WEBVTT 00:00:00.460 --> 00:00:06.540 Morning. Let me add my welcome to that of ours. My name's Archie. I'm the pastor in training here. 00:00:06.879 --> 00:00:12.620 And it's my job this morning to take what we've just read, to help us understand it, 00:00:12.660 --> 00:00:15.860 and to work out how we might apply it to our lives today. 00:00:16.420 --> 00:00:19.219 It'd be very helpful, therefore, if you kept that passage open. 00:00:19.420 --> 00:00:22.359 Like Anne said, it's on page 891 of the Pew Bibles. 00:00:22.539 --> 00:00:25.300 So do get that open in front of you if you can. 00:00:25.300 --> 00:00:33.120 To get us to the heart of that passage in front of you, I want to talk a little bit about hobbits. 00:00:34.240 --> 00:00:37.899 Hobbits, if you know nothing about Lord of the Rings, hobbits love the Shire. 00:00:38.520 --> 00:00:43.740 That's the Shire. Hobbits are a group of people. They live there in the Shire. That's their home. 00:00:44.540 --> 00:00:51.480 And it's a very homely sort of place, like a fantasy version of a quaint countryside village. 00:00:51.479 --> 00:00:56.039 Frodo is really the main hobbit character. 00:00:56.379 --> 00:01:00.979 And he has the job of taking this powerful evil ring on an adventure, 00:01:01.140 --> 00:01:05.000 taking it into the heart of enemy territory to destroy it in a volcano. 00:01:05.159 --> 00:01:06.579 I guess most of us know that story. 00:01:06.739 --> 00:01:13.859 But for Frodo, when he's on that great adventure, he continues to love the Shire. 00:01:13.859 --> 00:01:23.000 And there are lots of times where he and his buddy, his buddy Sam, they're just longing for home, longing for the Shire. 00:01:24.019 --> 00:01:26.039 Here's Sam in one of those conversations. 00:01:26.859 --> 00:01:29.140 Do you remember the Shire, Mr. Frodo? 00:01:30.019 --> 00:01:35.780 It'll be spring soon and the orchards will be in blossom and the birds will be nesting in the hazel thicket. 00:01:36.200 --> 00:01:41.019 And they'll be sowing the summer barley in the lower fields and eating the first strawberries with cream. 00:01:41.019 --> 00:01:43.599 Do you remember the taste of strawberries? 00:01:45.979 --> 00:01:51.039 I think it's a familiar sort of theme for us in stories, that longing for home. 00:01:51.920 --> 00:01:56.459 And like all good storylines, it kind of tugs on our heartstrings somewhere, doesn't it? 00:01:56.619 --> 00:01:59.599 I wonder what you think of when I say that longing for home. 00:02:00.920 --> 00:02:03.199 Where does your mind go to? 00:02:04.199 --> 00:02:10.579 I'm aware there are plenty of people in the room who are actually not in their country of home at the moment. 00:02:11.020 --> 00:02:16.580 Maybe your mind goes back to Argentina or to America or wherever it is. 00:02:17.340 --> 00:02:20.680 I guess for a lot of us, it'll bring back memories of a childhood home. 00:02:22.020 --> 00:02:23.780 Perhaps it's just a particular place. 00:02:23.900 --> 00:02:25.439 It might not be a place at all. 00:02:25.840 --> 00:02:29.360 It might be a group of people where you really feel at home. 00:02:30.020 --> 00:02:36.100 Wonderfully, recently I've heard some people say how this church, the people here, have become like a home to them. 00:02:36.099 --> 00:02:38.699 And we get the idea. 00:02:39.259 --> 00:02:41.859 And think about then, especially when you're away from home. 00:02:42.680 --> 00:02:46.319 Maybe especially when things aren't going so well, when life is tough. 00:02:46.859 --> 00:02:49.159 There's that longing for home, isn't there? 00:02:50.379 --> 00:02:53.500 Maybe that storyline is a particularly painful one for you. 00:02:54.719 --> 00:02:56.859 Maybe you don't really feel at home anywhere. 00:02:56.860 --> 00:03:01.060 Maybe you don't have anywhere that you can call home. 00:03:01.740 --> 00:03:05.080 But if that's you, I'd imagine you still have that longing, don't you? 00:03:06.640 --> 00:03:09.200 I read one writer writing about this longing for home. 00:03:09.260 --> 00:03:14.460 They said sometimes they're sitting in their house, the place that they probably most naturally call home, 00:03:14.860 --> 00:03:17.360 and yet they can't help but say to themselves, 00:03:17.820 --> 00:03:19.280 I just want to go home. 00:03:19.280 --> 00:03:26.099 And I think that's because that longing for home goes much deeper than a particular place. 00:03:27.240 --> 00:03:29.960 Like all good stories, it tugs on our heartstrings somewhere. 00:03:30.080 --> 00:03:35.400 But like the best stories, it's really a shadow of the great storyline of the universe. 00:03:37.259 --> 00:03:41.039 See, for the Christian in the room, there's an important eternal perspective here. 00:03:41.039 --> 00:03:45.259 In fact, I think the Bible would tell us that that longing for home, 00:03:45.319 --> 00:03:48.219 it really points to a truly existential longing, 00:03:49.099 --> 00:03:54.479 and one that in Ecclesiastes chapter 3, God would tell us he has put in our hearts, 00:03:54.579 --> 00:03:56.759 eternity in our hearts. 00:03:57.799 --> 00:04:00.199 New Testament adds another layer to that idea. 00:04:00.579 --> 00:04:04.500 In Philippians, Paul describes the Christian as a citizen of heaven. 00:04:05.319 --> 00:04:10.139 Not only is eternity in our hearts, not only is it something that we long for, 00:04:10.139 --> 00:04:12.279 but if you're a Christian in the room this morning, 00:04:12.379 --> 00:04:16.219 then that new world to come really is where we belong. 00:04:17.419 --> 00:04:18.759 It really is home. 00:04:19.959 --> 00:04:22.560 There's no wonder we have a longing for it. 00:04:23.979 --> 00:04:26.219 And if you're here this morning and you're not a Christian, 00:04:26.339 --> 00:04:28.199 maybe you understand that longing for home. 00:04:28.279 --> 00:04:30.159 Maybe you even feel it yourself. 00:04:30.219 --> 00:04:32.259 Even if you can't quite put a finger on it, 00:04:32.839 --> 00:04:37.419 you know that we were made for more than what we experience in this world and in this life. 00:04:37.420 --> 00:04:43.240 Well, you need to know this morning that the Christian faith has the most wonderful answer to that longing. 00:04:44.340 --> 00:04:46.540 And that's where we're going to go in Daniel chapter 6. 00:04:46.640 --> 00:04:48.360 For Daniel, he's in Babylon. 00:04:49.160 --> 00:04:53.939 For the first readers of this book, there are people who actually have returned home, 00:04:54.720 --> 00:04:57.160 but they're still under the control of foreign empires. 00:04:57.280 --> 00:05:00.840 They're back in Jerusalem, but in a sense, they are still exiles. 00:05:00.839 --> 00:05:07.299 This book reminds them that God is powerful to rescue them, that he has done it before. 00:05:07.799 --> 00:05:15.379 And for us, it's going to remind us too that God has made a way for our longing for home to be eternally fulfilled. 00:05:15.479 --> 00:05:17.779 He's made a way for us to go home. 00:05:17.859 --> 00:05:21.000 This is God's plan through God's man. 00:05:21.000 --> 00:05:26.220 So why don't I pray for us to that end before we get stuck into the text. 00:05:26.300 --> 00:05:26.759 Let me pray. 00:05:30.360 --> 00:05:37.180 Heavenly Father, I pray that Jesus would be with us by his spirit this morning, 00:05:38.000 --> 00:05:42.040 that I could say till he returns or calls me home, 00:05:43.040 --> 00:05:44.839 here in his power I stand. 00:05:44.839 --> 00:05:51.019 And Lord, I pray that he would speak powerfully through me for his glory. 00:05:52.060 --> 00:05:52.479 Amen. 00:05:54.639 --> 00:06:00.539 So you remember Daniel and his pals, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in chapter 1. 00:06:00.639 --> 00:06:06.039 They're part of the generation of people who have been displaced by the Babylonian war machine. 00:06:06.179 --> 00:06:07.719 They've been uprooted from Jerusalem. 00:06:07.719 --> 00:06:08.819 That's their home. 00:06:09.079 --> 00:06:13.379 And they've been taken to Babylon, where now they are exiles. 00:06:13.379 --> 00:06:19.899 And we've returned throughout this series to Jeremiah, the prophet, his advice to exiles. 00:06:20.040 --> 00:06:20.639 He said this, 00:06:21.060 --> 00:06:25.719 seek the peace and prosperity of the city into which I have carried you into exile. 00:06:26.620 --> 00:06:30.740 But God also promised through Jeremiah that they wouldn't be exiles forever. 00:06:31.939 --> 00:06:34.600 That they would, in fact, get to go home back to Jerusalem. 00:06:35.180 --> 00:06:37.800 And it's not just a vague promise of rescue. 00:06:37.800 --> 00:06:41.120 In Jeremiah chapter 29, verse 10, God says this, 00:06:41.120 --> 00:06:50.720 That is, to Jerusalem. 00:06:51.439 --> 00:06:53.860 That's a properly specific promise, isn't it? 00:06:54.800 --> 00:06:59.160 And those 70 years, when we come to Daniel chapter 6, are more or less up. 00:07:00.300 --> 00:07:01.980 Daniel is now an older man. 00:07:02.180 --> 00:07:04.899 And he's got to be thinking, he knows this promise. 00:07:05.019 --> 00:07:06.680 How on earth is God going to do that? 00:07:07.600 --> 00:07:08.800 How's he going to get us home? 00:07:08.800 --> 00:07:15.920 Well, if you come to Daniel with me, we'll see how God works out his plan through his man to get them home. 00:07:17.360 --> 00:07:23.340 I've said before that these stories, especially in the first half of Daniel's, of the book of Daniel, 00:07:23.460 --> 00:07:25.259 how they're like Sunday school classics. 00:07:25.920 --> 00:07:27.220 Anne said, this is a familiar story. 00:07:27.259 --> 00:07:28.199 It's a familiar story. 00:07:28.240 --> 00:07:30.259 It doesn't get much more classic than this, does it? 00:07:30.280 --> 00:07:34.860 We've even titled the series, there it is, Living for God in a Lion's Den World. 00:07:34.860 --> 00:07:36.020 It's a famous story. 00:07:37.180 --> 00:07:42.259 And I suppose when it's told in Sunday school, it's usually told as a sort of moral tale. 00:07:42.939 --> 00:07:44.020 Be more like Daniel. 00:07:44.819 --> 00:07:50.060 It's a story to encourage prayer, to encourage faithfulness, even when times are hard. 00:07:50.319 --> 00:07:51.699 And it definitely does do that. 00:07:51.780 --> 00:07:52.879 That's definitely in this story. 00:07:52.960 --> 00:07:53.620 We'll tackle it. 00:07:53.680 --> 00:07:56.680 But the big thing, and you might be thinking, given my intro, 00:07:56.680 --> 00:08:03.439 what on earth does this story have to do with a longing for home, with God making a way for his people to go home? 00:08:04.420 --> 00:08:05.699 Well, let me try and convince you. 00:08:05.780 --> 00:08:07.439 Come to the end of chapter 6 with me. 00:08:08.579 --> 00:08:09.400 Verse 28. 00:08:11.639 --> 00:08:17.680 Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian. 00:08:19.019 --> 00:08:19.759 Bear with me. 00:08:19.819 --> 00:08:22.199 Let me put some key facts together for us here. 00:08:22.199 --> 00:08:28.199 At the end of chapter 5 last week, Daniel had warned the king of Babylon, Belshazzar, 00:08:28.879 --> 00:08:32.200 that his kingdom would be given to the Medes and Persians. 00:08:32.580 --> 00:08:33.960 That's exactly what happened. 00:08:34.259 --> 00:08:36.519 Darius the Mede took over in Babylon. 00:08:37.080 --> 00:08:41.059 And the Medes were like the junior partners in this alliance with Persia. 00:08:41.899 --> 00:08:43.939 So Darius is now in charge in Babylon. 00:08:44.759 --> 00:08:48.220 But really, Cyrus the Persian is the king. 00:08:48.340 --> 00:08:49.580 He's the boss. 00:08:49.580 --> 00:08:55.280 And if you've got an unbelievable memory, you'll remember that we've seen Cyrus already in this book. 00:08:55.940 --> 00:08:58.379 We had a preview of him at the end of chapter 1, 00:08:58.460 --> 00:09:03.500 where we were told that Daniel would remain in Babylon until the first year of King Cyrus. 00:09:05.139 --> 00:09:09.060 And for those in Daniel's day who knew their scriptures really well, 00:09:09.540 --> 00:09:11.520 I'm kind of assuming that for Daniel, 00:09:12.300 --> 00:09:16.400 God had promised through Jeremiah that the exile would last 70 years. 00:09:16.399 --> 00:09:21.579 But incredibly, he promised through Isaiah, check this out, God says, 00:09:22.059 --> 00:09:26.539 Cyrus, he is my shepherd and I will accomplish all that I please. 00:09:27.519 --> 00:09:29.699 He will say of Jerusalem, let it be rebuilt. 00:09:30.240 --> 00:09:33.879 And of the temple, let its foundations be laid. 00:09:34.759 --> 00:09:38.319 This is decades before the Persian Empire even exists. 00:09:38.320 --> 00:09:46.340 A promise from God that it would be through a man named Cyrus that God's people would return to Jerusalem, 00:09:46.500 --> 00:09:47.800 that the temple would be rebuilt. 00:09:48.879 --> 00:09:53.920 When Darius takes over in Babylon, Daniel knows that Cyrus is the king in the background. 00:09:54.460 --> 00:09:57.140 He's got to be thinking, he knows this passage in Isaiah, 00:09:57.280 --> 00:09:59.460 he's got to be thinking home is on the horizon. 00:10:00.300 --> 00:10:02.280 But how is God going to do it? 00:10:02.279 --> 00:10:05.120 We'll come back to Daniel chapter 6. 00:10:05.199 --> 00:10:07.539 And first of all, we get this trap, right? 00:10:07.579 --> 00:10:11.939 The trap, we meet these satraps, 120 satraps in verse 1. 00:10:12.019 --> 00:10:14.259 We've come across satraps before in this book. 00:10:14.399 --> 00:10:17.039 They're like Babylonian government officials. 00:10:18.179 --> 00:10:21.199 And this was the Persian imperial tactic, right? 00:10:21.220 --> 00:10:23.159 They kept the locals in power. 00:10:23.919 --> 00:10:29.399 It's a very similar civil service to what was there in the Babylonian Empire before the Persians took over. 00:10:29.399 --> 00:10:32.959 And again, Daniel's got to be thinking, nothing's really changed. 00:10:33.319 --> 00:10:35.059 70 years are almost up. 00:10:35.840 --> 00:10:36.980 How are we going to get home? 00:10:38.019 --> 00:10:43.000 And then it gets worse because Daniel is promoted in verse 2 and 3. 00:10:43.139 --> 00:10:46.600 See at the end of verse 3, the king even planned to set him over the whole kingdom. 00:10:47.279 --> 00:10:50.799 And it gets worse because the satraps really don't like that. 00:10:52.000 --> 00:10:53.279 It's simple envy, I think. 00:10:53.340 --> 00:10:55.980 It's just envy at the start of verse 4. 00:10:55.980 --> 00:11:03.100 At this, at the prospect of Daniel's promotion, they tried to find grounds for charges against him. 00:11:03.879 --> 00:11:05.220 But they have a problem. 00:11:06.120 --> 00:11:07.740 And it's a remarkable problem, really. 00:11:08.259 --> 00:11:10.340 They can't find him doing anything wrong. 00:11:11.899 --> 00:11:12.680 No corruption. 00:11:13.300 --> 00:11:14.940 He's totally trustworthy. 00:11:15.680 --> 00:11:16.960 He's not negligent. 00:11:17.320 --> 00:11:22.560 This is a man who's been involved in politics, walking the halls of power for 60-odd years. 00:11:22.559 --> 00:11:25.459 And there's not a whiff of foul play, total integrity. 00:11:26.659 --> 00:11:29.399 Isn't that exactly what we would want from our leaders today? 00:11:31.099 --> 00:11:33.819 And what that means for the satraps in verse 5. 00:11:34.679 --> 00:11:41.979 They will never find any basis for charges against this man, Daniel, unless it has something to do with the law of his God. 00:11:41.980 --> 00:11:48.539 There is one way to get Daniel, and we share it with him if you're a Christian here this morning. 00:11:49.620 --> 00:11:51.039 He loves his God. 00:11:52.279 --> 00:11:58.060 The only way that they're going to be able to trap him is here, as he loves his God. 00:11:58.120 --> 00:12:04.220 And as Christians, we're called to precisely that same sort of integrity, to being utterly above reproach, 00:12:04.220 --> 00:12:11.139 so that if people would want to accuse us, this is the only place where they might be able to find a way to do that. 00:12:12.580 --> 00:12:14.060 And so they lay a trap. 00:12:14.440 --> 00:12:15.600 They come up with a plan. 00:12:15.680 --> 00:12:17.019 It's in verses 6 to 9. 00:12:17.019 --> 00:12:20.740 They give Darius the chance to become God for 30 days. 00:12:21.300 --> 00:12:29.040 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. 00:12:29.580 --> 00:12:31.460 That's a tempting prospect for Darius. 00:12:31.460 --> 00:12:35.300 Darius, and not simply because he's a king who would love to be a god, 00:12:35.780 --> 00:12:42.860 but because as the new ruler of this city, it's going to be an excellent way for him to test the loyalty of his new subjects. 00:12:43.620 --> 00:12:50.600 Happy enough for them to have their other loyalties, but he wants to make sure that their primary loyalty is to him. 00:12:52.120 --> 00:12:55.860 And it strikes me that we live in a culture today that isn't dissimilar to that. 00:12:56.900 --> 00:12:59.960 We talked about this a bit a few weeks ago in chapter 3, 00:12:59.960 --> 00:13:04.139 but we live in a society where it's totally fine to have secondary loyalties. 00:13:04.680 --> 00:13:07.900 It could be to a football team or a political party or ideology. 00:13:08.759 --> 00:13:09.879 It could be being a Christian. 00:13:10.500 --> 00:13:12.340 Being a Christian is totally fine, 00:13:12.780 --> 00:13:17.780 so long as our primary loyalty remains with the fundamental values of our society, 00:13:17.920 --> 00:13:20.300 the dominant culture, whatever that is. 00:13:20.299 --> 00:13:25.879 And I want to acknowledge that for a long time that has been pretty straightforward for Christians here. 00:13:28.120 --> 00:13:33.079 The fundamental values of society weren't dissimilar to ours. 00:13:34.079 --> 00:13:35.959 I guess in many ways they're still not, 00:13:36.059 --> 00:13:37.879 but as those values shift, 00:13:38.719 --> 00:13:42.240 and as I think they're becoming less compatible with Christianity, 00:13:42.559 --> 00:13:45.319 well, that could make life very awkward. 00:13:45.320 --> 00:13:51.060 It strikes me that there are all sorts of ways that that's true for us in Scotland today. 00:13:52.060 --> 00:13:54.960 It might be a good one to talk about your next growth groups, in fact. 00:13:55.840 --> 00:13:58.379 Like I say, we did talk about this a lot a few weeks ago, 00:13:58.420 --> 00:13:59.840 so I don't want to labor it this morning. 00:13:59.940 --> 00:14:05.260 Maybe go and listen to that sermon online if you want to chat about it at your growth groups. 00:14:05.260 --> 00:14:06.640 But notice that for Daniel, 00:14:07.640 --> 00:14:11.460 this is only going to heighten his sense of unrest in Babylon. 00:14:11.460 --> 00:14:13.120 He wants to go home. 00:14:13.220 --> 00:14:15.000 He wants to return to Jerusalem. 00:14:15.360 --> 00:14:17.180 But with this kind of opposition, 00:14:18.180 --> 00:14:22.240 especially an opposition that takes issue with that loyalty to Jerusalem 00:14:22.240 --> 00:14:23.820 when it's his primary loyalty, 00:14:24.519 --> 00:14:26.500 how on earth is that ever going to happen? 00:14:26.840 --> 00:14:29.060 How are they going to let him go home? 00:14:29.160 --> 00:14:31.840 How is God going to come through on his promises? 00:14:32.780 --> 00:14:35.639 We'll see next how Daniel responds to this trap. 00:14:36.500 --> 00:14:37.259 Verse 10. 00:14:37.259 --> 00:14:39.639 As soon as he hears about the decree, 00:14:41.259 --> 00:14:45.899 he went up to his upstairs room where all the windows were open towards Jerusalem. 00:14:46.620 --> 00:14:49.419 Three times a day, he got down on his knees and prayed, 00:14:49.559 --> 00:14:52.879 giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before. 00:14:54.240 --> 00:14:56.659 Notice first the direction of prayer here. 00:14:57.240 --> 00:14:59.080 He prays towards Jerusalem. 00:15:00.179 --> 00:15:01.639 That was customary. 00:15:01.860 --> 00:15:03.939 It was what faithful Jews did. 00:15:03.940 --> 00:15:07.940 It's not commanded in Scripture that they had to do it that way, 00:15:08.340 --> 00:15:12.200 but it was a picture of their desire for the restoration of God's people. 00:15:12.780 --> 00:15:15.420 They pray towards Jerusalem because they want to go home. 00:15:15.540 --> 00:15:19.080 They were praying and trusting that God would make a way for that to happen. 00:15:20.400 --> 00:15:21.900 But this is a choice. 00:15:22.080 --> 00:15:23.540 Daniel didn't need to do this. 00:15:23.600 --> 00:15:25.720 Like I say, it wasn't commanded by Scripture. 00:15:26.740 --> 00:15:29.960 Instead, it's a personal line in the sand for Daniel. 00:15:29.960 --> 00:15:34.840 Daniel, he goes upstairs with all the windows open. 00:15:35.700 --> 00:15:37.860 I imagine he could have prayed downstairs. 00:15:38.620 --> 00:15:42.620 He could have prayed with the windows shut so that no one would see him. 00:15:43.480 --> 00:15:45.139 He prays three times a day. 00:15:45.220 --> 00:15:46.500 That's not commanded in Scripture. 00:15:46.680 --> 00:15:48.139 He could have prayed just once. 00:15:48.860 --> 00:15:53.420 He could have prayed so early in the morning or so late at night that no one would have seen him. 00:15:54.660 --> 00:15:56.560 He gets down on his knees. 00:15:56.559 --> 00:16:00.179 He could have prayed sitting down or standing up or lying in his bed. 00:16:00.719 --> 00:16:02.819 But just in case they can't hear that he's praying, 00:16:02.939 --> 00:16:06.959 he makes sure that they can see that he's in a posture of prayer. 00:16:08.539 --> 00:16:10.279 Daniel didn't need to do this. 00:16:11.699 --> 00:16:14.559 In chapter three, we talked about lines in the sand. 00:16:14.659 --> 00:16:16.639 If you remember Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, 00:16:16.839 --> 00:16:19.739 they refused to bow down to the golden statue. 00:16:21.459 --> 00:16:25.059 They had to do that because God's law is very clear. 00:16:25.059 --> 00:16:27.179 You are to have no other gods before me. 00:16:27.500 --> 00:16:29.839 You're not to make an image to worship. 00:16:30.019 --> 00:16:33.659 It would have been fragrantly disobedient to God's law to bow. 00:16:34.179 --> 00:16:37.519 They have to draw a line in the sand and they don't bow. 00:16:38.379 --> 00:16:40.939 But notice the story is slightly different here. 00:16:42.219 --> 00:16:45.519 Darius's decree doesn't ask Daniel to break God's law. 00:16:46.379 --> 00:16:49.579 Darius's decree says that he can't pray for 30 days. 00:16:49.699 --> 00:16:52.119 He's not forcing Daniel to pray to him. 00:16:52.120 --> 00:16:54.960 He's just asking him not to pray to his God. 00:16:55.399 --> 00:16:57.360 But of course, Daniel could have prayed in his head. 00:16:58.200 --> 00:17:00.860 He could have prayed in secret behind closed doors. 00:17:01.779 --> 00:17:04.500 He could have prayed at night when everyone else was asleep. 00:17:05.380 --> 00:17:08.259 I guess he even could have taken a month off prayer, couldn't he? 00:17:09.900 --> 00:17:13.680 Prayer isn't exactly commanded in Daniel's scripture like that. 00:17:13.680 --> 00:17:20.640 Instead, Daniel chooses to do this because he knows that it is for his good. 00:17:21.539 --> 00:17:27.820 And he does it publicly because he knows that it will be for the good of those who witness it too. 00:17:28.500 --> 00:17:34.519 But ultimately, Daniel does this for the glory of the God whom he loves. 00:17:34.519 --> 00:17:41.639 And it's true today that there might be times where we are commanded to draw lines in the sand. 00:17:42.299 --> 00:17:47.019 Where the culture is asking us to bow down and worship things that we know are contrary to the gospel. 00:17:47.559 --> 00:17:50.059 We've talked about that a few weeks ago. 00:17:50.139 --> 00:17:56.079 But it's also true that it can be good to draw personal lines in the sand like this. 00:17:56.079 --> 00:18:02.980 Lines in the sand that we draw specifically to say just boldly, this is my primary allegiance. 00:18:04.119 --> 00:18:05.619 For our own sake. 00:18:06.579 --> 00:18:08.119 For the sake of our witness. 00:18:09.199 --> 00:18:12.259 But ultimately, for the glory of the God whom we love. 00:18:13.379 --> 00:18:20.379 For you, that might mean saying no to certain things on a Sunday in order to prioritize coming to church with your church family. 00:18:20.380 --> 00:18:26.440 It might mean even now getting your calendar out and marking the monthly prayer meetings. 00:18:26.560 --> 00:18:27.140 Pizza room prayer. 00:18:27.240 --> 00:18:28.300 By the way, that is tonight. 00:18:29.680 --> 00:18:32.440 And drawing a line in the sand that protects that meeting. 00:18:33.660 --> 00:18:38.740 It might mean committing to starting your day with some time in God's word and prayer. 00:18:39.380 --> 00:18:45.880 Committing to doing that maybe even if you're on a holiday or on a work trip with people who aren't Christians. 00:18:45.880 --> 00:18:52.720 The key thing to see here is that the lines in the sand that I'm talking about are not things that we must do. 00:18:54.040 --> 00:18:55.980 These aren't commands in scripture. 00:18:57.060 --> 00:19:01.820 But these are commitments and habits that it is good to choose to do. 00:19:03.100 --> 00:19:08.200 And if we choose to do them now, when let's be honest, the pressure is not likely to be massive. 00:19:08.900 --> 00:19:11.120 It's very often just pure laziness, isn't it? 00:19:11.120 --> 00:19:12.220 Or fear of mockery. 00:19:12.220 --> 00:19:23.539 But if we can build those habits now, then when things get really hard, we are much more likely, just like Daniel, to do as we had done previously. 00:19:24.160 --> 00:19:26.299 See, that's how Daniel does it. 00:19:27.039 --> 00:19:31.160 He does it at the end of verse 10 because it's what he's always done. 00:19:32.240 --> 00:19:34.700 He's praying as he had done previously. 00:19:34.880 --> 00:19:38.720 Graham made the point last week that Daniel has developed here a holy habit. 00:19:38.720 --> 00:19:41.579 He's now an older man. 00:19:42.400 --> 00:19:45.259 And all those years, this has been his practice. 00:19:46.120 --> 00:19:51.019 And so he chooses to draw a personal line in the sand to continue the habit, whatever the cost. 00:19:51.799 --> 00:19:54.779 And that cost is unbelievably high for Daniel, isn't it? 00:19:54.819 --> 00:19:57.059 It's your quiet time or die. 00:19:57.059 --> 00:20:02.299 And there might be low-level pressure to avoid holy habits for us now. 00:20:02.639 --> 00:20:10.419 But if we do not build them now, then when prayer becomes a capital offense, which, by the way, I'm hardly expecting, but then neither was Daniel. 00:20:11.899 --> 00:20:17.899 If we've built it as a true habit, then even then we might stand by that line in the sand. 00:20:19.480 --> 00:20:21.500 That's how Daniel responds to the trap. 00:20:21.619 --> 00:20:22.859 How does Darius respond? 00:20:22.859 --> 00:20:27.500 In verse 12, the satraps come to Darius. 00:20:28.319 --> 00:20:30.579 Didn't you make a law banning prayer? 00:20:31.000 --> 00:20:34.519 I did, he replies, and it cannot be repealed. 00:20:34.939 --> 00:20:37.939 And this was a quirk of the law of the Medes and the Persians. 00:20:38.059 --> 00:20:39.359 We saw it back in verse 8 as well. 00:20:39.439 --> 00:20:42.240 They couldn't overturn their own laws. 00:20:43.179 --> 00:20:46.359 And that leaves Darius in this ridiculous position. 00:20:46.359 --> 00:20:54.599 In verse 14, when the king heard this, that is the accusation against Daniel, he was greatly distressed. 00:20:55.099 --> 00:20:57.159 He was determined to rescue Daniel. 00:20:58.039 --> 00:21:01.199 I think we're supposed to think that Darius really likes Daniel. 00:21:01.699 --> 00:21:04.639 At the very least, they've got a good working relationship. 00:21:04.819 --> 00:21:09.119 But I suspect more than that, they seem to have become friends, given Darius' response here. 00:21:09.119 --> 00:21:14.279 And the law of the Medes and the Persians, it leaves Darius in this ridiculous position. 00:21:14.479 --> 00:21:22.979 In verse 15, remember, your majesty, that according to the law of the Medes and Persians, no decree or redict that the king issues can be changed. 00:21:23.919 --> 00:21:27.359 In other words, you are too powerful to do what you want. 00:21:27.359 --> 00:21:32.399 He's strikingly impotent, isn't he, Darius, despite being the king? 00:21:33.019 --> 00:21:36.679 And it looks like the satraps are trapping Daniel, and they are. 00:21:37.179 --> 00:21:39.139 But really, they trap Darius, don't they? 00:21:39.179 --> 00:21:41.299 They trap him into murdering his friend. 00:21:42.979 --> 00:21:45.119 And Darius obviously isn't happy about it. 00:21:45.199 --> 00:21:46.019 He can't eat. 00:21:46.259 --> 00:21:47.339 He can't sleep. 00:21:48.519 --> 00:21:51.099 But Darius is utterly impotent. 00:21:52.039 --> 00:21:55.879 I think it's hilarious that he's been invited by the satraps to be God for a month. 00:21:55.880 --> 00:21:57.800 And he's really not up to the job. 00:21:59.040 --> 00:22:01.700 Darius has nothing on God, on Daniel's God. 00:22:02.580 --> 00:22:06.580 He desperately wants to rescue Daniel, but he can't. 00:22:07.440 --> 00:22:10.900 And so he has to appeal in verse 16 to Daniel's God. 00:22:11.020 --> 00:22:12.200 May he rescue you. 00:22:12.980 --> 00:22:16.980 And in verse 20, he comes the next day after the lion's den thing. 00:22:17.200 --> 00:22:23.360 And his question is, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to rescue you from the lions? 00:22:23.360 --> 00:22:24.260 Because I can't do it. 00:22:24.320 --> 00:22:25.260 I'm impotent. 00:22:25.880 --> 00:22:29.460 This is Darius's response in that impotence. 00:22:29.580 --> 00:22:32.840 But notice the power of the God who rescues. 00:22:33.980 --> 00:22:41.060 When Daniel comes out of the lion's den, it's not because the lions weren't hungry that he survives, 00:22:41.760 --> 00:22:43.700 but because God rescued him. 00:22:44.540 --> 00:22:49.080 It's because in verse 21, God sent his angel to keep their mouths shut. 00:22:49.079 --> 00:22:57.659 And God did that for Daniel because still in verse 24, he was found innocent in his sight. 00:22:58.879 --> 00:23:03.399 Notice that doesn't say that God rescues Daniel because Daniel was perfect. 00:23:03.400 --> 00:23:11.680 It doesn't even say that Daniel was innocent, actually, but that he was found innocent. 00:23:11.680 --> 00:23:14.039 This is a bit of an aside. 00:23:14.039 --> 00:23:17.320 But how could God find him to be innocent like that? 00:23:17.400 --> 00:23:20.380 I mean, Daniel, he's clearly a very, very good guy. 00:23:20.480 --> 00:23:22.940 That's how he's presented throughout the book. 00:23:23.200 --> 00:23:29.720 But he is also a human being, which means that he wasn't immune from the condition of sin that we all share. 00:23:29.779 --> 00:23:30.720 He wasn't perfect. 00:23:30.720 --> 00:23:33.420 We're not supposed to think of Daniel as perfect. 00:23:33.680 --> 00:23:36.960 How can he be found innocent before God then? 00:23:38.299 --> 00:23:41.180 Well, verse 23 gives us another angle on the same rescue. 00:23:41.740 --> 00:23:43.200 And this time he's rescued. 00:23:43.380 --> 00:23:43.640 Why? 00:23:45.039 --> 00:23:47.960 Because he trusted in his God. 00:23:49.299 --> 00:23:52.059 See, it's not Daniel's own innocence that saves him. 00:23:52.640 --> 00:23:55.579 It is the God who he trusts. 00:23:56.039 --> 00:23:59.839 God who has mercy on him and therefore finds him. 00:24:00.720 --> 00:24:01.339 To be innocent. 00:24:02.019 --> 00:24:03.259 It's legal language. 00:24:03.460 --> 00:24:05.140 Like a law court, he's found innocent. 00:24:05.519 --> 00:24:11.579 But Daniel in the lion's den, God's power to rescue Daniel in that way, it's incredible, isn't it? 00:24:11.579 --> 00:24:13.339 In and of itself, it is incredible. 00:24:13.920 --> 00:24:21.480 But it's here to remind the readers, the big picture here, that God is powerful to rescue, to bring them home. 00:24:21.480 --> 00:24:33.140 And we know from history, the history books, secular history, and you can also read about it in the Bible in Ezra chapter 1, right at the end of the second book of Chronicles 2. 00:24:33.140 --> 00:24:42.560 We know from history that that sending them home is going to come from an edict from Cyrus, a decree from the king. 00:24:43.380 --> 00:24:46.000 But God needs to make a way for that to happen. 00:24:46.000 --> 00:24:56.380 Because even if the impotent Darius and his boss Cyrus, even if those men wanted to send God's people home, at the moment they wouldn't be able to. 00:24:57.359 --> 00:25:01.599 And never mind how disruptive it would be moving all these people around an empire. 00:25:01.599 --> 00:25:07.480 But there's no way that the satraps that Darius has appointed are going to buy it. 00:25:08.099 --> 00:25:13.459 They were part of the administration whose policy it had been to displace the people in the first place. 00:25:13.859 --> 00:25:18.079 They were part of Nebuchadnezzar's policy of uprooting people, moving people around. 00:25:18.439 --> 00:25:20.219 That's how he controlled his empire. 00:25:21.199 --> 00:25:26.339 And the satraps that we read about here were the same people who executed that policy for him. 00:25:26.339 --> 00:25:31.959 And yet it's precisely through the satraps that God gets to work in rescuing his people. 00:25:32.079 --> 00:25:32.619 Here's how. 00:25:34.019 --> 00:25:45.919 Firstly, by sending Daniel to the lion's den, the satraps ensured that Darius' new administration learned very quickly what it took decades for Neb to learn. 00:25:46.959 --> 00:25:50.500 In verse 16 and verse 20, there's that hopeful appeal to Daniel's God. 00:25:50.500 --> 00:25:54.659 But then in verse 26, and this is very like what Nebuchadnezzar says. 00:25:54.660 --> 00:25:56.240 Darius says, 00:25:56.300 --> 00:26:10.259 That's a phenomenal statement of God's sovereignty and power. 00:26:11.180 --> 00:26:17.740 And I think importantly, it's a sentiment that is going to be very useful as this new empire, 00:26:17.740 --> 00:26:23.980 as Darius and Cyrus decide what to do with all these people and decide their religious policy going forward. 00:26:24.660 --> 00:26:31.880 Secondly, and I think more importantly than that, the satraps' actions make a way for Daniel's influence to grow. 00:26:33.040 --> 00:26:39.519 He's there in the new administration for the crucial moment where those religious policies are going to be drawn, 00:26:40.200 --> 00:26:43.800 when laws are going to be written about sending people home. 00:26:43.799 --> 00:26:47.839 Why do you think God had Daniel in Babylon? 00:26:50.180 --> 00:26:54.240 Why do you think he was so gifted by God? 00:26:56.119 --> 00:27:01.839 And why did he need 60 odd years of training in imperial bureaucracy and how it works? 00:27:01.899 --> 00:27:07.980 Why did he have to be right at the heart of the Babylonian civil service, but not actually a Babylonian himself? 00:27:07.980 --> 00:27:09.460 Why did he need to be right at the heart of the spirit of God? 00:27:09.460 --> 00:27:16.900 He needed to know the inner workings of that system whilst not being primarily loyal to it. 00:27:18.019 --> 00:27:21.440 God wanted to execute his plan through his man. 00:27:22.579 --> 00:27:29.099 And the actions of the satraps only see that influence grow because God needs to give Daniel, 00:27:29.299 --> 00:27:32.259 he wants to give Daniel freedom in this new administration. 00:27:32.259 --> 00:27:35.299 And so he needs to get rid of those satraps somehow. 00:27:36.259 --> 00:27:39.240 I'm told that this is Hugo King, one of the kids here at church. 00:27:39.319 --> 00:27:42.180 I'm told that this is his favorite part of the story in verse 24. 00:27:43.680 --> 00:27:49.059 At the king's command, the men who had falsely accused Daniel were brought in and thrown into the lion's den, 00:27:49.220 --> 00:27:50.759 along with their wives and children. 00:27:51.539 --> 00:27:57.359 The king has been made to hate the satraps so much that he's forced to feed them to his lions. 00:27:57.359 --> 00:28:01.419 And remember, the lions, they were hungry. 00:28:02.240 --> 00:28:05.439 It's not that Daniel was not eaten by them because they weren't hungry. 00:28:05.579 --> 00:28:06.619 Clearly they were hungry. 00:28:06.779 --> 00:28:09.879 The satraps and their families are eaten before they even hit the floor. 00:28:11.579 --> 00:28:13.459 And so as the chapter closes, 00:28:15.159 --> 00:28:18.819 who is in exactly the right place at exactly the right time? 00:28:18.819 --> 00:28:25.500 As Cyrus and Darius are trying to work out what to do with all these displaced people, 00:28:26.980 --> 00:28:30.859 well, who's there in verse 28 prospering as they have those discussions? 00:28:31.200 --> 00:28:35.319 It's Daniel, the only man left in the kingdom with any power. 00:28:36.759 --> 00:28:39.960 And so when they decide to send people home all over the empire, 00:28:40.099 --> 00:28:43.200 this becomes their policy from India to the Mediterranean. 00:28:43.200 --> 00:28:44.899 Who do you think wrote that law? 00:28:44.900 --> 00:28:49.960 It was God's plan through God's man. 00:28:51.780 --> 00:28:55.280 Now, I'm not really one of those Lord of the Rings super fans, 00:28:55.420 --> 00:28:58.259 and I just know someone's probably going to tell me that I've got it all wrong with Frodo. 00:28:58.460 --> 00:29:00.720 But Frodo, in my head, he takes the ring. 00:29:00.860 --> 00:29:02.440 He heads into the dark of a mountain. 00:29:02.940 --> 00:29:05.320 It looks surely as though he's going to die. 00:29:05.660 --> 00:29:08.400 But in that place, he wins a victory over the enemy. 00:29:08.960 --> 00:29:11.160 Evil is destroyed and he gets to go home. 00:29:11.780 --> 00:29:13.040 It's the plan for rescue. 00:29:13.040 --> 00:29:14.500 They get to go back to the shire. 00:29:14.900 --> 00:29:19.620 And we said that's a familiar storyline, the longing for home, the journey home. 00:29:21.060 --> 00:29:25.220 I think that Daniel, this book, was written to give God's people confidence 00:29:25.220 --> 00:29:28.940 that he was going to carry out his plan to rescue them. 00:29:30.480 --> 00:29:33.720 Certainly that was true for Daniel, but for the first readers of this book, 00:29:33.780 --> 00:29:37.180 those who had returned from exile, they're back in the land. 00:29:37.580 --> 00:29:42.140 They're still under the thumb of various worldly empires at different points through history. 00:29:42.140 --> 00:29:46.780 And as they read this book, asking how are we going to survive this exile, 00:29:47.740 --> 00:29:49.840 God is promising that he would rescue them. 00:29:50.800 --> 00:29:53.780 He's reminding them that he has the power to do that, 00:29:53.980 --> 00:29:57.500 and he's giving them confidence that he would carry out that plan of rescue. 00:29:58.460 --> 00:30:04.500 And it gives us confidence today that God will carry out his plan of rescue for us in Jesus. 00:30:04.500 --> 00:30:11.539 It strikes me that there are very many comparisons to be made between Daniel and Jesus in this chapter. 00:30:11.539 --> 00:30:15.680 I've kind of been trying to avoid them in my prep, if I'm honest with you, 00:30:15.740 --> 00:30:19.619 because I don't like jumping to Jesus for no reason, but they really are unavoidable here. 00:30:19.619 --> 00:30:27.559 A faithful man, noted for his prayer, was sent to death not because he was guilty, 00:30:28.559 --> 00:30:31.939 but because of the jealousy of those who wanted to humiliate him. 00:30:32.639 --> 00:30:35.439 He was condemned by the plotting of his enemies, 00:30:36.419 --> 00:30:40.179 using not their own law, but the law of the big scary empire. 00:30:40.180 --> 00:30:46.680 He was then thrown into a room made of stone, a place designed to be his tomb. 00:30:47.779 --> 00:30:51.420 A stone was rolled over the entrance of that tomb and sealed. 00:30:53.060 --> 00:30:56.680 And then came the morning, and the stone was rolled away, 00:30:56.980 --> 00:30:59.900 and miraculously he could not be bound by death. 00:31:01.299 --> 00:31:03.840 The whole thing displays God's glory. 00:31:05.100 --> 00:31:08.580 Even the pagans give God glory for it, the empire. 00:31:08.579 --> 00:31:11.799 And then his enemies are judged. 00:31:13.019 --> 00:31:16.899 And through it all, he's making a way for his people to go home. 00:31:19.139 --> 00:31:22.299 If you're here this morning and you share that longing for home, 00:31:23.639 --> 00:31:26.740 it might be a hard-to-put-your-finger-on existential longing. 00:31:28.039 --> 00:31:32.939 It might be, actually, that you find life as an exile really quite hard. 00:31:32.940 --> 00:31:38.640 Maybe you've got to the point where your life is really challenging. 00:31:38.880 --> 00:31:42.120 Maybe your body is packing in and you're tired all the time. 00:31:42.860 --> 00:31:47.059 Maybe you're simply fed up of waging war against sin and flesh and evil. 00:31:47.059 --> 00:31:53.240 Maybe you look at a world that is full of incomprehensible injustice, 00:31:53.240 --> 00:31:59.139 and you can't wait for Jesus to return and sort it all out for his perfect righteous reign. 00:32:00.599 --> 00:32:02.279 Can I encourage you to keep praying, 00:32:03.059 --> 00:32:06.679 Lord Jesus, come, and keep dreaming of home. 00:32:06.680 --> 00:32:12.640 Some people say that if you're too heavenly-minded, you'll be of no earthly good. 00:32:13.019 --> 00:32:14.140 That is nonsense. 00:32:15.200 --> 00:32:16.779 Here's how C.S. Lewis put it. 00:32:18.180 --> 00:32:22.360 If you read history, you will find that those Christians who did most for the present world 00:32:22.360 --> 00:32:26.019 were just those who thought most of the next. 00:32:27.380 --> 00:32:28.779 So would we do that? 00:32:30.220 --> 00:32:31.640 Would we look to Jesus? 00:32:31.640 --> 00:32:32.000 Look to Jesus. 00:32:32.480 --> 00:32:36.580 Look to Jesus who has invited you to dwell with him forever. 00:32:37.820 --> 00:32:38.560 Look to him. 00:32:39.380 --> 00:32:44.800 Look to Jesus who took your sin upon his shoulders and stepped into that tomb for you. 00:32:45.700 --> 00:32:46.400 Look to him. 00:32:47.900 --> 00:32:51.720 Look to Jesus who could not be held by that tomb. 00:32:52.000 --> 00:32:52.700 Look to him. 00:32:53.880 --> 00:32:59.340 Look to Jesus who promises that he will return in judgment as he calls curtains on this world. 00:33:00.060 --> 00:33:01.060 Look to him. 00:33:01.640 --> 00:33:10.020 Look to Jesus who is the only way home to a new and much better world than this one. 00:33:10.080 --> 00:33:11.520 Would we look to him this morning? 00:33:13.620 --> 00:33:16.480 In a short while, we're going to sing together. 00:33:16.480 --> 00:33:23.720 It's a wonderful song that reminds us as we declare together that it is because Jesus lives, 00:33:24.360 --> 00:33:31.120 because he walked out of that tomb, that we can know that even when we fight that final war with pain, 00:33:31.319 --> 00:33:35.420 he holds the future because he lives. 00:33:35.420 --> 00:33:47.960 Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for your wonderful picture of rescue that we've read about here in Daniel chapter 6. 00:33:47.960 --> 00:33:54.240 Lord, we thank you that you made a way to bring your exiles home. 00:33:54.240 --> 00:34:03.299 Lord, I pray that you would give each of us confidence that you continue to do that sort of work today. 00:34:05.299 --> 00:34:11.559 Lord, I pray that you would help each of us to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, 00:34:12.619 --> 00:34:15.659 that you would help us to be heavenly minded, 00:34:15.659 --> 00:34:18.719 that we might be of some earthly good. 00:34:20.399 --> 00:34:22.639 In Jesus' name. Amen.