«　WEEK 10　DAY 3　»

　　Jer. 25:11-12 And this whole land will become a desolation and a waste, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years. Then after the seventy years have been fulfilled, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation for their iniquity, declares Jehovah, as well as the land of the Chaldeans, and I will make it an eternal desolation.

　　After Israel entered into the good land, they were not faithful to God….They forsook God and set up other worship centers in addition to the unique center at Jerusalem. The kingdom of Israel was captured by the Assyrians, and later the kingdom of Judah was captured by the Babylonians. At that time the city of Jerusalem was captured and was not returned to Israel until 1967.

　　At the end of 2 Chronicles, in God’s eyes the condition and situation of Israel were miserable. The land was usurped and taken over by pagans, and the people of Israel were given by God as captives to the heathens. Furthermore, the temple was burned and the wall of Jerusalem was torn down. The entire good land …was devastated.

　　When Jeremiah saw all this, sitting on the top of Mount Zion and looking down at Jerusalem, he lamented bitterly. All the leading ones and all the noble ones of his countrymen had been taken away to captivity in Babylon….Eventually, he himself was taken captive to Egypt and there he was put to death. What a pitiful situation!

　　While Jeremiah was lamenting, God came in to comfort him with the word that the captivity would not be forever but would last only seventy years (Jer. 25:11). (Life-study of Ezra, pp. 2-3)

　　God assured Jeremiah that the miserable situation of his country and his people, of the temple and the city, would last for just seventy years. Some of the captured ones, such as Daniel, would still be alive at the expiration of the seventy years….Therefore, God comforted Jeremiah by assuring him that just as He gave the people up to captivity, He would also bring them back from their captivity. God would bring them back, not as captives but as triumphant warriors. (Life-study of Ezra, p. 3)

　　[According to Daniel 9:2-4] Daniel understood God’s will for Jerusalem from the Scriptures and prayed for God’s will according to the Scriptures. Daniel knew how to pray because he knew how to draw near to God, to contact God, to absorb God, and to let God express Himself. Daniel’s preciousness was not related to his prophesying but to his ability to pray. He could prophesy because he knew how to pray. His prayers touched, contacted, absorbed, and expressed God.

　　Daniel was God’s co-worker on earth. He was considerate of God’s heart and contacted God. He lived in God and let God live in him. Daniel was a person in union with God. As a result, Daniel could co-work with God, coordinate with God, and be God’s expression when there was a great turn of events on earth. Daniel understood from God’s Word that the desolation of the children of Israel would last seventy years and that at the conclusion of the seventy years God would bring the children of Israel from the land of their captivity to the land of Israel for them to rebuild Jerusalem. He knew God’s intention and prayed for it with fasting. He knew God was about to move on earth, so he became God’s expression in order to coordinate with God through prayer. The extent to which Daniel prayed was the extent to which God worked. God did what Daniel prayed for. The return of the children of Israel to Jerusalem was God’s fulfilling of Daniel’s prayer. The children of Israel’s return from captivity was the issue of Daniel’s prayer. Hence, Daniel’s prayer co-worked with God, opened a way for God’s work, caused God to work, and led God’s work. (CWWL, 1956, vol. 3, “The Meaning and Purpose of Prayer,” pp. 244-245)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Ezra, msg. 1; Life-study of Daniel, msg. 15; CWWL, 1956, vol. 3, “The Meaning and Purpose of Prayer,” ch. 3