Daniel chapter eight is not discussed as a lesson, but is referred to in Chapter nine. Chapter eight deals mainly with prophecies fulfilled in the Greek and Roman empires that are more fully explained in Chapters 9-11. So for the sake of not dealing with the same information twice we will move to Chapter 9.
Secure coaches are honest. They are honest about themselves and the team. Without being negative for negativity’s sake, honest assessment is critical. Total honesty about your past and current situation is the starting block for knowing how to proceed in the future. Sometimes assessment is humbling, but to glaze over reality will only hurt your effectiveness in the future.
Give an honest assessment of you or your team. What is one area of improvement that needs to be made?
Confession and Prayer are Good for the Soul
Read Daniel 9:1-19. Daniel 9 takes place at the same time as Daniel 6 with Daniel in the lion’s den. Daniel understood from Jeremiah’s writings that the suffering of Israel would last 70 years. He may have read Jeremiah 25:1-14 or Jeremiah 29:1-14, where God said that He would exile His people from the land, but at the end of 70 years, they would seek Him and return. If the 70 years started with Nebuchadnezzar invading Jerusalem in 605 B.C. and Daniel was writing the contents of chapter nine in 538 B.C., then the 70 years were almost up. What Daniel was most concerned about is that the 70 years would end with God’s people repenting and seeking God. Daniel’s prayer of repentance for himself and nation was his way of making sure the exile did not continue.
Jeremiah 29:10-14 tells us of God’s grace in the midst of exile and Daniel 9:15-19 reveals the heart of a righteous man who is pleading for God’s favor. Did you know that even in discipline (exile) that God’s plans are for good and not evil?
How has God used tough times in your life to bring about greater seeking of Him?
God Gives us Insight and Understanding as we Pray
Read Daniel 9:20-27. As Daniel was praying, the angel Gabriel came to give him “insight and understanding.” Confession and prayer always lead to greater insight and understanding. As a coach how important is insight and understanding in dealing with players, other coaches, parents and even your opponents? Are you searching for answers? Confession of your own sin and your need for God will open the door to insight and understanding.
Understanding of the Dream
The interpretation of this dream stems back to Daniel’s dream in Chapter eight. Daniel was probably perplexed since receiving the dream, and now Gabriel came to give him understanding. In this dream, we see a timeline for the suffering of Israel, the coming of Christ and the end times. I will provide a brief overview of this prophecy, but realize that there are many who interpret these verses differently.
- These verses span 490 years, or 70 sevens
- The 490 years are divided up into seven sevens, sixty-two sevens and then afinal seven
- The 490 years have gaps of time between their fulfillments, so the 490 years do not represent a linear 490 years
- The prophecy is specific to Christ, anti-Christ and Jerusalem/Israel. Verse 24 says the 70 sevens are decreed for your people and the holy city for the purpose of:
- Finishing transgression; to put an end to rebellion of Israel.
- Putting an end to sin; the sins of daily life.
- To make atonement for wickedness; Christ’s death made atonement for sin, but Israel will not repent and receive Christ’s atonement until the end of the 490 years at His second coming.
- To bring in everlasting righteousness; to establish Christ’s earthly reign.
- To seal up vision and prophecy; when the 490 years are complete there will be no more need for vision or prophecy.
- To anoint the most holy; when Christ returns the Temple will be consecrated for God’s service.
- The first 69 weeks probably started in the year 445 B.C. when Nehemiah rebuilt the walls around the temple. This was done in times of trouble. There was constant opposition to the rebuilding of walls. The streets and trench (moat) were probably finished at the completion of the first seven-week period.
- The Jewish calendar uses 360 days for a calendar year. Using a 360- day year, 69 sevens (483 years, according to our calendar) would be 476 years on a Jewish calendar. A historian named Sir Robert Anderson calculated that from the time that Artaxerxes, the Persian King during the time of Nehemiah, issued the decree to rebuild the walls on March 14, 445 to the 476 years or 173,880 days later it would end on April 6, 32 A.D. That is the date that many believe that Jesus entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday being declared as the Messiah. At that point, five days later, the Anointed One Jesus would be cut off; Jesus would die on the cross.
- The last seven years are still sometime in the future. During that seven years, or Great Tribulation, the anti-Christ will rule the earth. For the first three and a half years he will bring the world peace even making a covenant with Israel, but then he will “put an end to sacrifice and offering… and set up an abomination that causes desolation.” In other words, all hell will break lose in the middle of the seven years of which the world has never seen (Daniel 12:1).
- At the end of the Tribulation God will pour out His wrath upon Satan, anti-Christ and his followers.
Are you ready for the return of Jesus? We must be able to put our profession as coaches in light of eternity. Read 2 Peter 3:10-14.
How should we live in light of Jesus’ second coming? What should your priorities in life be?
TALKING POINTS: HONESTY AND INSIGHT
Main thought:
Honest assessment of my current situation is critical for knowing how to proceed.
Confession and prayer will always lead to greater understanding and insight.
Key Scripture:
Daniel 9:15-23
Discussion questions:
1. What are the circumstances or people you are in need of for understanding?
2. Why is confession important to your relationship with God and others?
COACH'S TESTIMONY: HONESTY AND INSIGHT
Tony Dungy, Former Head Football Coach of the Indianapolis Colts
Tony Dungy is an example of living a life of integrity.
Tony Dungy on Integrity:
To me, integrity is what you are all about. It’s what is inside of you, and what’s inside is going to come out when it comes to a critical situation. In my opinion, that’s the difference between a championship team and a good team. It’s the difference between a person you really want to follow and one who is just another person in your life. With people of integrity, you know what you are going to get because that person is the same way all the time; situations don’t change them.
How integrity factors into my role as a coach:
From a leadership standpoint, I want to display integrity with my players. They have to be able to count on me to be the same, no matter what. If I tell them something about my personal life and I don’t follow through on it, how can they believe anything I try to teach them on the field? To have that trust and have them follow me as a leader, they have to believe in me. Integrity goes hand-in-hand with trust. You can’t have a good player-coach relationship or a good staff relationship without trust.
The importance of a Christian’s integrity:
It is very important for a Christian athlete or a Christian coach to model integrity because once I have gone out there and said, “I am a Christian. Here are the principles I live by,” I can’t do anything that undermines that. It hurts the cause of Christ. Once people know I am a Christian, I can’t afford to walk differently than I believe because everybody is going to see, especially in a coaching position when eyes are on you all the time.