Well, here is not only mention made of the angel’s flying swiftly, but there is mention made of the time that he came; “He came and touched me, about the time of the evening oblation,” that is, about three o’clock in the afternoon; at this time there was a sacrifice made to GOD, and this sacrifice was in a peculiar manner a type of the LORD JESUS, who in the evening of the world was to become a sacrifice for sinners. We are told in the 22d verse, what message this angel delivered, “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 supplication, the commandment came forth, and I am come to show thee, for thou art greatly beloved, therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision.” This passage, with such-like passages of scripture, hath often comforted my soul, and may comfort the hearts of all GOD’s people. There are a great many of you, perhaps, have prayed, and prayed again to GOD, and probably you do not find any answer given you: you pray for an enlarged heart, you pray for comfort, you pray for deliverance; GOD is pleased to withhold it for a while; then the devil strikes in, and says, GOD has shut out your prayers, GOD will never hear, GOD will never regard you, therefore pray no more. But, my dear friends, this is a mistake; a thousand years are with GOD as one day; and the LORD JESUS has bid us, “to pray always, and not faint.” You may have had your prayers heard, the very moment they went out of your lips, though it may not please your GOD, (and it may not be proper for you) to let you know that they are heard. “At the beginning of thy supplication, the commandment went forth;” and this very angel some hundred years after, told _Zacharias_, that his prayer was heard; a prayer for what? a prayer for a child; it could not be supposed that at the very time _Zacharias_ was praying for a child; but his prayer he had put up forty years before, GOD was pleased to answer so long afterwards.
But to proceed with _Gabriel_’s declaration, verse 24. “Seventy ♦weeks are determined upon thy people, and upon thy holy city, to finish transgression, to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness,” I do not intend to trouble you about the critical exposition of these _seventy weeks_; commentators are divided exceedingly upon this subject; some of them explain them one way, and some another, and perhaps we shall never know till the day of judgment, till the glorious day spoken of in the New Testament, which are right. My intention is to dwell upon this particular part of the angel’s message, that some one person was to do something _unspeakable_ for GOD’s people, even “to bring in an everlasting righteousness.”
♦ “years” replaced with “weeks”
If you want to know who was the person that was to do this, look to the 26th verse, and you will find the person mentioned, the LORD JESUS CHRIST: “after threescore and two weeks shall the _Messiah_ be cut off, but not for himself:” he is the person spoken of, he was “to put an end to sin, to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness.”
From these important words, I shall endeavour,
_First_, To shew you what we are to understand by the word, “Righteousness.”
_Secondly_, I shall endeavour to shew you, upon what account it is, that the righteousness mentioned in the text, is called an “everlasting righteousness.”
_Thirdly_, I shall shew, what we are to understand by “bringing it in.” And,
Then speak a word to saints and sinners. And while I am speaking to your ears, may GOD, for the LORD JESUS CHRIST’s sake, speak to your hearts!
_First_, To explain what we are to understand by the word, “righteousness.” If I was to ask some people what we are to understand by the word, righteousness; if the person was an _Arminian_, or an enemy to the doctrine of free grace, he would answer me, it signifies what we commonly call _moral honesty_, or doing justice between man and man. And, indeed, in various passages of scripture, the word righteousness has no other meaning, at least, it bears that meaning. I suppose, we are to understand it in this sense, when we are told, that _Paul_, preaching before _Felix_, “reasoned of temperance, of righteousness, and of a judgment to come.” _Felix_ had been a very unrighteous and unjust man, and therefore, to convince him of his wickedness, to alarm his conscience, to put him upon seeking help in the LORD JESUS, _Paul_ preached not only of temperance, (for _Felix_ had been a very intemperate man) but he preached to him of righteousness, of the necessity of doing justice, because he had been an unjust man; and he puts before him the judgment to come, in order to make him fly to JESUS CHRIST for deliverance from the bad consequences of that judgment; and there are other places of scripture, where the word righteousness may be understood in this sense.