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<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
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on the Whole Bible</h1>
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[<A HREF="MHC00000.HTM">Table of Contents</A>]<BR>
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1712)
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<!-- (Begin Body) -->
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<CENTER>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>D A N I E L.</B></FONT>
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<BR>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+2>CHAP. IX.</FONT>
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<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=50>
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</CENTER>
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<FONT SIZE=-1>
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<P>
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In this chapter we have,
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I. Daniel's prayer for the restoration of the Jews who were in
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captivity, in which he confesses sin, and acknowledges the justice of
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God in their calamities, but pleads God's promises of mercy which he
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had yet in store for them,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+9:1-19">ver. 1-19</A>.
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II. An immediate answer sent him by an angel to his prayer, in which,
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1. He is assured of the speedy release of the Jews out of their
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captivity,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+9:20-23">ver. 20-23</A>.
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And,
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2. He is informed concerning the redemption of the world by Jesus
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Christ (of which that was a type), what should be the nature of it and
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when it should be accomplished,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+9:24-27">ver. 24-27</A>.
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And it is the clearest, brightest, prophecy of the Messiah, in all the
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Old Testament.</P>
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</FONT>
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<A NAME="Da9_1"> </A>
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<A NAME="Da9_2"> </A>
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<A NAME="Da9_3"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec1"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Daniel's Confession and Prayer.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 538.</TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>1 In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed
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of the Medes, which was made king over the realm of the
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Chaldeans;
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2 In the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by books
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the number of the years, whereof the word of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> came to
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Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in
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the desolations of Jerusalem.
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3 And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and
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supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes:
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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We left Daniel, in the close of the foregoing chapter, employed in the
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<I>king's business;</I> but here we have him employed in better
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business than any king had for him, speaking to God and hearing from
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him, not for himself only, but for the church, whose mouth he was to
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God, and for whose use the <I>oracles</I> of God were <I>committed to
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him,</I> relating to the days of the Messiah. Observe,
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1. When it was that Daniel had this communion with God
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+9:1"><I>v.</I> 1</A>),
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<I>in the first year of Darius the Mede,</I> who was newly made king of
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the Chaldeans, Babylon being conquered by him and his nephew, or
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grandson, Cyrus. In this year the seventy years of the Jews' captivity
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ended, but the decree for their release was not yet issued out; so that
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this address of Daniel's to God seems to have been ready in that year,
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and, probably, before he was cast into the lions' den. And one powerful
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inducement, perhaps, it was to him then to keep so close to the duty of
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prayer, though it cost him his life, that he had so lately experienced
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the benefit and comfort of it.
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2. What occasioned his address to God by prayer
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+9:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>):
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He <I>understood by books</I> that seventy years was the time fixed for
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the continuance of <I>the desolations of Jerusalem.</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+9:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>.
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The <I>book</I> by which he understood this was the book of the
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prophecies of Jeremiah, in which he found it expressly foretold
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+29:10">Jer. xxix. 10</A>),
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<I>After seventy years be accomplished in Babylon</I> (and therefore
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they must be reckoned from the first captivity, in the <I>third
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year</I> of Jehoiakim, which Daniel had reason to remember by a good
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token, for it was in that captivity that he was carried away himself,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+1:1"><I>ch.</I> i. 1</A>),
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<I>I will visit you, and perform my good word towards you.</I> It was
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likewise said
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+25:11">Jer. xxv. 11</A>),
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<I>This whole land shall be seventy years a desolation</I>
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(<I>chorbath</I>), the same word that Daniel here uses for the
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<I>desolations of Jerusalem,</I> which shows that he had that prophecy
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before him when he wrote this. Though Daniel was himself a great
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prophet, and one that was well acquainted with the visions of God, yet
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he was a diligent student in the scripture, and thought it no
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disparagement to him to consult Jeremiah's prophecies. He was a great
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politician, and prime-minister of state to one of the greatest monarchs
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upon earth, and yet could find both heart and time to converse with the
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word of God. The greatest and best men in the world must not think
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themselves above their Bibles.
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3. How serious and solemn his address to God was when he understood
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that the seventy years were just upon expiring (for it appears, by
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Ezekiel's dating of his prophecies, that they exactly computed the
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years of their captivity), then he <I>set his face to seek God by
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prayer.</I> Note, God's promises are intended, not to supersede, but to
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excite and encourage, our prayers; and, when we see the day of the
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performance of them approaching, we should the more earnestly plead
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them with God and put them in suit. So Daniel did here; he prayed three
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times a day, and, no doubt, in every prayer made mention of the
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desolations of Jerusalem; yet he did not think that enough, but even in
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the midst of his business set time apart for an extraordinary
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application to Heaven on Jerusalem's behalf. God had said to Ezekiel
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that though Daniel, among others, stood before him, his intercession
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should not prevail to prevent the judgment
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+14:14">Ezek. xiv. 14</A>),
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yet he hopes, now that <I>the warfare is accomplished</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+40:2">Isa. xl. 2</A>),
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his prayer may be heard for the removing of the judgment. When the day
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of deliverance dawns it is time for God's praying people to bestir
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themselves; something extraordinary is then expected and required from
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them, besides their daily sacrifice. Now <I>Daniel sought by prayer and
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supplications,</I> for fear lest the sins of the people should provoke
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him to defer their deliverance longer than was intended, or rather that
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the people might be prepared by the grace of God for the deliverance
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now that the providence of God was about to work it out for them. Now
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observe,
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(1.) The intenseness of his mind in this prayer; <I>I set my face unto
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the Lord God to seek him,</I> which denotes the fixedness of his
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thoughts, the firmness of his faith, and the fervour of his devout
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affections, in the duty. We must, in prayer, set God before us, an set
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ourselves as in his presence; to him we must <I>direct our prayer</I>
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and must <I>look up.</I> Probably, in token of his setting his face
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towards God, he did, as usual, set his face towards Jerusalem, to
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affect his own heart the more with the desolations of it.
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(2.) The mortification of his body in this prayer. In token of his deep
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humiliation before God for his own sins, and the sins of his people,
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and the sense he had of his unworthiness, when he prayed he
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<I>fasted,</I> put on <I>sackcloth,</I> and lay in <I>as hes,</I> the
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more to affect himself with the desolations of Jerusalem, which he was
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praying for the repair of, and to make himself sensible that he was now
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about an extraordinary work.</P>
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<A NAME="Da9_4"> </A>
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<A NAME="Da9_5"> </A>
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<A NAME="Da9_6"> </A>
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<A NAME="Da9_7"> </A>
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<A NAME="Da9_8"> </A>
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<A NAME="Da9_9"> </A>
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<A NAME="Da9_10"> </A>
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<A NAME="Da9_11"> </A>
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<A NAME="Da9_12"> </A>
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<A NAME="Da9_13"> </A>
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<A NAME="Da9_14"> </A>
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<A NAME="Da9_15"> </A>
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<A NAME="Da9_16"> </A>
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<A NAME="Da9_17"> </A>
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<A NAME="Da9_18"> </A>
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<A NAME="Da9_19"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec2"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Daniel's Confession and Prayer; Daniel's Prayer for His People.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 538.</TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>4 And I prayed unto the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> my God, and made my confession,
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and said, O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the
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covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep
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his commandments;
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5 We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done
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wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts
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and from thy judgments:
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6 Neither have we hearkened unto thy servants the prophets,
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which spake in thy name to our kings, our princes, and our
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fathers, and to all the people of the land.
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7 O Lord, righteousness <I>belongeth</I> unto thee, but unto us
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confusion of faces, as at this day; to the men of Judah, and to
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the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto all Israel, <I>that are</I>
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near, and <I>that are</I> far off, through all the countries whither
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thou hast driven them, because of their trespass that they have
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trespassed against thee.
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8 O Lord, to us <I>belongeth</I> confusion of face, to our kings, to
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our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against
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thee.
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9 To the Lord our God <I>belong</I> mercies and forgivenesses,
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though we have rebelled against him;
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10 Neither have we obeyed the voice of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> our God, to
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walk in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the
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prophets.
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11 Yea, all Israel have transgressed thy law, even by
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departing, that they might not obey thy voice; therefore the
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curse is poured upon us, and the oath that <I>is</I> written in the
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law of Moses the servant of God, because we have sinned against
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him.
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12 And he hath confirmed his words, which he spake against us,
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and against our judges that judged us, by bringing upon us a
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great evil: for under the whole heaven hath not been done as hath
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been done upon Jerusalem.
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13 As <I>it is</I> written in the law of Moses, all this evil is
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come upon us: yet made we not our prayer before the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> our God,
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that we might turn from our iniquities, and understand thy truth.
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14 Therefore hath the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> watched upon the evil, and brought
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it upon us: for the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> our God <I>is</I> righteous in all his works
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which he doeth: for we obeyed not his voice.
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15 And now, O Lord our God, that hast brought thy people forth
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out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and hast gotten thee
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renown, as at this day; we have sinned, we have done wickedly.
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16 O Lord, according to all thy righteousness, I beseech thee,
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let thine anger and thy fury be turned away from thy city
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Jerusalem, thy holy mountain: because for our sins, and for the
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iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and thy people <I>are become</I>
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a reproach to all <I>that are</I> about us.
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17 Now therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of thy servant,
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and his supplications, and cause thy face to shine upon thy
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sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord's sake.
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18 O my God, incline thine ear, and hear; open thine eyes, and
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behold our desolations, and the city which is called by thy name:
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for we do not present our supplications before thee for our
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righteousnesses, but for thy great mercies.
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19 O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, hearken and do; defer
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not, for thine own sake, O my God: for thy city and thy people
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are called by thy name.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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We have here Daniel's prayer to God as his God, and the confession
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which he joined with that prayer: I <I>prayed, and made my
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confession.</I> Note, In every prayer we must make confession, not only
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of the sins we have been guilty of (which we commonly call
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<I>confession</I>), but of our faith in God and dependence upon him,
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our sorrow for sin and our resolutions against it. It must be our
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confession, must be the language of our own convictions and that which
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we ourselves do heartily subscribe to.</P>
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<P>
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Let us go over the several parts of this prayer, which we have reason
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to think that he offered up much more largely than is here recorded,
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these being only the heads of it.</P>
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<P>
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I. Here is his humble, serious, reverent address to God,
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1. As a God to be feared, and whom it is our duty always to stand in
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awe of: "<I>O Lord! the great and dreadful God,</I> that art able to
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deal with the greatest and most terrible of the church's enemies."
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2. As a God to be trusted, and whom it is our duty to depend upon and
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put a confidence in: <I>Keeping the covenant and mercy to those that
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love him,</I> and, as a proof of their love to him, <I>keep his
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commandments.</I> If we fulfil our part of the bargain, he will not
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fail to fulfil his. He will be to his people as good as his word, for
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he keeps covenant with them, and not one iota of his promise shall fall
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to the ground; nay, he will be better than his word, for he keeps mercy
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to them, something more than was in the covenant. It was proper for
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Daniel to have his eye upon God's mercy now that he was to lay before
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him the miseries of his people, and upon God's covenant now that he was
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to sue for the performance of a promise. Note, We should, in prayer,
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look both at God's greatness and his goodness, his majesty and mercy in
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conjunction.</P>
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<P>
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II. Here is a penitent confession of sin, the procuring cause of all
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the calamities which his people had for so many years been groaning
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under,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+9:5,6"><I>v.</I> 5, 6</A>.
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When we seek to God for national mercies we ought to humble ourselves
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before him for national sins. These are the sins Daniel here laments;
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and we may here observe the variety of words he makes use of to set
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forth the greatness of their provocations (for it becomes penitents to
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lay load upon themselves): <I>We have sinned</I> in many particular
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instances, nay, <I>we have committed iniquity,</I> we have driven a
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trade of sin, <I>we have done wickedly</I> with a hard heart and a
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stiff neck, and herein we have <I>rebelled,</I> have taken up arms
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against the King of kings, his crown and dignity. Two things aggravated
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their sins:--
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1. That they had violated the express laws God had given them by Moses:
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"We have <I>departed from they precepts and from thy judgments,</I> and
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have not conformed to them. And
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+9:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>)
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<I>we have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God.</I>" That which
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speaks the nature of sin, that it is <I>the transgression of the
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law,</I> does sufficiently speak the malignity of it; if sin be made to
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<I>appear sin,</I> it cannot be made to appear worse; its
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<I>sinfulness</I> is its greatest hatefulness,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+7:13">Rom. vii. 13</A>.
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God has <I>set his laws before us</I> plainly and fully, as the copy we
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should write after, yet <I>we have not walked in</I> them, but turned
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aside, or turned back.
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2. That they had slighted the fair warnings God had given them by the
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prophets, which in every age he had sent to them, <I>rising up betimes
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and sending them</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+9:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>):
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"<I>We have not hearkened to thy servants the prophets,</I> who have
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put us in mind of thy laws, and of the sanctions of them; though they
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<I>spoke in thy name,</I> we have not regarded them; though they
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delivered their message faithfully, with a universal respect to all
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orders and degrees of men, to <I>our kings and princes,</I> whom they
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had the courage and confidence to speak to, <I>to our fathers,</I> and
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to all the <I>people of the land,</I> whom they had the condescension
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and compassion to speak to, yet <I>we have not hearkened to them,</I>
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nor heard them, or not heeded them, or not complied with them." Mocking
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God's messengers, and despising his words, were Jerusalem's
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measure-filling sins,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ch+36:16">2 Chron. xxxvi. 16</A>.
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This confession of sin is repeated here, and much insisted on;
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penitents should again and again accuse and reproach themselves till
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they find their hearts thoroughly broken. <I>All Israel have
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transgressed thy law,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+9:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>.
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It is <I>Israel,</I> God's professing people, who have known better,
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and from whom better is expected--Israel, God's peculiar people, whom
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|
he has surrounded with his favours; not here and there one, but it is
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|
<I>all</I> Israel, the generality of them, the body of the people, that
|
|
<I>have transgressed by departing</I> and getting out of the way,
|
|
<I>that they might not</I> hear, and so might not <I>obey, thy
|
|
voice.</I> This disobedience is that which all true penitents do most
|
|
sensibly charge upon themselves
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+9:14"><I>v.</I> 14</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>We obeyed not his voice, and</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+9:15"><I>v.</I> 15</A>)
|
|
|
|
<I>we have sinned, we have done wickedly.</I> Those that would find
|
|
mercy must thus confess their sins.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
III. Here is a self-abasing acknowledgment of the righteousness of God
|
|
in all the judgments that were brought upon them; and it is evermore
|
|
the way of true penitents thus to justify God, that he may be clear
|
|
when he judges, and the sinner may bear all the blame.
|
|
|
|
1. He acknowledges that it was sin that plunged them in all these
|
|
troubles. Israel is <I>dispersed</I> through <I>all the countries</I>
|
|
about, and so weakened, impoverished, and exposed. God's hand has
|
|
<I>driven them</I> hither and thither, some <I>near,</I> where they are
|
|
known and therefore the more ashamed, others <I>afar off,</I> where
|
|
they are not known and therefore the more abandoned, and it is
|
|
<I>because of their trespass that they have trespassed</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+9:7"><I>v.</I> 7</A>);
|
|
|
|
they mingled themselves with the nations that they might be debauched
|
|
by them, and now God mingles them with the nations that they might be
|
|
stripped by them.
|
|
|
|
2. He owns the righteousness of God in it, that he had done them no
|
|
wrong in all he had brought upon them, but had dealt with them as they
|
|
deserved
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+9:7"><I>v.</I> 7</A>):
|
|
|
|
"<I>O Lord! righteousness belongs to thee;</I> we have no fault to find
|
|
with thy providence, no exceptions to make against thy judgments, for
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+9:14"><I>v.</I> 14</A>)
|
|
|
|
<I>the Lord our God is righteous in all his works which he does,</I>
|
|
even in the sore calamities we are now under, for <I>we obeyed not the
|
|
words</I> of his mouth, and therefore justly feel the weight of his
|
|
hand." This seems to be borrowed from
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+1:18">Lam. i. 18</A>.
|
|
|
|
3. He takes notice of the fulfilling of the scripture in what was
|
|
brought upon them. <I>In very faithfulness he afflicted them;</I> for
|
|
it was according to the word which he had spoken. <I>The curse is
|
|
poured upon us and the oath,</I> that is, the curse that was ratified
|
|
by an oath in the law of Moses,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+9:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>.
|
|
|
|
This further justifies God in their troubles, that he did but inflict
|
|
the penalty of the law, which he had given them fair notice of. It was
|
|
necessary for the preserving of the honour of God's veracity, and
|
|
saving his government from contempt, that the threatenings of his word
|
|
should be accomplished, otherwise they look but as bugbears, nay, they
|
|
seem not at all frightful. Therefore <I>he has confirmed his words
|
|
which spoke against us</I> because we broke his laws, <I>and against
|
|
our judges that judged us</I> because they did not according to the
|
|
duty of their place punish the breach of God's laws. He told them many
|
|
a time that if they did not execute justice, as terrors to
|
|
evil-workers, he must and would take the work into his own hands; and
|
|
now he has <I>confirmed</I> what he said <I>by bringing upon us a great
|
|
evil,</I> in which the princes and judges themselves deeply shared.
|
|
Note, It contributes very much to our profiting by the <I>judgments of
|
|
God's hand</I> to observe how exactly they agree with the <I>judgments
|
|
of his mouth.</I>
|
|
|
|
4. He aggravates the calamities they were in, lest they should seem,
|
|
having been long used to them, to make light of them, and so to lose
|
|
the benefit of the chastening of the Lord by despising it. "It is not
|
|
some of the common troubles of life that we are complaining of, but
|
|
that which has in it some special marks of divine displeasure; for
|
|
<I>under the whole heaven has not been done as has been done upon
|
|
Jerusalem,</I>"
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+9:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>.
|
|
|
|
It is Jeremiah's lamentation in the name of the church, <I>Was ever
|
|
sorrow like unto my sorrow?</I> which must suppose another similar
|
|
question, <I>Was ever sin like unto my sin?</I>
|
|
|
|
5. He puts shame upon the whole nation, from the highest to the lowest;
|
|
and if they will say <I>Amen</I> to his prayer, as it was fit they
|
|
should if they would come in for a share in the benefit of it, they
|
|
must all put their hand upon their mouth, and their mouth in the dust:
|
|
"<I>To us belongs confusion of faces as at this day</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+9:7"><I>v.</I> 7</A>);
|
|
|
|
we lie under the shame of the punishment of our iniquity, for shame is
|
|
our due." If Israel had retained their character, and had continued a
|
|
holy people, they would have been <I>high above all nations in praise,
|
|
and mane, and honour</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+26:19">Deut. xxvi. 19</A>);
|
|
|
|
but now that they have <I>sinned and done wickedly</I> confusion and
|
|
disgrace belong to them, to <I>the men of Judah and the inhabitants of
|
|
Jerusalem,</I> the inhabitants both of the country and of the city, for
|
|
they have been all alike guilty before God; it belongs to <I>all
|
|
Israel,</I> both to the two tribes, <I>that are near,</I> by the rivers
|
|
of Babylon, and to the ten tribes, <I>that are afar off,</I> in the
|
|
land of Assyria. "Confusion belongs not only to the common people of
|
|
our land, but to <I>our kings, our princes,</I> and <I>our fathers</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+9:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>),
|
|
|
|
who should have set a better example, and have used their authority and
|
|
influence for the checking of the threatening torrent of vice
|
|
profaneness."
|
|
|
|
6. He imputes the continuance of the judgment to their incorrigibleness
|
|
under it
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+9:13,14"><I>v.</I> 13, 14</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>"All this evil has come upon us,</I> and has lain long upon us,
|
|
<I>yet made we not our prayer before the Lord our God,</I> not in a
|
|
right manner, as we should have made it, <I>with a humble, lowly,
|
|
penitent, and obedient heart.</I> We have been smitten, but have not
|
|
returned to him that smote us. <I>We have not entreated the face of the
|
|
Lord our God</I>" (so the word is); "we have taken no care to make our
|
|
peace with God and reconcile ourselves to him." Daniel set his brethren
|
|
a good example of praying continually, but he was sorry to see how few
|
|
there were that followed his example; in their <I>affliction</I> it was
|
|
expected that they would <I>seek God early,</I> but they sought him
|
|
not, that they might <I>turn from their iniquities</I> and
|
|
<I>understand his truth.</I> The errand upon which afflictions are sent
|
|
is to bring men to <I>turn from their iniquities</I> and to
|
|
<I>understand God's truth;</I> so Elihu had explained them,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+36:10">Job xxxvi. 10</A>.
|
|
|
|
God by them <I>opens men's ears to discipline</I> and <I>commands that
|
|
they return from iniquity.</I> And if men were brought rightly to
|
|
<I>understand God's truth,</I> and to submit to the power and authority
|
|
of it, they would turn from the error of their ways. Now the first step
|
|
towards this is to <I>make our prayer before the Lord our God,</I> that
|
|
the affliction may be sanctified before it is removed, and that the
|
|
grace of God may go along with the providence of God, to make it answer
|
|
the end. Those who in their affliction <I>make not their prayer to
|
|
God,</I> who <I>cry not when he binds them,</I> are not likely to
|
|
<I>turn from iniquity</I> or to <I>understand his truth.
|
|
"Therefore,</I> because we have not improved the affliction, <I>the
|
|
Lord has watched upon the evil,</I> as the judge takes care that
|
|
execution be done according to the sentence. Because we have not been
|
|
melted, he has kept us still in the furnace, and <I>watched over
|
|
it,</I> to make the heat yet more intense;" for when God judges he will
|
|
overcome, and will be justified in all his proceedings.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
IV. Here is a believing appeal to the mercy of God, and to the ancient
|
|
tokens of his favour to Israel, and the concern of his own glory in
|
|
their interests.
|
|
|
|
1. It is some comfort to them (and not a little) that God has been
|
|
always ready to pardon sin
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+9:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgiveness;</I> this refers
|
|
to that proclamation of his name,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+34:6,7">Exod. xxxiv. 6, 7</A>,
|
|
|
|
<I>The Lord God, gracious and merciful, forgiving iniquity.</I> Note,
|
|
It is very encouraging to poor sinners to recollect that <I>mercies
|
|
belong to God,</I> as it is convincing and humbling to them to
|
|
recollect that righteousness belongs to him; and those who give him the
|
|
glory of his righteousness may take to themselves the comfort of his
|
|
mercies,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+62:12">Ps. lxii. 12</A>.
|
|
|
|
There are abundant mercies in God, and not only forgiveness but
|
|
<I>forgivenesses;</I> he is a <I>God of pardons</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ne+9:17">Neh. ix. 17</A>,
|
|
|
|
marg.); he <I>multiplies to pardon,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+55:7">Isa. lv. 7</A>.
|
|
|
|
<I>Though we have rebelled against him,</I> yet with him there is
|
|
mercy, pardoning mercy, even <I>for the rebellious.</I>
|
|
|
|
2. It is likewise a support to them to think that God had formerly
|
|
glorified himself by delivering them out of Egypt; so far he looks back
|
|
for the encouragement of his faith
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+9:15"><I>v.</I> 15</A>):
|
|
|
|
"<I>Thou hast</I> formerly <I>brought thy people out of Egypt with a
|
|
mighty hand,</I> and wilt thou not now with the same mighty hand bring
|
|
them out of Babylon? Were they then formed into a people, and shall
|
|
they not now be reformed and new-formed? Are they now sinful and
|
|
unworthy, and were they not so then? Are their oppressors now mighty
|
|
and haughty, and were they not so then? And has not God said the their
|
|
deliverance out of Babylon shall outshine even that out of Egypt?"
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+16:14,15">Jer. xvi. 14, 15</A>.
|
|
|
|
The force of this plea lies in that, "<I>Thou hast gotten thyself
|
|
renown,</I> hast <I>made thyself a name</I>" (so the word is) "<I>as at
|
|
this day,</I> even to this day, by bringing us out of Egypt; and wilt
|
|
thou lose the credit of that by letting us perish in Babylon? Didst
|
|
thou get a renown by that deliverance which we have so often
|
|
commemorated, and wilt thou not now get thyself a renown by this which
|
|
we have so often prayed for, and so long waited for?"</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
V. Here is a pathetic complaint of the reproach that God's people lay
|
|
under, and the ruins that God's sanctuary lay in, both which redounded
|
|
very much to the dishonour of God and the diminution of that name and
|
|
renown which God had gained by bringing them out of Egypt.
|
|
|
|
1. God's holy people were despised. By <I>their sins and the iniquities
|
|
of their fathers</I> they had profaned their crown and made themselves
|
|
despicable, and then though they are, in name and profession, God's
|
|
people, and upon that account truly great and honourable, yet they
|
|
become <I>a reproach to all that are round about them.</I> Their
|
|
neighbours laugh them to scorn, and triumph in their disgrace. Note,
|
|
<I>Sin is a reproach to any people,</I> but especially to God's people,
|
|
that have more eyes upon them and have more honour to lose than other
|
|
people.
|
|
|
|
2. God's holy place was desolate. Jerusalem, the holy city, was a
|
|
reproach
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+9:16"><I>v.</I> 16</A>)
|
|
|
|
when it lay in ruins; it was an <I>astonishment</I> and a hissing to
|
|
all that passed by. The sanctuary, the holy house, was desolate
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+9:17"><I>v.</I> 17</A>),
|
|
|
|
the altars were demolished, and all the buildings laid in ashes. Note,
|
|
The desolations of the sanctuary are the grief of all the saints, who
|
|
reckon all their comforts in this world buried in the ruins of the
|
|
sanctuary.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
VI. Here is an importunate request to God for the restoring of the poor
|
|
captive Jews to their former enjoyments again. The petition is very
|
|
pressing, for God gives us leave in prayer to wrestle with him: "<I>O
|
|
Lord! I beseech thee,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+9:16"><I>v.</I> 16</A>.
|
|
|
|
If ever thou wilt do any thing for me, do this; it is my heart's desire
|
|
and prayer. <I>Now therefore, O our God! hear the prayer of thy servant
|
|
and his supplication</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+9:17"><I>v.</I> 17</A>),
|
|
|
|
and grant an answer of peace." Now what are his petitions? What are his
|
|
requests?
|
|
|
|
1. That God would turn away his wrath from them; that is it which all
|
|
the saints dread and deprecate more than any thing: O let <I>thy anger
|
|
be turned away from thy Jerusalem, thy holy mountain!</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+9:16"><I>v.</I> 16</A>.
|
|
|
|
He does not pray for the turning again of their captivity (let the Lord
|
|
do with them as seems good in his eyes), but he prays first for the
|
|
<I>turning away of God's wrath.</I> Take away the cause, and the effect
|
|
will cease.
|
|
|
|
2. That he would lift up the light of his countenance upon them
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+9:17"><I>v.</I> 17</A>):
|
|
|
|
"<I>Cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate;</I>
|
|
return in thy mercy to us, and show that thou art reconciled to us, and
|
|
then all shall be well." Note, The shining of God's face upon the
|
|
desolations of the sanctuary is all in all towards the repair of it;
|
|
and upon that foundation it must be rebuilt. If therefore its friends
|
|
would begin their work at the right end, they must first be earnest
|
|
with God in prayer for his favour, and recommend his desolate sanctuary
|
|
to his smiles. <I>Cause thy face to shine</I> and then <I>we shall be
|
|
saved,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+80:3">Ps. lxxx. 3</A>.
|
|
|
|
3. That he would forgive their sins, and then hasten their deliverance
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+9:19"><I>v.</I> 19</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>O Lord! hear; O Lord! forgive.</I> "That the mercy prayed for may be
|
|
granted in mercy, let the sin that threatens to come between us and it
|
|
be removed: <I>O Lord! hearken and do,</I> not hearken and speak only,
|
|
but hearken and do; do that for us which none else can, and that
|
|
speedily--<I>defer not, O my God!</I>" Now that he saw the appointed
|
|
day approaching he could in faith pray that God would make haste to
|
|
them and not defer. David often prays, <I>Make haste, O God! to help
|
|
me.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
VII. Here are several pleas and arguments to enforce the petitions. God
|
|
gives us leave not only to pray, but to plead with him, which is not to
|
|
move him (he himself knows what he will do), but to move ourselves, to
|
|
excite our fervency and encourage our faith.
|
|
|
|
1. They disdain a dependence upon any righteousness of their own; they
|
|
pretend not to merit any thing at God's hand but wrath and the curse
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+9:18"><I>v.</I> 18</A>):
|
|
|
|
"<I>We do not present our supplications before thee</I> with hope to
|
|
speed <I>for our righteousness,</I> as if we were worthy to receive thy
|
|
favour for any good in us, or done by us, or could demand any thing as
|
|
a debt; we cannot insist upon our own justification, no, though we were
|
|
more righteous than we are; nay, though we knew nothing amiss of
|
|
ourselves, yet are we not thereby justified, nor <I>would we
|
|
answer,</I> but we would <I>make supplication to our Judge.</I>" Moses
|
|
had told Israel long before that, whatever God did for them, it was
|
|
<I>not for their righteousness,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+9:4,5">Deut. ix. 4, 5</A>.
|
|
|
|
And Ezekiel had of late told them that their return out of Babylon
|
|
would be <I>not for their sakes,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+36:22,32">Ezek. xxxvi. 22, 32</A>.
|
|
|
|
Note, Whenever we come to God for mercy we must lay aside all conceit
|
|
of, and confidence in, our own righteousness.
|
|
|
|
2. They take their encouragement in prayer from God only, as knowing
|
|
that his reasons of mercy are fetched from within himself, and
|
|
therefore from him we must borrow all our pleas for mercy, and so give
|
|
honour to him when we are suing for grace and mercy from him.
|
|
|
|
(1.) "Do it <I>for thy own sake</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+9:19"><I>v.</I> 19</A>),
|
|
|
|
for the accomplishment of thy own counsel, the performance of thy own
|
|
promise, and the manifestation of thy own glory." Note, God will do his
|
|
own work, not only in his own way and time, but for his own sake, and
|
|
so we must take it.
|
|
|
|
(2.) "Do it <I>for the Lord's sake,</I> that is, for the Lord Christ's
|
|
sake," for the sake of the Messiah promised, who is the Lord (so the
|
|
most and best of our Christian interpreters understand it), <I>for the
|
|
sake of Adonai,</I> so David called the Messiah
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+110:1">Ps. cx. 1</A>),
|
|
|
|
and mercy is prayed for for the church for the sake of the <I>Son of
|
|
man</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+80:17">Ps. lxxx. 17</A>),
|
|
|
|
and <I>for thy Word's sake,</I> he is Lord of all. It is for his sake
|
|
that God causes his face to shine upon sinners when they repent and
|
|
turn to him, because of the satisfaction he has made. In all our
|
|
prayers that therefore must be our plea; we must <I>make mention of his
|
|
righteousness, even of his only,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+71:16">Ps. lxxi. 16</A>.
|
|
|
|
<I>Look upon the face of the anointed.</I> He has himself directed us
|
|
to <I>ask in his name.</I>
|
|
|
|
(3.) "Do it <I>according to all thy righteousness</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+9:16"><I>v.</I> 16</A>),
|
|
|
|
that is, plead for us against our persecutors and oppressors
|
|
<I>according to thy righteousness.</I> Though we are ourselves
|
|
unrighteous before God, yet with reference to them we have a righteous
|
|
cause, which we leave it with the righteous God to appear in the
|
|
defence of." Or, rather, by the <I>righteousness of God</I> here is
|
|
meant his faithfulness to his promise. God had, <I>according to his
|
|
righteousness,</I> executed the threatening,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+9:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>.
|
|
|
|
"Now, Lord, wilt thou not do according to <I>all</I> thy righteousness?
|
|
Wilt thou not be as true to thy promises as thou hast been to thy
|
|
threatenings and accomplish them also?"
|
|
|
|
(4.) "Do it <I>for thy great mercies</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+9:18"><I>v.</I> 18</A>),
|
|
|
|
to make it to appear that thou art a merciful God." The good things we
|
|
ask of God we call <I>mercies,</I> because we expect them purely from
|
|
God's mercy. And, because misery is the proper object of mercy, the
|
|
prophet here spreads the deplorable condition of the church before God,
|
|
as it were to move his compassion: "<I>Open thy eyes and behold our
|
|
desolations,</I> especially the desolations of the sanctuary. O look
|
|
with pity upon a pitiable case!" Note, The desolations of the church
|
|
must in prayer be laid before God and then left with him.
|
|
|
|
(5.) "Do it for the sake of the relation we stand in to thee. The
|
|
sanctuary that is desolate is thy sanctuary
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+9:17"><I>v.</I> 17</A>),
|
|
|
|
dedicated to thy honour, employed in thy service, and the place of thy
|
|
residence. Jerusalem is <I>thy</I> city and <I>thy holy mountain</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+9:16"><I>v.</I> 16</A>);
|
|
|
|
it is <I>the city which is called by thy name,</I>"
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+9:18"><I>v.</I> 18</A>.
|
|
|
|
It was the city which God had <I>chosen out of all the tribes of
|
|
Israel, to put his name there.</I> "The people that have <I>become a
|
|
reproach</I> are <I>thy people,</I> and thy name suffers in the
|
|
reproach cast upon them
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+9:16"><I>v.</I> 16</A>);
|
|
|
|
they are <I>called by thy name,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+9:19"><I>v.</I> 19</A>.
|
|
|
|
Lord, thou hast a property in them, and therefore art interested in
|
|
their interests; wilt thou not provide for thy own, for those of thy
|
|
own house? They are <I>thine, save them,</I>"
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+119:94">Ps. cxix. 94</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Da9_20"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Da9_21"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Da9_22"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Da9_23"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Da9_24"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Da9_25"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Da9_26"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Da9_27"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec3"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Daniel's Prayer Answered; The Answer to Daniel's Prayer; The Coming of the Messiah; Destruction of Jerusalem Foretold.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT VALIGN=BOTTOM><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 538.</TD></TR>
|
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>20 And whiles I <I>was</I> speaking, and praying, and confessing my
|
|
sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my
|
|
supplication before the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> my God for the holy mountain of my
|
|
God;
|
|
21 Yea, whiles I <I>was</I> speaking in prayer, even the man
|
|
Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being
|
|
caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening
|
|
oblation.
|
|
22 And he informed <I>me,</I> and talked with me, and said, O
|
|
Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding.
|
|
23 At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came
|
|
forth, and I am come to show <I>thee;</I> for thou <I>art</I> greatly
|
|
beloved: therefore understand the matter, and consider the
|
|
vision.
|
|
24 Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy
|
|
holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of
|
|
sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in
|
|
everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and
|
|
prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.
|
|
25 Know therefore and understand, <I>that</I> from the going forth
|
|
of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the
|
|
Messiah the Prince <I>shall be</I> seven weeks, and threescore and two
|
|
weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in
|
|
troublous times.
|
|
26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off,
|
|
but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come
|
|
shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof
|
|
<I>shall be</I> with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations
|
|
are determined.
|
|
27 And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week:
|
|
and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the
|
|
oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he
|
|
shall make <I>it</I> desolate, even until the consummation, and that
|
|
determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
We have here the answer that was immediately sent to Daniel's prayer,
|
|
and it is a very memorable one, as it contains the most illustrious
|
|
prediction of Christ and gospel-grace that is extant in all the <I>Old
|
|
Testament.</I> If John Baptist was the morning-star, this was the
|
|
day-break to the Sun of righteousness, the <I>day-spring from on
|
|
high.</I> Here is,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. The time when this answer was given.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. It was while Daniel was at prayer. This he observed and laid a
|
|
strong emphasis upon: <I>While I was speaking</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+9:20"><I>v.</I> 20</A>),
|
|
|
|
yea, <I>while I was speaking in prayer</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+9:21"><I>v.</I> 21</A>),
|
|
|
|
before he rose from his knees, and while there was yet more which he
|
|
intended to say.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(1.) He mentions the two heads he chiefly insisted upon in prayer, and
|
|
which perhaps he designed yet further to enlarge upon.
|
|
|
|
[1.] He was confessing sin and lamenting that--"both <I>my sin and the
|
|
sin of my people Israel.</I>" Daniel was a very great and good man, and
|
|
yet he finds sin of his own to confess before God and is ready to
|
|
confess it; for there is not a <I>just man upon earth that does good
|
|
and sins not,</I> nor that sins and repents not. St. John puts himself
|
|
into the number of those who deceive themselves if they say that they
|
|
<I>have no sin,</I> and who therefore <I>confess their sins,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Jo+1:8">1 John i. 8</A>.
|
|
|
|
Good men find it an ease to their consciences to pour out their
|
|
complaints before the Lord against themselves; and that is
|
|
<I>confessing sin.</I> He also confessed the <I>sin of his people,</I>
|
|
and bewailed that. Those who are heartily concerned for the glory of
|
|
God, the welfare of the church, and the souls of men, will mourn for
|
|
the sins of others as well as for their own.
|
|
|
|
[2.] He was <I>making supplication before the Lord his God,</I> and
|
|
presenting it to him as an intercessor for Israel; and in this prayer
|
|
his concern was for <I>the holy mountain of his God,</I> Mount Zion.
|
|
The desolations of the sanctuary lay nearer his heart than those of the
|
|
city and the land; and the repair of that, and the setting up of the
|
|
public worship of God of Israel again, were the things he had in view,
|
|
in the deliverance he was preparing for, more than re-establishment of
|
|
their civil interests. Now,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(2.) While Daniel was thus employed,
|
|
|
|
[1.] He had a grant made him of the mercy he prayed for. Note, God is
|
|
very ready to hear prayer and to give an answer of peace. Now was
|
|
fulfilled what God had spoken
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+65:24">Isa. lxv. 24</A>,
|
|
|
|
<I>While they are yet speaking, I will hear.</I> Daniel grew very
|
|
fervent in prayer, and his affections were very strong,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+9:18,19"><I>v.</I> 18, 19</A>.
|
|
|
|
And, <I>while he was speaking</I> with such fervour and ardency, the
|
|
angel came to him with a gracious answer. God is well pleased with
|
|
lively devotions. We cannot now expect that God should send us answers
|
|
to our prayer by angels, but, if we pray with fervency for that which
|
|
God has promised, we may by faith take the promise as an immediate
|
|
answer to the prayer; for <I>he is faithful that has promised.</I>
|
|
|
|
[2.] He had a discovery made to him of a far greater and more glorious
|
|
redemption which God would work out for his church in the latter days.
|
|
Note, Those that would be brought acquainted with Christ and his grace
|
|
must be <I>much in prayer.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. It was <I>about the time of the evening oblation,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+9:21"><I>v.</I> 21</A>.
|
|
|
|
The altar was in ruins, and there was no oblation offered upon it, but,
|
|
it should seem, the pious Jews in their captivity were daily thoughtful
|
|
of the time when it should have been offered, and at that hour were
|
|
ready to weep at the remembrance of it, and desired and hoped that
|
|
their prayer should be <I>set forth before God as incense,</I> and the
|
|
<I>lifting up of their hands,</I> and their hearts with their hands,
|
|
should be acceptable in his sight <I>as the evening-sacrifice,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+141:2">Ps. cxli. 2</A>.
|
|
|
|
The evening oblation was a type of the great sacrifice which Christ was
|
|
to offer in the evening of the world, and it was in the virtue of that
|
|
sacrifice that Daniel's prayer was accepted when he prayed <I>for the
|
|
Lord's sake;</I> and for the sake of that this glorious discovery of
|
|
redeeming love was made to him. The Lamb <I>opened the seals</I> in the
|
|
virtue of his own blood.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. The messenger by whom this answer was sent. It was not given him in
|
|
a dream, nor by a voice from heaven, but, for the greater certainty and
|
|
solemnity of it, an angel was sent on purpose, appearing in a human
|
|
shape, to give this answer to Daniel. Observe,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. Who this angel, or messenger, was; it was <I>the man Gabriel.</I> If
|
|
Michael the archangel be, as many suppose, no other than Jesus Christ,
|
|
this Gabriel is the only created angel that is named in scripture.
|
|
Gabriel signifies the <I>mighty one of God;</I> for the angels are
|
|
<I>great in power and might,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Pe+2:11">2 Pet. ii. 11</A>.
|
|
|
|
It was he <I>whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning.</I> Daniel
|
|
heard him called by his name, and thence learned it
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+8:16">Dan. viii. 16</A>);
|
|
|
|
and, though then he trembled at his approach, yet he observed him so
|
|
carefully that now he knew him again, knew him to be the same that he
|
|
had seen at the beginning, and, being somewhat better acquainted with
|
|
him, was not now so terrified at the sight of him as he had been at
|
|
first. When this angel said to <I>Zacharias, I am Gabriel</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+1:19">Luke i. 19</A>),
|
|
|
|
he intended thereby to put him in mind of this notice which he had
|
|
given to Daniel of the Messiah's coming when it was at a distance, for
|
|
the confirming of his faith in the notice he was then about to give of
|
|
it as at the door.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. The instructions which this messenger received from the Father of
|
|
lights to whom Daniel prayed
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+9:23"><I>v.</I> 23</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>At the beginning of thy supplications</I> the word, <I>the
|
|
commandment, came forth</I> from God. Notice was given to the angels in
|
|
heaven of this counsel of God, which they were desirous to look into;
|
|
and orders were given to Gabriel to go immediately and bring the notice
|
|
of it to Daniel. By this it appears that it was not any thing which
|
|
Daniel said that moved God, for the answer was given as he began to
|
|
pray; but God was well pleased with his serious solemn address to the
|
|
duty, and, in token of that, sent him this gracious message. Or perhaps
|
|
it was <I>at the beginning of Daniel's supplications</I> that
|
|
<I>Cyrus's word,</I> or <I>commandment, went forth to restore and to
|
|
build Jerusalem,</I> that going forth spoken of
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+9:25"><I>v.</I> 25</A>.
|
|
|
|
"The thing was done <I>this very day;</I> the proclamation of liberty
|
|
to the Jews was signed this morning, just when thou wast praying for
|
|
it;" and now, at the close of this fast-day, Daniel had notice of it,
|
|
as, at the close of the <I>day of atonement,</I> the jubilee-trumpet
|
|
sounded to proclaim liberty.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
3. The haste he made to deliver his message: He was <I>caused to fly
|
|
swiftly,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+9:21"><I>v.</I> 21</A>.
|
|
|
|
Angels are winged messengers, quick in their motions, and delay not to
|
|
execute the orders they receive; they run and <I>return like a flash of
|
|
lightning,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+1:14">Ezek. i. 14</A>.
|
|
|
|
But, it should seem, sometimes they are more expeditious than at other
|
|
times, and make a quicker despatch, as here the angel was <I>caused to
|
|
fly swiftly;</I> that is, he was ordered and he was enabled to fly
|
|
swiftly. Angels do their work in obedience to divine command and in
|
|
dependence upon divine strength. Though they excel in wisdom, they fly
|
|
swifter or slower as God directs; and, though they excel in power, they
|
|
fly but as God causes them to fly. Angels themselves are to us what he
|
|
makes them to be; they are <I>his ministers,</I> and <I>do his
|
|
pleasure,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+103:21">Ps. ciii. 21</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
4. The prefaces or introductions to his message.
|
|
|
|
(1.) He <I>touched him</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+9:21"><I>v.</I> 21</A>),
|
|
|
|
as before
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+8:18"><I>ch.</I> viii. 18</A>),
|
|
|
|
not to awaken him out of sleep as then, but to give him a hint to break
|
|
off his prayer and to attend to that which he has to say in answer to
|
|
it. Note, In order to the keeping up of our communion with God we must
|
|
not only be forward to speak to God, but as forward to hear what he has
|
|
to say to us; when we have prayed we must look up, must look after our
|
|
prayers, must set ourselves upon our watch-tower.
|
|
|
|
(2.) He <I>talked with him</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+9:22"><I>v.</I> 22</A>),
|
|
|
|
talked familiarly with him, as one friend talks with another, that
|
|
<I>his terror might not make him afraid.</I> He informed him on what
|
|
errand he came, that he was sent from heaven on purpose with a kind
|
|
message to him: "<I>I have come to show thee</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+9:23"><I>v.</I> 23</A>),
|
|
|
|
to tell thee that which thou didst not know before." He had shown him
|
|
the troubles of the church under Antiochus, and the period of those
|
|
troubles
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+8:19"><I>ch.</I> viii. 19</A>);
|
|
|
|
but now he has greater things to show him, for he that is faithful in a
|
|
little shall be entrusted with more. "Nay, <I>I have now come forth to
|
|
give thee skill and understanding</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+9:22"><I>v.</I> 22</A>),
|
|
|
|
not only to show thee these things, but to <I>make thee understand</I>
|
|
them."
|
|
|
|
(3.) He assured him that he was a favourite of Heaven, else he would
|
|
not have had this intelligence sent him, and he must take it for a
|
|
favour: "<I>I have come to show thee, for thou art greatly beloved.</I>
|
|
Thou art <I>a man of desires,</I> acceptable to God, and whom he has a
|
|
favour for." Note, Though God loves all his children, yet there are
|
|
some that are more than the rest <I>greatly beloved.</I> Christ had one
|
|
disciple that lay in his bosom; and that <I>beloved disciple</I> was he
|
|
that was entrusted with the prophetical visions of the New Testament,
|
|
as Daniel was with those of the Old. For what greater token can there
|
|
be of God's favour to any man than for the secrets of the Lord to be
|
|
with him? Abraham is the <I>friend of God;</I> and therefore <I>Shall
|
|
I hide from Abraham that thing which I do?</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+18:17">Gen. xviii. 17</A>.
|
|
|
|
Note, Those may reckon themselves greatly beloved of God to whom, and
|
|
in whom, he <I>reveals his Son.</I> Some observe that the title which
|
|
this angel Gabriel gives to the Virgin Mary is much the same with this
|
|
which he here gives to Daniel, as if he designed to put her in mind of
|
|
it--<I>Thou that art highly favoured;</I> as Daniel, <I>greatly
|
|
beloved.</I>
|
|
|
|
(4.) He demands his serious attention to the discovery he was now about
|
|
to make to him: <I>Therefore understand the matter, and consider the
|
|
vision,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+9:23"><I>v.</I> 23</A>.
|
|
|
|
This intimates that it was a thing well worthy of his regard, above any
|
|
of the visions he had been before favoured with. Note, Those who would
|
|
understand the things of God must consider them, must apply their minds
|
|
to them, ponder upon them, and compare spiritual things with spiritual.
|
|
The reason why we are so much in the dark concerning the revealed will
|
|
of God, and mistake concerning it, is want of consideration. This
|
|
vision both requires and deserves consideration.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
III. The message itself. It was delivered with great solemnity,
|
|
received no doubt with great attention, and recorded with great
|
|
exactness; but in it, as is usual in prophecies, there are things dark
|
|
and hard to be understood. Daniel, who understood by the book of the
|
|
prophet Jeremiah the expiration of the seventy years of the captivity,
|
|
is now honourably employed to make known to the church another more
|
|
glorious release, which that was but a shadow of, at the end of another
|
|
seventy, not years, but weeks of years. He prayed over that prophecy,
|
|
and received this in answer to that prayer. He had prayed for <I>his
|
|
people</I> and the <I>holy city</I>--that <I>they</I> might be released,
|
|
that <I>it</I> might be rebuilt; but God answers him <I>above what he
|
|
was able to ask or think.</I> God not only grants, but outdoes, the
|
|
desires of those that fear him,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+21:4">Ps. xxi. 4</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. The times here determined are somewhat hard to be understood. In
|
|
general, it is <I>seventy weeks,</I> that is, <I>seventy times seven
|
|
years,</I> which makes just 490 years. The great affairs that are yet
|
|
to come concerning the people of Israel, and the city of Jerusalem,
|
|
will lie within the compass of these years.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(1.) These years are thus described by weeks,
|
|
|
|
[1.] In conformity to the prophetic style, which is, for the most part,
|
|
abstruse, and out of the common road of speaking, that the things
|
|
foretold might not lie too obvious.
|
|
|
|
[2.] To put an honour upon the division of time into weeks, which is
|
|
made purely by the sabbath day, and to signify that that should be
|
|
perpetual.
|
|
|
|
[3.] With reference to the seventy years of the captivity; as they had
|
|
been so long kept out of the possession of their own land, so, being
|
|
now restored to it they should seven times as long be kept in the
|
|
possession of it. So much more does God delight in showing mercy than
|
|
in punishing. The land had <I>enjoyed its sabbaths,</I> in a melancholy
|
|
sense, seventy years,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Le+26:34">Lev. xxvi. 34</A>.
|
|
|
|
But now the people of the Lord shall, in a comfortable sense, enjoy
|
|
their sabbaths seven times seventy years, and in them seventy
|
|
sabbatical years, which makes ten jubilees. Such proportions are there
|
|
in the disposals of Providence, that we might see and admire the wisdom
|
|
of him who has <I>determined the times before appointed.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(2.) The difficulties that arise about these seventy weeks are,
|
|
|
|
[1.] Concerning the time when they commence and whence they are to be
|
|
reckoned. They are here dated <I>from the going forth of the
|
|
commandments to restore and to build Jerusalem,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+9:25"><I>v.</I> 25</A>.
|
|
|
|
I should most incline to understand this of the edict of Cyrus
|
|
mentioned
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ezr+1:1">Ezra i. 1</A>,
|
|
|
|
for by it the people were <I>restored;</I> and, though express mention
|
|
be not made there of the building of Jerusalem, yet that is supposed in
|
|
the building of the temple, and was foretold to be done by Cyrus,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+44:28">Isa. xliv. 28</A>.
|
|
|
|
He shall <I>say to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built.</I> That was, both
|
|
in prophecy and in history, the most famous decree for the building of
|
|
Jerusalem; nay, it should seem, this <I>going forth of the
|
|
commandment</I> (which may as well be meant of God's command concerning
|
|
it as of Cyrus's) is the same with that going forth of the commandment
|
|
mentioned
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+9:23"><I>v.</I> 23</A>,
|
|
|
|
which was <I>at the beginning of Daniel's supplications.</I> And it
|
|
looks very graceful that the seventy weeks should begin immediately
|
|
upon the expiration of the seventy years. And there is nothing to be
|
|
objected against this but that by this reckoning the <I>Persian
|
|
monarchy,</I> from the taking of Babylon by Cyrus to Alexander's
|
|
conquest of Darius, lasted but 130 years; whereas, by the particular
|
|
account given of the reigns of the Persian emperors, it is computed
|
|
that it continued 230 years. So Thucydides, Xenophon, and others
|
|
reckon. Those who fix it to that first edict set aside these
|
|
computations of the heathen historians as uncertain and not to be
|
|
relied upon. But others, willing to reconcile them, begin the 490
|
|
years, not at the edict of Cyrus
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ezr+1:1">Ezra i. 1</A>),
|
|
|
|
but at the second edict for the building of Jerusalem, issued out by
|
|
Darius Nothus above 100 years after, mentioned
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ezr+6:1-12">Ezra vi.</A>
|
|
|
|
Others fix on the seventh year of Artaxerxes Mnemon, who sent Ezra with
|
|
a commission,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ezr+7:8-12">Ezra vii. 8-12</A>.
|
|
|
|
The learned Mr. Poole, in his Latin Synopsis, has a vast and most
|
|
elaborate collection of what has been said, <I>pro</I> and <I>con,</I>
|
|
concerning the different beginnings of these weeks, with which the
|
|
learned may entertain themselves.
|
|
|
|
[2.] Concerning the termination of them; and here likewise interpreters
|
|
are not agreed. Some make them to end at the death of Christ, and
|
|
think the express words of this famous prophecy will warrant us to
|
|
conclude that from this very hour when Gabriel spoke to Daniel, at the
|
|
time of the evening oblation, to the hour when Christ died, which was
|
|
towards evening too, it was exactly 490 years; and I am willing enough
|
|
to be of that opinion. But others think, because it is said that <I>in
|
|
the midst of the weeks</I> (that is, the last of the seventy weeks) he
|
|
<I>shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,</I> they end
|
|
<I>three years and a half</I> after the death of Christ, when the Jews
|
|
having rejected the gospel, the apostles turned to the Gentiles. But
|
|
those who make them to end precisely at the death of Christ read it
|
|
thus, "He shall <I>make strong the testament to the many; the last
|
|
seven,</I> or the last week, yea, <I>half that seven,</I> or <I>half
|
|
that week</I> (namely, the latter half, the three years and a half
|
|
which Christ spent in his public ministry), shall bring to an end
|
|
sacrifice and oblation." Others make these 490 years to end with the
|
|
destruction of Jerusalem, about thirty-seven years after the death of
|
|
Christ, because these seventy weeks are said to be <I>determined upon
|
|
the people</I> of the Jews <I>and the holy city;</I> and much is said
|
|
here concerning the destruction of the city and the sanctuary.
|
|
|
|
[3.] Concerning the division of them into seven weeks, and sixty-two
|
|
weeks, and one week; and the reason of this is as hard to account for
|
|
as any thing else. In the first seven weeks, or forty-nine years, the
|
|
temple and city were built; and in the last single week Christ preached
|
|
his gospel, by which the Jewish economy was taken down, and the
|
|
foundations were laid of the gospel city and temple, which were to be
|
|
built upon the ruins of the former.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(3.) But, whatever uncertainty we may labour under concerning the exact
|
|
fixing of these times, there is enough clear and certain to answer the
|
|
two great ends of determining them.
|
|
|
|
[1.] It did serve them to raise and support the expectations of
|
|
believers. There were general promises of the coming of the Messiah
|
|
made to the patriarchs; the preceding prophets had often spoken of him
|
|
as <I>one that should come,</I> but never was the time fixed for his
|
|
coming until now. And, though there might be so much doubt concerning
|
|
the date of this reckoning that they could not ascertain the time just
|
|
to a year, yet by the light of this prophecy they were directed about
|
|
what time to expect him. And we find, accordingly, that when Christ
|
|
came he was generally <I>looked for</I> as the <I>consolation of
|
|
Israel,</I> and <I>redemption in Jerusalem</I> by him,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+2:25,38">Luke ii. 25, 38</A>.
|
|
|
|
There were those that for this reason thought the <I>kingdom of God
|
|
should immediately appear</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+19:11">Luke xix. 11</A>),
|
|
|
|
and some think it was this that brought a more than ordinary concourse
|
|
of people to Jerusalem,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+2:5">Acts ii. 5</A>.
|
|
|
|
[2.] It does serve still to refute and silence the expectations of
|
|
unbelievers, who will not own that Jesus is he who <I>should come,</I>
|
|
but still <I>look for another.</I> This prediction should silence them,
|
|
and will condemn them; for, reckon these seventy weeks from which of
|
|
the commandments to build Jerusalem we please, it is certain that they
|
|
have expired above 1500 years ago; so that the Jews are for ever
|
|
<I>without excuse,</I> who will not own that the Messiah has come when
|
|
they have gone so far beyond their utmost reckoning for his coming. But
|
|
by this we are confirmed in our belief of the Messiah's being come, and
|
|
that our Jesus is he, that he came just at the time prefixed, a time
|
|
worthy to be had in everlasting remembrance.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. The events here foretold are more plain and easy to be understood,
|
|
at least to us now. Observe what is here foretold,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(1.) Concerning the return of the Jews now speedily to their own land,
|
|
and their settlement again there, which was the thing that Daniel now
|
|
principally prayed for; and yet it is but briefly touched upon here in
|
|
the answer to his prayer. Let this be a comfort to the pious Jews, that
|
|
a <I>commandment</I> shall <I>go forth to restore and to build
|
|
Jerusalem,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+9:25"><I>v.</I> 25</A>.
|
|
|
|
And the commandment shall not be in vain; for though the times will be
|
|
very troublous, and this good work will meet with great opposition, yet
|
|
it shall be carried on, and brought to perfection at last. The
|
|
<I>street</I> shall be <I>built again,</I> as spacious and splendid as
|
|
ever it was, and <I>the walls, even in troublous times.</I> Note, as
|
|
long as we are here in this world we must expect <I>troublous
|
|
times,</I> upon some account or other. Even when we have <I>joyous
|
|
times</I> we must rejoice with trembling; it is but a gleam, it is but
|
|
a lucid interval of peace and prosperity; the clouds will <I>return
|
|
after the rain.</I> When the Jews are restored in triumph to their own
|
|
land, yet there they must expect troublous times, and prepare for them.
|
|
But this is our comfort, that God will carry on his own work, will
|
|
build up his Jerusalem, will beautify it, will fortify it, <I>even in
|
|
troublous times;</I> nay, the troublousness of the times may by the
|
|
grace of God contribute to the advancement of the church. The more it
|
|
is afflicted the more it multiplies.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(2.) Concerning the Messiah and his undertaking. The carnal Jews looked
|
|
for a Messiah that could deliver them from the Roman yoke and give them
|
|
temporal power and wealth, whereas they were here told that the Messiah
|
|
should come upon another errand, purely spiritual, and upon the account
|
|
of which he should be the more welcome.
|
|
|
|
[1.] Christ came to <I>take away sin,</I> and to abolish that. Sin had
|
|
made a quarrel between God and man, had alienated men from God and
|
|
provoked God against man; it was this that put dishonour upon God and
|
|
brought misery upon mankind; this was the great mischief-maker. He that
|
|
would do God a real service, and man a real kindness, must be the
|
|
destruction of this. Christ undertakes to be so, and <I>for this
|
|
purpose</I> he is <I>manifested, to destroy the works of the devil.</I>
|
|
He does not say to <I>finish your</I> transgressions and your sins, but
|
|
<I>transgression</I> and <I>sin</I> in general, for he is the
|
|
propitiation not only for <I>our sins,</I> that are Jews, but <I>for
|
|
the sins of the whole world.</I> He came, <I>First,</I> To <I>finish
|
|
transgression,</I> to <I>restrain</I> it (so some), to break the power
|
|
of it, to <I>bruise the head</I> of that serpent that had done so much
|
|
mischief, to take away the usurped dominion of that tyrant, and to set
|
|
up a kingdom of holiness and love in the hearts of men, upon the ruins
|
|
of Satan's kingdom there, that, where <I>sin and death</I> had
|
|
<I>reigned, righteousness</I> and <I>life</I> through grace might
|
|
<I>reign.</I> When he died he said, <I>It is finished;</I> sin has now
|
|
had its death-wound given it, like Samson's, <I>Let me die with the
|
|
Philistines. Animamque in vulnere ponit--He inflicts the wound and
|
|
dies. Secondly,</I> To <I>make an end of sin,</I> to abolish it, that
|
|
it may not rise up in judgment against us, to obtain the pardon of it,
|
|
that it may not be our ruin, to <I>seal up sins</I> (so the margin
|
|
reads it), that they may not appear or break out against us, to accuse
|
|
and condemn us, as, when Christ cast the devil into the bottomless pit,
|
|
he <I>set a seal upon him,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+20:3">Rev. xx. 3</A>.
|
|
|
|
When sin is pardoned it is <I>sought for and not found,</I> as that
|
|
which is <I>sealed up. Thirdly,</I> To <I>make reconciliation for
|
|
iniquity,</I> as by a sacrifice, to satisfy the justice of God and so
|
|
to <I>make peace</I> and bring God and man together, not only as an
|
|
arbitrator, or referee, who only brings the contending parties to a
|
|
good understanding one of another, but as a surety, or undertaker, for
|
|
us. He is not only the <I>peace-maker,</I> but the <I>peace.</I> He is
|
|
the <I>atonement.</I>
|
|
|
|
[2.] He came to <I>bring in an everlasting righteousness.</I> God might
|
|
justly have made an end of the sin by making an end of the sinner; but
|
|
Christ found out another way, and so made an end of sin as to save the
|
|
sinner from it, by providing a righteousness for him. We are all guilty
|
|
before God, and shall be condemned as guilty, if we have not a
|
|
righteousness wherein to appear before him. Had we stood, our innocency
|
|
would have been our righteousness, but, having fallen, we must have
|
|
something else to plead; and Christ has provided us a plea. The merit
|
|
of his sacrifice is <I>our righteousness;</I> with this we answer all
|
|
the demands of the law; <I>Christ has died, yea, rather, has risen
|
|
again.</I> Thus Christ is <I>the Lord our righteousness,</I> for he is
|
|
<I>made of God to us righteousness,</I> that we might be <I>made the
|
|
righteousness of God in him.</I> By faith we apply this to ourselves
|
|
and plead it with God, and our <I>faith is imputed to us for
|
|
righteousness,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+4:3,5">Rom. iv. 3, 5</A>.
|
|
|
|
This is an <I>everlasting</I> righteousness, for Christ, who is <I>our
|
|
righteousness,</I> and the <I>prince</I> of our <I>peace,</I> is the
|
|
<I>everlasting Father.</I> It was from everlasting in the counsels of
|
|
it and will be to everlasting in the consequences of it. The
|
|
application of it was from the beginning, for Christ was <I>the Lamb
|
|
slain from the foundation of the world;</I> and it will be to the end,
|
|
for he is <I>able to save to the uttermost.</I> It is of everlasting
|
|
virtue
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+10:12">Heb. x. 12</A>);
|
|
|
|
it is the <I>rock that follows us</I> to Canaan.
|
|
|
|
[3.] He came to <I>seal up the vision and prophecy,</I> all the
|
|
prophetical visions of the Old Testament, which had reference to the
|
|
Messiah. He <I>sealed them up,</I> that is, he accomplished them,
|
|
answered to them to a tittle; all things that were written in the law,
|
|
the prophets, and the psalms, concerning the Messiah, were fulfilled in
|
|
him. Thus he confirmed the truth of them as well as his own mission. He
|
|
<I>sealed them up,</I> that is, he put an end to that method of God's
|
|
discovering his mind and will, and took another course by completing
|
|
the scripture-canon in the New Testament, which is the more sure word
|
|
of prophecy than that <I>by vision,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Pe+1:19,Heb+1:1">2 Pet. i. 19; Heb. i. 1</A>.
|
|
|
|
[4.] He came to <I>anoint the most holy,</I> that is, himself, the Holy
|
|
One, who was <I>anointed</I> (that is, appointed to his work and
|
|
qualified for it) by the Holy Ghost, that oil of gladness which he
|
|
received <I>without measure,</I> above his fellows; or to <I>anoint</I>
|
|
the gospel-church, his spiritual temple, or holy place, to sanctify and
|
|
cleanse it, and appropriate it to himself
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eph+5:26">Eph. v. 26</A>),
|
|
|
|
or to consecrate for us <I>a new and living way into the holiest,</I>
|
|
by his own blood
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+10:20">Heb. x. 20</A>),
|
|
|
|
as the sanctuary was <I>anointed,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+30:25">Exod. xxx. 25</A>,
|
|
|
|
&c. He is called <I>Messiah</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+9:25,26"><I>v.</I> 25, 26</A>),
|
|
|
|
which signifies <I>Christ-Anointed</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+1:41">John i. 41</A>),
|
|
|
|
because he received the unction both for himself and for all that are
|
|
his.
|
|
|
|
[5.] In order to all this the Messiah must be <I>cut off,</I> must die
|
|
a violent death, and so be <I>cut off from the land of the living,</I>
|
|
as was foretold,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+53:8">Isa. liii. 8</A>.
|
|
|
|
Hence, when Paul preaches the death of Christ, he says that he preached
|
|
nothing but <I>what the prophet said should come,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+26:22,23">Acts xxvi. 22, 23</A>.
|
|
|
|
And <I>thus it behoved Christ to suffer.</I> He must be <I>cut off, but
|
|
not for himself</I>--not for any sin of his own, but, as Caiaphas
|
|
prophesied, he must <I>die for the people,</I> in our stead and for our
|
|
good,--not for any <I>advantage of his own</I> (the glory he purchased
|
|
for himself was no more than the glory he had before,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+17:4,5">John xvii. 4, 5</A>);
|
|
|
|
no; it was to atone for our sins, and to purchase life for us, that he
|
|
was <I>cut off.</I>
|
|
|
|
[6.] He must <I>confirm the covenant with many.</I> He shall introduce
|
|
a new covenant between God and man, a covenant of grace, since it had
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|
become impossible for us to be saved by a covenant of innocence. This
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|
covenant he shall confirm by his doctrine and miracles, by his death
|
|
and resurrection, by the ordinances of baptism and the Lord's supper,
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|
which are the <I>seals</I> of the New Testament, assuring us that God
|
|
is willing to accept us upon gospel-terms. His death made <I>his
|
|
testament</I> of force, and enabled us to claim what is bequeathed by
|
|
it. He confirmed it to <I>the many,</I> to the common people; the poor
|
|
were <I>evangelized,</I> when the <I>rulers</I> and <I>Pharisees
|
|
believed not on him.</I> Or, he confirmed it <I>with many,</I> with the
|
|
Gentile world. The New Testament was not (like the Old) confined to the
|
|
Jewish church, but was committed to all nations. Christ gave his life
|
|
a <I>ransom for many.</I>
|
|
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[7.] He must <I>cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease.</I> By
|
|
offering himself a sacrifice once for all he shall put an end to all
|
|
the Levitical sacrifices, shall supersede them and set them aside; when
|
|
the substance comes the shadows shall be done away. He causes all the
|
|
peace-offerings to cease when he has made peace by the blood of his
|
|
cross, and by it confirmed the covenant of peace and reconciliation. By
|
|
the preaching of his gospel to the world, with which the apostles were
|
|
entrusted, he took men off from expecting remission by the blood of
|
|
bulls and goats, and so <I>caused the sacrifice and oblation to
|
|
cease.</I> The apostle in his epistle to the Hebrews shows what a
|
|
better priesthood, altar, and sacrifice, we have now than they had
|
|
under the law, as a reason why we should <I>hold fast our
|
|
profession.</I></P>
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<P>
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(3.) Concerning the final destruction of Jerusalem, and of the Jewish
|
|
church and nation; and this follows immediately upon the cutting off of
|
|
the Messiah, not only because it was the <I>just punishment</I> of
|
|
those that put him to death, which was the sin that filled up the
|
|
measure of their iniquity and brought ruin upon them, but because, as
|
|
things were, it was necessary to the perfecting of one of the great
|
|
intentions of his death. He died to take away the ceremonial law, quite
|
|
to abolish <I>that law of commandments,</I> and to vacate the
|
|
obligation of it. But the Jews would not be persuaded to quit it; still
|
|
they kept it up with more zeal than ever; they would hear no talk of
|
|
parting with it; they stoned Stephen (the first Christian martyr) for
|
|
saying that Jesus should <I>change the customs which Moses delivered
|
|
them</I>
|
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|
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+6:14">Acts vi. 14</A>);
|
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|
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so that there was no way to abolish the Mosaic economy but by
|
|
destroying the temple, and the holy city, and the Levitical priesthood,
|
|
and that whole nation which so incurably doted on them. This was
|
|
effectually done in less than forty years after the death of Christ,
|
|
and it was a desolation that could <I>never be repaired</I> to this
|
|
day. And this is it which is here largely foretold, that the Jews who
|
|
returned out of captivity might not be overmuch lifted up with the
|
|
rebuilding of their city and temple, because in process of time they
|
|
would be finally destroyed, and not as now for seventy years only, but
|
|
might rather rejoice in hope of the coming of the Messiah, and the
|
|
setting up of his spiritual kingdom in the world, which should <I>never
|
|
be destroyed.</I> Now,
|
|
|
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[1.] It is here foretold that <I>the people of the prince that shall
|
|
come</I> shall be the instruments of this destruction, that is, the
|
|
Roman armies, belonging to a monarchy yet to come (Christ is <I>the
|
|
prince that shall come,</I> and they are employed by him in this
|
|
service; they are <I>his armies,</I>
|
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|
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+22:7">Matt. xxii. 7</A>),
|
|
|
|
or the Gentiles (who, though now strangers, shall become the people of
|
|
the Messiah) shall destroy the Jews.
|
|
|
|
[2.] That the destruction shall be <I>by war,</I> and the <I>end</I> of
|
|
that <I>war</I> shall be this <I>desolation determined.</I> The <I>wars
|
|
of the Jews</I> with the Romans were by their own obstinacy made very
|
|
long and very bloody, and they issued at length in the utter
|
|
extirpation of that people.
|
|
|
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[3.] That the <I>city</I> and <I>sanctuary</I> shall in a particular
|
|
manner be <I>destroyed</I> and laid quite waste. Titus the Roman
|
|
general would fain have saved the temple, but his soldiers were so
|
|
enraged against the Jews that he could not restrain them from burning
|
|
it to the ground, that this prophecy might be fulfilled.
|
|
|
|
[4.] That all the resistance that shall be made to this destruction
|
|
shall be in vain: <I>The end of it shall be with a flood.</I> It shall
|
|
be a deluge of destruction, like that which swept away the old world,
|
|
and which there will be no making head against.
|
|
|
|
[5.] That hereby the <I>sacrifice and oblation</I> shall be <I>made to
|
|
cease.</I> And it must needs cease when the family of the priests was
|
|
so extirpated, and the genealogies of it were so confounded, that (they
|
|
say) there is no man in the world that can prove himself of the seed of
|
|
Aaron.
|
|
|
|
[6.] that there shall be <I>an overspreading of abominations,</I> a
|
|
general corruption of the Jewish nation and an abounding of iniquity
|
|
among them, for which it shall be <I>made desolate,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Th+2:16">1 Thess. ii. 16</A>.
|
|
|
|
Or it is rather to be understood of the armies of the Romans, which
|
|
were abominable to the Jews (they could not endure them), which
|
|
<I>overspread the nation,</I> and by which it was <I>made desolate;</I>
|
|
for these are the words which Christ refers to,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+24:15">Matt. xxiv. 15</A>,
|
|
|
|
<I>When you shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by
|
|
Daniel, stand in the holy place, then let those who shall be in Judea
|
|
flee,</I> which is explained
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+21:20">Luke xxi. 20</A>,
|
|
|
|
<I>When you shall see Jerusalem encompassed with armies then flee.</I>
|
|
|
|
[7.] That the desolation shall be total and final: <I>He shall make it
|
|
desolate, even until the consummation,</I> that is, he shall make it
|
|
completely desolate. It is a <I>desolation determined,</I> and it will
|
|
be accomplished to the utmost. And when it is made desolate, it should
|
|
seem, there is something more determined that is to be <I>poured upon
|
|
the desolate</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+9:27"><I>v.</I> 27</A>),
|
|
|
|
and what should that be but the <I>spirit of slumber</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+11:8,25">Rom. xi. 8, 25</A>),
|
|
|
|
that blindness which has happened to Israel until the fulness of the
|
|
Gentiles shall come in? And <I>then all Israel shall be saved.</I></P>
|
|
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