Daniel Unlocked #52

Daniel Unlocked #52. The Greatest Prophecy in Scripture.

I sit and pause as I begin this section of our series because we are entering Holy Ground. What we are about to encounter is THE greatest evidence for Jesus being who He claimed to be. We will also encounter, the curse of the Rabbis and the attack on this prophecy because of its significance.

The whole biography of Jesus was written in the Old Testament before He ever arrived. 300 prophecies documenting every facet of His life from Birth to Resurrection. These are the prophecies the early church appealed to when proving the Messianic nature of Jesus. Daniel 9 is the greatest of these because it makes all the other 300 prophecies date sensitive. Along with the Passover prophecy, Daniel 9 pinpoints the year, the month, the day, and the exact hour that the Messiah would be put to death. I hope you will stand in awe with me as we unfold the implications of this prophecy.

The other important thing we will glean from Daniel Chapter 9 is the starting point for the 2300-year prophecy of Daniel 8. All the pieces from the Divine jigsaw of God’s grand panorama of history will begin to fall into place. This will help us all to know where we are in the complete scheme of things revealed to us in this ancient manuscript. It was this manuscript that caused the wise men of Persia to follow the star in their quest for him who was the to be born “The King of The Jews.” As we study, remember the saying: “Wise men still seek Him.”

Daniel 9 contains one of the great prayers of the Bible.

In crucial moments of his life, Daniel resorts to prayer to cope with the challenges that lie before him. When Daniel and his colleagues are about to be killed because of the mysterious dream of a pagan king, the prophet approaches God in prayer (Daniel 2). And when a royal decree forbids petitions to any God but to the king, Daniel continues to offer his daily prayers toward Jerusalem, as he has always done (Daniel 6).

As we consider the prayer in Daniel 9, let us remember that the vision of the 2,300 evenings and mornings in Daniel 8 greatly impacts the prophet. Although the overall contours of that prophecy are explained, Daniel cannot make sense of the time period conveyed by the dialogue between the two heavenly beings: “Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed” (Dan. 8:14). It is only now, in chapter 9, that more light is given to the prophet, and this time, too, it is in response to earnest prayer.

From Daniel 9:1- 2 we learn that he had been studying the scroll of Jeremiah and the 70-year prophecy concerning Israel’s return from captivity in Babylon. (See Jer. 25:11-12; 29:10). It was 539 B.C., the year that the Persian Empire would replace Babylon. So, almost 70 years have elapsed since Nebuchadnezzar has conquered Jerusalem and destroyed the temple. Therefore, according to the prophecy of Jeremiah, God’s people will soon return to their homeland. Trusting the Word of God, Daniel knows that something momentous is about to happen to his people and that, just as God promises in His Word, the exile in Babylon shall soon end and the Jews will return to their home. From his study of the Scriptures available to him, Daniel also realizes how serious the sins of his people are. Because they have broken the covenant, they have severed their relationship with God; the inevitable consequence is, therefore, the exile as Moses had predicted (see e.g., Deut. 28-30 and Lev. 26:14–45 and notice the “ifs”, “buts” and “I wills.”) It is the study of God’s revelation that provides Daniel with an understanding of the times and that gives him a sense of urgency to plead with God on behalf of the people.

As we approach the last days of earth’s history, we need more than ever to study and live according to God’s Word. Only Scripture can provide us with an anchor and authoritative explanation of the world we live in. After all, Scripture tells the story of the great controversy between good and evil, and reveals that human history will close with the obliteration of evil and the establishment of God’s eternal kingdom. The more we study the Scriptures, the better we can understand the contemporary situation of the world and our place in it, as well as our reasons for hope amid a world that offers none.