Daniel’s Great Prayer (Daniel 9)

This sermon was preached on 26/2/2012

Two features stand out so far in our studies in the Book of Daniel. The first is the faithfulness of God’s loyal servants such as Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, each of whom was prepared to die for his convictions concerning God’s demands. The second is the total sovereignty of God whether in his gracious workings in the life of Nebuchadnezzar or in his detailed knowledge of the fate of future empires and their rulers. In a sense, we see a combination of both features in Daniel 9: Daniel shows his faithfulness by praying to God about the release of his people from captivity (vv. 1-19) and the Lord shows his sovereignty by detailing what would happen to them in the future (vv. 20-27).

This prayer is notable because of its contents, because of its answer, and because of who offered it. We will think of the contents shortly; with regard to its answer we can see from verses 20ff., that it was connected to the work of the Saviour; and with regard to the one who made the prayer, he was a prophet of God, a patriot concerned about his people, a politician in the sense that he was involved in the government of the greatest empire in the world, and a man of profound spiritual experiences during his long life of over eighty years. We know that the prayers of certain individuals are very powerful and influential. Men such as George Muller and C. H. Spurgeon can tell us a lot about prayer battles. So too can Daniel.

1. A personal prayer by Daniel

There are many prayers recorded in detail in the Bible. We can think of many of the psalms, for example. Then there are the prayers of Nehemiah and Habakkuk. In the New Testament, there are several prayers by Paul. One reason for their inclusion is to teach us how to pray and another reason is that they provide details about various matters connected to prayer, such as the reasons for different forms of answer that we can receive. We can see several aspects in Daniel’s prayer.

The first detail to note is that this of prayer of Daniel is connected to a seismic change allowed in God’s providence (v. 1). Darius had conquered Babylon and brought to an end its rule. Inevitably that change would have repercussions for Daniel and his people, so it is not surprising that he would pray. Of course, Daniel had known that Babylon would fall because God had revealed it to him. What he did not know was when Babylon would fall; indeed Daniel was only informed of the date a matter of hours before it took place. The fulfilment of that information led him to pray about a specific matter that he had known about from another source, which was that God had indicated through his servant Jeremiah how long the exile would last.

Daniel had known from prophecies by Jeremiah that the desolations of Jerusalem would last for seventy years. Jerusalem had been captured in 605 BC and it was now 538 BC when Daniel prayed, so 67 years had passed. So almost seventy years had passed since the city had been captured by the Babylonians and it would not take too much contemplation by Daniel to work out that somehow or other Darius would probably be in charge when the captivity would come to an end in an official, recognisable way. So Daniel was guided in his prayer request by a specific promise of the Word of God (v. 2).

Yet we can see that Daniel did not decide to sit back and wait for the Lord to restore the city. Instead he turned to intercessory prayer that included a variety of petitions. The one thing that does not mark his prayer is assumption, even although he seems to have biblical promises for his duty. Instead he prayed earnestly that the Lord would fulfil his promise of restoration. His response of prayer is similar to how the apostles and others waiting for the coming of the Spirit on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 1). Although Jesus had promised to send the Spirit, the apostles prayed about his arrival. Prayer is both a response to God’s prediction and a preparation for its fulfilment.

The third feature of Daniel’s prayer to note is that he created circumstances in which it would be easier to pray. He did this by fasting and wearing sackcloth and ashes. Normally Daniel, as a prominent figure in the establishment, would have plenty food and comfortable attire. Yet he knew that he could not pray in a serious manner if he continued living his normal life. There would be too many distractions, which is why he arranged his life so that it would be more likely that he would engage in prayer.

Fourthly, Daniel’s prayer had a prominent element and that was its focus on divine mercy. He himself indicates this was the case in the way he summarises his prayer in verse 3 when he says that he sought God ‘by prayer and pleas for mercy’. We will see what is included in the concept of mercy as we analyse his prayer, but I think it is worth noting that his prayer had a predominant element. Perhaps this focus on mercy says something about Daniel’s general spiritual outlook in that it was the attribute of God that he often thought about.

Fifth, we should note how Daniel described the process of prayer. To begin with, he turned his face towards the Lord and then he sought the Lord. Turning his face may be the posture that he adopted, that he turned and faced Jerusalem as described earlier in Daniel 6. Yet his posture indicated the direction of his heart as well as of the direction of his eyes. He looked by faith towards God.

At the same time he notes that he had to seek for God. At the very least, this indicates that he had to find God in some sense. Obviously he was not referring to the possibility of God’s absence because he would have known that the Lord was omnipresent. Every time that Daniel prayed, the Lord was aware of it. Nor was Daniel’s prayer merely a mentioning to God of his promises. Instead it means that Daniel had to pursue God with spiritual energy.

Sixth, we should observe the way in which Daniel in his prayer uses the attributes of God. He mentions one or two and then contrasts them with aspects of the lives of the Israelites. For example, he mentions God’s faithfulness in verse 4 and then mentions Israel’s unfaithfulness; he mentions God’s righteousness in verse 5 which led to Israel’s captivity, and says that their behaviour was shameful and treacherous; he mentions God’s mercy and forgiveness in verse 9 and then highlights the astonishing fact that the Israelites had not asked the Lord for mercy and forgiveness. These examples show us how Daniel’s prayer is based on the character of God, and his petitions flow out from what God is like and not initially from the needs of Israel.

Seventh, we should note how comprehensive Daniel’s prayer is, both in regard to God’s dealing with his people and in regard to how his people responded. Concerning God, Daniel refers to the covenant relationship he instituted with his people at Sinai, how he had sent prophets to warn them of their sins, and how he had kept his promise to chastise them severely. His prayer takes in the big picture of God’s dealings with his people. Then, with regard to them, he mentions how all of them, from the kings downwards, had rebelled against God.

Eighth, we can see how Daniel identified himself with his people. In a personal sense, Daniel was not guilty of departing from God; nevertheless he was obviously aware that he has suffered in the corporate sufferings of Israel that God had allowed to happen as punishment for their sins. Daniel did not conclude that he was not part of the punished people. So he united himself with a backsliding, God-rejecting nation and asked the Lord for mercy.

Ninth, Daniel in his prayer made use of sacred history. It is clear from his petitions that he had grasped the history of God’s dealings with his people. So he could refer to the Exodus and to the giving of the law as well as to the backslidings and unfaithfulness of Israel over the centuries. This knowledge of God’s dealings with his people is one of the arguments Daniel uses in his prayer. He did not regard history as irrelevant; instead he used it in order to argue his case with God.

Tenth, it is obvious from Daniel’s prayer that his affections were fully involved. We can see how his mind was searching for arguments (the various details we have already mentioned), but he did not merely present a rational case to God. True, his arguments were not irrational, but neither were they impassive and unfeeling. His knowledge had not made him spiritually dry. His prayers were full of emotion as he pleaded with the Lord. Without affection, there will not be any pleading.

2. A Pattern Prayer

If all we do with Daniel’s prayer is to admire it, we will not use it beneficially as far as we ourselves are concerned. Or if we look at it and deduce that we can never pray like him, then we will fail to profit from his prayer. It is imperative that we learn to pray better from his example of prayer. After all, our prayer life will always need improving and the best way to do so is to examine the prayers recorded in the Bible. There are many lessons that we can deduce from Daniel’s prayer in order to become better prayer warriors. We have mentioned several already, but I would like to stress five of them again.

The first lesson is the importance of knowing the Bible. We saw earlier that one basic aspect of Daniel’s prayer was that he understood from the Book of Jeremiah that God was about to fulfil the promise of deliverance of his people from captivity. That knowledge compelled him to pray. The challenge comes to us regarding our knowledge of the Bible. There are many ways of approaching the Bible in a spiritual way. For example, we can read it in order to discover things about Jesus. Or we can read it to find out what God’s commandments are. A third way of reading it is to find encouragements and arguments to use when we pray to God.

A second lesson is that our prayers should be connected to our current providences. These providences may be new, but they can also be old. Daniel’s situation was both old and new. It was old in the sense that his people were in captivity; it was new in the sense that they had a new emperor. Whatever else could be said about the change in emperors, it was safe to deduce that God was at work because it is he who changes rulers and their thrones. The fact that God was at work in providence encouraged Daniel to pray. We see developments in our providences all the time: new people come our way, new opportunities and activities arise, perhaps unexpected or disappointing situations appear. Whatever they are, they are a reminder that God is at work, and we should therefore pray.

A third lesson concerns how we focus on God. We noticed that Daniel stressed God’s mercy. His mercy includes all his other attributes, but all his other attributes don’t always include mercy when they are involved. For example, mercy includes his power, but his power can be exercised without mercy. There is a sense in which God can even love someone and not show him mercy. The obvious example in this regard is the rich young ruler. It may be an interesting assessment to make, but we should watch out for petitions that are connected to God’s mercy because I suspect they are more likely to be answered.

Then a fourth lesson must be the removal of possible external distractions. We saw how Daniel arranged his daily activities so that he would have uninterrupted prayer. Most external barriers to prolonged prayer are easy to deal with. What are the barriers? The telephone is one, but we can switch it off if it is a mobile or disconnect it if it is a landline. The visit that we promised to make – if it is Monday afternoon, decide to spend Tuesday in a prolonged time of prayer, and then on Monday afternoon phone the person and arrange to see them on Wednesday. The knock on the door as we begin to pray – ignore it; if it is important the person will come back or else contact you in another way. At that time Daniel made a specific period of prayer his priority; and we too cannot pray in this manner unless we give it complete priority as well.

A fifth lesson is how to pray. We noted that Daniel turned his face towards God and sought for him. The turning of his face suggested Daniel’s expectancy that God would listen and answer the request. We know that prayer requests must be offered in faith. They cannot be turned into a mere list of items or even into possibilities. After all, if God, through precise details in his Word, has promised to give the things for which we ask, why should we doubt that he will give them?

We also noticed that Daniel prayed affectionately and intelligently. His affections were seen in his willingness to identify himself with sinful Israel. When we pray for the church or the nation, do we say ‘we’ or ‘they’? If we use ‘we’, it indicates that we feel the situation very strongly, probably a lot stronger than if we used ‘they’. And when he prayed intelligently he brought to God’s attention his great actions in the past when he had shown his mighty power in deliverance of his people. We can do the same, and in doing so we have so much more to say than Daniel. For example, we can refer to what his recorded in the New Testament and we can also speak to God about the great things he has already done in the history of the church.

Yet although Daniel had such a specific promise and was confident that the Lord would hear him, he still had to seek the Lord about the matter. Whatever else is conveyed by the image of seeking, it is clear that a form of searching was an aspect of Daniel’s prayer. What was he searching for?

One way to answer this question is to consider the outcome of Daniel’s prayer because it is reasonable to assume that God’s response is connected to Daniel’s intercession. So can we identify some possible burdens that Daniel would have which would make him eager to seek the Lord? I would suggest three.

First, we can see from verse 23ff that Daniel received further information about how the God of mercy would restore his kingdom. We should want to know more about God’s ways and that desire should be part of our prayers. We’re not dependant on visions because we have the complete Bible in which the Lord has revealed his will. But we should want to know what God will do, therefore we should pray for divine enlightenment.

Second, the Lord gave him several details that would be passed on to others, in a way similar to how Jeremiah’s message had been passed on to Daniel and others in Babylon. Daniel was now an old man of about eighty-five and he knew that his years were coming towards their end. He would not have anticipated returning personally to Jerusalem, but I’m sure he would want to help those who would. He had been told, through Jeremiah, what would happen in seventy years; now he told those who came after him what would happen in 490 years (the seventy sevens). In prayer, we are earnest for spiritual blessing to come to others.

Third, Daniel was given details about the work of the Messiah. Daniel was given spiritual entrance into God’s priorities. Perhaps for Daniel, his concern was getting back to Jerusalem. For the Lord, his main concern was not about what would happen in Jerusalem after the return from the exile but what would happen there when the Messiah would come to it. So when Daniel sought the Lord, he discovered that the Lord wanted to reveal to him details about the Saviour. And surely that is an important aspect of prayer. Intercession merges with communion and our seeking is satisfied.