Standing Strong when its not Popular

Introduction

According to a survey conducted by Pew Research, released in April of 2018, 94% of people who believe in the God of the Bible say that God knows everything. 86% say that God has the power to change anything/everything. 87% of Evangelicals believe that God is all-loving, all-knowing and all-powerful. In general, these are promising statistics! The vast majority of Evangelicals who claim to believe in Scripture affirm Biblical truths. The study continued to unearth some unsettling information, though. 83% of adults aged 18-29 said that they believe in a higher power / God (compared to 96% of 50-64 year old adults). With that said, only 43% of adults aged 18-29 believe in the God of the Bible. Of the 83% that believe in some form of higher power or God, only 63% think that God knows everything. Only 52% of these adults think that God has the power to change anything/everything. Only 41% of these young adults think that God determines what happens to them at least some of the time.

Church, we are in the middle of a culture shift where people are simply forgetting the sovereignty of God. Even in the church, there is a growing number of people who are confused or ignorant about how God is in control. The differences go on and on, but the bottom line is that there is a distortion between what God’s Word says and what people (churchgoing and non-churchgoing) say that they believe about God.

The book of Daniel is first and foremost about the sovereignty of God. We see that God is in control over all the kings and nations of the earth. God delivered the Israelites into the hands of the Babylonians. He used a foreign nation that worshipped false gods to punish His chosen people - do you see the way that He controls all things? We see that Yahweh is in control and there are several extremely obvious examples/stories about this fact in the book of Daniel that we will be looking at in the coming weeks but at the end of the day the book of Daniel shows that God is sovereign over individuals and nations. He raises them up and He brings their rule to a conclusion as well.

We also see that God loves for and cares for His followers. He delivers His people, He answers their prayers and blesses them! Aren’t you thankful that God is still sovereign today and that He is still in the business of saving souls and answering prayers today as well?!

Let’s dive into our text, Daniel chapter 1.

Daniel 1 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. 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. 9 Now God granted Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the commander of the officials, 10 and the commander of the officials said to Daniel, “I am afraid of my lord the king, who has appointed your food and your drink; for why should he see your faces looking more haggard than the youths who are your own age? Then you would make me forfeit my head to the king.” 11 But Daniel said to the overseer whom the commander of the officials had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, 12 “Please test your servants for ten days, and let us be given some vegetables to eat and water to drink. 13 “Then let our appearance be observed in your presence and the appearance of the youths who are eating the king’s choice food; and deal with your servants according to what you see.” 14 So he listened to them in this matter and tested them for ten days. 15 At the end of ten days their appearance seemed better and they were fatter than all the youths who had been eating the king’s choice food. 16 So the overseer continued to withhold their choice food and the wine they were to drink, and kept giving them vegetables. 17 As for these four youths, God gave them knowledge and intelligence in every branch of literature and wisdom; Daniel even understood all kinds of visions and dreams. 18 Then at the end of the days which the king had specified for presenting them, the commander of the officials presented them before Nebuchadnezzar. 19 The king talked with them, and out of them all not one was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; so they entered the king’s personal service. 20 As for every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king consulted them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and conjurers who were in all his realm. 21 And Daniel continued until the first year of Cyrus the king.

The book of Daniel is one of the most interesting books in the entire Bible. It can be divided like this, the first 6 chapters are the stories of Daniel while the final 6 chapters are more prophetic and apocalyptic in nature. This book is both prophetic and apocalyptic. Our message today introduces us to Daniel and his 3 friends who stand strong even when it was not especially popular to do so.

Trust God Wherever you Go (1-3)

Dale Davis put it well when he said, “Sometimes God may allow hardships to reach us because he wants his mercy to reach beyond us.” We know that suffering and persecution and times of trials are difficult and sometimes painful, but we also know that there is a purpose in them as well. Sometimes it is for God to show His mighty power through our situation, other times it is to strengthen our faith or to do a mighty work in our life so that others might be drawn to Him. There is often pain in the struggle and many of us can attest to the fact that we have bruises, scars and a injuries suffered from trials and suffering, but the hope from Daniel is that we have an all-powerful, sovereign God. Bryan Chapell notes that, “He uses His sovereign power to maintain His covenant promises forever. This message from Daniel should give us courage against our foes, hope in our distress and perseverance in our trials.” You might be thinking, well that’s great but God rescued Daniel time after time from the claws of death itself, what does this have to do with me? The same God that Daniel served in Babylon is the same God that we serve today in Conway, Missouri in the United States of America. He remains the same yesterday, today and forever! Trust Him wherever you go!

What we see in verse 1 of our message is that Daniel and his friends, who were from Judah, were captured by Babylon and King Nebuchadnezzar. Think of the thoughts that must have been running through their heads during this season of removal and transplantation. They must’ve been anxious and concerned for their futures. Whenever World War II was going on, we know that there were many POWs who were forced to be kept in a military camp until the conclusion of the war. We look through the history books and we see the devastation of the entire continent of Europe from this violent war and we ask ourselves, how on earth did this happen? Think of the Israelites. The Northern Kingdom had already been captured and in bondage for decades while the Southern Kingdom had at least been a little better at following God’s commands. Because of this, they were spared a little while longer, but now in 605 BC the Kingdom of Judah was captured and the Lord delivered the King of Judah into Nebuchadnezzar’s hand!

What we know from the Old Testament is that King Josiah was a good king and ruled for a long time. However, he passed away in a fight against the Egyptians and his son, Jehoiakim, came to power. Jehoiakim was not a good king, in fact Danny Akin notes that he was one of Judah’s worst kings! God handed him over to the Babylonians along with some of the other articles from the temple of God. The chief God of Babylon was Marduk. One of the ways that an ancient culture would “prove” that their God was superior was to defeat you and bring key things from your temple into the temple of one of their most powerful gods. This signified that their god was stronger and better than the opposing god. To a 3rd party who watched Babylon capture Jerusalem, it would have been pretty obvious that the gods of the Babylonians were superior to the god of the Israelites - however Daniel will show us that this is not the case! In fact, the reason that they are being defeated and brought into exile is because the real God is judging them.

Even in defeat and exile, God is extending his presence among the nations. Even when His people sin and disobey Him, He is still at work. This picture reminds me of parent. Your child messes up and you punish them, to someone on the outside it might come across as harsh or mean, but in the end you are doing this for their good. The difference with God is that His ultimate goal and plan is His glory being seen throughout the World. Sometimes, that means that a “bad” thing happens in order for His name to be magnified to and made known to the lost.

We see that the people are scattered in verse 3. The people are being deported off to Babylon. Again, in we see that there are covenantal curses that would come the way of the Israelites if they failed to obey the Lord. Some of these curses included economic depression, military defeat and deportation. shows us that God has kept His Word. What verse 3 shows us is that Ashpenaz, an official from Babylon, was in charge of bringing over some of the royal family members from Israel. This was a notable decision by Nebuchadnezzar because he did not kill the entire royal family, instead he brought the best and brightest over to benefit Babylon instead of being able to lead Israel. What we must see from this is that even in defeat, God is working His master plan out in this deportation because the young men being brought over to Babylon would stand firm and trust in God even in enemy territory. The city of man is being invaded by the city of God, as Augustine noted. Even though Israel is scattered, the nations will now have a witness among them to see who the living and true God is.

So, church, how well do we trust in God whenever our circumstances are not exactly ideal? It would have been easy for these young men to abandon their faith and learn and trust in the gods of Babylon, after all, the gods of Babylon had defeated the god of Israel in the eyes of many ancient near eastern citizens! Why would they stand firm and trust in Yahweh? Because they knew Scripture and they had faith. We should do the same! In looking at the story of these young men, we must be mindful that they are not the heroes of the narrative. We are not the hero of our storyline. The hero of Daniel and the hero of our life is the all-powerful God of grace. We must remember that, even though our society and other “Christians” try to tell us otherwise.

Be Prepared for Challenges (3-7)

We read the following verses and we see the ungodliness in Babylon and we can be quick to think of the ungodliness in our society today. We live in a post-modern and post-Christian context. Our society and its direct opposition to the Bible is not a new thing, in fact it is exactly what Daniel and his friends faced in Babylon - in the words of Solomon, there is nothing new under the sun. Let’s think of the challenges faced by these young men. They were isolated from their homeland and their families! This would have been a very traumatic experience for them. According to Plato, the education of Persian youths began in their 14th year, so it is reasonable to think that the Babylonians picked young men around the age of 14. Daniel and the other men were probably 14-15 when taken into captivity to be trained. The strategy being deployed by the Babylonians was a great one, separate these young men from their family and their structure and introduce some new ideas to them in order to break them of their past and get them to be devoted to your cause! Essentially, to change their worldview to that of the Babylonian worldview.

Sadly, this same process is used in our world today, is it not? Parents tell their kids to go to church when they are young and when they turn 18 they go off to college and many of them stop going to church completely! We ask, where did we go wrong? Is there something inherently wrong with non-Christian universities? No, I don’t think so. However, we must at least realize that whenever a child goes to a school like this, they will be taught from a worldview that is not a Christian one. This could be a very difficult place to be a Christian at because there are challenges. Whenever 18-19 year olds experience freedom for the first time and have the option to go or not go to a church, many times they walk away from church and they leave their faith in Christ in the dust. Friends, we must raise up the next generation to love Jesus Christ, to know Him intimately and be prepared for view points that do not line up with what they were raised up with.

We see in verse 4 that these young men were the cream of the crop. They were to be informed and serve in the King’s palace. They would be enrolled in the University of Babylon right away and learn all sorts of things in the realm of mathematics, literature, science, history and even religion. However the religion being taught would not be of Yahweh God and what He had done for the Israelites time and time again, but instead it would cover the Babylonian god Marduk. They would talk about the sciences and about how the interpretation of dreams is so important and how there are a plurality of gods rather than simply 1. Do you see the similarities between this culture and our own?

Verse 5 shows us that these men would have to change their lifestyle completely. They are to go to school with the Babylonians, they are to have the same beliefs as the Babylonians and here we see that they are supposed to eat just like the Babylonians. Again, the goal behind this is to get these men to conform to the ways of Babylon regardless of how they were raised and hopefully, in 3 years time, they would pass their final exam. Students, can you imagine being in the same class for 3 whole years and being told that in 3 years time you’d have a test that would be pass/fail? You either successfully complete the course and enter into the king’s service or you fail and you are disposed of and have to earn a living some other way. This is quite the situation, is it not? You’d probably be really stressed about doing a great job because this is an opportunity of a lifetime in that you could have a very privileged position, or you’d fail and blow this amazing opportunity. You’d probably want to do everything that you were instructed to do, right?

Verses 6 and 7 tell us that the Babylonians also changed the names of these men. These 4 were from the tribe of Judah and their original names had very positive names. Daniel meant “God is my judge”, Hananiah meant “Yahweh is gracious”, Mishael meant “Who is what God is” - that there is no God like the God of Israel, and Azariah meant “Yahweh is helpful.” In our society today changing names is not a big deal. If someone does not like the name that they are born with, they can simply change it! A couple of examples: Bruno Mars, the singer, do you know his birth name? Peter Gene Hernandez. John Legend’s birth name is John Roger Stephens. The list goes on, however you see the point that a name is changeable. In the ancient world, though, this would have been a big deal. A name was at the core of who a person was. In fact, it is interesting to note that we are more familiar with the Babylonian names of many of these men. Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah were the Hebrew names but the Babylonian ones were Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. Yet, we remember the Hebrew name of Daniel rather than his Babylonian one, Belteschazzar.

These names had interesting meanings. Belteschazzar meant “protect his life” - meaning one of the gods of Babylon, protect his life. Shadrach means “Command of Aku” which was the moon god of Babylon. Meshach meant “Who is what Aku is?” This is similar to his Hebrew name which was “Who is what God is?” Abednego meant “servant of Nebo” Nebo was the 2nd greatest God in the Babylonian pantheon.

These men had their names taken away from them and this was done to confuse them and have them question their faith. This feels like a movie of sorts, the plot thickens and we are left wondering, will these men remain faithful? Let’s answer that question.

Do Not Conform (8-13)

Verse 8 is a bold declaration that these men would not defile themselves. They had been prepared by their mentors and parents back in Israel and they would not give into this temptation. They would not conform! Even though they were being immersed into the worldview of Babylon, they would not give in. Babylon might be where he lived, but it would never be his home. You might ask, why did Daniel and the others not eat the food and wine? It is not explicitly stated in the text, but it could be because the food being offered was considered unclean for a Hebrew to eat. We see in a good summary of what was considered unclean for the Jews to eat - perhaps the food was simply unclean for them to eat. It could also be that this meat had been offered to idols, which would have been forbidden for the Jews to eat according to . We see examples of this in the New Testament () as well as many people would bring meat to sacrifice to an idol and the priests would use the meat to make money after the sacrifice was concluded. This meat would usually be significantly cheaper than meat from a farmer or butcher, so many people bought meat that was offered to idols because it was cheaper and meat was not an everyday meal for many people. Think of it like this, you can either go to Aldi and get your lunch meat, or you can pay an extra couple dollars and go to Walmart or Price Cutter. If you are trying to save money, you’re probably going to go to Aldi. The same principle applied back then.

Another view as to why Daniel and his friends did not partake in the meat and wine is that Daniel and his friends simply did not want to sell their entire souls to Babylon. Either way, think of the courage needed to make this decision. Think of the benefits of simply eating what was being offered: it’s the cream of the crop, it’s from the king’s table! If you refused a direct order from the king, it could be taken as an insult to the king. Everyone else was partaking in the food, yet Daniel and his friends were setting themselves apart and acting different. They were remaining faithful to their past, which could have been a sign of disobedience. The obvious answer is that they were being offered a t-bone steak and they chose the salad and green beans over it. For crying out loud, who make that choice?! They were in a foreign land, it would have been easy to cave in and go with the flow, but they remained faithful and did not conform. Church, there is surely a message there for us, is there not? We must remain faithful to the Word, even when it might set us apart from those around us or even if it looks crazy to do so. We must be transformed by the renewing of our mind rather than conforming to the ways of the world.

Verses 9-10 show us the response by the official, Ashpenaz. Daniel clearly had this man’s favor. He did not win this by being a jerk or by being obnoxious or arrogant, no, he won his favor with his kindness and wisdom - similar to that of Joseph in . Even with that said, this man cautioned Daniel that if he and his friends failed to perform in 10 days time then there would be a consequence - Ashpenaz would likely lose his head.

Verses 11-13 show us the proposal brought about by Daniel. This is an example of his wisdom that was given to him by God. Rather than option A) defile themselves, or B) Ashpenaz loses his head, Daniel proposes a third way in which the men do not have to partake in the meat/wine, Ashpenaz still keeps his head and the king is not upset. Daniel states to give them a 10 day test of sorts and essentially puts God to the test. He believes and trusts God in this time. The men would continue to follow their diet and not conform. As Chapell notes, “Holiness is risky business.... society may praise idealism, but it rarely tolerates living those ideals.” Have you ever put yourself out there and stood up for your faith in such a way that other people took notice? Not necessarily at what you were doing for yourself, but what God was doing through your life? That is what we find here. Christians today must commit to living God’s way, regardless of the temptations to live otherwise.

Trust God to Honor your Faithfulness (14-21)

In the words of the great missionary William Carey, “Expect great things from God, attempt great things for God.” There was risk in what these men did, however they determined that they would remain faithful to God no matter what. What we see in the final section of verses is that God rewarded their obedience.

First, God blessed them physically as we see in verses 14-16 as they looked healthier than the other young men did after this 10 day test. Nutrition experts recommend a diet of mostly fruits and vegetables for optimal health. As someone who loves meat, ice cream and pasta this sounds like heresy, but it is what the experts say, so it makes sense that Daniel and the other men ended up looking healthier than the others.

We then see that God blessed them mentally in verses 17-20. We see in verse 17 that God gave gifts to these young men for their faithfulness. We know that tells us all gifts come from the Lord above. We see that these men were given intelligence and understanding. It is interesting to note that Daniel received an additional gift in that he was able to understand visions and dreams. This was a significant component for the magicians in Babylon - interpreting dreams. In fact, the Babylonian teachers and court would probably have been quick to say that they taught Daniel how to do this! However, Daniel and his friends would have known full and well where this special gifting came from. We will see in the coming chapters that they put these gifts to use. Guess what? If you are a born-again, child of God today, you have a gift from Him and you are called to use it to serve the body of Christ! Are you using it?

God also blessed them spiritually and socially. We see in verses 18-20 that the 3 years of education and testing had finally come to a conclusion and the final examination was upon them. Verse 19 states that these men stood head and shoulders above the rest! They were brought right into the palace of the king because of their standing in this exam. On the surface, this might sound very arrogant of Daniel, but again, he is giving the credit to God. God has had His guiding hand on Daniel and his friends the entire time. He has blessed them with gifts and rewarded their faithfulness to Him along the way.

We see in verse 21 that Daniel lived a long life (either 85 or 90 years) and he lived through the entire Neo-Babylonian period (exile) and continued whenever Cyrus released the Jews from captivity.

Conclusion

Daniel ended up with a very authoritative position in the Babylonian court and he wielded a great deal of influence in the kingdom. His character had far reaching results as John MacArthur notes, “God gave him the influence that I believe led to the decree of Cyrus to send the people back to their land… influence that led to the rebuilding of the wall under Nehemiah and to the reestablishing of the nation of Israel… Influence that eventually led the wise men to come to crown the King who was born in Bethlehem”

Daniel was in a country that did not worship Yahweh, God, yet he was gifted with wisdom and was able to determine dreams and visions that these astronomers and magicians could not answer. His life was not always easy, but he relied upon God and his life was a shining testimony to God’s providence and grace. God took Daniel and his friends to a foreign land to bear a faithful witness to the Babylonian and Persian kings. These men refused to compromise whenever hard times came their way. There are so many parallels between Daniel and Jesus. Jesus is the greater Daniel. He refused to compromise when he faced the “emperor behind the emperor” - Satan. Satan tempted Jesus with food in the wilderness, but Christ remained faithful. Christ bore the punishment of His people at the hands of a pagan empire. We see that Daniel was a faithful witness before Nebuchadnezzar and was given a place in his court. Jesus gave faithful witness before Herod and Pilate and ended up on the cross.

Church, the point is this, the earthly results vary. Not every Christian is blessed with a position in a foreign court or government by being faithful to God - in fact, being faithful to His calling on your life might get you killed. The point is that you remain faithful. That you rely on His strength and you do whatever He calls you to do!

Even though the world can be very enticing to our eyes and ears, the story of reminds us that serving the Lord is where it is really at. We might face opposition and trials, however Christians must remain faithful to God and His Gospel. Let that be a source of encouragement to you today wherever you find yourself at!