Daniel 6:1-28

NEVER GIVE UP ON PRAYER

August 17, 2014

FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH

JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI

USA

I Corinthians 15:58

“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in

the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.”

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What’s the number one thing?

The Glory of God!

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1 Corinthians 10:31 NKJV 31 Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of

God.

What three things are going to Heaven from this earth?

1) All of God’s Word.

Isaiah 40:8

2) Some people.

Revelation 21:7

3) Some of our works.

1 Corinthians 3:9-15

Ray Stedman 1917-1992

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The book of Daniel, together with the book of Revelation, marvelously unfolds

future events as God has ordained them in the program of history.

By no means have all of the prophecies in Daniel yet been fulfilled, neither have

those in the book of Revelation.

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These two books, one from the Old and one from the New Testament,

remarkably complement each other in their symmetry and harmony.

The book of Daniel lays the basis for the book of Revelation.

The book of Revelation explains the book of Daniel.

If you would like to know God's program for the future, it is essential that you

understand this book of Daniel.

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Everything that is happening in our world today is working out God's purposes on

earth.

These will all end exactly as God has foretold.

We can understand what is happening today only if we know what God’s

prophetic program is.

The Lord has taken two precautions in this matter of unveiling the future.

First, He has clothed these prophetic passages in symbolic language.

He has given them to us in figurative form.

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That is why in Daniel that very unusual things appear, strange beasts with many

different heads and horns sticking out here and there, and images of all kinds,

and other indescribable visions.

You have the same thing in the Book of Revelation---bizarre beasts with strange

combinations of characteristics.

You can't just sit down with the book of Daniel and the book of Revelation and

read them through and understand them as you would a novel.

You have to study them, taking the whole of the Bible to interpret the symbols in

the books of Daniel and Revelation.

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This is one of the locks that God has provided to keep curious minds from getting

into these books without an adequate background in Scripture.

You cannot understand what is going on in them without first knowing a great

deal of the rest of the Bible.

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These symbolic things are signs erected by God, and signs are given to us so

that we may understand facts that are otherwise hidden.

God's program for the future is hidden for us (not from us) until we spend time

understanding the signs, and these books are full of signs.

A second precaution God has taken in Daniel, and even more especially in the

book of Revelation, is that He doesn't introduce the prophetic section first, but

brings us through six chapters into an understanding of the moral character He

requires of the reader before the prophetic program can begin to make sense.

John 14:21-22 NKJV 21 He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And

he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest

(disclose) Myself to him.”

In other words, you can't understand the last section of Daniel unless you have

lived through and understood what is involved in the first six chapters.

There is no way to understand what the prophetic program means unless you

first grasp the moral lessons of the first part of the book and there is no way to

cheat on this.

You can't just read it through, and then turn to the prophetic program and hope

to understand.

You will find that you get nothing out of it.

You really have to carefully analyze these initial chapters, think them through,

begin to walk accordingly (obey), and experience them, before the prophecies

come to life and that is the glory of God's book.

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You can't understand it with just the intellect.

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You can sit down with the prophetic outlines of Daniel and of Revelation, draw

charts, spend your time explaining to people what all these things mean and

how God's program is going to work out, and analyze it down to a gnat's

eyebrow---but unless you have incorporated these lessons of the first part of the

book into your own life, you will discover nothing there to enrich your life.

The Lord Jesus Himself points this out during the Olivet Discourse when His

disciples asked Him to name the sign of His coming and what the symbol

of His return to earth would be.

Matthew 24:15-16 NKJV 15 “Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel

the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand), 16 “then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.

When Jesus told them parenthetically: “(whoever reads, let him understand)”,

He was saying, “Don't read through Daniel superficially. Think it through.”

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You have to understand what Daniel is talking about before you will be able to

recognize the abomination of desolation, when it comes.

This is why the Lord went on to say that the world in its superficial approach to

truth will not understand when it cries, "Peace, peace, peace," for there will be

no peace; sudden destruction will come upon them and they will be swept away just

as the people of Noah's day were swept away when the flood came.

Now all of this is a warning to take the book of Daniel (and the rest of the Bible)

seriously and to endeavor to understand the structure of this book as we delve

into it.

This book divides very simply into two sections.

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The first six chapters are a history of the prophet Daniel himself and his friends in

the land of Babylon---men of faith in a hostile world.

There is no section of Scripture more helpful to someone who is trying to live as a

Christian in difficult surroundings, than these first six chapters of Daniel.

If you are working in a company surrounded by a godless crowd who are taking

the name of God in vain every moment, who agree with the ideas and attitudes

of the world and its ways, and who make fun of the things of God, showing little interest

in what God says to mankind, then carefully read the book of Daniel.

Like Daniel, God's man comes through, as he always does when he is willing to

stand and obey God despite the pressures.

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Life is never determined by mere superficial pressures.

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The outcome that seems logically inevitable as you face a situation is not

necessarily the outcome that will happen if you are trusting in the invisible God

Who rules the affairs of men.

That is the great lesson of this book all the way through.

You find it beautifully expressed by Daniel in his prayer to God in Daniel 2.

Daniel 2:20-23 NKJV 20 Daniel answered and said:

“Blessed be the name of God forever and ever,

For wisdom and might are His. 21 And He changes the times and the seasons;

He removes kings and raises up kings;

He gives wisdom to the wise

And knowledge to those who have understanding. 22 He reveals deep and secret things;

He knows what is in the darkness,

And light dwells with Him.

23 “I thank You and praise You,

O God of my fathers;

You have given me wisdom and might,

And have now made known to me what we asked of You,

For You have made known to us the king’s demand.”

J. Vernon McGee's

Thru The Bible

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The message for us today is found in 1 Peter 5

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1 Peter 5:8 NKJV 8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a

roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

You and I live in a lion's cage.

That cage is the world, and there is a big roaring lion prowling up and down the

cage.

Peter calls him our adversary, the Devil.

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Daniel 6:1-2 NKJV 1 It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom one hundred and twenty satraps

(princes), to be over the whole kingdom; 2 and over these, three governors, of

whom Daniel was one, that the satraps might give account to them, so that the

king would suffer no loss.

Daniel was number one of the three governors (presidents), and he was

probably about eighty years of age at this time.

Daniel 6:3-4 NKJV 3 Then this Daniel distinguished himself above the governors and satraps,

because an excellent spirit was in him; and the king gave thought to setting him

over the whole realm. 4 So the governors and satraps sought to find some charge

against Daniel concerning the kingdom; but they could find no charge or fault,

because he was faithful; nor was there any error or fault found in him.

In Philippians 2:15, the apostle Paul enjoins all believers:

Philippians 2:15 15 that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault

(just like Daniel) in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among

whom you shine as lights in the world.

Daniel 6:5 NKJV 5 Then these men said, “We shall not find any charge against this Daniel unless

we find it against him concerning the law of his God.”

When Daniel was first brought to the court of Nebuchadnezzar as a boy slave, he

had asked for a different diet.

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From then on, the life of Daniel was different, and these men were aware of that.

Daniel 6:6-9 NKJV 6 So these governors and satraps thronged before the king, and said thus to him:

“King Darius, live forever! 7 All the governors of the kingdom, the administrators

and satraps, the counselors and advisors, have consulted together to establish a

royal statute and to make a firm decree, that whoever petitions any god or man

for thirty days, except you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions. 8 Now, O

king, establish the decree and sign the writing, so that it cannot be changed,

according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which does not alter.” 9 Therefore King Darius signed the written decree.

Darius yielded to his weakness (vainglory, vanity – flattery), and now this decree

which has gone out, signed by the king, could not be changed.

Even the king of the Medes and Persians himself could not change it after it had

been passed.

All this puts Daniel in a bad spot.

Daniel 6:10 NKJV 10 Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home. And in his

upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his

knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was

his custom since early days.

Daniel 6:10 NKJV

The posture of the spirit of the man is what is important.

However, if you want to select a posture for prayer, it is kneeling, and that

is set before us here.

It is difficult to stumble when you are on your knees.

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Beth Moore

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Beth was born June 16, 1957 in Green Bay and then raised in Arkadelphia,

Arkansas.

She suffered abuse as a five year old child through the sixth grade.

Her mother died of cancer and she suffered through self-esteem problems as a

teenager.

When she was volunteering as a Sunday School teacher, Beth realized she

needed to learn more about the Bible so she attended a Biblical doctrine class

that gave her a deep yearning to know God and the Bible.

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God used all of the setbacks in Beth’s life to create a ministry for women based

in Houston, Texas.

Beth then began sharing her expanding knowledge through a weekly Bible

study class and by 2008, she held a simulcast of her "Living Proof Live" seminar

that is estimated to have been watched by 70,000 people at 715 locations.

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Beth Moore conferences in 2014.

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Daniel was already in the holy habit of prayer.

In Daniel 6:10 it says that Daniel prayed “just as he had done before”.

He was in the habit of walking with God daily.

I want my voice to be one God is accustomed to hearing every day.

I don’t want only a crisis relationship with Him.

“He got down on his knees” shows that Daniel submitted himself to God’s

authority, trusting Him to override anything contrary to His will.

The word “prayed” in verse 10 translates a Hebrew word rarely use in Scripture.

It means “to limp as if one-sided”.

In his own strength, Daniel knew he was too handicapped to walk the

path before him alone.

Through prayer he cast his weight on God and took one step at a time.

Daniel unashamedly asked God for help but he did not receive the sort of help

that he anticipated.

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He probably asked for the edict to be overturned or maybe he simply asked for

courage to die for the glory of God.

It may not have occurred to him to ask God to shut the lion’s mouths.

But God showed that it was not Daniel’s courage nor King Darius’ change

of heart, it was God!

God doesn’t always provide the sort of help we anticipate – but His method

always provokes the most glory.

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We are living in our own lion’s den.

Victory is ours when we walk with God daily in habitual prayer, when we

know His Word well enough to trust His sovereignty, and when we cast

ourselves on Him and make an honest plea for help.

He derives great satisfaction from shutting that lion’s mouth!

Psalm 55:22 NKJV 22 Cast your burden on the Lord,

And He shall sustain you;

He shall never permit the righteous to be moved.

1 Peter 5:5b-9 NKJV 5b be clothed with humility, for

“God resists the proud,

But gives grace to the humble.”

6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt

you in due time, 7 casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.

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8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a

roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. 9 Resist him, steadfast in the faith,

knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the

world.

1 Peter 5:5b-9 NKJV

Beth Moore

Whispers of Hope

(Nashville: LifeWay Press, 1998), 51.

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Daniel 6:11-19 NKJV 11 Then these men assembled and found Daniel praying and making

supplication before his God. 12 And they went before the king, and spoke

concerning the king’s decree: “Have you not signed a decree that everyman

who petitions any god or man within thirty days, except you, O king, shall be

cast into the den of lions?”

The king answered and said, “The thing is true, according to the law of the

Medes and Persians, which does not alter.”

13 So they answered and said before the king, “That Daniel, who is one of the

captives from Judah, does not show due regard for you, O king, or for the

decree that you have signed, but makes his petition three times a day.”

14 And the king, when he heard these words, was greatly displeased with himself,

and set his heart on Daniel to deliver him; and he labored till the going down of

the sun to deliver him. 15 Then these men approached the king, and said to the

king, “Know, O king, that it is the law of the Medes and Persians that no decree

or statute which the king establishes may be changed.”

16 So the king gave the command, and they brought Daniel and cast him into

the den of lions. But the king spoke saying to Daniel, “Your God, Whom you

serve continually, He will deliver you.” 17 Then a stone was brought and laid on

the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet ring and with the

signets of his lords, that the purpose concerning Daniel might not be changed.

18 Now the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting; and no

musicians were brought before him. Also his sleep went from him. 19 Then the

king arose very early in the morning and went in haste to the den of lions.

Daniel 6:12-19 NKJV

Daniel may have gotten a pretty good night's sleep.

The interesting thing is that the king was more disturbed than Daniel was.

Daniel 6:20-22 NKJV 20 And when he came to the den, he cried out with a lamenting voice to Daniel.

The king spoke, saying to Daniel, “Daniel, servant of the living God, has your

God, Whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?”

21 Then Daniel said to the king, “O king, live forever! 22 My God sent His angel and

shut the lions’ mouths, so that they have not hurt me, because I was found

innocent before Him; and also, O king, I have done no wrong before you.”

The lions did not want to eat something that had that much backbone in it!

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Daniel evidently had been given the same assurance as had his three friends in

the fiery furnace that God could and would deliver him.

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"His angel" was evidently the same One Nebuchadnezzar had seen in the fiery

furnace – the preincarnate Christ Himself!

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Daniel 6:23 NKJV 23 Now the king was exceedingly glad for him, and commanded that they

should take Daniel up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and

no injury whatever was found on him, because he believed in his God.

The king loved Daniel and was sincerely delighted at his preservation.

Daniel was saved by his faith: (Hebrews 11)

Hebrews 11:33 NKJV 33 who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained

promises, stopped the mouths of lions,

Daniel 6:24-25 NKJV 24 And the king gave the command, and they brought those men who had

accused Daniel, and they cast them into the den of lions—them, their children,

and their wives; and the lions overpowered them, and broke all their bones in

pieces before they ever came to the bottom of the den.

25 Then King Darius wrote:

To all peoples, nations, and languages that dwell in all the earth:

Peace be multiplied to you.

Darius sent out a worldwide decree which was his personal testimony.

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He had found the same peace that had come to Nebuchadnezzar (see Daniel

4:1).

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Daniel 4:1 NKJV 1 Nebuchadnezzar the king,

To all peoples, nations, and languages that dwell in all the earth:

Peace be multiplied to you.

This testimony of peace comes from the same man who could not sleep the

night before.

Daniel 6:26-27 NKJV 26 I make a decree that in every dominion of my kingdom men must tremble

and fear before the God of Daniel.

For He is the living God,

And steadfast forever;

His kingdom is the one which shall not be destroyed,

And His dominion shall endure to the end. 27 He delivers and rescues,

And He works signs and wonders

In heaven and on earth,

Who has delivered Daniel from the power of the lions.

28 So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius and in the reign of Cyrus the

Persian.

Daniel's position was secure, and he maintained it to the end of his life which

came during the reign of Cyrus.

It was Cyrus who made the decree permitting the Jews to return to Palestine

(see 2 Chronicles 36:22-23; Ezra 1:11).

This concludes the strictly historical section of the Book of Daniel.

From this point on the book will be mainly concerned with the visions and

prophecies which were given to Daniel over the long period of his life spent in a

foreign land.

Copyright © 1996-2014

Lamb & Lion Ministries.

All rights reserved.

One of the most remarkable Scriptures in the Old Testament is found in the book

of Jeremiah where he says that when history is over and done with and the Jews

look back on their history, they will no longer swear by the God Who delivered

them from Egyptian captivity, but they'll swear instead by the God Who

regathered them from the four corners of the earth.

But wait, it's the same God, so what is Jeremiah saying?

He's saying that they are going to consider what's going on right now with the

regathering to be a greater miracle than their deliverance from Egyptian

captivity.

We're witnessing that today!

The average Church member has no idea how important it is or that it's even a

work of God.

Next week:

Daniel chapters 7 & 8

Live to Win in the End

What can give me confidence when I consider the end times?

Begin

Beth Moore pages 109-130

DANIEL

Lives of Integrity

Words of Prophecy

LifeWay Press

Nashville, Tennessee

Cultures are stronger than individual human leaders because they are dictated

by masses and cultivated by time.

Cultures are also stronger than human leaders because they are influenced by

unseen powers.

Invisible principalities.

Ephesians 6:10-13 NKJV 10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. 11 Put

on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of

the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against

principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age,

against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up

the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and

having done all, to stand.

Ephesians 6:10-13 NKJV

The force behind the Babylon mentality is bigger and darker than any king

history can name.

Still, One sits high above him, enthroned between the cherubim and cloaked in

unapproachable light.

Babylon’s king is running out of time and he knows it!

The first six chapters of Daniel (the Babylonian mentality) relate to the

postmodern mindset of the prosperous and pompous West.

Also, as we look at the Book of Revelation, we will gain a much deeper

understanding of the Babylonian mentality from an eschatological perspective.

Revelation’s description of Babylon splashes fluorescent color all over the black-

and-white images of the Book of Daniel.

There are portrayals of Babylon in Revelation 17.

In Revelation 18 we will see that, just like in Daniel 5:30-31, God addresses the

fall of Babylon – a future Babylon.

Revelation 17:1-6 NKJV 1 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and talked with

me, saying to me, “Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot

(Babylon) who sits on many waters, 2 with whom the kings of the earth

committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with

the wine of her fornication.”

3 So he carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness. And I saw a woman

sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of names of blasphemy, having seven

heads and ten horns. 4 The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and

adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden

cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication. 5 And on her

forehead a name was written:

MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT,

THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS

AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS

OF THE EARTH.

6 I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the

martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I marveled with great amazement.

Revelation 17:1-6 NKJV

The word “mystery” suggests that we should not be dogmatic about exact

interpretations of the details in this passage.

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Look at the differences between the mystery Babylon in Revelation 17 and the

Babylon where Daniel resided.

Some believe that the Babylon of Revelation will be a future city built in the

same vicinity as ancient Babylon and called by the same name since the

Euphrates River is mentioned twice in the Book of Revelation.

The first mention of Babylon is in Genesis 10.

Genesis 10:8-12 NKJV 8 Cush begot Nimrod; he began to be a mighty one on the earth. 9 He was a

mighty hunter before the Lord; therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod the mighty hunter

before the Lord.” 10 And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad,

and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. 11 From that land he went to Assyria and built

Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir, Calah, 12 and Resen between Nineveh and Calah

(that is the principal city).

As we look down through history at empires of various world rulers, we come to

the first world ruler in Scripture – Nimrod.

The contrast between God-rule and world-rule manifests itself in Scripture right

here.

Nimrod represents the desire of man to rule his own world.

Mark Hitchcock describes Babylon as the “capital city of the first world ruler.”

Hitchcock goes on to say that “Babylon is pictured throughout Scripture as

Satan’s capital city on earth. In the end times, Satan will once again raise up

this city as the capital of the final world ruler.

With the exception of Jerusalem, no other city is mentioned more than Babylon

in the Bible. Scripture refers to Babylon 290 times and presents this city as the

epitome of evil and rebellion against God.”

Revelation 18:2b NKJV 2 Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and has become a dwelling place of

demons,

The fact that Revelation 18 records the fall of Babylon the Great just before

unveiling the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21 is no coincidence.

The Bible depicts them as being total opposites.

Revelation 17:18 NKJV 18 And the woman whom you saw is that great city which reigns over the kings of

the earth.

The glitter of Daniel’s Babylon was no less a ploy by the enemy of God to lure

away the faithful.

Even in the lesser splendor that wooed the Medes and Persians, her cup was full

and intoxicating.

Revelation 18:10b NKJV 10b ‘Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! For in one hour your

judgment has come.’

Babylon is symbolically described as a prostitute in Revelation 17 because of

her ability to seductively lure people away from God by offering false – and

instant – fulfillment.

In Revelation 18 we see the form some of these allurements took.

Her powerful art of seduction will ultimately earn her God’s wrath.

Revelation 18 describes Babylon’s excessiveness and wealth (like the USA).

Compare Genesis 11:4 and Revelation 18:5.

Genesis 11:4 NKJV 4 And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in

the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad

over the face of the whole earth.”

Revelation 18:5 NKJV 5 For her sins have reached to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.

Revelation 18:7 NKJV 7 she glorified herself and lived luxuriously,

Revelation 18:17 NKJV 17 For in one hour such great riches came to nothing.’

The Babylon that surrounds us is figurative and cultural in nature, but it is neither

less seductive nor destructive.

You can easily see our Babylon-like culture becoming less tolerant of Christians

(war on Christians).

Revelation 18:23 NKJV 23 Your (Babylon) merchants were the great men of the earth, and by your

sorcery all the nations were deceived.

Americans are so easily deceived and are spellbound over the seductive

beauty of worldly merchandise.

The excessive luxuries of Babylon and of the USA “pile up to heaven”.

Nebuchadnezzar had bathed himself in luxury; he detached himself completely

from those in need who lived around him.

We should be careful to avoid the corruption of gross excess that catapults us so

far into our wants that we cease to recognize other’s needs.

Abundance can lead to pride, decadence, or an insatiable lust for more and it

is easy to become corrupted by it.

As you walk up and down the sidewalks of our present Babylon, stay alert to

Satan’s seductions and to the songs in his town squares.

In reality, he is the cheater and Babylon is his queen, offering false fulfillment for

any taker.

Buyer beware!

Daniel 6:4 NKJV 4 So the governors and satraps sought to find some charge against Daniel

concerning the kingdom; but they could find no charge or fault, because he

was faithful; nor was there any error or fault found in him.

God desires for us to be light-bearers in this dark culture and to be highly

effective fruit-bearers for the glory of His name.

Are we able to live in this excessive, self-absorbed culture without becoming

corrupted by it?

The boat is built to be in the water but woe be it if the water gets in the

boat!

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Satan uses Babylon, the symbolic persona of all that seems beautiful, enticing,

and instantly gratifying in the world, as a puppet to corrupt people.

Daniel is proof that corruption in Babylon is not compulsory.

We really can live out life with integrity but we will never do it by accident.

Nothing in our lives will have to be more deliberate.

Daniel walked a tightrope upon which God alone could have secured him.

Daniel 6:4 NKJV 4 So the governors and satraps sought to find some charge against Daniel

concerning the kingdom; but they could find no charge or fault, because he

was faithful; nor was there any error or fault found in him.

That Daniel wasn’t negligent tells us that he did his job.

God wants His representatives to be Daniels in our worlds:

distinguishing ourselves with exceptional God-given qualities (v3) and

performing our tasks as if God Himself were our boss.

Colossians 3:23-24 NKJV 23 And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, 24 knowing

that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve

the Lord Christ.

In the process, we must guard ourselves voraciously from both corruption and

negligence.

Some environments make the tightrope, that fine line, virtually impossible

to find, let alone walk.

Our goal is to become a Daniel, a person void of negligence and

corruption.

Those who have received Christ as their Savior are inhabited by the

empowering, consecrating Spirit of the living God.

Psalm 137:4 NKJV 4 How shall we sing the Lord’s song

In a foreign land?

Daniel served among the chief counselors under the 43-year reign of Babylon’s

mightiest king.

He no doubt saw the flagrant activity of a miraculous and mighty God more

vividly within the walls of that pagan city than in Jerusalem.

Daniel learned that God’s presence accompanied His faithful children no matter

where life took them.

He watched firsthand the prosperity a sovereign God could assign a polytheistic

king.

From an equally close vantage point, he also watched the insanity that same

sovereign God could give a king who took too much credit.

Daniel saw Babylon’s greatest monarch proudly bow his back and then humbly

bend his knees.

Surely a thousand images danced in Daniel’s head as he witnessed the

funeral festivities following Nebuchadnezzar’s death.

Violence and betrayal kept four other kings from occupying Babylon’s

seat of power for very long.

In the meantime, Daniel aged and continued his civil service with relative

obscurity.

A party gone awry led to Daniel’s summons to interpret handwriting on the wall

for baffled Belshazzar: God’s basic message? “I’ve seen and you are done!”

Before the night was over, the Medo-Persian army flooded the city through the

riverbed and slew the king who had profaned the holy.

Over the coming weeks, Daniel watched the establishment of a new

administration and gained the favor of Darius the Mede.

In no time at all, jealous colleagues conspired against Daniel and placed a

dismayed Darius in the position to follow through with a hasty edit.

Instead of meeting his death in the lion’s den, Daniel met God’s angel (Jesus).

King Darius issued a decree throughout his kingdom that Daniel’s God must be

feared and reverenced.

The Persians took over Babylon in 539 B.C. and within a year, Cyrus the Great

issued a decree to free the exiles and allow them to return to their homeland of

Jerusalem … just as God foretold through the prophet Isaiah.

Seventy years had come and gone.

After chapter 6, the book of Daniel shifts to prophecies he received during the

reigns of Belshazzar, Darius, and Cyrus.

We are exiles of sorts in this Babylon-like culture.

God tucked a telling chapter into the pages of Psalm 137 that will provide

a fitting benediction to our study.

Psalm 137:1-6

This psalm is not written by King David but by one of Israel’s exiles in Babylon.

Psalm 137:1-6 NKJV

Longing for Zion in a Foreign Land

1 By the rivers of Babylon,

There we sat down, yea, we wept

When we remembered Zion. 2 We hung our harps

Upon the willows in the midst of it. 3 For there those who carried us away captive asked of us a song,

And those who plundered us requested mirth,

Saying, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”

4 How shall we sing the Lord’s song

In a foreign land? 5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem,

Let my right hand forget its skill! 6 If I do not remember you,

Let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth—

If I do not exalt Jerusalem

Above my chief joy.

Imagine being taunted by the mockers of your faith and told to sing one of your

silly God-songs.

Imagine being made fun of for your faith.

For the self-proclaimed intelligentsia to act as if you are stupid and gullible for

believing the Bible.

At times we may feel so outnumbered and outclassed that we are tempted to

“hang up our harps.”

We must keep singing the songs of the Lord in this foreign land in which we live.

We must remember that we have a new and heavenly Jerusalem coming where

we will make ourselves right at home.

But until then, our job is to keep singing the songs of our God by the rivers of

Babylon until all who have ears to hear can listen.

How can we keep singing the songs of our God in our Babylon?

The apostle Paul posed a wonderful answer in Philippians 4:4 -

“Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say, Rejoice!”

The world can’t help but notice those accosted by joy.

The world also can’t help noticing a life that works.

Our lives can become flesh-and-blood felt boards of the great and glorious

paradox: life is found by losing it for the sake of Christ.

A vessel is filled by pouring out.

The key to receiving is giving.

The key to living is dying to self.

The greatest in the kingdom is the servant of all.

God has been right all along.

His upside-down path is the only way to true contentment and satisfaction.

The world’s claim of happiness is betrayed by an ever-increasing lust for more.

Nothing ever suffices and nothing ever will.

Christ alone satisfies the ailing human soul.

Cyrus the Great freed the Israeli captives of Babylon, but until further notice, you

and I are still living in Babylon.

We remain exiles, chosen like Daniel to influence our over-indulged, self-

absorbed culture for the kingdom of God.

We – believers in Christ in a post-modern, increasing profane western culture –

may feel like a small handful amid a scorning populous; but Daniel, Hananiah,

Mishael, and Azariah were only four in the midst of thousands.

Our path to success is theirs: uncompromising resolve in big and small things

alike.

Janet Folger said, “it is highly probable that if Daniel had compromised by

eating the king’s food, he would have compromised about other things too, like

bowing to the man made image.

“Oh, I’ll still pray to God, but I’ll just bow to this thing to spare my life, because

after all, I can do a lot of ministry for God if I survive.”

That wasn’t how Daniel or his uncompromising buddies (Shadrach, Meshach and

Abednego) thought.

When you obey God in the small things, it becomes a lot easier to obey Him in

the big things.

That’s when God shows up.

He can shut the mouths of lions and protect you from the flames.

Do you have a nagging feeling in an area of your life that appears relatively

insignificant?

Does it seem like a small thing, but you can’t shake the feeling that you are

supposed to act on it?

Could God be insisting on obedience in what seems like a small matter in order

to prepare you for obedience in matters that are not small?

Amid a tidal wave of temptation, Daniel and his friends stood firm and so can

we.

We cannot seclude ourselves indefinitely in Christian hideouts.

Our lives must be poured out like healing ointment on this injured land.

We must not forsake meeting together (Hebrews 10:24-25) and holding one

another accountable to walk in truth.

Hebrews 10:24-25 NKJV 24 And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, 25 not

forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but

exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.

For now we live in this Babylon-like culture, but we can proactively guard

ourselves from being corrupted by it.

Otherwise, like the masses in Daniel’s day, we, too, will be absorbed into

virtual irrelevance.

Talk to God about your remaining time in Babylon.

Pour out your heart to Him.

He is a refuge, your ever-present help in times of trouble.

Sing the songs of the Lord with all your might…and for all your days.

Not one will go unheard.

End

Beth Moore pages 109-130

DANIEL

Lives of Integrity

Words of Prophecy

LifeWay Press

Nashville, Tennessee

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