The Grammar of Repentance Text: Daniel 9:1-19
Introduction: The Lost Art of Serious Prayer
We live in an age of therapeutic prayer. Modern prayer, when it happens at all, is often a sentimental exercise in self-expression, a quiet moment to get in touch with our feelings, or a sanitized wish list presented to a celestial concierge. We treat God as a cosmic therapist whose job is to affirm us, or as a divine vending machine whose job is to dispense blessings upon insertion of the correct emotional currency. Our prayers are frequently individualistic, shallow, and almost entirely disconnected from the actual text of Scripture.
And because of this, our prayers are impotent. They are like trying to fell an oak tree with a wet noodle. They accomplish nothing because they assume nothing, risk nothing, and confess nothing. They are not prayers that shake kingdoms because they are not offered by people who believe God rules kingdoms.
Into this vapid and sentimental landscape, Daniel s prayer in chapter 9 lands like a meteor. This is not a quiet time; this is spiritual warfare. This is not a self-help mantra; this is a formal, legal appeal before the throne of the universe. Daniel is not trying to feel better; he is trying to get God s kingdom business done. He is a man in exile, his nation in ruins, his temple a pile of rubble. And he understands that the only way back begins on his knees, with the Word of God on his lips and the sins of his people on his shoulders. This prayer is a master class in what it means to approach the holy God. It is a lesson in the grammar of repentance, a grammar our generation has almost entirely forgotten.
The Text
In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, from the seed of the Medes, who was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans, in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, discerned in the books the number of the years concerning which the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah the prophet for the fulfillment of the laying waste of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years. So I gave my face to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. And I prayed to Yahweh my God and confessed and said, “Alas, O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments, we have sinned and committed iniquity and acted wickedly and rebelled, even turning aside from Your commandments and judgments. Moreover, we have not listened to Your slaves the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings, our princes, our fathers, and all the people of the land.
To You, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us open shame, as it is this day, to the men of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and all Israel, those who are nearby and those who are far away in all the countries to which You have banished them, because of their unfaithful deeds which they have committed against You. O Yahweh, to us belongs open shame, to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, because we have sinned against You. To the Lord our God belong compassion and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against Him; nor have we listened to the voice of Yahweh our God, to walk in His laws which He put before us through His slaves the prophets. Indeed all Israel has trespassed against Your law, even turning aside, not listening to Your voice; so the curse has been poured out on us, along with the oath which is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, for we have sinned against Him. Thus He has established His words which He had spoken against us and against our judges who judged us, to bring on us great calamity; for under the whole heaven there has not been done anything like what was done to Jerusalem. As it is written in the law of Moses, all this calamity has come on us; yet we have not entreated the favor of Yahweh our God by turning from our iniquity and acting wisely in Your truth. Therefore Yahweh has watched over the calamity and brought it on us; for Yahweh our God is righteous with respect to all His deeds which He has done, but we have not listened to His voice.
So now, O Lord our God, who have brought Your people out of the land of Egypt with a strong hand and have made a name for Yourself, as it is this day, we have sinned; we have acted wickedly. O Lord, in accordance with all Your righteousness, let now Your anger and Your wrath turn away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain; for because of our sins and the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people have become a reproach to all those around us. So now, our God, listen to the prayer of Your slave and to his supplications, and for Your sake, O Lord, let Your face shine on Your desolate sanctuary. O my God, incline Your ear and listen! Open Your eyes and see our desolations and the city which is called by Your name; for we are not presenting our supplications before You on account of any righteousness of our own, but on account of Your abundant compassion. O Lord, listen! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, give heed and take action! For Your own sake, O my God, do not delay, because Your city and Your people are called by Your name.
(Daniel 9:1-19 LSB)
The Spark of Prayer: Grounded in the Word (vv. 1-3)
We begin with the catalyst for this monumental prayer.
"in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, discerned in the books the number of the years concerning which the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah the prophet for the fulfillment of the laying waste of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years. So I gave my face to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes." (Daniel 9:2-3)
Notice where true prayer begins. It does not begin with an inward glance at our feelings or an outward glance at our circumstances. It begins with an upward glance at the Word of God. Daniel did not receive a special, private revelation. He was doing his devotions. He was reading his Bible. Specifically, he was reading the prophet Jeremiah (Jer. 25:11-12, 29:10), and the Holy Spirit turned the light on. He "discerned," he understood, that the prophesied seventy years of exile were coming to an end.
Now, what is the typical modern response to such a discovery? It would likely be a passive, fatalistic optimism. "Well, God promised it, so I guess we can just sit back and wait for the moving trucks to show up." But this is not how a man of God thinks. For Daniel, the certainty of God's promise is not a sedative; it is a stimulant. The promise of God does not eliminate the need for prayer; it is the very fuel of prayer. Prophecy tells us what God is going to do so that we can align ourselves with His will in prayer and ask Him to do it. God ordains the ends, and He ordains the means. And one of His primary means is the desperate, believing prayer of His people.
So Daniel gives his face to the Lord. This is a Hebraism for setting his determined purpose. And his posture reflects his purpose: fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. This is not pious melodrama. This is the outward expression of an inward reality. It is the posture of a man who understands the utter gravity of sin, the profound holiness of God, and the desperate condition of his people. He is not coming to God with a list of demands, but as a broken-hearted ambassador for a nation of rebels.
The Logic of Confession: Arguing from God's Righteousness (vv. 4-14)
The prayer itself begins not with requests, but with worship and confession. Daniel lays a crucial foundation before he ever builds the walls of his petition.
"Alas, O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments, we have sinned..." (Daniel 9:4-5)
He starts with theology proper. Before he talks about his sin, he talks about his God. God is great and awesome. God is a covenant-keeping God. This is the bedrock. Prayer is an appeal to God based on His own revealed character. But immediately, Daniel pivots to a devastatingly honest confession. And notice the pronoun: "we." Daniel was a man of extraordinary righteousness, yet he does not separate himself from the sins of his people. He is not a detached observer pointing fingers at the "real" sinners. He is a member of a covenant body, and he identifies himself completely with their guilt. This is corporate solidarity, a concept our hyper-individualistic age cannot begin to fathom. We have sinned, we have committed iniquity, we have acted wickedly, we have rebelled, we have not listened. He piles up the synonyms to show the comprehensive nature of their treason.
The central theme of this confession is a stark contrast. "To You, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us open shame" (v. 7). There are no excuses here. There is no blame-shifting, no victim-playing. Daniel's legal argument is simple: God, You are right, and we are wrong. Full stop. This shame belongs to everyone, from the kings to the common man, because the rebellion was universal.
And then comes the part that is most offensive to modern sensibilities. Daniel affirms the absolute justice of God's judgment.
"so the curse has been poured out on us, along with the oath which is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, for we have sinned against Him. Thus He has established His words... to bring on us great calamity..." (Daniel 9:11-12)
Daniel understands covenant theology. He knows that the destruction of Jerusalem and the exile were not a tragic accident or a geopolitical misfortune. They were the specific, promised covenant curses for disobedience laid out centuries before in Deuteronomy 28. God had told them exactly what would happen if they rebelled, and then He did exactly what He said He would do. God's judgment was a demonstration of His faithfulness to His own Word. In fact, Daniel says God "has watched over the calamity and brought it on us" (v. 14). This is the language of meticulous, sovereign control. God wasn't wringing His hands in heaven; He was executing His righteous decrees. A true confession, a true repentance, must always include the affirmation that God is just in His judgments against us.
The Foundation of Supplication: Appealing to God's Glory (vv. 15-19)
Having laid the foundation of God's character and their own guilt, Daniel now turns to his petition. On what basis can a guilty people appeal for mercy?
"So now, O Lord our God, who have brought Your people out of the land of Egypt with a strong hand and have made a name for Yourself... we have sinned; we have acted wickedly. O Lord, in accordance with all Your righteousness, let now Your anger and Your wrath turn away from Your city Jerusalem..." (Daniel 9:15-16)
His appeal is not based on any change in their circumstances or any merit in themselves. He bookends his plea with another confession: "we have sinned." His appeal is based on two things: God's past actions and God's present reputation. He reminds God of the Exodus, the great founding act of redemption where God "made a name for Himself." He is essentially saying, "Lord, act consistently with Your character. You are a Redeemer. Your reputation is at stake. Right now, Your people and Your city are a reproach, a joke among the nations. Your name is being dragged through the mud because of our sin. For the sake of Your own glory, act!"
This leads to the theological heart of the entire prayer, the premise upon which all true Christian prayer must stand.
"for we are not presenting our supplications before You on account of any righteousness of our own, but on account of Your abundant compassion." (Daniel 9:18)
There it is. This is the gospel in prayer form. This is sola gratia. Daniel abandons any claim to personal or national merit. The only ground for his appeal is the character of God Himself, His "abundant compassion." He is throwing himself and his people entirely on the mercy of the court. This is the only plea a sinner has, whether in the Old Testament or the New.
This understanding unleashes the final, urgent, staccato burst of petition.
"O Lord, listen! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, give heed and take action! For Your own sake, O my God, do not delay, because Your city and Your people are called by Your name." (Daniel 9:19)
The argument comes full circle. The ultimate reason God should act is for God Himself. For His own sake. Because His people and His city bear His name. Their destiny is inextricably tied to His glory. To restore them is to vindicate Himself. This is the highest and most powerful argument we can ever make in prayer: "Father, do this for the glory of Your own name."
Conclusion: Praying from the Rubble
We too live in a time of ruins. Our Western civilization is a desolate sanctuary, the stones of its Christian foundations having been torn down and carted away. Our churches are often compromised and our families are under constant assault. And so we must learn to pray like Daniel.
First, we must pray from the Book. Our prayers must be shaped, fueled, and corrected by the Word of God, not by our fleeting emotions.
Second, we must confess corporately. We must stop our individualistic finger-pointing and own the sins of our fathers, our churches, and our nation. We must say "we have sinned" and affirm that God is righteous to judge us for it.
Third, our only plea must be the character of God. We have no righteousness of our own. Our only hope is His abundant compassion, as demonstrated supremely at the cross of His Son. Daniel prayed for a restoration that was still future. We pray on the basis of a restoration that is an accomplished fact. Daniel looked forward to the work of the Messiah; we look back to it. The greater Daniel, Jesus Christ, is both our righteous intercessor and the sacrifice for the very sins we confess. He is the one who took our "open shame" upon Himself so that we could be clothed in His righteousness.
Therefore, we do not pray to the cross, but from it. We stand on the finished work of Christ and, like Daniel, we appeal to the Father for His own name's sake. "Father, listen! Father, forgive! Father, act! For Your Son's sake, do not delay, because Your Church and Your people are called by Your name."