Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Yeah. We've been going through this series in Daniel, looking at the way that God.
[00:00:06] God went about redeeming his people, bringing his people back to him. People that had rejected him, been chasing after other gods, had abandoned their identity.
[00:00:16] And through captivity, they went about reclaiming their identity, understanding their.
[00:00:25] Their total allegiance to God, their loyalty to God.
[00:00:31] Last week, we looked at Daniel Chapter two, and it was the start of this chiasm. In this chiasm just means.
[00:00:40] Just means like a bullseye. Like, there's three. There's like, rings.
[00:00:44] The word chi has to do with circle. And so it's this idea that when Semitic people groups would tell stories, instead of telling it like, we tell it more like a plot with a crisis and a resolution. They would often tell them in many stories leading to the bullseye in the center. And last week, we looked at the outer ring of that bullseye.
[00:01:08] It ended with the king getting exactly what he wanted. He was desperate to find out what was going on in his dream.
[00:01:19] Daniel ends up telling him.
[00:01:21] And the king who was so relieved, he says it says at the end of chapter two, king Nebuchadnezzar threw himself down before Daniel and worshiped him. And he commanded his people to offer sacrifices and burnt sweet incense before him. The king said to Daniel, truly, your God is the greatest of gods, the Lord of all kings, the revealer of all mysteries. For you have been able to reveal this secret. He was just relieved.
[00:01:51] He was so, like, happy that this thing that he was afraid of, Daniel was able to make sense of him. It's a look.
[00:01:58] We'll talk. We'll get into the specifics of the vision. As we get closer to Easter, it kind of plays out. It deals with the fullness of the revelation of God's kingdom, and it ends up connecting well with Easter. But for now, just this idea that as it was revealed to.
[00:02:17] As Daniel was able to reveal it to the king, the king was so relieved that it says he worshiped Daniel and then said, your God is the greatest of all gods.
[00:02:28] Now, this is so.
[00:02:30] This is so common, I think, for.
[00:02:39] There is a stance we take when we follow God.
[00:02:41] Daniel takes it. I am nothing. I wasn't able to do this. No person is able to do this. But there is a God in heaven who is able to do this.
[00:02:50] Nebuchadnezzar heard all that, and he said, yeah, yeah, whatever. I'm worshiping you.
[00:02:54] Your God is the greatest of all gods.
[00:02:57] You can tell right there that while he is relieved, he's just not getting it. He's not understanding what's going on. It's going to play out pretty hard in today's story.
[00:03:07] So I want to just kind of back up and look at the structure of Daniel one more time. Last week we looked at that outer ring. Daniel Chapter two and Daniel Chapter seven. Both have to do with revealing these visions about the coming of the kingdom of God. Next week, we're going to be looking at Daniel Chapter four. In chapter five, it's the core, it's the meat of the entire point. And in here, it ends with God's total dominance over the. Over the kingdoms of the world, over the authorities that are not him.
[00:03:40] People that are used to seeing themselves as gods are ground to dust, made to know that they are anything but gods because they have put themselves up against God.
[00:03:52] Today we're looking at the middle ring, though. We're kind of like looking at this. We're moving towards that. Bullseye. And today's two stories are what everybody knows about Daniel, the fiery furnace and the lion's den. The two stories that you learn about.
[00:04:07] Probably one of the first stories you learned in, some of the first stories you learned in the Old Testament, they are evocative.
[00:04:15] You read those stories and you're like, dang, God is able to do some really cool stuff. And it's absolutely true. But to me, the most exciting parts of the story aren't really the things that you notice first when you're reading them. Obviously, people walking through fire. When I was young, that was the part of the story I found very interesting.
[00:04:36] Lions not eating me.
[00:04:40] Seems cool. Like, that's a really cool part of the story.
[00:04:45] There was a danger past fire. There was a danger past lions.
[00:04:50] More than lions, more than fire that Daniel is speaking to. And that's. We're going to get to today.
[00:04:59] We're going to pick up with the start of Daniel Chapter three. It says Nebuchadnezzar, who is just. Just affirmed in the previous story. Now this chronologically. So this first one is probably. Daniel was probably like 16 or something in this first story. This next one, he's probably. He and Shadrach, Meshach and Medegar are probably like in their 20s. There are these snapshots that happen along the way. So it's not like, well, and immediately Nebuchadnezzar does this. So Nebuchadnezzar is like, oh, Daniel, your God is the greatest of all gods. Then Nebuchadnezzar goes around and he's like conquering other city states. And he's like, Expanding his kingdom and he's like growing his empire.
[00:05:36] He is. It's been years since he said that Daniel's God was the greatest of all gods. And in that time he has become an even greater God himself. So he's obviously forgetting.
[00:05:48] He's very mercurial.
[00:05:50] He's very successful in what he does and he keeps coming back around to.
[00:05:55] He is the most important person in his story.
[00:05:58] And this is where we're at right here.
[00:06:01] So important that he builds a 90 foot tall golden statue nine foot wide. He erects it on the plain of Dura and the province of Babylon. He tells everybody, everybody needs to come and all of the rulers everywhere needs to come bow down and worship my golden idol that I've built.
[00:06:22] Which, I mean, when you're reading the story, I read this and I read the previous chapter and he's like, I worship you, Daniel. Eh, not great. Your God is the greatest of all gods.
[00:06:33] And this 90 foot statue of me is what everybody needs to come and worship. You know, it's just so jarring.
[00:06:40] I love the juxtaposition of these stories.
[00:06:44] It emphasizes how two sided our hearts can be.
[00:06:51] Sometimes when we have a lot of filler in between them, like we have these mountaintop experiences and then some things go right or things go wrong and we get distracted and then we have these low spots or whatever. And for us, first of all, there's time in between. They smooth out we know why we're experiencing them and we kind of give ourselves justification. But when you see it happen here, it's just so stark from one to the next. And I think, yeah, if you, if you quit giving yourself the, like, the freedom, like the excuses, it really is just this jarring too.
[00:07:31] This was the same problem that the Israelites were dealing with. They kept like turning to God and kept turning away from God.
[00:07:39] And it's such a human condition to look back to look back on the Israelites doing it. It's, it's so frustrating because you can see these high points, these moments where they're just living out their calling, like in Joshua. And you're like, dang, you guys are crushing it. And then you see these other moments where you're like, it's just so heartbreaking to see them giving up their inheritance.
[00:08:05] And I'm like, yeah, okay, don't be so tough on them.
[00:08:10] This is kind of a human experience.
[00:08:13] Of course I'm not a king and I don't have access to 90ft worth of gold. So my low spots are not Nebuchadnezzar's low spots. His low spots involve telling everybody that they need to come bow down and worship his golden image.
[00:08:31] So the herald loudly proclaims to you, o peoples, nations and language groups. The following command is given when you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, harp, pipes. Basically, when the orchestra plays, you must bow down and pay homage to the golden statue that King Nebuchadnezzar has erected.
[00:08:51] And anyone who does not bow down and pay homage will immediately be thrown into a furnace of blazing fire.
[00:08:59] This is where it's like, he's worse than me. You know? Like, for as much as big a jerk as I've been, I've never thought, if you don't do what I do, I'm gonna kill all of you. Right? I don't know what kind of sociopath he was. I don't know what having that much power does to you. Like, I don't know if.
[00:09:21] I don't know if you're standing up on. If your whole life is on top of the mountain. Everybody's just ants to you, you know. You know, he doesn't care.
[00:09:29] You worship me or you're nothing to me. Basically, you are no good for me. And practically speaking, as his empire is growing and it's becoming more complex, the need for all of them to be very connected to him and to be loyal to him practically is kind of important. You know, it's not dumb that he does this, that he's looking for some way for people to affirm, to, like, make clear their loyalty to him.
[00:10:02] Now, at that time, it says there were certain Chaldeans. Chaldeans were like a. It's interesting. Chaldeans were like.
[00:10:09] They were like wise men. They were a type of wise men. But it looks like. We're not exactly sure, but it looks like they were like a people that kind of combined astrology with worship. It was kind of like they were kind of like a priestly class of astrologers. They were kind of like high up there. People, like, really looked to them as kind of an important group of the wise men.
[00:10:30] They came forward and they brought malicious accusations against the Jews. Now, this is really important, this word malicious. Malicious doesn't mean false.
[00:10:39] Malicious just means I'm looking to cause you problems. I want things not to go well for you. I want your life to not go well.
[00:10:47] They're not bringing false accusations, though.
[00:10:51] They said to Nebuchadnezzar, o King, live forever.
[00:10:54] You have issued an edict that everyone must bow down and pay homage to the golden statue.
[00:11:00] And whoever does not bow down must be thrown into a furnace of blazing fire. But there are Jewish men who you've appointed over the administration of the province of Babylon. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And these men have not shown proper respect to you, O king. They don't serve your gods and they don't pay homage to the golden statue that you've erected. Now, obviously, the Chaldeans think it's absurd that these guys from Jerusalem are so important to Nebuchadnezzar.
[00:11:35] They should have the position that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. So they brought something up to the king that that was true, something that the king didn't care about until recently. Like, the king put these guys in charge because of what Daniel said about them.
[00:11:56] The same God that showed you this vision that you needed me to show you is the same God that they serve, and you should trust them. The king was like, fine, yeah, absolutely.
[00:12:05] Until it came to the point that Nebuchadnezzar decided that he needed people to be. Be more loyal to him. And then he finds out that they're not willing to do it.
[00:12:16] So Nebuchadnezzar, in a fit of rage, as was like every story with Nebuchadnezzar, is, either your God is the greatest God ever. Like, the best thing since sliced bread. Your God is, and I will worship your feet because he's so cool, or I'm so angry, I want to kill everybody. Like, those are like. Like Nebuchadnezzar was Mercurial.
[00:12:42] Then Nebuchadnezzar, in a fit of rage, demanded that they bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Bennego before him. Nebuchadnezzar said to them, is it true that you haven't served my gods and that you don't pay homage to the golden statue I've erected.
[00:12:54] Now, if you are ready, when you hear the band play, you may bow down and pay homage to the. To the statue that I have made. And if you don't, you will immediately be thrown into the furnace of blazing fire. Now, who is that God that can rescue you from my power?
[00:13:14] What a wild thing for him to say. I want to refer you back to Daniel, chapter two.
[00:13:20] King Nebuchadnezzar that point, turns to Daniel, worships him, says, truly, your God is the greatest of all gods.
[00:13:28] There has never been a God like your God.
[00:13:31] That was a few years ago this year.
[00:13:34] Who is your God to stand before me?
[00:13:41] I don't know.
[00:13:45] You know, I Can't put myself in this place. I can't.
[00:13:49] This is where I think about sometimes when Christians talk about, like, mountaintop experiences where they just heard so clearly from God and they just knew that God.
[00:13:57] They just felt the presence of God so close. They just. They just. You know, I mean, like, they could tangibly. They could. They could feel him there.
[00:14:04] And then like, a year later or two years later, they're like, I'm not sure God exists. I don't know if I. I don't know if I can. I don't know if I can trust this God. You know, that's the closest in the. In my. In my world that I can get to this, like, craziness that. That the king's going through.
[00:14:23] I can't. When I read what he's doing here, I'm like, this guy's nuts.
[00:14:28] Maybe we're all a little nuts. Maybe that. Maybe there's a. Maybe there is a degree of crazy that you are too.
[00:14:37] Like this. Okay? Maybe just see yourself when you see this.
[00:14:42] This is absurd.
[00:14:46] We are absurd.
[00:14:47] Okay. All right.
[00:14:50] Now, who is that God who can rescue from my power?
[00:14:54] There's a few. There are a few passages in the Bible that. Do you guys remember, Tombstone, that when Val Kilmer shows up and he's like, I'm your huckleberry. There's that. There's that scene in the movie, and I'm like, ooh, there's like. That's, like this. That's, like the most, like, manly. Like, ooh, I wish I could use that line sometime in my life. You know, I wish I had a reason that I could say that. You know, this is one of. This is Shadrach Meshach. I'm like, ooh, this is the King, the man literally in charge of the entire world. They looked to him, they said, I will kill you. Who do you think you are? And they say this.
[00:15:31] We don't even need to give you a response.
[00:15:34] Great opening line.
[00:15:36] To the king, who is demanded to hear from them.
[00:15:39] The first thing they say is, you're not even someone that. We need to give a response. But I will anyway.
[00:15:47] The king had to have loved that.
[00:15:49] We don't even need to give you a response concerning this. If our God, whom we are serving, exists, and he does, he is able to rescue us from the furnace of blazing fire.
[00:16:05] And he will rescue us, O King, from your power as well.
[00:16:10] But if he chooses not to, if he doesn't, we want you to know that we don't serve your gods, and we will not pay homage to the golden statue that you've erected.
[00:16:21] Just in case you're wondering, we don't owe you an explanation.
[00:16:29] Are God's going to rescue us. But you know what? Even if he chooses not to, we're still not following your gods.
[00:16:35] Okay? I want you. Okay. I read this and I'm like, well, that's good. Like, that's like. That's like manly, you know, like, do I have, like, would I have the courage to say anything like that in that moment? Right?
[00:16:46] For me, if you're. If you're one of the. If you are a Jewish individual who is just who the reason you are in Babylon in the first place is because you are willing to chase after other gods at the drop of a hat for no reason. Not okay. This is literally Nebuchadnezzar represents a type A kingdom that the Israelites didn't even exist. They were chasing after the gods of, like, local tribes that were around them, like, relatively nothing, right? They were constantly abandoning their God for what? Like, it's not even like the tribes around them were thriving beyond what they were thriving. Here is the king of the world, as far as they know, telling, like. And he's talk. They're talking to this God, and they're saying, you couldn't possibly do anything to even interest us in your gods.
[00:17:43] The gap between where Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego are here and where the people of Israel were before they entered into captivity couldn't be further. That could not be further apart.
[00:17:56] They chased after lesser. Like, you know, what they would have thought of as lesser gods accomplishing lesser things. Like, basically like making the crops grow versus gods that are making the entire world in the image of Nebuchadnezzar. Right?
[00:18:09] This is the gap.
[00:18:12] And if you are one of the Israelites in captivity by this point, you might be that next generation, the sons and daughters of the people that came out of captivity. And you're reading this and you're thinking, that is who I want to be.
[00:18:30] This is the man that I want to be.
[00:18:34] I don't want to be that person that was so weak that for any little reason I would abandon my faith in God.
[00:18:44] My character was such that no one could trust my faithfulness if I wasn't willing to. To be a person who would be faithful to my God. Why would a person trust me when it came to a contract that I made? Why should my wife trust me? Why should my kids look up to me when they could see the gap between other examples that they had. And Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, Daniel, they looked at them and they said, this is who we are.
[00:19:17] We know this because when they came out of captivity back into the promised land, the degree of monotheism, their unwillingness to chase after other gods was almost like they didn't care about their lives at all. They were willing.
[00:19:37] The Greek gods, no thanks. The Roman gods, no, thanks. The Egyptian God. And I mean, when the, when these, when these major powers came at them, it was like, we're going to wipe you out. No, thanks. We're not chasing after your gods. Like, they kept echoing for like the next several hundred years until Christ. They keep echoing. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
[00:20:00] This thing that I'm like, ooh, I wish I had the opportunity to say something like that. They're like, they had lots of opportunities to say it and they said it.
[00:20:11] I don't, you know, I don't know how that happens necessarily. I don't. I don't quite get it.
[00:20:17] But if you, if you are this next generation of Israelites, you are looking back in your time of captivity, a time of deep shame that you were captured, that you were brought into, that you were, you were taken out of your homeland, that you were made prisoners. You look back on this and you're thinking, this was the best thing that could possibly have happened to me.
[00:20:43] That's not what you said when. It's not what you said when Babylon captured you.
[00:20:49] But looking back on it afterward, that's definitely what you said.
[00:20:54] Well, Nebuchadnezzar didn't have that response.
[00:20:58] He totally freaked out. And then, you know, this part of the story.
[00:21:02] He hasn't thrown into the. He has them thrown into the fiery furnace. It was probably a furnace they used for pottery, which. That's like a thousand something degrees, like, you know, depending on the degree of what kind of pottery you're doing.
[00:21:15] And it says he stoked it up higher than that. So you can get that up to about 2,000 degrees.
[00:21:20] So he gets this thing up to like, as hot as you don't use that. You would not normally get a pottery kiln. And they had massive pottery, the walk in kilns that they would. Because they made pottery, they had like, these were massive chambers.
[00:21:35] And so they had them thrown in there. It was so hot, the people that were like pushing them in fall out and die because it was so hot. Just getting close to it. Nebuchadnezzar's like, ah, I got you now. And he looks down in there. And he sees them and he's like, they're still walking? No, there's four of them walking around in there. He stands up, he's like, what's going on here?
[00:21:54] And it says, he's startled. And he quickly got up. I imagine he's like, you know, he's like looking. He's like, hey, wasn't it just three men that we tied and threw into the fire? And they replied, for sure, O king. I don't know what translation. I love this translation. I wanted to use that one for sure, he answered, but I see four men untied and walking around in the fire. No harm has come to them. And the appearance of the fourth one is like a God. Then Nebuchadnezzar approached the door of the blazing furnace. And he calls out, shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the most high God, come out. Come here.
[00:22:33] Who, who, what God do you think can protect you from me? Ooh, servants of the most high God, come back out here.
[00:22:42] Nebuchadnezzar exclaimed, praised be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and has rescued his servants who trusted in him ignoring the edicts of the king.
[00:22:53] Praise these guys who ignored me.
[00:22:57] How scared must he be right now. And giving up their bodies rather than serve and pay homage to any God other than their God.
[00:23:05] We should all be so proud of them for not bowing down to this 90 foot statue I just spent a lot of money on.
[00:23:13] I hereby decree that any person, nation, or language group that blasphemes their God will be dismembered. And this is. He's like. I imagine they're like, no, no, no, no, wait, you're good. That's too far. You know, he's just like this.
[00:23:29] And they're dismembered and their homes reduced to rubble, for there exists no other God who can deliver in this way. Then Nebuchadnezzar promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego into greater heights in the province of Babylon.
[00:23:41] Yeah, this is Nebuchadnezzar. He's all over the place.
[00:23:44] But where this ring in the story lands is there was a challenge to God's authority.
[00:23:52] The people were told were challenged, like, who is your identity? Who are you going to be?
[00:23:58] Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, probably in their 20s at a young age, said, I'm your huckleberry.
[00:24:04] And at the end, the powers that be flinched.
[00:24:10] The people of God were challenged the powers of the world were.
[00:24:16] They had to submit.
[00:24:18] That's what we take from the story.
[00:24:21] The same thing. The other part of the Ring, chapter six, we see a similar thing. But here, this is. This is much later, this Daniel in chapter, in Daniel, chapter six. It's about Daniel. He's probably in his 60s at this point. This is after Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar's dead. Even the guy who comes after Nebuchadnezzar's dead.
[00:24:41] Babylon has been captured by Persia, Persia and the Medes working with the Persians.
[00:24:47] And this is where we see Daniel late in life, still cooking. I mean, still crushing it, in his 60s.
[00:24:59] It seemed a good idea to Darius, this person who had just taken over the region, to appoint over the kingdom 120 satraps. These are like governors or authorities who would be in charge of the entire kingdom. Over them would be three supervisors, one of whom was Daniel. So you have this new kingdom with a new organizational pattern, and they've got 120 people in charge of the regions. And Daniel is one of the three over the top of them. He's a big deal.
[00:25:29] So he is a guy that came out of the existing structure. The new people see him and they're like, you're going to be a big deal in this new structure, too.
[00:25:40] The satraps were accountable to them so that the king's interests might not incur damage. Now, Daniel was distinguished himself above the other two supervisors, for he had an extraordinary spirit. In fact, the king intended to appoint him over the entire kingdom. So the supervisors and satraps were trying to find some pretext against danger Daniel in connection with administrative matters. But they were unable to find any damaging evidence because he was trustworthy and guilty of no negligence or corruption. So just like with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, their peers were looking for some malicious thing to hold against Daniel. Greed.
[00:26:25] So these supervisors and traps, by the way, this is really smart.
[00:26:29] This is such a smart trap that they set.
[00:26:31] They come to the king and said, o King Darius, live forever. We've heard that before.
[00:26:36] To all the supervisors of the kingdoms, the prefects, the satraps, the counselors, the governors, it seems like a good idea for a royal edict to be issued. So for everybody that's in charge of this new kingdom for the next 30 days, anyone who prays to any God or human other than you should be thrown into a den of lions. Now, why, you've just created this new.
[00:26:59] This new governing structure. You are in charge of it.
[00:27:02] These people are all Used to worshiping different ways. But 30 days, worshiping you and worshiping you alone. Setting this new pattern for you being the governing authority, that all of us get into the habit of making you the one in charge. That's what we need for this new system to work. You've created this new system. It makes sense. The 120, the three over that, all this makes sense. But you got to make sure that you trust the people under you to be loyal to you at the end of the day. So let's do this. For the next 30 days, we will all agree not to worship anybody except you alone. We're going to set that pattern. Just like when you work out. Like, you know, you exercise or diet for 30 days, you kind of set new, you know, like a new rhythm for your body. Make pretty smart.
[00:27:46] He says, o thrown to a den of lions.
[00:27:50] Now let the king issue a written edict so that it cannot be altered according to the law of the Medes and Persians. So this is a different law, different system. Once he issues this decree, no one can change it. No one can alter the decree.
[00:28:03] Nebuchadnezzar. It makes. Kind of makes sense coming after Nebuchadnezzar, he was so. He was so all over the place. Like, he would say this, and he would say that. This time in this new system, if the king makes an edict, even the king has to go by that edict. We need some stability here. So they have this law that says even if.
[00:28:20] If you make this law, that's the way it's going to be. Okay, so Darius issues that edict. Good idea. Let's do it.
[00:28:30] When Daniel realized that a written decree had been issued.
[00:28:35] I don't know if you do this, but I like to pause when I'm reading a story. I like to pause like something wild just happened. Like a trap has been set. Dun, dun. You know, like, oh, a trap is set.
[00:28:46] Our hero finds this trap set, and he does what.
[00:28:53] What do you do in this situation?
[00:28:56] Think, like, I clearly am somebody that the.
[00:29:03] That. That Darius trusts. He made me one of the top three. I've got some leverage here. Personal maybe. What if I go talk to him and I figure out, like, a.
[00:29:12] A cause? Like, okay, there was.
[00:29:14] I understand this is what you said, but maybe there's a way around it somehow that we will be able to. I'll negotiate with you to make something work. I can. We can reason this thing out.
[00:29:24] Or maybe I'll undermine him somehow. Or maybe I'll hide it. Or, you know, like, maybe I can, like, slide under the radar for 30, for 30 days. Not a big deal. Figure something out.
[00:29:36] All my different choices, like, what do I. What do I do? Like, obviously, there is a crisis.
[00:29:42] What do I do?
[00:29:44] Daniel's answer was, not a thing.
[00:29:48] Nothing.
[00:29:49] He entered his home where the windows in his upper room opened towards Jerusalem. Three times daily, he was kneeling and offering prayer. And thanks to God, just as he had been doing previously, he changed nothing because he was already doing what he needed to do in a crisis, before it was a crisis.
[00:30:15] He was living a life oriented towards the will of God. He made it a point to be thinking about and practicing a life where I'm asking myself, what is it that God wants? What does God enjoy?
[00:30:30] What is God doing? What is. Like, as I'm praying, I am steeping myself throughout the day in thoughts about God, submitting myself to God, considering God. Like, he was doing that when he had no need to do that. When his life was like, just nor. He'd get up, brush his teeth, go to work, come home, go to bed. Like a day that he didn't really need to go to God.
[00:31:00] He was still. His whole day was spent, seeped the will of God so that when the crisis came, he was already where he needed to be.
[00:31:13] I love that as much as young, I think, like, you know, when I was in my 20s, like, I really want, like, I'm your huckleberry. Like, that's like, that was such a cool response, you know, like, they were like, you know, I think about being young, 20 something, and somebody says something. I got.
[00:31:30] I actually have a few stories where I like, ooh. I said, that was a good thing. I said, you know, like, that kind of thing.
[00:31:35] Turns out it's way cooler to not need to say anything at all.
[00:31:41] It's way cooler to be Daniel. I think as much as having that, like, courageous, like, response feels good having a life already steeped in the will of God.
[00:31:59] This is a man in his 60s showing a lot of wisdom.
[00:32:08] So, you know, he's got his window open, he's praying out there. They're all seeing it. They come and they, like, catch him doing it, and he's like, yeah, I'm doing it. Like, yeah, you knew. This is what I did. This is what I'm still doing.
[00:32:23] Uh, my window's open. You're hearing me praying. Yeah, this. This is what's going on.
[00:32:28] So all of these people who were maliciously looking for some way to knock Daniel off his peg, they would go to the king and they said, did you not issue an edict that for the next 30 days, anyone who prays to any God or humans other than you would be thrown into a den of lions. This passive aggressiveness, like, really irritates me. Did you not, you know?
[00:32:50] The king replied, that's correct. According to the law of the Medes and the Persians, which cannot be changed. Then they said, daniel, who is one of the captives from Judah, pays no attention to you at all, O king, or to your edict. Three times a day he offers his prayers. When the king hears this, he's really upset. And he tries thinking about ways to rescue Daniel.
[00:33:12] He doesn't want this at all.
[00:33:15] Daniel has proven himself to be such a valuable person.
[00:33:19] I'm sure he likes him. Like, personally, he probably likes him. But certainly politically and in terms of his system, he feels like he needs him.
[00:33:28] Daniel has really made himself invaluable to the king.
[00:33:33] He's desperate to see this not happen.
[00:33:37] But those men come to the king and they said to him, recall, O king, that it is the law of the Medes and the Persians that no idiot decree that the king issues can be changed.
[00:33:47] Remember, you can't do anything about this because you don't want to be Nebuchadnezzar.
[00:33:54] So the king gave the order, and Daniel was brought and thrown into the den of lions. And the king consoled. I like this whole next scene. He's consoling Daniel, your God, whom you continually serve. He will rescue you. Then the stone was brought and put over the opening. And then the king spent the whole night without eating. No diversions were brought to him. He wasn't able to sleep. He's consoling Daniel because he is really upset about this. I met, you know, again, Daniel's. He's an older guy. He's in his 60s.
[00:34:25] You don't really see. Daniel just basically does his thing. He doesn't have a lot of dialogue here.
[00:34:31] He's brought before him. Did you do this? Yeah. So he's brought to the lion's den. He says, you, God, I rescue you. Okay, okay. There's no really response from Daniel. He's like, he's fine.
[00:34:42] Basically everything that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego said when they were, like, 25. Daniel's just living it. At age 60, it's like, yeah, okay.
[00:34:52] I don't need to respond. My God will rescue me. If he doesn't, doesn't matter. I'm worshiping my God. This is who I am. It's just so baked into his character at this point.
[00:35:02] Just like it became baked into the character of the people of God. These stories became anchor points for the people of God.
[00:35:11] These stories are still anchor points for the kingdom of God. We teach our kids these stories at a young age because this right here, I don't need to answer you.
[00:35:23] God will rescue me, but even if he doesn't, he's the only one I'm worshiping. This is who I am.
[00:35:29] This is a deep form, faithfulness that just has to do with your idea. This is what your identity is.
[00:35:39] In the morning, at the earliest sign of daylight, the king got up and rushed to the lion's den. As he approached the den, he called out to Daniel in a worried voice. Daniel, servant of the living God.
[00:35:50] Was your God whom you continually served able to rescue you from the lions? He's like, don't worry, your God will be able to rescue you. Don't worry, don't worry. And he's like, rushing there, Daniel, did he rescue you?
[00:36:01] The king's like, O king, live forever. My God sent an angel to close the lion's mouth so that they have not harmed me because I was found to be innocent before him, Nor have I done anything to you, O king. Like, I just picture him being like, again, he's in his 60s. He's probably, you know, he's like.
[00:36:18] He doesn't have a lot of extra words to give up. He's not trying to be like, flourishy. He's like, it's fine, you know, I'm good. I was innocent. My God, rescue me.
[00:36:30] Roll that stone away. I'm ready to go. You know, just real chill.
[00:36:34] The king was delighted and ordered Daniel hauled up from the den. I didn't put this in there. But he also, like all the people that were malicious against Daniel, he didn't trust them. He threw them into the lion's den. And the lions turned out were pretty hungry and they were happy for the.
[00:36:48] So that happened to them.
[00:36:51] Then King Darius wrote to all the people, nations and language groups who were living in the land, peace and prosperity I have issued peace and prosperity. I have issued an edict that throughout all the domain of my kingdom, people are to revere and fear the God of Daniel.
[00:37:08] This feels so much like, you know, spastic Nebuchadnezzar's version of the same thing.
[00:37:16] In both situations, you have the most powerful men in the world in a position to assert their dominance over people who aren't prepared to worship them as God.
[00:37:31] And their dominance is broken, and they have nothing to do but to say, yeah, okay, I was wrong.
[00:37:40] Your God should be revered, Darius says, for he is the living God. He endures forever.
[00:37:50] His kingdom will not be destroyed. His authority is forever.
[00:37:53] He rescues and delivers and performs signs and wonders in the heavens and on the earth. He has rescued Daniel from the power of the lions.
[00:38:01] So Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian, Cyrus the Great. Historically, you know, we don't live in a world where there is some king telling everybody what they have to worship and what they have to do and what they have to think, think.
[00:38:19] But there is a lot of influence, a lot of people that are trying to steer us, our hearts in multiple directions. Those of us who are Christians and like our identity is in Christ who, when we say, when you say you're a Christian, you're set. Like literally the word means little. Christ means I am under Christ. He is my identity.
[00:38:44] And yet there's so much pressure for us to find other gods to worship.
[00:38:52] Even if we manage to maintain our identity, that's not the end.
[00:38:58] We have an obligation to live our lives in ways that we are faithful to God.
[00:39:05] Facing the world.
[00:39:07] Daniel, Shadrach, Meshadach and Abednego lived their life simply. They were respectable people that were. That people looked at and said, that is a good man.
[00:39:22] That's a man I can trust.
[00:39:24] That's a person that I can look to in a crisis, when people look to him. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, Daniel all pointed to God and said, this isn't something that humans are capable of, but this is something that God does all the time.
[00:39:46] And I follow that God.
[00:39:49] People are going to respond how they respond.
[00:39:54] We aren't in control of what Nebuchadnezzar does. We're not in control of what Darius does. You're not in control of what your neighbor does.
[00:40:01] But you do get to control what you do.
[00:40:04] You get to be faithful to God when things are going well, when you don't feel like you need to be present to God.
[00:40:11] And you can be faithful to God when things aren't going well. And that means you are going to be impressive. You can't follow Christ without being impressive.
[00:40:21] Christ is impressive.
[00:40:25] You're going to make a difference in the world. And I don't know what that difference will be. I have no idea what that difference will be. But I guarantee you it'll be something that somebody will look at and they will say, there is something going on there worth emulating because you're following Christ.
[00:40:44] Let's pray.
[00:40:48] Father. God I thank you for these stories.
[00:40:52] These people that were committed to you and, Lord, that we get to look back on as our heroes are the people that we want to emulate.
[00:41:05] These are people that trusted you.
[00:41:10] And, God, we don't know what the outcome is of trusting you. We're not in control of that.
[00:41:16] But I know that trusting you is the best course of action for all of our lives.
[00:41:23] God, I pray that you give us the simple, plain courage to act as these men did, that we quit having high and low experiences where we let our circumstances dictate the degree of faith that we're able to live out.
[00:41:39] And, Lord, that we just have a simple way of life oriented towards you. No matter what.
[00:41:45] We love you. Amen.
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