Preface: I published posts on Daniel chapter nine a few times since February of 2019. The point I was and am trying to make is that Daniel....as an old man....knowing that Israel's time of captivity in Babylon was coming to an end....because of Jeremiah's prophecy of seventy years....pleaded to God with prayer and supplications and fasting and sackcloth and ashes....laying before God the guilt of all of Israel that brought them to where they were.....and as soon as he did this...."While I was still speaking"....God sent Gabriel with a detailed prophecy....."Seventy weeks have been decreed"....on what was going to happen....over time....right up to the end. Today....there is no mortification in us as there was in Daniel's prayer....for just as with Judah and Jerusalem....we brought upon ourselves....the collapse of our beloved country. In the Billy Graham era....our pulpits did warn us of what we were becoming....but then along came Trump....and that was the end of any chance that we might repent of what we had become. The hope is still there that God might have mercy upon our pulpits....and awaken them....and thus have mercy upon us in the pews....but as of today there is no evidence that I can see that these pastors even know where their staffs and their rods might be stored. This may....and hopefully will....change in due time....as our judgments increase in severity.
Earlier....Daniel had just had a vision of a ram and a goat....and a little horn....and an angel appeared to him....identified as Gabriel....who said...."Behold, I am going to inform you of what will occur at the final period of the indignation, because it pertains to the appointed time of the end."
"A king will arise
insolent and skilled in intrigue
and his power will be mighty
but not by his own power,
And he will destroy to an
extraordinary degree,
And be successful and do as he pleases;
He will destroy mighty men
and the holy people,
And through his shrewdness
He will make deceit a success
by his influence
And he will make himself
great in his own mind,
And he will destroy many while they are at ease."
Folks....pastors....don't you think that we ought to have been studying this passage....not going over it once every few years....as we go through the Bible.....but having it brought to our attention fairly regularly? I mean....it's a pretty clear description. This was the culmination of a different vision that Daniel had....and it was so intense....that Daniel wrote that he was sick for days because of it. Don't you think that all of this might be a clue to us....at the...."appointed time of the end"....that there will be a lot of chaos and confusion at the end? Are we not in chaos and confusion right now....vexed....and at times even ill with what we see happening?
So anyway....Daniel noticed that Jeremiah had written about seventy years....and the end of the captivity. Folks....that is how God does it! In His perfect time....he reveals things....prophecies....to us....and I submit to you that the past half-century....actually a lot longer than that....has been His perfect times....and He has been revealing....as a time release capsule....what is about to happen.
So Daniel now understands that the time of captivity in Babylon is about to end....and he prays....a long prayer....beginning with...."We have sinned and done wrong....and acted wickedly and rebelled....even turning aside from Your commandments and ordinances." This isn't a....'the Democrats did it"....type of prayer....but a....we did it....I did it....prayer!
"Moreover....we have not listened to Your servants the prophets....who spoke in Your name to our kings....our leaders....our fathers....and all the people of the land." That is the Grahams and the MacArthurs and the Sprouls....and so many others.....great and small....who actually warned us.
"Open shame belongs to us....because we have sinned against You....we have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God." We have talked ourselves into believing that God has blessed us in America....that we can have our games....and our personal goals....whereas in reality we as a people and a church have set idols before us in almost every area of our lives!
"Just as it is written in the Law of Moses....all this disaster has come upon us....yet we have not sought the favor of the Lord or God by turning from our wrongdoing and giving attention to Your truth." We have not sought God in the past ten years....nor God's glory....but we sought personal glory!
America is not....nor ever has been....a Christian nation....others have mislead us in this area....but we had been a God-fearing nation....humbled at times....and chastised at times....but that is all gone....for we today have no humility....and there is no mortification in us. This prayer of Daniels concerned God's people. We as a nation are not God's people....and neither is Israel today God's people....but we believers....if we indeed be blood-bought....redeemed....born again....believers....have this messaage....this warning....and this description of the coming Antichrist....before us....every bit as much as did the returning Jews to Jerusalem and Judah!
Gabriel appeared to Daniel....as mentioned above...."While I was still speaking"....with that prophecy of the seventy weeks. There would be sixty-two plus seven weeks....sixty-nine weeks....483 days....which very clearly....the way that God's Word often does....would be 483 years. I cannot go into all of the calculations.....but if you do due diligence....and research it for yourself....you will see that....right on schedule....the Messiah would be cut off....the people would reject their Messiah. That leaves one week....seven days....or in reality.....seven years....with a betrayal in the middle of those seven years. Folks....the evidence is all over the place that this day and age in which we live....will usher in....if it hasn't already....that last week. So....let me digress for a moment....what do you think that the Steelers will do this year? The implication being....if we knew what God's Word was saying to us today....if we even slightly understood the...."signs of the times"....(Matthew 16:3)....it would be evidenced in where our passions and our interests would be. My intent in the title of this post is not to say that we cannot enjoy a sport...or a vacation....or other pleasures and pastimes in life....but to stir us to examine ourselves....for me to examine myself....as to our meaning in life....and where we have set our priorities....and to what King we are seeking to exalt?
