Daniel |
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Daniel Chapter 9
Daniel was not one of those who rejected the word of the prophets before him. He existed at the same time as some of the prophets. Here we see beloved Daniel's prayer of repentance for the nation of Judah that had fallen in to captivity to Babylon. It is getting closer to the end of that captivity and many will be returning to their own land. Perhaps this prayer is what starts the process going for surely God would answer a prayer of repentance. This chapter in the book of Daniel takes place in the first year of Darius the Mede a year after his vision recorded in Daniel chapter 8. Daniel chapter 5 tells of the removal of Belshazzar as king and Darius the Mede taking over the kingdom. Our dear Daniel studied the scrolls of Jeremiah and understood that 70 years of captivity was decreed by the Lord and he understood it was because of their sin. Daniel prays a fervent prayer of repentance for his nation. He probably also came to realize the days of captivity was ready to end. The captivity started the 1st year Nebuchadnezzar ruled until the fall of Babylon to the Media-Persian Empire's reign. Even though Daniel repents of the sin of his nation, we know that Daniel himself did not commit those sins. Still he takes it upon himself to repent on behalf of his nation.
Fasting helps to get the mind off temporal things of this life and gets us focused on the things of the spirit that really count. It shows a true repentant heart when we forget about food for a time and seek diligently the face of God. Fasting when one experiences a deep concern or burden for a desparate need, whether it is for a nation, a local church, or some other serious problem is the best time to fast rather than a ritual we plan ahead of time. Planning ahead is not wrong, in fact it is good. For me however, fasting when there is a real need works best. However I'm not into rule making and rituals so whenever the Lord leads is best for me. In saying that though, if a whole body or group of people feel like the Lord wants them to fast at the same time being in one mind and one accord, there is nothing wrong with that, in fact it is biblical. However, never should anyone use force or intimidate anyone into fasting. It is between the individual and God.
Although new testament commandments are centered around faith in Jesus and walking in the spirit, God still shows mercy to those that love Him and that keep His commandments. Now we have access to the Holy Spirit which is within each individual that has turned from sin and received Jesus Christ as Lord. We now can keep the commandments of God because the power is within us to do so. We still have the power to refuse this and return to the ways of the flesh. Our free will is never taken from us. God doesn't want puppets but those that willingly seek and love Him. We do need determination but if we desire to walk in the Spirit, we can. When we love God and endeavor to obey the leading of the Spirit, we should have an attitude of repentance from any sin or dead works, God will hear our prayers. He will hear prayers of sinners but only if they come with a heart that wants to be free from that sin and turn their lives over to Him. If we try to pray and want to keep on with our evil works, He may not hear. Daniel knows a nation or someone on behalf of the nation needs to repent in order to be heard of God. Why would God want to answer our prayers if we desire to continue in sin and not repent? There is a verse that says, "If I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear me." Pslam 66:18.
God's laws were given for their good, not to make them miserable and rob them of having fun. His laws are always for the good of mankind. That is what we sometimes fail to realize. For instance, why would "Thou shalt not steal", be good? Any person with half a brain would know that if someone steals, someone else loses or gets hurt. Adultery, murder and other sins also harm innocent people. God hates that. His laws protect the innocent. The commandment to worship only God and avoid idolatry is also for our good. God knows that an evil presence lurks around any idol and is also in every false religion that substitutes something or someone in place of God. A person is really worshipping the devil ignorantly. God knows that Satan is out to steal, kill and destroy our very souls. So we see even that commandment is for our good not against us. God is a good, just God.
God in His mercy sends prophets, preachers and watchmen to warn and instruct in the ways of God. He warns before sending judgment. Sometimes God delays or stops judgment when judgment is given, all people have to do is genuinely repent. God knows if it is sincere or not. Repent means to change and turn around, go the right way.
Daniel does not blame God for what has befallen them, but acknowledges that they deserved everything that happened to them. When a nation gets into total confusion and chaos, we know that we have forsaken our creator.
All Israel ever had to do was admit their sin and repent. This is the same for the Gentiles also and also the church. When we sin, we need to repent. God has sent to us a savior or one who came to bear our sins and pay the penalty for our sins. When Jesus died for sins, it counts for all who believe in what He did both those that died before He came and those that died after He came. However, it only counts for those who are willing to repent and change and not continuing willingly in their sin. God hates sin. Sin separates us from God. Jesus came to remove the sin, not save us in our sin. We must have a heart that desires to be free from sin before we can be saved. Eternal life is granted to all who hate their sin and believe in Jesus to free them from that sin. When the sin is removed by the blood of Jesus applied to our hearts, we then are not separated from God and can enter into His kingdom.
Moses warned Israel of all that would happen to them if they rebelled and went after other gods, forsaking His word.
At any time, they could have repented, cried out to God and all the curse would have been reversed. Here is the words of Moses in Deuteronomy:
This is the purpose for the future 7 years tribulation that is to come just before the 2nd coming of Jesus Christ. The tribulation period is to bring Israel back to God by showing them that the Messiah their ancestors rejected is the very Jesus Christ who was crucified. The 2nd purpose of the tribulation period is to bring judgment upon those that persecuted and tormented the Jews and faithful believers in Jesus Christ. At the end of this tribulation also called the time of Jacob's trouble, the curse is reversed for all who believe in the one God sent to save us from sin, Jesus Christ.
The sins of Judah and Israel is the cause of surrounding nations mocking and persecuting them. That does not excuse the mocking nations for God will judge all those that persecute Israel even if Israel deserved that judgment. The promise given to Israel still stands.
In light of history and today's world it is hard to understand what God told Abraham that in him and his seed after him will all families of the earth be blessed. In other words, through Israel the whole Gentile unbelieving world would be blessed. We are to respect Israel for God's call to them and divine purpose to restore them and their land. This does not mean that individual people that do evil are not to escape being held accountable just because they are Jewish. We are to respect the nation because of the promise to Abraham but not hold anyone in high esteem that does the same evil any Gentile might do. In other words we don't let someone get by with murder or other serious sins just because they are children of Abraham. God used the nation of Israel to bring forth the Messiah that was to be a light to the Gentiles. God's plan of salvation was to go forth from the Jewish people and reach the whole world with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Salvation is offered to all who are willing to turn from sin and believe. Jesus said:
This promise is for Jews and Gentiles. It is for all who will believe these words of salvation. To really believe is to be willing to turn from sin. If we say we believe in Jesus Christ but want to hold onto our old sinful nature, we are not really believing, we are just believing in the existence of a person called Jesus Christ. To receive Jesus into our lives is to repent of sin. We cannot separate the two. God and sin do not mix.
We all have to appeal to the mercy of God. We can never approach God with our own righteousness. We can't say in other words, Lord answer my prayer because I've been faithful and deserve thy blessings. That is not the way to approach God at any time. We must trust in His mercy not in our own works.
God sees that Daniel is not praying a generic prayer to be heard and seen of men but he is praying from the depths of his soul. God sends Gabriel to answer his prayer and show him the 70 weeks of judgment that happened to Israel because of their sin. The time of the evening oblation was the time of the evening sacrifice.
Wouldn't that be the goal of all goals to have God say that about us? That we are greatly beloved. For God to call Daniel, greatly beloved is the ultimate joy of all joy. Wow.
This is the whole purpose of the tribulation and seventy weeks of Israel. Finish the transgression: All rebellion will be put down and obedience restored over all the earth but especially Israel. Make an end of sins: Israel will repent of sin when they realize that Jesus is the Christ. There will be a great outpouring of repentance in the latter half of the tribulation at the 2nd coming of Jesus Christ. Jesus Himself is the one who will save Israel from surrounding armies.To make reconciliation of iniquity: This was accomplished when Jesus died on the cross for sins but Israel as a nation does not see this until the end of the tribulation period, although many individual Jews have found Jesus as their Messiah as a remnant did also when Jesus was here on earth. In fact the 12 apostles were Jewish. To bring in everlasting righteousness: This has been God's plan from the beginning. He wants the whole earth to be righteous. When Israel repents, this is accomplished immediately. At the end of the 1000 year reign of Jesus, when Satan is loosed, there will be a final test of who is faithful but once that is over, there will be no sin throughout eternity. To seal up the vision and prophecy: When all prophecy and warnings of the prophets are revealed and fulfilled. To anoint the most Holy: This refers to Jesus Christ Himself being anointed or the cleansing of the temple after the antichrist defiled it and anoint the holy place again. I believe a new temple is built for Christ to reign from. Ezekiel indicates a whole new temple is built. Seventy weeks means seventy periods of seven years. 69 of those weeks are fulfilled the 69th week was fulfilled at the crucifixion of Jesus Christ when the church age began. The last week of seven years is the future tribulation period which is the final time of God's dealing with Israel and brings them back into fellowship with Him. These seventy weeks do not concern the true faithful church or Gentile believers but only Israel. Some scriptures of sin, right, wrong can apply to both. If the church commits the same sin that Israel was judged for, we can suffer the same judgment but concerning prophecy, we must realize the Israel means Israel and the church means the church and not get them mixed up in any way. The future tribulation involves mostly Israel and the nations surrounding Israel. The wrath of God is never for the true believers in Jesus Christ. They may suffer persecution from those that reject their message but they will not suffer any wrath of God if they have repented of sin and have not returned to sin. According to my understanding of scripture, the true saints of God will be raptured either before this seven year period or in the middle of this period. There is a small chance that the church goes through the whole thing but in order for that to be true, the church would have gone into total apostasy by that time and do not exist. God promised the Philadelphia church that he would save them from the hour of temptation that is to try them that dwell upon the earth. There we have a hint that the faithful church will escape the tribulation or at least the part where the wrath of God is poured out upon the earth. I have been on message boards where people really come down hard against pre-trib believers. That is not a good thing. We must not bite and devour one another or we will not make any rapture whether it is pre-trib, mid-trib or post-trib. Perhaps there are so many views on this because Jesus said that no man knows the day nor the hour and God wants us to walk in the spirit at all times and be ready no matter which timing is true. Be watchful, pray always and be ready. I will say at this time that I am a believer in the pre-tribulation rapture myself. Notice that the 144000 that are sealed in the book of Revelation is only Israel. The church must not be there at that time or he would seal them also. Not one Gentile or non-Israeli is sealed. If they are, it is not mentioned in scripture. So we must be gone by that time at least unless we all backslide and go into unbelief (apostasy).
This is 483 years until the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. The time period starts when they are commanded to leave their captivity and go rebuild Jerusalem. After that, the 1st coming of the Messiah occurs in which He is cut off or put to death. There is a long delay until the last seven years because it is the age of the Gentiles and also the church age in which the gospel goes to the Gentile nations. This delays the tribulation until the end times. That is another reason why some of us believe in the pre-tribulation rapture because the seventy years of Daniel do not resume while the church is here. We are either raptured or in total apostasy so that there is no church. That period of seven years may not be able to start until the church is gone one way or another. Even though Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 AD and the Jews were scattered throughout the earth; wars, sufferings and all those things occurred during the whole time of the Gentiles. The true believing church also exists at the same time thus hindering the man of lawlessness to come in full until they are removed. Yes, we have had many forerunners and great apostasy in the Middle Age church but the real church existed somewhere. The gospel had to be spread over all the earth first to give all a chance to receive Jesus Christ until this final day of tribulation to end all things. There has to be a seven year period at the end just before Christ comes. To assume that all the years after the death of Christ was that tribulation spoken of may be considered but there was tribulation even before Christ came the first time. There seems to be a literal latter day time of Jacob's trouble that is worst than any time before. Even worst than the holocaust. I hate to say this but if the holocaust was this time, Jesus would have already come and set up His reign. It has to be future because Jesus is not here yet. What is He waiting for? Probably for the true gospel to be spread all over the earth. Israel as a nation will reject this gospel until they go through the tribulation period although many Jews are coming to Christ ahead of that time. The nation as a whole does not. Always search these scriptures yourselves, pray in the spirit and seek God for interpretation. I'm just a person who is subject to error. I'm seeking along with everyone else.
We see here that after the death of Jesus and a few years later, 70 AD. The whole city of Jerusalem is destroyed and the time of the Gentiles begins more fully. Here is where we jump ahead and we see Israel back in their own land, starting around 1948 by our calendar we have now. The time of the Gentiles may be about to come to a close. The church age will be over, the delay is over and the last week of this prophecy, the tribulation period begins. The antichrist appears on the scene having been hindered in someway before this and he makes a covenant with Israel for 7 years in which he breaks the covenant in the middle of those seven years.
This antichrist or beast will defile the temple which is rebuilt again in the latter days. At the coming of Christ a second time everything is cleansed, the antichrist and his armies defeated and the reign of Jesus Christ begins with a new temple, cleansing of all sin and triumph over all evil. These words have to be taken with the words in Revelation to get the whole picture. We do not have to understand all these things perfectly in order to obtain salvation freely given to us through faith in Jesus Christ. If we have not yet repented of sin whether we are Jew or Gentile, we can do that right at this moment. The fear of death does not have to reign in our hearts. Repent of sin and turn to Jesus Christ (Yeshua) for salvation. It is freely given to all who believe. We can escape all these things and stand pure before the throne of God. We may not escape the wrath of men who reject our message but we will escape the wrath of God poured out upon the those that reject His Son. We will escape eternal damnation in the fires of hell. God's eternal purpose is to save, not destroy. We are destroyed by our own rejection of His way out. That way is Jesus Christ. DC
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