{"id":23791,"date":"2022-10-30T22:00:58","date_gmt":"2022-10-31T05:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/daniel-9_1-14-copy\/"},"modified":"2022-10-18T21:27:21","modified_gmt":"2022-10-19T04:27:21","slug":"daniel-9_15-27","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/daniel-9_15-27\/","title":{"rendered":"The God Who Hears When You Call"},"content":{"rendered":"

Daniel 9:15-27 \u00a0Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Daniel 9:15-27.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Daniel 9:15-18 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n15\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“Now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of Egypt with a mighty hand and who made for yourself a name that endures to this day, we have sinned, we have done wrong.
\n16\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0O Lord, in keeping with all your righteous acts, turn away your anger and your wrath from Jerusalem, your city, your holy hill. Our sins and the iniquities of our fathers have made Jerusalem and your people an object of scorn to all those around us.
\n17\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“Now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of your servant. For your sake, O Lord, look with favor on your desolate sanctuary.
\n18\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Give ear, O God, and hear; open your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears your Name. We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 15-18:\u00a0 Why is Daniel not afraid to bring His requests before God?\u00a0 It\u2019s because though Daniel is acutely aware of God\u2019s holiness as well as his and his people\u2019s sin, Daniel also knows that God is full of mercy.\u00a0 I love Daniel\u2019s statement in verse 18: \u201cWe do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Daniel\u2019s right.\u00a0\u00a0The reason we can approach God with our requests is not because of how good and righteous we are.\u00a0 Rather, it\u2019s because although our sins are great, we have a God whose mercy is even greater.<\/strong>\u00a0 Since God showed His mercy by sending Jesus Christ to die on the cross for our sins, \u201c[l]et us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.\u201d (Hebrews 4:16).<\/p>\n

Daniel 9:19-23a (NIV)<\/strong>
\n19\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0O Lord, listen! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, hear and act! For your sake, O my God, do not delay, because your city and your people bear your Name.”
\n20\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0While I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel and making my request to the\u00a0LORD\u00a0my God for his holy hill–
\n21\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0while I was still in prayer, Gabriel, the man I had seen in the earlier vision, came to me in swift flight about the time of the evening sacrifice.
\n22\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0He instructed me and said to me, “Daniel, I have now come to give you insight and understanding.
\n23\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0As soon as you began to pray, an answer was given<\/strong>, which I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 19-23a:\u00a0 As Daniel continues to confess sins and plead to God to have mercy on his people, Daniel sees the angel Gabriel, whom he met years before in an earlier vision in Daniel 8.\u00a0 Gabriel swiftly flies to Daniel with an answer to Daniel\u2019s prayer.\u00a0 Before we look at God\u2019s answer to Daniel\u2019s prayer, notice the following:<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cAs soon as you began to pray, an answer was given, which I have come to tell you\u201d (verse 23a):\u00a0\u00a0God hears and responds to the prayers of His people.\u00a0 We might not always hear God\u2019s answer to our prayers right away, but that doesn\u2019t change the fact that God certainly hears our prayers and does respond.\u00a0 So never give up praying.<\/strong>\u00a0 The question is not \u201cwill God respond?\u201d\u00a0 The question is \u201cwill we pray?\u201d<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cfor you are highly esteemed\u201d (v23b).\u00a0 In other words, Daniel was well-liked in heaven.\u00a0 Is that because Daniel caught heaven\u2019s attention with the exceptional way he lived? \u00a0Or is it because Daniel was loved and treasured unconditionally just as God loves and treasures each one of His children?\u00a0 I would have assumed that it was the former, but we don\u2019t know for sure.\u00a0 Maybe it\u2019s both.\u00a0 In any event, what we do know is this:\u00a0\u00a0It is so much<\/strong>\u00a0better and more important to be esteemed by those in heaven than those on earth, for in heaven, where knowledge is perfect and life is eternal is where opinions really count.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0Live for heaven\u2019s approval, not the world\u2019s.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Daniel 9:23b-27 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n23<\/sup>\u2026Therefore, consider the message and understand the vision:
\n24\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“Seventy ‘sevens’ are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy.
\n25\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“Know and understand this: From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens.’ It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble.
\n26\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0After the sixty-two ‘sevens,’ the Anointed One will be cut off and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed.
\n27\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’ In the middle of the ‘seven’ he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on a wing [of the temple] he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him”.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 23b-27:\u00a0 Verses 24-27 are God\u2019s message to Daniel about what is to come in the future.\u00a0 These four verses are some of the most difficult verses in the Old Testament to understand.<\/p>\n

Here is one way that many scholars generally understand these verses:<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A \u201cseven\u201d is a period of 7 years.\u00a0 So \u201cseventy sevens\u201d equals 70 periods of 7 years, or a total of 490 years.\u00a0 Gabriel is telling Daniel that God has planned a period of \u201cseventy sevens\u201d to accomplish a number of purposes for the Jews and for Jerusalem.<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0According to verse 24, the purposes of these \u201cseventy sevens\u201d is to put an end to transgression and sin, to atone for wickedness, to make everlasting righteousness available to people, and to \u201cseal up\u201d (that is, to make visions and prophecies unnecessary because the end has finally come).\u00a0 Ultimately, all of these purposes would be accomplished through the first and second comings of Jesus Christ, which (as we will see) are events that mark the seventy sevens.\u00a0 The final purpose of these \u201cseventy sevens\u201d is \u201cto anoint the most holy\u201d which, depending on which scholar you ask, has been taken to mean that God\u2019s people, Jesus Christ and\/or a new temple will be blessed and designated as most holy.<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The \u201cseventy sevens\u201d begins when a decree is given that the city of Jerusalem be restored and rebuilt (v25).\u00a0\u00a0Trying to pin a specific date or event to this \u201cdecree\u201d is difficult.\u00a0 Some scholars believe this decree happened in 445 B.C. when King Artaxerxes I allowed Nehemiah to return to Jerusalem and rebuild it.\u00a0 Others say that this decree happened even earlier in 458 B.C. when Artaxerxes I allowed Ezra and other Jews to return to Jerusalem.\u00a0 We don\u2019t know for sure.<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Daniel 9 effectively splits the \u201cseventy sevens\u201d into three groups: the first seven sevens (49 years, beginning with the decree to rebuild Jerusalem), followed by another 62 sevens (434 years), and ending with one final seven (7 years).\u00a0 That is 490 years in total.\u00a0 Here\u2019s how some scholars see the seventy sevens playing out.<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The first seven sevens (49 years) begin with a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem (v25).<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The first seven will be followed by 62 sevens (434 years).\u00a0 The 62 sevens will end with the first coming of Jesus Christ (\u201cuntil the Anointed One, the ruler, comes\u201d \u2013 v25).\u00a0 After this, the Anointed One will be \u201ccut off\u201d (v26) and the people of another future ruler (known in parts of the New Testament as the Antichrist) will come and destroy Jerusalem and its temple once again (v26).<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The final seven is essentially the final seven years before Jesus Christ comes again.\u00a0 In the final seven (7 years), a future ruler (Antichrist) will make a covenant with the people (v27) and put an end to the organized worship of God (v27).<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0When verse 27 says that this future ruler (Antichrist) will \u201cset up an abomination that causes desolation\u201d, some scholars take that to mean that this future ruler (Antichrist) will set something up in the temple that will cause people not to worship there.\u00a0 Others that take that to mean that this future ruler (Antichrist) will force people to worship himself instead.<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The final seven (last 7 years) will end when Jesus Christ, the anointed one, comes again and judgment is poured out on the Antichrist (v27).<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0After the first 69 sevens and before the beginning of the final seven, there is a large gap in time.\u00a0 The first coming of Jesus Christ is when the first 69 sevens end, and the second coming of Jesus Christ is when the last seven ends.\u00a0 In between the first 69 sevens and the final seven is a gap in time (effectively thousands of years) within which Jesus Christ is crucified, killed, and resurrected, the church is born, Gentiles around the world are reached with the gospel and a future evil ruler (Antichrist) comes to dominate the world.\u00a0 The final seven then ends with the second coming of Jesus Christ and the judgment of the Antichrist.<\/p>\n

Again, the above is just one of many ways that scholars have tried to understand these four verses from Daniel 9:24-27.\u00a0 Indeed these are some of the hardest verses in the Old Testament to understand.\u00a0 It would be dangerous and unadvisable to jump to any conclusions about their meaning and application without thoroughly studying the various ways that scholars have interpreted these verses.<\/p>\n

Father, thank You that because of Your great mercy, we can approach You with confidence and find grace to help us in our need.\u00a0\u00a0 Thank You that You hear me every time I call and You respond in Your own way and time.\u00a0 Thank You that You are sovereign over all time and over all creation, and that by trusting in Jesus, we are safe in Your hands no matter what.\u00a0 With hard to understand passages of Scripture, please give us Your wisdom to know how best to approach them.\u00a0 In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Daniel 9:15-27.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Daniel 9:15-18 (NIV)
\n15\u00a0\u00a0“Now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of Egypt with a mighty hand and who made for yourself a name that endures to this day, we have sinned, we have done wrong.
\n16\u00a0\u00a0O Lord, in keeping with all your righteous acts, turn away your anger and your wrath from Jerusalem, your city, your holy hill. Our sins and the iniquities of our fathers have made Jerusalem and your people an object of scorn to all those around us.
\n17\u00a0\u00a0“Now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of your servant. For your sake, O Lord, look with favor on your desolate sanctuary.
\n18\u00a0\u00a0Give ear, O God, and hear; open your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears your Name. We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy.<\/p>\n

On verses 15-18:\u00a0 Why is Daniel not afraid to bring His requests before God?\u00a0 It\u2019s because though Daniel is acutely aware of God\u2019s holiness as well as his and his people\u2019s sin, Daniel also knows that God is full of mercy.\u00a0 I love Daniel\u2019s statement in verse 18: \u201cWe do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23793,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23791","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23791"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23791\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23794,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23791\/revisions\/23794"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}