A Time To Repent Series

In our message today, we’re going to view Daniel’s prayer of repentance for the nation of Israel. Donald S. Whitney says of prayer, that God “expects us to pray just as a general expects to hear from his soldiers in the battle” and that “prayer is a walkie-talkie for warfare, not a domestic intercom for increasing our conveniences.”(1) In our most recent message, we observed how when Daniel came under attack for his faith and moral convictions, that he responded by getting down on his knees in prayer; and though not engaged in physical confrontation, Daniel actually stood for his faith while on his knees. His first line of defense was prayer; and we will learn today how it was his resolve to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17), that actually contributed to the freedom of Israel from captivity in Babylon.

Israel Judged for Seventy Years (vv. 1-2)

1 In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the lineage of the Medes, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans – 2 in the first year of his reign – I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years specified by the word of the Lord through Jeremiah the prophet, that He would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.

In verse 2, we read how “Daniel, understood . . . by the word of the Lord through Jeremiah the prophet, that He would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.” Israel was sentenced to captivity in Babylon, because the people had lived in defiance to God’s commands; and in Jeremiah chapter 25, the prophet warned of this impending judgment, declaring, “Therefore the Lord Almighty says this: ‘Because you have not listened to My words, I will summon all the peoples of the north and My servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon,’ declares the Lord, ‘and I will bring them against this land . . . This whole country will become a desolate wasteland, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years’” (Jeremiah 25:8-9a, 11, NIV).

Israel was sentenced to judgment for seventy long years. The number seventy is a combination of the perfect numbers, seven and ten. In numerology, seven times ten “signifies perfect spiritual order carried out with all spiritual power,”(2) therefore, the captivity was truly divinely orchestrated. The number seventy also has a profound literal basis, because this number is the measure of a human life. It’s written in Psalm chapter 90, verse 10, “The days of our lives are seventy years . . . yet their boast is only labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.” The seventy-year judgment period was planned as a means of allowing an entire disobedient generation to die off; thus, when the Israelites finally returned home, the succeeding generation would be purged of their rebellion.

The good news is that there would indeed be a return to their homeland! The seventy years in Babylon was just a temporary sojourn, not a permanent appointment. In Jeremiah 29:10-11, we read this: “For thus says the Lord: ‘After seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place. For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope’.”

They Failed to Keep the Covenant (vv. 3-8)

3 Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. 4 And I prayed to the Lord my God, and made confession, and said:

“O Lord, great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and mercy with those who love Him, and with those who keep His commandments, 5 we have sinned and committed iniquity, we have done wickedly and rebelled, even by departing from Your precepts and Your judgments. 6 Neither have we heeded Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings and our princes, to our fathers and all the people of the land.”

7 “O Lord, righteousness belongs to You, but to us shame of face, as it is this day-to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, those near and those far off in all the countries to which You have driven them, because of the unfaithfulness which they have committed against You. 8 O Lord, to us belongs shame of face, to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, because we have sinned against You.”

In the opening words of Daniel’s prayer, he reflected on some key points of the covenant that God had made with Israel. His statement in verse 4 is derived from Deuteronomy 7:9-10, in which the Lord said, “Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments; and He repays those who hate Him to their face, to destroy them.” In his prayer, Daniel didn’t quote this last line; because it was already understood that the Lord extends mercy to those who keep His commandments, and that He destroys those who disobey Him. This leads me to ask an important question for the sole purpose of reflection, which is this: “How has America failed to keep the Lord’s commandments; thus, breaking covenant with God”?