Daniel 6: 10-24

Daniel 6: 10-24

Introduction

Thank you so much for being here. My name is Kevin Cook, and I’m on staff at Northwood Baptist Church. I’m excited to be here with y’all and to give you what could quite possibly be the last sermon you will hear in 2023, so I think it’s safe to assume we are taking the saving the best-for-last approach. Today we are going to be in Daniel chapter 6, Daniel 6 is the very familiar story of Daniel and the lions’ den, so go ahead and take your Bibles and make your way there. I was born and raised in Spartanburg but went to college in Virginia at Liberty University where I met my wife. After college, we got married and moved to the DC area where we lived for 9 years before getting the opportunity to move down to Charleston. I learned very quickly that in DC they have what’s called traffic. You think traffic is bad down here, it’s nothing compared to up there. The DC area is heavily populated and folks from all over VA, MD, WV & PA commute to downtown Washington for work. There are many ways offered to commute to work but the most beneficial are the ones that take advantage of the HOV lanes or carpool lanes. If you are unfamiliar with HOV lanes they are really neat, they are specific lanes designated for cars that have 2 or more passengers. Typically these lanes are less congested and traffic moves much more quickly than the standard traveling lanes. I came across a very interesting story about these lanes. Much like the DC area, the San Francisco area also has HOV lanes. A highway patrol officer saw a car pass by in the carpool lane and something didn’t seem right. He proceeded to pull the vehicle over only to discover that the driver of the car had a mannequin in the front seat, completely dressed including a hat and mustache, all in an attempt to drive in the carpool lane. That thought never crossed my mind while living up in DC, but it did inspire me to look up more stories like this one. A hearse was pulled over in the HOC lane with a body in the back and the driver said the rule didn’t specify that the passengers had to be living. Someone used a full-size skeleton in the front seat of their car, I don’t know if it was real or a science fair project but either way, they had a skeleton in the front seat, and my favorite is someone really tried to use a blowup Grinch Christmas decoration. Listen, I’m not advocating that you try and cheat the system, but it is funny to hear these stories of people interpreting this rule in their own way. But as unusual as it is for a mannequin, skeleton and the Grinch to be riding shotgun, it’s also unusual to see someone stand up strong in their faith in a culture that is desperately trying to silence it. Daniel lived in an ancient city where he faced this issue, and our modern society isn’t much different. We see the evidence of cancel culture far too often, you probably remember the family-owned bakery in Colorado that was sued over their refusal to bake a cake for a wedding that didn’t align with their Christian beliefs, and the high school football coach from Washington that got fired for praying with his players after games. Our culture is trying to silence Christians, but the sad thing is, there are a lot of people who call themselves Christian but you can’t tell because they are conforming to modern culture rather than taking it head on and living out their faith. How many of you feel out of place living here knowing you don’t belong, and how many of you feel right at home? We are going to see in Daniel chapter 6 what it looks like to go against the grain of modern culture and one truth about living faithfully to God. Go ahead and take your Bibles and rise to your feet as we read in God’s Word.

Sermon

Let me set the stage for what is going on. Daniel starts with God sending Israel into exile because of their unfaithfulness, this is the start of a 70-year exile. Daniel chapter 1 opens with God allowing King Nebuchadnezzar to go into Judea and take the Israelites captive back into the city of Babylon. This is where we are introduced to Daniel and 3 of his friends, you know them as Shadrach, Meshech, and Abednego. Daniel and his 3 friends are chosen among many other Judean influential young men, to be trained to serve the king. Part of their training included consuming the same food and wine as the king, which at that time were considered unclean and not permitted for the Israelites to consume. Daniel and his 3 friends decided to remain faithful to God by not allowing their bodies to be defiled by the king’s food and drink. As a result, God blessed them by making them the top prospects of the training class, and God even gave Daniel special abilities to interpret dreams. Daniel 2 shows Daniel using his gift given by God to interpret a dream from King Nebuchadnezzar about how one day God’s kingdom will take over and humble all earthly kingdoms. Chapter 3 shows the faith of Daniel’s friends, Shadrach, Meshech, and Abednego. Their refusal to worship a statue of King Nebuchadnezzar sentenced them to death by a fiery furnace, and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego survived the furnace without even smelling like smoke. Chapters 4 & 5 both showcase dreams for Daniel to interpret, the first is given to King Nebuchadnezzar in Chapter 4, then to King Belshazzar in Chapter 5. These dreams much like in chapter 2 say that these kings are to humble themselves before God. Nebuchadnezzar eventually realizes this and does so, but Belshazzar doesn’t and then he is assassinated, now that brings us to Daniel chapter 6. Daniel 6 starts with King Darius. Darius is the third king we have heard about in Daniel. Chapter 6 takes place about 60 years after the event of Chapter 1. So King Darius decided he needed to appoint people over the kingdom to help collect taxes, they were called satraps, and he appointed 120 of them. He also wanted to make sure these satraps were held accountable, so he appointed 3 administrators to be in charge of them. Daniel was the head of those administrators. Daniel over the years has earned a reputation of being faithful to the God of Israel, and Darius recognized that, which is why he was put in charge. The other administrators and satraps recognized that too, but they despised Daniel. They desperately wanted Daniel out of their way because he wasn’t one of them. Daniel wasn’t from Babylon, he was from Israel, a Judean exile who didn’t believe what they did. Those admins were jealous that this outcast kept getting placed ahead of them, so they had enough, and they wanted to get rid of Daniel but they couldn’t find any chargeable offense against him, so that’s when they decided to go against his God instead. They appeal to Darius that he should be the one to be worshiped, and if anyone worships someone else then they should be put into the lion’s den. Darius liked the idea and signed an irrevocable degree. Can you imagine that? Living in a society that enacts irrevocable decrees? That’s intense, right? Follow along with me in verse 10. Daniel hears about the decree and goes home to pray to God like he usually does. Daniel doesn’t change his routine to spend time with God based on this new decree. Daniel knows to continue praying faithfully to God. Verses 11-14. They got him! The admins catch Daniel praying and report him to Darius. Remember, Darius liked Daniel and realized that he had been manipulated into trapping Daniel. Darius tried everything he could to save Daniel, but at the end of the day, he didn’t save Daniel. Darius throws Daniel into the lion’s den and reads verses 16-18. Here’s the interesting thing. It seems Darius recognized the power of the God of Israel because he says “may the God whom you continually serve rescue you”. So it’s clear that Daniel’s faith is making an impression on Darius. Daniel was around 80 when thrown into the lions’ den. Listen, there have been a lot of amazing things 80-year-olds have done. In 2006, I went to see BB-King on his 80th birthday tour. For over 2 hours he made that guitar do some incredible things and I was blown away. In 2015 a Japanese man named Yuichiro Miura was the oldest man to reach the top of Mount Everest at the age of 80, as you can see, 80-year-olds have some wonderful accomplishments. Do you know who else is in his 80’s? Chuck Norris. Can you believe that? Most of you know Chuck Norris as Walker Texas Ranger and Karate Master and of course, we love those Chuck Norris facts like, Chuck Norris doesn’t do pushups, he pushes the earth down and Chuck Norris doesn’t check under his bed for the boogie man, the boogie man checks under his bed for Chuck Norris. So we know how tough Chuck Norris is. Now I’m about to say something controversial. Chuck Norris can’t defeat a den full of lions, and neither could Daniel, It was God. Read 19-24. Do you see how Daniel stands out in this story from both extreme ends of the spectrum? Daniel was so devoted to his faith that he was sent to his death, he refused to worship the kingdom of Babylon because he knew his citizenship belonged to the Kingdom of God. And on the other end, because God protected Daniel due to his faith, the same king that threw him into the lions’ den, made a new decree to worship Daniel’s God, read 24-28. Isn’t that wild? The truth we see from this story is Since God is with you in Babylon, you can trust the one who is standing alone for you while you are in Babylon.

Verse 22 says “My God sent his angel and shut the lions’ mouths, and they haven’t harmed me, for I was found innocent before him”. What does it mean for Daniel to be innocent before God? We know that Daniel wasn’t actually innocent, remember where he is, in Exile because he along with the other Israelites lacked faith. But there is one who truly is innocent before God, and that’s Christ. Jesus came in and took our place on that cross to take the punishment for our sins, so now when God sees us, he sees His son in our place. As a Christ follower, you by default are found innocent before God, not because of what you’ve done, but because of what the One, Jesus, who stands alone for you has done. We read this story and we see some similarities between Daniel and Jesus. Both were accused and sentenced to death because of a world that was blind from the truth. But the biggest difference between Daniel and Jesus is Daniel didn’t die, he was protected by God, but Jesus did die and then came back to life because HE IS GOD. Daniel being sent to the lions’ den and coming out alive is a foreshadowing of Christ’s death and resurrection. The lion’s den is sin and death. Daniel did not defeat the lions’ den, God did. Jesus defeated sin and death, so for citizens of Babylon, aka those who embrace the modern culture, the lion’s den is a real thing and is the bringer of death, I don’t mean physical death because we will all physically die, but I mean spiritual death, eternal separation from God, but for Christ followers, those who are citizens of God’s Kingdom, the lions’ den has been destroyed, death was defeated and we have eternal life with God. Isn’t that great? That doesn’t mean life is going to be easy, and you know that so you should respond to trusting the One standing alone for you in Babylon by faithfully spending time with the One. Look back at verse 10. Daniel didn’t stop spending time with God even though he knew it would make him an outlaw. Look I get it, we live in a time where we are so busy it feels like we don’t have time to breathe, but you need to make time to grow in your relationship with God. The great thing about prayer is you can do it literally anywhere, at the gym, on your commute to work or school. Remember that DC traffic I talked about earlier? Man, you can spend hours in prayer just going to work. How about instead of spending an hour on social media, you spend that time in God’s Word and prayer because that’s where you will really find rest, not on your phone. 1 Thes. 5:17 “Pray continually” I recently read a book, you’ve probably heard of or read yourself called “Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life” by Donald Whitney. I like his explanation of praying continually. He says we should view our lives as having 2 phone lines. The 1st line is always on with God, but we continue to take calls on our 2nd line. The point is to never hang up that 1st line with God. Take the 2nd call, but when you are done, you are right back on the line with God. Take a look at Daniel and his friends, they became faithful in spending time with God and were persecuted for their faith, but they held on strong because they knew nothing here on earth was worthy of their fear, but God is. Matthew 10:28, Jesus says “Don’t fear those who kill the body but are not able to kill the soul; rather, fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” And that’s exactly how Daniel felt. As we close out our time today, I want you to think back at the question I asked you in the beginning, do you feel out of place here, and that your citizenship belongs with God, or do you still feel right at home? We learned from Daniel that no matter where he was physically, he always had a home and a father to spend time with. So if we faithfully spend time with God, and realize that there is nothing here on earth that can scare us away from that, then how can we let ourselves get too busy to spend time with the creator of the universe, and the One who sacrificed himself for our salvation? Jesus paid it all, All to Him I owe. Let’s pray.