Daniel 9
Notes
Transcript
Daniel’s Prayer
Daniel’s Prayer
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Prayer
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Tonight we come back to Daniel and we are looking at chapter 9 today.
As we look at this chapter we will see that Daniel is burdened for his people, for their needs both physical and spiritual.
And as we walk through this text, I think it might remind us to pray for our nation as well.
Verses 1-2 Daniel 9:1-2
1 In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, by descent a Mede, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans— 2 in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, perceived in the books the number of years that, according to the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet, must pass before the end of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years.
So from the last chapter to this one, things have changed, remember we were still in the kingdom of Belshazzar last week, but today Darius is mentioned, the Mede (Medo-Persian) king.
So this is the first year of his reign, this is about 538bc. Daniel says he perceived, information came to his mind. Perhaps the Lord is speaking to him, teaching him.
Darius is the Son of Xerxes, who is also know as Ahasuerus, and by God’s plan, Darius has come into ruling power by God’s plan. God has granted him the authority to rule.
As Daniel searched the Hebrew scriptures, the books if you will, he comes to the prophet Jeremiah.
It is from Jeremiah that Daniel has a strong affirmation, that Jerusalem would lie in ruins until the inhabitants experienced the full measure of the discipline of YHWH. It was only after this that they could return and rebuild the city of God.
Now we know that Jerusalem’s total number of days or time it would lay in this condition would be 70 years.
11 This whole land shall become a ruin and a waste, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. 12 Then after seventy years are completed, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity, declares the Lord, making the land an everlasting waste.
Verse 3 Dan 9:3
3 Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.
Look at Daniel’s response. He turned to the Lord in prayer
He fervently prayed with a determined heart. He would pray until the Lord gave him an answer. The word Lord there is “Adonay” refers to the Lord who is the sovereign Lord, the ruler of all that there is.
Not only can the Lord hear, but he can direct the affairs of all who are upon this earth.
Fasting demonstrated the deep concern to God, prayer was more important than food. Sackcloth and ashes represent humility and mourning of our inability before God.
Verse 4 Dan 9:4
4 I prayed to the Lord my God and made confession, saying, “O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments,
Now we see more of Daniel’s content of prayer.
I prayed to the Lord my God and made confession.. He refers to God as ‘my God,” He was a child of God, and it speaks to his refusal to call anything or anyone else God.
Daniel’s prayer was fervent, his address was to the Lord and it was on behalf of His people.
And Daniel’s faithfulness in prayer calls out to the one who is not only faithful to hear but the one who keep his covenant and steadfast love.
The word love there is the OT word, Hesed, it is a loyal love of God by which he faithfully keeps his promises to his people, those of the covenant.
Daniel is appealing for God for mercy and restoration of the people.
Verse 5 Dan 9:5
5 we have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules.
Listen to Daniel’s confession, he is speaking corporately on behalf of all the people. He is a righteous person but he is pleading on behalf of all the people.
We have sinned, done wrong, acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside....
Sinned …missed the mark, wicked means for guilty of crimes against God. They rebelled, turned aside to God...
Israel had rebelled against Yahweh by turning aside from and refusing to obey his commands and laws.
Daniel is mourning at what he sees from the nation as a whole.
What about us? Christians have seen for decades what has happened in America, but have we, have we mourned the sin of our nation, have we repented of our sin, corporately as a nation.
Verse 6 Dan 9:6
6 We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.
The Lord had sent his servants, the prophets to the people, the prophets called the leaders to repent, and call the people to do the same. But the kings and others refused to listen.
Now we know the leaders, understand not all of them turned away from the Lord. But a lot did.
Verses 7-8 Dan 9:7-8
7 To you, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us open shame, as at this day, to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, those who are near and those who are far away, in all the lands to which you have driven them, because of the treachery that they have committed against you. 8 To us, O Lord, belongs open shame, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against you.
Daniel (3) Contents of the Prayer (9:4–19)
Daniel contrasted the righteousness of the Lord with the unfaithfulness of Israel
Israel was living in shame, they were in captivity because of their sin. All the Jews suffered this disgrace, none escaped. There was nothing worse than being conquered and their people carried off to a distant land.
Verse 9 Dan 9:9
9 To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against him
This tells us, or emphasizes that God is great and he is full of mercy , he will forgive sin. Even though they had rebelled against him, there was hope that he would show them mercy and forgive them so that they be made right with him.
Verses 10-11 Dan 9:10-11
10 and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God by walking in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets. 11 All Israel has transgressed your law and turned aside, refusing to obey your voice. And the curse and oath that are written in the Law of Moses the servant of God have been poured out upon us, because we have sinned against him.
They had turned their backs upon the Lord. Because Israel had forsaken God’s law, they had experienced the curses and sworn judgments threatened by the covenant laws.
Curses is singular and definite, a particular curse in view. Sworn judgments, is the same, showing a particular sworn judgment was intended. It was what was intended for breaking the law of Moses for breaking the covenant.
Just as God had promised the curse had been poured out upon the nation like a flood just as it had been written. Deut 28:15-20
15 “But if you will not obey the voice of the Lord your God or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes that I command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you. 16 Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the field. 17 Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. 18 Cursed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock. 19 Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out.
20 “The Lord will send on you curses, confusion, and frustration in all that you undertake to do, until you are destroyed and perish quickly on account of the evil of your deeds, because you have forsaken me.
Verse 12 Dan 9:12
12 He has confirmed his words, which he spoke against us and against our rulers who ruled us, by bringing upon us a great calamity. For under the whole heaven there has not been done anything like what has been done against Jerusalem.
YHWH had promised judgment up in all Israel (us and our rulers0 if they broke his covenant. Now the great disaster, the present exile had come. As the Israelites considered their flight, they were reminded that God does not lie.
Their nation had defeat and deportation. but their gods were idols of lifeless wood, stone and metal.
15 The idols of the nations are silver and gold,
the work of human hands.
16 They have mouths, but do not speak;
they have eyes, but do not see;
17 they have ears, but do not hear,
nor is there any breath in their mouths.
Now the people of the true God were in exile, and his city and temple were in ruins.
Verse 13 Dan 9:13
13 As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this calamity has come upon us; yet we have not entreated the favor of the Lord our God, turning from our iniquities and gaining insight by your truth.
God told them this would happen. Daniel here grieved not only over their sin and down fall, but over the fact that they had not repented of their sin.
Turning from sins and obeying the Lord is a description of true repentance.
Giving attention mean to listen and obey, and your truth speaks of your true teachings,
Verse 14 Dan 9:14
14 Therefore the Lord has kept ready the calamity and has brought it upon us, for the Lord our God is righteous in all the works that he has done, and we have not obeyed his voice.
The meaning there is really the Lord God was watching over them, Israel,He was waiting for their repentance, but if they didn’t repent. He was already at work.
He was preparing them for disaster...
Daniel (3) Contents of the Prayer (9:4–19)
Judgment fell because Yahweh “is righteous in everything he does.” Hebrew ṣaddîq may mean either “righteous” or “just
Daniel (3) Contents of the Prayer (9:4–19)
Yahweh’s actions as “just,” for justice demanded that Israel be penalized for its crimes against God. The exile was deserved.
Verse 15 Dan 9:15
15 And now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and have made a name for yourself, as at this day, we have sinned, we have done wickedly.
Here Daniel begins a petition of prayer.
He begins by calling on the Lord as the God of the exodus from the Egypt (Josh 24:17). And why mention the God of the Exodus? , Well it is to call attention to YHWH as the covenant Keeping God who had delivered Israel from Egypt. God did this to keep his covenant to Abraham.
And consider this, in his restoration of the the people as they return in the future, it is still God keeping his covenant to Abraham and to Israel.
IN spite of the peoples sin, Daniel is pleading with God to remember the promises to Abraham, and reestablish the nation.
Verse 16 Dan 9:16
16 “O Lord, according to all your righteous acts, let your anger and your wrath turn away from your city Jerusalem, your holy hill, because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and your people have become a byword among all who are around us.
Daniel calls for God to let his wrath subside. Let your anger be turned away from your city and your people because of their sins.
Because of their sin and people and Jerusalem as a city had become a by-word or an object of scorn to the surrounding nations.
Other nations looked down on them as insignificant people.
Verse 17 Dan 9:17
17 Now therefore, O our God, listen to the prayer of your servant and to his pleas for mercy, and for your own sake, O Lord, make your face to shine upon your sanctuary, which is desolate.
So as in the previous verse Daniel called for the city’s restoration, but here in this verse he is asking for the rebuilding of God’s temple. Daniel called for God to hear his prayers…He says listen to the prayer of your servant.... servant is a expression of humility and submission.
Daniel is appealing for God to be merciful...
Daniel asked for the Lord to look with favor on his broken sanctuary.. Not only was the Temple broken down but it made God look bad, the nations would think God was weak. So the call is for God to make his face shine in his temple, rebuild it and show the world He is there.
Verse 18 Dan 9:18
18 O my God, incline your ear and hear. Open your eyes and see our desolations, and the city that is called by your name. For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy.
Daniel pleaded with God to hear him, to give his ear to His prayer.God look at us, our terrible condition.
Daniel says we are calling to you because of your great mercy. You see there was no righteousness in them, in the people to merit God’s help. But his mercy would help them.
Now we enter the last section of the chapter....
Verse 20 Daniel 9:20
20 While I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my plea before the Lord my God for the holy hill of my God,
I love Daniel integrity, as he as praying, pleading on behalf of his people.
But he says while I was speaking before he had finished, God sent his answer.
Verse 21 Dan 9:21
21 while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the first, came to me in swift flight at the time of the evening sacrifice.
While he was speaking God sent his messenger, Gabriel, Man I love Gabriel, not worship or anything but i love the role God has given him in Scripture.
He came to Daniel in swift flight, at the time of the evening sacrifce, before the end of the day, 3 or 4 pm
Gabriel is called a man because of his human form. But he had visited him in a earlier vision.But apparently, Gabriel was the chief angel for divine communication, .. we know he speaks to Zechariah and Mary in Luke 1.
But he came, and came carries the idea of coming too but also touching Daniel
Verses 22-23 Daniel 9:22-23
22 He made me understand, speaking with me and saying, “O Daniel, I have now come out to give you insight and understanding. 23 At the beginning of your pleas for mercy a word went out, and I have come to tell it to you, for you are greatly loved. Therefore consider the word and understand the vision.
Gabriel spoke to Daniel. I have come to give you insight and understanding. I love as you look at verse 23, as the moment you began to pray I was sent to you.
As Daniel prayed the answer was given, he knows our prayers even before we ask them…
Daniel was a person who was highly esteemed, precious in the eyes of the Lord. He was thought well of God. V 23 says “for you are greatly loved...”
Verse 24 Daniel 9:24
24 “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, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place.
These are the 4 most controversial verses of the Bible.
70 weeks are decreed for your people and its city. for 490 years they had forsook God’s law, so for 70 years they were sent into captivity for their sin. God raised up Babylon for that purpose.
The purpose was to bring them into holy righteousness, They had abandoned the word of the Lord for a long time, but he would seal that up their sin.
Verse 25 Dan 9:25
25 Know therefore and understand that from the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a prince, there shall be seven weeks. Then for sixty-two weeks it shall be built again with squares and moat, but in a troubled time.
Gabriel told Daniel to pay special attention to the information he is about to receive, one for it was an answer to his prayer.
7 weeks, God would allow Cyrus to issue the proclamation allowed the Jewish exiles to return to Palestine and to rebuild their temple.
The reference to the coming of the prince was to Jesus.
According to the latter part of v. 25, during these sixty-nine sevens the city of Jerusalem would “be rebuilt with streets and a trench.” Jerusalem was in ruins when this prophecy was uttered, and God’s promise that the holy city would be restored would have brought great comfort to Daniel and his fellow Jews.
Verses 26-27 Dan 9:26-27
26 And after the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing. And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed. 27 And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator.”
Gabriel had already revealed to Daniel that Jerusalem would be rebuilt after the Babylonian destruction, but now he informed the prophet that sometime in the future Jerusalem and the temple would again be destroyed.
This time the destruction would not by the Babylonians but by “the people of the ruler who will come.
A.D. 70 Titus Vespasianus led the Roman legions against Jerusalem and utterly destroyed both the city and the temple. Exactly forty years after his crucifixion, Christ’s prophecy about these events was fulfilled
In verse 27, Daniel here described the completion of God’s purpose.
at the end of the church age, the antiChrist will come and establish a time of peace but it iwll not last
he will break his peace and lead the people to worship him, the antichrist and satan.
The desolatar, probably is a reference to the false prophet.
But when we look at this, we must be right with Jesus.