He was speaking and praying and confessing his sin, the sins of his people Israel, and presenting his supplication, laying it up before the Lord my God, and for what purpose? For the holy mountain of my God! It was for the sake of Zion! Welcome to Grace to You with John MacArthur.
I'm your host, Phil Johnson. We're glad you're here for the beginning of an important three-week study of four chapters from the book of Daniel. This is a passage that looks at highly detailed prophecies about Israel, some that came true, some that are yet to be fulfilled, and also the measures that God will use to preserve his chosen people. See what those prophecies say and how you fit into them as John launches his study called The Future of Israel. Well, frankly, not a day goes by that Israel, its neighbors, and tensions in the Middle East aren't making headlines. John, is it any surprise that Israel has remained such a dominant player on the world stage?
No, it's no surprise at all because that's exactly what prophetic scripture says is going to happen. Both the Old Testament and the New Testament focus on Israel. And I've said this through the years, you never met a Hittite, a Hivite, an Amorite, a Jebusite, or any otherite, and yet everybody knows an Israelite. I mean, we know the people of Israel are still here while all these other nationalities have long disappeared into the dustbin of history.
Why is that true? I remember there was a Bible conference over in Europe, and there was a famous Bible teacher there, and somebody said to him, what is the significance of the existence of Israel today? And he quickly said, it has no significance.
And I thought, that is so bizarre. All of scripture says that human history is going to end with the restoration of Israel, the salvation of Israel, and the Kingdom of Christ in Israel from Jerusalem ruling the world. So this is the greatest single evidence that history is on course. If you think for a minute that, and I said this yesterday, I was talking to a Jewish man, and he was worried because of what's happening to the Israeli people and the nation and the Jews.
And I said, I have good news for you. The Arabs don't win because the history has already been written. Israel will triumph by the grace of God. And I gave him a commentary on Zechariah, a Jewish guy, and I said, read this. This is the pre-written history of Israel's final glory, and it's coming, and all their enemies will be destroyed.
It's a bad idea to be an enemy of Israel. Now, along that line, we're going to begin a series today called The Future of Israel, only it's not going to be from Zechariah, it's going to be from that incredible book, Daniel. And we're going to examine the messianic prophecies, God's concern with the nation Israel, the future, the Antichrist, all kinds of wonderful prophetic realities. And you'll be able to see the foreshadowing of those things coming to pass as you look at the very circumstances in which we live today. So let's study Daniel together.
Don't miss a day. Thanks, John. And friend, as time goes on, Israel is only going to become more central to human history, not less. Stay here as John shows you how Israel's future is tied to your future and to the whole world's.
Here's John now with a lesson. I want to draw your attention back to the ninth chapter of Daniel. We're going to pick it right up there for our Bible study.
What a great week it's been for me in the adventure of this tremendous, tremendous chapter. In fact, this afternoon I spent a couple of hours just reading through another paper dealing with the intricacies of the prophecy of this particular text just to fill my mind with even more of the wonderful things that the Spirit of God has given us here. As we come to chapter 9, verses 20 through 27, we come to the most marvelous, exact, amazing prophecy in all of the Bible. It is in the mind of some writers the single greatest defense of the divine authorship of Scripture. In fact, Sir Isaac Newton once said, quote, we could stake the truth of Christianity on this prophecy alone, made five centuries before Christ, end quote. We could stake the truth of Christianity on this prophecy alone. Powerful statement, monumental prophecy, and you'll see as it begins to unfold.
Now let me remind you of the scene a little bit as we approach the ninth chapter of Daniel. You remember that after the reign of Solomon, the kingdom of Israel was divided into two parts, the northern kingdom known as Israel, the southern kingdom known as Judah. Israel had been taken into a form of captivity and they were dispersed and really never returned. So Israel at this particular time is out of existence as such, that is the northern kingdom. The southern kingdom of Judah, the southern half of the divided kingdom, has also been taken into captivity, this by the nation Babylon.
There were a series of three deportations. Nebuchadnezzar came first of all in about 605 or 606 and he carried away the young men of the nobles and the princes. Among them, a young man named Daniel and his three friends, Mishael, Hananiah, and Azariah who became known as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in Babylonian terms. So the nation of Judah, the people of God, had been captive in the land of Babylon. Babylon was the first great Gentile world empire of which there would be four, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. Now Daniel, who was taken captive because of the amazing commitment to God that he had and because of the marvelous quality of his character, had risen to become the prime minister in Babylon.
Even though he was a Jew in exile, his quality caused him to reach the very highest place in the land. And so Daniel at this particular time in chapter 9 is the prime minister. The Babylonian empire has however been defeated and for one year the Medes and the Persians have been in power and the king by the name of Darius, whom I believe is the same as Cyrus, Darius being a title rather than a name, is in power. And so we find then at this particular time that the people of God have been in captivity for nearly 70 years. They have endured the Babylonian empire and the fall of the Babylonian empire and they are now living under the power of the Medo-Persians. Interestingly enough, Daniel again, because of the prowess of his nature, because of the character of his life, because of the impact he had made on society, maintained his position in the empire even though the structure of the empire changed. So Daniel is still prime minister in a foreign land.
Some scholars believe it's about 537 B.C. or so and Israel has been captive or Judah has been captive nearly 70 years by now. In fact, some believe from the first deportation it's in the 69th year. And since Daniel was in the first deportation, he's very concerned that the 70 years is fast coming to an end. For Daniel had been exposed to the writings of Jeremiah.
Look back at verse 2 of chapter 9. In the first year of the reign of Cyrus or Darius, the son of Ahasuerus, I Daniel understood by books the number of the years. He was reading in the Old Testament canon concerning which the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah. Jeremiah had mentioned several times that the captivity would be a captivity of 70 years. And so Daniel knew that if God began to count with the first deportation, that 70 years was nearly up. Now he didn't know whether God started with the first deportation or the second deportation or the third deportation which was in 586.
So he really didn't know specifically when it began and therefore didn't know specifically when it ended, but he knew that it was imminent. Now Daniel is too old to go back to the land, but he has in his heart the people of God. I'm sure he knew that he wouldn't go back, but his heart longed to see the people go back. For 70 years their nation had been a rebel. For 70 years they had been dispossessed.
And worst of all, they had been under Gentile domination. And so Daniel in chapter 9 begins to pray. And he is asking God to bring the captivity to an end.
He wants the people to be brought back to the land. Now, in answer to his prayer, God gives him a monumental prophecy. And that is what occurs from verses 20 to 27.
His prayer is from verse 3 to 19. Now keep in mind that this is not the first great prophecy given to Daniel. Daniel was the recipient of other amazing statements from God. You will recall the first two great prophecies that Daniel received were in chapter 2 and in chapter 7. And both of them dealt with the Gentile world empires. Chapter 2 gave to Daniel a broad outline of Gentile world history.
The four great empires to be succeeded by a fifth and last great empire which was the kingdom of the Most High God and His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Then in chapter 7, God gave him that same vision in another format and He added to it the whole element of the Antichrist and how he would rule over the final form of the final phase of Gentile world power. So Daniel's visions to this point have been related primarily to the Gentile world powers. But from chapter 7 verse 28 on, the focus turns away from the Gentiles and it turns toward the Jews. Israel, God's people. And chapter 9 gives us this great prophecy of the people of God. If you look at verse 24, it will give you a hint. Seventy weeks are determined upon Thy people and upon Thy holy city. And that is an affirmation of the basic content of this prophecy, that it relates to Israel or to Judah if you're looking at it from the southern kingdom viewpoint.
As chapter 9 opens, the people are still in depression. They are under foreign rule. Their land is in heathen hands.
Their holy city is a heap. Their temple is in ruins and they're ready to go back. And Daniel knows the time is near and so he prays. Now as this unfolds to us, from verses 20 to 27, I want you to see three features. Three features and three main characters. Number one, the circumstances of Daniel. Number two, the coming of Gabriel. And number three, the communication of God.
Three features, three main characters. The circumstances of Daniel, the coming of Gabriel, and the communication of God. Let's look first of all at the circumstances of Daniel in verse 20. And by the way, we find him in very familiar circumstances.
And while I was speaking and what? Praying. If ever there is a man in the Bible who is associated with praying, it is Daniel, is it not? In fact, he was so committed to prayer that it got him in a lion's den. Daniel was a man of prayer. Daniel was praying. If you go back to verse 3 of chapter 9, you find the beginning of his prayer. And I set my face unto the Lord God to seek by prayer and supplication with fasting and sackcloth and ashes and I prayed unto the Lord my God. I mean, this is a man who is serious about his prayer. This is not whimsical.
This is not a passing fancy. This is a man who settles into prayer with great commitment. Daniel was a man of prayer. In fact, it was in chapter 6, you remember, that his great commitment to prayer was the trap that they used to get him thrown to the lions. But he never wavered.
If you go back to chapter 6, verses 10 and 11, you'll find that it didn't matter what the decree of the king was. Daniel was going to pray no matter what and God sustained him because of his faithfulness. He faced Jerusalem as was his custom and he prayed three times every day because that's the way he had been trained and that was what he was committed to doing.
And so we find him in a common circumstance. Now look again at verse 20 and you'll find four verbs there that are important. And while 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. Four verbs, speaking, praying, making confession, and laying up supplication. Just four ways of speaking about his prayer, four elements, four ingredients, four facets. And I think in a way they are there to sort of sum up verses 3 through 19. All of those four verbs, by the way, are repeated somewhere in the prayer in verses 3 to 19. And so this is the Holy Spirit's way of saying, now while Daniel was praying that prayer, and the Holy Spirit just picks out four verbs selected from within the prayer to sort of sum it up, while Daniel was in the midst of that prayer, in other words, the idea is before the prayer had ever ended, while it was still going on, God began to move. Now, we could say a lot about Daniel, but I guess maybe the greatest thing about Daniel is at the end of verse 20 in terms of the focus of his prayer. There are a lot of things you can focus on in prayer.
Daniel had the right focus. Most people have the wrong one. Believe it or not, most people, most of us included, most of the time pray to consume it upon our own lusts. That's just basically the way we pray. Lord, give me this. Lord, protect me from that. Lord, make sure I get my needs.
Lord, me, me, me, me. But that was never Daniel's focus. He was speaking and praying and confessing his sin and the sins of his people Israel and presenting his supplication, laying it up before the Lord my God, and for what purpose? For the holy mountain of my God. It was for the sake of Zion. It was for the character of God. It was for his holy name, the mountain being representative of all of his glory. He prayed for God's glory, and that was the heart and the focus of his praying. It grieves me so much when I hear people say, well, you need to demand this from God and demand that from God and you tell God what He has to give you and you lay claim to these and that. Daniel prayed for God's glory, not his own indulgence.
And in response to that, he got a prophecy without equal. And I guess as I was thinking through this, I couldn't help but think, Daniel got such an incredible answer. I wonder if my prayer life could be so altered that God could be so gracious to do in my life just a portion of the marvelous things He did in Daniel's. And as a result of that, I went back over the chapter again and started to relearn, because I had forgotten some of them already, relearn the characteristics of Daniel's prayer that released such a word from God. I couldn't help but think, what is it in Daniel's prayer that caused such a response? In fact, in verse 21 it says, Yea, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning being caused to fly swiftly touched me.
Now get this. I mean, the guy didn't even say amen before the angel had arrived with the answer. Now, that's the way to pray. And when the answer came, it was a more marvelous answer than anyone could have ever imagined. How can one so pray to receive such a divine response? How can one so pray to be so blessed?
So I went back over the chapter, and I do it just briefly for you. What was right about Daniel's prayer? What made it so answerable? What made it so that God touched him? Because it seems sometimes that we pray and we don't have the sense of the touch of God.
What was it? Be reminded, first of all, he prayed in response to the Word of God. He prayed in response to the Word of God. His prayer was born out of experience in the Word. That's verse 2.
I understood by books the number of the years. I was reading Jeremiah, and I set my face to the Lord. In other words, the parameters of his prayers were established by the Word of God. He prayed within the bounds of the revelation of God. He probably read Jeremiah 25, 11, Jeremiah 25, 12, Jeremiah 29, 10, because all of those verses talk about the 70 years. And he said, I know what God's purpose is.
God's purpose is 70 years. And consistent with God's revelation, I can now pray for God to send my people back because it's consistent with the timeframe he's established in his own Word. And so the first thing you learn about prayer is that prayer is to be lined up with the revelation of God. You cannot pray rightly unless you understand the eternal purposes of God, you see. The second thing, and I have to add that just because it's so obvious, he prayed not only in response to God's Word, but in accord with God's will. He said, Lord, You've already said You're going to do it, so do it.
In fact, the only request in the whole prayer and all of the stuff from verses 3 through verse 18 is just preparation. And it finally comes down to verse 19, and here's the request. O Lord, hear, O Lord, forgive, O Lord, hearken and do, that's the request, one word, do it. You said You were going to do it, it's in Your Word that You're going to do it, it's Your will to do it, do it, according to God's will. If You ask anything in my name, in accord with my will, I'll do it.
So Daniel says, You said You'd do it, do it. That's the way to pray. He prayed also thoroughly with fervency. Verse 3, I set my face. That's a Hebraism for a resolute spirit. I set my face unto the Lord God.
And he got serious. He fasted. In fact, some commentators think that Gabriel started to fly when he began to fast before he'd even started to pray, because God sure didn't wait to hear his request before he knew what he was going to ask. Resolute, fervent, he prayed with self-denial. Verse 4, I made my confession. I mean, the man began with the fact that he was not worthy, right?
Whenever you go into the presence of God, you have to go in on that premise that you are not worthy. And he prayed for others. That was really the heart of his prayer.
You notice in verse 5, we, verse 6, we, our, our, our, verse 7, us, unto all Israel, verse 8, us, our, our, we, verse 10, we, us, verse 11, all Israel, us, we, us, us. There was nothing selfish about his prayer. He prayed for Israel. So he prayed in response to God's Word, in accord with God's will, with fervency, self-denial, prayed for others. He prayed with confession, didn't he?
That's number 6. Verse 5, he says, we've sinned, we've committed iniquity, we've done wickedly, we've rebelled, we've departed from your precepts, from your ordinances, we never listened to your prophets. See, he's dealing with his own heart, the heart of his people. He prayed seventh dependent on God, utterly dependent on God. He said, you're a great, verse 4, awesome God, you keep your covenant, you show mercy to those that love you and to those that keep your commandments. In other words, he prayed his prayer dependent on the absolute unchanging promise of an unchanging God. And finally, I would say that he focused on God's glory. The whole point of his prayer was for the glory of God. That was the whole thing.
Do it for your sake. Verse 19, O Lord hear, O Lord forgive, O Lord hearken and do and defer not, here it comes, for thine own sake, O my God, for Thy city and Thy people are called by Thy name. This is your people and your city and your name is at stake. And he was praying, and he was praying the right way. There's another little note about his praying, 2 and verse 21, look at it. It says at the end of the verse that the angel Gabriel came, and I like this, he touched me about the time of the evening oblation.
Now that's a very special thing, the time of the evening oblation. Daniel had brought his prayer to God at a very, very special time. This was the time of the evening sacrifice. And it was also a time for prayer, 3 p.m. was the time. Ezra 9 indicates that this time was also a time for prayer, verse 5.
But this was traditionally a very special time. On the evening, Daniel when he was living in Jerusalem before the captivity as a boy would have remembered, smoke would rise from the temple ground because a lamb was slain and the lamb was slain for sin and offered up to God. Sins were confessed.
The one who brought the lamb would lay his hands upon the lamb signifying identification and confess his sin with his hands on the lamb and then the lamb would be offered as a sacrifice. Daniel would remember that. And he would remember also that there was a meal offering and a drink offering associated with that sacrifice.
But let me just give you a little thought here. Isn't it interesting that sixty-nine years later he is still faithful to the evening oblation though there hasn't been one for sixty-nine years and though there's no temple for him to look to? Now there's a man who doesn't forget and that was the key to his spiritual success.
A lot of people departed from Israel, got in a pagan land and forgot the whole deal, not Daniel. Remembering again anchors the soul. And so he remembered. He could remember even though there hadn't been a sacrifice since 586 B.C.
There he was. And what a fitting time to confess his sins. He was confessing them. And I just believe that every day at three o'clock may have been, because of the tradition in which he was raised, his time to confess his sins even though there was no sacrifice offered. And so Daniel came to God in prayer, but he came with a sense of the need for cleansing. So he was praying the circumstances of Daniel.
The future of Israel. That's the title of the current study here on Grace to You with John MacArthur, Chancellor of the Masters University and Seminary. This study is an examination of the amazing prophecies of Daniel 9-12 and what they mean for you today. Keep in mind we have both the audio and the transcripts of this series available on our website and it's an ideal resource for personal use or in a home Bible study. You can download all eight messages free of charge from our website today. Our web address is GTY.org.
Again the title of the series to look for, The Future of Israel. You can download the MP3s and transcripts of those messages for free and keep in mind at our website you can also dig into the audio and transcripts of more than 3600 of John's other sermons. Take advantage of our extensive sermon archive when you visit GTY.org. And while you're there at GTY.org you can read helpful articles on the Grace to You blog. As a supplement to John's current radio study look for the blog series titled, Our Future Glorification. That's an encouraging look at what's ahead for believers in Christ and also at our website you can read daily devotionals, you can follow along with the MacArthur Daily Bible's reading plan and much more.
Dive into all of those free resources at GTY.org. Now for John MacArthur, I'm Phil Johnson. Thanks for starting your week here with us and join us again tomorrow for more insight into what God has planned for the future of the nation of Israel and how that should give you hope for today. It's another 30 minutes of unleashing God's truth one verse at a time, on Grace to You.
