ask for a favor before we wrap up.

As we approach the end of 2021, would you consider a gift

to Chosen People ministries?

The only reason we're able to do this podcast

is because of the faithful support of people

who are listening like you, and all those

who got our resources and join our Bible studies

and our events and things like that.

We really are passionate about bringing Jesus the Messiah

to the Jewish people everywhere

they are, particularly online.

I'm the Director of Digital media and I have seen firsthand

how digital media has impacted Jewish people everywhere,

no matter where they are.

And so consider it, think about it, we would love

to have your support so that we can continue this work,

we can continue recording episodes like this with

Dr. Michael Rydelnik to learn about Messianic prophecies,

so that we can equip you with the tools that you need

to reach your Jewish friends and family.

The other thing you can do is you can subscribe.

If you're not already subscribed

on your favorite podcast platform software,

just to hit that subscribe button, we would love

to engage with you further so that you can get

those reminders of when new episodes pop up.

And then the last thing you can do is leave a review.

If you're listening on Apple Podcasts, you can do that.

Thank you so much.

It's been awesome over the past,

it almost two years of recording.

I'm really appreciative of all the listeners and everyone

who has been committed to listening.

So if you'd like to give a gift

to Chosen People Ministries today,

please visit ourhopepodcast.com/support.

Again, that URL is ourhopepodcast.com/support.

You can also find that link in our show notes.

This episode was produced by Nicole Vacca,

our producer and Grace Swee, our co-producer.

It was written by Rachel Larsen and edited by Grace Swee.

This episode was also created thanks to Dr. Mitch Glaser

and Kieran Bautista.

I'm Abe Vazquez, until next time.

(bright music)

- Thanks for listening to "Our Hope".

If you like our show and want to know more,

check out ourhopepodcast.com or chosenpeople.com.

You can also support our podcast by giving today

at ourhopepodcast.com/support.

See you next time.