Daniel 9.19-Daniel Presents Five Requests to God Which Demonstrate His Concern for God's Reputation Among the Nations
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday November 20, 2013
Daniel: Daniel 9:19-Daniel Presents Five Requests of God Which Demonstrate His Concern for God’s Reputation Among the Nations
Lesson # 274
Please turn in your Bibles to Daniel 9:1.
Daniel 9:1 During Darius’ first year, Ahasuerus’ son, who was from Median descent, who was made king over the Chaldeans’ kingdom- 2 during the first year of his reign, I myself, Daniel understood by means of the scrolls the specific number of years which the word of the Lord communicated to Jeremiah the prophet for completing devastating Jerusalem-seventy years. 3 Therefore, I devoted my full attention to my Lord, the one and only God by repeatedly presenting prayer request in the form of pleas for mercy while fasting with sackcloth as well as ashes. 4 Indeed, I caused myself to enter into prayer to the Lord my God. Specifically, I caused myself to enter into confession and said, “O my Lord, the one and only God, the Great One yes the Awesome One, who is faithful to His covenant because of His unconditional love on behalf of those who love Him, namely on behalf of those who conscientiously observe His commands, 5 we have sinned, thus we have done wrong so that we have been condemned as guilty because we have rebelled. Specifically, we have deviated from Your commands, that is, from Your laws. 6 Furthermore, to our own detriment, we never paid attention to Your servants, the prophets who spoke by Your authority to and for the benefit of our kings as well as our leaders and in addition our ancestors, yes, to and for the benefit of all the people belonging to the land. 7 You are righteous my Lord but we are publicly disgraced as is the case this very day. To the detriment of the Judean people as well as to the detriment of Jerusalem’s inhabitants likewise to the detriment of all Israel, those nearby as well as those far away in all the countries where You have driven them because of their unfaithfulness which they perpetrated against You. 8 We are publicly disgraced Lord, to the detriment of our kings, to the detriment of our leaders as well as to the detriment of our ancestors because we have sinned against You. 9 My Lord, our God is merciful as well as forgiving even though we have rebelled against Him. 10 Specifically, to our own detriment, we never paid attention to the Lord, our God’s voice by living by means of His laws which He gave in our presence through His servants, the prophets. 11 Indeed, all Israel has transgressed Your law. In other words, they deviated to their own detriment by never paying attention to Your voice. Consequently, the sworn judgment was poured out against us, which was written in the law given to Moses, the servant of the one and only God because we have sinned against Him. 12 Specifically, He carried out His words which He spoke against us as well as against our rulers who ruled us by causing a great disaster to take place against us, which has never taken place under all heaven like what has taken place against Jerusalem. 13 As what is written in the law given to Moses, all this disaster has taken place against us. However, we never sought the Lord’s favor, our God by turning from our iniquity followed by giving heed to His truth. 14 Therefore, the Lord was vigilant concerning this promised disaster in order to cause it take place against us because the Lord, our God is righteous with regards to all His actions, which He has performed. However, to our own detriment, we never paid attention to His voice. 15 Indeed, now my Lord, our God who caused Your people to be brought out from Egypt by means of great power so that You made a name for Yourself as to this day, we have sinned, we have acted wickedly. 16 O Lord in keeping with all Your righteous acts, please, I beg of You, turn away Your anger, yes, Your righteous indignation from Your city, Jerusalem, Your holy mountain. For by means of our sins as well as by means of our ancestors’ iniquities, Jerusalem as well as Your people are a disgrace among all those around us. 17 Therefore, at this moment, our God, please respond favorably to Your servant’s prayer request, yes, favorably to his pleas for mercy. Indeed please cause Your face to shine upon Your sanctuary for the sake of my Lord. 18 Please incline Your ear O my God! Indeed, please respond! Please open Your eyes! Yes, please see our desolate ruins, namely the city which bears Your name because we are by no means repeatedly presenting our pleas for mercy in Your presence on behalf of it on the basis of our righteous acts but rather on the basis of Your great merciful acts!” (My translation)
Daniel 9:19 “O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and take action! For Your own sake, O my God, do not delay, because Your city and Your people are called by Your name.” (NASB95)
“O Lord, hear!” denotes that Daniel is requesting that God respond to his prayer request on behalf of Jerusalem and the Jewish exiles.
“O Lord, forgive!” is a request that God offer a pardon and forgiveness to the Jewish exiles in Babylon who had sinned against Him.
“O Lord, listen!” indicates that Daniel is requesting that the Lord exhibit the state of paying attention to his intercessory prayer request on behalf of the Jewish exiles in Babylon.
“Take action!” is a request that God act upon Daniel’s intercessory prayer request for the Jewish exiles in Babylon by forgiving them and restoring them to Jerusalem and the land promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
“For Your own sake, O my God, do not delay” indicates that Daniel is asking God to not delay in acting upon his intercessory prayer request for the Jewish exiles in Babylon for His own benefit.
“Because Your city and Your people are called by Your name” presents the reason why Daniel is requesting that God not delay in acting upon his intercessory prayer request for the Jewish exiles in Babylon and throughout the world.
Daniel is saying that Jerusalem and the Jewish people were called by the Lord’s name or bear His name in the sense that they were designated by God to represent Him.
Daniel 9:19 “O my Lord, please hear! O my Lord, please forgive! O my Lord, please pay attention and then act! Please do not delay O my God for Your own sake because for the benefit of Your city as well as for the benefit of Your people, they are called by Your name!” (My translation)
Daniel brings to an end his intercessory prayer on behalf of Jerusalem and the Jewish exiles in Babylon and around the world by making five more requests of his God, the God of Israel, which express his concern for God’s reputation.
Daniel is in effect requesting that God restore the Jewish exiles to the city of Jerusalem because His reputation is at stake since the Jewish people and the city of Jerusalem represent Him before the Gentile nations.
By rebuilding Jerusalem and restoring the Jews to the Promised Land and the city of Jerusalem in response to Daniel’s request, God would be bringing glory to Himself in the sense that He would have to demonstrate His attributes of sovereignty and omnipotence.
God would have to exercise these attributes in order to rebuild Jerusalem and to restore the Jewish people to the Promised Land and the city of Jerusalem.
Daniel is concerned about God’s reputation among the nations of the earth and thus wants God to have Jerusalem rebuilt and the Jewish people restored to this city and the land promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
By rebuilding Jerusalem and restoring the Jews to this city and the land of promise, God would enhance His reputation among the Gentile nations since nothing like this had ever taken place in history up to that time.
God would manifest Himself to these nations by having Jerusalem rebuilt and the Jews returned to the land and this city since it would require Him to exercise His sovereignty and omnipotence for this to all take place.
Daniel’s statements here in verse 19 present an excellent example for God’s people from every dispensation to follow, namely, a productive prayer requires that we ask God to glorify Himself and enhance His reputation among the unsaved and His people.
A productive prayer is asking God for what He wants rather than what we want.
It is asking God to bring glory to Himself so that His reputation is enhanced rather than our own.
The destruction of this city and the deportation of the Jews to Babylon has caused the Gentiles to blaspheme the name of God.
Thus, Daniel wants God to fulfill his request because he wants the Gentiles to stop blaspheming God because of the sins of the Jews.
So Daniel is making this request of God because of His reputation among the nations and not because of any merit on the part of the Jewish exiles.
The heathen mind in Daniel’s day believed that the God of the Jews was not strong as the gods of the Babylonians and other nations since they believed that when one nation defeated another, the god of the conquering nation was stronger than the god of the nation which was defeated in battle.
Daniel wants this thought to end among the Gentiles by God rebuilding Jerusalem and restoring the Jews to their homeland which would demonstrate His great power and sovereignty.