April 21, 2025 • 9 mins
Who is in focus in prayer, God or us? In other words, who or what is prayer all about, us and our problems or God and His purpose?
More information about Beyond the Walls, including additional resources can be found at www.beyondthewalls-ministry.com
This series included graphics to illustrate what is being taught, if you would like to watch the teachings you can do so on Rumble (https://rumble.com/user/SpokaneBibleChurch) or on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtV_KhFVZ_waBcnuywiRKIyEcDkiujRqP).
Jeremy Thomas is the pastor at Spokane Bible Church in Spokane, Washington and a professor at Chafer Theological Seminary. He has been teaching the Bible for over 20 years, always seeking to present its truths in a clear and understandable manner.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas and
our series on the New TestamentFramework.
Today a smaller, bite-sizedpiece from the larger lesson.
We hope you enjoy it.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
That's why, in verse 3, he gave his attention to the
Lord and sought Him by prayerand supplications, with fasting
and sackcloth.
So we're going to read thisprayer and it's the longest
prayer in the Old Testament andthen we're going to draw some of
the doctrine from the partialrestoration, from this event,
(00:32):
one of which is the doctrine ofprayer.
Okay, the doctrine of prayer.
We'll draw some points out ofit.
So let's go through this prayer.
Verse 4, I prayed to the Lord,my God, and I confessed.
Now, confession.
Daniel knew that the only waythat Israel could be restored to
her kingdom after the times ofthe Gentiles, the four kingdoms
(00:56):
passed, which he supposes fromJeremiah is what Is it?
Only 70 years?
I mean, how does this all fit?
But he knows that this is acondition for national
restoration and the kingdom ofGod to come.
So he confesses and he saidalas, o Lord, the great and
awesome God, who keeps hiscovenant and his loving kindness
(01:17):
for those who love him and keephis commandments.
And here's the confession.
We have sinned, we havecommitted iniquity, we have
acted wickedly, we have rebelled, we have even turned aside from
your commandments andordinances.
Moreover, we have not listenedto your servants, the prophets
who spoke in your name to ourkings, our princes, our fathers
(01:39):
and all the people of the land.
That's all saying we messed up,it's our fault for the
situation we are in.
This is a brief aside.
Have you ever heard people saybecause I have many times that
they don't want to believe inGod because of the way their
(01:59):
life is and all the bad thingsthat have happened?
And they basically blame Godand therefore they're not going
to believe in this God?
Daniel came forth veryforthrightly and just said we
and our situation in life is dueto us and our wickedness and
our sin.
It's not you, it's us.
(02:22):
We are the problem.
And so he is confessing.
And then he says not only am Iconfessing all this, but you
sent your prophets to us.
So this would be people likeElijah.
This would be people likeElisha, who God sent to the
nation so that they wouldconfess, but they didn't listen
to the prophets.
He says we didn't listen tothem.
You sent them, but we didn'tlisten.
(02:43):
Now that's all about them.
Now look at the other side ofthe confession, verse 7.
This is all about the Lord.
Righteousness belongs to you, oLord.
In other words, you are thestandard.
But to us open your name, as itis this day, to the men of
Judah, the inhabitants ofJerusalem and all Israel, those
who are nearby and those who arefar away.
(03:03):
So this includes all 12 tribesthose in Judah, the southern
kingdom, those in Israel, thenorthern kingdom, who are now in
exile, he says, and all thecountries to which you have
driven them because of theirunfaithful deeds.
That's all the exile which theyhave committed against you and
that's what confession is.
It's admitting that the sin isagainst who?
Against God, who is thestandard?
(03:23):
He is righteous, open shame.
Verse 8, belongs to us, o Lord,to our kings, our princes, our
fathers, because we have sinnedagainst you, every single one of
us.
Now he switches back to theLord.
To the Lord, our God, belongcompassion and forgiveness, for
we have rebelled against him,nor have we obeyed the voice of
(03:45):
the Lord, our God, to walk inhis teachings, which he set
before us through his servants,the prophets, which would be
Moses and the prophets thatfollowed.
All Israel has transgressedyour law and all Israel has
turned aside, not obeying yourvoice, and therefore the curse
has been poured out on us, alongwith the oath which is written
(04:07):
in the law of Moses, the servantof God, for we have sinned
against him.
Who do we sin against?
We sin against God.
We don't sin against otherpeople.
Other people aren't thestandard.
Daniel admits, just like Davidadmitted against you you only
have I sinned.
When we are confessing in thatway, we are confessing properly.
(04:29):
The sin is against him, verse12,.
Thus he has confirmed his words, which he had spoken against us
and against our rulers, whoruled us to bring on us great
calamity.
In other words, god wrote allthis in the Mosaic law the five
degrees of divine discipline.
If you don't listen to my voicebut rebel, then I will send
(04:51):
upon you this curse and then, ifyou don't listen again, I will
send it upon you sevenfold more,and so forth, all through the
five degrees.
And he's saying it's all ourfault.
You told us you were going todo this to us, and yet we have
not listened and we continue torebel.
It's just like a son and afather, and the father says if
you don't do this, this will bethe penalty.
(05:12):
And the son says I don't care,and you give them the penalty.
And then you say a warningagain and the son says it
doesn't matter, I'm still goingto rebel.
And so the father says, okay,fine.
Well, it's greater penaltiesand you lose more and more
freedoms until you don't have acar and you can't get out of
your room and you're locked away, tied to your bed.
And that's what I would do toyou.
I would confine you.
(05:34):
And this is the definition of agood father Happy fathers.
God does lay out, and he is thefather of Israel.
Israel is his son, right andand they are now suffering under
the divine discipline of thefather.
Daniel recognizes that.
In the middle of verse 12 hesays for under the whole heaven,
(05:56):
there has not been doneanything like what was done to
jerusalem.
It was raised to the ground isdestroyed.
It was.
It is a day in in Jewishhistory that is one of the
saddest days.
The beautiful Solomonic Temple,all its articles, everything
destroyed, the articles takenaway, and this was the heart of
(06:16):
their whole life.
And it was all taken.
And they were marched 800 milesaway, many of them naked and in
chains for days on end, intocaptivity.
Terrible thing, verse 13, as itis written in the law of Moses
all this calamity has come on us, just like the word of God said
.
Yet we've not sought the favoror grace of the Lord, our God,
(06:38):
by turning from our iniquity andgiving attention to your truth.
That's such a great verse thatshould be memorized.
Turn from our iniquity, giveattention to truth.
It's truth.
That's such a great verse thatshould be memorized.
Turn from our iniquity, giveattention to truth, his truth.
Therefore, the Lord has keptthe calamity in store and
brought it on us.
For the Lord, our God, isrighteous with respect to all
his deeds, which he has done,but we have not obeyed his voice
(06:59):
.
It's just a great contrast,right between who God is, how he
is righteous, how he has doneeverything that he said he would
do, and how Israel is liars,sinners who do not respond to
him and to his truth, whoworship idols who don't obey.
And now verse 15, o Lord, ourGod, who have brought your
(07:23):
people out of the land of Egyptwith a mighty hand and have made
a name for yourself, as it isthis day, among all the nations.
They knew of this God.
We have sinned and we have beenwicked.
Oh Lord, in accordance with allyour righteous acts, let now
your anger and your wrath turnaway from your city, jerusalem,
from your holy mountain, forbecause of our sins and the
(07:43):
iniquities of our fathers,jerusalem and your people have
become a reproach to all thosearound us.
So now, our God, listen to theprayer of your servant and to
his supplications and for yoursake, o Lord, for your sake, not
for our sake, but for your sakeor for your name, o Lord, let
your face shine on your desolatesanctuary.
(08:04):
O, my God, incline your ear andhear, open your eyes and see
our desolations and the citywhich is called by your name,
jerusalem.
It's your name that is attachedto this city, lord, and it's in
desolations.
So restore it for your name,for we are not presenting our
supplications before you onaccount of any merits of our own
(08:26):
.
Don't answer this prayer becauseof us, because of something
we've done, because if you do,there's nothing you won't answer
, he says, but on account ofyour own great compassion.
Oh Lord, hear, oh Lord forgive,oh Lord, listen and Lord, take
action For your own sake, oh myGod, do not delay, because your
city, it's your city and it'syour people are called by your
(08:47):
name and therefore yourreputation is at stake.
That is the whole basis of hisprayer.
It's all about the Lord and theLord's name.
It's not about Daniel, it's notabout the people of Israel,
it's about the Lord, ultimately,and that has to be a focus in
prayer.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
Thank you for joining us on Beyond the Walls with
Jeremy Thomas.
If you would like to see thevisuals that went along with
today's sermon, you can findthose on Rumble and on YouTube
under Spokane Bible Church.
That is where Jeremy is thepastor and teacher.
We hope you found today'slesson productive and useful in
(09:24):
growing closer to God andwalking more obediently with Him
.
If you found this podcast to beuseful and helpful, then please
consider rating us in yourfavorite podcast app, and until
next time, we hope you have ablessed and wonderful day.
Welcome to Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas and
our series on the New TestamentFramework.
Today a smaller, bite-sizedpiece from the larger lesson.
We hope you enjoy it.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
That's why, in verse 3, he gave his attention to the
Lord and sought Him by prayerand supplications, with fasting
and sackcloth.
So we're going to read thisprayer and it's the longest
prayer in the Old Testament andthen we're going to draw some of
the doctrine from the partialrestoration, from this event,
(00:32):
one of which is the doctrine ofprayer.
Okay, the doctrine of prayer.
We'll draw some points out ofit.
So let's go through this prayer.
Verse 4, I prayed to the Lord,my God, and I confessed.
Now, confession.
Daniel knew that the only waythat Israel could be restored to
her kingdom after the times ofthe Gentiles, the four kingdoms
(00:56):
passed, which he supposes fromJeremiah is what Is it?
Only 70 years?
I mean, how does this all fit?
But he knows that this is acondition for national
restoration and the kingdom ofGod to come.
So he confesses and he saidalas, o Lord, the great and
awesome God, who keeps hiscovenant and his loving kindness
(01:17):
for those who love him and keephis commandments.
And here's the confession.
We have sinned, we havecommitted iniquity, we have
acted wickedly, we have rebelled, we have even turned aside from
your commandments andordinances.
Moreover, we have not listenedto your servants, the prophets
who spoke in your name to ourkings, our princes, our fathers
(01:39):
and all the people of the land.
That's all saying we messed up,it's our fault for the
situation we are in.
This is a brief aside.
Have you ever heard people saybecause I have many times that
they don't want to believe inGod because of the way their
(01:59):
life is and all the bad thingsthat have happened?
And they basically blame Godand therefore they're not going
to believe in this God?
Daniel came forth veryforthrightly and just said we
and our situation in life is dueto us and our wickedness and
our sin.
It's not you, it's us.
(02:22):
We are the problem.
And so he is confessing.
And then he says not only am Iconfessing all this, but you
sent your prophets to us.
So this would be people likeElijah.
This would be people likeElisha, who God sent to the
nation so that they wouldconfess, but they didn't listen
to the prophets.
He says we didn't listen tothem.
You sent them, but we didn'tlisten.
(02:43):
Now that's all about them.
Now look at the other side ofthe confession, verse 7.
This is all about the Lord.
Righteousness belongs to you, oLord.
In other words, you are thestandard.
But to us open your name, as itis this day, to the men of
Judah, the inhabitants ofJerusalem and all Israel, those
who are nearby and those who arefar away.
(03:03):
So this includes all 12 tribesthose in Judah, the southern
kingdom, those in Israel, thenorthern kingdom, who are now in
exile, he says, and all thecountries to which you have
driven them because of theirunfaithful deeds.
That's all the exile which theyhave committed against you and
that's what confession is.
It's admitting that the sin isagainst who?
Against God, who is thestandard?
(03:23):
He is righteous, open shame.
Verse 8, belongs to us, o Lord,to our kings, our princes, our
fathers, because we have sinnedagainst you, every single one of
us.
Now he switches back to theLord.
To the Lord, our God, belongcompassion and forgiveness, for
we have rebelled against him,nor have we obeyed the voice of
(03:45):
the Lord, our God, to walk inhis teachings, which he set
before us through his servants,the prophets, which would be
Moses and the prophets thatfollowed.
All Israel has transgressedyour law and all Israel has
turned aside, not obeying yourvoice, and therefore the curse
has been poured out on us, alongwith the oath which is written
(04:07):
in the law of Moses, the servantof God, for we have sinned
against him.
Who do we sin against?
We sin against God.
We don't sin against otherpeople.
Other people aren't thestandard.
Daniel admits, just like Davidadmitted against you you only
have I sinned.
When we are confessing in thatway, we are confessing properly.
(04:29):
The sin is against him, verse12,.
Thus he has confirmed his words, which he had spoken against us
and against our rulers, whoruled us to bring on us great
calamity.
In other words, god wrote allthis in the Mosaic law the five
degrees of divine discipline.
If you don't listen to my voicebut rebel, then I will send
(04:51):
upon you this curse and then, ifyou don't listen again, I will
send it upon you sevenfold more,and so forth, all through the
five degrees.
And he's saying it's all ourfault.
You told us you were going todo this to us, and yet we have
not listened and we continue torebel.
It's just like a son and afather, and the father says if
you don't do this, this will bethe penalty.
(05:12):
And the son says I don't care,and you give them the penalty.
And then you say a warningagain and the son says it
doesn't matter, I'm still goingto rebel.
And so the father says, okay,fine.
Well, it's greater penaltiesand you lose more and more
freedoms until you don't have acar and you can't get out of
your room and you're locked away, tied to your bed.
And that's what I would do toyou.
I would confine you.
(05:34):
And this is the definition of agood father Happy fathers.
God does lay out, and he is thefather of Israel.
Israel is his son, right andand they are now suffering under
the divine discipline of thefather.
Daniel recognizes that.
In the middle of verse 12 hesays for under the whole heaven,
(05:56):
there has not been doneanything like what was done to
jerusalem.
It was raised to the ground isdestroyed.
It was.
It is a day in in Jewishhistory that is one of the
saddest days.
The beautiful Solomonic Temple,all its articles, everything
destroyed, the articles takenaway, and this was the heart of
(06:16):
their whole life.
And it was all taken.
And they were marched 800 milesaway, many of them naked and in
chains for days on end, intocaptivity.
Terrible thing, verse 13, as itis written in the law of Moses
all this calamity has come on us, just like the word of God said
.
Yet we've not sought the favoror grace of the Lord, our God,
(06:38):
by turning from our iniquity andgiving attention to your truth.
That's such a great verse thatshould be memorized.
Turn from our iniquity, giveattention to truth.
It's truth.
That's such a great verse thatshould be memorized.
Turn from our iniquity, giveattention to truth, his truth.
Therefore, the Lord has keptthe calamity in store and
brought it on us.
For the Lord, our God, isrighteous with respect to all
his deeds, which he has done,but we have not obeyed his voice
(06:59):
.
It's just a great contrast,right between who God is, how he
is righteous, how he has doneeverything that he said he would
do, and how Israel is liars,sinners who do not respond to
him and to his truth, whoworship idols who don't obey.
And now verse 15, o Lord, ourGod, who have brought your
(07:23):
people out of the land of Egyptwith a mighty hand and have made
a name for yourself, as it isthis day, among all the nations.
They knew of this God.
We have sinned and we have beenwicked.
Oh Lord, in accordance with allyour righteous acts, let now
your anger and your wrath turnaway from your city, jerusalem,
from your holy mountain, forbecause of our sins and the
(07:43):
iniquities of our fathers,jerusalem and your people have
become a reproach to all thosearound us.
So now, our God, listen to theprayer of your servant and to
his supplications and for yoursake, o Lord, for your sake, not
for our sake, but for your sakeor for your name, o Lord, let
your face shine on your desolatesanctuary.
(08:04):
O, my God, incline your ear andhear, open your eyes and see
our desolations and the citywhich is called by your name,
jerusalem.
It's your name that is attachedto this city, lord, and it's in
desolations.
So restore it for your name,for we are not presenting our
supplications before you onaccount of any merits of our own
(08:26):
.
Don't answer this prayer becauseof us, because of something
we've done, because if you do,there's nothing you won't answer
, he says, but on account ofyour own great compassion.
Oh Lord, hear, oh Lord forgive,oh Lord, listen and Lord, take
action For your own sake, oh myGod, do not delay, because your
city, it's your city and it'syour people are called by your
(08:47):
name and therefore yourreputation is at stake.
That is the whole basis of hisprayer.
It's all about the Lord and theLord's name.
It's not about Daniel, it's notabout the people of Israel,
it's about the Lord, ultimately,and that has to be a focus in
prayer.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
Thank you for joining us on Beyond the Walls with
Jeremy Thomas.
If you would like to see thevisuals that went along with
today's sermon, you can findthose on Rumble and on YouTube
under Spokane Bible Church.
That is where Jeremy is thepastor and teacher.
We hope you found today'slesson productive and useful in
(09:24):
growing closer to God andwalking more obediently with Him
.
If you found this podcast to beuseful and helpful, then please
consider rating us in yourfavorite podcast app, and until
next time, we hope you have ablessed and wonderful day.
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