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Daniel chapter nine verse one. In the first year of Darius, the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, which was made king over the realm of Chaldeans, in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood by books the number of the years, uh, whereof the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet that he would accomplish seventy years in desolati- in the desolations of Jerusalem. And I set my face unto the Lord God to seek my prayer and supplication with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.
And I prayed unto the Lord my God and made my confession and said, O Lord, the great and dreadful, dreadful God, keeping the c- the covenant and mercy to them that love him and to them that keep his commandments. We have sinned and have committed iniquity and have done wickedly and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments. Neither have we hearkened unto thy servants, the prophets, which spake in thy name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us confusion of faces, as at this day.
To the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto all Israel that are near and that are far off, through all the countries, whether thou hast driven them because of their trespass, that they have trespassed against thee. O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against thee. To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against him. Neither have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our God to walk in his laws, which he set before us by his servants, the prophets. Yea, all Israel have transgressed thy law, even by departing, that they might not obey thy fa- uh, obey thy voice.
Therefore, the curse is poured upon us, and the oath that is written in the law of Moses, the servant of God, because we have sinned against him, and he hath confirmed his words which he spake against us and against our judges at that judge- judged us, by bringing upon us a great evil. For under the whole heaven hath not been done as hath been done upon Jerusalem. As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil has come upon us, yet made we not our prayer before the Lord our God, that we might turn from our iniquities and understand thy truth. Therefore hath the Lord watched upon the evil and brought it upon us.
For the Lord our God is righteous in all his works which he doeth, for we obey not his voice. And now, O Lord our God, that hath brought thy people forth out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, hath bego- hath gotten thee renown, as at this day we have sinned, we have done wickedly. O Lord, according to all thy righteousness, I beseech thee, let thine anger and thy fury be turned away from thy city, Jerusalem, thy holy mountain, because of our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and thy people are become a reproach to all that are, that are about us.
Now, therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of thy servant and his supplications, and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord's sake. O my God, incline thine ear and hear, open thine eyes and behold our desolation and the city which is a, which is called by thy name. For we do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousnesses, but for thy great mercies. O Lord, hear. O Lord, forgive. O Lord, hearken and do. Defer not for thine own sake, O my God, for thy city and thy people are called by thy name.
The Lord will bless the reading of his word. Chapter nine brings us to another of those, uh, important chapters in relation to the, uh, prophetic program that God is working out through this book of Daniel. But it's not only important from that standpoint, it's very interesting because once again, in chapter nine we have a prophet in crisis. And we notice that the chapter divides itself into its two divisions. In chapter one, from verse one to twenty one, we have a prophet in crisis, and he is speaking to God. In verses twenty two to twenty seven, we now have God speaking unto a prophet in crisis, and that through Gabriel.
So the chapter is interesting from that very standpoint, that here we have the prophet Daniel in crisis, and he's speaking to God. And God is speaking to a prophet in crisis in the remaining part of the chapter, indicating to us, of course, you know, fellowship with God is very real. Here is Daniel, he's in crisis, but in this chapter we get the impression of, uh, fellowship with God is indeed very real. Here is Daniel, he's speaking to God, and God is speaking to Daniel through, of course, Gabriel the angel. And so we find that what that means to you and me is just this, that in days of crisis, whether it be individual or personal, whether it be, uh, you know, national or international, whether it be domestic, whatever a crisis may be that overtakes us from time to time.
Here we see a prophet in crisis, and he's having fellowship with God. In other words, it seems to me that the whole chapter, or at least in these first twenty one verses, we we have this delightful dialogue between the prophet and God, and that in a time of crisis. And then we notice this, that in his prayer, he he does, uh, refer back to what has been written beforehand or before time. And so there's one or two very practical lessons we want to learn out from this chapter that may do us good whenever we may need just to take a similar position to Daniel and lay hold upon God in, uh, in times of crisis.
You notice, first of all, um, what the crisis was. You see, in verse one, it was the first year of Darius. And you see what that indicates is this. See, the nations of the world at that point in time, they were in crisis because Babylon had ruled the world for seventy years, and Daniel had lived in Babylon for seventy years. And here we have, uh, the whole world now no longer governed by Babylon, but rather in crisis until the, uh, the second nation should arise, the Medo-Persian Empire should rise.
You know, the, the breast in arms of silver of chapter two now comes into place as a world empire and a world power. And so we find it is at this point in time, when this changeover is taking place, that we have Daniel presented to us, and Daniel presented to us in his prayer, and then in the second half of the chapter, in this tremendous prophecy concerning end times in relation to Israel and the world. So we could say, could we not, that in this chapter we have Daniel talking to God and God listening. And then we have, in the second half of the chapter, God talking and Daniel listening.
And so we see the chapter as a whole has a very practical import as far as we are concerned, because after all, our prayer life ought to be of that character. It's talking to God, and of course, God talking to us. But God doesn't talk to us audibly, as he did with a Daniel, through a Gabriel. God speaks to us today through his word. And so we find the chapter opens up with this, uh, with this great thought and rec- and uh, and the remembrance of Daniel's prayer, reminding us of the great privilege and uh, the delightful dialogue that as Christians we can have with God and with the Lord.
We can talk to him, and he will talk to us, albeit through his word. And so we find then, when I say we have a prophet in crisis, it is really indicated in verse number one, because it did change a lot as far as the world was concerned. Nebuchadnezzar was the head of gold, as Daniel said in chapter two, and Babylon became the world empire. It was, of course, a commencement of the times of the Gentiles. But what we learned from chapter two, in the dream image given to Nebuchadnezzar, that after all, God, he is the, uh, he he is the origin of nations, and he gives us a history of nations.
And just as he did it in the image in chapter two, so we learn here in chapter nine that God is the controller of the even the history of nations. So Babylon has run its course. seventy years the world has been under the rule of Babylon, but now the Medo-Persian Empire has been brought in, and with the coming in of the Medo-Persian Empire, it's a further movement on the part of God for the fulfillment of his purposes with regard to Israel. Well, may just raise the question again, why then are the people of God in captivity? Why has Babylon spent seventy years in Babylon as a captive?
And all the people of Jerusalem and the inhabitants of Judah have been in captivity now nearly about seventy years have passed by. And we may raise the question, why are the people of God in captivity in Babylon as we open this chapter? But of course, we need to go back, uh, to the, uh, the books of Moses. And Moses, the man of God, he wrote Leviticus. And in Leviticus chapter twenty four and verse number thirty six we find that Moses, he warns the people of, of, of God that if they do not give the land one, uh, a Sabbath year in seven, then God will deal with their sin.
And you know, it's nearly a, it's almost a thousand years, Leviticus chapter twenty four and between Daniel chapter nine. And we find that for a thousand years, God having given his commandment through Moses that the people should give the land a Sabbath rest one year in seven. But God looked down over all those years, and Israel did not give, did not obey the word of God, and did not give the land a rest. Because, of course, there was that what we might call desire for wealth. And so we find the land was used every day, every year.
We know, although nearly a thousand years had passed, God had not forget- forgotten Israel's sin. And so, as we learn, uh, from Exodus, from Leviticus chapter twenty four and verse thirty six, that God was going to send them away into captivity. So whilst the land lay desolate for those seventy years, it would realize its, uh, 7, uh, its seven years of fa- of, of Sabbath rest. And so God is just reminding us in these opening verses, really, that whereas Israel, they they ignored, they disobeyed the word of God, God never forgot.
And ultimately, God moved, and they were taken into captivity. You know, we need to remember God never changes. And as believers, we should obey the word of God. For after all, disobedience to the word of God ever brings displeasure in the heart of God towards disobedience. And so there's one lesson for us to learn, very simply. Number one, that we can enjoy fellowship with God, enjoy the privilege of speaking to God and God speaking to us. But on the other hand, there's an- this other lesson to be learned, and that is disobedience will bring its own reward.
And so that's what verse two is all about. It's all about God sending his people into captivity for those seventy years in which Daniel, he lived. He lived throughout the Babylonian, uh, empire until now. The point has come when God is changing the, uh, the the world power and the Medo-Persian Empire is being brought into being. Because Persia today is Iran. And it's been suggested that Medes would cover the, uh, the the the northern part of Iraq right through to the border of Turkey. And of course, we do find that the Medo-Persian Empire took over the territory of the Babylonians, and so they became the second, uh, the second world kingdom, world power, if you like, among the Gentiles.
And, uh, and so we have, in the opening of this chapter, this very interesting, uh, commencement, God dealing with his people, reminding us he never forgets sin, and where there is no repentance, ultimately his judgment will fall. And so we find not only would judgment fall upon his people, but now we see that in this chapter the judgment of God has fallen upon Babylon. And so after seventy years, Babylon is moved off the scene, and the Medo-Persian Empire is brought in. Now that's the setting of these first twenty one verses of chapter one. The rest of the chapter, verses twenty two to twenty seven, are all concerned with the prophecy of what we now know as Daniel's seventy weeks, the seventy weeks prophecy of Daniel.
But we're going to leave that until next week because there's too much there to cover the whole chapter, including that. But that's what this chapter is all about. Prayer by the, uh, prophet in crisis, and then we have prophecy given unto that prophet in crisis. But so we now want to look, in some measure, at the prayer, the prayer of Daniel in this situation. We do find, are we not, that in days of crisis, it was so in chapter two when Daniel and his friends were under the threat of death by Nebuchadnezzar in relation to his not being able to remember his dream, then we read Daniel and his friends, they sought the face of God that he would reveal the secret unto them.
So in days of crisis in chapter two, Daniel and his companions, they sought the face of God and laid the crisis and the problem before G- God. Now here in chapter nine, it's a different setup, but still, there's still a crisis as far as Daniel is concerned and the nations are concerned. And what Daniel does again in this time of crisis, he takes the crisis into the presence of God. Now there are three principles in this prayer recorded for us in this chapter that would have a relation unto us as far as our prayer life is concerned. But after all, every believer should have a prayer life.
We know Daniel had a prayer life because three times every day he faced toward Jerusalem and he prayed, kneeled upon his knees and prayed toward Jerusalem. So every believer should have a prayer life. Just let me say this to you. In order for that to be consistent, it does mean you have to discipline your day. But we ought to have a time of prayer every day. But that calls for a discipline of our time. But in order that we might enjoy fellowship with God and the privilege of speaking to God and him speaking to us, it's well worth the discipline to give ourselves time to pray.
And so we find that Daniel, he had a prayer life. And there we have in this chapter one, uh, uh, one of the prayers that Daniel prayed in relation to the situation as it was, here in chapter nine. Well, first of all, what we notice is this. Daniel's prayer was, first of all, based on the scriptures. It was Bible-based. That's number one. Secondly, Daniel's prayer was altogether honest. Honesty marked this prayer of Daniel. And thirdly, we find that the prayer of Daniel was not only Bible-based, not only honest, but it was a, a, a prayer of, of deep emotion, if you will, and a prayer where he, he laid hold upon God in a very real way.
And so really, what we have in the prayer of Daniel, these three principles which also would have, uh, relation unto us in our prayer life. Well, let's have a look, shall we? First of all, we find that Daniel's prayer was Bible-based. You see, as you go through from verse two and go through the prayer, we find that Daniel, he makes reference. He makes reference to, uh, first of all, Jeremiah chapter twenty five and twenty nine, For in those two chapters, much of what Daniel is, uh, experiencing here in this chapter, he's laying hold upon what was revealed unto Jeremiah in those two chapters, how there would be a seventy years captivity, but how that uh seventy years captivity would be accomplished, and God would deliver his people.
So here is Daniel in his private life, and although he was, uh, so often a very busy man, he found time to read the scripture, and the reading of the scripture governed his prayer. I know it's a very important lesson for us to learn. No, we ought to read the scripture, and reading the scripture, give ourselves to prayer, because really the scripture will govern, you know, the content of our prayer. It did with Daniel. And not only did he go back, or did he engage himself in reading the book of Jeremiah in chapter twenty five and then on, on into chapter twenty nine, but he also went back even to the law of Moses.
And that's why I directed your attention to Levi- Leviticus chapter 24 and verse thirty six, because Moses in his law, recorded in that verse, told out how that God would deal with his people, how God does not overlook sin, but ultimately God will forgive, and God will show mercy, and the people will be recovered, and the people will be restored. And so, you see, as far as our prayer life is concerned, it does depend, in measure at least, upon our reading of the Word of God. And so we find, I don't know just how your day is, but we ought to discipline our day so that every day we ought to take time to read the scripture, and having read the scripture, to pray.
It's a good way, of course, to start the day and to end the day. Because just as, uh, in Numbers, uh, in Leviticus chapter six, we find that Israel's day started with a burnt offering being offered to God in the morning, and another burnt offering offered to God in the evening. So Israel's day began and ended with a burnt offering upon the altar, a- an emblem or a- a symbol, if you will, of their worship. And so we find that what we have in the experience of the nation of Israel through the priestly, uh, uh, uh, instructions to offer an offering morning and evening.
It's a good practice, and of course it is at least a principle in which we can know fellowship with God at the beginning of the day and at the end of the day. And so I'm just in pointing out really from this chapter, one or two of the practical lessons to be learned from it. The importance of reading God's word and letting God's word govern the content of our prayer. And so we find when we're in days of crisis, whether it's, whether it's personal, individual, or, or, or whether it's domestic, or whether it's national or international. Here we have in this chapter, you know, we have an example of how to go into the presence of God and set the whole matter before him in our prayer.
But you won't notice, won't you? It's a prayer of supplication. So here is Daniel giving himself to supplicating the very throne of God about this whole matter, where he desired the blessing of God for the people of God. So the first then thing we learn from this prayer in verses, uh, one to twenty one is just this, that after all it was Bible based. But there's another thing about this prayer. It was honest. You know, when you go through this prayer, we notice how, uh, how Daniel again and again, he said, we have sinned.
Verse five, is it? Again in verse eight, we have sinned and we have rebelled. We have disobeyed. And so Daniel goes right through this, uh, this prayer, and again and again he's confessing, he's confessing the failures of the people, and yet he's not set himself apart from those failures. And so when Daniel lays hold upon God in prayer, he links himself with the people of God and their failure. He- he's not like the Pharisees, like the ones in Luke chapter eighteen, who, uh, went up to temple to pray and thank God he was not like this other, as this other man was.
No, no. Daniel gives us the, the example that in our prayer, in times of crisis, he identified himself with the failures of the people. And of course, we too live in days of failure. And there is failure among the people of God. And here's Daniel in his honesty and in his straightness of speaking. Again, he said that we have sinned, not they have sinned, we have sinned. And yet, as far as Daniel was concerned, he was a devout man. No, as far as Daniel was concerned, he moved in fellowship with God.
That when he come to pray, to supplicate the throne of God for the blessing of the people, he identified himself with the failures of the people, and therefore he said, we have sinned. I think it's verse five, is it? Is it verse eight? We have sinned. And then he says, verse nine perhaps is it? We, uh, he said we have dis- we have rebelled against God, we've disobeyed God. So right through these verses, we find that Daniel was feeling the whole weight. He was overwhelmed, if you were, if you will, overwhelmed with the failures of the people, yet he did not set himself apart from those failures, but he identified himself with the failures of the people.
Now, of course, it's so easy for us, isn't it, to dissociate ourselves with the failures, uh, in Christendom, for instance. But you see, even, uh, every company of the people of God all experienced failure, and in days of failure, we need to be like a Daniel and lay the whole matter before God in honesty and tell God that we have failed, we have sinned, we've not kept his word. And so we find Daniel pres- presented his prayer and his supplication to God against the background of his honest confession, where he says, now my sin and the sin of the people of Israel, when you get to verse twenty.
And it's good to remember that failure marks all the people of God from time to time, and therefore we ought to just associate ourselves with the failure and confess that failure to God. Because for Daniel, of course, it meant revival. I don't know whether we're too late for revival, but if you and I wanted revival in the things of God, this is what it demands. Prayer likened to this. And as he prayed, he not only, he not only confessed his sin and the people's sin, but he recon- he recognized the righteousness of God. He recognized the mercies of God.
And so Daniel prayed in the light of this, that God was righteous. God was merciful. And as a result of his prayer, of course, he was, uh, confident that God would deliver his people. And so we find that his prayer was not only marked by scripture, not only marked by honesty, but you know, there there was a, what can I say about this prayer? You see, he felt deeply, and it was intense. And so he said this, he says, look, is it seven or eight times he says, oh Lord. In fact, in verse nineteen, three times over, he says, oh Lord, oh Lord, oh Lord, oh my God.
You get the feeling of the intensity of Daniel's prayer and supplication. He threw himself, as it were, upon God in all his righteous character, knowing that God was merciful. And of course, as a result of Daniel's prayer in chapter nine, we find they entered upon that marvelous experience of deliverance from Babylon under Cyrus, who, when he came to power, it was Cyrus who was the, who God described as my shepherd. Cyrus who gave the op- the opportunity to the Israelites to return to Palestine and to build the temple, to build the city.
And so we find Daniel's prayer in chapter nine, in these twenty one verses, you know, played a big part in the ultimate return of the children of Israel to Palestine and the rebuilding of the temple and the walls and the city. And all I'm saying to you is this, when it comes to our prayer times, when we look at our prayer life, let us remember it should be Bible-based, to use an expression. We should be honest before God, in relation to our own personal failures, let alone the failures of the companies of God's people.
And there should be that, that intensity about our prayers, laying hold upon God. And as Daniel did, he, he confessed the wickedness, that their wickedness as a people laid upon God to show mercy and in righteousness to deal with their failures. And so we come. Daniel finishes his speaking in, uh, in chapter, chapter nine and verse, uh, in verse, uh, twenty, or is it in verse twenty? it says, whilst I was yet speaking. And so Daniel's speaking is concluded. And now God is going to speak, and Daniel is going to listen.
And so the remaining verses of this chapter, we now have God speaking and Daniel listening. And in this case, it's the unfolding of God's purpose for his people in relation to end times. We refer to it Daniel's seventy weeks, and in particular the seventieth week. The last week that's not yet been fulfilled is all found, displayed, explained, and brought before the mind and heart of a Daniel, and notice all in response to his prayer. God responded to his prayer and revealed it to Daniel the, the ultimate glory of the children of Israel in the end times.
And we trust that, as we just put up, pulled out of this chapter, these practical things concerning our own personal prayer life and our knowledge of the word of God and our honesty before God and, uh, our intensity in calling upon God for mercy in our failures.