Through The Bible in a Year - April 29, 2026

"Seventy weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness…" - Daniel 9:24

As a consequence of its sin, Israel had endured 70 years of exile — 70 years of ruin, shame, and displacement. It must have felt, at times, as though God had forgotten his people entirely. But now God speaks through His angel with a staggering promise: the rescue will be 70 times greater than the ruin. Not just restoration, but everlasting righteousness. Not just return from captivity, but the atoning work of a Savior who would end transgression itself.

This is such a beautiful and important gospel truth: the rescue is greater than the ruin. God’s rescue is always greater than our ruin. That is one of the great themes of the Bible — and one of the hardest things to believe when you are standing in the middle of the ruin. Still, the ruin that is a consequence of our sin will never outweigh or be too much for the grace that is greater than all our sin. The earthly consequences may remain great, but the spiritual blessings and eternal provisions are far greater.

Perhaps you are amidst the ruins now. A broken relationship, a season of loss, a faith that disaster has made that feel threadbare. The ruins around you may seem permanent and overwhelming. But the message of Daniel 9 — and ultimately the message of the gospel — is that God is a God of disproportionate redemption. He does not merely patch what is broken. He makes all things new. Whatever devastation you are walking through, do not give up hope. When you humbly ask God’s help, his rescue will come, and it will be greater than the ruin.

PRAYER: Father, some days the ruins feel very real and the rescue feels very far away. In those moments, anchor my heart in Your promise. You are a God who does not just restore — You redeem, and You make things more beautiful than they were before. Give me the faith of Daniel, who could count the years of ruin and still believe in the vastness of Your rescue. Let me not forget that this is my Father's world, and You are the Ruler yet. In Jesus' name, Amen.