Daniel 1 - The Hope for Faithfulness

Scripture reading - James 1:2-5

I Have been excited to get into the book of Daniel, it is book that I have heard storied from since I was a little kid. I have titled this series The Hope for Faithfulness in a Hostile World. We have begun to see that the world has become hostile, and not just towards Christians but towards other people groups as well. We see wars and rumors of wars going around and people seem to be getting scared of what is going to happen to us.

It can be a scary time to be a christian as well. Christians are the most persecuted religious group in the world, according to a Christian think-tank.The Center for the Study of Global Christianity (CSGC) says 900,000 Christians have been ‘martyred’ in the last decade, equating to 90,000 a year and one every six minutes. The numbers vary depending on the website you look at but the truth remains that around the world Christians are being targeted and killed for their faith.

Not as many people die here for their faith but what we have is a more subtle assault against our faith. There is an up[rising now more then ever against our faith. We have bills being passed saying that we can not tell people that the way they live is wrong or we could get in trouble. The role of pastor which used to be a role that was respected is now being mocked on TV and Movies. In school our kids our being taught things that go against the word of God.

the very things that we hold to are being pushed back against and people tell us we are horrible to believe what we do. We live in a very hostile environment as followers of Jesus. But what is our response to this going to be?

One response is to yield to the people around them. I have seen a growing movement on people deconstructing their faith as they call it. There was a quite famous YouTube duo called Rhett and Link who had claimed to be Christians, though never talked about it much till they came out and deconstructed their faith and said they do not believe anymore. Michael and Lisa Gungor did the same after a hard time in their life claimed to not be Christians anymore. One response I have been seeing amidst the pressure to fit in with the world is to just claim to not be a follower of Jesus and turn to the world.

Another response to a hostile world is to keep our mouths shut and blend in and not do anything about our faith. Maybe we think if we keep our mouths shut no one will know and then they wont come after us. This was me all through High School. For fear of what people would think of me I kept my light hidden.

What we are going to learn though is that we can find the hope and strength to be faithful amidst our hostile world. No matter what the world throws at us we can remain faithful. This is the main theme of the book of Daniel that we are going to be working through. In spite of present appearances, God is in control. We can have Hope for faithfulness in a hostile world. The theme of the sovereignty of God is written throughout the whole book. It is God that is behind Babylon captivity, even though He used Nebuchadnezzar. It is God behind everything that is going on. God is all powerful and in control in spite of all that is going on.

Historical Context

There is so much going on in the book of Daniel and in order to understand what is going on it is a good idea to look into the historical context. First I want to look into the contemporaries of Daniel. Who was around when Daniel was taken into Captivity. To understand this we first need to find the date that Daniel was taken and we can see this in

Daniel 1:1 CSB

In the third year of the reign of King Jehoiakim of Judah, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came to Jerusalem and laid siege to it.

The 3rd year of the reign of King Jehoiakim was around 605 BC. Jehoiakim was the king of Judah at the time and was an evil King. 2 Kings 23:36-37

2 Kings 23:36–37 (CSB)

Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zebidah daughter of Pedaiah; she was from Rumah. He did what was evil in the Lord’s sight just as his ancestors had done.

He was placed in charge by Pharoah Neco as Egypt had tight control until Babylon came and changed that. SO based on this Daniel would have likely grown up hearing the prophecies of Jeremiah and Jeremiah was still alive when Babylon came. Ezekiel, Habakkuk and Joel where around as well.

Despite decades of solemn warning by Isaiah, Micah, Jeremiah, and many other faithful prophets, the people’s flagrant apostasy and immorality—described in 2 Chronicles 36:16: “They mocked God’s messengers, despised his words and scoffed at his prophets until the wrath of the LORD was aroused against his people and there was no remedy”—brought about the total destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, a destruction that God had warned his people about ever since the time of Moses.

The people where being taken into captivity. This was the first wave of three. The third and final captivity took place after the storming of Jerusalem in 587 B.C., when all the people of Judah that had not escaped to the hills and joined the guerrillas were taken into captivity in Babylonia.

Things where starting to look Grim if they had not yet looked bad. No matter what warnings had taken place by the prophets the Israelite's did not listen now God’s anger was aroused against them and this was God saying “turn to me and stop your sin”.

Explanation

Seeing what was going on at the time we get into Daniel Chapter 1. where we see the main theme reflected quite well. One interesting note is that the first chapter is written in Hebrew while ch. 2-7 was written in Aaramaic and the rest in Hebrew. As we know, it was during the reign of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah that the start of the book takes place. Jehoiakim was King of Judah at the time. Made king by Pharaoh after Pharaoh removed his brother Jehoahaz to Egypt. He was evil and taxed the land to give tribute to Pharoah Neco. He was the son of Josiah, who was king and followed the Lord and even tried to put a stop to Egypt (pharaoh Neco) towards their allies the Assyrians. Jehoiakim's first year as king would have been when Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians defeated the Egypt/Assyrians alliance. (605) He left Jehoiakim on the throne but took plunder and captives from Jerusalem to Babylon. after the third plunder they ceased to be a independent and where incorporated into the Babylonian empire. Daniel 1:2

Daniel 1:2 (CSB)

The Lord handed King Jehoiakim of Judah over to him, along with some of the vessels from the house of God. Nebuchadnezzar carried them to the land of Babylon, to the house of his god, and put the vessels in the treasury of his god.

The ultimate insult, they took they items from the temple of God and put them into the temple of Idols. The Babylonians where pretty smart. Instead of taking them, all like the Egyptians did and make them all slaves, they took the best and brightest and gave them opportunities to rise in the Babylonian empire. The took the Nobility and the royalty. They where teaching them in the way of the Chaldeans. The Chaldeans where the priestly line in Babylon and where in charge of the idol worship.

They where given a strict regiment to follow, which was not all that bad. For slaves they where being treated quite well. They where to eat the best of what the king had. We focus on 4 men from Judah from the royal line of whom we are going to hear a lot about. Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. They where true to their names, all 4 of them followed God. All their names reflect this fact in their meanings. Their names where changed to symbolize what was to be their new devotion, to the gods of the Babylonians.

so devoted where they to God that they refused to eat the Kings fare because it went against the laws that God had handed down to them through Moses. Imagine what this would have been like for them. even though they where being treated like royalty they where still captives with their identities stripped from them. They where told what they could and could not do and the problem was what they where told to do went against what God told them to do. Daniel 1:9

Daniel 1:9 (CSB)

God had granted Daniel kindness and compassion from the chief eunuch,

They ran a test with the chief Eunuch in charge of them and told Him to give them a test to see what they where like at the end of 10 days. God blessed them in the midst of their captivity, amidst all that was going on they fund favor in the sight of the King and where healthier then them all.

We see right from the start our main theme running through, In the midst of a hostile world the Lord was still in Control and there was hope for faithfulness to God. It did not change there captivity but God used them for His glory.

The Application

There are a few things that we can learn from this passage I know we just scratched the surface but we are reminded of the control of God in the midst of a hostile world first and foremost.

When pushed to conform to the world, we need to stand for God

There are a few different ways that Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azzariah where being forced to conform to the culture at the time. There names for example where changed. This does not seem like a big deal to us today but at the time a persons name was a part of their identity and often contained a reference to ones diety. The Babylonians knew this and practiced something similar so they changed their names to strip them of their identity and their God. Hananiah (, “Yahweh has shown grace”), was renamed Shadrach (“The Command of Aku,” Mishael ( “Who is what God is?”) Meshach ( Mī-ša-Aku, “Who is what Aku is?”); and (4) Azariah ( “Yahweh has helped”) was called Abednego (ʿ “servant of,” and Nego

They where supposed to to forsake their dietary laws to follow the ways of the temple. But when pushed to conform to the word they refused and stood on the word of God. There are times when we are going to be pushed to follow the ways of the world and we will need to take a stand on the word of God. But note how they do it. They don't go and start hollering in the streets that their rights where being tramples on but they let their beliefs show through the way they acted. They also didn't shirk when confronted about their beliefs. I want to look into a passage I have marked down in our reading plan I am making for a feew weeks from now in Jeremiah 29:4-7

Jeremiah 29:4–7 (CSB)

This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says to all the exiles I deported from Jerusalem to Babylon: “Build houses and live in them. Plant gardens and eat their produce. Find wives for yourselves, and have sons and daughters. Find wives for your sons and give your daughters to men in marriage so that they may bear sons and daughters. Multiply there; do not decrease. Pursue the well-being of the city I have deported you to. Pray to the Lord on its behalf, for when it thrives, you will thrive.”

God told the Israelite's that it was due to Him and their sin that they where in captivity but that didn't mean there testimony ended there. Their part was still to be wise and submit to the Lord. Part of doing that is they where told to build normal lives in the places they where held captive. They where told here that they where to settle down and even ray for it’s peace and prosperity. All the while still looking toward the day that they would be released. Imagine the impact they could have on the people of Babylon worshiping the one true God while loving those around them even amidst the hate they show.

so ask your self in the current situation that you are in what you can do to be a part of the culture God has called you too. How can you love them and seek their welfare and help them grow all the while standing firm on your biblical foundation without compromise. How can you strike that balance.

being faithful in a fallen world does not mean all your problems will disappear

We need to remember this as we look into the book of Daniel. This is going to be a theme running through the book. The 4 men where promoted among the rest of the Nobility being brainwashed but you have to remember that they where still slaves. Their Old lives and their faith in God was trying to be wiped out and they where standing firm. Finding the hope to be faithful amidst a hostile world does not mean everything will suddenly stop being hostile. You problems will still likely be there. But what this does, is it makes us rely on God and come to the understanding that it is through His strength that we makes it through and no matter what His will be done. Our job is to remain faithful and to Glorify the Lord in all that we do.

How does our faith affect the way we relate to the culture around us.

I want to leave us with a question, one last point to draw out of this chapter. How does our faith affect the way we relate to the culture around us? We are told to be a part of the world around us, to pray for the and even seek their welfare but how far do we take it before it is to far? Can the world look at us and see Jesus in us? Is there any difference in the way we act, the jokes that we laugh at, the movies we watch on TV? I remember when I worked for Cargill I dealt mostly with truckers as most farmers had their grain shipped in for them. They where an interesting group of guys I saw there. There language was horrible and crude usually but some where good. At the end of 3 years working there when the heard I was leaving one guy made the comment that he was impressed that no matter what happened to me, I never used foul language and that I was often caught singing while I worked.

I realize I could have done more to share my faith while I was there, but the point is does your faith affect the way that you relate to the people around you? We can become like the Amish and forsake the world around us and be a world unto ourselves. We can so become like the world that the church resembles a concert hall with a motivational speaker speaking feel good messages once a week. But rather Jesus calls us, His sheep, to enter the world around us full of wolves to share His message with hearts transformed by the word of God so that all people might see the word of God and be changed.