Daniel 6 - Trials of God's people - Pair of Chapter 3

HBI - Our faith gives us the courage to understand that even in the face of death, Our God will take care of you whether that be here or in heaven.

Intro

Relax, God is in control. Relax can be a dangerous word, especially if you are married. Telling your spouse to relax, that is if they are getting angry or frustrated is not very wise to do. Sometimes it is like telling someone with a broken leg to walk it off. What we are taught again is the same thing that we are taught in the previous chapters of the book of Daniel relax, in spite of present appearances our God is in control. or maybe a better way of putting it is rest assured, God is still in control. As we went through last time, Chapter 6 is a pair of Chapter 3, They both echo the same theme and that is our faith can give us the courage to understand that even in the face of death, God is in control and will be there for us though that does not mean, again, that we can avoid death.

I read the story of a man named Bob Fu. Before Bob was a Christian, he was a leader in protest in Tienanmen Square during the Massacre that happened in 1989. It was a student led protest to rise up against the CCP and their corruption. The military eventually responded by bringing in the military and killing thousands of the protesters. after the protest He was under intense scrutiny and was abandoned by His colleagues. He felt at this point that there was no hope and no future. At this critical juncture in His life, one of his fellow students passed him the testimony of a Chinese man who came from drug addiction to the Lord. Through this, him and many of his peers came to the Lord and God changed their lives. Bob was married at the time and now that He was a christian he started a ministry to help churches and Christians in need in China. But now He was under scrutiny from the govt again, but this time for different reasons. He was again the object of attention. He says his anger towards HIS PERSECUTORS WAS GONE, ALL HE HAD WAS PEACE AND JOY. due to this, Him and his wife where arrested for illegal evangelism (printing bibles and handing them out etc.) They where beaten, not allowed to sleep and where viciously interrogated. But their faith grew stronger. They where eventually released but told they could be arrested again at any time if they tried to evangelize again. His wife got pregnant after this without obtaining the necessary approval of the government and with forced abortion a real threat they fled and eventually sought asylum in the USA. Even their the CCP sent people to His house to protest claiming that He was a communist spy sent to spy on america.

His courage came from faith in the living God. Though God cared for Him and was with Him, Bob still was abused for His beliefs. Though His belief in the Lord never faltered, it only Got stronger. God is in control and we can face death in faith that God will be there for us. Our job? is to remain faithful and do what we can to tell people about God and what He has done for us in spite of the hostilities we might face. Whether here or in heaven, God will take care of you. Through trials and tribulations, you can still trust in the Lord. Lets look to Daniel 6 to see what it has to say about this.

Explanation

We first go to the setting of the book to see what was again going on when this chapter took place. There was a new king that time named Darius. an interesting fact that you may not know, but History doesn't really have anyone named Darius as king over Babylon after Cyrus and the Persians took over. What we do know though, is It could possibly be a royal title coming from "Dara" coming from Persian meaning Royal one. Likely, from all that we can read about at that time, Darius the mead was someone who was placed in charge, kind of like a governor over a certain chunk of land. According to Nabonidus though, He died and we see Darius the 1st take over, who was a different Darius altogether. Likely then Cyrus and Darius I ruled together and there where more governors over all the land like Him.

SO Darius the 1st was over Babylon and the area and his first order of Business was to delegate the work to other people. He set up 120 Satraps, who where essentially governors, to be in charge of the different things in the land but where all under Him. Daniel was still liked at the time and had the favor of the king so he was set up in charge over all the governors along with 2 other administrators. One big committee, one person in charge of the committee, one person per the person in charge of the committees and everyone else and one king over them all.

Daniel 6:1–2 (CSB)1 Darius decided to appoint 120 satraps over the kingdom, stationed throughout the realm, 2 and over them three administrators, including Daniel. These satraps would be accountable to them so that the king would not be defrauded.

Daniel was the one that had the most responsibility and power under Darius and this made the other governors jealous. They tried so many things to stick against Daniel to get him booted out of his position, but nothing stuck. The only thing they came up with was the law, we have to get him to break the law in some way. This all sets the stage for the rest of the book and the main lesson we are going to learn.

Daniel 6:5 (CSB) 5 Then these men said, “We will never find any charge against this Daniel unless we find something against him concerning the law of his God.”

They got together to brainstorm about Daniel and what they could find to get him out of the way. Though Likely Darius was established by Cyrus who was likely off somewhere He was still considered a king by the people. They came up with the perfect plan to get rid of Daniel. They came up with a plan to put him in a position where he had to choose between obedience to His God or obedience to the Government. They noticed that Daniel prayed 3 times a day to His God so they came up with an edict that all people needed to bow down to only Darius for 30 days. Whoever disobeyed the edict would have to be thrown into the lions den.

Daniel 6:7–8 (CSB) 7 All the administrators of the kingdom—the prefects, satraps, advisers, and governors—have agreed that the king should establish an ordinance and enforce an edict that, for thirty days, anyone who petitions any god or man except you, the king, will be thrown into the lions’ den. 8 Therefore, Your Majesty, establish the edict and sign the document so that, as a law of the Medes and Persians, it is irrevocable and cannot be changed.”

This would falsely imply that Daniel agreed with this sneaky bit of legislation. Though why Darius didn't notice Daniel was not their with them is odd. it was law at the time that when an edict like this was established there was no going back, it had to be enforced. there is something to take note of here. The first thing that comes to mind as I read this is what we went through for the past couple years. That we could choose civil disobedience instead of listening to the government and their mandates. But there is something vastly different. We may have been told that we could not meet together temporarily but we could still worship God together in a different way. We may have been told temporarily how it is we could gather together but we where still allowed to.

Daniel was not forbidden just from praying to God in the open court, He was forbidden from Praying to God period. remember, Daniel bowed down in prayer to God three times a day. Daniel heard the edict and we also should take note of how he responded. In quiet faithfulness Daniel went into His room and bowed down in prayer to God. He continued to put His faith in the living God, even though it was illegal to do so.

Daniel 6:10 (CSB) 10 When Daniel learned that the document had been signed, he went into his house. The windows in its upstairs room opened toward Jerusalem, and three times a day he got down on his knees, prayed, and gave thanks to his God, just as he had done before.

The governors tattled to Darius and he did not want to enforce the edict but He was backed into a corner. The consequences for either publicly or privately bowing to God was thrown into a den of hungry lions. and that is when we hear the theme of chapter 3 echoed, and by none other then Darius.

Daniel 6:16 (CSB)16 So the king gave the order, and they brought Daniel and threw him into the lions’ den. The king said to Daniel, “May your God, whom you continually serve, rescue you!”

I have to throw you in the pit of lions, may the God you serve save you. Our God gives us the courage to risk all, even death for His name. for the reward for a life lived for God is eternity in heaven with God, better than anything we could ever gain from turning against Him in this short life. After a sleepless night Daniel was revealed to be alive in the den of the lions, God had shut the mouths of the lions. The ones that wanted Daniel dead where then thrown in the den and they where dead almost before they hit the ground. Indeed it was a miracle.

A new edict was formed, like Neb before Him, Darius made a public proclamation that again was irrevocable Fear the God of Daniel, He is forever and has no end he does miracles and many amazing things.

So What?

Remain Faithful, God will take care of you

This is one of the main things we can learn about in this passage. We must remain faithful in spite of the persecution around us. Ben and Heidi Fu faced actual persecution after they became Christians in China. It got so bad they had to flee to NA and even there the CCP found them and found ways to bother them. We must remain faithful in spite of all that is Going on and remember that God will take care of us. Though Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah prospered because of their faith ion the Lord God, God taking care of us sometimes looks different. Sometimes it means the Lord will take us home to heaven.

Daniel could have easily been killed by the lions. But God had plans for him on the earth still. Daniel was willing to die for God and would never have turned away. But what does God taking care of us look like? Sometimes it is our willingness to look to the Lord in spite of the afflictions we face, trying to understand how God could use us in spite of ourselves.

Just look at someone like Joni Erickson. Tada was an active, athletic teenager. Then, at the age of 17, she broke her neck in a diving accident in the Chesapeake Bay. Her spinal chord was severed, and she became paralyzed from the shoulders down. She has limited arm motion but can’t use her hands or her legs. Immediately after the accident, she was angry and depressed and begged friends to help her commit suicide. Ultimately, she says she found peace when she committed her life to God. and her reaction to this, in spite of all that happened was this - Boy, when Jesus said in this world you will have trouble, he wasn’t kidding. In this world there will be trouble. Perhaps the gift of this cancer and pain and quadriplegia is that it forces me to recognize my desperate, desperate need of God, and that is a good thing. She teaches and I agree that God wants to use us in spite of our sufferings and afflictions. We can see His care for us in all that is going on, even to the point of Jesus calling us home. But we must remain faithful.

the cost of discipleship - The Lord gives us the courage gives us the courage to risk all, even death

I have said it before and I will say it again, there is a cost to Discipleship. We may not see it now but we will see it soon. Daniel saw this and the last thing he probably thought that there would be a reward for his faithfulness.

In chapter 3 the cost was great, they where thrown into the fiery furnace fully expecting to die.

Daniel 3:17–18 (CSB)17 If the God we serve exists, then he can rescue us from the furnace of blazing fire, and he can rescue us from the power of you, the king. 18 But even if he does not rescue us, we want you as king to know that we will not serve your gods or worship the gold statue you set up.”

Daniel echoed the same thought, that whether he lived or died he had to follow God. Daniel did not hide his love for God but neither did he go and flaunt it in the public square either.

there may be a cost to discipleship but that is okay because whatever the cost may be our God cares for us and gives us the courage to face it with His strength alone.

courage and hope from faith in the living God.

There is story after story of people who have been given courage from faith in the living God. We have heard about Daniel and his friends, Bob and Heidi Fu, Joni Tada all who where given courage and strength from God to face the hostilities they faced. Do you think they would have had the courage to do this on their own? Our faithfulness in God gives us the courage to face all this, even death.

we need to pray for our brothers and sisters who are facing horrible things in the name of God, pray that they would remain faithful, even unto death. I cant think of any better words to close with then Darius’ words at the end of ch. 6.

Daniel 6:26–27 (CSB) 26 I issue a decree that in all my royal dominion, people must tremble in fear before the God of Daniel: For he is the living God, and he endures forever; his kingdom will never be destroyed, and his dominion has no end. 27 He rescues and delivers; he performs signs and wonders in the heavens and on the earth, for he has rescued Daniel from the power of the lions.”