Exiled
Notes
Transcript
Aliens. Sojourners. Exiles. Just a passin thru. We, believers, are described as such in scripture. Today we are going to start a study through the book of Daniel. We’ll sometimes borrow from the writings of Jeremiah as he wrote about the same Babylonian captivity.
One of the things we will be faced with in this study is how they dealt with exile. How they responded to being sojourners. And how that applies to us on this earth. Can I pray for you about that?
1 In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it.
2 And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, 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 placed the vessels in the treasury of his god.
3 Then the king commanded Ashpenaz, his chief eunuch, to bring some of the people of Israel, both of the royal family and of the nobility,
4 youths without blemish, of good appearance and skillful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding learning, and competent to stand in the king’s palace, and to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans.
5 The king assigned them a daily portion of the food that the king ate, and of the wine that he drank. They were to be educated for three years, and at the end of that time they were to stand before the king.
6 Among these were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah of the tribe of Judah.
7 And the chief of the eunuchs gave them names: Daniel he called Belteshazzar, Hananiah he called Shadrach, Mishael he called Meshach, and Azariah he called Abednego.
8 But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king’s food, or with the wine that he drank. Therefore he asked the chief of the eunuchs to allow him not to defile himself.
9 And God gave Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the chief of the eunuchs,
10 and the chief of the eunuchs said to Daniel, “I fear my lord the king, who assigned your food and your drink; for why should he see that you were in worse condition than the youths who are of your own age? So you would endanger my head with the king.”
11 Then Daniel said to the steward whom the chief of the eunuchs had assigned over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah,
12 “Test your servants for ten days; let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink.
13 Then let our appearance and the appearance of the youths who eat the king’s food be observed by you, 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 it was seen that they were better in appearance and fatter in flesh than all the youths who ate the king’s food.
16 So the steward took away their food and the wine they were to drink, and gave them vegetables.
17 As for these four youths, God gave them learning and skill in all literature and wisdom, and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.
18 At the end of the time, when the king had commanded that they should be brought in, the chief of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar.
19 And the king spoke with them, and among all of them none was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. Therefore they stood before the king.
20 And in every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters that were in all his kingdom.
21 And Daniel was there until the first year of King Cyrus.
We are foreigners living in a foreign land.
Leonard Ravenhill said he could read Hebrews 11 every day and weep over it each time. Concerning those listed in the ‘Hall of Faith’ it says “Of whom the world was not worthy!” they wandered around, sojourning as a different race of men. “Not accepting deliverance!” Oh the stubbornness of their testimony and belief in Christ.
13 These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.
11 Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.
We may struggle with this part of the message today: The United States of America is not the New Jerusalem; it is not the promised land. It has been a blessed land as it was founded on Godly principles. Those principles have not always been well applied and we have departed from many of them by now.
No matter where believers live, they are not of this world. At the moment of salvation our permanent address changes from here to there. From destruction to glory. From separation to one-ness. From the outside looking in to sitting on the lap of the creator of the universe!
But we are not there yet. For now, we operate and live in a hostile system. So how we act here is of utmost importance.
We are not to adopt the ways of the place we live.
Keep in mind we are not talking about the political nation, we are talking about the spiritual people. The Church. We are called to be different.
1 Samuel 8 tells of a time when Israel overtly wanted to be like the nations around them. They had been warned when entering the promised land not to see them and want to be like them. Are we aware envy is a choice?
19 But the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel. And they said, “No! But there shall be a king over us,
20 that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.”
Repeatedly, God’s people looked at the people around them and their way of life and desired it. Adopted it. They chased after the gods of those people. They adopted their lifestyle and worship practices to the great detriment of their own society. Judgement always came as a result of turning their backs on God.
This chapter of Daniel is the continuation of just that. Israel had fallen a hundred plus years before when the Assyrians exiled them. Judah was led by kings who reflected the people until Josiah repents and attempts to lead the people to do the same, but their hearts were not turned.
When Daniel and the boys are enlisted in the king’s service, they were likely presented with food options they had never known. But it was also likely not kosher. So Daniel remained true to what God had commanded.
The other part of the offer by the king of the choicest fare was to cause them to fall in love with the luxuries of their new surroundings. So Daniel walked in the light he had. As best he understood, He followed God’s command.
We are to obey God in all He has commanded us.
No matter who our leadership is or what our leadership does, we have our instructions. What we do, how we act, doesnt changed based on who is in the White House, or if there is a White House or not.
Let’s expand our thinking for just a bit: Does the bible tell believers in Cuba to act any differently that it does us? How about China? Kenya? No!
He has commanded us to live according to His guidance given in the Word.
To Moses it was Ten Commandments
By Micah’s time, it was act justly, love mercy, walk humbly with God.
From Jesus we hear love God, love each other.
Daniel was able to live counter to the culture he was placed in, even counter to the other jews who were put there with him. Even though he disagreed with the government and other exiles, he did so agreeably. Never once do we see him pointing the finger, saying ‘If you eat the king’s food, you are the problem!’.
This is not about how well we can point our finger. We have stooped the the very low level of only identifying the problem. Or a physical representation of the problem. The real problem is sin. Let’s agree to raise our conversation to the level of the solution. Let’s agree to point people to Jesus with the message of reconciliation. We. Have. A. Message.
If I can filter my existence through that simple ideal, I will obey God in all He commands me, no matter where I live. No matter where He sends me. No matter if it feels like home or it feels like exile.
There will be blessing associated with that obedience.
Part of what we will get to do in this study of Daniel is look at the other prophets who wrote about the same part of Israel’s history. Jeremiah is one of those.
7 Seek the welfare of the city I have deported you to. Pray to the Lord on its behalf, for when it has prosperity, you will prosper.”
Armed forces? Obedience. Thank you for your service.
You see? No matter where we are, God can find us and send us His good. Where we are does NOT change the fact He is good, just and true and He is aiming all that at those who follow HIM.