005: Colin Badger - Righteousness Belongeth Unto Thee O Yahweh

Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.

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   Thanks for listening to the Good Christadelphian Talks podcast. I'm Levi. And really, we mean it. Thank you for listening and for your comments on our social pages. We're getting over 200 plays per episode, which is amazing. We didn't expect this to be so useful so fast, and we're just really happy that this idea is working out. We definitely still want suggestions on classes, so keep those coming too. This talk is titled, Righteousness Belongeth Unto Thee, O Yahweh, and it's by Brother Colin Badger.

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   This series was given at the Silver Star Bible School in British Columbia, Canada in 1987. Silver Star has become the Watshan Bible School, in case the Silver Star name is new to you. This whole series is very excellent, so if you like this one and want more, it can be found at Christadelphianbibletalks.com and by searching for Colin's name. The title of the whole series is The Effectual Fervent Prayer of a Righteous Man Availeth Much. Colin uses Daniel's prayers in Daniel to outline how we should pray. It's a great study on the man Daniel and how he is an example to us.

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   This is class three of the series, and if you want, it might be useful to read or listen to Daniel 9 before this specific class, although I didn't at the time I listened to it and still found it very good. This class ramps up in the second half, so if you find it slow going, I encourage you to stick with it.

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   Colin makes a very powerful point that we should pray for our brothers and sisters as if they are part of our own body as they are and to not have a dangerous us-versus-them attitude. So here it is, class three from Silver Star Bible School in 1987. Righteousness belongeth unto thee, O Yahweh. I'd like to introduce our analysis of this next prayer by Daniel in chapter 9 by the following quotation from a very well-known and experienced brother.

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   A man's response to the needs of the community, of the body to which he has supposedly given allegiance, is often a measure of the true character of the man himself. Self-seeking and disregard for the lasting well-being of the community weakens the bonds which are intended to be channels of strength rather than strife.

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   Our attitude to the body is our attitude to Christ. The ecclesia is his body. If we are superior to it, we lack humility. If we are divisive within it, we deny the atonement by which we have and were reconciled and made one. If we neglect it, the body, we diminish our affection for him.

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   If we serve it, we do him service. If we edify it, we continue his work. If we bind up its wounds and take care of the weak, we fellowship his sufferings. That is the perspective of Daniel chapter 9. Those are the principles, in part, which permeate the attitude and govern the content of Daniel chapter 9 as this wise man, this godly man, pours out his heart before Yahweh, God of Israel.

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   Daniel, you see, brothers and sisters, understood the doctrine of the one body just as well as it has been articulated by a brother in the 20th century. It was a doctrine to which Daniel gave more than just academic assent. For as you analyze the contents of his outpouring in Daniel chapter 9, you can see how he grasped the doctrine of the one body just as well as it is expressed in many of the New Testament epistles and how so much of what he says is predicated upon Daniel's belief and his understanding and his application of the doctrine of the one body.

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   Daniel chapter 9. Let's turn there, brothers and sisters, and analyze the problem, first of all, that was before Daniel, for which he prayed. Daniel chapter 9, verse 2.

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    In the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood by books the number of the years whereof the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah the prophet that he would accomplish 70 years in the desolations of Jerusalem. And I set my face unto the Lord God to seek by prayer and supplications with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.

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    There we have spelled out very clearly before us what was before Daniel. He was in Babylon with his people and he was agonizing over the captivity of his people. He yearned with all his heart to go back to Jerusalem to return to the land of promise. And he agonized to know, according to the prophecies that had gone before him, he agonized to know, how long, O Lord, to use that expression in Revelation from the souls under the altar?

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    How long, O Lord? You see, for Daniel, the subject of Bible prophecy was not something that had simply a cursory interest for him. The subject of Bible prophecy was an integral part of Daniel's Bible study. He viewed Bible prophecy seriously. In fact, he viewed it so seriously that he agonized to understand it and he applied himself to it and he prayed about it.

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    And it wasn't just the matter of the what and the who of Bible prophecy. You notice in verse 2, he was concerned about the when of Bible prophecy and of those three, the what, the who, and the when. Today, in Christadelphian circles, of those three, the one that is often stressed as being least important, one that is regarded, talked about, and viewed, indirectly even, as being of only cursory concern, is the when.

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    Bible prophecy, in terms of chronology, in times and seasons, have for some time lost the kind of urgent interest they once held in our community. That's a fact. We have to admit it. It's obvious in many, many ways as we look out in our own community. Many are saying that until certain events are fulfilled, we do well not to spend much time on the chronology of Bible prophecy.

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    That was not the perspective of Daniel. That is not the example Daniel sets for us. His prayer betrays, brothers and sisters, a contrary view. He wanted to know, on the basis of the writings of Jeremiah, who had gone before him, where he was in time in relationship to the 70-year captivity, and to seek an answer to that, despite the fact that he was a Holy Spirit-gifted man.

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    Despite those privileges, he still had to do his Bible study. And study, he did. But we notice, he didn't only study, he prayed about it. Verse 3 again. Look at the words that stress the attitude of Daniel as he approaches this important subject to him. Prayer, supplication, fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. He prostrated himself before the books and before his father in prayer and in study.

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    Prayerfully and carefully, he agonized to know and understand the words of these secrets. Verse 4. He begins a much larger prayer that broadens out into a much larger concern than just knowing where he was in time. And I prayed unto the Lord my God and made my confession and said, O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him and to them that keep his commandments, we have sinned and have committed iniquity and have done wickedly and have rebelled even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments.

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    Neither have we hearkened unto thy servants the prophets which spake in thy name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers and to all the people of the land. O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee but unto us confusion of faces as at this day to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to all Israel that are near and that are far off through all the countries whether thou has driven them because of their trespass that they have trespassed against thee.

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    O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face to our kings and to our princes and to our fathers because we have sinned against thee. To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgiveness says though we have rebelled against him. only the introduction of a very long but very powerful prayer. We haven't really the time to analyze that prayer and all its details.

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    You see the Christadelphian prayer there for the peace of Jerusalem, don't you? Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. They shall prosper that love thee. A very important aspect of his prayer was just exactly that. That he might have the blessing of seeing Jerusalem glorified once again to go back and to put his feet in the land with his people.

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    And we too pray for the same. But perhaps at times in our prayers the subject of Jerusalem is not as frequently mentioned as it used to be. The background of the hope of Israel to the Christadelphian community is a precious one. The very fact that Brother Thomas began to express the gospel through that term the hope of Israel paved and provided a tone for our approach for many, many years in our lectures and the way we addressed one another and the way we expressed the truth.

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    It was the hallmark of the expression of our community the hope of Israel to which Paul was bound for a chain. Brothers and sisters we ought not to lose that perspective because in some quarters it is disintegrating. There are emphasis now creeping into some of our writings emphasis only perhaps which is overshadowing this very important background our focus on that land our focus on that people our focus on that city and our prayers constantly privately publicly together as a body for the peace of Jerusalem.

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    I'm not going to spend a great deal of time on that point other than to underscore its fundamental importance here as the prayer of a man of God who was wise and to stress as we have now the importance of not losing that perspective. Secondly other elements of this prayer deserve attention. There is an attitude of mind here.

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    That attitude is described for us as we've already seen in verse 3. It's an attitude of humility an attitude of coming before the Father and in both mind and in body prostrating oneself in humility before the throne of grace. That attitude of mind in prayer requires careful preparation. It's not a facade. It's not what someone does in the last few minutes of the day when one is weary and tired and then finally slips off into sleep before the prayer is done.

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    That is the posture of a wise man of a man who was godly in his approach to prayer. You can't go through that kind of exercise and have that kind of attitude of mind in prayer without being very vigilant without being awake in what you're doing. Every one of those steps describes an important attitude.

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    It in fact is the attitude described to the prophet Joel. I'd like just to turn there because it's not obviously the external that is important in the ashes, in the sack cloth, in the external prostrating of one's body before the throne of grace. It is whether or not that same is found from within.

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    It was no doubt with Daniel. Notice what is said in Joel chapter 2 in this regard. Spells it out very nicely. Verse 12. Therefore also now saith the Lord, turn ye even to me with all your heart and with fasting and with weeping and with mourning and rend your heart and not your garments and turn unto the Lord your God for he is gracious and merciful slow to anger and of great kindness and repenteth him of the evil.

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    You see that phrase in verse 13 is key. The tearing of one's garment putting on ashes and sackcloth meant nothing unless that was an expression of an inward prostration of an inward attitude of humility before the throne of grace. It was a symbol of urgency and dire distress. It was a symbol of mourning and Daniel is mourning from within.

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    He is agonizing not only to know and understand the meaning of Jeremiah's prophecies but he is agonizing over the plight of his nation. And on the basis of the doctrine of the one body Daniel identifies himself brothers and sisters completely with the body of Israel good and bad. He merges himself in his prayer with the nation.

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    The language is that of we and us and our. Do you notice how many times those expressions are studied through his prayer? we have sinned. We have done this. We have done that. Our fathers our sin us very important perspective based on his understanding of himself and his nation being one body with many members like the language of the apostle Paul and with that perception and understanding Joel chapter two expands that attitude of mind for in his agony he agonized for his nation as well as for himself.

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    He rent his garments but he had rent his heart. He came to offer repentance on behalf of his nation as well as himself. And the objective the objective in verse 13 of Joel two to turn unto the Lord your God for he is gracious. In turning themselves from their plight from their sins their disobedience and turning to the father Daniel and Joel remind us that in doing so we turn to one who is gracious who is willing and wanting to forgive who in fact is slow to anger unlike us who is of great kindness which at times is not the characteristic of us and who is willingly one to repent and forgive unlike us many of the times in our dealings with one another.

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    We go back to Daniel chapter 9. There is the problem and there is the attitude of mind before the prayer can be fully analyzed. there is also as we notice in verse 4 the element of praise now this element of praise is a subject on its own. We will analyze it in a little more detail in one of the other prayers during the week.

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    Sufficient to note in verse 4 that like the Lord's prayer the introductory statements of his prayer which reflect his attitude of mind before the father is not only one of confession but verse 4 O Lord the great and dreadful God dreadful there by the way means a sense of awe and wonder it's a statement of reverence not of one of complete trepidation and fear perhaps we could say though a reverential fear yes but not one of cowering before the father O Lord the great and dreadful God one with awe and wonder deserves respect keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him and to them that keep his commandments there is irony in that statement do you notice how at the beginning of his prayer he attributes to the father what he denies to the nation later on in his prayer for to the father he says thou art the one that keepest thy covenant thou art the one who keep who keepest thy commandments but what does he say in verse 5 of the people what of human beings in verse 6 and 7 and so on down through what about verse 11 all Israel have transgressed thy law he says of his people that they have departed from the covenant but to the father he says thou keepest thy covenant it's a statement of reverence and respect for the stability for the eternity of the father's will it's a statement and a conviction to do with his loyalty to his people but his people have not been loyal to him in contrast then through the rest of the prayer we see how

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    the people have failed to keep the terms of that covenant and how they have turned their back on God though God has never turned his back on them and for that he praises his father it is an expression of sacrifice under the law of Moses there was an offering that had to do with praise there are expressions in the prophets like Hosea that talk about let

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    comes forth from those lips in praise is a kind of sacrifice from our words and down into our heart as the source we'll come back to that but notice how it appears up front in his prayer it is very important to capture that as part of Daniel's attitude to the father and we remind ourselves of its parallel of course in that model prayer from the son our father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is done heaven praise reverence and attitude of mind careful preparation before coming to the father in prayer but let's return again to that important theme of we like to underscore how often it occurs verse five and perhaps if you have a pencil it deserves circling these pronouns the corporate picture of Daniel and his sinful nation verse five we have sinned verse six neither have we hearkened verse eight towards the end of the verse because we have sinned against thee verse nine at the end we have rebelled against thee verse eleven the last phrase because we have sinned against him verse thirteen as it is written in the law of moses all this evil has come upon us yet made we not our prayer verse fifteen at the end again we have sinned we again have done wickedly verse twenty and whilst I was praying and praying and confessing my sin and the sin of my people now think about what Daniel is saying and implying by that term we had Daniel really committed those iniquities as the fathers of Israel had before him could we

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    say in verse five that Daniel had committed iniquity and done wickedly had Daniel rebelled in verse five against the covenant himself had he departed from the precepts and from the judgments did he deserve those kind of indictments if not why does he say we and not they once again it betrays a godly attitude of mind it betrays his understanding of how he as any faithful man and in part mediator is to identify himself fully with the sins and the weaknesses the wounds and the sicknesses of the body that we is not what we would call the royal we but in scripture it is the priest like we for that is the attitude of a priest it is the attitude of one who identifies himself with the people as the people of Israel were to put their hands on the Levites an identification of their role and how the Levite in turn was identifying himself with the people he represented it is also of course seen in the law of Moses and so many other ways !

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    the priests and the priests and the people where in the tabernacle services like the language in Hebrews the high priest himself made an offering for the sins both of himself and the people we know in scripture surely that this isn't something unique to Daniel that term we is found and that attitude is found in the prayers of all the great men of the Bible great now not so much in the sense of their faith not so much in the great deeds that they did like the Samson's and others like him who did mighty acts in war but greatness in a different sense in the sense of the priests like we let's just sample how Daniel's prayer harmonizes with these sentiments elsewhere for example Ezra this is a pertinent reference because it's at the same time or at least it's at a time that complements the time of Daniel it's when the nation has gone back in part under Ezra's leadership as a result of their captivity from Babylon having suffered the plight for the same kind of heir right Ezra chapter 9 we'd like just to look at verses 5 to 7 think of Daniel as you read this description and see the parallels verse 5 of Ezra 9 and at the evening sacrifice I arose up from my heaviness having rent my garment and my mantle !

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    I fell upon my knees and spread out my hands unto Yahweh my God and said O my God I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee my God for our iniquities are increased over our head and our trespass is grown up unto the heavens since the days of our fathers have we been in a great trespass unto this day for our iniquities have we our kings and our priests being delivered into the land of the kings of the lands to the sword to captivity and to a spoil and to confusion of face as it is this day there's a great deal that we can see in Ezra's prayer that parallels that of Daniel perspective number one we and our and us had Ezra done those things really had he committed iniquity had he trespassed and had his trespasses personally grown up into the heavens had he committed the great trespass unto this day in verse seven then why does he pray that way !

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    ! and who prayed with the personal pronoun I I this and I that and who said I thank thee God that I am not as other sinners that's a pharisaical attitude in contrast to these great men who understood what manner of men and women they were the same sentiment is expressed of course by Nehemiah the same is expressed also by Moses the great mediator in Exodus 32 where he wishes to have himself blotted out rather than the nation being blotted out where Moses steps as it were between Israel and God between them both and pleads to God that his life might be removed rather than God espunging the nation of Israel God had told him that he could create a new nation Moses stepped in between and asked that his life be taken had Moses done wrong did Moses deserve to be stoned as the nation did as an adulterous woman no but Moses Daniel Ezra Nehemiah understood this fundamental doctrine in their identification with their brethren and their problems how about David second Samuel chapter 24 at the time of the census when the nation is being punished although David no doubt could not be absolved from total blame careful study we believe shows that he was less blame worthy for a plague that broke out in the nation that is sometimes suggested not absolving David totally however but in the midst of this punishment and plague look at David's petition verse 17 and remember what you know from your readings only in the last few weeks remember what you know about the condition of Israel at the time of David by Israel I mean

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    the whole nation verse 17 and David spake unto Yahweh when he saw the angel that smote the people and said lo I have sinned and I have done wickedly but these sheep what have they done let thine hand I pray thee be against me and against my father's house what had the house of the son of Jesse done it was a godly house David had misjudged and certainly not to be totally absolved from blame in this circumstance but what of that statement these sheep what have they done plenty David a study of the time of David through the book of 2 Samuel or 1 Samuel shows us a nation that was still only partly drawn out of the darkness of the time of the judges when every man did that which was right in his own eyes the reforms of Samuel indicate how twisted and how sick part of that nation was the response to Israel as they worked for Saul in part their fickleness the intrigue that encircled David in the time of his rebellion all showed that the nation as a whole and the leaders were not to be absolved from blame by any means but David views them as sheep that's the great shepherd that's the greatness of David it's the greatness of Daniel and Moses he viewed them as sheep these sheep what have they done well they had done plenty but that attitude of mind was that of Daniel and his prayer and the others that we've seen look at the apostle Paul in speaking about Israel the same object the same nation as the prayer of Daniel see what

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    Paul says in Romans see how typical this is of the attitude of great shepherds in the Bible Romans chapter 9 verse 1 I say the truth in Christ I lie not my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart for I wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren my kinsmen according to the flesh this was a nation that had crucified their Messiah this is a nation that up to this point when he penned the epistle to the Romans had been continually stubborn and hard hearted it was a nation that really deserved not mercy from the human point of view they had been given their chance Messiah had walked in their midst they had with cruel hands crucified him they had dealt in the same way with the early ecclesia they had expelled the faithful and continued the work of the apostle Paul through other bloody hands !

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    Christ would you have put yourself in that spot willing to sacrifice yourself for that kind of people would you? Most of us would by that point in New Testament times have said let them be disfellowship them write them off forget about them we would have perhaps drawn our coats around us as it were and kept our distance shaken our head in disgust pointed the finger and left them we would have said patience runs out but we would have said they've had a chance many chances we would have said perhaps that we're past 70 times 7 Israel deserves no such concern and such love still but in the apostle Paul's bowels there was such mercy there still was such yearning still such concern for the rebellious nation with such a morbid track record even going right back to the days of Daniel as he could have to our days as we look in this study that's the mark of a shepherd that is a true chrysidelfian that is one who truly understands what that name stands for brethren of Christ for that's the chrysidelfian who doesn't disassociate himself from the body when he looks at it closely and sees the problems that's not the attitude that says I will form a new fellowship I will split the meeting I will walk out of the arranging meeting because I can't have it my way that's not the chrysidelfian arranging board that says because there is sickness in the body I will disassociate myself from it I will walk off and form a reclusive secretive or form a small group to keep myself from the sins of the

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    people that mentality is becoming more and more prominent in our community and only in the last few months on this continent we have seen a rather sad case of it as one member of our community I say member I mean ecclesia has been afflicted by that very kind of mentality in contrast to these examples we're just considering don't think as we should not think that the attitude of that particular geographic location on this continent is atypical because things said at arranging board meetings things said in general conversation between chrysidelfians often are miles from this attitude it is too often our reflex in our own thinking in our own attitude when we meet problems in our body to take an attitude that is diametrically opposite from the attitudes expressed by these shepherds of Israel these true shepherds of Israel we read them and we admire them and we perhaps applaud their grace and their goodness and the sentiments of their prayers but that means nothing brothers and sisters if in our arranging meetings in our discussion of the problems in our bodies our words and thinking and our actions betray it it's a fact as we look at the parables of the master in Matthew and Luke especially that as we analyze

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    what's being implied about human nature why is the Lord stressing the need to be a good Samaritan why is he stressing the parable of the unforgiving servant for what is the master saying about human nature is he saying that we are naturally more patient than impatient is he saying that we are more naturally inclined to forbearance and long suffering than we are to a lack of it those parables are telling us something implicitly about the Lord's concern concerning chrysidelfians he's telling us that patience doesn't naturally come to the body of Christ he's implying that people are not naturally as chrysidelfians and servants of God forbearing he's telling us that we need the exhortation along those lines especially now perhaps you're thinking well what's the implication here is this an exhortation to over tolerance is this an exhortation to turn a blind eye to imperfections and problems in the body is this an exhortation for every man to do that which is right in his own eyes it is not it is not a matter of tolerance it's a matter of working

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    it's not a matter of writing letters about it it's not a matter of pointing fingers and phoning people up it's not a matter of standing in the corner and talking about they the Vancouver ecclesia the Scarlet Road ecclesia the English brethren the Australian brethren the shield the logos the CMPA and all the other catchphrases which we use in such dialogues

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    it's talking about those problems not turning a blind eye to them as part of we it's us it's my body it's my brother you see the they betrays the very opposite disposition of what we see in these prayers and when we use these fabricated labels for the sake of convenience in our dialogues and in our writings if that is part of our real thinking inside and we think of these brethren as chips off of the body as segregated departments then without us knowing it perhaps we take the mental internal posture of the man in the parable who says I thank thee God that I am not as other men the Vancouver ecclesia the Scarlet Road ecclesia the English brethren the Australian brethren the theys we are not brothers and sisters cultivating the disposition of Daniel it's easy to go through that prayer and be so admiring of the contents of his outpouring but what does that mean to you and I what does it mean in terms of the disposition you and I have got to develop in our ecclesial affairs we are to see the problems we are not to use rose colored glasses we are not to see through darkness we are to identify the problems of the body we are to know that they are there we are to cultivate spiritual godly discernment to know good and wrong we are to recognize the disease when it's present and not turn back from it but we are to address the disease we are to do something about the sickness we are to do something about the wounds and the broken body that we

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    might see in our ecclesia and in the community at large not to write letters necessarily about it and not simply at a distance to describe the problem now there's many ways we can do it communication with brethren does have its part communicating and writing back and forth for a positive purpose has its part providing our motive is right and our method is right and providing of course that what we are doing for sure is going to pour oil and wine as the good Samaritan did on the afflicted body let us measure our methods and evaluate what we're doing and the way we're doing it only you know the motives I can't judge you can't judge me of course so it's not an exhortation to tolerance or to spiritual blindness it's not a matter of letting anything go in the ecclesia but it's an exhortation to patience and long suffering turn to the last chapter of Chronicles this is the meat of Daniel's prayer if we don't capture all the other details and we do capture this we we have captured something very tangible second Chronicles chapter thirty six the very last chapter of the book of Chronicles and this is not divorced from the study of Daniel it's pertinent because this is the beginning of the end before the people were taken to Babylon the situation in which Daniel later found himself when Daniel prayed for the fathers and the forgiveness of his nation when he admitted their transgressions and their iniquities he was referring back to this kind of language in second Chronicles thirty six here's Nebuchadnezzar coming down in verse thirteen and he

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    also rebelled against king Nebuchadnezzar who had made him swear by God but he stiffened his neck and hardened his heart from turning unto the Lord God of Israel moreover all the chief of the priests and the people transgressed very much after all the abominations of the heathen and polluted the house of the Lord which he had hallowed in Jerusalem and the Lord God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers rising up betimes means early and often and sending because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place how long did God do that brothers and sisters for a good number of years it goes into the hundreds it was over the course of hundreds of years that God raised up the prophets the period of the kings

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    hundreds of years God was patient God was long suffering but see God as the example it's not that he turned his back on the sins of his people or tolerated them but in seeing them he did his best God did to work with the nation he did something about it he sent his prophets he rose them up early and frequently and he had compassion on his people his brethren but verse 16 the recalcitrant attitude of the hard-hearted nation but they mocked the messengers of God and despised his words and misused his prophets until the wrath of Yahweh arose against his people till there was no remedy margin notice it till there was no healing till there was no healing it is the language of personification what is implied by that figure of speech until there was no healing it implies sickness how do you describe sickness about a group of people that are a nation only on the basis of one fundamental bible doctrine that is the doctrine of the body it views the nation of Israel Judah as a body and they were sick and God by sending his prophets and doing what he could and rising up early and having compassion on them was really showing the parable of the good Samaritan for he poured wine oil out to them through the words of the prophets he desired to effect a remedy and after six months he didn't come to his fellow prophet to his prophets and tell them to extinguish the nation God labored

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    look at the language of Isaiah chapter one this is the nation in the days of Hezekiah how does it describe the nation the prophet describes it in lurid details Isaiah chapter one appealing to Israel in verse two in the language of Deuteronomy hear oh heavens and give ear oh worth for the Lord hath spoken I have nourished and brought up children look at how God views his people it's the language of David isn't it these poor sheep what have they done I have nourished and brought up children and they have rebelled against me God's position is that of a father a parent they are viewed !

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    as children then ! verse 4 ah sinful nation a people laden with iniquity a seed of evildoers children that are corruptors they have forsaken the Lord they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger they are gone away backward now the language of the body that sick verse 5 why should ye be stricken anymore ye will revolt more and more the whole head is sick and the whole heart is faint from the soul of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores they have not been closed neither bound up nor mollified with ointment by the way there's the Old Testament good Samaritan that's the language of the good Samaritan from which that parable no doubt is drawn in part that is the nation that is sick from head

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    and it wasn't until the days of Zedekiah in 2nd Chronicles 36 which we just read that described the nation as having really now no remedy for their healing and still many years were to pass from these days many years were to pass from these days and even then when God took them into captivity with Daniel there were still Daniels praying for that nation !

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    There is the true shepherd despite such a morbid condition there is the God who is patient with the patient It is true I believe brothers and sisters that we as Christadelphians are often better surgeons than we are nurses or therapists It's true There is a greater inclination at times to use the scapula than to use the ointment and the curing medicine The one takes patience The one takes careful and prayerful administration The one that of patience with the patient requires a willingness to accept sometimes an improvement in the temperature and health of the body that's sick and sometimes a decline and at times the temperature of that body and its fever will fluctuate up and down there will be advances and there will be regressions there will be frustrations in working with such a sick body as there were no doubt for the father for as Isaiah says elsewhere in all their afflictions he was afflicted he sympathized and he identified with his people who were his children talked about them as part of his body so often in our own relationships with one another we are lacking in that kind of forbearance we reach for the knife perhaps a little more impulsively than we do for the balm and the oil and the wine figuratively speaking the one does tax us and requires the attitude of a nurse the attitude of a nurse look at the apostle Paul in dealing with the first century for it wasn't long after the inception of the first ecclesias that certain types of sickness did creep in even in the time of the first century and how does

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    Paul view himself in relationship to this body with all its many needs well first of Thessalonians chapter two verse one this is Daniel this is the real meaning and practical application of what Daniel prays for this is the patient shepherd first of Thessalonians chapter two for yourselves brethren verse one know that our entrance in unto you that it was not in vain verse three for our exhortation was not of deceit nor of uncleanness nor in guile verse seven but we were gentle among you even as a nurse cherish her children a nurse the apostle Paul a nurse perhaps we view him as a father which he was but a nurse it describes Paul's attitude to the sheep like that of David it describes the attitude of Daniel who could not only identify the sicknesses of the body and the problems that were part of that body to which he belonged but it speaks for action in the ecclesia in the community and for the individual that we know of in our ecclesia in our family the family of Christ it speaks for action it's not a matter of simply sitting back in a tolerant way he says we were gentle as a nurse well what does a nurse do a nurse administers care a nurse is patient and a nurse is working with a patient but she works she nourishes she does things positive she tries to remedy the problem she doesn't ignore it she works with it but she's patient and that disposition is the disposition of the apostle Paul which he needed so very early on when these ecclesias were established let's go back

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    to the gospels this too is the attitude of Daniel and is part and parcel of the problem he dealt with Matthew chapter 9 now you'll be surprised to see how closely this does touch on the time of Daniel Matthew 9 verse 11 and when the Pharisee saw it they said unto his disciples why eateth your master with publicans and sinners and when Jesus heard that he said unto them they they that behold need not a physician but they that are sick but go ye and learn what that meaneth I will have mercy and not sacrifice for I'm not come to call the righteous but the sinners to repentance you would think sometimes by the response of chrysidelfians to potential converts that such is not the case that for some potential converts there is no hope that for some potential converts we are saying we're only calling the righteous today we're not calling the sinners but that's not what the Lord calls through the gospel he calls the sinners to repentance and he describes the nation implicitly as needing a physician he describes the nation implicitly as being sick and not whole and he quotes his point from Hosea back to Hosea that's the Old Testament context that brings us full circle to Daniel for the condition that Daniel describes in chapter 9 of his prayer is the condition that is spoken of in Hosea when the prophet just prior really to Daniel not too far prior to Daniel speaking as he was of course to the northern nation in part as well as Judah spoke and warned the people of these are some of the

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    words that's referred to in Chronicles that God rose up prophets early and frequently and sent them to the nation what Daniel prays about as he looks back into the past of the history of his nation goes back to the times of Hosea now before before we look at the direct quotation in context just go to Hosea 5 and lead towards it look at how this harmonizes with the language of Isaiah 1 the healing mentioned for which there was no remedy in 2nd Chronicles 36 and the sickness described in Daniel's prayer verse 13 of Hosea 5 when Ephraim saw his sickness and Judah saw his wound then went Ephraim to the Assyrian and sent to king Jereb yet could he not heal you nor cure you of your wound that's the language of Chronicles isn't it for I will be unto Ephraim as a lion and as a young lion to the house of Judah I even I will tear and go away I will take away and none shall rescue him verse 15 I will go and return to my place till they acknowledge their offense and seek my face in their affliction will they seek me early then comes the call verse one of chapter six come and let us return unto Yahweh for he hath torn remember what Jesus said in quoting Hosea before he said it they that are whole need not a physician the nation wasn't whole they were torn and he will heal us he hath smitten and he will bind us up what was the language of his quotation to Hosea I will have mercy and not sacrifice isn't

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    that what he said now where did he say that from well look down at verse six here it is in context this is what Jesus quotes to the nation and to the leaders verse six for I desired mercy and not sacrifice and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings but they like men have transgressed the covenant language of Daniel there have they dealt treacherously against me you see the Lord quotes and context by telling them to go back and read what it meaneth from Hosea doesn't just mean to go back and read Hosea six and six the context of that whole passage shows the nation sick torn broken afflicted and in need of healing in need of mercy and thus his rebuke to the Pharisees who thought that they were above all that and untouched by it is ever so pertinent finally let's go back to Daniel and close there we said that we are not going to analyze we can't analyze all of the themes that run through Daniel's prayer but this surely is one of the most pertinent to our community in these days and to ourselves as disciples it's comforting to see verse 20 of Daniel 9 as we close brothers and sisters Daniel 9 verse 20 whilst I was speaking and praying and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God for the holy mountain of my God yea whilst I

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    whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning being caused to fly swiftly touched me about the time of the evening oblation at the time of the evening sacrifice when the burnt offering for the evening that was to go right through the hours of darkness was being prepared head body internal organs washed and cleansed and placed piece by piece in order on the altar and as at the same time simultaneously the incense was being burnt for the nation as that was to be done and it was being prepared although of course not in the days of Daniel but at that time Gabriel comes and responds to Daniel's prayer showing the surety of the answer of prayer and for a man who confessed the sins of his nation who sought relief for transgression and sin and confessed such depravity of his nation who does God send which angel of all of them he sends Gabriel why Gabriel what's Gabriel to tell him Gabriel is to tell him in verse 24 of the 70 weeks prophecy that would bring Messiah and an answer to Daniel's prayer in verse 24 what will Messiah do he will finish the transgression he will make an end of sins he will make reconciliation for iniquity he will bring in everlasting righteousness Messiah will address the contents of Daniel's prayer Daniel prayed for the forgiveness of transgression iniquity and sin and Messiah will answer that he will be the atonement he will be the answer and when Messiah is to be born of all the angels whom does God send Gabriel how incredibly divinely appropriate that the one who comes to

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    Joseph and Mary is the one who came to Daniel and gave him the hope for the sins of his people here was one in Messiah that was the great shepherd the one who truly showed patience and who was the great physician that quoted Hosea chapter 6 let us rejoice brothers and sisters in the wisdom and in the sureness of God's answer to Daniel's prayer and to ours for we too must identify with that nation as Daniel did and in Messiah who was cut off we find the one who is the prince of us one who is to be the prince of the world and in whom we have received the atonement thank you for listening to the good Christadelphian talks podcast please subscribe for new episodes and leave a review in apple podcasts whichever service you use to help people find the show when they search for it if you enjoyed this talk share it on social media so other people can hear it too for show notes and links to the talk you just listened to visit our show page at anchor.fm slash gct we encourage everyone to share their thoughts on the talk from this week with everyone on facebook or instagram where we are at good christadelphian talks or on twitter where we are at gct underscore podcast if you know a great talk we want to know about it too send a suggestion to good christadelphian talks at gmail.com or message us on social media thank you for listening god bless and talk to you next week you you you you