Seeking Him by Prayer

We're going to read God's Word together. I'm going to invite Philip up, who's going to read for us Daniel chapter 9.

Daniel 9 · chapter mention

! If you've got a church Bible, it's on page 746.

Daniel chapter 9.

Daniel 9 · chapter mention

In the first year of Darius, the son of Ahasuerus, by descent of Medes, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans.

In the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, perceived in the books the number of years that, according to the words of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet,

must pass before the end of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely 70 years.

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

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.

We have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled.

Turning aside from your commandments and rules, 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.

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 neared 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.

To us, O Lord, belongs open shame, to our kings, to our princes and to our fathers, because we have sinned against you.

To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against him

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.

All Israel has congrressed 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.

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.

As it is written in the law of Moses, all this calamity has come upon us,

yet we have not entreated the favour of the Lord our God,

turning from our iniquities and gaining insight by your truth.

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.

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.

O Lord, according to your righteous acts, let your anger and your wrath turn away from your city Jerusalem,

your holy hill, because of our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers.

Jerusalem and your people have become a byword among all who are around us.

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.

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.

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.

O Lord, I have now come to give you insight and understanding.

At the beginning of your pleas for mercy, our words went out,

and I have come to tell it to you, for you are greatly loved.

Therefore, consider the word and understand the vision.

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 profit, and to anoint a most holy place.

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.

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 flood,

and to the end there shall be war.

Desolations are decreed,

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.

We are in the book of Daniel one last time before the Advent season starts,

and it's a good chapter to end on, Daniel chapter 9 for now.

Daniel 9 · chapter mention

And Daniel and his friends Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego

are in Babylon, that ancient city.

And this whole book has been about how they show us

what it means to be faithful when being a faithful believer is risky,

and what it means to follow God in a place where you are in the minority,

in a city where you are in the minority.

And this is a place where if we were to update it to modern language,

people would say that the faith of Daniel is outdated and silly and traditionalist,

and we live in a not dissimilar time.

So it's been a really important book, I think, for us in 2025 in the city of Edinburgh.

Now, one of the things we have not talked about this whole series

is why they are in Babylon.

We've barely mentioned it, and this is really what the prayer is about,

why they are in Babylon at all.

And so for 400 years, God's people, Israel,

which were split into a northern kingdom and a southern kingdom,

Israel and Judah, they did not put God at the center of their lives,

and they followed after idol, after idol, after idol.

And really, they lived as if they were already in Babylon.

They worshipped Babylonian gods for hundreds of years before they ever got to Babylon.

And so what happened is God gave them to Babylon.

He gave them what they really wanted, and that was to be polytheists and idolaters.

That's the life that they had lived.

And so in this prayer, just if you notice verse 5,

we turned aside from your commands.

We did not listen to the prophets.

That's verse 6.

Verse 7, all of Judah, all of Israel disobeyed.

So there's just references to that 400 years of following idols.

Even verse 8, our kings, our princes, and our fathers all disobeyed.

And so God was really patient, and for centuries and centuries,

He showed mercy to them, and then eventually they were disciplined.

And so this is a story of their discipline,

that they were disciplined by God for following idols.

Now Daniel was a teenager when they went to Babylon.

He was exiled as a young teenager in 605 BC,

and that means that Daniel was not a part of that.

He was not a part of the 400 years of worshipping idol after idol.

And so when we get there,

Daniel's a man who hadn't done those things,

like the fathers and the princes and the kings.

And then in the book of Daniel, unusually for the Old Testament,

Daniel never has a fall story, a failure story.

So you think about great David, King David.

He was great, but he had several major failure stories.

And Solomon was very great, but in the end he worshipped lots of false gods.

Abraham was very great, but he has at least three fall stories.

Daniel never has one.

Very unusual for the Bible.

So he's this teenager who never worshipped idols,

and he's a man in this narrative that's presented without a failure story.

He's full of integrity and wisdom and hope.

He's a model of what it looks like to live in a city that thinks faith in God is silly.

And, you know, if you want to know what it means to know God and follow God

in a place where it's difficult to do that,

we've got these examples like Daniel and Esther and Ruth and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego

that really show us how to do that in the Bible.

Yet, in Daniel 9, this prayer,

he pleads for the redemption of every one of the people that got him into exile.

And he prays really for Jerusalem, and the prayer is all about the restoration of Jerusalem.

Verse 16,

Let your wrath turn from Jerusalem.

Let sacrifices be restored in Israel.

Daniel knew, like the whole Old Testament, that as Jerusalem goes, so goes God's people.

So you can really tell how God's people are doing in the Old Testament by the condition of Jerusalem.

And so he pleads for Jerusalem and its restoration here in this prayer.

But even more notable, faithful Daniel, what does he say?

We sinned against you.

Faithful Daniel, a model of integrity, says, I bring my confession.

And, you know, see, Daniel had every right to be bitter,

every right to be angry about what they had done to get him into exile.

Sixty-six years in this passage, we learn from verse 1,

he's been in exile, now under Darius in 539 BC.

And for sixty-six years a slave.

And he says, Lord, forgive me.

And that means that Daniel is such a model of spirituality.

He had never had an ounce of moral superiority,

even though he was a man of integrity.

And really what we can say is in this prayer we learn his humility.

And this is a prayer that teaches us about spiritual formation.

That's really what it's about.

What does it mean to be so shaped by the Holy Spirit,

formed your spirit by the Spirit,

that you've been consistently, deeply changed your whole life

to the point where you can pray like that?

And Daniel's a model of spiritual formation,

as is Esther and Ruth in similar books.

We, in our philosophy of ministry here at St. C's,

and in our vision statement,

we have the language spiritual formation.

A lot of times we like language like that,

but don't really know exactly what we're getting at or what it means.

And all it means is that spiritual formation

is the recognition of a process of change

that has to take place in the Christian life.

And it's a change from where we used to not desire God

in the life that God calls us to,

and we're learning to grow into desire.

So spiritual formation is all about desire.

Jonathan Edwards, the great American theologian and pastor,

he said the Christian life is growing affection for God over time.

So a heart full of longing for God.

St. Augustine very famously said,

spiritual formation is the slow reordering of disordered loves.

So what he meant by that is we love the wrong things in this life.

Spiritual formation is the slow change of desire,

loving the right things.

Daniel, what we have here in this chapter

is Daniel's spirituality, spiritual formation.

All right, it's phenomenally unsurprising

what we learn here.

Let me give you three principles of spiritual formation

from Daniel's life that are for us.

Very simple, so basic, fundamental, so important.

Number one, first we learn from Daniel

to immerse yourself daily in God's Word

until it moves you to pray.

So Daniel teaches us first,

immerse yourself every day in God's Word

until you desire to pray.

So he's been here 66 years in the city of Babylon.

And in verse 2, he says,

I discerned in the books.

What are these books that he's looking at?

They are the scrolls of what we now call the Old Testament.

So Daniel is scouring the scrolls of the Old Testament

as far as he has them so far in history.

And he's looking for something.

And what he's looking for is,

when will this exile be over with?

That's what he's looking for.

And he finds it in the Jeremiah scroll.

But very simple,

the first thing to learn

is how do you live in a city

where the idols of Babylon are all around you

and you are for this place

and you love Edinburgh

and you want to see the good,

the common good,

all throughout this land.

And yet,

the idols of the city

don't get into you,

don't get into your heart.

You're for Babylon,

but Babylon doesn't get into you.

And how do you do that?

And the first thing we learn is

by believing that when you open the Bible,

God is speaking to you.

And it's basic

and it's simple

and it's classic

reformed spirituality

because it's biblical spirituality.

But you've got to be a person

who opens the Bible

and believes the Word of God is here.

And that you have conviction

that when you open the Bible,

God is speaking into your life.

And that's exactly what we see here in Daniel.

He opens the scrolls

and he knows that when he reads them,

he's hearing from God.

And what does he hear?

He hears from the Jeremiah scroll

and he's probably reading Jeremiah 25 and 29.

And there we learn that

Jeremiah prophesies

that Babylon would capture Judah

and then after 70 years

would send Judah back to Jerusalem.

And so he learns here,

we're told,

that it's going to be 70 years

until he gets to go back total

to Jerusalem.

So in the year 536,

Cyrus sends the Judahites

from Babylon back

to Jerusalem.

This is the year 539.

So he's about three to four years away

from this.

And so that immediately leads him

then to say,

70 years,

I need to pray.

I need to ask God

to do this

to actually fulfill

what he's said.

And the text,

the way it puts it

is that Daniel discerned

or perceived

the 70 years in Jeremiah.

And so there's this sense

that he understood something

of what was happening

but not all of it.

Because later,

Gabriel comes to him

and we'll get to this

at the end.

Gabriel comes to him

and explains the vision

of the 70 years,

the prophecy in detail

that would be absolutely impossible

for him to ever know.

Now let's,

basic and simple spirituality again.

Daniel believes that

when he opens God's word,

God is speaking to him.

And we learn here

that Daniel believes

that he is able to discern

or perceive

what the Bible says.

And it's just to say

that the Bible

is clear enough

to be discerned

and believed.

And when Gabriel comes

to explain the vision,

we learn

that there are depths

to the Bible

that only God

and his angels know.

And there are caverns

in a good way,

so deep in Scripture

that we will never

get to the bottom

of them in this life.

And that's why

you can come to the Bible

and say,

this is clear enough

for me to understand

what it means to be saved.

And I can come back

to the Bible

over and over and over again

and realize

that there are depths here

that I have yet to penetrate.

You might have had

this experience

where you,

if you've been in the church

your whole life,

you read the Bible

your whole life

and then you come

maybe listen to a preacher

or you meet with somebody

and you read the Bible

with them

and you start to see things

in the Bible

that you've never seen before.

And you say to your friend,

I've read this passage

so many times

and I've never seen that.

And it's because

the Bible is perspicuous.

It's clear.

It can be discerned

and perceived.

And there are depths

to it so deep

that only God

truly knows the bottom.

And that's exactly

the experience

that Daniel has here.

But he believes

that when he opens

the Bible

he is reading God's Word.

So let me put it

in the simplest form.

2 Timothy 3.16

All scripture

is breathed out

by God

and profitable.

And I just want to ask you

this morning

do you believe that?

Are you believing

that Monday to Saturday

that when you open

God's Word

the scripture

is breathed out

by God

and speaking

directly to you

and directly into your life

because the Bible

tells us it really is.

Now

that is at the heart

of biblical spirituality

but you may come today

and say

I've been reading

the Bible

and I don't feel that.

I don't

when I open the Bible

most days

I don't feel

like it's breathing

on me

and breathed out

by God.

And the one thing

I want to say

about that today

is that

part of the reason

for that is

we have to learn

to discern

what the Bible

is teaching

in order to fully

experience the breath

of scripture.

Jesus in John

John 5 · chapter mention

chapter 5

he comes to a group

of religious leaders

and he said

you keep searching

the scriptures

because you think

there you will find

eternal life

and they

bear witness

about me

yet you refuse

to come to me

to have eternal life.

Now Jesus

is saying something

so striking

and that's

he's saying to them

the reason

you're not able

yet to discern

the scriptures properly

is because you've yet

to realize

they are all about me.

And in Luke 24

he comes to his disciples

and he tells them

in the law of Moses

the Torah

the first five books

and the prophets

most of the books

of the Bible

Old Testament

and the writings

like Daniel

it says that Jesus

spent days

explaining to them

how it was all

about him.

And one of the ways

maybe the Bible

isn't yet coming alive

this could be the case

in your life

is because you've yet

to see

you've yet to grow

as much into

the Christocentric

nature

of scripture

that the Bible

is actually

all about Jesus

and it's not only

that it points to him

but it all flows

back out from him.

It's like

looking at a bicycle wheel

and if you think about

imagine a bicycle wheel

the outer rim

of it

is like the books

of the Bible

and there are

all those spokes

you know

running into the center

in and back out again.

And at the very center

of that wheel

is the center

that holds it all together

and gives it life

makes it possible

and that is Jesus.

That's what he says there.

So you can

the scriptures

can come alive to you

they really are

God's word

they can come alive to you

when you discern

that Jesus is the point.

He's the center

the meaning

the habitus

that you go into

and back out of again

to understand the whole.

John Lennox

is a famous

Christian public intellectual

that many of us know about

and I was reading

recently how he was

preparing

he told the story

of preparing

to preach

at one of his friend's funerals

and this friend

had been with him

at Cambridge

and they were students together

and they were mathematics

students at Cambridge

and they were in

a department

mathematics

at that time

where they were

actively told

if you want to survive

in this world

you must make sure

no one thinks

that you're a Christian

you must suppress

the faith

very Babylonian

in that way

and he was sitting

at the deathbed

of his dear friend

who survived that

with him

and he said

what do you want me

to say at your funeral

and this is what

his friend said

encourage the people

to do what we did

when we were students

together

tell them

read the word

of God together

discuss it

think about it

pray about it

and wait on God

until his face appears

now

if you're not there yet

his advice was

get somebody

to read God's word

with

pray about it

discuss it together

and wait

until God's face appears

and basic

biblical spirituality

is right here

it's

get your head

get your heart

get your mind

get your eyes

on the Bible

until it leads you

to prayer

so that's what

happened secondly

in Daniel's life

he then turns to prayer

and again

this

Daniel 9

needs a sermon series

not a one off

okay

so we can only be

cursory here

he says here

that prayer

is seeking

the face of God

and that's what

we have to learn today

is that

reading the Bible

until it leads us

to prayer

is basic spirituality

and then when it

leads us to prayer

prayer is seeking

him

his face

is actually the language

here in Hebrew

so

in verse

back to verse 1

this is at the time

of Darius

and that means

that we're backwards

in chronology

to the time

between Daniel chapter 5

Daniel 5 · chapter mention

and Daniel chapter 6

Daniel 6 · chapter mention

this is before Daniel

had gone into the lion's den

this vision

and this prayer

and in that chapter 6

right before he's about

to go into the lion's den

it says that to prepare

for that

he got on his knees

with an open window

facing Jerusalem

to pray

three times a day

as was his custom

and so in the

when you read the book

you just simply realize

that Daniel prayed

habitually

three times a day

and he prayed

very much

in the midst

of crisis

as well

and we learn

from Daniel

the call

and the invitation

to spiritual formation

that it requires

habitual prayer

and especially

praying in crises

and that's exactly

what happens here

so

what does that look like

for him

he had read

Jeremiah 25 and 29

and he had heard

God say there

70 years

and then you'll get

to go back

to Jerusalem

it's been 66 years

and so he immediately

starts to pray

and you can think

of a moment

like verse 17

where he says

Lord make your face

shine on your

desolate sanctuary

Jerusalem temple

restore the temple

and then he says

for your own sake

now over and over

again in the prayer

he says that

do it for your sake

Lord

do it for your sake

and what he's saying

there is

you promised

in Jeremiah

the scroll

to lead us

back to Jerusalem

and restore the temple

and so do it

make good on that promise

and you see

in this prayer

he's holding

intention

to realities

number one

that's that

God has determined

everything that will

come to pass

in history

and he

in the Bible

even sometimes

comes and says it

in 70 years

the temple

will be restored

that's a promise

and then Daniel

turns in the prayer

and now says

okay well do it

do what you said

you're going to do

and so in the Bible

you've got this

tension

where God has determined

all that comes to pass

and prayer

prayer changes history

prayer works

prayer changes the world

and both of those things

fit together

there's no zero sum game

it's 100% true

and 100% true

and that's all

that's here

it's all throughout scripture

one writer

described it like this

and I had this experience

last Saturday

so it was very helpful

to me

where at 6.30am

7am

on a Saturday

my one day off a week

which is relative

6.30

7am

a child comes to the bed

and says

you said

on Tuesday

you would take me

swimming today

and what did he say

he said

now I'm here

to see to it

that you make good

on your promise

right

now I am not God

far away from that

and that means

that I am regularly

disappointing

to my kids

and they come

and they say

make good

on the swimming promise

and I say

I have a lot

to do today

and we're probably

not going to go

and

in the same way

and in a holistically

different way

prayer is coming

in childlike

dependence

and awe

to a God

to a father

who has already said

he's made the promise

and then you come

and you say

now do it

and that's exactly

what Daniel's doing here

you said 70

make it that way

Lord

but

unlike us

God will do it

and he did it

and that's exactly

what prayer is

the heart of prayer

here in this passage

the language

is the language

in verse 3

and that's

where he says

it says that

Daniel

lifted his face

to God

to seek

the face of God

so the text says

seeking him

in prayer

but the actual

Hebrew says

sought his face

and that's the language

all throughout

the Old Testament

why

because

prayer is

intimate

and relational

you lift your face

to God

to seek his face

and it's this idea

of this face

to face

with the living God

now listen

Daniel believes

that when he opens

the Bible

he hears

from God

and then he believes

that he can lift

his face to God

and look at God's face

and they have a face

to face conversation

he believes that

that is

the reality

the heart of prayer

do you believe that

that you are having

a conversation

with the living God

because he's conversed

with you

by scripture

and then you're turning

and giving your face

to him

as he gives his face

to you

in prayer

and that's exactly

what prayer is

and Daniel

very much believes

that's fundamental

to spiritual formation

and biblical spirituality

in his life

and in our lives

as well

and it's

here

it's accompanied

with these acts

of self-denial

so he fasts

he puts on sackcloth

and pours ashes

upon his head

we don't do that anymore

but I just want to note

that the fasting

we do

and spirituality

real spirituality

is accompanied

by acts

of self-denial

and fasting

is one of them

but the sackcloth

and the ashes

was really about

this whole Bible idea

of posture

and prayer

and so all throughout

the Bible

people get on their knees

to pray

in 1 Timothy 2

in the New Testament

Paul says

men of the church

when you pray

lifting holy hands

in the air

now

the Bible says

that the physical body

is important

in prayer

and that posturing

your body

teaches your soul

how to pray

and we don't lift

holy hands in prayer

here in our church

but that's culture

that's not

the Bible says

it all the time

that the body

is so important

to train the soul

and these acts

of self-denial

and fasting

and getting into the word

and then coming to prayer

is all the basics

of what it means

to have spiritual formation

in your life

and Daniel

really lives by that

and believes that

that is why

he's a man

of faith

and hope

and wisdom

and integrity

throughout the whole

of this book

and today

if you're feeling

stale

in spiritual formation

I just want to say

simply

that God

when you come to Jesus

the spirit

breaks the power

of canceled sin

in your life

it makes you able

to change

able to be transformed

and then says

now go work out

your salvation

with fear and trembling

not go get your salvation

but go flesh it out

be changed in your life

and that's just to say

that spiritual formation

is not automatic

and so if you feel

like you're not growing

and your life

your spiritual life

is stale

it's important to hear again

and see Daniel's example

that spiritual formation

is not automatic

it takes acts of self-denial

and discipline

and habitual prayer

and habitual scripture reading

and coming back to the word

this is never something

that distances you

from the justification

of forgiveness

that you have in Jesus

no not at all

never

and so you may be

I'm far away today

from acts of self-denial

from spiritual formation

in my life

being meaningful

that's

and all this is today

is an invitation

by King Jesus

to say

come back

come closer

draw near

you're forgiven

you're saved

now work out your salvation

with fear and trembling

now one way

he teaches us to do that

is through prayers

of confession

and so this whole chapter

is mostly a prayer of confession

and there's so much in it

again we need a series

but just notice what he says

he said verse 4

I made confession

verse 5

we have sinned

we've done wrong

we've acted wickedly

we've rebelled

we've turned aside

verse 6

we didn't listen

verse 7

we are people of open shame

there are lots of different words there

for rebellion against God

every one of them means something different

lots of ways to sin against God

and then four times in the prayer

verse 7 is notable

he talks about God's righteousness

now for us as modern people

we say the word righteousness

and we don't say the word righteousness

you know we don't use that word

if we do use that word

we mean it as a pejorative

so we would say

you know

she is very self-righteous

he is very self-righteous

but in the Bible

righteousness is a relational term

and what it

you could translate it into

modern language like this

you do right by me

that's righteousness

it's relational

so four times he says

Lord

you sent us into exile

into Babylon

and I'm here today

in my confession to say

you did right by us

that's a very hard thing to say

but he said

when you judged us

it was righteous

it was right

you did right by us

and then

two times he says

you are righteous Lord

and in your righteousness

it belongs to you

to now show mercy

and forgiveness

now in this prayer

there's this tension

where he says

you are the righteous God

and you did right by us

to send us into exile

and judge us

and then on the other hand

you are the righteous God

and you do right

by forgiving

and showing mercy

and you say

well what is it

how could it be both

at the same time

how do you fit

those two pieces together

there's a real tension there

Paul Kingsnorth

is a famous English writer

that some folks here

will probably know

he's just published

a new book

that's been very well received

critically

and it's called

Against the Machine

it's really about

the spiritual cost

of modern technocracy

a life of technology

that we live

but Paul Kingsnorth

wrote this famous essay

called

The Cross and the Machine

and in it

he tells his own testimony

really

and he says that

as a teenager

he believed in science

quote

that's how he says it

and he would

he thought Christianity

was very silly

and he grew up

in rural English parish

and he did attend

the Anglican church there

sometimes

but he says that

as a teenager

he and his pals

would go parish to parish

into the Anglican

little parish church

and they would open

the visitors books

and they would write

not very nice things

into the visitors books

so that on Sundays

people would flip the pages

and find not very nice things

on Sunday mornings

to the point where he said

after a while

they would return

and find there were no longer

any visitors books

at the churches

so that

he said

that's what I thought

of Christianity

later in life

he was reading

a friend of his

by the name of

John Moriarty

and he read

in John Moriarty's

book

a man who also said

I believed only in science

he said

it struck me

John Moriarty

wrote this

I believed only in science

I thought

Christianity

a myth

and then he writes

until I was ruined

until I was ruined

shattered into seeing

only prayer

became big enough

for me

and then Paul

Kingsnorth

reading Moriarty

as an unbeliever

says

Moriarty wrote

this line

and it changed my life

the story of Christianity

is the story of humanity's

rebellion against God

he said

the one line

that changed my life

the story of Christianity

is the story of humanity's

rebellion

against God

and he said

I had never thought

of that before

he told

he said

Moriarty taught me

that humanity

is a history

of rebellion

against God

and Christianity

is how God fixed it

and then he writes

this is the truth

I would later surrender to

and today Paul

is a Christian

this is a prayer of confession

and what Daniel says

the man of integrity

the man of faithfulness

who was sent into exile

because of other people's sins

said Lord

I too

have sinned

and every single person

here today

no matter where you are

spiritually

what religious background

you may have

what you believe in

you need confession

you need to get it

off your chest

we all do

and the Bible says

we all need to confess

to God

and to other people

our sins

and our debts

and if we don't do that

the Bible tells us

our bones are going to rot

Psalm 51

it hurts

to not be able to confess

and this man of integrity

knew

this prayer

just simply says

the history of humanity

is the history of rebellion

against God

and the story of the Bible

is how God fixed it

and that's the tension

in the prayer

so how can Daniel say

Lord we deserve this

and you do right

to forgive us

what?

and the answer is

in the final

very brief

vision here

and that's this

the third principle

we've got to learn today

is true prayer

is in the name

of the prince

how can you

how can you pray like that

because it has to be

in the name of the prince

and today

are we going to solve

the vision

at the end of this passage

62 years

one week

70 years

70 weeks

the answer is no

because this passage

needs a series

and

but let me do a flyover

to say this

in verse 20

Gabriel comes to Daniel

and says

your prayer has been heard

you are greatly loved

I don't think we can

over stress

over explain

or

push

what that must have

meant to Daniel

a man who's been living

in exile for 66 years

to hear an angel of God

say

you are greatly loved

the comfort that must have been

and so

to express that

he explains

Jeremiah's

prophecy

of 70 years

now

Jeremiah's prophecy

was going to be fulfilled

four years after this

Israel was going to turn

Judah was going to return

to Jerusalem

but in the prophecy

there's a complex

set of numbers

and if you read

the commentators

what they tell us

very helpfully

is that

Jeremiah's 70 years

is being listed

in the prophecy

as 70 weeks

times 7

so another way

to read it is

this angel Gabriel

is talking about

70 years

times 7

490 years

and then

there's numbers

like

62 weeks

and 7 weeks

and 1 week

and all of those

if you add 62

and 7

and 1

and I'm not good

at mathematics

but I know

that that equals 70

and so when you read

through you'll see

all these numbers

but all the numbers

if you go through

carefully

just simply

reiterate 70

70

70

and this is

figural language

and here's what

the figural language

is doing

it says

what does it say

at the end of the period

of 70 times 7

this fullness of time

this creation number

what does it say

did you

did you see the language

I will

verse 24

put an end

to transgression

a full atonement

an everlasting righteousness

an anointed one

a prince

will come

that's the word

messiah

in Hebrew

and it says

that prince will come

and he will be cut off

that's the language

of execution

from Isaiah 53

you see what

this prophet

it's very detailed

it's very complex

but what it's really

talking about

is that in the fullness

of time

the prince would come

and so when Daniel says

Lord you're right

to send us into exile

and you're right

to forgive us

how

and the vision says

because there is

a full atonement

coming

the prince

Jesus Christ

the one who would be

cut off

the one who would be

executed

and it's by the power

of that future prince

in his death

that Daniel

in that moment

could say

now make right by us

forgive us

like you said you would

why

because he's saying

God look forward

to the prince

who is to come

and we today

look backward

and that means

this morning

when you see

this vision

and that it's actually

about Jesus

you can realize

that every single time

you pray

in Jesus name

it is not just

an angel from heaven

that God sent

to Daniel

to say

you are greatly loved

when you

listen

when you say

when you pray

and say

in Jesus name

you need to know

what that comes with

and here's what it comes with

you can hear

God saying to you

in that little phrase

you are greatly loved

when you pray

in Jesus name

it is the pronouncement

that you are greatly loved

God sent the prince

from heaven

so that when you make

confession

you can say

Lord

you're right

to judge me

and Lord

you are right

to forgive me

how

not by me

but because God says

I will not punish sin twice

and in the prince

he already did

every single one of us

today needs confession

how do you enter

into the Christian life

by confession

how do you live

the Christian life

by confession

Jesus says

Lord

our

to say

our father

forgive us our debts

every day

as we forgive others

the heart of spiritual formation

is confession

and God says

I will show you mercy

plead with him

this week

don't miss a day

without confessing your sins

today even

let us pray

Father

we pray

Lord have mercy

we plead for mercy

forgive us

our debts

as we forgive our debtors

our bones hurt

we deserve

your righteous judgment

yet we

are right

to be forgiven

because Jesus Christ

was condemned

and so

we make our plea

we make our confession

this morning

entirely on his basis

and we pray that in Jesus name

Amen