Daniel 9:15-19; Grounds for Prayer ~ 20220814 ~ Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org
08/14_Daniel 09:15-19; Grounds for Prayer; Audio available at: http://www.ephraimbible.org/Sermons/20220814_dan09_15-19.mp3
Daniel is praying and we get to listen in on his prayer. We get to learn from someone so devoted to prayer that he would rather be thrown to lions than give up his time with God. Today we get to look at the grounds or basis of his prayer, the foundation of arguing his case with God.
His prayer grew out of meditation on Scripture, it is saturated throughout with Scripture. Daniel knew his Scriptures. He approached God primarily for God’s sake; not primarily to get things from God, but to get God, God himself. He was in pursuit of relationship with God, so he turned his face to the Lord God. He came to God as God, the sovereign, the self-existent, the one in control of all things. He reminded himself in tangible ways that God was more to be desired than food, than clothing, even than life itself. He came with the appropriate posture, confessing his sins and the sins of his people; not making excuses or seeking to justify himself, but rather agreeing with God that God is righteous and just and he and his people are getting what they justly deserve. In verses 15-17 he finally gets down to his requests in prayer; they are twofold. Negatively, he asks that God’s anger and wrath be turned away from his people. Positively, he asks that the favor of God, the face of God turn toward his people. Lord, make your face to shine again on your people.
The Argument of Prayer
In verses 17-19 he gets to the why of his prayer. Why should God be merciful and gracious instead of displaying his righteous wrath and anger? Prayer can take the form of an argument. It is like a lawyer presenting his case, seeking to persuade the judge to rule in his favor.
Job says:
Job 13:3 But I would speak to the Almighty, and I desire to argue my case with God. ... 6 Hear now my argument and listen to the pleadings of my lips. ... 15 Though he slay me, I will hope in him; yet I will argue my ways to his face
We hear this courtroom language in prayer; Job desires to argue his case before the Lord.
And in Isaiah, YHWH says:
Isaiah 1:18 “Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.
God invites us to the courtroom to reason together, to present our cases. In Isaiah 43 he says:
Isaiah 43:25 “I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins. 26 Put me in remembrance; let us argue together; set forth your case, that you may be proved right.
In Genesis 18, God invites Abraham into his confidence, reveals to him what he plans to do in Sodom, and invites him to be an advocate for the city where his nephew Lot is living. Abraham argues on the basis of the character of God, that it would not be just to destroy the righteous with the wicked. So he asks God to spare the city if he finds 50 righteous people there. God agrees to spare Sodom if 50 righteous people are found there. But what if five righteous are missing from the 50? God will spare the city for the sake of 45, then 40 then 30, then 20, then 10. Abraham is arguing his case with the Lord in prayer.
Struggling in Prayer [ἀγωνίζομαι]
The Bible even talks in language of wrestling or struggling in prayer. Paul in Colossians 1 says:
Colossians 1:28 Him [Christ] we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. 29 For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me. 2:1 For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, 2 that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ,
Listen to what Paul says; he is speaking to the churches in Colossae and Laodicea, places he had not been, people he had not met, and he says that he is toiling and struggling for them to be mature, encouraged, unified, and confident in the gospel. How is he struggling on their behalf? We could say by writing this letter. But more probably he is referring to struggling on their behalf in prayer. He says toward the end of the letter,
Colossians 4:12 Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, greets you, always struggling on your behalf in his prayers, that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God. 13 For I bear him witness that he has worked hard for you and for those in Laodicea and in Hierapolis.
Epaphras is struggling for his hometown and the surrounding cities in prayer. The word he uses is [ἀγωνίζομαι] agonizomai; or [ἀγών] agon; he is agonizing over them in prayer. Prayer is a spiritual battle, it is a struggle, a wrestling. We read Daniel’s prayer and we get the sense that he is agonizing for his people, struggling, wrestling in prayer. As Jacob wrestled with God, clinging to him, in desperation begging for a blessing (Gen.32:24-30) Daniel is wrestling, struggling, clinging, begging for a blessing.
Daniel’s Prayer
Daniel 9:15 And now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and have made a name for yourself, as at this day, we have sinned, we have done wickedly. 16 “O Lord, according to all your righteous acts, let your anger and your wrath turn away from your city Jerusalem, your holy hill, 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. 17 Now therefore, O our God, listen 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. 18 O my God, incline your ear and hear. Open your eyes and see our desolations, and the city that is called by your name. For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy. 19 O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive. O Lord, pay attention and act. Delay not, for your own sake, O my God, because your city and your people are called by your name.”
The Fame of His Name in the Exodus
Daniel makes a connection with the Exodus from Egypt in verse 15. Lord, you brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and have made a name for yourself. God said back in Exodus:
Exodus 14:4 And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, ...and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, and the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD.” …
God delivered his people with a mighty hand. The ten plagues were a showdown between Moses and the magicians of Egypt, between God and the gods of Egypt. He made a name for himself in Egypt. He made a name for himself, so that when they arrived at the promised land, they were told:
Joshua 2:9 and said to the men, “I know that the LORD has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you. 10 For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you devoted to destruction. 11 And as soon as we heard it, our hearts melted, and there was no spirit left in any man because of you, for the LORD your God, he is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath.
This is the testimony that Rahab the prostitute from Jericho gave to the spies. God had made a name for himself, and the people melt away in fear because YHWH is God in the heavens above and the earth beneath.
Not Worthy
The Lord delivered his people out of Egypt, but not because they were particularly righteous or worthy. Psalm 106 makes this point:
Psalm 106:7 Our fathers, when they were in Egypt, did not consider your wondrous works; they did not remember the abundance of your steadfast love, but rebelled by the sea, at the Red Sea. 8 Yet he saved them for his name's sake, that he might make known his mighty power. 9 He rebuked the Red Sea, and it became dry, and he led them through the deep as through a desert.
From the moment God delivered them from Egypt, they grumbled and complained and disobeyed and even wanted to return to slavery. Why did God set them free? Two reasons are given. In Exodus 2,
Exodus 2:23 ...the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. 24 And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. 25 God saw the people of Israel—and God knew.
God rescued because the people cried out, and because he had made a covenant with them. He is both compassionate and faithful. It doesn’t even say that they cried out to him; they simply groaned and cried out because of their slavery and God heard and God remembered. He said to Moses in Exodus 3:
Exodus 3:7 Then the LORD said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, 8 and I have come down to deliver them … 9 And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them.
Do you hear the echoes of the Exodus in Daniel’s prayer?
Daniel 9:18 O my God, incline your ear and hear. Open your eyes and see our desolations, and the city that is called by your name. For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy. 19 O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive. O Lord, pay attention and act. Delay not, for your own sake, O my God, because your city and your people are called by your name.”
Daniel is calling out to God not because God owes them or they deserve to be rescued; quite the opposite. He agrees with God that they are getting what they justly deserve. But he cries out because he knows God is compassionate, great in mercy.
The Reputation of The Lord
Daniel is struggling in prayer on behalf of his people. He is asking that God turn away his anger and wrath, and make his face shine on his holy city. He is not making his case because of the righteousness of the people; rather he acknowledges that they have none and deserve nothing but wrath. On what ground then is he making his case?
In verse 15 he says that the Lord had made a name for himself, but in verse 16 he says that ‘Jerusalem and your people have become a byword among all who are around us.’ In verse 17 he asks God to make his face shine on his sanctuary ‘for your own sake, O Lord.’ In verse 18 Daniel draws God’s attention to the desolations of his people ‘and the city that is called by your name.’ In verse 19 he asks God to act and delay not ‘for your own sake, O my God, because your city and your people are called by your name.
Daniel grounds his petition in the reputation of God. God, you made a name for yourself, but because of the desolations of Jerusalem your name is being slandered. He pleads ‘for your own sake O Lord, make your face shine upon your sanctuary.’ The city you called by your name lies desolate. God, your reputation is at stake. This is your city, your people called by your name, so hear, forgive, pay attention and act, delay not, for your own sake O my God.
Jerusalem fell to Nebuchadnezzar, who plundered the temple and took the treasures from God’s temple and put them in the house of his god in Babylon. Daniel chapter 1 tells us that ‘the Lord gave ...the king of Judah into his hand, with some of the vessels of the house of God’ (1:2). We know the Lord gave Jerusalem over to destruction because of their sins, and Daniel affirms the righteousness of God in doing what he did. But to anyone watching it looked like the gods of Babylon were greater than the God of Israel. It looked like Bel and Nebo conquered YHWH. It looked like God couldn’t defend himself, his sanctuary, or his people. It looked like the God of Israel was weak, powerless, defeated.
The Psalms lament this as well:
Psalm 79:4 We have become a taunt to our neighbors, mocked and derided by those around us. ... 9 Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of your name; deliver us, and atone for our sins, for your name's sake! 10 Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?” ...
Psalm 80:4 O LORD God of hosts, how long will you be angry with your people's prayers? ...6 You make us an object of contention for our neighbors, and our enemies laugh among themselves. 7 Restore us, O God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved!
Daniel’s argument runs something like this; we sinned and you did what you said, you kept your word and punished your people. And you were in the right to do this and we were in the wrong. But your name is being dragged through the mud, so for the sake of your great name, let it be enough; let your anger and wrath turn away, For the sake of your reputation among the nations, make your face shine once again on your sanctuary.
Daniel is grounding his argument on the fame of the name of the Lord among the nations. He is following Moses’ lead in his intercession for God’s people.
When God threatened to destroy the people after they sinned with the golden calf:
Exodus 32:11 But Moses implored the LORD his God and said, “O LORD, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? 12 Why should the Egyptians say, ‘With evil intent did he bring them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your burning anger and relent from this disaster against your people.
When the people rebelled against Moses and Aaron and wanted to return to Egypt rather than enter the land, and God threatened to destroy them:
Numbers 14:13 But Moses said to the LORD, “Then the Egyptians will hear of it, for you brought up this people in your might from among them, 14 and they will tell the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that you, O LORD, are in the midst of this people. ... 15 Now if you kill this people as one man, then the nations who have heard your fame will say, 16 ‘It is because the LORD was not able to bring this people into the land that he swore to give to them that he has killed them in the wilderness.’
Jeremiah prays the same way:
Jeremiah 14:7 “Though our iniquities testify against us, act, O LORD, for your name's sake; for our backslidings are many; we have sinned against you. ... 21 Do not spurn us, for your name's sake; do not dishonor your glorious throne; remember and do not break your covenant with us.
God himself gives this as the ground for his action in both Isaiah and Ezekiel:
Isaiah 48:9 “For my name's sake I defer my anger, for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you, that I may not cut you off. ...11 For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another.
Ezekiel 20:9 But I acted for the sake of my name, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations among whom they lived, in whose sight I made myself known to them in bringing them out of the land of Egypt.
...14 But I acted for the sake of my name, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations, in whose sight I had brought them out.
...22 But I withheld my hand and acted for the sake of my name, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations, in whose sight I had brought them out.
...44 And you shall know that I am the LORD, when I deal with you for my name's sake, not according to your evil ways, nor according to your corrupt deeds, O house of Israel, declares the Lord GOD.”
Ezekiel 36:22 “Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came.
Application
What is the basis for your praying? Is it your own righteousness, what you deserve? Are your prayers pursuing your own interests, or are you asking God to work in such a way that his name is honored? Are you grounding your prayers on the character of God, and seeking the fame of his name among the nations? What are you asking him for that would advance the glory of God in this place?
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2022.08.14 Sermon Notes
Daniel 9:15-19; Grounds for Prayer
Prayer can be a legal argument presenting a case
Job 13:3, 6, 15; Isaiah 1:18, 43:25-26; Genesis 18:22-33
Struggling in prayer
Colossians 1:28-2:2; 4:12-13; Genesis 32:24-30
The Lord made a name for himself at the Exodus
Exodus 14:4, 17; Joshua 2:9-11
-it was not because Israel was worthy
Psalm 106:7-9
-it was because of his compassion and faithfulness
Exodus 2:23-25; 3:7-9
Daniel 9
15 ...have made a name for yourself
16 ...Jerusalem and your people have become a byword among all who are around us.
17 ...for your own sake, O Lord,
18 ...the city that is called by your name. …
19 ...for your own sake, O my God, because your city and your people are called by your name.”
Requests grounded on God’s reputation
Psalm 79:4, 9-10; 80:4, 6-7; Exodus 32:11-12; Numbers 14:13-16; Jeremiah 14:7, 21; Isaiah 48:9; Ezekiel 20:9, 14, 22, 44; 36:22
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Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org