Lion’s Den - Daniel 6
SERMON TRANSCRIPT
Good morning everybody, good to see your faces. How are we doing We're doing good. We're doing well. See a thumbs up in the back. That was good. That's all I needed. Someone's doing well. It's okay if you aren't. It is? We're at church. Man, I'll be honest. I am feeling the season. The season for us is back to school. Everyone getting back in the groove. So you parents out there know what this is like. Getting school supplies and meeting teachers and all that stuff. It's good, it's busy, so I'm thankful for a Sunday where we get together and a little bit of a break, a little bit of a Sabbath. Excited to continue in our series. We're almost done, just a few more weeks. Today we're going to continue in our book, if you were with us last week or watching online we were in the book of Daniel. We're going to be there again.
Now if you grew up in church, and you were in Sunday school as a kid, we pretend that we had this big flannel graph, you know, you guys remember what those are? You have to be old enough, I think, to know what that is. And this was one of the most popular flannel graph Sundays in Sunday school, and that would be Daniel and the Lion's Den. They had the little flannel lions, you put them on there. And they were peaceful, if you know the story. But we're going to dive right in, Daniel and the Lion's Den, in the book of Daniel. Today's message is another impossible moment, but it's not just an impossible moment, it's also full of biblical hyperlinks. And you're like, "Andre, what in the world are those?" That's a fancy word. Hyperlinks is a fancy name for references in a certain biblical passage that hyperlink us to another biblical passage. And it helps us understand the trajectory and the tone for the story at hand. Basically, it's scripture helping us understand scripture, which is awesome. God has given us and provided us a way to better understand His Word. So throughout our passage I'm going to be referencing some of those today. The setting is the same as last week where Israel is in captivity to Babylon, except there's a new ruler in charge. And while last week we looked at Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, today we'll look at the prophet Daniel himself. And how will Daniel respond to an impossible moment? Daniel is an advisor to the king. Remember the process for Israel being taken captive was that he took the brightest and the smartest, the strongest young people of whatever country they overtook, and they took him back to Babylon to use him for their own. So Daniel was one of those people. And his time in Babylon is one of success. He's got a track record, so far, of being very valuable to the kingdom and to the leaders.
By chapter 6, our point today, he's already had a few distinguishing moments. Upon his arrival, remember being taken captive, upon his arrival, the process for those captives was to be treated really well. They were given really great food, they went and were taught so that they could grow up to be influential leaders. But Daniel decides to make the process a little different. Instead of eating the king's food, he decides, he says, "Hey, we're only going to eat vegetables. No other of the nice, great, rich, awesome food that you have, we're just going to eat vegetables." And the king's like, "Well, why? I'm going to provide you all this stuff." And he says, "Watch God work. When we eat vegetables for a certain time, watch us be in better health than all the other people who are eating all your food." And sure enough, at the end of the time, on just a diet of vegetables, they are stronger, they look better, they are smarter. And it right away signals to the king in Babylon that this god, whoever the god of Daniel is, is he's got power, he's got influence, he can do things. Another moment for Daniel is that he interpreted dreams for the king. When no one else was able to provide answers for the king who had this dream, Daniel comes and by God, God giving him understanding and clarity to what's going on, Daniel's able to tell the king, "Hey, this is what your dream means." And then there's the incident, which you may also recall, which is the writing on the wall where God's hand appears before the king and writes some mysterious thing, and the king is freaking out. He's like, "What just happened? What is going on?" And no one is able to tell him what that means except for Daniel. Daniel comes and says, "This is by God, "and this is what God is talking about." So we know that Daniel's very important, and Babylon knows that Daniel is pretty important. He's a man of God, serving to the best of his ability in captivity, while still following and worshiping Yahweh. So we're gonna be in chapter six today, and before we get into our verses, I just wanna summarize the first part, it's kinda long. But we see that a new ruler has come into power, and he has appointed Daniel, along with two others, and 120 governors underneath them, to rule the entire kingdom. So there's three, Daniel's one of the three, and there's 120 governors underneath them. And Daniel's doing so well in this position that the king wants to make him in charge of all of it. He's like, "Wow, you are thriving. "My kingdom is great because of you. "Let's just put you in charge of the whole thing."
All right, pause here for our first hyperlink, all right? Gonna be using that word a lot, hyperlink. This is, if you're familiar with the Old Testament and its people and its stories, this whole plot might sound familiar because there was a man named Joseph, a different time, a descendant of Abraham, who was also taken captive, and found himself in a foreign land and started interpreting dreams for leaders, including Pharaoh, and rose to prominence, and was placed in charge of all of Egypt. And Joseph, way back in Genesis, is an example of someone who, coming from lowly places like Daniel, a captive, who by God's favor arises into a power of position and prominence to not only bless the foreign kingdom, but to bless God's people. And so this comparison, this hyperlink, is very present throughout the whole book of Daniel. We follow Daniel's story, you just keep them like, man, this sounds so familiar, this is just like Joseph. And it helps us to understand that God is the one really pulling the strings here. Even though Daniel is the vessel, he's the one chosen, the servant of God, it's God, just like we saw with Joseph, it's God doing the work. And as long as Daniel, like Joseph, remains faithful to God, there is blessing in his situation. Despite being a captive, God will favor him and use him for his purposes. And if you know the story of Joseph, it ends well. It's a good story, it's a happy story. He's a good guy doing great things, the leaders like him, and so we know, as we're reading the tone of this story, we're like, hey, this is gonna be a happy story, right? Even though it's gonna get a little hairy, it's gonna get a little scary, this is good. This is a good, something good is gonna happen. But before we get to the happy ending, we gotta go through our story. So Daniel is dealing with a lot of success in his position, and it's making the other leaders jealous. They don't like it. They don't like that Daniel is doing so well, to the point where they're gonna take some action. They just, they can't deal with it anymore, and so they are gonna do something about it. They know how much the king favors Daniel, and appreciates all that Daniel's done for Babylon. So they have to kind of get crafty. They gotta be creative in how to get rid of Daniel. Time for hyperlink number two. All right, the governors, these leaders who are jealous of Daniel, they hearken back to the snake in the Garden of Eden. They know that the straightforward approach will not be as effective as something conniving and crafty and sneaky, twisting words and truths to trap someone, just like the snake did in the Garden of Eden. They are going to try and bring the downfall of someone while presenting it as the best option. So that hyperlink tells us that these guys are bad. If it wasn't obvious, these are bad guys, and bad things are going to happen because of them. But also, they're going to get in trouble. So we kind of know where the story's going before the story even starts. A little more set up before we dive into our passage. These governors convinced the king with flattery and massed admiration, to pass a law that no other God or being can be worshiped besides the king for 30 days. It's not good. It's not a good law. The king signs off on it, but they know that Daniel, this is all for Daniel, they know that Daniel lives a life of integrity.
And there wasn't anything that they could catch him on. There was no dirt on Daniel. They tried, they looked, they said, if we could just get him on something, we can get rid of this guy. But there was nothing. nothing to blackmail him over, there was no leverage to be found to use against him, they had to create the situation for him to fail in. This is so evil and manipulative. This is like some of those political movies or TV shows, I don't know if you watch some of those, but it seems like every person in that show is out for themselves and everything they do is a chess move and everyone's got ulterior motives. I don't know if you've watched any of those. You just, you expect like in this show like something's gonna go wrong, someone's not telling the truth, I see a nod of head, yes. There are those shows out there. This is what's happening here. It's very, it's very bad. So King Darius, unaware of the ulterior motives, agrees to this plan. He's like, sure, yeah, that sounds great. Me, you wanna worship me for 30 days? Me only? Good with that. And this law is put into place.
And now if you would turn in your Bibles to Daniel 6, it'll be on the screen too. We're gonna start in chapter 6, verse 10. It says, "Now when Daniel learned that the decree "had been published, he went home to his upstairs room "where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. "Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, "giving thanks to his God just as he had done before. "And then these men went as a group and found Daniel "praying and asking God for help. "So they went to the king and spoke to him "about his royal decree. "Did you not publish a decree that during the next 30 days "anyone who prays to any God or human being "except to you, your majesty, "will be thrown into the lion's den?" The king answered, "The decree stands "in accordance with the law of the Medes and the Persians, "which cannot be repealed." Then they said to the king, "Daniel, who is one of the exiles "from Judah, pays no attention to you, your majesty, "or to the decree you put in writing. "He still prays three times a day." When the king heard this, he was greatly distressed. He was determined to rescue Daniel and made every effort until sundown to save him. This first section shows us Daniel's response to what just happened, and his response to this impossible situation of a law that tells him that he cannot worship Yahweh, his God, the God of Israel, is going directly to God. He just says, "I hear that, and no. I'm not going to obey that. I'm still going to pray. I'm still going to worship God." And Daniel is seeking God's counsel, his guidance, his direction, wisdom, discernment. He's even facing Jerusalem, which I love this note in here, which symbolizes that he is giving all of his focus and attention on God. Because think of this, he's a captive, right? From Israel, away from home, and he's looking back toward his land, where Jerusalem held the temple of God, where God was known to dwell. So he's looking at God's house and he's saying, "God, I'm surrounded right now by foreign people who are out to get me. You are the only focus I have. I'm looking out my window directly to you." It tells us that Daniel continued to do what he always did, which was pray. Daniel was consistent in his communication with God. so he could recognize and hear God's voice, because they talked all the time, three times a day, formally, probably more than that, informally. And it exemplifies the importance of remaining in close relationship with God.
So I want to ask us today, what is our relationship and communication with God like? Is he only hearing from us in times of need, when we are in crisis? Is he only hearing from us we have no one else to turn to? Are we treating God like a last resort? Or, is God hearing from us immediately as something comes up? Is God hearing from us when things are also going well? Is he a part of our regular rhythm in life? Does he hear appreciation for the good times and the bad? Does he hear from us often? Daniel had a healthy habit of communication, and it's something that we should strive for too. Well, like last week, it's Daniel's obedience to God that gets him in trouble. These men knew that Daniel wouldn't stop his spiritual practices, living faithfully to God, worshiping God, and so they knew that they could catch him praying, and they do. They go over, they see him, he's praying to God. So they go and confront the king about Daniel and how he's broken the law. And the king is distressed, he doesn't like it, which I find interesting. Usually our biblical characters are under attack even from the rulers, but this time the ruler's like, oh man, Daniel, I like Daniel, he's one of my guys. And he does not like that now Daniel's caught up in all of this and Daniel has to face punishment. And it even tells us that he tried everything until sundown to help Daniel get out of this situation. In verses 12 and 14, it shows that the king is limited in his power. Even though he put the law into place, he doesn't like what it's causing him to do, and he has no way to get out of it. He is bound by his own law. He can't operate outside the law. He can't change the law to do something that is right. The group of men who schemed all this make it very clear to him. They remind him, like, "Didn't you say this?" And he's like, "Yeah, I did." And as we see the limitations of a human ruler, We're reminded of who isn't limited. It's the God that Daniel serves. It's the God that we serve. Because God and His law, God and His word, are perfectly in sync. There are no moments where God is trapped into a situation by something He said, into regretting something that He enacted or that He is forced to do. Psalm 19, seven says, "The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul. The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple. As we see King Darius's limitations, we can be reminded of how powerful and perfect Yahweh is. God's law is not out to get people. It's there to help us grow closer to Him. The law of the Lord isn't a trap to get people into trouble. It's there that we would grow and and thrive in loving, perfect relationship with God, just as he intended.
So, Daniel's facing all this, let's see what he does. Verse 16 says, "So the king gave the order, "and they brought Daniel and threw him into the lion's den. "The king said to Daniel, 'May your God, "'whom you serve continually, rescue you.'" I love that. "A stone was brought and placed over the mouth of the den, "and the king sealed it with his own signet ring "and the rings of his nobles, so that Daniel's situation might not be changed. Then the king returned to his palace and spent the night without eating, without any entertainment being brought to him, and he could not sleep. At the first light of dawn, the king got up and hurried to the lion's den. And when he came near the den, he called to Daniel in an anguish voice, "Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to rescue you from the lions?" And Daniel answered, "May the king live forever. "My God sent his angel and shut the mouths of the lions. "They have not heard me, "because I was found innocent in his sight. "Nor have I ever done any wrong before you, your majesty." Stop right there. In this scene, it just shows Daniel's steadfast faith and trust in God. The king who is bound by law gives the order and throws Daniel in. But in this moment, the king is hoping that the God of Daniel will save him. Did you guys notice this? There's an unbeliever who is placing their hope in God. He doesn't necessarily know who Yahweh is, who the God of Daniel is, but he wants that God to save Daniel. I love it. I think there's something innate in humanity that recognizes its creator to some extent, and maybe in certain situations, there is something in us that when life is at its darkest, we look up and we cry out to God. And for us who believe, we know who that God is. We know who we're talking to. But for those who don't, we see that they too will look up and cry out to the God that they don't know, but asking for help and putting their hope in someone bigger than who they are. Obviously people don't, or maybe the thought of recognizing creator had never come to the forefront of their minds before they get into that impossible situation but when people are in their darkest moment and are so desperate, people are often brought closer to God's presence and that's the king here. The king, being in a dark and desperate moment, is being brought closer to God. Daniel's impossible situation continues as he's lowered into the den of the lions. And the stone is brought over and the kings and guards seal it. And the king is so anxious that he can't sleep. He's restless over Daniel's wellbeing, again, showing his care and concern for Daniel. In 19 through 22 is a beautiful picture of this unique friendship. As the morning rises, the king, first thing he does, runs over to the lion pit to see if Daniel is alive. And this picture that we get of the king running is not a very kingly picture. Kings are very noble, they're very articulated in what they do. They don't run to go see someone that serves them. This is not the scene. So it shows that he is so invested in Daniel that he does not care if he looks like a fool, running to where someone should have died. And the king is giving credit to Yahweh. He's just crying out in hope. He's like, I don't know if there's a voice that's gonna come from this pit. Has your God saved you? Because he knows that if Daniel is alive, the only way that he could be living is from Daniel's God. There's no other explanation. And to his joy, Daniel responds. He says, "I'm here, I'm still alive, King." And he explains, I imagine this like still in the pit, like Daniel's still in the pit, he's like, "I'm here, and here's how it happened. "The angel shut the mouths of the lions around me right now." Maybe he's like, "Can you get me out, "and I'll tell you all about it, "but can you get me out of this pit?" But he said, "The angel shut the mouths of the lions "and kept them from hurting Daniel "because he was found innocent." And I love that he puts that in there, just God saw me innocent, and by the way, King, I never really did anything against you either.
Now, time for a major hyperlink. All right, we're going to nerd out here for a little bit. And if you could just follow and track with me, I think it'll pay off. But come down this rabbit hole with me. What we see from Daniel here in this moment, in this scene, is also similar to someone else, not Joseph. We already did that hyperlink, different hyperlink. They also faced certain deaths. So if I had the big flannel graph-- I know Pastor Chris has talked about getting a flannel for Sundays because it's so exciting. But if I had one here, I'd like to be holding the next character and I'd be putting him out. Any guesses on who we're talking about here? Okay, yeah, I know a little call and response in church, you can speak up if you have any answer, if you're feeling confident. Okay, I'll just slap on the biggest, most used character in flannel graph. Jesus, if you had the Sunday school answer, that would be correct. Look at these similarities between Daniel and Jesus. Daniel faced leaders conspiring against him. Jesus also faced leaders at that time conspiring against him. Daniel, his first response is to pray to God. He goes up to his house and he prays. Jesus goes to the Garden of Gethsemane and prays to God. Daniel submits and is faced with the decision of a ruler over him. Jesus also submits and faces the decision of the rulers that decide his fate. Daniel is found guilty of the law and Jesus too is also found guilty of the law. Now the law for me would be like in quotes because the law was something just to trap these people. It was used not for the law's intention, but to trap Daniel and to trap Jesus. Daniel was found innocent in God's eyes and Jesus as we know was perfect and innocent in God's eyes. Daniel was put to death, put in the lion's den. Jesus was put on a cross. Daniel, saved by God, came out of the lion's den alive. Jesus defeated death, rose again, and there was an empty tomb. And Daniel had the king in the morning running to him to see if he was alive, and Jesus has Mary and the disciples running to the grave to see if Jesus is alive. I'm being a little, I think this is so cool. The mirrors here, the parallels between the two stories. I love it, these comparisons show us, again, a trajectory and a tone for the passage, and it is one of a miracle. The God of Daniel, the God we serve, is the only God who can do what he does, the only one who has power over death, who can make the impossible possible. Our minds being drawn to Jesus here remind us of this is how salvation works. By putting your trust in God, our faith in God, you will be saved. Daniel put his trust and faith in God and was saved. When we put our trust and faith in Jesus Christ, we too are saved. I love how the Old Testament points us to Jesus. And this story is like neon lights flashing. It's pointing us to Christ. Pointing us to the wondrous work that God would do in sending his son to earth. But, okay, hyperlink over, back to our story, we gotta finish.
Let's finish our chapter, verse 23. It says, "The king was overjoyed and gave orders "to lift Daniel out of the den, "and when Daniel was lifted from the den, "no wound was found on him, "because he had trusted in his God. "At the king's command, the men who had falsely accused "Daniel were brought in and thrown into the lion's den, "along with their wives and children. "Before they reached the floor of the den, and the lions overpowered them and crushed all their bones. Yikes. Then King Darius wrote to all the nations and peoples of every language and all the earth. May you prosper greatly. I issue a decree that in every part of my kingdom, people must fear and reverence the God of Daniel. For he is the living God and he endures forever. His kingdom will not be destroyed. His dominion will never end. He rescues and he saves. performs signs and wonders in the heavens and on the earth. He has rescued Daniel from the power of the lions. So that Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian. This is all about King Darius' response to seeing God work. And King Darius invoked justice immediately. He orders the men who plotted this whole scheme be thrown into the lion's den And before the men even reached the floor, the lions devoured them, which show us, it's not just to show us that that's a crazy scene, but it's to show us that this wasn't like the lions were full or anything before Daniel was thrown in. There was no natural explanation as to how Daniel could be saved. These lions were ready to eat. They were ferocious. This was a whole thing that the Babylonians had set up. We keep these lions starving so that when we throw anything in there, they will kill anything in there. And so it's to show that this was indeed a miracle. The king continues in this joyous response. He sends to all the earth a command to worship God. See how this has changed from the very beginning of our chapter where the king enacts this rule of you cannot worship Yahweh, to now he's saying to all the earth, you must worship Yahweh. Oh, how the turntables. It's so cool to see a Gentile king using his power and authority to spread the name of God and to tell people to worship him. God used this entire situation, meant for the harm of one of his own people, to actually have the entire world hear who he is and what he can do. This is amazing. I get why this was a flannel graph story.
Everyone should know about what happened. King Darius has a response of seeing the Lord work and his response is worship. But what about us today? When we face impossible situations, what will our response be? We saw Daniel's, we've seen King Darius's, what about us? Well, we may not face the exact situation. I'm praying that none of us get thrown into a pit of lions. Yikes, would not be good. But we do, like we say every week. we all face our own impossible situations in our lives. What are we going to do? Well, number one, be like Daniel and go to God immediately. Just as Daniel went to his room and faced Jerusalem, his first thought, the first move, is to look to the heavens and pray. Get your attention focused upward on God. Start talking to him. Pray that God would give you direction. Pray that God would intervene. Share your feelings with him, whether it's frustration, or you're scared, you're hurt, maybe you're happy. Whatever it is, ask God for help, share, just start talking. Go to God immediately. Our first responsibility is something I call get eye contact with God. Do you know, okay, when you're in a situation, you're with maybe a spouse, a sibling, your best friend, and something happens, and your first reaction is to make eye contact with that person. Be like, did you just see that? Are we on the same page here? Did we both just register what just happened and acknowledge that? Do that with God. When something happens, be like, "Look at God." Be like, "Okay, God, we both just saw that? Okay, we want to get on the same page here." Make eye contact with God. Figuratively. Okay. Number two, live with integrity. This is all about remaining innocent in the eyes of God. Sometimes our impossible situations will tempt us to compromise, to look the other way, to live in a way that betrays God, betrays our belief in Him. It will tempt us to sin. Daniel could have stopped praying. He could have been like, "God, look, for 30 days I've got to not talk to you. Sorry, I'll talk to you later." Whatever. There could have been many things, many options where God turned His back on God. Our impossible situations will tempt us to turn our backs on God.
But like Daniel told King Darius in verse 22, he said that he was saved because he was found innocent in God's sight. We too wanna be saved by being innocent in God's sight. Live with integrity. All the time. When it's easy, yes, but also when it's hard. The that we had to Jesus is helpful here, right? Jesus, who was unjustly beaten, who was unjustly accused, unjustly put to death the entire time, He remained faithful, obedient, without sin in all of it. We too, that's gotta be our aim. We wanna be like Jesus. And to live with integrity, we need Jesus. We can't do that on our own. As hard as we may try, we will fail. We need Jesus. So part of living with integrity is depending on Christ. And number three, trust God at all times. Whether the impossible situation for you has just begun, or you're deep into a season of despair and chaos, remember that God works at any time, any time that he chooses. I mean, look at Daniel here. God was present with him through it all, but he also allowed Daniel to get to the worst part, which was being thrown into the lion's den. He could have changed King Darius' mind. He could have wiped out the men who plotted against Daniel. He could have done anything before Daniel had to go in the lines then, but he didn't. But it's at Daniel's moment when he's about to face death that God then intervenes. Pastor Lauren brought this up a few weeks ago with the Israelites crossing the Red Sea. Sometimes deliverance means still going through the entirety of the difficult situation. But it's the fact that you make it through. That's God's working in your life. So trust God at all times in your impossible situation. Trust Him at the beginning, when you're entering a dark season, and continue to trust Him when it's getting worse and worse and worse. Keep your faith in Him. Just because your impossible situation may be leading to your demise in the way you view it, it doesn't mean that God isn't gonna intervene at some point in some amazing way. And, just like last week with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, even if He doesn't intervene, He is still worthy of our praise. He is still good. This week, as we all go about our lives, our encouragement and prayer for you is that your first reaction to whatever is going on in your life is to pray, is to go to God, is to look heavenward and say, "God, that was something I need you right now." Get that conversation going. And then strive to live with integrity. Ask yourself this week, how can I live more like Jesus in my day to day? Are you asking God for strength and the provision through His Spirit to live like Christ in every moment? And let's grow in our trust and faith in Him, holding on when life is throwing us all over the place, on our knees in prayer, with our hearts looking heavenward, trusting God in every moment.
Let's pray. God, thank you for this story of Daniel in the lion's den, which is famous. We know that Daniel lives through this impossible situation, and I pray that it would bring us courage, it would bring us hope, God, for whatever we are facing. And if we're not facing anything, God, I just pray that it would strengthen our relationship with you. It would deepen our roots of faith and belief so that when we do face impossible situations, we are anchored to you, knowing that you can work out anything for your good, for your purposes. God, we pray for a deepening of our relationship with you. We pray for hope and despair. We pray for strength and weakness. We pray for joy and chaos. You know where everyone is at in this room and what they need. And I pray that right now, through the teaching of your word, through the worship, we do in singing that you would fill us up, that our hearts would be a little bit lighter leaving today. God, we know who you are and what you can do and we praise you for it. May we feel empowered and encouraged and equipped to give you our everything. Be with us this week. Draw us closer to you. We pray this in your name. Amen. - Thanks for listening. And if you would, please take a moment to subscribe and leave an encouraging review to help others find our podcasts on whatever platform you are listening on. We hope you have a wonderful day. We'll catch you next week.