A Glimpse Into Glory

By Bobby Blakey on March 24, 2019

Daniel 9

AUDIO

A Glimpse Into Glory

By Bobby Blakey on March 24, 2019

Daniel 9

This is a rush transcript.

[00:00:00] I invite you to open the Bible and turn with me to Daniel 9. And this is a woman I've been looking forward to ever since we made the decision we would go through the book of Daniel.

[00:00:12] Is this moment right now when you and I could open up to this chapter and get a glimpse into the glory of God that Daniel sees here as he has a time of getting in the word and prayer.

[00:00:26] And he is it's just overwhelming all that takes place in this chapter. After preparing to preach here today. I am overwhelmed by what God does here, and I hope that you will be overwhelmed as well. So let me pray for our time as we get into the word of God, father in heaven.

[00:00:46] Please show us your glory through this passage this morning and give us a glimpse of all that Daniel experienced in his relationship with you as he read your word, as he saw you with all of his heart in prayer, as you answered his prayer more than anything that he was asking for, anything that he could have imagined. God help us to see that we can have this same relationship with you and that we, too, can be overwhelmed.

[00:01:18] By who you are and the glory of your name. So, God, please do a mighty work among us as we read and study this chapter together this morning. In Jesus name, we come to you, father, a man.

[00:01:32] In the first year of Derrius, the son of her hazardous by descent, a Mede who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans in the first year of his reign, I danial perceived in the books the number of years that, according to the word of the Lord to Jeremiah, the prophet must pass before the end of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely seventy years. Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.

[00:02:11] So we see that Daniel here is going to go before the Lord and he's reading the scripture, and then I may, in response to what he reads, he has this prayer that he's going to pray here in this chapter.

[00:02:25] Now, this is Chapter nine. But by the heading here, by the timeline, we know that Derrius became the the king, that the Medes came and took over the Babylonians in between chapters five and six, if you want to look back there. Between chapter at the end of Chapter five, which is really the beginning of Chapter six, 531, Derrius the Mede received the kingdom being about 62 years old.

[00:02:53] So the Babylon has officially been invaded by the Medes and the Persians and Derrius is now arraigning.

[00:02:59] So that's at the time that this is happening. Chapter nine really takes place at the transition between Chapter five and six. And we know that dairy's he appointed all those same traps and the same traps, wanted to trap Daniel and take him down. And as they tried to look into his life and find out what was going on, if you look at chapter six, verse 10, what they found out about Daniel is that three times every day he went to this upper chamber with windows open towards Jerusalem and he prayed.

[00:03:31] That was the secret of Daniel's life was three times a day. He's going to the secret place and he's praying with an open window towards Jerusalem.

[00:03:40] That's what they found out about it. So that's the habit of his life. And Daniel nine is now like we get dropped into one of these times where Daniel is going to study the scripture and then that scripture is going to inspire his prayers.

[00:03:56] Go back to Chapter nine and it says what he's reading here. It says in verse two that he perceived in the books, the writings.

[00:04:07] That's a reference there to to the Old Testament scripture, as has been revealed at this time.

[00:04:14] Hey, so I don't know if Daniel is getting into the ancient scrolls here and he's looking for how long the exile in Babylon was going to last. Is this like a Bible study where he's searching the scriptures to try to find an answer? Or is this just his regular reading that he's doing through the scripture and then something just leaps off the page and smacks him in the face? I don't know which one it is. If he's trying to figure out how the exile is going to work out or if he's just reading the prophet Jeremiah and he comes across the passages where it says this is what's going to happen after 70 years of Babylon, but we can actually go and read what Daniel read here, go back to Jeremiah with me and let's look at the scripture that he reads that inspires his prayer.

[00:05:04] Turned me to Jeremiah, 25. It's page six hundred and fifty two. And remember, Jeremiah was a prophet and he was writing at the time right before and right through Jerusalem, getting invaded by King Nevison Azour. And then right when Daniel got taken as a as a young man to Babylon, that's when Jeremiah was giving this prophecy right before that time. And then lamentations that Jeremiah Wright's is during that time and here. And Jeremiah twenty five, verse eight. Therefore thus, says the Lord of hosts, because you have not obeyed my words. Behold, I will send for all the tribes of the North, declares the Lord, and for Nebeker Nasr, the King of Babylon, and mentions him by name. My servant and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants and against all these surrounding nations. I will devote them to destruction and make them a horror. Hissing and in everlasting desolation. Moreover, I will banish from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness. The voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride. The grinding of the millstones in the light of the lamp. This whole land shall become a ruin and a waste.

[00:06:28] And these nations shall serve the King of Babylon 70 years.

[00:06:33] So here it is before it ever happened. God saying you guys are not obeying me. So your land is going to become the promised land is now going to be the desolate land.

[00:06:44] Verse 12.

[00:06:45] Then after 70 years are completed, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans for their iniquity, declares the Lord, making the land an everlasting waste. I will bring upon that land upon the Babylonians. All the words that I have uttered against it. Everything written in this book which Jeremiah prophesied against all the nations.

[00:07:11] So the prophecy about Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem being vacated by King Nebeker Nasr and the land of Judah becoming desolate. That happened. But 70 years later, Babylon's going to get invaded and their lands gonna become desolate. And as Daniel is reading this right, when Derrius the ME takes over, that is now happening.

[00:07:34] So we're looking at very old man Daniel at this point. He came in around 15 years, maybe when he was brought to Babylon.

[00:07:42] This is almost 70 years later now. And here he is reading that. That after Babylon. Wow. What is God going to do?

[00:07:54] Go over to Chapter 29. Here's another prophecy about it. This is a famous passage often taken out of its context as a promise made to God's people of Israel, where here we can really understand the context of Jeremiah 29, starting in verse 10 four. Thus, says the Lord, when 70 years are completed for Babylon. And Daniel has just witnessed this. I will visit you. Think about that. Reading that from Daniel's perspective. Here he is 70 years later in Babylon and he's reading this promise where God says, I will visit you.

[00:08:29] And I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place that God's going to bring his people back to Jerusalem for, I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord plans for welfare and not for evil. To give you a future and a hope.

[00:08:46] Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

[00:08:59] I will be found by you, declares the Lord. And I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord.

[00:09:08] And I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile. Here's God making a promise that after the seventy years I'm going to bring you back. I'm going to come and visit you, if you will. Just pray to me. If you will just seek me, you will find me and I'll bring you back to this place. When Daniel hears these words, when he reads this passage, this is exactly what he is going to try to do.

[00:09:34] Now, in Daniel Chapter nine, he is going to try to come to God and pray to God and seek God with all of his heart until he finds in. We're talking about a man who is reading the scripture and who is inspired by the promise of God that he can really have a relationship with God. And if he seeks God, he will find him and God will answer him.

[00:09:59] And after 70 years, the people could go back to the promised land.

[00:10:05] So that is what he reads that inspires him if you go back to Daniel, Chapter nine.

[00:10:11] And you're going to see a man now who's going to seek God with all of his heart, like he wants to find him, like he actually believes what the Bible is saying, the scripture that God revealed through the prophet Jeremiah, that it applies directly to him. And so he's been fasting before he prays this prayer. He's put on the garb of sackcloth and ashes. He is coming before God in the position of mourning over the sins and over the desolation of the land, the sins of God's people, the judgment that has come upon him. And he is now going to come to God on behalf of the people, and he's going to pray to the Lord.

[00:10:49] Here in verse four, I prayed to the Lord, my God, and made confession, saying, Oh, Lord, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments.

[00:11:03] We have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled. Turning aside from your commandments and rules, we have not listened to your servants, the prophets who's spoken your name to our kings or princes and our fathers to all the people of the land. To you, old Lord belongs righteousness. But too was open shame.

[00:11:28] As if this day to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to all Israel, those who are near, and those who are far away, and all the lands to which you have driven them because of the treachery they have committed against you to us. O Lord belongs open shame to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against you.

[00:11:57] You can tell just by that beginning of the prayer, Daniel, as soon as he starts praying, he's operating at maximum.

[00:12:04] He is going for his start now. Oh, Lord. He's quoting how God introduced himself in Exodus 33 and 34. He's like, oh, Lord, we know who you are. You're the great and awesome God. You're a covenant keeping God. You have steadfast love. But let me tell you who we are, Father. We have sinned against you. And we deserve everything that has happened to us. Now, all of this is coming from what he read in Jeremiahs. Let's get this down four point number one. You need to develop your relationship with God through the word and prayer.

[00:12:39] These are the two things Daniel is going to have here in this chapter, an amazing mind blowing experience of the presence of God. A glimpse into the glory of God revealed to him. But the basic building blocks of how anybody has a relationship with God is God speaks to us through his word and we speak to God in prayer. So Daniel is having a time with the Lord here.

[00:13:04] That could be very similar to what you and I could go home and do later today to what we could do early Monday morning before the week begins, that we could get out the scriptures of God and that we could be inspired by the things that we read in the scripture, and we could turn and devote our hearts to the Lord in prayer.

[00:13:24] So what happens is the word of God and prayer. A lot of times Christian people, instead of seeing them as the way that we have a relationship with God, they become chores and nobody really likes doing chores.

[00:13:38] Can I get any men from anybody on that? OK.

[00:13:41] Maybe some of you are blessed with the skill of chores.

[00:13:45] I have not been given such a gift. OK.

[00:13:49] And when I when I have something to do around the house and I'm not very handy around the house and I've got to find the screwdriver and then I got to find the right head for the screwdriver, and then I got to find the head that's going to match this certain screw. And that takes me way too long to figure that out. And I'm not enjoying the fact that I'm fixing something at my house because look at this place. God has blessed us to live and look at my family that he's blessed me with. And I'm so happy to live here. I'm just frustrated with the tools. You know what I mean? I remember when I was growing up, my grandpa was this really great golfer. My dad is still to this day, an amazing golfer. And so naturally, they want to take me golfing with them. You know what golf is? It's a good walk spoiled. You know what it is? As anybody ever tried golfing before that it looks simple. It is not fun. It is a waste of your time.

[00:14:39] Just take a walk. Smell the flowers. Look at the clouds. You'll be happier at the end of the day. It costs money. It's a it takes way too long. And so I'm out here and you got this whole bag full of clubs and it's like, wow, which clubs should I hit for this shot? I have no idea. And then it's like, hey, you don't eat it like that. Choke up on that one. Hey, you got to put it more in your more back further in your stance on that kind of a lie. I don't know what I'm doing out here.

[00:15:07] That's how that's how reading the Bible and prayer is to some people in this room. It's like the tools are frustrating you. You're not enjoying the experience.

[00:15:16] This is about you having a relationship with God. This is you get to know God.

[00:15:23] If you go and spend time, he will speak to you through his word. And if you seek him with all your heart, you will find the living God. He will reveal himself to you.

[00:15:34] These are not spiritual chores that we're trying to get everybody a church to do.

[00:15:39] So you have to get good enough at reading the Bible to where you're not reading the Bible and confused by all the books in the context. And what is it saying and all this stuff in the Old Testament? What does it really all about? You know what the Old Testament is all about revealing the character of God. That's going to be manifested through his son, Jesus Christ.

[00:15:55] That's what it's about. And if you're like this is hard, this is complicated. I don't get it. Yeah, that's just a tool you've got to get skilled at so you can get past the tool to hearing who's talking to you. I don't know how to pray.

[00:16:10] I don't know what to say. I don't know. I don't know what I would do. I don't know. I feel uncomfortable about it. He's talking about it with other people. I feel like I wouldn't really want to ask somebody for help. That would be kind of embarrassing to let them know that I don't think I'm really that good at praying.

[00:16:25] No, you're talking to God. Think about the conversation you could be missing out on.

[00:16:32] By getting caught up in how do I pray and going through some kind of list or some kind of mechanism or some kind of structure and getting caught up in prayer and missing the point that right now the God of heaven will hear me.

[00:16:46] He cares about me. He wants to know me.

[00:16:50] And he promises to everybody here it's not just in Jeremiah 29. That's a promise throughout the scripture. If you draw near to God, he will draw near to you. Promise. If you see God with all your heart, you will find him. Promise.

[00:17:06] And here's a man who's been doing this now for 70 years, and he resolved from the very beginning he would not let himself get defiled by what was going on around him by the sin that was within him.

[00:17:20] He was not going to compromise with the Babylonian culture. No, he resolved before God that he was going to keep worshiping God. And here he is.

[00:17:29] And he's way past the tools at this point. It's not just reading scripture. It's not just going through prayer. Here's a man who knows God and he's having a real interaction with God. And he's coming to God, not just on his own behalf. It's not even just personal in the sense that it's just Daniel and God. No, he's coming on behalf of all the people of Israel. He's coming to represent the entire nation.

[00:17:55] Let's get that down under point number one. We've got three dashes, three themes that the Bible has in prayer that if you're going to really learn how to pray. Here's three themes that need to be included regularly in your prayer. The first one confessed, sin in the plural is get that down. Four versus four to eight there. That's the first thing we see Daniel doing as he's confessing. His sin in the plural is not even just his sin.

[00:18:19] A lot of this doesn't even seem like what Daniel has done. Here's a man who's reading the prophet who's listening to the prophet, and yet he's coming to confess that we have not listened to the prophet.

[00:18:31] He's coming on behalf of the people, one thing you might want to write down a word right under that would be intercede. That's a word we want to write down. That's a kind of prayer that we're all supposed to be engaged in, inter seed. It means to pray on behalf of someone else.

[00:18:49] See, the Bible doesn't say that. You just go pray. Me, myself, and I understand there might be times in our prayers that we express personally how we feel to God, but regularly in your prayer.

[00:19:02] You're supposed to go to God on behalf of a group of people that you identify with as we us and our.

[00:19:12] One group that you could easily identify with would be your your family or the people that you're living with. If you've got roommates right now and that group of people, you should be praying to God on behalf of everybody who lives in your household there.

[00:19:26] That's a we, us and our kind of prayer.

[00:19:29] If you're involved in a fellowship group here at the church, I definitely hope that you would pray for that group of people as you get to know them and love them and you see what their needs are. You see what their physical needs are, their spiritual needs are that you would come to God with a wee US an hour.

[00:19:46] This is this is our group. Maybe you could even pray on behalf of our entire church. That way, all of us here at Composite H.B, everybody, all three services. This is us. We need you to do this work right here in us.

[00:20:02] You could even pray on behalf of all the believers spread all over the world, our brothers and sisters being persecuted in other nations right now. And we can lift them up. We can even pray on behalf of our nation. America, as we see the sin of America ever present before our eyes. We could come and we could confess those sins to God on behalf of our fellow Americans. He's coming and he's praying on behalf of Israel, on behalf of all of God's people, not just for himself, in fact, he's owning up to sins and he's confessing them to God. Sins that we don't even have a record of Daniel himself doing. But he's coming on behalf of the people. And he's saying the open shame, all that has happened, he's 70 years of exile. This is what we deserve. Because this is what we asked for when we did not listen to you, when we did not obey you. This is what we should have. He's owning up to the sin.

[00:21:03] Of God's people. And he's he's just he's laying out his heart here to the Lord, pick it up with me in verse nine and now it might seem like he's repeating some things, but notice what he starts to do here in verse nine. He says to the Lord, our God belong mercy and forgiveness. Notice what he's saying. He's saying God was right to judge them, but he's appealing from the beginning. He's appealing to God based on his covenant, steadfast love. Now he's bringing up mercy. Don't give us what we deserve forgiveness. Wipe the slate clean. He's bringing up these things. To the Lord, our God belong, mercy and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against him and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord, our God, by walking in his laws, which he set before us, by his servants, the prophets, all Israel has transgressed your law and turned aside, refusing to obey your voice.

[00:22:00] And the curse and oath that are written in the law of Moses, the servant of God, have been poured out upon us because we have sinned against him. He has confirmed his words. Got all that's happening is exactly what you said would happen. He has confirmed his words, which he spoke against us and against our rulers who ruled us by bringing upon us a great calamity for under the whole heaven, there has not been done anything like what has been done against Jerusalem as it is written in the law of Moses. All this calamity has come upon us, yet we have not entreated the favor of the Lord, our God, turning from our iniquities, gaining inside by your truth.

[00:22:44] Therefore, the Lord is kept ready to calamity and has brought us upon it, brought it upon us for the Lord, our God, his righteous, and all the works that He has done. And we have not obeyed his voice.

[00:22:58] See, in the second part of the prayer, what the point that Daniel is making is, hey, this is exactly what you said was gonna happen to us. You said it all the way back in the law of Moses.

[00:23:07] You said it again through your prophets as they were warning us, like Jeremiah, you told us you were so clear that if we didn't listen to your voice and we disobeyed your commands, we would suffer the consequences of our sin. He even told them specifically you could write down Deuteronomy 28 if you want to.

[00:23:26] When it says The Law of Moses, they're two times and verse eleven and verse 13.

[00:23:32] And Deuteronomy 28 vividly describes that if God's people don't obey his commands and they don't listen to him, that they one of the things that would happen to them as they would be exiled, they would be driven out of the land, the land would become desolate and they would be ruled by other nations, which is exactly what happened to them, exactly what God said.

[00:23:53] See, the second thing we see in Daniel's prayer here, your second dash there versus nine to 14, believe God's word applies. Believe God's word applies.

[00:24:04] One of the things that we see in the great prayers is that they bring up God's word back up to him. They believe that what God has said is happening and it's going to apply right there to to their own situation that they find themselves in. You're just doing the oath that you promised you would do. We're just seeing the curse that you said would happen if we disobeyed you. This is what you said would you would do. Now your doing it. That's all. Prayers are based on scripture. The the things that you're reading every day in the Bible. That's what fuels your prayers.

[00:24:39] When God tells you he's going to do something, you better believe he's going to do it. If God promises to do something, you pray and you ask him to do it and you have confidence that he'll do it because he said he was going to do it. God, you told us that if we did not obey, we would have these consequences. Here we are. You're right to do because you're just doing what you said. You're right to do this.

[00:25:00] And you said this would happen to us.

[00:25:02] So one of the things that profits do a lot of times when you think about prophecy, the part that people really pay attention to is when the prophets talk about the future and what's going to happen in the future. But that's not all that prophecy is. One of the things that biblical prophets always do is they take the word of God from the past and they apply it to the present situation. And so he's taken the law of Moses, Deuteronomy 28. He's taken the words of Jeremiah and he's applying them to what the people of God are experiencing right now. If you want to do some modern day prophecy, write this down next to Deuteronomy 28. Right down, Romans one. You want to do some prophecy in your own prayer time here. OK. Deuteronomy 28. That was a promise to Israel. Exactly what happened. You go read Romans one, start in verse 18 and go down through the end of the chapter. Then open up your your child's American history textbook. And you tell me that what happened there, enrollment's one isn't exactly what we're experiencing in America today.

[00:26:04] So you just take the word of God and you apply it to your present situation and you believe that what God says, see this this is really going to help a lot of us in our prayer.

[00:26:14] You don't know what to say. Find a promise of God in scripture and ask him to do what he said. That'll give you confidence as your brand. And that'll be a prayer that God will answer, because God will always be true to his word.

[00:26:27] He is faithful. He always does what he says he's going to do.

[00:26:32] Can I get a man from anybody on this?

[00:26:34] We have all the promises of God, the revealed will of God right here. He has let us know everything he wants us to do in life. It's all here. We just need to pray.

[00:26:46] But the promises of scripture inspire your prayers, believe that what God has said is going to happen in your life. And pray about.

[00:26:56] He's come in and confessing his sin in the plural. He's quoting the law of Moses, showing how it has happened. And then we get to the climax here in verse fifteen. And now, o Lord, our God, who brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand going back to how God delivered them, how God saved them and have made a name for yourself as it this day. We have sinned.

[00:27:19] We have done wickedly. Oh, Lord. According to all your righteous acts, let your anger and your wrath turn away from your city, Jerusalem, your holy hill.

[00:27:31] Because for our sins and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and your people have become a byword among all who are around us now. Therefore, oh, our God listened to the prayer of your servant and to his pleas for mercy. And for your own sake, O Lord, make your face to shine upon your sanctuary, which is desolate. Oh, my God. Incline your ear in here. Open your eyes and see our desolations. And the city that is called by your name for we do not present our please before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy.

[00:28:12] O Lord. Here. O Lord, forgive. O Lord, pay attention and act delay. Not for your own sake. Oh my God. Because your city and your people are called by your name.

[00:28:27] He's a god to us, belong open shame to us. We're just getting what we deserved, what you said, what was going to happen. But now see how he flips it right here. But what about your name?

[00:28:39] God. What about your reputation?

[00:28:42] What about your glory being known when you delivered us about the nations, when you delivered us out of Egypt? We were the talk of the nations. All the nations were like. Did you hear what happened to the Israelites? Have you heard of slaves just leaving their masters behind? Did you hear how the Egyptian army was swallowed up in the sea? I mean, everybody knew the fear of God's people was spreading across the land as they approached the promised land. Like people knew that they had a mighty God over the nation of Israel. But now their land is desolate. Now their temple is desecrated. Now their people are scattered and exiled.

[00:29:19] And he says, God, people don't know your glory anymore.

[00:29:23] OK, we're like a byword all people see now is our shame. And they don't see your glory. But it's your people. It's your city. It's your holy hill. It's your sanctuary. God, you got to do something. Your name is on the line for your name. Say God. We need you to glorify yourself.

[00:29:44] So he's appealing to God's glory. That's the passion that's driving his prayer. Daniel has been in Babylon now for 70 years. He is an old man. He's 80 something years old when he prays this prayer. He's not going back to the promised land. He's not making a journey back to Jerusalem.

[00:30:07] He knows he doesn't think at this point. I think he probably knows he's not going back.

[00:30:14] So he's not asking for himself. See, this is the kind of prayer. It's way beyond himself. He's coming on behalf of other people. But even more than just his his fellow Israelites, just God's people know what he really cares about is God's reputation on planet Earth. God's name being known among the nations, all the other nations. They don't take us seriously anymore. Or more importantly, they don't take you seriously anymore.

[00:30:38] You got to do something about. God, you need to hear me. You need to see the desolation and you need to act. The third dash, their appeal to God for your namesake. That's our appeal to God. We want God's name to be known. God's name is everything that he is. It's all of his attributes. It's his character.

[00:31:01] So when we pray for God's name to be known, when you pray in Jesus name, what you're saying is everything that I'm saying in this prayer is consistent with the character of God.

[00:31:11] You're asking God to act because you are merciful. Please don't give us what we deserve. We deserve to be desolate. But because you're merciful, don't give us what we deserve. And because you're glorious, because your name is mighty over the nations, because you do reign over planet Earth, will you please bring your people back and rebuild the city and get the temple worship going again so that everyone will see what an amazing God you are? We want your name to be how low? That's what Jesus taught us to pray. The first thing Jesus said that all of his disciples should we should pray for is that God's name would be lifted high and set apart, that even the people who don't want to join us here at church would have to admit that God is here at church doing a mighty work among us.

[00:31:57] That's what we're supposed to be praying for, that God would be known in our day right here where we live. That the name of God would be glorified and magnified. And everybody would have to admit there is a mighty God with those people. That's what we're supposed to be praying for. That's the fuel. If you don't have a passion to pray, it's probably because you don't have a passion for the glory of God to be made known, because that's the main thing that we pray for.

[00:32:27] Are you tired of people mocking God?

[00:32:29] Are you tired of Americans every day, all day, denying God his glory? You can do something about it.

[00:32:37] You can talk to God and you can say God. Enough is enough. Reveal yourself. Make yourself known. Show these haters who you are. Make the skeptics believers. That's the kind of thing we're supposed to be praying. And Daniel, I mean, he he's served God faithfully. The Babylonians now the means and the Persians. God keeps using him to reveal mysteries. He's got this excellent spirit. But you start to feel it here at the end of his prayer. He's tired of what the other nations are saying about his God. He's tired of being a byword among the nations. And he wants everybody to know how awesome his God is. He zealous for the glory of God. And what we're seeing here, these three things that Daniel kind of does, Backwords, you might say these are the ABC is of prayer that we've talked about before here at our church. This is the basic pattern of how Jesus taught us to pray.

[00:33:38] You start by appealing to God's glory, to God's name. You start with God's request. Your is the main word there. Then you ask for God's will to be done. You bring up the scripture. You start praying the promises of scripture. Your prayers are inspired by what God says he's going to do. You're just asking him to do what he's already said he's gonna do. And then you pray in the plural and you don't just pray on your own behalf. You pray on behalf of many people as you bring them up to God and you confess their sins and you own up to things on behalf of other people. This is the pattern that we're taught to pray by Jesus in the New Testament and here hundreds of years earlier. Here's Daniel doing the same three things. You've got to keep practicing how to pray. These three ways until it just flows.

[00:34:27] Until you can just pray for God's glory. Until you know, scriptures that are promises that you bring up, asking God to do, until you can really see, hey, what are the sins here in America? What are the sins here at this church? What do we need to come to God for? And how can I pray to him on behalf of this whole group of people?

[00:34:47] We've got to learn how to pray this way. This is the biblical pattern of prayer. And this is the kind of prayer that God is for sure going to answer.

[00:34:59] And he does answer it. It's amazing, Daniel. He. He was just going for it, hoping that God would send the people back to Jerusalem. That's that was his. That was his thing. God, could you send us back? Can we rebuild the city? Can we worship you in the temple again?

[00:35:16] Can we renew what we already had? He's thinking, how cool would it be if we could just get back to where we were? And God, San Daniel, I hear your prayer and I'm ready to do way more than you could ask or imagine.

[00:35:28] I see your prayer on this level, Daniel. And I'm gonna answer you on this slow. Look what happens in verse 20. While I was speaking and praying and confessing my sin. Now here's Daniel describing confessing my sin and the sin of my people, Israel. We saw that presenting my plea before the Lord, his plea based on scripture, before the Lord, my God for the Holy Hill of my God. Based on a zeal for the glory of God's name.

[00:35:53] While I was speaking in prayer, the man, Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the first, came to me in swift flight at the time of the evening. Sacrifice. How would you like that?

[00:36:04] You're reading the word your print. Boom. Angel Gabriel shows up.

[00:36:09] Oh, you rang. Daniel, I've got an answer for you. That's pretty nice.

[00:36:14] Now, just remember, over in Chapter eight, if you want to look at it and you're in a verse 16, and I heard a man's voice between the banks of the July and it called Gabriel, make this man understand the vision. So he came there where I stood. This is the first time he met the Angel Gabriel. And when he came, I was frightened and fell on my face.

[00:36:35] I had this overwhelming experience in the presence of one of God's mighty angels there when Gabriel came to him.

[00:36:41] But now here's Gabriel coming again. Now, he's not as freaked out because he knows who Gabriel is this time. And here he's coming. God sends an angel. And the answer to Daniel's prayer.

[00:36:55] Verse 22, he made me understand, speaking with me and saying, oh, Daniel, I have now come out to give you insight and understanding at the beginning of your pleas for mercy.

[00:37:06] A word went out as soon as you started Brain. It was answered and I was sent. I actually have an answer back from heaven.

[00:37:17] And I have come to tell it to you. For you are greatly loved. Therefore, consider the word and understand the vision.

[00:37:29] See what's going on here. This is more than just Daniel reading something and then praying something. There is a real relationship going on here. Daniel really loves God. He really wants God to get the glory and the father in heaven. Hearing Daniel's prayer, he sends an angel to tell Daniel you are greatly loved.

[00:37:53] We're talking about intimacy here.

[00:37:55] We're talking about a man who is down on his hands and knees pouring out his heart to God. And what is in his heart is the glory of God. And God wants that man to know. I love you, Daniel.

[00:38:09] And he sends an angel to tell him how greatly loved he is. That's one of the first things he says. I have come to tell you some things, and you are greatly loved in angels. See, angels have always been right with God. There are fallen angels that we referred to as demons, and then there are angels.

[00:38:26] And ever since they were created, they've always been right with their creator. So they don't understand how sinners like us can have a relationship with the father in heaven. So, Gabriel, his perspective is this love just always being in a holy presence of God. Ever since he's been created, he's like, wow, you are greatly loved.

[00:38:49] That's amazing that God's going to hear the prayer of a man like you. On behalf of a people like this. And he's going to answer it.

[00:38:58] So there's an intimacy going on here. There's an intimacy between Daniel's soul and the spirit of our father in heaven. There's a love connection between God and Daniel. Now, I know intimacy is not an Orange County kind of word. All right. We would like to keep our distance around here. You know what I'm saying?

[00:39:20] But I want to talk about intimacy. I want to talk about a real relationship where your soul is pouring itself out to God and God fills you up. God satisfies you. Your cup overflows like, you know, the love of God in your soul.

[00:39:39] You know that God is with you. You experience his presence. You have a real meeting with God. And as an impact on.

[00:39:49] I mean, think about the most intimate relationships that we can have as human beings. Think about two people who just got married going on their honeymoon together. Ready to be intimate together and know each other in a way they've never known each other before. Think about how how precious that is.

[00:40:08] I mean, appeal to all the parents, to all the all the dads and all the moms. Hey, when your kid comes out of the bath and their smell and so fresh and so clean and you're going to help dry them off and you're going to tickle them and you're going to kiss them.

[00:40:22] And they love it and they laugh. I'm talking about intimacy.

[00:40:27] That's where you can experience. Not in a physical way, in a spiritual way. Between you and your father in heaven who loves you as one of his kids, that is the greatest love that you will ever know.

[00:40:40] It's between you and the father. It's better than any other relationship that we can have, it's more than natural physical, it's supernatural. It's spiritual. You are greatly loved. And you can be reminded of it every single time that you go in to the father's presence, even when you refer to him as your father.

[00:41:03] It reminds you that he adopted you just because he loved you to be one of his kids.

[00:41:11] And that's the message that Daniel gets from heaven. Point number two. Let's get it down like this. Desire the intimacy of God's presence. Desire the intimacy of God's presence. And if you seek for God with all your heart, you will find it. That is the truth.

[00:41:32] And if you feel like why go and I read my Bible and I pray and I don't get these intimate experiences of love with the father.

[00:41:39] Well, I just got to ask you a question. How long have you really stuck with it? How long have you really been trying?

[00:41:47] See, there's a line here that we just kind of it goes right over our heads. It does. It just seems like a reference we don't relate to. Do you see it there at the end of verse 21 as Daniel's writing about his experience here of Angel Gabriel coming to him to tell him he's greatly loved by God? He says that the angel came to me in swift flight at the time of the evening. Sacrifice.

[00:42:09] Now, in the Old Testament, in the nation of Israel, there were morning sacrifices and there were evening sacrifices where they would swap slaughter, a lamb, the bloodshed of a lamb to atone for the sins of God's people.

[00:42:26] But there's no temple right now, it's been desecrated. There's no city right now, the walls have been torn down.

[00:42:32] The land of Israel has been desolate for 70 years. There has been no evening sacrifice for 70 years. And that's still how this man is referring to the time of day.

[00:42:50] Do you see the level of commitment this man at? Do you see that the time of the evening sacrifice, which no one's been doing for decades? That's still how he's thinking about the day.

[00:43:02] That's the time that he's devoting himself to prayer.

[00:43:05] The time that the lamb would be shed in the scene would be a tone for when the people could come to the presence of God, to worship God, to pray to God. He's still thinking about that time. Seventy years later, we live in such a microwave mentality that such a drive through culture. I want it right now. Can I go have this experience? Amazing experience with God. This very afternoon. Well, if you haven't read the Bible and prayed and really developed this relationship with God, you may not experience amazing intimacy. Just going and doing something real quick.

[00:43:37] You know what it's going to require to have a relationship with God.

[00:43:39] It's going to require discipline. It's going to require self-control. It's going to require early mornings and late nights.

[00:43:49] What does everybody say about marriage after they've been married for a while? What do they say? Marriage is its work. They say.

[00:43:57] You got to do things you don't always just feel the love. Hey, how about those kids? Are you always feeling the love with those kids?

[00:44:04] Or do you love them so you keep working, you keep investing, you keep spending that quality time, you bear with them when they're having a hard time. How much are you really sticking to time with God as a regular part of your schedule? Maybe you're not feeling the love because you're not making that time a priority or that time is not quality between you and God.

[00:44:29] I mean, if you just if you just text the people you love. If you just call the people you love, but you never get face to face time that relationship. It's not going to be as close and as intimate. Are you spending quality time with your father in heaven? Do you have a secret place and the time that you go there and you really are in his presence?

[00:44:49] That's what it's gonna take. To really experience the presence of God, you're going to have to spend some time there. Are you really committed to it or do you try it for a minute? Don't really feel like you're getting something out of it and then give up on. Are you actually giving up on your relationship with God? We got to really desire it.

[00:45:09] We got along for it. We got to keep going back. Looking for more of it. And if you see God with all your heart, you will find him.

[00:45:20] That is the promise here.

[00:45:21] There is great intimacy that will satisfy every longing of your soul. It's there between you and the father in the secret place. You got to go there and get it.

[00:45:32] You got to go there and seek the Lord with all your heart. Now the angel goes on to give now a prophecy here of 70 weeks in verse 24. It's 70 weeks are decreed about your people. Let me just read through this prophecy here, starting in verse 24. Seventy weeks are decreed about your people in your holy city to finish the transgression, to put an end, to sin, to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal bold vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place.

[00:46:07] No. Therefore, I understand that from the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one. A prince.

[00:46:16] There shall be seven weeks then for 62 weeks. It shall be built again with squares and moat, but in a troubled time. And after the sixty two weeks and anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing. And the people of the Prince who is to come, shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall come with a flood. Into the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed, and he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week and for half of the week. He shall put an end to sacrifice and offering, and on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate until the decreed end is poured out on the deciliter.

[00:46:57] Now, this is what Daniel nine is most famous for, is what happens here in the last four verses. This 70 weeks prophecy now really and what Daniel nine we've seen is about is the 70 years of Babylon are coming to an end.

[00:47:13] And Daniel is realizing that. And he's praying that God will will send the people back to Jerusalem so they can rebuild the city. They can rebuild the sanctuary. And God can get the glory that he deserves. But then God, the answer that he gives here.

[00:47:30] I mean, it's so much more than what Daniel was expecting.

[00:47:34] I mean, look at those words again and look at how this is an amazing an example of answered prayer. How God really does answer Daniel more than what he was asking for. Look at this list of things after all this confession of sin. And we have opened shame and we need your mercy. Look what he says here.

[00:47:53] We're going to to put an end to sin, to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal bold vision and prophet, to anoint a most holy place. I mean, does that sound like above and beyond what Daniel was asking for?

[00:48:10] He was hoping God would forgive the people for what they'd done before and bring them back to Jerusalem. How would you like sin to be done? How would you like that? How would you like an atonement being made that things could be right with God and his people? How would you like ever lasting righteousness?

[00:48:28] What if we actually could seal up this vision to seal you up for all of eternity? What if there was a holy place where God and his people could dwell? And he could be worshiped uninterrupted forever?

[00:48:40] That's the answer we got coming back. You want to go back to Jerusalem? Let me tell you what's really going on.

[00:48:47] Let me tell you what my plan is.

[00:48:49] And then he says this. This timeline that he lays out here. It starts if you look your verse 25. It starts from the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem. That's what Daniel was looking for, the people getting sent back.

[00:49:03] Well, from that moment when the people get sent back to Jerusalem all the way to the coming of an anointed one.

[00:49:13] So Daniel's a got. Will you please send the people back to Jerusalem for your namesake, for your glory and God's like a not only will I send the people back to Jerusalem. All send the Messiah to save my people, to save all the people. All sent the holy and anointed one. We know him as the Christ guy.

[00:49:33] That's that's what he says right here. This is one of the places, if you've heard that Jesus is the the Christ, which that's the Greek way to say it, the Hebrew way in the Old Testament to say is the Messiah. I mean, that's the first part of the gospel message. You got to know who Jesus is.

[00:49:48] And Jesus is the holy and anointed one sent from God to save us so that we could be God's people. Jesus is the Messiah.

[00:49:56] That's what it says right here. OK. So when people talk about, well, the Messiah is coming or the Messiah has come. Here's one of the references to the Messiah right here. Daniel Night. You want to go back to Jerusalem? Well, I'm going to give you a messiah.

[00:50:11] Can you imagine that?

[00:50:13] MacDaniels trying to pray and get over this little hill. And then when he looks on the other side, he just sees sin done away with and righteousness. And here comes in, anointed one from God to save the people, the prince, the prophet, priest and king that Israel has longed for in here. Daniel, in answer to his prayer, has an angel revealing to him in 70 weeks will come the anointed one.

[00:50:39] I mean, that's that's just amazing.

[00:50:42] And that, I believe, is the experience that all of us will have if we devote ourselves to the word and prayer. And we really see God, what we will find is so much more than we ever thought possible. Well, we will find in the presence of God will exceed all of our expectations. You want to go back to Jerusalem? I'm giving you the Messiah, the anointed.

[00:51:07] This is this is a reference of that everlasting righteousness, sin being done. This is what he's going to bring for all people.

[00:51:18] That's an amazing prophecy. Now, here's the problem with prophecy is everybody wants to figure out the timeline. Everybody wants to figure out what's going to happen in the future. And they completely missed the point that the father just said to Daniel, I'm going to send Jesus and he's gonna save everyone.

[00:51:38] And they're like, oh, that's nice. When's it going to happen? How does it all work out? Give me can you explain the 70 weeks? OK, well, let me just tell you, I can't explain the 70 ways. I don't think you can explain the 70 weeks either. And if you think you can explain the 70 weeks, I think you should broadly rethink that thought.

[00:51:57] So the way the word it's not even really weeks, that's just how we put it in English. It's Sevan's is really what the word means. You might want to write that down if you're taking notes. Weeks is really Sevan's, because here's what we got.

[00:52:09] We got to kind of step down off our high horse here for a moment, off our chronological snobbery, our far Bible prophecy, pride that some of us who've been in the church for a while, you don't know what I'm talking about.

[00:52:20] Praise God and keep it that way. All right.

[00:52:23] But if you're one of those people who hears a passage like this and the fact that Daniel's pouring out his heart and prayer and the fact that God's telling him is greatly loved and the fact that God saying I'm going to send the Messiah, you're like, yeah, that's all nice. But can you explain the timeline to me? You've got a problem if that's the way you think.

[00:52:38] I'm just telling you how it is.

[00:52:40] And if you think you can understand the timeline, it's incredibly difficult to understand. First is, we'd all have to learn Hebrew. That would be the first step to understand the time, because we don't even understand the words that they're using seeing in the Hebrew mindset. We're talking about an ancient culture here, a culture that we can't relate to. We might have a hard time relating to cultures around the world today. Now throw on thousands of years ago on it. All right. And they had this culture where they thought in terms of Sevan's, they broke down their years in terms of Sevan's.

[00:53:11] That's how God set it up, that every seven years, the seventh year was to be a Sabbath year to give the land rest. And after seven Sevan's after forty nine years, there would be a fiftieth year, a year of Jubilee where everyone would celebrate and give the land rest.

[00:53:26] This is a whole way that they fought. So when it says 70 weeks, we're like, well, what does that mean? But to them it's just like seventy sevens. Four hundred and ninety years they would have had an understanding of some of these things. That's hard for us to understand. So Bible scholars, people who have spent their lives studying the Hebrew language and emphasizing on the Old Testament.

[00:53:49] If we win and read three or four of them, we would see three or four different thoughts about what is happening here in these verses.

[00:53:57] So the fact that you and I are going to show up here and then just a few minutes on a Sunday morning and answer it once for all time, that's just a little bit proud of us to think that way, OK?

[00:54:06] Because Hebrew Bible scholars are all kind of thinking they don't even know how to translate it. Exactly. For example, if you see here, it breaks the 70 weeks into seven weeks. Sixty two weeks. And then there's one hanging week. And it says if you look then at the end of verse 25, it shall be built again with squares and Moate. But in a troubled time now, even the translators, the men who are studying the Hebrew and putting it into English, there's disagreement is that the squares and the mold, the walls kind of being rebuilt of the city in a troubled time. Is that about the seven weeks or is that about the sixty two weeks? ESV puts it attached to the sixty two weeks? Other Hebrew scholars would say no, I think it's attached to the seven weeks. So there's gonna be forty nine years and then there's going to be 60 to 70, which is four hundred and thirty four years.

[00:55:02] That's, that's what it's gonna be. There's gonna be 483 years. And some of it's going to be a very troubled time.

[00:55:10] OK, so that's what it's hard to break this down, because really what you've got to get into is you've got to get into the fact that they had lunar years, which only had 360 days.

[00:55:21] So you'd have to go study the lunar moons. You'd have to go figure out the ancient years. You'd have to know the Hebrew months. You'd have to start operating on the Jewish calendar. And then you'd have to figure out what you're really was Jesus born. Was it actually zero or was he born a little bit before that? And you'd have to get into that whole debate to make this countdown work.

[00:55:40] So we're not going to get into all of that here this morning. All right. It can we can I get any man from anybody on that? Have I confused anybody yet? Are you lost? OK.

[00:55:50] OK, but but here's the thing, this countdown of 483 years. And then there's this hanging week at the end is hanging seven years, which is often referred to as the tribulation period. And at one point, we're talking about the anointed one as the prince who's coming. But then that anointed one is cut off. And he has nothing. And then there's a different prince that rises up here in the last couple verses. And so this is what we've seen in all the prophecies. And Daniel. We've seen the timeline of the nation's Babylon Medo Persia. Who comes after them? The Greeks with Alexander the Great. And then who comes after them? The Romans. OK, well, someone is going to rise up from the Romans. Now, nobody really knows how that's going to work. There's going to be 10 nations coming off the Romans. And out of them comes this one horn of the Antichrist. And and nobody really understands how that's all going to play out. But it seems pretty clear that there is an Antichrist and there is a tribulation of seven years.

[00:56:50] And so we see part of this prophecy fulfilled when the Romans, after the Jews reject Jesus Christ and the anointed one is cut off. He is killed. He is not accepted as the king. We see the Romans wipe out the Jews in 70 A.D..

[00:57:05] And I was I've been there, I've been to the last Jewish stronghold of Masada, which was their fortress out in the middle of the desert. And that is one of the most desolate places you will ever see where the Romans wiped out the Jews.

[00:57:18] I mean, that's that's what it says it's going to happen. That's what happens.

[00:57:22] And then there's this. The seven years that is still coming in the future with the Antichrist and the abomination of desolation. And how's it all going to work out in a lot of people? You have your secret prosthetic theories of how we're going to get to the Antichrist. And as we're talking about this chapter, this this week, it might be good if your secret prosthetic theories stay secret. That might be helpful to everybody else around you.

[00:57:46] All right. That's not what this is about. OK. Don't get caught up in the timeline, because let me tell you what actually happened in the timeline.

[00:57:54] Go with me to Nehemiah, chapter one. And it's back a ways here in our in our Old Testament, Nehemiah. Chapter one.

[00:58:01] I need everybody to turn here with me, Nehemiah one gang, because in the Old Testament, the way that the Jews arranged the books of the Old Testament in the Tanach, they broke them into three sections, the law, the first five books, the prophets, and then they had the writings. Daniel is actually one of the last books of the Old Testament, according to the way the Jews broke it down. And right after Daniel comes Ozora and Nehemiah, which makes a lot of sense because Daniel's friend, that the people will go back to Jerusalem and Ezra, Nehemiah, are the story of how they go back to Jerusalem. Now, this is how complicated this all gets. OK. Because when do you start the timeline? Do you start it when Gabriel says that to Daniel or then Zo rubble? When Cyrus says the people can go back and Ezra Chapter one. So Roberval takes people back later on and Ezra seven as takes people back. And then here in Nehemiah wanted to Nehemiah takes people back. So which one do you begin the timeline to see? It's very complicated to even figure out. When we start the countdown of 483 years now, I think the strongest argument is Nehemiah is when you start the countdown, let's read why the words of Nehemiah, the son of Haak, Aliah.

[00:59:17] Now, what happened in the month of Chislett and the 20th year as I was in Suza the Citadel, that Hanna nine, one of my brothers, came with certain men from Judah. And I asked them concerning the Jews who escaped, all those who have already gone back in the book of Ezra, who had survived the exile and concerning Jerusalem. What's happening in Jerusalem? What's going on? Our people are back in the land. What's happening?

[00:59:43] And they said to me, the remnant there in the province who had survived the exile is in great trouble and shame. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down and its gates are destroyed by fire.

[00:59:56] Now, Nehemiah. He takes this news very hard. Verse four, as soon as I heard these words, I sat down and wept and mourned for days. And I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven. So when Daniel came before God.

[01:00:11] The people were at open shame. Now that Nehemiah gets the report from the first people who've gone back to Jerusalem, where are we still at this day?

[01:00:19] Open shame. So I don't think the timeline has yet begun. The walls are not yet being rebuilt in a troubled time. And so look what Nehemiah does. Please notice this verse five.

[01:00:30] And I said, now watch what he prays. Oh, Lord God of Heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments. Is this starting to sound familiar to anybody?

[01:00:44] Let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before you. Day and night for the people of Israel, your servants confessing the sins of the people of Israel, which we have sinned against you. Even I in my father's house of sin, we have acted very corruptly against you and have not kept the commandments, the statutes and the rules that you commanded. Your servant Moses. Remember the word that you commanded your servant Moses saying if you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the peoples. But if you return to me and keep my covenants and do them though your out though your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven. From there I will gather them and bring them to the place that I have chosen to make my name.

[01:01:30] Well, there they are, your servants and your people whom you have redeemed by your great power and by your strong hand.

[01:01:39] Oh Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant and to the prayer of your servants who delight to fear your name and give success to your servant today and grant him mercy in the sight of this man. Now I was cut bare to the king.

[01:01:55] Guy, let me go talk to the king.

[01:01:57] And what happens here in Chapter two, our desert seas sends Nehemiah back to Jerusalem with permission to rebuild the walls. And I believe that when Arta Xerxes sends Nehemiah out, that is the word going forth to restore and build Jerusalem. This is when the count of 483 years begins. And what does it begin in response to another prayer? Does that prayer sound almost exactly the same as what we just read in Daniel Night?

[01:02:28] Can I get name? Yeah, we are. What was that, a huh or was that a yes?

[01:02:32] Cause we're gonna all go pray this way. Every fellowship group is gonna go pray this way. We're gonna go challenge you to go pray this way. There's a certain pattern that we see in prayer in the Bible that we need to learn in our own lives.

[01:02:44] He's confessing the sins in the plural. He's quoting the servant Moses. He's saying, you got to do this because they're your people and it's your power and it's your glory.

[01:02:54] Same exact thought. You know what happens exactly? 483 years.

[01:03:00] And I can't prove to you that it's exactly four hundred ninety three years because we don't have enough time right now. But if you really want to dove like nerdy deep into the timeline, read the book, the coming prints on the back of the handout and he'll explain all the lunar calendar, the Jewish calendar, what year Christ was born. He'll get into it with you. But you know what? The consensus among scholars is that if you go 483 years from Nehemiah Chapter two and you go all the way through on the countdown, you will get to the moment when Jesus Christ comes riding in on a donkey. And they they put the palm branches down on the ground and they shout, Hosanna! God save us. Now, here's the king who comes in the name of the Lord, 483 years from Nehemiah to to Palm Sunday.

[01:03:46] And here's the thing, the people who know the timeline really would have mattered to.

[01:03:52] The Jewish people that God sent back and he said, hey, I'll do you better than Jerusalem. I'll send you the anointed one, the Messiah, who they had 483 years to get ready for when Jesus rode in on a donkey. They rejected him. But the religious leaders, the Jews who knew the Bible better than anybody, who knew the Old Testament, who knew the 70 week prophecy of Daniel. They completely missed the Messiah when he was right in front of their face. Hey, you can know a lot about the Bible and you can completely miss the point. I see it happen all of the time.

[01:04:26] People who know all about God, but they don't know God.

[01:04:30] Number three, let's get it down like this. Don't miss the point of missile. Don't miss the point. Jesus came to save your soul so you could enter into a right relationship with God. So your sin could be done. Could be a tone for so that you could have everlasting righteousness. That's what the Messiah is all about. And unfortunately, when the king came 483 years later.

[01:04:57] He was rejected. He was killed. He was cut off and he had nothing as fulfilled the prophecy. And so it's amazing how people know so much about the Bible, but they don't grow close to God in a personal relationship. They could tell you what's in the Bible, but they don't go pray in God's presence. I just want to encourage you. The whole point of this is that he would be our God and we would be his people. It's all made possible because of Jesus. And the whole point is that you can have a relationship with God and worship him with all of your soul. That's why we're here. And I hope you're leaving here today run into the secret place. I hope you're going. And if I could just be in God's presence and get a little glimpse of his glory. What's the point of knowing how the world's going to end or what's going to happen in the future if you're not walking in the presence of God?

[01:05:52] Right now, you're missing the point of today. Worried about tomorrow. The point of today is that we would enjoy God and glorify him forever. That is why we are here. Please don't miss the point of why the Messiah came, that you can read the scripture, that you can pray and you can get a glimpse into the very glory of God. Let me pray. Father in heaven, we come before you and we're just in on.

[01:06:20] We're in of the head of the promises.

[01:06:24] How you had it so planned out after 70 years, medo Persia comes in and takes over Babylon. The prophecy of a Jeremiah. About 70 years that Daniel reads that inspires him to pray. And you send an angel to tell him how love ideas, and he's so zealous for your glory and for your name, Father. And then. After the 70 years are up, you give him a seventy sevens prophecy. Counting down.

[01:06:54] From the moment the word goes out all the way to the coming of the anointed one. Got it. It's just so sad to see so many people miss the point of the Messiah. Even the people who were there that day when he rode in, they knew what King was among them. Later that week they shouted, crucify him and they killed him. They rejected him as the messiah. Father, I pray that we wouldn't be people who just know about the Bible. We just know about Jesus Christ, who know about the anointed one. We study the prophecies. We study the scripture. We like hearing more from the word. We like learning new things.

[01:07:32] We fill our head with the information. But we don't draw near to you. We don't come into your presence.

[01:07:42] God, just help us to see our hypocrisy. I want to know all about God, but then when it comes time to spend time with you in this secret place, we don't go there. And we prioritize our entertainment. And we pursue pleasure somewhere other than your presence. When we know your presence is the only place that could satisfy our soul.

[01:08:05] So, Father, I just want to come to you on behalf of all of us here at CompassHB HP, and I want to confess that you are such a good, good father to love us in the way that you do. And so often we take it for granted. And God, I pray that you will do a mighty work among your people for your name sake, that you would put it on the hearts of your people here in this church to pray to you in a way like we have never prayed before to seek you with all of our hearts until we find you to long for the intimacy of your presence and to desire to spend more time with you. God put it on our hearts to be people like Daniel and Nehemiah who go before you and pray. And Father, we pray that you will hear us in heaven. And that you will answer us. But God, let it be for your name, for your glory. Do such a mighty work that people even who don't go to this church, you just know about that. They would have to know that you are here in our midst, that you are moving among your people and that we really are seeking you. Because you are a mighty God. Now, we can't just hear this word today, we need to do this word. And we ask that you would do it in our hearts, that you would put on our hearts a passion to pray for your glory to be known in our world today.

[01:09:23] We pray this in Jesus name. Amen.

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