The Bible says in Daniel 9:3-5, “And I set my
face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplication, with fasting, and
sackcloth, and ashes:[4] And I prayed unto the LORD my God, and made my
confession, and said, O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant
and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments;[5]
We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have
rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments.” Daniel liked
to pray. He prayed often. Prayer was his connection with eternal wisdom and the
power of God. Daniel had a personal relationship with the Lord, and therefore
he talked to the Lord. We can learn a lot from Daniel’s prayer. We can learn
from what was included in Daniel’s prayer some important elements that should
be part of our prayers too. Daniel confessed his sin. He was humble before God
because Daniel knew that he was a sinner speaking to a holy God. This prayer
lasts for seventeen verses and has a lot to say about sin and God’s
forgiveness. Look at the words and phrases used in just these three verses.
Daniel speaks of “fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes.” This is the Old Testament
reaction of someone who is in sorrow for his sins. Daniel said that he “made his
confession.” Daniel spoke of God being faithful to His covenant and to His
mercy. In other words, even though we are not faithful, the Lord is faithful.
God will keep His promises to us, and He will always be merciful. It is good to
remember that, especially when you need to confess your sins. Too many people
forget just how willing and able God is to forgive sins. Jesus is the Savior.
He died for us. Of course, He will always forgive us.
The confession of sin is the most
important prayer to pray. Confession of sin is what introduces you to Jesus
Christ. All of your good works are of no value unless you confess your sins.
Confession of sin is simply being honest with God. The truth is that I am a sinner.
The truth is that I sin often and easily. The truth is that I need to repent
and confess my sins. Therefore, when I come to the Lord in prayer, I will speak
truth, and the truth is that I am a great sinner. The first time that I come to
Jesus with my sins, He becomes my Savior. After I am saved, I still come to
Jesus with my sins in order to walk in fellowship with Him. It says in First
John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us
our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
Every Christian should memorize this verse and live by it. The most faithful
Christian is not the one who does the most good works, but the one who most
faithfully confesses his or her sins, and thereby stays in fellowship with
Jesus.
Confession of sin is the difference
between heaven and hell. The Bible makes this very clear. For example, the
following took place in Luke 23:39-43 when Jesus was hanging on the cross of
We also have the illustration that
Jesus gave us of the publican and the sinner. The teaching is recorded in Luke
18:9-13, “And
he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were
righteous, and despised others:[10] Two men went up into the temple to
pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.[11] The Pharisee
stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other
men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.[12]
I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.[13] And
the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto
heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.” The one who proclaimed his goodness was rejected. The one
who confessed his sinfulness was declared by Jesus to be “justified.” To be
justified in a Biblical sense means to be declared righteous. God does not
justify a person based upon what they do, but based upon what they believe. To
believe means to trust, and this refers to trusting in Jesus for forgiveness.
That is why it says in Titus 3:5-7, “Not
by works of righteousness which we have
done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration,
and renewing of the Holy Ghost;[6] Which he shed on us abundantly
through Jesus Christ our Saviour;[7] That being justified by his grace,
we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”
Daniel continued his prayer in Daniel
9:6-7, “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.[7] 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 whither thou hast driven them, because of their
trespass that they have trespassed against thee.” Daniel
included himself in describing the sins of the children of
The Bible says in Daniel 9:8-9, “O Lord, to
us belongeth confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our
fathers, because we have sinned against thee.[9] To the Lord our God
belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against him;”
The word that is translated “confusion” is the basic Hebrew word for “shame.”
This is the word that came to Daniel’s mind, when he thought of his own and his
people’s relationship to God. The word “shame” is not used much in our culture.
How often have you used this word used seriously in self-evaluation? Maybe the
word should be used more often. Why should the Israelites consider themselves
to be shamed? The answer is given in verse 8, “because
we have sinned.” It is a shameful thing to
sin. We were created in the image of God. As a result we have intellect,
emotions, and will that represent our likeness to God; but God does not want
our likeness to Him to stop there. God is holy, and He wants us to be holy. We
should be holy. That is why we were created. We were created to serve the Lord
without error and without sin. By the way, there is no excuse not to have done
that. We should begin our lives, believing in the Lord as soon as we are able
to think about the Lord. From that point on we should always serve Him, follow
Him, and trust in Him. We should seek Him and love Him every day of our lives from
our youth all the way through adulthood and old age. There is no excuse not to
have done that. “The heavens declare the glory of God.” Were we not aware of
what the heavens themselves declare? Have we been dumb brutes, ignoring our
Creator? When Jesus took upon Himself the form of a man, He lived the way every
human being ought to live. It says about Jesus’ childhood in Luke 2:51-52, “And he went down with them, and came to
Jesus showed that it is possible. A
human being can and ought to live the godly and holy life that each was called
to live. The sad truth is that according to Romans 3:23, “All have
sinned and come short of the glory of God.” But that does not mean that it is
acceptable. Daniel was right. It is shameful that we have sinned. If more
people understood the shame of their own sins, perhaps they would look for the
forgiveness that only Jesus can give. Once you understand you own sinfulness,
it is definitely good to start thinking about God’s forgiveness. That is what
Daniel did. As soon as Daniel mentioned his shame in Daniel 9:8, then Daniel
wrote in verse 9, “To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses,
though we have rebelled against him.”
The Bible says in Daniel 9:10-14, “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.[11] Yea, all Israel have
transgressed thy law, even by departing, that they might not 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.[12] And
he hath confirmed his words, which he spake against us, and against our judges
that judged us, by bringing upon us a great evil: for under the whole heaven
hath not been done as hath been done upon Jerusalem.[13] As it is written
in the law of Moses, all this evil is 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.[14] 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 obeyed not his voice.” Whenever we study the
Old Testament, we must be on guard for things that are different between what
was experienced by those who lived in the Old Testament days and those who live
in the New Testament days. There is a difference between the Old Testament and
the New Testament because there is a difference between law and grace. These
five verses in Daniel chapter 9 definitely refer to the law because the law is
mentioned four times. It says in Romans 6:14, “For
sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but
under grace.”
The people who lived up until Jesus
died on the cross were “under the law.” The law carried with it a curse if the Israelites
failed to keep the law. And fail they did. Everyone who attempts to keep the
law will fail, and then will be under a curse. In contrast to that situation,
in the age of grace no believer is ever under a curse. That is because Jesus
became a curse for us. He took upon Himself the curse of the law. That is one
of the things that Jesus did for everyone when He was hanging on the cross of
In Daniel 9:12 it says, “he hath
confirmed his words.” God always confirms His words. The Bible is true. All incidents
recorded in it are accurate. That is why historical discoveries confirm it. All
prophecies in it will be fulfilled. All warnings in the Bible had better be
taken seriously. They are not given in vain. The Bible is God’s Word. Of
course, it will be confirmed. One of the reasons for what happens in your life
has to do with God’s words being confirmed. Jesus said in Mark 13:31, “Heaven and
earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.”
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Copyright; 2013 by Charles
F. (Rick) Creech
All Rights Reserved