Okay, morning folks. Lovely to be with you today and special welcome to those who are joining us
this morning as visitors. It's so lovely to have you with us. What a passage you have picked to
drop in on. We need God's help with this this morning. If ever there was a passage that we do
is this one. So why don't we pray and then we'll get into it together.
Heavenly Father, we think of the words of Psalm 119, that you would open our eyes to behold
marvelous things in your word. So Father, I'm so aware this morning of my inadequacy.
I'm so aware this morning, Lord, of our limited understanding. And we pray that your spirit would
come and would he illuminate these words so that we would leave this morning with a bigger
vision of Jesus and a deeper affection for him. And we pray these things in his name. Amen.
Well, if you've got the passage open in front of you, let me try and get us to the big word
that's at the heart of this chapter. And it's the words that gets us to the heart of the Christian
faith. And it's a word that I think doesn't come naturally to us in the 21st century West.
So before we moved to Edinburgh 12 years ago, we lived in a city in the south of England called
Bristol. And I remember when I first moved to Bristol, I'm a bit of an extrovert, loved to get out
there, started walking around the city to get to know the sites. These were kind of before Sat Nav was
popular, was trying to work out where everything was in the city. And I got to the middle and there
was a statue that had stood there for years of this man in Bristol called Edward Colston.
Now, he was one of the greatest contributors to the city's prosperity. And yet he was a highly
controversial figure because so much of his wealth came from his involvement in the slave trade during
the 17th and 18th century in Britain. And that's why, if you know his name, it's probably because of
the scenes that hit our news screens about four years ago. Because this volcanic outcry came against
this man from the local Bristolians that justice needed to be done. That this man needed his just
desserts for what he'd done in history. And what they did is they took his statue, they toppled it,
and they threw it in the river because this man needed to get what was coming to him.
Now, let me ask you, how did you feel in that moment as you remember those scenes?
Some people might have had questions over how it was done, but I think all of us resonated with why
it was done. And here's what I think it shows. The very fact that that phrase, just desserts,
if you Google it, it's got nothing to do with ice cream. Actually, it's all from that French word,
desiree, isn't it? Meaning to get what you deserve. The fact that that phrase has been around, I think,
since the 15th century, we're still using it today. I think it tells us something about human beings.
I think it tells us that we are hardwired for justice.
Justice, wanting justice for others comes really naturally to us. And what we're going to see,
what we thought about the last few weeks, what we're going to see right at the end of this morning
is that this God, right at the heart of his heart, is justice. But here's what Daniel 9 says to us in a
world where we can so easily want justice on others, where we are encouraged to take on the role of
judge, jury, and particularly the victim. It asks us to consider, have you ever thought of yourself as the
accused? Have you ever thought about the fact that you might be, we might be guilty? And it stems from
the fact that so often we make the wrong comparison, right? We play our own little game of comparethemarket.com
and what we do is we look horizontally when it comes to judging morality, don't we? We think, well, I'm not
as nosy as my neighbours. I think about the fact that my kids aren't as, aren't as misbe, they don't
misbehave as much as other peoples do. We think about the fact that in the office, I'm not the one
that gets up to all these crazy things. And yet the Bible would say, friends, that we make all the
wrong comparisons when we look vertically, horizontally rather. And it tells us that we need to be looking
vertically. And with that, we arrive at the difference between Christianity and every other
religious system in the world. A difference that you can sum up in two five-letter words beginning with
them. And we want something to hold on as we go through this. Grab these two words. See, in every
other religious system, how it works is the word merit. And it's intuitively how we think it should
work with any kind of God of the universe. If he does exist, that he should reward us on the basis of
what we do, of how we perform, of how much effort we put in. But you come to the pages of the Bible and
you soon discover that the word at the heart of the gospel, and it's the word that's draped right
across this chapter, if you're looking for something to hang your coat on, it's the word mercy. And
you'll notice it there. It comes five times, I think, in Daniel's prayer from right at the end,
from verses 18 to 20, sorry, 16 to 20. It's the word mercy.
Of course, Jesus tells the Pharisees, doesn't he, to stop looking at the speck that's in other
people's eyes. And I take it in a little bit of kind of first century comedy, he says, well, all the
while you've got the log in yours. And what Daniel 9 is, right at its heart, is this man Daniel, he's
owning the speck in his own heart. And he's owning the speck in the people's hearts.
And God, as he speaks about the future, here's what Daniel realizes, and I think this is what
is to be drilled down into the hearts of God's people. The only way, friends, as glorious as the
future is, that we can have a share in it, is as we seek this God for forgiveness and mercy.
Here's Australian evangelist Glenn Scrivener, I love this. He perceives this about God's people. He says,
other kingdoms would sing of their greatness, but Israel's songs were full of their faults.
So what you see is you go through the Psalms, full of their faults.
Come with me to chapter 9 in, let me give you the key to unlocking the safe that is this chapter.
And the key to it is understanding when Daniel 9 happens. Have a look at verses 1 and 2 if you've
got it there. This is the first year of Darius. Now that means we're about year 539 BC.
And that means two things for God's people. It means firstly that the Babylonian empire,
the very people who had brutally dragged them into exile in the first place, have been defeated
by the Medes and the Persians. So that's the first thing that it means for Daniel at the beginning
of chapter 9. But the second thing to see, and you get this at verse 2, is that the 70 years of exile
that Jeremiah had spoken about are almost up. So we're roughly about year 66 or 67 of those 70. And
you see how that's what Daniel perceives as he reads his Bible, as it were, that in terms of history,
it's almost time for God to take his people home. And here's what I reckon would be the real temptation
for Daniel and his contemporaries at this moment. It's to think that God is taking us home because he is
vindicating us in the eyes of the Babylonians. Because we are his special people, because he had made the
promises to us. And it's almost as if Daniel leads himself and the people in repenting and saying that the
only way we have got to share in God's future is nothing to do with our merit. And it's everything
to do with his mercy. And this chapter invites us, friends, to come to this God for forgiveness.
That's what's on offer for God's people here. As we think about the glorious future, the only way that
it's ours is if we come to the cross, come to Jesus and plead to him for forgiveness.
And so here's the two points this morning that will take us through this chapter today. Here's the
two invitations that God makes to his people. Here's the first one. And it's to take his mercy to heart.
And Daniel's a wonderful example here, isn't he, of prayer. And may God just stir in us this year
prayer. A real desire to seek him in prayer. Would that not be wonderful if this was the response
that we make to this today, amongst other things, that there was just a real desire to declare our
dependence on our God in prayer. What we get in chapter 9 may well be the template prayer that
Daniel's been praying all the way through this book, all the way through his time in Babylon,
the kind of which gets him thrown in the lion's den at chapter 6. So this may well be the prayer that
he's been praying for 70 years. Notice two things about his prayer, and it's a prayer that's
bookended, verse 3 and verse 18. Do you see it? 3 and 18.
With a plea for mercy.
Notice, firstly, this is always a great thing if you're wondering how to structure a Bible study.
Think about these two things. What does the passage tell me about me and about humanity?
And what does it tell me about God? That's what we're going to do with this prayer.
Notice, firstly, what he knows to be true about him and his people, verse 7. Just track with me,
verse 7. Daniel says,
To us belongs open shame.
We have not obeyed the voice of the Lord. In fact, verse 8,
we have sinned against you. Daniel talks in this prayer, do you see it? Verse 11,
about the curses which him and his people deserve. Now, what he's doing there
is he's telling us that he understands the exile, not politically.
He understands it theologically.
Daniel's thinking in his mind there about the covenant curses that God had said he would
bring on his people if they disobeyed him.
And that means that if Daniel perceives the problem to be a theological one,
it means that the answer is a theological one, not a political one.
Because if that's what Daniel knows to be true about him and his people,
if he's owning the speck,
do you see what Daniel knows in stark contrast to be true about his God?
Right, verse 4. Take these in. Breathe them in.
Verse 4. The great and awesome God
who keeps, and get this word,
who keeps covenant and who keeps steadfast love.
To him belongs, verse 7, righteousness.
Verse 19.
This God, it's his right to forgive.
And here's the question, maybe just a pit stop at this point.
The question to ask ourselves is,
what role does repentance play in our lives?
You know, I came down to Alex last night,
and the kids were misbehaving.
I went up, and I said,
you know what, I lost my cool.
And it just struck me.
It was like,
should that not be something that we do in our lives,
just to put our hands up as Christians and say,
I got it wrong.
And to seeking God for forgiveness,
and then seeking the kids this morning for forgiveness as well.
Friends, what role does repentance play in our lives?
When was the last time that we put our hands up and said,
I got it wrong?
And when was the last time we put our hands up and said,
will you forgive me?
Does our heart break over our sin like it does Daniel's?
You know, I always joke about my mum.
Years and years, years of raising three boys,
she has what we call in our culture asbestos fingers.
Do you know that?
She's just got this inability to be able to take things out of the oven
without wearing any gloves and not feel a thing.
And our hearts can so easily do that with our sin,
that we just become numb
to what it is doing in our lives
and how it offends our holy creator God.
Can I encourage us to embrace the fact that repentance
in the Christian life is a really healthy thing?
Because it reminds us of the one place that we can run with our sin.
Knowing that we do not need to pretend to be sorted
when we run to Jesus and run to the cross
and know what he's done to deal with our sin
and free us from the bondage of our sin.
But friends, when we grieve and when we lament over our sin,
when we call it for what it is,
when we own the speck,
how have you ever thought about the fact
that that longing,
that this just would not be true in my life,
that I wouldn't struggle with the things
that I keep struggling with,
is a little longing for the perfect world
which we were made for.
It's a longing for heaven.
When we own our sin,
and we say,
God, would you be merciful to us,
it is a longing for heaven.
When these things will not be true,
when the sin that plagues our lives
will not be a thing anymore
because Jesus will have banished it.
Here's the key thing to see.
This is the only place in the book of Daniel
over your intifacts
that the covenant name of God is used.
Covenant name of God,
capital L,
capital O,
capital R,
capital D.
This is the God who has revealed himself
as the mighty warrior.
The God who has saved his people from Exodus.
It's the name of the God who makes promises
and he keeps them.
It's the name of the God who has plans and purposes
to redeem a people and bring them to be with himself.
When Daniel pleads the name of the Lord in this prayer,
it's him saying that our only hope
is that the Lord is the Lord.
It's our only hope that the Lord is the Lord.
First invitation, friends,
is to see that God wants us to take his mercy to heart.
Second invitation that God makes to us here
is to keep his timeline in mind.
Because I think Daniel realizes
as he ends this prayer
and as he thinks about God
taking his people back to the land,
that what's going to happen
is just Groundhog Day.
You ever watch that film?
Was it Bill Murray?
I can't remember did that film called Groundhog Day.
I can't work out if the film came before the phrase
or the phrase came before the film.
But it's this thing about,
we use this phrase, don't we,
Groundhog Day,
every day is the same.
History is just going to keep repeating itself
and repeating himself
because Daniel understands
that while a change of scene
is wonderful,
the sin in our hearts
is just the same.
You know, we always talk about,
don't we, in our culture
about booking a holiday
so that we can get away from it all.
Right?
As if going on holiday
is going to help us escape our problems.
And it helps a little bit,
don't hear me wrong.
But how often have you gone on a holiday
and you've realized
that the problems in your mind
and the regrets and issues
that are still in your hearts
are still there?
Yeah?
I met a friend I had
after university
that went on a gap year
to find themselves
and then came back early
and realized,
actually,
we couldn't escape the things
that were going on in our lives.
Change of scene
isn't the answer.
What follows from verse 20
is God's answer
to Daniel's realization.
And what's going on here
is God telling Daniel
about what he's going to do
to deal with Daniel
and his people's greatest problem.
And it's God telling Daniel
about a greater home
that he's taken his people to.
And because of that,
it's God telling Daniel
about the longer road
that he's going to take
his people on.
Do you see,
this God is not just
after getting his people
back to their homeland,
as important as that is.
No, no, no.
This is about this God
and his desire
to make a way
to bring his people
back to himself.
And that's what God sends Gabriel
to tell Daniel.
Do you see,
this man who is greatly loved
by God.
And as we journey
through this section,
friends,
if you get lost,
keep coming back
to verse 24.
Because this is what God
is saying he's going to do.
Do you read the phrases there?
He's going to finish
the transgression.
He's got to put an end
to sin.
He's going to atone
for inequity.
He's going to establish
everlasting righteousness.
That's the plan.
That's what God's going to do.
And that's what the number,
I think,
if you're freaking out
at this point,
that is what the number 70,
77 is there to communicate.
This number,
number seven in the Bible,
that's always symbolic,
isn't it,
of perfection.
In fact,
you can probably go
a bit further than that
and say actually it's the number
that indicates
perfect completion
of God's rest,
of God's shalom,
of God getting his people
to enjoy eternally
his rest.
God's going to finish
this work.
And you say,
finish what?
He's going to finish
the stuff that's there
at verse 24.
Because our God
is a finisher.
He doesn't have loose ends.
He will finish things.
And I think
where we've gone wrong
in the church
over the years
is that we've read
these verses
and make no mistake,
they're some of the most
difficult to understand
in the Old Testament.
But what we've done
is we thought,
I think,
that this is God
giving us
a microscope.
And what we have done
is we've gone straight
in there for the details.
And what that's led to
is unnecessary speculation.
I think what it's led to
is division.
And ultimately,
I don't think
it's why it's there.
Because this,
God telling Daniel this,
is not to promote
speculation
in Daniel's heart
is to encourage him.
So this is not about
God giving us
the microscope
so that we can zoom in.
Actually,
this is God giving us
not the microscope
but the telescope
so that we can look
right through
down to history
where God says
he is taking his people.
And we can know
what the future holds.
And what does a telescope do?
Does it make things
smaller or bigger?
Answer.
Come on.
Not rhetorical.
What does it do?
Oh, come on.
What does it do?
Makes it bigger, right?
So this is what
God is doing here.
He's saying,
I'm going to finish it.
I'm going to finish this work
that's so much greater
than anything
you could get
your head around, Daniel.
I don't want it
to be smaller
in your mind.
I want to encourage you
that it's bigger.
It's not the microscope.
It's the telescope
that he's giving them here.
And it seems to me
that what we get here,
if you remember
that 70,
how we're to understand it,
theologically,
what we have here,
I think,
is three periods.
In other words,
this is God telling Daniel
how he's going to do this
down the line
in the future.
And we've got a seven,
we've got a 62,
and we've got a one.
Now, I'm no math genius,
but what do those
three numbers add up to?
70, yeah?
So this is God telling Daniel,
this is what I'm going to do
to bring about the completion,
to bring about the end of sin,
to bring about the fact
that I want you,
my people,
to be with me
in my presence.
70.
So this is how God
is going to complete
the work
that he's mentioned
at verse 24,
which I think is why
we need to understand
these numbers,
not literally,
but theologically.
Now, here's my stab at it,
and if you disagree
with me, friends,
I come at this
humbly and gently,
and we can thumb war it
out of the back
of the service
once we're done,
and I'm good at thumb wars,
okay?
You've got three things
in here,
and maybe this is about
God saying how
he's going to do this.
You've got these seven weeks
to see that
in verse 25,
which start with
the going out of a word.
I think that's the moment
when Cyrus,
the king of Persia,
says to God's people,
you can go home.
It's just about to happen.
Cyrus says,
you can go home.
Cyrus may well be
the anointed one
that's referred to here,
because he's referred to elsewhere
in Scripture
as the anointed one.
But as joyous a moment
as that is going to be,
as God's people are told
they can go home,
God's got greater
and he's got longer plans.
And then we get these 62 weeks,
and this is a time
when you see it,
when the temple
will be rebuilt,
and that's going to be
a wonderful,
a glorious moment
in the lives
of God's people.
You can read about that
in Ezra,
Nehemiah,
but it's going to happen
with great opposition.
Again,
that's what you'll find
as you read those books.
People around about
opposing the work
that's going on.
But as joyous a moment
as that is,
God has got greater
and he's got longer
and he's got bigger plans.
And then we get the one week
at verse 27,
and let me tell you
there are more opinions
on this than there are
on England's shocker
of a performance
the other night,
okay?
And here's my best guess,
said with humility
and respect.
May it well be the case
that verses 26 and 27
are to be read
not in a sequential manner,
but a parallel manner.
In other words,
26, 27,
they're talking about
the same things.
The same two things,
in fact.
Do you see
how what we have here,
we have this figure
called the Anointed One
who's going to appear
on the scene,
who'll be cut off,
who'll make a strong covenant
with many,
and from there
we get the second half
of the one week,
he'll make an end
to the need for sacrifice
and for offering.
And it seems to me
that that is a very good description
of the person and work of Jesus,
who died for our sin,
and who's done away
with the need
for the Old Testament sacrifices.
This second half
of the first week,
the church age
you can understand it as.
That's big thing number one,
the person and work of Jesus, right?
Big thing number two
is the destroying of Jerusalem,
the destroying of the city,
most likely the Romans
who destroy it in AD 70.
Now, why mention that?
Well, this is going to
completely rock
the lives of God's people
when this thing is destroyed
by the Romans.
But God wants his people
to know that everything
that needed to be done
to deal with our sin
has been done
by the work of this Anointed One.
And this is why
if you look back
right to the start
about God's justice,
that this is what
it is telling us about God,
that God does not just sweep
our sin under the carpet.
His mercy is not about
overlooking all the wrongs
that us, we have done
and are in the world.
Actually, the cross is the place
where Jesus bore
the full wrath of God
that we deserve on himself.
And that is why God
is both the just
and the justifier.
He is perfectly just.
Jesus bore the wrath of God
for us, friends.
That is why there's forgiveness
on offer this morning
for all the things
that we have done.
For all the things
that Daniel owns,
the open shame
that is his, friends.
Do not wallow in your shame.
Come to the cross
for forgiveness.
This is what it's telling you.
But regardless of where you are
on those weeks
and it's worth thinking
about these things,
don't run away from them.
Have a think about it.
What we need to see here
is the final thing
that God says needs to be done
to complete all this work.
Do you see verse 27?
He calls it the decreed end.
When God,
the righteous judge,
hands all authority
to the Son of Man,
this figure who we've been
thinking about
in the book of Daniel
and for whom
the finishing play
in all of history
is of this Son of Man,
banishing evil
and opposition to him
and bringing about
God's people,
being with him
in the new heavens
and in the new earth,
the place where no more death
and there's no more sin.
This is the place
where Jesus rules.
And this is the thing
that we wait for today.
God's people,
by very definition,
we are a people
who are waiting.
We are waiting
on this Son of Man
coming back
to usher in
this decreed end.
And this is all
because of his mercy.
Not because of our merit.
All because of his mercy
that he is going to bring about
the return and completion
of the 77s.
Now, just as we close,
let me help us think
about what this calls us to do
and how we should
respond to this.
You know,
a letter arrived
three days ago
in the post for Alex.
And it said,
due date
for baby number four,
the 1st of July.
Now, I'm terrible
at birthdays,
so I'm really glad
if that is the case,
it turns out to be
on the 1st of a month.
I am seeing that
as a win.
I'm not great on dates.
And yet,
every time this
has rolled around,
I'm remembered about
what it is to wait
on the next one.
Right?
And I say this,
this is the whole
pregnancy journey
and I say this with
sensitivity because I know
for many of us
this has been
a painful experience.
And we want to be a church
that speaks about these things.
Happened to us
before Chloe was born.
It's really painful.
But all of this is to say
the pregnancy journey.
What happens?
You find out
you're having a baby.
And what happens next
is you look forward
to what?
The 12-week scan.
And once you get
to the 12-week scan,
what's the next thing
on the horizon?
It's the 20-week scan.
And after the 20-week scan,
what happens to you
is you start thinking
about the day
when this is going
to be completed.
Waiting.
And the thing about waiting
is it's never
a passive thing,
is it?
It's what you do
as parents, isn't it?
It's about this thing
that we call nesting.
Right?
Get the cot,
get the changing table,
get the sous de creme,
make sure it's all in,
get the overnight bag.
We know what it is
to prepare ourselves
for the next big thing.
And it totally changes
how you wait.
It's not about
kind of waiting for a bus
and twiddling your thumbs,
refreshing your phone
to see when this bus
is going to come.
Waiting in the Bible
is always an active thing.
It's about trust,
it's about hope,
and it's about expectation.
And what God
is giving us here
is the next big thing.
The next big thing,
friends,
is for Jesus to return.
Like we've been singing about,
and bring in
this new heavens
and the new earth.
How do we respond
to his mercy?
Well, I love,
and this is where
we're going to finish,
what Paul says
in Romans 12, 1 and 2.
In view of God's mercy,
what do we do?
We offer our bodies
as living sacrifices
that are holy
and pleasing to God.
That is our true
and proper worship.
And here's Stephen McAlpine.
He's written a great book
called Future Proof.
And I read this quote recently.
I thought this is
bang on the money.
We finish with this.
He says this,
we need a deep conviction
that King Jesus
is calling us
to a holy,
patient life.
of remembrance.
A deep interest in
and commitment
to our eschatological hope,
I mean,
the future, right,
is not defined
by the end time charts
we embrace
or the prepper bunkers
we own,
but by godly lives
of hope
centered around
the total victory
that Jesus will bring
his people.
let's just finish
by corporately
praying this together.
And these are great things
that the church
have done down the ages.
Just use these prayers,
prayers of confession
and repentance,
but also of assurance
about who our God is
and what he's done.
So just thought it would be
great off the back of today
just to pray this together
and then we'll close
our service by singing.
So just on my lead,
if you want to pray this,
let's do it together.
Gracious God,
our sins
are too heavy
to carry,
too real
to hide
and too deep
to undo.
Forgive what our lips
tremble to name,
what our hearts
can no longer bear
and what has become
for us
a consuming
fire of judgment.
Free from a past
that we cannot change,
open to us
a future
in which we can
be changed
and grant us grace
to grow more
and more
in your likeness
and image
through Jesus Christ,
the light of the world.
Amen.