Day 22
- Daniel 9:1-3 (NIV) 1 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, understood from the Scriptures, according to the word of the LORD given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation 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 sackcloth and ashes.
The year is 539.The change of power in from Babylonian to Persian causes Daniel to look back at the prophecies regarding this.Isaiah and Jeremiah had prophesied about the fall of the Babylonian empire and the rise of the Medes.Daniel comes across a prophecy made by Jeremiah in 597BC. In it Jeremiah prophesies that Israel would be in captivity for 70 years.Why are they in captivity? Why would God do this to them?
- They had broken their covenant with God – that they would be His people and He would be their God.
- They had taken to worshipping other gods and idols.
- They became like the nations and cultures around them and instead of being the image of God to the world and bringing His light to bear on them – they were becoming more like the world.
When God sent them into captivity He was keeping His promise because He warned them that they would be punished if they persisted in disobeying Him.
- The years in Babylon helped to cure the Israelites of idol worship.
- The years in captivity also gave the land a chance to rest so that once again it could be fruitful.
The people had not heeded God’s command to let the land rest and had failed to honor the command regarding the sabbatical year. There is an important component to prescribed rest – God demands it and when we don’t follow the command He will do what is necessary to ensure that rest is found.
The job was to begin to prepare the way for the new era in the life of God’s people.That is where we find ourselves.We are in a time of great political change – look at the world around us.The church in America has been taken captive by big business.We have become like the people around us and worship the same gods as the world all while calling it godly.But God is getting ready to usher in the next era in His plan.He has quickened the hearts of people with dreams and visions that point us to the fact that there is a move of God on the horizon and the reason He has revealed it to us is so that we can pray and begin to prepare the way for God’s move.So what are we to do?Daniel is a wonderful example of balance in the spiritual life, for he devoted himself to both the Word of God and prayer. Some believers are so wrapped up in prophetic studies that they have little concern for the practical outworking of God's will. All they want to do is satisfy their curiosity and then proudly share their "insights" with others. When Daniel learned God's truth, the experience humbled him and moved him to worship and to pray. Write down the areas you want to see God breakthrough in your lives, in your family and in our church family. Our nation, our leaders.