DANIEL 9:15

The Bible says in Daniel 9:15-18, “And now, O Lord our God, that hast brought thy people forth out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and hast gotten thee renown, as at this day; we have sinned, we have done wickedly.[16] 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 for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and thy people are become a reproach to all that are about us.[17] 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.[18] O my God, incline thine ear, and hear; open thine eyes, and behold our desolations, and the city which is called by thy name: for we do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousnesses, but for thy great mercies.” Verse 15 shows a contrast between God and man. God has done great things for us. What have we done? “We have sinned, we have done wickedly.” What a terrible contrast.

In verse 18 Daniel showed his spiritual understanding. Because human beings are sinful, we cannot approach unto the holy God based upon our own righteousness. We can approach Him, of course, but not because we deserve or merit His favor. Daniel said, “for we do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousnesses, but for thy great mercies.” Even though we are sinful, because God is merciful, through the grace that is in Christ, God receives us to Himself. We are blessed by the doctrine of imputed righteousness. Even though I have not earned righteousness, God has designed a method by which I can attain righteousness: He imputed to my account that which I did not earn and cannot earn. It says in Romans 4:3-8, “For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.[4] Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.[5] But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.[6] Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works,[7] Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.[8] Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.” Through faith in Jesus, we have imputed righteousness. The righteousness of Christ is credited to our account. God is merciful, and we always have full access to the presence of God because we are accepted for Jesus’ sake and because of Jesus. No one should ever think that they will not be accepted by God. Just make sure you come to Him through Christ. It says in Hebrews 4:14-16, “Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.[15] For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.[16] Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”

The Bible says in Daniel 9:19, “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.” Daniel knew exactly what He was praying when He asked for God to intervene and help the Israelites with forgiveness and deliverance from their enemies. In prayer Daniel reminded God that the Lord would be doing these things “for thine own sake” and “for thy city and thy people are called by thy name.” God is jealous about His name and about His reputation. That is why one of the commandments says, “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.” The Word of God makes it very clear that He has a will for each one of us to accomplish, especially once we come to know Jesus as Savior. It is not our will, but it is His will. God wants every believer to be strong and to be successful at what He has given us to do. God does not want the final outcome to be: the purposes of God were cancelled, the believers all failed, or evil ruled in every situation. That is one of the reasons that God is revealing these visions and their meaning to Daniel: to show that Jesus and goodness and truth will win out in the end. Therefore, just like Daniel you can rely on God’s intervention in our lives “for His own sake,” and “for His name.” By the way, the greatest manifestation of the name of God is Jesus. It says in Acts 4:12, “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” There are many verses in the Bible that honor the name of God and that imply that there is strength and salvation in His name. For example, it says in Psalms 20:7, “Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the Lord our God.” Here is some good advice is you want the power of God behind you: take the name of Jesus with you wherever you go in this world. Let people know that you are a Christian.

The Bible says in Daniel 9:20-23, “And whiles I was speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the LORD my God for the holy mountain of my God;[21] Yea, whiles I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation.[22] And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding.[23] At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth, and I am come to shew thee; for thou art greatly beloved: therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision.” One of the things to notice about these verses is how quickly God gave an answer to Daniel’s prayer. Before Daniel even finished his prayer, God sent an answer. God sent an angel: the angel named Gabriel. Of course, we know that God sends angels to assist some people some times. Jacob saw angels ascending and descending to and from heaven. Angels were present at several of the major events in the life of Christ including His birth, His temptation in the wilderness, His resurrection, and His ascension back to heaven. Notice how Gabriel came to Daniel. It says in verse 22, “being caused to fly swiftly.” One of the attributes of angels is that they are not limited by space or distance in the way that we humans are on this earth. Angels are some of the real super-heroes of God’s universe. Maybe when believers get to heaven, we will have the same capacity to fly. In speaking about marriage or the lack thereof in heaven, Jesus said that we will be like angels. Maybe we will be like angels in this ability to fly also. What a future God has planned for us. It is going to be fantastic. Maybe we cannot see the angels now, but when we get to heaven, we will see them. Remember that there are hundreds of millions of angels, if not more. That will be quite an experience, even if we do not fly, to see all the angels constantly flying around us.

It is important to notice why God so quickly and miraculously answered Daniel’s prayer. God said in verse 22, “for thou art greatly beloved.” The closer we walk with the Lord Jesus Christ and the more faithful we are to Him, the more likely that we will also see such answers to prayer. Of course, as we said in the past, the main emphasis of Daniel’s prayer was the confession of sin. We also need to confess our sins to stay in fellowship with Jesus and to stay close to Him. But we must also remember that we are the beloved of God because of our standing in Jesus Christ. Jesus loves every believer with a great eternal love. John, an apostle, said in First John 4:19, “We love him, because he first loved us.” Paul, an apostle, wrote in Romans 8:35-39, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?[36] As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.[37] Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.[38] For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,[39] Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Will Jesus answer our prayers? Yes, He will; because He loves us. He loves us in spite of our sins. God is love. He always loves you no matter what. You can count on that.

Notice what Daniel was given in response to his prayer. The angel Gabriel said in Daniel 9:22, “I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding.” Daniel did not receive any of the things that people typically ask for like money, or a house, or some other tangible thing. Daniel received something much more valuable than any material thing: understanding. And we are talking about understanding of the Word of God. The words that Daniel wrote down about his vision were the Word of God revealed to Daniel. It is one thing to have the Word of God, but it is another thing to understand the Bible. One reason that God gives teachers of the Word is that the Lord wants believers to understand His precious Word. Jesus is the great Teacher. Have you learned from Him. The Holy Spirit, who inspired the writing of the Word of God, must also enlighten the reader and the hearer of the Word, or there will be no understanding. What a precious gift from God it is to understand His holy Word.

The Bible says in Daniel 9:24, “Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.” The first thing that we notice immediately is the phrase “seventy weeks.” We already know that Daniel used the term “week” to refer to a seven year period of time. Therefore, this is talking about 70 times 7: or 490 years. We will also see a little bit later that the seventy weeks has three pieces to it. The last week, a period of seven years, is of particular interest concerning the last days and the antichrist. We are being told in Daniel 9:24 that once all seventy weeks of years have been fulfilled that certain things will be accomplished.

Three of the statements that are made refer to what was accomplished by the death of Jesus on the cross: “to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity.” The word “transgression” comes from the basic word for “rebellion.” That paints an ugly picture of human nature. One of the main reasons that people sin has to do with their rebellion and refusal to submit to their Creator. Be that as it may, God has a plan to end all of the sins that have ever been committed. To end sins, God must end life as we know; and create new life. To end sins God must forgive sins and create an existence where man will no longer sin. To end sins God must remove the devil’s influence who tempts every person in this world. To end sins God must remove all the consequences of sin, which is why He will remove human government that is itself so full of sin. To end sin in all its forms and all its results means that there will be no more war, no more death, no more sickness, no more crying, no more failure, no more enslavement, no more prejudices, no more hatred, no more falsehood, no more adultery, no more false religion, and any thing else you can think of that is a result of sin. When He died on the cross, Jesus paid the penalty for sin and He insured that sin will be done away with. It will happen, but not until the seventieth week takes place. The last days will end with that last seven years called the Great Tribulation, and then the end will come.

Since sin is such a big part of this world and its activities, that leaves a big gap. What will take its place? Daniel 9:24 gives the answer to that: “righteousness.” Finally, we will have an existence that every believer longs for: true and lasting righteousness. Only what is good, and right, and true, and holy, and loving will be done. What a heaven that will be. Everyone will speak the truth and keep their word. Everyone will love God and love his neighbor. Everyone will do the right thing. There are some wonderful descriptions about this future existence that will come after Daniel’s seventieth week. For example, it says in Isaiah 2:4, “And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” It says in Isaiah 11:6, “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.” It says in Habakkuk 2:14, “For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.”

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