Sermon Tone Analysis

Wenstrom Bible Ministries

Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom

Thursday November 21, 2013

www.wenstrom.org

Daniel: Daniel 9:20-Daniel Was Interceding in Prayer, Confessing His and the Sin of Israel and Presenting His Intercessory Prayer Request for Jerusalem When Gabriel Arrived

Lesson # 275

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! 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 9:20 Now while I was speaking and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the LORD my God in behalf of the holy mountain of my God.

(NASB95)

“Now while I was speaking and praying” marks a transition from the account of Daniel’s intercessory prayer recorded in Daniel 9:3-19 to the account of Gabriel communicating to Daniel the answer to this prayer as recorded in Daniel 9:20-27.

It denotes that Daniel was still interceding in prayer to God on behalf of the Jewish exiles and Jerusalem when Gabriel arrived from the third heaven to provide him an answer to this prayer.

“And confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel” explains explicitly the meaning of the previous statement that Daniel was speaking with God, specifically praying to God.

“Supplication” is the noun teḥin·nā(h) (tekh-in-naw´),which means “request for mercy” referring to Daniel’s request of God that He withhold judgment against the city of Jerusalem because of the nation of Israel’s unrepentant disobedience to His laws.

“Before the LORD my God” indicates that Daniel was presenting a request for mercy for the city of Jerusalem in the presence of the Lord, his God.

“In behalf of the holy mountain of my God” is referring specifically to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem which is described as being set apart exclusively for the worship of the God of Israel.

Daniel 9:20 Now, I myself was still speaking specifically praying, namely confessing my sin as well as my people’s sin, Israel and in addition presenting my request for mercy in the Lord, my God’s presence on behalf of my God’s holy mountain.

(My translation)

Verse 20 marks a transition from Daniel’s account of his intercessory prayer to the Lord, his God on behalf of the Jewish exiles in Babylon and throughout the world as well as the city of Jerusalem to the account of God sending Gabriel to Daniel to give him an answer to this prayer.

The purpose of this statement in verse 20 is to identify for the reader what Daniel was doing when Gabriel arrived at his geographical location to give him an answer to his prayer.

It also reiterates what Daniel has told the reader in verses 3-19.

It thus serves to summarizes this pericope.

Thus, for the sake of God’s name, Daniel presents his request to restore Israel to the land promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and rebuild Jerusalem so that it could again be the center of the worship of the true and living God, which would bring glory to God since it would manifest His omnipotence and sovereignty.

We can see from Daniel’s prayer that confession of sin is an essential element of a productive prayer life.

He confesses not only Israel’s sin, which he mentions in verses 3-19 but also his own.

He could not expect God to listen or answer his prayer for Israel if he himself did not confess his own sins.

He had to confess his own sins first before God would answer his prayer for the nation of Israel and Jerusalem.

There are seven essential elements that should be included in every prayer offered to God: (1) confession, (2) Filling of the Spirit, (3) faith, (4) worship, (5) thanksgiving, (6) intercession, and (7) petition.

Confession of sin is the first essential element to a healthy and productive prayer; since, without it, the believer cannot have fellowship with God, which results in not having one’s prayer received by God, let alone receiving an answer to one’s prayer.

Fellowship with the Lord demands that the believer confess any known sin to the Father when necessary in order to be restored to fellowship.

Psalm 66:18 If I regard wickedness in my heart, the Lord will not hear.

(NASB95)

1 John 1:9 If any of us does confess our sins, then, He [God the Father] is faithful and just with the result that He forgives us our sins and He purifies us from each and every wrongdoing.

(My translation)

“Confess” is the verb homologeo, which is an admission of wrongdoing, crime, or shortcoming.

The believer, therefore, must “confess” any known sins to the Father in order to be restored to fellowship.

He is restored to fellowship because of the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ and His finished work on the cross, thus, the Father is faithful and just to forgive the believer his sins.

The believer receives the forgiveness of his sins in the “positional” sense the moment he is saved, which establishes a “permanent eternal relationship” between God and the believer.

Since our relationship with God is eternal, it can never be lost but our fellowship with God, in time, can be lost due to sin and is only restored through the confession of sin to the Father.

Although the believer experiences the forgiveness of sins at the moment of salvation, once he sins after salvation, he must confess those sins to regain fellowship with God.

Failure to confess personal sin to the Father and, thus, remain out of fellowship with God for an extended period of time will result in divine discipline, which comes in three categories: (1) warning discipline (Rev.

3:20; Jam.

5:9), (2) intense discipline (Ps.

38:1; 2 Thess.

2:11), and (3) dying discipline (Jer.

9:16; 44:12; Phlp.

3:18-19; Rev. 3:16; 1 Cor.

10:13-14; Ps. 118:17-18; 1 Jn.

5:16).

After confessing our sins to the Father, we are automatically restored to fellowship with Him.

Fellowship is maintained by obeying the Word of God, which constitutes the second essential element—being filled or influenced by means of the Spirit.

Our prayers are empty requests if not inspired or influenced by the Spirit.

Therefore, after confessing our sins, we are to obey the Word of God and, in particular, we are commanded to bring our thoughts into obedience to Christ, which constitutes obeying the commands to be filled with the Spirit (Eph 5:18) and to let the Word of Christ richly dwell in our souls (Col 3:16).