Introduction
Welcome to our new series studying the Biblical Prophets. These books are among the most important in Scripture, yet they are often overlooked. The Bible read by the earliest church was the Old Testament—especially the Prophets. While the New Testament was still being written, the first Christians had grown up hearing and memorizing these stories. They knew that the prophetic books pointed to the day when the Lord would dwell with His people in a future kingdom. These promises gave them hope and prepared them to recognize the fulfillment of God’s plan in Jesus, the righteous King.
17 'Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.
ICEBREAKER: When you think of prophecy, what comes to mind?
🧭 The Prophetic Foundation
A guide to understanding the heart of God’s messengers.
1. The Core Definition: What is a Prophet?
A prophet is a divine messenger called to bring God’s specific word to a specific people in a specific moment. Their primary role was "forth-telling"—declaring God’s truth to the present generation—rather than just "fore-telling" the distant future.
- Scripture: "But if they had stood in my council, they would have proclaimed my words to my people and would have turned them from their evil ways and from their evil deeds." (Jeremiah 23:22)
2. The Ethical Purpose: Why did they speak?
Biblical prophecy is overwhelmingly ethical. When a prophet speaks of future judgment, it is a warning to repent; when they speak of future blessing, it is an incentive to persevere. The goal is not to satisfy our curiosity, but to demand a total transformation of our lives in the here and now.
- Scripture: "He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?" (Micah 6:8)
3. Modern Application: How do we listen?
For the Church today, the Prophets are a call to action. We must evaluate our own ethical obedience against God’s unchanging standards of holiness, mercy, and faithfulness.
- Scripture: "For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope." (Romans 15:4)
Because expectations about the future directly impact our present priorities and values, prophecy was given to shape how we live today. Ultimately, all prophecy points to Jesus Christ and His sovereign rule. By viewing prophecy through this lens, we see it as a comforting assurance to encourage believers during times of severe trial, reminding them that Christ controls the chaos of human history.
Tonight, we will be analyzing the first half of Daniel chapter 9. Daniel was one of the people that underwent the famous Babylonian exile of Israel. While he was there, God used him to interpret visions and gave him prophecies related to the last days of Daniel's people. You may have heard some of his famous stories such as Daniel in the lion's den or his friends in the fiery furnace. Daniel is one of the few people that God declared righteous. Daniel gives us a perfect example of how we should respond to prophecy.
1 In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of Median descent, who was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans-- 2 in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, observed in the books the number of the years which was [revealed as] the word of the LORD to Jeremiah the prophet for the completion of the desolations of Jerusalem, [namely], seventy years. 3 So I gave my attention to the Lord God to seek [Him by] prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes. 4 I prayed to the LORD my God and confessed and said, 'Alas, O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments, 5 we have sinned, committed iniquity, acted wickedly and rebelled, even turning aside from Your commandments and ordinances. 6 'Moreover, we have not listened to Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings, our princes, our fathers and all the people of the land. 7 'Righteousness belongs to You, O Lord, but to us open shame, as it is this day-- to the men of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, those who are nearby and those who are far away in all the countries to which You have driven them, because of their unfaithful deeds which they have committed against You. 8 'Open shame belongs to us, O Lord, to our kings, our princes and our fathers, because we have sinned against You. 9 'To the Lord our God [belong] compassion and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against Him; 10 nor have we obeyed the voice of the LORD our God, to walk in His teachings which He set before us through His servants the prophets. 11 'Indeed all Israel has transgressed Your law and turned aside, not obeying Your voice; so the curse has been poured out on us, along with the oath which is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, for we have sinned against Him. 12 'Thus He has confirmed His words which He had spoken against us and against our rulers who ruled us, to bring on us great calamity; for under the whole heaven there has not been done [anything] like what was done to Jerusalem. 13 'As it is written in the law of Moses, all this calamity has come on us; yet we have not sought the favor of the LORD our God by turning from our iniquity and giving attention to Your truth. 14 'Therefore the LORD has kept the calamity in store and brought it on us; for the LORD our God is righteous with respect to all His deeds which He has done, but we have not obeyed His voice. 15 'And now, O Lord our God, who have brought Your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand and have made a name for Yourself, as it is this day-- we have sinned, we have been wicked. 16 'O Lord, in accordance with all Your righteous acts, let now Your anger and Your wrath turn away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain; for because of our sins and the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people [have become] a reproach to all those around us. 17 'So now, our God, listen to the prayer of Your servant and to his supplications, and for Your sake, O Lord, let Your face shine on Your desolate sanctuary. 18 'O my God, incline Your ear and hear! Open Your eyes and see our desolations and the city which is called by Your name; for we are not presenting our supplications before You on account of any merits of our own, but on account of Your great compassion. 19 'O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and take action! For Your own sake, O my God, do not delay, because Your city and Your people are called by Your name.' 20 Now while I was speaking and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the LORD my God in behalf of the holy mountain of my God,
Discussion question: What prophecy was Daniel reading from Jeremiah?
Daniel Believed God
In Daniel 9:2, Daniel is studying the "books," specifically the prophecies given to Jeremiah decades earlier. He likely had two specific passages in mind:
2 in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, observed in the books the number of the years which was [revealed as] the word of the LORD to Jeremiah the prophet for the completion of the desolations of Jerusalem, [namely], seventy years.
- Jeremiah 25:11-12: This established the quantity of the exile (70 years).
11 'This whole land will be a desolation and a horror, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years. 12 'Then it will be when seventy years are completed I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation,' declares the LORD, 'for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans; and I will make it an everlasting desolation.
- Jeremiah 29:10-14: This established the quality of the return.
10 'For thus says the LORD, 'When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place. 11 'For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. 12 'Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13 'You will seek Me and find [Me] when you search for Me with all your heart. 14 'I will be found by you,' declares the LORD, 'and I will restore your fortunes and will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you,' declares the LORD, 'and I will bring you back to the place from where I sent you into exile.'
Discussion Question: How does Daniel treat Jeremiah 29:11 differently than most Christians today?
Most Christians treat this verse as a personal manifest for our dreams. We tend to read it as God serving our plans; Daniel read it as a summons to get on board with God's plans—even if those plans included repentance and waiting.
The very next verse contains the "trigger" that called Daniel to action:
12 'Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13 'You will seek Me and find [Me] when you search for Me with all your heart.
Daniel recognized that he had to be the one to fulfill the requirement of Jeremiah 29. He stepped into the role of the intercessor that God was waiting for.
| Jeremiah's Prophecy | Daniel's Realization | Daniel's Action |
|---|---|---|
| The exile will last 70 years. | The time is almost up. | He stops his daily routine to focus on the Word. |
| God has a plan for peace, not evil. | God is ready to restore if we are ready to repent. | He puts on sackcloth and ashes (signs of mourning). |
| "You will call upon me and pray." | I must be the one to call and pray on behalf of the nation. | He offers the "Great Prayer" of confession in verses 4–19. |
- Covenantal Language: This is the only chapter in the Book of Daniel to use the covenant name YHWH (LORD), emphasizing Daniel's appeal to God's specific relationship with Israel. He invokes God as the "great and awesome God" who keeps His covenant and lovingkindness.
- Confession Over Merit: Daniel acts as a covenant intercessor, pleading for mercy not because of the people’s righteousness, but because of God’s great compassion and for "Your own sake". He recognizes that while "righteousness belongs to You," the people are characterized by "open shame" due to their unfaithful deeds.
- The Ethical Core: Daniel’s prayer is saturated with the theology of Deuteronomy, seeing the exile as the fulfillment of the "curse" and "oath" written in the Law. This demonstrates that prophecy is never detached from the ethical obedience required by God’s standards. confessing that "all Israel has transgressed Your law" and acknowledging the "curse" poured out from the Law of Moses, Daniel was fulfilling the conditions for restoration laid out in Leviticus 26: that confession of iniquity while in exile leads to God "remembering His covenant".
An Example of How to Respond to Prophecy
Daniel serves as a covenant intercessor, pleading for mercy based on God’s great compassion rather than the people’s righteousness. He contrasts God’s inherent righteousness with the "open shame" the people brought upon themselves through their unfaithfulness.
| Element | Daniel’s Approach | The Christ Connection (Intercessor) | Significance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Identification | Uses "we" and "us" instead of "them." | Jesus was made "like his brothers in every respect" to be a merciful High Priest (Hebrews 2:17). | Both take corporate responsibility for sins they did not personally commit. |
| Confession | Acknowledges God is righteous and Israel is "shame-faced." | Jesus upholds the Father’s justice while bearing the weight of our shame. | They justify God’s judgment rather than making excuses for human failure. |
| Appeal | Petitions for mercy based on God’s character, not Israel’s merit. | Jesus secures our salvation based on His own merit and the Father’s grace. | Hope is anchored in God’s reputation and "for His own sake," not our performance. |
| Much like Daniel refused to distance himself from the exile's shame, Jesus entered into our human condition to plead our case from the inside. Jesus was tempted in every way as we are, yet remained without sin (Hebrews 4:15). |
Daniel was the fulfillment of Jeremiah 29:12. He was the specific voice God was "waiting for" to listen to and act upon. When Daniel began praying, Gabriel was ready with the answer: "At the beginning of your supplications the command was issued". Gabriel’s message of the "seventy weeks" was God’s comprehensive plan to resolve every burden Daniel had laid before Him. God's plans to give Israel a hope and a future started in direct response to Daniel’s intercessory prayer.
Discussion question: How does God's response to Daniel's prayer in chapter 9 inspire your own prayers?
When the prophets spoke about the future, their goal was never to provoke speculation about the end of the world, but to evaluate humanity's ethical response to God's commands and stimulate godly living in the present. For example, the prophet Jonah predicted the destruction of Nineveh, but the prophecy did not "come true" precisely because its purpose was ethical: the city repented, and God averted the calamity. As the scholar Benjamin Warfield noted, "all prophecy is ethical in its purpose, and that this ethical end controls not only what shall be revealed in general, but also the details of it".
Practical Application for Today
This shows that Biblical prophecy is an invitation to participate, not just a prediction to observe. When we see God's promises in Scripture, our response shouldn't be "Cool, I wonder when that will happen," but rather "Lord, how can I align my life and my prayers so that I am ready for what You are doing?"
Many believers today have adopted an "eschatology of defeat"—a pessimistic worldview that treats the earth as a sinking ship and expects the world to only get worse until Jesus fixes everything. This apocalyptic mindset often leads Christians to abandon cultural and social responsibilities, feeling that working or trying to fix the world's problems is useless.
Some people read prophecy and say, "The world is coming to an end: Give up!" But the Biblical prophets declared, "The world is coming to a beginning: Get to work!".
Studying the prophets should not lead us to scour the news for references to modern events, but to apply God's law to every area of life. The practical application for the Church today is to act as the "salt of the earth," actively working to convert, reform, and reconstruct our culture.
13 'You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty [again]? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men.
Prophecy is an absolute guarantee that history is under God's control and a summons to transform our societies by living out His justice and righteousness in the present. We can obey our calling by fulfilling the Great Commission:
19 'Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,
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