Our final two studies in the life of the prophet Daniel focus on
Daniel's prayer life. It was God's answer to his prayer that
saved his
life in chapter 2. And it was his habit of daily prayer that put
his
life in danger in chapter 6.
Please read Daniel 9.
Daniel did two things in private that made him an
outstanding servant-leader in public: (1) Study of God's
Word and (2) Prayer. Daniel used Scripture to guide
him in every aspect of his life, including his prayer life.
So the story begins today with Daniel reading the Bible.
What!? If Daniel is in
the
Bible, how can he be reading the
Bible? Answer: By
Daniel's time, most of the Old Testament had already been written
- the books of Moses (Genesis - Deuteronomy), a good part of the
history of Israel, most of the Psalms, the works of Solomon, and most
of
the prophets. So the story begins...
During Darius'
first year as king, I, Daniel, was reading the Scriptures. I saw that
the Lord told Jeremiah that Jerusalem would be empty ruins for seventy
years. (v.2 NCV)
Over the centuries God's prophets repeatedly urged the people of Israel
to turn back to the God who had saved them from slavery in Egypt, made
His covenant with them at Mt. Sinai, and established them as a nation
in their own land. Finally, the prophet Jeremiah announced,
"Your time is up! God is done warning you. Now He will do
what He he promised, because you continue to turn away from
Him." Jeremiah watched as the armies of King Nebuchadnezzar
destroyed the city of Jerusalem, taking its people captive. Among
those captives were young Daniel and his three best friends.
Now as an old man, Daniel read again what Jeremiah had written several
years earlier:
This is the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the
older leaders who were among the captives, the priests, and the
prophets. He sent it to all the other people Nebuchadnezzar had taken
as captives from Jerusalem to Babylon...
This is what the LORD
All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says to all those people I sent away
from Jerusalem as captives to Babylon: "Build houses and settle
in the land. Plant gardens and eat the food they grow. Get
married and have sons and daughters. Find wives for your sons, and let
your daughters be married so they also may have sons and daughters.
Have many children in Babylon; don't become fewer in number. Also
do good things for the city where I sent you as captives. Pray to the LORD
for the city where you are living,
because if good things happen in the city, good things will happen to
you also." ...
This is what the LORD
says: "Babylon
will be powerful for seventy years. After that time I will come to you,
and I will keep my promise to bring you back to Jerusalem.
I say this because I know what I am planning for you," says the LORD. "I have good plans for you, not
plans to hurt you. I will
give you hope and a good future. Then you will call my name. You
will come to me and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You
will search for me. And when you search for me with all your heart, you
will find me! I will let you find me," says the LORD. "And I will bring you back from your
captivity. I forced you to leave this place, but I will gather you from
all the nations, from the places I have sent you as captives," says the LORD. "And I will bring you back to this
place." (Jeremiah
29:1-14 NCV)
Daniel is a smart
man. He can do the math. Seventy years is almost up.
The Jews are going home! How does Daniel react when he
reads this? You would think that Daniel would be happy, shouting,
"Hallelujah!"
Or would he do as some Christians today, who "claim the promise" and
believe that they can force God to act on their behalf, because they
think that God is obligated to honor their faith?
Neither. In Daniel's own words...
Then I turned to
the Lord God and prayed and asked him for help. I did not eat any food.
To show my sadness, I put on rough cloth and sat in ashes. I
prayed to the Lord my God and told him about all of our sins. (vv. 3,4)
As he read the prophet Jeremiah, Daniel remembered why God had allowed Jerusalem to be
destroyed -- including the temple. Daniel remembered why he and his people were taken as
captives and slaves to a distant foreign land. Now, he had to ask
himself, "Are we ready to go back home? Have we finally learned
our lesson in this experience? If we go back to our own land,
will we be any different than we were before? Or will God have to
punish us again?" What Daniel saw among his fellow Hebrew
captives grieved him.
Daniel's prayer contrasts God's actions and character with Israel's
actions and character.
Lord,
you are a great God who causes fear and wonder. You keep your agreement
of love with all who love you and obey your commands. (v.4)
The New International Version translates verse 4 this way:
O
Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love...
God is good. But we are not...
But
we have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked and turned against
you, your commands, and your laws. We did not listen to your
servants, the prophets, who spoke for you to our kings, our leaders,
our ancestors, and all the people of the land. (vv.5,6)
You can sense Daniel's deep grief as he continues:
God is...
|
We are...
|
Righteous
|
Covered in
shame
|
Merciful
|
Rebellious
|
Forgiving
|
Unfaithful
|
Daniel confesses that the trouble we receive is exactly the trouble
we deserve -- no, we receive better
than we deserve.
Lord
our God, you show us mercy and forgive us even though we have turned
against you... You said these things would happen to us... All
this disaster came to us just as it is written in the Teachings of
Moses. But we have not pleaded with the Lord our God. We have not
stopped sinning. We have not paid attention to your truth. (vv.9-13)
Here we see Daniel confessing the sins of his nation.
In the history of our own nation, the United States of America, there
was a time when we had serious trouble, and the President called on the
citizens of our
nation "to
confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow yet with assured
hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon, and to
recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and
proven by all history: that those nations only are blessed whose God is
the Lord." The President was Abraham Lincoln. He saw
the Civil War as "a punishment
inflicted upon us for our presumptuous sins to the needful end of our
national reformation as a whole people." (Click here to read the full text of
Lincoln's Presidential Proclamation.)
Something to think about... How is our nation's spiritual and
moral state today? Do we still need to cry out in confession and
repentance for the Lord's mercy?
Notice how Daniel confesses the sins of the nation as if
they were were is own sins. Throughout the book of
Daniel, we find no flaw in him, no crack in his character. Yet
Daniel knows his own heart, and he is very aware that his own secret
attitude and actions are infected with the same sin that led God to
punish the nation of Israel. So he can, indeed, confess the
nation's sins as his own.
There is One who has done for us as Daniel did for Israel. Christ
Jesus truly had no sin, yet He accepted personal responsibility for our
sin and guilt. His baptism (Matthew 3:13-17) was His personal
confession for our sins (see Mark 1:4 and Luke 3:3).
Christ
had no sin, but God made him become sin so that in Christ we could
become right with God. (2 Corinthians 5:21 NCV)
Christ carried our sins in his body
on the cross so we would stop living for sin and start living for what
is right. And you are healed because of his wounds. (1 Peter 2:24 NCV)
Now, continuing in Daniel's prayer, we see him contrast God's
reputation with the reputation of His people.
Lord
our God, you used your power and brought us out of Egypt. Because of
that, your name is known even today. But we have sinned and have done
wrong... Because of our sins and the evil things done by our ancestors,
people all around insult and make fun of Jerusalem and your
people. (vv.15,16)
Then Daniel grabs hold of God's character and reputation, and uses them
as the only reason why God should help Israel.
Now,
our God, hear the prayers of your servant.
Listen to my prayer for help,
and for your sake do good things for
your holy place that is in ruins.
My God, pay attention and hear me.
Open your eyes and see all the terrible things that have happened to
us.
See how our lives have been ruined
and what has happened to the city that is called by your name.
We do not ask these things because we are good;
instead, we ask because
of your mercy.
Lord, listen!
Lord, forgive!
Lord, hear us and do something!
For your sake, donut wait,
because your city and your people are called by your name.
(vv.17-19)
Daniel begs and pleads with God. He does not bargain. He
does not try to make a deal with God with silly promises.
Perhaps you have had experiences which seemed so bad, so difficult, so
hopeless, that you, like Daniel cried out to God to show Himself
powerful in your situation. You, like Daniel, could only beg for
God's mercy.
God gives Daniel a direct answer to his prayer. But the answer is
not what Daniel requested, or what Daniel expected.
While
I was saying these things in my prayer to the Lord, my God, confessing
my sins and the sins of the people of Israel and praying for God's holy
hill, Gabriel came to me. (v.20,21)
Yes, we may safely assume this is the same angel Gabriel that appeared
to Zechariah and to Mary about 450 years later (Luke 1),
He
came flying quickly to me
about the time of the evening sacrifice, while I was still
praying.
He taught me and said to me, "Daniel, I have come to give you wisdom
and to help you understand..." (vv.21,22)
The message that the angel Gabriel delivers is basically this:
Yes, Daniel, God still has a plan for Israel.
But God's plan
for Israel is bigger than Israel.
God's plan is much bigger
than Jerusalem.
And God's plan is
much, much bigger than the temple in Jerusalem.
God's plan is for
Christ and for all mankind.
This plan didn't just
begin with Moses at the Exodus and Mt. Sinai.
This plan didn't begin
with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
You will find the first
announcement of this plan back in the Garden of Eden
on the day humanity fell into sin, and God's perfect world broke (Genesis
3:15).
Gabriel's message to Daniel is difficult to translate into English, and
it is challenging
to interpret. If you already read Daniel chapter 9, you know what I
mean. Here is the text in three English translations --
the New International Version (NIV),
the New International Reader's Version (NIrV),
and the New Century Version (NCV).
The NIV most closely represents the
difficult language of the Hebrew text. The NCV is a paraphrase
that presents the text in the most commonly accepted interpretation by
Bible scholars:
Verse
|
NIV
|
NIrV
|
NCV
|
Comments
|
24
|
Seventy "sevens" are decreed for
your people and your holy city
- to finish transgression,
- to put an end to sin,
- to atone for wickedness,
- to bring in everlasting righteousness,
- to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy.
|
The Lord has
appointed 70 "weeks" for your
people and your
holy city. During that time, acts against God's law will be stopped.
Sin will come to an end. And the evil things people do will be paid
for. Then everyone will always do what is right. Everything that has
been made known in visions and prophecies will come true. And the Most
Holy Room in the temple will be anointed.
|
God has
ordered 490 years for your
people and
your holy city for these reasons:
to stop people from turning against
God;
- to put an end to sin;
- to take away evil;
- to bring in goodness that
continues forever;
- to bring about the vision and prophecy; and
- to
appoint a most holy place. |
70 x 7 = 490
Click here to learn about the importance
of the 7 year cycle in Daniel's
day.
|
25
|
Know and
understand this: From
the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One [Messiah], the ruler,
comes,
there will be seven "sevens," and
sixty-two "sevens." It will be rebuilt with streets and a
trench, but in times of trouble.
|
Here is what
I want you to know
and understand. There will be seven
"weeks." Then there will be 62 "weeks." The seven "weeks" will
begin when an order is given to rebuild Jerusalem and make it like new
again. At the end of the 62 "weeks," the Anointed King [Messiah] will come.
Jerusalem will have streets and a water system when it is rebuilt. But
that will be done in times of trouble.
|
Learn and
understand these
things. A command will come to
rebuild Jerusalem. The time from this command until the appointed
leader [Messiah] comes
will be 49 years and 434
years. Jerusalem will be rebuilt with streets and a trench
filled with
water around it, but it will be built in times of trouble. |
7 x 7 = 49
Jerusalem was rebuilt in 49 years.
62 x 7 = 434
434 years later was the time of Christ when...
|
26
|
After the
sixty-two "sevens," the Anointed One
[Messiah] will
be cut off and will have nothing.
|
After the 62
"weeks," the
Anointed King will be cut off. His followers will desert him.
And
everything he has will be taken away from him.
|
After the
434 years the appointed leader will
be killed; he
will have nothing.
|
Christ
was
crucified on the cross.
|
|
The people
of the ruler who will
come will destroy the city and the
sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the
end, and desolations have been decreed. |
The army of
the ruler who will
come will destroy the city and the
temple. The end will come like a flood. War will continue until the
end. The Lord has ordered that many places be destroyed. |
The people
of the leader who is
to come will destroy
the city and the holy place. The end of the city will come like a
flood, and war will continue until the end. God has ordered that place
to be completely destroyed. |
Then
the
Roman armies came and completely destroyed Jerusalem and the temple. |
27
|
He
will confirm a covenant
with many for one "seven." In the middle of the "seven" he will put an
end to sacrifice and offering. And on a wing of the temple he will set
up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed
is poured out on him.
|
A covenant
will be put into
effect with many people for one "week." In the middle of the "week"
sacrifices and offerings will come to an end. In one part of the temple
a hated thing that destroys will be set up. It will remain until the
Lord brings the end he has ordered.
|
That leader
will make firm an
agreement
with many people for seven years. He will stop the offerings and
sacrifices after three and one-half years. A destroyer will do terrible
things until the ordered end comes to the destroyed city. |
Even
through the devil continues
to mock God, at the end of time, God will lock Satan in hell forever.
|
Wow! This prophecy offers very precise timing!
Several Jewish people are believers in Christ today because they read
and understood this prophecy in Daniel. History records how
accurate this
prophecy was for:
- Rebuilding Jerusalem and the temple.
- The crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
- The final destruction of Jerusalem and the temple under the
Romans.
But what we see in God's response to Daniel's prayer is much, much more
than predictions of future events.
While Daniel grieved for Jerusalem and
for Israel,
God
grieves for the whole world.
While Daniel was concerned about
rebuilding the temple,
God was
concerned about the coming of Messiah, Christ Jesus.
While Daniel wanted God to restore the
animal sacrifices,
God was
making preparation for the sacrifice of Christ,
which
ended the need for the animal sacrifices.
Daniel could see only one small piece of God's big picture.
Remember that it was God's promise given to Jeremiah -- the promise
that Israel would return home after 70 years -- that prompted Daniel to
pray. God also made another, more important promise
through Jeremiah (two chapters later), that one day God would replace
Israel's old covenant
-- the one they received through Moses -- with a New
Covenant. That New Covenant would not be based on Law but on
Grace and Forgiveness.
Jeremiah
31:31-34 (NIrV)
"A new day is coming," announces the Lord.
"I will make a new covenant
with the people of
Israel.
I will also make it with the people of Judah.
It will not be like the
covenant
I made with their people long ago.
That was when I
took them by the hand.
I led them out of Egypt.
But they broke my
covenant.
They did it even though I was like a husband to them,"
announces the Lord.
"This is the covenant I
will make with Israel
after that time," announces the Lord.
"I will put my law
in their minds.
I will write it on their hearts.
I will be their
God.
And they will be my people.
A man will not need to
teach his neighbor anymore.
And he will not need to teach his friend anymore.
He will not say, 'Know the Lord.'
Everyone will know
me.
From the least important of them to the most important,
all of them will know me,"
announces the Lord.
"I will forgive
their evil ways.
I will not remember their sins anymore."
That promise of the New Covenant is fulfilled in Christ Jesus, the
Messiah.
Please permit me to share here a personal story that relates to
Daniel's prayer and God response.
When my son, Mark, was born, we discovered that he had serious birth
defects. He had stopped growing the the womb about 6 weeks before
his due date. Four weeks later, my wife's doctor realized
something was wrong. So he delivered Mark by C-section. It
was then we discovered that Mark had Spina Bifida. During the first two
months of his life, he required four emergency surgeries -- one to
close
the open spinal cord on his lower back, one to install a shunt to
relieve the pressure of hydrocephalus, and two more surgeries to
replace the shunt when the first two devices failed. And there
were other problems that gave us concern. (Mark is 16 now, and he
has just had his 23rd surgery.)
During that first month of Mark's life outside the womb, my prayers
were like paper notes tied to rocks which I threw God's window.
Some of my prayers were desperate pleading, like Daniel's prayer.
Some of my prayers were angry complaints, like Jeremiah's
prayers. Heaven must had a lot of broken glass to clean up during
that month. But after a month, I ran out of rocks to throw at
God -- I ran out of prayers. I had already told Him
everything I could say, and there was nothing new I could add to
it. I knew my friends and family were praying for Mark, so I just
told the Lord, "Please listen to them. I am all prayed-out."
Was I ever tempted to turn my back on God and give up my faith in Him?
No! If I didn't trust God, who would I trust? Certainly not
the devil, the chief of all liars, and murders. One time a
crowd of people turned their backs on Jesus and left Him, because they
didn't like His teaching. Jesus asked His 12 disciples if they
planned to also leave. Peter answered, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the
words of eternal life." (John 6:68)
God's answer to my anger, my frustration, my confusion over what God
was doing to my son was an image of an artist, a master painter.
If you look at photographs of the masterpieces of Da Vinci,
Michelangelo, Rembrandt, or Monet, you see a beautiful work in clear
detail. But if you go to the art museum, and look closely at the
actual paintings, they look quite different. Up close you
see strange blobs of odd colors on a lumpy canvas. If all
you could see of those paintings was those ugly random brush marks, you
would see no design, no purpose, no plan, no beauty in the artist's
work. But if you step back and see the whole painting, then
you can see on the canvas the picture that was in the mind of the
artist.
Our lives are like those seeming ugly random brush marks of odd colors
and strangely shaped blobs. We, like Daniel, can see our
lives only from the close-up view. We don't have the perspective
of the Master Artist - God. I do not know -- I
cannot know -- what place my son and I have God's great
masterpiece. I do not know whose lives God will touch for
eternity through Mark. I can confidently rest in the fact
that (1) God is good, (2) God knows what He is doing, and (3) God's
plan for Mark is much bigger than Mark. Just like Daniel, we can
in this moment see only a small piece of God's big picture.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
One time when he was ten, Mark and I happened to meet each other in the
hallway in our house. His bedroom is next to the
bathroom. I was heading toward the bathroom and I came up behind
Mark while he was scooting along in his classic combat crawl toward his
bedroom. He stopped in the doorway, turned to look at me.
Thinking that I was following him, he said, "Daddy, go away! I
need to talk to God." He turned back around, crawled into his
room, and shut the door. I stopped in my tracks for a moment to
ponder what I had just witnessed and consider again the reasons why
God has chosen not to heal my son.
A couple months later, we were preparing Mark and ourselves for what
could be the biggest surgery of his life - to correct his severe
scoliosis. And as we discussed his upcoming surgery, Mark
often answered our anxiety by saying, "But God still has a plan for my
life!”
Yes, Mark, God does have a plan for your life. Thank you for
reminding me.
As Gabriel told Daniel,
God had plans for Jerusalem,
but His plans were much bigger than
Jerusalem.
His plans included YOU!
God's role for Jerusalem was to bring His Messiah, Christ Jesus, to you.
And God's plans for you are much bigger than you.
God's plan for you is to bring His Messiah, Christ Jesus, to other
people who do not yet know Him.