We're in CFC, we're going to be in Daniel chapter 6, starting verse 1 this morning.
!
And so we're going to begin in verse 1, picking up where we left off last week.
Daniel 6, 1 reads,
It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom 120 satraps to be throughout the whole kingdom,
and over them three presidents, of whom Daniel was one,
to whom these satraps should give account, so that the king might suffer no loss.
Then this Daniel became distinguished above all other presidents and satraps,
because an excellent spirit was in him.
And the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom.
Then the presidents and the satraps sought to find a ground for complaint against Daniel
with regard to the kingdom, but they could find no ground for complaint or any fault,
because he was faithful.
And no error or fault was found in him.
Then these men said,
We shall not find any ground for complaint against this Daniel,
unless we find it in connection with the law of his God.
Then these presidents and satraps came by agreement to the king and said to him,
O King Darius, live forever.
All the presidents of the kingdom, the prefects and the satraps, the counselors and the governors,
are agreed that the king should establish an ordinance and enforce an injunction,
that whoever makes petition to any god or man for thirty days,
except to you, O King, shall be cast into the den of lions.
Now, O King, establish the injunction and sign the document,
so that it cannot be changed according to the law of the Medes and the Persians,
which cannot be revoked.
Therefore, King Darius signed the document and injunction.
When Daniel knew that the document had been signed,
he went to his house,
where he had windows in his upper chamber,
open toward Jerusalem.
He got down on his knees three times a day
and prayed and gave thanks before his God,
as he had done previously.
Then these men came by agreement and found Daniel making petition and plea before his God.
Then they came near and said before the king concerning the injunction,
O King, did you not sign an injunction that anyone who makes petition to any god or man
within thirty days, except to you, O King,
shall be cast into the den of lions?
The king answered and said,
The thing stands fast according to the law of the Medes and Persians,
which cannot be revoked.
Then they answered and said before the king,
Daniel, who is one of the exiles from Judah,
pays no attention to you, O King,
or the injunction you have signed,
but makes his petition three times a day.
Then the king, when he heard these words,
was much distressed and set his mind to deliver Daniel.
And he labored till the sun went down to rescue him.
Then these men came by agreement to the king and said to the king,
Know, O King, that it is a law of the Medes and Persians
that no injunction or ordinance that the king establishes can be changed.
Then the king commanded, and Daniel was brought and cast into the den of lions.
The king declared to Daniel,
May your God, whom you serve continually, deliver you.
And a stone was brought and laid on the mouth of the den,
and the king sealed it with his own signet and with the signet of his lord's,
that nothing might be changed concerning Daniel.
Then the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting.
No diversions were brought to him, and sleep fled from him.
Then, at break of day, the king arose and went in haste to the den of lions.
As he came near to the den where Daniel was, he cried out in a tone of anguish.
The king declared to Daniel,
O Daniel, servant of the living God,
has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?
And then Daniel said to the king,
O king, live forever.
My God sent his angel and shut the lions' mouths,
and they have not harmed me, because I was found blameless before him.
And also before you, O king, I have done no harm.
Then the king was exceedingly glad and commanded that Daniel be taken up out of the den.
So Daniel was taken up out of the den,
and no kind of harm was found on him,
because he had trusted in his God.
And the king commanded,
and those men who had maliciously accused Daniel
were brought and cast into the den of lions,
their children and their wives.
And before they reached the bottom of the den,
the lions overpowered them and broke all their bones in pieces.
Then King Darius wrote to all the peoples, nations, and languages
that dwell in all the earth,
Peace be multiplied to you.
I make a decree that in all my royal dominion,
people are to tremble and fear before the God of Daniel.
For he is the living God, enduring forever.
His kingdom shall never be destroyed,
and his dominion shall be to the end.
He delivers and rescues.
He works signs and wonders in heaven and on earth.
He who has saved Daniel from the power of the lions.
So this Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius
and the reign of Cyrus the Persian.
So, first point,
God is still working to fulfill his covenants.
I made this point last time I preached,
and I think it's worth making again,
because we see that all throughout Daniel
and really, truly all throughout the entire Bible.
But at the beginning, we're introduced to Darius.
He's taken over the kingdom, as I mentioned.
And many scholars have concluded that Darius in Daniel 6
is the same person as Cyrus.
Darius can simply mean Lord.
It can be a title.
Verse 28 makes it clear that Cyrus and Darius
were ruling the Meadow Persian Empire at the same time.
So it's for these reasons and others
that I think this is the same person.
And in verses 1 through 3,
we see Daniel prospering significantly.
He is climbing power, stature, respect, and authority
for the second time.
He already did it in Babylon.
Now he's doing it in the Meadow Persian Empire.
And because Darius sees Daniel's worth.
Verse 3, this is because an excellent spirit was within Daniel.
And I think this is the Holy Spirit empowering,
enabling Daniel to perform all the wise, sound,
and miraculous things that we've seen him do
throughout the book of Daniel.
So what does this have to do with the covenants?
And for that, you kind of have to look at the historical context.
So Cyrus is the king who allows the Hebrew people
to return to Israel and build the temple.
Ezra chapter 1 and chapter 6
show Cyrus paying for the rebuilt temple.
It shows Cyrus sending Jews back to Israel
to inhabit the land and to remain there.
And it also shows that the gold and silver
that Nebuchadnezzar stole was to be returned to the temple.
Significantly, Cyrus returned many of the Jews
and did all these things in his first year of ruling Babylon,
roughly 539 to 537 BC.
So this means he did this right around the time
that the lion's den occurs.
What we just read is happening amidst this work.
And it is highly likely that Daniel was the voice
and perhaps even the writer
who produced the legislation that Cyrus signed into decree
to allow Israel to do these things.
So notice God is using Daniel in this position of authority,
this position that he has with Cyrus, with Darius,
to provide safe passage for God's people
to the promised land.
And this is screaming of the Abrahamic covenant,
which again, I talked about this last time,
but three things comprise that covenant.
The people are secure in their offspring and are continuing.
They have land,
and they are a universal blessing to the nations.
So catch this.
Even though God directly used Babylon and Meadow Persia
to punish Israel for their wickedness in the exile,
God never intended to turn his back
on his covenants with them.
Turn with me real quickly to Isaiah 45.
I'm going to read the whole chapter,
so you're going to want to turn there.
And we're going there because you're going to see
that God has always intended to fulfill his covenants,
even in the midst of proclaiming his judgment
on Israel and Judah.
Isaiah 45.
Thus says the Lord to his anointed,
to Cyrus,
whose right hand I have grasped,
to subdue nations, including Babylon,
before him and to loose the belts of kings,
including Nebuchadnezzar,
to open doors before him
that gates may not be closed,
and recall, this is interesting,
but recall what Clay said last week
about Herodotus, the Greek historian.
He recorded that the Persians took over Babylon quickly.
They snuck in through some open gates
near the water well
and were able to emerge right up in the palace.
So this verse is fascinating,
that gates may not be closed.
In other words, God opened those gates.
He made those gates left open
so that Babylon would be taken overnight.
And back in verse 2,
I will go before you
and level the exalted places.
This is God talking to Cyrus.
I will break in pieces the doors of bronze
and cut through the bars of iron.
I will give you the treasures of darkness
and the hordes and secret places
that you may know that it is I,
the Lord, the God of Israel,
who call you by your name.
Verse 4.
For the sake of my servant Jacob
and Israel my chosen,
I call you by your name.
I name you though you do not know me.
So again, recall Isaiah is recording this prophecy
long before Cyrus exists.
This is before the Babylonian captivity even.
Picking back up in verse 5.
I am the Lord and there is no other.
Besides me there is no God.
I equip you though you do not know me
that people may know
from the rising of the sun from the west
that there is none besides me.
I am the Lord and there is no other.
I form light and create darkness.
I make well-being and create calamity.
I am the Lord who does all these things.
Shower, O heavens, from above
and let the clouds rain down righteousness.
Let the earth open that salvation
and righteousness may bear fruit.
Let the earth cause them both to sprout.
I, the Lord, have created it.
And woe to him who strives with him
who formed him a pot among earthen pots.
Does the clay say to him who forms it,
what are you making?
Or your work has no handles.
Woe to him who says to a father,
what are you begetting?
Or to a woman, with what are you in labor?
Thus says the Lord, the Holy One of Israel
and the one who formed him.
Ask me of things to come.
Will you command me concerning my children
and the work of my hands?
I made the earth and created man on it.
It was my hands that stretched out the heavens
and I commanded all their hosts.
I have stirred him up in righteousness
and I will make all his ways level.
He, Cyrus, shall build my city
and set my exiles free,
not for price or reward,
says the Lord of hosts.
Thus says the Lord,
the wealth of Egypt
and the merchandise of Cush
and the Sabaeans,
men of stature,
shall come over to you and be yours.
They shall follow you.
They shall come over in chains
and bow down to you.
They will plead with you saying,
surely God is in you
and there is no other.
No God besides him.
Truly you are a God who hides himself,
O God of Israel, the Savior.
All of them are put to shame and confounded.
The makers of idols go in confusion together.
But Israel is saved by the Lord
with everlasting salvation.
You shall not be put to shame
or confounded to all eternity.
For thus says the Lord
who created the heavens,
He is God,
who formed the earth and made it.
He established it
and He did not create it empty.
He formed it to be inhabited.
I am the Lord
and there is no other.
I did not speak in secret
in a land of darkness.
I did not say to the offspring of Jacob,
seek me in vain.
I, the Lord, speak the truth.
I declare what is right.
Assemble yourselves and come.
Draw near together,
you survivors of the nations.
They have no knowledge
who carry about their wooden idols
and keep on praying to a God
that cannot save.
Declare and present your case.
Let them take counsel together.
Who told this long ago?
Who declared it of old?
Was it not I, the Lord?
And there is no other God besides me,
a righteous God and a Savior.
There is none besides me.
Turn to me and be saved,
all the ends of the earth.
For I am God and there is no other.
By myself I have sworn,
from my mouth has gone out
in righteousness,
a word that shall not return.
To me, every knee shall bow,
every tongue shall swear allegiance.
Only in the Lord it shall be said of me,
a righteousness and strength.
To him shall come and be ashamed
all who were incensed against him.
And the Lord,
all the offspring of Israel,
shall be justified and shall glory.
That's a lot.
But notice as you read that,
God calls out Cyrus long before Cyrus exists.
And God's declaring what he's going to do.
He's going to use Cyrus to bring about his covenants.
In Isaiah 45,
we see him prophesy the temple being rebuilt
in verse 13,
which implies a return to the land.
In verse 22,
we see God calling out for the salvation
of people around the world.
There's that universal blessing piece.
And in verses 4, 17 and 25,
we see God preserving his people
who will be numbered as stars in heaven.
Now, all of this in Isaiah 45
is centered on the idea of salvation
or deliverance,
and that God is the deliverer,
the savior.
God will deliver his people.
And we are going to see this in Daniel 6,
which you can now return to.
But he has set the stage.
He's,
God's already declared what's to come.
In Daniel's lifetime,
he could have heard Isaiah 45
and known what's to come.
But before we see deliverance in Daniel 6,
we have to give our attention
to something else in our main text.
In all of God's redemptive history
of working to save his people,
there has always been opposition.
And that opposition pops its head in Daniel 6,
which leads us to the next point,
point number two.
God's people will be persecuted
for their righteousness.
God's people will be persecuted
for their righteousness.
In Matthew 5, verses 10 through 11,
the Sermon on the Mount,
Jesus said,
Blessed are those who are persecuted
for righteousness' sake,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when others revile you
and persecute you
and utter all kinds of evil
against you falsely on my account.
So persecution is a promise
to anyone who is truly following God.
And although persecution can mean
a variety of things,
not just death,
it is promised.
But nonetheless,
there is also a promise of blessing
or makarios,
the Greek word meaning
blessed, happy, or flourishing.
And that is not material flourishing,
but spiritual flourishing,
because the righteous have life in Christ.
The kingdom of heaven is theirs.
So looking back at Daniel,
we see that the satraps and presidents
all conspire to destroy Daniel.
Looking at verse 4,
it reads,
Then the presidents and the satraps
sought to find a ground of complaint
against Daniel with regard to the kingdom.
But they could find no ground for complaint
or any fault
because he was faithful.
So what do they do now?
They maliciously devise a scheme
to trick the king
into a position that will cost Daniel his life.
They are so determined to bring Daniel down
that these 122 men
find a way to get together
to conspire to plan against Daniel three times.
Verses 6, 11, 15, each time.
They came to agreement.
They are relentless to kill Daniel
and that is the measure of their resolve.
They hate him
for righteousness sake.
You see, the satraps and presidents
knew that the king would be swept away
by such a flattering document.
They enticed him to evil
by appealing to the idol of self,
to his pride.
But more importantly,
they knew Daniel would never worship the king.
And as a result of their scheme
and Daniel's faithfulness,
he would die in the lion's den.
That was their plan.
Now I've got to tell you,
none of this should surprise any of us,
the least bit,
especially if you've even just casually read the Bible
without much study.
It is full of this kind of language.
It's clear that the world hates Yahweh.
And his worshipers.
It is as old as Cain killing Abel
because of his righteousness.
And that continues all throughout the Bible.
Zachariah was stoned to death
for righteousness sake.
2 Chronicles chapter 24.
John the Baptist was beheaded by Herod
for righteousness sake.
Matthew 14, 1 through 12.
Stephen was stoned to death
for righteousness sake.
Acts 6 and 7.
And James was cut down by the sword
for righteousness sake.
Acts chapter 12, verse 1.
Now Antiochus,
this one's a little tricky,
but church history testifies
that he was burned in a boiling cup.
And we know from Revelation 2, 12 through 13
that he was martyred.
And of course,
all the apostles were executed
in various forms
and at various times.
But the reason was always the same.
Righteousness sake.
And there are plenty more examples,
by the way,
not just in the Bible,
but throughout church history.
We have a whole book
that covers only a fraction of the names
called Fox's Book of the Martyrs.
And again,
they all died
for righteousness sake.
Jesus said in John 15,
verses 18 through 19,
if the world hates you,
know that it has hated me
before it hated you.
If you were of the world,
the world would love you as its own.
That's a promise.
If you're of the world,
the world will love you.
But because you are not of the world,
but I chose you out of the world,
therefore,
the world hates you.
That's a promise too.
But regardless of what the world may say or do,
we are called to righteousness.
Faith,
obedience,
worship,
into and toward God alone.
And we see that righteousness practice,
the faithfulness of Daniel,
as he prays three times to God in verse 10.
Notice the beginning of verse 10,
when Daniel knew that the document had been signed.
So clearly,
Daniel wanted everyone to know,
unmistakably,
that he worshiped God alone.
This is why he faces Jerusalem.
This is why he prays three times,
which was the custom at the time for Jews,
so that it is crystal clear.
More significantly,
he does this because this is who he is,
a worshiper of God.
The end of verse 10 tells us
that his way of praying was done
as he had done previously.
This was a way of life for Daniel.
He was simply going out
and living his life as a God follower
that he has always lived,
going back to Daniel 1.
So like me,
some of you may be reading all this
and seeing the persecution of the saints
and wondering,
where is all the justice in this?
How is this right that so many innocents
should suffer at the hands of wicked
and lawless men,
especially Daniel?
Perhaps you find yourself
thinking about the words of the martyrs
recorded in Revelation 6, 9 through 10.
John writes,
When he opened the fifth seal,
I saw under the altar
the souls of those who had been slain
for the word of God
and for the witness they had borne.
And they, those souls, the martyrs,
they cried out with a loud voice,
O sovereign Lord,
holy and true,
how long before you will avenge
and judge our blood
on those who dwell on the earth?
It is not a question of if,
it is the question of when.
God will judge all of those
who dwell on the earth.
And this leads me to the next point,
point number three.
And this is the big one.
Daniel 6 is a picture
of God's deliverance
for all true believers
and judgment of all others.
So I'll repeat that.
Daniel 6 is a picture
of God's deliverance
for all true believers.
and judgment of all others.
We see the king
is in genuine turmoil
when his men find Daniel
guilty of violating the injunction.
Verse 14,
the king is distressed
and desired to deliver Daniel.
He labored all night
to rescue Daniel,
but to no avail.
And why?
Because it was the law.
And ironically,
the king had no power
to do anything about it.
He was weak.
He was manipulated.
He could not save Daniel.
The good thing about this king
is that he was
humble enough
to recognize
his own inability
to save Daniel.
Verse 16,
the king prays to Daniel's God,
our God,
and asks him
to deliver Daniel.
And the king fasted
all night
while Daniel
was in the lion's den
in verse 18.
And there's no response
that speaks to a man's sense
of inability
and insufficiency
as much as fasting.
It is literally
the crying out
of God to help
and deliver
and do everything
because I am helpless.
That's what fasting
is saying.
Verses 14 through 18,
we see the law
is going to condemn
Daniel to death
and the king
can do nothing about it.
Now, if this is a picture
of God's deliverance
and judgment,
there has to be
a figure
or a type
of Christ.
So looking at
verse 17,
we get a glimpse
of this.
A stone,
verse 17 writes,
a stone
was brought
and laid
on the mouth
of the den.
So Daniel
is sealed
in this hole
in the ground.
The stone covers
his only exit.
He's alone
with hungry lions
surrounding him
that could devour
him in seconds.
But verse 19,
then at the break
of day,
the king arose
and went in haste
to the den of lions.
As he came near
to the den
where Daniel was,
he cried out
in a tongue of anguish.
The king declared
to Daniel,
O Daniel,
servant of the living God,
has your God,
whom you serve
continually,
been able to deliver
you from the lions?
Then Daniel
said to the king,
O king,
live forever.
My God
sent his angel
and shut
the lions' mouths,
and they have
not harmed me
because I was
found blameless
before him.
And also,
before you,
O king,
I have done
no harm.
So second half
of verse 23,
so Daniel
was taken up
out of the den
and no kind
of harm
was found
on him
because he
had trusted
in his God.
And that
should sound
very familiar
to us all.
It should
remind us
of Jesus,
of Christ.
If you recall,
Pilate,
the governor,
the Roman governor
who was in charge
during Christ's
lifetime,
Pilate
desired to
set Jesus
free the way
Cyrus desired
to set Daniel
free,
yet both
were powerless.
You see that
in Matthew 27,
verses 15-23.
Daniel
prays in the
upper room
while waiting
for his captors.
Likewise,
Jesus prayed
in the garden
waiting for
his captors.
Matthew 26,
36-46.
Cyrus rolled
a stone
over to
seal Daniel
in what
would become
his tomb.
And likewise,
Joseph rolled
the stone
over Jesus'
tomb
and Pilate
sealed it.
Matthew 26,
verses 60-66.
Daniel's
deliverance
from the
lion's den
becomes a
legal issue.
So in the
Meadow
Persians,
I was about
to say
Babylonians,
in their
empire,
if an
execution
didn't work
overnight,
they were
set free.
They viewed
that as
divine judgment
of sparing
the individual.
So because
Daniel survived
the night,
it was law
that he had
to be spared.
That's why
they don't
keep him
down there.
So in
other words,
his deliverance
from the
lion's den
overcame
the law.
Likewise,
Christ's
resurrection
was a
legal matter
that overcame
the power
of the law.
Colossians 2,
11-15.
I could go
on,
but I think
you get the
point.
Daniel is
a type
of Christ.
Daniel is
foreshadowing
the work
of Christ,
namely,
his death,
resurrection,
and ascension.
Daniel ascends
out of
lion's den
and then
prospers
as a ruler
at the end
of chapter
6,
verse 28.
Just as
Christ ascended
to be seated
at the right
hand of the
Father.
Mark 16,
verse 9.
I mean,
sweet Moses,
the irony
of the king's
question,
has your
God been
able to
deliver you?
And the
answer is
yes,
a thousand
times yes.
He was
able to
deliver him
and prosper
him abundantly.
And that
picture of
deliverance is
all throughout
Daniel 6,
and it was
prophesied in
Isaiah 45,
as we saw.
But so
is judgment
prevalent in
this chapter.
The opposers,
the satraps,
and presidents
were wicked
in their
schemes.
They manipulated
this entire
ordeal,
thinking it
was by their
hand that
these things
were to be.
But look at
verse 24.
And the king
commanded,
and those men
who had
maliciously
accused Daniel
were brought
and cast
into the
den of lions,
they,
their children,
and their
wives.
And before
they reached
the bottom
of the den,
the lions
overpowered
them and
broke all
their bones
in pieces.
This image
is shocking,
terrifying,
and even
hard to digest
at first
when you
picture the
families included.
On the one
hand,
you might be
relieved to
read this
and think
justice has
been paid.
They got
what they
deserve.
There's a
sense in
which this
is right.
On the other
hand,
you might
be
heartbroken
for them,
knowing that
you deserve
the same
because you
too have
lied and
manipulated and
all other
kinds of
sins have
been committed
by you,
by me.
And I
want to
suggest to
you that
on the one
hand,
you should
feel 100%
sorrow for
these people,
that you
should be
mourning their
suffering since
you know you
deserve the
same.
But even
so,
you should
also feel
100%
thankful that
God is
just.
We worship
God for
all that
he is and
all that
he does,
no exceptions.
And it is
as simple as
this,
if you do
not want
there to
be justice,
then you
do not
want God
because God
is just.
And recall
that we
come to
God only
because his
justice was
carried out
on our
sins which
Christ bore
on our
behalf.
And remember
the words of
the martyrs in
Revelation 6.10,
they were
martyred for
being a
witness to
the word.
In other
words,
these were
evangelists,
these were
missionaries,
these were
people who
sought to
see the
world saved.
And yet
these people
say,
O sovereign
Lord,
holy and
true,
how long
before you
will judge
and avenge
our blood
on those
who dwell
on the
earth?
God will
judge and
condemn every
person who
does not
repent and
place their
faith in
Jesus Christ
and then
obey him.
And that
judgment will
come quickly
and swiftly
like a
thief in
the night.
Do not
delay.
And this
leads me to
our final
point this
morning,
point number
four.
Our
response to
God's
deliverance
and judgment
is worship.
Our
response to
God's
deliverance
and judgment
is worship.
Looking at
verse 25,
in response to
seeing God
deliver Daniel
from the
lion's den,
this Darius
Cyrus guy
wrote to
all the
peoples,
nations,
and languages
that dwell on
the earth.
There's that
universal blessing
language again.
And he said,
peace be
multiplied to
you.
I make a
decree that
in all my
royal dominion
people are
to tremble
and fear
before the
God of
Daniel.
For he
is the
living God
enduring
forever.
His
kingdom
shall never
be destroyed
and his
dominion
shall be
to the
end.
He
delivers
and
rescues.
He
works
signs and
wonders
in heaven
and on
earth.
He
who
has
saved
Daniel
from the
power
of the
lions.
This
language
is all
worship,
praise,
and adoration.
And we
see this
kind of
worship
in the
final days
of God's
final
deliverance
and judgment
as well.
Revelation
19.1
reads,
and the
context of
this is
right after
that final
judgment
and that
final
deliverance.
And
Revelation
19.1
reads,
After
this,
I heard
what seemed
to be a
loud voice
of a
great
multitude
in
heaven
crying
out,
Hallelujah,
salvation
and glory
and power
belong to
our God.
For his
judgments
are true
and just.
For he
has judged
the great
prostitute
who corrupted
the earth
with her
immorality
and has
avenged
on her
the blood
of his
servants.
Once
more they
cried
out,
Hallelujah,
the smoke,
meaning the
tormenting
fires,
the smoke
from her
goes up
forever
and ever.
And this
is one
of the
reasons,
by the way,
that I
think Cyrus
was regenerate
because he
sounds an
awfully lot
like the
saints in
Revelation
19 when
he praises
God in
Daniel 6.
When people
see God's
deliverance
and judgment,
they cannot
help but
worship him
and that is
the pattern
throughout
all of
scripture.
And that
is why
every knee
shall bow
and every
tongue
confess that
Jesus Christ
is Lord
because he
will make
it so
because he
is Lord.
And I
think it's
important to
note,
though,
the deliverance.
It's easy
to get
caught up
in judgment.
It's easy
to question
it.
It's easy
to wonder
about God's
love,
his character.
Sometimes we
don't always
see how the
scales balance
out,
but the
comfort in
Revelation
19 is that
that is a
prophecy of
us praising
God and
saying that
he is
just.
That's a
prophecy of
us saying
the scales
are balanced
and now
we see
that you
are just,
you are
holy,
you are
love.
And we
see that
in Daniel
being risen
from the
lion stone,
being spared.
So I want
to close
with some
application.
The first
one being
fill yourself
with knowledge
of God's
covenants,
his promises.
If you
are faithful
to God,
then you
will face
persecution.
And if you
want to stand
strong as
Daniel did,
or better
yet,
as Christ
did perfectly,
then you
must have
something to
place your
hope in.
And that
is God
and his
promises.
The other
application is
rid yourself
of anxiety.
I mentioned
this one last
time, but I
thought it was
even more
fitting for
this text as
well, and I
couldn't help
but include
it.
Notice how
Daniel is
prospering in
the beginning
of chapter
6.
He's on the
rise, he's
about to be
set over the
whole kingdom,
then all that
stuff happens
which makes it
look like he's
going downhill
quickly, looks
like he's
going to die.
But by the
end of it all,
he is saved,
and in verse
28, we see
that he
prospered once
again.
As Christians,
we have the
unique benefit of
knowing where
everything began
and where it
all is going.
There's absolutely
no need to
fret over the
details of the
here and now.
These moments
are fleeting,
and we know
that heaven
awaits us
where God
will comfort
us as we
worship him
for all
eternity.
So anxiety
is needless,
and it is a
sin, and the
antidote to
that is to
place our
trust fully
in Christ.
Third application
is to prepare
yourself for
persecution from
a hostile
culture.
In other
words, count
the cost.
Jesus tells
us that if
we are to
follow him,
we must
first deny
ourselves,
take up
his cross,
and then
follow him
after 1624.
We have
to be willing
to die for
Christ, and
we should
expect persecution
because Christ
promises we,
the blessed,
will be
persecuted.
And if you've
never been
persecuted, perhaps
it's because you
are not practicing
righteousness.
And to be
clear, we are
not going into
the world and
trying to get
killed for being
annoying.
We are
trying to be
faithful, which
the world
hates.
So we want
to practice
righteousness.
And the
final application
is this, we
obey God, not
man.
I think it is
significant that
at no point in
Daniel 6 do we
see Daniel speak
lowly of the
king.
He never called
him weak or a
puppet, though
there were clearly
grounds to do
so.
Rather, Daniel
expressed respect
for this God-given
position.
He said in
verse 21,
O king, live
forever.
And we too
should respect
our authorities,
whether they be
government officials,
parents, employers,
coaches, or what
have you.
However, at the
end of the day,
when you get a
command from man
that conflicts
with a command
from the Lord
of the universe,
the one you
should obey is
obvious.
The chain of
command is clear.
Yes, render to
Caesar that which
is Caesar's, but
never squander or
forget to render
to God that
which is God's.
We are citizens
of the kingdom
of heaven before
anything else.
We're not
Americans, Mexicans,
Germans, or what
have you.
We are followers
of Christ.
Let's follow him
now through prayer.
Let's go.