 Daniel's
Serious Prayer
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| Time
passed since the last chapter of Daniel happened. Now this story happens
during the time of a new king and new world power, Medo Persia. King
Darius is ruling.
Daniel was very upset about the broken sanctuary in Jerusalem. Jeremiah's prophecies stated it was time for the rebuilding of the temple. He was concerned that the behavior of the Jews would make God change his mind. He knew promises are conditional. He had been sad about the broken temple in Jerusalem since the day he was taken captive. Now at the time of this story, he had been sad for almost 70 years. He is an old man with white hair. He was studying the prophecies and knew the time was getting close for God to set them free. He prayed more than his usual 3 times a day. He asked God to forgive all the Jews for their sins. He was also upset because he did not have an understanding of what God meant in the dream of the goat and ram. He went without food and dressed in sack cloth and ashes. His prayer was written down to encourage us to pray when we see the prophecies being fulfilled. |
 Daniel
is wearing clothes that people wear after someone dies. When their heart
is full of sadness and grief, they put sack cloth on. Then they put ashes
on their head and clothes and moaned. Daniel was doing this to show God he
was needing his prayer heard really bad. |
| Daniel is not just praying, he is
studying all he can find written by prophets.
Daniel 9:1 In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, which was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans; |
 Daniel
prayed facing the old broken sanctuary in Jerusalem. He asked God to
forgive the sins of his people. Daniel knew the captivity happened because
the Hebrews had been praying to the gods of Babylon and the Canaanites.
The people had broken the Ten Commandments. Daniel was a very good man but
he told God he was a sinner too. Daniel was so sorry that he prayed for
all the people. |
  Many
old people had gone to Jerusalem and cried, wetting the broken rocks of
the sanctuary with their tears. They remembered the sweet peace they once
had in church there. They were sorry for the sins of the people in
worshiping false gods. They were all crying to God to have the sanctuary
rebuilt. |
 Daniel
was told not to be afraid. The angel told him that as soon as he started
to pray, God heard and begun to answer him. It took a long time because
the king of Persia was stubborn. An angel had been sent to the Prince of
Persia but he refused to obey for 20 days. Then Jesus (Michael) went to
help. God reassured Daniel that he was beloved of God even though he had
to wait to answer Daniel's broken hearted prayers. |
 God
hears every prayer from earth. He answers every one that is prayed by
people who are honest and love and obey Him. Sometimes the answer comes
after many years. We have to be patient. God knows the best time to give
the answer. Daniel shows us an example of praying when something is really
important. |
 Daniel
in vision looks at a man that has a white priest robe on. He also had a gold belt on.
His body was red like the rock called Beryl. His face was so bright like
lightning. His eyes looked like fire. His arms and feet were like the
color of polished brass. His voice was very strong. It was like many
voices.
The people with Daniel were frightened and ran when they heard the voice of Daniel's visitor. They did not see anything. Only Daniel did. When they ran away, they left Daniel all by himself. He felt very weak. Daniel fell to the ground and it seemed he went to sleep. |
| A hand touched
Daniel and set him on his hands and knees. This description is very much
like Revelation chapter one. There is a conflict going on between the angels of Satan
and God's angels. We must pray as did Daniel that we can be guarded by
heaven's angels. Satan's angels pretend to be kind but they have plans to
destroy all people. They even want to destroy the people on their own
team. |
 Only the power of God can hold back the evil that Satan tries to do.
He works really hard against anyone who loves to give Bible studies to the
world. We are so glad that God and His angels are the strongest team. |
 Tiberius
Caesar coins help document history which says his rule started in 12AD or
(AU 765)
Jesus was baptized in the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius which makes it 27AD. He died three and a half years later making it 31AD. Stephen was stoned for his faith in Jesus in 34AD. These dates help us understand the 70 weeks of prophecy time in the next lesson. |
1. What did Daniel dress up in to show God he was sad and wanting God to do something? 2. What did Daniel eat during this time? 3. What was Daniel studying and urging God to do? 4. How much time is 70 weeks of prophecy time? 5. How do you figure out a day for a year? 6. What year was the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem? (Ezra 6:14) 7. What year was Tiberius Cesar starting to rule? 8. Add fifteen years to that date and what year do you know Jesus was baptized? (Luke 3:1-3) 9. Jesus died on the cross three and a half years later so what date was that? 10. What year was Steven stoned? 11. These times and dates are important for helping us understand what huge time prophecy? When we see time prophecies fulfilled exactly on the day God said they would happen, doesn't it increase your faith in the rest of what He says? This is so important for the last verses of Daniel 11 and the whole chapter 12 are yet to happen in these last days of earth's history. |