Pastor Mike is away this week, and I'm very grateful for the opportunity to preach this morning.
We're going to take a short break from the series on the Gospel of Matthew,
and we're going to look at the well-known story of Daniel in the lion's den.
Would you turn with me in your Bibles to Daniel chapter 6?
If you're using one of those paperback pew Bibles, it's page 828.
The title is Citizens of Heaven in a Land of Exile.
We're going to be in Daniel chapter 6.
This is a story about Daniel and God's people living in a land far away from home.
Sometimes that word home can be a little bit complicated.
Until I was a teenager, I lived as a missionary kid in Zaire, Africa, in Central Africa.
It's now called the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
And it was a wonderful life there.
I went to the market with my mom.
We played tag in the neighborhood, and there were these grassy hills behind our house,
and we would go up there and play.
And I just loved my home there.
I loved the people there in Central Africa.
I loved their big smiles and the laughter and the dancing and the fruit on the trees and the climate.
And it was just a wonderful place to grow up.
Just outdoors all the time and a slow pace of life.
But there was a tension because even though that was my home, it wasn't really my home.
You know what I mean by that?
My parents taught me the Pledge of Allegiance and the U.S. National Anthem, and I learned about the U.S. Presidents.
And people would ask me there in Zaire, where do you come from?
And I would say, Ohio.
Ohio.
That wasn't really true, but it was kind of true.
That was at least where my parents were from.
And people would say to me, where are your grandparents?
And I would say, well, they're in Ohio.
That was true, but I didn't know them, really.
I had met them when I was very young.
So it was sort of confusing because my blue passport said that I was a citizen of the United States,
but my real home was kind of in Africa, but technically my home was a place in the U.S.
where I had spent very little time.
And so then when we came back to the States permanently when I was in high school,
I was living in Ohio, and then people would say to me, where are you from?
And I would always hesitate.
Two places, I guess, right?
On the one hand, I was from Africa.
That place felt like home, but I guess technically it really wasn't.
And then on the other hand, I was in Ohio, which was technically my home, but sure didn't feel like it.
Israel, too, had a home that had been a glorious gift of God.
It was part of the covenant that God had made with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.
And that was where God had fought for them and delivered them from their enemies.
That was the land of Joshua and Ruth and King David and King Solomon and Elijah and Elisha.
That was where the temple was.
That was where the priesthood was.
That's where God's presence was manifested in a very special way, unlike any place else on earth.
That was Israel.
And that was where they were deeply connected to their faith and their identity as the people of God.
So when they were conquered by the Babylonians and taken into exile,
and the Babylonians tore down their temple and destroyed the priesthood
and stole the furniture and the equipment out of the temple
and brutally murdered some of the people of God and took others away into a foreign land,
there was a crisis of some sort because they were now in danger of assimilating.
They were in danger of becoming just like everybody else and losing their distinctives as the people of God
and even disrupting God's promised plan of salvation that he would bring through Christ.
Babylon and Persia were their new home, sort of, but not really their home.
It couldn't be their ultimate home because they had to remain faithful to God
even as they lived in a foreign land that was often quite hostile to them.
So the book of Daniel was written to encourage the people of God as they lived in a foreign land.
It's divided into two parts.
The first six chapters are stories about God delivering Daniel and his friends
from intense pressure and persecution at times.
They're miraculously protected by him.
And then chapters 7 through 12 are apocalyptic visions
about the fact that God is in complete control of the affairs of the world
and he will be victorious in the end.
So it's a great encouragement to God's people who are tempted to despair.
They may face difficulty and persecution.
They may be hated and despised for their faith.
But they are on the winning team.
So no matter how bad things look right now for Daniel and his friends,
God will vindicate his people.
And this is good news for us.
This is a powerful book for us because now we are the people of God living in exile.
Before we knew Christ, we were full citizens of this world.
Paul says in Ephesians chapter 2 that we follow the course of this world
and the prince of the power of the air.
This world is destined for destruction and that was our destiny too
because we were citizens of this world.
We were strangers and aliens to God's country.
Separated from God and hostile to him.
But when we committed our lives to Christ, we defected to his country.
Paul says that we became fellow citizens with the saints
and members of the household of God.
When you think about it, most defectors, when they defect,
they move to the new country, right?
If you're a Russian citizen and you defect to the United States,
you move to the United States because otherwise it would not be safe for you.
But we don't move right to heaven.
We defect to heaven and defect to God's country,
but we stay here.
We represent God in a fallen world and now it's complicated because we have two homes.
We have this home and we have that home.
This is the only world we've ever known,
but now we're strangers here.
We really belong someplace else.
Our real home is in heaven, but we've never been there before.
So it's not very easy.
And sometimes in this society, people think we're crazy.
We're crazy because of what we believe.
We're crazy because we follow this Jesus who lived a long time ago.
Or they think we're dangerous.
They think we're dangerous because our stance on marriage means that we're bigots and hypocrites.
Our stance on life in the womb means that we are anti-women.
We're dangerously out of step with a progressive society,
modern society, because we take our values from the Bible.
And so the question is, I mean always, what should we do?
How do we live here in exile in a faithful way, away from our home?
And I think this is one of the key things that the book of Daniel in chapter 6 addresses for us.
So let's take a look at Daniel chapter 6.
We can divide this short story into three sections.
Each of the sections has a little bit of a surprise for us.
There's three sections and there's three surprises.
And the first section is in verses 1 through 13.
So I'm going to read that first part and then we'll talk about it and we'll read the second part.
So please don't read ahead.
I know it's hard.
Here we go.
You're probably familiar with this story anyway.
Here we go.
It says in verse 1,
It pleased Darius to appoint 120 satraps to rule throughout the kingdom,
with three administrators over them, one of whom was Daniel.
The satraps were made accountable to them so that the king might not suffer loss.
Now Daniel so distinguished himself among the administrators and the satraps by his exceptional qualities
that the king planned to set him over the entire kingdom.
At this, the administrators and the satraps tried to find grounds for charges against Daniel in his conduct of government affairs.
But they were unable to do so.
They could find no corruption in him because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent.
Finally, these men said,
We will never find any basis for charges against this man, Daniel, unless it has something to do with the law of his God.
So these administrators and satraps went as a group to the king and said,
May King Darius live forever.
The royal administrators, prefects, satraps, advisors, and governors have all agreed
that the king should issue an edict and enforce the decree
that anyone who prays to any god or human being during the next 30 days,
except to you, your majesty, shall be thrown into the lion's den.
Now your majesty, issue the decree and put it in writing so that it cannot be altered
in accordance with the law of the Medes and the Persians, which cannot be repealed.
So King Darius put the decree in writing.
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.
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,
would 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.
So the story begins with King Darius,
who has not really been introduced to us,
except in the previous verses back in chapter 5, 30 through 31,
which tell us that Darius took over the kingdom from King Belshazzar at the age of 62.
Persia was a massive empire that stretched from India in the east
all the way over to Egypt and Asia Minor in the west.
It was the largest empire ever seen.
And it was divided into 120 regions that were governed by these satraps.
So they had to have some sort of a complex bureaucracy
because this is a very, very large empire.
And verse 2 tells us that the king had placed three high officials over the 120 satraps.
And verse 3 tells us that not only was Daniel one of these three high officials,
but he was in line for promotion to run the entire kingdom.
And why was this?
Well, because it tells us in verse 2
that he was not corrupt.
The king felt he would not suffer loss.
And in verse 3 it says that he had distinguished himself by his exceptional qualities.
Now you know how it is when someone in the office is promoted to a higher position.
Everybody grumbles and they gather around the water cooler
and they all complain and get angry.
And here the satraps and the high officials created a conspiracy against Daniel.
They wanted him gone.
But he was so exceptional and his character was so impressive
that they couldn't find any way to take him down.
Look what it says in verse 4.
It says he was trustworthy.
He was not corrupt.
He was not negligent in his duties.
In other words, he was a very, very strange government official.
So there are two hints in the story, though,
that the conspiracy was actually about more than just envy of his upcoming promotion.
Because the first hint comes in verse 5
when it says that we will bring a charge for him
in accordance with the law of his God.
And then look down at verse 13.
It says in 13 that he was one of the exiles from Judah.
Now, everybody knows that Daniel was one of the exiles from Judah.
That had been long established.
The king knew that.
They knew that.
So why bring it up?
Well, it's just insight into their underlying motives.
Maybe they thought that Daniel was not quite loyal enough to Persia.
He's not really one of us.
He doesn't belong here.
He's not a true Persian.
And so they hatch a conspiracy, and everyone is in on it.
Look at verse 7.
The royal administrators and the prefects and the satraps
and the advisors and the governors have all agreed.
They're all ganging up on him.
And to appeal to the king's vanity,
they recommend a law that prohibits praying to anyone but the king
for a period of 30 days, just enough to prove that Daniel is unfaithful to the king.
And so the king signs a decree that cannot be repealed,
and now Daniel is in a very tough spot.
To this point, his faith and his identity as a Jew have not gotten into conflict with his role in the Persian government.
There hasn't been any conflict there.
But now they've made it an issue.
They've made it a problem.
And he can take a break from his faith for 30 days,
or he can be thrown to a den of lions.
Now I know we're all probably pretty familiar with this story,
but we don't want that to get in the way of some of the details here.
Let's take just a moment and imagine death by lion.
We don't want to minimize the threat here.
You know, there are a lot of terrible ways to die.
There are some ways to die that are not so bad,
and then there are some terrible ways to die,
and I would think that death by lions would be at the top.
The Persians had all kinds of ways that they could have killed people.
Very quick, very painless.
Take a sword, for example.
But to go through the trouble of death by lion,
you have to procure the lions,
and you have to house the lions and feed the lions.
It's a big deal.
Why would they do that?
Because it was so brutal.
We're talking about growling,
biting,
ripping,
tearing,
eating.
I mean, we can stop there, right?
It's bad.
It's a bad way to die.
And so what Daniel is facing here for his faith
is not being mocked.
It's not being fired from his job.
It's not going to jail.
It's not even a painless beheading or something like that.
It is death by lion.
And in verse 10,
we see the first surprise in this section,
which is that when Daniel learned what was up,
he went home to his upstairs room,
got down on his knees and prayed,
just as he had done before.
He is well aware of the trap that they have laid for him,
but without missing a beat,
he goes home,
gets on his knees,
and prays to God.
And think about the way that this is presented to us.
It doesn't,
the narrator does not present any conflict
or any inner turmoil to us.
It is just a reflex for him.
It is time to pray,
so he goes down and prays.
He doesn't care what the edict was.
But you can imagine the temptation
that he was feeling.
It is not a compromise.
It is a little compromise.
He is not actually being asked to break one of God's laws.
He is only being asked to omit a spiritual discipline.
It is not so big.
He is not actually being asked to pray to the king.
He is only being asked to refrain from praying to God.
That is not quite,
that is not idolatry, right?
I mean, I have neglected prayer
to listen to sports radio
or because I was hungry for a snack.
It is a big deal.
He could change his routine.
Why can't Daniel just pray in private?
Or why can't he just pray secretly in his head?
He could be doing other things
and praying in his head
and no one would even know.
Why not just do that?
It does not even have to look like he is praying.
And he is only giving thanks to God, it says here.
He is only giving thanks to God.
It is not,
surely that can go on hold for a couple of weeks.
But besides, if he is killed,
then he won't be able to look out
for the other Jewish exiles
and to exert positive influence
in the Persian government.
Think about the loss of good godly influence
that will be lost in the government.
Which is more important,
to thank God
or to have a faithful Yahweh honoring man
with great character in power?
I mean, surely you can take a break for 30 days.
But even though the compromise seems small,
look what it says in the text.
It says,
He went home to his upstairs room
where the windows opened toward Jerusalem.
Now, why is that detail in there?
The narrator doesn't have to tell us that little detail about Jerusalem,
but it does because it's a way of showing us
that Daniel's home was someplace else.
Daniel's true home,
he lived in Persia,
he worked in Persia,
but his true home was in Jerusalem.
And so when he got down to pray,
he faced Jerusalem,
and that was the sticking point.
The Persian conspirators knew
that this wasn't just about a little prayer.
This was about loyalty.
This was about Daniel's ultimate loyalty.
And Daniel doesn't make a big show of his prayer.
He doesn't ring the bells
and make a big to-do of it,
but he doesn't hide it either.
He simply gets down, as always, and prays.
And in verse 11,
he's discovered by the officials,
and they report him to the king,
and they interpret his prayer as a disloyal act.
Look what they say in verse 13.
No one pays any attention to you, your majesty.
He still prays three times a day.
So the immovable object of Persian law
has met the unstoppable force of Daniel's prayer,
and something is going to have to give.
So this first section of Daniel
is dominated by these conspiring government officials.
They're the only ones who speak,
and the narrator presents them as a large group,
all in agreement,
who are scheming against Daniel.
Daniel wasn't provocative.
He didn't cause any trouble.
He got up every day,
and he went into the office,
and he worked hard for the good of the Persian Empire,
and he did what was best for the king,
and for the welfare of his society,
and he lost sleep over their problems,
and he built relationships and networked with them,
but at night,
he went home and prayed toward Jerusalem.
He lived in Persia,
but he knew where his true home was.
So when he was commanded to neglect
even a small aspect of his faith,
only a daily thanksgiving prayer,
when his ultimate loyalty was challenged,
he would not compromise even an inch.
And we've seen this before in the book of Daniel.
Back in chapter 1,
Daniel and his friends are accommodating to the Babylonians,
and they learn their language,
and they eat their food,
and they take Babylonian names,
but it says,
Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself
with the unclean food.
He drew a line, a hard line.
He said,
I will live in this land,
and I will flourish in this land,
but I will do nothing,
no matter how small,
that betrays my loyalty to God
and my true home.
And in chapter 3,
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
are commanded to worship Nebuchadnezzar's golden image,
or be thrown into a fire and burned alive.
And they refuse,
and they say,
we will not worship your gods
or the golden image that you have set up.
And now here in Daniel 6,
the decree goes out,
no praying to God for 30 days,
or you will be ripped open
and eaten alive by lions.
And Daniel says,
what can I do?
I will not compromise
when it comes to my faith.
So Daniel serves as a model for us
because life in exile can be tricky.
In some countries and in some times,
we have more freedom than others.
But when the conflict comes down
to a matter of our ultimate loyalty,
we choose our identity as the people of God.
We draw a line,
and we say,
with God's help,
I will not cross that line.
I will not serve what is apostate.
I will not cease to serve the living God,
no matter the consequences.
Someone might say to us,
well, it's not a gospel issue.
It's not really a key point of Christian doctrine.
Well, maybe so,
but I will not deny
what God has revealed to me.
Someone might say to me,
well, but if you make this small compromise,
it might open up other kinds of opportunities
and influence for you.
No.
And they might say,
well, this little issue isn't worth your job.
I mean, this little issue,
it's not worth fighting over this
for your reputation.
It certainly isn't worth your life.
Yes, but this is not my home.
When loyalty to the land of our exile
is in conflict with loyalty to God,
no matter how small that issue is,
we choose God.
Daniel would rather be eaten by lions
than take a 30-day break from his prayer.
Let's look at the next section
in verses 14 through 22.
It says,
When the king heard this,
he was greatly distressed.
He was determined to rescue Daniel
and made every effort until sundown to save him.
Then the men went as a group to King Darius
and said to him,
Remember, your majesty,
that according to the law of the Medes and the Persians,
no decree or edict that the king issues can be changed.
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.
A stone was brought and placed over the mouth of the den,
and the king sealed it with his own signet ring
and with 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
and 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.
When he came near the den,
he called to Daniel in an anguished voice,
Daniel, servant of the living God,
has your God, whom you serve continually,
been able to rescue you from the lions?
Daniel answered,
May the king live forever.
My God sent his angel,
and he shut the mouths of the lions.
They have not hurt me
because I was found innocent in his sight,
nor have I done any wrong before you,
your majesty.
Now it says in verse 14,
when the king heard this,
he was greatly distressed.
And right here at the front of this section
is the first surprise,
is the surprise in this section here.
The surprise here is that
we expect the king to be greatly distressed
because one of his top administrators
has been disloyal to him.
But that's not why he's distressed.
The reason he's distressed
is because Daniel is in trouble.
Look what it says.
It says in verse 14,
It's instructive for us
to compare this reaction
to King Nebuchadnezzar
back in chapter 3
with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
When King Nebuchadnezzar
finds out
that three Jews
have refused to bow down
to his image,
listen to his reaction.
He says in 3.13,
it says,
He taunts them in verse 15.
What God will be able
to rescue you out of my hand?
He says in verse 19,
It was furious with them
with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
and his attitude toward them changed.
And in verse 22,
His command to throw them
in the fire was urgent.
This is a hostile king
who was angry at these three guys
and couldn't wait
to chuck them
into the fiery furnace.
But here in chapter 6,
Darius' reaction is the opposite.
Look what it says in verse 13.
Sorry.
Look what it says in verse 16.
It says,
May your God whom you serve
continually rescue you.
Verse 18,
He spent the night without eating
and without entertainment.
He could not sleep.
At the first light of dawn,
he hurried to the lion's den.
He was speaking in an anguished voice
when he said,
Daniel, servant of the living God,
have you been rescued?
Here's the question.
Why does the king
care for Daniel like this?
Why is he so concerned
to rescue Daniel
instead of hastening his death?
We expect the king
to be offended.
This law was supposedly
about loyalty to himself
that no one could pray
to anyone but him.
And now Daniel,
his trusted advisor,
has broken it.
And instead,
he's up all night.
He doesn't know what to do.
How is he going to
find a loophole
in this Persian law
and find a way
of rescuing Daniel?
He's trapped
by his own law.
He's frantic.
What is he going to do here?
When he goes down
to the lion's den,
Daniel calls out to him
in verse 21,
May the king live forever.
That's Daniel's answer
to say,
I am alive.
May the king live forever.
Now, Daniel's response
in verses 21 and 22
is important
because these are
the only two verses
in the entire story
where Daniel speaks.
So if we want to know
what Daniel thinks
about all of this,
here it is.
Here's our chance
in verses 21 and 22.
First of all,
in verse 21,
when he says,
May the king live forever.
This is exactly
the same way
that the other administrators
in satraps
addressed the king
back in verse 6.
It's subtle,
but it suggests
that he is just as loyal
to the king
as they are.
In fact,
based on the fact
that they're conspiring
and trying to trick the king,
I think Daniel's actually
more loyal to the king
than they are.
Then he says in verse 22,
My God sent his angel
and he shut the mouths
of the lions
and they haven't heard me
because I was innocent
in his sight.
I have not been unfaithful
to God.
But then he says,
Nor have I done any wrong
before you,
your majesty.
I am faithful to you,
O king.
I am faithful to you.
In other words,
he was loyal both to God
and to King Darius
and it's like he's saying,
Just because I pray
to my God
and my priority
is to my God,
that does not mean
that I am not also
loyal to you.
So this tension,
the king's concern
for Daniel
and Daniel's loyalty
to the king
suggests something
very important
about Daniel's approach
to living in exile.
Even though
he is absolutely
unbending
and uncompromising
about his true home
back in Jerusalem,
he is equally invested
in working
for the good
of his present home,
the king.
We've already seen this
at the beginning
of the story
that Daniel
distinguished himself
in his government service,
that he was trustworthy,
that he had integrity
and fulfilled
all his duties.
And now,
when he comes out
of the den of lions,
he says to the king,
I am faithful to you.
Daniel,
at this point in the book,
is about 70 years old
and he has proven
over a lifetime
of service
that he is committed
to the good
of the Persian empire.
It's not his ultimate home,
but it's his home for now.
And so his character,
compelled by his faith
in God,
causes him to work
for the good
of the king
and the nation
and that has earned
the king's respect.
Daniel has dual citizenship.
It has a hierarchy.
He knows
to whom he really belongs,
but at the end of the day,
that is not a threat
to the king
because he has proven himself
day after day
after day.
If the government
makes his faith
incompatible with Persia,
he will choose
his faith.
But otherwise,
Daniel will be
a loyal Persian citizen.
As Paul says
in 1 Timothy,
he will live
a peaceful
and quiet life,
godly and dignified
in every way.
Daniel is a model
for us
to live joyfully
and responsibly
and engaged
in our land
of exile as well.
This is a little bit
of a difficult balance
for us sometimes
because it's easy
when we're trying
to walk this narrow road
to fall into the ditch
on either side.
On the one hand,
we can sort of fall
into the ditch
of compromise,
to become like
everybody else,
to betray our faith,
maybe not even
without thinking about it,
to accept the values
of our culture
and just sort of
think like everyone else
and to neglect
our heavenly citizenship.
That's one ditch
that we can fall into.
But then on the other
side of the road,
we can overcorrect
and we can fall
in that other ditch
and that is
that we get rigid
and bitter
and angry
and we just,
we just can't wait
for the world to burn.
We look at everything
around us,
our culture,
and we just say,
I just can't wait
until this place burns
and I go to heaven.
That's the other ditch,
right?
And Daniel is a model
of walking that thin line.
He is both uncompromising,
in his faith,
but also fully engaged
in his present land
for its good.
When loyalty to the nation,
whichever nation that is,
is not in conflict
with loyalty to God,
we should be the best
of citizens.
Loyal,
serving,
doing what is right,
working hard,
innocent before God,
and faithful to the king.
Finally,
let's look at the last section
in verses 23 to 28.
The king was overjoyed,
right?
There was this moment
of suspense.
Daniel,
are you in there?
Are you alive?
Long pause.
May the king live forever.
Oh,
he's alive.
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,
and before they reached
the floor of the den,
the lions overpowered them
and crushed all their bones.
Then King Darius wrote
to all the nations
and the peoples
of every language
in 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.
He performs signs
and wonders
in the heavens
and on the earth.
He has rescued Daniel
from the power
of the lions.
So Daniel prospered
during the reign of Darius
and the reign of Cyrus
the Persian.
The surprise here
is that while Daniel
has been saved,
which is a shock,
his enemies
have been destroyed.
The king has lifted Daniel
out of the den of lions
and no wound
is found on him.
It's not like he was
down there all night long
with a stick,
you know,
fending them off
and when they pull him
out of the lion's den,
he's just a wreck, right?
He's just a mess
and he's got to go
straight to the ER
because he's barely alive.
No, there's no wound
on him at all.
It was a miracle.
God shut the mouths
of those lions
and saved him.
Why?
Because of what it says
in verse 23,
because he had trusted
in his God.
The narrator does not
want you to miss that.
You might be able
to pick it up
on your own,
but the narrator
doesn't want you
to have to figure that out.
God protected Daniel
because Daniel
put his trust in God.
And in verse 24,
Daniel's accusers
are thrown to the lions
along with their wives
and children.
And this verse tells us
two pretty important things.
First of all,
it tells us that Daniel
was saved only
by the power of God.
I've read some scholars
on the book of Daniel
who have said,
well, maybe the lions
were ill that night.
Maybe they just
weren't really up to it.
They weren't feeling well.
Or maybe they had been drugged
by some ancient drug.
Or maybe they had been
fed previously that day
and they just weren't hungry.
But here,
when the men
and their wives
and children
are thrown into the lion's den,
before they even
touch the ground,
the lions crush
and kill them.
Did Daniel fight
off the lions?
No.
God's angel
had shut their mouths
and no matter
how hungry they were
as they prowled
and looked at him,
they could just drool.
There's nothing
they could do.
There's no way
that they could touch him.
But not only was it
a miracle,
but verse 24
also tells us
that not only
is God's servant
Daniel saved,
but God's enemies
are destroyed.
That is good news.
Maybe it feels
a little bit
uncomfortable to us
to be cheering
over the hideous death
of Daniel's enemies,
but for God's
oppressed people,
oppressed and
persecuted people
who are suffering
terribly,
who are tormented
and abused
by evildoers,
this is great comfort
to know that God
will fight for his people
and that his justice
will prevail in the end.
This is an incredible miracle
and look how it affects
King Darius
in verses 26 and 27.
Let me read this again.
He is the living God,
Darius says,
and God endures forever.
His kingdom
will not be destroyed.
His dominion,
that other home,
the home of Daniel,
will never end.
He rescues and saves.
He performs signs
and wonders
in the heavens
and on the earth.
He has rescued Daniel
from the power
of the lions.
And in a great irony,
here at the end
of the story,
we learn about
the nature
and the power
of God
from the mouth
of a pagan king.
The story concludes
in verse 28
that Daniel is prospering
in his land of exile.
Daniel was miraculously saved
because he had trusted in God.
If he had primarily been
a citizen of Persia,
then he would have attempted
to solve his problem
through Persian means.
Right?
He would have tried
to exploit
some kind of legal loophole
or political maneuver.
Maybe he would have
called in some favors
from some other
politicians
or bribed some officials.
He would have used
some kind of Persian tactics.
But Daniel is not
ultimately a citizen
of Persia.
He is a citizen
of heaven.
And that is to whom
he belongs.
That's why
when he hears
the decree
about being chucked
in the lion's den,
he doesn't call up
his social network.
He doesn't get a lawyer.
He doesn't huddle
in some dark room
with some advisors
to figure out
what they're going to do.
He gets home
and he gets down
on his knees
and he prays to God
and asks him for help.
And that is why
he will not compromise
his faith
because he knows
that God is the ultimate
answer for what he needs.
And his faithfulness
is rewarded.
God is the living God.
His dominion,
Daniel's true home country,
will never end
and God will be victorious.
God has saved
his servant Daniel
and he has destroyed
his enemies
and he has brought
glory to himself.
God's miracle proves
that he is the one
who is worthy
of respect
and honor
and ultimate loyalty.
This story is a paradigm.
It's not a rule.
It's a paradigm.
It's a model for us.
It's a pattern.
And patterns
sometimes have exceptions.
So it's true
that God does not
always deliver
his people
from martyrdom
in their land of exile.
Sometimes
God's people
suffer terribly.
Terrible persecution.
Terrible marginalization
and death.
They suffer
and they're
exploited
and imprisoned
and poor
and chased
from one region
to the next.
Even in Daniel chapter 3
Shadrach, Meshach
and Abednego
tell the king
our God can save us.
We don't know
if he will save us
but even if he does not
we're still not going
to do what you say.
So there's a recognition
there that sometimes
God does not save
his people
and he lets them
suffer terribly.
But ultimately
God wins
and that's the point
of the story.
His people always
end up victorious
if they trust in him.
When we experience
pressure to conform
when we're persecuted
for our faith
when we are rejected
because of our values
we can have confidence
in the final victory
of God.
We will go
to our own country
and we will finally
be home.
It says in Hebrews
chapter 11
13 through 16
that the people
of God
have acknowledged
that they were
strangers
and exiles
on the earth
but they desire
a better country
that is a heavenly one
for God has prepared
for them
a city.
So when we struggle
in this land of exile
and we start
to get discouraged
when someone asks us
hey where are you from
we hesitate
right?
I guess I have
two homes.
When King Darius
watched Daniel
stay true
to his God
and then watched
God deliver Daniel
the king said
he is the living God.
and he endures
forever.
His kingdom
will not be destroyed.
His dominion
will never end.
He rescues
and saves.
He has rescued
Daniel
from the power
of the lions.
Let's pray.
Father we thank you
for your word.
We thank you
for the reality
that is here
the realism
about what Daniel
faced
about the kinds
of things
that your people
have faced
throughout history.
We are not
flippant
about the challenges
of persecution
and the difficulties
that Christians
face today
in different parts
of the world
and we pray
Lord for your people
everywhere
who suffer
sometimes even
to the point of death
because of their faith
in you.
We pray that you
would strengthen them
and help them
and make your presence
known to them.
We pray that by the power
of your spirit
you would give them
grace to stand true
to the gospel
to stay true
to their faith
and their trust in you.
We pray
that you would deliver them
from their enemies
that you would ruin
their enemies
that you would ruin
those people
who have set their face
against you.
And for all of us
Lord
we pray here
that you would
teach us
to serve you
with total commitment
and unrelenting allegiance.
We don't know
all the things
that you have called us to.
We don't know
what the future
of each of us holds
but we pray
that you would help us
to serve our world here
in each of our spheres
of influence
with integrity
and diligence
and love
toward other people.
We pray that you would
help us to be
the best citizens
of Kenosha
and of Wisconsin
and of the U.S.
But we also pray
that we would be wise
to know when
and how
to be uncompromising
in our loyalty to you.
Lord
we are looking forward
in the future
to seeing
your ultimate victory
and to seeing
our eternal home
with you.
And so we pray
with the Apostle John
even so
come Lord Jesus.
Amen.