The Scriptures Move Daniel to Prayer

Transcript

GR1911
3/8/2015
The Scriptures Move Daniel to Prayer
Daniel 9:1-21; Jeremiah 25, 29
Gil Rugh

We are returning to our study of the book of Daniel together tonight. We took a break as we were looking at the covenants of Scripture and that does tie to what is going on in Daniel and we will see more of that as we move into some of these prophetic sections.

Daniel chapter 9 is one of the more important prophetic sections in the Bible. The last part of Daniel chapter 9 is essential to understanding God’s prophetic program for the nation Israel. What is unfolded in the book of the Revelation of John is tied back to the truth particularly in Daniel chapter 9 where you have the time line of God’s plan for the nation Israel set out. That picks up in verse 24 which we are familiar with if you have been in the Word very long, “Seventy weeks have been decreed for Your people and Your holy city” and then He unfolds that crucial time line for the nation Israel. But it is important that we see the context. You will note as our Bibles are set out that 70 weeks begins in verse 24 for there are 23 verses as we have it in our English Bibles that precede that and there we have one of the most outstanding prayers recorded in the Bible and the prophecy at the end of chapter 9 is a direct response to the prayer of Daniel. We see something of the effectiveness of the prayer of a righteous person and this key truth of God’s plan for His people, Israel, is a response to the prayer of His servant, Daniel.

We are going to start with verse 1 and look through this prayer which will bring us to the 70 weeks of Daniel. The chapter opens up giving us a time line. “In the first year of Darius, the son of Ahasuerus, of Median descent, who was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans.” Now we are familiar with this time line. Turn back if you would to the last verse of chapter 5. In Chapter 5 recorded, remember, the fall of Babylon to the Medo-Persian Empire. In that last verse of chapter 5 of Daniel verse 31 says: “So Darius the Mede received the kingdom at about the age of sixty-two.” So now we are going to that first year of Darius again. In between we have had other revelations so as we have noted there is not necessarily a sequential order in what is going on but the unfolding of the truth being revealed.

It’s the first year of Darius. Put it in the context we are coming to the end of the Babylonian captivity, obviously because Babylon has fallen, 539 B.C., the fall of 539 B. C. more specifically Babylon fell to the Medo-Persians. So this is where we are. The Babylonian captivity started in 605 B. C. if you remember so we are getting close to the end of that. And this is a tumultuous time in Israel’s history and a tumultuous time for Daniel. I mean think of the significance. He’s been through the fall of Judah, the southern kingdom of Israel to the Babylonians. He was carried away to Babylon in that first captivity, deportation if you will of some of the people. Not a large number in that first deportation in 605 but Daniel was included; the horror of experiencing the capturing and conquering of your country. It was not a pleasant time.

Remember what happened to the last king. He was taken out and brought before Nebuchadnezzar; his sons were executed before while he watched and then Nebuchadnezzar had the king’s eyes put out so that last thing he would see would be the slaughtering of his own family. These were brutal times and Daniel was through that, the siege that would have taken place in those last days of Judah and the final fall.

Now Babylon has fallen so Daniel has lived through the entire Babylonian period. He’s an old man now. If he was around 15 when he was deported to Babylon as we talked about in chapter 1, he would be about eighty-one now. So he is advanced in years. Now he beholds a change of empires. Where does that take us? What is before us as the Jewish people seems to be what is on his mind?

So in verse 2: “In the first year of his reign I, Daniel, observed in the books the number of the years which was revealed in the prophecies of Daniel the prophet.” What had been revealed in the prophecies that Daniel was reading? He had been reading the prophecies of Jeremiah and you will note already recognized clearly that Jeremiah’s prophecies were the Word of the Lord.

Jeremiah prophesied from 627, he dates the beginning of his prophetic ministry and we know he was still having a prophetic ministry. He was still alive down to 582. So he’s a little ahead of Daniel but he overlaps with Daniel. His prophetic ministry began before Daniel was born and it would have ended before Daniel died but he was prophesying in the context of the Babylonian captivity before and during that captivity.

Some of his prophecies were sent to Babylon and Daniel is studying the prophecies of Jeremiah and he realized and came to understand that the Babylonian captivity was to last for 70 years, 70 years captivity. That tells him something. He was carried away when the captivity began. We are now 67, 68 years along. This time must be coming to an end and so he begins to seek the Lord’s face.

You understand what happens with the Babylonian captivity. Come back to the end of the book of 2 Chronicles. In 2 Chronicles chapter 36 you have recorded the fall of Jerusalem. This would go back to when he was taken captive and what happens, you have beginning in verse 11 and following the last king who had been set up by Nebuchadnezzar, Zedekiah. We are told what happened and why the captivity occurred. Look at verse 14. “Furthermore, all the officials of the priests and the people were very unfaithful following all the abominations of the nations; and they defiled the house of the Lord which He had sanctified in Jerusalem. And the Lord, the God of their fathers, sent word to them again and again” but it didn’t do any good. He had compassion on them. He sends his messengers to them. Verse 16: “They continually mocked the messengers of God, despised His words and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against His people, until there was no remedy.”

You know you reject the mercy and grace of God repeatedly, the door closes. It’s too late. There is no remedy. Time and time again God sent the message through the mouth of His prophets. So the captivity occurs and you see verse 17: “He brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans (the Babylonians) who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion on young man or virgin, old man or infirm; he gave them all into his hand, and all the articles of the house of God,” and so on.

Verse 19: “They burned the house of God.” Verse 21: “To fulfill the Word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its Sabbaths. All the days of its desolation it kept Sabbath until seventy years were complete.” And then you come to Cyrus, king of Persia and what he would do to end the captivity and allow the Jewish people to return to their land.

Come back to the book of Leviticus, chapter 25 – to put this in its context, Leviticus chapter 25. You have instructions here given to Israel. “The Lord then spoke to Moses at Mount Sinai, saying, “Speak to the sons of Israel, and say to them, ‘When you come into the land which I shall give you, then the land shall have a Sabbath to the Lord. Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather in its crop, but during the seventh year the land shall have a Sabbath rest, a Sabbath to the Lord; you shall not sow your field nor prune your vineyard, your harvest’s after growth you shall not reap.’” And so on.

There is a year of rest for the land. It belongs to the Lord. So the same pattern as for Israel. You had the seventh day of the week being a day of rest and so on. So here now you have a Sabbath year, every seventh year you let the land sit. It belongs to the Lord, pretty clear. What happened? Israel failed to do it.

You come to chapter 26 of Leviticus and you will note it starts out in verse 1 a warning about idols and so on. Verse 2: “You shall keep My Sabbaths and reverence My sanctuary; I am the Lord.” And then here you will see, the promised blessings, the promised judgment. “If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments so as to carry them out, then I shall give you rains in their season,” the land will prosper, your enemies will be driven off. You will be blessed and I will be Your God and you will be My people to summarize it and you will experience all the blessings.” But verse 14: “But if you do not obey Me and do not carry out all these commandments,” then you have judgment. Verse 16: “I will appoint over you a sudden terror, consumption and fever. I will set my face against you (verse 17) you will be struck down before your enemies.” You see the super-natural work going on. If they honor God, worship Him, obey Him, the enemy will be running from the Israelites but if you don’t honor Me and obey Me you will be running from your enemies.

Verse 18: “If also after these things, you do not obey Me,” if you don’t learn your lesson from the initial judgments then it is going to get worse and there is nothing you can do to fight against God.

Verse 20: “Your strength shall be spent uselessly.” There will be no result from all your toil. Your fields won’t produce. I will bring judgment on you and then if you continue in hostility toward Me, and on it goes.

Come down to verse 32: “I will make the land desolate so that your enemies who settle in it shall be appalled over it. I will scatter you among the nations. I will draw out a sword after you as your land becomes desolate, your cities become waste. Then the land will enjoy its Sabbaths, all the days of its desolation, while you were in your enemies’ land.”

Remember that seventh year belonged to the Lord. There is nothing, no harvesting, none of that to be going on. You don’t honor Me with that seventh year then I will drive you out of the land and the land will sit with no one to plant, no one to harvest until I get all My Sabbaths. You know what happened? For 490 years Israel skipped the seventh year.

Let’s face it. We all know what that’s like. If you do something you know the Lord would not have you do and nothing happens, hmm, guess not so serious. Well let’s face it. If my parents and my grandparents haven’t found it necessary to obey the Lord and keep the seventh year I guess I don’t have to either. I guess the Lord just sort of dropped that.

The Lord didn’t drop that. After 490 years He said every seventh year you owe Me seventy years of Sabbaths. Remember what I told you? I will remove you from the land so you won’t have opportunity to farm it and that’s what the Babylonian captivity is doing. Isn’t it interesting? The Babylonian captivity is going to last 70 years. Why? That’s all God needed them for. He raised them up for a specific purpose. When they have served His purpose He said I will bring another nation and punish them; the sovereignty of God. Remember what the book of Daniel is about – that God reigns in the realm of mankind. His kingdom has not been established on earth but He is sovereign over all the kingdoms of the earth.

Verse 35: “All the days of its desolation it will observe the rest which it did not observe on your Sabbaths, while you were living on it.” That is the 70 years. Now while we are here I want you to note something because this comes up in the prayer of Daniel and you see the godliness of Daniel and he is a man of the Scriptures. He knows and studies the prophecies of Jeremiah. He is familiar and knows what is said in the Law. Remember chapter 1 of Daniel started out when he was a young man of only 15. Committed he would honor God even with the diet that was required for a Jewish person, even when he is carried off to a foreign land. We will see in this prayer he is still observing the times of prayer in the context of the sacrifices that hadn’t been offered for 50 years or more in Jerusalem but he is committed to faithfulness to the Word.

Note what God says and He scatters them into the land, verse 40: “If they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their forefathers, in their unfaithfulness which; they committed against Me, and also in their acting with hostility against Me.” This is not just unfaithfulness in a passive sense; this is unfaithfulness in an active hostility against God. “I was acting in hostility against them to bring them into the land of their enemies – or if their uncircumcised heart becomes humbled so that they then make amends for their iniquity, then I will remember My covenant with Jacob.”

Remember when we studied the covenants? The covenant was given to Abraham. It was repeated with Isaac. It was repeated with Jacob whose name is changed to Israel. So this is the Abrahamic Covenant. “With Jacob I will remember also My covenant with Isaac, My covenant with Abraham.” He ties it to that line. “I will remember the land for the land will be abandoned by the, and shall make up for its Sabbaths while it is made desolate without them. They, meanwhile, shall be making amends for their iniquity, because they rejected My ordinances and their soul abhorred My statues. Yet in spite of this, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them, not will I so abhor them as to destroy them, breaking My covenant with them; for I am the Lord their God.” You see that unshakable commitment to the covenant made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob but I will not tolerate your rebellion but if, even in the land of your enemies you repent, you turn to Me, then I will forgive you.

Come to Jeremiah. I was going to come back to Daniel but we will pick up Jeremiah’s prophecy now. So run through Psalms, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Jeremiah being tucked between Isaiah and Ezekiel, those three large prophetic books. Come to Jeremiah chapter 25. We have a prophecy given, you will note when; dates it with the king of Judah but then look at the last statement in verse 1 of chapter 25 of Jeremiah. “That was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.” We know where we are, 605 B.C. when God speaks to him and you see what Jeremiah’s ministry has been like. “Jeremiah spoke to all the people of Judah and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem saying” (verse 3) “From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king od Judah, even to this day, these twenty-three years the Word of the Lord has come to me, and I have spoken to you again and again, but you have not listened.”

The ministry of a prophet in Israel was a difficult ministry and we call Jeremiah the weeping prophet for good reason. “And the Lord has sent to you all His servants the prophets again and again, but you have not listened nor inclined your ear to hear.” Then He calls them again, “turn from your evil way and your evils deeds” and on it goes.

Verse 7: “You have not listened to Me,” declares the Lord. “And your continued rebellion is to provoke Me to anger.” So verse 8: “Because you have not obeyed My words, I will send and take all the families of the north, declares the Lord, and I will send to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, My servant, and will bring them against this land, and against it inhabitants; I will destroy them and make them a horror and a hissing, and an everlasting desolation. I will take from them the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride.” It is a life of misery that is before you and then verse 11: “This whole land shall be a desolation and a horror, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. Then it will be when the seventy years are completed I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, declares the Lord, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans; and I will make it an everlasting desolation.”

God uses sinful nations to accomplish His purposes but that does not excuse the sin of the nations that he uses. So Babylon becomes an instrument of God’s judgment on the southern kingdom, Judah but when they have served God’s purpose then He will judge them for their rebellion against Him.

So seventy years and then after seventy years the Babylonians so Daniel has just experienced that. The Babylonian Empire has fallen. He can see the judgment that God prophesies and the potential ending of the captivity of the people.

You are in Jeremiah, turn over to chapter 29 and just pick up with verse 10. This is a later prophecy, the second deportation. The first deportation remember, by the Babylonians took place in 605. The second deportation took place in 597. Then we have 586 so “This was after” (Verse 2 says) “King Jeconiah and the queen mother, the court officials, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen and the smiths had departed from Jerusalem.”

Then you come down, verse 10: “Thus says the Lord, ‘When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place.’” Ah, the Word of the Lord through Jeremiah and Daniel’s studying the Scripture and that’s what will move him to prayer, that heart of a desire to know what God has said, to believe it and then to pray in light of it.

You are close, come back to Isaiah chapter 44. Now Isaiah is before the Babylonian captivity, back in the context of what would be the Assyrian captivity of the northern ten tribes. Isaiah chapter 44 you have Isaiah prophesying what would take place in this great section. He says in verse 24 of Isaiah 44, “Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, and the one who formed you from the womb; ‘I, the Lord, am the maker of all things, stretching out the heavens by Myself, and spreading out the earth all alone.” And He is in control of everything. Verse 26 He is “confirming the word of His servant, and performing the purpose of His messengers.” Then down to verse 28. “It is I who says of Cyrus, “He is My Shepherd! And he will perform all My desire.’ He declares of Jerusalem, She will be built, and of the temple, ‘Your foundation will be laid.’” Now wait a minute. This is a long way off but Cyrus is going to be the man who is going to declare that Jerusalem can be rebuilt. That will end the captivity. The Jews can go back and rebuild their city.

Verse 1 of chapter 45: “Thus says the Lord to Cyrus His anointed, whom I have taken by the3 right hand, to subdue nations before him, and to loosen the loins of kings.” I am doing all this, verse 4: “For the sake of Jacob My servant, and Israel My chosen one, I have also called you by your name; (Cyrus) I have given you a title of honor although you have not known Me.” Cyrus, he is called God’s shepherd because he is the unregenerate godless king that God will use to bring about the restoration of the nation after the Babylonian captivity. Amazing the details. It just doesn’t say a king, it will be Cyrus and Darius the Mede is serving over Babylon. Cyrus is the king. This is just the way God said a couple hundred years earlier. It is just amazing.

So come back to Daniel chapter 9. All this background we can go through the prayer and you will see what happened with Daniel. He is going to pray exactly like God said would be necessary for the restoration of the nation. He is not passively sitting back saying well, God said after 70 years He will restore the people if they repent and so on so I will be interested to see what He does. Daniel is on his knees earnestly verse 3: “So I gave my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.” There is intensity here. When Daniel is done with this season of prayer he is exhausted. He pours himself into this. He gives his attention to the Lord to seek Him with prayer and supplication, fasting, sackcloth, ashes, symbols of humility, sorrow.

You know Daniel is an elderly man of about 81 and has been in the Babylonian captivity from the beginning. He hasn’t developed a self-righteous attitude, me and them with the people Israel. He joins himself with them. He hasn’t committed the sins but yet he is part of that nation and he identifies with them.

So he comes to the Lord and in verse 4: “I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed and said, “Alas, O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and loving kindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments.” First, I want to honor God and acknowledge Him, give Him the honor, the adoration that He deserves, confess. You are the great and awesome God. You keep your covenant; 70 years and this captivity hasn’t embittered him, hasn’t discouraged him, hasn’t weakened his commitment to honor the Lord and You are the God who keeps Your covenant. Your loving kindness, your covenant love, for those who love Him and keep his commandments.

So often times we talk about prayer and we use the acts acronym, adoration, and that’s where he starts with an acknowledgement to God and a reminder to himself, “I am before the awesome God, the great God, the covenant keeping God, the faithful God. ‘We have sinned.’” Isn’t it amazing? We have sinned. He didn’t say, “They have sinned.” We have sinned. I am part of this nation. He’s been faithful with that nation but he’s identified with them. You know, it hasn’t made him self-righteous. But I haven’t been like them. “We have sinned. We have committed iniquity, acted wickedly, rebelled, even turning aside from Your commandments and ordinances. Moreover, we have not listened to Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings, our princes, our fathers, and all the people of the land.” You know, he emphasizes their sin and it is serious; six different expressions here. He talks about their sin in verses 5 and 6. He says, “We have sinned, committed iniquity, acted wickedly, rebelled, turned aside from Your commandments and ordinances, not listened to Your servants, the prophets.”

He does not minimize the seriousness of their sin as a nation. God is the covenant keeping God; a God of loving kindness. There is no question about God and His character in this. He is laying before God because what did we read in Leviticus when God has driven the nation off the land for their relentless rebellion. They come to the point where they repent of their sin. They acknowledge their sin, they humble themselves before Him and then they remember their covenant and restore them. Daniel is like Moses in that sense becoming the intercessor for the nation. God you are the God who keeps His Word. You have done what You said You would do for our rebellion. We are guilty. There is no doubt about the loving kindness, the covenant love of God. It is our sin but now Daniel is acknowledging it, calling upon God. We are sinners. We are guilty. We haven’t listened to Your servants, the prophets. They spoke in Your name. Our kings, our princes, the leaders and the people alike all turned a deaf ear and we saw that warning in Leviticus.

Then note what he says, “Righteousness belongs to You, O Lord, but to us open shame.” Again, I just love the way Daniel does it. “Righteousness belongs to You, O Lord and to them belong shame. He is aware of his identification with the nation and he is aware of his own frailty. There are no sins recorded about Daniel but there is the sense of his unworthiness and guilt within the nation. To us open shame, disgrace and you know something about the attitude of shame in some of those eastern countries and in Biblical times. The shame of face.

“To the men of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and all Israel, those who are nearby and those who are far away in all the countries to which You have driven them, because of their unfaithful deeds which they have committed against You.” No matter where the people are they are all the same. “Open shame belongs to us, O Lord, to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, because we have sinned against You. To the Lord our God belong compassion and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against Him; nor have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in His teachings which He set before us through His servants the prophets. Indeed all Israel has transgressed Thy law and turned aside, not obeying Your voice; so the curse has been poured out on us, along with the oath which is written in the law of Moses the servant of God” what we read in Leviticus, how good it is to be filled with the Word of God and come in prayer to address God in light of His Word, what He has said, what He has promised and pray accordingly. That is what Daniel is doing. “For we have sinned against Him. Thus He has confirmed His Words which He had spoken against us and against our rulers who ruled us, to bring on us great calamity; for under the whole heaven there has not been done anything like what was done to Jerusalem.”

Other nations have risen and fallen; other cities have been destroyed but this is the city where God has chosen to put His Name. This is the city above cities. This is the holy city. This is where the temple of God was, where God manifested His presence among His people. The only city on all the earth and what has happened? It has been destroyed. The people have been carried away. “As it is written in the law of Moses,” I mean he can go to the prophecy of Jeremiah. He can go to the law given through Moses in portions like Leviticus that we read. “As it written in the law of Moses, all this calamity has come on us; yet we have not sought the favor of the Lord our God by turning from our iniquity and giving attention to Your truth. Therefore, the Lord has kept the calamity in store and brought it on us.” When it finally came it was just what had been stored up by our sin and then it broke out on us. “For the Lord our God is righteous with respect to all His deeds which He has done, but we have not obeyed His voice.”

Daniel was a righteous man, a godly man. Everything about Daniel testifies from the beginning of the early days of his youth when he was about a young man of 15. He is being faithful to what the Lord said as we saw in Daniel chapter 1. Here he is a man in his eighties and still a man of the Word. “In sackcloth in ashes” indicating his own humility, sorrow and grief for the sin of the nation that he identifies with. We deserve it. He doesn’t say, “I don’t deserve it, I’ve been faithful. They did it. No, I am part of that nation and to that extent I share the guilt in that sense. I am part of a people who have rebelled against the Lord.” But you see – remember God said, “If you will repent, if you will call on me.” And I realize since I have studied Jeremiah it would be seventy years. We are coming up on the seventy years. We are almost there and if we call on the Lord. What a beautiful thing here he is acting as the intercessor for the nation, not telling the Lord what to do but honoring the Lord, acknowledging the sin of the nation, the guilt of the nation, the justice and righteousness of God in punishing the nation but now calling on Him for mercy, for restoration.

Verse 15: “Now, O Lord our God, who brought us out of Egypt” and he puts it, “brought Your people out of the land of Egypt.” What is he asking? “Now take us from this land of captivity in Babylon and bring us back to our land. You are the God.” And he has full confidence. You see in all of this our being captives in the land of Babylon, my spending my entire adult life in this foreign, pagan land and too old. He won’t be a part of the group going back but his faith in God is not shaken. “You are a God of Your Word. You are the God who brought the nation out of Egypt with a mighty hand. You made a name for Yourself, as it is this day – we have sinned, we have been wicked.” No reflection on the power and ability of God. You are the God who brought the nation out of Egypt and His power is in no way diminished. This Babylonian captivity that he has borne direct impact of by being carted away to Babylon, spending all of his life here has not diminished his confidence in God and this is all part of the sovereign plan of God, necessary because of our sin. “We have sinned, we have been wicked.” He keeps coming back to that because when you are reading Leviticus like we just did, like Leviticus 26, what? When Israel comes to realize their sin and turns to Me. So he acknowledged the power of God to bring deliverance like He did from Egypt and that power was an ongoing testimony before the nations of the power of the God of Israel. He is asking Him to do the same thing.

“We have sinned, we have been wicked. O, Lord in accordance with all Your righteous acts let now Your anger and Your wrath turn away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain.” Mark that because in response to this prayer what God is going to do with Jerusalem and the nation Israel becomes the focal point.

Daniel prays, “Let now Your anger and Your wrath turn away from Your city, Jerusalem, Your holy mountain.” Why God had chosen Israel and Jerusalem for Himself. “This is Your city, Lord, be merciful; for because of our sins and the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people have become a reproach to all those around us. So now, our God, listen to the prayer of Your servant and to his supplications, and for Your sake, O Lord, let Your face shine on Your desolate sanctuary. O my God, incline Your ear and hear! Open Your eyes and see our desolations and the city which is called by Your name; for we are not presenting our supplications before You on account of any merits of our own, but on account of Your great compassion. 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.”

I am not coming God because I just like the oppression and the difficulty to be removed. I would like to go back to the way it was. I am asking and calling on You Lord because Your name needs to be honored. It is Your name that has been placed under a cloud. Our sin causes the nation to think the God of Israel is a powerless God. Babylonians would think the Persians our god is greater because we conquered their God. It has been a disaster for the testimony before the nations.

I am asking for mercy, Lord not because we deserve it. I am not telling You now You have to do this Lord but Lord in light of what You said I am asking for mercy. You will note he is acting as the representative of the nation just like he identified with them in their sin he now identifies as joining with them in bringing this supplication. We are not presenting our supplications before You on account of any merits of our own but on account of Your great compassion.” That’s all he can claim, mercy. “That is what I am asking, mercy, Lord. We are undeserving. It’s not well we have suffered enough now we deserve to be restored. Not on any merits of our own.

I love verse 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.” It’s all the honor of the Lord what is important here. You see the true humility. It wasn’t just a show. It wasn’t just a formality back in verse 3 when he came before the Lord with that intensity and had been fasting and was in sackcloth and ashes. This reflected the true condition of his heart. I don’t come as one who sees himself as righteous. I am a righteous man in the midst of an unrighteous people. I come as a sinner, identified with this sinful nation and ask for mercy for us and I do it on the basis of who You are, for Your own sake. It’s Your city, it’s Your people. We are called by Your name. The restoration of the nation will be a declaration and a manifestation to the world of the greatness of the God of Israel and the God who keeps His Word.

The power of prayer. You know we sometimes think well God would have done this. He said, I will do it in 70 years. In 70 years and then I will restore you but you note he tied that to their repentance and here Daniel is the instrument. He is still in this time of intense prayer and just note this and this is where we will pick up. “Now while I was speaking and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel.” “My sin and the sins of the people Israel.” I don’t come before God as a righteous person in contrast to the sinful people. It is best I come as a sinner cleansed by the grace of God, mindful of my unworthiness, “confessing my sin and the sin of my people, presenting my supplication before the Lord, my God in behalf of the holy mountain of my God.” Mount Zion and Jerusalem, I am praying on their behalf.

“While I was still speaking in prayer, then the man Gabriel (in a previous revelation to him in chapter 8 we will note in our next study) came to me (note this) in my extreme weariness about the time of the evening offering.” The evening offering hadn’t been offered for 50 years but he is still recognizing it. Couldn’t do the offering but that was a time of prayer and you see what has happened here, the intensity of his prayer. “I was still speaking and praying when Gabriel came to me in my extreme weariness.” You have in the margin of your Bible, wearied with weariness in the sense it was totally exhausting. We think prayer ought to be something you know, “Well, Lord bless the day and Lord forgive me for not being more faithful” and on we go. Then you have a man like Daniel. Here he is in his eighties still faithfully keeping his times of prayers. We’ve seen this earlier where his enemies used it against him when he opened his windows. They knew when he would be there and this wasn’t just a passing time.

This is a time of intense prayer. He had prepared himself, prepared his heart and came before the Lord in sackcloth and ashes after fasting. He was going to talk to the Lord of glory, the sovereign God. He’s my Lord but I don’t come trite, in a trite way. I don’t come in an irreverent way. Here is Daniel, 81 years old. You don’t have to go through all of this, Daniel, you know, don’t wear yourself out in prayer. I mean here he is.

What better thing to do. How much prayer accomplishes. Gabriel comes with the answer, a greater answer than even Daniel expected. I am not only going to lay out for you the last 490 years of Israel’s history and the culmination of it. I am going to lay out for you the future 490 years of Israel’s history and how this will all lead to the culmination of all that I have promised.

This angel, Gabriel “gave me instruction and talked with me, and said, “O Daniel, I have now come forth to give you insight with understanding. At the beginning of your supplications the command was issued, and I have come to tell you, (note this) for you are highly esteemed.” How do you like the angel Gabriel comes from the courts of heaven and say, “You are highly esteemed in the courts of heaven?” I am afraid I would be overwhelmed with my pride and everything would be undone but for Daniel it doesn’t have that impact. What a testimony to his godly character. “You are highly esteemed.” Where, where did come from? Well, he was sent obviously from the courts of heaven.

“At the beginning of your supplications the command was issued, and I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed.” So now he is going to tell about Israel’s future 490 years in light of their past 490 years so we will have the 70 weeks of Daniel.

We serve a great and awesome God and you know we have the same privilege of prayer but even with greater understanding and marvelous access with the finished work of Christ and Jesus Christ is our High Priest and we are invited to come with confidence before the throne of grace to find grace, the help we need. I was reading about the man who through his life maintained three hours of prayer except when he got older he moved it up to four hours. I think you know, we miss probably some of the greatest blessings because we fail in one of the greatest privileges to come to God and lay before Him our hearts, know His Word and pray in light of His Word, what He has said, what He has promised, come with humility, come with hearts that recognize we are but sinners. We come before a holy God but we are accepted because of His graciousness and our requests are offered because He is a God or mercy, a God who delights to give His people the desires of their heart.

Let’s pray together. Thank you Lord for the faithful servant Daniel. Lord You have recorded this portion of Your Word for our benefit that we might be encouraged and that we might be challenged. Thank You for a life of faithfulness. Lord from his early years a commitment to be faithful to You, to honor You, to serve You in difficult circumstances, under pressure, trial, opposition but he was faithful and here as he nears the end of his life of service to You still characterized by humility, no self-righteousness, no self-exaltation but Lord identified with the people You have chosen for Yourself, burdened because of their sin and guilt. Lord, desirous and confident that You are a God whose love for Your people has not changed and You will honor Your Word and bring about their restoration. Lord we are encouraged that we have the privilege to come before You and honor You with our prayers, know You will hear and answer. May we be faithful in all of our served we pray in Christ’s name, amen.