Exploring My Strange Bible - Faithfulness in Exile: Daniel Part 4 - So Righteous

Episode Date: February 19, 2018

The book of Daniel is about of a group of Israelites who are essentially kidnapped and exiled from their homeland. Daniel and his friends struggle to remain faithful to God in a place that is pressuring them to disobey. This book explores the challenge of being “in the world but not of the world.” It offers valuable lessons to us today, as we try to follow Jesus in the modern world. Listen in to learn more...

Tim Mackey, Jr. utterly amazing and worth following with everything that you have. On this podcast, I'm putting together the last 10 years worth of lectures and sermons where I've been exploring the strange and wonderful story of the Bible and how it invites us into the mission of Jesus and the journey of faith. And I hope this can be helpful for you too. I also help start this thing called The Bible Project. We make animated videos and podcasts about all kinds of topics in Bible and theology. You can find those resources at thebibleproject.com. With all that said, let's dive into the episode for this week. We're going to consider today Daniel chapter 9, one of the most beautiful prayers of confession in the whole Bible.

The book of Daniel, this whole book, this whole series, what we've been focusing on, the main point of the book, is telling the story of these four Israelites, one in particular, especially named Daniel. And these are Israelites, you'll remember they've been exiled from their home, from Jerusalem. They've been taken into captivity to a faraway land. And they're struggling now for the rest of their lives to be faithful to their true identity and to their God in a foreign land.

And so every week we've been exploring how this book speaks to God's people anytime, how this book speaks to God's people anytime, anywhere, where God's people are a minority, where trying to be faithful to your God lands you in the position of a minority, and everyone else around you thinks that you're stupid, and that what you believe is stupid, and that your way of life is stupid. And it's difficult. It's hard to live like that in tension. And what Daniel has showed us in his friends is interesting because they were recruited to serve in Babylon, but what they didn't do to be faithful to their God is go run away and start a monastery in the desert. They kept their positions, serving in the government of Babylon.

They learned the language. They took on the dress of the Babylonians. They participated in Babylonian culture. But then there came these moments, right? These line-in-the-sand type moments where, no, I can't give in to that pressure of Babylonian culture. That would be compromise for me to giving my allegiance to the God of Israel. And so it had to do with food and worshipping the empire and praying to the king as a god. They said no. And it was super risky and difficult for them. So that's the main theme of this book.

Now one thing we haven't talked about yet in this book so far is why and how Daniel and his friends are sitting in exile. We know they were taken captive, but like why? How did that happen? And why did it happen? And how does Daniel view his circumstances? So here's what we've been using, kind of the Bible project. We used the video on first week and then the poster of the whole book that you'll see up here. And if that seems overwhelming to you, that's because it is. That's because the book's overwhelming. But so you can kind of see the overall picture here. It starts in the upper left. Daniel was taken captive along with a whole bunch of other Israelites from Jerusalem up there. Then they were recruited to serve in Babylon. And then we had a whole bunch of stories in the middle here that make up the testing and the dreams of the king and so on. And it's all these stories about

Daniel and the friends trying to be faithful to God in very difficult circumstances. And last week, we came to a transition point in the story, chapter 7 there, with the super beast with the horn right there. And that was a dream that he had that's a symbol of Babylon and the kingdoms of this world that are super violent and horrible, but they're going to face their downfall one day. And the super beast is going to be destroyed, and God's going to exalt his faithful people. And that's the dream and the hope that keeps Daniel afloat. So that's the shape of the book so far. And today we're talking about Daniel chapter 9, his prayer. So let's zoom in here. Yeah, okay. All right. So how and why did Daniel end up where he is in exile? We know that it happened, but you just kind of have to know the storyline of the Old Testament. Like the book of Daniel doesn't really tell you why it happened, it just assumes that you

know. So if you know the story of Israel in, you know, rough format from the Old Testament, God redeems them out of slavery in Egypt in the Exodus story. You've probably seen the movie if you haven't read the story. And then he brings them to the foot of a mountain. Remember the name of the mountain? Mount Sinai. It's a little slow out of the starting blocks, you guys.

There you go. I do this probably once or twice a month. You know, I would think you... Okay, anyway, so Mount Sinai. And there God enters into a covenant agreement with the people of Israel that they're going to live by the terms of this covenant to become his priests to the nations, God says.

So they'll show the nations the character of the God of Israel. And what are the first ten terms of the agreement? Do you remember? What do we call those? They're famous in our culture. We call them the Ten Commandments, but they're the first terms. And then there's over 600 more given to them in the rest of the first books of the Bible. And so on a scale of 1 to 10, as Israel agrees, they sign us up to this agreement. And then they go into the Promised Land.

On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being stellar, 0 being less than stellar. How does Israel do in keeping the terms of the covenant? Zero. Less than stellar. I mean, the storyline goes for four centuries, for 400 years. You have a nation of people, and the story from the perspective of the storyteller in the biblical story is that they just utter fail, utter fail, complete rebellion and abandoning the terms of the covenant. So the God of Israel puts up with this for four centuries. That's a really long time. That's a long time. And eventually, God orchestrates Israel's downfall because of their rebellion for four centuries. And that's what lands Daniel and his friends in Babylon.

The king of Babylon comes and God allows him to take the city and he takes captive. Just put yourself in that scenario on the left right there. It's so foreign to most of us, but think how many humans throughout human history, this is their life story. They were living happily in their home with family and friends in the land that they love. And then an invading army comes, decimates everything, kills all these people that you love and care about. And you're left alive as a captive. And you're taken in chains on this long ride across the desert. And you're transplanted into a refugee camp in this new land where you don't want to be there. But this is where you are now in the different culture, different language.

And then even more so, Daniel was part of the royal family. And so he gets recruited to serve in the kingdom of Babylon, which is just the worst of the worst. And so here gets recruited to serve in the kingdom of Babylon, which is just the worst of the worst. And so here's Daniel. He finds himself in a horrible, horrific life situation. Now, Daniel himself, good guy or bad guy? Good guy. Good guy.

I mean, have we seen Daniel really fail at all in any of the stories in the book that has his name? He's a good guy. Do you know how rare this is in the Bible, right? How we end up with children's books full of, like, portraying biblical characters as models of behavior that you should be like. You know how that happens. It happens by whitewashing them and leaving out almost all the stories of the Bible about how horrible most of the people in the Bible actually are. Are you with me? Most of the characters in the Bible are terribly inconsistent and morally compromised people. You only get children's books by taking all of that out. But not Daniel. You can make a great children's book, and many have been made,

about Daniel as a good guy, because he is a really good guy. So just stop. Stop and put yourself sympathetically in his life. You've been as faithful as it's possible to be to the God of Israel. And yet you are sitting in Babylon through no fault of your own. It's actually because of the prolonged failure and rebellion and moral compromise of your parents, your grandparents, your great-grandparents,

your great-grandparents who gave in and they worshiped the gods of Canaan and they were unfaithful to the God of Israel. That's why you're sitting in Babylon. You're faithful as they come. It's their fault. And you're the one who's sitting here in Babylon and whose life is horrible because of it. Are you with me here? That's the scenario. How do you feel about your life if you're Daniel and you wake up after one decade in Babylon,

after two decades in Babylon, and every day is like a battle, trying to be faithful in a foreign land. And if you can get yourself imaginatively in Daniel's shoes, try and imagine how easy it would be for him to start feeling bitter. If you were Daniel, how easy would it be to start throwing a monthly pity party

for your life and why you're sitting here because of somebody else's in your family's stupid decision? Right? And it would be very easy for Daniel to begin to foster this mindset. He's a good guy. He hasn't done anything wrong. And it would be very easy for him to adopt to foster this mindset. He's a good guy. He hasn't done anything wrong. And it would be very easy for him to adopt this kind of righteous martyr mentality, wouldn't it? Of like this victim mentality of like, here I am, and like my whole family's screwed up and like it's because of them that I landed here. Are you with me? When God's people are a faithful minority, there's this tricky line you have to walk. Because the book's telling us to be faithful to our God while we're in a foreign land. But at the same time, there's this temptation of a mindset that starts to come

out in the lives of God's faithful few. Because it'd be very easy for you to start to see yourselves as morally superior, right, to everybody who came before you. It'd be very easy for God's faithful few to look out at the dominant culture and to be like, to hell in a handbasket with all of you, you know. And are you with me here? In fact, can you think of any other times and places in history where there are religious people who identify themselves as the faithful remnant and they look out at the dominant culture to hell in a handbasket and they think that they themselves are the voice of truth and speak for God alone? Hmm.

Are you with me? Like how many times through, and what's the dominant trend that the tone and the attitude of people with that mindset tend to pick up in how they communicate to the world at large? I mean, and you can sympathize with it. We wouldn't blame Daniel if he became angry, accusatory, blaming everybody else, right? If he created distance between,

well, here I am trying to do the right thing, and it becomes an us and them kind of thing. Are you with me? This is like the mindset that can very easily form in God's faithful few people. And so what we're going to see is we turn to this prayer in Daniel today. That's exactly not the mindset that he adopts. It's precisely the opposite.

exactly not the mindset that he adopts. It's precisely the opposite. And I think that his prayer gets us into the psychology and the spiritual heart of what it means to try and be faithful to God in Babylon, in exile, but without ever distancing themselves from the culture that is against them. Are you with me here? Daniel chapter 9. Let's dive in. And we'll keep this image up here because it's one thing to reference. So in the first year of Darius, the son of Xerxes, who, in case you were wondering, was a Mede by descent, he was made ruler over the Babylonian kingdom.

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 70 years. So I turned to the Lord God. 70 years. So I turned to the Lord God. I pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, in sackcloth, and in ashes. Okay, now if you're a true Bible geek, those little dates in the chronology, the first year of so-and-so, that all like triggers stuff. You salivate and get excited when you read those kinds of things in the Bible. But here's why it's significant, is that by the chronology, as you've been following through the book, Daniel was captured and taken to Babylon when he was a young man.

We don't know precisely, but somewhere in his late teens, early twenties. And what this little notice clues us into is the fact that we're now some 50 years into the exile, which is why he's got gray silvery hair by chapter 9 here in the drawing. He's been sitting in exile 50 years. That's a very difficult situation to find yourself. And so he begins wondering, of course, like how long is this going to last? How long is God going to let this go happen? And so he opens up his Bible looking for answers. And lo and behold, he discovers part of an answer in which book of the Bible does he go to? Jeremiah. And he learns from Jeremiah that the desolation of Jerusalem was going to last how long? 70. 70 years. Where did he read that? Well, let's just read it ourselves. He's reading in

Jeremiah chapter 25. This is the Lord speaking to Israel, because you've not listened to my words, I'm going to summon all the peoples of the north and my servant Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants and against the surrounding nations. I'll completely destroy them, meaning the king of Babylon will, and the king of Babylon is right now an agent of God's justice or judgment. I'll completely destroy them, making them an everlasting ruin. The whole country will become a desolate wasteland. These nations will serve the king of Babylon 70 years. So Daniel's, you know, decades and decades into this,

he reads this chapter of Jeremiah, and how would you be feeling? You're now in your 60s in Babylon, and if 70 years is up, within 15, 20 years or so, you could go back to Jerusalem, couldn't you? You might make it back in your wheelchair, you know, or with a cane or something, but are you with me here? This fostering hope for Daniel. Daniel's realizing, like, oh my gosh, that's right, the God of Israel said this wouldn't last forever.

This has an end point, and he connects it to 70 years. Daniel could go back within his own lifetime. And so what that does is it motivates him to do something. Verse 4, and so I prayed to the Lord my God and I what? I confessed. I prayed to the Lord my God and I confessed. I prayed to the Lord my God and I confessed. So just get back into our little imaginative scenario here. What you could very easily imagine Daniel doing is saying, 70 years, finally, this is over. Sheesh, how did I end up here again?

Man, my ancestors were lame. Finally, I can get back to the city I love. Like it could be the pity party. But what he actually does is really surprising. What he does is confess. And as we're going to see, confession is about publicly opening up to public view, to God's view, the sin and the evil and the wrongdoing that I've participated in. And we read that and we're like, wait a minute, what did Daniel do? You know, he's like really one of the faithful few.

But somehow in his mindset, the way he's processed this whole series of events, he doesn't feel that way. He's ready to confess. Here's what I want to do. This is one of the most beautiful prayers of confession in the Bible. I just want to read it in its entirety because it's awesome. We'll read it and then reflect on just a couple things going on in the prayer. Are you with me? Verse four. Lord, the great and awesome God who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments. We have sinned and have done wrong.

We've been wicked and have rebelled. We've turned away from your commands and your laws. We have not listened to your servants, the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, our ancestors, to all the people of the land. O Lord, you are righteous, but today we are covered with shame. The people of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem,

and all Israel, both near and far, and all of the countries where you scattered us because of our unfaithfulness to you. We, our kings, our princes, our God, he's merciful. He's forgiving. Even though we rebelled against him. We haven't obeyed the Lord our God. We haven't kept the laws he gave us through his servants, the prophets. All Israel transgressed your law and turned away, refusing to

obey you. Therefore, the curses and the sworn judgments written in the law of Moses, the servant of God, they were poured out upon us because we sinned against you. You fulfilled the word spoken against us and against our rulers, bringing upon us great disaster. Under all of heaven, nothing's ever been done like what's been done to Jerusalem. Just as it's written in the law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us, and yet we have not sought the favor of the Lord our God by turning from our sins and giving attention to your truth. The Lord didn't hesitate to bring the disaster on us,

for the Lord our God is righteous in everything that he does, and yet we haven't obeyed him. everything that he does, and yet we haven't obeyed him. So now, Lord our God, who brought your people out of Egypt with a mighty hand, and who made for yourself a name that endures to this day, we have sinned, we have done wrong. So Lord, in keeping with all of your righteous acts, turn away from your anger and your wrath. From Jerusalem, your city, your holy hill,

our sins and the iniquities of our ancestors have made Jerusalem and your people an object of scorn to all those around us. And so now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of your servant. For your own sake, Lord, look with favor on your desolate sanctuary. Give ear, our God. Listen. Open your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears your name. We're not making requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy. Lord, listen. Lord, forgive. Lord, hear and do something. For your sake, my God,

don't delay because of your city and because of your people who bear your name. of your city and because of your people who bear your name. How you doing? Whoa. Whoa. So much going on here about the art and the spiritual practice of confession. A zillion cool things here. I just want to talk about two. Two things.

a zillion cool things here. I just want to talk about two things. One is there's something at the heartbeat of this prayer is Daniel's view of God's character. And it's that that shapes something about his character and how he says the prayer. And these two things together get us inside the mindset of why Daniel doesn't view himself as this victim martyr. There's one main thing that he emphasizes about God's character in this prayer. He repeated it over and over and over again, particularly four times. It's a word that he repeated four times. If you caught it, something about God's character. What did he emphasize about God's character? Righteous. Did you catch that?

Four times he brought up righteousness. And if you missed them, here they all are. He began in the early part of the prayer, Lord, you are righteous, which is why today we, we are people, our leaders are kings, we're the ones in the wrong, so we're the ashamed ones. We're the ones who have bailed on you and have failed to be faithful. And so because of that, the Lord brought disaster on us because he's righteous. But then later in the prayer, look at what he does here. He says, Lord, in keeping with your righteous actions, the voice set up above, now I'm asking you because you're righteous to forgive.

Not because we're righteous, but because you're merciful. Lord, listen. Lord, forgive. Here you go. Now there's something, I just want to stop here and unpack this. This is so profound. I just want to stop here and unpack this. This is so profound, this aspect of God's character that Daniel counts on and explores here. And it's precisely because he gets this about God's character, it's what makes him humble instead of proud when he looks at his ancestors. It's because of God's righteousness that Daniel doesn't take on this victim-martyr complex and throw a pity party. But it causes him to humble himself.

Who has sinned according to Daniel's prayer? We. He includes himself. What's that about? It's because he's grasped something right here. Okay, so here you go. You can count on me to always teach you Hebrew words that you'll never need to know in your day-to-day life, or maybe you've actually lived

by them. I'll let you be the judge of that. But I think this is interesting and important. The Hebrew word for righteous or righteousness, anyone take a crack at it? Tzedek. Tzedek, yeah. The T-S is one letter in Hebrew. It's Tzedek. Tzedek.zedek yeah the ts is one letter in hebrew uh it's tzedek tzedek and there's a few other variations but that's the core that's the core word right there now righteous this is one of those words in english i mean does anybody use the word other than religious people anymore are you with me how many of you used it in conversation at work in the last week, you know? We should really, yeah, form a partnership with them. They're so righteous, or whatever, you know? I'm my neighbor. He's really, he mowed my lawn. He's so righteous,

you know? We don't, right? Are you with me? So it's a religious word in English, and it's almost like, what does it even mean? I think for most of us, it probably means something in English, modern English, as a morally good person. What do you think? Yeah? Are we majority in the room? A morally good person. But you could also use the word nice or decent or good. What's that? Cool? Yes, well, cool. Cool people can be mean, though, and jerks. So righteous, what's happening here? This word occurs all over the Bible and actually has a really, really precise, profound meaning once you wrap your head around it. It transforms what it means when you say out loud that God is righteous. Maybe a visual illustration might help.

Something actually from my parents' record collection that might help illustrate. I couldn't find a lot of moments for humor in this message, so I took every chance I can get. This is actually a record vinyl in my parents' collection. I grew up with this image. Do you guys know the Righteous Brothers? Mostly it was in their younger days.

You know their hit song? Remember their hit song? You've lost that loving feeling? You've lost it. Anyway. So this is their reunion album in their retired years. The hair, the denim, all of it. Anyway, so I don't know if that's righteous to you. They apparently think that they're righteous,

but anyway, okay. All right. So don't think that. What, uh, what's happening here? Let's, uh, sorry, let's go back to the definition of righteousness. Okay. It's a distraction to all of us. Okay, so here's, at its core, here's what this word means. It's a word that describes someone's character, not in and of themselves. It describes someone's character that you see demonstrated by how they treat other people in their relationships. It's a relationship word. You can be a good person just by yourself. You can't be righteous by yourself. The only way you know a person is righteous is by how they treat people.

And righteousness, it's a standard of being in right relationship. So an example, I think, will bring clarity. So let's say you've got a guy. And this guy, let's say he's in a guy, and this guy, let's say he's in a series of relationships. One of them is that he's a husband and that he's a father. And so you know, he displays his righteousness, that character trait, by behaving towards his wife and towards his kids in what kinds of behavior? Well, faithfulness, being committed, being present, loving, right? Like parenting, being involved. Those are the kinds of behaviors that are right for that kind of relationship. Now, let's say that our person is also an entrepreneur. And so he started a business

or something, and he's employed a whole bunch of people. And so how is that person righteous towards their employees? Not by snuggling up with them at bedtime and reading stories to them. Although that is how he's righteous towards his children, that's not how he's righteous towards his employees. What kinds of behaviors make a righteous person towards like a business owner? So it's going to be somebody who creates a great work environment, clear job descriptions, fair wages. Are you with me? Those are the behaviors that are proper to a right relationship there. And then let's say that our person also like lives in a neighborhood. And so he has a neighbor. So what does it mean that he's righteous towards his neighbor? It means that he gives them, you know, they make

them cookies at Christmas time and so on, and mows their lawn for them when their lawnmower breaks and so on. Are you with me? The behavior will change depending on what the type of relationship is, but the overall trait is that in all different kinds of relationships, this person, we have this phrase in English, we don't use it very much, to do right by somebody. Do you guys use that phrase? It's not normal English, but do you know what it means? To do right by somebody? Do you get it on an intuitive level? Do you know what that phrase means? It means I'm in a relationship with you and my behavior, I'm doing right by you. That's tzedek. It's tzedek. So here's what Daniel says. He says, Lord, you displayed tzedek, which causes us to be ashamed. So you've been faithful and done right by us, Israel. After all, you rescued us out of slavery and brought us into the land, even though we didn't deserve it. And

what have we done towards you? Yeah, for four centuries, you know, we totally violated and broke the agreement that we made with you. You're tzedek, we're not tzedek. Then look what he goes on to say. He says, Lord, you brought disaster upon us because you're tzedek. So God has done right by Israel by bringing disaster on them for 400 years of breaking the covenant. What does that mean? Well, look, the kind of tzedek this is, this is not dad or parent or employer or neighbor tzedek. This is judge tzedek. So let's say someone, you go out from the gathering here, you go out to the parking lot, and your car's gone. And the window's smashed, and there's glass on the ground.

And you're like, dang it, it's happened to me, finally. And so whatever, let's say like three weeks later, your car shows up, and they catch the person who did it. And it all comes down to a court hearing. And so you come to court, and there's the person who, you know, broke into your car and stole it and drove it into a ditch or something, I don't know. And here's the judge. And if all the evidence is very clear and this is the person, if the judge stands up there and says, man, you know, you were probably just having a bad day, oh dear criminal,

and you know, we all have hard breaks sometimes, so just, you know, 200 bucks and off with you. Is that tzedek? Has that judge done right by you? Has that judge done right by the whole community by allowing that person to go out with hardly any consequences? No, it's not tzedek. So for a judge to show tzedek

actually means bringing serious consequences on evil and on destructive behavior. That is right. The judges are doing right by you, the victim, right by the whole community, by the law. Are you with me here? So that's why Daniel can say Jerusalem was destroyed because God is righteous. It actually wouldn't be good on God's part if he just let Jerusalem continue in what it was doing without any accountability or justice. And so now we're getting into the psychology of why Daniel isn't going to have a pity party here.

He actually views the destruction of Jerusalem, even though it might have been personally painful for him, even though it ripped apart his own life, he recognizes that the people of Jerusalem had it coming. That it's actually right that God brought justice on their evil and destructive behavior. Are you with me here? But that's not the end of God's righteousness. And this might seem abstract, but it's really powerful.

And it's this last use of righteousness here. Because he says, listen, Lord, so just like you were righteous up above to bring justice, I'm also asking you now, because you're righteous, to forgive us. Not because we're righteous. To forgive us. Not because we're righteous. I'm asking because you are the kind of God who does right by people, you brought consequences on our evil,

and now because you do right by people, forgive us. Do you see that right there? So God's righteousness compels him to bring justice, but God's righteousness also apparently compels him to forgive and to restore. And right here, we're at a crossroads. If you have a conception of the God of Christianity, that the basic storyline is that he made the world and he made humans and he issued a bunch of commands and you better do this or else I'm going to roast you. If that's your basic view of the God of the Bible,

I would just really, really urge you to actually read the Bible. And what you'll discover is a God that's very, very different than that. What you discover is a God who gives this incredibly strange and wonderful world, full of potential, to the stewardship of human beings.

And he tells us up front, like, here's how this is going to work well for you, here's how this is not going to work well for you. And what, I mean, Israel had four centuries of running their ship into the ground. How long has humanity as a whole been doing that? Well, there's kind of debate about that, but just on a theological level, right? How long has humanity been running our ship into the ground? It's as far back as we can possibly

tell. And so what is God supposed to do with this? Well, the way the story of the Bible works is that God brings consequences on human evil. But he always does so matched and in tandem with a promise that he calls his covenants. His covenant promises. And it's connected to this random guy named Abraham that God says, even though I bring consequences to keep human evil in check, even though I bring consequences to keep human evil in check, God says, Genesis 12, his ultimate purpose is to bring blessing to his enemies and to restore and to forgive his world that we have ruined.

Are you with me? That's the story of the Bible. And so if the God of the Bible only ever roasted us for doing horrible things, he would not be righteous. Because God made a promise that no matter what happens, he's going to bless and restore and heal his world. Not at the expense of his justice, because of it. Are you with me? This is the story of the Bible that Jesus sees himself a part of. And it's very similar to parenting, which is just my life right now. And so I constantly think of parenting images,

but it's really true. You know, I live with these two little cavemen, as I call them, and you know, you'll often see them running around in between services breaking stuff. often see them running around in between services breaking stuff. And so, you know, let's say we're at home and one of them behaves like a beast, a little jungle beast to each other or something, which they do regularly. So I've got to come in and regulate this. So am I righteous towards them as a dad

if I just sit back and one of them hits another and steals their Legos and calls them a name, and I do nothing. Can I say that I'm righteous as a dad? No, I'm not doing right by them, because they're going to grow up thinking like, oh, this is a perfectly fine way to treat people. So no, of course it's not fine. So I have to work, and Jessica has to work, to create this safe environment where they experience consequences for their destructive behavior. And that is righteous. That's bringing justice. It's naming destructive ways of being a human and making them accountable for it, and there being consequences. However, is my only role as a parent to bring the hammer of justice? No. Because to be a healthy human being,

what I also need to help teach them is that when they've ruptured and broken a relationship between them, there's a way forward. There's consequences, and then there's a way forward through the healing of that relationship. And this is about teaching them how to forgive,

how to confess to each other, and then ask for forgiveness, and then I accept your apology, and saying them with actually looking them in the eyes while they say it, not going to accept your apology. If I'm a dad, can I say that I'm doing right by my children if I don't ever help them restore their relationship. No. So somehow both of these are in Daniel's head. That God is righteous by letting us sit in the mess that we've made for ourselves. But God isn't fully righteous until he does something to deal with and restore, to heal, and to bless. Do you see that right there? He says it.

You're righteous for bringing disaster on us. Now, because you're righteous, forgive us. And if you don't forgive and help us restore and figure this out, then you haven't kept your promise, God, which means you're not righteous. You haven't done right. Do you see this here? This is so profound. God's righteousness is his justice and his mercy

because he promised that this is what he would do. And they aren't in contradiction to each other. They actually work perfectly together, just like it does in parenting. And it's that view, this very rich view of God's righteousness, his right relationship and doing right by his people. That's the character trait of God that reshapes the character of Daniel. This is the second thing in the prayer that we noticed. Whose sin is he confessing? Ours. I mean, just we've sinned,

we've done wrong. And you're like, wait a minute, no, Daniel, I haven't seen that at all. sinned. We've done wrong. And you're like, wait a minute. No, Daniel, I haven't seen that at all. And there's something before the beauty, right? The rich, profound beauty of God's righteousness that no matter what, he always does right by his relationships. What that does, it humbles Daniel. Even though he could be tempted to throw a pity party and view himself as morally superior and create this us and them distance between his ancestors and between himself and Babylon and be like to hell with all of them

that's exactly not what he does when he sees the beauty and perfection and generosity of God's character it humbles him and he views himself as a participant in this huge mess that he's a part of. And he's contributed to it in a way that's different than the kings of Israel or whatever, the people who sacrificed their children in Jerusalem and all these horrible things that happened in Jerusalem that he never did. But yet before the goodness and generosity of God's righteousness, he steps back and he just humbles himself, and he's just, it's our mess. Are you

with me here? This is so profound. The faithful remnant of God, here's how you know that someone has truly grasped God's righteousness. That they're humble. That they don't view themselves as better than other people. And even though they're trying to be faithful to God in a foreign land, they never, never point the finger, accuse, blame, make themselves look better than the infidel or the sinner. Are you with me here? A true grasp of God's character humbles God's people. And so it doesn't matter that Daniel didn't sacrifice his children in Jerusalem or if he never worshipped an idol.

He steps in line with his whole ancestry and he says, we've sinned. We are participants and contributors into the horror of this world. It reminds me of a person in the New Testament, one of the most faithful of Jesus' followers in the New Testament. His name's Paul. Perhaps you've heard of him. And near the end of his life, he can write a letter to his protege, Timothy, and say to him, you know, sure, I've done all this stuff and helped plant a lot of churches,

but you need to remember, Timothy, you remember what he says? I'm the worst sinner you've ever met in your life. And you're just like, Paul, really? You know, sheesh, if that's where he's at, I'm the worst sinner you've ever met in your life. And you're just like, Paul, really? You know, sheesh, if that's where he's at, where am I on the scale? You know, and it's not that he hates himself. It's that he's grasped the profound beauty of God's righteousness.

And it humbled him. How you guys doing? Good. I wish I could land the plane right there, but let's finish the chapter. What is God's response to this prayer? Verse 20. Now, while I was speaking and praying and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel and making my request to the Lord my God for his holy hill, I was still in prayer. And Gabriel, the man I had seen in the earlier vision, he's referring to chapter 8, it's this human-like angelic figure that came to him in these dreams. He came to me in swift flight about the time of the evening sacrifice, and he instructed me and said,

Daniel, I've come to give you insight and understanding. As soon as you began to pray, a word went out, which I've come to tell you for your highly esteemed. Therefore, consider this word and understand the vision. Seventy sevens are decreed for your people and for your holy city All clear? Remember, what's Daniel doing? He's sitting here reading the book of Jeremiah, hoping that the exile is almost over because Jeremiah said it would last 70 years. And then he prays this prayer. It's like, yes, we sinned against you. He humbles himself. We

ruined it so bad. Please forgive us. The 70 years is almost up. And Daniel hopes that this exile and this painful experience has dealt with Israel's sin once and for all. And then what he hears in response to his prayer, did the 70 years do it? years do it? Apparently not, because it's not 70 anymore. It's 77. Now, some of your translations have the word weeks there, 70 weeks. The Hebrew word for week is the same word for seven, the number seven, because it's the seven-day cycle. So this is a multiplication. You thought it was 70 years, but actually I'm telling you it's 70 sevens. Quick math on the spot. I'm horrible at this kind of thing.

490. Yeah, 490. Bummer. If you're Daniel, how do you feel about your life right now? You thought you could go back to Jerusalem in a wheelchair? No, it's not going to happen. Neither are your kids or your grandkids or your grandkids. 490.

Here's the point. Has this exile to Jerusalem, has this fully dealt with Israel's transgression, sin, and evil? Did this 70 year and this horrible, as horrible as it is, did it fully atone for Israel's sin? Is this the way that eternal tzedek, eternal righteousness is going to be created? No. The story is not over. be created? No. The story's not over. Apparently, the distortion of humanity and the brokenness and sin of Israel runs so deep that this exile to Babylon is just the first leg of a much

longer experience of God's judgment. It's not good news if you're Daniel. judgment. It's not good news if you're Daniel. Here's where it goes from here. Know and understand this. From the time that the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the anointed one, the ruler comes, there will be seven sevens. How many is that? Seven times seven? 49 and 62 sevens. That's a whopper. That's good. But add the seven sevens and the 62 sevens and you get 483 years. Then it, Jerusalem, will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble. will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble. And then after those 62 sevens,

the anointed one will be cut off or put to death. And then we'll have nothing. And then the people of the ruler who will come to destroy the city and the sanctuary, the end will come like a flood. War will continue until the end. Desolations have been decreed. And he, that's the ruler of the bad guys, will come and confirm a covenant with the many for one seven. But then in the middle of that seven,

he's going to put an end to sacrifice and offering. And at the temple, he's going to set up an abomination that causes desolation until the end is decreed that's poured out on him. Daniel chapter nine. All clear? So I'll pray. I'll pray now. There's like 11 of you in the room who this is actually what you want me to talk the most about, and I'm not going to do that to your disappointment. Sorry. So this is very complex, very complex passage of biblical prophecy. Here's what everybody agrees on. Has the 70 years fully dealt with Israel's sin and transgression? No. There's a longer period of time that's going to come,

and near the end of that period of time, of the 490, an anointed one will come. It's the word Messiah. And he will be cut off, die. And then connected with that is a really bad guy, this ruler. And you'll recognize him as the mega super beast, horn king guy from chapter 7 and chapter 8. And there's going to be some sort of face-off, and then the anointed one will die, and then Jerusalem's going to be destroyed and the temple in some way. And this is a part of the long story of how God is going to put an end to sin and finish

transgression and atone for Israel's evil. How you guys doing? Everybody agrees on that. There are some people who think it was fulfilled in these events about 150 years before Jesus. In a Syrian king named Antiochus who came to Jerusalem, conquered it, assassinated the high priest, who was also called the anointed one, and that it was fulfilled then. There are some people who think that it is still yet to be fulfilled, that it will be fulfilled one day when Jesus returns. And he'll set up a kingdom in Jerusalem and Antichrist and left behind novels and that whole deal, right? So

there's that view. And both of these views have a real problem with the number setup of 490, because the number doesn't really work for this view. The number really doesn't work for this view, because last I counted, we're going on 2,500 years since Daniel. And the promise was made not 490. But there's ways that people who have this view get over that hurdle, but so on. All right. Then there's another view. Are you guys enjoying this?

So then there's another view. All right. In the middle that says the number scheme and the way this works out most likely refers to Jesus himself when he came as the anointed one, and that we're referring here to his own death by crucifixion, and then the destruction of the city of Jerusalem. And the numbers even don't work perfectly for that one, but they work better than these other two. Flip a coin. Flip a coin. So smart people hold all these views. They all love Jesus. My hunch is that this view has the most going for it,

and I could be wrong about that, but I don't think I am. But there you go. What everybody agrees on, I'm going to shelve all that right now. Let's just go to the bottom line. We'll land the plane here. What everybody agrees on is that what Daniel 9 is pointing to is the brokenness and sin of Israel runs so deep that just the exile to Babylon didn't deal with the heart of the problem. There's still something left that God's

righteousness, his eternal righteousness, needs to do or accomplish to fully finish transgression, to put an end to sin, and to fully cover over and atone for Israel's evil. Are you with me? There's some act yet to be done from Daniel's point of view where God's righteous justice, that if God is good, he has to expose and name all of the screwed up stuff that's inside of us and that we do. He's not righteous if he doesn't do that.

But at the same time, God's righteousness is his promise and his commitment to rescue and bring blessing and to show mercy and to forgive. That's also his righteousness. And Daniel 9 is saying there's something yet to happen in the future where God's justice and mercy, where his righteousness will meet perfectly together and deal with evil. Tell me, what greater prediction could you be looking for in the book of Daniel than the moment of the cross?

Are you with me? The cross is precisely the moment where what's inside of humanity gets exposed. Historically, we're talking about Jesus being falsely accused and executed by one of the most sophisticated justice systems that the world had ever known. And it's not only just that Jesus was an innocent man, he was a man who was known for only doing good to people. And yet one of the most ancient religious traditions in the world

and one of the most sophisticated justice traditions in the whole world in human history ends up nailing the Son of God to the cross. And that moment in history, if you really grasp what's happening there, it's not some distant thing that happened 2,000 years ago, and it's an event that exposes all of us. It's an event that reveals God's righteousness. And like Daniel, it should humble all of us. I didn't nail Jesus to the cross,

but if I truly grasp the beauty of God's righteousness, like Daniel, I come to the cross and I recognize I'm responsible too. I'm a contributor just like you are, and just like the Romans were, and just like the Jewish high priests were. We're all contributors to why this world is the way that it is. What happened in Florida last night, none of us were there, but we are a part of the human condition. We're part of it. And we're no better, we're no worse, we're just broken human beings. And the only hope that we have is God's righteousness. That he will name what's wrong with us, and he'll deal with our evil in a way that doesn't destroy

us, but that saves us. Amen? And this is the good news that we hope for. And so what happens in the cross is God names and deals with our evil, and he shoulders it himself. He actually absorbs it into himself so that he can give to us as a gift his own life and forgiveness and mercy. This is the good news of the cross. And it's what allows a community of Jesus followers

sitting in Portland to pray for the tragedy of what happens in Florida and to fully own and recognize that and yet still leave the building today believing that there's good news for our world. Amen? And it's not because we are righteous, and it's not because somehow we're better. It's because God is righteous, which means he's just,

and he's committed to restoring and to healing our world. So I don't know where this lands you today. As we think about the last seven days since we were together and took the bread and the cup we all have ways that we failed we all have ways that we've been inconsistent and that we were compromised as followers of Jesus and these are all ways that we've contributed

to the world and the way that it is and the right response is to confess. And as we come to take the bread and the cup, we announce the good news that God has judged our wrongdoing and he's offered us his love and forgiveness in and through the death and resurrection of Jesus. Let me close in a word of prayer