Daniel 9
Daniel’s Prayer
Pray
Intro
√ Daniel’s prayer
Chapter 9 of the Book of Daniel is very instructive because it allows us a peek at the private devotional life of one the Heroes of the Faith!
We get to see how Daniel related to God.
That’s cool because we know that God loved Daniel and used him in a mighty way to minister to his generation.
So, we have here in chapter 9 a God-inspired example of how we ought to approach God in our own devotional life!
We’ll discover that Daniel…
Studied the Word of God that he might understand God’s Revelation to Man.
As a result of studying God’s Word he prayed to God confessing sin and petitioning for God for help.
That God was faithful to answer Daniel’s prayer.
So, we might outline chapter 9…
1) Daniel’s prayer
Revelation
Confession
Petition
2) God’s answer
Messenger
Message
…a great model for us to follow in our own devotional life!
Revelation (vs. 1-2)
Dan. 9:1 In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the lineage of the Medes, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans—
Dan. 9:2 in the
first year of his reign I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the
years specified by the word of the
LORD through Jeremiah the prophet, that He would accomplish seventy
years in the desolations of
√ Revelation
Daniel begins by giving us some background to understand the motivation of his prayer, and the source of that motivation!
We note first that Daniel tells us when it was that he received this new revelation…
“In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus”
That would be 539 B.C.
Secondly, Daniel tells us what he was doing when God gave his this revelation…
He had been studying the Word of God, specifically the scroll of Jeremiah!
As he studied Jeremiah’s prophecy he discovered that God had
revealed the exact number of years
that the people of
Daniel writes that he discovered…
“He would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of
Daniel was reading Jeremiah 25:11…
“And this whole land shall be a desolation and an astonishment,
and these nations shall serve the king of
The reason that was exciting to Daniel was that he knew when Jeremiah had made that prediction because Jeremiah recorded the date that he gave it!
“The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of
Daniel did the math and realized the following…
Jeremiah spoke the prophecy in 605 B.C. (Jer. 25:1)
Daniel was studying God’s Word in 539 B.C. (ref. Dan. 9:1)
…that means 66
years had already passed which meant that in just 4 years God would
make a way for His people to return to
That’s pretty exciting!
Here’s the point. While God spoke to Daniel in some pretty amazing ways…
Through the gift of interpretation
Through dreams and visions
…here we find that Daniel discovered God’s prophetic plan by simply studying God’s Word!!!
Ap. We can all study God’s Word!
Most of us will never experience the supernatural gifts and manifestations that Daniel did…
Never have a vision
Never have a dream
Never get an interpretation
…but, we all have the complete revelation of God to Mankind available to us in this Book we call the Bible!
If we’ll give ourselves to the study of it and seek to understand it…
…then God will speak volumes to us about Himself, His will, and what He’s got planned for the future!
So, if you want to hear from God, follow Daniel’s example and study God’s Word!
Confession (vs. 3-15)
Dan. 9:3 Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.
Dan. 9:4 And I prayed to the LORD my God, and made confession, and said, “O Lord, great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and mercy with those who love Him, and with those who keep His commandments,
Dan. 9:5 we have sinned and committed iniquity, we have done wickedly and rebelled, even by departing from Your precepts and Your judgments.
Dan. 9:6 Neither have we heeded Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings and our princes, to our fathers and all the people of the land.
Dan. 9:7 O Lord, righteousness belongs to You, but to us shame of face, as it is this day—to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, those near and those far off in all the countries to which You have driven them, because of the unfaithfulness which they have committed against You.
Dan. 9:8 “O Lord, to us belongs shame of face, to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, because we have sinned against You.
Dan. 9:9 To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against Him.
Dan. 9:10 We have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God, to walk in His laws, which He set before us by His servants the prophets.
Dan. 9:11 Yes, all Israel has transgressed Your law, and has departed so as not to obey Your voice; therefore the curse and the oath written in the Law of Moses the servant of God have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against Him.
Dan. 9:12 And He has confirmed His words, which He spoke against us and against our judges who judged us, by bringing upon us a great disaster; for under the whole heaven such has never been done as what has been done to Jerusalem.
Dan. 9:13 “As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us; yet we have not made our prayer before the LORD our God, that we might turn from our iniquities and understand Your truth.
Dan. 9:14 Therefore the LORD has kept the disaster in mind, and brought it upon us; for the LORD our God is righteous in all the works which He does, though we have not obeyed His voice.
Dan. 9:15 And now, O Lord our God, who brought Your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and made Yourself a name, as it is this day—we have sinned, we have done wickedly!
√ Daniel’s prayer
In verses 3-19 we find the record of Daniel’s prayer to God. You’ll note that it has two main parts, or movements, Daniel’s…
Confession ~ vs. 3-15
Petition ~ vs. 16-19
…reminding us that when we study God’s Word it ought to always draw us into communion with God, the Author of the Word!
Ap. It’s more than just reading!
A sad mistake made by many Christians is that they wrongly approach Bible study as an academic exercise.
They read to gain knowledge and facts.
They read to develop doctrines and religious practice.
They read to prove others wrong.
But they miss out on the most important reason that we study God’s Word and that is to get to know Him!
Ex. The Pharisees
The religious leaders in Jesus’ day made the same mistake, Jesus rebuked them by saying…
“You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have
eternal life; and these are they which testify of
That is…
They knew the words, but they didn’t know the Word!
They knew about God but they didn’t know God even when He was standing right in front of them!
So, the fact that Daniel’s study of God’s Word led him to pray reminds us that the primary purpose of studying God’s Word is to know Him better.
√ Confession (vs. 3-15)
By way of instruction note that Daniel’s prayer is marked by humility, confession and repentance…
He fasted
He humbled himself (sack cloth and ashes)
He confessed the sins of his people
In short, he owned up to his
sins and the sins of his
people and acknowledged that every evil that had come upon the people
of
That is, having studied God’s Word he had come to understand
that the destruction of
…was the very thing that God had warned them would happen if they rejected Him and walked in disobedience.
Jeremiah had predicted it, but long before that God had spoken through Moses and laid out for the Jewish people the terms of His Covenant.
Ex. Deut. 28:15-68
God spells out in detail the consequence of sin!
Yet, Daniel also knew that God is merciful and ready to forgive His people as soon as they acknowledge their sin!
So, Daniel begin his prayer with confession.
Ap. Confession
God has promised to forgive all our sins if we will simply confess them to Him!
1John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Confession is important because it is our acknowledgement that we are wrong!
Not just sad that we got caught, but sad that we did wrong.
In fact, “confess” literally means…
“to acknowledge or (by implication, of assent) agree fully: — confess, profess, promise.”
In short when we confess our sins to God we are acknowledging that He is right and that we are wrong…
…or, that we agree with Him that we are in fact sinners!
Petition (vs. 16-19)
Dan. 9:16 “O Lord, according to all Your righteousness, I pray, let Your anger and Your fury be turned away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain; because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people are a reproach to all those around us.
Dan. 9:17 Now therefore, our God, hear the prayer of Your servant, and his supplications, and for the Lord’s sake cause Your face to shine on Your sanctuary, which is desolate.
Dan. 9:18 O my God, incline Your ear and hear; open Your eyes and see our desolations, and the city which is called by Your name; for we do not present our supplications before You because of our righteous deeds, but because of Your great mercies.
Dan. 9:19 O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and act! Do not delay for Your own sake, my God, for Your city and Your people are called by Your name.”
√ Petition
The second part of Daniel’s prayer is his petition, that is, he asks God to do something for him, his people, and his nation. Specifically he asks God to…
Stop being angry with his people
Forgive their sins
Shine His favor upon them,
Great requests, but what we don’t want to miss is the basis upon which Daniel makes his petition!
“…for we do not present our supplications before You because of our righteous deeds, but because of Your great mercies.” ~ vs. 18
Think about that! If any man (besides Jesus!) might be able to ask for God’s favor based upon his own merit…
…Daniel would the guy!
While we know that he was a sinner just like all of us, the interesting fact is that there is not a single sin attributed to Daniel!
The point is that even though Daniel was a good and very Godly man…
…none the less he understood that he could never hope to have his prayer answered, nor to receive God’s favor based upon his good works!
Rather, he understood that God’s forgiveness and favor were the benefits of God’s mercy and grace!
So, Daniel petitioned God based upon the merit of God’s mercy!
Ap. We still need God’s mercy and grace
As we grow in Christ we can fall into the trap of asking God to work in our lives, or to show us His favor, because we’ve been faithful!
The reality is that He does bless us for our faithfulness.
Yet, we must never think for a moment that God owes us anything based upon our faithfulness or good works.
Rather, we should follow Daniel’s example, a man more righteous than me (separate from Christ)…
…and make our petitions to God on the merit of His love, His righteousness, His Grace and His mercy!
Messenger (vs. 20-23)
Dan. 9:20 Now while I was speaking, 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,
Dan. 9:21 yes, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, reached me about the time of the evening offering.
Dan. 9:22 And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, “O Daniel, I have now come forth to give you skill to understand.
Dan. 9:23 At the beginning of your supplications the command went out, and I have come to tell you, for you are greatly beloved; therefore consider the matter, and understand the vision:
√ God’s answer
Prayer is not as complicated as the mystics would like you to believe!
Prayer is a conversation between you and God.
You talk, God listens.
God talks, you listen.
The vehicle through which God speaks to us is not limited to the words that our ears can hear. He may speak to us through…
His Word
A vision
A dream
An audible voice
…or as we see in this example, through an Angel, a messenger who brings God’s message to Daniel.
√ Messenger
Daniel identifies the angel as our buddy Gabriel, we talked about him is some detail in our last study so we’ll simply note that he is the messenger and move on to the message.
Message (vs. 24-27)
Dan. 9:24 “Seventy weeks are determined
For your people and for your holy city,
To finish the transgression,
To make an end of sins,
To make reconciliation for iniquity,
To bring in everlasting righteousness,
To seal up vision and prophecy,
And to anoint the Most Holy.
Dan. 9:25 “Know therefore and understand,
That from the going forth of the command
To
restore and build
Until Messiah the Prince,
There shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks;
The street shall be built again, and the wall,
Even in troublesome times.
Dan. 9:26 “And after the sixty-two weeks
Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself;
And the people of the prince who is to come
Shall destroy the city and the sanctuary.
The end of it shall be with a flood,
And till the end of the war desolations are determined.
Dan. 9:27 Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week;
But in the middle of the week
He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering.
And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate,
Even until the consummation, which is determined,
Is poured out on the desolate.”
√ Message
Daniel got more than he asked for! All that Daniel had asked for was God’s
forgiveness and favor for his people (the Jews) and his city (
Remember, his motivation to pray came from his understanding
that their captivity in
Jeremiah predicted that they’d serve
Yet, when God answered Daniel’s prayer He reveals that the
discipline of His people and His city would not
be complete with their return from
There was more to come!
Not just 70 years of punishment in
Ap. One of the greatest prophecy’s in the Bible!
Provides a framework to understanding God’s plan for the Jewish people.
The very day that Messiah would come to
The promise of redemption through Messiah’s death
The identity of the people from whom the Antichrist will come.
The promise that God would do away with all sin, and bring in a kingdom of everlasting righteousness!
In short, this one prophecy is sufficient to prove that God is real and that He speaks to human beings!
Ap. A lot to study!
We only have time to do an overview of this prophecy. If you really want to dig into this you’ll want to acquire the book…
“The Coming Prince”
…written by Sir Robert Anderson (available as a PDF file), or “Daniel” by Arno Gaebelein.
√ The meaning of the message
Dan. 9:24 “Seventy weeks are determined
For your people and for your holy city,
To finish the transgression,
To make an end of sins,
To make reconciliation for iniquity,
To bring in everlasting righteousness,
To seal up vision and prophecy,
And to anoint the Most Holy.
Vs. 24 ~ gives us God's time table
1) "70 weeks" literally “70 sevens”, in the common usage of the Hebrew " shabua" is used to mean years.
2) If "days" was meant Daniel would have written "of days" - see Daniel 10:2-3.
3) The context deals with years…
Daniel was thinking about the 70 years of Babylonian captivity (Dan. 9:1-2)…
…now God shows him another period of years, 7X70 (490 years) thus God was starting another era of time.
4) If literal "days" were meant then the entire period would be 490 days, or just over a year…
…not enough time to cover the
time needed to rebuild and then destroy the walls of
Vs. 24 ~ God's people
Note that Gabriel tells Daniel the prophecy is for…
"your people & your holy city"
…that is, Daniel's people and city, the Jews, and
Vs. 24 ~ God's purpose
Is to finish all of God's work (plan of redemption) and bring to fulfillment all of His promises.
Vs. 25 ~ prophetic clock
Dan. 9:25 “Know therefore and understand,
That from the going forth of the command
To
restore and build
Until Messiah the Prince,
There shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; (69 weeks)
The street shall be built again, and the wall,
Even in troublesome times.
Begins when
the command is given to
rebuild
Stops when
the Messiah is presented to
Ex. God gave Daniel the date!
That is, if
we knew when the command was given to rebuild
…then we could count forward and know the day that the Messiah was supposed to show up!
We do know the date!
Artaxerxes issued the decree on March 14, 445 B.C. as recorded in Nehemiah and confirmed by archeology.
69 X 7 years = 483 years
483 X 360 days (Hebrew calendar) = 173,880 days
Add 173,880 days to March 14, 445 B.C. takes us to April 6, 32 A.D….
…the very day
when Jesus rode into
Vs. 26a ~ The Christ
Dan. 9:26a “And after the sixty-two weeks
Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself…”
Gabriel tells Daniel that the Messiah shall be "cut off", literally the Hebrew "karath" means to be killed, or suffer the death penalty.
Fulfilled when Jesus was crucified. Thus begins the period of time when God turns His attention from the Jewish people to the Gentiles…
…what we sometimes call the “age of Grace” creating a gap of time between the end of the 69th Week, and the beginning of the 70th Week.
Vs. 26b & 27 ~ The Antichrist
Dan. 9:26b “…And the people of the prince who is to come
Shall destroy the city and the sanctuary.
The end of it shall be with a flood,
And till the end of the war desolations are determined.
Dan. 9:27 Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week;
But in the middle of the week
He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering.
And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate,
Even until the consummation, which is determined,
Is poured out on the desolate.”
Gabriel gives us some useful information about the Antichrist’s short career!
Vs. 26 ~ He’s European
Gabriel identifies the people from whom the Antichrist will arise, note vs. 26b…
“And the people of the prince who is to come
Shall destroy the city and the sanctuary.”
…the prince who is
to come is the Antichrist, note that he will arise from the people who
would destroy the
That would be the Romans! Thus, the Antichrist must arise out of a New Roman Empire or Roman Confederation.
Vs. 27 ~ His treaty begins the final 7 years
Note the word "Then" at the beginning of vs. 27, it signals the final "week" or 7 year period of time of human history in which God turns His attention back to the Jewish people.
Begins with a seven year peace treaty with
Vs. 27 ~ He puts an end to Jewish sacrifice
Jesus and Paul interpret this to mean that the future Antichrist will go into the rebuilt Temple in Jerusalem, sit himself on the Mercy Seat in the Holy of Holies and proclaim himself to be God (ref. Matt. 24:15 & 2 Thess. 2:3-4).
Close
√ Where are we in Daniel’s timeline?
The clue to where we are hinges on two things…
1)
Revived in 1948
Jews returning to
2) Roman
1949 - Council of
1957 - EEC formed under an agreement named…
"The treaty of
Founding member nations;
1967 - European Common Market established
1973 - New members to EEC;
1979 - European Currency Unit (ECU) adopted
1980 - European Parliament formed
1981 - New member to EEC;
1986 - New members to EEC;
1992 - European Economic Union formed
1999 - European Union agrees to create a EU military
2002 - European Currency Unit (the Euro) introduced
2005 – Western European Union established with 10 Nations with special provision for
Note: other interesting facts - in 1999 the United Nations sponsored a forum to work toward a one-world government. The working document is titled "Charter 99 - A Charter for Global Democracy". Some have suggested a Global government divided into 10 geographic sections.
The
Ap. We’re living in the Last Days
We're living in the days in which we see
That would indicate that we are living in the End Times, or Last Days, spoken of by Daniel.
That should be motivation to study God’s Word as Daniel did that we might know the signs that indicate that God’s plan is coming to a close!