Advent: December 14, 2024
Advent: December 14
Daniel 9:17-19 (ESV) 17 Now therefore, O our God, listen to the prayer of your servant and to his pleas for mercy, and for your own sake, O Lord, make your face to shine upon your sanctuary, which is desolate. 18 O my God, incline your ear and hear. Open your eyes and see our desolations, and the city that is called by your name. For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy. 19 O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive. O Lord, pay attention and act. Delay not, for your own sake, O my God, because your city and your people are called by your name.”
Advent is a season of longing, a time when we remember the first coming of Jesus and anticipate His return. Daniel’s prayer in Daniel 9:17-19 echoes the deep yearning of a heart longing for God’s intervention. It is a cry of faith in the midst of desolation, one that points us to the mercy and faithfulness of God.
Daniel’s prayer comes after he has been meditating on the prophet Jeremiah’s words about the exile and the promised return. His heart is burdened for his people and the glory of God’s name, which has been diminished by Israel’s sin and exile.
How can Daniel be sure God hears and will have compassion on his people? Is it because they are doing better? Is it because they are now free of all sin? Is it because they have compiled enough merit to get God’s favorable attention?
Daniel’s prayer is honest and rooted in the rich truth that the basis of our payers being answered is found in God’s great mercy to keep his word not our righteousness.
Daniel says explicitly that he presents their petitions before God because of his mercy: “For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy.” – Daniel 9:18
Wow.
Here is one of those moments where God’s word prepares us for the Advent of Jesus and his work to present himself as the sacrifice and continual atonement for our sins so that we can experience the love of the Father for us.
God has every reason in the world to judge them for their sin, and the basis for him showing mercy in response to their prayers has nothing to do with their deserving status.
When God answers prayer and pardons sinners in the Old Testament it is because of the coming work of Jesus appropriated by the faith of those saints who were longing for God’s promised salvation.
Romans 3:21-26 tells us how God goes about pardoning sinners and answering prayer as they seek his help through faith. God passes over their sin until Jesus comes to pay for that sin on the cross so that God is just in judging their sin at the cross and the justifier of people who trust in Jesus’ work on the cross. Therefore, the basis of answered prayers is not their righteousness, but the righteousness of Jesus.
Wow.
Daniel, moved by the Holy Spirit sees the mercy of God available in the future work of the cross of Christ and preaches to us beforehand about how we are justified and how we get prayers answered.
We appeal to God on the righteousness of Jesus. We appeal to God based on the fame and reputation of Jesus. We don’t appeal to God based on how good we are doing.
How is this possible? This is possible because of the Advent of Jesus to die in our place for our sin so that he might become the all-sufficient, merciful, and faithful high priest for the people of God.
Pray confidently in the righteousness of Christ our Great High Priest.