Daniel 9:11-14 “More on This Business of Doing Wrong”

 Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹¹and the all of Israel has overstepped Your law and turned aside, not hearing/obeying in Your voice, and the curse has poured out on us and the oath which [is] written in the Law of Moses, the servant of God, because we have sinned to Him. ¹²And He has confirmed His words which He spoke (intensely) against us and upon our judges who judged us and to bring on us a great evil which has not been done under the all of the heavens like it has been done in Jerusalem. ¹³Just as [it is] being written in the Law of Moses, the all of the evil in this has come on us and we have not entreated the face of the LORD our God to turn from our iniquities and to give attention in Your truth. ¹⁴The LORD watched on the evil and He brought on us because the LORD our God [is] righteous on the all of His doings which He does and we have not listened/obeyed to His voice.

I sadly think this is a passage where we’d do well to just park and ponder for a good long while. As I said before, I’m afraid this subject of sin is all but unaddressed today. Personally, I can’t change the world, but I can try to stand myself openly before the Lord and let Him teach me what He will. Jesus told the Laodiceans, “I counsel you to buy from Me white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness, and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see” (Rev. 3:18). Whether anyone else does or not, you and I can open our Bibles, sit before the Lord and say to Him, “Yes, Lord, give me Your white clothes and salve for my eyes. I do want to see!”

Let me begin with the Lord Himself. What would Daniel and his prayer teach us? I believe what he teaches us is monumental! What do I mean? What is the message of this whole book of Daniel? Is it not, “The Most High rules in the nations of men”? That truth has been (or should have been) for us a great source of hope as we go on living in the same world of constant turmoil and threats, just like Daniel. However, let us be reminded, when it comes to this subject of sin, this truth is a two-edged sword. The Lord rules. As we would take shelter under the blood of Jesus, that is an enormously comforting truth. However, if we would spit in His face, we’ll soon find out there is an entirely different understanding of that truth! In Jesus, we rejoice in the truth that He will do for us “immeasurably more than we could ask or think,” but let all the world know that when we would offend the Most High, He is just as able to reign down on us curses and miseries “immeasurably more than we could ask or think!” He is no one to be trifled with. As we’re told in Hebrews, “Our God is a consuming fire!”

What are we dealing with here? We’re dealing with the fact that our God is infinitely just. He is infinitely loving and merciful and forgiving, but let us be reminded He is also infinitely just as well and that at all times and in all ways, our God expresses all of His infinite attributes in perfect, infinite balance. What is going on in the passage before us? The Lord had entered into a covenant with the people of Israel. They promised to obey Him (“All the Lord commands us, we will do”) and He laid out very clearly for them the promise of His blessings if they would obey and the horrific threat of His cursings if they did not. Read for yourself Deuteronomy 28.

Daniel read Deuteronomy 28 and what is he saying in his prayer? “We, the people of Israel have utterly violated our covenant with You and You, Lord, have brought on us exactly the cursings You said You would.” Can anyone else see that is perfect justice? The Most High rules. He said He would…and He did. Daniel says, “Under the whole heaven, nothing has ever been done like what has been done in Jerusalem,” and what does he say next? “Just as it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us…for the Lord our God is righteous in everything He does,,,” (vv.12-14).

Our God is not like the indulgent parent who says to their child, “You stop that or we’re going home!” then says, “I told you to stop that! You stop that or no video games tonight! If you stop that, I’ll buy you an ice cream cone! … and on and on and on. No. The Most High rules. He does what He said He would do. In His world, to do right is to be blessed, to do wrong is to suffer consequences.

Of course, I can insert here that this is, in itself, the wonder of who Jesus is. What do we learn in Romans 3:25,26? “God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of His blood – to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance He had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished – He did it to demonstrate His righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the One who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.” God’s infinite justice means that, since Jesus Himself has already been punished for our sins, if we will accept His offering, then the Lord will forgive us. In a sense, He must. He is just. As He warns us, “The wages of sin is death,” but that only requires one death. Jesus’ death can be that one death, that one payment required to satisfy God’s infinite justice – and it is, if we by faith accept it.

The world stands warned. Outside of Jesus, God’s infinite perfect justice guarantees that sin will be punished – infinitely punished. It’s called hell, a place where “their worm never dies and the fire is never quenched.” However, for those of us who would take shelter under His blood, though we move into the glorious privilege of becoming the children of God, we need to recognize that He remains the same. His perfection is now expressed as our Father, rather than the Judge, but understand, He is still our Father. As Israel found out, He is no indulgent parent. He loves His children too much to let us go on sinning and self-destructing. If anything, in this world, we may find His chastening hand more severe on us than He seems to be on the world around us! And why? Because He loves us justly.

Even as Daniel observes, “Under the whole heaven nothing has ever been done like what has been done to Jerusalem,” so I would sadly suggest has been pretty much the entire history of the Jewish people. Right down to the horrors of the Holocaust, their sufferings in this world have been horrific. However, what would that teach us? It ought to teach the world that God loves His people too much to just let them sin. If only the Jewish people would pray like Daniel prays, acknowledge that it is their sins which have brought on them those horrible consequences, and turn to the Lord in personal and national repentance, the same Lord would pour out all the blessings He promised in that very chapter – Deuteronomy 28.

He is just. He is infinitely just. “The Most High rules in the nations of men.” He is no one to be trifled with. In Jesus, let us “come boldly before the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and grace to help in time of need.” May we come as “dearly loved children” to crawl into the lap of our wonderful Father, but let us come thanking Him that He loves us too much to let us just go on sinning! Let us tell Him, “Thy rod and Thy staff (both!), they comfort me!” May we happily accept His admonition, “Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons…our fathers disciplined us as they thought best, but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in His holiness” (Heb. 12:7-10).

Daniel understood and it made him who he was. Let you and I join him in worshiping the God of perfect, infinite justice, and may we too be people of faith, just like Daniel.