Grounded By God Series

Grounded by God

Book of Daniel Series

April 16, 2025

Scripture: Daniel Chapter 9 (Part 1)

Introduction:

It’s nice when the opening introduction to a sermon is something that we call can relate to- the subject of being grounded.

How many parents here have grounded their children?

How many people here have been grounded by their parents?

When my mom grounded me, it wasn’t that bad. She didn’t remove my books or most of my toys, so me playing alone in my room was no big deal to me. Usually, the next day she would relent and release me from my grounding and go back to being an 80’s kid

However, when I lived with my dad and he grounded me to my room, he made me take everything out of my room except my bible and my school work, and that was it. I needed permission to leave my room to use the bathroom, and I was stuck in that room for entire time- not one minute of reprieve was ever given.

We all share a Father in heaven, and that Father falls in the middle of those two extremes. He will relent in his punishment when He sees honest repentance. Jonah and Nineveh is a great example of this.

However, there are other times when HE will really drop the hammer and make you serve out the entire sentence.

This is what Daniel and his fellow Hebrews in Babylon and now Medo-Persia are experiencing. God has in essence grounded them from living in their land for a very specific time, and as we will see in a moment, Daniel, through reading the scriptures, is realizing that this time is almost up, and it drives him to prayer for his people.

That’s where we are going to start out in our study of Daniel Chapter 9-

Daniel 9:1-2

Dan 9:1-3 In the first year of Darius, the son of Ahasuerus, a Mede by birth, who was made king over the Chaldean kingdom?—? (2) in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the books according to the word of the LORD to the prophet Jeremiah that the number of years for the desolation of Jerusalem would be seventy.

Prayer

This morning we are going to start by looking into how Daniel chapter 9 this fits in the prophetic timeline by looking at the prophesy side of this chapter, and in two weeks when I speak again, look at Daniel’s intercessory prayer.

So we are going to look first at the end of the chapter to see exactly why God chose to keep the Hebrew People out of the Holy Land for 70 years.

We will begin by looking at exactly what Daniel was reading in Jeremiah-

I. The Prophetic Timeline

Daniel was most likely reading from Jeremiah 29 that the Hebrew’s would remain in captivity for 70 years

Why 70 years? What is the significance of 70 years?

Remember that prior to the exile, both the nations of Judah and Israel were in deep, deep sin-almost to the level of Sodom and Gomorrah. This was the time that Jeremiah was speaking to in his prophecies.

This blatant rebellion and refusal to listen to the prophets and turn from their wickedness finally caused God to act by allowing foreign nations to conquer them and take them out of the promised land.

Israel was taken to Assyria, and Judah to Babylon which eventually conquered Assyria also.

The survivors of Babylon’s conquest of the Holy Land were carried off to live in Babylon.

These people that were exiled were a mess

They watched family and friends be killed, many of them lived through the siege of Jerusalem which lasted over 3 years. These survivors of that siege lived through hell on earth because of their refusal to repent and turn from their wickedness.

They were starving to death, scared, and had no hope for their future.

Yet even during this punishment, God is gracious to them and instructs Jeremiah to send them the following message.

Jer 29:4-13 This is what the LORD of Armies, the God of Israel, says to all the exiles I deported from Jerusalem to Babylon: (5) “Build houses and live in them. Plant gardens and eat their produce. (6) Find wives for yourselves, and have sons and daughters. Find wives for your sons and give your daughters to men in marriage so that they may bear sons and daughters. Multiply there; do not decrease. (7) Pursue the well-being of the city I have deported you to. Pray to the LORD on its behalf, for when it thrives, you will thrive.”

Verse 10

(10) For this is what the LORD says: “When seventy years for Babylon are complete, I will attend to you and will confirm my promise concerning you to restore you to this place.