Great Old Testament Prayers: Daniel (Daniel 9.1-19)

Introduction

Two weeks ago, I came across some statements people have made on the accident claim forms they’d sent off to their insurance companies, and here are some of them…

·         “I was backing my car out of the driveway in the usual manner, when it was struck by the other car in the same place it had been hit several times before.” 

·         “As I approached the traffic lights, I started to slow down but the traffic in front of me was more stationary than I thought.” 

·         “I was driving along the motorway when the police pulled me over onto the hard shoulder. Unfortunately I was in the middle lane and another car was in my way.” 

·         “The pedestrian had no idea which way to go, so I ran him over.”  

·         “I collided with a stationary truck coming the other way.” 

·         “Going to work at 7am I drove out of my drive straight into a bus because it was 5 minutes early.”  

Actually, I'm no different in some ways. I find it so much easier to identify other peoples’ mistakes than to spot and admit my own.

Confessing a Nation’s Sin

Daniel’s prayer in chapter 9 is one of the most noteworthy prayers in the Old Testament. And it is striking because, instead of blaming others for his mistakes, Daniel does the complete opposite. He actually says sorry to God for other people’s mistakes. 

In continental Europe, we British have a reputation for apologising for things we have not done. The Italians actually have a proverb for this anxiety for good manners: “Knock an Englishman off his feet” they say, “and he’ll apologise to you before he hits the pavement!” 

So we ought to feel at home with this. But we don’t. Whenever I ask God to forgive me, I don’t confess everybody else’s sins as well, I’ve got enough of my own without confessing yours as well! But Daniel’s prayer is one of the greatest in the Old Testament.

And in order to explain why, I need to give a bit of background, so if history isn’t your thing you’re going to glaze over now, but if you can manage to stay with me for just a few minutes, it will help you understand much better what’s going on in this prayer. 

The Background

So - the book of Daniel is situated in what we call the years of exile – we’re in the 6th Century BC - when there was no WiFi. For many, many years before that time, prophetic preachers used to warn God's people that they were in breach of the terms of their covenant with God. 

You see, they lived under a mutual agreement; you live like this and God will bless you. You live like that and he won't. 

And the consequences of non-compliance had been made very clear when this covenant was first agreed. The people understood that God reserved the right to evict them from their land if they didn’t stick to their side of the covenant. That's the basic story of most of the Old Testament. 

As the years went on, there were, in fact, two kinds of prophet who spoke publicly throughout Israel’s history; most of them reassured people with promises of peace and prosperity and a few others alarmed people with warnings of foreign invasion and destruction and deportation. 

Basically, the ones who said nice things were very popular, and the ones who were a bit more ‘doom and gloom’ were ignored or treated roughly. 

But they were right. There were several invasions and in one of them, in 605BC, a few thousand high ranking officials were led off under armed guard to Babylon, 800 miles away, never to see home again. And among them was a young man in his late teens called Daniel. 

Even when that happened, the popular message was, “Oh, don’t worry, it’ll only be for a few years.” But it lasted much longer than that as we’ll see.

Fast forward a few decades… On 6 October 539BC, King Belshazzar is out partying with his friends in Babylon. And there’s still no WiFi… Everybody thinks they are in an impregnable fortress city. Its walls are a picture of strength and power. They measure 56 miles round the city, they are 300 feet high, 25 feet thick, they extended 35 feet below the ground and another wall lies 75 feet behind the first wall. 

In addition, there is a wide and deep moat that encircles the entire city. It makes Fort Knox look like a doll's house. Even Ethan Hunt and the Mission: Impossible team would have a tough time getting into Babylon in its pomp.

But as Belshazzar and his drunken guests party away, they don’t know that the Persians have spent the past few months up river building dams to divert the Euphrates away from Babylon. 

As darkness falls and the sounds of revelling and drinking fill the night air, the Persians close the dams. The river empties exposing two undefended channels under those immense city walls. Persian special troops tunnel into the city and before the Babylonians even know they are there, the city is overrun and it's game over. 

Daniel chapter 9 is situated just after that momentous event, almost a lifetime after the exile began. And it finds this godly man Daniel, now in his eighties, asking himself a very simple question, “How is this change of regime going to affect my people, God’s people?” 

He looks around and he wonders whether this new reality will mean his people can go back home again. 

And to find an answer to his question, he looks not to the words of men but to the word of God. What he finds is this: Jeremiah, unlike the popular, false prophets, never said, “It’ll be only for a few years.” He said, very specifically, (in chapters 25 and 29, over 20 years before the exile started), “No, the nation will be in exile for 70 years.” 

So Daniel quickly does his sums and he works out that he has already been in exile for… 67 years. Isn’t that exciting? If Jeremiah is right - and Jeremiah was always right - Daniel’s people would be able to go back home within the next three years!

But it wasn’t as simple as that. There was a problem. Because, like all God’s promises, every one of them, God’s promise of a return after a 70 year absence had a very important little condition attached. In the very prophecy where God says you can return after 70 years he adds: “If you seek me with all your heart.” 

And Daniel looks round and his heart stops - because he realises that no one is praying. No one is seeking God. Everyone has become comfortable and settled down in Babylon. People have put down roots. They have got used to being away from their Promised Land. They can go back if they call on God and turn to him with all their hearts but no one is – so Daniel gets on his knees and prays for the fulfilment of that 70 year promise. 

So that’s the background. Are you still with me?

Here’s what Daniel says in his prayer: 

1) First of all, he says that God is good. Daniel’s prayer is one of worship all the way through. He speaks out truth about God's righteousness, his covenant love, his mercy, his forgiveness, his truthfulness, his faithfulness, his might and his power. 

God is good. It's a long time ago now, but I can still remember how shallow and empty my life was before my first encounter with God in Jesus Christ. God is good. The Lord is here. His Spirit is with us. He has shown you all you need to know about him in the person and ministry of Jesus our Lord and king. 

2) Secondly, he says this is serious. Daniel’s prayer speaks of how dire the situation is for his people. All our popular synonyms for the word 'sin' are flattering – I talk of my faults and my failings, but Daniel uses vocabulary like “twisted” and “treacherous.” We are guilty of treason he says. 

From the top down, from highest government all the way through national institutions and civic society Daniel confesses the guilt of the whole nation and he identifies with it. 16 times he says “we” but he never once uses the word “them” even though he was just a boy when God' patience with his covenant people finally ran out and they went into exile. 

Our sin is serious too. It sent an innocent man, Jesus of Nazareth, to the cross to suffer and die in our place. They beat him black and blue, put nails through his hands and feet, pressed a crown of thorns on his head and left him to die to atone for your sin and mine.

3) Thirdly, he says we are getting what we deserve. Daniel’s prayer says, it’s no one’s fault but ours. God sent prophet after prophet and no one listened. There are no feeble excuses like on those car insurance claim forms. Daniel says that God’s judgement is absolutely fair. 

Daniel never once mentions his own moral goodness even though he is one of only two figures in the Old Testament about whom nothing bad is said, (the other being Joseph). 

We can’t boast to God in prayer about being good Christians either – we can only pray, like Daniel did, on the grounds of God’s mercy and his good name.

What about the UK?

So much for Daniel and his nation.

Does God still relate to us as countries as well as individuals? Throughout the Old Testament there was a special relationship with Israel, as we know, but what about other nations? What about us? Has the UK got any kind of agreement with God? What does God think of the UK? 

Firstly in the Bible, when you look, you find that God did relate to other nations, not just Israel. Isaiah 19 for example, says this; “The Lord will make himself known to the Egyptians and in that day they will acknowledge the Lord. They will worship… they will make vows to the Lord and keep them. The Lord will strike Egypt and heal them. They will turn to the Lord, and he will respond to their pleas and heal them.” 

So this foreign nation, outside the covenant people of Israel, made vows to God for which there were consequences for compliance and non-compliance.

But has Britain ever made vows to the Lord? Has the UK ever vowed to serve the Lord? And what about our national institutions, our town councils, the military, our education system, the monarchy, Parliament, the NHS, the BBC, the judiciary? If we have made agreements with God does the Lord deal with us the way he dealt with countries like Egypt? Does he strike us and heal us? Has he committed to turn to us when we cry out to him?

And the answer is “Yes.” In Kingston upon Thames in the year 838, England formally became a nation and we consciously adopted Christian values. The Saxon kings at that time united the kingdoms of these islands under their rule and when they did so they chose to acknowledge the gospel as preeminent in the nation. 

So the coronation protocol of Ethelred the Unready in 978, says this: “Having been chosen by the bishops and people, [the king] shall with a clear voice before God and all the people promise… to maintain the laws of God, and the true profession of the gospel." 

The king was given a Bible and he was told that it is the benchmark of wisdom and should guide him in the decisions he made. After that he was presented with the orb and these words were said: “Receive this orb set under the cross and remember that the whole world is subject to the power and empire of Christ our redeemer.”

Ethelred’s coronation service was almost identical to our Queen’s in 1952 and in most of our lifetimes Charles will be crowned in the same way. The same words will be said. The same symbols will be used.

And when our nation was founded, they recognised the prophetic importance of the Church and wove it into the fabric of the nation. The Church said to the king in effect, “We will recognise your right to rule this land but you need to hear from us the voice of Scripture. And you need to model the nation’s existence on the covenant relationship we see in Scripture between God and his people.” 

That’s why for example, we have bishops in the House of Lords; it’s nothing to do with privileges – they’re there to be a prophetic voice in the law making process. It’s another question how effective they’ve been over the years, but that is why they are there.

We know of course that political sovereignty no longer rests with the monarch, but with Parliament. But when power was transferred, they were very careful to ensure that the same acknowledgement of Christ and his authority was set out in the House of Commons.

Did you know that more time per week is spent in prayer in the House of Commons than is spent in Prime Minister’s Questions? Well, it’s true! Every day, before Parliament sits, the Speaker’s chaplain renews that centuries old prayer of dedication and commitment to almighty God.

The prison service in our country is based on Christian restorative justice, that lives can change and evil can be overcome with good. Even today, you cannot legally be a prison in the UK if you do not have a Governor, a Doctor and a Chaplain. But our jails are difficult places to be a Christian today.

What does God think of all this? What does he think of the grand royal coronations and weddings we arrange at Westminster Abbey, with their deeply Christian content, while just 200 metres away our Parliament passes laws in utter defiance of God's commands?

And what happens when nations break vows to God as ours surely has? What happens when, over time, all our institutions change and gradually erode the values of their founders? 

The BBC which was founded in 1922 with a stated vision for Christian service. The first Director General, John Reith, was a follower of Jesus who felt he should apply for the job while on his knees in prayer about it. And when they appointed him, he said right from the start that the airwaves were a national asset that should broadcast Christian values to the nation and the world. 

In the first Broadcasting House in Upper Regent Street there is a Latin inscription that says the following: “This temple of the arts and muses is dedicated to Almighty God by the first Governors in the year of our Lord 1931, John Reith being Director-General. And they pray that good seed sown may bring forth good harvest, and that all things foul or hostile to peace may be banished thence, and that the people inclining their ear to whatsoever things are lovely, honest, and of good report, may tread the path of virtue and wisdom.”

The very first Head of Religious Broadcasting at the BBC said Sunday should be set aside for broadcasting the kingdom of God to the British nation. They saw radio and later TV as a means of bringing Christian opinion to the widest possible public. 

One of his successors in the Religious Broadcasting department, James Welch, said: “I want to reaffirm the centrality of Christian faith and the survival of Christian civilisation. He secured an obligation as a matter of BBC policy that they shouldn’t just preach the gospel, they should allow the opportunity for conversion to Christ. He even said that this particular point should never be omitted from the BBC’s charter. 

So has the BBC made a vow to serve the Lord? Yes, emphatically. Has it fulfilled its vow? One of the former governors of the BBC, a Christian, wrote to the Director General and Chairman when the Corporation moved to its new Head Quarters a couple of years ago.

He asked if the BBC would renew its founding commitment to proclaim Christian values. He suggested a verse from the Bible for a plaque, from Haggai 2.9 which says “The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house,' says the Lord Almighty. And in this place I will grant peace.” The answer was “No. It would be inappropriate in this day and age, and we want to avoid offence…” 

The Bible says in Romans 1 that societies which sever their connection with God’s grace are slowly given over by him to the consequences of their own choices. 

Ending

But, as I close, you’ll notice that Daniel doesn’t take to the streets with placards. He doesn't shake his head and tut. He doesn't complain and whinge. He doesn't write obnoxious letters to the press. 

He sinks to his knees in earnest prayer. Daniel 9 tells me that Britain doesn't need a Christian protest movement, as much as it needs a Christian prayer movement.

And you know what? That is what Britain is going to get. Because, as you may have heard, our Archbishops of Canterbury and York wrote to all clergy in the Church of England a few weeks ago expressing their longing “to see a great wave of prayer across our land.” 

They have called us to set aside the week of 8-15 May to pray nationwide for the renewal of the Holy Spirit on the church and for the confidence to rise up with a fresh commitment to proclaim the gospel of Jesus. 

I believe this nation can return to the Lord.

At the New Wine leaders conference two weeks ago Justin Welby said, and I quote him word for word here; “I believe from the bottom of my heart that the long years of winter in the Church, especially in the Church of England, are changing. The ice is thawing, the spring is coming. There is a new spring in the Church… There is no despair in the Church because we serve the God who raised Jesus Christ from the dead.”

June is now going to come and lead us in prayer…

Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 13 March 2016