Daniel: Thriving in a Modern-Day Babylon: Part 7 What is the Solution to our Problem?

What is the Solution to Our Problem?

Daniel 10 & 11

Daniel 9:2-3 “I, Daniel, learned from reading the word of the LORD, as revealed to Jeremiah the prophet,
that Jerusalem must lie desolate for seventy years. So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in
prayer and fasting. I also wore rough burlap and sprinkled myself with ashes.”

Daniel 9:5-6 “O Lord, you are a great and awesome God! You always fulfill your covenant and keep your
promises of unfailing love to those who love you and obey your commands. But we have sinned and
done wrong. We have rebelled against you and scorned your commands and regulations. We have
refused to listen to your servants the prophets, who spoke on your authority to our kings and princes and
ancestors and to all the people of the land.”

1 John 1:9 “But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse
us from all wickedness.”

Daniel 9:15-19 “In view of all your faithful mercies, Lord, please turn your furious anger away from your
city Jerusalem, your holy mountain. All the neighboring nations mock Jerusalem and your people because
of our sins and the sins of our ancestors. “O our God, hear your servant’s prayer! Listen as I plead. For
your own sake, Lord, smile again on your desolate sanctuary. “O my God, lean down and listen to me.
Open your eyes and see our despair. See how your city—the city that bears your name—lies in ruins. We
make this plea, not because we deserve help, but because of your mercy. “O Lord, hear. O Lord, forgive.
O Lord, listen and act! For your own sake, do not delay, O my God, for your people and your city bear
your name.”

1. The solution is not a specific place.
Hebrews 9:9-10 “This is an illustration pointing to the present time. For the gifts and sacrifices that the
priests offer are not able to cleanse the consciences of the people who bring them. For that old system
deals only with food and drink and various cleansing ceremonies—physical regulations that were in effect
only until a better system could be established.”

Daniel 10:5-6 “I looked up and saw a man dressed in linen clothing, with a belt of pure gold around his
waist. His body looked like a precious gem. His face flashed like lightning, and his eyes flamed like
torches. His arms and feet shone like polished bronze, and his voice roared like a vast multitude of
people.”

Daniel 10:8-12 “So I was left there all alone to see this amazing vision. My strength left me, my face
grew deathly pale, and I felt very weak. Then I heard the man speak, and when I heard the sound of his
voice, I fainted and lay there with my face to the ground. Just then a hand touched me and lifted me, still
trembling, to my hands and knees. And the man said to me, “Daniel, you are very precious to God, so
listen carefully to what I have to say to you. Stand up, for I have been sent to you.” When he said this to
me, I stood up, still trembling. Then he said, “Don’t be afraid, Daniel.”

2. The solution is not fearful panic.
Daniel 10:12 “Don’t be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day you began to pray for understanding and to
humble yourself before your God, your request has been heard in heaven. I have come in answer to your
prayer.”

Daniel 10:18-19 “Then the one who looked like a man touched me again, and I felt my strength
returning. “Don’t be afraid,” he said, “for you are very precious to God. Peace! Be encouraged! Be
strong!”

Psalm 130:1-5(NIV) “Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD; O Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be
attentive to my cry for mercy. If you, O LORD, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand? But with
you there is forgiveness; therefore you are feared. I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I
put my hope.”

Daniel 9:22-23 “Daniel, I have come here to give you insight and understanding. The moment you began
praying, a command was given. And now I am here to tell you what it was, for you are very precious to
God. Listen carefully so that you can understand the meaning of your vision.”

3. The solution is not understanding prophecy.
Daniel 9:24-27(NIV) “Seventy ‘sevens’ are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish
transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal
up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy. “Know and understand this: From the issuing of the
decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven
‘sevens’, and sixty-two ‘sevens’. It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble. After
the sixty-two ‘sevens’, the Anointed One will be cut off and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who
will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until
the end, and desolations have been decreed. He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven’. In

the middle of the ‘seven’ he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on a wing of the temple he will
set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.”

Daniel 9:24(NIV) “Seventy ‘sevens’ are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression,
to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness…”

Daniel 9:25-26(NIV) “From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed
One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens’, and sixty-two ‘sevens’. It will be rebuilt with streets
and a trench, but in times of trouble. After the sixty-two ‘sevens’, the Anointed One will be cut off and
will have nothing.”

4. The solution is a person.
1 John 4:9-10 “God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so
that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved
us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.”

Colossians 1:15-20 “Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was
created and is supreme over all creation, for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms
and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see—such as thrones, kingdoms,
rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him. He existed
before anything else, and he holds all creation together. Christ is also the head of the church, which is his
body. He is the beginning, supreme over all who rise from the dead. So he is first in everything. For God
in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and through him God reconciled everything to himself. He
made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.”