At the Corner of Broadway and Babylon - 1

At the Corner of Broadway and Babylon – 1

Daniel 1:1-7

Introduction

The early church father, Augustine, a North African Bishop, wrote one of the most famous and foundational philosophy books in history. Called The City of God, he wrote it in the early 5th century in response to allegations that Christianity was the cause of the decline and fall of Rome.

In it, Augustine describes what he calls the Earthly City, which many call the City of Man. The Earthly City is the world you and I live in. Nations, politics, war, power. The Earthly City is contrasted with the City of God, Heaven. It is God’s City, his eternal Kingdom, that will finally and ultimately win the day. God’s people, though they have to live in the Earthly City, are to be fully consumed by and concerned with the City of God.

Quite a relevant truth for us to ponder in an election year. During an election year, though some do it all the time, and particularly as we move ever closer to November 3, the tendency is to look for answers, to look for hope to the Right or to the Left. Maybe we need more of what we’ve had the last four years, so we look to the Right for answers. Or maybe what we’ve had the last four years is terrible and what we need now is change. So, we look to the Left for answers. Friends, can we acknowledge that never works like we hope it will? Salvation is not flying in on Air Force One.

So, we go to the Old Testament prophet, Daniel. When we are tempted to look to the Right or to the Left, Daniel instructs us to look Up. He will give to us a high view of God…all-powerful, all-knowing, fully self-sufficient, absolutely Sovereign over the Earthly City. He shows us a God who is far above and beyond anything that man is or could ever hope to be. By chronicling for us six events and four visions of the future, Daniel shows us that the City of God rules over all.

Daniel 1:1-7 - 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.

Let’s set the historical scene: the year is 606BC. King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon has become the reigning superpower in the world. He will ultimately siege Jerusalem three times to defeat the Kingdom of Judah. The one we are most familiar with is his third and final siege in 586BC where he obliterates Jerusalem and destroys the Temple (the prophet Jeremiah writes about this in Lamentations). This siege in 606BC is his first attack, and with it he carts off members of the royal family and nobility. This was part of warfare strategy…take the best and brightest away from a nation and you take away its hope of recovery.

But before we get to Daniel and his friends, let’s look at a couple of critical details that alert us to what God is teaching us in Daniel. I submit to you that the critical verse in the entire book, that sets us on the correct path of understanding…is 1:2 - 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.

We are introduced to two truths here: first, this is a battle of the gods. The primary issue is not that Nebuchadnezzar carted off Daniel and his friends, but that he carted off the vessels of worship from the Temple. He ransacked God’s house and defiled it. And to add insult to injury, those vessels of worship are placed in a pagan temple back in Babylon. So, this isn’t just about Nebuchadnezzar defeating King Jehoiakim of Judah; this is about Nebuchadnezzar believing his god has defeated the God of Israel. This is what Daniel is all about…especially the first six chapters. This book is designed to demonstrate the superiority of God over the pagan gods of Babylon. Each of the first six chapters include both implicit and explicit acknowledgements that the God of Israel is superior over all other gods.

The second truth we are introduced to here is the sheer evil of what Babylon represents. In the Bible, whenever Babylon is mentioned, it is always bad. But 1:2 uses a specific word that helps us understand Babylon’s evil origins…Shinar. Back to Genesis. As an ever-increasing wicked population multiplied after the flood, so did their evil.

Genesis 11:1-4 - Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. 2 And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. 3 And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar.4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.”

This Tower was to represent mankind’s prominence over the Earth. To reach to Heavens to declare to God that he isn’t the only one who can dwell there. We are on the same level as He. Except that isn’t true, and God scattered them all, naming the Tower as Babel. This place, in the plain in Shinar, this Tower of Babel, is the origin of ancient Babylon. And from there at its beginning to its evil reign under men like Nebuchadnezzar, all the way to the end of the Bible, where Babylon represents the evil system of the world in general, there is always a battle between God and Babylon, and there is always a battle between God’s people and Babylon.

Enter Daniel and his friends. They are the cream of the crop. From the royal family or the nobility. They are, as verse 4 says, “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….” These are upper-class, good looking, high IQ, letters in every sport, and aces every class, kind of kids. These boys are likely around 16 years old at the time, which is remarkable considering what they do. They will live their entire adult lives as exiles in a foreign land, under the control of a foreign, evil military power.

TS – these men will fight the battle with Babylon…the same fight that we fight still today. You and I live in Babylon, the Earthly City. We live in a larger culture that actively rebels and fights against the Lord. We are exiles from our true home, the City of God.

1 Peter 2:11-12 - 11 Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. 12 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.

Friends, the battle you and I are in with Babylon is not a military battle. It is a battle of the soul. Put yourself in Daniel’s shoes for the next few minutes and see how what he is enduring is what you are enduring. You are a godly person that is forced to live in an increasingly ungodly culture. God is being increasingly maligned and ignored. The world seems to be winning. And though your faith is legal, it is tolerated so long as it does not interfere with public life. There is tremendous pressure on you to conform…to go along to get along. Let’s see the pressure they/we are under:

1. PRESSURE TO CHANGE YOUR LOGIC (V. 4b)

Look at the end of verse 4… “teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans.” These boys had grown up with godly parents of faith, been educated at the Temple with the Scriptures. Their worldview and way of thinking was dominated by God’s truth. What is Babylon’s goal? Take them out of that way of thinking and re-educate them.

History tells us that the Babylonian (Chaldean – culture) curriculum included teaching on nature, writing, new vocabulary, religion, law, business, economics, government, astrology, and more. Their goal was to indoctrinate these new exiles and force them to think in a whole new way. “This is really how religion should work. This is really how a government should be run. This is what these words actually mean. You’ve been wrong your entire life; you just didn’t know it. Congratulations, you can now be enlightened by the glorious truth of Babylon.”

Don’t be so naïve as to think this is not exactly the very thing happening to you and to me right now in our culture. Our way of thinking, guided by the truth of Scripture, is now labeled archaic and bigoted. We are on the wrong side of history.

Babylon’s logic was defined by what we call humanism. A pagan concept that puts mankind at the center of it all. Modeled by Nebuchadnezzar in 4:30 – “…Is not this great Babylon, which I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?”

I think we see this humanism in our culture today by the prevalence of belief in Darwinian evolution. When you want to put mankind at the center, you have to remove God from that rightful place. So just dismiss him and his word, then add billions of years, and voila…you have a world where man is the critical centerpiece. And if there is even a whisper of biblical truth or of discussion about God being Creator, it is immediately dismissed and mocked. But that’s ok. We don’t work to be on the right side of history. We work to be on the right side of eternity. History is judged by Babylon. Eternity is judged by God.

2. PRESSURE TO CHANGE YOUR LIFESTYLE (V. 5)

Look at verse 5 – 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.

Not only did Daniel and his friends have a way of thinking guided by the truth of Scripture, their entire way of life was guided by it. If we assume that Daniel is 16 years old, then that puts his birth year at 622BC. Do you know what else happened that year in Judah? Judah’s king was a young man named Josiah. He had come into power at age 8. Now, in 622, at age 18 he found a copy of the Law of God that had been lost in the unused and dilapidated Temple. Upon reading it publicly, revival broke out in all the land. God’s Word transformed their lives and their culture.

Daniel’s entire life up to this moment had been lived in that Scripture-saturated reality. So when these good Jewish boys who know nothing but God’s kosher food laws are faced with the direction to eat non-kosher Gentile food, food that had no doubt been offered to pagans idols in Babylon, they had a crisis of conscience. What would they do? Though we may think the food thing isn’t a big deal, it really was to them. Plus, faithfulness in the little things typically ensures faithfulness in the big things. We will see Daniel’s response next week.

A pagan culture desires to change the way you live. Your values, your opinions, your way of life…all wrong. You can now be enlightened by the new and better way to live. I think where this is most clearly seen today is in the world’s views towards a biblical sexual ethic. Biblical views on sex, marriage, and gender are openly mocked and discarded as irrelevant to an enlightened society. Why? Because if you follow God’s ways you won’t get to do whatever you want.

3. PRESSURE TO CHANGE YOUR LOYALTY (V. 6-7)

Notice verses 6-7 – “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.

In the Bible, names equal character. This is one of the reasons God frequently changed people’s names…it helped identify them more accurately. That is exactly what is happening here. All four of these guys had God in their name…part of their identity.

Daniel – God is my Judge

Hananiah – Yahweh is Gracious

Mishael – Who is what God is

Azariah – Yahweh is my Helper

But Babylon stripped their God-saturated identity away from them.

Belteshazzar – May Bel protect (shorthand name for Marduk)

Shadrach – Command of Aku

Meshach – Who is what Aku is

Abednego – servant of Nebo

Our world is designed to strip away your loyalty to God and get you to become loyal to their own false gods. Whether it be secular humanism, a more popular faith, or just away from faithfulness to Jesus…or strict adherence to false gods like comfort, success, wealth, tolerance.

James 4:4 – Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friends of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

1 John 2:15-17 - 15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. 17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

Romans 12:2 – Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

Conclusion

This war isn’t new. God’s people have been fighting Babylon since the very beginning and we will be fighting it right to the very end. What do we do in this fight? We never give up, and we never give in. Here’s why…like Joseph (1000 years before) and Esther (100 years after), Daniel will learn, as will we, that God ultimately rules over the Earthly City and that the City of God is our hope and our future. So today we fight.

COMMUNION – no one born into City of God…must be born again (John 3:3)