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+ + + In Nomine Jesu + + +
Please join me in prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
This Lenten season in our midweek services we are considering “snapshots of repentance”, examples of both repentance and forgiveness of sins, examples that not only instruct us about our repentance over our sin but also comfort us as God forgives our sin by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Quite different, however, from God’s call through the prophet Joel for all the people to repent and from Job’s, David’s, and Jonah’s personal repentance, which we have previously considered, is tonight’s “snapshot” of Daniel, who both intercedes on behalf of all of God’s people scattered abroad in exile as a consequence of their sin, and, before he is done, is given an immediate answer by the appearance of God’s messenger Gabriel.
As we heard the account of Daniel describe it, the events of tonight’s Reading took place in the first year of Darius, the son of Ahasuerus, a Mede, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans. The year may have been 539 or 538 B-C, as the Chaldean (or, “Babylonian”) rule gave way to that of the Medes and Persians. God had previously revealed to His prophet Daniel that Jerusalem would be restored (Daniel 8:14, 26), and so Daniel searched the collected Word of God recorded by God’s inspired writers, including that of the prophet Jeremiah, which indicated that Jerusalem would be desolate for 70 years (Jeremiah 25:11-12; 29:10). And so, in what was said to be the 69th year, Daniel apparently was concerned that the people had yet to bring forth the fruits of repentance, which in some sense were necessary in order for God to fulfill that prophecy.
So, Daniel, a prophet near in relation to God, prayed the prayer we heard on behalf of the congregation, as it were, of which he was a part. Daniel first confesses their sin and guilt, acknowledging the justice of God’s chastisement, and Daniel then asks for God’s mercy and forgiveness, and, in a litany, as it were, for the manifestations of that forgiveness in terms of the restoration of Jerusalem. In Daniel’s confession of their sin and guilt, he does not go into great detail but refers to their sinning, doing wrong, acting wickedly, and rebelling. All of that, Daniel says, was a turning aside from and transgression of God’s commandments and rules. The people did not listen to the prophets who spoke in God’s Name to them and to their leaders, and so the people did not obey the voice of the Lord their God by walking in His laws, which He set before them by the prophets. So, Daniel said, open shame belonged to them and they deserved the consequences of their sin, the dispersion in all the lands to which the Lord had driven them, confirming with the exile from the land, the Lord’s words of curse and oath that Moses had recorded.
A different kind of exile is promised to us for our sinning, doing wrong, acting wickedly, and rebelling. Our turning aside from and transgressing God’s commandments and rules warrants death here in time and punishment for eternity in hell, exiled from God’s gracious and glorious presence. All of that, unless we listen to those who speak in God’s Name to us and so obey the voice of the Lord our God both by walking in His laws, which He sets before us by those same messengers, and by repenting of our sin, when we fail to walk in those laws, as we will fail. We do not have to use outward signs of repentance as Daniel did—fasting, sackcloth, and ashes (confer Psalm 102:9)—though such outward signs, as they did for Daniel, can help set our frame of mind for prayer and its confession. Like Daniel we confess not entreating the favor of the Lord our God, turning away from our iniquities and gaining insight by His truth. We ask God to listen to our prayer and our pleas for mercy, not because of our righteousness, but because of His great mercy, for His own sake.
Throughout his prayer, Daniel strikingly contrasts the people’s character as unfaithful sinners with God’s character as faithfully righteous, merciful, and gracious. Daniel points out that God had delivered His people from Egypt, and Daniel calls on God to likewise deliver them from exile in Babylon. He asks the Lord to hear and forgive, to pay attention and act, without delay. And, while Daniel was still speaking and praying, confessing their sin and seeking God’s forgiveness, God’s messenger Gabriel, who had appeared to Daniel before (Daniel 8:15), came quickly like a winged bird, at the time the evening sacrifice would have been offered at the Temple if it had existed (the time of Vespers). Gabriel tells Daniel that he came to give Daniel insight and understanding, and then Gabriel proceeds to speak to Daniel one of the more-difficult and controverted passages in the Bible (Daniel 9:24-27). As the apocalyptic passage is traditionally understood, Gabriel describes the eventual full attainment of God’s goal in history, the universal redemption of mankind, specifically speaking of an Anointed One Who would make a new covenant but also be cut off and have nothing, all before the rebuilt Jerusalem and Temple would again be destroyed.
Greater than God’s bringing the Israelites out of Egypt, greater than God’s returning the people of Judah from exile in Babylon, is the fulfillment of that prophecy of the Christ, Who made a new covenant in His own Blood and went to the cross to deliver us from sin, death, and the power of the devil. Daniel had previously seen a better-known vision of a glorious Son of Man (Daniel 7:13), but this time Gabriel reveals to Daniel a vision of a humble Son of God, Who, out of God’s great love, mercy, and grace, went not only to “dark Gethsemane” (Lutheran Service Book 436) but also to the cross for you and for me. By grace through faith in Jesus, Who sacrificed Himself once and for all, we are forgiven of our sin, and returned, as it were, from the eternal exile in hell that our sins deserve.
As a “snapshot of repentance”, Daniel well reminds us of the importance of God’s Word and appointed messengers, not only back then but also today. Today, called and ordained pastors read and preach God’s Word to us, calling and enabling us to repent and to believe. God’s messengers rescue us from death and the devil by that Word combined with water in Holy Baptism. God’s messengers hear private confessions of the sins that we know and feel in our heart, and, better than Gabriel’s “declaration of grace”, they place their hand on our heads and pronounce God’s Word of individual Holy Absolution. And, by God’s messengers’ work, God strengthens and preserves us in body and soul with the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, given to us in, with, and under the bread and wine with the Word of God in the Sacrament of the Altar. In all of these ways, God answers our prayers confessing our sin and seeking His forgiveness.
The “vision” God gave Daniel through Gabriel notably broadened Daniel’s focus, from just the time left before the exile would be over and Jerusalem and its Temple rebuilt (confer Psalm 102), to the time of the Messiah and the consummation of the age. Daniel likely was in a position to help bring about the return of the exiles to their home country (Wood, Israel’s History, 327), but, after the answer to his prayer, it is hard to imagine that he thought there was no more reason to pray, such as for the final fulfillment of all God had promised. Our country and God’s fulfillment are not linked as they were for Daniel. We appropriately pray for our country, but we recognize that our country holds no special privilege or place and is not the Kingdom of God on earth. Our prayers for our country and for other things may not be answered as dramatically, quickly, and favorably as Daniel’s prayer was answered, but, nevertheless, we are commanded to make such prayers, and God promises to hear them. Our prayers help shape our will to God’s will, even as He answers our prayers in His time and in way He knows to be best. Especially our prayers confessing our sin and seeking God’s forgiveness are answered by His Word and Sacrament now, so that we may not be exiled but dwell with God for eternity.
Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
+ + + Soli Deo Gloria + + +