2013 william e. wenstrom, jr. bible ministries wenstrom bible ministries marion, iowa pastor-teacher...

2013 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries

Wenstrom Bible Ministries

Marion, Iowa

Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom

www.wenstrom.org

Thursday October 24, 2013

Daniel: Daniel 9:9-God is Merciful and Forgiving with Israel Even Though They Rebelled Against

Lesson # 264

Please turn in your Bibles to Daniel 9:1.

Daniel 9:1 During Darius’ first year, Ahasuerus’ son, who was from Median descent, who was made king over the Chaldeans’ kingdom- 2

during the first year of his reign, I myself, Daniel understood by means of the scrolls the specific number of years which the word of the Lord communicated to Jeremiah the prophet for

completing devastating Jerusalem-seventy years.

3 Therefore, I devoted my full attention to my Lord, the one and only God by repeatedly

presenting prayer request in the form of pleas for mercy while fasting with sackcloth as well as

ashes.

4 Indeed, I caused myself to enter into prayer to the Lord my God. Specifically, I caused myself to enter into confession and said, “O my Lord, the one and only God, the Great One yes the

Awesome One, who is faithful to His covenant because of His unconditional love on behalf of those who love Him, namely on behalf of those who conscientiously observe His commands,

5 we have sinned, thus we have done wrong so that we have been condemned as guilty because we have rebelled. Specifically we have deviated from Your commands, that is, from Your laws.

6 Furthermore, to our own detriment, we never paid attention to Your servants, the prophets who spoke by Your authority to and for the

benefit of our kings as well as our leaders and in addition our ancestors, yes, to and for the

benefit of all the people belonging to the land.

7 You are righteous my Lord but we are publicly disgraced as is the case this very day. To the

detriment of the Judean people as well as to the detriment of Jerusalem’s inhabitants likewise to the detriment of all Israel, those nearby as well as those far way in all the countries where You

have driven them because of their unfaithfulness which they perpetrated against You.

8 We are publicly disgraced Lord, to the detriment of our kings, to the detriment of our

leaders as well as to the detriment of our ancestors because we have sinned against You.”

(Author’s translation)

Daniel 9:9 “To the Lord our God belong compassion and forgiveness, for we have

rebelled against Him.” (NASB95)

“To the Lord” is expressing God’s sovereign authority over Israel and all of creation as well as the personal covenant relationship between Daniel

and the God of Israel.

It also expresses the fact that compassion and forgiveness belong to the God of Israel or in other words, Daniel is saying that as to His character and

nature, God is compassionate and forgiving.

“Our God” indicates that he is appealing to the Lord to sovereignly intervene and restore to the land of Israel and Jerusalem the exiled Jews in

Babylon and around the world at the time.

“Compassion” is the noun rǎ∙ḥǎmîm (ַר�ֲח�ִמ�ים) (rakh-am), which literally means “acts of mercy” or

“merciful acts.”

Therefore, Daniel is literally saying that acts of mercy belong to God but idiomatically, he is saying

that as to His nature, God is merciful.

So this word describes God as compassionate towards sinners in the sense that He pardons them by withholding judgment, which is illustrated with

eternal salvation when God the Father does not judge the sinner when they believe in His Son Jesus

Christ.

With regards to Israel, God withholds judgment in the sense that He does not completely wipe out the

nation of Israel because He loves the nation.

He withholds judgment toward Israel when they repent by confessing their sins and obey Him.

The articular construction of this noun indicates that this compassion is unique to God since it is rooted in divine essence and in particular it is

rooted in His attribute of love.

Ephesians 2:1-7 teaches us that God’s attribute of love causes Him to be “merciful” meaning that God is compassionate towards His enemies and pardons

them when they believe in Jesus Christ.

There are many examples in the Scriptures of divine mercy being expressed towards different

individuals and nations throughout history.

Ezra and the Jews returning from their Babylonian captivity were also beneficiaries of the Lord’s

mercy (Ezr. 9:13).

The Lord was time and time again merciful to the rebellious Exodus generation (Neh. 9:17, 31; Ps.

78:38).

His mercy has been, is and will be expressed towards every believer in every dispensation who executes the Lord’s plan for their dispensation (Ps.

103:11).

His compassion will be expressed towards Israel in the future when they will be regathered from

throughout the entire world and restored as client nation to God during the Millennium (Dt. 30:3).

The Lord expressed His mercy towards Israel in the past by sending prophets to warn them of the

impending fifth cycle of discipline if they did not repent and adhere to the Law (2 Ch. 36:15).

“Forgiveness” is the noun selî·ḥā(h) (הִל�יֲח -sel) (ְס�ee-khaw´), which literally means “forgivenesses” or

“acts of forgiveness.”

Therefore, Daniel is literally saying that acts of forgiveness belong to God but idiomatically, he is

saying that as to His nature, God is forgiving.

God is forgiving because of His attribute of love.

The articular construction of this noun indicates that this forgiveness is unique to God since it is rooted in divine essence and in particular it is

rooted in His attribute of love.

The believer is both the object and the subject of forgiveness.

At the moment of conversion the believer received the forgiveness of his sins in the positional sense

(cf. Ephesians 1:7).

After conversion the believer is commanded to forgive because God has forgiven him (Eph. 4:32;

Co. 3:13).

The believer cannot experience the forgiveness of sins and be restored to fellowship, if he does not

forgive others according to Matthew 6:14-15 because not forgiving others is a sin.

After conversion, the believer “experiences” the forgiveness of sins when he confesses any known

sin to the Father (1 John 1:9; Psalm 32:1-4).

Based upon the merits of the unique voluntary substitutionary spiritual and physical deaths of

Christ on the cross, the Father is faithful and just to forgive the believer and restores the believer to

fellowship with Himself.

“For we have rebelled against Him” is a concessive clause meaning that God is merciful and forgiving “even though” or “despite the fact that”

Israel rebelled against Him.

It denotes that “although” Israel rebelled against Him, God is merciful and compassionate.

Daniel 9:9 “My Lord, our God is merciful as well as forgiving even though we have rebelled

against Him.” (Author’s translation)

After listing the charges and the indictment against Israel in Daniel 9:5-8, here in verse 9 Daniel says to God that He is merciful and forgiving even though

Israel rebelled against Him.

God is merciful and forgiving with Israel because of His attribute of love.

Those in Israel who repent by confessing their sins will receive forgiveness of sins and mercy in the

sense that God will withhold judgment and discipline in order to restore the repentant sinner to

fellowship with Himself.

Daniel knew this about God because he was a student of the Scriptures.

He could see from the book of Exodus that as to His nature, God is forgiving and merciful.

The exodus generation under Moses rebelled against Moses’ authority and God’s authority many

times, yet God did not destroy completely the nation.

Instead in response to Moses’ intercession, God forgave Israel and withheld judgment by not wiping

out the nation completely (cf. Exodus 32-34).

The fact that God disciplined the nation of Israel by sending her into exile for seventy years in Babylon did not mean that God was withholding mercy and

forgiveness from Israel.

However, it did mean that because He is also righteous, God punished Israel’s unrepentant sin

and rebellion and disobedience.

The fact that God did not wipe out completely the nation but instead left a faithful remnant is further

evidence that God is merciful and forgiving.

So Daniel is saying that God always treats Israel better than she deserves.

God’s love is “’magnanimous” meaning that God is generous in forgiving insults and injuries without being vindictive and becoming involved in petty

resentfulness.

So magnanimity is related to forgiveness (Col. 3:13-14).

Daniel is asking God to be magnanimous to Israel.

Israel doesn’t have a leg to stand on in relation to God.

They must appeal to God’s merciful and forgiving character and nature if they are to have any hope of

a future.

Israel has no excuses.

They are responsible for their plight.

Yet, because of his knowledge of God’s character and nature which he acquired through his Old

Testament Scriptures such as the Law, Daniel knew that there is always hope for Israel and in fact a confident expectation of a bright future for the

nation because God is magnanimous and merciful and forgiving.

2013 william e. wenstrom, jr. bible ministries wenstrom bible ministries marion, iowa pastor-teacher...

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