Daniel 9:1-27
Read Daniel 9:1-19
Big Idea: Our prayer of confession should be motivated by our understanding of the righteousness of God.
In other words, when we spend time in the Word of God, deepening our understanding of the character and nature of God, it produces positional perspective such that I am a sinner and God is holy. There is a great chasm between those 2 positions. And clarity around who God is moves us to confession of everything that we say and do that doesn’t align with who God is.
want to break down the structure of Daniel’s prayer of confession, but we have to notice where he starts. “I, Daniel, perceived in the books…” Daniel was spending time in the Scriptures, specifically in the writings of Jeremiah. Somewhere in Jeremiah’s prophecy he notices that there is an end date to the “desolation of Jerusalem.” The passage that he was most likely reading is Jeremiah 25, in which he speaks clearly about Israel’s disobedience, the subsequent exile into Babylon, and the time of captivity being 70 years. Could have also been Jeremiah 29, where in verses 10-11 God says, “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”
Why 70 years? This is just fascinating. In Leviticus 25, God lays out something called the Sabbath Year. The Israelites were to work the land for 6 years, and then the 7th year, they were to let the land rest. In 2 Chronicles 36:20-21, it says that “He (God) carried into exile to Babylon the remnant, who escaped from the sword, and they became servants to him and his successors until the kingdom of Persia came to power. The land enjoyed its sabbath rests; all the time of its desolation it rested, until the seventy years were completed in fulfillment of the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah.” In other words, Israel had disobeyed God when it came to the Sabbath Year, specifically for 70 Sabbath Years. This is why they were exiled for 70 years, to make up for their disobedience, and give the land 70 years of rest. The other interesting thing is that when you do the math, this means that Israel was disobedient for 490 years. We’ll circle back to this number at the end of our time together this morning.
Daniel realizes in this moment that the 70 years is almost up. “Wait a minute, 70 years. We were brought here in 605 BC, and we are in the first year of King Darius, which is 539 BC (estimated), then in just a few years we will be restored to Jerusalem!” But notice what Daniel does. He doesn’t run to his friends, or to the Israelites to celebrate what’s coming. Verse 3, he turns his face to the Lord. And notice his posture: “by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.” Daniel comes to the feet of the Lord in humility. And THEN, he begins. Spending time with the Lord in His Word produces a humble posture and contrite spirit.
Structure of Daniel’s Prayer
1. Adoration (4)
He begins his prayer by praising God for who He is. You are great! You are awesome! You keep your promises! Your love is steadfast! This is where we must start. This is where Jesus teaches us to start. “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be THY name. YOUR kingdom come. YOUR will be done.” This is so important. If we don’t begin with admitting who God is, and righting our position before Him, our prayers can very quickly become self-centered.
It makes total sense though. By recognizing the greatness and awesomeness of God, it provides a comparison in which we are admitting our weakness and frailty before Him. Starting by adoring God, by praising Him, by speaking truth about His character and nature will influence and drive the rest of our prayer.
2. Confession (5-15)
This is where Daniel spends most of his time, in confession. And notice, from the man who is held up as one of the most faithful in Scripture, he includes himself in the collective of those who have sinned. Re-read vs. 5-6. What an incredible indictment against God’s people! But it isn’t just a vague confession of wrongdoing, he gets specific with what they have done wrong. “We turned aside from your commandments. We disobeyed you. We didn’t obey your voice. You gave us leaders, kings and prophets, but we wouldn’t listen. And even when our sin led to captivity, to exile, to the destruction of your holy city, (vs. 13) yet we have not entreated the favor of the Lord. We haven’t turned from our sin. We haven’t pursued you in truth!”
Brothers and sisters, we cannot look past the importance of confessing our sins before the Lord. I mean how humbling an experience, when we come before the Creator and admit to him how we have wronged Him. How it reminds us of our need for a Savior. How it reminds us of our freedom from guilt and shame because of our sin. Let me remind us that when we confessed Jesus as Lord and were transferred from death to life, our sins and the penalty of our sins were forever and completely forgiven, but even so, over and over again Scripture implores us to confess and repent. Why?
One author says it like this: “The Holy Spirit is of course at work in all this (1Cor. 12:3), making us anew (2Cor.5:17), transforming us from the inside out (Rom. 6:1-2), and setting us on a new course. Still, God calls us – as believers – to “be transformed by the renewing of our minds” (Rom. 12:1-2). Thus, although there has been a great change, we have not yet reached perfection (Phil. 3:12-14). And for any failures along the way we must make honest confession to God.” The process of being sanctified, molded more and more into the image of Jesus, includes regular recognition of our shortcomings before the Lord.
Back to Daniel. Notice throughout Daniel’s confession how he continually compares God’s character to the behavior and collective character of Israel. Vs. 7, “to you, O Lord, belongs righteousness, BUT to us open shame.” Vs. 8-9, “To us belongs open shame, but the Lord belongs mercy and forgiveness.” Vs. 14, “The Lord has brought about calamity because He is righteous and faithful to His promises but we are disobedient.”
I mean we can just hear the brokenness out of the lips of Daniel. I mean he is just pouring out his heart. Just open and raw before the Lord. After he dumps it all out onto the table, now and only now is it time to make his request.
3. Petition (16-19)
It should be no surprise to us at this point that coming from Daniel, the core of his petition is centered on the glory of God. Look again at verse 17. “For your own sake, O Lord.” Yes Lord forgive us. Yes Lord, turn your anger away from us. Yes Lord, hear our cries. But Lord do it so that your name and the city that bears your name would be redeemed. Lord, we have become a stain to the nations, grant us a position of influence again. Restore us so that we can make your name great!” Daniel’s concern is first and foremost the name of and glory of God. How important is this for us! We want to be made new, to be restored, every day, so that we can have the greatest impact for the glory and kingdom of God on the world around us.
Listen to a portion of David’s prayer of confession from Psalm 51:
“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. THEN I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you. Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness. O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise.”
Davis is crying out to the Lord to forgive, to renew, and an effect of that is proclamation to those that need the gospel! “Lord, forgive me of my sin, Lord renew my spirit within me, I want to have an impact for YOUR kingdom and YOUR glory.”
This is the cry of Daniel’s heart as well! Verse 19 of Daniel 9, “O Lord, hear; O Lord forgive. O Lord, pay attention and act. Delay not, for YOUR OWN sake, O my God, because your city, and your people, are called by YOUR name.” One commentator shares some insight here: “If Yahweh allowed his sanctuary and holy city to lie permanently in ruins and his people to remain in exile, then who among the surrounding nations would believe that the God of the Bible was the true and holy Sovereign over all the universe?” Amazing.
Look at verses 20-23. Read Daniel 9:20-23. (Emphasize 23)
This is incredible. While Daniel was speaking, the angel Gabriel showed up, why? Because he was greatly loved. In fact, as soon as Daniel started praying, God told Gabriel to go. This is absolutely incredible. And as a side but important note for us:
Proverbs 15:8 - "The LORD detests the sacrifice of the wicked, but he delights in the prayers of the upright.”
1 Peter 3:12 - “For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer.”
Isaiah 65:24 - "It shall come to pass that before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear"
As those considered righteous because of Jesus, God is listening attentively to our prayers, and delights in them, and answers them, even if it isn’t the answer we were hoping for.
Alright, so this amazing man Daniel receives a visit from the angel Gabriel, and he brings him an answer. Unfortunately for us this morning, the answer he brings is thought by many to be the most difficult passage in all of Daniel, and one of the most controversial prophecies in eschatology. In fact, pastor and commentator J.A. Montgomery says, “The history of the exegesis of the seventy weeks of Daniel is the Dismal Swamp of Old Testament criticism.” Nearly impossible to wade through with much clarity.
So what I want to do for us is not get into the weeds of what this could mean. I’m not going to present to you in depth the 4 different views on how this will all play out. Like we’ve done with prophecy so far, we are going to just bring to light what we know to be absolutely true.
Read Daniel 9:24-27
Verse 24 - Picture of the 70 weeks
Verse 25 - First 69 weeks
Verse 26 - Time gap between 69th & 70th week
Verse 27 - 70th week
What do we know?
1. Seventy Weeks (24)
The Hebrew word for “weeks” is “shabua,” and means a “unit of 7.” So we could instead say seventy sevens. When we look at the events mentioned, we’ll find out that the 70 7s are years, which gives us a total of 490 years.
2. 6 Events (24)
Finish the transgression (Israel in captivity)
Put an end to sin (Jesus)
Atone for iniquity (Jesus)
Bring in everlasting righteousness (2nd Coming)
Seal vision and prophet (2nd Coming)
Anoint a most holy place (2nd Coming)
3. Countdown begins at the “word to restore and build Jerusalem” (25)
Nehemiah chapter 2 takes place in the month of Nissan in the 20th year of King Artaxerxes. This puts us at 444 BC. In Nehemiah 2, Artaxerxes gives Nehemiah permission to go and rebuild Jerusalem, beginning with the wall.
444 BC is therefore the best estimate of the beginning of the 70 weeks
4. 69 weeks later an “anointed one will be cut off and have nothing” (26)
We take the previous 7 weeks, and add them to the consequent 62. This is where it gets really incredible. 69 weeks of years would be 483 years. The Ancient Jewish Calendar was a 360 day calendar, so we need to convert that to our modern day solar calendar. 483 years x 360 days = 173,880 days. Divide that by our 365 day calendar and you get 476 years.
So, take our starting point of 444 BC and add 476 years, and you get to 32 AD.
An anointed one shall be cut off and have nothing. Jesus, the anointed one, cut off, killed, and the rough estimate of that date is between 30-33 AD.
No beyond this, we can only speculate. We see in verse 27 that the antichrist will make a covenant for 7 years. After 3.5 years he will do away with sacrifice and offering in the temple, and the abomination will take place. He will enter the temple, demand to be worshiped, and the temple will become desolate because the Jewish people will flee. And then at the very end, we see that judgment will come.
Let’s summarize the answer brought by Gabriel to Daniel. “God hears you. Deliverance is coming. You will return to Jerusalem. The holy city will be rebuilt. But that’s not the best part. 483 from now, One will come that will do away with sin forever. And then, sometime in the future, He will establish an eternal place of righteousness and worship.”
Application
We could apply this in so many different ways, but I want to go back to Daniel’s prayer of confession.
Big Idea: Our prayer of confession should be motivated by our understanding of the righteousness of God.
