Lessons from the Prayer Life of Daniel (Part 3)

TRANSCRIPT

Daniel chapter nine has twenty seven verses, we shall be looking at the whole chapter but some of the details we will just highlight them. We want to focus on the prayer life of Daniel, so this is lesson number three from ‘The Prayer Life of Daniel’. This chapter we will be studying by dividing it into three parts; the first part, verse one to verse three, here we have Daniel’s preparation for prayer - The Preparation of Daniel for Prayer. Verse four to verse nineteen, we have the content of his prayer and from verse twenty onward, right through the end of the chapter, we have the answer to his prayer. So dividing it into three parts, let us look at the ninth chapter of Daniel.

I. The Preparation of Daniel for Prayer (v.1-3)

Daniel chapter nine, I believe, is one of the most beautiful chapters in the Bible on prayer, because here we find a true and sincere prayer that comes from the heart of a man of God, a man who truly loved God and a man who truly feared God, so this chapter has great lessons for us. First of all, let us look at verse one to three to understand the situation, the historical setting and Daniel’s preparation of course. So verse one to verse three is Daniel’s preparation for prayer, and these few verses give us important information about the historical event, the historical background. Let me read it to you, verse one; “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;”.

“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. And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes:” These three verses gives us when the event took place, it says it took place “In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes” (Daniel 9:1a), remember we find the same king, the name of the same king, in chapter six, where we find Daniel being plotted against by his enemies, until he was finally thrown down into the den of lions.

The same Darius here, this Darius, was the king of the Medo-Persian Empire; it is significant to note that he was “made king over the realm of the Chaldeans” (Daniel 9:1b), that means he did not king by himself, he was made king, therefore theologians believe that he was made king of the realm of the Chaldeans by Cyrus the Great, who was actually fighting for the throne and who became the king and the emperor later. Now it was during the first year of this King Darius that Daniel uttered this prayer, the year, according to Old Testament scholars, was probably 539 B.C. - it was either 539 or 538 B.C.. The significance of that year is that by that time, Daniel, who was taken into Babylon as a captive in his mid-teenage years, would have become, by this time, over eighty years of age, he would be in his mid-eighties. And more significantly, by this year, the captivity of Judah, the captivity of the people of Israel, was about to end.

So Daniel understood all these things, how? By studying God’s Word and by looking into God’s prophecy, especially through His prophet Jeremiah. Now I want to draw our attention to verse two, Daniel says here “In the first year of his reign”- The reign of Darius - “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” (Daniel 9:2) In other words, prophet Jeremiah spoke of the duration of the captivity of God’s people, it was going to last for seventy years. Now we find this prophecy in Jeremiah chapter 25, verse 11 and verse 12, let me read it to you; “And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. 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, and will make it perpetual desolations.”

Later, Jeremiah added more details to this prophecy in chapter 29, verse 10 to verse 14; “For thus saith the LORD, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place. For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. And I will be found of you, saith the LORD: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the LORD; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive.” Remember, Jeremiah had prophesied this before the captivity took place, in 605 B.C., so well before the people of God were taken in Babylon as captives, God spoke through His prophet Jeremiah that this captivity would last for seventy years.

Now Daniel studied the book of Jeremiah according to verse two, somehow a copy of The Book of Jeremiah reached him. And here he said I “understood by books the number of the years” (Daniel 9:2a) - that means, seventy years of captivity. Just now I mentioned that this date, given in verse 1 and verse two, the first year of the reign of Darius, is very significant because by this time the captivity was going to end soon, in a matter of a few years time. So Daniel studied God’s Word, particularly The Book of Jeremiah, then he came to an understanding of God’s plan for His people. So please take note, as part of his preparation for prayer, Daniel opened the book of the Bible and he read it, and he studied it, then he understood God’s Word, God’s plan, especially for His people. Then he believed God would keep His promise, he had no doubt whether this prophecy would be fulfilled or not; he was very excited, rather, to see how exactly this would be fulfilled and whom God would use to accomplish this prophecy. So from this we can draw some lessons that Daniel interpreted the prophecy of Jeremiah literally, about the seventy year captivity; God’s Word should be understood literally, unless it is otherwise made clear in the context. So he believes that the seventy years would soon come to an end and he understood it, and he was very excited to see it happen before his very eyes

Another significant thing to note here is, although Daniel understood the sure fulfilment of God’s prophecy, the sure plan of God for His people, that understanding did not stop him from praying; he did not resort to the idea that ‘since God has already planned it, since God had already promised it, it's going to be fulfilled anyway - why do I pray, why should I pray? Not necessary’. He did not have that kind of idea, rather, he understood that this plan of God was going to fulfill through prayer. Earlier in our study on ‘The Prayer Life of Daniel’, in chapter two, I mentioned that everything is included in God’s plan, and in everything, I mean prayer is also included. So God has a plan for Israel to be in captivity for seventy years? Yes, that would be accomplished by means of the prayer of God’s faithful people.

We believe that God has decreed everything, God had planned everything, yet some missapply it - ‘if that is the case, what is the need for prayer?’ - that is a misapplication of God’s Word. God has planned it, God has decreed it, God has predestined everything, yet, He has done it in such a way that we His people will seek Him intensely and honestly in prayer. That is exactly what we find Daniel doing; he recognised human agency - the necessity of faith and the necessity of prayer and the urgency to respond to human responsibility concerning God’s plan for His people, so understanding God’s plan should never stop us from doing our part as humans. There are always two things going together; number one, God’s sovereignty - God’s plan, God’s perfect plan, number two, going together with that, is our human responsibility. Daniel did just that, he gave himself into a serious study of God’s Word, to the point that he came to a perfect understanding of the prophecy of Jeremiah, this is a wonderful lesson for us. So as per his preparation, he studied God’s Word, he paid attention to God’s Will.

Secondly, let us continue to look at verse three; “And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes” (Daniel 9:3). Here we find Daniel paying attention to God Himself. Firstly, he pays attention to God’s Word, secondly he pays attention to God Himself; these are the two things he did in preparing himself for prayer. Read carefully “I set my face unto the Lord God” - not to any other things, not to anything else but to God. Only then, only then, he uttered his prayer; that's what we find in this beautiful chapter. He said, “and I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications” - and what else? - “with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes.” Fasting, sackcloth and ashes.

Now, one old testament commentator remarked this, in the Bible, fasting was never a means to gain God’s attention, or to impress him, in other words, we can never impress God, it (fasting) was a practical means of setting aside the time concerning task of meal preparation in order to concentrate on the Lord Himself. Fasting is not the way we impress God, but rather it helps us from spending so much of our time in meal preparation, so that we can pay more attention to prayer. And sackcloth and ashes were simply outward signs of an inward spiritual condition. Daniel did all this, it shows he was genuine and sincere in doing what he did here. So dear friends, let us remember what Daniel did here when we come to the Lord, into the house of the Lord for prayer, let us remember this; we must pay attention to God himself and to His Word, our attention must be directed to Him and His Word alone. That is the first thing we want to learn from the life of Daniel concerning prayer.

II. The Content of Daniel’s Prayer (v.4-19)

So now he prepared himself, he got himself ready for prayer, then from verse 4 to verse 19 we see the content of his prayer. In view of the time frame, the time limitation, I am not going into detail concerning the content of his prayer, I will just give you a summary of his prayer. Now look at verse 4; “And I prayed unto the LORD my God, and made my confession, and said, O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments; We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments” (Daniel 9:4-5) and he continues on, right through to verse 19.

I believe this is one of the most beautiful prayers ever uttered by man, the reason is because it is so sincere, it is so genuine, it comes from the heart. Now as we look right through to verse 19, we want to know something - how he prayed. Firstly, his prayer focused on God, his prayer contemplated the perfect attributes of God, God’s perfect attributes; His holiness, His righteousness, His grace and His mercy, all His perfections - that was Daniel’s focus, we want to note in his prayer. And secondly, confession of sin; he contemplates on God’s attitudes and then he looks at himself and the people of Israel, and he confesses his sins. It is significant to note that the plural pronoun “we” was used by Daniel, that means he identified himself with the people of Israel and he included himself in the confession. In other words ‘these people sinned’, ‘these people committed iniquities’ - that kind of idea was very far from Daniel. He realised he was a sinner to, not only the people of Israel, but also he sinned against God. So ‘we have committed sins’, ‘we have done wickedly’ and so on; this is a sincere confession before God. The reason is because he looked at God and he paid attention to God’s Word, only then can he utter a sincere confession.

I want to quote this phrase from one conservative and godly, old testament commentator, Dr John Witcomb; “he knows the key to spiritual and God honouring confession is to have a clear grasp of who God is in all His infinite perfect, moral attributes, upholdest truth and love.” In other words, what he is trying to say is this; if you and I want to make God honouring confessions, then we must see God as He is, we must look at Him, pay attention to Him, see His perfection, in holiness, in justice and in love - only then we can come to a sincere confession, very true. That is what we find in verse 5 to 6 and verse 10 to 15. And another thing we want to note is verse 7 to verse nine, where we see Daniel acknowledging God’s righteous acts; here he acknowledges the righteous acts of God, in punishing his people.

Now they have already been in the land of captivity over 60 years, was God fair, was God righteous in punishing His people, His covenantal people? Daniel says yes, God thou art absolutely perfect in bringing us into foreign land, punishing us, making us suffer, because the people of Israel sinned against God, many, many times. Then comes verse 16 to verse 19, here we find Daniel interceding for his people. He contemplates on God’s attributes, he makes a sincere confession of sins and he acknowledges God’s righteousness in doing what He did. After that, only at that, now he pleads for his people. He prayed for his people for forgiveness and for deliverance, he asked God for forgiveness, then at the end of his prayer, in verse 18, He filled himself completely, and his people, upon the meaningful grace of God, by saying this “for we do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousnesses, but for thy great mercies.” (Daniel 9:18b). We did not do our part, we are sinful, we are guilty, yet Lord because of thy great mercies, forgive us and bring thy people, as though has promised, into their homeland; and that is his prayer. A very beautiful Prayer by a man who truly loved God and who truly feared God.

III. The Answer to Daniel’s Prayer (v.20-27)

Thirdly, from verse 20 to verse 27 we have the prayer of Daniel answered. So this section is the answer to Daniel’s prayer, look at verse 20 - “And whiles I was speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the LORD my God for the holy mountain of my God; 21 Yea, whiles I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation.” (Daniel 9:20-21) In other words, the moment Daniel engaged himself in sincere and genuine prayer, God heard him, and God sent His angel Gabriel to bring the answer to Daniel’s prayer - how assuring it is, how encouraging this is. Then we see, from 24 to verse 27, the details of God’s plan for Israel which was given as an answer to Daniel’s humble prayer.

Now I want to briefly highlight this important prophecy which is known as “ The Seventy Weeks of Daniel”. I just want to go quickly and I hope you can keep up with me, look at verse 24; “Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city,” - In other words, this seventy weeks prophecy is design for the people of Israel, for Jerusalem, for the land of Israel, and scholars and theologians believe, based on biblical evidence, that here seventy weeks represents weeks of years, not weeks of days. In other words, one week here is equal to seven years, so if we calculate seventy weeks by seven, we have four hundred and ninety years, in other words, God has a four hundred and ninety year plan for Israel.

Then how is it going to be fulfilled? Look at verse 25; “Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.” (Daniel 9:25) In other words, of seventy weeks, sixty nine weeks will be fulfilled first, and the last week, the seventieth week, will be fulfilled separately. Sixty nine weeks - look at verse 25 carefully, that is “seven weeks and threescore and two weeks”; here we have sixty nine weeks and that is equal to four hundred and eighty three years. How do we get that? Sixty nine multiplied by seven, we get four hundred and eighty three years, this will be fulfilled first. When will it start being fulfilled? It says “from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem”.

In other words, the moment, or the year, a decree was issued for the people of Israel to return back to their homeland and rebuild Jerusalem, then these seventy years planning will start to be fulfilled, and that is exactly what happened in history. Then when will it end? It will end at the time when the Messiah shall be “cut off” (Daniel 9:26), that refers to the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. So in other words, this will start to be fulfilled when a decree was issued for the people to rebuild their city, and then from that moment to the cross, on which our Lord was crucified, would be 69 weeks, which is four eight three years (483).

If we look at history, we find that exactly taking place; King Artaxerxes, in Nehemiah chapter 2 verse 1 to verse 8, we find this King allowing the people of God to return to their land and rebuild Jerusalem - that was 445 B.C.. From 445 B.C. to the year our Lord was crucified, was four hundred and eighty three years, based on the prophetic year which is composed of three hundred and sixty days, not three hundred and sixty five days as we call it today. The reason is, because, in Revelation 11, verse 2 and 3, and chapter 12 verse 6 and chapter 13 verse 5, it is indicated that the prophetic year, or the biblical year, is composed of three hundred and sixty days. So scholars have calculated this and starting from 445 BC to the time of Christ, was four hundred and eighty three years, in other words, sixty nine weeks had already been fulfilled in history.

Now what about the last week, the seventieth week which is seven years, has it already been fulfilled? There are different views but we believe that it remains to be fulfilled, it has not been fulfilled. Why? The reason is this; if we look at the events immediately following the crucifixion of Christ, we do not find the details of verse 26 and verse 27 fulfilled, neither do we find these details being fulfilled until now, because there are some details, even here, to be fulfilled in the seventieth week. For example, let me read to verse 27; “And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week:” - We believe this refers to Antichrist, he will make a peace covenant with many people but “in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease” - in the midst of one week, that is three and a half years, he will break his covenant - “and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.” (Daniel 9:27) In other words, these details remain to be fulfilled and we believe that this refers to the seven year tribulation, following the rapture of the church. Seven years, that is one week, according to the book of Daniel.

But what I want you to focus on tonight is rather on how this answer was given to them; this detailed plan of God was given and revealed to us because of Daniel’s prayer, because of Daniel’s prayer. Dear brother and sisters, tonight let us learn this lesson, at least these two things let’s try to remember. Whenever we come to the Lord for prayer, whether it is in His own house or at work, or wherever it is, let us never forget, first of all, to pay full attention to our God Himself and His perfect Word, let our attention be directed to Him and His Word alone.

When we come to church, there may be other things, or other people, or other instruments, or other items in the church that attract our attention but when we are to pray, let us set aside all those other things and engage ourselves fully paying attention to God and His Word. Because that will help us see our God in His holiness, in His perfect justice and His perfect love, then that will help us see ourselves as we truly are - how sinful we are, how unworthy we are. So, seeing God as himself and seeing ourselves as we are, what we truly are, will help us utter sincere and genuine prayer. That is the great lesson we can learn from Daniel in this chapter, only then, only after doing that, we should utter our prayer. May the Lord help us. Let us pray.

Our Father in Heaven we thank Thee for the life of Thy faithful servant Daniel, how he was truly living a life of example to the many captives in Babylon as well as for us Believers today, how we should emulate him in our daily life. Help us, oh Lord, whenever we come to Thee for prayer, to concentrate on Thee, to look at Thy Word, meditate on it and help us, oh Lord, to pray unto Thee sincerely. May thou bless each and every one of us tonight. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

SERMON OUTLINE

• I. The Preparation of Daniel for Prayer (v.1-3)
• II. The Content of Daniel’s Prayer (v.4-19)
• III. The Answer to Daniel’s Prayer (v.20-27)

THE BOOK OF DANIEL

New Year With New Resolutions

New Year With New Resolutions

Daniel 1:8

Lessons from the Prayer Life of Daniel (Part 1)

Lessons from the Prayer Life of Daniel (Part 1)

Daniel 2:14-23

Lessons from the Prayer Life of Daniel (Part 2)

Lessons from the Prayer Life of Daniel (Part 2)

Daniel 6:10

Lessons from the Prayer Life of Daniel (Part 3)

Lessons from the Prayer Life of Daniel (Part 3)

Daniel 9:1-27