STANDING FAITHFUL IN UNFAITHFUL TIMES
Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on April 7, 2024 under 2024 |
Bethany Bible Church Sermon Message from April 7, 2024 from Daniel 1:1-21
Theme: God blesses and uses those who remain faithful to Him in unfaithful times.
(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).
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This morning, we will begin a study together of one of the most remarkable books in the Old Testament. In fact, it’s one of the most remarkable books of all time. It’s the Book of Daniel.
It’s a book in which God gives us a panoramic view of His plan for the nations. It tells us what God has in store for this world—from the time of Daniel all the way up to the time of the return of the Lord Jesus. And it affirms to us that, no matter how out-of-control the events of this world may at times seem to us, it all remains under the sovereign control of our mighty God.
I suggest that the key verse of this book is Daniel 4:17; which says,
“… that the living may know
That the Most High rules in the kingdom of men,
Gives it to whomever He will,
And sets over it the lowest of men” (Daniel 4:17).
Those words will probably never get etched onto the chamber walls of any government building any time soon. But they really should be; because they declare the truth, and truly put things into perspective. And as we study this book, we’ll find that what that verse says is so.
Daniel himself was an especially amazing man of God. He was called a prophet by no less than the Lord Jesus Himself. In His own end-times teaching in Matthew 24, our Savior referred to that “which was spoken of by Daniel the prophet …”; and in saying this, the Son of God affirmed Daniel’s prophetic message to us. We know more of the background of Daniel than of any other prophet of the Bible. The first six chapters of his book mainly tell us his own history and the last six chapters contain his prophecies. And what’s more, his prophecies cover more ground than any other Old Testament prophet—giving us more information about God’s plans for the history of the nations, in more specific detail, than any other book of the Bible.
And what’s more, it’s practical. I believe that God has given this book to His redeemed people in order to comfort them during troubling times and to encourage them to remain faithful to Him until the day that His Son Jesus Christ returns. It shows us how much God is in control of the times.
We especially need to study this book now … in our time.
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Now; naturally, you and I would be interested in the times. We would obviously want to know—if we could—how the period of history in which we’re living would fit in with God’s larger plans for the future. We would want to know what God will bring about in the days to come with respect to the nations, and the various human governments, and where the nation of Israel fits into it all. And the very fact that this book was written by the guiding hand of the Holy Spirit, and has been preserved for us in the Bible, shows us that God Himself wants us to know about those things.
But the very first chapter of this book shows us that, more than our knowledge of these things, God is concerned about the condition of our own hearts toward Him. Whatever period of history we may be living in, and whatever the nature of the times may be, He cares very much that we are faithful to Him. He wants for that faithfulness to be expressed in our complete trust in His Son Jesus Christ, and in our careful obedience to His commands as they’re given to us in His holy word. And so, as we begin our study of this book, we find that that’s the important lesson that’s presented to us.
As this very first chapter teaches us, the God who is in complete control of the times blesses and uses those who remain faithful to Him … even in unfaithful times.
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Now the circumstances in which Daniel lived made his times very unfaithful times indeed. And so, let’s begin by considering …
1. DANIEL’S TIMES.
Verse 1 begins by telling us;
In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it (Daniel 1:1).
This speaks to us of one of the most dreadful events in the history of the Jewish people. For centuries, they had been increasingly wandering from God and His good commandments for them. They kept falling deeper and deeper into the idolatry and into the wicked practices of the nations around them. About 100 years prior to Daniel’s time—after many repeated warnings—God had allowed the northern kingdom of the people of Israel to be taken captive by the Assyrian army and to be scattered from their homeland. And in Daniel’s day—again after repeated warnings—God finally allowed the southern kingdom of Judah to be taken into captivity in Babylon for 70 years.
This first verse speaks to us of King Jehoiakim of Judah. He was a wicked king who ignored God’s warnings. The prophet Jeremiah once sent a copy of God’s prophetic warnings to him—all written down by hand on a scroll. And King Jehoiakim responded by arrogantly cutting up that message from God and tossing it into the fire. His action represented the official attitude of the times toward God and His word, and God finally had enough of it. 2 Chronicles 36:17-21 tells us;
Therefore He brought against them the king of the Chaldeans, who killed their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion on young man or virgin, on the aged or the weak; He gave them all into his hand. And all the articles from the house of God, great and small, the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king and of his leaders, all these he took to Babylon. Then they burned the house of God, broke down the wall of Jerusalem, burned all its palaces with fire, and destroyed all its precious possessions. And those who escaped from the sword he carried away to Babylon, where they became servants to him and his sons until the rule of the kingdom of Persia, to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her Sabbaths. As long as she lay desolate she kept Sabbath, to fulfill seventy years (2 Chronicles 36:17-21).
Now; God still loved the people of Israel. They were—and still are—His covenant people. But when He repeatedly warned them to repent of their unfaithfulness to Him; they repeatedly refused to do so. And so, He brought the dreadful punishment upon them that He promised He would bring. They loved the false gods and wicked practices of foreign nations; and so, He allowed the temple in Jerusalem to be destroyed by a foreign nation, the city walls of Jerusalem to be broken down by wicked people, and the people of Judah to be brought into bondage in a pagan and idolatrous culture by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar for 70 long years. Daniel 1:2 tells us;
And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with some of the articles of the house of God, which he carried into the land of Shinar to the house of his god; and he brought the articles into the treasure house of his god (v. 2).
A long while before this time, God had warned another king of Judah—a godly king named Hezekiah;
“‘Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house, and what your fathers have accumulated until this day, shall be carried to Babylon; nothing shall be left,’ says the Lord. ‘And they shall take away some of your sons who will descend from you, whom you will beget; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon’” (Isaiah 39:6-7).
So; those are the times in which Daniel came into the picture. He was apparently a part of the royal household in Jerusalem. Jewish historians have even said that he was a relative of the king of Judah. And he was among those who were taken away and made a servant to the king of Babylon.
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Now; it’s very hard to imagine how horrible this all must have been for someone like Daniel. He would have been a young man at this time—perhaps not much older than 17 or 18 years of age. And he was also very obviously a reverent and God-honoring young man. In fact, he stands out as one of the most righteous men in biblical history. In Ezekiel 14:13-14, God told the prophet Ezekiel;
“‘Son of man, when a land sins against Me by persistent unfaithfulness, I will stretch out My hand against it; I will cut off its supply of bread, send famine on it, and cut off man and beast from it. Even if these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they would deliver only themselves by their righteousness,’ says the Lord God” (Ezekiel 14:13-14).
Daniel was held up as a model of righteousness to his people. And so; just think of how much it would have broken Daniel’s heart to see his own royal relatives—sitting upon the throne of God’s chosen people in God’s holy city—persistently defying God. Just think of the horror he must have felt at seeing the pagan soldiers of the Babylonian king marching in to destroy the temple, to set fire to the houses and buildings, and to haul away the sacred things of God. And just imagine how much it must have tormented him to be carried away to a pagan land, to be forced to speak a pagan language, and to be forced to conform to a pagan culture. There would be no going back—because, at that time, there was no longer a city or a nation to go back. As God had promised, that would be the situation for the next 70 years. It must have greatly tormented Daniel’s pious soul.
And by the way, dear brothers and sisters; isn’t that just a little similar to the kinds of things you and I feel today? If you love the Lord Jesus Christ, and if you revere His holy word, then doesn’t it torment your soul to see the kinds of things going on around you? Don’t you grieve at the kind of profane language you hear, and the kind of ungodly ideas that are being expressed? Doesn’t it break your heart to see the rebellion against God that is being institutionalized all around you? Don’t you feel the intense pressure to conform to ungodly beliefs and practices? And doesn’t it sadden you to see the ongoing compromise of those who once professed a sincere faith in Jesus?
Don’t we—like Daniel—live in increasingly unfaithful times today?
Daniel felt those kinds of things in his time. And that leads us next to consider …
2. DANIEL’S CHALLENGE.
Verses 3-7 tell us;
Then the king instructed Ashpenaz, the master of his eunuchs, to bring some of the children of Israel and some of the king’s descendants and some of the nobles, young men in whom there was no blemish, but good-looking, gifted in all wisdom, possessing knowledge and quick to understand, who had ability to serve in the king’s palace, and whom they might teach the language and literature of the Chaldeans. And the king appointed for them a daily provision of the king’s delicacies and of the wine which he drank, and three years of training for them, so that at the end of that time they might serve before the king. Now from among those of the sons of Judah were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. To them the chief of the eunuchs gave names: he gave Daniel the name Belteshazzar; to Hananiah, Shadrach; to Mishael, Meshach; and to Azariah, Abed-Nego (v. 3-7).
Here, we see a hint that Daniel, along with his three friends (who were also perhaps relatives)—Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah—may have all been a part of the royal family of Judah. They were mentioned along with “some of the king’s descendants”. We’re also given a hint of their remarkable characteristics. They were good-looking and without outward imperfection. They were bright young men who possessed an inherent intelligence and teachability. And they demonstrated leadership potential. And so, they were put into an intensive training program in the history, language, and learning of the culture of the greatest world empire of the day. They were put—we might say—into the Babylonian equivalent of Harvard, West Point, and MIT all rolled into one. This was all so that these remarkable young Hebrew men could then be put into the service of the pagan ruler of the greatest world empire of that time.
But this would also require that they themselves were separated from their Jewish heritage and brought into conformity to a pagan culture. You can see this in how their names were changed. Their former Hebrew names all bore references to the God of Israel. ‘Daniel’ means “God is Judge”; ‘Hananniah’ means “YHWY Has Been Gracious”; ‘Mishael’ means “Who Is What God Is?”; and ‘Azariah’ means “YHWY Helps”. But they were given new pagan names that sought to sever them from the God of Israel and to identify them with the pagan gods of the land of their captivity. Daniel’s new name ‘Belteshazzar’ appears to mean something like “May Bel Protect His Life”; Hananniah’s new name ‘Shadrach’ means something like “Hadrach Commands” or “Aku Commands”; Mishael’ (whose former name meant “Who Is What God Is?”) was renamed ‘Mishach’ which means something like “Who Is What Aku Is?”; and Azariah’s new name ‘Abed-Nego’ means something along the lines of “Servant of Nego”. The exact meaning of these new names isn’t certain. But what was very clear was that these new names were meant to identify them with false gods and pagan deities. What a horrible dishonor it must have been to these pious young Jewish men to now officially bear those dreadful names as they stood before a pagan king!
But there was another challenge. They were also required to eat of that pagan king’s table. They were daily required to eat the food that was set before the king himself; and that food would have involved food items that—according to the law of God what was given through Moses in Leviticus 11—were unclean and forbidden for the Jewish people to eat. It would have also involved the use of wine that was—according to some historians—used to dedicate that food to pagan gods.
Now, dear brothers and sisters; doesn’t this kind of pressure sound familiar? Doesn’t it seem a little like the kinds of challenges you and I face today? In ways both large and small, it seems that we—as believers—are continually being pushed and prodded and threatened into adopting the ungodly ways of the unbelieving world. We’re increasingly being called upon—and in some cases, even being ordered by force of law—to adopt values and priorities and beliefs and practices that God has clearly forbidden in His word.
As the apostle Paul has once written;
Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31).
But doesn’t it seem that, increasingly, we’re being told that, in order to participate meaningfully in society, we must do things that absolutely cannot be done at all to the glory of God? That was the kind of challenge that Daniel and his three companions faced.
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So; what did Daniel—this young man of God—do? As we read on, we find …
3. DANIEL’S RESOLVE.
Verse 8 tells us;
But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank; therefore he requested of the chief of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself (v. 8).
When we’re told that Daniel ‘purposed’ this in his heart, we shouldn’t see that as just a mere inclination. The word in the original Hebrew language suggests that it was something that Daniel ‘put in place’ within himself. It was a firm resolve of heart that he would—in no way—compromise. But notice that it wasn’t a resolve that caused him—in any way—to behave disrespectfully toward those who were placed over him. He didn’t simply rebel against the king’s demands. The king had put an official over him; and he respectfully asked the official to be exempted from eating unclean food.
Now; this presented a problem. It always presents a problem whenever we resolve to live faithfully to God’s commands in a culture that is given over to disobedience to those commands. It puts other people into awkward positions. And that was the case with the official that was over Daniel. That official was required by the king to feed Daniel and his friends with the food that the king himself ate. It was, in part, a way of identifying them with the king himself. If the food was good enough for the king, then it would also certainly be good enough for those who are brought into the king’s service. And what’s more, if those young men didn’t end up looking well-nourished and physically strong when they were presented to the king, it would mean the death of that official.
Verses 9-10 go on to tell us;
Now God had brought Daniel into the favor and goodwill of the chief of the eunuchs. And the chief of the eunuchs said to Daniel, “I fear my lord the king, who has appointed your food and drink. For why should he see your faces looking worse than the young men who are your age? Then you would endanger my head before the king” (vv. 9-10).
Now; it says a great deal about Daniel that the chief of the eunuchs looked upon him with particular favor. That was God’s doing. But Daniel still could in no way eat the king’s unclean food; and as you can see, Daniel’s resolve not to eat presented problems for those who were over him.
People nowadays—and perhaps many who are professing believers—might have looked at the situation and said, “Well; it’s true that God said not to do it. But what’s the big deal? Wouldn’t this be situation that required a reasonable compromise with the demands of culture? After all, a strict obedience to this particular commandment of God isn’t really important; is it?” But the fact is that any time we give in to the pressure—compromising with the unbelieving world in order to do what God says not to do—we short-circuit our devotion to God and begin a downward spiral into rebellion against Him. That was what resulted in God’s punishment of Daniel’s people in the first place. As the apostle Paul put it in Romans 12:1-2;
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God (Romans 12:1-2).
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ; unless we are faithful to obey God—even in the seeming little matters of obedience—then we cannot bear a faithful witness of our Lord to the people of our time. Unless we faithfully do His will, we cannot show this world that His will is good and perfect.
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Now; I think it’s interesting that—so far—only Daniel was mentioned in all of this. I believe that that’s because this young man Daniel was a pious young man who bore a powerful influence upon his other three companions. His resolve to obey God produced a commitment in their hearts to also obey.
But this obedience was not put forth in a rebellious or reckless manner. Obedience was pursued whole-heartedly, but also wisely and prudently. As we read on in this passage, we find …
4. DANIEL’S PROPOSAL.
Daniel knew that he and his companions could not compromise God’s command to them. But he also knew that this commitment had put the official in a bind. And so, Daniel conducted himself in a truly God-honoring and submissive manner. Verses 11-13 tell us;
So Daniel said to the steward whom the chief of the eunuchs had set over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, “Please test your servants for ten days, and let them give us vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then let our appearance be examined before you, and the appearance of the young men who eat the portion of the king’s delicacies; and as you see fit, so deal with your servants” (vv. 11-13).
This would have involved no compromise to either God’s command or to the official’s authority. Verse 14 tells us;
So he consented with them in this matter, and tested them ten days (v. 14).
Now; what would have happened if it didn’t work? If Daniel and his three friends looked unrepresentable at the end of the ten-day trial, would they then have disobeyed God’s command and eaten unclean food? I don’t believe so. I believe they would have then simply presented themselves to the king’s official for execution rather than eat. We find good reason for thinking so in Daniel 3. Daniel’s three companions were ordered by the king to bow down and worship an idol or be thrown alive in a fiery furnace. But when there was no alternative, they respectfully refused, saying,
“… our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up” (Daniel 3:17-18).
So, Daniel’s proposal to the chief of the eunuchs was not a compromise. He and his friends would have still laid down their lives rather than defile themselves with food that God had forbidden to them. But this was a solution that allowed God time to work—and we can be absolutely sure that Daniel and his three friends prayed very hard during that ten-day trial.
And God graciously answered. Verses 15-16 go on to tell us;
And at the end of ten days their features appeared better and fatter in flesh than all the young men who ate the portion of the king’s delicacies. Thus the steward took away their portion of delicacies and the wine that they were to drink, and gave them vegetables (vv. 15-16).
There have been dieting books that were based on this passage—setting forth the idea that eating the way Daniel and his three friends ate is a way to eat healthier. And maybe it is. But that misses the point. This wasn’t meant to be a diet plan. This was a miracle that came about because Daniel and his three friends put obedience to God’s commandments over compromise with the demands of an ungodly culture.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ; God blesses and uses those who remain faithful to Him in unfaithful times—even when that faithfulness involves seemingly little commandments. The way to go forward with God—and the way to receive further blessings from Him—is through a commitment of faithfulness to Him in even the seemingly little details of obedience.
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This is proven to us as we, in closing, consider …
5. DANIEL’S OUTCOME.
Verse 17 tells us;
As for these four young men, God gave them knowledge and skill in all literature and wisdom; and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams (v. 17).
We can be glad for this; because Daniel’s understanding of those visions and dreams from God have been recorded for us in this marvelous book.
Now at the end of the days, when the king had said that they should be brought in, the chief of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar. Then the king interviewed them, and among them all none was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah; therefore they served before the king. And in all matters of wisdom and understanding about which the king examined them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers who were in all his realm (vv. 19-20).
And look especially at that last verse;
Thus Daniel continued until the first year of King Cyrus (v. 21).
Daniel served as an official adviser to the rulers of the Babylonian empire; and then, after the Babylonians were conquered by the Median-Persian empire, Daniel continued to serve all the way to the time when the Persian king Cyrus permitted the Jewish people to return to their homeland—at the end of their 70 years of captivity. In other words, Daniel may have been the only foreign man in history to serve in an official capacity as a valued royal adviser in two successive world empires—and to do so as a man who reverenced and obeyed the God of Israel, and through whom God revealed His sovereign plan for the nations.
It says in Psalm 25:14;
The secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him … (Psalm 25:14).
And so, as we study this book together, let’s learn its secrets with a reverent fear of God—demonstrated by faithfulness to His commands. As Daniel’s life shows us, God definitely blesses and powerfully uses those who remain faithful to Him in unfaithful times.
AE
