KEEPING COURAGEOUS AS GOD’S PLAN UNFOLDS

Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on June 9, 2024 under 2024 |

Bethany Bible Church Sermon Message from June 9, 2024 from Daniel 6:1-28

Theme: Knowing God’s prophetic promises for the future will give courage to our faith in the present.

(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).

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Today, we come to one of the best-known stories in the Book of Daniel—and perhaps in all the Bible. It’s the story of Daniel in the lion’s den in Daniel 6.

Now; there are lots of valuable lessons to be learned from this story. But as I have dug deeper into it, I especially appreciate what it has to teach us about the subject of biblical prophecy. It’s not itself a story about any actual biblical prophecy, of course. The stories about those prophecies don’t begin until Chapter 7. Rather, this story in Chapter 6 helps prepare us for those stories by showing us how a careful study of biblical prophecy strengthens our faith in difficult times.

Let me share my own personal experience. When I became a believer as a young man, the whole of the Bible was something completely new to me. And as I grew in my understanding of it—and as I listened more and more to good biblical teachers—I began to be fascinated by the things it teaches us about the future. I was especially thrilled to learn about Jesus’ promised second coming to reign over the kingdoms of this world. But I was also fascinated by the things the Bible tells us about the great tribulation that would precede His return, and about the signs that indicate His return. I have to say, though, that my fascination for these things was still a bit immature. I was interested in those stories mainly as just ‘fascinating stories’. I hadn’t yet grown to appreciate the impact that these stories were meant to have on my personal commitment to the Lord Jesus, and on how they helped to motivate me toward a life of personal holiness before Him.

But as I matured in the Lord, my appreciation of the practical value of a careful, accurate, truly biblical study of biblical prophecy has increased. I learned how a clear sense of God’s prophetic plan for the future—and how a clear understanding of the sovereignty our heavenly Father exercises over the times—helps strengthen our courage for the Lord in the present. Our joy in the Lord is increased by a careful study of the Bible’s prophetic promises. It’s like the apostle Paul once wrote;

For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ (Titus 2:11-12).

And so; one of the truly valuable things that Daniel 6 teaches us is that knowing God’s prophetic promises for the future will give courage to our faith in the present. We can see this very clearly as we carefully examine the experience of Daniel in the lion’s den.

* * * * * * * * * *

Now; the story began in Daniel 6 with a remarkable moment in human history. It’s the reign of a new king over a new world kingdom. In the Book of Daniel, this king’s name is Darius the Mede—the ruler over the Median-Persian empire. In Chapter 5, we learned of how this king—a military leader at the time—had conquered the Babylonian empire in just one evening—October 12, 539 B.C. The seat of world rule literally changed overnight. In Daniel 5:30-31, we were told;

That very night Belshazzar, king of the Chaldeans, was slain. And Darius the Mede received the kingdom, being about sixty-two years old (Daniel 5:30-31).

This military general named Darius—also known in history by the name Gubaru—appears to have been appointed the ruler over the empire under King Cyrus after Babylon was conquered. There’s a certain amount of obscurity in history regarding Darius’ relationship to the later king—King Cyrus. But at least we can be certain about what we’re told in Daniel 6:1-2;

It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom one hundred and twenty satraps, to be over the whole kingdom; 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 6:1-2).

Darius was a wise administrator. He knew that he needed to consolidate the new empire that had been brought under his control. And so, he established 120 provincial governors—called ‘satraps’—over the various segments of the kingdom; and he set three ‘presidents’ over these provincial governors. And one of these three presidents was Daniel—the very man who had served for all of his adult life as a key adviser to the kings of the previous world empire.

Now; Daniel repeatedly showed himself to be a remarkable man of God throughout his time of service to the Babylonian kings. He was a proven administrator and advisor. And for this reason, Darius—no doubt knowing about Daniel’s good service—set him in place as one of the three presidents over the empire. But Daniel began very quickly to exhibit the kind of outstanding qualities of wisdom, integrity, and efficiency he had always exhibited. He performed extraordinarily well as an appointed governor. In fact, the King James Version has it that Daniel was “first” among the others. And so, in verse three, we read;

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 (v. 3).

But this, then, leads us to …

1. THE JEALOUSY OF THE LEADERS.

Perhaps it was from out of resentment toward the fact that those other leaders didn’t have the king’s favor as Daniel did. Or perhaps it was out of bitterness that this Jewish foreigner—a former captive—was being placed over them. But for whatever reason, the other two ‘presidents’ and their leaders sought to find some kind of complaint against Daniel. Perhaps they thought—at first—that they could accuse him of being corrupt. Perhaps they thought they could point to some imperfection in his leadership. Perhaps they thought they could find some inefficiency to capitalize on. Politics hasn’t really changed very much in two-thousand, five-hundred and fifty years; has it?

But the proof of Daniel’s outstanding character and qualities was in the fact that those jealous leaders couldn’t find anything to use against him. He had such a spotless record of faithfulness that there was only one way they could bring a charge against him. And that was by attacking the very reason for his faithfulness. Verses 4-5 tell us;

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. 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” (vv. 4-5).

And this reminds us, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, that the people of this world are watching us. They are scrutinizing our lives. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the only charge or complaint the people of this world could bring against us was that we were just too faithful to God?—and that they could count on the fact that we would be devoted to Him and obedient to His commands? As the apostle Peter put it;

But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear; having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed (1 Peter 3:15-16).

So; that was the only way these jealous leaders could bring a charge against Daniel—by somehow using his faithfulness to God against him. They had to—somehow—convince the king to declare such faithfulness to be a crime. And so, that’s when we read of …

2. THE MANIPULATION OF THE KING.

Verses 6-8 tell us;

So these governors and satraps thronged before the king, and said thus to him: “King Darius, live forever! 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. 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” (vv. 6-8).

By the way; you can see from this that—when it came to the Median-Persian empire—the authority of the king had somewhat diminished. In the previous dominion of the Babylonian empire, all authority rested upon King Nebuchadnezzar. His will alone was law. But in the Median-Persian empire, the king was subject to the written precedent of law. Once he spoke his will, and that will was written down in the record books, not even the king himself could revise it. These jealous leaders, then, were seeking to capitalize on Daniel’s faithfulness by means of the unalterable nature of Median-Persian law.

Now; perhaps they were seeking to flatter the king with this proposed decree—forbidding anyone from praying to any god or making any petition to any other ruler than King Darius for thirty days. Perhaps he was tempted by the possibility of totalitarian rule. Or perhaps they presented it as a wise and sensible policy for the king to decree—suggesting to him that, by establishing this royal statute for a thirty-day period, the king could complete the consolidation of his newly-acquired empire under his rule. But do you notice that—through whatever motivation they might have appealed to—they were deceiving the king in how they presented this proposal? They told him that “all” the governors administrators, satraps, counselors and advisors had ‘consulted together’ to establish this policy. But this was clearly untrue. They had very obviously left Daniel out of the committee meetings; because it was all designed to destroy him.

I wonder what would have happened if the king had said, “Before I agree to this, I need to consult with my most trusted governor and advisor—Daniel.” That certainly would have been the wisest thing for him to do. But for whatever reason, he didn’t do so. Verse 9 tells us simply;

Therefore King Darius signed the written decree (v. 9).

As a result, Daniel—so long as he remained faithful to God and conducted himself as he always had—would be cast alive into the den of lions. And they knew with certainty that he would remain faithful to God.

I appreciate what one great Bible teacher—Harry Ironside—said about this. He said that, in agreeing to this royal statute, Darius was placing himself in the position of being a type of the Antichrist¹—the man of sin—the son of perdition—who, as it says in 2 Thessalonians 2:4,

… opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God (2 Thessalonians 2:4).

So; that was the plot that was being crafted against a godly man. But that leads us to …

3. THE COURAGE OF DANIEL.

Verse 10 tells us;

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 (v. 10).

And I need to share something with you about this, dear brothers and sisters. We shouldn’t think that Daniel did this in a defiant manner. We need to understand carefully why it was that Daniel had been praying in this way—and why he continued to do so after the decree. I believe it constitutes one of the most important and practical lessons that this passage teaches us. We learn the reason why Daniel did as he did by looking at three other Old Testament passages.

The first passage is a prophecy that God had given to the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah about 70 years before. It’s found in Jeremiah 25:8-11. In it, God told the Jewish people how He was about to send them into captivity to Babylon for their rebellion and their sins. It says;

“Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Because you have not heard My words, behold, I will send and take all the families of the north,’ says the Lord, ‘and Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant, and will bring them against this land, against its inhabitants, and against these nations all around, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, a hissing, and perpetual desolations. Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones and the light of the lamp. And this whole land shall be a desolation and an astonishment, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years’ (Jeremiah 25:8-11).

But God then made this prophetic promise to His people through Jeremiah:

“‘Then it will come to pass, when seventy years are completed, that I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity,’ says the Lord; ‘and I will make it a perpetual desolation’” (v. 12).

Daniel had studied that prophetic promise from God’s word. He knew that the time had now come for the 70 years of captivity to come to an end, and for God to bring His people back to their land to rebuild His temple. And Daniel would have also remembered another passage—this one from 2 Chronicles 6:36-39. It contained the words of King Solomon at the time when he dedicated the first temple to God. He prayed for his own people—the Jewish people—and said;

“When they sin against You (for there is no one who does not sin), and You become angry with them and deliver them to the enemy, and they take them captive to a land far or near; yet when they come to themselves in the land where they were carried captive, and repent, and make supplication to You in the land of their captivity, saying, ‘We have sinned, we have done wrong, and have committed wickedness’; and when they return to You with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity, where they have been carried captive, and pray toward their land which You gave to their fathers, the city which You have chosen, and toward the temple which I have built for Your name: then hear from heaven Your dwelling place their prayer and their supplications, and maintain their cause, and forgive Your people who have sinned against You” (2 Chronicles 6:36-39).

Daniel knew that passage of Scripture too. All of these things came to Daniel’s mind—as the Bible tells us—“in the first year” of King Darius’ reign—that is, sometime before the events we read about in Daniel 6. And Daniel obeyed what the Bible told him. In a third Old Testament passage—in Daniel 9:1-3—Daniel himself tells us;

In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the lineage of the Medes, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans—in the first year of his reign I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years specified by the word of the Lord through Jeremiah the prophet, that He would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem. Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. (Daniel 9:1-3).

And do you know what happened as a result? Daniel prayed a remarkable prayer of repentance for his people. It’s contained for us in the rest of Daniel 9. And after that prayer, God graciously sent the angel Gabriel to him. Gabriel revealed to him God’s appointed plan for His people throughout the coming years of Gentile rule—all the way up to the time when the Lord Jesus would be crucified, be raised, and come again to reign as King of kings and Lord of lords.

And that, dear brothers and sisters, was why Daniel prayed as he did. He wasn’t rebelling against King Darius. He wasn’t being defiant. Instead, he was being as faithful to the prophetic promises of God as he possibly could be. And knowing about those promises concerning his people, he took courage and continued to pray—even at the potential cost of his own life.

In a sense, Daniel was behaving in a small way like our Lord would later behave when He went to the garden to pray—knowing that His betrayer was on his way. It was Daniel’s faithfulness to God that gave those jealous leaders the opportunity that they were hoping for. Verses 11-13 tell us;

Then these men assembled and found Daniel praying and making supplication before his God. And they went before the king, and spoke concerning the king’s decree: “Have you not signed a decree that every man 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.” 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” (vv. 11-13).

The king then knew that he had been manipulated by those jealous leaders. They had tricked him into signing the death sentence of his most beloved and faithful servant—someone that he knew was truly a man of God. Just as it says in Psalm 94:20, they devised ‘evil by law’. But it’s interesting that the king’s anger was not directed toward them, but rather toward himself. Verses 14-17 go on to tell us;

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. 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.” 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.” 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 (vv. 14-17).

His jealous lords must have delighted to seal the stone with their rings. But the king must have done so with deep sorrow and regret. And in all of it, it seems that Daniel didn’t protest or resist. It seems that he confidently agreed with the king—that, indeed, the God whom he served so faithfully would deliver him. Perhaps he remembered how God had delivered his three friends from the fiery furnace several years before.

And that leads us to …

4. THE DELIVERANCE OF GOD.

The Bible tells us in Psalm 91:9-13;

Because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge,
Even the Most High, your dwelling place,
No evil shall befall you,
Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling;
For He shall give His angels charge over you,
To keep you in all your ways.
In their hands they shall bear you up,
Lest you dash your foot against a stone.
You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra,
The young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot (Psalm 91:9-13).

Daniel had made God his refuge. And God did indeed come to his aid. Verses 18-23 tell us;

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. Then the king arose very early in the morning and went in haste to the den of lions. 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?” Then Daniel said to the king, “O king, live forever! 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.” 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 (vv. 18-23).

The law commanded that Daniel be thrown into the den. But the law didn’t require that the king keep him there! But what about the other leaders? We read in verse 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 (v. 24).

Why were the wives and the children also thrown in? It may have been that they were complicit in the plot against Daniel. In any case, these were cruel times; and this was a cruel king. But the reason that this unpleasant part of the story is told to us—the story of the immediate attack of the lions—is because it proved that God did indeed have His sovereign hand on His faithful servant Daniel.

And that leads us finally to notice …

5. THE DECREE TO THE PEOPLE.

Verses 25-28 tells us;

Then King Darius wrote:

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

Peace be multiplied to you.

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.
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.

So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian.

* * * * * * * * * *

Now; what are the lessons that we learn from this story? There are several important ones.

First, we learn a spiritual lesson. It’s that our God is a mighty God who is faithful to those who trust Him and honor Him in times of trouble. Daniel reverenced the God who had made great promises to His people in His word, and he prayed to Him and trusted Him when the pressure was on. We’re under increasing pressure in our times too. But like Daniel, we too can trust God to be faithful to us if we remain faithful to His Son Jesus Christ and His gospel.

Second, we learn a theological lesson. It’s that our God is the same in every generation and is sovereign over every kingdom of this earth. We see this in the fact that God proved Himself repeatedly in the earthly rule of the Babylonian kings; and then—when the earthly kingdom changed—He proved Himself to be the same in the earthly rule of the Median-Persian king. He put it on the heart of the next king—King Cyrus—to release His people and enable them to return to their land. Kings rise and fall, governments and empires change hands, and cultures shift from one to another. But our God remains the same. He causes all of the kingdoms of men to serve His sovereign desire.

Third, we learn a prophetic lesson. Darius was—unwittingly—a picture of the way that the earthly kings of this earth will persecute God’s people. And Daniel was a picture of God’s chosen people, the Jews. Earthly Gentile kings will persecute the Jewish people all the way through the unfolding of ‘the times of the Gentiles’; and that persecution will inevitably become embodied in the Antichrist—the man of sin. But God will deliver His chosen people—as it were—from out of the lion’s mouth, and restore them to Himself, and they will praise Him. This chapter pictures this conflict to us in type; and it shows us the flow of historical events until the return of our Lord.

But the fourth lesson is the one I most want to draw your attention to. It’s a practical lesson. It’s about how Daniel had paid careful attention to the prophetic promises of God; and as a result, was strengthened in his faith. The knowledge of God’s prophetic word gave him courage in the midst of his trial; and caused him to stand faithful while being attacked for his devotion to God. And his example is meant to teach us that knowing God’s prophetic promises for the future will give courage to our faith in the present. We need to study the prophetic promises we’re about to find in the remaining chapters of Daniel, and allow them to encourage us with the certainty of the reign of Jesus Christ … and our victory with Him.

As it says in Hebrews 10:23-25;

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, 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 (Hebrews 10:23-25).

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¹Harry Ironside, Lectures on Daniel the Prophet (New York: Loizeaux Brothers, n.d.), p. 107.

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