Revelation Six - When The Four Horsemen Ride
Daniel 9 is maybe the most important chapter in the Bible, for it lays down the timing of the coming of our Lord and Savior - and His sacrifice upon the Cross. And maybe that is why it is one of the most fought-over passages. Part of the problem lies in bad translations and a poor command of Hebrew. Another comes from well-meaning pronouncements by good brothers in Christ that were in error, mistakes that would be used by others to create even greater errors. The vast majority of these errors were honest attempts at the truth. So, let's make an honest attempt at getting Daniel 9 right. In the first two verses, Daniel describes how he had been reading the Book of Jeremiah and discovers that God had decreed that Jerusalem would be desolate for 70 years.
As old as Daniel is at this point, it should be clear that it took a while for this book to get into his hands. Jeremiah would not have finished his prophecies until the remnant of Judah had fled to Egypt. And, it would have been Baruch ben Neriah who would have been responsible for making as many copies of this book as possible, while trying to get them into the hands of Israelis in exile. So, it's logical that it would have taken time for a copy of the Book of Jeremiah to get into the hands of Daniel. When he gets to the shocking news of how long Jerusalem will be desolate, Daniel immediately begins to fast and pray in sackcloth and ashes, confessing his sins and the sins of the people. He begs God to turn His righteous anger away from Israel and Judah and the exiles that He has scattered across the face of the earth. Daniel begs for mercy for Jerusalem and the Temple that has been destroyed, and he asks the Lord that He would turn away his wrath for His own name's sake. This passage, from verse three to verse nineteen, is heartbreaking. You can feel the anguish that afflicts Daniel, for his people and for Jerusalem. He is devastated and begs with all his heart for mercy from God, even though he knows that such mercy is completely undeserved. My own heart resonates with the grief that Daniel feels. I, like many others, have earnestly prayed that God would save Israel, and bring her people back from their idolatry. We are heartbroken that every Jew that dies without faith in Christ, goes to an eternity of torment. And, when any Jew suffers, we suffer with them. But as we see in the next section, God sends His angel to comfort Daniel with more than just the rebuilding of Jerusalem, but the coming of Messiah. FULL LONG ARTICLE AT: https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/7794359027023561253/6772882772779070155 |
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