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Living in Babylon  •  Sermon  •  Submitted
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Introduction
Skipping rocks at BLand stream - skim, skim, skim, plunk. Today we will skim, skim, skim, plunk on application.
Run up to Daniel 9
chapters 7-8 visions of things to come (describe?)
Chap 7 - Vision of Four Great Beasts - Kingdoms and rulers to come.
Chap 8 - Vision of Ram and Goat - describes the Medo-Persian Empire and the rise of Alexander the Great
Some of which have been fulfilled and are clear to us today, but some of which are still debated as to whether or not they have been fulfilled.
Like today, many are looking for what God will do next: is this the end of the world, etc
I want us to see how Daniel responded as he learned and examined the prophecies.
Daniel 8:27 (ESV): And I, Daniel, was overcome and lay sick for some days. Then I rose and went about the king’s business, but I was appalled by the vision and did not understand it.
The dream bothered Daniel, but he didn’t stay in bed dreaming. He got up and went to work.
He gets up and goes to work with the people of the world and prays for the people of God.
What does Daniel do when he realizes the end is near? He goes to work and gets to praying. — this should be true of us today!

Daniel Prepares for the Promise of Deliverance (1-3)

Daniel 9:1–23 (ESV)
1 In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, by descent a Mede, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans—
This vision occurs in Darius’s first year (539 b.c.) _ Vision in chap 8 “In the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar a vision appeared to me. . .” (Daniel 8:1) - so although it is only a few spaces in our Bible between the vision and Daniel’s prayers, about 11 years after the one in ch. 8
2 in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, perceived in the books the number of years that, according to the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet, must pass before the end of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years. 3 Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.

Reads the Word of God

Prays to the God of His Word

Jeremiah 25:11–12 (ESV)
11 This whole land shall become a ruin and a waste, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. 12 Then after seventy years are completed, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity, declares the Lord, making the land an everlasting waste.
Jeremiah 29:10–14 (ESV)
10 “For thus says the Lord: 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. 11 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. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. 13 You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.
539 BC the Persians conquer the Babylonians and destroy them.
Daniel likely aligns this with when he came into captivity (about 605 BC) and sees that it is about 70 years. The end is near.
The end is near!! What would you do if you knew the end was near?
Wait and wave? Hurry and scurry?
What does Daniel do?
Prepares, Perseveres, Prays

Daniel Prays for God’s People to be Delivered (4-19)

Israel = people of God = church
v 2 “desolations of Jerusalem”
v 18 “see our desolations”
“desolations’ = complete destruction
In what ways is the church - people of God - desolate?
Sin
Ineffectiveness
Daniel 9:16 (ESV)
Jerusalem and your people have become a byword among all who are around us.

Who does Daniel pray to? The Righteous God of Covenant.

4 I prayed to the Lord my God and made confession, saying, “O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments,
God’s personal name, Yahweh, is not used anywhere else in Daniel but it is used seven times in this passage - indicates covenant relationship

Who does Daniel pray for? The Desolate People of God.

How does Daniel pray?

Pray God’s Word
“George Mueller said that for years he tried to pray without starting in the Bible in the morning. And inevitably his mind wandered. Then he started with the Book, and turned the Book into prayer as he read, and for 40 years he was able to stay focused and powerful in prayer.
Daniel’s prayer has allusions to to Leviticus (26:40) and Deuteronomy (28:64) and Exodus (34:6) and Psalms (44:14) and Jeremiah (25:11).”
Confess our sin
5 we have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules. 6 We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. 7 To you, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us open shame, as at this day, to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, those who are near and those who are far away, in all the lands to which you have driven them, because of the treachery that they have committed against you. 8 To us, O Lord, belongs open shame, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against you. 9 To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against him 10 and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God by walking in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets. 11 All Israel has transgressed your law and turned aside, refusing to obey your voice. And the curse and oath that are written in the Law of Moses the servant of God have been poured out upon us, because we have sinned against him. 12 He has confirmed his words, which he spoke against us and against our rulers who ruled us, by bringing upon us a great calamity. For under the whole heaven there has not been done anything like what has been done against Jerusalem. 13 As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this calamity has come upon us; yet we have not entreated the favor of the Lord our God, turning from our iniquities and gaining insight by your truth. 14 Therefore the Lord has kept ready the calamity and has brought it upon us, for the Lord our God is righteous in all the works that he has done, and we have not obeyed his voice.
Confession of sin = naming the sin for what it is:
Wickedness, rebellion, turning aside, not listening, shame, treachery, disobedience, transgression, refusal, iniquities
Daniel is naming himself among the sinners.
Revival begins with you.
Remember God’s faithfulness
15 And now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and have made a name for yourself, as at this day, we have sinned, we have done wickedly.
16 “O Lord, according to all your righteous acts, let your anger and your wrath turn away from your city Jerusalem, your holy hill, because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and your people have become a byword among all who are around us.
No matter how dark the days of exile are, how desolate the church seems to be, the God of covenant is still working.
Understanding of Covenant
Legal expression of a serious relationship
Stronger than a contract
A lot of evidence in ANE - helps us understand
Deuteronomy loosely follows the pattern
Introduction of two parties- Deut 1:1-5
Historical review of relationship - Deut 1:9-3:27 - How God has saved and loves his people
Law-giving - Deut 4:1-26:19 - obligations of the law
IMPORTANT that the law comes AFTER the relationship is established. Law is born from grace. God chose Israel, saved her, then gave her the law to express how to continue the relationship
Rewards and consequences - Deut 27:1-28:68 - blessings and cursesT
his is where Daniel pointed to in his prayer
Witnesses - Deut 30:19-20Deut 30:1-10 (read)
Review and succession - usually made two copies, one for each party. (tablets of stone)
Call for God’s glory
17 Now therefore, O our God, listen to the prayer of your servant and to his pleas for mercy, and for your own sake, O Lord, make your face to shine upon your sanctuary, which is desolate. 18 O my God, incline your ear and hear. Open your eyes and see our desolations, and the city that is called by your name. For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy. 19 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.”
God’s people are called by God’s name.
God’s zeal, His passion is for His glory - not because He is prideful, but because it is right.
He will not allow his people to be a byword forever.
This is the foundation as well as the motivation behind all of the answers to our prayers — God’s glory.
As we, his people pray to this end in our lives — He will do it!

God Prepares Daniel for the Deliverer (20-23[-27])

By reminding Daniel he is loved.

By telling Daniel what will be.

20 While I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my plea before the Lord my God for the holy hill of my God, 21 while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the first, came to me in swift flight at the time of the evening sacrifice.
22 He made me understand, speaking with me and saying, “O Daniel, I have now come out to give you insight and understanding. 23 At the beginning of your pleas for mercy a word went out, and I have come to tell it to you, for you are greatly loved. Therefore consider the word and understand the vision.
Hos does God answer?
God heard the prayer and it set the spiritual world in motion.
God’s answer may be, “I love you and wait.”
- another vision?!?
God’s solution always be Jesus.
Therefore consider the word and understand the vision.
No matter how you interpret the following vision, one of it’s defining markers is Jesus.
Jesus IS the Deliverer.

Prepare, Persevere, Pray

Don’t just wait — work
Don’t just prepare — pray?

Pray for God’s promises; prepare for His mysteries.

Don’t confuse the priorities.

Confess sin for the revival of the church

Identify your sin and Identify with the Church in her sin.
You may be the only one in the church confessing for the church!
Revival in the church has never started simply by the pointing out of another’s sin. It only happens when sin is confessed and repented of.

Hear that God greatly loves you and will deliver you.

Isaiah 52:9–11 (ESV)
9 Break forth together into singing,
you waste places of Jerusalem,
for the Lord has comforted his people;
he has redeemed Jerusalem.
10 The Lord has bared his holy arm
before the eyes of all the nations,
and all the ends of the earth shall see
the salvation of our God.
The covenant was the foundation of the prayer — otivation and the goal
Daniel could confidently call out to God — after 70 years of exile and know he was not forgotten and deliverance was coming because of his trust in the covenant
Daniel pointed to God’s covenant with Moses to humbly and confidently pray for deliverance
As believers, we look to the New Covenant in Jesus
Also initiated by grace
We can humbly and confidently pray for the deliverance from sin and death through Jesus
“Remember” by Bryan & Katie Torwalt
Oh my soul Remember who you're talking to The only one who death bows to That's the God who walks with you
And oh my soul You know that if He did it then He can do it all again His power can still raise the dead Don't tell me that He's finished yet
If You broke through the oceans You can break through these chains If Your word made the mountains It can move them all the same If death fell before You And it's still on its face Then the power that raised You Is about to move again
A prayer for our church:
Daniel 9:17–19(ESV)
17 Now therefore, O our God, listen to the prayer of your servant and to his pleas for mercy, and for your own sake, O Lord, make your face to shine upon your sanctuary, which is desolate. 18 O my God, incline your ear and hear. Open your eyes and see our desolations, and the [church] that is called by your name. For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy. 19 O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive. O Lord, pay attention and act. Delay not, for your own sake, O my God, because your [church] and your people are called by your name.” Da
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