Daniels Prayer Daniel 9 1 19 1 Background

Daniel’s Prayer (Daniel 9: 1 -19) 1

Background • Daniel was taken captive to Babylon in 605 BC. – He had excelled as a servant of God and as a Ruler. – He was given information about future world events. • Jerusalem was destroyed in 586 BC. – The people were scattered (Nation was non-existent). • Daniel 9 occurs in the 1 st year of Darius: 539 BC. – – Babylon had just fallen. It had been about 66 years since the captivity began. Cyrus was rising to power. Daniel was in his 80’s. 2

Daniel’s Prayer (Daniel 9: 1 -19) • • • What caused him to pray? How did he think of God? What did he think of man? What was he asking for? Why was he asking for that? 3

Daniel’s Prayer (Daniel 9: 1 -19) • What caused him to pray? – Studying “the Books” (2, 6, 11, 13) 4

Leviticus 26: 27 -33 ‘And after all this, if you do not obey Me, but walk contrary to Me, 28 then I also will walk contrary to you in fury, and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins… 32 I will bring the land to desolation, and your enemies who dwell in it shall be astonished at it. 33 I will scatter you among the nations and draw out a sword after you; your land shall be desolate and your cities waste. 5

Psalm 44: 11 -15 11 You have given us up like sheep intended for food, And have scattered us among the nations. 12 You sell Your people for next to nothing, Dan 9: 7 And are not enriched by selling them. Dan 9: 16 13 You make us a reproach to our neighbors, A scorn and a derision to those all around us. 14 You make us a byword among the nations, A shaking of the head among the peoples. 15 My dishonor is continually before me, Dan 9: 7, 8 And the shame of my face has covered me… 6

Deuteronomy 28: 15; 36 -37 15 “But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you: … 36 “The LORD will bring you and the king whom you set over you to a nation which neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you shall serve other gods—wood and stone. 37 And you shall become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword among all nations where the LORD will drive you. 7

Deuteronomy 28: 47 -50 “Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joy and gladness of heart, for the abundance of everything, 48 therefore you shall serve your enemies, whom the LORD will send against you, in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in need of everything; and He will put a yoke of iron on your neck until He has destroyed you. 49 The LORD will bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flies, a nation whose language you will not understand, 50 a nation of fierce countenance, which does not respect the elderly nor show favor to the young… 8

Jeremiah 25: 8 -11 “Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts: ‘Because you have not heard My words, 9 behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, ’ says the LORD, ‘and Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant, and will bring them against this land, against its inhabitants, and against these nations all around, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, a hissing, and perpetual desolations…. 11 And this whole land shall be a desolation and an astonishment, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. 9

Jeremiah 25: 12 -13 12 ‘Then it will come to pass, when seventy years are completed, that I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity, ’ says the LORD; ‘and I will make it a perpetual desolation. 13 So I will bring on that land all My words which I have pronounced against it, all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah has prophesied concerning all the nations. 10

Jeremiah 29: 10 -14 For thus says the LORD: After seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place. 11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13 And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you, says the LORD, and I will bring you back from your captivity; I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the LORD, and I will bring you to the place from which I cause you to be carried away captive. 11

Daniel’s Prayer (Daniel 9: 1 -19) • What caused him to pray? • How did he think of God? – Great & Awesome (4) – Keeps Covenant (4) – Merciful & Forgiving (4, 9) – Righteous (7, 14) – Active in Blessings (15) – Capable of Anger & Fury (16) – Able to Hear & Respond (17, 18) 12

Daniel’s Prayer (Daniel 9: 1 -19) • What caused him to pray? • How did he think of God? • What did he think of man? … and himself? – Sinful & wicked (5) – Do not listen (6), not seeking God (13) – Rebellious (5, 9) – Shame of face (7, 8) – Do not obey (10) – Deserving of punishment (11) 13

A Contrast God • Great & Awesome (4) • Keeps Covenant (4) • Merciful & Forgiving (9) • Righteous (7, 14) • Active in Blessings (15) • Able to Hear & Respond (17, 18) Man • ‘Shame of Face’ (7, 8) • Have not Obeyed the Law (10) • Rebellious (9) • Deserving of Punishment (11) • Sinful, Wicked (4) • Have not Listened, & Not Seeking, Even in trouble (6, 13) 14

Daniel’s Prayer (Daniel 9: 1 -19) • • What caused him to pray? How did he think of God? What did he think of man? … and himself? What was he asking for? – God to shine on the [desolate] Sanctuary (17) – [Restore] the City (18) – [Restore] the People (19) 15

Daniel’s Prayer (Daniel 9: 1 -19) • • • What caused him to pray? How did he think of God? What did he think of man? … and himself? What was he asking for? Why was he asking for that? – [Not for relief of misery, or personal advantage] – Not because God’s people deserved it (18). – For the sake of God’s name (17, 18, 19) 16

Praying Like Daniel • • • What causes us to pray? How do we think of God? What do we think of ourselves? What do we ask for? Why do we ask for that? 17

Praying Like Daniel “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away. 32 But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 33 Take heed, watch and pray; for you do not know when the time is. ” (Mark 13: 31 -33) 18

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Isaiah 39: 6 -7 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the LORD of hosts: 6 ‘Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house, and what your fathers have accumulated until this day, shall be carried to Babylon; nothing shall be left, ’ says the LORD. 7 ‘And they shall take away some of your sons who will descend from you, whom you will beget; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon. ’” 20

Isaiah 44: 28 – 45: 2 Who says of Cyrus, ‘He is My shepherd, And he shall perform all My pleasure, Saying to Jerusalem, “You shall be built, ” And to the temple, “Your foundation shall be laid. ”’ 45: 1“Thus says the LORD to His anointed, To Cyrus, whose right hand I have held— To subdue nations before him And loose the armor of kings, To open before him the double doors, So that the gates will not be shut: 2 ‘I will go before you And make the crooked places straight; I will break in pieces the gates of bronze And cut the bars of iron. 21