Rack, Shack, & Benny

Renaming a Generation

Daniel 1:1–7 (NASB95)

1 In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. 2 The Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, along with some of the vessels of the house of God; and he brought them to the land of Shinar, to the house of his god, and he brought the vessels into the treasury of his god. 3 Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, the chief of his officials, to bring in some of the sons of Israel, including some of the royal family and of the nobles, 4 youths in whom was no defect, who were good-looking, showing intelligence in every branch of wisdom, endowed with understanding and discerning knowledge, and who had ability for serving in the king’s court; and he ordered him to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans. 5 The king appointed for them a daily ration from the king’s choice food and from the wine which he drank, and appointed that they should be educated three years, at the end of which they were to enter the king’s personal service. 6 Now among them from the sons of Judah were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. 7 Then the commander of the officials assigned new names to them; and to Daniel he assigned the name Belteshazzar, to Hananiah Shadrach, to Mishael Meshach and to Azariah Abed-nego.

GIVEN HEBREW NAMES

Daniel - God is my judge

Hananiah - Grace, mercy, gift of the Lord.

Mishael - Who Is Like God?

Azariah - Helped by God

Babylonian Names

Beltshazzar - Bel protects his life (Bel is another name for Marduk, the patron god of Babylon)

Shadrach - command of Aku (Aku is the Babylonian god of the moon)

Meshach - who is what Aku is?

Abed-nego - servant of Nebo (patron god of the art of writing and a god of vegetation)

FRAMING THE STORY

The king of Babylon had conquered the people of Israel and it says the Lord gave them over to them! In Israel’s persistent disobedience to God and for their idolatry, He gave them over to be enslaved.

When you enslave a people it is best to do away with any part of their culture in order to assimilate them quickly to your culture, otherwise they will start having thoughts of someday returning to their own ways.

Babylon was not about to allow the Hebrews to maintain their own culture, values, or even the names that glorified their God. Instead, they would rename them, shame them, feed them foods sacrificed to idols, and even have them serve the king that had conquered their people.

See also the king also had crafty ways of assimilating foreigners. Teach them our language, feed them the best foods, educate them in our ways. You may read this and think it was almost benevolent, but this king was seeking to reprogram these young men to become citizens and supporters of a new kingdom.

Now, we could look at Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azaraiah and begin to think, “Well times have changed. You’re no longer in Israel ya know. If you want to succeed in this new place, this new reality, best to eat the kings food, best to learn the new language, best to take on the new names...”

However, if you are familiar with the story… you know something altogether different occured.

Personal Story

When I was younger, my family lived in Tooele, UT. My dad, who actually was my step-dad and my mom, had met and married when I was 3yrs old. I have a younger sister and a younger brother. Growing up through about 1st grade, I felt like I lived a pretty normal life. My family seemed very happy, successful, and altogether normal.

Around 1st grade though, something began to change. My mom started doing weird things, like she was hiding a secret, acting funny in the middle of the day. Eventually, it came out my mom had been drinking heavily during the day and was hiding it from my dad. I couldn’t understand why my dad would get so angry at my mother. I remember asking for his compassion for my mom and even seeking to protect her.

For the next few years, my mom continued to drink and the problems persisted to escalate higher and higher. It was a daily fear to come home to my mom drunk, belligerent, and not knowing if my little brother or sister were safe. The climax of this experience that changed my life forever was when I was in maybe 3rd grade. I was home from school with my siblings for some reason and my mom for the entirety of the day drank herself stupid. She began to act in a way I hadn’t seen before. Up to this point, I tried to protect my mom. Hide her alcohol from my dad to keep them from fighting and from my mom getting in trouble.

That day was different. That day my mom went around the home all day talking about how she would murder my dad the moment he got home from work. I was confused, afraid, and desperately wanted to save my dad. I had a pocket knife that I had hidden nearby. My plan was to throw myself in front of my mom when she attempted to kill my dad and threaten to kill myself to stop her and bring her to her senses. And when I did, I didn’t get the response I expected. My dad walks through the door and as a 9-year old boy holds a knife to his throat, my mom hides the knife she had, and proceeds to start calling me crazy and ridiculing me. She made me look like I was out of my mind and shifted all the blame of the moment towards me. It was in this moment that I realized my mother was not for me. She was not my defender, caretaker, nurturer, or even the mother she was designed to be.

Over the next 4 years, my mom was in and out of rehab programs and ultimately diagnosed with bi-polar disorder. In this process, my allegiances shifted heavily to my dads side. As this happened my mother began to view me differently as well. Instead of encouraging me, speaking truth over me, she took her anger and frustration out on me. “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree” she would always say. Meaning that I was destined to be a drunk and have mental illness just like her. She sang this song of death over me for years! And what was I to do? What evidence did I have that this was not true?

For the next decade, I rehearsed these words over myself. I feared becoming the person my mom always said I would become. My mind would race anytime I made a mistake, wondering “is that the bi-polar starting to take hold?” I stayed as far from alcohol as I possibly could because I knew a single drink would send me down a path of becoming an alcoholic.

The trauma and torment of my mothers actions and words impressed upon me. She gave me new names to identify with

Defining Moments

Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azaraiah were at an impasse with their faith and the reality of the culture they were now subjected to. They couldn’t just run back to Israel and isolate themselves. They had to face the culture with a greater reality.

Daniel 1:8 NASB95

8 But Daniel made up his mind that he would not defile himself with the king’s choice food or with the wine which he drank; so he sought permission from the commander of the officials that he might not defile himself.

Daniel and his friends made up their mind to not defile themselves! They decided to oppose the standards of the king and uphold the standards of their God.

This decision was not made lightly. Defiance of this type would most certainly result in their punishment or execution. So don’t think that this decision was just a “personal choice” that could just be help in private. No, their defiance was public and profound. It would receive consequence and contempt from the Babylonian culture.

See, they may have decided to rename them, but Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azaraiah stood firm, resilient in their faith, the made up their mind, to not be defiled.

In our culture today, we are at a similar impasse. If you are a believer, you are of another kingdom and are not of this world and will be faced daily with opposition to be renamed to conform to the image of this culture. If you are not a believer, you have been ruled by the kingdom of darkness for your entire life. Babylon feels like home! You may even have been given the names and identify with this present age to degree that everything I will say tonight feels foreign. However, I encourage you to listen and hear the

See though here in Daniel we are speaking of two earthly kingdoms, ultimately there are two spiritual kingdoms, that of darkness and that of the kingdom of heaven.

Identity

Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azaraiah. These four men were born and raised in Israel, yet now they were plunged into a new kingdom with a culture that did not honor or worship the God of Israel. Now, you may or may not relate with them in the story before Babylon, you may have been raised in Babylon yourself and have assimilated to the kingdom of heaven. Either way, we all have a problem: Babylon is trying to rename you.

As believers, we know that our identity is rooted in the image of God. Who we are is fully encapsulated in who God is and who He says we are.

New Babylonian Names

Sexual Terms

Homosexual

Gay Christian

Transgender

Hateful Terms

Bigot

Religious Nut

Transphobic

Racist

Mental Terms

Anxious

Depressed

Confused

Bi-polar

Abilities

Baseball player

Cheerleader

Identity is Christ

You are loved

John 3:16–17 NASB95

16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. 17 “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.

Romans 8:38–39 NASB95

38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

You are a child of God

1 John 3:1 NASB95

1 See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.

You are adopted into the family of God

Romans 8:15–17 NASB95

15 For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.

You are redeemed

1 Peter 1:18–19 NASB95

18 knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, 19 but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.

You are an ambassador

2 Corinthians 5:20–21 NASB95

20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

You are a slave to righteousness

Romans 6:15–23 NASB95

15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be! 16 Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, 18 and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. 19 I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification. 20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21 Therefore what benefit were you then deriving from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the outcome of those things is death. 22 But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Make Up Your Mind

Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azaraiah had made up their mind. Even though Babylon was trying to rename them, they refused to assimilate.

You are at the same impasse as Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azaraiah. You have a choice to make. You need to make up your mind. Who are you going to be? You are a foreigner in this land and God has commissioned you as an ambassador of the kingdom of God. Will you let the world rename you? Will you let your circumstance rename you? Or will you make up your mind?

Joshua 24:15 NASB95

15 “If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

As Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azaraiah chose to stand firm on the identity that the Lord gave them, it is interesting to see how the story continues. They were tested numerous times after that! They still had to live in Babylon! Old Nebuchanezer would eventually build a giant golden statue of himself and demand worship. Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azaraiah would refuse again and be thrown into a fire! But God… He delivered them from the fire and use their defiance, their resolution to serve God only, to even cause others to convert and worship the God of Israel.

We also see a moment when the life of Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azaraiah testified of who they actually were, they were not their Babylonian names. One day when Daniel was called to interpret a dream for the king, we read that the king called him by his Babylonian name, but the ones who called on Daniel to interpret the dream, knew Daniel by his Hebrew name. What name do people know you by? Has your life testified to the truth of another kingdom, of what God says about you? Or have you assimilated?

Now, for those of you here that would not consider yourselves a Christian. You have a choice tonight to make up your mind.