Daniel 9

Introduction:

We’re going to be focusing on Daniel’s prayer, I’ll let my dad handle the end of the chapter where it discusses some prophecy...

In this chapter, we can learn a few things from the life of Daniel.

Heaven even thought of Daniel as a man of “Highly esteemed”

I mean… if Heaven thought he was highly esteemed, then we can learn a lot from him.

Don’t recall any negatives toward Daniel in scripture.

In this chapter, we see Daniel providing intercessory prayer for the nation of Israel.

Pray

V.1-3

Man, Daniel, this might man of God, read the scriptures that he had..

If Daniel did this, then we can’t be caught slacking in our study time.

The current year is 538 BC, so Daniel is around the ripe young age of 81.

Even at his old age, he still made time to read… he never thought that he knew it all, he never thought that he needed more than scripture, he was faithful.

Are you faithful in your life? Are you being faithful in spending time with God? or, are you making excuses to not spend that time with him?

Making excuses is a slippery slope…

Daniel was reading Jeremiah, he understood that jeremiah gives the amount of time that Israel would be help captive...

There are two verses that would’ve stood out to Daniel...

Jeremiah 25:8–12 NKJV

“Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Because you have not heard My words, behold, I will send and take all the families of the north,’ says the Lord, ‘and Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant, and will bring them against this land, against its inhabitants, and against these nations all around, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, a hissing, and perpetual desolations. Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones and the light of the lamp. And this whole land shall be a desolation and an astonishment, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. ‘Then it will come to pass, when seventy years are completed, that I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity,’ says the Lord; ‘and I will make it a perpetual desolation.

Jeremiah 29:8–14 NKJV

For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are in your midst deceive you, nor listen to your dreams which you cause to be dreamed. For they prophesy falsely to you in My name; I have not sent them, says the Lord. For thus says the Lord: After seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place. For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back from your captivity; I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will bring you to the place from which I cause you to be carried away captive.

2 things should stand out for us about Daniels’ prayer.

Wisdom, Hope, and Steadfastness comes from God’s word...

Pastors tell you this all the time… You can’t stop reading the word of God.

Daniel is 81 years old… You know that he has seen some stuff… he saw nations rise and fall, but nothing that he saw shook him… Why?

Daniel was able to stand tall, no matter what the case was..

He received confidence from God’s word which held his life steadfast.

This assure him that God was in control..

People lose all sense of God’ control when they get their focus off of God.

Like in 2 weeks… It doesn’t matter who wins because God is the one who put that person in control of our nation. No matter who wins… it won’t be the end of the world.

We can be confident and steadfast but only if you are being diligent in the Word.

People get so worked up over nothing because they lose focus of God… They think God will do whatever they think is right, but that’s not what happens.

God does whatever He wants… He doesn’t need our permission, doesn’t need our council, doesn’t need our vote… He does as He pleases… He has a purpose and a plan..

God Expects Action

Reading your scriptures is not enough… There has to be a response to God’s word.

You can’t just read and read and read, then do nothing...

Jeremiah 29:8–14 NKJV

For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are in your midst deceive you, nor listen to your dreams which you cause to be dreamed. For they prophesy falsely to you in My name; I have not sent them, says the Lord. For thus says the Lord: After seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place. For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back from your captivity; I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will bring you to the place from which I cause you to be carried away captive.

Daniel could’ve stopped at verse 10 and 11 (everyone’s favorite verse) and couldve thought “sweet, God will restore everything after 70- years… I’ll JUST WAIT to see what happens.

This would have been wrong.... God said, he would be found when His people sought Him with all their hearts! So that’s what Daniel does… He sought after God… He lived out the scriptures that He had… He was an example to all those that where around him.

V.4-10

Daniels Prayer of Forgiveness

3 Points from this part:

This is pretty obvious, Daniel calls out sin! He says what it is!

Daniel didn’t water down the sin or make excuses, he didn’t cast the blame on someone else...

When we pray, we have to be honest with God. You gotta call sin what it is...

We can’t be like, “oh lord, forgive me for my sins… Amen..” NO!! That’s not real and honest...

We tell God how we sinned and what we did and seek forgiveness....

God wants truth and honesty!!

OVer and over Daniel associates himself with his people Israel.

Daniel was righteous, yet he identified himself with his fellows Jews in this prayer and speaks of their sin as his own.

In this one prayer, he associates himself 32 times...

When we pray for our nation, are we including ourselves?

Let’s be honest, we’re no better than anyone else…

We have just been saved by the blood of Christ.. We’ve had our spiritual eyes open to the Truth…

If we’re going to pray for our nation or our church.. we should be like Daniel...

Daniel recognizes that God is the One who is righteous… Shame and guilt is on the people.

This is obvious… of course God is righteous… but sometimes we can get it mixed up...

Just thinking of the age in which we live and how people think nowadays. We live in a generation that is openly taught to esteem itself... to love ourselves... to promote ourselves... declare positive things about ourselves. Hence we don't like to take the blame for things. And that can carry over to our Christianity. In our propensity to blame others we can even blame God. Daniel knew that God was righteous but shame on us. I think sometimes when we are going through difficulties and wondering why that is, we can reverse the truth and think 'well, I've been doing everything right, living a good God-honouring life and all I get is this! I've been righteous but shame on you God. Shame on you!' Obviously we don't exactly get up on the church stage and give that kind of 'testimony' but the thoughts could still be there. If you have thought that then I suggest that Daniel was actually correct in who was righteous and who had shame!

V. 11-14

How do you judge where God’s people are at?

2 points from here..

What is the measure that Daniel uses to judge where Israel is at?

Babylonians? Nope

Previous generations? Nope

He measures them according to the Word...

How should we judge our nation?

According to The Word of God.

WE see our nation slipping away from God’s truth and laws… Deosn’t matter what side you’re on, they both are walking in darkness.. They both are sliding down the wrong path..

Sadly, we see churches following behind the world...

Churches are allowing the world to get in and allowing culture to speak to infiltrate your place of worship...

It’s sad seeing churches playing worldly songs during service or before service… It’s sad seeing churches worship political parties and agendas, instead of God… It’s sad to see churches all about the money, all about health, wealth, and prosperity… It’s disgusting..

We can’t let culture speak for us or dictate who we worship...

We have to stay focused on the Word of God and live it out...

Daniel speaks a lot about sin in his prayer… But, what was their sin at this time?

People could mistake it for thinking they were living in immorality, violence, theft, or adultery, but that’s not it...

Israel was quite religious at the time of the exile of Babylon..

They had: Priesthood, Temple, prophets (true and false), and everyone did their religious duties...

But their hearts were long gone...

Jeremiah 2:1-13

When you read it, you see God recounting the devoiton of His people, His bride, in their youth… it ends with the climax of the issue:

Jeremiah 2:13 NKJV

“For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, And hewn themselves cisterns—broken cisterns that can hold no water.

The sin was forsaking God while maintaining a false religion, which looked good outwardly, but was devoid of the True God.

God had to break Israel to get them back in line… like a surgeon.

Makes you think how long God will allow us to slide further away from him?

How long will God allow His church in america to backslide...

Said this before… Maybe God will judge our nation by putting someone we don’t want in office…

V.15-19

God and His people are one

THis is the last part of Daniel’s prayer, it’s based on supplication.

Supplication: The action of asking or begging for something earnestly or humbly...

Israel had become a reproach to the people..

They were meant to be a light to all the nations

The were meant to show the way to the True Living God through word and deed.

Instead, they became an object of scorn and disgust to all those around them...

Scorn, in Hebrew, means = Shame and Disgrace

Instead of attracting people, they repelled people…

Does this sound familiar?

We hear stories about how people don’t want God or church because of “Christians.”

THis is true… It’s sad...

God and His people are inseparably linked...

In the first part of the prayer Daniel associated himself with his people. In the last part he associates God with His people! Israel alone worshipped the true God yet because of their sin, Jerusalem now lay in ruin and the people in exile.

So what did this mean for the God of Jerusalem? In the eyes of the Babylonians it meant the God of Israel was weak or false. So notice how Daniel repeatedly reminds God that it is 'your people', 'your city', 'your holy hill'...

If God is to act it is for 'your sake' and because of 'your mercy' for those that bear 'your name'. In other words, God and His people are inseparably linked. Like it or not, when God's people become a reproach it is also brings shame and scorn for God Himself.

If God were to act, it would be because of his grace and mercy towards His people and because of regard for His own name. This principle applies to God's faithfulness to Israel in the last days as well. Look also at a promise of God to Israel to restore them fully in the last days and note why God will act:

Ezekiel 36:19–26 NKJV

So I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed throughout the countries; I judged them according to their ways and their deeds. When they came to the nations, wherever they went, they profaned My holy name—when they said of them, ‘These are the people of the Lord, and yet they have gone out of His land.’ But I had concern for My holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations wherever they went. “Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “I do not do this for your sake, O house of Israel, but for My holy name’s sake, which you have profaned among the nations wherever you went. And I will sanctify My great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst; and the nations shall know that I am the Lord,” says the Lord God, “when I am hallowed in you before their eyes. For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

For us today:

Is the way you are living glorifying to God?

Is God’s name glorified around our nation by what the world sees of the church?

When the world watches your life, which they do, what do they see?

Does your life draw people or repel people?

Daniel’s action and prayer is an example of a Godly man...

Let’s be those Godly people like Daniel..