The Ancient of Days and the Son of Man - The Book of Daniel - Daniel 7:1-28

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The Ancient of Days and the Son of Man - The Book of Daniel - Daniel 7:1-28

August 13, 2023 • Andrey Bulanov • Daniel 7

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Outline:

1. A beastly picture of the enemies of God.

◦ The power of human kingdoms is terrifying and violent.

◦ Human kingdom are not as independent as they think.

◦ Human kingdoms are often influenced and used by Satan and his powers.

2. All throughout history however, God sits peacefully on his throne over all things.

3. A mysterious "son of man" approaches the throne.

4. Final victory comes through suffering.

Scripture references:

• Daniel 7

• Psalm 8:3-6

• Mark 14:61-64

Application:

• What kingdom are you serving today? The kingdom of God, or the kingdom of the enemies of God?

◦ It all starts with your view of Jesus - glorious and exalted Son of Man, King of kings

• What is your view of the world? Is your vision overcome with the scary things of this world? Or are you learning to see this world through the lens of the throne of God?

• What is your expectation for the future?

◦ The posture of a disciple of Jesus is to receive in humility and total dependence on God whatever difficulty and trails comes at us, allowing it to push us to deeper dependence on God.

Discussion questions:

• What do the beasts teach us about human history? How does this help us think about what we see in the world around us today and for the future?

• What is God's relationship to history? Why is the vision of his heavenly throne so important?

• What does the vision of the one like a son of man teach us about our Savior and about our faith?

• How do we cultivate a correct expectation of the future?

• How do we cultivate a healthy expectation and view of suffering in the christian life?

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More than anything, our perspective on life is the most important thing that defines our lives.

This is very tricky because we usually can't know what our perspective is because we are inside it.

But two people can look at the exact same thing and come to opposite conclusions about what they are looking at.

What do you see?

• example of the story of Elisha

So many christians live with a sad and narrow vision of God and his work in the world.

This chapter will hopefully open that up for you today.

This chapter dives into a new kind of genre in the book of Daniel - 1-6 was historical narrative. 7-12 is apocalyptic.

It is very important to understand this genre and its use of language.

We understand this intuitively every day as we read news, texts, memes, novels. Different forms and genres of writing will use language differently.

Some basics of apocalyptic literature -

• God reveals his purposes for the future

• Highly symbolic

• detailed and dramatic images that are a mix of literal facts and symbols

We see it here. but also in Zecharaiah, Ezekiel and of course - Revelation.

It is a very epic and dramatic - its a genre that brings very powerful impressions if it is understood correctly.

God in his word gives us very amazing and shocking images and pictures to help us expand our view to see the world as it really is.

Important considerations:

• It is not a code to be deciphered.

• There is not a one to one match to every detail.

• The specific symbols were not always apparent to the people who received the truth originally

Its also important to notice that Daniel is working inside a PERSPECTIVE that is soaked in the story of the Bible up to his day.

The key to understanding these parts of the bible is not to figure out the code, but to understand the overall flow of the biblical storyline.

Read text - Daniel 7

What is this vision that Daniel sees?

1. A beastly picture of the enemies of God.

“In my vision at night I was watching, and suddenly the four winds of heaven stirred up the great sea. 3 Four huge beasts came up from the sea, each different from the other."

A terrifying and disturbing scene invades Daniel's mind. Four monsters rising up out of the sea, from the blowing four winds.

one clear pattern here we see in the book of Daniel is the pattern of fours. Chapter 2 we see Nebuchadnezzar have a vision of the future of the world - and that future is broken down to four major world dominating kingdoms.

All the visions and revelations that we will see in the next few chapters will just be deeper explanations of the future that involves these four kingdoms and the kingdom of God.

As we noted back in chapter 2, the most fitting way to understand these four beasts as representing Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome.

4 “The first was like a lion but had eagle’s wings. I continued watching until its wings were torn off. It was lifted up from the ground, set on its feet like a man, and given a human mind.

This is very clearly reminiscent of Nebuchadnezzar - the wings are clipped - he was humbled to live like an animal, and then he was restored - "it was lifted up from the ground and se on its feet and given a human mind..."

the second beast is like a vicious bear with three ribs in its mouth - pointing to the vicious way this kingdom devoured others.

the third kingdom is like a leopard with wings - alluding to the speed with which it conquered - Alexander the Great conquered one of the largest territories in history in just 10 years - stretching from Greece to India.

the fourth beast is given special attention. It is extra attention - extra dreadful and terrifying.

It has iron teeth - this corresponds with the kingdom of iron in chapter 2. this beast has ten horns, corresponding to the 10 toes if you remember in chapter 2.

Historically this fourth beast represents Rome and its crushing power - but there is also a reason why Daniel spends more attention on this fourth beast that we will come back to in a few min.

What do these monsters demonstrate to us about history and human power?

• The power of human kingdoms is terrifying and violent - not like the visions of God's heavenly creatures which are powerful and terrifying but beautiful and amazing.

◦ they have some ugly blend of human and animal - this is genesis 1 turned upside down. Instead of man ruling over the world in a beautiful way, man becomes animal like and violent in his power.

◦ Violent - the history of human kingdoms is so violent and gruesome. So much killing and death.

• Human kingdom are not as independent as they think - they are always kept in check by power from on high.

◦ Every one of these kingdoms gets some sort of heavenly intervention or word that allows them or stops them from existing.

• Human kingdoms are often influenced and used by Satan and his powers

But also - there is something different about this fourth kingdom -

Its the kingdom that takes the most attention and the most space.

among its ten horns a little horn rises up and uprooted three horns before it.

Horns are clear symbols or kings or leaders, especially kings who conquer in war.

this little horn is given special power and ability and it is exalted above others.

Later in the chapter we will see this leader is especially powerful but also uses that power in especially evil ways which go against the people of God and directly go against God himself.

Here, again we see a pattern that is sometimes used in biblical prophecy where we see that one idea can have multiple layers of meaning.

For example in Ez. 28, the prophet is speaking of the pride of the king of Tyre - how prideful and rebellious he is. But then as the chapter is going, it becomes clear that Ezekiel is not just talking about the King of Tyre. He starts speaking of him being in the Eden the garden of God, he speaks of him being an angel that was cast out of heaven... and then you realize the prophet is speaking about Satan, not just the historical king of Tyre.

Daniel is speaking of this fourth kingdom - which can be best interpreted as Rome - but at the same time, we see that Daniel is speaking about something or someone that is more than just historical Rome or a historical king.

"25 He will speak words against the Most High and oppress the holy ones of the Most High. He will intend to change religious festivals and laws, and the holy ones will be handed over to him for a time, times, and half a time."

What we see here is a clear and direct spiritual evil that goes beyond the mere human desire for power - this power always seeks to oppose God and his work in the world.

Here in Daniel's visions, God is connecting the story of history back to Genesis 1 and 3 - God created humanity to know God and represent his power in the world.

But the spiritual evil of Satan and his host as worked to tempt and divert humanity to a power that is ugly, violent and rebellious against God.

this little horn is showing us a pattern of world leaders who arise and stand up against God - this is definitely a pattern we see all through history.

There is also some indication that this pattern will be culminated in the end of history with an ultimate world leader to opposes God and his people in a final and especially terrible way.

2. All throughout history however, God sits peacefully on his throne over all things.

There is a dramatic shift of the scenery from the violent and terrible beasts that disturb Daniel...

9 “As I kept watching,

thrones were set in place,

and the Ancient of Days took his seat.

His clothing was white like snow,

and the hair of his head like whitest wool.

His throne was flaming fire;

its wheels were blazing fire.

10 A river of fire was flowing,

coming out from his presence.

Thousands upon thousands served him;

ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him.

The court was convened,

and the books were opened.

Notice here that Daniel is telling us what he saw - he is trying to put in words things that are beyond our normal daily existence - so the images he is using are trying to communicate the impression he received as he looked.

Its not about saying that God has white hair, or that he sits down on a chair - Daniel is given a unique picture as God pulls back the vale of the part of existence that is not seen to our human eyes but is nevertheless just as real as our physical world.

It direct parallel existence to the beast and chaos of our world, there is the unstoppable reign of God who sits on his throne and who sees everything and is in full control of everything that takes place.

Notice the massive contrast between the throne room of God and the beastly kingdoms of the world.

Ancient of Days - God is timeless, unbound, eternal, never ending, all wise and all powerful

the God that Daniel sees takes his breath away - his clothing is pure white as snow - he is perfect, he is righteous, he is completely free from evil, sin, error or any darkness.

His throne is flaming fire, and a river of fire come from him. Fire is often a symbol of judgement in Scripture.

This perfect God is purifying and judging ALL EVIL. He is unspeakably glorious and righteous and just and his VERY EXISTENCE guarantees that any and all evil that exists in the world will be exposed, will be judged and will be extinguished.

In the midst of the all the anxiety and difficulty that Daniel experiences in his life, even as he witnesses these scary beasts rising up - God is seated on his throne.

He is at peace. He is in control. He is not challenged or surprised by anything that takes place.

"Thousands upon thousands served him;

ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him."

Sinclair Ferguson writes,

"In a new way, Daniel, who had so often dared to stand alone, must have realized, “I am not alone.” Myriads of others served the Lord with him. He was an earthly outpost of the heavenly garrison. "

He continues...

"Christians who have this vision of God and His throne will never feel alone and isolated. They will find their point of orientation not on earth but in heaven (Phil. 3:20–21). Their perspective on history will not arise from below (that is, from “the Great Sea” of v. 2) but from above, from the throne of God."

The beasts fill the earth, but God is seated on his throne. Where is your point of view anchored today?

3. A mysterious "son of man" approaches the throne.

11 “I watched, then, because of the sound of the arrogant words the horn was speaking. As I continued watching, the beast was killed and its body destroyed and given over to the burning fire. 12 As for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was removed, but an extension of life was granted to them for a certain period of time. 13 I continued watching in the night visions,

and suddenly one like a son of man

was coming with the clouds of heaven.

He approached the Ancient of Days

and was escorted before him.

14 He was given dominion

and glory and a kingdom,

so that those of every people,

nation, and language

should serve him.

His dominion is an everlasting dominion

that will not pass away,

and his kingdom is one

that will not be destroyed."

Daniel sees that history moves clearly in a resolution, where the enemies of God are effortlessly and totally destroyed.

But there is an interesting twist here that must have puzzled even Daniel

Earlier we see God clearly on his heavenly throne.

But here we see another figure, "one LIKE the son of man" coming on the clouds of heaven - he is escorted to God and he is given an everlasting kingdom

"son of man" is a common OT reference to a human being. It echos back to Eden, that we are all descended from the one man who was created to rule the world as God's representative.

Ps. 8:3-6

3 When I observe your heavens,

the work of your fingers,

the moon and the stars,

which you set in place,

4 what is a human being that you remember him,

a son of man that you look after him?

5 You made him little less than God

and crowned him with glory and honor.

6 You made him ruler over the works of your hands;

you put everything under his feet:

Human beings are created to rule God's world but in our sin and rebellion, our role in creation is twisted and ruined - pointing back to the evil beasts.

This reference to the son of man is pointing to a picture of ultimate humanity restored - ruling and reigning God's everlasting kingdom.

What is interesting about this character though is that he comes "on the clouds of heaven..."

Son of man is a clear reference to humanity.

But the clouds of heaven are a very clear reference to divine power. There are 70 references to the clouds of heaven in the Old Testament and every single one of them refers to GOD coming in his unstoppable divine power.

What is more, he is given an "everlasting kingdom" - we have heard this phrase a few times in Daniel already, when Nebuchadnezzar confesses God and proclaims that God's kingdom is an everlasting kingdom.

This phrase is also a reference to God's promise to king David in 2 Samuel 7 - where God promises that someone will come from the family of David and God will establish his everlasting kingdom through him.

This mysterious son of man - appearing to be human, but also coming with divine power and God's kingdom.

The jewish people expected a Messiah, a conquering king, but they didn't have it all worked out exactly how to expect him and they certainly did not expect him to be God, come in the flesh.

It's no surprise then also that when we read the gospels, Jesus' number one way to refer to himself, the most common title he ascribed to himself when he spoke of himself is not Lord or King or Messiah - it was Son of Man.

This all comes to a head when Jesus is standing in trail before the high priest -

Mark 14:61-64

Again the high priest questioned him, “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?”

62 “I am,” said Jesus, “and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming with the clouds of heaven.”

63 Then the high priest tore his robes and said, “Why do we still need witnesses? 64 You have heard the blasphemy. What is your decision?” They all condemned him as deserving death.

Jesus says - what Daniel say - that was ME. And I am coming back with the clouds of heaven to judge the world and restore all things.

Daniel saw a window into the future - the victory and ascension of Jesus, King, Lord, God become man, to take our sins upon himself and receive the Title as the Savior and Lord of the World.

Daniel saw God's plan hundreds of years before it took place and he likely didn't fully understand it.

We look back at the words of Daniel written 600 years before Christ and we realize God told his people all along what he was going to do.

The Jesus we follow is not just a good guy or a teacher of love - he is God himself, coming in human form, to stand for us, to conquer sin and evil and to set us free.

4. Final victory comes through suffering.

Daniel is given a clear picture of the final victory of God over all evil kingdoms,

But Daniel is also shown that its gonna take a while.

That victory is coming a little later.

You are only in kingdom one. There are four more, and theres a final evil leader who will stand against God and his people.

21 As I was watching, this horn waged war against the holy ones and was prevailing over them

25 He will speak words against the Most High and oppress the holy ones of the Most High. He will intend to change religious festivals and laws, and the holy ones will be handed over to him for a time, times, and half a time.

God's victory is inevitable.

But the other thing that is inevitable is the future of God's people suffering.

Why does God give so much time?

Why does he let these beasts rage through the world?

Why does God allow any of this evil to take place?

This is without a doubt the most difficult question we can ever ask. And yet this question does not push God out of the picture - it only shows us the way things are.

The bible does not give us a full answer to this question. But it definitely gives a partial one.

The key point here is that God's people prevail over the evil. They have victory. They stand faithful through the trials.

And in doing that - they become an ever and ever brighter testimony to the power of their King.

God doesn't just destroy evil at the end of history.

He overcomes and conquers it. He comes himself to take our sin and death to open the door to new life to all sinners.

And then he allows his saints to be weathered in the storm of it - to show all evil that, not only did Jesus beat death and Satan, but that his saints too continue to prevail over it even as they are being overcome by trails.

"the Ancient of Days arrived and a judgment was given in favor of the holy ones of the Most High, for the time had come, and the holy ones took possession of the kingdom."

27 The kingdom, dominion, and greatness of the kingdoms under all of heaven will be given to the people, the holy ones of the Most High. His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all rulers will serve and obey him.’

Application:

• What kingdom are you serving today? The kingdom of God, or the kingdom of the enemies of God?

◦ It all starts with your view of Jesus - glorious and exalted Son of Man, King of kings

• What is your view of the world? Is your vision overcome with the scary things of this world? Or are you learning to see this world through the lens of the throne of God?

• What is your expectation for the future?

◦ The posture of a disciple of Jesus is to receive in humility and total dependence on God whatever difficulty and trails comes at us, allowing it to push us to deeper dependence on God.

Living Faith in Turbulent Times - The Book of Daniel - Daniel 10-12

September 10, 2023 • Andrey Bulanov • Daniel 12, Daniel 10, Daniel 11

Outline: 1. We must live with clear awareness that our daily lives are involved in a great cosmic conflict. 2. God’s people persevere through courageous suffering and persistent wisdom. 3. Our heart and our sense of identity must be rooted God's works and promises. • Look to the cross of Christ. • Look to what God has done in your life. • Look to glorious future that God has promised. Scripture References: • Daniel 10-12 • 2 Timothy 3:12 Application questions: • Do you live with a daily awareness that your life is constantly involved in a cosmic spiritual conflict? ◦ That your daily battles and struggles have bigger consequences than you can see? That your spiritual life and integrity has an impact on others around you? • Is your life driven by a conscious pursuit of God's wisdom and guidance in your life? • What is the anchor of your sense of identity? Is it what God has done? Or is it your own works and circumstances? Discussion questions: • What new insights have you gained looking at the book of Daniel? How has this study shaped your thinking or your spiritual life? • How does it impact our approach to daily life when we have a clear understand that we are involved in spiritual battle every day? ◦ How does this change your struggle with sin? ◦ How does this change your approach to relationships? ◦ How does it impact your view of church and ministry? • What is the difference between a mindset that actively seeks God's wisdom and guidance versus a mindset that simply tried to avoid doing sin? ◦ What is wrong with using the question "Is it a sin?" as a primary way to make decisions? • What are ways you may be called to stand alone for God's truth? To suffer? How do we know if we are ready for these things? • How do I know if my sense of identity is rooted in God and his work rather than my own works and circumstances? • How do we grow in rooting our identity in Jesus and cross and his promises? ------ We have been spending the summer in the book of Daniel, and today we come to our final message. Daniel is a written to help God's people navigate the struggles of following God and his promises in a broken and dangerous world. As we come to conclude our study, many of us have already clearly noticed that the lessons in this book repeat over and over from different angles as the book goes on. This is a very typical pattern in Old Testament writing, especially in the prophets. They often have a pattern of talking about the same topic over and over, but from different sides and with different emphasis. This is why when you read the book of Isaiah or Jeremiah, you will sense that repetitive nature. But every time they circle around, they come at the topic from a slightly different angle. The end result is like a "surround sound" 3D effect - to give the reader a rich immersion into the topic. Because we have run out of time for this series, this final message will be an overview of the last three chapters - and in essence these three chapters are all ONE unit, one event that concludes the book. First of all we will read through all three chapters - just kidding no we wont. There is a LOT of rich truth we can explore in these chapters. There is also a lot of complex stuff here that we don't have time to unpack - feel free to follow up with me with questions on these items. What I want to do is to bring out three core principles for our lives, one from each chapter - principles that guide our lives as God's people in difficult times. 1. We must live with a clear awareness that our daily lives are involved in a great cosmic conflict. 4 On the twenty-fourth day of the first month, as I was standing on the bank of the great river, the Tigris, 5 I looked up, and there was a man dressed in linen, with a belt of gold from Uphaz around his waist. 6 His body was like beryl, his face like the brilliance of lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and feet like the gleam of polished bronze, and the sound of his words like the sound of a multitude. 7 Only I, Daniel, saw the vision. The men who were with me did not see it, but a great terror fell on them, and they ran and hid. 8 I was left alone, looking at this great vision. No strength was left in me; my face grew deathly pale, and I was powerless. 9 I heard the words he said, and when I heard them I fell into a deep sleep, with my face to the ground. 10 Suddenly, a hand touched me and set me shaking on my hands and knees. 11 He said to me, “Daniel, you are a man treasured by God. Understand the words that I’m saying to you. Stand on your feet, for I have now been sent to you.” After he said this to me, I stood trembling. 12 “Don’t be afraid, Daniel,” he said to me, “for from the first day that you purposed to understand and to humble yourself before your God, your prayers were heard. I have come because of your prayers. 13 But the prince of the kingdom of Persia opposed me for twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me after I had been left there with the kings of Persia. 14 Now I have come to help you understand what will happen to your people in the last days, for the vision refers to those days.” Daniel's final vision in the book is a of these angels - and their presence is so overwhelming to him, he becomes weak and feeble. What is also really interesting is that Daniel is allowed to see history and world events from yet another angle. This angel come to tell Daniel about a battle that he has been having between himself and an evil spiritual force that is seeking to influence world events for for the worse. The curtain is pulled back and he is allowed to see that behind the historic events of kings and empires, there is a fierce spiritual battle that is taking place. "I have come because of your prayers. 13 But the prince of the kingdom of Persia opposed me for twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me after I had been left there with the kings of Persia. " Daniel is made to see that the causes in the results that we see here and now in our world today are not simply accomplished by human agents alone but by the fact that there is an entire spiritual realm of beings and forces involved, which is interconnected with the flow of human history. As Daniel is praying and fasting about the outcome of the life of his people, he is told by this angel, that about the very things that he is praying and fasting about there is a fierce angelic battle that takes place. So easily today in the modern world, we fall into the trap of thinking that what we see is all there is. We become functional materialists. We say we believe in a spiritual world, and we believe in God and all the things that he does, but in our day-to-day function, these things don’t ever come into our consideration, and they’re not part of how we view our every day life. What some scientists and physicists are only now starting to realize Christians have always believed in the Bible has always said that the created world has two dimensions to it, which exist parallel to each other. There is a Physical created world, the things that we touch and see and feel, and then there is the spiritual world, which is inhabited by spiritual beings to have the ability to sometimes take visible form. Bible tells us very clearly that angels are created beings and just like us humans they have some form of a will and intelligence and they are powerful and yet they are not created in the image of God like we as humans are. They are not created for the same glorious purpose is that human beings are created. Angels are created to serve God within his created world in various forms. The Bible shows that at some point in the early days of creation, there was an angelic rebellion, and so there are two spheres of Angels. There’s angels that are obedient to God and then there’s angels who are in rebellion to him. We see from the book of Job that Satan and his host have the ability to influence events in the lives of people, including causing illness, causing natural disaster, and motivating the hearts of evil people to more evil. Satan and his demons oppose God and all that he does and this means that they are always working to bring destruction, suffering, and rebellion to the lives of people into God’s creation. The world we live in is deeply spiritual whether we know it or not. A few weeks ago I sent my guys to do some moving work in a home that was full of Satanic statues and worship symbols. They were really disturbed by being in that home. Yaro was telling me about a conversation with a coworker who said he is not religious at all and does not go to church - but he is really rethinking his whole spiritual attitude because he is seeing the massive surge in witchcraft and satan worship and satanic religions today. This stuff is real and its all around us. Daniel is going about his business doing life as usual. He is praying for his people. He is working his job in government and he is unaware of the fact that his prayers and his role in the Persian government is constantly crossing paths with the efforts of spiritual enemies, who oppose God, and work through evil people in the world. “I have come because of your prayers…” There are two extremes that Christians take when it comes to Angels and the spiritual world. One is to act like they don’t exist in the other one is to obsess over them, and to try to see demons under every rock and around every corner. One of the clear points for us to see here is that it is naïve to live in a way, where we are oblivious to the cosmic conflict us around us in the world. We live in a world, charged with conflict in the conflict between the enemies of God, and those who seek the glory of God. Every day, as we are going about our bills parenting, our kids interacting with our neighbors, going to work, we are engaged in spiritual battle and spiritual battle is always trying to pull us away from God away from knowing him worshiping him and serving him Not only that our life of obedience to God, in ordinary ways every day our prayers, especially have a great power in the world around us, in ways that we are completely unaware. Daniel had no idea that his prayers impacted angelic warfare in the sky. This vision shows him that his every day faithfulness matters so much more than he realizes. Sinclair Ferguson - "Daniel prayed, and angels went to war." Do you live with an awareness of the spiritual significance of your life on people and on events around you? Do you have an awareness of the fact that your battle with sin impacts many others around you? When a father or a husband is tempted to neglect, leading his family spiritually, when he is tempted to isolate himself or embrace laziness, there’s so much more at stake than his own personal comfort. When there’s marital conflict, constantly challenging family life When moms are perpetually, battling frustration and temptation to escape the calling of being present, and diligent and faithful in bringing truth and grace to their kids There’s always a spiritual battlefield for the home for the spiritual state of the home, and there are many forces that we do not see. They have a great interest in disrupting the worship and the discipleship of life in our families. 2. Gods people persevere through courageous suffering and persistent wisdom. This angelic messenger that comes to Daniel proceeds to give him a revelation of what is to come. Don’t worry, we’re not going to read chapter 11. It is long and scary and complicated. But the basic idea of this chapter is pretty simple and it’s pretty much a repetition of what we’ve already heard, and Daniel. This angel give Daniel a detailed account of wars and trials and difficulties that will follow in the next couple of hundred years has the Greek empire moves in. It’s pretty amazing to see the level of accuracy that many of these predictions have, and how precisely they were fulfilled during Alexander, the great and his Greek kingdom conquests. But also, as the pattern goes in the whole book, as we have already seen God‘s revelation to Daniel here merges from talking about the Greek empire, to talking about the general pattern of increasing opposition and persecution from gods enemies against God’s people in the final days of history. The Bible consistently speaks of an increasing difficulty and opposition that God’s people experience as the end of the age draws near. It’s interesting to me to notice the two pathways or techniques that these evil characters used to oppose God’s people. The first in the most obvious way is persecution and oppression, and pursuing gods people and eliminating them. But the second pathway is to flatter to impress him to entice people with privilege and success. We see this as a pattern in persecution throughout history. The church is persecuted, almost always a two ways at the same time first of all there’s a threat of harm various forms of harm. If you do not stop following Christ if you don’t denounce Christ if you don’t adjust your beliefs, you will suffer. At the same time, there’s always almost always a offer of reward of privilege of status of comfort and ease of life if you can align with the ideas of the world today It’s really interesting to see how this text describes gods people prevailing in the midst of difficulty. Two things that we can notice. First of all, there’s a willingness to suffer, and the to stand alone There is an expectation of hardship. There’s an expectation of opposition, and there’s no naïve idea that there’s going to be some prosperous golden age that everything’s gonna be perfectly good in my life as long as that I will be in the word God. Actually, the more serious you are about obeying God, and seeking his kingdom, the more opposition various kinds of your face in your life. Daniel 11:32-35 "32 With flattery he will corrupt those who act wickedly toward the covenant, but the people who know their God will be strong and take action. 33 Those who have insight among the people will give understanding to many, yet they will fall by the sword and flame, and they will be captured and plundered for a time. 34 When they fall, they will be helped by some, but many others will join them insincerely. 35 Some of those who have insight will fall so that they may be refined, purified, and cleansed until the time of the end, for it will still come at the appointed time." 2 Timothy 3:12 "...all who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted." This question of suffering makes us dig down to the core of our faith - is my christianity just because of my parents? or my friends? or my community? or is my faith in Jesus something that is the anchor in my OWN HEART? Are you prepared to stand alone for your faith if everything around you was stripped away? The second thing is, they’re both pursuit of wisdom and truth Noticed that they are described as those who have insight other translations say, as those who are wise. In other words, the angel describes the powerful lives of the people of God not as merely waiting for God to come back, and not as merely making sure that they are not sitting and not doing something terrible, but as those who are actively seeking truth and wisdom in their life Satan’s great tactic is not simply to just deny God’s truth outright, but to make it murky and unclear. He wants to make God's standards unclear - and he wants to promise many rewards that are very clear. Its not sin to pursue these things, but if you do they will make your life so much better - money, power, health and fitness, - it can be anything. There are a thousand ways that the enemy dangles a carrot of success and pleasure in front of you - what is the end result? He wants to take your focus away from the things that really matter, he wants to drain all the time, energy and resources you would have spent on pursuing true wisdom and devotion to God and his work in your life and all the ways he is calling you to follow him. Often times people will use the criteria in their life. I’m just making sure they’re not doing something bad. Is it sin for me to do this? In other words were really pursuing what we want, and we don’t wanna ask too many questions about what we should be pursuing as long as we know very concretely. What I’m doing is not a sin that nobody can stop me. This is not the attitude of the people of God in the final days. The only way to survive a world full of deception and conflict in opposition to God’s truth is to be a person who is truly pursuing honestly from your depth of your heart pursuing to know God in his ways. "the people who know their God will be strong and take action. 33 Those who have insight among the people will give understanding to many.." 3. Our heart and our sense of identity must be rooted God's works and promises. When we face times of difficulty and distress - the reason why it is so difficult is because it hits at our core identity. It makes us question ourselves. It makes us wonder, it makes us doubt. Why did this happen to me? Does this mean that God has abandoned me? does this mean that everything I believed was false? Everyone is happy and jolly and confident in God when everything is peachy. But when times get dark, with life presses in, when evil closes in and we see no way out - we start to crack on the inside, we start to question and doubt. We are deeply tied in our sense of identity to our CIRCUMSTANCES and to our PERFORMANCE. This is why in the final chapter, God gives Daniel a glimpse of final victory. And it is not a victory over evil that we accomplish with our own power. It is a final victory over evil, over sin and over death itself that GOD accomplishes. Daniel 12:1-3 At that time Michael, the great prince who stands watch over your people, will rise up. There will be a time of distress such as never has occurred since nations came into being until that time. But at that time all your people who are found written in the book will escape. 2 Many who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake, some to eternal life, and some to disgrace and eternal contempt. 3 Those who have insight will shine like the bright expanse of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever. It is critical that our sense of self worth and identity is being constantly rooted in GOD - in WHO he is, in WHAT he has done, in what he IS doing and what he SAYS he WILL do. How do we do that? • Look to the cross How committed is God to redeeming his people out of difficulty? So committed he took on flesh and become one of us - taking on human nature to make a way for us to be redeemed. The trails we face today and the trails we will face tomorrow are NOT because he is trying to get you to pay for your sins - it is because he is refining you - this is training for something bigger, a more glorious end that he is preparing you for. • Look at what God has done in your life. YOU ARE HERE - this is proof God is working in your life, speaking his truth of hope to you • Look to the glorious future that he promised. His future promises are guaranteed by his past actions! 3 Those who have insight will shine like the bright expanse of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever. My foundational sense of identity and self worth is NOT rooted in my circumstances and in my performance. It is rooted in Jesus and his victory - it is rooted in Jesus and his Word, his promises and his purposes. Application questions: • Do you live with a daily awareness that your life is constantly involved in a cosmic spiritual conflict? ◦ That your daily battles and struggles have bigger consequences than you can see? That your spiritual life and integrity has an impact on others around you? • Is your life driven by a conscious pursuit of God's wisdom and guidance in your life? • What is the anchor of your sense of identity? Is it what God has done? Or is it your own works and circumstances?

Seventy Sevens Until the End - The Book of Daniel - Daniel 9:20-27

September 3, 2023 • Andrey Bulanov • Daniel 9:20–27

Title: Seventy Sevens Until the End Daniel 9:20-27 Outline: 1. The Lord affirms his love and care to Daniel. 2. God foretells a plan of total restoration that will come in stages 3. The Messiah is coming who will be cut off for the sake of his people. 4. Judgement will come through God's enemies and upon God's enemies. Scripture references: - Daniel 9:20-27 - Exodus 34:5-6 - Leviticus 25:8-11 - Is. 53:8 - Luke 4:16-21 - 2 Thessalonians 2:3-12 Application: - Do you know, deep down, in you heart that you are loved by God? - This is one of the signs that the message of the gospel is really penetrating you heart. - Do you see history and the present as the battlefield between the enemies of God and God's people? - Does a false definition of success prevent you from knowing that God is with us in the midst of our struggles? Discussion questions: - How do we handle very difficult to understand passages? What do we do when we are not quite sure what something means? Does this mean the Bible is confusing? - Why does the angel make a special emphasis on telling Daniel he is loved by God? - What is the Jubilee and how does it fit into this prophecy? - What is the christian expectation of world history? ----- We are working our way through the book of Daniel. Last week we left off on Daniel 9, where Daniel realizes from reading the book of Jeremiah that the exile in Babylon will take about 70 years. He begins to pray and confess the sin of his people, asking God to fulfill his promises and restore them. So much in our life depends on HOW we define success. So much of our choices, our attitudes, our plans and our actions will be determined by what it is that you look forward to - what are the goals, what are the end results that YOU are looking forward to and striving for. This is really important because HOW you envision success for yourself will then determine how you react and how you interpret your situations in life. For example, if you have set for yourself the expectation that success in my life means financial prosperity, and you find yourself in season after season of financial difficulty in your life and you are struggling with inevitable conclusion that you will never succeed and you will always be a failure. Because you have set your financial situation AS THE METER of your well being - you are locked into a certain conclusion about your situation. but this conclusion can be totally wrong. There are different reasons WHY you may be in financial difficulty. - It may be because you ARE lazy and don't have self control in how you spend your money - It may be because you have been diligent and hard working, but there are situations in your life that are beyond your control that crashed in and wrecked your financial situation, but that is a season of learning and patience that God is taking you through - in this case your financial situation is NOT a reflection of your well being So much in our life and our thinking depends on HOW we define our goals, the things we look forward to, our definition of success. Daniel was a man who's vision of success and fulfillment was totally shaped and aligned with God's purposes and his personal participation in God's kingdom. Even though he lives a prosperous life in Babylon, he prays a prayer of confession for the sin of his people, he longs for God to restore - he sees his life as living through the judgement of God. As Daniel prays and longs for God to fulfill his promises in his life God gives him an answer of WHAT to expect from history. This answer to Daniel teaches us that we must see our ultimate restoration as coming from GOD and his plan - and we must see that God's victories come through patient endurance. READ Daniel 9:20-27 1. The Lord affirms his love and care to Daniel. 20 While I was speaking, praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my petition before the Lord my God concerning the holy mountain of my God—21 while I was praying, Gabriel, the man I had seen in the first vision, reached me in my extreme weariness, about the time of the evening offering. 22 He gave me this explanation: “Daniel, I’ve come now to give you understanding. 23 At the beginning of your petitions an answer went out, and I have come to give it, for you are treasured by God. Daniel was in extreme weariness and weakness - he was confessing and sorrowful over the sin of his people - over the sadness of his situation in history. the first thing we need to make a note of is the way that God cares for Daniel here. God is caring for Daniels soul. "at the beginning of your petitions an answer went out, and i have come to give it, for you are treasured by God..." such beautiful words!! Does God hear me in my prayers and struggles? YES HE DOES - at the beginning of your prayers. The answer may not always come right away. But he heres and he is coming!! Daniel is told that he is heard right away by God even though he himself did not feel that right away. God always hears the call of his people in the midst of their struggles and challenges - though the timing of his answers doesn't always align with our expectations. Why is this so important for Daniel to know? "You are treasured/loved by God..." God will say again in the next chapter - he wants to reaffirm his love and his presence even when there are seasons it may not be felt. There's this silly impression that people have of God in the OT that he is harsh and judgmental, as opposed to being loving in the NT - this is totally not the case if we pay even a little more attention to the text. First of all Daniel, God loves you. This is so important for us to hear every day of our lives, especially in the midst of our difficulties. We may have lots of questions - we may have lots of things we don't fully understand - God says first of all in his word today, that he loves you. He loves you today and he has a purpose for the exact place that you find yourself today. Exodus 34:5-6 5 The Lord came down in a cloud, stood with him there, and proclaimed his name, “the Lord.” 6 The Lord passed in front of him and proclaimed: The Lord—the Lord is a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love and truth, 7 maintaining faithful love to a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, rebellion, and sin. Stop and let that sink in Do you know that it your heart today? God's answer here is to give Daniel hope and encouragement. As encouraging as his introduction is, the message that the angel gives is...interesting. 24 Seventy weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city— to bring the rebellion to an end, to put a stop to sin, to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy place. 25 Know and understand this: From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until an Anointed One, the ruler, will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks. It will be rebuilt with a plaza and a moat, but in difficult times. 26 After those sixty-two weeks the Anointed One will be cut off and will have nothing. The people of the coming ruler will destroy the city and the sanctuary.[f] The[g]end will come with a flood, and until the end there will be war; desolations are decreed. 27 He will make a firm covenant with many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and offering. And the abomination of desolation will be on a wing of the temple until the decreed destruction is poured out on the desolator.” Huh?? How does this answer give Daniel hope?? Its actually one of the most misunderstood, debated and confusing passages in the whole Bible. EVERYONE agrees with that conclusion - and that is pretty much the only thing that people agree on. Some people treat this passage with extreme certainty and make it a point of unhealthy disagreement. Entire ministries are built around certain interpretations of this passage. Not all passages in the Bible are equally understandable - but the core foundational truths are the most clear. As with a lot of other apocalyptic passages, we need to be cautious about extremes. We need to do our best to allow the pattern of Scripture to interpret this passage for us, and we need to start with the parts that are most obvious to us, and work down from there. Obviously we don't have time here to cover every line in detail here, but what I would like to do is sketch our my best attempt at understanding the main ideas and why it gives hope and direction to Daniel. Some of you who are die hard prophesy experts may disagree with me here and we can definitely have more conversations. A very important starting point for us here is to remember that Daniel is mainly concerned about the question of returning from exile and God's kingdom being restored. 2. God foretells a plan of total restoration that will come in stages OT prophets always speak of a period of return from exile and of spiritual healing and restoration to the people of God and the rest of the world. What is clear from the prophets in the OT is that there are two stages to the return from Babylon - there is going to be a physical return when the Jewish people come back and rebuild their city and temple - AND there is going to be a final, later, TRUE spiritual return. This is clear especially in places like the book of Isaiah where God speaks of a return of his people in the future that is not just a geographical return but a return that will be part of a process of total renewal of the world, of the inner life of his people, or real and healing to the whole world. Now, when we look at the purpose statement that the angel gives to Daniel, it is clear he has in mind the full plan of the true return and restoration of God's people. "to bring the rebellion to an end, to put a stop to sin, to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy place." He is speaking of the full restoration, the true return. But he tells Daniel its not going to happen quite yet. "Seventy weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city...." This is where the seventy weeks or more specifically in the Hebrew its literally seventy sevens come in. Whats up with the number seven? It is referring to a common OT idea called the year of Jubilee Leviticus 25:8-11 8 “You are to count seven sabbatical years, seven times seven years, so that the time period of the seven sabbatical years amounts to forty-nine. 9 Then you are to sound a ram’s horn loudly in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month; you will sound it throughout your land on the Day of Atonement. 10 You are to consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim freedom in the land for all its inhabitants. It will be your Jubilee, when each of you is to return to his property and each of you to his clan. 11 The fiftieth year will be your Jubilee; you are not to sow, reap what grows by itself, or harvest its untended vines. God ordered the life of Israel around 7 year periods. Every 7 years was a year of rest for the land. then ANOTHER special year after 7 7's - every 49 years - the year of Jubilee is a year of redemption and restoration, a year when land and debts are restored to their original owners. A year of financial, social and physical rest and recovery for the people of God. It was financial and social - but it was also prophetic - the year of jubilee pointed forward to the promised work of God to bring healing and restoration to the whole world through his plan of salvation. When God tells Daniel about the future, he is pulling on this idea of Jubilee and saying that a total, real true Jubilee is coming not in seven sevens but in seventy sevens. The question is - do we take this seventy sevens as literal numbers or do we take it more as a flexible symbolic term pointing forward to God's restoring work through Jesus? This is a good question and is up for debate. One of the mistakes people do is they get all mathematical about it. They start creating math formulas to predict that EXACT DATE of the end of the world. This is a mistake because that is not how prophetic language is used in general and its not how apocalyptic language is used. The ten horns, the four wings on the monster - Daniel would not have taken is a mathematical code - he obviously would have taken it as general patterns that communicate a clear idea. In the case of the seventy weeks or seventy sevens, the obvious point God is telling here is this: "Daniel, yes the people will go home soon, but the REAL and FULL return is a much bigger project that will take a much larger chunk of history." One commentator says, "Its like Daniel was focused on one mountain peak that he was climbing, and then as he got close to it, he is being shown that there is yet another, much bigger peak that is the path of God's redeeming work - not just the 70 years in Babylon, but the seventy weeks that Gabriel is saying...Daniel is given a more detailed picture of that path.." 3. The Messiah is coming who will be cut off for the sake of his people. the seventy sevens are broken down into THREE segments: - seven - 62 - one 25 Know and understand this: From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until an Anointed One, the ruler, will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks. It will be rebuilt with a plaza and a moat, but in difficult times. 26 After those sixty-two weeks the Anointed One will be cut off and will have nothing. Two sections of time are highlighted here - the time when Jerusalem is rebuilt - and the time when an anointed one, a ruler will come. The time for rebuilding the temple and the city is seven sevens - about 49 years this pretty closely covers the time of Nehemiah and Ezra - the season when the king allowed them to return and rebuild the city. "It will be rebuilt with a plaza and a moat, but in difficult times." then we have another - MUCH longer period - 62 sevens/weeks 26 After those sixty-two weeks the Anointed One will be cut off and will have nothing. This is the long stretch that brings us to the coming of the Messiah, the Ruler - now what is interesting and unexpected about this ruler that Daniel is told about is that he is "cut off, and have nothing..." vs 24 says one of the biggest things God is going to accomplish in this time period is to end our sin and guilt. How can God accomplish this task of ending our sin, of paying for our sin? Isaiah 53 talks about a person, a figure, taking the sins of the people on himself to clear their guilt and Isaiah speaks of the servant of God being "cut off" for the sake of his people. Here is where we notice more that Gabriel's message to Daniel is interwoven with hints and connecting points to other parts of God's Word such, namely the book of Isaiah. Is. 53:8 He was taken away because of oppression and judgment, and who considered his fate? For he was cut off from the land of the living; he was struck because of my people’s rebellion. And here in Daniel 9 we have this phrase that says that the coming ruler, the coming Messiah, the leader, he will bring in the jubilee and the renewal of God's people - will be cut off - rejected, condemned. One morning in a synagogue gathering in a small village, Jesus Luke 4:16-21 16 He came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. As usual, he entered the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up to read. 17 The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him, and unrolling the scroll, he found the place where it was written: 18 The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. 20 He then rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. And the eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21 He began by saying to them, “Today as you listen, this Scripture has been fulfilled.” Jesus reads the text from Isaiah about the ultimate, spiritual Jubilee - the time of real healing and restoration - and he says - IT IS HERE IN ME. I have come to bring real healing to sinners and forgiveness to all! What is also interesting is what happens next in the story in Luke "28 When they heard this, everyone in the synagogue was enraged. 29 They got up, drove him out of town, and brought him to the edge of the hill that their town was built on, intending to hurl him over the cliff." this is a hint of how they will treat the one who comes to bring healing - the reject him. Even though Jesus came to preach the truth to his people and bring his people home to God, they rejected him, judged him, convicted him and handed him over to the Romans to be killed. In Jesus we have the fulfillment of Daniel 9, Isaiah 53 and Isaiah 61 That covers seven plus 62 weeks - thats leaving one week - the seventieth week. 4. Judgement will come through God's enemies and upon God's enemies. 26 After those sixty-two weeks the Anointed One will be cut off and will have nothing. The people of the coming ruler will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come with a flood, and until the end there will be war; desolations are decreed. 27 He will make a firm covenant with many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and offering. And the abomination of desolation will be on a wing of the temple until the decreed destruction is poured out on the desolator.” The next contentious question is WHO is 26b and 27 referring to - is it the SAME ruler, the Messiah that we have been talking about in 26a - or is this a different, evil ruler - the opposite of Christ - the main enemy of God? "he will make a firm covenant and put a stop to sacrifice and offering..." - some say this is Jesus, forming the new covenant and ending the sacrifices because he gave himself once for all. I am not full convinced of this. Based on the pattern of how Daniel keeps referring to evil rulers of the world who oppose God and his truth, I am inclined to believe its not talking about Jesus, its talking about an evil ruler. What I think is happening is another instance where the Bible is talking about a specific historical event - but then it pushes past that event to speak of something bigger and more significant that this event is pointing to. "The people of the coming ruler will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come with a flood, and until the end there will be war; desolations are decreed." This is speaking of ANOTHER future destruction of Jerusalem - I think its referring to what happened in 70 AD when the romans came in and completely destroyed EVERYTHING. This is how Jesus quotes this passage too - Jesus uses this passage to speak of the coming destruction of Jerusalem and warning his disciples about what is going to happen is the not so distant future. Jesus said these things will happen to the Jewish religious system as yet another judgement because they rejected Jesus who came to bring them the good news. But then verse 27 seems to push past singular historical event, and points to a bigger pattern or fulfillment in history. Daniel does a similar thing with these "little horns" in chapters 7 and 8 They are speaking of specific leaders in history who will oppress God's people - but then they also seem to point forward to a bigger fulfillment of a anti-Christ figure who rises up at the end of the age to oppose God and his people. Paul speaks of this character in 2 Thessalonians 2 For that day will not come unless the apostasy comes first and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. 4 He opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he sits in God’s temple, proclaiming that he himself is God. The Lord Jesus will destroy him with the breath of his mouth and will bring him to nothing at the appearance of his coming. 9 The coming of the lawless one is based on Satan’s working, with every kind of miracle, both signs and wonders serving the lie, 10 and with every wicked deception among those who are perishing. They perish because they did not accept the love of the truth and so be saved. 11 For this reason God sends them a strong delusion so that they will believe the lie, 12 so that all will be condemned—those who did not believe the truth but delighted in unrighteousness. Notice here - just like the judgement that came on the Jewish religious system came through the destructive power of Rome in AD 70, so judgement will come on the world at the end of the age - God permits an evil ruler, or an evil system, to dominate the world and weave deceptive and destructive lies in the hearts of people to follow it. 27 He will make a firm covenant with many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and offering. I think this is symbolic language that described the end times ruler/or evil system - which imposes its own religious truth on the world. So the million dollar question is WHO is this antichrist and how do we identify him? Is it Joe Biden? Is it Donald Trump? Is it Vladimir Putin? Is it China? or North Korea?... Is it some super powered satanic overlord who will appear at the end and we will all clearly know its him but for now we just chill and wait?? No because all these predictions are counter weighed by Jesus' OTHER words - be watchful, alert and ready - because he may return to judge the living and the dead at any moment! He can come back today and then we will look back and know - it WAS Joe Biden all along. He can come back in 100 years - but the dangers remain. We live today in a evil world system that religiously opposes God and his people. We see truly satanic and evil things take place in the middle east and India where Christians are being slaughters and their homes burned. We face a progressive sexual political system that is more and more opposed to God and his truth - forcing everyone to comply and agree or suffer the consequences. Daniel was closing in on the peak of his mountain, his 70 years of exile and he was shown a much bigger peak and a longer path up ahead of the people of God. Today we find ourselves somewhere along the steep and dangerous climb of that final peak in God's story of history. We live in a time when the enemies of God grow and gather. The question is where do you align your life in this story? What are the goals and end points that your life is striving for? Are you aligned with God's plan for history? Or are you trying to make your own? The angel says, all these terrible things will keep going - "until the decreed destruction is poured out on the desolator.” There is coming a time when, As Paul says, Jesus will return suddenly to the scene of the world stage and crush his enemies. For now we find ourselves in the middle of verse 27 somewhere that we follow the pattern of our savior, who was cut off, who was rejected We follow in his pattern and in his power. We learn endurance and strength and dependence on his grace the struggles in the trials in the oppression in the difficulties, we experience in our lives. Application: - Do you know, deep down, in you heart that you are loved by God? - This is one of the signs that the message of the gospel is really penetrating you heart. - Do you see history and the present as the battlefield between the enemies of God and God's people? - Does a false definition of success prevent you from knowing that God is with us in the midst of our struggles? Today, as we approach the table, its a memorial and a celebration. Its a memorial because it is remembering Jesus' death and suffering in our place Its a celebration because he is the long awaiting Savior who has come at the peak of history to bring about God's long awaited promise of healing and restoration. To proclaim victory to the captives of sin and guilt, to give strength to the weary, to put speak to us in the most powerful way - that we are loved.

Grabbing Hold of God's Promises - The Book of Daniel - Daniel 9:1-19

August 27, 2023 • Andrey Bulanov • Daniel 9:1–19

Outline: 1. Daniel's prayer life was driven by a singular focus on God's kingdom. 2. Daniel understood the significance of our actions (especially PRAYER) in response to God's promises. 3. Daniel's mindset in prayer is driven and defined by God's Word. 4. Daniel understands the centrality of confession of sin in prayer. Scripture references: • Daniel 9: 1-19 • Jeremiah 25:11 • Revelation 8:2-5 • John 1:7-10 Application • What is the focus of you life? What is the mountain that you are climbing? Is there a genuine pursuit of God in your life? • What is the perspective that drives your prayer life and relationship with God? Are you learning to see your life through the lens of God and his story? • Do you confess your sins or do you hide them? Are you trying to clean yourself up or are you living in the light of God's goodness and love? One of the biggest tensions we feel as believers is summed up in the words of the Psalmist - "How long or Lord?" Its the tension we feel between our current situation, and the promises of God that we know to be true. Its the tension we feel when we see the world around us spinning out of control and promises of God saying all will work together for good. Its the tension we feel between feeling that we are weak, struggling and broken - and the Word of God telling us that all who trust in the Lord will be like an ever green tree that cannot be shaken. Its the tension Daniel likely felt as he spent his entire life, and poured out the vast majority of his strength and intelligence working in a government system that destroyed his own homeland. We have walked with Daniel through the past few weeks from the days of him being a young man taken from his homeland amidst war and destruction - to now the image of Daniel at the end of his life - still looking and still waiting for God's promises. As we look at this chapter today, the lesson we want to derive for ourselves is that in God and his Word we have an unshakable anchor of hope, and an invitation to call upon him, to participate in his plans, even though his answers to us are often so much bigger than we expect. Read Text 1. Daniel's prayer life was driven by a singular focus on God's kingdom. Daniel is a wise and significant figure, a man of God who has witnessed and lived through a lot. He is spiritually mature and he is esteemed by even the unbelievers around him. He has lived a long and fruitful life. So the question is, what is it that he spends his time and energy doing these days? Answer - studying Scripture. "In the first year of Darius, the son of Ahasuerus, a Mede by birth, who was made king over the Chaldean kingdom— 2 in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the books according to the word of the Lord to the prophet Jeremiah that the number of years for the desolation of Jerusalem would be seventy." This is the posture of the mature and powerful man of God - the higher he goes in his growth and wisdom - the more focused and tied his heart becomes to God's Word and God's promises. From the start of his life to his end - his heart is committed to living for God and his kingdom. The life he lived in babylon no doubt made many of his fellow exiles comfortable and caused them to forget the tragedy of the fact that the city of God and the promises of God have been forgotten. His life is one focused climb, one steady pursuit of God and his glory. I can't resist the side note to men especially - what is your life pursuing? Are you being manipulated by the enemy to turn your nose in every way, being directed and influenced by the chaos the distractions the blessings and the pleasures of life?? WHAT are you focused on? What is your life set on? Your life can fly by in an instant you find you just spent it all chasing vapor. Daniel is locked in to God and his promises. And What is it that he discovers? "I, Daniel, understood from the books according to the word of the Lord to the prophet Jeremiah that the number of years for the desolation of Jerusalem would be seventy." What is he referring to? Jeremiah 25:11 11 This whole land will become a desolate ruin, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon for seventy years. He realized that the time for God to bring about the return and restoration of his people was about to come to pass! What an exciting realization!! He must have been like WUUUUUUTTT????? What was his response? To celebrate, to rejoice? To kick back and wait for God to do his promises? 3 So I turned my attention to the Lord God to seek him by prayer and petitions, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. He commits himself to prayer, to fasting and to ASK GOD WITH ALL HIS STRENGTH TO DO WHAT HE PROMISED! So many people struggle feeling like their spiritual life is flat, like they don't have a clear sense of purpose or direction or closeness to God... But are we SEEKING him? We often want the results of God's work in our lives and through our lives without actually wanted GOD HIMSELF. 2. Daniel understood the significance of our actions (especially PRAYER) in response to God's promises. Daniel did not kick back and chill and wait - he realized God is about to bring about the renewal of his poeple and our return. How does that happen? Through our own prayer and through our repentance and acknowledgement of all that we did wrong - through our asking for him to DO WHAT HE SAID HE WOULD DO!! This is one of the biggest misunderstandings people have about God's sovereignty and total control and his promises - it just means then that we don't need to worry or do anything - we just wait for him to do it. NO! Yes God plans and controls and promises - and yet, God works out all his promises through the powerful, confident faithful prayer and obedience of his people! Theres a powerful image of this in the book of Revelation - Revelation 8:2-5 2 Then I saw the seven angels who stand in the presence of God; seven trumpets were given to them. 3 Another angel, with a golden incense burner, came and stood at the altar. He was given a large amount of incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar in front of the throne. 4 The smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up in the presence of God from the angel’s hand. 5 The angel took the incense burner, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it to the earth; there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake. The angel takes the prayers the the saints which come to God as an offering of worship - and he throws those prayers back onto the earth as the TOOL that brings about apocalyptic judgement - through the prayers of the saints God is accomplishing the end of the world. WE are the tool God uses to accomplish his eternal purposes in history. Daniel is not simply leaning back and waiting for God's promises, he is reaching out and grabbing hold of them! James 5 tells us that the prayer of the righteous person has great power. Is that your perspective today? Do you believe in the power of your prayer and your life of following Christ to do great things? Sinclair Ferguson - "God’s sovereign purposes are never revealed in Scripture as excuses for our personal indolence but as incentives for action" 3. Daniel's mindset in prayer is driven and defined by God's Word. The way that people pray about their situations tells you a lot about what they think about God and what they think about themselves. "God please give me more money and more success" "God why did you let all these things happen to me??" James says one of the problems with the prayers of many is that they come to God like a genie in a lamp, they come to him with their own dreams and ambitions, completely detached from his own word and his story. What is the drive of Daniel's prayer? what is the motivation? If you notice, over and over in the prayer, Daniel is referring to God's own word to them and he is praying God's own promises back to him. This is another product of a man who is soaked deeply by the Word of God - he is not just demanding for big money and nice cars - he whole imagination is structured by God's story and God's plans for the world - and when he sees things about to happen he is calling on God to fulfill his own promises. He is not making up his own explanations for WHY all this happened to them. Did God abandon them? Is God a fake? No. Daniel interprets his situation through Scripture, he allows God's Word to dictate his own view of his life - and from that position he prays. From the very start, God spoke through Moses in Deuteronomy 30 and said, IF you disobey my word and break my covenant - you will be exiled from the promised land. You will face judgement for your sin. Daniel's own prayer is based on the prayer of Solomon in 1 Kings 8 where Solomon is praying at the dedication of the temple - and in that prayer, Solomon is linking back to what Moses said and asks God to please have mercy on them and, even if they are disobedient and are exiled from the land - that when they pray to him to restore them back - that he will hear them. Daniel does not see himself as a solo player on the stage of life. His whole heart is shaped by the story of salvation that God is working through his people and he comes to God to appeal for him to do what he said in his own word. 11 All Israel has broken your law and turned away, refusing to obey you. The promised curse[https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=daniel+9&version=csb#fen-csb-22000a] written in the law of Moses, the servant of God, has been poured out on us because we have sinned against him. 12 He has carried out his words that he spoke against us and against our rulers by bringing on us a disaster that is so great that nothing like what has been done to Jerusalem has ever been done under all of heaven. 13 Just as it is written in the law of Moses, all this disaster has come on us, yet we have not sought the favor of the Lord our God by turning from our iniquities and paying attention to your truth. 17 Therefore, our God, hear the prayer and the petitions of your servant. Make your face shine on your desolate sanctuary for the Lord’s sake. 18 Listen closely,[https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=daniel+9&version=csb#fen-csb-22007c] my God, and hear. Open your eyes and see our desolations and the city that bears your name. For we are not presenting our petitions before you based on our righteous acts, but based on your abundant compassion. 19 Lord, hear! Lord, forgive! Lord, listen and act! My God, for your own sake, do not delay, because your city and your people bear your name. So often people will allow their difficulties to reshape their theology. Why did this happen to me? you allow your own sinful heart and imagination, you allow pop culture, you allow the world around you - to shape how you see your life and how you interpret your life and how you approach God. You end up in a dead end, blaming God, asking for things that will bring even more pain in your life. Daniel knows he must see himself in light of God's story, he must OWN his part in the story, confess the reality of the sin of his people, and call on God to DO WHAT HE PROMISED! God loves it when we come to him like a child and say, "You promised God!!" But for us to be able to do that we must also carefully sift our prayers and our desires through the story of God's own word! Are your prayers to God driven and empowered by God's very own promises? Or are they just a collection of your own personal and selfish ambitions? 4. Daniel understands the centrality of confession of sin in prayer. Daniels prayer is a serious one, not a prayer of party and celebration. Why? Because he starts with admitting the sin of his people. He starts with the foundational acknowledgement that they are guilty and unworthy of God's grace and goodness - and yet they only depend on GOD's own goodness and righteousness. Ah, Lord—the great and awe-inspiring God who keeps his gracious covenant with those who love him and keep his commands— 5 we have sinned, done wrong, acted wickedly, rebelled, and turned away from your commands and ordinances. 6 We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, leaders, ancestors, and all the people of the land. 7 Lord, righteousness belongs to you, but this day public shame belongs to us: the men of Judah, the residents of Jerusalem, and all Israel—those who are near and those who are far, in all the countries where you have banished them because of the disloyalty they have shown toward you. 8 Lord, public shame belongs to us, our kings, our leaders, and our ancestors, because we have sinned against you. 9 Compassion and forgiveness belong to the Lord our God, though we have rebelled against him 10 and have not obeyed the Lord our God by following his instructions that he set before us through his servants the prophets. If we do not start on the foundation of brokenness before God, we are blind. So often people come to God with so many requests and demands - and yet in their whole approach there is missing the central significance of acknowledging their own sin and brokenness before God. Starting in a place of humility before God allows you to have a realistic view of yourself. The truth is that we are broken and weak sinners before God - and the basis of our hope is never how good we can be - its always a deep awareness of our total dependence on his mercy and his grace. John 1:7-10 7 If we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say, “We have no sin,” we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say, “We have not sinned,” we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. The practice of confessing our sin to God has long been a core practice for the daily christian life. The christian life begins on the foundation of confessing our sin and repentance - and it continues as a routine through which God continually sanctifies us. this is not because we somehow earn God's forgiveness over and over - as if we need to be re forgiven over and over. The good news of the gospel is that total forgiveness for our sins comes into our lives when we turn from our sin, repent, and believe and trust in Jesus as our King, our Savior. Its such a basic truth but its one that is always to amaze us. When John and James both talk about continually confessing our sins as a part of our daily christian life, they are not talking about the fact that we need brand new forgiveness and acceptance every day from God. Even though we are accepted by God and forgiven, we still struggle with the residual effects of sin - and our daily practice of confessing, of bringing that in God in prayer - it is an avenue, a pathway - through which we welcome God's grace and strength to bring change and transformation to those parts of our lives. When we confess our sin - we are reminded of our deep need in God, of our total dependence on him and on his great goodness love and faithfulness. this is central to Daniels prayer. He understood God's promises. but he also wanted to experience them, he would not simply sit back and wait, he wanted to run to God and open his heart, Application • What is the focus of you life? What is the mountain that you are climbing? Is there a genuine pursuit of God in your life? • What is the perspective that drives your prayer life and relationship with God? Are you learning to see your life through the lens of God and his story? • Do you confess your sins or do you hide them? Are you trying to clean yourself up or are you living in the light of God's goodness and love?