The Book of Daniel: True Return from Exile

Pastor Fletcher preaches from Daniel 9 about God’s response to Daniel’s prayer. Discussion points: We can be in a difficult and dark place and still be greatly loved by God, Jesus was the suffering servant and anointed one from Gabriel’s message, we can return from exile to God because of Jesus’s sacrifice for us.

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  Scripture reader: [Daniel 9:20-27] While I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my plea before the Lord my God for the holy hill of my God, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the first, came to me in swift flight at the time of the evening sacrifice. He made me understand speaking with me and saying, oh Daniel, I have now come out to give you insight and understanding. At the beginning of your pleas for mercy, a word went out, and I have come to tell it to you, for you are greatly loved.

  Therefore, consider the word and understand the vision. Seventy weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city to finish a transgression, to put an end to sin and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place. Know therefore, and understand that from going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a prince, there shall be 7 weeks. Then for 62 weeks it shall be built again with squares and moat, but in a troubled time. And after the 62 weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing. And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed, and he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator.

  This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

  Preacher: All right, good morning. so last week I was planning on preaching all of Daniel 9, and then I got into it and I got to this part of Daniel 9 and I said, what is happening? And I had no clue and I've read the Bible through probably, you know, like over a dozen times at this point, uh, I probably a good bit more than that. I've been a Christian for like 20 years and I've read it most years, um. And, and I was just like, oh, I don't know what's happening here and so I have then decided to slow down and say we're gonna handle the first half of Daniel 9 last week as we've been going through this series and Daniel, it's been, it's been great.

  And then you get towards the end of Daniel and it gets like real. yeah, like, difficult, it's tough. There's a lot of visions and, and difficult things to interpret. You know, most of the Bible is very easy to interpret, not, it's an ancient document if you think about the Bible, it's like over 2000 years old for most of it or right at 2000 years old for most of it and um. You can understand it like the normal person off the street can pick it up and understand this ancient document. How often do we expect? I, I can't even read Shakespeare and understand it. Like I need someone telling me what's what's happening. That was written just, you know, a few 100 years ago. But you can read this and understand the majority of the Bible, but sometimes you get to passages that are just really tricky. And so I've spent the entire week this, I've probably more time than I've spent on almost any other sermon, but just trying to figure out what is happening in this passage.

  And I came to find out that this passage is like one of the most controversial passages in the entire Bible. Now, I didn't know that. Did you know that? That this passage with this little thing, like with the 70 weeks. It's like super controversial and if you just do a little peripheral Google searching, you're gonna find a lot of different opinions about different ways to understand this passage. So I've had a lot of fun, this week digging into this. This really is fun for me. I've enjoyed it, but it's been new and and a a fun muscle to to get to flex as I go through it.

  Not only is this passage really controversial, there's like entire theological systems built off of this passage as like one of the, the roots of this whole system. For example, how many of you all grew up in the late 1900s as I did and, were exposed or. Obsessed with the Left Behind series at some point. All right, hold on, I do need the hands, OK? Now, if you were, if you were sent into an anxious spiral because of the Left Behind series, leave your hands up. All right, hey, somehow more hands came up when I mentioned the anxious spiral associated with the Left Behind series. For those of you who were spared the Left Behind series, it was a series of like 1516 books written between the years 1997 and 96 and 2007, something like that. The guy who put together the Chosen, you know, the Chosen, the TV series, his dad. He is also an author, and he wrote the Left Behind series, which is kind of crazy. This Jenkins family, man, they just dominated the Christian education sphere education well, education. I meant entertainment, but it has ended up becoming more education than anything else.

  They've just dominated this Christian entertainment sphere for like over 20 years now, going on 30 years, and what the whole story is about. Is the end of times and the rapture. So in the Left Behind series, you have a series of characters who are left behind after the Christian rapture occurs, and then they're trying to figure out what to do and so they lived through the years of the tribulation. And so these books, I read several of them as a, a young man growing up in the church, and then, they started making movies. Anybody watched the movies? Kirk Cameron, OK, let's see the Kirk Cameron folks. OK. Anybody in the Nicholas Cage generation Gen Z, let me see you. I don't know, Nicolas Cage starred in the Left Behind. He did not find the Declaration of Independence as far as I know, but he was in the Left Behind movies. They just made another one. Come to find out. I had no clue. I've never seen any of these movies. they just made another one with Kevin Sorbo. That's right. Hercules himself is in the new Left Behind movies.

  I say all this because the Left Behind series, it's based off of dispensationalism and a lot of dispensationalism is based off of this passage and Left Behind has just dominated the Christian evangelical. World for like 30 years now my wife, I was telling my wife in fact every time I, I mentioned this to a few people like hey I can pick on Left Behind, right? Like that's OK. I can make fun of that and they were like, yeah you can make fun of that but I mentioned it to my wife and she was like, oh, I was always so anxious because of those books and then she just had like story after story that just left me rolling like she said that if she couldn't find her parents in her house, her immediate first thought was rapture. Like this is the anxiety that we lived under in the late 90s, OK?

  But she said that even after we got married, to the point, I'm notoriously terrible about leaving a pile of clothes and locations. But for someone who has anxiety around, around Left Behind series, that's a bad decision. She was constantly thinking that I've been zapped up to Jesus while she was left here. If you guys know her, she's definitely the one that would be zapped to Jesus first.

  But, a dispensationalist understanding, so actually in the Left Behind series you see several of the characters, from the series using Daniel 9, this portion of Daniel 9, to kind of explain what is happening at the end of days. And so a dispensationalist understanding of this, and I'm not gonna get all up into the details because here's the deal. I'm, I'm not a dispensationalist. I don't think about it the same way. I'm gonna give you the way that I understand it, but I have good friends who are and like it's, it's an open-handed issue. It's like third tier issue. It's like not a big deal if you are a dispensationalist like. If you're one of the few that's like studied that and like you're set on it, like that's cool we can be friends you can be a leader here like it's an open handed issue I but but I'm not.

  And so I'm gonna give it to you the way that I understand it, but this passage, the way that dispensationalists would understand it is that there's like this prophecy. And then there's this big gap in time where we're waiting on the events of the 70th year to still occur, or at least the events of the second half of the 70th week to occur in this time, and that would also mark the seven year tribulation and the rapture and everything that goes with that. But here I'm, I, I'm not gonna pretend that I have a comprehensive understanding of this passage. You would have to like write your PhD thesis on this passage to have a comprehensive understanding of it. It is a lot of work. There's a lot of stuff written on this, but here's what I'll tell you. I'm just gonna try to make it as simple as I can to give us a basic understanding because I think God's word can still be understood in a more simplistic way.

  And it it's this: I don't think this passage about is about the end times, like at all. I think that there's some echoes about the end times, some stuff that we can learn, but I don't think that it's about the end time. I think that this is relevant to where Daniel's at at the time, a vision that he received, and there's things that we can take from it. So let's just dive into it. OK, there's a lot to look at and we're gonna get into it.

  So Daniel chapter 9 verse 20. And I'm just gonna walk through the passage. While I was speaking and praying, this is Daniel speaking, and if you were here last week, you heard his prayer, he's praying that they would get to return to the promised land, and here he is, while I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel and presenting my plea before the Lord my God for the holy hill of my God. So this kind of summarizes the entire prayer that we went over last week.

  Here's a quick recap, what's happened and where they're at if you're new and you haven't been with us through the whole Daniel series, we've been doing this series since like back in November or October or something, but it, it summarizes the story of four young men who have been exiled, from their land in Israel and the land was taken over by a foreign power named Babylon. And Nebuchadnezzar was the king, and they took the land over and then as an ancient form of oppression, societal oppression, they moved many of the people of Israel out of the land and into their own land, into the Babylonian land, where they had to live and thrive for years to come. So this follows the story of these four young men who are trying to be faithful as a religious minority in a world that is counter to everything that they know to be true and real. Which sound familiar to anybody. I mean, this is the life of a Christian to, to thrive as a religious minority in a secular world.

  And so that's what the story is basically about. And now, at this point, Daniel is an old man, that's no longer Babylon that is ruling the land. We've moved on to the Meadow Persian Empire. They, Babylon's been conquered, they've fallen. And now Daniel is an older man. He's recognizing that from the prophet Jeremiah that the exile should be about over by now. Like what we've been almost 70 years here. And so he decides to pray and to confess the sins of the people of Israel. And as he does that, he's confessing their sins and pleading and his question the whole time is when, when can we go home? When can we go home? And then as he's praying, he receives an answer.

  Verse 21, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the first, came to me in swift flight at the time of the evening sacrifice. So Gabriel shows up and he's described as a man, but he's also a man who comes to him in swift flight, so it's not like a man that we know of. We understand Gabriel to be a messenger from the Lord, which the Hebrew word, or the Greek word for messenger at least, my Hebrew is not as good as my Greek. The Hebrew word for messenger is the same as angel, and so we understand Gabriel to be an angel from the Lord. And he, but he also looks like a man, so it's left to our, we don't get any more description of his appearance. I know that everybody's kind of obsessed about the appearance of these things. We don't get any more description of it. It's left up to your imagination a little bit, I suppose.

  But this man, this angel, this messenger from God, whoever he is, he's a messenger from God, and he comes and he comes with this important message from God. He comes to him in swift flight. And I think it is important that it's Gabriel, so just stick a pin in that one, OK? We're gonna come back to Gabriel as we go through this passage later on. But for right now just make a mental note, Gabriel making this, this, vision clear to Daniel.

  Verse 22. He made me understand, speaking with me and saying, oh Daniel, I've now come out to give you insight and understanding. At the beginning of your pleas for mercy, a word went out, and I have come to tell it to you, for you are greatly loved. Therefore, consider the word and understand the vision. So Gabriel basically says, Daniel, I'm here to answer your prayers. I'm here to tell you the answers that you're looking for. Look, remember, the question that Daniel's looking for is how long, how much, how long must we stay in this terrible place? When can we go back home, go back to the promised land? And Gabriel shows up and he tells Daniel the first thing he says is, you are greatly loved.

  And I'm just gonna pause for just a moment. Because I think it's a good thing for us to meditate on as Christians, that you can be in a place of exile. In a place where you feel like nothing is going your way. And still be greatly loved. You can be in a place that you have no desires to be in. You can be in a place where you long to be somewhere completely else and still be greatly loved, and that's what Gabriel starts this message with. You are greatly loved by God our Father. And so I've come to tell you the answer to your prayers. God can still love you and care for you while you are in the deepest and darkest valleys of life. Even if you were brought into that valley because of your own stupidity, it doesn't mean that you are not loved. The dark valleys does not mean that God doesn't care.

  Then Gabriel gives a vision from God that is surprising, challenging, and encouraging. basically he, he builds off this idea. So there's a lot going on here, as I've said many times, but you, and it takes almost encyclopedic knowledge of the entire Old Testament to really interpret it, which is why I don't have comprehensive knowledge of it, but Gabriel. Comes with this background information that we have from Isaiah. So Isaiah is another prophet, it's a very long prophet in, in, in the Bible, earlier in the Bible. And what Isaiah says is that the return from exile is going to be a two-stage process. So Isaiah explains that the first stage of return from exile is going to be a physical return from exile. It's going to be led by King Cyrus, and this is going to take place from Isaiah 44 to Isaiah 48. It's described as this physical return from exile.

  But then Isaiah also describes a greater and a more spiritual return from exile. That's described in verse in chapters Isaiah 49-53. That's where we get the famous. Suffering servant passage. And so the people of Israel, they're brought back physically, according to Isaiah, and, and before they're brought back spiritually, and they're brought back physically by great worldly king, they're brought back spiritually by the great heavenly spiritual king, which is described as the servant who suffers, he's an anointed leader. And so this is what they understand is happening, that you have physical return, Babylon to Israel, which is what Daniel's praying about, but Gabriel comes and starts talking to him about the spiritual return to God, where God's people are restored to right relationship with God Himself.

  It's been put like this before, you can get the people out of Babylon, but how are you going to get the Babylon out of the people? And so that's the spiritual, return that the people have. You can think about it like this. Imagine you are a late teenager and your parents have rules that you don't like. And so you rebel against their rules for years, for years you rebel against their rules and then eventually your parents say that's enough, you're out of here and so they kick you out but where you end up is not so great itself and so you're really struggling and so you go back to your parents and say, can I move back in? And they graciously allow you to physically move back in their home, but does that mean that the relationship is all hunky dory, that everything is healed. No. So just because Daniel and his people might return back to Israel doesn't mean that spiritually or relationally they've been made right with God. There's still work to be done there.

  And so that is what the prophet Isaiah tells us, and now that's essentially the same thing that's happening here with his response. Daniel's prayer is about the first return, the physical return, but Gabriel's message is about the anointed leader who will put a finish to transgression, put an end to sin, who will atone for iniquity, who will bring everlasting righteousness, and who will restore God's place. Does that sound like the physical return or the spiritual one? The spiritual one, right? So Daniel was asking, when will we go home, and Gabriel basically responds, you'll get to go home soon, but it's going to take a while before it feels like home. So let's dig into how he says it.

  He says this verse 24, seventy weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and profit, and to anoint a most holy place. All right, lots of controversy. About this, when we read this 70 weeks, OK, almost all of your Bibles, if you have your Bible open, you can look at it. It has what we call a superscription there. mine has the number 3 superscripted right there. And if you look at the footnote for this for weeks, it says or 7 also twice in verse 25 and once in verse 26. The Hebrew word for weak is the same as the Hebrew word for seven, which makes sense, does it not? There's 7 days in a week, but it's up to context clues to know whether it's talking about weeks or sevens. And most scholars interpret this to say 7 sevens, not 70 weeks. So 7 sevens are decreed about your people in the holy city.

  And what it's basically saying is, Daniel, you've waited 70 years to go into the promised land, and your time is almost up, but I'm here to tell you, it's going to take 7 times longer to have the spiritual return. 7 7s, 7 70s, if you might. The, the whatever mathematical rule that is, that you can flip them, it works that way too. 7 70s is how long you're gonna have to wait for the spiritual return from exile.

  This is connected to this Old Testament principle of the year of Jubilee. So in Leviticus 25, is that part of the Bible. Some of you are probably getting close to it in your in your yearly Bible plans. Is that part of the Bible that's really easy to skip over because it's like what is happening? Why is this relevant? But Leviticus 25 describes what we know as Sabbath years and the year of Jubilee. So Sabbath years are this thing that was written into the, I just love this chapter, honestly, OK, this is Bible geek time, OK? I hope you like geeking out with me on this one.

  The sabbatical years were written about in Leviticus 25 to say that your land deserves itself a Sabbath year. That you take a break every 7 days. Your land gets a break every 7 years, and that makes sense from an agricultural standpoint. Nowadays we don't do it anymore because they like, I have family that's farmers. I texted them this week to figure out how this works. It's like they, they have other ways of making sure that the nutrients in the ground aren't, all zapped, but this was like the way that they did. They gave the ground a break for 1 year every 7 years, and the Lord provided for them. And then every 7, every 7 sabbatical years. So on the 49th year you prepared and the next year you would celebrate the year of Jubilee.

  So 7 sabbatical years and it's like this big party and what happened with the year of Jubilee was really amazing. I have the passage for us here. Leviticus 25. And you shall consecrate the 50th year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all of its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee to you. When each of you shall return to his property and each of you shall return to his clan. So what's he saying? He's saying, this is crazy. Every 50 years, OK, or 49 years, however you wanna think about it, um. All of the stuff that you've accumulated, all the possessions and, and maybe not all of your wealth, but all of the land you've accumulated, and if you have any contractual slaves that you've accumulated to work for you, it all gets wiped out and you all go back to the ground zero. You all start from a level playing field. Every 50 years, the entire society basically says back to zero, nothing.

  This is how they kept this was like the laws for social justice in this day, basically saying no one can get so much and keep on accumulating more because there does become an advantage once you have a certain amount that you just keep on, can get more. You just keep on consuming. And so what it was written about was saying no one can do that in ancient Israel. You go back to to nothing after 50 years and everybody starts with a level playing field again. Keep things fair. Now, there's a lot of controversy, not actually that much controversy. I highly think that this was never practiced, that it was written about in the law, and the Israelite people never did it. there's probably some laws and, you know, it's like that, that 45 mile per hour speed limit on the interstate, OK? It's just like no one's ever gonna keep that. I don't think they ever did it. But it was written and it was the way that social justice was woven into their society.

  So back to Gabriel. What Gabriel is describing, 7 7s. Is what he's saying is going to be like a, if you think about it in years, OK, 70 years and you're gonna have 7 times that it's 490 years, you're gonna have like a super mega jubilee. Kind of like the jubilee that we were supposed to be celebrating, but even to a greater degree, sin will be ended, iniquity atoned for everlasting righteousness. And then he goes on in the verse, in the passage to describe what the next 70 years will look like, what the next 7 7s will, will look like, OK? First, he says that Jerusalem will be built during the 1st 70 for during the 1st 7 weeks, which we understand weeks to mean years basically here. So, and then during the next, not years, it's like 10 times that. I get a little confused with the numbers myself.

  Then in the next 62 weeks figuratively, there will be nothing particularly noteworthy to happen. And then in the last week of years, there will be a lot of action. The covenant will be upheld, offerings and sacrifices will be will cease and the temple will be destroyed. So that's what I'm about to read, that he's breaking it down like this. And I'm just trying to help you understand the Bible. I know it's not like the most exciting thing of all time, but it's like a passage in the Bible, and it's good to understand. So he basically says, for the 1st 7 years, you'll get to go back. 1st 7 years, 7 weeks, which is like 7 times 7, so 1st 49 years, and then for the next 62 weeks, not much is gonna happen. And then after that, a lot of action is gonna happen in the last week. That's basically what it says.

  Verse 25, know therefore and understand that from the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a prince, there shall be 7 weeks. Then for 62 weeks. It shall be built again with squares and moats, but in a troubled time. And after 62 weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war, desolations are decreed. So I know this is like a little bit difficult to understand, but it's intentionally written that way. It's apocalyptic literature, it's meant to be unders difficult to understand and what seems clear from it is this that Daniel's praying for a physical return from exile. And Gabriel has come to tell him that that's going to happen soon, but the spiritual return is going to take 490 years.

  And when the spiritual return does happen, there will be an anointed leader. And this anointed leader, he will atone for the sins of the people. He will put an end to the iniquity, he will bring everlasting righteousness. He'll be cut off from his own people, and he'll have nothing, and the temple will be destroyed on account of him. Well, who does that sound like to you? Sitting here in a church on a Sunday morning. But Jesus Christ of Nazareth, does it not? And this is where this thing blew my mind as I was reading it, but who shows up? 490 years after the people are allowed to go back is to go back to the promised land. But the messenger Gabriel. To a young unwed woman who was found to be with child. And who declares to her that she's going to give birth to the promised anointed leader. To the one who is going to bring the spiritual renewal that the people have longed.

  The Bible is this amazing thing, where we have this prophecy and then it comes. This is undoubtedly. Who Gabriel is talking about is undoubtedly who Jesus understood himself to be. Jesus understood himself to be this man. You cannot say that Jesus did not understand himself to be the Messiah, because he says it clearly, he just doesn't say it clearly to Westerners. He says it clearly to the people he's talking to.

  Look at Luke chapter 4, OK? This is one time Jesus goes to his hometown. I don't know. I got to preach in my hometown a couple of years ago. I love the people in my hometown, but um. Yeah, it's like weird, you know, it's weird it's like we went to high school together. I don't know there's they weren't mean at all they were really nice. Some my grandmother's like watching I'm sure right now. they, they were nice and it was great, but it was weird it's a weird moment and so Jesus goes back to his hometown of Nazareth and he goes to the temple and they hand him a and they hand him a scroll. And they they hand him the scroll of Isaiah, and he goes and finds a specific passage in Isaiah. OK.

  Luke 4 chapter verse 16, and he came to Nazarth where he had been brought up, and as was the custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day and he stood up to read. And there and and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written, and then he quotes from Isaiah 61. And he says, the spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.

  What does that sound like? The year of Jubilee, right? Maybe a mega jubilee, maybe the big one. And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. Mike, drop. I love that. I love just like the details, like he rolled up the scroll and gave it back and went and sat down, and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And they begin to say, today. You would think they would be like, who's this guy? And they did say that sometimes, but at that moment, they, they looked and they said, And he said, today, Jesus said to him, today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.

  Wow. Jesus is the promised anointed one. He's describing this year of mega jubilee, I don't have any other way to describe it. He is the predictive Messiah. He is the promised rescuer. He came to proclaim good news to the poor. He to pay for our sins through a sacrifice to end the sacrificial system because his blood is the toning sacrifice. It's the continual sacrifice. We don't need the sacrificial system anymore. So he came to destroy the temple as they knew it, so that the whole world might enjoy. The presence of God. The temple is where the presence of God dwelt. And so he came to destroy it as they knew it when he died on the cross, the temple curtain was torn into two symbolizing the presence of God spreading throughout all the world to all the peoples and nations and tongues that everyone might might know God and experience His presence.

  He came to give that through the Holy Spirit. He came to give liberty to the oppressed and to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. That is for you today, Christians. That we still live in this year of the Lord's favor. We still live in this jubilee time. As Sinclair Ferguson put it, God's ultimate purpose was not a temple made with hands and holy face entered, holy place entered once a year. His son was the place in which men were to approach God. His sacrifice was the one which would bring forgiveness. Now I, I think that most of this passage is about what happened when Jesus came, and I think that that's what it's describing, and the temple was destroyed and everything that goes with that. I do think that there's echoes for us to look forward to. Because we know that the kingdom has been inaugurated, but we wait for Jesus to return to make all these things come true in the full.

  So though he has declared these things to be true, it's still true that we live in a broken world, and we long for him, our our king, to come back. And to do all these things in the fullness that he will one day. And so I do think it has an echo of what we're looking for in the future, but I think that the scripture tells us about Jesus, and that's the most important thing, however you want to slice. However you wanna understand it, it's about Jesus, about what we will receive from him and what we have received from Him.

  And so just a couple of quick words of application this morning with this passage. Have you ever felt like you're in exile? Like the presence of God is just being kept from you. Or maybe the good things of God. Feel just out of reach. Like you're not given God's best. Like it's being like you're being punished. Have you ever felt this way? Whether it be financial struggles. Whether it be relational struggles. Maybe you desire a different stage of life than the one that you live in. Maybe you desire for God to finally hear one of those prayers that feels so unheard. Whether that be because of sin that you've committed or that's because of sin that's been committed against you.

  Many times we feel as though we live in a type of spiritual exile. And this passage tells us that one you can be deeply loved while in the darkest valley. But also, that Jesus is the anointed leader to restore the right relationship with God for you. That because of what Jesus has done. You can be made spiritually right with God. And you can be brought home from exile in right relation. Open arms, it's like the parable of the the lost son, right? Where he goes back to his father and his father forgives everything, and that is true for us because of what Jesus has done for us, that we are welcomed warmly back into the home of our Father, whether we committed those sins or they were sins against us, but he has open arms for us.

  Would you just submit your life to him? Whatever that might mean. Whatever that might be. For me, sometimes the best medicine for the soul when I feel like I'm in one of those dark valleys with the time of exile is simply. To look at Jesus. Because in this passage I've been like scratching my head like how do I apply this thing? Like I have no, it's all kind of like cool like exciting, but how do I apply it? And I've just realized that the best application for me is just to see Jesus in a new light and to be excited about that and allow that to encourage my heart and expand who I think God is.

  And so this series on Daniel has been doing that for me every week. It's just expanded this idea of this great and glorious God that I get to have relationship with. There's no better illustration than that, no better application than that, that you get to have a relationship with this real God because of what he has done. Jesus is the promised anointed one, and he came to give you spiritual deliverance from the slavery from sin that we find ourselves in. And the second point of application that I'll bring and then, and then we'll have a little bit of time for prayer.

  The second point of application is this. How often do we pray for something? That we just know is what is the deepest longing of our heart. And God answers that prayer with something completely different. Here you see Daniel saying, just let me go home. Just let me go home. I just wanna go home, God. We confess that you win all of our sins. I confess it's all our fault. Let us go home. And Gabriel comes to him and says, you're right in some ways, but what you really long is for the spiritual presence of the Lord, and that's not coming for another 490.

  And how often do we long for one thing? We just know it's the thing that God wants for us and that we need for life and happiness. When what we really need is what Jesus has already given us. And this spiritual deliverance from the slavery to self. That we have. We pray for riches, but God wants to give us the riches of the soul. We pray for success, but God wants to give us a deeper satisfaction and success. We pray for things and beauty. We pray for security and safety. And yet God has given us all this and more. More than what we can imagine and.

  And so to close today before we come to the table for communion and respond to God and worship, I, I'm gonna lead us in another prayer this morning. Where I want to encourage you to talk to the Lord about these things. So would you join me in prayer? You, you can enter whatever posture you want for that. And Would you talk to the Lord about your relationship with him for just a moment.

  Do you maybe you're in the house and you don't have the relational peace that you so desire with God. Maybe you feel like you're in a place of spiritual exile. Where the good things are being kept from you. Maybe there is sin in your life that has perpetuated that place of spiritual exile. Sin always separate. You relationally from the that person that you sin against and ultimately all sin is against God. Would you have the courage to confess that as Daniel did? And to receive The gift that Christ is already given. Friend received this gift that Christ is the anointed leader for you. That he has paid your penalty and you're welcome because the righteousness that he gives.

  Also, take a moment to to pray about your biggest prayer. I want you to boldly ask for that prayer, but also ask for God to answer it however you want, however he wants. But his way is better than yours, just say that, just say that. That your way is better than mine. Would you declare that to the Lord this morning? Your way is better than mine. I will receive whatever you have for me. Amen.

  I, that's a dangerous prayer, is it not? I prayed that prayer once. Probably about 10 years ago when my daughter was young and um. I was praying that prayer and I said, I want whatever you want because I want to be nearer to you than than anything and whatever you want will make you more in my life and that's what I want. And at that moment I said anything but my child. Cause I, that's like a, a pain that like I don't. I don't think I can take, you know, and it was at that moment that the Lord impressed on me, well, that's what I gave for you.

  And it, it affected me in this deep and profound way and not this is like, I don't know the mysteries of God, but like not long after that, my wife went through a miscarriage and It just made That prayer means so much to me. And know that. The Lord cares for me in so so many different ways and I I think I had to go through that to be ready to understand you know miscarriage is a complicated thing. Many people go through it lots of us here have gone through it and it's, it's, it's not. Something that we talk about very easily, but it still feels like death and mourning. And I had to go through that moment of prayer with the Lord to be prepared for to to respond to that in a way that would bring him glory, so. It's, it's a scary prayer, but I, I know it, it was what was the best for me, and I, I pray that. It'll be the best for you as well.

  On the night that he was betrayed, Jesus broke a loaf of bread, and he said, this is my body broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me. He took a cup, and he said, this is my blood shed for you. Do this a remembrance of me. And every week we practice this sacred meal to be reminded that Christ paid our penalty that we might have a relationship with God. Let us respond to the Lord. You can use this as a time to pray. You can use this as a time to seek Him. And if you would like to pray with someone this morning, there will be some prayer counselors in the back, who would be glad to pray with you, to ask the Lord for His guidance for you, to, to maybe just be with you for a moment. And so whatever that might look like.

  Father, we, we do give you our lives, and we know that whatever you want is better. And God, we, we just thank you for the relational nearness that we get to experience. And God, we pray that you would fill our church with people that are hungry for the spiritual deliverance more than the physical deliverance. Would you make us a people that yearn for your presence more than the presence of wealth, more than the presence of place, more than the presence of self, more than anything that this world can provide, more than the promised land. Would you make us yearn for the promised land of relational peace with you? God, we long for you. Would you fill this place? Would you fill our hearts with that? And we thank you for Christ, our leader, our ruler who has suffered in our place. We ask this in Christ's name, Amen.