Daniel (9)

Introduction: We have been working our way through the book of Daniel, and today our time will be spent in chapter 6 where Daniel is thrown into to the Lions Den. From chapter 1-6, there is a kind of biographical sketch of Daniel’s life. A lifetime of normal devotion to God. The unique aspect of Daniel’s life is that he is living out this devotion in a foreign land. A land of exile. He is living and serving away from Jerusalem and the land of Judah and is a slave in Babylon. 900 miles= 4 month journey. His time in Babylon begin when he is around 10_15 years Old. And by the time of serving under his third king in Babylon he is around 80 years old.

Transition: Today, we are going to work our way through this chapter and notice 7 Key points of progression as this true story unfolds. So buckle up and lets begin reading in verse 1.

1. Delegation 6:1-2

Darius’ management plan included using Daniel in a high position vs. 1-2

Satrap= a kind of governor who represents the king’s authority in their jurisdiction.

official= high ranking administrator. Chief overseer, that served as the liaison between the satraps and the king.

Daniel was serving as a high ranking official who the satraps reported to. He was given authority so the king would not suffer loss, or said another way so that Darius’ kingdom might succeed. (vs. 2b)

2. Distinguished 6:3

He was separate among all the other high officials and satraps.

why? Ambition? Zeal? Lion like ferociousness? No… because an excellent spirit was in him.

His uniqueness among the rest of his comrades was unseen. It came from within. He had the character of an excellent spirit, which means= extraordinary, unusually high, abundant .. spirit= the animating force of a person, there mind set or attitude.

Where did this impeccable character come from? God gave him into the hands of the Babylonians. (Struggle) God gave him learning, skill, understanding in dreams and visions (1:17)

Application: Cream normally rises to the top. When God’s people are stirred and shaken by affliction, storms, disease and yes, even disasters.. we are empower by the Holy Spirit to rise to the top and meet the needs of those around us. We see this in Daniel, and we observe it in one another this morning.

Transition: The Kings intention was to “set Daniel over” the whole kingdom. To give him an even higher position. To entrust him with an even greater delegation of authority.

3. Dilemma 6:4-5

a. The other high officials and satraps try to find a way to knock Daniel down. However they could not find any ground for complaint, no error or fault. Finally, they determined the only way they could find a way to get to Daniel would be in connection with the law of his God. This does not mean that Daniel was without sin. No, just a few chapters later in 9:4, he plainly confessed his sin to God. Rather, this means, that those trying to accuse Daniel could not find any evidence of corruption, no negligence or failure. He was a rare man of integrity.

a. The attempt to dig up the dirt on people on the other side of the political wall is not a new habit. The mud slinging begins, but they cannot find anything to complain about! Church, this is the beginning of a new week right after an election, may we be a people who are recognized first and foremost by our faithfulness to Christ before our attitude towards political parties.

a. The faithfulness of Daniel should remind us of the qualifications for those serving in the church offices of elders and deacons.1 Tim 3:1 “above reproach” & for deacons .. “blameless” 1 Tim 3:10

b. Why is this such an important characteristic for leaders among us? Because, among other things, there will be Dilemmas arise where folks want to complain against Jesus’ church. However, in those moments, they should not be able to find anything to accuse. Much like a piece of Velcro that has lost it’s sticking power. When complaints arise against God’s people, we should be exemplified with such internal and external faithfulness that the accusation cannot stick! Oh that we would be men and women of godliness, of Christlikeness, full of integrity. Never excusing our faults and failures but throwing ourselves upon the grace of God and power of the Holy Spirit that we might walk in holiness. May we be a people according to Jesus’ beatitudes in Matthew 5:10 are…happily persecuted not for obnoxious notions of moralistic self righteousness.. but for

Matthew 5:10 ESV

“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Transition: However, we should not think that just because the accusation don’t stick that the accusers will just walk away… No, see what happens next in verse 6.

4. Deception 6:6-9

They made a new civic ordinance, a new law… to enforce their greedy jealous desire to bring a good man down. Sounds familiar right?? There have been many such attempts throughout world and American history. Deceptive political moves to push agenda. For example: In the aftermath of our civil war, there were Jim Crow laws made in order to keep former slaves from voting as American citizens. And we could look at many many more deceptive attempts , but notice here that the law was signed and now it was time to be enforced. Starting at verse 10 we see our 5th point of progression.. (Read)

5. Diligence 6:10-13

a. His prayer time wasn’t new in order to resist civil authority, rather, he was doing as he had done previously.(vs. 10) Darius even noticed that his devotion to God was continual. (vs. 16)

b. Every aspect of the Christian life is opportunity for worship. However, Diligence in private worship determines steadfastness in public worship. For Christians, whatever we are in the public arena of family gatherings, the workplace,school, ball teams, civic committees, and a host of other ways we need to be serving on our mission field… we cannot separate these things from our private, normal, regular, ordinary devotion to Christ. Let me say it another way, business does not always reveal holiness. We need to be very careful of thinking that our devotion to Jesus is merely observed in our outward activities. We my make a lot of noise clanging symbols for Jesus on the street corners, but if we do not have the love of Christ we are only making noise. It seems this is a pretty common temptation for us at Christians. We (I ) too easily neglect the regular normal rhythms of personal and family worship , and too quickly jump at the opportunities to be part of some great cause. God help us to not neglect the private devotion of prayer and Scripture, because if we do… when the big dilemmas of life come.. and they will come.... we have nothing of any substance in the tank to pour out on those whom God gives us to serve. Example:(Thankful to see among those serving this week team devotions to keep them close to Jesus! )

c. Side Note: At what point can we disregard the law of the land, or disobey the authority that God has placed over us? Daniel practices his normal prayer routine “knowing” that the document had been signed. (Peter and Johns response to the temple leaders is another example. We must serve God rather than men. A quick answer that I encourage you to read up on....(Recommend: Authority by Lehman) When the law binds us to do something unlawful to God or inhibits our normal freedoms to worship Him with a Biblical conscience.

Children: Come up , because we need your help. Ask you a favor? Would you pray for your church family, leaders and members that we would remain faithful? And.. would you pray fro your parents that they would remain faith to both private and public worship? We need your help holding us accountable to Jesus!

Transition: Verses 11-13 tell us that the deceptive plan of these men was coming to fruition. They run off to report to King Darius, which takes us to verse 14 where we observe the King’s distress.

6. Distress 6:14-18

a. The king was distressed, troubled with grief, afflicted with anxiety, marked by uneasiness.He labored the rest of the day to find a way to free Daniel from harm. The accusers show up again and bend the arm of the king with a reminder that his law cannot be changed. (Interesting, when evil people can use the law to perform their deeds they are very determined to enforce the rules, but as so as the law no longer meets their interests they begin to try to change the law or make new ones. We can certainly witness these same mishandling in our current day with the many law changes in our State and Federal governments. Deception is a deep attitude of the human heart, and certainly not a new problem.)

b. The King bends, and gives the command for Daniel to be cast into the lion's den. He offers this commendation on his way down.... “May your God, whom you serve (devoted to) continually (faithfully), rescue you. Something like, “I wasn't able, but may the One who got you into this trouble get you out of it.” Daniel is cast into the den. The entrance is sealed with a stone and the King’s verdict that nothing concerning Daniel will be changed.The King spend the whole night fasting and refraining from any diversions. He doesn’t sleep!

c. What the king attempted to do all day and could not change, God was going to accomplish immediately! If you are a Christian, this should be a major encouragement. Often, what we attempt to accomplish with hard work and effort and much anxiety, perhaps in weeks and months of effort, seeking to accomplish some good work, like sharing the gospel with a friend or family member perhaps? ; God can do in a moment. Now, we may not always make sense of God timing but we can always trust that He is working out the details of our lives for His glory and our good. This was true of Daniel, and this is true of His church today!

Transition: What will God do? Let’s keep reading from verse 19… where we see the 7th and final point of progression in this narrative.

7. Deliverance 6:19-24

a. At the dawn of morning light, king Darius hustles to the lion’s den to check in on Daniel. He cried out in anguish, “Daniel, has you God delivered you?” After offering the king the common greeting, Daniel replies with a testimony of God’s rescue.

b. God again, is giving! Now it’s an angel to shut the mouths of the lions. Why? Because Daniel was blameless of the crime. He was innocent and without guilt for what his accusers had leveled against him. Not only before God, but also the king, Daniel had done no harm. After being lifted from the den, he was inspected and there was no harm… why? Because he trusted in his God. Reminds me of the words to a song we sing… Though the darkness may last for a night, joy comes in the morning!

C. The king, makes a new command! Those who had deceptively accused Daniel , along with their families were thrown into the lion’s den and immediately died. This is a little detail that doesn’t make it into most children’s books. But we are reminded that Judgment is mine saith the Lord. We must beware, the consequences of the pride of jealous deceit will not go unpunished. Further more, we should recognize that our sin never only just effects us personally. Rather, it is extended to those around us and generations to follow. We have seen the same consequence on men like Aachen, David, the whole city of Jerusalem during Nebuchadnezzar’s siege, the Pharisees who are like blind guides leading the blind, and even today when false teachers are leading their followers to hell. Our sin is our own, and we each must give an account to God for how we have personally rebelled against Him. However, our sin does not only impact ourselves. No one’s individual sin only effects them. There are waves and ripples that invade the lives around us from the splash of our own sin. Take heed, lest we too fall into the pit.

D. This chapter ends with king Darius making a decree to his whole kingdom, and Lord willing we are going to study this more next week… however, this morning I want to conclude with a Christ connection.

Transition: In all of our study of the Scriptures we want to see Jesus. How does this text point us to Christ? So we conclude this morning by gazing at the Christ connection.

Christ Connection

Notice some of the parallels between this chapter and Jesus.

Growing in favor with God and man.

Devoted to Prayer

Falsely accused and Suffering for Righteousness- 1 Peter 3:18

1 Peter 3:18 ESV

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit,

Covered with a stone.. but not for long. For Daniel it was 1 night, for Jesus it was 3. But by the power of God , up from the grace He arose!!!