WHY DID GOD USE DANIEL?

Perhaps the most important four verses in the Bible, when it comes to "unlocking" the Scriptures, are Daniel 9:24-27.  They not only tells us exactly when Jesus, Israel's Messiah, would come, but that He would be killed, and the temple destroyed.  In addition, they reveal that at some time following those two events, there will come a "prince" who will be from the same people as those who killed the Christ, and he will "confirm" a peace covenant (declare that he will enforce it) for seven years.  Exactly three and a half years into his relationship with Israel, he will destroy the peace by declaring himself to be God.  That seven year period is known as the "Time of Jacob's Trouble," "Daniel's Seventieth Week," and the "Tribulation" (Jer. 30:7; Dan. 9:27; Mt. 24:3-29; etc.).

As Bible students, we sometimes get totally caught up in the things God has revealed in a passage, without taking much time to focus upon why He chooses sinners such as Moses, David, and Paul, to reveal His truth.  An in spite of the fact that the Book of Daniel seems to say nothing about Daniel ever sinning, we know he did because the Word says "all have sinned" (Rom. 3:23; 5:12; etc.).  So why did God choose him for this task?  The answer may be found in the first twenty-three verses of the chapter:

*  9:2 - Daniel was a student of God's Word.
*  9:3 - Daniel humbled himself through prayer and fasting.
*  9:4 - Daniel confessed his sin.
*  9:5 - Daniel interceded for the sins of his people.
*  9:6 - Daniel included himself as guilty, as well.
*  9:7 - Daniel admitted he did not understand what God was doing.
*  9:8-12 - Daniel again included himself as guilty.
*  9:13 - Daniel, like his people, had not repented of their sins.
*  9:14-15 - Daniel acknowledges God is righteous in all His judgment.
*  9:16-19 - Daniel asks for mercy for him and his people.
*  9:20-23 - Daniel is heard, and God comforted him by the angel Gabriel.

If I had to describe Daniel in a single word, it would have to be "humble!"  Micah 6:8 says, "He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?"  God's favorite quality in humans, perhaps after the unachievable holiness, is our humility!  It is one of the chief qualities of Jesus Christ; one that we are to emulate; the Apostle Paul wrote:

"Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:  Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:  but made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:  and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross" (Phil. 2:5-8).

So, if you want to be used like Daniel was, try to be more like Jesus!