Daniel Nine: How important is this Bible prophecy?

Daniel nine is a critical part of the Bible prophecy puzzle.

Some people would argue that Daniel nine is the holy grail of prophecy. The chapter stands apart from almost every other Bible prophecy passage for one reason. There is a timeline near the end of the chapter that allows the careful student to test the validity of the prophecies. That’s both fascinating and exciting, but there’s a problem. And it’s a huge problem. There are still many controversies and variant views regarding how to interpret the words. And as you can guess, there is still no consensus about the timeline or its fulfillment.

It’s as if someone discovered a map of a vast treasure, but no one is able to decode the meaning of the map. So, the treasure remains hidden. But there are many scholars who have come to partially satisfactory solutions to the puzzle of chapter nine. Even so, challenges remain.

 

Daniel Nine in dispute

Some parts of Daniel nine’s prophecy are without dispute. One in particular points to a coming Messiah. The prophecy points to the arrival of the Jewish Messiah. But it shockingly also predicts the Messiah’s death. So, there remain difficulties in determining how to decode the meaning. But the biggest clue allows us to “backtrack” from the arrival and then the death of the Messiah figure.

This prophecy obviously points to Jesus, the Messiah of the Jews. Of course, the Jews disagree with this but I won’t argue that point here. Jesus’ crucifixion on the cross is the key point along the timeline of human history. And it is the key timing issue of Daniel’s prophecies found in this chapter.

Many prophecies before the cross pointed to that event. And oddly, there was a mysterious pause after the Messiah’s death. We’ll explore that pause in another article.

 

Daniel nine contains the Seventy-Weeks prophecy

Daniel was one of the Lord’s most inspired prophets. His twelve-chapter book records a series of visions and dreams. One dream is found in chapter two. And it’s there that we read of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of four world-dominating empires. Subsequent to that, Daniel had visions that corresponded to the king’s dreams. Those visions are recorded in chapter seven. The dream and the visions are different but each reflects on a succession of kingdoms that will unfold in history. The final kingdom will be replaced by the kingdom of Christ and then followed by a 1,000-year reign of peace on Planet Earth.

So, the arrival and death of the Jewish Messiah provide a key part of Bible prophecy. It gives the careful student a marker to place on a timeline. In the same way, the defeat of the fourth kingdom gives Bible students the key to understanding when the arrival of Jesus will occur.

 

As we begin our look into this chapter, I can assure you we won’t solve any riddles. Because the controversies will remain, we can put our understanding on a more solid footing.

So let’s begin.

 

 

Daniel Nine:1 the first year of Darius

 “In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of Median descent, who was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans:”

The first thing we should ask is, who is Darius the Mede? Well, he was the lessor-king in the new power in the Middle East. As I mentioned above, there was to be a succession of four great powers that would rule over Israel and control the Middle East region. The Babylonians were the first. But their reign was brief compared to the others. Darius was apparently the king of the Medes in the Medo-Persian Empire. Cyrus the Great, a Persian King, ruled over the entirety of the new empire. We learn more about Cyrus in other portions of scripture. And he is a well-known historical figure. The Bible is unique in its historical record of the leader Darius. Daniel recorded the events of chapter nine as the new power had just defeated Babylon in a surprisingly easy victory.

Compare what the prophet writes about Darius in Daniel 5:31 and Daniel 6:1. This passage allows us to fix an approximate date to the chapter. And this ties into an important prophecy. Jeremiah predicted the destruction and conquest of Jerusalem. But he also said that seventy years would pass, and after that, the Jews would be restored to the Promised Land. So the 70-year prophecy, combined with the words of Isaiah in Isaiah 44:28 and Isaiah 45:13, had all the Jewish believers in Babylon wondering if something big was about to happen.

But the question was when

The Medo-Persian Empire took control of Babylon in 538 B.C. It was two years later that King Cyrus gave permission to the Jews to return to their homeland. A famous decree was given by Cyrus enabling the Jewish exiles to go home and begin to rebuild. As Daniel records later, that essentially set the clock in motion for the famous 70-week prophecy. As noted above, there are numerous controversies regarding this timeline. An important one is regarding this decree. Cyrus issued the decree, but many Bible teachers give credit to another king for this. I’ll discuss this in another article that deals specifically with that prophecy.

 

Daniel 9:2

“In the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, observed in the books the number of the years which was revealed as the word of the LORD to Jeremiah the prophet for the completion of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years.”

Daniel was an aged man at this time. But he took the time to read the scriptures and the words of the scholars of his day. His mention of “the books” is a reference to those scrolls. He noticed a particular prophecy of seventy years, mentioned by Jeremiah. See the following verses, Jeremiah 25:11 and Jeremiah 29:10 to understand exactly what Daniel saw in Jeremiah’s writings. In the first verse, there is a mention of seventy years of desolation. In the second verse, God promised to “visit” the Jews after the seventy years were over. What Daniel probably wondered about was what did it mean that God would “visit” them.  It was likely that he expected the Jews would be allowed to return to the Land. That is what Jeremiah wrote. But it would have seemed nearly impossible for it to happen.

But not with God.

 

Daniel 9:3

“So I gave my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.”

As we read through the entire Bible, it is hard to find another person that is more earnest and sincere in his devotions to the Lord. Of course, Jesus surpasses him in all things, including zeal and prayer life, but I don’t know of another. There is no wonder that God chose him for such a lofty role in revealing these key prophecies. He probably turned toward the west to face Jerusalem. There the temple once stood and the ark of the covenant rested in the Holy of Holies. On top of the ark, a lid was placed. The lid was called the Mercy Seat and symbolized the place where God would sit and dwell with Israel.

I intentionally use the word “symbolized” because God is omnipresent, meaning he is everywhere at once. No, I won’t try to explain that other than to say that He is God. For Israel, it comforted them to imagine that God was right in the midst of their nation. Their priests offered prayers and burned incense at the curtain that hid the ark and the Mercy Seat. Every Jew, when he or she prayed, focused their thoughts on the presence of God in the Holy of Holies.

Daniel turned toward a desolate city and temple and prayed to the Lord who was as near to him as his breath.

And he put on the outward sign of mourning. But for Daniel, it was more than a symbol of mourning. It was a genuine feeling of remorse. And though no one could have blamed him, the prophet counted himself with those who had rebelled against God.

It was true humility.

 

Daniel 9:4

“I prayed to the LORD my God and confessed and said, “Alas, O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and loving-kindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments.”

Daniel recorded some of his prayers. But what we read is no doubt, a small bit of what he must have said. He may have given a long account of his personal transgressions. And he then could have gone on to ask forgiveness for the actions of his friends and acquaintances. What we see in print is the shortened version of what might have taken hours, days, or months.

But don’t miss the focus of his prayer. He prayed to “my God,” and he knew the God to whom he spoke. He bowed in great reverence to the Creator of the universe. It wasn’t “the big man in the sky.” Nor was it, “to whom it may concern.” And it wasn’t “Daddy-god” like some people pray.

Daniel knew God and he made a personal plea to him. The prophet had seen angels and the visions had terrified him. The Lord far exceeded the terrible presence of the most powerful angels. We’ve lost the meaning of the words terrible and awesome. In the Bible, the words gave the sense of striking a man so hard that he would fall to the ground, pee his pants, and know that death was certain. But now, terrible could refer to a bad meal. And awesome might mean a 30-second ride on a surfboard.

The terrifying and awesome God of Daniel was a covenant keeper. The Lord made many promises. He kept to His Word each time. Daniel noted the Loving-kindness, or mercy, that the Lord would honor. This was leading to what Daniel was getting to. He was hoping God was going to show mercy on the Jews since their seventy years were almost done.

 

 

Daniel 9:5

“We have sinned, committed iniquity, acted wickedly and rebelled, even turning aside from Your commandments and ordinances.”

It is often said, that all sins are equal. A little “white lie” is as bad as murder or vice versa. But the Bible indicates that is not true. We see an example of that in Daniel’s prayer. Some have suggested that his prayer points toward four degrees of sin. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that, but many have speculated about the varying levels of sinfulness.

Daniel mentions sin, iniquity, wicked acts, rebellion, and turning from God’s Word. I’ve heard teachers talk about the sins of “omission” and sins of “commission.” The first is concerning sins that a person didn’t do. The sins of “commission” are things a person did but should not have done.

And the Catholic Church has mortal sins and non-mortal sins. I have no idea what those are. You can look those up for yourself.

But there are degrees of punishment, just as there are levels of sin. Jesus referred to the sin of Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. The Apostle John wrote about some sins that people could commit that were “sins unto death.”

But we’re all sinners in need of a Savior. So, before we point fingers at others, we need to clean up our own acts of rebellion.

 

Daniel Nine: 6 We have not listened to the prophets

“Moreover, we have not listened to Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings, our princes, our fathers and all the people of the land.”

He finishes this section with a memory of the many preachers and teachers of the past. The Patriarchs of old, especially Moses, were inspired by the Lord. They spoke of the divine promises and the warnings. It was the warnings that were ignored. Everyone wanted the blessings and promises, but few if any were concerned enough to heed the warnings.

 

Humanity finds itself in the same position that Daniel found himself in when he and his friends were taken into captivity. The Lord promised blessings and punishment to the Jewish people. They forgot about the warnings. Most people hope for the blessings and ignore the warnings.

 

Are you forgetting to listen to the warnings?

 

Am I?

 

What are your thoughts on the importance of Daniel nine?

 

 

The ClayWriter