Daniel 9 - Daniel Recognized That The Time Was Near - NIV

1. Daniel Prayed for His People.

Daniel 9:1-3 In the first year of Darius son of Xerxes (a Mede by descent), who was made ruler over the Babylonian kingdom-- [2] in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, __________________ from the __________________, according to the word of the LORD given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the __________________ of Jerusalem would last seventy years. [3] So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in ________________ and ashes.

Daniel 9:4-6 I prayed to the LORD my God and ________________: "O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with all who love him and obey his commands, [5] we have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked and have ______________; we have turned away from your commands and laws. [6] We have not ______________ to your ______________ the ______________, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.

Daniel 9:7-12 "Lord, you are ________________, but this day we are covered with shame--the men of Judah and people of Jerusalem and all Israel, both near and far, in all the ________________ where you have ________________ us because of our _________________________ to you. [8] O LORD, we and our kings, our princes and our fathers are covered with shame because we have sinned against you. [9] The Lord our God is merciful and ________________, even though we have rebelled against him; [10] we have not obeyed the LORD our God or kept the laws he gave us through his servants the prophets. [11] All Israel has _____________________ your law and turned away, refusing to obey you. "Therefore the curses and sworn ________________ written in the Law of Moses, the servant of God, have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against you. [12] You have ________________ the words spoken against us and against our rulers by ______________ upon us great ______________. Under the whole heaven nothing has ever been done like what has been done to Jerusalem.

Daniel 9:13-14 Just as it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us, yet we have not sought the favor of the LORD our God by ____________ from our sins and giving ________________ to your truth. [14] The LORD did not hesitate to bring the disaster upon us, for the LORD our God is ________________ in __________________ he does; yet we have not obeyed him.

Daniel 9:15-16 "Now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of Egypt with a mighty hand and who made for ______________ a name that endures to this day, we have sinned, we have done wrong. [16] O Lord, in ____________ with all your ________________ acts, turn away your anger and your wrath from Jerusalem, your city, your holy hill. Our sins and the __________________ of our ____________ have made Jerusalem and your people an object of scorn to all those around us.

Daniel 9:17-19 "Now, our God, hear the prayers and ________________ of your servant. For your sake, O Lord, look with favor on your desolate ________________. [18] Give ear, O God, and hear; open your eyes and see the __________________ of the city that bears your Name. We do not make ______________ of you because we are ________________, but because of your great mercy. [19] O Lord, listen! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, hear and act! For your sake, O my God, do not delay, because your city and your people bear your Name."

Do you think the last few Old Testament verses recognize the concept of grace? _________

2. God Sent Gabriel to Further Explain the Vision to Daniel.

Daniel 9:20-23 While I was ______________ and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel and making my request to the LORD my God for his holy hill-- [21] while I was still in prayer, Gabriel, the man I had seen in the earlier vision, came to me in swift flight about the time of the ____________ ________________. [22] He instructed me and said to me, "Daniel, I have now come to give you insight and understanding. [23] As soon as you began to pray, an answer was given, which I have come to tell you, for you are highly ______________. Therefore, ______________ the ____________ and understand the vision:

1) Who was Gabriel? ______________________________________________

2) Gabriel is mentioned by name in Daniel 8, Daniel 9 and Luke 1. What did he have to say in Luke 1? ______________________________________________

3. Gabriel Gives a Very Specific Explanation. This Time He Specified Seventy Weeks. Remember the Year Day Principle.

Daniel 9:24-27 "Seventy 'sevens' are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish _______________________, to put an end to sin, to atone for __________________, to bring in ___________________ _______________________, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy. [25] "Know and __________________ this: From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild ________________ until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven 'sevens,' and sixty-two 'sevens.' It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble. [26] After the sixty-two 'sevens,' the Anointed One will be cut off and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the ________________. The end will come like a flood: War will ______________ until the end, and desolations have been decreed. [27] He will confirm a ______________ with many for one 'seven.' In the middle of the 'seven' he will put an end to ________________ and offering. And on a wing [of the temple] he will set up an ___________________ that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him. "

The previous verses place special emphasis on the final week of the seventy week prophecy. During this week the Messiah would make an end of sin. Some Christians have taken the final week of this prophecy and applied it to the end of time. But as Gabriel explains it, the prophecy points to the final week, or seven years, as taking place in the time of the Messiah. It says that in the middle of the week the Messiah would be cut off. In other words, He would die three and one half years after his ministry began. When the Messiah died, there would no longer be a need for temple sacrifices and offerings. These pointed forward to the one sacrifice the Messiah would make for all who would be saved by faith in Him. Once He had died, no one would need these temple sacrifices to teach what the Messiah would accomplish. After He died everyone would be able to study Him rather than observe the sacrificial system.

The Jews were to be allowed seventy weeks, or 490 years, to cooperate more fully with God's plan of salvation. Near the end of this time period the Messiah would come. The time period began with the command to restore the temple in Jerusalem and came to a close three and one half years after the Messiah was crucified in the middle of the week final week. The end of the week came when Stephen was stoned with the approval of the Jewish officials. At that time the Gospel focus turned away from the Jews and more emphasis was placed on the Gentiles.

As it turned out, Saul of Tarsus, one of the greatest persecutors of the church became Paul the Apostle, one of its greatest missionaries. He worked primarily with the Gentiles. The book of Acts tells us that Paul stood by and watched with approval as Stephen was stoned. He later met Jesus on the road to Damascus where he had planned to find Christians to bring back to Jerusalem for trial.

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