Sermon - Daniel 9:1-6 - God's Promise - Littleby Baptist Church

We have looked at the first two of four apocalyptic visions and chapter 9 brings us the third. The first two visions happened during the early portion of Belshazzar’s reign, and this one came during the first year of Darius’ reign after the Mede and Persian Empire conquered Babylon. The year was 537 BC, which was 69 years after Daniel had been taken into captivity by king Nebuchadnezzar.

 Let’s see what God has in-store for us today.

 Daniel 9:1

 “9 In the first year of Darius, the son of Ahasuerus, a Mede by birth, who was made king over the Chaldean kingdom—”

 Verse one is setting the stage for us. What we read in chapter nine happens shortly after the events of chapter five. You might recall that King Belshazzar had taken the holy artifacts from the temple of God and was using them to worship pagan gods. A large hand appeared and wrote on the wall but none of the king’s men could interpret it so reluctantly the king called in Daniel. Daniel told the king that the writing stated that he had been weighed, measured, and found lacking by the God he was mocking. Later that night the king was killed by the invading Medes and Persians. After that Darius became king and at some point, in the first year of his reign Daniel was praying and received the third of the four apocalyptic visions.

 Daniel 9:2

 “² in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the books according to the word of the Lord to the prophet Jeremiah that the number of years for the desolation of Jerusalem would be seventy.”

 Daniel had been studying God’s Word, and more specifically the prophesies that God gave Jeremiah about the seventy-year exile.

 Jeremiah 25:1-11

 “25 This is the word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah (which was the first year of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon). ² The prophet Jeremiah spoke concerning all the people of Judah and all the residents of Jerusalem as follows: ³ “From the thirteenth year of Josiah son of Amon, king of Judah, until this very day—twenty-three years—the word of the Lord has come to me, and I have spoken to you time and time again, but you have not obeyed. ⁴ The Lord sent all his servants the prophets to you time and time again, but you have not obeyed or even paid attention. ⁵ He announced, ‘Turn, each of you, from your evil way of life and from your evil deeds. Live in the land the Lord gave to you and your ancestors long ago and forever. ⁶ Do not follow other gods to serve them and to bow in worship to them, and do not anger me by the work of your hands. Then I will do you no harm. ⁷ “‘But you have not obeyed me’—this is the Lord’s declaration—‘with the result that you have angered me by the work of your hands and brought disaster on yourselves.’ ⁸ “Therefore, this is what the Lord of Armies says: ‘Because you have not obeyed my words, ⁹ I am going to send for all the families of the north’—this is the Lord’s declaration—‘and send for my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and I will bring them against this land, against its residents, and against all these surrounding nations, and I will completely destroy them and make them an example of horror and scorn, and ruins forever. ¹⁰ I will eliminate the sound of joy and gladness from them—the voice of the groom and the bride, the sound of the millstones and the light of the lamp. ¹¹ This whole land will become a desolate ruin, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon for seventy years.”

Daniel studied these words and knowing that he has served in Babylon for 69 years, verse 12 would have given him some hope for the future.  

Jeremiah 25:12

“¹² When the seventy years are completed, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation’—this is the Lord’s declaration—‘the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity, and I will make it a ruin forever.”

The seventy years are about to be finished. The Babylonian king has been punished, the nation had been taken over, the pieces are starting to come together.  

Jeremiah 29:10-14

“¹⁰ For this is what the Lord says: “When seventy years for Babylon are complete, I will attend to you and will confirm my promise concerning you to restore you to this place. ¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“plans for your well-being, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. ¹² You will call to me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. ¹³ You will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart. ¹⁴ I will be found by you”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and places where I banished you”—this is the Lord’s declaration. “I will restore you to the place from which I deported you.””

As Daniel had been studying the scrolls of Jeremiah, he would know that the seventy-year exile is about to come to an end. He would have read that God will restore them to their rightful place. He would have known that he and the rest of the people of God needed to turn back to the One True God, they needed to Call out to God, Pray to Him, and then they would be restored.

I would guess that as Daniel checked the scrolls and re-checked the scrolls to make sure he wasn’t missing anything, that there would be a level of excitement growing in him. The Word of God was stating that the time of restoration was almost upon them.

Daniel 9:3

“³ So I turned my attention to the Lord God to seek him by prayer and petitions, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.”

Daniel was so excited that the time was coming for his people to be restored as God’s chosen people that he prayed. He knew that some of the people were not ready to turn back to God, so he interceded for them and asked for the Lord’s mercy to fall upon them.

Fasting is something we should do to honor God by giving up something for a period of time and in doing so give that time to God in one form or fashion. Most think of fasting as giving up food and that is what we see in the Bible. It could be almost anything, food, TV, video games, you name it. By deciding to fast, Daniel was deciding to give up something he enjoyed doing and spend some additional time with God.

Putting on sackcloth and ashes seems a little odd for someone who is excited about what is coming their way. What it does is paint a picture of a man who understood reality. He knew that the Jewish people deserved the seventy-year exile, he knew that it was God’s judgment against them, and knew that his people still had to turn back to God.

Daniel was interceding for his people and praying for the Lord’s mercy and blessings to fall upon them.

Daniel 9:4

“⁴ I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed: Ah, Lord—the great and awe-inspiring God who keeps his gracious covenant with those who love him and keep his commands—”

These words mirror what is found in Deuteronomy.

Deuteronomy 7:9

“⁹ Know that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps his gracious covenant loyalty for a thousand generations with those who love him and keep his commands.”

Both of these verses are telling us that the Awesome God that we serve follows through with His promises. If the people follow Him by loving Him and following His commands, they received what was promised. When they did not, that got what was promised.

If the people will turn back to God, if they will ask for His forgiveness, the awesome, awe-inspiring God will forgive them and remember His promises to them.

If WE will turn to our God, turn from our sin, ask for His forgiveness, Call out to Him, Pray to Him, and Seek Him with all of our hearts… our sins are forgiven and our Lord will keep His promises to us. If we follow our Lord, He will never leave us or forsake us. If we submit to Him, we will spend an eternity with Him. Our God keeps His promises.

Daniel 9:5-6

“⁵ we have sinned, done wrong, acted wickedly, rebelled, and turned away from your commands and ordinances. ⁶ We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, leaders, fathers, and all the people of the land.”

Daniel who has regularly shown that he has faithfully followed God, admits that he and the rest of the people in exile have turned their back on God. He cries out while wearing sackcloth and ashes admitting that they have sinned against their God. Their behavior was horrible, they worshipped fake gods, they did the opposite of what God had told them to do, they flat out did not follow the commands that God had given them.

The people had sinned against their God.

If we look back at Jeremiah 25, we will see that Jeremiah spoke to the people for twenty-three years trying to share the Lords message to get them to turn from their ways. The people did not listen. They were told to turn away from their evil ways and to follow what God had commanded, but they did not obey. Jeremiah as well as other prophets told them to turn from those fake gods, but that would not listen.

Time after time God sent messengers to speak to the highest king and to the average guy, but the people did not listen.

Upon realizing they were in year sixty-nine of seventy, Daniel was pleading with God to hear him and to show mercy on the people.

Daniel’s heart is evident as we read the first part of his prayer. His prayer is showing us that he recognizes who God is. He believes that God will honor His promise to His people. He believes that God will restore them to their rightful place. His is trusting that the words God gave Jeremiah are true. Daniel is counting on God’s abundance of mercy for those who Love God and Seek Him.  

What do these first six verses teach us?

Romans 8:28

“We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.”

If the Word of God tells us that if we Love our God, everything will work out for our good… we need to believe it! May not be what the world calls good, but that does not matter. Ultimately, we get to spend an eternity with our King, there is absolutely nothing that compares to that!

John 3:16

“For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”

These words are a promise directly from the mouth of Jesus Himself. In my opinion this is the single greatest promise given to us! If we believe that Jesus is our Lord and Savior, if we follow Him, we WILL have eternal life. Not maybe, not if we win the lottery, not if we find that perfect person, get that great job, or anything else on this side of eternity.

If Jesus is our Lord, God has promised to give us an eternity with our King!

That is a Promise from a Righteous God and you can count on it.

God Bless, 

Robert