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How To Live When The Future is Clearly Fuzzy: Daniel Chapter 9

• Changing where you live is of no use unless you change how you live
• God’s people moving – pack bags & prepare hearts (many apostate)
• They have ministry to do (nation, Temple, Jesus coming) & aren’t ready

How’s Your Bible Study?   

Daniel 9:1 In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, by descent a Mede, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans— 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.

• 1^st year new gov’t
• Jeremiah is “the word of the Lord”

Jeremiah 25:8-12 “…says the Lord of hosts: Because you have not obeyed my words, behold, I will send…Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants…This whole land shall become a ruin and a waste, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. 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 “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.

• 538 BC–about 67 yrs after Jerusalem conquered & Daniel enslaved = 3 more yrs

1. Even writers of the Bible need to be students of the Bible
2. There’s new revelation in old Scriptures

How’s Your Prayer Life?

Daniel 9:³ Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.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, 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. 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. 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.”

4 consistent habits that made Daniel who he was

1. Godly Friends
2. Scripture – How God talks to us (we’ve got way more revelation)
3. Fasting – dependency, urgency,
4. Prayer – How we talk to God & listen to God in response to the Word

• w/friends & alone, public & private, scheduled & spontaneous
• Face to face (Coram Deo) = friendship/relational

Daniel’s Prayer

1. Bad news – who we are (miss mark, doing opposite, evil rebellion, perversity, off path)

• 1. Deny 2. Hide 3. Excuse 4. Blame 5. Normalize 6. Celebrate
• Classifies himself w/sinners not God

2. Good news – who God is – relational God who forgives & loves, hesed/covenant love

Translated – covenant love, loving kindness, mercy, steadfast love, loyal love, devotion, commitment, loyalty, or reliability.

“Never Stopping, Never Giving Up, Unbreaking, Always and Forever Love.”

Intercessor

Hebrews 7:25 he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.

• Fault vs responsibility (leader goes 1^st Job 1) = like parenting

= We don’t deserve grace, but we need grace so we appeal to your character

God Loves Us and Sends A Helper

Daniel 9:²⁰ 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.

Prayer

1. God hears & responds
2. Prayer connect the realms

1. Singing is a form of prayer

God loves us: didn’t see it in life, but heard it from God

• Daniel: “you are greatly loved”
• You: 1 John 6X “beloved”

God Sends a Helper

• Daniel – got Gabriel again

YOU: Jn. 14:26 the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things

The Future is Clearly Fuzzy

Daniel 9:²⁴ “Seventy weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place. ²⁵ Know therefore and understand that from the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a prince, there shall be seven weeks. Then for sixty-two weeks it shall be built again with squares and moat, but in a troubled time. ²⁶ And after the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing. And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed. ²⁷ And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator.”

Who

• Jesus Christ

What – 1^st coming

1. “finish transgression” – bring an end to rebellion
2. “put an end to sin” – stop the evil
3. “atone for iniquity” – forgiveness through Jesus cross
4. “bring in everlasting righteousness” – double imputation
5. “to seal both vision and prophet” – fulfill all Biblical prophecies
6. “anoint a most holy place” – temple or “Christ”/anointed as King or both

• “an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing” – Jesus “Christ/Anointed”
• Is 53:8 “cut off land living”, covenant “cut”, had nothing cloak taken & Father forsaken

When – 2^nd coming

Every conclusion has a problem

1. Are these events past history or future prophecy?
2. Are the numbers literal or symbolic? (7 perfection, 10 completion)
3. Are the weeks 7 day or 7 year periods of time? (Matt 18:22 forgive 70X7)
4. Is a year Jewish (360 days) or Lunar (365)?
5. Which of the 3 decrees to rebuild Jerusalem does this refer to?

Options

1. Skip it
2. Get dogmatic
3. Awaken our imagination & look forward to by faith

1 Corinthians 13:12 we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

• Open Hand vs Closed Hand

Close:

1. The Bible is perfect. Bible teachers are not perfect. f
2. Daniel 9 is mainly about Bible study, prayer, fasting, and repenting.
3. The God who fulfilled all the prophecies up until today can be trusted for tomorrow.
4. We don’t know what day Jesus is coming, so we should be ready every day.
5. God has the future prepared for you. God wants you to prepare yourself for the future.
6. Sight is for the past, faith is for the future.