December 12th
One of the very first moments in God’s Story that children often learn is centered on a man named Daniel. There was a time in which Daniel, because of his faithfulness to God, was forced into a pit full of hungry lions. God protected him. The lions didn’t eat him! It is a great reminder of God’s own faithfulness. Rarely do we connect Daniel’s story with the story of Christmas.
But we should.
In the ninth chapter of the Book of Daniel, we read a prayer Daniel was praying to God. He was praying for God to restore Jerusalem to its former glory. To heal His people, renew their spirit, and give them His favor. Daniel knew that God had promised a 70-year exile to His unfaithful people. But after those 70 years were completed, God had promised to return them and restore them. Daniel was ready for God to get started.
As Daniel prayed, God sent the angel Gabriel to Daniel. Here is what Gabriel said:
“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 Place. “Know and understand this: From the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens.’ Daniel 9:24-27
Ancient Hebrew culture was, of course, different from our present culture. To you and me, a week means seven 24-hour days. To ancient Hebrews, “weeks” referred to a unit of seven. Sometimes it referred to a unit of seven days. Sometimes it referred to a unit of seven years. Understanding this, Gabriel was giving a very narrow window of time for the coming One. It was almost like Gabriel was putting the date for Christmas on the calendar.
The time from when God’s people were given the orders to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem (Nehemiah 2:1-8) until the coming of the Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace…would be 483 years!
The math (69 units of seven years, or “seventy sevens” plus “sixty-two sevens”), plus historical records, would put the end of those 483 years to be around 28-33 AD. That would have been the approximate time that Jesus came riding into Jerusalem, ushering in the week of His crucifixion. The week He gave His life for us!
The message given to Daniel was that God was on His way. And He was coming sooner than anyone realized.
Take a moment now to remember the prayers that you stopped praying. Maybe you gave them up because you were discouraged. Maybe you were distracted. Maybe you didn’t want to feel foolish for still believing. Remember those prayers and begin again. When we pray, in faith, we can trust that God is listening. He is not late. He is preparing to make the move. Maybe His heart is ready but He is waiting on us to ready our hearts.
Come Lord Jesus, come.