Result of departing God's word (Daniel 9:5-10)

Result of departing God's word (Daniel 9:5-10)

 

Intro)

In the old testament book of Psalm 107:10-12 says,  ‘Those who sat in darkness and in the shadow of death,
Bound^[b] in affliction and irons—
¹¹ Because they rebelled against the words of God,
And ^[c]despised the counsel of the Most High,
¹² Therefore He brought down their heart with labor;
They fell down, and there was none to help.’

 

  This means when someone experiences spiritual darkness is because that one has sinned in front of God. This can result by someone else’s sin as well, but this is special solution that God provides us to lower our selves through hardships and return our hearts to him.

 

 Daniel chapter 9 is about result in sin. Especially today’s verse is about how Israel suffers from their ancestor’s sin.

 

Therefore, Daniel records the sin from other generation as if it’s his own sin. However, he did not complain about his people’s sin, but prayed to God that this happened, because his people failed to please God.

Then, what is the sin of Israel that Daniel confessed? There are three sins.)

 

Body) 

 

1. Sin that departs God’s law and glorify God. 

⁵ we have sinned and committed iniquity, we have done wickedly and rebelled, even by departing from Your precepts and Your judgments. 

People of Israel didn’t depend on God, reject his words, sinned, committed crimes, and worship idolatries. Israel is people who are called to be glorifying God, but they insulted God by not disobeying and committed all different kinds of crimes. God once gave them special treatment that no other people received before, but they repaid God’s grace with insult. 

 

God is not who would ask too much. However, it isn’t too easy to follow God’s law. For example, until we are used to driving law following the law that is not comfortable to us can be work, but when we are cautious to obey the law we will be able to stay safe on the road. However, Israel disobeyed God’s law, so as result they lost their country, worked as slave for 70 years. At this moment Daniel was captured, but he was repenting all sins for his people. This is because he was a chosen prophet by God.

 

B) Sin that avoid listening to prophet’s word.

 

 ‘ ⁶ Neither have we heeded Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings and our princes, to our fathers and all the people of the land.’’

The reason why Israel collapsed was because people of Israel ignored and reject God’s warnings and Prophet Daniel’s voice.

Matter fact, God knows our weakness and limits. Also knows that we tend to go to wrong path, therefore God choose prophets to help us to get to right path. However, people of Israel insulted God’s warm heart by physically assaulting prophet that is relaying God’s message. Sometimes prophet would get killed from violence act. 

Daniel says “⁷ O Lord, righteousness belongs to You, but to us shame of face, as it is this day—to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, those near and those far off in all the countries to which You have driven them, because of the unfaithfulness which they have committed against You. ⁸ O Lord, to us belongs shame of face, to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, because we have sinned against You. ⁹ To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against Him.”

 

 Although Israel fell as country and spent 7 years as slave of Babylon, but there is no reason for God to be blamed for their sin.

 

We have to learn that when you face hardships in life or as group, you need to ask yourself what is the reason before you blame others. Ask yourself that ‘why am I in this hardship? What caused our relationship apart with God? What kind of sins caused dragged our churches, nation, and people?’

 

1. Sin departs God’s word

As Daniel’s prayer goes his understanding gets deeper.

^‘10 We have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in His laws, which He set before us by His servants the prophets. ¹¹ Yes, all Israel has transgressed Your law, and has departed so as not to obey Your voice; therefore the curse and the oath written in the Law of Moses the servant of God have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against Him.’  Right before Israel fell, Prophet Daniel gave messages of God desperately, but people of Israel did not care to listen. So, they fell.

     

 

In Jesus era Israel didn’t listen to Jesus either, which is recorded in Matthew 23:29-36.

²⁹ “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets and ^[m]adorn the monuments of the righteous,³⁰ and say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.’

³¹ “Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. ³² Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers’ guilt. ³³ Serpents, brood^[n] of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell? ³⁴ Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, ³⁵ that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth,from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.³⁶ Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.

As prophecy people of Israel hang Jesus to death on the cross.

How is our world now we are living in? Characteristic of sin is when first committing crime it is fearful, but repetitively committing after one another sin will make that fear into boldness and senseless. 

 

 However, there is a day the world will end. There is movie called ‘the highwaymen outlaw Bonnie and Clyde’ this is a movie is about a story of infamous duo criminals in 1930. They committed endless murder and bank robbery, but justice system couldn’t handle them. Later on, police reached to a man that has close relationship with Bonnie and Clyde and set up a trap. The man act like the car was broken down and asks Bonnie and Clyde to help, as they approach cops in ambush fired hundreds of bullets. Bonnie and Clyde died with hundreds of bullet holes in their bodies. Like so, the evil will face disastrous ending.

 

 

Conc)

 

Everyone, today there is common lesson we can learn from either you are man of God or not.

This time let’s think about if we are ignoring, disliking what prophecy says through bible or rejecting Jesus as our savior? And if you have Jesus as your king in your heart or something else is taking king’s throne in your heart. Let’s think about it.

 

081019 pastor; Ik sun Ahn