Must Be Important   

God Sends Gabriel 

     We want life on our terms. From grade school on, I looked forward to my eventual release from the prison of classrooms. 

     Today, I want my prayers answered yesterday. Sovereign God rules, and our lifetimes flow along his timetable. 

     Daniel has been in a foreign land, although privileged, for several years. He learns from his contemporary, Jeremiah, that captivity will last 70 years. He is so shocked (?) that he fasts, and puts on sackcloth and ashes - as troubled folks did in those days. 

     Daniel knew better than to approach God with pride or self-importance. In chapter 9:18, he prays, We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy. 

     While Daniel petitioned God - confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel - the archangel Gabriel "came to" him in some miraculous manner.

     Daniel, I have come to give you insight and understanding. ...for you are highly esteemed. Seventy sevens are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression <- this age; future age -> to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy. 

     (Not 490 years as we would say it, but 70 units of seven years)

     This was Gabriel's first of several visits to men, all events that would change the course of history to fulfill God's will. He tells Daniel the final seven years will occur separately, at a distant time. 

     Some academics think the first year might have been 457 B.C., when Ezra began rebuilding the city, decades after Daniel's time. 

Tomorrow: Jeremiah and Ezekiel with more insights