Daniel Prays For His People

's, i JUNE 7,2020 STUDY NOTES DANIEL 9:1-2 BIBLE TEACIIER: CLIFTON JONES DANIEL PRAYS FORI{IS PEOPLE INTRODUCTION The beginning of chapter 9 sounds like Daniel is speaking of America today For that reason, we need to learn from Daniel's example Christians in America must be doing exactly what Daniel was doing Daniel was praying and confessing sins, pleading for God's answer conceming Israel From the beginning of chapter 9, we learn how to approach God with our desires Daniel had been reading the Word of God, Daniel prayed and confessed sins Daniel was doing what we leamed we should do from our study in James Study God's Word, pray, confess sins, pray for others and minister to others Daniel 9 can be divided into two parts, Daniel's prayeE and God's answer to his prayer Actually-Daniel's prayer goes back into the history of Israel, to the time of Ezra and Nehemiah God's answer covers His people from the time of Daniel until ttre future earthly Kingdom of God Daniel 9 is one ofthe most amanng passages of prophecy found in the OT Much of it has already been literally fulfilled to detail Only the omniscient God could have revealed it with such accuracy No question about it, what we read in Daniel 9 is the inspired Word of God So how important is this chapter? Important enough for us to study and leam it today Important enough for us to look for its fulfillment in our day, we can see the day approaching It is a chronological key to NT prophecy identifying future events Much of Revelation is an expansion or filling in of the details of Daniel's prophecy But we must not focus all-of our attention upon the prophecy of Daniel 9 We must realize how importantthe prayer of Daniel was in relation to the prophecy There are twice as many verses covering the prayer of Daniel as there is to the prophecy There is no substitute for prayer, which is talking to God before we attempt to leam from God In Daniel 9, we have the third vision of Daniel found in the book The first vision is in chapter 7, the first year of King Belshazzar The second vision is in chapter 8, the third year of King Belshazzar The third vision begins in Daniel 9:23, the first year of Darius the Mede The fourth vision of Daniel is found in chapter 10, the third year of Cyrus the Persian Chapters 7 and 8 occur before chapter 5 where God removes Belshazzar, King of Babylon, Dan 5$A In that nigkt was Belshazzar the king of tlte Chaldeans slain. And Darius the Mede becomes King, Dan 5:31 And Darius the Median took the kingdom, being about threescore and two years old. The third vision, found in chapter 9, occurs about 12 years after vision #2 in Daniel 8 Telling us that chapters 9 and 10 occur after chapter 5, probably during the time of Daniel 6 Daniel was approximately 80 years of age at the time of his vision in chapter 9 From Daniel's study of Jeremiah, he leams that Israel's 70 years captivity is almost over Daniel prays that God will allow His people to retum to their homeland He pleads forthe mercy of Godto be shed upon himself and his people God decreed a period of 70 x 7 (seventy weeks of years) for His people In which the salvation of His people will be completed The number seven symbolized completeness and perfection Daniel 2 and 7 revealed God's prophetic program for the Gentile nations Daniel 9 reveals God's prophefic program for Israel DARIUS THE MEDE Dan 9:1 In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, which was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans; Daniel received his third vision during the time ofthe first year of Darius Which was the year that Babylon was conquered by the Medes and Persians (Dan 5) Daniel already knew that it was going to happen because of Nebuchadrtezzar's dream in Daniel 2 God gave King Nebuchadnezzar a dream of the future of the nations in relation to Israel From the time ofthe kingdom of Babylon until the Kingdom of God on earth Nebuchadnezzarhad no understanding ofthe dream, he had dreamed of a great statue Daniel prayed for God to give him understanding and he interpreted Nebuchadnezzar's dream Five empires are pictured as ruling over Israel in the dream of the statue 1: Babylon 2: Medo-Persia 3: Greece 4. Rome 5. Revived Roman Empire This great statue symbolized the Gentile world powers known as 'othe times of the Gentiles" Which had its beginning in 605 B.C. and will conclude with the return of Christ At which time Christ will establish the Kingdom over Israel Daniel knew thatthe head of gold was Babylon The Babylonian empire would be replaced by the chest and arms of silver (Medes-Persians) Daniel also knew of the future events because of the handwriting on the wall in chapter 5 In Daniel 5, we find the feast of King Belshazzar and the fall of Babylon After Belshazzarhadtasted more wine than he should have, he gave an order His command was an act of blasphemy against the God of Israel He called for the gold and silver vessels which were taken from the temple in Jerusalem He wanted his party goers to celebrate by drinking from such sacred vessels Belshazzar is a perfect picture of men and women in the last days just before God's wrath falls While they were praising their false gods, the True God sentthem a message The handwriting was on the wall, Dan 5:5 In fhe same hour came forth fingers of a man's hand, and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaister of the wall of the king's palace: and the king saw the part of the hand thatwrote. The fingers of a human hand appeared inthe light of a lampstand The fingers that began writing on the plaster of the wall near the king was the hand of God The king was terrified, he tumed pale, his legs were weak, his knees started knocking together The way to stop knees from knocking is to kneel-down on your knees and pray The king's wise men could not read or interpret the handwriting, so, Daniel was called, Dan 5:11 There is o man in thy kingdom, in whom is the spirit of the holy gods ; and in the days of thy father light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods, was found in hinr; whom the king Nebuchadnezzar thyfather, the king, I say, thyfather, made master of the magicians, astrologers, Chaldeans, and soothsayers; Dan 5:12 Forasmuch as an excellent spirit, and lcnowledge, and understanding, interpreting of dreams, and shewing of hard sentences, and dissolving of doubts, were found in the same Daniel, whom the hng named Belteshazzar: now let Daniel be called, and he will shew the interpretation. Before Daniel would interpret the handwriting, he would preach a se(non (Daniel 5:17-24) Daniel had a personal message forthe king, a message that Daniel had preached before The title of the message was, '"The Sovereignty of the Most-High God" A message that the king's father had heard and then Daniel said, Dan 5:24 Then was the part of the hand sentfrom him; and this writingwos written. Daniel will now do whatthe wise men of Babylon could not do, read the writing The writing was of a divine hand and a divine mind must read it God revealed to Daniel the wording written on the wall (Daniel5:25-28) Chapter 5 is a record of whatNebuchadnezzar saw in his dream, Dan 5:28 PERES; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians. "Peres " means "to break in two or divide," God had divided the kingdom The kingdom would be divided and given to the Medes and Persians "Upharsin " is the plural of the word "pere,i, " with the meaning of "and divided" Which was used for emphasis, that very nighq Cyrus the Persian tookthe city of Babylon By diverting the course ofthe River Euphrates and entering the city on dry ground Daniel learned of the Babylonian captivity from the dreams of Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar But even before Daniel's day, God had revealed the same truth to other prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah had both predicted the fall of Babylon, revealing that God was in control Daniel was wise enough to study God's Word and to seek God's will DANIEL'S STUDY Dan 9:2 In the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, whereof the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem. "The first year of his reign" is repeated for emphasis from the first yerse "I Daniel" verifies that Daniel is the human author of the book, which Jesus confirmed,Mat 24:15 Wen ye therefore shall see the abomination of desohtion, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) Jesus said, Daniel said it, so, when you read it, believe iq and understand it We will not understand the details of every future event, but we must leam of the events The understanding of God's Word does not come from a daily devotional scripture Understanding God's Word comes by daily reading, study, and paying attention to it The purpose of prophecy in the Bible is for us to read it and understand it Even though Bible skeptics and liberal theologians deny that Daniel wrote the book They need to do exactly what Jesus and Daniel said, "understand" whatyou read The word "understood" means to pay attention, to observe closely, to discem If it was important for OT saints to pay attention to God's Word and understand it How much more important is it in our day, which is known as the "last days," 2Ti 3:1 This lcnow also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. That is only one verse related to the truth flrat we arc likely living in the last of the last days We can see through Bible study that current events are coming together to culminate the last days Jesus is soon to return and put an end to Satan, sin, and the followers of Satan and sin Wlren He retums Jesus will reign in righteousness and we will reign with I*m, Rev 5:10 And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth. We must study, leam, and live today according to God's plan fortomorow What we do as Christians today has something to do with the timing of God's future, 2Pe 3:12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall meltwith fervent heat? "Lookingfor" has the meaning of "Expectation" The thought of eagerly waiting for someone,looking forthem to come Peter explains what we are "lookingfor" in, 2Pe 3:13 Nevertheless we, according to his promise, lookfor new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. The retum of Christ and the Day of the Lord will result in " new heavens and a new edrth " Peter uses the same word again in, 2Pe 3:14 Werefore, beloved, seeing that ye tookfor such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless. If we are looking for the day of righteousness, we are encouraged to live righteous today "Hastening" is another word expressing "eager anticipation" Eagerly desiring that something will happen, but with the added thought of "quick action" It means having the urge to do something about what you are eagerly anticipating Can the Christian do something that might "hasten" the retum of Christ? If we can, Peter just told us what it would be, living a daily righteous life Will the Christian living daily for Christ speed up the coming of the Day of the Lord? Another question will help us to answerthat one Why is the Day of the Lord being delayed? That question is answered in,2Pe 3:9 The Lord is not slack cancerning his promise, as some men count slacktzess; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not utilling that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Then we read in, 2Pe 3:15 And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our bel.oved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; Lost sinners continuing to live in sin and refusing to repent delay the retum of Christ Throughout the Bible the decision of God's people to obey God always makes a difference Israel could have entered the Promised Land 40 years earlier if they had only obeyed God Why did God decide notto destroyNineveh? Jon 3:10 And God saw theirworla, that they turned.from their evilway; qnd God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not (Ionah had preached to them) The purpose and plan of God is carried out through the obedience of His people Christians can hasten the coming of the Day of God by being obedient to God and His Word Jesus told us to pray, Mat 6:10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. To sincerely pray that prayer is to be sincerely committed to that praye\ to obey the will of God Jesus told us to go into the world ard make disciples He promised to be with us "unto the end of the world," Mflt 28:20 Teaching them to observe all things whstsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen. When will tlre "end ofthe world" come? Mor 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the w orld for c witness unto all nations ; and then shall the end come. The daily choices that Christians make does make a difference It makes a difference in our daily life and future life It makes a difference in God's work upon the earth and His plans forthe earttr It is possible that Christians can have a part in shortening the time of the retum of Christ Christians through Godly living and faithful service can in some way hasten the retum of Christ The faithfirl reading and study of God' Word must certainly be a factor Pay close attention to what we leam from Daniel 9:2 God spoke to Jeremiah and Jeremiah wrote it down God spoke to Daniel through what Jeremiah had written Always come to the Word of God rcalizingthat God is now speaking to you No other book will speak directly to you like the Word of God will We learned from our study in James how importantBible study is, ./as l:25 Butwhoso looketh into the perfect law of liber4t, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. Daniel was faithful to pray and study, Dan 6:10 Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, ond gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime. Ttre "books " that Daniel was reading would be the OT scrolls, "the sacred writings" Daniel took a literal approach to the Word of God Which means, when the plain sense makes sense, seek no other sense Too many Bible scholars seek to symbolize or spiritualize the literal sense of God's Word When they do their interpretation makes 'ho-sense" When Daniel read of the 70 years, he understood it to mean 70 years THE NUMBER OF THE YEARS Daniel leamed of the 7O-year period-of time from the writings of Jeremiah, Jer 25:11 And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Bablion sevent! years. Jeremiah announced that the Babylonian captivity would last seventy years, Ier 25:12 And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith the LORD, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, andwill make it perpetual desolations. When the 70 years are accomplished, then God will visit with God's good word, ler 29:10 For thus saith the LORD, That after seventy yedrs be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and pedorm my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place. Daniel knew that itwas time to hear from God The time ofthe captivity was near its completion, it was time to hear from God So, Daniel prayed, he confesses his sins and the sins of Israel His prayer concerns the future of Israel and he prays for God to bless Jerusalem While Daniel was still praying, Dan g:20 Andwhiles Iwas speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the LORD my Godfor the holy mountain of my God; Daniel said he was "speahng," andthe one he was speaking to was "the LORD my God" Daniel said his request was unto the one he calls, "my God" His request was for "the holy mountain of my God" TJne "holy mountain" was the site of the ruined Temple at Jerusalem Which Daniel had already prayed for, Dan 9:17 Now therefore, O our God, ltear the prayer of thy servant, and his supplications, and cause thyface to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord's sake. Daniel said, the sanctuary "is desolate, " when Jerusalem fell the temple was tom apart In the previous verse, Daniel had prayed for the city of Jerusalem and God's holy Mountain, Dan 9:16 O Lord, according to all thy righteousness, I beseech thee, let thine anger and thy"fury be turned away from thy city Jerusalem, thy holy mountain: because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and thy people are become a reproach to all that are about us. Why is the city of Jerusalem so important? Why is it so often referred to in scripture? 643 times in the OT, 83 in Nl and appears in scripture as early as the time of Abraham Because of God's covenant promises to Abraham, Jerusalem must continue to exist It is going to be revealed to Daniel that the city must endure forever When Christ retums the city of Jerusalem will be known as the city of God, Psa 46:4 There is a river, the streams whereof shall mqke glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High, Jerusalem will be the capital of the millennial earth and the center of worship We can see why Daniel's prayer for Israel andJerusalem is so important It goes beyond the present problem that existed at the time of Daniel Israel and Jerusalem must continue to exist until the time of the return of Christ The True Church of the NT must continue to exist until Jesus returns Israel, Jerusalem, and the Ttue Church have been promised au eternal future with Christ God was listening to the prayer of Daniel, Dan 9:21 Yea, whiles I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused toJly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation. God sends an angelic messengerto Daniel, his name is Gabriel, Dan 9:22 And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, O Daniel, I am now comeforth to give thee skill and understanding. Daniel was informed by God because he had prayed, pnyer is still a means of information Sincere praying will lead us to new insight and deeper understanding God wants us to understand the truths of God which are written in the Bible But an accurate and deep understanding of God's Word can only come through prayer Don't attemptto studythe Word of God apart from pmyer { Jdentification of the Chronolrgy of Major Empires in Daniel Four Kingdoms 626 B.c. Vision in Oaniel: ch. 2 Vision in Ch. 7 \ Vision in Ch. I HEAD of GOLD IDEN IFICATION BABYLONIA BABYLON 2:48 539 e.c. LION MEDO.PERSIA andARMS ('\ BEAR RAM of SILVEH MEDOPERSIA 8:20 330 a.c kNBELLY and THIGHS of BRONZE GREECE (lncluding Ptolemies and Seleucids) LEOPARD GOAT GREECE 8:21 :-(167 B c. Maccabees and Hasmoneans) 63 s.c. TERRIFYING and FRIGHTENING BEAST FEETof CLAY HoME =--e.o.z0 Fallof Jerusalem y