This Land Is My Land
Few Christians today
understand this point: “…
[The Lord said to Israel] the
land is mine and you are but aliens
and my tenants.” (Leviticus
25:33, insertion mine) Many people
believe that God’s promise to
Abraham is still binding, and they
believe that modern Israel is
entitled to the land that was
inhabited by the Palestinians for the
past few centuries. This is not true!
God did not grant Canaan to Israel
without conditions. (Leviticus 18;
Deuteronomy 28) In fact, the same
requirements hold true for all
nations. God owns all of Earth. He
created the continents, and through
the blood of Christ, He purchased
humanity back to Himself. (Romans
5:18) God allows nations to occupy a
parcel of land for as long as that
nation upholds principles of
righteousness. (Acts 17:26) When
rebellion within a nation becomes so
great that there is no recovery, God
cauterizes the malignancy of sin by
sending destruction to that nation.
He overthrows offending governments
and slows the degenerate process of
sin by killing of most, if not all,
of its inhabitants. God turns the
land over to another nation and the
process starts over. King
Nebuchadnezzar thought Babylon was an
invincible city, but Babylon became
decadent and rebellious, so God
opened the city gates giving the land
to the Medes and Persians in a single
night. (Daniel 5)
Part III
The prayer of Daniel
continues: “Therefore hath
the Lord watched upon the evil, and
brought it upon us: for the Lord our
God is righteous in all his works
which he doeth: for we obeyed not his
voice. And now, O Lord our God, that
hast brought thy people forth out of
the land of Egypt with a mighty hand,
and hast gotten thee renown, as at
this day; we have sinned, we have
done wickedly. O Lord, according to
all thy righteousness, I beseech
thee, let thine anger and thy fury be
turned away from thy city Jerusalem,
thy holy mountain: because for our
sins, and for the iniquities of our
fathers, Jerusalem and thy people are
become a reproach to all that are
about us.
“Now
therefore, O our God, hear the prayer
of thy servant, and his
supplications, and cause thy face to
shine upon thy sanctuary that is
desolate, for the Lord’s sake. O
my God, incline thy ear, and hear;
open thine eyes, and behold our
desolations, and the city which is
called by thy name: for we do not
present our supplications before thee
for our righteousness, but for thy
great mercies. O Lord, hear; O Lord,
forgive; O Lord, hearken and do;
defer not, for thine own sake, O my
God: for the city and thy people are
called by thy name.” (Daniel
9:14-19, KJV)
Commentary on Part III
Daniel’s prayer
and Jesus’ prayer recorded in
John 17 are the best examples of
intercessory prayer in the Bible.
Prayer coming from a contrite heart always
gains an audience with God. (Psalm
51:17; Isaiah 57:15; Isaiah 66:2) “The
Lord detests the sacrifice of the
wicked, but the prayer of the upright
pleases him.” (Proverbs
15:8)
The Bible indicates
that God answers the prayers of a
humble petitioner in one of three
ways: “Yes, No or Wait.”
(Psalm 66:18; 1 John 1:9; Hebrews
5:7) If, in His omniscient wisdom,
God says “No” or
“Wait,” He knows the
consternation His decision will
bring, so God sends peace in the
middle of the storm if we are willing
to receive it. Jesus said, “Peace
I leave with you; my peace I give
you. I do not give to you as the
world gives. Do not let your hearts
be troubled and do not be
afraid.” (John 14:27) At
best, this world offers a peace that
is temporal and fleeting. The carnal
nature is at peace when everything is
going according to its will, but a
new disturbance can rise out of
nowhere and ruin its peace in a
heartbeat. Jesus offers a different
type of peace than the world can
give. His peace transcends the
anxieties of life. (Isaiah 26:3) When
God’s peace rests on us, we have
joy and we cease worrying –
knowing that He is in control. Of
course, this does not mean that
God’s decisions will necessarily
be what we think is best; rather,
God’s peace comes from knowing
that He will make the best of the
situation. Daniel went peacefully to
the lions’ den and his three
friends went peacefully to the fiery
furnace. They were concerned, but
they had peace about their decision.
We find and receive God’s peace
“which passes all
understanding” when we submit to
the wisdom and plans of a sovereign
God. Faith in God is not easy to
maintain. Israel’s history
proves this. Without faith, it is
impossible to please Him. (Hebrews
11:6)
Part IV
“While I was
speaking and praying, confessing my
sin and the sin of my people Israel
and making my request to the Lord my
God for his holy hill [or mountain]
– while I was still in prayer,
Gabriel, the man I had seen in the
earlier vision, came to me in
swift flight about the time of the
evening sacrifice. He instructed me
and said to me, “Daniel, I have
now come to give you insight and
understanding [into the earlier
vision]. As soon as you began to
pray, an answer was given, which I
have come to tell you, for you are
highly esteemed. Therefore, consider
the message and understand the [earlier]
vision:” (Daniel 9:20-23,
italics and insertions mine.)
Commentary on Part IV
The appearance of the
angel Gabriel suddenly interrupted
Daniel’s prayer. Gabriel and
Daniel first met during the vision
recorded in Daniel 8. So, “the
vision” mentioned in verse 21
refers to the vision of the ram,
goat, and horn power which occurred
about twelve years earlier, in 550
B.C. When Gabriel appeared, he said, “As
soon as you began to pray, an answer
was given, which I have come to tell
you, for you are highly
esteemed.” Daniel’s prayer
takes about three minutes to read out
loud. Since Gabriel flew to
Daniel’s location with an answer
as soon as he began too pray, we have
to conclude that we are not far away
from our Father’s ear. (For
comparison, it takes about eight
minutes for light to travel from the
Sun to Earth.)
Gabriel’s remarks
to Daniel total less than 250 words
and the casual Bible student will
find them to be cryptic and obscure.
Although Gabriel’s words were
few, they are packed with meaning.
Since many people do not understand
the architecture of Daniel (which was
sealed up until the time of the end)
or how the Jubilee Calendar works,
many expositors have distorted and
manipulated Gabriel’s words so
that millions of Christians
anticipate a series of prophetic
events that will never occur. This is
a horrible tragedy in the making.
Bible prophecy is about to unfold in
a way that is contrary to the views
of millions of people, and when many
Christians are disappointed, they
will feel very bitter towards God and
their religious leaders who mislead
them.
The Question
Gabriel said “an
answer” was given when Daniel
began to pray, so what was
Daniel’s question? A personal
question had churned within
Daniel’s heart for twelve years.
Daniel wanted to understand the
previous vision, because he was told
during the vision of Daniel 8 that
God’s people would be destroyed
by the horn power from the north. This
information was contrary to
everything Daniel believed about
Israel’s destiny. Remember
Daniel’s mindset before he began
to pray? (See my earlier commentary
on Part I.) Daniel knew that God had
selected the descendants of Abraham
from among the nations of Earth to be
trustees of the everlasting gospel.
Daniel also understood that God had
chosen Israel to be a light for the
Gentiles. Israel was to show the
world the way to God. Even more,
Daniel knew that God had promised
Abraham that his children would be as
numerous as the stars of the sky when
God established His kingdom on Earth.
However, Daniel was disturbed that
Israel was not included in any of the
previous visions! Nothing was
included about Israel in the visions
of Daniel 2 or Daniel 7, and 8
indicates that God’s people
would be destroyed by the horn power:
“He [the horn power] will
destroy the mighty men and the holy
people.” (Daniel 8:24)
Daniel was a devout
Jew and he had absorbed a very strong
prophetic paradigm as he grew up. In
Daniel’s mind, there was no
question that his people would
play a prominent role when God set up
His kingdom on Earth. Jewish culture
instilled this prophetic destiny in
every child from birth and Daniel was
no exception. Daniel believed the
Jewish nation would be exalted among
the nations of the world as a kingdom
of priests. (Exodus 19:3-7) However,
reality produced a stark contrast in
Daniel’s mind. Israel was not a
kingdom of priests. Israel was once
again a nation of prisoners in a
foreign land, and to make matters
worse, there is no reference in his
previous visions to a glorious role
for the Jews. In fact, it was the
other way around. Daniel learned the
horn would destroy “the holy
people.” This information
greatly stressed the elder statesmen.
God is so wise in
everything He does. He solved two
problems with one action when He sent
Gabriel to Daniel. First, God gave
Daniel the information he wanted,
although “the answer” was
not what Daniel had hoped to hear.
Second, God ordained that
Gabriel’s words be published so
that future generations would know
about His plans for Israel.
God wanted Israel to
know that His plans were much more
inclusive than merely allowing the
Jews to inhabit Jerusalem again. God
wanted Israel to know that their
restoration was deliberate and
conditional. Israel would be given
one last chance to accomplish the
mission and purpose for which He had
called them out of Egyptian slavery,
and now, Babylonian captivity.
The Answer
Gabriel said, “I
have now come to give you insight and
understanding [into this earlier
vision]. As soon as you began to
pray, an answer was given, which I
have come to tell you, for you are
highly esteemed. Therefore, consider
the message and understand the [earlier]
vision.” (Daniel 9:22-23,
insertions mine) When Gabriel began
to speak, the angel said nothing
about Daniel’s prayer, that is,
the imminent fulfillment of
Jeremiah’s prophecy and the
release of Israel from Babylon. This
is interesting because deliverance
from Babylon was the focus of
Daniel’s prayer. Instead of
presenting details about deliverance
from Babylon, Gabriel presented a
sequence of events that integrated
the nation of Israel into the earlier
vision of Daniel 8. This sequence
of events spans 527 years (457 B.C.
– A.D. 70), and this span of
time began during the time of the ram
that Daniel saw in the previous
vision. (Daniel 8)
Plan A – Plan B
In essence, Gabriel
revealed “Plan B.” God had
a back-up plan for Israel because
Israel irreparably ruined “Plan
A” which was God’s original
plan for the nation. A new generation
of Jews were about to be freed from
captivity to do God’s will.
It is interesting to note how
deliverance from Babylon parallels
Israel’s deliverance from Egypt.
The first generation had to die
because of rebellion before God could
start with a new generation.
According to Gabriel, God had much
more planned for Israel than merely
returning the Jews to Jerusalem. God
wanted to establish His eternal
kingdom on Earth within 500 years!
This could be accomplished if
Israel fulfilled certain terms and
conditions. Consider the following
paraphrase of Gabriel’s words
(Daniel 9:24-27):
- Seventy weeks
of probationary time are
determined upon Israel to: a)
finish the years allotted for
sin on Earth, b) to bring in
atonement for sin and
establishing everlasting
righteousness, c) to seal up
the vision and its
predictions so that its
content might not be known,
and d) to anoint the Messiah.
- From the
issuing of the decree to
restore and rebuild Jerusalem
until Messiah begins Hi
ministry, there will be one
Jubilee cycle of 49 years
plus 62 weeks (434 years) for
a total of 483 years.
- In the middle
of the seventieth week,
Messiah will be rejected by
His people and be put to
death. The execution of
Messiah will confirm the
unilateral covenant of
salvation that God gave to
Adam and Eve, and Messiah
will put an end to the
sacrifices and offerings
required since the fall of
Adam and Eve.
- After
Jerusalem and the temple are
rebuilt, they will be totally
destroyed again because of
rebellion.
- Wars and
desolations have been decreed
upon the Jews and Jerusalem
until the end of time.
- The destroyer,
Lucifer, will continue his
deadly work until the end of
time.
Gabriel’s
statements are not difficult to
understand if a person has a working
knowledge of three subjects: 1)
God’s use of unilateral and
bilateral covenants with Adam and
Eve, and Abraham and his descendants;
2) the operation of God’s
Jubilee Calendar, and 3) what history
reveals about the timing of
Christ’s ministry on Earth. When
these three matters are properly
understood, the events predicted by
Gabriel were fulfilled with a
precision that is astonishing! Even
more, history confirms the alignment
of these events within the prophetic
matrix that began unfolding in Daniel
2.
(Note: A study
on unilateral and bilateral covenants
is found in the Bible study room of
this site. A study on the operation
of the Jubilee Calendar is found in
the reading room under, Great Clocks
from God.)
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