Looking For Restoration

Looking for Restoration.

Jeremiah 25:8

Therefore the LORD Almighty says this: "Because you have not listened to

my words,

9: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 and its inhabitants and against all the surrounding nations. I will

completely destroy them and make them an object of horror and scorn, and

an everlasting ruin.

10:I will banish from them the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of

bride and bridegroom, the sound of millstones and the light of the lamp.

This is Jeremiah’s message to the people of Judah. Years of sin and ignoring Gods prophets, has led him to have to subject them to punishment They don’t listen to Jeremiah, and they seal their own fate. Jerusalem is taken, the temple is destroyed and the people are led into exile. The book of Daniel is written during this period of exile. Daniel, a young intelligent man at the time the exile begins, is whisked off to serve at the Royal Court.

Daniel, in many ways is a predecessor to Jesus. He refuses to sin by eating anything unclean showing complete faithfulness. Those around him become jealous of his success and try to accuse him. Not able to find anything wrong in his life, they make out that his faithfulness to God is in direct defiance of his dedication to the king. The ruler reluctantly sentences him to death. God spares Daniel’s life and because of Daniel’s faithfulness, even unto death, his enemies are condemned, and people of all nations and languages are brought to fear God. These are just some of the many parallels between his live and Jesus’.

Many Jewish scholars don’t rate Daniel among the major prophets, because he lived in luxury, unlike people like Jeremiah, and because he wrote the book away from the promised land. The truth is they ignore him, because he points to Jesus being the messiah probably more than any other book. Daniel suffered for his faith and proved he Had a heart after gods own. because even while he lived in relative luxury, his overpowering desire was to see Jerusalem and the Temple rebuilt. Daniel never forgot his roots.

I want to look at how Daniel came to see his desire for Jerusalem fulfilled. I want to pick the book up at Daniel chapter 9.

Daniel 9:1

In the first year of Darius son of Xerxes (a Mede by descent), who was made

ruler over the Babylonian kingdom -

2: in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures,

according to the word of the LORD given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the

desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years.

3:So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition.

in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes.

4:I prayed to the LORD my God and confessed; "O Lord, the great and

awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with all who love him and

obey his commands.

5:we have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked and have rebelled;

we have turned away from your commands and laws.

6: We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your

name to our kings, our princes and our fathers, and to all the people of the

land...

(Daniel continues his prayers of repentance.)

21:while I was still in prayer. Gabriel, the man I had seen in the earlier vision, came to me in swift flight about the lime of the evening sacrifice.

22:He instructed me and said to me. "Daniel, I have now come to give you insight and understanding.

23:As soon as you began to pray, an answer was given, which I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed. Therefore, consider the message and understand the vision:

This chapter is written at the end of Israel’s captivity. I am not sure who Darius is, as Babylonian record of their kings are not brilliant. Some scholars suggest that it might be another name for Cyrus the Persian or that he is a ruler under him. Either way, the death of his predecessor spelt out the end of Babylonian rule. By this time Daniel and his fellow exiles had been away from Jerusalem for seventy years and it must have felt like they would never again call Jerusalem their home. Here we see in verse 21 that God sent his angel Gabriel, to answer his prayer. But why? What made Daniel so special? How did he manage to get his answer?

1: A Godly desire.

Throughout this book we can see that Daniel is a man of vision. Here we can see that he has a desire to see his city restored. He has a burden for it. With all the privileges afforded to Daniel in his position, and all the temptations that must have been all around him, it is amazing that his desire is to see a ruined city restored. Daniel however isn’t interested in bricks and mortar, it is the relationship with God that he is most concerned with. Daniel is able to ignore what is going on around him and fix his eyes on what is most important. Until we can do this, then we can’t expect God to answer our prayers.