Daniel's Prayer

We have talked a few times about how we deal with crisis. What is our response when dealing with difficulty in our lives? Where do we go for comfort? For guidance? To help us let off some steam?

And you all could probably answer this question in many ways.

Daniel see’s the people of God in crisis, the temple of God would be destroyed and that was the place they went to meet with God. He knew this because of the prophecies of Jeremiah that he knew would take place.

Questions for groups to answer

What characteristics of God does Daniel describe?

Great

Awe-inspiring

Faithful (keeps his gracious covenant)

Righteous

Compassionate

Forgiving

Brought the people out of Egypt

Abundant compassion

What sins does Daniel confess?

Sinned

Done wrong

Acted wickedly

Rebelled

Turned away from God’s commands

Didn’t listen to God’s prophets who spoke to them

Didn’t follow His instructions

Broke God’s law and refused to obey Him

Didn’t seek God’s favor when dealing with challenges

Have become an object of ridicule because of their sin

What are some ways God has cared for His people in the past that God identifies?

Brought them out of Egypt

Made His name great

Kept His covenant

What needs does Daniel ask God to meet?

For God’s answer and wrath to turn away from Jerusalem

Hear their prayers and petitions

Make His face shine on His sanctuary

That God would see their suffering and save them because of His compassion

That God would hear and forgive them

That God would listen and act according to their prayers and that He would not delay

Prayer worships God for being so great.

Daniel calls God “great and awe-inspiring”

Daniel says God “keeps his gracious covenant with those who love him” - which means that He is faithful to us

Daniel calls God good and fair, compassionate and forgiving

Prayer recognizes our sins against God

Daniel comes from a place of humility. He doesn’t blame others, he doesn’t show anger, but rather he recognizes that his sin is part of the reason God’s judgment will come on them.

Proverbs 20:9 “Who can say, “I have kept my heart pure; I am cleansed from my sin”?”

What you find is that the people closes to God are the people who are most aware of the sin in their life and are willing to correct it. It is the people who are far away from God who ignore their sin, pretend that it is not a big deal, and believe that they are “not that bad” and therefore will get into heaven for their actions. But the people closes to God recognize that getting into heaven has nothing to do with them but everything to do with our gracious God.

Prayer thanks God for what He has done

Prayer begins when God shows us our need

When there is difficulty in our own lives, when someone else is going through difficulty we often pray.

But prayer isn’t just about our present needs but about our future needs as well. That God would give us what we need in the future, because each day shows us God’s blessing in our life.

Prayer is most affective when it is consistent and serious

It says that Daniel was given an answer while He was praying, but He was probably praying for at least an hour if not more and it says He was “weary” from his prayers because of how burdened he was by his sin and by what may happen in the future.

Daniel was highly esteemed not because he was better than everyone else but because of His connection to God through prayer. A teacher has a “favorite student” that asks questions and cares about the subject. A coach has a “favorite” player that works hard and tries to understand everything they can.

The Seventies

While Daniel was still praying we see that God provides an answer to His prayers. What Gabriel tells him is that God was giving him wisdom and understanding because of His prayer.

This could be:

Symbolic of the time between then and Christ’s second coming

The seventy sevens are a prophecy of church history from Cyrus’s decree in 538 B.C. until the return of Christ

The first 7 from the decree to Christ’s first coming (the anointed one)

The next sixty-two sevens go from Christ to the persecution of the church by the Antichrist. During these 2,000 years Jerusalem will be built.

The last seven are when the “Anointed One” will be cut off which means the church will be attacked and everyone will believer the Antichrist is ruling.

Some believe the seventy sevens to be symbolic periods that go from Cyrus’s decree to the 2nd coming of Christ but the 69 sevens conclude with the first coming of Christ

Literal years ending with Christ’s 2nd coming

The 7’s are literal 7 year periods that total 490 years.

The first 7 sevens (49 years) begin with the command to rebuild Jerusalem by Ezra or Nehemiah and end with the completion.

The next 62 go from the 1st group to Christ’s first coming (either His baptism or Palm Sunday)

Then, after these, the Messiah is “rejected by Israel” which leads to a new group of 2000 years, with the end of this present age will be God dealing with Israel and the church with the final 7 beginning.

During this last 7 will be terrible tribulation.

Some in Israel will see Jesus as the Messiah and be saved.

This will be terminated with Christ’s second coming

What is the purpose of this prophecy?

Those in Israel know they will be scattered because of their sins and they will be cut off from God for a period of time.

To show us “the accomplishment of God’s purpose for all history” and that these things that happen to Jerusalem will affect all people.

The purpose for these also show that God will forgive all sin “Without being untrue to his own righteousness. And that what the people desired in the temple would be more fully realized in Jesus. There would be a new holy place, a better one, a man from whom all could come to God. But it would continue on to Christ’s 2nd coming as well.

The anointed one will be “cut off” that is “to cut a covenant” which involved the death of a sacrificial victim (usually a lamb). But here we know it means Jesus.

Then enemies will destroy Jersualem a 2nd time (AD 70 under the Roman emperor Titus) and a continuing conflict between God’s people and this ruler.

Then half of this last week will be intense suffering and persecution and they will commit blasphemy against God (the abomination on the wing of the temple) but then he will “be poured out” that is destroyed.

Daniel (6) Events of the Seventieth Seven (9:27)

Not only are gaps between first and second coming events common, but the two thousand year span (at least) found here may also be explained by the nature of this revelation. God was answering Daniel’s prayer, which specifically concerned the future of the nation Israel. Shortly after Israel rejected Jesus as their Messiah (after the sixty-nine sevens), Jerusalem was destroyed, the Jewish people were dispersed throughout the earth, and for almost two thousand years Israel as a nation did not exist. Therefore this period was omitted from the prophecy. Israel has now been reestablished as a nation (1948), suggesting that the seventieth seven may soon begin.

Daniel (6) Events of the Seventieth Seven (9:27)

The events of the last seven will begin with a covenant. Young argues that the one making the covenant will be the “Anointed One” (Jesus Christ) of v. 26 and that the clause should be translated as, He “will cause to prevail” a covenant. By this Young means that Christ “fulfilled the terms of this Covenant of Grace, that upon the basis of His finished work, life and salvation might be freely offered to sinners.

Daniel (6) Events of the Seventieth Seven (9:27)

Daniel’s message of the seventy sevens is one of the greatest prophecies in the Bible. Leupold calls it “the divine program for the ages.” Regardless of disagreement over dates and some matters of interpretation, certain facts seem clear. The passage predicts the coming of the Messiah—Jesus of Nazareth. Messiah will die, and subsequently the city of Jerusalem and the temple will be destroyed. At the end of the age an evil ruler will arise who will persecute God’s people, but his wicked activities will not continue, for the same Messiah who died will come again. He will judge the Antichrist and all those who follow him. Then the period characterized by the great accomplishments set forth in v. 24 will ensue. Although this message was first given to the Jewish faithful, all believers will participate in the kingdom of God. Leupold comments that the “glorious victory” of Christ described in this chapter “should be in the forefront of the thinking of God’s people.”