Daniel and the Lions Den
Notes
Transcript
We are jumping ahead a bit in the book of Daniel this week. Last week, we heard of Daniel’s three friends standing firm in their faith even when facing death in a fiery furnace. Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, was shocked to see another in the fire with them - one who looked as a “son of the gods” - leading the king to declare “there is no other God who can rescue like this!”
Years went by, Nebuchadnezzar eventually died. The Bible tells us an interesting story of a successor to the throne - Belshazzar - who was likely Nebuchadnezzar’s grandson. Apparently he liked to party and one fateful night, probably in a drunken stupor, he had the bright idea of using the sacred vessels from the Jewish Temple, which his grandfather had carted off and kept in the Treasury - as cups for his guests and concubines to drink out of. Suddenly a hand appeared and wrote on the wall “Mene, Mene, Tekel, and Parsin.” That quickly killed the mood of the party, people began slipping out left and right. The king was freaked out. Daniel, advanced in years, was brought in to interpret the message and he told the king:
“Mene, God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end; 27 Tekel, you have been weighed in the balances and found wanting; 28 Peres, your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.”
That night, the Medes attacked, Belshazzar was killed and Darius the Mede received the kingdom.
So in the span of Daniel’s life, he went from being a child in Jerusalem, to being carted off and serving the Babylonian empire as a young man - rising up to one of the highest positions, then he witnessed the fall of the Babylonian empire by the Medes and the Persians. That is a lot of significant world events to live through in a life time. And we are not done yet.
So now, Darius is in charge. Governments - in ancient times and in current times, are notorious for wasting money, being rife with corruption, and constantly being bogged down with bureaucratic inefficiencies. Governments are run by people, and many people tend to be self-serving. Especially at the highest levels where power and money become strong forces.
King Darius finds Daniel to be a honest, wise and exceptional - and so he makes him one of three high officials whom all others report to. As he observes Daniel closer, he finds that he is distinguished above all the other officials and has “an excellent spirit in him.” He aims to to put him in charge of the whole kingdom - “so that the king might suffer no loss.” In other words, Daniel runs a tight ship and the king does not have to worry about going bankrupt. Daniel is a servant leader - a servant of the Most High God - recognizing that the only reason he has obtained favor and great responsibility is because God has placed him in his position and his role is simply to continue to be obedient and glorify God.
That is what godly servant leaders do. You serve the people. You look out for the welfare of others before yourself. You are honest and ethical. You are just. Jesus was a servant leader - he demonstrated that time and again. Jesus said in...
But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Of course, when one operates as a true, godly servant leader - they can expect opposition.
This past week in the Bible study I’m teaching, we talked about how you are either following Christ or you are following the devil and his tribe. There is no in-between. You either live to please God or you live to oppose God - and in opposing him, you are following the path of Satan.
You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
Daniel is living for God in a culture opposed to God. Therefore...
Then the high officials and the satraps sought to find a ground for complaint against Daniel with regard to the kingdom, but they could find no ground for complaint or any fault, because he was faithful, and no error or fault was found in him.
They said to themselves, “How can we take him down? There is no dirt that we can find. The only way to get him is through his obedience to His God.”
And so the trap is laid as we heard in today’s reading. Darius, probably looking to get the people of this conquered nation to regard him as their leader - agrees to make a ridiculous law. Any petitions to the gods made for the next 30 days needs to go through Darius - the mediator of the gods. You want the gods to show favor over your new business venture, ask Darius to bless you.
So the law is passed, the document is signed, and it is posted publicly.
Daniel’s opponents wait in the shadows ready to pounce.
What do you do when there are those who hate you - who spread lies about you - who spend their time devising schemes to take you down?
What did Daniel do?
He prays to His God of course - just as his enemies knew he would.
When Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem. He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done previously. Then these men came by agreement and found Daniel making petition and plea before his God.
One of things we learn about Daniel is that he regularly prayed, on his knees, three times a day. It was his habitual pattern. Morning prayer, midday prayer, evening prayer. In an act of submission, prostrating himself before God. As he prayed, he faced Jerusalem. Why is that mentioned?
Because he was praying according to the scriptures. Back in the book of 1 Kings, during the reign of King Solomon, son of King David, at the dedication of the newly built Temple of the Lord, Solomon prayed for the people of Israel and his prayer included this:
“If they sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin—and you are angry with them and give them to an enemy, so that they are carried away captive to the land of the enemy, far off or near, yet if they turn their heart in the land to which they have been carried captive, and repent and plead with you in the land of their captors, saying, ‘We have sinned and have acted perversely and wickedly,’ if they repent with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their enemies, who carried them captive, and pray to you toward their land, which you gave to their fathers, the city that you have chosen, and the house that I have built for your name, then hear in heaven your dwelling place their prayer and their plea, and maintain their cause and forgive your people who have sinned against you, and all their transgressions that they have committed against you, and grant them compassion in the sight of those who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them (for they are your people, and your heritage, which you brought out of Egypt, from the midst of the iron furnace).
Everyday, three times a day, Daniel was on his knees repenting on behalf of his people facing Jerusalem - they were in exile for a reason, and Daniel knew his role was to intercede - regardless of any foolish attempts by men to stop him.
Daniel understood that obedience to God superseded the machination of man. God is all powerful and could easily deliver him, but if not, he would still live to serve the Lord.
The enemies saw Daniel praying and ran back to palace to tell. “O king, Daniel pays no attention to you, or the laws you pass, he is still praying to his God three times a day!”
Darius realized he has been duped. The Bible says he was distressed and set it in his mind to deliver Daniel - but he could not do it. Apparently, it was the law of the Medes and the Persians that once a injunction was made, it could not be changed - not even by the king.
So Daniel was cast into the lions den - to be fed alive to the hungry beasts. In a real sense, Daniel was sent to his grave. They even rolled a stone over the mouth of the den and the king sealed it shut with his signet ring.
The king yelled out to Daniel:
“May your God whom you serve continually, deliver you!”
Have you picked up what this story foreshadows?
A servant of God, holy and obedient in all areas of his life, is surrounded by enemies who lie and scheme in order to get him arrested and killed because they don’t want to submit to his authority. His body is laid behind a stone. We can see the passion of Jesus in this story. And what becomes of such a tragedy?
Then, at break of day, the king arose and went in haste to the den of lions. As he came near to the den where Daniel was, he cried out in a tone of anguish. The king declared to Daniel, “O Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?” Then Daniel said to the king, “O king, live forever! My God sent his angel and shut the lions’ mouths, and they have not harmed me, because I was found blameless before him; and also before you, O king, I have done no harm.” Then the king was exceedingly glad, and commanded that Daniel be taken up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no kind of harm was found on him, because he had trusted in his God.
Daniel walks out of his grave! He trusted in His Lord and prioritized his life accordingly - therefore he lives!
What a happy ending!
Well almost...
And the king commanded, and those men who had maliciously accused Daniel were brought and cast into the den of lions—they, their children, and their wives. And before they reached the bottom of the den, the lions overpowered them and broke all their bones in pieces.
The Medes and the Persians were not known for their mercy.
But there is a warning here as well. The same God that delivered Daniel will one day deliver justice. He will punish the evildoers. He will repay for every act of evil committed against his people.
It is imperative therefore, that you are considered among the righteous when that day comes. That you have prostrated before your God and repented of your sin. That you have been covered by the blood of the Lamb, Jesus Christ our Lord.
I’ll close with the words of King Darius the Mede.
Then King Darius wrote to all the peoples, nations, and languages that dwell in all the earth: “Peace be multiplied to you. I make a decree, that in all my royal dominion people are to tremble and fear before the God of Daniel, for he is the living God, enduring forever; his kingdom shall never be destroyed, and his dominion shall be to the end. He delivers and rescues; he works signs and wonders in heaven and on earth, he who has saved Daniel from the power of the lions.” So this Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian.
Amen.