Singing the Songs of the Lord in a Strange Land February 13, 2005
Daniel 9:20-27
This Is Bigger Than You Think!
If you were here last week, you remember the context of Daniel 9. The people of Israel had never truly served only God. God had given them generation upon generation to turn from their wicked ways and serve him – he sent prophets and Holy people to teach them to return to God, but they never did. Finally, as we see in Daniel 1, God gives them over to their enemies and Nebuchadnezzar carries them off, out of the Promised Land and into captivity in Babylon.
In the beginning of Chapter 9, Daniel is in his 80s, and he is reading from the prophet of Jeremiah about how the desolation of Jerusalem would last 70 years. This would mean that Israel’s salvation was close at hand. This news drives Daniel to his knees and he confesses the sin of his people. He proclaims that God is right in his judgment of Israel, and that Israel was in the wrong. He pleads for mercy from God, not because of Israel’s new-found righteousness, but because he is a merciful God, and his name would be glorified in this great act of mercy.
I believe that Daniel’s prayer of repentance steps into the process of God’s plan to bring the people back to Jerusalem. God has already brought Cyrus in to defeat the Babylonians, and it will be Cyrus that gives the decree to return the exiles and rebuild Jerusalem.
The Appearance of Gabriel
Gabriel the Archangel shows up while Daniel is still praying – he says that he has come because Daniel is highly esteemed – not because he is highly esteemed in Babylon, but because God love him so much. This is another reason that we need to see Daniel as a model – even God esteems him!
Gabriel says that he’s come to explain things to Daniel. And this is what he says …
Read Daniel 9 20-27
Oh, now things are so much clearer!
His Message
Daniel is trying to understand Jeremiah’s prophecy that Jerusalem will be desolate for 70 years. He realizes that this time is coming up soon, and he is trying to understand it. Gabriel stretches his view. Daniel is looking as God’s plans over 70 years, Gabriel says that God’s plan for Jerusalem stretches over 70 weeks of years (a phrase similar to “a month of Sundays”). So, instead of 70 years, Gabriel is setting Daniel’s sights on roughly 490 years.
Even that number needs to be taken loosely – numbers are symbolic more than exactly chronological in apocalyptic literature. Remember when Peter comes to Jesus and says “how many times do I need to forgive my brother? Seven times?” Jesus says, “no, seven times seventy times!” By this we don’t take him to mean that we can count up to 490 times and on the 491st time we can whack them. Jesus is using the numbers to say just keep forgiving just as God keeps on forgiving you.
In Biblical times, the number 7 was seen as a perfect number. So by using the phrase seventy sevens, Gabriel was saying “In God’s perfect time” along with the idea of 490 years. It is a little like when my children ask me how much longer to get to the cabin, and I say “a really long time.”
What is going to happen in the 70 weeks of years?
Six things
1. Finish transgression
2. End sin
3. Atone for wickedness – these three really describe repentance – to stop doing wrong and make up for all the wrong that you did in the past
4. Bring in everlasting righteousness – while the first thee deal with stopping doing wrong, #4 deals with doing the good.
5. Seal vision and prophesy – not end vision and prophesy, by place a seal on it to say that it is approved!
6. Anoint the most holy – or the coming of the anointed one – the Messiah
This description could be saying that it is going to take longer to restore the people of Israel. The city might begin it’s restoration in the 70 years, it is going to take about 490 to restore the people of Israel so that they truly serve God.
It is hard for Christians to see these points and not think of Jesus.
Jesus put an end to sin in his life: he was the first and only person to live a sinless life, and through his death and resurrection, he gives us the power to put sin to death in our lives.
Romans 6:3-7
All of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death. We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin– because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.
Revelation 1:6
To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father–to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.
Atone
The word “atone” is not commonly used today, but it simply means doing what it takes to put two warring parties “at one.” To atone for sins, or wrongs committed is to make restitution or payment for those wrongs, thus get the relationship back to good. The New Testament describes Jesus as the one who does this for all time.
Romans 3:21-26
But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. … He did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
Jesus brings in an everlasting righteousness, because when we place our lives in his care, we are united with him by the Holy Spirit, and his righteousness becomes ours!
Romans 5:17-19
For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.
Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.
This not the only time that Jesus fulfills prophecy, He fulfills so much prophecy in great detail that it would be difficult not to accept him as the foretold Messiah! Jesus is the seal that shows that God’s prophets are true.
Of course, we believe that Jesus is the anointed one – at God at the Pub on Monday someone asked the simple question “what does ‘Christ’ mean?” “Is it Jesus’ last name? Was Mary ‘Mary Christ?’” The answer is that “Christ” is Greek for anointed one, just as “Messiah” is Hebrew for anointed one.
The rest of Gabriel’s explanation of the future is more difficult.
Gabriel divides us the 70 “sevens”
Into 3 periods – first 7 sevens, then 62 sevens, then 1 seven
In the first two periods, Jerusalem is restored
In beginning of the last week of years the anointed one shows up, but then is cut off, a bad ruler comes and destroys the city and the temple, he puts an end to ritual sacrifice in the temple and in the end sets up a sacrilegious abomination in the temple, then his end comes.
People have tried to figure this one out for a long time
A guy named Antiochus Epiphanes fits the bad ruler pretty well – he came to Jerusalem in about 175 B.C. and had the anointed high priest killed. He tried to make the Jewish people accept the Greek culture and religion as their own, so he put an end to the ritual sacrifices made to God, and at one point he erected an idol of Zeus in the temple. This was too much for the people and they revolted under the leadership of the Maccabees (Scottish Jews?) and routed Antiochus’ forces winning independence for Israel for a time before the Romans. Jewish people celebrate this victory today at Hanukah. Antiochus doesn’t destroy the city though and if you want to be literalistic with the numbers, it is hard to make them match up.
Later, in about 70 AD, the Roman General Titus comes and destroys the city and the temple. – some people like to see him as the bad ruler, but there are real difficulties with him as well.
Jesus actually alludes to this passage and others like it in Daniel in Matthew 24. This is during Jesus last week before the cross – he is in Jerusalem and saying many things that offend the religious rulers
This might not be much clearer to you than Gabriel’s message! Let the reader understand what?
Even without figuring out the details, Jesus gives us some good lessons about the future.
1. Don’t be deceived
a. By false Messiahs
b. By false date makers – the time is hidden even from Jesus, why do we think we can figure it out?
2. We are not saved from troubles, we should expect them
3. Jesus will return! The end is good
4. Stay prepared, doing the will of the Lord.
What Jesus does, and what Gabriel hints at is that this prophecy applies not just to Daniel’s time, and the next 490 years, but also to the end of time. Which is at least 2000 years more than the 490, since we are still here!
While I thought that it important to look into the meaning of these things as best we can, I also think it is important to see how to apply this to our lives right now. We need to see how this passage teaches us to “sing the songs of the Lord in a strange land.” When we ask the question “How does Daniel teach us to live in this world of work, school and family?” The thing that strikes me most is that the song is bigger than we think.
While our prayers, like Daniels might deal with the here and now, God has the big picture in view. Even if we have a lot of foresight and are praying about the next 70 years for our nation, Gods view includes 70 times seven years, and even all of eternity.
If Daniel had to have his shortsighted vision corrected to include 500 years and all of eternity, then, we do as well. We are very focused on ourselves and our own time. It isn’t too surprising that the people who try to put a date on Jesus return always seem to place that date in their own lifetime – no one seems to figure that he’ll return august 3rd, 2207!
What this prophesy and others like it do is to give us God’s perspective, which is much bigger and longer than ours.
I mentioned Brian McLaren’s book “A Generous Orthodoxy” last week. The chapter after “Would Jesus Be a Christian” is titled, “Jesus, Savior of What?” In this chapter he argues that while Jesus did come to save us as individuals, we in the west have placed such a strong emphasis on personal salvation that we have lost sight of the big picture – that Jesus is the savior of the world.
This is what he says:
“I used to believe that Jesus’ primary focus was on saving me as an individual and on saving other “me’s” as individuals. For that reason I often spoke of Jesus as my “personal Savior,” and I urged others to believe in Jesus in the same way. I still believe that Jesus is vitally interested in saving me and you by individually judging us, by forgiving us of our wrongs, and teaching us to live in a better way. But I fear that for too many Christians, “personal salvation” has become another personal consumer product (like personal computers, a personal journal, personal time, etc.) and Christianity has become its marketing program. If so salvation is “all about me,” and … I think we need another song. …
… Through the years, as I read the Bible and pondered the meaning and message of Jesus, and as I learned the ways of Jesus through spiritual practice, I became less and less comfortable being restricted to the “personal Savior” gospel. More and more I shifted my reasoning for being a Christian to a belief that Jesus is the savior of the world.”
Jesus’ salvation is bigger than individuals – he is the savior of all creation. God’s plan is bigger than our next decision at work, home or school; his plan takes into account all of eternity!
The amazing thin is that God doesn’t ignore the 70 year prophesy for the sake of the 490 year prophesy, nor did he ignore the 490 year prophesy for the 2000+ year prophesy. God is at work in all of these times.
God still saves the individual – he doesn’t ignore us for the sake of nations, nor does he ignore nations as he works out his plan of redemption for the whole of creation. In fact God will use the salvation of an individual to save a nation, he’ll use the salvation of a nation to redeem all of creation. He will even use his plan for the redemption of all of creation to save an individual!
We need this eternal view – in a world of quarterly reports, or stockholders who are forever saying “what have you done for me lately?” We need to know that we have a God who works in the now, the near future, and the distant future.
It keeps us humble – “It’s not about you.” – Rick Warren
It keeps us hopeful
It gives us an eternal plan to step into.
Our God is the God of all ages.
Do you want to step into his plan?
