Fasting, Prayer, Sackcloth and Ashes
Notes
Transcript
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.
3 Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.
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,
5 we have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules.
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.
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.
9 To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against him
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
19 O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive. O Lord, pay attention and act. Delay not, for your own sake, O my God, because your city and your people are called by your name.”
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,
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.”
From where did Daniel receive the revelation of the 70 years? From the study of Jeremiah. God spoke to Daniel through the Scripture.
Let’s remember God is not playing hide and seek with His Word or His wisdom. Allistair Begg: If the main things are the plain things and the plain things are the main things, then these verses are not the foundational blocks of theology.
<Daniel’s effort (prayer) and God’s enabling accomplish much!> WHAT!?!?! Shouldn't that say repentance?
The message that results was ‘God hears you, I have been sent, I have a message: God loves you greatly!’
At the beginning of your plea a word went out. God values you just that much. We don't think that’s true of us. I know that’s how you think because its how I think. I look at Daniel and wonder how he got to that point.
Listen to your pastor: I spent significant time this week wondering, trying to figure out how Daniel got to the point where God valued him that much. I kept asking “What did he do to have God’s attention so that when he started praying a messenger was sent with that kind of message? God hears you, He loves you and He wants to make sure you understand!” And finally, just yesterday, sitting in the brown chair with tears streaming down my face, a message was sent to ME: Daniel was mine. Just like you are mine, Daniel was mine. That is how I love my children.
It wasn't about what Daniel did that gained him favor in God’s eyes. It was the unshakable fact of WHO DANIEL WAS that made him the recipient of doting of the Father! And God said to my spirit “Aren't you mine? Then I love you with and everlasting love. Nothing changes that.”
So I began to repent. Or rather I began to ask Him to help me repent. Because repentance is one of those things we fail to understand well. It just means to change your mind so that you agree with God. But I have a hard time changing my mind on my own. I have a lifetime of thought patterns, many of which are incorrect, harmful and even destructive to my relationship with Him and with others. So I have to have His help in changing my mind. Our mind is much more difficult to change than just about any other thing about us.
Little boy video
Backwards brain bicycle video
Repent is actually the most positive, transforming word in the world. We think of repent as when you stop doing bad things. That’s a misunderstanding. The stopping of ‘doing bad things’ is the result of repentance because we used to think one way and now we think another. Changing of the mind.
We used to think guilty thoughts, now we think forgiven thoughts.
We used to think damnation and discouragement and now we think peace.
We used to think selfishness and now we think service.
We begin to think of God as He really is and think of ourselves as He really sees us. Value and purpose!
Repentance is when we start rethinking our lives in order to match how Jesus thinks. It's not about what all I have to stop doing, its about doing only the things that matter because our mind is set on what is most important. It is THE MOST POSITIVE change in the world.
So why did Daniel fast, pray and sit in sackcloth and ashes? Because he wanted to. He wanted to show God his heart. But make no mistake it wasn't begrudgingly. It wasn't with a huge sigh and ‘I guess I’ll put on this toesack and sit in the fireplace’. It was with the anticipation of meeting with and hearing from his God. That would be quite the mindset change for some of us.
When we change our mind to match the mind of Christ, scripture lays out some specifics:
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,
Do you need to be refreshed? Do you need to recover from life’s hurts and be revived? Then you only need to repent. When you do forgiveness and peace and purpose are yours for the taking!