Main Street Church Sermon (17.34 - )

Boy, are you in for a a time this morning? Daniel chapter 9 is probably one of the most Popular and read multiple times chapter in the entire Old Testament, and we're on the brink of chapter 9 today. What?

So what movie is this? Where we're going, we don't need any roads. Back to the future. Boy, that was a delayed response. What can I say?

So, just like in that story, they had to go back to the 1950s to go forward, right?

So, when Dr. Brown came back, he could say, Where are we going? We don't need any rose. Today, we're doing the same thing in Daniel. We're going back in the past to 500 BC so we can understand about the future.

What?

Yes, and it's a crazy ride.

So buckle up, and here we go today. It's all about time. It's all about time. And where we're going, we don't need any roads.

So remember, I said a while ago that this last half of Daniel is actually not a narrative of a story like, you know, his friends going in the fiery furnace and stuff. It's actually, he's revealing four visions, and these visions came to him while he was doing life in the previous narrations, right? At different times. And he stuck them in his hip pocket. It didn't come out during the narrative time, as we read earlier, but now they're coming out.

So they're written down, and he's got these visions, and he's pulling them out one at a time, saying, well, guess what? I had this vision. Oh, guess what? I had this vision. So we're going through these four visions, and by the time we finish the fourth vision, we're at the end of the book of Daniel.

So we're in this vision section right now, which is just crazy.

So what's it gonna be? We spin the wheel for the four visions today, and we're looking at vision number. Oh no, that's not right. Should be number three. There we go.

Okay. We're looking at number three. I was waiting for someone to say, wait, that's not right. We did two last week. You guys, you need to get on top of things here.

So, okay, we're doing number three today, which, by the way, is. What are the most incredible things?

However, before you can actually grasp what this third vision is about, figure out the import of it. There is actually some narrative context that it gives us before, a big narrative context.

So, we're going to look at that first because it explains why this vision makes any sense.

Okay, so here we go. this reading to buckle up your seatbelt. We start off with this idea of the restoration. Isn't the vision yet? But this is the setup for the vision.

So here's what happens. Whoops, go back. In the first year of Darius, the son of Ahashuberosh, I practice that every time when we do this. Ahash the Rosh. By descent, Amides, Media king, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans.

In the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, perceived in the books of the number of years that, according to the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet, these years must pass before the end of the desolations of Jerusalem.

So you remember, he's captive in Babylon, right? He's captive in Babylon. All the Jews have been taken out of Judea and they're in Babylon and they're slaves. They've been taken away from their home. Nebuchadnezzar yanked them out, and Daniel was one of the guys that got yanked out and brought into Babylon.

That's still ongoing at this point, still ongoing. That's the desolations of Jerusalem because Nebuchadnezzar not only yanked people out of Israel, he also knocked down Solomon's temple. Ooh. Not enough enthusiasm today.

Solomon's Temple, which was which was uh It was an incredible thing, right? That's the temple that Nebuchadnezzar knocks down. And by this point in the story, that temple is still knocked to the ground. It's still rubble. Jerusalem itself has been trashed.

I mean, this is why they call this a desolation of Jerusalem. It's still, and we are decades after that's happened.

So he's asking, if you're asking the word, asking the books, the number of years, how long is this going to happen? Because remember, how many years was Israel in enslavement to Egypt? I'm sorry, I don't forget I'm gonna have to do it. Four centuries. I mean, many generations.

So at this point in the story, Daniel, nor anyone else that's been taken captive by the Babylonians, they don't know how long this is going to be. This could be another fourth-century thing that we're in captivity. Or maybe it's forever. Maybe God's completely disbanded the nation. Israel.

We don't know. It seems so open-ended.

So Daniel starts reading his Bible. Starts reading his Bible and finds out there's a limit on how long this is going to be. And this is what he reads, and he reads it in Jeremiah. And the desolations it says, namely, it's going to be 70 years. 70 years!

70 years from when they knock down the temple to when they're allowed to go back and people start going back. 70 years.

Now that's very. Very good news compared to the Egyptian four centuries. Right? That's a big deal. But 70 years.

Now, where did he get that? Can we read those things ourselves? Because he says Jeremiah, and we have a book of Jeremiah.

So, what did he read?

Well, check this out: it's in your Bible. What?

And Jeremiah was a prophet who warned Israel that they were going to be pushed out of the land if they didn't obey God. He was the prophet saying, come on, come on, you need to do this. And then when Nebuchadnezzar comes in and shakes it all down, he watches the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, and he writes his lament, and that book is called Lamentations.

So Jeremiah is a contemporary of that destruction.

Well, Jeremiah writes... In chapter 25, this whole land shall become a ruin and a waste, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. It's there in black and white. in 70 years after they're completed. Then after seven years are completed, I'll punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for the iniquity, declares the Lord, making the land an everlasting waste.

I will bring upon that land all the words that I have uttered against it, everything written in this book, which Jeremiah prophesied against all the nations.

So Daniel runs across the scroll of Jeremiah and goes, oh. Babylon, Chaldeans, seventy years. Cool. Is there more? Yes, there's more.

You go another couple chapters later. Jeremiah 29, For thus says the Lord, When 70 years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you. I will visit you and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place.

So God himself says, I'll come and bring you back to Israel. After 70 years. twice. There's also a strange thing right here because we know the history of this since we are Bible students and we read Ezra and Nehemiah, which is all about that process of going back, rebuilding the temple, rebuilding the walls, rebuilding Jerusalem. Great, it's a great read.

But the guy who was key for this to happen was the king of Persia himself. Cyrus.

So is Cyrus anywhere in these predictions from Jeremiah?

Well, not in Jeremiah, but in the book of Isaiah.

Now we'll look at that, but this is for further reading. If you want to know how the 70 years were established, Right? You can read these passages. You can either write them down really quick, or if you've got photographic memory, you've got it. But the the Exodus the Exodus 23 passage talks about the fact that going into the promised land, they had to not farm every seventh year.

Right? And then Leviticus talks about the problems if you don't do it. Uh 2 Chronicles talks about the fact that they didn't do it. And Ezra talks about what happens when they come back.

So 70 years is actually calculated by how long it took them to. Disobey the Lord. It's interesting. You can read those things later. But here's where Cyrus comes up in Isaiah.

who says of Cyrus, now his name doesn't show up. anywhere else previous to this in the Bible. This Cyrus dude in Isaiah, precedes even the birth of Cyrus.

So who says of Cyrus, he's my shepherd? Cyrus, the Persian king? Yeah, he's my shepherd, and he shall fulfill all my purpose. Saying of Jerusalem, she shall be built, and of the temple your foundation shall be laid. Cyrus says this is the dictate.

Well, again, if you read Ezra and Nehemiah. That's exactly what Cyrus does, the king of Persia. who's holding the Israelites captive. Thus says the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, Whose right hand I have grasped to subdue nations before him and to loose the belts of kings to open doors before him that gates may not be closed? I will go before you and level the exalted places.

I will break in pieces the doors of bronze, cut through the bars of iron, I will give you treasures of darkness and the hoards in secret places, that you may know that it is I, the Lord, the God of Israel, who call you by your name. For the sake of my servant Jacob and Israel, my chosen, I call you by your name. I name you. Though you don't know me.

So Cyrus, who is actually at the time, the most powerful man in the world, God says back here, predicting through the mouth of Isaiah, he says, this Cyrus dude. He's mine. He's going to do my bidding. and he's actually going to come in and he's going to restore the nation through this guy. And Isaiah predicted this because God's Spirit told him this is what's going to happen.

So all this stuff is laid out in the Bible. If Daniel had read Isaiah and all of Jeremiah, he wouldn't have been so clueless up to this point. And this has been maybe, I don't know, about four decades since, or maybe five decades since he was taken from his home in here.

So this is what he reads. This is the context of the vision today. This isn't the vision yet. This is the context. He happens to be reading Jeremiah, and this is what he figures out.

Well Seventy years. 70 years.

Now you're probably asking yourself: so, where are we on the timeline then?

Well, we'll look at that in a second. But if I was in Daniel's shoes right here. I'd be saying Well, it's not 400 years like Egypt. It's not forever either. I mean, we're going back home.

We're going back home pretty soon. I would be so excited. I would be having a dance party. I'd be so excited about all this stuff. I would be saying, woohoo!

Time to party. We're going home soon. Yeah, finally. It's just incredibly good news that Daniel has right here. Incredibly good news.

So with that news on his mind, let's look at what the timeline looks like to see where it's going on. If you remember 586 BC, that's when Nebuchadnezzar came in and trashed the temple and all of Jerusalem and took a lot of Israelites captive to Babylon, which is where they are now in the story. If you go a little further on the timeline reminder, BC goes backwards. It's the years before Christ. Um and then around 539 the Medo-Persians come in and they conquer Babylon.

They just basically come in and Take over. and they move into the buildings the Babylonians had. I mean everything, they just take over.

So now it's like a swap. And that's when Darius and Cyrus come in.

So that happens in 539, and then the temple is finally rebuilt in 516.

Okay? And these dates are very sure. We don't have any questions about these at all. And the 70 years, it's easiest to figure out the 70 years as happening between the time of the first destruction of Solomon's temple and the successful rebuilding of the second, 70 years.

Now, people were taken captive a little before. The temple was trashed a little bit after, and people came back a little before the temple was finished, a little after. But the rough idea is: if you use signposts of the building of the temples, it's 70 years, 70 years.

So now the question is. Daniel is reading this right now. Where is he at this moment on that timeline?

Well, we don't know exactly. but we think he's somewhere right about here. And you know why we think it's about there? Because the year after 539, which is 538, is when Cyrus says the Jews can go home and rebuild the temple.

Okay, so somewhere in there.

So that means that Daniel is reading his book of Jeremiah. And he gets this good news of 70 years. Then he does the math in his head, the math in his head, 586 to where he is sitting right there. Let's say it's roughly 540. That's about 46 years.

So 46 years since the destruction of the temple. Could be longer because he could have been taken captive before that by five or ten years. About 40 years, which means what's left in the 70 years is between 25 and 30 years. I mean, that's really good news. That's really good news.

Okay, shoot. That's really good news.

Woohoo, yes siri. And you know, God doesn't have to tell you when things like this are going to end. But he does hear very clearly in Jeremiah, he does hear, he says it's only going to be 70 years. And there's a calculation for why that is. You can read that in those other white verses.

So, this is where we are right now. That means there's only about 25 years left.

So, this is a pretty good deal.

Now, how old is Daniel right here? He's old. Let's say It's been almost 50 years since the temple's been knocked down where he's sitting right now, 50 years.

So he's got to be at least 50 years old. Probably. But it says he was a youth when he was taken from Jerusalem. Which could mean 5 to 10 to 15 years old. We don't know.

If that's the case, then it's not just 50 years that's transpired. It may be 60 to 70 years since he was born at the moment he's writing this. He's he's an old guy. He's an old guy. Like me, who said that?

Well, actually, probably not too far off. Probably too far off.

So, when he sees this news about the fact of the 70 years and he does the math, right? He does the math. Is he going to survive until The seventy years expire? Still a whipper sniper. We don't know.

But he could be questioning this, saying, well, this is good news for Israel. Will I be part of that return? Yeah. I don't know. I might I might die here in Babylon.

We don't know. But it's very good news for the nation. And I think he passes that on. I don't think he's silent about that.

So, um, so Daniel, what are you gonna do next?

Now that you know this is happening, now that you know there's an end to your captivity and to the captivity, what are you gonna do next? And so, this is like the well, you know, when the guys uh they ask the quarterback after the Super Bowl, so what are you gonna do now, right? I'm going to Disneyland. He he does do that. What's that?

So the 80s, I know, I'm revealing, yeah. No, big Jewish party. No, I'd probably not. Maybe retire. Yeah, maybe it's a good time to retire.

Yeah by the way Retire from what? What's he doing right now, professionally? He's running Babylon. He is like the CEO under the king of Babylon.

So maybe it's a good time to retire, right? I don't know. Or how about this? None of the above. And of course, you know, it's probably...

None of the above. But what he does next is really surprising. I would expect it to be more celebratory. I would expect it to be. I would expect him maybe to call the Jews together and say, hey, everyone, I've got an announcement.

You know, 70 years after the destruction of the temple, and so we only have a couple decades left. There's a lot of things he could be doing. That's what I would expect him to do next. But in the narrative, what he does next is so unexpected That it'll raise one big question for us all morning. One big question, and I'm gonna ask you that at the end this morning.

What?

I'll show you. He does a confession. Let's read the confession first, then we'll go back and ask that big question. Verse 3. Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer.

and please for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. That's the way, sackcloth and ashes and fasting, that's how you appeal to God in those times of mourning. And I prayed to the Lord my God, made confession, saying, Now, is he going to talk about what he's done wrong? I thought Daniel was a pretty good guy. You know, the lion's den, he was a righteous dude.

And he says that. He says that to his captors. What's he going to make confession about? This is what he makes confession about. Oh Lord, the great and awesome God.

who keeps covenant, his promises, and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments. We have sinned. and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules. We He's confessing for the entire nation of Israel. But Daniel, you Me?

You weren't a sinner, were you? No, he's confessing. the nation of Israel.

So this is where the question starts to hack you. Kind of Move in your mind? Why, why, why, why? After getting such good news about the final end to the captivity and the imminent return back to the land and rebuilding the temple, why, why, why? In the face of that, Does he go into a confession for the nation?

Hold on to that thought. Let's keep looking at his confession. We have not listened to your servants, the prophets. Who spoke in your name to our kings and our princes and our fathers and to all the people of the land. We have not listened to your servants, the prophets.

But to you, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us, Open shame. As it is to this day, to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And to all Israel, those who are near and those who are far away in all the lands to which you've driven them. because of the treachery that they have committed against you. Treachery.

Trip, trip. Treachery, isn't that kind of a harsh word? How did Israel commit treachery against God?

Well, they disobeyed God. And in the most serious sense, and every seven years when they're not supposed to plant, they did not do that. For how long? As far as we can figure, for almost the entire time that they were in the land of Israel, when Joshua brought them in, They didn't do it. They didn't do it.

You mean even through King Solomon and King David and King Saul, they didn't do it? For sure they didn't do it during that time. During the time of the divided kingdoms, the northern southern kingdom, didn't Judah, wasn't Judah the southern part? Weren't they the righteous ones? Didn't they do it then?

No. No, they never did it. They never did it. Wow, so that's one of the reasons why. But treachery?

Who would use the word treachery? Maybe we're a little soft on some of the commandments. And after all, that's a hard one to do because who's got the courage to not plant their fields? Endangering their families. Who would ever do that?

unless you believe what God had promised.

So, really, what it's showing is an emerging disbelief in who God is. They wouldn't do that. And it wasn't just that. It was a whole host of issues.

So somehow when they'd gotten into the promised land, when Joshua brought them in, when they finally had some kings who were worth their salt, I mean, when everything seems like it's running really, really well, they're still not obeying God because they disbelieve him.

However, however, like squatters on some abandoned department, they squat there on the land and they enjoy the land, but they forget about God. Um That's the treachery. That's the treachery. They came in enjoying what God had provided them in God's house, his land. By the way.

They enjoyed that, but they never really paid heed to who this guy was. It's like once they got the goods. they forgot the giver of the goods. And that's their heart. And that's what Daniel's saying right now.

That's been going on up to this very moment with the people. We've disbelieved God and we haven't treated him like the God who loves us. I'll say, just a short aside, we know God is love, and God's love is manifest through how He gives. We know that too. People we love, we love to give things to.

They can't earn the things we give to them, and they don't take the things we give them. Right? They don't yank them out of our hands. We give them.

So there's a difference right here between how Israel should have existed with God and how they did. What they did was they took from God's hand this land and these places to live. But somehow they lost the fact that God loves them so much, He wants to give. He wants to give. And that's the treachery right here.

That's the treachery. Have you ever. Um Have you ever seen a situation where a wayward child decides that they want What the parents have, but they don't want the parents. Hey wait, that sounds like a prodigal son story. Yeah, yeah.

Well this is where we've gotten to right here. In fact the prodigal son story, the prodigal son story is aiming at this very effect. Because the son that stayed home Is Israel that stayed there with the father and they did all the things they were supposed to do, kind of, sort of, maybe. And then, when the wayward son came back, the son who finally realized that he would love his father and he had no worth in the father, and the father gives to him greatly, although he doesn't deserve it. Then the other son who stuck around and did all the, you know, did all the things he was supposed to be doing, looks like, gets bitter.

He gets bitter. I mean, that's a good picture not only of us and the wayward sons and the children who come back realizing that at God's hand is grace and mercy and that we can't take it from them, but we can come back and humbly receive it. But it's a picture of the nation of Israel as well. Especially the one that stayed behind. They did what they thought they were supposed to do.

They did all the sacrifices at the temple. They did all the nitty-gritty kinds of things. Like Jesus accused the Pharisees, you tithe. Seeds. Dill Mint and Kuhmin see you tie these tiny things and think, oh, aren't we hot stuff?

And then you neglect the big things like justice. Things like that. They missed it, although they did all the tiny stuff. And they thought because they did the tiny stuff, God was pleased with them. But see, God gives to us because he wants to foster a deepening relationship with us so we'll understand his love by what he gives to us.

That was how the land of Israel is supposed to work. But instead They squatted. They used it. They forgot God and God said, well. That's it.

I'm closing down a house here in Israel. and you guys are going to be scattered. Wow. Who makes a point of living in your midst through the temple symbolically? If God, who wants to.

to draw you to himself by living in your midst in the place you live and you basically thumb your nose at him He says, well, that's it. We're closing down the house. The temple's destroyed. You're kicked out of land. Wow Treachery.

They took from God what they thought they deserved. Instead of receiving from God out of love, what do you want to give? And they forgot the giver. and kept the goods. That's treachery.

That's treachery. Okay, he goes on in his confession. To us, O Lord, belong to open shame. open shame. to our kings, to our princes.

to our fathers. Because we have sinned against You. Why, in the face of the good news of this shrinking captivity, is he compelled to confess for the nation of Israel. He goes on, this is not the end. To the Lord our God belongs mercy and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against him, rebellion now and treachery, rebelled against him and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God by walking in his laws, which he set before us by his servants, the prophets.

All Israel has transgressed. All Israel has transgressed your law and turned aside.

Now, that all Israel, that's an important point, because 150 years before Jerusalem was taken down, the Assyrian nation, which was ascendant, came in and took the northern kingdom away. They're gone. And the people in the south who were left behind in Judah, the ones who inevitably would be taken by Nebuchadnezzar 150 years later, They're looking at their brothers in the north, the ten tribes in the north, saying, Well, they're clearly inferior Jews because the Assyrians came in and took them, but they didn't take us, we're Judah. See? And so there was this kind of this uppadeism after the people of the north got taken away into captivity, but that upedism only lasted for about 150 years.

And then the superior southern tribes got taken by Nebuchadnezzar.

So when he says all Israel has sinned, he's actually implying not just the northern kingdom, but us too in the south. We've all done it. They got taken in captivity. We now have been taken in captivity. All Israel has.

There's no distinction. All Israel has transgressed your law and turned aside, refusing to obey your voice. And the curse and oath that are written in the law of Moses, the servant of God, have been poured out upon us because we have sinned against him. This is a pretty powerful confession for the nation. Not for himself.

He has confirmed his words, which he spoke against us and against our rulers. One of those was in Jeremiah we read about the consequences. Who ruled us by bringing upon us a great calamity? For under the whole heaven there has not been done anything like what has been done against Jerusalem. Never before in history has something like this happened.

And whose fault is it? Ours. Ours. As it is written in the law of Moses, all this calamity has come upon us. Yet we have not entreated the favor of the Lord our God, turning from our iniquities and gaining insight by your truth.

Wow, that is That makes me shudder to read about.

So all this bad news happens. They get taken in captivity by Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon. Because God's got a point, he's trying to get across to them. Is he on a trying to go hello? Hello you've denied me and so I'm kicking you out of land.

Until you get it figured out, until you get it figured out. And Daniel's saying right here that they haven't figured it out. As it's written in the law of Moses, all this calamity has come upon us, yet we have not entreated the favor of the Lord our God. turning from our iniquities and gaining insight by your truth. We have not learned from this affair.

To this very moment, Daniel speaking, we have not entreated God. We had not come to and said, God, what's our problem? What's going on? Why are we here? They have not done it.

You're clueless. They're clueless. Except for Daniel right now. Because he's confessing it. He sees it.

Therefore the Lord has kept ready the calamity and has brought it upon us. For the Lord our God is righteous in all the works that he has done, and we have not obeyed his voice. When he set up the nation of Israel in that promised land, he gave them rules that would bless them and benefit them. They were for their good. They were for their good, and like a national adolescent, They said, I think I know better.

I'm not going to do those rules. And I don't need my parents anymore either. A giant national adolescence. Kind of Give a stiff arm to God. And yet still at this point when calamity is all around them, They are not entreating God about what's going on.

And now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of the land of Egypt, whoops, that was great, with a mighty hand, and have made a name for yourself as at this day, we have sinned, we have done wickedly. I would have gone to Disneyland. But this news. This news. brings him into this Deep confession for the nation of Israel.

who are even at this moment clueless. about why they're in captivity. And yet the captivity is going to end in 25, 30 years. Why? Why does he go into confession?

Why does he go into confession? Why doesn't he celebrate? Why doesn't he spread the good news? Why does he go into confession? Confession.

So we're going to break right here just for a second and talk about confession. We have many times a wrong idea about what confession is. Right. Uh it's kinda like, you know, when your dog does something bad, you know, and And you put their nose in it and go. What have you done?

What have you done? Right? Or when we confess and we do something wrong to someone else.

Okay, I confess. Yeah, yeah, I did that. Yeah. That's a wrong idea of confession in a large respect. I mean, they all have to do with sin and shortcomings, and that's okay.

But it's different here because we made an observation at the beginning here that Daniel is praying for the nation, not so much for himself, although he includes himself in the whole nation. He's he's He's coming to God confessing for the nation.

So what kind of confession is that? I mean, come on. Doesn't God know what they did wrong? Di does God need Daniel to tell them what they've done wrong? No, God knows these things.

you know and if I had kind of a A flippant God who'd be listening to this confession. A flippant God would say, Hey, Daniel, tell me what I don't know. But he doesn't do that. But God knows there so why do the confession, why is it important? Why is it hinged to the revelation that it's only going to be twenty or thirty years before we get to go back?

Why is the confession so operable right now? I mean after all Many times you do a confession because you're trying to manipulate some outcomes. Yeah. We say, it's true, it's true. You know, I did that.

Will you please forgive me? I've come clean.

Now you need to forgive me. That's how this works, right? Confession many times for us is a way, it's kind of a consolation prize to get out from under your shortcomings. I guess I'll have to confess this. I'd rather not.

I'd rather keep it secret, but now I'm going to confess it, and things will get kind of better. It's usually meant to come up with an outcome. I mean, don't you confess and then wait for a better outcome? Isn't that how it works?

Well, wait a second. The better outcome has already come. It's going to come in 25 to 30 years.

So this confession doesn't seem like it's doing anything for the inevitable outcome of them going back to Israel in two or three decades.

So this confession is not asking God to send them back because God's already said, I'm sending you back in 20, 30 years.

So the confession is not operable in terms of convincing God to change his mind. It seems. Although, in a second, we're going to look at his plea because he hasn't asked for anything yet. But I'll just say this before we look at that, because the context will make sense. A confession from a biblical perspective.

is just saying out loud what you agree about. with God. God makes a statement. You go Yep. I with my mouth I agree with you.

I agree with you. Good confession. Good confession. Yeah, it's it's actually the word confess, when you look at the etymology where the word comes from, the word con in the front means together or yeah, together in a sense, united. Uh like Congress is dressing together.

Well, it's meeting together.

So the con in Congress means together.

So confess, fess is the actual verbal part. It's to basically say, you say, what God's been saying all along. I agree. I agree. That's all the contrast is.

So, when he confesses for Israel, it makes sense here because when you realize that that's what confession is. He's not really confessing so that he can manipulate God for a different outcome for himself. He's just basically saying, God, I agree with you now. I agree with you now. Our nation has been corrupt.

It's been treacherous. It's been rebellious. I agree with you. That's our nation. He's just agreeing with God.

Confession is agreeing with God.

Now, why do we many times personally take confession as a more personal kind of thing?

Well, because God often through His Holy Spirit is convicting you of sin, because the Holy Spirit, one of its functions, His functions is to convict you of sin. Yeah. And so when that happens, Many times, our initial response is to go, well, no, it's not really a sin, it's just maybe a small mistake, but I wouldn't call it a sin. I mean, sin sounds pretty serious.

So we kind of talk ourselves out of what the Holy Spirit's trying to tell us. The conviction of sin. we rationalize We do not say with our lips what God is saying. We twist it. We soften it.

We do all those kinds of things. But the point where you get to confession is where you finally throw your hands in the air and say, Okay, God, I agree with you. Your assessment of my situation is exactly what you said. I accept that. I got it.

I confess that. I say what you're saying. We're square.

So it's really to agree with what God says in his assessment of things. Yeah, Steve. 1 John 1, 7 to 9. 1 John 1, 7 to 9. Verse 8: If we confess our sins, he is faithful with us to forgive us.

So confession proves Forgiveness won't come until you actually come to the point and say, I agree with you, God. I am indeed a Class A dirtback. Or I agree with you, God, I can only find salvation. Through your grace, attained through my faith in that. I agree with you, God, that I have no way in my own self to find myself worthy enough to somehow manipulate that salvation.

I can't.

So you just agree with God. But The satanic flesh that we have inside of us many times wants to disagree with what God says.

So when you confess, you're agreeing with what God says. And that's what he's doing for the nation. We've sinned and done wickedly.

Okay, then we get to this next section after the confession, the plea.

So there is a plea here. Here's a plea at the end of this. Here's the plea. Verse 16: O Lord, according to all your righteous acts, Let your anger and your wrath turn away from your city Jerusalem. Your holy hill.

Because for our sins and for the iniquities of our fathers. Jerusalem and your people have become a byword among all who are around us.

So now he is making that appeal. But wait! Isn't a return? Guaranteed in twenty five or thirty years? Why does he have to ask him for it?

See, this is part of this question. Why confess? understanding what the history is going to be soon to come. But he does plead. By the way, this word byword right here, I think it's a bad translation.

I had to look that up because I'd forgotten. That byword word is this word kerpah, and it means a reproach or a disgrace or a reputation. It's basically the nations would look at Israel and remember what Israel said about the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And they would look at Israel now post, you know, Babylonian captivity. And say, losers, they're losers.

And they said their God is something. They're losers. That's the reproach.

So what he's his argument he's making right here is God the longer you let this stay like this They're going to call us losers and they're going to call you a false God. Right? Your reputation got is on the line.

Now therefore, O our God, listen to the prayer of your servant and to his pleas for mercy. And for your own sake, O Lord, make your face to shine upon your sanctuary, which is desolate, knocked down right now.

So he's saying, for your sake, for your name, didn't you put your name on this temple? Didn't you put your name on these people? Didn't you put your name on this place?

Well, it's all ruined right now.

So I think you need to get in gear, God. Because your name's been trashed.

Well, actually, God's name is not being trashed. God's people are being trashed. And that's the distinction there. But he's saying this could be misinterpreted in the world. Oh my God, here the plea keeps going on.

Incline your ear and hear. Open our eyes and see our desolations and the city that is called by your name. He says, God, look at Jerusalem that is called by your name. I've always liked this image of the incline your ear. It's not an incline your ear.

It's actually a decline in your ear. It's what a parent does to a child who's like maybe, you know, 18 inches tall. And they're saying something, so what the parent does is you get done like this, you get close. Listen, that's the idea. Incline your ear to me.

Come close and listen to what I'm saying. The city it's called by your name is a desolation. For we don't present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy. What a refreshing statement. God, we don't come to you asking this because we're anything.

Because we're hot stuff. No. We come 100% because we know that you are a God of mercy. What is mercy? Not giving you what you deserve.

Okay, so we've gone into captivity for 70 years.

Okay, well, we deserve that. We deserve that. And I'm not saying we don't deserve that. We deserve that, but. We know that you're a God of great mercy.

So would you think about changing this?

Well, wait a second. Jeremiah already told him it's going to be changed in 25 or 30 years.

So why make the request? Shouldn't the request come and then have the revelation 25 or 30 years? Doesn't that make more sense? Or is that just my problem? Yeah, O Lord, hear, O Lord, forgive.

O Lord, pay attention and act. Delay not for your own sake, O my God, because your city and your people are called by your name. How long are you going to let your name be trashed around the world because of what's happened here? Of course, what he doesn't see. Is the fact that after they come back to the nation, again, Ezra and Nehemiah, as we read it.

What a miraculous story that is, and how it was talked about around the world. These people who got taken captive by the most powerful superpower of the world, and you think, ah. That's the end of the nation of Israel. They've been dispersed as slaves and captives all around the world. They are never going to come back to the land.

Babylon's never gonna let go of them. No, this is stupid. I mean, once you take over a country and you yank all their people out, that's the end of that nation. But then the nation comes back and the temple is rebuilt and the city walls are rebuilt and it becomes a nation again. And there's where God's glory comes in.

So so there's more at stake here than we just understand. Whew There's a reply. Really? Check this out. While I was speaking, Good timing.

While I was speaking... And praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my plea before the Lord my God for the holy hill of my God. The holy hill, by the way, is Jerusalem. The temple is built on a hill. Right, Mount Moriah.

While I was speaking, boom, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the first, came to me in swift flight at the time of the evening sacrifice. We got excited about Gabriel a couple last week, week before. Yeah. He uh Oh, here he's back again. Get it back again.

The reply to the confession is a personal visit by the most famous angel of the entire Bible. Who appears to Mary before she gives birth to Jesus, appears to the father of John the Baptist. and appears to Daniel previous to this, about end timesy things. Wow, so you mean if I confess, God will bring an angel?

Well, not always, but he did it here. Gabriel comes back. Gabriel comes back after this confession, while he's doing the confession, with some urgency. He came to me in swift flight, which means whoosh. I mean, like something swift flight at the time of the evening sacrifice.

Okay, so he made me understand, speaking with me and saying, Oh Daniel, I have now come out to give you insight and understanding.

Okay, okay, this is looking good. Insight and understanding. At the beginning of your pleas for mercy, a word went out. Are you kidding me? When he started the plea for mercy, God, we don't come here because we're hot stuff, we come because you're God of mercy, word went out.

And it resulted in Gabriel coming. A word went out. And I've come to tell it to you. for you're greatly loved. You are greatly loved.

Wow. You are greatly loved. Therefore, Consider the word. and understand the vision. and Daniel's on the edge of his chair.

All I did was confess the sins of Israel and myself. and the fact that now we've got two or three decades left in our captivity. And now Gabriel's come to tell me about what's going to happen, to give me understanding and a vision. Yeah, yeah, best thing ever. But we're not going to look at it until next week.

Cheap Look, you have a Bible. You can read it yourself. Church in the park, okay, it's after church in the park. Yeah, so you gotta wait two weeks. Shit bow.

Okay, well, we got the setup done. The setup took some time.

So I'm going to ask that million-dollar question again. The million-dollar question, again, that comes out of this is: why go into a season of profound confession when God has already told you things are going to get better? They're going to get better already. Why? And you know what?

We don't have the answer to that, but I want you to speculate with me for a second because it's such an uncharacteristic response.

So uncharacteristic. For instance, if I was writing the story as a piece of fiction and I was writing the story, I would have Daniel coming up to his upper room. He's doing this to God. Oh, we've been here for so long for him, maybe four decades, five decades. We've been here for so long, God, how long is this going to go on?

And then God is silent, waiting for Daniel to say, okay, okay, okay, okay. We messed up, we're bad people. You sent us into captivity. Yeah, okay, I get that. And then after God hears that confession, God will say, okay.

We're changing everything, you're going back. Wh isn't how it should be written? But no, he goes into confession fully knowing that there is an end and they're going to go back.

So why confess? It's a done deal. Right? Well, again, you're slipping back in the old mode of thinking what confession is. Confession is not a way.

to manipulate. Confession is a way to agree with God. To agree with God.

So You have any speculations about why he would be compelled to go into confession? Because I've got a couple of very weak arguments, but maybe you have some better ones. I'm always amazed. Yeah, reach. Know that when I go and get out of board, it makes my relationship closer with them.

So Even in this circumstance, even though they're doing their CCT's asking for the whole donation. Yeah. Yeah. He may have needed that process for the working. And what's that process for?

So And that's something confession, when we even have kind of a twisted view of it, is similar to biblical confession because the issue of relationship is always at the heart of it. It's always at the heart of it, when the two agree, when you agree with what God says. then any barriers for trying to hide the truth go away and relationships restored. We do that with each other. We confess in order to restore relationship, not just to make ourselves feel better.

Yeah, I think that's a good piece of it. That's what I was going to say. There was a hand over here, and then we'll go over to Michael. Oh, Dorothy had a hand.

Well, I was thinking of Isaiah 6, when Isaiah sees the Lord. Here's the angels proclaiming God's holiness. Isaiah's first response is, woe is me, man.

So when we gain a clearer view of who God is, our appropriate response is to be more aware of our uncleanness and our need for this cleansing. And I think that's probably what was happening at Daniel when he suddenly just took his breath away. Look what God is going to do. Look how good and how holy God is. He's not doing this because we deserve it.

Yeah, he's not doing this because we deserve this. And I think that's part of, I'm with you on there because I'm thinking about if I just found out that God is going to take us back to the land in 25 or 30 years. I'd say to myself, but wait, we're still... Stiff arm you? We haven't earned it yet, yeah.

And so there is a certain sense of conviction that's coming upon him that God's going to do this. And we're not there yet. How good is our God? I mean God's loving kindness extends even while we're Stiff arming him? Because it's inevitable, it's going to come, 25, 30 years, it's going to come.

Which is when you know when Paul states that he says, you know, isn't this a remarkable thing that even while you were yet sinning, Christ died for you? Even while Daniel's people were still sinning, God had put on the calendar they're coming back in 25 or 30 years.

So I think there's a profound conviction, for one thing, that the solution is coming. But we haven't earned it. We haven't made ourselves better. We haven't even learned from it yet. That conflict, I think, that graded inside of Daniel when he heard that.

We've got to come clean about everything that's wrong with us. Right? Because that's coming. Yeah, Michael, you're gonna say, remember? Yeah.

So what really spoke to me is what you're saying here, I'm going to reiterate, from verse 18. For we are not presenting our supplications before you because of our own merits and righteousness. Right. But because of your great mercy and compassion. He was confessing the attributes of God, the word of God.

That's what moved the angel to come. Yes. Yes. Yes. How good we are, or how bad the devil's problems are.

But yeah, that seems How good God is. Because he says that in his appeal: you're righteous, we're not. Yeah. Yeah. I think it's this.

what we're saying these together is I think it's this conflict with how can God be so merciful and guarantee he's going to be merciful, but we're still in a state of rebellion and treachery. Can God's grace be that good? Back to the attributes of God. And so what he does is he praises God for who he is as a result of this. Can you believe this?

We're still going back, but we still haven't learned our lesson yet. Yeah. Wait, you're gonna think? It also shows God made public mercy, and he keeps his public good, even with his people. In fact, he published.

Abraham. Right, and he said in his prayer, You're God of covenants. You keep covenants, you keep promises. Although challenge God, like Daniel Daniel challenged God. We also say regular God of mercy and love.

So Daniel was reminding God that he saw his suffering and that he had never really done people. And he's thanking that he's faithful. Thanking him, he's been minding God through your love and untold mercy, you will continue to bless us, even in our iniquities. Even when they grumbled when they left Egypt in the desert, God did not desert them. He fed them, he watered them.

Grace.

So, really, we're focusing on who God is, not on ourselves. His grace toward us, his mercy toward us, his long suffering for us, all that. Yeah, Steve, one last one. The phrase let go, let God comes to mind the need for us to trust, trust what he's promised, trust what he's given people, and recognize that it's not based on us, but our trust of him. Our trust of him.

Which they wouldn't do. Up to this point.

Okay, Doug, one more. The expression of it's a come to Jesus movement. It's a come to Jesus movement. That things have got to change, but it's your responsibility. And do you remember where it says that if you pray according to his will?

He does it? He's praying according to the fact that God's going to take them back. Based on confession. I'll add just one more thing. A lot of these thoughts, these are really good.

Really, really good. And I think these are right on the money. Another one I wondered about was the fact that in the Daniel story up to this point, Daniel went to the lion's den for doing what? in front of his windows.

So everyone could see. I wondered in this whether or not, as Daniel's doing this confession, Did he pull his chair up to the window? And say Hey everybody, oh god, we're dirt bags! Right? I'm being a little facetious here, but I mean, I wonder whether or not this was actually a leadership moment for Daniel and the people of Israel, for Daniel to say, look, this is who we are.

This is why we're here. And so the confession is more public than we might know. And I don't know. I'm totally speculating that. I really don't know.

But we do know that Daniel's spiritual life was a public issue, which is why he got in trouble with the Lion's Dead. I wonder if this confession was the beginning of kind of a renewal process in the minds of the Jews. That's right. This is why we're here. and that that process started Uh started a A change in the hearts and minds of Israel so that by the time we get 25 or 30 years later, God says, You got it.

You understand why we're here. You're going back. Could that be the case? We don't know. We don't know.

But I do believe that Daniel, since he was so influential with the Jewish people in captivity, I think this attitude was infectious as it became known and people said, yeah, you're right. You're right. That's who we are. Because he said during this prayer, he said, to this very moment, they haven't figured this out. I think this might have just been the beginning of that.

and he had a leadership position. Incredible.

Okay, that's as close as we can get to answering that question, but it'll make you think about it for a while.

Okay, one other question I'm going to do before we leave. God's reply to Daniel's confession is coming up, and I said we're going to look at that two weeks. Two weeks.

So we're going to guess right now what we think that reply is from God, what the vision is about based on everything you know in the setup of this. What's God's vision coming through Gabriel going to be like?

So I took some guesses. If I was writing the Bible, this would come next in the story when Gabriel brings a vision as a result of what we just saw. Maybe he's going to bring a vision that shows, I don't know, something like this, something like a preview of the proclamation of Cyrus. I mean, Gideon can go back and say, you won't believe this, but Babylon's going to be no more, and the conquering king Cyrus is going to come in, and he's going to tell everyone to go back to Israel and rebuild the temple. What do you think out of that, Daniel?

Oh come on, wouldn't that be a pretty good vision? You know, after all the stuff about we're dirtbags and you know, we repent and God's going to send us back. Maybe that's what the vision is. What Cyrus is going to do? A great king will make an announcement and you'll go back.

Thus saith the Lord through Gideon. Or how about this? I thought this might be a good one. A preview about Ezra's temple building. Oh, you don't even understand.

The desolation in Jerusalem, the destruction of the temple. Here's a vision of the temple being rebuilt. Shit, it's gonna happen. Woo! Wouldn't that be a good vision?

Or or A preview about Nemi's wall rebuilding, right? We read about this. They're going to build the wall so the defenses of the city are going to be rebuilt.

So no one's going to come in like Nebuchadnezzar again and do what they did that time. It's going to be a wonderful day. And then Daniel's going to go, really? Really? They're going to rebuild the walls?

It's going to be secure again? I mean, the place is a desolation right now. That would be the best thing ever. Thanks, Gideon. That's a great preview.

None of those things. In fact, what the vision is. blows my mind. And the vision that's coming has blown people's minds. millennia.

So now that you know the context, you can draw a line between what the vision's about. and what's happening right now. 500 years before Jesus. You can read this yourself.

Okay, I think we're done here. Yeah. We're done. Back to the future. Went back to 500 BC and we're actually going to go far into the future by what he says in the vision coming up.

So Daniel's going to hear a vision that has very little to do with the circumstances in Babylon and soon, in a year or two, in Persia. Almost nothing to do with that. But it's a direct answer to his plea. That's bigger than he would ever exact. ever expect.

Bigger than Cyrus the king of Persia. Bigger than the whole thing about rebuilding the temple. Bigger than the whole thing about rebuilding Jerusalem altogether, God's city. Bigger than all of that stuff, but yet still, it's a direct answer to his prayer, but bigger than he could ever conceive. You gotta read it.

Father, we thank you for preserving these words for us. We thank you for the intrigue of them as well. Our hearts Our hearts yearn to understand who you are. desire so much to be blessed by your loving heart, the giving that you give to us. And Father, we pray that through all of this, that the mysteries of what we're going to see this next time we get together.

will unfold to us in remarkable uh remarkable vision and breadth. that your love for mankind, your creation of man, started from the beginning of creation and continues on to the end of the age. And through what you do and how you respond to us, our minds are continually Uh blown just by how big a view you have toward everything. Lord, as we sto spoke about earlier, We Celebrate. The fact that you're a merciful God.

that you give to us what we do not deserve. We praise you because you're God of great grace. who gives to us What we cannot earn. What we cannot deserve. or we cannot pay back.

that you're a God of profound love, who delights in manifesting that love and what you gift to us.

So Father, I pray that you would convict our hearts of sin, bring us to points of confession ourselves. in order to remove what remains between us and you in our behaviors and our shortcomings and our sin.

so that we might grow in greater depth. and the knowledge of you. the great and merciful and patient. And gracious. king of the universe.

So open our eyes as we continue forward in Dan, and we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

Okay.