Daniel 9:14, commentary and pictures

The verse confesses that the Lord watched over the evil and brought it upon His people because they did not obey His voice, and that He is righteous in all that He does, with the calamities upon Jerusalem following disobedience to His commands. After fainting and being sick and astonished at the vision none understood, Daniel set himself to seek God with fasting and sackcloth and ashes in earnest tears and humiliation, and though long faithful and greatly beloved he came as a sinner confessing his own sin and the sins of the people he loved. It is contrition over the desolation of Jerusalem, humbling self and giving God glory while pleading for restoration not for any righteousness of their own but for His mercy and His name. That earnest intercessory prayer is to be read and copied and made our own and offered together now with humility until the Lord manifests Himself with power, and it was not in vain but was heard with angels sent to give wisdom and understanding, as God still hears and answers those who seek Him with all the heart. Confession of disobedience is necessary for forgiveness and cleansing, keeping the commandments as the only safety and living wholly for God's glory under angelic protection, and it rebukes self-confidence, unheeded light, departure from express commands, and neglect of needy fields.

Setting and Meaning

After fainting and being sick days and astonished at the vision of the evening and the morning which none understood, Daniel set his face unto the Lord God to seek by prayer and supplications with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. He afflicted his soul and prayed most earnestly in tears and with confession and humiliation. That prayer was not in vain but was heard, with ministering angels coming to give him in vision the communication from God.

The verse declares that the Lord watched upon the evil and brought it upon His people because they obeyed not His voice, and that the Lord our God is righteous in all His works which He does. The calamities upon Jerusalem and upon Israel followed disobedience to God's commands, acknowledging both the people's guilt and the justice of God's actions. The prayer came from unfeigned lips, and it is the example of the confession, repentance, and earnest prayer God's people need, to be read and then copied by asking the Lord to indite prayer and to help pray with Christlike fervor. It is to be prayed in assembled meetings with continued prayer until the Lord manifests Himself with power.

Daniel had long been in God's service and had received God's commendation as faithful and true and greatly beloved, yet he appeared before God as a sinner, felt his need of praying, and confessed his own sin and the sins of the people he loved. Even one greatly beloved by God must acknowledge sin, for confession is necessary for forgiveness and cleansing, and refusing to acknowledge sin prevents cleansing. His prayer was eloquent in its simplicity because he was intensely in earnest, offered with humility and contrition confessing mistakes and errors and repenting before God, out of personal acquaintance with Jesus. Those who pray as Daniel prayed keep the commandments of God as their only safety and hold the written Word as the only safety against fanciful speculations, are not asleep but keenly alive to exposure to the enemy's devices and to the conflict between good and evil angels, live wholly for God's glory, are guarded and protected by heavenly intelligences under the protection of angels, and stand in their lot and place ready for the last great controversy and for the Lord's coming, making thorough work for eternity.

The verse expresses contrition of soul and deep sorrow over the desolation of Jerusalem. Daniel in Babylon humbled himself before God and gave God the glory due to His name. He confessed the people's sin and appealed for Jerusalem's restoration not on the basis of their own righteousness, but for God's mercy and His name. God's people are to humble themselves before Him, yet never erase the dividing line between God's commandment-keeping people and those who have no respect for His law. The judgments witnessed in San Francisco and many places are a standing warning to the people in Oakland, opening to them what Daniel saw in vision would be.

Prophetic Time Fulfilled

The prophetic periods of Daniel 8 and 9 are reckoned from the year 457 B.C. That starting point rests on historical and chronological grounds. The reckoning so established includes the date of the crucifixion.

Daniel 9 gives the seventy-week prophecy that marks the time when the kingdom of God is at hand. It was the prophetic basis on which the first disciples proclaimed that the appointed time was fulfilled and God's kingdom was near. The same prophecy foretold the death of the Messiah, which they did not yet understand. They were mistaken about the kingdom to be set up at the end of the seventy weeks, because adherence to popular errors blinded them to the truth. Yet in delivering that message they fulfilled the will of God, and through misapprehension of their own message they suffered disappointment like the Adventists after the 2300 days.

Model Prayer Today

Daniel's earnest intercessory prayer in Daniel 9 is to be read and then copied and made our own and offered together by God's people now. It is eloquent in its simplicity because intensely in earnest, coming from unfeigned lips as wrestling with God. It is to be prayed in assembled meetings with continued prayer until the Lord manifests Himself with power, with humility before God and asking the Holy Spirit to work on behalf of His people.

Humbling oneself as the prayer models means confessing disobedience to God's voice and declaring God righteous in watching over the evil and bringing it upon His people. It means with humility and contrition confessing mistakes and errors and repenting before God, out of personal acquaintance with Jesus. It means admitting that the Lord's will has not been done and that there has been a departing from the faith that enemies can see, expelling pride and self-esteem, and holding a true sense of value from the price paid for redemption.

Daniel's prayer was not in vain but was heard, with ministering angels coming to give him in vision the communication from God. God hears the prayers of the contrite and answers those who seek Him with all their hearts, giving wisdom and understanding to those who ask in faith. The same God will hear believers who approach Him as Daniel did in communion and trust and praying without ceasing, giving victories and enlightened minds and understanding of truth and bringing them to perfection and completeness.

Confession is necessary for forgiveness and cleansing, and refusing to acknowledge sin prevents cleansing. Those who pray as Daniel prayed keep the commandments of God as their only safety, are not asleep but keenly alive to exposure to the enemy's devices and to the conflict between good and evil angels. They live wholly for God's glory, are guarded and protected by heavenly intelligences under the protection of angels, hold the written Word as the only safety against fanciful speculations, and stand in their lot and place ready for the last great controversy and for the Lord's coming, making thorough work for eternity.

The verse applies to self-confidence and presumption, to not heeding light sent from the Lord, to departing from His expressed commands and working contrary to messages long given. It applies to selfishly gathering facilities in a few favored places while neglecting other parts of the field, especially the large cities and the Southern field, a condition that will end when those who claim to believe the truth practise the truth. It is the pattern for one who has borne responsibilities or been reproved and walked in false paths to humble his heart, confess his sins, and change so God will speak peace to him, while God's people humble themselves yet never erase the dividing line between God's commandment-keeping people and those who have no respect for His law.