Daniel 9:20-27 KJV
20 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;
21 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.
22 And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding.
23 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.
24 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.
25 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.
26 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.
27 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.

God's punishment and God's wrath and end of his punishment upon the people seems like a question of is there hope in the waiting for the end of correction. How many of us have done something wrong in our life and even when we did it, we did not feel in the least bit guilty even when we knew it was sin. Our fleshly nature even tries to justify our actions. Adam and Eve even try to justify why they ate forbidden fruit by blaming another. The weight of sin only determined by one's own guilt process, or the truth of God's facts. Commit a crime, the handcuffs goes on when caught, and taken to jail and a short process or sometimes long process determines if you will remain in prison for a time. Depending on the crime, you are either cast out of society through death, or received back into society after a time of facing punishment for the crime. Yet not all society will receive you back with open arms, often you have to earn your way back socially by your peers. We look at Israel as a nation and we see the sin of the nation as far as being evil at the time of God's wrath against Israel and it simple to understand why God corrected Israel and punished her, yet what is not so easily understood is the time frame of punishment to the time the punishment no longer remain for the sins of Israel.

I may not be able to do this passage justice in the full sense. It is prophetic to the days before Christ telling of the time frame between the restoration of the temple, the Messiah coming and destruction of the temple. It is prophetic to the destruction of Jerusalem to come and the rebuilding of the people of faith as well. Daniel is confessing sin of the nation of Israel when Gabriel appears to him. And he tells Daniel the time period when the punishment fo Israel would be over and when the Messiah would come and then the temple destruction as well as the rebuilding of Israel.

I got to think on God's forgiveness and when in scripture did we see God forgiveness. If all man's ways are evil starting in Genesis 6 and God justifies Noah because of faith, meaning forgiven him despite any sin he may or may not of done, then we see the first forgiveness and mercy despite the storm coming to destroy the whole earth. There seems to be a time frame between Cain and Noah, where sin is still being learned as something that does not please God and their consequences for it. Yet we get to Daniel we see confession of nation not just the individual. Israel knew to repent of sin, to not only repent but to perform the sacrifices for sin yearly as a nation. Yet sin still reigned in a nation. Other nations had been punished for sin before Israel, starting with Sodom and Gomorrah, Hebrew people going to Egypt and so forth. What we do not see is God's wrath coming on his people as a nation, only individuals from time to time because of sin. When confession and repentance begins, God tells when the time of punishment was over. God sent Gabriel to tell Daniel when the time of punishement was over. The temple would be rebuilt and destroyed and their be new birth of faith. When would the Messiah come after the temple was rebuilt. The Messiah being Christ. The temple destroyed why because the sacrificial law was abolished with the crucifixion of Jesus. There would be no more shedding of blood for sin. No more human sacrifices for sin. Did killing Abel justify Cain no, for Abel though righteous by faith and justified by his works, he was not the lamb God desired to pay for our sin. God allowed his word to be the Lamb of God, to crucify him, and to redeem us through forgiveness of sin. How do we know God's people were forgiven for sin, when Christ, the lamb of God arose, Christ was still loving his people. Forty days he spent on earth with his people after the cross.

Through out Christ ministry he taught forgiveness with confession, repentance and some sin Christ did not imput on the believer beyond to say which is easier to tell a person their sins are forgiven or to be healed, and a person was healed. The temple had to be destroyed, because there was no more need for sacrifice, it came in 70 AD after Christ had ascended into heaven probably about forty years. Some date the destruction of the temple as 90 A.D. I can not remember all the details here. The point is it was destroyed.

Now we know there is a temple still in the world, some learning Christ and some only the law. I agree with Paul decision to teach or educate the Jewish people whether they listen or not. But I also understand something else. Jesus said the true worshipper would worship in Spirit and do so in truth. In other words faith did not define where people worship but faith determind how they worship God. Do I need to repeat the last sentence, oh just reread it and make sure you got it. Islam is still trying to claim the Jewish temple, and God's people are still claiming they can worship God anywhere as believers in Christ. Jews today understand not who the Messiah is, some are learning and others deny him. Jewish nation long for Israel, a reminder of God's covenant to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, a place establish to worship God. To give him a house in the world of believers and unbelievers. People trying to establsih Beulah Land by their own merit and not the hand of God. We can not deny God said he will destroy the heavens and the earth. Meaning the work of his hands will not remain, but the work of his Spirit will. Then God will create a new heaven and a new earth.

Our idea of God's creation being void is hard for most of us to imagine, but to know He will rebuild as process is what it means to wait on God's timing for Christ return. To wait on his presence to usher us into the New Jerusalem, that he has built as promised.

What does this have to do with forgiveness and not least but also hope. If we can understand if we confess our sins as Daniel did for the nation, we are able to go directly to God with the only intercessor being Jesus. No more need for another human to confess our sin, beyond reporting a crime. Only we has individuals need to confess our sins and cry out for mercy on our nation. The way to win the battle of faith and hope is one person at time teaching them about Jesus. One group at a time teaching them about Jesus and about the hope of eternal life. Is the temple important in Jerusalem to Christians, it is as a reminder of the nation of Israel and their own struggle of faith. God is in our hearts as believers so we need not a building. Our bodies being a temple of God, we are not God but he comes and lives with our Spirit and communes with us. We no longer are divided by a curtain or the clouds in the sky from our Heavenly Father. Yet even with Him in our heart, we seem to has believers have the ability to go astray, to wander, to wrestle in faith with God. Almost like a baby within the womb of the mother, kicking and waiting for the day we enter into God's holy habitation coming forth into the light of Beulah land. Yet as we enter into God's habitation upon death, we see our eternal reward of our new home, our new body, a place where our Spirit dwells with God for eternity.

Dear Heavenly Father, help us to understand you dwell with your children in their heart and flesh, until the day you take them to place you designed for them, where you will be with them always in your habitation designed by you. In Jesus precious name, Amen.

Continual Scripture Study: Isaiah 62:1-12 KJV
1 For Zion's sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth.
2 And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory: and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the LORD shall name.
3 Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the LORD, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God.
4 Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate: but thou shalt be called Hephzibah, and thy land Beulah: for the LORD delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married.
5 For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee: and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee.
6 I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the LORD, keep not silence,
7 And give him no rest, till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth.
8 The LORD hath sworn by his right hand, and by the arm of his strength, Surely I will no more give thy corn to be meat for thine enemies; and the sons of the stranger shall not drink thy wine, for the which thou hast laboured:
9 But they that have gathered it shall eat it, and praise the LORD; and they that have brought it together shall drink it in the courts of my holiness.
10 Go through, go through the gates; prepare ye the way of the people; cast up, cast up the highway; gather out the stones; lift up a standard for the people.
11 Behold, the LORD hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him.
12 And they shall call them, The holy people, The redeemed of the LORD: and thou shalt be called, Sought out, A city not forsaken.