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Notes for
Daniel Chapter Nine
1. Jeremiah 25:1-12 This is what Daniel read
The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, that was the first year of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon; the which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah, and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, even to this day, that is the twenty-third year, the word of the LORD has come to me, and I have spoken to you, rising early and speaking; but you have not hearkened.
And the LORD has sent to you all His [other] servants the prophets, rising early and sending them; but you have not hearkened, nor inclined your ear to hear. They [also] said, Turn you again now every one from his evil way, and from the evil of your doings, and dwell in the land that the LORD has given to you and to your fathers for ever and ever: and go not after other gods to serve them, and to worship them, and provoke Me not to anger with the works of your hands; and I will do you no hurt.
Yet you have not hearkened to Me, says the LORD; that you might provoke Me to anger with the works of your hands to your own hurt. Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts; Because you have not heard My words, behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, says the LORD, and Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, My servant, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round about, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and an 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 an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.
And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, says the LORD, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations.
Isaiah 11:11-12 This is what was to happen
And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set His hand again the second time to recover the remnant of His people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. And He shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.
When Daniel read the words of Jeremiah he had been in captivity from 606-538BC, which is 68 years. They had been written for a long time (since before 605BC), but no one had noticed them, or believed them! Why? Isaiah's words are even older!
It was then that Daniel began to pray. Why? Because it might not happen unless he and/or the people changed, and he wanted to know how!
2. Jeremiah 29:13 There is a condition to being able to receive answers
And you shall seek Me, and find Me, when you shall search for Me with all your heart.
Jeremiah 16:10-13 They would have to change their way to God's way
And it shall come to pass, when you shall show this people all these words, and they shall say to you, Wherefore has the LORD pronounced all this great evil against us? or what is our iniquity? or what is our sin that we have committed against the LORD our God? [They really didn't know!] Then shall you say to them, Because your fathers have forsaken Me, says the LORD, and have walked after other gods, and have served them, and have worshipped them, and have forsaken Me, and have not kept My law; and you have done worse than your fathers; for, behold, you walk every one after the imagination of his evil heart, that they may not hearken to Me: therefore will I cast you out of this land into a land that you know not, neither you nor your fathers; and there shall you serve other gods day and night; where I will not show you favour.
Jeremiah 17:-1-4 God cannot protect if He is not listened to
The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond: it is graven upon the table of their heart, and upon the horns of your altars; whilst their children remember their altars and their groves by the green trees upon the high hills. O My mountain in the field, I will give your substance and all your treasures to the spoil, and your high places for sin, throughout all your borders. And you, even yourself, shall discontinue from your heritage that I gave you; and I will cause you to serve your enemies in the land which you know not: for you have kindled a fire in My anger, which shall burn for ever.
Jonah 3:10 However, all prophecy is conditional - if the conditions change...
And God saw their [the people of Nineveh] works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that He had said that He would do to them; and He did it not.
3. Isaiah 64:6-9 Daniel well understood Isaiah's words and therefore spoke like him
But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. And there is none that [rightly] calls upon Your name, that stirs up himself to take hold of You: for You have hid Your face from us, and have consumed us, because of our iniquities.
But now, O LORD, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You our potter; and we all are the work of Your hand. Be not wroth [or angry] very sore, O LORD, neither remember iniquity for ever: behold, see, we beseech You, we are all Your people.
Revelation 3:14-19 Others do not understand so well today
And to the angel [or leader] of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things says the Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the beginning [Beginner] of the creation of God;
I know your works, that you are neither cold [fighting against Me] nor hot [enthusiastic for Me]: I would you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm [sitting on the fence], and neither cold nor hot, I will spue you out of My mouth [for you make Me sick with anxiety]. Because you say, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and know not that you are wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.
I counsel you to buy of Me gold tried in the fire [faith that works by love], that you may be rich; and white raiment [of righteousness], that you may be clothed, and that the shame of your nakedness [or lack of defence] do not appear; and anoint your eyes with eyesalve [the guidance of the Spirit], that you may see.
[Only] as many as I love, [do I] I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.
4. Ezekiel 18:19-30 God is absolutely just and fair
Yet say you, Why? Does not the son bear the iniquity of the father? [Consider Exodus 34:7]. When the son has done that which is lawful and right, and has kept all My statutes, and has done them, he shall surely live.
The soul that sins, it shall die. [This does NOT say "I will kill him"! Death comes by sin's wages, Romans 6:23]. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.
But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he has committed, and keep all My statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die. All his transgressions that he has committed, they shall not be mentioned to him: in his righteousness that he has done he shall live. Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? says the Lord GOD: and not that he should return from his ways, and live?
Yet you say, The way of the Lord is not equal [or fair]. Hear now, O house of Israel; Is not My way equal? Are not your ways unequal? When a righteous man turns away from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, and dies in them; for his iniquity that he has done shall he die.
Again, when the wicked man turns away from his wickedness that he has committed, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive. Because he considers, and turns away from all his transgressions that he has committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die.
Yet says the house of Israel, The way of the Lord is not equal. O house of Israel, are not My ways equal? Are not your ways unequal? Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, says the Lord GOD. Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin.
[The same message was given to Nebuchadnezzar in chapter four, for it is the gospel!]
Jeremiah 18:5-10 God does not have to wait for outward proof
Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? says the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel. At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it; if that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do to them.
And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it; if it do evil in My sight, that it obey not My voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them.
5. Deuteronomy 28:15-29 All this is the outcome of the lack of God's protection
But it shall come to pass, if you will not hearken to the voice of the LORD your God, to observe to do all His commandments and His statutes which I command you this day; that all these curses [or misfortunes] shall come upon you, and overtake you.
Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the field. Cursed shall be your basket and your store.
Cursed shall be the fruit of your body, and the fruit of your land, the increase of your kine [cattle], and the flocks of your sheep.
Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out. [This is what happened just before the Flood - it is a natural result of disobedience].
The LORD shall send upon you cursing, vexation, and rebuke, in all that you set your hand to for to do, until you be destroyed, and until you perish quickly; because of the wickedness of your doings, whereby you have forsaken Me. The LORD shall make the pestilence cleave to you, until He have consumed you from off the land, where you go to possess it.
The LORD shall smite you with a consumption, and with a fever, and with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning, and with the sword, and with blasting, and with mildew; and they shall pursue you until you perish. And your heaven that is over your head shall be brass, and the earth that is under you shall be iron. The LORD shall make the rain of your land powder and dust: from heaven shall it come down upon you, until you be destroyed.
The LORD shall cause you to be smitten before your enemies: you shall go out one way against them, and flee seven ways before them: and shall be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth. And your carcase shall be meat to all fowls of the air, and to the beasts of the earth, and no man shall fray [or chase] them away.
[Does any of this sound familiar?]
The LORD will smite you with the botch of Egypt, and with the emerods [haemorrhoids], and with the scab, and with the itch, whereof you can not be healed. The LORD shall smite you with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart: and you shall grope at noonday, as the blind gropes in darkness, and you shall not prosper in your ways: and you shall be only oppressed and spoiled evermore, and no man shall save you.
[Consider this addition]
Luke 21:25-28 Jesus told us about our time of trouble and comforted us
And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven [the solar system] shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draws near.
Deuteronomy 28:30-48
You shall betroth [or become engaged to] a wife, and another man shall lie with her: you shall build an house, and you shall not dwell therein: you shall plant a vineyard, and shall not gather the grapes thereof.
Your ox shall be slain before your eyes, and you shall not eat thereof: your ass shall be violently taken away from before your face, and shall not be restored to you: your sheep shall be given to your enemies, and you shall have none to rescue them.
Your sons and your daughters shall be given to another people, and your eyes shall look, and fail with longing for them all the day long: and there shall be no might in your hand. The fruit of your land, and all your labours, shall a nation which you know not eat up; and you shall be only oppressed and crushed always: so that you shall be mad for the sight of your eyes which you shall see. The LORD shall smite you in the knees, and in the legs, with a sore botch that cannot be healed, from the sole of your foot to the top of your head.
The LORD shall bring you, and your king which you shall set over you, to a nation which neither you nor your fathers have known; and there shall you serve other gods, wood and stone. And you shall become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all nations whither the LORD shall lead you.
You shall carry much seed out into the field, and shall gather but little in; for the locust shall consume it. You shall plant vineyards, and dress them, but shall neither drink of the wine, nor gather the grapes; for the worms shall eat them. You shall have olive trees throughout all your coasts, but you shall not anoint yourself with the oil; for your olive shall cast his fruit.
You shall beget sons and daughters, but you shall not enjoy them; for they shall go into captivity.
All your trees and fruit of your land shall the locust consume.
The stranger that is within you shall get up above you very high; and you shall come down very low. He shall lend to you, and you shall not lend to him: he shall be the head, and you shall be the tail.
Moreover all these curses shall come upon you, and shall pursue you, and overtake you, till you be destroyed; because you hearkened not to the voice of the LORD your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which He commanded you: and they shall be upon you for a sign and for a wonder, and upon your seed for ever. Because you served not the LORD your God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things; therefore shall you serve your enemies which the LORD shall send against you, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things: and he shall put a yoke of iron upon your neck, until he have destroyed you.
1 Kings 8:44-53 The correct prayer shows the attitude of the petitioner
[Solomon prayed] If Your people go out to battle against their enemy, wherever You shall send them, and shall pray to the LORD toward the city which You have chosen, and toward the house that I have built for Your name: then hear You in heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause.
If they sin against You, (for there is no man that sins not,) and You be angry with them, and deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them away captives to the land of the enemy, far or near; yet if they shall bethink [change their attitude] themselves in the land where they were carried captives, and repent, and make supplication to You in the land of them that carried them captives, saying,
We have sinned, and have done perversely, we have committed wickedness;
And so return to You with all their heart, and with all their soul, in the land of their enemies, which led them away captive, and pray to You toward their land, which You gave to their fathers, the city which You have chosen, and the house which I have built for Your name: then hear You their prayer and their supplication in heaven Your dwelling place, and maintain their cause, and forgive Your people that have sinned against You, and all their transgressions wherein they have transgressed against You, and give them compassion before them who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them.
For they be Your people, and Your inheritance, which You brought forth out of Egypt, from the midst of the furnace of iron. [I pray] that Your eyes may be open to the supplication of Your servant, and to the supplication of Your people Israel, to hearken to them in all that they call for to You. For you did separate them from among all the people of the earth, to be Your inheritance, as You spoke by the hand of Moses Your servant, when You brought our fathers out of Egypt, O Lord GOD.
Daniel was trying to follow Solomons advice given some 500 years before. How well he did this we shall see at the end of his prayer.
Psalm 106:6-15 The psalmist also reminded God about what He had done and why
We have sinned with our fathers, we have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly. Our fathers understood not Your wonders in Egypt; they remembered not the multitude of Your mercies; but provoked Him at the sea, even at the Red sea. Nevertheless He saved them for His name's sake [because of His character], that He might make His mighty power [to save from sin] to be known.
He rebuked the Red sea also, and it was dried up: so He led them through the depths, as through the wilderness. And He saved them from the hand of him that hated them, and redeemed them from the hand of the enemy.
And the waters covered their enemies: there was not one of them left. Then believed they His words; they sang His praise.
[But] they soon forgot His works; they waited not for His counsel: but lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tempted God in the desert. And He gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul.
6. Judges 2:11-13 They left the living God and followed Baal again and again
And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim [many false gods of a particular type]: and they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the people that were round about them, and bowed themselves to them, and provoked the LORD to anger. And they forsook the LORD, and served Baal [the chief false god] and Ashtaroth [his female counterpart].
1 Kings 16:30-32 Even kings made this choice
And [king] Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the LORD above all that were before him. And it came to pass, as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took to wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Zidonians, and went and served Baal, and worshipped him. And he reared up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he had built in Samaria. [Note these names - we will meet them again in The Revelation].
The Jews left the living God and followed Baal again and again. They did this continually! Why? It seems they could not tell the difference between the two cultures - the living God with His message of peace and goodwill towards all men, and the Baal the user of force in religion, especially by law. Even after being released from Babylon and sent back to try again, the Israelites failed to listen over the next 400 years and reverted to force to free themselves from the Romans. Then they used force on Jesus who wanted to be their Saviour. Soon after that God had to leave them forever in their battle with Rome.
Deuteronomy 31:15-19 They had been warned of this problem
And the LORD appeared in the tabernacle in a pillar of a cloud: and the pillar of the cloud stood over the door of the tabernacle. And the LORD said to Moses, Behold, you shall sleep with your fathers; and this people will rise up, and go a whoring after the gods of the strangers of the land, whither they go to be among them, and will forsake Me, and break My covenant which I have made with them. Then My anger [this is God's word for His inability to protect] shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide My face from them [because they refuse to be helped], and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall befall them; so that they will say in that day, Are not these evils come upon us, because our God is not among us?
And I will surely hide My face in that day for all the evils which they shall have wrought, in that they are turned to other gods [deliberately and persistently]. Now therefore write you this song for you, and teach it the children of Israel: put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for Me against the children of Israel.
After the return from Babylon the Jews wrote many books and passed laws to stop themselves and others from following Baal, the god of force, but did not realise that they were using force on themselves. The freedom must come from within, and to achieve it they must give freedom to others to worship (or not) as they pleased, without any suggestion of pressure to conform. This they consistently failed to do.
It is this message that God is placing before us in the books of Daniel and The Revelation. Loving entreaty is the ONLY allowable persuasion in the kingdom of heaven. To use any more than this is to worship at the feet of Baal and his fellows.
7. 2 Chronicles 36:22-23 The preparation was already under way
Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD spoken by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, 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, Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, All the kingdoms of the earth has the LORD God of heaven given me; and He has charged me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all His people? The LORD his God be with him, and let him go up.
While those who had remained loyal to God in the midst of Babylon were seeking the Lord and studying the prophecies foretelling their deliverance, God was already preparing the hearts of kings to show favour to His repentant people, for Cyrus was the general in charge at the time and Darius was his father-in-law.
But note that while Daniel knew that the appointed time for Israel's captivity was nearly ended, he did not feel that because God had promised to deliver them, they themselves had no part to act. With fasting and contrition he sought the Lord, confessing his own sins and the sins of the people.
8. Galatians 4:22-29 God, through Paul, draws a parallel
For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid [or slave], the other by a freewoman. [Genesis 16]. But he who was of the bondwoman [Hagar the Egyptian] was born after the flesh [in the natural way]; but he of the freewoman [Sarah the Hebrew] was by promise [because she was past the age of childbearing].
Which things are an allegory [or picture]: for these are [also a picture of] the two covenants [one of human good works - one of faith which works]. The [first] one from the mount Sinai, which genders [or leads] to bondage, which is [pictured by] Hagar [the slave]. For this Hagar is [the equivalent of the literal] mount Sinai in Arabia, and answers to [the earthly] Jerusalem which now is, and [who] is in bondage with her children.
But Jerusalem which is above [in heaven] is free, which is the mother of us all [who are Christians]. For it is written, Rejoice, you barren that bear not; break forth and cry, you that travail not [in childbirth]: for the desolate has many more children than she which has a husband.
Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. But as then he that was born after the flesh [Ishmael, the father of the Arabs - Genesis 21:13] persecuted him that was born after the Spirit [Isaac, the father of the Jews — Genesis 21:9-10], even so it is now [and always will be].
9. Daniel 10:21 Gabriel has a great ability to communicate with humans
[Gabriel said to Daniel] But I will show you that which is noted in the Scripture of truth: and there is none that holds with me in these things, but Michael your Prince.
Leviticus 2:4-6 An oblation
And if you bring an oblation of a meat [meal] offering baked in the oven, it shall be unleavened cakes of fine flour mingled with oil, or unleavened wafers anointed with oil. And if your oblation be a meat [flour] offering baked in a pan, it shall be of fine flour unleavened, mingled with oil. You shall part it in pieces, and pour oil thereon: it is a meat [cereal] offering.
"evening oblation" = an afternoon prayer and offering time between 3:00 - 6:00pm.
10. Luke 9:29-31 The centre of Christianity
And as He prayed, the fashion of His countenance was altered, and His raiment was white and glistering. And, behold, there talked with Him two men, which were Moses and Elias: who appeared in glory, and spoke of His decease which He should accomplish at Jerusalem.
The principle of self-denial and care for others shown at the cross of Calvary is the great centre of Christianity. This truth acted upon will make Christs sacrifice effectual, and this is what Gabriel revealed to Daniel in answer to fervent prayer. It was of this that Moses and Elijah and Christ talked about at His transfiguration. By the humiliation of the cross He was to bring everlasting deliverance to all who should walk after Him, giving positive evidence that they are separated from the world. Daniel's prayer was based on the same principle of self-denial. He was willing to do anything, and be anybody, if some one else could be saved, expecially those who would go through the tribulation of the 2,300 day/years. It was this attitude which enabled Jesus to show him the prophecies we shall read about in the next chapters.
11.
Gabriel started straight into the time period.
70 weeks x 7 days = 490 days
2300 - 490 = 1810 left
12. 1 John 3:4 Finish the transgression
Whoever commits sin transgresses also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.
John 1:29 Make an end of sin offerings
The next day John sees Jesus coming to him, and says, Behold the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world.
Matthew 3:1-3; 4:17 Make reconciliation for iniquity
In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, and saying, Repent you: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare you the way of the Lord, make His paths straight.... From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Mark 1:14-15 Bring in everlasting righteousness
Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent you, and believe the gospel.
Isaiah 8:16 Seal up the vision (make it certain)
Bind up the testimony, seal the law among My disciples.
This was done in this prophecy by using the crucifixion of Jesus as a central part. Because the dates of that time are fairly certain, the start and end of the 2,300 years are also certain.
Hebrews 9:24 Anoint the Most Holy
For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us...
These six experiences should all have occurred in full to all of the people of God at that time, specifically the Jews who were in Babylon and Jerusalem. Unfortunately, they did not pick up the offer and so now, after a very long time, it has been passed on to those who call themselves Christians.
13. Seven weeks of prophetic days = 7 x 7 = 49 day/years for the "troublous times".
Sixty-two weeks of prophetic days = 62 x 7 = 434 day/years to the Messiah.
49 + 434 = 483 in total
Add the final week ( + 7) to equal 490 day/years
Here we are being told that there would be a period of 49 years of confused times during which the streets and walls of Jerusalem would be rebuilt. These are referred to in the first few chapters of the book of Ezra. Then there would be a period of 483 years of relative calm after which the Messiah or Anointed One would appear. Gabriel goes to explain that in the middle of the last "week" of seven years, the Messiah would be "cut off" from the land of the living.
14. Luke 24:17-27 After His resurrection He explained what had happened
And He said to them, What manner of communications are these that you have one to another, as you walk, and are sad? And the one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answering said to Him, Are You only a stranger in Jerusalem, and have not known the things which are come to pass there in these days? And He said to them, What things? And they said to Him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people: and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to be condemned to death, and have crucified Him. But we trusted that it had been He which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, to day is the third day since these things were done...
Then He said to them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into His glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.
Luke 23:33-34 He thought of His executors even as he was dying
And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified Him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left. Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do....
15. Matthew 22:2-7 A parable of the times
[Jesus said] The kingdom of heaven [these words also describe the church on earth] is like to a certain king, which made a marriage for his son, and sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come. [The first call was to honour the invitation. This was given by Christ and the disciples]
Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come to the marriage. But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise [this second and final call was given by the disciples alone after the crucifixion]: and the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them. [Acts 7:59-60 etc.]
But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.
See also the parable in Luke 14:15-24 for another angle on the wedding/judgment. The city was destroyed in 70AD by the Roman armies. They are called "His armies" in this parable because they were keeping the peace in the world for Him. But the lack of protection for the people of Jerusalem was something He could not alter.
16. Exodus 2:24 The covenant or agreement
And God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant [or promise] with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.
Exodus 24:6-8 It was sealed with blood
And Moses took half of the blood [of the sacrifice], and put it in basins; and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar. And he took the book of the covenant [it is now part of the Old Testament], and read in the audience of the people: and they said, All that the LORD has said will we do, and be obedient. And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the LORD has made with you concerning all these words.
Romans 11:25-27 The promise includes others besides Jews
For I would not, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery [an unexplained truth], lest you should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles [the non-Jews] be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: for this is My covenant to them, when I shall take away their sins.
Galatians 3:13-17 Once agreed to a solemn promise can not be dismissed or altered
Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangs on a tree, that the blessing of [or the promise given to] Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
Brethren, I speak after the manner of men. Though it be but a man's covenant [or promise], yet if it be confirmed [or agreed to], no man disannuls, or adds thereto.
Now to Abraham and his seed [or child] were the promises made. He says not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to your Seed, which is Christ. And this I say, that the covenant [or the agreement made with Abraham], that was confirmed before of God in Christ [in Abraham's time], the law [of ceremonies], which was four hundred and thirty years after [Abraham], cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of no effect.
17. Hebrews 7:26-27 He made the offerings to cease
For such a High Priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; Who needs not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people's: for this He did once, when He offered up Himself.
Hebrews 9:27-28
And as it is appointed to men once to die, but after this the judgment: so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and to them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin to salvation.
18. "the consummation" = the marriage/judgment
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