Daniel 9 - God’s Messengers (notes)

Daniel 9 - God’s Messengers

Principles of Daniel

1. Daniel was a man of influence

2. Daniel understood the culture of his day but was not changed by it.

3. Daniel communicated with God and God communicated with him.

4. Daniel shaped history because God spoke through him.

5. Daniel lived a lifestyle of prayer.

6. Daniel loved God.

7. Daniel was loyal and full of integrity,

Daniel 9

Dan. 9:1 In the first year of Darius son of Xerxes (a Mede by descent), who was made ruler over the Babylonian kingdom Dan. 9:2 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.

The prophecy is found in Jeremiah 25;10-12

Daniel

Received revelation through visions and dreams and by the Word of God. This is something we have that Daniel didn’t have. He only had parts of the Old Testament we have the whole revelation of God in scripture. As far as the ability to receive revelation we have more potential than Daniel, all we need is the dedication that Daniel had.

I pray for dedicated people like Daniel to be raised up today.

What We Can Learn From History:

1. God makes the final decision on who will be the next kingdom, world ruler or nation.

2. Nations rise and fall but God’s kingdom will last forever.

3. Nations who turn to God will be protected by the hand of God while nations who don’t will suffer judgment.

4. No nation can depend on itself to become a world power, it must depend on God and when it does it will succeed.

5. God’s will will prevail, He even uses the adversary to do this.

6. History is His story, it is about Him. Man is under His authority and every nation will submit to Him.

What God Told Me

If we are never given powerful visions or dreams we have God’s Word. It is complete and inspired by the same Holy Spirit that gave Daniel the powerful prophetic visions and dreams. A great revival will sweep the earth before Jesus returns, but we must not stop teaching and preaching the Word of God.

When Jesus Was Tempted

· By the devil, Jesus only used the Word of God to fight off the attack.

· When we are attacked by the enemy, our best weapon to defeat him is the Word of God.

Daniel - Mentions other powerful tools in defeating our enemies.

1. Confession, when we confess our lack of revelation, might or ability and confess our great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant of love with all who love Him and obey His commands. (v. 4)

2. Confession of our waywardness, sins, and wrongs and those of our leaders and confession of how merciful and forgiving our God is. (v. 5-11)

3. Confession of the righteousness and justice of our God and what happens when we don’t obey Him or follow the way of His blessings. (v. 11-16)

4. Confession of the sins of our fathers, our ancestors. Sometimes we find ourselves in a difficult situation spiritually because of someone else’s sin, we are bound because of a curse in our family tree. Someone was involved in witchcraft, rebellion, the occult, adultery, addiction etc. perversion, cheating others, etc. etc. and it has affected us today. As we confess those sins and repent of how that has affected us and we are doing some of the things they did, we are set free by the power of God. (v. 11-14 Duet. 28)

5. Confession of the great miracles and great deliverance God had performed for us. (v. 15-16)

6. A petition of asking God to turn away from His wrath for our sins is made by the prophet. (v.16)

7. Prayer for revival. One of the greatest prayers a man or woman can pray is for God to revive His work, His people, His church. Daniel prays for this. (v. 17-19)

Daniel 9

· God answers Daniel by sending Gabriel the mighty messenger from the throne of God at the time of the evening sacrifice.

· Dan. 9:23 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.

The Message

1. Gabriel gives the prophet the answer. (v. 21)

2. God sends special messengers with special revelation from His heart to man’s heart. I have now come to give you insight and understanding. ( v. 22)

3. God answers as soon as we hit the mark. (v. 23)

The Interpretation

· Israel is the time piece of history.

· V. 24 talks about 70 weeks. We look at the history of the Jews to understand the timing of world history for God reveals the history of the world through the nation of Israel.

· Num. 14:34 1 day means 1 year. 490 years so the decree is 69 weeks to rebuild and restore Jerusalem until the time of the Messiah.

· The last week refers to the tribulation.

· Jesus died to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy. (Dan. 9:24) Read Ezra 1:1-4

· The decree of Cyrus to allow the Jews to return to their land (Palestine-Jerusalem) was the divine answer to Daniel’s prayer. Just as Jeremiah predicted that they would return in 70 years to rebuild Jerusalem.

Application

· Jerusalem is rebuilt according to prophecy and Jesus entered Jerusalem riding on a donkey in 434 years. The Jewish calendar is 360 days a year, in 434 years Jesus rode into Jerusalem on April 6, 32 A.D.

· Daniel 9:26 says that Jesus would die on the exact date God gave Him.

Daniel 9:27

· Talks about what the antichrist will do. In the middle of the seven years (31/2 years) he will put an end of sacrifice and kill a pig on the altar in the temple.

· If you look at the ten toes of the vision in Dan. 2 it talks about the unification of Europe. Israel has to become a nation first. This has all happened. We are living very close to the end of the church age. Jesus is coming.