Daniel: The Sovereignty of God Over All Nations

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Open your Bibles, if you would, to the book of Daniel. If you are familiar with Daniel and have read it much, you could be pretty excited this morning, although I have not the time to explain every single prophecy in Daniel. But this is one of the most remarkable books, I think, in all of Scripture. Daniel is about the sovereignty of God over all nations. And this morning, I'm continuing a series in which I go through preaching the Scriptures one book at a time. Daniel has some of the most obviously fulfilled prophecies in all of Scripture. It is so obvious, some of the Scriptures, that most people who discredit the Bible throw out Daniel altogether; they have no idea what to do with it. So, it is very forthright in predicting the future, things that have come to pass.

It is also an incredible book about the sovereignty of God displayed in the life of, really, a young boy who was kidnapped. Daniel became a prophet at a very early age, 16 at the latest, and he served under four different kings and two consecutive empires--the Babylonian Empire and the Medo-Persian empire. He survived when thousands perished. He outlasted powerful, unhinged kings. If you look up Nebuchadnezzar, in non-biblical books, in his other historical accounts, you'll see he was unhinged in his efforts to rise to the throne and dominate all who had come against his power. Daniel rose above all of that. He rose above the wise and intelligent of his day. God gave him the ability to interpret dreams, real ability of real dreams, with real purpose, and real people about real events in history.

He was promoted to unmatched power, as a foreigner from an enemy nation. Think about that. What nation do we fight against the most or wants to take us down the most? Imagine one of their nobility being brought over here to the United States and put second in power over everyone. That's what happened with Daniel. All of this should make us stand in awe not of Daniel, though, but of his God, the King of kings, the Lord of lords. Yahweh is his name. Yahweh, who turns the heart of a king whichever way he desires. Yahweh, who answers to no one. Yahweh, who directs the affairs of mankind, not just the United States, not just the North American continent, not just South America, but every place all around the world. He directs mankind without fail and without fault.

If anyone came to understand the sovereignty of God and all the details of life, it's Daniel. And though we have elections coming up, and whether or not your person gets elected or not, there is one thing that is still true--God is on the throne and his plan is not thwarted. We have to believe that. We have to come to understand just how pervasive God's control is of all the world. You will see in the life of Daniel an unparalleled account of someone who had the fortitude and the conviction to follow God, to serve God, no matter what, to speak out loud the truths that he believed in that many times look like would cost him his life.

Daniel is normally taken by most liberal scholars as something that was written centuries later. He prophetically tells of the kingdoms that would take over Babylon, the Medo-Persian Empire. And then he prophetically tells of the empire that would follow, Greece. And then he tells about the Roman Empire. And he gives such detail to this in chapter seven, that liberal scholars just throw out the whole book all together. Daniel is a book that you need to read and read slowly. It is very powerful.

Let me set the context for you. Right now, in this scope of history, it's around 605 BC. The Assyrians had earlier conquered the northern 10 tribes of Israel, and then Babylon took over that portion as well. So, they inherited all the lands conquered by Assyria, and Babylon is now in power, a 700-mile line straight from Jerusalem, all the way across the desert to Babylon. You can look up ancient Babylon in Google Maps and see exactly where the Empire was. At this time, there was a takeover in the southern two tribes. We call those Judah, that's Judah and Benjamin. And there, Babylon has taken over that portion too, but they tried to play nice with Judah.

And the king, Jehoiakim, kind of got full of himself and thought, “Well, they may conquer 1000s of miles of other kingdoms but not ours.” And so, though they took over, he started to rebel a little bit too much against the king. And in 605, Nebuchadnezzar had had enough. And so, he came in and took over in a mighty way, though he did not fully destroy them. He still thought there was much to be gained by the people in Jerusalem at the time. And so, he took them over, and he began to deport those wise youth of the noble families. Okay, so foreign power takes over. Instead of going straight across the desert, the normal routes are up north, it's about 1000 miles around. So, by the time you get there, right, the entire army is ticked that they had to come and take care of these rebellious Israelites. And so, they are killing people; they're taking over; they are ransacking. They're not completely annihilated yet. This is still 605. And that's where Daniel comes in.

Look in Daniel chapter one, verse one. “In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it.” Now he already had control of the area, but he came in and he took over in a more forthright way. Verse two, “And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand.” Did you catch that? The Lord gave the king of Judah over to the king of Babylon. And the verse goes on and says they took some of the gold that was in the temple, and they carried it off, and they put it in the temple of a foreign God. God made that happen. That should tell you something about the level of disobedience of God's people at this point in history. God did this.

You don't get far into Daniel without the theme of the sovereignty of God just permeating everything. Well, Daniel was deported. Part of this meant killing all of his able-bodied family or some of them in the royal family. Look in verse three. “Then the king commanded Ashpenaz, his chief eunuch, to bring some of the people of Israel, both of the royal family and of the nobility [look down in verse six] Among these were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah of the tribe of Judah,” better known as Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. So, Daniel and his friends have to leave. I want you to just put yourself in that position--foreign army invades; your king makes bad decisions; foreign army takes over. The only surviving of the nobility here.

We have some, like Jeremiah, who survived. Some later, like Ezekiel, who survived and other prophets whom God protected, who spoke to royalty, who spoke to the kings. But most likely, Daniel’s family did not survive. They were educated for three years in Babylon, and then brought before the king. Look down in verse 17 in chapter one. “As for these four youths, God gave them learning and skill in all literature and wisdom, and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.” Three years go by. They were brought in, then they were brought in before King Nebuchadnezzar.

Now picture this. How would you be faring at this point? You're alone except for your three friends. Your family is probably killed; you're in a foreign land; nothing is the same. You didn't even have your own pillow. And we know how we get, even with small things. Like we have to travel, and you don't have your pillow, and we can't sleep, and you get cricks in your back, right, and “Oh, it's a horrible trip” because we don't have our pillow. Right? I've been there. I know that. I'm thinking the same way.

But his whole nation had been decimated. Under this circumstance, do you think you'd have the nerve to learn a foreign language? We have trouble learning a foreign language with tutors nowadays, because we want to get educated. Daniel was forced to learn, his friends were forced to learn over three years, not only the language, but the laws of the land; they had to know the laws of the land. And they had to compete for a place before the king. They had to have some kind of value. They were brought there out of the nobility. They were good looking young men, the Scripture says. They were brought there to give wisdom to the king, educated, well-educated people, to the guy who just killed your family. How is your motivation doing at this point?

Look in verse 19 of chapter one. After three years, they're brought in before the king, and in verse 19 it says, “And the king spoke with them; and among all of them none was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. Therefore they stood before the king. And in every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters that were in all his kingdom. [And then this little verse] And Daniel was there until the first year of King Cyrus.”

If you know your Old Testament, that is significant. King Cyrus was prophesied earlier in scriptures. In following through with punishing the Israelites for their disobedience, God was still compassionate to Daniel and his friends. Remember, they were there because God was following what he promised in Deuteronomy, given through Moses, Deuteronomy 28. “If you obey, I will bless you. If you don't obey, I will curse you and decimate you and send you into all kinds of foreign lands.” And he is fulfilling that promise to them now. But even under the punishment of God, Daniel and his friends were blessed.

In a sense, nothing changed for Daniel. And I want you to see that. That no matter what happens to Daniel, and we can't go through every chapter this slow, right, it would be a four-hour message and you guys would revolt. Right? But no matter what happens to Daniel, he faithfully serves God. Every year, every situation. We don't have a time in Scripture for Daniel where he rebels, where he says, “I've had enough.” He never gets to the limit where you say, “God, this is too much.” Maybe you've been there in life. Maybe you're there right now, where it just seems like, “This is too much; I can't handle it.” Observe the life of Daniel and learn, friends. His greatest strength in life was God.

And he knew Jeremiah predicted 70 years of captivity; he quotes Jeremiah later in the book of Daniel. So, he knows once this starts, it's not going to stop for at least seventy years, and he's not promised that he'll survive. He's only promised it's not going to end for at least 70 years. Friends, how long has your trial lasted? Couple days, couple of weeks. I mean, we always have the hope that “Hmm, this trial, God loves me, he's going to take me through this trial. I know it's not going to last forever,” we say, as if we can imagine anything forever, right? And Daniel, here, with the fortitude and conviction that God is King, willfully and joyfully serves. Daniel's understanding of God's sovereignty would be severely tested. And I think you and I can learn so much from his character in all of these trials.

Historically, Nebuchadnezzar was incredibly ruthless, maybe surpassed by Nero. Certainly, later armies, as a whole, would do more awful things. But he was not a nice man, an egomaniac for sure, but certainly not a nice man. And he had all the power to back it up. So, turn to chapter two. One day, the king has a dream. Remember, Daniel's just maybe 19 at this point. So, I don't know what you were doing at 19. But at 19, I think I would be sitting in a corner sucking my thumb somewhere if I was Daniel. The pressure was just overwhelming. And he has everybody painting a target on his back.

So, the king has this dream. And he calls in all the wise men, the magicians, the enchanters, the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans, Scripture says. Now “Chaldean” is a phrase for this group of astrologers. So, when you hear “Chaldean”, think astrologer, okay? Chapter two, verse three, “’I had a dream, and my spirit is troubled to know the dream.’” In other words, “Hey, wisemen. Hey, you who are great in learning, you need to tell me the meaning of my dream.” “Can you at least tell us the dream, and then we can make something up and tell you what it means.” Right? He knew, Scripture says, that they had banded together to lie to him until the times changed. He knew he had a bunch of liars before him. So, he wanted to test their power. And so, he didn't even tell them what the dream was. He just said, “You need to figure out what the dream is, and then interpret the dream for me.”

The king was told that was foolish, and no one could do that. Look in verse five. “The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, ‘The word from me is firm: if you do not make known to me the dream and it's interpretation, you shall be torn limb from limb, and your houses shall be laid in ruins.’” The egomaniac is coming out. I don't know why they would care if their houses were in ruins if they were torn limb from limb. But you know, I guess, that was an insult to injury. Daniel chapter two, verse 11, “The thing that the king asks is difficult, and no one can show it to the king except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh.”

Hmm. Did you see that? There was a glimpse of wisdom among these people who are about to be torn limb from limb. Who is the only one that can answer the king's request--God. Now they had all kinds of weird ideas about who God was. But that's why Daniel was there. Right? Because they talked to gods; they tried to bring up people from the dead and talk to them. They tried to do all kinds of magic shows and things to show that they had power but, obviously, the gods that they served weren't powerful enough to answer the king’s request. It's very interesting. The wise men knew that only the God could help them.

You see, that's exactly where God wanted them. And when you look at your trials, that could be exactly where God wants you--in a place of complete vulnerability, complete vulnerability. “Answer this impossible question for me or you’re all going to die.” Now, this is an argument from the greater to the lesser; that's a very great trial. And our trials are not quite like that. If we fail at work, your boss will just fire you. You're not torn limb from limb, and then they bulldoze your house. Right? So, this is a great trial, and our trials aren't quite that bad. But you can see that God put everyone in this foreign land in a position to see, who is the true God. That's what they needed to know. How gracious is that of God to bring forward the true God in a foreign land?

God wanted to make it explicitly clear that Yahweh was in charge, not Nebuchadnezzar, not the magician's, the sorcerer's, the enchanters, or the Chaldeans, not the gods of the land who conquered Israel. Remember, Nebuchadnezzar did serve gods, and he took the gold from Israel, from Israel's God and put it in his house. But now, over there in Babylon, those gods can't answer the king's request. It's an interesting turn of events. So, God showed Daniel the dream. And Daniel's response was nothing short of a mini theological lesson.

It begins in chapter two, verse 19. It's packed with truth about God. “Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision of the night. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven. Daniel answered and said: [verse 20, of chapter two] ‘Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, to whom belong wisdom and might. [now listen to this] He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings; [remember that on Tuesday] he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding; he reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with him. To you, O God of my fathers, I give thanks and praise, for you have given me wisdom and might, and have now made known to me what we have asked of you, for you have made known to us the king’s matter.’”

Now, let's just picture yourself, still, you're in a foreign land. What are you going to be praying? Would you be praying, “Dear Lord, please help me to help this wicked ruler”? That's what he was doing. Right? That's literally what Daniel was doing. “Help me help this guy.” And it'll save our skin, but you know, there is that. Did you hear anything from Daniel about, “Please take me out of the circumstance”? Did you hear anything about Daniel saying, “The circumstance is bad So, I must pray to a good God, because a good God wouldn't want bad things to happen to me”? That's what is preached from so many pulpits. “Today is your day.” Right? “And you can have success today. You can speak to your wallet and tell it to fill up because God loves you, and he's got a plan for your life.” And it's just like this, oh, it's just this awful, barfing of Scripture out of context.

But when you read Daniel, you don't see him focusing on himself. He brings forward the knowledge of God to the people of Earth. What if the bad circumstance is also part of God's plan? Have we considered that? What if the bad circumstance you might be in is part of God's plan? If we find ourselves praying against the bad circumstance over and over and over again, maybe we'll find ourselves praying against the very plan God has brought about. Is God still good in this situation? Daniel was not set free. God could have hid Daniel and his friends and sent them out the back way, and they could have gone further east into lands unknown. Or they could have gone up into the west, although that would have taken quite a trip to get out of the empire. But God does not remove them.

Can God be trusted in this situation? You see, Daniel loved God. And multiple times in this book, it says that Daniel is beloved. You see, God loved Daniel, as well. God was in charge, though, not Daniel. Daniel was accurate. He interpreted the dream. Even the king knew this. And yet Daniel had to stay in that empire for a very long time. And I just think I want to encourage you, that the greatest thing you can do in life is not have a peaceful ride--it's to know God through the ride. It's to be able to worship God no matter what comes.

Well, chapter two and seven are incredibly significant. In the course of predictive prophecy, there is no other book like Daniel in the Old Testament; it has many parallels to Revelation, which we won't even touch on today. But the predictive prophecies that come forward in chapter two of this great vision of this head of gold, and each part of this image that they see in the dream is another nation. And that's spelled out in chapter seven. And this predictive prophecy foretells the fall of four kingdoms. And at the end of this chapter, Daniel specifically says, “Nebuchadnezzar, you are the head of gold.” So, we know that the Babylonian Empire is specifically called out in Daniel to be the first kingdom that will then get crushed by subsequent kingdoms.

This is part of the predictive prophecy of Daniel, and yet for those who don't believe in the miraculous nature of Scripture, have to deal with. It foretells the Babylonian, the Medo-Persian, the Greece and the Roman Empires. It's specifically spelled out, as I said, in chapter seven. And it's so tempting to teach chapter seven, because it has visions of this lion, a bear with, like, things hanging out of his mouth. And then it's got a leopard with wings. And then it's got this beast that is so unlike any other animal on the earth, that it's not even described with a name like lion, bear, leopard; it's just this hideous monster with 10 horns, which later represents 10 kingdoms that will come. Chapter two in verse 44, is predictive of the coming of the Messiah.

One of our small groups recently studied through Daniel verse by verse, and I would encourage you to find those people and ask them all of your hard questions about Daniel. I'm tempted to point them out right now, but I won't. Between chapters two and three, time goes by. The vassal king over in Jerusalem continues to not play nice with the most powerful king on the planet at that time. And he's ticked, and he goes, and he utterly destroys Jerusalem in 586 BC, lays it to waste. We read about that last week in Ezekiel. All this happened while Daniel was over in Babylon. Ezekiel was also in Babylon, a contemporary of Daniel's, and Jeremiah the prophet was in Jerusalem at the time, also a contemporary of Daniel's. But God was in control of all these things. God was in control.

Then we have chapter three, the fiery furnace, and it's so tempting to just teach through each passage. But I have to give you an overview. I kind of want to dive down into this a little bit. But if you just look in chapter three, you know, old Neb makes a huge statue. Right? He is the most prideful person you could ever meet. And so, he makes this giant statue, and he throws this massive party, and 1000s of people are invited to this party. We know that because he says there are nations before him, like lots of people, not just his kingdom, but other kingdoms are all coming. “Come on in, let's all have a great party, I'm gonna feed you.” And you know, when you have food, you get big crowds. So, they brought lots of food, and everybody was coming in, and there they were. And then all of a sudden, you can just see it in his eyes. His pride comes out. And he says, “When you hear the music, bow down and worship the idol or die.” “Whoa, Neb, we were at a party. You know, they're throwing water on our big party here.” You see, they all thought they were there because they had already earned the king’s favor, and that he was just showering his wealth upon them, and they were all just supposed to have a good time.

But that's not what he was doing. They were there to worship the images. You see, he couldn't stop at just political allegiance or political alignment. He wanted God-like submission. Well, that didn't set so well with Daniel's three friends. When everybody bowed, they were the only ones not there. Daniel wasn't around. It could be that Daniel was put in place of the king’s court. So maybe he was like, you know, when both sessions of government are there, they always hide at least one so they can restart if somebody nukes it? Well, Daniel wasn't there. Maybe he was the guy that was supposed to restart if everything went bad. I don't know. But he's not there. But his three friends are there. And they're the ones standing up, and you can just picture everybody around telling them, “Bow. You know, you're going to be burnt toast here soon.” So, they were brought before the king, and they wouldn't bow.

Look in verse 16 of chapter three, “Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego [That's their new names.] answered and said to the king, ‘O, Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. [That's a bold response.] If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, [Insert your problem there where it says “burning fiery furnace,” okay.] and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.’” These guys had some fortitude. They had some conviction. Right? They were not going to back down, even momentarily. If they would have bowed, it would have all been over. And then they could later say, “Well,” right? “What do we do when we want to sin? You think God’s gonna forgive me later?” Because “Oh, God will probably forgive me later if I do this.” But they wouldn't cave. And of course, Nebuchadnezzar, his fury just exploded.

Are you worried about what earthly kings are going to do? I mean, we were all freaking out two years ago. Right? We were being told left and right what to do in worship by the government. And the whole United States, the whole world had to figure out, “What is going on?” “How are we going to deal with this?” “Where is the line?” “Does government get to say how I worship or not?” What do you think Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego thought? Does the government get to tell them how to worship? Answer? No. Maybe a little? No, not at all. Daniel, same way, not going to worship the way you want me to worship. Right? He was later thrown into a lion's den, at about age 80, by the way, because he would not bow to the king’s order. You see, I think the Bible is very current. I think the Bible is very instructional for us. And we're not to have a flippant attitude towards the government, ever. But we are not to bow to them.

Well, his fury wasn't the only thing that was burning hot, so to speak. He lit the furnace, and it became seven times hotter. And the guys who threw them in, you know, they also got consumed. And then of course, the three friends of Daniel were saved. Their hair wasn't singed; their clothes didn't even smell like smoke. And there was someone walking around in the fire with them. See, I think many times we say “God, I trust you this far.” And so, what does he do? He gives us a situation that's a little bit beyond our comfort zone, sometimes a lot beyond our comfort zone. And he says, “Well, how about this much. Do you trust me with this situation?” And what it does is it allows you and I to see the extent of our faith. Will we trust God in this situation that might not ever change? That's really the question.

If nothing changes, will you still obey God? Will you still follow him? Will you still worship him? Will you still grow in learning and understanding and prayer and contemplation and serving your fellows in the church and out of the church. Will you still serve your neighbors? Even if they have a yappy little dog that barks at night, will you still serve them? You see, we serve an amazing God that has complete dominion over every single person on the earth. And that includes you and me.

Well, as predicted in chapter two, Babylon is conquered by another nation. There’s so much in Daniel about Nebuchadnezzar and all of the things God made him do. And he's even got a personal testimony in one chapter where he says, “I find it good to explain to you the things that God of heaven has done.” And then he recounts his story of eating grass and then coming back to his senses. And he writes that as a personal testimony for the world. There are so many things that I would encourage you to go into the book of Daniel and to read about.

But one of the things it predicts is that his kingdom will be smashed and given over. Chapter five, verse 28 tells about another, a successor of Nebuchadnezzar. It’s probably the second or third successor after Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar. And here in chapter five, verse 28, there's the conclusion where this hand is writing on a wall. “Do you see the writing on the wall?” I don't know if that came from there. But this hand writes on the wall, and Daniel interprets it. And it says in verse 28, “’your kingdom is divided and given to [who?] the Medes and the Persians.’” Incredibly specific, isn't it? Incredibly specific, and any historical account will show you that's exactly what happened in history, that Babylon was conquered by the Medo-Persian Empire.

Eventually, a man named Darius would begin to rule. And we pick up here in chapter six, towards the end of Daniel's life. And it's the familiar story of Daniel in the lions’ den. As I said earlier, he was about 80 to 85 years old at this time, depending on when he was taken as a youth in 605. That determines his age here, somewhere around 80 to 85 years old. But one king after another, he had to show Yahweh is the true God. That was Daniel's privilege in life. That was his privilege in life. Other contemporaries of Daniel are Habakkuk and Zephaniah, and as I said, Jeremiah and Ezekiel, but Daniel was the one in Babylon along with Ezekiel who kept promoting the name of Christ. And we don't have time to go into Daniel in the lions’ den in the story. You know, he doesn't get eaten, right? The mouths of the lions are shut. And King Darius is easily swayed, to say the least. But Daniel comes out, and more decrees are made to serve Daniel’s God.

Now, for those of you who knew about Daniel, and know about chapter 7 through 12, you might be a little disappointed that I'm not going to go through and explain all of the prophecies in 7 through 12. It does beg the question, “Do we understand the end times well?” And I was talking with the elders the last few days, and one of them mentioned that it would be really good to do a series on the end times. And so that's what we're going to do. We're going to do it during Grace Equip. We'll let you know when it's coming. We'll go through Daniel. We’ll go through a little bit of Ezekiel, a little bit of Revelation, and we'll explain these things. You don't need to know all the details of these prophecies this morning. But just know we're going to do that in the future. And I'd encourage you to read it and get familiar with it until that time comes.

But for our time this morning, if you would, I want to just cover one last thing in Daniel. Turn to chapter nine with me, if you would. Besides being a man of unwavering conviction, Daniel was a man of prayer, a great man of prayer. After all, he had gone through, think about this, after all, he had gone through--avoiding death, time and time again. Remember, Nebuchadnezzar, “Tell me the dream or you're gonna die.” Right? “Oh, you prayed in the window so everybody could see, like you normally do. So, you're gonna die, be thrown to the lions.” He survived that too. Right? The sorcerers and all those people are constantly plotting against them. But he survived all of that.

What were his prayers filled with? With “Lord, save me from kings and lions and Chaldeans”? What would your prayers be filled with if you were Daniel? What would they look like at this point? Maybe “How long, Oh Lord, is this going to endure?” “Father, please, I don't know if I can take it anymore. I'm old. I mean, can I be any kind of an example or witness anymore?” Right? Sometimes you get north of 60 or so and you start thinking, “Oh, my time of serving the Lord is coming to a close.” But, you know, we don't see that in Daniel's life. We don't see that in Moses’ life for sure. He was 80 when things really ramped up. You know, “What are you going to do with me, God?”

What does the prayer of a faithful, trusting man of God, who's lived in captivity for 70 years look like? You don't have to wonder. It's written down in chapter nine. Look in chapter nine with me. I just want to summarize some of these things for you. Now in Jeremiah 25, verses 11 and 12, sorry for all the details, Jeremiah predicted a 70-year captivity for Babylon. So that's why Daniel never prayed for release, because he believed in Scripture that they would be there for seventy years. Jeremiah predicted that before it happened. Daniel knew the Bible, knew that would happen. And so, he finds himself believing, listen to this, all of you guys who like prophecy--he believed Jeremiah in a literal way. And that sustained him. Okay? Just leave that right there. We'll dive into that in class a little bit.

But Daniel's prayer is an amazing example for us to follow. Look in chapter nine, verse five. What is he talking about here in this verse, “We have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled”? We? We have done wrong? Daniel was wicked, acted wickedly? Daniel rebelled? Why does he include himself in these prayers? Well, because Daniel also knew that everyone was sinful. That everyone was needing the help of God to live and to act rightly, and that compared to God's righteousness, Daniel was acting wickedly, though we don't have any accounts of any sin from Daniel. And this is after confessing the great and awesome God.

I think there's many examples to our prayer lives here. But can I just encourage you to include prayers for your own sin as you talk to God. So, in other words, when you're praying, you should also include your own sins as you pray that God fixes everyone else, of course, fixes, you know, the government, your boss, and everybody else that we'd like to pray, for your neighbors, all those kinds of things, as God fixes them. Notice Daniel is praying and saying, “We have sinned, we have done wrong, we have acted wickedly, and we rebelled.” Verse nine, God is merciful and so forgiving. And he goes on and on about how they have not obeyed.

Verse 11, God keeps promises of his word. And therefore, these curses and judgments are poured out on us. Notice he says, “Just as it is written in the Law of Moses.” Daniel knew the Torah; he knew the writings. He gave himself over to that. Do you think they had copies of that in Babylon? Or did he learn these before age 16? Not really sure. But Daniel knows that all these things are coming to pass, because God is a God who keeps his word. Verse 16, Daniel's prayer is informed by Scripture. And he asked God to “turn away your wrath from your city Jerusalem”. Now notice, he's actually praying that God turns away his wrath, whereas before he didn't pray that. Why is he praying that now? Because we're at the end of 70 years, we're getting close to that point.

Verse 18, Daniel’s entire prayer, hinged on one important fact. See if you can find it. It should be the hinge of all of your prayers. “O my God, incline your ear and hear. Open your eyes and see our desolations, and the city that is called by your name. For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy.” Did you catch that? Seventy years of serving a foreign king, and Daniel thinks God is merciful. When I read things like that, I just go, “Oh, Lord, please help my little faith.” Right? Like, I mean, I'm not even seventy years old. I can't think of a trial that's lasted that long, half that long. Most great trials last maybe a couple of years. Some things we pray for our entire lives. But if you've had great trials that have lasted decade after decade, do you still think God is merciful? If you're praying for someone to be saved, and they just continue to rebel and go after their own sin, do you still say God is merciful?

Everything Daniel asks for hinged on God's mercy. Nowhere does Daniel say, “I have obeyed you, God. I have excelled in righteousness. I am more wise than everyone else. In fact, God, you made me that way, and I'm so thankful you made me so wise.” Right? Chapter one says he was found ten times better than everyone else. Right? He's not extolling his own virtues, even if they're true. He's extolling God whom he loves. Verse 19, “’O Lord, hear; O, Lord, forgive. O Lord, pay attention and act. Do not delay for your own sake, O my God, because your city and your people are called by your name.’” Daniel knew the whole story was not about Daniel, it was about God and God's name alone. Your life is not about you. It's about God and God's name alone. And if we try and take back our life and say it's all about me, then we strip God's glory from him.

Now, this is awesome. This is just a fantastic end to this prayer. I mean, what happened at the end of Daniel's prayer, there, as you're following along, but before he's even finished praying, an angel shows up with the answer to his prayers. That happens to you each time, right? Right? Gabriel shows up, ”Hey, it’s good to see you again. I’ll wait for you to pray.” No. But Gabriel shows up and tells him what's going to happen. Let me summarize what's going to happen. Verse 24, there's a time coming to, “put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, and to bring in [listen to this phrase] everlasting righteousness.” How long is the righteousness that's coming? Everlasting. That has to fit into your theological framework, as you consider the end times and the prophecies of Daniel, that it has to be, once it arrives, an everlasting righteousness.

There is coming a time when there will be no sin. There's coming a time when all sin will be put away. And this will usher in a new era, a new millennium, a new time, where Daniel says it's not going to be given over to another people. It can't be a cycle of nations, it's going to arrive, and it's never going to end. There's only one kingdom in Scripture spoken of like that, and it's in Revelation 20, which you can read this afternoon. Listen, we don't get to determine how God will use us in this life. All we get to determine is if we are going to be fully submissive to him. And that is the message of Daniel.

Let's pray. Father, God, this is such an amazing book. We didn't even touch on the seventy weeks of Daniel predicting the arrival of the Messiah in chapter two, verse 44, or anything following that. But Lord, we got to see how under a faith-less ruler, you had a faith-ful man. And that gives me courage, Lord. That gives me courage that you want us to follow you, even in times like that. Lord, we're thankful for the predictive prophecies of Daniel. Lord God, we are thankful for his witness. And right now, I would just encourage you all, let's take a moment and ask God to help us to be fully submissive to his will and his plan, just like Daniel was. Lord God, we are encouraged by your mercy. Prophecies have always encouraged people of a future hope. So many of these prophecies have already come true. And yet, there's a final restoration on the way. Lord, I pray that you would root that truth deep in our hearts and help us to live lives that bring you glory and honor. In your precious, Holy Name, Amen.