Are you Darius or Daniel?
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Old Testament
Old Testament
The Old Testament is God’s Word
All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;
so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.
2. The OT teaches us about God
His character, His Nature, how He relates to us
Then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth;
who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.”
3. The OT shows us our need for a savior
For all of us have become like one who is unclean,
And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment;
And all of us wither like a leaf,
And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
Is
4. The OT stories are examples for us.
Experience is a terrible teacher.
5. The OT tells us about Jesus.
Daniel A.K.A Belteshazzar
Daniel A.K.A Belteshazzar
Hananiah, Mishael, Azariah were from the Hebrew kingdom of Judah and were taken as prisoner by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.
Daniel renamed. Buddies renamed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego.
.They remained faithful to God.
Daniel interpreted dreams for Nebuchadnezzar
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego refused to worship the golden idol and were thrown into a furnace (not even the smell of smoke was on them.)
“Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise, exalt and honor the King of heaven, for all His works are true and His ways just, and He is able to humble those who walk in pride.”
Daniel interprets writing on the wall for Belshazzar son of Nebuchadnezzar.
promoted to third in command.
Belshazzar gets himself killed and Darius the Mede becomes King.
It seemed good to Darius to appoint 120 satraps over the kingdom, that they would be in charge of the whole kingdom,
and over them three commissioners (of whom Daniel was one), that these satraps might be accountable to them, and that the king might not suffer loss.
Setting up his beurocracy
Then this Daniel began distinguishing himself among the commissioners and satraps because he possessed an extraordinary spirit, and the king planned to appoint him over the entire kingdom.
Then this Daniel began distinguishing himself among the commissioners and satraps because he possessed an extraordinary spirit, and the king planned to appoint him over the entire kingdom.
Then the commissioners and satraps began trying to find a ground of accusation against Daniel in regard to government affairs; but they could find no ground of accusation or evidence of corruption, inasmuch as he was faithful, and no negligence or corruption was to be found in him.
Daniel
Daniel
extraordinary spirit
faithful
no negligence
no corruption
Followers of Christ:
Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men,
knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.
Colossians 3:
Ditch digger or dignitary
If you are supposed to be working, but you neglect your work to tell someone about Jesus, you are wrong.
Then these men said, “We will not find any ground of accusation against this Daniel unless we find it against him with regard to the law of his God.”
Then these commissioners and satraps came by agreement to the king and spoke to him as follows: “King Darius, live forever!
“All the commissioners of the kingdom, the prefects and the satraps, the high officials and the governors have consulted together that the king should establish a statute and enforce an injunction that anyone who makes a petition to any god or man besides you, O king, for thirty days, shall be cast into the lions’ den.
“Now, O king, establish the injunction and sign the document so that it may not be changed, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which may not be revoked.”
Therefore King Darius signed the document, that is, the injunction.
Daniel 6:
They lied
“If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you.
“If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.
“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.
“Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.
“You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.
“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.
“I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.
“If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned.
“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
“My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.
“Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love.
“If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.
“These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.
“This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.
“Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.
“You are My friends if you do what I command you.
“No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.
“You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.
“This I command you, that you love one another.
“If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you.
“If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.
“Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also.
“But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know the One who sent Me.
“If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.
“He who hates Me hates My Father also.
“If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sin; but now they have both seen and hated Me and My Father as well.
“But they have done this to fulfill the word that is written in their Law, ‘They hated Me without a cause.’
“When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me,
and you will testify also, because you have been with Me from the beginning.
“These things I have spoken to you so that you may be kept from stumbling.
“They will make you outcasts from the synagogue, but an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God.
“These things they will do because they have not known the Father or Me.
“But these things I have spoken to you, so that when their hour comes, you may remember that I told you of them. These things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with you.
“But now I am going to Him who sent Me; and none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’
“But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart.
“But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.
“And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment;
concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me;
and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me;
and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.
“I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.
“But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.
“He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you.
“All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you.
“A little while, and you will no longer see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me.”
Some of His disciples then said to one another, “What is this thing He is telling us, ‘A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me’; and, ‘because I go to the Father’?”
So they were saying, “What is this that He says, ‘A little while’? We do not know what He is talking about.”
Jesus knew that they wished to question Him, and He said to them, “Are you deliberating together about this, that I said, ‘A little while, and you will not see Me, and again a little while, and you will see Me’?
“Truly, truly, I say to you, that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; you will grieve, but your grief will be turned into joy.
“Whenever a woman is in labor she has pain, because her hour has come; but when she gives birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy that a child has been born into the world.
“Therefore you too have grief now; but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you.
“In that day you will not question Me about anything. Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask the Father for anything in My name, He will give it to you.
“Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be made full.
“These things I have spoken to you in figurative language; an hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language, but will tell you plainly of the Father.
“In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I will request of the Father on your behalf;
for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me and have believed that I came forth from the Father.
“I came forth from the Father and have come into the world; I am leaving the world again and going to the Father.”
His disciples said, “Lo, now You are speaking plainly and are not using a figure of speech.
“Now we know that You know all things, and have no need for anyone to question You; by this we believe that You came from God.”
Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe?
“Behold, an hour is coming, and has already come, for you to be scattered, each to his own home, and to leave Me alone; and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me.
“These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”
Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You,
even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life.
“This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.
“I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do.
“Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.
“I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word.
“Now they have come to know that everything You have given Me is from You;
for the words which You gave Me I have given to them; and they received them and truly understood that I came forth from You, and they believed that You sent Me.
“I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom You have given Me; for they are Yours;
and all things that are Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine; and I have been glorified in them.
“I am no longer in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are.
“While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name which You have given Me; and I guarded them and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled.
“But now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves.
“I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
“I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one.
“They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
“Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.
“As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.
“For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.
“I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word;
that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.
“The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one;
I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.
“Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.
“O righteous Father, although the world has not known You, yet I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me;
and I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”
When Jesus had spoken these words, He went forth with His disciples over the ravine of the Kidron, where there was a garden, in which He entered with His disciples.
Now Judas also, who was betraying Him, knew the place, for Jesus had often met there with His disciples.
Judas then, having received the Roman cohort and officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, came there with lanterns and torches and weapons.
So Jesus, knowing all the things that were coming upon Him, went forth and said to them, “Whom do you seek?”
They answered Him, “Jesus the Nazarene.” He said to them, “I am He.” And Judas also, who was betraying Him, was standing with them.
So when He said to them, “I am He,” they drew back and fell to the ground.
Therefore He again asked them, “Whom do you seek?” And they said, “Jesus the Nazarene.”
Jesus answered, “I told you that I am He; so if you seek Me, let these go their way,”
to fulfill the word which He spoke, “Of those whom You have given Me I lost not one.”
Simon Peter then, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s slave, and cut off his right ear; and the slave’s name was Malchus.
So Jesus said to Peter, “Put the sword into the sheath; the cup which the Father has given Me, shall I not drink it?”
So the Roman cohort and the commander and the officers of the Jews, arrested Jesus and bound Him,
and led Him to Annas first; for he was father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was high priest that year.
Now Caiaphas was the one who had advised the Jews that it was expedient for one man to die on behalf of the people.
Simon Peter was following Jesus, and so was another disciple. Now that disciple was known to the high priest, and entered with Jesus into the court of the high priest,
but Peter was standing at the door outside. So the other disciple, who was known to the high priest, went out and spoke to the doorkeeper, and brought Peter in.
Then the slave-girl who kept the door said to Peter, “You are not also one of this man’s disciples, are you?” He said, “I am not.”
Now the slaves and the officers were standing there, having made a charcoal fire, for it was cold and they were warming themselves; and Peter was also with them, standing and warming himself.
The high priest then questioned Jesus about His disciples, and about His teaching.
Jesus answered him, “I have spoken openly to the world; I always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where all the Jews come together; and I spoke nothing in secret.
“Why do you question Me? Question those who have heard what I spoke to them; they know what I said.”
When He had said this, one of the officers standing nearby struck Jesus, saying, “Is that the way You answer the high priest?”
Jesus answered him, “If I have spoken wrongly, testify of the wrong; but if rightly, why do you strike Me?”
So Annas sent Him bound to Caiaphas the high priest.
Now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself. So they said to him, “You are not also one of His disciples, are you?” He denied it, and said, “I am not.”
One of the slaves of the high priest, being a relative of the one whose ear Peter cut off, said, “Did I not see you in the garden with Him?”
Peter then denied it again, and immediately a rooster crowed.
Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas into the Praetorium, and it was early; and they themselves did not enter into the Praetorium so that they would not be defiled, but might eat the Passover.
Therefore Pilate went out to them and said, “What accusation do you bring against this Man?”
They answered and said to him, “If this Man were not an evildoer, we would not have delivered Him to you.”
So Pilate said to them, “Take Him yourselves, and judge Him according to your law.” The Jews said to him, “We are not permitted to put anyone to death,”
to fulfill the word of Jesus which He spoke, signifying by what kind of death He was about to die.
Therefore Pilate entered again into the Praetorium, and summoned Jesus and said to Him, “Are You the King of the Jews?”
Jesus answered, “Are you saying this on your own initiative, or did others tell you about Me?”
Pilate answered, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests delivered You to me; what have You done?”
Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm.”
Therefore Pilate said to Him, “So You are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”
Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?”
And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews and said to them, “I find no guilt in Him.
“But you have a custom that I release someone for you at the Passover; do you wish then that I release for you the King of the Jews?”
So they cried out again, saying, “Not this Man, but Barabbas.” Now Barabbas was a robber.
We want revenge
We want God to punish them
What we must seek, however is the Glory of God.
We want to be
Now when Daniel knew that the document was signed, he entered his house (now in his roof chamber he had windows open toward Jerusalem); and he continued kneeling on his knees three times a day, praying and giving thanks before his God, as he had been doing previously.
Daniel
When is Civil Disobedience OK?
When is Civil Disobedience OK?
Jesus told people to pay their Taxes
Paul says in to obey the government
How do we reconcile these passages with Daniel?
Or even Paul who when he was ordered by the Government not to preach, did so.
When the commandment of God and the commandment of the law are in opposition. (AND)
God didn’t command Daniel to pray 3 times a day, but that was what he had been doing.
Your motivation is to glorify God and not yourself (AND)
Daniel’s intent was to worship God, not to be a thorn in the side of the King.
You are willing to accept whatever punishment the law prescribes.
You can’t claim the God defense on the back end.
Then they answered and spoke before the king, “Daniel, who is one of the exiles from Judah, pays no attention to you, O king, or to the injunction which you signed, but keeps making his petition three times a day.”
Then, as soon as the king heard this statement, he was deeply distressed and set his mind on delivering Daniel; and even until sunset he kept exerting himself to rescue him.
The King was between a rock and a hard place.
Then the king gave orders, and Daniel was brought in and cast into the lions’ den. The king spoke and said to Daniel, “Your God whom you constantly serve will Himself deliver you.”
Daniel
That was a great statement of faith, but he didn’t believe it.
Daniel sealed in the lion’s den
Then the king went off to his palace and spent the night fasting, and no entertainment was brought before him; and his sleep fled from him.
Then the king arose at dawn, at the break of day, and went in haste to the lions’ den.
When he had come near the den to Daniel, he cried out with a troubled voice. The king spoke and said to Daniel, “Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you constantly serve, been able to deliver you from the lions?”
Daniel 6:
The King couldn’t eat
didn’t want to be entertained
couldn’t sleep.
Doubted if God could have saved Daniel.
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Never doubt if God can save you, the question is will God save you. Weather God chooses to save you or not is completely His choice.
Daniel 6:21-
Then Daniel spoke to the king, “O king, live forever!
“My God sent His angel and shut the lions’ mouths and they have not harmed me, inasmuch as I was found innocent before Him; and also toward you, O king, I have committed no crime.”
God declares us righteous through Christ Jesus. We don’t declare our own righteousness.
The King was pleased and ordered Daniel out of the lion’s den. “no injury whatever was found on him, because he had trusted in his God.”
Daniel 6:
I suspect that Daniel slept better than the King did.
The king then gave orders, and they brought those men who had maliciously accused Daniel, and they cast them, their children and their wives into the lions’ den; and they had not reached the bottom of the den before the lions overpowered them and crushed all their bones.
The verse neither condones or condemns Darius’s actions.
This was a common Persian thing during that time.
“I make a decree that in all the dominion of my kingdom men are to fear and tremble before the God of Daniel;
For He is the living God and enduring forever,
And His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed,
And His dominion will be forever.
“He delivers and rescues and performs signs and wonders
In heaven and on earth,
Who has also delivered Daniel from the power of the lions.”
“I make a decree that in all the dominion of my kingdom men are to fear and tremble before the God of Daniel;
For He is the living God and enduring forever,
And His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed,
And His dominion will be forever.
“He delivers and rescues and performs signs and wonders
In heaven and on earth,
Who has also delivered Daniel from the power of the lions.”
Daniel 6:26-
Daniel 6:26-
Three categories of people
1. Those that didn’t know God or know about God.
2. Darius knew about God, but didn’t know him.
3. Daniel knew, trusted, and worshiped God.