Sabbath: From Confession to Consolation
Image © Pacific Press
Sabbath Afternoon
Read for This Week’s Study: Daniel 9:1-27; Jer. 25:11-12; Jer. 29:10; 2 Kings 19:15-19; Matt. 5:16; James 5:16.
Memory Text: “O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and act! Do not delay for Your own sake, my God, for Your city and Your people are called by Your name” (Daniel 9:19, NKJV).
Daniel 9 contains one of the great prayers of the Bible. In crucial moments of his life, Daniel resorts to prayer in order to cope with the challenges that lie before him. When Daniel and his colleagues were about to be killed because of the mysterious dream of a pagan king, the prophet approaches God in prayer (Daniel chapter 2). And when a royal decree forbids petitions to any God but to the king, Daniel continued to offer his daily prayers toward Jerusalem (Daniel chapter 6). Thus, as we consider the prayer in Daniel chapter 9, let us remember that the vision of the 2,300 evenings and mornings in Daniel chapter 8 greatly impacts the prophet. Although the overall contours of that prophecy were explained, Daniel cannot make sense of the time period conveyed by the dialogue between the two heavenly beings: “Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed” (Dan. 8:14). It is only now, in chapter 9, that more light is given to the prophet, and this time, too, it is in response to earnest prayer.
Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, March 7.
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Honest confession of our sins must be open, complete, and brutally honest, without prevarication, extenuating circumstances, or excuse. Anything less is unacceptable.
As a parent, have you ever confronted your child with a misdeed and waited for him or her to own up to it? Sometimes you'll hear a full admission, but often you hear lies and excuses. Not until the child is truly sorry will he or she fully confess with repentance and grief. But anything less is unacceptable to a parent intent on shaping the child's conscience and character. Why should we expect God to be less discerning than we?
Daniel Confesses the Sin as His Own (9:5)
One of the strongest lessons to me is the way Daniel places himself squarely in the middle of his nation's sin. He doesn't say, "They sinned..." or "Seventy years ago some wicked people sinned...." Instead, he says, "We have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked and have rebelled" (9:5).
If we are to intercede as Daniel did (as a member of the sinning nation), we must in a sense take that sin upon ourselves. Daniel was a very righteous man who lived without compromise all his life. I am sure he committed personal sins, but by any account he would be classified as a righteous man. He is placed by God alongside Noah and Job (Ezekiel 14:14-20). Yet he prays, "We have sinned...."
It is no accident that half a millennium later, Jesus takes on himself the sins of the world in order to save it.
"... He poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors." (Isaiah 53:12)
The lesson this coming week really needs a couple of week's intense study - much more than the 15 minutes a day that it takes to read the daily lesson and look up the Bible references. Hopefully, some of us will find the time to add to the conversation here on Sabbath School Net. I will continue to try and give some secular background, but it takes time to read and absorb the information that is available. (I am currently reading the history of the Papacy and that is not an easy read by any means.) Some of us are used to living with complexity but trying to take complexity and explain it to others is a time-consuming activity.
Today’s lesson states: “ Although the overall contours of that prophecy were explained, Daniel cannot make sense of the time period conveyed by the dialogue between the two heavenly beings: “Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed” (Dan. 8:14).
I would propose that trying to make sense of the precise time period was not Daniel’s main 'issue'. Rather, as reflected in Daniel being physically ill in response to the emotional distress and "horror" he had witnessed, all indication is that he was primarily concerned about the magnitude of "desolation" that was depicted, essentially suggesting essentially that ‘Ichabod’ was going to happen again but this time on a much bigger scale. It was not so much the sanctuary building in and of itself that was of significance to a person of Daniel’s time even though it was of significance - it was rather what the sanctuary represented to Israel and its ‘position’ of distinctiveness within a pagan Near-Eastern world. Hence the devastating experience of Ichabod recounted earlier in Israel's history that was so distressing it contributed to High Priest Eli's death (see 1 Samuel 4:17,18).
Precise numberness of a number was not something within a near-eastern way of thinking. Rather, it is the symbolic character of a number that was understood. And I am not just meaning the symbolic meaning of a number’s value (eg: 7 representing completeness and rightness). That something would go on for a short or long time, or would be constrained to less than would otherwise be the case also constituted symbolic meaning (eg: Exodus 34:7).
Trying to predict/calculate precise start and end points is a ‘modern’ Western reductionist focus (obsession) - not an ancient near eastern one. Hence why there has been and remains so much controversy over precise dating of these prophecies. Bible prophecy is actually much larger than we realise, having more ‘layers’ of meaning and application that accommodate the unfolding complexity of life upon a sin-infected planet caught up within a Cosmic Conflict. Failure to appreciate this unfortunately predisposes to missing the true significance of a given prophecy.
Well, mt comment might not mean much but there are some things I would like to convey. Firstly, I'm just a high schooler from Indonesia, and I'm not very interested in my church's sabbath school discussion. I studied the sabbath school but I'm not that interested in sharing it. But now, I feel better when I try to share something that I got fron the lessons, and also thanks to ssnet.org, I'm able to gain more (even though it takes a lot of time for me to understand ( ´ ▽ ` ).
Throughout this lesson I learn more about Daniel. About how humble and selfless person. I learn more about his faithfulness and unconditional trust to God. He is a succesful person not because whp he is, but how he is able to be a transparent medium of God's glory. He is able to be a person that his honesty and faithfulness can not be questioned. I read from EGW (in Indonesian version) and I found this beautiful statement. Thankfully I found them in english.
"The experience of Daniel as a statesman in the kingdoms of Babylon and Medo-Persia reveals the truth that a businessman is not necessarily a designing, policy man, but that he may be a man instructed by God at every step. Daniel, the prime minister of the greatest of earthly kingdoms, was at the same time a prophet of God, receiving the light of heavenly inspiration.His business transactions, when subjected to the closest scrutiny of his enemies, were found to be without one flaw. He was an example of what every businessman may become when his heart is converted and consecrated, and when his motives are right in the sight of God. " (Prophet and Kings, 546.1)
To all the young people reading, these lessons are not boring at all. There are a lot of lessons we can take. I hope we can be motivated to study the Word of God and be like Daniel.
Hi Fidelia.
Your comment is just as important as any one else’s. Well done for taking the risk to comment and be honest in sharing your views with us.
Please keep letting us know what you learn from your bible study, what things you agree with and what you don’t agree with and what questions you might have. That’s how we all learn here.
Bible study used to be boring for me for many years too. But then life started to get harder and I started looking in the Bible for answers and found that other people in the Bible experienced similar things even though they lived thousands of years ago. Now Bible study is one of my favourite things to do.
I look forward to reading more of your comments over time...
In this weeks lesson we will see Daniel doing what he does naturally, praying to the God of his homeland. He is distressed about the vision concerning the 2300 days due to a lack of full understanding so he reverts back to what he knows to do. Much of the prayer of Daniel will be compared to the prayer of Jesus in John 17. How will the study of Daniel's prayer effect my personal prayer life is the question.